some observations made upon the russia seed shewing its admirable virtues in curing the rickets in children / written by a doctor of physick in the countrey to esq. boyle at london, 1674. skinner, dr. 1694 approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-11 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a56771 wing p938a estc r27608 09981300 ocm 09981300 44439 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a56771) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44439) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1337:21) some observations made upon the russia seed shewing its admirable virtues in curing the rickets in children / written by a doctor of physick in the countrey to esq. boyle at london, 1674. skinner, dr. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. peachi, john, fl. 1683. pechey, john, 1655-1716. 8 p. [s.n.], london : 1694. wrongly attributed to john pechey by surgeon general's catalogue (ser. 1) and british museum catalgue, and to john peachi by wing. attributed to dr. skinner by halkelt and laing--nuc pre-1956 imprint. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng manna plants. rickets -early works to 1800. medicinal plants -early works to 1800. 2003-07 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-07 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-08 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2003-08 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion some observations made upon the russia seed , shewing its admirable virtues in curing the rickets in children . written by a doctor of physick in the countrey to esq boyle at london , 1674. london , printed in the year 1694. some observations made upon the russia seed ; shewing its admirable virtues in curing the rickets in children . in a letter , &c. sir , you may remember that when i was last at london , we had a close discourse concerning that deplorable distemper called the rickets , which cripples so many poor children , and you told me of a doctor of physick , and one of the famousest in europe , had not been able to cure it in several of his own children ; indeed it may be called a new disease , for it 's wonderfully encreased amongst us of late , as we find by the bills of mortality . i am very much of your mind , that the knowledge of physitians would be much encreased , and their success would be much greater , were they more curious in making experiments and observations of the success of simple medicines , for they cannot so easily do it upon compositions . i 'le now tell you what great cures i have done in my countrey practice , amongst children who have been over-grown with the rickets : the specifick that i make use of , is a small white seed that comes from russia , by some called seed manna , i draw a tincture , a spirit and an extract out of it , and give twenty drops at a time in all the childrens meat and drink , they take it with pleasure , because it 's not ungrateful to the pallat ; morning , noon and night , is often enough . it opens obstructions of the liver and spleen , strengthens the brain and spinal marrow , and causeth a free distribution of the nourishments into all the nervous parts of the body , whereby nature becomes strong and vigorous , and the spirits chearful and lively . you are pleased to tell the world , in your excellent discourse of the use of simple medicines , that you hope to enlarge the minds of physitians , and invite them to make use of several remedies which they never thought on , or against which they were prejudiced . you also tell us , that specificks , where they may be had , are wont to be free from any immoderate manifest quality , and for the most part work more benignly as well as more effectually than other medicines ; and therefore you endeavour to bring them into request , that so thereby cures may be performed more speedily , safely and pleasantly . your tenderness and caution is highly to be commended , in desiring your reader not to be too credulous , or rely too much upon any medicines that you commend , until they have been frequently tried upon persons of different sexes , complections and ages . i am sure that this seed , and other specificks which i have written on , have been tried sufficiently , in a multitude of examples , and with great success , which gives great encouragement to depend upon it in difficult cases , with god almighty's blessing . i am much of your mind , that one reason why so many distempers prove incurable , is , because physitians do all they can to discourage the use of specifick medicines ; so that if they do not always work wonders , they presently tell people that they do nothing at all . in compliance with your request , i have found out a specifick remedy in almost every distemper , which in time may prove as efficacious as the cortex in an ague , for ought i know . i must say , if at any time i have found specifick remedies prove ineffectual , it was when they were compounded with some insignificant remedies , or given too late , or administred in too small a dose , or left off too soon . this small seed may be given boiled in all the childrens broth or spoon-meat , or in a liquid form , as the other specificks use to be . i have cured several children in one gentlemans family , after gentle evacuations , when the ribbs have been knotted , the head very large , the leggs crooked , the joynts much extended , only with this remedy . this distemper hath spoiled as many children as ever herod did , its high time if we would prevent the destruction of our innocents , to find out some more effectual remedies . the method that dr. glisson and &c. found out , was very good , but this simple specifick added to it may make it more effectual . you are pleased in your discourse of specifick medicines , to mention the prickly indian pear that i told you of , that communicates its tincture so speedily to the bladder , that it makes the eaters think they piss blood , which gives a clear example of the penetrating qualities of some simple specificks , which have no sensible operation by vomiting , purging or sweating . one of our judges in his reports , tells us of a learned doctor who travelled a hundred miles , to learn a specifick of an old woman to cure an ague . i am sure i have travelled many thousand miles to learn all these remedies , and my design is publick good : for although i am particularly known to you , i desire to be known to the world by no other name , but medicus indicus . finis . some observations made upon the herb cassiny imported from carolina shewing its admirable virtues in curing the small pox / written by a physitian in the countrey to esq. boyle at london. peachi, john, fl. 1683. 1695 approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 5 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a56763 wing p933 estc r27602 09981186 ocm 09981186 44433 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a56763) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44433) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1337:15) some observations made upon the herb cassiny imported from carolina shewing its admirable virtues in curing the small pox / written by a physitian in the countrey to esq. boyle at london. peachi, john, fl. 1683. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. pechey, john, 1655-1716. 8 p. [s.n.], london : 1695. attributed also to john pechey--nuc pre-1956 imprints. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng ilex vomitoria. botany, medical -north carolina. 2006-03 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-09 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-09 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion some observations made upon the herb cassiny ; imported from carolina : shewing its admirable virtues in curing the small pox . written by a physitian in the countrey to esq boyle at london . london , printed in the year 1695. some observations made upon the herb cassiny : shewing its admirable virtues in curing the small pox . in a letter , &c. sir , i am sorry to hear that the small pox is so rise at london , it 's the less wonder to find you so inquisitive after a good specifick remedy in that distemper : i must tell you , i know no better medicine in that case than the famous carolina herb called cassiny . there are abundance of persons now dye of the small pox in our town and countrey , but i attribute it very much to ill management of nurses and ignorant people , who give many hot medicines , under the pretence of driving out , as sack , and saffron , and mithridate , and venice treacle ; by this means they fire the blood into a feavor , and that kills them . i only give a few drops of the tincture of this temperate herb in water-gruel , or in panado , or posset-drink , and do nothing else all the while , but leave it to nature , and i find better success . i have had many in one family down at one time of this loathsome distemper , and all recover'd with this method ; but if any desire to dye with more pompous prescriptions , much good may it do them . the medicines made of this herb do not in the least heat the blood , but rather moderate and gently allay the violent fermentation of it , if it be too high , and yet safely help the expulsive faculty if it be too weak . this specifick keeps them out of the head and throat , and secures the lungs , by helping expectoration . i have often observed , that the slower they are in coming forth , the more dangerous ; and if the salivation or spitting ceaseth before the eleventh day , especially in a flux pox , there is then much more reason to fear the patients being poysoned by the return of the purulent matter inwards : and yet in this extream hazard the tincture of this herb in small beer , and some times in tare broath , hath saved the lives of many . i being once sent for to a boarding-school , where several young gentlewomen , who highly valued their beauty , were surprized with the small pox , i only gave them the drops drawn out of this herb in all their liquid aliment , as water-gruel , and posset-drink , and small beer , and caused them to keep their faces cover'd with their masks all the time , and they recover'd , and preserv'd their complections . i remember that an eminent physitian of london told me an extraordinary case of a court lady of great beauty , a patient of his , who was much afflicted at the death of many who dyed of the small pox , and he was resolved to try a contrary method to what had been taken with those , he kept her moderately warm cover'd with scarlet blankets , omitted bleeding , and caused her to take no more nourishment than would keep her from starving ; her drink was posset-drink , with figgs in it ; her food only bread and water boyl'd together , with seven drops of this specifick which came out of carlina ; he caused a live sheep to be kept in the chamber all the time of her illness , to draw away the malignity ; the sheep dyed , but the lady recover'd , although it was a very unkindly sort , which much threaten'd her life ; the dr. told me he durst never give her any opiate medicine , lest it should stop her spitting , which is the most proper way of evacuation in all sorts of poxes , both great and small . the virtues of this excellent plant are at large mentioned in an account of carolina , and also in the history of the west indies , a latine book written by john delait of antwerp , many years since , who tells us that it 's an admirable dioretick , it also greatly corroborates nature , and helps her to cast off whatever is offensive to the animal and vital spirits , and also it promotes genuine easie sweats , and mild friendly transpirations , preserving the mind serene , and the body active and lively a long while after , without any other nourishment , and none but persons of great quality are permitted to use this noble beverage , which they drink as we do tea and coffee . purchas in his pilgrimage tells us , that at florida , now called carolina , they live to a very great age , and speaks of one of their kings who was three hundred years old ; and whenever the inhabitants of that countrey meet with mournful accidents , or subjects of lamentation , they drink cassiny to chear their hearts . a famous sea-chyrurgeon who came from those parts , had most of his ships passengers taken sick of the small pox , and recover'd them with medicines made with this herb. i have so great an opinion of this plant , that if i had an only child who had the small pox , i would give him the tincture of it in all his drink , and depend upon it under god , as much as i would upon the peruvian bark in a quartan ague . finis . advertisements about the experiments and notes relating to chymical qualities boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1675 approx. 6 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 4 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28937 wing b3924 estc r43066 26734233 ocm 26734233 109769 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28937) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 109769) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1712:8) advertisements about the experiments and notes relating to chymical qualities boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 7 p. s.n., [london? : 1675?] caption title. attributed to boyle by wing. place and date of publication suggested by wing. reproduction of original in christ church library, oxford university. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng chemistry -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-06 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-06 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion advertisements about the experiments and notes relating to chymical qualities . when , after i had gone through the common operations of chymistry , i began to make some serious reflections on them , i thought 't was pity , that instruments that might prove so serviceable to the advancement of natural philosophy , should not be more studiously and skilfully made use of to so good a purpose . i saw indeed , that divers of the chymists had by a diligent and laudable employment of their pains and industry , obtain'd divers productions , and lighted on several phaenomena considerable in thier kind , and indeed more numerous , than , the narrowness and sterility of their principles consider'd , could well be expected . but i observed too , that the generality of those that busie themselves about chymical operations ; some because they practise physick ; and others because they either much wanted , or greedily coveted money , aimed in their trials but at the preparation of good medicines for the humane body , or to discover the ways of curing the diseases or imperfections of metals , without referring their trials to the advancement of natural philosophy in general ; of which most of the alchymists seem to have been so incurious , that not onely they did not institute experiments for that purpose , but overlookt and despis'd those undesign'd ones that occurr'd to them whilst they were prosecuting a preparation of a medicine , or a transmutation of metals . the sense i had of this too general omission of the chymists , tempted me sometimes to try , whether i could do any thing towards the repairing of it by handling chymistry , not as a physician or an alchymist , but as a meer naturalist , and so by applying chymical operations to philosophical purposes . and in pursuance of these thoughts , i remember i drew up a scheme of what i ventur'd to call a chymia philosophica , not out of any affectation of a splendid title , but to intimate , that the chymical operations , there treated of , were not directed to the usual scopes of physicians , or transmuters of metals , but partly to illustrate or confirm some philosophical theories by such operations ; and partly to explicate those operations by the help of such theories . but before i had made any great progress in the pursuit of this design , the fatal pestilence that raged in london , and in many other parts of england , in the years 1664 and 65 , obliging me among the rest to make several removes ; which put me upon taking new measures , and engaging me in other employments of my time , made me so long neglect the papers i had drawn up , that at last i knew not where to finde them , ( though i hope they are not yet mislaid beyond recovery , ) which i was the less troubled at , because the great difficulties , to be met with in such an undertaking , did not a little discourage me , such a task requiring as well as deserving a person better furnished , than i had reason to think my self , with abilities , leisure , chymical experiments , and conveniences , to try as many more as should appear needful . but yet to break the ice for any that may hereafter think fit to set upon such a work , or to shorten my own labour , if i should see cause to resume it my self , i was content to throw in among my notes about other particular qualities , some experiments and observations about some of those , that i have elsewhere call'd chymical qualities , because 't is chiefly by the operations of chymists , that men have been induced to take special notice of them . of these notes i have assigned to some qualities more , and to some fewer , as either the nature or importance of the subject seemed to require , or my leisure and other circumstances would permit . and though i have not here handled the subjects they belonged to , as if i intended such a chymia philosophica as i lately mentioned , because my design did not make it necessary , but did perhaps make it impertinent for me to do so , yet in some of the larger notes about volatility and fixtness , and especially about precipitation , i have given some little specimens of the theorical part of a philosophical account of those qualities or operations , that i hope will not be wholly useless . i know , it may be objected , that i should have employed for instances some more considerable experiments , if not arcana ; but though possibly i am not altogether unfurnished with such , yet aiming rather to promote philosophy , than appear a possessor of elaborate processes , i declined several experiments that required either more skill , or more time , or more expence than could be well expected from most readers , and chose rather to employ such experiments as may be more easily or cheaply tried , and , which is mainly to be consider'd , being more simple , are more clearly intelligible , and more fit to have notions and theories built upon them ; especially considering , that the doctrine of qualities being it self conversant about some of the rudimental parts , if i may so call them , of natural philosophy , it seemed unfit to employ intricate experiments , and whose causes were liable to many disputes , to settle a theory of them . in short , my design being to hold a taper not so much to chymists as to the naturalists , 't was fit i should be less solicitous to gratifie the former than to inform the later . finis . farther additions to a small treatise called salt-water sweetned shewing the great advantages both by sea and land of sea-water made fresh : together with the honourable mr. boyle's letter and the approbation of the colledge of physicians of the wholesomeness of this water. fitzgerald, r. (robert) 1684 approx. 33 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 14 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a39594 wing f1082 estc r14952 13591817 ocm 13591817 100675 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a39594) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100675) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 788:15) farther additions to a small treatise called salt-water sweetned shewing the great advantages both by sea and land of sea-water made fresh : together with the honourable mr. boyle's letter and the approbation of the colledge of physicians of the wholesomeness of this water. fitzgerald, r. (robert) boyle, robert, 1627-1691. fitzgerald, r. (robert). salt-water sweetned. the ninth edition, octob. 13. [6], 21 p. printed by john harefinch ..., london : 1684. written by robert fitzgerald. cf. bm. reproduction of original in bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng fitzgerald, r. -(robert). -salt-water sweetned. seawater -distillation -early works to 1800. saline water conversion -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 taryn hakala sampled and proofread 2007-05 taryn hakala text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion farther additions to a small treatise called salt-water sweetned : shewing the great advantages both by sea and by land , of sea-water made fresh . together in the honourable mr. boyle's letter , and the approbation of the colledge of physicians , of the wholsomness of this water . the ninth edition , octob. 13. london , printed by john harefinch in mountague-court in little brittain . 1684. to the king's most excellent majesty . sir , when mr. boyle , with my partners , and my self attended your majesty with the experiment of reducing salt water into fresh ; your majesty seem'd so well pleased with an invention of that vniversal benefit , that we cannot but with our humblest duty acknowledge your gracious reception of it ; however , as your great wisdom and judgment is not easie to be surpriz'd , and your royal approbation never known to be your hasty act of grace ; your favour and patronage was not fully obtain'd , till with the strictest scrutiny you had first examin'd those hopes and probabilities , you vouchsaf'd to incourage in vs . but , when upon jurther consideration , we had obviated all difficulties , and solv'd all objections against this vndertaking , ( which we hope will appear in this printed paper , ) your majesty was graciously pleas'd to give us your approbation , and to order us your letters patents ; which grace and favour ought to be , and is receiv'd by vs with the deepest sense of our humble acknowledgments and gratitude . and if the fruits of your royal grant has not hitherto been deriv'd to vs , 't is partly by some obstacles we met from the suggestions of a private person , but more especially by the late horrid conspiracy , when , not only our loyal apprehensions for your majesties danger , diverted our thoughts from all other concerns , but likewise we judged it a part of our duty not to be pressing on your majesties goodness , or on your ministers of state , in so important a juncture of affairs : but having now regained leisure and fredom , after the dissipation of the greatest part of our fears , we presume a second time to lay these endeavours at your feet , as best entituled to the patronage of so great an vndertaking by your own subjects , and best able to recommend it to the world by your royal approbation . this experiment is in a great degree owing to the eminent mr. boyle , and indeed well worthy so ingenious a promoter being so much the more the favorite of his happy genius , as it is vniversally useful to mankind ; but whatever advantages this country , or indeed the world , may receive by it , his whole ambition is bounded in the publick . profit , contenting himself with no other benefit from it , than the satisfaction and pleasure of seeing it accomplish'd by his friends . the advantages in regard to navigation , especially in long voyages , which are subject ( through often calms , and on several other accounts , ) to distress for want of water , and the benefits to sea-towns ; which are incommodated by brackish waters , together with the easiness , cheapness , and wholsomness of this prepared water , are the principal scope of these ensuing papers , which are humbly dedicated to your majestys perusal , favour , and further approbation , by your majesties most dutisul and obedient subject , r. fitzgerald . the fore-going dedication , humbly offered to his majesty , having discovered the intention of this undertaking ; it remains now to satisfie all reasonable scruples which have been raised concerning the wholesomness and cheapness of water thus prepared . the queries and answers follow . quest . 1 if this water can be made in sufficient quantities to serve the vses of any ship at sea ? ans . about ninety gallons may be prepared in every twenty four hours by an instrument of 33 inches diameter , which will stand under the deck of any ship ; and it 's computed that less than three quarts is a good allowance for any man in that time : and if a large ship , wherein there are many men aboard , should require more water , then two or more of the instruments may be had upon reasonable terms , and one man may attend several of them . quest . 2. in case the operation be by fire , it may require a skilful chymist , or one knowing in such operations , to be on board every shi , who will require great wages . ans . there will be no occasion for any such person , for any sea-man may be instructed in an hour or two to prepare this water . quest . 3. it 's probable that the engine may be frequently out of order , and being so at sea , where artificers and tools are wanting to repair it , there must necessarily follow want of water , which will be of ill consequence . ans . this engine is of such contrivance , that it 's never likely to be out of order . q. 4. can this engine be of use in stormy-weather ? ans . since a sufficient quantity of fresh-water may be so easily had by this engine , the mariners will be careful to make a good provision of it before-hand ; however , 't is not to be doubted , but it will answer the worst accidents of the greatest storms , and have its effect sufficiently in the worst weather , especially considering that in such desperate extremities men must be content with smaller allowances . quest . 5. the operation being by fire , it may endanger the ship , and the smoak be very offensive ? ans . the engine may easily be placed in any ship without danger of fire , offence of smoak . quest . 6. will not the charge of this instrument and materials belonging to it be very great ? ans . it is difficult to make exact answer to this , but an instrument of the largest size , with all the materials belonging to it , will not amount to above 18 pound , and may last many years , and according to the rates of ships , they may be proportion'd both in bulk and price . and where it may be thought necessary to make use of this experiment on shore , for brewing , or other uses of a family , instruments and materials may be very large , and very much cheaper on shore than at sea. quest . 7. will not the fewel be very chargeable , and take up much room in the ship ? ans . the quantity of about ninety gallons of water may be prepared with less than three pecks of coals , and proportionally with any other fire ; and the whole room that will be taken up in the fire , and in the few casks to be imployed in the making and receiving this water , will be less than the tenth part of stowage now employed for water only , and upon a strict computation made by the persons concern'd in this grant , the whole charge of water will come to about a farthing per gallon . quest 8. will not the ingredients take up much room , and be very chargeable ? ans . a vessel less then a barrel may contain enough of the ingredients to catty a ship to the east indies and back again ; and the ingredients for near one hundred gallons of this sea-water will not amount to above 12 pence , and will be cheaper when great quantities are used at land. quest . 9. admitting this preparation of water may be made , and insufficient quantities , it may be doubted whether it be wholsome ? ans . the famous lord bacon , having written learnedly of this subject , had not the least thought that the sea-water , after it had been dis-salted , without any noxious addition , was unwholesom : and it neither now is , nor ever was really doubted whether it were wholesom ; however , because invidious persons , who are no well-wishers to ingenious designs , may possibly raise scruples , the gentlemen who are concerned in this grant , have purposely , to give publick satisfaction , sent a large quantity of this water to doctor king , a very ingenious physician , who is a member of the colledge , and of the royal society ; who finds , 1. that it is lighter than most of the waters about the town . 2. that it is without sediment , and transparent as any other waters . 3. that it lathers ( as they call it ) with wash-ball or soap , better than other water , and with less soap . 4. that sugar dissolveth sooner in it , than in other water . 5. that it evaporates sooner than common water . 6. that whereas common water putrifies and yields a stinking smell within a few weeks , this has continued sweet and unaltered several months , and may yet do so much longer , being still in as good condition as it was above eight months ago , november the fifteenth , 1683. 7. that it makes gellies as firm and good as any water . 8. that it boils pease to tenderness , beef , mutton , fish , and all other meat , without giving it an ill taste or colour . 9. that it has no kind of ill taste in it self , and boils in milk , without curdling . 10. that flowers , plants , and all vegetables grow in it at least as well as any other water . 11. and that small animals live and grow in it . several men of great quality , viz. the earls of shrowsbury , westmorland , mulgrave and burlington , the lord dunbar , lord lumley , lord falconbridge , and lord chumley , besides very many gentlemen of quality , who frequently drink water , officers of sea , and physicians , have drunk of this water , without being in the least indispos'd after it ; but , lest any doubts may remain after this , of the salubrity of the said water , the following testimonial of these learned and eminent physicians , is here inserted . since the former editions of this treatise , most of the foreign ministers , several persons of quality , eminent merchants , seamen , and others , have eat of pease , fish , and flesh boyled in this prepar'd water ; and some hundreds have drunk of it often , and in great quantities , without the least ill effect by it ; and several of the east and west india ships now ready to sail , have already agreed with the patentees , and have taken engines from them : and some since they have had them on board their ship , have made tryal in the downs of the operation of the said engine at sea , to the great satisfaction of several persons residing in and about deal , and other maritime places near the downs . the approbation of the colledge of physicians , and other doctors of physick , practising in and about london . whereas we have received an account in a gazet published some months since , that the honourable robert fitz gerald , esq ; hath found out the way and means of reducing salt-water into fresh , in quantities sufficient to serve ships at sea. and for as much as some persons may possibly make a doubt , if the said water be wholsome after the salt is taken out of it . we therefore , considering of what general advantage this useful experiment may be , having fully inform'd our selves from mr. boyle , that the said experiment is made by fire . and having also seen an account of some experiments made by some members of our own body , do declare our opinion , that we believe the said water is very wholesome , and may be safely used . and being further acquainted by the said mr. boyle , that the very few ingredients made use of in the said operation , are fixed in the fire , and give no noxious quality to the water ; we are therefore of opinion , that the same may be safely used , and is at least as healthy as any other water us'd at sea. all which we certifie ( at the request of the honourable robert fitz-gerald . ) dr. cox , president , sir c. scarborough , knt. dr. daniel whistler , dr. weatherly . dr. will. deuton . sir. t. millington , knt. dr. walter needham , dr. thomas short , dr. thomas allen , dr. edmund dickingson , dr. william croone , dr. richard lower , dr. john windebank , dr. daniel cox , dr. james rufine , dr. charles conquest , dr. edmund king , dr. willoughby , dr. tho. sydenham , dr. edward tyson , dr. nehemiah grew , dr. david abercromby , dr. andrew creagh . though physick has always flourished in this kingdom , yet in this age it is in greater perfection than ever ; being improv'd , both as to the practical and speculative part , by the present fellows of the famous colledge of physicians , who , being men of great practise and eminent learning , cannot but give full satisfaction to all such as inquire concerning the healthfulness of this water ; their opinion being , in this particular , the more valuable , because it is to their own disadvantage , since the brackish waters of the sea-coast , and the pu●●ifying waters made use of at sea , might probably have afforded them a great number of patients , which may hereafter be lessened by the use of this wholesome water . since the first edition of these papers , his majesty has been pleas'd to see some experiments , which has so convinc'd his majesty of the healthfulness of this water , that he has resolved to have it generally made use of in his sea-port garrisons ; of which an account has been given in several guzetts , by his majesties special order . the benefits and advantages of sea-water made fresh . much stowage will be saved , so that a ship of 50 or 60 tun , and proportionably of greater bulk , may take in several tuns of goods more than formerly they used to carry ; which will considerably advance the trade of all merchants , and be of vast profit to the masters or owners of ships . the charge of casks is very considerable , especially when bound with iron , as all sea-casks must be ; and by means of this engine , three fourths of that charge will be saved . the tear and wear of boats often going from ship board , and frequent loss of the boats and men in stormy weather , and the opportunity of the sea-mens being drunk on shoar ; by which many fatal accidents do happen , ( by means of having this water-engine ) will be prevented . ships in long voyages have been forc'd to run many leagues from their intended course , which much retards their voyage , and makes them lose fair winds , and maintain more sea-men at charges of diet and wages than they have occasion for ; which inconveniencies may be prevented by having water within themselves . ships are often forc'd to leave their anchors and cables behind them , by being forc'd into dangerous shoars upon account of taking in fresh water . in the african , east and west india voyages , great quantities of fresh water are necessary , which the sea-men are forc'd to put above deck for want of room , which is great hindrance to a ships sailing , and much endangers and weakens a ship. in case of calms , which often happen in the narrow seas , but especially near the line , this instrument will be of vast advantage , by affording fresh and wholsome water , instead of that which is unwholsome and offensive . essex , kent , all other the sea-coasts , in any part of the world , that want wholesome water , may be easily and and cheaply supplied by this means ; as also venice , amsterdam , roterdam , and all other towns or places that lye near the sea , and either want good , or have brackish water . in time of war , whole navies may be relieved by this engine , and opportunity given of making the greatest discoveries imaginable . it is further to be considered , that hitherto the richest and ablest bodied sea-men have been averse horn undertaking long voyages , by reason of endangering their healths , and lives , by making use of putrified water , which inconvenience is not now to be feared , there being such hopes of useful fresh water by the use of this engine ; and possibly a smaller number of men may serve the use of ships than do at present , by which much charges will be saved to the masters and owners of ships ; and merchants may trade upon easier terms in portsmouth ; rochester , the fenns of lincolnshire , and any other places near the sea , where waters are brackish , and consequently unwholsome , this engine , &c. may be very useful , and where there is room enough to place it , very great quantities of water may be had for the use of whole families , and the ingredients when used in great quantities may be afforded at a cheaper rate . a letter of mr. boyle's to the learned dr. john beale , fellow of the royal society , concerning fresh-water made out of sea-water : printed at the desire of the patentees . sir , to give you a short account ( suitable to the little time i have to do it in , ) of the transaction , which i suppose must have given he rise to the mention made of my name in the publick gazette : i must inform you , that one of my nearest relations , ( captain fitz-gerald ) and some other worthy gentlemen , having acquainted his majesty , that they had an invention for making sea-water sweet and wholsom in great quantity , and with small charge , and that i had examin'd , and did approve the water so prepar'd ; his majesty was pleas'd with very gracious expressions , to command me to attend him with a further and more particular information . having readily obey'd this order , and been made acquainted with the objections the king thought fit to make against the practicableness of the invention ; which ( tho a private man had urg'd them ) i should think the moll judicious that have been fram'd against it ; i humbly presented to him , that i look't upon this invention as comprizing two differing things ; a mechanical part , which related to the engine it self , and the use of it a ship-board , and a physical part , which concerns the potableness and wholsomness of the liquour . about the former of these i did not pretend to clear the difficulties , especially such strong ones , as his majesty had propos'd ; but left it to the patentees to give him satisfaction , which they were in a readiness to offer . but as to the wholsomness of the prepar'd water , i had made some tryals upon the liquour , which gave me not just crounds of suspecting it to be unwholsom , but several motives to believe it well condition'd and of great use to navigators , and not to them only . and having hereupon briefly acquainted his majesty with the chief tryals i had made to examin this sweetned water , he was pleas'd to look upon them as satisfactory , and vouchsafed on that occasion to discourse , as a virtuoso , of the sea and brackish-maters , and gave me some new , as well instructive observations about them : and in conclusion , dismiss'd the patentees with a gracious promise of his royal protection , and peculiar favour . to this short narrative it now remains , that i briefly subjoyn the chief things that perswaded me of the salubrity of this water , ( whence may be justly and easily inferr'd , the utility the publick may receive by a cheap and easie way of preparing it . ) first , then i consider'd that almost all the rain-water that falls from the clouds on the main ocean , and which ( except perhaps in very few places in torrid climates ) is unquestionably receiv'd as wholsom , must be afforded by the sea , and consequently be but sea-water freed from its salt , ( according to the famous motto , redit agmine dulci. ) next i found , ( as his majesty himself had done , ) that the liquour was well tasted , and without any sensible brackishness ; and some of it continued for between 4 or 5 months in a large christal bottle , that i purposely kept unstopt , and for the most part in a south window , where it neither did , not probably in a long time , will putrifie , or so much as appear troubled or less transparent ; during which time , it was with approbation tasted and smell'd by several learned physicians of the famous colledge of london . thirdly , i found it laver very well , which most pump-waters , and many others that have some little ( tho unperceiv'd ) common salt in them , will not do . fourthly , this water will boyle pease tender , which amongst seamen is one of the principal signs of good water . fifthly , in very good ballances , with an instrument that i purposely caus'd to be made for the nice weighing of liquours , i found this water far less heavy than one would expect ; for if it differ'd at all in weight from the like quantity of undistill'd water , ( i speak with an if , because it is far more difficult to be exact in such nice tryals , than the unpractic'd will imagine ) the difference was not considerable , being but one part in 400 , and that difference is very small in comparison of that which navigators and learned authors relate to be observable in natural waters , all of them good and potable : i might tell you on this occasion , that the last great duke of tuscany , who was an eminent virtuoso , and the patron of the celebrated academy of the lyncean philosophers , is affirm'd , among other prudent courses that he took for his health , whereof he was very sollicitous , to have constantly made use of distill'd water , when he us'd any water , for his own drinking . and i could add other things favourable enough to the patentees water , if haste , and perhaps discretion too , did not oblige me to leave them yet unmention'd , that i might now have time to say somewhat of the main thing of all that convinced me of the saltlessness of the water i speak of . i consider'd then , sixthly , that the thing that was aim'd at by those ingenious men , that at differing times , and in several countries have attempted to make sea-water sweet , and the thing that was requir'd by proposing recompences , or otherwise to encourage the makers of such attempts , was to free the sea-water from the brackishness without any noxious additament : so that on all sides it was taken for granted , that the only thing that kept the sea-water from being safely potable , was its brackishness . from which reflection it was natural for me to infer a condition very favourable to our prepar'd water . for having long since written a short discourse of the saltness of the sea ; i had been industrious to devise ways of comparing waters in point of brackishness . and by these i found the patentees water to be more free from common-salt than waters that are usually drunk herein london , of which i remember i shewed those gentlemen an experiment that surpriz'd , as well as convinc'd them . and that which more satisfi'd me myself , was a tryal that i carefully made , by a way , which having mention'd , but not yet ( for want of opportunity ) disclos'd to his majesty , the respect i owe him forbids me to impart without his leave : on which account i hope you 'll be content to be at present assur'd of these two things ; one , that by this way of tryal , i found , ( what possibly you will think strange ; ) that if there were in water , so much as one grain of salt , in above two ounces of water i could readily discover it : the other , that even by this critical examen , i could not detect so much as a thousandth part of salt in our prepar'd water ; whereas i found by tryals purposely and carefully made , that our english sea-water contain'd a 44 , or 45th part of good dry salt ; or , which is all one , that 44 pints , or near so many pounds of marine water , would yield about one pound of dry common-salt . thus sir , you have a short and art-less account , such as my haste will permit , and the nature of the subject requires , of my part in promoting this prositabl invention ; to which i own my self a great well-wisher , not out of any private interest ( tho that was obligingly proffer'd me by the patentees , ) but as i think the bringing it into general use , may prove a real service to mankind , upon the score of divers utilities and advantages , which yet , ( tho i had leisure , ) i should think very needless to enumerate to so discerning a person as dr. b. to whom i shall therefore hasten to subscribe my self , sir , a very affectionate friend , and humble servant , r. boyle . after so many forcible and convincing testimonies in favour of this great design , i shall make an addition of the approbation of his majesty of great brittain ; who , after the publication of the first impression , having seen the convincing proofs of the healthful quality of this water , hath resolv'd to have the same to be made use of in all his sea-port garrisons ; the which he caused to be published by express order , in several gazetts , and particularly in that of munday , novemb. 5. 1683. an abstract out of the gazette , numb . 1676. his majesty was pleas'd to command the honourable mr. boyle to attend him , to give his majesty an ocular proof of the nicety of his way of examining the freshness and saltness of water , and to apply it to the sea-water , prepar'd according to the patentees invention ; which being done before his majesty , his royal highness , and the duke of grafton , several persons or quality being also present , it was made apparent , by a certain prepar'd liquid which mr. boyle had brought with him , that a discovery could be made if there were so much as a thousandth pare of salt in a propos'd water : by which trval his majesty , finding that the prepar'd sea-water , for which he has granted his royal patent , was at least as free from salt as the best waters used in this town : received such satisfaction as to the wholsomness of the said water , that he was pleased to declare his royal intentions both to encourage the said invention , and to have the said water made use of in his several maritime garrisons , which nature has not furnished with wholsom water . a copy of a letter from captain macdonnel , from aboard his majesties ship the greybound , near the coast of spain , to one of the patentees of sea-water . sir , for these four months past , i kept your sea-water ( for its better tryal ) buried in my ships hold , where , had it not been extraordinary good , it must infallibly have been of no use , and offensive , but i 'll assure you it prov'd quite contrary ; for yesterday , having several both of sea and land officers on board for me , i made them insensibly taste of your water , which i pretended to be from a spring i watered my ship at , ten leagues to the southward of sallie ; they all affirm'd it to be as good as tangier water , the very best counted in the streights , but when i discovered the water to be yours , they hardly would give it credit , and approv'd of it ( as really it is , as good as can be drank ) which they desired me to let you know . novemb. 3. 1683. i am your humble servant rand. macdonnel . the extremity of the last winter having occasioned the loss of the president , a rich east-india ship , and many other of his majesties ship and subjects to perish for want of provision and fresh-water at sea , his majesty , for prevention of the like misfortune , was pleased to order the following advice to be inserted in the gazette of march 6. 1683. white-hall , feb. 28. his majesty having heard several relations of die great distress some of his subjects have lately been in at sea for want of fresh water , hath been pleased for their relief in such cases , to command the patentees for the new invention of making sea-water fresh , to give the most publick notice they can of the usefulness of the said invention , of which his majesty has received so great satisfaction , that his majesty is pleased that those instruments shall be provided for his ships and garrisons , where they ate not naturally provided with good water . and in obedience to his majesties order , the patentees do hereby give notice , that two treatises have been written on this subject , which may be had at the ship against the royal exchange , and at the marine coffee house , whereunto all persons are referred for more particular information ; in which the great benefit and many conveniences of this invention , the casiness , both as to the trouble and expence , of making the salt water fresh , and the wholsomness thereof , is clearly demonstrated by the testimony of many eminent physicians . to which is added , a letter written by the honourable mr. boyle , by which he assures the wholsomness , durableness , and sweetness of this water . and a letter from captain rand. macdonnel , of the third of november 1683. from on board the grey-hound frigat , near the coast of spain ; wherein he affirms , that he kept of the patentees water , some that was given him , in his ships hold , from his leaving england , being four months , and then having several officers on board him , gave them a taste of it , pretending it to be of the spring near sally , where he had watered , and which is as good as the best in the streights , and they drank of it as such , till he discovered what it was ; and then they approved of it to be as good as could be drank . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a39594-e350 white-hall novemb. 2. 1683. of a degradation of gold made by an anti-elixir, a strange chymical narative. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1678 approx. 38 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 12 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28988) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 42645) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1303:9) of a degradation of gold made by an anti-elixir, a strange chymical narative. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [4], 17 p. printed by t.n. for henry herringman, london : [1678] caption title: an historical account of the degradation of gold by an anti-elixir. attributed to robert boyle--nuc pre-1956 imprints. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng gold -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2006-07 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion degradation of gold made by an anti-elixir a strange chymical narative london , printed by t. n. for henry herringman , at 〈…〉 in the lower walk of the new exch 〈…〉 the publisher to the reader . having been allowed the liberty of perusing the following paper at my own lodging ; i found my self strongly tempted , by the strangeness of the things mention'd in it , to venture to release it : the knowledge i had of the author's inclination to gratifie the virtuosi , forbidding me to despair of his pardon , if the same disposition prevail'd with me , to make the curious partakers with me of so surprising a piece of philosophical news . and , though it sufficiently appear'd , that the insuing conference was but a continuation of a larger discourse ; yet , considering , that this part consists chiefly , not to say only , of a narrative ; which ( if i may so speak ) stands upon its own legs , without any need of depending upon any thing that was deliver'd before ; i thought it was no great venture , nor incongruity , to let it come abroad by it self . and , i the less scrupled to make this publication , because i found , that the honorable mr. boyle confesses himfelf to be fully satisfied of the truth , of as much of the matter of fact , as delivers the phoenomena of the tryal ; the truth whereof was further confirm'd to me , by the testimony , and particular account , which that most learned and experienc'd physitian , who was assistant to pyrophilus in making the experiment , and with whom i have the honor to be acquainted ( being now in london ) gave me with his own mouth , of all the circumstances of the tryal . and , where the truth of that shall be once granted , there is little cause to doubt , that the novelty of the thing will sufficiently indear the relation : especially to those that are studious of the higher arcana of the hermetick philosophy . for , most of the phoenomena here mention'd , will probably seem wholly new , not only to vulgar chymists , but also to the greatest part of the more knowing spagyrists , and natural philosophers themselves : none of the orthodox authors , as far as i can remember , having taken notice of such an anti-elixir . and , though pyrophilus's scrupulousness ( which makes him very unwilling to speak the utmost of a thing ) allowes it to be a deterioration into an imperfect mettal onely ; yet , to tell the truth , i think it was more imbas'd than so ; for the part left of it ( and kept for some farther discoveries ) which i once got a sight of , looks more like a mineral , or marchasite , then like any imperfect mettal : and therefore this degradation is not the same , but much greater , than that which lullius doth intimate in some places . these considerations make me presume it will easily be granted , that the effects of this anti-philosophers stone , as i think it may not unfitly be call'd . , will not only seem very strange to hermetick , as well as other philosophers , but may prove very instructive to speculative wits ; especially if pyrophilus shall please to acquaint them with that more odd phoenomenon , which he mentions darkly in the close of his discourse . an historical account of the degradation of gold by an anti-elixir . after the whole company had , as it were by common consent , continued silent for some time , which others spent in reflections upon the preceding conference , and pyrophylus , in the consideration of what he was about to deliver ; this virtuoso at length stood up , and addressing himself to the rest , i hope , gentlemen , sayes he , that what has been already discoursed , has inclin'd , if not perswaded you to think , that the exaltation , or change of other metals into gold , is not a thing absolutely impossible ; and , though i confess , i cannot remove all your doubts , and objections , or my own , by being able to affirm to you , that i have with my own hands made projection ( as chymists are wont to call the sudden transmutation made by a small quantity of their admirable elixir ) yet i can confirm much of what hath been argued for the possibility of such a sudden change of a metalline body , by a way , which , i presume , will surprize you . for , to make it more credible , that other metals are capable of being graduated , or exalted into gold by way of projection ; i will relate to you , that by the like way , gold has been degraded , or imbased . the novelty of this preamble having much surprised the auditory , at length , simplicius , with a disdainful smile , told pyrophilus , that the company would have much thanked him , if he could have assured them , that he had seen another mettal exalted into gold ; but , that to find a way of spoiling gold , was not onely an useless discovery , but a prejudicial practice . pyrophilus was going to make some return to this animadversion , when he was prevented by aristander ; who , turning himself to simplicius , told him , with a countenance and tone that argued some displeasure ; if pyrophilus had been discoursing to a company of goldsmiths , or of merchants , your severe reflection upon what he said would have been proper : but , you might well have forborn it , if you had considered , as i suppose he did , that he was speaking to an assembly of philosophers and virtuosi , who are wont to estimate experiments , not as they inrich mens purses , but their brains , and think knowledge especially of uncommon things very desirable , even when 't is not accompanyed with any other thing , than the light that still attends it , and indears it . it hath been thought an useful secret , by a kind of retrogradation to turn tin and lead into brittle bodies , like the ores of those metals . and if i thought it proper , i could shew , that such a change might be of use in the investigation of the nature of those metals , besides the practical use that i know may be made of it . to find the nature of wine , we are assisted , not only by the methods of obtaining from it a spirit ; but by the ways of readily turning it into vinegar : the knowledge of which ways hath not been despised by chymists or physitians , and hath at paris , and divers other places , set up a profitable trade . 't is well known that divers eminent spagyrists have reckon'd amongst their highest arcana the ways by which they pretended , ( and i fear did but pretend ) to extract the mercury of gold , and consequently destroy that metal ; and 't were not hard to shew by particular instances , that all the experiments wherein bodies are in some respects deteriorated , are not without distinction to be rejected or despis'd ; since in some of them , the light they may afford may more than countervail the degradation of a small quantity of matter , though it be gold it self . and indeed , ( continues he ) if we will consider things as philosophers , and look upon them as nature hath made them , not as opinion hath disguised them ; the prerogatives and usefulness of gold , in comparison of other metals , is nothing near so great as alchymists and usurers imagine . for , as it is true , that gold is more ponderous , and more fix'd , and perhaps more difficult to be spoiled , than iron ; yet these qualities ( whereof the first makes it burthensom , and the two others serve chiefly but to distinguish the true from counterfeit ) are so balanced by the hardness , stiffness , springiness , and other useful qualities of iron ; that if those two metals i speak of , ( gold and iron ) were equally plentiful in the world , it is scarce to be doubted , but that men would prefer the more useful before the more splendid , considering how much worse it were for mankind to want hatchets , and knives and swords , than coin and plate ? wherefore , ( concludes he ) i think pyrophilus ought to be both desired and incouraged to go on with his intended discourse , since whether gold be or not be the best of metals ; an assurance that it may be degraded , may prove a novelty very instructive , and perhaps more so than the transmutation of a baser metal into a nobler . for i remember it hath long pass'd for a maxim among chymical philosophers , that facilius est aurum construere quam destruere : and whatever becomes of that , 't is certain that gold being the closest , the constantest , and the least destructible of metals , to be able to work a notable and almost essential change in such a body , ( though , by detereorating it ) is more than to work a like change , ( though in popular estimation for the better ) in any metal less indisposed to admit alterations , especially in such an one as pyrophilus intimates , by telling us , that 't was made by way of projection , and consequently by a very small proportion of active matter ; whereas the destructions that vulgar chymists pretend to make of gold , are wont to be attempted to be made by considerable proportions of corrosive menstruums , or other fretting bodies ; and even these , experience shews to be usually too weak to ruine , though sometimes they may much disguise the most stable texture of gold. cuncta adeo miris illic complexibus haerent . pyrophilus perceiving by several signs that he needed not add any thing of apologetical to what arristander had already said for him , resumed his discourse , by saying , i was going , gentlemen , when simplicius diverted me , to tell you that looking upon the vulgar objections that have been wont to be fram'd against the possibility of metalline transmutations , from the authority and prejudices of aristotle , and the school-philosophers , as arguments that in such an assembly as this need not now be solemnly discuss'd ; i consider that the difficulties that really deserve to be call'd so , and are of weight even with mechanical philosophers , and judicious naturalists , are principally these . first , that the great change that must be wrought by the elixir , ( if there be such an agent ) is effected upon bodies of so stable and almost immutable a nature as metals . next , that this great change is said to be brought to pass in a very short time . and thirdly , ( which is yet more strange ) that this great and suddain alteration is said to be effected by a very small , and perhaps inconsiderable , proportion of the transmuting powder . to which three grand difficulties , i shall add another that to me appears , and perhaps will seem to divers of the new philosophers , worthy to be lookt upon as a fourth , namely , the notable change that must by a real transmutation be made in the specifick gravity of the matter wrought upon : which difficulty i therefore think not unworthy to be added to the rest , because upon several tryals of my own and other men , i have found no known quality of gold , ( as its colour , malleableness , fixity , or the like ) so difficult , if not so impossible , to be introduc'd into any other metalline matter , as the great specifick gravity that is peculiar to gold. so that , gentlemen , ( concludes pyrophilus ) if it can be made appear that art has produc'd an anti-elixir , ( if i may so call it ) or agent that is able in a very short time , to work a very notable , though deteriorating , change upon a metal ; in proportion to which , its quantity is very inconsiderable ; i see not why it should be thought impossible that art may also make a true elixir , or powder capable of speedily transmuting a great proportion of a baser metal into silver or gold : especially if it be considered , that those that treat of these arcana , confess that 't is not every matter which may be justly called the philosophers stone , that is able to transmute other metals in vast quantities ; since several of these writers , ( and even lully himself ) make differing orders or degrees of the elixir , and acknowledge , that a medicine or tincture of the first or lowest order will not transmute above ten times its weight of an inferior metal . pyrophilus having at this part of his discourse made a short pawse to take breath , crattippus took occasion from his silence to say to him , i presume , pyrophilus , i shall be disavowed by very few of these gentlemen , if i tell you that the company is impatient to hear the narrative of your experiment , and that if it do so much as probably make out the particulars you have been mentioning , you will in likelyhood perswade most of them , and will certainly oblige them all . i shall therefore on their behalf as well as my own , sollicite you to hasten to the historical part of a discourse that is so like to gratifie our curiosity . the company having by their unanimous silence , testified their approbation of what crattippus had said ; and appearing more than ordinarily attentive , as i was one day abroad ; saith pyrophilus , to return visits to my friends , i was by a happy providence ( for it was beside my first intention ) directed to make one to an ingenious foreigner , with whom a few that i had received from him , had given me some little acquaintance . whilst this gentleman and i were discoursing together of several matters , there came in to visit him a stranger , whom i had but once seen before ; and though that were in a promiscuous company , yet he addressed himself to me in a way that quickly satisfied me of the greatness of his civility ; which he soon after also did of that of his curiosity . for the virtuoso , in whose lodgings we met , having ( to gratifie me ) put him upon the discourse of his voyages ; the curious stranger entertained us an hour or two with pertinent and judicious answers to the questions i askt him-about places so remote , or so much within land , that i had not met with any of our english navigators or travellers that had penetrated so far as to visit them . and because i found by his discourse that i was like to enjoy such good company but a very little while , ( since he told me that he came the other day into england but to dispatch a business which he had already done as far as he could do it , after which he was with speed to return , as ( to my trouble ) he did to his patron that sent him ) i made the more haste to propose such questions to him , as i most desired to be satisfied about ; and among other things , enquiring whether in the eastern parts he had travers'd , he had met with any chymists ; he answered me that he had ; and that though they were fewer , and more reserved than ours , yet he did not find them all less skilful . and on this occasion , before he left the town to go aboard the ship he was to overtake ; he in a very obliging way put into my hands at parting a little piece of paper , folded up ; which he said contained all that he had left of a rarity he had received from an eastern virtuoso , and which he intimated would give me occasion both to remember him , and to exercise my thoughts in uncommon speculations . the great delight i took in conversing with a person that had travelled so far , and could give me so good an account of what he had seen , made me so much resent the being so soon deprived of it , that though i judg'd such a vertuoso would not , as a great token of his kindness , have presented me a trifle , yet the present did but very imperfectly consoal me for the loss of so pleasing and instructive a conversation . nevertheless , that i might comply with the curiosity he himself had excited in me , and know how much i was his debtor , i resolved to see what it was he had given me , and try whether i could make it do what i thought he intimated , by the help of those few hints rather than directions how to use it , which the parting haste he was in ( or perhaps some other reason best known to himself ) confin'd him to give me . but in regard that i could not but think the experiment would one way or other prove extraordinary , i thought fit to take a witness or two and an assistant in the trying of it ; and for that purpose made choice of an experienced doctor of physick , very well vers'd in the separating and copelling of metals . though the company ( says heliodorus ) be so confident of your sincerity and wariness , that they would give credit even to unlikely experiments , upon your single testimony ; yet we cannot but approve your discretion in taking an assistant and a witness , because in nice and uncommon experiments we can scarce use too much circumspection , especially when we have not the means of reiterating the tryal : for in such new , as well as difficult cases , 't is easie even for a clear-sighted experimenter to over-look some important circumstance , that a far less skilful by-stander may take notice of . as i have ever judged , ( saith pyrophilus ) that cautiousness is a very requisite qualification for him that would satisfactorily make curious experiments ; so i thought fit to imploy a more than ordinary measure of it , in making a tryal , whose event i imagined might prove odd enough . and therefore having several times observed that some men are prepossessed , by having a particular expectation rais'd in them , and are inclined to think that they do see that happen which they think they should see happen ; i resolved to obviate this prejudication as much as innocently i could , and ( without telling him any thing but the truth , to which philosophy as well as religion obliges us to be strictly loyal ) i told him but thus much of the truth , that i expected that a small proportion of a powder presented me by a foreign virtuoso , would give a brittleness to the most flexible and malleable of metals , gold it self . which change i perceiv'd he judged so considerable and unlikely to be effected , that he was greedy of seeing it severely try'd . having thus prepared him not to look for all that i my self expected , i cautiously opened the paper i lately mentioned , but was both surprized and troubled , ( as he also was ) to find in it so very little powder , that in stead of two differing tryals that i designed to make with it , there seem'd very small hope left that it would serve for one , ( and that but an imperfect one neither . ) for there was so very little powder , that we could scarce see the colour of it , ( save that as far as i could judge it was of a darkish red ) and we thought it not only dangerous , but useless to attempt to weigh it , in regard we might easily lose it by putting it into , and out of the balance ; and the weights we had were not small enough for so despicable a quantity of matter , which in words i estimated at an eighth part of a grain : but my assistant , ( whose conjecture i confess my thoughts inclin'd to prefer ) would allow it to be at most but a tenth part of a grain . wherefore seeing the utmost we could reasonably hope to do with so very little powder , was to make one tryal with it , we weighed out in differing balances two drams of gold that had been formerly english coyn , and that i caused by one that i usually imploy to be cupell'd with a sufficient quantity of lead , and quarted , as they speak , with refin'd silver , and purg'd aqua fortis , to be sure of the goodness of the gold : these two drams i put into a new crucible , first carefully neal'd , and having brought them to fusion by the meer action of the fire , without the help of borax , or any other additament , ( which course , though somewhat more laborious , than the most usual we took to obviate scruples ) i put into the well-melted metal with my own hand the little parcel of powder lately mentioned , and continuing the vessel in the fire for about a quarter of an hour , that the powder might have time to defuse it self every way into the metal , we poured out the well-melted gold into another crucible that i had brought with me , and that had been gradually heated before , to prevent cracking . but though from the first fusion of the metal , to the pouring out , it had turn'd in the crucible like ordinary gold , save that once my assistant told me he saw that for two or three moments it lookt almost like an opale ; yet i was somewhat surpriz'd to find when the matter was grown cold , that though it appear'd upon the balance that we had not lost any thing of the weight we put in , yet in stead of fine gold , we had a lump of metal of a dirty colour , and as it were overcast with a thin coat , almost like half vitrified litharge ; and somewhat to increase the wonder , we perceived that there stuck to one side of the crucible a little globule of metal that lookt not at all yellowish , but like course silver , and the bottom of the crucible was overlaid with a vitrified substance , whereof one part was of a transparent yellow , and the other of a deep brown , inclining to red ; and in this vitrified substance i could plainly perceive sticking at least five or six little globules that lookt more like impure silver than pure gold. in short , this stuff look so little like refin'd , or so much as ordinary , gold , that though my friend did much more than i marvel at this change , yet i confess i was surpriz'd at it my self . for though in some particulars it answered what i lookt for , yet in others , it was very differing from that which the donor of the powder had , as i thought , given me ground to expect . whether the cause of my disappointment were that ( as i formerly intimated ) this virtuoso's haste or design made him leave me in the dark ; or whether it were that finding my self in want of sufficient directions , i happily pitcht upon such a proportion of materials , and way of operating , as were proper to make a new discovery , which the excellent giver of the powder had not design'd , or perhaps thought of . i shall not at all wonder , saith cratippus , either at your friends amazement , or at your surprize , if your further tryals did in any measure confirm what the superficial change that appeared in your metal could not but incline you to conjecture . you will best judge of that ( replies pyrophilus ) by the account i was going to give you of what we did with our odd metal . and first , having rubb'd it upon a good touchstone , whereon we had likewise rubb'd a piece of coyn'd silver , and a piece of coyn'd gold , we manifestly found that the mark left upon the stone by our mass between the marks of the two other metals , was notoriously more like the touch of the silver than to that of the gold. next , having knockt our little lump with a hammer , it was , ( according to my prediction ) found brittle , and flew into several pieces . thirdly , ( which is more ) even the insides of those pieces lookt of a base dirty colour , like that of brass or worse , for the fragments had a far greater resemblance to bell-metal , than either to gold or to silver . to which we added this fourth , and more considerable , examen ; that having carefully weigh'd out one dram of our stuff , ( reserving the rest for trials to be suggested by second thoughts ) and put it upon an excellent now and well-neal'd cupel , with about half a dozen times its weight of lead , we found , somewhat to our wonder , that though it turn'd very well like good gold , yet it continued in the fire above an hour and an half , ( which was twice as long as we expected ) and yet almost to the very last the fumes copiously ascended , which sufficiently argu'd the operation to have been well carried on ; and when at last it was quite ended , we found the cupel very smooth and intire , but ting'd with a fine purplish red , ( which did somewhat surprize us ) and besides , the refined gold , there lay upon the cavity of the cupel some dark-coloured recrements , which we concluded to have proceeded from the deteriorated metal , not from the lead . but when we came to put our gold again into the balance , we found it to weigh only about fifty three grains , and consequently to have lost seven ; which yet we found to be fully made up by that little quantity of recrements that i have lately mention'd , whose weight and fixity , compared with their unpromising colour , did not a little puzzle us , especially because we had not enough either of them , or of leisure , to examine their nature . to all which circumstances , i shall subjoin this , that to prevent any scruples that might arise touching the gold we imploy'd , i caused a dram and a half that had been purposely reserv'd out of the same portion with that that had been debased ; i caused this ( i say ) to be in my assistants presence melted by it self , and found it ( as i doubted not but i should do ) fine and well-coloured gold. i hope you will pardon my curiosity , saith arristander to the gentleman that spoke last , if i ask why you take no notice of the effect of aqua fortis upon your imbased metal ? your question , replies pyrophilus , i confess to be very reasonable , and i am somewhat troubled that i can answer it but by telling you that we had not at hand any aqua fortis we durst relie on ; which yet i was the less troubled at , because heretofore some tryals purposely made had inform'd me , that in some metalline mixtures the gold if it were much predominant in quantity , may protect another metal ; ( for instance silver ) from being dissolved by that menstruum , though not from being at all invaded by it . there yet remain'd , saith heliodorus , one examen more of your odd metal , which would have satisfied me , at least as much as any of the rest , of its having been notably imbas'd : for if it were altered in its specifick gravity , that quality i have always observ'd ( as i lately perceiv'd you also have done ) to stick so close to gold , that it could not by an additament so inconsiderable in point of bulk , be considerably altered without a notable and almost essential change in the texture of the metal . to this pertinent discourse , pyrophilus , with the respect due to a person that so worthily sustain'd the dignity he had of presiding in that choice company , made this return : i owe you , sir , my humble thanks for calling upon me to give you an account i might have forgotten , and which is yet of so important a thing , that none of the other phaenomena of our experiment seem'd to me to deserve so much notice . wherefore i shall now inform you , that having provided my self of all the requisites to make hydrostatical tryals , ( to which perhaps i am not altogether a stranger ) i carefully weighed in water the ill-lookt mass , ( before it was divided for the coupelling of the above-mentioned dram ) and found , to the great confirmation of my former wonder and conjectures , that in stead of weighing about nineteen times as much as a bulk of water , equal to it , its proportion to that liquor was but that of fifteen , and about two thirds to one : so that its specifick gravity was less by about 31 / ●…3 than if it had been pure gold it would have been . at the recital of this notable circumstance , superadded to the rest , the generality of the company , and the president too , by looking and smiling upon one another , express'd themselves to be as well delighted as surpriz'd ; and after the murmuring occasion'd by the various whispers that pass'd amongst them , was a little over , heliodorus address'd himself to pyrophilus , and told him , i need not , and therefore shall not , stay for an express order from the company to give you their hearty thanks : for as the obliging stranger did very much gratifie you by the present of his wonderful powder , so you have not a little gratified us by so candid and particular a narrative of the effects of it ; and i hope ( continues he ) that if you have not yet otherwise dispos'd of that part of your deteriorated gold that you did not cupel , you will sometime or other favour us with a sight of it . i join in this request , said crattippus , as soon as he perceived the president had done speaking , and to facilitate the grant of it , i shall not scruple to tell pyrophilus he may be confident that the degradation of his gold will not depreciate it amongst us : since if it be allowable for opinion to stamp such a value upon old coyns and medals , that in the judgment of good antiquaries , a rusty piece of brass or copper , with a half defaced image or inscription on it , is to be highlier valued than as big a piece of well-stampt gold ; i see not why it should not be lawful for philosophers to prize such a lump of depraved gold as yours , before the finest gold the chymists or mintmasters are wont to afford us . and though i freely grant that some old copper medals are of good use in history , to keep alive by their inscriptions the memory of the taking of a town , or the winning of a battel ; though these be but things that almost every day are some where or other done , yet i think pyrophilus's imbas'd metal is much to be preferr'd , as not only preserving the memory , but being an effect of such a victory of art over nature , and the conquering of such generally believ'd insuperable difficulties , as no story that i know of gives us an example of . as soon as ever crattippus had made a pawse , pyrophilus to prevent complimental discourse , did in few words tell the president , that his part had been but that of a relator of matter of fact , and that therefore he could deserve but little thanks and no praise at all ; though a good measure of both of them were due to the obliging virtuoso that had given him the powder ; and in that , the opportunity of complying with his duty , and his inclination , to serve that learned company . these gentlemen ( saith arristander ) are not persons among whom modesty is either restrained from expressing it self , or construed according to the letter ; and therefore whatever you have been pleas'd to say , the company cannot but think its self much obliged to you ; and i know the obligation would be much increas'd , if you would favor us with your reflections upon the extraordinary experiment you have been pleased to relate to us . if , replies pyrophilus , i had had wherewithal to repeat the experiment , and vary it according to the hints afforded me by the first tryal , i should be less unfit to comply with arristander's motion : but the phaenomena are too new and too difficult for me to attempt to unriddle them by the help of so slender an information as a person so little sagacious as i could get by a single tryal ; and though i will not deny that i have had some ●aving thoughts about this puzzling subject , yet i hope i shall easily be pardon'd , if i decline to present crude and immature thoughts to a company that so well deserves the most ripe ones , and can so skilfully discover those that are not so . i confess , saith heliodorus , that i think pyrophilus's wariness deserves not only to be allow'd , but imitated ; and therefore by my consent the further discourse of so abstruse a subject , shall be deferr'd till we shall have had time to consider seriously of phaenomena that will be sure to imploy our most speculative thoughts , and i fear to pose them too : only we must not forget that pyrophilus himself ought to be not barely allow'd , but invited to draw before we rise , what corrollaries he thinks fit to propose from what he hath already delivered . the inference , saith pyrophilus , i meant to make , will not detain you long ; having for the main been already intimated in what you may remember i told you i design'd in the mention i was about to make of the now-recited experiment . for without launching into difficult speculations , or making use of disputable hypotheses , it seems evident enough from the matter of fact faithfully laid before you , that an operation very near , if not altogether as strange as that which is call'd projection , and in the difficultest points much of the same nature with it , may safely be admitted . for our experiment plainly shews that gold , though confessedly the most homogeneous , and the least mutable of metals , may be in a very short time ( perhaps not amounting to many minutes ) exceedingly chang'd , both as to malleableness , colour , homogeniety , and ( which is more ) specifick gravity ; and all this by so very inconsiderable a proportion of injected powder , that since the gold that was wrought on weighed two of our english drams , and consequently an hundred and twenty grains , an easie computation will assure us that the medicine did thus powerfully act , according to my estimate , ( which was the modestest ) upon near a thousand times , ( for 't was above nine hundred and fifty times ) its weight of gold , and according to my assistants estimate , did ( as they speak ) go on upon twelve hundred ; so that if it were fit to apply to this anti-elixir , ( as i formerly ventur'd to call it ) what is said of the true elixir by divers of the chymical philosophers , who will have the virtue of their stone increas'd in such a proportion , as that at first 't will transmute but ten times its weight ; after the next rotation an hundred times , and after the next to that a thousand times , our powder may in their language be stil'd a medicine of the third order . the computation , saith arristander , is very obvious , but the change of so great a proportion of metal is so wonderful and unexampled , that i hope we shall among other things learn from it this lesson , that we ought not to be so forward as many men otherwise of great parts are wont to be , in prescribing narrow limits to the power of nature and art , and in condemning and deriding all those that pretend to , or believe , uncommon things in chymistry , as either ( heats or credulous . and therefore i hope , that though ( at least in my opinion ) it be very allowable to call fables , fables , and to detect and expose the impostures or deceits of ignorant or vain-glorious pretenders to chymical mysteries , yet we shall not by too hasty and general censures of the sober and diligent indigators of the arcana of chymistry , blemish ( as much as in us lies ) that excellent art it self , and thereby disoblige the genuine sons of it , and divert those that are indeed possessors of noble secrets , from vouchsafing to gratifie our curiosity , as we see that one of them did pyrophilus's , with the sight at least , of some of their highly instructive rarities . i wholly approve , saith heliodorus rising from his seat , the discreet and seasonable motion made by arristander . and i presume , subjoins pyrophilus , that it will not be the less lik'd , if i add , that i will allow the company to believe that as extraordinary , as i perceive most of you think the phaenomena of the lately recited experiment ; yet i have not ( because i must not do it ) as yet acquainted you with the strangest effect of our admirable powder . the characters of divine revelation a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields, march 4. 1694/5 : being the third of the lecture for the ensuing year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire / by john williams ... williams, john, 1636?-1709. 1695 approx. 41 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a71259 wing w2696 estc r1810 12497393 ocm 12497393 62561 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a71259) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 62561) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 951:73 or 1110:1) the characters of divine revelation a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields, march 4. 1694/5 : being the third of the lecture for the ensuing year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire / by john williams ... williams, john, 1636?-1709. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [4], 32 p. printed for ri. chiswell, and tho. cockerill ..., london : 1695. half-title (p. [1]) reads: dr. williams's third sermon at mr. boyle's lecture, 1695. "imprimatur" (p. [2]) dated and signed: march 6. 1694/5. guil. lancaster. errata: p. 32. duplicate copies appear on reels 951 and 1110. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible. -n.t. -hebrews i, 1-2 -sermons. revelation -sermons. salvation -sermons. sermons, english -17th century. 2005-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-03 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 mona logarbo sampled and proofread 2005-04 mona logarbo text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion d r williams's third sermon at mr. boyle's lecture , 1695. imprimatur , march 6. 1694 / 5. guil. lancaster . the characters of divine revelation . a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields , march 4. 1694 / 5. being the third of the lecture for the ensuing year , founded by the honourable robert boyle , esquire . by john williams , d. d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london : printed for ri. chiswell , and tho. cockerill : at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard ; and at the three legs in the poultrey . m dc xc v. heb. i. 1 , 2. god who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. in these words there is , ( as i have shewed ) i. a description given of revelation , 't is god's speaking , or declaring his will to mankind . ii. the certainty of it ; 't is by way of declaration , god who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake , &c. 't is taken for granted , and that it needs no proof . iii. the order observed in delivering this revelation ; it was at sundry times , and in divers manners ; in time past by the prophets , and in the last days by his son. iv. the perfection and conclusion of all ; 't is in the last days by his son. under the first i have shewed , 1. what is meant by revelation , in contradistinction to natural light. 2. the possibility of it . 3. the expedience , usefulness , and necessity of it . under the second i have shewed , 1. the certainty of it ; or that there has been such a revelation . 2. i shall now proceed to shew the difference between pretended and true revelation ; or what are the characters by which we may know revelation to be true. in treating upon which , i shall premise , 1. that the proper subject-matter of revelation , called here god's speaking , being not self-evident , and out of the road of nature , requires some extraneous principles to prove it by . sensible objects lye open to the sense , and need no proof ; for who ever thought it necessary to labour in proving there is a sun in the heavens ; that it rises and sets , and has its stated times and periods of revolution ; which every man that has his eye-sight knows and sees as well as himself ? and there are rational inferences which we make from precedent postulata , that are as evident as the principles from which they are deduced , and which all men alike agree in . but in matters of mere revelation , there is no manner of connection between them and what we know before , and are therefore never to be wrought out , or learned by the book of nature or reason ; but are only to be understood and known , as god is pleased to communicate them . we might search and search eternally , and yet never have found out the mystery of our redemption ; that mystery which not only the prophets enquired and searched diligently , 1 pet. 1.10 . but also the angels desire to look or pry into , ver . 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; and were obliged to wait till the manifold wisdom of god was in its proper time made known to them by the church , eph. 3.10 . ( as has been before suggested ) . this then being the subject of revelation , 't is reasonable that this revelation should have some other ways of proof ; that what is thus divine in its discovery , should have a suitable evidence to justify it . 2. the matter of revelation being thus of divine inspiration and authority , must also be worthy of god , and of great importance , and consequently requires a proof suitable to the nature and importance of it . if the matter in debate be inconsiderable , we are contented with probable arguments , nor are we much concerned which way it is determined : as 't is indifferent whether the sun or the earth be the centre , as long as we receive the benefit of both : or whether our diet nourishes , or physick operates by qualities , or the texture of its parts , as long as we find the happy effects of it : let philosophers and naturalists write volumes , and wrangle eternally about these disputable points , i find not my self concerned , as long as my interest is not affected nor concerned in the quarrel . but when the matter is of no less consequence than my eternal happiness , it requires the most serious thoughts and attention to be satisfied which is the right , and which the wrong ; whether there be a revelation , or which is the true , and which the false ; especially since there are different pretenders to it . 3. revelation being the declaration of god's will to mankind , as he doth not require us to believe without sufficient evidence , so it doth suppose that there is such evidence , and that there are some marks or signs by which the truth and certainty of such revelation may be known and proved . for otherwise every pretender to revelation would challenge our belief ; and we should not know but that the true revelation might be the false , and the false the true. 4. there are some things so necessary and inseparably belonging to revelation , that the want of them will utterly overthrow the veracity and authority of it , and yet without further evidence they are not sufficient to prove it : of this kind are self-agreement , a consonancy to the principles of nature , and to the true and certain notions of mankind concerning good and evil. we are certain if a revelation fails in any one or more of these , that it is false , and not of divine inspiration : for the light of nature , and a true and right notion of things , are from god ; and to suppose a revelation to be opposite to these , is to make god contradict himself . thus if we understand any thing , we know god to be infinitely good and holy , worthy of the profoundest and most solemn adoration , because of the perfections of his nature , and his good will and beneficence to mankind . and therefore to sacrifice men and children , and to mingle the most impure and ludicrous practices with the worship paid to him , is rather an offering to be presented to the most beastly and savage daemons , than the holy and merciful creator of all things ; and consequently cannot be of his institution . in this case a contradiction in the nature of things , would be like a contradiction in terms , or a contradiction in the revelation it self . and therefore a revelation that shall evidently contradict them , is a revelation in pretence only , it is not divine . but tho these are thus necessary to revelation , that the want of them is sufficient to detect what is false ; yet however it will not follow , that whereever these are [ that because a sum of doctrine agrees with it self , is consonant to the light of nature , and the right notion we have of things ] that it is therefore of divine revelation . for tho it is seldom but the imposture fails in one or more of these , yet it may have all these characters , and be a doctrine of men , of human contrivance and composure . and therefore there is somewhat farther requisite to the proof of a revelation , somewhat peculiar to it , and that so belongs to it , as not to be common to any thing with it . and that is a point i shall now take into consideration . toward the clearer proof of which i shall distribute it after a threefold manner . 1. i shall consider the case of such as were themselves inspired , and to whom the revelation was made , and how they could be satisfied of the truth of such a revelation . 2. the case of those that received the matter revealed immediately from the persons inspired , and how they were to judge of the truth of such a revelation . 3. the case of those that lived in ages remote from that of the inspired persons , and after that the revelation was compleated , ( as was the case of the jews more especially that lived between the time of malachi , and john the baptist ; and as the case is of all christians since the apostolical times ) and what satisfaction and evidence may there be expected in those circumstances . 1. the case of those that received the revelation ; and how they themselves could be satisfied about the certainty of such a revelation . the resolution of this point belongs in part to the third general , under which the difference remains to be shewed between a revelation and imagination . but i shall not wholly refer it thither . there seems to be so near an affinity between revelation and imagination ; and imagination is so far operative in many branches of inspiration , that 't is very difficult to set out the bounds exactly , and to say , this is of divine inspiration , and this the effect of fancy . but whatever it may seem to us that have no sensation or experience of such divine representations as the prophets had ; and so 't is no more possible for us to describe it , than 't is for one that never had his sight , to conceive what light and colour is : yet as the blind man may be convinced that there are such things as light , colour , figure , and sight , by what he hears and observes from those that are about him , and that he converses with : so we may be as well assured that there was in prophetical schemes that powerful representation on the part of the divine agent , and that clearness of perception on the part of the person inspired , as would abundantly make good those phrases of vision and speaking , by which it is described in scripture ; and which may well be supposed as much more to advantage , as the power that operated upon them was beyond that of mere imagination . so that those inspired persons after such illumination , might as well question what they heard or saw by the natural organs of sense , as doubt of what was revealed to them by the impressions made upon them through the agency of the divine spirit . to deny this , is to deny that god can so communicate himself to an intelligent creature , that the creature shall certainly know that it proceeds from his immediate suggestion ; which i have before shewed it is unreasonable to question : and indeed what is no more to be questioned or denied because we our selves have no experience of it , than the blind from their birth can reasonably question or deny there is what we call light and colour ; or the deaf , that there are sounds , voices , and words , because they have no notion or idea of these things . now if we think it reasonable that the deaf and the blind should notwithstanding a natural inaptitude and incapacity in themselves , assent to what all mankind besides do unanimously aver , and not call in question the truth or possibility of what is thus affirmed , because of their want of sensation : so it is not fit or reasonable to think this way of revelation never was , and cannot be , because we have not an experimental knowledge of such a manifestation . for almighty god can so clarify the understanding by a beam of light let in from above , as shall be as evident a proof of its divine original , as it is that the light proceeds from the sun the fountain of it ; or as a person himself is sure of the truth of any proposition , which by an argument before unthought of , or unconsider'd , he comes to be fully convinced of , in spight of all former prejudices and opinions . so little truth or reason is there in a bold assertion of a certain author , that revelation is uncertain , and never certain without a sign : and therefore , saith he , abraham , moses , and gideon , asked a sign , over and above revelation . but it is far from being true , that those persons therefore desired a sign , because they conceived the revelation to be uncertain , or that they doubted of the truth of it ; but as a sign was for the greater confirmation of their faith , in some points difficult to be believed , or in some very difficult services , ( for faith , as other graces , is capable of addition and improvement ) . in which cases their asking a sign is no more an evidence of their distrust of god , or a doubting of the truth and certainty of the revelation , than god's confirming his promise by an oath , was an evidence that he thought not his word sufficient without it ; or than abraham could be supposed not obliged to believe upon a promise alone , without that superabundant confirmation of an oath , heb. 6.17 . thus it was even in the case of that holy patriarch , to which this author refers ; where before ever he asked a sign , he is said to have so believed in the lord , that it was counted to him for righteousness , gen. 15.6 , 8. his faith was highly commended , and he is for that reason called the father of the faithful . so that revelation may be certain when there is no sign ; and the person was bound to believe it , and was obliged by it , as well where there was no sign , as where there was . i grant when the revelation comes at second hand to a person , and rests on human testimony , on the ability and sincerity of the relater , or person supposed to be inspired , there needs some farther evidence , some sign or signs , that are to be , as it were , the credentials from heaven ; since all men are liars , psal. 116.11 . that is , may be deceived , or may deceive ; may either be so weak as to be imposed upon by their own imagination , or the imposture and practices of evil spirits ; or be so wicked , as under the pretence of revelation and inspiration , to impose upon others . in such a case , no man's affirmation or pretence is ordinarily to be heeded , further than as he is able to produce such testimonies as are really as divine as he would have his revelation accounted to be . but when a person is himself the recipient to whom the revelation is imparted , there is no absolute need of a sign or further evidence to ascertain the truth of it to him ; when if god so pleases , the revelation of it self might be made as clear as it could be made by the sign . what need is there of a sign to prove that it is day , when by the light of it we see every thing about us ? or to justify the truth of a self-evident proposition ? these are things in their own nature that need no proof . and when a revelation has an evidence of its own , as truth has , it needs no other light to discover it , no further sign to prove it , for its own sake , and as to the person to whom the revelation is made . a sign therefore makes no alteration in the evidence ; for whether with a sign , or without a sign , the revelation is to be believed ; for else they that had a revelation without a sign , were not obliged to believe , and the revelation without the sign had in effect been no revelation ; since no one is obliged to believe , where there is no reason for it ; and there is no reason for it , where there is no evidence , or that evidence not sufficient . so that if it be asked , how a person shall himself be satisfied concerning the certainty of a revelation made to him , it will receive the same answer with that , how he shall be satisfied concerning the truth of a proposition , or a self-evident proposition ; for the further proof of which god may work a miracle , and give a sign , but the thing is the proof of it self . but however , suppose a person never so well satisfied in what he calls revelation , and that in his own opinion he is as sure of it as of his own being and existence ; yet what is this to others , that are concerned in that revelation , if it be true , and as much bound to believe it , and be directed by it , as if they themselves had been in the place of that inspired person , and received it as he did , immediately from god ? this brings us to the second case . 2. the case of those that did not themselves receive that revelation immediately from god , but from the person or persons inspired : and then the question is , how these are to judge of the truth of that revelation ? a revelation to another , how evidently and convincingly soever it may be represented to him , is nothing to me , unless i am fully assured that he has had such a revelation : but that i cannot be assured of , unless it be by the like immediate revelation , or by sufficient and uncontroulable testimony . but it would be an unreasonable motion to demand that we be alike inspired , and have the same revelation to confirm his revelation ; for that would be as if one that was born blind should obstinately refuse to believe there is a sun in the firmament , or day , or sight , unless he has the same visive faculty with those that do affirm it . it might then as reasonably be required with thomas , that we see the print of the nails , and put our hand into the side , and have all actually brought home to our senses , or else we will remain infidels , and not believe . this would be to drive all faith out of the world , and so it would be unpracticable . we must then take the case for granted , and that it is as reasonable for us to believe , where there are sufficient motives of credibility , as if we were alike actually inspired as they to whom the revelation was immediately conveyed . and here let us place our selves in those circumstances , as if we were to judge of the truth or falshood of a revelation ; and consider what we our selves would in reason desire for our own satisfaction , when the persons to whom this revelation is made , stand ready to give it . and if i mistake not in judging for others by what i my self would desire , it may be resolved , 1. into the veracity , sincerity , and credibility of the persons pretending to inspiration . 2. into the matter or subject of revelation . 3. into the testimony produced for it . 1. the credibility of the person ; by which we understand his probity and sincerity ; his capacity , prudence , and understanding , which render him worthy of credit , and are meet and necessary qualifications for a divine missionary . the being a prophet to others , ( as those are to whom a revelation is made , and that are inspired by almighty god ) so as to teach and direct them in the stead , as it were , of god , whose mouth and representatives they are unto the people , is an office of great dignity , and requires somewhat of the divine image as well as authority , to recommend them and their message to others ; and therefore prophets and holy men are in scripture frequently put together , 2 pet. 1.21 . matth. 13.17 . implying that none were fit to be employed in so sacred an office , that were not persons of known probity , and approved integrity . i grant in the ordinary cases , as there were prophets bred up in the schools or nurseries of learning and morality , there might be such persons as were employed without a strict regard had to these qualifications , as messengers that carried an errand by the order of their superiour ; as 2 kings 9.1 . i grant again , that god might and did sometimes upon some occasions , inspire such persons as had none of these qualifications to recommend them ; as he did balaam : but then this was no more than when god opened the mouth of the ass , to rebuke the madness of that prophet ; and who was so over-ruled by the divine power , as against his will to bless those whom he came to curse ; which was so much the more considerable , as it was the testimony of an enemy . but as revelation is a divine communication , and a mark of divine favour , so it doth suppose in the nature of it , that the person so dignified is duly qualified for it ; and which is so requisite in the opinion of mankind , that without it he would rather be accounted an impostor , than a messenger from god , and ordinarily have no more reverence paid to his errand than to his person . and what has been thus said in general , as to the morality and virtue of persons inspired , will hold in some degree as to their prudence and understanding , which is so necessary a qualification , that the divine election of persons for so peculiar a sevice , doth in that way either find or make them fit . it is no wonder that a late author maintains revelation to be uncertain , when he saith that the prophets were not endued with a more perfect understanding than others , but only with a more vivid power of imagination ; and that the wisest of men , such as solomon , and heman , &c. were not prophets , but contrariwise rusticks , and untaught persons , and even despicable women , such as hagar . for if these and such as these were the only persons employed in the messages of heaven to mankind , and whom all the revelation center'd in , there would be no improbable grounds of suspicion that they were mis-led into such an opinion , by the fascination of a working imagination , and so it would be fancy , and not revelation . but what thinks he of moses , a person acquainted with all the learning of the egyptians , and richly accomplished with all endowments requisite to compleat a governor of a numerous people , and to consolidate them into a settled constitution ; and therefore has the preference given him to all the most famous and ancient lawgivers , by plato , pythagoras , diodorus siculus , & c. ? what thinks he of joshua , that was bred up under the best instructor , and that knew the art of government and conduct in peace and war ? what of samuel , that from his youth , and even childhood indeed , commenced a prophet , and was also the judge of the whole nation in unsettled and perilous times , acts 3.24 . 13.20 . ? what of david , justly called a prophet , acts 2.30 . and whose writings shew him to excel in all manner of poetry and sublime composures ? what , lastly , of solomon himself , to whom , it 's said , the lord appeared twice , 1 kings 11.9 . in a more eminent manner ; and at other times , 1 kings 3.5 . 6.12 . 9.2 . 11.11 . ? and if at other times god ( who is not confin'd in his choice or operations to the capacity of instruments ) was pleased to reveal himself to , and employ such rusticks and illiterate persons as amos , and afterward the apostles , he gave them a mouth and wisdom , luke 21.15 . and endued them with such extraordinary gifts of elocution and magnanimity , as made them fit to appear before kings , and to confront the wisest of philosophers , so as that of the apostle was abundantly verified in them , 1 cor. 1.25 , &c. that the foolishness of god is wiser than men , and the weakness of god is stronger than men , &c. but it is not only requisite that the persons to whom the revelation is made , and that are employ'd in delivering that revelation to others , be wise and cautious , such as are capable of discerning , and not apt to be imposed upon ; but it is as requisite that they be faithful and sincere , and that will not impose upon others . for otherwise the more knowing they are , the more able are they by plausible insinuations and pretences to deceive . and what greater evidence of this can be desired , than when the persons inspired live by the best rules , as well as give them ? what greater evidence , than when for the sake of publishing , propagating , and confirming the truth of what they teach , they deny themselves of all the pleasures , profits , and honours of this present life ; when though they knew before hand , that bonds and tribulation abide them , yet none of these things move them , neither count they their lives dear unto them ; but with admirable patience , resolution , and constancy , expose themselves to the utmost severities , for the hope of such reward as they propose for their own and the encouragement of others ? what greater testimonies can be given of their sincerity , and if not of the truth , yet of their own belief of it ? who could with such chearfulness invite the greatest dangers , and with such a brave magnanimity despise all the threatnings of the most potent adversaries , and run the gantelope , as it were , through the most formidable persecutions , without the least demur or haesitation , if they themselves were not abundantly and fully convinced of the truth , excellency , and necessity of that doctrine they were thus commission'd to teach ? if these are not sincere , there is no sincerity in the world . so that as far as the credibility of the persons is a proof of a revelation ; and so far as the wisdom , probity , and sincerity of persons , are a proof of their credibility ; we have an evidence to rest upon , and a character to try the truth of a revelation by . the 2 d. proof in this case , desirable and necessary toward a satisfaction , is the subject-matter of it ; i mean that which runs as it were a vein through the whole body of revelation . there are some revelations which concern particular persons or families , as that of the angel to hagar , concerning ishmael and his posterity , which neither made her a prophet , nor were strictly of concernment to the rest of the world . but when we enquire after the matter of revelation , it is principally the main subject of it , such as the law of moses in the old testament , and the gospel in the new. and here it may be reasonably expected , that the revelation should be worthy of god , as it is a revelation from him ; and what should be for the advantage , satisfaction , and happiness of mankind , as it is a revelation to them . it is to be worthy of god , and what would become him to speak , dictate , and do , if he were himself to speak , dictate , and act . in all relations and descriptions there is a certain decorum to be observed , with respect to the nature , condition , and circumstances of the things related and described , which makes up what is called symetry and proportion . but above all a due regard is to be had hereunto , in the ideas and notions we entertain , or the representations we make of god , that they may be agreeable to the dignity and perfections of his nature . and if in all our conceptions of the divine being such a scrupulous care is to be taken , that we judge not amiss of his nature , will , and operations ; we cannot but suppose that in the revelation of himself to mankind , he who best and only knows himself , will give such a representation of those , as is suitable to his majesty and authority ; and may ingenerate in the minds of men such an awe , reverence , and regard , as is due from finite , created , and imperfect beings , to him that is infinite , uncreated , and in all points absolutely perfect . there we may well expect to find the most lively characters of the divine perfections , as far as we are capable of conceiving ; where justice and power are set forth in all their authority , and yet so temper'd with his mercy and kindness , as shall as well raise and quicken the hopes , attract the love , and establish the comfort of good men , as administer matter of just terror to the wicked . there we may suppose the mysteries of the divine counsels unlocked , and the beauties and harmony of the divine providence illustrated and described , as far as god's government of the world , and the condition of mankind in it will permit . there we may expect to find the best principles , rules , and precepts , to inform and direct us in what we are to know and do ; the best arguments and motives for our encouragement , and the best means for the purifying and the perfecting of our natures , and the making us as happy as we are capable ; and which shall as much exceed what we find in the moralists , as revelation is above nature , and the dictates of almighty god are beyond the prescripts of human wisdom . such , in fine , as will lead us to god , make us like to him , and fit us for the enjoyment of him . so that as much as virtue makes for the good , perfection , and happiness of men , so much should revelation make for the practice of virtue by its principles and rules , its precepts and its arguments . lastly , there we may expect to be satisfied about the chief subjects of human enquiry , of what mankind would not only desire , but what is best and most necessary for them to know . and what is there more material , and of greater importance , than to be satisfied about the origine of all things , and how they came at first to be ? what more desirable , than since god is infinitely good , and consequently could produce nothing that is in it self evil , than to know how the nature of mankind came to be corrupted ; and that where there is such a clear sense of the difference between good and evil , such convictions following that sense , such memento's , and such presignifications , such reflections upon it , that there should be such a potent sway , bent and propension to evil , that with all their care it can never be prevented , or totally exterminated ? what more desirable , than to know what nature and reason of it self is insufficient for [ when we can get no further than a video meliora proboque , &c. in the apostle's language , the good that i would , i do not ; but the evil which i would not , that i do ] may be otherwise effected ; that these inclinations may be subdued , and nature brought to a regular state ? what more desirable , than to know how after all , god may be appeased , forgiveness may be obtained , and that heavy load upon human nature , arising from the guilt of a man's mind , may be removed ? lastly , what more desirable , than to know the certainty and condition of a future state , and how we may attain to the happiness of it ? these and the like , used to be the prime questions which all , and especially the most thoughtful and considerate part of mankind sought , but in vain , for satisfaction in . and therefore since revelation is to make up the defects of natural light , and is as well for the satisfaction of mankind , as to be worthy of god , we may reasonably expect that these should be the chief subject of such revelation . and a revelation without this , that should leave mankind in the same circumstances of ignorance and dissatisfaction as they were in before such revelation , is no more to be esteemed , than that course of physick , which after all pretences to infallibility , leaves a person as much under the power of his disease , as before he followed those prescriptions : it is no revelation , and can have no pretence to such a venerable title . but when the subject is great , noble , and sublime , thus worthy of god , and thus beneficial to mankind : when there is an exact concord between the principles of nature and reason , and that all falls in with the true and just notion we have of things . when there is an harmony through the whole , we have good reason to say , this , if any , is the revelation . and as far as these characters belong to revelation , so much reason have we to believe the matter of scripture to be such ; as i shall afterwards shew , when i come to examine the revelation of scripture by these characters . 3. it would be very desirable toward the confirmation of a revelation , and for the satisfaction of those that are required to believe it , that there be an evidence and testimony as extraordinary , as the matter revealed is , and the authority it rests upon ; such as the one is , such in reason ought the other to be : and that is divine attestation . a divine attestation i account that to be , which exceeds the power , and is out of the road of nature ; for nothing less can change the course , and alter the law of nature , but that which is above nature , and gave law to it ; and it must be somewhat above nature , that can be a sufficient witness to what is supernatural . and this may justly be required to justify the truth of a revelation , and to distinguish it from enthusiasm and imposture . for when the case is such as moses puts it , exod. 4.1 , &c. they will not believe me , nor hearken to my voice ; for they will say , the lord hath not appeared unto thee ; there needs somewhat beyond a bare affirmation , to support the credit of the revelation , and the authority of him that pretends to it . and accordingly , he was endued with a power of working miracles , that , saith the text , they may believe that the god of their fathers , abraham , isaac , and jacob , hath appeared to thee . a sort of evidence ( as that implies ) that is very necessary , and what may reasonably be demanded ; and which is a proof of the highest nature , and what as all ordinarily can judge of , being a matter of sense , so where it is true , what we are to be concluded by . the first thing then required and to be considered , is the reality of the thing , that there is such an alteration in the course and state of nature , which our own senses will inform us in . the next thing is , that this alteration cannot proceed from any natural or created cause ; ( for that would be to set nature above it self . ) the last thing is , that this alteration in nature is brought about for such an end , and is solely for the sake of that revelation , and to give testimony to it . where this is , there is the finger of god , and an infallible proof of the truth and certainty of what it is to witness to . now let us lay all this together , and see what it amounts to ; viz. the capacity , ability , and integrity of the persons to whom this revelation is made ; the unanimity and consent of persons remote and distant in time and place ; the usefulness and reasonableness , the excellency , sublimity , and perfection of the doctrine they taught ; the testimony given to them by such operations and productions as exceed the power of created causes , and are wholly from the supreme . where these are concurring , and with one mouth , as it were , giving in their evidence , we may say it is the voice of god , and that it is his revelation which carries upon it the conspicuous stamp of his authority . for god cannot be supposed to bear witness to a falshood , and to set up that as a light to direct men in their enquiry , which is no other than an ignis fatuus , and tends to their unavoidable amusement and deception . but supposing those that were cotemporaries with inspired persons , had all these concurring evidences for their satisfaction , yet what is this to those that live in times distant and remote from them , and have it only by tradition of persons uninspired ; or as contained in certain books said to be wrote by persons inspired ? this brings me to the last point , which is , 3. the case of those that live in after-ages , when inspiration is not pretended to , and miracles have ceased , and so want those advantages for their satisfaction , which they that were coetaneous with inspired persons , might receive ; and yet being obliged alike to believe as the other , must be supposed to have sufficient authority and proof for what they are to believe . and then the question is , what is that evidence which will be sufficient for them to ground their belief upon ? i answer 1. that if such have all the evidence that can be in their circumstances , they have what is sufficient , and what is to be presumed necessary . the evidence is sufficient , if it proves there were persons so inspired ; that in confirmation of it they wrought miracles ; and that those persons wrote certain books which contain the records of those revelations and miracles ; and which books are the same that now go under their name . and if they have all the evidence for this that in their circumstances can be reasonably demanded , they have that which is sufficient . and what evidence can be given of matters transacted 1600 years ago , but testimony , and what is usually called moral evidence ? a way of proof that is as certain as that we our selves were born , and born of such parents , at such a time ; and that there is any such thing as faith and trust in mankind . 2. tho these of after-ages want the evidence those cotemporaries of inspired persons had ; yet they have some advantages above them . for they have not only the concurrent evidence of all before them , and the reasons of their judgment that have been downwards from those times , the most considerable part of mankind for wisdom and impartial consideration ; but having lived to see the whole scheme of revelation compleated , and at once plac'd in their view , 1. they can by that means compare one part with the other , and see how all agrees , and makes up one entire and coherent body . 2. they can compare the events already pass'd , with the predictions , and see how all came on , and in their season are fulfilled , and how the former is still confirmed by the latter . in all which there appears an admirable contrivance of the divine prescience , in describing those things so long before-hand , and of the divine wisdom and power in carrying on the prophetick line through all the stages of second causes , and an infinite variety of events , to the last moment of its accomplishment ; and to all which a watchful providence of the almighty must constantly attend . 3. they have seen the wonderful success of the gospel in verification of prophecy ; and notwithstanding all the opposition made to it by the power and interest of the world , back'd with the venom , spite , and malice of inveterate enemies . 4. they have seen the wonderful preservation of it through all the various scenes of prosperity and adversity ; and how miraculously it has been restored out of the lowest abyss , when seemingly , and as to all outward appearance , beyond recovery . so that we see how in every case there are ways chalked out for our satisfaction in this argument of a divine revelation ; the case of latter ages not excepted . and therefore , that unbelief is now as inexcusable after the times of revelation , as in those times . we are apt to think , and sometimes to plead , that if we had lived in the apostolical age , when the revelation was attended with the irrefragable testimony of many glorious miracles , we should then have been inexcusable , if we had remained incredulous amidst those instances of the divine power , or impenitent under the force of such convincing arguments ; and that the want of these may justly be pleaded for our excuse . but this is much like those jews , matth. 23.30 . that said , if we had been in the days of our fathers , we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets ; when yet they were acted by the same spirit . and i may say , those that believe not now under all the motives of credibility , would not have believed , any more than the jews did , that were eye and ear-witnesses of our saviour's miracles and doctrine , and yet remained to the last incredulous . such are incurable ; for if they hear not moses and the prophets , the testimonies yet remaining , neither would they be persuaded , tho christ and the apostles rose from the dead , and the whole process of that testimony given by them , was afresh represented to them . the best man is the best judge ; and the better he is , the more capable he is of judging ; according to that memorable saying of our saviour , john 7.17 . if any man will do the will of god , he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of god , or whether i speak of my self . wherefore ( to conclude with that of the apostle , james 1.21 . ) lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness , and receive with meekness [ and humility ] the ingrafted word , which is able to save your souls . but be ye doers of the word , and not hearers only , deceiving your own selves . finis . errata . sermon i. page 18. line 2. read threefold . sermon ii. p. 11. l. 18. dele . miracles . p. 15. l. 15. for ii. r. 2. p. 24. marg. add praepar . l. 13. c. 12. p. 28. l. 23. after poet r. quoted by porphyry . p. 29. l. 24. r. antedeluvian . p. 37. after line 12. add 2. miracles ; of which hereafter . sermon iii. p. 3. l. 15. ( or pry ) in a parenthesis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a71259-e280 theol. polit. c. 2. theol. polit. c. 2. the divine authority of the scriptures a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields, sept. 2. 1695 : being the sixth of the lecture for the said year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire / by john williams ... williams, john, 1636?-1709. 1696 approx. 50 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2009-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a66396 wing w2704 estc r1959 12497863 ocm 12497863 62573 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66396) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 62573) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 951:78) the divine authority of the scriptures a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields, sept. 2. 1695 : being the sixth of the lecture for the said year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire / by john williams ... williams, john, 1636?-1709. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [2], 36 p. printed for ri. chiswell, and tho. cockerill, senr & junr ..., london : 1696. reproduction of original in huntington library. half title: dr. williams's sixth sermon at mr. boyl's lecture, 1695. errata: p. 36. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible -sermons. sermons, english -17th century. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2008-03 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2008-03 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion d r williams's sixth sermon at mr. boyl's lecture , 1695. the divine authority of the scriptures . a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields , sept. 2. 1695. being the sixth of the lecture for the said year , founded by the honourable robert boyle , esquire . by john williams , d. d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london : printed for ri. chiswell , and tho. cocke●ill , sen r & jun r : at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard ; and at the three legs in the poultrey . m dc xc vi. heb. i. 1 , 2. god who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son , &c. in these words we have ( as has been observed ) 1. a description of revelation , 't is god's speaking , or declaring his will to mankind . 2. the certainty of that revelation , 't is by way of declaration , god who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake , &c. 3. the order observed in delivering that revelation , as to time , manner , and persons ; in time past by the prophets , and in the last days by his son. 4. the conclusion and perfection of that revelation , 't is in the last days by his son. under the second i have shewed , 1. that there has been such a revelation . 2. that the scripture is of divine revelation , and has upon it the characters belonging to such revelation . for the better disposing of what i had to say under this head , i proposed four questions to be resolved , viz. q. 1. how we can prove the matter of scripture to be true ? q. 2. how we can prove the matter of scripture to have been of divine revelation ? q. 3. how we can prove the books of scripture to have been of divine inspiration ? q. 4. how we prove these books that are now extant , and received by the christian church as canonical , to be those very books ? i have already treated of the two former , and shall now take the two latter into consideration . where we may observe somewhat as to the writers , and then as to inspiration . 1. as to the writers ; of whom we may reckon three sorts . ( 1. ) merely human ; such as st. luke speaks of , that out of a good and pious intent , took in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which were most surely believed . and this may be done without any material error by persons duly qualified for it . ( 2. ) those that had what they wrote immediately dictated , or at least approved by such persons as were inspired . so eusebius saith that the gospel of st. mark was approved by st. peter , and st. luke's by st. paul. ( 3. ) such as were immediately inspired in the writing , as st. peter and the rest of the divine writers are supposed to have been . now though the first of these may be sufficient in ordinary cases , and of good use in the extraordinary , where there is no better ; yet where the salvation of mankind is concerned , there is somewhat farther necessary , and that is , that the persons that write should be assisted and guided by the holy spirit of god , or write by the direction and approbation of those that are inspired . 2. as to the inspiration , that is twofold : ( 1. ) either when the matter , words ▪ and order , are immediately dictated by god himself ; as the decalogue was , and all that was revealed by voice ; for then it was as discourse with us . ( 2. ) or , when persons selected wrote by direction or command from god , what was revealed to them , as to the matter only , whether by way of declaration , or representation . in which last case the persons inspired took their own way ; which is the reason of the difference in style and phrase between their several compositions ; that , for example , isaiah writ in a lofty courtly style ; and that amos , a herdsman , writ after a more rustical way . so erasmus saith of st. luke , that he writ in a purer and clearer style , because of his skill in the greek tongue . here the office of the divine spirit was to suggest the matter , or to represent the case , to assist and supervise , so that no error should be in the original copy ; though he left each to the liberty of their own way in expressing it . as if we were to send several messengers upon the same errand , we deliver the message to them , and tell them what they are to say ; but leave every one of them to express it as they think fit , and as they are able : each of which is a faithful and wise servant , though he keeps not exactly to the very words of his master , and all agree in the drift and substance , though they differ in the expression or circumstance . so it is in the evangelists , where they all agree in the material parts of the history , though they differ often in the words , and sometimes , perhaps , in some minute passages relating to it . in one or other of these two senses , the scripture may be said to be wrote by divine inspiration ; that is , either by immediate and verbal suggestion , or by direction : and this i shall now endeavour to prove , by answering the third question , viz. q. 3. how we do prove the books of scripture , which contain the matter of revelation , to have been of divine inspiration ? in proceeding upon this i shall premise : 1. that the proper course for proving the divine authority of the scripture , is to begin with the matter , abstracted from the books , ( as i have already done ) and then to proceed from thence to the books . and therefore they begin at the wrong end , that would disprove the truth of the revelation , or matter contained in scripture , by such objections as they make from the writing , and the books . for the matter stands upon a proof and evidence of its own ( as i have shewed ) and will stand , though the written word , or scripture , should fail of supporting its own authority . therefore those that will venture upon disproving the revelation , must in reason begin with the matter ; let them there try their skill , and call in question the proof by which that is supported . but this we have already prevented , by having proved the matter of scripture to have been of divine inspiration . 2. though there seems not to be so clear and full a proof for the inspiration of the books , as there is for the matter , since the matter has the utmost attestation it is capable of , viz. miracles ; but there were no miracles wrought to prove these books to have been of divine inspiration , ( as has been before observed ) : yet if we prove that the books were written by inspired persons , and that what they wrote is the same with what they taught , it is equivalent , and much of the same force and authority . for what need was there of miracles to prove the books to be written by inspiration , when the persons writing them were inspired , and that what they wrote is the same with what they taught , and when what they taught was confirmed by the miracles which they wrought ? therefore while the authors were in being , there needed no miracles to prove these writings to be theirs , when they themselves asserted them so to be : and after their decease we have as much reason to believe the scriptures which they wrote to have been of divine inspiration , as what they taught to be a revelation ; both now depending upon the like evidence , that is , testimony , as to which we have no more proof of the matter , than we have of the books . 3. from hence it follows , that not to believe the scripture to have been of divine inspiration , is in effect to reject and deny the revelation therein contained : the scripture being the best , and in the present circumstances of mankind , the only means left for the conveyance of it ; i say , in the present circumstances , it is the only means ; for when the circumstances were other than they are now , or have been for sixteen hundred years and upwards , there was then no such absolute need of a written word : when the instructors of mankind had their lives protracted to a vast extent , as it was with the patriarch's of old ; or when there were inspired persons alive to teach and rectify any mistakes that might arise and disturb the peace of the church ; as it was in the times of the apostles . but when things fell into an ordinary course , and that fallible persons ( as all afterwards were ) might mistake in their reports of doctrine , &c. and the weak memories of others not retain what they had been taught , and that the insincere would wrest what was taught to serve their perverse designs ; the case being thus alter'd from extraordinary to ordinary , so was the means of conveyance . and god , that committed the divine oracles to be taught by persons whom he thought fit to inspire , employed the same persons to commit that revelation to writing for the future preservation of it , and the conveying it down safe and intire to posterity . without which mankind , in these circumstances , neither could themselves have been certain of what they were to believe , nor could they have sufficiently proved to others what it was they were obliged to receive and to believe , as wanting authentick monuments and records for it . so that we have sufficient reason to believe that the same divine goodness ▪ that did make known his will to mankind , would take the best means , and did take the best means for the continuing and preserving it . and scripture being the only means of that kind , becomes a rule of faith ; and so is of authority sufficient to oblige us to receive and obey it . if the matter of scripture be true and of divine inspiration , we are obliged by it , though the writing , or book containing it , should be only of human composition ; because it is the doctrine , and not the way of delivery , that passes the immediate obligation upon us : but when the book containing that matter , as well as the matter it self , is of divine authority , and composed by divine appointment , direction , or inspiration , it obligeth us by vertue of the composition , as well as the matter ; and both are to be jointly received as proceeding from one and the same original and authority . but having asserted this , that the scripture is the only means of conveyance of the will of god to mankind , and what becomes a rule of faith to us ; it is fit to return to the question proposed , viz. how we can prove the scripture to have been of divine revelation ; or that those books , so called , were wrote by the direction and command of god , or by inspiration from him ? a. 1. i answer in the same way as before , that as there is no revelation , if the scriptural revelation be not that revelation ; so there is no written revelation , if the scripture be not that book , and be not inspired . and then we should want the only certain means of conveyance , which is writing , or should have been wholly left to the doubtful and uncertain hand of tradition , for the knowledge and preservation of revelation . now , i think , this to be an argument of considerable force for the divine authority of scripture ; that without this means we should after a revelation be in effect without a revelation : for so it will be if the scripture contain not that revelation , and that we have no sufficient record , if that be not the authentick record of it . but to come nearer the point . 2. i answer , that there is as much proof for the inspiration of the scripture , as the matter is well capable of , and as much as is sufficient ; and if that be so , then 't is unreasonable to reject it ; for they who do so , can do it upon no less pretence , than that they would have such a proof as the matter is not capable of , and more than is sufficient for the proof of it . but that there is such a proof for the divine authority of scripture as is sufficient , i think , will be evident if we shew , 1. that the scriptures have for proof of their inspiration , the testimony of such as were inspired . 2. that they were written by persons inspired , and that were inspired when they writ them . 3. that they are worthy of such authors , and have upon them the characters of such inspiration . 1. the scriptures have for proof of their inspiration , the testimony of such as were inspired . the testimony of persons inspired is as much a proof of inspiration , as if it had been a matter they themselves were inspired with ; and therefore the evidence that we have for the inspiration of such persons , is a sufficient evidence for the inspiration they give testimony to . as for instance , suppose that we have not as good evidence for the inspiration of the old testament as we have for the new ; yet if the new doth justify the inspiration of the old , quotes it as such , and bestows that character upon it ; then by vertue of such a testimony , we have as good evidence for the old as we have for the new. the meer quotation of a book by an inspired person , whether as to the author , words , or matter , doth not give the like authority to that with what he himself doth write by divine inspiration ; for then aratus and menander , epimenides and callimachus , who were heathens , and are quoted by st. paul , would become inspired writers . but the scriptures of the old testament are cited by our saviour and the apostles as the oracles of god , and as books of divine authority , and which they produce and appeal to upon all occasions in justification of the doctrine which they taught : so we are told that all scripture , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or the whole scripture ( as dionysius carthus . expounds it ) is given by inspiration of god. and what is meant by the scripture , is no other than what was generally received by the jewish church as such , and which our saviour distributes after their manner into the three known parts , viz. the law of moses , the prophets , and the psalms : which division comprehended in it all the several books ; the prophets containing not only the books properly so called , but also the historical , as written by inspired persons ; and the psalms containing all the poetical . and they descend yet lower ; for of the thirty nine books of the old testament , there are very few , not above seven or eight , but what are quoted in the new testament by name , or for some remarkable passage , and as books of the same character . so that if we can prove our saviour to be infallible , and the evangelists and apostles inspired ( as we have done before , when we proved the matter revealed by them to have been of divine authority ) , at the same time we prove the scriptures of the old testament to be of divine inspiration ; because they had this testimony and credit given to them by those that were themselves infallible and inspired . the like testimony have we for the divine authority of st. paul 's epistles , by st. peter , who gives them the same title of scripture with the books that were of the jewish canon ; our beloved brother paul , according to the wisdom given unto him , hath written unto you , as also in all his epistles : — which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest , as also the other scriptures . but though this be a good and sufficient proof , where it may be had , yet it is not applicable to all ; since the last of the inspired writers could have no such evidence ; as malachi among the jews ; and st. john in the primitive church , who survived all the rest of the divine penmen . and therefore where this proof of the attestation given to some is wanting as to others , we must have recourse to other arguments that will supply what is deficient . the old testament has the testimony of the new to vouch for its divine authority ; but what can thus testify to the new , when there is no other revelation , and no inspired persons to come after ? but this will be help'd by the next evidence , which is , that 2. the scriptures were written by persons inspired , and that were inspired in the writing of them . ( 1. ) they were written by persons inspired : thereby is meant , that whoever were the authors , known or unknown , we have yet good and sufficient evidence that the penmen were inspired both as to the matter and manner or way of writing . ( but this belongs to another place . ) or that the authors of those books were the same that before taught by inspiration . that the writers of the old testament were of this kind , we have already proved from the testimony of the new , as far as that is of authority to verify it . and that the evangelists and apostles , whom we have before proved to be inspired , were the authors of the books of the new testament , we have as good assurance as the jews had that the pentateuch was written by moses , or the psalms by david ; or that ever there were such philosophers as plato and aristotle , or such physicians as hippocrates and galen , or any books writ by them . nay , so much the stronger evidence have we , as it has been the duty ( as they thought ) and the interest of so considerable a part of mankind as the christians are , to preserve these records safe and entire , and to take care that they be such in all points as they received them ; and consequently according to their sense of them they are of divine inspiration , and wrote by those inspired persons . and for which there can be no greater evidence than this sort of tradition ; unless we would have god reveal to every particular person , that the authors of those books were inspired ; or point it out by some special miracles , which shall serve as the star to the wise men , to direct us to it . but since this is wanting , and cannot reasonably be expected , we must rest satisfied with that which is the only possible evidence , and which not only the primitive christians did admit as sufficient , but was not contested by the most violent adversaries of their religion : among whom the question was not , whether the persons reputed to be inspired , were the authors of those books ? or , whether those whose authors are not known , were of the same condition with those that were known ? but , whether the matters of that supposed revelation , and contained in those books , were true , and that those authors were sincere relaters of it ? and whereas there were some books of scripture that were not so early and universally embraced as others , yet they were not so much doubted of as to their authority , as the authors , ( such as the epistle to the hebrews , the second and third of st. john , and the revelation ) ; unless it were by the alogi that epiphanius writes of , who rejected the works of st. john as not agreeable to their opinion , that christ was a mere man. ( 2. ) the sacred penmen were inspired in their writing , in the sense before spoken of , p. 4. for , 1. there was as much need to write , as to teach ; to write with respect to the absent , and to posterity ; as to teach and preach to the present ; for there is no other way to teach in those cases , than by tradition or writing . but the defect which those holy men found all their discourses labour'd under as to their conveyance by tradition , through the infirmity of human nature , and an incapacity of transmitting the matters now contained in the scriptures , to future ages in that way , without prejudice , corruption , and abuse , disposed them , under the direction of the holy spirit , to commit them to writing . so st. john 20. 31. these things are written , that ye might believe . so st. peter , 2 pet. 1. 5. i will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance . 2. there was as much need to write by inspiration , as to teach by inspiration , for writing is but another way of teaching . and if the apostles had the assistance of the holy ghost in all matters of moment when they taught , it is reasonable to suppose ( had we no other evidence for it ) that in the same circumstances they had the same assistance in what they writ . nay , so much the more might it reasonably be expected , that they should have the assistance of that divine power operating upon their minds , and guiding , as it were , their pen in what they writ ; as what they writ was to continue in the church , and to be a standard of faith , and rule of life to all ages : whereas what they taught could continue no longer than the memories of fallible men could retain it . so that we may conclude , that if they taught and preach'd by the special assistance of the holy spirit , they were also under the conduct of it when they writ . 3. those divine penmen conceived themselves to be alike inspired in what they writ , as in what they taught . therefore we generally find the apostles , and st. paul always , unless when he writes in conjunction with others , to begin their epistles with a declaration of their commission and authority by virtue of their office , paul an apostle , &c. requiring the same regard and the like submission to what they writ , as to what they spoke when present . and as they thus magnified their office , so they writ as from christ himself , after this and the like form , grace be to you , and peace from god our father , and the lord jesus christ , rom. 1. 7 , &c. nay , they insist upon their inspiration , which they received when they writ , to gain it authority with those they wrote to . so st. paul , gal. 1. 1. paul an apostle , not of men , neither by man , but by jesus christ , &c. ver. 11 , 12. i certify you , brethren , that the gospel which was preached of me , is not after man ; for i neither received it of man , nor was i taught it but by the revelation of jesus christ . and that apostle expresly saith , the things that i write unto you are the commandments of the lord , 1 cor. 14. 37. 2 cor. 1. 13. so st. peter , 1 epist . 5. 12. i have written briefly , exhorting and testifying , that this is the true grace of god , wherein ye stand . now if they conceived themselves to be inspired in writing , who themselves were inspired ( as has been before proved ) and did write with the same apostolical authority as they taught , it is certain that they were inspir'd in writing ; for they were the best judges of their own inspiration , and could best know when they were inspired . and therefore if any would undertake to disprove the divine authority or inspiration of the holy scriptures , they must first of all prove that those writers were not inspired , nor did ever give sufficient evidence that they were inspired . but if they were inspired , and do withal declare that they wrote those books by inspiration , we have as much reason to receive those books as such upon their affirmation , as we have no believe that they themselves were inspired , or did ever teach by inspiration . 4. there is the same proof for the inspiration of the apostolical writers , in their writing , as their teaching , as what they write is the same with what they taught ; and therefore what they taught being confirmed by sufficient evidence to be from god , so must what they writ ; the same proofs that belong to the one , belonging to the other . and accordingly they in their writings often appeal to what they taught , as concordant with what they writ , and to the testimony given to the one for the confirmation of the other . they appeal to what they taught : so st. paul , 2 cor. 2. 13. i write none other things to you , than what you read , or know and acknowledge . so gal. 1. 8 , 9. though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received , let him be accursed . so they appeal to the evidences of their inspiration in teaching , for a confirmation of what they writ : so 2 cor. 12. 12. truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience , and signs and wonders , and mighty deeds . gal. 3. 5. he that ministreth to you the spirit , and worketh miracles among you , doth he it by the works of the law , or the hearing of faith ? from whence it is that the apostles challenge the same regard to be paid to their writings , as their teaching ; which they could not have done , were not their writings of as good authority as their teaching , and were they not alike directed and assisted in the one as the other . so st. paul , 1 cor. 4. 1. let a man so account of us as of the ministers of christ , or apostles . 1 cor. 5. 3 , 4. i verily , as absent in body , but present in spirit , have judged already as though i were present , &c. in the name of the lord jesus christ , when ye are gathered together , and my spirit , &c. all which is to give authority to what they writ ; but what authority could that be of to oblige others to receive it , if they themselves received it not by inspiration ; and that their teaching and writing were not the same , and obtained in the same way ? 3. the holy scriptures are worthy of such authors as were inspired , and have upon them the characters of such inspiration . i have before proved , that the matter contained in scripture has upon it the characters of a divine revelation . but the design before us now is , to shew , that the writing it self has upon it such characters as will entitle it to divine inspiration , and is worthy of such persons to write , as were inspired . and that , 1. if we consider who the persons were that were the penmen of the sacred writ ; that were as well ignorant and illiterate , as learned . thus we find in the old testament , an amos that was no prophet , nor prophet's son , nor bred up in their schools , but an herdman , and gatherer of sycamore ▪ fruit , is made at once a prophet , and as inspired , as the great , the noble , and eloquent isaiah : and under the gospel , we find a matthew and a john , as well as a luke ; a peter as well as a paul. for when the workmanship proceeds not from the hand , but the intelligent mind ; not from the instrument , but the efficient ; it is not what the hand , the instrument , and agent is , but what the efficient pleases ; and so god could make an apostle and an inspired person out of an illiterate fisherman , as well as out of him that sate at the feet of gamaliel . for god chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise , and the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty , &c. that no flesh should glory in his presence , 1 cor. 1. 27. and as it was in preaching , so it is in writing the gospel , in which god no less gave them a mind to indite , than a mouth and wisdom in teaching , to speak . so that they needed no more to meditate before , what to write , than in that case what they should answer . it was there as the spirit gave them utterance , and here as that did direct , and assist , or suggest . st. paul exhorts timothy , to give attendance to reading , till he himself should come to give him farther instruction ; and to meditate and give himself wholly to them , that his profiting might appear to all , 1 tim. 4. 13 , &c. but we find no such dependance on human means in what they wrote : then it is paul an apostle , not of men , neither by man , but by jesus , and god the father ; the gospel he wrote was the same he taught ; and which when he wrote , he no more received from man , than when he taught , and which he was taught by the revelation of jesus christ , gal. 1. 1 , 11 , 12. and therefore where all was by revelation , it was not as the man was , but as he was made : and as st. peter was as much an apostle , an inspired teacher , so he was as much a divine writer as st. paul , and writes with the same divine power and authority , and with as much certainty and infallibility . so that there are as few objections ( if we strictly consider it ) made against the most illiterate as the most learned of the inspired writers ; against st. matthew and john , as against st. luke ; against st. peter , as st. paul. but now if those writers had wrote after man ( in st. paul's phrase ) and purely from themselves , as it was naturally impossible that ever those unlearned persons should apply themselves to study at the age of st. peter , and write of the most sublime arguments more to the satisfaction of mankind than the profoundest philosophers ; so it was impossible but that in their compositions they should have been guilty of manifold mistakes , when they wrote of such various points , and points of no small difficulty to explicate . but when the unlearned of them are as free from error as the learned , and as little liable to exception in what they writ , 't is evident they writ from the same spirit with , and had the same assistance as the learned . and therefore the supposed errors in any of them could not proceed from inadvertency , or unskilfulness , or want of right information ; but are rather errors supposed and imaginary , than real ; the mistakes of the reader or transcriber , rather than of the penmen ; as i have already shewed . ( serm. iv. ) for if the errors had proceeded immediately from the writer , they would have appeared more in the composures of the unlearned than the learned : but when the unlearned are as free from them as the learned , 't is an unquestionable sign that the unlearned wrote from the same spirit as the learned , and both from a spirit that is divine . 2. the scriptures will appear to be worthy of such authors as are inspired , if we consider the way in which they are written , which though not with excellency of speech , or of wisdom , that is , human , yet have such a majesty and authority shining through the whole , as gives them a lustre as much beyond other books , as the bodies of angels which they assumed for some special service , excelled those of mortals , and that were of a natural composition ; and of which we may say in the like phrase as nicodemus of our saviour , that none could write after this manner , except god were with them . i freely acknowledge , that they are not written according to the ordinary rules of art and method , which almighty god is no more obliged to observe , than he is to govern the world by the methods and rules that are ordinarily observed among mankind . for as in the government of the world , where there are different ends to pursue , and divers means to be made use of , god confines not himself to act as we would in such cases , but acts above all rule known to us , and sometimes punishes where we would spare , and spares where we would punish ; sometimes gives to those that we would deprive of such favours , and deprives those of them to whom we should think fit to give : so it is in the divine composures , in which he makes use of different hands and instruments , as there are different tempers in mankind : he makes use of the poetical vein in david , the oratory of an isaiah , the rusticity of an amos , the elegancy of a luke , the plainness of a peter , the profoundness of a paul , to serve the common design of instructing mankind in the knowledge of god , and their duty to him , without that artificial method which the learned part of the world expect to find , and think fit to observe . the heavens and the earth have upon them the signatures of an almighty power and wisdom , and which we may with david employ our most serious hours in the contemplation of , with pleasure and advantage . but yet there is no strict order visible to us , nor can be observed by us in the situation of the constellations ; nor can we give a reason why orion and the pleiades , or arcturus , are placed in that quarter of the heavens which is assigned them : and the earth is not like a garden laid out in order , but rather there seems to us a rude variety in the disposition of it ; and yet notwithstanding , who is there that doth not under all these seeming disadvantages , find out the traces of a divine original , and enough to entitle god to the creation of all ? and so it is in the holy scriptures , where there often seems wanting the accomplishments of human eloquence , the enticing words of man's wisdom , and that decorum and artifice which the books of human contrivance and invention are embellished with : but as the apostle saith , when he declined the words which man's wisdom ( whether of philosophers or orators ) teacheth , it was that their faith might stand not in the wisdom of men , but in the power of god : so we may see under the veil of a seeming irregularity so much beauty shining forth , and experiment so much virtue proceeding from it , that it will evidently appear , that the less there is of man in the composure , the more there is of god , and that it can have none for its author and inditer but him ; and which irregularity can no more detract from the authority and divine inspiration of the scripture , than it can be questioned whether the sun be the fountain of light , because of what we that are at a vast distance from it , call spots . for we are at a great distance from the apostolical age , and much more from the latest times of the inspired writers of the old testament , and so must needs be under some difficulties from our unacquaintedness with the style and way of writing , as well as the customs of those ages . and there will be therefore some spots and dark places in them as there are in the sun , not for want of light and elegance originally in them , no more than for want of light in the sun ; but because of some deficiency in our selves , that are at a distance , and under such circumstances as intercept our sight , and hinder us from making true and exact observations . but if we could but stand , as we are to judge of pictures , in the same light in which they were drawn ; and had lived in the same ages in which those books were written , we should be able to make a much truer judgment , and penetrate much farther into the meaning of them , than we now can do . but now though all the parts of scripture are not equally alike , but like the inspired writers themselves , of whom some were bred up in the nurseries of learning , and others fetch'd from the fishery and the sheepfold ; yet are they all plain in the same essential doctrine , and in which the salvation of mankind is concerned . and not only so , but the style and order of words , if thoroughly understood as to their propriety , elegance , and use , would be very surprizing ( if we may judge of what we do not know , by what we do ) ; which has not been unobserved even by some of the heathens . it was dionysius longinus the rhetorician , that admired the majesty and sublimity of moses's way of writing . it was amelius the platonist , that at the same time as he call'd st. john a barbarian ( a title which the greeks and romans bestow'd upon all but themselves ) found in his gospel the wisdom of a philosopher . but above all , we may see the footsteps of a divine and extraordinary assistance in the admirable discourses of our saviour and the apostles upon several occasions . let us , for instance , take a view of our saviour's last discourse with the disciples just before his death , as recorded by st. john , chap. 14. &c. turn we again to that of st. paul about a future state , and a resurrection to it , which is the subject of 1 cor. 15. see it again in the close and sensible argumentations of the author to the hebrews . see it also in the very digressions which those holy pen-men sometimes , by breaking off from their subject in hand for a while , do fall upon ; where we shall find that which is equivalent to what is ordinarily said by the prophets in the messages they ▪ delivered , thus saith the lord ▪ and what is as expresly said , and will as much be found to be of divine revelation . it was certainly as much an effect of the divine power to direct , and assist , and even inspire those writers with such sublime notions , such convincing arguments , as it was of the divine commission to send the prophets with authority to publish the divine commands and decrees . and therefore it is a very frivolous exception which a late author makes against the divine authority of the apostolical writings , that they consist of long deductions and argumentations ; whereas , saith he , god doth not reason , but command , as he did by the prophets . but how often do we find in the prophets god arguing with the jews about the vanity of their idolatry , from the incomprehensible perfections of his nature , & c. ? how often using arguments to convince them of their immoralities and impieties ? how often exhorting them to repentance and reformation , from the most powerful considerations ? and therefore why are the apostles less inspired for that reason than the prophets ? when god speaks to men , and teaches one man by another , it is often after the manner of men ; and therefore as he doth sometimes require absolute obedience to his commands , so at other times he condescends so far as to shew them the equity and the reasonableness of them , both equally becoming the divine majesty , and which are a glorious instance of the divine wisdom conspicuous throughout the holy scripture ; thereby adding both to the excellency and the usefulness of it ; and advancing it in both above any book in the world. and for this , take the word of one ( who is otherwise no friend to our religion , or to the divine authority of the scriptures ) though in contradiction to himself . as the lustre of an oriental diamond is more clearly perceived when compared with counterfeit stones ; so christianity appears in its greatest glory and splendor , when compared with the obscurity of paganism ; the deformity of the one serving as a foil to the other . nor doth the divinity of the scriptures ever better appear , than when compared with the follies of the talmud , the alchoran , or the constitutions of the heathen law-givers ; which is an infallible sign of their excellence , that they so well bear the test of comparison . thus 〈◊〉 he . iv. general . how we prove the books that are now extant , and received by the christian church as canonical , to be those very books that were writ by persons inspired ? now this will receive a sufficient answer , if we prove , 1. that there were once such books . 2. that these are the very books which were once said to be canonical and inspired . 3. that these books are not corrupted , so as not to be the books now which once they were . 1. the first of these is not denied by the most violent adversaries , such as appion was to the jews , and celsus to the christians . 2. that these are the books which were heretofore penn'd by inspired persons , and received by the universal church as such , we have as much evidence as we have or can have for any thing past or distant in time or place from us , and which we our selves have not seen : and if we call in question the sufficiency of the evidence , or the truth of what is proved by it , we take away all the evidence that we can have , and the truth and certainty of whatever has been , or is , which we have not seen our selves . so that either these are those books , or there is nothing of that kind which we can depend upon ▪ 3. these books are uncorrupted , i mean , by design , or by accident . if by design , it must either be by jews , hereticks , or those that are called orthodox . 1. if by the jews , that must either be before the time of our saviour , or after it . if before , they would have certainly been taxed for it by our saviour and the apostles , who upon all occasions appeal to the scriptures ; and yet never charge them with any such falsifications . if they were corrupted by the jews after our saviour's time , how came they to leave those prophecies uncorrupted which manifestly and principally prove our saviour to be the messiah ? for surely if they adulterated , or expunged , or added to the less , they would have offered as much violence to the greater . but it is eviden● the jews were in a high degree superstitious , in preserving the copies of the scripture sound and entire . or if they would have attempted this , how could they do it , and not be discovered and challenged for it by the christians , who from that time forward had the scriptures of the old testament in their custody as well as themselves ? 2. it could not be by the hereticks , because the scriptures were soon dispersed over all the christian world , and were read both in publick and private ; and with that care and faithfulness , that they chose rather to part with their lives , than become traditores , and deliver up their bibles to be burnt ; and keeping then so watchful an eye upon them , they could not be perverted by their fraudulent arts , but they would soon be observed and complained of ; especially by those whose office it was above others to study and preserve them . so when marcion falsified the text , he was presently detected and exposed for it . 3. nor could it be by the orthodox , if any of them were so weak as to think to serve their cause by it : for as to the old testament , they were as watchfully observed by the jews , as the jews were by them ; and both the copies of the old and new were so soon and so far dispersed , that neither could any one attempt it with any likelihood of success , nor all agree in it , when impossible to convene for it . and therefore when manichaeus and his followers pretended the corruption of the scripture in their own vindication , they could not make out their charge , though provoked by st. austin , &c. to it . use . we may observe from hence , what a blessing we enjoy above the ages of tradition , when the knowledge of the truth was conveyed from hand to hand ; which so sensibly declined , that the truth was soon turn'd into fable , and that so few years after the flood as the time of terah , the greatest part of the world was overrun with idolatry ; so that for the retrieving it , god drew abraham out of that infected mass ▪ and enjoined him to set up a family separated from the rest of the world , that out of that he might constitute a church for his service . but we have that which those ages wanted ▪ a written and certain rule for our faith and manners ; and that so plainly and intelligibly wrote , and so compleatly and entirely furnished with all things necessary for us to know in order to the happiness of another life ; that as none in the christian church ( where the guides and teachers are faithful to their flock ) can be or must unavoidably be ignorant ; so neither can any person be defective in the knowledge of his duty , or void and destitute of a power of doing what is necessary toward his happiness , unless by his own fault . if we keep but to our rule , that is as an infallible compass to direct us , and we shall never fall short of knowing what god has revealed , or of obtaining what he hath promised . and here we may farther reflect upon our happiness in this church , that we have not the key of knowledge taken from us , and the truth lock'd up in an unknown tongue ( as in the church of rome ) but plainly and faithfully rendred in our own language , for the instruction and edification of all . what remains then , but that we make this our daily study , and labour to acquaint our selves with the rich treasures of useful and necessary knowledge contained in those sacred repositories , and making them as david did , a lamp to our feet , and endeavouring to conform our selves in all points to their holy prescriptions ; and then we shall most certainly have reason to rejoice in the comfort of the promises , and with patience look for that blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great god , and our saviour jesus christ . to whom , &c. finis . errata . sermon i. 2 d edit . p. 11. l. 4. r. manner . p. 13. l. 21. for only r. wholly . sermon vi. ● . 2. marg. 〈◊〉 iv. p. 10. l. 11. dele . both the comma's . p. 25. l. 12. before and after that is dele ( , ) . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a66396-e220 serm. v. luk. 1. ● . hist . eccles . l. 2. c. 15. l. 5. c. 8. exod. 20. 1 , 22. serm. v. p. 12. acts 17. 28. 1 cor. 15. 33. tit. 1. 12. 2 tim. 3. 15 , 16. luke 24. 44. v. josephus con . app. l. 1. 2 pet. 3. 15 , 16. v. euseb ▪ eccl. hist . l. 23. c. 24 , 25. l. 5. c. 8. l. 7. c. 24 , &c. phil. 1. 1. 1 & 2 thes . lecture v. amos 7. 14. luke 21. 14 , 15. 1 cor. 2. 1 , 4. 1 cor. 2. 4 , 5. euseb . praepar . theol. polit . c. 8. anima mundi , sect. 1. v. hieron . in 6. isa . v. philo de . egress● israel . ex ▪ aegypto . ▪ irenaus l. 1. c. 29. tertul ▪ contra marcion . l. 5. epiphan . haer. 42. aug. de util . cred. c. 3. the divine authority of the scriptures a sermon peached at st. martin's in the fields, may 4. 1695 : being the fifth of the lecture for this present year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire / by john williams ... williams, john, 1636?-1709. 1695 approx. 47 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66395) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 62572) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 951:77) the divine authority of the scriptures a sermon peached at st. martin's in the fields, may 4. 1695 : being the fifth of the lecture for this present year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire / by john williams ... williams, john, 1636?-1709. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [2], 36 p. printed for ri. chiswell, and tho. cockerill, senr & junr ..., london : 1695. reproduction of original in huntington library. half title: dr. williams's fifth sermon at mr. boyle's lecture, 1695. errata: p. 36. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible -sermons. sermons, english -17th century. 2005-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-04 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion d r williams's fifth sermon at mr. boyle's lecture , 1695. imprimatur , guil. lancaster . may 1. 1695. the divine authority of the scriptures . a sermon preached at st. martin's in the fields , may 4. 1695. being the fifth of the lecture for this present year , founded by the honourable robert boyle , esquire . by john williams , d. d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london : printed for ri. chiswell , and tho. cockerill , sen r & jun r : at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard ; and at the three legs in the poultrey . mdcxcv . heb. i. 1 , 2. god who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son , &c. in these words , there is contained ( as i have before shewed ) 1. a description of revelation , 't is god's speaking . 2. the certainty of it , 't is by way of declaration , god who at sundry times , &c. 't is taken for granted . 3. the order observed in delivering this revelation , it was at sundry times , and in divers manners , &c. 4. the perfection and conclusion of all , 't is in these last days by his son. under the second i have shewed , 1. that god has actually revealed his will at sundry times , and in divers manners . 2. what are the characters of true revelation . 3. i am now in order to prove that the scriptures of the old and new testament do contain the matter of divine revelation , and have upon them the characters belonging to it . in which there are two things to be considered . 1. the matter contained in scripture . 2. the books containing that matter . which two will admit of a distinct consideration . for , ( 1. ) these two , the matter and the books , were originally distinct ; for the matter was revealed before it was written , and would have been of the same authority , if unwritten , as written . the writing not being essential to the authority , but only made use of as a fit means for the conveyance and preservation of the matter . ( 2. ) these two are capable of a different proof : for the matter of scripture was confirmed by miracles , and had a divine attestation given to it : but we don't find the like testimony given to the books . there were miracles upon miracles , to confirm the truth , suppose , contained in the four evangelists ; but none to prove those four gospels to be wrote by persons inspired , or that these were the books wrote by them . for that has another sort of evidence , to be hereafter inquired into . 2. 't is fit these two should be considered apart . for , ( 1. ) if we were to discourse with a professed infidel , we must begin with the truth of the matter , and then proceed to the authority of the books : and we may make converts ( as the apostles and others in those primitive times did ) from the proof we are able to make of the truth and authority of our religion , though at the present we have not the books . ( 2. ) it 's of no little advantage . for by handling the matter apart from the books , we need not for the present concern our selves in the doubts and objections about the books ; such as the supposed inconsistencies in scripture ; the various readings ; the uncertainty of the authors ; the subject of inspiration , whether words as well as matter , &c. these being laid aside for the present , by this distinct consideration of the matter and the books , will shorten our work ; and if we prove the matter to be of divine original , we also gain a great point toward the proof of the books themselves . i am to begin with the matter contained in scripture . now that is of a diverse nature , and therefore according to the nature of it , so is its authority . for there is matter of fact , and historical relations of things ; and when we say these are of divine authority , we thereby mean they were recorded and committed to writing by the appointment , direction or command of god. again , there are matters of a moral nature , which might be found out by , and are the dictates of pure reason ; and when we say these are of divine authority , we thereby understand that they are authorised by the divine command , as well as in their own nature obligatory . in which cases holy men of god spake , and wrote , as they were moved , incited , by the holy ghost , 2 pet. 1. 21. but the more especial way was when the matter was purely of divine revelation , and wholly proceeding from it ; and though this were not to be learned , and found out by reason ( as has been before shewed ) yet 't is agreeable to it ; as i shall now proceed to prove ; and that i shall do in this order . 1. i shall consider , the claim which the matter of scripture hath to revelation and inspiration . 2. the characters upon which that claim is grounded . 3. the proof by which that claim to revelation is made good . 1. i shall consider the claim , &c. and that is , if the matter contained in the scripture be not a revelation from god , and the true revelation , then there neither is , nor ever was , nor can be such a revelation . 1. if that be not a divine revelation , there is no revelation ; for as that denies and rejects all revelation besides it self , so there is none other that can produce such evidence for it : and consequently , if notwithstanding the evidence producible for scripture , that is not to be admitted for divine , then there is no revelation existent in the world , since no other has the evidence which that appears to have . this we may leave to any indifferent person to judge of , by comparing the alcoran with the bible ; and the chinese divinity of a confutius , with that of christianity . 2. if this be not a revelation from god ▪ then there never has been such a revelation ; and that for the reason before given , viz. that there is no other revelation extant save this . but if there ever had been a revelation , and a revelation design'd for all mankind ( as that of the gospel apparently is ) , what was once , would always and for ever afterwards have been existent ; since the same reason there was once for a revelation to mankind , the same would have been for the continuance of it ; and the same divine goodness that took care there should be a revelation , would certainly have taken the like care for the preserving of it . but if there be no revelation , ( as there is not , if the scripture be not that revelation ) then there never was a revelation ; and so all that has been before said upon this argument , about the existence , usefulness , and necessity of a revelation , must go for nothing . 3. if the scripture be not of divine revelation , then there never can be a revelation , or at least , such a revelation as shall oblige us to receive and believe it : since there can be no stronger evidence produced for the proof of it , than there is for that of scripture . and therefore he that will ▪ pretend not to believe the scripture-revelation for want of sufficient evidence , can never be convinced of the truth of any revelation . for what better evidence can be given , as to the matter , the persons inspired , the supernatural proofs of miracles and prophecy , &c. than what we have for the scripture ? admit then that there is , or ever was , or may be a divine revelation , we may be certain that the matter contained in scripture is of that nature . but though this must be allowed to be a good step toward the proof of the divine authority of scripture ; yet it remains to consider what that evidence is which is thus peculiar to scripture-revelation , and that none besides ever have or can have : and this is the subject of the second general : which is to consider , 2. the characters belonging to revelation , upon which that claim is grounded . that revelation may be distinguished from imposture and mere pretence , there must be proper characters that are essential to revelation ; without which marks of distinction , we must do by it as few have done , and totally reject it ; or else as the romans did by the deities of other countries , that admitted all into their calendar , we must refuse none . but since there has been a revelation ( as all mankind have been inclined to believe ) , and several pretences to it ( as the experience of all ages has shewed ) , we must follow the direction of scripture , which not only warns us of false prophets , and exhorts us to try the spirits ; but doth also furnish us with such characters , as will enable us to distinguish the true from the false . and this direction , methinks , may pass for one character , according to that of our saviour , joh. 3. 20 , 21. every one that doth evil , or speaketh falsly , hateth the light , lest his deeds should be reproved , and his pretences discovered . but he that doeth and speaketh truth , cometh to the light , that his deeds may be made manifest , that they are wrought in god ; or that what he saith , may appear to be a revelation from him . now when the revelation so called doth thus offer it self to an impartial trial , and exhorts and requires all persons to examine and make enquiry , and lays down such rules , principles , and characters , as in the opinion of all men are sufficient to distinguish the true from the false , 't is an undoubted sign that it is able to justify it self , and to make out its claim to a divine authority , by a correspondence to those characters . by this the scripture is distinguished from all others ; for though there were several among the heathen lawgivers that pretended to derive their laws from the direction of their gods , yet it was rather to prevent enquiry , than encourage it ; and to oblige the people to an absolute submission : for who might dispute that which the gods commanded ? or who durst so much as enquire , where the fear of religion restrained them ? but to expose it self to a trial , and to require that men examine before they receive and believe , and to give them such signs as shall serve to describe the truth , and detect imposture , is peculiar to the scripture . from thence therefore it is that i shall produce such characters as will give that a title to divine authority , and oblige us to a belief of it . and what are such , if these are not ? viz. that it could come only from god , is worthy of him , and has a divine and supernatural evidence to attest it . where these are , there is a divine authority , there is a revelation . and these i shall shew do belong to what the scripture proposes as such . 1. it is a character belonging to revelation , and a sign of the truth of it , when it apparently has god for the author , and can proceed from none but him . this is a character , i presume , will upon examination be found to belong to scripture . as i shall now attempt to prove , by considering that which is the chief subject of it ; and that is the revelation of god's will to mankind . here i shall premise and take for granted , 1. that god having created man , created him in a state of innocency and purity ; for being infinitely good , it is not to be conceived that he made any thing evil in it self . 2. that man fell from this happy state ; of innocent he became guilty ; of a pure , he became a depraved creature , as the experience of all ages shews him now to be . 3. that almighty god was disposed to pardon and admit him again to favour . upon this state of things the scripture proceeds : and because it was impossible for man to find out of himself the way and means by which he might be restored , there needed a revelation to inform him in it . i grant there is a natural means , and what the reason of the thing supposes to be necessary to our reconciliation , and that is repentance . but that this is of it self a means sufficient , and upon which alone god will be reconciled to the offenders , has been always doubted of ; as is evident from the several ways of atonement , and especially of sacrifices , practised in all parts of the world . for since god is the governor of the world , it seems no more reconcilable with his justice , and consistent with that authority he is to maintain , to pardon all offenders upon repentance , than it is consistent with the ends of government among men , to accept of the offenders penitence as a full satisfaction to the law , and to remit the penalty threatned . we have an instance to the contrary , in this very case ; when notwithstanding a supposed repentance in mankind , god inflicted the penalty threatned , in the day thou eatest therof , thou shalt dye . now therefore , since the natural means of propitiating almighty god was not sufficient , there is somewhat further in reserve ; and what that is , none could tell , but he who had it in his own power what to accept , and what to refuse ; it was for him to reveal , that was to institute . and if we take a view of the scheme of what the scripture sets before us as to this matter , it will abundantly confirm what i have proposed as a character of revelation , and that is , that it is from god , and only from him . the sum of which is , that since mankind had thus lapsed into a preternatural state , in which through the infirmity and corruption of their nature , they themselves neither were , nor could do what was acceptable to god in order to a restitution and reconciliation , it was designed that the son of god himself should become a mediator by a present stipulation , and in a prefixed time , by an actual undertaking to dye for us . that accordingly , in testimony of god's acceptance of the atonement , and of his reconciliation , the son rose from the dead , and ascended into heaven , is there our intercessor , and the dispenser of all those gifts , and that supervenient grace which is necessary to the reforming mankind , and the fitting them for that state he is now invested in , and has promised to bestow upon such as are qualified for it . now who is there , that upon a review of these several particulars that do constitute the christian religion , and make up the chief subject of scriptural revelation , can pretend that this was to be found out by human consideration and enquiry ; or rather , that must not grant it proceeded from god ? especially if it be observed what a wonderful intermixture there is in this scheme , of the divine mercy and justice ; of his mercy in pardoning the sinner , and of his justice in requiring an atonement . what a representation of his hatred to sin on one hand , when god established so valuable an atonement as the blood of his own son ; and of his favour and love to mankind , when he spared not his own son , but delivered him up for us all ? what a foundation for our hope on one hand , when he accepted of the propitiation ; and what a dread of offending is there on the other , when he that knew no sin , was made a sin offering for us ? all which laid together , do confirm the truth of this character , and the title that the scripture-revelation hath to it . but there is somewhat further to be added in proof of this point . that it was a revelation from god ; and that is , the many prophecies that are interwoven with it in scripture ; which could proceed from none but him who alone has all causes and events in his power , and so alone could foretell how those causes would operate , and what should be the events of such operation . these being the chief part of the revelation concerning the whole scheme of man's salvation , confirm what i have before said , that it was from god , and from him alone . but this must be reserved to its proper place , under the third general head. to go on , ii. a character necessarily belonging to divine revelation , is , that it be worthy of god , and what becomes the majesty of heaven to make known to mankind . when we say it is to be worthy of him , thereby is meant , that it is suitable to the perfections of his nature , to his holiness and justice , his goodness and mercy , his wisdom and power , &c. to which , and all of which , a revelation truly so , can no more be repugnant , than god himself can be other than he is , and destitute of those perfections which are essential to him . in discoursing upon which , we may observe , 1. that it cannot be denied , but the revelation of himself to mankind is worthy of god , though it be an infinite condescension . it was an infinite condescension in the deity , that had all in himself , to make such a creature as man ; and it is no more unworthy of god to reveal himself to him , than it was to make him . for what other reason ▪ was there for the making such a creature , and the enduing him with the light of reason , but that he might own , honour , and serve the author of his being ? and since to know and acknowledge god , is the chief end for which man was made , it is as much becoming almighty god to reveal himself to him , as it was to make him for the knowledge of himself . 2. that is a thing worthy of god to reveal , which is a thing worthy of god to do : and such is the recovery and restoration of man to the like condition he was created in , and unhappily fell from ; for that is a kind of re-making him , and giving him a new being : and since a new being is to a depraved being , what being was to no being , it is as much becoming almighty god from a depraved state to raise him to a state of purity and holiness , as it was at the first to give him a being that before had none . and this is the great subject of what we call divine revelation ; which as it respects man , may come under a twofold consideration ; and that is , the perfection of human nature , and the happiness of mankind . it will be a needless undertaking , to prove that these ends are worthy of god ; but that which rather becomes us is to shew , that as it is the great design of the scriptural revelation to represent this , and to acquaint us with the method that the almighty wisdom and goodness thought fit to observe ; so the method as there laid down , is worthy of such wisdom and goodness , as i shall now proceed to shew in the two instances given . 1st . the method almighty god is in scripture said to take for the purifying and the perfecting human nature , is highly worthy of so glorious a being ; and that is threefold , cautionary , moral , and supernatural . ( 1. ) that which i call cautionary , is the way almighty god was pleased to take for the representing his displeasure against sin , and to make mankind cautious of offending . the means made use of before the fall was a penalty threatned , in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt dye . but because that had proved of so little force to restrain mankind , and for fear lest when god had received them into favour after such a threatning , his mercy and indulgence might be abused , and become an encouragement to sin , god added thereunto an expiation ( as has been before said ) , and that to be made by his own son ; who from the dignity of his person , and the voluntary oblation of himself , should be reputed as a representative of the whole , and the whole be esteemed to suffer with him . by which means , as god's mercy would be abundantly testified in a design for redeeming them ; so his justice would be exemplified , when he that had no sin of his own , should yet be made a sin-offering , and suffer for them . for how could they presume after this to offend the almighty father , when rather than suffer his laws to be violated , his authority slighted , his holiness and justice disparaged , or leave mankind under a temptation so to do , he would express his hatred against sin , and his resolution to punish it , by requiring and substituting such a sacrifice as that of his son in their stead ? this is the apparent reason of such an institution ; and both the institution and reason of it are worthy of the divine counsel ; since there is no way in which these things can be represented to greater advantage , than by the scripture-scheme of man's redemption . ( 2. ) there is the moral means , that serves the same end , viz. the purifying and perfecting human nature , to which revelation gave the last and finishing hand . it is true , these moral principles are no other than natural maxims , and which were nature , unassisted , sufficient for , might have been extracted out of it . but mankind were no more able to attain to that skill of themselves , than an unexperienced person , and unacquainted with the art of chymistry , can extract such exalted and generous spirits out of the bodies of plants and animals , as upon trial we find they are endued with . it is another light we view nature by since the communicating of the evangelical revelation to the world . nature and reason now , are not the nature and the reason they were before , or are still where that revelation has not been known : and therefore if we would know what the force of those principles are , and how far they operated by their own power , and of themselves , the way is not to judge of it as it appears to us , where the gospel-revelation is , but as it was in the state of pure heathenism , not excepting the finer part of it ( as it flourished in greece it self ) and as it is now in some of the remote parts of the world , as in the west-indies , &c. for gentilism it self apparently mended upon the publication of the gospel ; and then their moralists wrote with another strein , than those of their own sect did before that time . for in the scripture there is such an entire and compleat system of all things requisite to the perfection of human nature ( as far as in this state it is capable of it ) that nothing is wanting for direction and obligation . there we find the most natural characters of good and evil traced along from the first rise in all their tendencies , and the just bounds of both described . there we have on one hand the most enforcing encouragements to virtue and goodness , and on the other the most necessary cautions and admonitions against sin ; and both fortified with proper instances and examples . there we find the noblest principles , and exactest rules ; and the great lines of our duty plainly set forth in their utmost extent ; and that as well for the regulation of the thoughts and desires , as the government of our actions . there we find that duty enforced by the highest obligation , by no less authority than that of god himself , whose precepts and injunctions they are declared to be , and not the mere results of our own nature and reason . and whereas nature falls as short in its sanctions ( having only conscience to enforce them ) as its authority ; when these moral principles become god's laws , they have rewards and punishments of another kind annexed to them , and as everlasting as our souls , to bind them upon us . so that as far as nature thus directed and excited can go , we have the most effectual means in our power for the amendment and purification of it . but because it is only so far in our own power , and that in the issue we prove too remiss in the exerting of it ; and that after all , nature flags and recoils , and is too much nature still . therefore , ( 3. ) there is a supernatural means to render the other effectual , and to give encouragement and success to our endeavours ; and that is a power as divine as the authority , which is the assistance of the holy spirit of god. look we upon the morality of the greatest philosophers , how poor is that to the doctrine of our saviour and the apostles ? look we upon the fruits of it , and there we shall find them short of their principles ; and that the case was much with them as with the stoical posidonius , that would not allow passions in human nature ; that when invaded by the gout , might chide both that and himself for his sensation of it ; but the disease and nature , kept on their course , and would own no such authority . so it was with them that had only nature to correct nature ; that while they pretended to be the physicians of it , could not cure themselves , nor alter so much as custom , which had alter'd that . the instances they give of a philosophical cure , are as rare as the miracles they pretend to have been wrought in the temple of aesculapius , or by a vespasian , few and questionable ; a phoedon , or a polemon , to credit the schools of a socrates or a xenocrates . but the instances of such as were converted by our saviour and apostolical persons , were like his miracles , numberless , and not to be disputed . when the gospel flew like lightning through the earth , and became as successful in reforming , as teaching the world ; nature by it was changed , and the temper became subject to the divine power . so that the doctrine of christ did turn those that were immersed in wickedness , to a life agreeable to reason , and the practice of all virtue ; as origen shews , and appeals to his adversary in . and what was then done , would always be done , if there were not some obstruction on our part , either as to asking that assistance , or in the not improving it ; according to that of our saviour , matth. 13. 12 ▪ whosoever hath and useth it , to him shall be given , and he shall have more abundance . 2dly . it is worthy of god , and becoming the most benevolent as well as the most powerful of beings , to consult what may be for the happiness of the reasonable nature , and to propound this as an encouragement to them in the performance of that service he expects and requires of them . and what can make them happy , if the order and method of salvation revealed in scripture be not sufficient for it ? whereby they are not only assured of the protection and blessing of divine providence in this life , but also of a state of immortality in the life to come : where they shall be taken into the enjoyment of their ever-blessed creator ; and be fitted both in body and soul , by the divine power , for such a participation . to which i may add , that it is as worthy of god to reveal the way by which that happiness is to be attained . i grant that by the use and power of reason , and the sense we have of the difference between good and evil , we may learn , though obscurely and very imperfectly , what is acceptable to god : but yet without revelation we are much in the dark , and can as little know what is on our part necessary toward the attainment of that happiness , as we do what the condition of the future state is , and wherein the happiness of it consists . there is as much difference between what is only supposed , and what is necessary , as there is between what we hope for , and what is certain . and therefore , as there needs a revelation to assure us of that which without revelation we only hoped for ; so there is as much need of revelation to inform us of what is necessary to our acceptance with god , and to our happiness in another world ; and without which we are left to conjecture only . so that as far as certainty is to be preferr'd beyond hope and imagination ; and the knowledge of what is necessary , is beyond conjecture ; so much is the comfort of revelation beyond that of nature ; and so much is it becoming almighty god , who gave us our nature and being , to acquaint us with what may both make us happy , and lead us to it . especially was this necessary , considering how far the world had wandred out of the right way ; and what superstitious and infamous rites had been taken up ; and what practices dishonourable to the deity and human nature , had been used . and this way to happiness the scripture has plainly reveal'd . 3dly . it is a design worthy of god , to reveal himself to the world , and to give mankind a right notion and representation of his nature . the being of god , is what the whole creation proclaims ; and there are some attributes of his lye open to all , and are conspicuous in their effects , such are his wisdom and power . but there are others that we rather know by inference , and need a farther and brighter light to inform us in ; and such are his goodness and his mercy . and since these are as essential perfections of the deity as the other , and exceed them in the influence they have upon mankind , as to our love and adoration of him ; and yet are not so legible in the frame of nature , nor so observable in the course of his providence as the other ; we cannot conceive but that it is as becoming our creator to represent himself to be a god gracious and merciful in a revelation to mankind , as to be a god great , powerful , and wise in the creation . we see how confused the gentile world was in their notion of the supreme power ; how inconsistently they thought , and how low their representations were of the deity : and at best they had a very imperfect notion of those divine attributes of love and goodness , of pity and compassion , of indulgence and condescension , of patience and forbearance , of mercy and forgiveness , which the scripture represents with life and perspicuity there it is that we find the almighty creator stooping to the creature , condescending to their condition , bearing with their infirmities , pitying their miseries , forgiving their sins . there we find him reproving , arguing , following sinners with importunity , and leaving nothing undone , that was consistent with his nature and honour to do , toward the salvation of mankind . and above all , in this was manifested the love of god towards us , because that god sent his only begotten son into the world , that we might live through him , 1 joh. 4. 9. so that if to reveal what was not otherwise to be known , concerning god's reconciliation to mankind , and the terms upon which he is reconciled ; if to restore man to the state he is fallen from , and to promote him to a state of purity , perfection , and happiness ; if for god to reveal and to render himself acceptable to mankind by the most obliging characters of love and favour , be worthy of him ; lastly , if to reveal what is most worthy of god , be a character of revelation , then the scripture is such , and what is therein contained must be from god. iii. a character necessarily belonging to revelation , and by which the true is to be distinguished from the false and pretended , is a divine and supernatural evidence ; which is the same with the third general head , viz. the proof by which the scripture's claim to divine revelation is to be made good ; and that is next to be considered . now there are three instances of this kind , viz. prophecy , miracles , and the wonderful success of the christian religion , and the preservation of it under the most potent opposition , and greatest discouragements . ( 1. ) prophecy . that is of it self a revelation ; and as it is what all nations , as well learned as barbarous , have acknowledged ; so being an instance of revelation , it is a good proof of that revelation which it doth accompany , and is interwoven with . and this is the case before us ; for the scripture being composed of matters of a different kind , cannot have the same sort of evidence : but prophecy being self-evident ( when the event has apparently answer'd the prediction ) and a supernatural evidence , is a good proof to what has no such evidence ; and which for the sake of that proof is as much a matter of faith , and as credible , as the prophecy it self ; because such a testimony being a testimony from god , cannot be applied to the support of a falshood . so that where there is prophecy truly so , we may conclude that to be true , and to come from god , to which that testimony is given ; for if the testimony be divine , the doctrine confirmed by it must be divine also . in discoursing upon which , i premise , 1. that there is such a thing as prophecy ; that things future have been predicted : tully saith , this all nations have agreed in ; as has been aforesaid . 2. that prophecy is a good testimony to what it is given ( as i have proved already ) . so that there is nothing remains , but to shew that the revelation in scripture hath had this testimony . and of this there are two sorts , near , or remote . of both which we have an instance in the prophet sent to jeroboam , 1 kings 13. 2. the remote was , that a child should be born , josiah by name , about 330 years after , who should burn mens bones upon that altar . the proximate ( which we may otherwise call a sign ) was , that at that time the altar should be rent , and the ashes poured out . if the remote had been alone , it would have had little influence upon them who were most nearly concerned ; and therefore there needed some present sign to verify it . but otherwise , the remote is the stronger , especially when at such a vast distance of time , as shall render it impossible for men or angels to foresee , or by any practices of theirs to accomplish ; when it depends upon voluntary as natural agents , and is in the conclusion answered by a parallel event , it is to after-ages a certain and indisputable evidence . to which if we add the concurrence of both , when there is a chain and series of prophecies near and remote , in a certain and continued order following each other , the first looking forward to others that are to succeed , and the latter having a retrospect to the former ; there is no reasonable nor possible exception to be made against the matter thus testified , without excepting against the testimony of prophecy , contrary to the sense of all mankind . as for instance ; if there be a prophecy or prophecies in several ages , from which it plainly appears , that at such a precise time , in such an age of the world , some hundreds or thousands of years after , there should arise a certain person , born at such a place , and in an extraordinary way , and descended from such and such progenitors , who should come to reform mankind ; and in confirmation of his doctrine , should perform many astonishing acts , and do many supernatural works ; that at a certain time , and in a certain determined year , he should be put to death by his own nation , and upon it that nation should be captivated and destroyed , and the countrey desolate ; it is a testimony not to be disproved . and yet setting aside the many prophecies in scripture relating to particular persons and families , to the jews and other nations , i shall only instance in some of those concerning our saviour ; and others of our saviour's himself : the former of which will appear to be exactly parallel to the case proposed . the first of these is the prediction immediately after the fall of adam , and 4000 years before the actual completion of it ; that there should be one born of the seed of the woman , and supernaturally made of her alone ( as adam was out of the earth without a woman ) that should bruise the serpent's head , who had beguiled eve through his subtilty . about 2000 years after which prophecy , and so 2000 years before our saviour , it was revealed to abraham , that in his seed , and by one who should descend from him , all the families of the earth should be blessed ; and which was afterward renewed to isaac and jacob. again ; about 1700 years before christ , it was prophesied by jacob , that shiloh , or the messiah , should descend from his son judah . about 1000 years before our saviour's birth , david was exalted to the throne , of whose family the messiah was to be a branch ; whence it was that he was commonly known among the jews , by the character of david's son. in the same royal prophet have we the prediction of our saviour's death , resurrection , and glorification ; and in very minute circumstances , as to the first of these , vid. psal. 16. 10. 22. 1 , 7 , 8 , 14 , 16 , 18. 110 , &c. this is also the great theme of isaiah's prophecy , 700 years before the accomplishment , that there should be a root out of jesse , the messiah , who should dye for the sins of the people , be rejected by his own nation , but be believed in by the gentiles . isa. 11. 10. 42. 10 , &c. 53. in the same age lived micah , who foretells the very place he should be born in , viz. bethlehem-ephrata . lastly ; about 500 years before our lord's incarnation , daniel directly points to the time and the year the messiah should suffer in , which was to be in the midst of the seventieth prophetical week , ( each of which consists of seven years ) that is , the 490th . year , from the decree of artaxerxes for the rebuilding of jerusalem . as may easily be computed by ptolomy's canon , and reckoning the years backward from the death of our saviour , ( which was in the reign of tiberius ) to some fixed year of artaxerxes . in consequence of which , the city and sanctuary were to be destroyed , and the whole countrey laid desolate , as with a flood . this conclusion leads us on to the second branch of prophetical observations , viz. our saviour's own predictions , which are very many ; but a most remarkable one is his prophecy of the destruction of that people , city , and countrey , foretold by daniel as to the very time ; and which our saviour describes so particularly , as if he had it at that instant before his eyes , when he discoursed of it to his disciples . there he foretells , * the preceding signs , as famines , and fearful sights , &c. * that many false prophets should arise . * that there should be barbarous slaughters one of another . * that jerusalem should be closely besieged ; but withal , that at that time there should be an opportunity for escaping ; which he advises them to take , and to fly to the mountains for present security . * that the enemy should at last cast a trench about it , and keep them that remained in on every side . * that he should finally take the city , and lay it even with the ground ; and that not one stone of the stately structure , the temple , ( which they then were admiring ) should be left upon another . * that the surviving jews should be led captive into all nations , and never return again to that land as proprietors . * and that all this was because they knew not the time of their visitation . * and that this should happen in that very age. never was any prophecy more express , never any sentence more terrible , nor more punctually fulfilled , as to all the particulars before-recited ; and for which we may appeal to josephus the jew , who was an eye-witness of all , and as exactly describes it as to those instances , as if he was writing a comment upon our saviour's prophecy ▪ joseph . de bell. l. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7. and accordingly , as the temple , though attempted by julian the apostate's order , never could be built , ( as the heathen historian ammianus marcellinus relates , hist. l. 23. ) so that people to this day remain vagabonds , without any certain place , dispersed over the world . having traced this subject thus far , we may proceed . 2. another way by which we prove the claim that the matter of scripture hath to a divine authority , is miracles ; of which kind there is nothing wanting that can reasonably be desired ; and that either as to the judaical , or christian dispensation . as for instance : if a person should pretend that he comes from god with a revelation , and which he requires us to hearken to , on peril of damnation : what satisfaction should we desire ? surely if the doctrine he teaches be in it self credible , and worthy of god , and what in the nature and tendency of it proves to be useful and beneficial to mankind , we have as much evidence as the nature of the thing will bear . and farther , if the person upon whom we are to rely , doth openly and in the sight of all , even of enemies that watch him , as well as friends , and in the most publick assemblies , cure all manner of diseases , though naturally incurable , by a word , or a touch , and even at a distance . if he commands the winds and the seas , the good and the evil angels , feeds thousands in a desart with no more than what would satisfy a few , and raises the dead . if he tells the most secret thoughts , inclinations , and practices of his enemies as well as followers . lastly , if when himself is put to a violent death , he in a few days , according to his own prediction , rises again , appears to , and converses with those that knew him when alive , and saw him dead : and afterwards in the view of many ascends bodily into heaven ; and within a few days , as a farther testimony of his former mission and present glorification , confers the same or like power upon his disciples : who can reasonably doubt of the truth of what he has taught ? i need not here draw the parallel . and if the question should be put , as it was by those whom john the baptist sent , art thou he that should come ? our saviour's answer will serve for one here , tell john what things ye have heard and seen , how that the blind see , &c. luke 7. 19. there needs no greater evidence to convince mankind . 3. another proof of the divine authority of the matter of scripture , is the event and success , correspondent to former predictions . such was that of the israelites in canaan ▪ and much more , the wonderful and astonishing progress of the gospel , without any of that assistance and force which that people had , and when it had the force of emperors and kings to oppose it . could it be thought possible , that a few simple and timerous persons , who had been bred up to a mean employment , and had never been out of their own countrey , should each by himself undertake perilous and remote journeys , among people they had no knowledge of , and to whose tempers , customs , and language , they were altogether strangers ; and should prevail with them to change their gods and their religion , their customs and their lives ? could it be thought that men of no authority nor interest , of no learning , depth of judgment , nor subtilty in arguing , should be able to maintain and propagate a doctrine that seemed to be foolish and absurd , a doctrine of a crucified saviour , a doctrine opposite to the sensual inclinations and interests of mankind , ( as the state of the world then was ) a doctrine that obliged them that believed it , to profess it with the hazard of all that was dear to them in this world , and upon no other encouragement than a reward in another ? and yet even this doctrine , so meanly attended , became so successful , that according to our saviour's prediction , matth. 24. 14. before the destruction of jerusalem , and within forty years after his death , the sound of it went out into all the earth , rom. 10. 18. not to proceed further in this argument than scripture ; in those early times we find converts , if not churches , in the most frequented cities for trade , learning , and dominion ; in corinth and ephesus , athens and rome ; in the courts of princes , even of a herod and a nero : acts 13. 3. phil. 4. 22. and where not ? now if there had not been truth in the doctrine ; if it had not been a doctrine worthy of god , suitable to the desires and expectations of mankind ; if it had not had a supernatural evidence and testimony , and an assistance as great as its evidence , it could not in those circumstances have made its own way , nor have proved in the event so powerful and successful . no , it was god that chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise , and the weak things of the world to confound the things which were mighty : and it must be a revelation from him alone , that had all these testimonies on its side to confirm it . so that we may conclude as we began , that if ever there was a revelation , the revelation contained in scripture is a revelation , and the only true revelation now in the world. and if so it be , then what an obligation is there upon us to observe it ? when 't is god speaking to us , we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard from him , lest at any time we should let them slip , heb. 2. 1. finis . errata . in the license to this sermon , for may 1. read may 4. p. 10. l. 5. r. good-will . p. 12. l. 3. after god put a ( ; ) notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a66395-e310 2 pet. 2. 21. 1 joh. 4. 1 , &c. justin. hist. l. 3. contr. cels. l. 1 , & 2. cic. de divin . l. 1. gen. 2. 14. gal. 4. 4. gal. 3. 16. gen. 12 , 3 , &c. gen 49. 8. matth. 22. 42. mic. 5. 2. dan. 9. 24 , &c. lev. 25. 8. a confutation of atheism from the origin and frame of the world. part ii a sermon preached at st. martin's in the fields, november the 7th, 1692 : being the seventh of the lecture founded by the honourable robert boyle ... / by richard bentley ... bentley, richard, 1662-1742. 1692 approx. 55 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 21 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a69557 wing b1917 estc r15263 12158577 ocm 12158577 55224 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a69557) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 55224) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 13:3g, 857:37) a confutation of atheism from the origin and frame of the world. part ii a sermon preached at st. martin's in the fields, november the 7th, 1692 : being the seventh of the lecture founded by the honourable robert boyle ... / by richard bentley ... bentley, richard, 1662-1742. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 40 p. printed for h. mortlock ..., london : 1693. appears on reel 13:3 as the seventh title in the author's the folly and unreasonableness of atheism, 1693. reproduction of originals in the british library and the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng religion and science -early works to 1800. nature -religious aspects -early works to 1800. christianity and atheism -early works to 1800. atheism -controversial literature. atheism -early works to 1800. atheism -sermons. sermons, english -17th century. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-09 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-10 jason colman sampled and proofread 2006-10 jason colman text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a confutation of atheism from the origin and frame of the world . part ii. a sermon preached at st. martin's in the fields , november the 7 th . 1692. being the seventh of the lecture founded by the honourable robert boyle , esquire . by richard bentley , m. a. chaplain to the right reverend father in god , edward , lord bishop of worcester . london , printed for h. mortlock at the phoenix in st. paul's church-yard . 1693. imprimatur . ra. barker , r mo in christo patriac d no d no johanni archiep. cantuar . à sacris domest . lambhith , novemb. 10. 1692. acts xiv . 15 , &c. that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living god , who made heaven and earth and the sea , and all things that are therein : who in times past suffer'd all nations to walk in their own ways . nevertheless , he left not himself without witness , in that he did good , and gave us rain from heaven , and fruitfull seasons , filling our hearts with food and gladness . when we first enter'd upon this topic , the demonstration of god's existence from the origin and frame of the world , we offer'd to prove four propositions . 1. that this present system of heaven and earth cannot possibly have subsisted from all eternity . 2. that matter consider'd generally , and abstractly from any particular form and concretion , cannot possibly have been eternal : or , if matter could be so ; yet motion cannot have coexisted with it eternally , as an inherent property and essential attribute of matter . these two we have already established in the preceding discourse ; we shall now shew in the third place , 3. that , though we should allow the atheists , that matter and motion may have been from everlasting ; yet if ( as they now suppose ) there were once no sun nor starrs nor earth nor planets ; but the particles , that now constitute them , were diffused in the mundane space in manner of a chaos without any concretion and coalition ; those dispersed particles could never of themselves by any kind of natural motion , whether call'd fortuitous or mechanical , have conven'd into this present or any other like frame of heaven and earth . i. and first as to that ordinary cant of illiterate and puny atheists , the fortuitous or casual concourse of atoms , that compendious and easy dispatch of the most important and difficult affair , the formation of a world ; ( besides that in our next undertaking it will be refuted all along ) i shall now briefly dispatch it , from what hath been formerly said concerning the true notions of fortune and chance . whereby it is evident , that in the atheistical hypothesis of the world's production , fortuitous and mechanical must be the self-same thing . because fortune is no real entity nor physical essence , but a mere relative signification , denoting only this ; that such a thing said to fall out by fortune , was really effected by material and necessary causes ; but the person , with regard to whom it is called fortuitous , was ignorant of those causes or their tendencies , and did not design nor foresee such an effect . this is the only allowable and genuine notion of the word fortune . but thus to affirm , that the world was made fortuitously , is as much as to say , that before the world was made , there was some intelligent agent or spectator ; who designing to do something else , or expecting that something else would be done with the materials of the world , there were some occult and unknown motions and tendencies in matter , which mechanically formed the world beside his design or expectation . now the atheists , we may presume , will be loth to assert a fortuitous formation in this proper sense and meaning ; whereby they will make understanding to be older than heaven and earth . or if they should so assert it ; yet , unless they will affirm that the intelligent agent did dispose and direct the inanimate matter , ( which is what we would bring them to ) they must still leave their atoms to their mechanical affections ; not able to make one step toward the production of a world beyond the necessary laws of motion . it is plain then , that fortune , as to the matter before us , is but a synonymous word with nature and necessity . it remains that we examin the adequate meaning of chance ; which properly signifies , that all events called casual , among inanimate bodies , are mechanically and naturally produced according to the determinate figures and textures and motions of those bodies ; with this negation only , that those inanimate bodies are not conscious of their own operations , nor contrive and cast about how to bring such events to pass . so that thus to say , that the world was made casually by the concourse of atoms , is no more than to affirm , that the atoms composed the world mechanically and fatally ; only they were not sensible of it , nor studied and consider'd about so noble an undertaking . for if atoms formed the world according to the essential properties of bulk , figure and motion , they formed it mechanically ; and if they formed it mechanically without perception and design , they formed it casually . so that this negation of consciousness being all that the notion of chance can add to that of mechanism ; we , that do not dispute this matter with the atheists , nor believe that atoms ever acted by counsel and thought , may have leave to consider the several names of fortune and chance and nature and mechanism , as one and the same hypothesis . wherefore once for all to overthrow all possible explications which atheists have or may assign for the formation of the world , we will undertake to evince this following proposition : ii. that the atoms or particles which now constitute heaven and earth , being once separate and diffused in the mundane space , like the supposed chaos , could never without a god by their mechanical affections have convened into this present frame of things or any other like it . which that we may perform with the greater clearness and conviction ; it will be necessary , in a discourse about the formation of the world , to give you a brief account of some of the most principal and systematical phaenomena , that occurr in the world now that it is formed . ( 1. ) the most considerable phaenomenon belonging to terrestrial bodies is the general action of gravitation , whereby all known bodies in the vicinity of the earth do tend and press toward its center ; not only such as are sensibly and evidently heavy , but even those that are comparatively the lighted , and even in their proper place , and natural elements , ( as they usually speak ) as air gravitates even in air and water in water . this hath been demonstrated and experimentally proved beyond contradiction , by several ingenious persons of the present age , but by none so perspicuously and copiously and accurately , as by the honourable founder of this lecture in his incomparable treatises of the air and hydrostaticks . ( 2. ) now this is the constant property of gravitation ; that the weight of all bodies around the earth is ever proportional to the quantity of their matter : as for instance , a pound weight ( examin'd hydrostatically ) of all kinds of bodies , though of the most different forms and textures , doth always contain an equal quantity of solid mass or corporeal substance . this is the ancient doctrine of the epicurean physiology , then and since very probably indeed , but yet precariously asserted : but it is lately demonstrated and put beyond controversy by that very excellent and divine theorist mr. isaac newton , to whose most admirable sagacity and industry we shall frequently be obliged in this and the following discourse . i will not entertain this auditory with an account of the demonstration ; but referring the curious to the book it self for full satisfaction , i shall now proceed and build upon it as a truth solidly established , that all bodies weigh according to their matter ; provided only that the compared bodies be at equal distances from the center toward which they weigh . because the further they are removed from the center , the lighter they are : decreasing gradually and uniformly in weight , in a duplicate proportion to the increase of the distance . ( 3. ) now since gravity is found proportional to the quantity of matter , there is a manifest necessity of admitting a vacuum , another principal doctrine of the atomical philosophy . because if there were every-where an absolute plenitude and density without any empty pores and interstices between the particles of bodies , then all bodies of equal dimensions would contain an equal quantity of matter ; and consequently , as we have shewed before , would be equally ponderous : so that gold , copper , stone , wood , &c. would have all the same specifick weight ; which experience assures us they have not : neither would any of them descend in the air , as we all see they do ; because , if all space was full , even the air would be as dense and specifically as heavy as they . if it be said , that , though the difference of specifick gravity may proceed from variety of texture , the lighter bodies being of a more loose and porous composition , and the heavier more dense and compact ; yet an aethereal subtile matter , which is in a perpetual motion , may penetrate and pervade the minutest and inmost cavities of the closest bodies , and adapting it self to the figure of every pore , may adequately fill them ; and so prevent all vacuity , without increasing the weight : to this we answer ; that that subtile matter it self must be of the same substance and nature with all other matter , and therefore it also must weigh proportionally to its bulk ; and as much of it as at any time is comprehended within the pores of a particular body must gravitate jointly with that body : so that if the presence of this aethereal matter made an absolute fullness , all bodies of equal dimensions would be equally heavy : which being refuted by experience , it necessarily follows , that there is a vacuity ; and that ( notwithstanding some little objections full of cavil and sophistry ) mere and simple extension or space hath a quite different nature and notion from real body and impenetrable substance . ( 4. ) this therefore being established ; in the next place it's of great consequence to our present enquiry , if we can make a computation , how great is the whole summ of the void spaces in our system , and what proportion it bears to the corporeal substance . by many and accurate trials it manifestly appears , that refined gold , the most ponderous of known bodies , ( though even that must be allowed to be porous too , being dissoluble in mercury and aqua regis and other chymical liquors ; and being naturally a thing impossible , that the figures and sizes of its constituent particles should be so justly adapted , as to touch one another in every point , ) i say , gold is in specifick weight to common water as 19 to 1 ; and water to common air as 850 to 1 : so that gold is to air as 16150 to 1. whence it clearly appears , seeing matter and gravity are always commensurate , that ( though we should allow the texture of gold to be intirely close without any vacuity ) the ordinary air in which we live and respire is of so thin a composition , that 16149 parts of its dimensions are mere emptiness and nothing ; and the remaining one only material and real substance . but if gold it self be admitted , as it must be , for a porous concrete , the proportion of void to body in the texture of common air will be so much the greater . and thus it is in the lowest and densest region of the air near the surface of the earth , where the whole mass of air is in a state of violent compression , the inferior being press'd and constipated by the weight of all the incumbent . but , since the air is now certainly known to consist of elastick or springy particles , that have a continual tendency and endeavour to expand and display themselves ; and the dimensions , to which they expand themselves , to be reciprocally as the compression ; it follows , that the higher you ascend in it , where it is less and less compress'd by the superior air , the more and more it is rarefied . so that at the hight of a few miles from the surface of the earth , it is computed to have some million parts of empty space in its texture for one of solid matter . and at the hight of one terrestrial semid . ( not above 4000 miles ) the aether is of that wonderfull tenuity , that by an exact calculation , if a small sphere of common air of one inch diameter ( already 16149 parts nothing ) should be further expanded to the thinness of that aether , it would more than take up the vast orb of saturn , which is many million million times bigger than the whole globe of the earth . and yet the higher you ascend above that region , the rarefaction still gradually increases without stop or limit : so that , in a word , the whole concave of the firmament , except the sun and planets and their atmospheres , may be consider'd as a mere void . let us allow then , that all the matter of the system of our sun may be 50000 times as much as the whole mass of the earth ; and we appeal to astronomy , if we are not liberal enough and even prodigal in this concession . and let us suppose further , that the whole globe of the earth is intirely solid and compact without any void interstices ; notwithstanding what hath been shewed before , as to the texture of gold it self . now though we have made such ample allowances ; we shall find , notwithstanding , that the void space of our system is immensly bigger than all its corporeal mass . for , to proceed upon our supposition , that all the matter within the firmament is 50000 times bigger than the solid globe of the earth ; if we assume the diameter of the orbis magnus ( wherein the earth moves about the sun ) to be only 7000 times as big as the diameter of the earth ( though the latest and most accurate observations make it thrice 7000 ) and the diameter of the firmament to be only 100000 times as long as the diameter of the orbis magnus ( though it cannot possibly be less than that , but may be vastly and unspeakably bigger ) we must pronounce , after such large concessions on that side and such great abatements on ours , that the summ of empty spaces within the concave of the firmament is 6860 million million million times bigger than all the matter contain'd in it . now from hence we are enabled to form a right conception and imagination of the supposed chaos ; and then we may proceed to determin the controversy with more certainty and satisfaction ; whether a world like the present could possibly without a divine influence be formed in it or no ? ( 1. ) and first , because every fixt star is supposed by astronomers to be of the same nature with our sun ; and each may very possibly have planets about them , though by reason of their vast distance they be invisible to us : we will assume this reasonable supposition , that the same proportion of void space to matter , which is found in our sun's region within the sphere of the fixt starrs , may competently well hold in the whole mundane space . i am aware , that in this computation we must not assign the whole capacity of that sphere for the region of our sun ; but allow half of its diameter for the radii of the several regions of the next fixt starrs . so that diminishing our former number , as this last consideration requires ; we may safely affirm from certain and demonstrated principles , that the empty space of our solar region ( comprehending half of the diameter of the firmament ) is 8575 hundred thousand million million times more ample than all the corporeal substance in it . and we may fairly suppose , that the same proportion may hold through the whole extent of the universe . ( 2. ) and secondly as to the state or condition of matter before the world was a-making , which is compendiously exprest by the word chaos ; they must suppose , that either all the matter of our system was evenly or well-nigh evenly diffused through the region of the sun , this would represent a particular chaos : or all matter universally so spread through the whole mundane space ; which would truly exhibit a general chaos ; no part of the universe being rarer or denser than another . which is agreeable to the ancient description of it , that * the heavens and earth had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , one form , one texture and constitution : which could not be , unless all the mundane matter were uniformly and evenly diffused . 't is indifferent to our dispute , whether they suppose it to have continued a long time or very little in the state of diffusion . for if there was but one single moment in all past eternity , when matter was so diffused : we shall plainly and fully prove , that it could never have convened afterwards into the present frame and order of things . ( 3. ) it is evident from what we have newly proved , that in the supposition of such a chaos or such an even diffusion either of the whole mundane matter or that of our system ( for it matters not which they assume ) every single particle would have a sphere of void space around it 8575 hundred thousand million million times bigger than the dimensions of that particle . nay further , though the proportion already appear so immense ; yet every single particle would really be surrounded with a void sphere eight times as capacious as that newly mention'd ; its diameter being compounded of the diameter of the proper sphere , and the semi-diameters of the contiguous spheres of the neighbouring particles . from whence it appears , that every particle ( supposing them globular or not very oblong ) would be above nine million times their own length from any other particle . and moreover in the whole surface of this void sphere there can only twelve particles be evenly placed ( as the hypothesis requires ) that is , at equal distances from the central one and each other . so that if the matter of our system or of the universe was equally dispersed , like the supposed chaos ; the result and issue would be , not only that every atom would be many million times its own length distant from any other : but if any one should be moved mechanically ( without direction or attraction ) to the limit of that distance ; 't is above a hundred million millions odds to an unit , that it would not strike upon any other atom , but glide through an empty interval without any contact . ( 4. ) 't is true , that while i calculate these measures , i suppose all the particles of matter to be at absolute rest among themselves , and situated in an exact and mathematical evenness ; neither of which is likely to be allowed by our adversaries , who not admitting the former , but asserting the eternity of motion , will consequently deny the latter also : because in the very moment that motion is admitted in the chaos , such an exact evenness cannot possibly be preserved . but this i do , not to draw any argument against them from the universal rest or accurately equal diffusion of matter ; but only that i may better demonstrate the great rarity and tenuity of their imaginary chaos , and reduce it to computation . which computation will hold with exactness enough , though we allow the particles of the chaos to be variously moved , and to differ something in size and figure and situation . for if some particles should approach nearer each other than in the former proportion ; with respect to some other particles they would be as much remoter . so that notwithstanding a small diversity of their positions and distances , the whole aggregate of matter , as long as it retain'd the name and nature of chaos , would retain well-nigh an uniform tenuity of texture , and may be consider'd as an homogeneous fluid . as several portions of the same sort of water are reckon'd to be of the same specifick gravity ; though it be naturally impossible that every particle and pore of it , consider'd geometrically , should have equal sizes and dimensions . we have now represented the true scheme and condition of the chaos ; how all the particles would be disunited ; and what vast intervals of empty space would lye between each . to form a system therefore , 't is necessary that these squander'd atoms should convene and unite into great and compact masses , like the bodies of the earth and planets . without such a coalition the diffused chaos must have continued and reign'd to all eternity . but how could particles so widely dispersed combine into that closeness of texture ? our adversaries can have only these two ways of accounting for it . either by the common motion of matter , proceeding from external impulse and conflict ( without attraction ) by which every body moves uniformly in a direct line according to the determination of the impelling force . for , they may say , the atoms of the chaos being variously moved according to this catholic law , must needs knock and interfere ; by which means some that have convenient figures for mutual coherence might chance to stick together , and others might join to those , and so by degrees such huge masses might be formed , as afterwards became suns and planets : or there might arise some vertiginous motions or whirlpools in the matter of the chaos ; whereby the atoms might be thrust and crowded to the middle of those whirlpools , and there constipate one another into great solid globes , such as now appear in the world. or secondly by mutual gravitation or attraction . for they may assert , that matter hath inherently and essentially such an intrinseck energy , whereby it incessantly tends to unite it self to all other matter : so that several particles placed in a void space at any distance whatsoever would without any external impulse spontaneously convene and unite together . and thus the atoms of the chaos , though never so widely diffused , might by this innate property of attraction soon assemble themselves into great sphaerical masses , and constitute systems like the present heaven and earth . this is all that can be proposed by atheists , as an efficient cause of a world. for as to the epicurean theory , of atoms descending down an infinite space by an inherent principle of gravitation , which tends not toward other matter , but toward a vacuum or nothing ; and verging from the perpendicular * no body knows why nor when nor where ; 't is such miserable absurd stuff , so repugnant to it self , and so contrary to the known phaenomena of nature ( yet it contented supine unthinking atheists for a thousand years together ) that we will not now honour it with a special refutation . but what it hath common with the other explications , we will fully confute together with them in these three propositions . ( 1. ) that by common motion ( without attraction ) the dissever'd particles of the chaos could never make the world ; could never convene into such great compact masses , as the planets now are ; nor either acquire or continue such motions , as the planets now have . ( 2. ) that such a mutual gravitation or spontaneous attraction can neither be inherent and essential to matter ; nor ever supervene to it , unless impress'd and infused into it by a divine power . ( 3. ) that though we should allow such attraction to be natural and essential to all matter ; yet the atoms of a chaos could never so convene by it , as to form the present system : or if they could form it , it could neither acquire such motions , nor continue permanent in this state , without the power and providence of a divine being . i. and first , that by common motion the matter of chaos could never convene into such masses , as the planets now are . any man , that considers the spacious void intervals of the chaos , how immense they are in proportion to the bulk of the atoms , will hardly induce himself to believe , that particles so widely disseminated could ever throng and crowd one another into a close and compact texture . he will rather conclude , that those few that should happen to clash , might rebound after the collision ; or if they cohered , yet by the next conflict with other atoms might be separated again , and so on in an eternal vicissitude of fast and loose , without ever consociating into the huge condense bodies of planets ; some of whose particles upon this supposition must have travell'd many millions of leagues through the gloomy regions of chaos , to place themselves where they now are . but then how rarely would there be any clashing at all ? how very rarely in comparison to the number of atoms ? the whole multitude of them , generally speaking , might freely move and rove for ever with very little occurring or interfering . let us conceive two of the nearest particles according to our former calculation ; or rather let us try the same proportions in another example , that will come easier to the imagination . let us suppose two ships , fitted with durable timber and rigging , but without pilot or mariners , to be placed in the vast atlantick or the pacifique ocean , as far asunder as may be . how many thousand years might expire , before those solitary vessels should happen to strike one against the other ? but let us imagin the space yet more ample , even the whole face of the earth to be covered with sea , and the two ships to be placed in the opposite poles : might not they now move long enough without any danger of clashing ? and yet i find , that the two nearest atoms in our evenly diffused chaos have ten thousand times less proportion to the two void circular planes around them , than our two ships would have to the whole surface of the deluge . let us assume then another deluge ten thousand times larger than noah's . is it not now utterly incredible , that our two vessels , placed there antipodes to each other , should ever happen to concur ? and yet let me add , that the ships would move in one and the same surface ; and consequently must needs encounter , when they either advance towards one another in direct lines , or meet in the intersection of cross ones ; but the atoms may not only fly side-ways , but over likewise and under each other : which makes it many million times more improbable , that they should interfere than the ships , even in the last and unlikeliest instance . but they may say , though the odds indeed be unspeakable that the atoms do not convene in any set number of trials , yet in an infinite succession of them may not such a combination possibly happen ? but let them consider , that the improbability of casual hits is never diminished by repetition of trials ; they are as unlikely to fall out at the thousandth as at the first . so that in a matter of mere chance , when there is so many millions odds against any assignable experiment ; 't is in vain to expect it should ever succeed , even in endless duration . but though we should concede it to be simply possible , that the matter of chaos might convene into great masses , like planets : yet it 's absolutely impossible , that those masses should acquire such revolutions about the sun. let us suppose any one of those masses to be the present earth . now the annual revolution of the earth must proceed ( in this hypothesis ) either from the summ and result of the several motions of all the particles that formed the earth , or from a new impulse from some external matter , after it was formed . the former is apparently absurd , because the particles that form'd the round earth must needs convene from all points and quarters toward the middle , and would generally tend toward its center ; which would make the whole compound to rest in a poise : or at least that overplus of motion , which the particles of one hemisphere could have above the other , would be very small and inconsiderable ; too feeble and languid to propell so vast and ponderous a body with that prodigious velocity . and secondly , 't is impossible , that any external matter should impell that compound mass , after it was formed . 't is manifest , that nothing else could impell it , unless the aethereal matter be supposed to be carried about the sun like a vortex or whirlpool , as a vehicle to convey it and the rest of the planets . but this is refuted from what we have shewn above , that those spaces of the aether may be reckon'd a mere void , the whole quantity of their matter scarce amounting to the weight of a grain . 't is refuted also from matter of fact in the motion of comets ; which , as often as they are visible to us , are in the region of our planets ; and there are observed to move , some in quite contrary courses to theirs , and some in cross and oblique ones , in planes inclined to the plane of the ecliptick in all kinds of angles : which firmly evinces , that the regions of the aether are empty and free , and neither resist nor assist the revolutions of planets . but moreover there could not possibly arise in the chaos any vortices or whirlpools at all ; either to form the globes of the planets , or to revolve them when formed . 't is acknowledged by all , that inanimate unactive matter moves always in a streight line , nor ever reflects in an angle , nor bends in a circle ( which is a continual reflexion ) unless either by some external impulse , that may divert it from the direct motion , or by an intrinsec principle of gravity or attraction , that may make it describe a curve line about the attracting body . but this latter cause is not now supposed : and the former could never beget whirlpools in a chaos of so great a laxity and thinness . for 't is matter of certain experience and universally allowed , that all bodies moved circularly have a perpetual endeavour to recede from the center , and every moment would fly out in right lines , if they were not violently restrain'd and kept in by contiguous matter . but there is no such restraint in a chaos , no want of empty room there ; no possibility of effecting one single revolution in way of a vortex , which necessarily requires either an absolute fulness of matter , or a pretty close constipation and mutual contact of its particles . and for the same reason 't is evident , that the planets could not continue their revolutions about the sun ; though they could possibly acquire them . for to drive and carry the planets in such orbs as they now describe , that aethereal matter must be compact and dense , as dense as the very planets themselves : otherwise they would certainly fly out in spiral lines to the very circumference of the vortex . but we have often inculcated , that the wide tracts of the aether may be reputed as a mere extended void . so that there is nothing ( in this hypothesis ) that can retain and bind the planets in their orbs for one single moment ; but they would immediately desert them and the neighbourhood of the sun , and vanish away in tangents to their several circles into the abyss of mundane space . ii. secondly we affirm , that mutual gravitation or spontaneous attraction cannot possibly be innate and essential to matter . by attraction we do not here understand what is improperly , though vulgarly , called so , in the operations of drawing , sucking , pumping , &c. which is really pulsion and trusion ; and belongs to that common motion , which we have already shewn to be insufficient for the formation of a world. but we now mean ( as we have explain'd it before ) such a power and quality , whereby all parcels of matter would mutually attract or mutually tend and press to all others ; so that ( for instance ) two distant atoms in vacuo would spontaneously convene together without the impulse of external bodies . now we say , if our atheists suppose this power to be inherent and essential to matter ; they overthrow their own hypothesis : there could never be a chaos at all upon these terms , but the present form of our system must have continued from all eternity ; against their own supposition , and what we have proved in our last . for if they affirm , that there might be a chaos notwithstanding innate gravity ; then let them assign any period though never so remote , when the diffused matter might convene . they must confess , that before that assigned period matter had existed eternally , inseparably endued with this principle of attraction ; and yet had never attracted nor convened before , during that infinite duration : which is so monstrous an absurdity , as even they will blush to be charged with . but some perhaps may imagin , that a former system might be dissolved and reduced to a chaos , from which the present system might have its original , as that former had from another , and so on : new systems having grown out of old ones in infinite vicissitudes from all past eternity . but we say , that in the supposition of innate gravity no system at all could be dissolved . for how is it possible , that the matter of solid masses like earth and planets and starrs should fly up from their centers against its inherent principle of mutual attraction , and diffuse it self in a chaos ? this is absurder than the other : that only supposed innate gravity not to be exerted ; this makes it to be defeated , and to act contrary to its own nature . so that upon all accounts this essential power of gravitation or attraction is irreconcilable with the atheist's own doctrine of a chaos . and secondly 't is repugnant to common sense and reason . 't is utterly unconceivable , that inanimate brute matter ( without the mediation of some immaterial being ) should operate upon and affect other matter without mutual contact ; that distant bodies should act upon each other through a vacuum without the intervention of something else by and through which the action may be conveyed from one to the other . we will not obscure and perplex with multitude of words , what is so clear and evident by its own light , and must needs be allowed by all , that have any competent use of thinking , and are initiated into , i do not say the mysteries , but the plainest principles of philosophy . now mutual gravitation or attraction ( in our present acception of the words ) is the same thing with this ; 't is an operation or vertue or influence of distant bodies upon each other through an empty interval , without any effluvia or exhalations or other corporeal medium to convey and transmit it . this power therefore cannot be innate and essential to matter . and if it be not essential ; it is consequently most manifest ( seeing it doth not depend upon motion or rest or figure or position of parts , which are all the ways that matter can diversify it self ) that it could never supervene to it , unless impress'd and infused into it by an immaterial and divine power . we have proved , that a power of mutual gravitation , without contact or impulse , can in no-wise be attributed to mere matter : or if it could ; we shall presently shew , that it would be wholly unable to form the world out of chaos . but by the way ; what if it be made appear , that there is really such a power of gravity perpetually acting in the constitution of the present system ? this would be a new and invincible argument for the being of god : being a direct and positive proof , that an immaterial living mind doth inform and actuate the dead matter , and support the frame of the world. i will lay before you some certain phaenomena of nature ; and leave it to your consideration from what principle they can proceed . 't is demonstrated , that the sun , moon and all the planets do reciprocally gravitate one toward another : that the gravitating power of each of these is exactly proportional to their matter , and arises from the several gravitations or attractions of every individual particle that compose the whole mass : that all matter near the surface of the earth , for example , doth not only gravitate downwards , but upwards also and side-ways and toward all imaginable points ; though the tendency downwards be praedominant and alone discernible , because of the greatness and nearness of the attracting body , the earth : that every particle of the whole system doth attract and is attracted by all the rest , all operating upon all : that this vniversal attraction or gravitation is an incessant , regular and uniform action by certain and established laws according to quantity of matter and longitude of distance : that it cannot be destroyed nor impair'd nor augmented by any thing , neither by motion nor rest , nor situation nor posture , nor alteration of form , nor diversity of medium : that it is not a magnetical power , nor the effect of a vortical motion ; those common attempts toward the explication of gravity : these things , i say , are fully demonstrated , as matters of fact , by that very ingenious author , whom we cited before . now how is it possible that these things should be effected by any material and mechanical agent ? we have evinced , that mere matter cannot operate upon matter without mutual contact . it remains then , that these phaenomena are produced either by the intervention of air or aether or other such medium , that communicates the impulse from one body to another ; or by effluvia and spirits that are emitted from the one , and pervene to the other . we can conceive no other way of performing them mechanically . but what impulse or agitation can be propagated through the aether from one particle entombed and wedged in the very center of the earth to another in the center of saturn ? yet even those two particles do reciprocally affect each other with the same force and vigour , as they would do at the same distance in any other situation imaginable . and because the impulse from this particle is not directed to that only ; but to all the rest in the universe , to all quatters and regions , at once invariably and incessantly : to do this mechanically ; the same physical point of matter must move all manner of ways equally and constantly in the same instant and moment ; which is flatly impossible . but if this particle cannot propagate motion ; much less can it send out effluvia to all points without intermission or variation ; such multitudes of effluvia as to lay hold on every atom in the universe without missing of one . nay every single particle of the very effluvia ( seeing they also attract and gravitate ) must in this supposition emit other secondary effluvia all the world over ; and those others still emit more , and so in infinitum . now if these things be repugnant to human reason ; we have great reason to affirm , that universal gravitation , a thing certainly existent in nature , is above all mechanism and material causes , and proceeds from a higher principle , a divine energy and impression . iii. thirdly we affirm ; that , though we should allow , that reciprocal attraction is essential to matter ; yet the atoms of a chaos could never so convene by it , as to form the present system ; or if they could form it , yet it could neither acquire these revolutions , nor subsist in the present condition , without the conservation and providence of a divine being . ( 1. ) for first , if the matter of the universe , and consequently the space through which it 's diffused , be supposed to be finite ( and i think it might be demonstrated to be so ; but that we have already exceeded the just measures of a sermon ) then , since every single particle hath an innate gravitation toward all others , proportionated by matter and distance : it evidently appears , that the outward atoms of the chaos would necessarily tend inwards and descend from all quarters toward the middle of the whole space ( for in respect to every atom there would lie through the middle the greatest quantity of matter and the most vigorous attraction ) and would there form and constitute one huge sphaerical mass ; which would be the only body in the universe . it is plain therefore , that upon this supposition the matter of the chaos could never compose such divided and different masses , as the starrs and planets of the present world. but allowing our adversaries , that the planets might be composed : yet however they could not possibly acquire such revolutions in circular orbs , or ( which is all one to our present purpose ) in ellipses very little eccentric . for let them assign any place where the planets were formed . was it nearer to the sun , than the present distances are ? but that is notoriously absurd : for then they must have ascended from the place of their formation , against the essential property of mutual attraction . or were each formed in the same orbs , in which they now move ? but then they must have moved from the point of rest , in an horizontal line without any inclination or descent . now there is no natural cause , neither innate gravity nor impulse of external matter , that could beget such a motion . for gravity alone must have carried them downwards to the vicinity of the sun. and that the ambient aether is too liquid and empty , to impell them horizontally with that prodigious celerity , we have sufficiently proved before . or were they made in some higher regions of the heavens ; and from thence descended by their essential gravity , till they all arrived at their respective orbs ; each with its present degree of velocity , acquired by the fall ? but then why did they not continue their descent , till they were contiguous to the sun ; whither both mutual attraction and impetus carried them ? what natural agent could turn them aside , could impell them so strongly with a transverse side-blow against that tremendous weight and rapidity , when whole worlds are a falling ? but though we should suppose , that by some cross attraction or other they might acquire an obliquity of descent , so as to miss the body of the sun , and to fall on one side of it : then indeed the force of their fall would carry them quite beyond it ; and so they might fetch a compass about it , and then return and ascend by the same steps and degrees of motion and velocity , with which they descended before . such an eccentric motion as this , much after the manner that comets revolve about the sun , they might possibly acquire by their innate principle of gravity : but circular revolutions in concentric orbs about the sun or other central body could in no-wise be attain'd without the power of the divine arm. for the case of the planetary motions is this . let us conceive all the planets to be formed or constituted with their centers in their several orbs ; and at once to be impress'd on them this gravitating energy toward all other matter , and a transverse impulse of a just quantity in each , projecting them directly in tangents to those orbs. the compound motion , which arises from this gravitation and projection together , describes the present revolutions of the primary planets about the sun , and of the secondary about those : the gravity prohibiting , that they cannot recede from the centers of their motions ; and the transverse impulse with-holding , that they cannot approach to them . now although gravity could be innate ( which we have proved that it cannot be ) yet certainly this projected , this transverse and violent motion can only be ascribed to the right hand of the most high god , creator of heaven and earth . but finally , though we grant , that these circular revolutions could be naturally attained ; or , if they will , that this very individual world in its present posture and motion was actually formed out of chaos by mechanical causes : yet it requires a divine power and providence to have conserved it so long in the present state and condition . we have shewed , that there is a transverse impulse impress'd upon the planets , which retains them in their several orbs , that they be not drawn down by their gravitating powers toward the sun or other central bodies . gravity we understand to be a constant energy or faculty ( which god hath infused into matter ) perpetually acting by certain measures and ( naturally ) inviolable laws ; i say , a faculty and power : for we cannot conceive that the act of gravitation of this present moment can propagate it self or produce that of the next . but 't is otherwise as to the transverse motion ; which ( by reason of the inactivity of matter and its inability to change its present state either of moving or resting ) would from one single impulse continue for ever equal and uniform , unless changed by the resistence of occurring bodies or by a gravitating power ; so that the planets , since they move horizontally ( whereby gravity doth not affect their swiftness ) and through the liquid and unresisting spaces of the heavens ( where either no bodies at all or inconsiderable ones do occur ) may preserve the same velocity which the first impulse imprest upon them , not only for five or six thousand years , but many millions of millions . it appears then , that if there was but one vast sun in the universe , and all the rest were planets , revolving around him in concentric orbs , at convenient distances : such a system as that would very long endure ; could it but naturally have a principle of mutual attraction , and be once actually put into circular motions . but the frame of the present world hath a quite different structure : here 's an innumerable multitude of fixt starrs or suns ; all of which are demonstrated ( and supposed also by our adversaries ) to have mutual attraction : or if they have not ; even not to have it is an equal proof of a divine being , that hath so arbitrarily indued matter with a power of gravity not essential to it , and hath confined its action to the matter of its own solar system : i say , all the fixt starrs have a principle of mutual gravitation ; and yet they are neither revolved about a common center , nor have any transverse impulse nor any thing else to restrain them from approaching toward each other , as their gravitating powers incite them . now what natural cause can overcome nature it self ? what is it that holds and keeps them in fixed stations and intervals against an incessant and inherent tendency to desert them ? nothing could hinder , but that the outward starrs with their systems of planets must necessarily have descended toward the middlemost system of the universe , whither all would be the most strongly attracted from all parts of a finite space . it is evident therefore that the present frame of sun and fixt starrs could not possibly subsist without the providence of that almighty deity , who spake the word and they were made , who commanded and they were created ; who hath made them fast for ever and ever , and hath given them a law , which shall not be broken . ( 2. ) and secondly in the supposition of an infinite chaos , 't is hard indeed to determin , what would follow in this imaginary case from an innate principle of gravity . but to hasten to a conclusion , we will grant for the present , that the diffused matter might convene into an infinite number of great masses at great distances from one another , like the starrs and planets of this visible part of the world. but then it is impossible , that the planets should naturally attain these circular revolutions , either by intrinsec gravitation or the impulse of ambient bodies . it is plain , here is no difference as to this ; whether the world be infinite or finite : so that the same arguments that we have used before , may be equally urged in this supposition . and though we should concede , that these revolutions might be acquired , and that all were settled and constituted in the present state and posture of things ; yet , we say , the continuance of this frame and order for so long a duration as the known ages of the world must necessarily infer the existence of god. for though the universe was infinite , the fixt starrs could not be fixed , but would naturally convene together , and confound system with system : for , all mutually attracting , every one would move whither it was most powerfully drawn . this , they may say , is indubitable in the case of a finite world , where some systems must needs be outmost , and therefore be drawn toward the middle : but when infinite systems succeed one another through an infinite space , and none is either inward or outward ; may not all the systems be situated in an accurate poise ; and , because equally attracted on all sides , remain fixed and unmoved ? but to this we reply ; that unless the very mathematical center of gravity of every system be placed and fixed in the very mathematical center of the attractive power of all the rest ; they cannot be evenly attracted on all sides , but must preponderate some way or other . now he that considers , what a mathematical center is , and that quantity is infinitly divisible ; will never be persuaded , that such an universal equilibrium arising from the coincidence of infinite centers can naturally be acquired or maintain'd . if they say ; that upon the supposition of infinite matter , every system would be infinitly , and therefore equally attracted on all sides ; and consequently would rest in an exact equilibrium , be the center of its gravity in what position soever : this will overthrow their very hypothesis ; at this rate in an infinite chaos nothing at all could be formed ; no particles could convene by mutual attraction ; for every one there must have infinite matter around it , and therefore must rest for ever being evenly balanced between infinite attractions . even the planets upon this principle must gravitate no more toward the sun , than any other way : so that they would not revolve in curve lines , but fly away in direct tangents , till they struck against other planets or starrs in some remote regions of the infinite space . an equal attraction on all sides of all matter is just equal to no attraction at all : and by this means all the motion in the universe must proceed from external impulse alone ; which we have proved before to be an incompetent cause for the formation of a world. and now , o thou almighty and eternal creator , having consider'd the heavens the work of thy fingers , the moon and the starrs which thou hast ordained , with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify thy glorious name , evermore praising thee and saying ; holy , holy , holy , lord god of hosts , heaven and earth are full of thy glory : glory be to thee , o lord most high. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a69557-e300 serm. v. p. 6 , 7. serm. v. p. 12 , 13. mr. boyle's physicom . exp. of air. hydrostat . paradoxes . lucret. lib. 1. newton philos . natur. princ. math. lib. 3. prop. 6. mr. boyle of air and porosity of bodies . mr. boyle ibid. newton philos . nat. principia . math. p. 503. * diod. sicul. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . apoll. rhodius lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * lucret. nec regione loci certa , nec tempore certo . serm. v. p. 32. newton ibidem p. 480. vide serm. vi. & serm. viii . newton philosophiae naturalis princ. math. lib. iii. psal . 148. psal . 8. the certainty of divine revelation a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields, feb. 4. 1694/5. being the second of the lecture for the ensuing year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire. by john williams, d.d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty. williams, john, 1636?-1709. 1696 approx. 53 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 22 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2005-12 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a66386 wing w2695a estc r220000 99831440 99831440 35903 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66386) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 35903) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 2121:10) the certainty of divine revelation a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields, feb. 4. 1694/5. being the second of the lecture for the ensuing year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire. by john williams, d.d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty. williams, john, 1636?-1709. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. the second edition corrected. [4], 39, [1] p. printed for ri. chiswell, and tho. cockerill: at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard; and at the three legs in the poultrey, london : m dc xc vi. [1696] with an initial imprimatur leaf dated feb. 4. 1654/5. and signed guil. lancaster. with a final advertisment page. reproduction of the original in the trinity college library, cambridge. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible. -n.t -hebrews i, 1-2 -sermons -early works to 1800. sermons, english -17th century. salvation -early works to 1800. 2005-01 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-01 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2005-04 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion imprimatur , feb. 4. 1694 / 5. guil. lancaster . the certainty of divine revelation . a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields , feb. 4. 1694 / 5. being the second of the lecture for the ensuing year , founded by the honourable robert boyle , esquire . by john williams , d. d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . the second edition corrected . london : printed for ri. chiswell , and tho. cockerill : at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard ; and at the three legs in the poultrey . mdcxcvi . heb. i. 1 , 2. god who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. in which words i have observed there is , i. a description given of revelation , 't is god's speaking , and declaring his will to persons chosen for that purpose . ii. the certainty of it ; 't is by way of declaration , and taken for granted , god who at sundry times , and in divers manners spake , &c. iii. the order observed in delivering this revelation ; it was at sundry times , and in divers manners : in time past by the prophets , and in the last days by his son. it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , in parts , and in several periods and manifestations ; and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , by illapses , visions , &c. iv. the perfection and conclusion of all , 't is in the last days by his son ; the heir of all things , &c. under the first i have shewed , 1. what we mean by revelation , in contradistinction to natural light. 2. the possibility of it . 3. the expedience , usefulness , and necessity of it . it is the second i am to proceed to , viz. the certainty . under which i shall shew , i. that god has reveal'd himself ; or that there has been such revelation . ii. the difference between pretended and real revelation . iii. that the scriptures of the old and new testament contain such a revelation , and have upon them all the characters necessary and belonging to such revelation . i. that there has been a divine revelation . what i have principally in my eye , is the proof of the divine authority of the holy scriptures ; but for the present i shall lay that aside , and take my rise towards it from such general principles and observations as are founded upon reason ; or such particular instances and matters of fact as manifestly proceeded from revelation . and accordingly i shall dispose of what i have to say in proof of it , under these four heads ; as we have for it , 1. a rational or moral evidence . 2. a natural . 3. a traditionary , or testimony . 4. a supernatural . first , moral : where in the first place i take for granted what i have before proved , viz. that a divine revelation is expedient , useful , and necessary ; and upon that supposition shall attempt to prove the certainty of it . i acknowledge , where the necessity is created by our own fault , there lies no obligation upon the creator to provide a remedy ; and since the necessity mankind is now in , proceeded from their apostacy , that necessity can in reason be no just plea for it , nor a sufficient excuse in the want of it . when man was created in such a state as made revelation a necessary help to his reason , god immediately afforded him such an extraordinary manifestation of himself : but when he forfeited that divine gift , he could have no allowable right or claim to it ; for to him that hath , and improves what he hath , shall be given ; but to him that hath not , and takes no care to preserve and improve it , may justly be denied what was otherwise fit and necessary for him to have . this indeed is the case , if rigorously stated ; but considering the miserable circumstances mankind were in after the fall , more especially through want of a revelation , we may reasonably conclude , that the goodness of god would no less incline him to give it , than if he had been obliged to it by a special grant , promise , or covenant . decrees are secrets lock'd up in the breast of almighty god ; and whatever good is therein intended , how beneficial soever they may be in the event , yet afford no satisfaction to us , till they are opened and revealed : and though the redemption of mankind were decreed , and were according to circumstances to operate , and in due season to be fully executed , yet what would they have been the better , if for 4000 years together that decree had lay hid in the bosom of the father , and the decree had never been a promise , and that promise had never before that time been reveal'd unto them ? so that had we no such promise upon record , as , the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head ; yet however , we might be as sure that there was some such kind of revelation made to adam , some promise of forgiveness , when god did intend to redeem him and all mankind , as there was a design to redeem them : it being as necessary toward their present comfort to have a revelation of that mercy in their redemption , as redemption it self was necessary toward their happiness . and this will farther be confirmed , if we consider what has been before proved in the former discourse , that all men have had a sense of the want of a revelation ; and have been possess'd with an earnest and impatient desire of obtaining it ; which being a desire becoming human nature , useful and fit to be cherish'd , it is not to be conceiv'd , that where there is provision made to answer all sensible and natural appetites throughout the creation , that this no less importunate , though supervenient desire , should have no regard paid to it , but be suffered , like aetna , to be always burning within , tormenting , as it were , the bowels of mankind with an unquenchable fire , or an unsatiable desire of knowing what was not to be known , and of obtaining what was not to be obtained . this is a state that the consideration of god's goodness will not admit us to suppose ; and we must therefore necessarily conclude , that the same divine power and wisdom that made man a reasonable and inquisitive being , and has allowed him a world of wonders to employ that faculty in the contemplation of , hath also provided for that noble desire of knowing what the will of his maker is , and what relates to his own eternal welfare ; and that is , by a revelation . indeed without this , 't is with him as with one that is born blind , that whatever other evidence he may have of the being of a god , wants one of the most convincing of all , which is , the wonders of an almighty power and incomprehensible wisdom , conspicuous in the frame of nature , and the visible parts of the creation : so whatever sense men , that have only reason for their guide , may have of the mercy and goodness of god ; whatever they may observe in the course of his providence to confirm them in the belief of it ; whatever hopes they may have of it , from the general notion of the divine nature ; whatever desire they may have of it , from a sense of their own misery , yet they want that evidence of it , which , as we find by constant experience , alone can satisfy and compose their doubtful and distracted minds , and that is certainty , or , which is the same , revelation ; by which and nothing less , that certainty is to be attained . and therefore we have just reason to believe that was not wanting to the first ages of the world : for the same reason we have to believe god to be good , the like reason we have to believe that he did after that manner make himself known in those early times from the first to mankind . but it may be said , what is all this reasoning to matter of fact ? for if after all , there has been no such revelation , or no proof can be made of it , that is more than a thousand speculative arguments for it . and besides , supposing there was once a revelation , what was that to those ages and nations that afterwards wanted it , and were condemned , as it were , to sit in darkness , and the shadow of death ? the last of these is not to be denied , and so i shall first of all consider it . and in answer to it it shall suffice to say for the present , that if there has been such a revelation made known to the world , and all due care taken by the almighty and beneficent creator for the preservation of it , and it afterwards be damnified , or corrupted , or in fine , utterly lost , through the negligence or perverseness of men themselves , the fault of the miscarriage wholly rests upon them . the making known the revelation , was an extraordinary case , and is a voluntary act of grace and favour in almighty god ; the preservation of it is the ordinary case , and belongs to men : and when once the extraordinary case becomes ordinary , god leaves it to its proper and natural course , to second causes , to human prudence , care , and inspection . thus it is with reason , the noblest principle of human nature , which if not attended and nurtur'd , may degenerate into stupidity , and a kind of brutality . as it happen'd to some nations in the southern parts of africa , west-tartary , and west-indies , that notwithstanding the characters of an almighty being legibly stamped upon the face of the whole and every part of the creation , have so far degenerated , that it has been questioned , whether they have had any notion or sense of a god , or any sort of worship for him . and so it is in the case before us : for as god had made a special revelation of himself to adam after as well as before the fall , so he took a very effectual way for the conveyance and preservation of it , by the longaevity of those patriarchs with whom it was deposited , and who were to take care that it might be preserv'd inviolable : three of which alone fill'd up the first period of 1656 years , from the creation to the flood ; viz. adam , methuselah , and noah : so that methuselah lived 243 years with adam , ( for so old was he when adam died ; ) and noah lived 600 years with methuselah ( for so old was noah when methuselah died , and the flood came . ) and four again of the fathers after the flood ( tho the extent of their lives was shortned ) fell in with the 856 years from the flood to the giving of the law by moses at sinai : so that abraham is well supposed to have lived 150 years with shem , jacob about 20 with abraham , levi 60 years with jacob , and amram the father of moses lived in the time of his grandfather levi. now what course , in the circumstances and the state the world was at that time in , could be more fit , if duly observed , for conveying the matter of a revelation through the several periods and ages of the world , so far as personal teaching was sufficient ? and especially , when the things revealed , and after this manner to be delivered from age to age , were of importance sufficient to oblige both teacher and scholar ; and withal so few , as might without any difficulty be retained . and therefore , if notwithstanding the method taken by almighty god for the registring what he had revealed , in the memories of men , and for delivering it down to future ages , there was afterwards no care taken on their part , and no reasonable provision made for conserving such a revelation , but that in process of time , it was either totally obliterated , or vilely corrupted , the miscarriage was ( as i have said ) wholly chargeable upon such as by their negligence or wickedness made mankind to sin , in not delivering , or not faithfully delivering down to posterity what they themselves had received in its original purity from their ancestors . the case is indeed very lamentable , but what is not to be helped , without almighty god alters the nature of things , turns them out of their proper and ordinary course , and acts solely by his own power and prerogative , either without or above the agency of second causes . which is no more with reason to be expected , than that when god has made the earth in its own nature fertile , and capable of yielding all things necessary for man's subsistence , with cultivation ; that he should also be obliged to continue it in the same state it was created in ; and when by the sloth and stupidity of men it brought forth nothing but thorns and thistles , should miraculously make every tree that is pleasant to the sight , and good for food , and whatever was beneficial and necessary , to grow out of the ground , as at first , and before there was a man to till the ground . now if this be unreasonable for man to expect , it is so then in the case of revelation , which god had committed to the custody of men themselves , and made them whose interest it was , to be the conservators of it . having thus far considered the case of those that had not , or have no revelation , i shall return to the main point , which is , to shew that there has been such a revelation . and that brings me to the iid . sort of proof , which i call natural , as it belongs to things natural , and is opposed to what is of mere institution , ( which i conceive to be equivalent to revelation ) : and they are speech , and common notions . 1. speech : for which there is in man a natural capacity , and organs admirably contrived and disposed ( as we see by experience . ) but now there is a vast difference in that case betwixt us and other creatures ; for other creatures have not only organs as we have , fitted for their proper notes , but at once have all those organs in tune and in operation ; so that whatever they would signify in their way , and according to their kind , they immediately thereby express : but though the organs of speech in us are as exquisitely framed , yet we gradually grow up to the use of them ; and again , can never apply them , or know how to use them , without some precedent instruction . and therefore it has been the opinion of many , that without hearing others speak , we should be eternally dumb * ; as the experiment of psammeticus king of egypt shews † , ( if true ) of shutting up two children in separate caves , where they never heard one articulate word , and so could use none . so that now man must be taught , and as he is taught , so he speaks . but we will put the case in which there was no human instructor , and yet the person spoke as articulately , and had the free use of words , and knew as well how to express his mind by them from the very first , as if he had had the best helps for it in the world , and had been never so long a time versed and practised in it ; and that person was adam , who was created in a full age , and had none before him ; and yet must as soon have words for use , and skill how to use them , as he had to give names to the creatures , according to their several kinds . for without this , what conversation could he have with eve , or what comfort could he take in her presence , ( for it was not to be call'd society ) ; and what a dejection must there be in each of them , when all other creatures had their notes for understanding each other , according to the species they were of , but they themselves alone were mute . so that though 't is not expresly said , that adam and eve had any discourse ; yet 't is as certain from the reason of the thing , as it is that god spake to them , or the serpent and eve spake together . but 't is certain adam must then be self-instructed , or be instructed by god : he must then invent a language of himself , or he must be taught by him that made him . if he was to teach himself , how could he know that he was able to speak ; or how can we think he would begin his conversation by an attempt that way ? for 't is highly probable , that they would first have began with dumb signs , or some external motions ( as we see those ordinarily do , that have no words which others can understand ) ; or if they should at length have found out such an expedient , and formed some articulate sounds , yet what a tedious course would this have been , and how long before it could be wrought into a language , that they could first think of words , and then remember them , and then use them , and then fall into discourse ? don't we find how difficult it is to learn to speak a foreign language , when we have all advantages for it , by instruction and discourse with those that speak it ? but suppose two persons wholly strangers to one another , and of a language as different as chinese and english , should meet together , and be constrained by circumstances , being without other society , to converse with each other ; though each had a language of their own , and knew how to speak and form words for pronunciation , yet how long would it be before they could fix the words for it , and to have a term for every thing they were to discourse about ; to invent and agree upon it , and then to remember them , and then to use them ? and then much more will the difficulties increase , were these two in the case of adam and eve , and to beat out the track which never any walked in before ; to invent speech it self , and words to be spoken , and sufficient to express the thoughts of each other , so as to make company , and that company agreeable , acceptable , and useful . this must have been the work of time , if it had been practicable ; and the difficulty of it would have made each others company a burden rather than a pleasure , till such time as they could come to a mutual understanding of one anothers minds and inclinations . and therefore to make them meet helps for each other , it was of necessity that they should have an extraordinary power communicated from heaven , and be enabled by that instinct as soon to speak , as the other creatures are in a course of nature to utter such voices as are suitable to their kind , or as mankind are to express their passions of joy or sorrow , by laughter or tears . so that 't is not without reason , i rank the gift of speech among those things that are of a divine infusion , and so equivalent to revelation . 2. another instance of this kind , is what is usually called common notions , or natural impressions : common notions , because they are common to all mankind ; and natural impressions , because they are conceiv'd not to be acquired by any human means , such as education and instruction , observation and experience ; but are imprinted on our nature by an immediate and supernatural power . that there are such notions as all mankind do agree in , is undeniable ; such as the belief of a god , an adoration to be given to him ; and that there is an essential difference between good and evil , so that good cannot by any art or endeavour be made or esteemed to be evil , nor evil good : for as the natures of the things themselves cannot be altered , so neither can our conceptions of them . it is as undeniable , that these notions or impressions are so early to be discovered , and do so grow up with our reason , that they seem not to be the effects of our reason , but rather to be antecedent to it ; and that it is rather what we find , than what we chuse ; what belongs to our nature , than what we add to it . and accordingly as we have a notion , so a sense of those things , antecedent to all reasoning and instruction , which we call conscience , excusing or else accusing , according to the nature of the things , whether good or evil . now as the nature of the things must be before our conception of them , so both must be before we pass this practical judgment upon them : and if we do exercise this faculty antecedent to all instruction , then so must the sense of the things be , about which it is exercised . so the apostle , rom. 2. 14. when the gentiles which have not the law , do by nature the things contained in the law , these having not the law , are a law unto themselves : which shew the work of the law written in their hearts , their conscience also bearing witness , &c. which is exactly agreeable to the phrase of the wisest among them ; so aristotle calls it , the natural , common , and unwritten law. but above all , cicero ( who best knew the sense of the philosophers , and how to express it ) doth speak fully to this point , both as to the universality of these first notions , and the agreement in them by all mankind ; both as to the nature and rise of them . there is , saith he , a certain law , not written , but native to us , which we have not learned , received , nor read : but we have taken and derived it from nature it self ; to which we were not taught to be conformed , but made ; it was not by institution , but infusion . this , in another place , he saith all men have by a certain anticipation , and calls them innate cogitations ; and will allow it to come from no less a power than what is divine . we have , saith he , received a conscience from the immortal gods , which cannot be plucked away from us . so that whatever improvement these notions and impressions may receive from an after instruction , yet they seem to be implanted in us by the same power that made us reasonable creatures , who no more could leave himself without witness in our minds , than in the works of nature . and being thus antecedent to our own reasoning , or other information , can proceed from no other a principle than revelation doth , and is therefore equivalent to it . iii. there is a traditionary proof of revelation , which is by testimony , or by such instances as are a part of the revelation ; and of which , as i conceive , no tolerable account can be given , if they are not allowed to be of divine institution . in order to which , 1. i observe , that the want of a revelation in any particular nation or age , is not an argument sufficient to prove that there never was any revelation . for revelation being more especially of things not knowable by the mere light of nature , may be lost , while the light of nature remains . it being in this case much as it is in matters of history , which may be derived from one generation to another , and especially by registers and memorials : but if a former generation be careless and slothful , or the records not faithfully wrote or kept , the matters of fact in one age are irrecoverably lost in the next , or turned into fables . of which the earliest times are too manifest an instance ; and for which reason varro did not divide them amiss , into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 & 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , obscure or unknown , and fabulous . which lasted till the first olympiad , and that was , at soonest , anno mundi 3173 ; when the historical age , according to him , begins . now as the want of such histories will not prove that there never were any such , and much less that there were no matters of fact for the furnishing such histories : so though there be no revelation , or no memorials of such a revelation , in some particular nations or ages , it will not necessarily follow that there never was any such revelation made to the world. 2. when i propose the proof of a revelation , i would not be understood so much as to suppose , that there was from the beginning , or before the time of moses , a pandect or collection of divine revelations ; but only that there were inspired persons to whom god did ( as occasion served ) reveal himself in sundry times and divers manners , such as adam , enoch , noah , &c. 3. where there has been or is no revelation , or pretence to it ( if any such age or people ever were ) yet there are or have been in those ages or nations , certain footsteps of such a revelation ; and which whereever they are found , are as evident marks of such a revelation , as pillars or crosses found in a countrey at present uninhabited , are , that there have been some persons that have been there before , and have erected those monuments . 4. i account such usages , rites , and principles , to proceed from revelation , that have no foundation in reason , and the nature of the thing , but are correspondent to what we call revelation ; and which can well have no reason at all assign'd for them , if not the reason given in that revelation : such are expiatory sacrifices , and other things relating to divine worship . 5. this is the more confirmed , if such usages , rites and principles have been observed , practised , and believed , in nations that have had no relation one to another , no commerce or communication , nor sometimes knowledge of one another ; for then they must arise from some common head , from whence they were ab-originally dispersed among the several branches of the same stock . when one people has been mixed with another , as the jews and egyptians ; or derived from another , as the colchi from the egyptians ; or there have been commerces and confederacies , wars and conquests , 't is no wonder they intermingle in several rites and observances . of this we have a notorious instance in circumcision , which by the abovesaid means came to be received by several nations , as the ethiopians , egyptians , and colchi , the phoenicians , and some of the syrians , as herodotus shews * . but when the usages , rites , and principles have been as well found where there has been no communication , as where there has ; 't is no less a sign they descend from one and the same original , than when the waters of the seven branches of the river nilus have one and the same taste and colour , without any communication , that they do all descend from the main stream . in like manner , if we find , suppose , among the seventy nations ( into which 't is said mankind was divided , upon the confusion at babel ) several of the same rites and usages , generally speaking , concurring with those of what we call revelation , we must conclude , that they were observed before that dispersion , and were wholly owing to as early an institution . among the instances that i shall make use of for the proof of a revelation , i shall begin with those that relate to divine worship , such as time , sacrifices , &c. 1. time. that there is some particular portion of time to be set apart for the publick worship of god , either by divine appointment , or humane consent , is absolutely necessary , when it is to be the act of a society ; for worship , without some time for such society to convene and assemble in , must inevitably end in confusion and dissolution . and therefore as god created the world as a temple to exhibit and manifest himself in , and created such beings as should in their several stations celebrate his praise ; so when he had finished all his work , he established that day which he rested upon , to be from thenceforward devoted to that service ; as we may see the institution , gen. 2. 2. i call this an institution ; for when could that be more seasonably instituted by divine authority , than at the close of the creation , when the sanctification and the reason of it were so immediately connected ; god blessed and sanctified it , because in it he had rested from all his work ? it being not probable that there should be at that time no institution , when the reason for it is expresly given ; or that there should be no present obligation to observe it , when there was an institution . if god had no sooner finished his work , but he sanctified the day following , 't is evident that the obligation to observe it must begin with the institution : and if he sanctified it , because on that day he rested , 't is as evident the institution did begin with the reason of it . and then how improbable is it that god should bless and sanctify a particular day , and yet for the space of two thousand years together should leave that day in common with the other days of the week , without any distinction ? how improbable again , that it should be first instituted and made a duty to the jews only for a reason that equally concerned all mankind as well as them , because he rested ; and for a reason existent from the first , as well as in the time when it was instituted at sinai ? 't is highly unreasonable to add one prolepsis to another , and to heap figure upon figure , when there is no necessity for it , contrary to all the rules of a just interpretation . now if this be an original and primaeval institution , we have one instance of a divine revelation , so far as the scripture is of authority ; and surely we may demand in its behalf , to have as much regard paid to it as we give to prophane histories . but however , we are not without a concurrent testimony from them also in this particular . for it is manifest that there hath been of great antiquity such a distribution of time as we call a week of seven days ; and which is more to our purpose , that the seventh day was a festival and religious day . this lucian doth more than intimate ; and long before him , solon , who calls it most holy day , in his elegies , quoted by eusebius * ; and one earlier than he , homer , who calls it , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the holy day . but calimachus , homer , and linus , are still more particular , for they say it was because all the works of creation were then finished . so homer , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; and 't is therefore called by linus , the birth-day of the world. now there is nothing in nature to point to this ; for there is no more to be observed from the motion of the heavens for such a septenary distribution of time , or division into weeks , than there is for the dividing of a day into hours : and consequently it must proceed from some institution , and from a very early institution , because of what i have observed from the fore-cited authors , who are of great antiquity , especially homer and linus : for homer is supposed to have lived in or about the time of saul , in the year of the world 2940 , and linus in the time of the judges , about the year 2570. the consideration of which doth make it probable , that these ancient poets owed their information to the general tradition of the world , rather than to the jews . indeed aristobulus the jew , from whom eusebius drew the abovesaid testimonies , saith , these poets had borrowed them from the jewish books . but if it be consider'd how little the jewish books , the scriptures , were known to the world before the translation of them by the seventy into greek , which was about 300 years before the birth of our saviour ; or how little the opinions of the jews themselves before the captivity were known abroad , it will hardly be conceived , that these things should be known so early , and spoke of so positively by the greek poets , homer and linus , within so short a time after the institution of the sabbath at sinai , as these two lived ; for linus must have lived within less than half an hundred years after the time of moses ; and homer in less than 400. where if we take the lowest term , that of homer , the jews were hardly in a setled state , and no more in a condition , than they were disposed in their temper , or permitted by their religion , to inform other nations in the articles or mysteries of their religion . so that it seems very evident , that the observation of the seventh day for the service of god , was an ancient and general opinion , and especially of those who may be best presumed to understand what had been the sense of mankind in the ages before , or those in which they lived . and if this was the opinion of those early times , conformable to the history of scripture , we have sufficient reason to offer this as an instance of a revelation . 2. another instance of revelation is sacrifices , and especially those of expiation . amongst all the rites and usages relating to divine worship , there are none that exceed these in their antiquity ( except the sabbath ) or extent . for we no sooner read of god's reconciliation to mankind , but that they offer'd sacrifice ; no sooner of noah's deliverance and escape out of the deluge , but he offer'd sacrifice : and without doubt , as it begun , so it continued , and was as much dispersed and observed among mankind before the flood , as after it . but how probable soever it is , that this rite was thus universally observed before , yet that we are not so certain of , as we are of the observation of it after the flood , when there was no age nor nation where it was not to be found , how dispersed soever they were ; of which no tolerable account is to be given , unless it be allowed to have been in use before the dispersion at babel , and that it was of divine institution . it must have been , i say , in use before that dispersion ; for how could all nations fall into one and the same practice , and have the same opinion of sacrifices , when there is nothing in the nature of the thing to lead them to it , if it had not been , that they had all descended from one blood , from one family , from one body ; by which means it was conveyed into all the several branches issuing from it , and went along with them where ever they went. now the question is , whence this should arise , and what gave it this universal acceptance and authority ? whether the invention of some eminent persons , suppose , in those early times ? or whether it was by revelation from god , and of his special institution ? there seems no great reason to think this service should proceed merely from the invention of men , even of those pious and well-disposed persons , since ( as i have said ) there is nothing in the nature of the thing to lead to it . for how could it be supposed that this should be acceptable to almighty god , which in it self holds no conformity , nor is at all suitable to his nature ? will i eat the flesh of bulls , and drink the blood of goats ? is a true representation of it . it might become a sanguinary sort of daemons , or false gods , and wicked spirits , to be pleased with the fumes and reakings of the bleeding sacrifice , as the heathens generally thought : but men of any understanding would rather chuse a reasonable service for the god that made them reasonable creatures , and might presume another sort of sacrifice would be more acceptable to him than this , and acceptable without it , viz. a sacrifice of praise and prayer , of a pure mind , and a good life , which the wiser heathens did in their opinion exceedingly prefer . but as for the sacrifices and blood of beasts , such philosophers as pythagoras and plato spoke of them often with regret and displeasure ; and others wonder'd how they first came into the world , as porphyry , that wrote expresly against them . what expression could thereby be given , suppose , of mens gratitude to god for their being , and their preservation ? who of all mankind is fo stupidly credulous , so foolish , that can think the gods delighted with such a present of bows , gall , and blood , which a hungry dog would scarcely touch ; and that they should repay the favour to those that offer it ? said an ancient heathen poet , cited by porphyry . but if we descend to expiatory sacrifices , who could think that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sin , and that god would accept of that as a fit compensation for their crimes ; the blood of a brute for that of a man , the life of one that is not in its own power , instead of him that was ? and if men were so weak as of their own accord to offer it ; can we think the almighty creator would accept of what was for it self only unbecoming his majesty , and be so highly delighted with it , as to testify his acceptance of abel's by the descent of a miraculous fire to consume it ; and to smell a sweet savour upon noah's oblation ; to appoint it as a sign of his covenant with abraham ; and lastly , to embody it into the mosaical institution ? it was enough , one would think , that the majesty of heaven and earth hath accepted of the good will of the first inventors , how poor and low soever the invention was ; but it was too great a condescension to do by these as the heathens by their heroes , to translate them into the number of their deities ; too much to have such a mark of the favour of heaven , as none of the divine institutions could have more . but why should we think so meanly of those antediluvian patriarchs , of adam and abel , enoch and noah , &c. the first inventors or encouragers of this way of worship ? at this rate happier far were the inventions of adah , jubal , and tubal-cain , that taught others how to order cattel , to handle the harp and the organ , to work in brass and iron ; for these did serve either the necessities or pleasures of mankind , and were suitable to their nature and condition : but to offer bestial sacrifices to an infinite spirit , was as if we should present mankind with the entertainments and pleasures of the brutes ; and so it cannot be thought that men ( how low soever their understandings were ) would think the blood of beasts a decent present to their creator , which indeed would not be so to their superiors here . but we have another sort of character of those holy men , who were persons of great knowledge and vast experience ; who both received their religion from the almighty , were the great props and stays of it in their generation , and to whom the care of transmitting it to posterity was committed ; and for which reason , as well as others , god seemed to have protracted their lives to so vast an extent . they were such as were eminent for their piety ; as abel's faith is one of the renowned instances , heb. 11. and enoch is said to walk with god , and was in an extraordinary way rewarded for it . such again were they as were endued with the spirit of prophecy , as adam , abel , enoch , noah . and therefore it cannot in reason be supposed that ever they should think the offering the blood , and burning the flesh of a beast , to be a fit expression of their gratitude to almighty god , or a means to obtain his favour by way of expiation for their sins , without his institution . it is then ( as far as i conceive ) evident , that sacrifices , of what kind soever , were not invented by men . but if they were not invented by men , how came they to be admitted , and at last so much to obtain in the world ? i answer , they were of god's own institution ; and therefore were received by the patriarchs , and accepted by himself . but then it may reasonably be demanded , why they should be thus honoured by a divine legislation and authority , when it is allowed that they are in themselves not suitable to his nature ? i answer , they were instituted as those sacrifices were typical , and had respect to a greater sacrifice , that of christ. and therefore 't is observable , that as almighty god for the comfort of adam , and preventing his despair , ( as has been before shewed ) did immediately after his expostulation with him , and sentence pass'd upon him , reveal his intention to pardon him , and the means by which it was to be procured and ratified , the seed of the woman : so in consequence of this , and to shew their faith in that promise , we read in the next chapter , of their sacrifices and offerings which they brought unto the lord , as a representation of what they for their apostacy had deserved , and should have suffered , had not the divine mercy interposed . now if we have represented this aright , we have a fair account of an expiatory sacrifice , and how it came to take such place among men , and to be so universally received . we have a reason again how and why it came to be framed into the law of moses ; and why those sacrifices and the rites belonging to them , were made a principal part of it , and have thereby a key to unlock many mysteries in that law , and to answer many difficulties about it , when it is a shadow of good things to come . by this means again we come to understand the special providence of god , that this was so much preserved and so universally dispersed and received among mankind . by this means again we have a fair account how the doctrine of the cross , and the notion of our saviour's death as an expiatory sacrifice , came to be soon entertained among the gentiles ; for being of god's institution , as he preserved it , so being thus preserved , it became an excellent introduction , and prepared mankind for the belief and reception of our redemption by christ. to the same original may the first fruits , priesthood , and tenths be referr'd ; the first of which was observed from the time of abel , gen. 4. and the two last long before the time of the mosaical law ; and therefore are to be derived from an ancient institution . but because it may be thought these instances may be liable to exception , forasmuch as they are sometimes disputed among those themselves that do contend for a revelation , i shall proceed to iv. sort of evidence , which is supernatural , and that is either it self a revelation , or the proof of it ; of the former is prophecy ; of the latter , miracles . 1. prophecy , or the foretelling of things to come ; whatever time they are to exist in , near or remote . i add this latter clause to it , to prevent all exception , and to distinguish prophecy truly so called , from sagacity , or human providence ; which from precedent observations and proximate causes , may be often fortunate in its conjectures or predictions . but now as to infinite power all things are alike possible and easy , and there is nothing great or little , more or less , with respect to it ; so to infinite knowledge , to which one day is as a thousand years , and a thousand years as one day , all things , the remotest as well as nearest , are alike present ; and there is nothing distant or near with respect to it . and therefore whereever the true spirit of prophecy is , the same power that can foretell what shall happen to morrow , could , if he so pleased , as easily foretell what shall happen a thousand years hence ; since all things are alike naked and opened unto him with whom we have to do . now this sort of knowledge can proceed from nothing less than him , who as he knows all things , so has all causes in his own power , and can foresee how they will operate , and what shall be the event of such operations , or can dispose them to it as he pleaseth , whatever the causes be , whether ( as we usually say ) they are voluntary , necessary , or contingent ; and being thus peculiar to him , and his sole prerogative , 't is no less than a species of divine revelation . and therefore as none can know the certainty of such futurities and events but god ; so none can foretell them but such as he is pleased to reveal them to ▪ from whence it was that plato somewhere calls prophecy , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , a communication or fellowship with god. for suppose now we should set before us any epocha or character of time , which the prophecy respects ; the 160. years from isaiah's naming of cyrus , to his decree for building jerusalem , isa. 44. 28. or the 350. years from the prophet's naming josiah , to the time he defiled those idolatrous places , 1 kings 13. 2. 2 kings 23. 16. or the 490. years in daniel's weeks , from his time to the death of messiah dan. 9. 2. 4. what an infinite number of intercurrent passages must there be before it be brought in its proper season to its accomplishment ? and how amazing a sight would it be , if we could lay our hand upon the clue of the prophecy at its first setting out , and follow it , making its way through all oppositions and interferings , to the last period and completion ! but then if we turn our thoughts to the chief subject of revelation , the prophecy of the incarnation of our saviour , as it began immediately upon the fall , and passed along through the 61 generations , for 4000 years together , it would be like the dispersed parts of a human body , to the time and state of the resurrection , that are carried safe and entire through all transformations ; and at last when the sea and the grave are called upon to give up their dead , all the atoms and particles are recalled from their several vehicles or tribes they were joined to , and fall into the same composition as before in this present state . much such a subject have we before us , which after various windings and turnings , and an infinite succession of causes and events ; we read , that it might be fulfilled — and as it was spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets , which have been since the world began , luk. 1. 