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OBSERVATIONS UPON EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY. To which is added, THE DESCRIPTION | |
OF A New Blazing World. | |
WRITTEN By the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent PRINCESS, THE Duchess | |
of Newcastle. | |
LONDON, Printed by A. Maxwell, in the Year, 1666. | |
TO HER GRACE THE Duchess of Newcastle, On her OBSERVATIONS upon EXPERIMENTAL | |
PHILOSOPHY. | |
THis Book is Book of Books, and only fits | |
Great searching Brains, and Quintessence of Wits; | |
For this will give you an Eternal Fame, | |
And last to all Posterity your Name: | |
You conquer Death, in a perpetual Life; | |
And make me famous too in such a Wife. | |
So I will Prophecy in spite of Fools, | |
When dead, then honoured, and be read in Schools, | |
And Ipse dixit lost, not He, but She | |
Still cited in your strong Philosophy. | |
William Newcastle. | |
TO HIS GRACE THE Duke of Newcastle. | |
My Noble Lord, | |
IN this present Treatise, I have ventured to make some observations upon | |
Experimental Philosophy, and to examine the Opinions of some of our Modern | |
Microscopical or Dioptrical Writers; and though your Grace is not only a lover | |
of Vertuosoes, but a Virtuoso your self, and have as good, and as many sorts of | |
Optic Glasses as any one else; yet you do not busy your self much with this | |
brittle Art, but employ most part of your time in the more noble and heroic | |
Art of Horsemanship and Weapons, as also in the sweet and delightful Art of | |
Poetry, and in the useful Art of Architecture, c. which shows that you do not | |
believe much in the Informations of those Optic glasses, at least think them | |
not so useful as others do that spend most of their time in Dioptrical | |
inspections. The truth is, My Lord, That most men in these latter times, busy | |
themselves more with other Worlds, then with this they live in, which to me | |
seems strange, unless they could find out some Art that would carry them into | |
those Gelestial Worlds, which I doubt will never be; nay, if they did, it would | |
be no better then Lucian's, or the French-mans Art, with Bottles, Bladders, c. | |
or like the mans that would scrue himself up into the Moon: And therefore I | |
confess, I have but little faith in such Arts, and as little in Telescopical, | |
Microscopical, and the like inspections, and prefer rational and judicious | |
Observations before deluding Glasses and Experiments; which, as I have more at | |
large declared in this following work, so I leave it to your Graces perusal and | |
judgment, which I know is so just, so exact, and so wise, that I may more | |
safely rely upon it, then all others besides; and if your Grace do but approve | |
of it, I care not if all the world condemn it; for your Graces Approbation is | |
all that can be desired from, | |
My Lord, Your Graces honest Wife, and humble Servant, M. N. | |
TO THE MOST FAMOUS UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDG. | |
Most Noble, and Eminently-Learned, | |
DO not judge it an Impertinency, that now again I presume to offer unto you | |
another piece of my Philosophical Works; for when I reflect upon the honour you | |
have done me, I am so much sensible of it, that I am troubled I cannot make you | |
an acknowledgment answerable to your great Civilities. | |
You might, if not with scorn, with silence have passed by, when one of our | |
Sex, and what is more, one that never was versed in the sublime Arts and | |
Sciences of literature, took upon her to write, not only of Philosophy, the | |
highest of all humane Learning, but to offer it to so famous and celebrated a | |
University as yours; but your Goodness and Civility being as great as your | |
Learning, would rather conceal, then discover or laugh at those weaknesses and | |
imperfections which you know our Sex is liable to; nay, so far you were from | |
this, that by your civil respects, and undeserved commendations, you were | |
pleased to cherish rather, then quite to suppress or extinguish my weak | |
endeavours. | |
For which Favour, as I found my self doubly indebted to you, so I thought it | |
my duty to pay you my double acknowledgments; Thanks, you know, can never be | |
unseasonable, when petitions may; neither can they be unpleasing, when | |
petitions often are troublesome; and since there is no sacrifice, which God is | |
more delighted with, then that of Thanks-giving, I live in hopes you will not | |
refuse this repeated offer of Gratitude, but favourably, as a due to your | |
Merits, receive it from her, who both of your Ingenuity, Learning and Civility | |
is the greatest admirer, and shall always profess her self, | |
Your most Obliged and Devoted Servant. | |
THE PREFACE TO THE ENSUING TREATISE. | |
TIs probable, some will say, that my much writing is a disease; but what | |
disease they will judge it to be, I cannot tell; I do verily believe they will | |
take it to be a disease of the Brain, but surely they cannot call it an | |
Apoplexical or Lethargical disease: Perhaps they will say, it is an | |
extravagant, or at least a Fantastical disease; but I hope they will rather | |
call it a disease of wit. But, let them give it what name they please, yet of | |
this I am sure, that if much writing be a disease, then the best Philosophers, | |
both Moral and Natural, as also the best Divines, Lawyers, Physicians, Poets, | |
Historians, Orators, Mathematicians, Chemists, and many more have been | |
grievously sick, and Seneca, Plinius, Aristotle, Cicero, Tacitus, Plutarch, | |
Euclid, Homer, Virgil, Ovid, St. Augustin. St. Ambrose, Scotus, Hippocrates, | |
Galen, Paracelsus, and hundreds more, have been at deaths door with the disease | |
of writing; but to be infected with the same disease, which the devoutest, | |
wisest, wittiest, subtilest, most learned and eloquent men have been troubled | |
withal, is no disgrace, but the greatest honour, even to the most ambitious | |
person in the world: and next to the honour of being thus infected, it is also | |
a great delight and pleasure to me, as being the only Pastime which employs my | |
idle hours; in so much, that, were I sure no body did read my Works, yet I | |
would not quit my pastime for all this; for although they should not delight | |
others, yet they delight me; and if all Women that have no employment in | |
worldly affairs, should but spend their time as harmlesly as I do, they would | |
not commit such faults as many are accused of. | |
I confess, there are many useless and superfluous Books, and perchance mine | |
will add to the number of them; especially is it to be observed, that there | |
have been in this latter age, as many Writers of Natural Philosophy, as in | |
former ages there have been of Moral Philosophy; which multitude, I fear, will | |
produce such a confusion of Truth and Falsehood, as the number of Moral Writers | |
formerly did, with their over-nice divisions of Virtues and vices, whereby they | |
did puzle their Readers so, that they knew not how to distinguish between them. | |
The like, I doubt, will prove amongst our Natural Philosophers, who by their | |
extracted, or rather distracted arguments, confound both Divinity and Natural | |
Philosophy, Sense and Reason, Nature and Art, so much as in time we shall have | |
rather a Chaos, then a well-order'd Universe by their doctrine: Besides, many | |
of their Writings are but parcels taken from the ancient; but such Writers are | |
like those unconscionable men in Civil Wars, which endeavour to pull down the | |
hereditary Mansions of Noble-men and Gentlemen, to build a Cottage of their | |
own; for so do they pull down the learning of Ancient Authors, to render | |
themselves famous in composing Books of their own. But though this Age does | |
ruin Palaces, to make Cottages; Churches, to make Conventicles; and | |
Universities to make private Colleges; and endeavour not only to wound, but | |
to kill and bury the Fame of such meritorious Persons as the Ancient were, yet, | |
I, hope God of his mercy will preserve State, Church, and Schools, from ruin | |
and destruction; Nor do I think their weak works will be able to overcome the | |
strong wits of the Ancient; for setting aside some few of our Moderns, all the | |
rest are but like dead and withered leaves, in comparison to lovely and lively | |
Plants; and as for Arts, I am confident, that where there is one good Art found | |
in these latter ages, there are two better old Arts lost, both of the | |
Egyptians, Grecians, Romans, and many other ancient Nations; (when I say lost, | |
I mean in relation to our knowledge, not in Nature; for nothing can be lost in | |
Nature) Truly, the Art of Augury was far more beneficial then the lately | |
invented Art of Micrography; for I cannot perceive any great advantage this Art | |
doth bring us. Also the Eclipse of the Sun and Moon was not found out by | |
Telescopes, nor the motions of the Loadstone, nor the Art of the Card, nor the | |
Art of Guns and Gun-powder, nor the Art of Printing, and the like, by | |
Microscopes; nay, if it be true, that Telescopes make appear the spots in the | |
Sun and Moon, or discover some new Stars, what benefit is that to us? Or if | |
Microscopes do truly represent the exterior parts and superficies of some | |
minute Creatures, what advantages it our knowledge? For unless they could | |
discover their interior, corporeal, figurative motions, and the obscure actions | |
of Nature, or the causes which make such or such Creatures, I see no great | |
benefit or advantage they yield to man: Or if they discover how reflected light | |
makes loose and superficial Colours, such as no sooner perceived, but are again | |
dissolved; what benefit is that to man? For neither Painters nor Dyers can | |
enclose and mix that Atomical dust, and those reflections of light to serve | |
them for any use. Wherefore, in my opinion, it is both time and labour lost; | |
for the inspection of the exterior parts of Vegetables, doth not give us any | |
knowledge how to Sow, Set, Plant, and Graft; so that a Gardener or Husbandman | |
will gain no advantage at all by this Art: The inspection of a Be, through a | |
Microscope, will bring him no more Honey, nor the inspection of a grain more | |
Corn; neither will the inspection of dusty Atoms, and reflections of light, | |
teach Painters how to make and mix Colours, although it may perhaps be an | |
advantage to a decayed Ladies face, by placing her self in such or such a | |
reflection of Light, where the dusty Atoms may hide her wrinkles. The truth | |
is, most of these Arts are Fallacies, rather then discoveries of Truth; for | |
Sense deludes more then it gives a true Information, and an exterior inspection | |
through an Optic glass, is so deceiving, that it cannot be relied upon: | |
Wherefore Regular Reason is the best guide to all Arts, as I shall make it | |
appear in this following Treatise. | |
It may be the World will judge it a fault in me, that I oppose so many eminent | |
and ingenious Writers, but I do it not out of a contradicting or wrangling | |
nature, but out of an endeavour to find out truth, or at least the probability | |
of truth, according to that proportion of sense and reason Nature has bestowed | |
upon me; for as I have heard my Noble Lord say, that in the Art of Riding and | |
Fencing, there is but one Truth, but many Falsehoods and Fallacies: So it may be | |
said of Natural Philophy and Divinity; for there is but one Fundamental Truth | |
in each, and I am as ambitious of finding out the truth of Nature, as an | |
honourable Dueller is of gaining fame and repute; for as he will fight with | |
none but an honourable and valiant opposite, so am I resolved to argue with | |
none but those which have the renown of being famous and subtle Philosophers; | |
and therefore as I have had the courage to argue heretofore with some famous | |
and eminent Writers in Speculative Philosophy; so have I taken upon me in this | |
present work, to make some reflections also upon some of our Modern | |
Experimental and Dioptrical Writers. They will perhaps think my self an | |
inconsiderable opposite, because I am not of their Sex, and therefore strive to | |
hit my Opinions with a side stroke, rather covertly, then openly and directly; | |
but if this should chance, the impartial World, I hope, will grant me so much | |
Justice as to consider my honesty, and their fallacy, and pass such a judgment | |
as will declare them to be Patrons, not only to Truth, but also to Justice and | |
Equity; for which Heaven will grant them their reward, and time will record | |
their noble and worthy Actions in the Register of Fame, to be kept in | |
everlasting Memory. | |
TO THE READER. | |
Courteous Reader, | |
I Do ingeniously confess, that both for want of learning and reading | |
Philosophical Authors, I have not expressed my self in my Philosophical Works, | |
especially in my Philosophical and Physical Opinions, so clearly and plainly as | |
I might have done, had I had the assistance of Art, and the practice of reading | |
other Authors: But though my Conceptions seem not so perspicuous in the | |
mentioned Book of Philosophical Opinions; yet my Philosophical Letters, and | |
these present Observations, will, I hope, render it more intelligible, which I | |
have writ, not out of an ambitious humour, to fill the World with useless | |
Books, but to explain and illustrate my own Opinions; For what benefit would it | |
be to me, if I should put forth a work, which by reason of its obscure and hard | |
notious, could not be understood? especially, it is knowil, that Natural | |
Philosophy is the hardest of all humane learning, by reason it consists only | |
in Contemplation, and to make the Philosophical Conceptions of ones mind known | |
to others, is more difffcult then to make them believe, that if A. B. be equal | |
to C. D. then E. F. is equal to A. B. because it is equal to C. D. But as for | |
Learning, that I am not versed in it, no body, I hope, will blame me for it, | |
since it is sufficiently known, that our Sex is not bread up to it, as being | |
not suffered to be instructed in Schools and Universities; I will not say, but | |
many of our Sex may have as much wit, and be capable of Learning as well as | |
Men; but since they want Instructions, it is not possible they should attain to | |
it; for Learning is Artificial, but Wit is Natural. Wherefore, when I began to | |
read the Philosophical Works of other Authors, I was so troubled with their | |
hard words and expressions at first, that had they not been explained to me, | |
and had I not found out some of them by the context and connexion of the sense, | |
I should have been far enough to seek; for their hard words did more obstruct, | |
then instruct me. The truth is, if any one intends to write Philosophy, either | |
in English, or any other language; be ought to consider the propriety of the | |
language, as much as the Subject be writes of; or else to what purpose would it | |
be to write? If you do write Philosophy in English, and use all the hardest | |
words and expressions which none but Scholars are able to understand, you had | |
better to write it in Latin; but if you will write for those that do not | |
understand Latin, Your reason will tell you, that you must explain those hard | |
words, and English them in the easiest manner you can; What are words but marks | |
of things? and what are Philosophical Terms, but to express the Conceptions of | |
ones mind in that Science? And truly I do not think that there is any Language | |
so poor, which cannot do that; wherefore those that fill their writings with | |
hard words, put the horses behind the Coach, and instead of making hard things | |
easy, make easy things hard, which especially in our English writers is a | |
great fault; neither do I see any reason for it, but that they think to make | |
themselves more famous by those that admire all what they do not understand, | |
though it be Non-sense; but I am not of their mind, and therefore although I do | |
understand some of their hard expressions now, yet I shun them as much in my | |
writings as is possible for me to do, and all this, that they may be the better | |
understood by all, learned as well as unlearned; by those that are professed | |
Philosophers as well as by those that are none: And though I could employ some | |
time in studying all the hardest phrases and words in other Authors, and write | |
as learnedly perhaps as they; yet will I not deceive the World, nor trouble my | |
Conscience by being a Mountebanck in learning, but rather prove naturally wise | |
then artificially foolish; for at best I should but obscure my opinions, and | |
render them more intricate instead of clearing and explaining them; but if my | |
Readers should spy any errors slipped into my writings for want of art and | |
learning, I hope they'll be so just as not to censure me too severely for them, | |
but express their wisdom in preferring the kernel before the shells. | |
It is not possible that a young Student, when first he comes to the | |
University, should hope to be Master of Art in one Month, or one Year; and so | |
do I likewise not persuade my self, that my Philosophy being new, and but | |
lately brought forth, will at first fight prove Master of Understanding, nay, | |
it may be not in this age; but if God favour her, she may attain to it in | |
after-times and if she be slighted now and buried in silence, she may perhaps | |
rise more gloriously hereafter; for her Ground being Sense and Reason, She may | |
meet with an age where she will be more regarded, then she is in this. | |
But Courteous Reader, all what I request of you at present, is, That if you | |
have a mind to understand my Philosophical Conceptions truly, You would be | |
pleased to read them not by parcels, here a little, and there a little, (for I | |
have found it by my self, that when I read not a book thoroughly from beginning | |
to end, I cannot well understand the Authors design, but may easily mistake his | |
meaning; I mean such Books as treat of Philosophy, History, c. where all parts | |
depend upon each other,) But if you'll give an impartial judgment of my | |
Philosophy, read it all, or else spare your Censures; especially do I recommend | |
to you my Philosophical Opinions, which contain the Grounds and Principles of | |
my Philosophy, but since they were published before I was versed in the reading | |
of other Authors, I desire you to join my Philosophical Leters, and these | |
observations to them, which will serve as Commentaries to explain what may seem | |
obscure in the mentioned Opinions; but before all, read this following | |
Argumental Discourse wherein are contained the Principles and grounds of | |
Natural Philosophy, especially concerning the constitutive parts of Nature and | |
their properties and actions; as also be pleased to peruse the later discourse | |
of the first part of this Book, which treats of Perception; for Perception | |
being the chief and general action of Nature, has occasioned me to be more | |
prolix in explaining it, then any other subject; You'll find that I go much by | |
the way of argumentation, and framing objections and answers; for I would fain | |
hinder and obstruct as many objections as could be made against the grounds of | |
my Opinions; but since it is impossible to resolve all, for as Nature and her | |
parts and actions are infinite, so there may also endless objections be raised; | |
I have endeavoured only to set down such as I thought might be most material; | |
but this I find, that there is no objection but one may find an answer to it; | |
and as soon as I have made an answer to one objection, another offers it self | |
again, which shows not only that Natures actions are infinite, but that they | |
are poised and balanced so that they cannot run into extremes. | |
However I do not appland my self so much, as to think that my works can be | |
without errors, for Nature is not a Deity, but her parts are often irregular, | |
and how is it possible that one particular Creature can know all the obscure | |
and hidden infinite varieties of Nature? if the Truth of Nature were so easily | |
known, we had no need to take so much pains in searching after it; but Nature | |
being Material, and consequently dividable, her parts have but divided | |
knowledges, and none can claim a Universal infinite knowledge. Nevertheless, | |
although I may err in my arguments, or for want of artificial Terms; yet I | |
believe the Ground of my Opinions is True, because it is sense and reason. | |
I found after the perusal of this present book, that several places therein | |
might have been more perspicuously delivered, and better cleared; but since it | |
is impossible that all things can be so exact, that they should not be subject | |
to faults and imperfections; for as the greatest beauties are not without | |
moles, so the best Books are seldom without Errors; I entreat the ingenuous | |
Reader to interpret them to the best sense; for they are not so material, but | |
that either by the context or connexion of the whole discourse, or by a | |
comparing with other places, the true meaning thereof may easily be understood; | |
and to this end I have set down this following explanation of such places, as | |
in the perusal I have observed, whereby the rest may also easily be mended. | |
When I say, that Discourse shall sooner find out Natures t I. c. 2., 6. | |
Corporeal figurative Motions, then Art shall inform the Senses. By Discourse, | |
I do not mean speech, but an Arguing of the mind, or a Rational inquiry into | |
the Causes of Natural effects; for Discourse is as much as Reasoning with our | |
selves, which may very well be done without Speech or Language, as being only | |
an effect or action of Reason. | |
When I say, That Art may make Pewter, Brass, c. C. 3. page. 8. | |
I do not mean as if these Figures were Artificial, and not Natural; but my | |
meaning is, That if Art imitates Nature in producing of Artificial Figures, | |
they are most commonly such as are of mixed Natures, which I call | |
Hermaphroditical. | |
When I say, That Respiration is a Reception and C. 4. page. 15; | |
Emission of parts through the pores or passages proper to each particular | |
figure, so that when some parts issue, others enter; I do not mean at one and | |
the same time, or always through the same passages; for, as there is variety of | |
Natural Creatures and Figures, and of their perceptions; so of the manner of | |
their perceptions, and of their passages and pores; all which no particular | |
Creature is able exactly to know or determine: And therefore when I add in the | |
following Chapter, That Nature has more ways of composing and dividing of | |
parts, then by the way of drawing in, and sending forth by pores; I mean, that | |
not all parts of Nature have the like Respirations: The truth is, it is enough | |
to know in general, That there is Respiration in all parts of Nature, as a | |
general or universal action; and that this Respiration is nothing else but a | |
composition and division of Parts; but how particular Respirations are | |
performed, none but Infinite Nature is capable to know. | |
When I say, That there is a difference between Respiration C. 5. Page. 16. | |
and Perception; and that Perception is an action of figuring or patterning; | |
but Respiration an action of Reception and Emission of Parts: First, I do not | |
mean, that all Percaption is made by patterning or imitation; but I speak only | |
of the Perception of the exterior senses in Animals, at least in man, which I | |
observe to be made by patterning or imitation; for as no Creature can know the | |
infinite perceptions in Nature, so he cannot describe what they are, or how | |
they are made Next, I do not mean, that Respiration is not a Perceptive action; | |
for if Perception be a general and universal action in Nature, as well as | |
Respiration, both depending upon the composition and division of parts, it is | |
impossible but that all actions of Nature must be perceptive, by reason | |
perception is an exterior knowledge of foreign parts and actions; and there can | |
be no commerce or intercourse, nor no variety of figures and actions; no | |
productions, dissolutions, changes and the like, without Perception; for how | |
shall Parts work and act, without having some knowledge or perception of each | |
other? Besides, wheresoever is self-motion, there must of necessity be also | |
Perception; for self-motion is the cause of all exterior Perception. But my | |
meaning is, That the Animal, at least Humane respiration, which is a receiving | |
of foreign parts, and discharging or venting of its own in an animal or humane | |
Figure or Creature, is not the action of Animal Perception, properly so called; | |
that is, the perception of its exterior senses, as Seeing, Hearing, Tasting, | |
Touching, Smelling; which action of Perception is properly made by way of | |
patterning and imitation, by the innate, figurative motions of those Animal | |
Creatures, and not by receiving either the figures of the exterior objects into | |
the sensitive Organs, or by sending forth some invisible rays from the Organ | |
to the Object; nor by pressure and reaction. Nevertheless, as I said, every | |
action of Nature is a Knowing and Perceptive action; and so is Respiration, | |
which of necessity presupposes a knowledge of exterior parts, especially those | |
that are concerned in the same action, and can no ways be performed without | |
perception of each other. | |
When I say, That if all men's Opinions and Fancies Chap. 15. page. 44. | |
were Rational, there would not be such variety in Nature as we perceive there | |
is; by Rational I mean Regular, according to the vulgar way of expression, by | |
which a Rational Opinion is called, That which is grounded upon regular sense | |
and reason; and thus Rational is opposed to Irregular: Nevertheless, Irregular | |
Fancies and Opinions are made by the rational parts of matter, as well as those | |
that are regular; and therefore in a Philosophical and strict sense, one may | |
call Irregular Opinions as well Rational, as those that are Regular; but | |
according to the vulgar way of expression, as I said, it is sooner understood | |
of Regular, then of Irregular Opinions, Fancies or Conceptions. | |
When I say, that None of Natures parts can be C. 16. pa. 47. | |
called Inanimate, or Soul-less; I do not mean the constitutive parts of | |
Nature, which are, as it were, the Ingredients whereof Nature consists, and is | |
made up; whereof there is an inanimate part or degree of matter, as well as | |
animate; but I mean the parts or effects of this composed body of Nature, of | |
which I say, that none can be called inanimate; for though some Philosophers | |
think that nothing is animate, or has life in Nature, but Animals and | |
Vegetables; yet it is probable, that since Nature consists of a commixture of | |
animate and inanimate matter, and is self-moving, there can be no part or | |
particle of this composed body of Nature, were it an Atom, that may be called | |
Inanimate, by reason there is none that has not its share of animate, as well | |
as inanimate matter, and the commixture of these degrees being so close, it is | |
impossible one should be without the other. | |
When enumerating the requisites of the Perception of Cap. 20. Page. 63. | |
Sight in Animals, I say, that if one of them be wanting, there is either no | |
perception at all, or it is an imperfect perception; I mean, there is no Animal | |
perception of seeing, or else an irregular perception. | |
When I say, that as the sensitive perception knows Cap. 21. Page. 76. | |
some of the other parts of Nature by their effects; so the rational perceives | |
some effects of the Omnipotent Power of God; My meaning is not, as if the | |
sensitive part of matter hath no knowledge at all of God; for since all parts of | |
Nature, even the inanimate, have an innate and fixed self-knowledg, it is | |
probable that they may also have an interior self-knowledg of the existency of | |
the Eternal and Omnipotent God, as the Author of Nature: But because the | |
rational part is the subtilest, purest, finest and highest degree of matter; it | |
is most conformable to truth, that it has also the highest and greatest | |
knowledge of God, as far as a natural part can have; for God being Immaterial, | |
it cannot properly be said, that sense can have a perception of him, by reason | |
he is not subject to the sensitive perception of any Creature, or part of | |
Nature; and therefore all the knowledge which natural Creatures can have of God, | |
must be inherent in every part of Nature; and the perceptions which we have of | |
the Effects of Nature, may lead us to some conceptions of that Supernatural, | |
Infinite, and Incomprehensible Deity, not what it is in its Essence or Nature, | |
but that it is existent, and that Nature has a dependence upon it, as an | |
Eternal Servant has upon an Eternal Master. | |
But some might say, How is it possible that a Corporeal finite part, can have | |
a conception of an Incorporeal, infinite Being; by reason that which | |
comprehends, must needs be bigger then that which is comprehended? Besides, no | |
part of Nature can conceive beyond it self, that is, beyond what is Natural or | |
Material; and this proves, that at least the rational part, or the mind, must | |
be immaterial to conceive a Deity? To which I answer, That no part of Nature | |
can or does conceive the Essence of God, or what God is in himself; but it | |
conceives only, that there is such a Divine Being which is Supernatural: And | |
therefore it cannot be said, that a natural Figure can comprehend God; for it | |
is not the comprehending of the Substance of God, or its patterning out, (since | |
God having no Body, is without all Figure) that makes the knowledge of God; but | |
I do believe, that the knowledge of the existency of God, as I mentioned before, | |
is innate, and inherent in Nature, and all her parts, as much as self-knowledg | |
is. | |
Speaking of the difference between Oil and other liquors; Cap. 24. Page. 83. | |
for the better understanding of that place, I thought fit to insert this Note: | |
Flame is fluid, but not liquid, nor wet: Oil is fluid and liquid, but not wet; | |
but Water is both fluid, liquid and wet. Oil will turn into flame, and increase | |
it; but Water is so quite opposite to flame, that if a sufficient quantity be | |
poured upon it, it will totally extinguish it. | |
When I say, that Sense and Reason shall be the Cap. 25. Page. 93. | |
Ground of my Philosophy, and not particular natural effects; My meaning is, | |
that I do not intend to make particular Creatures or Figures, the Principles of | |
all the infinite effects of Nature, as some other Philosophers do; for there is | |
no such thing as a Prime or principal Figure of Nature, all being but effects | |
of one Cause. But my Ground is Sense and Reason, that is, I make self-moving | |
matter, which is sensitive and rational, the only cause and principle of all | |
natural effects. | |
When 'tis said, That Ice, Snow, Hail, c. return Cap. 27. Page. 100. | |
into their former Figure of Water, whenever they dissolve; I mean, when they | |
dissolve their exterior Figures, that is, change their actions. | |
When I say, That the Exterior Object is the Agent, Cap. 29. Page. 126. | |
and the Sentient Body the Patient; I do not mean that the Object does chiefly | |
work upon the Sentient, or is the immediate cause of the Perception in the | |
Sentient body, and that the Sentient suffers the Agent to act upon it; but I | |
retain only those words, because they are used in Schools; But as for their | |
actions, I am quite of a contrary Opinion, to wit, That the sentient body is | |
the principal Agent, and the external body the Patient; for the motions of the | |
sentient in the act of perception, do figure out or imitate the motions of the | |
object, so that the object is but as a Copy that is figured out, or imitated by | |
the sentient, which is the chiefly Agent in all transforming and perceptive | |
actions that are made by way of patterning or imitation. | |
When I say, That one finite part can undergo infinite Cap. 31. Page. 136. | |
changes and alterations; I do not mean one single part, whereof there is no | |
such thing in nature; but I mean, one part may be infinitely divided and | |
composed with other parts; for as there are infinite changes, compositions and | |
divisions in Nature, so they must be of parts; there being no variety but of | |
parts; and though parts be finite, yet the changes may be infinite; for the | |
finiteness of parts is but concerning the bulk or quantity of their figures; | |
and they are called finite, by reason they have limited and circumscribed | |
figures; nevertheless, as for duration, their parts being the same with the | |
body of Nature, are as eternal, and infinite as Nature her self, and thus are | |
subject to infinite and eternal changes. | |
When I say, A World of Gold is as active interiously, Ibid. P. 140. | |
as a world of Air is exteriously; I mean, it is as much subject to changes and | |
alterations as Air; for Gold though its motions are not perceptible by our | |
exterior senses, yet it has no less motion then the activest body of Nature; | |
only its motions are of another kind then the motions of Air, or of some other | |
bodies; for Retentive motions are as much motions, as dispersing or some other | |
sorts of motions, although not so visible to our perception as these; and | |
therefore we cannot say that Gold is more at rest than other Creatures of | |
Nature; for there is no such thing as Rest in Nature; although there be degrees | |
of Motion. | |
When I say, That the parts of Nature do not Cap. 31. Page. 138, | |
drive or press upon each other, but that all natural actions are free and | |
easy, and not constrained; My meaning is not, as if there was no pressing or | |
driving of parts at all in Nature, but only that they are not the universal or | |
principal actions of Natures body, as it is the opinion of some Philosophers, | |
who think there is no other motion in nature, but by pressure of parts upon | |
parts: Nevertheless, there is pressure and reaction in Nature, because there | |
are infinite sorts of motions. | |
Also when I say in the same place, That Natures actions are voluntary; I do | |
not mean, that all actions are made by rote, and none by imitation; but by | |
voluntary actions I understand self-actions; that is, such actions whose | |
principle of motion is within themselves, and doth not proceed from such an | |
exterior Agent, as doth the motion of the inanimate part of matter, which | |
having no motion of it self, is moved by the animate parts, yet so, that it | |
receives no motion from them, but moves by the motion of the animate parts, and | |
not by an infused motion into them; for the animate parts in carrying the | |
inanimate along with them, lose nothing of their own motion, nor impart no | |
motion to the inanimate; no more than a man who carries a stick in his hand, | |
imparts motion to the stick, and loses so much as he imparts; but they bear the | |
inanimate parts along with them, by virtue of their own self-motion, and remain | |
self-moving parts, as well as the inanimate remain without motion. | |
Again, when I make a distinguishment between voluntary Cap. 37. Page. 212. | |
actions, and exterior perceptions; my meaning is not, as if voluntary actions | |