70. so that as many prophecies as we have , or the world ever had , so many evidences have we of a supernatural and divine revelation . and this all mankind have had a belief of , as is manifest from the oracles they consulted upon all emergent occasions ; many of which were very ancient , as herodotus tells us that of jupiter hammon in lybia was . i acknowledge that these were full of imposture , and were despised for it by the wiser part of the heathens , such as tully , ( lib. 1 , 2. de divinat . ) and detected , as eusebius shews , ( praepar . evang. l. 4. init. & l. 9. c. 5. ) and i mention these , not that i esteem them of any authority ; rather the contrary ; but to shew what the world thought of prophecy , and that even those philosophers who diverted themselves with the mistakes and impostures of their own oracles , never questioned whether ever there were any true prophecy ; but always allowed it , and took it for granted . so that the impostures of their own pretenders never engaged them so far , as to call in question the veracity of all prophecy , or to deny it where it was able to justify it self . 2. sort of supernatural evidence , is miracles . but of that , god willing , i shall discourse afterwards . thus far i have endeavoured to shew , that there has been a revelation , antecedent to , or where there was no written revelation : and the arguments and instances have been such as were proper to those circumstances ; such as we are led to by the light of nature , and human observation : and therefore though they receive light and confirmation from a written revelation , are not supposed to depend upon it for their evidence . and if this point has been hereby made out and proved , we then find that god has at sundry times and in divers maners , revealed himself to mankind by the prophets and inspired persons , from the beginning through the ante-diluvian and post-diluvian times , till the promulgation of a written law by moses . if it be said , that these are far from amounting to a certainty , and from giving us an infallible assurance of a revelation , since some of them are disputed even among those that own a revelation ; as the original of the sabbath , and sacrifices ; and at the most are but probable arguments . 1. i answer , probability is a fair step to certainty ; and i may after all affirm , that the account here offered is the best that can be given o those instances : 2. there are such arguments as are taken from the consideration of god's nature ; and there cannot be a stronger , than what is fetch'd from the nature of things . 3. there are other instances that are equivalent to a revelation , and can proceed from no lower a principle ; such are speech and common notions ; the former of which in the circumstances before recited , must be from divine inspiration , and the latter from a divine impression . 4. there are those things which when they accompany what we call a revelation , prove the truth and certainty of it ; and being recorded in a written revelation , become of the body of it , and they are miracles . 5. there are others that are the matter of revelation , and they are prophecies , especially such as are carried along in a continued train , and mutually confirm each other . 6. there are others that are not only consonant to what we own to be a revelation , but to human testimonies ; and being confirmed by both , are of great authority . all which laid together , give us , i may say , unquestionable evidence , that there has been a revelation , or that god has made himself and his will known to the world by persons chosen out , and inspired , and commissioned by him . and this is a good preparative and introduction for what is to follow , viz. that there is a special revelation , and that revelation recorded and transmitted by writing to the world ; which is a point in reserve , and that will in order be discoursed of . finis . books printed for richard chiswell , and thomas cockerill . rvshworth's historical collections : the third part , in two volumes ; containing the principal matters which happen'd from the meeting of the parliament , november 3. 1640. to the end of the year 1644. wherein is a particular account of the rise and progress of the civil war , to that period . fol. 1692. dr. john conant's sermons , octavo . published by dr. williams . the possibility , expediency , and necessity of divine revelation . a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields , jan. 7. 169 4 / 5. at the beginning of the lecture for the ensuing year . founded by the honourable robert boyle , esquire . by john williams , d. d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . 4to . d r williams's third sermon at mr. boyle's lecture , 1695. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a66386-e230 * v. postellus , lib. de orig. c. 4. † herodotus , enterpe . c. 2. ad nicom . l. 4. c. 5. l. 5. c. 9. l. 8. c. 1. rhet. l. 1. c. 10 , 13 , 15. pro milone . l. 1. de nat. deor. & l 2. de legib. pro cluentio . * clio. cap. 36 , 37. enterp . cap. 104. v bochart geogr. saci . phaleg . l. 4. c. 31. * praepar . l. 13. c. 12 , p. 667 psalm 50 ▪ 13. euseb. praepar . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . lib. 2. sect. 58. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . so theodotion . gen. 4. 20. gen. 4. 25. gen. 9. 26. jude 14. 2 pet. 2. 5. gen. 3. & 4. gen. 14. 18. 20. medicinal experiments, or, a collection of choice and safe remedies, for the most part simple and easily prepared very useful in families and fitted for the service of country people : the third and last volume, published from the author's original manuscripts : whereunto is added several other useful notes explicatory of the same / by ... r. boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1694 approx. 74 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 60 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28996) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93729) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 707:9) medicinal experiments, or, a collection of choice and safe remedies, for the most part simple and easily prepared very useful in families and fitted for the service of country people : the third and last volume, published from the author's original manuscripts : whereunto is added several other useful notes explicatory of the same / by ... r. boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [24], 95 p. printed for samuel smith and b. walford ..., london : 1694. 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editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng medicine -early works to 1800. medicine -formulae, receipts, prescriptions. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion medicinal experiments : or , a collection of choice remedies , chiefly simple , and easily prepared : useful in families , and fitted for the service of country people . by the honourable r. boyle esq late fellow of the royal society . the third and last volume . published from the author 's original manuscripts . whereunto is added , several other useful notes explicatory of the same . london , printed for j. taylor , at the ship in st. paul's church-yard , 1694. licensed , novemb. 24th 1693. edward cooke . the preface . the honourable robert boyle esq deceased , bath gratified the whole race of mankind , by his public labours . the world may be divided into the learned and the unlearned part thereof . the former he much obliged by his elaborate discourses on several subjects : the latter , which are far more numerous , he hath condescended also to oblige , by consulting their health in the ensuing receipts . for , whereas the ordinary and inferiour sort of men , either have not ability ( by reason of the tenuity of their estates ) to reward physicians ; or by reason of the remoteness of their habitations , have not opportunity to consult them : here they have remedies provided to their hands , and almost at their own doors ; some of which the learned collector had experience of himself ; and others were recommended to him by credible persons , who had experienced their benefit in themselves , or their friends . and though those ways of probation might be sufficient to justify their publication ; yet such was the scrupulous care and zeal of this author , that he would not suffer them to see the light , till they had been first perused by some eminent physicians of his acquaintance ; to whom he was pleased to commit the supervisal of his medicinal receipts , both galenical and chymical . this century bears the name of parable receipts ; because they may be easily procured and prepared by country people , as their respective diseases do require . what comes forth in the name of mr. boyle , and is genuinly his , needs no farther recommendation . his ipse dixit is sufficient , and such are these praescripts , as being found among his many other papers of like import , which in time may be published also . i shall therefore only recommend them , and their success to the blessing of god , the alone giver , preserver and restorer of health . j. w. the index· a after-birth to bring away page 10 ague to prevent or cure page 13.14.81 agues tertian page 14 ague page 30.44 aching of a hollow tooth page 36 apoplectic fits page 40 astmatic distempers page 43.86 aqua opthalmica page 62 b body bound , to loosen page 35.83 biting of a viper page 29 blood-shot eyes page 6.80 blood to stench page 11.55.57.88 burns page 16.55.88 burns recent page 20 breath shortness page 31 blood to sweeten page 33 bloody flux page 4.36.56.56.79 belly fluxes page 53 blood cleansing by troches of vipers page 67 burn or scald in the eye page 7 bruise of the eye page 46.93 c cataract beginning page 74 cold newly taken , a good medicine page 1 corns , a try'd medicine page 11.54.87 cholic page 15 cholic , a simple remedy page 18 costiveness page 35.83 convulsive fits page 51 cholic , a medicine page 66 cinamon drink for gripes page 37 courses to provoke page 39 contusion of the eye page 46.69.70 d dropsy page 5.80 dentrifice innocent page 7.81 distempers of the genus nervosum page 9 dead child to bring away page 10 defluxions of rheum page 12 deafness page 15 drink for the scurvy page 20 drink for the kings evil page 24.82 dysentery page 4.36.56.56 dysenteric fluxes page 56 defluxion in the eyes page 72 dry inflammation page 76 e eyes that are foul , a good water page 2.62 eyes inflamed page 6.23.38.42.58.80.85 eyes burnt or scald page 7 electuary , purging page 22 erysipelas page 47.86 eye-water , by a famous french man page 60 eye-water , a caution about the vitriolate page 69 eye-water famous page 90 eyes red page 38.58.77.85.89 eyes to strengthen , subject to rheums page 72.91 eye-lids sore page 74 eye bruised page 46.69.70 eyes dry page 63 eyes with hot and sharp humours page 73 eyes pained page 75 f films of the eyes page 71.93 fluxes of the belly page 4.37.53.79.84 fits of a furor vterinus page 19 fits of the head ach page 32 fluor-albus in women page 48 fumigation for pains in the eyes , and over-great driness , and when one fears the beginning of a cataract page 74 fits of the mother page 9.65 furor vterinus to cure page 19 g gravel to expel page 25.83 gleetings , a good liquor page 28 gripes and fluxes page 37.84 gonorrheaa page 45 gums to fasten and help page 8 gums scorbutick page 68.92 h head to clear page 3 head-ach page 17.31 hiccup in fevers ibid. hordeum on the eye-lids page 42 hysterick affections page 9 humours hot and sharp in the eyes page 73 i inflamation of the eyes page 23.42.80 itch , a good medicine page 33 inflammation dry page 75 k kings-evil , a useful drink page 24.82.94 kings-evil , an approved remedy page 26 l leprosy , a specifick . page 16 m medicine for the dropsie page 5 medicine for hysterical affections page 9 medicine for genus nervosum ibid. medicine to cleanse the womb page 18 medicine for the tooth-ach page 21 menses suppressed page 39 medicine to kill tetters page 44 medicine to prevent driness , and some other disaffections of the eyes page 64 medicine for the stone , by a famous emperie page 64 medicine for fits of the mother page 9.65 medicine for the cholic page 66 medicine for scorbutic gums , and to fasten the teeth page 68.92 medicine for a stroke or contusion of the eyes page 69 another excellent medicine for a bruise in the eye page 70 o oculorum propter gravedinem & dolorem page 75 p pain of the teeth , from rheum page 3.36 pain in the eyes page 75 plaister preferr'd to the soap plaister page 28 pericarpium for agues page 14 pleurisie page 36.56 piles page 52 plaister to strengthen the eyes and stop defluxions page 72 pouder styptick page 11 purging electuary for children page 22 r relaxation of the vvula page 59 redness of the eyes page 38.58.77.85.89 remedy for an ague page 13.30.44 rheums a powerful medicine page 12.60 remedy to take off films , and such like things from the eyes page 71.93 remedy for sharp and hot humours in the eyes page 73 rheumatick pain of the teeth page 3 running of the reins to cure page 45 rheums to stop page 60 running of the eyes page 72.73.91 s soap plaister for the gout page 28 sight to strengthen page 19 scurvey beginning page 20 stone in the bladder page 21 strains recent page 41.85 sternutatory to clear the head page 3 shortness of breath page 31 scrophulous vlcers page 40 sores and vlcers page 49 scorbutick gums page 68.92 stroke of the eyes page 46.93 sleep wanting page 50 stenching of blood page 11.55.57.88 stone a famous medicine page 64.91.95 stoppage of vrine page 25.30 t terms to provoke page 39 teeth to fasten page 8.92 tumours , a fomentation ibid. tooth-ach page 12.21.27.36 tooth hollow page 27.36 teeth to fasten page 68 tumors from sharp humours page 8 tettars to kill page 44 u urine to provoke page 25.83 viper biting page 29 vrine supprest page 25.30 vapours of the spleen page 31 vlcers , an excellent medicine page 34 vlcers scrophulous page 40 vvula relax'd page 59.89 vlcers and sores page 49 vitriolate eye-water page 69 w weakness to help page 67 womb-madness to cure page 19 womb to cleanse page 18 womb of a puerpera , to cleanse page 10 wounds green to heal page 39 whites in women page 48.87 these following books , published by the honourable author , and printed for j. taylor at the ship in st. paul's church-yard . 1. a free inquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature . 2. a disquisition about the final causes of natural things , with observations about vitiated sight . 3. the martyrdom of theodora and dydimus . 4. the christian virtuoso . 5. experimenta & observationes physicae , with a collection of strange reports . 6. a natural history of a country , great and small , for the use of travellers and navigators . 7. his seraphick love. books printed for j. taylor . dr . salmon's practical physick . dr. yworth's new art of brewing . — his whole art of distillation . logick , or the art of thinking . lord viscount shandon's moral essays . — his characters and discourses . — his letter to an atheist acquaintance . dr. salmon's , with dr. sydenham's and monsieur blanchard's new method of caring the french disease . loue 's whole art of surveying . strodes's easy method for the art of dyalling . plutarch's morals , 5 vol. english'd by several hands . culpepper's directory for midwives . kirkwood's new family-book , with an epistle by dr. horneck . abbady's truth of the christian religion english'd . gouge's words to saints and sinners . — his christian directions . counsellor manner's legacy to his son. ryder's new practice of surgery . evelyn's french gardiner , with cuts . gilbert's florists vade mecum . baxter's call to the unconverted . osborn's works , divine , moral , historical and political . virgilius notis minelii . quintilian's declamations , english . legrand's historia sacra . newton's compleat arithmetician . the modern courtier . miracles perform'd by money , a poem . the humours of a coffee-house , a poem . foxes and firebrands . a defence of their majesties king william and queen mary . strode of combinations , &c. the swordsman's vade mecum , by sir william hope . dyer's works . vanity of the creature . publick devotion , by mr. camfield . a collection of choice and safe remedies . vol. iii. 1. a good medicine for a newly taken , though violent , cold. take about four ounces of spring-water , and in a convenient vessel , put to it three leaves of good tussilago ( coltsfoot ) and a pugil of maiden-hair , and a stick of liquorish , for bigness and length , like the furthest joynt of the little-finger ; make the water warm , and when 't is ready to boil , put in the forementioned ingredients , ( the liquorish being first slic'd and minc'd ) cover the pot well , let it boil for a few walmes , then take it off the fire , and having presently strain'd it , let the patient drink it hot like tea , he being already in bed ; do this three or four nights consecutively , or till there be no more need of the medicine . 2. a good water for eyes that are foul , and pain'd by sharp humours . take prepared pearl and coral , ana one scruple , aloes cabalina finely pouder'd three grains , red rose-water and succory-water , ana one ounce , mix them well ; and if you would have the mixture stronger , put in a very few grains of trochisci alli rhasis in very fine pouder . 3. a good medicine for pain of the teeth that comes from rheum . of the pouder of white helebore , put into a clean linen rag like a nodule , of about the bigness of the largest sort of peas , or somewhat greater and let the patient hold it between his teeth , with his head and face somewhat inclined , that the rheum may run freely out of his mouth . 4. an experienced sternutatory to clear the head. let the patient snuff up in the morning fasting , a small spoonful , or less , of the clarify'd juice of haedera terrestris , i.e. ground-ivy , or of beets , spitting out from time to time as much liquor as comes into his mouth . 5. an often try'd remedy for the dysentery and sharp fluxes of the belly . give from fifteen to twenty grains of carefully made mercurius dulcis incorporated , with about two ounces of catholicon , or else with about one scruple of toasted or somewhat less of untoasted rhubarb . see numb . ( 1. ) 6. a good , though uncommon , medicine for the dropsie . take virginian snake-weed a sufficient quantity , and having cut and slic'd it very small , infuse it into a competent quantity of good sack till the liquor be very strongly impregnated with the plant. of this infusion let the patient take three , four or five spoonfuls at a time ( or more if the case be urgent ) when the stomach is empty . see numb . ( 2. ) 7. an often experienced medicine for blood-shot , or inflamed eyes . cut a new-laid egg boiled hard , into two halfs , ( without taking out the yelks ) and apply one of these considerably warm , but not too hot , to the part affected , and keep it on for some hours ( six or eight if it need so long . ) note well , to the same purpose , you may apply with good effect , a poultis made of a rotten apple , the cold being first quite taken off . see numb . ( 3. ) 8. an excellent remedy for a burn or scald in the eye . take mucilages of quince-seed , fleawort , linseed and fenugreek-seed , of each one scruple ; boil it but very lightly in four ounces of betony-water , filter it , and apply it to the part. 9. a good and innocent dentrifice . take mastich and dragon's-blood , of each a sufficient quantity ; pouder them , and mix them together , and let the patient use them as a dentrifice . see numb . ( 4. ) 10. to correct the laxity of the gums , and fasten the teeth . to a pint of red or claret wine , take about two drams of japan earth , and having dissolv'd so much as you can , pour off the clear , and let the patient wash his mouth therewith from time to time . 11. an uncommon , but effectual , fomentation for tumours accompany'd with sharp humours . to a gallon of spring-water , put as much dry'd sage , as you judg will afford a decoction strong enough of the herb. into this , when it first grows hot , cast about two ounces or some drams of castle-soap , and let it dissolve there till your decoction be compleated . with this and stuphes , foment the part for a good while together . 12. a rare medicine for hysterical affections , and several distempers of the genus nervosum . take one ounce , or a sufficient quantity of volatile salt of harts-horn , ( which need not be exactly pure ) and drop on it as much spirit of tartar as will serve to satiate it , when the conflict is quite ceas'd . digest the mixture for a while , that it may acquire a red colour , and keep it carefully stopt for use , and give four or five drops twice a day in any convenient vehicle . 13. an often prov'd remedy to bring away what is or should not be left in the womb of a puerpera , though it were part of a dead child . with the juice of sheeps sorrel , and some of the strong infusion of the same herb ( unpress'd ) in water , and a sufficient quantity of sugar , make a syrup : of which let the patient take about a spoonful ( a little more or less as need may require ) twice or thrice a day . 14. a try'd medicine to take away corns . the parts being made soft with bathing , and scrap'd , apply to the corn a plaister of shoe-maker's-wax ; but if the part be very tender , your plaister may consist of equal parts of shoe-maker's-wax and diapalma melted together and spread somewhat thin . 15. to make an excellent styptic pouder to stench blood. take of white sugar-candy , roach-allom burnt ( but not too much calcin'd ) and white vitriol , and pulverize them exceeding well , and mix them diligently ; and having dip'd plagets of flax or lint , moistened with the white of an egg into this pouder , apply them to the orifices of the bleeding parts . note well , 't will do very well after the dry ingredients are mix'd , to grind them with as much whites of eggs beaten to water , as will make a paste , which is afterwards to be throughly dry'd in the air , and then again reduc'd to pouder . 16. for a tooth-ach , proceeding from defluxion or rheum from the gums . dissolve one ounce of choice japan earth in a pint at least of good red or claret wine , and let the patient hold in his mouth often , and a good while together . 17. to prevent the fit of an ague , or cure that disease . take of the scraping or gratings of the root of angelica half a dram , and of the flowers of antimony , mix them well , and let the patient take them at the usual times . note here , that the flowers of antimony are not to be given inwardly in substance , but only in infusion ; for in substance they will hazard life , bringing first strong convulsions , and then death : but you may make the medicine thus . see numb . ( 5. ) 18. to make an often try'd pericarpium for agues , especially tertians . take a handful and a half of fresh rue , half a handful of fresh sage , a small spoonful of bay-salt , and a spoonful of good vinegar . beat all these very well together into an uniform mass ; which divide into two parts , and make thereof two wrist plaisters to be apply'd at the usual times before the fit ; and to be renewed , if there be occasion , to keep them on till they grow dry and troublesom . 19. for the cholic . ℞ orange peels dry'd till one may grate them to pouder ; and when they are pulveriz'd , take about a spoonful of the pouder at a time , mix'd with a little white sugar to sweeten it , in or before some spoonfuls of any convenient vehicle . 20. an approved remedy for present deafness . take of the breast milk of a woman that has had her first male child some time before , and drop three or four drops of it warm as it comes from the nipple , into the part affected . 21. a choice medicine for burns . take goose-grease , ( which the country people call the leaf of a goose ) and having softly melted , and a little skim'd it , squeeze into it as much freshly exprest juice of ground-ivy-leaves , as by continual stirring , will bring it to the consistence of a green oyntment . with this anoint the part it self affected ; and afterwards lay on it fine old rags , well dipt in the same ointment . 22. an external remedy , almost specific for the leprosie . take pomatum one ounce , flower of sulphur one dram , sal prunellae half an ounce , and having mixt them very well together , from time to time anoint the part affected therewith , as long as there is need . 23. for the head-ach . take green hemlock , that is tender , and put it in your socks , so that it may lie thinly between them and the soles of your feet ; shift the herb once a day . 24. for the hiccup ( even in fevers . ) give two or three preserved dampsons at a time . 25. a simple remedy for the cholic . in a draught of any convenient liquor , dissolve about one dram of good salt of tartar , and let the patient take it for one dose . 26. an experienced medicine to cleanse the vvomb . take a large white onion , cut it into small pieces , and boil it in about a pint of water , or less , as if it were to be dressed for eating . and of this decoction give seven or eight ounces for a dose , mix'd with about half an ounce of fresh oil of walnuts . 27. to appease the fits of a furor uterinus . take the feathers of partridges ( it matters not much from what part of the fowl ) and burn them for a competent time under the patient's nose . 28. a very good syrup to strengthen the sight . take about a small spoonful of a syrup made of betony-water and honey , twice , thrice or four times a day . 29. an easily prepared , but useful drink for a beginning scurvy . to a quart of small-beer ( of six shillings per barrel ) or small-ale , put over night about a handful of scurvy-grass-leaves , and let the patient drink this liquor at dinner for his ordinary drink for six or eight weeks together . 30. a parable remedy for recent burns . apply as speedily as you can to the part affected an onion , or more , ( if the burnt place be large ) beaten to a mash . 31. for the tooth-ach . apply a plaister of caranna to that part that burns , between the bottom of the ear and the temples , on the same side where the pulsation of the artery is the most manifestly or strongly felt . 32. an excellent medicine , tho not curative , for those that are tormented with the stone in the bladder . take pouder of comfrey-roots an ounce and half , marsh-mallow-roots three ounces , liquorice pouder two drams , seeds of daucus of creet two drams ; seeds of purslane , of winter cherries , of each half a dram ; nutmegs two drams , saffron one dram ; the species diamargariton frigid , six drams ; syrup of marsh-mallows four ounces ; mix and make a soft electuary : of which let the sick daily take the quantity of a walnut . it is profitable against the stone in the reins and bladder , but chiefly against the latter ; as also against the strangury , dysuria , &c. 33. to make a purging electuary , especially for children . take an ounce of choice rhubarb reduc'd to fine pouder , and eight ounces of very good currans , pick'd , wash'd and rub'd dry ; beat these together in a glass or marble mortar for near two hours . of this electuary , let the patient take about the bigness of a small or a large chesnut in the morning fasting , and if need be at bed-time . if the case be very urgent , the medicine may be taken thrice in twenty four hours . 34. an excellent remedy for an inflammation of the eyes . take a pippin ( or other apple ) cut it into two halfs , take out all the core of each of them , fill up the cavities with the tender tops of common wormwood , tie the halfs together , and roast the apple well . then beat it and the herb together to a kind of poultis , and apply it warm ( but not hot ) to the part affected , and bind it thereon , letting it lie all night , or if you use it in the day time , for six or eight hours . 35. an useful drink for the kings-evil , and some affections that have the like causes to it . take a large handful ( or two little physical handfuls ) of the leaves of ground-ivy , green , or ( if the season denies you them ) well dry'd , wash off the dust with beer , ( not water ) and put the herb into a gallon of ale-wort ; when 't is ripe for drinking , draw it out into bottles , and let the patient take a draught of it twice or thrice a day , or if it be thought fit , he may use it at meals . see numb . ( 6. ) 36. an often experienc'd remedy to expel gravel , and provoke supprest urin. kill a black cock or hen , ( rather than one of any other colour ) take out the thick membrane or skin that lines the gizzard or stomach , and having wip'd it clean , dry it cautiously , so as it may be beaten to pouder : with this mix an equal part , or half so much of choice red coral calcin'd . of this mixture , give from twenty or thirty grains to forty or fifty grains . see numb . ( 7. ) 37. an approved remedy for the kings-evil . set a quart of new milk on the fire till it just boils up , then take it off , and put into it two spoonfuls of the best honey , and stir it till it be dissolved : and then set it on the fire again , and let it boil two or three walms : then divide it into four parts , and drink one part warm early in the morning , another about ten of the clock , another about four in the afternoon , and the last a little before bed-time . do this daily for two or three months , except you purge , which must be once a week , taking ( if a grown man ) three quarters of an ounce of caryo-costinum dissolved in posset-drink : dress the sores if they run , with any drawing sear-cloth , or a plaister of burgundy-pitch . the medicine , though not very promising , is very famous , by the many cures done with it , by a charitable lady , of whose ingenious chaplain i procur'd it . 38. a good composition to stop a hollow tooth , and appease the pain . take two parts of fine sugar , ( that of lisbon does best ) and one part of black round pepper , both finely pouder'd and mixt ; put them into a silver spoon over two or three well-kindled coals ; and when the sugar begins to melt , take off the spoon , and whilst the mixture is yet soft , form it into little grains for size and shape , suted to the part affected . 39. a plaister prefer'd by an old physician , that often try'd it , to the common soap plaister . mix about one dram of castle-soap , with one ounce of diachylum , and make thereof a thin plaister , to be worn upon the part affected . 40. an excellent liquor to be used topically in gleetings . take four ounces of spring-water [ or plantane-water ] and dissolve in it about one scruple of the sympathetic-pouder , or so much as will give it a sensible , yet but faint , vitriol-like taste : and of this mixture , inject as much as is usual of a small syringe , every morning and evening , as long as need require , directing the patient to retain the injected liquor as long as conveniently he can . 41. an approved medicine in the biting of a viper . take of white horehound , and apply the plant , well beaten into the form of a poultis , to the part affected , and give the patient a spoonful or two of the juice of the same herb to drink : 't is also very good for the jaundice . 42. an almost specific medicine for the suppression of urin. take of stoechas citrina ( in english , french lavender ) and infuse in a good heat , two handful of the flowers in a pint of good brandy , ( not rectify'd spirit of wine ) and of this infusion , give about a small wine-glass-full at a time [ diluted , if there be great need , with a sufficient quantity of some appropriated liquor . ] 43. for an ague often try'd . boil yarrow [ mille-folium ] in new milk , till it be tender enough to have a cataplasm made of it . apply this to the patient's wrists , just when the cold fit is coming on , and let it lie on the parts till the fit be gone ; and if another fit comes , use fresh cataplasms as before . 44. an useful plaister for those that are troubled with vapours of the spleen , and shortness of breath , when 't is a nervous affection . take two parts of strain'd galbanum , and one part of asafoetida , and make thereof , according to art , a plaister of about the bigness of the palm of one's hand , taking care to leave a broad edg quire round , to prevent its sticking to one's linen and putting a pretty large piece of cotton in the middle , that the gums may not touch the navel ; to which the plaister is to be apply'd . 45. a slight , but excellent , medicine to take off fits of the head-ach . take about a handful of fresh rosemary , and boil it for a pretty while in a quart of common water , then almost fill with it a pint pot [ or rather a mug ] let the patient cover his head and face with a napkin , so that he may receive the steam as hot as he can well bear , and keep the vessel there as long as he finds the steam strong enough . 46. an easie and try'd medicine for the itch , praenissis universalibus . boil four ounces of clean quick-silver in about a gallon and a half of spring-water , and let the patient take of this between a quarter and half a pint at a time , aromatizing it if he pleases with a little lemon-peel . 47. an easie medicine to purify and sweeten the blood. take the minera of hungarian , or other choice antimony , and having ground it to very fine pouder , without suffering it to touch any metal , give of this dry alcohole from ten grains to a dram , giving it once a day , and ( unless some particular reason disswade that time ) let it be at dinner , that it may mingle with the patient's meat in his stomach . 48. a cheap , but excellent , medicine for ulcers . take one dram at least of corrosive sublimate finely pouder'd , dissolve it in a quart of fair water , and let it lie there , if you have leisure , four or five days ( in a light digestion ) that it may be throughly dissolved . then drop in it as much spirit of sal-armoniac , or as much oyl of tartar , per deliquium , as will precipitate it all : then filter it carefully , and keep it stop'd for use , which is to imbibe dorsels or plagets with it , and apply them to the ulcer twice or thrice a day . 49. an easie and innocent medicine for costiveness . boil in as much broth as will serve to fill a large poringer , about half a handful of the leaves of common mallows chop'd , and of this broth ( being strained ) let the patient make the first part of his meal . see numb . ( 8. ) 50. for the aching of a hollow tooth . take oil of wax , and with it moisten well a little cotton , and thrust it up into the hollow tooth , letting it lie there till the pain be sufficiently asswag'd . 51. an often try'd medicine for the bloody-flux , being good also for pleurisies . give the weight of an escu d'or ( or near one dram ) of the seed of sophia chirurgorum , in english flax-seed , in two or three spoonfuls of any convenient vehicle once or twice a day . 52. the cinamon drink , good in gripes and fluxes , &c. take two ounces of calcin'd hart's-horn , pouder it , and boil it in three pints of spring-water , till a pint be wasted ; then take it off the fire , and infuse in it , an ounce and half of good cinamon , setting it upon embers in a cover'd vessel for about an hour . then sweeten it with sugar to your palat , and drink about a quarter of a pint at a time . if taken for prevention only , a fourth part of the cinamon will serve the turn . see numb . ( 9. ) 53. an easie , but useful medicine for redness of the eyes . take a blanch'd almond , and about three grains of camphire , and in a glass or a marble mortar , incorporate them by wary grinding ; and then add to them little by little two or three ounces of red rose-water , still grinding them till the whole be brought to a kind of emulsion . drop a little of this into the part affected . see numb . ( 10. ) 54. a most excellent balsam for any green wound , of what nature soever . oyl of st. john's-wort , and venice-turpentine , of each a like quantity , set them over the fire in a gentle heat , half an hour or less , that they may incorporate . then put them up , and keep it for use as one of the best of balsams . 55. a good medicine for suppression of the menses . give for three mornings together , about the expected time of the monthly evacuation , a dram or dram and half or thereabouts of the gauls and livers of eels dry'd and made into pouder . 56. an experienced remedy to prevent apoplectic fits. make at the crossing of the sutures and issue with diapalma , and oil of vitriol , and keep it open the ordinary way . 57. to dry up , or correct the humour that makes scrophulous ulcers . take of the bone of the cuttle-fish , and having reduc'd it to an impalpable pouder , give about one dram of it at a time in any convenient vehicle . 58. an effectual medicine for a recent strain . take a handful of wormwood-leaves , and boil them in strong ale , till the consumption of about a third , that you may reduce them to the form of a cataplasm , which when you take from the fire , you must strengthen by putting into it two or at most three of brandy , and apply it very warm , renewing it , if need be , in twenty four hours at least . see numb . ( 11. ) 59. for a slight inflammation of the eyes , as also a hordeum growing on the eye-lid . take fresh housleek , and having pouder'd it very well to a kind of cataplasm , cover as much as is needful of it ( for example sake , to the thickness of a half-crown , or a crown-piece ) in the fold of a rag or linen-cloth , that may be so apply'd that the cataplasm may reach the eye , and the rest of the cloth be fastned about the patient's head. let the medicine lie on all night , and be taken off the next morning . repeat this application two or three times , in case there be need . 60. for most astmatic distempers . take of the roots of elecampain , thinly slic'd , one ounce , of the leaves of ground-ivy , a good handful . boil these in three pints of spring-water to a quart , then strain the decoction , sweeten it with a little live honey , and let the patient take it five , six or seven spoonfuls at a time . ( note well , remember the efficacy of saffron in the same disease , as 't is commended by mr. ray , in his catalogue of plants . ) see numb . ( 12. ) 61. for an ague . take of the bone , call'd patella , of the knee of a dead man , and having reduc'd it to fine pouder , give of it as much as will lie upon a groat or a six-pence for one dose , in any proper conserve or fit vehicle , at a convenient time ( before the cold fit. ) 62. an experienced medicine to kill tetters . take of flowers of brimstone , ginger and burnt-allum , of each alike , mingle them well , and of this mixture , incorporate as much with new unsalted butter , as is requisite to bring it to the consistence of an unguent . with this anoint the part affected , as hot as the patient can well endure it , and let it stay on all night ; and the next morning wash it off with celandine-water . but when the patient goes to bed , he is to take a dose of some alexipharmacal medicine , as gascon's pouder , treacle , &c. to keep the humour from being driven into the mass of blood : he is also to bathe the part oftentimes in a day with the celandine-water . 63. to make a good pouder for a gonorrhaea . take of choice red coral , and of mastich , equal parts , reduce them separately to fine powder . mingle them very well , and of this mixture , give about thirty or forty grains for one dose . 64. a choice medicine for a slight stroke or bruise of the eye . take two spoonfuls of fennel-water , or of betony-water , and drop into it three or four drops ( or five at most ) of good clarify'd honey : shake them well together , and use them twice or thrice a day . but you must have a care to make this mixture fresh once in four , or at most in five days , especially in summer ; for if it be longer kept , 't will be apt to grow sowr . 65. an often try'd external medicine for an erysipelas . take the blood of a hare , ( 't is best if kill'd by hunting in march ) and if you can have it fresh , anoint the part affected with it , otherwise apply on it a linen rag that has ( though a good while ago ) throughly imbib'd the fresh blood of that animal , and dry'd in the air. but if the imbued linen be too hard or stiff , it must be softned with a little fair water , and then the cold taken off , apply'd to , and bound upon the part . see numb . ( 13. ) 66. an emperics , much boasted remedy for the fluor albus , or whites in women . make a strong decoction of the herb alchymilla ( in english , ladies-mantle , ) and let the patient drink of it about half a pint every morning fasting ; and if the case be urgent , make an injection of the same plant , boil'd till it be very tender , and let the patient make use of it from time to time . see numb . ( 14. ) 67. an excellent water for ulcers and sores [ try'd with great success . ] to a quart of spring-water , take one dram of mercury sublimate finely pouder'd ; and when 't is quite dissolved , drop into the solution , either spirit of sal armoniac ( which is best ) or oil of tartar per deliquium , till you see that no more will manifestly precipitate . this done , filter the mixture through cap-paper , and reserve the precipitate for other uses . the liquor that passes , you must keep close stopt in a glass-viol ; and when you will use it , you must dip linen rags in it , and being throughly wetted , apply them to the part affected ; single , or doubled , more or less , as need requires . this application may be renewed twice , or ( if the case be urgent ) thrice a day . 68. an experienced medicine for want of sleep , proceeding from great heats of the head. take the palest carrots you can get , and scrape a sufficient quantity of them to afford scrapings enough to make a cataplasm of about two fingers or two inches broad , and of the thickness of a half-crown piece of silver , or thereabouts . let the patient apply this in a piece of doubled [ linen ] to his throat , so that it may reach to the jugular vessels on each side , when he goes to bed , and let it lie on all night ( for it will not easily grow dry , ) if the first application do not prevail , 't is to be apply'd the following night ; and so a third and fourth time , if need require . 69. a parable medicine that has cured very many , especially children , and young boys and girls , of convulsive fits. take of the pouder ( whether made by filing , rasping , or , otherwise ) of the sound skull of a dead man , and give of it about as much as will lie upon a groat , made up into a bolus with conserve of rosemary-flowers ( or any other that is proper ) to a young boy or girl : but in persons more aged and strong , the dose of the pouder must be augmented to double the quantity . the medicine must be given often , if necessity requires it : if the patient be a child , 't will be useful to apply to his throat , a kind of necklace , made of the roots of vervain cut into beads . 70. an easie , and experienc'd remedy for the piles . in four ounces of spring-water , dissolve about one dram of salt of tartar , or as much as will give the liquor a manifest , but not strong alcalisate taste , and apply soft rags dip'd in luke-warm or somewhat more to the part affected , shifting it from time to time . 71. a succcssful medicine for fluxes of the belly . take rice-meal , and mix with it about a fifth part of finely pouder'd and sifted chalk , boil these in water , or which is better , if it agrees with the patient , in milk , and make thereof a hasty pudding , to be moderately season'd with sugar and pouder'd cinamon ; and let the patient eat it at meals , and if need be at some other times . 72. an often try'd remedy for corns . take the juice of housleek , and mix it up with about equal parts of the thick balm or yest , that sticks to the barrel or to the clay that stops it . of these make a kind of plaister , which being kept upon the toe for a while , and then if need be , renew'd , will make the corn very soft and easie to be drawn out and extirpated . see numb . ( 15. ) 73. a good medicine for burns and stenching of blood. dissolve in spring-water , or which is better rain-water , as much sugar as will make it a strong solution , and then with a sufficient quantity of linseed-oil , or oil of olives , beat up this liquor till the oil on it be brought to the consistence of an unguent , with which anoint the part affected , as timely as you can , renewing the application as often as need shall require . see numb . ( 16. ) 74. an approved medicine for the bloody-flux , being good also for pleurisies . give two or three scruples of hare's blood beaten to pouder for one dose , to be taken in a spoonful or two or three of mint-water , or any other fit vehicle . 75. a very often ( though homely ) experienc'd remedy for dysenteric and other fluxes . take the fresh dung of a hog , ( and if you can , whil'st 't is yet warm ) and boil in a poringer full of new milk , as much of it as may amount to the bigness of a wal-nut ; and also an equal quantity of fine mutton suet slic'd very thin : when these are well incorporated with the milk , strain them well through a clean linen cloth ; and if there be need , sweeten them a little with loaf-sugar : let the patient take this warm , once or twice a day . 76. a powerful styptic to stench blood , where it can be apply'd . take the fine pouder of lapis haematites , made by grinding it exactly well with an equal or double weight of sal armoniac : and of this high-colour'd sublimate , put a little upon the orifice of the vessel . 77. for a slight redness of the eyes . take of french barley half an ounce , and damask roses half an handful . boil them but very little in a pint of spring-water , and with this moisten the part affected . see numb . ( 17. ) 78. for the relaxation of the uvula . take blewish pease ( or in want of them , white ones ) and chew them very well , so as to reduce them to the consistence of a poultis . lay this warm upon the crown of the head , to the breadth and thickness of a five-shilling-piece of silver , or somewhat larger , shifting it in the morning , and at bed-time . see numb . ( 18. ) 79. a powerful medicine to stop sharp rheums . take a dram of catechu , or japan earth , and make thereof a decoction in five or six ounces of good white-wine , or else of some distill'd water , or other liquor appropriated to the disease . of this , give two or three spoonfuls at night , and in the morning as much also if need require . 80. the french-man's famous eye-water . take two or three ounces of the water of simple pimpernel , distill'd in balneo , and put this into a little pot or poringer of rose-copper ; then put into it , about the bigness of a hazel-nut , or a filbert , of strong quick-lime : cover the pot , and let the ingredients lie in it till the liquor hath acquired a blewish colour . then very warily pour off tke clear , and add to it as much live honey , as will give a little , or but little , taste : use it after the wonted manner of such waters ; and if you find it too strong , dilate it a little with water of the same plant , or good spring-water , which for a need , may be used from first to last , instead of the water of pimpernel . see numb . ( 19. ) 81. eye-water . take red rose-water , plantane-water , of each an ounce ; tutia prepared , half a scruple ; lapis lazuli prepared , six grains ; red coral prepared , five grains ; mix and make a collyrium or eye-water . this drop'd into the eyes , being first well shak'd , cures inflammations of the eyes , provided there be no great foulness , nor scrophulous disposition in the patient . it takes off the redness of the eye-lids , if with a spunge dip'd in it , the eye-lids be often wetted , it takes off films very well . 82. a safe and useful medicine to prevent driness and some other disaffections of the eyes . take of choice virgin-honey , two spoonfuls , of succory-water , or the distilled water , of each four spoonfuls ; mix them , and in a very clean vessel over a very gentle fire , let them evaporate ( taking off from time to time any scum that may arise ) till the mixture be brought to the consistence of a syrup [ or of honey ] keep this in a glass well stop'd , and make use of it , by letting fall a drop or two , or at most three of it , at a time , into the eye . see numb . ( 20. ) 83. the medicine of a famous empyric for the stone . take amber ( clear and yellow ) sea-horse pizzle and niter , of each a like quantity , ( note well , in case of ulcerated kidnies , put half the quantity of the amber ) and an eighth part of the nitre ( of natural balsam . ) pulverize each apart , and make them up into pills with chios ( or at least clean strasburgh turpentine ) take five , six or seven pills ( of above ten to one ounce ) morning and evening . see numb . ( 21. ) 84. an excellent medicine for fits of the mother . take sagapenum dissolved in vinegar of squills , and strained through a sieve , and again inspisiated or thickned : ammoniacum in like manner prepared : steel prepared , myrrh , fecula of bryony , of each half a dram : english saffron , castoreum , of each a scruple : borax two scruples : syrup of staechas a sufficient quantity ; mix and make pills of a convenient bigness to be swallowed ; of which take three morning and night , with care . 85. a choice medicine for the cholic . take clean white chalk , and having dry'd it with a gentle heat , reduce it to fine pouder ; wet this pouder with the express'd juice of cammomil , and then let it dry in the air , without the heat , either of the fire , or of the sun. this done , wet it again with new juice of cammomil , and dry it the second time as before . wet and dry it again the third time , and , if you please , the fourth time ; and then reduce the dry mass to fine pouder again . of this pouder , let the patient take at a time , as much as will lie upon a groat or a six-pence , in some spoonfuls of wine , or other proper vehicle . 86. troches of vipers , successfully used to cleanse the blood , and to strengthen weak patients . take of vipers reduc'd to fine pouder one ounce , diaphoretic antimony half an ounce , clear yellow amber two drams , of starch as much as of all the rest , and of sugar as much as of starch ; make them to a fine paste , with spirit of wine , and then make them into small cakes , whereof one may serve for a dose . 87. an approved medicine for scorbutic gums , and to fasten the teeth . take of white-wine , a pint , of alum half an ounce , of juniper-berries and of red sage ana one ounce : boil these together till a quarter of the liquor be wasted , then put into the remaining part four ounces of honey , and let it boil till the scum be all risen ; then filter it , and put into it one dram of balsamum vitae . see numb . ( 22. ) 88. a caution about the vitriolate eye-water . take four grains of roman vitriol , not more , to four ounces of distilled water , either of roses , succory , fennel , &c. 89. a good medicine for a light stroke , or contusion of the eye . take half an ounce of celendine-water , and shake well into it , three or four drops of clarify'd honey , and let fall of this into the eye , a drop or two , twice or thrice a day . 90. an excellent medicine for a stroke or bruise in the eye . take of betony-water and hysop-water , of each one ounce , and in their mixture , stir some blades of saffron , till the liquor be pretty well colour'd , and no more . and lastly , add to it four or five drops of clarify'd honey . see numb . ( 23. ) 91. an excellent remedy to take off films , and such like things from the eyes . take choice bole-armonic , and reduce it to very fine pouder , blow this gently into the eye , once , or at most twice a day . but if the patient be subject to , or fearful of , any swelling , heat , or disaffection in the eye-lids , incorporate the pouder with a little clarify'd honey . see numb . ( 24. ) 92. to strengthen weak eyes subject to rheums . take lapis calaminaris four ounces , rose-water a pint , shake them well together two days . then let it settle , pour off this water into a little viol , and drop of it in weak eyes , two or three times a day , &c. 93. a plaister to strengthen the eyes , and stop defluctions on them . take of frankincense two drams , olibanum and mastic ana half a dram ; mix these well , and reduce them into fine pouder : of which , a convenient quantity is to be melted and spread upon black ribbon , or some such thing , with a hot knife or spatula , and so presently apply'd to the temples . 94. an experienced remedy for sharp and hot humours in the eyes . into a quart of new milk already boiling , put about two handfuls or less of green housleek , freshly gather'd , and chopt small , and let the milk boil on till 't will yield no more curd . then strain the green posset-drink , and let the patient take every day , once or twice a pint ( or as near that quantity as he can well reach to ) sweeten'd a little if need be with fine sugar . the drink may be best taken cold . 95. an excellent fumigation for pains in the eyes , and over-great driness of them , and when one fears the beginning of a cataract . take of fennel , hysop , betony , celandine , carduus , of each half a handful , or a handful ; of the seeds of linseed , quinces , fenugreek , fleawort , of each half a dram , of french barley one ounce ; boil these in two quarts of fair water , and half a pint of white-wine : let the patient hold his head over the fumes for about a quarter of an hour every morning . 96. for sore eye-lids . take crums of white-bread half an ounce ; coral , and pearl prepared , tutia , white-sugar-candy , of each half a dram ; pouder of red roses a dram and half ; flowers of st. john's-wort one dram : and with a sufficient quantity of milk make a cataplasm or pultice , which spread upon linen cloth , and bind it over the eye . 97. for heaviness and pain in the eyes . take flowers of melilot , of elder , and of marigolds , of each a small handful ; linseed , seeds of fenugreek , fleawort , cumin , and quinces of each half a scruple ; french-barley half an ounce ; damask roses half an ounce ; spring-water a pint and half : mix and make a decoction with which foment the forehead , temples and eye-brows , being sufficiently warm . 98. for a dry inflamation . take of betony , hysop , rue , worm-wood , vervain , as also of sage-flowers and rosemary-flowers , of each of all these , half a handful . ( to which may be usefully added cummin-seeds , fennel-seeds and carduus-seeds , of each a quarter of an ounce . ) boil these a little in two or three quarts of fair water , and then let the patient hold his head for about a quarter of an hour over the steam of this decoction , making use of a napkin , to keep the smoke from dissipating , and direct it to his eyes . a while after , he may put into them , if it be thought fit , a little clarify'd honey . finis . several necessary notes , explicating , illustrating , or enlarging some of the heads in the preceding volume . numb . ( 1. ) for the bloody flux , or other fluxes . see pag. 4. take japan earth , pouder of rhubarb , of each equal parts : of which give half a dram at a time every morning fasting . numb . ( 2. ) a good medicine for the dropsie . see p. 5. note , an infusion of mechoacan in white-wine , ( an ounce and half thin-sliced to a pint ) being infused 24 hours , and drank off every morning for some days , is a most admirable thing : and if a little mustard-seed be infused in it , it will be so much the better . numb . ( 3. ) a medicine for blood-shot , or inflamed eyes . see p. 6. there is no better a remedy for inflamed eyes , than to wash them every day several times with this . take frog-spawn-water , a pint ; salt of tartar , a dram : mix and dissolve , and wash therewith . numb . ( 4. ) a good and innocent dentrifice . see p. 7. but that which exceeds all , is a fine pouder of red coral , with which you may rub them two or three times a day , and then wash them with water in which sal prunellae is dissolved . numb . ( 5. ) to prevent or cure an ague . see p. 13. take gratings of angelica root , flowers of antimony , of each half a dram ; choice canary three ounces : infuse in a cold place for one or two days , and pour off the clear for two doses : it is a singular good vomit for the cure of agues of all sorts , being given in the morning fasting 4 or 6 hours before the coming of the fit ; and if it be not a quotidian ague , then on the intermitting day . numb . ( 6. ) an useful drink for the kings-evil . see p. 24. there is no better thing in the world for the kings-evil than to give daily some spoonfuls of this following liquor . take white-wine a quart , juice of pellitory of the wall a pint , spirit of wine half a pint , sal prunellae an ounce : mix and dissolve ; then pour off the clear , and sweeten with white sugar : dose 6 spoonfuls morning and night . numb . ( 7. ) an experienc'd remedy to expel gravel , and provoke vrin . see p. 25. take the juice of onions two spoonfuls ; white-wine half a pint or more : mix them , for a draught it gives present ease ; and if repeated for some time , in a short season cures . numb . ( 8. ) an easie medicine for costiveness . see p. 35. a turpentine clyster thus made is admirable , to cause stools in a very great costiveness . take strasburgh turpentine an ounce , yolk of one or two eggs , grind them well together ; then put thereto a pint of fat mutton broth , and exhibit it blood-warm . numb . ( 9. ) a remedy for gripes and fluxes . see p. 37. a most excellent remedy for gripings , is a tincture of corn poppy-flowers made with common spirit of wine : of this you may give from a spoonful to two spoonfuls , in spirit of opium half an ounce , mixt with black-cherry water four ounces : this gives ease upon the spot . numb . ( 10. ) a medicine for redness of the eyes . see p. 38. if the redness be with a fierce hot rheum , it is from weakness of the eyes ; and then the only remedy is to wash them twice or thrice a day with brandy : there is no danger in it , nor will it smart much . numb . ( 11. ) an effectual medicine for a strain . see p. 41. take comfrey-roots beaten to a pulp , half a pound , pouder of japan earth four ounces , spirit of wine a sufficient quantity ; mix , and apply it to the part . numb . ( 12. ) for most astmatic distempers . see p. 43. take juice of hyssop , choice honey , of each two pound : mix , boil , scum , and make a syrup ; of which , let the sick take four spoonfuls or more , morning , noon , and night . numb . ( 13. ) an external medicine for an erysipelas . see p. 47. the blood of almost any living creature is found by many experiments to be a specifick against an erysipelas , being often anointed on the affect , or cloths dip'd in the some , being laid moist thereon . numb . ( 14. ) a remedy for the whites in women . see p. 48. the best of remedies in this case ( after due purging ) is to give two , three or four grains of laudanum , and to inject three , four , or six times a day this water . take spring-water two quarts , white vitriol , roch allum , of each two ounces : being in pouder , mix and dissolve , let it settle , and use only the clear . numb . ( 15. ) a try'd remedy for corns . see p. 54. take ammoniacum strained , emplastrum diapalma , of each an ounce ; arcanum coralinum half an ounce ; white precipitate two drams : mix them them well together , and apply it only over the corn , being first cut as close as it conveniently can be . numb . ( 16. ) a medicine for burns and stenching of blood. see p. 55. but for stenching of blood , there are but few medicines which exceed the colcothar of vitriol , whether wash'd and free'd from its salt , or not wash'd : 't is but a common thing , but will do more than a thousand much more enobled . numb . ( 17. ) for a slight redness of the eyes . see p. 58. one of the best of remedies against redness and inflammation of the eyes , is often to wash them with this water : take frog-spawn-water a pint , common spirit of wine four ounces ; mix them : wash herewith five or six times a day ; and at bed-time apply over the sore eyes a cataplasm of a rotten apple . numb . ( 18. ) for the relaxation of the vvula . see p. 59. this common medicine is found very successful : the throat being first gargled with claret-wine , in which a little roch allum has been dissolved , as hot as it can well be endured ; then anoint it with this . take honey one ounce , pouder of elecampane two drams , pepper in pouder half a dram : mix them , and apply it thrice a day with your finger . numb . ( 19. ) a famous eye-water . see p. 61. take red rose-water a quart ; aloes in fine pouder , half an ounce ; white vitriol , vitrum antimonii , crocus metalorum , of each six drams ; mix and digest warm a month : then use the clear water three or four times a day , it has scarcely any equal . numb . ( 20. ) a medicine to prevent running of the eyes . see p. 63. take white-wine half a pint , dissolve in it white vitriol two drams ; filter or strain , and therein dissolve choice honey two ounces : with this fill the eyes two or three times a-day ; it is good against most distempers of the eyes . numb . ( 21. ) a medicine for the stone . see p. 64. take strasburgh turpentine two ounces , grind it well with yolks of eggs , and then mix therewith this following syrup . take water a pint and half , sal prunellae an ounce and half : mix and dissolve , and with honey a pound , boil it into a syrup , which add to the former mixture . dose two or three spoonfuls morning and night . numb . ( 22. ) a medicine for scorbutick gums , and to fasten the teeth . see p. 68. there is nothing fastens the teeth better than to wash them with this mixture . take claret-wine a pint , roch allum half an ounce ; mix and dissolve , and then add thereto six ounces of a strong tincture of japan earth , made with common brandy . numb . ( 23. ) for a stroke or bruise in the eye . see p. 70. take celandine-water three ounces , spirit of saffron one ounce , mix them , with which wash the eyes several times aday ; and if the eyes be very sore , red , or blood-shot , after washing anoint them every time with a little pure virgin honey . numb . ( 24. ) an excellent remedy to take off films from the eyes . take pouder of coral levigated one ounce , pouder of pearls levigated three drams , crabs-eyes levigated one dram , virgin honey two ounces ; mix them , and anoint four or five times a day , but chiefly morning and night . numb . ( 25. ) a remedy for the kings-evil . take roots of pilewort a sufficient quantity , bruise them , and boil them in hog's lard till they are crisp , after which press them hard out ; and boil in like manner as many more fresh roots , and press out again , doing it the third time : then keep the ointment for use to anoint with , morning and night . numb . ( 26. ) a remedy for the stone . give every morning fasting , and every night going to bed , half a dram of the pouder of winter cherries in a draught parsly or arsmart-water , or in glass of white-wine . finis . medicinal experiments, or, a collection of choice remedies for the most part simple, and easily prepared by ... r. boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1692 approx. 91 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 65 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28992 wing b3989 estc r954 12770244 ocm 12770244 93647 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28992) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93647) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 707:7) medicinal experiments, or, a collection of choice remedies for the most part simple, and easily prepared by ... r. boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [11], 11, 88, [2], 17 p. printed for sam. smith ..., london : 1692. "a table of diseases" [i.e. index]: p. [1]-[11] in second grouping. added t.p. and separate paging ([2], 17 p. at end): a catalogue of the philosophical books and tracts, written by the honourable robert boyle ... together with the order or time wherein each of them hath been publish'd respectively : to which is added, a catalogue of the theological books, written by the same author. imperfect: fulton calls for an engraved port. lacking in filmed copy. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by 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was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng boyle, robert, 1627-1691 -bibliography. medicine -early works to 1800. medicine -formulae, receipts, prescriptions. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion imprimatur , novemb. 18. 1691. robert southwell . p. r. s. medicinal experiments ; or , a collection of choice remedies , for the most part simple , and easily prepared . by the honorable r. boyle , esq fellow of the royal society . london : printed for sam. smith , at the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard , 1692. the preface of the publisher . these receipts , taken out of a large collection , as consisting of a few safe ingredients , commonly to be found at easie rates in most places , were sent to a learned physician beyond sea : to whom they were a welcome present , and answer'd , without doubt , the ends he had in desiring them . that excellent person , to whom these choice prescriptions are owing , did permit a few copies of them to be printed , and was pleased to put them in the hands of some of his friends , provided , as there was occasion , they would make tryal of them , and faithfully report the success . divers of those , who on these conditions had received so great a favour , held themselves obliged to enquire for persons affected with any of the maladies against which the said medicines were prescribed ; and , upon many experiments carefully made , having found , that frequently they have relieved those who used them , and sometimes strangely outdone expectation ; they addressed themselves with much importunity to the noble author , to suffer things which were of such general benefit , and so easily to be procured by the poor , to be made more publick . and at length he hath been prevailed with not only to allow the former receipts , which but few had seen , to be reprinted , but hath , out of his rich treasury , stored us with a fresh collection , which , as in number it exceeds what we had before , so in quality and virtue it falls not short of it . and if what here , with such an honest and kind design is offered to the publick , be but candidly and favourably receiv'd , we may still hope for more blessings of this sort from him , who has not only a constant will and great ability to do good , but hath , perhaps , obliged the age as much as any private person in it . the author's preface . the following prescriptions are a part of a collection of receipts and processes , that from time to time have been recommended to me by the experience of others , or approved by my own : receipts that being parable or cheap , may easily be made serviceable to poor countrey people . for medicines so simple , and for the most part so cheap , i have found all of them to be good in their kind : and though i think most of them safer than many other medicines that are in great request , yet i do not pretend that these should play the part of medicines and physicians too ; but that they may be usefully employed by one who knows how to administer them discreetly . i distinguish them into three classes or orders , annexing to the title of each particular medicine one of the three first letters of the alphabet ; wherefore a is the mark of a remedy of the highst classis of these , recommended as very considerable and efficatious in its kind . b , denotes a second or inferior sort , but yet to be valuable for their good operations . c , belongs to those remedies that are of the lowest order , tho' good enough not to be despised . those receipts , which were my own , are expressed in my own terms ; so also those which i received from others by word of mouth : but them which were imparted to me in writing , though i my self would not have worded them , as they did that i had them from , yet i oftentimes made a scruple to correct or alter their expressions , tho' not suitable to the current style of the formularies of receipts , being more concern'd that the meaning should be close kept to , than the style rectified . the table of diseases . note , the number answers to the page . a agues . pag. 4 , 13 , 25 , 74 amulet against agues . pag. 13 amulet against cramps . pag. 15 acidities to cure. pag. 19 after-birth to bring away . pag. 21 appetite to restore . pag. 21 antimonial remedy for leprosies and fevers . pag. 54 antimonial infusion . pag. 56 apoplexy to prevent . pag. 6● arthritick pains . pag. 7● apoplectick fits. pag. 78 b bloody-flux . pag. ● bowels to strengthen . pag. 14 blood to stanch . pag. 16 blood to sweeten . pag. 19 brest vlcerated . pag. 23 broken belly . pag. 33 , 40 black jaundice . pag. 44 burns . pag. 8● c coughs . pag. 1 , 32 convulsions . pag. 9 , 20 consumptions . pag. 12 child to bring away . pag. 14 cramp . pag. 15 contusions . pag. 28 , 29 cutis excoriated . pag. 30 continual fevers . pag. 51 , 52 , 54 , 79 chilblains . pag. 53 colick . pag. 55 , 62 , 78 , 85 childbearing to be cleansed after . pag. 57 cancer not broken . pag. 67 colds . pag. 69 childrens jaundice . pag. 70 chin cough . pag. 74 d dysentery . pag. 7 , 18 , 59 , 68 diseases from obstruction . pag. 38 difficulty of hearing . pag. 39 drink for continual fevers . pag. 51 , 52 drink for the scurvy . pag. 64 diuretick medicine . pag. 64 decoction of quick-silver . pag. 80 e evil. pag. 7 eyes to cure. pag. 20 excoriations . pag. 30 external piles . pag. 63 experiment for a weak sight . pag. 73 external remedy for fevers . pag. 79 f fits of the stone . pag. 8 fluxes sharp . pag. 18 , 26 , 37 , 59 films to clear . pag. 20 fits of agues . pag. 4 , 13 , 25 fits of the gout . pag. 40 fits of the mother . pag. 50 fevers continual . pag. 51 , 52 , 54 , 79 falling sickness . pag. 75 fits apoplectick . pag. 78 fresh strain . pag. 83 g gripings . pag. 26 gout . 40 , 50 , 71 gums to strengthen . 69 h hemorrhoids . pag. 10 , 17 , 27 , 63 , 84 heart burning . pag. 34 hearing difficult . pag. 39 hoarsness on a could . pag. 69 heat in the eyes . pag. 72 heat of the stomach . pag. 87 i jaundice yellow . pag. 5 , 6 , 70 inflammations of vlcers pag. 31 jaundice black. pag. 44 itch to cure . pag. 58 internal piles . pag. 63 issue raw to make . pag. 86 k kings evil. pag. 7 kings evil cured with lime water , &c. pag. 82 l lime water to make . pag. 11 lime water for obstructions . pag. 12 legs inflamed and vlcerated . pag. 31 loosness . pag. 37 leprosie . pag. 54 lungs stuffed . pag. 74 lime water for the kings evil. pag. 82 m medicine for the stone . pag. 49 , 76 mother fits. pag. 50 medicine for a fresh strain . pag. 52 medicine to cleanse the womb. pag. 57 medicine for a sore throat . pag. 60 , 66 , 77 medicine for the colick . pag. 62 medicine for a cancer . pag. 67 n nitre , a medicine of it for the colick . pag. 85 o obstructions . pag. 12 , 38 outward contusions . pag. 28 , 29 oil of turpentine mixt with ointment of tobacco , and balls of sulphur for the piles . pag. 84 p pains of the stone . pag. 2 pain of the teeth . pag. 4 piles . pag. 10 , 17 , 27 , 63 , 84 pains . pag. 31 , 50 , 71 plaister to discuss tumours . pag. 43 plaister to strengthen the joynts . pag. 50 pleurisie . pag. 68 prolapsus vteri . pag. 71 q quick-silver prepared against worms . pag. 80 r rheumes . pag. 1 , 32 , 68 ruptures . pag. 33 , 40 resent strain . pag. 35 remedy for chilblains . pag. 53 remedies for fluxes . pag. 7 , 18 , 26 , 59 s stone . pag. 2 , 8 , 49 , 76 sharpness of vrine . pag. 3 strengthen the bowels . pag. 14 stanching blood. pag. 16 stomach to strengthen . pag. 21 strain . pag. 34 , 35 , 37 , 52 , 83 , 85 strengthning plaister . pag. 31 sores . pag. 41 sore throat . pag. 60 , 66 , 86 sharp humours . pag. 62 scurvy . pag. 64 strengthen the gums . pag. 69 syrup for rheums . pag. 68 sharp humours in the eyes . pag. 72 sight weak . pag. 73 stomach heat . pag. 87 stomachical tincture . pag. 88 t tooth ach. pag. 4 , 32 tertian ague . pag. 13 , 74 tumours . pag. 17 tickling rheum . pag. 32 teeth to keep sound . pag. 32 tumours to discuss and ripen . pag. 43 throat sore . pag. 60 , 66 , 77 , 86 teeth to make firm . pag. 69 u vrine sharp . pag. 3 vlcers of the brest . pag. 23 vlcers . pag. 41 uteri prolapsus . pag. 71 vrine stopt . pag. 76 w. women in labour . pag. 14 wounds bleeding . pag. 16 weakness of the joints . pag. 37 water for vlcers . pag. 41 womb to cleanse . pag. 57 wash for the iteh . pag. 58 weak sight . pag. 73 worms in children . pag. 80 whitloe to cure. pag. 81 y. yellow jaundice . pag. 5 a catalogue of the philosophical and theological books and tracts , written by the honorable robert boyle esq together with the order of time , wherein each of them hath been published respectively . decad i. i. for coughs , especially such as proceed from thin rheums . b take of choice olibanum , finely powder'd , from one scruple to half a dram , and mix carefully with it an equal weight of sugar-candy , ( white or brown , ) or , in want of that , of fine sugar ; and let the patient take it at bed-time in the pap of an apple , or some other proper additament , for several nights together : if it be found needful , it may be taken at any other time , when the stomach is empty . ii. to give ease in the pains of the stone , even that of the bladder . a take the transparent sparr that grows upon the veins of lead-ore , and having reduc'd it to fine powder , give from half a dram to a whole dram of it at a time , in a moderate draught of some convenient vehicle . n. b. though there be ( at least in most of our english mines ) two teguments , as it were , of the veins of lead , that grow close together ; yet that which the diggers name cawk , which is white and opacous , is not the medicine i mean , but the transparent , or at least semi-diaphanous ; which easily breaks into smooth fragments , and in the fire cleaves into several pieces , that are wont to be smooth and prettily shap'd . iii. for sharpness of vrine . b take of the dry stuff that divides the lobes of the kernels of walnuts , beat them to powder , and of this give about half a dram at a time , in a draught of white-wine , or posset-drink made with it , or in any other convenient liquor . iv. to appease the violent pains of the tooth-ach . b make up a scruple of pil. lulae mastichinae , and half a grain of laudanum , into two or three pills for the patient to take at bed-time . v. for agues . a take salt of card. benedict . and salt of wormwood and 15 grains , tartar vitriolate half a scruple ; mix them , and give them in a few spoonfuls of rhenish-wine , or of some other convenient vehicle , either before the fit , or at some other time when the stomach is empty . vi. for the yellow-jaundice . b take an ounce of castle-soap ( the elder the better , ) slice it thin , put it into a pint of small-beer cold , set it on the fire , let it boil gently half away , after boiling some time , scum it once ; then strain it through a small sive , warm it , and drink it all in a morning fasting ; take a small lump of sugar after it , and fast two or three hours : the party may walk about his business , and eat his acstomed meals : if at any time he drinks wine , let it be white wine . n. b. if he be far gone in the distemper ; two or three day after , he may take it once or twice more , and no oftner . refrain all other medicines : it will keep a week or longer . vii . for the jaundice . b take two or three ounces of semen cannabis ( hempseed ) and boil them till the seeds ( some of them ) begin to burst , and a little longer , in a sufficient quantity of new milk , to make one good draught ; which the patient is to take warm , renewing it if need be , for some days together . viii . for the dysentery . b take pigs-dung , dry it , and burn it to grey ( not white ) ashes ; of these give about half a dram for a dose , drinking after them about three spoonfuls of wine-vinegar . ix . for the kings evil. b take cuttle-bone uncalcin'd , and having scrap'd off the out-side or colour'd part , dry the white part ; and of this , finely powder'd , give half a dram for a dose in aqua malvae . x. a safe and easie medicine in fits of the stone . b take sack , or , in want of that , claret-wine , and by shaking or otherwise , mix with it , as well as you can , an equal quantity of oyl of wallnuts ; and of this mixture give from 4 or 6 to 8 or 10 ounces at a time as a glyster . decad ii. i. for convulsions , especially in children . b take earth-worms , wash them well in white-wine to cleanse them , but so as that they may not die in the wine : then , upon hollow tiles or between them , dry the worms with a moderate heat , and no further than that they may be conveniently reduc'd to powder ; to one ounce of which add a pretty number of grains of ambergrise , both to perfume the powder , ( whose scent of it self is rank ) and to make the medicine more efficatious . the dose is from one dram to a dram and half in any convenient vehicle . ii. for the pyles . b take the powder of earth-worms prepared as in the former receipt , ( but leaving out the ambergrise , ) and incorporate it exactly with as much hens-grease , as will serve to make it up into an oyntment . apply this to the part affected , whose pains it usually much and safely mitigates . iii. to make lime-water vseful in divers distempers . c take one pound of good quick-lime , and slake it in a gallon of warm water , and let it stand 'till all that will subside be settled at the bottom , and ( separation being made , ) the water swim clear at the top : ( at which time it will often happen , that a kind of thin and brittle substance , almost like ice , will cover the surface of the liquor : ) as soon as the water is thus sufficiently impregnated , delay not to pour it off warily , and keep it very well stopp'd for use . iv. a lime-water for obstructions an consumptions . b take a gallon of lime-water made as above , and infuse in it cold sassaffras , liquorice , and anyseeds , of each four ounces , adding thereto half a pound of choice currans , or the like quantity of slic'd raisins of the sun : the dose of this compound lime-water is four or five ounces , to be taken twice a day . v. an amulet against agues , especially tertian . b take a handfull of groundsel , shred and cut it small , put it into a square paper bag of about four inches every way , pricking that side that is to be next the skin , full of large holes ; and cover it with some sarcenet or fine linnen , that nothing may fall out . let the patient wear this upon the pit of his stomach , renewing it two hours before every fit. vi. for women in labour to bring away the child . b take about one dram of choice myrrh , and having reduc'd it to fine pouder , let the patient take it in a draught of rhenish-wine or sack ; or , if you would have the liquor less active white-wine , posset-drink , or some other temperate vehicle . vi. for strengthning the bowels . b take cloves or chives ( not bulbs ) of garlick , and let the patient from time to time swallow one or two , without chewing . viii . an amulet against the cramp . a take the root of mechoacan , and having reduc'd it to powder , fill with this pouder a little square bag or sacket of sarcenet , or some such slight stuff ; which bag is to be about three inches square , and to be hung by a string about the patient's neck , so as that it may reach to the pit of the stomach , and immediately touch the skin . ix . for stanching of blood especially in wounds . a take those round mushrooms that bonatists call crepitus lupi , ( in english puff-balls , ) when they are full ripe ( which is in autumn ) ; and breaking them warily , save carefully the pouder that will fly up , and the rest that remains in their cavities : and strew this pouder all over the part affected , binding it on , or proceeding further , if need be , according to art. x. for the tumours and pains of the hemorrhoides , not too much inflamed . b let the patient dip his finger in balsam of sulphur , made with oyl of turpentine , and with his finger so besmeared anoint the tumours , whether external or internal , once or twice a day . decad iii. i. for the dysentery and other sharp fluxes . a take the stalks and leaves of the herb call'd , in latin , coniza media ( in english , flea-bane , ) dry it gently , till it be reducible to pouder ; of this pouder give about one dram at a time , twice or thrice a day , in any convenient vehicle or else incorporate it in conserve of red roses . ii. to sweeten the blood , and cure divers distempers caused by its acidity . b take coral , the clearest and reddest you can get ; reduce it ( by exactly grinding it on a porphory , or marble stone , ) to an impalpable pouder . of this magistery made without acids , give the patient once or twice a day ( as need shall require , ) a large dose , viz. ordinarily about one dram at a time , or from two scruples to five . n. b. let him long continue the use of it . iii. to clear the eyes , even from filmes . a take paracelsus's zibethum occidentale ( viz. human dung ) of a good colour and consistence , dry it slowly till it be pulverable : then reduce it into an inpalpable pouder ; which is to be blown once , twice , or thrice a day , as occasion shall require , into the patients eyes . iv. for convulsions in children . a give the patient from 2 , 3 , or 4 , to 5 , 6 , or 7 grains , according to the child's age , of the true volatile salt of amber , in any proper vehicle . n. b. 't is not near so efficatious in full grown persons . v. to bring away the after-birth . b give about 30 drops , or any number between 25 and 35 , of good essential ( as chimists call it , ) oyl of juniper , in a good draught of any convenient vehicle . vi. to strengthen the stomach , and help the want of appetite . b make the roots of gentian ( sound and not superannuated , ) pulverable , with no more waste of their moisture than is necessary . reduce these to pouder ; of which let the patient take from 12 or 15 grains to double that quantity ( or more if need be , ) twice or thrice a day . n. b. it may be taken on an empty stomach , or , if that cannot conveniently be done , at meal-times . to correct the bitterness , one may add to it pouder'd sugar , or make it up with some fit conserve , or mix it with a syrup . it is very good , not only for want of appetite , but for obstructions . and i ( r b. ) have usefully given it in vertiginous affections of the brain , and to lessen , if not quite take away , the fits of agues , and even quartans . but in this last case the dose must be considerably augmented . one may also , if one pleases , instead of the pouder , give the extract drawn with fair water , and for those that like that form , made up into pills with a sufficient quantity of pouder'd tumerick , or the like proper additament ; to which i have sometimes added some grains of salt of wormwood with good success in fluxes that proceeded from crudities and indigestion . where the winter-season or the patients cold constitution invite , or the medicine is to be long kept , i chuse rather to make the extract with wine moderately strong , than with water . vii . for vlcers in the brest , and elsewhere . a take millepedes , ( in english by some called woodlice , by others sows , ) and having wash'd them clean with a little white-wine , and dry'd them with a linnen cloth , beat them very well in a glass or marble mortar ( for they ought not to be touch'd with any thing of metal ) and give the first time as much juice , as you can by strong expression obtain from five or six of them . this juice may be given in small ale or white-wine , in which the next time you may give as much as can be squeez'd out of eight or nine millepedes ; and so you may continue , increasing the number that you employ of them by two or three at a time , till it amount to twenty five or thirty ; and if need be , to forty or more , for one taking . and note , that if upon the pounding of these insects , you find the mass they afford too dry , as it now and then happens ; you may dilute it with a little white-wine or ale , to be well agitated with it , that being penetrated , and so softned , with the liquor , the mass may the better part with its juice . viii . for taking off the fits of agues . b take good common brimstone ( not flores sulphuris , ) and having reduced them , by passing them through a very fine sieve , to the subtillest pouder you can ; give of this pouder one dram and half or two drams , either made up into a bolus with a little good honey , or else in any appropriated vehicle ; let it be given at the usual times , and reiterated once or twice if need be , especially if the fits should return . ix . for fluxes , especially accompanied with gripings . a take of crude lapis caliminaris finely pouder'd two scruples , of white chalk on● scruple , mix them exactly , and give them in a spoonful or two of new milk twice , or , if the case be urgent , thrice a day . x. for the pains of the piles . b take of myrrh , olibanum , and common frankincense , of each a like quantity ; having pouder'd them , mix them very well , and let the patient receive the fume of this mixture , cast upon a chaffen-dish with embers , in a close-stool , for about a quarter of an hour , ( less or more , as he needs it , and is able to bear it . ) decad iv. i. for an outward contusion . c apply to the part affected , skim'd or purify'd honey , spread upon cap-paper , to be kept on with some convenient plaister , or the like bandage , and shifted once or twice a day . ii. another for the same . b beat aloes succotrina ( or else hepatica , ) to fine pouder ; then pour on it as much rose-water as you guess may dissolve a great part of it . this done , stir them well for a while , and when the mixture is setled , pour off the liquor , and in it dip linnen rags , which being applyed to the part affected , will soon stick to it , and seldom need be remov'd till the patient be reliev'd ; and then to get them off , the rags must be well wetted with warm water , which will soften and loosen the adhering aloes . iii. for a slighter excoriation . b melt mutton-suet taken from about the kidneys , and freed from its superfluous fibres or strings , and to about two ounces of this add little by little about 16 or 18 drops ( sometimes 8 or 10 may serve ) of oyl ( not aethereal spirit ) of turpentine ; spread this mixture on a linnen cloth , and by binding or otherwise , keep it upon the part affected . iv. for an excoriation , when the true cutis is affected . b take prunella ( in english self-heal , ) and having pounded it very well in a marble or glass mortar , ( not one of metal , ) apply it to the part affected , renewing it but seldom , and not without need . v. to take off the pain and inflammation of vlcers in the legs and elsewhere . b in a quart of water boil about so much white-bread , as in ordinary years may be found in a half-penny-loaf ; then add to it two ounces of good sheeps suet cut very small ; and when that is boil'd a little , add to it one ounce of finely pouder'd rosin , and a little well searc'd brimstone : of these make a cataplasm , which is to be kept constantly on the part affected , and shifted once or twice a day , as need shall require . vi. for a cough , especially accompany'd with a tickling rheum . b take equal parts of finely pouder'd olibanum and venice treacle , incorporate them exactly , and of this mass form pills of what bigness you please . of these let the patient take about half a dram at bed-time , or , if need be , one scruple , ( or more , ) twice a day . vii . to prevent the tooth-ach , and keep the teeth sound . b let the patient frequently rub his teeth moderately with the ashes that remain in tobacco pipes , after the rest of the body hath been consum'd in smoak ; sometimes after washing ( if need be , ) his mouth with fair water not too cold . viii . for a rupture , especially in a child or young person . a take of that geranium or cranes-bill that is commonly called columbinum , reduce the root and leaves to fine pouder , and of this let the patient take about half a spoonful night and morning for three or four weeks together , washing it down each time with some spoonfuls of red wine . ix . for the heart-burning , as they call it . b take from 15 or 20 , to 30 or 40 , grains of crabs-eyes ( known commonly in the shops by the name of lapides cancrorum , ) reduc'd to very fine pouder , and either take it alone , or in any convenient conserve or syrup . 't is for the most part best to take this medicine when the stomach is empty . x. for a strain . b take the strongest vinegar you can get , and boil in it a convenient quantity of wheat-bran , till you have brought it to the consistence of a poultess . apply this as early as may be to the part affected , and renew it when it begins to grow dry . decad v. i. for a recent strain . b take worm-wood and pound it very well in a mortar of stone or glass ; then put to it as much of the whites of eggs , beaten to water , as may serve to make it up into such a consistence , as may be applied like a poultess to the part affected . ii. a strengthning plaister after a strain , or when there is any weakness in the joynt . b meel down together , and incorporate very well , two parts of diapalma , and one part of emplastrum ad herniam ; spread this mixture , ( but not very thick , ) upon leather , and lay it to the joynt to be strengthened . iii. for loosnesses . c boil a convenient quantity of cork in spring-water , till the liquor taste strong thereof : of this decoction let the patient drink a moderate draught from time to time , till he finds himself sufficiently reliev'd by it . iv. for obstructions , and divers diseases proceeding thence . b let the patient drink , every morning fasting , a moderate draught of his own vrine newly made , ( and if it can conveniently be , ) whil'st 't is yet warm forbearing food for an hour or two after it . v. for difficulty of hearing , from a cold cause . b out of a bulb or root of garlick , chuse a chive of a convenient bigness ; then having pass'd a fine piece of thread or silk through one end of it , that thereby it may be pull'd out at pleasure , crush it a little between your fingers , and having anointed it all over with oyl of bitter ( or in want of that , sweet ) almonds , put it into the cavity of the patients ear at bed-time , and draw it out the next morning , stopping the ear afterwards with black wool ; but if need require , this operation is to be reiterated with fresh garlick for some days successively . vi. for ruptures in the belly , especially in children . a having well cleans'd the roots of sigillum salam●nis , scrape one ounce of them into a quart of broth , and let the patient take a mess , or a porringer full of it for his break-fast ; or else give half a dram or two scruples of the pouder of it at a time , in any convenient vehicle . vii . to give checks to fits of the gout , and in some measure to prevent them . b take three ounces of sarsaparilla slic'd and cut thin ; to these add an equal weight of raisins of the sun , rubb'd very clean , but not broken : put both these ingredients into three quarts of spring-water , and let the vessel stand in a moderate heat , that the liquor may simper for many hours , yet without bursting most part of the raisins ; keep this decoction well stopp'd , and let the patient use it for his only drink , till he need it no longer . viii . a water for vlcers and sores . b take a solution of venetian sublimate , and having made with very good quick-lime as strong a lime-water as you can , ( so that , if it be possible , it may bear an egg , ) drop this upon the dissolv'd sublimate , till it will precipitate no more reddish stuff at all ; ( which will not so soon be done as one that hath not try'd will imagine ) : as soon as you perceive that the liquors act no longer visibly upon one another , pour the mixture into a filter of cap-paper , which retaining the orange-colour'd precipitate , will transmit an indifferently clear liquor : which is to be in a glass viol kept stop'd for its proper use ; namely , that the part affected may be therewith wash'd from time to time , and , if need be , kept covered with double linnen cloths wetted in the same liquor . ix . a plaister to discuss tumours , or ripen them if it cannot discuss them . b take of yellow wax , franincense , and rosin , of each four ounces , or a sufficient quantity , melt them together gently , and being strain'd , make up the mass into a roll for use . x. for the black jaundice it self . a take a spoonfull of honey boil it gently , and scum it , till it come to a good consistence ; then add of wheat-flower and saffron ( reduced to a pouder , ) as much of each as you may take up upon the point of a knife ; and having mix'd all well , put it over the coals again , until it lose its smell : afterwards you may put it into a little stone or earthen pot , and keep it for use ; which is , that the patient take the quantity of a pea , and anoint the navil , and fill the cavity thereof with it ; repeating the application for some days together , when the stomach is empty , and abstaining from meat and drink about two hours after the medicine is us'd . the end of the first part. medicinal experiments ; or , a collection of choice remedies , for the most part simple , and easily prepared . the latter five decads being a second part . by the honorable r. boyle , fellow of the royal society . london : printed for sam. smith , at the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard , 1692. decad vi. i. a parable medicine for the stone . b take of the seed of flixweed , and give of it about as much as will lie upon a shilling , either whole or grosly bruis'd , in any convenient vehicle . ii. for fits of the mother . b dissolve store of sea-salt in the best wine vinegar , and in this dip a soft linnen cloth , which being folded so as to make 3 or 4 doubles , is to be applied somewhat warm to the soles of the patient's feet , and kept on till the fit be over . iii. a choice plaister to strengthen the joints after the gout , and hasten the going off of the pain . a take of paracelsus and diapalma ana , melt them and incorporate them exactly together , and spread the mixture very thin upon fine leather , to be us'd as a plaister to the part affected . iv. a very good drink in continual fevers . a make a decoction of the leaves of rue in fair water , till the liquor taste pretty strong of the plant : this , being strain'd , is to be made somewhat palatable with liquorice or a little sugar , or aromatic body : to half a pint of this add about 10 drops of spirit ( not oyl ) of vitriol : let the patient use this for his ordinary drink . v. a good drink to be frequently used in fevers , especially continual ones . a give , in half a pint of some small convenient drink , half an ounce of harts-horn , burnt to great whiteness ; which is to be a little boyled in the liquor ; and this , thus alter'd , is to be given from time to time . vi. an easie medicine for a fresh strain . b make up the clay with which the bungs of barrels are wont to be stopp'd , with as much vinegar as will bring it to the consistence of an indifferently stiff cataplasm : then warm it a little , and apply it to the part affected . vii . a remedy much used for chilblains . c take a turnep , roast it well under the embers , and beat it to a poultice ; then apply it very hot to the part affected ; and keep it on ( if need be , ) for 3 or 4 days , in that time shifting it twice or thrice , if occasion require . viii . a simple antimonial remedy , that has often done much good even in the leprosie , and all continual fevers . a take crude antimony , well chosen and pouder'd ; of this give about one , two , or three scruples morning and evening , according to the age of the patient , in a little syrup of clove gilly-flowers , or any such vehicle , or else mix'd with fine sugar , enough to make it somewhat palatable . this may be continued for 4 or 5 months , if need require ; and if the first dose prove beneficial to the patient , in cases not urgent , a scruple or half a dram may serve the turn , nor need the exhibition be continued for so long a time . ix . for the cholick and divers other distempers . b take four or five balls of fresh stone-horse dung , and let them steep for about a quarter of an hour ( or less , ) in a pint of white-wine , in a vessel well stopp'd , that the liquor may be richly impregnated with the more volatile and subtil parts of the dung ; strain this , and give of it from a quarter to half a pint , or some ounces more , at a time ; the patient having a care not to take cold after it . x. an often experimented antimonial infusion . b take one ounce of pouder'd antimony , tied up in a little bag of clean linnen , and hang it in a gallon of beer or ale that is brought from the brew-house , and is yet scarce fit to be drawn out , much less to be drank . of this liquor when 't is ripe , let the patient make use for his ordinary drink ; only having a care , that if by age or accident it be perceived to grow sour , that vessel then be left off , for fear , least the acidity of the liquor , corroding the antimony , might make it vomitive . decad vii . i. an easie medicine to cleanse the womb , especially after child-bearing . b take a large white onion , of about four ounces in weight , if you can get so big a one , and boyl it in about a pint of water , with any thing fit to make a very thin broth , till a third part or more of the liquor be consumed : of this broth , which may be made a little palatable with nutmeg , &c. the patient is to take six or eight ounces twice or thrice a day . ii. an experienced wash that quickly cures the itch. a take strong quicklime one pound , and put to a gallon of spring-water , let them lie together for some hours , and then warily pour off the clear , filter the rest , and take two ounces of quick-silver , ty'd up in a linnen bag , and hang it in the liquor , and boil it for half an hour or more ; then pour off the clear liquor once more , and wash the hands only with it twice , or at most thrice , a day . iii. a remedy often us'd , with success , in fluxes , and even dysenteries . b take fresh roots of bistort , cut them into thin slices , and moisten them well with fair water and wine , to make them more soft and succulent ; then press out the juice as strongly as you can . and of this give about three or four spoonfuls , mingled with half a dozen spoonfuls , or somewhat more , of red wine , or some other convenient liquor . iv. a good medicine for a sore throat . b take the white of a new-laid egg , and by beating it , reduce it into water ; and with this water mix diligently so much conserve of red roses as will reduce it to a soft mass : whereof the patient is to let a little bit at a time melt leisurely in his mouth . v. a choice medicine for a sore throat . a take a piece of greasie linnen cloth , of such a bigness , as that , being doubled , it may make a bag in form of a stay , to reach from one side of the throat to the other , and contain as much matter , as may make it of the thickness of an inch or more : this bag being fill'd with common salt is to be heated throughly , and apply'd to the part affected as warm as the patient can conveniently indure ; and within 2 hours after , or when it begins to grow too could ; another like it and well heated , is to be substituted in its room ; and whil'st this is cooling , the other may be heated and made ready for use : so that the part affected may be always kept in a considerable degree of warmth , for about 48 hours , if the remedy be so long needed . vi. an often experienc'd medicine for the cholick , especially produced by sharp humors . a take a quart of claret , and put into the vessel about two ounces of nettle-seeds , stop the bottle , and keep it in boiling water , till the water has made three or four walms , to assist the wines impregnation with the finer part of the seeds : of this liquor let the patient take a small draught once or twice a day . vii . to appease the pain of the haemorrhoids , whether internal or external . b take two parts of flowers of sulphur , and one part of sugar very finely pouder'd , mix them exactly together , and make them up with a sufficient quantity of a mucilage of gum tragacarth into lozenges , of about a dram apiece : of which you may give one at a time , thrice in a day , or if need be , 4 or 5 times . viii . to make an excellent drink for the scurvy . a take two handsfuls of water trefoil , and let it work in about 8 gallons of wort , in stead of hops , or of small ale or wort , made for it : and let the patient use it for all , or for a great part of , his ordinary drink . ix . to make an easie diuretick . c peel off the inner skin of an egg shell , then beat the shell to a very fine pouder : give about a scruple of it at a time in any convenient vehicle . x. a powerful application to prevent and check the apoplexy . a make an issue at the meeting of the sutures , and keep it open for a good while ; but if the case will not admit delay , clap on a good cupping-glass , without scarification , or with it , as need shall require , upon the same concourse of the sutures . decad viii . i. a choice remedy for a sore throat . a take housleek , and having lightly beaten it in a glass or stone mortar , press out the juice hard between two plates ; to this juice put almost an equal quantity of virgin honey , mix them well , and add to the mixture a little burnt allom , as much as is requisite to give it a discernable aluminous taste : let the patient take this from time to time , with a liquorish stick , or some such thing . ii. an approv'd medicine for a cancer not broken . b take dulcify'd colcothar , and with cream , or whites of eggs beaten to a water , bring it to the consistence of a cataplasm ; which ought to be made large , and spread about the thickness of half a crown , and applyed warm to the part affected , shifting it at least once a day . iii. to make a very good syrup for thin rheums . a take syrup of jubibes , syrup of dryed roses , and syrup of corn poppy flowers , of each a like quantity , mix and use them as the necessity of the sick requires . iv. for the dysentery and pleurisie . b grrate to fine pouder the dry'd pizzel of a stagg , and give of it as much as will lie upon a shilling , or thereabouts , once or twice a day , in any convenient vehicle . v. to strengthen the gums , and make the teeth grow firm . b take catechu , terra japonica , or japonian earth , and dissolve as much as you can of it in a pint of claret , or red wine ; then decant the liquor warily from the subsiding faeces , and let the patient now and then wash his mouth with it , especially at bed time . vi. for a hoarsness upon a cold. b take three ounces of hyssop water , sweeten it with sugar-candy ; then beat well into it the yolk of one egg , and drink it at a draught . vii . a choice medicine for the jaundies in children . b take half an ounce of choice rhubarb made into pouder ; incorporate with it exactly by long beating , two handfulls of well chosen , and cleans'd currans . of this electuary let the patient take every morning about the quantity of a nutmeg , for several days together . viii . a rare medicine to take away gouty , and other arthritick pains . a take highly rectify'd spirit of mans vrine , and anoint the part with it , the cold being just taken off , once or twice the first day ; and no longer , unless the pain continue . ix . for a prolapsus uteri . b apply to the patients navel a pretty large cupping-glass ; but let it not stay on too long , not above a quarter of an hour , for fear of injuring the part it covers , especially the navel-string . x. to allay heat in the eyes , proceeding from sharp humours . b beat the white of an egg , into a water , in which dissolve a pretty quantity of refined loaf sugar , and then drop some of it into the patients eye . decad ix . i. an experienc'd medicine for strengthning a weak sight . b take of eye-bright , sweet fennel seeds , and fine sugar , all reduc'd to pouder , of each an ounce , nutmeg also pulveriz'd , one dram ( at most ; ) mix these very well together , and take of the composition from a dram to two or more , from time to time . ii. an often try'd medicine for tertian agues . b take crude allum and nutmeg finely scrap'd , of each about half a dram , mix the pouders well together , and with about six grains of saffron ; give this in two or three spoonfuls of white-wine vinegar at the usual time . iii. for stuffings of the lungs , and the chin cough . b make syrup of penny royal , or of ground ivy , moderately tart with oil of vitriol ; and of this let the patient take very leisurely about a quarter of a spoonful from time to time . iv. for the falling sickness in children . b take half a dram of choice amber , finely pouder'd , and give it for six or seven weeks together , once a day , when the stomach is empty , in about four ounces of good white-wine . v. an approved medicine to drive the stone , and cure suppression of vrine , proceeding from it . a take the roots of wild garlick , ( by some country people called crow garlick ) wipe them very clean , stamp them very well in a mortar of stone or glass , and strain out the juice ; with which make a moderate draught of good white-wine considerably strong , and let the patient take it once or twice a day . vi. an experienc'd medicine for sore throats . a take of scabious water six ounces , of wine vinegar a small spoonful , of mustard seed beaten , and of honey , of each a spoonful ; stir and shake them very well together ; and then filter the mixture and keep it for use . vii . an often experienced external remedy in apoplectick fits. a fix a cupping-glass ( without scarification ) to the nape of the neck , and another to each of the shoulders , and let them stick on a competent time . viii . an easie but approv'd medicine for the cholick . b take about half a dram of mastick , and mix it with the yolk of a new laid egg , and give it the patient once or twice a day . ix . to appease the heat of feavers by an external remedy . c apply to the soles of the feet a mixture , or thin cataplasm made of the leaves of tobacco , fit to be cut to fill a pipe with , beaten up with as much of the freshest currans you can get , as will bring the tobacco to the consistence of a poultis . x. the medicine that is in such request in italy against the worms in children . b infuse one dram of clean quicksilver all night in about two ounces of the water of goats rue , destil'd the common way in a cold still : and afterwards strain and filter it , to sever it from all dregs that may happen in the making it . this quantity is given for one dose . decad x. i. a choice medicine for a whitloe . a take shell snails , and beat the pulpy part of them very well , with a convenient quantity of fine chopt parsly , which is to be applyed warm to the affected part , and shifted two or three times a day . ii. a simple but useful lime-water , good for the kings evil , and divers other cases . b take half a pound of good quick-lime , and put it into one gallon of spring water , and infuse it for twenty four hours ; then decant the liquor , and let the patient drink a good draught of it two or three times a day , or he may use it for his ordinary drink ; this infusion may be coloured-with saffron , or red sanders ; and if need be to make it stronger , add more lime , and warm the water and keep it well stopt . iii. an excellent medicine for a fresh strain . a take four ounces of bean flower , two ounces of wine vinegar ; of these make a cataplasm to be applied a little warm to the part affected ; but if this should prove something too sharp , ( as in some cases it may ) then take two drams of litharg , and boil it a little in the vinegar ; before you put it to the bean flower . iv. for the piles . a take balsam of sulphur made with oil of turpentine , ointment of tobacco , equal parts , incorporate them well , and anoint the grieved place therewith . v. for a burn. b mingle lime-water with linseed oyl , by beating them together with a spoon , and with a feather dress the burn several times a day . vi. for a fresh strain . a boil bran in wine vinegar to the consistency of a poultis , apply it warm , and renew the poultis once in twelve hours , for two or three times . vii . an experienced medicine for the cholick . a take good nitre one ounce , and rub it well in a clean mortar of glass or stone , then grind with it half a scruple or more of fine saffron , and of this mixture give about half a dram for a dose in three or four ounces of cold spring water . viii . to make an issue raw , that begins to heal up . b take of lapis infernalis one ounce , of crown soap an ounce and half , chalk finely pouder'd six drams , mix them all together carefully , and keep them close stopt , except when you mean to use them . ix . for a sore throat . a make a plaister of paracelsus , three or four fingers broad , and length enough to reach almost from one ear to the other , and apply it to the part affected , so that it may touch the throat as much as may be . x. for heat about the orifice of the stomach . b make a syrup with the juice of house leek and sugar , and give about one spoonful of it from time to time . a stomachical tincture . a take agrimony two drams , small centory tops one dram , coriander seeds bruised one scruple , sassatras shavings and bark , one dram , gentian root half a dram , zedoary root ten grains ; pour upon these three quarters of a pint of boiling spring water , cover it , and let it steep twelve hours , then strain it , and put it in a bottle ; then drop a drop of oil of cinnamon , upon a lump of sugar , and put it into the liquor . the dose is three spoonfuls twice a day , an hour or two before meals . the end . a catalogue of the philosophical books and tracts , written by the honourable robert boyle esq together with the order or time wherein each of them hath been publish'd respectively . to which is added a catalogue of the theological books , written by the same author . london : printed for sam. smith , at the sign of the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard . 1692. advetisements of the publisher . i. many ingenious persons , especially strangers , having pressingly endeavour'd to procure a catalogue of the honourable mr. boyle's writings ; and the author himself being not at leisure to draw one up ; 't was thought it might be some satisfaction to those inquirers , if i publish'd the following list , as it was drawn out , for his own use , of the philosophical transactions , as well as the printed volumes , by an ingenious french physician , studious of the authors writings , some of which he translated and printed in his own language . ii. the letter l affixt in the margin , denotes the book related to , to have been translated , and publish'd in the latin tongue also . several of the rest having likewise been translated into latin but not yet publish'd . iii. those that have an asterisk prefix'd to them , came forth without the authors name , tho' 't is not doubted but they are his. iv. such as have this mark ☞ prefix'd to them , are sold by samuel smith at the prince's arms in st. pauls church-yard . v. divers of those mentioned , as drawn out of the transactions , did probably come abroad in latin ; some of the transactions themselves having been publish'd in that language . a catalogue of the philosophical books and tracts . new experiments physico-mechanical , touching the spring and the weight of the air , and its effects , ( made for the most part in a new pneumatical engine ) written by way of letter to the right honourable charles lord viscount of dungavan , eldest son to the earl of cork , by the honourable robert boyle esq a defence of the doctrine , touching the spring and weight of the air , propos'd by the author in his new physico-mechanical experiments ; against the objections of franciscus linus , wherewith the objectors punicular hypothesis is also examin'd . an examen of mr. hobbes's dialogus physicus de naturâ aeris , as far as it concerns the authors book of new experiments , touching the spring of the air ; with an appendix touching mr. hobbes's doctine of fluidity and firmness . these three together in a volume in 4● , being a second edition ; the first at oxford 1662 , had been publish'd , anno 1660. the two others at london , 1662 , had been publish'd , anno 1661. the sceptical chymist , &c. 1661. physiological essays , or tentamina , written and collected upon divers times and occasions , with an history of fluidity and firmness , in 40. 1662. an experimental history of colours begun , 80. 1663. some considerations touching the usefulness of experimental natural philosophy , propos'd in a familiar discourse to a friend , by way of invitation to the study of it : a second edition 40. oxford , 1664. the first had been publish'd 1663. of the usefulness of natural philosophy , the second part ; the first section , of its usefulness to physick , with an appendix to this first section of the second part , 4 0 1669. of the usefulness of experimental natural philosophy , &c. the second tome , containing the latter section of the second part , 40 , oxford , 1671. the first volume of these three books contains five essays . the first , of the usefulness , &c. principally as it relates to the mind of man. the second , a continuation of the former . the third , a further continuation . the fourth , a requisite digression concerning those , who would exclude the deity from intermed●ing with matter . in the fifth , the discourse , interrupted by the late digression , is resum'd and concluded . the second volume contains likewise five essays . the first , of the usefulness , &c. as to the physiological part of physick . the second , as to the pathological part of pphysick . the third , as to the semeiotical part of physick . the fourth , as to the hygicinal part of physick . the fifth , as to the therapeutical part of physick , in 20 chapters . the third volume contains six essays . the first , general considerations about the means , whereby experimental phylosophy may become useful to human life . the second , of the usefulness of mathematicks to natural philosophy . the third , of the usefulness of mechanical disciplines to natural philosophy . the fourth , that the goods of mankind may be much increased by the naturalists insight into trades , with an appendix . the fifth , of doing by physical knowledge , what is wont to require manual skill . the sixth , of mens great ignorance of the uses of natural things . an experimental history of cold , and some discourses concerning new thermometrical experiments , and thoughts about the doctrine of antiperistasis ; with an examen of mr. hobbes's doctrine touching cold , a second edition , quarto . 1665. attempts of a way to convey liquors immediately into the mass of blood communicated in the philosophical transactions of december the 4th 1665. observations and experiments upon the barometer or ballance of air , invented , directed , and begun , anno 1659 , communicated to dr beal that continued them , and mentioned in the transactions of february the 12th and march the 12th , 1666. hydrostatical paradoxes made out by new experiments , for the most part physical and easie , occasioned by monsieur paschal's tract of the equilibrium of liquors , and of the weight of the air , 1666. an account of an earthquake near oxford , and the cocomitants thereof , communicated in the philosophical transactions of april 2d , 1666. new observations and directions about the barometer , in the same . general heads for a natural history of a country , great or small , communicated in the same . the origine of forms and qualities illustrated by considerations and experiments , in two parts , octavo , 1666. a way of preserving birds , taken out of the egg , and other small faetus's , communicated in the philosophical transactions of may the 7th , 1666. an account of a new kind of baroscope , which may be called statical , and of some advantages and conveniences it hath above the mercurial , communicated in the philosophical transactions of july the 2d , 1666. a new frigorific experiment , shewing how a considerable degree of cold may be suddenly produced , without the help of snow , ice , hail , wind or nitre , and that at any time of the year , communicated in the philosophical transactions of july the 18th , 1666. tryals proposed to dr. lower for the improvement of transfusing blood out of one live animal into another , communicated in the philosophical transactions of february the 11th , 1666. free considerations about subordinate forms , being an appendix to the origine of forms and qualities published last year , and reprinted with this , 1667. in octavo . a letter to the author of the philosophical transactions , giving an information of some experiments which he had made himself several years ago , by injecting acid liquors into blood , upon the occasion of those communicated by signior fracassati , in a letter written from oxford , october the 19th , 1667. new experiments concerning the relation between light and air , ( in shining wood and fish ) in a letter from oxford to the publisher of the philosophical transactions of january the 6th , 1668. a continuation of the same letter in the philosophical transactions of february the 10th , 1668. a continuation of new experiments , physico-mechanical , touching the spring and weight of the air , and their effects ; the first part . with a discouse of the atmospheres of consistent bodies , oxford , 1669. an invention for estimating the weight of water with ordinary ballances and weights , in the philosophical transactions of august the 16th , 1669. certain philosophical essays and other tracts , second edition ; with a discourse about the absolute rest of bodies , quarto . london , 1669. the first edition had been published , anno 1662. new pneumatical experiments about respiration , upon ducks , vipers , frogs , &c. communicated in the philosophical transactions of august 8. 1670. a continuation of the same experiments in the philosophical transactions of september the 12th , 1670. tracts : about the cosmical qualities of things : the temperature of the subterraneal and submarine regions , and the bottom of the sea ; together with an introduction to the history of particular qualities , octavo , oxford , 1670. tracts : a discovery of the admirable rarefaction of the air ( even without heat : ) new observations about the duration of the spring of the air new experiments touching the condensation of the air by mere cold , and its compression without mechanical engines , and the admirably differing extensions of the same quantity of air , rarified and compressed , quarto , london , 1670. an essay about the origine and virtues of gems , quarto , london , 1672. some observations about shining flesh , both of veal , and pullet , and that without any sensible putrefaction in those bodies , communicated by way of letter to the publisher of the philosophical transactions , in the transactions of december the 16th , 1672. a new experiment concerning an effect of the varying weight of the atmosphere upon some bodies in the water , the description whereof was presented to the lord broncker , anno 1671. suggesting a conjecture , that the alterations of the very weight of the air , may have considerable operations , even upon mens sickness or health , communicated in the philosophical transactions of february the 24th , 1673. tracts : containing new experiments , touching the relation between flame and air , and about explosions . an hydrostatical discourse , occasioned by some objections of dr. henry moor , &c. to which is annexed an hydrostatical letter about a way of weighing water in water : new experiments of the positive , or relative , levity of bodies under water : of the airs-spring on bodies under water , and about the differing pressure of heavy solids and fluids , octavo , london , 1672 , 1691. essays of the strange subtilty , great efficacy , and determinate nature of effluvin●s ; to which are annexed new experiments to make the parts of fire and flame , stable and ponderable , with experiments about arresting and weighing of igneous corpuscles ; and a discovery of the perviousness of glass to ponderable parts of flame , octavo , london , 1673. a letter of september the 13th , 1673. concerning ambergreece , and its being a vegetable production , mentioned in the philosophical transactions of october the 8th , 1673. tracts : observations about the saltness of the sea : an account of the statical hyroscope , and its uses , together with an appendix about the force of the airs moisture , and a fragment about the natural and preternatural state of bodies . to all which is premised a sceptical dialogue about the positive or privative nature of cold , octave , london , 1674 , 1691. a discourse about the excellency and grounds of the mechanical hypothesis , occasionally proposed to a friend , annexed to another , entituled , the excellency of theology , compared with natural philosophy , octavo , london , 1674. an account of the two sorts of helmontian laudanum , together with the way of the noble baron f. m. van helmont ( son to the famous john baptista ) of preparing his laudanum , communicated in the philosophical transactions of october the 26th , 1674. tracts : containing , 1. suspicions about some hidden qualities of the air , with an appendix touching coelestial magnets , and some other particulars . 2. animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vac●o . 3. a discourse of the cause of attraction by suction , octavo , london , 1674 , 1691. some physico-theological considerations about the possibility of the resurrection , annexed to a discourse , entituled , the reconcileableness of reason and religion , octavo . london , 1674 / 5. a conjecture concerning the bladders of air , that are found in fishes , communicated by a. j. and illustrated by an experiment , suggested by the author in the philosophical transactions of april the 26th , 1675. a new essay-instrument , invented and described by the author , together with the uses thereof , in 3 parts . the first shews the occasion of making it , and the hydrostatical principles 't is founded on . the second describes the construction of the instrument . the third represents the uses ; which , as relating to metals , are 1. to discover whether a proposed guinea be true , or counterfeit . 2. to examine divers other gold coins , and particularly half guinea's . 3. to examine the new english crown pieces of silver . 4. to estimate the goodness of tin and pewter . 5. to estimate alloys of gold and silver , and some other metalline mixtures . all this maketh up the philosophical transactions of june 21. 1675. ten new experiments about the weaken'd spring , and some unobserved effects , of the air , where occur not only several tryals to discover ; whether the spring of the air , as it may divers ways be increased , so may not by other ways than cold , or dillation be weakened , but also some odd experiments to shew the change of colours producible in some solutions and precipitations by the operation of the air , communicated in the philosophical transactions of december 27. 1675. an experimental discourse of quicksilver , growing hot with gold , english and latin , communicated in the philosophical transactions of february 21. 1676. experiments , notes , &c. about the mechanical origine or production of divers particular qualities , amongst which , is inserted a discourse of the imperfections of the chymists doctrine of qualities , together with some reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum , octavo , london , 1676 , 1690. this discourse comprehends notes , &c. about the mechanical origine and production of cold. of heat . of tasts . of odours . of volatility . of fixtness . of corrosiveness . of corrosibility . of chymical precipitation . of magnetical qualities . of electricity . new experiments about the superficial figures of fluids , especially of liquors contiguous to other liquors : likely to conduce much to the physical theory of the grand system of the world , communicated in the philosophical transactions of january the 29th , 1676 / 7. a continuation of the same experiments in the philosophical transactions in february the 1676 / 7. the sceptical chymist , or chymico-physical paradoxes , touching the experiments whereby vulgar spagyrists are wont to endeavour to evince their salt , sulphur and mercury to be the true principles of things ; to which in this second edition are subjoined divers experiments and notes , about the producibleness of chymical principles , octavo . oxford , 1680 , 1690. a second continuation of new experiments physico-mechanical , in which , various experiments , touching the spring of the air , either compress'd or artificial , are contain'd , with a description of new engines to perform them , 1680. the aerial noctiluca , or some new phaenomena , and a process of a factitious self-shining substance , octavo , london . the glaical or icy noctiluca , with a chymical paradox founded on new experiments , whence it may be made probable , that chymical principles may be converted one into another , octavo , london , 1680. memoirs for the natural history of human blood , especially the spirit of that liquor , london , 1684. experiments and considerations about the porosity of bodies , in two essays : the former of the porousness of animal bodies ; the other of the porousness of solid bodies , octavo , london , 1684. short memoirs for the natural experimental history of mineral waters , octavo , 1685. an historical account of a strangely self-moving liquor , communicated in the philosophical transactions of november the 26th , 1685. of the reconcileableness of specifick medicines , to the corpuscular philosophy , to which is annex'd a discourse about the advantages of the use of simple medicines , propos'd by way of invitation to it , octavo , london , 1685. an essay of the great effects of languid and unheeded motion . to which is annex'd an experimental discourse of some unheeded causes of the salubrity and insalubrity of the air and its effects , octavo , london , 1685 , 1690. a free inquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature , in an essay address'd to a friend , octavo , london , 1685 / 6. a disquisition about the final causes of natural things . with an appendix of some uncommon observations about vitiated sight , octavo , london , 1688. medicina hydrostatica : or , hydrostaticks , applied to the materia medica , shewing , how by the weight that divers bodies us'd in physick , have in water ; one may discover , whether they be genuine or adulterate . to which is subjoin'd , a previous hydrostatical way of estimating ores , octavo , london , 1690. experimenta & observationes physicae ; wherein are briefly treated of several subjects relating to natural philosophy in an experimental way ; to which is added , a small collection of strange reports , in two parts , octavo , london , 1691. medicinal experiments : or , a collection of choice remedies , for the most part simple and easily prepared , twelves , london , 1692. price 1 s. advertisements . because among those that willingly read the author's writings , there are some that relish those most , ( as most suitable to their genius , addicted to religious studies ) that treat of matters relating to divinity : the publisher thinks fit to gratifie them with a catalogue of those theological books that pass for mr. boyle's , because they were ascribed to him , and never positively disown'd by him ; tho' such of them as are mark'd with an asterisk , come abroad without having his name prefixt to them . seraphic love , five or six times printed but first published in the year , 1660 octavo . considerations about the stile of the scripture , whereof the first edition was publish'd in the year , 1662. in english , and afterward turn'd into , and several times printed in latin , octavo . occasional reflections on several subjects , with a preliminary discourse of the way of meditating there exemplified ; first publish'd in the year , 1665. and afterwards turn'd into latin , but not yet printed in that language , octavo . of the excellency of the study of theology , compared with that of natural philosophy . printed in the year , 1674. octavo . considerations about the reconcileableness of reason and religion . to which is annex'd a discourse about the possibility of the resurrection . printed in the year , 1675. octavo . a treatise of things above reason . to which are annex'd some advices about things that are said to transcend reason . printed in the year , 1681. in english , and afterwards translated into latin , but not yet printed in that language , octavo . of the veneration that man's intellect owes to god. printed in the year , 1685. the martyrdom of theodora , and of didymus . london , 1687. the christian vertuoso : shewing , that by being addicted to experimental philosophy , a man is rather assisted , than indisposed , to be a good christian . the first part ; to which are subjoin'd , 1. a discourse about the distinction , that represents some things as above reason , but not contrary to reason . 2. the first chapters of a discourse , entituled , greatness of mind promoted by christianity , octavo , london , 1690. a catalogue of new physick books printed for sam. smith at the prince's arms in st. paul's church yard . paarmacopeia bateana . quâ nonginta circiter pharmaca , plerâque omnia è praxi georgii batei regi carolo secundo medici primarii excerpta , ordine alphabetico conci●è exhibentur . quorum nonnulla in laboritorio publico pharmacopoeano lond. fideliter parantur venalia : atque in usu sunt hodierno apud medicos londinenses . editio altera priori multò locupletior : cum viribus ac dosious annexis . huic accesserunt arcana goddardiana ex autographo authoris desumpta . item ad calcem orthotonia medicorum observata : insuper & tabula posologica dosibus pharmacorum accommodata . cum indice morborum , curationum , &c. curâ j. s. pharmacopoei lond. in twelves . 1691. praxeos mayernianae in morbis internis praecipue gravioribus & chronicis syntagma , ex adversariis , consiliis ac epistolis ejus , summâ curâ ac diligentiâ concinnatum . londini . in oct. 1690. phthisiologia seu exercitationes de phthisi tribus libris comprehensae . totumque opus variis historiis illustratum . autore richardo morton , med. d. & regii collegii medicor . lond. socio . londini . in octavo . 1689. osteologia nova , or some new observations of the bones , and the parts belonging to them , with the manner of their accretion , and nutrition , communicated to the royal society in several discourses . i. of the membrane , nature , constituent parts , and internal structure of the bones . ii. of accretion , and nutrition , as also of the affections of the bones in the rickets , and of venereal nodes . iii. of the medulla , or marrow . iv. of the mucilaginous glands , with the etiology or explication of the causes of a rheumatism , and the gout , and the manner how they are produced . to which is added , a fifth discourse of the cartilages . by clopton havers . m. d. fellow of the royal society . london . in octavo . 1691. synopsis methodica stirpium brittannicarum , in quatum notae generum characteristicae traduntur , tum species singulae breviter describuntur : ducentae quinquaginta plus minus novae species p●●tim suis locis inseruntur , partim in appendice seorsim exhibentur . cum indice & virium epitome . auctore joanne raio è societate regia . londini . in octavo . 1690. pharmacopaelae collegii regalis londini remedia omnia succinctè descripta , atque serie alphabeticâ ita digesta , ut singula promptius primo intuitu investigare possint , editio altera priori castigatior & auctior : huic annexus est catalogus simplicium tum locupletior tum compendiosor quàm antehàc editus ; accedit in calce manuale ad forum nec non pinax posographicus , curâ ja. shipton phamacop . lond. in t'welves . 1689. the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28992-e12710 l ☜ l ☞ l l ☞ ☞ ☜ l l l l l l ☜ ☜ l l ☞ l l ☜ l ☞ ☜ l ☜ l ☞ l ☞ l ☞ l ☞ ☞ l ☞ ☞ * l ☜ * ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ notes for div a28992-e15340 ☞ l * ☞ * ☞ * ☜ * l ☜ * ☜ ☜ the possibility, expediency, and necessity of divine revelation a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields, jan. 7. 1694/5 : at the beginning of the lecture for the ensuing year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire / by john williams ... williams, john, 1636?-1709. 1695 approx. 40 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a66409 wing w2718 estc r2129 12498271 ocm 12498271 62586 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a66409) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 62586) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 951:85) the possibility, expediency, and necessity of divine revelation a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields, jan. 7. 1694/5 : at the beginning of the lecture for the ensuing year, founded by the honourable robert boyle, esquire / by john williams ... williams, john, 1636?-1709. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [4], 29, [1] p. printed for ric. chiswell ... and tho. cockerill ..., london : 1695. reproduction of original in huntington library. half title: dr. williams's first sermon at mr. boyle's lecture, 1695. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng revelation -sermons. salvation -sermons. sermons, english -17th century. 2007-06 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2007-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-11 elspeth healey sampled and proofread 2007-11 elspeth healey text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion d r. williams's first sermon at m r. boyle's lecture . 1695. imprimatur , jan. 26. 1694 / 5 ; . guil. lancaster . the remaining sermons for this year will be preach'd at st. martins , the first mondays of february , march , april , may , september , october , and november . the possibility , expediency , and necessity of divine revelation . a sermon preached at st. martins in the fields , jan. 7. 1694 / 5. at the beginning of the lecture for the ensuing year . founded by the honourable robert boyle , esquire . by john williams , d. d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . london : printed for ric. chiswell , at the rose and crown in st. paul's church-yard : and tho. cockerill , at the three legs in the poultrey . m dc xc v. to the most reverend father in god , thomas lord archbishop of canterbury . sir henry ashhurst , knight and baronet . sir john rotheram , serjeant at law. john evelyn , senior , esquire . trustees by the appointment of the honourable robert boyle , esquire . most honoured , having by your generous election entred this year upon the lecture founded by the honourable robert boyle , the great encourager of piety and learning , it becomes me in obedience to your order , and according to the intent of the deceased , to present you with the first-fruits of my labour . the subject i treat of is of vniversal concernment to the christian world , and is to be handled with reverence and care : the former i shall all along keep in my eye , and the latter i shall not neglect , as far as in me lies : but whatever defects your better judgments shall espy throughout these composures , i hope the same goodness that disposed you to place me in this sphere , will incline you to overlook ; and to accept of the sincere endeavours of , most honoured , your most faithful and humble servant , john williams . heb. i. 1 , 2. god who at sundry times , and in divers manners , spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. there are two ways by which mankind may attain to the knowledge of divine things ; namely , natural or supernatural . natural is what we have springing up with our faculties , or what we attain by natural means , by sight , observation , and experience , by tradition ( which is the history of others knowledge and experience ) ; and lastly , by reason and argument , deducing effects from their proper causes , or finding out the cause by its effects : as for instance ; thus we come to the knowledge of god by observing the frame of the world , by the series , order , and course of things , which could never be without some cause to produce them , and that cause no less than one infinitely powerful and wise . thus we argue , that there is a soul in man distinct from the body , and surviving a separation from it ; forasmuch as there are such operations as are not competent to matter ; and that there is such a desire of immortality placed in mankind , as would make the flower and choicest part of the visible creation , the most miserable , if there was no capacity in the soul for such a state , or no such state for a soul capable of it . such inferences as these , are as natural to a reasonable mind , as those observations are which we make from the reports of sense ; and are therefore deservedly accounted branches of natural religion . now this kind of knowledge is more or less evident , is stronger or weaker , according to the capacities and dispositions of mankind , and according to the opportunities and means they have of information . and therefore a philosopher that sets himself to enquire into the mysteries of nature , and to observe the curiosity , order and beauty of its fabrick , may , in reason be supposed to be more confirmed in the belief of a god , and more disposed to serve and adore him , than he that is ignorant ; as he that understands painting or carving , can more observe and applaud the ingenuity and skill of the artist , than he that is unacquainted with it . but after all , so much is the subject above our reach , and so dark and intricate are all our reasonings upon it , that the sagest philosopher , in the conclusion , is left as unsatisfied as the meanest peasant ; and perhaps more unsatisfied with his knowledge , and the deep and unfathomable abyss he sees before him , than the other is with his ignorance ; so far making good what solomon observes , he that increaseth knowledge , increaseth sorrow , eccles . 1. 18. so that there needs some brighter light than that of nature , to conduct us to happiness , and bring us to a compleat and entire satisfaction ; and that is a supernatural knowledge , a knowledge that is not to be obtained by the ways aforesaid , by enquiry and observation , but by inspiration and revelation from almighty god. and this is the subject of the text. god who at sundry times , and in divers manners , spake in time past by the prophets , hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. in which words we have , 1. a description given of revelation , it 's god's speaking to the fathers , &c. that is , it is god's delivering his mind to mankind by persons chosen for that purpose , and peculiarly fitted for it by inspiration . such were the prophets in time past , and the son in the last days . 2. the certainty of it ; it is by way of declaration , god who at sundry times , and in divers manners , spake , &c. the apostle takes this for granted , as having been sufficiently proved , and so needs no farther confirmation . so it was in times past , when god spake by the prophets ; and so it was in the last days in the revelation of the gospel , which at the first began to be spoken by the lord , and was , saith our apostle , confirmed unto us by them that heard him : god also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders , and with divers miracles and gifts of the holy ghost , chap. 2. 3 , 4. and therefore as moses did not think himself obliged at the entrance into his divine work , to prove there is a god , and that god made the world , when there is such an inbred knowledge of a deity implanted in human nature , and such clear and undoubted evidences of it throughout the universe ; but supposes and asserts it , in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth : &c. so after such manifest proofs of the divine authority of both the prophetical and evangelical revelation , the apostle would not so much as suppose any doubt in the minds of those he wrote to ; but begins his epistle , with a certain majesty becoming an inspired author , god who at sundry times , &c. 3. the order observed in delivering that revelation , it was at sundry times , and in divers manners . at sundry times , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or in several parts ; which may refer either to the several ages and periods , viz. the patriarchal , mosaical , and prophetical ; or to the several manifestations of divine revelation through those ages and periods ; from the first embryo of it in adam , to the close of it in john the baptist ; in whom the time past ended , and the last days began . in divers manners , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , according to the manifold ways the divine spirit thought fit to communicate it self ; whether by illapses on the persons inspired , or by raptures , visions , voices , &c. 4. the perfection and completion of divine revelation ; god hath in these last days spoken by his son. so that what was gradually , and at sundry times , delivered in time past to the prophets , was at once intirely and perfectly revealed by the son of god , whom he hath appointed heir of all things . under the first of these i shall shew , 1. what we mean by revelation . 2. the possibility of god's revealing himself so to the creature , that the creature shall certainly and evidently know that it is god that speaketh . 3. the expediency , usefulness , and necessity of a revelation , with respect to the circumstances mankind are in . under the second i shall shew , 1. that as it 's possible for god to reveal himself , and expedient and necessary for man that there should be a revelation ; so god has actually thus revealed himself at sundry times , and in divers manners by the prophets , through the several periods before spoken of , and in the last days by his son. 2. i shall consider the difference between a real and pretended revelation , and how we may distinguish the true from the false . 3. i shall shew , that the scriptures of the old and new testament contain the matter of divine revelation , and have upon them the characters belonging to it . under the third , 1. i shall consider the several ways by which god did reveal himself in times past by the prophets , as by illapses , inspirations , visions , &c. 2. i shall endeavour to shew the difference between divine inspirations , and diabolical illusions , natural impressions , and delusory imaginations . 3. i shall consider the several periods before the law , under the law , and under the gospel ; and the gradual progress of revelation from first to last , from the lower to the higher degree , and the perpetual respect one had to the other . 4. i shall consider why god did thus gradually , and at sundry times , proceed in revealing his will to mankind ; and why he did not at the first communicate his will to them as fully , and perfectly , as he did in the last days by his son. under the fourth , i shall shew the perfection of the gospel-revelation , and that there is not to be any other revelation till the end cometh when our lord shall be revealed from heaven , and shall deliver up the kingdom to the father . i have chosen thus at once to lay in order the scheme of what i intend ( god granting life and assistance ) to pursue ; that so the dependance of one upon another , and the assistance each point gives to the other throughout the whole , might be the better observed . i. i am to begin with revelation . 1. where i am to consider , what we mean by revelation ; which is nothing else in the first notion , but the making known that which before was a secret ; so things revealed and secret , are opposed , deut. 29. 29. and when it 's applied to a religious use , it 's god's making known himself , or his will , to mankind , over and above what he has made known by the light of nature and reason . here we may observe , that there are three classes , into which whatever is the object of our knowledge may be reduced . 1. there are things of pure and simple nature , and knowable by the light of it , without revelation ; of this kind is the knowledge of god by the effects of a divine power and wisdom in the world ( as has been shewed ) of which the apostle treats , rom. 1. 20. the invisible things of him , from the creation of the world are clearly seen , being understood by the things that are made , even his eternal power and godhead . 2. there are things of pure and simple revelation , that are not knowable by the light of nature , but only by revelation ; and if not revealed , are never in this state ( at least ) to be known or found out by mankind ; of this sort is the salvation of the world by jesus christ , which was not discoverable by men or angels ; so the apostle describes the mystery of it , ephes . 3. 9 , 10. which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in god , — to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places , might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of god. so 1 pet. 1. 12. 3. there are things partly of nature , and partly of revelation , discoverable by the light of nature , but imperfectly , which we see , as it were , through a glass darkly ; and so they need revelation to give them farther proof and evidence ; of this the apostle gives an instance , 2 tim. 1. 10. when he saith our saviour brought life and immortality to light through the gospel , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , making it as evident as the light ; whereas before it was rather wished for , than certain , as was the case of the heathens ; or much involv'd in types , as among the jews , heb. 4. 3 , &c. so that revelation , of which sort soever it is , is supernatural , and is only from god. 2. i shall shew the possibility of a revelation , and that almighty god , if he so pleases , can so reveal himself to the creature , that the creature shall certainly and evidently know that the revelation comes from god. this one would reasonably think should need no proof ; and i shall therefore briefly touch upon it , tha● i may proceed to the third , which i principally intend to make the subject of this present discourse . i say it 's possible for god to reveal himself to his creatures . ( 1. ) why should this be questioned , when we every day see men mutually discover their minds each to other ; and by the use and direction of certain organical powers , signify their intentions , desires , and commands ? and why may not the creator reveal his will to the creature , when one creature thus can do it to another ? ( 2. ) why should this be questioned , when we may be certain evidences know that a person is sent from god ? and then certainly the person that produces such evidences as are to the satisfaction of others , may himself be satisfied of the truth of his own commission , and the certainty of a divine revelation . the former , that others may be satisfied concerning a mission from god , is evident from such things declared , which none but god could reveal , as prophecies ; and such things done , which none but god , in man , could do , as miracles . where these are , they are as evident proofs of a revelation and mission from god , as the works of creation are a proof a divine agent . the works of creation prove a god , because they are worthy of such an infinite cause , and what none but such a cause could produce : and when such things are discovered , which none but an omniscient being could discover , and such things done , which none but an almighty power could do ; we are , by a parity of reason , as sure that there is such a revelation by which such things are made known , and in confirmation of which such mighty works are done . ( 3. ) if this be questioned , it must be from a deficiency in god to impart such a revelation to man ; or that there is an incapacity in man to receive it . but how can god's power herein be questioned that he can operate thus on the soul , when he both created it , and is thoroughly acquainted with all the secret springs of motion , all the tendencies and inclinations , all the thoughts and desires of it , and consequently must be supposed to have a power of directing it as he pleases ? and how can there be any incapacity in man , when as to the matter he can both receive it , and deliver it as he received ; and as to the manner , it 's in a way suitable to his faculties , and is therefore call'd here , god's speaking to the prophets , which is so as the other may understand . this is a matter so evident , that it has been generally believed throughout the world among the heathens ; and therefore nothing more common than to have oracles , places where they were wont to consult their deities , as well as the jews had theirs : a subject i am not at present concerned in , but it 's sufficient to shew what has been the sense of all ages in this case : and which even those that would call this in question , in part consent to , while they grant somewhat equivalent to it , if not a branch of it , i mean prophecy ; which when it falls not within the power of any natural causes , is the product of what is supernatural , and what the prophet must then receive from a higher hand , god. grant this , and the whole will follow ; for if it be possible in one case , it 's possible in all , to one and the same infinite power . 3. i am to consider the expedience , usefulness , and necessity of a revelation ; for that is here supposed , when it 's said , god spake in time past , and in these last days ; that is , from the beginning of the world to that time . now revelation is a means extraordinary ( as has been shewed ) and consequently such as the means are , such must the case be , extraordinary ; for god , not doing any thing in vain , cannot be supposed to use extraordinary means , where the case is ordinary , and may as well be served by ordinary means . thus it is in miracles , which are acts above the common standard of nature , and are then only exerted , when nothing less will engage the attention of faith of mankind . and so it is in revelation , which is to the light of reason , what miracles are to the common law of nature , supernatural and extraordinary ; and consequently where almighty god takes that course for the information of mankind , it shews that there is some deficiency or corruption that calls for it , and makes it expedient and necessary . as it was with adam at his first creation , who being an utter stranger to himself , and the world he was at once brought into , without some further kind of information , instead of a pleasure he might have taken in viewing the glorious fabrick of the heavens , and the variety of creatures in the earth , must have been full of amazement and confusion . for in so wide a scene as was before him , where must he begin , or where could he hope to end ? how divided must he be in his own mind ? what a cold and dry speculation would it have been , if he had hit upon it , to have concluded , with that modern philosopher , cogito , ergo sum ; i think , therefore i am ? he indeed felt himself to be , but how he came to be , he knew not ; for he saw nothing about him that could either be supposed to have given him that being , or could tell him how he came by it . he saw he had a body , and a body that obsequiously moved as he pleased to direct and determine ; but what that body was originally made of , he could not possibly tell : for how could he suppose such warm , soft , and tender flesh , those firm and well compacted joynts , those radiant and sparkling eyes ( which he had as other living creatures ) that moveable and limber , and well-complexioned matter of which his body consisted , should be formed out of cold , moveless , crumbling , and shapeless earth ? he felt his body move , and pliable in all its motions to his will , and quick as thought to answer his mind , but what that inward principle was that moved it , he was wholly ignorant ; nor could he possibly , of himself at that instant , conceive that there was an inward immaterial spirit that was vitally united to a gross and material body , that was the principle of all , and was as distinct from the body in it's nature and subsistence , as if it were not united at all to it . he might observe the creatures about him of different sorts , that there were certain notes that each kind had , and all were known and understood among themselves ; but that notwithstanding they were all dumb to him , and he to them ; and what it was that made the difference , he could not understand . when he pleased himself in the contemplation of the heavens above , and that glorious luminary that gave ( as he perceived ) light to all about him ; he could not tell whether it was an intelligent being , and that as it gave light to all , so it was superior to them : and when that set , he knew not but he was to be inclosed in perpetual darkness . when a heavy stupidness began to seize himself , and he was forced to submit to the power of it , he knew not but it was to end that life , which was that day began , and that he was to close his eyes , and conclude his life together . so that though he had what we call reason , and suppose it as his body , in its prime ; yet even that reason must have been his torment for a while ; when it made him inquisitive , but could not give him satisfaction . to prevent which disorder and confusion he would otherwise be in , at the first opening of his eyes and his mind together , as it was necessary that he that was to begin the world , should be created in a full age and strength ; and that he that was alone , should have a present power and faculty of elocution and forming of words for the conversation he was to have with the help designed for him ; so it was requisite that he should have some immediate inspiration , to inform him of what was necessary for him to know as to god , himself , and the world ; and which he could not have known without such inspiration , or the slow and tedious compass of observation ; and so must have waited for satisfaction till time and experience had formed his judgment , and made him a wise philosopher . but this adam was at the first , and so forthwith knew whom it was that he was to own as the author of his being , and of what his body was made , and by what means an intelligent spirit came to be inclosed in a material body ; and could as soon resolve all those perplexing doubts , which otherwise he would have been assaulted with , as he understood at first sight that eve was bone of his bone ; and knew how to give names to the creatures suitable to their natures , gen. 2. 19 , 23. but now the reasons for such an inspiration to adam were personal , belonging to him alone ; but after what manner the divine wisdom would have imparted the knowledge of it self to adam's posterity , if he and they had stood and continued in a state of primogenial innocency ; or whether there would , in those circumstances , have been any need of a supernatural inspiration after the revelation made to adam , from whom they might have infallibly received it ; no more concerns us , than it doth to know how mankind would then have been disposed of when they were not to dye , but to have subsisted in the same state , body and soul inseparably united : those are among the secret things which belong unto god ; but things revealed belong unto us . we must therefore alter the scene , and consider mankind in a state of imperfection and depravation ; and there we shall find revelation absolutely necessary as a remedy against a fourfold mischief , which , without it , would unavoidably ensue ; as with respect to the confusion adam was in by reason of guilt ; the danger he was in from his enemy , the subtile and malicious serpent ; the ruin that threatned him from the impotency and disorder he found in his faculties ; which like a dislocation in the limbs , though fit in themselves for action , yet being removed out of their sockets are not capable of discharging their functions . this being the state of fallen man , there was need of a supervenient revelation to recover him , as well as it was the determination of the divine goodness to design it . there was need of this to comfort him under the sense of his apostacy and the guilt he had contracted , to prevent his despair : to fortify him against the power of his insolent and triumphant adversary , and to aid him under his contracted disability , for preventing his discouragement : and to caution him against the sad effects of his depravation , or the falling into a repetition of a new disobedience , for preventing his presumption . for these reasons almighty god so soon interposed in the garden by a new revelation of himself , and instructed him in his gracious design to restore him to favour , and in the method he would observe for that purpose , inwhat he saith to the serpent , gen. 3. 15. i will put enmity between thee and the woman , and between thy seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head , and thou shalt bruise his heel . thus the gospel was preached to adam , who was the first prophet to whom the mystery of salvation was revealed ; to which those places in the new testament seem to refer , luke 1. 70. as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets since the world began ; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , from the beginning , so acts 3. 21. this was the case of adam , and the exigence he would have been in , without this immediate and comfortable revelation . and the condition of his posterity would have been worse than his , without a revelation ; had this revelation died with this their progenitor , and not have been transmitted to them . for besides the state of guilt , which must equally have invaded them as it did him , and what conscience in them could no more quietly digest , than in him ; there were several disadvantages they laboured under , which he did not . as if we consider adam in a bare state of nature ( without any supernatural provision ) he had this advantage above his posterity , that being created in a full age , he was free from all prepossessions of sense or education ; and in the first moment of his being , had his reason clear in the fountain of it , like the sun in its meridian glory ; and all his faculties bright , and as ripe at once for observation and reflection , as his body was for action . but his posterity growing up from their infancy among sensible objects , from thence would ( in a meer course of nature ) have received all their information ; and by slow degrees from things visible , must have argued themselves into the belief of things invisible ; and from the effects of a supreme cause , to the supreme cause it self ; which in the apostle's words , acts 17. 27. would be to seek the lord , if haply they might feel after him , [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as men blundering in the dark ] and find him . in such danger would the fundamental principles of natural religion have been , if there had been no revelation to prevent it : and this was the reason of such a provision by inspired persons , to preserve those principles alive and safe ; of the number of whom abel is accounted , and therefore called a prophet , luke 11. 50. and enoch , jude 14. and noah 2 pet. 2. 5. but now as the rays of the sun , the farther they are projected , grow weaker and weaker ; so it was in the derivation of these principles , which lost very much of their primitive lustre ; and notwithstanding the certainty of the evidence , the credibility and authority of those holy patriarchs ; vice , like a deluge , broke in upon the world , so that every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts ( generally speaking ) was only evil continually , gen. 6. 5. and if now when there was a revelation , and a revelation seconded by the authority of such eminent persons , the world so soon grew corrupted , what would it not have been , if there had been no such revelation , or no such curators of it ? and this the world was soon sensible of after the flood ; for notwithstanding so late and astonishing an instance of the divine vengeance , yet in their several dispersions , for want of a revelation , they lost the sense of the true and great principles of religion ; some , as the chaldeans , turning it into a vain inquiry into the influences of the heavenly bodies ; others placing their religion in ridiculous and opprobrious superstitions , as the egyptians ; others pleasing themselves in nice disputations , and the vanity of new-discovered deities and religions , as the greeks : and all acting in divine matters , as if they were in inextricable labyrinths , being distracted , and eternally divided about the origine of the world , whether it were eternal , or accidental , or the product of a divine power ; about the origine of evil ; about the government of the world , whether it be by different deities , good or evil ; or whether by none , but be wholly acted by the levity of chance , or the immutable law of destiny and fate . so that in process of time the world was brought into the condition of elymas , acts 13. 8 , 11. that once had the advantage and pleasure of sight , but upon the opposition made to st. paul , immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness , that he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand . too close a representation of the condition of mankind in that degenerate state , who because that when they knew god , they glorified him not as god — but became vain in their imaginations ; their foolish heart was darkned , rom. 1. 21. of which darkness and confusion in matters of the greatest importance , the world , the commonalty as well as the philosophical part of mankind , was sensible , and of the necessity of a revelation , or somewhat beyond nature , reason and argumentation , to remove these difficulties , to inform them of what they could not otherwise know , and to clear up to them what they did know but imperfectly . of which i shall offer some undeniable instances . 1. they universally complained of the loss they were at , and of the insufficiency of all their maxims and principles , of all their enquiries and speculations , to give them any tolerable satisfaction ; so that they were in nothing more divided , than about what happiness is , as st. austin from varro has shew'd : and therefore there was somewhat further necessary to satisfy them , or else they must for ever remain unsatisfied . 2. there was nothing more desired than a revelation , and therefore they were prone to hearken to all pretences to it ; and when they conceived , or were made to believe it was a revelation , they were in nothing more obsequious and pliable . so that to gain authority to his laws , and to keep the people quiet and orderly , numa pompilius did then ( as mahomet of latter years ) pretend he had all by revelation from the nymph egeria . and of such authority was this pretence , that as tully saith , there was nothing so absurd which was not maintained by some of the philosophers ; so i may say , there was nothing so foolish , or wicked , which was not an ingredient in the worship they gave to their deities . insomuch , as the nature of things should be perverted , reason and humanity should be abandoned , and god himself be made worse than those that worshipped him , in compliance with their pretended revelations . what beastiality and lewdness ! what savage and barbarous practices and rites were allowed and required ! the blood of captives , and of their own children , must be a libation ; nay , even suicide was not only honourable , but a religious martyrdome , if the oracle commanded it ; and they chose rather to be unnatural to the highest degree , than not to be obedient to divine revelation . now of what authority must that be , which should over-rule the laws of nature , and so infatuate mankind , that they should not be able to espy the imposture ? and what could thus impose upon them , if they were not sensible of the imperfect state they were in , and the need they stood in of some higher principle and , greater light to direct them , than that of nature ? 3. there was no nation without a revelation , that is , without some pretence to it , and which they generally vouched for their rites and religious observances ; from whence it was that there was scarcely a people of any note in the more civilized parts of the world that had not their sibyls , such as were accounted to be the mouth of their god ; to be sure none in any part of the known world without an oracle , that they repaired to , and whose injunctions they readily obeyed . the use i make of all this is to show , what a sense mankind had of a revelation , and what all the world has thought expedient , if not necessary , which was the thing to be proved . from what has been said , we may observe , i. what a happiness it is to have a revelation , by which mankind are brought out of darkness into a marvellous light ; and from an endless and fruitless enquiry , who will shew us my good ? are placed in a quiet and full possession of it . if there be no revelation , we are , as it were , with ut god in the world ; and know not whether that divine power be our friend or our enemy ; or whether it shall be exerted to our good or our ruine . if there be no revelation , we are still in our sins , and have no sanctuary against the accusation of our own embittered consciences , the fears of our own guilty minds , or the justice of an incensed deity . if there be no revelation , we have no hope , and can have no comfort in our death , and no assurance of immortality after it . if there be no revelation , we are in a perpetual maze , as if we were at sea without star or compass , and knew not what course to take to gain our harbour . so thoughtful and pensive , so confounded and lost is mankind without this , that if i were to chuse whether i would have no revelation , or a false one , for the quiet of my own mind ( did i believe the false one to be true ) i would rather chuse the content of the latter , than the distraction of the former , and leave it to my own reason to rectify the manifest mistakes in it , rather than have my hovering reason to be my constant affliction under the want of revelation . but blessed be god that there is no cause for such a supposition , and that we have all the reason in the world to believe there is a revelation ; a revelation that is such as all mankind would desire , that touches upon all points necessary to our comfort and entire satisfaction , as to the nature and will of god , the present and future state of mankind , the providence that governs this world , and the rewards of another . a revelation , where all the parts of it agree together , and bear a conformity to the nature of things , to the holiness , justice , and mercy of god , and to the reason of mankind ; where there is a system of the best principles , and a scheme of the best rules and directions ; and which , like the book of nature , the more it 's viewed and consulted , the more do the lively characters of a divine hand and wisdom appear in the composure . a character this is that the book of scripture exactly answers . for what holy precepts ! what heavenly promises ! what useful examples ! what excellent encouragements do the sacred pages abound in ! such as are sufficient to direct us in every point of our duty , to inform us in every necessary truth , to establish our hearts in every condition of life , to enable us to encounter all the difficulties of it with resolution , and to bear all the evil of it with patience . here behold god reconciled to mankind , the trembling sinner pardoned , the weak sustained , the doubtful satisfied , and nothing wanting on god's part to make us happy , if we are not wanting in a fit disposition of mind to receive it . so that if there be any revelation , it is the christian ; if that be not a revelation from god , there is no revelation in the world ; and if that be a revelation , that only is so , and there can be no other . ii. such as the revelation is , such is the obligation ; the authority it receives from god , the obligation lies upon us to obey as well as believe it . the times of ignorance god winked at , and overlook'd ; but now he commandeth all men every where to repent , acts 17. 30 ▪ he hath commanded them by a revelation , which is of universal concernment , and extends its authority over the world. so that a bad man is no better or safer for a revelation , how perfect soever it be , and how great soever the advantages of it are , than he that is without revelation ; nay , so much the worse , as the latter is a state of unbelief , the former of disobedience ; this errs without his will , but the other with it . and therefore if the heathens , who had only the book of nature to read , and a blundering reason for their guide , were yet so far inexcusable , because that when they knew god , they glorified him not as god , rom. 2. 21. how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation ? which at the first was spoken by the lord , and was confirmed by those that heard him ; god also bearing them witness , &c. heb. 2. 3 , 4. what remains then , but since the grace of god , in the revelation of the gospel , hath appeared unto all men , that we be thereby taught to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts , and to live soberly , righteously , and godlily in this present world . and then we may comfortably look for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great god , and our saviour jesus christ , who gave himself for us , that he might redeem us from all iniquity , and purifie unto himself a peculiar people , zealous of good works , tit. 2. 11. finis . books printed for richard chiswell and thomas cockerill . rvshworth's historical collections : the third part in two volumes : containing the principal matters which happened from the meeting of the parliament , november 3 , 1640. to the end of the year , 164● wherein is a particular account of the rise and progress of the civil war to that period . fol. 1692. dr. john conant's sermons , octavo . published by dr. williams . of the cause of attraction by suction a paradox / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1674 approx. 74 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 38 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29012) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104481) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1179:9) of the cause of attraction by suction a paradox / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [6], 67 p. printed by william godbid, and are to be sold by moses pitt ..., london : 1674. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng vacuum -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-08 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-08 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion of the cause of attraction by suction , a paradox . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by william godbid , and are to be sold by moses pitt , at the angel over against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. preface . having about twelve years ago summarily exprest and publish'd my opinion of the cause of suction , and a while before or after brought to the royal society the glass instrument i employ'd to make it out ; i desisted for some time to add any thing about a problem , that i had but occasionally handled : only , because the instrument i mention'd in my examen of mr. hobbes's opinion , and afterwards us'd at gresham-college , was difficult enough to be well made , and not to be procur'd ready made , i did for the sake of some virtuosi , that were curious of such things , devise a slight and easily made instrument , describ'd in the following tract , chap. 4th , in which the chief phaenomena , i shew'd before the society , were easily producible . but afterwards the mistakes and erroneous opinions , that , in print as well as in discourse , i met with , even among learned men , about suction , and the curiosity of an ingenious person , engaged me to resume that subject and treat of it , as if i had never before meddled with it , for the reason intimated in the beginning of the insuing paper . and finding upon the review of my later animadversions on mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo , that some passages of this tract are referr'd to there ; i saw my self thereby little less than engaged to annex that discourse to those animadversions . and this i the rather consented to , because it contains some experiments , that i have not elsewhere met with , which , together with some other parts of that essay , may , i hope , prove of some use to illustrate and confirm our doctrine about the weight and spring of the air , and supply the less experienced than ingenious friends to our hypothesis with more grounds of answering the later objections of some learned men , against whose endeavours i perceive it will be useful to employ variety of experiments and other proofs to evince the same truth ; that some or other of these may meet with those arguments or evasions with which they strive to elude the force of the rest . the title of the following essay may sufficiently keep the reader from expecting to find any other kind of attraction discours'd of , than that which is made by suction . but yet thus much i shall here intimate in general , that i have found by trials purposely made , that the examples of suction are not the only noted ones of attraction , that may be reduced to pulsion . of the cause of attraction by suction , a paradox . chap. i. i might , sir , save my self some trouble in giving you that account you desire of me about suction , by referring you to a passage in the examen , i long since writ , of mr. hobbes's dialogus physicus de natura aeris , if i knew , you had those two books lying by you . but because i suspect , that my examen may not be in your hands , since 't is almost out of print , and has not for some years been in my own ; and because i do not so well remember , after so long a time , the particulars that i writ there , about suction , as i do in general , that the hypothesis i proposed , was very incidentally and briefly discours'd of , upon an occasion ministred by a wrong explication given of suction by mr. hobbes , i shall here decline referring you to what i there writ ; and proposing to you those thoughts about suction , that i remember i there pointed at , i shall annex some things to illustrate and confirm them , that would not have been so proper for me to have insisted on in a short and but occasional excursion . and i should immediately proceed to what you expect from me , but that suction being generally look'd upon as a kind of attraction , it will be requisite for me to premise something about attraction it self . for , besides that the cause of it , which i here dispute not of , is obscure , the very nature and notion of it is wont by naturalists to be either left untouch'd , or but very darkly deliver'd , and therefore will not be unfit to be here somewhat explain'd . how general and ancient soever the common opinion may be , that attraction is a kind of motion quite differing from pulsion , if not also opposite to it ; yet i confess , i concur in opinion , though not altogether upon the same grounds , with some modern naturalists , that think attraction a species of pulsion . and at least among inanimate bodies i have not yet observed any thing , that convinces me , that attraction cannot be reduced to pulsion ; for , these two seem to me to be but extrinsical denominations of the same local motion , in which , if a moved body precede the movent , or tend to acquire a greater distance from it , we call it pulsion ; and if , upon the score of the motion , the same body follow the movent or approach to it , we call it attraction . but this difference may consist but in an accidental respect , which does not physically alter the nature of the motion , but is founded upon the respect , which the line , wherein the motion is made , happens to have to the situation of the movent . and that which seems to me to have been the chief cause of mens mistaking attraction for a motion opposite to pulsion , is , that they have look'd upon both the moving and moved bodies , in too popular and superficial a manner ; and consider'd in the movent rather the situation of the conspicuous and more bulky part of the animal or other agent , than the situation of that part of the animal , or instrument , that does immediately impress that motion upon the mobile . for those that attentively heed this , may easily take notice , that some part of that body , or of the instrument , which by reason of their conjunction in this operation is to be look'd on but as making one with it , is really placed behind some part of the body to be drawn , and therefore cannot move outwards it self without thrusting that body forward . this will be easily understood , if we consider , what happens when a man draws a chain after him ; for , though his body do precede the chain , yet his finger or some other part of the hand , wherewith he draws it , has some part or other that reaches behind the fore part of the first link , and the hinder part of this link comes behind the anteriour part of the second link ; and so each link has one of its parts placed behind some part of the link next after it , 'till you come to the last link of all . and so , as the finger , that is in the first link , cannot move forwards but it must thrust on that link , by this series of trusions the whole chain is moved forwards ; and if any other body be drawn by that chain , you may perceive , that some part of the last link comes behind some part of that body , or of some intervening body , which , by its cohesion with it , ought in our present case to be consider'd as part of it . and thus attraction seems to be but a species of pulsion , and usually belongs to that kind of it , which , for distinctions sake , is called trusion , by which we understand that kind of pulsion , wherein the movent goes along with the moved body without quitting it whilst the progress lasts ; as it happens , when a gardiner drives his wheel-barrow before him without letting go his hold of it . but i must not here dissemble a difficulty , that i foresee may be speciously urged against this account of attraction . for it may be said , that there are attractions , where it cannot be pretended , that any part of the attrahent comes behind the attracted body ; as in magnetical and electrical attractions , and in that which is made of water , when 't is drawn up into springs and pumps . i need not tell you , that you know so well , as that partly the cartesians , and partly other modern philosophers , have recourse on this occasion either to screwed particles and other magnetical emissions , to explicate phaenomena of this kind . and , according to such hypotheses , one may say , that many of these magnetical and electrical effluvia come behind some parts of the attracted bodies , or at least of the little solid particles , that are as it were the walls of their pores , or procure some discussion of the air , that may make it thrust the moveable towards the loadstone or amber , &c. but if there were none of these , nor any other subtil agents that cause this motion by a real , though unperceived , pulsion ; i should make a distinction betwixt other attractions and these , which i should then stile attraction by invisibles . but , whether there be really any such in nature , and why i scruple to admit things so hard to be conceived , may be elsewhere consider'd . and you will , i presume , the freelier allow me this liberty , if , ( since in this place 't is proper to do it , ) i shew you , that in the last of the instances i formerly objected ( that of the drawing up of water into the barrel of a syringe , ) there is no true attraction of the liquor made by the external air. i say then , that by the ascending rammer , as a part of which i here consider the obtuse end , plug , or sucker , there is no attraction made of the contiguous and subjacent water , but only there is room made for it , to rise into , without being expos'd to the pressure of the supeiour air. for , if we suppose the whole rammer to be by divine omnipotence annihilated , and consequently uncapable of exercising any attraction ; yet , provided the superiour air were kept off from the water by any other way as well as 't was by the rammer , the liquor would as well ascend into the cavity of the barrel ; since , ( as i have elsewhere abundantly proved , ) the surface of the terraqueous globe being continually press'd on by the incumbent air or atmosphere , the water must be by that pressure impell'd into any cavity here below , where there is no air to resist it ; as by our supposition there is not in the barrel of our syringe , when the rammer , or whatever else was in it , had been annihilated . which reasoning may be sufficiently confirm'd by an experiment , whereby i have more than once shewn some curious persons , that , if the external air , and consequently its pressure , be withdrawn from about the syringe , one may pull up the sucker as much as he pleases , without drawing up after it the subjacent water . in short , let us suppose , that a man standing in an inner room does by his utmost resistance keep shut a door , that is neither lock'd nor latch'd , against another , who with equal force endeavours to thrust it open : in this case , as if one should forcibly pull away the first man , it could not be said , that this man , by his recess from the door he endeavoured to press outwards , did truely and properly draw in his antagonist , though upon that recess the coming in of his antagonist would presently ensue ; so it cannot properly be said , that by the ascent of the rammer , which displaces the superiour air , either the rammer it self , or the expelled air , does properly attract the subjacent water , though the ingress of that liquor into the barrel does thereupon necessarily ensue . and that , as the comparison supposes , there is a pressure of the superiour air against the upper part of the sucker , you may easily perceive , if having well stopt the lower orifice of the syringe with your finger , you forcibly draw up the sucker to the top of the barrel . for if then you let go the rammer , you will find it impell'd downwards by the incumbent air with a notable force . chap. ii. having thus premis'd something in general about the nature of attraction , as far as 't is necessary for my present design ; it will be now seasonable to proceed to the consideration of that kind of attraction , that is employed to raise liquors , and is by a distinct name called suction . about the cause of this there is great contention between the new philosophers ; as they are stiled , and the peripateticks . for the followers of aristotle , and many learned men that in other things dissent from him , ascribe the ascension of liquors upon suction to natures abhorrence of a vacuum . for , say they , when a man dips one end of a straw or reed into stagnant water , and sucks at the other end , the air contain'd in the cavity of the reed passes into that of his lungs , and consequently the reed would be left empty , if no other body succeeded in the place it deserts ; but there are only ( that they take notice of , ) two bodies that can succeed , the air and the ( grosser liquor ) the water ; and the air cannot do it , because of the interposition of the water , that denies it access to the immers'd orifice of the reed , and therefore it must be the water it self , which accordingly does ascend to prevent a vacuum detested by nature . but many of the modern philosophers , and generally all the corpuscularians , look upon this fuga vacui as but an imaginary cause of suction , though they do it upon very differing grounds . for , the atomists , that willingly admit of vacuities , properly so called , both within and without our world , cannot think that nature hates or fears a vacuum , and declines her usual course to prevent it : and the cartesians , though they do , as well as the peripateticks , deny that there is a vacuum , yet since they affirm not only , that there is none in rerum natura , but that there can be none , because what others call an empty space having three dimensions , hath all that they think belonging to the essence of a body , they will not grant nature to be so indiscreet , as to strain her self to prevent the making of a thing that is impossible to be made . the peripatetic opinion about the cause of suction , though commonly defended by the schools , as well modern as ancient , supposes in nature such an abhorrence of a vacuum , as neither has been well proved , nor does well agree with the lately discover'd phaenomenon of suction . for , according to their hypothesis , water and other liquors should ascend upon suction to any hight to prevent a vacuum , which yet is not agreeable to experience . for i have carefully tryed , that by pumping with a pump far more stanch than those that are usually made , and indeed as well clos'd as we could possibly bring it to be , we could not by all our endeavours raise water by suction to above * 36½ foot . the torricellian exp t shews , that the weight of the air is able to sustain , and some of our experim ts shew , 't is able to raise a mercurial cylinder equal in weight to as high a cylinder of water as we were able to raise by pumping . for mercury being near 14 times as heavy as water of the same bulk , if the weight of the air be equivalent to that of a mercurial cylinder of 29 or 30 inches , it must be able to counterpoise a cylinder of water near fourteen times as long , that is , from thirty four to near thirty six foot . and very disagreeable to the common hypothesis , but consonant to ours , is the experiment that i have more than once tryed , and i think elsewhere deliver'd , namely , that , if you take a glass pipe of about three foot long , and , dipping one end of it in water , suck at the other , the water will be suddenly made to flow briskly into your mouth : but , if instead of water you dip the lower end into quicksilver , though you suck as strongly as ever you can , provided that in this case , as in the former , you hold the pipe upright , you will never be able to suck up the quicksilver near so high as your mouth ; so that if the water ascended upon suction to the top of the same pipe , because else there would have been a vacuum left in the cavity of it , why should not we conclude , that , when we have suckt up the quicksilver as strongly as we can , as much of the upper part of the tube as is deserted by the air , and yet not fill'd by the mercury , admits , in part at least , a vacuum , ( as to air ) of which consequently nature cannot reasonably be suppos'd to have so great and unlimited an abhorrency , as the peripateticks and their adherents presume . yet i will not determine , whether there be any more than many little vacuities , or spaces devoid of air , in the cavity , so called , of the pipe unfill'd by the mercury ; ( so that the whole cavity is not one entire empty space ; ) it being sufficient for my purpose , that my experiment affords a good argument ad hominem against the peripateticks , and warrants us to seek for some other cause than the fuga vacui , why a much stronger suction than that , which made water ascend with ease into the suckers mouth , will not also raise quicksilver to the same height or near it . those modern philosophers that admit not the fuga vocui to be the cause of the raising of liquors in suction , do generally enough agree in referring it to the action of the suckers thorax . for , when a man endeavours to suck up a liquor , he does by means of the muscles enlarge the cavity of his chest , which he cannot do but at the same time he must thrust away those parts of the ambient air that were contiguous to his chest , and the displac'd air does , according to some learned men , ( therein , if i mistake not , followers of gassendus , ) compress the contiguous air , and that the next to it , and so outwards , 'till the pressure , successively passing from one part of the air to the other , arrive at the surface of the liquor ; and all other places being as to sense full , the impell'd air cannot find place but by thrusting the water into the room made for it in the pipe by the recess of the air that pass'd into the suckers lungs . and they differ'd not much from this explication , that , without taking in the compression of the ambient air made by the thorax , refer the phaenomenon to the propagated motion or impulse , that is imprest on the air displac'd by the thorax in its dilatation , and yet unable to move in a world perfectly fill'd , as they suppose ours to be , unless the liquor be impell'd into as much of the cavity of the pipe , as fast as 't is deserted by the air that is said to be suck'd up . but though i readily confess this explication to be ingenious , and such as i wonder not they should acquiess in , who are acquainted but with the long known and obvious phaenomena of suction ; and though i am not sure , but that in the most familiar cases the causes assign'd by them may contribute to the effect ; yet , preserving for cartesius and gassendus the respect i willingly pay such great philosophers , i must take the liberty to tell you , that i cannot acquiess in their theory . for i think , that the cause of suction , they assign , is in many cases not necessary , in others , not sufficient . and first , as to the condensation of the air by the dilatation of the suckers chest ; when i consider the extent of the ambient air , and how small a compression no greater an expansion than that of the thorax is like to make , i can scarce think , so slight a condensation of the free air can have so considerable an operation on the surface of the liquor to be rais'd , as the hypothesis i examin requires : and that this impulse of the air by a suckers dilated thorax , though it be wont to accompany the ascension of the water procured by suction , yet is not of absolute necessity to it , will , i presume , be easily granted , if it can be made out , that even a propagated pulsion , abstracted from any condensation of air , is not so necessarily the cause of it , but that the effect may be produc'd without it . for suppose , that by divine omnipotence so much air as is displac'd by the thorax were annihilated ; yet i see not , why the ascension of the liquor should not ensue . for , when a man begins to suck , there is an aequilibrium , or rather aequipollency between the pressure , which the air , contained in the pipe , ( which is shut up with the pressure of the atmosphere upon it , ) has , by virtue of its spring , upon that part of the surface of the water that is environ'd by the sides of the pipe , and the pressure which the atmospherical air has , by virtue of its weight , upon all the rest of the surface of the stagnant water ; so that , when by the dilatation of the suckers thorax , the air within the cavity of the pipe comes to be rarified , and consequently loose of its spring , the weight of the external air continuing in the mean time the same , it must necessarily happen , that the spring of the internal air will be too weak to compress any longer the gravitation of the external , and consequently , that part of the surface of the stagnant water , that is included in the pipe , being less press'd upon , than all the other parts of the same surfaces must necessarily give way , where it can least resist , and consequently be impell'd up into the pipe , where the air , having had its spring weakened by expansion , is no longer able to resist , as it did before . this may be illustrated by somewhat varying an instance already given , and conceiving , that within a chamber three men thrust all together with their utmost force against a door , ( which we suppose to have neither bolt nor latch ) to keep it shut , at the same time the three other men have just equal strength , and imploy their force to thrust it open . for though , whilst their opposite endeavours are equal , the door will continue to be kept shut , yet if one of the three men within the room should go away , there will need no new force , nor other accession of strength to the three men , to make them prevail and thrust open the door against the resistance of those that endeavour'd to keep it shut , who are now but two . and here ( upon the by ) you may take notice , that , to raise water in suction , there is no necessity of any rarified and forcibly stretch'd rope , as 't were , of the air , to draw up the subjacent water into the pipe , since the bare debilitation of the spring of the included air may very well serve the turn . and though , if we should suppose the air within the pipe to be quite annihilated , it could not be pretended ( since it would not have so much as existence ) that it exercises an attractive power ; yet in this case the water would ascend into the pipe , without the assistance of natures imaginary abhorrence of a vacuum , but by a mechanical necessity , plainly arising from this , that there would be a pressure of the incumbent atmosphere upon the rest of the surface of the stagnant water , and no pressure at all upon that part of the surface that is within the pipe , where consequently there could be no resistance made to the ascension of the water , every where else strongly urg'd by the weight of the incumbent air. i shall add on this occasion , that , to shew some inquisitive men , that the weak resistance within a vessel , that had but one orifice expos'd to the water , may much more contribute to the ascension of that liquor into the vessel , than either the compression or the continued or reflected impulse of the external air ; i thought fit to produce a phaenomenon , which by the beholders was without scruple judg'd an effect of suction , and yet could not be ascrib'd to the cause of suction , assign'd by either of the sects of philosophers i dissent from . the experiment was this : by a way , elsewhere deliver'd , the long neck of a glass-bubble was seal'd up , and almost all the air had been by heat driven out of the whole cavity of the bubble or vial , and then the glass was laid aside for some hours , or as long as we pleas'd ; afterwards the seal'd apex of the neck was broken off under water : i demand now of a peripatetic , whether the liquor ought to be suck'd or drawn into the cavity of the glass , and why ? if he says , as questionless he will , that the water would be attracted to hinder a vacuum , he would thereby acknowledge , that , 'till the glass was unstopt under water , there was some empty space in it ; for , 'till the sealed end was broken off , the water could not get in , and therefore , if the fuga vacui had any thing to do in the ascension , the liquor must rise , not to prevent an empty space , but to fill one that was made before . nor does our experiment much more favour the other philosophers , i dissent from : for in it there is no dilatation made of the sides of the glass , as in ordinary suction there is made of the thorax , but only there is so much air driven out of the cavity of the bubble , into whose room since neither common air nor water is permitted to succeed , it appears not , how the propagated and returning impulse , or the circle of motion , as to common air and water , does here take place . and then i demand , what becomes of the air , that has been by heat driven out , and is by the hermetical seal kept out of the cavity of the bubble ? if it be said , that it diffuses it self into the ambient air , and mingles with it , that will be granted which i contended for , that so little air as is usually displac'd in suction cannot make any considerable compression of the free ambient air ; for , what can one cubic inch of air , which is sometimes more than one of our glasses contains , do , to the condensation so much as of all the air in the chamber , when the expell'd corpuscles are evenly distributed among those of the ambient . and how comes this inconsiderable condensation to have so great an effect in every part of the room , as to be able there to impel into the glass as much water in extent as the whole air that was driven out of the cavity of it ? but if it be said , that the expell'd air condens'd only the contiguous or very neighbouring air , 't is easie to answer , that 't is no way probable , that the expell'd particles of the air should not by the differing motions of the ambient air be quickly made to mingle with it , but should rather wait ( which if it did we sometimes made it do for many hours ) 'till the vessels whence 't was driven out were unstopp'd again . but , though this could probably be pretended , it cannot truly be asserted . for if you carry the seal'd glass quite out of the room or house , and unstop it at some other place , though two or three miles distant ; the ascension of the water will , ( as i found by tryal ) nevertheless insue ; in which case i presume , it will not be said , that the air , that was expell'd out of the glass , and condens'd the contiguous or near contiguous air , attended the bubble in all its motions , and was ready at hand to impel-in the water , as soon as the seal'd apex of the vial was broken off . but i doubt not , but most of the embracers of the opinion i oppose , being learned and ingenuous persons , if they had been acquainted with these and the like phaenomena , would rather have changed their opinion about suction , than have gone about to defend it by such evasions , which i should not have thought worth proposing , if i had not met with objections of this nature publickly maintain'd by a learned writer , on occasion of the air 's rushing into the exhausted magdenburgic engine . but as in our experiment these objections have no place , so in our hypothesis the explication is very easie , as will anon be intimated . chap. iii. having thus shewn , that the ascension of water upon suction may be caus'd otherwise than by the condensation or the propagated pulsion of air contiguous to the suckers thorax , and thrust out of place by it ; it remains that i shew , ( which was one of the two things i chiefly intended , ) that there may be cases wherein the cause , assign'd in the hypothesis i am examining , will not have place . but this will be better understood , if , before i proceed to the proof of it , i propose to you the thoughts , i had many years since , and do still retain , about the cause of the ascension of liquors in suction . to clear the way to the right understanding of the ensuing discourse , it will not be amiss here to premise a summary intimation of some things that are suppos'd in our hypothesis . we suppose then first , without disputing either the existence or the nature of elementary air , that the common air we breath in , and which i often call atmospherical air , abounds with corpuscles not devoid of weight , and indowed with elasticity or springiness , whereby the lower parts , comprest by the weight of the upper , incessantly endeavour to expand themselves , by which expansion , and in proportion to it , the spring of the air is weaken'd , ( as other springs are wont to be ) the more they are permitted to stretch themselves . next , we suppose , that the terraqueous globe , being inviron'd with this gravitating and springy air , has its surface and the bodies plac'd on it prest by as much of the atmosphere as either perpendicularly leans on them , or can otherwise come to bear upon them . and this pressure is by the turricellian and other experiments found to be equivalent to a perpendicularly erected cylinder of about twenty nine or thirty inches of quicksilver , ( for the height is differing , as the gravity of the atmosphere happens to be various . ) lastly , we suppose , that , air being contain'd in a pipe or other hollow body that has but one orifice open to the free air , if this orifice be hermetically seal'd , or otherwise ( as with the mouth of one that sucks ) clos'd , the now included air , whilst it continues without any farther expansion , will have an elasticity equivalent to the weight of as much of the outward air as did before press against it . for , if the weight of the atmosphere , to which it was then expos'd , had been able to compress it further , it would have done so , and then the closing of the orifice , at which the internal and external air communicated , as it fenc'd the included air from the pressure of the incumbent , so it hindred the same included air from expanding it self ; so that , as it was shut up with the pressure of the atmosphere upon it , that is in a state of as great compression as the weight of the atmosphere could bring it to , so , being shut up and thereby kept from weakening that pressure by expansion , it must retain a springiness equipollent to the pressure 't was expos'd to before , which ( as i just now noted ) was as great as the weight of the incumbent pillar of the atmosphere could make it . but if , as was said in the first supposition , the included air should come to be dilated or expanded , the spring being then unbent , its spring , like that of other elastical bodies , would be debilitated answerably to that expansion . to me then it seems , that , speaking in general , liquors are upon suction raised into the cavities of pipes and other hollow bodies , when , and so far as , there is a less pressure on the surface of the liquor in the cavity , than on the surface of the external liquor that surrounds the pipe , whether that pressure on those parts of the external liquor , that are from time to time impell'd up into the orifice of the pipe , proceed from the weight of the atmosphere , or the propagated compression or impulse of some parts of the air , or the spring of the air , or some other cause , as the pressure of some other body quite distinct from air. upon the general view of this hypothesis , it seems very consonant to the mechanical principles . for , if there be on the differing parts of the surface of a fluid body unequal pressures , 't is plain , as well by the nature of the thing , as by what has been demonstrated by archimedes , and his commentators , that the greater force will prevail against the lesser , and that that part of the waters surface must give way , where it is least prest . so that that , wherein the hypothesis i venture to propose to you , differs from that which i dissent from , is not , that mine is less mechanical ; but partly in this , that , whereas the hypothesis , i question , supposes a necessity of the protrusion or impulse of the air , mine does not require that supposition , but , being more general , reaches to other ways of procuring the ascension of liquors , without raising them by the impulse of the air ; and partly , and indeed chiefly , in that the hypothesis , i decline , makes the cause of the ascension of liquors to be only the increased pressure of the air external to the pipe ; and i chiefly make it to depend upon the diminished pressure of the air within the pipe , on the score of the expansion 't is brought to by suction . to proceed now to some experiments that i made in favour of this hypothesis , i shall begin with that which follows : we took a glass-pipe bended like a syphon , but so that the shorter legg was as parallel to the longer as we could get it made , and was hermetically seal'd at the end : into this syphon we made a shift ( for 't is not very easie ) to convey water , so that the crooked part being held downwards , the liquor reach'd to the same height in both the leggs , and yet there was about an inch and half of uncomprest air shut up in the shorter legg . this little instrument ( for 't was but about fifteen inches long ) being thus prepar'd , 't is plain , that according to the hypothesis i dissent from , there is no reason , why the water should ascend upon suction . for , though we should admit , that the external air were considerably comprest , or received a notable impulse , when the suckers chest is enlarged ; yet in our case that compression or protrusion will not reach the surface of the water in the shorter legg , because it is there fenc'd from the action of the external air by the sides of the glass , and the hermetical seal at the top . and yet , if one suck'd strongly at the open orifice in the longer legg , the water in the shorter would be deprest ; and that in the longer ascended at one suck about an inch and half : of which the reason is clear in our hypothesis . for , the spring of the included air , together with the weight of the water in the shorter legg , and the pressure of the atmospherical air , assisted by the weight of the liquor in the longer legg , counter-ballanced one another before the suction began : but , when afterwards upon suction the air in the longer legg came to be dilated and thereby weaken'd , 't was render'd unable to resist the undiminish'd pressure of the air included in the shorter legg , which consequently expanding it self by vertue of its elasticity , deprest the contiguous water , and made it proportionably rise in the opposite legg , 'till by the expansion its spring being more and more weaken'd , it arrived at an equipollency with the gravitation or pressure of the atmosphere . which last clause contains the reason , why , when the person that suckt had rais'd the water in the longer legg less than three inches higher by repeated endeavours to suck , and that without once suffering the water to fall back again , he was not able to elevate the water in the longer , so much as three inches above its first station . and if in the shorter legg there was but an inch and a quarter of space left for the air unfill'd by the water , by divers skilfully reiterated acts of suction he could not raise the liquor in the longer legg above two inches ; because by that time the air included in the shorter legg had , by expanding it self further and further , proportionably weaken'd its spring , 'till at length it became as rarified ; as was the air in the cavity of the longer legg , and consequently was able to thrust away the water with no more force than the air in the long legg was able to resist . and by the recited tryal it appear'd , that the rarefaction usually made of air by suction is not near so great , as one would expect , problably because by the dilatation of the lungs the air , being still shut up , is but moderately rarified , and the air in the longer legg can by them be brought to no greater degree of rarity , than that of the air within the chest . for , whereas the included air in our instrument was not expanded , by my estimate , at one suck to above the double of its former dimensions , and by divers successive sucks was expanded but from one inch and an half to less than four inches and an half , if the suction could have been conveniently made with a great and stanch syringe , the rarefaction of the air would probably have been far greater ; since in our pneumatick engin air may , without heat , and by a kind of suction , be brought to possess many hundreds of times the space it took up before . from this rarefaction of the air in both the leggs of our instrument proceeds another phaenomenon , readily explicable by our hypothesis . for if , when the water was impell'd up as high as the suction could raise it , the instrument were taken from the suckers mouth , the elevated water would with violence return to its wonted station . for , the air , in both the leggs of the instrument , having by the suction lost much of the spring , and so of its power of pressing ; when once the orifice of the longer legg was left open , the atmospherical air came again to gravitate upon the water in that legg , and the air , included in the other legg , having its spring debilitated by the precedent expansion , was not able to hinder the external air from violently repelling the elevated water , 'till the included air was thrust into the space it possess'd before the suction ; in which space it had density and elasticity enough to resist the pressure , that the external air exercis'd against it through the interpos'd water . but our hypothesis about the cause of suction would not need to be solicitously prov'd to you by other ways , if you had seen what i have sometimes been able to do in our pneumatick engin. for , there we found by tryals purposely devis'd , and carefully made , that a good syringe being so conveyed into our receiver , that the open orifice of the pipe or lower part was kept under water , if the engin were exhausted , though the handle of the syringe were drawn up , the water would not follow it , which yet it would do if the external air were let in again . the reason of which is plain in our hypothesis . for , the air , that should have prest upon the surface of the stagnant water , having been pumpt out , there was nothing to impell up the water into the deserted cavity of the syringe , as there was when the receiver was fill'd with air. chap. iv. but because such a conveniency as our engin , and the apparatus necessary for such tryals are not easily procurable , i shall endeavour to confirm our hypothesis about suction by subjoining some experiments , that may be tryed without the help of that engin , for the making out these three things : i. that a liquor may be rais'd by suction , when the pressure of the air , neither as it has weight nor elasticity , is the cause of the elevation . ii. that the weight of the atmospherical air is sufficient to raise up liquors in suction . iii. that in some cases suction will not be made , as , according to the hypothesis i dissent from , it should , although there be a dilatation of the suckers thorax , and no danger of a vacuum though the liquor should ascend . and first , to shew , how much the rising of liquors in suction depends upon the weight or pressure of the impellent body , and how little necessity there is , where that pressure is not wanting , that , in the place deferted by the liquor that is suck'd , there should succeed air or some other visible body , as the peripatetic schools would have it ; to shew this , i say , i thought on the following experiments . we took a glass-pipe fit to have the torricellian experiment made with it , but a good deal longer than was necessary for that use : this pipe being hermetically seal'd at one end , the other end was so bent as to be reflected upwards , and make as it were the shorter legg of the syphon as parallel as we could to the longer , so that the tube now was shap'd like an inverted syphon with leggs of a very unequal length . this tube , notwithstanding its inconvenient figure , we made a shift , ( for 't is not easily done ) to fill with mercury , when 't was in an inclin'd posture , and then erecting it , the mercury subsided in the longer legg , as in the torricellian experiment , and attain'd to between two foot and a quarter and two foot and an half above the surface of the mercury in the shorter legg , which in this instrument answers to the stagnant mercury in an ordinary barometer , from which to distinguish it i have elswhere call'd this syphon , furnish'd with mercury , a travelling baroscope , because it may be safely carried from place to place . out of the shorter legg of this tube we warily took as much mercury as was thought convenient for what we had further to do , and this we did by such a way as to hinder any air from getting into the deserted cavity of the longer legg , by which means the mercurial cylinder , ( estimated as i lately mention'd ) retain'd the same height above the stagnant mercury in the shorter : the upper and clos'd part of this travelling baroscope you will easily grant to have been free from common air , not only for other reasons that have been given elsewhere , but particularly for this , that , if you gently incline the instrument , the quicksilver will ascend to the top of the tube ; which you know it could not do , if the place , formerly deserted by it , were possest by the air , which by its spring would hinder the ascension of the mercury , ( as is easie to be tryed . ) the instrument having been thus fitted , i caus'd one of the by-standers to suck at the shorter legg , whereupon ( as i expected ) there presently ensued an ascension of four or five inches of mercury in that legg , and a proportionable subsidence of the mercury in the longer , and yet in this case the raising of the mercury cannot be pretended to proceed from the pressure of the air. for , the weight of the atmosphere is fenc'd off by that , which closes the upper end of the longer tube , and the spring of the air has here nothing to do , since , as we have lately shewn , the space deserted by the mercury is not possest by the included air , and the pulsion or condensation of the air , suppos'd by divers modern philosophers to be made by the dilatation of the suckers chest , and to press upon the surface of the liquors that are to be suck'd up , this , i say , cannot here be pretended in regard the surface of the liquor in the longer legg is every way fenc'd from the pressure of the ambient air. so that it remains , that the cause , which rais'd the quicksilver in the shorter legg upon the newly recited suction , was the weight of the collaterally superiour quicksilver in the longer legg , which , being ( at the beginning of the suction ) equivalent to the weight of the atmosphere , there is a plain reason , why the stagnant mercury in the shorter legg should be rais'd some inches by suction ; as mercury stagnant in an open vessel will be rais'd by the weight of the atmosphere , when the suction is made in the open air. for , in both cases there is a pipe , that reaches to the stagnant mercury , and a competent weight to impel it into that pipe ; when the air in the cavity of the pipe has its spring weaken'd by the dilatation that accompanied suction . the second point formerly propos'd , which is , that the weight of the air is sufficient to raise liquors in suction ; may not be ill prov'd by arguments legitimately drawn from the torricellian experiment it self , and much more clearly by the first and fifteenth of our continued physico-mechanical experiments . and therefore i shall only here take notice of a phaenomenon , that may be exhibited by the travelling baroscope , which , though it be much inferiour to the experiments newly referr'd to , may be of some use on the present occasion . having then provided an instrument like the travelling baroscope , mention'd under the former head , but whose leggs were not so unequally long , and having in it made the torricellian experiment after the manner lately describ'd ; we order'd the matter so , that there remain'd in the shorter legg the length of divers inches unfill'd with stagnant mercury . then i caus'd one , vers'd in what he was to do , so to raise the quicksilver by suction to the open orifice of the shorter legg , that , the orifice being seasonably and dexterously closed , the mercury continued to fill that legg , as long as we thought fit ; and then having put a mark to the surface of the mercury in the longer legg , we unstopp'd the orifice of the shorter ; whereupon the mercury , that before fill'd it , was depress'd , 'till the same liquor in the longer legg was rais'd five inches or more above the mark , and continu'd at that height . i said , that the mercury that had been raised by suction , was depress'd , rather than that it subsided , because its own weight could not here make it fall , since a mercurial cylinder of five inches was far from being able to raise so tall a cylinder of mercury as made a counterpoise in the longer legg ; and therefore the depression we speak of , is to be referr'd to the gravitation of the atmospherical air upon the surface of the mercury in the shorter legg : and i see no cause to doubt but that , if we could have procured an instrument , into whose shorter legg a mercurial cylinder of many inches higher could have been suck'd up , it would by this contrivance have appear'd , that the pressure of the atmosphere would easily impel up a far taller cylinder of mercury than it did in our recited experiment . that this is no groundless conjecture may appear probable by the experiment you will presently meet with . for if the gravity of an incumbent pillar of the atmosphere be able to compress a parcel of included air as much as a mercurial cylinder , equivalent in weight to between thirty and five and thirty foot of water , is able to condense it , it cannot well be denied that the same atmospherical cylinder may be able by its weight to raise and counterballance eight or nine and twenty inches of quicksilver , or an equivalent pillar of water in tubes , where the resistance of these two liquors to be rais'd and sustain'd by the air , depends only upon their own unassisted gravity . to confirm our doctrine of the gravitation of the atmosphere upon the surface of the liquors expos'd to it , i will subjoin an experiment , that i devis'd to shew , that the incumbent air , in its natural or usual state , would compress other air not rarified , but in the like natural state , as much as a cylinder of eight or nine and twenty inches of mercury would condense or compress it . in order to the making of this , i must put you in mind of what i have shewn elsewhere at large , and shall further confirm by one of the experiments that follows the next ; namely , that about twenty nine or thirty inches of quicksilver will compress air , that being in its natural or usual state ( as to rarity and density ) has been shut up in the shorter legg of our travelling or syphon-like baroscope , into half the room that included air possess'd before . this premis'd , i pass on to my experiment , which was this : we provided a travelling baroscope , wherein the mercury in the longer legg was kept suspended by the counterpoise of the air that gravitated on the surface of the mercury in the shorter legg , which we had so order'd , that it reached not by about two inches to the top of the shorter legg . then making a mark at the place where the stagnant mercury rested , 't was manifest according to our hypothesis , that the air in the upper part of the shorter legg was in its natural state , or of the same degree of density with the outward air , with which it freely communicated at the open orifice of the shorter legg ; so that this stagnant air was equally prest upon by the weight of the collaterally superiour cylinder of mercury in the longer legg , and the equivalent weight of a directly incumbent pillar of the atmosphere . things being in this posture , the upper part of the shorter legg , which had been before purposely drawn out to an almost capillary smallness , was hermetically seal'd , which , though the instrument was kept erected , was so nimbly done by reason of the slenderness of the pipe , that the included air did not appear to be sensibly heated , though for greater caution we staid a while from proceeding , that , if any rarefaction had been produc'd in the air , it might have time to lose it again . this done , we open'd the lower end of the longer legg , ( which had been so order'd before , that we could easily do it , and without concussion of the vessel , ) by which means the atmospherical air , gaining access to the mercury included in the longer legg , did , as i expected , by its gravitation upon it so compress the air included in the shorter legg , that , according to the estimate we made with the help of a ruler , ( for by reason of the conical figure of the upper part of the glass we could not take precise measures , ) it was thrust into near half the room it took up before , and consequently , according to what i put you lately in mind of , endur'd a compression like that , which a mercurial cylinder of about twenty nine inches would have given it . this experiment , as to the main of it , was for greater caution made the second time with much the like success ; and though it had been more easie to measure the condensation of the air , if , instead of drawing out and sealing up the shorter legg of the instrument , we had contented our selves to close it some other way ; yet we rather chose to imploy hermes's seal , lest , if any other course had been taken , it might be pretended , that some of the included air , when it began to be comprest , might escape out at the not perfectly and strongly clos'd orifice of the legg wherein 't was imprison'd . to make it yet further appear , how much the ascension of liquors by suction depends upon pressure , rather than upon natures imaginary abhorrence of a vacuum , or the propagated pulsion of the air ; i will subjoin an instance , wherein that presum'd abhorrence cannot be pretended . the experiment was thus made : a glass-syphon , like those lately describ'd , with one legg far longer than the other , was hermetically seal'd at the shorter legg , and then by degrees there was put in , at the orifice of the longer legg , as much quicksilver as by its weight suffic'd to compress the air in the shorter legg into about half the room it possess'd before ; so that , according to the peripatetick doctrine , the air must be in a state of preternatural condensation , and that to a far greater degree , than ( as i have tryed ) 't is usually brought to by cold , intense enough to freeze water . then measuring the heighth of the quicksilver in the longer tube above the superficies of that in the shorter , we found it not exceed thirty inches . now , if liquors did rise in suction ob fugam vacui , there is no reason , why this quicksilver in the longer part of the syphon should not easily ascend upon suction , at least 'till the air in the shorter legg had regain'd its former dimensions , since it cannot in this place be pretended , that , if the mercury should ascend , there would be any danger of a vacuum in the shorter legg of the tube , in regard that the contiguous included air is ready at hand to succeed as fast as the mercury subsides in the shorter legg of the syphon . nor can it be pretended , that , to fill the place deserted by the quicksilver , the included air must suffer a preternatural rarefaction or discension ; since 't is plain in our case , that on the contrary , as long as the air continues in the state whereto the weight of the quicksilver has reduc'd it , it is kept in a violent state of compression ; since in the shorter legg it was in its natural state , when the mercury , poured into the longer legg , did by its weight thrust it into about half the room it took up before . and yet , having caus'd several persons , one of them vers'd in sucking , to suck divers times as strongly as they could , they were neither of them able , not so much as for a minute of an hour , to raise the mercury in the longer legg , and make it subside in the shorter for more than about an inch at most . and yet to shew you , that the experiment was not favourably tryed for me , the height of the mercurial cylinder in the longer legg above the surface of that in the shorter legg was , when the suction was tryed , an inch or two shorter than thirty inches , and the comprest air in the shorter legg was so far from having been by the exsuction expanded beyond its natural and first dimensions , that it did not , when the contiguous mercury stood as low as we could make it subside , regain so much as one half of the space it had lost by the precedent compression , and consequently was in a preternatural state of condensation , when it had been freed from that state as far as suction would do it . whence it seems evident , that 't was not ob fugam vacui , that the quicksilver did upon suction ascend one inch ; for , upon the same score it ought to have ascended two , or perhaps more inches , since there was no danger , that by such an ascension any vacuum should be produc'd or left in the shorter legg of the syphon ; whereas , according to our hypothesis , a clear cause of the phaenomenon is assignable . for , before the suction was begun , there was an aequilibrium or equipollency between the weight of the superiour quicksilver in the longer legg , and a spring of the comprest air included in the shorter legg : but when the experimentor began to suck , his chest being widen'd , part of the air included in the upper part of the longer legg pass'd into it , and that which remain'd had by that expansion its pressure so weaken'd , that the air in the shorter legg , finding no longer the former resistance , was able by its own spring to expand it self , and consequently to depress the contiguous mercury in the same shorter legg , and raise it as much in the longer . but here a hydrostatician , that heedfully marks this experiment , may discern a difficulty , that may perhaps somewhat perplex him , and seems to overthrow our explication of the phaenomenon . for he may object , that if the comprest air in the shorter legg had a spring equipollent to the weight of the mercury in the longer legg , it appears not , why the mercury should not be suckt up in this instrument , as well as in the free air ; since , according to me , the pressure of the included air upon the subjacent mercury must be equivalent to the weight of the atmosphere , and yet experience shews , that the weight of the atmosphere will , upon suction , raise quicksilver to the height of several inches . to clear this difficulty , and shew , that , though it be considerable , 't is not at all insuperable , be pleased to consider with me , that i make indeed the spring of the comprest air to be equipollent to the weight of the compressing mercury , and i have a manifest reason to do it ; because , if the spring of the air were not equipollent to that weight , the mercury must necessarily compress the air farther , which 't is granted de facto not to do . but then i consider , that in our case there ought to be a great deal of difference between the operation of the spring of the included air and the weight of the atmosphere , after suction has been once begun . for , the weight of the atmosphere , that impels up mercury and other liquors , when the suction is made in the open air , continues still the same , but the force or pressure of the included air is equal to the counterpressure of the mercury no longer than the first moment of the suction ; after which , the force of the imprison'd air still decreases more and more , since this comprest air , being further and further expanded , must needs have its spring proportionably weaken'd ; so that it need be no wonder , that the mercury was not suckt up any more than we have related ; for there was nothing to make it ascend to a greater height , than that , at which the debilitated spring of the ( included but ) expanded air was brought to an equipollency with the undiminish'd and indeed somewhat increas'd weight of the mercurial cylinder in the longer legg , and the pressure of the aerial cylinder in the same legg , lessen'd by the action of him that suck'd . for whereas , when the orifice of this legg stood open , the mercury was prest on by a cylinder of the atmospherical air , equivalent to about thirty inches of quicksilver ; by the mouth and action of him that suck'd the tube was freed from the external air , and by the dilatation of his thorax , the neighbouring air , that had a free passage through his wind-pipe to it , was proportionably expanded , and had its spring and pressure weaken'd : by which means , the comprest air in the shorter legg of the syphon was inabled to impel up the mercury , 'till the lately mention'd equilibrium or equipollency was attain'd . and i must here take notice , that , as the quicksilver was rais'd by suction but a little way , so the cylinder that was rais'd was a very long one ; whereas , when mercury is suck'd up in the free air , it is seldom rais'd to half that length ; though , as i noted before , the impellent cause , which is the weight of the atmosphere , continued still the same , whereas in our syphon , when the mercury was suck'd up but an inch , the comprest air , possessing double the space it did before , had by this expansion already lost a very considerable part of its former spring and pressure . i should here conclude this discourse , but that i remember a phaenomenon of our pneumatic engin , which to divers learned men , especially aristotelians , seem'd so much to argue , that suction is made either by a fuga vacui , or some internal principle , that divers years ago i thought fit to set down another account of it , and lately meeting with that account among other papers , i shall subjoin it just as i found it , by way of appendix to the foregoing tract . among the more familiar phaenomena of the machina boyliana , ( as they now call it , ) none leaves so much scruple in the minds of some sorts of men , as this , that , when ones finger is laid close upon the orifice of the little pipe , by which the air is wont to pass from the receiver into the exhausted cylinder , the pulp of the finger is made to enter a good way into the cavity of the pipe , which doth not happen without a considerable sense of pain in the lower part of the finger . for most of those that are strangers to hydrostaticks , especially if they be prepossess'd with the opinions generally receiv'd both in the peripatetick and other schools , perswade themselves , that they feel the newly mention'd and painful protuberance of the pulp of the finger , to be effected not by pressure , as we would have it , but distinctly by attraction . to this we are wont to answer , that common air being a body not devoid of weight , the phenomenon is clearly explicable by the pressure of it : for , when the finger is first laid upon the orifice of the pipe , no pain nor swelling is produc'd , because the air which is in the pipe presses as well against that part of the finger which covereth the orifice , as the ambient air doth against the other parts of the same finger . but when by pumping , the air in the pipe , or the most part of it , is made to pass out of the pipe into the exhausted cylinder , then there is nothing left in the pipe , whose pressure can any thing near countervail the undiminish'd pressure of the external air on the other parts of the finger ; and consequently , that air thrusts the most yielding and fleshy part of the finger , which is the pulp , into that place where its pressure is unresisted , that is , into the cavity of the pipe , where this forcible intrusion causeth a pain in those tender parts of the finger . to give some visible illustration of what we have been saying , as well as for other purposes , i thought on the following experiment . we took a glass-pipe of a convenient length , and open at both ends , whose cavity was near about an inch in diameter , ( such a determinate breadth being convenient , though not necessary : ) to one of the ends of this pipe we caused to be firmly tyed on a piece of very fine bladder , that had been ruffled and oyl'd , to make it both very limber and unapt to admit water ; and care was taken , that the piece of bladder tyed on should be large enough , not only to cover the orifice , but to hang loose somewhat beneath it . this done , we put the cover'd end of the pipe into a glass-body ( or cucurbit ) purposely made more than ordinarily tall , and the pipe being held in such manner , as that the end of it reach'd almost , but not quite , to the bottom of the glass-body , we caused water to be poured both into this vessel and into the pipe ( at its upper orifice , which was left open ) that the water might ascend equally enough , both without and within the pipe. and when the glass-body was full of water , and the same liquor was level to it . , or a little higher within the pipe , the bladder at the lower orifice was kept plump , because the water within the pipe did by its weight press as forcibly downwards , as the external water in the large glass endeavour'd to press it inwards and upwards . all this being done , we caus'd part of the water in the pipe to be taken out of it , ( which may be done either by putting in and drawing out a piece of spunge or of linnen , or more expeditiously by sucking up part of the water with a smaller pipe to be immediately after laid aside ; ) upon which removal of part of the internal water , that which remained in the pipe being no longer able , by reason of its want of weight , to press against the inside of the bladder near as forcibly as it did before , the external water , whose weight was not lessen'd , press'd the sides and bottom of the bladder , whereto it was contiguous , into the cavity of the pipe , and thrusted it up therein so strongly , that the distended bladder made a kind of either thimble or hemisphere within the pipe. so that here we have a protuberance , like that above-mentioned of the finger , effected by pulsion , not attraction ; and in a case where there can be no just pretence of having recourse to natures abhorrence of a vacuum , since , the upper orifice of the pipe being left wide open , the air may pass in and out without resistance . the like swelling of the bladder in the pipe we could procure without taking out any of the internal liquor , by thrusting the pipe deeper into the water ; for then the external liquor , having by reason of its increase of depth a greater pressure on the outside of the bladder , than the internal liquor had on the inside of it , the bladder must yield to the stronger pressure , and consequently be impell'd up . if the bladder lying loose at the lower end of the pipe , the upper end were carefully clos'd with ones thumb , that the upper air might not get out until the experimentor thought fit , and if the thus clos'd pipe were thrust almost to the bottom of the water , the bladder would not be protuberant inwards , as formerly ; because the included air by virtue of its spring , resisted from within the pressure of the external water against the outside of the bladder : but if the thumb , that stopp'd the pipes upper orifice , were remov'd , the formerly compress'd air having liberty to expand it self , and its elasticity being weaken'd thereby , the external water would with suddenness and noise enough , not to be unpleasant to the spectators , drive up the bladder into the cavity of the pipe , and keep it there very protuberant . to obviate an objection , that i foresaw might be brought in by persons not well vers'd in hydrostaticks , i caus'd the pipe fore-mention'd , or such another , to be so bent near the lower end , as that the orifice of it stood quite on one side , and the parts of the pipe made an angle as near to a right one as he that blew it could bring it to . this lower orifice being fitted with a bladder , and the pipe with its contained liquor being thrust under water after the former manner , the lateral pressure of the water forc'd the bladder into the short and horizontal legg , and made it protuberate there , as it had done when the pipe was straight . lastly , that the experiment might appear not to be confin'd to one liquor ; instead of water we put into the unbent pipe as much red wine ( whose colour would make it conspicuous ) as was requisit to keep the bladder somewhat swelling outwards , when it was somewhat near the bottom of the water ; and then 't was manifest , that , according as we had foreseen , the superficies of the red liquor in the pipe was a good deal higher than that of the external water , and if the depth of both liquors were proportionably lessen'd , the difference of height betwixt the two surfaces would indeed , as it ought to happen , decrease , but still the surface of the wine would be the higher of the two , because being lighter in specie than the common water , the aequilibrium between the pressures of the two liquors upon the bladder would not be maintain'd , unless a greater height of wine compensated its defect of specifick gravity . and if the pipe was thrust deeper into the water , then the bladder would be made protuberant inwards , as when the pipe had water in it . by which it appears , that these phaenomena , without recourse to attraction , may be explicated barely by the laws of the aequilibrium of liquors . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29012-e920 * see cont. of phys . mech . exp. the 15th exp. notes for div a29012-e2100 see the authors defence of the doctrine touching the spring and weight of the air , against fr. linus , chap 5. the aerial noctiluca, or, some new phœnomena, and a process of a factitious self-shining substance imparted in a letter to a friend living in the country / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1680 approx. 115 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 58 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-10 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28938 wing b3925 estc r22714 12233960 ocm 12233960 56680 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28938) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 56680) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 909:10) the aerial noctiluca, or, some new phœnomena, and a process of a factitious self-shining substance imparted in a letter to a friend living in the country / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [6], 109 p. printed by tho. snowden, and are to be sold by nath. ranew ..., london : 1680. attributed to robert boyle. cf. bm. advertisement: p. [3]-[5] reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng phosphorus -early works to 1800. chemistry -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-10 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-11 jason colman sampled and proofread 2006-11 jason colman text and markup reviewed and edited 2007-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the aerial noctiluca : or some new phoenomena , and a proces of a factitious self-shining substance . imparted in a letter to a friend , living in the country . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london . printed by tho. snowden , and are to be sold by nath. ranew . bookseller in st. paul's church-yard . 1680. an advertisement of the publisher to the reader . the honourable author of the following papers , thinking it probable that the processes deliver'd in them , having hitherto been publish'd by no man , will , as well for that reason , as for the nobleness of the subject , prove not unwelcome to the curious , in divers countries , where english is not understood : he was very willing , for their sakes , that this tract should be turn'd into latin. and now , to prevent the needless pains of any , that may have a mind to make such a version , without having the opportunity to consult the author , upon any doubt os his meaning , i think fit to give notice , that the translation is , by the author's consent , made already , and , god permitting , will quickly appear in publick . perhaps 't will not be improper to add , that the reason , why the following english tract is printed in octavo , ( as they speak ) is , that it may be conveniently bound up , either with the notes , already publish'd in the same form about divers particular qualities , or with those other notes that yet remain to be publish'd about other qualities ; to whose number light and inflammability may be referr'd . the ensuing discourse having been written to a virtuoso , living in the countrey , who has been for many years absent from london , it was thought fit in the beginning of these papers to give him some informations about phosphorus's , and their several kinds in general , but it was not thought fit to publish at the beginning of the letter any thing of complement ; since in that , neither the main subject , nor the reader , was concern'd . to my very learned friend dr. j. b. sir , to gratifie your curiosity about phosphorus's , as much as i can without indiscretion at present do , i must , in the first place , take notice to you , that though phosphorus's may well be distinguish'd into two sorts ; those that may be stil'd natural , as glow-worms , some sorts of rotten wood and fishes , and a few others , and those that are properly artificial : yet waving , at present , further mention of the former sort of bodies , that without manifest heat shine in the dark , ( which absence of sensible heat distinguishes phosphorus's from common fire and flame ; ) i shall now confine my discourse to the latter sort , and tell you , that as far as i have hitherto observ'd , those factitious shining bodies that do or may pass under the name of phosphorus's , may be reduc'd to two principal kinds , one of which may be subdivided into two or three , so that in all they will amount to three or four . the first of these consists of such bodies as shine only by the help of external illustration , or ( if you please ) such bodies , as being expos'd to the beams of the sun , or those of a vigorous flame , will retain a lucidness , and continue to shine some time in the dark . of this kind is the bolonian stone , skilfully prepar'd ; and of this sort also is the phosphorus hermeticus of balduinus , of whose phoenomena , but not the way of making it , the author has given the learned world an account . this phosphorus was therefore very welcome to divers of the curious , because the bolonian stone was for some years before grown very rare , even in its own countrey , italy , which scarceness , an ingenious traveller , then lately come out of those parts , told me he imputed to the death of the person that us'd to prepare the stone at bologna , without having left a sufficient account of his way of making it lucid . and the phosphorus of balduinus , which , or the like , may be made ( as i have tryed ) both of chaulk , and another substance , seem'd to me , when the preparation succeeded best , to catch the external light ( if i may so speak ) far more readily than the bolonian stone : for i remember i have had one , that being freshly made , would within about half a minute of an hour be manifestly excited , and as it were kindled ; so that being presently remov'd into a dark place , it would retain a very sensible light , for so many times as long as it had been expos'd to the beams of the external light ; and this ( if i much misremember not ) was even when that external light was but the flame of a candle . but , on the other side , whereas i have more than once or twice observ'd , with trouble , that these phosphorus's could very hardly be preserv'd for any long time , ( which i was apt to impute to the action of the insinuating air ) so that some of them in not many months , and others even in a few weeks ( or perhaps days ) would appear crack'd , and lose their vertue of being excited by the beams of light ; the bolonian stone , skilfully prepar'd , would retain its vertue of being excited for a much longer time : for i remember ( whatever learned men have deliver'd to the contrary ▪ ) i had a small piece of it , which , though i kept it negligently enough in an ordinary little wooden box , retain'd its vertue for several years after i had it , which was not till a great while after it was first prepar'd . what i have further observ'd concerning the phosphorus hermeticus , i have not now the leisure to acquaint you with . but besides this first kind of phosphorus's , that , to be able to shine , must have their faculty excited by the beams of the sun , or those of some other actually shining body : there is another sort , which needs not be previously illustrated by any external lucid , and yet continues to shine far longer than the bolonian stone , or the phosphorus of balduinus . this , by some learned men has been call'd , to discriminate it from the former , a noctiluca , which , though in strictness i cannot think it as proper a name as could be wish'd , since the other phosphorus will shine in the night as well as the day , if it be excited with the flame of a culinary fire , or of a large candle ; yet since the name has been received by several , and since 't is not easie in our language , to express the thing clearly in one word , i shall ( though for brevity , as much as distinction-sake ) admit the use of this name ▪ yet without forbearing sometimes to substitute for it that of a self-shining substance , which is more expressive of its nature : of this substance , mr. daniel krafft , a german chymist ▪ shew'd his majesty two sorts or degrees . to the first of which , i took the liberty to give the name of consistent ( or gummous ) noctiluca , not in that sense , wherein the word is oppos'd to soft , for this substance was at least as yielding as bees-wax in summer ; but as the word consistent is employ'd as equivalent to firm , and oppos'd to liquid and fluid . by reason also of its somewhat viscous texture , not very unlike that of gum of cherries , and some others newly taken from the tree , it may be call'd , the gummous noctiluca : and , i am inform'd , that on the score of its uninterrupted action , 't is call'd by some in germany , the constant noctiluca ; which title it does not ill deserve , since this phosphorus is much the noblest we have yet seen . for though there were not much of it , and though it were kept by it self in a little vial , well stop'd , it would , without being externally excited , incessantly shine , as he affirmed , both day and night . yet the light it afforded seem'd but little , if at all , more vivid , than i have sometimes observed in the liquor of glow-worms , and some other phosphorus's of nature's producing : nor had the possessor enough of this substance to invite his consent to any trial to improve it , the quantity he had at london , scarce exceeding in bulk the kernel of an almond . besides this gummous noctiluca , mr. krafft had a liquid one , that , perhaps , was made only by dissolution of the former in water , or some convenient liquor ; but the lucidness of this , was not permanent like that of the other , as i have noted in another paper : but within no very long time , especially when 't was divided into smaller portions , and left expos'd to the air , would expire or vanish . but besides the gummous and the liquid noctiluca hitherto mentioned ▪ i know not whether we may not add a third kind , that we our selves lately prepared , which seems to be of a somewhat differing nature , both from the consistent , and the liquid noctiluca newly describ'd , at least as far as i observ'd their phoenomena . for this of ours would not shine of it self , like the constant noctiluca , nor yet in that manner that the liquid noctiluca did ; but the bare contact of the air , without any external illustration or heat , would immediately produce a light , ( which might easily be made to last a good while in a well stop'd vessel : ) and , which is considerable , the substance that shin'd , was not the body of the liquor included in the vial , but an exhalation or effluvium mingled with the admitted air : for both which reasons , i gave it the name of aerial noctiluca . these are the several phosphorus's , that i have yet had opportunity to see , but , for ought i know , their variety may extend somewhat further , because i have heard of a paper printed in germany by an ingenious man , whose name ( if i mistake not ) is elsholez , wherein particular mention is made , in an historical way , of the german noctiluca : but this paper i cannot yet procure , and therefore you would do well to consult it , if you can get it ; and i am not averse from thinking , that future industry may discover some new kinds or variations of self-shining substances , that will deserve new names , and among them , perhaps , that of solid noctiluca's . having said thus much of the several sorts of artificial phosphorus's , i shall be very brief in speaking of their inventers , whereof i have but an imperfect information . for though i find it generally agreed , that the phosphorus hermeticus was first found and published to the world , by the learned and ingenious balduinus , a german lawyer ; yet as to the gummous and liquid noctiluca's , i find the first invention is by some ascrib'd to the abovemention'd mr. krafft , ( though i remember not , that when he was here , he plainly asserted it to himself ; ) by others , attributed to an ancient chymist , dwelling at hamburgh , whose name ( if i mistake not ) is mr. branc , and by others again , with great confidence , asserted to a famous german chymist in the court of saxony , call'd kunckelius . but to which of these so noble an invention , as that of the two german noctiluca's , is justly due , i neither am qualified nor desirous to judge ; and therefore , without prejudicing any man's right , i will proceed to that , which , i presume , is the chief thing you would know of me , namely , an account of the occasion and steps of my own attempt to make a noctiluca . concerning this i shall give you the following narrative , wherein , though my urgent avocations will not ( i fear ) permit me to be other than immethodical , yet i shall not decline to mention some circumstances that i know may be omitted , because they will not , perhaps , be found so barely historical , but that they may prove of some use to a less sagacity then yours , in an enquiry into a subject , wherein i cannot yet plainly tell you all you could wish to know , and which is both new and abstruse , as well as noble . after the experienced chymist mr. daniel krafft had , in a visit that he purposely made me , shewn me and some of my friends , both his liquid and consistent phosphorus , being by the phoenomena i then observ'd , ( and whereof the curious have since had publick notice * ) made certain , that there is really such a factitious body to be made , as would shine in the dark , without having been before illustrated by any lucid substance , and without being hot as to sense : after this , i say , i took into consideration by what ways it might be most probable , to produce , by art , such a shining substance . to seek for which i was both inclin'd , and hopeful to be somewhat assisted , because i had lying by me , among my yet unpublish'd notes of the mechanical origine of divers qualities , a collection of some observations & thoughts concerning light . light. and i was ( also ) the more encourag'd to attempt somewhat this way , because having , at mr. kraffts's desire , imparted to him somewhat that i discover'd about uncommon mercuries , ( which i had then communicated but to one person in the world ) he , in requital , confest to me at parting , that at least the principal matter of his phosphorus's , was somewhat that belong'd to the body of man. this intimation , though but very general , was therefore very welcome to me , because , though i have often thought it probable , that a shining substance may , by spagyrical art , be obtain'd from more kinds of bodies than one : yet designing , in the first place , to try if i could hit upon such a phosphorus as i saw was preparable , the advertisement sav'd me ( for some time ) the labor of ranging among various bodies , and directed me to exercise my industry in a narrower compass . but there being divers parts of the humane body , that have been taken to task by chymists ; and , perhaps , by me as carefully , as by some others , my choice might have been distracted between the blood , the solid excrements , the bones , the urine , and the hair , of the humane body ; if various former tryals and speculations upon more than one of those subjects , had not directed me to pitch upon that , which was fittest to be chosen , and of which , as i had formerly set down divers experiments and observations , so i had made provision of a quantity of it , and so far prepar'd it , that it wanted but little of being fit for my present purpose . but before i had made any great progress in my design , i was by divers removes , indispositions of body , law-suits , and other avocations , so distracted , or at least diverted , that i laid aside the prosecution of the phosphorus for a long time . and when afterwards i resum'd it , though i wrought upon the right matter , yet i was diverted from the right way , by a process that i received from beyond sea , as a great arcanum , that would certainly produce the noctiluca aspired to , for partly upon this account , but more , because i saw that the chief ingredient in this process , was that which i , with reason , took to be the best matter , i was induc'd to pursue the prescrib'd method for some months , but without success ; the true matter being , as i concluded , too much either alter'd or clog'd by the additional ingredients that were design'd to improve it ; besides , that the degree of fire , though a circumstance of the greatest moment , was overlook'd , or not rightly prescrib'd . however , adhering to the first choice i had made of a fit matter , i did not desist to work upon it by the ways i judg'd the most hopeful ▪ when a learned and ingenious stranger , ( a. g. m. d. countreyman , if i mistake not , to mr. krafft ) who had newly made an excursion into england , to see the countrey , having , in a visit he was pleas'd to make me , occasionally discoursed , among other things , about the german noctiluca , whereof he soon perceiv'd i knew the true matter , and had wrought much upon it . he said something about the degree of fire , that made me afterwards think , when i reflected on it , that that was the only thing i wanted to succeed in my endeavors . and there was the more reason to think so , because for want of a due management of the fire , we had divers times fail'd , of making the phosphorus of balduinus , not only after we had more than once wrought upon the right matter , but after we had actually made the phosphorus . wherefore when he left london , having yet some quantity of the matter in such readiness , that it needed but the fire to let me see what i ought to think of the hint the ingenious traveller had given me , i caus'd the tryal to be renew'd , which , proving unsuccessful , diminish'd much of my stock of prepar'd matter , but it did not so discourage me , as to hinder me from reiterating the attempt ( without much varying it ) with a good part of what remain'd . and though at this time also , all the care and diligence that could be employ'd , did not hinder an unlucky miscarriage , that kept the tryal from being fully satisfactory ; yet being confident upon the nature of the thing , i would not believe the skilful laborant , when he told me with trouble , that what i expected , was not at all produc'd : but going my self to the laboratory , i quickly found , that by the help of the air , or some agitation of what had pass'd into the receiver , i could , in a dark place ( though it was then day ) perceive some glimmerings of light , which , you will easily believe , i was not ill pleas'd to see . and now you have the history of my pursuit of the liquid phosphorus , that has made some noise among the curious : but i freely confess , that the success , though welcome , was not so full as i aim'd at , for i obtain'd no such consistent phosphorus as that whereof mr. krafft shew'd me , as i formerly told you , a small parcel . but as i was willing to think that this defect may be imputed to the cracking of the retort , before the operatien was quite finish'd , so i hope another distillation in a more luckily chosen vessel , may make me amends for the newly mentioned miscarriage , and thereby enable me to discover other , and perhaps nobler phoenomena of our shining substance , than hitherto i have been able to observe . especially considering , that the same misfortune , that i hope was the principal cause of my missing the noblest thing i aim'd at , the constant noctiluca , 〈◊〉 me so little even of liquid matter , ●●r my purpose , that i have not dared ▪ for fear of wasting it , to try several things with it , that i presume may be of good use in an enquiry into the nature of this light , and perhaps also of light in general . and because i fear by what i have observ'd , that , though the vessel had not crackt , yet the matter distill'd would have afforded but a small proportion of lucid substance , i am the more unwilling to fall upon this troublesom work again , till , besides other requisites , i be provided of a competent quantity of a matter which i fear contains but very little of the desired substance . however , i have endeavoured to make that use of our experiment , such as it was , that though the noctiluca it produc'd , be not perhaps so lucid as that of mr. kraffts , yet it may prove as luciferous as his hath hitherto been , since ( as you will see hereafter ) i have found a substance that needs the air , and nothing but the air to kindle it , and that in a moment . in this narrative i have been the more particular , that it may shew you , ( what i hope may make you amends for the length of it ) that an inquisitive man should not always be deter'd by the difficulties , or even disappointments he may meet with , in prosecuting a noble experiment , as long as he judges himself to proceed upon good and rational grounds . the vses that may be made of noctiluca's , especially of the consistent , are not , in probability , all of them to be easily foreseen and declar'd ; especially by me , who have not yet had time and ability to make those improvements of self-shining substances , that , by the assistance of the father of lights , i hope will , in process of time , be attained . if the lucid vertue of the constant noctiluca could be ( as i see not , why it may not be ) considerably invigorated , it may prevent a great deal of danger , to which men of war , and other ships are expos'd , by the necessity men often have to come into the gun-room with common flames or fire , to take out powder , which has occasion'd the blowing up of many a brave ship. our light may , perhaps , be of use to those that dive in deep waters ; and also may very safely and conveniently be let down into the sea , to what depth one pleases , and kept there a long time , to draw together the fishes that are wont to resort to the light of a fire or candle ; as in divers parts of scotland and ireland is well known to the fishermen , who get much profit by this resort . the same self-shining substance which in our aerial noctiluca affords a light , that , as faint as it yet is , was able , when i wak'd in the night , to shew me distinctly enough the bigness and shape of some joints of my fingers , and to discover itself in the shape of a capital letter ( of the alphabet ) that was cut out of a piece of black'd paper pasted upon the vial ; this light , i say , may probably , ( at least when somewhat invigorated ) suffice to shew the hour of the night when one wakes , ( with eyes unaccustomed to light ) if it be plac'd , instead of a lamp or candle , behind an index , where the figures employ'd to mark the hours are cut out . it may also serve to make a guide knowable at a good distance off , in spite of tempestuous winds and great showers , and this in the darkest night . divers ludicrous experiments , very pleasant and surprizing , may be made with the noctiluca , by him that has enough of it . but these trifles , though very pretty in their kind , i purposely pass over : as also an use that may be of great , but i fear of mischievous , consequence ; reserving what i have further to say of the usefulness of these self-shining substances , till time shall give me more information , and leisure . in the mean while i shall only intimate , that probably the utilities that so subtle and noble a substance may be brought to afford in medicine , may be more considerable than any of its other particular uses ; and that though our noctiluca had none of these , yet it may be highly valuable , if it shall ( as in all likelihood it will ) be found conducive to discover the nature of so noble a subject , as light , whose encomiums would require more time than i can allow this writing . and perhaps they will seem needless , when i shall have observ'd , that light was the first corporeal thing the great creator of the universe was pleased to make ; and that ( as our excellent bacon has well noted , to another purpose ) he was pleas'd to alot the whole first day to the creation of light alone , without associating with it in that honour , any other corporeal thing . these things being premis'd , i shall proceed to what i chiefly intended in this paper , viz. the mention of the observations themselves ; as soon as , to facilitate the understanding of them , i shall have advertised you , that though i fear 't will always be difficult to get out without loss , the self-shining substance rais'd by distillation , yet in our experiment , because the vessels would not hold out intire to the last , we had more difficulty , than even we expected , to get out the luciferous matter , and were fain to save , as much as we could of it , by small parcels , in distinct vials . whereof that which was first employ'd , though it was judg'd to have receiv'd the vigorousest portion of the shining liquor ; yet for a reason i elsewhere intimated , ( and because it was not at hand , when i had first the opportunity to use it ) i thought fit to make my tryals with the noctiluca , i had sav'd in the second vial ; setting aside some more faint and aqueous liquor , that was afterwards sav'd in a third vial ; and a thicker stuff that remain'd upon the paper , when some of the liquor had been put into it to be filtrated . which paper was kept in a fourth glass , which , though ( that it might admit the paper and adhering luciferous stuff ) it was wide-mouth'd , yet was it kept carefully stopt . of the phoenomena i observ'd in the second of these four glasses , i shall , god permitting , at this time , give you a short account ; designing , if my haste will give me leave , to add some particulars , that i may afterwards observe in those portions of our noctiluca , that were received in the three other glasses . observations made by mr. boyle , about the aerial noctiluca contained in his second vial. [ note , that this vial was capable of holding , by our guess , about two ounces of water , but there was not in it above one small spoonful of our liquor . observation i. the liquor that afforded the aerial noctiluca , ( for which reason , and for brevity , i often call it the shining liquor ) by day-light was not near diaphanous , and appear'd muddy , and of a greyish colour ; somewhat like common water , rendered opacous , by having a quantity of wood-ashes well mingled with it . observ . ii. when no light appear'd in the glass , we observ'd all the cavity of the vial , that reach'd from the liquor to the neck , to be transparent , as if there were nothing in the glass , save a spoonful of dirty water at the bottom . observ . iii. but when the liquor was made to shine vividly , then all the cavity of the glass , untaken up by the liquor , appear'd in an external light to be full of fumes . and this seeming smoke , being , in the vial that contain'd it , remov'd into a dark place , appear'd lucid , and sometimes look'd like a flame that seem'd to be reverberated , and to be made , as it were to circulate by the close stop'd neck and the sides of the vial. and the appearance of whitish fumes , when the glass was look'd upon in an external light , was so usual a concomitant of its fitness to shine in the dark , that by looking upon the vial by day-light , i could readily tell , by the presence or absence of the whitish mist abovementioned , whether the matter would , in a dark place , appear luminous or not . observ . iv. when this liquor had been kept for a competent time ( as an hour or two , and sometimes much less ) in some dark and quiet place , or even in my pocket ; if in a darkned room my eyes were cast toward the place where the vial was held , i could not perceive it to afford any light at all . and though i shak'd the liquor strongly enough , to give it at least a moderate agitation , yet i could not discern , that this motion alone , was able to bring the included liquor , or the vapors it may be suppos'd to have sent up , to be manifestly lucid . observ . v. but as soon as i unstopt the vial in the dark , there began to appear , as i expected , a light or flame in the cavity of it . i call it light or flame , because i dare not yet speak dogmatically of it ; though it agrees with flame in divers particulars , and though ( also ) i am not sure that all flames must agree in all points with common flames , experience having taught me the contrary ; and particularly , that some flames will burn , and be propagated in close-stopt vessels . i shall therefore on this account , and for brevity's sake , allow the aggregate of our shining fumes the name of flame , ( which aristotle himself somewhere stiles fumus accensus ) but without positively asserting that it deserves it , unless further phoenomena shall be found to intitle it thereunto . but whatever be the nature and subject of this light , the light itself appear'd to have , in great part , a dependance on the fresh air , as i judg'd probable by the following phoenomena . observ . vi. first , i never observ'd the light to disclose itself first , either in the liquor , or upon the surface of it ; but still the shining began at the upper part , which was first touch'd by the outward air , and made a progress , quick indeed , but not so instantaneous , as that the eye could not follow it , from the top to the bottom of the vial. observ . vii . secondly , the contact of the air seem'd necessary to the propagation as well as production of this flame or light : for if , having shaken the vial , that the liquor might either wet the stopple , or communicate something to it , i warily bended the cork this way and that way , so that only a few particles of the outward air could insinuate themselves between the stopple and the neck of the glass ; there would appear on the sides , and ( perhaps ) beneath the cork , little flames as it were ; which yet , though very vivid , were not able to propagate themselves downwards : whereas when the cork was quite remov'd , and access was thereby allow'd to a greater quantity of air , the flame or light ( as was lately noted ) presently diffus'd itself through the whole cavity of the vial , and reach'd as low as the surface of the liquor . observ . viii . thirdly , though oftentimes the light seem'd more vivid near the surface of the liquor , then elsewhere ; ( whether because the lucid matter was there more dense , i now examine not ) yet when by stopping the vial again , presently after i had opened it , i endeavoured to destroy the flame or light ; i generally observ'd , that when it was ready to vanish , ( which in that case it usually did in no long time ) it began to disappear first in the bottom of the vial , and seem'd to shrink as it were more and more upwards , till it expired at the neck of the vial , ( where it was nearest to the air. ) observ . ix . fourthly , but on the other side , when i kept it unstopt for some time , as for two or three minutes of an hour , though i afterwards stopt the vial very close , the air , that had more leisure than ordinary to insinuate itself , would so cherish the flame , that the light would continue sometimes an hour or two , and lasted once or twice no less than three hours . observ . x. fifthly and lastly , it seem'd that some elastical particles of the included air , or some substance that concur'd to the maintenance of the flame , was wasted , or depraved and weakned , by being pen't up in the vial with the emanations of the liquor ; since , when the vial had been kept stopt a competent time , and its cavity appear'd transparent in the outward light ; if i cautiously took out the stopple , the external air seem'd manifestly to rush in , as if the springyness of the internal had been notably debilitated by the operation of the flame , upon the matter with which it was kept imprisoned . some of these phoenomena easily brought into my mind some of those of an odd experiment , that i formerly imparted to the curious . in which experiment i observ'd ( among other things ) that the spirit of vrine , impregnated with copper , after the manner there prescrib'd , would continue limpid and colourless , as long as the vial , that contained it , was kept close stopt . but when once the air came to touch the surface of it , it would ( sometimes in less than a minute of an hour ) be so affected thereby , that in a very short time ( for 't was often within some minutes ) the liquor would become of a transparent sky-colour ; and afterwards , the vial being well stopt , and kept in a quiet place , would by degrees grow diaphanous , and the air included with it was wont to have its spring weakned . and as the change of colour was first produced at the surface , where the liquor and air touched one another , and was afterwards thence propagated downwards ; so when this coeruleous colour began to disappear , the liquor manifestly became limpid first at and near the bottom , that is , the part which is remotest from the superior air. but to return to our noctiluca , the five phoenomena last recited , and some others , seem to favor the conjecture or suspicion i lately propos'd , about the interest of the air in our unburning flame . and to examine that suspicion , i thought it less proper to make the foregoing tryals with a more vigorous noctiluca , then in a substance , wherein , as in that we have hitherto employ'd , the disposition to be kindled , or excited to shine , was but faint ; so that being , as long as it remain'd , unexcited , opacous and dark , the absolute , or almost absolute , necessity of the concurrence of air to the actual shining ( that constantly ensu'd upon its contact ) of the dispos'd matter , seem'd manifest enough . an occasional digression . but to what , this concurrence or efficacy of the air ought to be ascrib'd , is a problem that seem'd to me so difficult , that my thoughts were put upon several conjectures for so much as a tolerable solution of it ; for a taste of which , i shall venture to offer to you one or two of those that least displease me . i thought it not improbable that the admitted air , either by some subtle salt that it contain'd , or upon some such account , excited in the fumes , it mingled with , a kind of fermentation , or ( if you please ) a commotion , by which means the matter acquired so brisk an agitation , as to propagate the motion to the eye , and there make an impression , the sense whereof we call light : though it seem'd also not unlikely , that some of the particles of the superveneing air may so associate themselves with those congruous ones , they met with in the cavity of the vial , that , by that coalition , corpuscles were produc'd , fitted to be , by the subtle aetherial matter , that abounds in the pores of the air , so pervaded and briskly agitated , as to produce light . and it was not new to me , that the air should associate itself with invisible exhalations , and concur with them to make new concretions : since i have several times prepar'd a volatile sulphureous liquor , red as a ruby , which , when the vial has been kept close for some time , suffers the empty cavity of the vessel to be transparent ; but upon the unstopping it , and giving access to the outward air , it appears presently full of white fumes , more opacous than a mist ▪ and something like this , though in an inferior degree , may be observ'd when we unstop glasses that are but partly full of spirit of salt , or aqua fortis , provided those liquors be rectified as much , and no more , then is fit . for the contact of the air will presently make the former manifestly afford white fumes , and the latter sometimes red ones , and sometimes otherways coloured . but if i durst mention , what my love to mankind has oblig'd me to conceal , even from my nearest friends , i could give an instance of a strange power of the air to excite a vehement motion in fitly dispos'd matter , though it be of a consistence far more unlikely to be thus agitated , than the fluid substances of our phosphorus : since i experimentally know a body , dry , and solid enough to be pulverable , that barely by the contact of the common air , will , even when it is actually cold , in very few minutes have its parts brought to such a degree of agitation , that its heat is little less intense than that of some actually ignited bodies , and may , if i please , by the further action of the air , be brought to afford some light also . but against this conjecture about the cause of the air 's concurrence to the shining of our noctiluca , there came into my mind , among other things , a strong objection , that may be drawn from the constant noctiluca formerly mention'd to have been shewn by mr. krafft , in which the lucidness was constant , though the vial that contain'd it , was kept stopt . in answer to this , i thought it might be said , that the particles of the lucid substance , being in great numbers crowded together into a little room , these concentrated particles may be supposd to have been brought to such a state , that they needed not the renewed assistance of the outward air , to continue shining ; either because their intestine motions were brisk enough to discuss the minute parts of the matter , wherewith they were associated , and so from time to time to generate or extricate , & supply themselves with as many small aerial particles , as were necessary to keep the mass they belong'd to , luminous . which conjecture may be illustrated by observing , that though our common culinary flames are presently extinguish'd , unless they be cherish'd with fresh air , yet i elsewhere recite an experiment , of a composition , which is so fitted to generate as much air , as it needs , that i have several times found , that it may be kindled , and made to flame away , even in vacuo boyleano , ( as they call that made by our air-pump . ) other things may be alledg'd both for and against the propos'd conjecture , about the account on which the air concurs to the light of our liquid noctiluca ; but , i hope , it will not be impertinent to add , that perhaps the concurrence of the air may be considerable to both the phosphorus's , the fluid and the consistent , but the external air be necessary only to the former : because in the latter , the luciferous particles may have acquired such a texture , as that of rotten wood , or rather of whitings , or the liquor of glow-worms , taken out after they are dead . for in that state ( whatever others have written ) i have kept that juice luminous for very many hours , ( not to say some dayes ; ) and 't is conceivable enough , that in the consistent noctiluca , by reason of the great numerousness and extreme minuteness of the parts , and the unctuousness or viscosity , or in a word , tenacity of them , the mass they make up , is much less dissipable than that , wherein the shining vertue of rotten wood , or the juice of dead glow-worms resides . this conjecture may be confirm'd , by observing as a thing very analogous to our phoenomena , that i have found some lights in putrid bodies to be so faint , that they would , like that of our fluid noctiluca , ( but far more quickly ) disappear , when they were totally depriv'd of air , as i several times found in parcels of rotten wood . and on the contrary , others had so vigorous or tenacious a light or flame , that , like the splendor of the constant noctiluca , it would continue ( though perhaps not in its full lustre ) when the outward air was in our pneumatick engine , diligently drawn off from it . and on this occasion i call to mind another experiment , which seems yet more analogous , than any hitherto alledg'd , to our present production of flame or light . for having purposely kept certain fish in a glass , freed from air , till i concluded it had lay'n longer than was necessary to bring it to that degree of putrefaction , which was wont to make such fish , at that time of the year , to shine , i could not perceive in the cavity of the glass the least glimpse of light : and presently after i had let in the outward air , it did ( according to my expectation ) as it were , kindle a flame , in the proximately dispos'd matter , or at least produce in it a manifest light . and it may much conduce to shew , that the lately mentioned difference of shining bodies may be but gradual , if i here observe , that i found by tryal , that in bodies of the self same kind , as for instance glow worms , or the same species of rotten-fishes ; if the light were but faint , the withdrawing of the air would after a while make it quite disappear ; and the readmission of the air would presently make it reappear , as it happens in our aerial noctiluca . but in those individuals , wherein the luciferous matter was more copious and vigorous , and probably more tenacious , the absence of the external air did somewhat lessen or impair , but not quite destroy the light , and so possibly it might happen in mr. krafft's consistent noctiluca : for though it shone without the renew'd accession of external air , yet , that it would have been more brisk and active , if it had been assisted by such air , i was induc'd to think , because ( if i much misremember not ) when once , to gratifie my curiosity , he took it out of the vial , he usually kept it in , it did manifestly smoke and waste by the action of the air , and produc'd considerable effects of actual heat ; for this being done in the day-time , in a room we could not darken , it could not indeed be expected , that we should discern any augmentation of light , but yet that there was one , may probably be argued from the newly mentioned things , that us'd to be its concomitants . such observations and reflections incline me to think , that , to speak in a general way , the light of our noctiluca's depends upon a peculiar and very brisk agitation of some minute particles of the shining matter , in point of bulk , shape , and contexture , peculiarly fitted to impel the contiguous aether to the bottom of our eyes , and made me think it not improbable , that the contact of fresh external air , might contribute to this peculiar kind of agitation in the gummous noctiluca , as an helpful thing , and in the aerial noctiluca as an almost necessary concurrent . but whether the air concur to this effect , as it does itself excite a brisk commotion in the fumid matter , it invades , or whether it makes a peculiar kind of dissipation of it , or whether the air , or some fine substance contain'd in it , operates on this occasion as a kind of vital spirit , such as is found necessary , not only to common flame , but to that which is suppos'd to keep animals alive ; or whether the corpuscles of the admitted air so combine with those , that exhale from the grosser liquor , as to become fit to be vehemently agitated by some aetherial pervading substance ? whether or no , i say , the agency of the air in our phoenomena , be to be refer'd to one or more of the newly mentioned things , or to some other cause of a peculiar and very brisk agitation , which , to speak in general , seems to have the main stroak in the production of light , is left to further inquiry . but i forget , that my intention was to set down observations , not hypothesis's . and indeed the historical part , of what i had to say of phosphorus's , is far more useful and certain , than the conjectures i can yet make upon it . because , though i am content to let them pass , in regard they may afford you some hints of further speculations ; yet the true solution of the problem , that has occasioned this excursion , may depend so much upon further experiments and observations , that though , it is not impossible , that future phoenomena may favor the propos'd conjectures , yet , it is not very unlikely , that i shall hereafter see cause to change them for some hypothesis's , exceedingly different from them . to return therefore now to our historical observations . observ . xi . although , in the moderately shaken vial , when the light was quite vanisht , i could not make the liquor begin to shine , yet when by unstopping it a little , the flame was kindled in the cavity of the glass , then , by shaking it again , though it were done more faintly than before , the light seem'd to be manifestly increas'd by this agitation . observ . xii . if i took a little of our liquor , when 't was in its dark state , and laid it upon my hand , or on the stopple of the vial , it would oftentimes lie there without disclosing any glimpse of light ; but if i rub'd it with my finger , or some other fit body , it would then not only shine , but shine more vividly , than at best it us'd to do in the vial , when the neck of it was stopt ; and this vivid light , whil'st i continued to rub the matter , it resided in , seem'd from time to time to flame and flash , and did not only invade the nostrils with a strong and offensive smell , but visibly sent up store of smoke , as if it had been some common culinary flame ; and when , upon my ceasing to rub the extravasated liquor , it ceas'd to shine for a pretty while , yet when i return'd to rub it again , it would again appear luminous : but by little & little the lucid vertue decay'd , till 't was to no purpose to rub any more . observ . xiii . the light of our liquor , when excited , seem'd for degree much like that , that i observ'd in some species of rotten wood , that were not of the most vivid sort , and when surrounded with bodies of black colour , the reflection of its light from them was little or none . but very white bodies , that were held contiguous to it , were manifestly illustrated by it , especially , if the eye , having been long kept in the dark ( whereby the pupil uses to be much opened , and consequently capable of admitting more numerous beams ) was made more susceptible of the fainter impressions of light . ) insomuch , that , when having plac'd the vial by me , when i went to bed , and was awake some time before break of day , i enclos'd both the glass and my head between the sheets , the light seem'd to me to be very considerable , and to enlighten the compass of a foot or more in diameter , and probably would have diffus'd itself further , if it had not been bounded by the sheets , whose whiteness made the reflection of the light from them appear very prettily . and by the help of this light , i could easily perceive my fingers , and a ring i wore upon one of them , though i could not distinguish the colours of a reddish diamond , and a couple of emeralds , that were set in it . observ . xiv . in reference to the light within , the included flame in our vial was opacous ; for both at some other times , and even when i made the last recited observation , i could not at all perceive my finger , when the shining substance was interpos'd betwixt it and my eye . but in reference to the external light , the flame or shining matter was diaphanous , for even in a very faint light , by which , i think , i could scarce have read an ordinary print , if i held our luminous vial between the window and my eye , i could very plainly see my finger on the further side of the glass , though , if my eye were plac'd between that and the light , the transparency would appear somewhat lessened , because the cavity seem'd , as was formerly noted , fill'd with a kind of whitish mist . and the like transparency and whitish fumes , observable in the same luminous steams or flame , when the vial was look'd on , against , and from , the light , i found , if instead of the day-light , i employ'd the light of the candle . observ . xv. having the opportunity of a convenient place , and a fair day , i set the vial about noon in a window , opened towards the south , and left it there expos'd to the sun-beams for a considerable time , to try , whether they would , upon the account of their agitation , or some imaginable affinity of nature , kindle or excite the luciferous liquor , or its effluvia . but i could not perceive that the sun-beams had such an operation , which i chiefly concluded from my not being able to perceive any whitish or mist-like fumes in the cavity of the glass , for i durst not rely upon my not perceiving any light , in the darkest corner of the room , because i suspected , that might proceed from my eyes having been accustomed to the great light of the then fair day , which made it less susceptible of impressions from a faint light . observ . xvi . acid and alcalisate spirits being reckoned by chymists amongst the most subtle and operative substances , obtainable from mixt bodies by distillation , i thought it very well worth while to try , by taste , whether our shining liquor did notably abound with particles of either of those kinds ? i did not find , that the liquor i put upon my tongue was in the least acid ; nor that it was sensibly alcalisate , as divers modern chymists call such volatile salts and spirits , as are afforded by harts-horn , blood , and such like subjects of the animal kingdom : but it seem'd to me to have an odd empyreumatical taste , almost like that of the spirit of crude tartar ; its smell being also like that , of some empyreumatical oil , compounded with a stink , somewhat like that of stale urine . i likewise , for further tryal , let fall upon a piece of white paper some drops of blue syrup of violets , to which i put a little of our liquor , stirring them together with the tip of my finger ; but the mixture was not thereby turn'd green , which it would have been by a quarter so much of spirit of harts-horn , of blood , or of some other spirit , abounding with salt of an urinous nature , or ( as some love to speak ) with a volatile alcaly . some other tryals i made , though but with very small quantities of our liquor , ( because i had but very little of it to spare ) and these tryals did , no more than the former , evince the liquor to belong manifestly , to the tribe of acids , or that of alcalies ; though perhaps , this may not be the case of all the portions of liquor , whether more dense , or more aqueous and dilute , that may be obtain'd by several degrees of fire , and some other varying circumstances , from the matter , that affords noctiluca's . observ . xvii . sometimes , when for curiosity's sake , i shook the vial , so that the whole body , even to the bottom , of the liquor , was spread all over the inside of the glass , i could observe , with pleasure , that in many places divers little grains or corpuscles , belonging to the opacous matter , that concur'd to compose the liquor , stuck here and there to the inside of the vial , and that these , being of a consistent , not fluid nature , and therefore probably more dense than the thinner parts of the phosphorus , did shine very prettily and distinctly , and look'd almost like extreamly little stars , or rather radiant sparks of fire , whose light was brisk enough to be distinctly notable , notwithstanding that of the flame , that was contiguoas to them , and fill'd the cavity of the vial. and these shining corpuscles usually continued their peculiar vividness , as long as i thought fit to look on them . which great vigor of theirs , together with their duration , gave me hopes , that the further prosecution of what had been brought thus far , may afford us some , not altogether despicable , quantity of the consistent noctituca , which , by reason of its density , tenacity , or other peculiar disposition of parts , may shine like the constant noctiluca of mr. krafft formerly mentioned . observ . xviii . being desirous to try , not so much what the air and agitation would do , towards the kindling or exciting ( not the imprisoned exhalation , but ) the liquor itself of our noctiluca , ( that having been partly done already ) as what water would do to quench it ; i thought fit to make the experiment , when time and many trials had much impair'd its vigor . and accordingly having , in a dark place , unstopt the vial , and wetted the tip of my finger with the included liquor , i could not perceive that then ( as when it was freshly made ) it gave any sensible light . wherefore , having rub'd the moistned finger against my other hand somewhat briskly , for a few moments , both the rub'd part of my hand and my finger appear'd adorn'd , each of them , with a flame , and though upon my dipping my finger in water ( that stood by , ready for the purpose ) the flame was , as it were , extinguisht , since the light presently vanish'd ; yet , having taken out my wet finger again , and rub'd , without having previously dry'd it upon the other hand , as i had done before , the light , as i expected it would , did quickly re-appear . besides the foregoing phoenomena of our luciferous matter , that occur'd more regularly , there was one that hapned unexpected , and may perchance , ( for till i have further observ'd , i dare not speak it confidently ) prove referrable to the paper , elsewhere publish'd , about some latent qualities of the air. observ . xix . the phoenomenon was this : having one night opened the vial so often mentioned , to shew the production of light to a virtuoso , i quickly stopt it again , and put it in my pocket , till i went to sleep , and then laying it by me in the bed ( as i often did ) when the candles were carried out of the room , i perceived the light , whose lasting , i did not expect , should exceed one hour , to continue still vivid enough ; and then shaking it a little , before i compos'd my self to sleep , i laid it by , till i wak'd in the morning , and then looking upon it again , it appear'd to my eyes ( that then for several hours had been unaccustomed to the light ) to shine more vigorously , than it had done at first . and from the time i open'd it over night , till the last time i had occasion to look upon it the next morning , it had continued shining for twelve hours ; to which , whether the extraordinary warmth , that was observ'd that particular night had contributed any thing , i dare not determine , but shall rather add , that though this phoenomenon happen'd very rarely , yet this was not the onely time that i observ'd it : for once more it occur'd to me , and that time the light continued about 15 hours , that i took notice of , and how much longer it might have lasted , i was hindered from observing . but this circumstance seem'd considerable , that the long duration of our unburning flame , hapned , after the rest of the tryals and observations had been made ; when by them , the vigor of the luciferous matter might reasonably be expected to have been very much impair'd . observ . xx. when i had set down the last mentioned phoenomenon , i thought i had concluded the observations , peculiarly belonging to the aerial noctiluca , contain'd in our second vial , and hitherto treated of . but now i find my self , by philosophical sincerity , obliged to add another phoenomenon , which did somewhat trouble , as well as surprize me , and it was this . after the foregoing observations had been made with our second vial , one night that i came to open it , to shew one of my best friends the production of light , i found ( little to my contept ) that none at all appear'd , though i shook the contained liquor , and kept the vial a pretty while unstopt ; so that , if he had not known me well , he might have entertain'd sinister thoughts of me , till , having taken out some drops of the liquor , and rub'd it upon my hand , it afforded so vivid a light or flame , as satisfied him of the possibility of a true noctiluca . and since that time , i have not found the vial to afford any light , barely upon its being unstopt , so that either ( in spight of my care ) some bodies unskilful curiosity has , unknown to me , spoil'd the liquor ; or , ( which is more likely ) so little a quantity , as i had at first , by the many and various tryals i made with it , is dispirited and become , as it were , effoet ; which , 't was lucky it did not do , till the forecited observations had been made with it . but , as in one of those , it has been conjectured , that one of the chief accounts , on which the air itself may concur to the shining of our noctiluca , is , as it excited a certain kind of brisk motion in the parts of it , i thought fit to try , whether , though i had found the bare shaking of the vial to be ineffectual , yet an actual heat , whereby the parts must be more vehemently and variously agitated , might not inable the air to do , what otherways it could not perform ; i therefore held our vial near the fire , till it grew considerably warm , and then by shaking it a little , and unstopping it in a dark place , i perceived the exhalations , that possess'd the cavity of the vial , to shine , as formerly ; but their light was so momentany , that it scarce sooner appear'd , than vanish'd ; and though afterwards it sometimes appear'd , it was not vivid , nor lasted a minute of an hour , nor perhaps half so long ; though it seem'd , that when fresh air was then allow'd access to it , its duration was thereby somewhat lengthned . but how long our matter will retain a disposition to be excited , even by these means , to shine , experience alone can determine . additional observations about the aerial noctiluca . you may remember ( sir ) that , to clear the way to the twenty foregoing observations , i formerly told you , that we received the luciferous matter , obtain'd by our distillation , in several small glasses , as we were able to save it . the parcel , that was received in the second vial , afforded us the phoenomena hitherto recited ; and now it will be fit to add to those , such as more lately occur'd , upon our considering the portions of luciferous matter , preserv'd in the other glasses , and some also of the like lucid substance , prepared another way . and though these observations be not so numerous , as the former , and be , a few of them , near of kin to some of the others ; yet i shall not scruple here to subjoin them , both because most of them are new , and those that are not , will serve to confirm and elucidate some of the foregoing observations . besides that , 't is not easie to know , what phoenomena may ▪ and what cannot , be useful , to frame or verifie an hypothesis of a subject new and singular , about which we have not as yet ( that i know of ) any good hypothesis setled . a small portion of liquor , ( not much exceeding a spoonful ) that was the first , and was judg'd the best , i sav'd , being put into a long , and somewhat slender cylindrical vial , made of white or chrystalline glass , afforded us the ensuing phoenomena . observ . i. soon after the muddy liquor ( for such it appear'd to the eye ) was poured into the vial , it was so vigorously luminous , ( probably , in great part , from the contact and insinuation of so much air , as it met with in its transfusion , ) that not only it shone vividly , but continued to shine ten hours , that i took notice of , before my occasions made me desist from observing it . this experiment minds me of an objection , which i should have proposed and answered at the beginning of the foregoing paper ▪ if i had then remembred to do it . for , whereas it may by some be thought improper for me , to call our luciferous matter a self-shining substance , in regard that it is not lucid , without the concurrence or help of the air : i answer , that i do , ( and justly may ) employ the word self-shining , to signifie , that the light our matter affords , is not a light borrowed from any external lucid , as is done by the bolonian stone , and the phosphorus balduini , but proceeds , as it were , from an inward principle of light . and men scruple not , upon such an account , to reckon the flame of a candle , and a glowing coal , to be self-shining bodies , though neither of these will be kindled , or continue to shine , without the assistance of renewed air , no not for a few minutes : whereas , the newly recited phoenomenon of our noctiluca , shews , that , our prepar'd matter , being for a very short time , ( perhaps but few minutes ) impregnated by the air , 't will continue to shine many hours in a well stop'd glass , that hinders it from being reliev'd by any supply of fresh air. observ . ii. when i set down the fifth , and some other of the foregoing observations , i was not at leisure to discourse the reasons that induced me to try for an aerial noctiluca ; and now also to save time , i shall forbear launching into speculations upon that subject , and only tell you historically , that , presuming the matter , that would shine in our cylindrical glass , would not be so much the liquor itself , as an aggregate of such effluviums of it , as , affected and excited by the air , would become lucid ; i thought fit to take particular notice , how the air would work upon the exhalations of this more vigorous liquor . and accordingly , having heedfully open'd the vial , though i very soon after stop'd it again , i observ'd a great commotion to be made in the cavity of the glass , unpossess'd by the liquor : for the now lucid exhalations seem'd to have a nimble and almost circular motion , along the sides of the glass , and to make , as it were , a little whirlwind , that impetuously carried it round ; and this renew'd rotation was not only manifest , but lasted much longer than one would have expected : so great a commotion did the air seem to have produced in the effluviums of the liquor , and perhaps in the neighbouring parts of the liquor itself . upon the ceasing of this unusual motion , the light did not cease , but persevered , though i had not occasion to observe ▪ how long 't would have lasted . observ . iii. i will not determine , whether the vertiginous motion , mentioned in the newly recited observation , was in part produced by what happen'd in the ensuing phoenomenon , which was , that having heedfully taken out the stopple of our vial in a dark place , after it had for a long time ceased from shining , i observ'd the external air to rush into the cavity of the glass with noise , and so swiftly , as did , i confess , surprize me : as if the preceding flame , though not sensibly hot , had , after the manner of culinary flames , considerably weakned the spring of the included air , and so disabled it to resist the whole pressure of the external air , when , by the removal of the stopple , it was expos'd thereunto . but i will not , as i was saying , determine , whether this irruption of the air , may not have contributed to the circular motion of the lucid steams mention'd in the foregoing observation ? because , though the affirmative seem a probable cause , yet i was kept from concluding it a necessary or onely cause of the turbinous motion , by my having some times , when no such irruption of the air had in a long time preceded , observed rotations of lucid matter in the cavity of the vial : which motion therefore seem'd to proceed from some other cause , though ( to add that by the by ) this cause , whatever it was , produc'd but such a rotation , as was less general , less nimble , and less lasting . observ . iv. i forgot to tell you in its due place , ( which was before the precedent observations ) that , whil'st our liquor was yet fresh and vigorous , i dipt my finger in it , and moistned with it several places of my hands , and those of some ladies , that were desirous to be present at the spectacle . which done , we observ'd , that the places that were touched , especially if they were a little rub'd , shone very vividly , as if actual flames , but not of a blue colour , like that of common sulphur , or of spirit of wine , were burning on them . and these flames were not at all uniform in their manner of burning , for they often seem'd to tremble much , and sometimes , as it were , to blaze out with sudden flashes , that were not lasting ( which put me in mind of some of the faculae solares . ) and though it might seem strange , that so small a quantity of matter , that stuck to this or that part of the hand , should afford so durable a flame ; yet if that part itself were rub'd against the same persons other hand , or the skin or linnen of a by-stander , the part new touched would shine , as the other continued to do : and though these flames were remarkable for their vividness , yet they continued for a good while to afford the company a very pleasing spectacle ; and , ( which was remarkable ) notwithstanding the darkness of the room , it was manifest , that they emitted great store of whitish smoke , which , or some other effluviums from the same matter , imbued the neighbouring air with a ranck and offensive smell . the colour of these seeming flames , was not like the phosphorus of balduinus , when 't is very well prepar'd , and has been expos'd to a vigorous light , red , almost like a well-kindled charcoal ; but yellow , like that of the middle part of the flame of a candle . and notwithstanding the blazes and smoke , that accompanied these flames , we could not perceive in them any sensible heat , ( that is , any confused agitation of parts , exceeding that of the parts of our organs of touch ) nor did they at all singe the fine linnen of the ladies , whereon some of them seem'd to burn ; so that if we admit , with many learned moderns , a flamma vitalis in the heart , this unburning and innoxious flame may supply us with a far better specimen or illustration thereof , than the flame of spirit of wine that is still commonly employ'd , for an example ; though i have many years ago endeavor'd to rectifie the error , by proving experimentally , that the flame of spirit of wine is very hot and devouring , insomuch that i have melted glass and gold itself with it . observ . v. when , with my finger dipt in the forementioned liquor , i drew short lines upon linnen , there was left a shining track upon that part , over which my finger had newly passed , so that 't is not to be denied , that one may write lucid characters upon white paper ; and yet , when , having found our liquor too thick , or too faintly lucid , to be employ'd , like ink in an ordinary pen ; i thought fit to try , whether i could draw lucid letters with a ( middle-siz'd ) pencil , instead of a pen , and had , for that purpose , dipt it in our liquor ; i was somewhat surpriz'd to find , that the characters i had newly drawn , did not at all shine in the dark : but suspecting , that the pencil might have retained , among the hairs it consisted of , the more tenacious and vigorous parts of the matter it had imbib'd , and had left only the more aqueous and strengthless parts upon the paper ; i took the pencil in one hand , and with the other , comprest and wreath'd a little the brushy part of it , to excite the matter , that probably was lodged there . by which means , that part of the pencil was brought to look as if it were all of a light fire , and seem'd to burn like a small wax taper ; but with a more blazing and pleasant flame , which some times shooting downwards , and playing about the hairs , that compos'd that part of the pencil , brought into my mind those verses of virgil. ecce levis summo de vertice visus juli fundere lumen apex , tactuque innoxia molli lambere flamma comas , &c. aeneid . but this delightful flame lasted not very long in its first vigor , but decay'd by degrees , till no more light at all was seen ; after which , nevertheless , the flame would of itself break out , as if it came from the internal parts of the pencil , and would shine a pretty while , and then seem quite to expire ; after which , our light would on a sudden disclose itself again , and , when it had continued awhile in a tremulous motion , dye again in all appearance . and 't is to be noted , that though this artificial ignis lambens , if i may so call it , did not , that i perceived , burn , or singe the slender hairs , among which it seem'd to flame , yet , as often as it appear'd , it did manifestly emit , perhaps as much , if not more smoke , than another burning taper of that bigness would have done . and this vicissitude of extinction and reappearance of light , lasted , till i was weary of observing it , and then , having again with my fingers compress'd , and somewhat strongly twisted the hairs of the pencil , i made them , as formerly , afford a considerable light , which i thought was , whil'st i was in the very act of wreathing the hairs , accompanied with a very sensible , but momentany heat . observ . vi. but notwithstanding the newly recited heat , 't was in vain that i tryed , by compressing the pencil first , and then rubbing it upon gunpowder , well dryed , and somewhat heated , to fire the powder . this i fail'd to do likewise , when i made the tryal with circumstances somewhat more likely to make it succeed . which i the less wondered at , because i remember mr. krafft , when he kindled gunpowder in my lodging , was fain to make use of his consistent and constant noctiluca ; and besides , to have the gunpowder prepar'd , by being made so hot , that 't was almost ready to take fire of itself . which circumstance , i confess , i was glad of , as i also was of my own disappointments , and some also of his , because it gave me occasion to think , that this , otherwise innocent , fire would not easily be perverted to the prejudice of mankind , which , i have supprest more dangerous inventions than this , to avoid contributing to . but upon this occasion i must not pretermit what happen'd to my laborant , when the distillation of our luciferous matter had been freshly made ; namely , that , having taken up some of the thicker substance with a knife to put it into a vial , and having found that some of it afterwards stuck to the blade , he , being in some haste to wipe off the adhering matter , did with his apron take strong hold of the blade on both sides , and then with his right hand drawing out the blade nimbly , so that 't was strongly compressed in its passage between the thumb and fingers of his left hand , he was much surprized to feel a smart heat , and presently looking upon that part of the apron , where it had been produced , perceiv'd that it had in it two holes of some bigness , which he concluded must have been produced there by burning , both because of the intense heat he had felt before , and because 't was a ●ew apron ; which , when i had called for , and heedfully inspected , i did , with him , impute those holes to the action of the fire . whence i judged it very probable , that the thicker and almost unguentous part ( if i may so call it ) of our luciferous matter had a great disposition or propensity to admit a very brisk agitation , since by an almost momentany , and not very vehement , motion , it was put into an agitation , that made it capable of burning new callico ( for of that the apron was made . ) observ . vii . since i usually set down the nocturnal observations about our noctiluca from time to time , as i make them , whil'st they are fresh in my memory , and also have sent away to a friend many of the precedent , before i wrote , ( or mad● ) the subsequent , you will not , i hope , think it strange , either , that , not having most of my materials at once together before me , i have not methodiz'd them , or , that having been able to make but gradual discoveries of the subject , i inquire into , the things , i write of it , should now and then chance to be coincident , and my expressions about it should sometimes not be altogether uniform , but the latter parts should agree more or less with the former , as new or varying phoenomena happen'd to require . upon this account , i shall not scruple to subjoin , what has since occur'd to me , about the phoenomenon , formerly mentioned in the sixteenth observation ; where i told you , that i could not then clearly find , either an acid or an alcalisate salt , to be predominant in the luciferous matter , i then made use of . but , having since employed some of the water , that was taken out of a receiver , after it had there been somewhat impregnated with that matter , i thought fit to try , whether this water , wherein probably the saline particles of our subject might be more copiously dissolved , or more active , would not discover itself to contain somewhat of volatile alcaly . and to satisfie my self of this , i dropt a little of the liquor upon some syrup of violets , that i had put upon a piece of clean paper , and found , i was not mistaken , in thinking it would change the colour of the syrup from blue to green ; which yet it did more faintly , than the volatile alcalies , ( as they call them ) even when they are phlegmatick , are wont to do . this liquor likewise , as i remember , made some conflict with spirit of salt , when i first put them together , as i inferred from the commotion of the mixture , and the bubbles thereby produced . nor were these the only ways , by which i was induced to think , that a volatile alcaly , not an acid salt or spirit , was the predominant , if not the only salt , contained in the faintly impregnated liquor . observ . viii . before i had set down many of the observations contained in the first paper , i was desirous to try , what would happen to our luciferous matter in such a vacuum , or , if you please , in such highly rarified air , as is wont to be produced by our air-pump . but , in regard a glass was to be opened in the exhausted receiver , which is a difficult work to do , i was fain , for want of conveniences , to desist from my endeavors , and prosecute some other experiments , ( most of them already recited ) till at length being furnished , though not with accurate , yet with tolerable means of making a tryal , and thinking an imperfect one , better than none at all , i took a vial , that had some luciferous matter in it , though but such , as was not apt to shine long at a time ; and , this vial being well stopt , i kept till the flame or light within it expir'd ; then , having plac'd the vial in a receiver on our pneumatick engine , we pumpt out the air , and then ( not without some difficulty ) pull'd out the cork in a dark place , whereupon there presently appeared some light in the cavity of the vial , which i the less wondered at , because we found by certain signs , that by reason of some disadvantageous circumstances , we could not so well pump out the air , and hinder the ingress of new , as not to leave , ( though but very little , yet ) enough to excite a flame , that by former experience we found to need but an inconsiderable quantity of fresh air : but we observ'd , that by the commotion of the air , occasioned by the pumping , the flame would be as it were ventilated , and blown up , or made to shine more vividly . observ . ix . but , not being satisfied by the foregoing experiment , i thought fit to vary it , after the following manner . there was taken a pretty large piece of paper , which , being well moistned , and partly besmear'd with our luciferous matter , was thrust into a somewhat wide-mouth'd glass , which , being put unstopt into a receiver fastned to our pneumatick pump , and with it kept in a dark place , did there shine , as i expected it would , by reason of the contact of the air , yet contain'd in the receiver . presently after this , the pump was set a work , and we observ'd , as formerly , that the commotion made of the air about the vial , did manifestly enough increase the light for a while ; and that the light seem'd to be lessened , during the pauses intercepted between these commotions , both by reason of the rest , as of the absence of the air. and i likewise took notice , that the flame that seemed to pass from one part of the wrinkled paper to the other , did sometimes appear to have , as it were , a palpitation , and to afford a very unequal light ; and though , when the external air was let in through the pump into the exhausted receiver , the flame seem'd to be quenched , yet i judge that to be only a temporary effect of the waterish vapors , that the air had taken along with it in its way through the pump ; and therefore i caus'd the receiver to be taken off the engine , and then , the spectators were quickly of my opinion , observing , that upon the free contact of the fresh outward air , which was not like that last mentioned , depraved by moist vapors , the matter adhering to the paper was quickly seen to shine again , and that more vividly , than it had done in the receiver . but because i suspected , that this vessel could not at that time , for want of some conveniences , be so well exhausted , as on other occasions it has often been , though , by the phoenomena , hitherto recited , it seemed to the spectators that the flame was manifestly befriended , and the light increas'd by the air , yet , i think , the experiment deserves to be repeated , when i shall be able to do it with more exactness . observ . x. besides the liquors , that afforded us the foregoing experiments , we saved a little , ( though but very little ) of a substance , that was not liquid , but yet almost as soft , as mud . this we obtained , by pouring some of our liquor , taken out of the vessels , when the distillation was ended , into a glass funnel , lin'd with cap paper , to try , whether 't would filter . but finding , that , that , which pass'd thorow , was too thin and aqueous , the filter was hastily , and ( for that reason ) not very orderly wrapt up , and put into a glass , not capacious , but yet of a moderate wideness at the mouth ; that , both the filter might be easily thrust in , and the glass might be exactly enough stopt with a strong cork . after other experiments ( formerly recited ) had been made , i took this glass , and carried it into a dark place ; and though i could not perceive the least glimpse of light , yet presuming , that it contain'd some of the true matter of the aerial phosphorus , or noctiluca , and consequently exhalations , that , having been hindered by the stopple to flie away , might be kindled or excited by the appulse of the air , i opened the glass , and saw , ( as i expected ) an immediate apparition of light . which light did disclose itself , sometimes upon a lesser , and sometimes upon a much greater part of the very uneven surface of the included paper , and seem'd to pass for a great while ( as long as i thought fit to stay to observe it ) from one part of the filter , and one side of the glass , to another : i say , seem'd , because perhaps the phoenomenon was produc'd by a train of eruptions of flames newly excited in several places , rather than a bare propagation of the same . but whatever it was , the motion , ( which was pleasant enough to behold ) was so odd and irregular , that it did not ill resemble the motion of fire kindled by sparks , strook into a good quantity of tinder . and this vertue of shining upon the ingress of the air , lasted many days in the abovementioned paper . observ . xi . but there was another filter , that afforded us a pleasing variation of this phoenomenon ; the matter wrapt up in the inside of this paper , being somewhat more copious , or better conditioned , than that which adhered to the other lately spoken of . we took then this paper , and having unfolded it , and kept it display'd in a dark place , we had the pleasure to see a considerable number of flames of differing sizes and figures , disclose themselves at the same time ; and though most of them were vivid , yet few of them continued ▪ long in the self-same place , but they seemed frequently to change their scituations among themselves , as well as their figures , and extent ; or else new flames , did incessantly break forth in new places , according as the exhalations , that did copiously and irregularly mingle with the contiguous air , did in several places happen to be in part , as it were kindled by it ; i say , in part , because , from the flames themselves , as well as the unshining parts of the filter , there did manifestly ascend good store of smoke , visible by the light afforded by the shining matter : and these flames did not keep a constant tenour in their way of blazing , but had their tremblings , and emications , and these being usually accompanied with changes of figure , and eruptions of light in several places at the same time , 't was a very pleasant sight to see the whole area or surface of the display'd filter , look as the sky sometimes does , especially in hot countries , when the eye may perceive flashes of lightning break forth in several places at once : but our coruscations , being as well more numerous , as innocent , made the filter appear almost as variegated as marble paper : but with this advantage , that , besides that the appearance was almost perpetually changing , the yellow parts were not only coloured , but lucid , and afforded those , that look'd on them with me , a delightful spectacle , that lasted as long , as we thought fit to gaze at it . observ . xii . having strongly suspected , that the agitation , duely modified , of a disposed matter , was at least one of the chief agents in the production of light ; i was not discouraged , by finding that shaking of the vial , or making the contain'd liquor more than lukewarm , would not produce any apparition of light : i was not , i say , thereby discouraged from trying , whether a more intense heat , which would communicate a brisk and various motion to a multitude of the corpuscles of the luciferous matter , dispersed through the liquor , would not do , what a fainter agitation was not able to perform . i thought also , it deserved to be tried , whether a considerable variation of phoenomena , would not be consequent to our changing the figure and capacity of the glass ? especially , if all immediate commerce between the cavity of the vessel , and the outward air , were carefully prevented . in order to both these tryals , i took some spoonfuls of aqueous liquor , impregnated with some , of the more soluble portion of the luciferous matter ; which liquor , when it was setled , was transparent , as having but an inconsiderable quantity ( which could not easily be separated from it , ) of that muddy substance , formerly more than once mentioned . and this clear liquor , which , ( perhaps because of the absence of that thicker substance ) was , as it ought to be , for my purpose , so faintly impregnated , that it would not , with shaking , or a mild heat , afford any light , was put into a round bolt-glass , whose globous part was capable of holding three or four times as much , and whose stem ( or pipe ) was proportionable in wideness to it , and above a foot in length . having carefully stopt this vessel with a cork and sealing wax , 't was in the night-time set in such a posture , that , by the intervention of sand , it might be heated without breaking , ( as otherwise it would have been in danger of doing , ) and when the ball was made so hot , that i could not well endure it in my naked hand , i speedily removed the vessel into a dark place , and having shaken the liquor , i perceived a light to break forth in the ball , which presently diffused itself thorow the whole cavity of it , but as quickly disappeored and some time after , especially upon shaking the glass , the light would break forth again , and soon after vanish ; and these fulguratious or flashings of light , continued for a while to appear now and then ; but were unequal , both as to their extent , vividness , and duration , and when the liquor grew cold , they ceased quite . observ . xiii . but whil'st it was yet considerably hot , i thought fit to try , whether by breaking the liquor by a strong concussion , some lucid substance would not be made to pass out of the globous into the cylindrical part , & so vary the phoenomena . and to this purpose , having violently shaken the liquor at several times , with pauses interposed , i perceived some considerable portions of the lucid matter to ascend into the pipe ; and particularly once i had the pleasure to see a portion of shining substance , about the bigness of a filbert , or a small almond , mount directly upwards like a flame , but not very swiftly , from the globous part of the glass , all along the pipe , till it reached the upper part of it . and at other times , such flames ascended into the pipe , but not so high ; whence many would have confidently infer'd a positive levity in flame ; which yet i forbear to conclude , because i once ( at least ) observ'd , one of these portions of shining matter , to descend from the higher to the lower part of the stem , still retaining its lucidness all the way . i cannot now stay to debate , whether , the phoenomena , appearing in this glass , may illustrate , or facilitate the explication of what happens in the production and motions of some of those meteors , that are called fiery ; such as the ignis lambens , falling stars , frequent lightnings without thunder , in hot summer nights , and that wandering flame , called ignis fatuus ? and whether or no , it may be said , that when such bodies are generated , there happens to be a convention of particles so associated , that they mutually agitate each other , or are fitted to be agitated by a pervading aethereal substance , and put into a motion , like that , which in the lately mentioned portions of our shining matter , was able to produce light ? observ . xiv . but , instead of pursuing this enquiry , i shall relate to you a phoenomenon , that to me , as well as those i shew'd it to , was not a little delightful . for having , by a concussion , fit for that purpose , as it were spread the liquor at once all over the inside of the globe , and of part of the stem , 't was pleasant to behold , how the luciferous matter , dividing itself variously in its passage downwards , adorned the whole cavity of the glass with a company of small lucid bodies , that both shin'd and twinkled , like so many little stars , adorning the celestial globe ; and the pleasantness of the spectacle was increased , by their having manifest motions , as well as true light . the slowness of their descent , in lines , many of them very oblique , made this pleasant sight last the longer ; and having more than once reiterated the experiment , ( though not still with equal success , ) it afforded me some varied phoenomena ; which i shall now forbear to mention , both because i want time to write , and am weary of writing , as i fear you may be of reading . and therefore i shall here conclude your trouble and my own , as soon as i shall have added the two following particulars ▪ observ . xv. the first whereof is this , that having in such a bolt-glass , as has been lately described , given purposely and heedfully a certain kind of strong shake to the included liquor , when 't was at a due degree of heat , ( which was not intense ) i observed , that on one side of the globous part of the glass , and above the body of the liquor , there was generated , as it were , a great spark of lucid matter , about the bigness of a pins head ; and yet hence , ( as i expected ) there quickly was a flame or light diffused through the capacity of the globe , where it soon after vanished . from which phoenomenon , and some others of affinity to it , whether , it may be argued , that this was a true flame , which from a very small beginning , was increased by propagation , and kindled the disposed exhalations , that it found dispersed throughout the cavity of the glass ; or , that the motion of all light is not necessarily instantaneous , since the progress of it , even in so small a space as , our glass comprized , was discernable , i have not now the leisure to debate , but must hasten to the last of the two promised particulars , which is , observ . xvi . that , ( not here to mention how i have preserv'd a distill'd luciferous matter both with and without additaments in a consistent form ) to try , how long i could preserve our liquor , in a capacity to exhibit such pleasing phoenomena , without giving it new air from time to time , but only by keeping in the spirituous parts : i caus'd the stem to be hermetically seal'd ; presuming , that , notwithstanding this , i could , by a certain cautious way of holding the vessel , safely bring the included liquor to an heat , sufficiently intense , to afford us the phoenomena of light . in which supposition i was not mistaken , since the last recited phoenomenon , besides some others , were made in this hermetically seal'd vessel , in which the contain'd liquor does , as i this night try'd , continue fit for that purpose . of the way of preparing the aerial noctiluca . the several phoenomena of our aerial phosphorus or noctiluca , wherewith , you have hitherto been entertain'd , have , i doubt not , raised in you a pressing curiosity to know , of what matter this self-shining substance was made , and how that matter was prepar'd , to be capable of affording it . though two or three years are now past , since i caus'd to be made , more than once , in my furnaces , a phosphorus , not unlike that of the learned balduinus , ( i speak thus cautiously , because i am not sure , what particular matter he employs , and i have brought more than one sort of mineral bodies , to shine ; ) yet i forbore to divulge , what i knew , because ( as i declar'd to some curious men , that press'd me to do it , ) i was willing to leave him the liberty of publishing his invention . but finding he has not yet thought fit to impart it to the world , there appear'd the less cause to expect that the secret of the noctiluca , which is a much more valuable thing , would be suddenly made publick : and therefore , without long waiting any man's leisure , i resolv'd to impart to the curious , ( and particularly , sir , to your self , ) the knowledge of the matter , i wrought upon , and some directions how to manage it . and in pursuit of that resolution , i am willing to gratifie the virtuosi with that very process ( for substance ) which i set down , for my own remembrance , after i had the first time actually made the aerial noctiluca ; and which i afterwards deposited , seal'd up , in the hands of the very ingenious secretary of the royal society , in the presence of divers members of that illustrious company . and though since that time , some other tryals have enabled me to observe some circumstances , pertinent to that purpose ; yet i thought fit to leave it it as it was , that others finding themselves , in some sort , oblig'd to employ their own industry , their trials may , as mine have done , produce an instructive diversification of effects , in an attempt , where experience invites me to think , that various degrees of fire and other circumstances , ( and perhaps casualties too ) may diversifie the phoenomena , and thereby both inrich the yet wanted , and designed history of light , and assist the speculative , to accommodate a good hypothesis to them . reserving then for another time my latter remarks upon the observations and process , delivered in this paper , i shall now only give you a few short advertisements about it . first , i will not positively affirm , that the matter , i employ'd , is the very same , that was made use of ▪ by the ingenious german chymists in their noctiluca ; for some inquisitive men have very lately told me , that the germans mingle two or more distillable materials ; whereas i employ'd but one matter , capable of distillation . secondly , though all the twenty foregoing observations , and most of the ten additional ones adnexed to them , were made with that substance , which i guess to be at least the chief , that is employ'd by the germans , ( which was done for a particular reason , not needful to be here express'd , ) yet i first thought , and upon my very first tryal , found , that 't is possible to make a noctiluca of a dry and pulverable substance , that ▪ for ought i can guess , was never employ'd by mr. krafft , or those he had his secret from . and besides this second sort of phosphorus's , we made a third , that was obtain'd from a body , that never had been either a part , or an excrement , of a humane body , nor was mingled with any thing , that had been so . but though i found these self-shining substances somewhat differing from those made of the liquor , hereafter to be nam'd ; yet , i cannot stay at present to say any thing more of them , being content to have intimated , that self-shining phosphorus's have been actually obtain'd from more single subjects , than one . thirdly , to name the matter , though never so explicitely , would not , in my opinion , have sufficed to inform those that would work upon it . for chymists themselves would , in all probability , work , ( as hitherto , on other occasions , they have wrought ) upon the volatile and saline , which they presume to be the only spirituous and noble parts of the concrete , throwing away the rest , as useless and abominable . and on this occasion , let me add , that i was the rather induc'd to set down this process , that we may both observe , and thankfully acknowledge the wisdom and bounty of the great author of nature , who , for our encouragement to study even his meanest works , has been pleased , in a body , that is commonly thought one of the despicablest of the universe , to lodge so glorious and excellent a thing , as a self-shining substance . fourthly , and i scarce doubt , but this , though it will be admired now , will be much more priz'd hereafter , when it shall be brought to greater perfection ; and when men shall have discover'd more of its uses , which probably will be great in physick , and , perhaps i might add , to some purposes , that few chymists themselves do yet dream of . fifthly , one thing remains , that , to save ingenious men some labour and charge , i think fit to give early notice of ; namely , that having , for tryal sake , employ'd the liquor , hereafter to be named , without previous fermentation or putrefaction ; though , 't was proceeded with after the same manner , with that whereby we obtain'd our noctiluca ; and though , it afforded a substance for colour and consistence , not unlike our luciferous matter ; yet i could not find , that , that substance would at all shine . and indeed , there are so many circumstances , whose mistake may make the experiment miscarry , ( as i have found to my trouble , even since the phosphorus , whose phoenomena are first set down , was made ) that , though , i were not now in haste , i should be content to take time to learn better from experience , how to instruct others , before i venture to do it circumstantially ; and he that shall , at the first attempt , succeed in preparing this liquor , shall be thought by me , either a very skilful , or a lucky operator . sixthly and lastly , that it may appear , as well by the very different preparations , as by the differing phoenomena of the phosphorus hermeticus , and of the aerial noctiluca , that there is a great disparity between those lucid bodies , i shall here briefly add the way we employ'd to make either the phosphorus balduini , or some other like it , ( for i am not certain , what is the very way of that learned man ) as it was practised in my furnaces ; which , in short , is this . a dissolution being made of fine white chaulk in good spirit of nitre , or clean aqua fortis , it is to be filtrated thorow cap-paper , and the clear solution is to be evaporated , till there remain a dry substance : with this white calx , you are to overlay the inside of some vessel , made of good earth , that will endure the fire , and that of a round figure , which is more convenient , than that of ordinary crucibles ; and to the matter , contain'd in this vessel , you are to give , for about half an hour or an hour , ( according to the largeness of it , and other circumstances ) a due degree of fire , which ▪ 't is not easie to hit , and which ordinarily requires a conveniently shap'd vessel , whereby the flame or heat may be reverberated , till you perceive the matter to have acquired a disposition , to retain the light ; and then the earthen vessel , which usually ought to be somewhat shallow , and not to exceed many inches in diameter , is to have a cover of fine glass or chrystal carefully cemented on to it , to preserve it from , its great enemy , the air. what we have observ'd , in prosecuting this preparation , is not so proper to be delivered at this time , when my haste , as well as some other things , make it more fit , that we should forthwith return to our aerial noctiluca , of which , after the foregoing things have been premis'd , 't is time that now there should follow the process . the process . there was taken a considerable quantity of humane vrine , [ because the liquor yields but a small proportion of luciferous matter , ] that had been , ( a good part of it at least ) for a competent while , digested or putrified , before it was us'd . this liquor was distill'd , with a moderate heat , till the spirituous parts were drawn off ; after which , the superfluous moisture also was abstracted , ( or evaporated away ) till the remaining substance was brought to the consistence of a somewhat thick syrup , or a thin extract . this was well incorporated with about thrice its weight of fine white sand , and the mixture was put into a strong retort ; to which was join'd a large receiver , in good part fill'd with water . then , the two vessels being carefully luted together , a naked fire was gradually administred , for five or six hours , that all , that was either phlegmatick , or otherwise volatile , might come over first . when this was done , the fire was increas'd , and at length , for five or six hours made ( nb ) which it should be in this operation ) as strong and intense , as the furnace ( which was not bad ) was capable of giving . by this means , there came over good store of white fumes , almost like those , that appear in the distillation of oil of vitriol ; and when those fumes were past , and the receiver grew clear , they were after a while succeeded by another sort , that seem'd in the receiver to give a faint blewish light , almost like that of little burning matches , dipt in sulphur . and last of all , the fire being very vehement , there pass'd over another substance , that was judg'd more ponderous than the former , because ( nb ) much of it fell through the water to the bottom of the receiver : whence being taken out , ( and partly even whil'st it staid there ) it appear'd by several effects , and other phoenomena , to be ( as we expected ) of a luciferous nature . the ways i employ'd to make a self-shining substance , out of other matters then that express'd in this process , i must , for certain reasons , forbear to acquaint you with , at this time . i might from the foregoing process , take occasion to inquire , whether the matter , wherein the shining faculty chiefly resides , do not consist , not ( as one would expect ) of the volatile and spirituous parts of our animal liquor , but of its ( not absolutely , but ) more fixt salt , and ponderous foetid oil , associated in a peculiar manner and proportion . and from thence i might take a rise , to propose my conjectures of the cause of the lucidness of our luciferous matter ; and also , both to add somewhat to what , ( two or three years ago ) i wrote about the despised sapa of urine , in reference to some uncommon menstruums , and to make inquiry into other things relating to the nature of light and flame , especially as found in our noctiluca : these things , i say , i might hence take occasion to propose my thoughts of ; but want of time , together with hopes of further discoveries , make me willing to defer the doing it , till i shall have more leisure to frame conjectures , and perhaps more phoenomena to ground them upon . in the mean while , that , i may no further lengthen a letter too prolix already , by apologies for my self , or complements to you ; i shall at present only beg the favor of your candid animadversions upon what i have written , and of those singular observations i hear you have made , about the light of stinking fishes ; both which , you need not doubt , will be as welcom , as i doubt not , they will prove instructive to , sir , your most affectionate , and most humble servant , r. b. pag. 12. line 2. dele light. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28938-e460 * this clause refers to one of the philosophical collections publish'd by the ingenious ▪ mr. hook , who hath therein inserted verbatim the paper he received ! from mr. boyle . notes for div a28938-e2610 see above , observ . 12. animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1674 approx. 114 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 53 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28939) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48183) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 15:7) animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [10], 94 p. printed by william godbid, and are to be sold by moses pitt ..., london : 1674. appears in: tracts / r. boyle. 1674. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng hobbes, thomas, 1588-1679. -problemata physica. vacuum -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-07 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion animadversions upon m r. hobbes's problemata de vacuo . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by william godbid , and are to be sold by moses pitt , at the angel over against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. preface . upon the coming abroad of mr. hobbes's problemata physica , finding them in the hands of an ingenious person , that intended to write a censure of them , which several employments private and publick have , it seems , hinder'd him to do ; i began , as is usual on such occasions , to turn over the leaves of the book , to see what particular things it treated of . this i had not long done before i found , by obvious passages in the third chapter , or dialogue , as well as by the title , which was problemata de vacuo , that i was particularly concern'd in it ; upon which i desired the possessor of the book , who readily consented , to leave me to examin that dialogue , on which condition i would leave him to deal with all the rest of the book . nor did i look upon the reflections i meant to make as repugnant to the resolutions i had taken against writing books of controversie , since the explications , mr. hobbes gave of his problems , seem'd to contain but some variations of , or an appendix to , his tract de natura aeris , which , being one of the two first pieces that were published against what i had written , was one of those that i had expresly reserv'd my self the liberty to answer . but the animadversions i first made upon mr. hobbes's problems de vacuo , having been casually mislaid e're they were finished ; before i had occasion to resume my task , there past time enough to let me perceive , that his doctrine , which 't will easily be thought that the vacuists disapproved , was not much relished by most of the plenists themselves , the modernest peripateticks and the cartesians ; each of them maintaining the fullness of the world , upon their own grounds , which are differing enough from those of our author , the natural indisposition i have to polemical discourses , easily perswaded me to let alone a controversie , that did not appear needful : and i had still persisted in my silence , if mr. hobbes had not as 't were summon'd me to break it by publishing again his explications , which in my examen of his dialogue de natura aeris i had shewn to be erroneous . and i did not grow at all more satisfied , to find him so constant as well as stiff an adversary to interspers'd vacuities , by comparing what he maintains in his dialogue de vacuo , with some things that he teaches , especially concerning god , the cause of motion , and the imperviousness of glass , in some other of his writings that are published in the same volume with it . for since he asserts that there is a god , and owns him to be the creator of the world ; and since on the other side the penetration of dimensions is confessed to be impossible , and he denies that there is any vacuum in the universe ; it seems difficult to conceive , how in a world that is already perfectly full of bodie , a corporeal deity , such as he maintains in his append. ad leviath . cap. 3 , can have that access even to the minute parts of the mundane matter , that seems requi● site to the attributes and operations that belong to the deity , in reference to the world. but i leave divines to consider what influence the conjunction of mr. hobbes's two opinions , the corporeity of the deity , and the perfect plenitude of the world , may have on theology . and perhaps i should not in a physical discourse have taken any notice of the proposed difficulty , but that , to prevent an imputation on the study of natures works , ( as if it taught us rather to degrade than admire their author , ) it seem'd not amiss to hint ( in transitu ) that mr. hobbes's gross conteption of a corporeal god , is not only unwarranted by found philosophy , but ill befriended even by his own . my adversary having propos'd his problems by way of dialogue between a. and b ; 't will not , i presume , be wonder'd at , that i have given the same form to my animadversions ; which come forth no earlier , because i had divers other treatises , that i was more concern'd for , to publish before them . but because it will probably be demanded , why on a tract that is but short , my animadversions should take up so much room ? it will be requisite , that i here give an account of the bulk of this treatise . and first , having found that there was not any one problem , in whose explication , as propos'd by mr. hobbes , i saw cause to acquiesce , i was induc'd for the readers ease , and that i might be sure to do my adversary no wrong , to transcribe his whole dialogue , bating some few transitions , and other clauses not needful to be transferr'd hither . next , i was not willing to imitate mr. hobbes , who recites in the dialogue we are considering the same experiments that he had already mentioned in his tract de natura aeris , without adding as his own ( that i remember ) any new one to them . but my unwillingness to tire the reader with bare repetitions of the arguments i employ'd in my examen of that tract , invited me to endeavour to make him some amends for the exercise of his patience by inserting , as occasion was offer'd , five or six new experiments , that will not perhaps be so easily made by every reader that will be able ( now that i have perspicuously propos'd them ) to understand them . and lastly , since mr. hobbes has not been content to magnifie himself and his way of treating of physical matters , but has been pleas'd to speak very slightingly of experimentarian philosophers ( as he stiles them ) in general , and , which is worse , to disparage the making of elaborate experiments ; i judg'd the thing , he seem'd to aim at , so prejudicial to true and useful philosophy , that i thought , it might do some service to the less knowing , and less wary , sort of readers , if i tryed to make his own explications enervate his authority , and by a somewhat particular examen of the solutions he has given of the problems i am concern'd in , shew , that 't is much more easie to undervalue a frequent recourse to experiments , than truly to explicate the phaenomena of nature without them . and since our author , speaking of his problemata physica , ( which is but a small book ) scruples not to tell his majesty , to whom he dedicates them , that he has therein comprised ( to speak in his own terms ) the greatest and most probable part of his physical meditations ; and since by the alterations , he has made in what he formerly writ about the phaenomena of my engine , he seems to have design'd to give it a more advantageous form : i conceive , that by these selected solutions of his , one may , without doing him the least injustice , make an estimate of his way of discoursing about natural things . and though i would not interess the credit of experimentarian philosophers in no considerabler a paper than this ; yet if mr. hobbes's explications and mine be attentively compared , it will not , i hope , by them be found , that the way of philosophising he employs , is much to be preferr'd before that which he undervalues . animadversions vpon m r. hobbes's problemata de vacuo . a. may one , without too bold an inquisitiveness , ask , what book you are reading so attentively ? b. you will easily believe you may , when i shall have answer'd you , that 't was mr. hobbes's lately publish'd tract of physical problems , which i was perusing . a. what progress have you made in it ? b. i was finishing the third dialogue or chapter when you came in , and finding my self , though not named , yet particularly concern'd , i was perusing it with that attention which it seems you took notice of . a. divers of your experiments are so expresly mention'd there , that one need not be skill'd in decyphering to perceive that you are interessed in that chapter , and therefore seeing you have heedfully read it over , pray give me leave to ask your judgment , both of mr. hobbes's opinion , and his reasonings about vacuum . b. concerning his opinion , i am sorry i cannot now satisfie your curiosity , having long since taken , and ever since kept , a resolution to decline , at least until a time that is not yet come , the declaring my self either for or against the plenists . but as to the other part of your question , which is about mr. hobbes's arguments for the absolute plenitude of the world , i shall not scruple readily to answer , that his ratiocinations seem to me far short of that cogency , which the noise he would make in the world , and the way wherein he treats both ancient and modern philosophers that dissent from him , may warrant us to expect . a. you will allow me the freedom to tell you , that , to convince me , that your resentment of his explicating divers of the phaenomena of your pneumatic engine otherwise than you have been wont to do , ( and perhaps in terms that might well have been more civil , ) has had no share in dictating this judgment of yours ; the best way will be , that entering for a while into the party of the vacuists you answer the arguments he alledges in this chapter to confute them . b. having always , as you know , forborn to declare my self either way in this controversie , i shall not tye my self strictly to the principles and notions of the vacuists , nor , though but for a while , oppose my self to those of the plenists : but so far i shall comply with your commands , as either upon the doctrine of the vacuists , or upon other grounds , to consider , whether this dialogue of mr. hobbes have cogently proved his , and the schools , assertion , non dari vacuum ; and whether he has rightly explain'd some phaenomena of nature which he undertakes to give an account of , and especially some produced in our engin , whereof he takes upon him to render the genuine causes . and this last inquiry is that which i chiefly design . a. by this i perceive , that if you can make out your own explications of your adversaries problems de vacuo , and shew them to be preferable to his , you will think you have done your work , and that 't is but your secondary scope to shew , that in mr. hobbes his way of solving them , he gives the vacuists an advantage against him , though not against the plenists in general . b. you do not mistake my meaning , and therefore without any further preamble , let us now proceed to the particular phaenomena consider'd by mr. hobbes ; the first of which is an experiment proposed by me in the one and thirtieth of the physico-mechanical experiments concerning the adhesion of two flat and polish'd marbles , which i endeavour'd to solve by the pressure of the air. and this experiment mr. hobbes thinks so convincing an one to prove the plenitude of the world , that , though he tells us he has many cogent arguments to make it out , yet he mentions but this one , because that , he says , suffices . a. the confidence he thereby expresses of the great force of this argument does the less move me , because , i remember , that formerly in his elements of philosophy he thought it sufficient to employ one argument to evince the plenitude of the world , and for that one he pitch'd upon the vulgar experiment of a gardeners watering-pot : but , whether he were wrought upon by the objections made to his inference from that phaenomenon in your examen of his dialogue de natura aeris , or by some other considerations , i will not pretend to divine . but i plainly perceive , he now prefers the experiment of the cohering marbles . b. of which it will not be amiss , though the passage be somewhat long , to read you his whole discourse out of the book i have in my hand . a. 't is fit that you , who for my sake are content to take the pains of answering what he says , should be eased of the trouble of reading it , which i will therefore , with your leave , take upon me . his discourse then about the marbles is this : a. ad probandam universi plenitudinem , nullum nostin ' argumentum cogens ? b. imò multa : unum autem sufficit ex eo sumptum , quod duo corpor a plana , si se mutuò secundùm amborum planitiem communem tangant , non facile in instante divelli possunt ; successivè verò facillimè . non dico , impossibile esse duo durissima marmora it a coharentia divellere , sed difficile ; & vim postulare tantam , quanta sufficit ad duritiem lapidis superandam . siquidem verò majore vi ad separationem opus sit quàm illa , quâ moventur separata , id signum est non dari vacuum . a. assertiones illae demonstratione indigent . primò autem ostende , quomodo ex duorum durissimorum corporum , conjunctorum ad superficies exquisite laeves , diremptione difficili , sequatur plenitudo mundi ? b. si duo plana , dura , polita corpora ( ut marmora ) collocentur unum supra alterum , ita ut eorum superficies se mutuò per amnia puncta exactè , quantum fieri potest , contingant , illa sine magna difficultate ita divelli non possunt , ut eodem instante per omnia puncta dirimantur . veruntamen marmora eadem , si communis eorum superficies ad horizontem erigatur , aut non valde inclinetur , alterum ab altero facillimè ( ut scis ) etiam solo pondere dilabentur . nonne causa hujus rei haec est , quod labenti marmori succedit aer , & relictum locum semper implet ? a. certissimé . quid ergo ? b. quando verò eadem uno instante divellere conaris , nonne multo major vis adhibenda est ; quam ob causam ? a. ego , & mecum ( puto ) omnes cansam statuunt , quod spatium totum inter duo illa marmora divulsa , simul uno instante implere aer non potest , quantacunque celeritate fiat divulsio . b. an qui spatia in aere dari vacua contendunt , in illo aere solo dari negant qui marmora illa conjuncta circumdat ? a. minimè , sed ubique interspersa . b. dum ergo illi , qui marmor unum ab altero revellentes aerem comprimunt , & per consequens vacuum exprimunt , vacuum faciunt locum per revulsionem relictum ; nulla ergo separationis erit difficultas , saltem non major quàm est difficultas corpora eadem movendi in aere postquam separata fuerint . itaque quoniam , concesso vacuo , difficult as marmora illa dirimendi nulla est , sequitur per difficultatis experientiam , nullum esse vacuum . a. recte quidem illud infers . mundi autem plenitudine supposita , quomodo demonstrabis possibile omnino esse ut divellantur ? b. cogita primo corpus aliquod ductile , nec nimis durum , ut ceram , in duas partes distrahi , quae tamen partes non minus exacte in communi plano se mutuo tangunt quàm laevissima marmora . jam quo pacto distrahatur ●era , consideremus . nonne perpetuo attenuatur donec in filum evadat tenuissimum , & omni dato crasso tenuius , & sie tandem divellitur ? eodem modo etiam durissima columna in duas partes distrahetur , si vim tantam adhibeas , quanta sufficit ad resistentiam duritiei superandam . sicut enim in card partes primò extimae distrahuntur , in quarum locum succedit aer ; ita etiam in corpore quantumlibet duro aer locum subit partium extimarum , quae primae vulsionis viribus dirumpuntur . vis autem quae superat resistentiam partium extimarum duri , facilè superabit resistentiam reliquarum . nam resistentia prima est à toto duro , reliquarum verò semper à residuo . a. it a quidem videtur consideranti , quàm corpora quaedam , praesertim verò durissima , fragilia sint . does this ratiocination seem to you as cogent , as it did to the proposer of it ? b. you will quickly think it does not , and perhaps you will think it should not , if you please to consider with me some of the reflections that the reading of it suggested to me . and first , without declaring for the vacuists opinion , i must profess my self unsatisfied with mr. hobbes's way of arguing against them : for , where he says , dum ergo illi qui marmor unum ab altero revellentes aerem comprimunt & per consequens vacuum exprimunt , vacuum faciunt locum per revulsionem relictum ; nulla ergo separationis erit difficultas , saltem non major quàm est difficultas corpora eadem movendi in aere postquam separata fuerint . itaque quoniam , concesso vacuo , difficultas marmora illa dirimendi nulla est , sequitur per difficultatis experientiam , nullum esse vacuum . methinks he expresses himself but obscurely , and leaves his readers to ghess , what the word dum refers to . but that which seems to be his drift in this passage , is , that , since the vacuists allow interspersed vacuities , not only in the air that surrounds the conjoyned marbles , but in the rest of the ambient air , there is no reason , why there should be any difficulty in separating the marbles , or at least any greater difficulty than in moving the marbles in that air after their separation . but , not to consider , whether his adversaries will not accuse his phrase of squeezing out a vacuum as if it were a body , they will easily answer , that notwithstanding the vacuities they admit in the ambient air , a manifest reason may be given in their hypothesis of our finding a difficulty in the divulsion of the marbles . for , the vacuities they admit being but interspers'd , and very small , and the corpuscles of the atmosphere being according to them endow'd with gravity , there leans so many upon the upper surface of the uppermost marble , that that stone cannot be at once perpendicularly drawn up from the lower marble contiguous to it , without a force capable to surmount the weight of the aerial corpuscles that lean upon it . and this weight has already so constipated the neighbouring parts of the ambient air , that he , that would perpendicularly raise the upper marble from the lower , shall need a considerable force to make the revulsion , and compel the already contiguous parts of the incumbent air to a subingression into the pores or intervals intercepted between them . for the conatus of him , that endeavours to remove the upper marble , whilst the lower surface of it is fenc'd from the pressure of the atmosphere by the contact of the lower marble which suffers no air to come in between them , is not assisted by the weight or pressure of the atmosphere , which , when the marbles are once separated , pressing as strongly against the undermost surface of the upper marble , as the incumbent atmospherical pillar does against the upper surface of the same marble , the hand that endeavours to raise it in the free air has no other resistance , than that small one of the marbles own weight to surmount . a. but what say you to the reason that mr. hobbes , and , as he thinks , all others give of the difficulty of the often mention'd divulsion , namely , quòd spatium totum inter duo illa marmora divulsa simul uno instante implere aer non potest , quant acunque celeritate fiat divulsio . b. i say , that , for ought i know , the plenists may give a more plausible account of this experiment , than mr. hobbes has here done ; and therefore abstracting from the two opposite hypotheses , i shall further say , that the genuine cause of the phaenomenon seems to be that which i have already assign'd ; and that difficulty of raising the upper stone that accompanies the airs not being able to come in all at once , to possess the space left between the surfaces of the two marbles upon their separation , proceeds from hence , that , 'till that space be fill'd with the atmospherical air , the hand of him that would lift up the superiour marble cannot be fully assisted by the pressure of the air against the lower surface of that marble . a. this is a paradox , and therefore i shall desire to know on what you ground it ? b. though i mention it but as a conjecture propos'd ex abundanti ▪ yet i shall on this occasion countenance it with two things ; the first ▪ that , since i declare not for the hypothesis of the plenists as 't is maintain'd by mr. hobbes , i am not bound to allow , what the common explication , adopted by my adversary , supposes ; namely , that either nature abhors a vacuum ( as the schools would have it , ) or that there could be no divulsion of the marbles , unless at the same time the air were admitted into the room that divulsion makes for it . and a vacuist may tell you , that , provided the strength employ'd to draw up the superiour marble be great enough to surmount the weight of the aerial corpuscles accumulated upon it , the divulsion would ensue , though by divine omnipotence no air or other body should be permitted to fill the room made for it by the divulsion ; and that the air 's rushing into that space does not necessarily accompany , but in order of nature and time follow upon , a separation of the marbles , the air that surrounded their contiguous surfaces being by the weight of the collaterally superiour air impell'd into the room newly made by the divulsion . but i shall rather countenance what you call my paradox by an experiment i purposely made in our pneumatical receiver , where having accommodated two flat and polish'd marbles , so that the lower being fixt , the upper might be laid upon it and drawn up again as there should be occasion , i found , that if , when the receiver was well exhausted , the upper marble was by a certain contrivance laid flat upon the lower , they would not then cohere as formerly , but be with great ease separated , though it did not by any phaenomenon appear , that any air could come to rush in , to possess the place given it by the recess of the upper marble , whose very easie avulsion is as easily explicable by our hypothesis ; since the pressure of that little air , that remain'd in the receiver , being too faint to make any at all considerable resistance to the avulsion of the upper marble , the hand that drew it up had very little more than the single weight of the stone to surmount . a. an anti-plenist had expected , that you would have observed , that the difficult separation of the marbles in the open air does rather prove , that there may be a vacuum , than that there can be none . for in case the air can succeed as fast at the sides as the divulsion is made , a vacuist may demand , whence comes the difficulty of the separation ? and if the air cannot fill the whole room made for it by the separated marbles at the same instant they are forc'd asunder , how is a vacuum avoided for that time , how small soever , that is necessary for the air to pass from the edges to the middle of the room newly made ? b. what the plenists will say to your argument i leave them to consider ; but i presume , they will be able to give a more plausible account of the phaenomenon we are treating of , than is given by mr. hobbes . a. what induces you to dislike his explication of it ? b. two things ; the one , that i think the cause he assigns improbable ; and the other , that i think another , that is better , has been assign'd already . and first , whereas mr. hobbes requires to the divulsion of the marbles a force great enough to surmount the hardness of the stone , this is asserted gratis , which it should not be ; since it seems very unlikely , that the weight of so few pounds as will suffice to separate two coherent marbles of about an inch , for instance , in diameter , should be able to surmount the hardness of such solid stones as we usually employ in this experiment . and though it be generally judg'd more easie to bend , if it may be , or break a broader piece of marble caeteris paribus , than a much narrower ; yet , whereas neither i , nor any else that i know , nor i believe mr. hobbes , ever observ'd any difference in the resistance of marbles to separation from the greater or lesser thickness of the stones ; i find by constant experience , that , caeteris paribus , the broadness of the coherent marbles does exceedingly increase the difficulty of disjoyning them : insomuch that , whereas not many pounds , as i was saying , would separate marbles of an inch , or a lesser , diameter ; when i increased their diameter to about four inches , if i misremember not , there were several men that successively try'd to pull them asunder without being able by their utmost force to effect it . a. but what say you to the illustration , that mr. hobbes , upon the supposition of the worlds plenitude , gives of our phaenomenon by drawing asunder the opposite parts of a piece of wax ? b. to me it seems an instance improper enough . for first , the parts that are to be divided in the wax are of a soft and yielding consistence , and according to him of a ductile , or , if you please , of a tractile nature , and not , as the parts of the coherent marbles , very solid and hard . next , the parts of the wax do not stick together barely by a superficial contact of two smooth planes , as do the marbles we are speaking of ; but have their parts implicated , and as it were intangled with one another . and therefore they are far from a disposition to slide off , like the marbles , from one another , in how commodious a posture soever you place them . besides 't is manifest , that the air has opportunity to succeed in the places successively deserted by the receding parts of the attenuated wax ; but 't is neither manifest , nor as yet well proved by mr. hobbes , that the air does after the same manner succeed between the two marbles , which , as i lately noted , are not forced asunder after such a way , but are , as himself speaks , sever'd in all their points at the same instant . a. i know , you forget not what he says of the dividing of a hard column into two parts by a force sufficient to overcome the resistance of its hardness . b. he does not here either affirm , that he , or any he can trust , has seen the thing done ; nor does he give us any such account of the way wherein the pillar is to be broken , whether in an erected , inclined , or horizontal posture ; nor describe the particular circumstances that were fit to be mention'd in order to the solution of the phaenomenon . wherefore , 'till i be better inform'd of the matter of fact , i can scarce look upon what mr. hobbes says of the pillar , as other than his conjecture , which now i shall the rather pass by , not only because the case is differing from that of our polish'd marbles , which are actually distinct bodies , and only contiguous in one commissure ; but also , because i would hasten to the second reason of my dislike of mr. hobbes's explication of our phaenomenon , which is , that a better has been given already , from the pressure of the atmosphere upon all the superficial parts of the upper marble save those that touch the plane of the lower . a. you would have put fair for convincing mr. hobbes himself , at least would have put him to unusual shifts , if you had succeeded in the attempt you made , among other of your physico-mechanical experiments , to disjoyn two coherent marbles , by suspending them horizontally in your pneumatical receiver , and pumping out the air that inviron'd them ; for , from your failing in that attempt , though you rendred a not improbable reason of it , mr. hobbes took occasion , in his dialogue de natura aeris , to speak in so high a strain as this : nihil isthic erat quod ageret pondus ; experimento hoc excogitari contra opinionem eorum qui vacuum asserunt aliud argumentum fortius aut evidentius non potuit . nam si duorum cohaerentium alterutrum secundùm eam viam , in qua jacent ipsae contiguae superficies , propulsum esset , facile separarentur , aere praximo in locum relictum successivè semper influente ; sed illa ita divellere , ut simul totum amitterent contactum , impossibile est , mundo pleno . oporteret enim aut motum fieri ab uno termino ad alium in instante , aut duo corpora eodem tempore in eodem esse loco : quorum utrumvis dicere , est absurdum . b. you may remember , that where i relate that experiment , i express'd a hope , that , when i should be better accommodated than i then was , i might attempt the tryal with prosperous success , and accordingly afterwards , having got a lesser engine than that i used before , wherewith the air might be better pumpt out and longer kept out , i cheerfully repeated the tryal . to shew then , that when two coherent marbles are sustained horizontally in the air , the cause , why they are not to be forc'd asunder , if they have two or three inches in diameter , without the help of a considerable weight , is the pressure i was lately mentioning of the ambient air ; i caused two such coherent marbles to be suspended in a large receiver , with a weight at the lowermost , that might help to keep them steddy , but was very inconsiderable to that which their cohesion might have surmounted ; then causing the air to be pumpt by degrees out of the receiver , for a good while the marbles stuck close together , because during that time the air could not be so far pumpt out , but that there remained enough to sustain the small weight that endeavoured their divulsion : but when the air was further pumpt out , at length the spring of the little , but not a little expanded , air , that remained , being grown too weak to sustain the lower marble and its small clog , they did , as i expected , drop off ▪ a. this will not agree over-well with the confident and triumphant expressions just now necited . b. i never envied mr. hobbes's forwardness to triumph , and am content , his conjectures be recommended by the confidence that accompanies them , if mine be by the success that follows them . but to confirm the explication given by me of our phaenomenon , i shall add , that as the last mention'd tryal , which i had several times occasion to repeat , shews , that the cohesion of our two contiguous marbles would cease upon the withdrawing of the pressure of the atmosphere ; so by another experiment i made , it appears , that the supervening of that pressure sufficed to cause that cohesion . for , in prosecution of one of the lately mentioned tryals , having found , that when the receiver was well exhausted , two marbles , though considerably broad , being laid upon one another after the requisite manner , their adhesion was , if any at all , so weak , that the uppermost would be easily drawn up from off the other ; we laid them again one upon the other , and then letting the external air flow into the receiver , we found , according to expectation , that the marbles now cohered well , and we could not raise the uppermost but accompanied with the lowermost . but i am sensible , i have detained you too long upon the single experiment of the marbles : and though i hope the stress mr. hobbes lays on it will plead my excuse , yet to make your patience some amends , i shall be the more brief in the other particulars that remain to be consider'd in his dialogue de vacuo . and 't will not be difficult for me to keep my promise without injuring my cause , since almost all these particulars being but the same which he has already alledged in his dialogue de natura aeris , and i soon after answered in my examen of that dialogue , i shall need but to refer you to the passages where you may find these allegations examin'd , only subjoyning here some reflections upon those few and slight things , that he has added in his problems de vacuo . a. i may then , i suppose , read to you the next passage to that long one , you have hitherto been considering , and it is this : ad vacuum nunc revertor : quas causas sine suppositione vacui redditurus es illorum effectuum , qui ostenduntur per machinam illam quae est in collegio greshamensi ? b. machina illa — b. stop here , i beseech you , a little , that , before we go any further , i may take notice to you of a couple of things that will concern our subsequent discourse . whereof the first is , that it appears by mr. hobbes's dialogue about the air , that the explications he there gave of some of the phaenomena of the machina boyliana , were directed partly against the virtuosi , that have since been honour'd with the title of the royal society , and partly against the author of that engine , as if the main thing therein design'd were to prove a vacuum . and since he now repeats the same explications , i think it necessary to say again , that if he either takes the society or me for profess'd vacuists , he mistakes , and shoots beside the mark ; for , neither they nor i have ever yet declar'd either for or against a vacuum . and the other thing i would observe to you , is , that mr. hobbes seems not to have rightly understood , or at least not to have sufficiently heeded in what chiefly consists the advantage , which the vacuists may make of our engine against him : for , whereas in divers places he is very solicitous to prove , that the cavity of our pneumatical receiver is not altogether empty , the vacuists may tell him , that since he asserts the absolute plenitude of the world , he must , as indeed he does , reject not only great vacuities , but also those very small and interspers'd ones , that they suppose to be intercepted between the solid corpuscles of other bodies , particularly of the air : so that it would not confute them to prove , that in our receiver , when most diligently exhausted , there is not one great and absolute vacuity , or , as they speak , a vacuum coacervatum , since smaller and disseminated vacuities would serve their turn . and therefore they may think their pretensions highly favour'd , as by several particular effects , so by this general phaenomenon of our engine , that it appears by several circumstances , that the common or atmospherical air , which , before the pump is set a work , possess'd the whole cavity of our receiver , far the greatest part is by the intervention of the pump made to pass out of the cavity into the open air , without being able , at least for a little while , to get in again ; and yet it does not appear by any thing alledg'd by mr. hobbes , that any other body succeeds to fill adequately the places deserted by such a multitude of aerial corpuscles . a. if i ghess aright , by those words , ( viz. it appears not by any thing alledg'd by mr. hobbes , ) you design to intimate , that you would not in general prejudice the plenists . b. your conjecture was well founded : for i think divers of them , and particularly the cartesians , who suppose a subtile matter or aether fine enough to permeate glass , though our common air cannot do it , have not near so difficult a task to avoid the arguments the vacuists may draw from our engine , as mr. hobbes , who , without having recourse to the porosity of glass , which indeed is impervious to common air , strives to solve the phaenomena , and prove our receiver to be always perfectly full , and therefore as full at any one time as at any other of common or atmospherical air , as far as we can judge of his opinion by the tendency or import of his explications . a. yet , if i were rightly inform'd of an experiment of yours , mr. hobbes may be thereby reduc'd either to pass over to the vacuists , or to acknowledge some aetherial or other matter more subtil than air , and capable of passing through the pores of glass ; and therefore , to shew your self impartial between the vacuists and their adversaries in this controversie , i hope you will not refuse to gratifie the plenists by giving your friends a more particular account of the experiment . b. i know which you mean , and remember it very well . for , though i long since devis'd it , yet having but the other day had occasion to peruse the relation i writ down of one of the best tryals , i think i can repeat it , almost in the very words , which , if i mistake not , were these : there was taken a bubble of thin white glass , about the bigness of a nutmeg , with a very slender stem , of about four or five inches long , and of the bigness of a crows-quill . the end of the quill being held in the flame of a lamp blown with a pair of bellows , was readily and well seal'd up , and presently the globous part of the glass , being held by the stem , was kept turning in the flame , 'till it was red hot and ready to melt ; then being a little removed from the flame , as the included air began to lose of its agitation and spring , the external air manifestly and considerably press'd in one of the sides of the bubble . but the glass being again , before the cold could crack it , held as before in the flame , the rarified air distended and plump'd up the bubble ; which being the second time remov'd from the flame , was the second time compress'd ; and , being the third time brought back to the flame , swell'd as before , and remov'd , was again compress'd , ( either this time or the last by two distinct cavities ; ) 'till at length , having satisfied our selves , that the included air was capable of being condens'd or dilated without the ingress or egress of air ( properly so called ) we held the bubble so long in the flame , strengthen'd by nimble blasts , that not only it had its sides plump'd up , but a hole violently broken in it by the over-rarified air , which , together with the former watchfulness , we imploy'd from time to time to discern if it were any where crackt or perforated , satisfied us that it was till then intire . a. i confess , i did not readily conceive before , how you could , ( as i was told you had , ) make a solid vessel , wherein there was no danger of the aires getting in or out , whose cavity should be still possest with the same air , and yet the vessel be made by turns bigger and lesser . and , though i presently thought upon a well stopt bladder , yet i well foresaw , that a distrustful adversary might make some objections , which are by your way of proceeding obviated , and the experiment agrees with your doctrine in shewing , how impervious we may well think your thick pneumatick receivers are to common air , since a thin glass bubble , when its pores were open'd or relax'd by flame , would not give passage to the springy particles of the air , though violently agitated ; for if those particles could have got out of the pores , they never would have broke the bubble , as at length a more violent degree of heat made them do ; nor probably would the compression , that afterwards insued of the bubble by the ambient air , be checkt near so soon , if those springy corpuscles had not remained within to make the resistance . methinks , one may hence draw a new proof of what i remember you elsewhere teach , that the spring of the air may be much strengthen'd by heat . for , in our case , the spring of the air was thereby inabled to expand the comprest glass , it was imprison'd in , in spite of the resisting pressure of the external air ; and yet , that this pressure was considerable , appears by this , that the weight of so small a column of atmospherical air , as could bear upon the bubble , was able to press in the heated glass , in spite of the resistance of its tenacity and arched figure . b. yet that which i mainly design'd in this experiment was , ( if i were able ) to shew and prove at once , by an instance not lyable to the ordinary exceptions , the true nature of rarefaction and condensation , at least of the air. for , to say nothing of the peripatetick rarefaction and condensation , strictly so call'd , which i scruple not to declare , i think to be physically inconceptible or impossible ; 't is plain by our experiment , that , when the bubble , after the glass had been first thrust in towards the center , was expanded again by heat , the included air possess'd more room than before , and yet it could perfectly fill no more room than formerly , each aerial particle taking up , both before and after the heating of the bubble , a portion of space adequate to its own bulk ; so that in the cavity of the expanded bubble we must admit either vacuities interspers'd between the corpuscles of the air , or that some fine particles of the flame , or other subtil matter , came in to fill up those intervals , which matter must have enter'd the cavity of the glass at its pores : and afterwards , when the red-hot bubble was removed from the flame , it is evident , that , since the grosser particles of the air could not get through the glass , which they were not able to do , even when vehemently agitated by an ambient flame , the compression of the bubble , and the condensation of the air , which was necessarily consequent upon it , could not , supposing the plenitude of the world , be performed without squeezing out some of the subtil matter contained in the cavity of the bubble , whence it could not issue but at the pores of the glass . but i will no longer detain you from mr. hobbes his explications of the machina boyliana ; to the first of which you may now , if you please , advance . a. the passage i was going to read , when you interrupted me , was this : b. machina illa eosdem effectus producit , quos produceret in loco non magno magnus inclusus ventus . a. quomodo ingreditur istuo ventus ? machinam nosti cylindrum esse cavum , sneum , in quem protruditur cylindrus alius solidus ligneus , coriotectus , ( quem suctorem dicunt ) it a exquisitè congruens , ut ne minimus quidem aer inter corium & aes intrare ( ut putant ) possit . b. scio , & quò suctor facilius intrudi possit , foramen quoddam est in superiori parte cylindri , per quod aer ( qui suctoris ingressum alioqui impedire possit ) emittatur . quod foramen aperire possunt & clandere quoties usus postulat . est etiam in cylindri cavi recessu summo datus aditus aeri in globum concavum vitreum , quem etiam aditum claviculâ obturare & aperire possunt quoties volunt . denique in globo vitreo summo relinquitur foramen satis amplum , ( claviculâ item claudendum & recludendum ) ut in illum quae volunt immittere possint , experiendi causâ b. the imaginary wind to which mr. hobbes here ascribes the effects of our engine , he formerly had recourse to in the 13th page of his dialogue , and i have sufficiently answer'd that passage of it in the 45th and 46th pages of my examen , to which i therefore refer you . a. i presume , you did not overlook the comparison mr. hobbes annexes to what i last read out of his problems , since he liked the conceit so well , that we meet with it in this place again , though he had formerly printed it in his dialogue de natura aeris . the words ( as you see ) are these : tota denique machina non multum differt , si naturam ejus spectes , à sclopeto ex sambuco , quo pueri se delectant , imitantes sclopetos militum , nisi quòd major sit , & majori arte fabricatus , & pluris constet . b. i could scarce , for the reason you give , avoid taking notice of it . and if mr. hobbes intended it for a piece of ralliery , i willingly let it pass , and could easily forgive him a more considerable attempt than this , to be reveng'd on an engine that has destroyed several of his opinions : but , if he seriously meant to make a physical comparison , i think he made a very improper one . for , not to urge , that one may well doubt how he knows , that in the inclosed cavity of his pot-gun , there is a very vehement wind , ( since that does not necessarily follow from the compreffion of the included air : ) in mr. hobbes's instrument , the air , being forcibly comprest , has an endeavour to expand it self , and when it is able to surmount the resistance of its prison , that part that is first disjoyn'd is forcibly thrown outwards ; whereas in our engine it appears by the passage lately cited of our examen , that the air is not comprest but expanded in our receiver , and if an intercourse be open'd , or the vessel be not strong enough , the outward air violently rushes in : and if the receiver chance to break , the fragments of the glass are not thrown outwards , but forced inwards . a. so that , whether or no mr. hobbes could have pitch'd upon a comparison more suitable to his intentions , he might easily have imployed one more suitable to the phaenomena . b. i presume , you will judge it the less agreeable to the phaenomena , if i here subjoyn an experiment , that possibly you will not dislike ; which i devis'd to shew , not only that in our exhausted receivers there is no such strong endeavour outwards , as most of mr. hobbes's explications of the things that happen in them are built upon , but that the weight of the atmospherical air , when 't is not resisted by the counterpressure of any internal air , is able to perform what a weight of many pounds would not suffice to do . a. i shall the more willingly learn an experiment to this purpose , because in your receivers , the rigidity of the glass keeps us from seeing , by any manifest change of its figure , whether , if it could yield without breaking , it would be press'd in , as your hypothesis requires . b. the desires to obviate that very difficulty , for their satisfaction , that had not yet penetrated the grounds of our hypothesis , made me think of employing , instead of a receiver of glass , one of a stiff and tough , but yet somewhat flexible , metal . and accordingly having provided a new pewter porrenger , and whelm'd it upside down upon an iron plate fasten'd to ( the upper end of ) our pneumatical pump , we carefully fasten'd by cement the orifice to the plate , and though the inverted vessel , by reason of its stiffness and thickness and the convexity of its superficies , were strong enough to have supported a great weight without changing its figure ; yet , as soon as by an exsuction or two the remaining part of the included air was brought to such a degree of expansion , that its weaken'd spring was able to afford but little assistance to the tenacity and firmness of the metal , the weight of the pillar of the incumbent atmosphere ( which by reason of the breadth of the vessel was considerably wide also ) did presently and notably depress the upper part of the porringer , both lessening its capacity and changing its figure ; so that instead of the convex surface , the receiver had before , it came to a concave one , which new figure was somewhat , though not much , increased by the further withdrawing of the included and already rarified air. the experiment succeeded also with an other common porringer of the same metal . but in such kind of vessels , made purposely of iron plates , it will sometimes succeed and sometimes not , according to the diameter of the vessel and the thickness of the plate , which was sometimes strong enough and sometimes too weak to resist the pressure of the incumbent air. and sometimes i found also , that the vessel would be thrust in , not at the top but side-ways , in case that side were the only part that were made too thin to resist the pressure of the ambient ; which phaenomenon i therefore take notice of , that you may see , 〈◊〉 that powerful pressure may be exercised laterally as well as perpendicularly . perhaps this experiment , and that i lately recited of an hermetically sealed bubble , by their fitness to disprove mr. hobbes 's doctrine , may do somewhat towards the letting him see , that he might have spar'd that not over-modest and wary expression , where speaking of the gentlemen that meet at gresham-college , ( of whom i pretend not to be one of the chief ) he is pleased to say , experimenta faciant quantum volunt , nisi principiis utantur meis nihil proficient . but let us , if you please , pass on to what he further alledges to prove , that the space in the exhausted receiver , which the vacuists suppose to be partly empty , is full of air. ( video ( says a. ) si suctor trudatur usque ad fundum cylindri aenei , obturenturque for amina , secuturum esse , dum suctor retrahitur , locum in cylindro cavo relictum fore vacuum . nam ut in locum ejus succedat aer , est impossibile . to which b. answers , credo equidem , suctorem cum cylindri cavi superficie satis arctè cohaerere ad excludendum stramen & plumam , non autem aerem neque aquam . cogita enim , quod non ita accuratè congruerent , quin undiquaque interstitium relinqueretur , quantum tenuissimi capilli capax esset . retracto ergo suctore , tantum impelleretur aeris , quantum viribus illis conveniret quibus aer propter suctoris retractionem reprimitur , idque sine omni difficult ate sensibili . quanto autem interstitium illud minus esset , tantum ingrederetur aer velocius : vel si contactus sit , sed non per omnia puncta , etiam tunc intrabit aer , modò suctor majore vi retrahatur . postremò , etsi contactus ubique exactissimus sit , vi tamen satis auctâ per cochleam ferream , tum corium cedet , tum ipsum es ; atque ita quoque ingredietur aer . credin ' tu , possibile esse duas superficies ita exactè componere , ut has compositas esse supponunt illi ; aut corium ita durum esse , ut aeri , qui cochleae ope incutitur , nihil omnino cedat ? corium quanquam optimum admittit aquam , ut ipse scis , si fortè fecisti unquam iter vento & pluvia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . it aque dubitare non potes , quin retractus suctor tantum aeris in cylindrum adeoque in ipsum recipiens incutiat , quantum sufficit ad locum semper relictum perfectè implendum . effectus ergo , qui oritur à retractione suctoris , alius non est quàm ventus , ventus ( inquam ) vchementissimus , qui ingreditur undiquaque inter suctoris superficiem convexam , & cylindri aenei concavam , proceditque ( versâ claviculâ ) in cavitatem globi vitrei , sive ( ut vocatur ) recipientis . the substance of this ratiocination having been already propos'd by mr. hobbes in his dialogue of the air , the 11th page , i long since answer'd it in the 30th and some of the following pages of my examen ; and therefore i shall only now take notice in transitu of some slight whether additions or variations , that occur in what you have been reading . and , first , i see no probability in what he gratìs asserts , that so thick a cylinder of brass , as made the chief part of the pump of our engine , should yield to the sucker , that was mov'd up and down in it , though by the help of an iron rack ; and whereas he adds , that the leather , that surrounds the more solid part of the sucker , would yield to such a force ; it seems , that that compression of the leather should by thrusting the solid parts into the pores make the leather rather less than more fit to give passage to the air ; nor would it however follow , notwithstanding mr. hobbes's example , that , because a body admits water , it must be pervious to air : for i have several times , by ways elsewhere taught , made water penetrate the pores of bladders , and yet bladders resist the passage of the air so well , that even when air included in them was sufficiently rarified by heat , or by our engine , it was necessary for the air to break them before it could get out ; which would not have been , if it could have escap'd through their pores . what mr. hobbes inculcates here again concerning his ventus vehementissimus , you will find answer'd in the place of my examen i lately directed you to . a. we may then proceed to mr. hobbes's next explication , which he proposes in these terms : a. causam video nunc unius ex machinae mirabilibus , nimirum cur suctor , postquam est aliquatenus retractus & deinde amissus , subitò recurrit ad cylindri summitatem . nam aer , qui vi magna fuit impulsus , rursus per repercussionem ad externa vi eadem revertitur . b. atque hoc quidem argumenti satis est etiam solum , quòd locus à suctore relictus non est vacuus . quid enim aut attrahere aut impellere suctorem potuit ad locum illum unde retractus erat , si cylindrus fuisset vacuus ? namut aeris pondus aliquod id efficere potuisset , falsum esse satis supra demonstravi ab eo quod aer in aere gravitare non potest . nosti etiam , quod cum è recipiente aerem omnem ( ut illi loquuntur ) exegerint , possunt tamen trans vitrum id quod intus fit videre , & sonum , si quis fiat , inde audire . id quod solum , etsi nullum aliud argumentum esset ( sunt autem multa , ) ad probandum , nullum esse in recipiente vacuum , abundè sufficit . b. here are several things joyn'd together , which the author had before separately alledg'd in his often-mention'd dialogue . the first is , the cause he assigns of the ascension of the sucker forcibly deprest to the bottom of the exhausted cylinder , and then let alone by him that pumpt ; to which might be added , that this ascension succeeded , when the sucker was clogg'd with an hundred pound weight . this explication of mr. hobbes you will find examin'd in the 33th and 39th , and some ensuing pages of my discourse . and as to his denying , that the weight or pressure of the air could drive up the sucker in that phaenomenon , because the air does not weigh in air , we may see the contrary largely proved in divers places of my examen , and more particularly and expresly in the four first pages of the third chapter . and whereas he says in the last place , that the visibility of bodies included in our receivers , and the propagation of sound , ( which , by the way , is not to be understood of all sound that may be heard , though made in the exhausted receiver , ) are alone sufficient arguments to prove no vacuum : i have consider'd that passage in the answer i made to the like allegation in the 45th page of the examen ; and shall only observe here , that , since the vacuists can prove , that much of the air is pumpt out of the exhausted receiver , and will pretend , that , notwithstanding many interspers'd vacuities , there may be in the receiver corporeal substance enough to transmit light and stronger sounds , mr. hobbes has not perform'd what he pretended , if he have but barely proved , that there may be substances capable of conveying light and sound in the cavity of our receiver , since he triumphantly asserts , nullum esse in recipienti vacuum . but we may leave mr. hobbes and his adversaries to dispute out this point , and go on to the next passage . a. which follows in these words : ad illud autem , quod si vesica aliquatenus inflata in recipiente includatur , paulo post per exuctionem aeris inflatur vehementius & dirumpitur , quid respondes ? b. motus partium aeris undiquaque concurrentium velocissimus & per concursum in spatiis brevissimis numeroque infinitis gyrationis velocissimae vesicam in locis innumerabilibus simul & vi magna , instar totidem terebrarum , penetrat , praesertim si vesica , antequam immittatur , quò magis resistat aliquatenus inflat a sit . postquam autem aer penetrans semel ingressus est , facile cogitare potes , quo pacto deinceps vesicam tendet , & tandem rumpet . verùm si antequam rumpatur , versâ claviculâ , aer externus admittatur , videbis vesicam propter vehementiam motus temperatam diminutâ tensione rugosiorem . nam id quoque observatum est . jam si haec , quam dixi , causa minùs tihi videatur verisimilis , vide an tu aut alius quicunque imaginari potest , quo pacto vesica distendi & rumpi possit à viribus vacui , id est , nihili . b. this explication mr. hobbes gave us in the 19th page of his dialogue de natura aeris , and you may find it at large confuted in the latter part of the third chapter of my examen . nor does , what he here says in the close about the vires vacui or nihili , deserve to detain us , since there is no reason at all , that the vacuists should ascribe to nothing a power of breaking a bladder , of whose rupture the spring of the included air supplies them so easily with a sufficient cause . after what mr. hobbes has said of the breaking of a bladder , he proceeds to an experiment which he judges of affinity with it , and his academian having propos'd this question : unde fit ut animalia tam cito , nimirum spatio quatuor minutorum horae , in recipiente interficiantur ? for answer to it our author says : b. nonne animalia sic inclusa insugunt in pulmones aerem vehementissimè motum ? quo motu necesse est ut transitus sanguinis ab uno ad alterum cordis ventriculum interceptus , non multò pòst sistatur . cessatio autem sanguinis , mors est . possunt tamen animalia cessante sanguine reviviscere , si aer externus satis maturè intromittatur , vel ipsa in aerem temperatum , antequam refrixerit sanguis , extrahantur . this explication is not probable enough , to oblige me to add any thing about it to what i have said in the 49th and the two following pages of my examen ; especially the most vehement motion , ascrib'd to the air in the receiver , having been before proved to be an imaginary thing . you may therefore , if you please , take notice of the next explication . [ idem aer ( says he ) in recipiente carbones ardentes extinguit , sed & illi , si , dum satis calidi sunt , eximantur , relucebunt . notissimum est , quòd in fodinis carbonum terreorum ( cujus rei experimentum ipse vidi ) saepissime è lateribus foveae ventus quidam undiquaque exit , qui fossores interficit ignemque extinguit , qui tamen reviviscunt si satis cito ad aerem liberum extrahantur . ] this comparison which mr. hobbes here summarily makes , he more fully display'd in his dialogue de natura aeris , and i consider'd , what he there alledg'd , in the 52th page and the two next of my examen . and , though i will not contradict mr. hobbes in what he historically asserts in this passage ; yet i cannot but somewhat doubt , whether he mingles not his conjecture with the bare matter of fact . for , though i have with some curiosity visited mines in more places than one , and propos'd questions to men that have been conversant in other mines , both elsewhere and in england ( and particularly in derbyshire where mr. hobbes lived long ; ) yet i could never find , that any such odd and vehement wind , as mr. hobbes ascribes the phaenomenon to , had been by them observed to kill the diggers , and extinguish well-lighted coals themselves : and indeed , it seems more likely , that the damp , by its tenacity or some peculiarly malign quality , did the mischief , than a wind , of which i found not any notice taken ; especially since we see , what vehement winds men will be able to endure for a long time , without being near-kill'd by them ; and that it seems very odd , that a wind , that mr. hobbes does not observe to have blown away the coals , that were let down , should be able ( instead of kindling them more fiercely ) to blow them out . a. the last experiment of your engine , that your adversary mentions in these problems , is deliver'd in this passage : a. si phialam aquae in recipiens dimiseris , exucto aere bullire videbis aquam . quid ad hoc respondebis ? b. credo sanè in tanta aeris motitatione saltaturam esse aquam , sed ut calefiat nondum audivi . sed imaginabile non est , saltationem illam à vacuo nasci posse . b. this phaenomenon he likewise took notice of , and attempted to explicate in his above-mention'd dialogue , which gave me occasion in the 46th and 47th pages of my examen , to shew how unlikely 't is , that the vehement motion of the air should be the cause of it ; but he here tells us , that 't is not imaginable , that this dancing of the water ( as he is pleas'd to call it ) proceeds from a vacuum , nor do i know any man that ever pretended , that a vacuum was the efficient cause of it . but the vacuists perhaps will tell him , that , though the bubbling of the water be not an effect of a vacuum , it may be a proof of it against him ; for they will tell him , that it has been formerly proved , that a great part of the atmospherical air is by pumping remov'd out of our exhausted receiver , and consequently can no more , as formerly , press upon the surface of the water . nor does mr. hobbes shew what succeeds in the room of it ; and therefore it will be allowable , for them to conclude against him ( though not perhaps against the cartesians ) that there are a great many interspers'd vacuities left in the receiver , which are the occasion , though not the proper efficient cause , of the phaenomenon . for they will say , that the springy particles of the yet included air , having room to unbend themselves in the spaces deserted by the air that was pumpt out , the aerial and springy corpuscles , that lay conceal'd in the pores of the water , being now freed from the wonted pressure that kept them coil'd up in the liquor , expanded themselves into numerous bubbles , which , because of their comparative lightness , are extruded by the water , and many of them appear to have risen from the bottom of it . and mr. hobbes's vehement wind , to produce the several circumstances of this experiment , must be a lasting one . for , after the agitation of the pump has been quite left off , provided the external air be kept from getting in , the bubbles will sometimes continue to rise for an hour after . and that which agrees very well with our explication and very ill with that of mr hobbes's , is , that , when by having continued to pump a competent time , the water has been freed from the aerial particles that lurk'd in it before , though one continue to pump as lustily as he did , yet the water will not at all be cover'd with bubbles as it was , the air that produc'd them being spent ; though , according to mr. hobbes's explication , the wind in the receiver continuing , the dance of the water should continue too . a. i easily ghess , by what you have said already , what you may say of that epiphonema wherewith mr. hobbes ( in his 18th page ) concludes the explications of the phaenomena of your engine . [ spero jam te certum esse , says he , nullum esse machinae illius phaenomenon , quo demonstrari potest ullum in universo locum dari corpore omni vacuum . ] b. if you ghess'd aright , you ghess'd that i would say , that as to the phaenomena of my engine , my business was to prove , that he had not substituted good explications of them in the place of mine , which he was pleased to reject . and as for the proving a vacuum by the phaenomena of my engine , though i declar'd that was not the thing intended , yet i shall not wonder , that the vacuists should think those phaenomena give them an advantage against mr. hobbes . for , though in the passage recited by you he speak more cautiously than he is won to do , yet , by what you may have already observ'd in his argumentations , the way he takes to solve the phaenomena of our engine , is by contending , that our receiver , when we say it is almost exhausted , is as full as ever ( for he will have it perfectly full , ) of common air ; which is a conceit so contrary to i know not how many phaenomena , that i do not remember i have met with or heard of any naturalist , whether vacuist or plenist , that having read my physico-mechanical experiments and his dialogue , has embrac'd his opinion . a. after what you have said , i will not trouble you with what he subjoyns about vacuum in general , where having made his academian say , [ mundum scis finitum esse , & per consequens vacuum esse oportere totum illud spatium quod est extra mundum infinitum . quid impedit quo minus vacuum illud cum aere mundano permisceatur ? ] he answers : de rebus transmundanis nihil scio . for i know , that it concerns not you to take notice of it . but possibly the vacuists will think , he fathers upon them an impropriety they would not be guilty of , making them speak , as if they thought , the ultra-mundan vacuum were a real substance that might be brought into this world and mingled with our air. and since , for ought i know , mr. hobbes might have spar'd this passage , if he had not design'd it should introduce the slighting answer he makes to it ; i shall add , that by the account mr. hobbes has given of several phaenomena within the world , 't is possible , that the vacuists may believe his profession of knowing nothing of things beyond it . after the experimenta boyliana ( as your other adversary calls them ; ) mr : hobbes proceeds to the torricellian experiment , of which he thus discourses : a. quid de experimento censes torricelliano , probante vacuum per argentum vivum hoc modo : est in seq . figurae ad a , pelvis sive aliud vas , & in eo argentum vivum usque ad b ; est autem c d tubus vitreus concavus repletus quoque argento vivo . hunc tubum si digito obturaveris erexerisque in vase a , manumque abstuleris , descendet argentum vivum à c ; verùm non effundetur totum in pelvim , sed sistetur in distantia quadam , puta in d. nonne ergo necessarium est , ut pars tubi inter c & d sit vacua ? non enim puto negabis quin superficies tubi concava & argenti vivi convexa se mutuo exquisitissimè contingant . b. ego neque nego contactum , neque vim consequentiae intelligo . by which passage it seems that he still persists in the solution of this experiment , which he gave in his dialogue de natura aeris , and formerly did , for the main , either propose , or adopt , in his elements of philosophy . b. this opinion or explication of mr. hobbes i have , as far as concerns me , consider'd in the 36th , and some insuing pages , of my examen , to which it may well suffice me to refer you . but yet let me take notice of what he now alledges : b. si quis ( says he ) in argentum vivum , quod in vase est , vesicam immerserit inflatam , nonne illa amotâ manu emerget ? a. it a certè , etsi esset vesica ferrea vel ex materia quacunque praeter aurum . b. vides igitur ab aere penetrari posse argentum vivum . a. etiam , & quidem illâ ipsâ vi quam à pondere accipit argenti vivi . i confess this allegation did a little surprize me : it concern'd mr. hobbes to prove , that as much air , as was displac'd by the descending mercury , did at the orifice of the tube , immers'd in stagnant mercury , invisibly ascend to the upper part of the pipe . to prove this he tells us , that a bladder full of air being depress'd in quicksilver , will , when the hand that depress'd it is remov'd , be squeez'd up by the very weight of the mercury , whence it follows , that air may penetrate quicksilver . but i know not , who ever deny'd , that air inviron'd with quicksilver may thereby be squeez'd upwards ; but , since even very small bubbles of air may be seen to move in their passage through mercury , i see not , how this example will at all help the proposer of it . for 't is by meer accident , that the air included in the bladder comes to be buoy'd up , because the bladder it self is so ; and if it were fill'd with water instead of air , or with stone instead of water , it would nevertheless emerge , as himself confesses it would do , if it were made of iron , or of any matter besides gold , because all other bodies are lighter in specie than quicksilver . but since the emersion of the bladder is manifest enough to the sight , i see not how it will serve mr. hobbes's turn , who is to prove that the air gets into the torricellian tube invisibly ; since 't is plain , that even heedful observation can make our eyes discover no such trajection of the air ; which ( to add that inforcement of our argument ) must not only pass unseen through the sustained quicksilver , but must likewise unperceivedly dive , in spite of its comparative lightness , beneath the surface of the ponderous stagnant mercury , to get in at the orifice of the erected tube . but let us , if you please , hear the rest of his discourse about this experiment . a. though it be somewhat prolix , yet , according to my custom hitherto , i will give it you verbatim . b. simul atque argentum vivum descenderit ad d , altius erit in vase a quàm antè , nimirum plus erit argenti vivi in vase quàm erat ante descensum , tanto quantum capit pars tubi c , d. tanto quoque minus erit aeris extra tubum quàm ante erat . ille autem aer qui ab argento vivo loco suo extrusus est , ( suppositâ universi plenitudine ) quò abire potest nisi ad eum locum , qui in tubo inter c & d à descensu argenti vivi relinquebatur ? sed quâ , inquies , viâ in illum locum successurus est ? quà , nisi per ipsum corpus argenti vivi aerem urgentis ? sicut enim omne grave liquidum , sui ipsius pondere , aerem , quem descendendo prennt , ascendere cogit ( si via alia non detur ) per suum ipsius corpus ; ita quoque aerem quem premit ascendendo , ( si via alia non detur ) per suum ipsius corpus transire cogit . manifestum igitur est , supposità mundi plenitudine posse aerem externum ab ipsa gravitate argenti vivi cogi in locum illum inter c & d. itaque phaenomenon illud necessitatem vacus nondemonstrat . quoniam autem corpus argenti vivi penetrationi , quae fit ab aere , non nihil resistit , & ascensioni argenti vivi in vase a resistit aer ; quando illae duae resistentiae aequales erunt , tunc in tubo sistetur alicubi argentum vivum ; atque ibi est d. b. in answer to this explication i have in my examen propos'd divers things , which you may there meet with : and indeed his explication has appear'd so improbable to those that have written of this experiment , that i have not found it embrac'd by any of them , though , when divers of them oppos'd it , the phaenomena of our engine were not yet divulg'd . not then needlesly to repeat what has been said already , i shall on this occasion only add one experiment , that i afterwards made , and it was this : having made the torricellian experiment ( in a straight tube ) after the ordinary way , we took a little piece of a fine bladder , and raising the pipe a little in the stagnant mercury , but not so high as the surface of it , the piece of bladder was dexterously conveyed in the quicksilver , so as to be applied by ones finger to the immersed orifice of the pipe , without letting the air get into the cavity of it ; then the bladder was tyed very straight and carefully to the lower end of the pipe , whose orifice ( as we said ) it cover'd before , and then the pipe being slowly lifted out of the stagnant mercury , the impendent quicksilver appear'd to lean but very lightly upon the bladder , being so near an exact aequilibrium with the atmosperical air , that , if the tube were but a very little inclin'd , whereby the gravitation of the quicksilver , being not so perpendicular , came to be somewhat lessen'd , the bladder would immediately be driven into the orifice of the tube , and to the eye , plac'd without , appear to have acquir'd a concave superficies instead of the convex it had before . and when the tube was re-erected , the bladder would no longer appear suck'd in , but be again somewhat protuberant . and if , when the mercury in the pipe was made to descend a little below its station into the stagnant mercury , if , i say , at that nick of time the piece of bladder were nimbly and dexterously apply'd , as before , to the immers'd orifice , and fasten'd to the sides of the pipe , upon the lifting the instrument out of the stagnant mercury , the cylinder of that liquor being now somewhat short of its due height , was no longer able fully to counterpoise the weight of the atmospherical air , which consequently , though the glass were held in an erected posture , would press up the bladder into the orifice of the pipe , and both make and maintain there a cavity sensible both to the touch and the eye . a. what did you mainly drive at in this experiment ? b. to satisfie some ingenious men , that were more diffident of , than skilful in , hydrostaticks , that the pressure of the external air is capable of sustaining a cylinder of 29 or 30 inches of mercury , and upon a small lessening of the gravitation of that ponderous liquor , to press it up higher into the tube . but a farther use may be made of it against mr. hobbes's pretension . for , when the tube is again erected , the mercury will subside as low as at first , and leave as great a space as formerly was left deserted at the top ; into which how the air should get to fill it , will not appear easie to them , that , like you and me , know by many tryals , that a bladder will rather be burst by air than grant it passage . and if it should be pretended , either that some air from without had yet got through the bladder , or that the air , that they may presume to have been just before included between the bladder and the mercury , made its way from the lower part of the instrument to the upper ; 't is obvious to answer , that 't is no way likely , that it should pass all along the cylinder unseen by us ; since , when there are really any aerial bubbles , though smaller than pins heads , they are easily discernible . and in our case , there is no such resistance of the air to the ascension of the stagnant mercury , as mr. hobbes pretends in the torricellian experiment made the usual way . a. but , whatever becomes of mr. hobbes's explication of the phaenomenon ; yet may not one still say , that it affords no advantage to the vacuists against him ? b. whether or no it do against other plenists , i shall not now consider ; but i doubt , the vacuists will tell mr. hobbes , that he is fain in two places of the explication , we have read , to suppose the plenitude of the world , that is , to beg the thing in question , which 't is not to be presum'd they will allow . a. but may not mr. hobbes say , that 't is as lawful for him to suppose a plenum , as for them to suppose a vacuum . b. i think he may justly say so ; but 't is like they will reply , that , in their way of explicating the torricellian experiment , they do not suppose a vacuum at to air , but prove it . for they shew a great space , that having been just before fill'd with quicksilver , is now deserted by it , though it appeared not , that any air succeeded in its room ; but rather , that the upper end of the tube is either totally or near totally so devoid of air , that the quicksilver may without resistance , by barely inclining the tube , be made to fill it to the very top : whereas mr. hobbes is fain to have recourse to that which he knows they deny , the plenitude of the world , not proving by any sensible phaenomena , that there did get in through the quicksilver air enough to fill the deserted part of the tube , but only concluding , that so much air must have got in there , because , the world being full , it could find no room any where else ; which the vacuists will take for no proof at all , and the cartesians , though plenists , who admit an etherial matter capable of passing through the pores of glass , will , i doubt , look upon but as an improper explication . a. i remember on this occasion another experiment of yours , that seems unfavourable enough to mr. hobbes's explication , and you will perhaps call it to mind when i tell you , that 't was made in a bended pipe almost fill'd with quicksilver . b. to see whether we understand one another , i will briefly describe the instrument i think you mean. we took a cylindrical pipe of glass , clos'd at the upper end , and of that length , that being dexterously bent at some inches from the bottom , the shorter legg was made as parallel as we could to the longer : in this glass we found an expedient , ( for 't is not easie to do , ) to make the torricellian experiment , the quicksilver in the shorter legg serving instead of the stagnant quicksilver in the usual baroscope , and the quicksilver in the longer legg reaching above that in the shorter about eight or nine and twenty inches . then , by another artifice , the shorter legg , into which the mercury did not rise within an inch of the top , was so order'd , that it could in a trice be hermetically seal'd , without disordering the quicksilver . and this is the instrument that i ghess you mean. a. it is so , and i remember , that it is the same with that , which in the paradox about suction you call , whilst the shorter legg remains unseal'd , a travelling baroscope . but when i saw you make the experiment , that legg was hermetically seal'd , an inch of air in its natural or usual consistence being left in the upper part of it , to which air you outwardly applied a pair of heated tongs . b. yet that , which i chiefly aim'd at in the trial , was not the phaenomenon i perceive you mean ; for , my design was , by breaking the ice for them , to encourage some , that may have more skill and accommodation than i then had , to make an attempt that i did not find to have been made by any ; namely , to reduce the expensive force of heat in every way included air , if not in some other bodies also , to some kind of measure , and , if 't were possible , to determin it by weight . and i presumed , that at least the event of my tryal would much confirm several explications of mine , by shewing , that heat is able , as long as it lasts , very considerably to increase the spring or pressing power of the air. and in this conjecture i was not mistaken ; for , having shut up , after the manner newly recited , a determinate quantity of uncomprest air , which , ( in the experiment you saw , ) was about one inch ; we warily held a pair of heated tongs near the outside of the glass , ( without making it touch the instrument , for fear of breaking it , ) whereby the air being agitated was enabled to expand it self to double its former dimensions , and consequently had its spring so strengthen'd by heat , that it was able to raise all the quicksilver in the longer legg , and keep up or sustain a mercurial cylinder of about nine and twenty inches high , when by its expansion it would , if it had not been for the heat , have lost half the force of its elasticity . but whatever i design in this experiment , pray tell me , what use you would make of it against mr. hobbes . a. i believe , he will find it very difficult to shew , what keeps the mercury suspended in the longer legg of the travelling baroscope , when the shorter legg is unstopt , at which it may run out ; since this instrument may , as i have try'd , be carried to distant places , where it cannot with probability be pretended , that any air has been displac'd by the fall of the quicksilver in the longer legg , which perhaps fell long before above a mile off . and when the shorter legg is feal'd , it will be very hard for mr. hobbes to shew there the odd motions of the air , to which he ascribes the torricellian experiment . for , if you warily incline the instrument , the quicksilver will rise to the top of the longer legg , and immediately subside , when the instrument is again erected , and yet no air appears to pass through the quicksilver interpos'd between the ends of the longer and the shorter legg . but that which i would chiefly take notice of in the experiment , is , that upon the external application of a hot body to the shorter legg of the baroscope , when 't was seal'd up , the included air was expanded from one inch to two , and so rais'd the whole cylinder of mercury in the longer legg , and , whilst the heat continued undiminished , kept it from subsiding again . for , if the air were able to get unseen through the body of the quicksilver , why had it not been much more able , when rarified by heat , to pass through the quicksilver , than for want of doing so to raise and sustain so weighty a cylinder of mercury ? i shall not stay to inquire on this occasion , how mr. hobbes will , according to his hypothesis , explicate the rarefaction of the air to double its former dimensions , and the condensation of it again ; especially since , asserting that part of the upper legg , that is unfill'd with the quicksilver , to be perfectly full of air , he affirms that , which i doubt he cannot prove , and which may very probably be disproved by the experiment you mention in the discourse about suction , where you shew , to another purpose , that in a travelling baroscope , whose shorter legg is seal'd , if the end of the longer legg be open'd , whereby it comes indeed to be fill'd with air , the pressure of that air will enable the subjacent mercury notably to compress the air included in the shorter legg . b. i leave mr. hobbes to consider what you have objected against his explication of the torricellian experiment ; to which i shall add nothing , though perhaps i could add much , because i think it may be well spared , and our conference has lasted long already . a. i will then proceed to the last experiment recited by mr. hobbes in his problemata de vacuo . a. si phialam , collum habentem longiusculum , candèmque omni corpore praeter aerem vacuam ore sugas , continuoque phialae os aquae immergas , videbis aquam aliquousque ascendere in phialam . quî fieri hoc potest nisi factum sit vacuum ab exuctione aeris , in cujus locum possit aqua illa ascendere ? b. concesso vacuo , oportet quaedam loca vacua fuisse in illo aere , etiam qui erat intra phialam ante suctionem . cur ergo non ascendebat aqua ad ea implenda absque suctione ? is qui sugit phialam , neque in ventrem quicquam , neque in pulmones , neque in os è phiala exugit . quid ergo agit ? aerem commovet , & in partibus ejus conatum sugendo efficit per os exeundi , & non admittendo , conatum redeundi . ab his conatibus contrariis componitur circumitio intra phialam , & conatus exeundi quaquaversum . itaque phialae ore aquae immerso , aer in subject am aquam penetrat è phiala egrediens , & tantundem aquae in phialam cogit . praeterea vis illa magna suctionis facit , ut sugentis labra cum collo phialae aliquando arctissimè cohaereant propter contactum exqusitissimum . b. as to the first clause of mr. hobbes's account of our phaenomenon , the vacuists will easily answer his question by acknowledging , that there were indeed interspers'd vacuities in the air contain'd in the vial before the suction ; but they will add , there was no reason , why the water should ascend to fill them , because , being a heavy body , it cannot rise of it self , but must be raised by some prevalent weight or pressure , which then was wanting . besides , that there being interspers'd vacuities as well in the rest of the air that was very near the water , as in that contained in the vial , there was no reason , why the water should ascend to fill the vacuities of one portion of air rather than those of another . but when once by suction a great many of the aerial corpuscles were made to pass out of the vial , the spring of the remaining air being weaken'd , whilst the pressure of the ambient air , which depends upon its constant gravity , is undiminished , the spring of the internal becomes unable to resist the weight of the external air , which is therefore able to impel the interpos'd water with some violence into the cavity of the glass , 'till the air , remaining in that cavity , being reduced almost to its usual density , is able by its spring , and the weight of the water got up into the vial , to hinder any more water from being impell'd up . for , as to what mr. hobbes affirms , that , is qui su git phialam neque in ventrem quicquam , neque in pulmones , neque in os quicquam exugit : how it will agree with what he elsewhere delivers about suction . i leave him to consider . but i confess , i cannot but wonder at his confidence , that can positively assert a thing so repugnant to the common sentiments of men of all opinions , without offering any proof for it . but i suppose , they that are by tryal acquainted with sucking , and have felt the air come in at their mouths , will prefer their own experience to his authority . and as to what he adds , that the person that sucks agitates the air , and turns it within the vial into a kind of circulating wind , that endeavours every where to get out ; i wish , he had shewn us by what means a man that sucks makes this odd commotion of the air ; especially in such vials as i use to employ about the experiment , the orifice of whose neck is sometimes less than a pins head . a. that there may be really air extracted by suction out of a glass , me thinks you might argue from an experiment i saw you make with a receiver which was exhausted by your pump , and consequently by suction . for i remember , when you had counterpois'd it with very good scales , and afterwards by turning a stop-cock , let in the outward air , there rush'd in as much air to fill the space that had been deserted by the air pumpt out , as weighed some scruples ( consisting of twenty grains a piece ) though the receiver were not of the largest size . b. you did well to add that clause ; for , the magdobargic experiment , mentioned by the industrious schottus , having been made with a vast receiver , the readmitted air amounted to a whole ounce and some drachms . but to return to mr. hobbes , i fear not that he will perswade you , that have seen the experiment he recites , that as soon as the neck of the vial is unstopt under water , the air , that whitl'd about before , makes a sally out , and forces in as much water . for , if the orifice be any thing large , you will , instead of feeling an endeavour to thrust away your finger that stopt it , find the pulp of your finger so thrust inward , that a peripatetick would affirm that he felt it suckt in . and that intrusion may be the reason , why the lip of him that sucks is oftentimes strongly fasten'd to the orifice of the vials neck , which mr. hobbes ascribes to a most exquisit contact , but without clearly telling us , how that extraordinary contact is effected . and when your finger is removed , instead of perceiving any air go out of the vial through the water , ( which , if any such thing happen , you will easily discover by the bubbles , ) you shall see the water briskly spring up in a slender stream to the top of the vial , which it could not do , if the cavity were already full of air. and to let you see , that , when the air does really pass in or out of the vial immers'd under water , 't is very easie to perceive its motions , if you dip the neck of the vial in water , and then apply to the globulous part of it either your warm hands or any other competent heat , the internal air being rarified ; you shall see a portion of it , answerable to the degree of heat you applied , manifestly pass through the water in successive bubbles , whilst yet you shall not see any water get into the vial to supply the place deserted by that air. and if , when you have ( as you may do by the help of sucking ) fill'd the neck and part of the belly of the vial with water , you immerse the orifice into stagnant water , and apply warm hands to the globulous part as before , you will find the water in the vial to be driven out , before any bubbles pass out of the vial into the surrounding water ; which shews , that the air is not so forward to dive under the water , ( and much less under so ponderous a liquor as quicksilver , ) as mr. hobbes has supposed . a. that 't is the pressure of the external air , that ( surmounting the spring of the internal ) drives up the water into the vial we have been speaking of , does , i confess , follow upon your hypothesis : but an experimentarian philosopher , as mr. hobbes calls you among others , may possibly be furnished with an experiment to confirm this to the eye . b. you bring into my mind what i once devised to confirm my hypothesis about suction , but found a while since that i had omitted it in my discourse about that subject . and therefore i shall now repeat to you the substance at least of the memorial that was written of that experiment , by which the great interest of the weight of the atmospherical air in suction will appear , and in which also some things will occur , that will not well agree with mr. hobbes's explication , and prevent some of his allegations against mine . a. having not yet met with an experiment of this nature , such an one as you speak of will be welcome to me . b. we took a glass bubble , whose long stem was both very slender and very cylindrical ; then by applying to the outside of the ball or globulous part a convenient heat , we expell'd so much of the air , as that , when the end of the pipe was dipt in water , and the inward air had time to recover its former coolness , the water ascended either to the top of the pipe or very near it . this done , we gently and warily rarified the air in the cavity of the bubble , 'till by its expansion it had driven out almost all the water that had got up into the stem , that so it might attain as near as could be to that degree of heat and measure of expansion , that it had when the water began to rise in it . and we were careful to leave two or three drops of water unexpell'd at the bottom of the pipe , that we might be sure , that none of the included air was by this second rarefaction driven out at the orifice of it ; as the depression of the water so low assured us , on the other side , that the included air wanted nothing considerable of the expansion it had when the water began to ascend into the pipe . whilst the air was in this rarified state , we presently removed the little instrument out of the stagnant water into stagnant quicksilver , which in a short time began to rise in the pipe . now , if the ascension of the liquor were the effect of natures abhorrence of a vacuum ; or of some internal principle of motion ; or of the compression and propagated pulsion of the outward air by that which had been expell'd ; why should not the mercury have ascended to the top of the pipe , as the water did before ? but de facto it did not ascend half , or perhaps a quarter so far ; and if the pipe had been long enough , as well as 't was slender enough , i question , whether the mercury would have ascended ( in proportion to the length of the stem ) half so high as it did . now of this experiment , which we tryed more than once , i see not , for the reason lately express'd , how any good account will be given without our hypothesis , but according to that 't is clear . a. i think i perceive why you say so ; for the ascension of liquors being an effect of the prevalency of the external airs pressure against the resistance it meets with in the cavity of the instrument , and the quicksilver being bulk for bulk many times heavier than water , the same surplusage of pressure that was able to impel up water to the top of the pipe , ought not to be able to impel up the quicksilver to any thing near that height . and if it be here objected , as it very plausibly may be , that the raised cylinder of mercury was much longer than it ought to have been in reference to a cylinder of water , the proportion in gravity between those two liquors ( which is almost that of fourteen to one ) being considered ; i answer , that when the cylinder of water reach'd to the pipe , the air possess'd no more than the cavity of the globulous part of the instrument , being very little assisted to dilate it self by so light a cylinder as that of water : but when the quicksilver came to be impell'd into the instrument by the weight of the external air , that ponderous body did not stop its ascent as soon as it came to be equiponderant to the formerly expell'd cylinder of water ; because , to attain that height , it reached but a little way into the pipe , and left all the rest of the cavity of the pipe to be fill'd with part of that air , which formerly was all shut up in the cavity of the bubble ; by which means the air , included in the whole instrument , must needs be in a state of expansion , and thereby have its spring weakened , and consequently disabled to resist the pressure of the external air , as much as the same included air did before , when it was less rarified ; on which account , the undiminished weight or pressure of the external air was able to raise the quicksilver higher and higher , 'till it had obtained that height , at which the pressure , compounded of the weight of the mercurial cylinder and the spring of the internal air ( now less rarified than before , ) was equivalent to the pressure of the atmosphere or external air. b. you have given the very explication i was about to propose ▪ wherefore i shall only add , that , to confirm this experiment by a kind of inversion of it , we drove by heat a little air out of the bubble , and dipt the open end of the pipe into quicksilver , which by this means we made to ascend 'till it had fill'd about a fourth part or less of the pipe , when that was held erected . then carefully removing it without letting fall any quicksilver , or letting in any air , we held the orifice of the pipe a little under the surface of a glass full of water , and applying a moderate heat to the outside of the ball , we warily expell'd the quicksilver , yet leaving a little of it to make it sure that no air was driven out with it ; then suffering the included air to cool , the external air was found able to make the water not only ascend to the very top of the pipe , and thence spread it self a little into the cavity of the ball , but to carry up before it the quicksilver that had remained unexpell'd at the bottom of the stem . and if in making the experiment we had first raised , as we sometimes did , a greater quantity of quicksilver , and afterwards drove it out , the quantity of water , that would be impell'd into the cavity of the pipe and ball , would be accordingly increased . a. in this experiment 't is manifest , that something is driven out of the cavity of the glass before the water or quicksilver begins to ascend in it : and here also we see not , that the air can pass through the pores of quicksilver or water , but that it drives them on before it , without sensibly mixing with them . in this experiment there appears not at all any circular wind , as mr. hobbes fancies in the suckt vial we are disputing of , nor any tendency outwards of the included air upon the account of such a wind ; but , instead of these things , that the ascension of the liquors into the cavity of the pipe depends upon the external air , pressing up the liquors into that cavity , may be argu'd by this , that the same weight of the atmosphere impell'd up into the pipe so much more of the lighter liquor , water , than of the heavier liquor , mercury . b. you have said enough on this experiment ; but 't is not the only i have to oppose to mr. hobbes his explication : for , that there is no need of the sallying of air out of a vial , to make the atmospherical air press against a body that closes the orifice of it , when the pressure of the internal air is much weakened ; i have had occasion to shew some virtuosi , by sucking out , with the help of an instrument , a considerable portion of the air contained in a glass ; for having then , instead of unstopping the orifice under water , nimbly applied a flat body to it , the external air press'd that body so forcibly against it , as to keep it fastened and suspended , though 't were clogg'd with a weight of many ounces . a. another experiment of yours mr. hobbes's explication brings into my mind , by which it appears , that , if there be such a circular wind , as he pretends , produced by suction in the cavity of the vial , it must needs be strangely lasting . for i have seen more than once , that , when you have by an instrument suckt much of the air out of a vial , and afterwards carefully closed it , though you kept the slender neck of it stopt a long time , perhaps for some weeks or months , yet when 't was open'd under water , a considerable quantity of the liquor would be briskly impell'd up into the neck and belly of the vial. so that , though i will not be so pleasant with mr. hobbes , as to mind you on this occasion of those writers of natural magick , that teach us to shut up articulate , sounds in a vessel , which being transported to a distant place and open'd there , will render the words that are committed to it ; yet i must needs say , that so lasting a circular wind , as , according to mr. hobbes , your experiments exhibited , may well deserve our wonder . b. your admiration would perchance increase , if i should assure you , that having with the sun-beams produced smoak in one of those well-stopt vials , this circular wind did not at all appear to blow it about , but suffered it to rise , as it would have done if the included air had been very calm . and now i shall add but one experiment more , which will not be liable to some of the things as invalid as they are , which mr. hobbes has alledged in his account of the vial , and which will let you see , that the weight of the atmospherical air is a very considerable thing ; and which may also incline you to think , that , whilst mr. hobbes does not admit a subtiler matter than common air to pass through the pores of close and solid bodies , the air he has recourse to will sometimes come too late to prevent a vacuum . the experiment , which was partly accidental , i lately found registred to this sense , if not in these words : [ having , to make some discovery of the weight of the air , and for other purposes , caus'd an aeolipile , very light considering its bulk , to be made by a famous artist , i had occasion to put it so often into the fire for several tryals , that at length the copper scal'd off by degrees , and left the vessel much thinner than when it first came out of the artificers hands ; and a good while after , this change in the instrument being not in my thoughts , i had occasion to imploy it , as formerly , to weigh how many grains it would contain of the air at such a determinate constitution of the atmosphere , as was to be met with , where i then chanced to be . for the making this experiment the more exactly , the air was by a strong , but warily applied , fire so carefully driven away , that , when clapping a piece of sealing-wax to the pin-hole , at which it had been forced out , we hindred any communication betwixt the cavity of the instrument and the external air , we suppos'd the aeolipile to be very well exhausted , and therefore laid it by , that , when it should be grown cold , we might , by opening the orifice with a pin , again let in the outward air , and observe the encrease of weight that would thereupon ensue : but the instrument , that , as i was saying , was grown thin , had been so diligently freed from air , that the very little that remain'd , and was kept by the wax from receiving any assistance from without , being unable by its spring to assist the aeolipile to support the weight of the ambient air ; this external fluid did by its weight press against it so strongly , that it compress'd it , and thrust it so considerably inwards , and in more than one place so chang'd its figure , that , when i shew'd it to the virtuosi that were assembled at gresham-colledge , they were pleased to command it of me to be kept in their repository , where i presume it is still to be seen . finis . new experiments about the preservation of bodies in vacuo boyliano . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by william godbid , and are to be sold by moses pitt , at the angel over against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28939-e150 credo , ( says mr. hobbes in his dialogus physicus : ) nam motus hic restitutionis , hobbii est , & ab illo primo & solo explicatus in lib. de corpore , cap. 21. art. 1. sine qua hypothesi , quantuscunque labor , ars , sumptus , ad rerum naturaliū invisibiles causas inveniendas adbibeatur , frustra erit . and speaking of the gentleman ( to whom it were not here proper for me so give e●ithe●es ) that us'd to meet at gresham-college , and are known by the name of the royal secrety , he thus treats them and their way of inquiring into nature : conveniant , studia conferant , experimenta faciant quantum volunt , nisi & principiis utantur mess , nihil proficient . a. pateris ergo nihil bactenus à collegis tuis promotam esse scientium causarum naturalium , nisi quod unus eorum machinam invenerit , quâ motus excitari aeris possit talis , ut partes sphaerae simul undiquaque tendant ad centrum , & ut hypotheses hobbianae , antè quidem satis probabiles , hinc reddantur probabiliores . b. nec fateri pudet ; nam est aliqu●d prodire tenus , si non datur ultra . a. quid tinus ? quorsum autem tantus apparatus & sumptus machinarum factu difficilium , ut eatenus tantum productis quantum ante prodi●rat hobbius ? cut non inde potius incepistis ubi ille desiit ? cur principiis ab illo positis non estis usi ? cumque aristoteles recte dixit , ignorato motu ignorari naturam , &c. — ad causas autem , propter quas proficere ne pau●usum quidem potuistis , nec poter●tis , accedunt etiam ●liae , ut odium hobbii , &c. de nat. aeris , p. 13. of the high veneration man's intellect owes to god, peculiarly for his wisedom and power by a fellow of the royal society. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1685 approx. 127 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 60 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29013 wing b4009 estc r10996 11683391 ocm 11683391 48133 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29013) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48133) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 15:12) of the high veneration man's intellect owes to god, peculiarly for his wisedom and power by a fellow of the royal society. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [4], 115 p. printed by m.f. for richard davis ..., london : 1685. attributed to robert boyle. cf. bm. reproduction of original in cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng god -attributes -early works to 1800. god -worship and love -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2006-07 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion of the high veneration man's intellect owes to god ; peculiarly for his wisedom and power . by a fellow of the royal society . london , printed by m. f. for richard davis , bookseller in oxford . 1685. advertisements . the abrupt beginning of the following paper will not ( 't is hop'd ) be wonder'd at , when 't is declar'd , that the whole excursion is to be look'd upon as a fragment of a discourse , from which , for certain reasons , it has been separated in its present form. in which it ought to pass but for a rough draught , the nobleness , sublimity and sacredness of the subject , not allowing the authour to presume , that the first thoughts he committed to paper about it , might be for good and all parted with by him , till he shall have heedfully revis'd and corrected them ; and left in them as few faults , as the disproportion of so vast and sublime a subject to his slender abilities , will permit . the loose sheets this paper consists of , having been written at somewhat distant times and places , and hastily tack'd together ; so that when the latter sheets were penning the former were often not at hand : 't is hop'd that if some few things should chance to be either misplaced or repeated , the fault will be thought venial , and be more easily excused than it could in the authour's circumstances be avoided . and lastly ; notice is to be given , that those other long passages that are included in * paratheses , may with the authour's consent ( or rather by his desire ) be skip'd over ; being but conjectural thoughts , written and inserted for the sake of a virtuoso , that is a great friend to such kind of adventurous speculations . of the high veneration man's intellect owes to god. 1. upon this occasion i shall take leave to declare , that 't is not without some indignation , as well as wonder , that i see many men , and some of them divines too , who little considering what god is , and what themselves are , presume to talk of him and his attributes as freely and as unpremeditately , as if they were talking of a geometrical figure , or a mechanical engine . so that even the less presumptuous discourse , as if the nature and perfections of that unparalleled being , were objects that their intellects can grasp ; and scruple not to dogmatize about those abstruse subjects , as freely as about other things , that are confessedly within the reach of humane reason , or perhaps are to be found among the more familiar objects of sense . 2. the presumption and inconsiderateness of these men might be manifested by divers considerations , if i had leasure to insist on them ; but at present i shall employ but these two ; 1. that 't is probable god may have divers attributes , and consequently perfections , that are as yet unknown to us ; and 2ly , that of those attributes that we have already some knowledge of , there are effects and properties whose sublimity or abstruseness surpassing our comprehension , makes the divine cause or atuhour of them deserve our highest wonder and veneration . 3. to begin with the first of these ; whereas there are two chief ways to arrive at the knowledge of god's attributes ; the contemplation of his works , and the study of his word ; i think it may be doubted whether either or both of these , will suffice to acquaint us with all his perfections . 4. for , first , though philosophers have rationally deduc'd , the power , wisdom and goodness of god from those impresses of them that he hath stampt upon divers of his visible works ; yet since the divine attributes which the creatures point at , are those whereof themselves have some , though but imperfect , participation , or resemblance : and since the foecundity ( if i may so speak ) of the divine nature is such , that its excellencies may be participated or represented in i know not how many ways ; how can we be sure that so perfect and exuberant a being may not have excellencies , that it hath not expressed or adumbrated in the visible world , or any parts of it that are known to us ? 5. this will be the more easily granted if we consider , that there are some of those divine attributes we do know ; which being relative to the creatures , could scarce , if at all , be discovered by such imperfect intellects as ours , save by the consideration of some things actually done by god. as , supposing that just before the foundations of the visible world were laid , the angels were not more knowing than men now are , they could scarce think that there was in god a power of creating matter ( which few , if any at all of the peripateticks , epicureans , to omit others of the ancient philosophers , seem ever to have dreamt of ) and of producing in it local motion , especially considering the puzzleing difficulties that attend the conception of the very nature and being of the one , and of the other . and much less ( as far as we can conjecture ) could the angels spoken of , have known how the rational soul and humane body act upon one another . whence it seems probable , that if god have made other worlds , or rather vortices , than that which we live in , and are surrounded by , ( as who can assure us that he hath not ? ) he may have displayed in some of the creatures that compose them , divers attributes that we have not discover'd by the help of those works of his that we are acquainted with . but of this more hereafter . 6. i readily grant , ( that i may proceed now to the second help to acquire the knowledge of the divine attributes ) that the revelations god hath vouchsafed us in the holy scripture ( which we owe to that spirit which searcheth all things even 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the depths of god ) have clearly taught us divers things concerning their adorable authour , which the mere light of nature either would not have shewn us at all , or would have but very dimly discovered to us . but the scripture tells us indeed , that the promulgators of the gospel declared to men the whole counsel of god ( as far as was necessary for their salvation ) but never says , that they disclosed to them , the whole nature of god ; who is said to inhabite an unapproachable light , which humane speculations cannot penetrate . upon which score perhaps it was , that the jews would have the proper name of god to be ineffable , to signify , that his nature is incomprehensible . and , though i will not adopt their opinion , yet i cannot but take notice , that 't is at least no mere talmudical tradition , since we find not , that either our saviour himself , or his apostles ( who are introduced so frequently making mention of god in the new testament ) expressed in speaking either to him , or of him , the nomen tetragrammaton ( or four-letter'd name ! ) but not to insist on conjectures ; the scripture it self that brings so much light to things divine , that the gospel is called light in the abstract , the scripture , i say , informs us , that in this life we know but in part , and see things but darkly as in a glass ; and that we are so far from being able to find out god to perfection , as to his nature and attributes , that even the ways of his providence are to us untraceable . 7. these are some of the considerations that inclined me to think that god may have attributes that are not known to us . and this opinion perhaps will appear the more allowable , because of what i am going to add in answer to a weighty objection . for i know it may be alledged , that besides the two ways i have mentioned of attaining to the knowledge of god's attributes , there may be a third way preferable to both the others , and that is , by considering the idea of a being supremely or infintiely perfect ; in which idea it may be alledg'd , that all possible perfections are contained ; so that no new one can be added to it . but though i readily grant , that this idea is the most genuine that i am able to frame of the deity ; yet there may be divers attributes which though they are indeed in a general way contained in this idea , are not in particular discovered to us by it . 't is true that when , by any means whatsoever , any divine perfection comes to our knowledge , we may well conclude , that 't is in a sense comprized in the comprehensive notion we have of a being absolutely perfect ; but 't is possible that that perfection would never have come to our knowledge , by the bare contemplation of that general idea , but was suggested by particularities ; so that such discoveries are not so much deriv'd from , as refer'd to , the notion we are speaking of . the past considerations have , i presume , persuaded you , that god may have , as divers attributes , so divers excellencies and perfections , that are not known to us . it will therefore now be seasonable to indeavour to shew you , that of divers of the attributes we do know that he hath , we men have but an imperfect knowledge ; especially in comparison of that he has of them . which is not to be wondred at : since he possesses them in a manner or a degree peculiar to himself , and far transcending that wherein we men possess them , or rather some saint resemblances of them . it would be very unsutable to my intended brevity , and more disproportionate to my small abilities , to attempt the making this good by insisting particularly on all the divine excellencies that we are in some measure acquainted with . i therefore hope it may suffise to instance in a couple of the most known ones ; god's power , and his wisedom . which two i pitch upon , as being those that men are wont to look on as the principal , and for which they have the greatest admiration and respect , because we are not able to confer them on our selves ; as we think we can divers other vertues and perfections . for every man easily believes that he may be as chaste , as temperate , as just , and in a word , as good , as he pleases ; those vertues depending on his own will ; but he is sensible that he cannot be as knowing , as wise , and as powerfull , as he would . and thence he not irrationally concludes , that power and wisedom slow from , and argue , an excellency and superiority of nature or condition . the power and wisedom of god display themselves by what he does in reference both to his corporeal , and his incorporeal creatures . among the manifold effects of the divine power , my intended brevity will allow me to mention onely two or three , which , though to discerning eyes they be very manifest , are not wont to be very attentively reflected on . the immense quantity of corporeal substance that the divine power provided for the framing of the universe ; and the great force of the local motion that was imparted to it , and is regulated in it . and first ; the vastness of that huge mass of matter that the corporeal world consists of , cannot but appear stupendious to those that skilfully contemplate it . that part of the universe which has been already discovered by humane eyes , assisted with dioptrical glasses , is almost unconceiveably vast : as will be easily granted , if we assent to what the best astronomers , as well modern as ancient , scruple not to deliver . the sixt stars of the first magnitude , that to vulgar eyes look but like shining spangles , are by artists affirmed to exceed , each of them , above a hundred times in bigness the whole globe of the earth : and as little as these twinkling stars appear to our naked eyes , they do ( which probably you will think strange ) appear much lesser through our telescopes ; which taking off those false lights that make them look to our maimed sight as they are wont to be painted , shew them little otherwise than as speeks or physical points of light . and the sun , which is granted to be some millions of miles nearer to us than the other sixt stars are , though it seem at this lesser distance not to be half a foot broad ; is by the generality of mathematicians believ'd to be above a hundred and threescore times bigger than the earth . nay , according to the more recent calculations of some more accurate modern artists , 't is estimated to be eight or ten thousand times as big as the terraqueous globe , and by farther observation may perhaps be found yet much vaster . and it plainly appears by the parallaxes and other proofs , that this globe of earth and water that we inhabit , and often call the world ; though it be divided into so many great empires , and kingdoms , and seas , and though according to the received opinion it be 5400 german leagues in circuit , and consequently contain 10 , 882 , 080 , 000. cubick miles in solid measure , and according to the more modern observations have a greater circumference ( amounting to above 26000 miles : ) yet this globe , i say , is so far from being for its bulk , a considerable part of the universe , that without much hyperbole we may say that 't is in comparison thereof but a physical point . nay those far greater globes , of the sun and other fixt stars , and all the solid masses of the world to boot , if they were reduced into one , would perhaps bear a less proportion to the fluid part of the universe , than a nut to the ocean . which brings into my mind the sentence of an excellent modern astronomer , that the stars of the skie , if they were crouded into one body and placed where the earth is , would , if that globe were placed at a fit distance , appear to us no bigger than a star of the first magnitude now does . and after all this i must remind you , that i have been hitherto speaking but of that part of the corporeal universe that has been already seen by us . and therefore i must add that as vast as this is , yet all that the eye , even when powerfully promoted by prospective tubes , hath discovered to us , is far from representing the world of so great an extent , as i doubt not but more perfect telescopes hereafter will do . and even then the visible part of the world will be far enough from reaching to the bounds of the vniverse : to which the cartesians and some other modern philosophers will not allow men to set any ; holding the corporeal world to be ( as they love to speak ) indefinite , and beyond any bounds assignable by us men . 8. from the vast extent of the universe , i now proceed to consider the stupendious quantity of local motion , that the divine power has given the parts of it , and continually maintains in it . of this we may make some estimate by considering with what velocity some of the greater bodies themselves are mov'd , and how great a part of the remaining bodies of the universe , is also , though in a somewhat differing way , indow'd with motion . as for the first of these ; the least velocity that i shall mention , is that which is afforded by the copernican hypothesis : since according to that 't is the earth that moves from west to east about its own axis ; ( for it s other motions concern not this discourse ) in four and twenty hours . and yet this terraqueous globe which we think so great that we commonly call it the world , and which , as was lately noted , by the recenter computations of mathematicians is concluded to contain six or seven and twenty thousand miles in circuit ; some part of this globe , i say , moves at such a rate , that the learned gassendus confesses , that a point or place , situated in the aequator of the earth , does in a second minute move about two hundred toises or fathoms ; that is , twelve hundred feet : so that a bullet when shot out of a cannon , scarce slies with so great a celerity . 9. but , as i was saying , the motion of the earth is the least swift that i had to mention ; being indeed scarce comparable to the velocity of the fixt stars ; if , with the generality of astronomers , we suppose them to move in four and twenty hours about the earth . for supposing the distance assign'd by the famous tycho ( a more accurate observer than his predecessours ) between us and the firmament to be fourteen thousand semediameters of the earth , a fixt star in the aequator , does , as mullerius calculates it , move 3153333 miles in an hour , and consequently in a minute of an hour , fifty two thousand five hundred fifty five miles , and a second ( which is reckon'd to be near about a single pulsation or stroke of the artery of a healthy man ) 875 miles : which is about , if not above , three thousand times faster than a cannon bullet moves in the air. 't is true that according to the ptolomean hypothesis , a fixt star in the aequinoctial doth in a second move at most but three semediamiters of the earth ; but according to the learned and diligent ricciolus , this velocity ( of our fixt stars ) is fifty times greater than in the ptolomean hypothesis ; and threescore and ten times greater than in the tichonian hypothesis . for according to ricciolus , such a fixt star as we speak of , moves in a second minute ( or one beating of the pulse ) 157282 german leagues which amount to six hundred twenty nine thousand one hundred twenty eight english miles . and now i shall add ( what possibly you have not observ'd ) that that portion of the universe which commonly passes for quiescent , and yet has motion put into it ; is so great , that for ought i know , the quantity of motion distributed among these seemingly quiescent bodies , may equall if not exceed the quantity of motion the first mover has communicated to the fixt stars themselves , though we suppose them whirl'd about the earth with that stupendious swiftness that the ptolemeans and tychonians attribute to them . for i reckon that the fixt stars and planets , or if you please , all the mundane globes , whether lucid or opacous , of which last sort is the earth , do all of them together bear but a small proportion to the interstellar part of the vniverse . and though i should allow all these globes to be solid , notwithstanding that it can scarce be prov'd of any of them ; and the cartesians think the sun ( which they take to be a fixt star , and therefore probably of the same nature with the rest ) to be extremely fluid : though i should , i say , grant this ; yet it must be confess'd , that each of these solid globes swims in an ambient fluid of very much greater extent than it self is . so that the fluid portion of the universe will in bulk almost incomparably exceed the solid . and if we consider what is the nature of a fluid body , as such we shall find that it consists in having it's minute parts perpetually and variously mov'd , some this way and some that way ; so that though the whole body of a liquor seems to be at rest , yet the minute parts that compose that liquor , are in a restless motion ; continually shifting places amongst themselves , as has been amply shewn in a late tract intituled , the history of fluidity and firmness . 10. and because the quantity of motion shar'd by the corpuscles that compose fluid bodies is not usually reflected on even by philosophers ; 't will not be here amiss to add that how great and vehement a motion the parts of fluid bodies ( perhaps when the aggregates of those particles appear quiescent ) may be endowed with , we may be assisted to guess , by observing them when their ordinary motions happen to be disturb'd , or to be extraordinarily excited by fit conjunctures of circumstances . this may be observed in the strange force and effects of boisterous winds and whirlewinds , which yet are but streams and whirlepools of the invisible air , whose singly insensible parts are by accidental causes determined to have their motion made either in a streight or almost streight-line , or as it were about a common centre . but an instance much more conspicuous may be afforded by a mine charged with gunpowder ; where the flame or some subtile aethereal substance that is always at hand in the air , though both one and the other of them be a fluid body , and the powder perhaps be kindled but by one spark of fire , exerts a motion so rapid and furious , as in a trice is able to toss up into the air , whole houses and thick walls ; together with the firm soil , or perchance solid rocks , they were built upon . 11. but since the velocity of these discharged flames may be guess'd at , by that which the flame of gunpowder impresses on a bullet shot out of a well charg'd gun , which the diligent mersennus , who made several trials to measure it , defines to be about 75 toises , or fathoms ( that is , 450 foot ) in a second , being the 60th part of a minute : if we admit the probable opinion of the cartesians , that the earth and divers other mundane globes , as the planets , are turn'd about their own axes by the motion of the respective aethereal vortices or whirlepools , in which they swim , we shall easily grant that the motion of the celestial matter that moves , for instance , upon the remote confines of the earths vortex , is by a vast excess more rapid than that of the surface of the earth . and yet we formerly observ'd , that a place situated under the aequator does ( if the earth turns about its own axis ) move as swiftly as a bullet shot out of a cannon . but if we chuse rather the tychonian hypothesis , which makes the firmament with all the vast globes of light that adorn it to move about their common centre in 24 hours , the motions of the celestial matter must be allowed a far greater , and indeed a scarce imaginable rapidity . these things are mention'd , that we may have the more enlarg'd conceptions of the power as well as wisedom of the great creator , who has both put so wonderfull a quantity of motion into the universal matter and maintains it therein , and is able , not onely to set bounds to the raging sea , and effectually say to it , hitherto shalt thou come , and no farther , and here shall thy proud waves be stay'd , but , ( what is far more ) so to curb and moderate those stupendiously rapid motions of the mundane globes and intercurrent fluids , that neither the unwealdiness of their bulk , nor celerity of their motions , have made them exorbitate or fly out , and this for many ages ; during which no watch for a few hours , has gone so regularly . the sun , for instance , moving without swerving , under the same circular line that is call'd the ecliptick . and if the firmament it self , whose motion in the vulgar hypothesis is by much the most rapid in the world , do fail of exactly completing its revolution in 24 hours , that retardation is so regulated that since hipparchus's time , who liv'd 2000 years ago , the first star in aries , which was then near the beginning of it , is not yet come to the last degree of that sign . 12. after what hath been discoursed of the power of god , it remains , that i say something about his wisedom , that being the attribute to which those that have elevated understandings , are wont to pay the highest veneration , when they meet it even in men , where yet 't is still but very imperfect . the wisedom of god which saint paul somewhere justly styles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , manifold or multifarious , is express'd in two differing manners or degrees . for sometimes it is so manifestly display'd in familiar objects , that even superficial and almost careless spectators may take notice of it . but there are many other things wherein the treasures of wisedom and knowledge may be said to be hid ; lying so deep that they require an intelligent and attentive considerer to discover them . but though i think i may be allowed , to make this distinction , yet i shall not solicitously confine my self to it ; because in several things both these expressions of the divine wisedom , may be clearly observ'd . those objects of this wisedom that we shall at this time consider are of two sorts , the material and visible , and the invisible and immaterial creatures of god. in the first of these , whose aggregate , or collection makes up the corporeal world , commonly , call'd vniverse , i shall briefly take notice , of the excellent contrivance of particular bodies ; of the great variety , and consequently number , of them ; of their symmetry , as they are parts of the world ; and of the connexion and dependance they have in relation to one another . and though under the two first of these heads , i might as well as under the other two , take notice of many inanimate bodies , as well as of those that are endowed with vegetative and sensitive souls ( as naturalists commonly call them ; ) yet for brevities sake i shall here take notice onely , of that more perfect sort of living creatures that we call animals . 13. i. the contrivance of every animal , and especially of a humane body , is so curious and exquisite , that 't is almost impossible for any body , that has not seen a dissection well made and anatomically considered , to imagine or conceive how much excellent workmanship is display'd in that admirable engine . but of this having discours'd elsewhere more fully , i shall here onely tell you in a word ( and 't is no hyperbole ) that as st. paul said on another occasion . that the foolish things of god are wiser than men , and the weak things of god stronger than men. so we may say , that the meanest living creatures of god's making , are far more wisely contrived , than the most excellent pieces of workmanship that humane heads and hands can boast of . and no watch nor clock in the world , is any way comparable for exquisiteness of mechanism , to the body of even an ass or a frog . 14. ii. but god's wisedom is recommended as well by the variety , and consequently the number of the kinds of living creatures , as by the fabrick of each of them in particular . for the skill of humane architects and other artists is very narrow , and for the most part limited to one or to a few sorts of contrivements . thus many an architect can build a house well , that cannot build a ship : and ( as we daily see ) a man may be an excellent clock-maker , that could not make a good watch , and much less contrive well a fouling-piece , or a wind-mill . 15. but now the great author of nature has not onely created four principal sorts of living engins , namely beasts , birds , fishes and reptiles ; which differ exceedingly from one another , as the several regions or stages where they were to act their parts , required they should do ; but under each of these comprehensive genders are compriz'd i know not how many subordinate species of animals , that differ exceedingly from others of the same kind , according to the exigency of their particular natures . for not onely the fabrick of a beast ( as a lion ) is very differing from that of a bird , or a fish , ( as an eagle or a whale ; ) but in the same species the structure or mechanism of particular animals is very unlike . witness the difference between the parts of those beasts that chew the cud , and those that do not ; and between the hog and the hare , especially in their entrals ; and so between a parrot and a batt , and likewise between a whale , a star-fish , a lobster , and an oyster , ( to mention now no other instances . ) and if with divers philosophers both ancient and modern , we admit vegetables , into the rank of living creatures ; the number of these being so great , that above six thousand kinds of vegetables were many years ago reckon'd up ; the manifold displays of the divine mechanism , and so of its wisedom , will by that great variety of living engins , be so much the more conspicuous . 16. iii. that which much enhances the excellent contrivances to be met with in these automata , is the symmetry of all the various parts that each of them consists of . for an animal , though consider'd in his state of intireness , he is justly look'd upon as one engine ; yet really this total machine ( if i may so call it ) is a complex thing made up of several parts , which consider'd separately may pass each of them for a subordinate engine excellently sitted for this or that particular use . as an eye is an admirable optical instrument to enable a man to see ; and the hand is so well fram'd for a multitude of mechanical uses , that aristotle thought sit to call it the organ of organs , ( or instrument of instruments . ) it ought therefore highly to recommend the wisedom of the great yotser hakkol former of all things ( as the scripture styles him , ) that he has so fram'd each particular part of a man ( or other animal , ) as not to let the skill bestowed on that , hinder him from making that part or member it self , and every other , neither bigger nor less , nor ( in a word ) otherwise constituted , than was most expedient for the completeness and welfare of the whole animal . which manifests that this great artist had the whole fabrick under his eye at once ; and did at one view behold all that was best to be done , in order to the completeness of the whole animal , as well as to that of each member and other part , and admirably provided for them both at once . whereas many an excellent artificer , that is able to make a single engine very complete , may not be able to make it a commodious part of a complex or aggregate of engins . as 't is not every one that can make a good pump , that can make a good ship pump ; nor every chymist that can build an oven for a bake house , that can make one fit to be set up in a ship : and we see that our pendulum clocks , that are moved with weights , and go very regularly a-shore , cannot yet be brought to perform their office ( of constantly measuring of time ) when set up in a sayling ship. 17. iv. the fourth way by which god manifests his wisedom in his corporeal creatures , is , their mutual usefulness to one another , in a relation either of dependency or of coordination . this serviceableness may be considered , either as the parts of the animal have a relation to one another , and to the whole body they make up ; or as intire and distinct bodies have reference to or dependency on each other . to the first sort of utility belong the uses of the parts of the humane body , for instance ; which are so fram'd , that besides these publick offices or functions that some of them exercise for the good of the whole , as the stomach for concocting aliments , the brain for supplying animal spirits to move the limbs , and other parts , the kidneys to separate the superfluous serum of the bloud ; there are many other particular parts that have that subserviency to one another , that no despicable portion of the books of anatomy is employ'd in the mention of them . and divers consents of parts , and utilities that accrue from one to the other , are farther discovered by diseases , which primarily affecting one part or member of the body , discover that this or that other part has a dependance on it , or a particular relation to it , though perhaps not formerly taken notice of . to the second part of utility belong those parts that discriminate the sexes of animals , which ( parts ) have such a relation one to another in the male and the female , that 't is obvious they were made for the conjunction of both in order to the propagation of the species . i cannot here spend time to consider the fitness of the distance and situation of the sun , the obliquity of its motion under the ecliptick , and ( especially ) the compensations that nature makes by one thing for another , the excess of whose qualities would else be noxious to men , as the great heats and dryness that reign in many parts of the torrid zone and some neighbouring climates , would render those countries barren and uninhabitable , as the ancients thought them , if they were not kept from being so , by the etesians and the trade-winds , which blow regularly ( though not always the same way ) for a great part of the hottest seasons of the year , and are assisted by the length of the nights , by the copious and lasting rains that fall at set times , by the greatness of the rivers , ( some of them periodically overflowing their banks to great distances ) and by the winds that in many places blow in the night from the land seaward , and in the morning from the sea towards the land ; for these , and some other such things , do so moisten and refresh the ground , and contemperate the air , that in many of those climates which the ancients thought parch'd up and uninhabitable , there are large kingdoms and provinces that are both fruitfull and populous , and divers of them very pleasant too . but as i was saying , i cannot stay to prosecute what might be represented to shew the usefulness of many of god's other sensible works to the noblest kind of them men. but i shall rather content my self by adding a few lines , to point farther at the reference that god has been pleas'd to make many other things have to the welfare of men and other animals ; as we see that according to the usual course of nature , lambs , kids , and many other living creatures , are brought into the world at the spring of the year ; when tender grass and other nutritive plants are provided for their food . and the like may be observ'd in the production of silk-worms , whose eggs according to natures institution , are hatch'd when mulbury trees begin to bud , and put forth those leaves whereon these pretious insects are to feed ; the aliments being tender whilst the worms themselves are so , and growing more strong and substantial , as the insects increase in vigour and bulk . 18. there is one thing , which though it might perhaps have been more properly brought in before , must not here be pretermitted . for besides what was lately said of the excellent fabrick of the bodies of men and other animals , we may deservedly take notice how much more wonderfull than the structure of the grown body must be the contrivance of a semen animatum : since all the future parts , ( solid as well as soft , ) and the functions , and many of the actions ( and those to be variable pro re nata ) of the animal to be produc'd , must be durably delineated , and as it were couch'd in a little portion of matter , that seems homogeneous , and is unquastionably sluid . and that which much increases the wonder , is , that one of these latent impressions or powers , namely the plastick , or prolifick , is to lye dormant perhaps above thirty or forty years , and then to be able to produce many more such engins as is the animal it self . [ i have hitherto , among the corporeal works of god , taken notice onely of those productions of his power and wisedom that may be observ'd in the visible world. so that i may be allowed to consider farther , that not onely the peripateticks , but the generality of other philosophers , believe the world to be finite : and , though the cartesians will not say it is so , but chuse rather to call it indefinite , yet as it is elsewhere shewn , their opinion is rather a well meant piece of modesty , than a strict truth . for in reality , the world must every way have bounds , and consequently be finite , or it must not have bounds , and so be truely boundless , or , ( which is the same thing in other terms ) infinite . and if the world be bounded , then those that believe a deity , to whose nature it belongs to be of infinite power , must not deny that god is , and still was , able to make other worlds than this of ours . and the epicureans , who admitted no omnipotent maker of the world , but substituted chance and atomes in his stead , taught that by reason the causes sufficient to make a world , that is atomes and space , were not wanting ; chance has actually made many worlds , of which ours is but one ; and the cartesians must , according to their doctrine of the indefiniteness of corporeal substance , admit that our visible world , or if they please , vortex , by which i mean the greatest extent our eyes can reach to , is but a part , and comparatively but a very small one too , of the whole vniverse : which may extend beyond the utmost stars we can see , incomparably farther than those remotest visible bounds are distant from our earth . now if we grant with some modern philosophers , that god has made other worlds besides this of ours , it will be highly probable that he has there display'd his manifold wisedom , in productions very differing from those wherein we here admire it . and even without supposing any more than one universe : as all that portion of it that is visible to us , makes but a part of that vastly extended aggregate of bodies : so if we but suppose , that some of the celestial globes , whether visible to us , or plac'd beyond the reach of our sight , are peculiar systemes , the consideration will not be very different . for since the fix'd stars are many of them incomparably more remote than the planets , 't is not absurd to suppose that as the sun , who is the fix'd star nearest to us , has a whole systeme of planets that move about him , so some of the other fix'd stars may be each of them the centre , as it were , of another systeme of celestial globes : since we see that some planets themselves , that are determined by astronomers to be much inferiour in bigness to those fix'd stars i was speaking of , have other globes that do as it were depend on them , and move about them ; as , not to mention the earth that has the moon for its attendant , nor saturn that is not altogether unaccompanied , 't is plain that jupiter has no less than four satellites that run their courses about him. and 't is not to be pretermitted , that none of these lesser and secondary planets , ( if i may so call them ) that moves about saturn and jupiter is visible to the naked eye , and therefore they were all unknown to the ancient astronomers , who liv'd before the invention of telescopes . now , in case there be other mundane systemes ( if i may so speak ) besides this visible one of ours , i think it may be probably suppos'd that god may have given peculiar and admirable instances of his inexhausted wisedom in the contrivance and government of systemes , that for ought we know may be fram'd and manag'd in a manner quite differing , from what is observ'd in that part of the universe that is known to us . for besides that here on earth the loadstone is a mineral so differing in divers affections , not onely from all other stones , but from all other bodies , that are not magnetical , that this heteroclite mineral scarce seems to be originary of this world of ours , but to have come into it , by a remove from some other world or systeme ; i remember that some of the navigators that discovered america , took notice that at their first coming into some parts of it , though they found great store of animals and plants , yet they met with few of the latter , and scarce any of the former , of the same species with the living creatures of europe . 19. now in these other worlds ; besides that we may suppose that the original fabrick , or that frame into which the omniscient architect at first contriv'd the parts of their matter , was very differing from the structure of our systeme ; besides this , i say , we may conceive that there may be a vast difference betwixt the subsequent phoenomena , and productions observable in one of those systemes , from what regularly happens in ours , though we should suppose no more , than that two or three laws of local motion may be differing in those unknown worlds , from the laws that obtain in ours . for if we suppose , for instance , that every entire body , whether simple or compounded , great or small , retains always a motive power , ( as philosophers commonly think that the soul does , when it has mov'd the humane body ; and as the epicureans and many other philosophers think all atomes do , after they have impell'd one aonther ) this power of exciting motion in another body , without the movents loosing its own , will appear of such moment to those that duely consider , that local motion is the first and chiefest of the second causes that produce the phoenomena of nature : that they will easily grant that these phoenomena must be strangely diversifyed , by springing from principal causes so very differingly qualifyed . nor ( to add another way of varying motion ) is it absurd to conceive , that god may have created some parts of matter to be of themselves quiescent , ( as the cartesians and divers other philosophers suppose all matter to be in its own nature , ) and determin'd to continue at rest till some outward agent force it into motion : and yet that he may have endow'd other parts of the matter , with a power like that which the atomists , ascribe to their principles , of restlesly moving themselves , without loosing that power by the motion they excite in quiescent bodies . and the laws of this propagation of motion among bodies , may be not the same with those that are established in our world : so that but one half , or some lesser part , ( as a third , ) of the motion that is here communicated from a body of such a bulk and velocity , to another it finds at rest , or slowlier mov'd than it self , shall there pass from a movent to the body it impells ; though all circumstances , except the laws of motion , be suppos'd to be the same . nor is it so extravagant a thing , as at first it may seem , to entertain such suspicions as these . for in the common philosophy , besides that the notion and theory of local motion are but very imperfectly propos'd , there are laws or rules of it well , not to say at all , establish'd . 20. and as for the cartesian laws of motion , though i know they are received by many learned men , yet i suspect that it is rather upon the authority of so famous a mathematician as des-cartes , than any convictive evidence , that accompanies the rules themselves : since to me ( for reasons that belong not to this discourse , ) some of them appear not to be befriended either by clear experience , or any cogent reason . and for the rule that is the most usefull , namely that which asserts , that there is always the same quantity of motion in the world ; every body that moves another , loosing just as much of its own as it produces in the other : the proof he offers , being drawn from the immutability of god , seems very metaphysical , and not very cogent to me ; who fear that the properties and extent of the divine immutability , are not so well known to us mortals , as to allow cartesius to make it in our present case , an argument à priori . and à posteriori i see not how the rule will be demonstrated : since , besides that it may be questioned whether 't is agreeable to experience in divers instances that might be given of communicated motions here below ; i know not what experience we have of the rules by which motion is propagated in the heavenly regions of the world , among all the bodies , that make up the aetherial , ( which is incomparably the greatest ) part of the universe . so that the truth of the cartesian rules being evinc'd neither à priori , nor à posteriori ; it appears not why it should be thought unreasonable to imagine , that other systemes may have some peculiar laws of motion ; onely because they differ from those cartesian rules , whereof the greatest part are , at least undemonstrated . ] 21. but though , if we allow of suppositions and conjectures , such as those lately mention'd , that are at least not absurd ; they may conduce to amplify some of our idea's of divine things ; yet we need not fly to imaginary ultra mundane spaces , to be convinc'd that the effects of the power and wisedom of god , are worthy of their causes , and not near adequately understood by us ; if with sufficient attention we consider that innumerable multitude , and unspeakable variety of bodies , that make up this vast universe . for , there being among these a stupendious number , that may justly be look'd upon as so many distinct engins , and many of them very complicated ones too , as containing sundry subordinate ones : to know that all these , as well as the rest of the mundane matter , are every moment sustain'd , guided and govern'd , according to their respective natures , and with an exact regard to the catholick laws of the universe ; to know , i say , that there is a being that doeth this every where and every moment , and that manages all things without either aberration or intermission ; is a thing , that if we attentively reflect on , ought to produce in us , for that supreme being that can doe this , the highest wonder , and the lowliest adoration . the epicureans of old did with some colour of reason , as well as with much confidence , urge against the belief of a divine providence , that 't is unconceivable , and therefore incredible ; that the gods should be sufficient for such differing and distracting employments , as , according to the exigencies of natures works , to make the sun shine in one place , the rain shower down in another , the winds to blow in a third , the lightening to flash in a fourth , the thunderbolts to fall in a fifth ; and in short , other bodies to act and suffer according to their respective natures . wherefore we , that upon good grounds believe that god really does , what these philosophers thought impossible to be done , by any agents whatsoever , are much wanting in our duty if we do not admire an al-pervading wisedom , that reaches to the utmost extent of the universe , and actually performing what philosophers profess'd they could not so much as conceive , highly merits that those difficulties which they thought insuperable , and so , a sufficient excuse for their unbelief , should be a powerfull motive to our veneration , of that transcendent wisedom , that without any trouble surmounts them . 22. we have seen some displays of god's wisedom as well as power , by what we have observ'd in his corporeal works . but 't will be easily granted , that some of the divine perfections , could not be so well express'd or copied upon corporeal creatures , as upon the rational and immaterial soul of man , and other intellectual beings : as the picture of an apple or a cherry , or the character of a number , is not capable of receiving or containing so much of an excellent painter's skill , as he may exhibite in a piece wherein the passions of the mind , and the laws of opticks , and of decency , may be fully express'd . and it may well be presum'd , that if we were as familiarly acquainted with god's incorporeal creatures as we are with his visible ones , we should perceive , that as spirits are incomparably more noble than bodies ; so the divine wisedom employ'd in the government and conduct of them , is more glorious than that which we justly admire in the frame and management of his corporeal works . and indeed let a portion of matter be never so fine , and never so well contriv'd , it will not be any more than an engine devoid of intellect and will , truely so call'd , and whose excellency , as well as its distinction from other bodies even the grossest and imperfectest , can consist but in mechanical affections , such as the size , shape , motion and connexion of its parts : which can neither excite themselves into motion , nor regulate and stop the motion they once are in . whereas true spirits , ( by which i here mean immaterial substances , ) have by god's appointment belonging to their nature , understanding , will , and an internal principle , both of acting so and so , and of arbitrarily ceasing from action . and though god , as the sole creator of all substances , has , and if he please may exercise , an absolute dominion over all his creatures , as well immaterial as corporeal ; yet since he has thought fit to govern spirits according to the nature he has given them , ( which comprehends both understanding and will ; ) to create such intelligent free , and powerfull beings , as good and bad angels , ( to say nothing now of men ) and to govern them on those terms so as effectually to make them ( however they behave themselves , ) instruments of his glory , which multitudes of them do as subtily , as obstinately oppose ; to doe these things , i say , requires a wisedom and providence , transcending any that can be display'd in the formation and management of merely corporeal beings . for inanimate engins may be so contriv'd , as to act but as we please , whereas angels and humane souls are endow'd with a freedom of acting , in most cases , as themselves please . and 't is far easier for a skilfull watch-maker , to regulate the motions of his watch than the affections and actions of his son. 23. and here give me leave to consider , that angels whether good or bad , are very intelligent and active beings ; and that each of them is endowed with an intellect capable of almost innumerable notions , and degrees , or variations of knowledge , and also with a will , capable of no less numerous exertions or acts ; and of having various influences upon the understanding , as ( on the other side ) it is variously affected by the dictates of it . so that , ( to apply this consideration to my present purpose ) each particular angel being successively capable of so many differing moral states ; may be look'd upon , as , in a manner , a distinct species of the intellectual kind . and the government of one daemon , may be as difficult a work , and consequently may as much declare the wisedom and power of god , as the government of a whole species of inanimate bodies , such as stones or metals : whose nature determines them to a strict conformity to those primordial laws of motion , which were once settled by the great creatour , and from which , they have no wills of their own to make them swerve . the scripture tells us , that in the oeconomy of man's salvation , there is so much of the manifold wisedom of god express'd , that the angels themselves desire to pry into those mysteries . when our saviour , having told his apostles that the day and hour of his future coming to judgment ( whether of the jewish nation or the world , i now enquire not ) was not then known to any ; subjoyns , no , not to the angels of heaven , but to his father onely : he sufficiently intimates them to be endowed with excellent knowledge , superiour to that of men : and that perhaps may be one of the reasons why the scripture styles them angels of light. it also teaches us that the good angels are vastly numerous , and that as they are of differing orders ▪ some of them being arch-angels , and some princes of particular empires or nations : so that god assigns them very differing and important employments both in heaven and in earth ; and sometimes such as oblige them , in discharge of their respective trusts , to endeavour the carrying on of interfering designs . the same scripture by speaking of the devil and his angels , and of the great dragon that drew down with his tail the third part of the stars from heaven to earth , and by mentioning a whole legion of devils that possessed a single man ; and by divers other passages that i shall not now insist on , giving us ground to conclude , that there is a political government in the kingdom of darkness ; that the monarch of it is exceeding powerfull , whence he is styl'd the prince of this world , and some of his officers have the titles of principalities , powers , rulers of the darkness of this world , &c. that the subjects of it are exceeding numerous ; that they are desperate enemies to god and men , whence the devil is styl'd the adversary , the tempter , and a murtherer from the beginning ; that they are very false and crafty , whence the devil is call'd the father of lies , the old serpent ; and his strategems are styl'd the wiles , and depths of satan ; that their malice is as active and restless , as 't is great , whence , we are told that our adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion , seeking whom he may devour . these things being taught us in the scripture it self , though i shall not now add any of the inferences that may be drawn from them to my present purpose , we may rationally suppose , that if we were quick-sighted enough to discern the methods of the divine wisedom in the government of the angelical and of the diabolical worlds , or great communities , if i may so call them ; we should be ravish'd into admiration how such intelligent , free , powerfull , and immortal agents ▪ should be without violence offer'd to their nature , made in various manners to conspire to fulfill the laws , or at least accomplish the ends , of that great theocracy , that does not alone reach to all kinds of bodies , to men , and to this or that rank of spirits , but comprises the whole creation , or the great aggregate of all the creatures of god. and indeed to make the voluntary , and perhaps the most crafty actions of evil men , and of evil spirits themselves , subservient to his wise and just ends ; does no less recommend the wisedom of god , than it would the skill of a shipwright and pilot , if he was able to contrive and steer his ship , so , as to sail to his designed port , not onely with a side-wind , or very near a wind , as many doe ; but with a quite contrary wind , and that a tempestuous one too . 24. perhaps you will think it allowable , that on this occasion i antedate what in due time will infallibly come to pass ; and now briefly take some notice , as if it were present , of the diffused and illustrious manifestation of the divine wisedom , ( as well as justice and mercy , ) that will gloriously appear at the day of the general judgment , when every good christians eyes shall be vouchsafed a much larger prospect than that which his saviour himself had , when he survey'd in a trice , and as it were at one view , all the kingdoms of the world ; and shall behold a much more numerous ( not to say numberless ) assembly , than that which is said to have consisted of all people , nations and languages , that flock'd in to the dedication of nebuchadnezar's golden image . at that great decretory day , when the whole off-spring of adam , shall by the loud voice and trumpet of the arch-angel be call'd together , from the remotest ages and the distantest climates in the world : when , i say , besides the faln angels , all the humane actours that ever liv'd , shall appear upon the stage at once : when the dead shall be rais'd , and the books shall be open'd : ( that is , the records of heaven and of conscience ) then the wisedom of god will shine forth in its meridian lustre , and its full splendour . not onely the occurrences that relate to the lives and actions of particular persons , or of private families , and other lesser societies of men ; will be there found not to have been overlook'd by the divine providence ; but the fates of kingdoms and commonwealths , and the revolutions of nations and of empires , will appear to have been order'd and over-rul'd by an incomparable wisedom . and those great politicians , that thought to out-wit providence , by their refin'd subtilties , shall find themselves taken in their own craftiness ; shall have their deepest counsels turn'd into foolishness ; and shall not be able to keep the amaz'd world from discovering , that whilst they thought they most craftily pursu'd their own ends , they really accomplish'd god's . and those subtile hypocrites that thought to make pretended religion the instrument of their secular designs , shall find those designs both defeated , and made truly subservient to that advancement of religion , which they really never aim'd at . 25. to employ and keep in order a very complicated engine , such as the famous strasburg's clock , or a man of war , though all the parts of it be inanimate and devoid of purposes and ends of their own , is justly counted a piece of skill . and this task is more difficult , and consequently does recommend the conduct of the performer , in proportion to the intricate structure , and the number of pieces whereof the engine consists . at which rate how astonishing and ravishing will appear that wisedom and providence that is able to guide and over-rule many thousand milions of engins endow'd with wills , so as to make them all be found in the final issues of things , subservient to purposes worthy of divine providence , holiness , justice and goodness . in short , when all the actours that had their parts in this world , shall appear at once upon the stage ; when all disguises shall be stript off , all intrigues discover'd , all hearts and designs laid open , then to find that this whole amazing opera , that has been acting upon the face of the earth , from the beginning to the end of time , has been so contrived and carried on by the great authour of the world and of men , that their innumerably various actions , and cross designs are brought , ( commonly without , and often against their wills , ) to conspire to the accomplishment of a plot worthy of god ; will appear an effect of so vast and so allpervading a wisedom , as humane intellects will admiringly confess , that nothing but a divine and omniscient one could compass . 26. 't is like you may have taken notice , that among the several instances i have given of the wisedom of god , i have not , ( unless perhaps incidentally and transiently , ) mention'd the oeconomy of man's salvation by jesus christ . and therefore i think my self oblig'd to advertise you , that though , for reasons to be given you ▪ if you desire it , by word of mouth , i have thought fit , that subject , which has been already handled by so many profess'd divines , should be left untreated of by me , who am a layman ; yet i did not pretermit it , upon the score of thinking it at all inferiour to those other manifestations of god's wisedom , that i expresly discourse of . for i think that in the redemption of mankind , more of the divine attributes than are commonly taken notice of , have their distinct agencies ; and that their co-operation is so admirably directed by the divine wisedom , that an apostle may very justly call it the great mystery of godliness ; and that it no less deserves our wonder , than our gratitude . 27. i am not ignorant that many learned divines , have largely , and some of them laudably , treated of this subject . but i confess i doubt whether most of them have not been more happy in their care to avoid errours about it , than skilfull in their attempts , to unveil the mysteries couch'd in it . there are in the great work of man's redemption , some characters and footsteps of the divine wisedom , so conspicuous , not to say so refulgent , that a believer endow'd but with a mediocrity of parts , may easily enough discern them . but there are also in this sublime and comprehensive work , some depths of god , ( to use a scripture phrase ) and so much of the wisedom of god in a mystery , ( that is , of the mysterious wisedom of god ) that i cannot think it an easie matter to have a mental eye , so inlightned and so piercing , as to treat largely and worthily of so vast and abstruse a subject . and indeed when i consider , that a man must know much of the nature of spirits in general , and even of the father of them , god himself , of the intellect , will , &c. of the soul of man , of the state of adam in paradise , and after his fall , of the influence of his fall upon his posterity , of the natural or arbitrary vindictive justice of god , of the grounds and ends of god's inflicting punishments as a creditour , a ruler , or both ; of the admirable and unparallel'd person of christ the mediatour ; of those qualifications and offices that are required to fit him , for being lapsed man's redeemer , of the nature of covenants , and the conditions of those god vouchsaf'd to make with man , whether of works , or grace ; of the divine decrees , in reference to man's final state ; of the secret and powerfull operations of grace upon the mind , and the manner by which the spirit of god works upon the souls of men , that he converts , and brings by sanctification to glory . to be short , there are so many points ( for i have left divers unnam'd ) most of them of difficult speculation , that are fit to be discuss'd by him that would solidly and fully treat of the worlds redemption by jesus christ , that when i reflect on them , i am ready to exclaim with st. paul , who is sufficient for these things ; and i am so far from wondering , that the generality of divines and other writers on this subject , have not fully display'd the wisedom that god has express'd in this great work , that to have been able to accomplish it in so admirable a way , as god has actually contriv'd and made choice of , is one of the chief reasons of my admiration of the wisedom it self . and i am persuaded , that for god to reconcile his inflexible justice , his exuberant mercy , and all those other things that seem'd to clash inevitably about the design'd salvation of men , and make them co-operate to it ; is a stupendious manifestation of wisedom : there being no probleme in diophantus , alexandrinus , or apollonius pergaeus , in algebra , or in geometry , near so difficult to be solv'd , or that requires , that a greater number of proportions and congruities should be attended to at once , and made subservient to the same ends ; as that great probleme propounded by god's infinite goodness to his divine wisedom ; the redemption of lost and perverse mankind , upon the terms declar'd in the gospel , which are admirably fitted to promote at once , god's glory , and man's felicity . 28. though what has been said of the greatness of god's power and wisedom , may justly persuade us that those attributes are divine and adorable ; yet i must not deny that the representation that i have made of them , is upon several accounts , very disadvantageous . for first , there has not been said of them in this paper all that even i could have mention'd , to set forth their excellency ; because i had elsewhere treated of that subject , and was more willing to present you with some things i had not said before , than trouble you with many repetitions . but if instead of so unfit a person as i , the manifestation of the divine wisedom had been undertaken by the knowingest man in the world , or perhaps even by an angel , he would find himself unable fully to make out the matchless excellency of it . for how much wisedom has been exercis'd by an omniscient being , cannot be fully comprehended or , consequently , describ'd , but by an infinite understanding . besides , i have considered the wisedom display'd by god in the works of his creation and providence , with respect to them not to us . for they are excellent , absolutely , and in their own nature , and would simply upon that account deserve the wonder and the praises of rational beings , as they are rational : as zeuxis justly celebrated the skill of appelles , and modern geometers and mechanitians admire archimedes . but in this irrelative contemplation of god's works , a man's mind being intent onely upon the excellencies he discovers in them , he is not near so much affected with a just sense of the inferiority of his to the divine intellect , as he would be if he heedfully consider how much of the vast subjects he contemplates , are undiscovered by him , and how dimm and imperfect the knowledge is , which he has of that little he does discover . and now , ( lastly ) to the other disadvantages with which i have been reduc'd to represent ( and so to blemish . ) the divine attributes ; i must add , that i have insisted but upon two of them , god's power and his wisedom , whereas we know that he has divers other perfections , as ( besides those incommunicable ones , his , self-experience , self-sufficiency , and independency ) his goodness to all his creatures , his mercy to sinfull men , his justice , his veracity , &c. and as i long since noted , we may rationally conceive , that he may have divers attributes and consequently divers perfections , whereof we have at present no knowledge , or perhaps so much as particular conjecture , the inexhaustible fecundity of the divine nature being such , that for ought we know , we are acquainted with but a small part of the productions of an almighty power , accompanied with an infinite wisedom , and excited to communicate it self by an exuberant goodness . and indeed i see not why we may not say that by the notion or idea we have of him , and by the help of some attributes we already know he has , we may in general conceive , that he has other perfections , that we yet know not in particular : since of those attributes that we do already know , though the irrelative ones ( if i may so call them ) such as his self-existence , eternity , simplicity and independency ; may be known by mere speculation , and as it were all at once , by appearing to us as comprehended in the notion of a being absolutely perfect ; yet there are divers relative attributes or perfections , that come to be known but successively , and as it were by experience of what he has actually done in relation to some of his creatures . as , the mercy of god was not known by adam himself before his fall ; and god's fidelity or faithfulness to his promises , as particularly that of sending the messias in the fulness of time was not , ( not to say could not be ) known but in process of time , when some of them came to be fulfill'd . and therefore , since some of god's perfections require or suppose the respective natures and conditions of his creatures , and the actings of some of them towards him , as well as some of his towards them ; we , that cannot be at all sure that he may not have made many sorts of creatures , and have had divers relations to them according to their several states and conditions , that we are altogether unacquainted with ; cannot know but that some of the attributes of god exercis'd towards these creatures , may remain unknown to us . 29. but whether the attributes , known and unknown , be thought to be more or fewer ; it will not be denyed , but that the natural and genuine result of all these divine perfections , ( which we conceive under distinct notions , because we are not able to see them at one view , united in god's most simple essence ) must be a most glorious majesty ; that requires the most lowly and prostrate venerations of all the great creatour's intelligent works . and accordingly we may observe ( from some of the formerly cited texts ) that the angels , who of all his mere creatures are the most excellent and knowing , are represented in the scripture as assiduously employing themselves , not onely in obeying and serving , but in praising , and adoring the divine majesty . the very name of angel in the original languages of the old and new testament , is a name of ministery : the hebrew malach and the greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying properly a messenger . and our saviour intimates in his most excellent pattern of prayer , that the will of god is done most obsequiously and chearfully in heaven ; since christians are directed to wish , that their obedience there pay'd him might be imitated upon earth . and as they style themselves the apostles fellow-servants ; so these celestial envoyes ( if i may so call them ) make no scruple of going upon the meanest errands , as we would think them ; considering rather by whom , than to whom , or about what , they are sent . so the first angel that we reade of , to have been sent to a particular person , was employed to hagar , a wandering and fugitive female slave , ready to perish for thirst in a wilderness ; to direct her to a well of water , and tell her somewhat that concerned her child . and another angel is represented as taking the part of an ass against a false prophet . nay of this glorious order of creatures in general , the scripture tells us , that they are all ministring spirits , sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation . though the angels are creatures so glorious in their apparitions here below , that they use to strike amazement and veneration , if not terrour , even into the excellent persons they appear to , ( as we may learn from divers passages of the scripture , where we are told that their presence was accompanied with a surprizing splendour , and one of them is represented in the apocalypse , as inlightening the earth with his glory : and though their multitude be so great that sometimes the myriades of them , and sometimes the legions , are mention'd ; and elsewhere we are told of thousand thousands , and ten thousand times ten thousand of them : yet these celestial courtiers , that in comparison of us men , are so glorious , as well as intelligent and spotless , when they appear in multitudes about the throne of god , ( according to that vision of the prophet , who told the two kings of judah and israel , that he saw the lord sitting on his throne ; and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left , ) they stand not to gaze , but as the prophet daniel expresly says , to minister . and in isaiah's vision , the seraphims themselves are represented as covering their faces before their great maker , seated on his elevated throne . and we may easily guess that their employment is most humbly to adore and celebrate such dazelling majesty ; by what we are told of their crying one to another holy , holy , holy , is the lord of hosts , the whole earth is full of his glory . this profound respect of the angels is not to be marvel'd at : since , where esteem springs not from ignorance but knowledge , the greater the ability and opportunities are of having the knowledge clear and heighten'd , the greater veneration must be produc'd in an intelligent being , for the admired object : whose perfections are such , that even an angelical intellect cannot fully reach them ; since as a line by ●eing never so much extended in leng●● cannot grow a surface ; so neither ca● created perfections , be by any idea's so stretch'd as to be amplifyed into divine ones ; ( or idea's equal to them . ) and indeed speaking in general , the creatures are but umbratile ( if i may so speak ) and arbitrary pictures of the great creatour : of divers of whose perfections though they have some signatures ; yet they are but such , as rather give the intellect rises and occasions to take notice of and contemplate the divine originals , than they afford it true images of them : as a picture of a watch or man , or the name of either of them written with pen and ink , does not exhibite a true and perfect idea of a thing ( whose internal constitution a surface cannot fully represent ) but onely gives occasion to the mind to think of it , and to frame one . and what i have said of the creatures in general , holds true of the angels themselves : who by several prerogatives do indeed much surpass the rest of their fellow creatures , but yet are but creatures , and therefore of a nature infinitely inferiour to god's ; as , though a thousand is a far greater number than ten , and a million than a thousand , yet the latter as well as the two former is beyond computation distant from a number suppos'd to be infinite ; since otherwise a finite number ( that by which the lesser differs from the greater ) would be able by its accession to make a finite number become infinite . but to return to what i was saying of the angels . i thought fit to mention both the nobleness of their nature , the splendidness of their apparitions , and the profound veneration and ardent ▪ devotion which they pay'd to their creatour ; because we are wont to estimate remote things by comparison , as modern philosophers tell us , that we judge the rising or setting sun and moon , to be greater and more distant from us than when they are nearer the meridian , because when they are in the horizon we consider them as placed beyond mountains , or long tracts of land or sea , that we know to be great objects , and look upon as remote ones ; and yet see them interpos'd and consequently nearer than the celestial globes . for thus since the scripture proposes the angels to our imitation , the awefull reverence pay'd to the supreme being by those excellent spirits , who , as st. peter tells us , are greater in power and might than we , ought to admonish us of the ecstatick respect we mortals owe him ; and teach us that whensoever we speak either to god or of him , we ought to be inwardly affected ( and in our outward expressions appear to be so ) with the unmeasurable distance there is between a most perfect and omnipotent creatour , and a mere impotent creature ; as well as between a most holy god , and a most sinfull man. [ 30. if the conjectures formerly propos'd about worlds differing from ours may pass for probable , then it will be so too , that god in these other systemes may have fram'd a multitude of creatures , whose fabrick and motions , and consequently whose properties and operations , must be very differing from what is usually met with in our world. and the various contrivances wherein those differences consist will be so many peculiar instances , as well as productions , of the manifold wisedom of the great former of all things ; or ( as the original expression yotser hackol will bear , ) maker of the whole ( universe . ) but to add something now of nearer affinity to what was last said about god's government of spirits ; how much will this architecktonick wisedom ( if i may so call it ) exerted in framing and regulating an innumerable company of differing creatures , be recommended ; if the other worlds or vortexes we not long since spake of , and the invisible part of ours , ( as we may call the air and aether ) be peopled with intelligent , though no tvisible , inhabitants ? for , though the scripture seems not to speak expresly of any more sorts of spirits , than those good ones that retain the name of ( the whole genus ) angels , and the apostates that are commonly call'd devils , because these are the two sorts of spirits that it most concerns us men , to be inform'd of : yet the scripture , that in the history of the creation does not clearly so much as mention the production of angels , and elsewhere represents them , as well the bad as the good , of very differing orders , ( as far as we can guess by the several names it gives them ; ) the scripture , i say , does not deny that there are any other sorts of spirits than those it expresly takes notice of . so that without any affront to it , we may admit there are such , if any probable arguments of it , be suggested to us , either by reason or experience . and it seems not very likely , that while our terraqueous globe , and our air , are frequented by multitudes of spirits , all the celestial globes , ( very many of which do vastly exceed ours in bulk ) and all the aetherial or fluid part of the world , ( in comparison of which , all the globes , the celestial and terrestrial , put together , are inconsiderable for bulk ) should be quite destitute of inhabitants . i have not time to set down the opinions of the ancient as well eastern as grecian writers , especially the pythagoreans and platonists , to whose master this sentence is ascribed concerning the multitudes of daemons , ( a name by them not confin'd to evil spirits ) that liv'd in the superiour part of the world , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i will not presume to be positive in declaring the sense of those two expressions which the scripture employs , where speaking of the head of the satanical kingdom , it calls him the prince of the power of the air , ( and the word air , is among the hebrews taken in a great latitude , and several times us'd for the word heaven ) and where speaking of the grand adversaries of the gospel , it styles the spiritual wickednesses , or rather ( as the syriac reades it , spirits of wickedness , that is , ) wicked spirits not in high places , as our translatours have it , but in heavenly . but though , as i was saying , i will not be positive in giving these two texts such a sense , as may make them direct arguments for my conjecture , yet it seems that if they do not require , at least they may well bear , an interpretation suitable to my present purpose . and whatever become of the assertions of heathen philosophers and poets , 't is very considerable what is noted by the excellent grotius , ( who quotes several hebrew authorus for it ) that 't was the opinion of the jews , that all places from earth to heaven , even the starry heaven , are full of spirits . if this be so , the wisedom and power of god must reach much farther than we are commonly aware of ; since he has created , and does govern , such an inestimable multitude of spiritual beings , of various kinds , each of them endowed with an intellect and will of its own ; especially since , for ought we know , many or most of them , and perhaps some whole orders of them , are yet in a probational state , wherein they have free-will allow'd them ; as adam and eve were in eden , and all the angels were , before some of them ( as the scripture speaks ) left their first estate and their own mansion . and if to these angelical communities we add those others of children , idiots and madmen ; of whom , though all be in a sense rational creatures , yet the first community have not attain'd the full use of reason , for want of age ; and the two others cannot exercise that faculty for want of rightly dispos'd organs ; the wisedom and power of god in the divine government of such various and numerous communities of intellectual creatures , will to a considering man appear the more illustrious and wonderfull . ] 31. the distance betwixt the infinite creatour and the creatures , which are but the limitted and arbitrary productions of his power and will , is so vast , that all the divine attributes or perfections do by unmeasurable intervals transcend those faint resemblances of them , that he has been pleas'd to impress , either upon other creatures , or upon us men. god's nature is so peculiar and excellent , that there are qualities , which though high vertues in men , cannot belong to god , or be ascrib'd to him without derogation : such as are temperance , valour , humility , and divers others ; which is the less to be wonder'd at , because there are some vertues ( as chastity , faith , patience , liberality ) that belong to man himself , onely in his mortal and infirm condition . but whatever excellencies there be that are simply and absolutely such , and so may without disparagement to his matchless nature , be ascrib'd to god , such as are eternity , independency , life , understanding , will , &c. we may be sure that he possesses them ; since he is the original authour of all the degrees or resemblances we men have of any of them . and the psalmist's ratiocination is good . he that planted the ear , shall he not hear ? he that formed the eye , shall not he see ? he that teacheth man knowledge , shall not he know ? since all the perfections communicated to , or to be found in the creatures , ( whether men , angels , or any other ) being emanations of the divine excellencies , do as much belong to god , as in a bright day , all the luminous beams , that are to be found in the air , belong to the sun ; ( in whom they are united , and from whom they all proceeded . ) the vast difference then between the perfections of the great creatour , and those that are analogous to them in the creatures ; reaches to all the perfections that are though in very differing manners , to be found in both ; but yet the humane vnderstanding , as it values it self upon nothing more than wisedom , and knowledge ; so there is nothing that it esteems and reverences more in other beings , and is less willing to acknowledge it self surpass'd in . for which reason as i have in the soregoing part of this paper inculcated by more than one way ; the great superiority of god's intellect to man's ; so i think it not improper to prosecute the same design ; by mentioning to you some few particulars , whereby that superiority may manifestly appear . we may then consider , that besides that god knows an innumerable company of things that we are altogether unacquainted with , since he cannot but know all the creatures he has made , whether visible or invisible , corporeal or immaterial ; and what he has enabled them to doe ; according to that of st. james , known unto god are all his works from the beginning of the world. nay , since he cannot but know the extent of his own infinite power , he cannot but know numberless things as possible , that he has not yet made nor perhaps ever will please to make . but to confine my self to things actually existent ; besides his corporeal and immaterial creatures and their faculties or powers whereof we have some kind of notice , and besides perhaps multitudes of other things whereof we have no particular idea or conjecture ; he knows those things whereof we men have also some knowledge , in a manner or degree peculiar to himself . as what we know but in part , he knows fully , what we know but dimly , he knows clearly , and what we know but by fallible mediums , he knows most certainly . 32. but the great prerogative of god's knowledge , is , that he perfectly knows himself : that knowledge being not onely too wonderfull for a man ( as even an inspir'd person confesses touching himself ) but beyond the reach of an angelical intellect : since fully to comprehend the infinite nature of god , no less than an infinite understanding is requisite . and for the works of god , even those that are purely corporeal , ( which are therefore the meanest ) our knowledge of these is incomparably inferiour to his. for though some modern philosophers have made ingenious attempts to explain the nature of things corporeal , yet their explications generally suppose the present fabrick of the world , and the laws of motion that are settled in it . but god knows particularly both why and how the universal matter was first contriv'd into this admirable universe , rather than a world of any other of the numberless constructions he could have given it ; and both why those laws of motion rather than others were establish'd : and how senseless matter , to whose nature motion does not at all belong , comes to be both put into motion , and qualifyed to transfer it according to determinate rules , which it self cannot understand . but when we come to consider the particular and more elaborate works of nature ; such as the seeds or eggs of living creatures , or the texture of quicksilver , poysons , antidotes , &c. the ingenious confess their ignorance , ( about the manner of their production and operations ) and the confident betray theirs . but 't is like we men know our selves better than what is without us ; but how ignorant we are at home ; if the endless disputes of aristotle and his commentatours and other philosophers about the humane soul , and of physicians and anatomists about the mechanism and theory of the humane body , were not sufficient to manifest it ; 't were easie to be shewn ( as it is in another paper ) by the very conditions of the vnion of the soul and body ; which being setled at first by god's arbitrary institution , and having nothing in all nature parallel to them , the manner and terms of that strange union , is a riddle to philosophers , but must needs be clearly known to him , that alone did institute it , and , ( all the while it lasts ) does preserve it . and there are several advantages of the divine knowledge , above that of man , that are not here to be pretermitted . for first , we men can perceive and sufficiently attend , but to few things at once ; according to the known saying , pluribus intentus , minor est , ad singula sensus . and 't is recorded as a wonder of some great men among the ancients , that they could dictate to two or three secretaries at once . but god's knowledge reaches at once to all that he can know ; his penetrating eyes pierce quite thorough the whole creation , at one look ; and as an inspir'd pen-man declares , there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight , but all things are naked , and ( if i may so render the greek word ) extraverted , to his eyes . he always sees incomparably more objects at one view , than the sun himself endued with sight could do . for god beholds at once all that every one of his creatures , ( whether visible or invisible to us ) in the vast universe , either does or thinks . next , the knowledge of god is not a progressive or discursive thing , like that acquir'd by our ratiocinations ; but an intuitive knowledge : since , though we men by reason of the limitedness and imperfections of our understandings , are fain to make the notice we have of one thing , a step and help to acquire that of another , which to us is less known ; as may easily be observ'd even in the forms of syllogisms : yet god , whose knowledge as well as his other attributes are infinitely perfect , needs not know any one thing by the help of another : but knows every thing in it self ( as being the authour of it : ) and all things being equally known to him , he can by looking , if i may so speak , into himself ; see there , as in a divine and universal looking-glass , every thing that is knowable most distinctly and yet all at once . thirdly , god knows mens most secret thoughts and intentions . whence he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and the searcher of all hearts , that understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts . nay , he knows mens thoughts , afar off , and even never vented thoughts , which the man himself may not know . for not onely st. john says , that if our heart condemns us , god is greater than our heart and knows all things ; but god enabled daniel to declare to nebuchadnezzar , the whole series of the prophetick dream , whereof that monarch's own memory could not retrieve any part . and here give me leave to observe , ( what perchance you have not minded ) that even of a thing that happens to a man's self , and is of a nature capable to make the most vivid impressions on him ; god's knowledge may surpass his : since st. paul speaking of his being caught up into paradise , after having twice said , whether in the body i cannot tell , or whether out of the body , i cannot tell , he both times subjoyns , that god knows . our knowledge of our selves , as well as that of those other creatures that are without us , being so defective , the confidence of some that dare pretend to know god fully , by the light of their natural reason , will not hinder me from taking hence a rise to ask this short question ; how imperfect must mere philosophers knowledge of god's nature be since they know him but by his works ; and know his works themselves but very imperfectly ! the other and fourth conspicuous prerogative of the divine knowledge , is the prescience of future contingents , that depend upon the determinations and actions of free agents . for we men are so far from being able to stretch our knowledge to the discovery of that sort of events , that the greatest clerks have try'd their wits in vain to discover how god himself can foreknow them ; and therefore too many , even among christians , deny that he can ; though by divers accomplish'd predictions recorded in scripture , it manifestly appears , that he does . 33. when i consider the transcendent excellency , and the numerous prerogatives of the deity , i cannot without wonder , as well as trouble , observe , that rational men professing christanity , and many of them studious too , should wilfully and perhaps contemptuously , neglect to acquire or reflect on , those notices that are apt to increase their knowledge of god , and consequently their veneration for him. to aspire to a farther knowledge of god , that we may the better adore him , is a great part both of man's duty and his happiness . god who has put into men an innate desire of knowledge , and a faculty to distinguish the degrees of excellency in differing notices , and to relish those most , that best deserve it , and has made it his duty to search and enquire after god , and to love him above all things , would not have done this , if he had not known that those that make a right use of their faculties , must find him to be the noblest object of the understanding , and that which most merits their wonder and veneration . and indeed what can be more sutable to a rational creature , than to employ reason to contemplate that divine being , which is both the authour of its reason , and the noblest object , about which it can possibly be employ'd ? the knowledge of some dead language , or some old rusty medal , or the opinions and customs of some nations or sects , that did not perhaps reason nor live any better than we doe now , are thought worthy of curiosity , and even of the laborious industry of learned men ; and the study of things merely corporeal , gains men the honourable title of philosophers . but whatever these objects of inquiry be in themselves , 't is certain the greatest discoveries we can make of them are but trifles , in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of god , which does as much surpass that of his works , as he himself does them. and 't is the prerogative of his nature , to be infinitely above all that he has made ; whether we contemplate the works of nature , or those of art , whereof the former are under another name , his more immediate works ; and the others the effects of one of his works ; and by consequence are originally his , though produc'd by the intervention of man. and though it be most true , that on the corporeal world , god has been pleas'd to stamp such impresses of his power , wisedom and goodness , as have justly exacted the admiration even of philosophers , yet the great authour of the world is himself incomparably superiour to all his workmanship , insomuch that , though he could have made , and always will be able to make , creatures more perfect than those he has made , by incomputable degrees of perfection ; yet the prerogative of his nature will keep him necessarily superiour to the excellentest creatures he can make , since the very condition of a creature hinders it from being ( to name now no other of the divine attributes ) self existent and independent . 't is therefore methinks a sad thing , that we men should grudge to spend now and then a few hours in the contemplation and internal worship of that most . glorious and perfect being , that continually employs the devotion of angels themselves . this i judge probable from hence , that those blessed spirits are represented in the scripture as celebrating with joyfull songs and acclamations , the nativity of the world , and i think they may well be supposed , to have an ardent desire to obtain a farther knowledge of god himself . since , as an apostle assures us , they earnestly desire to look into the truths contain'd in the gospel , and the dispensations of god towards frail and mortal men. 34. i know i may be told that scrutator majestatis , &c. and that 't is a dangerous thing to be inquisitive about the nature of god. but , not to urge that the latin sentence is taken but out of an apocryphal book ; i answer that the secret things of god that are to be left to himself , seem to be his unrevealed purposes and decrees and his most abstruse essence or substance , the scrutiny whereof i readily acknowledge not to belong to us . but i think there is a great difference between contemplating god out of a saucy curiosity , merely to know somewhat that is not common of him , and doing it out of an humble desire by a farther knowledge of him to heighten our reverence and devotion towards him. 't is an effect of arrogance to endeavour , or so much as hope , to comprehend the divine perfections so as to leave nothing in them unknown to the enquirer , but to aspire to know them farther and farther , that they may proportionably appear more and more admirable and lovely in our eyes , is not onely an excusable but a laudable curiosity . the scripture in one place exhorts us to grow not onely in grace , but in the knowledge of christ ; and in another to add to our vertue knowledge ; and when moses beg'd to be bless'd with a nearer and more particular view of god , though part of his request was refus'd , because the grant of it was unsutable to his mortal state , and perhaps must have prov'd fatal to him whilst he was in it ; yet god vouchsafed so gratious a return to his petition , as shews he was not displeas'd with the supplicant . no action or suffering of his having procured for him so glorious a view , as was then vouchsafed to his holy curiosity . and that we may aspire to great degrees of knowledge , even at those supernatural objects that we cannot adequately know , we may learn from st. paul , who prays that his ephesians , as all true christians , may be able to comprehend what is the breadth and length and depth and height , and to know the love of christ , which , says he in the very next words , passeth knowledge . supposing it then lawfull to contemplate god , not with design to pry into his decrees and purposes , nor to dogmatize in points controverted among the learned about his nature and attributes , but to excite in our selves the sentiments which his indisputable perfections , are by a more attentive view qualified to produce : i consider that the devout contemplation of god , besides other great advantages that it brings the mind , insomuch that the humane understanding , like moses in the mount , does by an assiduous converse with god acquire a lasting luminousness . besides this , i say , and the improving influence that this happy conversation may have upon the graces and vertues of the mind , i take it to be one of the most delightfull exercises , that the soul is capable of , on this side heaven . 't is generally acknowledg'd that admiration is one of the most pleasing affections of the mind , which sometimes when the object deserves it , is so possest thereby , as to forget all other things , or leave them unregarded as it often happens in masks and other pompous and surprizing shews or spectacles ; and as upon a better ground it happen'd to st. peter , when being ravish'd with the glorious transfiguration of his and our master upon mount tabor , he exclaim'd that 't was good for them to be there , and talk'd of building tabernacles for those that had heavenly mansions ; being so transported with the ravishing sight , that the evangelist expresly notes that he knew not what he said . now ; the pleasure that admiration gives , being usually proportionate to the uncommon nature and indearing circumstances of the thing admired , how can any admiration afford such a contentment , as that which has god himself for its object , and in him the most singular and the most excellent of all beings . the wonder produc'd in us by an humble and attentive contemplation of god , has two main advantages , above the admiration we have for any of his works , or of our own . for first when we admire corporeal things , how noble and pretious soever they be , as stars and gemms , the contentment that accompanies our wonder is allay'd by a kind of secret reproach grounded on that very wonder ; since it argues a great imperfection in our understandings , to be pos'd by things that are but creatures , as well as we , and which is worse , of a nature very much inferiour to ours . whereas 't is no disparagement at all for a humane , and consequently a finite intellect to be possessed with wonder , though it were heightened to amazement , or astonishment , by the contemplation of that most glorious and infinitely perfect being , which must necessarily exceed the adequate comprehension of any created intellect . but i consider that there is a farther and much greater ( which is the second ) advantage of the admiration of god , above that of other things , for other objects having but a bounded nature and commonly but some one thing fit to be wondred at , our admiration of them is seldom lasting , but after a little familiarity with them , first languishes and then seases . but god is an object , whose nature is so very singular , and whose perfections are so immense , that no assiduity of considering him , can make him cease to be admirable , but the more knowledge we obtain of him , the more reason we find to admire him. so that there may be a perpetual vicissitude of our happy acquests of farther degrees of knowledge , and our eager desires of new ones . because we give him but one name , we are apt to look upon him as but one object of speculation ; but , though god be indeed but one in essence or nature , yet such is his immensity , and if i may so speak , fecundity , that he is unspeakably various in the capacity of an object . thus heaven goes under one name , but contains so many sixt stars and planets , and they by their diversity of motions exhibit so many phaenomena , that though they have employed the curiosity of astronomers for many ages , yet our times have in the celestial part of the world , made discoveries as considerable , if not as numerous , as all those of the ancients ; and as our optick glasses have detected many sixt stars , and divers planets that were unknown to former times , so our navigatours , by their voyages beyond the line , have discovered divers whole constellations in the southern hemisphere . so that though heaven be an object , that has been perpetually and conspicuously exposed to mens view and curiosity , for some thousands of years , yet it still affords new subjects for their wonder : and i scarce doubt but by the farther improvement of telescopes , posterity will have its curiosity gratified by the discovery both of new constellations , and of new stars , in those that are known to us already . we need not therefore fear our admiration of god should expire , for want of objects fit to keep it up . that boundless ocean contains a variety of excellent objects , that is as little to be exhausted as the creatures that live in our sublunary ocean or lie on the shores that limit it , can be numbred . to the wonderfull excellency of god , may be justly apply'd that notion , which aristotle lays down as a kind of definition of infinite , namely that 't is that of which how much soever one takes , there still remains more to be taken . if the intellect should for ever make a farther and farther progress in the knowledge of the wonders of the divine nature , attributes and dispensations ; yet it may still make discoveries of fresh things worthy to be admired ; as in an infinite series or row of ascending numbers , though you may still advance to greater and greater numbers ; yet all that you can doe by that progress , is to go farther and farther from the first and least term of the progression , ( which in our case answers to the smallest degree of our knowledge of god ) without ever reaching , or which may seem strange , but is true , so much as approaching to an infinite number , ( in case there were any such ) or even to the greatest of all numbers : as will be acknowledged by those that have look'd into the properties of progressions in infinitum . 35. the two advantages i come from mentioning which the admiration of god has in point of delightfulness joyn'd to the other advantages of our contemplation of him , have i hope persuaded you that they are very much wanting to themselves , as well as to the duty they owe their maker , that refuse or neglect to give their thoughts so pleasing , as well as noble , an employment . and i am apt to think upon this account in particular , that reason is a greater blessing to other men , than to atheists , who whilst they are such cannot employ it about god , but with disbelief or terrour ; and that on this very score , epicurus was far less happy than plato , since whereas the latter was oftentimes as it were swallowed up in the contemplation of the deity ; the former had no such glorious object , to possess him with an equally rational and delightfull admiration . 36. but now , ( to apply this to the scope of this whole discourse ) though so pure and spiritual a pleasure is a very allowable attractive ; to elevate our thoughts , to the most glorious and amiable of objects , yet it ought to be both the design and the effect of our admiration of god , to produce in us less unworthy idea's , and more honourable and reverent thoughts , of that wonderfull and unparallel'd being . of whom the more we discover , the more we discern him to be superiour to all his works , and particularly to our selves , who are not of the highest order of them , and who , as mere men , are scarce in any thing more noble , than in the capacity and permission of knowing , admiring and adoring god. which he that thinks a mean and melancholy employment , might be to seek for happiness in heaven it self , if so unqualified a soul could be admitted there . the genuine effect of a nearer or more attentive view of infinite excellency , is a deep sense of our own great inferiority , to it , and of the great inferiority , to it , and of the great veneration and fear we owe ( to speak in a scripture phrase ) to this glorious and fearfull name , ( that is , object ) the lord our god. and accordingly when god had spoken to job out of the whirlewind , and declared somewhat to him of the divine greatness ; this holy philosopher much alters his style , and confesses that in his former discourses of god , he had uttered what he understood not , things two wonderfull for him , which he knew not . and having thereupon implored instruction from god , he declares how fit a nearer knowledge of him is to make a man have low thoughts of himself ; i have heard of thee , ( says he to his maker ) by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee : wherefore ( infers he ) i abhor my self , and repent in dust and ashes . i know you may look upon a good part of this excursion as a digression ; but if it be , 't will quickly be forgiven , if you will pardon me for it , as easily as i can pardon my self , for finding my self in david's case , when he said , my heart was hot within me , while i was musing the fire burn'd , as he said , then spake i with my tongue . so i was content to let my pen run on in so pleasant and noble a theme , and endeavour to excite , at least in my self , such a well grounded admiration of god , as may perhaps be a part of my reasonable service to him , or rational worship of him. god is pleas'd to declare that he that offers ( or as 't is in the original sacrifices ) praise , glorifies him , and the scripture expresly styles our devotion sacrifices of praise . and we may well suppose that if the calves of our lips , as our celebrations of god are somewhere call'd , are incouraged by god , those mental offerings that consist in high and honourable thoughts of him , and in lowly humble sentiments of our selves in the view of his excellency , will not be less acceptable to him : such reverence and devout fear ( to speak with the inspired writer to the hebrews ) being indeed a kind of adoring god in spirit and in truth . and he that is so employed , may with contentment compare his condition to that of zacharias , when it was said of him that his lot was to burn incense , to offer up to god the noblest and purest sort of the legal sacrifices . but that i may not too far digress , i shall onely add , that i think my self very worthily , as well as delightfully employed , when i am seeking after and bringing together what helps i can , to greaten as much as i am able , those sentiments of wonder and veneration for god , that i am sure can never be great enough . especially since the more we know and adore that infinite excellency and exuberant fountain of goodness , the more influence and advantages we derive from it : agreeably to which god , is introduced in the scripture , saying of one of his adorers , to whom in the same psalm many other blessings are also promised , because he has set his love upon me , therefore will i deliver him : i will set him on high because he has known my name . we have generally , through incogitancy , or vice , or prejudices , or the majesty and abstruseness of the subject , so great an indisposition to excite and cherish in our selves an awfull veneration for god , and a studious contemplation of his adorable attributes ; that it seemed no more than needfull to employ variety of arguments , drawn from different topicks , to engage our own and other mens minds , and repeated inculcations to press them , to an exercise , which they neither are , nor are willing to be , acquainted with . this consideration will , i hope , be my apology , if in the present tract i lay hold on several occasions , and make use of diversities of discourse , to recommend a duty , that does very much both merit and need to be not onely proposed but inculcated . and yet i will not any farther lengthen this foregoing excursion , ( as i hope you will think it , rather than a mere digression , ) nor any longer forget , that when i begun it , i was discoursing of the great caution and profound respect , with which we ought to speak of god. 37. 't were tedious to insist on all the arguments that may be brought of the immense inferiority of man's intellect to god's . and therefore i shall here content my self to illustrate some part of it , by a simile borrow'd from the superiour and inferiour luminaries of heaven : humane reason , in comparison of the divine intellect , being but like the moon in reference to the sun. for as the moon at best is but a small star in comparison of the sun , and has but a dim light , and that too , but borrow'd ; and has her wane , as well as her full , and is often subject to eclipses , and always blemished with dark spots : so the light of humane reason is but very small and dim , in comparison of his knowledge , that is truely called in scripture the fountain , as well as the father , of light ; and this light it self which shines in the humane intellect , is derived from the irradiation it receives from god , in whose light 't is that we see light . and this , as 't is but a communicated light , is subject to be encreas'd , impair'd , and oftentimes to be almost totally eclipsed ; either by the darkning fumes of lusts or passions , or the suspension of the provok'd donor's beams ; and in its best estate , is always blemished with imperfections , that make it uncapable of an entire and uniform illumination . upon these and divers other considerations , i , for my part , think it becomes us men , to use an awfull circumspection ; not onely when we make philosophical inquiries or scholastick disputes about god , that is , when we presume to discourse of him ; but when we solemnly design to praise him , for 't is one thing to say true things of god , and another to say things worthy of god : our idea's of him may be the best we are able to frame , and yet may far better express the greatness of our veneration for him , than the immensity of his perfection : and even those notions of them that may be worthy of the most intelligent of men , will fall extremely short of being worthy of the incomprehensible god. the brightest and least unlike idea we can frame of god , is infinitely more inferiour in reference to him , than a parhelion is in reference to the sun. for , though that meteor appear a splendid and sublime thing , and have so much resemblance to the sun ( without whose own beams it is not produced ) as to be readily perceived to be his image , exclusively to that of any other : yet residing in a cloud , whose station is near the earth , 't is by an immense distance beneath the sun ; and is no less inferiour to him in bigness and in splendour ; as well as in many other attributes . he has in my opinion the truest veneration for god , not who can set forth his excellencies and prerogatives in the most high and pompous expressions : but he who willingly has a deep and real sense of the unmeasurable inferiority of himself and his best idea's , to the unbounded and unparallel'd perfections of his maker . and here indignation prompts me to this reflexion , that if [ since ] even our hymns and praises of god the supreme being deserve our blushes and need his pardon , what confusion will one day cover the faces of those , that do not onely speak slightly and carlesly , but oftentimes contemptuously , and perhaps drollingly , of that supreme and infinitely perfect being , to whom they owe those very faculties and that witt which they so ungratefully , as well as impiously misemploy ? and indeed , such transcendent excellencies as the divine ones must be , might justly discourage us from offering so much as to celebrate them , if infinite goodness were not one of them . i shall not therefore allow my self the presumption of pretending to make as it were a panegyrick of god , of whom 't is very easie to speak too much , though it be not possible to say enough : contenting my self with an humble adoration of perfections whereof my utmost praises would rather express my own weakness than their excellency : since of this ineffable object the highest things that can be expressed in words , must therefore fall short because words cannot express them . which assertion , though it be a paradox , yet i think it is not truely an hyperbole . for we are not able to determine and reach , so much as in our thoughts , the greatest of all possible numbers : since we may conceive that any one ( whatsoever it be ) that can be pitched upon or assigned , may be doubl'd , trebl'd , or multiply'd by some other number ; or may be but the root of a square or cubical number . by which instance ( that perhaps you have not met with ) you may perceive that any determinate conception that we can have ( for example ) of god's immensity ( to specifie now no other of his attributes ) must therefore be short of it , because it is a determined or bounded conception . 't is fit therefore that i should at length put limits to my discourse , since none can be put to the extent or perfections of my subject . the conclusion . the result of what hath been said in the past excursion , will , i hope , amount to a sufficient justification of what hath been said at the beginning of this discourse , about the high veneration our intellects owe to god. for since we may well think in general , that he hath divers attributes and perfections of which we have no knowledge or suspicion in particular ; and since of those attributes of his that are the most manifest to us , as his power and wisedom , we have but a very dim and narrow knowledge ; and may clearly perceive that there is in these an unbounded extent of perfection , beyond all that we can evidently and distinctly discern of them : how unfit must such imperfect creatures , as we are , be to talk hastily and confidently of god , as of an object that our contracted understandings grasp , as they are able ( or pretend to be so ) to do other objects ! and how deep a sense ought we to have of our inestimable inferiority , to a being , in reference to whom , both our ignorance and our knowledge ought to be the parents of devotion ! since our necessary ignorance proceeds from the numerousness , and incomprehensibleness of his ( many of them undiscovered ) excellencies , and our knowledge qualifies us but to be the more intelligent admirers of his conspicuous perfections . if we duly and impartially consider these and the like things , we may clearly perceive , how great an effect and mark of ignorance , as well as presumption , it is , for us mortals to talk of god's nature and the extent of his knowledge , as of things that we are able to look through , and to measure . whereas we ought whenever we speak of god , and of his attributes , to stand in great awe , lest we be guilty of any misapprehension or misrepresentation of him , that we might by any wariness and humility of ours have avoided ; and lest by an over-weening opinion of our selves , we presume that we have a perfect , or at least a sufficient , knowledge of every thing in god , whereof we have some knowledge ; since this at the least consists in such notions , as are rather suited to our limited faculties , than any way equal to his boundless perfections . that higher order of intellectual beings the angels ; though their minds be so illuminated , and their knowledge so extensive , the angels themselves , i say , are in the scripture affirmed to be desirous to pry into the mysteries of the gospel : whence we may guess , how far they are from penetrating to the bottom of what the scripture calls the depths of god ; and how much farther they are from comprehending the infinite nature of god. and accordingly when in the ( formerly mentioned ) majestick vision , that appeared to the prophet isaich , they are set forth as attendants about the throne of god , they are represented covering their faces with their wings , as not able to support , or not presuming to gaze on , the dazling brightness of the divine majesty . and shall we poor sinfull mortals , who are infinitely beneath him , not onely by the degeneracy and sinfulness of our lives , but even by the imperfection and inferiority of our nature ; presume to talk forwardly or irreverently of the divine essence and perfections , without considering the immense distance betwixt god and us ; and how unable , as well as unworthy , we are to penetrate the recesses of that inscrutable as well as adorable nature , and how much better it would become us , when we speak of objects so much above us , to imitate the just humility of that inspired poet , that said * such knowledge is too wonderfull for me ; it is high i cannot attain unto it : and joyn in that seemingly , and yet but seemingly , lofty celebration of god , † that his glorious name is exalted above all blessing and praise . the end . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29013-e120 * such figures as these . [ ] . notes for div a29013-e220 1 cor. ii. 10. act. xx. 27. 1 tim. vi. 16. 1 cor. xiii . 12. job xi . 7. rom. xi . 33. see ricciol . almag . nov . lib. ix . sect. iv. cap. vi. eph. iii. 10. col. ii. 3. 1 cor. 1. 25. jer. x. 16. what is included in this parathesis may be skip'd . matt. 24. 36. eph. vi. 12. 1 pet. v. 8. luk. iv. 5. dan. iii. rev. xx. 12. 1 tim. iii. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 cor. ii. 10. ii. 7. rev. xix . 10. gen. xxi . 17 , &c. nu. xxii . 33. heb. i. 14. dan. x. 9 , 11 , 17. luk. i. 29. revel . xviii . ● ▪ 1 king. xxii . 19. dan. vii . 10. isa . vi. 2. jud. ix . 2 pet. xi . 11. jer. 11. 19. eph. vi. and xii . compar'd with col. i. & xvi . eph. ii. 2. grot. on eph. ii. 2. on eph. vi. 12. ep. jud. 6. psal . 94. 9. 10. act. xv. 18. the title of this paper is , the imperfection of humane knowledge manifested by its own light . heb. iv. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 chr. 28. 9. psal . 139. 2. 1 joh. 3. 20. dan. ii. 5 , 31. 2 cor. 12. 2 , 3 , 4. 2 pet. iii. 18. 2 pet. i. 5. exod. 33. 18. exod. 34 , 5 , 6 , &c. eph. 3. 18. exod. 34. 29 , 30 , &c. lu. 9. 23. deut. 28. 58. job . 42. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6. psal . 39. 3. rom. 12. 2. psal . 50. 25. heb. 13. 15. heb 12. 28. joh. 41. 23. luk. 1. 9. psal . 91. 14 , 15 , 16. psal . 36. 9. jam. 1. 17. psal . 36. 9. 1 cor. 13. 10. isa . 6. isa . 6. 2. * psal . 136. 6. † nehe. 9. 5. short memoirs for the natural experimental history of mineral waters addressed by way of letter to a friend / by robert boyle. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1605 approx. 144 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 72 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29026 wing b4023 estc r15100 11719822 ocm 11719822 48332 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29026) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48332) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 525:11) short memoirs for the natural experimental history of mineral waters addressed by way of letter to a friend / by robert boyle. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [18], 112, [2] p. printed for samual smith..., london : 1684/5 [ie. 1685]. reproduction of original in bristol public library, bristol, england. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng mineral waters -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-07 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion short memoirs for the natural experimental history of mineral waters . addressed by way of letter to a friend . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed for . samuel smith at the prince's arms in st. pauls church-yard . 1684 / 5. advertisement of the publisher . i find by some discourse i lately had with the author , that his design in drawing up his memoirs , being to set down what had occurr'd to him of his own observation and experiments , he purposely forbore to consult the authors that have professedly written upon medical waters , he would by no means have it thought , that he undervalued those learned writers that he forb●●e to cite , because he had them not at hand , as well as because his design did not require he should transcribe from them . and therefore he desires , that his readers should not be kept , by any thing he has written , from consulting other writers that have treated of mineral waters , especially the late ingenious exercitations , of the learned doctor lister de fontibus medicatis angliae ( after mentioned by our author , ) and the curious little tract of the french mineral waters , that was brought our author in english , after his memoirs were come to him from the press , publish'd by the virtuosi of the famous royal academy , of sciences at paris , especially where they curiosly examine the saline and earthly . residences of waters , which our author has not done to the remains of our english acidulae , of which liquors he had for the most part such incompetent quantities as concurr'd with another reason to discourag'd him from publishing his tryals on them . yet i may safely say what he offers here to the reader is far beyond any thing that has been publish'd in this kind ; for the virtuosi as well as the water-drinkers may reap no small benefit by the perusal of this learned treatise , as containing a great number both of useful observations , and unusual experiments . advertisement . the author of the following papers had thoughts of reviewing and inlarging them before he parted with them ; and at least , of an annexing notes to several of those titles of the historical platform , that are yet left untouch'd . but , besides his want of health and leisure , he was , by the supervening of some urgent occasions , oblig'd abruptly enough to lay aside this work he was about , and apply himself to others , that concern'd him more than the scrutiny of mineral waters could . wherefore considering , that he had already made annotations , though but short ones , upon most of the considerablest titles or topicks of inquiry , enumerated in the second and principal part of his schemes above them , he was content to give the ensuing writing unfinished as it was , to the solicitations of some vertuosi , who rather than tarry till he should have an opportunity , which he knows not how long he shall want , were desirous to take what they sound ready , with all its imperfections . which pressingness of theirs he could not deny to be the more excusable , on this occasion , because the communicated writing is not pretended to be a full and methodical history of mineral waters , but only a bundle of short memoirs , contributed towards the compiling of such a work. these , that they may be the more conveniently cited or referr'd to , i thought sit to divide into six sections ; where of the first is introductory , and and contains some general considerations about the occasion , the subject , and some other things relating to those memoirs . the second contains only a set of titles for the first part of the proposed work , because urgent occasions kept me from making , as i intended , some marginal notes , upon several of the particular articles . the third exhibits a scheme of titles for the second part of the propos'd work , viz. the way of experimentally exploring portions of a mineral water sever'd from the spring or receptacle . and because the second part is that which i mainly design'd , i have referr'd to it two other sections , one , which is the fourth , containing a collection of experiments and observations relating to the usual way of examining mineral waters by galls , as a specimen given on the 13th title of larger annotations on the titles of the second part ; and the other consisting of less copious annotations , and sometimes much shorter notes on divers other articles of the same second part. to which lastly is subjoyn'd the sixth section , consisting only of a set of articles , referrable to the medicinal use of mineral waters ; together with a conclusion address'd to the ingenious dr. that set me upon this task . in prosecuting of which i desire it may not be thought strange , that i have not cited authors that have written of thermae or of acidulae . for in the disadvantageous circumstances wherein i wrote , i should have been kept from consulting them , if i had had them at hand . and i thought it enough for for me at that time , to impart to my friends , what my own experiments and thoughts had furnish'd me with , how little or mean soever that was . which advertisement is therefore the more fit to be here given , that i may not divert any from studying those more elaborate pieces , that have within no long time been publish'd by skilful men , and especially by the very learned , dr. lister . the most material heads contained in the foregoing treatise . 1. the advertisement to the reader , containing the division , method and scope of this present treatise . 2. the occasion of this treatise , and its importance . page 1 , 2 3. that the best way of discovering the qualities of mineral waters , is a long and sufficient experience . 3 4. what may encourage us to undertake the natural history of mineral waters ? 4 5. what things are fit to be taken notice of by him that would give an historical account of mineral waters . 5 , 6 6. that the author hath both qualified practical and speculative physicians by this treatise . 7 7. what hindred the author from illustrating all the sets of titles with a kind of rationale . 8 8. wherefore the author hath proposed so many different inquiries about mineral waters . 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 9. vpon what account the examin of the properties of mineral waters is of so great importance . 13 , 14 10. that men should make search both after subterraneal springs and wells , and their operations upon humane bodies . 15 , 16 11. titles for the natural history of a mineral water proposed considered as being gilt in its channel or receptacles , being the first or mineralogical part of the designed work. 17 12. titles for the natural history of a mineral water proposed consider'd as drawn out of the spring or receptacle , being the second or physico chymical part of the designed work . 24 13. an appendix containing paralipomena , and a chaos of observations and experiments . 32 14. the powder of galls fitter to produce a new colour in mineral wa●●●● than their infusion . 33 15. the parts of the infusion of galls that produce the new colour with ferruginous waters are apt to fly away ; neither the tincture nor the powder must be stale . 34 , 35 16. the best way for producing of new colours with mineral waters is to make the infusion of galls with a certain weight of the powder in a determinate weight of water . 35 , 36 17. oaken leaves , dryed red rose leaves , the juice , the peel of pomegranates , the blossoms called commonly callaustia , and some other astringent vegetables may be substituted to galls . 38 18. the eye must be judge of the impregnation of the water by the infusion or powder of galls . 37 19. the way of trying mineral waters by the change of colours that galls produce in them , is neither of that extent , nor of that certainty 't is vulgarly presumed to be of 39 20. there are divers metalline oars , and other mineral bodies , which not particpating of iron , will not be discoverable by the infusion of galls . ib. 21. a body of a metalline nature and not participating of iron , may , with infusion of galls , afford a very dark colour . 40 22. 't is not certain if all the liquors impregnated with iron will be discovered to be so by the colour they afford with galls . ib. 23. that it is a mistake generally taken for granted , viz. that the infusion of galls will certainly discover by becoming black , or purple of a mineral water that is mix'd with it be to vitriolate . 41 24. an odd kind of whitish earth to be found in the northern countreys of england where there come divers mineral waters . 42 25. galls being cast into the solutions of several metals produc'd no blackish colour , except with the solution of gold. 44 26. a sulphureous liquor proclaiming notable changes of colours with several solutions of metals . ib. 27. 't is fit , if not necessary , that the experimenter look upon the change of colours made by galls both while'tis a producing , and where'tis produced in a good light , and with a heedful eye . 46 28. that there may be a kind of physiognogmy of natural bodies , as well as of humane faces . ib. 29. a way to vary the shades and other phoenomena of colours produc'd with mineral liquors . 47 30. another way somewhat differing from the former . 48 31. 't is convenient to use besides galls or oaken-leaves , for the producing of new colours with mineral waters , red-roses , balerustium , leolewood , brasil , and other astringent pigments . 50 32. a way of making a liquor which will turn black with a solution either of martial or capreous vitriol . 51. 33. many waters may partake of sulphur , without being taken notice of to do so . 54 34. that copper that hath been melted into a body , may be so subtilised and disguised , as to have a multitude of its metalline parts made ascend with others in the form of a transparent liquor like common water , and yet by putting to it another substance , as volatile and colourless as it self , it will presently discover the copper it contain'd by turning as blew as saphire . 55 35. experiments discovering the inexistence of arsenick in water , and somewhat of the nature of that dangerous mineral . 56 36. the deleterious nature of arsenick consists not only , or mainly in a transcendently acid , nor in a lixiviate causticle quality , but in a corrosiveness sui generis . ib. 37. an useful way for water-drinkers , of examining a mineral water suspected to contain arsenick . 60 38. why the author hath insisted so much upon the thirteenth article of the set of titles . 61 39. to what the knowledge of the degree of coldness in the water , especially if it be extraordinary may be useful . 63 40. divers ways of estimating the degrees of coldness , and heat in the water . 64 41. the usefulness of the knowledge of the specifick gravity of a mineral water . ib. 42. the difficulty of weighing exactly liquors . 67 43. the most exact way of measuring the weight of waters . 68 44. the determinate weights of most mineral waters , and others about london , as likewise of the german spaw-water . 69 45. how to discover the kind of soil through which the water hath passed . 71 46. no difference observed between mineral waters , and common water look'd upon through good microscopes . 72 47. that the little creatures we discover through magnifying glasses in water , wherein pepper has been infused , are not inanimate concretions , but really living creatures . 73 48. where the scent of several mineral waters are best judged of . 74 49. that there are some springs of ●●l viny odour . ib. 50. that men are apt to take all stinking waters for sulphureous , whereas sometimes they are bituminous , tho the spring may sometimes partake both of sulphur and bitumen . 75 51. that there is a manifest difference in reference to transportation in such ferruginous waters as are lighter than common water . 76 52. how we may ghess at the saltness of waters . 79 53. that it is not easy to discover the accidity of liquors . 81 54. by what waies we may know the predominancy of acidity in the salt proposed ? 85 55. how we may know the predominancy of an alcaly in the salt of a mineral water . 86 56. salt afforded by the famous waters of bourben in france found to be alcalisate . 88 57. several ways of discovering vitriol to be predominant in the saline part of a mineral water . ib. 56. what salts our english waters are impregnated with , and from what salt the purgative vertue that is found in many of them , as in epsom , barnet , and acton waters , &c. does proceed . 90 57. that two bodies , which are neither of them cathartick , may by change of texture wrought in one another , compose a third body , that is briskly purgative . 92 58. how great an inequality may be sometimes met with in the proportion that the same quantity of two differing mineral waters bear to the caput mortuum , they respectively afford . 94 59. that a small quantity of matter of which perhaps not one half is saline , or metalline ( the rest being terresstrial ) may impart a manifest vertue to a great proportion of water . 95 60. a spirit richly , impregnated with volatiliz'd sulphur , produceth with vitriol , in a trice whether in the form of a powder , or solution , a very dark , or blackish colour . 99 61. titles for the natural history of a mineral water propos'd consider'd as a medicine being the third part of the design'd work . 102 62. a short discourse of the author relating to this present treatise . 110 63. if the fall of rains weakneth the vertue of the mineral waters . 6 , 113. short memoirs for the natural and experimental history of particular mineral waters , address'd to his learned friend , dr. s. l ▪ sect . i. so many years , sir , have past , since i had occasion to consider mineral waters , and opportunity to make tryals on them with any application of mind ; that , tho' since that time some virtuosi have been pleas'd publickly to declare , that they found some directions they received from me not unuseful to the examen of such waters ; yet having sorgotten many of my past thoughts , and lost on mislaid most of my memorials about matters of fact relating to those liquors , i fear i shall not be able to satisfy either you , or my self , by what i now write about them . but how ever , since you will needs have me say something upon this subject since it is a noble one , as that where in the health of thousands is concern'd ; since 't is of late grown to be more priz'd and discours'd of , than ever ; and since i have observed mens curiosity about it to have been confin'd to very narrow limits , most men contenting themselves with the discoveries they can make by the infusion of galls ( or their body , ) and perhaps a slightly improv'd evaporation : since , i say , i have these invitations to obey you , i am content to offer you my advices , such as they are , for the drawing up of such a natural history of a mineral water propos'd as , being comprehensive of many inquiries and wayes of indagation that even physicians have either not known or overlook'd , may probably afford a more reaching notice , and inlarg'd knowledge of the subject treated of . upon which account i have , i confess , a desire and an aim , tho' no great hope , that this rude essay may , by your improvements and those of your learned friends , be made of some service to the publick . 2. but here i must ingenuously own to you , that notwithstanding the many wayes i propose , of discovering the natures or qualities of mineral waters , yet i think the surest way of knowing them , is a long and sufficient experience of their good and bad effects . for i strongly suspect , and it may be partly know , that there are , beneath the surface of the earth , divers mineral substances , some fix'd , and some volatile , some in the form of hard bodies , some of soft ones , some of liquors , and some of fumes , divers of which the generality , even of learned men , are altogether strangers to ; besides those that , tho' some men may chance to have seen , have their natures so little known , that they have not so much as names assign'd to them . so that when i consider , that of the ingredients we are unacquainted with ( to pass by all the rest that the earth may conceal ) the proportions wherein they are mingled may be numberless , and the qualities resulting from these commixtures may be very differing from those of the separate ingredients , i am apt too look upon the difficulty , of securely determining the effects of mineral waters à priori , as little , if at all , less than insuperable to humane understandings . 3. but this difficulty is not such , as ought to make us think it useless , to have a good project of the natural history of a mineral water . for 't is no small advantage , to know what particulars are fit for our inquiry , to be furnish'd with a sett of heads , to which one may conveniently refer whatever he tries , or observes , about the subject propos'd . and ( which is yet more considerable ) to be furnish'd with variety of methods or ways , to make tryals fit for investigating the nature , or examining the qualities , of the propos'd water ; since by the number and variety of purposely and fitly devis'd experiments , he that makes them may , as it were , view his subject on all sides , and be much assisted to conjecture , what saline , or other minerals known to us , and what quantities of them , do impregnate the water he examines , and consequently what effects they are like to produce in humane bodies . 4. though there be three sorts of things , fit to be taken notice of by him that would give an historical account of a mineral water , whether cold or hot , yet contenting my self to treat but very cursorily of those that belong to the first , and to the third of the three sorts , i have made a more full and particular enumeration of the titles that peculiarly belong to the second sort of observables , namely those that mention the various tryals , chymical and mechanical , that are to be made with the water after 't is taken out of the spring . this i purposely did , chiefly because 't was only of this sort of particulars that you desir'd my thoughts , and partly also because they are most wanted and desir'd by naturalists and physicians , and are like to prove the most instructive to them ; having also this to recommend them , that , to make the greatest part of them by far , it is not necessary that a man repair to the place where the spring rises , but he may at leisure examine the water at home , where he may be accommodated with furnaces , vessels , and other conveniences , to make his tryals upon it . 5. a much less discerning reader , than you , may perceive that in sorming the insuing project of a natural history , i aim'd much more to assist practical physicians to find the vertues and effects of mineral waters , than to insorm speculative naturalists of their causes and manner of being generated . but yet a heedful peruser may find , that i have so endeavour'd to gratify physicians that i have not been altogether ●anting [ especially in the first part , which is almost wholly mineralogical , ] to the curiosity of philosophers , as it relates to all sorts of mineral waters : tho' you may easily enough discern , and readily confess it , that the following paper does much more regard those cold ones , that from the acid tast that is found in most of them are call'd acidulae , than those other waters , that from their heat are commonly styl'd thermae , because the former sort of mineral waters is that , which i have had the opportunity to be the more conversant in , as well as that , about which alone you have desir'd my observations . 6. i had once thoughts of illustrating the following setts of titles with a kind of rationale , briefly declaring the reason of their order and their number ( sor both these were considerately pitch'd upon , not lighted on by chance . ) but i was obliged to omit it , when i sound ( as i quickly did ) that i had too little leisure and health , to imploy much of either upon a troublesom work of no greater importance . and therefore , knowing your perspicacity to be more than sufficient to make you discern some reason for the order wherein i have marshall'd the articles of the last sett of titles which fall under the cognizance of your own profession , i have not been solicitous to assign that reason . and i presume 't will be no great harm , if my hast have made me also omit to perform at present the intention i had to make here and there some brief marginal notes upon some of the articles of the first part. and i thought it sufficient ( if not also capable of making some amends for the newly mentioned omissions ) to make them somewhat numerous , and some of them large annotations upon the titles or articles of the ii part : this being indeed the chief that i design'd to insist on , and present you . 7. i expect it will be wonder'd at , that so many inquiries should be propos'd , and so many things directed to be taken notice of , about a subject that hath been thought so barren , that men are wont to think their curiosity great enough , if they inquire what colours the mineral water will strike with galls , or oaken leaves ; and do observe what kind and quantity of salt will remain after the evaporation of the liquor : and i much fear , that some , even of your profession , will think i cut them out a great deal too much work , by so many troublesome queries and tryals . but i confess that nature or long experience having made me , tho'not a sceptical , yet a suspicious and diffident philosophiser , i think my self obliged , on difficult occasions , to ask more than ten questions before i presume to answer one . nor do i think that the slightness of anothers curiosity dispenses me from industriously exercising mine . i might on this occasion represent , that tho' the greatest naturalists , and physicians among the ancients , did not only mention , but admire and discourse of the loadstone ; yet our gilbert thought fit to examine it further , and was thereby able to discover far more numerous phaenomena , than all them put together had taken notice of . and i might add other instances to the same purpose ; but to answer more closely , and directly , i say , that , to discover the nature of mineral waters , being a thing far more difficult than those , that have not try'd , do imagine , i think we ought to view the subject in as many differing lights as we can expose it to , and take in as many helps to discovery as we can ; since a great many particulars , that singly , or at the first view , seem not very pertinent , if they be survey'd in conjunction , and be skilfully apply'd , may much conduce to the desir'd end . and perhaps hereafter it will be found useful , if not necessary , to make large additions to the topicks , whose number is now thought redundant : for the more qualities and other particulars , we are acquainted with in any subject , the better grounded , and the more enlarged knowledge we have of it . as for the trouble it may cost , to make the proposed enquiries and tryals , it may be said , 1. that they are not all necessary ( though useful ) nor yet of equal moment , and therefore the omission of some , that are less important , may not disappoint the main searches . 2. i have purposely made most of the tryals as easy and short , as the matter and scope will permit ; and those , that will not undergo some trouble in seeking an useful truth , do not deserve to find it , especially since , in the chase of noble discoveries , as in hunting the nobler game , the toyl oftentimes makes a part of the pleasure . and i have made the less scruple , to be somewhat ample in the enquiries i propound , because divers observations have perswaded me , that physicians ought to consider very well both the nature of the waters they ordain , and to what persons , for what diseases , and in what manner , they prescribe the use of them : for tho' many look upon them as such innocent medicines , as , if they do no good , can at least do no harm , yet the effects , that have too often insu'd the unskilful use of them , especially when it was long continued , allow me not to look upon the drinking of mineral waters as a slight thing , that may safely be plaid with , but as that whereby we have seen , as very much good , so a great deal of mischief , done , especially some time after the operation is thought to be quite over , and perhaps almost forgotten . 8. i look upon the examen of the properties , and other qualities , of mineral waters , as a thing that is therefore of the greater importance , because i am apt to think , upon probable grounds that , by a diligent inquiry , there may be discover'd in england ( and in divers other countries too ) a far greater number than is yet imagin'd of mineral waters , especially ferruginous ones ; which i therefore guess will be found very numerous , because , by some uncommon wayes of tryal that i have imploy'd , i have found that divers minerals that either men knew not what to make of , or by reason of their passing under other names did not suspect to be martial , did yet partake of , and perhaps abound with , parts of a martial nature . and i shew in another paper [ about the magnetism of the earth ] that kindly provident nature , or rather its divine author has , under various disguises , furnish'd our globe with a far greater plenty and variety of iron ores and minerals , that partake of that metal , the most useful by far to mankind , than of any other metal . and as martial minerals do thus abound in the earth , so they are more dispos'd , than one would suspect such hard bodies could be , to impregnate even such liquors as are not manifestly acid , and seem unlikely to be able to work upon minerals far less hard than they . to make this probable , we took not iron ore , or embryonated mars , but pure steel it self , the same as needles were made of ; and upon the minute filings of it , we put some tincture of galls made with common water , and filtred through cap-paper , that the present colour of the liquor , and the change we expected to be made in it , might the better appear : and by this tryal we found that , in less than an hour , the transparent infusion of galls was so alter'd , as to be grown not only opacous , but of a dark and almost inky colour , which it retain'd even after filtration ; and this tho' the vial , that contain'd it , was very slender . a not unlike effect was produc'd by small filings of steel , but somewhat slow : lier in the red tincture of brazil , and in that of logwood , made with common water . 9. i know not whether it may not be fit to be represented , on this occasion , that , in countries manifestly abounding with metalline and other minerals , it may perhaps be worth while , that mens curiosity descend much lower than the superficies or turf of the ground , and make search both after subterraneal springs , and wells , and their operations upon humane bodies . for i have upon inquiry been assur'd , by those that in several places have visited mines , that they have met with in them , and sometimes at very great depths , running , as well as stagnant , waters , of differing tasts , and sometimes other qualitie ; and that the diggers , venturing to make use of them to quench their thirst , as they found some of them mischievous ( as corrosive , petrific , ) &c. so they met with others that were not only innocently . potable , but medicinal . of both these sorts we have instances in our tin-mines of cornwal in devonshire . and of the latter sort i receiv'd from an ingenious gentleman , that has the oversight of some cornish water-works , this memorable answer to an inquiry i sent him . the strangest account , saies he , of mineral waters that i have yet had , was of that in the bottom of a tin-work call'd karnkey , wrought above 60 fathom [ that is 360 foot deep ; ] the mineral being a mixture of tin and iron , and the water red and puddle , yet drunk was cool and not nauseous , and would pass by urine , near as red as it was drunk , as i have been inform'd by those that drunk of it whilst it [ the mine ] was working , being now struck out , [ that is , the vein of ore being degenerated , or lost . ] however i believe experiments might yet be made with water much of the same nature . thus far he , from whom notwithstanding the remoteness of the place he lives in , i hope to get some of this liquor , to make tryal of ; which if i do , i design you an account of the effects . i could enlarge upon the subjects of these two last ( the 8th and the 9th ) numbers . but after so long an introduction to short memoirs , 't is high time that i come at length to set down the topicks themselves that i design to propose . sect . ii. titles for the natural history of a mineral water propos'd , consider'd as being yet in its channel or receptacles : ( being the first or mineralogical part of the designed work . ) he that would draw up the history of a mineral water . [ to have its qualities some examin'd and some investigated , ] should , in my opinion , make three sorts of observations about it . for first he ought to take notice of those particulars that relate to it whilst 't is yet under ground , or in its native receptacles ▪ next he is to examine the properties and other qualities of it , when 't is drawn up by men at the springhead or other receptacle : lastly he is to consider the operations and effects of it upon humane bodies , whether sick or sound , according to the several ways and circumstances made use of in administring it . to the first of these three sorts of observations may be referr'd such heads or titles as these . 1. in what climate and parallel , or in what degree of latitude , the mineral water do's spring up , or stagnate ? 2. whether the spring-head , or other receptacle , do chiefly regard the east , the west , the north , or the south ? 3. whether the water be found in a plain or valley ? and if not whether it arise in a hillock , a hill , or a mountain ? 4. and whether it be found at or near the top , the middle , or the bottom , of the rising ground . 5. whether the waters leave any secrement , or other unusual substance , upon the stones , or other bodies that lie in the channels they pass through as they glide along , or the receptacles that contain them ? 6. whether there be beneath or near the medicinal water , any subterraneal fire , that hath manifest chimney's or vents and visibly ( by night only , or also by day , ) burns or smoaks , either constantly , or at certain periods of time ? 7. whether at or near the mouth , or orifice , of the abovementioned chimneys or vents , there be found either flowers of brimstone , or a salt like sal-armoniac , or some other mineral exhalations in a dry form ? 8. whether there be under or near the course or channel of the water , any subterraneal aestuary , or latent mass , of hot , but not actually , or at least visibly , burning matters ? and whether such aestuary afford an uniform heat as to sense , or have periodical hot fits , as it were ; and if so , whether these come at certain and stated times , or uncertainly or irregularly ? 9. whether it be observed that over the aestuary , or in some other neighbouring part of the place , where the mineral water springs , there arise any visible mineral fumes on smoak , ( which when they do appear are wont to do it early in the morning , or late in the evening , ) and if such fumes ascend , how plentiful they are , of what colour and of what smell ▪ 10. what is the more obvious nature of the not manifestly metalline , nor marcasitical part of the soil , which the medicinal water passes through or touches ? and what are the qualities of the neighbouring soil , and the adjacent country ? as whether it be rocky , stony , clayish , sandy , chalky , &c. 11. whether there be any ores , marcasites , or earths , ( especially highly colour'd ones ) impregnated with mineral juices , to be met with in the course of the medicinal spring , or in the receptacle of the same water stagnant ? and what these minerals are , whether copperish , ferrugineous , marcasitical , &c. and whether the ores do , or do not , abound in the metalline portion ? as also with what other ingredient as spar , cauke , sulphur , orpiment , arsenick , &c ( whether innocent or hurtful ) they are mingled , or else compacted together ? 12. whether it can be discover'd , that the spring of the medicinal water was common water before it came to such a place , or part of the soil it runs through , & there begins to be manifestly impregnated with mineral bodies ? 13. and whether in this case , it makes any effervescence , or other conflict , with the mineral it imbibes , or with any other water or liquor that it meets with in its way ; and whether the conflict produce any manifest heat or no ? 14. whether , if the mineral water propos'd be manifestly hot , or extraordinarily cold ; the springs it flows out at , or the receptacle it stagnates in , have near it ( and if it have how near ) a spring , or well of water , of a contrary quality , as 't is observ'd in very neighbouring springs in some few places of france , and elsewhere ? 15. whether , when the water appears in the spring or receptacle there appear also , either floting at the top , or lying at the bottom , or swimming between both , any drops or greater quantity of oyl , ( like naphta or petroleum , ) or some other bituminous & inflammable substance . 16. whether the water be considerably altered in quantity or quality , bythe different seasons of the year , as summer , winter , &c. by the much varying temperatures of the air , as to heat , coldness , drought , &c. by the plenty , or paucity , frequency , or unfrequency , of falling rains , or snows : and what may be the bounds , and measures of these alterations of the mineral water ? 17. whether any thing considerable can be certainly discover'd , or any very probable conjecture made of the nature and qualities of the substances , that impregnate the water , by chymically and mechanically examining the mineral earths , through which it flows , or in which it stagnates ? and particularly , by observing their colour , whether native , or acquir'd by being kept in the fire ; their specifick gravity ; their affording , or not affording , any salt , or other soluble substance , by decoction ; their being soluble , or indissoluble , in particular chymical menstruums of several sorts , as aqua fortis , spirit of salt , &c. and their being committed to destillation in vessels of differing sorts , and various degrees of fire , with care to receive separately the differing substances they afford , whether in the form of liquors , or of flowers ; and by examining these substances by fit and proper wayes as also the cap. mort. by calcination , elixiviation , and ( if it will bear such a fire ) vitrification ? sect . iii. titles for the natural history of a mineral water propos'd , consider'd as being drawn out of its spring or receptacle : ( being the ii. or physico chymical part of the designed work . ) that this scheme of titles may be the better understood , and the more instructive and useful tho' i have not time to write an ample com ment upon it all , yet i thought fit to illustrate most of its particular articles by such notes as may either explicate the meaning of what is but briefly couch'd , or deliver some of the practical ways of tryal , that i make use of , on occasion of the subject mention'd in the title or article , whereto the notes belong . these being divers of them too large to be conveniently plac'd the margin , are all of them set down together after this sett of titles . title . 1. of the actual coldness or heat of the mineral water propos'd . 2. of the specific gravity of the mineral water propos'd . 3. of the transparency , the muddiness , or the opacity of the mineral water . 4. whether the mineral water will , by slading for a competent time , let fall of it self any oker , or other earthy substance , especially tho' the liquor be kept from the air. 5. whether any thing , and if any thing , what can be discover'd in the mineral water by the help of the best microscopes adapted to view liquors ? 6. of the colour or colournes of the mineral water . 7. of the odour of the mineral water , as acetous , winy , sulphureous . bituminous , &c. 8. of the tast of the mineral water , as acid , ferruginous , vitriolate , lixivial , sulphureous , &c. 9. whether any change will be produc'd in the transparency , colour , odour , or tast of the mineral water , by its being taken up at the spring-head or other receptacle , or remov'd to some distance , by its being kept stop'd or unstop'd for a greater or lesser space of time ; and by its being much warm'd or refrigerated , and also , by naturally or artificially , produc'd cold , turn'd into ice , and thaw'd again ? 10. of the thinness or viscosity of the mineral water . 11. whether the mineral water be more easy to be heated and cool'd , and to be dilated and condens'd than common water ? 12. whether the mineral water will of it self putrify , and if it will , whether sooner or later than common water , and with what kind or degree of stink and other phaenomena ? 13. of the change of colours producible in the mineral water by astringent drugs , as galls , pomgranate-peels , balaustium , red roses , myrobolans , oakenleaves , &c. as also by some liquors or juices of the body . 14. whether any thing will be precipitated out of the mineral waters by salts or saline liquors , whether they be acid , as spirit of salt , of niter , aqua fortis , &c. or volatile alcali's , as strong spirit of urine , sal-armoniac , &c. or lixiviate salts , as oyl of tartar per deliquium , fixt niter , &c. 15. how to examine with evaporation , whether the mineral water contain common salt , and if it do , whether it contains but little or much ? 16. how to examine , without evaporation , whether the mineral water have any acidity , tho' it be but very little . 17. of the liquor or liquors afforded by the mineral water by destillation in balneo , and other wayes . 18. of the residence , cap. mort. of the mineral water , when the liquor is totally evaporated or distill'd off ; and whether the cap. mort. be the same in quantity and quality , if produc'd by either of those wayes ? 19. whether the propos'd water , being in glass-vessels exactly luted together slowly and warily abstracted to a thickish substance ; this being reconjoin'd to the distill'd liquor , the mineral water will be redintegrated , and have again the same texture and qualities it had at first ? 20. whether a glass-full of the mineral water , being hermetically seal'd and boil'd in common water , deep enough to keep it always cover'd , will have its texture so alter'd as to suffer an observable change in any of its manifest qualities ? and if it do , in what qualities , and to what degree of alteration ? 21. of the proportion of the dry cap. mort. to the mineral water that affords it . 22. of the division of the cap. mort. into saline and terrestrial and other parts not dissoluble in water , in case it contain both or more sorts . 23. of the proportion of the saline part of the cap. mort. to the terrestrial . 24. of the fixity or volatility of the saline part in strong fires . 25. whether the saline part will shoot into crystals or no ? and if it will , what figure the grains will be of ? and if it will not whether , being combin'd with a salt that will ( as purify'd sea-salt peter &c. ) it will then chrystallize ; and if it do , into what figures it will shoot , especially if any of them be reducible to those of any species of salt known to us ? 26. to examine whether the saline part be , ex praedominio , acid , alcalizate , or adiaphorous ? 27. of the observables in the terestrial portion of the cap. mort. as besides its quantity in reference to the saline , its colour , odour , volatility or fixity in a strong fire ; it s being soluble , or not dissoluble by divers menstruum's , as spirit of vinegar , spirit of urine , oyl of tartar , &c. 28. whether , and ( if any thing ) how much the mineral waters earth looses by strong and lasting ignition ? what changes of colour , &c. it thereby receives ? whether it be capable of vitrification perse ? and what colour , ( if any , ) it will impart to fine and well powder'd venice glass if they be exactly mix'd , and flux'd into a transparent glass ? 29. of the oeconomical , and mechanical uses of the mineral water , as in brewing , baking , vvashing of linnen , tanning of leather , or dying of cloth , callico's , silks , &c , as these may assist in discovering the ingredients and qualities of the liquor propos'd . 30. of the imitation of natural medicinal waters , by chymical and other artificial wayes , as that may help the physician to guess at the quality and quantity of the ingredients that impregnate the natural water propos'd . an appendix containing 1. paralipomena , or things directly belonging to the history and pretermitted in it . 2. a chaos of observations and experiments , remotely or indirectly referable either to one or more of the foregoing titles , or to the common subject of them all . sect . iv. experimental remarks upon the ( usual ) way of examining mineral waters , by the help of galls : deliver'd by way of larger annotations upon the xiii . article of the ii. part. since the change of colour that mineral waters produce in the infusion or tincture of galls , is the most usual way that many physicians , and the almost only that some of them , endeavour to discover or examine mineral waters by ; it may be worth while , in this place , to set down some remarks , that i have made about this way of probation ; & the rather because it may , mutatis mutandis , be not unusefully apply'd to the exploring the quality's of mineral waters by colorations , tho' made with other materials than galls . first then it may be observ'd , that one need not make an infusion or tncture of galls in common water , to try if by their means a new colour will be produc'd . for i am wont to beat them to powder , and keep them in a glass ( not too big ) exactly stop'd , by which means i have them alwaies in readiness to mingle with the mineral water , and alter the colour of it , if galls be able to do it , almost in atrice : whereas to draw the tincture of galls with simple water , often takes up several hours , and the tinging parts are much weakn'd by being diluted by the menstruum . if you would have a tincture , the powder of galls , ty'd up close in a ragg , and with it hung in the liquor , makes the infusion less muddy . if you be in hast , and have none of the powder at hand , you may scrape as much of a gall-apple , as you need into the mineral water . 2. i have observ'd those parts of the infusion of galls ( especially it made by heat ) that produce the new colour with ferruginous waters , to be more apt to fly away than one would think , the infusion becoming often unfit to alter the colour of the martial waters , whilst yet it self appears sufficiently high colour'd . upon which account , i choose to make a tincture of galls not long before i mind to use it ; and if i imploy dry galls , to take powder that is not stale . 3. 't is no safe way , and may be very erroneous , that is usually taken in mixing galls or their infusion with the water to be explor'd so carelesly , as is wont to be done . for those that are curious to make good ink , will easily believe , that much of the deepness of the colour depends upon the proportion of galls to the other ingredient ; and accordingly that by putting a much greater , or a much lesser , quantity of galls , into such a quantity of the mineral water , the resulting colour may be more or less intense . to obviate which inconvenience , i take this course when the occasion deserves it ; i make my infusion of galls with a certain weight of the powder in a determinate weight of water . as for instance i put about five gr . of powder'd galls , to sleep for so many hours in an ounce of water . but if i make use of the dry powder , then i am wont to put three or four grains into an ounce of the liquor to be examin'd ; which is a way far more certain than the common , wherein the ingredients are aestimated but by guess . i have have mention'd various proportions of powder'd galls to the same quantity of liquor , because i have observ'd that there is really a great inequality among the mineral vvaters in which it may be put ; and i have found by tryal , that in an ounce of the german spaw , a single grain of powder would immediately produce a sufficiently deep purple colour . 't is an inconvenience , that not only galls , but the other drugs hereafter to be mention'd , impart a high tincture of their own to the common vvater they are infus'd in ; and therefore it were to be wish'd , and is fit to be endeavour'd , that we had some drugg , that without imparting a colour to the common vvater it impregnates , would afford an infusion fit to strike a blackish or a purple colour with martial vvaters . though it be useful , yet 't is not necessary , to imploy galls to produce a colour in the mineral vvater propos'd . for besides that 't is known that usually , ( tho' not alwayes , as i have try'd , ) the same thing may be done , but somewhat more faintly , with oaken leaves , we may successfully enough substitute , for the same purpose , some other astringent vegetables , as dry'd red-rose leaves , the peel , and , ( as we have try'd ) the juice of pomegranates ; and ( what i find to be a notable stiptick ) the blossoms of the same plant , ( which are vulgarly call'd in the shops ballaustium . ) to which may be added myrobolans , logwood , and some others that need not now be mention'd , whose strong infusions have yielded me a tincture very dark and blackish with some martial liquors . 6. in regard that the galls , or other drugs , to be infus'd in common vvater , are not alwayes of the same goodness or strength , 't is adviseable not so to trust to any determinate proportion of the pigment to the vvater , as not to take in the help of the eye , to judge by the colour of the tincture , whether the liquor be duely ( and not too much or too little ) impregnated . 8. whereas there is an intimation in the close of this thirteenth article of the present sett of titles , that animal liquors may be imploy'd to produce new colours with mineral vvaters , i gave that hint , not only because 't is usually observ'd in martial vvaters , such as those of tunbridge the spaw , &c. that the gross excrements of the lower belly are blacken'd by a commixture of their metalline parts ; but in tunbridge vvaters particularly i have observ'd , that after the drinking of larger doses of them , the root of the tongue , and perhaps some neighbouring parts , would also acquire a dark colour , by the operation of the transient liquor . though the way of trying mineral vvaters , by the change of colours that galls produce in them , be useful and recommended by being easy , cheap , and expeditious , yet i do not take it to be either of that extent , or of that certainty , that 't is vulgarly presum'd to be of : for its main , if not only considerable , use is , to discover by striking , or not affording , a black or blackish , or at least a purple or a purplish , colour with a mineral water , to manifest the liquor to be , or not to be , either of a vitriolate , or a ferruginous nature . but there are divers metalline ores , and other mineral bodies , which not participating of iron , will not by this way be discoverable and yet may strongly impregnate the vvater propos'd : as for example , to try whether if arsenic were mingl'd with vvater , galls would discover it by producing with it a dark colour , i put some of the powder of them into a decoction of arsenic , but did not perceive that it gave the liquor any deeper colour , than it would have done to common vvater . and as the extent of this explorer of vvaters is not very great , so neither do i find the informations it gives us to be so certain , as they are presum'd . for , if i much misremember not , i long since found upon tryal purposely made that another body of a metalline nature , and that did not partake of iron , would with infusion of galls afford a very dark colour , that might easily , among ordinary beholders , pass for the colour produc'd by a martial vvater ; and i do somewhat doubt , whether so much as all liquors impregnated with iron , will de discover'd to be so , by the colour they afford with galls ; for i have sometimes made such a liquor with no mineral substance in it , save steel or iron but i did not find it would turn the infusion of galls either blackish or purple , which made me suspect , that these colours are afforded only by such martial vvaters , as have been wrought upon more or less by some acid salts or fumes . 9. unto these things i shall add , that i found that to be a mistake , which is generally taken for granted , viz. that the infusion of galls will certainly discover , by becoming black , ( or purple , ) if a mineral water , that is mix'd with it , be vitriolate ; for , tho' it be true that if , in the vitriolated vvater , iron be the only or predominant mineral , or be at least considerably participated by the liquor , yet if the dissolv'd vit riol be altogether copperish , i found by several tryals purposely made with a strong solution of roman vitriol , ( wherein copper is affirm'd to be the only , or to be very much the predominant , metal , ) that it would not with insusion or tincture of galls , afford either a black or a blackish colour , but only a thick and muddy one , that was not so much purplish . it comes into my mind upon this occasion that from one of the northern countreys of england , where there are divers mineral vvaters , there was brought me by a virtuoso , a good quantity of very whitish earth , which he suspected to be of a peculiar nature , but could not tell of what . this odd earth being examin'd , i concluded it to contain a considerable proportion of lead ore , corroded by some mineral salts , and imbody'd with the soyl ; so that if it had been in a place where people had sought for mineral vvaters , 't is probable that , finding some peculiarity in the tast of those that pass'd through this earth , they would have taken it for a mineral water , but had been at a great loss to determine what mineralit did partake of ; and perhaps , in endeavouring to resolve the doubt by drinking it , they would have found very bad effects of it . but probably the sulphureous spirit to be ere long describ'd in this paper would have inform'd them , that the water was impregnated with a body of the nature of vitriol , but not of common vitriol . for tho' galls do not give a black , or very blackish , colour with a solution of saecharum saturni , ( which is indeed the vitriol of lead ) resolv'd in distill'd or rain water . yet i found by tryal , that this volatile sulphur did manifestly and presently do it ; which tryal i was fain to take up with , because when i had occasion to consider this matter i had not at hand the ores of lead , copper , &c. and therefore was fain to content my self with the solutions of the metals themselves in their proper menstruums ; it being probable , that the metalline parts of the ores would have afforded either the same solutions , or some very like them , in the same menstruums ; which consisting of niter , sea-salt , & vitriol , bodies that abound in diverse places of the earth through which springs flow , the impregnated water would afford phaenomena of the same kind . i made tryals also upon a somewhat fine solution of refin'd gold made in an aqua regalis , and upon a solution of common running mercury , made with aqua fortis , and in a clear solution of tin , made , not with either of the foregoing menstruums ( for i have not found them to dissolve it genuinely ) but in a peculiar solvent , ( which i have communicated in another paper , ) that does not only dissolve it readily , but keep it permanently dissolv'd , as aqua fortis do's silver , but not tin. to these solutions i put galls , without obtaining any blackish colour except from that which contain'd gold. but with our sulphureous liquor we produc'd notable changes of colour , and those in all the solutions but one a dark one or tending to blackness , and tho' for that reason a careless eye might judge them indiscriminately to be blackish ; yet since i well remember that the degrees , or some other modification , of the same dark colour seem'd plainly enough not to be the same in all of them , i do not think it impossible but that a very heedful beholder ( which when i made those tryals i had no great motive to be ) may discern between those obscure colours some little differences , that may much assist him to guess , what metalline substance is contain'd in the liquor , or at least is predominant in it , if it be a compounded one . and i particularly remember , that the colour that sprang from our sulphureous liquor and solution of tin , was manifestly distinguishable from those produc'd in that of any of the other solutions , being not black or blackish , nor so much as purple , but of a kind of brownish yellow . though i am content that the things , i come from mentioning , should make men cautious and diffident , yet not only i do not despise or slight the use of galls , &c. even as it it is vulgarly practis'd , but i am apt to think that the way of exploring mineral waters by the changes of colour , that may be produc'd in them or by them , when they are mingled with convenient drugs or additaments , may be made of greater extent and use than he , that has read what i have written in the foregoing number , will perhaps be forward to expect . but to make the way of exploring mineral waters by colorations , of somewhat more general use and less uncertainty , i would recommend these things to the experimenter , ( 1. ) it seems very fit , if not necessary , that he look upon the change of colours , both while 't is producing , and when 't is produce in a good light and with a heedful eye . for by this means he may discover several shades or varietys of the more principal colours , and some other circumstances that he could not else take notice of ; and which yet may afford good hints ( in reference to other minerals , as well as martial ones , ) to a sagacious observer . and i have sometimes fancy'd , that there may be a kind of physio gnomy of many , if not most , other natural bodies as well as of humane faces , whereby an attentive and experienc'd considerer may himself discern in them many instructive things , that he cannot so declare to another man , as to make him discern them too . ( 2. ) the attention here encourag'd may perhaps be made more instructive , by a way that i have sometimes practis'd to vary the shades , and other phaenomena of colours produc'd with mineral liquors . this way consists chieflly in preparing sheets of white paper by drenching them in a strong infusion of brasil , log-wood , or some other convenient dying stuff , and then letting them dry leasurely in the air , which may give some of them , as i have observ'd , a colour differing enough from that of the liquor look'd upon in a vial or drinking glass . upon this dry'd paper ye may let fall , but not all on the same place , some drops of the mineral liquor to be examin'd , especially if it be of a saline nature , and by the changes of colour , effected by these drops on the parts of the paper , they fell and spread themselves upon , a heedful observer may be assisted to guess , what kind of mineral impregnates the liquor , and how much it does so ; especially if on the same sheet of paper some other fit mineral water or idoneous liquor be likewise dropt , that the changes of colour produc'd by the two fluids , may be survey'd and compar'd together . i also practis'd another way somewhat differing from this ; as the main part of which we prepar'd white paper , by rubbing well upon it , with a hares foot or some such thing , some idoneous powders , especially that of vitriol ( whereof for this purpose english seem'd the best ) lightly calcin'd in a gentle heat till it became of a grayish colour and friable between the fingers . by this means 't was easy to make the paper fit for our turn . for the finer parts having lodg'd themselves in its pores , without much discolouring it when the supersluous dust was struck off , it became capable of affording a variety of colours , or rather shades , some deeper and some fainter , when i let fall on it some drops of differing martial liquors . but of the examen of the materia medica , by the changes of colour produc'd in it or by it , more is said in another paper ; and therefore , instead of transferring that hither , i shall here briefly intimate , that divers variations of colour may be made , either by infusing or otherwise mixing , as i have sometimes done something in the mineral water before the tinging stuff be put to it : or by putting somewhat in the infusion or powder of galls , before it be mix'd with the mineral water , or else by dropping fit liquors ( such as spirit of salt sirst ; and then spirit of urine , or oyl of tartar ) into the blackish or purple mixture of galls and the medicinal water to be examin'd . for by these means diverse variations of colours may be observ'd ; which , together with some other wayes that i have made use of to multiply them , i have not now leisure to set down . ( 3. ) it is not convenient to confine ones self to the use either of galls or oaken leaves , but to make use also of red roses , balaustium , log-wood , brasil , and other astringent vegetable pigments . for , though some of these give a deeper tincture than galls yet , by the diversity of colours produc'd by them in mineral waters , an attentive beholder may , as was lately intimated where i mention'd diversity of lights and shades , discover some things that he would not be informed of , or receive any hints of , by the help of galls of oaken leaves alone . nay i would not have our experimenter imploy none but vegetable substances about his colorations , but sometimes make use of animal ones , and ( more often ) of minerals : since by this means he may much diversify his tryals , and increase the number of phaenomena , some of which he may probably find instructive . besides astringent plants i have found , and sometimes devis'd , other substances that will turn black as well as galls , with vitriolated water ; and that not only with those that are richly impregnated with iron , but also with those wherein copper alone abounds , as in roman vitriol . and tho' , for certain reasons , i must not now set down a way i have , to discover in a trice both these vitriols , without any liquor or tangible body , yet i shall subjoin , as a kind of succedaneum that may suffice for the present occasion , the way of making a liquor that will presently turn black with a solution either of martial or cupreous vitriol . take equal parts of pure salt of tartar , and either flowers of sulphur , or at least sulphur finely powder'd , and good sal-armoniac , reduce the first and the last to powder separately , melt the sulphur over a gentle fire , and by degrees put to it the salt of tartar , stirring them well , to make them incorporate and grow red ( or reddish . ) then put this mixture pulveriz'd into a glass retort , or a cucurbite , and pour on it the sal-armoniac dissolv'd in fair water , and closing well the junctures , distill all in sand by degrees of a moderate fire , shifting the receiver once or twice , because the liquors will be differingly ting'd and strong ; and that which ascends last , may bring over but very little of the sulphur , whose volatile tincture is yet the main thing we aim at in this operation . ( 4. ) i do not despair but that he , who were able to make a skilful use of the several drugs and other body's , vegetable , animal and mineral , that may produce new colours in or with mineral waters , ( or in some cases with the substances that impregnate them , ) may by their means be also inabled to discover the presence or inexistence of divers other minerals , some of them salubrious , or at least safe , and some others either hurtfull , or at least dangerous , that are not taken notice of by those that content themselves to imploy galls and oaken leaves , in the exploration of the waters they examine . for some of these liquors contain salts , that having not corroded either martial or cupreous ores or marcasites , do not betray themselves by producing either an inky or a fainter degree of blackness , or else a purple , with the drugs made use of to change their colours . ofthese salts i have met with more than one sort , which may be more properly take notice of , when we consider the mineral water and its contents . 12. i think it likewise very possible , that industrious men should find wayes to discover , by the help of the change of colours , whether orpiment or native arsenick , or the like poisonous minerals , do so impregnate the water propos'd , as to make it very hurtful or dangerous , thô not absolutely pernicious . and as for sulphur , there may be several waters that partake of it , without being taken notice of to do so . for i remember , that i have sometimes purposely made a liquor , that was limpid and colourless like spring water , and which would totally fly up , even with a gentle heat ; and yet this liquor was richly impregnated with a mineral sulphur , as i convinc'd several virtuosi by manifest and ocular proofs . so that if sulphur chanc'd to be combin'd with any salt or mineral , of those many subterraneal ones that nature hath hid from us , that can suppress or disguise its peculiar odour , the water may be considerably , and yet unobservedly , impregnated with it . and yet 't is like this may easily be discover'd by the change of colour , producible in such a sulphureous liquor by vitriolate bodies , and , other appropriate additaments : which may be thought the more probable , because , thô the spirit lately describ'd be very transparent and totally volatile in the form of a liquor sometimes pale enough , yet common english vitriol , as also that of danzick which is venereal , will presently turn it of a black or very dark colour . and to add here something more difficult to be perform'd , i have devis'd a way , which i elsewhere deliver , whereby it may appear that even copper , that hath been melted into a body , may be so subtiliz'd and disguis'd , as to have a multitude of its metalline parts made to ascend , with others , in the form of a transparent liquor like common water : and yet by putting to it a little of another substance , as volatile and colourless as it self , it would presently disclose the copper it contain'd by turning blew as a saphire . 13. because arsenic is a very pernicious drug , and yet has been suspected to be clandestinely mingled with some mineral waters , which i thought the less improbable , because some of the marcasitical bodies by which some mineral waters pass , are judg'd not to be devoid of arsenic , for these reasons , i say , and for this other which makes the mention of it pertinent in this place , that galls did not ( as i elsewhere note , ) discover at all the inexistence of this poysonous drug in water , thô the liquor were copiously impregnated with it , i thought fit to make some trials , that seem'd to me likely to discover at once the in existence of arsenic in water , and somewhat of the nature of that dangerous mineral . happening some years ago to tast arsenic , not without some little danger and inconvenience , the tast of it did not seem to me to favour the vulgar supposition , that its poysonous nature consists in a highly acid salt ; whereas its tast agrees well with my conjecture , who suspect it to be of an exceeding corroding or fretting nature , but whose corrosiveness is sui generis , that is , of a peculiar kind . having then made a strong solution of arsenic in common water , [ which does not without some skill easily dissolve it , ] we mix'd a small proportion of it with the german-spaw water , and then dropping into this mixture some highly dephlegm'd spirit of urine , we perceiv'd a light lactescence to be produc'd , and a whitish precipitate very slowly to subside . we found also that a little ( excellent ) oyl of tartar per deliquium , being drop'd into some of the lately mention'd solution of arsenic , produc'd a heavy whitish cloud , which presently settled at the lower part of the glass . we also put oyl of vitriol , as one of the strongest acids we know , into the solution of arsenic , but did not perceive , that the oyl made a precipitation , or wrought much otherwise on it than it would have done upon common water . and by these three tryals one would suspect , that arsenic is , at least ex praedominio , an acid body . but not content with these , we put some of the arsenical liquor upon some syrup of violets , and found it to change the syrup , thô but slowly , rather to a green than a red or purple colour . we put , to another portion of the same liquor , some of our volatile sulphureous spirit , but took notice of no precipitation that ensued . for a severer examen we imploy'd a tryal that we successfully make use of ( and have deliver'd in another paper ) to discover such slight degrees of acidity in liquors , as by ordinary tryals are not discoverable ; but we could not by this way discern the least acidity in our arsenical solution , but rather a manifest token of an urinous or lixiviate quality . with the former experiment agreed very well that which we aftewards made , by putting some of the arsenical liquor into a strong solution of common sublimate made in fair water . for by this means we had a copious precipitate , such as might have been expected from an alkaline precipitant . and this was not brick-colour'd , as fix'd alcali's produce with dissolv'd sublimate , but white , such as urinous or volatile alcalies , ( as they call them , ) are wont to make with the same liquor . the forgoing tryals having been made at one time , when i was in hast , and not at all fond of having to do with arsenic ( for which reason i caus'd the solution to be presently thrown away to prevent dangerous mistakes ; ) thô what i have hitherto try'd seems very favourable to our propos'd conjecture ; that thô arsenic be a very corrosive body , and perhaps upon that score poysonous , yet its deleterious nature does not consist only or mainly in a transcendently acid , nor in a lixiviate caustick quality , but in a corrosiveness sui generis , i mean peculiar and distinct : yet i shall forbear to be positive in this conjecture till further tryal , pretending only , by what has been said , to shew the need of examining the vulgar supposition by further inquiries , and to give some hints towards the finding of antidotes against this cruel poyson . i shall now add that , for the sake of water-drinkers , i cast about in my thoughts for some way that might be of some use , thô of no certainty , in examining a mineral water suspected to contain arsenic . to which purpose , for reasons which hast forbids me to mention , i pitch'd upon vitriolate bodies and found that if a little solution of dantzick vitriol were put to a convenient quantity of arsenical liquor , there would presently insue a great change of colour , and a dark substance would by degrees precipitate it self and settle in the lower part of the glass . the like effect we found , when we put english vitriol , which ( having no copper added in the making , as that of dantzick has , ) is either altogether or almost totally martial , into a considerable proportion of the arsenical solution . i fear i shall be thought to have dwelt by far too long upon this one ( 13 ) article of our sett of titles : but i was tempted to do it , partly , because i thought the subject seem'd both to merit and to need it , partly , because i thought fit to give an instance that may shew that even that part of the exploration of mineral waters , that is judg'd to be the most cultivated , hath been but superficially enough consider'd . and partly , too , because my want of health , and my preingagement to some subjects that i am more concern'd for then i am for that i now treat of , permitting me to make few other than shorter notes upon the particular articles and clauses of this scheme of titles ; i thought it not amiss , by referring all the foregoing observations and tryals to the same topick , to give one specimen ( thô but an imperfect one ) of those that , for distinctions sake , i style large annotations . and though the title , these belong to , be the thirteenth in the scheme ( of the ii part , ) yet i thought fit to premise these notes to all the rest ? though divers of them be on titles antecedent to the thirteenth , because one or other , of the many particulars refer'd to this last nam'd title , may probably be of use to you in considering many of the other articles of this scheme , whether they follow the thirteenth , or precede it . marginal notes for the ii. or physico-chymical part of the natural history of a mineral water propos'd . notes on the first title . i. 1. the article mentions actual coldness and heat , because we do not here consider that which the schools call potential . 2. the knowledge of the degree of coldness in the water , especially if it be extraordinary , may somewhat assist the examiner to guess , whether the spring come from some notable depth under ground before it ascends , or whether it runs through a soyl abounding with salt-peter or sal-armoniac , or some such very refrigerating substance . 3. the degree of coldness or heat may be estimated several wayes as , if the water be cold , by its having , or not having , the power to coagulate essential oyl of anis seeds , or that of fennell seed ; & if it be that , by its being , or not being , able to melt bodies of somewhat differing dispositions to fusion , as butte , tallow , bees-was , &c. or to coagulate the whites of eggs , or to boyl eggs in the shell , &c. but the best way is to plunge into the water propos'd , or least the whole ball or globulous part of a good hermetically seal'd thermoscope , whereon the degrees of cold and heat are carefully mark'd . notes on the second title . ii. the knowledge of the specifick gravity of a mineral water , may be of great use to him that endeavonrs to discover its nature , not only as this knowledge inables him to distinguish the propos'd water from others , but because it may afford him a considerable and double information . for , by comparing the weight of the propos'd liquor with that of common water , he may be , in case the former be heavier ( as it usually happens to be ) assisted to estimate what proportion of salt , or martial , or other mineral substance , it is impregnated with . and if it be very light , and much more if it be lighter than common water , he may probably conclude that the substance , that impregnates it , is either very small in quantity or proportion , or is not near so gross as is to be found in other mineral waters , but of a spirituous and volatile nature which is a discovery of no small moment in this affair . and thó that may seem a paradox which i here suppose , that a water impregnated with a metalline or mineral substance should be as light or even lighter than common water . yet upon tryal carefully made i have found some mineral waters , as particularly that of tunbridge well taken up , and ( thô they be somewhat less light ) that of the german spaw , and of some of the islington springs , to be manifestly lighter than common water , and some taken up at tun bridge i found to be lighter than common water , even purified by distillation . and thô it be very hard to conceive , yet i think it not impossible , that a subterreneal substance , that impregnates water , should be lighter in specie than it : but yet i would not refer this surprizing levity , in all cases , nor all of it in most cases , to the admixture of lighter corpuscles , because some tryals justify'd the suspicion i had , that much of the comparative lightness proceeded from this , that the mineral water was imbued with a smaller quantity of vulgar or culinary salt , than common water uses to contain . but yet these tryals did not satisfy me , that this paucity of common salt was the sole or adequate cause of the lightness of the mentioned waters . but , to discover such minute differences , one must have good instruments , and indeed , to speak freely , there are few , upon whose reports i durst confidently relye , for the specific gravity of mineral waters . for to weigh liquors any thing exactly there is requisite more heedfulness , and more skill , and better instruments , than are easy to be met with together , and than we usually imagine . and , when physicians and others weigh mineral waters , they are wont to do it in some apothecary or other trades ▪ mans shop , where , if the ballances be small , the vessels and the water are commonly too heavy for them , and oftentimes wrong them . and if , as is usual , the bottles or other vessels be great , they require far better ballances than are usually imploy'd in the shops of apothecaries or grocers , whose ballances a critical examiner will too often find to be far from being accurate , insomuch that usually , without at all altering the weights , thô perhaps not great ones , he may easily make which scale he pleases manifestly preponderate , and continue in that position , and may as easily afterwards give the other scale the same advantage : the diligent and experienced mathematician mersennus much complains of the difficulty he found to weigh liquors exactly , even by the help of his nicer instruments . the accuratest way , i know , is by comparing the differing weights that the same sinking body has in common water , and in the liquor propos'd . but this way ( which i elsewhere circumstantially deliver ) requiring , besides good instruments , skill in hydrostaticks , is practicable but by few . and the way of comparing waters , by the greater or lesser sinking of the same cylinder or other swiming body into them , is scarce accurate enough . wherefore i chose to make a very skilfull artist blow , at the flame of a great lamp , a thin round vial with a flattish bottom , that it might stand upright , and be very light , and this was furnish'd with a neck as large as a goose quil drawn very even into a hollow cylinder of above 3 inches long , and fitted at the top with a little gap , that hinder'd the water from ascending above the due height . this glass contain'd ℥ iiiss and 43 grains of common water , and yet when empty , weigh'd but ʒvi+ 42 grains : so that i could use it , when full of liquor , in such a ballance , that the addition or detraction of half a grain , or less , would make either scale preponderate . the length and evenness of the stem was design'd for uses not needful to be mention'd here ; where it may suffice for my purpose to say , that this glass was judged capable of holding water enough for not uncurious tryals , and yet not to be , thô well fill'd , too heavy for a tender ballance . in this vessel herefore we carefully weighed several liquors ( whose gravity belongs not to this place ) and among them diverse mineral waters , some of which , at least known here at london , were found to be of the annexed weights . the glass being fill'd with several liquors to the same height , and weighed in the same ballances .   ounces dr . gr . common water was found to weigh 3 4 43 common water distill'd 3 4 41 acton water 3 4 48 ½ epsom water 3 4 51 dulledge water 2 4 54 straton water 3 4 55 barnet water 3 4 52 north-hall water 3 4 50 the german spaw water 3 4 40 tunbridge water 3 4 38 islington water from the musick house 3 4 36 islington water from the vault with steps 3 4 39 islington water from the cellar 3 4 39 by this short account it may appear , that , as divers mineral waters ( that contain salts in them ) are considerably heavier than common water , so some , especially ferruginous waters , are impregnated with so fine a substance , as to be lighter than common water . notes on the fourth title . iv. this article may , in divers cases , give some light to the discovery of the kind of soyl , through which the water has pass'd ; and is also useful to distinguish the spontaneous residence , if i may so call it , that the liquor le ts fall by meer standing , from that which they call the caput mortuum , that remains after the total evaporation of the water ; by which means also the weight of this last residence may be more truly known . besides some other mineral waters , i found that the german spaw waters , brought very well stop't to london , afforded by long standing a pretty quantity of terrestrial substance , that look'd almost like yellow oke● , and perhaps was of great affinity to it in nature . 3. that clause in the article , thô the liquor be kept from the air , was therefore set down , because i had found by tryals , that some liquors , by being expos'd to the free air , would have copious , and sometimes surprizing , substances separated from them ; as if the air contain'd some precipitating salts , fit to work on the liquors , so as to make in them such notable separations . notes on the fifth title . v. an accidental weakness i had , in my eyes , when i had the best opportunity to endeavour satisfying my self about this inquiry , forc'd me to leave the prosecution of it to others . only two things i shall take notice of on this occasion : one is that , having caus'd one that had young eyes , and was accustom'd to make use of such microscopes as are mention'd in the article , to look upon some mineral waters through them , he said he could discern no difference between them and common water . notwithstanding which the tryal ought to be repeated by various persons , on several waters , with differing engyscopes , and in differing lights , and other circumstances . the other is , that whereas it is by divers learned men objected , against the goodness of these magnifying glasses we now make use of to look on liquors , that the little bodies that the ingenious , mr. lewenhoeck , and since him divers other virtuosi , have observ'd in water wherein pepper has been infus'd , are not , as he pretends , living creatures , but little inanimate concretions , that are casually form'd , and carry'd to and fro in the liquor : to convince these doubters , of whose number i was my self at first inclin'd to be , i devis'd the following experiment : having laid , upon the magnifying glass , a part of a drop of water , wherein i could see store of these little animals frisking up and down , we put to the liquor , with a bristle or some such very slender thing , part of a drop of spirit of salt , which , as was expected , presently kill'd these little tender creatures , and depriving them of their animal motion , left them to be carry'd so slowly to and fro in the liquor , as to make it visible that they were then dead and had been before alive . notes on the seventh title . vii 1. the odours of divers mineral waters are best judg'd of at the spring head or other receptacle , whence some of them being remov'd scarce afford any odour at all ( perceptible by us men . ) 2. perhaps the sulphureous scent , that is sometimes , perceiv'd in tunbridge and some other waters in their sources , may in part proceed from loose exhalations , that casually happen to be mingled with the waters , but do not constantly belong to it . 3. the winy odour is mention'd among others : because i am credibly inform'd that , in france , there is a mineral spring , if not more or less than one , that has such a smell . 4. i mention the bituminous odour , distinctly from the sulphureous because men are too apt to confound them , and take all stinking mineral ▪ waters for sulphureous , whereas divers are manifestly bituminous ; as may be gather'd , to omit other signs , not only from their proper odours , but from more or fewer drops of petroleum , or a kind of course naphtha , that are found swimming upon the water . 5. i think it also not unlikely , that sometimes a spring may partake both of sulphur and bitumen , mingl'd together by the subterraneal heat , since i have found that i could easily enough melt and incorporate these two substances here above ground . notes on ninth title . ix . 1. this is an almost necessary article because many persons , that drink mineral waters , cannot well , either for want of strength or conveniency , repair immediately to the spring head , but are oblig'd to drink them in their beds or their lodgings , and perhaps to have them transported to a great distance , or even to another country . 2. many purging waters are found to retain their laxative vertue , and that perhaps for a considerable time , thô they be transported to places distant from those they rise in . 3. in such ferruginous waters , as are lighter than common water , i found a manifest difference in reference to transportation : for most of them , even such as will bear removing , have something of freshness and quickness at the spring head , ( perhaps from some spirituous and fugitive exhalations , that there arise with them , but presently vanish , ) that they have not any where else . and some do not only lose this briskness by being remov'd , thô in vessels well stop'd , but they lose also the power of producing , with the powder of galls , a purple colour , as i found by tryal purposely made in more than one of these mineral waters , which , to prevent fraud , i sent for to the springs themselves by servants of my own : for thô these carryed their glass bottles along with them , and had no other errand there but to fill and stop them carefully yet , by being transported less than one league , i found them so alter'd , that they would no longer make a purplish colour with powder'd galls , but a deep reddish one ; whereas the german spaw waters did almost alwayes here in london afford me , with the same powder of galls , a rich purple colour . and tunbridge waters afforded me the like , but not so deep a one . when i receiv'd them at london very well stopt . 4. this last clause was not to be omitted , because the exact or negligent closing of the vessels , wherein such waters are transported , is a circumstance of great moment . for more than once i receiv'd at london , waters sent me from tunbridge by physicians themselves , ( who us'd at least a moderate care in putting them up , ) which yet would by no means afford with galls a purplish colour . and i found that even the german spaw-water would almost presently lose its capacity of being made purple by galls , if it were considerably heated . 5. but the same spaw-water being , in summer time , kept all night in an open vessel , did the next morning till it was late , if not till noon , retain a disposition to be made purple by the admixture of galls ; but that disposition it lost before the next day . notes on the fifteenth title . xv. 1. because it often happens , that men have not the leisure and the conveniency totally to evaporate the proposed mineral water , it may be an useful thing , to be able without evaporation to discover , whether it contain any common salt and , if it do , to make some estimate , how copiously or sparingly the liquor is impregnated with it . this might easily be done , with nicety enough , if i were not by very just reasons restrain'd , for a while , from communicating that way of examining the saltness and freshness of waters , of which i did , by the kings command , show his majesty some proofs , whereof mention was presently after made in the printed gazets . but till it be free for me to impart that way to the publick , i shall only intimate , that some guess may be made at the saltness of waters , by observing , whether they will lather with wash-balls or soap , and , if they will not , what quantity of curdled matter they will produce ; as also , whether the waters will serve for washing of linnen , and will boil peas tender ? which two are the most usual wayes that many sea men take to examine the goodness of unknown waters by . in divers purging waters this way may be difficult to be practis'd with certainty , because of other salts that may be predominant in them ; but in the examen of lightly ferruginous springs it may be more rely'd upon . 2. it may not be unworthy observation that , when i made use of my own way of examining the saltness of mineral springs , i did not find even the lightest sort of them devoid of common salt ; which i found , but not in equal proportions , to be contain'd , not only in the several waters of islington , hamstead vvater , and , if i misremember not , in some others , but also particularly in tunbridge vvaters , and those of the german-spaw , which i did not much wonder at , because i had long known , that more or less of common salt is very usually harbour'd , thô not observed , in many soils , through which all sorts of springs , and consequently mineral ones , have their course . notes on the sixteenth title . xvi . thô acidity be so usually a manifest quality of mineral waters , that authors are wont to divide them into acidulae and thermae , yet i have found , by several tryals , that 't is not near so easy as men presume , to find a manifest acidity in all mineral waters , that are not sulphureous or hot. for several ferruginous waters , having probably spent the acidity they had upon the iron ore , which they dissolv'd in their passage , retain so little acidity , that 't is hard to discover they have any , either by their working upon coral , or by any conflict with spirit of urine , or the like , or by mixing them with syrup of violets , to change the colour of it ; insomuch that sometimes i should have concluded some such waters to have no acidity at all , if i had not had a way of discovering a far less degree of it , than i could discern it to have by other tryals . the circumstances , that made this way of examining so critical , will cost me too many words to set down here , and i have done it in another paper expresly written , of the way of discovering the qualities of divers bodies , by changes of colour made in or with them : and therefore i shall here but briefly tell you , that i discover the acidity of liquors by their operation upon the colours of an infusion of lignum nephriticum made in lympid water , ( and order'd after a certain manner . ) by this means i found the german spaw water to retain a little acidity , even here at london ; but more than one of our own ferruginous springs did not , even upon this tryal , appear to have any . and ( which some may think strange ) i did not find even some of the purging springs , particularly that of acton , to have any discernible acidity . notes on the twentieth title . xx. the scope of this inquiry was twofold : the first , to discover whether a change of texture would notably alter the qualities of the liquor , when the hermetical seal hinder'd the avolation of any saline , ferruginous , or spirituous parts : and the other was , to see whether such an agitation , by heat , as in the open air would , as i had found , deprive the spaw water of the vertue of making a purple colour with galls , would cause any manifest separation of parts in the liquor , and make any grosser substance to precipitate or subside . but thô we did twice ( not without difficulty ) make the experiment with spaw water , yet we made it without success . for the first time the glass broke at the bottom , before the water we immers'd it in was near boyling hot . and thô the other glass resisted longer , and indur'd a greater heat , yet in not very many minutes that also broke at the bottom . which disappointments a faithful historian ought as little to conceal , as better successes . and i chuse to leave this 20th article of inquiry in its place , among the rest of the titles , because possibly some other may be more happy , than i was , in endeavouring to answer it . and i hold it not amiss , in drawing up platforms of natural history , to set down what questions we think fit to be propos'd to nature ; because we cannot be sure , before endeavours for tryal be us'd , whether the thing to be attempted be practically performable or not . notes on the twenty sixth title . xxvi . 1. divers wayes may be propounded to discover which of the qualities , mention'd in this article , is predominant in the salt to be examin'd ; but i confess i somewhat doubt , whether these waies of tryal be so certain , as many will be forward to think them . 2. if acidity be guess'd to be predominant in the salt propos'd it will probably appear by such waies as these . by the tast , odour , or both : by working upon coral or crabs eyes finely powder'd : by curdling of milk ; by making syrup of violets reddish : by the power of destroying the blew colour of the infusion of lignum nephriticum : by not being precipitable by potent acid liquors as oyl of vitriol , spirit of salt ; and by being precipitable by oyl of tartar per deliquium , as also by strong spirit of urine , and other volatile alcaly's , as they are call'd . but , as i was noting above , i doubt whether these proofs be absolutely certain ; for , if i mistake not , i found some purging mineral waters that would not give even so slight a proof of acidity , as to destroy the blewness of the nephritic tincture : which yet would curdle milk , and turn it to a kind of posset ; and , on the contrary , i found that some german spaw water would not curdle milk , & yet would readily deprive the newly mention'd tincture of its ceruleous colour ; which yet i did not find that some of our english ferruginous waters were , at least when brought me to london , able to do . 3. the predominancy of an alcaly , in the salt of a mineral water , may be probably discover'd by such waies as these . by the lixiviate tast , smell , or both ; the former of which may be observ'd in the true niter of the ancients , ( which i have had brought me from aegypt , and a neighbouring country , whose name i do not now remember : ) by the turning of syrup of violets green : by the precipitation of solution of sublimate made in spring-water : by an effervescence or conflict with some potent acid , as aqua fortis , or well dephlegm'd sprit of salt : by heightning the red tincture of logwood or brazil , drawn with common water , to which , may be added a nicer way or two that i have elsewhere mention'd . but i propose these waies but as appearing rational , upon the score of my having successfully try'd them with other saline bodies that were alcalisate . for as to those mineral waters , i have had occasion to examine , i do not remember i have yet met with any , wherein an alcaly was predominant . 4. but perhaps farther inquiry will discover to others here in england , what i have not yet met with : and i doubt not but that there are , in divers places of the earth , salts of an alcalisate nature . and i presume that , if the egyptians were any thing curious of such things , they would find , among their springs or wells , divers waters impregnated with them . for i found by tryals , purposely made upon latron , as some knowing men call the true egyptian niter , presented me by an inquisitive ambassador who came out of the east , that the native salt exhibited divers of the same phaenomena that other factitious alcali's do . and some salt , afforded by the famous waters of bourbon in france , being brought me thence , with a desire that i would examine it , i found it to be evidently alcalisate ; insomuch that it would make a conflict with acids , and presently turn syrup of violets green . 5. if we suspect vitriol to be much predominant in the saline part of a mineral water , we may endeavour to discover it by such wayes as these . by its blackning a solution of galls : by its vomitive operation upon the drinkers , thô this may sometimes be an uncertain way especially because an invisible permixture of arsenic , or or perhaps arsenical fumes , may give the water they impregnate an emetic quality : by putting alcali's to a strong solution of the suppos'd vitriol , and observing whether it will afford a yellow or yellowish precipitate , if salt of tartar or spirit of urine be dropt into it . by taking notice , whether a sulphureous spirit , especially ▪ such an one as i formerly told i had made thô not here describ'd , will make a blackish or a very dark colour with it , as i first guess'd , and then found it would do with several vitriolate liquors , and even with one , to make which we had dissolv'd but one grain of a natural vitriolate substance in above four or five thousand times its weight of syrup or water . but in the parts about london i remember not that , in any of the waters i have made tryals on , i have found vitriol to be predominant , or to be so much as a manifest ingredient : which seem'd to me the more remarkable , because several parts about this city are not destitute of marcasites , the parents or wombs of vitriol . since the writing of these papers , being casually visited by a discerning stranger , who had a particular occasion to take notice of the residences of many of the mineral waters of france , his native country ; he answer'd me that he never met with any that was manifestly vitriolate ; and he seem'd to be of opinion , that no vitriolate spring had yet been discover'd , among the many mineral ones that are known to be in that country . 7. since we so rarely meet with either manifestly acid , or evidently alcalisate , salts in our english mineral waters , it may deserve a serious inquiry , what other salts they may be impregnated with ; and especially from what salts , the purgative vertue , that is found to belong to many of them , as epsom , barnet , acton , &c. do's proceed ? common salt indeed , as is already noted , i have found tokens of in the german spaw water ; and in all the english mineral waters , i had occasion to try , not one that i remember excepted . but i did not find that common salt was so copious in any of them , as to disclose it self by chrystallizing in cubical grains . and the way , i made use of , to examine the saltness of the water without crystallization , is not equally certain in all sorts of them . and because i had not store enough of these liquors , to evaporate them in large quantities , thô i could not discern , in the clear salts they afforded , either vitriol , or salt peter , or allom , or even common salt , by their peculiar and genuine figures ; yet i dare not confidently say , that none of our english mineral springs abounds with any of those salts . but as far as i can guess , by the tryals that i have hitherto had opportunity to make , i am apt to think that the salt , that is found in our purgative waters , and and in some of them copiously enough , dos not belong to any one known sort of salts , but is either of a sort , for which as for many other minerals , we have yet no name : or , which seems more probable , is a salt of a compounded nature , made up by the coalitions of some or all of the salts above mention'd , and perhaps of some other , as yet nameless , subterraneal salt that the spring inssolves in its passage , that two bodies , which are neither of them cathartic , may , by a change of texture , wrought in one another , compose a third body , that is briskly purgative , i have shewn in another paper . besides having formerly had occasion , in order to the resolution of a certain doubt i had entertain'd , to burn salt of tartar with about a double weight of common sulphur , i thence obtain'd , as i expected , a neutral salt , that had peculiar qualities differing from those of the bodies imploy'd to make it up : and talking of this salt with an ingenious empyrick , he told me it had a quality i had not mention'd , and that a very useful one , since in the dose of half a dram , or in some bodies , being taken in wine or broth , it would considerably , and yet gently and without gripings , purge . and without the help of salt of tartar have sometimes made out of common sulphur , a chrystalline salt of a somewhat vitriolate tast , the like to which might possibly be made under ground , where there are subterraneal fires , tho perhaps not observed nor suspected , since we made this salt without adding any thing to the sulphur , only by the help of fire and common water . and i remember that a great virtuoso , several years ago , brought me , in order to an examen he desir'd i should make of it , a certain salt afforded by a spring in or near his land , which i remember was in the west of england , tho i have forgot the name of the county : which salt no body knew what to make of , but i quickly told him , i took it to be of the nature of the sal mirabile glauberi , and predicted that in such tryals it would afford such and such phaenomena , which accordingly came to pass . and i thought that , if opportunity had not been wanting this salt would have appear'd purgative , as some factitious salts that resemble it in transparency , colourlesness , and figure have been observ'd to be . notes on the twenty seventh title . 1. 't is surprizing to observe , how great an inequality one may sometimes meet with in the proportion that the same quantity , of two ▪ differing mineral waters , bear to the caput mortuum they respectively afford : for a pound , for instance , of one may , after evaporation , leave behind it perhaps more drams of dry substance , than a pound of the other will leave behind it grains . but because i have no notes of the considerablest instances of this kind , that came to my knowledge , i shall add only by and by the product of a more recent tryal . 2. as far as i have hitherto observ'd , those ferruginous waters , that are not heavier than common water , and in most drinkers prove but diuretick , afford but very little caput mortuum , or dry substance upon the total evaporation of the liquor , whereas mineral waters , that are purging and manifestly more ponderous in specie than common water , leave , upon evaporation , a considerable quantity of residence , thô some far less than others . 3. at once to explain , and partly prove , what i have been saying , i shall here recite that , from a pound of barnet vvater ( which is known to be purgative ) slowly evaporated , we obtain'd a dram of vvhite powder . but from the like quantity of tunbridge vvater , we obtain'd but about one grain of caput mortuum : and , if i misremember not , we had but about a grain and a half from 25. ounces of the german spaw water . 4. it may seem scarce credible to many , that so small a quantity of matter , of which perhaps not one half is saline , or metalline , ( the rest being teresstrial , ) should impart a manifest vertue to so great a proportion of vvater . but this difficulty did not much trouble me , who have purposely made divers experiments , to discover how small a proportion of mineral matter may suffice , when dissolv'd , to impregnate common vvater . i remember i took one grain of iron stone , casually found near the springs at islington , ( from which mineral 't is probable those vvaters derive their vertue , ) this being open'd by the fire , and dissolv'd as far as it would be in a little spirit of salt , we let fall a drop or two of the yellowish solution into a great proportion of infusion of galls , to which it presently gave a deeper colour than tunbridge water , or even the german spaw vvater , was wont to give here at london , with the powder of galls : so that we guess'd that , if we had then had at hand a competent quantity of the infusion , the remaining part of the martial solution would have been able to colour ten times a greater quantity of the infusion , than our tryal was made upon . this will be easily believ'd by him , that shall consider an experiment , we afterwards made to the same purpose , which was this , vve dissolv'd a half grain of a good marcasite , taken up not far from london , in a small quantity of spirit of niter , ( which for a certain reason i made choice of , thô other acid menstruums , as aqua-fortis , and spirit of salt would have dissolved the mineral . ) this small solution we put into a pound of pretty high tincture of galls , made by infusing them in common water , and finding , as we expected , that this mixture , grew very dark , we fill'd a vial with it , and emptying that vial into a larger glass , we fill'd the same vial three times with common water to dilute it ; notwithstanding which this new mixture , being put into one of our usual glasses , appeared of a colour much deeper than that which the water of tunbridge , or the german spaw , had formerly given with the powder of galls : so that probably , if another vial of common water had been added , it would yet have afforded a purple colour , if not a deeper ; so that one part of dissolv'd marcasite communicated a tincture to ( 61440 ) sixty one thousand four hundred and forty parts of infusion of galls . and that which makes this experiment more considerable is , that this small quantity of marcasite was not it self all martial or metalline : for from our english marcasites , as well as others , i have obtain'd a pretty quantity of sulphur like common sulphur ; besides that they afford a not despicable quantity of terrestrial substance , about whose nature i have not yet satisfy'd my self . 5. i shall now add this reflexion that , since the marcasite impregnated so much water with its corporeal parts , if i may so call them , obtain'd by bare dissolution , it seems highly probable , that the same quantity of liquor may be impregnated by a far less quantity of mineral matter , attenuated into a kind of spirituous slate , by being rais'd in the form of fumes or exhalations ; and that imperfect or embryonated iron may be so , will scarce be deny'd by them that consider the way that i have , in another paper , deliver'd to make iron manifestly emit copious fumes , without the help of external fire . and if it be with some such spirituous and volatile exhalations , that a mineral water , as that of tunbridge or of islington , is impregnated , 't is not hard to conceive that they may easily lose their chief vertue , by the avolation of most or many of their fugitive parts , upon their being remov'd to a distance from the spring head . and to make it probable , that vitriolate corpuscles may be made to ascend , without losing their nature , i shall here mention an experiment , that i devis'd to give some light in this matter . i had often found by tryal , that a spirit , richly impregnated with volatiliz'd sulphur , would with vitriol , whether in the form of a powder or a solution , produce in a trice a very dark or blackish colour ; and guessing that , in mercury turn'd by the addition of salt and vitriol into corrosive sublimate , many of the vitriolate corpuscles might ascend with the mercurial ones , i took such a volatile sulphureous tincture as i have been mentioning , ( which for this purpose ought to be deep , ) and having dropt it upon good sublimate , i found it turn presently of a very opacous colour . to show also that , to make a great dilatation or dispersion of the martial corpuscles of an ore or mineral , there needs no spirit of salt , or the like distill'd menstruum , i procur'd from a copperas-work , ( or place where vitriol is made by art , ) some of the liquor they imploy , before they cast in iron , that being corroded by it , it may increase the weight , and give solidity and some other qualities to the designed vitriol . now thó this liquor be made , without any chymical menstruum , barely by rain or snow-water , that impregnates it self with saline or metalline particles in its passage through beds of marcasites , that lye expos'd to the sun and air ; yet in this water such numbers of martial corpuscles are dispers'd that , having shaken four drops of it into 12 ounces and a half of common water , this liquor , as i expected , was thereby so impregnated , that with powder of galls it presently produc'd as deep a colour as good tunbridge water would have done . so that , supposing a drop of this liquor to weigh about a grain , ( as by some tryals purposely made we found it to do , ) it appears that one part of the vitriolate water was able manifestly to impregnate 1500 parts of common water . and yet of these 4 drops or grains of vitriolate liquor , a considerable part may very probably be concluded , from the way of its production , to have been rain water , as will easily be granted when i shall have added , that , to examine this supposition or conjecture , we slowly evaporated some ounces of the vitriolate liquor , and found that the remaining dry substance did not fully amount to the 4th part of the weight of the whole . at which rate 't was easy to conclude , that one grain of vitriolate substance would have been sound capable of so impregnating six thousand times its weight of common water , as to make it sit to produce with galls a purple tincture . we afterwards found , upon tryal purposely and warily made , that the experiment will hold , thô the proportion of the water , to the grain of tinging substance , should exceed that lately mention'd , by the weight of some hundreds of grains . titles . for the natural history of a mineral water propos'd . consider'd as a medicine . ( being the iii. part of the designed work . ) sect . vi. though the effects of a mineral water upon humane bodies , as well as upon other subjects , may challenge a place in the natural history of it , yet because the titles of this third part of this scheme , for the most part , directly regard the cure or prevention of diseases , which are held to be the proper offices of physicians as such ; i forbore to make any comments upon the particular titles of this part of our historical idea , contenting my self , for the sake of those that are strangers to platforms of natural history , to have set down a series of titles , which may point out to them what particulars may be fit for their inquiry , and furnish them with heads whereto they may refer , and receptacles wherein they may lodge what , upon tryals or otherwise , they shall meet with worthy of observation . and so the accounts , that shall be given on these subjects , may be somewhat more distinct , and less incompleat . to what temperaments and constitutions the mineral water propos'd is the most proper , to what less proper , and to what noxious or inconvenient ? in what stated diseases , and in what particular cases , the mineral water is proper , or to be suspected of being dangerous , if not certainly hurtful ? what difference there is , if any , between the water taken up and presently drunk at the spring it self or other receptacle , and that which is carryed to some distance off , whether in open , or in well stop'd vessels ? of the manifest operations of the water in those that take it , whether it be by vomit , by seige , by urine , by several , or by two , or all of these waves . whether any , occult vertues , or other hidden qualities , can be discovered in the mineral water ? and if any , what ? what variation , in the effects of the mineral water , proceeds from its being drunk all of it quite cold , or hot , or lukewarm , or one part when 't is in one of those tempers , and the rest when in another ? of promoting or facilitating the operation of the water , in some by taking it in bed , and in others by moderate exercise . what assistance may be given to the operation of the water , by giving with it , especially in the first draught , something to make it pass the better , or to correct its crudity , or to strengthen the stomach and bowels ? what advantages may accrue , from preparing the patients body before he enters upon his course of drinking the waters ? and what inconveniences may attend the neglect of such preparation especially in gross , foul , or much obstructed bodies ? of the assistance the water may receive by gently purging medicines , discreetly given from time to time . of the best dose , or quantity of the water , to be taken at once ; of the compass of time wherein it should be all drunk ; and of the gradual increasing and lessening the dose at the beginning , and sometimes before the end , of the whole space of time appointed for the taking it . how much the greater or lesser length of time , spent in taking the water , conduces to its good effects ? and what is the fittest measure of time to continue the drinking of it , respect being had to the patients strength , disease , the time of the year , the accidental temperature of the air , and other considerable circumstances . whether the drinking of the mineral water , for several years together , be found almost necessary , or more beneficial than to intermit it sometimes for a year or two , or perhaps longer , and then to return to the use of it ? of the diet , as to meat , drink , exercise , sleep , &c. that ought to be observ'd by those that take the water , and of the inconveniences that are wont to follow the neglect of it . of the signes that declare the water to work kindly and effectually , and of the tokens of not doing so , and those of its being already hurtful or likely to prove so . of the inconveniences or unwelcome accidents ( if there be any , as usually there is ) that have been observ'd to happen , during , or some time after , the drinking of the mineral water , especially to persons of such constitutions , or that are in such and such circumstances , and of the waies to prevent or remedy such inconveniences . whether there be any necessity , or great use , of taking physick after one has done drinking the water ? and if there be , what are the fittest times and medicines to be imploy'd for the prevention of any bad effects of it , and what is the danger of neglect to make use of them ? vvhether and how the mineral vvater may be usefully given by being simply commix'd with other liquors or bodies , as by boiling meat in it ; or by receiving , together with the additament , a further preparation , as when the vvater is mingled with vvine , or some other drink ; when with milk 't is made into posset drink ; when brewed with mault alone , or with that and hopps , 't is turn'd into ale or beer ? vvhether any such saline , or other , substance may by evaporation inspissation , calcination , &c. be extracted , or obtained , from the mineral vvater , as being given in a small dose , may be substituted , as a succedaneum to large quantities of the water as nature affords it ? of what uses ( if of any ) the mineral vvater is , when outwardly apply'd , as by washing sore eyes or ulcers , bathing in it , &c. and whether the mud , or sediment it leaves , where it passes or stagnates , being externally apply'd , have the same or other medicinal vertues , and , if so , how the mud is to be administred to make it exert them . of some mechanico-medical trials , that may be made upon animals , to help us to guess at the qualities of the mineral vvaters , as by injecting it into the veins of a dog , to try whether it will coagulate his blood , or make it more fluid , or operate powerfully by vomit , siege , or urine : as also by keeping a dog very long without allowing him any other drink at all than the mineral vvater . but i propose such particulars , as are mention'd in this article , but as analogous experiments , or succedaneums to tryals that should , but cannot well , because of the worthiness of the subject , be try'd in living humane bodies . and indeed all the titles of this third part of our design'd history , belong porperly to physicians ; many of whom ( at least if they resemble you ) are far better qualifi'd , to cultivate this medicinal subject , than i , who being as little desirous , as fit , to incroach upon their province , shall not inlarge upon this third member of our history , but willingly resign it into their , and especially into your own , more skilful hands . the conclusion . and now , sir , it may be seasonable to put an end , at least for the present , so this rhapsody of papers , by telling you , that theforegoing idea or platform of a history of mineral vvaters , being a draught of , or a first essay upon , so difficult and and uncultivated a subject , as i have ventur'd to treat of ; as i know you are too iudicious to expect any thing of exactness and compleatness , in what i now present you , so i hope you will be so equitable , or so favourable , a reader , as to forgive those omissions and other imperfections , that i cannot doubt , but you , ( and even i my self upon a review , ) shall discover in the first edition of the foregoing papers . and thô , if hereafter they shall be thought worthy of a second , i may possibly be able , if god be pleas'd to grant me health and leisure , to rectify some oversights , and supply some omissions ; yet , to deal freely with you , i much fear , that it will be very difficult for far skilfuller pensthan mine to deliver such histories of mineral vvaters , as the curious would wish , and those criticks , that have never made tryal of the difficulty of attempts of this nature , will be forward to require . and this difficulty will , i presume , be found a great one , not only , ( as i have already noted , ) by him that shall undertake to give a good account of mineral vvaters á priori , but to him also that shall take in all the help he can obtain à posteriori . for there are so many circumstances , of seasons , vveather , place , and a multitude of contingencies , that may vary the phaenomena and effects of mineral vvaters , that 't is extreamly difficult , either to comprize so many different things at once , and as it were survey them at one view , or without having such a comprehension and multitude of various regards , to be able to pronounce with certainty about the nature , the medicinal operations , and the other effects , of a subject that may be influenc'd and diversify'd by so many causes and accidents , as a mineral vvater may . and therefore , till further disquisitions and tryals shall have better clear'd up the subject , i shall , without pretending to more , think the past discourse not altogether useless , if it can well perform the office of the virgula divinatoria ; which , ( supposing the truth of what many chymists and metallists deliver , ) of how little value soever it be of it self , is fit to point at mineral treasures , and show men the places where they are to seek for them . farewel . this belongeth to the 16th title of the first part. 't is known , that the drinking of ferruginous waters , such as those of the german-spaw and our tunbridge , is usually prescrib'd for many weeks , during which time it often enough happens , that the fall of rains makes men doubt whether the mineral water be not so much diluted , as to be spoil'd in its medicinal capacity . and indeed i have more than once observ'd , that some such martial waters , after considerable rains lost their power of producing the wonted colour with galls . and therefore it may in some cases be of good use , to be assisted to conjecture , whether or no the rain have made the mineral water unfit for drinking . in order to this i shall take notice , that usually a small rain does little or no harm to the medicinal spring . and sometimes even a moderate rain , especially after a long drought , may , instead of weakning it , increase its vertue , by washing down into its channel some salts , that during the dry weather , were concreted in the pores of the ground , and perhaps also by heightning the water in the channel , so as to dissolve some salts concreted there , which it could not reach before . but if the rain have long continu'd , the estimate may best be made , partly by the greater or lesser depth of the spring beneath the surface of the ground , and partly and indeed chiefly , by the peculiar nature or strength of the mineral water . for some springs are much more copiously impregnated than others , and therefore will bear a greater dilution by rain-water , of which i shall give you this notable instance . that , whereas i found ( as i lately noted ) that more than one of our english martial springs , especially those near london , were too much weakned by the water that rained into them ; i had the curiosity to try , how much of that kind of liquor , some german-spaw-water , that came to me to london very well conditioned , would bear . in pursuit of which design i warily made some tryals , which showed , ( what probably will be thought strange , that when the mineral water was diluted with no less than thrice its weight of rain-water , it yet retained strength enough to produce with newly powdered galls , a purplish colour . finis . a catalogue of late physick books sold by samuel smith , at the prince's arms in st. pauls churchyard . fol. boueti anatomia , 2. vol. 1680. — mercurius , 1682. — medicina septentrionalis , 1684. breinii plantarum exoticar . cent. cum figuris , 1680. fabritii hildani opera cum severino , 1682. hippocratis opera foetii . hartmanni opera omnia , 1684. paracelsi opera , 2 vol. dioscoridis opera , g. lat. saxoniae opera med. 1680. piso hist , naturalis de rebus indiae . schenkii observat . med. mentzelii index plant. cum figuris , 1683. lepenii bibliotheca med. 1683. riverii opera , 1679. zwelferii pharmacopeia . quartoes . alpinus medicina aegypt . borrichius de ortu & progressu chimiae . — hermetis aegyptiorum & chym. sapientia . bauhini pinax cum prodromo . broeckhuysen oeconomia corporis anim. 1683. boyle opera omina , 2 vol. blasii anatomia , 1681. borellus de motu animalium , 2 vol. blegny zodiacus galen . med. chymic . 1682 ▪ bartholini acta medica . 4 vol. castelli lexicon med. 1682. cardilucii officina sanitatis . clauderi methodus balsamandi . collect anea chymica leydensia , 1684. clauderi inventum cinnabaricum , 1684. cleyer specimina medicinae sinicae , 1682. charas pharmacopeia regia , 1683. charas theri ca andromachi , 1684. diemerbroeck anatomia . davissomi comment ▪ in medicinam severini . dolaei encyclopedia med. 1684. fernelii opera , 1683. van helmontii opera , 1682. glisson de naturae substantia . hoffmanni praxis med. 1680. helwigii observationes med. 1680. hoffmannus in schroderum . joel opera medica . kyperi anthropologia corporis humani ▪ konig regnum animale , 1682. kirckringii specilegium anatom . licetus de monstris . museum hermetic . miscellanea curiosa m. physica , 7 vol. 1682. — id. decuria secunda anni primi , 1683. margravi materia medica . — prodromus . pauli quadriparti tum botanicum . plateri praxis . pechilinus de potu theae , 1684. regii medicina . rolfinchius de purgantibus , 1683 ▪ — ordo & methodus med. specialis . — conoilia med. sacra eleusinia patefacta , 1684. schonckii histde humor , totius corporis , 1684 ▪ salamandrae descriptio , 1683. sylvii opera med. schorkii pharmacopeia . — hisi . moschi . ang. salae opera med. 1682. swammerdam miraculum natura . vigerii opera med . versaschae de apoplexia . waltheri sylva medica ▪ welschii decades x. med . wedelii opiologia . — physiologia med. — pharmacia . — de medicam . facultatiam ▪ — de medicam . compositione . — amaenitates materiae med. 1684. weidenfeld de usu spir. vini lulliani , 1684 ▪ wepfericicut● aquatica . zwelferi pharmacop . octavoc● . bartholini de ductu salivali , 1685. bruelis praxis med. bontekoe de febribus , 1683. tho. bartholini hist . anatomica . becke de procidentia uteri , 1683. borelli observat . med. briggs de oculo . barthol . anatomia . beck . experimenta , 1684. beckeri physica subterr anea cum supplemento , 1681. brunneri experimenta nova circa pancreas , 1682. camerarii sylloges memorabilium m 〈…〉 2 vol. 1683. deckeri exercitationis med pract . dodonai praxis medica . franchimont lithotomia med. 1683. funerwalfi anatomia . gockelii concilia & observat . med. 1683. de graaf opera . grulichius de hydrope , 1681. — de bile , 1682. grimm compend . med. chym. 1684. guiberti opera med. hartmanni praxis chymiatrica , 1682. heide anatome inytuli & observat . med. 1684. hippocratis opera , 2 vol. juncken chymia experimentalis , 1681. — medicus prasenti seculo accom . 1682. juventa a nova antiqua med. 1684. le mort pharmacia & chimia , 1684. lossii concil . med. 1684. lister de fontibus med. angliae . — de insectis , 1685. liseri culter anatomicus : marchetti anatomi : meekren observat . med. chyruri 1682 : mereti pinax : plateri observat . med. peonis & pythagor . exercit. anat. & med. 1682 : plot de origine fontium , 1685 : riverii institutiones : — praxis , 2 vol. — observat . rulandi curationes emperica , 1680. sydenhami opera universa londini , 1685. straussii isagoge physica , 1684. schroderi pharmacopeia : sculteti chyrurgia cum append. sthal aetioiogia phys . chym. 1683. tilingii lilium curiosum , 1683 : tilingii prodromus , med . — de laudano opiato . versaschae observat . med . welsch rationale vulnerum lethalium , 1685. wepferi de apoplexia : witten memoria medicor . zypaei fundamentu med . 1683 : twelves . bayle tract . de apoplexia . — dissertationes physicae . — dissertationes medicae . — problemata physica med. blondel thermarum aquis granen . & porcet , descript . 1685. barbetti chyrurgia : — praxis cum notis deckerii : barthol . de ovariis — de unicornu : — de pulmonum subst 〈…〉 : beughen bibliographia med. & physica , 1682 : beguini tyrocinium chymicum : comelini catalogus plantarum , 1682 : drelincourt praeludium anat. — experimenta anat. 1684. guiuri arcanum acidular . 1682 : glissoni opuscula , 3 vol. van helmont . fundamenta med. 1682 : hoffmanus de usu li●nis , &c. 1682 : harvey de gener. animal . — de motu cordis : hoffman de cinnabari antimonii , 1685. ab heer fons spadanus & observ . med. 1685. kirchim de peste , 1681. kirckring ▪ in basil valent. currum triumph . kunckelii observat . chymiae , 1681 : le mort compendium chymicum , 1682. muralti vade mecum anat. 1682. mysteria physico-medica , 1681. maurocordatus de motu pulmonum , 1682. macasii promptuarium materiae med. matthaei experimenta chymica , 1683. muis praxis chyrurgica duabus partibus , 1684. morelli methodus perscribendi formulas remedior . primerose ars pharmac . pecket anatomia : redus de insectiss reidlini observ . med . rivinus de peste lips●ensi . 1680 : riverii arcana . st. romani physica , 1684. recueil de curiositez en medicine , 1685. smitzii compend . med . 1682 : stockhameri microcosmographia , swalve quarelae ventriculi : — alcali & acidum : tilingius de renum structura . verla anat oculi : vigani medulla chymiae : du verney traite de l'organe de l'ouie , 1683 spon observations sur les fieures , 1684. wedelii theoremata med. — de sale volat. plantarum . advertisement . that these afore mentioned books in physick and chymistry , with many other forreign books , are sold by samuel smith , at the prince's arms in st. pauls church-yard ; and that he will furnish himself with much variety of new books in that kind , from time to time , as they shall come from franckfort mart ; and likewise he can procure such other books for gentlemen , whichperhaps are not to be met with here , from his correspondents , if to be had , beyond sea. books printed for , and sold by samuel smith . the philosophical transactions published by the royal society monthly , beginning january 1683 : jo. goedartius de insectis in methodum redactus cum notalurum additione opera m. lister , item appendicis ad hist . animalium angliae , cum 21 figuris aeneis illustrata , 1685. enquiry after happiness by the author of practical christianity , 1685. r. boyl's memoirs for the nat. history of human blood , especially the spirit of that liquor , 1684. price 2 s. — experiments and considerations about the porosity of bodies , in two essays , 1684. price 1 s. — 6 d. — of the reconcileableness of specifick medicines to the corpuscular philosophy , is now in the press . tuta an efficax luis venerea , ●sepe absque mercurio ac semper absque salivatione mercuriali curandae methodus authore d. a. m. d. 1614. de variatione , ac varietate ppulsus observationes , accessit ejusdem author is nova medicine tum speculativae , tum practicae claevis . sive ars explorandi medicas plantarum ac corporum quorumcumque facultates ex solo sapore 16q85 . the whole art of the stage , &c. translated out of french : in quarto , 1684 price 5. s. a new history of ethiopia , being a full and accurate description of the kingdom of abessinia , vulgarly , though erroneously , called the empire of prester john in four books ( illustrated with many copper plates ) and also a new and exact map of the countrey , and a preface she wing the usefulness of this history ; with the life of gregorius abba , &c. by the learned job ludolphus councellour to his imperial majesty and the dukes of saxony , and treasurer to his highness , the elector palatine , in fol. 1684. price 12. s. guideon's fleece , or a vindication of the colledge of physlcians in answer to a book intituled the conclave of physicians . by dr. harvey , in quarto , 1684. pr. 6. 〈◊〉 an anatomical account of an elephant which was lately dissected in dublin , june 17 , in the year 1681. by a. m. med. of trinity colledge near dublin , illustrated with cuts , in quarto , 1682. price 1. s. swammerdami ( johan . ) amst . m. d. miraculum naturae . in octavo . a philosophical account of the hard frost , with what effects it may probably have upon human bodies , as to health and sickness , in quarto . 2 d. stitcht . the true method of curing consumptions . by s. h. med. d. 1683. price 1. s. a discourse about bagnio's , and mineral baths , and of the drinking of spaw water , with an account of the medicinal vertues of them , and also shewing the usefulness of sweating , rubbing , and bathing , and the great benefit many here received from them in various distempers . by s. h. med. doct. 1683. miracles , works above and contrary to nature ; or an answer to a late translation out of spinosa's tractatus theologice-politicus , mr. hobs leviathan , &c. in quarto , 1683. price 1. s. a treatise of self examination , in order to the worthy receiving the holy communion . by monsieur john clade minister of the reformed church at paris : translated from the french original , in twelves , 1683. protestancy to be embraced ; or a new and infallible method to reduce romanists from popery to protestancy . 1683. pr. 1. s. the art of divine converse , being a new years-gift , directing how to walk with god all the year long , in twelves , pr. 6. d. the councils of wisdom , or the maxims of solomon , in twelves , 1683. pr. 1. s. the ten pleasures of marriage . in twelves . the dutch rogue : or gusman of amsterdam , traced from the cradle to the gallows , 1683. in twelves . dr. thomas smith's sermon about frequent communion , 1685. mr. fish's sermon on the 9th of may , 1684. history of the original and progress of ecclesiastical revenues , by the learned p. simon , 1685. contra hist . aristeae de lxx interpretibus dissertatio , sive responsio ad d. isaac vossium de septuaginta , &c. per h. hoddy a. m. 1685. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29026-e2740 a paper refer'd to contain ; observations , about the salubrity and insalubrity of the air , under whose 4th proposition this process is rang'd . curiosities in chymistry being new experiments and observations concerning the principles of natural bodies / written by a person of honour ; and published by his operator, h.g. person of honour. 1691 approx. 156 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 61 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a42035 wing g1877 estc r9237 12253362 ocm 12253362 57199 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a42035) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57199) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 146:6) curiosities in chymistry being new experiments and observations concerning the principles of natural bodies / written by a person of honour ; and published by his operator, h.g. person of honour. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [3], 103 [i.e. 113], [2] p. printed by h.c. for stafford anson ..., london : 1691. ascribed by bm to robert boyle; not in fulton. an attempt to prove that water is "the only first material principle of natural bodies". advertisements ([2] p.) at end. reproduction of original in harvard university libraries. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng chemistry -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-02 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion imprimatur , tractatus cui titulus curiosities in chymistry . sept. 30. 1690. ex aedibus collegij . guall . charleton . proefes coll. med. lond. censore . tho. burwell , j. gordon , will. dawes , tho. gill. curiosities in chymistry : being new experiments and observations concerning the principles of natural bodies . written by a person of honour , and published by his operator , h. g. london : printed b● h.c. for stafford anson , at the three pigeons in st. paul's church-yard , 1691. new experiments and observations concerning the principles of natural bodies . the introduction . the ingenious author of this treatise has herein laid a great many experiments and observations together , in order to prove that water is the only first material principle of natural bodies ; and that all the other pretended hypostatical principles are ultimate and reducible into mere elementary water . wherefore to give a brief and perspicuous account of his reasonings upon this subject , he has thought it expedient to reduce them to the following propositions . sect. i. the ardent spirits of vegetables are nothing else but the oleous particles of these vegetables subtilized by fermentation , and thereby dissolved in , and united to some part of their own phlegm . for lavender , rue , marjoram , &c. distilled without addition , and without a previous fermentation , afford an oyl , but never yield any burning spirit . whereas after fermentation they yield an ardent spirit , but no oyl ; which is a manifest proof , that the inflamable oyl is converted into an inflamable spirit : especially , since by the lasting action of the air upon this spirit , the oleous part will at last be brought to separate it self from the phlegm and swim above it . moreover if you pour oyls in small quantity upon fermenting vegetables , they will come over in distillation in the form of spirits . as for the spirits of aniseeds , wormwood , and such other oleous and aromatick vegetables , that are prepared with spirit of wine without any previous fermentation ; they are nothing else but the oyls of these vegetables that the spirit of wine has imbibed and carried up along with it in distillation . for this spirit , being it self no other thing than the oyl of wine dissolv'd in phlegm , will presently imbibe any aromatick oyl dropt into it . hence it is , that , in the preparation of spirit of aniseeds , the oleous part of the spirit of wine imbibes as much of their oyl as it can receive , and the rest ( for they abound with oyl ) being joyn'd with the phlegmatick part of the spirit of wine , compose a milk-coloured liquor , ( as all oyls do when they are mixed with water , which we see daily in the preparation of emulsions ) whose oily parts may be imbibed by fresh spirit of wine , and by that means yield spirit of aniseeds anew . finally , 't is upon the account of their oleous nature , that ardent spirits are so inflamable ; and that they so much weaken the corroding acidity of aqua fortis , as to render it innocent enough to be taken inwardly , though they themselves be endowed with a certain volatile acid. sect. ii. the spirits of vegetables , made by incineration , are nothing else but the volatile salts of the tartar of these plants , dissolved in their own phlegm . for they consist of the effluvia that ascend from the plants , while their tartar is a calcining into a fixt salt , kept from flying away into the air , by reason of the peculiar structure of the furnaces , &c. imployed in this kind of incineration : and are therefore altogether of the same nature with spirit of soot , or even with the genuine bitterish alcaline spirit of tartar of wine . n.b. since in the juice of grapes , the alcali and acid , mutually coagulated , obtain the name of tartar , why should not the same salts , con-coagulated in the juices of other vegetables , though endowed with very different seeds , obtain the same appellation , rather than that of essential salts ? for there is really , in the juices of all vegetables , a tartar not unlike to that of wine . so that the spirits , prepared by the incineration of plants , do , like that of vinous tartar , proceed from the tartars of these plants ; which seeing they consist of the same salts , namely alcaly and acid , those spirits are indeed nothing else but these salts in a fluid state . hence if genuine spirit of tartar be drawn off from an alcalisate salt , the volatile acid being left in the fixt alcaly , it will strike your nose with the pungent scent of a volatile urinous salt. sect. iii. the alcaline vrinous spirits of animals are nothing else , but the volatile salts of these animals , dissolved in a little of their own phlegm . [ for , 1. if you put spirit of urine , or any other urinous spirit , well rectified , into a glass conveniently shaped , a gentle heat will sublime good store of dry volatile salt into the slender neck of the glass , leaving a weak phlegmatick liquor in the bottom ; which would be mere insipid phlegm , if it could be perfectly freed from the volatile salt that 't is yet impregnated with , and from the subtle particles of oyl that generally , if not constantly , ascend together with these spirits , and continue invisibly mixed with them ( though never so well rectified , even to a perfect transparency ) for a long time , 'till at length by the action of the air , or evaporation of the volatile salt ( if the glass be not very well stop'd ) or the intestine motion of the parts of the liquor , though it be , the particles of oyl begin to seperate themselves from the rest of the liquor , and gather together into numerous little drops , which , though they be singly invisible , yet render the whole liquor muddy and of a reddish colour . 2. in the distillation , for instance , of fermented urine , or of sal armoniack mingled with a fixt salt , usually the volatile salt sublimes at first in a dry form ; but if you continue the distillation , so much of the phlegm will ascend as shall dissolve all your volatile salt , and wash it it down into the receiver , where you have it in the form of a spirit . 3. if you dissolve , in common water distilled , as much volatile salt of human blood ( for instance ) as it will take up , and distil this mixture , you will by that means obtain a liquor , that by its smell , tast , and divers operations , appears to be a good brisk spirit of human blood ; as that incomparable promoter of experimental philosophy , mr. boyle , has observed in his late useful treatise about human blood. the same is to be said of the alcaline spirits , that are distilled from peas , beans , and some other vegetables : for they appear by divers effects to be much of the same nature with urinous spirits . ] sect. iv. the acid spirits of minerals ( as sea-salt , vitriol , sulphur , &c. ) are nothing else but the acid salts of these minerals freed from the more terrestrial parts , united with a little phlegm , and so reduced into a fluid state by the force of the fire . for you may reduce them to a dry salt by pouring them upon an alcaly . for instance , spirit of vitriol , after it has been imployed to corrode iron , and the superfluous moisture evaporated , recorporifies into vitriol . and spirit of nitre , satiated with salt of tartar or any other fixt salt , turns into nitre again after evaporation . moreover these acid spirits are often found upon the corks ( that stop the glasses wherein they are kept ) in a dry saline form . the same is to be said of the acid spirits of vegetables , as that of vinegar , tartar , guaiac , &c. which are nothing else but essential salts dissolved in phlegm . sect. v. the oyls or sulphurs of vegetables are nothing else but volatile salts concentrated , in union with an unctuous inflamable acid ; which by its unctuosity hinders them to mix readily with water , as all salts use to do . therefore helmont often affirms , that vegetable oyls may be turned into volatile salts . but however that be , being joyned with fixt salts , they turn into a soap ; and if they be frequently drawn off , they are thereby at last resolved into mere elementary water : which is also true of all fermented ardent spirits , since they are but oyls dissolved in phlegm . thus spirit of wine , drawn off from salt of tartar , leaves its seminal acid behind it , and comes over weak and phlegmatick : and if this abstraction be often reiterated , it is thereby at length resolved into pure elementary water , as will be more fully declared hereafter . there is a certain vegetable sulphur , found in charcoals before they be burnt to ashes , by vertue whereof they glow . it is separated by means of alcali's and precipitation . this sulphur is of a golden colour , and of no contemptible use : but if the charcoal be distilled in a retort with an open fire , it turns , like all other sulphurs , into an acid spirit , which being poured upon the fixt salt of the caput mortuum , makes an effervescence with it , and so is coagulated into a salt. sect. vi. the sulphurs of animals , namely oyl and fat , are also nothing else but volatile alcaline salts concentrated , and somewhat suppressed by an occult acid ( that is not manifest to sense ) so that they cannot make any effervescence with manifest acids . these volatile salts may be discovered after the very same manner with those of vegetable oyls . yea , sometimes dogs-grease , for instance , exposed in a glass to the sun , sublimes into a volatile salt without any other art : and 't is , upon the sole account of this volatile salt , that it has been found beneficial to the exulcerated lungs of consumptive persons . the oyl of harts-horn also may be sublimed into a volatile salt. sect. vii . the acid oyls of minerals ( as vitriol , sulphur , allom , sea-salt , &c. ) are not true oyls , but acid salts concentrated ; and differ not from the fore-mentioned acid spirits of the same minerals , but in that they are less diluted with phlegm . sect. viii . all mineral sulphurs , if they be kindled , turn into a very acid saline spirit . the fixt incombustible sulphurs of metals , that helmont speaks of , are ( if there be any such sulphurs ) reducible into a salt , since the same author informs us , that the metals themselves may be totally reduced to an aequiponderant salt , and this into insipid water . as for the earthy part of natural bodies , being useless and of no activity , it scarcely uses to be reckoned amongst the principles . and however helmont informs us , that the liquor alcahest turns this earth into water , by depriving it of its essence , i. e. of its seminal vertue . from what has been said it appears that all those substances , that the vulgar chymists obtain from bodies by the fire , and style principles , are reducible to salts and and phlegm ( or water . ) now our ingenious author goes on to prove , at great length , that even , sect. ix . all sorts of salts , whether acid or alcalisate , fixt or volatile , are finally reducible to elementary water . here first of all 't is to be acknowledged , that salts do naturally exist in bodies before they have suffered the fire : although in many bodies , as woods , flints , &c. the salts are so bound up , by reason of the close contexture of the parts of these bodies , that they cannot easily be put into motion and dissolved , and therefore do not affect the organs of tast , 'till the concretion of the parts be dissolved , and the scattered saline particles be brought together and colliquated by the fire . nor is it true , that the terrestrial particles are turned into salts by the operation of the fire : for , why is it then that ashes , once elixiviated , will not yield one grain more of salt , though you calcine them again ? why do not any terrestrial particles acquire a saline tast by the operation of the fire ? but yet , sect. x. the fixt salts of vegetables , prepared by calcination , were not naturally pre-existent in that form , but are produced of the volatile salts , colliquated amongst themselves and with the earthy particles , by the force of the fire . 't is true , there naturally exists , in the juice of grapes and of all other vegetables , a tartar so fixt as to be inodorous , and to endure the air ( though not the fire ) without flying away . which fixtness proceeds from the acid , that saturates the volatile alcali of this tartar ; as we see in the volatile salt of urine , soot , &c. which being satiated with spirit of salt , are thereby fixed into sal-armoniack , that has no smell . the fermentation of the juices , pressed out of apples , pears , &c. is a manifest proof of this tartarous salt ; for there can be no fermentation without acid and alcaly , which are the constituent principles of tartar. but there is no salt , pre-existent to calcination in any vegetable , so fixt as to endure the fire as well as the air. for , first , the ordinary way of preparing fixt salts , is , by burning the dried vegetables to ashes in an open fire , lixiviating these ashes by decoction in common water , and exposing this lee to some heat , 'till the greatest part of the water being evaporated , the saline particles , formerly dispersed in the pores of the liquor , unite together for want of room into crystals , of different figures , according to the diversity of the seminal acid. others distill a certain acid seminal spirit from the plant , reduced to ashes by a moderate fire , and lixiviate the salt that remains in the retort with this spirit . again others , instead of this acid , cast a little sulphur upon the salt , when 't is highly calcined , whose seminal acid gives a certain form to the salt , in place of that which the extreme calcination had destroyed ; lest , if the salt were wholly destitute of a seminal acid , it should resolve into elementary water , as shall be made out hereafter . but tachenius's method is the best ; namely , to reduce the plants , whilst they are fresh and green , into black ashes with a very gentle fire , so as they may not break out into a manifest flame ; to calcine these ashes to whiteness in an earthen pot over the fire , stirring them ever now and then ; after this to lixiviate them with common water ; to evaporate the lee to the consistence of honey ; then to urge it with a moderate fire to browness : and last of all to dissolve and chrystallise it . one pound of ashes , prepared after this manner , will yield near four ounces of very pure fixt salt : whereas four pound calcined by the former methods , will scarce yield one ounce . the reason of so great a difference , depends partly upon the greenness of the plants , and partly upon the moderateness of the fire imployed to calcine them . for dried plants ( for instance wormwood ) do always afford less fixt salt than green ones ; whence it manifestly follows , that by exs●iccation some saline particles are carried away with the aqueous ones , which would have composed a part of the fixt salt , if the plant had been calcined while it was green : now these salts could not fly away unless they were volatile . again , as the volatile salts of a plant are spent by the action of the air in exsiccation , so are they likewise by the action of the fire in calcination ; and this so much the more , by how much the fire is more violent ; for the particles of a manifest flame , being in exceeding quick motion , excite the volatile salts to a swifter motion , and consequently a more copious avolation , than those of a gentle smothering fire . secondly , if you take the soot that ascends in the calcination of tartar , ( otherwise called the spirit of tartar , ) and put it back again to the caput mortuum , you will thereby much increase the quantity of the fixt salt : and if all the volatile saline particles of tartar could be kept from flying away in calcination , they would all turn into a fixt salt. but if all of them were driven away , 't were not possible to obtain one grain of fixt salt : which yet never happens , because they cannot all fly away at once , but one after another ; so that those , which were to fly away last , are by reason of their longer stay in the fire , colliquated , and so fixed ; and that partly by the acid particles that feed the flame ( and condense the smoak into soot ) and partly by the earthy particles , commixed with the volatile salts that are coagulated in the fire . thirdly , 't is impossible to extract one grain of fixt salt from any vegetable , not yet calcined to ashes , that is , so long as there remains any smoke , or the least motion , of the vegetable particles ( such as we see in glowing charcoal ; ) but when this motion ceases , 't is a sign that all the remaining particles are coagulated and fixed . fourthly , soot is nothing else but a heap of volatile particles coagulated together , and yet by calcination it affords a considerable quantity of fixt salt ; which must proceed from the colliquation of the volatile salts , since there can be none but such in soot : for fixt salts are so constant in the fire that they cannot ascend in the form of flame or smoak , and consequently cannot enter the composition of soot . and that the salts of soot are volatile , is also manifest from hence , that , by means of spirit of salt , they may be turned to sal-armoniack , and consequently ( when the acid spirit is separated by the addition of a fixed alcali ) into a volatile and highly urinous salt. so that the matter , of which the fixt salt of soot consists , are these volatile salts of soot , one acid and another urinous , colliquated together and with the terrestrial particles , by the force of the fire . nor can it be said , that the fixt salt of soot was carried up by the volatile ; for ( besides that there was no fixt salt pre-existent in the mixt body ) by this means it would be no more a fixt but a volatile salt : and if we consider the proportion of the fixt salt of soot to the weight of the soot it self , it will easily appear , that soot contains not enough of volatile salt to elevate such a quantity of fixt , since that ought to exceed this almost in a triple proportion . thus though if you mingle fixt salt of tartar , with a sufficient proportion of its own , or any other , volatile salt , and commit this mixture to sublimation , our author denies not but that some parts of the fixt salt will be elevated by the other salt ; yet he affirms , that these are not integral parts , but have lost the nature of a fixt salt , and are really turned into a volatile one , because this sublimation separates them from the terrestial particles , their union with which was the only thing that kept them in a fixt state . in the like manner spirit of wine , being digested with fixt salt of tartar , and drawn off by distillation , carries along with it some of the saline particles ( whence it is said to be tartaris'd , ) but no terrestrial ones , and consequently no fixt salt but a volatile . again , as 't is impossible to obtain one grain of fixt salt from soot , before a violent calcination , so the quantity of the fixt salt is increased by all the same methods that restrain the volatile from flying away in this calcination : namely if it be calcined in a close vessel , with an intense fire at the beginning , ( that the volatile salts may be the sooner colliquated , before they can have time to fly away ) then beaten , and kept stirring over the fire 'till it be of a cineritious colour . the soot also , that ascends in the calcination of soot , being put back again to the caput mortuum , increases the quantity of the fixt salt. fifthly , whatsoever separates the terrestrial parts from any fixt salt , does at the same time destroy its fixity , and volatilise the saline parts . which our author makes out by several experiments . 1. if you pour spirit of salt , by degrees , upon a lee of salt of tartar , ( or of any other alcalisate salt , ) 'till it be almost satiated , ( which is known by the abating of the effervescence , ) you shall observe a kind of earth precipitate out of the fixt salt , ( namely because , upon the mutual conflict , between an acid and an alcali , whatsoever heterogeneous substance is contained in either of them uses to precipitate . ) the earthy part of the salt of tartar being thus separated , the saline part is thereby render'd volatile , and would actually fly away , were it not for the acid that fixes it anew : and if you separate this acid , by the addition of new salt of tartar , it will by this means be set at liberty , and strike your nostrils with an urinous odour . thus , if you separate the liquor from the precipitated earth by filtration , then reduce it to crystals by evaporation , and last of all , mingle an equal quantity of salt of tartar , with these crystals in a mortar ; the acid rit spirit will joyn it self to this new salt of tartar , and so the volatile alcali , being freed from the acid , flies away . nor can it be said , that the forementioned earth did but externally adhere to the salt of tartar , and was not intimately united with it by colliquation ; since the experiment succeeds with oyl of tartar per deliquium , though it be clear and limpid like rock-water : but observe , that the earth does not fall out of the pores of the oyl of tartar , 'till the salts have attain'd the point of saturation , and then the liquor , that was lympid before , begins to look troubled ; and when the glass has stood a while , a whitish colour'd substance settles to the bottom . but the volatile salt , that is separated from the oyl of tartar , is weaker than that which is separated from the dry salt ; because salts approach so much the nearer to the nature of elementary water , by how much the easier they run per deliquium . 2. in the very same manner , and for the same reason , a volatile urinous salt may be obtain'd from the caput mortuum of sal-armoniac , by the addition of new fixt salt. for in sal-armoniack there is a somewhat fixt acid spirit , combined with the volatile salt of urine and soot ; which acid , being imbib'd by the salt of tartar , ( that is mingled with the sal-armoniack immediately before distillation , ) the volatile salt is set at liberty , and presently flies away . and in the mean time , the forementioned acid dissolves the union , between the earthy and saline particles of the salt of tartar , and thereby renders the saline ones volatile ; which therefore , so soon as they are freed from this acid , by the addition of new salt of tartar to the caput mortuum , do presently ascend , even without fire , with a most piercing urinous odour . and even from this second caput mortuum you may obtain a volatile salt , by the addition of a third portion of salt of tartar. 3. the volatilisation of salt of tartar , by the help of vinegar , depends upon the same principle . for they pour vinegar upon the salt of tartar , and draw it off very phlegmatick ; for the acid salt is left in the salt of tartar. then they pour on fresh vinegar , and abstract it as before ; and reiterate this operation so often , 'till the vinegar came over as acid as when it was poured on : which is a sign that the salt of tartar is now satiated with the acid of the vinegar , and consequently volatilis'd by the separation of the earth that fix'd it . for if you pour vinegar upon the lee of tartar , to the point of saturation , the earth of the tartar will presently precipitate . 4. the preparation of balsam of samech is of no small affinity to this ; namely , the volatilisation of salt of tartar , by a frequent abstraction of spirit of wine from it . for the spirit that is first poured on , though it were highly rectifi'd , comes off phlegmatick , with very great loss of its igneous vertue ; because 't is in great part turned into a water , by being rob'd of its seminal acid. but , so soon as the salt of tartar is fully satiated with this acid , ( which cannot be without reiterating the abstraction of fresh spirit a great many times , since salt of tartar requires a great quantity of the strongest vinegar to satiate it , though the acidity of vinegar be manifest and more fixt , whereas that of spirit of wine is occult and volatile , ) and the spirit comes off without loss of strength , the alcali of the tartar is found to have been volatilis'd , by being separated from the earth that fix'd it . hence you may observe a sweetness in the spirit of wine tartarised , which argues , that the acid particles of the spirit are converted into sweet ones , by being coagulated in the alcalisate ones of the salt of tartar that ascend with them ; in like manner as when vinegar is coagulated in saturn or mars . n. b. 't is not necessary , in this operation , to separate the acid from the volatilis'd alcaly , before this alcaly can be made to ascend , as it was in the experiments made with spirit of salt and vinegar ; because the acid of the spirit of wine is much more volatile than that of spirit of salt or vinegar , and therefore , tho' it be coagulated in the volatilis'd alcaly , yet it hinders not it's volatility . 5. the same observation holds of oyl of cinnamon ( and the like distil'd oyls ) which being long digested and circulated with it's own fixt salt , volatilizes it , and is together with it totally converted into a volatile salt , if helmont rightly informs us , and 't is easy to understand the reason of this , if we consider that there is an acid in all distill'd oyls , as well as in spirit of wine and all other inflamable substances ; which we shall manifestly prove hereafter . 6. in the fermentation of salt of tartar with its own proper ferment , namely crude tartar ; the acid of the latter precipitates the earth of the former ; ( from eight ounces of each the author has seen two drams of earth separated ) but the volatilis'd alcaly , being kept under the power of this acid , does not yet manifest it self : so that the volatile urinous salt which is obtain'd from hence , does not so much proceed from the salt of tartar , as from the crude tartar , on which the salt of tartar operates in this case , much after the same manner as it uses to do as sal-armoniac . which is the more probable , because a very piercing urinous salt may be obtain'd from crude tartar alone , without any salt of tartar , only by the addition of an equal weight of crude alum , as dan. ludovicus informs us . 7. oyl of tartar per deliquium , digested with flowers of sulphur in a gentle heat , emits particles extremely urinous ; which effect the author attributes to the acid of the sulphur : and adds , that , having had occasion to reduce faetid oyl of harts-horn into a soap with a certain alcalisate salt , the glass grew warm without any external heat , and a strong urinous odour pierc'd his nose . [ i am apt to think that this odour came not from the alcalisate salt , as the author seems to believe , but from the oyl of harts-horn , which without doubt contains an urinous salt in it . and if it contain an acid also , as the author thinks it does , the incalescence might proceed from some conflict betwixt this & the alcalisate salt , which being united together , the urinous salt was perhas thereby set at liberty from the acid that formerly detain'd it . ] the like odour is observable in the salt produc'd by frequent abstraction of spirit of wine from salt of tartar : where the author observes that some , after they have several times pour'd spirit of wine upon warm salt of tartar and abstracted it again , do last of all pour on oyl of vitriol , and then obtain the volatile salt by the addition of fresh salt of tartar. which experiment , tho' the author has not try'd , yet he judges it may succeed ; since the terestrial parts of the salt of tartar may be separated by the oyl of vitriol , and the alcaline parts , being united with this acid , may be set at liberty by the addition of new salt of tartar. here the author takes occasion to discourse of the vertues of salt of tartar volatilis'd , and affirms that it has no peculiar effects , ( neither in the curing of diseases , nor in the dissolution of bodies , ) but what other urinous salts do likewise produce . but yet he acknowledges a specifick difference between them , upon the account of the seed in the acid of tartar , which differs from the seeds of other acids : and in this respect other urinous salts do also differ from one another ; since the renowned boyl has observ'd , that the volatil salt of harts-horn resembles a parallelopiped , but that of human blood , digested with spirit of wine , is like a rhombus . this diversity of figure is owing to the different seeds or idea's , as residing in the acids , that are the causes of the solidity and coagulation of these salt : wherefore the fixt salt of tartar cristallis'd does also resemble a rhombus , because the seminal acid of this salt , is of the same kind with that of the spirit of wine , which being stronger than the seminal acid of the foremention'd volatile salt of blood , this salt is coagulated according to the idea of the vinous acid : even as , when spirit of nitre is pour'd upon salt of tartar , the acid of the former being the more powerfull , forms the crystals of an oblong figure like nitre , but not like salt of tartar , which resembles a rhombus . the author concludes , that this seminal difference of volatile alcalies is of little moment in medicine , since all alcalies , even the purest , are endow'd with so much of a seminal acid , as does indeed preserve them from a spontaneous resolution , into elementary water , but yet hinders them not from being in a capacity to imbibe this or that hostile morbisic acid indifferently . the same thing is to be said of the fixt alcalisate salts of vegetables , for the seminal vertues are lost in the calcination , and there remains only so much of a seminal acid , as keeps them from relapsing into elementary water , and does indeed cause them to differ specifically from one another , but not to produce different effects in medicine . from all the foremention'd particulars , concerning the volatilising of fixt salts , our author concludes , that there can never be any method found out to effect it , but by separating the terrestrial particles . as for zwelfers volatile salt of tartar , prepar'd by often reiterated solutions ( per deliquium ) and abstractions , he affirms that 't is nothing else but useless elementary water ; as will manifestly appear to him that considers , that alcalisate salts are fundamentally nothing else but aqueous particles , converted by a little seminal acid into rigid salts , which , as soon as the acid is destroy'd , turn again into water : wherefore the more violent the calcination is , and by consequence the greater your loss is of this seminal acid , they are the more easily resolv'd per deliquium in moist air , which by it's vertue , as a menstruum , does in great part consume the little acid that remains and thereby resolve a great part of the alcalisate salt into elementary water , wherein the other particles , not yet depriv'd of their seed , do swim , ( for when salts approach to the nature of water , they are readily dissolv'd in it ; ) but if the water be abstracted from them , and they expos'd to the air again , their remaining acid is destroy'd , and they resolv'd into water in great part : and if they run per deliquium and be abstracted often enough , all the seminal acid will be at length destroy'd , and nothing remain but bare elementary water , which will all of it easily ascend . and by this means any fixt alcalisate salt may be totally reduc'd into elementary water . sect. xi . the volatile salts of vegetables , since they are the matter of which ( colliquated with the acid and terrestrial particles ) the alcalisate salts consist ; and the volatile salts of animals , since ( as the author has prov'd ) they differ not essentially from those of vegetables ; are both of them ultimately reducible into elementary water . sect. xii . acid salts , made fluid by the force of fire , and drawn off from fixt alcalies , may be thereby so rob'd of their acid , that nothing will ascend but elementary water . and the alcalisate salt , that has imbib'd the acid , being frequently resolv'd per deliquium and the phlegmatic part as frequently abstracted , may by this means be at length totally converted into pure elementary water . thus the author having particularly examin'd the pretended chymical principles , and found them all ultimately reducible into elementary water ; concludes that sect. xiii . all mixt bodies are made up of water , as the only first material principle and seeds ( which differ according to the differing species of bodies ) as the formal principle , united together by means of acid ferments : that is to say , water is coagulated into a plant , by the ferment of a vegetable seed ; into a metal , stone , &c. by that of a mineral seed ; and into flesh , bones , &c. by the ferment of an animal seed . for in all mixt bodies there are certain acid particles , wherein the seeds or ideas of natural things do reside , and which , in coagulating the approximated aliment , do follow the draught of these ideas , and so are thereby determin'd to give it the form of this or the other vegetable mineral , or animal . thus in a mans stomach , for example , there lurks a certain acid , that discovers it self by the sour belches of healthy men , and by the vomiting of coagulated milk , tho' it were taken fluid . this acid easily receives the alcalical particles of the meat extracted by ( the alcalical menstruum ) the spittle , and imprints the idea of its own seed upon them , by which they are determin'd to nourish man only , and no other animal ; as afterwards , when they come to every particular part of the body , by the circulation of the blood , they are determin'd by the seminal acid residing in that part , to nourish it rather than any of the rest . and that aliment , which has once receiv'd the seal or impression of the seminal idea of any animal in the stomach , or of any part of the animal in that same part ; will never receive the idea of another animal , nor of another part of the same animal , unless it be suppress'd by a more powerfull ferment ; as when sheeps bones , tho' furnish'd with their own proper ferment and idea yet , being unable to resist the stronger one of a dogs stomach , are therein turn'd into fit nourishment for the dog , and afterwards for his musculous flesh it self and other parts , as well as for his bones . in like manner grass has its own ferment and idea suppress'd by that of a cows stomach , which seals it with such an impression , as renders it fit nourishment for a cow , but not for any other animal . but if the same grass had been taken into the stomach of a horse , it would have been turn'd into nourishment fit for a horse , but unfit for a cow or any other animal . again common mercury , which is the nourishment of metals , is converted into this or the other metal , according to the diversity of the acid seminal sulphur that coagulates it . finally all vegetables also are endow'd with a seminal acid , and therefore their express'd juices do , after long fermentation , tast acid. and in the fermentation of cream of tartar with salt of tartar , the seed , idea or archeus , that reside in the acid of the tartar , forms certain bubbles very much resembling natural grapes . all this will be better understood hereafter , from the authors particular expication of the nature of the foremention'd seeds , ideas and ferments : but now , to put it past all doubt , that water is the only material principle of all mixt bodies , the author has not only prov'd that all substance 's that mixt bodies can be resolv'd into by the chymical art , are totally reducible into elementary water ; but likewise he proves particularly , that prop. xiv . water is the only and catholic nourishment of all vegetables , animals , and minerals . and 't is manifest that every body consists of the same matter that nourishes . 1. as for vegetables , helmonts experiment proves this beyond contradiction ; namely , he put 200 pound of earth ( dry'd in an oven ) into an earthen vessel , moisten'd it with rain-water , planted it in the trunk of a willow tree weighing 5 pound , and let it alone there for 5 years time , only watering it , as need requir'd , with rain-water or distill'd water . [ and to keep the neighbouring earth from getting in , he imploy'd a plate of iron tin'd over and perforated with many holes . ] at the 5 years end he found the tree had grown so well , that it weighed 169 pound and three ounces : and yet the earth , being dry'd again , weigh'd but two ounces less than it had done at first : so that above 160 pound of wood , bark , root , &c. had grown up out of mere water , coagulated by the seminal ferment of the vegetable into the severall substances newly mention'd . hence rain does wonderfully refresh , envigorate and advance the growth of , all sorts of plants , and without that they decay , wither and dye . for water is indifferent to them all , till it be turn'd by the ferment of the vegetable seed into leffas , as helmont calls the juice that is the immediate aliment of the plant. thus wolf-bane aconitum and lavender , for instance , growing in the same soyl , are both nourish'd by the same rain-water , which by the ferment of the one is coagulated into a poysonous herb , and by that of the other into a wholsome one . secondly , that animals are nourish'd with water alone , appears in fishes ; for they live only in the water , and yet have no food supply'd them from any where else , nor is there any rudiment of it to be found in their stomachs , as helmont observes . [ and tho' some fishes feed upon others , yet these others feed only upon water , and therefore are materially nothing else but water . ] as for terrestrial animals ; some of them , as horses , cows , sheep , &c. feed wholly upon water and grass , which the author has already prov'd to be materially nothing else but water , and therefore that which grows in well water'd places , prospers best , others , as a lyon , wolf , &c. tho' they be not nourish'd by grass and water only , but feed upon other animals , yet still their food is materially nothing else but water , being that these animals live only upon grass and water , except when they are too young to digest grass , that they are nourish'd by their mothers milk , which also is materially nothing else but water , since it is generated of the mothers nutriment . [ the same things are easily applicable to birds ; ] and to men , which feed only upon vegetables , fishes , and the flesh of beasts that are nourish'd only by vegetables . thirdly , as for minerals ; mercury is the immediate aliment of metals , and some other minerals , and the nearest matter of which they are produc'd . now mercury is nothing but elementary water , coagulated by a certain metalline and arsenical sulphur into such a water as does not wet the hands : and by other various sulphurs 't is further coagulated into antimony and divers metals . hence mines are never found but where there is a great conflux of water . gold is gather'd out of the sands of some rivers . sand abounds no where so much as near the sea and great rivers . stones are nothing else but sand compacted together . [ and the illustrious mr. boyle has fully prov'd in a most ingenious as well as judicious discourse about the origine and virtues of gems , that many gems and medical stones were once fluid bodies . but 't were too long , here to give an account of the many cogent arguments he there imploys to prove this assertion , which very much countenances our authors hypothesis . ] the experienc'd helmont informs us , that it often happens in mines when the workmen are breaking the rocks , that the wall cleaves , and a little water of a whitish green colour flows out of the cleft , & presently thickens like liquid soap ; afterwards it growes yellow or white or of a deeper green . this juice he calls bur , and affirms it to be the nearest matter of all minerals , and to be nothing else but water coagulated by a mineral ferment , as leffas is by a vegetable . to make it yet more evident , that water is the only first material principle of natural bodies ; the author undertakes to prove that prop. xv. all animals , vegetables , and minerals are ultimately resoluble into elementary water . [ first the substances that animals are resolv'd into by distillation , are phlegm , volatile salt , urinous spirit , oyl , and earth or caput mortuum , but very little if any fixt salt. the phlegm is nothing else but elementary water , except in as far as it partakes of the volatile salt and oyl , of which it always carries up some particles , nor can it ever be perfectly separated from them . ] 2. the volatile salt of animals is of the same nature with that of vegetables , which being colliquated by the force of the fire with acid and earthy particles , is thereby turn'd into a fixt salt. and this fixt salt being frequently deliquated , and the phlegm as often abstracted , is at length totally resolv'd into elementary water . all this was abundantly prov'd before ; as also that 3. the spirit is nothing else but volatile salt dissolv'd in phlegm . 4. the oyly and fat parts of animals may be united with an alcalisate salt into soap , from which being often abstracted , they turn at length into meer elementary water . and this is to be observ'd of all the fat 's of animals , that by frequent circulation with salt of tartar they are converted into water . 5. [ as for the fixt salt of animal substances , 't is the common opinion that none can be abstracted from them ; perhaps because all their saline parts are so volatile , that ( to speak consonantly to our authors hypothesis ) they cannot sustain a colliquation with the earthy parts , especially since there are very few , if any , manifestly acid ones to concur to their fixation . but that indefatigable searcher into nature , mr. boyle , informs us , that by an obstinate calcination of eight ounces and a half of caput mortuum of human blood , he obtain'd above seven drams of salt , which , tho it were not truly lixivial , but rather of the nature of sea-salt , yet it was fixt enough to endure a calcination for two days together , without flying away . however , 't is probable , that this was nothing else but some unalter'd part of the sea-salt that season'd the aliments , that the person or persons whose the blood was fed upon . ] 6. the earth also may be totally resolv'd into elementary water , by being depriv'd of its seminal vertue by means of the alcahest , if we may believe van helmont . hence t is that dead animals , when they putrify , are resolv'd into an aqueous substance . and helmont has deliver'd a notable experiment to this purpose , namely , that if you dig up a frog at full moon , in the coldest time of winter , ( atrocissimo hyemis borea ) wash it , and tye it to a stick in the fields , the next morning 't will be turnd into a white and transparent mucilage , not unlike to liquifi'd gum tragacanth , but retaining the figure of a frog . yea he affirms that the cadaver of a man or beast , exposd all night to the rayes of the moon , will in the morning be almost fluid with rottenness , ( putrilagine diffluet : ) so great power has the moon to reduce dead bodies into an aqueous mucilage . [ secondly , vegetable substances chymically analys'd , yield phlegm , volatile salt , spirit of several sorts , oyl , fixt salt , and earth . to the first , second , fourth and sixth may be apply'd what was said of the phlegm , volatile salt , oyl , and earth of animal substances . the fixt salt may be totally resolv'd into elementary water , by reiterated solutions in the air , and abstractions , as above . there are 4. sorts of spirits afforded by vegetable substances . 1. vinous inflamable spirits , which were formerly prov'd to be nothing but oyls dissolv'd in phlegm by fermentation : as also that 2. volatile saline spirits , as spirit of soot , spirit of beans ( that have been kept in a dry place for some months ) &c. are nothing but volatile salts dissolv'd into phlegm . and that 3. acid spirits , as spirit of vinegar , spirit of beans newly gather'd , &c. are nothing but acid salts in a fluid state and united with phlegm : and being pour'd upon fixt salts , they are together with them ultimately resoluble into elementary water . 4. adiaphorous spirits of box , guaiacum &c. which the judicious mr. boyle , who was the first observer of them , suspects to be generated of the finer parts of the oyl of the wood , reduc'd to an extraordinary smallness , and by that means exquisitely mix'd with the plegm the juice of grapes affords : all these 4 sorts of spirits , as mr. boyle has observ'd in his excellent discourse concerning the producibleness of the chymical principles . thirdly , as for minerals ; we must rely upon the testimony of van helmont , whom mr. boyle concludes to be a veracious author , ( except in that extravagant treatise of the magnetical cure of wounds , ) from the success he has had in trying some of his experiments , that might seem not the most likely to succeed : [ and i think we may justly lay great weight upon the judgement of so experiencd and judicious a person as mr. boyle , concerning the sincerity of any chymical author . ] helmont then in several places informs us , that all stones , gems , marcasites , metals &c. may be transmuted into an aequiponderant salt , and this into insipid water . and as for metals , it seems indeed that common mercury is their nearest matter , into which they may be resolv'd by the separation of their coagulating salts : and the famous langelot has made an experiment of this in the regulus of antimony . now if the other metals also may be resolv'd into mercury by depriving them of their sulphurs , and the mercury it self be reducible into water , ( by robbing it of the sulphurs yet remaining in it , ) as mr. boyle somewhere affirms , it may in great part , and as several other authors of good credit attest ; then it can no more be doubted , that all minerals are reducible into water . [ it will not be unseasonable in this place to mention a few experiments , deliver'd in mr. boyles septical chymist , that do very much countenance the three last propositions . that excellent author then informs us , that about the middle of may he caus'd his gardiner , to dig out some good earth , dry it well in an oven , weigh it , put it in a very shallow earthen pot , and set in it a seed of squash ( a sort of indian pompion that grows apace ) which he water'd only with rain or spring water . and tho the hastning winter hinder'd it from attaining any thing near its wonted magnitude , yet being taken up about the middle of october , the pompion together with the stalk and leaves weighed three pound wanting a quarter . and yet the earth , being very well dry'd in an oven , was found to have lost little or nothing of its first weight . he try'd the like experiment with two cucumbers , which being taken out of the earth wherein they had grown , weighed ( together with the roots and branches ) fourteen pound and six ounces ; and yet the earth had lost but a pound and a half of its first weight , which the gardiner judg'd to have been in great part wasted in the ordering . but granting that some of the earth , or rather of the dissoluble salt harbour'd in it , was wasted in the nourishment of the plant ; yet 't is plain , that the main body of it consisted of trasmuted water . this experiment may be try'd with the seeds of any plant that is bulky and grows hastily . likewise a top of spearmint of an inch long , being put into a vial full of spring-water with its lower part immers'd , did in a few days shoot forth numerous roots into the water , ( as if it had been earth , ) and display it self upwards into many leaves , with a pretty thick stalk . the same experiment has also succeeded with marjoram ( tho' more slowly ) balm , and peniroyal , to name no more . one of these vegetables cherish'd only by spring-water , and that never renew'd , afforded by distillation ( besides phlegm ) an empyreumatical spirit , an adust oyl , and a caput mortuum , that appearing to be a coal , consisted no doubt of salt and earth . and if helmont had distill'd the foremention'd tree , no doubt it would have afforded him the like distinct substances as another of the same kind . but a more considerable instance ( to prove that all sorts of bodies are nothing else but water subdu'd by seeds ) than any yet mention'd , is afforded us by mr. de rochas , who tells us , that he took simple water , that he well knew to be mix'd with no other thing but the spirit of life , and having with a heat artificial , continual , and proportionate , prepar'd it by the graduations of coagulation , congelation , and fixation , which he had spoken of before , untill it was turn'd into earth ; this earth produc'd animals that mov'd of themselves , vegetables and minerals . the animals he found , by a chymical anatomy he made of them , to be compos'd of much sulphur , little mercury , and less salt ; and the minerals ( which were solid and heavy , and began to grow , by converting into their own nature one part of the earth thereunto dispos'd ) of much salt , little sulphur , and less mercury . and tho the judicious mr. boyle has some suspitions of this strange relation , yet as to the generation of animals and plants , he thinks it not incredible , since common water ( which is indeed often impregnated with variety of seminal principles and rudiments ) long kept will putrify and stink , and then perhaps too produce moss and little worms , or other insects , according to the nature of the seeds that were lurking in it . and tho' the distillation of eels yielded him some oyl , spirit , volatile salt , and caput mortuum , yet were all these so disproportionate to the phlegm ( in which at first they boyl'd as in a pot of water ) that they seem'd to have been nothing but coagulated phlegm ; which does likewise strangely abound in vipers , as hot in their operation and as vivacious as they are . and seven ounces and a half of human blood yielded near six ounces of phlegm , before any of the spirits began to arise , and require the receiver to be chang'd . corrosive acid spirits , tho they seem to be nothing but fluid salts , yet you 'l find them to abound with water , if either you entangle , and so six their saline part by making them corrode some idoneous body , or mortify it with a contrary salt. thus in making of balsamus samech with distill'd vinegar instead of spirit of wine , the salt of tartar from which it is distilld , will , by mortifying and retaining the acid salt , turn near twenty times its weight of the vinegar into worthless phlegm , before it be satiated . and in making the true balsamus samech ( which is nothing but salt of tartar dulcifi'd , by distilling from it spirit of wine till it be glutted with the vinous sulphur , ) as soon as the spirit of wine is depriv'd of its sulphur by the salt of tartar , the rest ( which is incomparably the greater part ) remigrates into phlegm : so that if helmonts process be true ( which was confirmed to mr. boyle by a sober and skilfull spagyrist , who did indeed prepare the spirit and salt by a way that is neither short nor easie , but added nothing to them ) spirit of wine seems to be materially nothing but water under a sulphureous disguise , tho' being so igneous that it will totally flame away , 't is of all liquors the most likely to be free from water . but helmont's grand argument for his hypothesis , is taken from the operation of the alcahest ; which , he says , does adequately resolve plants , animals , and minerals into one liquor or more , according to their several internal disparaties of parts , ( without caput mortuum or the destruction of their seminal vertues ; ) and that the alcahest being abstracted from these liquors in the same weight and vertue wherewith it dissolv'd them , they may by frequent cohobations from chalk or some other fit substance , be totally depriv'd of their seminal endowments , and by that means reduc'd to insipid water . here mr. boyle judiciously observes , that it may be doubted whether this water , because insipid , must be elementary ; since the candid p. laurembergius affirms that he saw an insipid menstruum , that was a powerfull dissolvent : and the water which may be drawn from quicksilver without addition , tho' almost tastless , will manifest a very differing nature from simple water , if you digest in it appropriated minerals . however the forementiond experiments concerning the growth of vegetables , do sufficiently prove that salt , spirit , earth , and oyl ( which are four of the pretended chymical principles ) may be produc'd out of simple water . but to return to our author . ] having prov'd , that water is the only material principle of bodies usually calld mixt , by three arguments . 1. because none of the other pretended chymical principles have a right to that title ; some of them not being naturally pre-existent in the bodies from which they are obtain'd ; and all of them being reducible to elementary water . 2. because water is the only nourishment of all animals , plants , and minerals ; and by consequence the only matter of which they consist . because all animals , plants , and minerals are by a true analysis ultimately reducible to simple insipid water . having evinc'd this , i say , by these three newly mention'd arguments ; and fire being the only sublunary body ( besides air , of which heareafter ) that these arguments , as hitherto prosecuted , can with any colour of reason be pretended not to reach ; and being likewise by many enumerated amongst the principles of natural bodies ; the next proposition shall be , that prop. xvi . fire is nothing but an acid volatile sulphur very swiftly mov'd . for there is a certain sulphur in every inflamable body , which takes fire as soon as 't is put into a rapid motion , whatsoever the cause be that excites it to that motion . this appears in the striking of fire by the collision of two flints ; in the firing of the axel-tree of a mill or coach , that sometimes happens upon a long continued and vehement attrition ; and in many other such obvious instances . oyl of vitriol contains a great many acid sulphureous particles , proceeding as well from the embryonated acid , that corroded the iron or copper oar in the bowels of the earth , as from the iron or copper it self : these particles , being excited to motion by the affusion of oyl of tartar ( or even genuine spirit of tartar ) produce a notable heat and effervescency . the sulphur of quick-lime ( whether it be innate , or adventitious from the fire ) conceives a vehement heat , as soon as 't is excited to motion , by the alcaline lixivial particles set at liberty by the affusion of water . finally ( to add no more ) butter of antimony consists chiefly of the sulphureous particles of the antimony , and the salino-acid ones of the mercury sublimate : the latter being wash'd off with water , the former do more manifestly appear , ( namely in mercurius vitae , which causes vomiting without any danger of corroding the bowels : ) and both of them being vehemently mov'd by the affusion of spirit of nitre , there is an intense heat produc'd . so that the formal nature of fire or heat consists in motion . now that the sulphureous particles of which fire is materially constituted , are of an acid nature , will abundantly appear from the ensuing considerations . i. the particles of the flame of common sulphur , being receiv'd and condens'd in a glass bell , do compose a very piercing acid liquor . ii. there are not any bodies more akin to fire , than the totally inflamable spirits of fermented vegetables . and yet all the principal effects of these fermented spirits , depend upon a volatile acid. for 't is upon the account of its acid salt , that spirit of wine is coagulated in spirit of urine or salarmoniac , or in any other volatile alcali , as also , that it loses its strength by distillation from salt of tartar , which imbibes and retains the acid , and receives an increase of weight thereby . and generous wine , that is turgent with this spirit , being drunk moderately , sends a volatile acid to the brain , that makes a subtile effervescence with the ( alcaline ) animal spirits , and thereby produces cheerfulness and a vigorous promptitude to action ; ( as on the contrary , the sadness of melancholy persons proceeds from the fixation of the animal spirits by a more fixt acid. ) but upon excessive drinking , that volatile acid ascends too copiously to the brain , conquers and fixes the animal spirits , and so stupefies the organs of sense and motion : yea sometimes it may suppress the vital acid ( or innate heat ) of the blood , and at length totally coagulate it ; especially if the wine be endow'd with a strong acid , as the french , and chiefly the hungarian wines are wont to be . and indeed , that the inebriating vertue of wine ( and all other strong drinks ) is entirely owing to a volatile acid , may be prov'd by many arguments . 1. hence 't is , that volatile alcaline salts do prevent drunkenness , especially spirit of salt-armoniack , if some drops of it be now and then mingled with the drink . 2. bitter almonds and other oleous things , do likewise prevent drunkenness , by weakning and suppressing the vaporous acid of the wine , so that it cannot reach the brain . 3. the same acid inflames drunkards faces , and adorns them with purulent pimples , like so many gems . for the whitish colour'd matter , contain'd in these pimples , proceeds only from the volatile acid of the wine that infects the ferment of the muscles of the face , coagulates and precipitates the blood that comes thither for nutrition , and so changes its purple colour into a whitish one . for proof of this assertion , 't is to be noted , that the purple colour of the blood proceeds from the resolution of the sulphurous acid parts by the ferment of the heart , which sets them at liberty , so as that they may mix per minima , and make a subtile effervescence with the alcaline spirits : as when spirit of salt-armoniack or of harts-horn , or any other that is alcalical , is digested with spirit of wine , they produce together a very red tincture , because the acid sulphur of the wine , being by digestion intimately mix'd , and making a subtile effervesence with the subtil alcaly , is at length so resolv'd as to manifest it self by tinging the whole liquor : after the same manner , in the tincture of the salt of tartar , the spirit of wine is ting'd by the volatilis'd alcaly of tartar : and common sulphur boyl'd in the lixivium of any fixt salt , is thereby exalted to a red colour ; but because the alcaline salt is so ty'd to the terrestrial particles , that it cannot penetrate the sulphur per minima , therefore the colour is obscure and dark . now , if you pour another acid liquor upon these sanguine tinctures , immediately they become of a milk-white colour . just so it happens , when the blood is extravasated , and putrefi'd in any part of the body , the acidity , that arises from this putrefaction , precipitates the sulphur that ting'd the blood , and thereby turns it into white stinking pus ; even as common sulphur , when it is precipitated out of any lixivium by the affusion of vinegar , strikes the nose with an ungratefull odour , tho it was utterly inodorous before : so that pus is nothing but blood , whose vital alcaline balsamical spirits are suppres'd by an hostile acid , and the tinging sulphureous particles precipitated in wounds & abscesses , while the pus is a making , the motion of the acid particles do often produce a symptomical feaver , an inflammation in the part affected , convulsive motions in the brain , and pains in the nervous parts : but these symptoms abate as soon as the pus is made , and the motion of the particles ceas'd . 4. amongst the external medicins , that are wont to be apply'd to the foremention'd pimples in the face , the preparations of saturn are the chief ; because they imbibe the acid of the wine , or other inebriating liquor , that inflames the face . for saturn readily receives all sorts of acids or sulphurs , even those of metals , as is well known to the refiners . thus the unripe sulphurs of metals , coagulated in saturn , do compose litharge . vinegar , coagulated in saturn , produces sugar of lead . and all acids in general , coagulated in saturn , mars , or any other body whatsoever , are wont to be dulcifi'd thereby . for all sugars are nothing but acid salts coagulated in other particles : whence 't is , that they are resolv'd by distillation into a very ardent and powerfully inebriating spirit ; and are extream sit to promote or even begin fermentations : and therefore 't is , that the syrups of the shops have a manifestly acid tast ; and sugar is very hurtful to scorbutical persons , because upon the account of its acidity it excites divers vitious effervescencies , produces tumors of the bowels &c. and vitiates the vital ferment of the stomach . iii. that the particles of fire are of an acid nature , may evidently appear from all other inflameable substances , especially those that are oyly and fat , as well as from common sulphur and spirit of wine . for in the first place , 't is certain , that oleous and fat bodies are really endow'd with an acid ; as appears from the following reasons . 1. chirurgions observe , that oyls , and fat substances , are very noxious to the bones , ( especially the skull , which is a porous bone ) and particularly , that they are apt to make them carious ; which must happen upon the account of their corroding acid. and for the same reason , they render vlcers sordid , by increasing the corroding acid. 2. what else is that greenness , that adheres to lamps , but the acid of the oyl-olive coagulated in the particles of the metal , that it has corroded ? whence comes the blew colour of oyl of camomil distill'd in copper vessels , but from some particles of the veins corroded by the acidity of the oyle ? 3. the heart-burn ( ardor ventriculi ) is often occasion'd by fat things , ( especially if you drink after them , because the acid salts are thereby dissolv'd and put into a swifter motion ) as well as by austere and sourish wines : and the remedy , in both cases , is , to use things fitted to precipitate the acid. 4. oleous and fat things are hurtful in erysipelatous distempers , ( which proceed from the coagulation of the blood by an acid , ) because they increase the peccant acidity , whence the putrefaction is increas'd , the bones are corroded , and the natural heat of the part is at last totally suppress'd , and mortify'd . ( yet the author denyes not , but these effects do also partly depend upon the obstruction of the pores of the part , by the foresaid fat substances , so that the effluvia , wont to transpire through the pores , being detain'd in the body , and inordinately mov'd , do increase the feaver . ) 5. 't is likewise upon the account of their acidity , that oyls are hurtful to all inflammations , without such a preparation as consumes or corrects their acid. thus lin-seed oyle mingl'd with an equal weight of spirit of wine , and boyl'd ( with continual stirring ) till the spirit be consum'd , is us'd safely and successfully , both inwardly and outwardly , in pleurisies , peripneumonies , inflammations of the liver &c. because the coagulating acid is readily imbib'd by this oyl , that has been depriv'd of its own acid by the spirit of wine , which , being a much more volatile oleous body than the oyle of lin-seed , evaporates before it , and carryes its acid along with it ; even as the same spirit , being mingl'd with aqua fortis and distill'd in a cucurbit , ascends before it , and carrys a great part of its acidity along with it , insomuch that the remaining aqua fortis becomes a very safe internal medicine , tho' before , the smell of it only would cause an atrophia in the whole body . the same oyl of lin-seed is also corrected , by frequently extinguishing red hot steel in it , till it appear by the ceasing of the hissing & smoke , that the acid particles are either evaporated in smoke and spent by deflagration , or coagulated in the mars . and if after this it be distill'd from quick-lime , that if any acidity yet remains , it may be therein coagulated , the oyl of lin-seed becomes an excellent remedy for inflammations , burns and the like : as oyl-olive also does , by distillation from quick-lime . and this last nam'd oyl , being imbib'd in old tyles or bricks ( which are depriv'd of all moisture by their having been long expos'd to the heat of the sun ) heated red hot , and quench'd in it , and then distill'd in a retort , is thereby robb'd of all its acidity , and acquires a singular vertue in the palsey , gout , cramp &c. and all oyls are wholsomer boyl'd than crude , because a great part of the acid is exhal'd in the boyling . 6. helmont teaches that distill'd chymical oyls , which are otherwise very hot , may by an artificial circulation for three months time with an alcali salt be turn'd into a very temperate volatile salt : namely because the hot acid of the oyl is saturated by the alcali , and by that means reduc'd temperate . nor can there be any other reason given , why the alcaly should have this effect upon the oyl , but that the acid of the oyl corrodes the alcaly and is coagulated in it . now in the next place , that the heat and inflammability of oyly substances depend upon the acid , that the experiments , newly deliver'd , prove to be contain'd in them , may be evinc'd from those same experiments ; most of which do not only prove , that oleous and fat bodies are endow'd with an acid , but likewise , that the effects usually ascrib'd to the hot quality of these bodies , do indeed depend upon this acid ; and that whatsoever mitigates or destroys this acid , does at the same time weaken or destroy their heating power . and 2. that this may also be truly apply'd to their inflammability , and that the acid particles contain'd in oyly and fat substances are really the matter of which the flame of these substances ( when they are burning ) consists , does plainly appear by the abstraction of oyls from spirit of wine , quick-lime , or bricks ; for , being by this means depriv'd of their acid , they become less inflammable than the crude oyles were . and candles made of sheeps tallow , burn sooner away than those made of any other tallow , because there is greater store of acid particles in it ; as appears by the griping of the guts , which cannot happen without a corroding acid , ( for all the medicines , effectual against this distemper testify that to be the cause of it ) and which is very often occasion'd by eating fat mutton , especially if the acid salts be dissolv'd by drinking after it , in like manner as when salt butter is sweetned by melting it , and pouring it into water , and thereby dissolving the salt. likewise recent fat , or oyl burns sooner away , than that which has been long kept , and thereby lost much of its volatile acid. n.b. since tallow , as well as every other body , is materially nothing else but water coagulated by a seminal acid , and since 't is only the acid particles that feed the flame ; it follows , that when they are consum'd , he remainder , being robb'd of , the coagulating , acid must return into elementary water , and therefore 't is insensibly dissipated like a vapour : even as the water of spirit of wine kindled vanishes into a vapour . iv. the particles of fire being fix'd or coagulated in any body whatsoever , do plainly manifest themselves to be acid , as appears from the following instances . 1. fire coagulated in mars , turns it into a crocus , that differs nothing from rust , ( which proceeds always from an acid ) and is every way like to that crocus which is prepar'd with acids , and endow'd with the same medicinal vertues . v. tachen . hipp. chym. cap. 28. 2. fire coagulated in saturn is separated by means of a fixt alcaly , or even of venetian borax ; for minium ( which receiv'd its red colour from the sulphur of the coals , even as the sulphur of antimony coagulated in mercury , turns it [ into cinnabar ] of an exceeding high red , is by the help of these salts reduc'd to crude lead . n. b. according to tachenius's computation , 100 pound of lead retains in calcination ten pound of fire . 3. all the remedies for burns are such as are capable to imbibe , saturate , or suppress the igneous acid ; for instance , sugar of saturn , ceruss , litharge , oyls depriv'd of their acidity , lixiviums , &c. and unwashen threed mitigates erysipelatous inflammations , because of the alcaly of the spittle . v. and lastly , the acidity of the particles of fire appears from its efficacy in chirurgery , and particularly in exstirpating ill condition'd ulcers . for the cause of vlcers being a corrosive acid , they may be cur'd by three sorts of external medicines . 1. those that saturate this acid , as spirit of salt-armoniac , quick-lime water , oyl of tartar per deliquium , and the like . 2. those that imbibe and assume this acid , as all the preparations of saturn . the author has known ulcers in the legs cur'd , meerly by applying thin plates of lead to them ; because the acid , corroding the musculous flesh , was coagulated in the lead . 3. those that by a more potent acidity suppress this weak one ; as verdegreese , which consists of the acid salts of vinegar coagulated in particles of venus ; now these salts are much more powerfull than in common vinegar , because they are concentrated and separated from strong phlegm , and thereby enabl'd to suppress the weaker putredinous acid of the ulcers ; which aqua fortis , spirit of salt , and other acid spirits also do . but nothing performs this so effectually , as actual cauteries , because there is no acid so powerful as that of fire . n. b. i. the acid effluvia , that are continually passing away from inflammable bodies while they are burning , do compose flame , so long as they continue numerous enough within a certain sphere , and in a very swift motion , but having pass'd the limits of this sphere , they begin to move more slowly , and are by degrees dispers'd . so that the same acid effluvia , which being in a rapid motion , produce tormenting pains and convulsive motions by corroding the nervous parts ; when they are in a moderate motion , do produce in our body a temperate and gratefull heat , by inciting the nervous capillaments to gentle spasms . n. b. 2. tho' actual fire be so far from being one of the material principles of mixt bodies , that it cannot exist in them without destroying them ; yet there are certain acid particles in all mixt bodies , differing but in rest , or in degrees of motion from actual fire , in which the seeds or ideas reside , that are the formal principles of those bodies . but these acid particles do themselves return into elementary water , when they are devested of those seeds . which seeds or ideas , so often heretofore mention'd , t' will now be seasonable to explain . having abundantly prov'd , that simple water is the only matter of which all mixt bodies consist , 't is plain that they all agree in one and the same material principle ; so that their difference one from another proceeds not from any diversity in the matter of which they consist , or in the proportion of the elements that may be suppos'd to concur to their composition but , prop. xvii . the diversity , that is among natural bodies , is wholly owing to the different seminal ideas , that regulate the operation of the plastick spirit , which coagulates water into various substances , differing in figure , solidity , bigness , order and connection of parts , and other modifications , according as its motions are guided by these ideas . for when god at first created out of nothing the terraqueous globe , and furnish'd it with numerous bodies of several species or kinds ; he was pleas'd , because the individuals were corruptible , to endow them by vertue of his omnipotent word ( be fruitful and multiply , ) with a power of producing out of pre-existent matter , new individuals like themselves , and of their own species ; that so , when the first individuals were dissolv'd , the species might nevertheless be preserv'd in these new individuals generated by the first ; & so on , as long as the world endures . this generative power is seated in the seeds ; [ which are very obvious in animals and vegetables , but more doubtful in minerals , at least in severall sorts of them . ] as for animals , and particularly man ; the feminine seed is a limpid liquor , contain'd in the little eggs , that are found in the testicles . this seminal liquor contains in it self an exact idea of an entire human body ( of the femal sexe , ) consisting of as many particular distinct ideas , as there are different parts in a human body , which all together concur to make up one entire idea of an entire woman : so if it were possible for us to contemplate this idea with our bodily eyes , as well as we can do with our intellectual , we might discern in it sensible signatures of all the parts of the body , alltogether making up a lively representation , and as 't were exact model , of an entire woman . the idea of every particular part in this seed , is a particle of the idea that resides in that same part of the womans body that generates this seed . for every part of a womans ( mans , or any other animals ) body , whether similar or organical , has its own idea residing in it , in which idea is imprinted upon , or ( which is all one ) communicates a particle of it self unto the blood , that circulates through the part ; and the blood carryes all these ideas to the testicles , where they are gather'd together , dispos'd into the same order that the parts , they come from , have in the womans body , and so united into one entire idea , which is inclos'd within the tunicles of the egg , that being defended from injuries thereby , the particular parts of it may be able to retain their due situation , and may not be lyable to be confounded one with another or misplac'd . this idea is endow'd in the testicles with a particle of that moving vital spirit , which is the principle of all vital actions , and the only mover of all seeds , which , without this , are barren and unfruitful , because they cannot unfold themselves . but yet this plastick spirit in the feminine seed is too weak for to accomplish the evolution of the ideas , without it be strengthen'd , actuated , and fecundated by that more powerfull spirit which the masculine seed is impregnated with . all that has been said of the feminine seed , is applicable also to this , saving , that it contains ideas of all the parts of a human body of the male sex only , not of the female ; and that these ideas are confounded one with another , because the seed not being inclos'd in tunicles in the form of eggs , but contain'd in the testicles in a liquid form , they fluctuate and cannot retain any certain order . hence it is , that as the feminine seed alone can never be fruitful , till its weaker spirit be corroborated by conjunction with the masculine ; so neither can the masculine seed alone ever produce a foetus , till its confus'd ideas be reduc'd into due order by conjunction with the feminine , each idea taking its own proper place , by applying it self to the correspondent ideas of the feminine seed . in short , the masculine seed cannot reduce the confus'd ideas into order , but being set in order by the feminine , it can explicate or unfold them , which the feminine cannot . wherefore the masculine seed must be injected into the womb , whence it emits a seminal and vital spirituous exhalation through the tubi fallopiani into the testes or ovarium , where one ( or more ) of the eggs , being impregnated with this exhalation , and foecundated thereby , is thrust out of its place , and falls into the extremity of the tubus fallopianus , which conveys it to the womb. for tho' the two seminal spirits be now united into one , yet even this is not sufficient for the evolution of the ideas ; till it be excited to motion by the heat of the womb ; and then it begins the evolution of the ideas , by coagulating the approximated aliment into a substance agreeable to the particular ideas , and applying it to them : by which means the ideas , that were utterly insensible before , do quickly acquire a visible bulk : insomuch that kerkringius tells us of a foetus , but four days old , wherein the distinction of the parts was plainly discernible . this apposition of aliments to , and gradual evolution of the ideas , begins at the first conception , and continues after the child has left the womb , till the body have attain'd its full stature ; ( that is , to a perfect evolution of the ideas , for when the ideas are not capable of any further evolution , the growth of the body must cease . ) so that ganeration is really nothing else , but the first nutrition ; or the apposition of aliment to and evolution of the ideas while they are yet insensible : and on the other side , nutrition is nothing but a continued generation . for 't is the same plastick spirit , guided by the same ideas , that coagulates and applyes the aliment to every part , both in and out of the womb. and the immediate aliment of all the parts in both states is the same , namely blood , but with this difference , that the embryo is nourish'd with the mothers blood , communicated to it by the vmbilical vein from the placenta vterina : whereas , after the child is born , it takes in various aliments by the mouth , and makes blood of them it self for its own nourishment . this blood is already determin'd to nourish the human ( and no other animals ) body , by the impression that the idea of the stomachal ferment has seal'd the aliments , it is made of , with ; but is indifferent to all the parts of the human body , till it come to be determin'd to the nourishment of particular parts by being stamp'd ( as it were ) with the seal of the particular ideas residing in them . for every organ hides in its ventricle an idea of its own body , that regulates the apposition of the aliment to that part , ( and is the same that regulated the first formation of it . ) and the native heat , or vital spirit of every different part , coagulates the blood into a differing substance , and applyes it in a differing manner , according to the diversity of that idea , which guides the motions of this coagulating spirit . these ideas were concreated with the parts of the first individuals . and after what has been said , 't will not be difficult to conceive , how they were folded up ( as it were ) and united into one entire idea in the seed of these first individuals : how the second were generated by the gradual unfolding again of the same ideas , & apposition of aliment to them : in a word , how by the convolutions and evolutions , ( so to speak ) of those ideas , the propagation of mankind has been continu'd to this day . ( and the same is to be said of all other animals , as well as of all vegetables . ) this is as brief and clear an account , as i could give of the authors notion of the generation of animals : which tho' it may seem already more prolix than is agreeable to the design of this treatise , yet , because the theory of generation is so difficult , and because i have not elsewhere met with so intelligible an account of the seeds and ideas that helmont so often speaks of ; i thought it would not be foreign to my design , if i insist a little longer upon a theory , that will so much conduce to facilitate the reading of an author , that many are deterr'd from , by the obscurity of his notions , and that has deliver'd so many and so considerable chymical experiments ; for the obscure hints he gives of some of the principal , will be much better understood by one that is acquainted with his notions , than by one that is not , caeteris paribus . wherefore i shall proceed , without any farther apology , to deduce , from the hypothesis , already deliver'd , an explication of some of the chief phaenomena of generation ; continuing to insist upon one single instance , taken from the chief species of animals , man : for the same things , that are here deliver'd concerning man , may , with a little alteration , be easily apply'd to other animals . ] the sexe of the foetus is determin'd by the prevalency of the ideas of the fathers , or of those of the mothers seed . if there be a parity of both , the foetus will partake of both sexes . a mole happens , when an egg falls out of the ovarium into the womb , merely by the irritation of lust , without congress with a man : for the tunicles of this egg swell and are extended in the womb ; but the moving spirit of the masculine seed is wanting , to unfold the ideas of the egg and apply aliment to them : for the ideas , tho' they give the due figure to every part , yet they cannot unfold themselves ; and the feminine spirit in the egg is not vigorous enough to do it ; tho' it have really some activity , whereby it concurs with the masculine in the formation of a true foetus , and makes itself alone some unperfect evolution of the ideas in a mole , which has been observ'd sometimes by kerkringius and others , to contain the parts of a human body sensibly , tho' imperfectly , delineated . 't is because of this strength and vigour of the spirit of mens seed , that they are said to be of a hotter temperament than women ; and that eunuchs turn effeminate in their voice , manners , and disposition . abortion happens upon the lest manifest acidity of the aliment of the foetus , for this coagulates and suffocates the spirit , that by its occult and milder acidity should coagulate the aliment , and apply it to the nourishment of the foetus . hence a four scorbutick disposition of the blood makes women subject to miscarry ; and the use of red coral , mother of pearl , and the like is good to prevent it . the plurality of foetus's happens when more eggs than one are foecundated by the mans seed , and fall out of the ovarium into the womb. for the ideas of the mans seed , being to be reduc'd into order by application to those of the womans , every particular idea may be divided , and apply it self to the correspondent idea of several eggs. this is manifest in the seed of a cock , which if the hen have but once receiv'd , it suffices oftentimes to make her eggs fruitful for a whole year thereafter . so that every particular idea of his seed , must have been divided into as many particles , as there were eggs foecundated by it . marcus marci , de ideis operatricibus , ascribes the plurality of foetus's to the plurality of hearts in the seed , howsoever this be occasion'd ; for the heart being the center of evolution , as many hearts as there are , so many centers of evolution , and by consequence so many foetus's . the monstrous plurality of parts in one foetus happens , when the ideas of the masculine seed are not exactly apply'd to the correspondent ideas of the feminine seed ; but decline to the right or left hand ; so that , being separately unfolded , they make up distinct parts . the want of a particular part ( as arms , legs &c. ) happens , when the idea of that part is not unfolded for want of aliment ; or is extinguish'd by some impure acid particles of the aliment , or by the force of the mothers imagination of some person presented to her , that has ( by an accident perhaps , ) lost that part. a pygme or dwarf-stature happens , when the evolution of the ideas is hinder'd , either by the impurity or manifest acidity of the aliment apply'd to them , some time after the foetus has left the womb ; or by the force of an idea imprinted in the mothers imagination , that so mingles it self and becomes one with the idea , that forms the foetus , as to determine it , not only in respect of figure but of stature ; so that the formative idea , being straitly ty'd with the imaginative , is compell'd thereby to stop before a perfect evolution . if this idea take root in one subject , it may be propagated to posterity , till it be extinguish'd by a supervening idea of greater force . on the contrary , a gigantine stature proceeds from the evolution of the formative idea beyond its due bounds ; which marcus marci ascribes to two causes , namely , either the refraction of the ideal rayes by falling into a dissimilar medium , or the mothers strong imagination of some huge statue . and indeed there are many obvious instances , to prove , that a strong imaginative idea of the mothers , impress'd upon the seed , ( or even upon the embryo , after the evolution is begun ) may have powerful effects in the formation of the foetus . for hence it is , that we can often distinguish men of several nations by their aspect : because the women of every nation form in their imagination so strong an idea , from the constant sight of their owne country-men , as , by uniting it self to the formative idea , determines it to fashion the foetus like them , in some propertyes of the countenance , that most , if not all , of them , agree in : jacobs rods also are a signal instance to this purpose . and there are many relations of white women , that by reason of a strong imaginative idea , occasion'd by the frequent , or unexpected and affrighting sight of blackamores , have brought forth black children . this imaginative idea continues , till it be extinguish'd by the accession of another more powerfull idea . the author tells us of a woman with child , affrighted at the sudden coming of a blackamore ; who being presently washd all over , by the prudent advice of a by-stander , did so strongly imagine the washing off of the blackness hereby , that the idea of blackness , formerly conceiv'd , and already imprinted upon the foetus , was by this means extinguish'd ; for she brought forth a white child , but spotted between the fingers and toes , and in a few other parts that the washers hand had miss'd . finally , to add no more , 't is a very usual observation , that if a woman with child conceive a strong idea of any thing , whether by a longing desire after it , or being affrighted at the sight of it &c. the child seldom fails to have a mark in some part of its body , representing that thing both in colour and figure ; whether it be a cherry , mouse , or any other such like thing : and if the thing , that surprises the mother , fall upon or hit against a particular part , the idea of it will be impress'd upon that same part of the foetus . [ an eye-witness related to me , that a pregnant woman , that had been affrighted with a cat suddenly thrown upon her lap , brought forth a child with two marks , one above each knee ; which marks , when the knees were brought together ( into the same posture that the mothers were in , when the cat affrighted her ) did exactly represent an entire cat , with the head above the one knee , and the tail above the other , in the very same posture that the cat fell in . but , tho' it plainly appears from these and many more such instances , that the mothers imagination has a powerfull influence upon the foetus ; yet to give a clear and intelligible explication of the manner how it produces such effects , is a matter of no small difficulty ; and our author gives but little account of it . however i shall offer some considerations , that may somewhat lessen this difficulty , tho' i shall not pretend to give a clear and satisfactory solution of it . first of all then , i consider , that , since the formation of the foetus is wholly regulated by the seminal ideas , 't is easy enough to conceive , that an imaginative idea , impress'd upon the seed , may have a considerable influence in the formation of the foetus . for instance , the idea of a blackamore ( simply as such , regarding only the colour of his skin , and not the figure , proportion , and other qualities of the parts of his body ; or at least , not being so strong in regard of them , but that other different , and more prevalent ideas of these qualities , may render this ineffectual , as to them : this idea ( i say , ) impress'd upon the seed , may determine the formative spirit to form the foetus with a black skin ; since it has been formerly prov'd , that all the modifications ( and consequently the colour ) of every part , depend intirely upon the ideas residing in the seed . in the next place i consider , that , since 't is highly probable , that the animal spirits , which come from the brain through certain little nerves to the testes , do there mingle themselves with the spirituous part of the blood , brought thither by the arteries , and concur with it to make up the matter whereof the seed consists : and since the idea of a blackamore ( to keep to the former instance ) is convey'd to the brain and imprinted there by the animal spirits , which receive it from the image or idea painted in the bottom of the eye , upon the tunica retina or ( as others think ) the choroeides , by the rayes of light reflected from the blackamores body : it may be easily enough conceiv'd , that the animal spirits may also convey the same idea from the brain to the testes , and there impress it upon the seed . for if the animal spirits of the optick nerves transmit this idea from the eyes to the brain , and there imprint it ; why may not the animal spirits of the par vagum transmit the same idea from the brain ( through certain little branches that reach , ) to the testes , and there communicate it to the seed . and since the rayes of light , that come from the object , may be reflected from a specular body to the eye , without losing thereby that figuration , motion , or whatever other modification it be , that qualifyes them to paint an exact idea of the object , they receiv'd it from , upon the retina or choroeides : why may not the animal spirits , that receive the very same modification from the tunicle of the eye , be reflected from the brain to the testes , and there impress the same idea upon the seed . nor can it be said , that the seed is not a subject capable of such ideas , since ( as was noted before ) the animal spirits are part of the matter whereof it consists , so that by taking them into its own substance , it must receive the ideas they bring along with them . and 't is most certain , that many impressions , made in particular parts of the body , and transmitted to the brain , do not stop there , but are reflected back to the same , or to other parts , where they often produce very notable effects ; & that barely by the strength of the impression , without any concurrence of the wills determination , yea many times in direct opposition to it . and tho' the substance of the brain seems very remote from being specular ; yet since that quality depends upon such a modification of the surface of any opacous body , as qualifies it to reflect the rayes of light in the same order they fell in , without at all confounding them , or altering the modifications they receiv'd from the object ; 't is plain that the brain , if it be at all capable of reflecting the impressions that come from visible objects , ( as certainly it is ) must , as well as specular bodies , tho' perhaps upon very different accounts , be qualify'd to reflect them without confounding or altering them ; for if the brain should confound or alter them , there could be no true distinct ideas of the objects , they come from , form'd in it . all these considerations may be also apply'd , to lessen our wonder at the powerful influence of the mothers imagination upon the foetus in the womb already form'd . for so long as the foetus is in the womb , it may very justly be consider'd as a part of the mothers body ; since her blood circulates through and nourishes it , as well as the other parts of her body . and being 't is very probable , that the animal spirits , convey'd by the nerves to every part of the mothers body , do there mingle with the blood brought thither by the arteries , and concur with it to the nutrition of the part : i may very reasonably suppose , that the animal spirits , that come to the womb , may there mingle with the arterial blood , and be trasmitted together with it by the umbilical vein into the body of the foetus for its nourishment . and if there be a strong impression of any idea in the brain , the animal spirits may ( as was formerly explain'd with relation to the testes ) ▪ convey it to the womb , and there impres● it upon the body of the foetus ; which , being so soft and tender , may upon that account be more susceptible of any such impression , than the other parts of the mothers body ; especially since her frequent and solicitous thoughts of the womb , and the foetus therein contain'd , may determine the animal spirits to flow more copiously thither than to other parts , and keep those pores of the brain that lead thither more open : so that the reflection of any impression , made upon the brain , may have a freer course that , than any other way . and tho' the impression made upon the foetus be but weak at first , yet it may be afterwards sufficiently confirmd by often reiterated imaginations . finally , tho' it be very little at first , yet it may increase daily as the foetus grows : which may be both illustrated and confirm'd by figures lightly cut in the rind of a gourd , which grow bigger and bigger as the gourd increases . and now i see not any considerable difficulty remaining in this subject , after i shall have added this one consideration ; namely , that , because the formative idea , residing in every part of the foetus , is a particle of the idea that resides in the same part of the mothers body ; an imaginative idea , produc'd in her brain , by a sudden impression made upon any part of her body , may , when it is communicated to the foetus , be more apt to unite it self with the formative idea , belonging to that same part of the foetus , than with any other ; and upon this account , that part may more easily , than any other , receive the impression . for the idea of the object comes to the mothers brain , accompany'd with the idea of the part , that the impression is made upon , and the imagination connects them together as it were into one compound idea , and transmits them to the foetus ; where the latter easily unites it self with the formative idea homogeneous to it , and the former impresses itself upon the part , that this idea resides in . if it be objected , that after all that has been said , we are still in the dark about the main point , for want of a clear and distinct notion of the ideas so often mention'd . i answer , that many things have been already , and some more yet remain to be , deliver'd , tending to clear the nature of those ideas , all which laid together , and attentively consider'd , may go a great way in assisting judicious readers , to form as clear notions about them , as can well be expected in so abstruse a subject , as the generation of animals . and 't is no less cefficult , if not much more , to give an intelligible and satisfactory explication , of the nature of imaginative ideas , representing sesible objects in the brain ( which no man questions the reality of , ) than of those formative ideas , that the notions , here propos'd about generation , are built upon . and he that denyes the later , because he cannot be distinct enough in his conceptions of them , may upon the same ground deny the former , yea and even disbelieve his own eyes , when he sees the ideas of many various objects transmitted through a small hole ( fill'd with a convex glass ) into a dark room , and there delineated to the life , without the least confusion , upon a piece of white paper , plac'd opposite to the hole , at a convenient distance . and such a person i cannot better answer , than by recommending to his serious perusal , a discourse of things above reason , lately published ; where the acute and judicious author very convincingly proves , that , 't is highly reasonable to believe many things , that our reason cannot comprehend ; many that we cannot form any clear and distinct notions of ; and many that we cannot reconcile to other unquestionable truths . for the ideas , we have been speaking of , may very justly claim a place in the second of the three , newly mention'd , ranks of priviledg'd things , which that author styles inexplicable . 't is true , that profound and subtil philosopher , des cartes , has attempted , in his book de homme , to give a mechanical account of the ideas , that are imprinted in the brain by insensible objects . but he founds his notions upon an hypothesis , concerning the structure of the brain , and the motion of the spirits in it , which tho' it be most ingeniously devis'd , yet 't is so far from being countenanc'd by anatomical observations , that it seems utterly inconsistent with the best and most accurate , that have been made upon that part. but 't is more than time to conclude this digression , and proceed to the rest of our authors observations about the seminal ideas of animals , and particularly of man. the propagation of hereditary distempers ( such as the epilepsie , gout , stone , consumption ) from parents to their children , depends upon this : that the seminal idea which forms the lungs ( for instance ) of the foetus , is a particle of that idea which resided in the parents lungs : which is to be understood also of the reins , joynts , brain , and all the other parts of the body . hence many children are born with moles , or spots , in the very same parts of their body where their parents had them , and of the same shape ; insomuch , that whole families have taken their names from the things that the moles , common to these families , were observ'd to resemble , as the cicerones , pisones , lemuli , &c. for there are certain subtil corpuseles , that go out of every ( even the smallest ) part of the parents body , and mingle themselves with the spirituous part of the blood that circulates through it . which effluvia , being modifi'd , and as it were figur'd , after a peculiar manner by the part they come from , impress this modification upon the fore-mention'd spirit ; which spirit , being afterwards united in the seed with the ideas of all the other parts , ( that is , the spirits come from every part with a peculiar modification impress'd upon them by it ) and excited to motion , and extricated from the grosser parts of the seed by the heat of the womb , begins to form , of its own substance , a body like unto that part , from which it receiv'd the modifications impress'd upon it . and thus the prima stamina of the foetus are form'd ; which are nourish'd at first by the grosser part of the seed , and afterwards , partly by the mothers blood , and partly also , perhaps , by the liquor contain'd in the amnos or inner membrane of the foetus . from this process of generation , 't is easie to understand , how that disposition of some particular part of the parents body , which renders him or her obnoxious to any particular distemper , may be communicated to the same part of the foetus , and render it obnoxious to the same distemper . only the nature of the impression which is made upon the spirit that forms the parts of the foetus , and which qualifies it to form them like the parts of the parents body which it came from ; i say , the particular nature of this modification remains in the dark still . nor do i know how to illustrate it better , than by comparing it to that which is little less obscure than it self ; namely , the modification , which the rayes of light receive by being reflected from various objects , and by which they are qualifi'd , to produce , in a darkned room , lively and distinct representations of each of those objects , both as to their figure and the colour of their surface ; and 't is from the surface only , that the rayes receiv'd this modification , whereas the fore-mention'd effluvia come from all the innermost recesses of every part , and therefore from the correspondent part of the foetus like unto it , not only in figure and colour , but in the whole nature and inward textur of it . that the ideas of all the parts do really exist in the blood , appears from the following arguments . 1. they have sometimes visibly appear'd in the blood , receiv'd into a cucurbit immediately as it slows out of the vein , ( whilst it is warm and turgid with spirits ) for some medicinal preparation : see borell . observ . 2. some , that have drunk the blood of any animal , or of another man , have been observ'd to partake of the nature and disposition of that man or animal . commodus his disposition was owing to his mother , who , presently after his conception , drank the blood of a cruel gladiator that she was desperately in love with . a certain maid , having drank some cats-blood , as a remedy for the epilepsie , did imitate cats in her voice , motion and actions , when the fit was coming upon her ; watching silently at little mouse-holes . see becker . microcosm . therefore ( to note that by the way ) the transfusion of blood seems not a safe way of curing diseases . 3. the spittle of a mad dog makes other dogs , men , horses , or any other animal , wounded by his teeth , turn mad also , and imitate his actions and gesticulations , such as barking , grinning , fearfulness of water , &c. now spittle is an immediate production of the blood that circulates through the salivary glandules , & therefore must have receiv'd from thence the ideas , that it infects the spirits of the bitten animal with . also other venemous enraged animals , as the tarantula , &c. communicate such ideas by the little wounds that their teeth make in the part they bite , as transform the spirits of the party bitten to a ridiculous imitation of their gesticulations . though every particular part of the foetus be form'd , as has been said , by the evolution of its own idea , convey'd , by the circulation of the blood , from the correspondent part of the parents body , unto the testes , where the seed is made ; yet maimed parents may have perfect children ; namely , if both father and mother be not mutilated ( at least not of the same parts ; ) or if they have had perfect seed in store , before they were dismembred ; or if the defect of the architect tonic spirit , that should have come to the seed from the part that is deficient , be suppli'd by the strength of the parents imagination ; who by seeing daily other infants , boys , girls , men , women , all perfect , without the defect of any part , may conceive so firm an idea of a perfect foetus , as will ( by the sympathy , between the imagination and the seed , formerly explain'd ) produce the very same modification in the seed , that an idea , convey'd by the blood from the deficient part , ( if it had not been wanting ) would have done . for the mothers imagination may not only add to the foetus a spot representing the thing imagin'd in figure and colour , but even the very thing it self in its whole nature . how many instances are there of pregnant women , that have conceiv'd so strong an idea of the horns of some beast that has terrifi'd them , that the impression , thereby made upon the foetus , has produc'd ( not a spot only representing it , but ) a real substantial horn , though , perhaps , this cause of the phaenomenon be not always observed . and hence it is , that if the parents be maimed from their birth , their children are often mutilated of the same part , because they cannot easily conceive a firm idea of the entireness of that part , which they never felt entire in themselves : but if they were dismembred long after , they can easily form a strong idea of the part that they have felt entire , and known the use of , in themselves , and so supply the defect of that idea in the seed . 't is also probable , that the mothers imagination is the principal cause , why the childs face sometimes resembles the fathers , sometimes the mothers , and sometimes some other person , according to the idea that is prevalent in the mothers brain , while she is with child . that the mother ( as well as the father ) is furnish'd with true seed , endow'd with the ideas of the parts of her own body ( as well as the fathers is with the ideas of his ) and consequently , that she does contribute part of the plastick vertue that forms the foetus , as well as afford the matter of which it is form'd and nourish'd in the womb , appears from several parts of the foregoing discourse , as well as from the three following considerations . 1. the ideas of the masculine seed can only be taken from the parts of the mans body , and therefore can never form the organs peculiar to a woman . 2. the vitious conformation of any part of the mothers body , as well as of the fathers , is often propagated to the foetus . 3. when a male and female of differing species copulate , the foetus is of a mixt kind , resembling the one in some of its parts , and the other in others . we have ( besides the instance of mules ) too many instances of this in the monstrous foetus's produc'd by the detestable venery of some men , that copulate with female brutes . the flowing of the menstruous blood to a young womans womb , is a sign of maturity , because it signifies , that , besides the seminal idea of her own sex ( which she was really furnish'd with before ) there is now also aliment provided for the evolution of that idea , whensoever it comes to be foecundated by the masculine seed . death happens , when the vital spirit ( or calidum innatum ) that is the chief mover in the evolution of the ideas , and in all the animal functions , is supp●●ss'd or extinguish'd by any cause whatsoever . ( this may be better understood from what was formerly deliver'd of abortion , which is nothing else but the death of the foetus . ) but the ideas do still remain in the cadaver , though they are become barren for want of the moving spirit ; which shall be restor'd again at the resurrection , and no new evolution thereby made , but the entire idea , as it was already unfolded at the time of death , resuscitated or animated anew . and some of the spectres , that are seen in church-yards , may be nothing else but the ideas , remaining in the human cadavers , elevated by means of a certain central heat , which would be seen in the day time also , if the light of the sun did not keep them from appearing . serpents , cut to pieces and putrefi'd , breed new serpents by the influence of the sun , which restores to the quiescent ideas that moving spirit , which they had lost by death . frogs also bruis'd , in the winter , and resolv'd into mud , do , upon the same account , revive in the summer . ducks , putrefi'd , are reported to breed serpents , and it has been confirm●d to the author , by a credible eye-witness : whence it evidently appears , that the seminal ideas of the serpents flesh ( which they use to feed often upon ) have not been totally destroy'd , even by so many digestions , but have continu'd entire under the dominion of the ducks seminal ideas . swallows , when the cold winter comes , bury themselves under the water , where they continue without any sign of the least motion or life , 'till the returning sun inspire them with new vital spirit , and thereby raise them to life again . all these instances do strongly argue the possibility of the h●●●●●… resurrection : which ( as also the authors conjectures about sp●●●…es ) is likewise much confirm'd by the resuscitation of vegetables , hereafter mention'd . naturalists observe , that , in some persons , the passion is so great in time of coition , that , for the present , it quite bereaveth them of the use of reason . and therefore it is , ( which should have been noted before ) that the parents imagination , at that time , produces more powerful effects in the seed , than the same imagination , at any other time , could have done . for when the animal spirits flow in such abundance into the organs of generation , any idea , that is very strong in the imagination , must of necessity be carry'd down together with them and infect the seed . but i have already insisted too long upon this subject : and therefore i shall add no more , but pass on to the generation of vegetables . every species of vegetables has its own particular seed . the visible seed is but the receptable , that contains , and secures from external injuries , the true seed or idea of the plant , which ( says our author ) all sound philosophers affirm to be but the 2800 parts of its own body ; intimating this determinate proportion , that in all generations the true seed is very remote from any sensible bulk . the seminal idea of every plant ( as was formerly said of animals ) consists of as many particular distinct ideas , as there are different parts in the vegetable , all together representing an exact model of the entire plant. the evolution of this idea is perform'd in this manner . when the body of the seed , or external capsula of the seminal ideas , begins to be soften'd by the moisture of the earth , so that the ideas may take up a larger space , the heat of the sun excites the innate fire of the seed , which is congeneal to it ; ( for all fruitful seeds are endow'd with a particle of that universal spirit of life , which is the principle of all vital actions , foecundates all seeds , and is the only mover in all generations : ) and which being , put in motion , begins , by the coagulative vertue 't is endow'd with upon the account of its acidity , to coagulate the water that is at hand , into a substance agreeable to the nature of the ideas , and fill up the little spaces of the ideas with it : which are by this means gradually explicated , 'till they have attain'd the utmost evolution that they are capable of . this evolution , of the ideas of a vegetable seed , may be clearly represented to the eye by artificial vegetation , which is perform'd in the following manner , according to tachenius . take the ripe seed of any plant , gather'd in fair weather , bruise it in a glass mortar , and keep it in a glass hermetically seal'd , of a shape and bigness answerable to that of the plant , 'till you observe a convenient evening , when dew is like to fall ; then take out your seed , and expose it all night upon a plate of glass , that it may be wet with dew ; but be sure to seal it up again before sun-rise , with a solution of the salt of dew , in its own distill'd liquour pour'd upon it to the heighth of three fingers breadth . expose this seal'd glass to the rayes of the sun and moon in fair weather , and keep it in a warm fire-room in rainy weather . after some days the seed will appear like a mucilage , and the supernatant d●w will be of a green colour saturate according to the nature of the seed , and coverd over with a skin or divers colours . when these signs are compleat , if you heat the glass , you shall see a perfect lively idea of the plant rise up within it , which will disappear again when the glass is remov'd from the heat . this odd phaenomenon depends upon a particle of the vniversal spirit contain'd in the dew , which excites the innate spirit of the seed to an occult fermentation , whereby the idea is freed from its external earthy receptacle , so that it may be elevated by the application of external heat , leaving the heavy terrestrial particles behind . but the author does not give credit to the experiment , that some pretend to , of elevating this idea from the ashes of a plant ; because the calcination drives away that spirit , which is the immediate receptacle of the idea of the plant. the foremention'd salt of dew is made by filtring and distilling the dew 'till it leave no more faeces , then calcining the faeces , and extracting the salt from them , which is to be dissolv'd in the distill'd dew , and so pour'd on upon the seed , as above . in the last place , minerals also are endow'd with seminal particles . for though they be not made up of so many dissimular parts , and of distinct organs , as vegetables , and especially animals are ; and consequently , though we cannot suppose any ideas in them consisting of integral organical parts : yet they have a certain seminal ferment , which , in metals particularly , is evident enough ; for 't is this ferment that converts mercury into a metalline substance . therefore , iron mines , that have been almost quite exhausted , are after some years found as rich in the oar as they were at first . and the same thing is observ'd in tin , ( and likewise in nitre . ) and such a seminal power there is in common gold , though this metal be unfit to impregnate other metals therewith , and consequently improper for the grand philosophical work of transmutation ; because its sulphur , being once coagulated , loses all power of motion for the future , and therefore is unfruitful and dead . but 't was this same seminal sulphur , that , when the gold was produc'd , did coagulate it self with mercury , and thereby convert it into gold. and there appears not any solid reason against the possibility of the transmutation so much sought after ; since , though seeds cannot be converted into other seeds , yet those , that are endow'd with a weaker mover , may be overcome by , and brought under the dominion , of such seeds as are furnished with a stronger . and now having establish'd the material and formal principles of natural bodies , the efficient only remains to be consider'd . prop. xviii . the chief mover ( under god ) of all natural bodies , that actuates and foecundates all animal , vegetable and mineral seeds ; that coagulates elementary water into all sorts of bodies , according to the various ideas of those seeds ; that applies the same water to those ideas , and in a word , the chief efficient in all the phaenomena of nature , is a certain subtil spirit of an igneous nature , diffus'd through the whole visible world , but chiefly treasur'd up at the center thereof in the sun. n.b. [ 1. by spirit here , is not meant an immaterial substance , but a body consisting of very minute and very active particles , peculiarly fitted for motion , and endow'd with a great measure of it . 2. by the visible world , i understand here , that part of the corporeal universe which contains the earth with the other six planets , and makes up one great vortex , whereof the sun is the center . as for the rest of the universe , it is altogether unknown to us , only , as that most ingenious conjecture of the incomparable des cartes concerning it , is very likely to be true ; namely , that every one of the fixt stars , we see , is the center and sun , as 't were , of a distinct vortex : so 't is no less likely , that each of them has the same relation to its own vortex , and the same influence upon the planets , or whatever bodies they are which it contains , that the sun has to our vortex , and upon the bodies comprehended there in particularly the terraqueous globe . and though this part of our authors hypothesis concerning the anima mundi or vniversal spirit , may be applicable in the sense newly explain'd , to the whole universe of bodies , yet his other principles of water and seeds are not so comprehensive ; and whatever he says of them , must be limited to the bodies contain'd in this little point of the universe , that the almighty creator has given to mankind for an habitation . and the truth is , we have but little certain knowledg of the other parts of the world , and that little we have is very superficial . ] 3. this vniversal spirit is actually igneous in its fountain , the sun ; and after it is incorporated in terrestrial bodies , even the coldest of them , it differs but in the slower motion of its particles from actual fire , and therefore , when-ever they are put into a rapid motion , it turns into actual fire again . and those particles of combustible bodies , that , being in a vehement agitation , do chiefly constitute our culinary fire , were once particles of this vniversal spirit , and came originally from the sun. 4. this is the spirit that mov'd upon the water at the beginning of the creation . for when god created the matter of which he intended to form this terraqueous globe , namely , a great mass of simple elementary water , he endow'd it with all sorts of seeds , and made use of this spirit to coagulate a great part of the foresaid mass , according to the signatures of those seeds , into mineral , vegetable and animal bodies of all kinds . [ and the word in the original , which our translators render mov'd , seems to agree very well with this hypothesis : for it properly belongs to birds sitting upon and fluttering over their eggs and young ones , to excite , quicken and foecundate the seed contain'd in the eggs , and so bring forth the young ones ; and to cherish them when they are brought forth : so that , in this place , the word may be very reasonably suppos'd to imply , that the vital spirit , which god had created , did , as 't were , sit upon , and move it self in the waters , to actuate the seeds they contain'd , and by this means hatch'd , as 't were , and brought forth the after-mention'd bodies . ] 5. tho' this spirit , by coagulating the elementary water into several bodies , was it self coagulated and incorporated together with it , and tho' it has been propagated to all sorts of bodies that have been produc'd , by generation , ever since the terraqueous globe was first created ; so that every fruitful seed has a particle of this quickning spirit connate with it : yet this particle is not sufficient to accomplish the evolution of the seminal ideas , and actuate the body in all the functions that belong to it , unless it be maintain'd , corroborated , and multipli'd by constant fresh supplies , from that inexhaustible treasure of this vital fire , which is plac'd in the sun ; and thence diffus'd , with the rayes of that glorious body , to all parts of the visible world , and particularly to the terraqueous globe , where it maintains and actuates the fore-mention'd native spirit of all animals , vegetables and minerals . 6. the vital substance , that flows continually from the sun , is equally capable of all forms , and unites it self indifferently with all seeds . but when 't is once united , it loses its indifferency , and is specifi'd according to the determinate nature of every particular seed that it incorporates with . hence the sulphurs of vegetables are quite different from those of animals , and both from the sulphurs of minerals ; nor can they be transmuted into one another by humane art : so streightly does the vniversal spirit unite it self with particular seeds . the reason of this so close an union , is , because the native pre-existent in every seed , is of the same spirit nature and original with this vniversal spirit . as for the proof of the proposition hitherto explained , the vniversal spirit , asserted in it , is manifest , 1. from the absolute necessity of constant respiration to men , and most other animals ; for hence it is evident , that there is a certain vital substance in the air , that they cannot live a minute without fresh supplies of , now that the air is but the vehicle of this vital substance , flowing continually from the sun , and the medium , through which it is convey'd to sublunary bodies , shall be prov'd hereafter . so that it must be the vniversal spirit , cloath'd with air , that is constantly receiv'd into the lungs by inspiration , and thence transmitted to the heart ; which ( being the chief fountain of the animal life , that constantly diffuses a vital spirit through the arteries , together with the blood , to all parts of the body , and thereby maintains and cherishes the native heat and vital spirit residing in each of them ) must have constant supplies from the vniversal spirit , to corroborate , maintain , and multiply its own particular spirit . for the vniversal spirit , that flows from the sun to all parts of the macrocosm , is of the same nature with this particular spirit , that flows from the heart to all parts of the microcosm , and is therefore very fit to nourish and support it with constant new supplies . 2. the same vniversal spirit is no less evident from what has been deliver'd under the former proposition , concerning the generation of animals . to which i shall only add , that nature has solicitously provided to secure the seed from external air , because , if it were expos'd but a moment to the air , the vniversal spirit , that dwells there , would instantly suck up ( so to speak ) the congeneal spirit that foecundates the seed , as not being yet incorporated . [ wherefore the seed , of oviparous animals , is carefully shut up from the contact of the external air within the egg. and in viviparous animals , presently after the injection of the masculine seed into the womb , and the union thereof with the feminine , ] the orifice of that part is exactly clos'd , and the two united spirits do presently fall to work , and begin the evolution of the seminal ideas , and the apposition of aliment thereunto . but this work could never be accomplish'd , nay , nor even begun , unless the seminal spirit were excited , cherish'd , corroborated , and supported by the heat of the womb , [ and by constant supplies of the mothers vital spirit , convey'd , with the arterial blood , from her heart to the placenta vterina , and thence transmitted , through the vmbilical vein , into the vena cava , and so into the heart of the foetus , which is the centre of evolution , and the chief spring of all the animal actions , both in and out of the womb : but no sooner is the foetus separated from the mother , and thereby depriv'd of the supplies that the vital spirits , residing in the heart , receiv'd from her in the womb , than it begins to draw supplies for maintaining of the same vital substance , from the vniversal spirit lodg'd in the air , as was said before . 3. 't is the vital spirit residing in every particular part of the human , or any other animals body , maintain'd by the influence of the vniversal spirit convey'd with the air , by respiration , into the lungs , and from thence communicated , by means of the circulation of the blood , first to the heart , and , from that , to the whole body ; ] 't is this spirit , i say , that coagulates the fluid blood into the solid substance of that part , and is the true efficient of all the vital functions belonging to it . [ those animals that are destitute of lungs , are nevertheless endow'd with organs of resparation of an equivalent use . for that excellent anatomist , malpigius , has happily discover'd , that those blackish points , which we observe in insects , all along the length of their body , on both sides , are really the orifices of so many tracheas or wind-pipes , which convey the air into the stomach , spinal marrow , and all the other bowels , as well as the heart , so that the air has immediate access to seed the vital spirit that resides in each of them , because there is no circulation of the alimentary juice in these animals ; or if there be , it is too slow to convey sufficient supplyes of the vniversal spirit from any one part to all the rest , as it doth from the heart and lungs in perfect animals . and the constant ingress and egress of the air by these little holes , is so necessary to the life of insects , that if you immerge their whole body into oyl , or but anoint these little spots with it , they presently dye ; whereas if you anoint only the intervals with oyl , without touching these little holes , they receive no harm . and tho' fishes have no lungs nor air pipes , because they live in the water ; yet instead thereof they have gils , which are dilated and contracted by a perpetual reciprocation , to give ingress and egress to the water , as the lungs of other animals are to inspire and exspire the air. nor can fishes live without water , any more than land-animals can do without air. whence 't is highly probable , that the former receive constant supplyes of some vital substance from the water , as well as the later do from the air : especially if we farther consider , that the vital liquor circulates through the gils of the one by the ramifications of their arteria bronchialis , as well as it do's through the lungs of the other by those of the arteria pulmonaris . wherefore , if in land-animals the said vital liquor divide it self into little rivulets in its passage through the lungs , that every part thereof may at each circulation receive fresh supples of vital spirit from the air , that is diffus'd through the whole substance of those respiratory organs , by the numerous ramifications of the wind-pipe ; if this be so , i say , ( as we formerly prov'd it to be ) we may very reasonably suppose , that in fishes the same vital liquor circulates in like manner through the gils , that it may receive constant fresh supplies of a vital substance from the water , that washes the gils perpetually . n. b. the gils of crusted fish , as lobsters , &c. and of shell-fish , as oysters , &c. are spongious , and not only receive the water into all their innermost parts ( where it communicates with the numerous vessels , that diffuse the vital liquor through the whole substance of the gils ) but give it a passage also into all the internal cavities of the body , where it is laid up as in bottles , to supply the foresaid fishes with vital spirit , when the ebbing of the sea leaves them in sicco : whereas the gils of sanguineous fishes that live constantly in the water , are not spongious , and the water washes only their outward surfaces without penetrating any farther . but instead of enlarging any more upon this point , i shall refer the curious reader to dr. willis's book of the soul of brutes , chap. 3. where he will find it very fully and accurately handled . ] 4. the existence of an vniversal spirit is evident from what has been said concerning the growth of vegetables . for 't is a particle of this spirit in the seed , excited , strengthn'd and maintain'd by the suns vital influence , that explicates the seminal idea , and coagulates the water into solid substances , as wood , bark , &c. which could never be produc'd out of simple water without this coagulating spirit . 5. the same argument may with equal , if not greater , force be applied to minerals , and especially to metals , which , tho' they be the solidest substances yet known , are nevertheless made of mercury , which of all liquors is the most fluid . in the next place , to evince that the sun is the chief fountain of this vniversal spirit , i need only put the reader in mind of what was formerly observ'd concerning vegetable seeds ; namely , that they would be perpetually barren , if their native spirit were not actuated by that vital substance which is every where diffus'd with the rayes of the sun. but to confirm this a little farther , 't is evident beyond contradiction , that the growth of vegetables depends upon the influences of the sun , since the different seasons of the solar year have so constant and so powerful effects upon them . for in winter the influence of the sun is very weak , because of the obliquity of his rayes , and the shortness of the dayes : and therefore seeds lye dormant in the earth without any motion : herbs fade and wither , or dye totally : trees are depriv'd of their leaves and lively verdure , shoot forth no twigs , produce no blossoms , bear no fruit , and in a word cease from all vital actions . yea many animals themselves loose much of their vigour , and some of them ( such as flyes , frogs , swallows , &c. ) lye dead , as it were , all the winter long , in chinks of walls , or in cavities of the earth , or under water , without any motion , sense , or the least appearance of life : but when the sun comes to be more vertical , and the dayes grow longer , every thing capable of life is quickn'd or reviv'd ; and the whole face of the earth , that look'd dead and lifeless before , appears fresh , verdant , lively , and quite new , insomuch that 't is astonishing to behold so vast an alteration : the vital spirit remaining in the roots of such herbs , as did not quite dye in the preceeding winter , being reviv'd , excited to motion and corroborated , falls to work afresh , and produces new stalks , leaves , flowers , seed , fruit , &c. the vital spirit that had in a great measure retir'd from the branches of trees into their roots and body , explicates it self anew , restores their fresh and lively verdure , and adorns them with new leaves , twigs , buds , blossoms , fruit , &c. finally the vital spirit of the forementioned animals , that had concentred it self in the middle of their body , actuates the members anew which it had before deserted , and restores to them sense , motion , and the exercise of all their vital functions . lastly , the vniversal spirit appears to be of an igneous nature , 1. because it flows from the sun , which is an actual fire . yea the solar rayes themselves , which diffuse this vital substance through the visible world , being collected by a burning glass into a center , produce all the effects of our actual culinary fire . [ 2. the vital spirit of animals is fed by the universal spirit , as has been evidently prov'd , and by consequence is of the same nature with it . now this vital spirit , in hot sanguineous animals , has all the essential properties of an actual flame : for it constantly diffuses a sensible heat through all the members of the body : it is maintain'd by constant fresh supplies of sulphureous fuel from the aliments , that are taken into the stomach and thence conveyed to the blood , where this subtil flame invisibly burns ; and of an aerial pabulum from the air , that is taken into the lungs by inspiration , and there communicated to the same liquor : it constantly emits fuliginous effluvia , both through the wind-pipe also through all the pores of the skin , which are like so many chimneys appointed to ventilate this vital fire : it is kindled first in the seminal liquor , either by another vital fire , as in viviparous animals ; or by the intestine motion of the sulphureous parts , excited and cherished by a continu'd external warmth , as in oviparous animals : but so long as the foetus is included in the womb or egg , it burns very faintly , and never breaks out into an actual flame till the air have free nccess to it by respiration : finally it dyes as soon as it is depriv'd of sulphureous fuel , of aerial pabulum , or of ventilation . now these properties seem to be peculiar to flame : and particularly there is nothing we know of in the world besides life and fire , whose motion is instantly suppressed by withdrawing the air. see willis de accentione sanguinis . ] prop. 19. the vniversal spirit , that coagulates elementary water into solid substances of the animal vegetable and mineral kingdoms , consists of acid particles . for 1. it is of an igneous nature ; and fire has been prov'd to consist of acid particles put into a rapid motion . 2. all chimists agree that the concretion of bodies depends upon the saline principle . now acaline salts are apt rather to dissolve bodies , than either to coagulate or be coagulated : whereas we have a multitude of instances of coagulation and fixation perform'd by acid salts ; which tho' they corrode ( and so dissolve ) many bodies , yet their property is to concoagulate with the bodies they have corroded . [ thus quicksylver is fixed and coagulated by the acid particles of common or antimonial sulphur , into cinnabar ; by those of salt and vitriol into sublimate corrosive ; by spirit of nitre into red precipitate , as the chymists abusively call it ; by oyl of vitriol , oyl of sulphur , or oyl of alum into turbith mineral , finally by the acid particles of fire into precipitate per se . these instances are the more pertinent to our purpose , because mercury is a more fluid body than simple water it self . and the last of them , tho' at first it appear somewhat paradoxical , yet upon better examination it seems to be very reasonable ; since precipitate per se , as well as the rest of the newly mentioned preparations of quicksilver , may be reviv'd into running mercury , by being distill'd from salt of tartar , quick-lime , or such other alcalisate bodies as are very apt to be wrought upon by acid salts , and thereby to disengage the quicksilver that was coagulated with them : and since the particles of fire ( which have been prov'd to be acid ) may penetrate glass , and many times increase the weight of the inclosed bodies , as mr. boyle has undeniably evinced by a great many experiments : and finally since fire is the only agent in this preparation . ] the sulphur of lead deprives quicksilver of its fluidity . volatil urinous salts are so powerfully fix'd by acid spirits as to endure an open fire for some time ; but they recover their former volatility , as soon as they are disengaged from the acid salts that fixed them , by the addition of any alcalisate body . all sorts of acid salts do coagulate milk : and the coagulation of the creamy parts of milk into butter , depends upon the internal acid of the milk ; for if you throw any alcalisate salt into it , there can be no butter obtain'd from it . the acid salts of nitre do so powerfully fix the vomitive sulphur of antimony , as to render it a good diaphoretic . [ the acid of spirit of wine instantly coagulates spirit of vrine ; for , if both these liquors be highly rectified , as soon as ever you have mingled them , the whole mixture loses its fluidity , insomuch that tho' the glass be inverted , not one drop will fall out : yea our author affirms that ] if spirit of wine highly rectified be kept for some months upon salt of urine in a gently digestive heat , they will unite together into a calculus of a reddish colour : and ( which is yet more strange ) four parts of this stone will convert one part of new spirit of urine into its own substance , and four parts of this one more , and so on without any end : and that the stone in the may be generated after the same manner by the plaistick vertue of an internal acidum , joyned with the salt of urine , and being mixt with gravel by fermentation , concentrates into a concreate substance . we found by a stone being taken out of a humane bladder , and anatomized , by distillation , to consist of oyl , spirit , and volatile salt , with a very large caput mortuum : but of this we shall say no more at present , but leave the reader to judge what may be gathered by the foregoing experiment ; so that it 's believed , the universal spirit that coagulates elementary water , as well as other bodies into solid substances , consists of acid particles . finis . some books printed for and sold by stafford anson , at the three pidgeons in st. paul's church-yard , 1691. 1. dictionarium historicum , geographicum , poeticum : opus admodum utile & apprime necessarium . a carolo stephano inchoatum . ad incudem vero revocatum , innumerisque pene locis auctum & emaculatum per nicolaum lloydium , collegii wadhami in celeberrima academia oxoniensi socium . editio novissima . in qua historico poetica , & geographica seorsim sunt alphabetice digesta ; & liber totus tum emendationibus , tum additamentis ( recentioribus tredicem annorum lloydii elucubrationibus , manuque ultima ) ita adornatur , ut novus ac plane alius videripossit . cui accessit index geographicus , ubi hodierna & vernacula locorum nomina antiquis & latinis proponuntur . 2. the history of the council of trent ; containing eight books . in which , besides the ordinary acts of the council , are declared many notable occurrences which happened in christendom , during the space of forty years and more , and particularly the practices of the court of rome , to hinder the reformation of their errors , and to maintain their greatness . written in italian by pietro soave polano ; and faithfully translated into english by sir nathaniel brent , knight . whereunto is added the life of the learned author , and the history of the inquisition , in folio . 3. dionysii orbis descriptio , annotationibus eustathii , & hen. stephani , nec non guil. hill commentario critico & geographico , ac tabulis illustrata , 8vo . 4. p. virgilii maronis opera , interpretatione & notis illustravit car. ruaeus , ad usum delphini . juxta editionem novissimam parisiensem , 8vo . 5. horatii opera ad vsum delphini , 8vo . 6. phaedri fabulae , ad vsum delphini , 8vo . 7. virgilii operacum annotationibus johannis minellii . 8. — — id. cum notis . t. farnabii , 12ves : 9. p. terentii comoediae cum notis . t. farnabii , 12ves : 10. isocratis orationes duae . 1. ad demonicum . 2. ad nicoclem . nova methodo & apprime utili , quoad verbum & sensum latine redditae : graecismis phrasibus & sententiis in quibus maxima vis rei consistit , a free discourse against customary swearing ; and, a dissuasive from cursing by robert boyle ; published by john williams. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1695 approx. 143 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 94 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28981 wing b3978 estc r27221 09722010 ocm 09722010 44037 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28981) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44037) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1350:14) a free discourse against customary swearing ; and, a dissuasive from cursing by robert boyle ; published by john williams. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. williams, john, 1636?-1709. 178 p. in various pagings. printed by r.r. for thomas cockerill senr and junr, london : 1695. "a dissuasive from cursing" (30 p. at end) probably not by boyle. cf. brit. mus. cat. and fulton, j.f. a bibliography of the honourable robert boyle, p. 135. reproduction of original in the cambridge university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng swearing. blessing and cursing. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2006-07 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a free discourse against customary swearing . and a dissuasive from cursing . by the late honourable robert boyle . published by john williams , d. d. london : printed by r. r. for thomas cockerill , sen r and jun r , at the three legs in the poultrey , over-against stocks-market . mdcxcv . portrait of robert boyle imprimatur . april 13. 1695. guil. lancaster . to the right honourable richard earl of burlington and cork , lord high treasurer of ireland . and the honourable sir henry ashhurst , baronet ; executors to the honourable robert boyle , esquire . it has been an injury too often done to the memory of persons eminent for knowledge , learning , and virtue , to have after their death such works obtruded upon the world for theirs , as have been deservedly suspected ; or if theirs , yet were never intended by them in that squalid , broken , and imperfect condition , to have been published . but as for this tract you were pleased to put into my hands to peruse , it is not only certain that it was wrote by the honourable person whose name it bears ; but also that it was designed by him for the press ; as some passages in it do apparently shew . and if this noble and learned author thought it seasonable for those times of uncontroul'd liberty and confusion in which it was wrote , it is as seasonable , if not more , at the present ; when that vice against which it is directed , has of late years so far prevail'd , to the great dishonour of our nation , as well as our religion , that the patriots of our countrey assembled in parliament , have been thereby justly provok'd to prepare that late bill ( which since has pass'd the royal assent ) for the better and more effectual punishment and suppression of it . a design becoming so august an assembly ; and in the prosecution of which your honours must be esteemed to have done considerable service , especially by the publication of this treatise , which has been so happily recovered , and by a singular providence reserved , as it were , for such a special season and service . i am , most honoured , your most humble and faithful servant , john williams . the publisher to the reader . these two tracts against customary swearing and cursing , lately met with amongst the papers of a person of quality , and an intimate acquaintance of the honourable mr. robert boyle , transcribed by his own hand ; were found upon perusal , perfect and fitted for the press ; except the close of a dedicatory epistle to his noble sister , the countess of kildare , which ( as far as appears by the copy ) he had but just begun . the year inserted on the title page , as well as a passage or two in the former of these , shews that it was penned toward the latter end of the late vnhappy times , when he was about twenty years old ; by which time ( if i am not mistaken ) this was the third treatise he had prepared for the publick ; the other two being that of seraphick love , afterwards printed , and an essay of mistaken modesty , referred to in this . i cannot say ( though there is a sensible conformity between the style of these and others of his books ) but that this honourable author , if he had been to write ▪ upon this argument in his riper years , might have given it a finer turn ; and added , out of his vast store of learning and thought , much to the weight and force of it . but there is in the management of it , such a strain of modesty and unaffected piety , such an affectionate zeal for the honour of almighty god , and such a passionate concernment for the well-doing and happiness of those of his acquaintance , for whose use this seems more especially designed ; and in fine , so much truth , reason , and observation ( as the pleas and excuses here undertaken and answered shew ) that must above all recommend it to such as have his name in remembrance and veneration . a name , methinks , better than that of sons and of daughters , than that of blood and descent ; and that should provoke those of eminent extraction and station , to an imitation of so worthy and glorious an example . what happy instruments might they then be of good to mankind , by their wise conduct and their exemplary vertues ! what a restraint would this lay , above that of laws , on their dependants and inferiors ! for how would such dare to offend , that are sure to find no countenance or protection ? and what protection or countenance could they expect from their superiors , whose lives would be a continual reproof , and where they could find no more a president , than they do a law to encourage them in their wicked oaths and blasphemies . to bring these vices into disparagement , and to represent the folly , as well as the sin of them to the better-bred part of mankind , was the generous and pious design of this learned author ; and of those honourable persons , that from their relation to him by blood or friendship , have been concerned in the publication . toward the utter extermination of which amongst us , there seems to be , as human means , nothing more necessary than the vigilance of our magistrates , who are now as well and fully empowered , as obliged by the law to see to the punishment of it ; and for the due execution of which , they will most certainly have the good wishes , assistance , and prayers of all good men ; and which is more than all , the blessing and rewards of heaven . i have only this to add , that the second tract , or letter , seems to proceed from the same hand with the first , being agreeable to it in the stile as well as the design of it ; and so the naming mr. boyle in it , is but a decent cover for the concealment of himself . a discourse against customary swearing . though i doubt not but that it is much more easy to make most swearers proselytes than converts , and a task of less difficulty to convince their judgments , than to reform their practice ; yet that they may not have any colour to father upon ignorance what is usually the child of some much guiltier parent , it will be ( possibly ) no less useful than necessary , briefly to direct them to those texts of scripture , where all those that acknowledge god's word , may find the condemnation of that vice. first then , the third commandment flatly forbids unnecessary oaths , in terms that are ratified by these words of our redeemer , in st. matthew's gospel ; ye have heard what hath been said by them of old time , thou shalt not forswear thy self , but shalt perform unto the lord thy oaths : but i say unto you , swear not at all ; neither by heaven , for it is god's throne , nor by the earth , &c. and a little under , but let your communication be yea , yea ; nay , nay ; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil . the sum of which prohibition is thus repeated by st. james , towards the close of his catholick epistle ; but above all things , my brethren , swear not , neither by heaven , neither by the earth , neither by any other oath , but let your yea be yea , and your nay nay , lest you fall into condemnation . and suitable to these clear passages of both testaments , the wiseman characters a sinner by him that sweareth ; and paraphraseth a righteous man by him that feareth an oath . so in hosea , swearing has the van of the most crying and provoking sins , in that same dismal passage ; by swearing , and lying , and killing , and stealing , and committing adultery , they break out , and blood toucheth blood : therefore shall the land mourn , and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish , with the beasts of the field , and with the fowls of heaven ; yea , the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away . and in another prophet we find this threat recorded ; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off . which passages might easily be reinforced with others of the same nature , if i did not think these that are already alledged , abundantly sufficient ; where we pay not our faith to the number of the texts , but to the authority of the inditer . but alas ! how much more easy is it to make men condemn their sins , than to persuade them to forsake them ? certainly our understandings are ( usually ) much honester than our wills ; it being far easier to reconcile mens judgments to the truth , than their practice to their judgment . customary and unnecessary swearing ( for that 's the sole enemy i undertake ) is so confessedly unlawful , that they are ashamed to defend it , that blush not to practice it ; and even they renounce it in their opinions , that most cherish it in their discourse . but methinks this knowledge of the ill they act , should make them apprehend that menace of our saviour , which he threatens , he that knoweth his master's will , and doth it not , shall be beaten with many stripes : for stumbles are more pardonable by night than by day ; and the knowledge of what we do , whilst it lends us direction , robs us of excuse ; and if it do not impede , it aggravates our faults ; since he that does what he condemns , condemns what he does . upon which score our blessed saviour said , that tyre and sidon should feel a milder torment at the day of judgment , than those ungrateful towns chorazin and bethsaida , where the light of his doctrine had shone so clearly , and the miracles of his life had been so familiar . and accordingly , we may observe , that the devils that had no tempter to their fall , have found no pardon for it ; but having sinn'd against so clear a light , are hopelesly reserv'd in chains of utter darkness , to endure hideous torments unto all eternity . sect . i. but that we may leave our swearer as little pretence as reason for his obstinacy , let us singly and orderly examine his allegations , and tear off those fig-leaves of evasions and excuses the devil teaches him to sow together , to hide his own deformity from himself . plea i. amongst these , the first allegation we are to remove , is this , that swearing is indeed a sin , but that ( as lot said of zoar ) it is but a little one , for were it of the blacker dye , in what a sad condition were mankind , since the number of swearers is not inferior to that of men. answer . but certainly he that seriously considers whom the least sin offends , and what it merits ; how infinite a justice , majesty , and goodness , it provokes , and how intolerable and immortal a punishment is due unto it , will easily concede , that to believe any sin otherwise than comparatively little , is in it self an error absolutely great ; for the most dwarfish are to be called small , but in the sense that the astronomers call the earth a point ; for so indeed it is , compar'd to the firmament ; but in it self considered , 't is so vast , that the spots and shreds of it are both the stage and the subjects of the ambition of conquerors , and the jars of monarchs . and truly , since the least ( unpardon'd ) sin is sufficient to damn us , methinks we should as little slight petty faults , because there are fouler crimes , as we do pistols now there are cannons used . but granting this assertion to be true in the general , it will forfeit that attribute in this application ; for this sin is one of those that are expresly and by name forbidden in the ten commandments ; where it is not only listed among , but has the precedency of murther , theft , and of adultery ; being the sole commandment ( save one ) that has a threat annexed to the law ; which in this passage is , for the lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain . in which last words , the great lawgiver foreseeing men would be very remiss in the prosecution of a fault , in which their want of zealous piety makes them not to be concern'd , declares that he himself will take the vindication of his honour into his own hands , and inflict himself the punishment of a crime , that fears it but from him. and then if those trespasses be not severely dealt with , that are alone punishable by the supreme magistrate , let all consider what a fearful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living god. which brings into my mind a pretty extravagancy that is reported of the turkish laws ; which punish blasphemy ( as they call it ) against mahomet with inevitable death , but enact no penalty upon the like dishonour offer'd to god. because mahomet ( say they ) is not in a condition to vindicate himself ; but god is ever able to revenge his own affronts , and therefore they resign that care to him. who indeed many times has ( in such cases ) done it so soundly , and so much to the purpose , that those sawcy wretches have had cause to think it as poor a privilege to have their oaths out of the cognizance of the laws of men , as thieving beggars do to be exempted from the danger of the beadle and the stocks , because their crimes are reserved for the gallows . but to resume our proofs of the sinfulness of swearing : admit the guilt of single oaths were no less venial than is pretended ; yet certainly , when in most swearers the frequency of swearing is so great , that one day may be guilty of more than a thousand oaths ; ( these sins not growing single , as apples or cherries , but like grapes by clusters ; the swearer's devil having a title to the name of the gadarene spirit , that , answering our saviour , called himself legion ) their multitude cannot but render them considerable : and he that remembers that a thousand holes may as well sink a ship , as some great leaks , will conclude oaths to be extremely dangerous , at least for their number , tho they were not so for their heinousness . nor are they only ruinous to the persons that use them , but have a destructive influence upon that state that suffers them . for whether or no what the prophet related once of judah , because of swearing , the land mourneth , be not a fulfilled prophecy of england , i wish it were rather charity than partiality to doubt . for tho the multitude and variety of our sins be so great , that 't is a puzzling task to determine to what particular crimes our calamities are due , yet certainly our oaths are too considerable an accession to our sins , not to infuse a suitable proportion of gall and wormwood into that bitter cup ( of affliction ) these gasping kingdoms drink so deeply of ; and whatsoever feather'd , i am confident our oaths have strangely pointed those fatal arrows that destroy these nations . as for the supposal this mistake is built on ( the involvedness of all men in the guilt of swearing ) it is as weak as 't is uncharitable ; for ( besides that to allow no body an innocence from swearing , is as much a slander to mankind in its present condition , as it would be its crime if the accusation were true ) our saviour gives us the world's example rather for a caution , than for imitation : where he tells us , that the way to hell is a road , and throng'd with numerous travellers ; but heaven's path is narrow , and the gate that inlets to those mansions of bliss , as unfrequented as 't is strait . even mahomet himself ( in his discourse with the jew adia ) having at the last day divided mankind into threescore troops , makes but three of them believers , and all the rest reprobates . but certainly he whose command this is , thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil , will hardly take the practice of that multitude for a just dispensation of the law of that god , who having commanded us to live by good precepts , will scarce accept it for an excuse , that we have err'd by bad examples . 't would be a strange absurdity in physick , because a pestilence is more dispers'd and epidemical , to think it therefore the less dangerous ; or to believe that the multitude of stinking carkasses can lessen the noisomness of the stench . but as in pious duties the general concurrence contributes to the acceptation ; so in sins , the like consent but hastens on revenge : it being with the guilty kingdoms as with leaking boats , where the number of the passengers but makes them sink more nimbly . and accordingly we read , that the universality of the sodomites beastliness was so far from justifying each single sinner , that they were all consum'd with fire from heaven , for the sole want of ten righteous persons . 't is for them only that think it no misery to burn in hell with others , to fancy it no sin to swear with company : but for the rest of men , let them take this from me , that sins whose seeming pettiness makes them less formidable , do oftentimes prove the most dangerous ; and he that dares esteem any sin small , may soon be brought to think none great . plea ii. well , but objects the swearer , i do not swear so often , and my conscience by seldom accusing me of that sin , assures me that i do but unfrequently commit it . answ . but sure in vice , whose essence consists in a repugnance to mediocrity , every little is too much ; and he that swears fewest oaths , swears yet too many by the whole number that he swears . one oath is too many by one , when one is enough to damn . and who would swallow poyson , because obliged seldom to repeat his draught ? to pass over this , that the same considerations that contract the number of your oaths , do aggravate their guilt , by arguing both a clearer knowledge of the ill you act , and a more bridling power to restrain it . but alas ! how seldom does the silence of his conscience make for the swearer ? we know that insensibility of pain may as well proceed from the deadness and stupifi'dness of the part , as from a perfect and unmolested health . in fighting , that is held a heavier blow , that ( stunning ) takes away the sense of pain , than that which pains the sense . beware your tranquility resemble you not to the toad , that feels not poyson , because he is all poyson ; and resents no alteration from it , because 't is natural to him . there are legions of swearers , in whose mouths custom swears undiscernedly ; and who being tax'd with it , ( and believe what they speak too ) swear that they are no swearers , and thus commit the fault they would wipe off the imputation of . but wise physicians hold it a fatal symptom when excrements are voided without the patient's knowledge ; and 't is a sign that the thief has haunted long , when the mastiff forbears to bark at him . in such cases , conscience , like oppress'd subjects under an arm'd tyrant , forbears expostulations , not out of want of the causes of complaint , but out of use of sufferings . but certainly this lethargy of security is much more dangerous than the feaver of a restless conscience ; since in the one , the smart soon drives us to the search of physick , but the other is so far from addressing us to remedies , that it never lets us know we need them . in such still consciences , as in the sea , the smoothest seas , the smoothest calms fore-run the rudest . tempests : for conscience , when long forc'd to play the mute , turns to a scold at last ; being like o'erladen muskets , which whilst no fire comes near them , can scarce be known from them that are not charg'd ; but at the least spark ( of serious terror ) that falls into the touch-hole , they will be sure to fly about our ears . plea iii. true ; but ( may you answer ) there are others that swear as much as i , and oftner ; why then are not they more reprehended for more frequent faults ? answ . to this i may reply in the terms of the apostle , am i therefore your enemy because i tell you the truth ? and add out of solomon , that reproofs of instruction are the way of life . that poverty and shame shall be to the man that refuseth instruction , but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured . and lastly , that he that being often reproved , hardneth his neck , shall suddenly be destroyed , and that without remedy , i know there are many sauls , whose choler flames against those davids that endeavour their dispossession , tho they attempt the cure even with musick , i mean , the mildest and the gentlest way . but i must beg my swearer to consider , that 't is an inspired writer that assures me , there is a generation that are pure in their own eyes , and yet is not washed from their filthiness . your excuse is just as if in an hospital a desperate patient should say to his physician , why i can need no physick , for there are others here as sick , and many more diseased than i. to complain of being reprehended for vice , is to complain that one is car'd for ; like the favourite child , that cries for having the knife taken away from him , when it is not from others , for whom we care not whether they cut themselves or no : which is as if our eyes had right to quarrel with us , for not enduring that dust there , we suffer in our shoes . certainly as we deserve not praise for other mens vertues , so can we not decline censure by the allegation of their faults . take heed there be not places hot enough in hell , tho others fry in more tormenting flames ; and remember , that as it is not health to be not altogether as sick as gasping people , so it is but a very sorry goodness not to be as bad as the worst . how strangely are our affections misplac'd ! in transitory goods , which he rates justliest that prizes least , we think we never have enough , if any body else has more ; but in the goods of the mind , which cannot be overvalued , we think our selves sufficiently stor'd , if others enjoy less . we are discontented at another's wealth , and proud of his vices ; and whereas his greater poverty should exalt our gratitude , and his greater piety create our emulation , his riches make us envious , and his sinfulness secure . plea iv. well , ( may you reply ) but i scorn to swear falsly ; and what know to be true , why may i not safely swear ? answ . this weak objection satisfies many swearers , ( so easily men believe what they desire ) but with as little reason as they swear with need : for that not false alone , but rash and unnecessary oaths are forbidden , appears evidently by the expression made use of in the third commandment ; where perjury is not alone condemn'd , but it is flatly written , thou shalt not take the name of the lord thy god in vain . which if needless and customary swearing do not , 't will be a strange riddle to me what the commandment means to prohibit . but that this is the genuine sense and design of those words , is clear'd by these express ones of our saviour , ( cited before in st. matthew's gospel ) ye have heard that it hath been said of old time , thou shalt not forswear thy self , but shalt perform unto the lord thine oaths . but i say unto you , swear not at all , neither by heaven , for it is god's throne , nor by the earth , &c. and to this sense the annex'd affirmative precept expounds the negative law ; the word communication in the former shewing the interdict to be chiefly meant of oaths employ'd in common discourse and conversation . nay , god himself seems manifestly to determine all the controversy , by that clear distinction express'd in a passage of leviticus , whose words run thus , and ye shall not swear by my name falsly ; neither shalt thou prophane the name of thy god : i am the lord. and certainly if we must answer at the last day , for every idle word , how much more will that account be exacted of us for every idle oath ? the jews at this day , ( as i learn'd whilst i lately convers'd with them at amsterdam ) have so profound a reverence for that great name of jehovah ( commonly called nomen tetragrammaton , and ineffable , so frequently recorded in the scriptures ) that they hold it unlawful for mortal lips so much as to pronounce it : but tho i esteem this fancy suitable enough to the rest of the extravagancies of their modern tenents , yet certainly their superstition will condemn our irreverence . i remember an expositor observes upon the 6th . of deuteronomy , and the 13th . verse , that the word there which signifies swear , is put in the hebrew in the passive sense , to imply that our swearing ought to be a kind of necessitated act . and a father tells us of one clinias a pythagorean , who being fin'd in a great sum of money which he might have escaped with an oath , chose rather to pay the penalty impos'd , than not to pay unto god the reverence that he thought due unto his name . besides , he that makes no conscience of swearing vainly , will soon make but little of swearing falsly : for he that in a lower degree so voluntarily breaks god's commandment for nothing , may soon be drawn to break it in a little higher degree for his profit . and tho many of our gallants ( doubtless in a pure complement to the devil ) are pleased to condemn the breach of this commandment , only when the sinner wants the excuse of an advantage by it ; yet certainly he that uses to toss god's sacred name in his mouth without any reverence , and employs it about every trifle , will easily be tempted not to care much what he does with it , nor to what use he puts it . and therefore holy david makes it a symptom of hatred against god , when in a psalm he says , thine enemies take thy name in vain . these considerations may clearly teach us what to think of those usual forms of speech , such as are , god forgive me , god help you ; and the like of those customary exclamations , such as are , o god! o jesus ! and those others that are usually employ'd to proclaim our wonders , or supply the want of a complement , with an excess of irreverence : for tho these unregarded trespasses be in most persons faults venial enough , as the effects rather of ignorance and heedlesness , than of design ; yet are they fashions of speaking , which besides that they are always needless , and often scandalous , do but inure our mouths to a very sawcy slighting of that awful name , which eternally to praise , shall be in heaven both our employment and our happiness . plea v. nor will it avail the oathmonger to reply , but i do not take god's name in vain ; for i swear not by god , or by christ , or other oaths of the like nature , but only by the creatures , as by this light , by this bread , by heaven , and the like ; and the creatures name i hope it is no sin to take in vain . answ . for sure if we will allow our saviour to be the best interpreter of his father's commandments , he will teach us a very differing lesson , in those ( already twice alledged ) words of st. matthew ; for doubtless he that forbids to swear by heaven , the noblest , or by earth , the meanest ingredients of this vast fabrick of the world , intended that prohibition should reach all other creatures ; which is as clear as light , in the ensuing words of the 37th . verse of the same chapter ; where christ's express injunction is , but let your communication be yea , yea ; nay , nay ; for whatsoever is more than these , cometh of evil . besides , either by the thing you swear by , you mean god , or no ; if the former , your guilt is evident in the breach of god's commandment ; and if the latter , remember what the spirit says in jeremy , how shall i pardon thee for this ? thy children have forsaken me , and sworn by them that are no gods . and in effect , 't is questionable in divinity , whether be the greater sin , to swear falsly by the creator , or with truth by the creatures ; for as the former is an act of high impiety , so is the latter of idolatry : because swearing by any thing being a part of divine worship , ( as the passages the margin leads to , will evidence ) implies in us an acknowledgment of some divinity in the thing we swear by ; which without omniscience , is uncapable to discern the inward truth or falshood of our oaths ; and without omnipotence , unable to reward the one , or punish the other . a consideration so prevalent with many of the primitive martyrs , that they chose rather to expire in torments , than swear by the genius of the emperor . nor is an oath only an act or species of divine worship , isa . 48. 1. and 45. 23. but by a synechdoche is taken for the whole worship that men pay their maker , in the 63d . psalm , and the last , and in jer. 4. 2. plea vi. ally'd to this plea , is theirs that will not flatly swear by god , but by certain fictitious terms and abbreviatures , as by dod , &c. and by the like disguizing of them believe to justify their oaths ; as if they cared not , so ( like saul to the witch of endor ) they may go mask'd to satan . ans . to these i shall only answer with the apostle , be not deceived , god is not mocked ; since ( as the same apostle elsewhere says ) he taketh the wise in their own craftiness . well may this childish evasion cheat our own souls , but never him , who judgeth as well as he discerns intents ; and regards not so much the precise signification of your words , as what they are meant and understood for ; which ( in such cases ) is usually an oath , since the same credit is both given and expected upon these mongrel oaths , that is paid to those they mean , but would not seem . these people bring into my mind the bloody persecutors of our first christians , who cloathed them in the skins of savage beasts , that it might seem no crime to worry them ; for so these hypocrites disguise god's name , to give themselves the license to dishonour it . 't is a very pretty slight of these gentlemen , to cozen the devil to their own advantage , and to find out by-ways to damnation , and descend to hell by a pair of back-stairs ; and methinks argues a cunning much about the size of his , that pleaded he was innocent of falsifying the king's coin , because he had displac'd some letters in the motto . but to hell , as to towns , these singular by-paths ( tho less frequented ) may lead directlier than the broad high-ways : and to these gentlemen , and those that rely upon the last answer'd objection , i shall at present only recommend the serious pondering of that passage of the wise-man in the proverbs : all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes , but the lord weigheth the spirits . plea vii . it is a usual excuse of some sort of swearers , that they swear only some peculiar oath , and that one kind of oath cannot amount to such a crime as the more scrupulous pretend . answ . an apology equally excusing with the thief 's that should alledg , that he commits all his robberies upon the same horse ; and the drunkard , that should offer to justify his beastliness , by affirming , that he never foxes himself , but with one sort of wine , or in such a peculiar unalter'd bowl . remember what an apostle somewhere says of sinning , whosoever shall keep the whole law , and yet offend in one point , he is guilty of all . just as a man that wounds a buck in the vitals , is truly and properly said to have kill'd the deer , altho the shaft reach'd but the head or heart , leaving the legs and other parts untouch'd . thus in a globe , tho there be numerous parts , yet he is guilty of breaking the whole globe , that breaks it but within the arctick circle , tho near the equator it have escap'd that violence ; for wheresoe'er you break it , you break the globe ; its essence consisting in the entireness that is ruined by the fraction of any part . sin , because natural to us , is so readily learnt by us , that as in shooting , by practising to hit wrens and silly sparrows , we learn the art of killing feldifares , thrushes , and the other sort of birds we never aimed at ; so by committing some small sin , we learn , tho insensibly ( and perhaps undesignedly ) to commit other and grosser kinds of sins . one act may make us do dispositively , what moses is recorded to have done literally ( at the foot of mount sinai ) break all the ten commandments at once ; for single disobediences , if presumptuous , may have the power to exile that fear of god , whose expulsion comprises in it the whole trade of sin , which ( conscience once despised ) is known without being learnt . if a reverence to the commandment were that which did place limits to the variety of your oaths , it would not permit you the use of any one , but lay an equal restraint in relation to them all ; since the sinfulness of swearing does consist , not in the diversity of our oaths , but in their forbiddenness . but this excuse it self is often wanting to many of our gallants , who not content with the received forms of dishonouring their maker's name , do as much affect novelty in their oaths , as in the fashion ; and if they have a gift of singularity in swearing , are as proud of it , as of their mistress's favour : such people are as nice as impious in their oaths , they will never use any till it be stale and threadbare , but ( ever like their cloaths ) leave them off before they have been worn long enough to grow old . but whilst they are thus industrious in the discovery of new ways of provoking their creator , 't is much to be feared , that they do but ( if i may so speak ) find out for themselves a northwest passage to damnation . plea viii . but , continues the swearer , if i swear not , i shall not be believed . answ . but ( 't is replied again ) belief is better wanted , than purchased at so dear a rate as sin ; since he that parts with heaven , makes over a bad bargain , tho the whole world were the accepted price . but alas ! unless men will construe their disobediences for arguments of your obsequiousness , how unlikely is it , that ( by believing you speak truth , because you use to swear you do not lye ) they should take your readiness to transgress one of god's commands , for a proof that you dare not break another . how ridiculous would men esteem that merchant , that should be confident to gain credit amongst lenders , by giving bond for every trivial sum , for which others are trusted upon their bare word ? for in oaths ( as in most other things ) too constant a frequency depreciates that authority which their rareness as well as nature gives them : that not being held a sufficient security for the belief of a doubted or important truth , that is lavish'd to authorise every trivial and impertinent assertion ; nor thought a convincing attestation of a questioned truth , that flows rather from a custom of sinning , than design of confirming . no , no ; he needs not many oaths , that uses few ; for to be known to make a conscience of an oath , will gain your words more credit than the swearing of a thousand ; it being a visible and remarkable judgment of the offended . deity upon oaths , that their number discredits that truth it self would persuade . since then 't is your habitude of swearing needlesly , that alone engages you to a necessity ( as you call it ) of swearing to be believed , let your discontinuance remove that obligation custom only has contracted ; and believe me , that the most persuading asseveration of all , is so to live as not to need to swear . that sociableness which you alledge to extenuate your fault , but aggravates the heinousness of the crime ; by confessing customary oaths to be like jealous tyrants , whom we cannot entertain , without giving admittance to their retinue and their guard , since in this vice you acknowledge the act an engagement to a repetition ; and that oaths which are the ultimate and highest confirmations of truth in their nature , must yet ( by this fine policy ) themselves derive an authority from their multitude ; which is very unnecessary where the assertor is believed , and usually does but create distrusts where the veracity is not credited . plea ix . of kin to this is their apology who plead , that if they do not swear , their words shall neither be fear'd nor obey'd by their very servants ; mens ears being of late so accustomed unto oaths , that they are necessary to make them think we are in earnest . this is the usual objection of the french , amongst whom this vice is grown so epidemical ( as of blackness amongst the ethiopians ) its commonness has removed all the deformities they would otherwise find in it . answ . but sure there are ways enough to make your servants obey your commands , without your breaking god's . gravity and severity , not using them to hear you swear , are courses likelier far than oaths to reach that end : which if they yet should fail of , they would turn this fancied inconvenience into an advantage of necessitating you to the election of religious servants . certainly , since the sole universality of vice has drawn upon us this suppos'd necessity , a general and unanimous desertion of it must needs be the properest expedient for its removal . and , believe me , 't is but an extravagant way of teaching our inferiors to pay us their duties , to teach them to disobey the commands of their superiors by our own example , and to lead them the way to despise the injunctions of the most ador'd powers , to whom we confess to owe an exquisite obedience , upon the highest considerations . but admitting ( as the dispersedness of this vice too often forces us ) the supposal of this plea to be true , yet will the inference prove consequent ? for by the same reason the thief might justify the unreclaimedness in his robberies , by alledging if he forsake that trade , his purse must soon grow empty : or the buona roba excuse her prostitutions , by saying , that unless she continue her former profession of wantonness , she shall no more be presented with new gowns , and linnen richly lac'd , nor be able any longer to maintain her wonted riots ; her conversion ( by forbidding her to be the cherisher of her gallants loose excesses ) depriving her of the only fewel of her bravery . upon how few could we with justice press religious duties , if such petty inconveniences attending their performance , were a warrantable dispensation or disengagement from it ? surely he that requires that we should pull out our right eyes , and cut off our right hands , if they oppose our entrance in at the streight gate , will scarce give them admittance , that will not purchase it by the parting with such trivial conveniences . it is much less unreasonable that you should be neither believed nor obeyed with readiness , than that god should either not be believed when he speaks , or not obeyed when he commands . for take this for a truth , to which oracles are fables , that never any man commits a sin to shun an inconvenience , but one way or other , soon or late , he plunges himself by that act into a far worse inconveniency , than that he would decline . plea x. others there are that use to represent , that they swear not but when they are angry ; and then ( for all our clamours and exaggerations ) they mean no harm at all . a. but would you take it for a justification of your wife's adulteries , if she should tell you , that she never prostitutes her self , but when her fits of lust tempt her to give that satisfaction to her appetite ? besides , this is but to excuse one fault with another ; and with no greater justice , than his that should defend a bastard's crimes , by alledging that his mother was a whore ; since the nature as well as the duty of virtue being the moderation of our passions , it is evident that their excesses degenerate into sins ; and therefore how that can be a good excuse that needs one , and how that anger which in it self is sinful , can impart an innocence to productions in their own nature culpable , let those that are concerned determine . for my part , when i consider the apostle's command , be ye angry , and sin not ; i cannot but apprehend , that when our passions swell into excess , they are indeed contaminated by the guiltiness of their productions , but confer not upon them a meritoriousness which themselves want . but why , i pray , in every passionate mood , must you be transported to commit sins that are as unprofitable as impious ; and to deserve your crosses , by a sawcy provocation of your god , whom you then endeavour to make your enemy , when you most need his favour to protect you from disquiets ? why must your tongue fly in your maker's face , and vilify his sacred name , because your dice turn up size-ace rather than quatre-trey ? for either he is the guider of those seeming chances , or meddles not with their disposal : in , this last case you are palpably injurious , to make god the object of your choler , when he is not the cause of it ; and in the former case your folly is not inferior , instead of propitiating , to incense that deity , who is the sole disposer of those fortunes we either wish or fear . but take heed he give you not too much pretence to be so , by displeasing you , ( as discreet mothers whip their froward children that cry without cause ) and punish in his anger these rash and culpable expressions of yours . as for the other branch of the excuse , i mean the harmlessness of your intent ; to that i must reply , that our actions may as well offend as our intents , if they be subsequent to our knowledge of god's aversion to what we do . and usually men take it for a sufficient offence , to do what we are sure will disoblige them , tho with a differing design . nor do we think our selves less injured by robbers when they strip us , because they offer us that violence , not with intent to anger us , but only to make a booty of our purses . 't is a received maxim in divinity which moralists prop with their full concurrence , that no goodness ( much less bare innocence ) of the intent can justify a formal sinful evil . if then the committing of this sin against the knowledge of the ill you act , be not crime enough to condemn you , you must not be deny'd my absolution . but withal , i must acquit most sinners in the world upon the self-same score ; and believe the threatned flames of hell as uninhabited as insupportable ; since certainly such sinners ( if any such there be ) must be prodigious no less for their unequal'd rarity , than devilish perverseness , that are such monsters as to offend their maker , merely to offend him . for in philosophy our masters teach us , that ill under that notion cannot be the object of our choice ; ( that being ever a real , or at least a seeming good ) ; and tho in our misguided elections we oftentimes embrace it , yet that is ever under a contrary notion , and rather by mistake than by design . but oh ! how industrious are sinners to deceive themselves ; and how strangely does the devil fascinate and blind deluded mortals , when ( by such silly and impertinent excuses ) he persuades them rather to expose their judgments to a certain discredit , than let their souls be ransom'd from an ignoble slavery , into a glorious freedom ; and rather suffer their abilities to be believed weak , than permit their lives to be made virtuous . certainly , such people would make me as much astonish'd as themselves are faulty , if i did not consider this gallant property , of rather making bad apologies to defend their sins , than good resolutions to forsake them , as intail'd upon them by a kind of traduction from our first parents , who hoped with fig-leave aprons , and the faint shade of trees , to hide both their nakedness and their disobedience from the omniscient eye of god himself . i will not waste ink upon their successless and impudent defence , that make their drunkenness an apology for their swearing , and make that an excuse for their sin , which is it self a sin above excuse ; but with as little justice , as the keeper of the lions in the tower could excuse any particular tragedy they had acted , by alledging that he had voluntarily let them loose . but since the tempers that most dispose men to a flux of oaths , are drunkenness and choler , give me leave by the by , to take notice of the chief midwives that are usually assistant to the birth of oaths ; and to observe , that as the thunder falls not , but when heaven is over-cast , so we are pronest to swear , when the beastliness of our passions hath either blinded or deposed our reason . plea xi . 't is confest , you may alledge , that swearing is a most heinous sin , but i do never swear my self , but only to repeat those oaths of another ( which are therefore his sins not mine ) whose omission would spoil the jest . answ . this brings into my mind the known story of that merry gentleman , who to shew the sullen justice how the mastiff he had kill'd , had first assaulted him and overthrown him , runs full butt at the formal sir's breast , and sends both him and his chair to salute the ground : for when a sin cannot be imitated , without being committed , then that you but repeat it only , is as sorry an excuse , as his must be , who to illustrate the relation of a murder , should pistol the first man he meets withal . besides , when did transgression by president turn innocence ? and what was unlawful in the act , become legitimate in the repetition ? it is acknowledged , that the relating of another's oaths may sometimes be not only lawful but necessary ; but then it must be either to discover or convert the swearer ; or else when the oath is some material circumstance of a serious narrative . but here the very end adds guiltiness to the action , it being only to make another's vice applauded , and render his sin both infectious and immortal . but how will you justify this introducing of god's name only ( like a fool in a play ) to make the company laugh , and to bring it into contempt , from the disobedience to the prohibition of taking god's name in vain ? unless ( perhaps ) the consequents of your sin teach you a construction that may resolve this difficulty ; and the judgments your swearing will provoke , shew you in what sense you have taken your maker's name in vain . remember how sad a reckoning was presented to belshazzar by the hand-writing upon the wall , for having turn'd the vessels of the temple into implements and furtherers of mirth , at his sumptuous entertainment ; and consider betimes , that god may possibly less resent the making merry in his holy cups , than the making merry with his most holy name . to this may well be added , that in this sinning at the second hand , the copied sin is held more criminal in the transcript than in the original ; for besides that this swearer by imitation acknowledges himself so delighted with the other's sin , that he becomes the devil's mountebank ( or his zany ) to have it admired by all that hear him ( and we know that approbation is but an after-consent ) ; besides this , i say , the leading swearer has the excuse of an immediate applause ; whereas the apish repeater wrongs and discredits his own piety , only to celebrate and proclaim another's wit ; if that be not too partially term'd wit , that appears such only to our corruptions : since when the oath must make the jest , 't is only the devil in us that is pleas'd with it . handsome replies are good without oaths , and dull ones will not be made good by them : to the one they are needless , to the other they are useless ; that being justly enough appliable to oaths in apothegms , which is usually believ'd in painting of faces , that beauties need it not , and deformed women look but ridiculously for it . fools ( says the wise-man ) make a mock of sin ; they can take pleasure to hear him affronted , in whose communion consists happiness ; and make that the fewel of their jollity , that should be the object of their detestation . for my part i do not like this doing in jest , what a man may be damn'd for in earnest ; and i much wonder that we frail mortals , whose faults are more numerous than the very minutes we have liv'd , should think our own sins too few to condemn us , without adopting those of others too ! and to our crimes ( too numerous already ) adding these sins of supererogation ! but to resume our theme . plea xii . there remains yet a prejudice to remove , which though very rarely the pretence of swearers , is very often a prevalent motive to swearing , and is an evil by so much the more obstructive to these sinners reclaiming , by how much the more silently it opposes it . this is a foolish fancy that many swearers cherish , that their oaths make them look'd upon with a kind of admiration , as gentleman-like sins ; and witness in them so bold and daring a courage , that it extends to a fearlessness of god himself . answ . but though their blushing to own so childish a pretence , be a sufficient disproval of it ; yet since , as in war , so in disputes , we consider not so much the personal strength of the adversary we attempt , as the rank he holds among those that employ him ; 't will not be amiss to remove an obstacle , made considerable by being so great a vice's motive , and so great a motive to that vice : though of this sort of swearers ( as of some savages that lurk in rocks and woods ) it be much more difficult to obtain a battel , than to get a victory ; and to draw them to the field , than to give them a defeat . doubtless these needy gentlemen will never tempt the admiration of wise men upon any other score , than that of the greatness of their folly . they must be thought strangely necessitous of meriting qualities that do so meanly by their bad ones implore and court men's good opinion : and i know not whether be the greater , their impudence to expect it for the recompence of vice , or their profuseness that should squander it away on those who have no juster title to our esteem , than that by which the miserablest of beggars pretend to our charity , the multitude of their imperfections and wants . wise men will make these poor and empty projects , the objects solely of their scorn and laughter ; and only those that want esteem for themselves , will reward you with it ; and for such peoples praises , they will but discommend you : so that that empty applause you are ambitious of , will either be impossible to be purchas'd , or not deserve to be pursued . but what , your oaths will make men take you for a gentleman ! you are deceived , there is too little epicurism and chargeableness in your vice , to be affected to that quality . 't was still so cheap , and now grown so common , that i wonder our grandees , though they desist not for the sins sake , renounce it not , at least , for the company 's . must then vices be arguments of the possession of that dignity , that vertue is the sole true means to purchase ? i 'm sure it should not be so ; but grant it were , will you pretend to nobility , by that alone which is not the property , but the vice of gentlemen ? and entitle your self to that illustrious quality , by that which , in god's eye , makes them unworthy ( if not divests them ) of it ? at that rate your pretensions would parallel his mirth , who boasted a descent from the first caesars , barely upon his being ( like most of them ) almost deformedly hawk nos'd ; deriving his interest in their blood , only from his sympathy with their defects . for my part , i must confess , i am not ambitious of those badges of gentility , that christianity delivers for the symptoms of reprobation : nor do i find men desirous of the gout , though the proverb have appropriated that disease to rich men . but then ( you think ) your courage will be unquestionable : and indeed it may seem that you want not probability to prop up your hopes , since you desperately hazard the incurring of immortal torments , for that , for which no wise man would venture the stretching of his little finger . but since the kindred betwixt vertues is not so remote , that the want of any one should conclude the possession of any other , and your impiety convince us of your courage ; experience teaches us , that no men more fear what they should contemn , than those that contemn most what they should fear . and martyrs have embrac'd those flames with joy , that impious persons durst not so much as think of without horror . that boldness that men personate against their maker ( were it real ) would not be the effect of their resolution , but either of their inconsiderateness , or their unbelief . the wicked flee ( says solomon ) when no man pursueth ; but the righteous are bold as a lyon. and indeed it is no great encouragement to despise this life , to want either hope , or at least confidence of a better . nor will all men so easily conclude , that he that fears not to venture his soul , dares freely venture his body . for since it is not the essential worth of things , but the proprietary's value of them , that their dearness to us is to be measured by : that standard , and most mens actions , will present us the soul and body in a very inverted order of precedency ; the greater part of men living for the body as if they were all body , and slighting their souls as if they had no souls , or had them but to lose . it being but too true of the very greatest of those people , that in themselves as in their stables , the employment of the man is but to serve the beast . and truly he that considers that the neglect of the soul proceeds from the former dotage on the body , will think that a very unlikely consequence , that infers a readiness to hazard the latter , from the carelessness of what becomes of the former . he that shakes off the emboldening fear of god , betrays himself to as numerous apprehensions , as did the weak-ey'd frantick , who to be secur'd from the offensiveness of the sun 's brighter beams , by pulling out his eyes , expos'd himself to all those dangers and those horrors that attend on blindness . plea xiii . but , say some swearers , if i renounce this vice , my repentance will procure me a derision i shall be asham'd of . ans . must then that bashfulness which is both the livery and guard of virtue , oppose our addresses to it ? like ditches when the draw-bridge is cut down ; which tho their use be to secure the fortress from enemies , forbid access to them that once have salley'd , when they are meditating a retreat . but yours is an excuse as receivable as the whores , who pretended bashfulness for their turning honest . i was much taken with an italian gentleman , who spying a friend of his peep out his head from behind the door of a bordello , to see if he might retire undiscover'd ; come forth , come forth , cries he , you need not be ashamed to leave that sluttish place ; but you should have been asham'd to have entred it . have innocence and vice then so chang'd natures , that he that did not blush to commit sin , should blush to forsake it ? and he that hath once fram'd mishapen characters , be ashamed afterwards to write a neater hand ? the blushes that do wait on our repentance , proceed from an implicite confession it imports of some former faultiness ; and so if it have been shameful to have committed a fault , how much more should we be ashamed to continue ; and how little can it discredit us to forsake it ? and truly , he that thinks a fault a just engagement to a relapse , lest his conversion should make him laugh'd at , deserves the censure men would pass upon that fool , who having slipt one foot into a quagmire , should rather proceed to be entirely bogg'd , than by timely stepping back , to confess a mischance that may provoke mens laughter . i had much rather men should laugh at my retracting , than god frown upon my relapses ; and care not so much who smiles at any action that makes my conscience do so , ( not by way of derision , but of applause . ) how contradicting are the desires of mortals ! we are angry if we are not thought virtuous , and yet we are ashamed to appear so , and think it a just ground of quarrel , to be reported the contrary of what we blush to seem ! like ladies , who tho they long to live till they grow old , fret to appear what they desire to be . the sinner that is overmuch concerned in bad mens opinions of good mens actions , does as it were swear allegiance to the devil , and let him bore his ear through with an awl against the door-post , sealing an engagement to perpetual bondage ; for ( as the same men that crucified our saviour , derided him ) as long as the greatest part of men are wicked enough to injure piety , there will be found men impudent enough to mock it . for sinners knowing that in the world's esteem , the extent of a deformity makes it vanish , and that the generality of a crime does so divest it of that name , that every body's sins are thought no body's , are by the cheapness of the expedient easily sway'd to intrust the protection of their reputation rather to common guilt than to a private virtue ; and to seek an innocence rather by adding to the number of the wicked , by their calumnies and derision , than by increasing the number of the godly by their conversion . thus being brib'd by their own interests to discredit such actions as they are tied to , and yet will not practice ; 't is no wonder if by scoffingly condemning what closely condemns them ( tho therein their consciences give their tongues the lye ) they cunningly endeavour to father their faults , not upon their want of piety , but store of wit , and to make their slavery to their passions pass for the superiority of their judgments . but sure he is very unfit to be christ's soldier , that blushes to wear his heavenly leader's colours , and wants the courage to disobey example . he that will take the canaan above by violence , must imitate the conqueror of the canaan below , who profest to the world , if it seem evil unto you to serve the lord , chuse you this day whom you will serve , whether the gods , &c. but as for me and my house , we will serve the lord. our saviour ( who for us endured the cross , despising the shame ) apportions felicity to the being reviled for his sake : and congruously his apostles being causlesly misused by the chief-priests , departed from the presence of the council , rejoicing that they were counted worthy to endure shame for his name . derision for virtue is a grievance as old as job ; who in his time complained , that the just and upright man is laughed to scorn : and 't was even christ's own case ; of whom one of the evangelists in some place records , that they laughed him to scorn . but we may say of the resolute christian what the wise-man says of his maker , that he scorneth the scorners : and surely , since god is said to laugh divers transgressors of his law to scorn , 't is not improbable that he will not fail to laugh them to scorn , that for his glory scorn not to be laugh'd at : especially , since such persons are deeply accessary to their own and piety's disgrace , by a sneakingness which so implies a guilt , that where it proceeds not from a fault , it is one : and themselves highly countenance the discountenancers of the profession of religion , by being asham'd to own it . whereas the loss of the blind world's applause should prove as little dissuasive in the point of conversion , as its acquisition should be a motive . the man that dares be good without a president , looks like the noblest president of good : tho to say truth , as horses are not much priz'd , only for not refusing to set forth unless others lead the way , and for not leaving the track they once are in , because none but resty horses are guilty of the contrary faults ; so is not the gallantry of contemning the opinions and smiles of sinners so meritorious as it is thought ; since none but children ( and they too laugh'd at for it ) will let themselves be frighted from what they love , by others making mouths and faces at it . could singularity in goodness consist with the innocence of others , a gallant spirit would look upon that solitude rather as a delight than a determent ; since 't is not a greater affliction to his charity , than 't is a complement to his generosity , by assuring his devotion of the highest extraction , and restraining the acts of it to the noblest ends . he is the welcomest to paradise who ventures tho alone , and comes unattended thither : i mean , who by so resolute a bravery , as setting forward to heaven , without staying for company , gives so good example , that he arrives there with much difficulty . to all this i must add , that when once 't is noted that the apprehension of being derided for retracting , is the sole obstacle that stands between your reason and so important a change as your conversion , they will justly esteem your parvanimity so great , that you deserve derision for so poorly fearing it ; and so you will fall into that contempt you would decline , by your very shunning of it . if then laughter in this case cannot absolutely on both sides be avoided , sure it 's much better to endure that of fools at your repentance , than that of wise men at your timerousness . did not martyrs , thorough frowns , infamy , and torments , force themselves a passage to the same heaven you aim at , and will you with smiles be frighted from your happiness ? i am asham'd on 't ; and if you be not so of your self , christ will be so of you : for , whosoever ( says our saviour , who before pontius pilate witnessed a good confession ) shall be ashamed of me and of my words , in this adulterous and sinful generation , of him also shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father , with the holy angels . and truly , for my part , i had rather be laugh'd at by men on earth , than howl with the devils in hell. digression . [ nor need we be ( as even the best new converts often are ) so scrupulous to own repentance for fear of injuring humility ; since certainly if the latter be a virtue , she cannot enjoin a vice so heinous as ingratitude , by forbidding us even such a retribution as acknowledgment ; for sure 't is the least return we owe to god for his gifts , to confess that we have received them . who would not tax him of unthankfulness , that being loaded with a prince's presents , should disclaim them , for fear of confessing himself to be rich . altho a woman prais'd for her complexion , be bound in modesty to gainsay those praises , yet if the fire have given her a good colour , 't is not thought pride to refrain contradicting , because the effect being natural to the fire , and requiring no excellent predispositions in the object , to refer those ascriptions to their cause , is held to justify the not rejecting them : so tho there be an eye of vanity in the publication of those graces , whose near resemblance ( or affinity ) to virtues merely moral , leaves their extraction dubious ; yet true repentance is a grace so purely foreign , that being acted in us by a principle not native or acquired , but infus'd , to own the having received it , is not to boast our merits , but acknowledge our debts ; the vanity being rather on the other side , who by pretending to disclaim so supernatural a grace , imply that they esteem it to be their own inheritance or purchase . god's goodness being so free , that 't is the only title to its self ; and the motives of his favours being taken from himself and not from us , his blessings argue indeed the bounty of the benefactor , but infer not the merit of the obliged ; since the spirit 's irradiations into our souls ( like the sun 's shining upon shrubs and hemlock ) is due to the diffusiveness of his goodness , not the attractiveness of ours . moral virtues may perhaps be resembled to great mens cloaths , which supply those that see them , with some conjectures of the quality of those that wear them : but inspired graces ( such as repentance is ) are like their liveries , whose gawdiness evinces not the footman's deserts , but his lord's splendidness ; and in mens esteem entitles the lacquey to nothing but a good master . those better qualities blood may convey , or industry acquire , like honours conferr'd by princes , suppose the party deserving ; but heavenly donatives are like alms , which ever presume need ; and where they are more liberally bestow'd , stronglier conclude the greatness of the party's wants than merits . upon such considerations , possibly , as these , the great apostle ( after a recital of his first unworthiness ) scruples not to write of himself in such bold erms as these ; by the grace of god i am what i am , and his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain ; but i laboured more abundantly than they all , ( meaning the college of the holy apostles ) yet not i , but the grace of god which was with me . ( i might produce many resembling passages of scripture , had i not handled this subject elsewhere . ) but truly , since you are commanded in the gospel to let your light so shine before men , that they may see your good works , and glorify your father which is in heaven ; you ought to consider whether or no your expressing a serious dislike of others present , and your own former practice ( in point of swearing ) do not either proclaim your repentance , or infer you a hypocrite . and if your reason ( as questionless it will ) lead you to embrace the affirmative , believe you are then further to be put in mind , that not only the confession of our virtues is justifiable when it is necessary to your justification , but ( tho in all other cases our actions should commend us , not we our selves , praise being a debt which he that pays himself , acquits all others of ) even the mention of our own praises is allowable , when they are produc'd , not to extol , but barely to vindicate us , and finds a sufficient defence in its being necessary unto ours . the owning of repentance has so much of penance in it , that there is not any grace more indispos'd to a perversion into vanity ; for still repentance ( like the pardon it endeavours to procure ) does presuppose a fault , having this particular unhappiness above other virtues , that men cannot arrive at it but through vice. and therefore in the return to the disinterestedness of action , virtue ( who can scarce more reward our love to her , than by imparting unto us a higher degree of it ) commonly recompenceth so unselfish a duty , by making it a powerful engagement to perseverance against relapses ; and any affront or loss sustain'd upon that score , turns to a blessing , by producing in us towards religion , the usual property of sufferers for a cause , more zeal and passion for the party men have been sufferers for . but admit you could not own repentance , without being fancied vain , must the fear of others sins continue ( those that are immediately ) yours ? will you rather let others sin by imitation of your bad actions , than in their misconstruction of your good ones ? and will you quench the spirit , and refrain from being virtuous , lest men should think you know your self to be so ? especially since our ignorance in good performances , tho it criminate the act , degrades the agent from the title of virtuous : virtue being a habitude elective , and election pre-requiring knowledge . which reason i might fortify , by asking to what end preachers should light us so many candles , and give us so many touchstones to discover and examine graces with , if our being conscious to our own repentance were a fault that deserved it ? undoubtedly , that were ( and that were strange ) to make it our duty to seek , what it were our sin to find . this last reflection i must recruit , by adding , that since our improvement of , and thankfulness for grace , will be expected proportionable to our stock of it , ( as the parable of the talents , and our saviour's declaring , that where much is given , there also much will be required , evinces ) we cannot without the knowledge of our receits , know what our returns must be ( of gratitude and duty ) to be answerable to them . the utmost that modesty does exact of you , is the declining of those praises your actions do deserve , not the refraining actions that deserve praise , for fear of being suspected to affect it . but truly , bashfulness , tho in maids thought a virtue , in virtue is a fault ; for sure it is one of the worst complements you can put upon the spirit , to lock him up in a dungeon , for shame to own his visits . the union betwixt virtues is too strict , and their assistances so reciprocal , that that may be concluded to be no virtue , that forbids the exercise of any , and does not rather facilitate than obstruct it . certainly 't is better be accused of vanity , than guilty of relapses ; and if some reputation must be lost , 't is fitter that you should be dishonoured by other mens faults , than god by yours ; for he is good enough to recompence his servants , not only for being good , but for their not being thought so for his sake ; and to make one day their dishonour ( not only the foil , but ) the purchase of their glory . i have spent the more ink to carry away this obstruction , because i have observed it to be a block , at which the best natur'd novices in piety are the most prone to stumble ; the devil , our subtle antagonist , ( more serpent far than that he tempted our first parents in , when he insinuated himself into our credulous mother's easy faith ; in which sly winding creature , he elected not a fitter instrument than emblem ) in the scruple we have laboured to remove , leaving his own to assume the borrowed habit of an angel of light ; in that disguise to make virtue clash with grace , and pervert modesty into an obstacle of reformation . thus when man was once fallen from paradise , even cherubims intercepted his return unto the tree of life . ] the last excuse . lastly , ( replies the swearer ) all this i confess to be very true ; but what would you have me to do ? long time and custom have so habituated me to this vice , that i find the impossibility of my subduing it , as great as my willingness to leave it . answ . well , i am very glad we have brought you to this pass : 't is then confessedly a sin , and a great one : the question therefore is , whether it be fitter for god to make it no sin , or you not to make it yours ; and for him to be reconcil'd to the evil of its nature , or for you to desist from its practice ? your apology is just as excusing as the murderer's would be , who should alledge before his judge , that since he had been a murderer from his youth , he begs to be excused ; but truly for his part he could not help it , and he must needs continue the trade of cutting of throats , that he had so long practic'd . is not yours a holy consequence , i have been wicked long , therefore i will continue so still ? sure 't is the devil's logick , from those sins that evidence the justice of our suddener repentance , to infer the legitimateness of our relapses into crimes . the argument would have as much reason , and more honesty , that concludes out of , i have been wicked but too long already ; that , therefore i must be so no more ; and from our former want of piety , infers there needs a greater measure now to make amends for past omissions . you would judge him uncharitable , that should tell you that you are scarce so much as desirous to be forgiven : but ( to shew you how little you have for your opinion , besides your wishes ) consider who would think that delinquent very ambitious of pardon , who refuses to accept it , unless he may have license to thieve again ; and declines to purchase it by an engagement against former misdemeanors . certainly , weak is th' excuse that is on custom built ; for th' vse of sinning lessens not the guilt . and custom in evil rather increases than contracts the fault ; for that custom that now is the parent , was first the child of sin , since the evil of custom proceeds from the custom of evil ; ( like ice , which tho it easily thaw into water , was first produced out of that element's congelation . ) and therefore our equitable and impartial laws , that in theft chastise the first faults only with a brand upon the hand or shoulder , punish relapses with deserved death . nor are the obstacles that oppose your cure , so stubborn as you are pleas'd to fancy them . we flatter our selves in augmenting the difficulty of our repentance , that we may lessen the guilt of our neglects . the truth on 't is , our baseness adds dimensions to these difficulties , because we are really loath to forsake our sins , and yet would fain cheat our consciences into a belief , that our refractoriness and impenitency do proceed , not from our unwillingness to mend , but from our impotence . we do not , in this case , like many flourishing orators , who out of ostentation use to create monsters , afterwards to quell them ; but like children in the dark , who fancy first horrid mishapen bug-bears , and then are frighted by them . and yet when the slight penalty of a shilling is laid upon each oath , and strictly exacted , we may easily discern a visible abatement in the tale of your sins , as long as you are true to your engagement ; which were not most men too soon weary of , would ( probably ) soon make them weary of offences of that nature . 't is the opinion both of pious and of judicious persons , that swearing is therefore , tho not the most unpardonable , at least the most inexcusable of vices ; because that in it men have most power to refrain : and in effect , this sin is so destitute both of temptations , advantages , and apologies , that in subduing the custom of swearing , we have scarce any thing but the custom to subdue . try ; 't is less easy to surmount the belief of the difficulty , than the difficulty it self , which nothing makes so much invincible , as our thinking that it is so . here , a willingness to hoise sail ( to quit this ruinous vice ) serves for a prosperous gale. if therefore christ by giving you a desire to shake off the clogging yoke of sin , do call you to himself , give me leave to say to you , as the people did to the blind man of jericho , be of good comfort , rise , he calleth thee . and to compleat that comfort , i must tell you , that the operation of saving grace upon the sicknesses of the soul , is like that of the pool of bethesda upon the infirmities of the body , since without all regard either to the age or greatness of the disease , so the remedy be but duly applied , the cure is infallible . i shall never despair of the recovery of any , that is but heartily desirous to be reclaim'd ; since that which god was pleas'd to make me lately instrumental to work upon a gentleman , whose nation being french , his vice little younger than himself , humor extremely cholerick , and his apprehensions of the successlessness of his endeavours very great , obliged him to vanquish indispositions numerous and great enough to make that concurrence very frequent in one single person ; and yet before one fortnight was effluxt , he obtain'd so visible a conquest over this stubborn vice , that he had afterwards only as many relicks of it to suppress , as might keep him from growing proud of so sudden a recovery . so easy is it after having vanquish'd the imagination of the difficulty , to overcome the difficulty it self ; for in matter of uneasy christian duties , we must not only consider the disproportion of our weaknesses to the obstacles we must surmount , but allow the disproportion of those obstacles , to the supernatural assistances we ought to hope for . for god requires nothing at our hands , which his own favour ( zealously implor'd by our addresses ) will not enable us to execute . and in this , the commands of god , differ from those of men , that the latter but lay on us an obligation , the former invest us with a power to obey them . as when our saviour commanded the sick man ( in the gospel ) to take up his bed , and walk , at the same instant he strengthens his sinews to perform what he enjoin'd : and in the first creation , that powerful command , let there be light , gave that bright creature an existence , to make it capable of paying him an obedience . let not then tasks above the forces of our nature , disanimate those that may expect assistances from his almightiness , who in the same leaves where he commands us to perform more than we are able , promises to do in us what he commands ; since difficulties are not essential properties of obstacles , but only disproportions to the powers they are to resist . but admit that your habitude of swearing have rendred your conversion as difficult as you pretend ; sure then , that which custom of sinning has confessedly made so uneasy , the continuance of that custom is very unlikely to facilitate : as probably may he , whom a surfeit of melons has cast into a fever , hope for a cure by eating more again . no , no ; remember that bad customs , like consumptions , admit of remedies in the beginning , but grow still more incurable by delay ; and vices , like young trees , the longer they are let grow , the greater difficulty there is in felling of them ; each single sin being not bad only for the evil of the act , but the propensity it gives to repetition . sect . ii. but because to shew a sinner the danger of his disease , without prescribing him the remedies that may contribute to his recovery , would be but to give him a perfecter knowledge of his wretchedness , and prove a truth as uncomfortable to him as an ignis fatuus to the benighted traveller that has lost his way , whose horrid light serves not to guide , but to affright the wanderer : i think it not amiss in the ensuing directions to cast the swearer a few cords , by which ( if they be carefully laid hold on ) he may happily be drawn out of that deep and dangerous pit of sin , into which his negligence or his corruptions may have betray'd him . nor let the courseness of these home spun lines divert you from making them instruments of your rescue ; for silk and satten ribbons , you know , are not so proper to draw men out of pits , as homely hempen cords : nor did the imprison'd prophet refuse to be drawn up out of the dungeon , tho by the help of old cast clouts and rags : since in cases of this nature , 't is not the value nor the fineness of the instrument , but their fitness for our purposes , that we ought chiefly to regard . but to begin without more circumstance . direct . i. my first advice shall be , seriously to consider , that swearing is a sin , and such a sin too , as not its nature , but its commoness only , makes men count little : for if we may judge of the greatness of the crime , by that of the vengeance heaven inflicteth on it , certainly god has divers times so severely punish'd obdurate and incorrigible swearers , that were his judgments on them as divulg'd as they have been terrible , that crying sin would ( possibly ) be almost as unfrequent as it ought to be . nor will the seeming harmlessness of that act do more than make a parallel betwixt your fate , and that fond wretches ( mention'd in the book of numbers ) that provok'd stoning , for gathering a few sticks on the sabbath-day . for tho almighty god ( whose will is the exactest rule of good and ill ) should forbid actions otherwise innocent , yet his prohibition divests them from that property : and ( as the preceding verses of that passage alledg'd of numbers intimate ) makes you liable to a just punishment , tho not for the act , yet for the disobedience . and consonantly we find , that tho the killing of so horrid and parricidicial a murderer as cain , might seem an act of justice , yet god by his prohibition having render'd it a sin , annexes a sevenfold vengeance to the breach of that command . nay , tho the rebuilding of a ruin'd city be in it self not only innocent , but highly conducing to the publick good ; yet god ( to shew the independency of his justice ) having forbidden the re-edification of jericho's raz'd walls , punish'd the transgression of that prophetick order , in the very children of the transgressor . an example of severity very observable , being not , that i know of , to be parallel'd . consider not therefore so much ( in your swearing ) the little harm you do , as the great god you offend . false coinage is as well felony in farthings , as in half crowns , or twenty-shilling-pieces . and as careful mothers soundlier whip their children for eating sowre crabs , and such green trash , than ripe and goodly fruit ; so often are those sins most severely dealt with , which bring us least advantage ; nor is it a prodigy , to see men get most stripes for those offences they get least by . it is an easy matter in trivial things to transgress heinously . what trifle could appear slighter than the eating of an apple ? yet this petty seeming peccadillo lost adam paradise , and us a title to it : god's interdict enabling the core of that forbidden fruit to choak his immortality , and his posterity's hopes of it upon earth . but i purposely decline all instances of this nature , not only in pursuance of my intended brevity , but because 't is much nobler and more handsom for you to owe your repentance to your reason , than to your apprehension . direct . ii. in the next place i shall prescribe , a zealous and incessant sollicitation at the throne of grace , for power to subdue this stubborn vice. this second advice st. james seems to suggest to us in these words , resist the devil , and he will flee from you ; and he immediately adds these , draw nigh unto god , and he will draw nigh unto you . and truly men presume too much , when they imagine those treacherous natural forces of their own , are able to redeem that spiritual liberty they were unable to defend ; and then they lose their best advantages , when their omissions of applying themselves to their maker , makes them neglect supplies infallibly victorious , which wait but the imploring , to advance to their rescue . cease not then with moses to lift up your hands to heaven , till you have thereby discomfited and destroy'd these spiritual amalekites , your vices : and believe it , prayer ( to use a term of physick ) is a specifick remedy against this disease , and deserves that among all the weapons proper for this warfare , you should say that of it , that david said of huge goliah's sword , there is none like that , give it me . for prayer perform'd with those due rites its object requires in it , gives us such awful sentiments of god's holy name , that our conscience will not in a short while after permit us to dispense with the usurping it in vain . and thus this sacred duty does not only procure , but in a manner give us what we pray for : as when some squeamish and disrelish'd person takes a long walk to the physician 's lodging to beg some remedy for his inappetence , his very walking thither does in some measure give him that good stomach he hopes to regain by the medicines he shall get there . but if in your first attempts this sin meet with a success more answerable to your fears than your desires , be not discourag'd at it , but make of this delay the use it is intended for , a rise of greater eagerness and importunity in the pursuit of your addresses . nor think it strange , that god should make you wait a while for the grant of your requests , that have been so tediously refractory to the motions of his spirit , that summon'd your obedience to his commands . but lose not patience , for the wish'd supply will infallibly arrive at last , and all your expectation will but serve to endear it when receiv'd ; for god will not be wanting with his power to assist what is undertaken only for his glory . nor is it less our duty to trust in his promises , than to obey his commands ; and we may confidently expect from his faithfulness to the one , what he will enable our endeavours to perform the other . the great apostle tells us , that the same god will give us to will , that worketh in us to do : and therefore you may be confident , that ( as he elsewhere speaks ) he which hath begun a good work in you , will perform it unto the day of jesus christ . and on this score our saviour , who entails happiness only to the godly , does yet pronounce them blessed , that hunger and thirst after righteousness , promising that they shall be satisfied . thus he that graciously accepts the will for the deed , counts good desires but infant holiness , as things that differ from more perfect graces , not in their nature , but their ( age and ) growth . in the mean time , let this consideration comfort you , that those sins displease god least , that displease the doer most : and that in this our combats against sins are differenc'd from our battels amongst men ; that in the former the victory depends not so much on our success as our resistance ; since none are there held vanquish'd , but submitters . and for your further comfort , you may take each victory grace wins of your corruptions , not only for a preparative to new ones , but an earnest of more . for the conquests of saving grace in the soul are not like those the sea makes upon the strand , when it makes acquisitions by the flow , but to lose them again within few hours by the ebb : but the expeditions of the spirit against vices , are like those of the crown'd rider of the white horse in the revelation , of whom it is said , that he went forth conquering , and to conquer . direct . iii. in the next place , as far as conveniency will permit , 't were fit to fly the conversation , or at least the familiarity of profest swearers . this advice of declining infectious company , tho in a general caution ever found prevalent against all vices , has a peculiar property against this : for there being very small ( if any ) temptation to it in our natures , it is principally imitated from others , ( as when one yawns , most of the company , though otherwise uninclin'd to that act , do usually yawn out of sympathy ) and so subsists but as 't is cherish'd by example and custom , ( its motive and its nurse ) . and therefore , a very effectual remedy against swearing , is by conversing where it is discountenanc'd ; to starve it by discontinuance , forcing that shame of singularity that first begot it , to make amends for the mischief it has occasion'd , by employing it to the ruin of its own productions . as physicians make scorpions their own antidote by preparing out of them an oyl that is sovereign against their stings . lovers of the same sin , may ( methinks ) be resembled unto firebrands , which being laid together , kindle each other by their mutual heat ; but being sever'd and kept so asunder , each single brand , after a little smoaking , does of it self go out . direct . iv. for the fourth remedy , i should advise the swearer to oblige himself to pay or suffer somewhat for every oath he swears ; those little forfeitures serving both as monitors and as penalties . but if the bargain tye you to pecuniary disbursements , be sure distressed christians be ( at least ) sharers in them . for if ( as divines tell us ) the poor be god's receivers , they seem to have a title as well by justice as by charity , to the amerciaments that are estreated upon trespasses against their lord. but have a care you turn not this physick into poyson , by imagining that when you have fin'd for your engagements , you have done penance for your sins ; and by your justice to your compacts , cancell'd your disobedience to your maker . no , no , god requires not that you should part with your sixpences , but with your sins ; and the repentance he accepts , consists not in a paying for , but in forsaking your transgressions . esteem then these inconsiderable mulcts but as remembrancers of your faults , not satisfaction for them . ally'd to this expedient is that useful one of procuring some discreet friend , by putting you in mind of every oath , to force you to take notice of your faults ; which this course will very much contribute to make you both weary and asham'd of . provided always , that these reprehensions be as well seasonable as just ; for to correct men in the first violent transports of their choler , is by administring physick in the extremity of the fit , but to exasperate instead of curing . reason being to our passions , as the wind to the fires ; the same puff that will blow out the flames of a candle , will but kindle those that prey upon a faggot . reprehensions may suppress passions when they are weak , but do but incense them whilst they are raging . 't is listed amongst the miracles of christ , that he once chid a storm into a calm . direct . v. the fifth thing that i must prescribe our swearer , is to resolve at once to renounce that vice , by a desertion not only sincere , but unsuspended and intire . were it but one of these mere moral failings , whose unfitness or misbecomingness makes all the guilt , i should possibly counsel you to wean yourself of it by degrees , whose progress were scarce discernible before its end ; just as physicians use to reclaim those that have been long accustomed to unwholsome diet. but as the same physicians , when once a dangerous surfeit is contracted , restrain not by degrees , but totally and abruptly , those excesses that occasion'd it , and whose continuance would prove fatal to the patient ; so here , where that which is to be forsaken , is not so properly a fault as a sin , we must refrain without the least exception or connivance ; since else ( the thing prohibited being in it self a sin ) we allow our selves to offend god as much as ever , tho not so often ; by committing the same sins in quality , however not in multitude . indeed what is lessen'd by the number of our oaths in this partial reformation , is recompenc'd by the aggravated heinousness of their nature ; those that seem'd formerly but the slips of infirmity , being now authoriz'd by dispensation . this bare abatement of the tale of our sins is a good refuge , but a bad design : many times this diminution is the utmost our endeavours can arrive at ; but then it ought to be practis'd , and not to be intended ; for true repentance , and a purpose of relapsing , are hugely inconsistent ; the one not being real , without a property destructive to the other ; since he but very lamely repents his crimes , that resolves not against relapses into the crimes that he repents . no , no , this faint desisting from some acts of vice , does but endear the rest that is unexil'd , and that importunately urge for the recalling of their banish'd companions . this mild remissness , if it do not prune a vice , at least it does but lop it ; and that prohibits not its future growth ; which the only way infalliby to prevent , is to dig it up by the roots , with the spade of an absolute and irrevocable resolve , never to accord to our selves so much as by connivance , the least license that may endanger a relapse . in this case , extirpation is that alone which can secure our quiet ; and the only way that leads to an establish'd safety , is a severity that its object secures from all possibility of excesses . a sinner's condition may be resembled to a mouse in a pail of water ; if she can get out at one leap , well and good , otherwise her toyl will prove but fruitless , in attempting to get out by degrees . direct . vi. lastly , my concluding precept is , to make frequent and serious reflections upon the vanity and foolishness of swearers , who live as if they meant to remove all our wonder from the folly of our first parents , that lost paradise for an apple . sure that these people are not quarter'd in bedlam , ( where far less frenzies have imprison'd many ) proceeds rather from the multitude of the infatuated , than any want of madness in their actions : but howsoever , wise men build cages for them in their opinions , and in their soberer thoughts condemn them to inhabit those frantick lodgings . that usual expression of scripture which sometimes puts the word folly instead of the word sin , seems chiefly calculated for the swearer's vice , to which it does so eminently belong , and which is so uncapable of being wrong'd by the appellation . but to what has been already delivered , to shew how little shelter our swearers find from all their weak apologies , ( as certainly the fruitlesness and inexcusableness of their vice considered , almost no sinners have more to answer for , and less to answer ) we must now add , that they want not only the temptation of an excuse , but the very excuse of a temptation , ( unless its being forbidden , pass for one ) . for ( first ) this mungrel issue cannot ( as other vices use to be ) be said at nature's door ; we cannot father it upon traduction , since we inherit it not from our parents ; nor is it born with us , but learn'd by us ; so that here , before we can be sinners , we must have been disciples . but ( then ) all other vices have either honour , ( as ambition ) , or profit , ( as avarice ) , or delight , ( as uncleanness ) , to plead for their excuse ; swearing alone can plead nothing but guilty : so that if ever that expression of the apostle , which mentions superfluity of naughtiness , belong'd to any sin , 't is certainly here to be appropriated . the silly indians , that part with gold and jewels , for glasses , whistles , and such trifling gugaws , are solomons to swearers : betwixt whose madness , and the fam'd folly of lysimachus , who ( parch'd with extreme thirst ) to get a little drink , became a voluntary prisoner to his ( soon after vanquish'd ) enemies , i find no disparity advantageous to swearers ; it being a less ill bargain , to sell away ones liberty for ones belly-full of water , than to sell away ones soul for a mouth-full of air. this swearing is a hook without a bait : and when hell employ'd its spurious brood of vices into the world to seduce mankind , it furnish'd every one of them with a dowry , either of fame , of pleasure , or advantage , to entice lovers with ; only poor swearing was left portionless ; a mistress ( only ) for those generous and disinterested sinners , that need no temptation ; but loving wickedness ( as they ought to do virtue ) for its own sake alone , aim'd at nothing in the act of sin , beyond the satisfaction of having committed it . to whom the lord may justly say , as he did to the israelites in the prophet , you have sold your selves for nought . for whereas usually those vices that rifle the soul , do bribe the senses ; in swearing the poor soul is stript of her graces , and robb'd of her joys , without the least emolument ( of pleasure or advantage ) accruing to the senses . this swearing ( in my opinion ) is e'en as foolish as loving a cruel mistress ; a man parts with his heart , and gets nothing in exchange for it . an oath is like the powder that charges a granado , its properties are to make a momentary , displeasing noise , to offend those that are within the reach of it , and to spoil that from which it parts . nor is that criminal blast unlike the prophet's description of the cankerworm ; of which he gives this character , that it spoileth , and fleeth away . but the less advantages this vice affords , the more culpable it is ; the disobedience as well as folly of a forbidden act being increased by the want of its being beneficial ; he that trespasses for least , transgresses most ; for sure 't is rather an aggravation than an excuse of having injured any body , that you get nothing by it . the ambitious and the incontinent , are like great ladies , that surfeit upon apricocks , nectarines , and melons : whereas the swearer is but too justly resembled to those beggars , that kill themselves with blackberries and slows , and such like trash , the excrements of hedges ; having appetites as ridiculously noxious , as those of some of our green-sickness girls , whose stomachs rise at dainties , and long for loam and charcoal . for my part , would i renounce my interest in virtue , it should be for the attaining of a scepter , a fame transcending caesars ; and ( in a word ) where the happiness i forfeited should seem so recompenc'd by that i gain'd by losing it , that wise men themselves should have occasion rather to compassionate my frailty , than admire my weakness . for i confess it would extremely trouble me to hang for my thirteen-pence-half-penny ; and i am confident , that many of those this senseless vice has damn'd , do find a vast accession to the pains of hell it self , in the consideration of the cause of their enduring them . since then , swearing is a vice so ill qualified , that you want a temptation to it , you find no pleasure in it , nor do derive any advantage from it ; o let not your obstinacy to doat upon an empty fleeting sound , that has nothing in it of a sin , except the guilt , hinder you from shunning torments that will equal your wretchedness to your folly , and from keeping up a title unto joys , whose very hope transcends all earthly happiness , by opposing all your past unnecessary oaths , by one inviolable promisary one , never to swear needlesly again . advertisement . to prevent all mistakes that may arise from some apprehensions of mine , which ( seeming to censure oaths without distinction ) may possibly be stretch'd beyond my meaning , i thought my self oblig'd to declare , that in no part of this discourse my intention was to justify that plausible error of our modern anabaptists , that indiscriminately condemn all oaths as absolutely and indispensibly prohibited and abolished by the gospel : my design being only to restrain the needless abuse , not interdict the necessary use of swearing . whose criminousness if not in this discourse i have represented in its most enlarged dimensions , i may find an excuse in the president and practice of those painters , who being to draw upon the concaves of the roofs of churches , make their pictures more gigantick than the originals they are to resemble ; to recompence by that advantage in the dimensions , what the eye loses by the distance from the object . for every sinner naturally beholding vice upon which he dotes , through the contracting optick of self-love , must have the idea of his crime enlarged beyond its true proportions , to make him see it in its just quantity . i might add , that 't is scarce possible to paint this ugly negro in blacker colours than his own ; especially since now this sin is grown so much in fashion , that it expects not ( as most other vices ) slow time or years to ripen it ; since in our very streets we hourly hear children ( who sure offer up oaths as the first-fruits to the devil ) swear , that can scarcely speak ; and see them perfect in their father's language , before they are old enough to speak their mother-tongue . but tho in the heinous properties of this vice i might find cause enough to justify more fierceness than i have exprest against it ; yet should i be extremely loth , with many ( much better stor'd with zeal than charity ) to doom all those to hell , that through frailty or temptation sometimes let slip an oath . for so severe a sentence may perhaps concern too many , whose addictedness to other , not to greater sins than ours , makes often all the difference of our guilts : and who in spite of all their slips and stumbles by the way , may by repentance arrive safely at the heavenly canaan : and therefore i shall conclude what has been said of swearing , with this sense of it , that 't is a sin too heinous to excuse neglect , and too venial ( if i may so speak ) justly to beget despair . a dissuasive from cursing . for mr. w. d. to sir g. l. a dissuasive from cursing . for mr. w. d. to sir g. l. sir , i have too much passion for your person , to have any complaisance for your faults ; and still have lov'd you at so high a rate , that i had rather hazard the loss of your affection , than decline any proofs of the reality of mine . 't is not that i am not as unwilling to employ censure , as i am confident you will be troubled to have necessitated it from me ; but ( all consider'd ) i have too much friendship , to have courtship enough to let slip so fair an opportunity as your forc'd conversation with cleander , to shew you in him the deformity of a vice , from which i wish you were as free as from all other crimes . certainly , if curses were as much the badges of a gentleman as he thinks them , men would not guess him to be of a lower order than that of emperors : and if the devil were to fetch all those he bids him take , his water-dog would not have half so busy an employment ; hell would have cause to praise his liberality ; and were not satan still the father of lies , he could not but acknowledge , that none of the seven deadly sins , ( nor perhaps all together ) sent thither half so many . if i thought cleander would take it for a dissuasion , that i proved cursing to be a sin , i could be as ready to bring prohibitions of it out of scripture , as he is to transgress them . the prophet david ( imitated by the apostle paul ) makes it the character of the wicked , that his mouth is full of cursing . and in another place , that they curse inwardly . and suitably to his own doctrine , when shimei ( equalling his curses to the number of his steps ) rail'd at him with as many imprecations as he deserved blessings , he did not ( to speak st. peter's language ) render evil for evil , or railing for railing ; but only answers , let him curse , it may be the lord will look upon mine affliction , and that the lord will requite me good for his cursing this day . our saviour commands us to bless even those that curse us ; nay , bless them that persecute you . bless ( says st. paul ) and curse not . and to shew you that it was not only his precept but his practice , being reviled ( says he ) we bless ; being persecuted we suffer it ; being defam'd we intreat . imagine then you hear the apostle saying , as in one place he does , be ye followers of me , as i also am of christ ; who ( says another apostle ) when he was reviled , reviled not again ; when he suffered , he threatned not , but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously . and in effect , when upon the samaritan clowns refusal to receive christ , the two fiery-spirited disciples desired leave to call down fire from heaven ( to consume those by the fury of that active element , who refus'd entertainment to him that created it ) our saviour answers , but with a rebuke , and telling them , that they knew not what manner of spirit they were of . if then , in spite of provocations we are enjoin'd to return prayers for maledictions , sure we that are forbidden to retribute curses , are much more prohibited to lavish them . and if we will take the pains to shrive , and to look back into their pedigree , we may discern in them a hereditary guiltiness , and shall find them sinful ( if i may so speak ) by traduction , they being but the emanations and sallies of a temper extremely unconsonant to christianity ; of which our saviour makes love the distinguishing signature : and st. paul tells us , that the end of the commandment is charity . of which in another place he gives this character , that charity suffereth long , and is kind ; doth not behave it self unseemly , beareth all things , is not easily provok'd ; with many other properties of the same nature . insomuch , that st. john scruples not to affirm , that if a man say , i love god , and hateth his brother , he is a lyar ; ( as concorporating things inconsistent , and uniting things distanter than the two poles of heaven ) : and therefore when st. james , speaking of the tongue with a certain kind of wonder , in these terms , therewith bless we god , even the father ; and therewith curse we men that are made after the similitude of god : out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing ; he adds , my brethren these things ought not so to be . and surely too , the gospel teaches us , that these assassinates and murders of the heart , for being bloodless are not therefore guiltless . but granting the sin to be as venial as indeed 't is heinous ; ( and that by using curses men did not merit them ) yet certainly the multitude of cleander's faults would give them that danger that is pretended to be wanting to their nature ; and he that considers that those little drops of rain , which single seem but so many liquid atoms , do often ( united by their confluence ) swell into torrents , nay , ( sometimes ) into deluges , will easily believe that curses cannot but be extremely criminal in that cleander , that curses as if he were an inhabitant of mount ebal ; and who is so resolved not to keep the devil's counsel by concealing any impious suggestions , that were but his prayers as frequent as his curses , he would seem to obey literally that qualified injunction of the apostle , of praying without ceasing . i might add , that in most of these imprecations , god's sacred name being clearly taken in vain , renders these ebalites guilty of the breach as well of the second commandment of the first , as of the great commandment of the second table ; unless they will justify themselves from that crime , by the owning of a worse ; i mean , demonstrate , that they d●d not employ god's name to no purpose , by confessing they employ'd it to a bad one . and now this last consideration leads me to that of the unreasonableness of cursing ; for it is not a fit thing , that upon every little accident that cleander's vex'd at , the creatures of god must instantly change masters , and devolve to the devil . were it not very just , that god should be the executioner of all the rash decrees his pettish passion makes ; and his creator's power should have no other employment , but to run on errands ( at the moody gentleman's beck ) often repugnant to his justice , and ever to his mercy ? nay , how often has cleander in his passion wish'd things , whose accomplishment himself confesses would have made him miserable ? and is it then either the part of a good man to make wishes that are unlawful , or for a wise man to frame desires of which he need repent the grant ? one imprecation amongst the rest cleander's very ready in , which ( with as little caution as he commonly observes ) i would not have pronounc'd for as many kingdoms as he has us'd it times , and that 's , the devil take me . for should god ( as we are sure he may , and know not but that he will ) give the devil leave to take him at his word , in what a case were he ? and what curb shall we henceforward think strong enough to bridle his corruption , when what to the wickedest is the greatest terror , he makes his wish ? there was some years since in geneva , an italian , ( both by extraction and humour ) who riding a handsome mare in a solitary angle , was by the devil seduc'd to stallion her himself . the fact once done , the horror of a crime that made him more a beast than that on which he acted it , transported him so far , as to make him give himself to the devil , if ever after he relaps'd : but some while after , forgetting both his conscience , and the condition of his vow , he was fatally tempted to repeat his former beastliness in the self-same place ; which he had scarce compleated , before the devil appearing to him visibly , remembers him of his forgotten promise , and claims the forfeiture : the trembling wretch , to avoid the being hurried away instantly from the hell he felt , to that he fear'd , compounds with the devil to resign him his soul at the expiration of a limited reprieve : but before that time came to be effluxt , it pleased god to visit both himself and the place of his residence with the plague ; which rowzing his sear'd and lethargick conscience , forc'd him to expressions of his anguish unusual enough to make his companions inquisitive into the cause ; which having fully and circumstantially confest , he was after his recovery , upon that evidence , accus'd of having carnally abus'd a beast , and having made a compact with the devil ; which latter , though upon a repentance suitable to his sin , god's mercy did disannul , yet the justice of the magistrate did for the former crime condemn him to a death he richly had deserved , and penitently endured . this story i thought not impertinent to instance in , to teach us how dangerous and unsafe it is to present that to the devil , for which christ shed his blood ; and ( with more wariness than cleander can pretend to ) to offer that to one that is greedy to snatch ( and therefore surely willing to accept ) that which the whole business of religion is to defend and rescue from his attempts . the story it self may teach us , that though we are never to despair of god's mercy , we are as seldom to provoke his justice . i have given it you in the very words of our friend mr. boyle , who had it upon the place from an excellent divine of that republick ; to whom the delinquent himself confest it , as to him that was assign'd to comfort and assist him at his death . and the instances are not unfrequent in the most credited authors , of those whose imprecations god has punish'd by granting them . but i had almost forgot to mention one opportunity to which the devil is indebted for a vast number of cleander's curses , and that 's his gaming ; for the least frown of chance upon him then , gives fire to whole volleys of curses against fortune ; if at least they deserve not a more heinous title than barely that of curses , who in severer mens opinions are guilty of an ( at least ) implicite blaspheming ; since solomon does discreetly affirm , that all these cross and happy lucks at play are not rashly or designlesly shuffled by a blind hazard , but are dispensed by an all-ruling providence . i determine not here , whether these words of the wise man ( according to the receiv'd opinion of divines ) may be extended to an absolute sentence of condemnation against all games of hazard ; but this i know , that ( not to insist on that injunction of god to the jews , be circumspect , and make no mention of the names of other gods , neither let it be heard out of thy mouth ; ) it is very unfit that under the sunshine of christianity , we should build or repair the ruin'd altars of depos'd chance , and acknowledge a blind deity ; that under the abused name of fortune , fools anciently were pleas'd to create a goddess , and sinners now dissemble to mistake for some such thing , that they may unreproved controul and censure those heavenly dispensations their proud and peevish natures are displeased with . i know that many unforeseen accidents , which the ignorant vulgar do impute to fortune , are by god in the scriptures ascribed to providence : and therefore you must give me leave , both to take notice of , and disapprove that ungrateful expression of our language , wherein ( to justify our unthankfulness for the benefits we have received ) we use to call god's blessing to a man in his outward possessions , his fortune ; as if our estates were gifts blindly cast on us by the rash profuseness of that fond deity , and not the emanations of god's bounty , and presents of his providence . old jacob's gratitude speaketh another strain , and will not mention his wealth ( though never so justly the wages of his prosper'd industry ) without acknowledging it for the gift of god. but since this much-abused name of fortune has presented it self in my way , i dare not take leave of it , till i have express'd a desire that men would be more wary how they defame her , lest through the sides of fortune they affront providence . if fortune under the common notion , had fee'd me to be her advocate , i should alledge , that gamesters of all others , have the least justice to complain of her disfavours , since the success of the one absolutely depending upon the losses of the other , they themselves reduce fortune to a necessity of disobliging some of them , by rendring it impossible for her to content them all . and i would add , that what we fondly call her inconstancy , when she sometimes forsakes those she once smil'd on , is much more properly to be ascribed to the justice of her goodness , and the extensiveness of her affection to men ; since seeing she is not able to make them all compleatly happy at once , at least she endeavours to make them fortunate by turns , and for some intervals of time . nor is it her fickleness , that in pursuance of this impartial love she seems to desert her former favourites , when she confers her favours on new persons , since she bereaves not the first possessors of them with intention , but only by consequent ; as being not able to lend her benefits to new necessities , without redemanding them of her former debtors ; whom , otherwise , she has as little design to offend by this transplacing of her bounties , as the sun has to benight the antipodes , when to bring light into our hemisphere he is necessitated to leave them in darkness . 't is not the malice or instability of fortune , but our mistakes of the nature of her presents , that occasion our complaints ; for we mistaking those benefits for absolutely given to us , which are indeed but deposited in our hands , repine and murmur at their restitution , instead of being thankful for their loan , and having had their use . and surely they that pretend to be so perfect in her inconstancy , must be guilty of more madness in trusting her , than she can be of treachery in deceiving them . but were i to frame an apology to vindicate fortune under the notion of providence , i might represent , that what we attribute of her envious partiality , when she does shower most favours on those that least deserve them , is but the effect of god's immenser bounty , that gives even them a larger portion of pleasures in this life , to whom he reserves none at all in the next ; and withal casts a disesteem upon these glittering goods , fools over-value , by heaping them upon his very enemies . i might farther alledge , that what our discontents , call fortune's spitefulness , and her injustice , when she seems to persecute those most , that are most virtuous , is in effect but god's care of his children , which by these afflictions both exercises and improves their piety , secures them from the allurements of prosperity , endears his assistances and his recompences by these difficulties ; which both add lustre to their victories , and make their vertues more exemplary and more meritorious . and ( lastly ) i might say , that what we miscall inconstancy in fortune , when her changes invalidate the title of prescription to her favours , and make their residence ( when possess'd ) as incertain as their wish'd stay is welcome ; is indeed but a merciful stratagem of providence , to wean us from a dangerous fondness of these transitory goods ; lest if the continuance of their fruition were as certain as the contentments of it are great , we should by neglecting forfeit all nobler joys , and lose far greater pleasures reserved for us in heaven . but we have too long wandered from our theme ; let us return to cleander and his cursing ; which over and above those other good qualities we have already observ'd in it , has that of being a sin as useless as it is unchristian . all other vices have something to extenuate their guilt ; all other sinners serve satan for his pay ; but the curser , ( as the swearer ) is the devil's volunteer , valuing his soul so cheaply , that some suspect , that the reason of its stay in the body , is , that the devil scarce thinks it worth the fetching : and certainly , esau's bargain , who sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage , becomes no more absurd when parallell'd to this ; which makes those it damns as much admir'd for their folly , as tormented for their sins , and so casts upon them the imputation of madness , that it deprives them of the privilege of mad-men ; for whereas frantick persons ( who innocently act all crimes ) may kill men without murther , the curser ( on the other side ) does murther without killing . cleander may indeed give himself to the devil by his curses , but never his enemy ; for if solomon's authority be credited in this point , we shall believe that , as the bird by wandering , as the swallow by flying , so the curse causless shall not come . but the best on 't is , that these intentional sins , for being ineffectual against others , divest not the being criminal in themselves : for the curser is as uncharitable to himself as to his enemies ; he commits murders without acting them ; and contracts the guilt of his neighbours blood , without shedding it ; and incurs the penalty , without once tasting the sweetness of revenge . for 't is not only in good that god accepts the will for the deed ; he makes the same reception to our endeavours and designs of ill. and justly may god punish the ill by us intended , tho by him prevented , since that disappointment in which we think to find our justification , is not the effect of our want of malice , but our want of power , and so does not excuse our ill , but magnifies god's goodness . let us therefore cease to wonder , that whilst we curse one another , our maker curses us ; and that the plague is so raging in our houses , so long as it is so rife in our mouths : but rather let us tremble at that dismal fate , that david praying against his enemies , prophecies against god's . as he loved cursing ( says he ) so let it come unto him : as he delighted not in blessing , so let it be far from him : as he cloathed himself with cursing , like as with his garment , so let it come into his bowels like water , and like oil into his bones . i might yet further alledge , that curses are of so culpable a nature , that their very apology concludes them guilty , by pleading them to be idle words : and i might add to all the past dissuasives , the ill repute that curses gain a man , amongst the most scrupulous and preciser sort of people , who judging of the greatness of the vice , by the smallness of the advantage that is derivable from it , will hardly believe him to be the owner of much piety , that will slight it upon so little a temptation . and those of our divines that hold curses to be the dialect of the reprobates in hell , will think it but an ominous piece of providence in cleander to imitate travellers , who use to accustom themselves before-hand to the language of those climes they design to visit . but the last consideration that i shall employ to persuade you to divest , with the practice of using curses , the means of provoking them , and the fears of suffering them ; is that of the scandal this vicious custom gives to weaker christians . and as the former considerations relate properly to cleander , so this i must more peculiarly address to you , whose vertues have acquir'd you so high a reverence , that they have put it in your power , not only to excuse , but almost to canonize the worst actions by your example ; and therefore ought to make you so much the more wary and strict in your behaviour : since men believing it impossible to fail in imitating you , your exemplary faults will contract a deeper guilt by being presidents , than by being sins . but , sir , lest i should give you too just an occasion to encrease the number of your curses , by bestowing some fresh ones upon my tediousness , i will now put a period to your trouble , by saying to you as once our saviour did to the young man in the gospel , ( that so resembled you in the possession of so many vertues ) one thing thon lackest ( yet ) ; and that one thing in you is but , by sacrificing your habitude of cursing , to make your self capable of as transcendent blessings as constantly are implor'd for you , by sir , your most affectionate , most faithful , and most humble servant , w. d. errata . page 3. l. 8. read wise man. p. 127. l. ult . r. promissory . the contents . vain swearing , as well as perjury , forbidden in scripture . page 2 sect . i. the usual pleas and excuses for vain and rash swearing , considered . as , 1. it 's a venial sin. 7 2. they swear but seldom . 16 3. not so often as others . 19 4. they swear what is true . 22 5. they swear by the creatures , and not by god. 28 6. they swear by fictitious terms . 31 7. they swear some peculiar oath . 34 8. if they swear not , they shall not be believed . 38 9. if they swear not , they shall not be fear'd , nor obeyed . 43 10. they swear not , but in passion , or in drink . 46 , 52. 11. they repeat but the oaths of others . 53 12. by using oaths they are looked upon as gentlemen . 59 13. if they renounce it , they shall be derided for it . 66 a digression about repentance . 77 14. it 's impossible to subdue it . 88 sect . ii. directions for the cure of it . 99 1. consider , it 's not the nature , but the commonness , makes swearing thought a little sin. 101 2. be zealous and incessant in prayer . 3. fly the conversation and familiarity of profess'd swearers . 110 4. let the customary swearer oblige himself to pay , or suffer somewhat for every oath . 112 or procure some friend to take notice of it . 113 5. to resolve at once to renounce it . 