were not made by perceptive parts; for whatsoever is self-moving and active, is | |
perceptive; and therefore since the voluntary actions of Sense and Reason are | |
made by self-moving parts, they must of necessity be perceptive actions; but I | |
speak of Perceptions properly so called, which are occasioned by Foreign | |
parts; and to those I oppose voluntary actions, which are not occasioned, but | |
made by rote; as for example, the perception of sight in Animals, when outward | |
Objects present themselves to the Optic sense to be perceived, the perception | |
of the Sentient is an occasioned perception; but whenever, either in dreams, | |
or in distempers, the sensitive motions of the same Organ, make such or such | |
figures, without any presentation of exterior objects, then that action cannot | |
properly be called an exterior perception; but it is a voluntary action of the | |
sensitive motions in the organ of sight, not made after an outward pattern, but | |
by rote, and of their own accord. | |
When I say, That Ignorance is caused by division, Cap. 9. p. 33. | |
and knowledge by composition of parts; I do not mean an interior, innate | |
self-knowledg, which is, and remains in every part and particle of Nature, both | |
in composition and division; for wheresoever is matter, there is life and | |
self-knowledg; nor can a part lose selfknowledg, any more then it can lose | |
life, although it may change from having such or such a particular life and | |
knowledge; for to change and lose, are different things; but I mean an exterior, | |
perceptive knowledge of foreign parts, caused by self-motion, of which I say, | |
that as a union or combination of parts, makes knowledge, so a division or | |
separation of parts, makes Ignorance. | |
When I say, There's difference of Sense and Reason Cap. 15. p. 49 | |
in the parts of one composed Figure; I mean not, as if there were different | |
degrees of sense, and different degrees of Reason in their own substance or | |
matter; for sense is but sense, and reason is but reason; but my meaning is, | |
That there are different, sensitive and rational motions, which move | |
differently in the different parts of one composed Creature. | |
These are (Courteous Reader) the scruples which I thought might puzle your | |
understanding in this present Work, which I have cleared in the best manner I | |
could; and if you should meet with any other of the like nature, my request is, | |
You would be pleased to consider well the Grounds of my Philosophy; and as I | |
desired of you before, read all before you pass your Judgments and Censures; | |
for then, I hope, you'll find but few obstructions, since one place will give | |
you an explanation of the other. In doing thus, you'll neither wrong your self, | |
nor injure the Authoress, who should be much satisfied, if she could benesit | |
your knowledge in the least; if not, she has done her endeavour, and takes as | |
much pleasure and delight in writing and divulging the Conceptions of her mind, | |
as perhaps some malicious persons will do in censuring them to the worst. | |
AN Argumental Discourse | |
Concerning some Principal Subjects in Natural Philosophy, necessary for the | |
better understanding, not only of this, but all other Philosophical Works, | |
hitherto written by the AUTHOEESSE. | |
WHen I was setting forth this Book of Experimental Observations, a Dispute | |
chanced to arise between the rational Parts of my Mind concerning some chief | |
Points and Principles in Natural Philosophy; for some New Thoughts endeavouring | |
to oppose and call in question the Truth of my former Conceptions, caused a war | |
in my mind, which in time grew to that height, that they were hardly able to | |
compose the differences between themselves, but were in a manner necessitated | |
to refer them to the Arbitration of the impartial Reader, desiring the | |
assistance of his judgment to reconcile their Controversies, and, if possible, | |
to reduce them to a settled peace and agreement. | |
The first difference did arise about the question, How it came, that Matter | |
was of several degrees, as Animate and Inanimate, Sensitive and Rational? for | |
my latter thoughts would not believe that there was any such difference of | |
degrees of Matter: To which my former conceptions answered, That Nature, being | |
Eternal and Infinite, it could not be known how she came to be such, no more | |
then a reason could be given how God came to be: for Nature, said they, is the | |
Infinite Servant of God, and her origin cannot be described by any finite or | |
particular Creature; for what is infinite, has neither beginning nor end; but | |
that Natural Matter consisted of so many degrees as mentioned, was evidently | |
perceived by her effects or actions; by which it appeared first, that Nature | |
was a self-moving body, and that all her parts and Creatures were so too: Next, | |
That there was not only an animate or self-moving and active, but also an | |
inanimate, that is, a dull and passive degree of Matter; for if there were no | |
animate degree, there would be no motion, and so no action nor variety of | |
figures; and if no inanimate, there would be no degrees of natural figures and | |
actions, but all actions would be done in a moment, and the figures would all | |
be so pure, fine and subtle, as not to be subject to any grosser perception | |
such as our humane, or other the like perceptions are. This Inanimate part of | |
Matter, said they, had no self-motion, but was carried along in all the actions | |
of the animate degree, and so was not moving, but moved; which Animate part of | |
Matter being again of two degrees, viz. Sensitive and Rational, the Rational | |
being so pure, fine and subtle, that it gave only directions to the sensitive, | |
and made figures in its own degree, left the working with and upon the | |
Inanimate part, to the Sensitive degree of Matter, whose Office was to execute | |
both the rational parts design, and to work those various figures that are | |
perceived in Nature; and those three degrees were so inseparably comixed in the | |
body of Nature, that none could be without the other in any part or Creature of | |
Nature, could it be divided to an Atom; for as in the Exstruction of a house | |
there is first required an Architect or Surveigher, who orders and designs the | |
building, and puts the Labourers to work; next the Labourers or Workmen | |
themselves, and lastly the Materials of which the House is built: so the | |
Rational part, said they, in the framing of Natural Effects, is, as it were, | |
the Surveigher or Architect; the Sensitive, the labouring or working part, and | |
the Inanimate, the materials, and all these degrees are necessarily required in | |
every composed action of Nature. | |
To this, my latter thoughts excepted, that in probability of sense and reason, | |
there was no necessity of introducing an inanimate degree of Matter; for all | |
those parts which we call gross, said they, are no more but a composition of | |
self-moving parts, whereof some are denser, and some rarer then others; and we | |
may observe, that the denser parts are as active, as the rarest; for example, | |
Earth is as active as Air or Light, and the parts of the Body are as active, as | |
the parts of the Soul or Mind, being all self-moving, as it is perceiveable by | |
their several, various compositions, divisions, productions and alterations; | |
nay, we do see, that the Earth is more active in the several productions and | |
alterations of her particulars, then what we name Celestial Lights, which | |
observation is a firm argument to prove, that all Matter is animate or | |
self-moving, only there are degrees of motion, that some parts move flower, | |
and some quicker. | |
Hereupon my former Thoughts answered, that the difference consisted not only | |
in the grossness, but in the dullness of the Inanimate parts; and that, since | |
the sensitive animate parts were labouring on, and with the inanimate, if these | |
had self-motion, and that-their motion was flower then that of the animate | |
parts, they would obstruct, cross and oppose each other in all their actions, | |
for the one would be too slow, and the other too quick. | |
The latter Thoughts replied, that this slowness and quickness of motion would | |
cause no obstruction at all; for, said they, a man that rides on a Horse is | |
carried away by the Horses motion, and has nevertheless also his own motions | |
himself; neither does the Horse and Man transfer or exchange motion into each | |
other, nor do they hinder or obstruct one another. | |
The former Thoughts answered, it was True, that Motion could not be | |
transferred from one body into another without Matter or substance; and that | |
several self-moving parts might be joined, and each act a part without the | |
least hinderance to one another; for not all the parts of one composed Creature | |
(for example Man) were bound to one and the same action; and this was an | |
evident proof that all Creatures were composed of parts, by reason of their | |
different actions; nay, not only of parts, but of self-moving parts: also they | |
confessed, that there were degrees of motion, as quickness and slowness, and | |
that the slowest motion was as much motion as the quickest. But yet, said they, | |
this does not prove, that Nature consists not of Inanimate Matter as well as of | |
Animate; for it is one thing to speak of the parts of the composed and mixed | |
body of Nature, and another thing to speak of the constitutive parts of Nature, | |
which are, as it were, her ingredients of which Nature is made up as one entire | |
self-moving body; for sense and reason does plainly perceive, that some parts | |
are more dull, and some more lively, subtle and active; the Rational parts are | |
more agil, active, pure and subtle then the sensitive; but the Inanimate have | |
no activity, subtilty and agility at all, by reason they want self-motion; nor | |
no perception, for self-motion is the cause of all perception; and this | |
Triumvirate of the degrees of Matter, said they, is so necessary to balance | |
and poise Natures actions, that otherwise the creatures which Nature produces, | |
would all be produced alike, and in an instant; for example, a Child in the | |
Womb would as suddenly be framed, as it is figured in the mind; and a man would | |
be as suddenly dissolved as a thought: But sense and reason perceives that it | |
is otherwise; to wit, that such figures as are made of the grosser parts of | |
Matter, are made by degrees, and not in an instant of time, which does | |
manifestly evince, that there is and must of necessity be such a degree of | |
Matter in Nature as we call Inanimate; for surely although the parts of Nature | |
are infinite, and have infinite actions, yet they cannot run into extremes, but | |
are balanced by their opposites, so that all parts cannot be alike rare or | |
dense, hard or soft, dilating or contracting, c. but some are dense, some rare, | |
some hard, some soft, some dilative, some contractive, c. by which the actions | |
of Nature are kept in an equal balance from running into extremes. But put the | |
case, said they, it were so, that Natures body consisted altogether of Animate | |
Matter, or corporeal self-motion, without an intermixture of the inanimate | |
parts, we are confident that there would be framed as many objections against | |
that opinion as there are now against the inanimate degree of Matter; for | |
disputes are endless, and the more answers you receive, the more objections you | |
will find; and the more objections you make, the more answers you will receive; | |
and even shows, that Nature is balanced by opposites: for, put the case, the | |
Inanimate parts of Matter were self-moving; then first there would be no such | |
difference between the rational and sensitive parts as now there is; but every | |
part, being self-moving, would act of, and in it self, that is, in its own | |
substance as now the rational part of Matter does: Next, if the inanimate part | |
was of a slower motion then the rational and sensitive, they would obstruct | |
each other in their actions, for one would be too quick, and the other too | |
slow; neither would the quicker motion alter the nature of the slower, or the | |
slower retard the quicker; for the nature of each must remain as it is; or else | |
it would be thus, then the animate part might become inanimate, and the | |
rational the sensitive, c. which is impossible, and against all sense and | |
reason. | |
At this declaration of my former Thoughts, the latter appeared somewhat better | |
satisfied, and had almost yielded to them, but that they had yet some scruples | |
left, which hindered them from giving a full assent to my former rational | |
conceptions. First they asked, how it was possible, that that part of Matter | |
which had no innate self-motion, could be moved? for, said they, if it be | |
moved, it must either be moved by its own motion, or by the motion of the | |
animate part of Matter: by its own motion it cannot move, because it has none; | |
but if it be moved by the motion of the animate, then the animate must of | |
necessity transfer motion into it: that so, being not able to move by an innate | |
motion, it might move by a communicated motion. | |
The former Thoughts answered, that they had resolved this question heretofore | |
by the example of a Horse and a Man, where the Man was moved and carried along | |
by the Horse, without any Communication or Translation of motion from the Horse | |
into the Man; also a Stick, said they, carried in a Man's hand, goes along with | |
the man, without receiving any motion from his hand. | |
My latter Thoughts replied, That a Man and a Stick were parts or Creatures of | |
Nature, which consist of a commixture of Animate or self-moving Matter, and | |
that they did move by their own motions, even at the time when they were | |
carried along by other parts; but with the Inanimate part of Matter it was not | |
so; for it having no self-motion, could no ways move. | |
You say well, answered my former Thoughts, that all the parts of Nature, | |
whenever they move, move by their own motions; which proves, that no | |
particular Creature or effect of composed Nature, can act upon another, but | |
that one can only occasion another to move thus or thus; as in the mentioned | |
example, the Horse does not move the man, but occasions him only to move after | |
such or such a manner; also the hand does not move the Stick, but is only an | |
occasion that the Stick moves thus, for the Stick moves by its own motion. | |
But as we told you before, this is to be understood of the parts of the | |
composed body of Nature, which as they are Natures Creatures and Effects, so | |
they consist also of a commixture of the forementioned degrees of animate and | |
inanimate Matter; but our discourse is now of those parts which do compose the | |
body of Nature, and make it what it is: And as of the former parts none can be | |
said moved, but all are moving, as having self-motion within them; so the | |
inanimate part of Matter considered as it is an ingredient of Nature, is no | |
ways moving, but always moved: The former parts, being effects of the body of | |
Nature, for distinctions sake may be called Effective parts; but these, that | |
is; the Animate and Inanimate, may be called constitutive parts of Nature: | |
Those follow the composition of Nature, but these are the Essential parts, | |
which constitute the body of Nature; whereof the Animate, by reason of their | |
self-motion, are always active and perceptive; but the Inanimate is neither | |
active nor perceptive, but dull and passive; and you may plainly perceive it, | |
added my former thoughts, by the alleged example; for as the Stick has no | |
animal motion, and yet is carried along by and with the animal wheresoever it | |
goes; so the Inanimate Matter, although it has no motion at all, yet it goes | |
along with the animate parts wheresoever they'll have it; the only difference | |
is this, as we told you before, that the Stick being composed of animate as | |
well as inanimate Matter, cannot properly be said moved, but occasioned to such | |
a motion by the animal that carries it, when as the inanimate part cannot be | |
said occasioned, but moved. | |
My later Thoughts replied, That the alleged example of the carried Stick, | |
could give them no full satisfaction as yet; for, said they, put the case the | |
Stick had its own motion, yet it has not a visible, exterior, local, | |
progressive motion, such as Animals have, and therefore it must needs receive | |
that motion from the animal that carries it; for nothing can be occasioned to | |
that which it has not in it self. | |
To which the former answered first, that although animals had a visible | |
exterior progressive motion, yet not all progressive motion was an animal | |
motion: Next, they said, that some Creatures did often occasion others to alter | |
their motions from an ordinary, to an extraordinary effect; and if it be no | |
wonder, said they, that Cheese, Roots, Fruits, c. produce Worms, why should it | |
be a wonder for an Animal to occasion a visible progressive motion in a | |
vegetable or mineral, or any other sort of Creature? For each natural action, | |
said they, is local, were it no more then the stirring of a hairs breadth, nay, | |
of an Atom; and all composition and division, contraction, dilation, nay, even | |
retention, are local motions; for there is no thing in so just a measure, but | |
it will vary more or less; nay, if it did not to our perception, yet we cannot | |
from thence infer that it does not at all; for our perception is too weak and | |
gross to perceive all the subtle actions of Nature; and if so, then certainly | |
Animals are not the only Creatures that have local motion, but there is local | |
motion in all parts of Nature. | |
Then my later Thoughts asked, that if every part of Nature moved by its own | |
inherent self-motion, and that there was no part of the composed body of Nature | |
which was not self-moving, how it came, that Children could not go so soon as | |
born? also, if the selfmoving part of Matter was of two degrees, sensitive and | |
rational, how it came that Children could not speak before they are taught? and | |
if it was perceptive, how it came that Children did not understand so soon as | |
born? | |
To which the former answered, That although there was no part of Matter that | |
was figureless, yet those figures that were composed by the several parts of | |
Matter, such as are named natural Creatures, were composed by degrees, and some | |
compositions were sooner perfected then others, and some sorts of such figures | |
or Creatures were not so soon produced or strengthened as others; for example, | |
most of four legged Creatures, said they, can go, run and skip about so soon as | |
they are parted from the Dam, that is, so soon as they are born; also they can | |
suck, understand, and know their Dam's, when as a Bird can neither feed it | |
self, nor fly so soon as it is hatched, but requires some time before it can | |
hop on its legs, and be able to fly; but a Butterfly can fly so soon as it | |
comes out of the shell; by which we may perceive, that all figures are not | |
alike, either in their composing, perfecting or dissolving, no more then they | |
are alike in their shapes, forms, understanding, c. for if they were, then | |
little Puppies and Kitlings would see, so soon as born, as many other Creatures | |
do, when as now they require nine days after their birth before they can see; | |
and as for speech, although it be most proper to the shape of Man, yet he must | |
first know or learn a language before he can speak it; and although when the | |
parts of his mind, like the parts of his body, are brought to maturity, that | |
is, to such a regular degree of perfection as belongs to his figure, he may | |
make a language of his own; yet it requires time, and cannot be done in an | |
instant: The truth is, although speech be natural to man, yet language must be | |
learned; and as there are several selfactive parts, so there are several | |
Languages; and by reason the actions of some parts can be imitated by other | |
parts, it causes that we name learning not only in Speech, but in many other | |
things. | |
Concerning the question why Children do not understand so soon as born: They | |
answered, that as the sensitive parts of Nature did compose the bulk of | |
Creatures, that is, such as were usually named bodies; and as some Creatures | |
bodies were not finished or perfected so soon as others, so the self-moving | |
parts, which by conjunction and agreement composed that which is named the mind | |
of Man, did not bring it to the perfection of an Animal understanding so soon | |
as some Beasts are brought to their understanding, that is, to such an | |
understanding as was proper to their figure. But this is to be noted, said | |
they, that although Nature is in a perpetual motion, yet her actions have | |
degrees, as well as her parts, which is the reason, that all her productions | |
are done in that which is vulgarly named Time; that is, they are not executed | |
at once, or by one act: In short, as a House is not finished, until it be | |
thoroughly built, nor can be thoroughly furnished until it be thoroughly finished; | |
so is the strength and understanding of Man, and all other Creatures; and as | |
perception requires Objects, so learning requires practice; for though Nature | |
is self-knowing, self-moving, and so perceptive; yet her self-knowing, | |
self-moving, and perceptive actions, are not all alike, but differ variously; | |
neither doth she perform all actions at once, otherwise all her Creatures would | |
be alike in their shapes, forms, figures, knowledges, perceptions, productions, | |
dissolutions, c. which is contradicted by experience. | |
After this my later Thoughts asked, how it came that the Inanimate part of | |
Matter had more degrees then the Animate? | |
The former answered, That, as the Animate part had but two degrees, to wit, | |
the sensitive and rational, so the Inanimate was but grosser and purer; and as | |
for density, rarity, softness, hardness, c. they were nothing but various | |
compositions and divisions of parts, or particular effects; nor was it density | |
or hardness that made grossness; and thinness or rarity of parts that made | |
fineness and purity; for Gold is more dense then dross, and yet is more pure | |
and fine; but this is most probable, said they, that the rarest compositions | |
are most suddenly altered; nor can the grossness and fineness of the parts of | |
Nature be without Animate and Inanimate Matter; for the dullness of one degree | |
poises the activity of the other; and the grossness of one, the purity of the | |
other; all which keeps Nature from extremes. | |
But replied my later Thonght, You say that there are infinite degrees of | |
hardness, thickness, thinness, density, rarity, c. | |
Truly, answered the former, if you'll call them degrees, you may; for so there | |
may be infinite degrees of Magnitude, as bigger and bigger, but these degrees | |
are nothing else but the effects of self-moving Matter, made by a composition | |
of parts, and cannot be attributed to one single part, there being no such | |
thing in Nature; b they belong to the infinite parts of Nature, joined in one | |
body; and as for Matter it self, there are no more degrees, but animate and | |
inanimate; that is, a self-moving, active and perceptive, and a dull, passive, | |
and moved degree. | |
My later Thoughts asked, since Natures parts were so closely joined in one | |
body, how it was possible that there could be finite, and not single parts? | |
The former answered, That finite and single parts were not all one and the | |
same; for single parts, said they, are such as can subsist by themselves; | |
neither can they properly be called parts, but are rather finite wholes; for it | |
is a mere contradiction to say single parts, they having no reference to each | |
other, and consequently not to the body of Nature; But what we call finite | |
Parts, are nothing else but several corporeal figurative motions, which make | |
all the difference that is between the figures or parts of Nature, both in | |
their kinds, sorts and particulars: And thus finite and particular parts are | |
all one, called thus, by reason they have limited and circumscribed figures, by | |
which they are discerned from each other, but not single figures, for they are | |
all joined in one body, and are parts of one infinite whole, which is Nature; | |
and these figures being all one and the same with their parts of Matter, change | |
according as their parts change, that is, by composition and division; for were | |
Nature an Atom, and material, that Atom would have the properties of a body, | |
that is, be dividable and composable, and so be subject to infinite changes, | |
although it were not infinite in bulk. | |
My later Thoughts replied, That if a finite body could have infinite | |
compositions and divisions, then Nature need not to be infinite in bulk or | |
quantity; besides, said they, it is against sense and reason that a finite | |
should have infinite effects. | |
The former answered first, As for the infiniteness of Nature, it was certain | |
that Nature consisted of infinite parts; which if so, she must needs also be of | |
an infinite bulk or quantity; for where soever is an infinite number of parts | |
or figures, there must also be an infinite whole, since a whole and its parts | |
differ not really, but only in the manner of our conception; for when we | |
conceive the parts of Nature as composed in one body, and inseparable from it, | |
the composition of them is called a whole; but when we conceive their different | |
figures, actions and changes, and that they are dividable from each other, or | |
amongst themselves, we call them parts; for by this one part is discerned from | |
the other part; as for example, a Mineral from a Vegetable, a Vegetable from an | |
Element, an Element from an Animal, c. and one part is not another part; but | |
yet these parts are, and remain still parts of infinite Nature, and cannot be | |
divided into single parts, separated from the body of Nature, although they may | |
be divided amongst themselves infinite ways by the selfmoving power of Nature. | |
In short, said they, a whole is nothing but a composition of parts, and parts | |
are nothing but a division of the whole. | |
Next, as for the infinite compositions and divisions of a finite whole, said | |
they, it is not probable that a finite can have infinite effects, or can be | |
actually divided into infinite parts; but yet a body cannot but have the | |
proprieties of a body as long as it lasts; and therefore if a finite body | |
should last eternally, it would eternally retain the effects, or rather | |
proprieties of a body, that is, to be dividable and composable; and if it have | |
self-motion, and was actually divided and composed, then those compositions and | |
divisions of its parts would be eternal too; but what is eternal is infinite, | |
and therefore in this sense one cannot say amiss, but that there might be | |
eternal compositions and divisions of the parts of a finite whole; for | |
wheresoever is self-motion there is no rest: But, mistake us not, for we do not | |
mean divisions or compositions into single or infinite parts, (...) perpetual | |
and eternal change and self-motion of the parts of that finite body or whole | |
amongst themselves. | |
But because we speak now of the parts of Infinite Nature, which are Infinite | |
in number, though finite, or rather distinguished by their figures; It is | |
certain, said they, that there being a perpetual and eternal selfmotion in all | |
parts of Nature, and their number being infinite, they must of necessity be | |
subject to infinite changes, compositions, and divisions; not only as for | |
their duration, or eternal self-motion, but as for the number of their parts; | |
for parts cannot remove but from and to parts; and as soon as they are removed | |
from such parts, they join to other parts, which is nothing else but a | |
composition and division of parts; and this composition and division of the | |
Infinite parts of Nature, hinders that there are no actual divisions or | |
compositions of a finite part, because the one counterbalances the other; for | |
if by finite you understand a single part, there can be no such thing in | |
Nature, since what we call the finiteness of parts, is nothing else but the | |
difference and change of their figures, caused by self-motion; and therefore | |
when we say Infinite Nature consists of an infinite number of finite parts, we | |
mean of such parts as may be distinguished or discerned from each other by | |
their several figures; which figures are not constant, but change perpetually | |
in the body of Nature; so that there can be no constant figure allowed to no | |
part, although some do last longer then others. | |
Then my later Thoughts desired to know, whether there were not degrees of | |
Motion, as well as there are of Matter? | |
The former answered, That without question there were degrees of motion; for | |
the rational parts were more agil, quick and subtle in their corporeal actions | |
then the sensitive, by reason they were of a purer and finer degree of Matter, | |
and free from labouring on the inanimate parts: but withal they told them, that | |
the several different and opposite actions of Nature hindered each other from | |
running into extremes: And as for the degrees of Matter, there could not | |
possibly be more then Animate and Inanimate, neither could any degree go beyond | |
Matter, so as to become immaterial. The truth is, said they, to balance the | |
actions of Nature, it cannot be otherwise, but there must be a Passive degree | |
of Matter, opposite to the active; which passive part is that we call | |
Inanimate; for though they are so closely intermixed in the body of Nature, that | |
they cannot be separated from each other, but by the power of God; | |
nevertheless, sense and reason may perceive that they are distinct degrees, by | |
their distinct and different actions, and may distinguish them so far, that one | |
part is not another part, and that the actions of one degree are not the | |
actions of the other. Wherefore as several self-moving parts may be joined in | |
one composed body, and may either act differently without hinderance and | |
obstruction to each other, or may act jointly and agreeably to one effect; so | |
may the sensitive parts carry or bear along with them the inanimate parts, | |
without either transferring and communicating motion to them, or without any | |
co-operation or selfaction of the inanimate parts; and as for Matter, as there | |
can be no fewer degrees then Animate and Inanimate, sensitive and rational; so | |
neither can there be more; for as we mentioned heretofore, were there nothing | |
but animate or self-moving Matter in Nature, the parts of Nature would be too | |
active and quick in their several productions, alterations and dissolutions, | |
and all things would be as soon made, as thoughts. Again, were there no | |
Inanimate degree of Matter, the sensitive corporeal motions would retain the | |
figures or patterns of exterior objects, as the rational do; which yet we | |
perceive otherwise; for so soon as the object is removed, the sensitive | |
perception is altered; and though the sensitive parts can work by rote, as in | |
dreams and some distempers, yet their voluntary actions are not so exact, as | |
their Exterior perceptive actions, nor altogether and always so regular as the | |
rational; and the reason is, that they are bound to bear the inanimate parts | |
along with them in all their actions. Also were there no degree of Inanimate | |
Matter, Natures actions would run into extremes; but because all her actions | |
are balanced by opposites, they hinder both extremes in Nature, and produce | |
all that Harmonious variety that is found in Natures parts. | |
But said my later Thoughts, wheresoever is such an opposition and crossing of | |
actions, there can be no harmony, concord or agreement, and consequently no | |
orderly productions, dissolutions, changes and alterations, as in Nature we | |
perceive there be. | |
The former answered, That though the actions of Nature were different and | |
opposite to each other, yet they did cause no disturbance in Nature, but they | |
were ruled and governed by Natures wisdom; for Nature being peaceable in her | |
self, would not suffer her actions to disturb her Government; wherefore | |
although particulars were crossing and opposing each other, yet she did govern | |
them with such wisdom and moderation, that they were necessitated to obey her | |
and move according as she would have them; but sometimes they would prove | |
extravagant and refractory, and hence came that we call Irregularities. The | |
truth is, said they, contrary and opposite actions are not always at war; for | |
example, two men may meet each other contrary ways, and one may not only stop | |
the other from going forward, but even draw him back again the same way he | |
came; and this may be done with love and kindness, and with his good will, and | |
not violently by power and force: The like may be in some actions of Nature. | |
Nevertheless, we do not deny, but there is many times force and power used | |
between particular parts of Nature, so that some do over-power others, but this | |
causes no disturbance in Nature; for if we look upon a well-ordered Government, | |
we find that the particulars are often at strife and difference with each | |
other, when as yet the Government is as orderly and peaceable as can be. | |
My later thoughts replied, That although the several and contrary actions in | |
Nature did not disturb her Government, yet they moving severally in one | |
composed figure at one and the same time, proved that Motion, Figure and Body | |
could not be one and the same thing. | |
The former answered, That they had sufficiently declared heretofore that | |
Matter was either moving, or moved: viz. That the Animate part was self-moving, | |
and the Inanimate moved, or carried along with, and by the Animate; and these | |
degrees or parts of Matter were so closely intermixed in the body of Nature, | |
that they could not be separated from each other, but did constitute but one | |
body, not only in general, but also in every particular; so that not the least | |
part (if least could be) nay, not that which some call an Atom, was without | |
this commixture; for wheresoever was Inanimate, there was also Animate Matter; | |
which Animate Matter was nothing else but corporeal self-motion, and if any | |
difference could be apprehended, it was, said they, between these two degrees, | |
to wit, the Animate and Inanimate part of Matter, and not between the animate | |
part and self-motion, which was but one thing, and could not so much as be | |
conceived differently; and since this Animate Matter, or corporeal self-motion | |
is thoroughly intermixed with the Inanimate parts, they are but as one body (like | |
as soul and body make but one man) or else it were impossible that any Creature | |
could be composed, consist, or be dissolved; for if there were Matter without | |
Motion, there could be no composition or dissolution of such figures as are | |
named Creatures; nor any, if there were Motion without Matter, or (which is the | |
same) an Immaterial Motion; For can any part of reason, that is regular, | |
believe, that that which naturally is nothing, should produce a natural | |
something? Besides, said they, Material and Immaterial are so quite opposite to | |
each other, as 'tis impossible they should commix and work together, or act one | |
upon the other: nay, if they could, they would make but a confusion, being of | |
contrary natures: Wherefore it is most probable, and can to the perception of | |
Regular sense and reason be no otherwise, but that self-moving Matter, or | |
corporeal figurative self-motion, does act and govern, wisely, orderly and | |
easily, poising cr balancing extremes with proper and fit oppositions, which | |
could not be done by immaterials, they being not capable of natural | |
compositions and divisions; neither of dividing Matter, nor of being divided? | |
In short, although there are numerous corporeal figurative motions in one | |
composed figure, yet they are so far from disturbing each other, that no | |
Creature could be produced without them; and as the actions of retention are | |
different from the actions of digestion or expulsion, and the actions of | |
contraction from those of dilation; so the actions of imitation or patterning | |
are different from the voluntary actions vulgarly called Conceptions, and all | |
this to make an equal poise or balance between the actions of Nature. Also | |
there is difference in the degrees of motions, in swiftness, slowness, rarity, | |
density, appetites, passions, youth, age, growth, decay, c. as also between | |
several sorts of perceptions: all which proves, that Nature is composed of | |
self-moving parts, which are the cause of all her varieties: But this is well | |
to be observed, said they, that the Rational parts are the purest, and | |
consequently the most active parts of Nature, and have the quickest actions; | |
wherefore to balance them, there must be a dull part of Matter, which is the | |
Inanimate, or else a World would be made in an instant, and every thing would | |
be produced, altered and dissolved on a sudden, as they had mentioned before. | |
Well, replied my later Thoughts, if there be such oppositions between the | |
parts of Nature, then I pray inform us, whether they be all equally and exactly | |
poised and balanced? | |
To which the former answered, That though it was most certain that there was a | |
poise and balance of Natures corporeal actions; yet no particular Creature was | |
able to know the exactness of the proportion that is between them, because they | |
are infinite. | |
Then my later Thoughts desired to know, whether Motion could be annihilated? | |
The former said, no: because Nature was Infinite, and admitted of no addition | |
nor diminution; and consequently of no new Creation nor annihilation of any | |
part of hers. | |
But, said the later, If Motion be an accident, it may be annihilated. | |
The former answered, They did not know what they meant by the word Accident. | |
The later said, That an Accident was something in a body, but nothing without | |
a body. | |
If an Accident be something, answered the former, Then certainly it must be | |
body; for there is nothing but what is corporeal in Nature; and if it be body, | |
then it cannot be nothing at no time, but it must of necessity be something. | |
But it cannot subsist of, and by it self, replied my later Thoughts, as a | |
substance; for although it hath its own being, yet its being is to subsist in | |
another body. | |
The former answered, That if an Accident was nothing without a body or | |
substance, and yet something in a body; then they desired to know, how, being | |
nothing, it could subsist in another body, and be separated from another body; | |
for composition and division, said they, are attributes of a body, since | |
nothing can be composed or divided but what has parts; and nothing has parts | |
but what is corporeal or has a body, and therefore if an accident can be in a | |
body, and be separated from a body, it would be non-sense to call it nothing. | |
But then my later Thoughts asked, that when a particular Motion ceased, what | |
became of it? | |
The former answered, it was not annihilated, but changed. | |
The later said, How can motion be corporeal, and yet one thing with body? | |
Certainly if body be material, and motion too, they must needs be two several | |
substances. | |
The former answered, That motion and body were not two several substances; but | |
motion and matter made one self-moving body; and so was place, colour, figure, | |
c. all one and the same with body. | |
The later replied, That a Man, and his action were not one and the same, but | |
two different things. | |
The former answered, That a Man, and his actions were no more different, then | |
a man was different from himself; for, said they, although a man may have many | |
different actions, yet were not that man existent, the same actions would not | |
be; for though many men have the like actions, yet they are not the same. | |
But then replied the later, Place cannot be the same with body, nor colour; | |
because a man may change his place and his colour, and yet retain his body. | |
Truly, said the former, If Place be changed, then Body must change also; for | |
wheresoever is Place, there is Body; and though it be a vulgar phrase, That a | |
man changes his place when he heremoves, yet it is not a proper Philosophical | |
expression; for he removes only from such parts, to such parts; so that it is | |
a change or a division and composition of parts, and not of place: And as for | |
colour, though it changes, yet that proves not that it is not a body, or can be | |
annihilated. The truth is, though Figure, Motion, Colour, c. do change, yet | |
they remain still in Nature, and it is impossible that Nature can give away, or | |
lose the least of her corporeal Attributes or Proprieties; for Nature is | |
infinite in power, as well as in act; we mean, for acting naturally; and | |
therefore whatsoever is not in present act, is in the power of Infinite Nature. | |
But, said my later Thoughts, if a body be divided into very minute parts as | |
little as dust, where is the colour then? | |
The Colour, answered the former, is divided as well as the body; and though | |
the parts thereof be not subject to our sensitive perception, yet they have | |
nevertheless their being; for all things cannot be perceptible by our senses. | |
The later said, That the Colour of a Man's face could change from pale to red, | |
and from red to pale, and yet the substance of the face remain the same; which | |
proved, that colour and substance was not the same. | |
The former answered, That although the colour of a mans face did change | |
without altering the substance thereof, yet this proved no more that Colour was | |
Immaterial, then that Motion was Immaterial; for a man may put his body into | |
several postures, and have several actions, and yet without any change of the | |
substance of his body; for all actions do not necessarily import a change of | |
the parts of a composed figure, there being infinite sorts of actions. | |
We will leave Accidents, said my later Thoughts, and return to the Inanimate | |
part of Matter; and since you declare, that all parts of Nature do worship and | |
adore God, you contradict your self in allowing an Inanimate degree of Matter, | |
by reason, where there is no self-motion, there can be no perception of God, | |
and consequently no Worship and Adoration. | |
The former answered, That the knowledge of God did not consist in exterior | |
perception; for God, said they, being an Infinite, Incomprehensible, | |
supernatural and Immaterial Essence, void of all parts, can no ways be subject | |
to Perception. Nevetheless, although no part can have an exterior perception of | |
the substance of God, as it has of particular natural Creatures, yet it has | |
Conceptions of the Existence of God, to wit, that there is a God above Nature, | |
on which Nature depends, and from whose Immutable and Eternal Decree it has its | |
Eternal Being, as God's Eternal Servant; but what God is in his Essence, | |
neither Nature, nor any of her parts or Creatures is able to conceive. And | |
therefore although the Inanimate part of Matter is not perceptive, yet having | |
an innate knowledge and life of it self, it is not improbable but it may also | |
have an interior, fixed, and innate knowledge of the Existency of God, as that he | |
is to be adored and worshipped: And thus the Inanimate part may after its own | |
manner worship and adore God, as much as the other parts in their way: for it | |
is probable, that God having endued all parts of Nature with self-knowledg, may | |
have given them also an Interior knowledge of himself, that is, of his | |
Existency, how he is the God of Nature, and ought to be worshipped by her as | |
his Eternal servant. | |
My later Thoughts excepted, That not any Creature did truly know it self, much | |
less could it be capable of knowing God. | |
The former answered, That this was caused through the variety of self-motion; | |
for all Creatures (said they) are composed of many several parts, and every | |
part has its own particular self-knowledg, as well as self-motion, which causes | |
an ignorance between them; for one parts knowledge is not another parts | |
knowledge; nor does one part know what another knows; but all knowledge of | |
exterior parts comes by perception; nevertheless, each part knows it self and | |
its own actions; and as there is an ignorance between parts, so there is also | |
an acquaintance (especially in the parts of one composed Creature) and the | |
rational parts being most subtle, active and free, have a more general | |
acquaintance then the sensitive; besides, the sensitive many times inform the | |
rational, and the rational the sensitive, which causes a general agreement of | |
all the parts of a composed figure, in the execution of such actions as belong | |
to it. | |
But how is it possible, replied my later Thoughts, that the inanimate part of | |
matter can be living and self-knowing, and yet not self-moving? for Life and | |
Knowledge cannot be without self-motion; and therefore if the inanimate parts | |
have Life and Knowledge, they must necessarily also have self-motion. | |
The former answered, That Life and Knowledge did no ways depend upon | |
self-motion; for had Nature no motion at all, yet might she have Life and | |
Kowledg; so that self-motion is not the cause of Life and Knowledge, but only | |
of Perception, and all the various actions of Nature; and this is the reason | |
said they, that the inanimate part of matter is not perceptive, because it is | |
not self-moving; for though it hath life and self-knowledg as well as the | |
Animate part, yet it has not an active life, nor a perceptive knowledge. By | |
which you may see, that a fixed and interior self-knowledg, may very well be | |
without exterior perception; for though perception presupposes an innate | |
self-knowledg as its ground and principle, yet self-knowledg does not | |
necessarily require perception, which is only caused by self-motion; for | |
self-motion, as it is the cause of the variety of Natures parts and actions, so | |
it is also of their various perceptions: If it was not too great a presumtion, | |
said they, we could give an instance of God, who has no local self-motion, and | |
yet is infinitely knowing: But we will forbear to go so high, as to draw the | |
Infinite, Incomprehensible God, to the proofs of Material Nature. | |
My later Thoughts replied, first, That if it were thus, then one and the same | |
parts of matter would have a double life, and a double knowledge. | |
Next they said, That if perception were an effect of self-motion, then God | |
himself must necessarily be self-moving, or else he could not perceive Nature | |
and her parts and actions. | |
Concerning the first objection my former thoughts answered, That the parts of | |
Nature could have a double life and knowledge no more, then one man could be | |
called double or treble: You might as well said they, make millions of men of | |
one particular man, nay, call every part or action of his a peculiliar man, as | |
make one and the same part of matter have a double life and knowledge. | |
But mistake us not, added my former thoughts, when we say, that one and the | |
same part cannot have a double life and knowledge; for we mean not, the composed | |
creatures of Nature, which as they consist of several degrees of matter, so | |
they have also several degrees of lives and knowledges; but it is to be | |
understood of the essential or constitutive parts of Nature; for as the | |
rational part is not, nor can be the sensitive part, so it can neither have a | |
sensitive knowledge; no more can a sensitive part have a rational knowledge, or | |
either of these the knowledge of the inanimate part; but each part retains its | |
own life and knowledge. Indeed it is with these parts as it is with particular | |
creatures; for as one man is not another man, nor has another mans knowledge, so | |
it is likewise with the mentioned parts of matter; and although the animate | |
parts have an interior, innate self-knowledg, and an exterior, perceptive | |
knowledge; yet these are not double knowledges; but perception is only an | |
effect of interior self-knowledg, occasioned by self-motion. | |
And as for the second, they answered, That the Divine Perception and Knowledge | |
was not any ways like a natural Perception, no more than God was like a | |
Creature; for Nature (said they) is material, and her perceptions are amongst | |
her infinite parts, caused by their compositions and divisions; but God is a | |
Supernatural, Individable, and Incorporeal Being, void of all Parts and | |
Divisions; and therefore he cannot be ignorant of any the least thing; but | |
being Infinite, he has an Infinite Knowledge, without any Degrees, Divisions, or | |
the like actions belonging to Material Creatures. Nor is he naturally, that is, | |
locally self-moving; but he is a fixed, unalterable, and in short, an | |
incomprehensible Being, and therefore no comparison can be made between Him and | |
Nature, He being the Eternal God, and Nature his Eternal Servant. | |
Then my later Thoughts said, That as for the knowledge of God, they would not | |
dispute of it; but if there was a fixed and interior, innate knowledge in all | |
Natures parts and Creatures, it was impossible that there could be any error or | |
ignorance between them. | |
The former answered, that although Errors belonged to particulars as well as | |
ignorance, yet they proceeded not from interior self-knowledg, but either from | |
want of exterior particular knowledges, or from the irregularity of motions; | |
and Ignorance was likewise a want not of interior, but exterior knowledge, | |
otherwise called Perceptive knowledge: for, said they, Parts can know no more of | |
other parts, but by their own perceptions; and since no particular Creature or | |
part of Nature can have an Infallible, Universal, and thorough perception of all | |
other parts; it can neither have an infallible and universal knowledge, but it | |
must content it self with such a knowledge as is within the reach of its own | |
perceptions; and hence it follows, that it must be ignorant of what it does not | |
know; for Perception has but only a respect to the exterior figures and | |
actions of other parts; and though the Rational part is more subtle and active | |
then the Sensitive, and may have also some perceptions of some interior parts | |
and actions of other Creatures, yet it cannot have an infallible and thorough | |
perception of all their interior parts and motions, which is a knowledge | |
impossible for any particular Creature to attain to. | |
Again my later Thoughts objected, That it was impossible that the parts of one | |
and the same degree could be ignorant of each others actions, how various | |
soever, since they were capable to change their actions to the like figures. | |
The former answered first, That although they might make the like figures, yet | |
they could not make the same, because the parts were not the same. Next they | |
said, that particular parts could not have infinite perceptions, but that they | |
could but perceive such objects as were subject to that sort of perception | |
which they had; no not all such; for oftentimes objects were obscured and | |
hidden from their perceptions, that although they could perceive them if | |
presented, or coming within the compass and reach of their perceptive faculty | |
or power; yet when they were absent, they could not; besides, said they, the | |
sensitive parts are not so subtle as to make perceptions into the interior | |
actions of other parts, no not the rational are able to have exact perceptions | |
thereof; for Perception extends but to adjoining parts and their exterior | |
figures and actions, and if they know any thing of their interior parts, | |
figures or motions, it is only by guess or probable conclusions, taken from | |
their exterior actions or figures, and made especially by the rational parts, | |
which as they are the most inspective, so they are the most knowing parts of | |
Nature. | |
After these and several other objections, questions and answers between the | |
later and former thoughts and conceptions of my mind, at last some Rational | |
thoughts which were not concerned in this dispute, perceiving that they became | |
much heated, and fearing they would at last cause a Faction or Civil War | |
amongst all the rational parts, which would breed that which is called a | |
Trouble of the Mind, endeavoured to make a Peace between them, and to that end | |
they propounded, that the sensitive parts should publicly declare their | |
differences and controversies, and refer them to the Arbitration of the | |
judicious and impartial Reader. This proposition was unanimously embraced by | |
all the rational parts, and thus by their mutual consent this Argumental | |
Discourse was set down and published after this manner: In the mean time all | |
the rational parts of my Mind inclined to the opinion of my former conceptions, | |
which they thought much more probable then those of the later; and since now it | |
is your part, Ingenious Readers, to give a final decision of the Cause, | |
consider well the subject of their quarrel, and be impartial in your judgment; | |
let not Self-love or Envy corrupt you, but let Regular Sense and Reason be your | |
only Rule, that you may be accounted just Judges, and your Equity and Justice | |
be Remembered by all that honour and love it. | |
THE TABLE OF All the Principal Subjects contained and discoursed of in this | |
BOOK. | |
Observations upon Experimental Philosophy. | |
1. OF Humane Sense and Perception. 2. Of Art and Experimental Philosophy. 3. | |
Of Micrography, and of Magnifying and Multiplying Glasses. 4. Of the production | |
of Fire by Flint and Steel. 5. Of Pares. 6. Of the Effluviums of the Loadstone. | |
7. Of the Stings of Nettles and Bees. 8. Of the Beard of a wild Oat. 9. Of the | |
Eyes of Flies. 10. Of a Butter-Flye. 11. Of the walking Motions of Flies, and | |
other Creatures. 12. Whether it be possible to make man, and some other Animal | |
Creatures, fly as Birds do? 13. Of Snails and Leeches, and whether all Animals | |
have Blood? 14. Of Natural Productions. 15. Of the Seeds of Vegetables. 16. Of | |
the Providence of Nature; and some Opinions concerning Motion. 17. Des Cartes | |
Opinion of Motion Examined. 18. Of the blackness of a Charcoal, and of Light. | |
19. Of the Pores of a Charcoal, and of Emptiness. 20. Of Colours. 21. Whether | |
an Idea have a Colour, and of the Idea of of a Spirit? 22. Of Wood petrified. | |
23. Of the Nature of Water. 24. Of Salt, and of Sea or Salt-water. 25. Of the | |
motions of Heat and Cold. 26. Of the Measures, Degrees, and different sorts of | |
Heat and Cold. 27. Of Congelation or Freezing. 28. Of Thawing, or dissolving of | |
frozen Bodies. 29. Several Questions resolved concerning Cold and Frozen | |
Bodies. 30. Of Contraction and Dilation. 31. Of the Parts of Nature, and of | |
Atoms. 32. Of the Celestial parts of this World, and whether they be | |
alterable? 33. Of the Substance of the Sun, and of Fire. 34. Of Telescopes. 35. | |
Of Knowledge and Perception in general. 36. Of the different Perceptions of | |
Sense and Reason. 37. Several Questions and Answers concerning Knowledge and | |
Perception. | |
Further Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, reflecting withal upon | |
some Principal Subjects in Contemplative Philosophy. | |
1. Ancient Learning ought not to be Exploded; nor the Experimental Part of | |
Philosophy preferred before the Speculative. 2. Whether Artificial Effects may | |
be called Natural; and in what sense? 3. Of Natural Matter and Motion. 4. | |
Nature cannot be known by any of her Parts. 5. Art cannot produce new Forms in | |
Nature. 6. Whether there be any Prime or Principal Figures in Nature, and of | |
the true Principles of Nature. 7. Whether Nature be self-moving? 8. Of Animal | |
Spirits. 9. Of the Doctrine of the Scepticks concerning the Knowledge of Nature. | |
10. Of Natural Sense and Reason. 11. Of a general Knowledge and Worship of God, | |
given him by all Natural Creatures. 12. Of a particular Worship of God given | |
him by those that are his Chosen and Elect People. 13. Of the Knowledge of man. | |
14. A Natural Philosopher cannot be an Atheist. 15. Of the Rational Soul of | |
Man. 16. Whether Animal Parts separated from their Bodies, have life? 17. Of | |
the Spleen. 18. Of Anatomy. 19. Of preserving the Figures of Animal Creatures. | |
20. Of Chemistry, and Chemical Principles. 21. Of the Universal Medicine, and | |
of Diseases. 22. Of outward Remedies. 23. Of several sorts of Drink and Meat. | |
24. Of Fermentation. 25. Of the Plague. 26. Of Respiration. | |
Observations upon the Opinions of some Ancient Philosophers. | |
1. Upon the Principles of Thales. 2. Some few Observations on Plato's | |
Doctrine. 3. Upon the Doctrine of Pythagoras. 4. Of Epicurus his Principles of | |
Philosophy. 5. On Aristotle's Philosophical Principles. 6. Of Scepticism, and | |
some other Sects of the Ancient. An Explanation of some obscure and doubtful | |
Passages occurring in the Philosophical Works hitherto Published by the | |
Authoress. | |
A CATALOGUE OF ALL THE WORKS Hitherto Published by the AUTHORESSE. | |
SInce it is the fashion to declare what Books one has put forth to the public | |
view, I thought it not amiss to follow the Mode, and set down the Number of all | |
the Writings of mine which hitherto have been Printed. | |
1. Poems in Fol. Printed twice, whereof the last Impression is much mended. 2. | |
Natures Pictures; or Tales in Verse and Prose, in Fol. 3. A Little Tract of | |
Philosophy, in 8o 4. Philosophical and Physical Opinions, in Fol. 5. The same | |
much Enlarged and Altered, in Fol. 6. Philosophical Letters, in Fol. 7. The | |
Worlds Olio, now to be reprinted. 8. Plays in Fol. 9. Orations in Fol. 10. | |
Sociable Letters in Fol. | |
There are some others that never were Printed yet, which shall, if God grant | |
me Life and Health, be Published ere long. | |
OBSERVATIONS UPON EXPERIMENTAL PHILOSOPHY. | |
1. Of Humane Sense and Perception. | |
BEfore I deliver my observations upon that part of Philosophy which is called | |
Experimental, I thought it necessary to premise some discourse concerning the | |
Perception of Humane Sense. It is known that man has five Exterior Senses, and | |
every sense is ignorant of each other; for the Nose knows not what the Eyes | |
see, nor the Eyes what the Ears hear, neither do the Ears know what the Tongue | |
tastes; and as for Touch, although it is a general Sense, yet every several | |
part of the body has a several touch, and each part is ignorant of each others | |
touch: And thus there is a general ignorance of all the several parts, and yet | |
a perfect knowledge in each part; for the Eye is as knowing as the Ear, and the | |
Ear as knowing as the Nose, and the Nose as knowing as the Tongue, and one | |
particular Touch knows as much as another, at least is capable thereof: Nay, | |
not only every several Touch, Taste, Smell, Sound or Sight, is a several | |
knowledge by it self, but each of them has as many particular knowledges or | |
perceptions as there are objects presented to them: Besides, there are several | |
degrees in each particular sense; As for example, some Men (I will not speak of | |
other animals) their perception of sight, taste, smell, touch, or hearing, is | |
quicker to some sorts of objects, then to others, according either to the | |
perfection or imperfection, or curiosity or purity of the corporeal figurative | |
motions of each sense, or according to the presentation of each object proper | |
to each sense; for if the presentation of the objects be imperfect, either | |
through variation or obscurity, or any other ways, the sense is deluded. | |
Neither are all objects proper for one sense, but as there are several senses, | |
so there are several sorts of objects proper for each several sense. Now if | |
there be such variety of several knowledges, not only in one Creature, but in | |
one sort of sense; to wit, the exterior senses of one humane Creature; what may | |
there be in all the parts of Nature? 'Tis true, there are some objects which | |
are not at all perceptible by any of our exterior senses; as for example, | |
rarefied air, and the like: But although they be not subject to our exterior | |
sensitive perception, yet they are subject to our rational perception, which is | |
much purer and subtiler then the sensitive; nay, so pure and subtle a knowledge, | |
that many believe it to be immaterial, as if it were some God, when as it is | |
only a pure, fine and subtle figurative Motion or Perception; it is so active | |
and subtle, as it is the best informer and reformer of all sensitive | |
Perception; for the rational Matter is the most prudent and wisest part of | |
Nature, as being the designer of all productions, and the most pious and | |
devoutest part, having the perfectest notions of God, I mean, so much as Nature | |
can possibly know of God; so that whatsoever the sensitive Perception is either | |
defective in, or ignorant of, the rational Perception supplies. But mistake me | |
not: by Rational Perception and Knowledge, I mean Regular Reason, not Irregular; | |
where I do also exclude Art, which is apt to delude sense, and cannot inform so | |
well as Reason doth; for Reason reforms and instructs sense in all its actions: | |
But both the rational and sensitive knowledge and perception being divideable as | |
well as composeable, it causes ignorance as well as knowledge amongst Natures | |
Creatures; for though Nature is but one body, and has no sharer or copartner, | |
but is entire and whole in it self, as not composed of several different parts | |
or substances, and consequently has but one Infinite natural knowledge and | |
wisdom, yet by reason she is also divideable and composeable, according to the | |
nature of a body, we can justly and with all reason say, That, as Nature is | |
divided into infinite several parts, so each several part has a several and | |
particular knowledge and perception, both sensitive and rational, and again that | |
each part is ignorant of the others knowledge and perception; when as otherwise, | |
considered altogether and in general, as they make up but one infinite body of | |
Nature, so they make also but one infinite general knowledge. And thus Nature | |
may be called both Individual, as not having single parts subsisting without | |
her, but all united in one body; and Divideable, by reason she is partable in | |
her own several corporeal figurative motions, and not otherwise; for there is | |
no Vacuum in Nature, neither can her parts start or remove from the Infinite | |
body of Nature, so as to separate themselves from it, for there's no place to | |
flee to, but body and place are all one thing, so that the parts of Nature can | |
only join and disjoin to and from parts, but not to and from the body of | |
Nature. And since Nature is but one body, it is entirely wise and knowing, | |
ordering her self-moving parts with all facility and ease, without any | |
disturbance, living in pleasure and delight, with infinite varieties and | |
curiosities, such as no single Part or Creature of hers can ever attain to. | |
2. Of Art, and Experimental Philosophy. | |
SOme are of opinion, That by Art there can be a reparation made of the | |
Mischiefs and Imperfections mankind has drawn upon it self by negligence and | |
intemperance, and a wilful and superstitious deserting the Prescripts and Rules | |
of Nature, whereby every man, both from a derived Corruption, innate and born | |
with him, and from his breediug and converse with men, is very subject to slip | |
into all sorts of Errors. But the all-powerful God, and his servant Nature, | |
know, that Art, which is but a particular Creature, cannot inform us of the | |
Truth of the Infinite parts of Nature, being but finite it self; for though | |
every Creature has a double perception, rational and sensitive, yet each | |
creature or part has not an Infinite perception; nay, although each particular | |
creature or part of Nature may have some conceptions of the Infinite parts of | |
Nature, yet it cannot know the truth of those Infinite parts, being but a | |
finite part it self, which finiteness causes errors in Perceptions; wherefore | |
it is well said, when they confess themselves, That the uncertainty and | |
mistakes of humane actions proceed either from the narrowness and wandering of | |
our senses, or from the slipperiness or delusion of our memory, or from the | |
confinement or rashness of our understandiug. But, say they, It is no wonder | |
that our power over natural Causes and Effects is so slowly improved, seeing we | |
are not only to contend with the obscurity and difficulty of the things | |
whereon we work and think, but even the forces of our minds conspire to betray | |
us: And these being the dangers in the process of Humane Reason, the remedies | |
can only proceed from the Real, the Mechanical, the Experimental Philosophy, | |
which hath this advantage over the Philosophy of discourse and disputation, | |
That whereas that chiefly aims at the subtilty of its deductions and | |
conclusions, without much regard to the first ground-work, which ought to be | |
well laid on the sense and memory, so this intends the right ordering of them | |
all, and making them serviceable to each other. In which discourse I do not | |
understand, first, what they mean by our power over natural causes and effects; | |
for we have no power at all over natural causes and effects, but only one | |
particular effect may have some power over another, which are natural actions; | |
but neither can natural causes nor effects be overpowered by man so, as if man | |
was a degree above Nature, but they must be as Nature is pleased to order them; | |
for Man is but a small part, and his powers are but particular actions of | |
Nature, and therefore he cannot have a supreme and absolute power. Next, I say, | |
That Sense, which is more apt to be deluded then Reason, cannot be the ground | |
of Reason, no more then Art can be the ground of Nature: Wherefore discourse | |
shall sooner find or trace Natures corporeal figurative motions, then deluding | |
Arts can inform the Senses; For how can a Fool order his understanding by Art, | |
if Nature has made it defective? or how can a wise man trust his senses, if | |
either the objects be not truly presented according to their natural figure and | |
shape, or if the senses be defective, either through age, sickness, or other | |
accidents, which do alter the natural motions proper to each sense? And hence I | |
conclude, that Experimental and Mechanic Philosophy cannot be above the | |
Speculative part, by reason most Experiments have their rise from the | |
Speculative, so that the Artist or Mechanic is but a servant to the Student. | |
3. Of Micrography, and of Magnifying and Multiplying Glasses. | |
ALthough I am not able to give a solid judgment of the Art of Micrography, and | |
the several dioptrical instruments belonging thereto, by reason I have neither | |
studied nor practised that Art; yet of this I am confident, that this same Art, | |
with all its Instruments, is not able to discover the interior natural motions | |
of any part or creature of Nature; nay, the questions is, whether it can | |
represent yet the exterior shapes and motions so exactly, as naturally they | |
are; for Art doth more easily alter then inform: As for example; Art makes | |
Cylinders, Concave and Convex-glasses, and the like, which represent the figure | |
of an object in no part exactly and truly, but very deformed and misshaped: | |
also a Glass that is flaw'd, cracked, or broke, or cut into the figure of | |
Lozanges, Triangles, Squares, or the like, will present numerous pictures of | |
one object. Besides, there are so many alterations made by several lights, | |
their shadows, refractions, reflexions, as also several lines, points, mediums, | |
interposing and intermixing parts, forms and positions, as the truth of an | |
object will hardly be known; for the perception of sight, and so of the rest of | |
the senses, goes no further then the exterior Parts of the object presented; | |
and though the Perception may be true, when the object is truly presented, yet | |
when the presentation is false, the information must be false also. And it is | |
to be observed, that Art, for the most part, makes hermaphroditical, that is, | |
mixed figures, as partly Artificial, and partly Natural: for Art may make some | |
metal, as Pewter, which is between Tin and Lead, as also Brass, and numerous | |
other things of mixed natures; In the like manner may Artificial Glasses present | |
objects, partly Natural, and partly Artificial; nay, put the case they can | |
present the natural figure of an object, yet that natural figure may be | |
presented in as monstrous a shape, as it may appear mis-shapen rather then | |
natural: For example; a Louse by the help of a Magnifying-glass, appears like a | |
Lobster, where the Microscope enlarging and magnifying each part of it, makes | |
them bigger and rounder then naturally they are. The truth is, the more the | |
figure by Art is magnified, the more it appears mis-shapen from the natural, in | |
so much as each joint will appear as a diseased, swelled and tumid body, ready | |
and ripe for incision. But mistake me not; I do not say, that no Glass presents | |
the true picture of an object; but only that Magnifying, Multiplying, and the | |
like optic Glasses, may, and do oftentimes present falsely the picture of an | |
exterior object; I say, the Picture, because it is not the real body of the | |
object which the Glass presents, but the Glass only figures or patterns out | |
the picture presented in and by the Glass, and there may easily mistakes be | |
committed in taking Copies from Copies. Nay, Artists do confess themselves, | |
that Flies, and the like, will appear of several figures or shapes, according | |
to the several reflections, refractions, mediums and positions of several | |
lights; which if so, how can they tell or judge which is the truest light, | |
position, or medium, that doth present the object naturally as it is? and if | |