115 6. to reflect frequently upon the folly of it . 119 a discourse against cursing . pag. 1. books printed for , and sold by thomas cockerill . historical collections , the third part , in two volumes , never before printed ; containing the principal matters which happened from the meeting of the parliament , november the 3d. 1640. to the end of the year 1644. wherein is a particular account of the rise and progress of the civil war to that period ; impartially related . setting forth only matter of fact in order of time , without observation or reflection . by john rushworth . fol. life , reign , and trial of mary q. of scots . stitch'd . speculum theologiae in christo ; or a view of some divine truths . by edward polhill of burwash in sussex , esq 4to . christus in corde : or the mystical union between christ and believers , considered in its resemblances , bonds , seals , privileges , and marks . by edward polhill , esq 8vo . precious faith considered in its nature , working and growth . by edward polhill , esq 8vo . a discourse of schism . by edward polhill , esq 8vo . the evidence of things not seen ; or divers spiritual and philosophical discourses concerning the state of holy men after death . by that eminently learned divine , moses amyraldus . translated out of the french tongue by a minister of the church of england , 8vo . geography rectified ; or a description of the world in all its kingdoms , provinces , countries , islands , cities , towns , seas , rivers , bays , capes , names , inhabitants , scituations , histories , customs , commodities , government . illustrated with about 80 maps . third edition . by robert morden . 4to . geography anatomiz'd ; or a compleat geographical grammar ; being a short and exact analysis of the whole body of modern geography ; after a new , plain , and easy method ; whereby any person may in a short time attain to the knowledge of that most noble and useful science , &c. to which is subjoined the present state of the european plantations in the east and west-indies ; with a reasonable proposal for the propagation of the blessed gospel in all pagan countries . illustrated with divers maps . by patrick gordon , m. a. essays on trade and navigation . by sir francis brewster , knight , 8vo . the almost christian discovered , in some sermons on acts 26. 28. with a blow at prophaneness . by the right reverend ezekiel hopkins , late lord bishop of londonderry . the possibility , expediency , and necessity of divine revelation . a sermon preach'd at st. martins in the fields ▪ jan. 7. 1695. at the beginning of the lecture for the ensuing year , founded by the honourable robert boyle . by john williams , d. d. chaplain in ordinary to his majesty . the certainty of divine revelation . a second sermon by dr. williams , at the same lecture . advertisement . whereas proposals have been formerly made for the reprinting mr. pool's , &c. annotations on the holy bible , ( to be review'd by mr. samuel clark , and mr. edward veal ) with the addition of a concordance and large contents before each chapter ; this is to give notice , that it is now in the press ; and the subscribers are desired to send in their subscription by the 25th . of june next ; after which time the undertakers will not be obliged to make the allowance of the seventh book . the undertakers are , thomas parkhurst , brabazon aylmer , thomas cockerill , jonathan robinson , john lawrence , and john taylor . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28981-e260 anno 1647. notes for div a28981-e600 mat. 5. 33 , 34. v. 37. james 5. 12. eccl. 9. 2. hos . 4. 2 , 3. zech. 5. 3. luke 12. 47. matt. 11. 21 , 22. gen. 19. 20. exod. 20. 7. heb. 10. 31. mark 5. 9. jer. 23. 10 ▪ mat. 7. 13. exod. 23. 2. gen. 18. 32. gal. 4. 16. prov. 6. 23. prov. 13. 18. prov. 30. 12. mat. 5. 33 , 34 , &c. lev. 19. 12. psal . 139. 20. mat. 5. 34. jer. 5. 7. deut. 6. 13. & 10. 20. isa . 65. 16. josh . 23. 7. jer. 12. 16. exod. 23. 13. 1 sam. 28. 8. gal. 6. 7. 1 cor. 3. 19. prov. 16. 2. james 2. 10. exod. 32. 19. matth. 16. 26. heb. 6. 16. mat. 5. 29 , 3● . eph. 4. 26. dan. 5. 5. prov. 14. 9. prov. 28. 1. exod. 21. 6. josh . 24. 15. mat. 5. 11. acts 5 41. job 12. 4. mat 9. 23. prov. 3. 34. mark 8. 33. the lines included within this parenthesis [ ] may perhaps pass for one , and appear somewhat foreign both to the theme and style of this discourse : i have yet ventur'd to insert ▪ them here , to please a person that i much affect ; leaving to the reader a liberty to skip them if he please ; but if he chance to vouchsafe them ▪ a perusal , i must beg for them his attention , not that they deserve it , but because they need it . it ends p. 87. 1 cor. 15. 10. in an essay of mistaken modesty . mat. 5. 16. gen. 3. 24. mark 10. 49. john 5. 2 , 3 , 4. mark 2. 9 , 12. gen. 1. 3. jer. 28. 11 , 12 , 13. numb . 15. 32. gen. 4. 15. josh . 6. 26. 1 kings 16. 34. james 4. 7 , 8. exod. 13. 11 , &c. 1 sam. 21. 9. phil. 2. 13. phil. 1. 6. mat. 5. 6. rev. 6. 2. mat. 8. 26. gen. 34. 7. josh . 7. 15. judges 20. 6. jam. 1. 21. isa . 52. 3. nahum 3. 16. notes for div a28981-e5100 psal . 10. 7. rom. 3. 14. psal . 62. 4. 2 sam. 16. 5. & 13. 1 pet. 3. 9. 2 sam. 16. 11 , 12. mat. 5. 44. rom. 12. 14. 1 cor. 4. 12 , 13. 1 cor. 11 ▪ 1. 1 pet. 2. 23. luke 9. 54 , 55. john 13. 35. 1 tim. 1. 5. 1 cor. 13. 4 , &c. 1 john 4. 20. james 3. 9 , 10. deut. 11. 29. 1 thes . 5. 17. prov. 16. 33. exod. 23 : 13. gen. 33. 11 , & 5. gen. 25. 33. prov. 26. 2. psal . 109. 17 , 18. matt. 12. 36. mat. 10. 21. experiments and considerations about the porosity of bodies in two essays / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1684 approx. 150 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 76 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng chemistry -early works to 1800. porosity -early works to 1800. anatomy -early works to 1800. physiology -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-02 jason colman sampled and proofread 2007-02 jason colman text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion experiments and considerations about the porosity of bodies , in two essays . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed for sam. smith at the prince's arms in s. pauls church-yard . 1684. to the reader . the reader is to be advertis'd , not to expect in the following essay a regular , or so much as a coherent , discourse . for it was intended only as a collection of loose experiments and observations about the porosity of the parts of bodies belonging as chymists speak ) to the animal kingdom , and laid ( not to say thrown ( together , in order to what i had thoughts of offering , towards an intelligible account of occult qualities . i am not ignorant , that even one of the most ancient and famous of physicians hath said , that a mans body is ( almost ) every where perspirable . but i judg'd that a doctrine of such moment , and which diverse things in the theory and practice of after physicians may make one think they either disbelieved or disregarded , did not deserve to be slightly deliver'd , and in general terms , but to be more narrowly considered , and likewise made out by particular instances , whose applyableness and usefulness to explain divers obscure phaenomena , may hereafter appear much greater , then perchance at the first sight they will be thought . and the foregoing advertisement , with a light change , which 't is presum'd the reader may easily make of ●imself , is to be extended to the essay tacked to this about the pores of solid bodies , and so may excuse the absence of a distinct preface to it . an essay of the porousness of animal bodies . as the most numerous part of the pores of bodies is too minute to be seen , so the contemplation of them has been thought too inconsiderable to be regarded . but when i consider , how much most of the qualities of bodies , and consequently their operations depend upon the structure of their minute , and singly invisible , particles , and that to this latent contexture , thē bigness the figure and the collocation of the intervals and pores do necessarily concur with the size , shape and disposition or contrivance of the substantial parts i cannot but think the doctrine of the small pores of bodies , of no small importance to natural philosophy . and i scarce doubt , but if such little things had not escaped the sight of our illustrious verulam , he would have afforded a good porology ( if i may so call it ) a place , ( and perhaps not the lowest neither , ) among his desiderata . and , though other imployments and avocations hinder me from attempting to treat of this subject as amply and particularly as it deserveth , or even as i had design'd in a scheme drawn diverse years since , and seen by some virtuosi ; yet , not to leave apart of physicks , that seems to me so curious and important , altogether as uncultivated as i found it ; i shall present you as many of the notes i had drawn together about this subject , as i can conveniently ( for i do not pretend to do it methodically ) reduced to three heads : whereof the first , which will challenge to it self this present essay , is the porosity of animal bodies , about which i shall not be solicitous to marshal my observations , since they all conspire to shew but this one thing ; that the parts of animals , especially whilest these are alive , are furnished with numerous pores . those parts of the bodies of animals , wherein their porosity may be best shewn seem to be their membranes or skins , the bones , the flesh , and coagmentations of membranes , flesh and juices . and therefore it would be proper enough to treat of these heads distinctly , and give instances of each of them in particular . but yet i think it will be more convenient , to set down in order the principal fountains , whence the porousness of the substances belonging to the animal kingdom ( as the chymists speak ) may be derived , and to annex to each of these the experiments and observations , upon which i argue from it , and which it will be easy to refer , if that be thought fit , to this or that of the parts above mentioned ( namely the membranes , bones , &c. ) whereto they shall ( respectively ) appear the most properly to belong . chap. i. the first thing from which i will deduce the porosity we have been speaking of , is , the frame or constitution of the stable parts of the bodies of animals . for the body of an animal being not a rude and indigested lump of matter , but a curious engine , admirably framed and contrived for the exercise of several functions as nutrition , generation , sensation , and many differing local motions , it was necessary that it should be furnished with variety of dissimilar and organical parts not only very skilfully , but very differingly , contrived congruous to the several uses for which they were designed , or if you please , to the several functions they were to perform . and , because 't will be easily granted , that the corpuscles , that are skilfully brought together for such purposes , must be so contexed as not to touch one another exactly every where , it will readily follow that they must leave little intervals or pores between them , and that , considering the multitude of particles that must go to the making up the body of the animal , and the great difference and variety in point of bigness and figure of the corpuscles that are requisite to contex such differing parts , as membranes , fibres bones , grizles , ligaments , veins , arterys , nerves , &c. both the number and the variety of the pores cannot but be very great . this argument will be much confirmed , by what there will be occasion to say further to the same purpose , in the essay touching the porosity of even solid bodies . wherefore i shall now proceed to the second thing , whence we may derive that of animal substances . chap. ii. this is afforded us by considering the nutrition of animals . for there being continually a great waste made of their substance , partly by the exclusion of visible excrements , and partly by the avolation of invisibles steam , this great loss must necessarily from time to time be repairpaired by the supplies afforded by nutrition of which the best , if not the only intelligible , way of giving an account , is , to conceive that the alimental juice , prepared chiefly in the stomach is impelled or attracted ( for to our present purpose it matters not which ) to the parts of the body that are to be nourished by it , and the corpuscles of the juice insinuate themselves at those pores they find commensurate to their bigness , and shape ; and those that are must congruous , being assimilated , add to the substance of the part wherein they settle , and so make amends for the consumption of those that were lost by that part before . this may be illustrated by what happens in plants , and especially trees , in which , of the various corpuscles that are to be found in the liquors , that moisten the earth , and are agitated by the heat of the sun and the air , those that happen to be commensurate to the pores of the root , are by their intervention impelled into it , or imbibed by it , and thence conveyed to the other parts of the tree in the form of sap which passing through new strainers , ( whereby its corpuscles are separated , and prepared or fitted to be detained in several parts ) receives the alterations requisite to the being turned into wood , bark , leaves , blossoms , fruit , &c. but to return to animals , our argument from their nutrition will be much confirmed , by considering , that in children and in other young animals , that have not yet attained their due stature and bulk , the nutrition is so copious as to amount to a continu'd augmentation . for , as 't is evident that animals grow in all their parts , and each part according to all its dimensions , in so much that even the cavities of bones increase ; so we cannot well conceive how this can be done , unless the nutritive liquor be distributed through the whole body of the part that is to be nourished and augmented . and to this distribution 't is requisite that the body abound with pores into which the congruous particles of the juice may be intimatly admitted , & penetrating even into the innermost recesses , may place or lodge themselves in the manner that is most convenient for the natural increase of the part . but the more particular declaration of this process i leave to anatomists and physicians . chap. iii. having premis'd once for all , that in this essay , i often use the word skin in the lax and popular sense of it , without nicely distinguishing the epidermis or cuticula , called in english the scarf-skin , from the cutis it invests and sticks closely to ; i shall proceed to another topic , whence the porousness of animals may be argued , namely , the great plenty of matter that is daily carried off by sweat , and insensible transpiration . for , 't is confest that sweat is discharged at the pores of the skin ; and since there is no penetration of dimensions , we may safely conclude , that the matter that is not wasted by sweat , or by any other sensible way of evacuation , must have small pores or out-lets in the skin , at which it may issue in the form of steams ; though nothing hinders but that invisible effluvia also may evaporate at the same pores with the sweat , though for want of plenty or grossness , or a fit disposition in the ambient , those effluvia be not at the orifices of those pores brought into little drops , such as those of sweat . that therefore the skins of a multitude of animals , though they seem close to the eye , may be porous , may ( as we have been saying ) be argued in many of them from their sweating . but because all of them have not been observed to sweat , as is wont to be particularly affirmed of dogs , we shall add some other instances to make it probable . we may sometimes , in the smooth skin of a living man , discern pores with good microscopes , and , with one that is none of the best , we may easily on the inside of gloves , which are made but of skins drest , discern good store of these little out-lets : sometimes orderly enough ranged to make the sight not unpleasant . and though some of them may , i think , be suspected to have been made by the hairs that grew on the skin before 't was drest , yet that greater numbers of them , than can be supposed to come from thence , are perforations that pass quite through the leather , may , not improbably , be shewn by the usual practice of chymists , to purify quick-silver by tying it up strictly in a piece of kids or sheeps leather , and then wringing it hard to force it out ; by which means the lower surface of the leather will be covered with a mercurial dew or sweat which will fall down and fly out , as the pores happen to open this or that way , in a thick shower of globules , leaving the dross behind in the leather . and tho when a mans skin is tanned it is of a greater thickness then one would expect , and that which i employed seem'd almost as thick as a buck-skin glove yet having had the curiosity to try the same experiment with the skin of a mans arm , i found the quick-silver would be squeez'd out at the pores of that also . 't is not necessary that i should here inquire , whether the little holes , unperceiv'd by the naked eye , at which the sweat is discharged , and perhaps the matter that the body looses by insensible transpiration gets out , be not , at least most of them , the orifices of small excretory vessels , belonging to those very numerous glandules which the excellent anatomists steno and malpighi are said to have discovered beneath the cuticula , and which for their smalness and shape have been called glandulae miliares . i need not , i say , engage in this inquiry , since according to this ingenious opinion also , the skin must be allow'd a multitude of small perforations or pores , and that is sufficient for my purpose , from whencesoever this porosity proceeds in a mans skin . for the next observation will shew that some membranes of animals may give passage to transpir'd matter without being perforated by the excretou● vessels of glandules . the membranes or skins under the shells of hens eggs , though they be very thin , are of a contexture very fine and close as may be confirmed by their resisting the sharp corpuscles of vinegar ; and yet , that not only these skins , but the shells that cover them , are porous , may be inferred from the experiments i made , of keeping them suspended for a good while , and carefully counterpoised in good scales ; for by these it appeared , that the eggs did from time to time manifestly lose in weight ; which could not reasonably be imputed but to an invisible transpiration , the rather , because usually in eggs that have been kept long , there will be at one end a cavity which is wont to increase with their age , and is made by the shrinking of the membrane from the shell , to accommodate it self to the diminished quantity of matter , that remains to be involved by it . when i consider the plenty of matter , that is wont to be discharged daily by insensible perspiration , especially in healthful men that exercise themselves moderately , i cannot but think it probable , that the minute pores , that suffice for the carrying off so much matter , are very numerous , and are much more so than even by the multitude of drops of sweat , that serve to wet the skin , men are wont to imagine . for sanctorius in his excellent little tract de medicina statica affirms , that what is barely carryed off by insensible transpiration does ordinarily amount to more , that is , diminishes more the weight of a mans body , than all the visible excrements ( whether gross or liquid ) put together . aph. vi . he adds , if the meat and drink , taken in one day , amount to the weight of eight pound , the insensible transpiration ordinarily amounts to five pounds or thereabouts . and elsewhere says , that sometimes in the space of 24 hours , in the winter time , a healthy body may exhale fifty ounces or more . and some tryals , that i have carefully made upon my self , added to some others of a very curious as well as great prince , that made use of a like instrument , & did me the honour to acquaint me with the events , gave me no cause to reject sanctorius observations , considering the difference in point of heat , between the climate of italy , where he writ , and that of england , where ours were made ; only i fear , there has been committed an oversight by those many that ascribe all the decrement of weight , that is not referrable to the grosser excrements , to what transpires at the pores of the visible parts of the skin , without taking notice of that great plenty of steams that is in expirations discharged through the wind-pipe by the lungs , and appear manifest to the eye it self in frosty weather ; though they may be presumed to be then less copious than those invisible ones that are emitted in summer , when the ambient air is much warmer . but though i look upon the wind-pipe as the great chimney of the body in comparison of those little chimneys ( if i may so call them ) in the skin , at which the matter that is wasted by perspiration is emitted , yet the number of these little vents is so very great , that the fuliginous exhalations that steal out at them , cannot but be very considerable . besides that , those that are discharged at the aspera arteria , do probably , at least for the most part , issue out at the latent pores of the membranes that invest the lungs ; which membranes may be lookt upon as external parts of the body , in reference to the air , tho not in reference to our sight . but , to return to our eggs , we may safely allow a very great evacuation to be made at the pores of the skin in man , who is a sanguineous and hot animal , since we see that even eggs , that are still actually cold , transpire . and i elsewhere mention the copious transpiration even of frogs , that are always cold to the touch ; and the decrement in weight of some animals , soon after they are strangled or suffocated , when , their vital heat being extinct , no more fumes are emitted by expirations at the wind-pipe : to which signs may be added the trivial experiment of holding in warm weather the palp of ones finger , as near as one can without contact , to some cold & solid smooth body , as to a piece of polished steel or silver ; for you will often times see this body presently sullyed or overcast , with the invisible steams that issue out of the pores of the finger , and are by the cold and smooth surface of the body condensed into visible steams , that do as 't were cloud that surface , but upon the removal of the finger , quickly fly off , and leave it bright again . the perviousness of the skin outwards may not improbably be argued from the quickness wherewith some medicines take away some black and blew discolorations of the skin , that happen upon some lighter stroke , or other contusions . for , since these preternatural and unsightly colours are wont by physicians to be imputed to some small portions of blood , that upon the contusion is forced out of the capillary vessels that lye beneath the surface of it , & being extravasated are obliged to stagnate there ; it seems very likely , that if a powerful medicine do quickly remove the discoloration , that work is performed by attenuating , and dissolving , and agitating the matter , and disposing it to transpire through the cutaneous pores , though perhaps , when 't is thus changed , some part of it may be imbibed again by the capillary vessels , and so by the circulation carryed into the mass of blood. now , that there are medicines that will speedily work upon such black and blew marks , the books and practice of physicians and chirurgeons will oblige us to admit . helmont talks much of the great vertue of white briony root in such cases . and a notable experiment made a while ago by a learned acquaintance of mine in an odd case , did not give helmont the lye. and i know an eminent person , who having some while since received a stroke , by a kick of an horse , on his leg , a very threatning contusion , which made the part look black and frightful , he was in a few hours cured of the pain of the hurt , and freed from the black part of the discoloration by the bare application of the chopt leaves of hissop mixt with fresh butter into the form of a pultess . nor is it only the skin that covers the visible parts of the body that we judg to be thus porous , but in the membranes that invest the internal parts , we may reasonably suppose both numerous and very various pores , according to the exigency of their peculiar and different functions or offices . for , the two first causes of porosity mention'd in this essay , are as well applicable to the membranes that cover the internal parts , as the liver , the spleen , &c. as to the external skin , or membrane that covers the limbs ; and in some respects the transpiration through such pores seems more advantaged , than that through the pores of the surface of the body ; since the parts that environ the spleen , liver , kidneys , &c. in man , are hot in comparison of the ambient air , and being also wet , which the air is not , the laxity of the pores of the internal parts is doubly befriended . and perhaps it may be allowable to conceive , both the skin that covers the limbs , and the membranes that invest the internal parts of the body , to be like worsted stockings , wast-coats , &c. which in their ordinary state have a kind of continuity , but upon occasion can have their pores every way enlarged and stretched , in this or that manner , as the agents that work on them determine them to be . this may be confirmed , by what we manifestly see in the finer sort of leather , as that of kid or lamb , and by the latent pores that may be opened in sheeps-leather , and mans leather , by the pressure of included quick-silver . this porosity of a living mans skin and other membranes , though internal ones , will the more easily be assented to if it appear that such thick and gross membranes , as the urinary bladders of dead animals , are porous and penetrable even by water . this we tryed , by putting some salt of tartar in a clean well dryed bladder ( which ought to be afterwards tyed up close in the neck , lest the effect should be ascribed to the moist air ) and leaving the lower part of the bladder , as far as the salt , reached immersed in common water , whose particles by degrees insinuated themselves into the pores of the bladder , in plenty enough to resolve the salt of tartar into a liquor . and , that it may not be said that the acrimony of the salt , by fretting the bladder , made way for the corpuscles of the water , i shall add that the experiment succeeded , but much more slowly , when we tryed it with sugar instead of salt of tartar. and there are some , who pretend that certain syrups made this slovenly way , which they would have pass for a secret , are very much preferable to those made of common water . that the films that line the shells of eggs are of a very close contexture seems probable , as by other things , so by their resisting some liquors , sharp enough to corrode the shell , and yet that such membranes are pervious to liquors that are none of the most subtile of all , we found by the ensuing experiment . this was made by taking an ordinary hens egg , and keeping it for two or three days in distill'd vinegar , or in strong crude vinegar . for then taking it out of the liquor and wiping it well , it was visibly , and not inconsiderably , swell'd , which i concluded to be from the ingress of some particles of the liquors , at the pores of the skins that invest the white of the egg. for we found nothing broken , though we made the tryal more than once . and to be satisfied that the manifest expansion proceeded from some other cause , than the meer dilatation of the white , or yolk , or both , we compared the weight of the egg , after it was taken out and well wiped , with that which had been taken before 't was put into the menstruum , and found the egg , notwithstanding the loss of the shell , to be considerably heavier than 't was before its immersion . i shall add on this occasion that by a more unlikely way than that newly recited , both the egg , shell and lining of an egg , may be penetrated . for , notwithstanding the fine and close contexture of the membranes that invest the eggs , the chineses have a way of salting them in the shell , as i have been assured both by english and dutch merchants trading to the east indies . and in one of the dutch journals sent by the council of batavia to their principals in holland , and intercepted by an english man of war , i met with divers accounts of great numbers of salted eggs , that were such or such a day of such a month brought in by sea to batavia or other ports . long after which time , meeting with an ingenious physician , that liv'd in batavia , i learned by enquiry from him , that 't is very true that such eggs are frequently met with in those parts ; he having divers times eaten of them there : some that he judged to have been either boyled or roasted , before they were salted ; and others that were raw , when they came to be dressed for him , but yet retained a briny tast . and , though the merchants i enquired of could not tell me what way the chineses employed to salt their eggs , without making them unfit for common use , yet by a tryal made with clay and brine , in which i kept the eggs for a competent time , i was perswaded that 't was possible the chineses should have the art ascribed to them . for upon the breaking of an egg coated with clay , after it had lain for a competent time in brine , i found its tast considerably salt , but was , by i know not what accident , hindered from prosecuting the experiment , and endeavouring to make it more practicable and useful . i knew a physitian of more learning than vertue , who , being tormented with a violent and obstinate colic of a peculiar kind , was wont to relieve himself by clisters of sack ; thô he usually found that not long after he had taken any of them , they would make him giddy , and fuddle him , as he himself confessed to me . but upon this instance i lay not much weight , and less upon what was answered me by a great chirurgeon , who having practised his art in the west-indies , and being asked by me whether he had not dressed wounds and ulcers with the recent juice of tobacco ( a plant i use to keep growing in my garden for its excellent vertues in cuts , burns , and tumors ; ) and whether , if he employed it , he did not find it emetick , he told me among other things , that having divers times dressed with this juice a small ulcer in a womans leg , the patient soon after the application would grow sick , and have her stomack turned , or actually vomit . but , as i was saying , on this instance i lay no stress , because the corpuscles of the tobacco might probably enough get in at the small orifices of some corroded vessels , and so be conveyed inwards , rather by the help of the circulation of the blood , than on the account of the porousness of the parts . and therefore i shall rather mention what has been related to me , by an eminent physician of the famous colledge of london , namely , that he had divers times given himself a vomit , by a certain application of decocted tobacco to his wrists , and some other external parts ; which brings into my mind , what is affirmed to have been observed in some children that have scabb'd heads , who have been made drunk , by the application of clothes or spunges wetted in infusion of tobacco , or of strong liquors , and applied to the part affected . though in this case the inebriating particles may be suspected to have got in , not at the meer pores , but rather at the orifices of the capillary vessels , that were made accessible by such little solutions of continuity , as are seldom wanting in scabbed heads . that children may be purged by outward applications is asserted by some physicians ; and an experienced person of that number has affirmed to me , that he can almost constantly do it by a plaister . but 't is more considerable what was related to me by an eminent virtuoso , who being indisposed to believe such things a while before he told me the story , was desired by a curious person to shew him his hand which the relator having done the other took it in his hand , which was moistened ( as was afterwards confessed ) with a kind of subtile chymical oil , but so slightly , that the relator scarce minded it , till some time after when he found himself prest with a motion , like that which a purge would have given him ; for the other thereupon smiling , my acquaintance began to suspect what the matter might be , and was in a short time purged four times , without griping , or other pain or discomposure . but to return to the porousness of membranes , it may serve to make way for your admitting it , to observe , that though lute-strings be but ropes of fibres ( which are at least the chief parts that membranes consist of ) dead , cold and stiff , yet when the lute is in tune they will sometimes in wet weather swell so forcibly as with noise and violence to break , which proceeds from the copious ingress of moist vapors into their pores , whereby they are not only shortened , but as i have tryed in nice scales , made manifestly heavier . the porosity of the internal parts of animals by both the foremention'd ways ( viz. of emission and reception of corpuscles , ) may be confirmed by the things that happen in some of the metastases or translations ( as the physitians call them ) of the morbifick matter in diseased bodies . 't is known to them that are any thing conversant with hospitals , or the observations of physicians , that there do not seldom occur in diseases sudden removes of the matter that caused them , from one part to another according to the nature and functions of which , there may emerge a new disease , more or less dangerous than the former , as the invaded part is more or less noble . thus oftentimes the matter , which in the sanguiferous vessels produced a feaver , being discharged upon some internal parts of the head , produces a delirium or phrenitis ; in the latter of which i have somewhat wondered , to see the patients water so like that of a person without a feaver ; the same febrile matter either by a deviation of nature , or medicines improper or unskillfully given , is discharged sometimes upon the pleura , or membrane that lines the sides of the chest ; sometimes upon the throat ; sometimes upon the guts ; and causes in the first case a pleurisie , in the 2d a squinancy , and in the third a flux , for the most part dysenterical . but , because i suppose , that many , if not most , of these translations of peccant humors , are made by the help of the circulation of the blood , i forbore at the beginning of this section to speak in general terms , when i mentioned them in reference to the porousness of the internal parts of the body , and contented my self to intimate , that some of them may serve to confirm that porosity . this will not perhaps seem improbable , if we consider that 't is in effect already proved , by the same arguments by which we have shewn , that both the skin and the internal membranes are furnished with pores , permeable by particles whose shape and size are correspondent to them . for we may thence probably deduce , that when a morbifick matter , whether in the form of liquor , or of exhalations , chances to have corpuscles suited to the pores of this or that part of the body , it may , by a concourse of circumstances , be determined to invade it , and so dislodge from its former receptacle , and excite disorders in the part it removes to . chap. iv. another thing whence the porosity of animals may be argued ▪ is , their taking in of effluvia from without . for these cannot get into the internal parts of the body , to perform their operations there , without penetrating the skin , and consequently entring the pores of it . now , that things , outwardly applyed to the body , may without wounding the skin , be convey'd to the internal parts , there are many things that argue . and first , it has been observed in some persons , ( for all are not equally disposed to admit the action of particular poysons ) that cantharides , being externally apply'd by chyrurgions or physicians , may soon , and before they break the skin , produce great disorders in the urinary passages , and sometimes cause bloody water . and i remember , that having once had a blistering plaister , applyed by a skilful chyrurgion between my shoulders , though i knew not that there were any cantharides at all mixt with the other ingredients , yet it gave me about the neck of my bladder one of the sensiblest pains i had ever felt , and forced me to send for help at a very unseasonable time of night . the porousness of the skin may be also argued from divers of the effects even of milder plaisters . for , though some plaisters may operate as they closely stick to the skin , and hinder perspiration from within , and fence the part from the external cold ; yet , t will scarce be denied , that many of them have notable effects upon other accounts , whereof none is so likely and considerable as the copious ingress of the corpuscles of the plaister , that enter at the pores of the skin , and being once got in , act according to their respective natures & vertues . the like may be said of ointments , whose operations , especially on children ( whose skin is ordinarily more soft and lax ) are sometimes very notable . and i have known considerable things performed by them , in an internal disease of grown men , where i should scarce have expected a vegetable ointment should perform so much : i say , a vegetable ointment , for 't is vulgarly known that by mercurial ointments salivation may be excited ; and sometimes , against the physitians will , the corpuscles of the quick silver get so far into the body , that he is not able to get them out again . what we lately said of plaisters , may be applyed to those that physitians call pericarpia , or wrist-bands : the better sort of which , though sometimes ineffectual , are oftentimes successful in stopping fits of agues , as i have frequently found in a mixture , elsewhere mention'd , of currans , hops , baysalt well beaten together , by which , by gods blessing , many , and i among others , have been freed from simple tertians , and either double tertians or quotidians . the argument of the porosity of animals , drawn from those things that get in through their skins , without breaking or wounding them , may be much strengthned , if it can be made appear , that those physitians do not deceive us , who ascribe sensible operations and vertues , to things externally applyed , in so loose a way , that they do not so much as stick to the skin , or perhaps immediately touch it ; such as some call periapta and appensa ; divers of which are best known among us , by the name of amulets ; such as are the quills containing quick-silver or arsenick , that some hang about their necks , and wear under their shirts , against the plague and other contagious diseases ; and the bloodstones that others wear against haemorrhages ; and the stone which the women use in the east-indies , for a quite contrary effect , in obstructione mensium . that many of these external medicines , answer not the promises of those that extol them , having some of them no sensible operation at all , and others no considerable one , experience has assured judicious observers ; but that some of them , especially on some patients , may have considerable , not to say admirable , operations , i confess my self by other motives , as well as authority , to be perswaded . having been one summer frequently subject to bleed at the nose , and reduced to imploy several remedies to check that distemper ; that which i found the most effectual to stanch the blood , was some moss of a dead mans scull ( sent for a present out of ireland where 't is far less rare than in most other countrys ) though it did but touch my skin till the herb was a little warm'd by it . and though i remember not that i have known any great matter done to stop haemorrhagies by the bare outward application of other blood-stones ; yet of one that look'd almost like an agate , i admired the effects , especially upon a young and extraordinarily sanguin person . to which i shall add a memorable thing , communicated to the experienced zwelfer by the chief physitian of the states of moravia . for this learned man whom he extols for a great physician and philosopher ; assures him , that having prepared some trochischs of toads according to helmonts way , ( which i remember i also was solicitous to prepare , but had not occasion to make tryal of their vertue , ) he not only found , that being worn as amulets they preserved him and all his domesticks , and friends , from the plague ( though he daily visited the infected ) but that having caused these trochischs to be put upon the plague sores of several persons , none of them died , but the venom of the pestilential carbuncles was thereby so weakened that the ulcers were afterward easily cured by vulgar remedies . and now , as to the difficulty , which i acknowledge not to be small , to conceive how bodies actually cold can emit effluvia , capable of penetrating ( without moistening it ) a membrane of so close a contexture as a mans skin ; i suppose it will be much lessened in the objectors opinion , by what he will meet with hereafter about the pores of bodies , and the figures of corpuscles . for supposing these to be congruous , it will not seem incredible , that the effluvia of amulets should in tract of time get passage through the pores of the skin of a living body . and to make this the more probable , i will give an instance in the skin of a dead animal . and , because this requires a liquor i much employ in these trials about porology , though i have many years since in another tract taught how to make it for another purpose ; yet i shall here repeat , that 't is made by exactly mingling flower of brimstone , powdered sal armoniac and good quicklime in equal quantities , save that , if the quicklime be not very dry and good , a fourth or fifth part must be superadded , for these being nimbly mixed , and distilled by degrees of fire in a retort , till the sand be at length brought to be almost red hot , there will come over a smoaking spirit , which must be kept very carefully stopt , and which for distinctions sake , i also use to call , the permeating menstruum or liquor , and its expirations the penetrant , or permeating fumes . and now you will easily understand the experiment i was about to mention , which was this ; we took a very clean piece of polish'd copper , in want of which one of silver will serve the turn , and having lapt it up in a piece of either lambs or sheeps leather , so that it was every way inclosed , we then held it over the orifice of the vial that contained the spirit , at a pretty distance from the liquor , whose fumes nevertheless did quickly , ( perhaps in a minute of an hour or less ) pervade the pores of the leather , and operate upon the included metal as appeared by the deep and lasting tincture it had given to the lower surface of it , though the interposed leather it self was not deprived of its whiteness , nor at all sensibly discoloured ; however it smelt of the sulplureous steams that had invaded it . and , if i misremember not , the same experiment succeeded , though somewhat more slowly , when a double leather was interposed between the fumes and a new piece of copper coin . this will be thought the less strange , when i shall come to some other instances of the penetrancy of these spirits . in the mean while i leave it to be considered , whether this may not suggest some conjecture at that strange phoenomenon , which is recorded by authors of good repute , that sometimes in great thunders the lightening , among other operations , has been found to have manifestly discoloured mens money , without burning the purses or pockets wherein it lay . for in our experiment , the steams that in a trice pervaded the leather , the most usual matter whereof purses are made , were sulphureous , as the smell argues , that those which accompany the fulmen are wont to be ; and whereas these , when they invade bodies , are usually very hot , ours operated when the liquor that emitted them was actually cold . and if it be said , that sometimes their money has been found discolored in their pockets , who were not struck , by the fulmen , but had it only pass near them , it may be objected , that tho the intire body , whether fluid or solid , if there be any of this latter kind that is in latine called fulmen ( for our english word , thunderbolt seems not so applicable to a fluid ) did not touch them , yet it might scatter steams enough round about it , to cause the phoenomenon . for confirmation of which i shall take notice , that a considerable person of my acquaintance , having had the curiosity to ascend a burning mountain in america , till the sulphureous steams grew too offensive to him , he told me that , among other operations he observed them to have upon him , one was , that he found the money he had about him turned of a black and dirty colour , such as i have observed our sulphureous steams often give both to copper , and to silver coins . but whether or no our spirits will justify the conjecture , they invited me to mention , at least their so easily pervading the skin of a dead animal may make it probable , that the skin of a living man may be easily penetrated by external steams whose approach the eye does not perceive , and whose operations , though not inconsiderable , may therefore be unsuspected . i leave to physitians to consider , what use may be made of this observation , in reference to the propagation of contagious diseases , by the contact of infected air , distinct from the respiration of it , and by the penetration of the steams , that issuing from divers bodies invade the skin , and may perhaps be capable of operations , either hurtful or friendly , that are not usually suspected to proceed from such causes , and are therefore misascribed to others . and on this occasion it will not be impertinent to add , that by hanging up sheeps leather or lambs leather in the free air , the vapors of it would so insinuate themselves into the pores in wet weather , that a moderate degree of moisture in the air would add to it a not inconsiderable weight , of which dry weather , whether hot or cold , would deprive it . chap. v. i must not in this place omit some instances , very proper to manifest the penetrableness of membranes to fumes themselves , if they be subtile enough for their pores , or correspondent enough to them . among the observations published by physicians i have met with some by which it appears that cantharides may have great effects upon the internal parts of the body , though they do not so much as touch the skin , but are placed at some distance from it , so that their effluvia must be transmitted through other bodies before they can penetrate that . the learned michael paschalius mentions a chyrurgion , who was twice brought to void much blood with his urine , by some spanish flies that he carryed about in a purse or bag. and another doctor of note relates of another person that came to complain to him , that he pissed blood , having carryed about with him cantharides , though in his pocket , and adds , that a like case was recounted to him by helidaeus , whom he calls an eminent bolognian physician . we see , that in linnen cloth , the finer and more slender the threads are the closer and less porous , coeteris paribus , the linnen is : by analogy to which one may esteem the thin film that lines the shell of an egg , to be of an exceeding close contexture ; and yet that even this film is not impervious to some fumes , i have found by the following tryal . to make this , we slowly and warily pick'd off a sufficient part of the shell of a hens egg , from the skin that lay just beneath it , and is wont to stick so close to it , that their separation , without injuring the membrane , is not easy . in this skin , being wip'd , we wrapt up a flat piece of copper , whose surface was made bright , that the change of colour might be the better seen ; and having kept this covered bit of plate , over the fumes of our smoaking liquor lately mentioned for a minute or two by our ghess we unfolded the skin , and found , as we expected , that the lower surface of the copper which was it that had been held over the fumes , was turned of a very dark colour , which manifested that even so fine and closely contexed a membrane was not only , as we have formerly shewn , penetrable by liquors , but readily pervious to our sulphureous exhalations , tho these were probably but faintly emitted , since the liquor they came from was then actually cold . but in making the tryal it is fit to hold ( as we did in that newly recited ) the membrane against the light , to see if it be intire , and have escaped all those little lacerations that are hardly avoidable in severing it from the shell it sticks so close to . if this caution be neglected , 't is easy to be imposed on , by overlooking some little holes , that are not easily discerned when one looks down upon the skin , and yet may be sufficient to make the experiment deceitful . but , thô when 't is well made , it is a notable confirmation of the doctrine endeavoured to be established in this paper , yet i shall now subjoyn a more considerable instance to the same purpose . the porousness of the internal membranes of the body , will be more easily granted , if it be considered that either the liquors , or the moist exhalations , whose action is promoted by the natural heat of the parts , keeps them constantly wet or moist , and thereby renders them more lax , and more penetrable by subtle spirits or other corpuscles . in favour of this reflection i made the following experiment . we took a piece of a dryed urinary bladder , which was judged to have been a calfs ; and having lapt it about a new piece of silver coin , so that the bladder was single where it covered the lower side of the piece , we kept it for divers minutes , by guess , over the spirituous fumes of our often mentioned permeating liquor , but could not perceive that the coin was thereby at all affected or ternished . whence we concluded that the pores of the dry bladder were too close and narrow ▪ to give passage to the expirations of the menstruum . but presuming that moisture would some what relax them with another piece of the same bladder , made limber by being a little wetted in common water , we lapt up another like peace of new coin , as we had done the former , and kept it at the same distance as before , from the liquor , but not for so long a time . for after about two minutes , by guess , we remov'd and took out the piece , and , as we expected , found much of its lower surface ( that regarded the liquor ) deeply discoloured . which experiment will not only justify what i lately said , of the greater laxity of moist than of dry membranes , but will be thought no mean confirmation of what is in this essay delivered about the porosity of membranes , since the urinary bladder does , as anatomists well know , consist of more than one membrane , though they stick so close together , as to appear but one to the eye . and this bladder was speedily penetrated by the fumes that our liquor emitted in exceeding cold and frosty weather , though the bladder it self was not in the warm body of the live animal , but had been so long kept dryed and cold , that probably the moisture it introduced in scarce one minute of an hour , could not restore it to the laxity it had , whilst it was a part of the living calf . one of the notablest instances i ever met with , of the porosity of the internal membranes of the humane body , was afforded me by that british nobleman , of whom our famous harvey tells a memorable , not to say matchless , story . this gentleman , having in his youth , by an accident which that doctor relates , had a great and lasting perforation made in his thorax , at which the motion of his heart could be directly perceiv'd did not only out live the accident , but grew a strong , and somewhat corpulent man ; and so robust , as well as gallant , that he afterwards was a souldier , and had the honour to command a body of an army for the king. this earl of mount-alexander ( for that was his last title having marryed one of my nearest kinswomen , and having been told that i was very desirous to see , what i had heard such strange things of , very obligingly came , at a fit time , to give me that satisfaction . in order to which he removed that which covered the wide orifice of his hurt , and gave me the opportunity of looking into his thorax , and of discerning there the motions of the cone , as they call it , or mucro of the heart . but these things i mention but upon the by , and because of the strangeness of the fact ; the thing i principally intended relates to my present argument . having then made several inquiries fit for my purpose , his lordship told me , that when he did , as he was wont to do from time to time , ( though not every day ) inject with a syringe some actually warm medicated liquor into his thorax , to cleanse and cherish the parts , he should quickly and plainly find in his mouth the tast and smell of the drugs , wherewith the liquor had been impregnated . and i further learned , that , whereas he constantly wore upon the unclosed part of his chest , a silken quilt , stuffed with aromatick and odoriferous powders , to defend the neighbouring parts and keep them warm ; when he came , as he used to do after some weeks , to imploy a new quilt , the fragrant effluvia of it would mingle with his breath in exspiration , and very sensibly perfume it , not , as i declared i suspected , upon the score of the pleasing exhalations that might get up between his clothes and his body , but that got into the organs of respiration , and came out with his breath at his mouth , as was confirmed to me by a grave & judicious statesman , that happened to be then present , and knew this general very well . other circumstances i might add , but that i dare not trust my memory for them , and unhappily lost the paper , wherein the oddness of the things invited me to set them down , for fear of forgetting them . that part of this narrative which relates to injections may be much confirm'd by what is delivered by galen himself , who says that mulsum or honeyed water , being injected at the orifice of wounds penetrating into the cavity of the thorax , has been observed to be in part received into the lungs , and discharged out of the aspera arteria by coughing . and this he mentions as a known thing , imploying it as a medium whereby to prove another . the mention that has been made of the porosity of membranes , brings into my mind what i once observed at the dissection , made by some physicians , and anatomists , of a lusty souldier , that was hanged for i know not what crime . this man , though otherwise young and sound , was observed to have been long molested with what they call a short , dry cough , which made us expect to find something much amiss in his lungs . but meeting with nothing there , we were at a loss for the cause of this cough , till coming to consider the internal part of the chest , we perceived something on one of the sides , by tracing of which we discovered , that between the pleura and the substance of the intercostal muscles , there was lodged a certain matter , of the breadth of a silver crown piece , or thereabouts , of a roundish figure , and of the consistence and almost colour of new , soft cheese , which odd stuff was concluded to have been the remains of some ill cured pleurisy , and to have transmitted through the pores of the pleura , though that be a very close membrane , some noxious effluvia , which ever and anon irritated the lungs into an irregular and troublesom motion , and so produced the cough the malefactor had been molested with . chap. vi. i am well aware that 't is far less difficult , to prove the permeableness of single membranes , than that of such a part of the body , as seems to be an aggregate of several parts , which in regard of their close adhesion , are looked upon but as one part , to which , on that account , men commonly give a distinct name . but yet there are some phaenomena that seem to argue , that even such compounded or resulting parts if i may so call them , are not destitute of pores , which whether they be not some of them the orifices of exceeding slender and therefore unobserved capillary vessels , i must not now stay to enquire . when the cavity of the abdomen in those hydropical persons that are troubled with an ascites , is filled with water , or rather with a liquor that i have found to be much more viscous , it justly appears strange , that by an hydragogue , or some appropriated purging medicine , great quantities of this gross liquor should in a short time be carryed off by siege , and perhaps also by urine , though to get into the cavity of the guts , or that of either of the kidneys , it seems necessary that it permeate the tunicles , and other component parts , of the viscera it gets into . i know not whether i may on this occasion take notice of what physicians observe to occur now and then in empyema's that follow ill conditioned pleurisies . for it has several times been observed , that upon the bursting of such imposthumes into the cavity of the chest , the purulent matter hath been voided by siege and urine . i hesitate , as i was saying , whether i should alledge this phaenomenon , as a proof of what i now contend for , till it be determined whether this metastasis be made by transudation properly so called , or by the ingress of the pus into the imperfectly closed orifices of the vessels of the lungs ; where being once admitted and mingled with the blood they may with this circulating liquor arrive at the kidneys , or any other parts fitted to make a secretion of this heterogeneous matter . but whatever be the reason or manner of it , we find that the lungs do sometimes odly convey things to distant parts of the body . and if i may here mention a thing , cui honos praefationis est , i shall add that i have several times observ'd in my self , that when i had been an actor or an assistant in the dissection of a living dog , especially if his blood or body were rankly scented , i should divers hours after plainly find that odour in the excrements i voided by siege . a famous chirurgeon and anatomist relates , that one who was very ill of a dropsy , judged to arise from a scirrhus of the spleen , coming to ask his counsel and assistance , though he judged the patients case desperate , yet to content him , he ordered him to dip a very large sponge in good quick-lime-water , and having squeezed out the superfluous liquor , to bind it upon the region of the spleen , only shifting it from time to time . he adds , that after some months he was much surprized to receive a visit from this patient , with solemn thanks for his recovery ; the outward medicine having , it seems , resolved the scirrhus and concurred with nature to evacuate the hydropical humour . for the resolution of which hard tumour it seems necessary , that the sanative corpuscles of the external remedy should at length penetrate , not only the epidermis , and the true cutis , but the muscles themselves of the abdomen , and some other interposed parts . these instances may be strengthen'd by an eminent observation of galen , who takes notice that bones being sometimes broken , without piercing the skin that covers the part they belong to , when the callus is making , and the broken parts of the bone begin to be conglutinated together , a portion of that blood which had flowed to the part affected is carryed to the skin and permeats that , so as to wet and foul the dressings or bandages that are kept upon the limb affected by the fracture . chap. vii . bones , horns , and parts of the like substance , being those that are granted to be the most solid of the bodies of animals , i come in the last place to shew by particular experiments that these also have their pores . i say , by particular experiments , because in a general way , their porosity has been already proved , by the same arguments , from their original texture , nutrition , augmentation , &c. that have been employed to manifest the porousness of animal substances in general . that the nails of men , as well as their skins , are porous , may be gathered from their being easily and permanently tinged with divers metalline solutions , and particularly with those of silver in aquafortis , and gold in aqua regia ; the former of which solutions though cold , will but too easily tinge the skin and nails it chances to touch , and makes some little stay upon , with a dark and blackish colour ; which i found not that i could wash out with water , or , even with a far more penetrating and abstersive liquor . the like durableness i found in the purple spots , that i sometimes purposely made on my nails , by letting some little drops of the solution of gold in aqua regia dry upon them , which i now and then did , to observe the way of the nails growth . for if the stain were made near the root of the nail , it would be still , though very slowly , thrust on by the new matter , till after some weeks it arrived to the further end of the nail , and was fit to be pared off with it . but this only upon the by . 't is more to our purpose to take notice , that , though the menstruums imployed in the recited experiments be of themselves very acid and corrosive , yet they are so changed by the metals they have dissolved , that they are acid no more , the solution of silver being rather extreamly bitter , and that of gold of a kind of stiptic tast , almost like that which sloes , growing in the hedges , are wont to be of . ivory is a thing too well known to need to be described . and , since 't is generally lookt upon ( for i have had no opportunity to compare it with the bones ) as the solidest part of the vastest of terestrial animals , experiments proving its porosity , will be strong presumptions for that of the hardest parts of other animals . and the porousness of ivory may be argued from the several ways of dying it with permanent colours . for in these colorations the tinctures that make them , must penetrate into , and be lodged in the substance of the ivory , especially when the substance remains smooth and glassy , as i have divers times made it do , when i employed fit menstruums and metalline pigments . the solution i formerly mentioned of silver in aqua fortis , being laid upon ivory , will soon give it a dark and blackish stain , which is not , that i have found , to be washed off . i remember also that i many years since taught some ingenious artificers , to adorn ivory with a fine purple colour , by moistening it with , and suffering leisurely to dry on it , a solution of gold made in aqua regia . and if occasion required , allayed with water , nor needs either of these solutions be applyed hot , any more than the ivory needs to be heated . both which circumstances favour the porousness of the solid body . copper dissolved in aqua fortis stains ivory with a blewish colour , as i have sometimes seen in the hafts of knifes , about whose coloration nevertheless another way is also employed . but i remember that without making use of any acid or corrosive menstruum , i have even in the cold stained ivory , with a fine and permanent blew , like a turquois , by suffering to dry upon it as deep a solution as i could make of crude copper , in an urinous spirit , as that of sal armoniack . but now to return to bones , their growth in all their dimensions , does , as i lately noted , argue their porosity and the marrow that is found in the great hollow bones , whether it nourish them or no , must it self be supplyed by some alimental juice , that soaks or otherways penetrates , into the cavities that contain it . nor does it seem at all improbable , that blood it self may through small vessels be conveyed into the very substance of the bone , so as that the vessels reach at least a little way in it , though perhaps the liquor they carry may afterwards by imbibition be brought to the more internal parts of the bone. for not to urge that we manifestly see , that on each side of the lower jaw , nature has been careful to perforate the bones and make a channel in the substance of it ; which channel receives not only a larger nerve but a vein , & artery to bring in & carry back blood for the nourishment of the teeth , by distinct sprigs sent from the great branch to the particular teeth . not to urge this , i say , ( which i mention but to shew that the opinion lately proposed is agreeable to a known practice of nature ) i have been assured by eminent anatomists , whom i purposely consulted , that they have observed blood-vessels to enter a great way into the substance of the larger bones . and one of them affirmed , that he had traced a vessel even to the great cavity of the bone. which i the less scrupled to admit , because it has been observed , that in younger animals the cavity is in great part furnished with blood ▪ as well as marrow , and in those larger pores , whereof many are found in the more spongy substance of divers bones , blood has been observed to have been lodged , as also in the spongy part of the skull , that lies between the two tables , as i have been assured by skilful eye-witnesses . the blackness also , that bones acquire when put into a competent heat , and a peculiar kind of fatness which they may by heat be made to afford , shew that they harbour , even in their internal parts , store of unctuous particles , separable from the solid substance , ( which still retains its shape and continues solid ) in whose pores they may thereby be argued to have been lodged . the lightness of bones , even when their cavity is accessible to ( air and ) water , is also a great sign of their porosity . and so is their being corroded by tinging liquors , if they be penetrative and well applyed . i know not whether i should add on this occasion , that having taken calcined and pulverized bones , such as we use to make our cupels of , and , after having given them a good heat , kept them for some time in the air , but in a well covered place ; i found the imbibed moisture of the air to have manifestly increased their weight ; and that i also observed in a curious skeleton , where the bones were kept together by wires , instead of other ligaments , that though i kept it in a well covered place , not far from a kitchin fire , yet in very moist weather the bones seemed to swell , since those joynts that were easy to be bent , in dry weather , and that after several manners , would grow stiff and refractory , and indisposed to be put into such motions , when the weather was considerably wet . these particulars ( as i was saying ) i am somewhat doubtful whether i should here insert , because one may suspect the phaenomena may proceed rather from somewhat else , than the imbibed moisture of the air ; and yet i would not omitt to mention these observations , because i do not yet see any cause to which they may more probably ( or indeed so probably ) be assigned . and on this occasion i shall subjoyn some observations made on large and solid ox bones , which in one of my note books i find thus registred . nov. 15. we weighed two [ entire or unbroken ] marrow bones , and found the one to weigh ℥ xxix + ʒss , and the other ℥ xxiv + ʒiv + 30 gr . nov. 24. the former weighed ℥ xxix + ʒvi , and the latter ℥ xxv + ʒi + 30 gr . decemb. 28. the former weighed ℥ xxix + ʒiij . 55 gr . and the latter ℥ xxiv + ʒvii . + 39 gr . june 7th of the following year , the former weigh'd ℥ xxix + ʒii . and the latter ℥ xxiv + ʒvii . by which observations purposely made at differing times of the year , and in very good scales , it seems that bones do plentifully enough imbibe the exhalations of the air , and emit them again , together with some of their own , according as the ambient happens to be disposed . and these alterations argue the bones to abound with pores , since the external steams must have pores to receive them , and the effluvia must upon their recess leave pores behind them . i confess that to think ( as with some anatomists i lately seemed to do ) that bones themselves admit into their substance , vessels capable of conveying a nutritive liquor , we must suppose those vessels extreamly slender . but that 't is not only possible but somewhat credible , there may be such , i am induced to think , by what is known to happen in that disease , which from the country it most infests is called the plica polonica . for , tho one would think that the hairs of men are much too slender , to have cavities in them capable of visible liquors ; and though i have found it very difficult , even with a good microscope , to perceive any cavities in the hair of a man transversly cut ; yet not only some other writers of good note , but the judicious sennertus himself deliver , that in this disease ( of which he particularly treats ) it has been observed , that if the patients cause their intangled hair to be cut , as they sometimes do , by reason of its nastiness or unsightliness , they are not only thereby endangered , but sometimes the single hairs will actually bleed , where the ends have been cut off ; so that so thick a liquor as blood may be conveyed through vessels , that can at most be but in a proper sense capillary and must be far less than hairs , if their perforations be like those by which many plants have their nourishment conveyed to them , or such as are obvious in divers canes , which being cut quite through transversly , discover a multitude of distinct pores , that by some experiments one may be induced to guess , reach all along , and make the cane like a cylindrical bundle of minute pipes ; or rather a multitude of small cavities , that perforate from end to end the parenchyma , or substance analogous to it , that gives them stability . and for the present this sort of vessels seem to me , the more likely to be those that convey the blood to the extream parts of the hair , because even in horse hairs , which yet are nourished and grow , i am not yet sure , that i have discovered with my microscopes any cavity , and therefore suspect there may be divers imperceptible ones , for the hair is nourished and grows , which it is not like it should do if the body were solid ; and if there were but a single cavity in it , as in the lower part of a quill , 't is like the microscope i used would have discovered it , since with one much inferiour i could easily see , that several little short hairs , that grow upon the animal that yields musk , had each of them a cavity in it like that of the lower part of a quill . to the things that have already been said about the porosity of bones , i shall now add an observation of a very learned physician , that is very remarkable to our present purpose , because it argues , that even bodies not saline , nor actually moist , may from without get into the pores and cavities of humane bones . divers physicians have complain'd of the mischiefs done to the bones by mercury , employ'd to salivate in venereal diseases . whereof i remember i have read a very notable instance , in a learned book ( which i have not now by me ) of an eminent roman professor of physick , who had the opportunity of making several curious observations in the famous hospital of the incurabili at rome ; and is therefore the more to be credited ; where he relates , that in the cavity of at least one pocky-mans bones , there was found real quick-silver that had penetrated thither . and this brings into my mind a memorable observation of an ancient and experienced physician , who being famous for the cure of venereal diseases , was asked by me , what instances he had found of the penetration of quick-silver , either outwardly or inwardly administred , into the bones of men ? to this he answered , that he could not say he had himself taken notice of any quick-silver , in the cavities of greater bones , but that some other practitioners had told him , that they had met with such instances , as i enquired after . but for himself , he only remembred that a patient , who had been terribly fluxed with mercurial inunctions , coming afterwards to have one of the grinders of his lower jaw pulled out , because of the raging pain it had long put him to ; my relater had the curiosity to view narrowly this great tooth , and found , to his wonder , a little drop of true mercury in that slender cavity of the root , that admits the small vessels which convey nourishment and sense to the tooth , in more than one of whose three roots he affirmed to me that he found true , though but exceeding little , quick-silver . but a full testimony to my present purpose is afforded me by the experienced physician eustachius rudius , who relates , that he saw himself , and that others also observed , some bodies dissected , of those that had been anointed for the venereal pox , in the cavities of whose bones no small quantity of quick silver was got together , ( which yet ( to add that upon the by ) he says , did not hinder some of them from living many years , surviving those inunctions . ) chap. viii . i am not ignorant that , among the particulars laid together in the foregoing essay , there are some that are not absolutely necessary , to prove the porousness of the bodies of animals . but i thought it not impertinent to mention them , because i hoped that they , in conjunction with the rest , may be of some use to naturalists , in giving an account of several things that pass in a humane body , whether sound or sick , especially if it be of a topical disease , and may remove , or much lessen that great prejudice , that makes many ( and some of them otherwise learned ) physicians despise the use of all amulets , pericarpia , and other external medicines in distempers of the inward parts , upon a confident , but not well grounded supposition , that these remedies immediately touching but the outside of the skin , cannot exercise any considerable operations upon the internal parts of the body . but though i have thus acknowledged some passages of the foregoing essay to be supernumerary , yet i must not dismiss it without intimating that i might from one topick more have fetched a probable , though not a demonstrative argument , in favour of the porousness of animals . for this may be very probably argued from hence , that even inanimate , solid and ponderous bodies , that in all likelyhood must be of a far closer texture than the living bodies of animals ( whose various functions require a greater number and diversity of pores in their differing organs ) are not devoid of pores , and have some of them very numerous ones , as will be sufficiently made out in the following essay , to which i shall therefore hasten . n. b. the following paper is that which is refer'd to in the 35th page of this essay . hujus rei veritatem comprobat doctissimus ac celeberrimus medicus & philosophus d. johannes chrysostomus irmbler , statuum moraviae marchionatûs protomedicus , his verbis ad me scribens : et revera paravi ego , anno m. dclv , quo tempore inter infectos versabar quotidie , trochiscos bufonios , eósque ut caetera helmontii , indefessi veritatis indagandae , & ex puteo opinionum veterum nostram credulitatem excaecantium eruendae , nati philosophi , experimenta suas laudes sustinere comperi : inter , viginti autem bufones vix unum quidem , jucundo sane spectaculo , vidi vermiculos , per nares & oculos egressuros , manu repellere quamdiu poterat , doxec elanguerit bufo : sed trochiscos ex vermiculis unà cum pulvere emo●tui bufonis , & materiâ per anum ( nondum vidi per vomitum ; ) scilicet alis , pedibus , capitibus , ventribus scarabaeorum viridibus , auratisve & nigris , quos bufo cum terra in escam venatur , ejectâ , cerea patinâ exceptis , cum tragacantho rosato formatos , pluribus personis super anthraces opponi feci , atque nullum eorum mortuum esse dicere possum , sed & meorum domesticorum , ut & aliorum , quibus dedi , amicorum nullus , quod scio , infectus est . sic comperi non tantùm hisce trochiscis enervari virus pestilens in carbunculo jam admissum , ut dein vulgaribus chirurgicis remediis ulcus facili negotio fuerit curatum , sed etiam ad sinistram mammam ligatos , mihi meísque accursui & occursui infectorum expositis , animositatem quandam indicibilem conferre , atque ita miasmata & effluvia pestilentialia abarcere . hucusque excel . medicus moraviae . an essay of the porousness of solid bodies . chap. i as 't will with far less difficulty be allowed , that animals and vegetables , and such bodies , as have belonged to either , abound with pores , than that inanimate , solid , and even ponderous bodies are not destitute of them : so 't is far less difficult to make out the former than the latter of these propositions . and therefore , pyrophilus , i hope you will not expect that i should give you as many proofs of the one , as i have of the other ; however i despair not , that those i shall present you , will appear sufficient for my purpose , though they be not numerous enough to make me careful to marshal them in any exact order . of the reasons that induce me to think that even solid bodies are not destitute of pores , there are some that have a greater affinity with those arguments that the schools are wont to call à priori , because they require more unobvious ratiocinations upon physical principles , and others which resemble , and indeed are , such proofs as are usually named à posteriori , being suggested by the phaenomena afforded us by experience , without the help of any difficult ratiocinations . of the first sort of reasons i shall propose to you three ; and begin with that , which may be drawn from the origine and formation of divers hard bodies . for i have elsewhere endeavour●● and i hope not unsu●cessfully , to shew , both that divers stones , and even gems themselves , and that several metalline and other mineral bodies , were once either visible liquors or at least very soft substances . and i have elsewhere proved , that both these kinds of bodies do consist of , ( which is the case of liquors ) or abound in ( which is the case of soft and moist bodies ) minute particles of determinate sizes and shapes ; from whence i think one may very probably conclude , that such gems and other mineral bodies , notwithstanding any hardness they afterwards come to acquire , are not destitute of pores , since 't is no way likely , that corpuscles of various and very irregular figures , such as those of most liquors of the terrestrial globe are wont to be , can be so brought together , especially by chance , cold , or any other such agents , as not to intercept little intervals or pores between them . chap. ii. another thing which makes me think the porosity of the most part even of solid bodies to be great , is the consideration of the great disparity , that may be found in the specifick gravities of such bodies , as the eye does not perceive to be porous . for , though water be a body of that kind , and though its parts be so close packt together , that the attempts of ingenious men , to make a manifest compression of that liquor by outward violence , have not hitherto proved successful , yet we find , that stones , clays , metals , and even some woods and a multitude of other kinds of solids , will readily sink in water , and by consequence are specifically heavyer than it ; which greater gravity seems not any way explicable , without supposing , or at least so well as by supposing , that the corpuscles whereof such sinking bodies consist , do either lye closer together , or are separately more solid , than those of water ; which liquor must consequently be porous , though neither the eye , nor the great force that has been several ways employed to compress it , can discover any pores in it . upon the same ground i further conclude , that solid stones themselves , as marble , flints , &c. are not free from porosity . for whereas , as far as several tryals purposely made can inform me , i have found , that such of these as have nothing metalline in them do seldom or never reach to treble the weight of an equal bulk of water , they will , upon the former grounds , appear to be considerably porous ; since the lightest metals , which are tin and iron , are above twice heavier in specie , that is , the bulks being equal , than marble , flints , chrystal , &c. and by the same reason i also infer the great porosity , even of the solid body of iron , which is as well heavier , as very much harder , than tinn . for though copper be a good deal more ponderous than iron , or steel , yet i have divers times found fine gold , to be more than twice as heavy in specie as copper , since , whereas this metal , whether it be european , or brought from japan ( for of that also i made tryal ) is about nine times as heavy as so much water ; i found refined gold to be about nineteen times as heavy as water equal to it in bulk . by which it seems highly probable , that so solid and heavy a body , as iron or steel it self , may be so porous , that metalline matter equal to it in weight may naturally be contained in much less than half the dimensions that metal possesses . and that gold it self , which is the most compact and solid body we know of , is not destitute of pores , may appear by the dissolution of it in quick-silver , of which i shall speak a little below . and if any should pretend , that hardness may be a greater argument of the compactness of a body , and its immunity from pores , than its specifick weight can be ; i shall add , that though i have found that emery , which is the body employed to cut steel and load-stones and crystal , and the most of gems , being indeed much harder than marble or flints , be far heavier than thrice its bulk of water ; yet that ponderousness proceeds , as i else where intimate , from the mixture of a metalline substance , which i have separatted from it . and diamonds , though much harder bodies than emery , and indeed the hardest we know of in nature , are so far from being , as some of late have written , the most ponderous of bodies , that having examined them hydrostatically , by a way elsewhere mentioned , i found them not much heavier than either crystal , or fine glass , and not half so heavy as the lightest metals . chap. iii. the next thing , from which the porousness of solid bodies , and even those that belong to the mineral kingdom ( as the chymists speak ) may be deduced , is the same with the first of those from which we formerly argued the porosity of substances belonging to the animal kingdom , namely , the very frame & constitution of such bodies . for the solidest bodies themselves , resulting from the convention or coalition of a great number of particles of several bignesses and shapes , we cannot reasonably suppose , ( especially in those concretes wherein they are not ranged by a seminal principle ) that they should be contexed so , as to touch one another exactly every where and therefore they must of necessity leave some little intervals and pores between them . this reason will , i hope , appear clear enough of it self , to him that shall attentively consider it , especially if he know , that it has been geometrically demonstrated , that there are but very few figures that will , ( as they speak ) implere spatium , that is , which being adjusted to one another will so exactly touch , that there is not the least unfilled space within the circumference or circuit , if the figures be plain , or within the ambient superficies , if they be solid ; so that , considering the vast variety of other figures , which made epicurus and other atomists pronounce it incomprehensible , 't is very obvious to conceive , that corpuscles of such differing shapes being put together , will leave multitudes of little pores intercepted , between those parts that do not every where touch one another . and even the mathematical figures lately spoken of , may be said to fill space rather in a geometrical than a physical sense . for , if such portions of matter as are required to constitute , for instance , a cube , were actually put together , they would not exactly fill the space comprehended within the ambient surface of the body they compose , because the component bodies , being physical , consist of corpuscles of their own particular shapes , which we never find mathematically exquisite . as if , for example , the cube were of marble , no art could polish the sides of a component body so , as that they should be perfectly smoothed since ( as , if i mistake not , the learned gassendus well observes ) emery , pumice-stone , and even puttee , or other powders that are employed to polish them , do themselves consist of little hard angular corpuscles , that leave small scratches , like so many little furrows , on their surfaces , which must needs hinder the perfect contact of the whole surfaces of two contiguous bodies , and consequently leave here and there intervals or pores , between those surfaces ; to which i shall add that marble it self as 't is marble , abounds with internal pores , as will ere long appear by experience , and as may be rationally conjectured from the specifick levity of it , in comparison of gold and lead . chap. iv. having dispatched the arguments à priori , that may be imployed to shew the porousness of solid bodies , 't will be now seasonable to propose some experiments and observations , that may ( as 't were ) à posteriori either evince or confirm the same doctrine . of these instances some relate to solid bodies that are of less specifick gravity some to fossiles presumed to be devoid of metalline parts , some to minerals that are thought to participate of a metalline nature , some to metals themselves , and some to glass . to begin with the first sort of these instances ; that wood is porous , there are many things that argue ; some of which are elsewhere mentioned . but few would suspect , that quick-silver which is so unapt to enter the pores of bodies much less compact , should permeate peices of wood of a considerable thickness ; and yet , that we have made it do by the following experiment . we took a wooden trunk , such as is employed to shoot pellets at birds , with strength enough to kill them , and having closely stopt one end of it , we poured in quick silver at the other , till it reached to a good height in the cylindrical cavity of the instrument , and then the lower parts of the metalline liquor , being assisted by the weight of the incumbent ones , ( not to mention that of the air ) to press into the pores of the wood , they issued out at them on all sides , in great numbers of minute drops , much after the manner of quick-silver strained through leather , out of amalgams ; which was a phaenomenon not unpleasant to behold . but till i have opportunity to repeat this experiment with differing circumstances , i shall not think it fit to lay much stress upon it , for want of knowing , what interest the great weight of the quick silver may have had in the event . and this caution may perchance be applicable to the following experiment , namely , that having , by the help of my pneumatical engine , withdrawn the air from one side of a round peice of board , the air on the opposite side , not having its pressure any longer resisted by that which it used to meet with from the withdrawn air , pressed so strongly against the surface of the wood exposed to it , as to make it self way through the pores of it , and get copiously enough into the cavity whence the other air had been pumpt out ; ( the weight of the incumbent atmosphere doing on this occasion , what the weight of the quick-silver did on that last recited : ) which was a surprizing spectacle to the by-standers because the board that was thus permeated , was of strong wood , and of considerable thickness . i should here subjoin several other arguments of the porousness of wood , if i could display them without more words , than i am willing to allow them ; and i presume it may here suffice , if i let you see by some surprizing effects that when wood is reduced to that thinness , that its closeness or porosity may conveniently be examined , it will easily enough give passage , even unto visible , odorable , and tinging corpuscles though they invade it not in the form of a liquor , but of dry exhalations , so they be not incommensurate to its pores . this i suppose , you will not scruple to infer from the following tryals , as they were long since set down in one of my note-books . 1. the fumes of our smoaking liquor [ described in the foregoing essay ] tinged a copper half penny , through a broad thin shaving of dale , that did not , when held against the window , discover any perforation ; tinged it , i say , very deeply in about a quarter of a minute and somewhat less . 2. the same fumes tinged manifestly , but not so notably , the same half penny first cleansed through two such shavings of dale , laid one upon another in somwhat less than one minute . 3. and in about one minute the same fumes tinged the cleansed half penny , through three such shavings of dale very visibly , but not so conspicuously , as through the two forementioned . these tryals were made without the help of heat to promote the operation of the fumes . chap. v. from the consideration of woods let us now proceed to give some instances of the porousness of bodies made of close and compacted , and perhaps well baked clays or other earths . that earthen vessels , thô strong and well bak'd , are many of them porous enough may be argued not only from what has been lately recited , but from hence , that some of them will suffer themselves to be soakt through by oyl . others by solutions of nitre , and some other salts . and there are very few of them , without excepting hassian crucibles themselves , that will long keep salt of tartar , and such like fixt alcalies , in fusion without being penetrated by them . i have heard distillers complain , that when they have distilled corrosive materials , as vitriol and salt-petre , with strong fires , in those earthen vessels that are commonly made use of in london ( especially by refiners ) instead of retorts though their necks be strait and long ( upon which account they are called long-necks ) a considerable quantity of the finest spirits make their escape quite thorow the vessel ; so that in the retort and receiver many ounces are found wanting , of the first weight of the matter to be distilled . and this sometimes , when the vitriol has been previously calcin'd , and a reasonable allowance has been made , for what may have escaped thorow the lute , that joined together the long neck and receiver . and though i have observed of our bottles , made of the same earth with juggs , that they are hard enough to strike fire with a good steel , yet a good experimenter upon such vessels of whom i made enquiry , has assured me that these , as compact as they are , may , even without external heat , have their pores pervaded by the finer parts of spirituous liquors . to this purpose i remember that meeting once with a virtuoso , that was curious about the ways of making sider as brisk and spirituous a liquor as he could ; i enquired of him , whether he was able to keep in the subtil spirit of this skilfully fermented liquor , in those earthen bottles , that , by reason of the solidity they acquire by the vehement coction of the fire , are commonly called stone bottles ; to which he replyed . that he often found to his trouble , that the liquor would permeate the compact substance of the bottles : and when i objected that the spirits might either escape out at the cork , which i have made several spirits of divers kinds that would readily permeate ; he replyed , that what he had said appeared by the outside of the bottles : to which when i further objected , that the sight of dew on the surface of the bottles , would not convince me , without tasting whether it were vinous , because i had divers times observed , that brisk liquors would produce a dew , on the outside of the vessels that contained them , not by any transudation ( for i have made tryal of it in glasses ) but by condensing the aqueous vapors , dispersed through the neighbouring part of the ambient air : he replyed that , besides what his tast had informed him of the quality of this dew , he found that the included liquor , though exactly stopt , wasted in not very many months so considerably , as sometimes to lose a sixth , or even a fifth part ; & this escape or percolation of the liquor through the substance of the vessels , he affirmed himself to have observed , not only in one or two bottles , but in very many and the like observation for the main was confirmed to me , upon his own experience , by an eminent physician , who , being a great lover of brisk sider , used to bottle it up early and carefully . though good hassian crucibles be very closely compacted , as well as throughly baked bodies , and upon that account are able to keep silver and divers other metals long in fusion , without letting them at all run out ; yet having dissolved silver in aqua fortis , i observed that , though the salts were by this operation so chang'd that this horn-like silver did dissolve neither in the aqua fortis , nor in the aqua regia that i put it into ; yet when i kept it a while in fusion , ( which 't is easily brought to be ) among quick coals , it would without cracking or perforating the crucible , soak into it , and permeate the pores of it , in i know not how many places , as i convinced some curious persons , by shewing them on the outside of the vessel , a multitude of minute globules of pure silver , like so many little drops , that were got thither , as it were , by transudation . chap. vi. from baked earths , that are designed in point of hardness to emulate stones , we will proceed to give some instances of the porousness of natural stones themselves . there goes a tradition , that in some part of the west-indies they have a stone , of which they make large vessels , wherein they put water to percolate , as it were , through a strainer . of these vessels i had one sent me for a present , whereof being hereafter to give some account in a more opportune place , i shall now only take notice that i found that water would ( thô slowly ) soak through the vessel , thô it were considerably thick . if , as many of the ancients , and most of the modern corpuscular philosophers have conceived , the transparency and opacity of bodies proceeds from a rectitude or crookedness of pores , which makes them fit or unfit to transmit the light , that tends to pervade them in physically straight lines : if this hypothesis , i say , be allowed , we may draw a very probable argument , that stones may be porous , from the phaenomena of that odd gem , that is best known by the name of oculus mundi . for this small stone ( at least that which i made my observations of ) when 't is dry , and is kept in the air , is opacous , almost like a polished piece of white amber , and so it continues , as long as 't is kept dry . but if you put it into fair water , it will in no long time , become by degrees quite transparent , and that which i made tryal of looked then not unlike a piece of clear yellow amber which by degrees does in the free air lose its transparency and turn to be opacous as before . now according to the above mentioned corpuscular hypothesis , the pellucidness which the stone acquires in water , may be accounted for , by saying , that the liquor getting in at the crooked pores of the stone , does for the time rectify them , and make them pervious to the straight beams of light ; as we see that white paper , being wetted with water , or , which does far better , being made so imbide oyl , has its pores so changed and rectified , that the water much lessens its opacity , and makes it almost semidiaphanous and the oyl , if it be fine and well soaked up , makes it transparent . but upon the recess or evaporation of the imbibed particles of water , the pores of the little stone becoming crooked again reflect the rays of light they should transmit . which explication will be the better allowed of , if my memory do not misinform me , when it tells me , that a learned member of the royal society found the oculus mundi to weigh more in a nice ballance , when it was taken out of the water and well wiped , than before it was put in . this stone , which very few of the writers about gems take notice of , is so rare and difficult to be got , that i had not opportunity to make upon it all the tryals i desired ; and therefore , though the subject be curious , i may , i hope , be excused , if i hasten from it to another . there is so much difference in many qualities betwixt stones and metals , that 't is very probable , that when the corpuscles of both come to be brought together into one mass , they will not touch one another so close , as not to leave store of little intervals or pores between them . and upon this ground i have been apt to think that divers very hard stones , diaphanous and opacous , are not devoid of porosity . for i have elsewhere delivered a way by which i have obtained good store of metalline parts , both from american granats , and from emery ; though this last be so exceeding hard a stone , that 't is usually imployed by artificers to work upon iron and steel , and to cut not only rock crystal , but divers gems that are harder than either that or steel . upon the same ground one may probably infer the porosity of many artificial gems made by fusion ; for to give these the colour of sapphirs , topazes , amethysts , &c. we are wont to add to the vitrifiable matter , either some prepared metal , as calcined copper , calx of gold , &c. or else some mineral as zaffora and manganeze ( as the glass-men call magnesia ) that abounds in metalline parts . nay i remember , i have sometimes given the colour to the vitrified substance , by imploying natural gems , as granats ; though to shew that the coloration which the mass received from these , proceeded from the metalline corpuscles , that lay hid in the tinging matter , the colour produced was not that which was conspicuous in the gem it self , but one very different from it , and such as the metal , which upon other accounts i supposed the gem to partake of , ought , according to the grounds i proceeded upon , to produce in the vitrifiable matter . and this very experiment makes it also highly probable , that even natural transparent gems , ( divers of which are much harder than marble , iron & even steel ) are themselves porous ; since , notwithstanding their transparency and seeming homogeneity . they are made up of ingredients of such differing natures as are stony and metalline corpuscles . from the same ground we may likewise deduce the porosity of marcasites ; many of which i have observed to be , not only hard enough , plentifully to strike fire by collision with steel , but more ponderous than even divers oars , that were rich enough in metal , to be wrought with good profit . and yet these hard and heavy ( mineral ) stones are very far from being homogeneous ; since i have met with few inanimate bodies , produced by nature her self , so compounded as several marcasites that i have seen . for these are wont to contain more or less copper , and iron too : and they abound in combustible sulphur , a corrosive salt , and a certain fixt substance , which i found to differ from true earth , but of whose nature the tryals i have hitherto made on it , have but little satisfied me . i might here deduce the porosity of the load-stone , as hard and solid a body as it is , partly from the effluvia it emits and admits , and partly from the heterogeneity i have by chymical tryals found to be in it . but these things belong more properly to a paper about magnetical bodies , for which i the more willingly reserve them , because other experiments will keep them from being needful to be here insisted on . the porosity of marble , and divers other stones of like contexture , may with probability be deduc'd from this , that they are liable to be dissolved by divers of the corrosive menstruums of the chymists , such as aqua fortis sp . of salt , &c. and some of them even by vegetable liquors , of natures own preparing , as the juice of limons , and that of barberries . but a more noble and satisfactory instance may be afforded , by the invention of staining or colouring white marble , without imploying any fretting liquor , or spoiling the texture of it . this way being casually lighted on by an ingenious stone-cutter in oxford , who gained by it both credit and money , he long since thought fit to acquaint me with it , upon condition of secresy ( which i have to this day inviolably kept ) and of my assisting him to improve his invention by making it practicable with other colours than red. these circumstances i mention , to signify that i write not by guess , of this matter , having both seen the experiment tried , and made it my self . but though i found it far less improvable to other uses , then one would expect , yet , as to our present purpose , it is very apposite . for by this way an excellent red colour , may be made to soak into a piece of white marble , almost as oyl will do into leather , without impairing , that i observed , the solidity of the stone , which , after being dyed , will be capable of a fine gloss as before . some other colours ( yet but few fair ones ) would by this way be brought to soak into marble , on which one may with them so define , and limit the colorations , that i remember the artificer , when i brought him to kiss the kings hand , presented his majesty with an andromeda , whose colours were so vivid , that this skilful judge of curious things , was pleased to honour it with a place among his rarities . and , to satisfy his majesty that the fine red was not , as some suspected , a mere varnish , i purposely broke a plate of marble , in whose fragments he saw , that the pigment had sunk to a considerable depth , into the very substance of the stone . and i doubt not but it might have been made easily enough to sink much deeper , if it had been thought necessary . a fine plate of such white marble , with the penetrating pictures of coloured flowers drawn upon it i yet keep by me to satisfy the curious . and some utensils , as hafts of knives , salt-sellers , &c. i have known to have lasted several years . there is an experiment that seems much stronger for the porousness of solid bodies , than that it self ( which was lately recited ) of staining marble . for in italy some goldsmiths have a way of imbuing fragments of rock-crystal , which is a body much harder than marble , with divers colours ; which do sometimes so imbellish them , that having ground off those parts that would not receive the same tincture , they set some of them in gold rings , and sell them with profit . when i was inform'd of this , i thought of a composition , that i hop'd might perform the same thing , and perhaps better than that which was employ'd by them , who either knew not , or for ought i could perceive , us'd not , some minerals that i thought fit for the purpose . upon this presumption we carefully cemented some clear fragments of native crystal with a composition of some volatile minerals , together with a salt or two , and having suffered the crucibles to cool leisurely , we had divers of the fragments stain'd here and there , some with one colour and some with another , as differing fumes happen'd to invade them . and of these colours some were dark or dull , and some vivid enough . but having consider'd the stain'd pieces , and the progress of the operation , more attentively , i began to doubt , whether these adventitious colours were really produced by the bare penetrating of the mineral fumes into the pores of the crystal it self . for i thought it possible , and not very unprobable , that the great heat of the fire , and the ambient mixture , might cleave or flaw in many places some of the crystalline fragments ; and that the finer parts of the minerals being vehemently agitated , might insinuate themselves into these thin flaws , which upon the slow refrigeration of the stones , shutting themselves close again , might lock up the tinging particles , without appearing discontinued , especially to the eyes of persons that were not made use of with a more than ordinary attention , excited by distrust . this suspicion was not removed by the apparent entireness of each little piece of crystal . for having taken more than once a lump of that stone , and slowly brought it to be red hot in the fire , i found that if i warily quenched it in water , though it would thereby acquire a multitude of little cracks or flaws , which destroyed its former transparency , and made it look whitish , yet it continued still an entire body , notwithstanding the disadvantageous haste , wherewith the operation had been performed . and having after this suspicion , inquired of an ingenious lapidary , that belonged to a great prince whether in polishing of gems upon the wheel , he had taken notice that the heat would flaw them , he answered me , that now and then he had observed that some stones , especially ▪ if i misremember not , rubies , when they were very much heated by the swift motion of the engine he employed to polish them , did cleave as it seemed to him , and gape , so as at first to make him fear the stones were spoiled ; and yet afterwards they closed so perfectly , that no flaw at all could be perceived in them . i have mentioned the foregoing experiment of tinging crystal , to comply with the dictates of philosophical candor , which forbids me to lay much stress upon a proof , whose validity i my self distrust . but perhaps my suspicion may by further tryal , which i have not now conveniency to make , appear not to have been well grounded , and in that case the tinging of crystal , as well inwardly as outwardly , by fumes will be a noble argument for the porosity of solid bodies , rock-crystal being harder , and probably closer , not only than marble , but even than glass . chap. vii . that metals , though the heaviest of bodies , are not destitute of pores , may be with probability proved in a general way by this ; that they are all dissoluble in their appropriate menstruums , as gold in aqua regia , and all the rest in aqua fortis , except tin , which yet it self will be corroded by that menstruum , though not well kept up in a fluid form , as it may be by another menstruum , which i elsewhere teach ; and sometimes the same metal may be dissolved by very differing menstruums , as lead by aqua fortis , and spirit of vinegar ; and copper by aqua fortis , aqua regia , spirit of vinegar , spirit of salt , and some other solvents , that upon trial i have found sufficient for that purpose . but 't will , i presume , be thought more considerable to my present argument , if it be shewn , that bodies that appear gross , and which in their natural state are not fluid , and are confessed to be of a compounded nature , will penetrate metals quite through , even without melting them . this we have divers times effected by a cementation of copper plates , with common 🜍 ( much a kin to a way prescribed by some alchymists to make vitriolum veneris ) which we warily performed much after this manner . we took good copper laminated to the thickness of a shilling or thereabouts , and having cut it into small pieces , that they might the more easily be put into a crucible or cementing pot , we strewed at the bottom of the vessel some beaten 🜍 , and then covered it pretty well with some of these plates , which were laid on flat-wise . upon these we strewed another bed of powdered brimstone , and cover'd that also with plates , upon which we put more sulphur , & so continu'd making one lair of brimstone , & another of metal , till we had employed all our plates , or filled the crucible , being careful that the uppermost bed , as well as the lowest , should be of sulphur . this done , we luted on an earthen cover to the vessel , to keep the 🜍 from taking fire , and afterwards having placed the pot amongst coals kindled at a good distance from it , that it might be heated by degrees , we kept it for some few hours ( perhaps two or three ) in such a degree of fire as was sufficient to keep the sulphur melted ( which is easily enough done ) without bringing the metal to fusion ; the pot being cold , we took off the cover , and found the plates quite altered in colour and texture , some of them having a dark and dirty colour , whilst others looked of a fine violet or blew ; they were generally so brittle , that 't was very easy to break them with ones finger , and reduce them to powder . and ( now to add such circumstances as a chymist would not take notice of ) many of the plates , when they were broken , appeared to have been ( by the contiguous beds of sulphur above and below ) horizontally divided each of them into two plates , divers of which in some places had a manifest distance or cavity between them . and 't was observable , that when i considered one or other of these plates attentively in the parts that had been contiguous before i broke it , i could plainly discern a multitude as 't were of fibres , reaching from one of the flat sides of the plate to the other , & running many of them , as to sense , parallel to one another . these circumstances may sufficiently argue , that the plates were pierced quite through by the brimstone ; but for confirmation of this , and to shew too that the sulphur does as it were soak into the body of the metal , and in a gross manner lodge it self there ; i shall add , that not only to the eye the plates appeared much swelled , or thicker then when they were put in , but having weighed them before the operation was begun , and after it was quite ended , the copper , though it needed not to be freed from externally adhering sulphur , was found to have a considerable increase of weight by the accession of the sulphur , which ( to add that circumstance ) though it appeared not to the eye , yet if a plate were laid upon quick coles , and blown , would oftentimes discover it self by a blew flame . by making the like experiment for the main , we found that refined silver , though a more heavy and compact body , than copper , and not dissoluble by most of the menstruums , that work on this metal , is penetrable by the body of sulphur , which will also calcine tin and lead and ( especially ) iron . nor is sulphur the only consistent body that has this ingress into metals ; for we have found them penetrable by prepared arsenick . but because these operations are not so easy , and the subject is not easily handled without danger , i forbear the mention of them in this place , where , after what has been recited , it is not necessary . another experiment there is , which does more advantageously than that made with brimstone , discover the porosity of copper . for there is a way by which , without the help of salts , sulphur or arsenick , one may make a solid and heavy body soak into the pores of that metal , and give it a durable colour . i shall not mention the way , because of the bad use that may be made of it . but having had the curiosity more than once to try it upon a new copper farthing , the event was , that one part of it , which i purposely forbore to tinge , remained common copper still , but the other part acquired a yellow , that differed very little , if at all , from a golden colour , the former stamp that was impressed upon the coin continuing visible . and to convince the scrupulous , that the pigment did really sink , and as it were soak into the body of the metal , and did not meerly colour the superficies , i made them take notice , that the farthing was not melted , and yet by filing off a wide gap from the edge of the coin , inwards , it plainly appeared , that the yellow or golden colour had penetrated a pretty way beneath the surface of the farthing ; so that it looked there as if two thin plates , the one yellow , and the other reddish , did , without any interval between them , lye upon one another . if bodies be not to be pervaded , or deeply pierced into , by corpuscles , but only to have their more superficial pores , if i may so call them , penetrated thereby , 't is possible that bodies , which are either much harder , or much closer , than marble , alabaster or the like bodies , may have their pores possessed even by odorous corpuscles ; i say , even by such , because they are most of them gross enough to be kept from exhaling , by bodies much less compact then earthen bottles ; and are far from being of the finest particles that nature affords . but that such odorous corpuscles may lodge themselves in the exterior pores of very close bodies , i have been inclined to think , not only , by the obstinately adhering odour , which i found by tryal , that some suttle and spirituous parts , such as the chymists would perhaps call in their aggregates , the essence of musk , amber , amber-greece , &c. notwithstanding the washing of the glasses , that had long contained such liquors ; but by what has been assured me by a physician of great experience , who travelled and lived much in the east . for having told him , that i had been informed , that in some places less famous then damascus , for curiosity in making fine sword blades , there was a way found and practised of making them richly scented , without injury to their gloss ; i desired to know of him , if at damascus , or elsewhere , he had seen any of them ; to which he replied , that he did not remember he had , but yet made no doubt the information might be true . for he himself had in europe , and kept for divers years , a watch , whose metalline case , was richly perfumed ; and when i askt him , whether there were not some thin varnish , or some outward case of perfumed leather , or chagran , or somewhat else , from whence the odour proceeded , he assured me , that his observations had prevented and removed that and divers other scruples , and that the case being clean and glossy , he could not perceive that the odour proceeded from any thing else , than some odoriferous thing , or other that was invisibly lodged in the pores , or porous substance of the metal it self . and indeed , since both arsenick , and even common sulphur , may by art be as it were incorporated with some metalls , and even with silver , i see not why it should be impossible , that some pleasingly scented substances should be admitted into the pores of metalline bodies , and be volatile enough to have their subtiler parts fly off in odorous exhalations , especially if they be a little excited , as the watch case lately mentioned was , by a gentle heat , such as was that of the wearers pocket . and on this occasion i remember to have made a certain metalline composition , which looked like gold , and of which i caused a ring to be cast , and yet this metal retained so many unperceived mercurial corpuscles in it , that an ingenious person to whom i discovered the composition of it , found after tryal , as he assured me , that being worn as a ring , it had in some distempers , particularly of the eyes , manifest operations , that evidently enough seemed to flow , at least in great part , from its participation of the mercury we employed in preparing the factitious metal . since the writing of the former part of this essay , having met with an inquisitive nobleman , who had lived in several parts of africk , and was governour of the best town the europeans have on that continent , i discoursed with him , among other things , about the skill that some ascribe to the african moors , of making excellent weapons , whereof i knew his excellency was very curious . upon which occasion he told me , that some of the off-spring of the granadine moors were indeed the best at making arms that ever he met with ; and that he had seen some weapons of their forging and tempering , that he preferred even to those of damasco . and when i asked him whether any of them had the art of perfuming their weapons , he answered me , that some of them did it admirably well , and instanced in a blade which he kept for some years , & found it still to retain the perfumed scent , which he supposed to be as it were incorporated with the steel whereof the blade was made . when i told him , i suspected that the scabbard might have been well perfumed , and communicate its odour to the contained blade , he allowed the objection to be plausible , but replyed ▪ that it was not concluding , since misliking the scabbard , as not handsom & fashionable enough , he caused a new one to be made , wherein he afterwards kept it . and the same lord further told me , that he had also a fowling piece , whose barrel was perfumed . and when i objected that perhaps the odoriferous scent proceeded from the stock , and not from the metal , he answered that the gun not being , when it came into his possession , skilfully and handsomely mounted , he caused the barrel to be fitted with a new stock , notwithstanding which , it continued to smell fragrantly . and when i further asked , whether he ever caused the gun to be washed or scoured after it was grown foul by having been often shot in , he answered me , that he had , and , as far as i can remember , subjoyned , that after it was made clean it did ( notwithstanding the ill scent that the soot of the powder had given it ) retain a pleasing smell , but fainter than before . chap. viii . since the subject of this essay is the porousness of solid bodies , and since there is no body that is generally reputed so close and compact as glass , it will be pertinent to this discourse , and probably will be expected , that i should here say something about the question , whether glass be , or be not , devoid of pores . but before i acquaint you with my tryals , or my thoughts , about this problem , i think it requisite to clear the sense , in which i mean to handle it , that i may not , as some others have done , for want of distinctly stating the question , speak confusedly and erroneously of it . i shall then here observe , to prevent mistakes , that the porosity of glass may admit of two acceptions . for it may be said to be quite pervious to fluids , as a boot is to water , or only to be capable of having its superficial parts further and further dissolved or corroded thereby , as a silver cup is porous in reference to aqua fortis , which cannot sweat through it , as water does through a boot , but eat its way through it , by dissolving the texture of the vessel . another thing requisite to be premised , to prevent ambiguity , is , that glass it self is not all of one sort , as men unacquainted with chymistry are wont to presume , for glass of antimony , for instance , and that of lead , both of them made per se , do manifestly differ , usually in colour , and constantly in weight , and also in their operations upon humane bodies ; and both these sorts of glass do in several points differ from common glass , under which name , for brevities sake , i comprehend both white or crystalline glass , as 't is called in the shops , and that courser sort , which they usually call green glass ; both which sorts i here consider under one notion , because both are made of fixt alcalies , and other fit ingredients , as sand , earth , ashes , pebbles , or flints , colliquated by a strong & lasting operation of the fire : and 't is of this common glass , in the sense now declared , that i shall consider the porosity in the remaining part of this essay . in which to proceed with some method , i shall digest what i have to say into the ensuing propositions , and the observations annext to them . prop 1. 't is very probable , that glass may be pierced into to some distance , even by visible and tangible bodies . i know that this will seem a paradox to many , and repugnant to common experience , which shews that glass vessels will contain very subtile and even highly corrosive liquors , as the spirit of hartshorn , of urine , and that of nitre ; as also those potent menstruums , as aqua fortis , aqua regis , and oil of vitriol , which not only are not observed to pierce into it , but are unable to make any sensible alteration , so much as on the superficial parts , even in those vials wherein they have been long kept . but , notwithstanding all this , i presume you will not condemn the lately proposed paradox , when you have considered what may be said to justifie it . for , besides that it may be made probable à priori , by the arguments whence we have formerly proved the porousness of solid bodies in general ; there are two sorts of experiments , from whence one may argue , that glass in particular is not devoid of pores in the sense wherein we are now speaking of them . and first , i remember , that , having kept for a good while in a vial , a quantity of a certain spirit of salt , that i had reserved in a cool place ; i found , when i came to use it , that the glass was crackt , and most of the liquor was run out ; but , before this happened , it had so far corroded the inside of the glass , that in some places it was eaten almost as thin as a piece of paper ; and this part which yet continued glass , was lin'd with a much thicker white substance , that stuck to the sides of it , and looked and tasted like a kind of odd salt ; so that it invited me to conjecture , that it proceeded from the substance of the glass , which you know consists of an alcali as well as of sand corroded by the saline spirits of the menstruum , and coagulated with them into this odd kind of concrete ; and 't was remarkable in our vessel , that the upper part of the vial , to which the menstruum did not reach , was not corroded , nor alter'd , tho the operation of the liquor reached as high as the liquor it self . and i remember , that when i related all this to some experienced chymists , one of them that was a more heedful observer , assured me , the like had once or twice , happened to him , as since that time it hath likewise done to me . i had also , if i misremember not , another vial , corroded by a distilled liquor of vitriol , that had in it more of the phlegm than of the oil ; which you will somewhat the less wonder at , if you consider , that some corrosive menstruums will scarce work on some bodys , if they be too well dephlegmed , or at least will not corrode them so readily and powerfully , if they are very strong , as when they are diluted with a convenient quantity of water . and , as to oil of vitriol it self , which is the menstruum i am speaking of , when we employ it to make vitriolum martis , we are wont to weaken it with water , that it may the better dissolve that metal . and perhaps you will suspect , that vitriol has some peculiar faculty of penetrating and fretting glass , when to the experiment newly recited i shall add that which follows , as i find it registred among my notes . [ a pound of dantzick vitriol and a pound of sea salt , after the former had been very lightly calcined , and the latter decrepitated , that they might not boil in , or crack the vessel ; we caused to be distilled in a well coated retort by degrees of fire , giving at length a very strong one , then taking off the vessel , we were not much surprized to find , that the heat had here and there melted it , and that the fluxed caput mortuum had corroded the glass , fetching off as 't were films from it , and those parts which did not appear to the eye thus manifestly wasted , seemed yet by their great brittleness , to have been penetrated , so that their texture was spoiled by the saline and vitriolate corpuscles . ] prop ii. common glass is not ordinarily permeable by chymical liquors , though strong and subtile , nor by the directly visible or odorable expirations of bodies tho absolutely speaking it be pervious to some corporeal substances . this proposition consisting of two parts , we shall allow each of them its distinct proofs . and as for the first part , 't is manifestly agreeable to the common experience of chymists ; who daily find , that in well stopt vials , or at least in hermetically seal'd glasses , they can preserve their subtilest and most piercing menstruums , as spirit of nitre , aqua fortis , spirit of salt , spirit of vinegar , and oil of vitriol . and this they find to be true , not only as to acid and corrosive liquors , like those i have newly named , but also in those spirits that abound with fugitive salts , as the spirit of urine , of blood , and of sal-armoniack ; and in the most subtile & highly rectified spirit of wine ; as also in the ethereal oil , or , as many call it , spirit , of turpentine : as likewise in the liquors of salt of tartar , and other fixt alcalies resolved by deliquium . the result of these observations may be much confirmed by considering , how often it happens in the destillation of more wild and fugitive spirits , as of nitre , tartar , and sugar ; that , though they are much agitated , and perhaps subtilized , by heat , yet , if the lute , that joins the receiver to the retort be very firm & close , the receivers , though large , are often broken in pieces ; which probably would not happen , if the spirits could insinuate & croud themselves , through the pores of glass . but , whereas it may be pretended , that such vessels are strong and thick , i shall add , that i have had the curiosity to cause very fine bubbles to be blown at the flame of a lamp , purposly that they may be made extreamly thin , and of but a small part of the thickness we meet with in the vessels made at the glass house ; and some of these i caus'd to be exactly stopt , and others to be hermetically seal'd ; but could not find , that either dry salt of tartar would relent in one , that was kept a good while under water , or that strong spirit of sal armoniack , which is one of the subtilest spirits that we know , would penetrate one of these thin films of glass , which we kept a great while immersed in it , though to discover whether it would at all penetrate the thinnest glasses , we employed some which were of that fine sort that is called essence vials . these and some other tryals have , i confess , made me very diffident of the experiments , that have been delivered by some men of note , and built upon by others , of the permeableness of ordinary glass vessels to chymical liquors , as , that mercury and aqua fortis being digested together in a bolt-head may , by rubbing the outside of the glass , be made visibly and palpably to transudate . which experiment ( if my memory do not much deceive me , ) i purposely tryed with care , but without success . but after all this i must desire , that it may be remembred , that in wording the proposition of the imperviousness of glass , i intimated that i would have it understood of what ordinarily happens . for in some extraordinary cases , which i take to be exceeding rare , i do not absolutely deny , but that the general rule may admit of exceptions . and , if it be lawful to conjecture , these exceptions are likeliest to take place , when the peculiar texture of this or that glass , is more slight or lax than ordinary ; or when the bodies that are to pervade it , are vehemently agitated by heat ; or when , besides a great subtlety , and perhaps degree of heat too , their particles chance to have a special congruity , to the relaxed pores of that particular glass they are to pass through . i remember i have seen , not without some wonder , a sort of glass of so soft and resoluble a texture , that vessels of it of a competent thickness , would be manifestly prejudiced and wrought upon by liquors , that were not considerably sharp or corrosive , if they were put in very hot . i have also heard of another sort of glasses , made in a certain forrest , complained of by a destiller , as subject to be sometimes injured by corrosive liquors . i once knew a doctor of physick , that by divers credulous alchymists was suspected to have , what they call the philosophers stone , because of a certain book , ingenious enough , that he was supposed to have written on that subject . but when after some acquaintance i happened to debate his principles freely with him , he confessed to me , that he had been mistaken , and to invite me to give him my thoughts upon such like works , he frankly made me an ingenuous relation of his proceedings , wherein the main thing that dazled him , and kept him from seeing his error , was , that he had reduced the matter he wrought on , which was real gold , to that degree of fusibleness and subtlety , that when he gave too strong a fire , as mistake or curiosity made him several times do , the finer part of the metal would sweat through his glasses , and stick sometimes to the outside of them , and sometimes to the neighbouring bodies . and , when i objected , that he might be mistaken in this , and that what he thought had come forth by transudation , rather issued out at some small unheeded crack , he replyed that he had made the observation so often , and with such care , that he was fully satisfied it was a real penetration of the glass , by the attenuated metal , which he was to have convinced me of by tryal . but , before he could come to make it , by an errour of his own he unhappily died . but , whatever be judged of this penetrating gold , i elsewhere relate , that i having upon a time destilled spirit of harts-horn with a very strong fire , into a receiver that was large and thick enough , but of a course kind of glass , it did appear , upon my best examination , that the glass itself was penetrated by some vehemently agitated fumes , or some subtile liquor , that setled in strongly scented drops on the outside of the receiver . but such instances being very rare , and happening but in some cases or conjunctures of circumstances , that are not like to be at all frequent , they cannot hinder the first part of our proposition to be true , in the sense wherein 't is laid down . and , as to the second part of the proposition , which asserts glass to be pervious to some corporeal substances , it may be proved ad hominem against any epicurean that should deny it , and the cartesians must not ) by the free ingress and egress , which our seal'd thermoscopes shew , that the atoms or corpuscles of cold and heat are allowed , through the pores of the glass , that contains the rising or fallng tincture , or other liquor . and without proceeding upon the peculiar principles of the epicureans , we may give more certain proofs of the permeableness of glass by certain bodies . for i have elsewhere manifestly evinced that the effluvia of a loadstone will attract and invigorate steel , though inclosed in hermetically seal'd glasses ; nay , i have also shewn by experiment , that the effluvia of so gross and dull a body as the earth , are readily transmitted through glass , and will operate on iron , in vessels hermetically sealed . if light be , as probably 't is , either a subtile and rapidly moving body , or at least require such an one for its vehicle , it must not be denied , that 't is possible for a body without difficulty to pass through the pores of glass ; since 't is by its help that we can clearly see the dimensions , shapes , and colours of bodies included in glasses . to this i shall add , that far less subtile bodies than those that constitute or convey light , may be made to permeate glass , if their figures being congruous enough to the pores of it , their penetration be assisted by an impetuous motion , or a brisk impulse ; as i have found by the increase of weight in some metals , exposed for divers hours in hermetically seal'd glasses , to the action of a flame . on which occasion i remember that having some years ago tryed the same experiment with some filings of copper , they had indeed their colour much alter'd , being beautified with exceeding vivid dyes , which they yet retain , but did not evidently appear to be increased in weight , as if , because they were not of a texture loose enough to be melted , the igneous particles could not pierce them enough to stick fast in them , at least in numbers great enough , to amount to a sensible weight . but without the help of fire , or any sensible heat , i think it not impossible that glass should be freely penetrated by some kind of corpuscles , ( though i do not yet know of what sort they are ) that sometimes happen to roave about in the air. this you will probably be surprized to read ; but perhaps not more than i was at the phaenomena that induce me to write it . but because these are very unusual , and can scarce be discoursed of without some odd reflections hinted by them , i thought fit to set down a circumstantial account of them in another paper , to which it more directly belongs than to this essay ; and therefore shall now only tell you , what may be sufficient for my present purpose , namely , that having in two or three vials closely stopt , kept a certain limpid and colourless liquor , it would by fits acquire and lose a high colour , though i could not reasonably impute the changes to any manifest ones in the air , nor to any other cause so probable , as the ingress and recess of some very subtle and uncommon particles , which at that time happened to swim to and fro in the air , and now and then to invade , and sometimes to desert , the liquor . there is another sort of experiments relating to the porosity of glass , to shew that it may be pierced into by bodies that are not corrosive in tast , and are not liquors , but only have a forced and temporary fluidity , if they have so much as that . these experiments may be drawn from some of the ways of colouring panes of glass , for the windows of churches and other buildings ; i say , some of the ways , because , to deal candidly with you , i think , and so i presume will you ere long , that in divers of those glasses , the colour doth not pierce at all deep into the glass , but is produced by the close adhesion of a deep red , but thin and transparent , pigment , to the surface of a glassy plate , through both which the beams of light passing to the eye , receive in their passage the colour of the pigment . but , as by some operations the glass is rather painted , or externally enamelled , than tinged , so in some others the pigment or dying stuff appears to pierce a little beneath the very superficies of the glass , and the yellow colour will not only go further or deeper , but sometimes seems ( for i do not yet positively affirm it ) to penetrate the whole glass from side to side . the methods of painting and staining glass , having been hitherto the practices of a particular trade that is gainful enough , and known but to few , the artificers are wont to be shy of communicating their secrets , thô we know in general that glass is stained , by having the plates covered with mineral pigments , laid on beds of beaten lime , or some other convenient powder , and kept for divers hours in a strong fire , but yet not strong enough to make the plates melt down , by which means the pores of the glass being much opened by the heat , and the pigments being likewise agitated , and some of them as it were vitrified with it , they are made either to pierce into the plate , or at least to stick very closely and firmly to it . but because the practices of glass painters require , besides skill and experience , a particular furnace , and divers implements , i shall add , that to try , whether glass may not , without so much ado , be so stained , as to shew it to be porous , we took prepared silver , ( that metal having , of all the minerals i have tryed , the best ingress into glass ) and having laid it upon a piece of glass , not thick , nor yet so thin as to melt very easily , we laid this glass ( with the pigment uppermost ) warily upon a few quick-coals , and having suffered it to neal a while we gave it about such a degree of heat , as might make and keep it red hot , without bringing it to compleat fusion , and then , suffering it to cool by degrees , we found , as we expected , that the glass had acquired a yellow , and almost golden , colour , which was not to be washed off , or to be taken away , without such scraping as would injure or spoil the glass it self . the way of preparing silver for this operation , is not always the same , the glass painters commonly add to the calcined silver some mineral bodies , as antimony , yellow oker , or the like . but i , who take the penetration of the colour to proceed from the silver it self , do sometimes imploy only some thin piece of silver , such as an old groat , upon which a little sulphur being put , and kindled in the open air , the metal is presently calcined , and the powder made use of . and this it self i do not so much out of necessity , as because the calcination reduces the metal into small parts , and gives it a form , that makes it more easy be laid on , as one thinks fit . for otherwise , going upon this my supposition , that the silver was the true pigment of the glass , i have more than once made glass yellow by leaf-silver laid flat on the surface of it , and a little moistened , to keep so light a body from being blown off . and ( to note that upon the by ) 't is pretty , that if the fire be made too strong , which 't is hard to avoid doing , when we will make it strong enough , without the help of a furnace , it has several times happened to me that the dyed glass , though when held against the light it appeared of a golden or yellow colour , yet when held from the light it appeared blew , so that here we have in a mineral , somewhat that is very like that we admire in the tincture of lignum nephriticum , which shews almost the like difference of colour , as 't is held against or from the light , which may serve for a confirmation of what i have elsewhere said to shew that colours may be derived from mechanical principles : but that only upon the by . whether the gold colour produced by silver , do favour the hopes of those alchymists that work on that metal , upon presumption that 't is but unripe gold , 't is improper here to examine . but since yellow is not the colour of silver , it seems the yellowness , acquired by our glass plates , argues , that there has been some ingress of the substance of the particles of the silver into the glass , there appearing no way so ready , to give an account of the change of colours , as by supposing the particles of the silver to be wrought on by the fixt salts , and other fine parts , of the glass ; since we know , that metals may afford differing colours , according to the saline and other bodies that work upon them , as copper with spirit of urine , which abounds in volatile salt , gives a deep blew ; with spirit of salt , a fair green ; and with aqua fortis , a colour that participates of both . and in the making of glass of lead with minium and white-sand , or crystal , the glass , it self if well made , is usually of an amethystine colour . but if you put a due proportion , ( which is a very small one , ) of calcined copper to it , this metal will not communicate to the glass it s own reddishness , but be so changed by it , as to give it a good green , and sometimes so good an one , that pieces of this glass , such as we have caused to be cut and set in rings , might , among those that judge of stones but by the eye , pass for no bad emeraulds . on this occasion , 't is likely 't will be asked , whether there be any way of tinging glasses quite through , with a true and beautiful red , and whether the art of dying plates of glass , which the windows of many old churches shew to have formerly been practised , be now ( as 't is commonly supposed ) altogether lost ? this question , consisting of 2 parts , i shall quickly dispatch ; the former , by answering it without hesitancy in the affirmative . yet adding withal , that the red tincture being communicated to glass , not properly by mere penetration of the pigment , but by the incorporation of it with glass or its materials , by the help of fusion , i think the experiment of no such great use in our present inquiry , as to hinder me from reserving what i have observed about it to a more opportune place . and as to the second part of the inquiry , it being rather a historical than a philosophical question , i shall not here meddle with it ; only i shall wish the question may be cautiously stated . for , upon the burning the famous cathedral of st. pauls church in london , many pieces of the red glass that adorned the windows , were found broken and scattered about , some of which i procur'd from a chymist , that had carefully preserved them , designing to retrieve the lost invention of making the like . but when i came to examine them narrowly , i was confirmed in the suspicion i had , that the redness did not penetrate the whole glass , but proceeded from a diaphanous pigment very artificially laid on , for though in other postures no such thing could be discerned , yet when i so held it , according to my custom in examining painted glasses , that the surfaces of the plate lay in the same level with my eye , between it and the window , so that a broken edge was next my eye , i could plainly see , and made the chymist himself see , the lower part of the plate to be of ordinary uncoloured glass , upon which there lay a very thin plate or bed of a diaphanous red pigment , which , though it were not easily , was not impossible to be here and there scraped off . but , to return to those colorations that seem to pierce into the pores of glass , i remember that i had once occasion to destil in a small retort some gold , amalgamed with such a fine and subtile mercury , that being ( without the addition of any salt ) put to the gold in the cold , they presently grew hot together . and in the destillation of this uncommon mixture , i found the matter had , before it flew a way , permanently died or stained , about an inch in diameter of the bottom of the glass , with a colour that , looked on from the light , was like that of the better sort of turquoises ; but beheld when 't was interposed between the window and the eye , appeared of a somewhat golden colour . and this glass , with some others oddly colored , i have yet by me to satisfy the curious , though i cannot but give advertisement , that the colorations of glass may be much better performed with such plates , and in such furnaces , as the glass painters use , than without them . since the writing of the foregoing paragraph , i was visited by an industrious person , much addicted to some chymical operations , who had formerly advised with me about a process , of which i had had some experience , that he conceived might be useful to him . i then acquainted him with some of my thoughts about it , and he having afterwards united gold with quick-silver , ( which by its effects will be easily concluded not to have been common , ) he kept them in digestion for some months , & afterwards coming to me with a melancholy look , told me that the fire having been once immoderately increased in his absence , the sealed-glass burst with an affrighting noise , and the included amalgam was so strangely dissipated , that scarce the lest fragment of it could be retrieved . but the decoction having continued so long a time , it seems the matter was subtiliated enough to have a notable operation upon the glass . for , though the upper part of the bolt-glass were blown of , and shattered into many pieces , yet the lower part scaped well enough , and when he brought it me , to observe what change had been made in it , i took notice with much delight , that the glass seemed to be tinged throughout , with so fine and glorious a red colour , that i have seen several rubies themselves , in that point , inferiour to it . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28974-e150 if one would see this passage at large he may find it at the end of the essay . schenkii observationum lib. 7. obs . 37. eustach . rudius ( apud sennertum ) lib. 5. de morbis acutis cap. 15. pharmacopoeiae regiae classis xiii . pa. 614.615 . notes for div a28974-e2570 see the tract of the origine and vertues of gems , and the notes about the mechanical production of hardness . a discourse of things above reason· inquiring whether a philosopher should admit there are any such. by a fellow of the royal society· to which are annexed by the publisher (for the affinity of the subjects) some advices about judging of things said to transcend reason. written by a fellow of the same society. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1681 approx. 203 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 101 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28958 wing b3945 estc r214128 99826341 99826341 30742 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28958) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 30742) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1826:5) a discourse of things above reason· inquiring whether a philosopher should admit there are any such. by a fellow of the royal society· to which are annexed by the publisher (for the affinity of the subjects) some advices about judging of things said to transcend reason. written by a fellow of the same society. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. fellow of the same society. aut [4], 94, [2], 100 p. printed by e.t. and r.h. for jonathan robinson at the golden lion in s. paul's church-yard, london : 1681. part 1 is by robert boyle; the authorship of part 2 is not established. "advices in judging of things said to transcend reason" (caption title) begins new pagination on 2a1. in this issue, p.100 has 22 lines of text; last line reads "ciples of cosmography.". reproduction of the original in the bodleian library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng reason -early works to 1800. philosophy -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-06 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2006-06 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a discourse of things above reason . inquiring whether a philosopher should admit there are any such . by a fellow of the royal society ▪ to which are annexed by the publisher ( for the affinity of the subjects ) some advices about judging of things said to transcend reason . written by a fellow of the same society . london , printed by e. t. and r. h. for jonathan robinson at the golden lion in s. paul's church-yard . 1681. an advertisement . the later of the two following dialogues is but a part of a discourse , consisting of some conferences , whereof , that was neither the first , nor the last . this 't was thought fit the reader should have notice of , that he may the more easily guess upon what account it is , that some clauses in the first page , ( and perhaps a few other passages elsewhere ) contain somewhat that appears not altogether the same it would have done , if there had been no need to make any alteration at all in that page . but because , tho there was a connection between that dialogue and the rest of the papers from which 't is dismembered , yet it 's dependency upon the others , is not so very great , but that the publisher thought the divulging of it might be useful and seasonable : and therefore finding that want of leisure , and much diffidence , made the author unwilling to revise , and part with the other papers that accompanied this which now comes forth ; he prevail'd with him to suffer that dialogue to take its fortune , which the publisher hopes may be such , as may incourage the author to communicate what he has further meditated upon such subjects . errata . pag. 3. lin . 3. read arnobius . p. 9. l. 5. r. how . p. 25. l. 20. r. continui . p. ib. l. 21. r. hucusque superata . p. 38. l 20. for near read above . p. 56. l. 18. r. deny . p. 60. l. 5. r. sight . p 84 l. 7. r. men of . p. 86. l. ult . r. us ; for . p. 92. l. 22. r. time will. p 93. l. 12. r. do . p. 4 l. 12. r. bare repetition . p. 34. l. 6. r. body . p. 41. l. 3. r. instance ▪ p. 43. l. 10. r. ●gy . p. 48. l. 26. r. ●soners . p. 50. l. 3. r. thing . p. 62. l. 1. r. evidence of . a discourse of things above reason . enquiring , whether a philosopher should admit there are any such . the speakers are , sophronius , eugenius , pyrocles , and timotheus . euge. the seriousness you yet retain in your looks , and the posture we found you in at our entrance , makes me fear these two gentlemen and i are unseasonable intruders , that are so unhappy as to disturb your meditations . sophron. instead of doing that , you will much promote them , if you please to accompany me in them : for the subject that busied my thoughts is both so abstruse and so important , that it needs more than one to consider it , and deserves that he should be a far better considerer than i , who therefore must think my self far less fit for that task than you . eug. i will punish the flattery of these last words , by declining to make any return to it . pyrocl. and i , gentlemen , to prevent the loss of time and words between you , shall without farther ceremony ask sophronius , what his thoughts were employed about when we came in . sophr. i was then musing upon a subject , that was newly proposed to me by our common friend arnobiut , who would needs have my opinion , whether , and if at all , how far , we may employ our reasonings about things that are above our reason , as christians grant some mysteries of their religion to be . euge. if , by things above reason , be meant only those , that are undiscoverable by reason without revelation ; i should not hesitate to say , that there may be divers things of that kind : for the free decrees of god , and his determinations concerning the government of the world , and the future state of mankind ( to name now no others ) are things which no humane reason can pry into , but must owe the fundamental discovery it makes of them , to the revelation of him , whose purposes they are . but if , by things above reason , be meant such , as though delivered in words , free from darkness and ambiguity , are not to be conceived , and comprehended by our rational faculty , i shall freely confess , that i scarce know what to say upon so unusual and sublime a subject . pyrocl. for my part , gentlemen , i think it were very requisite to be sure in the first place , that the subject of our discourses is not chimerical , but that we can really know , that there are things we cannot comprehend , though they be proposed to us in expressions no less clear than such , as would suffice to make other things intelligible to us . sophr. your cautiousness , pyrocles , must not be rejected by me , who when , before you came in , i was putting my thoughts into some order , judg'd it unfit to consider , either how one might know what things were to be look'd on as above reason , how far we may discourse of them , or whether or no any supernaturally revealed propositions , such as divines call articles of faith , ought to be reckoned among them , till i should have first seriously enquir'd , whether in general we ought to admit any such objects of our contemplation , as these , and the like questions suppose . euge. i hope then that this being the first thing you purposed to enquire into , we may , without too much boldness , desire to know what came into your mind about it . sophr. if i had brought my considerations to an issue upon that subject , i should with less reluctancy acquaint you with them ; but i since i have yet made but an imperfect progress in my enquiry , instead of delivering any positive opinion upon so abstruse a subject , i shall only tell you , that as far as i could yet discern , it seemed to me that among the objects , our reason may contemplate there are some whose nature we cannot comprehend , others whose attributes or actions are such , as that we cannot understand how they should belong to the subject , or else that we cannot conceive how they should consist with some acknowledged truth . euge. so that if i apprehend you right , you do not only admit some things to be above reason , but make no less than three sorts of them . sophr. if you will needs have two of them to be coincident , i shall not much contend , but i think the number you have named may , without any great inconvenience , be admitted : for by things above reason , i here understand ( not false or absurd ones , but ) such , as though the intellect sees sufficient cause ( whether on the score of experience , authentick testimony , or mathematical demonstration ) to assent to ; yet it finds it self reduc'd when 't is conversant about them , to be so with a notable and peculiar disadvantage : and this disadvantage does usually proceed either from the nature of the thing proposed , which is such , that we cannot sufficiently comprehend it , or from our not being able to conceive the manner of its existing and operating ; or from this , that it involves some notion or proposition , that we see not how to reconcile with some other thing , that we are perswaded to be a truth . the first of these three sorts of things , may , for brevity and distinction sake be called incomprehensible , the second inexplicable , and the third unsociable . but for fear lest the shortness i have used in my expressions , may have kept them from being so clear , i shall somewhat more explicitly reckon up the three sorts of things that seem to me above reason . the first consists of those whose nature is not distinctly and adequately comprehensible by us : to which sort perhaps we may refer all those intellectual beings ( if it be granted that there are such ) as are by nature of a higher order than humane souls . to which sort some 〈◊〉 the angels ( at least of the good ones ) may probably belong ; but more than probably we may refer to this head , the divine author of nature , and of our souls , almighty god , whose perfections are so boundless , and his nature so very singular , that 't is no less weakness than presumption to imagine , that such finite beings as our souls , can frame full and adequate idea's of them : we may indeed know by the consideration of his works , and particularly those parts of them that we our selves are , both that he is , and in a great measure what he is not ; but to understand throughly what he is , is a task too great for any but his own infinite intellect : and therefore i think we may truly call this immense object , in the newly declared sence , supra-intellectual . euge. i suppose i may now ask what is the second sort of things above reason ? sophr. it consists of such , as though we cannot deny that they are , yet we cannot clearly and satisfactorily conceive , how they can be such as we acknowledge they are . as how matter can be infinitely , ( or which is all one , in our present discourse , indefinitely ) divisible : and how there should be such an incommensurableness betwixt the side and diagonal of a square , that no measure , how small soever , can adequatly measure both the one and the other . that matter is endlesly divisible , is not only the assertion of aristotle and the schools , but generally embraced by those rigid reasoners , geometricians themselves ; and may be farther confirm'd by the other instance of the side and diagonal of a square , whose incommensurableness is believed upon no less firm a proof , than a demonstration of euclid , and was so known a truth among the ancients , that plato is said to have pronounced him rather a beast than a man , that was a stranger to it . and yet if continued quantity be not divisible without stop , how can we conceive but that there may be found some determinate part of the side of a square , which being often enough repeated , would exactly measure the diagonal too . but though mathematical demonstrations assure us , that these things are so , yet those that have strained their brains , have not been able clearly to conceive how it should be possible , that a line ( for instance ) of not a quarter of an inch long , should be still divisible into lesser and lesser portions , without ever coming to an end of those subdivisions ; or how among the innumerable differing partitions into aliquot parts , that may be made of the side of a square , not one of those parts can be found exactly to measure so short a line as the diagonal may be . euge. there is yet behind , sophronius , the third sort of those things , which , according to you , surpass our reason . sophr. i shall name that too , eugenius , as soon as i have premised that some of the reasons that moved me to refer some instances to this head , do not so peculiarly belong to those instances , but that they may be applicable to others , which 't was thought convenient to refer to the second or first of the foregoing heads : and this being once intimated , i shall proceed to tell you , that the third sort of things that seem to surpass our reason , consists of those , to which the rules and axioms and notions , whereby we judge of the truth and falshood of ordinary , or other things , seem not to agree . this third sort being such as are incumbred with difficulties or objections , that cannot directly and satisfactorily be removed by them that acquiesce in the received rules of subordinate sciences , and do reason but at the common rate , such objects of contemplation as this third sort consists of , having something belonging to them , that seems not reconcilable with some very manifest , or at least acknowledged truths . this it may here suffice to make out by a couple of instances , the one of a moral , the other of a mathematical nature : and first , that man has a free will , in reference at least to civil matters , is the general confession of mankind : all the laws that forbid and punish murder , adultery , theft , and other crimes , being founded on a supposition , that men have a power to forbear committing them , and the sense men have of their being possest of this power over their own actions , is great enough to make malefactors acknowledg their punishments to be just , being no less condemned by their own consciences , than by their judges . and yet ( some socinians , and some few others excepted ) the generality of mankind , whether christians , jews , mahometans , or heathens , ascribe to god an infallible prescience of humane actions , which is supposed by the belief of prophecies , and the recourse to oracles , by one or other of which two ways the embracers of the several religions newly mentioned , have endeavoured and expected to receive the informations of future things , and such as depend upon the actings of men . but how a certain fore-knowledg can be had of contingent things , and such as depend upon the free will of man , is that which many great wits that have solicitously tryed , have found themselves unable clearly to comprehend , nor is it much to be admired that they should be puzled to conceive how an infinitely perfect being should want prescience , or that their will should want that liberty , whereof they feel in themselves the almost perpetual exercise . the other instance i promised you , euge. is afforded me by geometricians : for these ( you know ) teach the divisibility of quantity in infinitum or without stop , to be mathematically demonstrable . give me leave then to propose to you a strait line of three foot long divided into two parts , the one double to the other . i suppose then , that according to their doctrine a line of two foot is divisible into infinite parts , or it is not : if you say it is not , you contradict the demonstrations of the geometricians ; if you say that it is , then you must confess either that the line of one foot is divisible into as many parts as the line of two foot , though the one be but half the other , or else that the infinite parts , into which the line of one foot is granted to be divisible , is exceeded in number by the parts , into which the line of two foot is divisible , and consequently that the line of two foot has a multitude of parts greater than infinite . which reasonings may let us see that we may be reduced either to reject inferences legitimately drawn from manifest or granted truths , or to admit conclusions that appear absurd ; if we will have all the common rules whereby we judge of other things to be applicable to infinites . and now , gentlemen , having acquainted you with what sorts of things seem to be above reason , i must , to prevent mistakes , desire you to take along with you this advertisement : that though the nobleness and difficulty of so uncultivated a subject , inclined me to offer something towards the elucidating of it , by sorting those things into three kinds ; yet i shall not , and need not in this conference , insist on them severally , or lay any stress on this partition . for though i have above intimated , that a proposition may speak of somewhat that is supra-intellectual , or else contain somewhat which we cannot conceive how it may be true , or lastly teach us somewhat for a truth , that we cannot reconcile with some other thing , that we are convinced is true ; yet if but any one of these have true instances belonging to it , that may suffice for my main purpose in this place , where i need only shew in general , that there may be things that surpassour reason , at least so far , that they are not to be judged of by the same measures and rules , by which men are wont to judge of ordinary things , for which reason i shall often give them one common name , calling them priviledg'd things . euge. methinks that to manifest the imperfections of our reason , in reference to what you call priviledg'd things , you need not have recourse to the unfathomable abysses of the divine nature , since for ought i know , pyrocles , as well as i , may be non-plus'd by an instance that came into my mind de compositione continui . timoth. since sophronius has not thought fit to give us any of the arguments of the contending party's , i shall be glad to know what difficulty occurr'd to you . euge. suppose a great circle divided into its three hundred and sixty degrees , and suppose that as great a number as you please or can conceive , of strait lines , be drawn from the several designable parts of some one of these degrees , to the centre , 't is manifest that the degrees being equal , as many lines may be drawn from any , and so from every one of the others , as from that degree which was pitched upon . then suppose a circular arch , equal to the assumed degree , to be further bent into the circumference of a little circle , having the same centre with a great one , it follows from the nature of a circle , and has been geometrically demonstrated , that the semi-diameters of a circle how many soever they be , can no where touch one another but in the centre . whence 't is evident , that all the lines that are drawn from the circumference to the centre of the greater circle ▪ must pass by differing points of the circumference of the smaller , ( for else they would touch one another before they arrive at the centre ) and consequently that as many lines soever as can even mentally be drawn from the several points of the circumference of the great circle to the common centre of both circles , must all pass through different points of the little circle , and thereby divide it into as many parts ( proportionably smaller ) as the greater circle is divided into : so that here the circumference of the lesser circle presents us with a curve line , which was not possibly divisible into more parts than an arch of one degree , or the three hundred and sixtieth part of the circumference of the greater circle , and yet without being lengthned , becomes divisible into as many parts as the whole circumference of the same greater circle . and though we should suppose the circumference of the internal circle not to exceed one inch , and that of the exterior circle to exceed the circumference of the terrestrial globe , or even of the firmament it self , yet still the demonstration would hold , and all the lines drawn from this vast circle , would find distinct points in the lesser , to pass through to their common centre . timoth. though i will not pretend to confirm what sophronius has been proving , by adding arguments a priori ; yet i shall venture to say , that i think it very agreeable both to the nature of god and to that of man , that what he has endeavoured to prove true should be so ; for we men mistake and flatter humane nature too much , when we think our faculties of understanding so unlimited , both in point of capacity and of extent , and so free and unprepossest , as many philosophers seem to suppose : for , whatever our self-love may incline us to imagine , we are really but created and finite beings ( and that probably of none of the highest or●ders of intellectual creatures ) and we come into the world , but such , as it pleased the almighty and most free author of our nature to make us . and from this dependency and limitedness of our natures , it follows not only that we may be ( for i now dispute not whether we are ) born with certain congenit notions and impressions and appetites or tendencies of mind ; but also that the means or measures which are furnished us to employ in the searching or judging of truth , are but such as are proportionable to gods designs in creating us , and therefore may probably be supposed not to be capable of reaching to all kinds , or if you please of truths , many of which may be unnecessary for us to know here , and some may be reserved , partly to make us sensible of the imperfections of our natures , and partly to make us aspire to that condition , wherein our faculties shall be much enlarged and heightned . it seems not therefore unreasonable to think , both that god has made our faculties so limited , that in our present mortal condition there should be some objects beyond the comprehension of our intellects ( that is ) that some of his creatures should not be able perfectly to understand some others , & yet that he has given us light enough to perceive that we cannot attain to a clear and full knowledge of them . pyrocl. i think , sophronius , that i now understand what you mean by things above reason , or as you ( not unfitly ) stiled them , priviledged things : but i presume you need not be told , that to explain the sence of a proposition , and to make out the truth of it , ( unless in common notions , or things evident by their own light ) are always two things , and oftentimes two very distant ones . sophr. i need not scruple , pyrocles , to grant the truth of what you say , but i must not so easily admit your application of it ; for among the examples , i have been proposing , there are some at least , that do not only declare what i mean by things above reason , but are instances , and consequently may be proofs that such things there are . and to those i could have added others , if i had thought it unlikely , that in the progress of our conference , there may be occasions offered of mentioning them more opportunely . pyrocl. i have long thought that the wit of man , was able to lay a fine varnish upon any thing that it would recommend ; but i have not till now found reason set a work to degrade it self , as if it were a noble exercise of its power to establish its own impotency : and indeed 't is strange to me , how you would have our reason comprehend and reach things , that you your sel● confess to be above reason , which is methinks , as if we were told that we may see things with our eye● that are invisible . sophr. i do not think , that ' ti● to degrade the understanding , to refuse to idolize it , and 't is not a●● injury to reason , to think it a li●mited faculty , but an injury to th● author of it , to think man's understanding infinite , like his . and if what i proposed be well grounded , i assign reason its most noble and genuine exercise , which is to close with discovered truths , in whose embraces the perfection of the intellect too much consists , to suffer that perfective action to be justly disparaging to it : and a sincere understanding is to give , or refuse its assent to propositions according as they are or are not true , not according as we could or could not wish they were so ; and methinks it were somewhat strange , that impartiality should be made a disparagement in a judge . but , pyrocles , leaving the reflection with which you usher'd in your objection , i shall now consider the argument it self , which being the weightiest that can be framed against the opinion you oppose , i shall beg leave to offer some considerations , wherein i shall endeavour to answer it both by proving my opinion by experience , and by shewing that experience not to be disagreeable to reason . pyrocl. i shall very willingly listen to what you have to say on such a subject . sophr. i shall then in the first place alledge the experience of many persons , and divers of them great wits , who have perplexed themselves to reconcile , i say , not the grace of god , but even his prescience to the liberty of mans will , even in bare moral actions : and i have found partly by their writings , and by discourse with some of them , that the most towring and subtle sort of speculators , metaphysicians , and mathematicians , perchance after much racking of their brains , confess themselves quite baffled by the unconquerable difficulties they met with , not only in such abstruse subjects , as the nature of god , or of the humane soul , but in the nature of what belongs in common to the most obvious bodies in the world , and even to the least portions of them : you will easily guess that i have my eye on that famous controversie , whether or no a continued quantity ( which every body , as having length , bredth , depth , must be allowed to have ) be made up of indivisibles . of the perplexing difficulties of this controversie , i might give you divers confessions , or complaints made by a sort of men too much accustomed to bold assertions and subtle arguments , to be much disposed to make acknowledgments of that kind : but i shall content my self with the testimony which one of the more famous modern schoolmen gives both of himself and other learned men , and which if i well remember , he thus expresses . aggredimur comtinus compositionem , cujus hujusque non separata difficultas omnium doctorum male ingenia vexavit , neque ullus fuit qui illam non pene insuperabilem agnoscat . hanc plerique terminorum obscuritate , illorumque replicatis & implicatis distinctionibus , & subdistinctionibus obtenebrant , ne aperté capiantur desperantes rem posse alio modo tractari neque rationis lucem sustinere , sed necessario confusionis tenebris obtegendum , ne argumentorum evidentiâ detegatur . and though he had not been thus candid in his confession , yet what he says might be easily concluded by him , that shall duly weigh with how great , though not equal force of arguments , each of the contending parties imputes to the opinion it opposes , great and intolerable absurdities as contained in it , or legitimately deducible from it . eug. i have not the vanity to think that the weakness of my reason ought to make another diffident of the strength of his : but as to my self , what sophronius has been saying cannot but be confirm'd by several tryals , wherein having exerted the small abilities i had to clear up to my self some of the difficulties about infinites : i perceived to my trouble , that my speculations satisfied me of nothing so much , as the disproportionateness of those abstruse subjects to my reason . but , sophronius , may it not be well objected , that though the instances you have given , have not been hitherto cleared by the light of reason ; yet 't is probable they may be so hereafter , considering how great progress is , from time to time , made in the discoveries of nature , in this learned age of ours . sophr. in answer to this question , eugenius , give me leave to tell you first , that you allow my past discourse to hold good for ought yet appears to the contrary : whence it will follow , that your objection is grounded upon a hope , or at most a conjecture about which i need not therefore trouble my self , till some new discoveries about the things in question , engage me to a new consideration of them . but in the mean while , give me leave to represent to you in the second place , that though i am very willing to believe , as well as i both desire and hope it , that this inquisitive age we live in , will produce discoveries that will explicate divers of the more hidden mysteries of nature , yet i expect that these discoveries will chiefly concern those things , which either we are ignorant of for want of a competent history of nature , or we mistake by reason of erroneous prepossessions , or for want of freedom and attention in our speculations . but i have not the like expectations as to all metaphysical difficulties , ( if i may so call them ) wherein neither matters of fact , nor the hypothesis of subordinate parts of learning , are wont much to avail . but however it be , as to other abstruse objects , i am very apt to think , that there are some things relating to that infinite and most monadical being ( if i may so speak ) that we call god , which will still remain incomprehensible even to philosophical understandings . and i can scarce allow my self to hope to see those obstacles surmounted , that proceed not from any personal infirmity , or evitable faults , but from the limited nature of the intellect : and to these two considerations , eugenius , i shall in answer to your question , add this also : that as mens inquisitiveness may hereafter extricate some of those grand difficulties , that have hitherto perplexed philosophers ; so it may possibly lead them to discover new difficulties more capable than the first , of baffling humane understandings . for even among the things wherewith we are already conversant , there are divers which we think we know , only because we never with due attention , tryed whether we can frame such ideas of them , as are clear and worthy for a rational seeker and lover of truth to acquiesce in . this the great intricacy that considering men find , in the notions commonly receiv'd of space , time , motion , &c. and the difficulties of framing perspicuous and satisfactory apprehensions even of such obvious things , may render highly probable . we see also that the angle of contact , the doctrine of asymptotes , and that of surd numbers and incommensurable lines , all which trouble not common accomptants and surveyors , ( who though they deal so much in numbers and lines , seldom take notice of any of them ) perplex the greatest mathematicians , and some of them so much , that they can rather demonstrate , that such affections belong to them , than they can conceive how they can do so : all which may render it probable , that mens growing curiosity is not more likely to find the solutions of some difficulties , than to take notice of other things , that may prove more insuperable than they . tim. this conjecture of yours , sophronius , is not a little favoured by the rota aristotelica ; for though the motion of a cart-wheel is so obvious and seems so plain a thing , that the carman himself never looks upon it with wonder ; yet after aristotle had taken notice of the difficulty that occurr'd about it , this trivial phaenomenon has perplex'd divers great wits , not only schoolmen , but mathematicians , and continues yet to do so , there being some circumstances in the progressive motion and rotation of the circumference of a wheel , and its nave , or of two points assigned , the one in the former , and the other in the latter , that have appeared too subtle ( and even to modern ) writers , so hard to be conceived and reconciled to some plain and granted truths , that some of them have given over the solution of the attending difficulties as desperate , which perchance , pyrocles , would not think strange , if i had time to insist on the intricacies that are to be met with in a speculation , that seems so easie as to be despicable . sophr. your instance , timotheus , must be acknowledged a very pregnant one , if you are certain that a better account cannot be given of the rota aristotelica , than is wont to be in the schools , by those peripateticks that either frankly confess the difficulties to be insoluble , or less ingenuously pretend to give solutions of them , that suppose things not to be proved , or perhaps so much as understood ( as rarefaction and condensation strictly so called ) or lose the question and perhaps themselves , by running up the dispute into that most obscure and perplexing controversie de compositione continui . eugen. i am content to forbear pressing any further at present an objection ; much of whose force depends on future contingents , and i shall the rather dismiss the proof drawn from experience , that i may the sooner put you in mind of your having promised us another argument to the same purpose , by manifesting the opinion to be agreeable to reason . sophr. i understand your pleasure , eugenius , and shall endeavour to comply with it , but the difficulty and intricateness of the subject of our discourse , obliges me to do it by steps ; and for fear we should want time for more necessary things , i will not now stay to examine whether all the things that hitherto have appeared above reason , be impenetrable to us , because of an essential disability of our understandings , proceeding from the imperfection and limitedness of their nature , or only because of some other impediment , such as may be especially the condition of the soul in this life , or the infirmities resulting from its state of union with a gross and mortal body . forbearing then to discourse how this came into my mind , and what thoughts i had upon it , i shall proceed in my considerations ; and to clear the way for those that are to follow , i shall in the first place observe to you , that whatever be thought of the faculty in abstracto , yet reason operates according to certain notions or ideas , and certain axiomes and propositions , by which as by prototypes or models , and rules and measures , it conceives things , and makes estimates and judgments of them . and indeed when we say that such a thing is consonant to reason , or repugnant to it , we usually mean that it is either immediately or mediately deducible from , or at least consistent with , or contradictory to one or other of those standard notions or rules . and this being premis'd , i consider in the next place , that if these rules and notions be such , as are abstracted only from finite things , or are congruous but to them ; they may prove useless or deceitful to us , when we go about to stretch them beyond their measure , and apply them to the infinite god , or to things that involve an infiniteness either in multitude , magnitude , or littleness . to illustrate and confirm this notion , give me leave to represent in the third place , that in my opinion all the things that we naturally do know or can know , may be divided into these two sorts : the one such as we may know without a medium ▪ and the other such as we cannot attain to , but by the intervention of a medium , or by a discursive act . to the first belong such notions as are supposed to be connate , or if you please innate , such as that two contradictories cannot be both together true . the whole is greater than any part of it ; every ( entire ) number is either even or odd , &c. and also those other truths , that are assented to upon their own account without needing any medium to prove them ; because that as soon as , by perspicuous terms , or fit examples , they are clearly proposed to the understanding , they discover themselves to be true so manifestly by their own light , that they need not be assisted by any intervening proposition , to make the intellect acquiesce in them ; of which kind are some of euclids axioms , as that , if to equal things equal things be added , the totals will be equal ; and that two right lines cannot include a space . to the second sort of things knowable by us , belong all that we acquire the knowledge of by ratiocinations , wherein by the help of intervening propositions or mediums , we deduce one thing from another , or conclude affirmatively or negatively one thing of another . this being supposed , and we being conscious to our selves , if it were but upon the score of our own infirmities and imperfections , that we are not authors of our own nature ; for ought we know it may be true , and all the experience we have hitherto had , leads us to think it is true , that the measures suggested to us either by sensations , the results of sensible observation , or the other instruments of knowledge , are such as fully reach but to finite things or beings , and therefore are not safely applicable to others . and divers of those very principles that we think very general , may be ( if i may so speak ) but gradual notions of truth , and but limited and respective , not absolute and universal . and here give me leave , as a farther consideration , to take notice to you , that though perfect syllogism be counted the best and most regular forms that our ratiocinations can assume , yet even the laws of these are grounded on the doctrine of proportions : for even between things equal there may be a proportion ( namely that of equality ) upon which ground i suppose it is , that mathematical demonstrations have been publickly proposed of the grand syllogistical rules . and in consequence of this , i shall add that geometricians will tell you , that there is no proportion betwixt a finite line and an infinite , because the former can never be so often taken , as to exceed the latter , which ac●cording to euclid's definition of proportion , it should be capable to do . of which premises the use i would make is to perswade you , that since the understanding operates but by the notions and truths 't is furnished with , and these are its instruments by proportion to which it takes measures , and makes judgments of other things ; these instruments may be too disproportionate to some objects to be securely employed to determine divers particulars about them : so the eye being an instrument which the understanding employs to estimate distances , we cannot by that safely take the bredth of the ocean , because our sight cannot reach far enough to discover how far so vast an object extends it self . and not only the common instruments of surveyors that would serve to measure the height of an house or a steeple , or even a mountain , cannot enable them to take the distance of the moon ; but , when astronomers do , by supposition , take a chain that reaches to the centre of the earth , ( and therefore is by the moderns judged to be near four thousand miles long ) even then i say , though by the help of this and the parallaxes , they may tolerably well measure the distance of some of the neerer planets , especially the moon● yet with all their great industry● they cannot by the same way ( o● perhaps any other yet known ) wit● any thing tolerable acurateness , measure the distance of the fixed stars ; the semidiameter of the earth , bearing no sensible proportion to that of so vast a sphere as the firmament , whose distance makes the parallaxes vanish , it being as to sence all one , whether at so great a remove , a star be observ'd from the centre , or from the surface of the earth . eug. in a matter so abstruse , a little illustration by examples , may be very proper and welcome . sophr. 't is scarce possible to find very apposite examples , to illustrate things of a kind so abstruse and heteroclite as those may well be suppos'd , that do surpass our reason . but yet some assistance may be borrowed from what we may observe in that other faculty of the mind , which is most of kin to the intellect , i mean the imagination : for when , for instance , i think of a triangle or a square , i find in my fancy an intuitive idea ( if i may so call it ) of those figures that is a picture clear and distinct , as if a figure of three sides or four equal sides , and angles were placed before my eyes . but if i would fancy a myriagon , or a figure consisting of ten thousand equal sides , my imagination is overpowered with so great a multitude of them , and frames but a confused idea of a polygon with a very great many sides : for if ( to speak suitably to what the excellent des cartes has well observed in the like case ) a man should endeavour to frame ideas of a myriagon or a chiliagon , they would be both so confused , that his imagination would not be able clearly to discriminate them , though the one has ten times as many sides as the other . so if you would imagine an atome , of which perhaps ten thousand would scarce make up the bulk of one of the light particles of dust , that seem to play in the sunbeams when they are shot into a darkned place , so extraordinary a littleness not having fallen under any of our senses , cannot truly be represented in our imagination . so when we speak of gods primity ( if i may so call it ) omnipotence , and some other of his infinite attributes and perfections , we have some conceptions of the things we speak of , but may very well discern them to be but inadequate ones : and though divers propositions relating to things above reason , seem clear enough to ordinary wits , yet he that shall with a competent measure of attention , curiosity , and skill , consider and examine them ; shall find that either their parts are inconsistent with one another , or they involve contradictions to some acknowledged or manifest truths , or they are veil'd over with darkness and incumbered with difficulties , from whence we are not able to rescue them . thus when the side and diagonal of a square are proposed , we have clear and distinct ideas of each of them apart , and when they are compared , we may have a conception of their incommensurableness . but yet this negative notion , if it be throughly considered , and far enough pursued , clearly contains that of a strait lines being divisible in infinitum ; and that divisibility is incumbred with so many difficulties , and is so hard to be reconciled to some confessed dictates of reason , that ( as we have seen already ) philosophers and geometricians that are convinc'd of the truth , are to this day labouring to extricate themselves out of those perplexing intricacies . i will not trouble you with the puzling , if not insuperable difficulties , that incumber the doctrine of eternity , as 't is wont to be proposed in the schools of divines and philosophers , lest you should alledge that these difficulties spring rather from the bold assumptions and groundless subtleties of the schoolmen , than from the nature of the thing it self : but i will propose somewhat that cannot be denyed , which is , that some substance or other , whether , as i believe , god , or as the peripateticks say , the world , or as the epicureans contend , matter , never had a beginning , that is , has been for ever . but when we speak of an eternity à parte ante ( as they call it ) we do not speak of a thing whereof we have no conception at all , as will appear to a considering person , and yet this general notion we have is such , that when we come attentively to examine it , by the same ways by which we judge of almost all other things , the intellect is non-plus'd : for we must conceive , that the time efflux'd since adam ( or any other man as remote from us as he is said to have been ) began to live , bears no more proportion to the duration of god , or of matter , than to those few minutes i have imployed about mentioning this instance . nay if we would be aristotelians , the same thing may be said as to those men , that lived many thousand millions of years before the time we reckon that adam began to live in : for each of these times being finite and measurable by a determinate number of years , can bear no proportion to that infinite number of years ( or somewhat that is equivalent ) which must be allowed to a duration that never had a beginning . and as there are some things whose nature and consequences pose our faculties , so there are others , whereof though we have a notion , yet the modus operandi is beyond our comprehension ; i do not mean only the true and certain modus operandi , but even an intelligible one . as , though divers learned men , especially cartesians , and that upon a philosophical account , assert , that god created the world ; yet how a substance could be made out of nothing ( as they , and the generality of christians confessedly hold ) i fear we cannot conceive . and though all philosophers , very few excepted , believe god to be the maker of the world ( out of pre-existent matter ) yet how he could make it but by locally moving the parts of the matter it was to consist of , and how an incorporeal substance can move a body , which it may pass through without resistance , is that which i fear will be found hardly explicable : for if it be said , that the soul , being an immaterial substance , can never the less move the limbs of the humane body rightly dispos'd , i shall answer that it does not appear that the rational soul doth give any motion to the parts of the body , but only guide or regulate that which she finds in them already . timoth. may it not then be rationally said , that by making observations of such things that are the proper objects of our faculties , and by making legitimate deductions from such observations , and from our other knowledges whether innate or acquired , we may come to be certain , that some things are , and so have general and dark ideas of them , when at the same time we are at a loss to conceive how they can be such , or how they can operate and perform what they do , supposing the truth and sufficiency of some other things we are convinced of . to be short , negative apprehensions we may have of some priviledged things , and positive , but indistinct apprehensions we may have of others , and that is enough to make us in some sort understand our selves , and one another , when we speak of them , though yet when we sufficiently consider what we say , we may find that our words are not accompanied with clear , distinct , and symmetrical conceptions , of those abstruse and perplexing things we speak of . and since , as hath been already shewn , we find by experience , that we are unable sufficiently to comprehend things , that by clear and legitimate consequences may be evinc'd to be , why should not this cogently argue , that some of our conceptions may be of things , to which somewhat belongs that transcends our reason , and surpasses our comprehension ? and if i would play the logician with pyrocles , i would tell him that his objection destroys his opinion : for since he talks to us of what is incomprehensible , that term must or must not be attended with some suitable idea : if it be not , let him consider , whether in his own phrase he speaks sence and not like a parrot ; but if it be , let him then confess , that one may have some kind of idea of a thing incomprehensible . but , pyrocles , whether or no you think i prevaricate in this , you will not , i hope , suspect me of doing it , in adding that when natural theology had taught men , ( as well philosophers as others ) to believe god to be an infinitely perfect being , we ought not to say that they had no idea of such a being , because they had not a clear and adequate one . and since aristotle discourses ex professo and prolixly enough , de infinito , and cites the ancienter philosophers for having done so before him , and since ( besides his commentators and followers ) democritus , epicurus , followed by gassendus and other late philosophers , maintain either that the world is boundless , or that space ( real or imaginary ) is not finite in extent , or that the world consists of atoms infinite in number ; i hope you will not put such an affront upon all these great persons , as to think they said they knew not what , when they discoursed de infinito , as they must have done , if they spake without ideas of the things they spake of , though it may be justly supposed , that the subject being infinite , the ideas they framed of it , could not be comprehensive and accurate . eug. so that according to you , sophronius , it may be said , that by reason we do not properly perceive things above reason , but only perceive that they are above reason , there being a dark and peculiar kind of impression made upon the understanding , while it sets it self to contemplate such confounding objects , by which peculiarity of impression , as by a distinct and unwonted kind of internal sensation , the understanding is brought to distinguish this sort of things ( namely ) transcendent or priviledg'd ones from others , and discern them to be disproportionate to the powers with which it uses throughly to penetrate subjects , that are not impervious to it . as when the eye looks into a deep sea , though it may pierce a little way into it , yet when it would look deeper , it discovers nothing but somewhat which is dark and indistinct , which affects the sensory so differingly from what other more genuine objects are wont to do , that by it we easily discern , that our sight fails us in the way before it arrives at the bottom , and consequently that there may be many things conceal'd there , that our sight is unable to reach . timoth. i guess , gentlemen , by the silence you seem to conspire in , after so long a debate , that you have now said as much as at present you think fit to say for and against this proposition , that there are things above our reason . sophr. i shall not , for my part , cross your observation , timotheus , but instead of adding any new proofs , shall only desire you to look back upon those i have presented you already , and to let me remind you , that of the two arguments by which i attempted to shew that there are some things above reason , the first and chiefest was suggested by experience , and the other which was drawn from the nature of things and of man , was brought as 't were , ex abundanti , to illustrate and confirm the former , and give occasion to some hints about priviledg'd subjects . and therefore though i hope what has been discours'd by these gentlemen and me , may be able to perswade pyrocles , that the acknowledgment that some things are above reason may fairly comply with the dictates of it , yet whatever he thinks of the cogency of our discourse , the truth of the main conclusion may be sufficiently evinc'd by our first argument drawn from experience : for if we really find , that there are things which our reason cannot comprehend , then whether the account these gentlemen and i have given , why our faculties are insufficient , for these things be good or not ; yet still some true account or other there must be of that insufficiency . and as we should very thankfully receive from pyrocles , any better account than what we have propounded , so if he cannot assign any better , i hope he will joyn with us in looking upon this , as very agreeable to our hypothesis ; since hereby some things must appear to us so sublime and abstruse , that not only we find we are not able to comprehend them , but that we are unable to discern so much as upon what account it is that they cannot be comprehended by us . eug. i am not averse , sophronius , from your paradox about gradual notions , and i am the more in clin'd to think , that some of the axioms and rules that are reputed to be very general , are not to be in differently extended to all subject and cases whatsoever ; when i consider the differing apprehension that the mind may frame of the same object , as well according to the vigour or ( if i may so call it rank of the understanding , as according to the differing information 't is furnished with : for if on● should propose to a child , for in●stance , of four or five years old the demonstration of the one hu●●dred and seventeenth propositio● of euclid's tenth book , wherein 〈◊〉 proves the side and diagonal 〈◊〉 a square to be incommensur●●ble , thongh possibly he may be ●●ble to read the words that expre●● the theorem , and though he ha● eyes to see the scheme imploy●● for the demonstration , yet if 〈◊〉 should spend a whole year about 〈◊〉 you would never be able to make him understand it , because 't is quite above the reach of a childs capacity : and if one should stay till he be grown a man , yet supposing him to have never learned geometry , though he may easily know what you mean by two incommensurable lines , yet all the reason he has attained to in his virile age , would but indispose him to attain to that demonstration ; for all the experience he may have had of lines , will but have suggested to him as a manifest and general truth , that of any two strait lines we may by measuring find how many feet , inches , or other determinate measure , the one exceeds the other . and though one that has been orderly instructed in all that long train of propositions , that in euclid's elements precede the one hundred and seventeenth of the tenth book , will be also able to arrive at an evidence of this truth , that those two lines are incommensurable ; yet ( as sophronius formerly noted ) how it should be possible that two short lines being proposed , whereof each by it self is easily measurable among those innumerable multitudes of parts into which each of them may be mentally divided , there should not be any one capable of exactly measuring both , is that which even a geometrician that knows it is true is not well able to conceive . but gentlemen , that you may not accuse my digression , i shall urge these comparisons no further , my scope in mentioning them being to observe to you , that for ought w● know to the contrary , such a diffe●rence of intellectual abilities as i● but gradual in children and men● may be essential in differing rank● of intellectual beings . and so 〈◊〉 may be , that some of those axiom that we think general , may , whe●● we apply them to things whereo● they are not the true and prope● measures , lead us into error , thoug● perhaps intellects of an higher o●●der may unriddle those difficulti● that confound us men , which conjecture i should confirm by some things that would be readily granted me by christians , if i thought it proper to play the divine in a discourse purely philosophical . pyrocl. you , gentlemen , have taken the liberty to make long discourses , and i shall not much blame you for it , because 't is a thing as more easily , so more speedily done , to propose difficulties than to solve them ; yet methinks amongst you all , you have left one part of my objection unanswer'd , not to say untouch'd . sophr. i suppose , pyrocles , you mean what you said about discerning invisible things with the eye , but i purposely forbore to take notice of that , because i foresaw it might be more seasonably done , after some other points had been clear'd : wherefore give me leave now to represent to you , as a corollary from the foregoing discourses , that nothing hinders but that we may reasonably suppose , that the great and free author of humane nature , god , so framed the nature of man , as to have furnish'd his intellective faculty with a light , whereby it cannot only make estimates of the power of a multitude of other things , but also judge of its own nature and power , and discern some at least of the limits beyond which it cannot safely exercise its act of particularly and peremptorily judging and defining . and now that god , who ( as i said ) is a most free agent , may have given the mind of man such a limited nature , accompanied with such a measure of light , you will not i presume deny but the question is , you will tell me , whether he hath done so ? but i hope what has been formerly discoursed by these gentlemen and me , has put that almost quite out of question . however , i shall now invite you to observe with me , that the rational soul does not only pass judgments about things without her , but about her self , and what passes within her : she searches out and contemplates her own spirituality and union with the body . the intellect judges wherein it s own nature consists , and whether or no it self be a distinct faculty from the will ; and to come yet closer to the point , be pleased to consider , that logick and metaphysicks are the works of the humane intellect , which by framing those disciplines , manifests , that it does not only judge of ratiocinations , but of the very principles and laws of reasoning , and teaches what things are necessary to the obtaining of an evidence and certainty , and what kind of mediums they are from whence you must not expect any demonstrative arguments , concerning such or such a subject . to these things it is agreeable , that if we will compare the bodily eye with the understanding , which is the eye of the mind , we must allow this difference , that the intellect is as well a looking-glass as a sensory , since it does not only see other things but it self too , and can discern its own blemishes or bad conformation , or whatever other infirmitiesit labours under . upon which consideration , we may justifie the boldness of our excellent verulam , who when he sets forth the four sorts of idols ( as he calls them ) that mislead the studiers of philosophy , makes one of them to be idola tribûs , by which he means those notions , that tho' radicated in the very nature of mankind , are yet apt to mislead us , which may confirm what i was saying before , that the soul , when duly excited , is furnished with a light , that may enable her to judge even of divers of those original notions , by which she is wont to judge of other things . to be short , the soul upon tryal may find by an inward sence , that some things surpass her forces , as a blind man that were set to lift up a rock would quickly find it too unweildy to be manag'd by him , and the utmost exercise of his strength would but convince him of the insufficiency of it , to surmount so great a weight or resistance ; so that we do not pretend that the eye of the mind should see invisibles , but only that it shall discern the limits of that sphere of activity , within which nature hath bounded it , and consequently that some objects are disproportionate to it . and i remember that aristotle himself says , that the eye sees both light and darkness , which expression , though somewhat odd , may be defended by saying , that though since darkness is a privation , not a being , it cannot properly be the object of sight , yet it may be perceived by means of the eye , by the very differing affection which that organ resents , when it is imprest on by luminous or enlightned objects , and when it is made useless to us by darkness . timoth. what you have said , sophronius , has in great part prevented one thing that might be said to strengthen pyrocles his objection , namely , that whereas when we see with our bodily eyes , there is besides the outward organ an internal and rational faculty , that perceives by the help of the eye , that which is not directly the object of sight in the eye of the mind , the intellect , there is but one faculty to perceive and judge : for according to your notion , it may be well answered , that the intellect being capable by its proper light , to judge of it self and its own acts as well as of other things , there is no need of two principles , the one to perceive and the other to judge , since one is sufficient for both those purposes . pyrocl. when i have time to reflect on all that i have heard alledg'd amongst you , gentlemen , i shall consider how far your arguments ought to obtain my assent : but in the mean while i must tell you , that they will scarce have all the success i presume you desire , unless you add somewhat to free me from what yet sticks with me of a scruple , that is much of the nature of that which i formerly proposed , being this ; how we can justifie our presuming to discourse at all of things transcending reason ? for i cannot understand how a man that admits your opinions , can intelligibly speak ( and to speak otherwise mis-becomes a rational creature ) of what is infinite or any thing that surpasses our reason ; since when we discourse of such things , either our words are , or are not accompanied with clear and distinct ideas or conceptions of the things we speak of : if they be not , what do we other than speak nonsence , or ( as hath been already said ) like parrots entertain our hearers with words , that we our selves do not understand ; and if they be , then we do in effect comprehend those things , which yet you would have me think to be on some account or other , incomprehensible . sophr. i acknowledge this difficulty , pyrocles , to be a great one ; but yet i think it not so great as that it ought to interdict us all discoursing of things above reason : and this would perhaps appear probable enough , if , as your objection borrows much of what you have formerly alledg'd , so i may be allowed , as well to repeat some things as propose others , in making answer to it . timoth. i for my part shall not only give you my consent to do so , but make it my request that you would do it , for when i look back upon our conference , methinks i plainly perceive that partly the objections of pyrocles , and partly some ( i fear impertinent ) interpositions of mine , have kept your discourse from being so methodical as otherwise you would have made it , and therefore to be reminded of some of the chief points of your doctrine , as well as to connect them with those you shall judge fit to strengthen or illustrate them , may much conduce to make us both understand it more clearly , and remember it better . eug. i am much of your mind , timotheus , but though my interpositions have been far more frequent and much less pertinent than yours , yet i am not troubled that the method of our conference has been so much disturb'd ; because i think such a free way of discoursing , wherein emergent thoughts if they be considerable , are permitted to appear as they arise in the mind , is more useful than a nice method in a debate about an uncultivated and highly important subject , in which i think we should aim at first rather to inquire than to resolve , and to procure as many hints and considerations as we can , in order to our fuller information against our next meeting , without suppressing any that is true or useful , only because it agrees not so well with a regular method , as it does with the design of our conference . sophr. without reflecting upon either of those gentlemen that have been pleased to accuse themselves , i shall readily comply with the motion made by timotheus , and after having proposed some distinctions make application of them . and the better to clear this matter in reference to pyrocles's objection , i shall first take the liberty to make some distinctions of the notions or conceptions of the mind , and for brevity sake give names to those i have now occasion to employ . i consider then , that whether the conceptions or ideas we have of things be simple or compounded , they may be distinguished into such as are particular or distinct , and such as are only general , dark , and confus'd , or indistinct : so when a navigator to unknown countries first gets a sight of land , though he may be satisfied that it is land , yet he has but a very dark and confus'd picture of it made in his eye , and cannot descry whether or no the shore be rocky , or what creeks or harbours ( if any ) it have in it ▪ much less whether the coast be well inhabited , and if it be , what kind of buildings it has ; all which he may plainly and distinctly see upon his going ashore . and this mention of the sea puts me in mind to point at another distinction , which is that of some things we have an adequate , of others , but an inadequate conception ; as if we suppose the navigator i was speaking of , should look towards the main sea , though he might see a good way distinctly , yet at length it would appear so darkly and confusedly to him , that at the verge of the sensible horizon , his sight would make him judge that the sea and sky come together , and yet he would conclude that the utmost part of the sea he could descry , was but a part of the ocean , which may , for ought he knows , reach to a vast extent beyond the visible horizon . to our confused , and often also to our inadequate conceptions , belong many of those that may be called negative , which we are wont to imploy when we speak of privations or negations , as blindness , ignorance , death , &c. we have a positive idea of things that are square and round , and black and white , and in short of other things , whose shapes and colours make them the objects of our sight : bu● when we say , for instance , that 〈◊〉 spirit or an atome is invisible 〈◊〉 those words are attended with a ne●gative conception , which is com●monly but dark and confused be●cause 't is indefinite , and remove● or lays aside those marks , by whic● we are wont clearly to perceive an● distinguish visible substances : an● when we say that such a thing 〈◊〉 impossible , we have some kind o● conception of what we speak of , b●● 't is a very obscure and indistinc● one at best , exhibiting only a gene●ral and very confused representat●●on of some ways , whereby on● might think the thing likely to b● effected if it were at all perform●●ble , accompanied with a percept●●on of the insufficiency of tho●● ways . there is yet another diff●●rence in the notions we have 〈◊〉 things , which though not wont●● be observed , is too important to 〈◊〉 here pretermitted , and it is thi● that of some things we have ●●knowledg , that for want of a fit●● term may be called primary or direct , and of some other things the knowledge we have is acquired but by inferring it from some more known or clearer truth ; and so may be called inferr'd or illative knowledge . as when a geometrician defines to me an hyperbole , i quickly gain a clear and distinct idea of it , but when he proves to me that this hyperbole may have such a relation to a strait line which he calls asymptote , that this line being continued still comes nearer and nearer to the prolonged side of the hyperbole , and yet how far soever both be drawn , 't will never come to touch it , his subtil demonstrations present me with an infer'd or illative truth , at which we arriv'd not but by the help of a train of ratiocinations , and on which if we exercise our imagination , we shall find this factitious truth , if we may so call it , accompanied but with a very dim and confused idea . to the foregoing distinctions , give me leave to add but this one more , which belongs chiefly to the not●●ons we have of true or false propos●●tions , namely , that of our concept●●ons of things , some are symmetrici●● ( if i may so call them ) or every wa● consistent , by which i mean th●● that have these two qualification● the one that all the parts are consi●●●ent among themselves , and the ●●●ther that the entire idea is consi●●●ent with all other truths ; and so●● are chymerical or asymmetrical , 〈◊〉 which i understand those that a● either self-destroying by the contr●●riety of the parts themselves th●● are made up of , as if one sho●● talk of a triangular square , or a 〈◊〉 shiny night ; or being extravaga●● lead to some manifest absurdit●● that may be legitimately inferr●● from them , or into inextrica●● difficulties , or involve a real rep●●●nancy to some acknowledg'd tru● or rule of reason . to what i have hitherto said 〈◊〉 must add these two observation ▪ the first , that the mind of ma●● so framed , that when she is 〈◊〉 instructed and is not wanting to her self , she can perceive a want of light in her self for some purposes , or of clearness and completeness in the best idaeas she is able to frame of some things , and on this account can so far take notice of the extent and imperfection of her own faculties , as to discern that some objects are disproportionate to her ; as when we attentively consider the dimensions of space , or ( if the cartesians judge aright , that body is nothing but extended substance ) those of the universe , we may by tryal perceive that we cannot conceive them so great , but that they may be yet greater , or if you please may exceed the bounds , how remote soever , which our former conception presum'd to assign them ; which may be illustrated by what happens to the eye , when it looks upon the main sea ; since we easily grow sensible that how far soever we can discover it , yet our sight falls far short of the extent of that vast object . and 't is by the sense which the mind has of her own l●●mitedness and imperfection on cer●tain occasions , that i think we ma●● estimate what things ought no● and what ought to be looked upo● as things above reason ; for by th●● term , i would not have you thin●● i mean such things as our ration●● faculty cannot at all reach to , 〈◊〉 has not any kind of perception 〈◊〉 for of such things we cannot in pa●●ticular either speak or think li●● men : but my meaning is this , th●● whereas the rational soul is consc●●ous to her own acts , and feels , th●● she knows divers sorts of thin●● truly and clearly ; and thereby ju●●●ly concludes them to be within 〈◊〉 compass of her faculties ; when 〈◊〉 contemplates some few things th●● seem to be of another order , she● convinc'd that however she stra●● her power , she has no such ide● or perception of them , as she 〈◊〉 or may have of those objects th●● are not disproportionate to her ●●●culties : and this is my first obse●●vation . the other thing that i was to observe about the nature of the mind is , that 't is so constituted , that its faculty of drawing consequences from known truths , is of greater extent than its power of framing clear and distinct idaeas of things ; so that by subtle or successive inferences , it may attain to a clear conviction that some things are , of whose nature and properties ( or at least of some of them ) it can frame no clear and satisfactory conceptions . and that men should be better able to infer propositions about divers things , than to penetrate their nature , needs the less be wondred at , both because 't is oftentimes sufficient for our uses to know that such things are , though that knowledge be not accompanied with a clear and distinct idaea ; and because oftentimes the rules ( such as , whatever is produced must have a cause ; and , from truth , nothing rightly follows but truth ) are clear and easie that enable the mind to infer conclusions about things , whose nature is very dark , and abstruse . eug. i know , sophronius , that you have not laid down these preliminary distinctions and remarks without designing to make use of them , which the little time that now remains to manage our conference in , calls upon you to proceed to do . sophr. i was just going to say , eugenius , that after what i have premised , i hope it may now be seasonable to apply the newly delivered notions to the three sorts of things that i formerly represented as being in some sence above reason . for i consider , that there are some objects of so immense and peculiar a nature , that ( if i may so speak ) by an easie view of the mind , that is without any subtle and laborious disquisition , the soul discerns , and as it were feels the object to be disproportionate to her powers : and accordingly if she thinks sit to try , she quickly finds her self unable to frame conceptions of them fit to be acquiesc'd in , and this sort of objects i do upon that account call inconceivable , or ( on some occasions ) supra-intellectual . but when by attentively considering the attributes and operations of things , we sometimes find that a thing hath some property belonging to it , or doth perform somewhat , which by reflecting on the beings and ways of working that we know already , we cannot discern to be reducible to them or derivable from them , we then conclude this property or this operation to be inexplicable ; that is , such as that it cannot so much as in a general way be intelligibly accounted for , and this makes the second sort of our things above reason . but this is not all , for the rational soul that is already furnished with innate , or at least primitive idaeas and rules of true and false , when she comes to examine certain things and make successive inferences about them , she finds ( sometimes to her wonder as well as trouble ) that she cannot avoid admitting some consequences as true & good which she is not able to reconcile to some other manifest truth or acknowledged proposition : and whereas other truths are so harmonious , that there is no disagreement between any two of them , the heteroclite truths i speak of appear not symmetrical with the rest of the body of truths , and we see not how we can at once embrace these and the rest , without admitting that grand absurdity which subverts the very foundation of our reasonings , that contradictories may both be true . as in the controversie about the endless divisibility of a strait line , since 't is manifest that a line of three foot for instance is thrice as long as a line of one foot , so that the shorter line is but the third part of the longer , it would follow that a part of a line may contain as many parts as a whole , since each of them is divisible into infinite parts , which seems repugnant to common sence , and to contradict one of those common notions in euclid , whereon geometry it self is built . upon which account i have ventured to call this third sort of things above reason asymmetrical or unsociable , of which eminent instances are afforded us by those controversies ( such as that of the compositio continui ) wherein which side soever of the question you take , you will be unable directly and truly to answer the objections that may be urged to show that you contradict some primitive or some other acknowledged truth . these , eugenius , are some of the considerations by which i have been induced to distinguish the things that to me seem to over-match our reason , into three kinds . for of those things i have stil'd unconceivable , our idaeas are but such as a moderate attention suffices to make the mind sensible that she wants either light or extent enough to have a clear and full comprehension of them : and those things that i have called inexplicable , are those which we cannot perceive to de upon the idaeas we are furnished with , and to resemble in their manner of working any of the agents whose nature we are acquainted with : and lastly , those things which i have named unsociable , are such as have notions belonging to them , or have conclusions deducible from them , that are ( for ought we can discern ) either incongruous to our primitive idaeas , or when they are driven home , inconsistent with the manifest rules we are furnished with , to judge of true and false . eug. i presume , sophronius , that by sorting things above reason into three kinds , you do not intend to deny but that 't is possible one object may in differing regards be referred to more than one of these sorts . sophr. you apprehend me very right , eugenius , and the truth of what you say may sufficiently appear in that noblest of objects , god. timoth. we owe so much to god , the most perfect of beings , not only for other blessings , but for those very intellects that enable us to contemplate him , that i shall be very glad to learn any thing that may increase my wonder and veneration for an object , to whom i can never pay enough of either . sophr. you speak like your self , timotheus , and i wish i were as able as i ought to be willing , to satisfie your desire : but since we are now discoursing like philosophers , not divines , i shall proceed to speak of that gloriousest of objects , but as his nature or some of his attributes afford me instances to the purpose , for which i presum'd to mention him . when god therefore made the world out of nothing , or ( if pyrocles will not admit the creation ) when he discerns the secretest thoughts and intentions of the mind , when he unites an immaterial spirit to a humane body , and maintains , perhaps for very many years , that unparallel'd union with all the wonderful conditions he has annex'd to it ; when , i say , he doth these and many other things , that i must not now stay to mention , he supplies us with instances of things that are inexplicable : for such operations are not reducible to any of the ways of working known to us ; since our own minds can but modify themselves by divers manners of thinking ; and as for things without us , all that one body can do to another by acting on it , is to communicate local motion to it , and thereby produce in it the natural consequences of such motion ; in all which there is no action like any of those i just now ascrib'd to god. and if we consider that the praescience of those future events that we call contingent , being a perfection , is not to be denyed to god ; who is by all acknowledged the perfectest of beings and that yet the greatest wits that have laboured to reconcile this infallible praecognition with the liberty of mans will , have been reduced to maintain some thing or other , that thwarts some acknowledged truth or dictate of reason : if we duly consider this ( i say ) it will afford us an instance of truths , whose consistency and whose symmetry with the body of other truths , our reason cannot discern , and which therefore ought to be referred to that sort of things above reason , that i call unsociable . and now i come to the third sort of these things which is that i formerly mention'd , first under the name of incomprehensible or supra-intellectual : which title , whether or no it belongs to any other object , ( which i will not now enquire ) doth certainly belong to god , whose nature comprehending all perfections in their utmost possible degrees , is not like to be comprehensible by our minds , who altogether want divers of those perfections , and have but moderate measures , ( not to call them shadows ) of the rest . we are indeed born with , or at least have a power and divers occasions to frame an idaea of a being infinitely perfect , and by this idaea we may sufficiently discriminate the original of it , god , from all other objects whatsoever . but then , when we come to consider attentively & minutely what is contained in the notion of omnipotence , omniscience , eternity , and those other divine attributes that are all united in that great confluence and abys● of perfections , god ; we may be● sure to find , that our faculties are exceedingly surmounted by the vastness and gloriousness of that unlimited and unparallel'd object 〈◊〉 about which , as we can discove● that it exists , and that it possesse● all the perfection we can conceive● so we may at the same time discern● that it must have degrees of perfection , which because of the inferiority of our nature , we are not able to conceive . and yet this discovery of god● incomprehensibleness may be mad● without subtle disquisitions , an● without trains of consequences● though not without due attention● by a direct view of the mind ( if 〈◊〉 may so term it ; ) who finds her self upon tryal as unable fully to measure the divine perfections as the dimensions of space , which we can conceive to be greater and greater , without ever being able to determine any extent beyond whose limits they cannot reach . pyrocles . i suspected sophron. by the tenour of your discourse that the last questions these gentlemen asked you , diverted you from saying somewhat more than you did by way of application of your preceding discourse . sophron. i was then indeed about to make , as i now shall , this use of what i had been saying ; that i readily acknowledge that 't is an arrogance to talk of infinite or of priviledg'd things , with the same confidence , or to pretend to do it with the same clearness , wherewith knowing men may speak of things unquestionably within the compass of our intellect : but that this need not hinder us from speaking , nor doth disable us from speaking rationally of priviledg'd things themselves . for all the notions that are allowable are not of the same sort or order ; and if none were to be admitted but those that enable us to comprehend the object , that is , which give us a clear and distinct knowledge of all that it contains or that belongs to it , i must confess that we have no good notions of priviledg'd things in particular ▪ but then i must add , that i fear we have few or none even of many things that we think our selves very knowing in . and when we speak of things as being above reason , though we have no clear , distinct and adequate notion o● them , yet we may have a general confus'd and inadequate notion of them , which may suffice to make us discriminate their respective objects from all else , and from one another ; as may be observ'd in several , idaeas that are negatively fram'd , such as those we have o● invisible , incomprehensible , and in others which i formerly call'd inferr'd ; because they accompany the remote inferences whereby one truth is concluded from another : as when geometricians infer from some propositions in euclid that any strait line may be divided farther and farther without stop . for of this and some other propositions about priviledg'd things , we are not quite destitute of allowable notions ; as may appear by some of the admirably ingenious speculations of mathematicians about the affections of surd numbers , and about incommensurable magnitudes ; about some of which we have no such clear and symmetrical conceptions as we have of many other things , that are of a nearer and more intelligible order . and on this occasion i shall not scruple to acknowledge , that partly by my own experience , and partly by the confessions of others , and by their unsuccesful attempts , i am induc'd to think that god , who is a most free agent , having been pleas'd to make intelligent beings , may perhaps have made them of differing ranks , or orders , whereof men may not be of the principal ; and that whether there be such orders or no , he hath at least made us men , of a limited nature ( in general ) and of a bounded capacity . congruously to this i think also , that he hath furnished man either with certain innate ideas or models and principles , or with a faculty or power and disposition easily to frame them , as it meets with occasions ( which readily occur ) to excite them : but because that ( as i lately noted ) god intended the mind of man but of a limited capacity , his understanding is so constituted that the inbred or easily acquir'd idaeas and primitive axioms wherewith it is furnished , and by relation or analogy whereunto it judges of all other notions , and propositions , do not extend to all knowable objects whatsoever ; but reach only to such as have a sufficient affinity , or bear some proportion to those primary idaeas and rules of truth , which are sufficient if duly improv'd , to help us to the attainment , though not of the perfect knowledge of truth 's of the highest orders , yet to the competent knowledge of as much truth as god thought fit to allow our minds in their present ( and perchance laps'd ) condition , or state of union with their mortal bodies . eugen. your opinion , sophron. if i apprehend it aright , contains two very differing assertions ; one that it is allowable to contemplate and even to discourse of things above reason , since we may have some conceptions of them , though they be but very dim and imperfect : and the other , that we ought not to look upon , or speak of such objects as things that we comprehend , or have even such a measure of knowledge of , as we have of things that are not priviledg'd . for of these we are not to speak but with a peculiar wariness , and modest diffidence . sophron. you have express'd my thoughts eugen. since i intend not to injoyn silence , or disswade curiosity , but yet forbid presumption , in reference to priviledg'd things . timoth. and truly sophron. i see no reason to repine at the limits which your late discourse hath in imitation of the author of nature himself , assign'd to human knowledg . for the number of priviledg'd things is altogether inconsiderable in comparison of the multitude of other things , to which our knowledge may be improv'd to reach ; and which it far more concerns us to know well , than it doth to resolve puzling questions about things incomprehensible ; there being within the compass of those truths , enough to employ , and reward our curiosity without straining and tiring our reason about objects that transcend it . and yet even about these , some disquisitions may be allow'd us , for an object that on the account of some of its properties may be a priviledg'd one ; may have divers other things belonging to it , that do not surpass our reason , and whose knowledge may therefore be attain'd , by the due employment of it . thus we usefully study the nature of bodies , which make up the object of the excellent science of natural philosophy ; though the true notion of body in general be a thing so difficult to frame , that the best of our modern philosophers can by no means agree about it . which i do not wonder at ; because if we pursue the notion of a body to the uttermost ; 't will lead us to the perplexing controversie , de compositione continui , and there you will not deny , but that the understanding will be left in the dark . thus surveyors , carpenters , architects , and many others know divers affections of the square figure that are of great use to them in their respective employments , though that property of the square , that its side and diagonal are incommensurable , be unknown to most of them ; and if they were told of it , and would prosecute the speculation , would involve them in exceeding great and probably insuperable difficulties . sophron. to confirm what you have been telling us , timoth. i shall venture to add , that even about priviledg'd things , our inquiries , if modestly and discreetly manag'd , may not only be allowable but sometimes profitable . for even of such subjects a studious search may bring us to know more than we did , though not so much as we would , nor enough to be acquiesc'd in . so that such enquiries may probably teach us , to know the objects better , and our selves better too ; by giving us such a sensible discovery of the insufficiency of our understandings to comprehend all sorts of things , as may be very useful , though not pleasing , and may richly recompence us , for the pains that ended in so instructive a disappointment . and let me add to the pertinent instances that have been mention'd , the noblest that can be given ; i mean the contemplation of god himself . for he hath so ordered all things , that 't is scarce possible for us , to be destitute of an idaea of him , which will at least represent him as an existent being , and more perfect than any other being ; and yet when we come with sufficient application of mind to pry into the wonderful attributes of this most singular and adorable being , we are , as was lately observ'd , sure to find our selves unable to comprehend so unbounded an object . which yet ought not to discourage us from so noble a study , since we are allow'd the great contentment and honour to make further and further discoveries of the excellentest of objects , by that very immensity of his perfections , that makes it impossible for us to reach to the bounds of his excellency , or rather to discover that it has any bounds at all . but , gentlemen , i perceive i have been so transported by the mention of this vast and divine subject , in whose contemplation 't is so easie , and so pleasant to lose ones self , that i have forgot the notice eugen. gave me , a pretty while since , that the time allotted for our present conference was then near expiring . and therefore i shall leave you to pick out of the excursions to which your interpositions tempted ( not to say oblig'd ) me , the applications , that i intended to make more methodically of the distinctions i laid down . and i am the less troubled to be hindred from proposing to you my thoughts about the way of distinguishing priviledg'd things from others , because we have a domestick monitor , or a kind of an internal criterium always at hand to help us . for i think it may well be said , that the wise author of nature has endued the understanding with such a quick , though internal , sensation ( if i may so call it ) that when due attention is not wanting , it can feelingly discern between other objects , and those that are disproportionate to its ability . as even in beasts , the eye is so fram'd ( according to the institution of nature ) that if it be obverted to the bright noon-day-sun , there needs no monitor , but the operation of the same sun , to make it wink ; ( and perhaps water ) and thereby discover it self to be dazled and overpowr'd by the disproportionate object . pyroc . i confess your discourses , gentlemen , have made an unexpected impression upon me ; but whether that will amount to a conviction will scarce appear till our next conference . only thus much i shall tell you now , that it would much facilitate our agreement in opinion , if you did not contend for altogether so much ; but would be pleas'd to leave it undertermin'd , whether man's intellectual faculty it self is uncapable by the help of any degree of light , to discover and know those things , which you call above reason ? and would content your selves to say , that there are some things belonging to these subjects , which we must confess we have less clear and distinct notions of , than we have even of the difficultest of those things , that are acknowledg'd not to surpass our reason : and that if we will take upon us , to determine positively and particularly about these transcendent things , we must employ ways of reasoning , congruous to their peculiar natures . sophron. i shall readily consent not to expect your final resolution , before our next meeting , having no cause to fear that time , will be unfriendly to her daughter truth . timoth. and in the mean while , pyrocles , i am glad to find by the last part of what you just now said , that you seem to be no longer indispos'd to admit some things , that ( at least in our present state ) do some way or other surpass our reason . for i think that instead of exalting that faculty , we injure and defraud it , if we do not freely allow it , as much enjoyment of truth as we are able to procure it : and consequently if geometry , or revelation , or experience , assure us of divers things of which we can know but that they are , and what they do , not , what they are , and how they act , we must neither refuse , nor neglect the study of such truths , any more than we would refuse to look into any other objects , than those that we can look through ; and therefore to enrich the intellect as much as we are able , we must entertain , not only those truths , that we can comprehend , but those also , how sublime soever , that we can have any certain , though but a very imperfect knowledge of , especially since those remote and abstruse subjects may be as much more noble as more dark than others , and thereby render an imperfect discovery of them , more desirable , than a far clearer one of inferior things . finis . advices in judging of things said to transcend reason . the speakers arnobius , eugenius , pyrocles and timotheus . arnob. i was very glad , gentlemen , to learn this morning of sophronius some things , whence 't was easie to conclude , that by the discourse you had with him last night , he has made it allowable for me to demand , and rational for you to grant , nay to proffer me , a dispensation of the task you imposed on me at our last meeting . for tho' he spake with the modesty that became him of your conference , and gave me , but a hasty and imperfect account of what pass'd between you ; yet i think i may presume , that by his discourse pyrocles himself was at least inclin'd , and you two , gentlemen , fully perswaded to admit , that there are things above reason ; which was the main point about which you expected at our last congress that i should entertain you , at our then next , or now present meeting . eugen. i deny not , that sophronius's considerations were prevalent on timotheus and me ; and have , i hope , made a good impression on pyrocles himself ; but that ought not to hinder us from coming , as we now do , to claim your promise of entertaining us about things above reason . and if you will needs be dispens'd with from repeating those considerations that sophronius has employed already , ( tho' i doubt not but by repeating them , you would both strengthen and advance them ; ) we will not be rigid exactors of our right : but yet we must not remit your task , tho' we are content to change it . for i question not but these gentlemen will consent with me , to discharge you of your promise of discoursing of the arguments that may infer some things to be above reason , if you will please to afford us your thoughts , about the ways of avoiding to be imposed on by our selves or others , when such sublime subjects are treated or discours'd of . arnob. tho' in the recital of your conference , sophronius did but touch on several subjects whereon it would be proper for me to insist , in the discourse you seem to expect from me ; yet i am apt to fear , that he has so prevented me in what i should say , that he has left little or nothing for me to do , but to make repetitions of what you have heard already much better express'd : which will be an employment far enough from being grateful , either to you or me . eugen. your modesty , sir , is not like to defeat our curiosity ; and that you may not think your self hardly used , or condemned to bear repetitions ; be pleased to take notice , both that , what we desire as a favor , we might claim as a compensation , and that the things we expect from you now , are not arguments to make out that there are things above reason , but that you would afford us some rules and directions how to regulate the ratiocinations we make ; and estimate those we meet with , about such transcendent subjects . arnob. i hope eugenius , you do not in earnest think me so vain as to pretend to frame a logick about things above logick ; or magisterially to deliver rules about things that are as anomalous , as they are either remote or abstruse . besides that all you have said , do's not exempt me from a fear , that by reason of sophronius's omitting divers points of his discourse , and my imperfect remembrance of those he transiently and summarily mention'd , he has anticipated much of what were otherwise proper for me to say . but yet because 't is possible that his thoughts and mine , may have lead us , to have made some reflections that are not at all the same ; and that even when others happen to be coincident , it may be not altogether useless , that i should endeavour to inlarge some things that he has but hinted , and illustrate or vindicate some others that will not be prejudic'd by being cleared , or confirm'd ; and above all this , because i would shew you , that i am willing to comply with you somewhat to the hazard of my discretion , i shall not refuse to offer you some , not rules , but advices ; provided you freely interrupt me , when i begin to trouble you with the repetition of any thing that you have , tho' i have not heard before ; and provided too , that you look not on these advices so much as directions to find the truth in such abstruse matters , as cautions that may chance to assist you to avoid some errors and mistakes . eugen. we are not so scrupulous but that we shall upon your own terms gladly receive your thoughts , whatever names you please to give them . arnob. i shall then without further preamble comply with your commands , and propose as my first advice . that about priviledg'd subjects themselves , we do not admit any ( affirmative ) assertion without such proofs , to evince it , as are sufficient in their kind . i hope gentlemen that sophronius has so far declar'd to you , what is to be meant by priviledg'd things , that though it be a new term , yet i need not solicitously explain it ; and may think it sufficient to intimate in few words that they are things of a very heteroclyte and abstruse nature , and have belonging to them such peculiar affections and attributes , as require that in judging and reasoning of them we should employ notions and rules congruous to their particular condition ; some of them superadded to , & others perhaps differing from , those that men generally & safely enough make use of about common & familiar things , that are of a nature less impervious to our understandings . and if the shortness of this summary description , should leave it less clear than i hope you find it ; i foresee there will divers occasions of illustrating it , by instances and other ways , occur in the sequel of our discourse : in order to which i shall , after this short and necessary digression , return to the lately given first advice ; and tell you that 't is grounded upon this consideration , that 't is not reasonable to give assent to any thing as a truth , but upon a sufficient reason of that assent . and tho' we may well grant in the general , that a thing which ●urpasses our reason may have belonging to it some affection that is also above reason ; yet we are not in particular to believe that this or that affection doth belong to it , without particular and competent proof . for since about a priviledg'd thing , as well as about any other , propositions may be fram'd , and often are so , that are contrary to one another ; to assent to both , were to be sure to believe one falsity , if not two . and if we will assent but to one , we must either judge at adventures , or allow our selves to examine the mediums of probation , employed on both sides , and thereupon judge , why one of the propositions is to be assented to , and the other rejected . pyrocles . i am glad arnobius , that you allow your self and us this manly freedom without which our understandings were lyable to be impos'd on in matters of the highest concernment : for there scarce ever did , or i fear ever will , want some men who either out of ignorance and passive delusion , or out of self-confidence , or out of design , take upon them , with great boldness , to affirm what they please about priviledg'd subjects , and when they are opposed in their extravagancies by ratiocinations they cannot answer , they urge , that these things being above reason , are not to be judged of by it : but of such men as these i usually demand whether their own assent to the things they would have us believe , be grounded upon some rational argument , or not : if they say , 't is not , they are fools to believe it themselves ; and i should add to the number of fools , if after this acknowledgment , i should believe them : but if they say they do , i desire them to produce their argument ; for since 't is fram'd by a human understanding , the force of it may be also comprehended & judg'd of by a human understanding : and 't is to no purpose to say , that the subject surpasses human reason ; for if it do so indeed , it will surpass theirs as well as mine , and so leave us upon even terms . and let the thing assented to , be what it will , the assent it self ought to be founded upon a sufficient reason , and consequently upon one that is intelligible , to the human intellect that is wrought on by it . eûgen . i willingly allow , that there is a great difference between the being able and oblig'd to know the nature or cause of a thing , and the being able to give an intelligible account of the motives that induce our assent to it ; and without such motives the assent may by chance be given to what is a truth , but that will not hinder it from being an irrational assent . timoth. i was not ill pleas'd arnobius , with the caution you employ'd in the close of your advice , where , by saying that the positive proofs you require to evince an assertion about a priviledg'd thing , must be sufficient in their kind , you plainly intimate that you do not exact rigid demonstrations of such assertions : and indeed it were not reasonable you should ; for since 't is manifest , that there are many truths , such as historical and political ones , that by the nature of the things are not capable of mathematical or metaphysical demonstrations , and yet being really truths , have a just title to our assent , it must be acknowledg'd , that a rational assent may be founded upon proofs that reach not to rigid demonstrations , it being sufficient that they are strong enough to deserve a wise mans acquiescence in them . and therefore if any things can be made out to be reveal'd by god concerning his own nature , or actions , or decrees , we ought firmly to believe them , because that , of some of those things , as his praescience , mercy , &c. we can have no better proofes ; and of others , as what he did before our world was made ; and what he will do with us after we are dead , we can have no other considerable proofes at all . and the objection made by pyrocles against the assenting to audacious propositions fram'd by imposing men , will not reach our case : for there is no reason to think , that because an object surpasses an humane understanding , it must therefore surpass the divine intellect it self . and even in things that are transacted in the mind of man himself ; i may learn from another that is not my superior , what i can by no means attain to know , unless he be pleased to discover it to me . as that he was at such a time , thinking of the creation of the world , or resolving how to dispose of his son , and what recompence he designs to give a servant that he has not yet entertained . pyrocles . about things of such a kind as you now mention , timotheus , i shall not dissent from you ; because these are things , that tho' not discoverable by our reason till we be informed of them , are yet clearly knowable by our reason , when we are informed of them . but that there should be things , which tho' perspicuously proposed , should not be comprehensible by our understanding , is such an affront to that noble faculty , that i confess it has much indisposed me to grant ( what i am yet unwilling peremptorily to deny , ) that there are , as sophronius would have us think , not only some priviledged things , but more than one kind of them ; which if we do admit , it will place such narrow limits to our understandings , that we must despair of the desireablest knowledge of all , namely that which is conversant about the noblest and sublimest objects . eugenius . leaving to sophronius the management of a point he has studied , and which i have not now time solemnly to argue ; i shall only tell you in general that i see no necessity , that intelligibility to a humane understanding , should be necessary to the truth or existence of a thing ; any more then that visibility to a humane eye , should be necessary to the existence of an atome , or of a corpuscle of air , or of the effluvium's of a loadstone , or the fragrant exhalations of ambergris , and musk from a perfumed glove ; i might here observe , that even by the same sence some creatures may discern things that may not be perceptible to others : as no attention or application of the organ ( or the nose ) will inable a man to perceive the effluvia expiring from the stale footsteps of a hunted and unseen hare or dear , tho' hounds , and especially blood-hounds , will have a vivid preception of such odours , and by their help , trace and persue the flying and unseen beast . this , i say , may be observed in favour of my present argument ; but 't will perhaps be a more proper illustration to represent , that the natural incapacity of a childs intellect , to understand the abstruse affections of parabola's , hyperbola's and the incommensurable lines of a square , hinders not those figures , from being contained in rerum naturâ , or their affections from being true and demonstrable . and tho' we do admit some priviledged things in the sence above declared , yet , ( to say somewhat to obviate pyrocles's fear ) there is no necessity that we should be interdicted all knowledge of those sublime objects , in which there are many things , whereof , or of their consequences , we must confess our selves ignorant . thus elder geometricians knew very well what a rectangular triangle was , when they conceived it to be a figure consisting of three strait lines , two of which comprize a right angle ; though probably for a great while they did not know so much as all its chief properties or affections : since for ought appears , before pythagoras , ( who offered a heccatombe to the muses in gratitude for the discovery ) it was not known that the square of the hypothenusa is equal to the squares of both the other sides ; and much more likely it is , that they were not able to solve those difficulties ( that continue to perplex even our age ) which attend that endless divisibility of lines , that is inferrible from that equality of the two squares to the single square . and besides the inscrutable perfections of god , some of his works are such , that , notwithstanding the compleat knowledge of them surpasses our forces ; yet there remains so many things , as well worthy to be known , as possible to be attained by us , that they will allow exercise enough to the wits of all the philosophers in the world. and besides that , as i have been saying , even about these priviledged subjects themselves , divers considerable things may be discovered , if they were altogether impenetrable by our understandings , yet their number is so small , that they would leave a large scope for human knowledge to diffuse and improve it self . for 't is not every thing that is hard to be understood or contrary to the common rules of probability , that has a right to pass for a priviledged thing , for so the paradoxes about srud quantities , of isoperimetal figures ; duplicate and triplicate proportion , and divers other surprising doctrines that are capable of mathematical demonstrations , would be priviledged things . nor are all those worthy of this title that are by many proposed and embraced as philosophical mysteries , for , such are the peripateticks substantial forms , which really are not priviledged things , but scholastic chimeras . but tho' i shall not presume positively to set down the discriminating bounds and signes of priviledged things , yet most if not all of them being such , as are either primary in their kind , as god himself , and the things whose nature flows immediately from him , or else things that if thorowly inspected , do necessarily involve the consideration of some kind of infinitum , or else are such that tho' in some main questions about them one side must be taken , both sides are encombred with absurdities , or scarce superable difficulties : those i say being all ( or some of them ) the usual marks that belong to priviledged things , you will easily grant , that their number is not near so great as their abstruseness ; and that therefore pyrocles and his philosophical friends need not fear to want employment for their curiosity . and for farther answer to his objection i shall add that we must regulate our belief by our perceptions , not our wishes , and must not conclude , that because 't were desirable for us , that all things were penetrable to our humane understandings , there is really nothing that is not so : and we can no more conclude that we are as knowing as angels , because we wish we were so , than that we are as immortal as they , because we would never die . but as for those few things that have belonging to them , properties so extraordinary , as to make it probable , even at the first sight , that their nature must be very abstruse and difficult be fully discover'd by us , i hope pyrocles will allow , that things of so heteroclite a nature may challenge an exemption from some of the rules imployed about common things ; and that really such rules as i mean , and some also of the vulgar notions cannot always be safely extended to such subjects , i forbear to shew in this place ; only because i would not too long at once interrupt arnobius ; and i expect to have a good opportunity to speak again of this subject , before our conference be ended . tim. you may then , i presume , arnobius , as soon as you please , favour us with your second advice . arnob. i shall readily obey you , timotheus , by proposing it thus : the second advice , or rule . that we be not hasty to frame negatives about privileg'd things , or to reject propositions or explications concerning them ; at least , as if they were absurd or impossible . 't is easie to observe in the speculation of natural things themselves , how unsafe 't is not only to affirm , but in divers cases also reject opinions , before men have any thing near a competent historical information of what belongs to the subject they take upon them peremptorily to judge of . and therefore it must in reason be thought much more unwary to be forward to resolve upon negative propositions about things which we our selves acknowledge to be above the reach of human reason , which since they are , 't will become us at least to forbear a rude and insulting way of rejecting the opinions of learned men that dissent from us about such things ; since the sublimity of the subject should make mistakes about them the more easie to be pardon'd , because they are difficult to be avoided ; and our own sharing in the disability of penetrating such abstruse things , should keep us from being over-confident , that we also may not be mistaken , and incline us to tolerate other mens opinions about matters wherein we our selves have but opinion , not science . pyr. but have not you formerly advised us not to suffer our selves to be impos'd upon by proofless assertions , even about privileg'd things ? arnob. i did so , and do so still : but there is a great deal of difference between believing a proofless affirmation about things which the affirmer does not know to be true , and framing negative conclusions against opinions , which , for ought we yet clearly know , may be true : and therefore my present advice is very consistent with my former : for here i counsel only , either a suspension of judgment , when there appears no proof on either side sufficient to sway the intellect ; or such a wary and unprejudic'd assent to opinions that are but faintly probable , that the mind may be ready to receive , without either obstinacy , or surprise , any better argument that shall conclude the contrary of the opinion we favour'd before . eugen. but methinks 't is hard to avoid the framing of conjectures , even about those sublime subjects , concerning which we can frame but conjectures , and those often very slight ones . arnob. i confess an absolute suspension of judgment is a very uneasie thing , nor do i strictly require you should entertain no conjectures ; but only that we should consider that we may be easily mistaken in them , and by further information see cause to lay them down , and perhaps exchange them for contrary ones : my thoughts of this matter may be perchance somewhat illustrated by supposing that we four were walking in a high-way , and discover'd as far off as our eyes could reach , some erected and moving body of human stature ; tho we should by its shape and walking safely enough conclude that 't were no other animal than a man , yet what manner of man he were , as old , or young , handsome , or ugly ; we should not be able to discern , and consequently , could have no sufficient ground to determine . and as if i should affirm him to be a young man or handsome , you may justly censure me of rashness ; so if because i cannot prove my conjecture , you should resolutely deny that he is a young man or handsome , i should think you guilty , tho not of an equal , yet of a censurable unwariness , because , for ought you know to the contrary , he may be what i guess'd him to be . and tho we are naturally so uneasie under fluctuation of mind , that for my part i confess ( and it may be you may be subject to the same infirmity ) i should scarce forbear resembling in my thoughts the man we speak of to some body or other that i knew , yet i should justly think that conjecture to be very fallible , and both expect that when i should come to have a nearer and clearer view of him , i might see cause to dismiss my first idea for that which this new and better prospect would afford me , tho it were quite differing from that i ●ad formerly entertain'd , and should represent him , that my forward thought perhaps resemble , to a young man of my acquaintance with black curl'd hair , and a ruddy complexion , to be pale and wrinckled , with grey hair curl'd like a pound of candles . the application , i suppose , i may spare . but gentlemen , i would not be understood in the preceding discourse , as if i were against all framing of negative propositions about privileg'd things ; my design being but to dissuade from hasty ones : for sometimes 't is much more easie and safe to deny things , than to affirm them to belong to a subject that surpasses our reason . and the observation may be of use , especially in two cases ; one , when the negative we assert is grounded not upon axioms taken from the usual course of nature , or upon propositions dubious , or remote from the first principles of knowledge , but upon either catholick and metaphysical axioms , or else upon truths manifestly flowing from some clear , tho inadequate notion we have of the nature of the things we treat of . the other case is , when we have a clear and sufficient proof by revelation , or otherwise , of the positive attributes of the things we contemplate ; for then we may safely deny of that subject any other thing that is really inconsistent with that positive attribute . upon which account it is , that tho we do not fully comprehend what god is , yet knowing by the clear light of nature ( and if we be christians ) believing it upon the account of revelation , that he is a being intelligent and infinitely perfect , we may safely deny against epicurus , vorstius , and mr. hobbs , that he is a corporeal substance , as also that he is mortal , or corruptible . pyrocl. i shall not trouble you , arnobius , to inlarge upon your last advice , but willingly receive the ●avour of your next . arnob. which shall be this : the third advice , or rule . that a matter of fact or other truth about privileg'd things being prov'd by arguments competent in their kind , we ought not to deny it meerly because we cannot explain , or perhaps so much as conceive the modus of it . 't is no very difficult task to justifie this advice ; but i may do it the better , if you give me leave to frame and premise a distinction , for want of which i have observed a want of clearness in several discourses , where the term modus has been employed : for sometimes we would deny so much as a possibillity , that one thing can belong to , or be truly said of another ; as when we say we understand not how one creature can create another ; or how there can be a line that is neither straight , nor crooked ; or a finite ( whole ) number that is neither even nor odd . but most commonly we mean by our not understanding the modus of a thing , that we do not clearly and distinctly conceive after what manner the property or other attribute of a subject belongs to it , or performs its operations . the first kind of modus may , for distinctions sake , be called a possible modus ; and the other , an actual modus . now in both the foregoing acceptions of the term modus , we may find instances fit for our present purpose . for we cannot imagine , how a short line or other finite quantity can be endlesly divisible , or ( on the contrary ) how infinite parts should make but a finite total : and yet geometry constrains us to admit , that it is so . but tho there be but few instances of this kind , yet of the other sort of our nescience of the modus of things , there may be found more instances than we could wish there were ; for even in natural and corporeal things the eager disputes of the acutest philophers , and the ingenuous confessions of the most judicious and moderate , sufficiently manifest , that as yet we know not the manner of operating whereby several bodies perform what we well know they bring to pass . and not to enter into those nice and tedious disputes of the cause of the cohesion of the parts of matter in the smallest , most principal , and most primary bodies , perhaps without going out of our selves , the way whereby the rational soul can exercise any power over the humane body , and the way whereby the understanding and the will act upon one another , have not yet been intelligibly explain'd by any . and the like i may say of the phaenomena of the memory , especially in those in whom that faculty is eminent . for 't is a thing much more fit to be admired , than easie to be conceived , how in so narrow a compass as part of a human brain , there should be so many thousand distinct cells or impressions as are requisite to harbour the characters or signatures of many languages , each of them consisting of many thousand differing words , besides the images or models of so many thousand faces , schemes , buildings , and other sensible objects , and the ideas of so many thousand notions and thoughts , and the distinct footsteps of almost innumerable multitudes of other things : and how all these shall in so narrow a compass have such deep and lasting impressions made for them , and be oftentimes lodged so exactly in the order wherein they were at first committed to the memory ( and that perhaps many years before ) that upon a sudden command of the will , or a slight casual hint , a whole set of words , things and circumstances will in a trice , as it were , start up and present themselves even in the very series , order and manner that so long before belong'd to them . and i doubt not , but that besides those abstruse things , about the modus , of which the more candid philosophers have confessed their ignorance , there would many others have been taken notice of , if we did but as seriously and impartially inquire into the nature of all the things we are pleased to think we know . and when i reflect on the yet depending disputes between philosophers and mathematicians about the nature of place and local motion , which are things so obvious and familiar to us , i should , tho i had no other inducements , be inclin'd to think , that we should find difficulties enough in many other subjects wherein we do not now take notice of any , if we particularly studyed their nature ; and that our acquiescence in what we have learned about many things proceeds not from our greater knowledge of their nature , but from our having exercised less curiosity and attention in considering it . and if in things corporeal , that are the familiar objects of our senses , we are often reduc'd to confess our ignorance of the modes of their inexisting or operating , i hope it will not be denyed , that to a being wholly unapproachable by our senses , natural theology may be allowed to ascribe some things whose modus is not attainable by our understanding : as the divine prescience of future contingents ; which as 't were impious , to deny as to the truth of the thing ; so i fear 't is impossible to explicate as to the modus of it . eugen. if it were at this time proper for me to meddle with things of that kind , i should not much scruple to say in favour of the christian religion , that divers tenents granted both by christians , jews , and heathens , as parts of natural theology , to me seem as difficult to be con●ived , as divers of those mysteries that for their unintelligibless are fiercely opposed in reveal'd theology . i will not take upon me to judge of others ; but for my part i confess , i do not much better understand , how an intellect and a will and affections are distinctly inexistent in god , in such sort as they are wont to be attributed to him , than how in him there can be a trinity ; stated , not as some schoolmen explicate , or rather darken it , but as the gospel delivers it : i can as little explain by any thing in nature , how god , who is an immaterial substance , can move matter , as how he can create it : nor would it at all satisfie me to tell me , that a rational soul moves a human body ; for i do not allow , that it gives any motion to the body , but only guides that which other agents have put the parts of it into . and tho it did produce motion in the body , my scruple would yet remain ; for the cartesians themselves confess , that the power the soul has of so much as determining the motion of the body belongs to it , not upon any physical account , but by the particular appointment and immediate power of god , who would have that power one of the conditions or properties of the union of the soul and body . so that to me , who desire to have it explained how an immaterial substance can move matter , and consequently , how god can do it , it will be no satisfaction to say , that the rational soul can move the body 't is joyned to , since that power is referred merely to god's appointment : and the question is , how god himself can be conceived to move matter . arnob. i know not whether upon the same grounds which i do not disallow , i may not add , that whereas by many 't is looked upon as an inconceivable thing that god should see mens thoughts , to me it appears as little intelligible how he can know their outward actions : for since we have no way of discerning the particular motions of mens bodies , but by some of our senses , especially our sight ; and since those sensations themselves necessarily require organs duly constituted , that is , made up of divers parts , fram'd and joyn'd after such a determinate manner , i see not how we can explain the perception of visible objects without an eye , or so much as any corporeal organ , or substance ; especially since 't is , and that very justly , asserted , that the deity is not united to any portion of matter , as the human soul is to the human body . and to these instances , others to the same purpose might be added , but that i think it fitter to mind you , that of those it already mention'd amongst us , there are some that i presume you will judg referable to that which i lately called a possible modus ; since it seems , toto genere , as they speak , inexplicable , how the attribute inexists in the subject , and after what manner the cause can produce the effect ascribed to it . tim. i know you too well , gentlemen , to suspect , you mean , by this , to deny to god either the power of moving matter , or that of perceiving all its motions . arnob. you may well take that for granted , and you may remember , that to prevent mistakes , i was careful in proposing my advice to except those things for which there is some positive proof competent in its kind . pyrocl. one may then , without surprising you , ask what kind of proofs those may be ? arnob. a full answer to that question would take up too much of that little time that is allowed us before it grow dark , to go thorow the advices that yet remain unspoken of . but yet to comply with you as far as my haste will permit , i shall name two or three kinds of positive proofs , that may be employed on such occasions as we speak of . and first , if there be an effect that we discern must proceed from such a cause , or agent , we may conclude that such a cause there is , tho we do not particularly conceive how , or by what operation 't is able to produce the acknowledg'd effect : thus , tho a man otherwise of a good judgment , being wholly a stranger to the mathematicks , cannot conceive how a skillful astronomer can many years before hand fore-tell eclipses to a day and hour , and perhaps to a few minutes ; yet when the success does , as it often happens , verifie such predictions , he will be satisfied , that the maker of them had the skill to foreknow the things foretold in them . and so the generality of learned men among us , who are not so much acquainted with that part of navigation , which some moderns have by a greek name called limen-euretica , or the art of steering to harbours , cannot well conceive how a ship , that is , for instance , in the vast atlantick ocean above a thousand miles from any shoar , should be so directed as to arrive just at a little harbor not cannon-shot over , which perhaps neither the pilot , nor any other in the ship ever saw . and yet as little as we can distinctly conceive how such an art of finding ports can be framed , we scruple not to allow there is such an one , because navigators to the east and west indies , could not without the guidance of such an art find the remotest ports they are bound for . a second sort there is of positive proofs consisting of those consequences that are clearly and legitimately inferr'd from any manifest acknowledg'd , or already demonstrated truth . to this sort belong divers mathematical propositions and corollaries , which tho being nakedly proposed they seem incredible to the generality of learned men , and sometimes to mathematicians themselves , are yet fully assented to , because they clearly follow from either manifested or demonstrated truths . thus many cannot conceive how 't is possible there may be a million , for instance , of circles , ( or as many more as you please ) whose circumferences shall each of them come nearer and nearer to one another , and to a straight line assign'd , and yet none of them either touch , much less cut , either any other circle , or that line but in one and the same point . and yet this is one of the odd propositions that geometers have rightly deduc'd as corollaries from the sixteenth of euclid's third element . and tho we cannot clearly conceive how two lines , that at their remotest ends are but little distant from each other , should perpetually incline towards each other without ever concurring ; yet geometricians , that is , the rigidest reasoners that we know of , have been compell'd admit this in the linea conchoides of nicomedes , to name no more . but tho , ( not to touch the same strings too often ) i thought fit to mention these instances ; yet whether you judge them sufficient or no , you will allow that which may be taken from the endless divisibility of a line : for tho , if i misremember not , sophronius told me , he took notice to you how unable we are to have a satisfactory apprehension , how a short line as well as a long , can be divided into more and more parts without any stop ; yet geometricians generally admit this , because it may be clearly deduc'd from some geometrical truths , and particularly from the incommensurableness of the side and diagonal of a square : and if you will allow me to have once more recourse to divine prescience , i may add another acknowledg'd instance by representing , that philosophers have admitted that , because they judged it clearly to follow from the infinite perfections of god ; tho , how he can foresee contingency the most judicious and modest of them did not pretend their reason was able to conceive . timoth. to these two kinds of positive proofs mention'd by arnobius , i doubt not but he will give me leave to add divine revelations , if competently attested ones can be produc'd ; and therefore i will not by going about to evince this , spend any of the time he reserves for the remaining rules , to which he may , for me , advance assoon as he thinks fit . arnob. i accept the liberty you offer me , timotheus , to proceed to my next advice ; which is this . the fourth advice , or rule . that when we treat of privileg'd subjects , we are not bound always to think every thing false , that seems to thwart some received dictate of reason . as great a paradox as this may at first blush appear , yet it will need little more to make it out than the application of some things already delivered on occasion of the two foregoing advices , of which this is indeed little more than a corollary . for it being evident , that as a great part of the dictates of reason are negative , so negative propositions do usually spring from the repugnancy we judge that some things have to some positive dictate of reason ; if those positive dictates contain but gradual and limited truths ( to borrow sophronius his terms ; ) and come to be unduly extended to privileg'd subjectss it may very possibly happen , that a thing may be really true , that yet must appear false , if it be judg'd of by its congruity to one of those limited , and but respective dictates of reason . 't is also clear , that not only in philosophy , but natural ( as well as reveal'd ) theology the usual ground on which we reject many things is , that we judge them unintelligible . and i censure not the practice in general , but i think it may easily mislead us , when it is extended to things that we may discern to transcend our reason , as for ought yet appears , some of the modus's even of things corporeal are found to do . and we think we have made complete enumerations of the several ways of inexistence of an attribute in a subject , or of the operation of one thing upon another , when indeed we have overlook'd one or other , and perhaps that which we have thus pretermitted may be the true one ; tho it may be also that no attention and diligence of ours could in some cases have served our turn , the modus inquired after being not conceivable to us , tho it may be too a higher than a human intellect . pyrocles . the school-philosophers for many ages in the catalogues they made of the ways of a bodies working upon another at a distance ; did not think of the true ways by which odors and sounds are communicated to us , and therefore had recourse to certain unintelligible things , which they were pleas'd to call species intentionales . whereas those modern naturalists that philosophize freely , acknowledge , that odors are communicated by effl●viums , exhaling from the odorous body , and fitted to affect our nostrils , and sounds are transmitted to the ear by the undulating motion which the air is put into by the impulse of the vibrating , or otherwise agitated parts of the sonorous body . timoth. methinks we need not go out of our selves to find instances of both the parts of what arnobius was last saying , if we admit , as i question not but we rationally may , this tenet of the generality of philosophers , both ancient and modern , that the reasonable soul is an immaterial substance : for then ; whereas men think they have sufficiently enumerated the ways of determining the motion of a body , by saying , that the determination must be made either in the line wherein the impellent that put it into motion made it move , or in the line wherein it was determined to move by the situation of the resisting body that it met with in its way ; the motions of the animal spirits , if not also some other internal parts of the body , may , the body being duly disposed , be determined by the human will ; which is a way quite differing from the other . and how this attribute , i mean the power of determining the motion of a body , without any power to impart motion to that body , should belong to an immaterial creature , which has no corporeal parts to resist the free passage of a body , and thereby change the line of its motion , is not yet , nor perhaps ever will be in this life , clearly conceived by us men , tho there is no doubt , but that he , who indowed the soul with this attribute or power , perfectly understands , both how it exists in the soul , and how the soul by exerting it , operates on the body . pyrocles . but can any thing seem more unreasonable than to embrace opinions that contradict the rules of reason ; which practice , if it be once allowed , why should we trouble our selves to investigate what is congruous or incongruous to reason , since the making a discovery , that an opinion is repugnant to it , will not assure us of that opinions being false . arnob. a person less knowing and equitable than pyrocles would have spared this double objection , if he had remembred , what hath been formerly said , applicable to our present purpose , and what kind of things they are that we are discoursing of : but to remind him a little of them , i shall desire him to consider with me , that i no way disallow the rejecting of opinions that are found contrary to those rules of reason , at the framing of which the things opin'd about were duly taken into consideration : but in cases not thought on when such rules were devised , we are not always bound to submit to be judged by them ; and to maintain an opinion unconformable to such a rule , may be not to oppose a genuine and absolute dictate of reason , but to rectifie one that is erroneously thought so , by shewing , that the rule is expressed in more catholick and indefinite terms than it ought to have been . and of two opinions you will not deny that that is the most rational that is most agreeable to those rules of reason , that are framed upon the fullest information . eugen. 't is not difficult to gather from what you have said , arnobius , that in the rule you proposed to us ; very few of the cases that occur in ordinary discourse , or even in that of philosophers , will be at all concern'd . and in these few cases wherein you intend the rule should take place , you are careful to obviate inconveniences by a double caution . the first that you suppose , that the opinion that claims an exemption from the common rules , is not an arbitrary or precarious tenet , but sufficisufficiently made out by proper arguments . and the second , by declaring , that 't is not to contradict right reason , but bad reasoners to give limitation to rules that have been too hastily fram'd and conceiv'd in too general terms , by men , who either were not competently inform'd of the variety of particulars , when they took upon them to make analyses and enumerations ; or else presum'd to infer , that a thing was not , because they did not understand the modus of its existence or operation . arnobius . you take my sense right , eugenius , and i have often thought , that the causes of the great clamor that is made against some men for not obsequiously submitting to , what some others call the rules of reason , are , that men do not sufficiently understand the nature of things and themselves , but entertain too narrow conceptions of the former , and too high an opinion of the later . pyrocles . the dictates of reason being the surest , if not the only safe rules , that nature has given us to frame our discourses and ratiocinations by ; i confess i am , tho not fully resolv'd , yet very unwilling , to allow any conclusion that is not conformable to them : or to admit that any thing should be so highly privileg'd , as to be exempted from the jurisdiction of reason , whose genuine declarations they are . eugenius . this objection , pyrocles , seems to me to be grounded rather upon an ambiguity of terms , than the true nature of things . for reason is oftentimes taken for a set of notions and propositions employ'd and acquiesc'd in by this or that sort of reasoners , that are wont to have names given them from this or that particular discipline , as astronomy , chymistry , opticks , &c. of whose receiv'd doctrines they are supposed to be entirely maintainers . but it is also with at least as much propriety , used to signifie the rational faculty it self ; furnished with the light that accompanies it when it is rightly disposed and informed . in the first of these two senses it seems but reasonable to allow , that some things ought to have the privilege to be exempted from being judg'd by some of the same rules that are employ'd to judge of other things by ; for some of these rules were fram'd upon a slight consideration of common and familiar things , either by the vulgar , or by men that for want of skill or application of mind did not critically consider the distinct natures of things , and yet presum'd to settle rules that other mens inadvertence or laziness has made them receive for certain dictates of reason : whereas other natures should have been then considered as well as those : and by reason of their not having been so , the rules i speak of are not always proper and safe , when they are applyed to these over-looked natures . thus successive beings , as time and local motion , do in some cases require to be estimated by other measures than substances , whether material , or incorporeal ▪ and so also the more nice metaphysicians , especially among the moderns , have thought themselves obliged to discourse of moduses , relations , privations , extrinsecal denominations , &c. in a very differing way from that which belongs to bodies and spirits ; tho the unskilful ( even among otherwise learned men ) have been wont , and still are apt , to confound all these subjects ; by applying to them indiscriminately the same rules , or , as they think them , dictates of reason . but besides what may be said of these long unregarded or undistinguished natures , there are other entities that are more generally and familiarly taken notice of , wherein i may think one may find instances more applyable to my present purpose . for i observe , that tho all other actual beings are compounded ( to speak in the language of the schools ) of essence and existence ; yet according to the notion of metaphysicians as well as divines , it must be acknowledg'd , that the simplicity of the divine nature is such as to exclude from god even this kind of composition . and indeed the notion we have of a being infinitely perfect , imports , that , tho in no other being , yet in this , those two are inseparable ; for actual existence being a perfection , must needs belong to the nature of a being infinitely perfect . the generality of philosophers , after aristotle , conceive place to be the immoveable and immediately contiguous concave surface of the ambient body , so that 't is a kind of vessel that every way contains the body lodg'd in it ; but with this difference that a vessel is a kind of moveable place , as when a bottle of wine is carried from the cellar to the table ; but place is an immoveable vessel , or a vessel considered as immoveable : now supposing with : aristotle , and the generality of philosophers , the plenitude of the world , it may be truly said , that all plants , animals , minerals , stars and other bodies are each of them in such an aristotelian place as has been describ'd ; whence it has been usually said by philosophers , that what is in no place ( i hope they meant it only of bodies ) is not at all ; yet it appears not how the outermost heaven , whether that be the firmament , or no , i need not here inquire , can be properly said to be in a place , since these philosophers asserting the world to be finite , must grant there is no ambient body without it to contain it . and i shall add on this occasion , that if the outermost heaven should be impell'd by the irresistible power of god in a straight line this way , or that way , there should ensue a motion without change of place , for the outermost heaven was in none before , and does not by its progression come to be contain'd by a new ambient body . and in this case even according to those modern favourers of aristotle that approve des ' cartes his definition of local motion ( which indeed is far more intelligible than aristotle's ) the world may be said to move without changing of place ; for it does not pass from the neighbourhood of some bodies to that of others ; since comprising all bodies , and yet being bounded , there is no body for it to leave behind , nor any beyond it for it to approach to ; and tho the cartesians in their hypothesis of the indefinitess of the world do partly avoid the force of what i have been saying ; yet besides what may be rationally urg'd to shew , that if the world be not more than indefinite , it must be really finite ; i consider that the cartesians , tho upon grounds of their own , must allow what i was observing , namely , that tho every particular body in the universe is naturally capable of local motion . yet the universe it self is not ; and tho every particular body in the world have some determinate figure ; yet the world it self , being indefinite , has not so . whereas aristotle and the philosophers that have lived since his time , have generally admitted the division establish'd by him , of all entities , into substance , and accident , and accommodated their rules to one of them , or both : the learned gassendus and his followers , have introduc'd a third sort of things , as not being either substances , or accidents : and these if you will admit , you will i presume , admit too , that they may be privileg'd from their rules calculated for other natures . of this kind of things , the gassendists make place or space to be . for they will not allow it to be a substance , because it is neither body , nor spirit , but only somewhat that has a capacity to receive or contain bodies , and would subsist , tho god should annihilate all the substances he has created . and for the same reason it is not to be called an accident , since that necessarily requires a substance to reside in ( according to that received axiom ) accidentis esse , est inesse , whereas in case of the annihilation of the world it self , and consequently all substances that compose it , their place or space would still remain , and be capable of admitting a new world of the same extent , if god should be pleased to create it ; whence gassendus wittily infers , that bodies are rather accidental in respect of place , than space in respect of bodies . but without staying to examine this paradox , i shall venture to say in general , that he who shall with an heedful , and unprejudiced eye , survey the several hypotheses , or systems , maintain'd by the differing sects of philosophers , may find , that tho the instances will not be all of them the same ; yet there is none of these systems in which one may not observe some thing or other , to which every one of the rules that reach to the other snbjects treated of in that philosophy , cannot safely be apply'd . and indeed the mind of man being naturally far more desirous to know much , than to take the pains requisite to examine , whether he does so or not , is very prone to think that any small number of things that it has not distinctly considered , must be of the same nature and condition with the rest that he judges to be of the same kind . for by thus attaining to the knowledge of things , by way of inference , the mind gratifies at once both its vanity , and its laziness ; looking upon these conclusions , as marks of the excellency of its rational faculty , whilst they rather proceed from a want of the due exercise of it . pyrocles . but if the receiv'd dictates of reason be not always safe grounds to proceed upon in our discourse , i would gladly know by what rules we shall judge of those rules , and discover them to be erroneous , in case they be so , and by what measures we shall estimate truth and falsehood , in those things wherein the use of those rules must be laid aside . arnobius . your double objection , pyrocles , i confess to be weighty enough to deserve a considerate answer , and to give you the sum of mine in few words , i shall tell you , that in my opinion , since there is no progress in infinitum in the criteria of truth , and that our faculties are the best instruments that god has given us to discover , and to examine it by , i think a clear light or evidence of perception shining in the understanding , affords us the greatest assurance we can have , ( i mean in a natural way ) of the truth of the judgments we pass upon things , whether they be other things , or the vulgar rules of reasoning , or subjects that claim a privilege from those rules . and here give me leave to consider , that it is not by induction , but by evidence , that we know , that ex vero nil nisi verum sequitur . by which it appears , that the innate light of the rational faculty is more primary , than the very rules of reasoning , since by that light we judge even of the lately mention'd axiom which is it self the grand principle of ratiocinations made by inference . eugenius . this matter may be perchance somewhat illustrated by observing that , as the understanding is wont to be look'd upon as the eye of the mind ; so there is this analogy between them , that there are some things that the eye may discern ( and does judge of ) organically , if i may so speak , that is , by the help of instruments : as when it judges of a line to be streight by the applicasion of a ruler to it , or to be perpendicular by the help of a plumb-line , or a circle to be perfect by the help of a pair of compasses : but there are other things which the eye does perceive ( and judge of ) immediately and by intuition , and without the help of organs or instruments ; as when by the bare evidence of the perception it knows that this colour is red , and that other blue , and that snow is white , not black , and a char-coal black , not white ; and such a picture is very like , or another unlike to the face it was drawn to represent . for thus there are some things that the intellect usually judges of in a kind of organical way , that is , by the help of certain rules , or hypotheses , such as are a great part of the theorems and conclusions in philosophy and divinity . but there are others which it knows without the help of these rules more immediately , and as it were intuitively by evidence or perception ; by which way we know many prime notions and effata , or axioms metaphysical , &c. as that contradictory propositions cannot both be true ; that from truth nothing but truth can legitimately be deduc'd ; that two things that are each of them equal to a third thing , are equal to one another ; that a whole number is either even or odd . and 't is also upon this evidence of perception ; that we receive with an undoubted assent many primitive ideas and notions , such as those of extended substance or body , divisibility , or local motion , a streight line , a circle , a right angle , and many other things that it would be here superfluous to mention . arnobius . i think the internal light that the author of nature has set up in mans intellect qualifies him , if he makes a right use of it , not only to apply the instruments of knowledge , but also to frame , and to examine them . for by the help of this light , the understanding is enabled to look about , and both to consider apart , and compare together , the natures of all kinds of things ; without being necessitated to employ in its speculations , the rules or dictates of any particular science or discipline ; being sufficiently assisted by its own light , and those general axioms and notions that are of a catholick nature , and perpetual truth ; and so of a higher order , than the dictates , or rules of any particular or subordinate science or art. and by these means the understanding may perceive the imperfection and falsity of such rules or theorems , as those men that look no higher , nor no further than their own particular science or art , embrace for certain and unquestionable . thus when philosophers observ'd that they could frame a clear notion of a thing without considering whether it were actually in being or not ; or even when they suppose that 't is not actually in being ; as we can frame a clear conception of a rose in winter , when there are none to be found growing ; and have a clear notion of a myriagon , tho 't is very like there is no such figure really existent in the world . they have generally concluded , that the essence of things is differing and separable from their existence . and yet when we consider that god is a being infinitely perfect , and that actual existence being a perfection , must belong to him ; we may by the same light of reason that dictated essence & existence to be two separable things in all other beings , discern that they must be inseparable in god ; and consequently that the forementioned rule , tho more general than almost any other , is not absolutely universal : but must be limited by the light of reason . and thus also philosophers , considering that not only all sorts of bodies , but the immaterial souls of men , ( and angels themselves , supposing such beings ) are all endowed with qualities which are accidents , have included it in the very notion of a substance , to be the subject of accidents , or as the schoolmen speak , substare accidentibus ; and accordingly substantia is wont to be derived à substando : but the infranchised intellect , finding in it self a notion of an absolutely perfect , and therefore existent being ; and considering that to be the subject of accidents , is not a thing agreeable to the highest perfection possible ; it concludes , that in god there are no accidents . and this conclusion has been embraced as a part , not only of christian , but of natural theology ; and maintain'd by divers philosophers themselves , upon metaphysical and other meerly rational grounds . in short , the native light of the mind may enable a man , that will make a free and industrious use of it , both to pass a right judgment of the extent of those very dictates that are commonly taken for rules of reason , and to frame others on purpose for priviledg'd things , so far forth as they are so . but i fear , gentlemen , the fourth advice i have ventured to offer you , has by its tediousness , made you justly impatient of being detain'd by it so long : and therefore i shall advanced to the fifth ; which imports , the fifth advice , or rule . that where privileg'd things are concern'd , we are not always bound to reject every thing , as false , that we know not how to reconcile with some thing that is true . pyrocl. you may call this an advice , but i doubt others will style it a paradox , and possibly , think it one of the greatest that ever was broach'd . arnob. yet perhaps you will find by and by , that it may be in great part made good by what has been already discoursed , and by you admitted . i think it will not be doubted , but that there are , or may be conceived streight lines , whereof one is a hundred or a thousand times longer than another : 't is also generally granted , that a longer line consists of , or may afford more parts than a shorter ; for a line equal to the shorter , being taken out of the longer , and consequently just as divisible as it , there will remain of the longer line another line , perhaps many times exceeding the shorter line : and lastly , 't is generally acknowledged , that no number can be greater than infinite ; since if the lesser number were capable of accession ( as it must be , if it fall short of another number ) it would need that accession ( or a greater ) to make it infinite , which yet 't is supposed to be already . pyrocl. i see not yet to what all this may tend . arnob. you will quickly perceive it , when i shall have desired you to reconcile these propositions with the demonstrations of geometers of the endless divisibility of all streight lines ; whence they deduce , that tho they be very unequal among themselves , yet the shortest of them contains , or may afford infinite parts . pyrocl. but is there any thing more clear to humane understanding , or more supposed in almost all our ratiocinations , than that two truths cannot be contradictory to each other . arnob. tho i am far from affirming , that one truth can really contradict another truth ; yet i think that which is but a gradual or limited truth , may in some few cases not be reconcileable by us , to an absolute and universal truth . for , i think we may ( with sophronius ) distinguish those propositions we call true , into axioms metaphysical , or universal , that hold in all cases without reservation ; and axioms collected or emergent ; by which i mean such as result from comparing together many particulars that agree in something that is common to them all . and some of these , tho they be so general , that in the usual subjects of our ratiocinations they admit of no exceptions ; yet may not be absolutely and unlimitedly true ; of which i know not whether i formerly gave you an instance , even in that axiom which ( almost ) all meerly natural philosophers have supposed and built on , that , ex nihilo nihil fit , which , tho at least one of the highest of gradual or collected truths , may yet be not universally true , since , for ought we know , god that is acknowledged to be a being that is infinitely perfect , may have , and may have exercised , the power of creating . and in such cases as this , not to be able to reconcile a truth concerning a privileged thing with a proposition that generally passes for true ( and in other cases is so indeed ) will not presently oblige us to reject either proposition as false , but sometimes , without destroying either , only to give one of them a due limitation , and restrain it to those sorts of things , on which 't was at first grounded , and to which 't was , because of mans ignorance , or inconsiderateness , that 't was not at first confin'd . and if the miracles vouch'd either for the christian , or for any other religion , be any of them granted to be true ; ( as almost all mankind agrees in believing in general , that there have been true miracles ; ) it cannot well be deny'd but that physical propositions are but limited , and such as i called collected truths , being gathered from the settled phaenomena of nature , and are lyable to this limitation or exception , that they are true , where the irresistible power of god , or some other supernatural agent is not interpos'd to alter the course of nature . pyrocl. but do you think , there are no inconsistent propositions that you would call truths , wherein you cannot shew that one of them is but a gradual or emergent truth ? arnob. 't is one thing to inquire whether men have yet discerned , or i am able to make out , that one of the propositions you speak of is but a limited truth ; and another , to inquire , whether speaking absolutely and universally , it may to any intellect appear to be no more than such . for first i consider , that the reason why we judge things to be repugnant , being , that the notions or ideas we have of them seem to us inconsistent , if either of these notions be wrong framed , or be judged of by an unfit rule , we may think those propositions , to be contradictory that really are not so ; as , if you heedfully mark it , you shall find , that those that are wont to employ their imaginations about things that are the proper objects of the intellect , are apt to pronounce things to be unconceivable , only because they find them unimaginable ; as if the fancy and the intellect were faculties of the same extent : upon which account some have so grosly err'd , as to deny all immaterial substances , and chose rather so far to degrade the deity it self , as to impute to it a corporeal nature , than to allow any thing to have a being that is not comprehensible by their imagination , which themselves acknowledge to be but a corporeal faculty . but besides this mistake of things repugnant , which arises from the mis application or mis-management of our discerning faculties , i consider in the next place , that there may be another that proceeds from the imperfection and limitedness of our understanding , which being unable to judge of privileged things at the same rate that it does of other objects , may sometimes be unable to discover that reconcileableness that a more illuminated and penetrating faculty may discern . this may be illustrated by what usually happens at sea , ( for there mens prospect is the most free ) when looking towards the main , the sky and the waters seem to meet at the edge of the ( sensible ) horizon , tho indeed they are as far distant as heaven is from earth ; and on the other side if you skillfully mix together the dry and fine powder ef orpiment , and that of indico , you will produce a green colour , as is known to painters , and the eye takes notice but of an uniform mixture , in which it sees neither blew nor yellow : but if , ( as experience shews ) you look on this mixture with a very good microscope , the emergent colour will disappear ; and you will plainly see instead of it , blew and yellow grains of the powders distinct from one another . which instances may serve to shew the imbecillity of our visive faculty ; and the later of them may teach us , that a thing may appear one and differing , as 't is looked upon by a more or less discerning sight . but an instance more home to our present purpose may be afforded by yellow diamonds , which because of their colour , not only other men , but the generality of goldsmiths ( in whose error i have sometimes shared ) take to be counterfeit gems , or at best but right topazes , whereas very skillful lapidaries , will by sure signs discover and acknowledge them to be true diamonds , notwithstanding their seeming difference from unquestion'd ones , and account them to be of the same nature with that noblest kind of jewels . whence we may learn that a more skillful judge may discern an agreement in things that almost all other men think they see manifestly to be of distant natures . eugenius . give me leave , gentlemen , to say on this occasion , that i have several times observed , that men judge some things to be irreconcileable , not only when they are both of them represented to the understanding in the form of propositions ; but when one of them is but a notion , or a current difinition . for divers of these notions do contain in them a proposition , or are equivalent to it ; as when a circle is defin'd to be a figure contain'd in a line , all whose parts are equally distant from the middle-most point or center , this definition contains an affirmation of the essential property of a circle ; and by the generality of geometricians is therefore discriminated from that conick section which they call an ellipsis , tho that be also a figure terminated by one curve line . and because you are versed in mathematicks , i shall on this occasion shew you by a geometrical instance , that if a man have not genuine and adequate notions of the things he judges of , he may confidently , and even upon very probable grounds , judge things to be inconsistent , that in reality , are not so . for if an ordinary cultivater of mathematical disciplines should hear one man say , that such a figure is an ellipsis , and another affirm it to be a circle , he would think their assertions to be inconsistent , having his mind prepossessed with an ellipsis's , being a conical section , whose properties must therefore ( he supposes ) be very differing from those of a circle ; whereas such wary geometricians as the learned doctor wallis * will tell him , that the vulgar notions of conick sections are not adequate to the figures producible by them : for when a right cone is cut quite through by an inclining plane , the figure produced by the section agrees well with the received notion of an ellipsis , in which the diameters are of unequal length ; yet if the plane cut the cone parallel to the basis , that conick section will be a true circle , having all its diameters equal . 