not, then an edge may very well seem flat, and a point of a needle a globe; but | |
if the edge of a knife, or point of a needle were naturally and really so as | |
the microscope presents them, they would never be so useful as they are; for a | |
flat or broad plain-edged knife would not cut, nor a blunt globe pierce so | |
suddenly another body, neither would or could they pierce without tearing and | |
rending, if their bodies were so uneven; and if the Picture of a young | |
beautiful Lady should be drawn according to the representation of the | |
Microscope, or according to the various refraction and reflection of light | |
through such like glasses, it would be so far from being like her, as it would | |
not be like a humane face, but rather a Monster, then a picture of Nature. | |
Wherefore those that invented Microscopes, and such like dioptrical Glasses, at | |
first, did, in my opinion, the world more injury then benefit; for this Art has | |
intoxicated so many men's brains, and wholly employed their thoughts and bodily | |
actions about phenomenon, or the exterior figures of objects, as all better | |
Arts and Studies are laid aside; nay, those that are not as earnest and active | |
in such employments as they, are, by many of them, accounted unprofitable | |
subjects to the Commonwealth of Learning. But though there be numerous Books | |
written of the wonders of these Glasses, yet I cannot perceive any such, at | |
best, they are but superficial wonders, as I may call them. But could | |
Experimental Philosophers find out more beneficial Arts then our Fore-fathers | |
have done, either for the better increase of Vegetables and brute Animals to | |
nourish our bodies, or better and commodious contrivances in the Art of | |
Architecture to build us houses, or for the advancing of trade and traffic to | |
provide necessaries for us to live, or for the decrease of nice distinctions | |
and sophistical disputes in Churches, Schools and Courts of Judicature, to make | |
men live in unity, peace and neighbourly sriendship, it would not only be | |
worth their labour, but of as much praise as could be given to them: But as | |
Boys that play with watery Bubbles Glass-tubes. | |
, or fling Dust Atoms. | |
into each others Eyes, or make a Hobby-horse Exterior figures. | |
of Snow, are worthy of reproof rather then praise; for wasting their time with | |
useless sports; so those that addict themselves to unprofitable Arts, spend | |
more time then they reap benefit thereby. Nay, could they benefit men either in | |
Husbandry, Architecture, or the like necessary and profitable employments, yet | |
before the Vulgar sort would learn to understand them, the world would want | |
Bread to eat, and Houses to dwell in, as also Cloths to keep them from the | |
inconveniences of the inconstant weather. But truly, although Spinsters were | |
most experienced in this Art, yet they will never be able to spin Silk, Thread, | |
or Wool, c. from loose Atoms; neither will Weavers weave a Web of Light from | |
the Sun's Rays, nor an Architect build an House of the bubbles of Water and | |
Air, unless they be Poetical Spinsters, Weavers and Architects; and if a | |
Painter should draw a Louse as big as a Crab, and of that shape as the | |
Microscope presents, can any body imagine that a Beggar would believe it to be | |
true? but if he did, what advantage would it be to the Beggar? for it doth | |
neither instruct him how to avoid breeding them, or how to catch them, or to | |
hinder them from biting. Again: if a Painter should paint Birds according to | |
those Colours the Microscope presents, what advantage would it be for Fowlers | |
to take them? Truly, no Fowler will be able to distinguish several Birds | |
through a Microscope, neither by their shapes nor colours; They will be better | |
discerned by those that eat their flesh, then by Micrographers that look upon | |
their colours and exterior figures through a Magnifying-glass. In short, | |
Magnifying-glasses are like a high heel to a short leg, which if it be made | |
too high, it is apt to make the wearer fall, and at the best, can do no more | |
then represent exterior figures in a bigger, and so in a more deformed shape | |
and posture then naturally they are; but as for the interior form and motions | |
of a Creature, as I said before, they can no more represent them, then | |
Telescopes can the interior essence and nature of the Sun, and what matter it | |
consists of; for if one that never had seen Milk before, should look upon it | |
through a Microscope, he would never be able to discover the interior parts of | |
Milk by that instrument, were it the best that is in the World; neither the | |
Whey, nor the Butter, nor the Curds. Wherefore the best optic is a perfect | |
natural Eye, and a regular sensitive perception, and the best judge is Reason, | |
and the best study is Rational Contemplation joined with the observations of | |
regular sense, but not deiuding Arts; for Art is not only gross in comparison | |
to Nature, but, for the most part, deformed and defective, and at best produces | |
mixed or hermaphroditical figures, that is, a third figure between Nature and | |
Art: which proves, that natural Reason is above artificial Sense, as I may call | |
it: wherefore those Arts are the best and surest Informers, that alter Nature | |
least, and they the greatest deluders that alter Nature most, I mean, the | |
particular Nature of each particular Creature; (for Art is so far from altering | |
Infinite Nature, that it is no more in comparison to it, then a little Fly to | |
an Elephant, no not so much, for there is no comparison between finite and | |
Infinite.) But wise Nature taking delight in variety, her parts, which are her | |
Creatures, must of necessity do so too. | |
4. Of the Production of Fire by a Flint and Steel. | |
SOme learned Writers of Micrography, having observed the fiery sparks that are | |
struck out by the violent motion of a Flint against Steel, suppose them to be | |
little parcels either of the Flint or Steel, which by the violence of the | |
stroke, are at the same time severed and made red hot; nay, sometimes to such a | |
degree as they are melted together into glass. But whatsoever their opinion be, | |
to my sense and reason it appears very difficult to determine exactly how the | |
production of Fire is made, by reason there are so many different sorts of | |
Productions in Nature, as it is impossible for any particular Creature to know | |
or describe them: Nevertheless, it is most probable, that those two bodies do | |
operate not by incorporeal but corporeal motions, which either produce a third | |
corporeal figure out of their own parts, or by striking against each other, do | |
alter some of their natural corporeal figurative parts, so as to convert them | |
into fire, which if it have no fuel to feed on, must of necessity die; or it | |
may be, that by the occasion of striking against each other, some of their | |
looser parts are metamorphosed, and afterwards return to their former figures | |
again; like as flesh being bruised and hurt, becomes numb and black, and after | |
returns again to its proper figure and colour; or like as Water that by change | |
of motion in the same parts, turns into Snow, Ice, or Hail, may return again | |
into its former figure and shape; for Nature is various in her corporeal | |
figurative motions. But it is observable, that Fire is like seeds of Corn sown | |
in Earth, which increases or decreases according as it has nourishment; by | |
which we may see that Fire is not produced from a bare immaterial motion (as I | |
said before;) for a spiritual issue cannot be nourished by a corporeal | |
substance, but it is with Fire as it is with all, at least most other natural | |
Creatures, which require Respiration as well as Perception; for Fire requires | |
Air as well as Animals do. By Respiration, I do not mean only that animal | |
respiration which in Man, and other animal Creatures, is performed by the | |
lungs, but a dividing and uniting, or separating and joining of parts from and | |
to parts, as of the exterior from and to the interior, and of the interior from | |
and to the exterior; so that when some parts issue, others do enter: And thus | |
by the name of Respiration I understand a kind of Reception of foreign Matter, | |
and emission of some of their own; as for example, in Animals, I mean not only | |
the respiration performed by the lungs, but also the reception of food, and of | |
other matter entering through some proper organs and pores of their bodies, and | |
the discharging of some other matter the sameway; and if this be so, as surely | |
it is, then all or most Creatures in Nature have some kind of Respiration or | |
Reciprocal breathing, that is, Attraction and Expiration, receiving of | |
nourishment and evacuation, or a reception of some foreign parts, and a | |
discharging and venting of some of their own. But yet it is not necessary that | |
all the matter of Respiration in all Creatures should be Air; for every sort of | |
Creatures, nay every particular has such a matter of Respiration, as is proper | |
both to the nature of its figure, and proper for each sort of respiration. | |
Besides, although Air may be a fit substance for Respiration to Fire, and to | |
some other Creatures, yet I cannot believe, that the sole agitation of Air is | |
the cause of Fire, no more then it can be called the cause of Man; for if this | |
were so, then Houses that are made of Wood, or covered with Straw, would never | |
fail to be set on fire by the agitation of the Air. Neither is it requisite | |
that all Respirations in all Creatures should be either hot or cold, moist or | |
dry, by reason there are many different sorts of Respiration, acording to the | |
nature and propriety of every Creature, whereof some may be hot, some cold; | |
some hot and dry, some cold and dry; some hot and moist, some cold and moist, | |
c. and in Animals, at least in Mankind, I observe, that the respiration | |
performed by the help of their lungs. is an attraction of some refrigerating | |
air and an emission of some warm vapour. What other Creatures respirations may | |
be, I leave for others to inquire. | |
5. Of Pores. | |
AS I have mentioned in my former Discourse, that I do verily believe all or | |
most natural Creatures have some certain kind of respiration, so do I also find | |
it most probable, that all or most natural Creatures have Pores: not empty | |
Pores; for there can be no Vacuum in Nature, but such passages as serve for | |
respiration, which respiration is some kind of receiving and discharging of | |
such matter as is proper to the nature of every Creature: And thus the several | |
Organs of Animal Creatures, are, for the most part, employed as great large | |
pores; for Nature being in a perpetual motion, is always dissolving and | |
composing, changing and ordering her self-moving parts as she pleases. But it | |
is well to be observed, that there is difference between Perception and | |
Respiration; for Perception is only an action of Figuring or Patterning, when | |
as the Rational and Sensitive Motions do figure or pattern out something: but | |
Respiration is an action of drawing, sucking, breathing in, or receiving any | |
ways outward parts, and of venting, discharging, or sending forth inward parts. | |
Next, although there may be Pores in most natural Creatures, by reason that | |
all, or most have some kind of Respiration, yet Nature hath more ways of | |
dividing and uniting of parts, or of ingress and egress, then the way of | |
drawing in, and sending forth by Pores; for Nature is so full of variety, that | |
not any particular corporeal figurative motion can be said the prime or | |
fundamental, unless it be self-motion, the Architect and Creator of all | |
figures: Wherefore, as the Globular figure is not the prime or fundamental of | |
all other figures, so neither can Respiration be called the prime or | |
fundamental motion; for, as I said, Nature has more ways then one, and there | |
are also retentive Motions in Nature, which are neither dividing nor composing, | |
but keeping or holding together. | |
6. Of the Effluvium's of the Loadstone. | |
IT is the opinion of some, that the Magnetical Effluviums do not proceed | |
intrinsecally from the stone, but are certain extrinsecal particles, which | |
approaching to the stone, and finding congruous pores and inlets therein, are | |
channelled through it; and having acquired a motion thereby, do continue their | |
current so far, till being repulsed by the ambient air, they recoil again, and | |
return into a vortical motion, and so continue their revolution for ever | |
through the body of the Magnet. But if this were so, then all porous bodies | |
would have the same Magnetical Effluviums, especially a Char-coal, which, they | |
say, is full of deep pores: besides, I can hardly believe, that any Microscope | |
is able to show how those flowing Atoms enter and issue, and make such a | |
vortical motion as they imagine. Concerning the argument drawn from the | |
experiment, that a Magnet being made red hot in the fire, not only amits the | |
Magnetical Vigour it had before, but acquires a new one; doth not evince or | |
prove that the Magnetical Effluviums are not innate or inherent in the stone; | |
for fire may over-power them so as we cannot perceive their vigour or force, | |
the motions of the Fire being too strong for the motions of the Loadstone; but | |
yet it doth not follow hence, that those motions of the Loadstone are lost, | |
because they are not perceived, or that afterwards when by cooling the | |
Loadstone they may be perceived again, they are not the same motions, but new | |
ones, no more then when a man doth not move his hand the motion of it can be | |
said lost or annihilated. But say they, If the Polary direction of the Stone | |
should be thought to proceed intrinsecally from the Stone, it were as much as | |
to put a Soul or Intelligence into the Stone, which must turn it about, as | |
Angels are feigned to do Celestial Orbs. To which I answer; That although the | |
turning of the Celestial Orbs by Angels may be a figment, yet that there is a | |
soul and intelligence in the Loadstone, is as true, as that there is a soul in | |
Man. I will not say, that the Loadstone has a spiritual or immaterial soul, but | |
a corporeal or material one, to wit, such a soul as is a particle of the soul | |
of Nature, that is, of Rational Matter, which moves in the Loadstone according | |
to the propriety and nature of its figure. Lastly, as for their argument | |
concluding from the different effluviums of other, as for example, electrical | |
and odoriferous bodies, c. as Camphor, and the like, whose expirations, they | |
say, fly away into the open air, and never make any return again to the body | |
from whence they proceeded; I cannot believe this to be so; for if odoriferous | |
bodies should effluviate and waste after that manner, then all strong | |
odoriferous bodies would be of no continuance, for where there are great | |
expenses, there must of neeessity follow a sudden waste: but the contrary is | |
sufficiently known by experience. Wherefore, it is more probable, that the | |
Effluviums of the Loadstone, as they call them, or the disponent and directive | |
faculty of turning it self towards the North, is intrinsecally inherent in the | |
stone it self, and is nothing else but the interior natural sensitive and | |
rational corporeal motions proper to its figure, as I have more at large | |
declared in my Philosophical Letters, and Philosophical Opinions; then that a | |
stream of exterior Atoms, by beating upon the stone, should turn it to and | |
fro, until they have laid it in such a position. | |
7. Of the Stings of Nettles and Bees. | |
I Cannot approve the opinion of those, who believe that the swelling, burning, | |
and smarting pain caused by the stinging of Nettles and Bees, doth proceed from | |
a poisonous juice, that is contained within the points of Nettles, or stings of | |
Bees; for it is commonly known, that Nettles, when young, are often-times eaten | |
in Sallets, and minced into Broths; nay, when they are at their full growth, | |
good-huswifes use to lay their Cream-cheeses in great Nettles, whereas, if | |
there were any poison in them, the interior parts of animal bodies, after | |
eating them, would swell and burn more then the exterior only by touching | |
them. And as for stings of Bees, whether they be poisonous or not, I will not | |
certainly determine any thing, nor whether their stings be of no other use (as | |
some say) then only for defence or revenge; but this I know, that if a Be | |
once loses its sting, it becomes a Drone; which if so, then surely the sting | |
is useful to the Be, either in making Wax and Honey, or in drawing, mixing and | |
tempering the several sorts of juices, or in penetrating and piercing into | |
Vegetables, or other bodies, after the manner of broaching or tapping, to cause | |
the Liquor to issue out, or in framing the structure of their comb, and the | |
like; for surely Nature doth not commonly make useless and unprofitable things, | |
parts, or creatures: Neither doth her design tend to an evil effect, although I | |
do not deny but that good and useful instruments may be and are often employed | |
in evil actions. The truth is, I find that stings are of such kind of figures | |
as fire is, and fire of such a kind of figure as stings are; but although they | |
be all of one general kind, nevertheless they are different in their particular | |
kinds; for as Animal kind contains many several and different particular kinds | |
or sorts of animals, so the like do Vegetables, and other kinds of Creatures. | |
8. Of the beard of a wild Oat. | |
THose that have observed through a Microscope the beard of a wild Oat, do | |
relate that it is only a small black or brown bristle, growing out of the side | |
of the inner husk, which covers the grain of a wild Oat, and appears like a | |
small wreathed sprig with two clefts; if it be wetted in water, it will appear | |
to unwreath it self, and by degrees to straighten its knee, and the two clefts | |
will become straight; but if it be suffered to dry again, it will by degrees | |
wreath it self again, and so return into its former posture: The cause of which | |
they suppose to be the differing texture of its parts, which seeming to have | |
two substances, one very porous, loose and spongy, into which the watery steams | |
of air may very easily be forced, which thereby will grow swelled and extended; | |
and a second, more hard and close, into which the water cannot at all or very | |
little penetrate; and this retaining always the same dimensions, but the other | |
stretching and shrinking, according as there is more or less water or moisture | |
in its pores, 'tis thought to produce this unwreathing and wreathing. But that | |
this kind of motion, whether it be caused by heat and cold, or by dryness and | |
moisture, or by any greater or less force, proceeding either from gravity and | |
weight, or from wind, which is the motion of the air, or from some springing | |
body, or the like, should be the very first foot-step of sensation and animate | |
motion, and the most plain, simple and obvious contrivance that Nature has made | |
use of to produce a motion next to that of rarefaction and condensation by heat | |
and cold, as their opinion is, I shall not easily be persuaded to believe; for | |
if Animate motion was produced this way, it would, in my opinion, be but a weak | |
and irregular motion. Neither can I conceive how these, or any other parts, | |
could be set a moving, if Nature her self were not selfmoving, but only moved: | |
Nor can I believe, that the exterior parts of objects are able to inform us of | |
all their interior motions; for our humane optic sense looks no further then | |
the exterior and superficial parts of solid or dense bodies, and all Creatures | |
have several corporeal figurative motions one within another, which cannot be | |
perceived neither by our exterior senses, nor by their exterior motions; as for | |
example, our Optic sense can perceive and see through a transparent body, but | |
yet it cannot perceive what that transparent bodies figurative motions are, or | |
what is the true cause of its transparentness; neither is any Art able to | |
assist our sight with such optic instruments as may give us a true information | |
thereof; for what a perfect natural eye cannot perceive, surely no glass will | |
be able to present. | |
9. Of the Eyes of Flies. | |
I Cannot wonder enough at the strange discovery made by the help of the | |
Microscope concerning the great number of eyes observed in Flies; as that, for | |
example, in a gray Drone-flie should be found clusters which contain about | |
14000 eyes: which if it be really so, then those Creatures must needs have more | |
of the (...) sense then those that have but two, or one eye; (...) cannot | |
believe, that so many (...) be made for no more use then one or two eyes are: | |
for though Art, the emulating Ape of Nature, makes often vain and useless | |
things, yet I cannot perceive that Nature her self doth so. But a greater | |
wonder it is to me, that Man with the twinkling of one eye, can observe so many | |
in so small a Creature, if it be not a deceit of the optic instrument: for as | |
I have mentioned above, Art produces most commonly hermaphroditical figures, | |
and it may be, perhaps, that those little pearls or globes, which were taken | |
for eyes in the mentioned Fly, are only transparent knobs, or glossy shining | |
spherical parts of its body, making refractions of the rays of light, and | |
reflecting the pictures of exterior objects, there being many Creatures, that | |
have such shining protuberances and globular parts, and those full of quick | |
motion, which yet are not eyes. Truly, my reason can hardly be persuaded to | |
believe, that this Artificial Informer (I mean the Microscope) should be so | |
true as it is generally thought; for in my opinion it more deludes, then | |
informs: It is well known, that if a figure be longer, broader and bigger then | |
its nature requires, it is not its natural figure, and therefore those | |
Creatures, or parts of Creatures, which by Art appear bigger then naturally | |
they are, cannot be judged according to their natural figure, since they do not | |
appear in their natural shape; but in an artificial one, that is, in a shape or | |
figure magnified by Art, and extended beyond their natural figure; and since | |
Man cannot judge otherwise of a figure then it appears, besides, if the | |
Reflections and Positious of Light be so various and different as Experimental | |
Philophers confess themselves, and the instrument not very exact, (for who | |
knows but hereafter there may be many faults discovered of our modern | |
Microscopes which we are not able to perceive at the present) how shall the | |
object be truly known? Wherefore I can hardly believe the Truth of this | |
Experiment concerning the numerous Eyes of Flies; they may have, as I said | |
before, glossy and shining globular protuberances, but not so many eyes; as for | |
example, Bubbles of Water, Ice, as also Blisters and watery Pimples, and | |
hundreds the like, are shining and transparent Hemispheres, reflecting light, | |
but yet not eyes; Nay, if Flies should have so many numerous Eyes, why can they | |
not see the approach of a Spider until it be just at them; also how comes it | |
that sometimes, as for example, in cold weather, they seem blind, so as one may | |
take or kill them, and they cannot so much as perceive their enemies approach? | |
surely if they had 14000 Eyes, all this number would seem useless to them, | |
since other Creatures which have but two can make more advantage of those two | |
eyes, then they of their vast number. But perchance some will say, That Flies | |
having so many eyes, are more apt to be blind then others that have but few, by | |
reason the number is the cause that each particular is the weaker. To which I | |
answer, That if two Eyes be stronger then a Thousand, then Nature is to be | |
blamed that she gives such numbers of Eyes to so little a Creature. But Nature | |
is wiser then we or any Creature is able to conceive; and surely she works not | |
to no purpose, or in vain; but there appears as much wisdom in the fabric and | |
ftructure of her works, as there is variety in them. Lastly, I cannot well | |
conceive the truth of the opinion of those, that think all eyes must have a | |
transparent liquor, or humour within them, for in Crabs and Lobsters Eyes I can | |
perceive none such; and there may also be many other animal Creatures which | |
have none: for Nature is not tied to one way, but as she makes various | |
Creatures, so she may and doth also make their parts and organs variously, and | |
not the same in all, or after one and the same manner or way. | |
10. Of a Butter-flie. | |
COncerning the Generation of Butter-flies, whether they be produced by the way | |
of Eggs, as some Experimental Philosophers do relate, or any other ways; or | |
whether they be all produced after one and the same manner, shall not be my | |
task now to determine; but I will only give my Readers a short account of what | |
I my self have observed: When I lived beyond the Seas in Banishment with my | |
Noble Lord, one of my Maids brought upon an old piece of wood, or stone (which | |
it was I cannot perfectly remember) something to me which seemed to grow out of | |
that same piece; it was about the length of half an inch or less, the tail was | |
short and square, and seemed to be a Vegetable, for it was as green as a green | |
small stalk, growing out of the aforesaid piece of stone or wood; the part next | |
the tail was like a thin skin, wherein one might perceive a perfect pulsation, | |
and was big in proportion to the rest of the parts; The part next to that, was | |
less in compass, and harder, but of such a substance as it was like Pewter or | |
Tin: The last and extreme part opposite to the first mentioned green tail or | |
stalk, seemed like a head, round, only it had two little points or horns | |
before, which head seemed to the eye and touch, like a stone, so that this | |
Creature appeared partly a Vegetable, Animal and Mineral; But what is more, it | |
was in a continual motion, for the whole body of it seemed to struggle as if it | |
would get loose from that piece of wood or stone the tail was joined to, or out | |
of which it grew; But I cutting and dividing its tail from the said piece, it | |
ceased to move, and I did not regard it any further. After some while I found | |
just such another insect, which I laid by upon the window, and one morning I | |
spied two Butter-flies playing about it; which, knowing the window had been | |
close shut all the while, and finding the insect all empty, and only like a | |
bare shell or skin, I supposed had been bred out of it; for the shell was not | |
only hollow and thin, but so brittle as it straight fell into pieces, and did | |
somewhat resemble the skin of a Snake when it is cast; and it is observable, | |
that two Butter-flies were produced out of one shell, which I supposed to be | |
male and female. But yet this latter I will not certainly affirm, for I could | |
not discern them with my eyes, except I had had some Microscope, but a thousand | |
to one I might have been also deceived by it; and had I opened this insect, or | |
shell, at first, it might perhaps have given those Butter-flies an untimely | |
death, or rather hindered their production. This is all I have observed of | |
Butter-flies, but I have heard also that Caterpillars are transformed into | |
Butter-flies; whether it be true or not, I will not dispute, only this I dare | |
say, that I have seen Caterpillars spin as Silk-worms do, an oval ball about | |
their seed, or rather about themselves. | |
11. Of the Walking Motions of Flies, and other Creatures. | |
WHat Experimental Writers mention concerning the feet of Flies, and their | |
structure, to wit, that they have two claws or talons, and two palms or soles, | |
by the help of which they can walk on the sides of glass, or other smooth | |
bodies perpendicularly upwards; If this be the only reason they can give, then | |
certainly a Dormouse must have the same structure of feet; for she will, as | |
well as a fly, run straight upwards on the sharp edg of a glazed or | |
well-polished Sword, which is more difficult then to run up the sides of Glass: | |
And as for Flies, that they can suspend themselves against the undersurface of | |
many bodies; I say, not only Flies, but many other Creatures will do the same; | |
for not only great Caterpillars, or such worms as have many legs, as also | |
Spiders, but a Neut, which is but a little Creature, will run up a wall in a | |
perpendicular line; nay, walk as Flies do with its back down, and its legs | |
upwards. Wherefore it is not, in my opinion, the Pores of the surface of the | |
body, on which those Creatures walk; as for example, that a Fly should run the | |
tenters or points of her feet, which some have observed through a Microscope, | |
into the pores of such bodies she walks on, or make pores where she finds none; | |
(for I cannot believe, that in such close and dense bodies, where no pores at | |
all can be perceived, a small and weak leg of a Fly should pierce a hole so | |
suddenly, and with one step) Nor an Imaginary Glue, nor a dirty or smoky | |
substance adhering to the surface of glass, as some do conceive; nor so much | |
the lightness of their bodies that makes those Creatures walk in such a | |
posture; for many can do the same that are a thousand times heavier then a | |
little Fly; but the chief cause is the shape of their bodies; which being | |
longer then they are deep, one counterpoises the other; for the depth of their | |
bodies has not so much weight as their length, neither are their heads and | |
legs just opposite: Besides, many have a great number of feet, which may | |
easily bear up the weight of their bodies; and although some Creatures, as | |
Horses, Sheep, Oxon, c. have their legs set on in the same manner as Mice, | |
Squirrels, Cats, c. yet they cannot run or climb upwards and downwards in a | |
perpendicular line, as well as these Creatures do, by reason of the depth of | |
their bodies from the soles of their feet to the surface of their back, the | |
weight of their depth over-powering the strength of their legs. Wherefore the | |
weight of a Creature lies for the most part in the shape of its body, which | |
shape gives it such sorts of actions as are proper for it; as for example, a | |
Bird flies by its shape, a Worm crawls by its shape, a Fish swims by its shape, | |
and a heavy Ship will bear it self up on the surface of water merely by its | |
exterior shape, it being not so much the interior figure or nature of Wood that | |
gives it this faculty of bearing up, by reason we see that many pieces of | |
Timber will sink down to the bottom in water. Thus Heaviness and Lightness is | |
for the most part caused by the shape or figure of the body of a Creature, and | |
all its exterior actions depend upon the exterior shape of its body. | |
Whether it be possible to make Man and other Animal Creatures that naturally | |
have no Wings, fly as Birds do. | |
SOme are of opinion, that is not impossible to make Man, and such other | |
Creatures that naturally have no wings, fly as Birds do; but I have heard my | |
Noble Lord and Husband give good reasons against it; For when he was in Paris, | |
he discoursing one time with Mr. H. concerning this subject, told him that he | |
thought it altogether impossible to be done: A Man, said he, or the like animal | |
that has no Wings, has his arms set on his body in a quite opposite manner then | |
Birds wings are; for the concave part of a Birds wing, which joins close to his | |
body, is in man outward; and the inward part of a mans arm where it joins to | |
his body, is in Birds placed outward; so that which is inward in a Bird, is | |
outward in Man; and what is inward in Man, is outward in Birds; which is the | |
reason that a Man has not the same motion of his arm which a Bird has of his | |
wing. For Flying is but swimming in the Air; and Birds, by the shape and | |
posture of their wings, do thrust away the air, and so keep themselves up; | |
which shape, if it were found the same in Mans arms, and other animals legs, | |
they might perhaps fly as Birds do, nay, without the help of Feathers; for we | |
see that Bats have but flesh-wings; neither would the bulk of their bodies be | |
any hinderance to them; for there be many Birds of great and heavy bodies, | |
which do nevertheless fly, although more slowly, and not so nimbly as Flies, | |
or little Birds: Wherefore it is only the different posture and shape of Men's | |
arms, and other Animals legs, contrary to the wings of Birds, that makes them | |
unapt to fly, and not so much the bulk of their bodies. But I believe, that a | |
fourlegg'd Creature, or Animal, may more easily and safely go upright like Man, | |
although it hath its legs set on in a contrary manner to Mans arms and legs; | |
for a four-legged animals hind-leggs resemble man's arms, and its fore-leggs | |
are just as man's legs. Nevertheless there is no Art that can make a four | |
legged Creature imitate the actions of man, no more then Art can make them have | |
or imitate the natural actions of a Bird: For, Art cannot give new motions to | |
natural parts, which are not proper or natural for them, but each part must | |
have such proper and natural motions and actions as Nature has designed for it. | |
I will not say, but Art may help to mend some defects, errors or irregularities | |
in Nature, but not make better that which Nature has made perfect already. | |
Neither can we say Man is defective, because he cannot fly as Birds: for | |
flying is not his natural and proper motion; We should rather account that Man | |
monstrous that could fly, as having some motion not natural and proper to his | |
figure and shape; for that Creature is perfect in its kind, that has all the | |
motions which are naturally requisite to the figure of such a kind: But Man is | |
apt to run into extremes, and spoils Nature with doting too much upon Art. | |
13. Of Snails and Leeches, and whether all Animals have blood. | |
WHether Snails have a row of small teeth, orderly placed in the Gums, and | |
divided into several smaller and greater; or whether they have but one small | |
bended hard bone, which serves them instead of teeth, to bite out pretty large | |
and half-round bits of the leaves of trees to feed on, Experimental | |
Philosophers may enquire by the help of their Microscopes; My opinion is, That | |
Snails are like Leeches, which will not only bite, but suck; but this I do | |
verily believe, that Snails only bite Vegetables, not Animals, as Leeches do; | |
and though Leeches bite into the skin, yet they do not take any part away, but | |
suck only out the juicy part, that is, the blood, and leave the grosser | |
substance of flesh behind; and so do Snails bite into herbs, to suck out the | |
juicy substance, or else there would be found flesh in Leeches, and herbs in | |
Snails, which is not; so that Snails and Leeches bite for no end, but only to | |
make a passage to suck out the juicy parts; and therefore I cannot perceive | |
that they have bones, but I conceive their teeth or parts they pierce withal, | |
to be somewhat of the nature of stings, which are no more Bones then the points | |
of Fire are; I do not certainly affirm they are stings, but my meaning is, that | |
they are pointed or piercing figures, that is, as I said, of the nature of | |
stings, there being many several sorts of pointed and piercing figures, which | |
yet are not stings, like as there are several sorts of grinding and biting | |
figures which are not teeth; for there are so many several sorts of figures in | |
Vegetables, Minerals, Animals and Elements, as no particular Creature is able | |
to conceive. Again, it is questioned, whether those Creatures that suck blood | |
from others, have blood themselves, as naturally belonging to their own | |
substance; and my opinion is, that it is no necessary consequence, that that | |
should be a part of their substance on which they feed; food may be converted | |
into the substance of their bodies by the figurative transforming motions, but | |
it is not part of their substance before it is converted; and so many Creatures | |
may feed on blood, but yet have none of themselves as a natural constitutive | |
part of their being: besides, there are Maggots, Worms, and several sorts of | |
Flies, and other Creatures, that feed upon fruits and herbs, as also Lobsters, | |
Crabs, c. which neither suck blood, nor have blood, and therefore blood is not | |
requisite to the life of every animal, although it is to the life of man, and | |
several other animal Creatures; Neither do I believe, that all the juice in the | |
veins, is blood (as some do conceive) for some of the juice may be in the way | |
of being blood, and some may have altered its nature from being blood, to | |
corruption, which later will never be blood again, and some may only be | |
metamorphosed from blood, and reassume its own colour again; for it is as | |
natural for blood to be red, as for the Sun to be light: Wherefore when some | |
learned are of opinion, that those white, or yellow, or black juices which are | |
found in the veins of small insects, are their blood, they might as well say, | |
that brains are blood, or that the marrow in the bones, is blood; or if the | |
brain should all be turned to water, say, that this water is brains; which | |
would be as much as if one should call a mans body turned to dust and ashes, an | |
animal Creature, or a man; for there are natural properties which belong to | |
every Creature, and to each particular part of a Creature, and so is blood in | |
some animals a natural vital part proper to the conservation of its life, | |
without which it cannot subsist: for example, a young Maid in the | |
Green-sickness, when her veins are fuller of water, then blood, appears pale, | |
and is always sickly, weak and faint, not able to stir, by reason her veins are | |
fuller of water then blood, but were it all water, she would presently die. | |
Wherefore all juices are not blood; nay, I cannot believe as yet, that those | |
they call veins in some insects, are veins, much less that they contain blood, | |
and have a circulation of blood, nor that their motions proceed from Muscles, | |
Nerves and Tendons; but this I may say, that the veins are the proper and | |
convenient vehicles or receptacles of blood, as the head is of brains, and the | |
bones of marrow; also it is as proper for blood to be red, as for veins to | |
contain blood, for bones to contain marrow, and for the head to contain brains; | |
and when they alter or change from their particular natures, they are no more | |
blood, brains nor marrow: Wherefore those Creatures that have a juice which is | |
not red, have no blood; and if no blood, they have no veins. I will not say, | |
that all those that have veins must of necessity have them full of blood; for | |
in Dropsies, as also in the Green-sickness, as I mentioned above, they are | |
fuller of water then blood, but they must of necessity have some blood in their | |
veins, by reason the veins are the most proper receptacles for blood, and no | |
man can live without blood, but when all blood is turned to water, he must of | |
necessity die. | |
14. Of Natural Productions. | |
I Cannot wonder with those, who admire that a Creature which inhabits the air, | |
doth yet produce a Creature, that for some time lives in the water as a fish, | |
and afterward becomes an inhabitant of the air, for this is but a production of | |
one animal from another; but what is more, I observe that there are productions | |
of and from Creatures of quite different kinds; as for example, that Vegetables | |
can and do breed Animals, and Animals, Minerals and Vegetables, and so forth: | |
Neither do I so much wonder at this, because I observe that all Creatures of | |
Nature are produced but out of one matter, which is common to all, and that | |
there are continual and perpetual generations and productions in Nature, as | |
well as there are perpetual dissolutions. But yet I cannot believe, that some | |
sorts of Creatures should be produced on a sudden by the way of transmigration | |
or translation of parts, which is the most usual way of natural productions; | |
for both natural and artificial productions are performed by degrees, which | |
requires time, and is not done in an instant. Neither can I believe, that all | |
natural things are produced by the way of seeds or eggs; for when I consider | |
the variety of Nature, it will not give me leave to think that all things are | |
produced after one and the same manner or way, by reason the figurative motions | |
are too different, and too diversely various, to be tied to one way of acting in | |
all productions; Wherefore as some Productions are done by the way of | |
transmigration or translation of parts, as for example, the Generation of Man, | |
and other Animals, and others by a bare Metamorphosis or Transformation of | |
their own parts into some other figure, as in the Generation of Maggots out of | |
Cheese, or in the production of Ice out of water, and many the like, so each | |
way has its own particular motions, which no particular Creature can persectly | |
know. I have mentioned in my Philosophical Sect. 4. Let. 2 | |
Letters, that no animal Creature can be produced by the way of Metamorphosing, | |
which is a change of Motions in the same parts of Matter, but (as I do also | |
express in the same place) I mean such animals which are produced one from | |
another, and where the production of one is not caused by the destruction of | |
the other; such Creatures, I say, it is impossible they should be produced by a | |
bare Metamorphosis, without Transmigration or Translation of parts from the | |
Generator: but such insects, as Maggots, and several sorts of Worms and Flies, | |
and the like, which have no Generator of their own kind, but are bred out of | |
Cheese, Earth and Dung, c. their Production is only by the way of | |
Metamorphosing, and not Transslation of parts. Neither can I believe, as some | |
do, that the Sun is the common Generator of all those insects that are bred | |
within the Earth; for there are not only Productions of Minerals and | |
Vegetables, but also of Animals in the Earth deeper then the Sun can reach, and | |
the heat of the Sun can pierce no further then cold can, which is not above two | |
yards from the surface of the Earth, at least in our climate: But why may not | |
the Earth, without the help of the Sun, produce Animal Creatures, as well as a | |
piece of Cheese in a deep Cellar, where neither the Sun nor his Beams enter? | |
Truly, I wonder men will confine all Productions to one principal agent, and | |
make the Sun the common Generator of all or most living insects, and yet | |
confess that Nature is so full of variety, and that the Generations and | |
Productions of insects are so various, as not only the same kind of Creature | |
may be produced from several kinds of ways, but the very same Creature may | |
produce several kinds. Nevertheless, I believe that natural Creatures are more | |
numerously and variously produced by dissolution of particulars by the way of | |
Metamorphosing, then by a continued propagation of their own species by the way | |
of translation of parts; and that Nature hath many more ways of Productions, | |
then by seeds or seminal Principles, even in Vegetables, witness the Generation | |
or Production of Moss, and the like Vegetables that grow on Stones, Walls, dead | |
Animals sculls, tops of houses, c. so that he who doth confine Nature but to | |
one way of acting or moving, had better to deprive her of all motion, for | |
Nature being Infinite, has also infinite ways of acting in her particulars. | |
Some are of opinion, that the seed of Moss being exceeding small and light, is | |
taken up, and carried to and fro in the air into every place, and by the | |
falling drops of rain, is washed down out of it, and so dispersed into all | |
places, and there takes only root and propagates where it finds a convenient | |
soil for it to thrive in; but this is only a wild fancy, and has no ground, | |
and no experimental Writer shall ever persuade me, that by his Dioptrical | |
glasses he has made any such experiment; wherefore I insist upon sense and | |
reason, which inform me of the various productions of Nature, which cannot be | |
reduced to one principal kind, but are more numerous then mans particular and | |
finite reason can conceive. Neither is it a wonder to see Plants grow out of | |
the Earth without any waste of the Earth, by reason there are perpetual | |
compositions and divisions in Nature, which are nothing else but an uniting and | |
disjoining of parts to and from parts, and prove that there is an | |
interchangeable ingress and egress, or a reciprocal breathing in all Natures | |
parts, not perceptible by man; so that no man can tell the association of | |
parts, and growing motions of any one, much less of all Creatures. | |
15. Of the Seeds of Vegetables. | |
SOme do call the seeds of Vegetables, the Cabinet of Nature, wherein are laid | |
up her Jewels; but this, in my opinion, is a very hard and improper expression; | |
for I cannot conceive what Jewels Nature has, nor in what Cabinet she preserves | |
them. Neither are the seeds of Vegetables more then other parts or Creatures of | |
Nature: But I suppose some conceive Nature to be like a Granary or Store-house | |
of Pinebarley, or the like; which if so, I would fain know in what grounds | |
those seeds should be sown to produce and increase; for no seeds can produce of | |
themselves if they be not assisted by some other matter, which proves, that | |
seeds are not the prime or principal Creatures in Nature, by reason they depend | |
upon some other matter which helps them in their productions; for if seeds of | |
Vegetables did lie never so long in a store-house, or any other place, they | |
would never produce until they were put into some proper and convenient ground: | |
It is also an argument, that no Creature or part of Nature can subsist singly | |
and precised from all the rest, but that all parts must live together; and | |
since no part can subsist and live without the other, no part can also be | |
called prime or principal. Nevertheless all seeds have life as well as other | |
Creatures; neither is it a Paradox to say, seeds are buried in life, and yet do | |
live; for what is not in present act, we may call buried, entombed or inurned | |
in the power of life; as for example, a man, when his figure is dissolved, his | |
parts dispersed, and joined with others, we may say his former form or figure | |
of being such a particular man is buried in its dissolution, and yet lives in | |
the composition of other parts, or which is all one, he doth no more live the | |
life of a Man, but the life of some other Creature he is transformed into by | |
the transforming and figuring motions of Nature; nay, although every particle | |
of his former figure were joined with several other parts and particles of | |
Nature, and every particle of the dissolved figure were altered from its former | |
figure into several other figures, nevertheless each of these Particles would | |
not only have life, by reason it has motion, but also the former figure would | |
still remain in all those Particles, though dispersed, and living several sorts | |
of lives, there being nothing in Nature that can be lost or annihilated, but | |
Nature is and continues still the same as she was, without the least addition | |
or diminution of any the least thing or part, and all the varieties and changes | |
of natural productions proceed only from the various changes of Motion. But to | |
return to seeds; some Experimental Writers have observed, that the seed of | |
Corn-violets, which looks almost like a very small Flea, through the Microscope | |
appears a large body covered with a tough, thick and bright reflecting skin, | |
very irregularly shrunk and pitted, insomuch that it is almost an impossibility | |
to find two of them wrinkled alike, and wonder that there is such variety even | |
in this little seed: But to me it is no wonder, when I consider the variety of | |
Nature in all her works, not only in the exterior, but also in the interior | |
parts of every Creature; but rather a wonder to see two Creatures just alike | |
each other in their exterior figures. And since the exterior figures of | |
Creatures are not the same with the interior, but in many or most Creatures | |
quite different, it is impossible that the exterior shape and structure of | |
bodies can afford us sure and excellent instructions to the knowledge of their | |
natures and interior motions, as some do conceive; for how shall a feather | |
inform us of the interior nature of a Bird? we may see the exterior flying | |
motions of a Bird by the help of its wings, but they cannot give us an | |
information of the productive and figurative motions of all the interior parts | |
of a Bird, and what makes it to be such a Creature, no more then the exterior | |
view of a mans head, arms, legs, c. can give an Information of his interior | |
Parts, viz. the spleen, liver, lungs, c. Also in Vegetables; although those | |
sorts of Vegetables which are outwardly burning may be outwardly pointed, and | |
they that are hot and burning within may be inwardly pointed, yet no Microscope | |
is able to present to our view those inward points by the inspection of the | |
exterior figure and shape of those Vegetables: Neither doth it follow, that all | |
those which are outwardly pointed, must needs be of a hot and burning nature, | |
except they be also pointed inwardly. Nay although some particular Creatures | |
should seem to resemble each other in their exterior shapes and figures so much | |
as not to be distinguished at the first view, yet upon better acquaintance we | |
shall find a great difference betwixt them; which shows that there is more | |
variety and difference amongst Natures works, then our weak senses are able to | |
perceive; nay, more variety in one particular Creature, as for example, in Man, | |
then all the kind or sort of that Creature, viz. Mankind, is able to know. And | |
if there be such difference betwixt the exterior figures of Creatures of one | |
sort, what may there be betwixt their exterior shapes and interior natures? | |
Nevertheless, although there be such variety, not only in the General kinds of | |
Creatures, but in every Particular, yet there is but one ground or principle of | |
all this variety, which is self-motion, or self-moving Matter. And I cannot | |
enough admire the strange conceits of some men, who perceiving and believing | |
such a curious variety and various curiosity of Nature in the parts of her | |
body, and that she is in a perpetual motion, and knows best her own Laws, and | |
the several proprieties of bodies, and how to adapt and fit them to her | |
designed ends, nay, that God hath implanted a faculty of knowing in every | |
Creature, do yet deny, nay, rail against Natures self-moving power, condemning | |
her as a dull, inanimate, senseless and irrational body, as if a rational man | |
could conceive, that such a curious variety and contrivance of natural works | |
should be produced by a senseless and irational motion; or that Nature was full | |
of immaterial spirits, which did work Natural matter into such various figures; | |
or that all this variety should be caused by an Immaterial motion, which is | |
generated out of nothing, and annihilated in a moment; for no man can conceive | |
or think of motion without body, and if it be above thought, then surely it is | |
above act. But I rather cease to wonder at those strange and irregular opinions | |
of Man-kind, since even they themselves do justify and prove the variety of | |
Nature; for what we call Irregularities in Nature, are really nothing but a | |
variety of Natures motions; and therefore if all men's conceits, fancies and | |
opinions were rational, there would not be so much variety as there is. | |
Concerning those that say, there is no variety in the Elemental Kingdom, as | |
Air, Water, and Earth; Air and Water having no form at all, unless a | |
potentiality to be formed into globules, and that the clods and parcels of | |
Earth are all Irregular. I answer, This is more then Man is able to know: But | |
by reason their Microscopes cannot make such Hermaphroditical figures of the | |
Elements, as they can of Minerals, Vegetables and Animals, they conclude there | |
is no such variety in them; when as yet we do plainly perceive that there are | |
several sorts of Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and no doubt but these several sorts, | |
and their particulars, are as variously figured as other Creatures: Truly it is | |
no consequence to deny the being of that which we do not see or perceive; for | |
this were to attribute a Universal and Infinite knowledge to our weak and | |
imperfect senses. And therefore I cannot believe, that the Omnipotent Creator | |
has written and engraven his most mysterious Designs and Counsels only in one | |
sort of Creatures; since all parts of Nature, their various productions and | |
curious contrivances, do make known the Omnipotency of God, not only those of | |
little, but also those of great sizes; for in all figures, sizes and actions is | |
apparent the curious variety of Nature, and the Omnipotency of the Cretor, who | |
has given Nature a self-moving power to produce all these varieties in her | |
self; which varieties do evidently prove, that Nature doth not work in all | |
Creatures alike: nor that she has but one Primary or Principal sort of motions | |
by which she produces all Creatures, as some do conceive the manner of | |
wreathing and unwreathing, which they have observed in the beard of a Wild-oat, | |
mentioned before, to be the first foot step of sensation and animate motion, | |
and the most plain, simple and obvious contrivance Nature has made use of to | |
produce a motion next to that of rarefaction and condensation by heat and cold; | |
for this is a very wild and extravagant conceit, to measure the infinite | |
actions of Nature according to the rule of one particular sort of motions, | |
which any one that has the perfect use of his sense and reason may easily see, | |
and therefore I need not to bring many arguments to contradict it. | |
16. Of the Providence of Nature, and of some Opinions concerning Motion. | |
COncerning those that speak of the Providence of Nature, the preserving of | |
Vegetables, to wit, that Nature is very curious and careful in preserving their | |
seminal principles, and lays them in most convenient, strong and delicate | |
cabinets for their safer protection from outward danger: I confess, Nature may | |
make such protections, that one Creature may have some defence from the | |
injuries and assaults of its fellow-Creatures; but these assaults are nothing | |
but dissolving motions, as friendly and amiable associations are nothing else | |
but composing motions; neither can any thing be lost in Nature, for even the | |
least particle of Nature remains as long as Nature her self. And if there be | |
any Providence in Nature, then certainly Nature has knowledge and wisdom; and if | |
she hath knowledge and wisdom, then she has sense and reason; and if sense and | |
reason, then she has self-motion; and if Nature has self-motion, then none of | |
her parts can be called inanimate or soul-less: for Motion is the life and soul | |
of Nature, and of all her parts; and if the body be animate, the parts must be | |
so too, there being no part of the animate body of Nature that can be dead, or | |
without motion; whereof an instance might be given of animal bodies, whose | |
parts have all animal life, as well as the body it self: Wherefore those that | |
allow a soul, or an informing, actuating and animating form or faculty in | |
Nature and her parts, and yet call some parts inanimate or soul-less, do | |
absolutely contradict themselves. And those that say, all the varieties of | |
Nature are produced, not by self-motion, but that one part moves another, must | |
at last come to something that moves it self: besides, it is not probable, that | |
one part moving another, should produce all things so orderly and wisely as | |
they are in Nature. But those that say Motion is no substance, and consequently | |
not material, and yet allow a generation and annihilation of Motion, speak, in | |
my opinion, non-sence: for first, how can self-motion, the Author and Producer | |
of all things, work all the varieties that are in Nature, and be nothing it | |
self? Next, how can that which is nothing (for all that is not Material is | |
nothing in Nature, or no part of Nature) be generated and annihilated? Nay, if | |
Motion be Material, as surely it is, yet there can neither be a new generation, | |
nor an annihilation of any particular Motion in Nature; for all that is | |
material in Nature has its being in and from Infinite Matter, which is from | |
Eternity, it being impossible that any other new Matter should be created | |
besides this Infinite Matter out of which all natural things consist, or that | |
any part of this matter should be lost or annihilated. But perhaps those that | |
believe new generations and annihilations of particular motions, may say, that | |
their opinion is not as if those particular Motions were generated out of some | |
new matter, but that the matter of such motions is the same with the matter of | |
all other natural Creatures, and that their perishing or annihilation is not an | |
utter destruction or loss of their being out of Nature, but only of being such | |
or such a motion, like as some Vegetables and Elements are generated and perish | |
in one night: Truly, if their meaning be thus, then it were better to name it | |
an alteration or change of Motion, rather then a new Generation, and a | |
Perishing or Annihilation. But my intention is not to plead for other men's | |
opinions, but rather to clear my own, which is, that Motion is material; for | |
Figure, Motion and Matter are but one thing; and that no particular Motion is | |
or can be lost in Nature, nor created anew; as I have declared more at large | |
elsewhere. | |
17. Des Cartes Opinion of Motion examined. | |
I Cannot well apprehend what Des Cartes means, by Matter being at first set a | |
moving by a strong and lively action, and by his extraordinary swift rotation | |
or whirling motion about the Center; as also by the shavings of his ethereal | |
subtle Matter which filled up all vacuities and pores, and his ethereal | |
globules; I would ask whether this kind of motion did still continue; if so, | |
then not only the rugged and uneven parts, but also the ethereal globules | |
would become less by this continual rotation, and would make this world a very | |
weak, dizzy, and tottering world; and if there be any such shaving and | |
lessening, then according to his principles there must also be some reaction, | |
or a reacting and resisting motion, and then there would be two opposite | |
motions which would hinder each other. But I suppose he conceived, that Nature, | |
or the God of Nature, did produce the world after a Mechanical way, and | |
according as we see Turners, and such kind of Artificers work; which if so, | |
then the Art of Turning is the prime and fundamental of all other Mechanical | |
Arts, and ought to have place before the rest, and a Turner ought to be the | |
prime and chief of all Mechanics, and highly esteemed; but alas! that sort of | |
people is least regarded; and though by their turning Art they make many dusty | |
shavings, yet they get but little profit by them; for all they get is by their | |
several wooden figures they make, as Spoons, Ladles, Cups, Bowls, Trenchers, | |
and the like, and not by their shavings. Wherefore as all other Mechanics do | |
not derive their Arts from Turners, so neither is it probable, that this world | |
and all natural Creatures are produced by a whirling Motion, or a spherical | |
rotation, as if some spirits were playing at Bowls or Football; for as I have | |
often mentioned, Nature has infinite ways of Motions, whereof none is prime or | |
principal, but self-motion, which is the producer of all the varieties Nature | |
has within her self. Next, as for his Opinion of transferring and imparting | |
Motion to other bodies, and that that body which imparts Motion to another | |
body, loses as much as it gives, I have answered in my Philosophical Letters; | |
to wit, that it is most improbable, by reason Motion being material and | |
inseparable from Matter, cannot be imparted without Matter; and if not, then | |
the body that receives Motion would increase in bulk, and the other that loses | |
Motion would decrease, by reason of the addition and diminution of the parts of | |
Matter, which must of necessity increase and lessen the bulk of the body, the | |
contrary whereof is sufficiently known. | |
18. Of the blackness of a Charcoal, and of Light. | |
I Cannot in reason give my consent to those Dioptrical Writers, who conceive | |
that the blackness of a Charcoal proceeds from the Porousness of its parts, and | |
the absence of light, viz. that light, not being reflected in the Pores of a | |
Charcoal, doth make it obscure, and consequently appear black; for the opinion | |
which holds that all Colours are caused by the various reflection of Light, has | |
but a weak and uncertain Ground, by reason the refraction or reflection of | |
light is so inconstant, as it varies and alters continually; and there being so | |
many reflexions and positions of Light, if they were the true cause of Colours, | |
no Colour would appear constantly the same, but change variously, according to | |
the various reflection of Light; whereas, on the contrary, we see that natural | |
and inherent Colours continue always the same, let the position and reflection | |
of Light be as it will; besides, there being different coloured Creatures, if | |
all had the same position and reflection of light, they would not appear of | |
divers, but all of one colour, the contrary whereof is proved by experience. I | |
will not say, but the refraction and various position of light may vary and | |
alter a natural and inherent colour exteriously so, as to cause, for example, a | |
natural blew to appear green, or a natural green to appear red, c. but those | |
figures which light makes, being but superficially and loosely spread upon | |
other natural and substantial figures, are so uncertain, inconstant and | |
momentary, that they do change according as the reflection and position of light | |
alters; and therefore they cannot cause or produce any natural or inherent | |
colours, for these are not superficial, but fixed, and remain constantly the | |
same. And as for blackness, that it should be caused by the absence of light, I | |
think it to be no more probable, then that light is the cause of our sight; for | |
if the blackness of a Charcoal did proceed from the absence of light in its | |
pores, then a black Horse would have more or deeper pores then a white one, or | |
a sorrel, or any other coloured Horse; also a black Moor would have larger | |
Pores then a man of a white complexion; and black Satin, or any black Stuff, | |
would have deeper pores then white Stuff: But if a fair white Lady should | |
bruise her arm, so as it did appear black, can any one believe that light would | |
be more absent from that bruised part then from any other part of her arm that | |
is white, or that light should reflect otherwise upon that bruised part, then | |
on any other? Also can any body believe, that the reflection of light on a | |
decayed Ladies face, should be the cause that her complexion is altered from | |
what it was when she was young, and appeared beautiful and fair? Certainly | |
Light is no more the cause of her Complexion then of her Wrinkles, or else she | |
would never complain of Age, but of Light. But to prove further, that the | |
entering of light into the pores of exterior bodies, can neither make | |
perception nor colours; if this were so, then the entering of light into the | |
pores of the Eye, would make it perceive all things of as many colours as a | |
Rain-bow hath: besides, if several Eyes should have several shaped Pores, none | |
would agree in the perception of the colour of an exterior object, or else it | |
would so dazzle the sight, as no object would be truly perceived in its natural | |
colour; for it would breed a confusion between those reflexions of light that | |
are made in the pores of the eye, and those that are made in the pores of the | |
object, as being not probable they would agree, since all pores are not just | |
alike, or of the same bigness; so as what with Air, Light, Particles, and Pores | |
jumbled together, and thrust or crowded into so small a compass, it would make | |
such a confusion and Chaos of colours, as I may call it, that no sight would be | |
able to discern them; wherefore it is no more probable that the perception of | |
sight is caused by the entering of light into the pores of the Eye, then that | |
the perception of smoke is caused by its entrance into the Eye: And I wonder | |
rational men do believe, or at least conceive Natures actions to be so confused | |
and disordered, when as yet sense and reason may perceive that Nature works | |
both easily and orderly, and therefore I rather believe, that as all other | |
Creatures, so also light is patterned out by the corporeal figurative and | |
perceptive motions of the optic sense, and not that its perception is made by | |
its'entrance into the eye, or by pressure and reaction, or by confused | |
mixtures, by reason the way of Patterning is an easy alteration of parts, when | |
as all others are forced and constrained, nay, unsettled, inconstant and | |
uncertain; for how should the fluid particles of air and light be able to | |
produce a constant and settled effect, being so changeable themselves, what | |
instances soever of Geometrical figures be drawn hither to evince it? if Man | |
knew Natures Geometry, he might perhaps do something, but his artificial | |
figures will never find out the architecture of Nature, which is beyond his | |
perception or capacity. But some may object, That neither colour, nor any other | |
object can be seen or perceived without light, and therefore light must needs | |
be the cause of colours, as well as of our optic perception. To which I | |
answer, Although we cannot regularly see any other bodies without light, by | |
reason darkness doth involve them, yet we perceive darkness and night without | |
the help of light. They will say, We perceive darkness only by the absence of | |
light. I answer, If all the Perception of the optic sense did come from light, | |
then the Perception of night or darkness would be no perception at all, which | |
is a Paradox, and contrary to common experience, nay, to sense and reason, for | |
black requires as much Perception as white, and so doth darkness and night. | |
Neither could we say, it is dark, or it is night, if we did not perceive it to | |
be so, or had no perception at all of it: The truth is, we perceive as much | |
darkness as we do light, and as much black as we do white; for although | |
darkness doth not present to our view other objects, so as light doth, but | |
conceals them, yet this doth not infer that darkness is not perceived; for | |
darkness must needs do so, by reason it is opposite to light, and its corporeal | |
figurative motions are quite contrary to the motions of light, and therefore it | |
must also of necessity have contrary effects; wherefore the error of those that | |
will not allow darkness to be a corporeal figurative motion, as well as light, | |
but only a privation or absence of light, cannot make it nothing; but it is on | |
the contrary well known, that darkness has a being as well as light has, and | |
that it is something, and not nothing, by reason we do perceive it; but he that | |
perceives, must needs perceive something, for no perception can be of nothing: | |
besides, I have declared elsewhere, that we do see in dreams, and that mad men | |
see objects in the dark, without the help of light: which proves, it is not the | |
presence or entering of light into the eye, that causes our seeing, nor the | |
absence of light, which takes away our optic Perception, but light only doth | |
present exterior objects to our view, so as we may the better perceive them. | |
Neither is a colour lost or lessened in the dark, but it is only concealed | |
from the ordinary perception of humane sight; for truly, if colours should not | |
be colours in the dark, then it might as rationally be said, that a man's flesh | |
and blood is not flesh and blood in the dark, when it is not seen by a humane | |
eye: I will not say, that the smallness and fineness of parts may not make | |
colours appear more glorious; for colours are like artificial Paintings, the | |
gentler and finer their draughts and lines are, the smoother and glossier | |
appear their works; but smallness and fineness is not the true cause of colours, | |
that is, it doth not make colours to be colours, although it makes colours | |
fine. And thus black is not black through the absence of Light, no more then | |
white can be white by the presence of light; but blackness is one sort of | |
colour, whiteness another, redness another, and so of the rest: Whereof some | |
are superficial and changeable, to wit, such as are made by the reflection of | |
light, others fixed and inherent, viz. such as are in several sorts of Minerals, | |
Vegetables and Animals; and others again are produced by Art, as by Dying and | |
Painting; which Artists know best how to order by their several mixtures. | |
19. Of the Pores of a Charcoal, and of Emptiness. | |
ALthough I cannot believe, that the absence of Light in the Pores of a | |
Charcoal is the cause of its blackness; yet I do not question the truth of its | |
Pores: for that all, or most Creatures have Pores, I have declared before; | |
which Pores are nothing else but passages to receive and discharge some parts | |
of matter; and therefore the opinion of those that believe an entering of some | |
Particles of exterior bodies through the Pores of animal Creatures, and an | |
intermixing with their interior parts; as that, for example, in the bathing in | |
Mineral Waters, the liquid and warm vehicles of the Mineral Particles, do by | |
degrees insinuate themselves into the pores of the skin, and intermix with the | |
inner parts of the body, is very rational; for this is a convenient way of | |