't is indeed an uncommon and unheeded account , but such an one upon which i have observed not only logicians , but philosophers themselves to err about judging things reconcileable or inconsistent ; that if a man be not sufficiently acquainted with the nature of any of the two things under consideration ( and much more if he be ignorant of , or mistaken about both ) he may think there is a contradiction between things , wherein a superior or more piercing intellect may discern a consistency ; for taking it for granted , that he knows one thing to be a truth , if some other thing be affirm'd to be so , which he has not understanding or skill enough to see how to reconcile to it , 't is no wonder , that how well soever this may be evinced , he should as little know how to admit , as how to reject it . this may be partly illustrated , and partly prov'd by instances drawn from the mathematicks themselves : for a novice in arithmetick , for example , finding that , according to his rules , there is not one mean proportional number between 4 and 32 , will scarce be able to reconcile that proposition to this other , that there are two mean proportionals between the mentioned numbers ; for he may with great appearance of reason ask , how , if there be not so much as one mean proportional , there can be two ? whereas those that are acquainted with the nature of ranks or series of numbers proceeding in geometrical proportion , will easily discern that between those two recited , both the number 8 , and the number 16 ; are mean proportionals . timotheus . tho i disallow not your instance , eugenius , yet i shall be willing to hear one or two others of a less abstracted nature . eug. to obey you , timotheus , i shall add , that if an old school-philosopher , or a mathematician not acquainted with the later discoveries made by telescopes , should hear one man say , that the moon is the most enlightned , when she appears full to us , and another affirm that she is more inlightned at the new moon than at the full , he would readily conclude , upon the supposition ( which he makes no doubt of ) that the moon receives all her light immediately from the sun , that the affirmation of the later ( astronomer ) cannot be true ; which yet he would not conclude , if he knew ( what is discovered by telescopes ) that the moon is as well inlightned by the earth , as the earth by the moon ; upon which score , whereas at the full she receives but those beams that come to her directly , from the sun , at the change she receives both them in that part of her body that is obverted to him , and those other beams of his that are reflected from the terrestrial globe to that part of the moon that is nearest to us . and to the foregoing instance , i shall add one more , that seems apposite enough to arnobius's purpose , and 't is , that before pythagoras , not only the vulgar of the greeks , but their philosophers and mathematicians too , observing oftentimes that a bright star preceded the rising sun , and that frequently also ( on other days ) after sun-set , another star appear'd , that was none of the fix'd ones ; they confidently concluded from the so distant times of apparition , that the sun was attended by two differing stars , to which accordingly they gave two differing names : but pythagoras , who was a far better astronomer ( as may be guessed , among other things , by his maintaining in those early times the motion of the earth about the sun ) undertook to disabuse them , and effected it . now if one that had observed venus only in the mornings , should have affirm'd , that besides the six known planets , there was but a seventh ( namely the phosphorus ) which preceded the rising sun ; and another , ( that had taken notice notice of her only in the evenings ) should assert , that besides the same six known ones , the only seventh was that called hesperus , which sometimes appear'd after his setting ; a by-stander would presently have concluded , that their assertions were not reconcileable , either to one another , or to the truth ; which ( in his judgment ) was , that there must be no less than eight visible planets ; and yet pythagoras , who had more skill , and more piercing wit , did , ( as was lately noted ) discern and teach , that these two phaenomena were produc'd by one and the same planet venus , determined by its peculiar motion ( about the sun ) to shew it self near our horizon , sometimes before he ascends it , and sometimes after he had left it . such instances as these , tho offered but as illustrations , may perswade us from being too forward to reject every proposition , that we see not how to reconcile to what we take for a truth ; provided the distrusted proposition be such as we would acquiesce in , if we could reconcile it to that supposed truth . timotheus . from this discourse , eugenius , and that of arnobius , which preceded it , i think one may gather , that according to you two , when two propositions are laid down , whereof one is made evident to us by experience , or by reason , acting within its own jurisdiction or compass ; and the other is sufficiently proved by being mathematically demonstrated , or duly attested by divine revelation , we ought not to reject either of these propositions , as no truth , meerly because we do not yet know how to reconcile them : but we should rather think , that the collected proposition , is but a gradual , or limited truth ; or else we should consider , that we knowing but so imperfectly as we do the particular natures of privileg'd subjects , for ought we know a superior intellect may be able to discern a friendly agreement between what is deliver'd about that subject , and the affirmation that seems repugnant to it , tho we are not quick-sighted enough to perceive this agreement . and this , how strange soever you may think it , pyrocles , may not only be countenanc'd by such things as eug. lately said , but both you your self , and almost all mankind do de facto seem to practise it , in the case of the divine prescience of mans free actions . eugenius . what you contend for , gentlemen , may perhaps be thought the more receivable , if one should argue thus : first either the propositions said to be repugnant , are both really true , or they are not ; if it be answered , that they are not , the difficulty is at an end : for there is none at all to conceive a true proposition , should contradict a false one . but , secondly , if both the propositions be supposed to be true , it must be affirm'd , either that they are reconcileable , or that they are not ; if it be said , they are not , then pyrocles his objection is out of doors ; for it cannot then be reasonable to say , that the two propositions , tho inconsistent with one another , must necessarily be one or other of them inconsistent with the truth . but this i presume he will by no means assert , and consequently , must say , that the propositions are reconcileable . upon which answer i shall demand , how that can be , unless a superior intellect , such as unquestionably the divine is , can discover an agreement between propositions wherein we cannot discern it . for our not being able to discern it , is you know professedly supposed in the case we discourse of . pyrocles . but , arnobius , will not this doctrine make us very liable to have falsities imposed on us at the pleasure of bold and dictating men ? arnob. not , if it be limited to the subjects wherein alone i would have it admitted ; for if neither of the things treated of be a privileg'd one , but both in the jurisdiction of ordinary reason , i do not only consent , but ( in my first advice ) require , that the propositions fram'd about them be estimated according to the common dictates of reason . and even in cases where one of the propositions is about a privileg'd thing , i do not at all think fit , that it should be received in spite of its being repugnant to the gradual truth delivered in the other , unless it can by some other argument sufficient in its kind be proved to be true ; and in that case , that , what i plead for , ought to be admitted , is implyed by the suffrage of almost all mankind , in that case , which was just now pertinently mentioned by timotheus : for tho men know not how to reconcile the liberty of mans will , with the infallible knowledge that god has of those actions that flow from it , yet they have unanimously judged it reasonable to believe both free-will and prescience ; the former , because they felt it in themselves ; and the later , partly because the foreknowledge of things being manifestly a perfection , ought not to be denyed to god , whom they looked upon as a being supremely perfect ; and partly because some actions and events that they all judg'd to flow from mens free-will , were , as the generality of men believ'd , foretold by prophetick oracles . but except in such cases as i have been naming , i am altogether of pyrocles's mind , that since we have scarce any way of discovering a falsity , but by its being repugnant to somewhat that is true ; to deny , that in cases within the juridiction of ordinary reason , the repugnancy of a proposition to any manifest truth , ought to sway our judgments , were to deprive us of the usefullest criterion to discriminate between falshood and truth . timoth. for my part , who believe with many philosophers , as well heathen as christian , that humane souls owe their origine to god , and with almost all philosophers , ( for i know what the stoicks held ) that as he is the supreme being , so he is a most free agent , i see not why , as he has given to corporeal beings divers qualities , very differing in their degrees of nobleness ; so he might not give to the intelligent productions of his power and will , various degrees of intellectual capacities as well as a limitedness of nature . and as it will not follow , that because we can see with our eyes very small objects , and imagine such as are yet much smaller , either the eye , or the imagination can ever reach to so small an object as an atome ; so it will not follow that because we are able to frame conceptions of immaterial beings , we must therefore be able to understand the nature of god , and the harmony of all his monadical attributes . a little boy may have a clear notion of three , four , five , or other smaller numbers , and yet may be unable to frame good conceptions of triangular and other polygon numbers ( as some call them ) and much more of the abstruse affections of surd numbers , and the roots of the higher algebraical powers . to discern particular truths is one thing , and to be able to discover the intercourse and harmony between all truths , is another thing , and a far more difficult one ; as a traveller may upon the english shoar know that he sees the ocean , and upon the coast of affrick be made to do the like , and at the east indies also he may know that he sees the ocean ; and yet not know how those so distant seas communicate with each other , tho that may be manifest enough to a cosmographer . arnob. what you say brings into my mind , that i have sometimes thought god and men enjoy truth , as differingly as they do time. for we men , as we enjoy time but by parcels , and always leave far the greatest part of it unreach'd to by us ; so we know but some particular truths , and are always ignorant of far more than we attain to . whereas god , as his eternity reaches to all the portions of time ( or measured durations ) so his omniscience gives him at one view a prospect of the whole extent of truth : ( as if a man could see the whole river of nilus with all its turnings and windings from its hidden springs to its entrance into the sea. ) upon which account he sees all particular truths , not only distinct , but in their systeme , and so sees a connexion between those that to us seem'd the most distant ones . arnob. there remains now , gentlemen , but one part more of your penance to be undergone ; for 't is high time , i should hasten to the relief of a patience i have so long distress'd , and therefore i shall give it but one exercise more , and conclude your trouble with some reflections on this last advice . the sixth advice , or rule . that in privileg'd things we ought not always to condemn that opinion which is liable to ill consequences , and incumbred with great inconveniencies , provided the positive proofs of it be sufficient in their kind . that this advice may be the more easily admitted , i shall separately suggest three things , which i desire may be afterwards considered all together . first , that clear positive proofs , proportionate to the nature of things , are genuine and proper motives to induce the understanding to assent to a proposition as true ; so that 't is not always necessary to the evidence and firmness of an assent , that the intellect takes notice of the consequences that may be drawn from it , or the difficulties wherewith it may be incumbered . this is plain in those assents which of all others , at least that are meerly natural , are by knowing men thougt to be the most undoubted and the best grounded ; i mean the assents that are given to the truth of geometrical demonstrations : and yet , euclid , for instance , in all his elements of geometry , in some of which surprising paradoxes are delivered , ( as in the sixteenth proposition of the third book , and the 117th of the tenth book , to name no more ) contents himself to demonstrate his assertions in a mathematical way , and does not , that i remember , answer or take notice of any one objection : and the geometricians of our days think they may safely receive his propositions upon the demonstrations annexed to them , without knowing or troubling themselves about the subtleties employed by the sceptick sextus empiricus , or others of that sect in their writings against the mathematicians , and all assertors of assured knowledge . the second thing i would offer to your consideration , is , that the former part of our discourse has manifested , that there are some things which our humane and imperfect understandings either cannot , or at least do not , perfectly comprehend : and that nevertheless men have not refrain'd from presuming to dogmatize and frame notions and rules about such things , as if they understood them very well . whence it must needs come to pass , that if they were mistaken ( as in things so abstruse , 't is very like they often were ) those that judge by the rules they laid down , must conceive the propositions opposite to their mistakes , to be liable to very great , if not insuperable difficulties and objections . and this second consideration , in conjunction with the first , will make way for the third , as a natural production of them , which is , that , as we need not wonder that privileged things , which are wont to be so sublime as to have been out of the view of those that fram'd the rules whereby we judge of other things , should be thought liable to great objections by them who judge of all things only by those rules ; so we should not require or expect more evidence of a truth relating to such things , than that there are for it such sufficient positive reasons , as notwithstanding objections and inconveniences , make it , upon the whole matter , worthy to be embraced . pyrocles . but can that be worthy to be assented to , which is liable to objections and inconveniences , which the maintainers confess they know not how to avoid ? does not your euclid himself in some of his demonstrations imploy that way of reasoning which some of his latine interpreters call deductio ad absurdum ? arnob. euclid indeed ( as well as other mathematicians ) besides that more satisfactory way of direct probation , which perhaps he might have oftner imployed than he did , has sometimes where he thought it needful , made use of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you speak of . but in these cases he never goes out of the discipline he treats of , and confining himself to arguments drawn from quantity , he urges nothing as absurd , but what is undeniably repugnant to some truth he had already demonstrated , or to those clear and undisputed definitions , axioms , or postalata , which he supposes to have been already granted by those he would convince . but tho he thus argues to prove that his readers cannot contradict him without contradicting themselves ; yet we find not that he was at all solicitous to clear those difficulties that so quick-sighted a man could not but know some of his theorems to be attended with : but contents himself to demonstrate the incommensurableness of the side and diagonal of a square , without troubling himself to take notice of the difficulties that attend the endless divisibility of a line , which would follow from what he demonstrated . but , pyrocles , to look back to the first part of your objection , tho what you say will hold in ordinary cases , yet such peculiar ones , as we are speaking of , deserve a particular consideration . about some privileged things there are , and about some others there may be contradictory opinions ( taking that term in a strict sense ) maintain'd . now as both of these cannot be true , so one of them must be so : as , tho it be hotly disputed whether quantity be endlesly divisible , yet certainly it either must , or must not be divisible without end : and as was formerly observed which side soever you take , the inconveniencies will be exceeding great , and perhaps there will lye objections scarce to be directly answered . and since one of the two opposite opinions must be true , it will not always be necessary , that an opinion must be false , which is incumbred with great difficulties , or liable to puzzling objections . and therefore if the positive proofs on one side be clear and cogent , tho there be perplexing difficulties objected by the other ; the truth ought not for their sake to be rejected ; because such difficulties proceeding usually either from notions that men presume to frame about things above their reaches , or from rules that were not made for such points as are in dispute , the objections are not to be judged so well founded , as is that acknowledged principle in reasoning , that from truth , nothing but truth can be legitimately inferr'd . eugen. i confess i have always thought it reasonable in such cases to compare , as well the positive proofs of one opinion with those of the other , as those objections that are urg'd on either side ; and there make my estimate upon the whole matter ; tho with a peculiar regard to that opinion that has a great advantage in point of positive arguments ; because , as arnobius observ'd , those are the proper inducements to the assent of the intellect : and then the objections may well enough be suspected to proceed from the abstruse nature of privileg'd things , and the over-great narrowness of the rules that men are wont to judge of all things by . for we may have a sufficiently clear proof that a thing is , whilst we have no satisfactory conception of its manner of existing or operating ; our illative knowledge , if you will allow me so to speak , being clearer , and extending further than our intuitive or apprehensive knowledge . arnob. but even about things that we cannot sufficiently understand , we may in some cases exercise our reason , in answering objections that are thought not to be at all answerable , because they are not directly so . for we may sometimes shew , by framing in another case a like argument , which , the adversary must confess , does not conclude well , that neither does the argument that contains his objection conclude aright . this i could exemplifie ( tho that may seem no easie task ) but that i fear i should want time to propose examples , whose being very paradoxical would make them need much proof ; which you who i fear are quite tired already , would want patience to hear . wherefore i shall rather recommend to you one observation , which i take to be of no small moment and use , when we contemplate things of the nature of those we have been discoursing of : and it is this , that we must not expect to be able , as to privileg'd things , and the propositions that may be fram'd about them , to resolve all difficulties , and answer all objections ; since we can never directly answer those , which require for their solution a perfect comprehension of what is infinite : as a man cannot well answer the objections that may be made against the antipodes , the doctrine of eclipses , that of the different phases of the moon , and of the long days and nights of some months apiece , near the poles , ( not now to name that more abstruse part of astronomy , the theory of the planets ) unless he understand the nature of the sphere , and some other principles of cosmography . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28958-e270 ovied contr . 17. phys . rationem habere inter se quantitates dicuntur quae possunt multiplicatae , sese mutuo superare . definit . 5. elem. v. euclidis . notes for div a28958-e5520 * see his treatise de sectionibus conicis . medicinal experiments, or, a collection of choice and safe remedies for the most part simple and easily prepared, useful in families, and very serviceable to country people / by r. boyle ; to which is annexed a catalogue of his theological and philosophical books and tracts. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1693 approx. 241 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 174 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28994 wing b3990 estc r10015 11670546 ocm 11670546 48050 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28994) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48050) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1479:14) medicinal experiments, or, a collection of choice and safe remedies for the most part simple and easily prepared, useful in families, and very serviceable to country people / by r. boyle ; to which is annexed a catalogue of his theological and philosophical books and tracts. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. the second edition. 2 v. printed for sam. smith ..., london : 1693. includes index in each volume. vol. i has two parts, each with special t.p., and the catalogue of theological and philosophical books and tracts, which has special t.p. and separate pagination. reproduction of original in the university of illinois (urbana-champaign campus). library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate 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sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng medicine -formulae, receipts, prescriptions. pharmacopoeias. dispensatories. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-07 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion medicinal experiments : or , a collection of choice and safe remedies , for the most part simple , and easily . prepared : useful in families , and very serviceable to country people . by the honourable r. boyle , esq ; fellow of the royal society . to which is annexed a catalogue of his theological and philosophical books and tracts . the second edition . london : printed for sam. smith , at the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard . 1693. price the preface of the publisher . these receipts , taken out of a large collection , as consisting of a few safe ingredients , commonly to be found at easie rates in most places , were sent to a learned physician beyond sea : to whom they were a welcome present , and answer'd , without doubt , the ends he had in desiring them . that excellent person , to whom these choice prescriptions are owing , did permit a few copies of them to be printed , and was pleased to put them in the hands of some of his friends , provided , as there was occasion , they would make tryal of them , and faithsully report the success . divers of those , who on these conditions had received so great a favour , held themselves obliged to enquire for persons affected with any of the maladies against which the said medicines were prescribed ; and , upon many experiments carefully made , having found , that frequently they have relieved those who used them , and sometimes strangely outdone expectation ; they addressed themselves with much importunity to the noble author , to suffer things , which were of such general benefit , and so easily to be procured by the poor , to be made more publick . and at length he hath been prevailed with not only to allow the former receipts , which but few had seen , to be reprinted , but hath , out of his rich treasury , stored us with a fresh collection , which , as in number it exceeds what we had before , so in quality and virtue it falls not short of it . and if what here , with such an honest and kind design is offered to the publick , be but candidly and favourably receiv'd , we may still hope for more blessings of this sort from him , who has not only a constant will and great ability to do good , but hath , perhaps , obliged the age as much as any private person in it . the author's preface . the following prescriptions are a part of a collection of receipts and processes , that from time to time have been recommended to me by the experience of others , or approv'd by my own : receipts that being parable or cheap , may easily be made servicable to poor country people . for medicines so simple , and for the most part so cheap , i have found all of them to be good in their kind : and though i think most of them safer than many other medicines that are in great request , yet i do not pretend that these should play the part of medicines and physicians too ; but that they may be usefully employed by one who knows how to administer them discreetly . i distinguish them into three classes or orders , annexing to the title of each particular medicine one of the three first letters of the alphabet ; whereof a is the mark of a remedy of the highest classis of these , recommended as very considerable and efficatious in its kind . b , denotes a secondor inferior sort , but yet to be valuable for their good operations . c , belongs to those remedies that are of the lowest order , tho' good enough not to be dispised . those receipts , which were my own , are expressed in my own terms ; so also those which i received from others by word of mouth : but them which were imparted to me in writing , though i my self would not have worded them , as they did that i had them from , yet i oftentimes made a scruple to correct or alter their expressions , tho' not suitable to the current style of the formularies of receipts , being more concern'd that the meaning should be close kept to , than the style rectified . the table of diseases . note , the number answers to the page . a. agues . pag. 4 , 13 , 25 , 74 amulet against agues . 13 amulet against cramps . 15 acidities to cure. 19 after-birth to bring away . 21 appetite to restore . 21 antimonial remedy for leprosies and fevers . 54 antimonial infusion . 56 apoplexy to prevent . 65 arthritick pains . 71 apoplectick fits. 78 b. bloody-flux . pag. 7 bowels to strengthen . 14 blood to stanch . 16 blood to sweeten . 19 brest vlcerated . 23 broken belly . 33 , 40 black jaundice . 44 burns . 84 c. coughs . pag. 1 , 32 convulsions . 9 , 20 consumptions . 12 child to bring away . 14 cramp . 15 contusions . 28 , 29 cutis excoriated . 30 continual fevers . 51 , 52 , 54 , 79 chilblains . 53 colick . 55 , 62 , 78 , 85 childbearing to be cleansed after . 57 cancer not broken . 67 colds . 69 childrens jaundice . 70 chin cough . 74 d. dysentery . pag. 7 , 18 , 59 , 68 diseases from obstruction . 38 difficulty of hearing . 39 drink for continual fevers . 51 , 52 drink for the scurvy . 64 diuretick medicine . 64 decoction of quick-silver . 80 e. evil. pag. 7 eyes to cure. 20 excoriations . 30 external piles . 63 experiment for a weak sight . 73 external remedy for fevers . 79 f. fits of the stone . pag. 8 fluxes sharp . 18 , 26 , 37 , 59 films to clear . 20 fits of agues . 4 , 13 , 25 fits of the gout . 40 fits of the mother . 50 fevers continual . 51 , 52 , 54 , 79 falling sickness . 75 fits apoplectick . 78 fits strain . 83 g. gripings . pag. 26 gout . 40 , 50 , 71 gums to strengthen . 69 h. hemorrhoids . pag. 10 , 17 , 27 , 63 , 84 heart burning . 34 hearing difficult . 39 hoarsness on a cold. 69 heat in the eyes . 72 heat of the stomach . 87 i. jaundice yellow . pag. 5 , 6 , 70 inflammations of vlcers 31 jaundice black. 44 itch to cure . 58 internal piles . 63 issue raw to make . 86 k kings evil. pag. 7 kings evil cured with lime water , &c. 82 l. lime water to make . pag. 11 lime water for obstructions . 12 legs inflamed and vlcerated . 31 loosness . 37 leprosie . 54 lungs stuffed . 74 lime water for the kings evil. 82 m medicine for the stone . pag. 49 , 76 mother fits. 50 medicine for a fresh strain . 52 medicine to cleanse the womb. 57 medicine for a sore throat . 60 , 66 , 77 medicine for the colick . 62 medicine for a cancer . 67 n nitre , a medicine of it for the colick . pag. 85 o. obstructions . pag. 12 , 38 outward contusions . 28 , 29 oil of turpentine mixt with ointment of tobacco , and balls of sulphur for the piles . 84 p. pains of the stone . pag. 2 pain of the teeth . 4 piles . 10 , 17 , 27 , 63 , 84 pains . 31 , 50 , 71 plaister to discuss tumours . 43 plaister to strengthen the joynts . 50 pleurisie . 68 prolapsus vteri . 71 q. quick-silver prepared against worms . 80 r. rheumes . pag. 1 , 32 , 68 ruptures . 33 , 40 resent strain . 35 remedy for chilblains . 53 remedies for fluxes . 7 , 18 , 26 , 59 s. stone . pag. 2 , 8 , 49 , 76 sharpness of vrine . 3 strengthen the bowels . 14 stanching blood. 16 stomach to strengthen . 21 strain . 34 , 35 , 37 , 52 , 83 , 85 strengthning plaister . 31 sores . 41 sore throat . 60 , 66 , 86 sharp humours . 62 scurvy . 64 strengthen the gums . 69 syrup for rheums . 68 sharp humours in the eyes . 72 sight weak . 73 stomach heat . 87 stomachical tincture . 88 t. tooth ach. pag. 4 , 32 tertian ague . 13 , 74 tumours . 17 tickling rheum . 32 teeth to keep sound . 32 tumours to discuss and ripen . 43 throat sore . 60 , 66 , 77 , 86 teeth to make firm . 69 u. vrine sharp . pag. 3 vlcers of the brest . 23 vlcers . 41 uteri prolapsus . 71 vrine stopt . 76 w. women in labour . pag. 14 wounds bleeding . 16. weakness of the joynts . 37 water for vlcers . 41 womb to cleanse . 57 wash for the itch. 58 weak sight . 73 worms in children . 80 whitloe to cure. 81 y. yellow jaundice . pag. 5 decad i. i. for coughs , especially such as proceed from thin rheums . take of choice olibanum , finely powder'd , from one scruple to half a dram , and mix carefully with it an equal weight of sugar-candy , ( white or brown , ) or , in want of that , of fine sugar ; and let the patient take it at bed-time in the pap of an apple , or some other proper additament , for several nights together : if it be found needful , it may be taken at any other time , when the stomach is empty . ii. to give ease in the pains of the stone , even that of the bladder . take the transparent sparr that grows upon the veins of lead-ore , and having reduc'd it to fine powder , give from half a dram to a whole dram of it at a time , in a moderate draught of some convenient vehicle . n. b. though there be ( at least in most of our english mines ) two teguments , as it were , of the veins of lead , that grow close together ; yet that which the diggers name cawk , which is white and opacous , is not the medicine i mean , but the transparent , or at least semi-diaphanous ; which easily breaks into smooth fragments , and in the fire cleaves into several pieces , that are wont to be smooth , and prettily shap'd . iii for sharpness of vrine . take of the dry stuff that divides the lobes of the kernels of walnuts , beat them to powder , and of this give about half a dram at a time , in a draught of white-wine , or posset-drink made with it , or in any other convenient liquor . iv. to appease the violent pains of the tooth-ach . make up a scruple of pillulae mastichinae , and half a grain of laudanum , into two or three pills for the patient to take at bed-time . v. for agues . take salt of card. benedict . and salt of wormwood ana 15 grains , tartar vitriolate half a scruple , mix them , and give them in a few spoonfuls of rhenish-wine , or of some other convenient vehicle , either before the fit , or at some other time when the stomach is empty . vi. for the yellow-jaundice . take an ounce of castle soap , ( the elder the better , ) slice it thin , put it into a pint of small-beer cold , set it on the fire , let it boil gently half away , after boiling some time , scum it once ; then strain it through a small sieve , warm it , and drink it all in a morning , fasting ; take a small lump of sugar after it , and fast two or three hours : the party may walk about his business , and eat his accustomed meals : if at any time he drinks wine , let it be white-wine . n. b. if he be far gone in the distemper ; two or three days after , he may take it once or twice more , and no oftner . refrain all other medicines : it will keep a week or longer . vii . for the jaundice . take two or three ounces of semen cannabis ( hempseed ) and boil them till the seeds ( some of them ) begin to burst , and a little longer , in a sufficient quantity of new milk , to make one good draught ; which the patient is to take warm , renewing it , if need be , for some days together . viii . for the dysentery . take pigs-dung , dry it , and burn it to grey ( not white ) ashes ; of these give about half a dram for a dose , drinking after them about three spoonfuls of wine-vinegar . ix . for the kings evil. take cuttle-bone uncalcin'd , and having scrap'd off the out-side or colour'd part , dry the white part ; and of this , finely powder'd , give half a dram for a dose in aqua malvae . x. a safe and easie medicine in fits of the stone . take sack , or , in want of that , claret-wine , and by shaking , or otherwise , mix with it , as well as you can , an equal quantity of oyl of walnuts ; and of this mixture give from 4 or 6 to 8 or 10 ounces at a time as a glyster . decad ii. i. for convulsions , especially in children . take earth-worms , wash them well in white-wine to cleanse them , but so as that they may not die in the wine : then , upon hollow tiles , or between them , dry the worms with a moderate heat , and no further than that they may be conveniently reduc'd to powder ; to one ounce of which add a pretty number of grains of ambergrise , both to perfume the powder , ( whose scent of it self is rank ) and to make the medicine more efficacious . the dose is from one dram to a dram and half in any convenient vehicle . ii. for the pyles . take the powder of earth-worms prepared as in the former receipt , ( but leaving out the ambergrise , ) and incorporate it exactly with as much hens-grease , as will serve to make it up into an oyntment . apply this to the part affected , whose pains it usually much and safely mitigates . iii. to make lime-water vseful in divers distempers . take one pound of good quick-lime , and slake it in a gallon of warm water , and let it stand 'till all that will subside be settled at the bottom , and ( separation being made , ) the water swim clear at the top : ( at which time it will often happen , that a kind of thin and brittle substance , almost like ice , will cover the surface of the liquor : ) as soon as the water is thus sufficiently impregnated , delay not to pour it off warily , and keep it very well stopp'd for use . iv. a lime-water for obstructions and consumptions . take a gallon of lime-water made as above , and infuse in it cold , sassafras , liquorice , and anyseeds , of each four ounces , adding thereto half a pound of choice currans , or the like quantity of slic'd raisins of the sun : the dose of this compound lime-water is four or five ounces , to be taken twice a day . v. an amulet against agues , especially tertian . take a handful of groundsel , shred and cut it small , put it into a square paper bag of about four inces every way , pricking that side that is to be next the skin , full of large holes ; and cover it with some sarcenet or fine linnen , that nothing may fall out . let the patient wear this upon the pit of his stomach , renewing it two hours before every fit. vi. for women in labour to bring away the child . take about one dram of choice myrrh , and having reduc'd it to fine powder , let the patient take it in a draught of rhenish-wine or sack ; or , if you would have the liquor less active , white-wine , posset-drink , or some other temperate vehicle . vii . for strengthening the bowels . take cloves or chives ( not bulbs ) of garlick , and let the patient from time to time swallow one or two , without chewing . viii . an amulet against the cramp . take the root of mechoacan , and having reduc'd it to pouder , fill with this pouder a little square bag or sacket of sarcenet , or some such slight stuff ; which bag is to be about three inches square , and to be hung by a string about the patient's neck , so as that it may reach to the pit of the stomach , and immediately touch the skin . ix . for stanching of blood , especially in wounds . take those round mushrooms that botanists call crepitus lupi , ( in english puff-balls ▪ ) when they are full ripe ( which is in autumn ) ; and breaking them warily , save carefully the pouder that will fly up , and the rest that remains in their cavities : and strew this pouder all over the part affected , binding it on , or proceeding further , if need be , according to art. x. for the tumors and pains of the hemorrhoides , not too much inflamed . let the patient dip his finger in balsam of sulphur , made with oyl of turpentine , and with his finger so besmeared anoint the tumors , whether external or internal , once or twice a day . decad iii. i. for the dysentery and other sharp fluxes . take the stalks and leaves of the herb call'd in latin , coniza media ( in english , flea-bane ▪ ) dry it gently , till it be reducible to pouder ; of this pouder give about one dram at a time , twice or thrice a day , in any convenient vehicle ; or else incorporate it in conserve of red roses ▪ ii. to sweeten the blood , and cure divers distempers caused by its acidity . take coral , the clearest and reddest you can get ; reduce it ( by exactly grinding it on a porphory , or marble stone , ) to an impalpable pouder . of this magistery made without acids , give the patient once or twice a day ( as need shall require , ) a large dose , viz. ordinarily about one dram at a time , or from two scruples to five . n. b. let him long continue the use of it . iii. to clear the eyes , even from filmes . take paracelsus's zibethum occidentale ( viz. human dung ) of a good colour and consistence , dry it slowly till it be pulverable : then reduce it into an impalpable pouder ; which is to be blown once , twice , or thrice a day , as occasion shall require into the patients eyes . iv. for convulsions in children . give the patient from 2 , 3 , or 4 , to 5 , 6 , or 7 , grains , according to the child's age , of the true volatile salt of amber , in any proper vehicle . n. b. 't is not near so efficacious in full grown persons . v. to bring away the after-birth . give about 30 drops , or any number between 25 and 35 , of good essential ( as chimists call it , ) oyl of juniper , in a good draught of any convenient vehicle . vi. to strengthen the stomach , and help the want of appetite . make the roots of gentian ( sound and not superannuated , ) pulverable , with no more waste of their moisture than is necessary . reduce these to pouder ; of which let the patient take from 12 or 15 grains to double that quantity ( or more if need be , ) twice or thrice a day . n. b. it may be taken on an empty stomach , or , if that cannot conveniently be done , at meal-times . to correct the bitterness , one may add to it pouder'd sugar , or make it up with some fit conserve , or mix it with a syrup . it is very good , not only for want of appetite , but for obstructions . and i ( r. b. ) have usefully given it in vertiginous affections of the brain , and to lessen , if not quite take away , the fits of agues , and even quartans . but in this last case the dose must be considerably augmented . one may also , if one pleases , instead of the pouder , give the extract drawn with fair water , and for those that like that form , made up into pills with a sufficient quantity of pouder'd tumerick , or the like proper additament ; to which i have sometimes added some grains of salt of wormwood with good success , in fluxes that proceeded from crudities and indigestion . where the winter-season or the patients cold constitution invite , or the medicine is to be long kept , i chuse rather to make the extract with wine moderately strong , than with water . vii . for vlcers in the breast , and elsewhere . take millepedes , ( in english by some called wood-lice , by others sows , ) and having wash'd them clean with a little white-wine , and dry'd them with a linnen cloth , beat them very well in a glass or marble mortar ( for they ought not to be touch'd with any thing of metal ) and give the first time as much juice , as you can by strong expression obtain from five or six of them . this juice may be given in small ale or white-wine , in which the next time you may give as much as can be squeez'd out of eight or nine millepedes ; and so you may continue , increasing the number that you employ of them by two or three at a time , till it amount to twenty five or thirty ; and if need be , to forty or more , for one taking . and note , that if upon the pounding of these insects , you find the mass they afford too dry , as it now and then happens ; you may dilute it with a little white-wine or ale , to be well agitated with it , that being penitrated , and so softned , with the liquor , the mass may the better part with its juice . viii . for taking off the fits of agues . take good common brimstone ( not flores sulphuris , ) and having reduc'd them , by passing them through a very fine sieve , to the subtilest pouder you can ; give of this pouder one dram and half or two drams , either made up into a bolus with a little good honey , or else in any appropriated vehicle ; let it be given at the usual times , and reiterated once or twice , if need be , especially if the fits should return . ix . for fluxes , especially accompanied with gripings . take of crude lapis calaminaris finely pouder'd two scruples , of white chalk one scruple , mix them exactly , and give them in a spoonful or two of new milk twice , or , if the case be urgent , thrice a day . x. for the pains of the piles . take of myrrh , olibanum , and common frankincense , of each alike quantity ; having pouder'd them , mix them very well , and let the patient receive the fume of this mixture , cast upon a chafsen-dish with embers , in a close-stool , for about a quarter of an hour , ( less or more , as he needs it , and is able to bear it . ) decad iv. i. for an outward contusion . apply to the part affected , skim'd or purify'd honey , spread upon cap-paper , to be kept on with some convenient plaister , or the like bandage , and shifted once or twice a day . ii. another for the same . beat aloes succotrina ( or else hepatica , ) to fine pouder ; then pour on it as much rose-water as you guess may dissolve a great part of it . this done , stir them well for a while , and when the mixture is setled , pour off the liquor , and in it dip linnen rags , which being applied to the part affected , will soon stick to it , and seldom need be remov'd till the patient be reliev'd ; and then to get them off , the rags must be well wetted with warm water , which will soften and loosen the adhering aloes . iii. for a slighter excoriation . melt mutton-suet taken from about the kidneys , and freed from its superfluous fibres or strings , and to about two ounces of this add little by little about 16 or 18 drops ( sometimes 8 or 10 may serve ) of oyl ( not aethereal spirit ) of turpentine ; spread this mixture on a linnen cloth , and by binding or otherwise , keep it upon the part affected . iv. for an excoriation , when the true cutis is affected . take prunella ( in english self-heal , ) and having pounded it very well in a marble or glass mortar , ( not one of metal , ) apply it to the part affected , renewing it but seldom , and not without need . v. to take off the pain and inflammation of vlcers in the legs and elsewhere . in a quart of water boil about so much white-bread , as in ordinary years may be found in a halfpenny-loaf ; then add to it two ounces of good sheeps suet cut very small ; and when that is boil'd a little , add to it one ounce of finely pouder'd rosin , and a little well searc'd brimstone : of these make a cataplasm , which is to be kept constantly on the part affected , and shifted once or twice a day , as need shall require . vi. for a cough , especially accompany'd with a tickling rheum . take equal parts of finely pouder'd olibanum and venice treacle , incorporate them exactly , and of this mass form pills of what bigness you please . of these let the patient take about half a dram at bed-time , or , if need be , one scruple , ( or more , ) twice a day . vii . to prevent the tooth-ach , and keep the teeth sound . lel the patient frequently rub his teeth moderately with the ashes that remain in tobacco-pipes , after the rest of the body hath been consum'd in smoak ; sometimes after washing ( if need be , ) his mouth with fair water not too cold . viii . for a rupture , especially in a child or young person . take of that geranium or cranes-bill that is commonly called columbinum , reduce the root and leaves to fine pouder , and of this let the patient take about half a spoonful night and morning for three or four weeks together , washing it down each time with some spoonfuls of red wine . ix . for the heart-burning as they call it . take from 15 or 20 , to 30 or 40 , grains of crabs-eyes , ( known commonly in the shops by the name of lapides canororum , ) reduc'd to very fine pouder , and either take it alone , or in any convenient conserve or syrup . 't is for the most part best to take this medicine when the stomach is empty . x. for a strain . take the strongest vinegar you can get , and boil in it a convenient quantity of wheat-bran , till you have brought it to the consistence of a poultess . apply this as early as may be to the part affected , and renew it when it begins to grow dry . decad v. i. for a recent strain . take worm-wood and pound it very well in a mortar of stone or glass ; then put to it as much of the whites of eggs , beaten to water , as may serve to make it up into such a consistence , as may be applied like a poultess to the part affected . ii. a strengthening plaister after a strain , or when there is any weakness in the joynt . melt down together and incorporate very well , two parts of diapalma , and one part of emplastrum ad herniam ; spread this mixture , ( but not very thick , ) upon leather , and lay it to the joynt to be strengthened . iii. for loosenesses . boil a convenient quantity of cork in spring-water , till the liquor taste strong thereof : of this decoction let the patient drink a moderate draught from time to time , till he finds himself sufficiently reliev'd by it . iv. for obstructions , and divers diseases proceeding thence . let the patient drink , every morning fasting , a moderate draught of his own vrine newly made , and ( if it can conveniently be , ) whil'st 't is yet warm ; forbearing food for an hour or two after it . v. for difficulty of hearing , from a cold cause . out of a bulbe or root of garlick , chuse a chive of a convenient bigness ; then having pass'd a fine piece of thread or silk through one end of it , that thereby it may be pull'd out at pleasure , crush it a little between your fingers , and having anointed it all over with oyl of bitter ( or in want of that , sweet ) almonds , put it into the cavity of the patients ear at bed-time , and draw it out the next morning , stopping the ear afterwards with black wooll ; but if need require , this operation is to be reiterated with fresh garlick for some days successively . vi. for ruptures in the belly , especially in children . having well cleans'd the roots of sigillum salamonis , scrape one ounce of them into a quart of broth , and let the patient take a mess , or a porringer full of it for his break-fast ; or else give half a dram or two scruples of the pouder of it at a time , in any convenient vehicle . vii . to give check to fits of the gout , and in some measure to prevent them . take three ounces of sarsaparilla slic'd and cut thin ▪ to these add an equal weight of raisins of the sun , rubb'd very clean , but not broken : put both these ingredients into three quarts of spring water , and let the vessel stand in a moderate heat , that the liquor may simper for many hours , yet without bursting most part of the raisins ; keep this decoction , well stop'd , and let the patient use it for his only drink , till he need it no longer . viii . a water for vlcers and sores . take a solution of venetian sublimate , and having made with very good quick lime as strong a lime-water as you can , ( so that , if it be possible , it may bear an egg , ) drop this upon the dissolv'd sublimate , till it will precipitate no more reddish stuff at all ; ( which will not so soon be done as one that hath not try'd will imagin : ) as soon as you perceive that the liquors act no longer visibly upon one another , pour the mixture into a filter of cap-paper , which retaining the orange-colour'd precipitate , will transmit an indifferently clear liquor : which is to be in a glass viol kept stopp'd for its proper use ; namely , that the part affected may be therewith wash'd from time to time , and , if need be , kept covered with double linnen cloths wetted in the same liquor . ix . a plaister to discuss tumours , or ripen them if it cannot discuss them . take of yellow wax , frankincense , and rosin , of each four ounces , or a sufficient quantity , melt them together gently , and being strain'd , make up the mass into a roll for use . x. for the black jaundice it self . take a spoonful of honey , boil it gently , and scum it , till it come to a good consistence ; then add of wheat-flower and saffron ( reduced to a pouder , ) as much of each as you may take up upon the point of a knife ; and having mix'd all well , put it over the coals again , until it lose its smell : afterwards you may put it into a little stone or earthen pot , and keep it for use ; which is , that the patient take the quantity of a pea , and anoint the navil , and fill the cavity thereof with it ; repeating the application for some days together , when the stomach is empty , and abstaining from meat and drink about two hours after the medicine is us'd . the end of the first part. medicinal experiments : or , a collection of choice remedies , for the most part simple , and easily prepared . the latter five decads being a second part . by the honourable r. boyle , fellow of the royal society . london : printed for sam. smith , at the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard . 1693. decad vi. i. a parable medicine for the stone . take of the seed of flixweed , and give of it about as much as will lie upon a shilling , either whole or grosly bruis`d , in any convenient vehicle . ii. for fits of the mother . dissolve store of sea-salt in the best wine vinegar , and in this dip a soft linnen cloth , which being folded so as to make 3 or 4 doubles , is to be applied somewhat warm to the soles of the patient's feet , and kept on till the fit be over . iii. a choice plaister to strengthen the joynts after the gout , and hasten the going off of the pain . take of paracelsus and diapalma ana , melt them and incorporate them exactly together , and spread the mixture very thin upon fine leather , to be us'd as a plaister to the part affected . iv. a very good drink in continual fevers . make a decoction of the leaves of rue in fair water , till the liquor tast pretty strong of the plant : this , being strain'd , is to be made somewhat palatable with liquorice , or a little sugar , or aromatic body : to half a pint of this add about 10 drops of spirit ( not oyl ) ) of vitriol : let the patient use this for his ordinary drink . v. a good drink to be frequently used in fevers , especially continual ones . give , in half a pint of some small convenient drink , half an ounce of harts-horn , burnt to great whiteness ; which is to be a little boyled in the liquor ; and this , thus alter'd , is to be given from time to time . vi. an easie medicine for a fresh strain . make up the clay , with which the bungs of barrels are wont to be stopp'd ; with as much vinegar as will bring it to the consistence of an indifferently stiff cataplasm : then warm it a little , and apply it to the part affected . vii . a remedy much used for chilblains . take a turnep , roast it well under the embers , and beat it to a poultice ; then apply it very hot to the part affected ; and keep it on ( if need be , ) for 3 or 4 days , in that time shifting it twice or thrice , if occasion require . viii . a simple antimonial remedy , that has often done much good even in the leprosie , and all continual fevers . take crude antimony , well chosen and pouder'd ; of this give about one , two , or three scruples morning and evening , according to the age of the patient , in a little syrup of clove-gilly-flowers , or any such vehicle , or else mix'd with fine sugar , enough to make it somewhat palatable . this may be continued for 4 or 5 months , if need require ; and if the first dose prove beneficial to the patient , in cases not urgent , a scruple or half a dram may serve the turn , nor need the exhibition be continued for so long a time . ix . for the cholick , and divers other distempers . take four or five balls of fresh stone-horse dung , and let them steep for about a quarter of an hour ( or less , ) in a pint of white-wine , in a vessel well stopp'd that the liquor may be richly impregnated with the more volatile and subtil parts of the dung ; strain this , and give of it from a quarter to half a pint , or some ounces more at a time ; the patient having a care not to take cold after it . x. an often experimented antimonial infusion . take one ounce of pouder'd antimony ; tied up in a little bag of clean linnen , and hang it in a gallon of beer or ale that is brought from the brew-house , and is yet scarce fit to be drawn out , much less to be drank . of this liquor , when 't is ripe , let the patient make use for his ordinary drink ; only having a care , that if by age or accident it be perceived to grow sour , that vessel then be left off , for fear , lest the acidity of the liquor , corroding the antimony , might make it vomitive . decad vii . i. an easie medicine to cleanse the womb , especially after child-bearing . take a large white onyon , of about four ounces in weight , if you can get so big a one , and boyl it in about a pint of water , with any thing fit to make a very thin broth , till a third part or more of the liquor be consumed : of this broth , which may be made a little palatable with nutmeg , &c. the patient is to take six or eight ounces twice or thrice a day . ii. an experienced wash that quickly cures the itch. take strong quicklime one pound , and put to a gallon of spring-water , let them lie together for some hours , and then warily pour off the clear , filter the rest , and take two ounces of quick-silver , ty'd up in a linnen bag , and hang it in the liquor , and boil it for half an hour or more ; then pour off the cleer liquor once more , and wash the hands only with it twice , or at most thrice , a day . iii. a remedy often us'd , with success , in fluxes , and even dysenteries . take fresh roots of bistort , cut them into thin slices , and moisten them well with fair water and wine , to make them more soft and succulent ; then press out the juice as strongly as you can . and of this give about three or four spoonfuls , mingled with half a dozen spoonfuls , or somewhat more , of red wine , or some other convenient liquor . iv. a good medicine for a sore throat . take the white of a new-laid egg , and by beating it , reduce it into water ; and with this water mix diligently so much conserve of red roses as will reduce it to a soft mass ; whereof the patient is to let a little bit at a time melt leisurely in his mouth . v. a choice medicine for a sore throat . take a piece of greasie linnen cloth , of such a bigness , as that , being doubled , it may make a bag in form of a stay , to reach from one side of the throat to the other , and contain as much matter , as may make it of the thickness of an inch or more : this bag being fill'd with common salt is to be heated throughly , and apply'd to the part affected as warm as the patient can conveniently indure ; and within 2 hours after , or when it begins to grow too cold ; another like it and well heated , is to be substituted in its room ; and whil'st this is cooling , the other may be heated and made ready for use : so that the part affected may be always kept in a considerable degree of warmth , for about 48 hours , if the remedy be so long needed . vi. an often experienc'd medicine for the cholick , especially produced by sharp humors . take a quart of claret , and put into the vessel about two ounces of nettle-seeds , stop the bottle , and keep it in boiling water , till the water has made three or four walms , to assist the wines impregnation with the finer part of the seeds : of this liquor let the patient take a small draught once or twice a day . vii . to appease the pain of the haemorrhoids , whether internal or external . take two parts of flowers of sulphur , and one part of sugar very finely pouder'd , mix them exactly together , and make them up with a sufficient quantity of a mucilage of gum tragacarth into lozenges , of about a dram a piece : of which you may give one at a time , thrice in a day , or if need be , 4 or 5 times . viii . to make an excellent drink for the scurvy . take two handfuls of water trefoil , and let it work in about 8 gallons of wort , instead of hops , or of small ale or wort , made for it : and let the patient use it for all , or for a great part of his ordinary drink . ix . to make an easie diuretick . peel off the inner skin of an egg-shell , then beat the shell to a very fine pouder : give about a scruple of it at a time in any convenient vehicle . x. a powerful application to prevent and check the apoplexy . make an issue at the meeting of the sutures , and keep it open for a good while ; but if the case will not admit delay , clap on a good cupping-glass , without scarification , or with it , as need shall require , upon the same concourse of the sutures . decad viii ▪ i. a choice medicine for a sore throat . take housleek , and having lightly beaten it in a glass or stone mortar , press out the juice hard between two plates ; to this juice put almost an equal quantity of virgin-honey , mix them well , and add to the mixture a little burnt allum , as much as is requisite to give it a discernable alluminous taste : let the patient take this from time to time , with a liquorish stick , or some such thing . ii. an approv'd medicine for a cancer not broken . take dulcify'd colcothar , and with cream , or whites of eggs beaten to a water , bring it to the consistence of a cataplasm ; which ought to be made large , and spread about the thickness of half a crown , and applied warm to the part affected ▪ shifting it at least once a day . iii. to make a very good syrup for thin rheums . take syrup of jujubes , syrup of dryed roses , and syrup of corn poppy flowers , of each alike quantity , mix and use them as the necessity of the sick requires . iv. for the dysentery and pleurisie . grate to fine pouder the dry'd pizzel of a stagg , and give of it as much as will lie upon a shilling , or thereabouts , once or twice a day , in any convenient vehicle . v. to strengthen the gums , and make the teeth grow firm . take catechu , terra japonica , or japonian earth , and dissolve as much as you can of it in a pint of claret , or red wine ; then decant the liquor warily from the subsiding faeces , and let the patient now and then wash his mouth with it , especially at bed time . vi. for a hoarsness upon a cold. take three ounces of hyssop water , sweeten it with sugar-candy ; then beat well into it the yolk of one egg , and drink it at a draught . vii . a choice medicine for the jaundice in children . take half an ounce of choice rhubarb made into pouder ; incorporate with it exactly by long beating , two handfuls of well chosen , and cleans'd currans . of this electuary let the patient take every morning about the quantity of a nutmeg , for several days together . viii . a rare medicine to take away gouty , and other arthritick pains . take highly rectify'd spirit of mans vrine , and anoint the part with it , the cold being just taken off , once or twice the first day ; and no longer , unless the pain continue . ix . for a prolapsus uteri . apply to the patients navel a pretty large cupping-glass ; but let it not stay on too long , not above a quarter of an hour , for fear of injuring the part it covers , especially the navel-string . x. to allay heat in the eyes , proceeding from sharp humours . beat the white of an egg into a water , in which dissolve a pretty quantity of refined loaf-sugar , and then drop some of it into the patients eye . decad ix . i. an experienc'd medicine for strengthening a weak sight . take of eye bright , sweet fennel seeds , and fine sugar , all reduc'd to pouder , of each an ounce , nutmeg also pulveriz'd , one dram ▪ ( at most ; ) mix these very well together , and take of the composition from a dram to two or more , from time to time . ii. an often try'd medicine for tertian agues . take crude allum and nutmeg finely scrap'd , of each about half a dram , mix the pouders well together , and with about six grains of saffron ; give this in two or three spoonfuls of white-wine vinegar at the usual time . iii. for stuffings of the lungs , and the chin cough . make syrup of penny royal , or of ground ivy , moderately tart with oil of vitriol ; and of this let the patient take very leisurely about a quarter of a spoonful from time to time . iv ▪ for the falling sickness in children . take half a dram of choice amber , finely pouder'd , and give it for six or seven weeks together , once a day , when the stomach is empty , in about four ounces of good white-wine . v. an approv'd medicine to drive the stone , and cure suppression of vrine , proceeding from it . take the roots of wild garlick , ( by some country people called crow garlick ) wipe them very clean , stamp them very well in a mortar of stone or glass , and strain out the juice ; with which make a moderate draught of good white-wine considerably strong , and let the patient take it once or twice a day . vi. an experienc'd medicine for sore throats . take of scabious water six ounces , of wine vinegar a small spoonful , of mustard seed beaten , and of honey , of each a spoonful ; stir and shake them very well together ; and then filter the mixture and keep it for use . vii . an often experienced external remedy in apoplectick fits. fix a cupping-glass ( without scarification ) to the nape of the neck , and another to each of the shoulders , and let them stick on , a competent time . viii . an easie but approv'd medicine for the cholick . take about half a dram of mastich , and mix it with the yolk of a new laid egg , and give it the patient once or twice a day . ix . to appease the heat of feavers by an external remedy . apply to the soles of the feet a mixture , or thin cataplasm made of the leaves of tobacco , fit to be cut to fill a pipe with , beaten up with as much of the freshest currans you can get , as will bring the tobacco to the consistence of a poultis . x. the medicine that is in such request in italy against the worms in children . infuse one dram of clean quicksilver all night in about two ounces of the water of goats rue , distill'd the common way in a cold still : and afterwards strain and filter it , to sever it from all dregs that may happen in the making it . this quantity is given for one dose . decad x. i. a choice medicine for a whitloe . take shell snails , and beat the pulpy part of them very well , with a convenient quantity of fine chopt parsly , which is to be applied warm to the affected part , and shifted two or three times a day . ii. a simple but vseful lime-water , good for the kings evil , and divers other cases . take half a pound of good quick-lime , and put it into one gallon of spring-water , and infuse it for twenty four hours ; then decant the liquor , and let the patient drink a good draught of it two or three times a day , or he may use it for his ordinary drink ; this infusion may be coloured with saffron , or red sanders ; and if need be to make it stronger , add more lime , and warm the water and keep it well stopt . iii. an excellent medicine for a fresh strain . take four ounces of bean flower , two ounces of wine vinegar ; of these make a cataplasm to be applied a little warm to the part affected ; but if this should prove something too sharp , ( as in some cases it may ) then take two drams of litharg , and boil it a little in the vinegar ; before you put it to the bean-flower . iv. for the pyles . take balsam of sulphur made with oil of turpentine , ointment of tobacco , equal parts , incorporate them well , and anoint the grieved place therewith . v. for a burn. mingle lime water with linseed oyl , by beating them together with a spoon , and with a feather dress the burn several times a day . vi. for a fresh strain . boil bran in wine vinegar to the consistency of a poultis , apply it warm , and renew the poultis once in twelve hours , for two or three times . vii . an experienced medicine for the cholick . take good nitre one ounce , and rub it well in a clean mortar of glass or stone , then grind with it half a scruple or more of fine saffron , and of this mixture give about half a dram for a dose in three or four ounces of cold spring water . viii . to make an issue raw , that begins to heal up . take of lapis infernalis one ounce , of crown soap an ounce and half , chalk finely pouder'd six drams , mix them all together carefully , and keep them close stopt , except when you mean to use them . ix . for a sore throat . make a plaister of paracelsus , three or four fingers broad , and length enough to reach almost from one ear to the other , and apply it to the part affected , so that it may touch the throat as much as may be . x. for heat about the orifice of the stomach . make a syrup with the juice of house leek and sugar , and give about one spoonful of it from time to time . a stomachical tincture . take agrimony , two drams , small centory tops one dram , coriander seeds bruised one scruple , sassafras shavings and bark , one dram , gentian root half a dram , zedoary root ten grains ; pour upon these three quarters of a pint of boiling spring water , cover it , and let it steep twelve hours , then strain it , and put it in a bottle ; then drop a drop of oil of cinnamon , upon a lump of sugar , and put it into the liquor . the dose is three spoonfuls twice a day , an hour or two before meals . the end . a catalogue of the philosophical books and tracts , written by the honourable robert boyle esq ; together with the order or time wherein each of them hath been publish'd respectively . to which is added , a catalogue of the theological books , written by the same author . london : printed for sam. smith , at the sign of the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard . 1693. advertisements of the publisher . i. many ingenious persons , especially strangers , having pressingly endeavour'd to procure a catalogue of the honourable mr. boyle's writings ; and the author himself being not at leisure to draw one up ; 't was thought it might be some satisfaction to those inquirers , if i publish'd the following list , as it was drawn out , for his own use , of the philosophical transactions , as well as the printed volumes , by an ingenious french physician , studious of the authors writings , some of which he translated and printed in his own language . ii. the letter l affixt in the margin , denotes the book related to , to have been translated , and publish'd in the latin tongue also . several of the rest having likewise been translated into latin , but not yet published . iii. those that have an asterisk prefix'd to them came forth without the authors name , tho' 't is not doubted but they are his. iv. such as have this mark ☞ prefix'd to them , are sold by samuel smith at the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard . v. divers of those mentioned as drawn out of the transactions , did probably come abroad in latin ; some of the transactions themselves having been published in that language . a catalogue of the philosophical books and tracts . new experiments physico mechanical , touching the spring and weight of the air , and its effects , ( made for the most part in a new pneumatical engine ) written by way of letter to the right honourable charles lord viscount of dungarvan , eldest son to the earl of cork , by the honourable robert boyle esq ; a defence of the doctrine , touching the spring and weight of the air , propos'd by the author in his new physico-mechantoal experiments ; against the objections of franciscus linus , wherewith the objectors funicular hypothesis is also examin'd . an examen of mr. tho. hobbes's dialogus physicus de naturâ aeris , as far as it concerns the authors book of new experiments , touching the spring of the air ; with an appendix touching mr. hobbes's doctrine of fluidity and firmness . these three together in a volume in 4 to , being a second edition ; the first at oxford 1662 , had been publish'd anno 1660. the two others at london 1662 , had been publish'd , anno 1661. the sceptical chymist , &c. 1661. physiological essays , or tentamina , written and collected upon divers times and occasions , with an history of fluidity and firmness , in 4 to . 1662. an experimental history of colours begun , 8vo . 1663. some considerations touching the usefulness of experimental natural phylosophy , propos'd in a familiar discourse to a friend , by way of invitation to the study of it : a second edition , 4to . oxford , 1664. the first had been publish'd 1663. of the usefulness of natural philosophy , the second part ; the first section , of its usefulness to physick , with an appendix to this first section of the second part , 4to . 1669. of the usefulness of experimental natural philosophy , &c. the second tome , containing the latter section of the second part , 4to , oxford , 1671. the first volume of these three books , contains five essays . the first , of the usefulness , &c. principally as it relates to the mind of man. the second , a continuation of the former . the third , a further continuation . the fourth , a requisite digression concerning those , who would exclude the deity from intermedling with matter . in the fifth , the discourse , interrupted by the late digression , is resum'd and concluded . the second volume contains likewise five essays . the first , of the usefulness , &c. as to the physiological part of physick .. the second , as to the pathological part of physick . the third , as to the semeiotical part of physick . the fourth , as to the hygieinal part of physick . the fifth , as to the therapeutical part of physick , in 20 chapters . the third volume contains six essays . the first , general considerations about the means , whereby experimental phylosophy may become useful to human life . the second , of the usefulness of mathematicks to natural phylosophy . the third , of the usefulness of mechanical disciplines to natural phylosophy . the fourth , that the goods of mankind may be much increased by the naturalists insight into trades , with an appendix . the fifth , of doing by physical knowledge , what is wont to require manual skill . the sixth , of mens great ignorance of the uses of natural things . an experimental history of cold , and some discourses concerning new thermometrical experiments , and thoughts about the doctrine of antiperistasis ; with an examen of mr. hobbes's doctrine touching cold , a second edition , quarto , 1665. attempts of a way to convey liquors immediately into the mass of blood , communicated in the philosophical transactions of december the 4th , 1665. observations and experiments upon the barometer or ballance of air , invented , ditected and begun , anno 1659 , communicated to dr. beal that continued them , and mentioned in the transactions of february the 12th , and march the 12th , 1666. hydrostatical paradoxes made out by new experiments ▪ for the most part physical and easie , occasion'd by monsieur paschal's tract of the equilibrium of liquors , and of the weight of the air , 1666. an account of an earthquuke near oxford , and the con comitants thereof , communicated in the philosophical transactions of april 2d , 1666. new observations and directions about the barometer in the same . general heads for a natural history of a country , great or small , communicated in the same . the origine of forms and qualities illustrated by considerations and experiments , in two parts , 8vo , 1666. a way of preserving birds , taken out of the egg , and other small eaetus's , communicated in the philosophical transactions of may the 7th , 1666. an account of a new kind of baroscope , which may be called statical , and of some advantages and conveniences it hath above the mercurial , communicated in the philosophical transactions of july the 2d , 1666. a new frigorific experiment , shewing how a considerable degree of cold may be suddenly produced , without the help of snow , ice , hail , wind or nitre , and that at any time of the year , communicated in the philosophical trasnactions of july the 18th . 1666. tryals proposed to dr. lower for the improvement of transfusing blood out of one live animal into another , communicated in the philosophical transactions of february the 11th , 1666. free considerations about subordinate forms , being an appendix to the origine of forms and qualities published last year , and reprinted with this , 1667 , in 8●o . a letter to the author of the philosophical transactions , giving an information of some experiments which he had made himself several years ago , by injecting acid liquors into blood , upon the occasion of those communicated by signior ▪ fracassari , in a letter written from oxford , october the 19th , 1667. new experiments concerning the relation between light and air , ( in shining wood and fish ) in a letter from oxford to the publisher of the philosophical transactions of january the 6th , 1668. a continuation of the same letter in the philosophical transactions of february the 10th , 1668. a continuation of new experiments , physico-mechanical , touching the spring and weight of the air , and their effects ; the first part . with a discourse of the atmospheres of consistent bodies , oxford , 1669. an invention for estimating the weight of water with ordinary ballances and weights , in the phylosophical transactions of august the 16th , 1669. certain philosophical essays and other tracts , a second edition ; with a discourse about the absolute rest of bodies , quarto , london 1669. the first edition had been published anno 1662. new pneumatical experiments about respiration , upon ducks , vipers , frogs , &c. communicated in the philosophical transactions of august 8. 1670. a continuation of the same experiments in the philosophical transactions of september the 12th , 1670. tracts : about the cosmical qualities of things : the temperature of the subterraneal and submarine regions , and the bottom of the sea ; together with an introduction to the history of particular qualities , 8vo . oxford , 1670. tracts : a discovery of the admirable rarefaction of the air ( even without heat : ) new observations about the duration of the spring of the air. new experiments touching the condensation of the air by meer cold , and its compression without mechanical engines , and the admirably differing extentions of the same quantity of air , rarified and compressed , quarto , london , 1670. an essay about the origine and virtues of gems , quarto , london , 1672. some observations about shining flesh , both of veal , and pullet , and that without any sensible putrefaction in those bodies , communicated by way of letter to the publisher of the philosophical transactions , in the transactions of december , the 16th , 1672. a new experiment concerning an effect of the varying weight of the atmosphere upon some bodies in the water , the description whereof was presented to the lord broncker , anno 1671. suggesting a conjecture , that the alterations of the very weight of the air , may have considerable operations , even upon mens sickness or health , communicated in the philosophical transactions of february the 24th , 1673. tracts : containing new experiments , touching the relation between flame and air , and about explosions . an hydrostatical discourse , occasioned by some objections of dr. henry moor , &c. to which is annexed an hydrostatical letter about a way of weighing water in water : new experiments of the positive , or relative , levity of bodies under water : of the air-spring on bodies under water , and about the differing pressure of heavy solids and fluids , octavo , london , 1672 , 1691. essays of the strange subtilty , great efficacy , and determinate nature of effluviums ; to which are annexed new experiments to make the parts of fire and flame , stable and ponderable , with experiments about arresting and weighing of igneous corpuscles ; and a discovery of the perviousness of glass to ponderable parts of flame , octavo , london , 1673. a letter of september the 13th , 1673. concerning ambergreece , and its being a vegetable production , mentioned in the philosophical transactions of october , the 8th , 1673. tracts : observations about the saltness of the sea : an account of the statical hyroscope , and its uses , together with an appendix about the force of the air 's moisture , and a fragment about the natural and preternatural state of bodies . to all which is premised a sceptical dialogue about the positive or privative nature of cold , octavo , london , 1674 , 1691. a discourse about the excellency and grounds of the mechanical hypothesis , occasionally proposed to a friend , annexed to another , entituled , the excellency of theology , compared with natural philosophy , octavo , london , 1674. an account of the two sorts of helmontian laudanum , together with the way of the noble baron f. m. van helmont ( son to the famous john baptista ) of preparing his laudanum , communicated in the philosophical transactions of october the 26th . 1674. tracts : containing , 1. suspicions about some hidden qualities of the air , with an appendix touching coelestial magnets , and some other particulars . 2. animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo . 3. a discourse of the cause of attraction by suction , octavo , london , 1674 , 1691. some physico-theological considerations about the possibility of the resurrection , annexed to a discourse , entituled , the reconciliableness of reason and religion , octavo , london , 1674 / 5. a conjecture concerning the bladders of air , that are found in fishes , communicated by a. j. and illustrated by an experiment , suggested by the author in the philosophical transactions of april the 26th , 1675. a new essay instrument , invented and described by the author , together with the uses thereof , in 3 parts . the first shews the occasion of making it , and the hydrostatical principles 't is founded on . the second describes the construction of the instrument . the third represents the uses ; which , as relating to metals , are 1. to discover whether a proposed guinea be true or counterfeit . 2. to examine divers other gold coins , and particularly half guinea's . 3. to examine the new english crown pieces of silver . 4. to estimate the goodness of tin and pewter . 5. to estimate alloys of gold and silver , and some other metalline mixtures . all this maketh up the philosophical transactions of june 21. 1675. ten new experiments about the weaken'd spring , and some unobserved effects of the air , where occur not only several trials to discover ; whether the spring of the air , as it may divers ways be increased , so may not by other ways than cold , or dilation be weakened , but also some odd experiments to shew the change of colours producible in some solutions and precipitations by the operation of the air , communicated in the philosophical transactions of december 27th , 1675. an experimental discourse of quicksilver , growing hot with gold , english and latin , communicated in the philosophical transactions of february 21. 1676. experiments , notes . &c. about the mechanical origin or production of divers particular qualities , amongst which , is inserted a discourse of the imperfections of the chymists doctrine of qualities , together with some reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum , octavo , london , 1676 , 1690. this discourse comprehends notes , &c. about the mechanical origine and production of cold. of heat . of tasts . of odours . of volatility . of fixtness . of corrosiveness . of corrosibility . of chymical precipitation . of magnetical qualities . of electricity . new experiments about the superficial figures of fluids , especially of liquors contiguous to other liquors : likely to conduct much to the physical theory of the grand system of the world , communicated in the philosophical transactions of january , the 29th , 167 6 / 7 a continuation of the same experiments in the philosophical transactions in february the 167 6 / 7. the sceptical chymist , or chymico-physical paradoxes , touching the experiments whereby vulgar spagyrists are wont to endeavour to evince their salt , sulphur and mercury to be the true principles of things , to which in this second edition are subjoyned divers experiments and notes about the producibleness of chymical principles , octavo oxford , 1680 , 1690. a second continuation of new experiment physico-mechanical , in which , various experiments , touching the spring of the air , either compressed or artificial , are contain'd , with a description of new engines to persorm them , 1680. the aerial noctiluca , or some new phoenomena , and a process of factitious self-shining substance , octavo , london . the glaical or icy noctiluca , with a chymical paradox founded on new experiments , whence it may be made probable , that chymical principles may be converted one into another , octavo , london , 1680. memorials for the natural history of human blood , especially the spirit of that liquor , london , 1684 experiments and considerations about the porosity of bodies , in two essays : the former of the porousness of animal bodies ; the other of the porousness of solid bodies , octavo , london , 1684. short memoirs for the natural experimental history of mineral waters , octavo , 1685. an historical account of a strangely self-moving liquor , communicated in the philosophical transactions of november , the 26th , 1685. of the reconcileablness of specifick medicines , to the corpuscular philosophy , to which is annexed a discourse about the advantages of the use of simple medicines , propos'd by way of invitation to it , octavo , london , 1685. an essay of the great effects of languid and unheeded motion . to which is annex'd an experimental discourse of some unheeded causes of the salubrity and insalubrity of the air and its effect , octavo , london , 1685 , 1690. a free inquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature , in an essay address'd to a friend , octavo , london , 168 5 / 6. a disquisition about the final causes of natural things . with an appendix of some uncommon observations about vitiated sight , octavo , london , 1688. medicina hydrostatica : or , hydrostaticks , applied to the materia medica , shewing , how by the weight that divers bodies us'd in physick , have in water ; one may discover , whether they be genuine or adulterate . to which is subjoin'd , a previous hydrostatical way of estimating ores , octavo , london , 1690. experimenta & observationεs physicae ; wherein are briefly treated of several subjects relating to natural philosophy in an experimental way ; to which is added , a small collection of strange reports , in two parts , octavo , london , 1691. medicinal experiments : or , a collection of choice remedies , for the most part simple and easily prepared , twelves , london , 1692. price 1 s. advertisements . because among those that willingly read the author's writings , there are some that relish those most , ( as most suitable to their genius , addicted to religious studies ) that treat of matters relating to divinity : the publisher thinks fit to gratifie them with a catalogue of those theological books that pass for mr. boyle's , because they were ascribed to him , and never positively disown'd by him ; tho' such of them as are mark'd with an asterisk , come abroad without having his name prefixt to them . seraphic love , five or six times printed , but first published in the year 1660. octavo . considerations about the stile of the scripture , whereof the first edition was publish'd in the year 1662. in english , and afterwards turn'd into , and several times printed in latin , octavo . occasional reflections on several subjects , with a preliminary discourse of the way of meditating there exemplified ; first publish'd in the year 1665. and afterwards turn'd into latin , but not yet printed in that language , octavo . of the excellency of the study of theology , compared with that of natural philosophy . printed in the year 1674. octavo . considerations about the reconcileableness of reason and religion . to which is annex'd a discourse about the possibility of the resurrection . printed in the year 1675. octavo . a treatise of things above reason . to which are annex'd some advices about things that are said to transcend reason . printed in the year 1681. in english , and afterwards translated into latin , but not yet printed in that language , octavo . of the veneration that man's intellect owes to god. printed in the year 1685. the martyrdom of theodora , and of didymus , london , 1687. the christian vertuoso : shewing , that by being addicted to experimental philosophy , a man is rather assisted , than indisposed , to be a good christian . the first part ; to which are subjoin'd , 1. a discourse about the distinction , that represents some things as above reason , but not contrary to reason . 2. the first chapters of a discourse , entituled , greatness of mind promoted by christianity , octavo , london , 1690. a catalogue of new physick books printed for sam. smith , at the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard . pharmacopoeia bateara . quâ nonginta circiter pharmaca , plerâque omnia è. praxi georgii batei regi carolo secundo medici primarii excerpta , ordine alphabetico concisè exhibentur . quorum nonnulla in laboritorio publico pharmacopoeano lond. fideliter parantur venalia : atque in usu sunt hodierno apud medicos londinenses . editio altera priori multò locupletior : cum viribus ac dosibus annexis . huic accesserunt arcana goddardiana ex autographo authoris desumpta . item ad calcem orthotonia medicorum observata : insuper & tabula posologica dosibus pharmacorum accommodata . cum indice morborum , curationum , &c. curâ j. s. pharmacopoei lond. in twelves . 1691. praxeos mavernianae in morbis internis praecipue gravioribus & chronicis syntagma ex adversariis , consiliis ac epistolis ejus , summâ curâ ac diligentiâ concinnatum . londini . in oct. 1690. phthisiologia seu exercitationes de phthisi tribus libris comprehen●ae . totumque opus variis historiis illustratum . autore richardo morton , med. d. & regii collegii medicor . lond. socio . londini . in octavo . 1689. osteologia n●●a , or some new observations of the bones , and the parts belonging to them , with the manner of their accretion , and nutrition , communicated to the royal society in several discourses . i. of the membrane , nature , constituent parts , and internal structure of the bones . ii. of accretion , and nutrition , as also of the affections of the bones in the rickers , and of venereal nodes . iii. of the medulla , or marrow . iv. of the mucilaginous glands , with the etiology or explication of the causes of a rheumatism , and the gout , and the manner how they are produced . to which is added , a fifth discourse of the cartilages . by clopton havers , m. d. fellow of the royal society . london . in octavo . 1691. synopsis methodica s●irpium britannicarum , in quatum notae generum characteristicae traduntur , tum species singulae breviter describuntur : ducentae quinquaginta plus minus novae species partim suis locis inseruntur , partim in appendice seorsim exhi●entur . cum indice & virium epitome . auctore joanne raio è soceita●e regia . londini . in octavo . 1690. pharmacopoeiae collegii regalis londini remedia omnia succinctè descripta , atque serie alphabeticâ ita digesta , ut singula promptius primo intuitu investigare possi●t , editio altera priori castigatior & auctior : huic annexus est catalogus simplicium tum locupletior tum compendiosor quàm antehâc editus ; accedit in calce . manuale ad forum nec non pinax posographicus , curâ ja. shipton , pharmacop . lond. in twelves 1689. richardi morton , m. d. ii petoaotia , seu de morbis universalibus acutis . octavo . lond. 1692. gualt . harris , m. d. de morbis acutis infantum . octavo . lond. 1689. the wisdom of god manifested in the works of the creation . in two parts , viz. the heavenly bodies , elements , meteors , fossils , vegetables , animals , ( beasts , birds , fishes , and insects , ) of the admirable structure of the bodies of men and other animals , and of their generation , &c. miscellaneous discourses concerning the dissolution and changes of the world. wherein the primitive chaos and creation , the general deluge , the universal conflagration and future state are largely discussed and examined . both written by john ray , fellow of the royal society . in octavo ▪ london , 1692. the duty of apprentices and servants . containing , 1. the parents duty , how to educate their children , that they may be sit to be employed and trusted . 2. the servants duty towards god , their masters , and themselves . with suitable prayers and directions for the worthy receiving of the holy sacrament . by richard lucas , d. d. vicar of st. stephen's coleman-street . london , 1692. the plain man's guide to heaven . containing , 1. his duty towards god. 2. towards his neighbour ; with proper prayers , meditatitions , and ejaculations . designed chiefly for the country-man , tradesman , labourer , and such like . london , 1692. the end . imprimatur , may 3. 1693. robert southwell . p. r. s. medicinal experiments : or , a collection of choice and safe remedies , for the most part simple , and easily prepared : useful in families , and very serviceble to country people . by the honourable r. boyle , esq ; fellow of the royal society . the second volume . containing about three hundred receipts , published from the author 's original manuscripts , and by him recommended to the care of his executors , and to be perused by some of his learned friends . together with a large preface , written by the author 's own hand . london : printed for s. smith , and b. walford , at the prince's arms in st. paul's church-yard . 1693. the author's preface . though physick be not my profession , yet i hope this small collection of receipts will not incur the censure of equitable and charitable persons , tho' divers of them are professed physicians , since as i was induc'd to what i had done by the dictates of philanthropy and christianity , so i was warranted by great examples , both in ancient times , and in ours . of the former sort , i might take notice of several of the old philosophers , such as democritus , pythagoras , to which some add aristotle ; and even divers monarchs and great men of those times ; such as jubar , king of mauritania ; another king , nechepsos , cited by galen * , cato , pliny , &c. and of the second sort , not only by the last age , and the first part of our own , but by very late times , and in a neighbouring nation , whose customs we are wont sufficiently to esteem and imitate , we may be furnish'd with examples to our present purpose . for the french king himself , who has rais'd the majesty of a crown'd head so high , did not think it beneath the grandeur of so great a monarch to order the publication of the english remedy , as the french called the peruvian bark , which at a great rate he purchased from talbor , an english emperick , famous for his many and speedy cures of quartans , and other agues . by the authority of the same prince , who has been a great encourager of divers parts of learning , there has been some years since setled at paris a society or assembly of physicians , chirurgeons , and others , whose main business is to keep correspondency in several parts , and receive informations of the novelties that occur about diseases , and impart to the publick such as they shall think worthy and seasonable ; which communications consist not only of new discoveries , odd cases , speculations , and observations , but of receipts and processes of remedies , printed for the most part in french , the common language of the people . divers of which remedies , have upon tryal been found useful , as well in england as in france . there has been also lately in that kingdom a book printed more than once , that makes yet more for my purpose . for there has been publish'd in the french tongue a large collection of receipts , for almost all diseases , plac'd in alphabetical order ; and thô these receipts are circumstantially delivered in the mother-tongue of the people , yet they came not forth without the license or authority of the faculty of physick , and were ( at least the first tome ) so well receiv'd and approv'd , that in divers places the respective bishops authorized them by their publick approbation , and recommended them upon the account receiv'd , or the good effects they had produc'd both to the other charitable persons , and to the curates ( or parish priests ) in their diocesses . in complying with the desires of many , and with the dictates of philanthropy , i hope i may procure my medicinal receipts and processes the more favourable reception , if i shew that i might justly have a peculiar and personal repugnancy to this work. for many may think it strange , as i my self have been prone to do , that i should presume to recommend medicines to others , who for divers ▪ years have been so infirm and sickly my self . and some 't is like will upbraid me with medicoe curateipsum . but on this occasion , i may represent , that being the thirteenth or fourteenth child of a mother , that was not above 42 or 43 years old when she dyed of a consumption , 't is no wonder i have not inherited a robust , or healthy constitution . many also have said , in my excuse , as they think , that i brought my self to so much sickliness by over-much study . but i must add , that thô both the sorementioned causes concur'd , yet i impute my infirm condition more to a third , than to both together . for the grand original of the mischiefs that have for many years afflicted me , was a fall from an unruly horse into a deep place , by which i was so bruised , that i feel the bad effects of it to this day . for this mischance happening in ireland , and i being forc'd to take a long journey , before i was well recovered , the bad weather i met with , and the as bad accommodation in irish inns , and the mistake of an unskilful or drunken guide , who made me wander almost all night upon some wild mountains , put me into a fever and a dropsie , ( viz. an anasarca : ) for a compleat cure of which i past into england , and came to london ; but in so unlucky a time , that an ill-condition'd fever rag'd there , and seiz'd on me among many others ; and thô through god's goodness , i at length recovered , yet left me exceeding weak for a great while after ; and then for a farewel , it cast me into a violent quotidian or double tertian ague , with a sense of decay in my eyes , which during my long sickness i had exercis'd too much upon critical books stuft with hebrew , and other eastern characters : i will not urge that divers have wondred that a person in such bad circumstances has by the help of care and medicines ( for they forget what ought to be ascrib'd to god ) should be able to hold out so long against them . but this after the foregoing relation may well be said , that it need be no great wonder , if after such a train of mischiefs , which was succeeded by a scorbutick cholick that struck into my limbs , and deprived me of the use of my hands and feet for many months , i have not enjoy'd much health , notwithstanding my being acquainted with several choice medicines ; especially since divers of these i dare not use , because by long sitting , when i had the palsie , i got the stone , voiding some large ones ( as well as making bloody water ) and by that disease so great a tenderness in my kidneys , that i can bear no diureticks , thô of the milder sort , and that i am forc'd to forbear several remedies for my other distempers , that i know to be good ones , and among them divers , that by god's blessing , i have successfully try'd on others . this short narrative may , i hope , suffice to shew that my personal maladies and sickliness cannot rightly infer the inefficacy of the medicines i impart or recommend , and if it shew that , it will do all that was aim'd at by this representation . if some receipts or processes ( for i hope they will not be many ) should happen to be met with in the following collection , that may be also found either in some printed book or other , 't is hop'd an indulgent reader will either excuse or pardon that venial fault , especially if we consider , first , that neither physick nor chymistry being my profession , i did not think my self oblig'd to peruse any store of medicinal books , and therefore may well be suppos'd to be unacquainted with a great many of them , much more with many of their receipts and processes . and indeed i find by some of the later printed catalogues of books written about the physicians art , that there is a multitude of them , which when i wrote , i had never seen , or perhaps so much as heard of . secondly , that 't is so usual for authors , especially that write either systems or collections , to set down store of prescriptions dictated by their conjectures , not their tryals , and yet without giving a distinct character of almost any of them in particular : that if i had met there with some of the same that i am speaking of , i should not have selected them from a great number of other undistinguish'd ones ; and 't is easie to observe that there is a great deal of difference betwixt being told by an author that many things , and among the rest , but not before them , this or that drug , receipt is good for such a disease , and to have particular notice given of it , and not only to be confirm'd that 't is good , but to be told how good it is , and possibly also that it may be usefully employ'd in other distempers besides those for which 't is prescrib'd in the printed book . the most of these receipts are intended chiefly for the use of those that live in the country , in places where physicians are scarce if at all to be had , especially by poor people . and because very frequently a labouring-man , or a handicrafts man , or some tradesman has a whole family depending upon him , being maintain'd by his pains and industry , and yet is disabled to help himself and them , not by any internal disease , but by external , and often-times accidental maladies ; such as bruises , strains , cuts , tumors , aches , burns , and the like , i have been careful to furnish this final collection with a pretty number of good receipts , obtain'd most of them from able surgeons and practitioners for those external accidents , that those poor upholders of families , who cannot find or fee a surgeon or a doctor , may be cheaply reliev'd without either of them . the index . a. apoplexy page 1. aches 2. 122 ach or strain 2 ach scorbutical 2 , 3. 3 , 4 aches and pricking pains 5 anasarca ibid. agues 6 , 7. 7. 9 aguish distempers 7 ague plaister 8 agues tertian 10 ague quartan 11 acidities in the stomach 12 asthma 12 , 13. 41 anodyne clyster 89 arthritick pains 95. 122 affections of the nerves 120 aloetick pills 121 b. breathing difficult 14 breasts flaggy 16 bruise 16 , 17. 141 blood to stanch 18 , 18. 21 , 22 blood extravasated 20 burns 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 25 burns and scalds 24 blisters to draw 26 , 27 , 28 breast affected with cold page 33 bloody-flux 49. 49. 81 , 82 , 83 , 83 , 84. 86. 178 blood-shot eye 54. 56. 59 biting of mad dogs 119 biting of vipers 177 balsam for wounds 179 bloody water 188 c. convulsive asthma 13. 41 cholick scorbutick 15 contusion 16. 31 coagulated blood 17 costiveness 29. 41 cancer in the breast 29 chilblains 31 consumption 32. 35 colds 33 coughs 34 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 36 corns 37 , 38 , 38 , 39 convulsive fits 39 , 40 convulsions 42. 79 cholick 42 , 43 , 43 , 44 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47. 149 cramp 47 , 48 contusion of the eye 52. 60. 73. 136 clouded eyes 68 clyster anodyne 89 children griped 90 contractures 117. 130 courses stopt page 172 cuts and wounds 183 clyster for fluxes 190 d. dropsie anasarca 5 distemper aguish 7 difficulty of breathing 14 drink for cholicks 43 dropsie 48 dysentery 49. 49. 81 , 82 , 83. 83 , 84. 86. 178 digestive 50 diabetes 51. 172 diarrhoea 51 defluxions on the eyes 65 , 66 , 69 , 72 drink for fevers 80 , 81 drink to correct sharp humors 101 dulness of hearing 102 drink for the sight 137 drink for the stone 145 e. extravasated blood 20 expectoration 36 eye contused 52. 60. 73 eye blood-shot 54. 59 eye-sight to preserve 55. 74. 134. 138. 186 eye-water 56. 58. 62. 64. 67. 67. 70. 76. 135. 138. 186 erysipelas 57 eye medicament 60 eye-lids pained page 63 eye clouded 68 eye rheumatick 65 , 66. 69. 72 eye-plaister 72 electuary for the sight 74 epilepsie 77. 79. 191 elixir salutis 78 excoriation 133 f. flaggy breasts 16 fits of the mother 44 flux bloody 49. 49. 81 , 82 , 83 , 84. 86 flux common 51. 83 , 84. 86. 190. 192 films in the eyes 64. 75 falling-sickness 77. 79. 191 fevers 80 flux of the whites 84 fundament falling 87 french pox 123 g. gangreen 88 griping of the guts 89 gripes 90. 139 gargle 91. 91 gout 93 , 94 , 95 , 96. 99. 122 gunpowder to remove 134 gravel 145 gums scorbutick 156 gonorrhoea 92 , 93. 98 h. heart-burnings page 12 hysterical vapours 40 hydropsie 48 humor in the eye 52. 58 hurts in the eye 61. 77 head pouder 100 hearing hurt 102 haemorrhoids 102 , 103 , 103 , 104 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 106 , 107 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 109 , 110. 121 hollow aching tooth 153 humor of the kings-evil to correct 189 i. incontinency of urine 51 itch in hands , &c. 111. 167 jaundies yellow 112 , 112 , 113 , 114 k. kings-evil 115. 189 , 190. kidneys pained 115 kidneys stopped 116 l. looseness 51 laxation of a part 123 liquor for ulcers and wounds 175 lime-water to make 188 m. mother-fits 44 milk to increase 117 , 118 mad dogs biting page 119 marks of gunpowder to remove 134 mouth sore 168 menses stopt 172 n. nurses milk to increase 117 , 118 nerves affected 120 o. old aches 2 ophthalmick water 55 ophthalmia 56. 59. 74 oyntment for the gout 94 obstinate tumor of the knee 161 p. pricking pains 5 plaister for agues 8 plaister for corns 37 , 38 , 38 , 39 pain in the side 5. 46 pearl in the eye 54 pain in the eye-lids 63 pericarpium 68 phlyctena in the eye 71 plaister for the eyes 72 piles 102 , 103 , 103 , 104 , 104 , 105 , 106 , 106 , 107 , 107 , 108 , 109 , 109 , 110. 121 pains scorbutick 116. 122 pills of aloes 121 palsie page 124 , 125 , 126 pimples in the eye-lids 127 pleurisy 127 , 128 pouder for the sight 136 pissing blood 188 q. quartan ague 11 r. recent burn 24 , 25 redness of eyes 64 , 66 running of the reins 92 , 93 , 98 running gout 97 rheumatism 125. 130 rest to cause 131 recent strain 141 , 141 , 143 , 143 , 144 retention of urine 171 , 171 s. scorbutical aches 2 , 3 , 3 , 4 strain 2 sides pained 5. 46 scorbutick cholick 15 stanching blood 18 , 18 , 19. 21 , 22 styptick water 19. 21 , 22 scalding 24 , 25 specifick for cholicks 44 , 44 solution of continuity in the eye 61 sight to strengthen 55. 74. 134. 138. 186 scorbutick gout 97 sharp humors page 101 specifick for the jaundies 113 scorbutick pains 116. 122 small pox 129 scurvy 132. 157 skin rough 133 stomach to strengthen 139 , 139 stomach-plaister 140 strains 141 , 141. 143 , 143 , 144 stone 144 , 145 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 192 sore throat 162 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 164 , 165 , 165 , 166 t. tertian ague 10. 10 tumor in the eye 71 tooth-ach 150 , 151 , 152 , 152 , 153. 158 teeth to fasten 154 , 154. 155 , 156. 156 , 157 , 157. 158 , 158 tumors to ripen 159 tumors in the throat 160 tumor of the knee 161 throat sore 162 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 164 , 165 , 165 , 166 tettars 167 thrush in children 168 tenesmus 169 terms stopt 172 v. vapours hysterical page 40 urine sharp 170. 172 urine stopt 171 , 171. 173 , 173 , 174 urine running away 172 vomiting 175 ulcers 175 , 176 , 176 vipers biting 177 voiding blood 178 w. wrist-plaister for agues 8. 68 womens breasts flaggy 16 water ophthalmick 55 , 56. 58. 62. 64. 67 , 67. 70. 76. 135. 138. 186 whites in women 84. 185 weakness in the hands 125 wounds 175. 179 , 179. 183 wound drink 180 worms in children 184 ulcer of the womb 185 whitloe 187 warts 187 a collection of choice remedies . the second volume . a. 1. a powerful remedy in apoplectick fits. take the herb mastick , and distil by an alembick with a copper body an essential oyl , of which with such a pipe or quill that one end may be open'd and stopt at pleasure , ( the other still remaining open ) blow up some drops , first into one of the patient's nostrils , and a while after into the other . 2. a good plaister for aches , especially scorbutical . spread thinly upon slinck or very fine kids-leather the emplastrum de mucilaginibus , and let it lye upon the aching part as long as there is need . 3. for an old ach or strain . take of lucatella's balsam one ounce , of oyl of turpentine one dram , incorporate them very well with a gentle heat , and anoint the part affected therewith , wearing on it a piece of unwash'd flannen besmear'd with the same oyntment . 4. for scorbutick aches , especially about the share-bone . take two parts of palm-oyl , and one of oyl of camomile , ( to which if you please you may add a little oyntment of elder ) mix these exactly , and anoint the part affected . 5. a powerful remedy for scorbutick aches . take to one ounce of oyl of turpentine , one dram or two of the volatile salt of harts-horn , or as much as being well ground with it in a mortar of glass or marble , will bring it to the consistence of a kind of oyntment , with which , the cold being taken off , the part affected is to be lightly anointed . 6. a very easie medicine for light scorbutick aches or pains . anoint the pained part from time to time with fasting-spittle ; and if you will have the medicine a little stronger , the patient may put roch allom to the bigness of a small pea into his mouth , before he employs his spittle . 7. for aches and pricking pains in the sides and elsewhere . with a sufficient quantity of clean sulphur finely pouder'd , mix diligently as much venice-treacle as will bring it to a consistence for pills . of this mixture you may give the quantity of a pistol-bullet twice , or at most , thrice a day , drinking any convenient liquor after it . 8. an experienc'd medicine for an anasarca , or general dropsie of the whole body . fry freshly-gather'd rue with oyl of walnuts , till it become fit to be applyed hot as a cataplasm or pultice to the navil ; and keep it on that part for some hours , renewing it once or twice a day , if need require . 9. an external medicine often successfully try'd for agues . take 5 , 7 , or 9 ( for 't is pretended it must be an odd number ) of the roots of ribwort , and having made them clean , put them into a little bag of sarsnet or fine linnen , and let the patient wear it upon the nape of his neck , renewing it within 2 , 3 , or 4 days if need require . 10. a try'd remedy for agues . take of the bark of sassafras-root , and of virginian snakeweed , both in pouder , of each 10 grains , and with half a dram , or two scruples of mithridate or venice-treacle , or as much as will give it a due consistence , make a bolus to be taken at the usual hours . 11. a choice medicine for aguish distempers . take of salt of wormwood 15 grains , crabs-eyes , or pouder of crabs claws simple 8 or 10 grains ; mix these well , and give them in two or three spoonfuls of some cordial water . 12. an excellent wrist-plaister for agues . take wax , and spread it to about the thickness of a crown piece of silver , and of a convenient breadth and length to make an entire wrist-plaister ; up-this spread and display as well as you can the leaves of the tops of rue , not yet fully open'd by time , so that they may cover the whole plaister as well as you can make them do it . then apply this emplaster , and let it lye on for several days consecutively . 13. an often-try'd medicine for agues . take ribwort , gather the leaves as near the root as you can in a dry morning , wipe them clean , but do not wash them ; then dry them carefully , till you may reduce them to pouder : of this pouder give from one dram to two at most , mixt with one dram of conserve of roses , or the crumbs of white-bread , or the yolk of an egg or two . n. b. you may before you dry the leaves , distil a water out of some of them , and make an extract out of others with spirit of wine , or which is better , with spirit of dew . they are both good for the same disease that the pouder is . the dose of the water is one ounce , or an ounce and half at the usual times . and that of the extract about one dram in some ounces of white-wine . 14. an excellent medicine for agues , especially tertians . give as much of well-condition'd virginian snake-root reduc'd to fine pouder , as will lye upon a shilling , in a cup of sherry just before the beginning of the cold fit , repeating it once or twice if it need to be us'd oftner . 15. for a tertian ague . take of the root of angelica grated , or otherwise made into pouder , and give of it from half a dram to a dram in any convenient vehicle at the usual times ( viz. about two hours before the cold fit. ) 16. a medicine with which a quartan was cur'd , that could not be cured with the jesuits bark . take one dram of the black tips of crabs claws , and having reduc'd them to exceeding fine pouder , let the patient take it in any convenient vehicle or conserve , twice or thrice , as he would take the cortex , without intermitting any day . 17. an easie remedy , which long continued does much destroy acidities , or heart-burnings in the stomach . take half a dram at least of finely pouder'd red corral , and give it from time to time in any convenient vehicle , till the patient be reliev'd . 18. a very often try'd remedy for the asthma . take soap-boilers lees ( made with pot-ashes and quick-lime ) one part , spirit of wine rectify'd two parts ; set them in digestion , ( to unite them well ) and then add some drops ( at discretion ) of chymical oyl of carraways , and if you please , of aniseeds too . the dose in younger persons is about 10 drops , in elder ones , from half a dram to one dram in some convenient vehicle . 19. an excellent medicine for a dry or covulsive asthma . take choice saffron , reduce it ( by rubbing it in a stone or glass mortar ) to a kind of pouder , and with any convenient mixture give 8 or 10 grains of it in the form of pills at bed-time . b. 20. an experienc'd remedy for difficulty of breathing . take of choice castoreum dry'd enough to be pouder'd , 2 , 3 , or at most 4 grains , mix this with 10 or 11 grains of gasgoin's pouder reduc'd to very fine pouder ; mix up these with some little syrup or conserve , and when the patient has taken it , let him wash it down with the mixture , consisting of five drams of pennyroyal-water , and half a dram , or at most two drams of briony-water compound . 21. an approved medicine for inveterate scorbutick cholicks , and pains of the bowels . take english barley , and having well wash'd it , boil it in a sufficient quantity of fresh spring-water till it be just ready to burst : then pour off the clear upon the yellow part of the rinds of lemmons , freshly cut off from the white part , and put them into a bottle , which being carefully stopt , the liquor is to be kept so for use , which is , that the patient make it his constant drink . 22. to reduce flagy breasts to a good shape and consistence . take green hemlock well bruis'd , and reduc'd to a kind of cataplasm or pultise , which is to be apply'd ( the cold being first taken off ) to the parts 't is to work upon , and to be kept on till it hath perform'd what was intended , shifting it once a day . 23. an easie , but useful remedy for a fresh bruise or contusion . take fresh butter and parsley , of each a sufficient quantity , and having chopt the herb , mix it very well with the butter , to the consistence of a cataplasm , ( which is to be apply'd warm ) to the newly bruised part. 24. for coagulated blood , or a bruise . take black soft soap , and with a sufficient quantity of soft crumbs of white-bread very well mixt with it , make a paste , which is to be laid on the part with a linnen rag , and kept bound upon it for some hours , that it may have time to resolve the congealed blood , and bring the contused part from a livid to a red colour , which will much hasten and facilitate the restoring it to its former state . 25. to stanch blood falling from the nose , by a simple held in ones hand . let the patient hold knot-grass and solomon's seal in his hand till it grow warm there , or longer if need be . 26. an excellent remedy to stanch blood in any part of the body . take plantane-water two ounces , barley-cinnamon-water , six drams , spirit of vinegar one ounce , dragons-blood half a dram , syrup of myrtles five drams ; mix and make a julep , of which let the patient take three spoonfuls every hour . 27. the styptick water for stopping of blood in any part of the body . take one pound of excellent quick-lime , and put it into a clear earthen pot , pour upon it five or six pounds of fountain-water , cover the pot close , and let it lye to infuse about an hour without touching it , then after stir it with a stick for a little time ; then let it lye as before for 24 hours , sometimes stirring it , in the end you shall let it settle to a sediment , the water being very clear above , pour it off by inclination without stirring : take of this water one pound , which being put into a vial , you shall add to it a dram and half of sublimate finely pouder'd , then shake very well all together , so that the pouder may dissolve , and be of an orange colour , or more reddish than yellow , and in the end clear and limpid , because the red powder will praecipitate to the bottom . your water being clarify'd , you must separate the water from the grounds into another vessel , without troubling the sediments ; and to the water you shall add one dram of oyl of vitriol , and an ounce of saccharum saturni . shake all together , that they may mix the better , afterwards let all settle , and pour off the clear water , and keep it for your use . 28. a choice medicine to resolve extravasated blood. grate or rasp the root of burdock , and spreading the pouder upon a linnen cloath , bind it quite round the part affected , renewing it twice a day . 29. to make an excellent styptick for stanching of blood. take hungarian vitriol , allom , of each half a pound , phlegm of vitriol ten pounds : boyl to a dissolution of the vitriol and allom ; being cold , filter it through brown paper , and if any crystals shoot , separate the liquor from them , adding to each pound one ounce of oyl of vitriol . dip cloaths into this liquor , and apply them to the part affected . 30. an often try'd styptick to stanch blood , especially in wounds . take colcothar as it comes out of the retort , and having pouder'd it , roll tents of lint in it , and apply them to the orifices of the greater vessels , and employ other usual means to compress the vessel upon the tent , and to fill the cavity of the wound , partly with colcothar too . 31. a very often experienc'd remedy for burns . take two parts of oyl of walnuts , and one of honey , mix them well together over a gentle fire , and when they are thorowly incorporated , dip a feather in the mixture , and anoint therewith the part affected , so as the oyntment may touch it immediately , and then strew on it some pouder of ceterarch , or spleen-wort , and keep the part quiet , and defend it from the air. 32. an easie medicine , and common enough , but useful against burns . take onions , and beat them into a soft mass , and apply them as speedily as you can to the part affected , and keep them on it , till they begin to grow dryish , and then if need be , shift them , and apply fresh ones . 33. for a recent burn. take onions a sufficient quantity , and beat them very well with common salt finely pouder'd into a mash , that may be applyed as a cataplasm ( the cold being first taken off ) to the part affected , and renewing it , if need be , till the impression of the fire be taken out . 34. an excellent oyntment for burns and scaldings . take of the inner rind of elder-tree , and of fresh sheeps dung , without any adhering straws or foulness , of each one handful , and with fresh butter or oyl make thereof an oyntment , to be applyed as is usual in such distempers . 35. an easie and approv'd remedy for burns , especially recent ones . take a sufficient quantity of adders-tongue , and boil it softly in linseed-oyl till the liquor be strongly impregnated with the herb , then strain it , and keep it stopt for use . 36. an excellent oyntment for burns and scaldings . take of saccharum saturni half a dram , of the sharpest vinegar four ounces , make a solution of the former in the latter , and add to this solution drop by drop ( often stirring or shaking them together ) as much oyl of elder as will serve to reduce the mixture into the form of a nutritum or oyntment . 37. a slow but innocent way of making blisters without cantharides . take crows-foot , and putting to a handful of it about half a spoonful of mustard ; beat them very well together to the consistence of a poultise , put this to the thickness of ones little finger into the cover of a box , cut shallow , and of about the breadth of the palm of ones hand ( tho' this cover be less necessary than convenient ) and cutting a hole of the wideness of the box in a plaister of diapalma or the like , to make it stick , you must apply it to the part , and let it lye on 12 or 14 hours , because it works as well more slowly than cantharides , as more safely and innocently . 38. a good medicine to raise blisters . take cantharides reduc'd into pouder , and upon half an ounce of this put two or three ounces of good spirit of wine , let them lye together four or five days , that the spirit may acquire a good tincture , then filter it , and dip into it a piece of linnen cloath 6 , 7 , or 8 times double , and of the figure and largeness that you desire . this cloath being throughly wetted and cover'd with a melilot plaister , or one of diachylum , or some other that will stick , to keep it on , must be applyed to the part. at the end of five or six hours you may take off your plaister , and the linnen cloath , and find your work done . 39. to raise a blister without cantharides . the seed of clemmatis peregrina being bound hard upon any part , will in an hour , or at most two , have an operation , like that of another vesicatory , as far as its contact reaches . c. 40. an vseful medicine for costiveness . take virgin. honey a sufficient quantity , and mix exactly with it as much finely pouder'd cremor tartari as will suffice to bring it to the consistence of a somewhat soft electuary , of which the patient may take upon the point of a knife the bigness of an almond ( more or less ) as upon tryal you shall see cause . 41. for a cancer in the breast . take of the warts that grow on the hinder legs of a ( stone ) horse , dry them gently , till you can reduce them to a pouder , of which you may give half a dram for a dose in any convenient vehicle . 42. a potent medicine for contusions , and divers other affections . take alcohole of wine , and dissolve in it as much pure camphire as you easily can , and keep it very close stopt , till you have occasion to use it . then moisten thorowly with it some thin pieces of linnen or fine flannel , and apply them luke-warm ; and likewise you may with a rag dipt in it apply it to the eye-lids , having a care that none of it get into the eye it self , since there it would cause great smart . it may also be very usefully apply'd to burns , and yet more to contusions . 43. a try'd medicine for chilblanes . take pretty thick parings freshly cut off from turnips , and hold them to the fire till they be very crisp , then apply them to the unbroken tumors or blisters , as hot as the patient can endure it , and keep them on a competent time , and put on new if need require . they will cause the peccant matter to transpire , or otherwise waste without breaking the blisters . 44. to make a very nourishing aliment , that hath recover'd divers in consumptions . take 8 or 10 craw-fishes , ( or , if they be not of the larger size , a dozen ) boil them ( after the blackest gut or string is taken out ) in barley-water , till they become very red , then take them out , and beat them long , shells and all , in a marble or glass morter , to a soft mash , and in a press strongly squeeze out the juice ; which may be given either alone , or mixt with about an equal part of chicken-broth , or some such convenient alimental liquor . 45. a vulgar but often approv'd medicine for a cold , especially that affects the breast . take a sheet , or half a sheet pro re nata of brown paper , of as even a texture as you can get , and anoint it over evenly and very well with the eldest tallow , or candle-grease you can procure , so that the paper may be thorowly penetrated by it . then cover it thinly with nutmeg , as you were to rub the spice upon a toast , and clap it warm to the pit of the stomach , that it may reach a good way both above it and beneath it . 46. an experienc'd medicine for coughs . boil good turnips in water , and having exprest the juice , mix with it as much finely pouder'd sugar-candy as will bring it into a kind of a syrup , of which let the patient swallow a little as slowly as he can from time to time . 47. a good medicine for asthmatick coughs . take two ounces of oyl of sweet almonds freshly drawn , and put them upon one dram of flowers of brimstone , keep them for a fortnight in digestion in a moderate heat , and then decant off the oyl , or pass it through a clean linnen rag to keep back the brimstone : of this liquor give a spoonful or two at a time . 48. an easie medicine , which cur'd not long since a gentlewoman that had taken much physick for a consumptive cough . take 8 , 10 , or 12 well chosen raisins of the sun , and having slit them open , take out the little kernels , and stuff the raisins with the tops or small tender leaves of rue ; and let the patient take them either as they are , or in the form of a bolus or the like , pretty early in the morning , fasting after them two or three hours at least , if he cannot conveniently fast till noon . 49. a potent medicine ( for those that can bear it ) to ripen coughs , and hasten the expectoration of phlegm . take onions , cut them into slices , and fry them with fresh butter , as if you were to eat them , then take them out of the frying pan , and boyl them in new milk , till it be well impregnated with them , and they be made tender : of this mixture let the patient take a moderate quantity from time to time . 50. an excellent remedy for a cough . take of virgin-honey two ounces , of red roses warily dry'd and finely pouder'd half an ounce , of choice sulphur very well sifted two drams , of good benjamin reduc'd to fine pouder one dram. beat and mix all these very well , and of this let the patient take the mixture from time to time . 51. a plaister to prevent corns . take yellow bees-wax 4 ounces , verdigrise exactly pouder'd and sifted one ounce , the caput mortuum of the scull of a man one dram : incorporate them well with boiling them a little , and make thereof a plaister according to art. 52. an effectual plaister for softning and loosening corns . spread a plaister of gum ammoniacum ( not too thick ) without being dissolv'd in vinegar , and applying it to the part affected , let it lye on , till it have sufficiently done the designed work of emolition . 53. a powerful ( but smart ) remedy for corns . evaporate the strongly exprest juice of radishes to the consistence of a soft plaister , to be applyed to the part affected , and shifted as often as it grows dry . n. b. 't will sometimes smart for a while at first , but afterwards 't will do its work . 54. a good remedy for corns of the feet . take the yeast of beer ( not ale ) and spreading it upon a linnen rag , or other cloath , apply it to the part affected , renewing it once a day . 55. an excellent remedy that has cur'd many children of convulsive fits. take two or three drops of ( chymical ) oyl of rosemary , and put it into half an ounce of sack in an ounce bottle , stop the vial , and let it be well shak'd to make a whitish mixture of the liquors just before you give it . or else in a half-pint bottle or vial , put four ounces of sack , or some appropriated liquor , and drop into it forty drops of the foremention'd oyl ; and when-ever you are to give the medicine , shake the vial well stopt , and presently give of the whitish mixture a child's little spoonful . 56. a successful medicine for convulsive fits , and hysterical vapours ( as they call them ) or fits of the mother . take the liver of a hare , ( if it hath been hunted , it may be the better ) and hang it up in a dry place till it be somewhat fryable , having a care that it putrifie not ; of this reduced to pouder let the patient take two or three scruples at a time in any convenient vehicle . 57. an excellent medicine for dry or convulsive asthma's , and also for costiveness . give at bed-time 8 or 10 grains of choice saffron pulveriz'd grosly in a little syrup or conserve , as of violets , &c. to embody it with . 58. an excellent mixture for fits of the cholick , and some kinds of convulsions . take one ounce of flowers of sulphur , and as much sugar-candy , grind them very well together in a glass or stone mortar , and upon this quantity drop thirty drops of oyl of carraway-seeds , as much of oyl of orange , and as much of the oyl of aniseeds : incorporate these well , and of the mixture give about 20 or 30 grains for a dose . 59. an incomparable medicine for the cholick . the yellow peel of oranges , being reduc'd to pouder , give from half a dram to two scruples of it in any convenient vehicle . 60. to make a good purging drink for the cholick . take two ounces of rhubarb , four ounces of gentian , and a quart of good aniseed-water , let the roots infuse along in it , and give the patient about two spoonfuls at a time as often as need requires . 61. an almost specifick remedy for a fit of the cholick . take about half a dram of express'd oyl of nutmegs ( usually sold in the shops for east-indian oyl of mace. ) dissolve this in some spoonfuls of good wine , which the patient is to take as hot as conveniently he can . 62. an uncommon , but try'd remedy for cholicks , ( without much matter ) and good in fits of the mother . take good ginger dry , and instead of poudering it , cut it into as thin slices as you easily can : with these fill a tobacco-pipe , and take the smoak as you would that of tobacco . do this twice , thrice , or four times a day , but especially at bed-time , and in the morning . 63. an excellent medicine for convulsive cholicks . take of the volatile salt of pigeons-dung two or three grains , or somewhat more ( not exceeding five or six in all ) mix these with a scruple or half a dram of the same dung crude , but well and slowly dry'd , and finely pouder'd . give this mixture for one dose in some spoonfuls of any convenient vehicle . 64. for the cholick , or pains in the sides . take two balls of fresh horse-dung , and infuse them for 12 hours ( if haste require , 3 or 4 may serve the turn ) in good white-wine in a close vessel ; then strain the liquor , and let the patient take five or six ounces of it at a time . 65. for the cholick . boyl about one ounce of the seeds of the black stinging nettles in about a quart or more of good claret-wine ; then strain the decoction , and give of it a wine-glass full at a time , two or three times a day , or as often as need requires . 66. an excellent medicine for the cholick . take of doctor stephens's water half a pint , plague-water half a pint , juniper-berry-water half a pint , pouder of rhubarb 2 ounces ; mingle these together , shake the bottle when you take any of it , and take about four spoonfuls at a time . 67. for the cramp . take the leaves of rosemary , chop them very small , and sew them so in fine linnen or sarsnet , as to make a kind of garter of them , to be tyed about the patient's bare leg. 68. to take off the pain of the cramp . take of the oyntment of populeon two parts , oyl of spike one part ; mix them , and with the mixture anoint well or chafe the part affected . d. 69. a remedy , by which an hydropical merchant was cur'd . give about half a dram or two scruples for a dose of yellow transparent amber twice or thrice a day in any convenient vehicle . 70. an experienc'd medicine for a dysentery , or bloody-flux . give about three ounces of the juice of ground-ivy , mixt with one ounce of the juice of plantane , once or twice a day . 71. for to stop a dysentery , or bloody-flux . use the pouder of crepitus lupi , or fuss-balls , made up with some conserve of roses , or other convenient additament into pills . of this mixture give in dysenteriâ , as much at a time , as contains from about a scruple , to about half a dram of the pouder . 72. an easie , but very often try'd digestive , to be used instead of basilicum . take two ounces of good venice turpentine , and incorporate very well with it the yolks of two fresh eggs , and then add to it ( at discretion ) a little spirit of wine ; with this dress the part morning and evening , laying it on thicker , if the part be near some nerve , or other dryer part , and less thick if it be fleshy or moist . 73. a good medicine for incontinency of vrine , and the beginning a diabetes . cut off the necks of well blown sheeps-bladders , of the remaining membranes put up pretty store one over another into a cover'd pot , where being dry'd gently , and yet sufficiently , in a baker's oven , take them out , and pulverize them well . the dose is as much as will lye upon a large groat , or small sixpence . 74. for a diarrhoea , loosness , or flux of the belly . mix up 15 grains , or if the distemper be but slight , 10 grains , of pouder'd rhubarb with half a dram of diascordium , and let the patient take it either going to bed , or early in the morning after his first sleep . e. 75. for a contusion of the eye . take the crumb of whitebread , and diligently incorporate with black soft soap as much of it as will make a somewhat soft paste ; and then with your thumbs make a little cake ( as it were ) of it , and apply to the bruised part , the eye being first shut , and bind it so , that it may lye on for some hours , or a day if need be . but this ought to be used with caution . 76. an excellent medicine for clammy humors of the eyes . take new milk , and let it stand till it hath got a little cream upon it , then let the patient when he is in bed , take up with his finger a little of the cream ( and not of milk ) and shutting his eye-lids , besmear his eyes with it , having a care that very little or none get into his eyes , because it would make them smart ; let this cream lye on till the next morning , and in case the patient chance to wake in the night , he may , if he finds cause , lay on a little more , and wash all off in the morning . 77. a somewhat sharp but often try'd medicine to take off the pearl on the eye . take of the juice of celandine , and mix with it about an equal part of pure honey ; and of this mixture employ a drop , or at most two , at a time , letting it fall upon the part affected morning and evening . 78. an easie remedy for a recently blood-shot eye . take a rotten apple , and as many tops of wormwood , as being well beaten together with it will make a mass of the consistence of a cataplasm ; warm this a little , and put a sufficient quantity of it into a thin and clean linnen rag , and let the patient keep it upon the part affected all night , the next morning wash it off with some red rose-water , or the like liquor . 79. to make a choice opthalmick water to preserve the eyes and sight . take of the distill'd water of rue , celandine , and vervain , of each one ounce ; mix them , and infuse in them two drams of crocus metallorum exquisitely ground for a week or ten days ; then very carefully filter the infusion , that none of the atoms of pouder pass thorow with the liquor . of this let fall into the eye a drop or two , morning and evening , having a care not to shake the glass , when you employ the liquor , lest some unheeded dust may have escap'd the filter , and be rais'd . 80. for a slight opthalmia , or blood-shot eye . shake half a dram of diligently prepar'd tutty into an ounce of red rose-water , and drop it often into the eye . 81. an experienc'd eye-water for an inflammation and tumor of the eye . take of prepar'd tutty half an ounce , the water of white roses and of frogs spawn , and also of the best canary wine ( not distill'd ) of each two ounces , of aqua mirabilis half an ounce : mix these well , and drop a very little at a time into the patient's eyes . 82. an odd and often try'd medicine for an eresipalas . take the blood of a hunted hare whilst 't is yet warm , and drench thorowly in it clean linnen rags , which are to be dry'd in the wind or free air , and then kept in a dry place for use : lay a good piece of linnen thus stain'd upon the part affected , and either by binding it on , or covering it with some silken or other cloath , whose edges have some sticking plaister , keep it from falling off , and renew it from day to day , if there be need . n. b. if it grow too stiff with long keeping , you may soften it with a little sprinkling of fair water . 83. an experienc'd water for sharp and slimy humors in the eyes and eye-lids . take of prepar'd tutty half an ounce , prepar'd coral and pearl of each half a scruple , trochisci-albi ras . five or six grains , red rose-water , and succory-water , of each an ounce and half ; mix them well , and if you will have the medicine stronger , you may put three or four grains of aloes into it . 84. a choice remedy for an opthalmia , or blood-shot eyes . take of the juice of housleek two parts , daisies and ground-ivy of each one part ; mix these juices together , and to about two spoonfuls of the mixture , put five or six drops of clarify'd honey : let the juices depurate themselves by residence , and then in some small silver vessel clarifie them , and of this mixture let fall a drop or two into the eye three or four times a day . n. b. but if the inflammation be not so great , but there is more need of abstersion , use more of the juice of ground-ivy , and less of that of housleek . 85. for a light stroke or contusion of the eye . take two ounces of bettony-water , and three drops of clarify'd honey , mix them well together , and drop them into the eye three or four times a day ; the composition must be made fresh every second and third day . 86. a potent but smarting medicine for things growing on the eye . take white paper , and let it flame away upon a clean pewter platter , till there remain so much oyl behind as you think you shall need ; blow off the cinders of the papers , and with a little of your spittle mixt by your finger with the oyl , make up a kind of oyntment ; which being taken up with a feather , is to be apply'd once or twice a day , as need shall require , ( and as the patient can well bear ) to the affected eye : which course is to be continu'd till the cure be compleated . 87. for hurts that make a solution of continuity in the eye . take two ounces of celandine-water , and put to it 2 , 3 , or 4 drops of good clarify'd honey , enough to give the water a faint tast : with this dress the eye at least twice ( if not thrice ) a day . but the mixture must be made fresh once in two or three days , or else it will grow sourish . 88. an excellent and very often try'd eye-water , especially for outward affections of the eye . take of plantane-leaves 4 ounces , and of strawberry-leaves as much ; digest these for 24 hours in a pound of good white-wine . then distil them to dryness in a glass head and body in a balneo mariae . the liquor that is thus obtain'd put into a very clean brass ( not copper ) vessel , and let it stand there for some hours , till it have acquir'd a manifest , but not a very deep blew tincture , and then put to it ( when pour'd on ) an equal weight of white rose-water distill'd after the common way : shake these together , and let fall one drop into the internal corner of the eye , the patient stooping backward , and shutting his eye-lids for a minute or two , that the water may disperse on the eye , and that the quickness of the liquor , which may make him weep , may the less prejudice him . 89. to make a vseful medicine for pain or itching in the eye-lids , or on that account in the eyes . take half a spoonful of french barley ( after the first water it was put into over the fire is cast away ) and boyl it softly for a little while in a pint of spring-water , seasonably putting to it a good pugil of dry'd damask rose-leaves . ( n. b. sometimes you may add if you please a few red rose-leaves , or melilot-flowers , or both . ) with this liquor foment the part with a soft sponge for a pretty while , in the morning , and at night , having a care that it be apply'd pretty hot , or at least warm . 90. to make an excellent eye-water for redness and light films , &c. upon the eye . make some lime-water , by pouring a gallon of scalding-hot water upon a pound , or somewhat more of quicklime ; stir them together , and after some hours decant warily that which is clear . and to a pound of this water put half an ounce ( and no more ) of choice verdigrise pulveriz'd : and in a very moderate heat extract a tincture of a fine , but somewhat dilute , saphirine colour , ( but it ought not to be too deep . ) decant this very warily , and let a drop or two of it at a time fall into the eye , as often as need requires . 91. an excellent remedy to stop a violent defluxion on the eye . take red sage and rue , of each one handful , a spoonful of fine wheat-flower , and the white of a new-laid egg beaten to water , mix these very well , and spread them upon very thin leather or black silk , and apply it to the temples ; 't is to be about the bigness of a silver crown at least . 92. an excellent remedy for red eyes , made such by a defluxion of a hot or sharp humor . take of the tops of rosemary about one dram , and beat them up with one or two ounces of rotten pearmains or pippins , or if those cannot be had , with the like weight of the soft part of the same apples that are sound . and when by exquisite beating , you have reduc'd these things to a cataplasm , apply them , the cold being first taken off , to the part affected , binding it thereupon , and letting it lye all night . 93. an eye-water . take house snails , and beat them in their shells , and stratifie them with about an equal quantity of juice of celandine ; draw off the water in a cold or pewter still ( such as is us'd for rose-water ) and keep the liquor that will come over close stopt for your use . 94. the lady fitz-harding's eye-water , which lately cur'd an almost blind person , whose eyes look'd like glass . lady fitz-harding's eye-water . take three spoonfuls of white rose-water , as much eye-bright water , and as much sifted white sugar-candy as will lye on a three-pence , and the same quantity of fine aloes sifted and put to the water , and shak'd together , and drop a few drops every night going to bed. 95. a pericarpium , or wrist-plaister , that often-times frees the patients from flying clouds in the eyes , and sometimes lesser specks , specially if recent . take of rue , camomile , hemlock , each half a handful , of bay-salt two spoonfuls , one or two ounces of leaven ; incorporate these well together , and make thereof pericarpia , to be apply'd to the patient's wrists , and kept on , till growing dry , they become troublesom . 96. an excellent medicine for hot defluxions on the eyes . take of prepar'd tutty half an ounce , white rose-water and frogs spawn-water carefully drawn in very good canary wine , of each two ounces , of aqua mirabilis half an ounce ; mix these well together , and let fall two or three drops into the patient's eye ( especially at bed-time . ) 97. an easie but useful eye-water to keep the eye cool and moderately dry . take to two ounces of succory-water half a dram of prepar'd tutty , shake them well , and keep them together for use . 98. an often try'd pericarpium , or wrist-plaister for defluxions and fumes in the eyes . take rue , camomile , hemlock , wormwood , of each half a handful , bay-salt pulveriz'd about two spoonfuls , sour dough about an ounce ; mix all these together very diligently , moistning them from time to time with elder-vinegar , to a consistence fit for pericarpia , one of which is to be apply'd to the wrist of that side on which the part affected is , and to be renewed , if there be occasion . 99. for a phlyctena or little tumor in the carneous tunicle of the eye . take the decoction of mucilages that is proper for phlyctaea's , and dress the eye from time to time , to ripen the tumor : then open it with a lancet , and squeeze out all the matter ; and lastly , cleanse and heal the part with honey . n. b. but when the tumor is beginning , or not great , you may , in want of the decoction of mucilages , dress the eye with the mixture of equal parts of the water of melilot , camomile , and betony . 100. a plaister to strengthen the eyes , and stop defluxions on them . take of frankincense 2 ounces , olibanum and mastich , each half a dram ; mix these well , and reduce them into fine pouder , of which a convenient quantity is to be melted and spread upon black ribbon , or some such thing , with a hot knife or spatula , and so presently apply'd to the temples . 101. an often experienc'd medicine for little strokes or contusions of the eye . take betony-water three ounces , and five drops of clarify'd honey , mix them , and drop a little of the mixture from time to time into the patient's eye . n. b. take succory-water , crumbs of white-bread , a little saffron , and sometimes a little honey , for sharp humors in the eye lids , and burns or small specks ( of the eye ) four grains of roman vitriol to four ounces of water , of either rose-water , succory-water , or fennel-water , &c. 102. a good electuary to strengthen the sight . take conserve of borrage and betony of each an ounce and half , venice-treacle two drams , species dionisi , diarrhodon abbatis , diatrion santalon , of each half a dram , tartar vitriolate a scruple , diacorallion a dram and half , oyl of fennel seven drops , syrup of violets and coral , of each a sufficient quantity ; mix and make an electuary . 103. a choice medicine for an opthalmia sicca . take of the leaves of fennel , hyssop , celandine , betony , and carduus , of each half a handful , or a whole handful ; of linseeds , quince-seeds , fenugreek , and flea-wort , of each half a dram , of french barley one ounce : boyl all these a little in two quarts of fair water , and half a pint of white-wine . let the patient hold his head ( well fitted with a napkin for the purpose ) over the fumes for about a quarter of an hour . 104. for a film , or other such thing growing in the eye . take of crude roch-allom two parts , turmerick one part , and refin'd sugar three parts . pulverize each of these separately , then mix them exactly , and warily blow it into the patient's eye from time to time , as need shall require . 105. to make an excellent as well as famous eye-water . take celandine ( the whole plant except the root ) and having shred it or chopt it a little , put it into a retort , and distil it in balneo . when all the liquor is come over , empty the vessel , and put in as much of the fresh plant , and distil the liquor from it to make it more strong of the plant. put this liquor once more upon new or fresh celandine , and distil in balneo as before ; and keep this well-impregnated water close stopt . 't is to be outwardly us'd in the dose of 2 , 3 , or 4 drops at a time . 106. a medicine for hurts in the eye . take succory-water and crumbs of white-bread , enough to bring it almost to a consistence ; then add a little saffron to tinge and quicken it , and sometimes also you may put to it a little honey , to make it more cleansing and healing . apply it ( if need be ) with plagets of flax to the part affected . 107. a remedy that hath cured the epilepsie . give daily half a dram at a time of choice and very finely pouder'd amber in any convenient vehicle for about six weeks together . 108. elixir salutis . take of the seeds of anise , sweet fennel , coriander , and parsley , of each two ounces ; of liquorish scrap'd , wash'd , and bruis'd , and choice leaves of senna , of each likewise two ounces ; of raisins of the sun , rub'd clean and bruis'd one pound ; of elecampane-roots and guajacum wood , of each one ounce . mix these ingredients , and pour on them two quarts of aqua vitae , or english spirits ( for brandy is too hot a liquor . ) let these infuse together 48 hours . then put them all into a hair bag , and press them strongly in an apothecary's press , and if there be need , pass what is strain'd , through an hippocras-bag after the liquor is setled . keep this in bottles well stop'd in a cool place , and give of it two or three spoonfuls at a time , in the morning fasting , and if need require , at bed-time . 109. an experienc'd remedy for convulsions and epilepsies in children . take about half a dram , or from one scruple to two , or somewhat more , of well chosen , and very finely pouder'd amber , native cinnabar 10 grains ; mix them , and of this sweetned with some pouder'd sugar , or other fit thing that may give it a relish ; let the patient take twice a day ( at least for most days ) during six weeks , unless he fully recovers before that time . and however , he is to take it for two or three days before each new and full moon , for some months successively . f. 110. an excellent drink in fevers , even malignant . take a quart of spring water , and having given it a walm or two , put to it one ounce at least of harts-horn , calcin'd to perfect whiteness , and when the mixture is cold , put to it three ounces of syrup made of the juice of lemons , shake this mixture ; when you will use it , shake it well , and let the patient take of it a moderate draught several times in the day and night . 111. an vseful drink in feverish distempers . in a pint and a half of clear posset-drink , boyl about one ounce of cleans'd roots of dandelion , or piss-a-beds , cut or slic'd very small , till near half a pint be wasted , and then strain it , and let the patient take half a pint , or the whole quantity if he can , at a time . 112. an excellent remedy for dysenterical fluxes . take good venice turpentine , and with a very gentle heat evaporate so much of it , that when 't is cold , it may be but little short of coagulation . this yet sost , but not fluid substance , incorporate with fine sugar , enough to make it up into pills , whereof give in the morning fasting as many as will amount from a scruple to half a dram or two scruples , or a whole dram of the turpentine , besides the sugar . 113. an uncommon , but experienc'd remedy for dysenterical fluxes . take the bone of the thigh of a hang'd man perhaps another may serve , but this was still made use of ) calcine it to whiteness , and having purg'd the patient with an antimonial medicine , give him one dram of this white pouder for one dose , in some good cordial , whether conserve or liquor . 114. for the dysentery , and fluxes caused by sharp humors . take from half a dram to one dram of merourius dulcis , and as much either of fine sugar or sugar-candy , and with some purgative or other , let the patient take it once a day , with care , that none of it remain in his mouth , or stick in his throat . 115. an often try'd medicine for fluxes of the belly , thô bloody ones . give for a dose in any convenient vehicle as much pouder'd or grated pizzle of a hart or deer as will lye upon an ordinary half-crown piece . 116. an effectual medicine for dysenterical and other fluxes . take of a hare the skin , liver , gall , and all the parts , except the muscles , and having dry'd them so far ( and no further ) as that they may be conveniently reduc'd to pouder . give of this pouder from about two scruples to one dram , in any convenient vehicle . 117. an experienc'd remedy for sharp fluxes of the belly . take a pint of new milk , and dissolve in it two ounces of loaf-sugar , and at length about the bigness of a walnut of good mithridate ; give this mixture moderately warm for a clyster , to be reiterated if there be occasion . 118. to stop fluxes and whites . for fluxes you may in divers cases give the patient from time to time a moderate quantity of a decoction of half an ounce of ising-glass , in about a pint of new milk. 119. an easie medicine for fluxes , especially those caus'd by sharp humors . instead of butter take well-condition'd oyl-olive , and thorowly drench therewith a good toast , and let the patient eat it . 120. for a bloody-flux . take half an ounce of london-treacle , an ounce , or an ounce and half of conserve of red roses , mix them together with some syrup of clove ▪ gilly-flowers , or syrup of citrons , and keep them thus mix'd in a pot cover'd for your use . take of this about the quantity of a walnut at night , and in the morning for two days , fasting two hours before and after , intermit then a day , and take it again in the like manner . 121. a try'd medicine for the falling down of the fundament . take some ginger , and having carelesly slic'd it , put it in a little pan , heat it by clear and well kindled coals , and let the patient receive the fume of it , cast on by little and little in a kind of close-stool , or some equivalent seat , where the lower part of his body may be well cover'd for about half a quarter of an hour at a time . g. 122. a medicine for a light incipient gangreen . after having lightly scarify'd the part affected , apply as hot as the patient can well bear it , a cataplasm made of strong brandy , and the pith or crumb of whitebread , shifting it three or four times a day , or somewhat oftner , if need be . n. b. some use turneps boyl'd , and made unctuous with a little fresh hogs-lard to resolve the hard tumors of womens brests . 123. a choice anodyne clyster . take marsh-mallow roots half an ounce , leaves of the same , mallows , mullein , of each one handful , camomile ▪ flowers two pugils : boyl them in a sufficient quantity of water to ten ounces , and dissolve therein goats-suet 2 ounces , yolks of two eggs , and oyl of camomile an ounce and half : mix and make a clyster for easing pain . 124. a slight but often try'd medicine for the griping of the guts . take about a quarter of a pint of brandy , and having made a toast of bread ( not too fine and white ) throw it in very hot into the liquor , and as soon as 't is thorowly drencht let the patient take it out , and eat it hot ; and this may be repeated , if there be need , two or three times a day . 125. an often try'd remedy for the gripes in little children . take of oyl of nutmegs , and of wormwood , of each a like quantity , mingle them well , and with the mixture a little warm'd anoint the patient's navil , and the pit of the stomach . 126. to make an excellent gargle . take six ounces of scabious-water , one spoonful of mustard , one spoonful of honey , and one spoonful of vinegar ; grind all these very well together in a marble or glass mortar , till you have reduc'd them to a liquid mixture , which is to be used as a gargle . 127. a choice gargle for a sore throat . to four ounces of plantane-water add three or four spoonfuls of red rose-water , and mix very well with these the white of an egg beaten to a glair , or water ; sweeten this mixture with a small spoonful of white sugar-candy , or in want of that , as much very fine loaf-sugar . let the patient gargle this as often as need requires . 128. an experienc'd medicine for a gonorrhoea . take two ounces of ripe laurel-berries , and infuse them for a day in a quart of good white-wine : of this let the patient drink about two or three spoonfuls twice a day for a pretty while together ; only once in three days ( or thereabouts ) intermitting , that he may take some gentle purging medicine . 129. for a gonorrhoea . take choice mastich a sufficient quantity , and having very finely beaten and searc'd it , take about half an ounce of it at a time in the yolk of a new-laid egg , washing it down , if it be thought needful , in any convenient liquor . 130. an excellent remedy to take off the pains of the gout . take minium or red-lead ground fine half a pound , oyl of earth-worms one pound , or a sufficient quantity : boyl them to the consistency of a hard or solid emplaster , without burning : afterwards add of camphire two ounces , dissolved in oyl of earth-worms , so much as may make the emplaster of a just consistency . 131. an excellent oyntment in the gout . take barbadoes tar , and palm-oyl , of each a like quantity , melt them together in no more fire than is needful to make them incorporate well ; with this mixture warm , the part is to be anointed and warily chafed . 132. a slight but effectual medicine to appease gouty pains . take linseed well condition'd , and with a little water beat them in a marble or glass mortar , rubbing them very well , that the medullary part may be separated in some measure from the husk , and may make the water considerably white . in this liquor dip clean rags , and when they are thorowly wetted , apply them somewhat warm to the part affected , shifting them if need be once in an hour , or at most in two . 133. a speedy remedy to take off arthritick or gout-pains . take good spirit of sal armoniac , and with a feather dipt in it moisten gently all the part , or parts affected . 134. a medicine that almost presently appeases the pains of the gout . take of black soap four ounces , choice wood-soot finely sifted about a dram and half , and add to these about half the yolk of an egg : incorporate them diligently together , and spreading the mixture somewhat thin , apply it ( the cold being first taken off ) by way of cataplasm to the part affected . 135. a homely but often try'd medicine to appease the pains of scorbutical running gouts . take earth-worms cleans'd , and having fill'd an earthen pot with them , and luted on a cover very well , set it into an oven with a batch of bread , and let it stand there till the oven be cold . then take out the pot , and having remov'd the cover , you will find the matter turn'd into a gross liquor ill scented . strain this with expression , and keep it stopt for use , which is , to rub therewith the part affected with a warm hand once or twice a day . n. b. if the smell be offensive , you may put to it a few drops of oyl of rhodium , or some other odoriferous one , to correct it . 136. an excellent remedy for the gonorrhoea . take of choice amber , and of mastich , both reduc'd to very fine pouder , and very well mixt , equal parts , and of this mixture give half a dram at a time in a proper vehicle , or in a draught of chocolate . continue this for three weeks , or a month , if need require , purging the day before you begin to take it , and once every week afterwards , especially when you leave off the use of the pouder . 137. to appease the pain of the gout , and by degrees lessen the fits. take one part of spirit of sal armoniac , and three parts of spirit of wine , neither of them too well rectify'd : shake them together , ( and if you please digest them a while ) and having dipt old but clean linnen rags in the mixture , apply them to the part affected , shifting them now and then , as need shall require . h. 138. to make an excellent cephalick or head-pouder , good also for the eyes . take the leaves or flowers of betony , marjoram , and damask roses , also the flowers of sage and rosemary , all at discretion . to these add the pouder of lignum aloes , and some seeds of nigella romana . reduce all these to pouder , to be us'd as a hair-pouder , when the patient goes to bed. 139. an useful drink , to be frequently employ'd to correct sharp humors . take two ounces of choice barley ( english or french ) well wash'd from its dust and sordes : boyl this in a quart or more of spring-water till the grains begin to burst . then strain the decoction through a clean cloath , and let the patient use it at meals and other times , for his ordinary drink . 140. an experienc'd medicine for dulness of hearing , and hysterical affections . the juice of red onions is excellent for diseases of the ears , and for a deafness in its beginning . n. b. briony-roots also wonderfully prevail against all affections of the womb. 141. an experienc'd medicine for the pain of the haemorrhoids . take the sole of an old shooe , worn by some man that walks much , cut it in pieces , and burn it , not to white or gray ashes , but to a fryable and tender coal ; reduce this to impalpable pouder , and then with a sufficient quantity of unsalted lard make it into an unguent , wherewith the part affected is to be anointed from time to time . 142. for the haemorrhoids . make a suppository of hogs-lard or bacon , or instead of that employ goose-grease made up into the same form . 143. for the haemorrhoids . in the yolk of an egg , or a little of some convenient syrup or conserve , give from half a dram to two scruples or one dram , or somewhat more of flower of brimstone , once , or if the case be urgent , twice a day . the pouder may be also given in milk , to those that like it better than sweet vehicles . 144. a choice internal remedy for painful haemorrhoids . take about two scruples of choice sulphur vive , and mix it with a little sugar to make it relish , and give that dose once , or at most twice a day . 145. a very choice medicine for the pain and tumors of the haemorrhoids . take fresh leeks ( the whole plant ) shred them small , and fry them well with fresh butter , till they be fit to be brought to the consistence of a cataplasm or poultise , that is to be apply'd very war to the part affected , and to be renewed from time to time , as need shall require . 146. an vseful medicine for the pain of the haemorrhoids . make up flower of brimstone and an equal weight or a double of fine sugar , with a solution of gum dragon , into tabulets that may weigh about a dram a piece ; of those that contain the most sulphur you may give one twice a day , but of the other sort much oftner , if need require . 147. a choice remedy for the pain of the haemorrhoids . take album graecum , or white dogs-turd , reduc'd to an impalpable pouder , mix it up with a sufficient quantity of goose-grease , and by grinding it well in a leaden mortar , reduce it to a black oyntment , to be apply'd moderately warm to the part affected . 148. an experienc'd remedy for unbroken haemorrhoids . take calcin'd oyster-shells , and incorporate them with as much honey as will make up the pouder into an oyntment , with which the part affected is to be tenderly anointed from time to time . 149. for the haemorrhoids , a very successful try'd medicine . take maiden leeks ( as some call those that grow without having been transplanted ) and casting away the green part , make of the bulbous part and a sufficient quantity of whole oatmeal a caudle , whereof let the patient eat plentifully . 150. a choice drink for the pain of the haemorrhoids . take yarrow , and boyl a handful of it in about a pint and a half of posset-drink , in a cover'd vessel , till it be strong of the plant ; and of this decoction let the patient drink pretty plentifully from time to time . 151. an excellent remedy for the pain of the haemorrhoids . take of mastick , olibanum , aloes , and myrrh , of each a like quantity , pouder and mix them very well , then lay or strew a sufficient quantity of this upon a pledget of lint or cotton , moistened throughly with spirit of wine over a few well kindled coals , that the pouder may melt , and be clapt hot to the pit of the stomach , or the navel . 152. a medicine for the pains of the haemorrhoids . take a quart , or at least a pint of new milk , and boil it well for a while , and then taking it off the fire , presently put it into a close-stool in some open mouth'd vessel , and let the patient sit over the fume of it . 153. an excellent medicine to appease the pains of the haemorrhoids . take two fresh eggs , and roast them pretty hard , then peel off the shells and mince them . to these add two pippins , the core being first taken out , that must be roasted to pap ; mix these , and incorporate them very well with the eggs , reducing all to a kind of cataplasm , which is to be apply'd very warm , if not very hot , to the part affected , and to be renewed if need be . 154. a choice medicine for the pains of the haemorrhoids . take half a dram of good flower of brimstone , and boyl it a little in new milk , and let the patient take fasting in the morning both the liquor and the pouder for many days successively . and if need be , the like dose may be taken between four and five in the afternoon . also one may make up the like quantity of flores with a little fine sugar and gum tragacanth into tablets or lozenges , to be taken instead of the pouder and milk. i. 155. an experienc'd liquor to cure the itch in the hands or face , without mercury or sulphur . take a handful of the roots of elecampane , and as much of sharp-pointed dock , shred them small , and boyl them in two quarts of spring-water till the consumption of a pint . then strain the liquor , and with it let the patient wash his hands or other parts affected once ( or at most ) twice a day . 156. an experienc'd magnetical cure of the yellow-jaundies . take the gall-bladder of a sheep , and near the top , without emptying the liquor , make a small hole , at which put in two or three drops of the patient 's warm urine ; then tye up the upper part of the bladder , and hang it in the free air till it dry up , &c. 157. a homely but not ineffectual medicine for the yellow-jaundies . give about half a dram of the white part of hens-dung dry'd and mixt with a little sugar , in a few spoonfuls of white-wine . 158. a medicine almost specifick for the yellow-jaundies . take of clean filings of steel a sufficient quantity , and to make them grind the better , mix with them some loaf-sugar ; grind them long with great exactness , for in that consists the chief secret of this medicine . of this impalpable pouder give about half a dram for a dose ( besides the sugar ; ) and if need be , give it twice or thrice a day , in any convenient vehicle . 159. a specifick remedy for the yellow-jaundies . take one part of good saffron dry'd , enough to be rub'd in a glass mortar into pouder , and incorporate it well with four parts of choice turmerick . in the mean time take a handful of fresh sheeps-dung , and let it steep in about a quart of strong ale in a moderate heat , till the liquor be fully impregnated with the vertue of the dung. then strain it lightly thrô a linnen cloath , into a pint of it , or as large a draught within the limit as the patient can well take , give about half a dram of the foremention'd mixt pouder . this do in the morning fasting , aud in the evening about bed-time , giving also another dose the morning after the first . k. 160. the great medicine of a famous emperick for the kings-evil . give for a good while together a pretty strong decoction of devils-bit . 161. to mitigate pains in the kidneys . take oyl of scorpions , and oyl of bees-wax , of each a like quantity ; mix them well , and with this mixture moderatly warm , anoint the pained kidney . 162. an effectual remedy for stoppage in the kidneys . give in any convenient liquor about a dozen grains of salt of amber for a dose . l. 163. a pleasant medicine to appease scorbutick pains in the limbs . take liquid styrax , spread it thin upon slinck , or some very fine kids-leather , and keep it upon the part affected till it dry up of it self , or till the patient has no more need of it . 164. an experienc'd thô simple medicine for a contracture produc'd by keeping of limbs too long in an undue posture . anoint well once or twice a day the part affected with dogs-grease , chafing it in with a warm hand , and keeping the part warm afterwards . m. 165. a good medicine to inincrease milk to those that give suck . make pottage with lentils ( which many distinguish not from vetches ) and let the patient use freely of it . 166. another medicine to increase milk in nurses . take earth-worms , wash them well , freeing them carefully from their excrements , and from all adhering earth and filth . then dry them so as they may not stink , and yet be pulverable . of these , reduc'd to poúder , give half a dram or two scruples for a dose , in wine or any other proper vehicle . 167. a remedy , by which many dogs bitten by a mad-dog , have been all of them preserv'd this year from running mad. take three plants ( i. e. roots and leaves ) of that herb which is called rose-plantane , or by some star-plantane , and having chopt it small with a convenient quantity of butter , let the bitten dog take it the first day ; the second day give him five plants order'd as before , and the next day seven . n. 168. a good remedy for divers affections of the genus nervosum , or nervous system . take of the fresh roots of the male piony one ounce , of the seeds of the same plant two drams , and with a sufficient quantity of the syrup of piony , or some conserve of the like nature , beat them up into an electuary , ( which is best done not long before you mean to make use of it ) of which the patient may take the quantity of a small nutmeg or more if need be twice a day , and if occasion requires it , thrice . p. 169. aloetick pills , that do scarce at all occasion the piles . take of the frankfort angelick pills , and give of them from one scruple or half a dram to two scruples or more , for a dose . 170. a medicine for the pain and tumors of the piles . take the patient 's own urine moderately warm , and with rags dipt in it foment for a while the parts affected , and then anoint them with vnguent populeon . this do if need be three or four times a day , and if the tumors be internal , you may then inject a little of the foremention'd urine . 171. an excellent remedy for scorbutick and other pains in the limbs . take red and unsophisticated oyl of peter , and anoint therewith from time to time the part affected . 172. an easie but excellent poultise to appease pains and aches , even arthritick or gout-pains . take onions , and boyl or stew them in water till they be soft enough to make a poultise , then drain away the water and beat them , and having spread them to a good thickness upon a linnen cloath , apply them as hot as the patient can well bear , let him keep them on all night . 173. to strengthen a part weakened by a sub-laxation . spread emplastrum divinum upon soft leather , and apply it , keeping it on for some time . 174. a somewhat rough emetick , by which the french-pox has been often cur'd . take good mercury sublimate , and mithridate or venice-treacle , of each one ounce , mix them together , and put them into a quart of spring-water ; set them in balneo to dissolve in a close vessel ; and of this liquor well setled , let the patient take about half a spoonful , or if need be a spoonful , but never above a spoonful and a half , in four ounces of small ale warm , fasting in the morning , and once in the afternoon or evening , the stomach being empty . every second day intermit , and give a gentle purge . 175. a choice medicine for the palsie . take sarsaparilla a pound and half , bark of guajacum , china in chips , of each 2 ounces and a half : boyl all in six pints of water to a consumption of a third part : at the end add raisins of the sun stoned four ounces , liquorish bruised one dram , fat figs number twelve , boyl and strain it . of this let the diseased drink warm , as their ordinary drink . 176. for weakness in the hands , arising from the palsie , or an ill-cur'd rheumatism . take the tops of rosemary , and bruising them a little , make them up into a ball of the bigness of a small orange , or a large walnut with the green husk on . let the patient often roll one of these balls between his hands , and for divers hours in a day grasp one of them in the hand affected , that it may grow hot there , and transmit its effluvia into the part . continue this course as long as the distemper requires . 177. a choice external remedy for paralitick affections . make a strong decoction of rosemary-leaves ( or flowers if the season afford them ) and let the patient hold the part affected for a good while at a time in the liquor kept very warm . if after several tryals this medicine prove not effectual enough , take ten drops of oyl of worms , and mix with it well four or five drops of oyl of turpentine ; and with this mixture well warm'd anoint the part from time to time ; or else let the patient keep the part for a good while together , for more than once or twice if need require , in warm rain-water ( to dissolve the scorbutick salts . ) 178. to take off little pimples or grating inequalities within the eye-lids . take one spoonful of eyebright-water , one spoonful of plantane-water , and half a spoonful of good red rose-water ; mix these , and put to them about 15 grains of choice tutty finely prepar'd ; shake them together , and then let the pouder fall to the bottom , and with the clear liquor moisten the eye several times in a day , if it be found needful . 179. for the pleurisy . cut green broom-tops short , and fill therewith a skillet or pipkin of a pint and a half ; then fill it up with ale , boyl it softly till it be wasted to two or three spoonfuls , it will look black like treacle , and be thick . when 't is enough and cold , add as much mithridate as a nutmeg , and mingle it well , and give it the party warm in bed , and let him sweat three hours or more after it , by adding some cloaths . if it help not at first , repeat it next day , or the second not to fail . 180. an experienc'd ( and by some good authors excellent ) medicine for the pleurisy . take as many fresh balls of stone-horse dung , as the horse in good case may disburden himself of at one time ; cover these , whilst they are warm , with good white-wine ; let them stand a little to act on one another , and then press out gently through a clean linnen cloath as much liquor or juice as the mixture will readily afford ; and of this ( somewhat warm ) give a moderate draught , from time to time ; as need shall require . 181. a very often experienc'd medicine for the small-pox ( especially in children . ) . take the little balls of fresh sheeps-düng , and having freed them from straws and dust , and other things forrain to them , put an handful of them thus cleans'd into a quart of good white-wine , and in a vessel well stopt , let them infuse in a moderate heat for a night , or till the liquor be well impregnated with the taste and colour of them . strain this infusion , and give of it warm about a spoonful at a time , once in two or three hours , or oftner if need require . n. b. in case of necessity , the infusion may be much sooner made , by putting into the wine a greater proportion of the sheeps-dung . r. 182. a successful remedy for a kind of rheumatism , and a contracture of the limbs that followed upon it . take the inward bark ( that which grows next the wood ) of an elder-tree , cut or tear it into small bits , and with them loosely plac'd fill about a third part of a bottle . then pour in as much small ale or beer as will fill up the remaining part of the vessel , stop it well till the liquor be strong of the infusion . and of this let the patient drink a good draught once or twice a day , or if he can well bear it , let him use it as a diet-drink . 183. an approv'd outward medicine to cause rest without opiates . take of rose-water 8 ounces , good wine 4 ounces , strong vinegar 2 ounces ; mix these well , and having warm'd stupes in them , foment therewith the part affected , laying them on but moderatly warm , but taking them off when they begin to grow cold : this fomenting may last between a quarter and half an hour before the patient should compose himself to rest . s. 184. a choice and diversify'd medicine for the scurvy . from the freshly gather'd tops of firr a little bruis'd , abstract spirit of wine , or at least good nants brandy , and with this liquor draw a deep tincture from other fresh tops , of which tincture reduce some part into an extract , whereof to form pills ; keep these , the tincture and the impregnated liquor apart , to be employ'd separately or conjoyntly as occasion may require . 185. for an excoriation , and for preternatural tenderness of any part of the skin . take vnguentum diapompholigos , and spread it thinly upon lint , which must be apply'd to the part affected , and kept on by a bandage or some sticking plaister . 186. to take off the heat and roughness of the skin , especially on the lips. anoint the part affected with fresh ( or at least not too stale ) cream . 187. to take out the marks of gun-pouder shot into the skin of the face , or elsewhere . take fresh cow-dung , and having warm'd it a little , apply it as a thin poultise to the part affected , renewing it from time to time as occasion shall require . 188. an excellent medicine to strengthen a weak sight . take eye-bright , penny-royal , rue , celandine , lovage , saxifrage , of each half a handful , blewbottle-flowers , fennel-seeds , parsley-seeds , of each half a dram , grains of paradice one dram , hyssop , organy , willow-leaves , each half an ounce , galingal three drams , ginger half a dram , cinnamon one dram , sugar half an ounce . let them be finely pouder'd , and very well mixt together . take of this pouder one scruple or half a dram every day with your dinner . 189. a distilled water for strengthening the sight . take rosemary-flowers , sage , betony , rue , and succory , of each one handful . infuse these in two quarts of good sack , distil them in a copper alembick . the dose is a moderate spoonful . 190. a choice medicine , which i have several times used for a light stroke or contusion of the eye . put to two ounces of carduus-water , or that of betony , three or four drops of honey , use it every three hours . ( but have a care not to keep it above a day or two , lest it grow sour . ) 191. a much commended pouder to strengthen the sight . pouder of eye-bright 1 ounce , ordinary fennel-seed in pouder half an ounce , pouder of nutmegs half a quarter of an ounce , double refin'd sugar two ounces . all these being finely pouder'd and sifted , are to be mixt together , and taken as much as will lye on a shilling at a time , as often as you please . the pouder is to be taken dry , and kept in a box close shut in some dry place . this has done great cures in dimness of sight , and rheums in the eyes . 192. to make a drink to be taken like tea for strengthening the sight . to a quart of water ready to boyl , put in half a handful of eye-bright , and then let the liquor boyl but one walm or two , before you take it off to drink it instead of tea . 193. a rare water to strengthen the sight . take clary , and distil it in a cold still ; and of the water , let the patient take every morning , and if need be , every night going to bed , from two or three spoonfuls to six , either alone , or sweetned with a little sugar ; let him also with the same water unsweeten'd ▪ bath or wash the parts affected in the morning , and at bed-time ; and if need be , once or twice more every day . 194. an excellent external medicine to strengthen the stomach . take wormood , mint , and mugwort , and by beating them well in a stone or glass mortar , make a cataplasm , to be apply'd somewhat warm to the stomach , and kept upon it for a pretty while . 195. an often try'd remedy to strengthen the stomach , and also to take off griping pains in or near it . ( 't is good also for colds . ) take emplastrum stomachum of the london dispensatory , and drop upon it five or six drops of oyl of cinnamon , rubbing it well over with your finger , and so apply it to the patient's stomach , and after three or four days , or as soon as it grows dry , remove it , and having scrap'd the plaister , and warm'd it on the wrong side , let fall some drops of the oyl of cinnamon upon it , or more drops of the cordial spirit , and apply it again . 196. an excellent plaister to strengthen the stomach and chest . take of cinnamon , nutmegs , cloves , and mace , of each a sufficient quantity , pouder them well , and strew some of the pouder all over the bottom of a deal box of a convenient length and breadth , and fit it with a cover to shut close , upon this pouder lay a piece of clean flannel well dry'd , and strew it over thinly with some of the same pouder ; then lay on another piece of the like flannel of the same dimensions with the former , and upon that likewise if need be a little more pouder . this done , shut the box till the time of use , and then take out one of the pieces of flannel , and having lightly dusted off the pouder , lay it on the patient's brest , stomach , and belly , and let it lye on there for some days . when you perceive its vertue begins to languish , you must substitute for it the other piece of flannel , and put the first in the box to receive new vertue , and so proceed alternatively as long as you need the medicine , adding now and then some fresh pouder , if necessity require . note , that each piece of flannel ought to be long and large enough to cover the brest , and to reach from about the paps to the navel , or lower . 197. for a recent strain . take a pint or more of claret-wine , and boyl in it for a little while , in a close vessel , about a handful of red rose-leaves , till the liquor be strong of the plant. in this well heated dip a piece of linnen or flannel , and wringing out the moisture , double it , and apply it hot to the part affected , using a fillet , or some such thing to keep it on . 198. my lord bacon's experienc'd medicine for a recent strain or bruise . take a good handful of fresh wormwood , and boyl it in a sufficient quantity of strong ale to the softness of a poultise , then take it off the fire , and when you apply it , which you should do whilst 't is very hot , put to it a spoonful or two of good common brandy . 199. a choice plaister for a recent strain . take equal parts of the plaisters called diapalma and oxycroceum , and make of them a compounded plaister , to be spread upon thin leather , and apply'd to the part affected , and to be renewed , if need be , twice a day . 200. an approv'd medicine for a recent strain . apply seasonably a cataplasm made of bran boyl'd in good vinegar till it be soft enough to make a poultise . 201. a slight but choice remedy for a recent strain . take two spoonfuls of vinegar , and beat into it very well the white of an egg , and spreading it upon flax or tow , apply it to , and keep it on the part affected . 202. a parable but excellent medicine in the fit of the stone . take somewhat less than a handful of red chick-pease , or cicers , and boyl them softly in a quart of spring-water till the liquor be red , and well impregnated with the seeds : strain this decoction and sweeten it with syrup of marsh-mallows , out of which all the stronger diureticks are left . 203. for the stone . take a quarter or half a pint of simple arsmart-water , sweeten it with a little sugar or some convenient syrup , and aromatize it with a little nutmeg scrap'd , and give this mixture for one dose . 204. for the stone and gravel in the reins and bladder . take equal weights of common daucus-seeds , and of burdock-seed , and having mixt these together , put one ounce of the mixture to a gallon of small ale , and let the patient use it as a constant drink . 205. a good liquor to use as drink in a long fit of the stone . make posset-drink of three or four parts at most of milk , and one of white-wine . into two quarts of posset-drink scrape or thinly slice a nutmeg and a half , or two nutmegs ; add a little juice of lemon to your palate , and if you please sweeten it a little with syrup of marsh-mallows . take of this drink a pretty quantity at a time , and use it often in a day . 206. a good medicine for the stone . take a pint or a quart of ale , somewhat new , sweeten it with pure honey , and boyl it to the consumption of about one half , skimming it well from time to time . then dissolve in it the yolk of a new-laid egg ; and let the patient drink a good draught of this mixture once or twice a day , till he find relief thereby . 207. a choice medicine in an actual fit of the stone . take the decoction made according to the london dispensatory for the syrup of marsh-mallows , with this difference , that to the same quantity of water , you must take but half the quantities of each of the ingredients . let this corrected decoction be well clarify'd , and let the patient take of it warm 6 , 8 , or 10 ounces at a draught , from time to time , as need shall require . 208. the stone , and the cure. taken out of the history of the barbadoes , written by rich. lygon , gent. p. 118 , 119. after the stoppage of urine more than fourteen days , the following medicine did not only break , but brought away all the stones and gravel . and about three weeks after , the like pains returning , the same medicine did the like effect within ten hours after the taking thereof . take the pizzle of a green turtle ( or tortoise ) which lives in the sea , dry it with a moderate heat ; pound it in a mortar to pouder , and take of this as much as will lye upon a shilling , in beer , ale , white-wine , or the like ; and in a very short time it will do the cure. these are to be had easily , both at the charibee and lucaick islands , where these fishes abound . 209. a good medicine in pains of the stone , or cholick . take half a pint of good sallet-oyl , and as much good sack , ( or if that cannot be had , good claret wine ) shake them very well together , and give them moderately warm for a clyster . 210. to expel the stone in a fit. take crabs-eyes pouder'd , and dissolve a large proportion of them in good white-wine vinegar , and of this drink let the patient take from two spoonfuls to five or six at a time . t. 211. an almost specifick remedy for the tooth-ach . into a quart of red wine ( or at least of claret ) put one dram of allom , and another of acorns , a dram and half of galls , and half a handful of good dry'd rose-leaves . boyl this to the consumption of near half , and then take it from the fire and strain it , and dissolve in it a dram and a half of acacia cut into small bits , and with this liquor a little hot , you must wash the part several times in a day . 212. an uncommon , but not unuseful remedy for the tooth-ach . let the patient lye on the ear that is opposite to the part affected , and into the other ear drop two or three drops of the freshly exprest juice of rue a little warm , and stop the ear lightly with fine black wool or cotton . 213. an odd but very succesful external remedy for the tooth-ach . in the declining of the moon in august , take the fruit called hipps , viz. those of the wild bryar , with all the fuzey stuff that grows upon it , and lapping it up in a piece of thin sarcenet , tye it upon the arm that is on the same side with the part affected , and keep it on as long as there is need . 214. for the tooth-ach . take a handful of red sage , and a handful of clary , shred them small and beat them , sprinkle them with may dew ; then strain out the juice , put it in a glass bottle , and set it in the sun in a window , and when you use it put three drops into a spoon and heat it over a candle blood warm , and drop it into the ear , and let them eat a crust of bread , wet either in broth or posset , and chew it upon the teeth that ake . 215. an approved medicine for an aking tooth that is hollow . take two parts of common pepper ground to fine pouder , and mix exactly with it one part of sugar moderately fine over a gentle heat ; form these into a small pill of a shape and bigness fit for your purpose , and when your stuff grows cold 't will harden , and may be apply'd when you please to the part affected . 216. an excellent remedy to fasten teeth . take of burnt allom , acorns , of each one dram , galls a dram and half , red roses half a handful . beat all these together , and make them boyl in about a quart of good red wine , to the consumption of about a fourth part . then strain the decoction , and dissolve in the transmitted liquor of good acatia cut into very small bits half a dram. with this decoction the mouth is to be washt several times in a day . 217. to fasten the teeth . put mastick finely pouder'd upon the end of an handkerchief , rub your teeth therewith twice or thrice in a day , and chew mastick often . also boyl pomegranate-flowers with mint or mastick in red or claret wine , gargle or wash your mouth often with it . 218. a medicine prescrib'd to a great prince ( charles the first ) to fasten the teeth . take a pint of spring-water , and put to it four ounces of brandy ; let the patient wash his mouth with the mixture of these every morning , and twice or thrice a day besides ; and let him in the morning , roul for a little while , a bit of roch-allom to and fro in his mouth . 219. a good astringent liquor to fasten the teeth . to four ounces of claret-wine , or some other convenient menstruum , you may put to dissolve about four drams of terra japonica . 220. an excellent medicine to fasten the teeth in scorbutick gums . take of choice bole-armoniack two drams , choice myrrh ( not lucid ) one dram , roch-allom crude half a dram , claret-wine one pint. boyl these softly a little while together , and let the patient use twice , thrice ( or if need be ostner ) in a day . 221. to fasten teeth , made loose by the scurvy . anoint the parts affected with oleum myrrhae made by deliquium with whites of eggs boyl'd hard . 222. a lotion to fasten the teeth . in a quart of spring-water decoct for a while one ounce of the best terra japanica reduc'd to gross pouder . and then having filter'd the decoction , keep it stopt for use . 223. a good astringent liquor to fasten loose teeth . in a pint of red wine infuse about half an ounce of terra japanica , till as much as will be dissolv'd be taken up by the liquor . decant it from the faeces ( if there be need ) and keep it well stopt for use . 224. an useful liquor to fasten the teeth , and prevent the tooth-ach . to a pint of spring-water put half an ounce of clean sal armoniack , and with the solution of this salt , let the patient wash his mouth from time to time . 225. to make an excellent poultise to ripen tumors . take eight ounces of ( fat ) figs , two ounces of white lilly-roots , and two ounces of bean-flower ( or meal : ) boyl these together in water , and reduce them to the consistence of a poultise ; which is to be spread to a good thickness , and laid warm enough upon the part , and shifted as often as it begins to grow dry . 226. an excellent medicine to relieve those that are troubled with tumors in the throat , and some other parts . to a quart of new milk put a handful of mallow-leaves , with as much of the leaves of solanum , or nightshade , shred them small , let them boyl , till the herbs be tender as if they were to be eaten . then put into the milk as much crumbs of white-bread , as being stirred well with the other ingredients , will bring all to the consistence of a poultise . this is to be spread upon a stay for the throat , or some other thing fit to be apply'd to any other part affected , and is to be laid on as hot as the patient can well endure it , and when it begins to grow cold , it is to be succeeded by fresh made very hot , and so long as the case shall require . 227. a medicine that lately cur'd an obstinate tumor of the knee , that had baffled some chirurgeons . take a green colewort-leaf with red veins or streaks , and having cut the ribs flat and almost level to the rest of the leaf , bruise it with the haft of a knife , or some such thing , apply it to the part affected , renewing it once or twice a day . 228. a powerful and experienc'd topick for a sore throat . take two new-laid eggs roasted moderately hard , and the pap of two well-roasted pippins ; beat them well together , and add to them as much cruds of posset made with ale. having incorporated them all very well , apply the mixture very warm to the part affected , shifting it if need be once in five or six hours . 229. an approved remedy for a sore throat . take verjuice of grapes one ounce , good honey half an ounce , crude allom about a dram and half , and sea-salt half a dram ; pouder the salts finely , and incorporate them very well with the liquors into the form of a kind of liniment . in this dip a long feather , or a piece of rag tyed about the end of a slender stick ( as of liquorish ) and with it touch the part affected three , four , or five times : between each , two times gargling with a mixture of plantane-water , and some red rose-water . 230. a choice external remedy for sore throats . take millepedes , sows or hogs-lice alive , and sew them up between the foldings of a piece of linnen , and apply them to the throat in the form of a stay , which is to be kept on all night . 231. an easie but try'd remedy for a sore throat . take bay-salt dry'd , and having pounded it , put it into the folds of a rag in a sufficient quantity to make a stay to be ty'd about the throat , and apply it over night as hot as the patient can conveniently ▪ endure it . 232. a choice remedy for a sore throat , especially if enflam'd . take a little handful of the leaves of common mallows , and eight or ten good figs ; boyl these about a quarter of an hour in a pint of new milk , and let the patient use it very hot and often . 233. a homely but experienc'd medicine for a sore throat . take about one dram of album graecum , or white dogs-turd burnt to perfect whiteness , and with about one ounce of honey of roses , or clarify'd honey , make thereof a linctus to be very slowly let down the throat . 234. a homely but experienc'd remedy for a sore throat . into the leg of a worsted stocking that has been long worn next to the flesh , put in a sufficient quantity of good sea-salt exactly dry'd , or else decrepitated , and this salt being put in warm , if not hot , the stocking is to be ty'd about the patient's neck , and kept on all night . and if by the next day the distemper be not remov'd , you may apply fresh salt ( in the proportion ) in the same stocking as before , the night following . 235. a try'd medicine for a sore throat , caused by acid humors in the internal parts of it . take half a handful of the leaves of common mallows , and boyl them in about a pint of new milk near half an hour ; then let it run through a clean cloath , and let the patient use it a little warm three or four times a day as a gargle , or else let him use it by holding it in his mouth , and letting some drops slowly slide down his throat . 236. an often experienc'd remedy for tettars , and the itch. take flowers of sulphur , finely pouder'd , ginger , and burnt allom , each alike , save , that of the allom there must be somewhat less . incorporate these with as much fresh butter ( without any salt ) as will bring them to the consistence of an oyntment ; with this anoint the part affected at bed-time , as hot as the patient can well endure it , and let it lye on all night , wash it off in the morning with celandine-water well heated ; and whilst you continue the use of this medicine , take daily some cordial , to keep the noxious humour from being driven inwards . this will not fail to do the work. 237. a choice medicine for a thrush in young children , or a sore mouth . take an egg , and put out the meat , then fill it with the juice of red sage , and set it on hot embers till it boyl ; then skim it whilst any skum doth rise . then take as much allom beaten as the bigness of a pea or bean , and half a spoonful of honey , and let this be put in the egg and boyl it a little , and so take it off ; and when 't is cold , rub the child's mouth as oft as you see cause . 238. an almost specifick remedy for a tenesmus . mix balsam of sulphur made with oyl of turpentine with linseed-oyl , or some other convenient oyl , till the balsam be thereby so far allay'd , that the patient may well endure it ; and then let him dip his finger in it , and make use of it as a small suppository two or three times , or if need be , oftner in a day . u. 239. an excellent emulsion to be used in sharpness of urine , especially caused by blistering plaisters . take mallows two handfuls , gum arabick two drams , barley-water a sufficient quantity ; boyl all to a quart , to which add sweet almonds blanch'd one ounce , of the four great cold seeds , of each two drams . make an emulsion , strain , and add two ounces of syrup of marsh-mallows , of which drink at pleasure . 240. a powerful medicine for stoppage of urine . fry chervil with a sufficient quantity of oyl of walnuts , and apply a cataplasm made of it very hot to the navel ( and if need be , to the os pubis ) or share-bone . 241. for a retention of urine . take chervil , and with fresh hogs-lard fry it well , and lay it very hot upon the patient's navel and all the adjacent parts , shifting it , if there be need , once or twice . 242. an useful pouder for such as cannot hold their urine . take root of the male piony , yellow amber , red coral , and choice gum arabick , of each a sufficient quantity : reduce them to fine pouder , mix them well , and let the patient take of this mixture from 10 to 20 grains twice a day . 243. an easie medicine for sharpness of urine , and for obstruction of the menses , and their flowing too much , if the distempers be not obstinate . give about half . an ounce at a time of the newly exprest juice of ground-ivy in any convenient vehicle . 244. an old lithotomist's medicine for suppression of urine , ( given me by himself . ) give from about 50 grains to one dram for a dose of the pulvis hollandi , and if the necessity be very urgent , you may give from one dram to four scruples , or a dram and half , not neglecting in the mean while other proper remedies . 245. for suppression of urine . give about a spoonful at a time of bruised mustard-seed in any convenient vehicle . 246. a try'd medicine for a suppression of urine that is not very obstinate . dissolve half an ounce of choice castile-soap in half a pint of white-wine , or some appropriated liquor ; pass the solution through a woollen filter , that the more greasie parts may rest behind , and the liquor pass more clear ; put to this five or six grains of saffron : divide it into two doses , whereof one is to be given some few hours after the other , if the first do not operate well . 247. a speedy remedy for fits of vomiting . take a large nutmeg , grate off one half of it , and toast the flat side of the other , till the oily part begin to ouze or sweat out , then clap it to the pit of the patient's stomach as hot as he can well endure it , and let him keep it on whilst it continues warm , and then if need be put on another . 248. to make an astringent liquor , of great use in ulcers and ( some ) wounds . boyl two drams of choice catechu , or japan earth , in a quart of spring-waster ; pour off the clear , and with it by injection or otherwise dress the ulcers or wounds . 249. for outward ulcers . take the green bark of oak , and chop it altogether , both inside and outside , into very small pieces . upon these pour good lime-water freshly made , and let them infuse in it till the liquor has acquir'd a deep tincture . with this dress the ulcer once , and if need require , twice a day . 250. the famous scotch emperical medicine for a stubborn ulcer . burn to ashes , but not too much , the gross stalks on which the red colewort ( not cabbage ) grows , and with any fit additament make thereof a cataplasm to be apply'd to the ulcer , and shift it at reasonable distances of time . 251. a remedy against the bitings of vipers , and other venomous creatures . as soon as ever one is bitten ( for if the poyson be diffus'd through the mass of blood , the experiment may not succeed ) a hot iron may be held as near the wound as the patient can possibly endure , till it has , as they speak , drawn out all the poyson , which will sometimes adhere like a yellowish spot to the surface of the iron . 252. medicines against voiding of blood out of several parts . take two drams of henbane-seed , and the like weight of white poppy-seed ; beat them up with an ounce of conserve of red roses , of which give to the quantity of a nutmeg or walnut . or , take the express'd juice of twelve handfuls of plantane-leaves , and six ounces of fresh comfrey-roots , well beaten together with a convenient quantity of fine sugar . these two medicines have wonderful effects to stop bleeding . w. 253. a simple but powerful remedy for fresh wounds . take the juice of celandine , and dress with it recent wounds and cuts , instead of a balsam . 254. to make a simple , but excellent balsam to stanch the blood of fresh wounds newly made , and to heal them speedily . take good venice-turpentine , and in a limbeck , or some other convenient vessel distil off a good part of it with a very moderate fire , till there remains a thick substance , yet not like colophony , but of a liquid and balsamick consistence . what you have distill'd off set aside for other uses , for the remaining substance is what we now seek for , and is to be apply'd as a balsam both per se , and with plagets and other helps . 255. an excellent wound-drink . take harts-tongue , liverwort , wood-bugle , wood-sage , wood-betony , southernwood , wormwood , alehoof , bugloss , scabious , ribwort , white-bottles , mugwort , comfrey , mints , agrimony , strawberry and violet-leaves , cinquefoil , daisie-leaves , roots , and flowers , wild hony-suckles , wild angelica , avens , plantane , clowns wound-wort , hawthorn-buds , oak-buds , and bramble-buds . gather these herbs in may , or as many as can then be had ; the buds in march as soon as ever they put forth , before they come to leaves ; measure them , and take equal quantities of them , and dry them severally in the shade , and when throughly dryed put them up in bags , and so keep them for use . how to make the drink . take one gallon of spring-water , one pottle of the best white-wine , add to this two good handfuls of all the herbs , mingled well together being dryed , but if green , then one good handful of each . boyl them in a pipkin or iron pot to the consumption of the half ; then strain it out , and put to the liquor a quart of honey , and let it boyl again , and skim it , and when it 's cold , put it up into bottles stopt very close , then let the patient drink thereof morning and evening about a quarter of a pint at a time ( some use only three spoonfuls at a time ) fasting after taking of it one hour or two . observe , the liverwort is ever best to be put in green . if you make use of this for any sore , or ulcer in the body , lay any searcloath or plaister to it , of vnguentum apostol . or minium , or such like , as they use for wounds in the body , or a plaister of honey and wax . this drink is effectual for sores old or new , womens breasts , putrified bones , causing them to scale ; 't is good for any ach in the stomach , for the kings-evil it hath cured , also caused bullets in the flesh to come out , having long continued there . sir jo. mince was healed by drinking of this , being wounded through the loyns . 256. a quick remedy for a small and fresh cut , or wound . let the patient speedily plunge the hurt part into brandy , and keep it there for a while , till the pain , which will be excited , be extinguish'd , or much abated : or if the part be unfit for this operation , the liquor may be apply'd to it immediately with a soft sponge , & c. 257. a good vehicle for divers remedies , and that 't is it self useful against the jaundies , and worms in children . the distill'd water of the husks of walnuts is a very good vehicle in divers diseases , particularly in jaundies ; 't is a cordial , and exceeding proper to be mixt with julaps in fevers . 't is also an excellent antiverminary , or medicine against the worms , especially for children . 258. a powerful medicine for white fluors , ( and the like distempers . ) take a pottle of ale , and shred into it two ounces of white ichthyocolla ( isinglass , ) and in a loosely stopt vessel , let the liquor simper till about half is wasted ; strain the rest , and give of it two or three ounces at a time once or twice a day , as need shall require . 259. a tryed medicine for an ulcus uteri . take of true and choice bitumen judaicum , or asphaltum , and having reduc'd it to very fine pouder , let the patient take of it about a dram at a time in any proper vehicle , once or twice a day . 260. an excellent water to preserve the sight . to half an ounce of celandine-water , and two drams of succory-water , mixt together , put two or three drops of clarify'd honey , and shake them all together when you are to use them . of this water let fall a drop or two into the eye once or twice a day . it will not keep above three or four days , especially in summer , and therefore must be often renewed . 261. a try'd medicine for a whitloe . take house snails and beat them , shells and all , in a stone or wooden mortar , so long till they be reduc'd to the consistence of a cataplasm ; which apply somewhat warm to the part affected , and keep it on for 16 or 24 hours , renewing it then if need be . 262. a powerfully dissolving oyntment for warts , and divers tumors . take may-butter , and having melted it in a moderate heat , mix with it very diligently , but by little and little , as much oyl of tartar per deleq . as will give it a sensible , but not a considerably strong taste . 263. an experienced remedy for bloody water . take waters of the black alder , of mallows , of each three ounces , syrup of comfrey one ounce : mix them , and let the patient take four spoonfuls immediate ; and four or five times a day . 264. to make a well experimented lime water . take fresh quick-lime 2 pound , on which pour two gallons of water boyling hot ; when they have stood together about 24 hours , pour off the clear , and into one gallon of this , put of anniseeds , liquorish , and sassafrass thinly slic'd , of each four ounces . let them infuse for 24 or 48 hours in a cover'd vessel ; then take a pound and a half of smirna raisins ( which some call great blew currans ) wash'd and stamp'd . let these infuse for a few hours , and then pass the whole mixture first through a sieve , and then through a woollen bag. the dose is about a quarter of a pint ▪ warm twice a day . 265. an experienc'd medicine to correct the peccant humor in the kings-evil . take half an ounce of cuttle-bone dry'd till it may be finely pouder'd . give this to the patient for one dose . 266. an excellent and often-try'd clyster in fluxes , especially in sharp humors , and some other distempers of the bowels . in a quart of new milk boyl softly two small spoonfuls of grosly pouder'd rice till it be brought to the consistence of cream , then dissolve in it two ounces of our suet of sheeps-kidneys , and having strain'd it to keep back the fibres , give it at once for a lavement . 267. a cure for scrophula's , and the kings-evil . take a handful of paronychia folio rutaceo , call'd rue whitlow-grass , and by some , felon-wort , boyl it every morning in a quart of small beer , strain it , and drink it for your ordinary drink . it wastes the peccant humor , appeases the pains , discusses the unbroken tumors , and heals the broken ones . 268. against epilepsies , or the falling-sickness . take of the pouder of the true misseltoe of the oak as much as will lye upon a sixpence , early in the morning , in black cherry-water , for some days near the full moon . 269. a simple remedy for the stone . take persicaria , or arsmart , as much as you please , distil it in a common rose-water still , and give some spoonfuls of it in or before the fits. 270. an excellent remedy against fluxes . take unsalted butter , boyl it gently till a pretty part be consum'd , skimming it diligently from time to time , whilst it stands over the fire : of this butter melted give now and then a considerable quantity , as the patient is able to bear it . this medicine was very successful in ireland . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28994-e3830 b a b b a b b b b b b b c b b b b a a b a b a a b b a b a b c b b b b b b a b b b b c b b a b b b a notes for div a28994-e7790 b b a a a b c a b b b a b b a a b a c a a b a b b b a a b b b b b b a a a b c b a b a a b a a b a b a notes for div a28994-e12530 i. ☜ l l ☞ l ☞ ☜ l l l l l l ☜ l l l l ☜ l ☞ ☜ l ☜ l ☞ l ☞ l ☞ l ☞ ☞ l ☞ ☞ * l ☜ * ☜ ☜ ☜ ☜ notes for div a28994-e15280 ☞ l * ☞ * ☞ * ☜ * * l ☜ * ☜ ☜ notes for div a28994-e16390 * * de simpl . medic. facultatibus , lib. ix . titulo jaspis viridis . ac nonnulli quoque annulis inserunt , scalpuntque in eo draconem radios habentem : velut rex ne●hespos memoriae ●rodidit in sexto & decimo libro . experimenta & observationes physicæ wherein are briefly treated of several subjects relating to natural philosophy in an experimental way : to which is added, a small collection of strange reports / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1691 approx. 185 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 109 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28968 wing b3959 estc r19615 12221492 ocm 12221492 56407 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28968) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 56407) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 128:6) experimenta & observationes physicæ wherein are briefly treated of several subjects relating to natural philosophy in an experimental way : to which is added, a small collection of strange reports / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [29], 158, [2], 28 p. printed for john taylor ... and john wyat ..., london : 1691. errata: p. [2] at beginning. advertisements on p. [3]. reproduction of original in yale university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng physics -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-07 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion errata . page 6. for omitted , r. emitted , p. 14. l. 9. of left out . advertisement . books published by the honourable robert boyle , and printed for john taylor at the ship in st. paul's church-yard . 1. a free inquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature , made in an essay adress'd to a friend : in english and latin. 2. the martyrdom of theodora and dydimus . 3. a disquisition about the final causes of natural things ; wherein it is inquir'd , whether , and ( if at all ) with what cautions a naturalist should admit them ? to which are subjoyn'd , by way of appendix , some uncommon observations about vitiated sight . 4. the christian virtuoso : shewing that by being addicted to experimental philosophy , a man is rather assisted , than indispos'd to be a good christian ; to which are subjoyn'd : 1st . a discourse about the distinction that represents some things as above reason , but not contrary to reason . 2. the first chapters of a discourse , intituled greatness of mind promoted by christianity . printed for j. taylor at the ship ; and j. wyat at the rose in st. paul's church-yard . experimenta & observationes physicae : wherein are briefly treated of several subjects relating to natural philosophy in an experimental way . to which is added , a small collection of strange reports . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed for iohn taylor at the ship , and iohn wyat at the rose in s. paul's church-yard . mdcxci . a letter that may serve for a preamble . to my learned friend mr. h. oldenburg ( secretary to the royal society . ) sir , being at length come to a resolution , i have already done something more than barely entred upon that way of writing , that you and i have more than once discoursed of together ; and wherein you particularly ( tho not you only ) among my learned friends , have wish'd to see me engaged . 't is not , that i am insensible of the prejudice which the things i deliver are like to sustain , by the disadvantageous dress wherein they must appear , in the way of writing i have pitch'd upon ; which being for the most part plainly historical , and set down in the order wherein , they chanc'd to come to hand , denies most of them , not only the usual ornaments of other books , but the allowable advantages , that method , elaborate discourses , neat hypotheses , and subtil disputes , are permitted to bring even to philosophical writings . but these considerations were over-sway'd by a sad one , founded upon the ( yet continuing ) condition i was in , when i was debating this matter in my thoughts . for it having pleased god ( to whose always most just dispensations men ought entirely to submit ) to afflict me with the stone and the palsy ; as on one side , these , added to a sufficient number of avocations , scarce permit me any great expectation , of finishing in a short time the tracts i had made a lesser or greater progress in , according to my first design ; so on the other side , my friends judging it unfit , that the materials provided for these more than begun treatises , should be quite lost , or kept too long useless , it seemed expedient , that as opportunity should from time to time serve , i should look over my memorials , and other scatter'd papers , to take notice what experiments and observations were to be found in them . upon these , and the like inducements , having pick'd up several of my dispersed papers , some of them written many years ago , and some of a less ancient date ; i began to refer the most part of what i found historical in them , together with some few things that did seem necessary not to be sever'd from them , to certain heads or titles which i called chapters ; and made them the more numerous , that they might singly be the less prolix : and about these i must desire your leave to represent some things , by way of preface . and first , several of the ensuing particulars that i met with among my papers , being parts of essays of other discourses , and being for hast transcribed for the most part verbatim , as they were couched there ; i dare hope for your excuse , if among such transcripts you now and then meet with things , which , how pertinent soever to the tracts they first belong'd to , might have been spared as needless , if not sometimes forein ; also , in the new form the discourses are now put into ; since i could not leave out such unnecessary clauses ( whereof yet i hope you will not find many ) without too much mutilating the coherence , or obscuring the sense of what is delivered ; and i could not alter them , and adapt others to supply their places without spending more time , and taking more pains , than in the condition i am now in , i suppose you would be willing to condemn me to . next , i despair not but you will allow me the liberty i have taken , to vary the bulk and method of particular chapters , as my occasions would permit , or the plenty or paucity of materials suggested ; or the nature of the thing i treated of , and the scope i proposed to my self in writing of it , seem'd to require . but sometimes my want of health and leisure , and my desire to hasten to other subjects , that either pleased me better , or seem'd more considerable , made some of the following chapters , compared with others , but short ; especially , if i were supplyed but with a number of things pertinent to that subject , by the papers i had then in hand , how much soever i may have written of it in other papers , which i hope hereafter to be master of . and this advertisement may render you a reason why to the title of some of the chapters i have subjoyned the first section , tho it be not at present followed with a second . and , as for my having imployed very differing methods in some of the ensuing . tracts , i did it with design , as judging such a variety of method more conducive to my purpose , than uniformity in it would have been . for , besides that some of the treatises , vhence these chapters were taken , did , by the ways wherein they were already written , oblige me , to accommodate my self to their method ; i thought , that if you should shew these papers to any , that are very unacquainted ( which i have heard you complain , that too many are ) with the way of accommodating in some tolerable manner , his enquiries and his writings to the several subjects he applies himself to , he may be somewhat helped , by the differing examples he may here meet with , to make variations somewhat suitable to the differing natures of the subjects he deals with . but here i must beg you to take notice , that , tho in compliance with this design , as well as for some other reasons , i have in several of the following chapters given intimations and hints of things , which i do not there prosecute ; and now and then propose some conjectures and opinions , whose proof i do not insist on ; yet i am not willing you should think , that , however some of those passages may be but occasional things , mentioned principally to excite , and give hints to the inquisitive and sagacious ; yet all , or most of them , are of the same kind ; and that i thought not on them , but as slightly and transiently as i mentioned them ; and have no better and other reasons to alledg for my suspicions or intimations , or even for my conjectures or my opinions , than those you will meet with in papers hastily drawn up ; especially since , i think , i can shew you divers of the things deliver'd in those passages , enlarg'd and render'd at least probable or practicable in other discourses , that for certain reasons do not accompany these i now send you . i expect , that you should think it somewhat strange , to find many of the following experiments set down much less circumstantially than those that are mentioned in the physico-mechanical experiments touching the air ; in the continuation of them ; in the history of cold , and in some other books of mine that you have been pleas'd to peruse . but on this occasion give me leave to represent to you , that the nature of divers of the former experiments , especially chymical ones , and my aims in mentioning them , being considered , it seem'd not requisite they should be more fully treated of : and as for others , tho the brevity and dispatch ; which divers reasons made me propose to my self , had not forbidden me to amplify ; yet i daily feel my leisure , not to say my life too ; so torn piece●●●● from me , by sickness , visits , business , and inevitable avocations , that i am frequently admonished to hasten the securing of as much as conveniently i can , by dispatching particular subjects , and am quite hundred from dwelling so long upon them , as , if i had more health and leisure , i should willingly do . to these things perhaps , so favourable a person as mr. oldenburg will add , that the characters which learned writers , english and forein , tho divers of them personally unknown to me , have been pleased to give of the diligence and sincerity employed in setting down the physico-mechanical experiments , and those of some other writings of mine , may permit me to hope , that it will be thought , that , after having been divers years vers'd in making tryals and experiments , i have made them with some care and wariness , and mentioned them faithfully , where i have not done it amply ; upon hopes it may be taken in good part from a person in my present condition , that was never a professor of philosophy , nor so much as a gown-man ; to have made shift to make the experiments and observations he communicates , and set them down truly and candidly , without fraudulently concealing any part of them , for fear they should make against him . and tho perhaps you will easily believe , that in divers of the experiments which i have but briefly mention'd , i have been as diligent an observer of circumstances , as i was wont to be when i made those , which have had the luck to be taken notice of for being fully related ; and tho it may be also , that some scruples or objections , which my brevity may in part occasion , were not unforeseen by me , and might have been avoided by a more copious and diffus'd way of writing ; yet i purposely decline such a way of delivering things , not only for the reasons above mention'd ; and because i suppose them that may peruse these papers , to be acquainted with my formerly published writings , and to have either from them , or otherwise , understood the way of making such experiments as mine ; but also , because , tho i wanted time and health , much less than i do , i should not think it fit too much to prevent the industry of others about the tryals i mention ; and reap the field so clean , as not to leave them , not only store of ears to glean , but some corners of standing corn. i have therefore here and there purposely omitted , both , some not absolutely necessary practical directions about making of tryals , that might prevent such scruples or objections , as have the grounds of answering them clearly deliver'd in my printed books ; and several , not only lesser circumstances , but considerable phaenomena , and obvious applications , that may probably occur to others , as they did to me in making the tryals and reflecting on them . advertisements about the disposition of the following treatise . yov will quickly discern that the following chapters could not be intended for compleat tracts , about the subjects handl'd in them . and indeed they were intended but for such memoirs about the various particular subjects they treat of , as may be serviceable to the solid natural history that has been nobly design'd and is still prosecuted , by the royal society . wherefore since ( at least in our age ) no writer that i know of , has so early and so well , both urg'd the necessity of natural history , and promoted divers parts of it by precepts and specimens , as the illustrious lord verulam ; i shall not scruple in the way or manner of writing these short collections of mine , to make use somewhat frequently of his authority and examples ; but without confining my self to either . i. agreeably to this advertisement you will find , that some of the particulars that the following treatise consists of , are single and as it were , independent ones ; upon which account they resemble those which in the verulamian sylva , or natural history , are call'd experiments solitary : and have for that reason induc'd me to give that title to each of the several chapters that are made up of them . ii. another sort of chapters there is , wherein divers experiments and observations , all of them relating to the same subject or purpose , are set down together . these if they were rang'd and sorted in order to distinct theories , i should call , in imitation of the mention'd author , experiments in consort . but my backwardness to frame theories has made me chuse to forbear as yet to methodize them , and therefore has made me think fit to call them only various experiments and observations about this or that subject ( which they belong to . ) iii. my hast , tho not that only , induc'd me to make one sort of chapters more , that partly agrees with , and partly differs from each of the two that i come from mentioning : for in every one of these chapters , there are two or three , if not more , single or solitary experiments ; and there are also others that have some kind of connexion among themselves , as being referable to the same subject or purpose . on that score the title that is given to each of the chapters of this third sort , is that of miscellaneous experiments ; and sometimes ( but seldomer ) of promiscuous ones . and all the particulars that i refer to the three foremention'd heads , are cast into chapters , wherein the several kinds are distinguish'd only by their titles , or not . iv. there is one advertisement that regards all the sorts of particulars that are refer'd to the foremention'd chapters , which is , that i have usually comprehended observations , as well as tryals , nuder the title of experiments ; which i have done , not only upon the authority , and in following the example of our judicious chancellor ( as is every where obvious in his sylva sylvarum ) but for other reasons too . for both the sorts of particulars may pass for matters of fact , and so are historical , taking the word in a lax sense , and the imploying it in that sense , makes the articles or passages , whereof the chapters and other parts of our collection consists , much more commodious for references and citations . v. besides the three foremention'd kinds of chapters , you will meet in the ensuing treatise with another sort of writings , whereof some are almost entire , and others fragments of larger discourses . in neither of these , i did confine my self so much to matters of fact , as in those chapters that consist of experiments and observations ; but took the liberty , as occasion requir'd , to inlarge in discourses , and sometimes to cite such passages out of other mens writings , as i judg'd i could make some pertinent application or use of , perhaps unthought of by the author . and these papers being most , if not all of them written in a more free and discursive way , i thought fit to separate them from the sets of collections that are almost merely historical ; and accordingly i have not styl'd them chapters , but titles ; and have forborn to assign them , as i did the others , ordinal numbers ; which i desire likewise you would not prefix to any of them , because i am not yet resolv'd how i shall dispose of them , either by supplying what is wanting to finish any one , or more of them , or by taking to pieces , and imploying those pieces as materials for other tracts . vi. perhaps i shall not be thought to need pardon , if to comply with their curiosity , who affect most those experiments , that are either uncommon , or teach them to do or perform something useful or pretty ; i sometimes prefix a title declaring what it treats of , to a particular experiment ( or observation , ) which for its importance , novelty , or vsefulness ( theorical or practical ) may deserve to bedistinguish't ; since by this means such particulars may be the better imprest on the memory , to gratifie those , whose nicety or want of leisure , may make them well pleas'd by a transient view of the titles we speak of , to find such passages as they chiefly look'd for , with less trouble than that of perusing an index . vii . among the experiments our collection consists of , there is here and there one , to which it was thought fit to add something , either by way of explication , or of illustration , or of confirmation , or of answer to objections , or of theorical reflection , or of practical application , &c. and these supplements or additions it was thought fit to call sometimes annotations , but oftner scholiums , because that term is freely us'd in a very comprehensive sense by mathematical writers . but tho i readily acknowledg that this term has been chiefly imploy'd by mathematicians , yet the use of it has not been so confin'd to them , but that good authors in other parts of learning have not scrupl'd to imploy it , as may appear by the scholiums that some learned physicians have written upon hollerius , an eminent person of their profession ; as also by the example of the famous and experienc'd forestus , who has not seldom subjoin'd scholiums , even to his own medicinal observations . viii . the mention of these scholia prompts me to tell you , i had almost forgotten , but yet must not leave unmention'd , that i thought fit now and then to premise to sets of experiments , and sometimes ( tho more seldom ) to a single observation a short preamble by way of introduction , which may often excuse the need of subjoyning a scholium ; and may be warranted by the example of the lord verulam in his centuries , wherein he often inserts such short preambles , as things fitted to give light to the experiments they belong to , and to give some advertisement both of the nature and importance of the subject , and of the scope of the writer , or of other useful circumstances . ix . if among my own experiments , namely , those that i have made or seen , i have sometimes inserted experiments or observations that are not so : i have not done it without reason , and am authoris'd in that practice , by frequent examples afforded me by the first , if not only author that i know of , that gave us a set of precepts of well writing natural history , our often cited verulam , whose centuries do in great part consist of borrow'd experiments and observations ; without which , he was sensible that his sylva must be of too narrow a compass , or too thinly stock't with plants , especially with trees . and indeed 't is not to be expected , that , as the silk-worm draws her whole mansion altogether out of her own bowels , so a single man should be able to write a natural history out of his own experiments and thoughts . and he that will strictly confine himself to those , will be often reduc'd to omit things very pertinent , if not necessary , to his subject , which is of practice studiously declin'd by me , who prefer the readers vtility , to the ambition'd glory of being thought to borrow nothing from any body . and i can add in my defence , at least my excuse , that i have made use but of a small part of the liberty allow'd me by the example of so great a guide in the way of writing natural history . for i have very much seldomer than he , employ'd the tryals of others ; and have yet seldomer mention'd unverifi'd reports or vulgar traditions , being careful that the bulk of the matters of fact i deliver , should consist of things , whereof i was my self an actor , or an eye witness ; and that the comparatively few borrow'd experiments that i added , ( that i might not deprive my reader of some things very pertinent and useful to my subject ) were receiv'd from persons of very good credit ; besides that i do not only frequently give sufficient intimation in the experiment or observation its self , but oftentimes by placing the letter c in the margent , do give notice ; nay , and sometimes to a whole set , prefix the title of communicated experiments or observations . x. i have nothing more to give you notice of here , save that , whereas you will find that i write but on one side of the leaves , whereof this book * consists : i did so for two reasons . the first , that in case i should have occasion to imploy any of these experiments in other treatises , for which i am more concern'd than for this rhapsody , i might have room to substitute , if it should be thought fit , one or more of my later experiments in its place . and secondly , that i might have room , if i can get leisure , to write annotations , or make reflections , or illustrations , or corrections , or in a word , such addititions and alterations of particular experiments and passages , as they shall be thought to deserve or need . i am sensible that this preamble , increas'd by the advertisements that 't was thought necessary to annex to it , is of a length that may seem disproportionate to the book or tract 't is prefixt to . but i may in excuse of this represent to you , that the bundle of writings you now receive , is but a part of the book ; to which , if god vouchsafe me health and leisure , this preface inlarg'd by its appendix , is design'd for an introduction . and in that case 't is hop'd that these preliminaries , as many as they are , will not be thought impertinent , or needlesly prolix . experimenta & observationes physicae . tome i. chap. i. containing chymico-magnetical experiments and observations . the loadstone , pyrophilus , is so admirable a body , and its usefulness to mankind is already so great , without denying us hopes of farther improvments ; that i think we must want curiosity or gratitude , if we neglect either to take notice of any experienc'd phoenomena that directly relate to so abstruse a subject , or , by consigning them to paper , to preserve them from oblivion . 't is chiefly by this consideration , pyrophilus , that i am induc'd to mention to you the following experiments and observations , made most of them by the help of the fire . for , tho some of them may seem but slight ; yet they may not prove unuseful , towards discovering the nature of a body so strange and singular , that , for ought is yet manifest , any true magnetical phoenomena may somewhat conduce to the knowledg of it , and i was the rather induc'd to make tryals and observations of this kind , because most of them are such as i have not met with in authors . and the few that remain , i have not found sufficiently taken notice of there ; philosophers and mathematicians ayming chiefly , in their magnetical writings , to prosecute and apply the attractive and directive , and perhaps the inclinatory , faculty of the loadstone . whereas , throwing into another paper , what i observ'd , of that kind , i did in the present inquiry mainly intend to make the loadstone rather the object than the instrument of my tryals : and handling chiefly the very substance of the stone , endeavour not so much to advance or apply its faculties , as to weaken and destroy them , tho in order to the better knowing of them . having therefore procured a considerable number of , for the most part naked ( or uncapt ) loadstones , most of them course , but of differing sizes , shapes , colours , and countries ; i made upon them several tryals , some of which i should immediately proceed to give you a brief account of , but that 't will be proper to premise this short advertisement : that , i would not have the title of these experiments make you expect , that the fire should be a main agent in every one of them , since to preserve some few of them , i refer them hither , tho an actual fire was not imploy'd to make them : since the common rule that a potiori parte fit denominatio , will suffice to warrant , or at least excuse , my giving to this small collection the title of chymico-magnetical experiments ; because the greatest part were perform'd by the help of the fire , or bodies chymically prepar'd by the application of it . and because 't is usual with the best writers about magnetism , to reckon steel and iron among magnetical bodies ; i shall not scruple to deliver in this paper some experiments , made by the help of the fire upon those subjects ; with reference neverthe less to magnetism . experiment i. having ignited several loadstones , and removed them from the fire till they grew cold again , i found a great disparity in the visible substance whereof they consisted , and the manifest structure of the gross parts that made them up . for some stones upon refrigeration , either fell asunder of themselves , or grew very brittle ; when as others still continued in their entireness : some of them being broken look'd not unlike iron-ore , or stones which i have gather'd near iron-mynes in kent ; others being broken , after refrigeration appear'd to consist of plates or flakes of several colours , and lying parallel to one another : and others again , which as i remember were english ones , did neither appear to be compos'd of any such flakes , nor had their dark colours much , if at all chang'd by the operation of the fire , nor did cease to be solid bodies . experiment ii. we could not upon the burning of several small loadstones one after another , discern any such blew sulphureous flame as porta in his natural magick relates himself to have seen , and judges to have been as it were the soul of the loadstone , upon whose recess he says , it lost its magnetick faculty , which is most commonly true as to any considerable degree of the coitive or attractive power , but not of the directive faculty or vertue . but it may be that porta mistook the small flame , which is often omitted even by well-kindled and glowing charcoales , ( on which sort his loadstone was placed ) especially when a little blowen upon , for the exhaling soul of the loadstone ; or else , to be civil to him , we may suppose , that , his stone was more rich in unctuous moisture than others are wont to be ; and if we had had by us a very exact pair of scales , we should have endeavoured to have by them discovered , whether the fire do deprive loadstones of any ponderable parts . experiment iii. the solidity of some english loadstones , made me think it fit , tho i look'd upon them as a kind of iron-ore , to try whether they could not be brought to strike fire . and accordingly , having made divers collisions betwixt a rough peice , and the steel of a tinder box ; i found that with much ado it was possible to obtain some sparks , ( tho they seem'd but small ones : ) but having taken a large peice of smooth loadstone , i found that , by striking it somewhat briskly , with the edge of a steel'd hammer , we were able to produce good store of sparks , and some of them of a surprizing bigness ; for they were judged to exceed the size of those that are usually afforded by common flints . experiment iv. for certain reasons i thought fit to make a further tryal , being desirous to satisfie my self , whether it were not possible , to make loadstones afford fire without the help of iron or steel . and being willing to comply with this curiosity , i made choice of two solid peices of loadstone , that were cut almost into the form of cubes ; and found that many collisions being made between them , especially at the edges ; there were produced from time to time , ( tho not frequently , ) some sparks of fire , tho neither so numerous , nor so great or vivid , as those of the foregoing experiment wherein the steel was employ'd . experiment v. i have ( elsewhere ) formerly related , that if an oblong loadstone made glowing hot , be refrigerated perpendicularly , the lower extream will thereby become its northern pole. and i shall now add , that yet if such a loadstone be refrigerated perpendicularly , not upon an ordinary terrestrial body , but upon the northern extream of a much stronger loadstone ; in such case , this debilitated stone will receive its impressions , as if it were an iron , and its lower extream will not be , as before , by the magnetick effluvia of the earth , made its northern pole ; but it will be contrariwise animated by the pole of the loadstone , on which 't is cool'd ; and according to the laws magnetical , the lower extream of it , will not be its northern , but its southern pole , nimbly attracting the north end of an excited and aequilibrated needle . experiment vi. by the forementioned way of refrigeration i also found , that a disanimated loadstone ( if i may so speak ) may be restored , to some degree of its attractive vertue ; for i try'd that a small loadstone , which after its being made red hot in the fire , and cool'd perpendicularly upon the ground , was not able to take up a fragment of a needle ; being again heated , and not only cool'd upon the pole of a strong loadstone , but suffered to rest on it a while after , was soon grown vigorous enough , to take up what formerly it could not move . experiment vii . i further observ'd , that tho a loadstone that had pass'd the fire , had not , by being immediately before made red hot , had its body open'd and fitted to take in plentifully the magnetical streams ; yet it would , like a wire of iron , acquire a new verticity from the vigorous loadstone ; but not be in many hours so vigorously impregnated with magnetick vertue , if it were applied cold to the pole of the animating loadstone ; as it would in a very short time , if being glowing hot it were refrigerated thereupon . n. b. it has been observ'd , that if a loadstone be made red hot in the fire , it will scarce retain any sensible attractive vertue , save that it will be able , by being endowed with a magnetism from the earth , to drive away that pole of a needle well poys'd , which agrees in denomination with that pole of the loadstone , which is applied to it . but i desire that it may be remembred , that i intimated that this is not strictly and universally true ; for in some of our english loadstones , it has been observ'd , that ignition does not only leave them capable of a directive vertue , but leaves them also a considerable attractive power , so that they will sustain a good weight of steel ( as will appear hereafter . ) experiment viii . we took three english loadstones that appeared to be of a very compact substance ; two of them very small , as not being of near half an inch in length ; the other much greater , being about an inch long , and of a considerable breadth , but yet of small thickness : these we made red hot in a fire of well kindled charcoal , and being thorowly ignited , removed them one after another , and hastily set each of them upon a plate of silver ( for neither wood nor iron would have been convenient ) and applying the loadstone ( capp'd ) to each of them , whilst it was yet red hot ; it seem'd manifest enough , not only , that whilst it was in that state , the stone had not so strong an operation on it , as if it were not red hot : but , which is remarkable , when it ceas'd to appear ignited , but yet was intensly hot , ( so that it was readily able to burn his fingers that should offer to take it up between them ) the armed loadstone had a more powerful operation on it , by way of what they call attraction and sustentation ( not only , as i said , than it had , whilst the ignited stone conspicuously retain'd the colour fire , but ) than it had , after the same stone was grown cold . experiment ix . this experiment was reiterated with the two smaller magnets and the greater , with the like success : and when the magnets were grown cold , they did notwithstanding their having been twice ignited , discover some little magnetism , if apply'd to the end of a well-excited magnetick needle , nicely poys'd upon the point of an ordinary needle [ or brass pin ] ( on which its center of gravity lean'd . ) and i found that the bigger of the three forementioned loadstones , after the first , if not also after the second ignition ; did not only move the magnetick needle more briskly than one would have expected , but , ( which may seem strange ) being thrust into filings of mars , and then taken out , it carried up with it and sustained a considerable number of them . whence we may conclude , that in some loadstones of a very solid constitution , such as this was ; the magnetical vertue is more radicated ( if i may so speak ) or permanent , than in the generality of other magneticks : this stone being the first wherein i observ'd , after i had thorowly ignited it , any attractive vertue able to take up filings of iron . experiment x. on occasion of these tryals i made another , which tho to some it may seem but slight , i thought the more worthy to be made , because i remember not to have read or heard of it before ; we took then , the same loadstone that we employ'd about the last experiment , and having again made it red hot , in the fire , suffered it not to cool leisurely in the air , as before , but quenched it , in a bason of cold water ; intending thereby to make a double variation of the experiment , first , by cooling it hastily , and as it were abruptly ; and next by cooling it not in the air , but in a fluid some hundreds of times more dense or ponderous than the air. the event of the tryal was , that , upon the immersion of the red hot stone , there fell off some flaky matter , as if it had been scales of mars ; and the stone , when cold , would not take up any filings of iron , as before it did many ; so that it appear'd to have lost much of the vertue it so lately had , tho it retain'd the power to move a well-poys'd needle , if it were held near to either side of the point of it . experiment xi . a black oblong loadstone , of a homogeneous substance , and weighing near three drams , having been in a fire of well-kindled charcoals , ignited , and continued so for some minutes , of an hour ; being weighed again as soon as it was cool'd , was found to have lost about ⅝ of a grain of its first weight , and much of the blackness of its colour . tho the affinity between the loadstone and iron , might make one expect that the fire might have a like operation upon this stone , and that out of which iron is commonly melted , both being indeed iron-oars ; yet for some reasons that i cannot now stay to mention , i was induc'd to think , that the effect of ignition upon those two bodies might be very differing , as i conceive their internal and unseen texture to be . and therefore i made the following experiment . a lump of iron oar , which look'd almost like a white stone , rather than a common oar , and was about the bigness of two eggs ; being apply'd , in several of its parts , to an excited needle , did not appear to move it manifestly . but being afterwards made glowing hot , and kept so for a while , and then refrigerated ; it did in those parts , which seem'd by their newly acquir'd colour to abound with metalline corpuscles ; it did , i say , manifestly attract the north end of the needle . and this was tryed , both with a needle of our own touching , and by the mariners needle of a sun-dyal ; whos 's flower-de-luce , the burnt oar did manifestly draw . experiment xii . to confirm the former observation , and also what i elsewhere gave notice of , that divers bodies are of a magnetical nature or have in them some parts that are so , which yet are not vulgarly believ'd to be referable to that sort of bodies ; i shall subjoyn the following experiment . a brick that had not been us'd , was saw'd long ways into two equal pieces , and each of these ( one at one time , and another at another ) was heated red hot in the fire for a pretty while , and afterwards suffer'd to cool north and south : and , as i expected , it thereby acquired a magnetical verticity ; and with that end that in cooling respected the south , did a little , tho but faintly , draw the flower de luce ( which pointed out the north ) of the mariner's needle ; and with the other end , did somewhat more vigorously drive the flower de luce away , and a little attract the other extream of the needle . experiment xiii . we took a [ black ] loadstone , and having by degrees beaten it small , without suffering it to touch any iron or steel vesiel or instrument , [ which because of the hardness of the stone , was very troublesome to do ; ] we set aside the grosser grains for other uses , and upon some of the finer powder we pour'd the spirit of common salt , which had at first a sensible operation upon it , by producing foetid fumes , and making a kind of ebullition , as that menstruun is wont to do upon filings of iron or steel . but nevertheless , being kept a night or two in digestion , it drew a high tincture ; and tho this was not at all , like the solutions of mars in spirit of salt , green , but of a yellowish brown , not very remote from redness : yet a little of it being dropt into a fresh and sufficiently coloured infusion of galls , turned it presently into an inky substance , which in some positions appear'd blewish , as a tincture or light solution of mars would have done .. i shall only add , about the solution of loadstone , that having carefully made it with a good aqua regia , obtain'd a solution , some of which you may yet command a sight of , that by some virtuosi to whom i shew'd it , was thought either a fine solution of gold , or little , if at all , inferior to it in kind or richness of colour . i chose to employ the spirit of salt , rather than that of nitre or aqua fortis , in this experiment ; because i found the first named liquor to dissolve iron very well , if not better , tho less furiously , than aqua fortis it self ; and also , because i could by this means better judge of the tincture of its colour ; having formerly found by tryal , that spirit of salt makes a green solution of mars ; but aqua fortis or spirit of nitre , a reddish one . and it was to judge of the tincture of the loadstone , as well as for another purpose , that i was so careful to keep the stone from touching iron , when it was pulverising ; least by the hardness of it , and the sharpness of its angles , it should grate off some parts of the metal , and so alter the solution ; for want of which caution , i have known some experiments about artificial gems to miscarry ; the brass morter wherein the hard ingredients were beaten , having communicated some particles to them , that alter'd the colour which the masse after vitrification would otherwise have been of . experiment xiv . some parts of the foregoing experiment may be confirm'd by that which follows . i caus'd a weak loadstone to be heated red hot , to make it the more easie to be powder'd , and having caus'd it to be beaten very fine , i digested good spirit of salt upon it . ( i afterwards found that ordinary spirit would serve the turn ) this in a few hours acquir'd a tincture not greenish , but almost like that of a troubled solution of gold. it strongly relish'd of iron , and a little of it being dropp'd into infusion of galls , it turn'd it immediately into an inky liquor ; part of this solution being gently evaporate ● , grew thick like an extract , but did not seem dispos'd to shoot into chrystals ; yet another part of it did precipitate with salt of tartar , much like a solution of vitriol ; and another with spirit of fermented urine gave a plentiful , but yellowish red , praecipitate . experiment xv. meeting among my loose notes , with one that may serve both for a variation and confirmation of what has been above delivered in the experiments ; it seem'd not improper to annex a transcript of it . a red mineral , whose consistence was between stony and earthy , was by me judg'd to be a kind of iron oar , tho having powder'd some of it , i could not find that a good loadstone would attract any part of it : therefore , to satisfie my self , and to confirm d. b's observation ; about the vertue of linseed oyl , i caus'd this red powder , wetted with that liquor , to be kept about two hours ignited in a crucible ; by which means it was turn'd blackish . this dark colour'd powder was taken out , and suffer'd to cool , and then would readily adhere to the same loadstone , almost as if they had been a heap of filings of iron . but the operation of the fire perhaps contributed , as much ( or more ) as the linseed oyl , to this change. for a parcel of the red powder being kept ignited in a crucible , tho without the liquor , did afterwards appear magnetical . after having said thus much of the most useful of uncommon stones , the magnet : it will not , i presume , be thought incongruous to subjoin some remarks about the most precious of them that are known among us , viz. diamonds ; which will be done in the next chapter . chap. ii. containing various observations about diamonds . diamonds being generally esteem'd the most noble and precious of gems , and even of inanimate bodies here below , ( for of carbuncles , the very existence is disputed ; ) the opportunity i had of being one of the committee or directors of the english east-india company , ( whereto the desire of knowledge , not profit , drew me ) allow'd me in some measure to gratifie my curiosity about them , by adding to some observations of my own , the answers i had to the questions , i propounded to some east-india merchants and jewellers , that had opportunity to deal much with those gems . part of what i had learn'd about them , i committed from time to time to some papers , which were the main things that supply'd me with the following particulars . these gems , ( to add that upon the by , ) may the rather deserve our curiosity , because the commerce they help to maintain between the western and eastern parts of the world , is very considerable . for as small as their bulk is , their properties and mens opinion , do so much recommend them , that i remember one of the most famous and intelligent merchants of this nation , ( who has been governor of more than one trading company in it , ) being enquir'd of by me about the value of the diamond trade ; he answer'd me , that according to his well-grounded estimate , there came from the east-indies into europe , one year with another , to the value of about 350000 sterl . of which about 100000 l. came into england ; which at present , because of the prudent indulgence of the government , and of the east-india company , is become the mart of diamonds . i. to prove the great hardness of diamonds , even in comparison of other bodies , that are thought wonderfully hard , a famous artist for cutting of diamonds , in return to some questions i put him , affirm'd to me , that he could not either cut or polish diamonds with any thing but with diamonds . and he further answered me , that if he should employ so rough a way , and such forcible engines to cut rubies or any other stones , as he does to cut diamonds , it would presently break them in pieces ; which the inspection of his engine made very probable to me . ii. a very skilful cutter and polisher of diamonds ( mr. l. ) being demanded by me , whether he found that all sorts of diamonds were of equal hardness , told me , that having dealt in diamonds near twenty years in amsterdam , and divers years in england , he perceiv'd that there are of later years , brought over worse and worse sorts of diamonds ; so that he judges those of the old rock ( as he calls them ) either to be quite spent in the indies themselves , or at least to be seldom or never brought over to us . and he finds several of recent diamonds , so soft and brittle in comparison of those of the old rock , that he is oftentimes afraid , or unwilling to meddle with them , least he should spoil them in the cutting or polishing . iii. notwithstanding the ( lately mention'd ) wonderful hardness of diamonds , there is no truth in the tradition , as generally as 't is receiv'd , that represents diamonds as uncapable of being broken by any external force , unless they be soften'd by being steep'd in the blood of a goat . for this odd assertion , i find to be contradicted by frequent practice of diamond cutters : and particularly having enquir'd of one of them , to whom abundance of those gems are brought to be fitted for the jeweller and goldsmith , he assur'd me , that he makes much of his powder to polish diamonds with , only , by beating board diamonds ( as they call them ) in a steel or iron morter , and that he has that way made with ease , some hundreds of carrats of diamond dust . iv. 't is an opinion receiv'd among many that deal in gems , that as diamonds are the hardest of bodies , so the same compactness , and their great solidity , gives them also a proportionable gravity , and makes them extreamly weighty , in reference to their bulk : and i saw in the hands of a virtuoso , a book ( that i could not procure ) not long since put out by a french jeweller , who as he affirms , has dealt very much in diamonds ; wherein the author asserts , the great ponderosity of these stones , in comparison of other bodies . but this opinion agrees very little with the following experiment , that i find among others , that i try'd about gems , register'd to this purpose . a rough diamond somewhat dark within , did in a pair of scales that would turn either way with the 32th part of a grain , weigh 8 grains , and eight sixteenths . this stone being with care weigh'd in water , according to the rules of the hydrostaticks ; its weight appear'd to be to that of an equal bulk of that liquor , as 2 11 / 23 to 1. so that , as far as can be judg'd by this tryal , even a diamond weighs not full thrice as much as water . v. a famous and experienc'd cutter of diamonds , being ask'd by me , whether he did not find some rough diamonds heavier than others of the same bigness , told me , that he did , especially if some of them were cloudy or foul : insomuch that shewing me a diamond that seem'd to be about the bigness of two ordinary pease or less , he affirm'd , that he sometimes found in diamonds of that bigness , compar'd together about a carrat ( or four grains ) difference in point of weight . vi. the shape or figure of diamonds is not so easie to be securely determin'd . for those that are seen in rings and other jewels , having been by way of preparation cut and polish'd , have chang'd their natural figures for that which the artificer thought fit to give them . and rough diamonds themselves ( which are not obviously met with ) do oftentimes come to our hands broken , tho unwillingly , by the diggers . and thereby unfit to acquaint us with their genuine shape , which we may also miss of being able to discover , on account of the accidents that the matter they consisted of was subject to , at their formation in the mine . for to omit other proofs , having had a parcel of between 100 and 150 ( if i misremember not the number , ) put into my hands at one time in the east-india house to gratifie my curiosity , i found very few of them compleatly shap'd ; but most of them broken , and of very irregular figures , like those of so much gravel taken up at adventures upon the sea-shore . but some few i saw that were pretty regularly figur'd , which probably were not much hinder'd from shooting freely in the wombs or cavities , wherein they were coagulated or concreted . and these seem'd to consist , in my opinion , of several triangular surfaces that were terminated in , or compos'd , diverse solid angles . and one rough diamond i had of my own , wherein this shape was more conspicuous than i remember to have seen in any other . besides having enquir'd of a very experienc'd artificer , who dealt much in fitting these gems for the goldsmiths use , whether he found rough diamonds to be of any constant figure , and if he did , what that figure was ? he answer'd me , that he always found those that had any constant , ( or as he meant , regular ) figure , to be in his own expression six corner'd . vii . diamonds have in them a grain ( or a determinate tendency of their fibres , or rather of the thin plates they are made up . of , ) as well as wood , and may with case enough be split along the grain , tho not against it ; as i have seen a very large diamond that was cut according to the grain into three pieces , whereof the middlemost , tho large and about the thickness of a shilling , was of an even thickness , and exactly flat on both sides . i have my self a diamond-ring , whose stone i would not have polish'd , but caus'd it to be set rough as nature produc'd it , because in that state the grain is manifest to the naked eye , and much more to a glass moderately magnifying the several plates it consists of , having their edges distinguishable like those of a book a little open'd . a cutter of these gems that has had store of them to practise his skill on , answer'd me , that one good blow may split even great diamonds , if it be given , as they speak , with the grain ; but against the grain , he affirm'd to me , as dexterous and expert an artificer as he is , that he is not able so much as to cut or polish them . viii . the common colour of diamond being generally enough known by sight , 't is not needful , as it would not be to describe it by words ; but the most usual colour of these gems is not the only , of which they may sometimes be found . a great traveller into the eastern parts of the world assur'd me , that he had seen some of them that were of a pale blewish colour : that famous french jeweller as well as traveller , monsieur tavernier , gives an account of a fair diamond that he had of a very red colour ; and that great . ornament of our english court the d. of r. told me , that she was mistress of a fair one , which tho not of a ruby , was of a red colour , but not having it at hand , she could not then shew it me : a relation of mine , in the same court , used to wear a diamond ring ; which tho the stone was not great , he valu'd at a hundred pound , because its colour was of so fine a golden yellow , that i i should have taken it for an excellent topaz , but that he had satisfi'd me 't was a diamond to which agreed its great hardness , which gave an uncommon luster . and i remember , that surveying attentively a parcel of rough diamonds newly brought from the east-indies , i perceiv'd among them , besides several lighter variations of colour . one stone that was all green , and that to such a degree , that i doubted not that if it were polish'd land set , it might pass for an excellent emerald ; and i should have suspected this gem to have been really of that kind , but that i found it among diamonds that belong'd to merchants too skilful in those gems to be impos'd upon ; and which was more , the stone being yet rough and uncut , i found it plainly to have the proper shape of a diamond . ix . at the late return of the ships from india , being present at the delivery of the diamonds to the owners , i observ'd one belonging to a dutch merchant whose father was a cutter of diamonds , and bred him to the same trade . the diamond came from the king of cholconda , it was shaped ( like mine ) with fix triangular sides , which yet were neither regularly figured nor truly flat , some of them being a little convex , and one of them having a manifest and odly-figured cavity in it . but the diamond being fair and flawless , and so thick , that the merchant told me it would be too deep for one ring , and that therefore he meant to split it into two . i had it weigh'd , and found it to amount to ten charats ( or 40 grains ) . i could easily perceive the grain of this diamond , which the merchant also acknowledged ; who answer'd me , that he had never seen in diamonds any heterogeneous mixture inclosed . he further inform'd me , that there was brought him a large diamond from borneo , that was much darker than one i shewed him ; insomuch that he compared it to soot ; but when he had cut and polished it , he and others were much surprized to find it a fair and clear stone , of very great value . x. the conjecture i have elsewhere propos'd , that divers of the real virtues of gems may be probably deriv'd from the metalline , or mineral tinctures , or other corpuseles that were imbody'd with the matter of the gem , whilst it was yet fluid , or soft , and afterwards concoagulated therewith : this conjecture , i say , may be much countenanc'd by the following relation , which deserves a place in this chapter , by reason of its pertinency to the subject of it . i have long suspected that the matter whereof diamonds mainly consist was , whilst it was yet in solutis principiis , impregnated with metalline , and more particularly with martial ones : but by reason of the dearness of those gems , and some other impediments , tho i have ben master of several diamonds of differing sizes , cut , and uncut , yet i could never make a tryal capable of satisfying my curiosity , till having lately met with among other little curiosities that lay long neglected by me , some number of small diamonds , that i had bought for experiments ; i consider'd that their being yet rough , and so in their natural state might make them more fit for my purpose , and so it might that they were not so clear as those that we value in rings , which probably argued their having more of martial tincture in them than i should expect in the more diaphanous : upon this account , i say , i took a moderately vigorous loadstone ( for 't was none of the strongest i have had ) and apply'd it successively to five or six of these small stones , without perceiving it had any operation on them : but when i came to apply it to one more , which look't somewhat duller than almost any of the rest , i found that it had in it particles enough of an iron nature to make it a magnetical body ; and observ'd without surprise , that not only it would suffer it self to be taken up by the strongest pole of the loadstone , but when that pole was offer'd within a convenient distance , it would readily leap through the air to fasten it self to it . i have elsewhere mention'd some other qualities of diamonds , as besides their electrical vertue , this , that 't is possible that some of them may without fire or intense heat be brought to shine ; tho among all that i have try'd , i found but two that i could so make luminous . one of these belongs to the king , and is describ'd at the latter end of our history of colours ; and the other is a very small one of my own ; which either was quickly lost among other stones of the same size , or quickly lost its faculty of shining . but , to avoid repetitions , i shall here only add , that some few other observations of a more peculiar sort than those deliver'd in the two foregoing pentades , may be found in other writings of ours , to which they seem more properly to belong . chap. iii. many changes of colour produc'd by one simple ingredient . i know not any way more likely to convince the generality of men ( who are wont to be much more impress'd on by sensible phenomena than theories , tho solidly founded ) how great an interest the variable texture of bodies may have in making them appear of differing colours , than by shewing how the addition of a single ingredient that either is colour ess , or at least is not of any of the colours to be produced , is capable ( and that for the most part in a trice ) by introducing a secret change of the texture to make the body , 't is put to , appear sometimes of one colour , sometimes of another , according as the parts of the body wrought upon are dispos'd to receive such a change as modify's the incident beams of light after the manner requisite to make them exhibit a blew , a green , a red , or some other particular colour . upon this consideration i thought of several liquors , such as aqua fortis , oyl ( as they call it ) of vitriol , or instead of it of sulphur . aqua rezia , besides other saline liquors that i shall not now stay to name , because it may here suffice to tell you , that amongst them all i made choice of the spirit ( not that which chymists call the oyl ) of salt , as that which is very simple , and which if it be not too much dephlegm'd , may be had clear and colourless enough . with this spirit , i proceeded to make the following experiments upon several bodies , whose differing textures made me suppose they would be fit for my purpose . and tho i could not , without much disadvantaging my design , forbear to mention some tryals that may be found elsewhere scatterd among my writings on other occasions ; yet the greatest part by odds of those laid together in this chapter , will , i presume , be found new. i. some drops of well coloured syrup of violets being let fall together upon a piece of white paper , if a third or fourth part so much spirit of salt be with the tip of one's finger mix'd with them , the syrup will presently become of a red colour , usually somewhat inclining to purple . ii. but if the liquor to be acted on , be otherwise disposed , 't is possible with spirit of salt to turn it from a blew colour , not to a red , but to a green , as i have sometimes done by letting fall into a deep solution of filings of copper made with an urinous spirit , as that of sal armonia● , just as many drops of spirit of salt as were requisite and sufficient to produce the change intended . i say just so many drops , because a very small error either in excess or defect , may leave the mixture still blew , or bring it to be all colourless . iii. upon a quantity , not exceeding many drops of good syrup of violets , let fall two or three drops of good spirit of urine , harts-horn , or the like , or of oyl of tartar per deliquium ; and when by mixing them well , the syrup has acquired a fine green colour , then by putting to it a little of the spirit of salt , and stirring it with the tip of your finger , you may turn the green syrup ( as in the first experiment you did the blew ) into a red. iv. if you put a quantity of red rose leaves well dryed into a glass vial almost full of fair water , and soon after put to them as much spirit of salt as will make the water pretty sharp , you will quickly see both that liquor and the contain'd leaves brought to a fine and lovely red , which scarlet colour it will retain for a great while ; the like effect spirit of salt will have on some other vegetables of a stiptick or of an astringent nature . v. but if by infusing brazil in fair water , you make a tincture of it , which you may much deepen by droping into it a little spirit of harts-horn , or of urine ; if you then put to it a little spirit of salt , it will presently change it from a deeply reddish colour , oftentimes like that of muskadine , to a colour far more pale , or rather yellow , like that of the more dilute sack ; so that the same spirit acting upon two vegetable tinctures differingly dispos'd , draws out and heightens redness in one , and destroys it in the other . vi. if you make an infusion of true lignum nephriticum in spring water , it will appear of a deep colour , like that of oranges , when you place the vial between the window and your eye , and of a fine deep blew when you look on it with your eye placed between it and the window . but if you shake into this liquor a few drops of spirit of salt , the caeruleous colour will presently vanish and appear no more , in what light soever you look upon the vial , tho the liquor will still retain the orange colour . vii . we took common writing ink , and having let fall several drops of it upon a piece of white paper , so that when it grew dry in the air , some parts of the ink lay thick and some thinner upon the paper whereon it did spread it self , we put a few drops of strong spirit of salt , some on one part of the black'd paper , and some ( or perhaps a small drop ) on another , and observ'd , as we expected , that in these places , where the spirit had been put , or to which it reach'd , the blackness was quite destroyed , and succeeded by an unpleasant kind of colour that seem'd for the most part to participate of yellow and blew , neither of them good in its kind . viii . if in spirit of salt , you dissolve filings of steel , and slowly evaporate the filtrated solution , it will shoot into a kind of vitriolum martis that will be green as well as that which chymists vulgarly make with oyl of vitriol . and to add , that on this occasion , if you take these chrystals made with spirit of salt , and when they are dry , keep them in a crucible , you will find that even a moderate fire if duly apply'd , will make them in a short time exchange their green colour for a red , like that of the finer sort of crocus martis , as indeed this operation makes them referable to that sort of medicines . ix . we took some mercury precipitated , per se ( that is , by the sole action of the fire , without any saline additaments ) and tho crude mercury is not as far as i have tryed , soluble in our english spirit of salt ; yet this red precipitate ( which is suppos'd to be meer mercury ) with its own sulphur extraverted , did readily enough dissolve in that liquor , and if i very much misremember not , did not at all impart its own colour to it : and i also found that red-lead or minium being boyl'd a while in good spirit of salt , the redness did totally disappear . so that the same agent that produces redness in divers bodies , did in those two , i have been mentioning , more than change it , since it quite abolished it . of which also , i can give you an easier instance , by observing that the reddest coral being dissolv'd in our menstruum , the redness vanishes , and the solutition appears colourless . x. take filings of copper , ( the smallest are the fittest for this experiment ) , and having poured on them good spirit of salt till it swim , about two fingers breadth over them ; keep the vial in a pretty strong heat ( in a sand furnace ) till you perceive the menstruum has dissolv'd a competent part of the metal : then warily take out the vial , and holding it between your eye and the light , you will perceive the solution of copper to be not like that of steel formerly mentioned , of a green colour , but of a dark and troubled one , oftentimes inclining to a deep , but muddy red. xi . but if you pour this solution into a wide-mouth glass , and let it stand for a competent time , ( which sometimes amounts but to a few hours , and sometimes to very many ) the expos'd liquor will appear of a green , much finer than that of the chrystals of mars . xii . take filtrated and limpid solution of silver , or of mercury made in aqua fortis , and drop upon it some spirit of salt , by which you shall find the clear liquor turn'd white as milk , which after a while will let fall a precipitate of the same colour . xiii . and if instead of a solution of silver or quick-silver , you take a red solution or tincture of benjamin , or of the resinous part of jallap root , or you 'le also have upon the affusion of spirit of salt , a white liquor and a precipitate of the same colour . xiv . being desirous to produce two differingcolours at once by the same affusion of spirit of salt , i infused some dryed red rose leaves in fair water , till it had acquired a deep colour from them . to this infusion , pour'd off warily , that it might be clear , i added a considerable proportion of the sweet liquor , made by digesting spirit of vinegar upon red lead , by which i knew 't would be turn'd of a blewish green. upon this almost opacous liquor , i pour'd spirit of salt , which as i expected , precipitated the lead that had been dissolv'd in the sweet liquor , into a very white powder , and gave the remaining liquor , well impregnated with particles of the rose leaves , a very fine and durable scarlet colour . to which experiment i shall add on this occasion , that if it had been well made , you may barely by shaking very well together and confounding the white powder with the red liquor , make a carnation colour , which ( when 't is made as it should be ) appear'd very fine and lovely whilst it lasted , for in no long time the two substances that compos'd it , would by degrees separate , and re-appear each of them in its former place and colour . xv. we took some spirit of salt , that having lain long upon fylings of copper , had lost the muddy tincture it had first acquired by being almost boil'd upon them . this liquor , i say , that look'd like common water , we pour'd into a small , but wide-mouth'd christal-glass , about half an hour after 8 in the morning , and leaving it in a window , it appear'd after 40 minutes to have there acquir'd a colour , much like that of a german amethist , and seem'd to have no tendency to greenness . but being detain'd by the visit of a virtuoso till eleven a clock , i could not see what happen'd in the mean time : but then as he was going away , i invited him to see the liquor , which he ( not knowing what it was ) told me it look'd of a grass-green colour , wherein tho i were not altogether of his mind , yet in a short time after , it did to me also appear of a lovely green ; in its passage to which it had in all been expos'd about 3 hours and a half xvi . precipitate a strong solution of sublimate , ( made in fair water ) with a s . q. ( and no more ) of oyl of tartar per deliquium . put the liquor and powder into a filter of cap-paper , and when the water is run thorow , there will remain in the filter the precipitate , which is to be slowly and well dry'd . then take it out of the filter , in the form of a gross powder , and having put it into a clear glass , let fall on it warily some drops of pretty strong spirit of salt , and ( if the experiment succeeds with you as it did with me ) during the conflict that will be made , the little lumps of the precipitate will lose all their former brick-dust colour , and turn white , tho afterwards they will appear dissolv'd into a transparent liquor , wherein the orange colour is quite abolish'd . xvii . having calcin'd copper without any additament , save fire and water ( by the way we elsewhere mention ) we took an arbitrary quantity of it , and having pour'd on it about 3 or 4 times the quantity of good spirit of salt , we obtain'd ( what we look'd for ) both a muddy , but manifestly reddish liquor , and ( somewhat to the surprize of the persons i had a mind to satisfy ) a white powder , whose quantity bore a considerable proportion to the part that was dissolv'd , ( but whose qualities belong not to this place ) in which part its self , ( to add that upon the by ) by the affusion of common water , and the action of the air , we afterwards produc'd more than one change of colour . xviii . we sometimes for curiosity sake took a quantity , not exceeding a spoonful , of the dark brown or somewhat reddish solution of ♀ , mention'd in the foregoing experiment , and having put it into a cylindrical vial , that the change of colour may appear the better , we pour'd on it 2 or 3 spoonfuls of totally ardent vinous spirit , and giving the glass a shake to mingle them , we presently had ( as soon as the mixture became clear ) a lovely green liquor , which when 't was well setled , was very fair , and lookt almost as if it were a liquid emerald . xix . we took some green taffatee ribband , and having moisten'd one part of it , that was not great , twice or thrice with good spirit of salt , we suffer'd it to dry of its self ; which it did in a short time , and then we found as we expected , that the wetted part was no longer of a green , but chang'd to a blew colour . but the same spirit , ( to add that upon the by ) presently turn'd that part of a piece of black ribband , upon which we put 2 or 3 drops of it to a colour not unlike that which they call fueille morte , or , a fading leaf . xx. 't is usual in paper-shops , and in divers other places , to meet with pamphlets and other thin books that are covered with papers that look sometimes of a greenish blew colour , bordering upon purple , and sometimes upon that of violets . some of the deeper colour'd papers of this sort , i have several times to gratify some curious persons , especially of the sex , held in my left hand , and with the other lightly and nimbly toucht them here and there with the end of a feather ( cut off from the rest of the quill ) dipt in spirit of salt , which almost in the twinkling of an eye , dy'd the toucht parts of the paper with a lovely red , that would sometimes continue very vivid for a good while , and be manifest at the end of divers weeks , if not months . and if instead of the forementioned quil , i took into my right hand ( a brush , or ) somewhat that was fit to sprinkle with , and having dipt it in the saline spirit , made many drops at once fall upon the paper , 't was pleasant enough to behold how suddenly and prettily it would be speckled . xxi . vve took antimony well powder'd , and pour'd on it 3 or 4 times its weight of good spirit of salt ; we caus'd it to be boil'd in this liquor , ( and that in a glass vessel ) wherein a part of it was dissolv'd , and taken up into the menstruum ; where the antimony quite lost its blackness . and this thus impregnated spirit of salt , being dropt into fair vvater , the black mineral subsided immediately , in the form of a very white powder or precipitate . to these i might add other changes of colours , that i have made , by the help of spirit of salt. but these being not of so quick and easy tryal , ( especially because some of them require skill in chymistry ) i thought it not fit to annex them ; supposing that those already deliver'd , amounting to above four pentades , may suffice for the purpose declar'd at the begining of this paper . and also to afford us this reflection , that it may not be amiss , if physicians , chymists , and others that are wont to compound drugs , or other ingredients ; would be less forward than they usually are , to mingle , not to say to jumble , several of them together , either unnecessary , or without due regard to the friendly and incongruous qualities ( in reference to one another ) that the separate ingredients may have . for most of us are but too lyable to be mistaken , when we presume before-hand , what changes the coalition , or other associations of differing bodies may produce ; especially if they be either saline , or plentifully partakers of a saline nature ; since experience frequently shews , that by the action and reaction that are consequent upon untry'd ways of composition , there emerge in the mixture new consistences and other qualities or accidents , that were not look'd for , when the ingredients 't is compounded of , were put together . and tho it may sometimes happen luckily enough , that these emergent qualities , whether of drugs , or other comparatively simple bodies , may prove advantagious ; yet this may well be look'd upon but as a lucky chance ; and hinders not , but that one may justly fear that ordinarily the newly produc'd quality of a medicine , may prove to be either worse than was expected , or at least other than was design'd , and consequently less fit for the physicians or the artists determinate purpose . chap. iv. an advertisement touching those passages that in this book relate to the art of medicine . the favourable reception the publick was pleas'd to give two editions set forth in one year of the usefulness of experimental philosophy , having encourag'd the stationer to solicite me for a new impression , i was on the same ground invited to think of making additions to divers parts of that treatise ; but afterwards observing that notwithstanding the thanks and acknowledgments i had the good fortune to receive from several physicians ( some of them of great reputation , and perhaps by that only known to me ) yet others were not well pleas'd that a person not of their profession should offer to meddle with it , tho with a design of advancing it : i , whose condition exempted me from taking upon me their calling , and who consequently must want many opportunities that others injoy'd of making observations about the phaenomena of diseases and of medicines , suffer'd my self without much violence to be diverted to other studies more suitable to my inclinations , as well as to my condition , and accordingly i laid aside the papers i had written in reference to the physicians art , nor were it easy , or perhaps possible for me to retrieve them , after they have lain so many years dispers'd and neglected , by which means perchance divers of them have been lost . but all this could not hinder me from being press'd to retrieve and communicate these scatter'd and dusty papers by the secretary of the royal society mr. h. oldenburgh : for as this gentleman has been almost every where wonderfully solicitous to preserve every thing from being lost , that may any way contribute to increase the stock of useful knowledg . so having got notice of these papers , and a sight of some of them , his partiality for me made him much over-value them , and perswaded him that a collection of them as incoherent and unfinisht as they were , might be of some use to the physicians art. and this seem'd the more hopeful , because natural philosophy being a science of far greater extent than physick , and supplying it , with many of its principles and theories ; 't is very possible that naturalists , tho not profest physicians , may propose some such comprehensive notions and methods , as may awaken and inlarge the minds of them that are so , and at least afford some useful hints to considering and ingenious men. and in effect divers physicians , as well as many patients , have been pleas'd to declare ( some in print , and some other ways ) that sometimes they found not useless assistances from some of those papers , wherein i occasionally touch'd on medicinal things . such motives as these made mr. oldenburg so earnest to procure the scatter'd fragments , that i might have yet remaining , about medicinal affairs , that tho for the reasons mention'd above , i could not think it fit to make a collection of papers so unlike in their subjects , so disproportionate in their bulk , and so unfinish'd and imperfect on divers scores ; yet thus far i was content to comply with his desires , that when these trifles came to hand , i would now and then insert them among my experimenta & observationes physicoe . ( medicine being a part , or an application of natural philosophy ) especially if there were any great affinity between the paper i lighted on , and the subject i was then treating of : knowing well that mr. oldenburg , and perhaps some others too , had rather i should impart them at all adventures , than suppress what they judg'd might be useful ; and that 't was better to run the hazard of having them slighted , than lost . this advertisement i thought fit to give in this place , once for all , that when hereafter there shall occur any thing among these experimenta & observationes physicae , that directly relates to the physician 's art , you may not think it strange , remembring upon what account i ventur'd to meddle with things of that nature , and also that you may readily understand what i mean , when you meet with any particulars delivered , as thoughts or desiderata or wishes , tending to , or aiming at the improvement of medicine ; which how slight or superfluous soever they may be to experienc'd masters , to whom i did not presume to recommend them , i thought might probably be serviceable to a very ingenious , but yet young cultivator of that noble art , ( whose name , i conceal'd after the way of the curious of germany under that of trallianus , ) for whose use they were intended . the i. pentade . experiment i. a very tall and well set gentleman , aged about 24 years , by a fall from his horse , had his skull broken in several places , and being a person of good estate , had several chirurgeons to attend him in the course of his sickness ; during which he was divers times trepan'd , and had several pieces of his skull taken off , which left great chasms ( that i have seen and felt ) between the remaining parts . within about three days after his fall , this knight ( for so he now is ) was taken with a dead palsey on his right side , which did not equally affect his arm and his leg : the use of the latter being somtimes suddenly restor'd to him in some measure , and ( tho seldom ) after a while almost as suddenly lost : but his arm and head were constantly paralytical , being wholly depriv'd of motion ; and having so little sense , that it would sometimes lye under his body without his feeling it . but if his hand were prick't with a pin , he could take notice of it . this palsey continu'd during almost the whole time of the cure , which lasted 23 or 24 weeks . and when the chirurgeons were going to close up his head , as having no more to do ; one of them who was an ingenious man , and tenant to this gentleman , oppos'd all the rest , alledging , that , if they did no more , the gentleman would lead an useless and very melancholy life ; and that he was confident , the palsey was some way or other occasion'd by the fall , which had left somthing in the head that they had not yet discover'd . and the knight himself agreeing to this man's motion , his head was further laid open ; and at length , under a piece of proud flesh , they found , with much ado , a splinter , or rather flake , of a bone , that bore hard upon the dura mater , and was not pull'd out without a great hemorrhage , and such a stretch of the parts , as made the patient think his brain it self was tearing out . but this mischief was soon remedy'd , and his hurts securely heal'd up ; and he is now a strong healthy man , and finds no inconvenience by having so broad and various a callus instead of the skull ; save that he is a little obnoxious to take cold in his head. but the memorable circumstances , for whose sake i mention this narrative , were these : when i ask'd him how big the bone was , that was last taken out ? he told me , that it was less than half the nail of one of his fingers ( not his thumb ) and that it was almost as thin , being in size and shape like the scale of a fish : but that it did not in his head lye flat , but bore hard upon the dura mater . when i ask'd him how long after it was taken out , he began to feel some relief , as to his paralytic distemper ? he reply'd , that in less than five hours he found himself , to his great joy , able to move his little finger ; and ( tho this happen'd in the evening ) he was the next morning able to move all his fingers , and within 2 or 3 days after to lift up his arm : by which it seem'd manifest , that so little a body as the splinter lately mention'd , produc'd in so robust a person , a palsey of the whole side it lay on . for when i particularly ask't him , whether , after the taking away of the proud flesh that encompass'd the little bone , he did not find , if he found none before , some relief as to his palsey ? he answer'd , that he found none at all , till the bone had been pull'd out , which was not till a good while after the chirurgeon had been by degrees eating off the proud flesh that , grew about it . but there was in this case another phoenomenon that i thought little less considerable than the former . for , remembring the important controversie , that is agitated among modern physicians and anatomists , about nutrition by the nerves , and having thereupon ask'd this knight , whether he did not find an atrophy in the limbs of his body that were affected ? he told me , that when he began to be paralytic on that side , it by degrees much wasted , and the paralytic leg was very much extenuated : but the arm and hand much more , seeming nothing but a system of bones , with the skin pasted on them . and when i further ask'd , if upon the removal of the bony splinter above-mentioned , the atrophy of the parts did not also begin to lessen ; he answered affirmatively , and told me , that in no very long time his leg and arm recover'd their wonted dimensions ; and in effect i ( some days since ) saw the restor'd arm well plump'd up with musculous flesh , tho the weather were exceeding cold. and he further told me , that he found no difference between the limbs that had been paralytic , and the others , except that they would grow sooner and more sensibly cold in sharp or frosty weather . this gentleman answer'd me , to add that upon the by , that , during the course of his cure , he was very frequently ( almost every second day ) let blood ; that he wanted not appetite to his meat ; that for the most part he slept indifferent well ; and , which was more remarkable , upon so great a hurt of the head he did not vomit , not had afterwards any convulsions . ii. among other instances i have met with , that shew the great power which sudden passions of the mind may have upon the body , i remember that a woman of middle age , complain'd sadly to me of the mischief , a fright had done her ; for she related to me , that having taken along with her to a meadow by a river-side , a little boy that she was dotingly fond of , whilst she was busie about the work she came thither for , the child stole away from her , and went along the bank , to delight himself with the view of the stream ; but being heedless , it seems by circumstances , that he set his foot upon some piece of ground that the water had made hollow ; upon which account , the earth failing under the weight of the boy 's body pressing it , that , and he fell together into the river : in the mean time the poor mother casually missing her child , hastily cast her eyes towards the brink of the river , and not being able to see him there , she presently concluded him to be drown'd , and was struck with so much horrour upon the sudden accident that tore from her a favorite son , that among other mischiefs , she fell into a dead palsy of her right arm and hand , which continu'd with her in spight of what she had done to remove it , till the time she complain'd of it to me , who had not opportunity to know what became of her afterwards . iii. on the other side , to show that violent passions , and even frights may sometimes , tho very seldom , do good , as well as harm ; i shall here add a relation that was circumstantially made me by the learned person himself , to whom the accident happen'd . i familiarly knew a gentleman that liv'd to be an eminent virtuoso , and to oblige many by his useful writings , who when he was a youth , fell into a violent and obstinate sciatica , which continu'd with him so long , that it left him little hope of recovery ; but the devotion of this young man's friends invited them to make him be carry'd , since he could not go , to church upon sundays ; and there it happen'd , that the town being a frontier garrison , the guards were so negligent , that there was occasion given to a very hot alarum , that the enemy was got into the town , and was advancing towards the church to massacre all that were in it . this so amaz'd and terrifi'd the people , that in very great and disorderly hast , they all ran out of the church , and left my relator in his pew upon a seat that they plac'd him , and whence he could not remove without help : but he being no less frighted than the rest , as they forgot him , he forgot his disease , and made a shift to hamper off the pew , and follow those that fled ; but it quickly appearing , that the alarum had been a false one , his friends began to think in what a condition they had left him , and hasten'd back to help him out of the pew , which whilst they were going to do , they , to their great surprise found him in the way upon his feet , and walking as freely as other men. and when he told me this story , he was above forty years elder than when he was thus strangely rescu'd , and in all that time , never had one fit of the sciatica . advertisement . 't is easy to be observ'd , that of the two kinds into which chymists may be conveniently enough sorted ; the number is greater of those that are not profest physicians , than of those that are : and yet several of the former sort are led by their more free curiosity , or their particular designes , to allow a large scope to their tryals ; and so in their experiments upon various bodies , to operate upon some of those that may be reduc'd ( either directly , or by sit applications ) to the materia medica , and afford uncommon preparations : which tho design'd for other purposes , may by a skilful physician , with a light variation , and perhaps without any , be made to afford good medicines : and therefore i think it may be no inconsiderable service to the publick , if by the leave and assistance of the authors , divers chymical experiments that are not directly useful to their immediate purpose , were not , ( as is usual ) thrown away , but put into the hands of some sagacious physician . upon these grounds , i thought my self little less than oblig'd , to set apart now and then an experiment that contain'd some uncommon preparation , which seem'd applicable to medicine ; and to try whether , tho , being in the country or in some other inconvenient circumstances , i had not opportunity to prove it my self , the notice given of it , might not happen to be of use to a skilful physician . i shall therefore partly in this chapter , and partly ( if god permit ) in some following chapters and other writings , tender to such a one , some few of the experiments of this sort , that i lately lighted on among my adversaria , and that seem'd not uncapable to be made of some service to the physician 's art. of the good and bad effects of these , i shall be glad to be inform'd , that they may be either us'd more freely and improv'd , or corrected and quite laid aside ; and i desire that this short preamble may serve for a general one to all the other design'd chymical medicins that i shall venture to propose hereafter . a design'd chymical medicine . iv. i know how much men are prejudic'd in some whole countries , against vomitive medicines : and i remember we have had here in london a physician of great fame and practice , that would turn over a patient to another doctor , if the case were such that the patient would needs make use of emeticks . and i readily acknowledg that they are edg'd tools , that require a skilful hand , to imploy them without danger of doing more harm than good : but since experience shews that where the patient can bear them , and the disease requires them , they act more speedily and effectually than other evacuating medicines : and since the generality of our physicians , not excepting some that are justly reputed very cautious , do not scruple frequently to make use of the infusion of crocus metallorum , tho it do not seldom prove a remedy harsh enough ; i shall venture in compliance with some ingenious physicians , and others that have often made use of a medicine , that goes under the name of my emetick drops , to communicate the preparation of them ; without pressing the use any otherwise than by confessing that divers practitioners of physick of differing sentiments , agree in assuring me , that they have not yet found any emetick to work so effectually , nor with more ease and safety , than this liquor ; which some of them prefer by much to other antimonial vomits ; and especially to the infusion of crocus metallorum . in preparing my vomitive liquor , i have not always imploy'd the same proportion of the ingredients 't is made of , nor did i find it necessary to be nice in that matter . but the proportion i somewhat prefer , is to take two parts of well chosen and finely powder'd antimony , and on these to pour three parts of the menstruum , viz. sp. ; which ought to be rather moderately strong , than too much rectified . these are to be distill'd together in a glass retort fitted with a receiver not very small , till there come over a great part of the menstruum , which will usually towards the close be accompany'd with red flores , ( some times copious enough ) which being separated by filtration through cap-paper , the clear transmitted liquor is to be put into a glass , not newly wash'd , but dry on the inside , and to be kept close stopt from all intercourse with the air. the dose is usually to a man or woman , especially at the first time , from 4 or 5 , to 7 or 8 drops : but i know an ingenious physician that gives to 10 or 12 , or a few more drops , if the case be urgent ; and by that means he told me , that with a small button-bottle , that i chanc'd to give him a little before , he did in 2 or 3 hours rescue three gentlemen , that by a bad surfet with very bad circumstances , were suddenly brought into great danger of speedy death , and carry'd to a neighbouring tavern , as being too ill to be carry'd home . the vehicle may be a spoonful or two of wine , or black-cherry water , or ( which divers persons chuse rather ) of spring-water , drinking up the liquor immediately after , because there will some precipitation be made ; and then taking 2 or 3 spoonfuls of the same vehicle to wash it down . it usually begins to work early , and does it without causing near so much straining as vulgar emeticks , and yet makes copious evacuations ; and sometimes so eradicative of the morbifick matter , that the physician lately mention'd , who cur'd the three gentlemen , having a poor patient who had conflicted for above three years with an ague in several types , but most commonly quartanary , perfectly cur'd him with two doses of these drops , and a julap made chiefly of the distill'd water of a common vitriolick mineral . and this cure seem'd therefore to me , when the physician gave me an account of the drops he had from me , the more considerable , because the patient had made use of great variety of remedies ; and particularly he devour'd great store of the jesuits bark , or cortex peruvianus , ( perhaps because it was not well condition'd , or skilfulfully administer'd ) which sometimes alter'd the type of his ague , turning it to a single or a double tertian , and sometimes kept off the fits for a while , when 't was a quartane , but never cur'd him quite ; and left him in a deplorable estate , wherein the emetick drops found him . tho i sent this medicine to several patients , in whom , thanks be to god , it succeeded more than ordinarily well , yet i durst not venture to give it to children , or to very young persons ; but having gratifi'd an ingenious surgeon of good practice , with a stock of it , the tryals he made upon divers persons , with great success on other patients , imbolden'd him to give it to boys and girls , and afterwards even to several children , whereof he gave me a good account , only he discreetly took care to proportion his doses to the age and strength of his patients , and not to give the whole dose at once , but divide it into 2 or 3 parts , that if the first should work within half an hour or less , the second should not be given , or lessen'd in quantity . and if neither the second did work within about an hour , he added the third . and by this cautious method , he assur'd me that he had suddenly reliev'd several children in bad cases , and found not any mischief or danger ensue upon the administration of it . but children being tender creatures , this is to be further and cautiously try'd . postscript . having had occasion to keep by me some vials furnish'd with the emetick drops , longer than i thought i should need to do so : i observ'd that in tract of time , there , began to subside a white powder , wherein a good part of the emetick faculty of the medicine may be suppos'd to reside ; therefore 't will be best either to imploy the liquor in no long time after 't is made , or if one has not leisure or conveniency to do so , to shake the vial well ( that the powder may be rais'd and we 'l dispers'd through it ) just before it be administer'd . a design'd chymical medicine . there are many that having a high esteem for chalybeate waters , such as those of the spaw and tunbridg , which yet in many places are not to be had at all , and in few to be had well condition'd , are very solicitous to find succedaneums to them . to gratify some ingenious persons of this sort ( and improve a casual hint taken from a book of a somewhat like preparation propo●●ded for another purpose ) i remember , i employ'd a way of aemulating such waters that answer'd the outward phaenomena of colour and taste , and seem by the paucity and harmlesness of their ingredients like to be innocent medicines ; i had no opportunity to make tryal of them in physick , but finding that some inquisitive cultivaters of that art , valu'd them more than i did , i committed the experiment to paper , and now suffer it to come abroad , that it may be try'd by physicians , and either rejected or made use of , as success shall direct . the experiment as i made it , was this . we took one part of very good fylings of ♂ ; and ten parts of good distill'd vinegar . these we put into a bolt-head , and shop'd it well , and then in a mild heat of sand we digested them for about two days , and afterwards augmented the heat till the liquor appear'd of a deep orange colour , but yet transparent . part of this tincture we pour'd off , and kept well stop'd by its self , because tho by a longer digestion and a greater heat , we obtain'd a very red tincture , yet we did not so much value it , because when the menstruum is over impregnated , the metal usually precipitates , and the fine colour is destroy'd . of the first reserv'd tincture , we let fall 4 drops into ℥ viiiss , ( 8 ℥ ss ) of clear common water , whose colour was not thereby sensibly alter'd ; and the vial containing this mixture being well shaken , that the tincture might diffuse it self the more thorowly , we kept it carefully stop'd for use , as being our factitious or counterfeit spaw . a spoonful or somewhat more of this , with about a quarter of a grain , or less , of good fresh powder of gauls , would presently afford a purplish tincture , like that of natural springs impregnated with mars , such as the water of the german spaw , or of tunbridg in kent ; if ones mouth were wash'd with it , 't was found to have like those natural chalybeat waters , a manifestly faeruginous tast . n. b. these artificial acidulae are to be administer'd in no long time after they are made ; for experience has inform'd me , that ( at least sometimes ) when i kept them too long , within not many days after they were made , they would lose much , if not most of their briskness and force . and i sometimes perceive that there would subside to the bottom a certain red or reddish substance , as it were oker , which was a token of the degeneracy of the liquor ; and some such thing i have observ'd in some natural chalybeat waters too long or negligently kept . but our acidulae may be so soon and so cheaply made freshly , that the above mention'd inconveniency will scarce to the skilful seem considerable . the ii. pentade . experiment ii. because it may be on some occasions of use to a physician , to have ways of discovering the adulterateness of bezoar stone , which for its dearness is often counterfeited , and not easily discern'd to be so by the common ways of exploring , which use to be uncertain enough ; it may not be amiss to communicate a new way of tryal , which 't is unlike that impostors have dream'd of , or if they should know it , can easily elude . and this i am the rather willing to do , because the propos'd way may afford an useful hint to the sagacious inquirers into the nature , and some of the preparations that may be made , of the bezoar stone ; which tho it be a drug too much magnify'd by some physicians , especially those that depend on it , against the true plague ; yet a physician of great experience , and rather a severe , than any ways a partial judg of it , allows it to be an excellent remedy even in malignant and ill-condition'd fevers , at least if they be not truly pestilential . one of the ways i imploy'd , in treating the bezoar stone , may be easily gather'd from the ensuing transcript of one of my register'd experiments . we took 40 or 50 grains of choice oriental bezoar stone reduc'd to powder , and in a bolt-glass pour'd on it . ʒvi of good spirit of niter , as well to try whether this liquor would prove a fit menstruum for : this stone , as we found it to be for the calculus humanus , as for other purposes . and tho this affusion being purposely made in the cold , the liquor did not seem at first to work on the stone ; yet soon after it fell violently upon it , and dissolv'd the greater part of it , not without noise and a notable effervescence . the solution was almost red , and the glass being put in a digestive furnace , the whole powder was not only dissolv'd , but being left a night or two in a north window , it afforded divers saline concretions , much larger than could well have been expected from so small a quantity of matter ; and these crystals , whilst they were yet in the glass , might easily be taken for crystals of salt-peter , so great was their resemblance . to manifest how much the faculties of loosening and binding , are relative things , and depend upon the disposition of the body to be wrought upon , and so upon the congruity betwixt the agent , and the patient , i know an ingenious gentlewoman , on whom cinnamon , which generally is a considerable astringent and stomachick medicine , has a quite contrary operation , and that in a strange degree , insomuch that having found by 2 or 3 accidental tryals , that a very little cinnamon seem'd to disorder her stomach and prove laxative , she resolv'd once to satisfy her self , whether those discomposures came by chance , or no ; and having strew'd some powder'd cinnamon upon a tost , she was going to put into her ale , upon eating the tost she was copiously purg'd for two days together , and that with such violence , that it put her into convulsion fits , and a kind of spasmus cynicus , which she could never be perfectly freed from , being troubled with from time to time for . 3 years , as was the other day averr'd to me , and divers others that know her , by her husband who is himself a learned man and a profest physician . a prosperous physician , to whom i had recommended some things relating to his profession whilst he practis'd it with success in the capital city of ireland , where at that time there rag'd a new and violent fever , whereof multitudes dy'd , very few patients recovering of it , happily lighted on a method that prov'd , through god's blessing , very prosperous . this doctor returning into ireland sometimes before , having been desir'd by me to send me an account of some things relating to natural philosophy and physick that i nam'd to him , wrought to me in answer to some of my enquiries a letter , out of which i thought fit to make this extract , because i know not but that it may give good hints towards the cure of some other ill-condition'd fevers . dublin , feb. 27. 1682. i have imployed ens veneris for the removal of a subsultus tendinum , in a person dangerously sick of a febris petechialis ( a discase fatal to very many here for these 12 or 14 months ) and found that it answer'd my hopes in 3 or 4 hours after i gave it in conserve of borrage flowers . i have , since i came from england , thought of a method of curing the aforesaid fever , which has not once fail'd me , tho i made of it for 16 or 18 several persons , many of which would certainly dye , if treated after the usual manner in this case . if i should tell you from what observations and reasonings i came to alter the method of cure , i should be very tedious . i shall therefore at present wave that , and proceed to tell you , that when first i come to any sick of this disease , if i find costive ( as generally they are ) i prescribe a glister , and after that an episplastick plaister 6 or 7 inches broad , and 8 or 9 inches long , to be apply'd between the shoulders ; the blister being well rais'd , i order to be dress'd carefully , stripping off the cuticula . this continues running till the fever is gone off ; which is most commonly in 10 or 12 days , if they have not kept up too long with it , and then we cannot certainly foretel the time of the fever's declination ; for the whole time till the going off of the fever , i prescribe emulsions of aq. aronis , card. bened. citrij totius & syr. granatorum cum aceto ; i allow of orange and butter-milk possets , of roasted apples , flummery , or any other light and cooling thing they call for . by this method i keep the genus nervosum and brain from being affected , and consequently secure my patients ; for as many as i have ever known of them dye , that were troubled with this disease , dy'd of a disorder of those parts . i do not defer the blistering plaisters , as others do , till i find my patients delirous , lethargick , convulsive , or otherwise affected in their heads and nerves , finding by the experience of others that then they most commonly prove ineffectual , because of some morbifick matters being too deeply lodg'd in these parts . i do not prescribe , except upon some extraordinary occasions , any volatile salts or spirits , or any thing too apt to quicken the already over-brisk circulation of the blood , having experimentally learn'd that by these often us'd , the brain and nerves become sooner than ordinary affected , for as much as they deeply insinuate themselves , and drive with them some morbifick matter into the brain and nerves . i find bleeding bad , being generally fatal . if i doubt of the recovery of any of my patients sick of this disease , 't is only when i find that they have been let blood , or lain for 8 or 9 days before i come to them ; tho i have brought through it , even persons in those circumstances . a design'd chymical medicine . i shall not , because i need not , discourse of the medicinal vertues of steel in a city where many learned physicians do so much esteem and imploy chalybeate medicines as they do in london , and therefore i shall content my self at this time to offer you a couple of preparations of steel that possibly you have not met with or thought of . 