conveighing exteterior parts into the body, and may be effectual either to good | |
or bad; and although the pores be very small, yet they are numerous, so that | |
the number of the pores supplies the want of their largeness. But yet although | |
Pores are passages for other bodies to issue or enter, nevertheless they are | |
not empty, there being no such thing as an emptiness in Nature; for surely God, | |
the fulness and Perfection of all things, would not suffer any Vacuum in | |
Nature, which is a Pure Nothing; Vacuum implies a want and imperfection of | |
something, but all that God made by his All-powerful Command, was good and | |
perfect; Wherefore, although Charcoals and other bodies have Pores, yet they | |
are filled with some subtle Matter not subject to our sensitive perception, | |
and are not empty, but only called so, by reason they are not filled up with | |
some solid and gross substance perceptible by our senses. But some may say, if | |
there be no emptiness in Nature, but all fulness of body, or bodily parts, then | |
the spiritual or divine soul in Man, which inhabits his body, would not have | |
room to reside in it. I answer, The Spiritual or Divine Soul in Man is not | |
Natural, but Supernatural, and has also a Supernatural way of residing in man's | |
body; for Place belongs only to bodies, and a Spirit being bodiless, has no | |
need of a bodily place. But then they will say, That I make Spirit and Vacuum | |
all one thing, by reason I describe a Spirit to be a Natural Nothing, and the | |
same I say of Vacuum; and hence it will follow, that particular Spirits are | |
particular Emptinesses, and an Infinite Spirit an Infinite Vacuum. My answer | |
is, That although a Spirit is a Natural nothing, yet it is a Supernatural | |
something; but a Vacnum is a Pure nothing, both Naturally and Supernaturally; | |
and God forbid I should be so irreligious, as to compare Spirits, and | |
consequently God, who is an Infinite Spirit, to a Vacuum; for God is | |
All-fulfilling, and an Infinite Fulness and Perfection, though not a Corporeal | |
or Material, yet a Supernatural, Spiritual, and Incomprehensible fulness; when | |
as Vacuum, although it is a corporeal word, yet in effect or reality is | |
nothing, and expresses a want or imperfection, which cannot be said of any | |
supernatural Creature, much less of God. | |
20. Of Colours. | |
ALthough the sensitive perception doth pattern out the exterior figure of | |
Colours, as easily as of any other object, yet all perceptions of Colours are | |
not made by Patterning; for as there are many perceptions which take no | |
patterns from outward objects, so there are also perceptions of Colours which | |
never were presented to our sensitive organs: Neither is any perception made by | |
exterior objects, but by interior corporeal figurative motions; for the object | |
doth not print or act any way upon the eye, but it is the sensitive motions in | |
the eye which pattern out the figure of the object: and it is to be observed, | |
that as the parts of some bodies do consist of several different figures, which | |
the learned call Heterogeneous, one figure being included within another; and | |
some again, their parts are but of one kind of figure, which they call | |
Homogeneous bodies, as for example, Water: so it may be with Colours; for some, | |
their parts may be quite thorough of one colour, and others again, may be of | |
several colours; and indeed, most Creatures, as they have different parts, so | |
those different parts have also different colours; and as those parts do alter, | |
so do their colours: For example, a Man that is in good health, looks of a | |
sanguine complexion, but being troubled with the Yellow or black Jaundies, his | |
complexion is of the colour of the humour; either black, or yellow; yet it doth | |
not proceed always from the over-flowing of the humour towards the exterior | |
parts; for many times, when the humour is obstructed, it will cause the same | |
effect; but then the corporeal motions in the extreme parts alter by way of | |
Imitation or Metamorphosing, as from a sanguine colour into the colour of the | |
predominant humour: Wherefore it is no more wonder to see colours change in the | |
tempering of Steel (as some are pleased to alledg this experiment) then to see | |
Steel change and rechange its temper from being hard to soft, from tough to | |
brittle, c. which changes prove, that colours are material as well as steel, so | |
that the alteration of the corporeal parts, is the alteration of the corporeal | |
figures of colours. They also prove, that Light is not essential to colours; | |
for although some colours are made by several Reflexions, Refractions and | |
Positions of Light, yet Light is not the true and natural cause of all colours; | |
but those colours that are made by light, are most inconstant, momentany and | |
alterable, by reason light and its effects are very changeable: Neither are | |
colours made by a bare motion, for there is no such thing as a bare or | |
immaterial Motion in Nature; but both Light and Colours are made by the | |
corporeal figurative motions of Nature; and according to the various changes of | |
those Motions, there are also various and different Lights and Colours; and the | |
perception of light and Colours is made and dissolved by the sensitive | |
figurative motions in the optic sensorium, without the exchange of exterior | |
objects; but as the slackest, loosest or rarest parts are of least solid or | |
composed corporeal figures, so are they most apt to change and rechange upon | |
the least disorder, as may well be observed in colours raised by Passions, as | |
fear, anger, or the like, which will change not only the complexion and | |
countenance, but the very features will have some alteration for a short time, | |
and many times the whole body will be so altered, as not to be rightly composed | |
again for a good while; nay, often there follows a total dissolution of the | |
whole figure, which we call death. And at all this we need not wonder, if we do | |
but consider that Nature is full of sense and reason, that is, of sensitive and | |
rational perception, which is the cause that oftentimes the disturbance of one | |
part causes all other parts of a composed figure to take an alarm; for, as we | |
may observe, it is so in all other composed bodies, even in those composed by | |
Art; as for example, in the Politic body of a Commonwealth, one Traitor is apt | |
to cause all the Kingdom to take arms; and although every member knows not | |
particularly of the Traitor, and of the circumstances of his crime, yet every | |
member, if regular, knows its particular duty, which causes a general agreement | |
to assist each other; and as it is with a Common-wealth, so it is also with an | |
animal body; for if there be factions amongst the parts of an animal body, then | |
straight there arises a Civil War. Wherefore to return to Colours; a sudden | |
change of Colours may cause no wonder, by reason there is oftentimes in Nature | |
a sudden change of parts, that is, an alteration of figures in the same parts: | |
Neither is it more to be admired, that one colour should be within another, | |
then one figurative part is within another; for colours are figurative parts; | |
and as there are several Creatures, so there are also several Colours; for the | |
Colour of a Creature is as well corporeal as the Creature it self; and (to | |
express my self as clearly as I can) Colour is as much a body as Place and | |
Magnitude, which are but one thing with body: wherefore when the body, or any | |
corporeal part varies, whether solid or rare; Place, Magnitude, Colour, and the | |
like, must of necessity change or vary also; which change is no annihilation or | |
perishing, for as no particle of Matter can be lost in Nature, nor no | |
particular motion, so neither can Colour; and therefore the opinion of those, | |
who say, That when Flax or Silk is divided into very small threads, or fine | |
parts, those parts lose their colours, and being twisted, regain their colours, | |
seems not conformable to Truth; for the division of their parts doth not | |
destroy their colours, nor the composing of those parts regain them; but they | |
being divided into such small and fine parts, it makes their colours, which are | |
the finest of their exterior parts, not to be subject to our optic perception; | |
for what is very small or rare, is not subject to the humane optic sense; | |
wherefore there are these following conditions required to the optic | |
perception of an exterior object: First, The object must not be too subtle, | |
rare, or little, but of a certain degree of magnitude; Next, It must not be too | |
far distant, or without the reach of our sight; then the medium must not be | |
obstructed, so as to hinder our perception; And lastly, our optic sensorium | |
must be perfect, and the sensitive motions regular; of which conditions, if any | |
be wanting, there is either no perception at all, or it is an imperfect | |
perception; for the perception of seeing an exterior object, is nothing else | |
but a patterning out of the figure of that same object by the sensitive | |
figurative and perceptive motions; but there are infinite parts that are beyond | |
our humane perception, and it would be but a folly for us to deny that which we | |
cannot see or perceive; and if the perceptive motions be not regular in our | |
optic sense, we may see different colours in one object; nay, the corporeal | |
figurative motions in the eye may make several figurative colours, even without | |
the patterns of outward objects; and as there are several colours, so there are | |
also several corporeal figurative motions that make several colours in several | |
parts; and the more solid the parts are, the more fixed are their inherent | |
natural colours: But superficial colours are more various, though not so | |
various as they would be, if made by dusty Atoms, flying about as Flies in | |
Sun-shine; for if this opinion were true, all colours, and other Creatures | |
would be composed or made by chance, rather then by reason, and chance being so | |
ignorantly inconstant, not any two parts would be of the like colour, nor any | |
kind or species would be preserved; but Wise Nature, although she be full of | |
variety, yet she is also full of reason, which is knowledge; for there is no | |
part of Nature that has not sense and reason, which is life and knowledge; and | |
if all the infinite parts have life and knowledge, Infinite Nature cannot be a | |
fool or insensible: But mistake me not, for I do not mean, that her parts in | |
particular are infinitely knowing, but I say Infinite Nature hath an Infinite | |
knowledge; and by reason Nature is material, she is divideable as well as | |
composeable, which is the cause that there is an obscurity in her Parts, in | |
particular, but not in general, that is, in Nature her self; nay, if there were | |
not an obscurity in the Particulars, men would not endeavour to prove inherent | |
and natural figures by superficial Phaenomena's. But as for Colour, some do | |
mention the example of a blind man, who could discover colours by touch; and | |
truly I cannot account it a wonder, because colours are corporeal figurative | |
motions, and touch being a general sense, may well perceive by experience | |
(which is gained by practice) some Notions of other sensitive perceptions; as | |
for example, a blind man may know by relation the several touches of Water, | |
Milk, Broth, Jelly, Vinegar, Vitriol, c. as well as what is hot, cold, rare, | |
dense, hard, soft, or the like; and if he have but his touch, hearing, speaking | |
and smelling, perfectly, he may express the several knowledges of his several | |
senses by one particular sense, or he may express one senses knowledge by | |
another; but if the senses be imperfect, he cannot have a true knowledge of any | |
object. The same may be said of Colours; for several Colours being made by | |
several corporeal figurative motions, may well be perceived by a general sense, | |
which is Touch: I will not say, that touch is the principle of all sensitive | |
knowledge, for then I should be of the opinion of those Experimental | |
Philosophers, which will have one principal motion or figure to be the cause of | |
all Natural things; but I only say, animal touch may have some Notion of the | |
other animal senses by the help of rational perception: all which proves, that | |
every part is sensible, and every sense knowing, not only in particular, but | |
that one sense may have some general notion or knowledge of the rest; for there | |
are particular and general perceptions in sensitive and rational matter, which | |
is the cause both of the variety and order of Nature's Works; and therefore it | |
is not necessary, that a black figure must be rough, and a white figure smooth: | |
Neither are white and black the Ground-figures of Colours, as some do conceive, | |
or as others do imagine, blew and yellow; for no particular figure can be a | |
principle, but they are all but effects; and I think it is as great an error to | |
believe Effects for Principles, as to judge of the Interior Natures and Motions | |
of Creatures by their Exterior Phenomenon or appearances, which I observe in | |
most of our modern Authors, whereof some are for Incorporeal Motions, others | |
for Prime and Principal Figures, others for First Matter, others for the | |
figures of dusty and insensible Atoms, that move by chance: when as neither | |
Atoms, Corpuscles or Particles, nor Pores, Light, or the like, can be the | |
cause of fixed and natural colours; for if it were so, then there would be no | |
stayed or solid colour, insomuch, as a Horse, or any other Creature, would be | |
of more various colours then a Rain-bow; but that several colours are of | |
several figures, was always, and is still my opinion, and that the change of | |
colours proceeds from the alteration of their figures, as I have more at large | |
declared in my other Philosophical Works: Indeed Art can no more force certain | |
Atoms or Particles to meet and join to the making of such a figure as Art | |
would have, then it can make by a bare command Insensible Atoms to join into a | |
Uniform World. I do not say this, as if there could not be Artificial Colours, | |
or any Artificial Effects in Nature; but my meaning only is, that although Art | |
can put several parts together, or divide and disjoin them, yet it cannot make | |
those parts move or work so as to alter their proper figures or interior | |
natures, or to be the cause of changing and altering their own or other parts, | |
any otherwise then they are by their Natures. Neither do I say, that no Colours | |
are made by Light, but I say only, that fixed colours are not made by Light; | |
and as for the opinion, that white bodies reflect the Light outward, and black | |
bodies inward, as some Authors do imagine; I answer, 'Tis probable, some bodies | |
may do so, but all white and black Colours are not made by such reflexions; the | |
truth is, some conceive all Colours to be made by one sort of Motion, like as | |
some do believe that all sensation is made by pressure and reaction, and all | |
heat by parts tending outward, and all cold by parts tending inward; when as | |
there are not only several kinds of heat and cold, as Animal, Vegetable, | |
Mineral and Elemental heat and cold, but several sorts in each kind, and | |
different particulars in each sort; for there is a moist heat, a dry heat, a | |
burning, a dissolving, a composing, a dilating, a contracting heat, and many | |
more: The like for colds; all which several kinds, sorts and particulars, are | |
made by the several changes of the corporeal figurative Motions of Nature, and | |
not by Pressure and Reaction, or by tending inward and outward. And as there is | |
so great a variety and difference amongst natural Creatures, both in their | |
Perceptions and interior natures, so there are also varieties of their colours, | |
the natural colours of men being different from the natural colours of Beasts, | |
Birds, Fish, Worms, Flies, c. Concerning their interior Natures, I'll alledg | |
but few examples; although a Peacock, Parrot, Pie, or the like, are gay Birds, | |
yet there is difference in their Gaiety: Again; although all men have flesh and | |
blood, and are all of one particular kind, yet their interior natures and | |
dispositions are so different, as seldom any two men are of the same | |
complexion; and as there is difference in their complexions, so in the exterior | |
shapes and features of their exterior parts, in so much as it is a wonder to | |
see two men just alike; nay, as there is difference in the corporeal parts of | |
their bodies, so in the corporeal parts of their minds, according to the old | |
Proverb, So many Men, so many Minds: For there are different Understandings, | |
Fancies, Conceptions, Imaginations, Judgments, Wits, Memories, Affections, | |
Passions, and the like. Again: as in some Creatures there is difference both in | |
their exterior features and interior natures, so in others there is found a | |
resemblance only in their exterior, and a difference in their interior parts; | |
and in others again, a resemblance in their interior, and a difference in their | |
exterior parts; as for example, black Ebony, and black Marble, are both of | |
different natures, one being Wood, and the other Stone, and yet they resemble | |
each other in their exterior colour and parts; also, white, black, and gray | |
Marble, are all of one interior Nature, and yet to differ in their exterior | |
colour and parts: The same may be said of Chalk and Milk, which are both white, | |
and yet of several natures; as also of a Turquois, and the Sky, which both | |
appear of one colour, and yet their natures are different: besides, there are | |
so many stones of different colours, nay, stones of one sort, as for example, | |
Diamonds, which appear of divers colours, and yet are all of the same Nature; | |
also Man's flesh, and the flesh of some other animals, doth so much resemble, | |
as it can hardly be distinguished, and yet there is great difference betwixt | |
Man and Beasts: Nay, not only particular Creatures, but parts of one and the | |
same Creature are different; as for example, every part of mans body has a | |
several touch, and every bit of meat we eat has a several taste, witness the | |
several parts, as legs, wings, breast, head, c. of some Fowl; as also the | |
several parts of Fish, and other Creatures. All which proves the Infinite | |
variety in Nature, and that Nature is a perpetually self-moving body, dividing, | |
composing, changing, forming and transforming her parts by self-corporeal | |
figurative motions; and as she has infinite corporeal figurative motions, which | |
are her parts, so she has an infinite wisdom to order and govern her infinite | |
parts; for she has Infinite sense and reason, which is the cause that no part | |
of hers is ignorant, but has some knowledge or other, and this Infinite variety | |
of knowledge makes a general Infinite wisdom in Nature. And thus I have declared | |
how Colours are made by the figurative corporeal motions, and that they are as | |
various and different as all other Creatures, and when they appear either more | |
or less, it is by the variation of their parts. But as for the experiment of | |
Snow, which some do alledg, that in a darkened room, it is not perceived to have | |
any other light then what it receives, doth not prove that the whiteness of | |
Snow is not an inherent and natural colour, because it doth not reflect light, | |
or because our eye doth not see it, no more then we can justly say, that blood | |
is not blood, or flesh is not flesh in the dark, if our eye do not perceive it, | |
or that the interior parts of Nature are colourless, because the exterior light | |
makes no reflection upon them.. Truly, in my judgment, those opinions, that no | |
parts have colour, but those which the light reflects on, are neither probable | |
to sense nor reason; for how can we conceive any corporeal part without a | |
colour? In my opinion, it is as impossible to imagine a body without colour, as | |
it is impossible for the mind to conceive a natural immaterial substance; and | |
if so pure a body as the mind cannot be colourless, much less are grosser | |
bodies. But put the case all bodies that are not subject to exterior light were | |
black as night, yet they would be of a colour, for black is as much a colour as | |
green, or blew, or yellow, or the like; but if all the interior parts of Nature | |
be black, then, in my opinion, Nature is a very sad and melancholy Lady; and | |
those which are of such an opinion, surely their minds are more dark then the | |
interior parts of Nature; I will not hope that clouds of dusty Atoms have | |
obscured them. But if not any Creature can have imagination without figure and | |
colour, much less can the optic sensitive parts; for the exterior sensitive | |
parts are more gross then the rational, and therefore they cannot be without | |
colour, no more then without figure: and although the exterior parts of Animals | |
are subject to our touch, yet the countenances of those several exterior parts | |
are no more perceptible by our touch, then several colours are: By | |
Countenances, I mean the several exterior postures, motions, or appearances of | |
each part; for as there is difference betwixt a face, and a countenance; (for a | |
face remains constantly the same, when as the countenance of a face may and | |
doth change every moment; as for example, there are smiling, frowning, joyful, | |
sad, angry countenances, c.) so there is also a difference between the exterior | |
figure or shape of a Creature, and the several and various motions, appearances | |
or postures of the exterior parts of that Creatures exterior figure, whereof | |
the former may be compared to a Face, and the later to a Countenance. But | |
leaving this nice distinction; If any one should ask me, Whether a | |
Barbary-horse, or a Jennet, or a Turkish, or an English-horse, can be known and | |
distinguished in the dark? I answer: They may be distinguished as much as the | |
blind man (whereof mention hath been made before) may discern colours, nay, | |
more; for the figure of a gross exterior shape of a body may sooner be | |
perceived, then the more fine and pure countenance of Colours. To shut up this | |
my discourse of Colours, I will briefly repeat what I have said before, viz. | |
that there are natural and inherent colours which are fixed and constant, and | |
superficial colours, which are changeable and inconstant, as also Artificial | |
colours made by Painters and Dyers, and that it is impossible that any constant | |
colour should be made by inconstant Atoms and various lights. 'Tis true, there | |
are streams of dust or dusty Atoms, which seem to move variously, upon which | |
the Sun or light makes several reflections and refractions; but yet I do not | |
see, nor can I believe, that those dusty particles and light are the cause of | |
fixed and inherent colours; and therefore if Experimental Philosophers have no | |
firmer grounds and principles then their Colours have, and if their opinions be | |
as changeable as inconstant Atoms, and variable Lights, then their experiments | |
will be of no great benefit and use to the world. Neither will Artificial | |
Characters and Geometrical Figures be able to make their opinions and | |
experiments more probable; for they appear to me like Dr. Dee's numbers, who | |
was directed by I know not what spirits, which Kelley saw in his holy stone, | |
which neither of them did understand; much less will Dioptrical glasses give | |
any true Information of them, but they rather delude the sight; for Art is not | |
only intricate and obscure, but a false informer, and rather blinds then | |
informs any particular Creature of the Truth of Nature: but my reason perceives | |
that Nature loves sometimes to act or work blind-fold in the actions of Art; | |
for although they be natural, yet they are but Natures blind, at least her | |
winking or juggling actions, causing some parts or Creatures to deceive others, | |
or else they are her politic actions by which she deceives her Creatures | |
expectations, and by that means keeps them from knowing and understanding her | |
subtle and wise Government. | |
21. Whether an Idea have a Colour, and of the Idea of a Spirit. | |
I Have declared in my former discourse, that there is no Colour without body, | |
nor a body without colour, for we cannot think of a body without we think of | |
colour too. To which some may object, That if colour be as proper to a body as | |
matter, and if the mind be corporeal, then the mind is also coloured. I answer, | |
The Mind, in my opinion, has as much colour as other parts of Nature. But then | |
perhaps they will ask me, what colour the Mind is of? My answer is, That the | |
Mind, which is the rational part of Nature, is no more subject to one colour, | |
then the Infinite parts of Nature are subject to one corporeal figurative | |
motion; for you can no more confine the corporeal mind to a particular | |
complexion, then you can confine Infinite matter to one particular colour, or | |
all colours to one particular figure. Again, they may ask, Whether an Idea have | |
a colour? and if so, whether the Idea of God be coloured? To which I answer, If | |
the Ideas be of corporeal finite figures, they have colours according to the | |
nature, or property, or figure of the original; but as for the Idea of God, it | |
is impossible to have a corporeal Idea of an infinite incorporeal Being; for | |
though the finite parts of Nature may have a perception or knowledge of the | |
existence of God, yet they cannot possibly pattern or figure him, he being a | |
Supernatural, Immaterial, and Infinite Being: But put the case (although it is | |
very improbable, nay, against sense and reason) there were natural immaterial | |
Idea's, if those Idea's were finite, and not infinite, yet they could not | |
possibly express an infinite, which is without limitation, by a finite figure | |
which hath a Circumference. Some may say, An Immaterial Idea hath no | |
Circumference. But then I answer, It is not a finite Idea, and it is impossible | |
for an Idea to be Infinite: for I take an Idea to be the picture of some | |
object, and there can be no picture without a perfect form; neither can I | |
conceive how an immaterial can have a form, not having a body; wherefore it is | |
more impossible for Nature to make a picture of the Infinite God, then for Man, | |
which is but a part of Nature, to make a picture of infinite Nature; for Nature | |
being material, has also a figure and matter, they being all one, so that none | |
can be without the other, no more then Nature can be divided from her self. | |
Thus it is impossible for Man to make a figure, or picture of that which is not | |
a part of Nature; for pictures are as much parts of Nature, as any other parts, | |
nay, were they monstrous, as we call them; for Nature being material, is also | |
figurative, and being a self-moving matter or substance, is divideable, and | |
composeable; and as she hath infinite corporeal figurative motions, and | |
infinite parts, so she hath infinite figures, of which some are pictures, | |
others originals; and if any one particular Creature could picture out those | |
infinite figures, he would picture out Nature; but Nature being Infinite, | |
cannot be pictured or patterned by any finite and particular Creature, although | |
she is material; nevertherless she may be patterned in parts: And as for God, | |
He being individeable and immaterial, can neither be patterned in part, nor in | |
whole, by any part of Nature which is material, nay, not by infinite Nature her | |
self: Wherefore the notions of God can be no otherwise but of his existence, to | |
wit, that we know there is something above Nature, who is the Author and God of | |
Nature; for though Nature hath an infinite natural knowledge of the Infinite | |
God, yet being divideable as well as composeable, her parts cannot have such an | |
infinite knowledge or perception; and being composeable as much as divideable, | |
no part can be so ignorant of God, as not to know there is a God. Thus Nature | |
hath both an infinite and finite perceptions; infinite in the whole, as I may | |
say for better expressions sake, and finite in parts. But mistake me not, I do | |
not mean, that either the infinite perception of Nature, or the finite | |
perceptions of natural parts and Creatures, are any otherwise of that | |
supernatural and divine being then natural; but yet they are the most purest | |
parts, being of the rational part of Nature, moving in a most elevating and | |
subtle manner, as making no exact figure or form, because God hath neither | |
form nor figure; but that subtle matter or corporeal perceptive motion | |
patterns out only an over-ruling power, which power all the parts of Nature | |
are sensible of, and yet know not what it is; like as the perception of Sight | |
sees the ebbing and flowing of the Sea, or the motion of the Sun, yet knows | |
not their cause; and the perception of Hearing hears Thunder, yet knows not how | |
it is made; and if there be such ignorance of the corporeal parts of Nature, | |
what of God? But to conclude, my opinion is, That as the sensitive perception | |
knows some of the other parts of Nature by their effects, so the rational | |
perceives some effects of the Omnipotent power of God; which effects are | |
perceptible by finite Creatures, but not his Infinite Nature, nor Essence, nor | |
the cause of his Infiniteness and Omnipotency. Thus although Gods Power may be | |
perceived by Natures parts, yet what God is, cannot be known by any part: and | |
Nature being composeable, there is a general acknowledgment of God in all her | |
parts; but being also divideable, it is the cause there are particular | |
Religions, and opinions of God, and of his divine Worship and Adoration. | |
22. Of Wood Petrified. | |
I Cannot admire, as some do, that Wood doth turn into stone, by reason I | |
observe, that Slime, Clay, Dirt, nay Water, may and doth often the same, which | |
is further off from the nature of Stone then Wood is, as being less dense, and | |
its interior figurative motions being dilating: but yet this doth not prove | |
that all other Creatures may as easily be metamorphosed into stone as they; for | |
the parts of water are composed but of one sort of figure, and are all of the | |
same nature; and so is wood, clay, shells, c. whose parts are but of one | |
figure, at least not of so many different figures as the parts of Animals, or | |
other Creatures; for as Animals have different parts, so these parts are of | |
different figures, not only exteriously, but intericusly; as for example, in | |
some or most Animals there are Bones, Gristles, Nerves, Sinews, Muscles, Flesh, | |
Blood, Brains, Marrow, Choler, Phlegm, and the like; besides, there are | |
several sorts of flesh, witness their interior and exterior parts, as the | |
Heart, Lungs, Liver, Spleen, Guts, and the like; as also the Head, Breast, | |
Arms, Body, Legs, and the like: all which would puzzle and withstand the power | |
of Ovid's Metamophosing of Gods and Goddesses. Wherefore it is but a weak | |
argument to conclude, because some Creatures or parts can change out of one | |
figure into another without a dissolution of their composed parts, therefore | |
all Creatures can do the like; for if all Creatures could or should be | |
metamorphosed into one sort of figure, then this whole World would perhaps come | |
to be one Stone, which would be a hard World: But this Opinion, I suppose, | |
proceeds from Chemistry; for since the last Art of Chimystry (as I have heard) | |
is the Production of glass, it makes perhaps Chemists believe, that at the last | |
day, when this Word shall be dissolved with Fire, the Fire will calcine or turn | |
it into Glass: A brittle World indeed! but whether it will be transparent, or | |
no, I know not, for it will be very thick. | |
23. Of the Nature of Water. | |
THe Ascending of Water in Pipes, Pumps, and the like Engines, is commonly | |
alleged as an argument to prove there is no Vacuum: But, in my opinion, | |
Water, or the like things that are moist, liquid and wet, their interior | |
corporeal and natural motion is flowing, as being of a dilating figure; and | |
when other parts or Creatures suppress those liquors, so that they cannot rise, | |
they will dilate; but when solid and heavy bodies are put into them as Stones, | |
Metals, c. which do sink, then they will rise above them, as being their nature | |
to over-flow any other body, if they can have the better of it, or get passage: | |
For concerning the floating of some bodies, the reason is not so much their | |
levity or porousness, but both their exterior shape, and the waters restlessness | |
or activity, the several parts of water endeavouring to drive those floating | |
bodies from them; like as when several men playing at Ball, or Shittle-cock, or | |
the like, endeavour to beat those things from and to each other; or like as one | |
should blow up a feather into the Air, which makes it not only keep up in the | |
air, but to wave about: The like doth water with floating bodies; and the | |
lighter the floating parts are, the more power have the liquid parts to force | |
and thrust them about. And this is also the reason why two floating bodies of | |
one Nature endeavour to meet and join, because by joining they receive more | |
strength to resist the force of the watery parts: The same may be said when as | |
floating bodies stick or join to the sides of Vessels; but many times the watery | |
parts will not suffer them to be at rest or quiet, but drive them from their | |
strong holds or defences. Concerning the suppression of water, and of some | |
floating bodies in water by air or light, as that air and light should suppress | |
water, and bodies floating upon it (as some do conceive) I see no reason to | |
believe it; but the contrary rather appears by the levity of air, which is so | |
much lighter, and therefore of less force then either the floating bodies, or | |
the water on which they float. Some again are of opinion, That Water is a more | |
dense body then Ice, and prove it by the Refractions of light, because Water | |
doth more refract the rays of light then Ice doth: but whatsoever their | |
experiments be, yet my reason can hardly believe it; for although Ice may be | |
more transparent then water, yet it may be more dense then water: for Glass is | |
more transparent then water, and yet more dense then water; and some bodies | |
will not be trasparent if they be thick, that is, if they have a great number | |
of parts upon parts, when as they will be transparent if they be thin, that is, | |
if they have few thin parts upon each other; so that transparent bodies may be | |
darkened, and those that are not transparent of themselves, may be made so by | |
the thickness or thinness of parts, that one may see or not see through them; | |
and thus a thin body of Water, may be more transparent then a thick body of | |
Ice, and a thin body of Ice may be more transparent then a thick body of water. | |
As for the expansion of Water, it doth not prove, that Water is more dense then | |
Ice, but on the contrary, it rather proves, that it is more rare; for that body | |
whose parts are close and united, is more dense then that whose parts are fluid | |
and dilating. Neither doth Expansion alter the interior nature of a body, any | |
more then contraction, but it alters only the exterior posture; as for | |
example, when a man puts his body into several postures, it doth not alter him | |
from being a man, to some other Creature, for the stretching of his legs, | |
spreading out of his arms, puffing up his cheeks, c. changes his nature, or | |
natural figure, no more then when he contracts his limbs close together, | |
crumpling up his body, or folding his arms, c. but his posture is only | |
changed; the like for the expansions and contractions of other sorts of | |
Creatures. Nor can I readily give my assent to their opinion, that some liquors | |
are more dense then others; I mean such as are perfectly moist, liquid and wet, | |
as water is; for there be numerous sorts of liquors, which are not thoroughly | |
wet as water; and although their Circular lines may be different, as some | |
edged, some pointed, some twisted, and the like; yet they do not differ so | |
much, but that their inherent figures are all of Circular lines; for the | |
interior nature or figure of water, and so of all other moist and wet liquors, | |
is Circular: and it is observable, that as Art may be an occasion of | |
diminishing those points or edges of the Circular lines of some liquors, or of | |
untwisting them; so it may also be an occasion that some liquid and wet bodies | |
may become so pointed, edged, twisted, c. as may occasion those circles to move | |
or turn into such or such exterior figures, not only into triangular, square, | |
round, and several other forms or figures, as appears in Ice, Hail, Frost, and | |
flakes of Snow, but into such figures as they name Spirits; which several sorts | |
of figures belonging all to one sort of Creatures, may cause several | |
refractions, reflections and inflections of the rays of light. Wherefore | |
Mechanics may very much be mistaken concerning the truth of the interior | |
Nature of bodies, or natural Creatures, by judging them only according to | |
their exterior figures. | |
24. Of Salt, and of Sea- or Salt-water. | |
THe reason, why Salt is made, or extracted out of Salt-water, is, that the | |
Circular lines of Sea- or Salt-water, are pointed exteriously, but not | |
interiously, which is the cause that the saltish parts may be easily divided | |
from those watery lines; and it is to be observed, that those points when joined | |
to the watery circles, are rare, but being once separated, either by Art, or a | |
more natural way, by some sorts of dividing motions, they become more dense; | |
yet not so dense, but they may melt or return again into the first figure, | |
which is a rare figure, and so become liquid salt, and afterwards they may be | |
densed or contracted again; for there is no other difference between dry and | |
liquid salt, but what is made by the rarity or density of those sorts of | |
points. As for that sort of Salt, which is named volatile, it is when some of | |
those rare points become more dilated or rarefied, then when they are joined to | |
the watery circle-lines; I say some, not all; for as some points do condense or | |
contract into fixed salt, so others do dilate or arise into volatile salt. But | |
perchance some will say, How can there be several sorts of points, since a | |
point is but a point? I answer; There may very well be several sorts, | |
considering the Nature of their substance; for some sorts are rare, some dense, | |
some contracting, some dilating, some retenting, c. besides, all points are not | |
alike, but there is great difference amongst several pointed figures, for all | |
are not like the point of a Pin or Needle, but (to alledg some gross examples) | |
there be points of Pyramids, points of Knives, points of Pins, points of the | |
flame of a Candle, and numerous other sorts, which are all several points, and | |
not one like another; for I do not mean a Mathematical or imaginary point, such | |
as is only made by the rational matter in the mind, (although even amongst | |
those imaginary points there is difference; for you cannot imagine, or think of | |
the several pointed figures of several sorts or kinds of Creatures, or parts, | |
but you will have a difference in your mind) but I mean pointed figures, and | |
not single points. It is also to be observed, that as some watery Circles will | |
and may have points outwardly, so some have also points inwardly; for some | |
watery Circles, as I have mentioned in my Philosophical Opinions, are edged, to | |
wit, such as are in vitriol water; others pointed, as those in salt water; and | |
others are of other sorts of points, as those in cordial or hot waters; but | |
those last are more artificial; and all these are different in their sorts or | |
kinds, although a litttle difference in their own natures may appear great in | |
our humane perception. Concerning Oil, there is also difference between Oil and | |
other wet bodies; for Oil, although it be rare, liquid and moist, yet we cannot | |
say, it is absolutely that which we name wet, as other liquors are, viz. Water | |
and Wine, or natural juices; and since the interior natural figure of oil is | |
burning and hot, it is impossible to divide those interior fiery points from | |
the circle figure of Oil without dissolving those liquid circle lines. But as | |
the Penetrations of other acid and salt liquors are caused by their exterior | |
points, so oil, whose points are interiously in the circle-lines, cannot have | |
such quick effects of penetration as those that are exteriously pointed: But | |
mistake me not, I do not mean such exterior parts as are only subject to our | |
humane perception, but such as cause those Creatures or parts to be of such a | |
figure or nature. | |
25. Of the Motions of Heat and Cold. | |
THose which affim that Heat and Cold are the two primary and only causes of | |
the Productions of all natural things, do not consider sufficiently the variety | |
of Nature, but think that Nature produces all by Art; and since Art is found | |
out and practised by Man, Man conceits himself to be above Nature; But as | |
neither Art, nor any particular Creature can be the cause or principle of all | |
the rest, so neither can heat and cold be the prime cause of all natural | |
productions, no more then paint can produce all the parts of a man's face, as | |
the Eyes, Nose, Forehead, Chin, Cheeks, Lips and the like, or a (...) can | |
produce a natural Head, or a suit of Clothes can make the body of Man, for then | |
whenever the fashioned Garments or Mode-dresses do change, men would of | |
necessity change also; but Art causes gross mistakes and errors, not only in | |
sensitive, but also in rational perceptions; for sense being deluded, is apt to | |
delude Reason also, especially if Reason be too much indulgent to sense; and | |
therefore those judgments that rely much upon the perception of sense, are | |
rather sensitive then rational judgments; for sense can have but a perception | |
of the exterior figures of objects, and Art can but alter the outward form or | |
figure, but not make or change the interior nature of any thing; which is the | |
reason that artificial alterations cause false, at least uncertain and various | |
judgments, so that Nature is as various in men's judgments, as in her other | |
works. But concerning heat and cold, my opinion is, that they are like several | |
Colours, some Natural, and some Artificial; of which the Artificial are very | |
inconstant, at least not so lasting as those that are not made by Art; and they | |
which say, that both heat and cold are not made by the sensories or sensitive | |
organs, are in the right, if their meaning be that both heat and cold in their | |
natures and with all their proprieties, as they are particular Creatures, are | |
not made or produced by humane or animal senses; nevertheless the sensitive | |
animal perception of heat and cold is made by the sensitive motions in their | |
sensitive organs, for what heat and cold soever an animal Creature feels, the | |
perception of it is made in the sense of touch, or by those sensitive motions | |
in the parts of its body; for as the perception of any other outward object is | |
not made by a real entrance of its parts into our sensories, so neither is all | |
perception of heat and cold made by the intermixture of their particles with | |
our flesh, but they are patterned and figured out by the sensitive motions in | |
the exterior parts of the body as well as other objects: I will not say, that | |
cold or heat may not enter and intermix with the parts of some bodies, as fire | |
doth intermix with fuel, or enters into its parts; but my meaning is, that the | |
animal perception of heat and cold is not made this way, that is, by an | |
intermixture of the parts of the Agent with the parts of the Patient, as the | |
learned call them; that is, of the exterior object, and the sentient; or else | |
the perception of all exterior objects would be made by such an intermixture, | |
which is against sense and reason; and therefore even in such a commixture, | |
where the parts of the object enter into the body of the sentient, as fire doth | |
into fuel, the perception of the motions of fire in the fuel, and the fuels | |
consumption or burning, is not made by the fire, but by the fuels own | |
perceptive motions, imitating the motions of the fire; so that fire doth not | |
turn the fuel into ashes, but the fuel doth change by its own corporeal | |
figurative motions, and the fire is only an occasion of it: The same may be | |
said of Cold. Neither is every Creatures perception alike, no more then it can | |
be said, that one particular Creature, as for example Man, hath but one | |
perception; for the perception of sight and smelling, and so of every sense, | |
are different; nay, one and the same sense may have as many several perceptions | |
as it hath objects, and some sorts of peceptions in some Creatures, are either | |
stronger or weaker then in others; for we may observe, that in one and the same | |
degree of heat or cold, some will have quicker and some slower perceptions then | |
others; for example in the perception of touch, if several men stand about a | |
fire, some will sooner be heated then others; the like for Cold, some will | |
apprehend cold weather sooner then others, the reason is, that in their | |
perception of Touch, the sensitive motions work quicker or slower in figuring | |
or patterning out heat or cold, then in the perception of others. The same may | |
be said of other objects, where some sentient bodies will be more sensible of | |
some then of others, even in one and the same kind of perception. But if in all | |
perceptions of cold, cold should intermix with the bodies of animals, or other | |
Creatures, like as several Ingredients, then all bodies upon the perception of | |
cold would dissolve their figures, which we see they do not; for although all | |
dissolving motions are knowing and perceptive, because every particular motion | |
is a particular knowledge and perception, yet not every perception requires a | |
dissolution or change of its figure: 'Tis true, some sorts or degrees of | |
exterior heat and cold may occasion some bodies to dissolve their interior | |
figures, and change their particular natures, but they have not power to | |
dissolve or change all natural bodies. Neither doth heat or cold change those | |
bodies by an intermixture of their own particles with the parts of the bodies, | |
but the parts of the bodies change themselves by way of imitation, like as men | |
put themselves into a mode-fashion, although oftentimes the senses will have | |
fashions of their own, without imitating any other objects; for not all sorts | |
of perceptions are made by Imitation or patterning, but some are made | |
voluntarily, or by rote; as for example, when some do hear and see such or such | |
things without any outward objects. Wherefore it is not certain steams, or | |
agitated particles in the air, nor the vapours and effluviums of exterior | |
objects, insinuating themselves into the pores of the sentient, that are the | |
cause of the Perception of Heat and Cold, as some do imagine; for there cannot | |
probably be such differences in the pores of animal Creatures of one sort, as | |
for example of Men, which should cause such a different perception as is found | |
in them; for although exterior heat or cold be the same, yet several animals of | |
the same sort will have several and different perceptions of one and the same | |
degrees of exterior heat and cold, as above mentioned; which difference would | |
not be, if their perception was caused by a real entrance of hot and cold | |
particles into the pores of their bodies: Besides, Burning-Fevers and | |
Shaking-Agues, prove that such effects can be without such exterior causes. | |
Neither can all sorts of Heat and Cold be expressed by Wind, Air and Water, in | |
Weather-glasses; for they being made by Art, cannot give a true information of | |
the Generation of all natural heat and cold; but as there is great difference | |
between Natural and Artificial Ice, Snow, Colours, Light, and the like; so | |
between Artificial and Natural Heat and Cold; and there are so many several | |
sorts of heat and cold, that it is impossible to reduce them all to one certain | |
cause or principle, or confine them to one sort of Motions, as some do believe | |
that all sorts of Heat and Cold are made by motions tending inward and outward, | |
and others, that by ascending and descending, or rising and depressing motions, | |
which is no more probable, then that all Colours are made by the reflection of | |
Light, and that all White is made by reflecting the beams of light outward, and | |
all black by reflecting them inward; or that a Man when he is on Horse-back, or | |
upon the top of an House, or Steeple, or in a deep Pit or Mine, should be of | |
another figure then of the figure and nature of man, unless he were dissolved | |
by death, which is a total alteration of his figure; for neither Gravity nor | |
Levity of Air, nor Almospherical Pillars, nor any Weather-glasses, can give us | |
a true information of all natural heat and cold, but the several figurative | |
corporeal motions, which make all things in Nature, do also make several sorts | |
of heat and cold in several sorts of Creatures. But I observe experimental | |
Philosophers do first cry up several of their artificial Instruments, then make | |
doubts of them, and at last disapprove them, so that there is no trust nor | |
truth in them, so much as to be relied on; for it is not an age, since | |
Weather-glasses were held the only divulgers of heat and cold, or change of | |
weather, and now some do doubt they are not such infallible Informers of those | |
truths; by which it is evident, that Experimental Philosophy has but a brittle, | |
inconstant and uncertain ground, and these artificial Instruments, as | |
Microscopes, Telescopes, and the like, which are now so highly applauded, who | |
knows, but may within a short time have the same fate, and upon a better and | |
more rational enquiry, be found deluders rather then true Informers. The truth | |
is, there's not any thing that has and doth still delude most men's | |
understandings more, then that they do not consider enough the variety of | |
Natures actions, and do not employ their reason so much in the search of | |
natures actions, as they do their senses, preferring Art and Experiments before | |
Reason, which makes them stick so close to some particular opinions, and | |
particular sorts of Motions or Parts, as if there were no more Motions, Parts, | |
or Creatures in Nature, then what they see and find out by their Artificial | |
Experiments. | |
Thus the variety of Nature is a stumbling-block to most men, at which they | |
break their heads of understanding, like blind men that run against several | |
posts or walls; and how should it be otherwise, since Natures actions are | |
Infinite, and Mans understanding finite? for they consider not so much the | |
interior Natures of several Creatures, as their exterior figures and | |
Phonomena's, which makes them write many Paradoxes, but few Truths, supposing | |
that Sense and Art can only lead them to the knowledge of truth, when as they | |
delude rather their judgments instead of informing them. But Nature has placed | |
Sense and Reason together, so that there is no part or particle of Nature which | |
has not its share of reason as well as of sense; for every part having | |
self-motion, hath also knowledge, which is sense and reason, and therefore it is | |
fit we should not only employ our senses, but chiefly our reason in the search | |
of the causes of natural effects; for Sense is only a workman, and Reason is | |
the designer and surveigher, and as reason guides and directs, so ought sense | |
to work. But seeing that in this age, sense is more in fashion then reason, it | |
is no wonder there are so many irregular opinions and judgments amongst men; | |
However, although it be the mode, yet I for my part shall not follow it, but | |
leaving to our Moderns their Experimental or Mode-Philosophy built upon | |
deluding Art, I shall addict my self to the study of Contemplative-Philosophy, | |
and Reason shall be my guide. Not that I despise sense or sensitive knowledge, | |
but when I speak of sense, I mean the perception of our five exterior senses, | |
helped (or rather deluded) by Art and Artificial instruments; for I see that in | |
this present Age, Learned men are full of Art and Artificial trials, and when | |
they have found out something by them, they presently judge that all natural | |
actions are made the same way; as for example, when they find by Art that Salt | |
will make Snow congeal into Ice, they instantly conclude from thence that all | |
natural congelations are made by saline particles, and that the Primum | |
Frigidum, or the Principal cause of all natural cold must needs be salt, by | |
reason they have found by Art that salt will do the same effect in the | |
aforesaid commixture with Snow. But how grossly they are deceived, rational men | |
may judge: If I were a Chemist, and acknowledged their common Principles, I | |
might perchance have some belief in it, but not whilst I follow reason; nay, I | |
perceive that oftentimes our senses are deluded by their own irregularities, in | |
not perceiving always truly and rightly the actions of Art, but mistaking them, | |
which is a double error; and therefore that particular sensitive knowledge in | |
man which is built merely upon artificial experiments, will never make him a | |
good Philosopher, but regular sense and reason must do it, that is, a regular | |
sensitive and rational inquisition into the various actions of Nature; For put | |
the case a Microscope be true concerning the magnifying of an exterior object, | |
but yet the magnitude of the object cannot give a true information of its | |
interior parts, and their motions, or else great and large bodies would be | |
interiously known even without Microscopes: The truth is, our exterior senses | |
can go no further then the exterior figures of Creatures, and their exterior | |
actions, but our reason may pierce deeper, and consider their inherent natures | |
and interior actions; and although it do sometimes err, (for there can be no | |
perfect or universal knowledge in a finite part concerning the Infinite actions | |
of Nature) yet it may also probably guess at them, and may chance to hit the | |
Truth. Thus Sense and Reason shall be the ground of my Philosophy, and no | |
particular natural effects, nor artificial instruments; and if any one can show | |
me a better and surer ground or Principle then this, I shall most willingly and | |
joyfully embrace it. | |
26. Of the Measures, Degrees, and different sorts of Heat and Cold. | |
SOme Experimental Philosophers are much inquisitive into the measures of Heat | |
and Cold; and as we have settled standards for weight and magnitude, and time, | |
so they endeavour to measure the varying temperature, and gradual differences | |
of heat and cold; but do what they can, their artificial measures or weights | |
neither will nor can be so exact as the natural are, to wit, so as not to make | |
them err in more or less: Neither is it possible, that all the degrees of heat | |
and cold in Nature can be measured; for no man can measure what he doth not | |
know, and who knows all the different sorts of heats and colds? Nay, if man did | |
endeavour to measure only one sort of heat or cold, as for example, the | |
degrees of the heat or coldness of the air, how is it possible that he should | |
do it, by reason of the continual change of the motions of heat or cold of the | |
air, which are so inconstant, that it were surer to measure the fluidity of the | |
air, then to measure the degrees of heat or cold of the air; for the temper of | |
the air and of its heat and cold, may vary so, as many times we shall never | |
find the same measure again. Wherefore if we desire to have some knowledge of | |
the degrees of some sorts of heat or cold, my opinion is, that we may more | |
easily attain to it by the help of rational perception, then by a sensitive | |
inspection of artificial Weather-glasses, or the like; for reason goes beyond | |
sense; and although the sensitive perception is best next the rational, yet the | |
rational is above the sensitive. But some of the learned conceive the degrees | |
of heat and cold are made by bare divisions, whenas, in my opinion, they are | |
made by the several degrees of their corporeal figurative motions: They do also | |
imagine, that there's no degree but must ascend from one, to two; from two, to | |
three; and so forth through all numbers: and that from one to twenty, there be | |
so many degrees as there be numbers; when as, in my opinion, there's no more | |
but one degree required from one to a Million, or more; for though both in | |
Nature and Art there are degrees from one single figure to another, yet there | |
may also be but one degree from one to a million, without reckoning any | |
intermediate degrees or figures: so that a body, when it moves quick or slow, | |
needs not to go through all the intermediate degrees of quickness or slowness, | |
as to move quicker and quicker, slower and slower; but may immediately move | |
from a very slow, to a very quick degree: the truth is, no man is able to | |
measure the infinite degrees of natural motions; for though Nature consists of | |
particular finites, yet it doth also consist of infinite particulars; finite in | |
figure, infinite in number; and who can number from finite to infinite? But | |
having discoursed hereof elsewhere, I return to heat and cold, and let others | |
dispute whether the degrees of heat and cold in the air, be the same with the | |
degrees of animal perceptions, or with the degrees of animal cold and heat; my | |
opinion is, that there being several sorts, and several particular heats and | |
colds, they cannot be just alike each other, but there's some difference | |
betwixt them; as for example, there are shaking, freezing, chilly, windy, numb, | |
stiff, rare, dense, moist, dry, contracting, dilating, ascending, descending, | |
and other numerous sorts of colds; nay, there are some sorts of candied figures | |
made by heat, which appear as if they were frozen: Also there are fluid colds | |
which are not wet, as well as fluid heats that are not dry; for Phlegm is | |
fluid, and yet not wet; and some sorts of air are fluid, and not wet; I say | |
some, not all; for some are hot and moist, others hot and dry. The same may be | |
said of some sorts of heat and cold; for some are moist, and some dry; and | |
there may be at one and the same time a moist cold in the air, and a dry cold | |
in water; which, in my opinion, is the reason that in sealed Weather-glasses, | |
according to some Experimenters relations, sometimes the air doth not shrink, | |
but rather seems to be expanded when the weather grows colder, and that the | |
water contracts; not that the cold contraction of water causes an expansion of | |
the air to prevent a Vacuum; for there cannot be any such thing as a Vacuum in | |
Nature; but that there is a moist cold in the air, and a dry cold in the water, | |
whereof the dry cold causes a contraction, and the moist cold an expansion; | |
nay, there is often a moist and dry cold in the air at one and the same time; | |
so that some parts of the air may have a moist cold, and the next adjoying | |
parts a dry cold, and that but in a very little compass; for there may be such | |
contractions and dilations in Nature, which make not a hairs breadth | |
difference, Nature being so subtle and curious, as no particular can trace her | |
ways; and therefore when I speak of contractions and dilations, I do not mean | |
they are all such gross actions perceptible by our exterior senses as the works | |
of Art, but such as the curiosity of Nature works. Concerning the several sorts | |
of animal heat and cold, they are quite different from the Elemental, and other | |
sorts of heat and cold; for some men may have cold fits of an Ague under the | |
Line, or in the hottest Climates; and others Burning-Feavers under the Poles, | |
or in the coldest climates. 'Tis true, that Animals, by their perceptions, may | |
pattern out the heat or cold of the air, but these perceptions are not always | |
regular or perfect; neither are the objects at all times exactly presented as | |
they should, which may cause an obscurity both in Art, and in particular | |
sensitive perceptions, and through this variety the same sort of Creatures may | |
have different perceptions of the same sorts of heat and cold. Besides it is to | |
be observed, that some parts or Creatures, as for example, Water, and the like | |
liquors, if kept close from the perception either of heat or cold, will neither | |
freeze, nor grow hot; and if Ice and Snow be kept in a deep Pit, from the | |
exterior object of heat, it will never thaw, but continne Ice or Snow, whenas | |
being placed near the perception of the Sun, Fire, or warm Air, its exterior | |
figure will alter from being Ice to Water, and from being cold to hot, or to an | |
intermediate temper betwixt both; nay, it may alter from an extreme degree of | |
cold to an extreme degree of heat, according as the exterior object of heat | |
doth occasion the sensitive perceptive motions of Water or Ice to work; for | |
extremes are apt to alter the natural temper of a particular Creature, and many | |
times so as to cause a total dissolution of its interior natural figure; (when | |
I name extremes, I do not mean any uttermost extremes in Nature; for Nature | |
being Infinite, and her particular actions being poised and balanced by | |
opposites, can never run into extremes; but I call them so in reference only | |
to our perception, as we use to say, it is extreme hot, or extreme cold) And | |
the reason of it is, that Water by its natural perceptive motions imitates the | |
motions of heat or cold, but being kept from the perception of them, it cannot | |
imitate them. The same reason may be given upon the experiment, that some | |
bodies being put into water, will be preserved from being frozen or congealed; | |
for they being in water, are not only kept from the perception of cold, but | |
the water doth as a guard preserve them; which guard, if it be overcome, that | |
is, if the water begin to freeze, then they will do so too. But yet all colds | |
are not airy, nor all heats sunny or fiery; for a man, as I mentioned before, | |
may have shaking fits of an Ague in the hottest climate, or season, and burning | |
fits of a Fever in the coldest climate or season; and as there is difference | |
between elemental and animal cold and heat, so betwixt other sorts; so that it | |
is but in vain to prove all sorts of heat and cold by Artificial | |
Weather-glasses, suppressions and elevations of water, Atmosphaerical parts, | |
and the like; for it is not the air that makes all cold, no not that cold which | |
is called Elementary, no more then it makes heat; but the corporeal, | |
figurative, self-moving, perceptive, rational and sensitive parts of Nature, | |
which make all other Creatures, make also heat and cold. Some Learned make much | |
ado about Antiperistasis, and the flight of those two contrary qualities, heat | |
and cold, from each other; where, according to their opinion, one of them being | |
surrounded and besieged by the other, retires to the innermost parts of the | |
body which it possesses, and there by recollecting its forces, and animating it | |
self to a defence, is intended or increased in its degree, and so becomes able | |
to resist its adversary; which they prove by the cold expelled from the Earth, | |
and Water by the Sun-beams, which they say retires to the middle region of the | |
Air, and there defends it self against the heat that is in the two other, viz. | |
the upper, and the lower Regions; and so it doth in the Earth; for, say they, | |
we find in Summer, when the air is sultry hot, the cold retreats into Cellars | |
and Vaults, and in Winter when the air is cold, they are the Sanctuary and | |
receptacle of heat; so that the water in wells and springs, and the like places | |
under ground, is found warm and smoking, when as the water which is exposed to | |
the open air, by cold is congealed into Ice. But whatsoever their opinion be, I | |
cannot believe that heat and cold run from each other as Children at Boe-peep; | |
for concerning the Earths being warm in Winter, and cold in Summer, it is not, | |
in my opinion, caused by hot or cold Atoms, flying like Birds out of their | |
nests, and returning to the same; nor is the Earth like a Storehouse, that | |
hoards up cold and heat at several seasons in the year, but there is a natural | |
temper of cold and heat as well in the Earth, as in other Creatures; and that | |
Vaults, Wells, and Springs under ground, are warm in Winter, when the exterior | |
air is cold; the reason is, not that the heat of the air, or the Calorifick | |
atoms, as they call them, are retired thither to defend themselves from the | |
coldness of the air; but they being so deep in the Earth where the cold cannot | |
enter, are kept from the perception of cold, so as they cannot imitate so well | |
the motions of cold as other Creatures that are exposed to the open air. The | |
like may be said of the heat of the Sun in Summer, which cannot penetrate | |
deeper into the bowels of the Earth then cold can. The truth is, the Earth is | |
to them like an Umbrella, which defends or keeps men from the Sun, rain, wind, | |
dust, c. but although it defends them from the heat of the Sun, or coldness of | |
wind, yet they have those qualities naturally within themselves, sometimes | |
more, and sometimes less: and so has the Earth its natural temper of heat and | |
cold; But what Umbrella the middle region has, whether it be some Planet, or | |
any thing else, I am not able to determine, unless I had been there and | |
observed it; nay, ten to one but I might even then have been mistaken. | |
Wherefore all the contentions and disputes about the doctrine of | |
Antiperistasis, are, in my judgment, to little purpose, since we are not able | |
to know all the differences of heat and cold; for if men conceive there is but | |
one heat and cold in Nature, they are mistaken; and much more if they think | |
they can measure all the several sorts of heat and cold in all Creatures by | |
artificial experiments; for as much as a Natural man differs from an artificial | |
statue or picture of a man, so much differs a natural effect from an | |
artificial, which can neither be so good, nor so lasting as a natural one: If | |
Charles's Wain, the Axes of the Earth, and the motions of the Planets, were | |
like the pole, or axes, or wheels of a Coach, they would soon be out of order. | |
Indeed artificial things are pretty toys to employ idle time; nay, some are | |
very useful for our convenience, but yet they are but Natures bastards or | |
changelings, if I may so call them; and though Nature takes so much delight in | |
variety, that she is pleased with them, yet they are not to be compared to her | |
wise and fundamental actions; for Nature, being a wise and provident Lady, | |
governs her parts very wisely, methodically and orderly; also she is very | |
industrious, and hates to be idle, which makes her employ her time as a good | |
Huswife doth, in Brewing, Baking, Churning, Spinning, Sowing, c. as also in | |
Preserving for those that love Sweet-meats, and in Distilling for those that | |
take delight in Cordials; for she has numerous employments, and being | |
infinitely self-moving, never wants work, but her artificial works are her | |
works of delight, pleasure and pastime: Wherefore those that employ their time | |
in Artificial Experiments, consider only Natures sporting or playing actions; | |
but those that view her wise Government, in ordering all her parts, and | |
consider her changes, alterations and tempers in particulars, and their causes, | |
spend their time more usefully and profitably; and truly to what purpose should | |
a man beat his brains, and weary his body with labours about that wherein he | |
shall lose more time, then gain knowledge? But if any one would take delight in | |
such things, my opinion is, that our female sex would be the fittest for it, | |
for they most commonly take pleasure in making of Sweet-meats, Possets, several | |
sorts of Pies, Puddings, and the like; not so much for their own eating, as to | |
employ their idle time; and it may be, they would prove good Experimental | |
Philosophers, and inform the world how to make artificial Snow by their Creams | |
or Possets beaten into froth, and Ice by their clear, candied or crusted | |
quiddinies or conserves of fruits; and Frost by their candied herbs and | |
flowers; and Hail by their small comfits made of water and sugar with whites of | |
Eggs; and many other the like figures which resemble Beasts, Birds, Vegetables, | |
Minerals, c. But the men should study the causes of those Experiments, and by | |
this society the Commonwealth would find a great benefit; for the Woman was | |
given to Man not only to delight, but to help and assist him; and I am | |
confident, Women would labour as much with Fire and Furnace as Men, for they'll | |
make good Cordials and Spirits; but whether they would find out the | |
Philosophers-stone, I doubt; for our sex is more apt to waste, then to make | |
Gold; however, I would have them try, especially those that have means to | |
spend; for who knows but Women might be more happy in finding it out, then Men, | |
and then would Men have reason to employ their time in more profitable studies, | |
then in useless Experiments. | |
27. Of Congealation and Freezing. | |
THe Congelation of Water into Ice, Snow, Hail, and the like, is made by its | |
own corporeal figurative motions, which upon the perception of the exterior | |
object of cold, by the way of imitation, do contract and condense water into | |
such or such a figure. Some are of opinion, that Water, or the like liquors, | |
are not contracted, but expanded or rarefied by freezing; which they prove both | |
by the levity of congealed Water, and the breaking of Glasses, Earthen Bottles, | |