1. considering that most of the ways made use of by chymists to prepare steel , tend by dividing it into very minute parts , to make it more lyable to be wrought on by the liquors of the stomach , and some other parts of the body , and that the generality of these chalybeate preparations are wont to be made only with acids , whether manifest , as oyl of vitriol , spirit of vinegar , &c. or occult , as brimstone , which tho insipid in its natural state , when it comes to be melted , discloses its hidden salt , and works on ♂ by a sharp acidity ; considering this , i say , and that men have confin'd themselves to acids in working on steel , because they suppos'd instruments of that kind were necessary to dissolve that metal , i thought it might do you , and some ingenious men of your profession , some little service , if i propos'd to you a way of opening the body of steel , that tho i gave a hint of it divers years ago , is , for ought i know , yet unpractis'd . we took then several ounces of highly rectify'd spirit of fermented ( or putrify'd ) urine made per se , and consequently without quick-lime , and pour'd it upon as much filings of steel freshly made , to be sure , not to have any rusty ones , as we guest , would at least suffice to satiate it fully . these we put in a moderately warm place , where the menstruum wrought on the metal for divers hour together , and dissolv'd a considerable part of it . this solution we set to filter , and found it of a taste considerably strong , but very different from any of the chalybeat preparations , we remembered , that were seen made with acids . the liquor being kept in a stopt viol for some days near a window , did in the cold let fall by degrees a considerable quantity of powder of a deep green colour , which surpriz'd some virtuosi , to whom i shew'd it , especially because the liquor it self was not of that colour ; tho at least the superficial part of what remain'd ( in plenty ) in the filter , did also in the air acquire a green colour . but tho our solution pour'd off from the subsided powder , was warily and slowly evaporated , yet we did not find it would well crystallize what use may be made in physick , of preparations of this kind , i leave to you , whose profession as well as curiosity will ingage you to consider . i do not presume to tell you , but in general it seems that steel prepar'd with volatile spirits of the animal kingdom that are wont to be friendly to nature , and are very contrary to acids , may have new qualities very differing from those of steel prepar'd with acids , and may be more safe in some cases and to some patients . with what other volatile menstruums i have dissolv'd mars , and what phaenomena some tryals i made with that metal open'd by such salts , you may command an account of , if you think it worth desiring . a design'd chymical medicine . another experiment that i made on steel , was design'd to make as much of it volatile , as i could with a menstruum , not so corrosive or dangerous to the body as oyl of vitriol , or spirit of niter , which , especially the former , are imploy'd by divers chymists to make chalybeat preparations that yet are not volatile . the medicinal scope i had in my eye , for i had also a chymical one ( that belongs not to this place ) was to try if i could by it obtain any sulphur of mars , which the commendations that some , even of those chymists , whether adepti or not , whose authority i most regard , represent as an excellent medicine , especially in cases that require anodynes , and which the others , or the same speak of as a graduatory substance ( as to some metals ) or both : if you should ask me , why i did not make use of the common vitriolum martis , which is easy to be had in the shops of chymists ? i answer , that my design being to try whether or no i could obtain a sulphur , that might properly enough ( tho not in the utmost rigor ) we call sulphur of mars , that which is made the common way , would not answer my end , since tho i should be able from this vitriol to obtain a real sulphur ; yet i should not think it safe thence to conclude , that it came from the metal , and not from the menstruum ; because i have several times from oyl of vitriol it self , obtain'd no contemptible proportion of yellow and combustible sulphur . to which i add , that the acquisition of a metalline sulphur , tho it was not the only thing that i aim'd at in this preparation , for i presum'd , that at least i should make a very great comminution of the parts of steel , which is one of the main things aim'd at by the more rational physicians in the preparations of that metal . upon these and the like grounds , i pitcht upon good spirit of sea-salt as a menstruum , much fitter for my purpose than either oyl of vitriol or the acid part of sulphur ; and accordingly in a good many ounces of this menstruum , we dissolv'd as much as we easily could of choice filings of fine steel , and having filter'd the green solution , we very slowly evaporated it in a glass vessel , and took such care not to spoil the matter , that we had store of fine green crystals that were not very small , and lookt prettily ; most of these we put into a strong , but small retort , and by degrees of fire , and a strong one , for the last hours ; we obtain'd divers ounces of a liquor that came over in white fumes , like mists driven by the wind , and afforded a sulphureous smell : this liquor we rectify'd , and had a yellow ponderous spirit , that seem'd to be much more of kin to the spirit of sea-salt , than to the common oyl of vitriol ; especially since being mixt with aqua-fortis , it would , like spirit of salt , make it a menstruum , that would even in the cold dissolve gold in thin leaves . which last words i add , because having put into a little of it already made yellow , by having dissolv'd leaf-gold a very thin plate , but a pretty deal thicker than a leaf of hammer'd gold , the menstruum made it look all over white , almost like silver , which seem'd to argue , that this vitriolate menstruum differ'd from common spirit of salt. and however , it may be worth taking notice of by the by , that not only vitriols blue , as is well known to chymists , but that vitriols of one of those colours , and whereof the same metall is the basest , may differ much from one another on the score of the various , and to us perhaps , unknown menstruum that dissolves the metal , since our green vitriol yeilds liquors very different from common english vitriol of mars made with oyl of vitriol , tho all the three be green . which may give us some reason of the uncertainty , whereof vitriol is mainly imploy'd ; and 't is perhaps worth remarking , that tho we did not find the vitriol of mars made the common way , nor even roman vitriol to dissolve in a vinous spirit totally inflammable , yet it would easily enough dissolve our saline vitriol , ( if i may so call it ) which solution to hint that in transitu , you may perhaps see cause to imploy as a medicine in several cases , and particularly as a styptic in wounds , since its tast is very astringent , its parts very subti , and made fit by the vinous spirit , to prevent corruption ; especially in those clymates where chirurgeons complain . that they can scarce prevent the breeding of worms in wounds , unless they do betimes dress them with spir. of wine or brandy . but that which we chiefly aim'd at in this operation , was the dry part , of what was elevated by the force of the fire . this we found to be distinguishable , partly by its situation , and partly by more durable accidents , into three kinds of substance , whereof one was almost like a powder , which after the contact of air , did in a while come over to be of a yellow colour , almost like sulphur , but it was not indeed truly combustible sulphur . the other substance consisted of larger parts , and was of a deep colour , between read and brown. but the third , which seem'd the most copious of all , was made up of fine parts , larger than the former , of a deep reddish colour , and adorn'd with a fine gloss , like that of scales of fishes , that look'd very prettily . the caput mortuum was found to be of a texture that would have surpriz'd most men ; for a great part of it appeared to be turn'd into a talky substance , consisting of pretty broad and very thin plates , smooth and glossy , that lay upon , and against one another , like those that make up muscovia-glass , when the pieces are more thick than large . chap. v. containing experiments and observations solitary ; in two pentades . the i. pentade . experiment i. a notable comminution of gold into powder that will sink in water . to manifest into how great a multitude of corpuscles , gross and heavy enough to sink to the bottom even of a saline liquor in the form of precipitate or powder ; i thought of this expedient . we took a grain of refin'd gold , and having dissolv'd it without heat in a competent quantity of good aqua regia , we put to it by guess about two spoonfuls of water , and then by a thread we hung in the mixture a little bit of clean metaline body , and kept it suspended in the liquor for many hours ( or some few days . ) by this means we obtain'd , as we expected , a precipitate of a fine and deep colour , so copious and so light , that it was a long time before it would all settle at the bottom . then looking upon the remaining part of the suspended metaline body , we found it so very little less than when the whole was first put in , that the diminution of it was not judg'd to amount to near a grain . by which experiment it appear'd , that one grain of gold , not swiming in parts separately invisible , as 't is in solutions , but reduc'd to a manifest powder , seem'd to make a considerable quantity of precipitate at the bottom of the cylindrical vial , whose diameter was about an inch , that we kept it in . and this glass being a little shaken , the precipitate would rise like a mud , and be so thorowly disperst in the form of a powder , through the whole body of the liquor , and a greater quantity of water added to it , that at first it would seem opacous , and after some time , it would appear like a high and lovely purple solution . so that one grain of gold ( for the colour argu'd that there was some of that metal , in every corpuscle of the precipitate ) was reduc'd into as many grains of powder , as suffic'd to lodg themselves in all the particles of space great enough to be visible , that were contain'd in a mass of sixteen drachms ( is two ounces ) of water . experiment ii. a proof of the metalline nature of granates . i have else where endeavour'd to shew that divers , if not most , of the real vertues of some gems , ( for there are too many fabulous ones ascrib'd to them ) may in probability proceed from the particles of mineral juices , that were admitted whilst the matter was yet in solutis principiis , or at least soft , and afterwards coagulated with the lapidescent part of the stone . in confirmation of this conjecture , i shall now observe , that having , upon some grounds not necessary to be here mention'd , suspected that granates contain ( some of them ) besides some other metalline substances , divers corpuscles of a martial nature ; i made choice of some small ones , which by their deep and almost dark colour , ( to name no other signs ) i guess'd to contain somewhat of iron or steel ; and apply'd to them a pretty vigorous loadstone , which as i expected , readily took them up and to which they constantly stuck afterward , till i forcibly separated them from it . but tho i try'd this upon more parcels of garnets than one or two , yet i found that there was not many in one heap , that would easily adhere to the magnet . experiment iii. a gentleman eminent for his travels into eastern parts , and for his skill in jewels , told me , in confirmation of my opinion about the origine of gems from fluid materials ; that he had seen a white saphir that was a table-stone , as they speak , i. e. flat and not cut in facets , about the middle of which there was a cavity about the bigness of a large pins head , or small fitch , that contain'd in it a drop of liquor that it seems could not be coagulated into stone with the rest of the matter : which liquor , he said , was very easily discernible by its shifting places in the cavity , when the stone was put into differing postures . and when i ask't , whether there was no flaw or commissure in the stone , at which the liquor may be suspected to have got in ; he assur'd me that there was none , but that the cavity was every way encompast by the solid stone , and was about the thickness of three barly corns beneath the upper superficies of it . scholium . it may be here fit to give notice once for all , about the experiments that are in the following collections , styl'd solitary , that tho most of them are deliver'd nakedly as matters of fact , without any such introduction or subsequent reflection , as may be met with sometimes expressly , and oftner by intimation in divers others ; yet that it should not be thence infer'd , either those that are simply recited , were lighted on by chance , or made at all adventures , or that they are of no use , because for the most part there is not any expressly ascribed to them : for as they were not written without a particular occasion and scope too , so that many of them may be apply'd to good purposes , will , perchance , be found here and there in our other writings . and to make it probable in general , that most of them may not be useless , it may perhaps suffice that we refer to what we have elsewhere purposely discoursed , about the uses of experiments ( even ) to speculative philosophy . this may pass for a general scholium applicable to most of those experiments that are not attended with any particular scholium , nor any thing in the experiment or observation its self , that may easily by an attentive reader , be made to supply the place of a scholium . which last clause i add , to intimate , that besides my hast , another reason why so many scholium's , as may be expected in the following collection , will not be found in it , was , because the proemial part did , on several occasions , make it needless to subjoyn annotations . experiment iv. an ingenious and credible person ( mr. w. ) assur'd me , that in one of the fine gardens near genoa , that he delighted to visit , there was pond , which being made on the side of a hill , the wall next the bottom of the hill was so high , that men could not look over it into the pond , nor be at all seen over it by the fishes in the pond ; and yet he has several times observ'd these fishes to be call'd together by the gardiner , as he pleas'd , with a certain noise that the gardiner made to assemble them , tho neither he nor any man else could be discover'd by the fishes that readily obey'd their summons . this relation may be of use in the controversy , whether fishes hear under water . experiment v. upon occasion of what is elsewhere said of the production of vivid apparent colours by the breaking of the beams of light , on corpuscles extraordinary minute , tho solid ; i took a globe of rock chrystal , which being for a certain use saw'n in two by a cutter of gems , and having lookt upon the flat surfaces , observed to the sun beams , the little particles that ( notwithstanding their seeming smoothness in the shade ) asperated their surfaces , did so retract and reflect the light , as to make them exceed the vivid colours of the rain-bow , ( but in a somewhat interrupted manner ) sometimes on one part of the surface , sometimes on another , as the surface happen'd to be scituated in reference to the sun. and having caused a choice and fine grain'd touch-stone to be likewise saw'n asunder by the same artificer , to make two of it ; i observed upon the new surfaces made by this action , that to the touch smooth and polish'd , such vivid colours as i lately mention'd to be these surface , were put in to various position in reference to the sun and the eye ; so that notwithstanding the great transparency of the chrystal and great opacity of the touch-stone , their superficial corpuscles were found fit to exhibit ( in due positions ) the vivid colours we admire in the rain-bow . the ii pentade . experiment i. having for less than two hours borrow'd an oculus munai , whose colour was white , whose figure was round and plain convex , and whose diameter , i judg'd , to be about a third part of an inch ( rather less than more ) i put it into a very shallow glass vessel almost fill'd with fair water , and observ'd within one minute , or thereabout , with the minute-watch , that one part of the edg began to appear somewhat diaphanous , and the whole stone did by degrees lose its whiteness , appearing of a dark brownish colour : when this change had reach'd the whole surface , i look'd upon my watch , and found that the stone had lain nine minutes in the water ; out of which having taken it , i perceiv'd the body was grown semi-diaphanous , and the parts near the edg being less thick , appear'd to have lost much more of their former opacity than the innermost part had . then putting the stone presently into the water again , i let it lye there so long till the time efflux'd , since the begining of the experiment amounted just to half an hour . then taking it out , and wiping it , i found it was grown much more clear , since being held against the light , it look'd almost like yellow amber , but not quito so diaphanous . then i expos'd it to the contact of the air , in the scales of a very good ballance ( where it weigh'd four grains and about a quarter ) and left it for a quarter , or near half an hour , in that ballance to try if by the recess of any imbib'd aqueous moisture it would become lighter ; but want of time hindred me from compleating the experiment , but did not deter me from making another observation , which was , that within about a single minute of an hour , a portion of the stone near one part of the edg , was manifestly grown opacous and whitish , and within not many minutes after , the whole stone began to appear in a changing condition , but did not change in every part at once , nor did the alteration make an uniform progression ; but here one might successively discover divers white arches , or as 't were zones , that were parallel enough to one another , and being quite opacous , intercepted between them other little zones , which being yet semi-opacous , appear'd of a brown colour , and concurr'd to make the stone look like a very pretty agate , wherein the whiteness made a continued progress as long as the time permitted me to observe it : and the possessor assur'd me , that within an hour or or two it would be all of a cream white ( as he express'd himself ) which i thought the more credible , because i saw one part of it , that was pretty broad , to have obtain'd already a whiteness , little , if at all inferiour to that of ivory . experiment ii. remarkable observations about hurricanes . the late governour of the bermudas islands , ( very much subject to hurricanes ) in answer to my questions , about the presages of those hideous tempests , inform'd me , that these were of the principal forerunners . first , that the sea would manifestly swell at some distance from the shores , insomuch , that the fishermen would divers times make to land , and warn the inhabitants , upon the confidence of that presage , to provide against that dismal storm , tho the sea were then smooth enough . secondly , that the sea would beat with great noise against the shore , especially the rocks , tho there appear'd no manifest cause , as upon the account of the wind or tide , why it should do so . and this sign would sometimes not appear till many hours , or perhaps a full day after that foremention'd . and sometimes 't was observ'd , that the sea would now and then suddenly invade the shore , and gain further upon it than could be accounted for by the wind or tide , and then quickly ebb away beyond the usual low water-mark , and after return again with more fury , and fall back further than before . thirdly , that sometimes there would be perceiv'd an ungrateful smell in the air , before the hurricane began to blow . and fourthly and lastly , my relator affirm'd to me , both he and others had seen many bundles , as it were of long streaks of differing colours , some whitish , some reddish , and some blewish , or greenish , which by reason of their figure are usually call'd in those parts horse-tails : and these were seen in parts of the sky , where the air was troubled indeed , but yet no form'd clouds did appear to the eye . experiment . iii. a monstrous pearl . yesterday a curious person came to shew me a monstrous pearl , if i may so call it , because it was very irregularly shap'd , and of an enormous bigness . for tho it were so artificially set in gold , that by the help of a little of that metal fitly plac'd here and there , the whole jewel represented a lion ; yet i made shift to measure it exactly enough with a pair of calapar compasses , ( as they call those whose legs are made arch-wise ) and found the length to be just an inch and an half , and the greatest breadth ( where yet it was of a proportionate thickness ) to be 2 / 10 or 4 / 5 of an inch. the colour was orient enough , all but one dark spot , which by its size , figure , and situation , i guess'd to be the remains of that part ( whether like an umbilical cord or no ) whereby it was fasten'd to the naker or shell of the fish that produc'd it . experiment iv. an odd observation about the influence of the moon . i know an intelligent person , that having by a very dangerous fall , so broken his head , that divers large pieces of his skull were taken out , as i could easily perceive by the wide scars that still remain ; answer'd me , that for divers months that he lay under the chirurgeons hands , he constantly observ'd , that about full moon , there would be extraordinary prickings and shootings in the wounded parts of his head , as if the meninges were stretched or press'd against the rugged parts of the broken skull , and this with so much pain , as would for 2 or 3 nights hinder his sleep , of which at all other times of the moon he us'd to injoy a competency . and this gentleman added , that the chirurgeons , ( for he had 3 or 4 at once ) observ'd from month to month , as well as he , the operation of the full moon upon his head , informing him , that they then manifestly perceived an expansion or intumescence of his brain ; which appear'd not at all at the new moon ; ( for that i particularly ask'd ) nor was he then obnoxious to the foremention'd pricking pains . experiment . v. an uncommon experiment about heat and cold. to confirm what we have elsewhere deliver'd about the mechanical origine of heat and cold , we devis'd the following experiment : we took a small and hermetically seal'd thermoscope , whose stem was divided into parts , equal enough as to sense , by little specks of amel , that sharp liquors might not eat off or spoil the marks . the ball of this instrument we put into a slender cylindrical vessel , ( call'd in the shops a mustard glass ) and more than cover'd it with strong oyl of 🜖 , and left it there awhile to be reduc'd to the temper of the surrounding ▪ liquor . then we cast upon it by degrees , grosly powder'd , * which presently was wrought on furiously by the menstruum ; and by this conflict , was produc'd a seeming effervescence , with great noise and store of froth , which more than once was ready to run out of the vessel . but for all this seeming ebullition , the mixture instead of growing hot , did really grow colder and colder , as appear'd not only when the vessel was touch'd by the fingers on the outside , but by a surer mark , which was the descent of the colour'd spirit of wine . how much farther it would have descended , ( for the liquor was not near satiated with the 🜔 ) we were hinder'd from discovering by an unlucky accident , that broke the thermometer , and put an end to that first part of our experiment . but this was no hindrance to the second part , which for its novelty we mainly design'd . for when we pour'd this actually and considerably cold mixture into three or four times its weight ( by guess ) of as much common water , that was likewise actually cold ; this second mixture did , as i expected , immediately grow so hot , that i did not like to keep my finger for a minute or two upon the outside of the glass . an advertisement about the nature and scope of the chymical experiments contain'd in the following pentades . chap. v. containing two pentades of chymical experiments . before you enter upon the perusal of the following pentades , i think my self oblig'd to give you notice , that you will be deceiv'd if you expect to find them consist , either solely or mainly , of spagirical secrets , or difficult and elaborate processes . i do not indeed deny , that i am not altogether unfurnish'd with such as in probability , most readers would refer to experiments of that nature , and you may find divers of them scatter'd upon fit occasions , in several of my writings : but in the present tract , tho i have not forborn to mention here and there as many particulars of that sort , as i thought necessary to excite and maintain the curiosity , and sustain the attention of a reader that relishes nothing that is not season'd with somewhat that is not common ; yet in this treatise , wherein i aim'd not to appear a chymist , so much as to make my reader a naturalist ; it was more suitable to my design , tho not more conducive to my credit , that the following pentades ( which god permitting , may in tract of time , much increase in number ) should mainly consist of experiments , rather useful than specious ; my design being to contribute some sound materials towards the erection of a solid and useful natural philosophy . in making choice of which materials , i usually prefer those experiments that afford the more light to those that appear with the most luster , and those that are proper to increase the readers skill , to those that make an ostentation of the writers . on which ground it is , that , whatever i may do , where i purposely recommend chymistry , i make this small collection , consist mainly of simple and not intricate or elaborate experiments . those that are simple being not only more easy to be try'd , and if need be , reiterated without much trouble , or danger of erring ; but ( which i more regard ) more easy to be judg'd of , as to their causes , phenomena and effects , and consequently more fit to ground notions and reasonings upon : divers of which may probably in the applications that sagacious persons may make of them , prove to be of practical as well as theorical use . thus tho a wedg of gold and a diamond be , one more rich and finely colour'd , and the other more precious and sparkling than a piece of steel and a hint ; yet on many occasions the two latter are far more serviceable to mankind than the former : since not those that are more priz'd for themselves , but those that in comparison seem despicable , afford sparks , which do not only give light , but are fit to kindle fires , which both afford incomparably more light , and in the application are of excellent and necessary use in the kitchins of families , the forges of smiths of all sorts , the furnaces of myne-men , and the laboratories of chymists . the i. pentade . experiment i. to dissolve crude gold with dry bodies . because the generality of chymists make so great a matter of aurum potabile , tho they cannot deny , but that by their preparations it is not made irreducible ; and because also i am willing to grant , that even some preparations , that leave the metal reducible , may yet be of considerable use in physick ( the grounds of which opinion i elsewhere declare , and shall not here repeat ) i will in this place set down a process , which tho i do not overmuch value , serv'd me well enough on some occasions , to vye with those that much vaunted their particular ways ( as they thought them ) of making aurum potabile , i told them , i could make one in an hour or two's time without a furnace ; and that without any other distill'd liquor whatsoever than common spirit of of wine well dephlegm'd . this i did several times , after the following manner . i prepar'd a saline mixture consisting of one part of sal almonia● , two parts of roch allum , and four parts of pure nitre . this being well pulveriz'd and mingl'd , i rub'd diligently in a glass or marble mortar , with 15 or 16 parts in weight of the whole mixture of leaves of gold , such as apothecaries and book-binders use . then i put this into a small new crucible , and putting a few , and but a few , kindled coals round about it , and at a little distance from it , to neal the vessel ; i soon after approacht them , till the heat made the matter melt , and so with that gentle fire , i kept it in fusion , till it visibly emitted no more fumes but grew dry again . this sign appearing , i presently took it off from the fire , and whiles it was yet warm , dug it out , as clean as i could , and having seasonably pulveriz'd it , that it might not attract the moisture of the air ; i put upon it some highly rectify'd spirit of wine , which within an hour or less time , was enobled with a rich golden colour . and accordingly i found it to be a real solution of gold , by divers tryals that i purposely made , to evince it to be so . of this and some other less common preparations of ☉ more may be met with hereafter . experiment . ii. luna cornea by distillation . there was taken ℥ iii of well refin'd silver , thinly laminated , and six of common sublimate . this was put first into a retort , and the silver cut into small pieces , was put in after , that the matter lying uppermost might be penetrated by the ascending fumes : but the fire having not been made strong enough , the sublimate was elevated to the uppermost part of the retort , and left the silver scarce at all chang'd in the bottom of the glass . wherefore we put the same sublimate and metal into another retort , and administring a stronger fire , that the sublimate might be thorowly melted before it could flee away , we obtain'd no running mercury at all , but the greatest part of the sublimate was elevated in its usual form , leaving behind it the silver in a lump , which stuck hard to the bottom of the glass , and appear'd much alter'd . for besides that there was acquir'd ℥ i. in weight , many of the pieces of metal stuck together , and seem'd at least half melted , and were of a kind of horny and semi-diaphanous substance , which would readily enough melt almost like sealing-wax , when i held it to the flame of a candle , at which yet i could not perceive it manifestly to take fire . scholium . 't is here to be noted once for all , that in this and divers other chymical experiments , there is sometimes much more deliver'd than is necessary to make good the title , or the thing mainly intended . but 't was thought fit , not to dismember or mutilate the entire memoir as 't was register'd , because that of the other particulars some may be , tho indirectly , refer'd to the principal part , and others may be look't on as phaenomena , which may be of use at least to me , by keeping me from forgetting them , and probably tend to the main design of all these experiments , viz. to contribute to a natural history , which may respect practice , as well as theory . experiment . iii. mercury growing warm with silver . we took ʒii of animated ( or antimonial ) quicksilver , and put it into the palm of ones hand ; we put to it by degrees a dram and an half of powder of fine silver , made by precipitation with copper the ordinary way ( but with more than ordinary care ) . whilst this mixture was making with ones finger , he that held it in his hand , confess'd he found it grow sensibly warm ; and i , whose finger was considerably warm , could not with it perceive any coldness in the amalgame . this in a very short time became of a soft , and ( as to sense ) uniform consistence , and so soft that it was like almost melted butter , insomuch that we added half a dram more of the calx of silver , without rendring the amalgame at all too stif ; and perhaps we might have added the other half dram , without overcharging that penetrant mercury : in which case it had swallowed up full its own weight of silver ; so different it was from common mercury ; and when we left off , it had reduc'd into a very yeilding form , three quarters of its own weight of solid metal . this aaa we put into a small vyal , and stopt the glass with a cork , to observe whether the amalgame would harden without intercourse with the free air. next morning it appear'd to be concreted in the glass ; and the next morning after that , we broke the glass to take out the matter , which we found considerably hard , but brittle enough . experiment . iv. the durableness of the faculty of a certain prepar'd mercury to grow hot with gold. to convince those that treat the incalescense of prepar'd mercury and of gold , as a chymical chymera ; i sent in a conceal'd way to the royal society , some mercury laboriously prepar'd in my furnaces , whereof ℥ i. being put upon a due proportion of a calx of gold made by the common way , ( quartation ) they grew presently and very sensibly hot in the palm of ones hand . i shall now add , that to try whether this surprizing faculty of growing hot immediately upon gold , will continue any long time in the mercury ; i lately took some that i had ( for a certain purpose ) kept hermetically seal'd in a glass egg for divers years , ( if i mistake not , ten or twelve at least ) and having reiterated the foremention'd tryal with it ; first alone , and then in the presence of a cultivator of chymistry ; it presently grew hot with the ☉ in the palm of the hand . and having distill'd off the mercury , and try'd it again as well as some that was undistill'd , if i much misremember not , it did again heat with the gold. experiment . v. an uncommon way of operating upon ♁ . when chymists expose antimony , for instance , and divers other consistent , but not fixt bodies , to the action of the fire , they are wont to do it in vessels , either open , as when they make calx , or glass of antimony , or at least in vessels that are not so close : but that there is air included with the matter , as when they sublime it in glasses , or in earthen subliming pots ; and tho they regard not this included air , because usually there is not much of it in the vessel , yet it may have a not inconsiderable influence on the effects of the fires operation , not only as it contributes to the ascention and sustentation of dissipated parts of the mineral , but as it affords these corpuscles room to fly to and fro in it , and thereby make associations or coalitions and concretions that otherwise would not be produc'd . upon this account i guest that it may be , on divers occasions , a thing of use for discoveries , and perhaps too , for practice , to imploy a method , that the body expos'd to the action of the fire , may be kept from the contact of the air , at least as to any sensible portions of it , and being as it were included in bodies almost equivalent to solids ; and one may suppress the free emission and ascent of exhalations , and so to make an operation , not only in clauso , but as it were in solido , and reduce the parts of the body expos'd , and perhaps the igneous corpuscles to act reciprocally upon one another , without any notable dissipation , or avolation of parts . to apply now what hath been said , to antimony ; i shall briefly set down an uncommon way that came into my mind of operating upon it . we took well powder'd ♁ , and well dry'd ( white ) chalk reduc'd likewise to powder ; with these in a large earthen pot or crucible , we made sss . having a care to make the lowermost and uppermost bed of chalk , and the last thicker than any of the rest , as also that none of the antimo-nial layers , were but of a moderate thickness , that the heat might penetrate them the better ; then the vessel , being cover'd , was put among the kindled coals of a good digestive furnace , ( not because such a one was necessary , but because 't was at hand ) where 't was kept for a competent time , which according to the bigness of the pot , and the strength of the fire , may be sometimes 20 or 24 hours , sometimes a day and a half , and sometimes two days or better . the ii. pentade . experiment i. a very uncommon way of making a cale of gold. 't is known that most chymists , and many physicians , have a superlative esteem for the medicinal vertues of gold , and the preparations of it . and upon this ground , divers of them have long been , and still are solicitous to make calces of gold by differing ways ; most of them laborious , and some of them scarce to be safely wrought and us'd in physick : wherefore i shall , i presume , be easily pardon'd , if i here set down a way that came into my mind , and that i have sometimes us'd to make a preparation wherein gold is reduc'd to very minute parts , without the help of mercury , or of any precipitation made by sharp salts , whether acid or lixivial . we took then refin'd gold , and dissolv'd it in clean and spirituous aqua regia , and instead of precipitating the clear solution with oyl of tartar per deliquium , as is usually done , or with spirit of sal armoniac , or other volatile urinous spirits , we first with a very modest heat drew off the superfluous liquor ; whereby the gold with the remaining part of the menstruum , was left in the appearance of a thick and oleous liquor . this done , we pour'd upon it a treble weight of vinous spirit totally inflammable and in a short time , we had , as we expected , a very subtil powder , or high colour'd calx of gold , that subsided at the bottom ; the menstruum being strangely dulcifi'd as to tast , and become fragrant in point of smell when a very few days were past , we decanted the liquor , and put on it fresh ardent spirit , and leaving them a while together , there subsided the like well colour'd calx more plentifully than the first time . i know not , to add that upon the by , whether it may , or may not be worth while to try to discover whether this dulcifi'd a. r. spirituosa being drawn off from the subsiding gold , may have acquir'd any virtue from the open'd metal . some tryals seeming to argue that the openness of this calx made it fit to be easily wrought upon by a menstruum that would not touch water-gold , as they call the common calx made by quartation , nor yet leaf-gold , such as the apothecaries imploy ; but however the menstruum has acquir'd such qualities as make it seem likely to prove an useful medicine , which yet i refer to tryal . by the way we pitch'd upon to make this powder of gold , it seem'd probable , that it would not ( at least ) be less subtil , and yet would be more mild , than common preparations ; and nevertheless we thought it might , perhaps , make it yet more secure , if we should , as we did , put upon it a totally ardent vinous spirit , and burn it off once , twice , or thrice , to carry off with it any little corosive or saline particles ▪ that may have still adher'd to the metalline ones . n. b. the spirituous aqua regia , mention'd in the process , is so call'd by me , partly to distinguish it from the common aqua regia , and partly because 't is indeed of a more spirituous nature than the common , being compos'd without any gross salt ; such as * but only of spirits . this menstruum i made for some particular uses : and tho it works more slowly than the common chrysulca , yet i often prefer it to this , as that which i can imploy to some uncommon purposes , and as it may probably be a more innocent menstruum in making preparations of sol , design'd for medicinal uses . i make it very easily , by mixing one part of good spirit of salt , with two parts of strong spirit of niter , or ( when 't is not to be us'd for medicines ) of common , but clean aqua fortis . scholium . the above recited tryal was made as 't is deliver'd ; but some circumstances that i took notice of , and particularly some grains of powder that , tho mingl'd with the rest , were shining , as if they had been extreamly minute , and bright filings of gold. these circumstances , i say , made me suspect that the success might much depend upon particular and nice circumstances that may need more exact tryal , than i had then occasion to make ; and therefore it may be fit that the experiment be heedfully repeated . it may also be try'd whether the imploying common a. r. instead of the spirituous , will much vary the experiment . experiment ii. to try how much volatile salt an assign'd quantity of water would dissolve , we took ℥ iii of distill'd water , and put into it by degrees , some dry salt of salt armoniac ( that was very white , and compact enough ) keeping the liquor in digestion for a pretty while , that it might have time to dissolve as much as it could . when we found it would dissolve no more in a moderate heat , we took it off , and found that after standing some hours in the cold there fell to the lower part of the glass , and setled there , a pretty quantity of salt , which we guess'd to be about ʒii , which being deducted from ℥ ii , that had been in all put in , there remained ℥ i and ʒvi in the liquor , which by this account had dissolv'd at least half its weight of salt. scholium . i desire it may not be thought strange , if among our chymical experiments , some few shall be here and there met with , that are much less elaborate or promising than others that i could easily have inserted in their rooms ; for i did it on set purpose , partly because oftentimes ( as was intimated at the beginning of the chapter ) some more simple or seemingly less valuable experiments may be fitter materials , than more curious ones , for the natural history we would promote ; and partly to give an example , if mine can signifie any thing , of not disdaining to register some things that seem mean ; if by the light they afford , or the uses they may be apply'd to , they compensate the want of lustre , and of immediate utility . and the substance of this scholium i desire may be mentally transferr'd , as occasion shall require , to those following chapters that treat of chymical experiments . experiment . iii. perhaps some chymists will think that the following memoir may give hints that may be of use on several occasions , both for other purposes , and for theirs , that would draw tinctures from several bodies , that will not afford them in simple spirit of wine , tho well rectifi'd . the simple spirit of good french verdigreas , being once or twice abstracted from as much salt of tartar as it would dissolve in the cold ; left the salt easily susible , and dissoluble in highly rectifi'd spirit of wine . experiment iv. i have not been unacquainted with some curious and elaborate preparations of that noble flower the rose ; and experience hath convinc'd me that t is possible , whatever most chymists think of it , to obtain from roses a true essential oyl , that mixes not with water , and is exceeding fragrant : but there are several that are so far from believing that an essential oyl may be obtain'd from roses , without being in the form of a butter , but in a liquid one like oyl of cloves , or wormwood , that they doubt whether a true spiritus ardens can be obtain'd from them , without addition of wine , or some such inflamable liquor . i shall here transcribe the following note , as containing a more simple and easie preparation ( than any of those before mention'd ) of the ardent spirit of those flowers , and therefore more suitable to the design of the whole chapter . to make an inflammable spirit of roses . two bushels of damask roses ( together with a good number of red rose-buds ) being beaten , and put into a vessel with water amounting to about 4 gallons , were mingled with about a quart of ale-yest , and kept in fermentation for about 5 or 6 days ( the weather being cold for the season ) and then being distill'd per vesicam , afforded us a spiritus ardens . experiment . v. an experiment about the chymical analysis of pearls . we took ℥ ii of seed pearl , that were carefully bought for oriental , and without breaking them , put them into a retort , and distil'd them in a sand-furnace by degrees of fire , giving a strong one at the last . by this means we had a little black oyl swimming upon the spirit , which was also dark and muddy , as if incorporated with some more oyl . the weight of both these liquors was 23 grains , besides which there stuck to almost all the upper part of the retort , a thin film of oyl , which together with a streak of the like reaching to the bottom of the receiver , we estimated at 3 grains more , and so reckon'd 26 grains for the weight of the whole ascended matter . the caput mortuum amounted to full the remainng weight of two ounces . the empyreumatical liquors that came over , smell'd much like those of harts-horn , and the spirit was found to belong , as we expected , to the tribe of urinous ones , or , as many now call them volatile alcaly's for it readily hiss'd and produc'd bubbles , with good spirit of salt turn'd syrup of violets green , and being drop'd into solution of sublimate , turn'd that white ; to omit another way or two , by which i examin'd it . the oyl that stuck to the retort , and which was faetid , like that of harts-horn , did easily dissolve in dephlegm'd spirit of wine , and afforded a reddish brown solution . the caput mortuum was very black , and some grains of it were found readily enough dissoluble in spirit of vinegar . being calcin'd in a well cover'd crucible , with a strong fire ( for a moderate one will not do it , unless it be long ) we reduc'd them to be purely white , and to a weight less by some grains than an ounce , and ʒiii and we found , as we expected , that being pulveriz'd , this calx tasted hot and bitterish upon the tongue , like good calx vive , and was not only of an alcalisate , but a lixival nature : for besides that it presently turn'd syrup of violets green , it quickly afforded an orange colour'd precipitate , with solution of sublimate . strange reports , in ii. parts . address'd to a vertuoso , friend to the author . advertisement . i presume , sir , you may yet remember , what i wrote about the nature and scope of my collection of strange reports , in an essay which take's its title from them ; and which i was encouraged to make by the example and authority of aristotle . and therefore i shall desire , that to save your trouble and my own , that paper may serve for a preface to that which follows . about which , supposing this request to be granted , i shall need to give you at present but this short advertisement ; that for distinction's sake , i thought fit to divide the ensuing particulars into two parts , because they are indeed of two sorts : one relating to things purely natural , and the other consisting of phaenomena , that are , of seem to be , of a supernatural kind or order . the first set of particulars belonging to each of the two foremention'd parts , has prefixt to it the title of the first section , tho it be not at this time attended by a second ; because 't is design'd , that god permitting , it shall be so hereafter , when i shall get time to pick up out of my adversaria , and other memoirs , particulars fit to have plac'd in the list of strange reports . i must likewise give you notice , that you are not to expect the ii. part at this time : discretion forbidding me to let that appear , till i see what entertainment will be given to the i. part , that consists but of relations far less strange than those that make up the other part. strange reports . part . i. section . i. relating to a judicious virtuoso , that a physician of bruxels a while since affirm'd to me , that he himself had prepar'd 3 or 4 resuscitable plants , one of which he had presented to the marquess of castel rodrigo , now governor of the spanish netherlands , where this virtuoso had not long since been . relating this , i say , to this gentleman , and enquiring of him , whether he had seen this resuscitable plant ; he answered me , that he had never seen nor heard of it ; but told me on this occasion , that coming to deal with an apothecary of namier , if i misremember not the name , much esteem'd for his extraordinary skill in chymistry about some choice preparations , wherewith this man's shop was furnish'd the apothecary told the virtuoso , that he had really prepar'd resufcitable plants , a different way from that which others pretended to , and that he could prepare a great variety of them . and when having enquir'd of the virtuoso , whether he himself had seen any of these prepar'd plants , he assur'd me , that he had seen not only some , but many ; i then upon farther enquiry how they appear'd , learned that the chymist had divers of them in distinct glass-bottles ; that the apparitions that were exhibited , shew'd not the peculiar colours , but only the shape of the plant ; but this so genuinely that he could perfectly distinguish and easily know it to be such or such a plant instancing particularly in carduus benedictus , and camomile . and the difference betwixt this way of exhibiting plants , and that which is mention'd by quercetan , and pretended to by others ; i found by this gentleman's answers , to consist chiefly in these two things : the first , that the apothecary's plants did not as the others seem to grow up into the air included in a seal'd vial , but were seen as growing in a clear liquor , wherewith the bottle that contain'd it was almost fill'd ; and the next , that whereas to make the apparition , mention'd by quercetan , and others , the application of an actual heat ( as that of a lamp , or the sun-beams , or the like ) is affirm'd to be requisite , upon the absence of which the phantastical plant relapses into its ashes . in the formation of the apothecaries vegetables , he doth not employ any actual heat , but ( which may seem more strange ) only the shaking , of the bottle , for upon that agitation the prepar'd ashes or powder being this'd from the bottom , and dispers'd quite through the liquor , when the glass is set by in a quiet place , the scatter'd particles by degrees so convene , as to compose a model of the plant they once belong'd to . and heat not being requisite to their formation , these plants do not quickly , as the pelonian physician 's phantastick vegetable , recorded by quercetan , fall back into a powder ; but if let alone , continu'd a great while , until the preparer think fit by a gentle agitation of the bottle , to dissolve the loose contexture of it . relation ii. i met the other day with a very intelligent person , well vers'd in chymistry , not credulous , and in a word very well worthy of credit , who assur'd me , that he had himself seen a few years ago at mentz , in the hands of one monsieur p — r , a gentleman of switzer-land , and a virtuoso , a piece of glass about the bigness of a shilling , or somewhat bigger ; which was red and pretty transparent like glass of antimony made per se , and which this monsieur p. affirm'd to the relator , that he hammer'd before the present elector of heidelberg ( to whom i told him , i had the honour to be known , and ) by whom the relator was about that time imploy'd . and this monsieur p. being his intimate acquaintance , and perceiving that he was , ( as he well might be ) indispos'd to believe so strange a thing , after he had confest the glass to have been given him by an excellent chymist in his country ( switzerland ) ; this gentleman , i say , at the relators earnest request , gave him leave for his satisfaction , to lay the piece of glass upon an anvil , and to strike seven or eight strokes with a hammer upon it ; by which means he found , that tho it was nor malleable ( at least in the state it then was ) like neal'd silver , since it began to crack at the edges like silver that is over-hammer'd ; yet it did really stretch under the hammer , growing more thin on the beaten part , and having visible marks or impressions made on it by the edg of the hammer . relation iii. a pious and learned school-master , that ventur'd to stay in london in the great plague 1665 , and was much employ'd , as some friends of mine that knew him , and commended him , assur'd me , to visit the sick , and distribute alms and relief to them , went indiscriminately to all sorts of infected , and even dying persons , to the number , as he told me , of nine hundred , or a thousand ; and being ask'd by me about the infection of other things than walls , he told me , that being once call'd to administer some ghostly comfort to a poor woman that had buried some children of the plague , he found the room so little , that it scarce held any more than the bed whereon she lay sick , and an open coffin wherein he saw her husband lye dead of the same disease , whom the wife soon after follow'd . in this little close room they affirm'd to him , that the contagious steams had produc'd spots on the very wall ; and when i ask'd , whether he himself had seen them , he answer'd , that he had not ; but yet was inclin'd to believe the thing to be true , not only upon the score of the relators , but because he had observ'd the like in his own study , which being divided only by a wall from some rooms of a house , which the owner had turn'd into a kind of a pest-house , and in which , numbers had dyed in a short time ; he took notice that the white wall of his study was ( since the sickness rag'd , without any other cause that he could imagine ) blemish'd in divers places with spots , like those of infected persons ; when ( to add that upon the by ) i inquir'd what antidote he us'd ; he replied , that next the protection of god , which so many sad objects made him the more fervently implore , and a constant fearlesness , the only preservative he us'd , besides good diet , were half a spoonful , or a spoonful of brandy five or six times a day , especially when he went into infected places , and the bigness of a small nut or less , of a root of spanish angelica , of which he held in his mouth the quantity of a pepper-corn , or somewhat less , as often as he thought there was need . relation iv. an ingenious person , and very worthy of credit , inform'd me the other day , in answer to some questions that i propos'd to him , that he was imploy'd some years ago by a german physician ( whose name he told me ) to distil a certain mineral not unknown to me , which he perform'd in a naked fire , with so good success , that he had from about half a pound of the mineral , near ʒiii of the liquor ; this he included in a glass with a bubble , and a slender neck like one of my weather-glasses ; but tho the liquor at first reach'd not above the bubble , but only fill'd it to the bottom of the pipe ; yet as the moon increas'd , this liquor , as the doctor expected , by degrees expanded it self in the glass , so that about the full moon , it reach'd about an inch into the pipe , and upon the decrease of the moon , it subsided by degrees to the bottom of the pipe. and when i ask'd , whether the vessel were carefully stopt , he answer'd , that it was not only so , but hermetically seal'd like one of my thermometers with spirit of wine , which he had seen . this the relator averr'd to me upon his own observation , and being desir'd , he readily gave me a description of the mineral , and a direction where to procure it , ( which i am now endeavouring to do ) adding that the same doctor made the like tryal with another mineral , akin to this , with which my having heard that such an experiment had been done , gave me occasion to propose him the question . relation v. an inquisitive traveller that not long since waited on a german prince addicted to chymistry , and was imploy'd by him in his private laboratory ; being ask'd by me some questions about ore of bismute or tin-glass , whereof there is said to be a mine in that prince's territories , and in particular , whether he had observ'd any thing of the varying bulk of a strange liquor obtainable from it : he answer'd me to this effect , that he had had occasion to make many tryals upon this mineral , and that particularly by his prince's command , he had distill'd a considerable quantity of a certain sort of it ( because it yields but very little spirit ) and that he thereby obtain'd a liquor , which being by rectification freed from its superfluous phlegm , amounted to about half a pint. this liquor was put into a vial , which it almost half fill'd . this vial being exactly stop'd , was set aside in a quiet place , where , ( as the prince expected ) as the light of the moon increas'd , from the new moon towards the full ; so this liquor gradually swell'd , and that not in a hardly perceptible degree , but very manifestly and confiderably ; so that when the moon was full , the liquor reached almost to the top of the glass , and during her wane , as the light decreas'd , so did the bulk of the liquor , which was always least at the new moon . i ask'd him if any tryal had been made , whether the weight of this spirit varied with the bulk , and he frankly confess'd to me , that it had not come into his mind ; but for what is above related of the increment and decrement as to quantity affirm'd to me , that he himself , as well as his prince had several times observ'd it ; and he also readily told me the way he used in making the distillation , which he said , exacted an intense degree of fire . relation vi. an inquisitive person , that having gone through his studies in the university , travell'd throgh divers countries to make himself the more fit for the profession of physick , answer'd me , that having resided for some time in prussia , he had more than once or twice ( and that in differing places ) observ'd , as others in his company also did , that the fisher-men in breaking the ice of long frozen places , and taking out thence confiderable masses of ice , did several times find in them swallows , sometimes numerous enough , that were so inclos'd in the ice , that unless by breaking or thawing it , they could not be gotten out of it . and he further answer'd me , that when these lumps or masses of ice came to be thaw'd in their german stoves , the swallows , that lay as dead before , would revive , and perhaps fly about the room ; but did not long survive their recovery out of their insensible state ; some dying again in few hours , others the next day , or perhaps the third ; but sew or none , that he observ'd , living beyond the fourth or the fifth ; which immature death , my relator judg'd to be caus'd by their having no appetite to eat , which inappetency made them dye starv'd . but as the conjecture may be true as to those that liv'd for some days , so it seems not like that those that perish'd in few hours , dyed meerly of hunger ; and as for them that were starv'd to death , i should suspect that they were starv'd , not so much for want of appetite , as for want of such animals as they us'd to feed on , especially flies , which they could not get in winter . relation vii . an inquisitive gentleman lately return'd from jamaica , where he was imploy'd by the governour to make discoveries of natural things , answer'd me ( this morning ) that he had seen in that island great number of trees that bear the silken cotten , that he found many of them to surpass in bigness and height the larger sort of our english oaks ; and that on a mountain that many went to visit out of curiosity , to view a stupendious silk-cotton tree , he saw its bulk , and many affirm'd to him , and it was the general tradition of the country , which he saw no cause to disbelieve , that this prodigious tree was in the body no less than 21 yards about , that is , more than 60 foot in compass . the same curious traveller told me he saw a cannow made of the hollow'd trunk of one of these silk-cotton trees , which after all that had been taken off to give it the shape of a vessel fit for service , was 30 foot about , and of at least a proportionable length . relation viii . a merchant rich and judicious , and more addicted to letters than is usual to men of his calling , being return'd into england , from some of the remoter parts of the east-indies , to satisfy my curiosity about a strange tradition of several navigators about a more than one way extraordinary in-draught of the sea on the coast of a great island of the southern ocean , sent me the ensuing relation , which tho it contains something manifestly fabulous , but easily distinguishable from the rest , i give you in the relators own words , being unwilling to alter any thing till i can see him again , and propose my scruples to him . at campar and rakan , on the east coast of sumatra , is in the rivers mouth ( to a certain distance ) at each new and full-moon , a violent in-draught of the sea , ( call'd bunna ) which approacheth with an hideous noise , and mountain-high , so that whatsoever opposeth it , perisheth . it s approach is in three parts , the first high , but not so terrible ; the second is high , black and horrid ; the third is low , and of gentle motion ; before its approach , it giveth so fair warning , that the people may eat , and bath themselves , before they weigh anchor ; but when they weigh , they must row hard against it , and when its fury is past , follow with it , till they return to their anchor place . the true reason whereof the inhabitants cannot discover : but ( as if greece only were not the mother of fabulous traditions ) these poor natives fabulize , that at campar ( where is the greatest bunna ) in former ages , there was a princess , who , to shun the rape of an insolent casfree slave , ran into the seas mouth ; but the slave still pursuing her , and after him the princess's little-dog ; all perish'd and thus ( by a new metamorphosis ) these three waves perpetuate their commemoration . that afterwards a bold fellow hoping to divert this bunna from campar ( by advice of some wizards ) row'd up against that first part of the torrent , and filling a bottle of its water , which he immediately stopt up close , he betook himself to rakan ( not far distant ) and pour'd it out into that rivers mouth , which brought the bunna thither also , tho it left not campar ; but that fellow suddenly after dying , none durst since attempt the like , else the natives fancy it may still be done . my humble opinion is , ( adds my relator ) that the mouths of those rivers being choakt up with their sand-banks , and so render'd very shallow ; when the great spring-tydes come roaring over those shoals ( at the new and full-moons ) out of the malacca streights , the first influx is irresistible , by such small vessels as use that port , ( especially if attended with dark weather or stormy gusts ) so that they are forc'd to weigh and bear up against it for fear of being strandded and split . in which sentiment i rest , till i can attain a more prevalent reason . relation ix . a gentleman that had travell'd far and observ'd much , related to me , that being off the coast of mosambique , between the 20th and last days of september , the captain of the great portugal ship they were in , walking to and fro upon the deck , spy'd a great way off , a very little dark cloud or blackish spot in the sky : whereupon , tho the weather were fair , he made all the hast he possibly could to provide for a great storm , by taking in the sails , &c. and thó for a while the sky continu'd clear , and they had no signs of an imminent change ; but that when the cloud approacht , the wind that had till then fill'd , their sails ceas'd , and the sea became calmer than before : but presently after they had a furious hurricane , which turn'd their ship quite round many times one after another , as if it were an aerial whirl-pool , which lasted for above two hours , and then left them , seeming to have a progressive motion , as whirl-pools in rivers often have . relation x. an ingenious practitioner of physick , accompany'd by one of the same profession , assur'd me with great asseveration , that some while since , being at a place in the country near amsterdam , where there liv'd a kind of a farmer , who ( tho illiterate enough ) was reputed very curious ; this person shew'd him , among other things , a considerable quantity of quicksilver that was altogether of the colour of gold. and , to answer my scruple , this relator added , that the colour did not belong only to the surface of the whole mass ; but having purposely ( with water ) divided it into many globules , each of them retain'd the same rich colour . and he further told me , that the possessor of this yellow mercury , having put some of it over a fire in a convenient vessel , it quickly lost its fludity , and was precipitated into a red powder ; about which he hop'd to learn some notable things at his next visit to the author : but that having been too long delay'd ; when he came to the place again , he found to his great grief that the master was dead , and his relations were , or pretended to be , ignorant of his secrets . a very learned and experienc'd physician , made me a visit to give me notice , that a few days before he had receiv'd one in the night from a couple of strangers , one of whom by some things that he saw him do , he judg'd to be ( what they call ) an adeptus , who besides a thing far more rare and valuable , shew'd him as a curiosity , a runing mercury of a lovely green. and when i ask'd my judicious relator , whether he had broken the fluid mass into drops , to observe whether the colour were that only of the surface , or of the whole mass ? he answer'd , that he purposely laid it upon a rough body , as a carpet , and found the globules , whereinto 't was by this means divided , to be of the same fine green that had beautify'd the whole mass . these relations , tho they had come to me from less credible persons than those i receiv'd them from , i should not hastily have rejected , because of some odd and fine colorations of runing mercury , that i have my self observ'd , but here forbear to mention , because they belong to another paper . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28968-e900 * this refers to the manuscript that was sent to mr. o. and is left to shew the intention of the author . notes for div a28968-e1760 lib. 7. cap. 7. see exper. 10. 10 cent. 12. decemb. 23. nov. 9. 89. notes for div a28968-e6960 this famous philosopher in his little tract , whose title some render de mirandis auditionibus , scrupled not to comprise without method , divers reports , uncertain or fabulous , nor to insert several that were not so cautiously admitted as those recited in the following . collection . notes for div a28968-e7170 january , 25. the martyrdom of theodora and of didymus by a person of honour. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1687 approx. 258 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 135 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28990) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98345) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 446:27) the martyrdom of theodora and of didymus by a person of honour. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [30], 250 [i.e. 232], [6] p. printed by h. clark, for john taylor ... and christopher skegnes ..., london : 1687. attributed to robert boyle. cf. blc. first edition; published later (1703) under title: love and religion demonstrated in the martyrdom of theodora, and of didymus. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2006-07 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the martyrdom of theodora , and of didymus . by a person of honour . london : printed by h. clark , for john taylor at the ship , and christopher skegnes at the golden ball , in st. paul's church-yard , 1687. such an account of the following book , sent with it to a friend ; as may serve instead of a preface . to convince you , sir , how much more i am concern'd to have you think , i can obey well , than write well ; i venture to send you the account , ( as imperfect and unpolish'd as it is ) that you are pleas'd to command of the last hours of theodora . but i must beg your leave to accompany it with another account ( though but a short one ) how i came to meddle with this subject ; and why what i present you about it , is so much maim'd , and has no more uniformity . having had occasion many years ago to turn over a martyrology , and some other books , that related to the sufferings of the primitive christians ; i chanc'd to light on those of a virgin , who , though ( to my wonder ) she was left unnam'd by the other writers that mention'd her , seem'd plainly to be the same , that is by one of them expresly call'd theodora : i own , i was not a little affected , at the reading of such moving and uncommon adventures as hers : and finding her story to be related , by the author that nam'd both her and her lover , not only very succinctly and imperfectly , but very dully too ; i found my self tempted so to enlarge this story , as that it might be contriv'd into a somewhat voluminous romance : but upon second thoughts , it appeared incongruous to turn a martyr into a nymph or an amazon : and i consider'd too , that ( to omit what else might be objected against that sort of composures ) as true pearls are cordials and antidotes , which counterfeit ones , how fine soever they may appear , are not ; so true examples do arm and fortify the mind far more efficaciously , than imaginary or fictious ones can do ; and the fabulous labours of hercules , and exploits of arthur of britain , will never make men aspire to heroick vertue half so powerfully , as the real examples of courage and gallantry afforded by jonathan caesar , or the black prince . but yet , thinking it great pity , that so shining a vertue as theodora's should prove exemplary , but to her own time , and to one city ; and remembring , that soon after the age which she ennobl'd , it was counted among the primitive christians an act of piety , to build fair monuments , upon the formerly abject graves of the martyrs ; to repay , by honours done to their memories , the indignities and disgraces they had suffer'd in their persons ; i thought fit to try , if i could rescue from more unskilful hands than even mine , a story that abundantly deserv'd to be well told . but upon further thoughts , i soon foresaw , that this task was not more worthy to be undertaken , than it would prove difficult to be well perform'd : for the martyrologist having allow'd scarce one whole page , to a relation , that perhaps merited a volume , had left so many chasms , and so many necessary things unmentioned , that i plainly perceiv'd , i wanted a far greater number of circumstances , than that he had supply'd me with to make up so maim'd a story tolerably compleat . and as the relation deny'd me matter enough to work upon , so the nature of the subject refus'd most of those imbellishments which in other themes , where young gallants and fair ladies are the chief actors , are wont to supply the deficiences of the matter . besides , my task was not near so easie as it would have been , if i had been only to recite the intrigues of an amour , with the liberty to feig surprizing adventures , to adorn the historical part of the account , and to make a lover speak as passionately as i could , and his mistress as kindly as the indulgentest laws of decency would permit . but i was to introduce a christian and pious lover , who was to contain the expressions of his flame within the narrow bounds of his religion ; and a virgin , who , being as modest and discreet as handsom , and as devout as either , was to own an high esteem for an excellent lover , and an uncommon gratitude to a transcendent benefactor , without intrenching either upon her vertue , or her reservedness . and i perceiv'd the difficulty of my task would be encreas'd , by that of reconciling theodora's scrupulousness to the humours of some young persons of quality of either sex , who were earnest to engage my pen on this occasion , and would expect that i should make theodora more kind , than i thought her great piety and strict modesty would permit . but for all this ; the esteem i had for the fair martyrs excellencies , and the compliance i had for those that desir'd to receive an account of so rare a persons actions and sufferings , made me resolve to try what i could do . which i adventur'd upon with the less reluctancy , because , though i esteem'd it a kind of profaneness , to transform a piece of martyrology into a romance ; yet i thought it allowable enough , where a narrative was written so concisely , and left so unperfect , as that i had to descant upon ; to make such supplements of circumstances , as were not improbable in the nature of the thing , and were little less than necessary to the clearness and entireness of the story , and the decent connection of the parts it should consist of . i suppos'd too , that i needed not scruple , to lend speeches to the persons i brought upon the stage , provided they were suitable to the speakers , and occasions ; since i was warranted by the examples of livy , plutarch , and other grave and judicious historians , who make no scruple to give us set orations , of their own framing , and sometimes put them into the mouths of generals at the head of their armies , just going to give battel : though at such times the hurry and distraction that both they and their auditors must be in , must make it very unlikely , either that they should make elaborate speeches , or their hearers mind and remember them well enough to repeat them to the historians . encourag'd by these liberties , which i thought i might justly allow my self : i drew up , as well as i could , what you have been told i wrote about theodora . this i thought fit to divide into two parts ; in the first whereof , ( which was less remote from being romantick ) i gave somewhat at large the characters of them both . i mention'd the rise and progress of didymus's love ; the degeneracy of the then christians , which provok'd divine providence , to expose them to a very bloody persecution : i declar'd , how theodora being involv'd in it , was brought before the president of antioch ; how she resolutely own'd her religion before him , answer'd his arguments , and resisted both his promises , and his menaces ; how thereupon the judge doom'd her either to sacrafice , or to be prostituted in the the publick stews . how she , after an eager debate in her own mind , refusing to offer sacrifice , was , ( notwithstanding her silence ) led away to the infamous place ; how being shut up there alone in a room , she employ'd the little time , that was granted her to consider whether she would yet burn incense to the roman idols , in fervent prayer to the true god , for a rescue of her purity , not her life ; in order whereunto , she design'd and hop'd by resistance and contumelies to provoke her first assailant , to become her murderer , rather than her ravisher . these were the chief contents of the first book . those of the second , were more historical ; and consisted of an account of the last hours of her life , and particularly of those sufferings that ended in her and didymus's glorious martyrdom . this piece having been perus'd by those for whose sake i wrote it ; was so fortunate , that it having , without my leave , been ventur'd into several hands , as a book of a nameless and unknown author , it was lucky enough to be , by some indulgent readers , attributed to one , and by some to another , of the two persons , that were at that time counted the best writers of disguis'd histories . but among the many hands it pass'd through , it seems it fell into some , out of which a great part of the loose sheets , ( which were not bound in a book , but only tack'd together ) were not to be retriev'd : whether it were by the negligence , or the contempt , that some had of so unpolish'd a work ; or whether there were some fatality in the business , that theodoras sufferings should outlive her , and her story be as ill us'd as her person had been . this loss , ( if it can deserve that name ) i did not much regret : since i intended not to make the lost papers publick , and had receiv'd much greater approbation and thanks than they merited , from the particular persons they were design'd for . but after i had for many years worn out , not only the sense , but the memory of this loss : it was made more troublesom to me , than ever it was at first , by the earnest solicitations of some eminent persons , that had a great power over me , and some of them the repute of great judges of this kind of composures . for having seen several sheets , that i accidentally lighted on , in tumbling over some long neglected papers ; they oblig'd me to cause those old rude sheets to be transcrib'd . and tho' almost all the first book was wanting , ( upon which account , i could not be remov'd from my resolution not to trouble my self about it ) yet there was so much of the second book , but in parts no way coherent , little by little retriev'd , that a pretence was afforded to press me to repair those breaches , and restore out of my memory , or otherwise , a piece , which they would needs perswade me might do some good , by rendring vertue amiable , and recommending piety to a sort of readers , that are much more affected by shining examples , and pathetical expressions , than by dry precepts , and grave discourses . if some of your more scrupulous friends shall object , that i have mention'd theodoras beauty more often and advantagously , and represented her lovers passion more pathetically , than the subject of the story exacted , and the truth requir'd in history would warrant ; i shall not altogether deny the charge : being rather content to have it thought , that a youthful 〈◊〉 heated fancy transported 〈◊〉 pen , somewhat beyond the narrow bounds of history , than that so pious a person as didymus did not keep both his flame , and the expressions of it , within the limits of reason and religion . but though i pretend not to justifie , all that has been said in the strain of an encomiast , or a lover , yet i hop'd that i may much extenuate , if not excuse it , by representing such things as these . that i have been careful , that theodora should not be made to do , or say , any thing , that , the great obligations she had to her rescuer consider'd , do intrench either upon her piety , or her vertue , or so much as upon her reserv'dness . that as for didymus ; i might say , that probably he thought , those celebrations that would have been flattery to another lady , were but justice to a person so extraordinary , and so accomplish'd as his mistress ; and that he thought it allowable , not to suppress the chast effects of a passion , that has not only been incident to heroes , but perhaps help'd to make them such . but i will rather say , that those only are like to find much fault with his expressions , who consider not how free they are from any degree of prophaneness or immodesty : and who are not accustomed to the reading of stories , where lovers are introduc'd , and made to praise and complement in a far more bold and romantick way , than i allowed my self in the following paper . in which , all the deference , wherewith irene as well as didymus treat theodora , may be be accounted for by this ; that i remember'd to have , in some author or other , found mention made of a person about dioclesian's time , whom i took for our martyr , that was intimated to be of high quality , if not a princess . which title i had without scruple given her , if i had been half as sure that she was a princess , as that she deserv'd to be one. that perhaps i was not unwilling , both to shew the persons i wrote for , that one might have glittering idea's of beauty , without being dazl'd by them ; and also to convince them , that high complements and passionate expressions , are no certain marks of his being really smitten ( to speak in a lovers phrase ) that can imploy them ; since i retain'd my wonted freedom of mind , while i was writing ; and presented them by the mouth of didymus , but what fancy , not passion indited . and lastly , i was induc'd to allow my self a more fashionable stile , than would perhaps be suitable to a meer sermon , or book of divinity , because i fear'd , that the youthful persons of quality of both sexes , that i was chiefly to regard , would scarce be sufficiently affected by unfortunate vertue , if the interweaving of passages relating to beauty and love , did not help to make the tragical story , delightful , and the excellent sufferers piety , amiable . if it be objected , that in some of the discourses of the two martyrs , there are passages that argue more knowledge , than is likely to have been found in lay persons no elder than they . i answer , that such discourses indeed were somewhat strange , if they were ascrib'd to a young gallant , and a younger lady , of our degenerate times ; wherein so many persons of that sort , make diversion their grand business ; and , having as little leisure as concern to mind any thing , but their pleasures and petty interests , think it their priviledge to know little of religion , and leave to meaner people the study of things serious and useful . but , though among this sort of persons , it were so difficult to find many that would emulate such knowledge and vertue as shin'd in theodora , that i fear they would not so much as believe them ; yet among better qualify'd judges , the lately propos'd objection will be of no great force , if it be consider'd , that didymus and theodora liv'd in the primitive and devout times of the church , and in the roman empire , when the christian religion was as diligently taught by excellent divines , as frequently oppos'd by arguments , and violently assaulted by persecutions . upon which scores , the zealous candidates of martyrdom , many of which obtain'd the crown of it , even in their greener age , were early and skilfully instructed in the truths of their own religion , and furnish'd with good arguments , both to defend it , and confute the erroneous opinions and impious worships of their heathen adversaries . nor is it any wonder , that they should think that religion worth studying , that they thought worth dying for . i will not here examine , whether the ignorance wont to be imputed to women , be their fault , or that of their accusers , and whether it is any natural want of capacity , or rather want of instruction , that keeps most of them from knowledge , though this regards not sexes . but without inquiry , whether it be not our interest , or our envy , that makes women what we are wont to decry them for being ; i shall not scruple to own , that i have sometimes had the honour to converse with ladys , that convinc'd me , that , to attain to a great proficiency in knowledge , 't is not necessary to be a doctor of divinity , or so much as a man , since they discours'd of divine things , with no less wit than piety . and to return to our martyr , if we may judge by the effects , we may reasonably suppose , that our virgins parents not only thought it their duty , but took much pleasure , to cultivate so excellent and promising a subject as their fair daughter . since great advantages of nature and general grace should rather invite , than excuse , improvements by education ; as even the garden of eden , though an admirably fertile soil , and planted by god's own hands , was not so left to itself , but that adam was appointed to dress it , and to keep it . and if the discourses of our martyrs are sometimes less short than they might have been made ; i hope it may be some excuse , that i was not unwilling , to lay hold now and then of the rises afforded me by some occasions , to shew , that romantick subjects are not , as too many persons of quality think them , the only ones , that may be treated of in a gentleman-like stile ; and that even some noble questions in divinity , and some of the severer dictates of the christian morals , may be discours'd of , without the harshness of the school terms , or the downright plainness of some better meant , than pen'd , books of theology and devotion . 't is like sir , you will think it strange , that i make so pious a person as theodora , offer her breast to didymus's sword , and by soliciting him to kill her , tempt him to an action , which would make her guilty of a murder , and make him greatly accessory to it . but possibly her action would not appear very strange , if we were not too enclinable to estimate the affairs of past times , and remote regions , by the opinions and customes of our own age and countrys . for , what ever we now justly think of the sinfulness of destroying a mans self , whether immediately or otherwise , yet i must not deny , but that divers of the ancient christians thought it not criminal , when it was necessary for the preservation of chastity . and , if i much misremember not , st. jerom himself , where he speaks of the unlawfulness of self-destroying , intimates , that he excepts the case of an inevitable danger of a rape . but my chief answer is , that having found the virgin martyrs proposal expresly deliver'd by the author i was to follow , i judg'd it the part of an historian not to suppress it ; which i acknowledge , i the rather declin'd to do , because theodoras offer was a noble evincement , both of her gratitude and her generosity . and therefore , instead of omitting so considerable an action of hers , i chose rather to set my thoughts a work , to find a plausible colour for it . which whether i have happily done , by supplying her with the example of a prophet , who , though he would not cast himself into the sea , yet solicited others to cast him , ( and that having first bound him ) i must leave you to judge . i freely confess , sir , that , if the following piece had been written by one , that i were fond of censuring , i could my self find enough in it to criticize upon ; and should object against it , besides the want of uniformity throughout , that if judg'd of by the strict rules of art , it ought to pass for an irregular piece . and therefore i shall not wonder , if nicer criticks , and more vers'd in exquisite composures than i pretend to be , shall find fault with this artless one of mine . but the reception that the following papers met with , from the persons for whom they were chiefly written , affords me the consolation derivable from the ingenious saying of that excellent wit , who declar'd , he had rather the dishes serv'd up at his treat , should please the guests , than the cooks . and i might say too , that some of the passages that may meet with censure , would perhaps escape it ; if in writing this book many years agoe , i had not had some aims , that i then thought more fit to be pursu'd , than i now do to be declar'd . yet i will not here dissemble , that i know it may be thought by some , that this paper should have consisted less of conversations , and more of narratives . but i chose the way of writing i have employ'd , partly because the authors i met with furnish'd me with so very few matters of fact , that if i would have confin'd my self to relations ; i must have compriz'd this piece in a very few pages , and have finish'd it presently after i had begun it : and partly too , ( and indeed much more ) because ( as i lately began to intimate ) my chief design was not so much , to perform the office of a meer historian , as to take rises from the several circumstances i should relate , to convey unperceivedly , into the minds of those young persons of quality for whom i wrote , sentiments of true piety and vertue . and these i thought would not so happily gain admittance and entertainment , if they were presented in a scholar like-discourse , or aprofess'd book of devotion , as when they were taken , not from common places but from the nature of the things and persons introduc'd ; and without formality instill'd by the occasional discourses of a young gentleman and fair lady , for whom the beauty and the merit ascrib'd to the speakers , had given the hearers as great esteem and kindness . and i shall not scruple to own , that i , who who value time above most other things , did not think it worth the expence of mine , to give my self the trouble of writing a book , only to give others a divertisement in reading it . and whilst i was conversing with such excellent company , as our noble martyrs , and meditating on such serious subjects , as are death , and the worth of that heavenly religion for whose sake they despis'd it ; i found my self incited , and thought my self oblig'd , to aim less at the pleasing of some few nice exactors of regularity , than to possess many readers with high and noble sentiments of the christian religion , and the sublime dictates of it ; and thereby both elevate their minds to a generous contempt of all they can lose and suffer for it , and fill them with bright idea's of heroick vertue , and of the much brighter glories that will crown it . by such reflections , i was induc'd not to omit some passages that seem'd likely to further the main ends i pursu'd , though i foresaw , that perhaps some rigid judges would say , that they might have been spar'd . for as i writ not a romance , wherein authors are wont to aim no higher , than to delight the delicate readers , and escape the critical ones , by making their composures diverting and regular ; so i presum'd that to employ a more useful , though less fashionamble way of writing , was allowable for me , who ought to endeavour in such a piece as this , rather to propose patterns of vertue , than models of skill or eloquence ; and to think it more successful , if the readers shall upon perusing it , imitate our excellent martyrs piety , than if they should only applaud their history . which both as to stile and reasonings , is freely submitted to your judgment , by sir , your most &c. errata . preface page 3. line 19. read jonathan caesar , &c. p. 5. l. 11. r. feign contents ch. 1. r. chamber . ch. 3. r. thinking . p. 80. l. 16. r. manifest danger , &c. p. 89. l. 14. r. and let her see , &c. p. 152. l. 14. r. enough . p. 222. l. 17. r. her kindness , &c. p. 227. l. 1. for having , r. did . ibid. l. 4. for assum'd , r. assume . p. 238. l. 15. r. of all other , &c. some books printed for , and sold by john taylor , at the ship in st. paul's church-yard . a free enquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature , made in an essay , address'd to a friend . in english and latine , for the benefit of forreiners . by r. b. fellow of the royal society . the declamations of quintilian , being an exercitation or praxis upon his twelve books , concerning the institution of an orator . translated ( from the oxford theater edition ) into english , by a learned and ingenious hand , with the approbation of several eminent schoolmasters in the city of london . the happy ascetick , or the best exercise ; with a letter to a person of quality , concerning the lives of the primitive christians . by anthony horneck , d. d. preacher at the savoy . academia scientiarum : or the academy of sciences . being a short and easie introduction to the knowledge of the liberal arts and sciences . with the names of those famous authors that have written on every particular science . in english and latin. by d. abercromby . m. d. the martyrdom of theodora . book ii. chap. i. though it may seem ill-natur'd to leave the chast theodora in so deplorable a condition , yet it is requisite to do so for a while , that we may learn what was attempted to rescue her out of it . it is not to be doubted , but that , didymus was not long kept a stranger to the barbarous usage she had suffered . that of so illustrious a lady could not but make a great noise , and reach a multitude of ears ; and especially those of so concern'd a person as didymus : the wounds of lovers tender hearts , giving them oftentimes secret presages of approaching misfortunes relating to their love : as many other wounded men have the unhappy priviledge of being able , by feeling of pain , to discern such approaches of ill weather , as affect not unhurt men . didymus therefore being quickly too much ascertain'd of the unwelcome news of the distress of his fair mistress , was too generous a lover to deliberate , whether he should expose his life for her rescue : his deliberation being only about the means , how to make so difficult an attempt a prosperous one . in order to this , he happily finds out one of the officers of the guards , that were placed about the infamous house , to which theodora was condemned : who having been his fellow soldier in the roman armies ; he hoped would either for the sake of vertue or of didymus , be prevail'd with to further so handsom a design as his . wherefore addressing himself to this commander , with a very obliging and yet civil freedom : generous septimius , saies he , i cannot but look upon it as one of the chief advantages i have obtain'd by venturing my life in the roman camps , that i had the happiness to be acquainted with you there , and to be a spectator of your gallantry ; which did not only then raise me to a desire of imitating it , but allows me now to own a request to you , that none but a gallant person ought to be entrusted with , or would easily grant . generous didymus , replies the roman , when i accompanied you in following our propitious eagles , i found so great a contentment in your acquaintance , and so strong a spur to glory , in your examples , that i look'd upon the advantage of having been your fellow soldier , as preferable to the honour of leading the most numerous troops i may at any time command . and i shall think all the hazards i then expos'd my self to , abundantly rewarded , if any power they have procured me , may enable me to do you service . tell me then frankly , in what case , and after what manner , you would have it employ'd for you ; and as i assure my self , that so vertuous a friend as dydimus , will desire nothing but what is just , so he may assure himself , not to be refus'd any service , that is but dangerous . our lover embolden'd by so encouraging a declaration , first made him a very grateful acknowledgment for it , and then proceeded to say , if you have ever had the happiness to be acquainted with theodora , or so much as to have seen her , 't would be needless , as well as improper , for me to offer at giving you a character of her , which you must needs think injurious to her . but if you have not , the shortness of the time will only permit me to assure you , that not only she has given me those sentiments of her excellencies , that i never had , nor ever thought my self capable of having , for any of her sex ; but that in other persons strangely indispos'd to admit such impressions , she has often excited such wonder and such flames , as very rarely have been produced in other men , and perhaps , more rarely been merited by other women . this admirable person , for exercising among other vertues , that of an invincible constancy , to her religion , and refusing to sacrifice to venus , flora , and some other of those deities , whom her perfections might , though her religion did not , exempt from adoring ; is by your savage president condemn'd to be expos'd to the publick lust : and a party of those gallant roman soldiers , that use to be so gloriously led on by you , to win battels , conquer kingdoms , and enlarge at once the fame and limits of the empire , are now employ'd to captivate innocent virgins , and defend their brutish ravishers . you may easily guess by this , continues he , that my request is like to prove an earnest one ; that you would please to treat with some of those soldiers of yours , in whom you think you have the greatest interest , and dispose them to assist me in rescuing theodora out of so infamous a prison , and accept from me greater recompences for doing a handsom action , than they can expect from the president , for doing a barbarous one ; i hope i need not tell you , in the hast this affair requires , that all possible care will be taken to keep you from being endanger'd by theodoras deliverance , nor will i add how unexpressible an obligation you will lay on me , to heighten my gratitude to some proportion to your favours ; because i know it must necessarily fall short of them , and are due to a person that loves to do gallant actions for their own sake , and had rather have great debts of gratitude , remain due to him , than paid to him ; wherefore i shall only mind you , that the time is so short , that if your assistance be not as quick as obliging , i fear 't will be as ineffectual . i shall quicken you only by assuring you , that when you act for the accomplish'd theodora , you act for a person that has a right to all that beauty and vertue can give one a title to . with the same freedom , replies septimius , with which you have own'd to me your religion , i declare to you , that mine is that of my country , and my ancestors ; and that i worship those propitious deities , that have made the romans the conquerors of the world , and rewarded those that adored them with an universal monarchy ; but though i exceedingly approve so triumphant a religion , yet i confess to you , that i do not like the waies that the president takes to propogate it : such cruel methods being apt to make the world suspect , that our best argument is force : and whilst the persecutors think it a glorious thing to see the temples fill'd at any rate ; i had rather see in them fewer but sincere votaries , than have them throng'd with such pusillanimous dissemblers , as would not come in , unless they were scar'd in , thither . and , though terrors and torments work sometimes upon the weaker sort of christians , yet the more resolute do so often despise them , that our persecutions convert not those unhappy persons , but frequently stagger many of our own ; and i confess freely to you , didymus , that all the christians arguments work less with me , than our inhumane manner of confuting them . but i do not only disapprove , but detest , this infamous practice of our president ; which makes him loose not the respect only and the pitty , but the common humanity we owe to women , and think to do the goddesses a service , by disfiguring their fairest images here below , with the most shameful of blemishes . i cannot bring my self to imagine , that such gentle deities , can like such barbarous worshippers , who not only immolate to them the lives of men , but what is far more precious , the vertue and honour of women ; for if i could believe they like such sacrifices , i should think them unworthy any sacrifices at all . you will easily therefore , didymus , credit me , that i was absent when my soldiers were put by the insolent judge , upon so mean an employment . he durst not have offered to have obtruded it upon them , had i been there ; or if he had , i had dared to use him as his insolence had deserved . but without loosing time in passionate expostulations , about things made remediless , by being past , let us speedily apply our selves to the rescue of theodora . for , though i have heard strange things of her , and such as made me think fame a great flatterer , if not a frontless liar , yet i believe the reports about theodora , as i believe the delphick oracles , now that i find so undeniable a testimony of her merit , as her being your mistress . i will therefore without delay , prepare some soldiers to assist you in her rescue , and i cannot doubt the success in an attempt made to serve a distrest beauty , and a generous friend . if there be occasion , you need not doubt of my more openly appearing for you . for how highly soever such an action may provoke the president , or even the emperour , i hope to let you see , that you have trusted a roman , a person that had rather be the object , than the minister of their cruelties , and would not be accessary to such a misemployment of absolute power , to be made a sharer in it . as soon as septimius had ended these words , he did , to prevent those acknowledgments he saw didymus was about to make him , take that gallant youth by the hand ; and leading him towards the place , where he expected to find the soldiers he most confided in , he entertain'd him in the way about the hopefullest expedients for the compassing of his admirable mistresses rescue . and having afterwards sent for the two persons , he thought likeliest to be prevail'd on , to a convenient place , near to that to which they had brought theodora ; he brieflly , but pathetically , declaring to them , how much the brave didymus was his friend , and how much he deserv'd to be so , enflam'd them with an indignation at the savage presidents disgracing them , by so infamous an employment , as they were now about ; and then assur'd them of rewards from dydimus , suitable to the liberality of so generous a person : after which withdrawing himself , to give didymus a short account , how far he had proceeded , he left the rest to be compleated by him ; who prompted by his native liberality , and his high concern , did not stay to cheapen his mistresses liberty , but with the hasty passion of a lover , proffer'd them more than even septimius's promises gave them reason to expect : nor would he have declin'd to embrace any articles of agreement , they could have propos'd , though the parting with his life had been one , so theodoras deliverance were another . the sence these soldiers had of the affront put on them , by the president , joyn'd with the ambition they had to please their lov'd commander , and the gratitude his friends profus'd bounty had newly oblig'd them to ; made them quickly accommodate didymus with a military habit , and prepare some of their comrades to allow him the first admittance into her chamber ; partly by sharing some of the newly receiv'd presents among them , and probably by representing him to them , when thus prepar'd , as a person who having been passionately in love with theodora , and been scornfully slighted by her , was desirous at any rate , to satisfie at once his appetite and his revenge . and by this means , before that short time was expir'd , that had been as an act of grace , allow'd the disconsolate virgin , to deliberate whether she would yet comply with the judge ; an entrance into her chamber was permitted to her lover ; who ( in order not only to his present but further design ) had purposely closed the vizor of his helmet ; upon which score , not being knowable by his fair mistress , he met with from her the reception we have formerly related . chap. ii. though , in the sad condition wherein our disguis'd lover , found his desolate mistress , her sorrow and her fears , did somewhat cloud her beauty , yet they could not hinder her looks from being so charming & majestick , as to create less pitty than respect . wherefore with gestures , wherein this was as visible as he could make it , he told her , without approaching too near ; do not , madam , i beseech you , add to your other troubles , the apprehension , that because i appear in the circumstances of a ravisher , i come to commit a rape : theodora is so great an ornament to the christian religion , and her purity is an ornament so dear to theodora , that heaven will not permit , either that antioch should be rob'd of one , or she of the other . and therefore , that providence which you have so generously trusted , has sent me to your rescue , which after the care i have taken to dispose things without doors , 't will not be difficult to compass , if you please to make use of the military habit i have brought hither , disguise and convey your self hence . nor need you be solicitous , what will become of me , for i am under the same care of the same providence , that now justifies your reliance on it , by providing for your escape : and i that found means to come in hither , may be succesful in attempting a retreat , or if i should not succeed in it , i shall not miss the joy of paying my duty , where i had the most desire and cause to do it ; and shall leave the world with the satisfaction of having highly oblig'd it , by the preservation of the most accomplish'd person in it . and madam , ( continues didymus ) that you may not doubt the willingness or the intentions wherewith this offer is made you , be pleas'd to know that it comes from the now fortunate didymus , who justly thinks that in aspiring to your acceptance of it , he does less proffer a service , than beg a favour , that will not only be a full recompence , but a high obligation . the name of didymus , and discourse so suitable to it , made by him that assum'd it , soon dissipated the dismal apprehensions his habit , and her circumstances had given her : she knew so well his courage , his vertue , and his love , that nothing unlawful or mean , was to be fear'd ; but the boldest things , if they were as noble as hazardous , might justly be expected , from him : so that this attempt did perhaps as much oblige her , as it surpris'd her . wherefore , as soon as she had recompos'd her lately disorder'd thoughts , she told him , with looks serene enough to let him see how much she trusted him ; this action , generous didymus , is of a nature so extraordinary , that my ingratitude would be so too , if my sense of it were not . to own and rescue a persecuted and affronted maid , and to do it with more hazard than you need run in the roman armies , to purchase fame and honours , in an action so disinteressed , and so unexampled , that i want words to celebrate it , as well as merit to deserve it , and power to requite it . but i admire so rare an effect of vertue , ( continues she ) can consent to the destruction of its author . no , generous didymus , 't is enough that the vertues ▪ of christians be treated as crimes by the romans : they must not meet the like usage from theodora ; she must not purchase a life , that she values as little her self as others have cause to do , at so high a rate , as your partial charity persuades you to set upon it . for even those that do now most pitty me , would repine at the preservation of my life , if it should cost that of a heroe . especially , if i should designedly be accessory to so great a loss : which accompanied with a publick indignation , and my own reproaches for my ingratitude , would certainly make that life a burden to me , that at so dear a rate you would preserve as a blessing . but — here theodora was going to proceed , when her griev'd lover , fearing that if she did so , she might make some declaration unfavourable to his wishes , thought fit to endeavour to prevent it , by saying to her with a profound respect . ah , madam , do not make your mistaking compassion more cruel to me , than the severity of the romans themselves , which we christians justly tax , can possibly be . for they will but in a few moments take away that life , which you would at once protract and render miserable . do not , i beseech you , madam , ( continues he ) think my services meritorious , because they are paid you in this place , and in your persecuted condition . no , madam , theodora has prerogatives enough , to make many less unworthy ( though not more zealous ) than i , ambitious to serve her , in what circumstances soever providence shall think fit to place her . whatever the romans , that worship fortune and victory as goddesses , and find their prosperity the powerfullest argument to support and spread their religion , may think of sufferings embrac'd for conscience sake : sure we christians , that adore a crucified saviour , who , as he took upon him the form of a servant , was put to death between two thieves , as a slave and a malefactor too ; ought not to let any persecutions , or indignities , lessen our veneration or concern for those that chuse to suffer for him , and imitate as well as own him , whatever it cost them . nor , madam , ( pursues didymus ) needs your having been brought to this place , make you think your self at all dishonour'd , in the opinions of those that can make just estimates of things . they look on sufferers for truth with his undeceiveable eyes , that , by one of the pen-men he inspir'd , having mention'd those persons that for religions sake were imprison'd , destitute , tormented , affronted forc'd in the skins of beasts , to wander like them in desarts , and lodge in dens ; honours them with this character and testimony , more glorious than all the panegyricks of orators , and laurels of conquerors , that the world was not worthy of them . and such judges will think venus an infamous courtezan , though the romans adore her in their temples ; and will not think theodora the less excellent person , for having been condemn'd on the score of vertue to a scandalous place . honour were a mean thing , and not worthy to have its loss much fear'd , or regretted ; if we could forfeit it without having forsaken vertue ; and much more , if we could be depriv'd of it for having closely follow'd her. nothing can blemish true reputation , that cannot be declin'd without manifest injury to religion , which justifies our acting whatever it imposes . the angels themselves that were sent to sodom , scrupl'd less to go even thither , then to disobey him that made it their duty to do so , nor were polluted by entering into that abominable place ; and being attempted by the brutish inhabiters of it , carried thence the angelical purity wherewith they came thither . didymus thought fit to say what has been repeated , that he might console so chast a virgin as theodora , who had still enjoy'd , as well as merited , a spotless reputation ; by assuring her , that the barbarous affront she had been expos'd to , for constancy to her religion , had not , among unbyass'd judges , lessen'd the high esteem her former life had justly given them of her vertue . but he would not discourse long of a subject so nice ; that 't was difficult not only to insist on it , but so much as to mention it , without being uneasie to so tender a modesty as hers he was speaking to . upon which account , passing on to another argument , he told her , these things i have mention'd , madam , to let you see , how little i can pretend to merit by the circumstances of the duty i pay you ; and consequently , how little you need scruple to accept of my further service , without which my past endeavours will be useless to us both . and give me leave to own to you , madam , that 't was not without much trouble , as well as surprize , that i heard the incomparable theodora's merit so much injur'd , as to have the valuableness of my life put into the ballance with that of hers , nay , and made to preponderate . alas , madam , there are legions , that as well as i dare expose their lives to the greatest hazards , and run greater dangers for some despicable pay , or a sew worthless leaves , than i do to serve my religion , and the fairest professor of it . every day affords thousands of such men as i : else the roman camps would not be so frequently recruited , and those numbers that fall in breaches , or in battels , would not have their rooms so ambitiously supplied , by men that see them do so . but such persons as attain to be both the ornaments of their religion , and the honour of their sex , must be so excellent , and are so rare , that 't is not every age that produces so much as one of them . such exemplary ladies , do as well improve as enoble the times and places they live in : the respect and love men have for them , makes their good counsels very persuasive ; the loveliness of their persons is so diffus'd to their actions , as , by making men forward to take them for examples , adds to to their vertues , both a great splendor , and a powerful influence . that theodora is not only one of that small number , but eminent in it ; nothing but her presence , could keep it from being uneasie for me to evince . but , madam , ( continues he ) though in such circumstances as mine , your scrupulous modesty may keep men silent , yet it ought not to keep them from being just . your profound humility may draw a curtain , that may hide your vertues from your eyes ; but in the eyes of others , it cannot but encrease their number , and exceedingly add to their lustre . you need not therefore , madam , ( pursues he ) scruple to receive the service i aspire to do you , upon an injurious apprehension , that 't is above reward ; whilst indeed it pretends not to any at all , except the satisfaction and honour , that will be inseparable from the performance it self . here didymus paus'd for some moments ; being sensible , how difficult a task he was entering upon : since 't was , without prejudicing his love , to own to his mistress her self , that he did not serve her upon the score of that . but however ; the sincerity of his affection , and the great desire he had to make his persuasions prevalent , hasten'd him to prevent her answer , by thus prosecuting his discourse : 't is true , madam , that theodoras perfections did not miss in me , to have the operation that they are wont to have , upon those that enjoy the opportunities of considering them : and if she had been in a distress greater than that she is now in , though her religion had not at all contributed to bring her into it , i should joyfully have expos'd my self , to a greater hazard than i now run , to rescue her from it . but , madam , that is not our case ; for that which now brings me hither , is none of those sentiments , that if i were possessor of a crown , would bring me to lay that and my self at your feet , and think my self more happy in your acceptance of it , than in all the advantages and prerogatives that could belong to it . for , madam , the resolution that led me hither , was not inspir'd by the fair , but by the devout and vertuous theodora . if she had no charms , but those that cannot be seen with bodily eyes , or if her visible beauty were but moderate , or none at all ; her exemplary piety and unshaken constancy , shining in such extraordinary expressions of them , as she has this day given , would make me think my self unworthy of life , if i should stick at hazarding it to save so precious a one , as hers , and what i knew she would far more unwillingly loose ; and thereby do some right to divine providence , which , by so unexampled a reliance on it , was thought in some sort engag'd to answer so uncommon and entire a trust . after what she did for christ , i did not think i could do enough for her , if i did less than i have endeavour'd to do . and therefore , madam , ( concludes he ) i hope as well as beg , that you will no longer scruple to accept of that rescue , that providence offers you , by an unmercenary and most wlling hand , but will to make use of this military garment ( at which words dydimus with great respect , pointed at his ) and allow my endeavours , by procuring your safety , to secure my happiness . to this moving speech , the fair person , that 't was address'd to , return'd this calm answer . though the handsom and obliging things you have been pleas'd to say , generous didymus , have made all the impressions on me that they ought to have ; yet i must , with your pardon , freely tell you , that they naturally afford an inference , quite opposite to what you would conclude from them ; since , by discovering more and more of your gallantry & friendship , they let me still further see , how much the world would loose , by being depriv'd of so much vertue , and how unexcusable i , above all others , should be , if i should be willingly accessory to that loss . your too too excessive complements , i must not pretend to answer ; since 't would be too great a reflection on your judgment , as well as mine , to think you meant them for any thing more than what i have call'd them . but in answer to the serious part of your discourse , i shall tell you , that , if i had proceeded in what i was going to say to you , when you interrupted me , i had , perhaps , prevented some of the things you have said , by freely acquainting you ( as i now mean to do ) with the state of my case , and the intentions it suggested to me . when the inhumane president ( continues theodora ) had condemn'd me , either to offer sacrifice in an idol temple , or be led away to this infamous place ; i was in such a perplexity and agony as can hardly be conceiv'd , especially by a person that is not of my sex ; for death it self was thought too mild an evil , to be one of those , among which i was condemn'd to make my choice . on the one side ; the infamy of this detestable place was that which i could not think on , without the utmost horror and indignation : and not only my sex and breeding , but even the dictates of more than one vertue , ( modesty and chastity ) concurr'd to highten my abhorrence of it . but on the other side ; i remembred , that i did not vow obedience to god with any exceptions or reserves ; that i was both a disciple and a worshipper of a persecuted and affronted redeemer , for whom ( though there were not an infinite inequality between our conditions ) i could not suffer more , than he had already suffer'd for my sake ; having not only endur'd the cross , but despis'd the shame , which the jews insolent malice , and the romans barbarous custom , had annexed to it . and i thought that , perhaps , providence had led me into this distress , to give me an opportunity of shewing , that i could do more than die for christ . but i must not now trouble you , with the various thoughts that distracted my mind on this dismal occasion ; on which all that i could say , to those that rudely press'd me to give a positive answer , was , that of the things they propos'd , i plainly saw that both were to be refus'd , and therefore i could make choice of neither . but since i would make no election for my self , their malice soon made one for me , of this detestable place . i was so confounded , and as it were stunn'd , at the first steps they forc'd me to take towards it , that i scarce knew what to think , or what i did ; save that i remembered , that idolatry was in the sacred books represented as a most odious , though spiritual , fornication ; and that apostacy would be my own crime , whereas the consequences of refusing it , could make me but the object of anothers : and remembring my self to be a daughter of him , that against hope believed in hope , to follow god's call , i did like him , obey , not knowing whither i went : yet having this satisfaction , that i acted according to the dictates of a well inform'd conscience , so that , whatever the way might prove , i need not fear to be misled by closely following an infallible guide . here the chast virgins words were a little interrupted by the flowing tears , and the inevitable discomposure , that were produc'd by the sad remembrance of the distress'd condition she was recounting . but having , as soon as she was able suppress'd , those visible effects of her vertuous grief , she thus pursu'd her discourse . revolving these and the like thoughts in my mind , i arriv'd at this infamous place . and being for a while left alone in this room , to try whether yet i could be brought to change my mind ; the nearer approach of what i was to endure , making it look more hideous to me , than , till then , i thought 't was possible for any thing to appear , made me presently think of flying for refuge to the dark sanctuary of death ; and by dispatching my self drown in my yet untainted blood , both my own dismal fears , and my persecuters brutish hopes . but then there came into my mind , what i had been often taught , and , whilst i was unconcern'd , judg'd rational to believe , of the unlawfulness of killing ones self , upon any account whatsoever . i consider'd , that god , who made our love unto our selves , the standard of the affection we owe our neighbour , in forbidding us to destroy anothers life , must be suppos'd much more to prohibit us that violence against our own . and if fratricide be justly listed amongst the blackest crimes , because of that relation the slaughter'd persons have to those that kill them ; how criminal upon that score must be the murder of our selves , where the relation is not nearer , only because 't is too near , to be properly any at all ? the sovereign author and absolute lord of our lives , having thought fit to employ us here in his service , we cannot , without violating our duty to him , desert it until we have perform'd his errand , which is , to glorifie him by our lives ; till loyalty to his truth , or his commands , convince us , that we may better glorifie him by our deaths . such considerations as these would , i hope , have restrain'd me from ending my life with a crime ; but the thoughts of it were quickly supprest , by my remembering that in this place , i was destitute of instruments to act it with . wherefore remembring that daniel had been preserv'd , though not from the lyons den , yet in it ; and his three friends were not deliver'd from the fiery furnace , till they had been cast into it ; and having learned by those examples , that no succours can come too late , that god designs for our rescue , i betook my self to prayer , as the most hopeful , as well as the most innocent course , i could take ; and with an ardency , heighten'd with the extremity of my distress , i was beseeching god , though with the loss of my life , to preserve a purity , that by his grace had been hitherto kept unblemish'd , when your unexpected entrance brought me a return of those prayers , i had yet scarce utter'd . judge then , generous didymus ( subjoyns theodora ) by the condition i was in , how much i must think my self oblig'd , by so brave and seasonable an attempt to deliver me out of it . to serve so bright a vertue , lodg'd in so noble a shrine , i thought , madam ( says didymus , interrupting her ) to be as much my duty , as to have found an opportunity to do it , is my happiness : and if you please to permit me , as i now hope you will , the honour and satisfaction of compleating my endeavours to deliver you ; i shall much more value my self , upon the having paid you that service ( though it be more proportionate to my power , than to my desires ) than if i had rescued a roman general , or for successful attempts , been made one my self . when thanks are purchas'd by merit , replys theodora , to disclaim a right to them , does not forfeit it , but encrease it ; nor need you make me any new professions , since after the testimonies you have given me already of your vertues , and your friendship , i should make my self unworthy of them , if i doubted of their reality , or greatness . yes ; didymus , i believe what you declar'd , of the disinterestedness of your proceedings in the rescue of a person of no greater merit , than i can pretend to : since the circumstances of your attempt , make it appear too generous to let me suspect , that the aim of it was other than noble too . and indeed , after what you have done ( continues she ) it would ill become me to scruple to be further oblig'd by you , and therefore i shall venture to make you a request , as soon as i shall have acquainted you with the reasons , 't is grounded on . didymus being surpriz'd at this welcom declaration , was going with transports to assure her , he could deny her nothing , nor obey her in any thing without joy ; when she prevented him , by thus continuing her discourse . you know , my generous deliverer , that virgins have so great and clear a right to keep themselves such , against all outward assaults ; that monarchs themselves ( whose force is not to be by force oppos'd , when it tends but to deprive us of our lives ) may be forcibly resisted , when they strive to offer violence to our chastity . since then , an untainted purity is a jewel , that the possessors are allowed to preserve and defend , even by uncommon ways , if others will not serve ; and such as would in other cases be unwarrantable : though i do not , as i lately told you , think it lawful , as many do , to secure virginity by self-murder ; yet i cannot disapprove their opinion , that allow a virgin in case of extremity , to emplore that death from anothers hand , that she is forbidden to give her self , with her own ; since in such a calamitous condition , heaven , by debarring her all other ways of escaping from defilement , seems to approve of this . and the scripture informs us , that though the prophet jonas held it unlawful to drown himself , yet he persuaded those that sail'd with him , to cast him bound into the sea , when neither they nor he expected he could out-live many minutes ( as indeed 't was not without a miracle that he did . ) wherefore , pursues theodora , if you will perfect what you have so obligingly begun , you must lend me your arm and sword , to free me by a speedy death , from mischiefs much greater than it . the romans will easily believe , that my resistance and provocations transported you to a revenge , at which the barbarous usage i have receiv'd at their hands , makes it unlikely they will be much offended : the grant of my request will not hinder you from being , what you are pleas'd to think a title , theodoras deliverer . for , in the estimation of equitable judges , as well as in hers , 't will suffice to give you a right to that title , that you have deliver'd her from her geatest calamity and danger . nor will the good office i desire , be inconsistent with my obtaining the honour of martyrdom : st. john the baptist , because his bold zeal for the laws of religion , gave the first rise to those persecutions that terminated in his death , is justly reckon'd among martyrs , though he was privately beheaded in his prison , at the solicitation of a curtezan : and if one willingly suffers death for the truth , or the interest of religion , there needs not a scaffold or a stake , and a publick executioner , to make such a person a martyr . and since the persecutions that now make havock of the church , are like to continue long ; and since i am resolv'd , by gods assistance , never to avoid them , by any either unlawful or unhandsom way : the escape you would persuade me to , would but for a while delay those sufferings i ought not to shun , and would make them much less acceptable , by my having endeavor'd to avoid them ; especially by an action so mean , if not criminal too , as to consent to the loss of an excellent person , that most generously expos'd himself for my safety . deny me not therefore , concludes theodora , with tears in her eyes , the last request i shall ever make you ; but by sheathing your sword here , ( at which words she pointed with blushes , at her fair and innocent breast ) be pleas'd , by one quick and charitable stroke , to perfect my deliverance , without making me stain it with the blood of my deliverer ; free us both from eminent danger , me of being dishonour'd , and you of being tormented ; and by the same act of friendship , secure me the coronet of virginity , and procure me the crown of martyrdom . great was the surprise , and greater was the trouble , wherewith didymus heard the conclusion of this discourse : in answer to which , as soon as his astonishment would permit him to speak ; ah madam , says he , what have you ever seen in the unfortunate didymus , that could tempt you to make him so strange a proposition . that i , whose errand hither was to venture my life in your service , should my self destroy the admirable person i came to rescue ; and that didymus should imbrue his guilty hands in theodora's innocent blood , to save one drop of which , he would gladly shed all his own . as your piety deserves to be the pattern of more than one age , so i doubt not , but that in times very remote from ours , your memory will shine as bright , as your vertue and your eyes do now ; and then , how hideous a monster must i appear to posterity , that will look upon me as one , that could in a trice , pass from pretending to be your deliverer , to be really your murderer ; and this for no other reason , than that you were pleas'd to manifest a great concern for my preservation ? and pardon me , madam , ( continues didymus ) if i tell you , that your generosity makes you forget some of your other vertues , and even of the dictates of the religion you have hitherto adorn'd ; since your commands , if obey'd , would engage me to commit a crime , and make you your self , more than accessory to it . for , madam , since you acknowledg self-murder to be unlawful , how can your commands give me a right to take from you , a life , that you have not power to dispose of ? and what excuse can i have , without so much as the pretence of acting under authority , to destroy an innocent person ? for , madam , since i am to declare , why i presume to do the thing in the world i would least be put upon , to disobey theodora ; give me leave to tell you , that , should i execute what you require , the action would not be excusable in either of us . for as adam sinn'd in doing a forbidden thing , though she that prevail'd with him to do it , was first in the transgression ; and the jewish prophet was torn in pieces by a lion , though he did what he was seduc'd to , by the persuasions of a prophet : so the scripture clearly condemns david of murder , because he kill'd vria , though not with his own hand , yet with the sword of the children of ammon : and the scripture tells us too , that god plagu'd the children of israel in the wilderness , because , as the text expresses it , they made the calf , that aaron made . and indeed , by whatever hand innocent blood is shed , the guilt of it will light upon the person that procur'd it to be spilt . and to this i must add , that since christians are in some cases , not only permitted , but exhorted , if not commanded , to lay down their lives for one another : the high value and concern , i justly have for yours , makes me conclude , that this is certainly one of those cases , and consequently , that i may lawfully offer you a service , which you , perhaps , cannot lawfully refuse : since providence has left you no other innocent way , than the acceptance of it , to escape your present danger . and the guilt of self-murder may , for ought i know , be contracted , not only by a positive act , but by an inflexible refusal of the proffer'd means of safety . pardon me , i beseech you , madam , pursues didymus , if the great concern i have for such a person as theodora , has extorted from me , a greater plainness of speech , than my profound respect for her would permit me , upon any other occasion . and because i perceive that , that which makes you most scruple to grant my humble request , is , that your superlative generosity , and what your humility persuades you to think gratitude , make you solicitous for the preservation of a life , hazarded for your sake ; i must assure you , madam , that your inflexibleness will no way make provision for my safety . for , if i should be condemn'd by your cruel commands , to leave you expos'd to the barbarous and defiling rudeness of those brutish satyrs , that impatiently wait without , the regret and shame , of having mis'd the honour of theodora's rescue , will give me far greater torments , than the romans can , for having effected it . and i must add on this occasion , madam , ( continues he , not without some change of colour and voice ) that some sentiments ( which though i think not this a fit time or place to name , have been much confirm'd and heightned , by what i have this day had opportunity to observe ) have so fast tied my happiness to your welfare , that the presence of my soul is scarce more necessary to my life , than your safety is . nor fancy , madam , that the belief i own of the unlawfulness of self-murder , will secure my life : for there are other ways , to procure death to him that 's weary of life , than his own sword , or a draught of poyson ; since passion alone , when rais'd to a competent degree , may do the office of either of those . and since joy it self , though the most pleasing and friendly of the passions , has by its excess , prov'd destructive of mens lives ; why may not grief , and shame , and indignation , which are passions more violent , and very unfriendly to nature , be able to produce as fatal effects ? and to shew you , madam , ( continues didymus ) how much reason i have to think , that your condition dispenses me from obeying the dictates of your generosity , let me . — but , before didymus had annex'd his reasons , a noise made without , gave him a hot allarm , and made him fear , the patience of some that waited without , would not last very much longer ; and therefore addressing himself to theodora , with a countenance as petitioning as his words , and eyes , in which his courage could scarce repress the tears : how long , madam , says he , will you upon groundless scruples , neglect an opportunity , whose omission will be irreparable . and how can you justifie to god , the slighting the means his providence presents you , of easily securing your safety . ah , madam , then ( concludes didymus ) by one quick and necessary resolve , regain your liberty , preserve your honour , and secure your life . but if nothing that has relation to your self alone will move you , be pleas'd to reward the services i have essay'd to do you , with the implor'd grant of your own safety ; and permit me for this once , rather to serve you than obey you . nor need your generous solicitude for me , hinder , or retard your resolution : the world will not blame a spotless virgin , for doing what is necessary to keep her self such ; nor look upon it as a part of ingratitude , to grant , to one that has done his best to serve her , a recompence , that he is so ambitious of , as to venture his life to obtain it at her hands . in short , madam , for the time allows me not a long discourse , if your cruelty will not permit me to prevent your death ; grief , and other passions , will not allow me to survive it : and then , ( supposing i should fail of making retreat ) would it not be a much more happy fate , that the constant didymus should die , for having sav'd the matchless theodora , than for having lost her ? chap. iii. to these pathetick words he thought not fit to stay for an answer , but retiring to a corner of the room , he divested himself of his military coat , and upon his knee , presented it to theodora . she in the mean time , reflecting upon his arguments , was by their force , convinc'd , that the motion she had made him , of killing her , was grounded upon a dangerous error . and the noise that had been made , in the outward room , alarming her , at least as much as it had done him , let her see she had no further time left her to deliberate . and therefore , being prevail'd with , by supplications , made in so persuasive a way , that it appear'd a far less cruelty , even towards him , to accept , than finally to refuse , his offer : she first made her blushes , and her silence intimate her consent , and then declar'd it more expresly , by raising him , and taking out of his hand what he presented to her . and to his joy ( which his foresight that his success would be fatal to him , could not hinder from being very great ) she receiv'd from him instruction how to put it on , and permitted him ( though not without strange disorder in her mind and looks ) to assist her : for as it was absolutely necessary to do it ; so he did it with all imaginable care , to distress so nice a modesty , as little as was possible : and therefore , as soon as ever he had done that , with all the respect and decency the place and occasion would by any means permit , all that could be done without him , he left her to do herself , withdrawing to a part of the room , whence he could not see her . which retreat he was induc'd to make , not only out of civility and respect , but perchance because the dangers that threat'n internal chastity , have this peculiar fate , that usually those persons are most careful to shun them , that are the most resolv'd , and the best able , to surmount them . as soon as the mutual exchange of their habits had made it decent for them to discourse together , the disguis'd virgin , with cheeks cover'd with blushes , and with looks so obliging , that they alone would have recompenc'd didymus for any less service than that she now receiv'd , addressing herself to her benefactor ; if your reasons , saies she , had not convinc'd me , that i could not without a crime free my self from my wretched condition by death , and if yet death were not the only way , by which , if i decline your generous proffer , i can possibly shun , what i far more apprehend than death , dishonor ; i should not leave you in a danger , wherein only your concern for religion and for me , has engag'd you . but i doubt not the same charity , that put you upon making me your generous proffer , and pressing me not to decline it , will make you pardon a fault , to which your own reasons and importunity have made you highly accessory ; especially since i know you think a tenderness of honor , and an abhorrence of all defilement , to be things so allowable in a virgin , as very much extenuate , if not justifie , what they require of her . and indeed i shall do you but right , when i thankfully acknowledge , that in this whole transaction about my rescue , your carriage has been such , as would leave me no doubt , if ever i had been so unjust as to have any , of the purity & disinterestedness of your intentions , by which i am not a little confirm'd in the opinion i have alwaies had , that vertue may inspire as noble and as hazardous enterprises , as passion can . i know that in this daies work , you aim'd at higher retributions than could be expected from one in my condition . but yet i think my self oblig'd to assure you , that your heroick acts of vertue and friendship , have not been exercis'd towards a person insensible of them ; but that your merit , and your favors , have produc'd all the esteem and other sentiments , which they ought to produce , in a person , that is not altogether incapable to discern and value them . and if the pray'rs of a disconsolate virgin , then sav'd by you , when all the rest of the world had abandon'd her , can have any interest at the throne of grace ; they will obtain for you , blessings as great as your generosity to me has been ; and not less lasting , than my sense of it will be ; and you will , during a long protracted life , either be allow'd quietly to enjoy the glory , your many meritorious hazards of it have purchas'd , or else be enabled to find a happiness in your very sufferings , by vertue of those peculiar consolations that are reserv'd for a persecuted condition ; as anciently manna was vouchsafed the israelites , only whilst they were exiles in the wilderness . the quick success god has been pleas'd to grant my pray'rs for my own deliverance , lets me not despair to find him propitious , to those i shall with no less ardency put up for yours : but if your charity should expose you to further danger , i solemnly promise you , that you shall find , i have been instructed , as well as oblig'd , by your generosity , and would not have left you expos'd for my sake , that i might shun any danger that had threat'ned but my life . and now the mournful virgin , being to bid her accomplish'd votary a farewel , which probably enough would prove the last ; by a manifest change in her countenance , and the tone of her voice , and by the multitude of tears that fell from her fair eyes , convinc'd him no less of the trouble she was in upon his account , than any verbal expressions could do it ; though she said to him , in a most obliging manner , farewel my generous deliverer ; and may that god , who sees with what reluctancy i consent to your danger , free you happily from it , and richly recompense that noble charity that led you into it . i hope we shall yet see one another again upon earth . i am confident we shall meet joyfully in heaven ; by which i must confess my self very highly favour'd , not only in my deliverance , but in the instrument of it ; since god makes me not beholden for my rescue to any common person , but is pleas'd so to order it , that i receive the greatest of earthly benefits , from the most generous of men . madam , replies the much troubled didymus , your own unequal'd perfections , and the operation they have had on me , make me so much yours , that your wishing me happy , does more towards the making me so , than your humility will allow you to be aware of . you have too much merit , madam , to let the services i have paid you , have a title to any ; and what i have had the happiness to perform , is but what was every brave man in antioch's duty to endeavor . but if your goodness will needs make you think , that my poor services should have another ( for they can scarce have a greater ) recompence , than you have already given them , by suffering them to conttribute to your safety ; and if you will vouchsafe to allow the memory of him that did them , a room in your thoughts , ( which is the happiest station it can aspire to upon earth : ) i humbly beg your faithful servants image may be look'd on without any troublesom degree of pity ; since his condition will then need none , and the idea would very much misrepresent the original , if it should disquiet her , whom he never approach'd , but to serve her. 't is suitable , madam , to this frame of mind , that for theodoras sake i must now deny my self so much , as to hasten her departure , least some cross accident should prevent it : at which words , looking on her with a countenance that all his courage could not keep from a discernable change : farewel , said he , incomparable theodora , may you continue long the ornament and the pattern of your sex : and since we see that some fruits may be as well preserv'd in honey , as others in brine and vinegar , may the height of your vertue be kept up , but the objects of it so chang'd , that by a settled prosperity you may henceforth haveoccasion to exercise your moderation and your gratitude , instead of your courage and your patience . once more farewel , concludes he , unequal'd theodora ; and may you live but with as much contentment , as if i suffer for you , i shall die with satisfaction . though these moving expressions , and the accent wherewith they were deliver'd , did very sensibly touch a person so well natur'd and grateful as theodora ; yet she thought the fittest return she could then make to her lover's discourse , was , presently to follow the advice he was so earnest to have her speedily embrace . and therefore , bidding him farewel only by a look , wherein high degrees of sorrow and gratitude were plainly mingled ; she immediately dispos'd herself to quit that dismal place : which then afforded a noble instance , how little a great mind can be hindred from disclosing it self to be so , by the stage 't is oblig'd to act upon . for whilst in divers of the stately temples of antioch , whores , ( such as venus and flora , ) and ravishers , and adulterers , ( such as jupiter and mars ) were solemnly ador'd ; in an infamous scene , dedicated to publick lust and violence ; the strictest chastity was exercis'd , and martyrdom it self was contended for . having once ventur'd into the outward room , that providence , to which she had in such discouraging circumstances trusted her virgin purity , would not leave the rescue of it , incompleat ; but whilst the waiting ruffians were eagerly contending , who should succeed the person they took by the habit to be didymus , ( and whose face they did not wonder to see muffled , presently after so savage an action as they suppos'd him to have committed ) brought her safely out of that infamous place . whence , by the least frequented passages she knew , she was was quickly convey'd to the house of her dear friend irene , which happen'd to be nearer than her own . there to avoid suspicion , some of her friends and relations were met together , to lament her captivity , and join in prayer to him that alone could deliver her , to be directed by god how they might ( if it were possible ) contribute to her rescue . but , though their prayers were probably made with more zeal than hope , they were not a little alarm'd , when looking out to see who knock'd at the door , they saw , as they thought , a soldier , who would not have been quickly let in , if irene had not presum'd it to be didymus , who was coming to offer his service to his captivated mistress . but 't is not easie to express the wonder and the joy , with which they soon discover'd that this was not theodoras lover , but herself ; whose beauty and her military dress , would have made her , had the roman guards discover'd her , pass for their pallas . nor was such a habit , though improper for a virgin , unsuitable to a great , as well as chast conqueror . but though her presence never needed the endearment of a surprise , yet the unexpectedness of it at that time and place , added to the transports it produc'd ; especially in irene : who after a thousand gratulations and caresses , at length begg'd in the name of the impatient company , to know how the blessing they all receiv'd in her freedom , was procur'd . to which reasonable request she answer'd , by making a short but faithful narrative , of what had occur'd since the time she was cited before the president , till she came to take sanctuary among them ; piously concluding , that , as what she had done not misbecoming a christian , was altogether by the assistance of divine grace , so the succour she receiv'd to bring her out of danger was by the conduct of divine providence , which in her delivery made use of the high vertue and generosity of didymus . this relation made the company first return thanks and praises to the divine goodness , which were followed by the celebrations of the happy instrument of it : every one , as it were by turns , endeavouring to vye , who should most commend so venturous & disinteressed a lover . nor perhaps did theodora her self , inwardly dissent from that gratefull company . for , though her modesty and reservedness kept her from declaring her sentiments , as others did theirs ; yet perhaps that was because she thought , that having given a candid account of his deportment , her narrative had made her praises needless , the history it self being indeed a panegyric . after the companies curiosity was somewhat satisfied by what theodora had told them , and both irene and she had made a request to a gentleman that knew dydimus well , to endeavour to bring them speedy notice of what had happened to him , or was like to befall him : the two excellent ladies retir'd to the apartment of irene . there the pious theodora , having devoutly paid her solemn thanks and praise , for her almost miraculous deliverance , to the divine author of it ; she was accommodated by her friend , with cloaths befitting her sex. nor was it difficult for irene , ( though on so sudden an occasion ) to furnish her with a habit she liked for besides , that a person so shap'd and fashioned as theodora , could make almost any dress graceful ; she us'd to pity the mean vanity of those ladies , that could be either ambitious or proud of what they must owe to a taylor or a dresser , and affected to be taken notice of , not so much for what they are , as for what they wear : and therefore , tho' she did not scrupulously decline fashionable clothes because they were so ; yet all the ornaments that pass'd the limits of the modestest decency , she alwayes as little valu'd , as she needed them . chap. iv. before this rare couple return'd to the rest of the company , irenes kindness for didymus made her think , she ought not to loose this opportunity , of doing good offices to her absent friend . and therefore having ( as she easily might ) brought the discourse to fall upon his late performances ; i hope , madam , sayes she to theodora , you are now satisfi'd , that the character i gave you of the greatness of my cousins vertue , and the ardency of his flame , was dictated more by his merit than my friendship . i were very ungrateful , replies theodora , if i did not willingly acknowledge his generosity to be altogether extraordinary , and that , as he could not oblige me more highly than he has done , so it was not possible that he should do it more handsomly . i know , madam , saith irene , that theodora may freely choose among all the illustrious youth of antioch , what person she would please to make happy : and , without considering her less obvious , though more admirable , perfections ; far less beauty than she is mistress of , has in our times , given the possessors a share in the imperial throne , and perhaps too , plac'd them upon the roman altars . but yet , continues she , since i have the honour to know you too well , not to be confident , that you value piety and vertue , and a flame regulated and excited by them , above those outward advantages which weaker spirits are influenc'd by ; i think i may presume to say ; that i know not any person in antioch , to whom the fair theodora may with less condescension vouchsafe a share in her favour , than to him , that had the happiness to give her so clear a proof , of the ardency , the purity , and the disinterestedness of his flame . if i had not , reply's theodora with a somewhat dissatisfy'd look , been much surprised at the begining of your discourse ; i had immediately stop'd you there : and lamented my infelicity , that irene , whom i thought my self happy in having for my friend , allows her self what is so repugnant to true friendship , as flattery is . i could , continues theodora without pausing for fear of being prevented ; easily , and with the approbation of many of the best judges in antioch , return the fair irene her own complements , if i thought fit to imitate what i cannot approve . and to speak seriously , continues she , neither you nor i , nor any of our sex , ought to think skin-deep beauty as great a blessing , as 't is an applauded one . for without our fault , and in spight of our care to preserve it , a thousand accidents may , and time certainly will , ruine the loveliest faces ; and perhaps to that degree , as not in the remains to leave it credible that ever they were hansom . 't is true that those vain men , whose passion masters their reason , are wont ( for the most part with designs we ought not to be proud of ) to speak extravagant things , and too often even prophane ones , of the beauties they profess to adore . but though they really meant ( which they very seldom do ) all they say , in praise of those they represent as goddesses ; yet i think a considering person will scarce be very proud of receiving that title , from those who can think that a few colours and features luckily mingled , are sufficient to make a deity . an uncommon degree of beauty , adds she , exposes the owner to extraordinary troubles , from the envy of those that want it , and the importunities of those that court it . and , without as much caution and watchfulness as turn it into a trouble , it too often proves a strong temptation to those that admire it , and a dangerous snare to those that possess it . and if i had the vanity to think , what you would persuade me to believe , i should yet take beauty in a woman , to be like a rich perfume ; which though it be a thing very grateful in most companies , and perhaps ( especially at first ) very delightful to the wearer , yet does often discompose , not only strangers she chances to converse with , but the best friend she has ; and not seldom does mischief even to herself , by disordering her head , or casting her into fits of the mother . i beg your pardon , dear madam , says the fair irene , with somewhat of sadness in her looks , that whilst i had so much beauty in my eye and thoughts , i forgot , that it was in theodora accompany'd with a far greater and scrupulous humility ; and i did not apprehend that i could be thought guilty of flattery , so near to a witness ( at which words she pointed to a looking-glass , that hung up in the room ) ready to justifie more than i had occasion to say . i willingly acknowledge with you , that the amiableness discoverable by the eyes of every gazer , is a thing far less desirable than desired : and procures the possessors more praise , than it brings them happiness . and for my part , adds she , if i had the weakness to beleive my self mistress of what the folly of some had made them flatter me with , yet i should not be over much pleas'd with a quality , that would add to those harms my frailty makes me guilty of , those which i never intended ; and makes ladies so mischievous , to those that most love them , that even when they do not rob men of their innocency , they deprive them of their quiet . i confess therefore , madam , ( continues irene ) that it was injurious to insist upon the praises of a face , when , how little soever it can be match'd in its own kind , 't is accompanied with several beauties of a much nobler kind . but that which induc'd me to speak as i did , was , to let the fair theodora see , that i was justly sensible , how great a thing i begg'd for my friend ; when i implor'd for him an interest in her favour . and i do the less despair of the effects of your goodness , both to him and me , because i beg them for an absent friend , who is not in a condition to speak for himself ; and who , as i perceiv'd by the obliging relation you were pleas'd to make , of his carriage towards you , declin'd making you any request , when his services were so happy as not to be useless to you . his silence , answers theodora , in such circumstances , had more effect on me , than his passionatest solicitations would have produc'd . but the thing , i presume , you aim at , for him , is of that moment to me , that i cannot think fit to discourse of it , till we can do so with more calmness and leisure , than we can at this time expect . you know , irene , that i have still look'd upon marriage as one of the most important actions of life : and , though i think they have too mean a notion of happiness and misery , who imagine , that one creature can make either of them the portion of another ; yet i think , that not only the dictates of discretion , but those of sincerity and chastity , oblige a woman to have a great care , not to enter into so near and indissoluble a relation , upon any grounds , that are not like to last as long as it , ( and consequently , as our lives : ) and therefore , a woman that resolves to be what she should be , when a wife , ought to deliberate much upon a choice she can probably make but once ; and not needlesly venture to embarque herself on a sea so infamous for frequent shipwracks , only because she is offer'd a fine ship to make the long voyage with . but , continues the bashful virgin , ( not without some little disorder in her looks ) since my dear irene will needs make use of the priviledge she has , to know more of my thoughts than i would disclose to any other perperson in the world ; our friendship prevails with me to tell her , that if i were altogether at my own disposal , and could be induc'd to admit such a change of condition , as i have alwayes been averse from ; i should be more influenc'd in my choice by the shining vertues and extraordinary services of didymus , than by all the advantages that either titles , or riches , or dignities , could give any of his rivals . but , my dear irene , ( adds she ) we live in such times , and i , for my own particular , am beset with such circumstances ; that 't were not only very unreasonable , but wildly extravagant , for me to encrease my commerce with the world. for , irene , continues she , in my opinion , a christian does not deserve to be happy , and a true one cannot think he is happy , whilst the church of christ is miserable : at least , as far as outward calamities can make it . when i see the empire over-run with idolaters and persecutors ; when i see ravishers and whores , ador'd instately temples , and the only worshippers of the true god driven into corners , and pursu'd even thither ; when i see such as god is pleas'd to declare the world not to be worthy of , treated by men as persons not worthy to live in the world ; but daily expell'd out of it , with ignominy and torments : when i say , ( adds theodora , with tears in her eyes , ) i consider the general desolation of the church , and that i am like and willing to be , not a meer spectator , but a suffering actor , in this tragedy ; i cannot , in the midst of her sighs and groans , listen to the unseasonable complements of a lover , think of relishing any contentment , that descends not from a place too high for persecution to reach . in these sentiments , subjoins she , i am warranted , by no less authority that than of an apostle ; who , though not unfavourable to the marriage state , disadvises those women that are free , from entering into it , at least during the present distress ; though that were in his time , very much inferiour to those straits we are now reduc'd to . yet , madam , sayes irene , those expressions of friendship , that a conjugal relation invites , are not only made allowable by it , but commendable ; and are as real duties of piety , and vertue , as divers of the more abstracted exercises of religion . i do not contradict that , replies theodora , but look upon that very thing , as a disswasive , from the state of life , you would recommend . for , if i could think fit , to enter into it , it should be with a resolution , to do all that becomes me in it . and in such a calamitous time as we live in , i could not do that , without coming far more than i now am , within the worlds reach ; since i should think it my duty , and perhaps be engag'd upon another account , to have such apprehensions for a near friends danger , as my own would be uncapable of giving me . and the contentment i now enjoy , in a disposition to quit the world without regret , would be destroy'd , or at least allay'd , by an uneasiness to part with , what duty and inclination would , perhaps , too much fasten me to . here irene was going to interrupt her by an answer ; when her fair friend prevented her , by thus continuing her discourse : and to me it seems very considerable , that the apostle i lately mentiond , clearly enough intimates , that to persevere in a virgin-state , in times of persecution , gives those that prefer it , the great advantage of serving god more undistractedly ; and consequently of being more entirely and uninterruptedly imploy'd , in the direct contemplation and services , of an object so sublime , that our mind cannot divert to another , without stooping to an inferiour one . and though it be true , that the duties of a relation , may rightfully challenge a part of an engag'd persons time and care ; yet i see not why one that has no need , should enter into a relation , that would make those distracting duties necessary . though irene found it scarce possible to answer theodoras reasons , yet her kindness to her absent friend , made her unwilling to lose the opportunity their privacy gave her , to make one attempt more in his favour : which she did , by saying to his excellent mistress ; but shall not the as faithful as unhappy didymus , be allow'd to hope , that if once those dismal clouds that pour down show'rs of blood , shall be happily blown over , he may have a particular share in the publick joy and tranquility ; that his sufferings shal end with the persecutions of the church ; that those fatal resolutions , that are so destructive to his happiness , may cease with their occasion ; that theodoras severity will not out live the roman cruelty ; and that her heart will not be the last place , where the emperours cruel edicts will continue to have a fatal operation . alas irene , says theodora , somewhat troubled to be so press'd ; how unseasonably do you now discourse to me , about things relating to a time , to which very probably my life will never reach . for , subjoines she , to deal clearly with you ; i am so far from flattering my self , with an expectation of those halcyon dayes i wish you may live to see , that i shall not be surpriz'd , if this day prove the last i shall spend in this world. and if before night , i pass thence into another ; where the frailty and mortality , upon which marriage was founded , ceasing , that condition of life will have no place ; but will be succeded by an angelical state , where our friendships , as well as our persons , will be transfigur'd , and made incomparably more perfect than they can be here below . chap. v. theodora had scarce made an end of saying this , when her conversation with her fair friend was interrupted , by the notice that was given them of , the arrival of a gentleman of their religion , who brought some news that it concern'd them to know . this advertisement soon brought back these two excellent ladies to the rest of the company ; to which this intelligent and inquisitive person was going to give an account , which the sadnes of his looks prepar'd them to find an unwelcom one . however ; they listen'd to him with great attention , as well as concern : and he after a short preamble , briefly acquainted them with some particulars , that will hereafter be more fully related . but that which he himself seem'd most mov'd at the mention of , and which most affected his hearers , was this ; that when the president had notice of theodora's escape , though there wanted not some generous men , that endeavour'd by severall arguments to diswade him from prosecuting her any further ; yet he was so far from being prevail'd with , to comply with so reasonable a motion , that he solemnly protested , that if ever he could get this fugitive ( as he was pleas'd to call , that admirable person ) once more into his power , he would never strive again to reclaim her by the fear of infamy , ( a thing which , said he , i perceiv'd she despis'd ) but by the terrour of death ; supposing , as he added , that she would not fly from an altar , to a scaffold , a stake ; and resolving , in case she were inflexible , to sacrifice her to the indignation of those ●●cens'd deity 's she had so obstinately provok'd . the former part of this discourse , which related to didymus , his excellent mistress heard not , with out such inward commotions , that in spight of the calmness and reservedness of her temper , they clearly enough disclos'd themselves in her face , by several changes of colour , which those that had lately admir'd the greatness of her courage , could not but ascribe to that of her concern for her distressed lover . but when the relator had concluded that part of his narrative , that directly regarded her self , tho' it fill'd all the auditors with grief and terrour , theodora seem'd to have gain'd a new life ; since in her looks , the visible tokens of a deep sadness , were succeeded by no less manifest signs of joy . while the rest of those to whom the melancholy account was given , were entertaining one another with the reflections they made upon it ; irene having drawn her fair friend aside , was impatient to learn the cause of that pleasing change , she had observ'd in her looks . whilst , answers theodora , i was listening to the report of the eminent danger , which the generous didymus was expos'd to for my sake , i could not but be extreamly troubled , to find my self restrain'd from attempting his rescue , by the manifess : danger , of being by the barbarous president sent back to the infamous place , whence your vertuous friend had ventur'd so much to free me : but now that the judge , by a solemn declaration , has tyed up his own hands from tempting me , by so justifiable a fear as that of infamy ; 't was no wonder , my looks disclos'd some tokens of a joy , grounded upon so welcom an opportunity to exercise my gratitude without hazarding my honour . what ? theodora ! saith ierene , as it were thunder-struck with this unexpected answer ; do you put so small a value upon that wonderful deliverance , that scarce an hour ago you did so devoutly and deservedly give thanks for , that you will so soon rush into greater dangers , than those that requir'd little less than a miracle to rescue you from them ? i hope , replies calmly theodora , that i shall never forget , nor without a deep sense remember , the admirable rescue you speak of . but i take the most gracious part of that deliverance , to consist in my being rescu'd from dishonour ; and think it would be much less obliging than it is , if it debar'd me from the surest and directest ways to glory ; and if , to preserve my external purity , it did condemn me to ingratitude , towards the meritorious instrument of that preservation . our lives , saith irene , being trusted to us , as well as vouchsaf'd us , by god ; are not so much at our own disposal , that 't is allowable for us to part with them , as we think fit : and 't is possible for us to abandon them , not only when we do directly and violently rid our selves of them , but when we do those things , whose natural consequence is an untimely death . i believe with you , saith theodora , that our lives are to be reckon'd among those goods that we are entrusted with , rather as stewards than unaccountable proprietors ; and acknowledge too , that certain actions , that do not directly , may yet criminally , tend to their destruction . but i do not think the care of our lives is committed to us , as that of our souls is , with so indispensable an obligation to keep them ; that it can never upon any terms whatsoever , be lawful for us to loose them . for , i think life to be a talent , which is indeed to be carefully husbanded and preserv'd ; but is committed to us , not so much to keep safe , as to negotiate with ; and is entrusted to us in order to a condition better than it self . and therefore , if religion , or vertue , require any thing at our hands , which cannot be perform'd without endangering , or even loosing our lives , in that case to venture them , or to part with them , is a duty ; and consequently at least a justifiable action : and this pursues theodora , i take to be my case ; who am summon'd by faithfulness to a just promise , and by gratitude to an extraordinary benefactor , to endeavour the saving of an innocent person , who is accus'd on my account , and has brought himself into a great danger , only for having most obligingly rescu'd me from a greater . but what , replies irene , if the attempt you design , is far more likely to destroy you , than to save didymus ? for the barbarous judge , is so much an enemy to all christians , as such , and so much incens'd against you , for your escape , and him for having been the author of it ; that the cruelty of that inexorable man , will make him gladly destroy you both , as far as humane pow'r and rage can do it . and so , without preserving to the church of antioch , one of its ornaments , you will deprive it of another , and a greater ; by denying it the influence it might receive , by so lasting and exemplary a vertue , as may justly be expected in a person so pious , and so young , as theodora . the experience , answers theodora , that this very day has afforded me , forbids me to distrust divine providence ; and keeps me from despairing to find my endeavors to rescue your kinsman , succesful ; if the most wise and good , as well as absolute disposer , of events , shall not think it less our advantage , to be repriev'd than crown'd . without presuming therefore , to foresee events , 't is my part to do what god has vouchsafed to put into my power : and 't is not my duty to rescue didymus , but it is to attempt it ; and thereby acquit my self as far as i am able , of what i owe to my promise , and my gratitude . if i had the vanity to think , adds she , that in a person of my sex and frailties , such a church as that of antioch , could be much concern'd ; i should think too , that the attempt i am about to make , were the best way to make my life somewhat significant . for , whereas our heathen adversaries are so blinded with prejudices , that they look upon all we do or suffer for christianity , as the effects of a kind of superstitious frenzy , that seizes us , and transports us , whenever the articles of our faith are contended for : my exposing my self to their fury , rather than be wanting to the dictates of gratitude , which they , as well as we , look on as a moral vertue , may help to convince them , that our love to vertue is general , and more disinterested , than they thought it : since christians can venture and part with their lives , as well to shun ingratitude , as to resist idolatry . this gratitude , ( replies irene ) whose excess gives you and us , so much trouble , is a relative thing ; and benefits or services receiv'd , ought to be requited by actions , that are acceptable to those , they are design'd to gratify ; but sure , not by such , as we know will be unwelcome to them . and therefore , ( continues she ) the faithfulest , and most disinterested of your servants , will be far more unhappy , than the roman cruelty can make him , if what he has done , doth not convince you , that he can never look upon any thing , as a favour or retribution to him , that shall destroy , or so much as endanger , his adored mistress . i were very unworthy , ( rejoins theodora ) if i did not think didymus capable of the highest sentiments that generosity and friendship can inspire . but he is too just , to forbid those he loves , to aspire to some share of those noble quality's ; upon whose account , i am to consider , not so much what his vertue will relish , as what his condition requires ; there being a sort of debts , to which mine to him belong , that ought to be the more carefully paid , the more frankly they are remitted . the sorrowful irene , being exceeding troubled , to see her endeavours unsuccessful , on an occasion , upon which of all others , she most wish'd to find them prevalent , was prompted by her grief , to bring her eyes to the assistance of her tongue ; and weeping , said to her inflexible mistress ; if , madam , you will not have any compassion for the excellent theodora , at least take some pity upon the disconsolate irene ; and if her arguments cannot move you , be not at least inexorable to her fears . you have , ( continues she ) vouchsaf'd me the honour of your friendship , and the happiness of your conversation ; and by both these blessings , have given me so much esteem and kindness , for so great a benefactor , that if you deny me , what i now implore , you will turn the noblest parts of my happiness upon earth , into instruments of my infelicity ; since , in a world depriv'd of theodora , the desolate irene , will languish , rather than live , if she should be able to survive so great a loss . theodora , whose resolution and good nature were both of them extraordinary , though she had courage enough to support calmly her own personal sufferings , yet she had tenderness enough to be very sensible of those of her friends . and the moving expressions of the sorrowful irene , together with the tears that accompany'd them , made such an impression on her , that though , having foreseen this storm , it did not surprize her , yet it did much distress her , and let her ; see , how many uneasie victories she was to gain , before she could triumphantly compleat that days work . and though after a short , but sharp , conflict , between her kindness and her resolution , the latter of them prevail'd , yet , 't was not without some reluctancy and commotion , that she was able to return this answer . ah , dear irene , do not exercise so much cruelty your self , whilst you reproach me for being cruel ; and do not add to the great affliction of parting with such a friend as irene , that of seeing her so much troubled on my account , and of seeing myself necessitated to the uneasie task of denying a request of hers . if what i owe to my religion , and to your generous cousin , would suffer me upon any terms , to alter the resolves it prompted me to ; the delaration of your desire to have me do it , would have made all the arguments you employ'd to perswade me to it , unnecessary . 't is true , that among vertuous friends , kindness may challenge much , but not to the prejudice of conscience and reputation . i hope our friendship is not , and am sure it ought not to be , barely a mutual fondness of two young virgins ; but that vertue had a gteater share in making and continuing it , than sympathy and inclination had . and 't is but just , that a friendship , grounded chiefly upon vertue , should be govern'd and regulated by it . per-permit me therefore ( pursues she ) with that freedom and plainness , that our friendship allows , to put you in mind , that in the straits wherein providence has now placed us , it calls upon us to consider , not only that we are friends , but , that we are christians too ; who ought in reason , as well for our departing as our departed friends , to listen to the apostle of us gentiles , who forbids us , upon the removal of those we love , to give up our selves to sorrow , as those that have no hope . indeed , if we were epicureans , that believe the soul as mortal , as the body ; or such other pagans , as bury in the graves of their friends , the hopes , or at least the confidence , of meeting them again : we could scarce too bitterly deplore a seperation , that would certainly , or at least for ought we knew , prove an eternal one . but having , through the goodness of god been embracers of the gospel , and enabled , though but imperfectly , yet sincerely , to live according to its dictates , and be ready to die for its defence ; the same grace may keep us from fearing , that the time of our separation will be lasting enough , to bear any considerable proportion to that eternity , which will be allow'd us to enjoy each others company in . and give me leave to tell you , irene , that i cannot rejoice at any expressions , even of your kindness , that are injurious to your piety , and bring your love of me , into a competition with that , which ought to be as unparrallel'd as its object is . they love a creature too much , that think it too good to be parted with , for the creators service . 't is a high injury to him , to think we can lose any thing for him , that he cannot make us a rich amends for . and i must not conceal my opinion , that a christian disparages both himself and his profession , if he complains , that any loss can make him unhappy , while he possesses the favour of god. wherefore , my dearest irene , ( concludes she ) let your friendship alleviate my grief , by shewing me how handsomly you bear your own ; and prefer , i beseech you , upon this sad occasion , the exercise of the more generous , to that of the more tender , effects of kindness . alas , madam , says the distress'd irene , all the fine things you say to comfort me , produce in me , an effect quite contrary to that you design by them ; since they do but the more discover the excellency and kindness of the incomparable person i am going to be depriv'd of ; after whose company , i shall find that of the rest of the world , too insipid , so much as to divert me : and therefore , if you will not grant me the blessing of living with you , at least do not deny me the satisfaction of dying with you . for , though martyrdom be very formidable to a frail woman , yet heaven is more desirable to a christian ; and i shall not fear to take a scaffold or a stake in my way , when i travel to such a place , as that , in such company as yours . you know , ( replies theodora ) as well i , that our religion commands us to suffer martyrdom , when we are oblig'd to do it ; but forbidsus to thrust ourselves unnecessarily upon so fatal and difficult a work : the apostles themselves , whose peculiar office it was , to be the heralds and champions of the gospel , were commanded , when they were persecuted in one city , to fly into another ; and accordingly one of the most couragious of them , to avoid needless and unseasonable dangers , fled to jerusalem from damascus ; though to do so , he was fain to be let down from the wall of this place in a basket. and 't is but reasonable , we should not , without a manifest call of providence , venture upon a conflict , in which we do so much depend upon extraordinary assistances for the victory , that the same bold disciple , that so confidently promis'd our saviour , that he would die for him , was in an hour or two , the first that renounc'd him . an inspir'd teacher , who was ambitious to be , as he afterwards prov'd , a martyr , reckons it to be the gift of god , not only to believe in christ , but to suffer for that belief . if ( continues she ) our conditions were exchang'd , and irene , instead of me , were by divine providence singl'd out for martyrdom ; i should not envy her the glory , of letting many of both religions see , that christianity can elevate the courage of a woman , to a degree that they think appropriated to men. i would employ my prayers rather to obtain of heaven , a divine support of her resolution , than an inglorious change of it. and imitating that well natur'd israelite , who , not only willingly but gladly , parted with his dear ester , when she went from him to a throne ; i should be more satisfied with irene's advancement , than with her company : and if i did not prefer her happiness to my own , it would be , because indeed i should look upon them so united , that i should find mine in hers. let me then ( says theodora ) conjure you , by all our past and future friendship , rather to congratulate , than lament , the remove i am going to make . and be not troubled , that one whom you have been pleas'd so much to love , is call'd to be early happy . in such hazardous times as these , you know not how soon a persecutor's sword may send you after her. and at most , this mortal life is too short , to let our separation be very long . and in the mean time , the comfortable expectation of an unchangeable state , of whose blessedness the renewed fruition of each other , will make a part , and not the greatest neither ; may console you for the absence of a person , that in the interim will be happy enough to wish you where she is , upon much juster grounds than you can wish her where she was . let it then ( concludes theodora , with weeping eyes , ) be a sufficient proof of my esteem and love of irene , that i part from her with tears , when i am going to a place , where the divine oracles assure us , that all tears shall be wip'd from our eyes , and be succeeded by a fulness of joy , that shall last for evermore . chap. vi. though these reasonings were such , as irene knew not well how to answer , yet , being uncapable of acquiescing in any discourse , that inferr'd it to be her duty ; to part with theodora ; she resolv'd to try , whether the perswasions of the company , ( which she knew , would be very forward to assist her ) would not be more prevalent , than hers had been : and that seem'd an accident very . friendly to her design , that just then happen'd , by the arrival of an intelligent gentleman , whom she had a while before employ'd to learn news of her friend ; and who , on that score , had been a curious and heedful spectator , of all that had pass'd , at the presidents , in relation to didymus , and was come to bring irene an account of it . to hear this , she and her sorrowful friend were desir'd to rejoin the rest of the company : to which , the high and just esteem they all had of so brave a gentleman , as didymus , gave an impatient desire to be inform'd of his adventures . to satisfie this curiosity , the gentleman that was to do it , did , after a short pause , make them the following narrative . i suppose this company needs not be informed by me , of what happen'd to the generous didymus , between the time , that the excellent theodora was condemn'd to an infamous place , and that wherein he had the happiness , of helping her to make an escape out of it . and therefore without wasting any of that little time , whereof , i fear , we may have but too great need , i shall proceed to inform you , that when this astonishment , occasion'd by this surprize , of finding a young man in the escap'd virgins room , was a little over , and they had cloath'd didymus in a habit more decent , to appear in , before a publick assembly ; they led him away to the judge : to whom some of them related , maliciously enough , what had pass'd earnestly begging justice of him , against a person , who ( they said ) could not but be a christian ; and who was not content , to be himself an offender against the laws , but had dared to rescue another offender , from the punishment to which they had doom'd her . against this charge , the undaunted didymus being ask'd , what defence he had to make , addressing himself to the judge , made this resolute answer . i stand accus'd of a twofold crime , of being a christian , and of theodora's rescue : and though i cannot so soon have forgot , how heinous my accusers have endeavour'd to make them appear , yet , instead of denying either of them , i shall own , that i glory in both . as for christianity , in an age , wherin it is so cruelly persecuted , i would not have embraced the profession of it , but that i was resolv'd , if there were occasion , to suffer for it . and therefore i shall neither deny what they call a crime , nor make an apology for it , nor deprecate any infliction , ( for so i call it , rather than punishment , which still supposes a fault ) whereto it can expose me . nor could i , without being wanting to the duty of humanity , refuse my assistance , to preserve the purity of so noble a shrine of chastity , as the savage designers of a rape on theodora , were going barbarously to violate . and the inward satisfaction of having done what became me on such occasions , will support me under any sufferings , that shall be drawn upon me , but by my loyalty to persecuted truth , and my compassion of distress'd vertue . the experience i have had , ( answers the president ) of the effects of those desperate errours , you miscall religion , makes me inclinable enough , to think , that you , as well as many others of your wild sect , have both madness and impiety enough , to put off the apprehensions , as well as the other common sentiments , of human nature , and fear death , as little as you do the gods. but since you pretend to be more vertuous men , and obedient subjects , than others ; pray tell me , what you can say , for your rescuing a malefactor , out of the hands of those ministers of justice , that were going to execute the sentence of condemnation upon her . if , ( replies didymus ) the sentence you speak of , had doom'd her but to death ; though i should most gladly have suffer'd it in her stead , yet i had deplor'd your cruelty , without attempting to defeat it . but i confess , i could not without indignation , as well as grief , see such a person as theodora , who for her beauty , vertue , and other perfections , is justly admir'd by all that know her , and look'd upon as the honour of her sex ; most injuriously condemn'd to so infamous and barbarous an usage , as were unfit for the meanest and despicablest of creatures , that belong to the sex , ( whereof she is the ornament . ) and considering with my self , that chastity in women , and especially in virgins , is so much a vertue , and their right to preserve it , so confes'dly inhaerent , that all nations agree , in ascribing to them a right to defend it , without reserve , against whosoever attempts to deprive them of it ; i concluded , that to help a distressed virgin to preserve so acknowledg'd a right , was to defeat ravishers , rather than to oppose magistrates , and not commit a crime , but hinder the accomplishing of one . nor could i think , that 't was against the roman judges i acted when i oppos'd persons , whom their savage design made me look upon as the worst sort of barbarians . and i did not doubt sir , ( continues didymus ) that in your own breast , when calmer thoughts shall come there , to succeed those that lately possess'd it , i shall be absolv'd from an action , which kept you from dishonouring your self as much , as the execution of your sentence would have defil'd theodora ; and kept you innocent as to act , from what would have made you enemies for ever , not only of the fairest half of mankind , but of all those of our sex , that retain any sparks either of vertue , or good nature . if theodora , ( replies the president ) were not a beauty , and one of your obstinate sect , i doubt you would never , for her sake , have adventur'd upon so desperate an attempt , as makes you , not more disobedient , than obnoxious , to the law. i see not , sir , ( rejoins didmuys ) why it should be a disparagement to theodora's beauty , or to the impressions i have receiv'd of it , that all that it has engaged me to do , has been , with the utmost hazard of my life , to rescue her purity , and deny my self , in the first place , the advantages i endeavour'd to deprive others of . but the charms of her mind , needed not those of her face , to make me attempt to preserve her . i have often in camps contended , not without hazard enough , with my victorious fellow-soldiers , to keep them from violating the chastity of captives , who had neither beauty to captivate others , nor any thing else to engage me in their quarrel , except their being innocent and distressed women . but theodora ; setting her beauty and birth aside , has been so eminent , for all the good qualities and excellencies that can accomplish a person of her sex , and especially , for her chastity , that my heart would have reproach'd mefor , not prizing vertue enough , if i had declin'd so happy an opportunity , to express the veneration i paid so shining a one , as hers. but , ( pursues didymus ) i would not by what i have said , be thought to deny , that my religion had a share in the attempt i made to serve a person , that did so much adorn it , and was so loyal to it . the christian doctrine , among many other excellent things , that it prescribes to its embracers , teaches them , that in some cases , among which ours is compriz'd , they ought to lay down their lives for one another . but sir , ( concludes didymus ) you may be pleas'd to take notice , that what i acted , was according to the rules of it too . for i did not oppose the execution of your cruel sentence , by force , but only prevented it by an innocent stratagem , whereby my ends were obtain'd without bloodshed or violence ; no mans life having been so much as endanger'd , except my own ; which i never thought my self bound to preserve from any danger , that piety or humanity summon'd me to undertake . though the president could not but be sensible , that didymus had said more for himself , than was expected ; yet , that he might not be thought to be satisfied with the defence of a person , whom he meant to condemn , he told him ; i do not think it strange , that those who dare call the very worship of the gods , superstition and idolatry , and and that which all men but your selves call impiety , religion , should stile rebellion against the magistrate ; loyalty to the truth . but how industriously soever you strive , not only to cloak a criminal action , but transform it into a vertuous one ; i can easily , through all its disguises , percieve the disobedience and refractoriness to civil government , that is so contagious , and so spred among the embracers of your sect ; that princes have no other way , but your ruine , to secure their own safety , which would be quickly endanger'd , if your power and numbers were half as great , as the disloyalty of your principles and practices . to be a sufferer for my religion , ( answers didymus ) is that , which i shall not so properly submit to , with resignation , as embrace , with with joy. but to find my religion a sufferer with me , if not for me ; and to see christianity made a state crime , while it severely prohibits and condemns all crimes , and none more expresly , than disobedience to the just commands of magistrates ; is that , which , i confess , do's not a little trouble me . and therefore , sir , i hope you will allow a person , that is much more concerned to keep his religion than himself , from being endanger'd by this accusation ; to give you a righter apprehension , than our calumniators have done , of the innocentest , as well as the truest , religion in the world. though for my part , ( continues didymus ) i think , that the liberty of serving god , by such ways as are not repugnant to the light , or laws of nature , or the welfare of civil society's , is the common right of mankind , and cannot be denied man , without injustice ; yet i do not now plead for it : and you are more concern'd to look to that , than i. for if you make me suffer , for the innocent use of that right , which god and nature have granted unto all men ; i shall but undergo a transient punishment , but you will expose your self , to an eternal , and ( which is worse ) to a deserved one . no persons in the world , can pay more obedience to the laws of their superiours , than christians do . we that can shed the enemies blood , and hazard our own , as freely , and perhaps as succesfully , as any soldiers in your armies , suffer you to shed ours , as tamely as any sheep you have in your folds . and sure , we are very unhappy , as well as you very incredulous , that those professions of loyalty and obedience , that are not more visibly written in our books , than frequently sign'd with our blood , cannot gain credit with you ; nor our death it self convince you , when the wounds that we quietly suffer to pierce our breasts , would open you windows into our hearts , if some had not a greater mind to peirce them , than to know them . but the same just care we have to obey authority , what rate soever the submissions cost us , forbids us to do those things , for the refusal whereof , authority condemns us . for god being , as the only creator , so the supreme governor of man , his laws are those of the truest supreme authority : and princes themselves being his subjects , and but his lieutenants upon earth ; to decline their commands , when ever they prove repugnant unto his , is not so much an act of disobedience to the subordinate power , as of loyalty to the supreme and universal sovereign . and in such cases we are no more rebels against the emperor , when we prefer the performance of gods laws , to a compliance with his , than we should be , in case we should disobey the orders of the governour of the province we live in , if they should prove repugnant to those of augustus . and even in these cases ; if we cannot yeild an active obedience to the commands of the civil sovereign , we do not refuss him , the utmost we can consent to , which is passive obedience : and when our consciences permit us not to do , those to us unlawful things , that he commands , they enjoin us to suffer unresistedly , whatever penalty's he pleases to impose . and give me leave sir , to add , ( so dydimus continues ) that we are so far , from making religion a cloak to the pursuit of present advantages , that you daily see us renounce them all , and our lives to boot , to maintain our loyalty to our maker , without hopes of being recompens'd , but in another world ; and even there we cannot expect any , but by the sentence of a judge , whom none can either bribe or deceive , and who is more severe to crimes , than any persecutor on earth can be , to innocents . i will not tell you , pursues dydimus , that on the other side , the assurance we have of the inestimable rewards laid up in heaven , for loyalty to god and his truths , and the internal applauses of a good conscience , are things of so elevating and satisfying a nature , that our religion can make the hearts it possesses , not only detest the ambition of those subjects , that aspire to earthly crowns , but perhaps , pitty the condition of those princes , that possess them . but i dare , sir , avow , that the harmlesness of our principles , is not more legible in our profession , than in our practices and sufferings . for the multitude of christians is so great , that [ in your cities , your country , your courts of justice , your camps , and all places of publick resort , except your temples , they are not only present , but numerous ; ] and your enemies , as well as your armies , have been sufficiently convinc'd , they know as well how to kill , as dye ; so that 't is only because we will not forfeit our innocence , by a forbidden way of defending it , that we are expos'd to such cruel sufferings for it . and i doubt not but equitable estimators of things will conclude , that our calmly submiting to such inhuman usages , sufficiently shews , that we do not deserve them . the judge , discerning still more clearly , that his discourses made much less impressions upon didymus , than those of didymus did upon the hearers ; resolv'd to break off this kind of conversation , and with a stern countenance , told the prisoner , that 't was high time for him to remember , that he was a judge , and not a priest ; and that therefore , though his compassion had hitherto invited him to employ persuasions , yet now their unsuccesfulness oblig'd him to declare positively , that he was sure the gods , that he and the world worshipp'd , were the true ones ; and that if didymus did not forthwith acknowledge them to be so , by sacrificing to them , he should quickly feel their power , by being put to a death , his obstinacy made him both deserve , and appear fond of . didymus , without seeming to be at all mov'd at this rough language , calmly , as well as resolutely , reply'd . tho' sir , i am most ready , whenever i am call'd to it , to suffer for my religion , yet i would not be thought to expose my self , for an obstinate denial , to hear and consider , what may be objected against it . we christians , whatever wilfulness may be misimputed to us , are not so fond of sufferings , or of our own conceits , as not to be more willing to have them brought to the bar ; than to be condemn'd there for them : and persecuted opinions are things , which , as we do not renounce , so we do not embrace , for their being such . nor are we so blind and wilful , as to reject clear arguments , that would both instruct us and rescue us too , if any such could be propos'd , by the embracers of your religion . this i say , sir , continues didymus , not to contradict what you were saying , of your being not a priest but a judge ; but to clear constancy from the imputation of obstinacy , and declare , that if we could see reasons on your side , fitted to deliver us from error , and from death , we would not be so mad , or so perverse , as to chuse rather to renounce life , than embrace truth . but pardon me , sir , ( subjoyns he ) if i think , that , though you are commission'd by the supreme power , to be a judge for life and death , yet you are not constituted by the supreme verity , a judge of truth and falshood . and therefore , i take your owning to worship many gods , who , by their very being many deities , are sufficiently proved not tobe true ones ; for a declaration of your opinion , not a demonstration that it ought to be mine too . if you press us with arguments , we are ready to answer yours , and offer you ours : but when instead of them , you employ threats , we do not think it proper to argue against them , but to despise them ; since 't is not our reason that they assault , but our constancy . and therefore , give me leave to tell you , sir , concludes didymus , that the christian religion can so fortifie and elevate the mind , and place it so much above the reach of a political jurisdiction , that i shall suffer your sentence with far less trouble , than you will soon or late feel , at the remembrance of your having pronounc'd it ; and you will not find it in the power of all your executed threats , to ruine either my constancy , or so much as my joy. the judge , enrag'd , to see his power thus despis'd , and as he interpreted it , affronted , by a prisoner ; declar'd , he would defer no longer than one hour ( which space he allow'd him to repent his errors in , ) to pronounce against him the fatal sentence , and commanded him to be immediately led to the place , where 't was to be executed ; towards which he himself intended to follow at some distance : whether it were to feed his cruel eyes with a spectacle , whose tragicalness his revenge would make acceptable to him ; or to prevent any tumult or disorders , that the courage of didymus , and the esteem and pity it had excited in the numerous by-standers , might possibly occasion . chap. vii . as soon as the gentleman , that made the past discourse , had ended it , the just idea it form'd in the minds of the hearers , and especially of the two ladies , of the singular piety and heroick courage of didymus , made such an impression on the grateful & compassionate theodora , as exceedingly heightned her resolution to rescue him , if it were possible , and hast'ned her to begin immediately to attempt it . in order to which , having observ'd that the hearers listen'd so attentively to what the relator said , that they then minded nothing else , she took that nick of time to withdraw herself silently , into another room ; and by a pair of back stairs , convey'd herself out of the house : whence by indirect wayes , ( for fear of being overtaken in the shortest , ) she went with as much hast and gladness , to an almost certain death , as others are wont to shun and escape it with ; leaving irene and her other friends , no less amaz'd than troubl'd , when sometime afterward , they perceiv'd her missing , and found all the diligence they employ'd to retrieve her , fruitless . for , theodora , fearing she could not long escape the diligence of her pursuers , unless she hasten'd to a place , where she justly thought they would not follow her ; delay'd not to go directly towards the company , that she was told attended the president , in the affairs that were transacting in his court. among these attendants , she had not staid long , before she descry'd her brave lover , under a strict and rude guard ; but with a look so manly , and so serene , as shew'd , that he deserv'd another usage ; and was not in the least daunted nor discompos'd by that he met with . this moving sight , so affected the generous & compassionate theodora , that tho' in so publick place and manner , she could with less reluctancy dye for didymus , than she could plead for him ; yet her gratitude surmounting her bashfulness , after some conflict within herself , she made towards the tribunal ; to which she found a more easie passage than she expected . for , the advantagiousness of her shape and stature , and gracefulness of her motions , easily produc'd for her , such sentiments , in the admiring by-standers , as made them with great respect , give her way , & let her , without disturbance , pass on to the bar. she had but a very little while staid there , before the president was mov'd , by the concourse of those whom curiosity and wonder invited to gaze on the fair stranger , to cast his eyes on her ; and notwithstanding the unlikelihood , that she should appear there , without having been forcibly brought thither ; as soon as , out of respect to his dignity , she had lifted up her veil , he discern'd that it was she , by a sort of beauty so peculiar , as was not easily either to be met with in others , or to be forgotten by any that had ever seen it . but , though the judge were thus surpriz'd at her presence , yet he little less admir'd her courage , than her beauty , when , with a face , wherein the blushes of her cheeks , and the assuredness of her looks , equally discover'd her modesty and her fearlesness , she told him : i know , sir , that 't is a very unusual thing , for a person of my sex and religion , to come to this place unsent for . but i hope you will be pleas'd to consider , that , as the action is extraordinary , the occasion of it is so too . for both justice , the virtue that you sit here to distribute ; and gratititude , founded upon the highest obligations , engage me to appear before you , on the behalf of that brave prisoner , ( at which words she pointed at didymus , ) and present you the object , on which you may inflict with legal justice , what you cannot make him suffer , without being tax'd of cruelty . for supposing a debt to be due to the law , yet it would be more severe than just , to prosecute the security , now the principal offers to pay the debt . he may well be look'd upon as my hostage , whom i now come to redeem : and 't is not , sir , your interest , to decline the exchange , since by it you will preserve a person , whose courage , ingag'd by his gratitude , may do signal service in the roman army . and since my escape was all his crime , i beseech you , let my surrender of my self , obtain his absolution . here theodora paus'd a while , partly to recover from the disorder , so unusual and difficult an effort of her modesty had put her into ; and partly , to observe the judges countenance , upon his hearing what she had said , and to take measures thence in what she was further to speak . the president in the mean time continued silent , whether the longer to hear the musick of her voice , or because so many charms , as nature had crouded in her face , and so much sadness , as her concern for her lover had display'd in her looks , had somewhat mollify'd him , as they might have done a tiger . whereupon the fair suppliant , hoping that his not interrupting her , proceeded from some relenting thoughts , resumes her discourse , in these terms . but if , sir , to procure the dismission of this gentleman , your justice had need to be seconded by your clemency , perhaps you never had , nor never will have , an object whose merit may so well warrant the fullest exercise of it . for his life , ever since he bore arms , has been imploy'd in the service of his princes , and fearlessly hazarded for their greatness . and the action for which he is now in trouble , is so heroick , and so disinteressed an one of courage and compassion , that in it he could scarce have any other motive , than the greatness of his generosity , nor other end , than the exercise of it . nor need you fear , that your clemency on this occasion should introduce a bad example ; for this of didymus is never like to be imitated , nor can be so , but by persons too virtuous to be delinquents . and if such actions be criminal , at least 't is unlikely they will grow common crimes . and here theodora , perceiving that the impatient didymus ( now come again to himself , after the astonishing surprize this adventure gave him ) was upon the point to interrupt her , she thus prevents him . and you , brave didymus , forbear to oppose the accomplishment of my just desires . the course that i now take , is the only that i could take , to evidence my gratitude , and to let you see , that you have not exercis'd the noblest acts of generosity and friendship , towards a person insensible of the dictates of those vertues . i could not ( continues she ) but be glad to be rescu'd from the ignominy of a rape , but i did not intend to be robb'd of the glory of suffering for christ ; which is also the only means left me to evince , that i declin'd dishonor , and not death , and never meant so much to disoblige the world , as for the sake of an insignificant maid , to deprive it of one of the most generous of men. you have left yourself but one way to encrease your past favours , which is , to allow me the only real expression i can make of my sense of them , & that in such a way , as can , at most , but make some little diminution of them , without pretending to make a retribution for them . if therefore ( concludes she ) you will compleat the obligation you have laid on me , by preserving to me the coronet of virginity , you must not oppose my obtaining the crown of martyrdom . didymus had need of all the respect , that he paid his admirable mistress , to keep him thus long , from interrupting a discourse , that tended so little to his satisfaction ; and therefore she had no sooner put a period to it , than ( with a deep sigh ) he told her ; cease , theodora , cease , to plead for the continuance of life , that you are almost as cruel to me , in thus endeavouring to preserve , as you are , in thus hazarding your own . and if i durst not hope for , from the president , more than i see i must on this occasion , expect from you ; i should think my self as perfectly wretched , as ( whatever your intentions be ) your proceedings are unkind . but i am confident , our unbyas'd judge is too impartial , not to discern in your discourse , that the excess of your goodness , has had the chief interest in the management of your plea ; the case about which we differ , being in itself so clear , that alone to state it , is sufficient to plead it on my behalf . for , i entic'd you to escape out of prison , and then , at my own peril , facilitated to you the means of doing so : you leave me behind , as a pawn to the laws , and these finding me in your room , make their great minister , before whose tribunal we stand , doom me , for your offence , to the death design'd for your punishment : which since i joyfully proffer my self to suffer for you ; or rather , since you suffer it in me your proxy ; the illustrious president is too well acquainted with his office , to need to be told , that , at least in equity , the surety's payment , discharges the principal from the debt ; especially , when he not only proffers the payment , but most earnestly desires the acceptance of it , as a great advantage to him . i hope then , great sir , says he , ( turning himself to the president , with additional respect to that he had shew'd him before , ) that you will accept of my life , instead of hers , who deserves a long and happy one ; and that , when my sentence of condemnation shall be pronounc'd , and gladly acquiesc'd in , it may free her , i am condemn'd for . the love of self-preservation is so natural , that it cannot be made capital , without affronting nature , and punishing as well what men are , as what they do : and the love of purity and honour does so much become a chast virgin , that the natural consequences of it are too commendable , to be fit to be made penal . 't is i , who having despis'd dangers that i might easily have avoided , when 't was question to do an illegal thing , do yet glory in the crime , that am the just and proper object of the rigour of your laws : and her years are yet so tender , and her disposition so innocent , that since , if she have err'd , it was by my persuasions , if she be to be punish'd , it should be in my person . all that she has since alledg'd to appropriate my guilt , or involve herself in it , will , i hope , by a roman magistrate be look'd on , as it is indeed , as an argument of her generosity , and not of her crime . and the romans are too much friends to gallantry , to punish in a lady , that vertue , that they applaud and crown even in soldiers . but now , continues diydmus , i must address my self to you , o theodora : and must complain of , or at least deplore , my infelicity ; that after i had done and suffer'd , all that i could , though 't was much less than i would , for the preservation of so dear a life as yours ; you come now to hazard it , to make mine end with sorrow . but granting you should prevail , in the no less unwelcom than generous attempt , you are pleas'd to make ; how cruel were you , to envy me at once , the two highest honors , that my ambition aspir'd to ; the glory of martyrdom , and that of theodoras rescue ? had i as many lives , as you have vertues , i should esteem them all but a cheap ransom for a few hours of yours : so unlikely i am , and ought to be , to be either capable or desirous , of being preserv'd by your suffering for my actions . and therefore , madam , if you think my little services deserve some recompence ; since my highest contentments on earth , terminate in your happiness , there is no other way left you to reward them , but the care of your own preservation : it being the only return that i expect or desire of my services , that you will not , by your inflexibleness , finally make them fruitless ; but be content to live for his sake , that will rejoyce to dye for yours . all the while this noble dispute lasted , the judge was , though not an unconcern'd , yet a silent hearer of it : the strange novelty of the contest , and no less extraordinary generosity and gracefulness of the contenders , having given him an attention , that kept him from interrupting them . but when their debate had proceeded thus far ; his stern nature , whose actings had been but suspended by his curiosity , prompted him to tell the generous couple ; i know not what presumption makes you plead , as if each of you were the others only judge , and had the supreme authority of condemning or absolving you ; and i were only an unconcern'd auditor , or at least , sate here to ratifie the sentence you shall agree upon , between your selves . but you will quickly find , to your cost , that the roman laws , and magistrates , are not to be trifled with . great sir , replies didymus , you much misapprehend our conduct , if you think your self slighted by it : for , 't was not want of respect to your authority , and power , that made us discourse as we did ; but a supposition , not injurious to you , that you would in the exercise of that power , manifest that you deserve it , by tempering it with two excellent vertues , that best become a magistrate , equity and clemency . this presumption , sir , and not any disrespectful one , was that upon which we proceeded in our discourse ; still taking it for granted , that you would not punish two , for that which was indeed , but the fault of one ; and that if either of us were , by the others consent , to suffer ; your equity , or your clemency , would prevail with you , to release the other . though didymus , had worded what he said , so cautiously , that a discerning hearer might perceive , that his expressions related to the judges dignity , not his person ; yet that self-flattery , which is but too common an attendant on men in power , making the president take all these respectful words to himself , made him allow didymus , without interruption , to proceed in his discourse , and say ; you will easily grant , sir , that goodness , whereof clemency is a noble part , may bring a magistrate , who is heavens vice-gerent upon earth , as high a veneration as power or greatness does ; if you please to consider , that those of your religion , when they would with the most deference speak of god , give the title of most good the preference to that of most great , styling him , as the christians likewise often do , deus optimus maximus . certainly , clemency is never more a vertue , nor less grudg'd at by justice , than when 't is exercis'd towards vertuous persons , by rescuing them from the persecutions of fortune , and the unintended rigour of the laws . i say unintended rigour , sayes didymus , for i cannot think that the roman legislators , that have honor'd injur'd chastity so much in lucretia , and encourag'd gallantry and other vertues , by no less than crowns and triumphs ; meant to make the productions of chastity , constancy and gratitude , criminal things . and , tho' christians dissent from others in matters of religion , yet those moral vertues that were so esteem'd by the romans , do not lose their nature , when practis'd by christians : and those brave men , whose love to vertue made them masters of the world , did not scruple to honour it in their very enemies ; and did it so much , even in the most irreconcilable of them , that more than one or two statues of hannibal were erected at rome ; to which triumphant city 't is perhaps more glorious , to have thus honor'd him , than vanquish'd him . and sure they that thought lucretias chastity merited so many statues , would not think that theodoras deserv'd a stake or a scaffold . this ladies actions and mine , are not so hainous , but that in happier persons , and milder times , they have been look'd on under a notion very differing from that of criminal ones . but sir , continues didymus , addressing himself to the president , in a very humble manner , if there must needs be offer'd up some sacrifice to appease the angry laws , i beseech you to let their rigour be satisfied with my blood , and spare this harmless lady ; to whom , if your compassion be needful , i hope you will not want it for an object , whose excellencies cannot only make it reasonable , but meritorious . for it will preserve to antioch its fairest ornament ; and a life so exemplary , that to give it an untimely period , for actions , which , being laudable in their own nature , nothing but a rigid interpretation of the law can make criminal , would be to make the laws a terror , rather to the good than to the wicked . it would be thought inhumane to treat her as a delinquent , whom you may justly wish your daughters should resemble ; when by the grant of what i implore , you will be sure to receive both the thanks of her sex , and the applause of ours , and what out values both , the satisfaction of having sav'd and oblig'd one of the most admirable persons in the world . didymus now perceiving , that the person he pleaded for , was preparing herself to interrupt him ; readdress'd himself to her , and told her ; do not , madam , i beseech you , require of my obsequiousness , proofs inconsistent with my love ; and add not to my infelicity , by putting me in so uneasie a condition , as to find it my duty to oppose your desires : ah! refuse not to oblige the world , by preserving the most accomplish'd it can glory in : deny me not the satisfaction , whereof i am so ambitious , of being the happy instrument of your deliverance ; and then i may say , that i never could justly dye more seasonably than now , when being at the height of all my joyes , my longer life must of necessity give an ebb to my felicity ; since after the glory of having sav'd theodora , i hope for no higher on earth , than that of dying for her . then perceiving her ready to renew the contest , he told her ( with a low voice , that the judge might not hear him , and with a sadness in his looks , which she , that knew his courage , could impute to nothing but his almost boundless concern for her ; ) madam , though the presidents impatience did not call upon us to conclude our contest , yet my condition and resolution ought to put a hasty period to it : for , madam , i must positively declare to you , that it would be as bootless as cruel , for you to think to protect my life , by the abandoning of your own : since to owe a life to that cause , would make it not only uneasie but insupportable to me , and consequently uncapable of lasting . so that enjoyning me to survive you , would condemn me to a life , which after the loss of yours , must be spent , if it could last , in fruitless deploring that loss . forbear therefore , concludes he , i most earnestly beseech you madam , to exact such proofs of my obedience , that 't is as little in my power to give you , as it ought to be in your will to require them ; since for didymus to survive theodora , is as great an impossibility , as it would be an unhappiness . o admirable contest ! where the noble antagonists did not strive for victory , but death ; or endeavour'd to overcome each other , that the victor might perish for the vanquish'd : where self-love , the most radical affection of human nature , is sacrific'd to a love , equally chast and disinteress'd : and where vertue makes each of the contenders , in geniously solicitous to appear criminal , that the antagonist may be treated as innocent . how well does this proceeding prove that inspir'd sentence true , that love is stronger than death , since in this conflict , the generous friends , are by the former , made rivals for the latter ? chap. viii . the afflicted virgin , to whom these moving things were said , finding that she should but lose her diswasions on didymus , thought fit to address herself once more , to the president ; and with humble gestures , accompany'd with looks , and with a voice , that would have soften'd any that were not invincibly obdurate , she told him ; though sir , the arguments us'd by this gentleman , had far better prov'd than they have , that , of us two , he is the fittest person to be condemn'd ; yet i hope , where you preside with so much authority , he will not fare the worse for being generous ; and that what he has done , will be more prevalent with you , than what he has said . ever since he was capable of bearing arms , he employ'd them in the service of the emperors ; and in their camps chearfully follow'd the roman eagles , where-ever they durst fly : and after his having this day hazarded himself so generously , out of compassion to a distress'd virgin ; what examples of gallantry may not be expected from such a courage , engag'd by his gratitude , when he shall act for the acquest of glory , and the service of his country ? if a guilty intention be necessary to make an action so , his will not be found to be criminal ; since he did not intend the violation of any law , but to second , what we are told to be , the design of all just laws ; which is , to protect the innocent , and encourage vertue . but if by a rigid interpretation of the law , he may be brought within the reach of it ; i hope his misdemeanor will not appear so great , but that your clemency may allow him all that i beg for him , which is , that he may be permitted to repair a mistake in the exercise of his vertue , by the continuation of those services in the roman army , which will be far more useful to the publick than his death , in his present circumstances , can be . to this theodora would perhaps have added , ( though she could scarce have done it , without some reluctancy from her modesty ) the things , sir , that he has been pleas'd to act and hazard for me , may persuade you , that if , contrary to my prayers and hopes , you should design severity towards him , you may more sensibly punish him , by my death , than by more immediate inflictions on himself . and 't is like she would have enforc'd her arguments and intreaties , for a person for whom she was so much and so justly concern'd , when the president ▪ vex'd to find that both of them so little valu'd life , whose deprivation was the most formidable thing he could threaten them with , prevented her , by saying , with a stern countenance , no , i will hear no more , having heard but too much already : it does not become a roman magistrate , to suffer any longer with patience ; that prisoners and criminals should daringly disobey the laws , slight all their threats , and glory in their violation . what each of you has said to prove himself guilty , affords abundant reason to condemn you both . wherefore , since you cannot agree among your selves , i will be your umpire , and give both of you what each desires and merits . you , obstinate maid , sayes he , turning to theodora , shall dye for having broken prison . you disobedient soldier , sayes he to didymus , shall dye for having perswaded and further'd her escape . but to specifie your chiefest crime , than which there needs no other , nor can be a greater , you both shall dye because you are christians , and consequently enemies to the roman emperors , and the gods that made them so . this fatal doom being pronounc'd , the judge order'd the condemn'd prisoners to be taken aside , and strongly guarded , till all things were in readiness for their execution : which preparatives he gave order to hasten . yet finding by the discontented looks , and confus'd murmurs , of the by-standers , that the charms and innocence of theodora , and the youth , courage and friendship , of both the no less generous than unfortunate prisoners , made his sentence o be far less lik'd , than were the persons & behavior of those it had pass'd upon ; declar'd , that whilst he was dispatching other publick business , he permitted any that should have charity enough to make a hopeless attempt , to endeavour to convert those obstinate miscreants : adding withal an intimation , that even they might speed in their suit , if they would seasonably , with incense in their hands , flee to the altars of the gods , and humbly implore of them , pardon and safety . this respite , as it expos'd the generous couple to have their constancy assaulted by infidels , ambitious of making such illustrious persons proselytes , so it gave them the welcom opportunity , of interchanging some discourse with one another . these conferences were begun by didymus ; who seeing himself upon the point of final separation from his admirable mistress , could not forbear feeling in himself such disorders , as on all other sad occasions , his great courage had kept him from resenting . and this unusual commotion of mind , was uneasie enough to oblige him to say , to the fair person that occasion'd it ; though , madam , the military course of life i have with some forwardness pursu'd , has accustom'd me to meet death in variety of formidable shapes and dresses , without being discompos'd by it ; yet when i see the world going to be rob'd of its noblest ornament , and my self to be depriv'd of the person i most love and admire in it ; and when i see this matchless person ready to he ravish'd from us , both in the flow'r of her age , and by the infamous hand of an executioner ; i think it were rather stupidness not to be afflicted , than any weakness to be deeply so . i was ▪ answer'd theodora , so fully satisfy'd before , of your friendship and compassion ; that this new grief of yours , as 't is a very needless proof of them , so 't is a very unwelcom one . for , if i were to allow any thing to grieve me , when i am entring into the fulness of joy , it ought to be , that i find your good nature renders this seemingly distress'd condition of mine very uneasie to you ; which through gods assistance , is very little so to me ; and yet will be less so , if , congratulating rather than deploring our martyrdom , you will ease me of the justest and greatest part of my grief , that consists in being unhappily accessory to yours , and seeing you needlesly troubl'd at mine . that circumstance , adds she , of my death , which i perceive much afflicts you , might in my opinion more justly lessen , than aggravate your sorrow . for , i look upon it rather as a favour , than an infelicity , that i am early remov'd out of the world , where i see , and suffer , and ( which is worst of all ) do , so much ill. to be early rescu'd from the snares of a dangerous and persecuting age , and preserv'd from the evil to come , is rather a privilege , than a calamity , to those that are duely sensible , as i desire to be , that one can never arrive unseasonably at heaven , nor be too early happy . and , in this persuasion ( continues theodora , ) i am confirm'd by considering , that the first of those who are recorded to have religiously deceas'd , in the old testament , and in the new , just abel , and john the baptist ; both of them dy'd young , and perish'd by the hands of those that persecuted them for their piety . and even that spotless lamb of god who did no sin , but by his satisfaction , precepts , and example , takes away the sin of the world ; was sacrific'd almost in the flow'r of his age : so little is it an unhappiness , or a mark of gods disfavour , to escape the toyles and dangers of a troublesom navigation , by being early , though by a boisterous wind , blown into the port. and , if it could become a woman to encourage a heroe , i should exhort both you and my self too , generous didymus , ( continues she ) to entertain our present condition with sentiments becoming christians . and , as it does not trouble me directly , so it ought not to trouble you upon the score of sympathy ; that i am secur'd from the hazards and inconveniencies of age : but be pleas'd to make use of that courage , now at the end of your daies , that you have constantly express'd in the course of your life . and , do not , i beseech you , repine , either that you or i , is to fall by the hand of an executioner . for that seeming , and but seeming ignominy , was the lot both of our saviour's immediate harbinger , and of our saviour himself . and , when we consider for whom , and for what , we suffer ; we may find reason enough to assume the sentiments of the apostles , who , after having been misus'd by the jewish council , went from their presence rejoycing , that they had been thought worthy to suffer for his name ; for whom we are going to suffer the like things . for , didymus , gods gracious providence has not left us to perish , by ling'ring or tormenting sickness , or troublesom old age ; nor yet for some common cause , or some unimportant end. but all in our fate is noble : and what to others is meer death , a debt due to nature , or the punishment of sin , to us is martyrdom , the noblest act of christianity , and shortest way to everlasting glory . a discourse that relish'd so much more of a martyr than of a virgin , gave didymus a rise to continue a conversation , by which he found himself as well assisted , as charm'd ; and therefore observing the serenity of his mistresses looks , to be little inferiour to the beauty of her face , and remembring what instances she had that day given of an altogether extraordinary piety and courage ; was , by the sentiments these reflections produ'cd in him , prompted to tell her : i should be justly inconsolable , madam , to see my self and the world , upon the point of being depriv'd of so admirable a person , as theodora has , by this daies various tryals , manifested her self to be ; if i were not confident , that my loss will be as short as great ; and that in the state we are now entring upon , i shall be allow'd what approaching death will deny me in this , and shall find in heaven the endearing happiness of conversing with her more freely , than our persecutions and her reservedness would here permit . for madam , ( continues he , ) i am friend enough to my own felicity , to believe assuredly , that those who shall be happy enough to meet in heaven , will know one another there , and have their joyes hightned by the remembrance of what past between them upon earth . for in the blest state we are hastening to , our faculties , and consequently our memory , will not only be gratify'd with suitable objects , but be improv'd by enlarg'd capacities . and even in a condition short of that we this day expect ; mens knowledge has been advanc'd , at least as much as is necessary for our knowing one another , without the helps that are ordinarily requisite to make us do so . as soon as ever adam saw eve , he could confidently say of her , that she was bone of his bone , and flesh of his flesh . when noah awak'd from his sleep , he could tell that during his sleep , his younger son had behav'd himself irreverently towards him . when our saviour was tranfigur'd on m. tabor , the three chos'n disciples that attended him presently knew moses & elias , whom they had never seen before , in spite of the diguise that the glory they appear'd in put upon them . st. paul tells his thessalonians , they shall be his joy & crown , before their common lord at his appearing : to the truth of which it seems requisite , that both the preachers and the converts shall be publickly known at that great appearance , and assembly of the first born , whose names are written in heaven ; and consequently , that men there shall know one another . our divine redeemer , continues didymus , teaches us , that there is joy in the presence of the holy angels over a repenting sinner ; which argues , that whether they know of his conversion in a more intuitive way , or by the information of those angels , that are some times sent to this lower world about human affairs , they yet have a knowledg of particular persons , and take notice of particular things that concern them . and , which makes exceedingly for my present purpose , he elsewhere introduces abraham in paradice , calling upon the uncharitable rich man , to remember what his own and lazarus's differing states had been upon earth : and , which is yet more , to shew , that even in the place of utter darkness and torment , the memory of past things and persons is not obliterated ; the rich man is introduc'd , as remembring not only lazarus , but his own five brothers , and their dangerous condition . the pause that didymus made , after these words , invited theodora to tell him : since , generous didymus , i have observ'd our soundest teachers to be of differing opinions about the subject of your discourse , and that they do not look upon it as an article of faith , either that the blessed do , or that they do not , know one another in heaven ; i presume i may be allow'd to think , that if they do , ( which i know is the most receiv'd opinion ) they do it in likelihood with other sentiments than we commonly imagine . for , when the beloved disciple teaches , that , though we be here the children of god , it does not yet appear what we shall be ; and adds only in general , that , when our saviour , or that bless'd state , shall be manifested , we shall be like him : when , i say , i reflect on this , and some things of the same import ; i am prone to fear , that we judge too much of our future glorious state , by wrong measures , taken from our present frail and mean condition . and i am apt to think , that we must stay till we come to heaven , before we shall frame ideas suitable to the prerogatives of its bless'd inhabitants . i think our notions will then be rais'd , as well as our dust , and our love , and other affections , will be transfigur'd , as well as our bodies . if we know one another , though our mutual love may perhaps be greater than it ever was on earth , yet it will not be upon the former accounts ; but will be as well better grounded , as better regulated . that external beauty , pursues the fair speaker , that here is so much doted on and overvalu'd , will there be found so much inferiour to that of every glorify'd body , that the difference and degrees of it will be very inconsiderable , and unable to make differing impressions on those that shall remember them : as the refulgent splendor of the sun obscures all the stars , and keeps our eyes from being any more affected by the greatest and brightest , than by any of the rest . so that our kindness to one another will be very little grounded upon external qualities , which will there either cease , or be eclips'd ; nor upon secular relations , which will there affect us far less , than our being nearly related to our common lord ; our resemblance to whom will be the chief , as well as justest ground of our mutual esteem and affection . when children of the same parents have been early parted , and long bred in distant places ; though when they are grown men and women , they chance to meet again , 't is observ'd , that at first they know not one another any more than meer strangers : and when they are inform'd of their relation , 't is not the little accidents that happen'd to them at play ; nor some features , that perhaps pleas'd one of them in the others face , but are now very much chang'd by time and growth ; that produce their new kindness : but the knowledge that they are children of the same father , and their finding in each other personal qualities , fit to adorn their present state , and thereby to challenge kindness and esteem . and if some years absence can produce so great a change , as to make our nearest relations unknowable by us ; and make us look with pity , on the fondnesses that trifles produc'd in us in our infancy : what changes , may we think , must be made on those that convers'd together upon earth , when after numerous ages , they shall meet in heaven , with minds as much chang'd and improv'd as their bodies will then be ? shall we not by the grounds of a vertuous complacency , be more affected and united , than we are now by natural relations , or by external beauty , and those other ●rifles that here produce the greatest fondnesses ? but theodora , ( answers the surpriz'd didymus ) can you be so rigid as to think , that pure and vertuous affections cannot be admitted into heaven ; since the scripture informs us , that not only joy & desire are to be found even among the angels , ( who are said to rejoyce at a sinners conversion , and desire to pry into the mysteries of our religion ) but care and actings for opposite ends ; ( as when the angel of persia withstood michael , and the angel that talk'd to daniel . ) i do not absolutely deny , theodora replies , that the blessed know one another in heaven . and , saies she , with a light change of colour , i am so far inclin'nd to believe it is true , as , for didymus's sake , to wish it so . but , as i lately told you , i am not apt to think , the sentiments occasion'd by that knowledge , will be such as most men imagine . besides those reasons that you have ingeniously laid together , i think your perswasion of the saints mutual knowledge the more probable , because it seems not readily conceivable , how at the great day of judgement , the justice of god , in rewarding and punishing particular vertues and crimes , can be manifested to the world , without discovering the persons by whom they were perform'd : since personal circumstances do very much alter the nature of moral actions . and since the happy residents in heav'n , will have an eternity alow'd them to converse with one another in ; it seems highly probable , that in their various conferences , they will meet with , at least sometime or other , occasions , that by less sagacity than their enlightened minds will then be endow'd with , may be improv'd to the discovery of the persons they were formerly acquainted with . but on the other side , ( continues theodora ) we shall have such noble and charming entertainments to employ our attention , as will engross it from the little and despicable objects , ( as we shall then think them ) that now amuse or busie us ; as when we behold such a pompous solemnity as a roman triumph , the variety of splendid and magnificent objects , that successively present themselves to our view , make us so intent upon those surprizing spectacles , that even the nearest and dearest relations , though perhaps gazing at the same sight , out of the same windows , are apt to forget one another . and ( continues she ) even when the saints actually know and remember one another , they may love and converse , upon terms very differing from those , that were suitable to their mortal condition . yes , didymus , ( adds she ) as there will be no such difference of ages and sexes , in heaven , as there are on earth ; since all shall there be like the angels , and have bodies conform'd to the glorious body of their redeemer : so , the rational friendships , that will be practis'd in that happy place , will receive their measures from the new and personal excellencies of the friends ; from their being rivals in the love of god ; and from their differing degrees of resemblance to him , that is the brightness of his glory , and the express image of his person . but , concludes theodora , we need not spend more time in discoursing conjecturally about questions , wherein the change , we are now going to make , will soon bring us to be resolv'd . and in the mean time , we may well rest satisfy'd , with this assurance , that since heaven is a place , or state ▪ where we shall be bless'd with the fulness of joy ; to know and converse with each other , will be there found , either a part of our felicity , or not necessary to it . chap. ix . whilst didymas and his excellent mistress , stood waiting , till the infamous ministers of the presidents cruelty , had prepar'd all things requisite to the execution of his barbarous sentence ; among those many roman soldiers that were assembled there , to be spectators of the approaching tragedy ▪ an officer , whom his own gallantry had strongly inclin'd to sympathize with a person , in whom he saw that quality so eminent , thought himself oblig'd to attempt the diswading him , from persisting in so fatal a resolution as he had taken . wherefore , approaching our martyr , with very obliging looks and gestures , and drawing him aside , the gods , sayes he , can bear me witness , generous youth , that 't is not without some amazement , and more trouble , than any affliction of my own has been wont to give me , that i see the possessor of so much gallantry , upon the point to be destroy'd by an unhappy constancy , which , though in other cases a vertue , must , being exercis'd against the gods , become a crime . and therefore , i cannot but ardently wish , that after having shewn so much patience and courage , you would at length express your prudence too , by letting your self be perswaded to a compliance , that may rescue you at once from impiety and from death . an advice , answers didymus , that is propos'd with so much kindness and civility , and yet press'd but by such unsatisfying reasons , does justly deserve my thanks for it , but not my compliance with it . for the argument you bring against my constancy to the truth , is only , that my persisting in it will cost me my life ; which is a proof indeed , that the religion i profess , will lead me into danger , but none at all , that it has misled me into error . 't is altogether extrinsick and accidental to a religions being true or false , that its embracers happen to be encourag'd by preferments , or expos'd to persecutions . fear is but an ill counsellor in matters of religion , unless it be the fear of chusing a bad one , or living unworthy of a good one . he deserves not the blessing of having made a good choice among religions , that does more seek in his choice , the concernments of his life , than of his soul. and as 't is only for its being the true one , that we should make choice of our religion : so having once chosen it , nothing should make us desert it , but a conviction of its being erroneous , and consequently of its wanting that truth , whose appearance made us embrace it . if therefore , you can shew me , that the christian religion is false , or that yours is better ; i am not so in love with wandring , as to go on in a wrong way , because i once have , by weakness or misfortune , been misled into it . but if your arguments be but menaces , or any thing that is of that sort , which can only manifest , that the power is on your side , but do not at all evince , that the truth is not on mine ; i must look upon what you urge , as not deserving to be comply'd with , but contemn'd . and if it were not my custom never to take any thing ill , that i think is meant well , i should esteem my self not a little injur'd , by the argument you employ to make me abandon christianity . since , if a person less civil and gallant had made use of it , i should conclude , that he must suppose me a coward , to hope , by such perswasions to make a proselyte . and though i were less assur'd than i am , of the truth of the religion i have alwaies own'd ; yet would i not for all the world , on this occasion , by professing yours , desert it : least by forsaking it , when i am threaten'd for sticking to it ; i should procure my self a disquieting temptation to suspect , that i did not deal sincerely and impartially in chusing a religion ; since i made choice of one , that i judg'd not worthy to be dy'd for . you mistake my intentions , generous didymus , replies the roman , if you think i pretended to fright you into apostacy : my vertue would as little allow me to have so unworthy a design , as your courage would permit a hope , that it should be succesful . but looking upon my self , as having made a right choice in that worship of the gods , i make profession of , i could not think it injurious to you , to perswade you , rather to live in the profession of a true religion , than to dye for that of a false one . and since my concerns for your safety , and the little time you have to deliberate , oblige me to speak freely to you ; i cannot but wonder , that a person that hath courted honour at the rate you have done , should lose himself , for one , whom the most sacred persons of his own nation , crucified as a malefactor ; and who has been so ill natur'd , as to invite his followers , both by express words , and by the nature of the religion he fram'd , which could not but be persecuted , to involve themselves with him in the like unhappy fate . the notions ( replies didymus , somewhat nettled at this discourse ) that idolaters frame to themselves , of the nature of the christian religion , are commonly as erroneous , as the ways they take to confute it , are improper , and inhumane : and they are usually no less misinform'd about the grounds and mysteries of our religion , than they are mistaken about the objects of their own adorations . 't is true , that the divine person i adore , being sent from god his father , to be the great prophet and reformer of the world , did , with a prophetick freedom , as well as authority , sharply rebuke the superstitions of the jewish scribes and pharisees , among whom he convers'd ; and did not more unmask their hypocrisie , and reproach their practices , by the light of his doctrine , than by the shining actions of a most exemplary and unblemish'd life . and his holiness having exasperated these impious hypocrites , that found their authority undermin'd , and their persons discredited by him : as their malice was too great , not to attempt the destruction of such an enemy ; so his constancy was too great , to suffer him to decline the greatest dangers , by declining to persist in the wonted exercise of his vertues ; whereby he thus became expos'd to a death , which he foresaw , and frequently foretold , and which he also willingly underwent , to procure everlasting life , for those who should believe in him , and strive to imitate him . and that his death , whereunto he submitted to expiate the sins of others , was not inflicted on him for his own , was evident , by his being absolv'd , not only by the very judge , to whom a criminal fear of his accusers indicted the sentence he pronounc'd against him , but by that supreme and infallible judge , god himself ; who declar'd by astonishing prodigies , both in heaven and earth , how much he was displeas'd with those , that put his son to death ; & by raising him from the dead within three days , to an immortal life , proclaim'd how dear he was to him , and gave him power , to make his followers partakers of that glorious condition he himself was advanc'd to . so that ( continues didymus ) those champions of his , whom he vouchsafes to single out from the rest of his followers , and call to martyrdom , have reason enough to look upon that call , as an invaluable honour , and a priviledge : since , as they are thereby made more conformable to him , in chearfully dying for truth and constancy ; so they will be made more plentiful sharers in those inestimable advantages , that his own meritorious martyrdom procur'd him . yes , for those to whom he vouchsafes the power and honour of suffering for him , and of imitating him , for the interest of truth and piety ; he does not only reserve such future recompences , to crown their love and fidelity , but often gives them here such happy foretasts , in a perfect assurance of it , that i cannot but look upon it , as a vast accession to that immense love , that made him dye for us , that he calls and inables us to dye for him. i confess , ( didymus adds in pursuit of his discourse ) that , as he took upon him the form of a man , so he suffer'd himself to be us'd as good men too often are . but his miraculous power and goodness , sufficiently proclaim'd , that he was not thrown down from heaven to earth , as your vulcan is said to have been , but that he descended from heaven , to make men live an heavenly life : nor did he , like many of your deities , especially your jupiter , assume an humane shape , to do actions below the dignity of humane nature ; but he taught men a doctrine , worthy , as well as likely , to be brought from heaven ; and gave them an exemplary life , whose imitation would fit them to be translated thither : and then submitted to the torments and infamy of the cross , to purchase for his followers , by his death , that heavenly condition , for which he had qualified them , by his spirit and his life . the roman officer , not yet quite discourag'd , by the unsuccesfulness he had hitherto met with in his attempt , resolv'd to prosecute it yet further , by saying : the same reason , that somewhat lessens my wonder at your despising death , for your erroneous religion , encreases my admiration at your unconcernedness , to avoid the kind of death that threatens your obstinacy . for though the love of glory , may invite a gallant man , like didymus , to part with his life for the attainment of it ; yet that same heroick passion , ought to make those it possesses , more apprehensive than others of those extremities , wherein death is accompany'd with infamy , and made justy terrible with ignominious circumstances ; of which , none can be more disgraceful , than the receiving it at the base hand of a common executioner . the weakness and examples of your gods ( replies didymus ) have too much seduced you , to make estimates of good and evil , by those popular and pitiful measures , that i cannot but think very unworthy to be acquiesc'd in by a christian ; who , to merit that title , must be somewhat more than an ordinary man. we judge of good and evil actions , by the laws of god , and right reason , not by those of men in power . and therefore do not think , that constancy ceases to be a vertue , and consequently an honourable , not a disgraceful quality , because legal tyrants will call it obstinacy , and condemn men for it , to the same punishments that are allotted to dishonourable actions . the respect our religion commands us to pay to a civil magistrate , though a persecutor , permits us not by force to resist his unjust sentences . but this submission of ours , does not at all keep his sentences from being unjust , nor forbid us to think them so ; and consequently leaves us the inestimable satisfaction of our consciences , that inwardly absolve us , when outward judges condemn us . and for proof of this , you cannot but have taken notice , that , whereas truly criminal , persons being conscious of their own guilt , either deny what they are accused of , or endeavour by all means , to palliate it , and to avoid the being condem'd for it . we christians , on the contrary , do not only confess what you call a crime , but glory in it ; and do not deprecate the fate , that attends our constancy . nor can it fright us from undergoing death , for a glorious cause , that we must receive it from an infamous hand . for that by which we estimate it , is , the quality of the action that procures it , not the condition of him that is employ'd to inflict it : and , so we can consider with joy , for what , we are not much troubled to see , by whom , it is that we suffer ; being satisfied , that the executioners hand may destroy a malefactor , but cannot make one ; and if the cause that brings a man to the scaffold , be not culpable , the place cannot make the death that is there suffered , infamous : nay , and if vertue leads him thither , the instruments of his death , cannot keep it from being glorious ; since this demonstrates the sufferers unshaken constancy to be insuperable , not only by death , but by that which many have embrac'd death to shun , the contempt of the generality of men. your gallant roman commander ( attilius regulus ) is much less remembred and celebrated , for all his military exploits and attempts , than for the cruel death he suffer'd , by order of the carthaginians , to whom , in performance of a pomise , he yielded himself up , with expectation of some such barbarous usage as he met with . and sure , as a submission to indignities , was a duty not meanly glorious in him , to shun the breaking of his word to his enemies ; the like resignation of themselves , will not , by unbyass'd judges , be thought an action dishonourable in christians , to prevent the violation of their faith , solemnly given , not to a savage enemy , but to a divine friend , who has already , without any obligation to do it , suffered more shame for them , than the sublimity of his condition leaves it possible for them to suffer for him . and though that greek philosopher , socrates , whom your own oracles , with more of truth than they are wont to be guilty of , pronounc'd the wisest of men , was by his own fellow-citizens condemn'd to die by poyson , brought him by the hand of an executioner : yet , since that sentence was not occasioned by his crimes , but his vertues , the deadly draught did not destroy his fame with his life ; and poyson'd not his reputation , which it extremely heightned , but that of his accusers , and his judges ; whom after ages have look'd upon , as worse criminals than ever they condemned , and more unworthy persons , than those they employed to execute their sentence . and for my part , ( continues didymus ) some passages of our sacred records encourage me to expect , that , if a posthume fame be such a blessing , as many imagine , the indignities we suffer now , will hereafter procure it us . for i cannot but hope , and methinks i foresee , that the roman eagles will one day stoop to the cross of christ : and the temples of your false deities , will be consecrated to the service of the true god. the sword of the civil magistrate , which is now the great and only successful argument on your side , will be then in christian hands , which i wish may never employ it against your religion ; whose ruine will not require the active opposition of power , but the bare withdrawing of its preserving support . and then posterity , more enlightned and more just , will read the history of those destroyers of the baptized ( which is , at least , the innocenter ) part of mankind , with the same resentments , with which they will read the havocks made by wars , plagues , massacres , and other publick calamities . chap. x. these replies of didymus made an end of convincing the person , that occasion'd them , that our martyrs resolution was not to be shaken , either by threats or perswasions . but yet the officious roman , cherishing some hope , that , if didymus should see his mistress ready to be kill'd by an infamous hand ; that beauty , which had conquered his heart , would soften it , and thereby make it capable of relenting impressions ; thought fit to make him one address more , and tell him ; it is not without extreme regret , that i see your inflexible obstinacy defeat all my endeavours to procure your safety . but though your mistaken gallantry , may make you think it unhandsom in a soldier , to disclaim a threatned opinion , that he once adher'd to , lest the change should be imputed to fear or levity ; yet i hope you will not think , that the strict rules of that destructive gallantry , ought to oblige a young lady , in whose sex , courage is , at least , an unrequired , if not an altogether improper , vertue . and therefore , i hope you will not refuse to second my endeavours , to perswade her , not to throw herself out of a world , of whose grandeurs and pleasures , her transcendent beauty promises her an extraordinary share , as well as her youth fits her to relish them perfectly , and enjoy them long . didymus , though at first somewhat surpriz'd at this motion , took no long time to return answer , by saying ; i confess , i cannot partake of the trouble you are pleas'd to express , for the not prevailing of your endeavours to alter my resolutions . for though the advice you press'd upon me , was obliging in you to give , yet it would have been criminal for me to take it . and as for what you propose , in reference to theodora , i must desire to be excus'd from making myself accessory to your design of tempting her . for , in my opinion , he that solicites another , to what he believeth a crime , doth become guilty of one ; so that , as to what concerns theodora , without being at all sure of shaking her vertue , i should most certainly ruine my own innocence . yet i cannot think ( says the roman , interrupting him , ) but if you would enforce my perswasions with yours , the interest you have in her , would prevail to make her rather accept of life , than deny a person , that she owes so much to ; and does not less highly , than justly , value . if ( replies didymus ) i should yield to use so criminal means , as to give her an example of the apostacy , you would have me invite her to ; the attempt would be less improbable : but for me to perswade her to what i am just going to give a convincing proof , that i believe to be worse than death ; would make her both hate me , and despise me . and to convince you , that such a motion as you would have me make , would lose me all the share i may have in her good opinion ; i will dare to own to you , that if i thought her capable , i say not of endeavouring to seduce me , but of being seduced by me , my esteem of her would alter upon her change : and though i could not deny my wonder to so rare a master-piece of nature , as is her visible part ; yet there would be a vast difference betwixt a meer admiration of external beauty , which must become the trophy of age or death ; and that high veneration , that i now pay to that admirable person 's intrinsick worth , and unconquerable vertue . nor should you doubt ( continues didymus ) of the entertainment , that such a piety as hers , would give such a motion as you would have me make ; since it would justly give her a higher resentment of my solicitations , than of all the importunities of her heathen persecutors : for these do but advise her to decline danger , by embracing what they think truth ; whereas that which you would have me to perswade her to , is , to purchase her safety , by renouncing , what i , as well as she , know to be truth : and i doubt not , that such a proceeding would so highly offend her , as to enable her , by a bare pardon , to acquit herself of those respects and services of mine , to which posssibly a person of her goodness vouchsafes some title to her gratitude . there is ( replies the roman ) so great a difference betwixt the case of a resolv'd soldier , that thinks himself in point of reputation engag'd not to retreat , and that of a young lady , from whom no resoluteness , much less obstinacy , can be expected , that i must yet think , our joynt perswasions , though unassisted by your example , would with-hold her from death , now she is near enough to it to see the horrors of it . nay , ( rejoyns didymus ) i did not speak what i have been saying about my own aversness , that i might hinder you from trying your fortune , if you think fit , with theodora's vertue . i do not envy her constancy ( whose successes have been hitherto no fewer than its tryals ) the honour of gaining more than one victory , in one day . but what i have been saying , was , to give you one reason , of my refusing to joyn with you in your propos'd attempt : against which i shall now offer this other reason , that i think it little less than impossible it should succeed . for i thought i had already satisfied you , that as to my interest in theodora , if it were much greater , than you , for want of knowing us both , imagine ; so great a misimployment of it , would make me justly forfeit it ; and perswasions that would seduce her to apostacy , instead of making her follow the advice , would make her but detest the adviser . and as to the hopes , you ground on her seeing herself upon the point of passing out of the world ; let me tell you , that the severe exercises , to which her strict piety hath long accustomed her , have so disingaged her affections from temporal things , that , being already mortified to the pleasures and vanities of the world , death can now do no more , but free her from the troubles and persecutions of it . she hath employed a great part of her life , in preparing herself to part with it joyfully , when-ever nature or vertue shall require it ; and she will find it very easie to lay it down for religion , now she is in a suffering condition , when in her most flourishing one , she found it enough to wean her from the love of the present life , that it detained her from the next . great vertues , such as hers , are like great rivers , which , the nearer they come to the sea , where they are to end their course , the greater they are wont to grow , and the more difficult the stream is to be withstood or hinder'd from its progress . theodora now looks upon herself , as having but one step more to make , to reach that crown she hath done and suffer'd so much for : and that glorious object , viewed at so near a distance , so ravishes and so possesses her eyes , that she will doubtless either not see , or not regard , any thing that would hinder or retard her taking possession of it . here the roman officer , somewhat impatient at didymus's discourse , would no longer forbear interrupting it , by telling him ; to hear you speak , one would imagine , that you are not talking of a young lady , but of some ancient heroe , that had been long accustom'd to despise the frowns of fortune , and keep himself from over-valuing her smiles . heroick vertue ( replies didymus ) does as little know sexes , as doth the soul wherein it properly resides . a habitude cannot always be essential to the nature of an heroick action : since the first of that kind that one does , is not the consequent , but the beginning , of a a habitude : and a sincere and settled resolution to be highly vertuous , may make a woman ( as well as a man ) to be , that which the noblest subsequent actions can but declare her to have been . and a person that , like theodora , acts by the assistance , and as in the presence , of the deity , may , to maintain her loyalty to god , and her title to the inestimable rewards he hath promis'd to persevering piety , both act and suffer greater things , than those very heroes you talk of were put upon , by such barely humane motives , as custom , ambition , or revenge . and particularly , as to the point of perseverance against menaces , and proffers ; these are not like to prevail against the constancy of christians much less possess'd with divine love and hope , than theodora is . and indeed , there can be nothing upon earth capable to bribe them , to let go the joys of heaven , that see themselves entring upon the possession , and find themselves sensible of the inestimable value of them . wherefore ( concludes didymus ) you will not , i presume , think it strange , that i refuse to joyn with you , in a design , that i could not so much as attempt , either with hope , or without a crime ; and that thinking it worthier of my endeavors , to imitate theodora's constancy , than to seduce her from it , i chuse rather to be a sharer in the triumphs of her vertue , than a trophy . chap. xi . this resolute conclusion , oblig'd the roman officer to break off a conversation , whereby he plainly saw , there was no cause to hope he could shake the constancy of didymus ; and much cause to fear , that didymus's constancy and his discourses , would stagger many of the heathen auditors . and therefore withdrawing himself , much discontented at the unsuccesfulness of his perswasions , he thought it would be impious , to make any intercession , for persons he judg'd invincibly obstinate , or divert the fatal proceedings of the judge ; who having by this time made an end of those other affairs , whose dispatch theodora's respite was not to outlast ; call'd for the innocent criminals , and , with a stern countenance and voice , demanded , whether they were yet willing , to appease the deities they had provok'd ; and by burning incense to them , endeavour to attone for the affronts they had offer'd them . adding , that there was now no more time left for deliberating , but that they must immediately renounce thir impious religion , or suffer death for it . but this could not shake the illustrious prisoners constancy ; which prompted them to make , with as much haste as the president could desire , an answer , that consisted but of a short and resolute declaration ; that they had liv'd worshippers of christ ; and had a thousand times rather die , than cease to be , or to profess themselves such : and that for the false gods , the president would have them adore ; they had rather be their victims , than their suppliants ; and fall sacrifices to them , than offer them any . this bold profession , so incens'd the person 't was made to , that he immediately gave order , that the prisoners should be led away to the place of execution ; and that the ministers of justice , ( as he misnamed his cruelty ) should , without delay , go on with the preparations that were making , to destroy them . but while these officers were solicitous to obey those commands , theodora took the opportunity , to tell the generous companion of her sufferings : it was fit , i confess , when we discours'd with infidels , to recommend the objects of our hopes , by giving them the glorious titles of crowns , and triumphs ; since being to defend the reasonableness of our constancy , by the greatness of the rewards we expect for it ; 't was very proper to represent those coelestial recompences , under the notion of such goods , as those we argued with , acknowledged to be the most noble and desirable . but , ( continues she ) when we speak of heaven among our selves , give me leave to tell you , that i think we should look upon it under a very differing notion ; and make a wide disparity betwixt the christians paradise , and the poets elysium . the triumphs we should most desire in heaven , should be , not over our outward enemies , or personal sufferings , but over sin and ignorance , and the frailties of our natures , and the imperfections of our vertues . and the positive blessings that should most endear heaven to us , should be , not so much that we shall there be crown'd by christ , as that we shall live with him , and follow that spotless lamb where ever he goes ; that our gratitude it self shall be perfect , as well as the blessings that engage it shall be compleat ; and that we shall have an eternal day , to contemplate that sun of righteousness , without having that glorious object veil'd by any interposing cloud , much less hid from us by the vicissitudes of day and night . in short , i think , devotion should in our future state , aspire to other things , than those that may be the objects of meer ambition . and now , generous didymus , ( adds theodora ) since we are entering upon the last scene of our mortal life ; let us , ( i beseech you ) summon together and rouse up all the graces and vertues we have receiv'd from heaven , and fervently implore both an encrease of them , and a supply of any that our present circumstances require ; that we may go off the stage piously , as well as handsomly , and both act and suffer as becomes christian martyrs . let not any crueltys or affronts of our insulting persecutors , be able to discompose us ; but let our evenness of mind convince them , that they can as little disorder us in our way to heaven , as hinder us to get to our journey 's end . but let not our undauntedness appear the effect of sullenness , or fierceness , or of meer resolvedness ; but let it be so calm and charitable , that we may not be suspected to be the martyrs , rather of our glory , or our courage , than of our religion . let it not be thought that we hate life , or despise it , but only that we think it a cheap purchase for heaven , and for the honour of owning and following a redeemer , who , to merit it for us , took the cross in his way thither . admonitions so becoming a dying christian , receiv'd such an entertainment , as the piety of it , and the veneration he had for the giver , might justly challenge , from so devout and elevated a soul as that of didymus : whose resolute answers to the roman officer , together with his behaviour , as well since as before he made them , leaving his enemies no more expectation that he could be prevail'd with , either to alter his own resolution , or tempt his mistress to change hers ; he was appointed to be first led away to execution : that the sight of his blood might terrifie theodora , and fright her into a care to preserve her own . this resolution of his enemies , did not at all lessen his ; but having easily obtain'd leave , from the roman officers , that could not but admire his gallantry , and somewhat compassionate his condition , to say a few words to theodora : he went to that excellent person ; and approaching her with a far greater respect , than he would shew to any power , that could but preserve that life , which the romans were going to take from him : he told her : your piety , madam , and your example , making me presume , that upon such an occasion as this , i may with your consent , part with a life , which ever since i had the fate to see you , has been so much at your disposal ; i am now going without reluctancy to perform that last duty , whereto religion calls me . but thinking my self oblig'd , to begin with the most difficult part of my martyrdom , before i bid farewel to the world , my enclination and respect , brings me to take my last leave of the fairest and excellentest person in it . if , madam , ( so he proceeds ) i were in a condition of paying you any further dutys , my humble request to you would be , to have the honour of your further commands . but since my condition leaves me not a capacity of serving you for the future , one of my last petitions to you must be , to be pleas'd to look upon my past services , as extremely short of the desires of a person , that lov'd you with as much ardency , as your charms themselves could kindle ; and yet with so pure a flame , that had it been visible , even theodora's vertue , could not have disapprov'd it . but madam , ( continues he ) although to rescue you from the condition you are in , there is no danger so desperate that i would not joyfully attempt , if i were again at liberty , and tho' it were possible i could survive you ; yet i am too much concern'd for the nobler part of theodora , to wish , she would blemish so spotless a life to save it . only , madam , give me leave to be so kind and charitable to the world , as to wish that providence may find some expedient , to preserve for you , both your crown and your head ; and that you may arrive so late at heaven , as to have time to bless the earth with a long and exemplary life ; and may you lead it with as much tranquillity , as you will with vertue ; and without knowing so much as that trouble , which , i fear , your generous compassion may now and then offer to give you , upon the remembrance of the faithfulest of your servants . these words , and the sad occasion of them , having drawn some tears into theodora's fair eyes ; though the cause of them made them very obliging to didymus , yet his concern for her quiet , presently engag'd him to help her to suppress them , by making haste to tell her , that 't was pity the serenity of her mind and looks , which vertue had still kept calm , and even persecutions had not been able to disorder , should be discompos'd by any other thing . and madam , ( continues he ) though , being confident that your charity will make it unnecessary for me to beg your prayers , i was going to make it my petition to you , that you would vouchsafe now and then to cast a thought on the memory of a person , to whose mind you were constantly present : yet , i must now retract that humble request , unless you are pleas'd to grant it me with this qualification ; that the honour you do me , may not be disquieting to you . for how great a blessing soever it is , to enjoy a place in your thoughts ; yet an idea must represent quite another man than didymus , that should , especially on its own score , become troublesome to theodora ; whose compassion is as well needless , as undesired ; since 't is injurious both to her self and me , to look upon him as a person to be pitied , that is going to receive the honour and satisfaction , to suffer in her sight , what he suffers partly for her service . and the place he implores but in her favourable not her mournful thoughts , will give him the noblest and desirablest being , that he can have upon earth , when he shall be in heaven . the things which didymus said , and the pathetical way he said them in , did not leave the fair person they were address'd to , all the unmov'dness of mind , she us'd to be mistress of on other occasions . and considering these as the last and dying words of an accomplish'd gentleman , that had so highly serv'd and lov'd her , she could not hinder her resentments from making her , on such an occasion , remit somewhat of her wonted reserv'dness . wherefore with eyes , wherein though she endeavour'd to suppress tears , she disclos'd an extraordinary grief ; and with looks , wherein both gratitude and obligedness display'd themselves ; she told him , if i look'd upon your vertue , generous didymus , as one that were but somewhat extraordinary , i should think my self oblig'd to make excuses ; and seek your pardon for having been , though undesignedly , so accessory to the early loss of a life , so worthy to be a long one . but what you have this day done , makes me apprehend that such discourses , would not be very pleasing , to one that delights in such actions . but do not think , i conjure you , that , though i cannot pretend to merit or requite services of so unusual a strain as yours , i can be insensible , how much i owe to them , not only upon the score of their greatness , but upon that of the handsom and generous way wherein you did them . for ( continues she , with a colour that somewhat expounded the meaning of what she was going to say ) if after the vertue and gallantry you this day express'd , providence had thought fit to place me in a condition of making you retributions , i will allow you to think , that in chusing them for you , i should have been very much , if not unreservedly , guided by your wishes . here she paus'd a while , and blush'd the latter , that she had said , what to her niceness seem'd so much ; and the former , to consider whether he deserv'd not to have more said to him . but her obliging looks did so well second and expound , her otherwise , somewhat indefinite words , that didymus's heart readily understood the language of her eyes ; and her heart spoke so clearly in her cheeks , somewhat that it scrupled to utter by her tongue , that , expressing more than she said , without injuring her modesty she righted her gratitude : her passionate admirer esteeming himself more highly recompenc'd , by this permission , to suppose her , kindness than he would have done by the perfectest assurance of any others love : and fancying , that by the sight of that new fire that flash'd in her cheeks , he could descern in her breast such a resentment of his services , as involv'd an approbation of their cause , and imply'd a peculiarity for his person ; he took the high est retribution he ever did , for the highest he ever could receive from a lady , whose beauty and reservedness were so great , that no favour of her granting , could appear little . but theodora quickly recovering the disorder , this merited declaration had put her into , made hast to prosecute her discourse , by adding , but 't is my satisfaction , and will i hope , be yours , that , since you acted upon religions score , as well as mine , you will not want a recompence , greater than it had been possible for me to give you ; since in rescuing me upon a christian account , you have serv'd a master , that is able most richly to reward , even your performances and sufferings : and doubt not didymus , ( continues she ) but that , when you shall once be possess'd of a glorious and immortal crown in heaven , you will have no cause , to be troubled , at your having , upon earth , left a crown of lawrel , or miss'd one of myrtle . if i were to tarry , or rather languish , here below , as many years as your mistaken kindness makes you wish me ; your favours have been so extraordinary , that , without being guilty of an ingratitude that would be so too , i could never lose the remembrance of them , nor omit paying you the highest acknowledgements , that the chief place , not only in my memory , but in my esteem and friendship , could make you . but do not didymus , i beseech you , think of my surviving you , when the holding out a few minutes longer for christ , will introduce me into a condition , where i shall ever see him , and never offend him . let us then , ( concludes she ) quit the thoughts of this world , that we are going so soon to quit , and begin to fix them on those joys of another , that we are going to possess for ever ; and during that little time , that is requisite to go take our crowns , let us summon up all our powers , to contribute to a behaviour befitting such expectations . let our last services to religion , be our noblest ones , that our deaths may at least adorn it , if not propagate it . let us receive the last effects of our persecution , as persons that do not deserve such an usage , and are above the reach of it . let us aspire to christs temper , in his cause ; and suffer like him , as we suffer for him : and then we need not doubt , but , in spight of this short separaration we are yielding to for his sake , we shall joyfully , and for ever , meet again , in a better place , and in an inestimably happier condition . theodora had scarce made an end of speaking , when , all things being in a readiness to put the judges sentence in execution , they to whom that infamous employment was committed , came to bring notice of it to didymus , who , notwithstanding the reluctancy he had , to part with the admirable , and now obliging , theodora ; thinking it would misbecome him , to stay for being press'd on such an occasion delay'd not , with all the resolution he was able to assume , to take his last farewel of her . this cruel separation , being not to have an end , before both their lives , was solemniz'd by that excellent pair , with gestures and expressions so sensible and moving , that , declining an account , which i could not attempt to give , without sharing very much in a grief , that i should be able , but very imperfectly , to describe ; i shall silently pass over the circumstances of this sad separation , that more troubled the generous lover , and perhaps his admirable mistress too , than that of soul and body , which was presently to follow it . but didymus , now finally parted from theodora , whilst he was moving towards the place of his sufferings , having by the assistance of him , whose religion call'd him to them , assum'd a temper of mind , suitable to the glorious work he was going to undertake , and entirely dispos'd himself , after having done all that became a lover , to suffer as became a christian . this was much the less difficult for him to do , because his whole past life was an excellent preparative , to make him act the last scene of it worthily . for ( to add somewhat on this occasion , to the character given of him in the first book . ) didymus was a person , in whom divine grace had produc'd so early a piety , that he was a well grown christian , before he was come to be a full grown man. and judging the most flourishing time of his age , to be , for that reason , the fittest to be devoted to the most worthy of objects ; he was enabl'd both to suppress the heats of youth , and despise the vanities of the world ; even while that usually ungovern'd age , made the former most impetuous , and gave the latter , the great endearment of novelty . nor did his being a soldier , prove an obstacle to his piety . the examples of joshua , david , jonathan , and other brave warriers of the old testament , shew , that heroick valour , may be accompany'd with eminent piety . and the first proselyte the heathen world presented to christianity , being a captain , and continuing to be so after his conversion ; argues , that a military state of life , is not inconsistent with the most innocent of religions . and for didymus ; as he fought not out of fierceness , or avarice , or ambition ; but to exercise and improve his vertue ; so amidst all his military conflicts , he was still careful to fight the good fight of faith : and being taught by the holy scripture , that the life of man here on earth , is a kind of military one : he us'd the roman camp as a school to a higher sort of warfare ; where , as the hardships are greater , and the victories more difficult , so the crowns and triumphs are incomparably more valuable and glorious . a person thus qualify'd and dispos'd , could not find it very uneasie , to part , for his religion , with a life that he had led so well , and hazarded so often ; nor to leave a world , that sin and persecutions embitter'd , and that was presently to be left by theodora , that he might pass to a place where they should meet to be crown'd . wherefore , resolving to shew that the approach of a reputedly infamous death , was not able , either to shake his constancy , or extinguish his charity ; he dispos'd himself to mingle in his last actions and sufferings , the courage of a roman soldier , with the resignment of a christian martyr . and accordingly , walking on towards the place of execution , with a calmness and undauntedness , that could scarce have proceeded from a resolution not strengthen'd by faith ; as soon as he came thither , he look'd round about him upon the guards , and other assistants of this sad spectacle , in such a way , as if he rather pity'd them , than lik'd the pity , which many of them could not but by their tears express for him , and discours'd to them with all the gracefulness , that youth and courage could give so extraordinary a person . and because he suppos'd , that ( as 't was usual on such occasions of concourse ) there were among the spectators , some military men that were christians in their hearts , though they had not been call'd to own it publickly ; he address'd himself particularly to them . and having premis'd , that he pretended not to instruct them as barely christians , because he doubted not , but he had been prevented by the weighty and moving sermons of divers burning and shining lights , and guiders of the church : he told them , he would confine his advices to what was suitable to the condition he shar'd in with them , of being christian soldiers . and then he briefly , but pathetically , exhorted them to all those vertues and practices , that might recommend both their persons , their profession , and their religion . the last of which , by many arguments , ( which his example made the more impressive ) he perswaded them , after having adorn'd it by their lives , to confirm , if they were call'd to it , by their deaths : without forgetting , that the fearful , are by the scripture rank'd with the vnbelievers , as destin'd to the same place of torment ; and without fearing any unmerited disgrace , so much as that deserved one , threatn'd by the captain of their salvation , to those that shall deny him before men. he exhorted them , by their courage and obsequiousness to convince their unbeleiving superiors ; that the valour of christians could be eminently active , when their religion did not confine it to be passive ; and that when enterprises , how dangerous soever , were as just and noble as difficult , they could emulate , if not outshine , the gallantry of those deify'd heroes they refus'd to worship . and lastly , having press'd them to be loyal to the emperor , and obedient too , as far as was consistent with fidelity to him that made him so : he begg'd their prayers for himself , and put up ardent ones of his own , for the church , the state , his persecutors , and particularly , for the excellent companion of his martyrdom . this said ; he began to do what was to be done by him , towards the deliverance of his soul from his body ; and having done it with so much serenity of mind and looks , that he extorted an esteem of his vertue , even from those that destroy'd him him for it ; he let the executioner do his part too , ( which probably , was done by taking off his head ) and in a moment pass'd , from being a suffering member of the church militant , to be a happy one of the church triumphant . chap. xii . the persecutors of theodora , hoping to intimidate her by so tragick a spectacle , had conducted her to a place , whence she might see all that had pass'd ; of which 't will easily be believ'd that she had not been an unconcern'd spectator : her vertue and kindness making her a sharer in his sufferings , by sympathising with him , and by endeavouring , as far as she could , to relieve him by her most ardent prayers ; that his constancy under them might be divinely supported , and richly crown'd . but while her thoughts were , with a divine grief , solemnising her loss ; those cruel men that had procur'd it , being desirous to make use of the terrifying impressions they suppos'd she had receiv'd , while they were fresh and recent , advanc'd to theodora , bringing with them the purposely disfigur'd remains of didymus ; and then told her , that she was now convinc'd , that neither youth nor gallantry was able to protect , from the fatal anger of the gods , those that obstinately refus'd to worship them ; and therefore they expected , that , by a seasonable care of herself , she would shun the imitation of so tragical an example . to this the fair martyr replied , that she was not at all surpriz'd at what had pass'd , and therefore , she knew not why she should be terrified by it . for didymus and she , and all other considering christians , that walk according to their masters directions , were wont deliberately to weigh the consequences of embracing a strict and persecuted religion , before they made profession of it : and having foreseen what it might cost them , and satisfied themselves that it deserv'd a yet higher price ; they were not discourag'd nor surpriz'd , to be put to pay that price ; especially , when it open'd to them an immediate passage to the possession of what they gave it for . she added , that if the example of the generous martyr , were to have any operation upon her , it ought not to fright her from , but confirm her in , the profession of a religion , whose truth he thought worth dying for ; and which , notwithstanding all the handsome concerns he had for her preservation , he would never speak one word to perswade her to decline , for the protracting of her life . his example , ( continues theodora ) lets me see , that no violences upon earth , are able to destroy a courage that is assisted from heaven , and fights in view of the glories of it : and his death manifests , how quick the passage may , be between this and an incomparably better life ; and clearly shews , how soon the utmost effect of your cruelty , can place those that despise it , above the reach of it . then casting her mournful eyes upon the saddest object that ever they beheld ; if you should , says she , be so inhumane , as to exercise any further cruelty upon this now inanimate prison , whence his glad soul has escap'd ; you may intend him a mischief , but he will not feel it , unless it be in the encrease of the recompences of his martyrdom . you may , if you please , insult over his dead body ; and those whom his vertue made his friends , may some of them be troubled at it : but while you are triumphing at his death , and others are deploring it , i doubt not , but the welcomes and joys he receives in the blessed place he is gone to , make him happy enough , to pity not only those that hate him , but those that pity him too . what you shew me as the trophy of your power , i look upon , as that of his constancy : and for what you presume to be your victory , he will be really crown'd . the grave , ( continues she ) is , i confess , a sad prospect , to them that look no further , and terminate their sight there ; but not to those sufferers for the truth , who , with the eye of faith , looking beyond it , see all those glories on the other side of it , that expect them there ; whereunto , as some kind of death must necessarily be the way , so martyrdom of all , other is the noblest . wherefore , ( concludes theodora ) you will very much miss your aim , if you forbear bringing my constancy to the last tryal , only upon hopes , that death dress'd with unusual horror , by being besmear'd with didymus's blood , should frighten me into apostacy : for , i am much less terrified by his fate , than encouraged by his example . in imitation of which , i declare to you once for all , that , as i always valued this world too little , to be much afraid to part with it for a better ; so i shall never be brought to quitan excellent religion for a bad one , for fear of exchanging a wretched life for a happy one . this positive and final declaration of theodora , did so enrage those to whom she made it , that , finding themselves quite disappointed of the hopes they had , to terrifie her by their last expedient , didymus's death ; they presently led her away to participate of his fate , which they found her so resolv'd not to decline . and now the admirable theodora , having receiv'd that cruel , but welcom command , most readily dispos'd herself to obey it : and considering how near she was to put a period to all the afflictions of her life , by the gloriousest action it could be concuded with ; and how soon she should enjoy the happiness of entering heaven , thorough the streightest and noblest gate at which it is accessible : her beauty , that was before admirable , appear'd more so than ever , being strangely encreas'd , by the effusions of a coelestial joy , that did too much abound in her heart , not to flash out manifestly in her looks ; to whose native charms , it superadded so much of luster and majesty , that she seem'd ( upon some peculiar design ) to be newly come from the heaven she was going to . so great a constancy and chearfulness of mind , upon so sad an occasion , wanted not a resembling operation , upon the generality of the wondering assistants . for though the report , that was quickly spread of so uncommon an action , as that of theodora , done by so extraordinary a person , as fame had represented her to be ; had drawn a great concourse of people , to see one that acted , as well as look'd , so handsomly : yet when they had a while beheld her , and saw the cruel instruments of what she was doom'd to suffer ; among that numerous throng of spectators , there were none that were not admirers ; many that look'd on her with dazled , and few without flowing eyes . every sort of spectators found something in her person and condition , that made them mournful ones . the christians that chanc'd to mingle with the rest of the crowd , lamented , to see their religion depriv'd of so great an ornament , and so shining an example ; though their grief were moderated by considering , that she was entering into a most happy place , to which they might hope , ere long , to follow her . and in the mean time , 't was no small credit to their religion , that a lady of her beauty , had liv'd according to the strictest laws of it ; and a person of her youth and sex , was ambitious to dye for it . those among the spectators that yet retain'd roman spirits , and were the genuine off-spring of those noble ancestors , that scrupled not in rome it self , to allow publick marks of honour to its greatest enemies ; could not but be troubled , to see so rare a thing as a female hero , punished for a generosity , that could not sufficiently be rewarded ; and brought to an untimely , and , in popular estimation , ignominious end , for having followed dictates of gratitude and piety . those infidels , on whose sentiments vertue had more influence than superstition , were very much dissatisfied with the rigour of their magistrates ; thought it a discredit to their religion , to use such barbarous , and yet ineffectual courses , to fright men into it ; and they thought it an invidious service to their gods , to destroy the fairest masterpieces they had made . but those that seem'd most to deplore the fair martyrs condition , were those that were dispos'd to have their affections wrought on by their eyes , and were apt to be influenc'd by beauty . for these much repin'd and griev'd , to see so glorious a sun reduc'd to set in her east . they envy'd didymus , for having so generously serv'd and suffer'd for so rare a person ; who , they thought , instead of the barbarous usage she receiv'd , deserv'd to be as happy , as her smiles could make her adorers . and they allow'd themselves to think , that nothing could be a vertue , that depriv'd the world of so much beauty . in short , most of the by-standers griev'd , to behold a person , whose youth would pass for innocency , and whose charms would , give her captives among savages destroy'd in greece by romans . so that bating those few barbarians , whose superstition and malice brought her to that condition : all the other spectators of her sufferings , were deplorers of them too : and many to that degree , that to judge by their looks , and those of our fair martyr , one would have believ'd that the assistants were to be sufferers in the approaching tragedy , and she but the spectator of it . and now the matchless theodora came to the place , whence her aspiring soul was to take its flight to heaven . in order to which , she first look'd about her with a kind of pity , on those , that either never , or later than she , were to be admitted into the felicity she was presently to possess : and afterwards she paus'd a while , to recover from some disorder that she was put into ; not so much to see her self environ'd with guards , as surrounded with gazers : and then , though her bashfulness made it more uneasie to her to speak to the assistants , because her speech must be a publick one , than because it must be her last ; yet with a voice and gestures , wherein the modesty of a virgin , and the courage of a martyr , were happily temper'd , she address'd her self to those that were about her , in such as the following terms . since custom has made it a kind of duty , that those that come to this place , should say something to the spestators ; and make a publick confession of their guilt , or protestation of their innocence ; i shall in part do both the one and the other . for i will 〈◊〉 deny , that i am , what the laws have condemn'd me for being . yes ; i own my self a christian , and in spight of all my past and approaching sufferings , i declare , that i think it an honour and a happiness to be so . but on the other side , i can most truly protest , that i have transgress'd no other roman laws , than those that are repugnant to those of god and reason . and since we christians are taught by our great masters example , as well as precepts , not only to forgive , but to love our enemies , and pray for our persecutors ; i think my self oblig'd , and by his assistance find my self enabled , not only to forgive , as i heartily do , the procurers of my death , but ardently to implore for them , the blessing , and the unmolested exercise of a religion , that they see i value more than i do my life . and i hope , those in authority will , by the frequent executions that daily succeed one another in this place , be at ●●●gth convinc'd , how ineffectual , as well as inhumane , a way they take , to extirpate christianity : which being an heavenly light , can be as little ruin'd by the violence employed against it on earth , as tempests can extinguish the sun. and because 't is likely that charity or curiosity has , among other spectators , brought hither some christians , i shall now address my self to them ; yet not to desire their pity , but their prayers , that i may be enabled to overcome the last enemy , death , and finish my course , in such a way , as may neither blemish my past life , nor the glorious cause i gladly loose it for . but the chief part of my request regards your selves , not me . for i must beg you to remember , that , besides an all seeing eye , there are many other eyes upon you , that pry into your actions with strong desires to find them criminal : and that though the truth , nor the subsistance of christianity does not , yet the credit of it does much , depend upon the nature of your actions . for , as all your personal faults will be imputed to your religion , so your shining vertues , will probably bring many infidels first to admire , and then to embrace christianity ; justly concluding , that that religion must be excellent , that makes its professors so ; and enables , as well as enjoins them , to live blameless in the world , and go joyfully out of it . if you lead such lives , you will not be much afraid of martyrdom ; which will but send you sooner to receive those inestimable rewards of them , that gods goodness hath promis'd and provided . i wish you may never have cause , nor upon occasion want courage , to enter into life at that streight gate , that i am now going to pass through . but if you be call'd to that way of glorifying god , let neither the ignominy , nor the painfulness of it , deter you . 't is not shameful , but glorious , to suffer for god , for truth , and for a crown ; and my example may encourage the weakest of you to expect , that gods strength will be made manifest in your infirmity ; and that there 's no temptation but may be resisted and vanquished , by the weakest hand , that is supported and strengthen'd by an almighty arm. and though the distance between heaven and earth , our mortal and our immortal state , be very great ; yet the passage between them may be very short : and a few moments may bring us to exchange our agonys for extasies , and pass from the lamentations of our friends , and the reproaches of our persecutors , to the congratulations of angels , and the solemn welcoms of him , whom even those heavenly spirits adore . as soon as she had ended this discourse , though her soul , abandoning such a body as hers , could scarce any where but in heaven , find an advantage by a change of mansion ; yet it cheerfully dispos'd it self to a separation , that would give it a closer and more immediate union with the divine object of its coelestial love . and after she had decently and calmly , made all the preparation that on her part was requisite for what she was to suffer , she thought fit to make her lifes last actions , as most of the rest had been , acts of piety , and charity . and therefore elevating her eyes and hands towards heaven , where her heart , as well as her treasure , had been plac'd long before ; she first paid her god most humble thanks , for the grace and opportunity he had vouchsaf'd her ; not only to believe in his divine son , but to suffer for him ; and then made a short , but very fervent prayer , for the church , for her enemies , and for her self . which done , with a countenance wherein serenity was mingled with joy , she gave a sign to the executioner to do his office ; who thereupon did all that was necessary to compleat her martyrdom . and the glad soul was by the angels , ( whom she had aspir'd to resemble in purity and devotion ) carry'd to that happy place , whose glorys are neither to be conceiv'd , by those that have not seen them , nor describ'd by those that have ; such supernatural felicities , as much transcending mans idea's and his expressions as they surpass his merit . the contents of the second book , of the martyrdom of theodora . chap. i. didymus hearing of theodora's captivity and danger , addresses himself in order to her rescue , to a roman officer , whose soldiers were appointed for her guard ; and by his favour and their assistance , he is admitted into her chumber , under the notion of one that came to ravish her. chap. ii. there he presses her to make an escape in his clothes : she for a good while scruples to make use of this expedient ; and instead of it , proposes that he would kill her : ( she thinging it lawful , as many then did , to die by anothers hand , and not by her own . ) chap. iii. after this obliging contest , she yields to change habits with him , and thus disguis'd makes an escape , and is receiv'd into irenes house , with great wonder and joy . chap. iv. irene takes this occasion , to represent to her the extraordinary merits of her deliverer and lover . but theodora , after very kind acknowledgments of them , declares the resolution she had made against marriage , and the reasons that had induc'd her to make it . chap. v. theodora hearing what had happen'd to didymus after her escape , resolves , though earnestly diswaded by irene , to attempt his rescue . chap. vi. a gentleman brings an account , how didymus was apprehended , and carried before the judge : how he own'd and defended what he had done , and his religion : and how he was condemn'd in spight of this defence . chap. vii . whilst didymus is leading away to the place of execution , theodora presents herself before the judg , and begs to have him releas'd : offering to undergo the death , that he was condemned to , on her account . she speaks to didymus , to perswade him to acquiesce in that proposal : whereupon grows a long contest between them before the judge . chap. viii . he condemns them both to die for being christians . divers discourses pass between them , as they go towards the place of execution . chap. ix . a roman officer strives to perswade didymus to change his religion , by several arguments : to all which he gives him such resolute answers , that , chap. x. the roman despairing to gain him , endeavours to engage him to perswade theodora to save her life ; which didymus refuses to do , for reasons which includes an encomium of her vertues . chap. xi . none of their attempts succeeding , both the martyrs are commanded to be put to death . the farewel speeches tbat past betwixt them . their final separation ; immediately after which , didymus is first executed . chap. xii . theodora , being in vain solicited to shun the like tragical fate , after a resolute answer to her persecutors , and a short speech to the by-standers , acompany'd with a prayer for them ; receives the crown of martyrdom . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28990-e1300 jonah 1. 12. heb. 11. 38. 1 thess 4. 13. act. 19. 25. rev. 7. 17. psal . 16. 11. 1 john , 3. 16. tertul. pliny . acts 5. 41. matt. 11. 4. luke 9. 31. 1 thes . 2. 19 , 20. dan. 10. 13. revel . 21. 8. heb. 11. 10. 1 cor. 11. 9. 2 cor. 12. 4. hydrostatical paradoxes made out by new experiments, for the most physical and easie / by robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1666 approx. 260 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 147 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28989 wing b3985 estc r17464 13161211 ocm 13161211 98187 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28989) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98187) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 446:26) hydrostatical paradoxes made out by new experiments, for the most physical and easie / by robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [36], 247 p. : 3 plates, fold. printed by william hall, for richard davis ..., oxford : 1666. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng hydrostatics -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-07 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion hydrostatical paradoxes , made out by new experiments , ( for the most part physical and easie . ) by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royall society . oxford , printed by william hall , for richard davis , anno dom. m.dc.lxvi . the publishers advertisement to the reader . when the author writ the following treatise , he had a design , as appears by some passages in the preface , to publish together with it some things , which he had divers years before provided for an appendix to the physico-mechanical treatise about the aire : but part of the appendix consisting of experiments , which the authour has several times made , but trusting to his memory , did not think it necessary to record , when he came to recollect particulars , he found that some years which had pass'd since divers of them were try'd , and variety of intervening occurrents , had made it unsafe for him to rely absolutely upon his memory for all the circumstances fit to be set down in the hystorical part of the design'd appendix . and therefore he resolv'd to repeat divers experiments and observations , that he might set down their phaenomena whil'st they were fresh in his memory , if not objects of his sense . but though , when he writ the following preface ▪ he did it upon a probable supposition , that he should seasonably be able to repeat the intended tryals , yet his expectation was sadly disappointed by that heavy , as well as just , visitation of the plague which happened at london whil'st the author was in the country : and which much earlier then was apprehended , began to make havock of the people , at so sad a rate that not only the glass-men there were scatter'd , and had , as they themselves advertis'd him , put out their fires , but also carriers , and other ways of commerce ( save by the post ) were strictly prohibited betwixt the parts he resided in and london ; which yet was the only place in england whence he could furnish himself with peculiarly shap'd glasses , and other mechanical implements requisite to his purposes ; and the same calamity continuing still , without yet affording us any certaine ground of determining when it will end : the author chuses rather to suffer the following paradoxes to come abroad without the appendix , ( which is no way necessary to them , whatever they may be to it , ) then any longer put off those ingenious persons that solicited the publication of them . the preface . the rise of the following treatise being a command impos'd on me by the royal society , the reader will , i hope , need no more then this intimation , to keep him from wandering to find some passages worded as parts of a discourse pronounce'd before an assembly , it being not unusual ( though not necessary ) to present either in writing or by word of mouth , together with the experiments made before that illustrious company , an historical account of them. but because 't is probable , that some readers will desire to be satisfied about other particulars , relating to the publication of this treatise , i presume it will not be amiss , both to say something of the reasons , why i publish it as the first part of the present appendix to my physico-mechanical experiments , and to give some account of the manner of writing it . i had quickly both an opportunity and an invitation to enlarge the papers i was to read , beyond the limits of a bare description of the phaenomena , and matters of fact , by my having been through some intervening accidents so hindered from exhibiting them altogether , that i was desir'd to bring in an accompt in writing , that might be registred ( how little soever worthy of such company ) in the societies collection of philosophical papers , for the sake of those members who could not be present at all the experiments : so that finding some enlargements expected from me , i was easily induc'd to add the explications of the phaenomena i describ'd , whilst i perceiv'd that by a small addition of pains i might much gratifie divers ingenious friends that were not so well vers'd in hydrostaticks as in the other parts of real learning . having thus been induc'd to enlarge the account of my experiments till it had attain'd the bulk 't is now arriv'd at , i confess i was without much difficulty perswaded , that to suffer it to pass abroad * in the company of the appendix wherewith 't is publish'd , would not prove unacceptable to the curious , no more then an improper introduction to the rest of my appendix , and that for several reasons . for ( first ) the hydrostaticks is a part of philosophy , which i confess i look upon as one of the ingeniousest doctrines that belong to it . theorems and problems of this art , being most of them pure and handsome productions of reason duly exercis'd on attentively consider'd subjects , and making in them such discoveries as are not only pleasing , but divers of them surprising , and such as would make one at first wonder by what kind of ratiocination men came to attain the knowledg of such unobvious truths . nor are the delightfulness , and the subtilty of the hydrostaticks , the only things for vvhich vve may commend them : for there are many , as well of the more familiar , as of the more abstruse phaenomena of nature ; that will never be throughly understood , nor clearly explionted by those that are strangerste the hydrostaticks ; upon whose principles depend , besides many other things , the explications of most of the physico . mechanical experiments , we have ventur'd to present the publick , and the decision of those many coutroversies , which they , and the phaenomena of the torrecellian experiment have occasion'd among the modern inquirers into nature . but the use of this art is not alone speculative , but practical , since not onely the propositions it teaches , may be of great importance to navigation , and to those that inquire into the magnitudes and gravities of bodies , as also to them that deal in salt workes : but that the hydrostaticks may be made divers ways serviceable to the chymists themselves , to whose art that doctrine seems to be so little of kin , i might here manifest , if i could think it fit to transcribe , what i have * elsewhere deliver'd to that purpose . but that which invited me to write something of this part of philosophy , is , not only that i think it considerable , but that , notwithstanding its being so , i find it but very litle , and not very happily cultivated . for being not look'd upon as a discipline purely mathematical , the generality of mathematicians have not in their writings so much as taken notice of it , much less improv'd it. and since the admirable archimedes , who , in his little tract de insidentibus humido , has left us three or four very excellent propositions , ( but proved by no very easie demonstrations ) among divers others that have more of geometrical subtility , then usefulness , those mathematicians , that , ( like marinus ghetaldus , stevinus , and galileo ) have added anything considerable to the hydrostaticks have been ( that i know of ) very few , and those too , have been wont to handle them , rather as geometricians , then as philosophers , and without referring them to the explication of the phaenomena of nature . and as for the peripateticks , and other school-philosophers , though on some occasions , as when they tell us , that water weighs not in water , nor aire in aire , they deliver assertions about matters belonging to the hydrostaticks , ( which term , in this treatise , i often take in a large sense because most of the things delivered about the weight of bodys may by easy variations , be made applicable to other fluids ) yet they are so far from having illustrated , or improv'd them , that they have but broach'd or credited , divers of the most erroneous conceits , that are entertain'd about them . so that , there being but few treatises written about the hydrostaticks , and those commonly bound up among other mathematical works , and so written , as to require mathematical readers , this usefull part of philosophy , has been scarce known any farther then by name , to the genèrality ev'n of those learned men , that have been inquisitive into the other parts of it , and are deservedly reckoned among the ingenious cultivators of the modern philosophy . but this is not all , for some eminent men , that have of late years , treated of matters hydrostatical ; having been prepossess'd with some errenous opinions of the peripatetick school , and finding it difficult , to consult experience , about the truth of their conclusions , have interwoven divers erroneous doctrines among the sounder propositions , which they either borrow'd from archimedes , and either circumspect mathematicians , or devis'd themselves , and these mistakes being deliver'd in a mathematical dress , and mingled with propositions demonstrably true , the reputation of such learned men , ( from which i am far from desiring to detract , ) and the unqualifiedness of most readers , to examine mathematical things , has procur'd so general an entertainment for those errors , that now the hydrostaticks is grown a part of learning , which 't is not only difficult to attain , but dangerous to study . wherefore , though neither the occasion and designe of this treatise exacted , nor my want of skill and leasure qualified me to write either a body or elements of hydrostaticks : yet i hop'd i might doe something , both towards the illustrating , and towards the rescue of so valuable a discipline , by publishing the ensuing tract ; where i endeavour to disprove the receiv'd errors , by establishing paradoxes còntrary to them , and to make the truths the better understood and receiv'd , partly by away of explicating them unimploy'd in hydrostatical books , and partly by confirming the things i deliver by physical and sensible experiments . and over and above this , the more to recommend hydrostaticks themselves to the reader , i have , besides the paradoxes , oppos'd to the errors i would disprove , taken occasion by the same way , to make out some of the usefullest of those hydrostatical truths , that are wont to seem strange to beginners . if it be here demanded , why i have made some of my explications so prolix , and have on several occasions inculcated some things . i answer , that those who are not us'd to read mathematical books , are wont to be so indispos'd to apprehend things , that must be explicated by schemes , and i have found the generality of learned men , and ev'n of those new philosophers that are not skill'd in mathematicks , so much more unacquainted , then i before imagin'd both with the principles and theorems of hydrostaticks , and with the ways of explicating and proving them , that i fear'd , that neither the paradoxes themselves , that i maintain , nor the hypotheses about the weight and pressure of the aire , upon which , little less then my whole pneumatical book depends , would be throughly understood without such a clear explication of some hydrostatical theorems , as to a person not vers'd in mathematical writings , could scarce be satisfactorily deliver'd in few words . and therefore , though i do not doubt , that those who are good at the most compendious ways of demonstrating , will think , i might in divers places , have spar'd many words without injury to my proofs , and though i am my self , of the same mind i exspect to find them of ; yet , i confess that 't was out of choice that i declind that close and concise way of writing , that in other cases i am wont most to esteem . for writing now not to credit my self , but to instruct others , i had rather geometricians should not commend the shortness of my proofs , then that those other readers , whom i chiefly design'd to gratifie , should not throughly apprehend the meaning of them . but this is not all for which i am to excuse my selfe to mathematicall readers . for some of them , i fear , will not like that i should offer for proofs such physical experiments , as do not alwayes demonstrate the things , they would evince , with a mathematical certainty and accuratenesse ; and much less will they approve , that i should annex such experiments to confirm the explications , as if suppositions and schemes , well reason'd on , were not sufficient to convince any rational man about matters hydrostaticall . in answer to this i must represent , that in physical enquiries it is often sufficient that our determinations come very near the matter , though they fall short of a mathematical exactness . and i choose rather to presume upon the equity of the reader , then to trouble him and my self with tedious circumlocutions , to avoid the possibility of being misunderstood , or of needing his candor . and we see , that even mathematicians are wont , without finding any inconvenience thereby , to suppose all perpendicular lines , made by pendulous bodies , to be parallel to one another : though indeed they are not ; since , being produc'd , they would meet at the centre of the earth : and to presume , that the surface of every calme water , in a vessel , is parallel to the horizon ; and consequently , a plain : though , in strictness , themselves think it the portion of a sphere : and though also i have usually observ'd it to be higher , where 't is almost contiguous to the sides of the vessel , then 't is in other places . moreover , since we find that though water will be uniformly rais'd in pumps to several heights , but not to thirty five foot , and will in ordinary open pipes , be almost of the same level within and without , but not if the pipe be extraordinary slender ; upon these , and divers other such considerations , i may have sometimes made use of expressions , that seemed not positive and determinate enough to be employed about matters to which mathematical demonstrations are thought applicable . but i elsewhere give an account of the scruples i have about such demonstrations , as they are wont to be apply'd to physical matters . and , in the present paradoxes , i think i have not done nothing , if in my hydrostatical explications i have made it appear , that in experiments made with such liquors and glasses , as i employed , the rules will hold without any sensible , or at least any considerable error ; for thereby we may learn the truth of many things , for the main , though in some we should not have attained to the exactness of measures and proportions , which yet our endeavors may assist others to arrive at . and as for my confirmation of hydrostatical propositions by physical experiments , if some readers dislike that way , i make no doubt but that the most will not only approve it , but thank me for it . for though , in pure mathematicks , he that can demonstrate well , may be sure of the truth of a conclusion , without consulting experience about it : yet because demonstrations are wont to be built upon suppositions or postulates ; and some things , though not in arithmetick or geometry , yet in physical matters , are wont to be taken for granted , about which men are lyable to slip into mistakes ; even when we doubt not of the ratiocination , we may doubt of the conclusion , because we may , of the truth of some of the things it supposes . and this consideration , if there were no other , will , i hope , excuse me to mathematicians , for ventring to confute some reasonings that are given out for mathematical demonstrations . for i suppose it will be consider'd , that those whose presum'd demonstrations i examine , though they were some of them professours of mathematicks , yet did not write meerly as mathematicians , but partly as naturalists : so that to question their tenets , ought not to disparage those , as well certain , as excellent and most useful sciences , pure mathematicks , any more then that the mathematicians that follow the ptolemaick , the copernican , the tichonian , or other systemes of the world , write books to manifest one anothers paralogismes in astronomical matters : and therefore ( to proceed to what i was about to say ) it cannot but be a satisfaction to a wary man to consult sense about those things that fall under the cognisance of it , and to examine by experiences , whether men have not been mistaken in their hypotheses and reasonings , and therefore the learned stevinus himself ( the chief of the moderne writers of hydrostaticks ) thought fit , after the end of his hydrostatical elements , to add in an appendix some pragmatical examples ( as he calls them ) that is , mechanical experiments ( how cogent i now inquire not ) to confirm the truth of his tenth proposition , to which he had , not far from the beginning of his book , annexed what he thinks a mathematical demonstration . and , about the very subjects we are now upon , the following paradoxes will discover so many mistakes of eminent writers , that pretend to have mathematically demonstrated what they teach , that it cannot but make wary naturalists ( and 't is chiefly to gratifie such that i publish this ) be somewhat diffident of conclusions , whose proofs they do not well understand . and it cannot but , to such , be of great satisfaction to find the things , that are taught them , verified by the visible testimony of nature her self . the importance of this subject , and the frequent occasion i have to make use of this kind of apology , will i hope , procure me the readers pardon if i have insisted somewhat long upon it . after what has been hitherto discours'd , 't wil be easie for me to give an account , why i premised these hydrostatical paradoxes to the rest of the appendix , wherewith they are * now publish'd : for since a great part of my work in that appendix , was to be a further explication of some things delivered in the book it is subjoyn'd to , and the vindication of then from invalid objections : and since i have generally observ'd , that the objections that have bin , either publickly or privately ▪ made against the explications & reasonings contain'd in that book , were wont to proceed from unacquaintedness , either with the true notion of the weight and spring of the aire , as i maintain them , or with the principles and theorems of hydrostaticks , or else from erroneous conceits about them ; i thought it would much conduce to both the forementioned ends of my appendix , if i clear'd up that doctrine to which my experiments and reasonings have been all along consonant , & whos 's being either not known , or misunderstood , seems to have occasion'd the objections that have been hitherto made against the hypotheses i have propos'd , or the explications i have thence given . and however , since the proofs i offer for my opinions are for the most part drawn from experiments new & easie , and that my aim is but to discover truths , or make them out by clearer explications , without supposing , like those i dissent from , any thing that is either precarious or scarce , if at all , intelligible ; i hope , that if i should not prove happy enough to reach my ends , yet the ingenious and equitable reader will approve my designe , and be advantaged by my experiments . of which some of the chiefest , and some of the most difficult , having been seen ( divers of them more then once ) by the royal society it self , or by inquisitive members of it ; it will , i presume , be but a reasonable request , if the reader , that shall have the curiosity to try them over again , be desired not to be hasty in distrusting the matters of fact , in case he should not be able at first to make every thing succeed according to expectation . for as easie as i have endeavour'd to make these experiments , yet i dare not promise my self that they will all of them be priviledg'd from the fate whereto i have observ'd other physico-mathematical ones to be not seldome obnoxious from some unheeded physical circumstance , by which those that are not acquainted with the subtleties of nature , or , at least for the time , do not sufficiently consider them , are apt to be imposed upon . this advertisement will perhaps be best illustrated , & recommended by an instance . and therefore i shall subjoyne one that will possibly seem somewhat odd . it has been taken notice of by two or three ingenious modern mathematicians , and i have had occasion to make it out by particular experiments , that warm water is lighter in specie then cold : whence it has been deduc'd , that wax , and other bodies , very near aequiponderant with common water , will swim in that which is cold , and sinck in that which is hot , or luke-warm . which experiment , though as it may be ( and perhaps it has been ) tryed , i readily allow to be agreeable to the known laws of the hydrostaticks ; yet i have sometimes undertaken that the tryal should have a quite contrary event . to this purpose having taken some yellow bees-wax , which was formed into a pellet of the bigness of a cherry , and , by the help of a little lead , was made so near aequiponderant to cold water , that ; being but a very little heavier , a very small diminution of its weight would make it emerge , i remov'd it out of the very cold water , into some that had bin purposely made lukewarm , ( or a little more then so ) where it quickly , somewhat to the wonder of the lookers on , appeard to swim on the top of the water . and that it might not be suspected that it was supported by any visible bubbles , which i have observed , in some cases , to buoy up even heavy bodies , and deceive the unskilful , or unattentive ; i briskly enough duck'd the bullet 2 or 3 times under water to throw them off , notwithstanding which it constantly return'd to float , and yet being remov'd again into the same cold water it had been taken out of , and duck'd as before to free it from adherent bubbles , it lay quietly at the bottom , and , though rais'd several times to the upper part of the water , would immediately subside again , and fall to the very lowest . now that which invited me to promise an experiment which seems to contradict the principles of the hydrostaticks , was not any distrust of those principles themselves , but a conjecture , that as by warmth the water would be made a little lighter in specie then 't was before ; so by the same warmth the spirituous and more agitable parts of the wax , whose texture is loose enough , would be somwhat ( though not visibly ) expanded , and would by that expansion gain a greater advantage towards floating , then the increas'd lightness of the water would give it disposition to sinck . and i confirm'd this conjecture by a farther experiment , which at first was it self somewhat surprising to the beholders . for when the wax was first taken out of the cold water , & immediately immers'd in the warm , it would readily enough sinck , & being ( with a quill or a knife ) rais'd to the top of the water , it would again fall down , but more slowly then at the begining , & aftersome few minutes , if it were rais'd to the upper parts of the water , it would remain a float . ( and i have known it , when it had remain'd a while longer at the bottom , so to emerge , that if i were sure no unheeded bubbles had been newly generated , and held it up , it might be said to emerge of its own accord ) as on the other side , being put into the cold water as soon as ever it was taken out of the warm , it would at the very first float , and being then knock'd downwards , it would , readily enough , regain the upper part of the water , but if i continu'd to send it downwards about 6 or 7 times ( more or fewer ) successively , it would emerge every time more slowly then other , and at length not emerge at all , even when i try'd it in water made heavy , by being highly infrigidated with salt aud snow plac'd about the glass . which phaenomena i had thought it reasonable to expect , because i presum'd , that the wax being remov'd immediately out of the warm water , into the cold , must require some time , to loose the adventitious expansion , which the warmth had given it , and must be depriv'd of it by degrees , by the coldness of the water into which the wax was transferr'd . as on the other side , there must be some time necessary for so little a warmth , as that of the tepid ( or little more then tepid ) water , to give the wax that addition of dimensions ( which also it must receive by degrees ) that was necessary , in spite of the rarefaction of the water , to make it float . i might add , that these tryals were repeated , for the main , with more bullets of wax then one , and that they succeeded far otherwise , when , instead of a piece of wax , we imploy'd a pois'd glass bubble , in which the temperature could make either no change at all , or no considerable change of dimensions . and to these i might add other circumstances , if i did not remember , that i mention these tryals but occasionally , and to make the caution , formerly recommended to the reader , appear not to be impertinent , since a hydrostatical experiment , true in its self , may easily miscarry by over-looking such circumstances as 't is not easie to be aware of . but by this advertisement i would by no means divert men from being diffident of hydrostatical traditions and experiments . for , besides the many erroneous opinions , there are matters of fact , whose truth , thò not question'd , but built upon , i think ought to be brought to tryal . for , even whilst i was concluding this preface , i found that divers even of the moderns , & particularly a very learned man that has lately writen of hydrostaticks , have much troubled themselves to render a reason why , since , according to their doctrine , water weighs not in water , wooden vessels , though of a substance lighter then water , being by leaks , or otherwise , fil'd with water , should sinck and remain at the bottom of the water : whereas judging this phaenomenon disagreable to what i look upon as the laws of the hydrostaticks , i was confirm'd in that opinion , by having had the curiosity to make some tryals of it , wtth 4 or 5 vessels of differing shapes and sizes , whereof two were of wax , which , though a matter but very little lighter then water , i could not sinck , or keep sunck by pouring water into them , or suffering them to fill themselves at leaks made near the bottom , and if they were depressed by force or weights , they , as also the wooden vessels , would upon the removal of the impediment ( and sometimes with the cavity upwards ) emerge . and i am the more solicitous to have things in the hydrostaticks duly ascertain'd , because the weighing of bodies in liquors may hereafter appear to be one of the general ways i have employ'd , and would recommend , for the examining of almost all sorts of tangible bodies . the contents . paradox . 