or other the like Vessels in which water is contained when it freezes: But | |
although In mentioned in my former discourse, that there are several sorts of | |
colds, as for example, moist and dry colds, whereof these contract and | |
condense, those dilate and rarify; so that there are cold dilations, as well | |
as cold contractions; yet Freezing or Congelation being none of the sorts of | |
moist, but of dry colds; it is not made by expanding or dilating, but by | |
contracting and condensing motions; for, that liquid bodies when frozen are | |
more extended, 'tis not the freezing motions that cause those extensions; but | |
water being of a dilative nature, its interior parts strive against the | |
exterior, which figurative motions do imitate the motions of cold, or frost, | |
and in that strife the water becomes extended or dilated, when congealed into | |
Ice: But the question is, Whether solid bodies do dilate or extend when they | |
freeze? and my opinion is they do not; for that solid bodies, as Metal, and the | |
like, are apt to break in a hard frost, doth not prove an expansion, but the | |
division of their parts is rather made by contraction; for though the motions | |
of cold in metal are not so much exteriously contracting as to be perceived by | |
our optic sense, in its bulk or exterior magnitude, as they are in the body of | |
water, whose interior nature is dilative; yet by the division which cold | |
causes, it may well be believed, that freezing hath an interior contractive | |
effect, otherwise it could not divide so as many times it doth; Wherefore I | |
believe that solid bodies break by an extreme and extraordinary contraction of | |
their interior parts, and not by an extraordinary expansion. Besides this | |
breaking shows a strong self-motion in the action of congealing or freezing, | |
for the motions of cold are as strong and quick as the motions of heat: Nay, | |
even those Experimental Philosophers which are so much for expansion, confess | |
themselves that water is thicker and heavier in Winter then in Summer; and that | |
Ships draw less water, and that the water can bear greater burdens in Winter | |
then in Summer; which doth not prove a rarefaction and expansion, but rather a | |
contraction and condensation of water by cold: They likewise affirm, that some | |
spirituous liquors of a mixed nature, will not expand, but on the contrary, do | |
visibly contract in the act of freezing. Concerning the levity of Ice, I cannot | |
believe it to be caused by expansion; for expansion will not make it lighter, | |
but 'tis only a change of the exterior shape or figure of the body; Neither | |
doth Ice prove Light, because it will float above water; for a great Ship of | |
wood which is very heavy, will swim, when as other sorts of bodies that are | |
light and little, will sink. Nor are minute bubbles the cause of the Ice's | |
levity, which some do conceive to stick within the Ice, and make it light; for | |
this is but a light and airy opinion, which has no firm ground; and it might as | |
well be said that airy bubles are the cause that a Ship keeps above water; but | |
though wind and sails make a Ship swim faster, yet they will not hinder it from | |
sinking. The truth is, the chief cause of the levity or gravity of bodies, is | |
quantity of bulk, shape, purity and rarity, or grosness and density, and not | |
minute bubles, or insensible atoms, or pores, unless porous bodies be of less | |
quantity in water, then some dense bodies of the same magnitude. And thus it is | |
the Triangular figure of Snow that makes it light, and the squareness that | |
makes Ice heavier then Snow; for if Snow were porous, and its pores were filled | |
with atoms, it would be much heavier then its principle, Water. Besides, It is | |
to be observed, that not all kind of Water is of the same weight, by reason | |
there are several sorts of Circle-lines which make water; and therefore those | |
that measure all water alike, may be mistaken; for some Circle-lines may be | |
gross, some fine, some sharp, some broad, some pointed, c. all which may cause | |
a different weight of water. Wherefore freezing, in my opinion, is not caused | |
by rarefying and dilating, but by contracting, condensing and retenting | |
motions: and truly if Ice were expanded by congelation, I would fain know, | |
whether its expansions be equal with the degrees of its hardness; which if so, | |
a drop of water might be expanded to a great bigness; nay, if all frozen | |
liquors should be enlarged or extended in magnitude, according to the strength | |
of the freezing motions, a drop of water at the Poles would become, I will not | |
say a mountain, but a very large body. Neither can rarefaction, in my opinion, | |
be the cause of the Ice's expansion; for not all rarefied bodies do extend; and | |
therefore I do rather believe a clarefaction in Ice, then a rarefaction, which | |
are different things. But some may object, That hot and swelling bodies do | |
dilate, and diffuse heat and scent without an expansion of their substance. I | |
answer, That is more then any one is able to prove: the truth is, when a | |
fiery-coal, and an odoriferous body cast heat and scent (as we use to say) 'tis | |
not that they do really and actually expand or dilate heat or scent without | |
body, for there can be no such thing as an immaterial heat or scent: neither | |
can Nothing be dilated or expanded, but both heat and scent being one thing | |
with the hot and smelling body, are as exterior objects patterned out by the | |
sensitive motions of the sentient body, and so are felt and smelt, not by an | |
actual emission of their own parts, or some heating and smelling atoms, or an | |
immaterial heat and smell, but by an imitation of the perceptive motions in the | |
sentient subject. The like for cold; for great shelves or mountains of Ice, do | |
not expand cold beyond their icy bodies; but the air patterns out the cold, and | |
so doth the perception of those Seamen that sail into cold Countries; for it is | |
well to be observed, that there is a stint or proportion in all natures | |
corporeal figurative motions, to wit, in her particulars, as we may plainly see | |
in every particular sort or species of Creatures, and their constant and | |
orderly productions; for though particular Creatures may change into an | |
infinite variety of figures, by the infinite variety of natures corporeal | |
figurative motions, yet each kind or sort is stinted so much as it cannot run | |
into extremes, nor make a confusion, although it makes a distinguishment | |
between every particular Creature even in one and the same sort. And hence we | |
may conclude, that Nature is neither absolutely necessitated, nor has an | |
absolute free-will; for she is so much necessitated, that she depends upon the | |
All-powerfull God, and cannot work beyond her self, or beyond her own nature; | |
and yet hath so much liberty, that in her particulars she works as she | |
pleases, and as God has given her power; but she being wise, acts according to | |
her infinite natural wisdom, which is the cause of her orderly Government in | |
all particular productions, changes and dissolutions, so that all Creatures in | |
their particular kinds, do move and work as Nature pleases, orders and directs; | |
and therefore, as it is impossible for Nature to go beyond her self; so it is | |
likewise impossible that any particular body should extend beyond it self or | |
its natural figure. I will not say, that heat or cold, or other parts and | |
figures of Nature, may not occasion other bodies to dilate or extend; but my | |
meaning is, that no heat or cold can extend without body, or beyond body, and | |
that they are figured and patterned out by the motions of the sentient, which | |
imitating or patterning motions of the sentient body cannot be so perfect or | |
strong as the original motions in the object it self. Neither do I say, that | |
all parts or bodies do imitate, but some, and at some times there will be more | |
Imitators then at others, and sometimes none at all; and the imitations are | |
according as the imitating or patterning parts are disposed, or as the object | |
is presented. Concerning the degrees of a visible expansion, they cannot be | |
declared otherwise then by the visibly extended body, nor be perceived by us, | |
but by the optic sense: But, mistake me not, I do not mean, that the degrees | |
of heat and cold can only be perceived by our optic sense, but I speak of | |
bodies visibly expanded by heat and cold; for some degrees and sorts of heat | |
and cold are subject to the humane perception of sight, some to the perception | |
of touch, some to both, and some to none of them; there being so many various | |
sorts and degrees both of heat and cold, as they cannot be altogether subject | |
to our grosser exterior senses, but those which are, are perceived, as I said, | |
by our perception of sight and touch; for although our sensitive perceptions do | |
often commit errors and mistakes, either through their own irregularity, or | |
some other ways; yet next to the rational, they are the best informers we have; | |
for no man can naturally go beyond his rational and sensitive perception. And | |
thus, in my opinion, the nature of Congelation is not effected by expanding or | |
dilating, but contracting and condensing motions in the parts of the sentient | |
body, which motions in the congelation of water do not alter the interior | |
nature of water, but only contract its exterior figure into the figure either | |
of Ice, Snow, Hail, Hoarfrost, or the like, which may be proved by their return | |
into the former figure of water, whenever they dissolve; for wheresoever is a | |
total change, or alteration of the interior natural motions of a Creature, when | |
once dissolved, it will never regain its former figure; and therefore although | |
the exterior figures of congealed water are various and different, yet they | |
have all but one interior figure, which is water, into which they return as | |
into their principle, whenever they change their exterior figures by | |
dissolving and dilating motions; for as a laughing and frowning countenance | |
doth not change the nature of a man, so neither do they the nature of water. I | |
do not speak of artificial, but of natural congealed figures, whose congelation | |
is made by their own natural figurative motions; But although all congelations | |
are some certain kind of motions, yet there may be as many particular sorts of | |
congelations, as there are several sorts of frozen or congealed bodies; for | |
though I name but one figure of Snow, another of Ice, another of Hail, c. yet I | |
do not deny, but there may be numerous particular sorts and figures of Ice, | |
Snow, Hail, c. all which may have their several freezing or congealing motions; | |
nay, freezing in this respect may very well be compared to burning, as being | |
opposite actions; and as there are various sorts of burning, much differing | |
from each other, so there are of freezing; for although all burning is of the | |
nature of fire, yet not all burning is an elemental fire; for example, Lime, | |
and some Vegetables, and other Creatures have burning effects, and yet are not | |
an Elemental fire: neither doth the Sun and ordinary fire burn just alike. The | |
same may be said of Freezing; and I observe, that fluid and rare parts are more | |
apt to freeze, then solid and dense bodies; for I do not believe all sorts of | |
metal can freeze, so as water, or watery liquors, unless they were made liquid. | |
I will not say, that Minerals are altogether insensible of cold or frost, but | |
they do not freeze like liquid bodies; nay, not all liquid bodies will freeze; | |
as for example, some sorts of spirituous liquors, Oil, Vinous spirits, Chemical | |
extracts, c. which proves, that not all (that is to say) the infinite parts of | |
Nature, are subject to one particular kind of action, to wit, the action of | |
freezing; for if Congelation did extend to the infinite parts of Nature, it | |
would not be a finite and particular, but an infinite action; but, as I said, | |
liquid bodies are more apt to freeze, (especially water and watery liquors,) | |
then dense and hard bodies, or some sorts of oil, and spirits; for, as we see | |
that fire cannot have the same operation on all bodies alike, but some it | |
causes to consume and turn to ashes, some it hardens, some it softens, and on | |
some it hath no power at all: So its opposite Frost or Cold cannot congeal | |
every natural body, but only those which are apt to freeze or imitate the | |
motions of cold. Neither do all these bodies freeze alike, but some slower, | |
some quicker; some into such, and some into another figure; as for example, | |
even in one kind of Creatures, as animals; some Beasts, as Foxes, Bears, and | |
the like, are not so much sensible of cold, as Man, and some other animal | |
Creatures; and dead animals, or parts of dead animals, will freeze much sooner | |
then those which are living; not that living animals have more natural life | |
then those we call dead; for animals, when dissolved from their animal figure, | |
although they have not animal life, yet they have life according to the nature | |
of the figure into which they did change; but, because of their different | |
perceptions; for a dead or dissolved animal, as it is of another kind of figure | |
then a living animal, so it has also another kind of perception, which causes | |
it to freeze sooner then a living animal doth. But I cannot apprehend what some | |
Learned mean by the powerful effects of cold upon inanimate bodies; whether | |
they mean, that cold is only animate, and all other bodies inanimate; or | |
whether both cold and other bodies on which it works, be inanimate; if the | |
later, I cannot conceive how inanimate bodies can work upon each other, I mean | |
such bodies as have neither life nor motion, for without life or motion there | |
can be no action: but if the former, I would fain know whether Cold be | |
self-moving? if not, I ask, What is that which moves it? Is it an Immaterial | |
Spirit, or some corporeal being? If an Immaterial Spirit, we must allow, that | |
this Spirit is either self-moving, or must be moved by another; if it be moved | |
by another Being, and that same Being again by another; we shall after this | |
manner run into infinite, and conclude nothing; But if that Imaterial Spirit | |
have self-motion, why may not a natural corporeal being have the like? they | |
being both Creatures of God, who can as well grant self-motion to a corporeal, | |
as to an incorporeal Being; nay, I am not able to comprehend how Motion can be | |
attributed to a Spirit; I mean, natural motion, which is only a propriety of a | |
body, or of a corporeal Being: but if Cold be self-moving, then Nature is | |
self-moving; for the cause can be no less then the effect; and if Nature be | |
self-moving, no part of Nature can be inanimate; for as the body is, so are its | |
parts; and as the cause, so its effects. Thus some Learned do puzle themselves | |
and the world with useless distinctions into animate and inanimate Creatures, | |
and are so much afraid of self-motion, as they will rather maintain absurdities | |
and errors, then allow any other self-motion in Nature, but what is in | |
themselves; for they would fain be above Nature, and petty Gods, if they could | |
but make themselves Infinite; not considering that they are but parts of | |
Nature, as all other Creatnres: Wherefore I, for my part, will rather believe | |
as sense and reason guides me, and not according to interest, so as to extol | |
my own kind above all the rest, or above Nature her self. And thus to return to | |
Cold; as Congelation is not a Universal or Infinite action, which extends to | |
the Infinite parts of Nature, and causes not the like effects in those | |
Creatures that are perceptible of it; so I do also observe, that not any other | |
sorts of bodies but Water will congeal into the figure of Snow, when as there | |
are many that will turn into the figure of Ice; besides, I observe that air | |
doth not freeze beyond its degree of consistency; for if it did, no animal | |
Creature would be able to breath, since all or most of them are subject to such | |
a sort of respiration, as requires a certain intermediate degree of air, | |
neither too thick, nor too thin; what respirations other Creatures require, I | |
am not able to determine; for as there are several infinite parts and actions | |
of Nature, so also several sorts of Respirations; and I believe, that what is | |
called the ebbing and flowing of the Sea, may be the Seas Respiration; for | |
Nature has ordered for every part or Creature that which is most fitting and | |
proper for it. | |
Concerning Artificial Congelations, as to turn Water or Snow into the figure | |
of Ice, by the commixture of Salt, Nitre, Alum, or the like, it may, very | |
probably, be effected; for Water and watery liquors, their interior figure | |
being Circular, may easily change, by contracting that Circular figure into a | |
Triangle or square; that is, into Ice or Snow, (for Water, in my opinion, has a | |
round or Circular interior figure, Snow a Triangular, and Ice a square; I do | |
not mean an exact Mathematical Triangle or Square, but such a one as is proper | |
for their figures) and that the mixture of those, or the like ingredients, | |
being shaken together in a Vial, doth produce films of Ice on the outside of | |
the Glass, as Experimenters relate; proves, not only that the motions of Cold | |
are very strong, but also that there is perception in all parts of Nature, and | |
that all Congelations, both natural and artificial, are made by the corporeal | |
perceptive motions which the sentient has of exterior cold; which is also the | |
reason, that Salt being mixed with Snow, makes the liquor always freeze first on | |
that side of the Vessel where the mixture is; for those parts which are | |
nearest, will imitate first the motions of frost, and after them the | |
neighbouring parts, until they be all turned into Ice: The truth is, that all | |
or most artificial experiments are the best arguments to evince, there is | |
perception in all corporeal parts of Nature; for as parts are joined, or commix | |
with parts; so they move or work accordingly into such or such figures, either | |
by the way of imitation, or otherwise; for their motions are so various, as it | |
is impossible for one particular to describe them all; but no motion can be | |
without perception, because every part or particle of Nature, as it is | |
self-moving, so it is also self-knowing and perceptive; for Matter, | |
Self-motion, Knowledge and Perception, are all but one thing, and no more | |
differing nor separable from each other, then Body, Place, Magnitude, Colour | |
and Figure; Wherefore Experimental Philosophers cannot justly blame me for | |
maintaining the opinion of Self-motion, and a general Perception in Nature. | |
But to return to Artificial Congelations; there is as much difference between | |
Natural and Artificial Ice and Snow, as there is between Chalk and Cheese; or | |
between a natural Child, and a Baby made of Paste or Wax, and Gummed-silk; or | |
between artificial Glass, and natural Diamonds; the like may be said of Hail, | |
Frost, Wind, c. for though their exterior figures do resemble, yet their | |
interior natures are quite different; and therefore, although by the help of | |
Art some may make Ice of Water or Snow, yet we cannot conclude from hence that | |
all natural Ice is made the same way, by saline particles, or acid Spirits, and | |
the like; for if Nature should work like Art, she would produce a man like as a | |
Carver makes a statue, or a Painter draws a picture: besides, it would require | |
a world of such saline or acid particles to make all the Ice that is in Nature. | |
Indeed it is as much absurdity, as impossibility, to constitute some particular | |
action the common principle of all natural heat or cold, and to make a | |
Universal cause of a particular effect; for no particular Part or Action can be | |
prime in Nature, or a fundamental principle of other Creatures or actions, | |
although it may occasion some Creatures to move after such or such a way. | |
Wherefore those that will needs have a Primum Frigidum, or some Body which they | |
suppose must of necessity be supremely cold, and by participation of which, all | |
other cold Bodies obtain that quality, whereof some do contend for Earth, some | |
for Water, others for Air; some for Nitre, and others for Salt, do all break | |
their heads to no purpose; for first, there are no extremes in Nature, and | |
therefore no Body can be supreamely cold, nor supremely hot: Next, as I said, | |
it is impossible to make one particular sort of Creatures the principle of all | |
the various sorts of heat or cold that are in Nature; for there is an Elemental | |
heat and cold, a Vegetable, Mineral, Animal heat and cold; and there may be | |
many other sorts which we do not know; and how can either Earth or Water, or | |
Nitre, or Salt, be the Principle of all these different colds? Concerning the | |
Earth, we see that some parts of the Earth are hot, and some cold; the like of | |
Water and Air; and the same parts which are now hot, will often in a moment | |
grow cold, which shows they are as much subject to the perception of heat and | |
cold, as some other Creatures, and doth plainly deny to them the possibility of | |
being a Primum Frigidum. I have mentioned in my Poetical Works, that there is a | |
Sun in the Center of the Earth; and in another place, I have described a | |
Chemical heat; but these being but Poetical Fancies, I will not draw them to | |
any serious proofs; only this I will say, that there may be degrees of heat | |
and cold in the Earth, and in Water, as well as there are in the Air; for | |
certainly the Earth is not without Motion, a dull, dead, moveless and inanimate | |
body; but it is as much interiously active, as Air and Water are exteriously; | |
which is evident enough by the various productions of Vegetables, Minerals, and | |
other bodies that derive their off-spring out of the Earth: And as for Nitre | |
and Salt, although they may occasion some sorts of Colds in some sorts of | |
Bodies, like as some sorts of food, or tempers of Air, or the like, may work | |
such or such effects in some sorts of Creatures; yet this doth not prove that | |
they are the only cause of all kinds of heat and cold that are in Nature. The | |
truth is, if Air, Water, Earth, Nitre, or Salt, or insensible, roving and | |
wandering atoms should be the only cause of cold; then there would be no | |
difference of hot and cold climates, but it would freeze as well under the | |
Line, as it doth at the Poles. But there's such a stir kept about Atoms, as | |
that they are so full of action, and produce all things in the world, and yet | |
none describes by what means they move, or from whence they have this active | |
power. | |
Lastly, Some are of opinion, that the chief cause of all cold, and its | |
effects, is wind; which they describe to be air moved in a considerable | |
quantity, and that either forwards only, or in an undulating motion; which | |
opinion, in my judgment, is as erroneous as any of the former, and infers | |
another absurdity, which is, that all Winds are of the same nature, when as | |
there are as many several sorts and differences of Winds, as of other | |
Creatures; for there are several Winds in several Creatures; Winds in the Earth | |
are of another kind then those in the Air, and the Wind of an animal breath, is | |
different from both; nay, those that are in the air, are of different sorts; | |
some cold and dry, some hot and moist, and some temperate, c. which how they | |
can all produce the effect of cold or freezing by the compression of the air, I | |
am not able to judge: only this I dare say, that if Wind causes cold or frost; | |
then in the midst of the Summer, or in hot Climates, a vehement wind would | |
always produce a great Frost; besides it would prove, that there must of | |
necessity be far greater winds at the Poles, then under the AEquinoctial, there | |
being the greatest cold: Neither will this principle be able to resolve the | |
question, why a man that has an Ague feels a shaking cold, even under the Line, | |
and in the coldest weather when there is no stirring of the least wind: All | |
which proves, that it is very improbable that Wind should be the principle of | |
all Natural Cold, and therefore it remains firm, that self-moving Matter, or | |
corporeal, figurative self-motion, as it is the Prime and only cause of all | |
natural effects, so it is also of Cold, and Heat, and Wind, and of all the | |
changes and alterations in Nature; which is, and hath always been my constant, | |
and, in my simple judgment, the most probable and rational opinion in Natural | |
Philosophy. | |
28. Of Thawing or dissolving of Frozen bodies. | |
AS Freezing or Congelation is caused by contracting, condensing, and retentive | |
Motions; so Thawing is nothing else, but dissolving, dilating, and extending | |
motions; for Freezing and Thawing are two contrary actions; and as Freezing is | |
caused several ways, according to the various disposition of congelable bodies, | |
and the temper of exterior cold; so Thawing, or a dissolution of frozen bodies, | |
may be occasioned either by a sympathetical agreement; as for example, the | |
thawing of Ice in water, or other liquors, or by some exterior imitation, as by | |
hot dilating motions. And it is to be observed, That as the time of freezing, | |
so the time of dissolving is according to the several natures and tempers both | |
of the frozen bodies themselves, and the exterior objects applied to frozen | |
bodies, which occasion their thawing or dissolution: for it is not only heat | |
that doth cause Ice, or Snow, or other frozen bodies to melt quicker or slower, | |
but according as the nature of the heat is, either more or less dilative, or | |
more or less rarefying; for surely an exterior actual heat is more rarefying | |
then an interior virtual heat; as we see in strong spirituous liquors which are | |
interiously contracting, but being made actually hot, become exteriously | |
dilating: The like of many other bodies; so that actual heat is more dissolving | |
then virtual heat. And this is the reason why Ice and Snow will melt sooner in | |
some Countries or places then in others, and is much harder in some then in | |
others; for we see that neither Air, Water, Earth, Minerals, nor any other | |
sorts of Creatures are just alike in all Countries or Climates: The same may be | |
said of heat and cold. Besides, it is to be observed, that oftentimes a | |
different application of one and the same object will occasion different | |
effects; as for example, if Salt be mixed with Ice, it may cause the contracted | |
body of Ice to change its present motions into its former state or figure, viz. | |
into water; but being applied outwardly, or on the out-side of the Vessel | |
wherein Snow or Ice is contained, it may make it freeze harder, instead of | |
dissolving it. Also Ice will oftentimes break into pieces of its own accord, | |
and without the application of any exterior object; and the reason, in my | |
opinion, is, that some of the interior parts of the Ice, endeavouring to return | |
to their proper and natural figure by virtue of their interior dilative | |
motions, do break and divide some of the exterior parts that are contracted by | |
the motions of Frost, especially those which have not so great a force or power | |
as to resist them. | |
But concerning Thawing, some by their trails have found, that if frozen Eggs, | |
Apples, and the like bodies, be thawed near the fire, they will be thereby | |
spoiled; but if they be immersed in cold water, or wrapped into Ice or Snow, the | |
internal cold will be drawn out, as they suppose, by the external; and the | |
frozen bodies will be harmlesly, though not so quickly thawed. And truly this | |
experiment stands much to reason; for, in my opinion, when frozen bodies | |
perceive heat or fire, the motions of their frozen parts upon the perception, | |
endeavour to imitate the motions of heat or fire, which being opposite to the | |
motions of cold, in this sudden and hasty change, they become irregular in so | |
much as to cause in most frozen parts a dissolution of their interior natural | |
figure; Wherefore it is very probable, that frozen bodies will thaw more | |
regularly in water, or being wrapped into Ice or Snow, then by heat or fire; for | |
Thawing is a dilating action, and Water, as also Ice and Snow (which are | |
nothing but congealed water) being of a dilative nature, may easily occasion a | |
thawing of the mentioned frozen parts by Sympathy, provided, the Motions of the | |
exterior cold do not over-power the motions of the interior frozen parts; for | |
if a frozen body should be wrapped thus into Ice or Snow, and continue in an | |
open, cold frosty air, I question whether it would cause a thaw in the same | |
body, it would preserve the body in its frozen state from dissolving or | |
disuniting, rather then occasion its thawing. But that such frozen bodies, as | |
Apples, and Eggs, c. immersed in water, will produce Ice on their out-sides, is | |
no wonder, by reason the motions of Water imitate the motions of the frozen | |
bodies; and those parts of water that are nearest, are the first imitators, and | |
become of the same mode. By which we may see, that some parts will cloth | |
themselves, others only vail themselves with artificial dresses, most of which | |
dresses are but copies of other motions, and not original actions; It makes | |
also evident, that those effects are not caused by an ingress of frigorifick | |
atoms in water, or other congelable bodies, but by the perceptive motions of | |
their own parts. And what I have said of Cold, the same may be spoken of heat; | |
for it is known, that a part of a mans body being burned with fire, the burning | |
may be cured by the heat of the fire; which, in my opinion, proceeds from a | |
sympathetical agreement betwixt the motions of the fire, and the motions of the | |
burned part; for every part of a mans body hath its natural heat, which is of | |
an intermediate temper; which heat being heightened by the burning motions of | |
fire beyond its natural degree, causes a burning and smarting pain in the same | |
part; and therefore as the fire did occasion an immoderate heat, by an | |
intermixture of its own parts with the parts of the flesh; so a moderate heat | |
of the fire may reduce again the natural heat of the same parts, and that by a | |
sympathetical agreement betwixt the motions of the Elemental and Animal heat; | |
But it is to be observed, first, that the burning must be done by an | |
intermixture of the fire with the parts of the body: Next, that the burning | |
must be but skin deep (as we use to call it) that is, the burned part must not | |
be totally overcome by fire, or else it will never be restored again. Neither | |
are all burned bodies restored after this manner, but some; for one and the | |
same thing will not in all bodies occasion the like effects; as we may see by | |
Fire, which being one and the same, will not cause all fuels to burn alike; and | |
this makes true the old saying, One Mans Meat is another Mans Poison. The truth | |
is, it cannot be otherwise; for though Nature, and natural self-moving Matter | |
is but one body, and the only cause of all natural effects; yet Nature being | |
divided into infinite, corporeal, figurative self-moving parts, these parts, as | |
the effects of that only cause, must needs be various; and again, proceeding | |
from one infinite cause, as one matter, they are all but one thing, because | |
they are infinite parts of one Infinite body. But some may say, If Nature be | |
but one body, and the Infinite parts are all united into that same body; How | |
comes it that there is such an opposition, strife, and war betwixt the parts of | |
Nature? I answer: Nature being Material, is composeable and divideable; and as | |
Composition is made by a mutual agreement of parts, so division is made by an | |
opposition or strife betwixt parts; which opposition or division doth not | |
obstruct the Union of Nature, but, on the contrary, rather proves, that without | |
an opposition of parts, there could not be a union or composition of so many | |
several parts and creatures, nor no change or variety in Nature; for if all the | |
parts did unanimously conspire and agree in their motions, and move all but one | |
way, there would be but one act or kind of motion in Nature; when as an | |
opposition of some parts, and a mutual agreement of others, is not only the | |
cause of the Miraculous variety in Nature, but it poyses and balances, as it | |
were, the corporeal, figurative motions, which is the cause that Nature is | |
steady and fixed in her self, although her parts be in a perpetual motion. | |
29. Several Questions resolved concerning Cold, and Frozen Bodies, c. | |
FIrst, I will give you my answer to the question, which is much agitated | |
amongst the Learned concerning Cold, to wit, Whether it be a Positive quality, | |
or a bare Privation of Heat? And my opinion is, That Cold is both a Positive | |
quality, and a privation of heat: For whatsoever is a true quality of Cold, | |
must needs be a privation of Heat; since two opposites cannot subsist together | |
in one and the same part, at one point of time. By Privation, I mean nothing | |
else, but an alteration of Natures actions in her several parts, or which is | |
all one, a change of natural, corporeal motions; and so the death of Animals | |
may be called a privation of animal life; that is, a change of the animal | |
motions in that particular Creature, which made animal life, to some other kind | |
of action which is not animal life. And in this sense, both Cold and Heat, | |
although they be positive qualities, or natural beings, yet they are also | |
privations; that is, changes of corporeal, figurative motions, in several | |
particular Creatures, or parts of Nature. But what some Learned mean by Bare | |
Privation, I cannot apprehend; for there's no such thing as a bare Privation, | |
or bare Motion in Nature; but all Motion is Corporeal, or Material; for Matter, | |
Motion and Figure, are but one thing. Which is the reason, that to explain my | |
self the better ^ of Motion, I do always add the word corporeal (...) | |
^gurative; by which, I exclude all bare or immaterial Motion, which expression | |
is altogether against sense and reason. | |
The second Question is, Whether Winds have the power to change the Exterior | |
temper of the Air? To which, I answer: That Winds will not only occasion the | |
Air to be either hot or cold, according to their own temper, but also Animals | |
and Vegetables, and other sorts of Creatures; for the sensitive, corporeal | |
Motions in several kinds of Creatures, do often imitate and figure out the | |
Motions of exterior objects, some more, some less; some regularly, and some | |
irregularly, and some not at all; according to the nature of their own | |
perceptions. By which we may observe, that the Agent, which is the external | |
object, has only an occasional power; and the Patient, which is the sentient, | |
works chiefly the effect by virtue of the perceptive, figurative motions in its | |
own sensitive organs or parts. | |