1. that in water and other fluids , the lower parts are press'd by the upper . 24 par. 2. that a lighter fluid may gravitate or weigh upon a heavier . 43 par. 3. that if a body contignous to the water be altogether , or in part , lower than the highest level of the said water , the lower part of the body will be press'd upward by the water that touches it beneath . 67 par. 4. that in the ascension of water in pumps , &c. there needs nothing to raise the water , but a competent weight of an external fluid . 94 par. 5. that the pressure of an externall fluid is able to keep an heterogeneous liquor suspended at the same height in several pipes , though those pipes be of very different diameters . 106 par. 6. if a body be plac'd under water , with its uppermost surface parallel to the horizon ; how much water soever there may be on this or that side aboyd the body , the direct pressure sustain'd by the body ( for we now consider not the lateral nor the recoyling pressure , to which the body may be expos'd& if quite environ'd with water ) is no more then that of a colomne of water , having the horizontal superficies of the body for its basis , and the perpendicular depth of the water for it's height . and so likewise , if the water that leans upon the body be contain'd in pipes open at both ends ; the pressure of the water is to be estimated by the weight of a pillar of water , whose basis is equal to the lower orifice of the pipe , ( which we suppose to be parallel to the horizon ) and its height equal to a perpendicular reaching thence to the top of the water ; though the pipe be much inclin'd towards the horizon , or thought it be irregularly shap'd , and much broader in some parts , then the said orifice . 117 par. 7. that a body immers'd in a fluid , sustains a lateral pressure from the fluid ▪ and that increas'd , as the depth of the immers'd body , beneath the surface of the fluid , increaseth . 142 par. 8. that water may be made as well to depress a body lighter then it self , as to buoy it up . 160 par. 9. that , what ever is said of positive levity , a parcel of oyle lighter then water , may be kept in water without ascending in it . 165 par. 10. that the cause of the ascension of water in syphom , and of its flowing through them , may be explicated without having a recourse to nature's abhorrency of a vacuum . 170 par. 11. that a solid body , as ponderous as any yet known , though near the top of the water , it will sinck by in own weight ; yet if it be plac'd at a greater depth then that of twenty times its own thickness ▪ it will not sinck , if its descern be not assisted by the weight of the incumbent water . 184 appendix . 1. containing an answer to seven objections , propos'd by a late learned writer , to evince , that the upper parts of water press not upon the lower . 193 ap. 2. concerning the reason why divers , & others who descend to the bottom of the sea , are not oppress'd by the weight of the incumbent water . 221 imprimatur , robertus say , vice-cancellarius oxon . hydrostatical paradoxes , made out by new experiments : presented to the royal society , ( the lord viscount brouncker being then president . ) may 1664. my lord , to obey the orders of the society , that forbid the making of prefaces and apologies in accounts of the nature of that which you expect from me ; i shall without any further preamble begin with taking notice , that upon perusal of paschall's small french book , which was put into my hands , i find it to consist of two distinct treatises : the one of the aequilibrium of liquors , as he calls it ; and the other of the weight of the mass of the air. as for this latter , ( which i shall mention first , because i can in very few words dispatch the little i have to say of it ) though it be an ingenious discourse , and containes things , which if they had been published at the time , when it is said to have been written , would probably have been very wellcome to the curious : yet i have very little else to say of it in this place , in regard that since that time , such kind of experiments have been so prosecuted , that i presume it is needless , and would not be acceptable to repeat what monsieur paschall has written , in this society , which has seen the same truths , and divers others of the like nature , more clearly made out by experiments , which could not be made by monsieur paschall , and those other learned men , that wanted the advantage of such engines and instruments , as have in this place been frequently made use of . wherefore having already at a former meeting given you , by word of mouth , an account of paschall's ingenious invention , of a pair of bellows without vent , to measure the various pressure of the atmosphaere ; i remember nothing else that needs hinder me from proceeding to the other part of his book , the treatise of the aequilibrium of liquors . this i find so short , and so worthy of the author , that to give you all that i judge worth taking notice of in it , would obliege me to transcribe almost the whole tract ; and therefore i shall rather invite you to read the whole , then divert you from the designe by culling out any part of it ; yet if you will not be satisfied without something of more particular , i shall be oblig'd to tell you , that the discourse consisting partly of conclusions and partly of experiments ; the former seemed to me to be almost all of them ( there being but few that i doubt of ) consonant to the principles and lawes of the hydrostaticks . but as for the latter , the experimental proofs he offers of his opinions are such , that i confess i have no mind to make use of them . and the reasons why , notwithstanding that i like most of paschall's assertions , i decline imploying his way of proving them , are principally these . first , because though the experiments he mentions be delivered in such a manner , as is usual in mentioning matters of fact ; yet i remember not that he expresly says that he actually try'd them , and therefore he might possibly have set them down as things that must happen , upon a just confidence that he was not mistaken in his ratiocinations . and of the reasonableness of this doubt of mine , i shall ere long have occasion to give an instance . secondly , whether or no monsieur paschall ever made these experiments himself ; he does not seem to have been very desirous , that others should make them after him . for he supposes the phaenomena he builds upon to be produc'd fifteen or twenty foot under water . and one of them requires , that a man should sit there with the end of a tube leaning upon his thigh . but he neither teaches us how a man shall be enabled to continue under water , nor how in a great cistern full of water , twenty foot deep , the experimenter shall be able to discern the alterations , that happen to mercury and other bodies at the bottome . and thirdly , these experiments require not only tubes twenty foot long , and a great vessel of at least as many feet in depth , which will not in this countrey be easily procured , but they require brass cylinders , or pluggs , made with an exactness , that , though easily supposed by a mathematician , will scarce be found obtainable from a tradesman . these difficulties making the experiments propos'd by monsieur paschall more ingenious then practicable , i was induc'd on this occasion to bethink my self ▪ of a far more expeditious way , to make out , not only most of the conclusions wherein we agree , but others that he mentions not ; and this with so much more ease and clearnesse , that not only this illustrious assembly , but persons no more than moderately vers'd in the vulgar principles of the hydrostaticks , may easily enough apprehend what is design'd to be deliver'd , if they will but bring with them a due attention , and minds dispos'd to preferre reason and experience to vulgar opinions and authors ; which last clause i annex , because the following discourse , pretending to confute several of those , challenges a right to except against their authority . it not being my present task to deliver the elements , or a body of hydrostaticks , but only ten or twelve paradoxes , which i conceive to be proveable by this new way of making them out , i shall , to avoid confusion , deliver them in as many distinct propositions ; after each of which , i shall indeavour in a proof , or an explication , to show , both that it is true , and why it ought to be so . to all these i shall to avoid needless repetitions , premise a word or two by way either of postulatum or lemma . and because i remember to what assembly i address this discourse , i shall make use of no other then an easie supposition i met with in a short paper ( about a mercuriall phaenomenon ) brought in a year or two since to this learned society , by a deservedly famous member of it * , for though his supposal be made upon occasion of an experiment of another nature , then any of the ensuing , it may be easily accomodated to my present purpose . this postulatum or lemma , consists of three parts ; the first of them more , and the two last , less principal . suppose we then , ( first ) that if a pipe open at both ends , and held perpendicular to the horizon , have the lower of them under water , there passes an imaginary plain or surface , which touching that orifice is parallel to the horizon ; and consequently parallel as to sense to the upper surface of the water , and this being but a help to the imagination will readily be granted . secondly , to this it will be consonant , that each part of this designable surface , will be as much , and no more press'd , as any other equal part of it , by the water that is perpendicularly incumbent on it . for the water or other fluid being supposed to be of an homogeneous substance , as to gravity , and being of an equal height upon all the parts of the imaginary surface ; there is no reason why one part should be more press'd by a perpendicular pillar of that incumbent fluid , then any other equal part of the same surface by another perpendicularly incumbent pillar of the same or equal basis and height , as well as of the same liquor . but thirdly , though whilst our imaginary surface is equally press'd upon in all parts of it , the liquor must retain its former position ; yet if any one part comes to have a greater weight incumbent on it , then there is upon the rest , that part must be displac'd , or depress'd , as it happens , when a stone or other body heavier then water sincks in water . for wherever such a a body happens to be underneath the water , that part of the imaginary plain that is contiguous to the lower part of the stone , having on it a greater weight then other parts of the same surface , must needs give way , and this will be done successively till the stone arrive at the bottom ; and if , on the other side , any part of the imaginary surface be less press'd upon then all the rest ; it will by the greater pressure on the other parts of the surface be impell'd upwards , till it have attain'd a height , at which the pressure ( of the rais'd water , and the lighter or floating body ( if any there be ) that leans upon it , and gravitates together with it , upon the subjacent part of the imaginary surface ) will be equal to that which bears upon the other parts of the same surface . and because this seems to be the likeliest thing to be question'd in our assumption , though he that considers it attentively , will easily enough be induc'd to grant it : yet i shall here endeavour to evince it experimentally , and that by no other way of proof , then the same i imploy all along this present discourse . take then a cylindrical glass pipe ▪ of a convenient bore open at both ends , let the tube be steadily held perpendicular to the horizon , the lower end of it being two or three inches beneath the surface of a convenient quantity of water , which ought not to fill the glass vessel that contains it . the pipe being held in this posture , 't is manifest , that the water within the pipe , will be almost in a level with the surface of the water without the pipe , because the external and internal water ( as i am wont for brevities sake to call them ) have free intercourse with one another by the open orifice of the immers'd end of the pipe : yet i thought fit to insert the word almost , because if the pipe be any thing slender , the surface of the water in it , will always be somewhat higher then that of the water without it , for reasons that 't is not so necessary we should now inquire after , as 't is , that we should here desire to have this taken notice of once for all ; that mistakes may be avoided without a troublesome repetition of the difference in heights of the surface of liquors within pipes and without them , in case they be any thing slender . the pipe being held in the newly mention'd posture , if you gently poure a convenient quantity of oyle upon the external water , you shall see , that as the oyle grows higher and higher above the surface of that water , the water within it , will rise higher and higher , and continue to do so , as long as you continue to poure on oyle ; of which the reason seems manifestly to be this ; that in the imaginary plaine that passes by the orifice of the immers'd end of the pipe , all that is not within the compass of the orifice , is expos'd to an additional pressure from the weight of the oyle which swims upon the water , and that pressure must still be increas'd , as there is more and more oyle poured on ; whereas a circular part of the imaginary plain , equal to the orifice of the glasse , is by the sides of the pipe fenc'd from the immediate pressure of the oyle ; so that all those other parts of the water , being far more press'd , then that part which is comprehended within the cavity of the tube : and consequently the press'd parts of the external water , are by the equal gravitation of the oyle , upon the parts of the external water , impell'd up into the cavity of the pipe , where they find less resistance , then any where else , till they arrive at such a height , that the cylinder of water , within the pipe , do's as much gravitate upon the subjacent part of the imaginary surface , as the water and oyle together , do upon every other equal part of the same surface or plain . but as well the former lemma , as this experiment , will be sufficiently both clear'd and confirm'd by the following explications ; to which i should for that reason forthwith proceed ; were it not that , since divers passages of the following treatise suppose the aire to be a body not devoid of weight , which yet divers learned adherents to the peripatetick philosophy do resolutely deny , it seems requisite to premise something for the proof of this truth . and though i think the arguments we have imploy'd to that purpose already , do strongly evince it : yet if i may be allow'd to anticipate one of my own experiments of the appendix , i shall give an instance of the weight of the aire , not lyable so much as to those invalid objections , which some of the aristotelians have made against those proofs , wherewith we have been so happy , as to satisfie the learned'st even of our professed adversaries . we caus'd then to be blown at the flame of a lamp , a bubble of glass , ( of about the bigness of a small hen-egge ) which , that it might be light enough to be weigh'd in exact scales , ought to be of no greater thickness , then is judged necessary to keep it from being ( when seal'd up with none but very much expanded aire in it ) broken by the pressure of the ambient atmosphaere . this bubble was ( like a peare with its stemme ) furnish'd with a very slender pipe of glass , at which it was blown , that it might be readily seald up ; and then ( the aire within it being by the flame of the lamp gradually rarified , as much as conveniently could be ) whilst the body of the bubble was exceeding hot , the newly mentioned stemme was nimbly put into the middle of the flame ; where , by reason of its slenderness , the glass , which was exceeding thin , was immediately melted ; whereby the bubble was hermetically seal'd up . this glass being permitted leasurely to coole , i could afterwards keep it by me an hour , or a day , or a week , or longer , if i thought fit ; and when i had a mind to shew the experiment , i put it in one of the scales of an exact ballance , that would turn , perhaps with the 30th , or 50th , or a lesse part of a grain ; and having carefully counterpois'd it , i then warily broke off the seal'd end , placing a sheet of paper just under the scale to receive the fragments of the glass : and putting in again those fragments , that scale wherein the glass was would considerably preponderate ; which it must do upon the account of the weight of aire , there being no other cause , either needful , or justly assignable , but the weight of the aire that rush'd into the cavity of the glass , as finding less resistance there then elsewhere , by reason that the included aire had it's spring much weakn'd by it's great expansion . this experiment i many times tryed , sometimes before some virtuosi , and sometimes before others ; who all allowed it to be conclusive . for here it could not be objected as against the weighing of aire in a bladder , ( which objections yet i could easily answer , if it were now proper ) that the aire which ponderates , it stuff'd with the effluvia of him that blows the bladder , and ( besides that ) is not aire in its natural state , but violently compress'd . for here 't is the free aire , and in it's wonted laxity , that makes the glass preponderate . and that there is a great ingress of the external aire , is evident by these three phaenomena . the one , that if you lend an attentive ear , you shall plainly heare a kind of whistling noise to be made by the external aire , as it rushes violently in upon the breaking of the glass ; the other , that the rarefaction of the aire , seal'd up in the bubble , being very great , there is a great deal of space left for the ambient aire to fill upon its admission ; and the greatness of this rarefaction may be guess'd at , both by the breaking of such bubbles now and then by the pressure of the external aire , which is not competently assisted by the internal to resist ; and also by the third phaenomenon i intended to take notice of , namely , that if , instead of breaking off the seal'd end of the glass in the aire , you break it under water , that liquor will , by the pressure of the atmosphaere , be forc'd to spring up like an artificial fountaine into the cavity of the bubble , and fill about three quarters of it . by which last circumstance i gather , that the weight of the aire is more considerable then ev'n many , who admit the aire to have weight , seem to imagine . for we must not suppose , that all the aire contain'd in the bubble , when broken , weighs no more then the weight requisite in the opposite scale , to reduce the ballance to an aequilibrium ; since this additional weight is onely that of the aire , that intrudes on the breaking of the glass ; which aire , by the observations newly mention'd to have been made with water , appears to be but about three quarters of the whole aire contain'd in the broken bubble ; and yet , according both to our estimate , and that of divers virtuosi , and some of them eminent mathematicians , when the capacity of the bubble was short of two cubical inches , ( and so proportionably in other glasses , ) the nice ballance we us'd , manifested the newly admitted aire to amount to some times near halfe a grain , and sometimes beyond it . and because one of the last experiments that i made to this purpose , with seal'd bubbles was none of the least accurate , i shall conclude this subject with the following account of it . a thin glass bubble , blown at the flame of a lamp , and hermetically seal'd when the contained aire was exceedingly rarified , was counterpoiz'd in a nice paire of scales , and then the seal'd apex being broken off , and put again into the same scale , the weight appear'd to be increas'd by the re-admitted aire , a pretty deal above 11 / 16 ; ths , and consequently very near , if not full ¾ of a graine : lastly , having by some slight ( for 't is no very easie matter ) fill'd it with common water , we weigh'd the glass and water together , and found the latter , besides the former , to amount to 906 grains : so that supposing , according to our former estimate , countenanced by some tryals , that the re-admitted aire , which amounted to ¾ of a grain , fill'd but ¾ of the whole cavity of the bubble , the aire that was in it , when seal'd , possessing one quarter of that cavity , the whole aire contain'd in the bubble , may be reasonably presum'd to weigh a whole grain ; in which case we might conclude ( abstracting from some little niceties not fit to be taken notice of here ; as elsewhere ) that the water in our experiment , weighed very little more then nine hundred times as much as an equal quantity of aire . and therefore , though we allow , that in an experiment so diligently made , as this was , the aire praexistent in the bubble did not adaequately possess so much as a fourth part , but about a fifth or a sixth of its cavity , the aire will yet appear so heavy , that this experiment will agree well with those others , recorded in another treatise , wherein we assign'd ( numero rotundo ) a thousand to one , for the proportion wherein the specifick gravity of water exceeds that of aire . paradox i. that in water , and other fluids , the lower parts are press'd by the upper . provide a glass vessel of a convenient height and breadth a. b. c. d. fill'd with water almost to the top ; then take a glass pipe , open at both ends , cylindrical , and of a small bore , ( as about the eighth or sixth part of an inch in diameter . ) put the lower end of this pipe into clear oyle or spirit of turpentine ; and having by suction rais'd the liquor to what part of the pipe you think fit , as soon as it is there , you must , very nimbly removing your lips , stop the upper orifice with the pulp of your finger , that the rais'd liquor may not fall back again : then taking the pipe and that liquor out of the oyle of turpentine , place it perpendicularly in the glass of water , so as that the surface of the oyle in the pipe be somewhat higher then that of the water without the pipe ; and having so done , though you take off your finger from the upper orifice of the pipe , the oyle will not fall down at the lower orifice , though that be open , but will remain suspended at the same height , or near there abouts , that it rested at before . now oyle of turpentine , being a heavy fluid , does , as such , tend downwards , and not being stopp'd by the glass it self , whose lower orifice is left open , it would certainly fall down through the pipe , if it were not kept suspended by the pressure ( upwards ) of the water beneath it . there appearing no other cause to which the effect can reasonably be ascrib'd , and this being sufficient to give an account of it , as we shall presently see . for that it is not any contrariety in nature , betwixt the oyle and the water , as liquors that will not mingle , is evident from hence , that if you had remov'd your finger when the pipe was not so deeply immers'd in the glass , but that the surface of the oyl in the pipe was an inch or two more elevated above that of the water in the glass , then in our present case we suppose it to be ; the oyle , notwithstanding its presum'd contrariety to water , would have freely subsided in the pipe , till it had attain'd an aequipollency of pressure with the external water . the reason therefore of the phaenomenon seems to be plainly this . supposing the imaginary surface , on which the extremity q of the pipe p q leans , to be g h. if that part of the surface , on which the oyl leans at q , be as much , and no more charged , or press'd upon by the weight of the incumbent cylinder of oyle q x , then the other parts of the same imaginary surface g h are by the water incumbent on them , there is no reason why that part at q should be displac'd , either by being depress'd by the weight of the cylinder of oyle x q , or rais'd by the equal pressure of water upon the other parts of the superficies g h. and that this aequilibrium , betwixt the oyle and the water , is the true cause of the phaenomenon , may be confirm'd by observing what happens , if the altitude of either of the two liquors be alter'd in relation to the other . and ( first , ) we have already taken notice , that if the cylinder of oyle reach in the pipe , much higher then that of the surface of the water , the oyle will descend : of which the reason is , because the designable surface g h , being more charg'd at q then any where else , the part q , being unable to resist so great a pressure , must necessarily be thrust out of place by the descending oyle . secondly , this subsiding will continue but till the surface of the oyle in the pipe be fallen almost as low as that of the water without the pipe ; because then , and not before , the parts at q are but as much press'd by the oyle , as the other parts of the surface g h are by the water that leans upon them . thirdly , 't is a concluding circumstance to our present purpose , that if the oyle and water being in an aequilibrium , you gently lift up the pipe , as from q to s , the depth of the water being lessend , the oyle in the pipe will grow praeponderant , and therefore will fall out in drops or globuls , which by the greater specifick gravity of the water , will be buoy'd up to the top of the liquor , and there flote : and still as you lift up the pipe higher and higher , towards the surface l m , more and more of the oyle will run out . but if you stop the pipe any where in its ascent , as at s , the effluxion of the oyle will likewise be stopp'd . and at the imaginary superficies ▪ j k , as by reason of the shallowness of the water from l to j , or m to k , the pressure of the water upon the other parts of the surface is not near so great , as it was upon the surface g h , where the water had a greater depth : so by reason of the proportionate effluxion of the oyle , whil'st the pipe was lifted up from q to s , the remaining cylinder of oyle incumbent on s , is not able to press that part of the superficies j k more strongly then the other parts of the same superficies , are prest by the water incumbent on them . and if the pipe be lifted up till the lower orifice be almost rais'd to v ; that is , almost as high as the uppermost surface of the water l m , so much of the oyle will , for the reason already given , run out , that there will scarce be any left in the pipe t v. fourthly , but if when the pipe rests at the surface g h , where the oyle is in an aequilibrium with the water ; you should instead of lifting it from q to s , thrust it down from q to o ; then the external water would not only sustaine the oyle , but make it ascend in the pipe to a height equal to the distance e g ; and so the pipe will containe besides a longer cylinder of oyle ae w , a shorter one of water ae o. for the pipe being transferr'd from the position p q , to the position o n , there is a new imaginary surface e f , that passes by the lower orifice of the pipe. now the part of this surface at o will not , by the incumbent oyle alone , be press'd as much as the other parts of the same surface are by the incumbent water . for the oyl alone was but in aequilibrium with the water , when it was no deeper then l g , or h m ; so that the other parts of the superficies e f , being more press'd upon by the water , then the part at o by the oyle , the oyle must give place , and be buoy'd up by the water , ( which , if it were not for the weight of the oyle , would be impell'd up into the pipe full as high as the surface of the external water ) till the pressure of the admitted water o ae , and the cylinder of oyle ae w , do both together gravitate as much upon the part o , as the rest of the incumbent water does upon the other parts of the same superficies e f. fifthly and lastly , 't is very agreeable to what has been delivered , touching the aequilibrium of the oyle and water in the pipe p q , that the surface x of the oyle in the pipe , will not be of the same level with l m , that of the external water , but a little higher than it . for though the slenderness of the pipe do somewhat contribute to this effect , yet there would be an inequality , though not so great , betwixt these surfaces upon this account , that oyle of turpentine being in specie , ( as they speak in the schools ) that is bulk for bulk , a lighter liquor than water , it is requisite that the height of it , incumbent on the part q , be greater than that of the water on the other parts of the same surface g h , to make the pressure of the oyle on the part it leans upon , equal to the pressure of the water on the other parts of the surface . and if the inequality were greater betwixt the specifick gravities of these two liquors , the inequalities betwixt the surface x , and the surface l m would be also greater , as may be try'd by substituting for common water , oyle of tartar per deliquium , which is a saline liquor much heavier than it . and that , in case the pipe containe not a lighter liquor then the external fluid , the surface of the liquor in the pipe will not be higher than that of the liquor without it , we shall by and by have opportunity to manifest by experience . from what has been hitherto shewen , we may safely infer the proposition , upon whose occasion all this has been delivered . for since the oyle in a pipe , open at both ends , may be kept suspended in any part under water , as at q , because it is there in an aequilibrium with the external water ; and since being lifted up in the water , as from q to s , the oyle can no longer be kept suspended , but by its own gravity will runne out . and since , in a word , the deeper the water is , the greater weight and pressure is requir'd in the cylinder of oyle , to be able to countervail the pressure of the water , and keep it self from being lifted up thereby ; there seems no cause to doubt but that the parts of the water incumbent on the superficies g h , do more press that superficies , than the parts of the water contiguous to the superficies j k do press that ; and consequently , that the parts of the water that are under the uppermost surface of it , are press'd by those of the same fluid that are directly over them : as we saw also that the upper parts of the oyle , whil'st the pipe was in raising from q to s , depress'd the lower so much , as to force them quite out of the pipe ; there being in these cases no reason why the lowermost parts of a liquor should press more , or have a stronger endeavour against any other liquor ( or any other body ) the higher the liquor incumbent reaches , if these inferiour parts deriv'd their pessure only from their own particular gravity , ( which is no greater then that of the other homogeneous parts of the liquor ) and therefore they must derive the great force wherewith they press from the weight of the incumbent parts , which consequently must be allow'd to press upon them . but before i proceed to the following propositions , it will not be amiss to mention here , once for all , a few advertisements , to avoid the necessity of repeating the same things in the sequel of the discourse . and first , what is here said of the pressure of the parts of water upon one another , and the other affections that we shall attribute to it , in the following paper , are to be apply'd to heavy fluids in general , unless there shall appear some particular cause of excepting some of them in particular cases . secondly , whereas i lately intimated , that the inequality betwixt the surfaces of the oyle in the pipe , and of the external water , was in part to be ascrib'd to the slenderness of the pipe , to be imploy'd in these experiments , i did it for this cause , that , whatever the reason of it be , ( which we need not here inquire after , ) we are assur'd by experience , as we have elsewhere shewn , that when glass pipes come to be slender , water and many other liquors ( though not quicksilver ) will have within them a higher surface then that of the same liquor without them , and this inequality of surfaces ( as far as we have yet try'd ) increases with the slenderness of the pipe . but this , as to our present experiment , is a matter of so little moment , that it may suffice to have intimated that we did not oversee it . thirdly , wherefore , notwithstanding this little inconvenience of slender glasses , we think it expedient to imploy such in the following experiments , because we found , that in those of a wide bore , upon such little inequalities of pressure as are not easily to be avoided , the oyle and water will pass by one another in the cavity of the pipe , and so spoile the experiment , which requires that the oyle within the pipe be kept in an intire and distinct body . fourthly , common oyle and water , or any other two liquors that will not mingle , may serve the turn in most of these experiments ; but we rather chuse oyle of turpentine , because it is light and thin , clear and colourless , and may be easily had in quantities , and is not so apt to spot ones cloaths , or obstinately to adhere to the porous bodies it chances to fall on , as common , and other express'd oyles . and for their sakes to whom the odour is offensive , we presently correct it , by mingling with it a convenient quantity of oyle of rhodium , or some other chymical oyle that is odoriferous . fifthly , oyle of turpentine , though it be not reckon'd among the saline menstruums , will yet ( as we elsewhere note ) work upon copper , and so by digesting it upon crude filings of that metal , we obtaine a deep green liquor , which may be made use of instead of the limpid oyle , to make the distinction of the liquors more conspicuous . sixthly , and for the same purpose we often use instead of clear water , a strong decoction of brazill , or logg-wood , or else red inck it self , i say , a strong decoction , because unless the liquor be so deeply ting'd , as to appear opacous in the glass , when it comes into the slender pipe , its colour will be so diluted , as to be scarce discernable . seventhly , in the shape of the glass vessel , we need not be curious ; though that of a wide mouth'd jarr , express'd in the scheme , be for some uses more convenient than other shapes . the depth of these glasses , and the length of the pipes must be determin'd by the experiments , about which one means to imploy them . to make out the first paradox already prov'd , a glass of about five or six inches deep , and a pipe about as many inches long , will serve the turn : but for some others of the following experiments , tall cylindrical glasses will be requisite ; and for some , broad ones likewise will be expedient . eighthly , one must not be discourag'd by not being able at the first or second time , to suck up oyle of turpentine to the due height , and stop it with ones finger from relapsing ; but one must try again , and again ; especially since many tryals of this kind may be made in a few minutes : and for beginners 't is a safe and good , though not the shortest way , to suck up rather more liquor then one judges will be needful ; because having fill'd the pipe to that height , you may by letting in the aire warily and slowly , between the orifice of the glass and the pulp of your finger , suffer so much liquor to run out of the pipe , as will reduce it to the height you desire ; and there , by close stopping the orifice with your finger , you may keep it suspended as long as you please , and immerse it into any heterogeneous liquor , and take it out again at pleasure without spilling any of it . by which slight expedient alone , i can decline several difficulties , and do many things , which , according to paschal's way , require a great deal of trouble and apparatus to be perform'd . lastly , in such experiments where it may be of use , that there be a considerable disparity betwixt the two unmingled liquors , we may ( as is above intimated ) instead of fair water , imploy oleum tartari per deliquium , and tinge it with brazill or chochineele ; from either of which , but especially from the latter , it will obtaine an exceeding deep redness : and where one would avoid strong sents and oyliness , he may , if he will be at the charge , imploy oyle of tartar per deliquium , instead of fair water , and highly rectified spirit of wine , instead of oyle of turpentine . for these two liquors , though they will both readily mingle with water , will not with one another ; and if a great quantity of some other liquor be to be substituted for simple water , when these chymical liquors are not to be had in plenty , one may imploy ( as we have done ) a very strong solution made of sea-salt , and filtred through cap-paper : this brine being near about as limpid as common water , and farre heavier than it . and for a curiosity , we have added to the two lately mentioned liquors ( oyle of tartar , and spirit of wine ) some oyl of turpentine , and thereby had three liquors of different gravities , which will not by shaking , be brought so to mingle , as not quickly to part again , & retire each within its own surface ; and by thrusting a pipe with water in the bottom of it ( placing also ones finger upon the upper orifice ) beneath the surface of the lowermost of these liquors , and by opportunely raising or depressing it , one may somewhat vary the experiment in a way not unpleasant ; but explicable upon the same grounds with the rest of the phaenomena mentioned in this discourse . paradox . ii. that a lighter fluid may gavitate or weigh upon a heavier . i know that this is contrary to the common opinion , not only of the schools ▪ but ev'n of divers hodiern mathematicians , and writers of hydrostaticks ; some of whom have absolutely rejected this paradox , though they do but doubt of the truth of the former . but when i consider , that whether the cause of gravity be the pulsion of any superior substance , or the magnetical attraction of the earth , or whatever else it be , there is in all heavy bodies , as such , a constant tendency towards the centre , or lowermost parts of the earth ; i do not see why that tendency or endeavour should be destroy'd by the interposition of any other heavy body ; though what would otherwise be the effect of that endeavour , namely an approach towards the centre , may be hindred by another body , which being heavier then it , obtains by its greater gravity a lower place ; but then the lighter body tending downwards , must needs press upon the heavier that stands in its way , and must together with that heavier press upon whatever body it is that supports them both , with a weight consisting of the united gravities of the more , and the less heavy body . but that which keeps learned men from acknowledging this truth , seems to be this , that a lighter liquor ( or other body ) being environ'd with a heavyer , will not fall down but emerge to the top ; whence they conclude , that , in such cases , it is not to be considered as a heavy , but as a light body . but to this i answer , that though in respect of the heavier liquor , the less heavy may in some sence be said to be light ; yet , notwithstanding that relative or comparative levity , it retains all its absolute gravity , tending downwards as strongly as before ; though by a contrary and more potent endeavour upwards of the contiguous liquor ( whose lower parts , if less resisted , are pressed upwards by the higher elsewhere incumbent ; according to the doctrine partly delivered already , and partly to be cleared by the proof of the next proposition , ) its endeavor downward is so surmounted that it is forcibly carry'd up . thus when a piece of some light wood being held under water , is let go and suffer'd to emerge , though it he buoy'd up by the water , whose specifick gravity is greater , yet ev'n whilst it alcends it remains a heavy body ; so that the aggregate of the water & the ascending wood weighs more then the water alone would doe ; and when it floats upon the upper part of the water , as part of it is extant above the surface , so part of it is immerst beneath it , which confirms what we were saying , that a lighter body may gravitate upon a heavier . and thus there is little doubt to be made but that if a man stand in one of the scales of a ballance with a heavy stone ty'd to his hand , and hanging freely by his side , if then he lift that weight as high above his head as he can , notwithstanding that the stones motion upwards makes it seem a light body in respect of the man whose body it leaves beneath it , yet it dos not , either during its ascent or after , loose any thing of its connatural weight . for the man that lifts it up shall feel its tendency downwards to continue , though his force , being greater than that tendency , be able , notwithstanding that tendency , to carry it up : and when it is aloft , it will so press against his hand , as to offend , if not also to bruise it ; and the stone , and the man that supports it , will weigh no less in the scale he stands in , then if he did not at all support it , and they were both of them weigh'd apart . likewise , if you put into one scale a wide mouth'd glass full of water , and a good quantity of pouder'd common salt ; and into the other scale , a counterpoise to them both ; you may observe , that , though at the beginning the salt will manifestly lie at the bottome , and afterwards by degrees be so taken up into the body of the liquor , that not a grain will appear there ; yet nevertheless ( as far as i can judge by my experiments ) the weight in that scale will not be diminished by the weight of as much sale as is incessantly either carried up , or supported by the restless motion of the dissolving corpuscles of the water ; but both the one and the other , ( allowing for what may evaporate ) will concurrently gravitate upon the scale that the glass containing them leans on . but of this more elsewhere . now to prove the proposiion by the new method , we have propos'd to our self in this discourse . take a slender glass pipe , and having suck'd up into it fair water , to the height of 3 or 4 inches , stop nimbly the upper orifice with your finger , and inmerse the lower into a glass full of oyle of turpenrine , till the surface of the oyle in the vessel be somwhat higher than that of the water in the pipe ; then removing your finger , though the pipe do thereby become open at both ends , the water will not fall down , being hinder'd by the pressure of the oyle of turpentine . as will be obvious to them that have attentively consider'd the explication of the former paradox ; there being but this difference between this experiment and that there explain'd , that here the water is in the pipe , and the oyle in the vessel , whereas there the oyle was in the pipe , and the water in the vessel . and if you either poure more oyle into the glass , or thrust the pipe deeper into the oyle , you shall see that the water will be buoyed up towards the top of the pipe ; that is , a heavier liquor will be lifted up by a lighter . and since , by the explication of the first proposition , it appears , that the reason why the liquor is in this case rais'd in the pipe , is the gravity of the liquor that raises it , we must allow that a lighter liquor in specie , may by its gravity press against a heavier . and it agrees very well with our explication , both of this , and of the first experiment , that as there , the surface of the oyle in the pipe was always higher than that of the water without it , because the oyle being the lighter liquor , a greater height of it was requir'd to make an aequilibrium ; so in our present experiment , the surface of the liquor in the pipe will alwayes be lower than that of the oyle without it . for in the imaginary plain e f , the cylinder of water j g , contain'd in the pipe j h , will , by reason of its greater gravity , press as much upon the part j , as the distill'd oyle ( k e , j l , ) being a lighter liquor , can do upon the other parts of the same suppos'd plain e f , though the oyle reach'd to a greater height above it . this second paradox , we have hitherto been discoursing of , may be also prov'd by what we formerly deliver'd , to make out the truth of the third part of the lemma premised to these propositions . but because this and the former paradox are of importance , not only in themselves but to the rest of this treatise , and are likely ( in most readers ) to meet with indisposition enough to be receiv'd , i will subjoyn in this place a couple of such experiments , as will not , i hope , be unacceptable ; that i devis'd , the one to confirm this second paradox , and the other to prove the first . some of the gentlemen now present may possibly remeber , that about the end of the year that preceded the two last , i brought into this place a centain new instrument of glass , whereby i made it appear , that the upper parts of water gravitate upon the lower ; which i did by sincking a body , that was already under water , by pouring more water upon it . but that experiment belonging to other papers , i shall here substitute another perform'd by an instrument , which though it makes not so fine a shew , may be more easily provided , and will as well as that other ( though you were pleas'd to command that from me ) serve to make out the same truth ; which i shall apply my self to do , as soon as i have , by an improvement of the expedient i am to propose , made good my late promise of confirming the second paradox . and before i can well draw an argument from these experiments , for either of the propositions to be prov'd by them , i must briefly repeat what i have elsewhere deliver'd already ( on another occasion ) touching the cause of the sincking of such bubbles . namely that the bubble x. consisting ▪ of glass , which is heavier in specie then water ; and aire , which is lighter in specie then water ; and , if you please , also of water itself , which is of the same specifick gravity with water ; as long as this whole aggregate of several bodys is lighter then an equal bulk of water , it will float ; but in case it grows heavier then so much water , it must , according to the known laws of the hydrostaticks , necessarily sinck , ( being not otherwise supported . ) now when there is any competent pressure ( whether produc'd by weight or otherwise , ) upon the water , in which this bubble is for the most part immers'd , because the glass is a firm body & the water , though a liquor , either suffers no compression , or but an inconsiderable one ; the aire included in the bubble , being a springy and very compressible body , will be compell'd to shrink , and thereby possessing less room , then it did before , the contiguous water will succeed in its place ; which being a body above a thousand times heavier then aire , the bubble will thereby become heavier then an equall bulk of water , and consequently will sink : but if that force or pressure be remov'd , the imprison'd aire will by its own spring free it self from the intruding water ; and the aggregate of bodys , that makes up the bubble , being thereby grown lighter then an equal bulk of water , the subsided bubble will presently emerge to the top. this explication of the causes of the sinking of bubbles agrees , in some things , with the doctrine of the learned jesuites kercher & shottus , and some other writers , in the acount they give of those two experiments that are commonly known by the name , the one of the romane , the other of the florentine experiments . but there are also particulars wherein i ( who have never a recourse to a fuoa vacui , ) dissent from their doctrine ; the principles i go upon , having invited and assisted me to make that experiment , afford me some new phaenomena , which agree not with their opinions , but do with mine : but i forbear to mention them here , because they belong to other papers ; and for the same reason i omit some accession of ludicrous phaenomena ( as they call them , ) which i remember i have sometimes added to those , which our industrious authors have already deduc'd from those experiments . these things being premis'd , i proceed to the confirmation of the second paradox , by the following experiment . take a long glass pipe , seal'd or otherwise exactly stop'd at one end and open at the other ( whose orifice if it be no wider , then that it may be conveniently stop'd with mans . thumb , the tube will be the fitter to exhibit some other phanomena . into this pipe pour such a quantity of common water , as that there may be a foot , or half a yard , or some other competent part left unfill'd , for the use to be by and by mention'd . then having poiz'd a glass bubble with a slender neck , in such a manner as that though it will keep at the top of the water , yet a very little addition of weight , will suffice to sinck it , put this bubble thus poiz'd into the tube ; where it will swim in the upper part of the water , as long as it is let alone , but if you gently pour oyle of turpentine upon it , ( i say gently to avoid confounding the liquors ) you will perceive that , for a while , the bubble will continue where it was : but if you continue pouring on oyl , till it have attain'd a sufficient height above the water , ( which , 't will be easie to peceive , because those two liquors will keep themselves distinct ) you shall see the bubble subside till it fall to the bottom , and continue there as long as the oyl remains at the height above the water . the reason of this phanomenon , according to our doctrine , is this , that the oyl of turpentine , though a lighter liquor then water , yet gravitates upon the subjacent water , and by its pressuce forces some of it into the cavity of the bubble at the open orifice of its neck , whereby the buble , which was before but very little less heavy then an equal bulk of water , being by this accession made a little more heavy must necessarily sinck ; and the cause of its submersion , namely the pressure of the oyle , continuing , it must remain at the bottom . and to confirm this explication i shall add , that in case , by inclining the tube or otherwise , you remove the cylinder of oyl , or a competent part of it , ( in case it were longer then was necessary , ) the bubble will again emerge to the top of the water ( for , as for the oyle , that is too light a liquor to buoy it up ; ) which happens only because the pressure of the oyle upon the water being taken of the aire , by vertue of its own spring , is able to recover its former expansion , and reduce the bubble to be as light as 't was before . and now we may proceed to that other experiment , by which we lately promis'd to confirm the first paradox . and in some regard this following experiment has been preferr'd , as more strange , to that i have been reciting . for it seem'd much less improbable , that of two heterogeneous liquors , the inferior should be press'd upon by the incumbent , which , though lighter , kept in an intire body above it ; then that in water , which is a homogeneous liquor ; and whose parts mingle most freely and exquisitely with one another , the upper part should press upon the lower ; and that they will do so , may appear by the experiment it is now time to sub joyn . provide a long tube and a poiz'd bubble , as in the former experiment , then having pour'd water into the tube , till it reach above 5 or 6 inches ( for a determinate height is no way necessary ) above the bottome , cast in the bubble , which will not only swim , but if you thrust it down into the water it will of it self emerge to the upper part of it . wherefore take a slender wand , or a wire , or a slender glass pipe , or any such body that is long enough for your purpose , and with it having thrust the bubble beneath the surface of the water , pour water slowly into the tube ( whose cavity will not be near fill'd by the rod or wire ) till it have attain'd a competent height , ( which , in my last tryals , was about a foot , or half a yard above the bubble : ) and you shall see , that the bubble , which before endeavour'd to emerge , will by the additional weight of the incumbent water , be depress'd to the bottom of the tube . after which you may safely remove the wire , or other body that kept it from rising . for as the weight of the incumbent water was that which made it sinck , so that weight continuing on it , the bubble will continue at the bottom . but yet it is not without cause , that we imploy a wire , or some such thing , in this experiment , though we affirm it to be onely the weight of the incumbent water , that makes the bubble sinck . for if you should pour water into the tube , to the height lately mention'd , or ev'n to a greater , if you did not make use of the wire , it would not serve the turn ; because that as fast as you pour in the water , the bubble being left to it self , will rise together with it ; and so , keeping always near the upper part of the water , it will never suffer the liquor to be so high above it , as it must be , before it can depress it . but to confirm , that 't is the weight of the superior water that sincks the bubble , and keeps it at the bottom ; if you take out of the tube a competent quantity of that liquor , and so take of the pressure of it from the bubble , this will presently , without any other help , begin to swim , and regain the upper part of the water ; whence it may at pleasure be praecipitated , by pouring back into the tube the water that was taken out of it . and these confirmations , added to the former proofs of the first and second paradoxes , being we conceive sufficient to satisfie impartial readers of the truth of them , we should presently advance to the next proposition , if we did not think fit to interpose here a scholium . scholium . it may perchance be wondred at , why , since we lately mention'd our having made some tryals with oyle of tartar per deliquium , we did not in the present experiment , in stead of fair water , make use of that , it being a very much heavier liquor , and ( though it may be incorporated with express'd oyles ) unmingleable in such tryals with oyle of turpentine . but to this i answer , that ev'n in such slender pipes , as those made use of about the first experiment , i found that oyle of tartar was ponderous enough to flow down , though slowly , into the oyle of turpentine at one side of the immers'd orifice , whilst the oyle pass'd upwards by it along the other side of the pipe . and my knowledge of this could not but make me a little wonder , that so curious a person , as monsieur paschall , should somewhere teach , that if a tube of above 14 foot long , and having its orifice placed 14 foot under water , be full of quicksilver , the fluid metal will not all run out at the bottom of the pipe , though the top of it be left open to the aire , but will be stop'd at a foot high in the pipe , for the impetus , that its fall will give it , must probably make it flow quite out of the pipe : and , not here to mention those tryals of ours with quicksilver and slender tubes , that made me think this very improbable ; if we consider that the experiment will not succeed with much more favourable circumstances , betwixt oyle of turpentine and oyle of tartar , though the heavier of these two liquors be many times lighter that quick . silver : it tempts me much to suspect , that monsieur paschall never actually made the experiment , at least with a tube as big as his scheam would make one guess , but yet thought he might safely set it down , it being very consequent to those principles , of whose truth he was fully perswaded . and indeed , were it not for the impetus , the quicksilver would acquire in falling from such a height , the ratiocanation were no way unworthy of him . but experiments that are but speculatively true , should be propos'd as such , and may oftentimes fail in practise ; because there may intervene divers other things capable of making there miscarry , which are overlook'd by the peculator ▪ that is wont to compute only the consequences of that particullar thing which he principally considers ; as in this case our author seems not to haue consider'd , that in such tubes , as the torricelliah experiment is wont to be made in the largness of them would make them unfit for this tryal . and i have known ingenious men , that are very well exercis'd in making such experiments , complaine , that they could never make this of paschall's to succeed . in which attempts , that the size of the tubes much contributed to the unsuccesfulness of the tryals , i shall ( without repeating what has been already intimated to that purpose ) in the following part of this discourse have opportunity to manifest ; and withal to adde as illustrious a proof of this our second paradox , as almost any we have yet given . paradox iii. that if a body contiguous to the water be altogether , or in part , lower than the highest level of the said water , the lower part of the body will be press'd upward by the water that touches it beneath , this may be prov'd by what has been already delivered in the explication of the first experiment : for where ever we conceive the lowest part of the body , which is either totally , or in part , immers'd in water , to be there the imaginary superficies being beneath the true superficies , every part of that imaginary superficies must be press'd upwards , by vertue of the weight of the water incumbent on all the other parts of the same superficies , and so that part of it , on which the immers'd body chances to leane , must for the same reason have an endeavour upwards . and if that endeavour be stronger then that wherewith the weight of the body tends downwards , then ( supposing there be no accidental impediment ) the body will be buoy'd or lifted up . and though the body be heavier then so much water , and consequently will subside , yet that endeavour upwards of the water , that touches its lower part , is onely rendred ineffectual to the raising or supporting the body , but not destroyed ; the force of the heavy body being from time to time resisted , and retarded by the water , as much as it would be if that body were put into one scale , and the weight of as much water , as is equal to it in bulk , were put into the other . to confirm this , we may have recourse to what we said in the explication of the second experiment . for in case the slender pipe , wherein the water is kept suspended , be thrust deeper into the oyl or in case these be more oyle pour'd into the vessel , the water will be impell'd up higher into the pipe ; which it would not be , if the oyle , though bulk for bulk a lighter body , did not press against the lower surface of the vvater , ( where , alone , the two liquors are contiguous , ) more forcibly then the water by its gravity tends dovvnvvards . and even vvhen the liquors rest in an aequilibrium , the oyle continually presses upvvards , against the lower surface of the water ; since in that continual endeavour upvvards consists its constant resistance to the continual endeavour that the gravity of the water gives it to descend . and since the same phaenomenon happens , whether we suspend water in oyle , as in the second experiment , on oyle in water , as in the first : it appears , that the proposition is as well applicable to those cases , where the sustein'd body is specifically heavier , as to those where 't is specifically lighter then the subjacent fluid . but a further and clearer proof of this doctrine will appear in the explication of the next proposition . in the mean time , to confirm that part of out discourse , where we mention'd the resistance made by the water to bodies that sinck in it , let us suppose , in the annexed figure , that the pipe e f contains an oyle specifically heavier then water , ( as are the oyls of guaisteum , of cinnamon , or cloves , and some others , ) and then , that the oyle in the pipe , and the water without , being at rest in an aequilibrium , the pipe be slowly rais'd towards the top of the vessel . 't is evident , from our former doctrine , and from experience too , that there will run out drops of oyle , which will fall from the bottom of the pipe , to that of the vessel ; but far more slowly then if they fell out of the same pipe in the aire . now to compute how much the pressure of the water against the lower parts of the drop amounts too , let us suppose the drop to be g , to whose lowermost part there is contigueus , in any assignable place where it falls , the imaginary superficies h j. 't is evident , that if the drop of oyle were not there , its place would be supplied by an equal bulk of water ; which being of the same specifick gravity with the rest of the water in the vessel , the surface h j would be laden every where alike ; and consequently to part of it would be displac'd ▪ but now , the drop of oyle being heavier then so much water , that part of the imaginary superficies , on which that drop leans , has more weight upon it , then any other equal part of the same superficies ; and consequently , will give place to the descending drop . and since the case of every other suppos'd surface , at which the drop can be conceiv'd to arrive in its descent , will be the same with that of the superficies h j ; it will for the reason newly given , continue falling till it comes to the bottom of the vessel which will suffer it to fall no further . and in case the drop g were not , as we suppose it , of a substance heavier in specie then water , but just equal to it , the contiguous part of the superficies h j would be neither more nor less charged then the other parts of the same supeficies ; and the part lean'd on would be neither depress'd nor rais'd , but the drop g would continue in the same place . and so we may prove , ( what is affirm'd by archimedes , and other hydrostatical writers ) that a body acquiponderant in specie to water , will rest in any assignable place of the water where 't is put . and ( to proceed further ) since , if the drop g were of a matter but acquiponderant to water it would not sinck lower at all , no more then emerge ; it follows , that though being heavier in specie then water , it will fall , yet the gravity upon whose account it falls , is no more then that by which it surmounts an equal bulk of water ; ( since , if it were not for that over plus , the resistance of the water would hinder it from falling at all : ) and consequently , it looses in the water just as much of the weight it would have in the aire , as so much water , weigh'd likewise in the same aire , would amount to . which is a physicall account of that grand theorem of the hydrostaticks , which i do not remember that i have seen made out in any printed book , both solidly and clearly ; the learned stevinus himself , to whom the later writers are wont to refer , having but an obscure ( and not physical ) demonstration of it . and , because this theorem is not only very noble , but ( as we else where manifest ) very useful , 't will not be amiss to add , that it may easily be confirm'd by experiment . for if you take ( for instance ) a piece of lead , and hang it by a horse haire ( that being suppos'd very near acquiponderant to water ) from one of the scales of an exact ballance ; and , when you have put a just connterpoize in the other scale , suffer the lead to sinck in a ressel of water , till it be perfectly covered with it , but hangs freely in it , the counterpoize will very much preponderance , and , part of the counterpoize being taken out till the ballatice be again reduc'd to an aequilibrium , you may easily ( by subducting what you have taken out , and comparing it with the whole weight of the lead in the aire ) find what part of its weight it looses in the water and then if you weigh any other piece of the same lead , suppose a lump of 12 ounces , and hang it by a horse haire at one scale , you may be sure that by puting into the other scale a weight less by a twelfth part , ( supposing lead to water to be as twelve to one ) that is eleven ounces , though the weights be farr from an aequilibrium in the aire , they will be reduc'd to it when the lead it cover'd with water . the pressure of water against the lower part of the body immers'd in it may be confirmed by adding ; that we may thence deduce the cause of the emergency of wood and other bodyes lighter then water ; which though a familiar effect , i have not found its cause to have been so much as enquired into by many , nor perhaps to have been well rendred by any . if we suppose then that the pipe be almost fill'd , not with a sincking but a swimming oyle , as oyle of turpentine , if , as in the first experiment , the lower orifice be thrust under water , ( to a far less depth then that of the oyle in the pipe ) and the upper be slovvly unstop'd , the oyl vvill ( as vve formerly declar'd ) get out in drops at the bottom of the pipe . but to determine vvhy these drops , being quite cover'd and surrounded vvith vvater , and press'd by it as vvell dovvnvvards as upvvards , should rather emerge then descend , i shall not content my self to say , that vvater in specie heavier then this kind of oyle ; for , besides that in some cases ( e're long to be mention'd ) i have made the water to depress ev'n this kind off oyle , and besides that 't is not every piece of wood lighter in specie then water that will float upon water , how shallow soever it be : the question is how this praepollent gravity of the water comes to raise up the oyle , though there be perchance much more water , for it to break its way thorough , above it , then beneath it . the reason then of the emersion of lighter bodies in heavier fluids , seems to be this , that the endeavour upwards of the water , contiguous to the lower part of the body , is stronger then the endeavour downwards of the same body , and the water incumbent on it . as , in the former scheme , supposing the drop g to be the oyle of turpentine , and to touch the two imaginary and parallel plains h j , k l ; 't is evident , that upon the lower part of the drop , n , there is a greater pressure of water , then upon the upper part of the same drop , m : because that upon all the surface k l ▪ there is but an uniform pressure of water a k b l , and upon all the parts of the surface h i , there is a greater weight of water a h b i , except at the part n ; for there the oyle g , being not so heavy as so much water , the oyle being expos'd to a greater pressure from beneath , then its own gravity ( and that of the water incumbent on it ) will enable it to resist , must necessarily give way and be impell'd upwards . and the case being the same between that and any other parallel plain , wheresoever we suppose it to be in its ascent , it must consequently be impell'd further and further upwards till it arrive at the top ; and there it will float upon the water : or , ( to explicate the matter without figures ) when a specifically lighter body is immers'd under water , it is press'd against by two pillars of water ; the one bearing against the upper , and the other against the lower part ; and because the lengths of both these pillars must be computed from the top of the water , the lower part of the immers'd body must be press'd upon by a pillar longer then the upper part by the thickness of the immers'd body ; and consequently must be press'd more upwards then downwards . and by how much the greater disparity of specifick gravity there is betwixt the water and the emerging body , by so much the swifter ( caeteris paribus ) it will ascend : because so much the more will there be of pressure upon all the other parts of the imaginary surface , then upon that part that happens to be contiguous to the bottom of the ascending body . and upon the same grounds we may give ( what we have not yet met with ) a good solution of that probleme , propos'd by hydrostatical writers , why , if a cylindrical stick be cut in two parts , the one as long again as the other , and both of them , having been detain'd under water at the same depth , be let go at the same time and permitted to emerge , the greater will rise faster then the lesser . for suppose one of these bodies , as o p , to be two foot high , and the other , q r , to be half so much , and that the lowermost surfaces of both be in the same imaginary plaine , parallel to the uppermost surface of the water and three foot distant from it ; in this case there will be against the lower part of each of the wooden bodies a pressure , ( from the laterally superior water ) equal to that upon all the other parts of the imaginary plain , whereto those bodies are contiguous ; but whereas upon the upper surface of the shorter body , q r , there will lean a pillar of water two foot high , the pillar of the same liquor that will lean upon the top of the taller body , p o , will be but one foot high ; as the attentive considerer will easily perceive . so that the wooden bodys being lighter in specie then water , both of them will be impell'd upwards ; but that compounded pillar , ( if i may so call it ) which consists of one foot of wood and two foot of water , will by its gravity more resist the being rais'd , then that which consists of two foot of wood and but one foot of water : so that the cause of the unequal celerity in the ascension of these bodys consists chieflly , ( for i would neither overvalue nor exclude concomitant causes ) that the difference of the pressure against the upper and lower part of each body respectively is greater in one then in the other . and hence we may probably deduce a reason of what we often observe in the distillation of the oyles of annisseeds , cloves , and diverse ▪ aromatick vegetables , in lembecks by the intervention of water ; for oftentimes , when the fire has not been well regulated , there will come over , besides the floating oyle , a whitish water , which will not in a long time become cleare . and as we have elswhere taught , that whiteness to proceed from the numerous reflections from the oyly substance of the concrete ' by the heat of the fire broken into innumerable little globuls , and dispers'd through the body of the water ; so the reason why this whiteness continues so long , seems to be chiefly ( for i mention not such things , as , the great surfaces that these little globuls have in respect of their bulk ) that , because of the exceeding minuteness of these drops , the height of the water that presses upon the upper part , is almost equal to that of the water that presses against the lower part ; so that the difference between these two pressures being inconsiderable , it has power to raise the drops but very slowly , ( insomuch that upon this ground i devis'd a menstruum , wherewith i could mingle oyle in drops so exceedingly minute , that , ev'n when there was but a few spoonfuls of the mixture , it would continue whitish for divers whole days together ) though at length they will emerge ; and the sooner , because whilst they swim up and down , as they frequently chance to meet and run into one another , they compose greater drops ; which are ( for the reason already given ) less slowly impell'd up by the water : at the top of which , the chymist ; after a due time , is wont to find new oyl floating . but whether this be any way applicable to the swimming of the insensible particles of corroded metals in aquaflortis , and other saline . menstruums , i must not now stay to enquire . one thing more there is , that i would point at before i dismiss this paradox ; namely , that , for the same reason we have all this while deduc'd , when the emergent drop , or any other body , floats upon the top of the water , it will sinck just so far , ( & no farther ) till the immers'd part of the floating body be equal in bulke to as much water as is equal in weight to the whole body . for suppose , in the annexed figure , y to be a cube of wood three foot high and six pound in weight ; this wood , being much heavier then aire , will sinck into the water , till it come to an imaginary superficies , x w , where , having the position newly describ'd , it will necessarily acquiesce . for all the other equal parts of the superficies , x , w , q , being lean'd upon by pillars of water equal in height to the part x a , or w b , if the whole weight of the wooden cube be greater then that of as much water as is equal to the immers'd part , it must necessarily sinck lower , because the subjacent part of the surface ( at v , ) will be more charg'd then any of the rest . and , on the other side , if the cube were lighter then as much water as that whose place the immers'd part takes up ; it must by the greater pressure of the water upon the other parts of the imaginary superficies x w , then upon that contiguous to the wood , ( as at v ) be impell'd upward , til the pressure of the whole wood upon the part it leans on , be of the same degree with that of the rest of the water , upon the rest of the superficies : and consequently be the same with the water , whose place the immers'd part of it takes up . the lightness of that immers'd part , in respect of so much water , being recompenc'd by the weight of the unimmers'd part , which is extant above the superficies of the water . and we see , that when a piece of wood fals into water , though , by the impetus it acquires in falling , it passes through divers imaginary plains that lye beneath its due station ; yet the greater pressure , to which each of those plains is expos'd in all its other parts , then in that which is contiguous to the bottom of the wood , dos quickly impel it up again , till , after some emersions and subsidings , it rests at length in such a position , as the newly explicated hydrostatical theorem assignes it . scholium . this ingenious proposition ( about floating bodys ) is taught and prov'd after the manner of mathematicians , by the most subtle archimedes and his commentators : and we have newly been endeavouring to manifest the physical reason why it must be true . but partly because the proposition ought to hold , not only in such intire and homogeneous bodyes as men exemplifie it in , ( such as a piece of wood , or a lump of wax ) but in all bodyes , though of a concave figure , and made up of many bodys of never so differing natures ; ( and perhaps some of them joyn'd together only by their superincumbency upon one another ) and partly because that a truth , which is one of the main and usefullest of the hydrostaticks , and may be of so much importance to navigation , has noyet ( that i know of ) been attemtpted to be demonstrated otherwise then upon paper : it will not be amiss , for the satisfaction of such of those whom it may concern , as are not vers'd in mathematical demonstrations , to add an experiment which i made to prove it mechanically ; as exactly as is necessary for the satisfaction of such persons . after ( then ) having imploy'd several vessels , some of wood , some of laton , and some of other materials , to compass what i desir'd ; we found glasses to be the most commodious we could procure . and therefore filling a large and deep glass to a convenient height with fair water , we plac'd in it another deeper glass , shap'd like a goblet or tumbler , that it might be the fitter for swimming ; and having furnish'd it first with ballast , and then , for merryment sake , with a wooden deck , by which a tall mass , with a sayle fusten'd to it , was kept upright ; we fraughted with wood , and by degrees pour'd sand into it , till we had made it s●●●k just to the tops of certaine conspicuous marks , that we had fasten'd on the outside of the glass to opposite parts thereof . then observing how high the water reach'd in the larger glass , ( which by reason of the vessels transparency was easie to be seen ) we carefully plac'd two or three markes in the same level with the horizontal surface of the water ; and taking out the floating vessel , as it was , with all that belong'd to it , and wiping the outside dry , we put it into a good paire of scales , and having found what it amounted to , we weigh'd in a competently large viol ( first counterpoiz'd apart ) so much water , ( to a graine , or thereabouts , ) and pouring this water into the large glass above mentioned , we found it to reach to the marks that we had fastened to the outside of the glass , and consequently to reach to the same height to which the weight of the floating glass , and all that was added to make it resemble a ship , had made it arise to . by which experiment ( which we tried , as to the essential parts of it , with vessels of differing sizes , shapes ; and ladings too , as wood , stone , quick-silver , &c. ) it appears , that the floating vessel it self , with all that was in it , or supported by it , was equal in weight to as much water as was equal in bulk to that part of the vessel which was under water , suppos'd to be cut off from the extant part of the same vessel by a plain continuing the horizontal surface of the water : since the weight of the floating vessel , which rais'd up the water in the larger vessel to the greatest height it attain'd , was the same with the weight of the water , which being pour'd into the larger vessel ( when the other was taken out ) rais'd the water therein to the same height . we may also obtaine the same end , by a somewhat differing way , ( which is the best way in case the vessels be too great viz. to observe , first , by pouring in water out of a bowle or paile , or other vessel of known capacity , as often as is necessary to fill the great vessel , or cistern , or pond , to the top , ( or to any determinate height requir'd ) and , next , letting out , or otherwise removing all that water , to put in its place the vessel , whose weight is to be found out . thirdly , to let , or poure in , water till the vessel be afloat , and by its weight raise the external water to the height it had before : and lastly , to examine how much this water , that was last pour'd in , falls short in weight of the water that was in it at first , and afterwards remov'd . for this difference will give us the weight of as much water , as is aequiponderate to the whole floating vessel , whither small or great , with all that it either carries or susteins . the hydrostatical theorem we have been considering , and the experiments whereby we have endeavour'd to confirm , or illustrate it , may ( mutatis mutandis ) be apply'd to a ship with all her ballast , lading , guns , and company ; it holding generally true , that ( to express the sence of the proposition more briefly ) the weight of a floating body , is equal to as much water , as its immers'd part takes up the room of . whence we might draw some arguments in favour of the learned stevinus , ( for whose sake it partly was that i annexed this scholium ) who , if i mis-remember not , does somewhere deduce as a corollary from certain hydrostatical propositions , that a whole ship , and all that belongs to it , and leans upon it , presses no more nor less upon the bottome it swims over , then as much water , as is equal in bulk to that part of the ship which is beneath the surface of the water . paradox iv. that in the ascension of water in pumps , &c. there needs nothing to raise the water , but a competent weight of an external fluid . this proposition may be easily enough deduc'd from the already mention'd experiments . but yet , for further illustration and proof , vve vvill add that vvhich follovvs . take a slender glass-pipe , ( such as vvas us'd about the first experiment ) and suck into it about the height of an inch of deeply tincted vvater ; and , nimbly stopping the upper orifice , immerse the lovver part of the pipe into a glass half fill'd vvith such tincted vvater , till the surface of the liquor in the pipe be an inch ( or as low as you would have it ) beneath that of the external water . then pouring on oyle of turpentine till it swim 3 or 4 inches , or as high as you please above the vvater ; loosen gently your finger from the upper orifice of the pipe , to give the inclosed aire a little intercourse vvith the external , and you shall see the tincted vvater in the pipe , to be impell'd up , not only higher then the surface of the external vvater , but almost as high as that of the external oyl , through vvhich ( it being transparent and colourless ) the red liquor may be easily discern'd . novv in this case it cau't be pretended , that the ascent of the water in the pipe proceeds from natures abhorrency of a vacuum ; since the pipe being full of aire , and its orifice unstopp'd , though the vvater should not ascend , no danger of a vacuum vvould ensue ; the aire and the vvater remaining contiguous as before . the true reason then of the ascent of the water , in our case , is but this , that upon all the other parts of the imaginary superficies , that passes by the immers'd orifice of the pipe , there is a pressure partly of water , and partly of the oyle swimming upon that water , amounting to the pressure of 4 or 5 inches of water ; whereas upon that part of the same superficies whereon the liquor contain'd in the pipe leans , there is but the pressure of one inch of water , so that the parts near the immers'd orifice must necessarily be thrust out of place by the other parts of water that are more press'd ; till so much liquor be impell'd up into the pipe as makes the pressure on that part of the imaginary superficies , as great as that of the oyle and water on any other equal part of it : and then , by vertue of the aequilibrium , ( often mention'd ) the water will rise no further ; and , by vertue of the same aequilibrium , it will rest a little beneath , the surface of the external oyle , because this last nam'd liquor is lesse heavy , bulk for bulk , then water . and by this we may be assisted to give a reason of the ascension of water in ordinary sucking pumps . for as the oyle of turpentine , though a lighter liquor then water , and not mingleable with it , does , by leaning upon the surface of the external water , press up the water within the pipe , to a far greater height then that of the external water it self : so the aire , which , though a far lighter liquor then oyle of turpentine , reaches i know not how many miles high , leaning upon the surface of the water in a well , would press it up into the cylindrical cavity of the pump ▪ much higher then the external water it self reaches in the well , if it were not hinder'd . now that which hinders it in the pump , is either the sucker , which fences the water in the pump from the pressure of the external aire , or that pressure it self . and therefore , all that the drawing up of the sucker needs to do , is , to free the water in the pipe from the impediment to its ascent , which was given it by the suckers leaning on it , or the pillar of the atmosphaeres being incumbent on it ; as in our experiment , the sides of the pipe do sufficiently protect the water in the pipe from any pressure of the external oyle , that may oppose its ascent . and lastly , as the water in our pipe was impell'd up so high , and no higher , that the cylinder of water in the pipe was just able to ballance the pressure of the water and oyle without the pipe ; so in pumps , the water does rise but to a certain height , as about 33 or 34 foot : and though you pump never so long , it will be rais'd no higher ; because at that height the pressure of the water in the pump , upon that part of the imaginary superficies that passes by the lower orifice of it , is the same with the pressure which other parts of that imaginary superficies ▪ sustaine from as much of the external water , and of the atmosphaere , as come to lean upon it . that there may be cases wherein water may be rais'd by suction , not upon the account of the weight of the aire , but of its spring , i have elsewhere shovvn ; and having likevvise in other places ; endeavour'd to explicate more particularly the ascension of vvater in pumps ; vvhat has been said already may suffice to be said in this place , where 't is sufficient for me to have shovvn , that vvhither or no the ascension of water may have other causes , yet in the cases propos'd , it needs no more then the competent vveight of an external fluid , as is the aire ; vvhose not being devoid of gravity , the cogency of our experiments has brought even our adversaries to grant us . for confirmation of this , i will here add , because it now comes into my mind , ( what might perhaps be elsewhere somewhat more properly mention'd ) an experiment that i did but lightly glance at in the explication of the first , and the scholium of the second paradox . in order to this i must advertise , that , whereas i there took notice , that some ingenious men had complain'd , that , contrary to the experiment propos'd by monsieur paschall , they were not at all able to keep mercury suspended in tubes , however very slender , though the lower end were deeply immers'd in water , if both their ends were open : the reasons of my doubting , whether our ingenious author had ever made or seen the experiment , were , not only that it had been unsuccesfully tryed , and seem'd to me unlikely to succeed in tubes more slender then his appear'd ; but because the impetus , which falling quick silver gains by the acceleration of motion it acquires in its descent , must in all probability be great enough to make it all run out at the bottom of a tube , open at both ends , and fill'd with so ponderous a liquor , though the tube were very much shorter then that propos'd by monsieur paschall . this advertisement i premise to intimate , that , notwithstanding the hopelessness of the experiment , as it had been propos'd and tried , i might have reason not to think it impossible to perform , by another way , the main thing desir'd ; which was to keep quicksilver suspended in a tube , open at both ends , by the resistance of the subjacent water . for by the expedient i am going to propose , i have been able to do it , even with a liquor much lighter then water . finding then , that even a very short cylinder of so ponderous a fluid , as mercury , would , if it were once in falling , descend with an impetus not easy to be resisted by the subjacent liquor , i thought upon the following expedient to prevent this inconvenience . i took a slender pipe , the diameter of whose cavity was little above the sixth part of an inch , and having suck'd in at the lower end of it somewhat lesse then half an inch of quicksilver , and nimbly stopp'd the upper orifice with my finger ; i thrust the quicksilver into , a deep glass of oyle of turpentine , with a care not to unstop the upper orifice , till the small cylinder of quicksilver was 18 or 20 times its depth beneath the surface of the oyle . for by this means , when i unstopp'd the pipe , the quicksilver needed not ( as otherwise it would ) begin to fall , as having a longer cylinder then was requisite to make an aequilibrium with the other fluid . for by our expedient the pressure of the oyle was already full as great , if not greater , against the lower part of the mercurial cylinder , as that which the weight of so short a cylinder could exercise upon the contiguous and subjacent oyle . and accordingly , upon the removal of my finger , the quicksilver did not run out , but remain suspended in the lower part of the pipe . and as ; if i rais'd it towards the superficies of the oyle , the mercury would drop out for want of its wonted counterpoize ; so , if i thrust the pipe deeper into the oyle , the increas'd pressure of the oyle would proportionably impell up the mercury towards the higher parts of the pipe , which being again a little , and but a little , rais'd , the quicksilver would fall down a little nearer the bottom of the pipe : and so , with a not unpleasant spectacle , the ponderous body of quick silver was made sometimes to rise , and sometimes to fall ; but still to float up on the surface of a liquor , lighter ther common spirit of wine it self . but , besides that the experiment , if the maker of it be not very careful ; may easily enough miscarry , the divertisement it gives seldome proves lasting ; the oyle of turpentine after a while insinuating it self betwixt the sides of the pipe , and those of so short a cylinder of mercury , and thereby disordering all . and therefore , though i here mention this experiment , as i tryed it in oyle of turpentine ; because that is the liquor i make use of all along these paradoxes ; and because also i would shew that a lighter fluid then water , ( and therefore why not aire , if its height be greatly enough increas'd : ) may by its weight and pressure , either keep the mercury suspended in pipes , or even raise it in them : yet i found water ( wherewith i fill'd tall glasses ) a fitter liquor then oyle for the experiment ; in which though i sought , and found some other phaenomena , yet because they more properly belong to another place , i shall leave them unmention'd in this . and since experience shews us , that a cylinder of , mercury , of about 30 inches high , is aequiponderant to a cylinder of water of about 33 or 34 foot high ; it s very easie to conclude , that the weight of the external aire , which is able to raise and keep suspended 33 or 34 foot of water in a pump , may do the like to 29 or 30 inches of quicksilver in the torricellian experiment . paradox v. that the pressure of an external fluid is able to keep an heterogeneous liquor suspended at the same height in several pipes , though those pipes be of very different diameters . the contrary of this proposition is so confidently asserted and believed , by those mathematicians , and others , that favour the doctrine of the schools ; that this perswasion of theirs seems to be the chief thing , that has hinderd men from acknowledging , that the quicksilver in the torricellian experiment may be kept suspended by the counterpoize of the external aire . and a famous writer , that has lately treated , as well of the hydrostaticks , as of the 〈◊〉 of the torricellian experiment 〈…〉 the falsehood of our paradox , that , laying aside all other arguments , he contents himself to confute his adversaries with one demonstration ( as he calls it ) grounded on the quite contrary of what we here assert . for his objection runs to this sence . that if it were the pressure of the external aire , that kept the quicksilver suspended in the newly mention'd experiment , the height would not ( as experience shews it is ) be the same in all cylindrical pipes , though of very differing b●●es . for , supposing the height of the mercurial cylinder , in a tube of half an inch diameter , to be 29 inches ; 't is plain , that a mercurial cylinder of the same height , and three inches in diameter , must weigh divers times as much as the former ; and therefore the pressure of the external aire , being but one and the same , if it be a just counterpoize to the greater cylinder , it cannot be so to the less ; and if it be able to keep the one suspended at 29 inches it must be able to keep the other suspended at a far greater height , which yet is contrary to experience . and indeed this objection is so specious , that , though i elsewhere have already answer'd it , both by reason and experience , as far forth as it concerns the torricellian experiment ; yet , to shew the mistake on which it is grounded , it may be very well worth while to make out , our proposed paradox , ( as that whose truth will sufficiently disprove that errour ) by shewing both that the assertion is true , and why it must be so . provide then a more then ordinarily wide mouth'd glass , cleer , and of a convenient depth ; into which having put a convenient quantity of water , deeply ting'd with brazil or some other pigment , fit to the orifice a broad but thin cork , in which , by burning or cutting , make divers round holes of very differing widenesses ; into each of which you may thrust a glass cylinder , open at both ends , and of a size fit for the hole that is to receive it ; that so the several pipes may be imbrac'd by these several holes ; and , as neare as you can , make them parallel to one another , and perpendicular to the superficies of the water , into which they are to be immers'd . but we must not forget , that , besides these holes , there is an aperture to be made in the same corke ( it matters not much of what figure or whereabouts ) to receive the slender end of a glass funnel ; by which oyl may be convey'd into the vessel , when it is stopp'd with the cork . and in the slender part of this funnel we use to put some cotton-week , to break the violence of the oyl that is to be pour'd in , which might else disorder the experiment . all this being thus provided , and the cork ( furnish'd with its pipes ) being fitted to the orifice of the vessel ; if at the funnel you pour in oyl of turpentine , and place the glass betwixt your eye and the light ; you may , through that transparent liquor ; perceive the tincted water , to be impell'd up into all the pipes , and to rise uniformly in them . and , when this tincted liquor has attain'd to the height of two or three , or more inches , above the lowermost surface of the external oyl ; if you remove the funnel , ( which yet you need not do , unless there be yet oyl in it , ) you may plainly perceive the water to reach as high , in one of the smaller pipes , as in another three or four times as great ; and yet the water in the several pipes ( as 't is evident ) is sustain'd , at that height above the level of the other water , by the pressure or counterprize of the external oyle ; which then if one being lighter in specie then water , will have its surface somewhat higher without the pipes , then that of the tincted water within them . and if by the aperture , that receives the funnel , you immerse , almost to the bottom of the oyle , the shorter leg of a slender glass syphon , at whose longer leg you procure by suction the oyle to run out ; you shall perceive , that , according as the depth and pressure of the external third decreases , so the water in the pipe will subside ; and that uniformely , as well in the lesser as in the greater pipes . the reason of this is not difficult to be render'd , by the doctrine already deliver'd . for suppose , e f to be the surface of the water , both within and without the pipes , before any oyle was poured on it : if we then suppose the oyle to be poured in through the funnel , its lightness in respect of water , wherewith it will not mingle , will keep it from getting into the cavity of the pipes l , m , n ; and therefore spreading it self on the outside of them above , it must necessarily , by its gravity , press down the superficies of the external water , and impell up that liquor into the cavities of the pipes . and if we suppose the pouring on of the oyl to be continued till the uppermost surface of the oyl be raised to g h , and that of the external water depress'd to i k , ( or thereabouts , ) an imaginary plain passing along the lower orifices of the pipes ; i say , the tincted waters in the pipes ought to have their uppermost surfaces in the same level , notwithstanding the great inequality of their bores . for that part of the surface ik , which is comprehended within the circular orifice of the greatest pipe l , is no more charged by the incumbent water , then any other part , equal to that circle of the same imaginary superficies , is by the water or oyle incumbent on it ; ( and consequently , no more then the part comprehended within the circle of the finall pipe n , is by the water contain'd in that small pipe ; ) the external oyle having as much a greater height upon the superfices i k , then the water within the pipe , as is requisite to make the two liquors counter-ballance each other , notwithstanding the difference of their specifick gravities . and though the pipe l were twice as bigg , it would charge the subjacent plain i k no more then the pressure of the oyle on the other parts of the same imaginary surface is able to resist . and yet this pressure of the external oyle ought not to be able to raise the water in the slender pipe n , higher then the surface q in the same level with the surface o. for , if the water were higher in the small pipe ; being a heavier liquor then oyle , it must press upon that part of the surface i k , it leans on , with greater force then the external oyle upon the other parts of the same plain i k ; and therefore with greater force then the weight of the external oyle could resist . and consequently , the water in the slender pipe must subside , till its surface be inferiour to that of the external oyle ; since , till then , the difference of their specifick gravities cannot permit them to rest in an aequilibrium . to be short ; it is all one , to the resistance of the external oyl , how wide the cylinder is that it supports in the pipe ; provided the height of it be not greater in respect of the height of the oyl , then the difference of the respective gravities of those two liquors requires . for , so long the pressure of the cylinder of water-will be no greater , on that part of the imaginary superficies which it leans upon , then the pressure of the external oyle will be on all the other parts of the same superficies ; and consequently , neither the one , nor the other of those liquors will subside , but they will both rest in an aequilibrium , but here it will not he amiss to note ; first , that it is not necessary that the glass cylinders l , m , n , should be all of the same length ; since , the lower orifice being open , the water will rise to the same height within them , whether the parts immers'd under the water be exactly of the same length or no. and secondly , that throughout all this discourse , and particularly in the explication of this paradox , we suppose , either that the slenderest pipes , that are imploy'd about these experiments , are of a moderate size , and not exceeding small ; or that , in case they be very small , allowance be made in such pipes for this property , that water will rise in them to a greater height , then can be attributed to the bare counterpoize of either the water or the oyle , that impels it upwards and keeps it suspended . but this difference is of so little moment in our present inquiries , that we may safely neglect it , ( as hereafter we mean to do ) now we have taken this notice of it for prevention of mistakes . paradox vi. if a body be plac'd under water , with its uppermost surface parallel to the horizon ; how much water soever there may be on this or that side above the body , the direct pressure sustain'd by the body ( for we now consider not the lateral nor the recoyling pressure-to which the body may be expos'd if quite environ'd with water , ) is no more then that of a columne of water ▪ having the horizontal superficies of the body for its basis , and the perpendicular depth of the water for its height . and so likewise , if the water that leans upon the body be contain'd in pipes open at both ends ; the pressure of the water is to be estimated by the weight of a pillar of water , whose basis is equal to the lower orifice of the pipe , ( which we suppose to be parallel to the horizon ) and its height equal to a perpendicular reaching thence to the top of the water ; though the pipe be much inclin'd towards the horizon , or though it be irregularly shap'd , and much broader in some parts , then the said orifice . stevinus , in the tenth proposition of his hydrostatical elements , having propos'd in more general termes the former part of our paradox ; annexes to se a demonstration to this purpose . if the bottom e f be charged with a greater weight then that of the water g h f e , that surplusage must come from the adjoyning water ; therefore , if it be possible , let it be from the water a g e d , & h b c f ; which granted , the bottom d e will likewise have a greater weight incumbent on it , upon the score of the neigbouring water g h f e , then that of the water a g e d. and , the reason being the same in all the three cases , the basis f c must susteine a greater weight , then that of the water h b c f. and therefore the whole bottom d c , will have a greater weight incumbent on it , then that of the whole water a b c d ; which yet ( a b c d being a rectangular body ) would be absurd . and by the same way of reasoning you may evince , that the bottom e f sustains no less a weight , then that of the water g h f e. and so , since it sustains neither a greater weight , nor a less , it must sustein just as much weight as the columne of water g h f e. this demonstration of the learned stevinus may well enough be admitted by a naturalist ( though , according to some hypotheses touching the cause and nature of gravity , it may faile of mathematical exactness ; ) and by it may be confirm'd the first part of our propos'd paradox . and some things annexed by stevinus to this demonstration , may be also apply'd to countenance the second . but because this is one of the noblest and usefullest subjects of the hydrostaticks , we think it worth while to illustrate , after our manner , each of the two parts of our paradox by a sensible experiment . first then , take a slender glass pipe , of an even bore , turn'd up at one end like the annexed syphon . into this syphon suck oyl of turpentine till the liquor have fill'd the shorter leg , and be rais'd 2 or 3 inches in the longer . then nimbly stopping the upper orifice with your finger , thrust the lower part of the syphon so farre into a deep glass full of water , that the surface of the oyle in the longer leg of the pipe , may be but a little higher then that of the external water ; and , upon the removal of your finger , you will find the surface of the oyle to vary but little , or not at all , its former station . and as , if you then thrust the pipe a little deeper , you will soe the oyle in the shorter leg to begin to be depress'd ; so , if afterwards you gently raise the pipe toward the top of the water , you shall see the oyle not only regain its former station , but flow out by degrees in drops that will emerge to the top of the water . now , since the water was able , at first , to keep the oyl , in the longer leg of the pipe , suspended no higher , then it would have been kept by a cylinder of water equal to the orifice of the shorter leg of the pipe , and reaching directly thence to the top of the water ; ( as may be easily cried , by making a syphon , where the shorter leg may be long enough to contain such a cylinder of water to conterpoize the oyl in the longer ; ) & since , when once , by the raising of the pipe , the height of the incumbent water was lessen'd , the oyle did more then counter-ballance it ; ( as appears by its flowing out of the syphon , ) we may well conclude ; that , though thence were in the vessel a great deal of water , higher then the immers'd orifice of the syphon , ( and it would be all one , though the syphon were placid at the same depth in a pond or lake ; ) yet , of all that water , no more did gravitate upon the orifice , then that which was plac'd directly over its , which was such a pillat of water , as the paradox describes . and , by the way , we may hence learn ; that though water be not included in pipes , yet it may press as regularly upon a subjacent body , as if it were . and therefore we may well enough conceive a pillar of water , in the free water it self , where there is nothing on any side , but the contiguous water , to bound the imaginary pillar . but i had forgot to add , that the first part of our paradox will hold , not only when the water , superior to the body it presses upon , is free ; but also , when it is included in vessels of never so ( seemingly ) disadvantageous a shape . for , if you so frame the shorter leg of a syphon , that it may expand its self into a funnel , like that of fig. 6. employ'd about the proof of the foregoing ( fisth ) paradox ; ( for which purpose the legs must be at a pretty distance from each other : ) though you fill that funnel with water , the oyle in the longer and slender leg of the syphon will be able to resist the pressure of all the water , notwithstanding the breadth of the upper part of the funnel . so that , ev'n in this case also , the surface of the oyle in the longer leg , will be but a little higher then that of the water in the funnel . for further confirmation of this ; we caus'd to be made a syphon , so shap'd , that one of the legs ( which were parallel , and of the same bore , ) had in the midst of it a sphaere of glass , save that it communicated with the upper and lower parts of the same leg . in the uniform leg of the syphon , we put a convenient quantity of oyle of turpentine , and into the other , as much water as fill'd not only the lower part of it , but the globular part too . and yet we did not find , that all this water was able to keep up the oyle in the uniform leg , at a greater height then if the leg that contain'd the water had been uniform too ; as much of the water in the globe , as was not directly over the lower orifice of it , being supported by the lateral parts ( if i may so call them ) of the same globe . and , if that leg were , instead of water , fill'd with oyle , and the uniform leg with water ; notwithstanding the far greater quantity of oyl , that was necessary to fill that leg , whereof the hollow sphaere was but a part ; the water in the uniform leg would not be kept up ▪ so much as to the same height with the oyle in the mishapen leg . but to make this matter yet the more clear , we caus'd a syphon to be made of the figure express'd in the adjoyning scheme ; into which having poured a convenient quantity of mercury , till it reach'd in the shorter leg c d , almost to the bottom of the clobulou part e , and in the longer leg a b , to an equal height : we afterwards , poured a sufficient quantity of water into the said longer leg a b , which drove away the quicksilver , and impell'd it up in the shorter leg till it had half , or more then half , fill'd the cavity of the globular part e , ( which yet we did not wholly fill with quicksilver , because the tube a b was not long enough for that purpose ; ) and then we observ'd , that , notwithstanding the great weight of ( that body , which is of all bodies , save one , the most ponderous ) quicksilver , which was contain'd in the lower part of the same leg of the syphon , the surface of the quicksilver h g , was impell'd up as high by the water in the leg a b , as the disparity of the specifick weights of those two liquors ( whereof one is about 14 times as heavy as the other ) did require : so that it appear'd not , that , for all the great weight of quicksilver , contain'd in the globulous cavity e , there press'd any more upon the slender and subjacent part e c of that leg , then as much as was plac'd directly over the lower orifice of the said cavity e ▪ so that the other , and lateral parts of that mercury , being supported by the concave sides of the glass , whereunto they were contiguous , the water in the leg a b , appear'd not any more press'd by the quicksilver , then if the leg c d had been , as well as the other , of an uniform bigness ; and , by this means , if we had made the hollow globe of a large diameter , a small quantity of water , poured into the leg a b , might have been able to raise a quantity of quicksilver exceedingly much heavier then it self . but then so little water can raise the quicksilver , in so broad a pipe , but to an inconsiderable height . to make out the second part of our paradox by an experiment , we took three glass-pipes ; the one made like a bolt-head , with a round ball and two opposite stemms ; the other was an irregular pipe , blown with an elbow , wherewith it made an angle ; and the third was as irregularly shap'd , as i could get it blown ; being in some places much broader , and in some much narrower then the lower orifice of it . and these two last nam'd pipes had their upper ends so inserted into holes , made fit for them in a broad piece of cork ; that , when they were immers'd , they made not right angles , but very oblique ones , with the horizontal surface of the liquor . the other glass likewise , which consisted of a great bubble , and two opposite pipes , was fastened to the same cork , which having before hand been made fit for a wide mouth'd glass of a good depth , and half fill'd with water , was thrust as a stopple into the mouth of the said glass , so that the water a scended a pretty way into each of the three pipes by their lower orifices , which as well as the upper we left open ; then a good quantity of oyle of turpentine being pour'd into the same vessel , through a funnel , the water was by the incumbent oyle impell'd up to the height of 2 or 3 inches in each of the three pipes . which argues , that , notwithstanding their being so unequal in bigness , and so irregular in shape , ( insomuch that we guess'd one of them was 10 or 12 times greater in one part , then in another , or then it was even at the orifice ) the water , contain'd in each of them , press'd upon its lower orifice no more ( i do not add , nor no less ) then it would have done if it had been a cylinder , having the orifice for its basis , and the perpendicular depth of the water and oyle above , for its height . for in case each of the pipes had contein'd but such a cylinder of water , that water would nevertheless have had its uppermost superficies at the same height : and on the other side , it would have been impell'd up beyond it , if its weight did not as strongly endeavour to depress the immediately subjacent water , as the pressure of the external fluids endeavour'd to impel it up . and since the height of the water was about the same in the several pipes , though two of them , being very much inclin'd , contain'd much more water then if they were erected : yet by the same way of reasoning we may gather , that the imaginary plain , passing by the immers'd orifice of either of these inclining pipes , sustain'd no more of pressure , then it would have done from a shorter cylinder of water if erected . and indeed , in all these cases , where a pipe either is broader in other places then at its lower orifice , or inclin'd any way towards the horizon , the weight of the contain'd liquor is not all supported by the liquor or the body contiguous to the lower orifice , but partly by the sides of the pipe it self . and therefore if , when in a slender pipe you have brought a parcel of oyl of turpentine to be in an equilibrium with the external water , as in the experiment belonging to the first paradox ; if , i say , when this is done , you incline the pipe towards the sides of the glass , you may indeed observe the surface of the oyle in the pipe to be , as before , a little higher then that of the water without it : but you shall likewise see , that , though the orifice of the pipe were not thrust deeper into the water , yet therewill be a pretty deal of water got up into the pipe ; because the oyle not leaning now upon the water only ; as it did before , but partly upon the water , and partly upon the pipe , its pressure upon the subjacent water is considerably lessen'd ; and there by the external water , whose pressure is not diminish'd too , is able to impel up the oyl , and intrude for a little way into the pipe . but if you re-erect the pipe , the pressure of the oyle being then again exerted upon the subjacent water , it will be able to depress , and drive it again out of the cavity of the pipe . and to this agrees very well what we further try'd as follows : we caused 3 pipes to be blown ( shap'd as the adjoyning figures ; ) one having in it divers acute angles ; the other being of a winding form , like a scrue or worm of the limbeck ; and the third very irregularly crooked ; and yet each of these pipes having all its crooked parts , and some of its streight & erected parts , fil'd with oyl of turpentine ; being thrust to a convenient depth under water and unstopp'd there , ( after the manner already often declar'd ) we found , that , according to our paradox , the surface of the oyle in the pipe was higher than that of the water without it , as much as it would have been in case the pipe had been streight , ( as we try'd by placing by the crookedest of them a streight pipe with oyle in it ) though the quantity of the oyle , in one of these pipes , were perhaps three times as much as would have suffic'd , if the pipe had been strait : so that this surplusage of oyle did not press upon the subjacent water , ( for if it had done so , the oyle would have run out of the pipe . ) and i remember , that lifting up as much of one of these crooked pipes , as i thought fit , somewhat above the surface of the water ; when the superficies of the oyle in the pipe was not above half an inch higher then that of the water without it , i estimated that the crooked pillar of oyl , contain'd in that part of the pipe which was above the surface of the water , was about 7 or 8 inches long . so true it is , that the pressure of liquors , contain'd in pipes , must be computed by the perpendicular that measures their height , what ever be their length or bigness . scholium . the learned stevinus , having demonstrated the proposition we lately mention'd out of him , subjoyns divers consectaries of which the truth hath been thought more questionable , then that of the theorem it self . and therefore he thought fit to add a kind of appendix to make good a paradox , which seems to amount to this . that if , in the cover of a large cylindrical box , exactly closed , there be perpendicularly erected a cylindrical pipe open at both ends , and reaching to the cavity of the box ; this instrument being fill'd with water , the circular basis of it will susteine a pressure , equal to that of the breadth of the basis and height of the pipe. i chose thus to express this theorem , ( which might be , according to stevinus , propos'd in more general terms , ) because this way of expressing it will best suit with the subsequent experiment , and may consequently facilitate the understanding of the paradox . but though the learned stevinus's aims were to be commended ; who finding this proposition doubted , seems to have had a great mind to give an experimental demonstration of it , and therefore proposes no less then five pragmatical examples ( as he calls them ) to make out the truth of what he asserts ; yet in this he hath been somewhat unhappy , that that experiment , which alone ( for ought i can find ) has been try'd of all the five , is rejected as incompetent , by those that profess to have purposely made tryal of it . and indeed , by reason of the difficulty of bringing them to a practical examen , i have somewhat doubted whether or no this useful writer did ever make all those tryals himself ; rather then set down the events , he suppos'd they must needs have ; as presuming his conjectures rightly deduc'd from a demonstrative truth . wherefore though another of the experiments , he proposes , be not free from difficulty , yet having , by the help of an expedient , made it practicable , we are induc'd by its plainness and clearness to prefer it to what else he proposes to the same purpose . we provided then a vessel of laton , of the figure express'd in the scheme , and furnished it with a loose bottom c d , made of a flat piece of wood cover'd with a soft bladder and greas'd on the lower side neer the edges , that leaning on the rim of wood g h , contiguous every where to the inside of the laton it might be easily lifted from off this rim ; and yet lye so close , upon it , that the water should not be able to get out between them : and to the midst of this loose bottom was fastned a long string , of a good strength , for the use hereafter to be declared . the instrument thus fitted , the water was poured in apace at the top a b , which , by its weight pressing the false bottom c d against the subjacent rim , g h , contributed to make the vessel the more tight , and to hinder its own passing . the vessel being fill'd with water we took the forementioned string , one of whose ends was fastned to i , the middle part of the loose bottom ; and , tying the other end k to the extremity of the beam of a good pair of scales , we put weights one after another into the opposite scale , till at length those weights lifted up the false botom c d from the rim g h ; and , consequently , lifted up the incumbent water ; which presently after ran down between them . and having formerly , before we poured in any water , try'd what water would suffice to raise the bottom c d , when there was nothing but its own proper weight that was to be surmounted ; we found , by deducting that weight from the weight in the scale , and comparing the residue with the weight of as much water , as the cavity of the broad , but very shallow cylinder b e c h g d f would have alone ( if there had been no water in the pipe a i ) amounted to ; we found , i say , by comparing these particulars , that the pressure upon c d was by so very great odds more , then could have been attributed to the weight of so little water , as the instrument pipe and all contain'd , in case the water had been in an uniform cylinder , and consequently a very shallow one , of a basis as large as that of our instrument , that we could not but look upon the success , as that , which though it did not answer what the reading of stevinus might make a man expect ; yet may deserve to be further prosecuted , that whether or no the paradox of stevinus ( which not only some others , but the learned dr. wallis himself question ) wil hold ; the inquiry he has started , may be so persued , as to occasion some improvement of this part of hydrostaticks : where , to define things with certainty , will perhaps be found a difficulter task then at first glance one would think ; both because divers speculative things must be taken into consideration , whose theory has not perhaps yet been clear'd , and because of the difficulty that will be found in practice by them that shall go about to make stevinus's experiments , or others of that sort with all requisite accurateness : as indeed , it is far easier to propose experiments , which would in likelyhood prove what we intend , in case they could be made , then to propose practicable expedients how they may be made . paradox vii . that a body immers'd in a fluid , sustains a lateral pressure from the fluid ; and that increas'd , as the depth of the immers'd body , beneath the surface of the fluid , increaseth . though i shall not wonder if this proposition seems strange enough to most readers : yet i think i could make it out by several wayes , and particularly by one that is plain and easie , being but that which follows . take then a slender glass pipe ( like that imployd about the first experiment ; ) and cause it to be bent within two or three inches of one end , so that the longer and the shorter legs , e f and f g , may make , as near as can be , a right angle at f ; then dipping the orifice of the shorter leg f g in oyle of turpentine , suck into the syphon ( if i may so call it ) as much of the liquor , as will fill the shorter leg , and reach two or three inches high in the longer ; then , nimbly stopping the upper orifice with your finger , immerse the lower part of the glass under water , in such manner as that the longer leg e f may make , as to sense , right angles with ( a b ) the horizontal surface of the water , and the shorter leg f g may be so far depress'd under that surface , that i k , the superficies of the oyle in the longer leg , be but a little higher then a b , that of the external water . then , removing your finger , you may observe , that the oyle in the syphon will continue ( with little or no change ) in its former station . by which it appears that there is a lateral pressure of the water against the oyle contiguous to g , the orifice of the shorter leg of the pipe , since it is only that pressure that hinders the efflux of the oyl at that orifice , notwithstanding the pressure of the perpendicular cylinder of oyle that would drive it out . and that this pressure of the perpendicular cylinder doth really urge the oyle in the shorter leg to flow out ; you may learn by slowly lifting the syphon ( without changing its , former posture ) towards the surface of the water . for as the lower leg comes nearer and nearer to that surface , ( to which , as i newly intimated , it is still to be kept parallel ) the oyle in the horizontal leg will be driven out in drops , by the pressure of the other oyle in the perpendicular leg . that likewise before you begin to raise the syphon , the lateral pressure of the water against the lower orifice of it is , at least in such experiments , near about the same with what would be the perpendicular pressure of a cylinder of water , reaching from the same orifice g ( or some part of it ) to the top of the water , may be gather'd from hence , that the surface of the oyle in the longer leg will be a litle higher then that of the external water , as ( by reason of the often mention'd comparative levity of the oyl ) it would be , if we suppose , that a pipe of glass of the same bore , and reaching to the top of the water , being fitted to the orifice of the horizontal leg ( as in the annex'd figure the cylinder , g h ) were fill'd with water . and , to make out the latter part of our proposition , we need add no more , then that , if you plunge the syphon deeper into the water , you shall find the oyle , by the lateral pressure of the water , driven by degrees quite out of the shorter leg into the longer : and if you thrust it yet deeper , you may observe that the longer leg will admit a cylinder of water , upon which that of oyle will swim ; the whole oyle alone being unable to counterballance the lateral pressure of the water at so great a depth . by which last circumstance , it appears , that water has also a lateral pressure against water it self , and that increas'd according to its depth ; since otherwise the external water could not impel that in the horizontal leg of the syphon , into the perpendicular leg , though to doe so , it must surmount the weight or resistance of the whole cylinder of oyl , that must be hereby violently rais'd in the said perpendicular leg . but if you gently raise the syphon again , the lateral pressure of the water against the immers'd orifice being diminish'd , ( according as the distance of that orifice g from the horizontal surface , a b , comes to be lessen'd , ) the prevalent oyle will drive out the water , first out of the longer leg , and then out of the shorter , and will at length flow out in drops at the immers'd orifice , and thence emerge to the top of the water . besides , when the oyle in the syphon does just counterballance the external water , if you keep the shorter leg parallel to the surface of the water , and move the orifice of it this way or that way , and place it nearer or further off from the middle or from the sides of the glass , ( provided you keep it always at the same depth under the water , ) you 'l find the oyl in the longer leg to continue ( as to sense ) at the same height : whence we may learn ( what i have not yet found mention'd by any writer , ) that , ev'n in the mid'st of the water , we may suppose a pillar of water , of a basis equal to the side of an immers'd body , ( and reaching to the lowest part of it ; ) and that , though this imaginary aqueous pillar , such as in our figure g h , be not included in any solid body or stable superficies ; nevertheless it s lower parts will have a lateral pressure tending outwards , against the imaginary sides , from the weight of the water that is above these subjacent and lateral parts ; and will have that pressure increas'd proportionably to the height to which the imaginary pillar reaches above them . which observation , being duely noted and apply'd , may be of no mean use in the explication of divers hydrostatical phaenomena . and lastly if , in stead of holding e f , the longer leg of our syphon , perpendicular , ( and , consequently , the shorter parallel to the horizon , ) you variously incline the former , so as to bring it to make an obtuse or an acute angle with the superficies of the water a b ; though by this means the shorter and immers'd leg , f g , will in situation sometimes respect the bottom , and sometimes the top of the glass : yet in all these oblique situations of this leg , and the immers'd orifice of it g , the oblique pressure of the water will so much depend upon the height of the surface of the liquor above the orifice , and so much conform to the observations already deliver'd , that you shall still see the surface of the oyle i k , in the longer pipe , to be a little , and but a little superiour to that of the external water , a b , and so the aequilibrium betwixt the liquor , or liquors , within the syphon , and the water without it , will ev'n in this case also be maintain'd . scholium . remembring on this occasion an experiment , which though it do not shew what the precise quantity of lateral pressure is , that the lower parts of the fluid may sustain from the more elevated ; yet it may confirm the foregoing paradox , and by its phaenomena afford some hints that may render it not unacceptable ; i shall subjoyn it , as i set it down not long after i devis'd it . in the first place then , there was made a glass bubble with a slender neck ; and ( in a word ) of the figure express'd in the annex'd scheme ; this bubble i caus'd to be so poys'd , that , though it would float upon the water , yet the addition of a weight small enough would suffice to make it sinck . this done , i provided a very large wide mouth'd glass , and caus'd to be fitted to it , as exactly as i could , a stopple of cork , which being strongly thrust in , would not easily be listed up . in the middle of this cork there was burn'd , with a heated instrument , a round hole ; through which was thrust a long slender pipe of glass ; so that the lower end of it was a pretty way beneath the cork , and the upper part of it was , as near as could be , at right angles with the upper part of the said cork . and in an other part of the stopple , near the edge , there was made another round hole , into which was likewise thrust another small pipe ; whose lower part reach'd also a pretty way beneath the cork ; but its upper part was but about two or three inches high ; and the orifice of this upper part was carefully clos'd with a stopple and cement . then the glass vessel being fill'd with water , and the pois'd bubble being made to float upon it , the stopple or cover of the great glass vessel was put on , and made fast with a close cement , that nothing might get in or out of the vessel , but at the long slender pipe ; which was fastned into the cork ▪ ( as was also the shorter pipe ) not only by its own fitness to the hole , it pass'd through , but by a sufficient quantity of the same cement , carefully apply'd to stop all crevesses . the instrument thus prepar'd , ( and inclin'd this or that way , till the floating bubble was at a good distance from that end of the long pipe , which reached a pretty way downwards beneath the surface of the water , ) we began to pour in some of that liquor at the open orifice of the pipe e f ; and , the mouth of the vessel being exactly stopp'd , the water for want of another place to receive it , ascended into the pipe through which it had fallen before . and , if i held my hand when the water i had pour'd in was able to reach but to a small height in the cylinder , as for instance , to the superficies j ; the bubble x would yet continue floating . but if i continued pouring till the water in the pipe had attain'd to a considerable height above the surface of that in the vessel , as if it reach'd to k ; then the bubble x would presently sinck to the bottome of the vessel ; and there continue , as long as as the water continued at so great a height in the pipe e. f. this experiment will not only teach us , that the upper parts of the water gravitate upon those that are under them , but ( which is the thing we are now to confirm ) that in a vessel , that is full , all the lower parts are press'd by the upper , though these lower be not directly beneath the upper , but aside of them , and perhaps at a good distance from the line in which they directly press : these things , i say , may be made out by our experiment . for the addition of the cylinder of water k j , in the pipe e f , makes the bubble x subside ; as the force or pressure of any other heavy body upon the water in the vessel would do . and since ( as may be gather'd from the reason formerly given ( in the proof of the second paradox ) of the sincking of pois'd bubbles ) the included aire in our bubble was notably compress'd ; it will follow , that the cylinder of water , ki , did press the subjacent water in the vessel . for , without so doing , it could not be able to compress the aire in the bubble . and since the said bubble did not swimme directly under or near the pipe e f ; but at one side of it , and at a pretty distance from it , nay and floated above the lower orifice , f , of the pipe ; 't is evident that that aqueous cylinder , jk , does not only press upon the water , or other bodies that are directly under it ; but upon those also that are laterally situated in respect of it , provided they be inferior to it . and , according to this doctrine , we may conceive , that every assignable part of the sides of the vessel does sustaine a pressure , encreas'd by the encrease of that parts depth under water , and according to the largness of the said part . and therefore , if any part were so weak , as that it would be easily beaten out or broken by a weight equal to the cylinder i k , ( making always a due abatement for the obliquity of the pressure ) it would not be fit to be a part of our vessel : nay the cork it self , though it be above the surface of the water in the vessel ; yet because the water in the pipe is higher then it , each of its parts resists a considerable pressure proportionate to its particular bigness , and to the height of the water in the pipe . and therefore , if the cork be not well stopp'd in , it may be lifted up by the pressure of the water in the pipe , if that be fill'd to a good height . and if the cement be not good and close , the water will ( not without noise ) make it self a passage through it . and if the stopple g , of the shorter pipe g h , ( which is plac'd there likewise to illustrate the present conjecture ) do not firmly close the orifice of it , it may be forced out , not without violence and noise . and , for further satisfaction , if , in stead of the stopple g , you close the orifice with your finger , you shall find it press'd upwards as strongly , as it would be press'd downwards by the weight of a cylinder of water of the breadth of the pipe , and of a not inconsiderable height , ( for 't is not easie to determine precisely , what height : ) so that ( to be short ) in the fluid body , we made our tryal with , the pressure of the superior parts was communicated , not onely to those that were plac'd directly under them , but ev'n to those that were but obliquely so , and at a distance from them . i had forgot to confirm , that it was the pressure of the superiour parts of the water , that made our floating bubble sinck , by such another circumstance as i took notice of in some of the former experiments ; viz. that , when it lay quietly at the bottom of the vessel , if by inclining the instrument we pour'd off as much of the water in the pipe , e f , as suffic'd competently to diminish its height above the water in the vessel a b c d , the air in the bubble , finding its former pressure alleviated , would presently expand it self , and make the bubble emerge . and to show , that the very oblique pressure which the bubble sustain'd from the water in the pipe , was not overmuch differing from that which it would have sustain'd from an external force , or from the weight of water plac'd directly over it ; i caus'd two such bubbles to be pois'd , and having put each of them into a long cylindrical glass , open above , and fill'd with water , upon which it floated , if we thrust it down a little way it would ( agreeably to what hath been above related ) ascend again ; so that we were forc'd to thrust it down to a good depth , before the pressure of the incumbent water was great enough to make it subside . and perhaps it will not be impertinent to take notice , before we conclude , how the pressure of such differing fluids , as aire and water , may be communicated to one another . for having sometimes forborn to fill the vessel a b c d quite full of water , so that , when the cork was fitted to it , there remain'd in it a pretty quantity of aire , ( as between the surface l m , and the cork ) nevertheless , if the stopple or cork were very closely put in , the pressure of the water that was afterwards poured into the pipe e f , from j to k , would make the bubble sinck , little otherwise , for ought i took notice of , then if the vessel had been perfectly fill'd with water ; the aire ( above l m , ) that was both imprisoned and compress'd , communicating the pressure it receiv'd to the water contiguous to it : paradox viii . that water may be made as well to depress a body lighter then it self , as to buoy it up . how strange soever this may seem , to those that are prepossess'd with the vulgar notions about gravity and levity : it need not be marvail'd at , by them that have consider'd what has been already deliver'd . for since , in fluid bodies , the upper parts press upon the lower , and upon other bodies that lie beneath them . and since , when a body is unequally press'd by others , whether lighter or heavier then it self , it must necessarily be thrust out of that place , where it is more press'd , to that where 't is less press'd ; if that a parcel of oyle be by a contrivance so exposed to the water , as that the water presses against its upper superficies , and not against the undermost or lateral parts of it ; if we suppose that there is nothing ( whose pressure is not inferiour to that of the water ) to hinder its descent , ( supposing , withal , that the oyle and water cannot pass by one another ; for which cause , we make use of a slender pipe ; ) the oyle must necessarily give way downwards , and consequently be depress'd and not buoy'd up . this is easily exemplified by the following experiment . take a slender glass syphon e f g h , of the bore we have often mention'd , whose shorter leg g h may be about 3 or 4 inches long , and as parallel as the artificer can make it to the longer e f ; dip the shorter leg in oyle of turpentine , till the oyle quite fill the shorter leg , and reach to an equal height in the longer , as from f to j. then stopping the orifice e of the longer leg with your finger , and immersing the replenish'd part of the syphon about an inch under water , you shall perceive that as you thrust it lower and lower , upon the removal of your finger , the oyle in the shorter leg will be made to sinck about an inch or somewhat more ; and as afterwards you thrust the pipe deeper , the oyle in the shorter leg will , by the weight of the incumbent water , h k , be driven downward more and more , till it come to the very bottom of the shorter leg ; whence , by continuing the immersion , you may impel it into the longer . the cause of which phaenomenon , i suppose to be already clearly enough assign'd , to make it needless to add any thing here about it . it remains , that , before i proceed to the next proposition , i add ; that , to exemplifie at once three paradoxes , ( both this , and the next foregoing , and the second ) i caus'd to be made a slender glass-pipe , of the figure express'd in the annexed scheme , and having , by the lower orifice l , suck'd into it as much oyle of turpentine , as reach'd in the longest leg , n o , as high as the top of the other part of the glass ; ( namely , to the part p , in the same level with the orifice l , ) i first stopp'd the upper orifice of it , o , with my finger . and then , thrusting it as before under water to a convenient depth , upon the removal of my finger , the external water did first drive away the oyle that was in l m , that part of the crooked pipe which was parallel to the horizon ; then it depress'd the same oyle to the bottom of the shorter leg , that is from m to n : and lastly , it impell'd it all up into the longer leg n p o , to what height i thought fit . so that the oyle was press'd by the water both laterally , downwards , and upwards : the causes of which are easily deducible from the doctrine already deliver'd . paradox ix . that , what ever is said of positive levity , a parcel of oyle lighter then water , may be kept in water without ascending in it . to make out what i have to represent about this paradox the more intelligible , the best way perhaps will be to set down the considerations that induc'd me to judge the thing it pretends to feasible . and in order to this , it would be expedient to consider , why it is that a body lighter in specie then water , being plac'd never so much beneath the superficies of that liquor , will rather emerge to the top , then sinck to the bottom of it ; if we had not already consider'd that problem in the explication of the third paradox . but being now allow'd to apply to our present purpose what hath been there deliver'd , i shall forthwith subjoyne , that 't was easie enough for me to collect from hence , that , the reason why it seems not possible , that a parcel of oyle lighter then water , should without violence be kept from emerging to the top of it , being this , that since the surface of a vessel full of standing water is ( physically speaking ) horizontal , the water that presses against the lower part of the immers'd body , must needs be deeper then that which presses against the upper : if i could so order the matter that the water that leans upon the upper part of the body should be being higher then the level of the rest of the water have a height great enough to ballance that which presses against the lower , ( and the bodies not shift places by passing one by the other ) the oyle might be kept suspended betwixt two parcels of water . to reduce this to practise , i took the following course ; having suck'd into a slender pipe ▪ ( such as that imploy'd about the first experiment about an inch of water , and kept it suspended there by stopping the orifice of the pipe ; i thrust the lower part of the pipe about two inches beneath the surface of some oyl of turpentitie ( which , to make the effect the clearer , i sometimes tinge deeply with copper : ) then removing my finger , the oyle being press'd against the immers'd orifice with a greater force , then the weight of so little suspended water could resist , that oyle was impell'd into the lower part of the pipe to the height of near an inch ; and then again i stopp'd the upper orifice of the pipe with my finger , and thereby keeping both the liquors suspended in it , i thrust the pipe into a glass full of water , three or four inches beneath the surface of it ; and then ( for the reason just now given ) the water , upon the removal of my finger , will press in at the lower orifice of the pipe , and impell up the oyle , till they come to such a station , as that express'd in the annex'd scheme : where p q is the water , newly impell'd up into the pipe , q r is the oyl , and r s the water that was at first suck'd into the pipe . for in this station , these three liquors do altogether as much gravitate upon the part p , as the incumbent water alone does upon the other parts of the imaginary superficies g h ; and yet the oyle , r q , does not ascend , because the diffluence of the water , r s , being hindred by the sides of the pipe , its superficies , t s , is higher then a d , the superficies of the rest of the water ; by which means the incumbent water may be brought to have upon the upper part r of the oleous cylinder , as great a pressure as that of the water , that endeavours to impel upwards the lower part q of the same suspended cylinder of oyle . paradox x. that the cause of the ascension of water in syphons , and of its flowing through them , may be explicated without having a recourse to natures abhorrency of a vacuum . both philosophers and mathematicians , having too generally confest themselves reduc'd to fly to a fuga vacui , for an account of the cause of the running of water and other liquors through syphons . and ev'n those moderns , that admit a vacuum , having ( as far as i have met with ) either left the phaenomenon unexplicated , or endeavour'd to explain it by disputable notions : i think the curious much oblig'd to monsieur paschal , for having ingeniously endeavour'd to shew ▪ that this difficult probleme need not reduce us to have recourse to a fuga vacut . and indeed his explication of the motion of water in syphons , seems to me so consonant to hydrostatical principles , that i think it not necessary to alter any thing in it . but as for the experiment he propounds to justifie his ratiocination , i fear his readers will scarce be much invited to attempt it . for , besides that it requires a great quantity of quicksilver ; and a new kind of syphon , 15 or 20 foot long ; the vessels of quicksilver must be plac'd 6 or 7 yards under water , that is , at so great a depth , that i doubt whether men , that are not divers , will be able conveniently to observe the progress of the tryal . wherefore we will substitute a way , which may be try'd in a glass tube , not two foot deep , by the help of another peculiarly contriv'd glass , to be prepar'd by a skilful hand . provide then a glass tube a b c d , of a good wideness , and half a yard or more in depth ; provide also a syphon of two legs f k , and k g , whereunto is joyn'd ( at the upper part of the syphon ) a pipe e k , in such manner , as that the cavity of the pipe communicates with the cavities of the syphon ; so that if you should pour in water at e , it would run out at f and g. to each of the two legs of this new syphon , must be ty'd with a string a pipe of glass , i and h , seal'd at one end , and open at the other ; at which it admits a good part of the leg of the syphon to which it is fastned , and which leg must reach a pretty way beneath the surface of the water , wherewith the said pipe is to be almost fill'd . but as one of these legs is longer then the other , so the surface of the water in the suspended pipe i , that is fastned to the shorter leg k f , must be higher ( that is , nearer to k or a b ) then the surface of the water in the pipe h , suspended from the longer leg kg ; that ( according to what is usual in syphons ) the water may run from a higher vessel to a lower . all things being thus provided ; and the pipe e k being held , or otherwise made fast that it may not be mov'd ; you must gently poure oyle of turpentine into the tube a b c d , ( which , if you have not much oyle , you may before hand fill with water till the liquor reach near the bottom of the suspended pipes , as to the superficies x y ) till it reach higher then the top of the syphon f k g , ( whose orifice e you may , if you please , in the mean time close with your finger or otherwise , and afterwards unstop ) and then the oyle pressing upon the water will make it ascend into the legs of the syphon ; and pass through it , out of the uppermost vessel j , into the lowermost h ; and if the vessel j were supply'd with water , the course of the water through the syphon would continue longer , then here ( by reason of the paucity of water ) it can do . now in this experiment we manifestly see the water made to take its course through the legs of a syphon from a higher vessel into a lower , and yet the top of the syphon being perforated at k , the aire has free access to each of the legs of it , through the hollow pipe e k which communicates with them both . so that , in our case , ( where there is no danger of a vacuum , though the water should not run through the syphon ) the fear of a vacuum cannot with any shew of reason be pretended to be the cause of its running . wherefore we must seek out some other . and it will not be very difficult to find , that 't is partly the pressure of the oyle , and partly the contrivance and situation of the vessels ; if we will but consider the matter somewhat more atentively . for the oyle , that reaches much higher then k , and consequently then the leggs of the syphon , presses upon the surface of the external water , in each of the suspended pipes i and h. i say the external water , because the oyle floating upon the water , and the orifice of both the legs f and g being immers'd under the water , the oyle has no access to the cavity of either of those legs . wherefore , since the oyle gravitates upon the water without the legs , and not upon that within them , and since its height above the water is great enough to press up the water into the cavity of the legs of the syphon , and impel it as high as k , the water must by that pressure be made to ascend . and this raising of the water happening at first in both legs , ( for the cause is in both the same ) there will be a kind of conflict about k betwixt the two ascending portions of water , and therefore we will now examine which must prevaile . and if we consider , that the pressure , sustein'd by the two parcels of water in the suspended pipes i and h , depends upon the height of the oyle that presses upon them respectively ; it may seem ( at the first view ) that the water should be driven out of the lower vessel into the higher . for if we suppose that part of the shorter leg that is unimmers'd under water to be 6 inches long , & the unimmers'd part of the longer leg to be seaven inches ; because the surface of the water in the vessel i , is an inch higher , then that of the water in the vessel h , it will follow , that there is a greater pressure upon the water , whereinto the longer leg is dip'd , by the weight of an inch of oyle : so that that liquor being an inch higher upon the surface of the water in the pipe h , then upon that in the pipe i , it seems that the water ought rather to be impell'd from h towards k , then from i towards k. but then we must consider , that , though the descent of the water in the leg g , be more resisted then that in the other leg , by as much pressure as the weight of an inch of oyle can amount to ; yet being longer by an inch then the water in the leg f , it tends downwards more strongly by the weight of an inch of water , by which length it exceeds the water in the opposite leg . so that an inch of water being ( ceteris paribus ) heavier then an inch of oyle ; the water in the longer leg , notwithstanding the greater resistance of the external oyle , has a stronger endeavour downwards , then has the water in the shorter leg ; though the descent of this be resisted but by a depth of oyl less by an inch. so that all things computed , the motion must be made towards that way where the endeavour is most forcible ; and consequently the course of the water must be from the upper vessel , and the shorter leg , into the longer leg , and so into the lower vessel . the application of this to what happens in syphons is obvious enough . for , when once the water is brought to run through a syphon , the aire ( which is a fluid and has some gravity , and has no access into the cavity of the syphon , ) must necessarily gravitate upon the water whereinto the legs of the syphon are dip'd , and not upon that which is within the syphon : and consequently , though the incumbent aire have somewhat a greater height upon the water in the lower vessel , then upon that in the upper ; yet the gravitation it thereby exercises upon the former more then upon the latter , being very inconsiderable , the water in the longer leg much preponderating ( by reason of its length ) the water in the shorter leg , the efflux must be out of that leg , and not out of the other . and the pressure of the external aire being able to raise water ( as we find by sucking pumps ) to a far greater height , then that of the shorter leg of the syphon ; the efflux will continue , for the same reason , till the exhaustion of the water , or some other circumstance , alter the case . but , if the legs of the syphon should exceed 34 or 35 foot of perpendicular altitude ; the water would not flow through it ; the pressure of the external aire being unable , ( as has been elsewhere declared , ) to raise water to such a height . and if a hole being made at the top of a syphon , that hole should be unstopp'd while the water is running , the course of it would presently cease . for , in that case , the aire would gravitate upon the water , as well within as without the cavity of the syphon ; and so the water in each leg would , by its own weight , fall back into the vessel belonging to it . but because this last circumstance , though clearly deducible from hydrostatical principles and experiments , has not , that i know of , been verified by particular tryals , i caus'd two syphons to be made , the one of tin , the other of glass ; each of which had , at the upper part of the flexure , a small round hole or socket , which i could stop and unstop , at pleasure , with the pulp of my finger . so that , when the water was running through the syphon , in case i remov'd my finger , the water would presently fall , partly into one of the subjacent vessels , and partly into the other . and if the legs of the syphon were so unequal in length , that the water in the one had a far greater height ( or depth ) then in the other ; there seem'd to be , when the liquor began to take its course through the syphon , some light pressure from the external aire upon the finger , wherewith i stopp'd the orifice of the socket made at the flexure . and on this occasion i will add , what i more then once try'd ; to shew , at how very minute a passage the pressure of the external aire may be communicated , to bodyes fitted to receive it . for , having for this purpose stopp'd the orifice of one of the above mentioned syphons , ( insteed of doing it with my finger , ) with a piece of oyl'd paper , carefully fastned with cement to the sides of the socket ; i found , as i expected , that though hereby the syphon was so well clos'd , that the water ran freely through : yet , if i made a hole with the point of a needle , the aire would at so very little an orifice insinuate it self into the cavity of the syphon , and , thereby gravitating as well within as without , make the water in the legs to fall down into the vessels . and though , if i held the point of the needle in the hole i made , and then caus'd one to suck at the longer leg ; this small stopple , without any other help from my hand , suffic'd to make the syphon fit for use : yet if i remov'd the needle , the aire would ( not without some noise ) presently get in at the hole , and put a final stop to the course of the water . nor was i able to take out the needle and put it in again so nimbly , but that the aire found time to get into the syphon ; and , till the hole were again stopp'd , render it useless , notwithstanding that the water was by suction endeavour'd to be set a running . paradox xi . that a solid body , as ponderous as any yet known , though near the top of the water it will sinck by its own weight ; yet if it be plac'd at a greater depth then that of twenty times its own thickness , it will not sinck , if its descent be not assisted by the weight of the incumbent water . this paradox , having never been ( that i know of ) propos'd as yet by any , has seem'd so little credible to those to whom i have mention'd it , ( without excepting mathematicians themselves , ) that i can scarce hope it should be readily and generally received in this illustrious company , upon less clear testimony , then that of experience . and therefore , though ( if i mistake not ) some part of this proposition may be plausibly deduc'd by the help of an instrument ingeniously thought upon by monsieur paschal ; yet i shall have recourse to my own method for the making of it out , for these two reasons . the one , that a great part of the paradox must be explicated , as well as prov'd , by the doctrine already setled in this paper . the other , that the experiment propos'd by monsieur paschal , being to be done in a deep river , and requiring a tube 20 foot long , whose bottome must be fitted with a brass cylinder , made with an exactness , scarce ( if at all ) to be hoped for from our workmen : if i should build any thing on this so difficult an experiment , ( which himself does not affirm to have ever been actually tryed , ) i fear most men would rather reject the experiment as a chimaerical thing , then receive for its sake a doctrine that appears to them very extravagant . let us then , to imploy in this case also the method we have hitherto made use of , fill a glass vessel , a b c d , almost full of water ; only , in regard that there is a great depth of water requisite to some circumstances of the experiment , this last must not be so shallow as those hitherto imploy'd : but a deep cylinder , or tube seal'd at one end , whose depth must be at least two or three foot , though its breadth need not be above 2 or 3 inches ; and , to keep it upright , it may be plac'd in a socket of metal or wood , of a size and weight convenient for such a purpose . this glass being thus fitted in water , let us suppose e f , to be a round and flat piece of solid brass , having about an inch in diameter , and a fourth or sixth part of an inch in thickness . this cylinder , being immers'd under water till it be just cover'd by the uppermost surface of that liquor , and being let go , must necessarily fall downwards in it ; because if we suppose the imaginary superficies , g h , to pass along the circle f , which is the lower part of the brass body , that metal being in specie far heavier then water , the brass that leans upon the part f , must far more gravitate upon the said part f , then the incumbent water does upon any other part of the superficies g h ; and , consequently , the subjacent water at f will be thrust out of place by the descending body . and because that , in what part soever of the water , not exceeding nine times its thickness measured from the top of the water a c , the ponderous body , e f , shall happen to be ; there will be still , by reason of the specifick gravity of the metal , a greater pressure upon that part of the imaginary superficies that passes along the bottome of the body on which the part f shall happen to lean , then upon any other part of the same imaginary superficies ; the brass body would still descend by vertue of its own weight , though it were not assisted by the weight of the water that is over it . but let us suppose it to be plac'd under water on the designable plain j k ; and let this plain , which ( as all other imaginary plains ) is , as well as the real surface of the water , to be conceiv'd parallel to the horizon ; and let the depth or distance of this plaine , from the uppermost surface of the water , be ( some what ) above nine times the thickness of the brass body : i say that , in this case , the body would not descend , if it were not press'd downwards by the weight of the water it has over it . for brass being but about nine times * as heavy as water of an equal bulk to it , the body e f alone would press upon the part f , but as much as a cylinder of water would , which having an equal basis were 8 or 9 times as high as the brass is thick . but now all the other parts of the imaginary surfaces , i k , being press'd upon by the incumbent water , which is as high above them as the newly mention'd cylinder of water would be ; there is no reason why the part f should be depress'd , rather then any other part of the superficies j k : but because it is true , which we formerly taught ; namely , that water retains its gravity in water ; and that too , though a body , heavier in specie then it , be plac'd immediately under it ; it will necessarily happen , that in what part soever the solid body be plac'd , provided it be every way environ'd with the water , it must , for the reason newly given , be made to move downwards , partly by its own weight , and partly by that of the incumbent water ; and must continue to sinck , till it come to the bottom , or some other body that hinders its farther descent . but in case the water above the solid body did not gravitate upon it , and thereby assist its descent ; or , in case that the incumbent water were by some artifice or other , so remov'd , that none of the lateral water ( if i may so call it ) could succeed in its place to lean upon the solid ; then it will follow , from what we have newly shown , that the solid would be kept suspended . and in case it were plac'd much deeper in the water , as over against the point l or m ; then , if we conceive the incumbent water to be remov'd or fenc'd off from it , the pressure of the solid alone upon the part f , of the imaginary superficies l m , being very much inferior to that of the water upon the other parts of the same surface , the part f would be strongly impell'd upwards , by a force proportionate to the difference of those two pressures . and therefore , since i have found by tryals , purposely made in scales marvellously exact , and with refined gold , ( purer then perhaps any that was ever weighed in water ) that gold , though much the ponderoufest of bodies yet known in the world , is not full 20 times as heavy as water of the same bulk ; i kept within compass ( as well as imploy'd a round number , as they call it ) when i said , that no body ( yet known , ) how ponderous soever , will subside in water by its own weight alone , if it were so plac'd under water , that the depth of the water did above twenty times exceed the height of the body ; ( not to mention here , that though gold and water being weigh'd in the aire , their proportion is above 19 to one , yet in the water , gold does , as other sincking bodies , loose as much of its weight , as that of an equal bulk of water amounts too . ) i was saying just now , that in case the brazen body were plac'd low eenough beneath the surface of the water , and kept from being depress'd by any incumbent water , it would be supported by the subjacent water . and this is that very thing that i am now to shew by an experiment . let then the brass body e f , be the cover of a brass valve ; ( as in the annexed figure : ) and let the valve be fastned with some strong and close cement to a glass pipe , o p , ( open at both ends ) and of a competent length and wideness . for then the body , e f , being the undermost part of the instrument , and not sticking to any other part of it , will fall by its own weight if it be not supported . now then , tying a thred to a button q , ( that is wont to be made in the middle of the doors of brass valves ) you must , by pulling that string streight and upwards , make the body , e f , shut the orifice of the valve , as close as you can ; ( which is easily and presently done . ) then thrusting the valve under water , to the depth of a foot or more ; the cement and the sides of the glass , o p , ( which reaches far above the top of the water x y ) will keep the water from coming to beare upon the upper part of the body e f ; and consequently the imaginary surface , v w , ( that passes by the lower part of the said body ) will , where it is contiguous thereunto , be press'd upon only by the proper weight of the body e f ; but in its other parts , by the much greater weight of the incumbent water . so that , though you let go the string , ( that held the body , e f , close to the rest of the instrument ) the said body will not at all sinck , though there be nothing but water beneath it to support it . and to manifest that 't is onely the pressure of the water , of a competent depth , that keeps the solid suspended ; if you slowly lift up the instrument towards ( x y ) the top of the water ; you shall find , that , though for a while the parts of the valve will continue united , as they were before ; yet , when once it is rais'd so near the surface , ( as between the plain j k , and x y ) that the single weight of e f , upon the subjacent part of the imaginary plain that passes by it , is greater then the pressure of the incumbent water upon other parts of the same plain ; that body , being no more supported as formerly , will fall down , and the water will get into the pipe , and ascend therein , to the level of the external water . but if , when the valve is first thrust under water , and before you let go the thred that keeps its parts together , you thrust it down to a good depth , as to the superficies r s : then , though you should hang a considerable weight , as l , to the valve e f , ( as i am going to shew you a tryal with a massy cylinder of stone broader then the valve , and of divers inches in length ) the surplusage of pressure on the other parts of the plain , v w , ( now in r s ) over and above what the weight of the body e f , and that of the cylindrical stone , l , to boot , can amount to , on that part of the surface vvhich is contiguous to the said body e f , will be great enough to press so hard against the lower part of the valve , that its own weight , though assisted with that of the stone , will not be able to disjoyne them . by which ( to note that by the way ) you may see , that though , when two flat and polish'd marbles are joyn'd together , we find it is impossible to sever them without force ; we need not have recourse to a fuga vacui , to explicate the cause of their cohaesion , whilst they are environ'd by the aire , which is a fluid not devoid of gravity , and reaching above the marbles no body knows how high . and to evince , that 't is only such a pressure of the water , as i have been declaring , that causes the cohaesion of the parts of the valve ; if you gently lift it up towards the top of the water , you will quickly find the brass body , e f , drawn down by the stone ( l ) that hangs at it ; as you will perceive by the waters getting in between the parts of the valve , and ascending into the pipe . to which i shall only add , what you will quickly see , that , in perfect conformity to our doctrine , the pressure of the body , e f , upon the subjacent water , being very much increased by the weight of the stone that hangs at it , the valve needs not , as before , be lifted up above the plain j k , to overcome the resistance of the water , being now enabled to do it before it is rais'd near so high . appendix i. containing an answer to seven objections , propos'd by a late learned writer , to evince , that the upper parts of water press not upon the lower . after i had , this morning , made an end of reviewing the foregoing papers , there came into my hands some questions lately publish'd , among other things , by a very recent writer of hydrostaticks . in one of which questions . the learned author strongly defends the contrary to what has there been in some places prov'd , and divers places suppos'd . the author of these erotemata asserts , that , in consistent water , the upper parts do not gravitate or press upon the lower . and therefore , i think it will be neither useless , nor improper , briefly to examine here the arguments he produces . not useless ; because the opinion he asserts , both is , and has long been , very generally receiv'd ; and because too , it is of so great importance , that many of the erroneous tenets and conclusions , of those that ( whether professedly or incidentally ) treat of hydrostatical matters , are built upon it . and not improper ; because our learned author seems to have done his reader the favour to summe up into one page all the arguments for his opinions that are dispersedly to be found in his own or others mens books . so that in answering these , we may hope to do much towards a satisfactory decision of so important a controversie . and , after what we have already deliver'd , our answers will be so seasonable , that they will not need to be long : the things they are built on having been already made out , in the respective places whereto the reader is referr'd . our author then maintains , that , in consistent water , the superiour do not actually press the inferiour parts , by the seven following arguments . object . 1. sayes he , because else the inferiour parts of the water would be more dense then the superior , since they would be compress'd and condens'd by the weight of them . ans . but if the corpuscles , whereof water consists , be suppos'd to be perfectly solid & hard ; the inferior corpuscles may be press'd upon by the weight of the superior , without being compress'd or condens'd by them . as it would happen , if diamond dust were lay'd together in a tall heap : for though the upper parts , being heavy and solid corpuscles , cannot be deny'd to lean and press upon the lower ; yet these , by reason of their adamantine hardness , would not be thereby compress'd . and 't is possible too , that the corpuscles of water , though not so perfectly hard , but that they may a little yield to an extream force , be solid enough not to admit from such a weight , as that of the incumbent water , ( at least in such small heights as observations are wont to be made in , ) any compression , great enough to be sensible ; as , besides some tryals i have formerly mention'd in another place , those made in the presence of this illustrious company seem sufficiently to argue ; viz. that water is not sensibly compressible by an ordinary force . and i find not , by those that make the objection , that they ever took pains to try , whether in deep places of the sea , the lower parts are not more condens'd then the upper : nor do i see any absurdity , that would follow from admitting them to be so . object . 2. our authors second argument is , because divers feel not , under water , the weight of the water that lyes upon them . ans . but for answer to this argument , i shall content my self to make a reference to the ensuing appendix , where this matter will be considered at large ; and where ; i hope , it will be made to appear , that the phaenomenon may proceed , partly from the firm texture of the divers body , and partly from the nature of that pressure which is exercis'd against bodyes immers'd in fluids ; which , in that case , ( as to sense ) presses every where equally , against all the parts of the body , expos'd to their action . object . 3. the third argument is , that ev'n the slightest herbs growing at the bottom of the water , and shooting up in it to a good height , are not oppress'd or lay'd by the incumbent water . ans . but the answer to that is easie , out of the foregoing doctrine . for the plants , we speak of , sustain not the pressure of the water above them by their own strength ; but by the help of the pressure of water that is beneath : which being it self press'd by the water that is ( though not perpendicularly over it ) superior to it , presses them upwards so forcibly , that if they were not by their roots , or otherwise fastned to the ground , they , being in specie lighter then water , would be buoy'd up to the top of the water , and made to float ; as we often see that weeds do , which storms , or other accidents have torn from their native soyle . object . 4. a fourth objection is this , that a heavy body ty'd to a string , and let down under water , is supported , and drawn out with as much ease , as it would be if it had no water incumbent on it ; nay , with greater ease , because heavy bodyes weigh less in water then out of it . ans . but an account of this is easie to be rendred out of our doctrine ; for , though the water incumbent on the heavy body do really endeavour to make it sinck lower , yet that endeavour is rendred ineffectual , to that purpose , by the equal pressure of the water upon all the other parts of the imaginary surface , that is contiguous to the bottom of the immers'd body . and that pressure upon the other parts of that suppos'd plain , being equal not only to the pressure of the pillar of water , but to that pillar , and to the weight of as much water as the immers'd body fills the place of ; it must needs follow , that not only the hand that susteins the body , should not feel the weight of the incumbent water , but should be able to lift up the body more easily in the water , then in the aire . but though the pressure of the water incumbent on the stone can not , for the reason assign'd , be felt in the case propos'd ; yet if you remove that water , ( as in the experiment brought for the proof of the last paradox , ) it will quickly appear by the pressure against the lower part of the heavy body , and its inability to descend by its own weight , when it is any thing deep under water ; it will ( i say ) quickly appear , by what will follow upon the absence of the incumbent water , how great a pressure it exercis'd upon the stone whilst it lean'd on it . object . 5. the fifth argument is propos'd in these words , because a bucket full of water , is lighter in the water , then out of it ; nor does weigh more when full within the water , then when empty out of it ; nay it weighs less , for the reason newly assign'd ( in the fourth objection ; ) therefore the water of the bucket , because it is within water , does not gravitate , nor consequently press downwards , either the bucket , or the water under the bucket . this is the grand and obvious experiment , upon which the schools , and the generality of writers , have very confidently built this axiom : that the elements do not gravitate in their proper place ; and particularly , that water weighs not ( as they speak ) in its own element . ans . what they mean by proper or natural place , i shall not stand to examine , nor to enquire whether they can prove , that water or any other sublunary body possesses any place , but upon this account , that the cause of gravity , or some other movent , enables it to expel other contiguous bodies ( that are less heavie or less moved , ) out of the place they possess'd before ; and gives it an incessant tendencie , or endeavour towards the lowermost parts of the earth . but as to the example propos'd , it s very easie to give an account of it . for suppose abcd , to be a well ; wherein , by the string e f , the bucket is suspended under water , and has its bottom contiguous to the imaginary plain i k. if now we suppose the bucket to consist only of wood , lighter then water , it will not only not press upon the hand that holds the rope at e , but will be buoyd up , till the upper parts of the bucket be above the top of the water ; because the wood , whereof the bucket is made , being lighter in specie then water , the pressure of the water in the bucket g , and the rest of the water incumbent on that , together with the weight of the bucket it self , must necessarily be unable to press the part h so strongly , as the other parts of the imaginary plaine i k are press'd by the weight of the meer water incumbent on them . but if , as t is usual , the bucket consists partly of wood , partly of iron ; the aggregate may often indeed be heavier then an equal bulk of water : but then the hand , that draws up the bucket by the rope f e , ought not , according to our doctrine , to feel the weight of all the bucket , much less that of the water contein'd in it . for though that aggregate of wood and iron , which we here call the bucket , be heavier then so much water ; yet it tends not downwards with its whole weight , but only with that surplusage of weight , whereby it exceeds as much water as is equal to it in bulk ; which surplusage is not wont to be very considerable . and as for the water in the cavity , g , of the bucket , there is no reason why it should at all load the hand at e , though really the water both in the bucket and over it do tend downwards with their full weight ; because that the rest of the water , l i , and m k , do full as strongly press upon the rest of the imaginary superficies i k , as the bucket aud the incumbent water do upon the part h : and consequently the bottom of the bucket is every whit as strongly press'd upwards by the weight of the water , upon all the other parts of the plain i k ; as it tends downwards , by virtue of the weight of the incumbent water , that is partly in the bucket , and partly above it ; and so these pressures ballancing one another , the hand that draws the rope at e , has no more to lift up then the surplusage of weight , whereby the empty bucket exceeds the weight of as much water as is equall in bulk ( i say , not to the bucket as 't is a hollow instrument , but ) to the wood and iron whereof the bucket consists . and because this example of the lightness of fil'd buckets within the water has for so many ages gain'd credit to , if it have not been the only ground of , the assertion , that water weighs not in its own element , or in its proper place ; i shall add ( though i can scarse present it to such a company as this without smiles ) an experiment that i made to convince those , that were , through unskilfulness or prejudice , indispos'd to admit the hydrostatical account i have been giving of the phaenomenon . i took then a round wooden box , which i substituted in the room of a bucket ; and ( having fill'd it with melted butter , into which , when it was congeal'd , some small bitts of lead were put , to make it a little heavier then so much water , ) i caus'd a small string of twin'd silk to pass through two small holes , made in the opposite parts of the upper edge of the box , and to be suspended at one end of the beam of a pair of gold-smiths scales ; and then putting it into a vessel full of water , till it was let down there , to what depth i pleas'd , it appear'd that not only the least endeavour of my hand would either support it , or transport to and fro in the water , or draw it up to the top of it ; and this , whether the box were made use of , or whether the butter and lead alone , without the box , were suspended by the silken string : but ( to evince , that it was not the strength of my hand , or the smallness of the immers'd body , that kept me from feeling any considerable resistance , ) i cast some grains into the scale that hung at the other end of the above mention'd beame , and presently rais'd the lead and butter to the surface of the water . so that unless the schoolmen will say that the butter & lead were in their own element ; we must be allow'd to think , that the easie sustentation , and elevation of the box , did not proceed from hence , that those bodyes weigh'd not because they were in their natural place . and yet in this case , the effect is the same with that which happens when a bucket is drawing out of a well . and , to manifest that 't was the pressure of the water against the lower part of the surface of our suspended body , that made it so easie to be supported in the water , or rais'd to the top of it ; i shall add , that though a few grains suffic'd to bring the upper surface of the butter to the top of the water : yet afterwards there was a considerable weight requisite , to raise more & more of its parts above the waters surface ; & a considerabler yet , to lift the whole body quite out of the water . which is very consonant to our doctrine . for , suppose the bucket to be at the part n , half in and half out of the water : the hand or counterpoise , that supports it in that posture , must have a far greater strength then needed to sustein it , when it was quite under water ; because that now the imaginary plain p q , passing by the bottom of the bucket , has on its other parts but a little depth of water , as from l to p , or m to q , and consequently the bottom of the bucket , h , will searce be press'd upwards above half as strongly as when the bucket was quite under water . and if it be raised to o , & consequently quite out of the water ; that liquor reaching no longer to the bottom of the bucket , can no longer contribute to its supportation ; and therefore a weight not only equal , but somewhat superiour to the full weight of the bucket , and all that it contains , ( being all suppos'd to be weighd in the aire , ) will be necessary to lift it clear out of the water . but to dwell longer on this subject cannot but be tedious to those that have been any thing attentive to the former discourses . i proceed therefore to our authors sixth argument , which is , object . 6. that horse-hairs , which are held to be of the same gravity with water , keep whatever place is given them in that liquor ; nor are depress'd by the weight of the super-incumbent water . answ . whether the matter of fact bestrictly and universally true , is scarce worth the examining , especially since we find the difference in point of specifick gravity , betwixt most horse-haires , and most waters , to be inconsiderable enough . but the phaenomenon , supposing the truth of it , is very easily explicable , according to the doctrine above deliver'd . for supposing in the last scheme the body , r , to be bulk for bulk exactly equiponderant to water ; 't is plain there is no reason why that body should press the part s , of the imaginary superficies i ▪ k , either more or less then that part s would be press'd , if , the body r being annihilated or remov'd , it were succeeded by parcel of water of just the same bulk and weight . and consequently , though all the water directly above the solid r do really lean upon that body , and endeavour to depress it ; yet that endeavour being resisted by an equal and contrary endeavour , that proceeds ( as we have been but too often faine to declare ) from the pressure exercis'd upon the other parts of the superficies , i k , by the water incumbent on them ; the body , r , will be neither depress'd nor rais'd . and its case being the same in what part of the water soever it be plac'd , provided it be perfectly environ'd with that liquor ; it must keep in the water ( which in this whole discourse we suppose to be homogeneous as to gravity ) the place you please to give it . and , ( to add that on this occasion ) though mathematicians have hitherto contented themselves to prove , that in case a body could be found or provided , that were exactly equiponderant to water , it would retaine any assignable place in it ; yet the curiosity we had , to give an experimental proof of this truth , at length produc'd some glass bubbles , which some gentlemen here present have not perhaps forgot , that were ( by a dexterous hand we employ'd about it ) so exquisitely pois'd , as , to the wonder of the beholders , to retain the places given them , sometimes in the middle , sometimes near the top , & sometimes near the bottom of the water ( though that were homogeneous ) for a great while , till some change of consistence or gravity in the water , or some of its parts , made the bubble rise or fall . the application of this , to what has been objected concerning horse-hairs , being too easie to need to be insisted on , there remains to be dispatched our authors seventh and last argument , which is this . object . 7. that , otherwise , all the inferiour parts of the water would be in perpetual motion , and perpetually expell'd by the superior . answ . but if , by the inferior parts , he means , such portions as are of any considerable bulk ; the answer newly made to the last objection ( where we shew'd that the body , r , would retain its place any where in the water , and consequently near the bottome ) will shew the invalidity of this objection . and unless we knew of what bignesse and shape the corpuscles of water are , it would perhaps be to little purpose to dispute how far it may be granted , or may be true in the particles that water is made up of . onely this i shall add ▪ that , whereas this learned authour mentions it as an absurdity , that the lower parts of water should be in perpetual motion : and stevinus himself , in the beginning of his hydrostatical elements , seems to me to speak somewhat inconsiderately of this matter ; and though , as i lately said , i allow such sensible bodies , as those whose gravity in water writers are wont to dispute of , to be capable of retaining their places in water , if they be in specie equiponderant to it : yet i am so far from thinking it absurd , that the inferiour corpuseles of water should be perpetually in motion ; that i see not how otherwise they could constitute a fluid body , that restless motion of their parts , being one of the generalest attributes of liquors ; and being , in water , though not immediately to be seen , yet to be easily discover'd by its effects : as , when salt , being cast into water , the aqueous parts that are contiguous to it , and consequently near to the bottom , do soon carry up many of the faline ones , to the very top of the water ; where , after a while , they are wont to disclose themselves in little floating grains of a cubical shape . but , of this restless motion of the parts of liquors having professedly treated elsewhere already ; i shall add nothing at present : but rather take notice of what our authour subjoyns to the last of his arguments , ( as the grand thing which they suppose ) in these words , ratio porro , a priori , hujus sententiae videtur esse , quia res non dicitur gravitare nisi quatenus habet infra se corpus levius se in specie . the erroniousness of which conceit , if i should now go about solemnly to evince ; i as well fear it would be tedious , as i hope it will be needless to those , that have not forgot what may concern this subject in the former part of the now at length finish'd discourse ; and especially where i mention those experiments , which show , that neither a stone , nor gold it self , when plac'd deep under water , would sinck in it , if the superiour water , that gravitates on it , did not contribute to its depression . appendix ii. concerning the reason why divers , and others who descend to the bottome of the sea , are not oppress'd by the weight of the incumbent water . amongst the difficulties that belong to the hydrostaticks , there is one which is so noble , and which does still so much both exercise and pose the wits of the curious , that perchance it will not be unacceptable , if to the former experiments we add , by way of appendix , one that may conduce to the solving of this difficult problem ; viz. why men , deep under water , feel no inconvenience by the pressure of so great a weight of water as they are plac'd under ? the common answer of philosophers and other writers to this puzling question , is , that the elements do not gravitate in their own proper places ; and so , water in particular has no gravitation upon water , nor consequently upon bodies every way surrounded with water . but that this solution is not to be admitted , may be easily gather'd from our proofs of the first paradox , and from divers other particulars , applicable to the same purpose , that may be met with in the foregoing papers . a famous vvriter , and , for ought i know , the recentest ( except monsieur paschal ) that has treated of hydrostaticks , having rendred this reason of the phaenomenon . [ the superior parts of consistent water ( as he speaks ) press not the inferior , unless beneath the inferior there be a body lighter in specie then water ; and therefore , since a humane body is heavier in specie then water , it is not press'd by the incumbent water , because this does not endeavor to be beneath a humane body . ] he subjoyns , contrary to his custome , this confident epiphonema , qui aliam causam hujus rei assignant , errant & alios decipiunt . but , by his favour , notwithstanding this confidence , i shall not scruple to seek another reason of the phaenomenon . for i have abundantly prov'd , that ( contrary to the assertion on which his explication is built ) the upper parts of water press against the lower , whether a body heavier or lighter in specie then water be underneath the lower . and , the contrary of which being the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this controversie , perhaps the matter may be somewhat cleard , by mentioning here a distinction , which i sometimes make use of . i consider then a body may be said to gravitate upon another body in two senses . for sometimes it actually sincks into , or gets beneath the body that was under it , as a sincking stone gravitates upon water , and which i call praevalent , or successful gravitation ; & sometimes it does not actually , at least not visibly descend , but only exercises its gravitation by pressing against the subjacent body that hinders its descent ; as when a vvoman carries a paile of water on her head , though the weight do not actually get nearer the center of the earth ; yet actually presses with its whole gravity upon the womans head , and back , and other subjacent parts that hinder its actual descent ; and according to this doctrine i cannot admit our authors reasoning , that because a mans body is bulk for bulk heavier then water , therefore the water does not endeavour to place its self beneath it . for water , being a heavy body , derives from the cause of its gravity , ( what ever that be ) an incessant endeavour towards the center of the earth ; nor is there any reason , why it s happening to be incumbent on a body heavier in specie then it self , should destroy that endeavour . and therefore , though it may be said that the water does not endeavour to place it self beneath a humane body , because indeed an inanimate liquor cannot properly be said to act for this or any other end ; yet the water being a heavy body , tends continually towards the lower part of the earth ; and therefore will get beneath any body that is plac'd betwixt it and that , ( without regard whether the inferior body be heavier or lighter in specie then it self ) as far as the degree of its gravity will enable it ; nor would it ever rest , till it have reach'd the lowermost parts of the earth , if the greater ponderousness of the earth and other heavy bodies did not hinder , ( not its endeavour downwards , nor its pressure upon subjacent bodies , but only ) its actual descent . this learned author himself tells us , ( as well as stevinus , and others , that have written of the hydrostaticks , unanimously teach , ) that if the bottom of a vessel be parallel to the horizon , the weight of water , that rests upon it , is equal to a pillar of water , having that bottome for its basis , and for its height a perpendicular reaching thence to the uppermost surface of the water . nor is it reasonable to conceive that there will be any difference in this pressure of the incumbent water , whether the bottom be of deale that will swimme , or of box that will sinck in water ; or to speak more generally , whether it be of wood , in specie lighter then water , or of copper , or some other metal , that is in specie heavier then it . and since water , being not a solid body , but a fluid , consists ( as other fluids ) of innumerable corpuscles , that , though extreamly minute , have their own sizes and figures ; and since the pressure of water upon the bottom of a vessel is proportionate to its perpendicular height over the bottom ; 't is manifest , that the upper corpuscles press the bottom as well as the lower ; which , since they cannot do immediately , they must do by pressing the intermediate ones . and i have already shown ( discoursing one of the former paradoxes , ) that the superior parts of water do not onely presse those that are directly under them , but communicate a pressure to those that are aside of them , and at a distance from them . and if it be objected , that water endeavours to get beneath a bottome of glass vessels , or other bodies heavier in specie then its self , because under that bottome there is aire , which is a body lighter in specie then water : i say , that this is precarious ; for the indisputable gravity of the water is alone sufficient to make it always tend downwards , ( though it cannot always move downwards ) what ever body be beneath it . and who can assure the makers of this objection , that there are not beneath even the bottome of rivers , or of the sea , ( where yet they say water is consistent , and rests as in its own place , ) vast spaces replenished but with aire , fumes , or fire , or some other body lighter then water ? for , ( not to mention that the cartesians take the earth we tread on , to be but a thin crust of the terrestrial globe , whose inside , as farre as the center , is replenish'd with a subtle fluid matter , like that whereof the sunne consists . ) we know that in some places , as particularly at a famous coal-mine in scotland , there are great cavities that reach a good way under that ground that serves there for a bottome to the sea : so that , for ought these objectors know , ev'n according to their own doctrine , the water ev'n in the sea , may endeavour to get beneath a body heavier in specie then it self . but , for my part , i cannot but think , that , to imagine the water knows , whether or no there be aire or some lighter body then it self beneath the body it leans on , and the superior parts do accordingly exercise or suspend their pressure upon the inferior ; is to forget that it is a heavy liquor , and an inanimate body . another solution there is of this hydrostatical problem , we have been discoursing of , which i met with in a printed letter of monsieur des cartes , in these terms . je ne me , &c. i remember not what reason 't is that stevinus gives , why one feels not weight of water , when one is under it : but the true one is , that there can no more of water gravitate upon the body that is in it , or under it , then as much water as could descend in case that body left its place . thus for example : if there were a man in the barrel , b , that should with his body so stop the hole , a , as to hinder the waters getting out , he would feel upon himself the weight of the whole cylinder of water , a b c , of which i suppose the basis to be equal to the hole a ; for as much as if he sunck down through the hole , all the cylinder of water would descend too , but if he be a little higher , as about b , so that he does no longer hinder the water from running out at the hole a , he ought not to feel any weight of the water which is over him , betwixt b and c , because if he should descend toward a , that water would not descend with him , but contrarywise a part of the water which is beneath him towards a , of equal bulk to his body , would ascend into its place : so that in stead of feeling the water to press him from the top downward , he ought to feel that it buoys him upward from the bottome ; which by experience we see . thus far this subtil philosopher : for whose ratiocinations though i am wont to have much respect , yet i must take the liberty to confess my self unsatisfy'd with this . for haveing already sufficiently prov'd , that the upper parts of water press the lower , and the bodies plac'd beneath them , whether such bodies be lighter in specie then water or heavier ; we have subverted the foundation , upon which monsieur cartes's ingenious , though unsatisfactory , explication is built . and yet i shall add ex abundanti , that supposing what he sayes , that in case the solid b should descend towards a , the incumbent water would not descend with it , but a part of the subjacent water , equal in bulk to the solid , would ascend , and succeed in its room ; yet that is but accidental , by reason of the steinchness and fulness of the vessel . and though indeed the superior water cannot actually desend upon the depression of the solid at b , if , at the same time while that body descends , an equal bulk of water succeeds in its place : yet both the solid about c , and the water that succeeds it , do , in their turns , hinder the descent of the superior water ; which therefore must gravitate upon which soever of the two it be that actually comes to be plac'd directly under it , if there be nothing , before the displacing of the solid , capable to take away the natural gravity , upon whose account the water , over b and c , does incessantly tend downwards . and though monsieur des cartes does not so clearly express himselfe , whether he supposes the hole at a ▪ to be stopp'd with some other body , when the solid is plac'd about b : yet , because he is wont to speak consistently , i presume he means , that when the solid is remov'd to b , the hole at a is otherwise sufficiently stopp'd ; i say then , that the reason why the solid , which , whilst at a , sustain'd a great pressure from the incumbent water , feels not the weight of it , when plac'd at b , is not that which monsieur des cartes gives , but this , that the solid being environ'd with water , the subjacent water does ( as we have often had occasion to manifest ) press it upwards , full as strongly ( and somewhat more ) as the weight of the incumbent water presses it downwards ; so that a mans body , in stead of sincking , would be buoy'd up ; if , as it is a little heavier , it were a little lighter in specie then water . whereas , when the solid was that alone which cover'd and stop'd the hole , there was a manifest reason why it should be forcibly thrust downwards by the weight of the incumbent water b c. for , in that case , there was no water underneath it at a , to support the solid ; and , by its pressure upward , to enable it to resist so great a weight . and this , ( to hint that upon the by ) may perchance help us to guess at the reason of what geographers relate of the lake asphaltites in judea , ( in case the matter of fact be true , ) that this dead sea ( as they also call it ) will not suffer any living creature to sinck in it . for the body of a man ( and for ought we know of other animals , ) is not much heavier in specie then common fresh water : now if in this lake ( that stands where sodom and gomorrah did , before those impious regions were destroy'd by fire from heaven , ) we suppose , ( which the nature of the soyle , and the sacred story makes probable enough ) that the water abounds with saline or sulphurous corpuscles ; ( the former helping the later to associate with the water , as we see in sope consisting of salt and oyle , and in chymical mixtures of alcalis and brimstone dissoluble in water ) the liquor may have its gravity so augmented , as to become heavier in specie then the body of an animal . for i have learned of a light swimmer , that he could hardly begin to dive in salt water , though he easily could in fresh . and 't is not difficult to make a brine or lixivium ( which are but solutions of salt in water , ) heavy enough to keep up an egg from sincking . and , not only barely by dissolving a metalline body in a saline menstruum , without otherwise thickning the liquor , i have brought solid pieces of amber it self to swim upon it : but i have try'd that certain saline solutions , which i elsewhere mention ; nay , and a distill'd liquor , ( i us'd defleam'd oyle of vitriol ) without any thing dissolv'd in it , would do the same thing ; by reason of the numerous , though minute , corpuscles of salt and sulphur , that it abounds with . there remains but one solution more of our hydrostatical probleme , that i think worth mentioning , and that is given by the learned stevinus in these words , omni pressu quo corpus dolore afficitur , pars aliqua corporis luxatur ; sed isto pressu nulla corporis pars luxatur , isto igitur pressu corpus dolore nullo afficitur . assumptio syllogismi manifesta est , nam si pars aliqua , ut caro , sanguis , humor , aut quodlibet denique membrum luxaretur , in alium locum concedat necesse esset : atqui locus ille non est extra corpus ; cum aqua undiquaque aequali pressu circumfusa sit ( quod vero pars ima , per 11. propositionem hydrostaticorum , paulo validius prematur superiori , id hoc casu nullius momenti est , quia tantula differentia partem nullam sua sede dimovere potest ) neque item intra ipsum corpus concedit , cum istic corpore omnia oppleta sint , unde singulae partes singulis partibus aequaliter resistunt , namque aqua undiquaque eadem ratione corpus totum circumstat . quare cum locus is nec intra , nec extra corpus sit ; absurdum , imo impossibile fuerit , partem ullam suo loco emoveri , ideoque nec corpus hic afficitur dolore . this solution of stevinus , i esteem preferrible by farr , to those that are wont to be given of this difficult probleme : but yet , the phaenomenon seems to me to have still somewhat in it of strange . 't is true , that if the question were only that which some put , viz. why the body of a diver , when it is near the bottom of the sea , is not press'd down by so vast a weight of water , as is incumbent on it ; it might be rationally answer'd , that the weight of so much water , as leans upon the body , is not sustein'd by the force of the body it self , but by that of the water which is under it . for , by the experiments and explications , we have annexed to some of the foregoing paradoxes , it appears , that the subjacent water , by its pressure upwards , is able , not only to support the weight of the incumbent water , but so far to exceed it , that it would not only support the immers'd body , and the incumbent water , but buoy up the body , if it were never so little lighter in specie then water . and as for what stevinus insinuates , that , when the water presses the body every way , that pressure is not felt , though it would be , in case it press'd upon some parts , and not upon others ; i am of the same opinion too ; and , to prove it , shall not make use of the example he proposes , in the words immediately following those of his , i just now recited : ( for i doubt , that example is rather a supposition , then a try'd thing ; ) but by an experiment which may be easily made , and has diverse times been so , in our pneumatical engine . for , though the aire be a heavy fluid , and though , whilst it uniformely presses the whole superficies of the body , we feel not the pressure of it . and though , for this reason , you may lay the palm of your hand upon the open orifice of a small brass cylinder , apply'd to the engine instead of a receiver , without any hurt ; yet when , by pumping , the aire that was before under the palm of your hand , is withdrawn , and consequently can no longer help to support your hand , against the pressure of the external and incumbent aire ; the external aire will lean so heavy upon the back of your hand , that you will imagine some ponderous weight is lay'd upon it . and i remember by such an experiment , i have not onely had my hand put to much pain , but have had the back of it so bent downward , as if it were going to be broken . but though such considerations , as these , may much lessen the difficulty of our phaenomenon , whose cause is inquired into ; yet still it seems somewhat odd to me , that ( since 't is evident from the nature of the thing , and by stevinus's his confession , that there is a vast pressure of water against every part of the body , whose endeavour tends inward , ) so exceedingly forcible a pressure , ( which thrusts , for instance , the muscles of the arms and thighs against the bones , the skin and flesh of the thorax against the ribs , ) should not put the dives to any sensible pain ; as i find not ( by one that i examin'd ) that it dos ; ( though this man told me , he stay'd a good while at the depth of betwixt 80 and 100 foot under the sea water , which is heavier then fresh water ; ) for , that which stevinus's explication will only showis , that there must be no manifest dislocation of the greater parts of the body ; whereas the bare compression of two small parts , one against another , is sufficient to produce a sense of pain . but it seems , the texture of the bodyes of animals is better able to resist the pressure of an every way ambient fluid , then , if we were not taught by experience , we should imagine . and therefore , to satisfie those that ( secluding the question about the sense of pain , ) think it an abundantly sufficient argument , ( to prove , that bodyes immers'd under water , are not compress'd by it ; ) that divers are not oppress'd , and ev'n crush'd ▪ by so vast a load of water , ( amounting , by stevinus's computation , to many thousands of pounds ) as is incumbent on them . we will add , that though an experiment , propos'd by monsieur paschal to this purpose , were such , that at first sight i said that it would not succeed , ( and was not upon tryal mistaken in my conjecture ; ) yet it gave me the occasion to make another , which will , i hope , fully make out the thing i design'd it for . the ingenious monsieur paschal would perswade his readers , that if into a glass vessel , with luke-warm water in it , you cast a flie ; and , by a rammer , forcibly press that water , you shall not be able to kill , or hurt the flie . vvhich , says he , will live as well , and walk up and down as lively , in luke-warme water , as in the aire . but , upon tryal with a strong flie , the animal was ( as we expected , ) presently drowned , and so made moveless , by the luke-warm water . wherefore we substituted another experiment , that we knew would not only succeed , ( as you will presently see it will do , ) but teach us how great a pressure the included animal must have been expos'd to . vve took then a somewhat slender cylindrical pipe of glass , seal'd at one end , and open at the other ; and to this we fitted a rammer , which ( by the help of some thongs of soft leather , that were carefully wound about it ) did so exactly fill the pipe that it could not easily be mov'd to and fro ; and would suffer neither water , nor aire , to get by betwixt it , and the internal surface of the glass . vve also provided some small tad-poles ( or gyrini ) about an inch long or less ; which sort of animals we made choice of before any other , partly because they could , by reason of their smalness , swim freely to & fro in so little water as our pipe contain'd ; & partly because those creatures , being as yet but in their infancy , were more tender , and , consequently , far more expos'd to be injur'd by compression , then other animals of the same bulk , but come to their full age and growth , would be , ( as indeed such young tad-poles are so soft and tender , that they seem , in comparison to the bigger sort of flies , to be but organiz'd gelly . ) one of these tadpoles being put into the water , and some inches of aire being left in the pipe , for the use anon to be mention'd ; the water and aire , and consequently the tadpole , were by the intrusion of the plug or rammer , with as great a force as a man was able to imploy , violently compress'd ; and yet , though the tadpole seem'd to be compress'd into a little less bulk then it was of before , it swom freely up and down the water , without forbearing sometimes to ascend to the very top , though the instrument were held perpendicular to the horizon . nor did it clearly appear to us , that the little animal was injur'd by this compression ; and most manifest it is , he was not crush'd to death , or sensibly hurt by it . and having repeated this experiment several times , & with tadpoles of differing ages ; we may , i presume , safely conclude , that the texture of animals is so strong , that , though water be allowed to weigh upon water , yet a diver ought not to be opprest by it : since , whether or no water weighs in water , 't is manifest that in our experiment , the water , and consequently the tadpole , was very forcibly by an external agent compress'd betwixt the violently condens'd aire , and the rammer . and , by the notice we took of the quantity of aire before the compression began , and that to which it was reduc'd by compression ; the moderatest estimate we could make , was , that it was reduc'd into an eighth , or tenth part of it's former space ; and so ( according to what we have elswhere prov'd ) the pressure that was upon the aire , ( and consequently upon the water , and the included tadpole , ) was as great as that of a cylinder of water of above 200 if not 300 foot high . and yet all this weight being unable to oppress , or so much as manifestly to hurt , the tender tadpole ( which a very small weight would suffice to have crush'd , if it prest only upon one part of it , and not upon the other ) we may thence learn the truth of what we have been endeavouring to evince : that though water be allowed to press against water , and all immers'd bodys ; yet a diver may very well remaine unoppress'd at a great depth under water , as long as the pressure of it is uniforme against all the parts expos'd thereunto . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28989-e170 * about this passage , see the publisher , to the reader . * chiefly , in several places of the unpublish'd part of the treatise of the osefulness of experimental philosophy . * an account of this passage also , may be had from the publishers advertisement to the reader . notes for div a28989-e900 * that excellent mathematician the learned dr wallis , savilian professor of geometry . this experiment and the explication of it , if to some they should here seem somewhat obscure , will be easily understood by the figures and explications belonging to the first ensuing paradoxe . see the second figure . in certain , notes upon some of the physics-mechanical experiments , touching the aire . fig. 3. fig. 1. 2. fig. 4. fig. 5. see paradox the sixth . fig. 6. fig. 8. figur . 9. fig. 10. fig. 11. see fig. 12. fig. 13. fig. 14. see the proof of the 11. paradox . fig. 15. fig. 16. fig. 17. fig. 18. in the physico-mechanical experiments . fig. 19. * the word , about , is added , because indeed the author , as he elsewhere delivers , did by exact scales find brass to weigh between eight or nine times as much as water ; but judg'd it needless to his present argument , and inconvenient to take notice of the fraction . fig. 20. in the history of fluidity & firmness second tome lettre 32. fig. 22. stevinus hydrostat . lib. 5. pag. 149. sed exemple clarius ita intelliges , este abcd aqua , cujus fundum d c ▪ in quo foramen e habeat epistimeus sibi iesertum , cui dorso incumbat homo f , quae cum ita fiat , ab aqua pondere ipsi insidente nulla pars corporis luxari poterit , cum aqua , ut dictus est , undiquaque aqualiter urgeat . fig. 23. si vero ejus veritatem explorare libeat , eximito epistemiun , tumque tergum nulla re fultum sustinebitur , ut in locis cateris , ideoque istic tanto pressu afficietur , quantus tertio exemple secunda propositionis hujus demonstratus est : vidquantam efficit columna aquea cujus basis sit foramica e , altitudo autem eadem quae aqua ipsi insidentis . quo exemplo propositi veritas manifeste declaratur . fig. 24. of the reconcileableness of specifick medicines to the corpuscular philosophy to which is annexed a discourse about the advantages of the use of simple medicines / by robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1685 approx. 265 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 129 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29016) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 49353) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 525:9) of the reconcileableness of specifick medicines to the corpuscular philosophy to which is annexed a discourse about the advantages of the use of simple medicines / by robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng medicine -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-07 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion of the reconcileableness of specifick medicines to the corpuscular philosophy . to which is annexed a discourse about the advantages of the use of simple medicines . by the honourable robert boyle fellow of the royal society . london , printed for sam. smith at the' princes arms in st. paul's church-yard . 1685. august 24. imprimatur hen. maurice , rmo . d ●o . w. cant. arch po . a sacris . the preface . the rise of the following tract , intimated near the beginning of it , was not such a fictitious thing as the reader may imagine . but tho' i really receiv'd a visit from a physician , known to me , but by his reputation purposely to propose to me his objections against the corpuscular phylosophy , and he had a long conference with me about them ; yet , because the historical passages of that interview , cannot be circumstantially related in few words , i suppose the reader will willingly allow me , to imploy this preface in giving him advertisements about the scope and design of the treatise it ushers in . i shall therefore advertise him , that he will be much mistaken , if he shall expect , as i perceive several have done already , to find in this book a collection of receits of specifick remedies . for a moderate attention to the title page will enable him manifestly to discern , that the following paper in its own nature , and in the direct and immediate design of it , is a speculative discourse ; since it tends but to show , that , in case there be specifick medicines ( as 't is probable there are some ) their experienced vertues are reconcilcable to the principles of the corpuscular , or ( as many call it ) the new philosophy ; and at least do not subvert them ; if these effects and operations be not clearly explicable by them . and as this is the , avowed scope of the following essay , so i chose to treat of it less like a physician than a naturalist . for physicks being a science , whose large extent invites and warrants its cultivaters , to search into the nature and phaenomina of things corporeal indefinitely ; it must often happen , that the medicinal art and this science will be conversant about the same subject , tho' in differing ways , and with differing scopes . for there are divers hurtful or advantageous accidents and changes of the humane body , whereof the naturalist takes notice , but as they are phaenomina or changes produc'd by natural causes in the body of an animal , whilst the physician considers them as symptoms of diseases , or effects of medicines , the former directing his speculations to the discovery of truth , and the other his theory to the recovery of health . but because i else where particularly consider the cognation and distinction , between the discipline that the naturalist , and that which the physician cultivates , i shall for bear to mention them in this place ; but rather acknowledge , that i scarce doubt but that i might have inrich'd the following discourse with some choice particulars , if i would have perus'd and borrow'd from the learned writings of the famous dr. willis : but besides that i had not his books at hand , i was unwilling to be prepossess'd or byass'd by his notions , and i presum'd the person i wrote to would not be unwilling to see , what , without their help , the consideration of the thing i treated of suggested to me . about this i shall now proceed to observe , that tho' the direct scope of the following discourse , being to explicate the phaenomena of some bodies , which from their use , are call'd medicinal , and declare how possibly they may produce the effects ascrib'd to them , the ensuing discourse is for the main of a speculative nature ; yet the consequences that may be drawn from it , and the applications that in this industrious age are like to be made of some things that it contains , may probably render it practical . for i have more than once observ'd , that divers considerable remedies , and some not unpromising methods too , have either remain'd unthought of , both by many galenical physicians , and divers of their modern antagonists too , or if propos'd by others , have been rejected or slighted , barely upon this supposition , that no rational account can be given of their way of working , or how they should do good , and 't is said to be unworthy of a rational physician ; to make use of a remedy , of whose manner of operating he cannot give a reason . how prejudicial it may be to many patients , that physicians be prepossess'd with a bad opinion of an useful remedy , may be guess'd by him that shall consider , what multitudes of teeming women , that probably might have been sav'd by the skilful use of phlebotomy , have been suffer'd to dye for want of it , upon a dislike of that remedy that physicians for many ages thought to be grounded upon no less authority than a positive aphorism of hippocrates . and therefore if , to remove the specious objection newly mention'd against that whole kind of remedies call'd specificks , the following tract has been so happy as to show , that 't is at least possible , that medicines said to be specifick , may perform their operations by ways , which tho' not explicable by the vulgar doctrine of the schools , are intelligible , and reconcileable , to the clear principles of the mechanical phylosophy : if , i say , this have been done by the theory propos'd in this treatise , it may conduce somewhat to inlarge the minds of many physicians , and invite them to make use of several remedies , of which they did not think , or against which they were prejudic'd . and since specificks , where they can be had , are wont to be free from any immoderate manifest quality , and for the most part to work more benignly , as well as more effectually , caeteris paribus , than other medicines ; i think that to bring them into due request , and invite physicians to search for new ones , as well as imploy those already known , may tend much to shorten many cures , and make them more easy and more safe . est aliquid prodire tenus si non datur vltra . the advertisement of the publisher . the author had occasion to touch upon some of the same subjects that he here treats of , in a book , the usefulness of experimental philosophy , long since publisht ; but he had the misfortune to be reduc'd to write the following discourse about specifick medicines , and the utility of simple remedies , in a village where he had not that book at hand , and could not call to mind all that he had therein published seventeen or eighteen years before : on which account , though he studiously forbore to repeat the particulars that he remembred to have set down in that treatise , how opposite soever they would have been to his present purpose , yet having since the following discourse was sent to the press , got a sight of that other ( which he had not read in many years ) he finds upon a transient view that some of the same things are mentioned in both books : at which discovery , though he be somewhat troubled , yet he is the less so , because they are but few , in comparison of the new ones , and set down on such occasions , or with such other circumstances , that may make a favourable reader look on them , as not bare repetitions . and tho' in the forecited treatise , some of the motives to make use of simple medicines , be lightly touch'd , yet besides , that they are not all that are mention'd in the following invitation , those arguments that are there but pointed at , are here treated of , and both confirm'd , and explain'd by other observations , and receits . and since the printed book above mention'd has been for divers years very scarce , 't is presum'd that those many readers that have it not , will not be displeas'd to find here some few things for which they cannot resort thither : and as the author foresaw he might be oblig'd to consent to the translation of the following papers into the roman tongue , so he thought his latine readers would not repine , tho' a great number of particulars had been borrow'd of a book that is not yet extant in their language . i shall give you no farther account of the particulars contain'd in the two ensuing treatises , since the title pages give a sufficient hint of the noble authors main scope , and chief design , i shall only say , that the first treatise effectually performs what has not been as yet attempted by answering a very considerable objection against the doctrine of the corpuscularian philosophers , namely , that which is taken from what we call specifick medicines , their vertues , and operations being hitherto judg'd by several of the learnedest sort wholly irreconcileable to the principles of the new philosophy ; whereby he gratifieth not only the curiosity of speculative philosophers , but does likewise a notable piece of service to all physicians , ushering in here and there such notions as may be the principles of a sure , and easie practice , yea and enable them too , to give a good account of their own receits ; i mean of those that contain specifick medicines , whose vertues hitherto we could not describe to our patients , but by saying they did work we knew not how , or by some specifick , that is by some occult or hidden quality . the second treatise , which is an invitation to the use of simple medicines , is of such a general use , that mankind is much indebted to this noble author for it , 't is so well grounded both upon reason , and experience , that this as well as the foremention'd discourse , does fully answer the great repute of the author both at home , and abroad , where he is commonly stil'd the english phylosopher . the publisher thought fit to translate for the benefit of every common reader , some latine passages contained in the foregoing treatises . p. 70. from the year of our lord 1645. in the space of fourteen years i cur'd above a thousand frebricitants without bleeding , purging , or sweating , by the help of a single precipitating remedy , without any regard to the nature of the feaver , whether it were intermittent , or continued , whether it were a tertian , or a quartan , which is harder to cure than any other , yea without considering any other circumstance either of time , place , sex , or age , and that in a very short time , without any danger of relapse , and without any considerable trouble of the patient , if through his own . intemperance , he fell not into new fits again . kergerus de fermentati sect. 3. cap. 3. p. mihi 250. p. 130. i have made my self a frequent trial of this stone , having carried several of those little stones tyed together about my neck in such a manner , that the stones did touch the mouth of my stomach , yet they were beneficial , tho they had nothing graven upon 'em , &c. galen . de simpl . med . facul . 1. 9. tit . de lap . p. 131. we have seen sometimes the hemerods cured , as likewise the copious monthly issues by wearing rings made of this stone . nic. monard . simpl . med . histo . c. 36 p. 329. of the reconcileableness of specifick medicines , to the corpuscular philosophy . the introduction , to my learned friend , dr. f. sir , perceiving , by our late conference , that the thing which most alienates you , from the corpuscular philosophy , is an objection drawn from your own profession and experience , namely , that the specifick vertues of medicines are not reconcileable to it ; my unwillingness that an hypothesis , i am so kind to as i am to the mechanical , should continue under the disfavour of a person i so much esteem , as i do dr. f. makes me venture to offer you the annexed paper , thô it be but an inlargement of a dismembred part of what i long since , to gratify a friend , noted about the origine or production of occult qualities . for thô i pretend not , that this trifle should satisfy a man of your judgment and learning , yet it may perhaps serve to keep you from thinking it impossible , that a skilful pen may be able quite to surmount those difficulties , that so bad a pen as mine is capable of lessening . a paper belonging to the writings about the mechanical origine of qualities . among the several kinds of occult qualities that , which is afforded by specifick vertues of medicines , is not here to be pretermitted . for these qualities do not only , like other hidden ones , invite , our curiosity , but concern our health and may hereafter ( if i mistake not ) appear to be of much greater importance , than as yet they are commonly thought . however it may be worth while to take some notice of them in this place , if it were but because divers learned physicians do , as some of themselves owned to me , reject or disfavour the corpuscular philosophy upon this account , that they think it cannot be reconcil'd to the vertues of specifick remedies , or at least cannot , either in a particular or in a general way , give any tolerable account of them . i find three sorts of qualities mention'd in the books of physicians , under the notion of specifick vertues . for by some a medicine is said to have a specifick faculty , because it is eminently and peculiarly friendly to this or that particular part of the body , as the heart , the brain , the eye , &c. by others it is said , by a specifick power , to attract and evacuate some determinate humour , as choler , phlegm , &c but the most usual account , upon which a medicine is said to be specifick , is that it has the vertue to cure , by some hidden property , this or that particular disease , as a pleurisy , an asthma , the colick , the dropsy , &c. and this being the principal and most common sense , in which the word specifick is employ'd by physicians , i shall ordinarily make use of it , in that sense , in the following discourse , but yet without so confining my self to it , as not to consider it in the two other senses , when occasion shall require . but before i descend to particular considertions 't will not be amiss to obviate mistakes by declaring , in what sense in this paper , i shall employ the term specifick medicine , especially in the last of the three foremention'd acceptions . i do not then by a specifick understand a medicine , that will cure the disease it is good for infallibly , and in all persons that take it , for i confess i never yet met with any such remedy . nor do i by specifick understand a medicine that , almost like a charm , works only by some latent and unaccountable property , without the assistance of any known quality , as purgative , diuretick , sudorific , &c. to be found in other medicines : but by specifick i mean , in this discourse , such a medicine as very often , if not most commonly , does very considerably , and better than ordinary medicines , relieve the patient , whether by quite curing , or much lessening , his disease , and which acts principally upon the account of some property or peculiar vertue ; so that if it have any manifest quality that is friendly , yet the good it does is greater , than can reasonably be ascribed to the degree it has of that manifest quality , as hot , cold , bitter , sudorifick , &c. there are two grand questions , that may be propos'd about the specifick vertues ascrib'd to medicines , the first is , whether there be really any such , and the second whether , if there be , the mechanical hypothesis can be accommodated to them . the former of these questions may admit of a double sense , for it may be propos'd with respect , either to the present measure of our knowledge , or to those further attainments that , in future times , men may arrive at . in the latter of these senses , ( to dispatch first the consideration of that ) i shall not presume to maintain , without restriction , either part of the question . for i do not only hope , but am apt to think , that in time the industry and sagacity of men will be able to discover intelligible causes of most of those qualities , that now pass for occult , and among them of many of the specifick vertues ascrib'd to medicines . and yet , on the other side , i much fear that men will not be successful , in tracing out the true and immediate causes of those good effects of some remedies , that depend upon such fine and uncommon textures , and such latent and odly guided motions , as fall not under our senses , thô perhaps assisted by instruments . which conjecture will appear the less improbable , if we consider those admirable idiosyncrasiae , or peculiarities of disposition , whereof the books of eminent writers afford us many instances , to whose number i could , upon my own observation , add several , if i thought it needful . and , thô i am not ignorant that some of these may be plausibly accounted for , as that of some mens aversion to cheese , or to cats ; yet i do not think that the like explications can be extended to some others , that might be nam'd , if it were here pertinent to discuss that throughly . as to the former sense , of the question lately propounded , i confess my self very amiable to the affirmative , as far as i can judge by those writings of physicians i have had occasion to peruse . which limitation i add , because i would not derogate from the knowledge of particular persons , who in so learned and inquisitive an age , may be arriv'd at far greater attainments than those physicians have done , that have entertain'd the publick about the occult and specifick qualities of medicines . i know there have been , and still are , dogmatical physitians , that upon the principles , as they pretend , of the school-philosophy , reject all medicinal vertues that they think not reducible to manifest qualities . but of such galen somewhere justly complains , that they either deny matters of fact , or assign very incompetent causes o the effects they pretend to explain . and , for my part , i am so far from believing these men capable of giving sufficient reasons of the more hidden properties of medicins , that i am not apt to think them able , by their principles , to give clear and particular explications , even of the more easy and familiar vertues of simples . i am therefore dispos'd to think that , in the sense formerly deliver'd of the term specifick medicines , there are some remedies that deserve that name . to this opinion i have been led by several reasons ▪ and first ( to begin with the least weighty ) it has the suffrage of many learned physicians , both ancient and modern , and particularly that of galen himself in several places of his works . and i remember that , treating of a specifick remedy against the biting of a mad dog , which vertue he ascribes to an occult quality , or , as he speaks , to the propriety of the whole substance ; he takes occasion to promise , that he would write a book of things that operate upon that account . which book , if it had scap'd with his other works ( for he elsewhere cites it as having written it ) would probably have furnish'd us with several things to strengthen our opinion . and thô in matters philosophical i am little sway'd by mere authority , yet the concurrent suffrage , of many eminent physicians , may in this controversy be the more considerable , because most of them , being noted practitioners , had opportunity to observe whether or no any remedies deserv'd the name of specificks : and their testimony is , in our case , the more to be regarded , because physicians , especially famous ones , are not wont to be willing to acknowledge , that there are effects , which fall under the cognisance of their art , whereof they cannot give the causes . my next inducement , to admit specificks , is founded upon parity of reason : for 't is manifest , that there are divere formidable maladies , that are produc'd by inconsiderable quantities of poysons , that have not been discover'd to produce such great and dismal effects by any manifest quality , whether first , second , or third , as medical authors ( i doubt not over accurately ) distinguish them . on this occasion i shall add a very odd accident , about which i was advis'd with by an expert oculist , very soon after it happen'd : the case was this . a man lying somewhat long in bed in the morning , and chancing , as he lay upon his back , to cast up his eyes to the tester , saw a great spider , that stood still just over his face : wherefore having reproach'd his wife , who happen'd to be in the room , with gross negligence , she took a broom , and struck it upon the upper part of the tester , to beat down the spider ; but the animal held so fast with his feet that she miss'd her aim , and he , whether frighted or irritated by this rude shake , let fall upon the man , that was staring at it to see what would happen , a drop of liquor that lighted directly upon one of his open eyes . but finding no heat nor sharpness insue , but rather a very sensible coldness , he made nothing of it , but rose and put on his cloth's . but presently after , happening to rub with his finger the other eye , he was sadly surpriz'd to find himself suddenly benighted , and calling for assistance , he found that the eye , which the spider had let fall something on , thô no change were noted in it by the by-standers , was totally depriv'd of sight . upon which score he repair'd to the above mention'd oculists : but whether he afterwards recover'd his sight or no , i cannot tell ; all the endeavours the oculist arid i imploy'd to find out his lodging ( to which it seems he had left a wrong direction ) having been fruitless . this brought into my mind , that i had sometimes wonder'd to see how much more quickly spiders will kill flyes , than the cutting off their heads , or running them quite through with pins or needles will do . but to return to what i was saying , of the great mischief done to humane bodies , by very small quantities of poyson ; methinks one may thence argue that it seems not improbable that appropriated medicines , especially when administred in greater quantity , may produce very notable changes in the humane body to the advantage of it . but on this occasion i expect to be told , that 't is much more easy to do harm , than good , and i confess 't is so in the general , but yet , in the particular case before us , i consider that some poysons , that produce such dreadful symptoms in the body , are frequently cur'd by their appropriated antidotes , which therefore must have a sanative power great enough , with the help but of the ordinary concourse of nature , to surmount the efficacy of the venemous matter . to which i shall add this more familiar instance that as perfumes do often enough produce various , and sometimes frightful , symptoms in many histerical women ; so the fumes of the burnt feathers of patridges , woodcocks , &c. do frequently cure the fit in as little time as the sweet smell procur'd it . and i have often found the smell of strong spirit of harts-horn , or sal-armoniac , recover such women in far less time , than the fragrant odours imploy'd to make them si●● . the third and principal inducement i had , to think there are specifick remedies , is from experience . i might urge , on this occasion , the testimony of galen , who tells us more than once , that he himself therefore confided , in the ashes of burnt craw-fishes , for the cure of the biting of a mad dog , because never any of those that took it dy'd . and to annex that upon the by , for the usefulness of it , he adds , that thô the effect of these ashes be admirable , even when given alone , yet their vertue may be increased , by adding to ten parts of burnt craw fishes five of gentian and one of frank-incense . and the great vertue of these burnt shell-fishes i find to have been taken notice of some ages before galen ; dioscorides much commending them against the same disease that the pergamenian does . i shall in this place purposely forbear to mention such medicines , as , thô by divers learned physicians commended as specificks , are yet by others much question'd , if not flatly deny'd to be so . since it may be more proper , and may perhaps suffice , to mention two or three , whose efficacy is more notorious . 't is known , by almost daily experience , in italy and divers other hot countreys , that thô the stings of scorpions oftentimes produce very acute pains , and formidable symptoms , yet the mischief is easily remedy'd , either by presently crushing the body of the scorpion upon the hurt , or by anointing the part affected with oyl of scorpions , ( for that reason to be almost every where found , ) which being made by suffocating those insects in common oyl , and keeping it long in the sun , the liquor does not at all appear to have any manifest quality , to which its sanative efficacy may be ascribed . the bitings of those serpents , which for the noise they are wont to make , with a kind of empty bladders in their tails , the english call rattle-snakes , are counted much more poysonous and dangerous than the stings of scorpions . of which i remember a learned eye witness , that liv'd divers years in virginia , where they much abound , related to me a very strange instance , which i cannot now stay to set down . and yet the english planters , when they have the misfortune to be bitten by these serpents , are wont to cure themselves very happily by the use of that plant , which from its effects , and the place it grows in , is well known by the name of virginian snakeweed , [ or serpentaria virginiana . that the peruvian bark , commonly call'd here in england the jesuits powder , is a specifick against agues , particularly quartans , divers learned physicians not only grant but assert . and i remember the justly famous dt. willis gave me this character of it in private discourse , ( not without taking notice that some decry'd it , ) 't is the noblest medicine we ( meaning the physicians ) know . but thô i will not dispute , whether it be so certain and safe a specifick for agues , as 't is believ'd by , divers eminent doctors , yet i think it can scarce be deny'd , to be a specifick medicine to stop the fits of agues , ( in the notion of specifick remedies formerly deliver'd ) since it does that far more effectually , than the generality of physicians , for many ages , were wont to do , with their other antifebrile medicines . i might here tell you , that i have my self seen a stone , whose efficacy in stopping hemorrhagies invited my wonder ; and another , which perform'd extraordinary things in more than one distemper thô i could not perceive that either of them did these things by any manifest quality . and i might here add some other particulars , that may be borrow'd from experience , in favour of our opinion , but that 't is like they will be more properly alledg'd hereafter in some places of the remaining part of our discourse . i know those , that have rejected specifick medicines , have confidently urg'd three plausible arguments against them . for some physicians deny there are any effects of medicines so considerable , as to make them deserve the name of specifick . others would probably allow that experience favours our opinion , if they did not think the way of a specifick medicines operating must be inexplicable , and consequently ought not be admitted by physicians . and others again ( being of sentiments very differing from these ) will allow them to be very efficacious , but endeavour to derive their whole efficacy from manifest qualities , as heat , cold , tenuity of parts , faculty of making large evacuations by vomit , siege , &c. but these objections will be more opportunely consider'd in due places , only there is one argument , that may be objected by the deniers of specifick remedies , which i confess is so specious , as to deserve to be particularly examin'd in this place , lest it should , if unremov'd , beget too strong a prejudice against a great part of the ensuing discourse . for it may be said , that a medicine taken in at the mouth must , in the stomach and guts , be at lest very much chang'd by digestion , and the aliments it meets with there , and a good part of it will be proscrib'd among excrements . that alter it has pass'd out of the stomach , it must meet with divers strainers of differing textures , which will probably stop all or most of the medicinal corpuscles that would pervade them . and that if any shal be so lucky , or so penetrating , as to surmount all these obstacles , they will probably either be assimilated unto the substance of the body , or quite chang'd by the parts they will be fain to combine with there . or , if yet any should be able so obstinately to retain their pristine nature , they will in all likely hood be too few to have any considerable operation upon the body . but to this plausible objection i have several things to oppose by way of answer . 1. and first i may represent , that divers specifick medicines , as some some oyntments , plaisters , poultis's amulets , pericarpia , &c. being outwardly apply'd , their corpuscles can get into the mass of blood without passing through the stomach , and consequently are not concern'd in the propos'd objection . 2. against most of the galenical physicians , that are wont to urge the formerly propos'd objection , i see not why one may not argue ad hominem by putting them in mind , that the same difficulties for the main , or others not inferior , may be alledged against a common opinion of their own . for since they believe that purgatives , cordials , diaphoreticks , besides cephalicks , hepaticks , and some other sorts of medicines , do contemperate , and sweeten the blood , and usefully affect the newly mentioned stable parts ; and since these medicines act not by naked qualities but by small particles , of their own substance , if they can give us an intelligible account of the ingress of these particles in considerable numbers , into the recesses of the body , without being , dispoyl'd of their particular virtues , they will at the same time instruct us , how to answer the objection they urge against us . 3. and in regard the generality of physicians hold , that milk , and urine , were materially in the mass of blood , and are separated from it by the breasts , and kidneys ; i think one may by experience shew she invalidity of their ratiocination against specificks . for 't is obvious to observe , and i have several times done it my self , that rubarb will ( perhaps for many hours ) tinge the urine of those that take any considerable dose of it and in some of our english american colonies , there grows a fruit , which the planters call the prickled pear , whose inward substance is exceeding red , and whose being pleasant in tast , as well as colour , frequently invites eaters ; but its juice is of so penetrating a nature , that it passes from the stomach into the bladder , and then into the chamber-pot , with so little loss of its redness , that strangers are wont to be surpris'd and frighted at it , as thinking this unknown fruit had made them void bloody urine , if not blood rather than urine . this is a known thing among those , that have dwelt in our southern plantations , and has been affirm'd to me by unsuspected eye-witnesses , and among them by a famous physician . as for milk , the great hippocrates himself informs us , that if a woman , or a she-goat take elaterium , the cathartick vertue passes into the milk , and will purge the child that drinks it . and i remember that haying occasion to make some stay , in the spring or beginning of summer , in the confines of switzerland and savoy , i had the opportunity to observe this odd phaenomenon , that when the cows , in that district , fed , as they would in that season plentifully do , upon a certain weed , said to be a kind of wild-garlick , that grew copiously in the pastures , the very butter made of their milk had so rank a tast of the herb , that though i was not , yet divers other strangers were , thereby diverted from eating of it , though otherwise fresh and good . and i remember too , that having pass'd a winter on the sea-coast of the county of cork in ireland , i found it a known observation , that a sort of greedy sea-fowl , whose name comes not now into my mind , living almost wholly upon fish , ( upon whose scholes i have sometimes wondered to see such a multitude of ravenous fowls attending ) they acquire a tast that makes some pleasantly question , whether the food they afford be to be reputed flesh or fish . but how constantly the particles of divers bodies may retain their nature in all the digestion , and strainers they pass through , i have more amply discours'd in another tract , about the concealments and disguises of seminal principles . and i presume i have here said enough , to allow me to proceed to the fourth part of my answer . 4. i consider then , in the last place , that whereas 't is objected , that so small a quantity of the matter of a specifick , as is able to retain its nature when it arrives at the part it should work on , must have little or no power left to relieve it . this difficulty will not much stagger those that know , how unsafe it is to measure the power that natural agents may have , to work upon such an engine as the humane body , by their bulk rather than by their subtilty and and activity a sober gentleman , that was governour of a colony in the torrid one , and commanded a warlike english vessel , that sail'd up very far in the great river of gambia or gambra in africk , and staid there some time to trade with the negro's of the inland countrey , being inquired of by me , among other things , about the poysons that are said to be extraordinarily powerful in the parts he came from ; he answered me , that the blacks had a poyson , that was , though somewhat slow , yet very mortal ; in so small a dose , that it was usual for them to hide enough of it to kill a man , under one of their nails , which they wear somewhat long : whence they would drop it so dextrously into the drink , or milk , or broth or other liquid aliment of those they ow a spite to , that 't is scarce possible for a stranger to be watchful enough to prevent it . for which reason , as he told me , though he sometimes eat with their petty princes , or governours , at the same table , yet he would never eat out of the same dish , nor drink out of the same cups with any of them . he added that , in another part of africa , a famous knight , who commanded the english there , and lately died a ship-board in his way home , was so poysoned at a parting treat , by a young negro woman of quality , whom he had enjoy'd and declin'd to take with him , according to his promise , into europe . and though my relator early gave him notice of what he suspected to be the cause of this indisposition , and engag'd him thereupon to take antidotes , and cordials , as treacle , &c. yet his languishing distemper still increased , till it kill'd him . i could name a vegetable substance , growing in europe , and perhaps not far from hence , which though some empiricks employ as a medicine , is so violently , operative , that a learned and famous modern physitian relates , that no more than half a grain would work so violently , as to cause very dangerous hypercatharses , of which though he remedy'd some , yet he was not able to keep all from being mortal . and because many ingenious men deny that out english vipers are poysonous , i shall add in favour of the argument that i have been enforcing that i know a young man , who having been bitten by an english viper , which he too rashly laid hold on , though the tooth pricked but his hand , yet the venom , convey'd by so small a hurt which perhaps equal'd not in quantity the hundredth part of pins head , quickly produc'd in him the bad symptoms that usually follow the biteing of that serpent , ; and among others ( for i particularly ask'd him about that ) a violent vomiting of ill condition'd stuff . i know also a person , that practis'd physick in the isle of iava , where scorpions are held to be more venemous than in italy who having , after he had drank some what freely , provok'd , and bin stung by , a scorpion , thô the hurt was but in his thumb , and was so small that i could not perceive the least scar it had left , that it put him presently to such violent tortures , for some hours , till he had procur'd specifick remedies , that he look'd upon himself a dead man ; and felt so raging a heat within that he thought ( to use his own expression ) that hell-fire was got into his body . nor is it only by mere poysons , that a humane body may be greatly affected , thô the agent be but very inconsiderable for bulk and weight , for we see , that divers women , otherwise strong and healthy , will be cast into sounding fits , and perhaps will complain of suffocation , and be put into convulsive motions , by the fragrant odours of musk , or civet ; though if all the effluvia , that cause these symptomes , were reduc'd into one aggregate , this would not probably amount to a hundredth , nor perhaps to a thousandth , part of a grain . and i have oftentimes speedily suppress'd such fits , by the odour of the volatile salts harts-horn , sal armoniac , or the like , or of destill'd spirits abounding with such salts ; though perhaps all the particles , that actually relieved the patient , and calm'd these frightful symptoms , if pack'd together , would not have equal'd , either in bigness or in weight , the tenth , not to say the fifteenth , or the hundredth , part of a grain of mustard-seed . and as for inward remedies , 't is vulgarly known , that in the infusion of crocus metallorum , corpuscles that render the liquor vehemently vomitive and purgative , are so very minute , that great proportions of wine , or other vehicles may ▪ be strongly impregnated with them without any sensible diminution of the body that parts with them . and of this we have a not less , if not more , considerable instance , when quick-silver is decocted or long infus'd in common water . for helmont observes that , though the liquor be not altered in colour , or tast , nor the quick-silver at all sensibly chang'd , nay nor grown any thing lighter in a ballance , yet the liquor does , by means of these insensible and unponderable effluxes of the quicksilver , acquire a notable virtue against worms ; for which purpose not only helmont , but before him that experienc'd chymist hartman , and another eminent writer , extoll this medicine . and on this occasion i remember that a fine boy , born to be heir to a very illustrious family , falling into a dangerous feaver , which was judg'd to proceed from worms or verminous matter ; a famous and experienc'd physitian , that treated him , confess'd to me , that he was out of hopes of him ; because the child , having been bred to have his will , and tir'd with unsuccessful remedies , was so obstinate and carefull in refusing to take any thing , that smeld or relish'd of a medicine , that he forbore , in spite of all the art us'd to deceive him , even to drink any thing but small beer whereupon i perswaded both the doctor , and the lord , whose son the child was , to impregnate his small beer with mercurial particles , by frequently shaking it with good quick-silver in it . by which means the patient , perceiving no change of colour or tast in the drink , swallow'd it greedily , and through the blessing of god was soon after restor'd to a health , which the parties concern'd ascrib'd to the mercurial remedy . i should condemn my self , for having bestowed so many words upon one objection , but that i hope the answer , given to it in this place , will facilitate and shortens several things relating to my present subject specifick medicines . about which i shall now proceed to offer my thougths in some propositions , and short discourses upon them . having now dispatch'd the first of the two formerly propos'd inquiries , i proceed to the second , namely , whether the mechanical hypothesis can be accommodated to specifick medicines , so as that they may be either intelligibly explicated by a , or at least shown to be reconcilable to it . i presume you will easily believe , that there are few writers more inclinable , than i'am , to confess the dimness of our knowledge , and the obscurity of many things in nature ; or that are more forward than i to grant , that many of the operations , of specifick medicines , are to be reckoned among those abstruse things , whereof nature seems to affect the concealment . but notwithstanding this , when i consider how comprehensive and fertile the principles of the corpuscular philosophy are , i cannot despair bur that it will be found , that divers of the effects of these medicines may be , in a general way explicated by them , and not any will appear inconsistent with them . this i desire may be here taken notice of once for all that , retaining the scope of the following discourse still in your memory , you may not think it strange , that i content my self , on most occasions , to give in general possible explications , and to shew that specifick medicines may operate on some such account as i propose , without affirming that they certainly do so i observ'd soon after the beginning of this paper that there were three sorts of virtues to which physicians ( thô not unanimously ) have given this title of specifick ; namely such as evacuate some particular humour , such as are peculiarly friendly to this or that part of the humane body , and such as in an unknown way cure or much lessen this or that determinate disease . but yet i shall now apply my discourse peculiarly to the last sort of these medicines , as being both more considerable in it self and the chief subject intended in present discourse , giving nevertheless , as occasion serves , such additional hints and observations , as may make the reflections , belonging to this third sort of specificks , easily applicable mutatis mutandis to the other two . and i shall begin with laying here for a foundation what i have in another treatise had occasion to deliver and make out , namely , that a living humane body is not to be look'd upon as a mere statue , or a mere congeries of the materials 't is compos'd of , flesh , blood , bones , fat , nerves , veins , arteries , &c. but an admirably fram'd engine , consisting of stable , liquid , and pneumatick substances , so exquisitely adapted to their respective functions and uses , that oftentimes the effects of an agent upon it are not to be measured so much by the power of that agent considered in it self , as by the effects that are consequently produc'd by the action of the parts of the living engine it self upon one another . this premis'd , i consider ▪ that there is no need to grant that the operations of all specificks , or of the same in differing diseases , must be of one kind ; but that differing specificks may operate in several manners , and some by one of these ways may oppugn such a disease , and others may do good against such another . and of these general ways i shall briefly propose six or seven that now occur to my thoughts . for having first given you this important caution , that the specifick remedy do's not commonly ( though sometimes it may ) relieve the patient by this or that single way of operating , but by a concurrence of two or more , that as it were joyn their forces to produce the desired effect . proposition . i. and first , sometimes the specifick medicine may cure by discussing , or resolving the morbifick matter , and thereby making it fit for expulsion by the greater common shores of the body , and the pores of the skin . 't is known that many diseases , and those oftentimes stubborn and chronical , proceed from certain tough or viscous humours , that obstruct the passages wereby the blood should circulate , or other usefull liquors be transmitted . and these peccant humours are oftentimes so viscid and obstinate , that ordinary remedies will do little or no good upon them . and yet a specifick may , by the smalness , and congruous figure of some of its corpuscles , get through the pores into the recesses of this stubborn matter ; and by their solidity , figure , and agitation , promoted by the heat of the patients body , may dissolve and ruine the texture of the morbifick matter , and render it capable of being proscribed by nature , by urine , sweat , or some other commodious and innocent evacuation . thus the blood , or some other liquor of the body , being ( to use the chymists phrase ) impregnated with the friendly and operative particles of the remedy , becomes an appropriated menstruum in referrence to the pecant matter : impregnated with sal armoniack becomes a menstruum , that by degrees will dissolve both copper and iron , as compact bodies as they are . i said appropriated menstruum , because there is no sufficient reason to suppose , that the menstruum works by any manifest quality , as heat moisture , &c. or even by acidity it self : but rather by virtue of the fitness , which the shape , bulk , solidilty , and other mechanical affections of its particles , concur to give it , to disjoyn the parts of a body of such a determinate texture . for as i have in another paper amply shewn , there are far more menstruums of distinct sorts than are commonly taken notice of , and the operations of these cannot safely be measured by the strength of their manifest qualities , since it may several times happen , that a menstruum , less acid or less strongly tasted , may dissolve this or that body , which another menstruum , that seems far stronger , will not work on . thus cold water will dissolve the white of an egg , which pure spirit of wine will be so far from dissolving , that it will coagulate it ; [ and so will spirit of salt and oyl of vitriol it self . ] thus dephlegm'd spirit of urine will readily dissolve minute filings of copper , which spirit of vinegar will but slowly work upon ; and yet this liquor will speedily dissolve crabs eyes , which spirit of urine will leave entire . thus quicksilver , that is insipid , will in the cold dissolve gold , which aqua fortis it self , though assisted by exeternal heat will not work upon ; and yet aqua fortis will furiously bear asunder the parts of iron , though quicksilver will not so much as adhere to its surface . and thus in fine ( not to accumulate instances ) common oyl , that is so smooth upon the tongue , and will not dissolve so much as an egg-shell , will dissolve brimstone , which yet will resist aqua fortis it self , that will dissolve almost all metals , beside many hard stones and minerals . and i know a liquor , having more than once prepar'd it , which , though so weak that one may drink a wine glass full of it pure without danger , will yet work on some very hard bodies , both stones & metals , in a way that is not to be matched , among the highly corrosive menstruums in use among chymists . and now , supposing that the active corpuscles , of a specifick medicineassociated with the blood , or other vehicle they impregnate , may act upon the morbifick matters they meet with in the body , after the manner of menstruum ; supposing this i say , we may hence illustrate several things that have reference to the operation of specifick medicines . 1. and we may hence derive a guess , why an appropriated medicine will perform things , which will not be done by another , whose manifest qualities seem to be the same for kind , and much stronger in degree . for menstruums do not always act according to the degree of their acidity , or the like sensible quality , but according to the congruity of their corpuscles to the pores of the body they are to dissolve ; and also oftentimes according to a fitness that depends upon other mechanical affections of the acting liquor . and therefore physicians , as well as others , may easily mistake in their argumentations à majori ad minus , & à minori ad majus . for the consequence is not good to argue either thus , water , which is so strengthless liquor , will dissolve gum arabic , therefore highly rectified spirit of wine , which is a much more subtil and penetrateing liquor , will doe the same thing more powerfully ; for experience shews , it will not dissolve it at all : or thus , strong oyl of vitriol is more corrosive in taste , and will dissolve many bodies that aqua fortis will not , therefore it will also dissolve silver as well as aqua fortis , the contrary of which is true . nay 't is not a good inference to argue thus , aqua fortis is dissolves silver by virtue of its acid spirits , therefore the more it abounds with these , the more potently it will dissolve that metal , whereas i have elsewhere prov'd by experience , that if aqua fortis be made exceeding strong , it will not work upon silver , but it will readily do it if it be weakned by the addition of a fit quantity of common water . to this i shall add , that the dissolution of a body may depend , as well upon the peculiar texture of the body it self , as the manifest strength of the menstruum . 2ly . the foregoing doctrine may suggest a reason , why a medicine that does wonders in one disease , may do little or nothing in another , that some may think to be a kin to it , and perhaps too , more easily superable by it . for the presum'd cognation may not be so great , but that some dissimilitude of texture in the morbifick matters , may make one of them unfit to be wrought upon by the same menstruum that dissoloves the other . and though pure spirit of wine will easily enough dissolve gummi guajacum , and also the little portion of resinous matter that are harbour'd in the pores and small cavities of the wood ; yet the same menstruum will not work upon the wood it self of the tree that affords those soluble substances . 3. this may keep it from being thought strange , that specifick medicines should sometimes fail of their usual effects . for , as the bodies of individual patients , may differ very much , either according to their natural constitution , or to that which they acquire by the disease that distempers them , or on both those accounts ; so it ought not to seem strange , that in some sick persons among many , the congruity between the agent ct patient should be alter'd , either by some considerable change in the texture of the morbifick matter , or by some notable alteration that the corpuscles of the medicine receive in their passage through the vessels , by the admixture of some incongruous particles of the blood or other vehicle . thus spirit of salt will , as i have try'd , dissolve copper , as spirit of niter does : which notwithstanding , thô this last nam'd liquor will dissolve silver , yet if you mix with it spirit of salt , which by the like operation of both upon copper , seems to be amicable to it , the spirit of niter will no more be able to dissolve silver , as it could before . 4thly . our hypothesis may also hint to us an answer to one of the main and most plausible objections of the deniers of specifick medicines . for some of them ask in a scornful way , how 't is possible that a medicine should rove up and down in the mass of blood , and neglecting all other things , should single out , and fasten upon the morbifick matter men wish it should proscribe . for if the medicine acts by impregnating the blood , or some other liquor of the body , and turning it into a kind of menstruum , 't is very possible , both that the strainers through which the corpuscles must pass , may keep back the inconvenient parts of the vehicle , and ( which is in our case more considerable ) the menstruum may be either appropriated to the peccant humour , as has been formerly declar'd , or else may at least be qualify'd , to resolve that more easily than any other substance it meets with in the body . as if you take some bone-ashes , and crocus martis , and saw-dust , and powdered sea-salt , and filings of gold , and blend all these together , if upon one half of this mixture you pour common water , it will not meddle with any other of the ingredients except the sea-salt , which it will readily dissolve : & if upon the other half of the same mixture , you put a sufficient quantity of quick-silver , and rub them together , this metalline liquor will neglect all the rest of the ingredients , and the sea salt it self , and fasten upon the gold. and those that work in the spanish gold mines inform us , that when they have well ground some ore , that contains gold and copper , besides heterogeneous minerals , well heated quick-silver will take up the gold much sooner and better than it will the copper , scarce meddling with the latter , as long as there remains any not despicable quantity of the former , to be wrought upon by it . and as for the supposed difficulty , that the medicine should ferret out , if i may so speak , the morbifick matter , in what vessel soever of the body it lies , this objection might have been considerable , before the discovery of the bloods circulation : but 't is not so now that we know , that things that once get into the mass of blood , are presently whirl'd about with it , and may be convey'd by it even to small vessels lying in the remotest parts of the body . 5thly . and this prompts me to take notice , that our hypothesis may help us to answer those many learned physicians , that either reject , or at least despise , most external remedies , especially pericarpia , amulets , and appensa , upon a supposition , both that they neither can furnish the body they do but externally touch , with any store of medicinal particles ; and which is chiefly in this place to be consider'd , that being but external remedies , they must be very unable to do good in internal diseases , especially such as are seated in parts , remote from those which the medicine is apply'd to . but as to the former part of the objection , 't will not be difficult to answer it to him that has read what i have elsewhere written of the subtility , numerousness and efficacy of effluviums . and we need but consider , what plenty of particles sensible to the nostrils , are for a long time emitted by a small quantity of amber-greece , or even of camphire ( which is often externally us'd ) and the multitude of magnetical corpuscles , that for many years constantly effluviate from a small vigorous load-stone , to think it possible that even dry and stable bodies may afford sufficient store of effluvia , to perform considerable things in so curiously fram'd an engine , as the humane body is ; where we see that the odour of musk , or civet , for instance , may speedily cast divers persons into fits , and the smell of castor or assa faetida , and much more that of salt of harts-horn or of sal armoniack , quickly relieve them . and as to the second part of the objection , what i have elsewhere made out , and the best modern physicians grant , of the porosity of the skin , shows , that 't is very possible for the subtil effluvia of several bodies , to get through the pores of the skin ; and when they have once got admittance , so much as into the smaller vessels , 't is easie to conceive how these may carry them into the greater , and consequently into the mass of blood , by whose circulation they may be readily conveyed to all the parts of the body , and among them to the seat of the disease : & perhaps , ( to add that upon the by , ) the efficacy of these corpuscles , that , if i may so speak , get in at the key-hole , not at the door , may be the more considerable , because they get presently into the mass of blood , without passing thrô those digestions in the stomach and other parts , which oftentimes much weaken the vertue of medicines taken in at the mouth , before they arrive at the blood. proposition . ii. sometimes a specifick medicine may mortify the over acid , or other immoderate particles that infest the mass of blood , and destroy their coagulatory or other effects . thô i am not of their opinion , who of late are wont to impute almost all diseases to acidity , abounding in the blood and other liquors of the body , by whose intervention the stable parts also are offended ; yet i readily grant that a considerable number of distempers are , at least in great part , produc'd either by acids themselves , or by their bad effects or productions . agreeably to which doctrine we may very probably conceive , that several maladies may be either quite cur'd , or much lessen'd , by a specifick remedy that abounds in corpuscles fitted to mortify acids . this mortification may be effected by more than one way , and of these wayes the chief that now occur to my thoughts , are two . for there are some bodies , that mortify or disable acids by a positive hostility , if i may so term it ; that is , by such a contrariety as is discernable by the tast , and more by the visible conflict , and manifest tumult , that is produc'd , when they come to invade an acid. of this sort of mortifiers of acids , are the most part of those that are call'd alcalisate salts . whether fixt , as the lixivial salts of plants , or volatile , as the spirits and ascending salts of urine , blood , harts-horn , soot , &c. as may be exemplify'd , when any of these comes to be mingled with aqua fortis , spirit of salt , oyl of vitriol , or the like acid liquors , by which by the way we may see , that those galenists mistake , who ascribe the vertues of spirit of harts-horn , and of urine , only to their tenuity of parts , briskness of motion , and the like affections , that they might not seem beholding to the chymists for so useful a notion , as that of the contrariety of acids and alcalies . the other principal way , by which acids may be mortifi'd , or disabled to bite , is by sheathing them , if i may so express it . for as a knife may be disabled to cut , either by filing off or otherwise blunting its edge , or else by covering the blade with a sheath fit for it , or by sticking it into a loaf of bread , or the like body fit to receive and detain the whole blade ; so an acid corpuscle may lose its power of cutting or pricking , either by having its figure spoil'd by the action of a strong and manifest alcaly , or else by being as it were sheath'd in a porous body , thô perhaps endow'd with no tast , or any other manifest quality , by which one would think it contrary to the acid it disables , as a file is to the edge of a knife . of this way of mortifying acids , chymical operations afford us many instances , as when menium destroyes the acidity of spirit of vinegar , as i have found chalk will do that of aqua fortis it self ; and lapis calaminaris very much lessens , as well as alters , the acidity of spirit of salt , and even of spirit of niter . and i the rather mention this mineral , both because its qualities are less known to physicians , and the generality of chymists , and because it supplies me with an argument to prove that acids may be , thô i do not think they alwayes are , rather sheath'd in , than destroy'd by the bodies that silently mortify them . for , as glauber has truly enough observed , acid spirits ( as i have try'd in some ) may by force of fire be driven in distillation out of the lapis calaminaris , very much dephlegm'd , and stronger than before . i know it may be here objected , that the mortification of acids is perform'd by a manifest quality , and therefore makes nothing for the feavourers of specifick medicines . but to this i answer . 1. that the power of mortifying acids , especially by sheathing them , or if you please , by absorption of them , is none of those qualities , whether first , second or third , that the former physicians took notice of in medicines ; thô the sufficiency of these qualities to cure diseases , has been , and still is , us'd by many as a ground of denying the specifick vertues of remedies . 2. that i have often look'd upon it as an happy mistake , and of ill consequence , that so many learned modern physicians take it for granted , that if a medicine be endow'd with a manifest quality , as acid or alcalisate , the good it does , ( and the like for the most part may be said of the harm ) may safely be abscrib'd to that quality , that is to its being of an acid , or else of an alcalisate nature ; whereas in my poor judgment , there being a considerable disparity , as various tryals have assur'd me , between acid and acid , as likewise between alcaly aud alcaly , 't is fit to distinguish betwixt an acid for instance , as meerly such , and the peculiar modification that may belong to that acid. thus , thô all acid menstruums that i know of , if they be well dephlegm'd , will dissolve copper , yet aqua regis that will dissolve not only that metal , but the much more closely compacted body of gold , will not at all dissolve silver ; as on the other side aqua fortis , as corrosive a menstruum as it is , will not of it self dissolve gold , but if you give it a new modification , by adding to it common spirit of salt , which it self i have often found ( whatever chymists think or have written to the contrary ) will leave it entire , the aqua fortis will easily dissolve that metal . nay a different modification may not only make a disparity between acid , but that which according to the receiv'd way of judging , ought to be call'd a contrariety : for spirit of salt will precipitate silver , which aqua fortis has dissolv'd , and spirit of niter , thô one of the acidest menstruums we have , will not only precipitate an antimonical powder out of that odd substance , that chymists call butter of antimony , but will do it with a wonderful conflict , tumult , and effervesence ; and yet this butter of antimony is so highly acid , that a little quantity of it , put into a considerable one of water , makes it so sour , that many chymists call it acetum philosophorum . and now to apply these things to the lately propos'd objection , i desire it may be remembred , that near the beginning of this letter i plainly intimated to you , that i did not deny , but that a specifick medicine may sometimes be accompany'd with , or even in part operate by a manifest quality , but that yet i thought the good effect was not due , barely to the kind or degree of the manifest quality , but to somewhat superadded which gave it a specifick vertue , against this or that particular disease . and suitably to this it may be said , that , as there are several kinds of acids , and of alcalies too , 't is not every acid that will be mortifi'd by every alcaly ; and have its effects destroy'd by it , which may be illustrated by this , that , thô when copper is dissolved in aqua fortis 't is possible , by the help of meer chalk skilfully apply'd to make the menstruum let go the corpuscles of the metal , yet if upon such a high colour'd solution of copper , you shall pour ( as to convince some ingenious men , i have purposely done a due quantity of spirit of urine , or the like volatile alcaly , thô there will presently ensue a great conflict and manifest ebullition , with noise and store of bubbles , yet between these hostile salts , a multitude of the acid corpuscles of the aqua fortis will not be so mortified , as to let go the metal , but the solution varying its colour , will have and keep a deeper one than before . and when i consider the differences that a skilful observer may find , between vinegar , alum , crystals of tartar , juice of lemmons , juice of barbaries , the essential salts ( as chymists call them ) of those plants that are sour in tast , to omit divers other acids , i am apt to think , that disorder'd nature may have , in a diseased body , produc'd acids of several sorts which are not particularly known to us , and that some of these may be of such a nature , that none of our common alcalies , as such , is able to mortify them , and which yet may be mortify'd , at least by the way of sheathing , by some appropriated or peculiarly modify'd corpuscles of a specifick remedy which may be illustrated by what is elsewhere observ'd , that , thô neither spirit of vinegar , nor spirit of salt , nor oyl of vitriol it self , would , as far as i have try'd , dissolve a stone taken out of a mans body , yet spirit of niter , ( which does not dissolve several podies , that i have found dissoluble in oyl of vitriol ) will readily work upon it , and thereby lose , its corrosiveness . before i leave this subject , 't will not be amiss to intimare a couple of things , that perhaps you will not think impertinent to it . one of these is , that , whereas i not long ago distinctly nam'd acids themselves and their productions , i did it ( not out of inadvertence , but ) because i think preternatural acids do not only disaffect the body whilest they continue sensibly acid , but may in divers cases be the causes of some distempers , whereof most men would think them more likely to be the remedies . for , thô acids be reputed to have an incisive and resolutive vertue , and therefore oxymel and some other acetous medicines are commended to cut tough phlegm , and spirit of vitriol is us'd for the same purpose , and to dissolve coagulated blood ; yet , as i am willing to grant this vertue unto acids in some cases , so there are others wherein i much suspect , that obstructions , and consequently the diseases that usually attend obstinate ones , may be occasion'd by acids , as they coagulate some fluids in the mass of blood , that are dispos'd to be thicken'd by them , and by that consistence made unfit to pass with the rest of the circulating blood , through the smaller vessels and strainers of the body , where upon that account they make obstructions . this i shall exemplify by the coagulation that i have made by some acid salts , as spirit of salt , of the white of an egg , especially if by beating reduc'd to an aqueous consistence . and the like coagulation may easily be effected in milk , which may not only be speedily curdl'd with spirit of salt , but , as is known by bodies not chymically prepar'd , as rennet and juice of lemons . and experiments purposely made have shown , that , if some acids be convey'd immediately into the mass of blood , they will coagulate even that liquor , whilst it continues in the vessels of the yet living animals . the other thing i lately told you , i was to observe , is , that , thô acid corpuscles are those , that modern physicians and chymists are wont to take notice of as hurtful , both in the blood and stable parts of the body , except the stomach , and perhaps some few neighbouring parts , as the spleen and pancres . and , thô some ingenious men proceed so far , as to impute almost all diseases to the bad effects of acids , yet i am very inclinable to think , that divers maladies and ttoublesom symptoms proceed from corpuscles , that , whether they be of a saline nature or not , are different from acids properly so call'd . for i consider , that there may be many bodie , which may as 't were result from the combination of acids with other saline particles , that much alter their nature , as i have elsewhere noted , that spirit of salt will , with spirit of urine , compose a kind of sal-armoniac ; and spirit of niter with salt of tartar dissolv'd in common water , will concoagulate with it into salt petre ( or a body exceeding like it , ) and the same spirit of niter or aqua fortis with spirit of urine , or of blood , or the like , will afford a very fusible salt , differing enough from what either of the ingredients was before their conjunction . and 't is vulgarly known , that oyl of vitriol , and oyl of tartar per deliquium , do by their coalition produce tartarum vitriolatum , in which the acidity of the former , and the alcalisateness of the latter , are very much infring'd , a third body being by resultancy produc'd , that differs much both from the former and the latter oyl , or rather saline liquor . and when , besides instances of this nature , i consider how many differing sorts of corpuscles so fruitful a principle as nature may have form'd , that , without being acid , may yet have notable and hurtful effects upon the blood , or some particular solid part of the body . it seems probable to me , that there may be other qualities requir'd , to mortify or disable these morbifick corpuscles , than a contrariety to acid salts , and consequently , that a medicine that affords corpuscles peculiarly fitted to correct or enervate this particular sort of hurtful ones , may deserve the name of a specifick . and here i further consider , that , as in the body there may be divers coagulations made by saline corpuscles manifestly acid ; so there may be others produc'd by corpuscles , whether saline in tast or no , that are not manifestly acid , but perhaps rather of a contrary nature , which observation , being wont to be overlook'd by physicians , and yet in my opinion of no small importance , may deserve to be a little the more carefully made out . i have sometimes for curiosity made a liquor , that was not in tast either acid or urinous ; to which having put a moderate proportion of a distill'd liquor , which it self was not in tast either acid , or urinous , or lixiviate , it would in a very short time , perhaps in not many minutes , be coagulated into so consistent a body , that , thô the wide mouth'd vessel were held with the orifice downwards , nothing would fall out of it . i have taught in another ( unpublish'd paper , that if upon a certain solution ( which i there show how to make ) one drop some spirit of urine , or anorhet volatile alcaly , there will presently be produc'd a gelly , whose consistence and colour may make it easily be taken for common starch , ready to be imploy'd to stiffen linnen . the like gelly , but more transparent , i have more than once made , without the help of any thing , that is sensibly acid or urinous . i have also , to convince some virtuosi , showed them somewhat to their surprise , a substance i had prepar'd without the help of urine , or any volatile alcaly , ( and sometimes almost in a trice ) that would in very few minutes coagulate above twice , if not thrice its weight of highly rectify'd and inflamable vinous spirit into a stable mass . and to shew you , that 't is not requisite that a liquor be strongly , or so much as sensibly acid , to coagulate an animal substance , as i lately noted , that the spirit of salt did the white of an egg , i shall add , that well dephlegm'd spirit of wine will do the same thing as well , if not better . proposition iii. sometimes the specifick medicine may help the patient , by precipitating the peccant matter out of the blood , or other liquor ( of the body ) that harbours it . thô precipitation be oftentimes a consequent of the mortification of acids , or of alcalies , by corpuscles of a contrary quality , yet i thought fit to say something of it apart : because i have observed that some acids and alcalies may be put together without causing precipitation by their contrariety ; and on the other side , that divers precipitations may be produc'd where there do's not appear any hostility , though i know divers ingenious men , who think this effect it self a sufficient argument , that the hostility of acids and alcalies must be the cause of it . but that should not be taken for granted , but prov'd by collateral experiments , that do not suppose the truth of the hypothesis it self . but to proceed to our exampls , i know ( and elsewhere mention ) several urinous spirits , that i could mix with acid menstruum without making any manifest conflict , or precipitation ; and on the otherside , acids and alcalies , that will make a manifest conflict by their mutual creation , and yet if they be mingled in a just proportion , will have for the consequent of their mixture , coalition instead of precipitation ; as may be exemplified in certain mixtures of spirit of sal-armoniac ( made with salt of tartar , or pot-ashes ) and spirit of nitre or aqua fortis ; and also when spirit of urine and spirit of salt , being mingled in a certain proportion , convene into corpuscles for the making of sal-armoniac , which the phlegm of those liquors will keep swimming . but that which makes most for my present purpose , is , that there may be precipitations , where , whatever may be suppos'd , it does not appear that there is any tumult or contrariety , as when silver being dissolved in aqua fortis , and the menstruum diluted with 30 or 40 parts of distill'd water , or of rain water , if clean plates of copper be immers'd in the solution , the metal will be very slowly precipitated out of it , in the form not of a calx , consisting of metalline , and saline parts incorporated together , but , at least at the beginning in the form of pure shineing scales of silver , almost like the white and glittering scales of some smal fishes . there is also a way , by which i have brought dissolv'd gold to settle about a body , suspended in the solution , in the form of a fine and high-colour'd calx of pure gold. but you may easily see an instance of silent precipitation , if you do but rub a little either roman or dantzick vitriol , upon the well whetted blade of a knife wetted with water or spittle , for you will have the steel , almost in a trice , overlaid with a reddish substance , which by its colour and other signs appears manifestly to be cupreous . and here i shall advertise you , that 't is not only , as is wont to be suppos'd , out of solutions made with acids , that bodies may be thus precipitated , for upon search i have found that there are in nature precipitants , that are capable of silently precipitating some bodies dissolv'd in urinous menstruums , or others not acid . i know it may be suspected , and that not without colour of reason , that such precipitations may be dangerous , by producing heterogeneous corpuscles in the blood , that may be too-heavy or gross to be evacuated . and i look upon this as a suspicion , for whose resolution 't were fit to consult experience . but in the mean time one may represent . 1. that , thô some inconvenience may happen from the bulk of the precipitated corpuscles , yet that may be much inferiour to the danger threatned by the over-active & hostile particles , that produc'd or fomented the disease . 2. that , 't is not necessary that all concretions should consist of corpuscles so bulky , as to be too big to be thrown out of the mass of blood , for we see that stony matter , which , as the chymical analysis of it shews , is of a very compounded nature , may be carryed to all parts of the body . and i remember i knew a lady , who a while before she told me the story , had a stone taken out of the lower part of her tongue . and physicians , that prescribe great quantities of mineral waters impregnated with iron , such as i found those of tunbridge to be , and with sulphur , such as some of the bath waters are , are wont to build their expectations of curing with them , upon a supposition , that they are carryed into the mass of blood , and consequently to the innermost parts of the body . 3. that yet 't is possible , precipitations may be made of matters contain'd in the blood , by medicines that do not get into the mass of it . as physicians give steel in substance sometimes crude , as well as oftentimes prepar'd , to mortify the acidities of the blood , though the metalline corpuscles do not , for ought we know , pass into the mass of it , but are wrought upon by the matter , that in its circulation is thrown out of it into the stomach & guts , where their operation on it is probably inferr'd from the blackness , that chalybeates are wont give the excrements of the lower belly ; and if they will have it , that prepar'd steel , for instance , calcin'd with sulphur , gets through the pores of the bowels , or the extremities of the capillary vessels , into the mass of blood it self , 't will be obvious to demand , why nature should not be able to expel precipitate corpuscles at the same passages , at which such compounded concretions , as those of sulphur and metal , can get in . 4. that some may very speciously pretend ; that experience has been already consulted about the expediency of imploying precipitating medicines . for not to urge , that the learned and judicious sennertus seems to intimate , that in some cases the fibrile matter may be surmounted by being precipitated out of the blood ; there is a professor of physick , who , thô i cannot assent to some of his principles & doctrines , has deliver'd several considerable things about fermentation and feavers : & this professor , by name kergerus , very solemnly declares * , that for fourteen years he cur'd above a thousand febricitants without bleeding , purging , or sweating medicines , ( to which he adds some others sorts ) by a single precipitating remedy . i endeavour'd to obtain from germany an account of the truth of the matter of fact , but did not receive it ; only i found that a physician of this emperours , does , in a lately publish'd book , declare himself inclin'd to believe it to be true . i shall much the more easily be induc'd to think , that great and desireable changes may be wrought in the fluid parts of the body by appropriated precipitants , if that be true which is unanimously taught by a multitude of physicians , who impute many diseases to the putrefaction of the blood and other liquors of the body . for , tho certain reasons oblige me to desire you , not to ask me any questions about the remedy i am going to speak of , because i must not yet answer them ; yet i am willing you should on this occasion know historically , ( what probably you will think strange ) that there is in rerum natura , a certain substance , which is so powerful an enemy to putrefaction , that , when a few grains or drops of it were put into a considerable quantity of water , that had been kept till it stunk so strongly and offensively , that , if i had not known what it was , i should have judg'd the smell to have proceeded from carrion . this medicinal liquor , i say , ( for so i may call it , ) being diffus'd by agitation through this abominably stinking water , ( which did not appear turbid to the eye ) in so very small a proportion , precipitated out of it a very little and light feculency , which being separated , the rest of the liquor was quite freed from all stink ; nor did i observe that the feculency it self had any . and , which is very notable , all this was done in a very few minutes , by a precipitant , whose tast was not at all either bitter , or acid , or urinous , or lixivial . all which are circumstances , that may afford good hints to speculative and sagacious inquirers . proposition iv. sometimes the specifick remedy may work , by peculiarly strenthening , and cherishing the heart , and by that means , or without it , the part affected . this observation can scarce be made good , without entring into the controversy , which for its difficulty and importance , has perplex'd divers modern physicians ; whether there be any medicines , that have a sympathy with the head , heart , liver &c and thereby deserve the name of cephalic , cordial , or hepatic &c. or , to speak somewhat more clearly , whether there be any medicines , that in a peculiar manner do good to this or that particular internal part of the body . in this dispute the affirmative part has been held , but i doubt upon slender grounds of reason , in most of the physick schools for several ages . but in our times , many do not only maintain the negative , but deride the opinion they have forsaken . for some of them object in a triumphant style , that t is ridiculous to fancy such a sympathy , betwixt a dead medicine , and the parts of a living body . as that the physician may send the drug , as 't were of an errand , to find out one in the dark , among a multitude of others , and do it good offices . but notwithstanding this , i think it very possible , that a medicine may so far respect a particular part , as , though not to be beneficial to that only , yet to be friendly to that , in a peculiar manner or degree . and this i conceive it may be , upon one or more of the accounts , that i shall briefly mention . and first , when i consider that the stable parts of the body , as the heart , brain , liver , kidneys &c. have each its particular structure , wherein it differs from others , and probably the fluid parts also , as blood , gall , lympha &c. have their distinct textures , it seems not improbable to me , that the corpuscles of a medicine dissolv'd in the stomach , and carryed too and fro by the liquors of the body , may according to the determinate shape , size , stiffness or flexility , motion , &c. be much more fit to be detain'd by one part of the body , as the brain , the heart &c. than by the rest ; and so , by lodging it self in its pores , or associating with its fibres , may supply it with such congruous particle , as it either does want , or in case it do not , may by their congruity be of advantage to it , by re-establishing or strengthening the tone of it . and by this corroboration , the part may be made able to resist the hostilities of morbifick matters , which physicians usually observe to be wont , by the more vigorous parts , to be thrown upon the weakned or distemper'd ones ; as is manifest in persons that are much subject to the gout , in whom oftentimes peccant humors are very apt , upon several occasions , to be thrown off by the nobler parts , if they be robust , upon the frequently debilitated joints ; on which score the gout , if it be well managed , is , not irrationally , wont to be thought conducive to long life . and on this occasion i remember , that i formerly knew a learned physician , who , though a great traveller , and , as such , accustom'd to great varieties in point of diet , had such a peculiar indisposition in his jaw , that though he could moderately drink wines of several sorts without inconvenience , yet the drinking even of a very little brandy , would soon after give him the tooth ach , of which odd distemper he has sometimes complain'd to me . but this upon the by : for i must now proceed to illustrate and make probable , what i was saying of the possible fitness of some medicinal corpuscles , to associate themselves with those of the part they are to befriend , by observing what happens in nutrition , especially in that of sucking-children . for in these , one single aliment , namely milk , does afford , besides various excrements , such as the grosser faeces of the guts , and the more fluid ones of the bladder , the mouth , the nose , the pores of the skin &c. a great number of corpuscles , that are not only detain'd , but assimilated by parts of differing structures , as the brain , the heart , the bones &c. since otherwise these parts could never be so plentifully nourished by them , as dayly to increase in all their dimensions . and t is considerable , that some parts , which in babes are cartilaginous , do in process of time become boney , which change seems not probably referable to the bare exsiccation , produc'd by native heat , increasing with the persons age. secondly , the friendly corpuscles of a specifick medicine , may not only confirm the good estate of a determinate part , but , which makes most for our present purpose , they may very much conduce to restore it to a sound condition , when it is distempered , and this they may do upon two or three accounts . for in the first place , those friendly particles may dispose the obstructing or other morbifick matter , to be more easily and safely expell'd . and this they may do , not barely as they impregnate the whole mass of blood , and so may be carried by it , as well to many other parts , as to that we now consider ; but as by their particular texture , motion &c. they may in a peculiar manner respect that peculiar modification , which the peccant matter may have acquir'd by being produc'd or harbour'd in that determinate part : and that the distinct structure of an affected part may much diversifie the condition of a morbifick matter , i argue from this , among other things , that physicians are wont to teach ( though i have found the observation rather to hold commonly than unreservedly ) that in those that are subject to this stone , the petrescent matter , when it is bred in the kidneys is reddish or yellowish , but when in the bladder , white , or of a light gray ; and that the stones that are generated in the first nam'd parts , are more friable , or at least of a slighter texture , than those that have their original in the bladder , some of which are exceeding hard , especially in comparison of large ones , that i have had out of the bladder or gall of lusty animals . the aptness then that the corpuscles of the specifick may give the blood , or other liquor that conveys them , to act as an appropriated menstruum , upon the peculiarly modified matter that obstructs , or otherwise disaffects , the liver , for instance , may enable the remedy , to be very helpful to that part , by preparing the molesting matter for expulsion . but it may also succour the same part in another way . for in the second place , it may so work upon the fibres , and stable portion of the part affected , as both to enable it , and excite it to free its self from its enemy . for it may give firmness and strength to the fibres of the part ; it may also contemperate , or correct the immoderate heat , coldness &c. of it : it may mortify the acid , or other incongruous particles , that are lodg'd in the minute intervals of the stable parts , end perhaps , even in the pores of the fibres : it may appease its convulsions , cramps , or other inordinate motions , that hinder it from daily executing its proper functions ; it may relax or widen the pores , according to the exigency of the work to be perform'd . and having thus , by means of its friendly corpuscles , prepar'd the matter to be expell'd , and disposed the part to expell it , it may then also excite the part to do its office , by irritating the fibres , or motive organs , or stimulating them to disburthen the part of the matter that offends it , as a very small dose of cantharides is known by this way of irritation , to be capable of making the bladder forcibly , though not safely , discharge it self of urine , and with that oftentimes expel the sand and gravel , or lesser stones , and the excrementitious slime that molested it before . and this instance may be of use to us , in answering that which we formerly noted to be so confidently urged by the rejecters of specifick medicines . for here we have a medicine , though a dangerous one , whose corpuscles have such a peculiar reference to the bladder , and urinary organs , that though being gotten into the mass of blood , they are carried by it indiscriminately to other parts of the body , as well as to these ; yet oftentimes , without manifestly disaffecting the rest , they exceedingly irritate the bladder , and determine it to the excretion of what it contains . and whereas it may be objected , that the first of the three ways , by which we noted , that a particular part may be succour'd by a specifick , seems contrary to the second ; the former tending to corroborate the part , and the later to relax and irritate it : i answer two things , one , that since the part may be sometimes in a natural , and sometimes in a preternatural state , in the former , a medicine may deserve the name of friendly or appropriated , because it keeps it sound , which is most properly done by strengthening it ; and in the later it may merit the title of a specifick , because it helps to restore it to a state of soundness : and the other , that though to effect this recovery , 't is often very expedient , if not necessary , that the medicine procure an evacuation of some matter that offends it ; yet that evacuation itself is often much promoted and facilitated , by stengthening the part so , as to enable it to disburthen it self . and the same medicine may contain , and communicate to the blood , corpuscles of such differing shapes , sizes , motions &c. as may at least successively relieve the part by both these ways ; as physicians observe that rhubarb does , not only by its finer and laxative parts , purge the liver of choler , but by its more earthy astringent corpuscles strengthen the tone of that part : [ what farther belongs to the illustration of this matter will be met with in due place . ] on this occasion , 't will not be impertinent to add , that in some cases , this very corroboration of a distempered part , may restore it to soundness ; there being some diseases of such a nature , that they are , if i may so speak , almost always in fieri , that is , they could not continue to subsist in the affected part , unless through its debility , and the consequences of it , it were subject to admit from time to time fresh recruits of peccant matter , to foment the malady : and in such distempers , if the structure and tone of the part be re-established by the operation of the specifick medicine , it s acquir'd vigour will enable it to resist the ingress of new supplies of peccant matter , and to turn them off into the mass of blood , to be thence discharg'd by the common shores of the body ; whilst in the mean time nature will be able by degrees to subdue , dissipate , or otherwise dispose of , that comparatively little portion of peccant matter , that was lodg'd in the diseas'd part. we have not in this paper given any example of the peculiar respect of a specifick medicine to a determinate disaffected part , that one would think so incredible , as that a heavy stony substance , being in no great quantity taken in at die mouth , should manifestly contribute to the cure of a broken bone in one of the limbs , as the leg or the hands . and yet , not to urge the testimony of chymical writers , i remember a german physician , that was famous for notable cures , related wonders to me of the efficacy of that stone growing in his country , which from its effect they call osteocolla , especially if it be improv'd by a skilful preparation , which he communicated to me , but i had not opportunity to make tryal of it . but without preparation , the judicious and long experienc'd chirurgeon fabricius hildanus much commends upon his own observation a single dram of it finely powder'd , for the breeding of a callus to soder together the parts of a broken bone : insomuch that he gives a caution to use it but sparingly in young and vigorous patients , lest it breed too great a callus , of which he gives a notable instance . and the like caution was inculcated to me from experience , by the lately mention'd german doctor , because otherwise ( he said ) his preparation would in such persons make the medicine generate a callus too soon and too great . proposition v. sometimes a specifick medicine may do its work , by producing in the mass of blood , such a disposition , as may enable nature , by correcting , expelling or other fit waies , to surmount the morbifick matter , or other cause of the disease . he that shall heedfully observe the practise of divers learned and succesful modern physitians , may discern that many , if not most , of their prescriptions are founded upon a supposition , that a great part of the diseases incident to mans body , and the recovery from them , depends mainly upon the vitiated constitution of the blood , and the restoring it to a sound condition . this advantageous change of the blood may be effected by a specifick , several waies , ( sometimes separately , and sometimes jointly , ) and particularly by those that follow . 1. that which i shall first name , is , by furnishing the blood with some sort of active corpuscles , that it needs to ferment it , or excite an useful commotion or agitation in it . i will not here examine , whether the mass of blood , contain'd within the vessels of a living man , is capable of a fermentation properly and strictly so call'd ; and therefore i employ'd also the word commotion , which will be easily admitted , if the other be disliked . but in regard fermentation is a term that hath generally obtain'd , i shall not scruple to make use of it , after what i have intimated about it . but because many modern physitians , especially since the learned willis's notions came to be in request , have looked upon feavers and agues to consist in , or be produc'd by vitious fermentations of the blood ; i thought fit to add to the fermentation i am about to speak of , the distinguishing epithets of useful . this premis'd , it seems not improbable to me , that , as there is oftentimes a vitious fermentation of the blood , so there may be sometimes a want of fermentation , or a certain sluggishness , upon whose account , either the brisk intestine agitation , that it ought to have as a warm fluid of such a nature as 't is wont to be in sound persons , or a due quickness of circulation through the heart is wanting : to which sluggish state of the blood , if it be obstinate and lasting ▪ several distempers are wont to be consequent . now , although there be divers medicines , such as spices , brandy , and other spirituous liquors distill'd from fermented vegetables , that are usually , and oftentimes succesfully enough , employ'd to correct this dull indisposition of the blood ; yet in regard they are wont to be very hot , being usually pitch'd upon by those that prescribe them because they are so ; there are several constitutions of patients , and divers other circumstances , wherein they are not safe , but may do more harm by their immoderate heat , than good by their spirituosity , besides , that the sluggishness of the blood may sometimes proceed from causes , that this sort of hot medicines will not correct . i remember , that having for tryals sake moderately dry'd a parcel of human blood , a vinous spirit total inflammable would not , at least in many hours that my experiment lasted , make a solution of it , or draw a red tincture from it , though it were well pulveris'd : whereas a well rectified vrinous spirit grew red upon it in less than the tenth , or perhaps the twentieth , part of that time. now a specifick medicine may abound in corpuscles of such a nature , that without dangerously , or incommodiously heating the blood , they may disable those corpuscles , they meet with in the blood , that make that liquor viscous , or roapy , or dispirited ; and also by enlivening the mass of blood , if i may so speak , or puting it into a more brisk and kindly agitation , may make it fit to throw off those heterogeneous parts , or recrements , that were blended with it before , and to permeate , as freely as it ought , the viscera , whose capillary vessels and pores would formerly scarce , and but very sparingingly , admit it . that a specifick may perform this , you will perhaps the more easily allow , if you consider , that the generality of physitians teach , that there are several cordials , which they style some of them temperate , and divers of them cold , ( as in effect 't is not usually observ'd , that they considerably , if at all sensibly , heat the body ; ) as pearls , and some of them , being gratefully acid , should rather cool it , as wood-sorrel ( alleluja ) and goats-rue ( galega . ) and 't is very possible , that the corpuscles , that make the blood thick , and sluggish , may not be of a cold nature , but of a hot , and therefore may have their effects rather befriended than destroy'd by divers hot remedies : as , if the white of an egg be by beating reduc'd to water , ( which is not necessary to the experiment , but shews it better ) if you put to it a certain proportion of well dephlegm'd spirit of wine , instead of destroying the viscosity of the liquor , it will curdle a good part of it , and thereby produce a body far more remote from thinness and fluidity . and i remember , i once for tryal sake made a vegetable liquor , which , from somewhat sluggish that it was before , did presently by the addition of a little spirit of wine , grow surprisingly viscous , and roapy . 2. another way , by which a specifick may befriend the mass of blood , is , by imparting to it a dilatation or tenuity that it wants . this second way is of much affinity to the first , but yet is not the same : because in that , the thing mainly considered was , the fermentation or agitation of the blood ; whereas this mainly respects the consistence of it , which is a thing of no mean importance to health . for if the blood be too thick , as oftentimes it is , it cannot pass so freely and readily , as it ought , through the capillary vessels , which thereby come to be by little and little obstructed , and the circulation inconveniently retarded ; whence 't is easy to foresee , that divers mischiefs must in time arise . and on the other side , if the blood be too thin , especially if it be over much agitated too , t is apt to make its way out of the vessels , and produce hemorrhagies , in case it flow out of the body , or other bad effects that usually attend the extravasation of the blood. which liquor , when it is out of its proper vessels , in so warm a place as a living human body , is very subject to putrefaction , and thereby apt to produce imposthumes and several mischievous symptoms . now a specifick medicine may remedy this faulty consistence of the blood , by furnishing it with corpuscles , fitted by their figure , bulk , motion , &c. to disable those peccant ones that make the blood gross , or else to cut , or divide the parts of the blood it self , and so dispose them to be more fluid : or else they may produce in it such pores , as may , as it were invite the subtil aetherial matter , that abounds in the atmosphaere , to insinuate it self into the mass of blood , and rarifie it . and on the other side , when the blood is too thin , as not only some diseases , but some medicines , especially aloes , are wont to make it ; a specifick remedy may reduce it to a good consistence , either , by furnishing it with corpuscles , apt to combine themselves with the active ones , that did too much attenuate the blood ; or , by helping nature to expel those over-busy particles , by insensible transpiration , or some other undisturbing way . 3 : there is yet another way , by which a specifick remedy may conduce to rectifie the state of the blood and that is , by so working on the heart , as to make it advantageously regulate the transmission of that liquor through it . that a specifick medicine may peculiarly befriend this or that particular part , and consequently the heart , is granted by the generality of physitians , who are wont to reckon up many cordials , ( of which yet i fear , but few deserve that name . ) but , since 't is elsewhere in this paper shewn , that some medicines may particularly respect a determinate part of the body , and consequently the heart ; one may be allowed to suppose , that the corpuscles of a specifick may either dissolve some particles they meet with in the heart , by which that noble viscus is by irritation , or otherwise disturb'd in the regularity of its dilatations , and contractions ; or , so corroborate the fibres , or motive organs of it , as to dispose it to moderate the circulation of the blood that passes through it , in the most advantageous way . and that the disposition of the heart , even when men have no sense of it in the part it self , may be of moment as to health and sickness , will appear credible , if we reflect on two thing . one , that a living human body is not a meer aggregate of flesh , bones , &c. but an exquisitely contriv'd , and very sensible engine ; whose parts are easily set a work by proper , though very minute , agents ; and may , by their action upon one another , perform far greater things , than could be expected from the bare energy of the agents , that first put them into motion . the second , ( which supposes the first , ) that the disposition of the heart , being , though perhaps insensibly , chang'd , it may produce a notable alteration in the motions of the blood , and its passage through the heart , in point of quantity , celerity , or both . how much this change in the circulation may in many cases conduce to sickness or recovery may partly appear by the effects of vehement or durable passions of the mind . as 't is observ'd , that in a deep sorrow , which does in a manner straiten the passages of the heart , the blood being too sparingly dispens'd , the enlivening spirits are not generated plentifully enough ; and ( besides other bad effects of this state of the heart ) the blood is so dispirited , as ( in these parts of europe ) to dispose the body to the scurvy , which does either produce or irritate divers other maladies . we see also , that the passion of shame does oftentimes suddenly alter the motion of the blood , and make it swell the little vessels that lye under the cuticula of the face , and sometimes other parts ; as is very manifest in young maids , and other persons of a delicate complexion , the white part of whose faces in blushing turns red. the like effect i have seen produc'd by a great and sudden joy. and though grief , which is the opposite passion to it , has been usually taken notice of , as a thing that deads the appetite to meat ; yet so much does depend upon a well moderated transmission of the blood , that it has been observ'd in divers persons , and i have known an eminent instance of it , that great joy has very much lessen'd hunger : of which effect mr. des cartes ingeniously attempts to derive the cause , from the vary'd dilatation and motions of the heart . and it seems not absur'd to conceive , that such like motions may be caus'd by the corpuscles of a specifick medicine ; which by affecting the fibres of the heart , after the like manner that joy is wont to do , may produce in it such friendly dilatations and contractions , as are wont to flow from the agreeable passions . in favour of which conjecture , i shall take notice that a lady of my acquaintance has complain'd to me , that the smell of perfum'd gloves is wont to make the blood fly to her face , and continue there for a great while , giving it such a colour as if shame , or joy had cover'd it with blushes . and the like she says she has observ'd in others of her sex. but having in another tract spoken of the power of the passions of the mind , to alter the state of the body , by producing changes in the blood , that is transmitted through the heart ; what has been said may now suffice to make it credible , that a specifick remedy , by peculiarly befriending the heart , may contribute much to introduce , or re-establish a healthy crasis in the blood. and this being thus rectified , and invigorated it self , may both befriend the body in general , and conduce to the removal of some particular diseases , by strengthening , and perhaps too exciting , the particular part , in which the peccant matter resides , to subdue or expel that which it already harbours , and resist any accession of more . and the blood , being it self well constituted , as well as the stable parts corroborated , the specifick medicine that produces these good effects , may be said to cure , tho' perhaps but slowly , divers particular diseases ; such as those elsewhere mention'd in this paper , which to continue , must be frequently supplyed with vitious matter by the circulating blood. experiment vi. sometimes a specifick remedy may unite its particles with those of the peccant matter , and with them constitute a neutrum quid , that may be easily proscrib'd , or not necessary to be expell'd . this i take to be one of the most proper and genuine ways of doing good , that belongs to a specifick medicine , as such , because in this operation an effect is produc'd , either without the assistance , or beyond the meer power , of the manifest qualities ( as physicians call them ) of the remedy ; and the cure or relief the patient finds , is usually attain'd without violence , and without tormenting or much disordering him . this way of working of a specifick medicine is of near affinity with one or two of those formerly discours'd of ; but yet these ways differ in some things , as may be gather'd by the sequel of § this discourse § sometimes when a certain kind of acid has impregnated the blood , or lodg'd it self in some stable part , as the liver , spleen , kidneys , &c. the corpuscles of a specifick may , without any sensible luctation or conflict , which usually happens when acids are mortify'd by sapid alkalies , be so qualifi'd , as both to make coalitions with the small parts of the peccant acid , and with them to constitute little concretions , which differing from the minute parts of the acid , either in bulk , figure , solidity , stifness , motion , or in two or more of these ; may be quite of another nature , and of a much innocenter , than the acid was before 't was so corrected . of this we may be furnished with a notable illustration , by what i have elsewhere taken notice of about aqua fortis it self ; for as corrosive a menstruum as that is , yet by digesting it , and perhaps , distilling it too , with an equal , or rather double weight of ardent spirit , i found the highly acid liquor would be so chang'd , as not to retain any sensible corrosiveness ; and exchange its piercing stink and great acidity , for a not only inoffensive , but pleasant scent , and a grateful and possitively sweetish tast . which brings into my mind the practice of a president of the famous london colledge , who ( as himself told me ) was wont to relieve a patient of very great quality in nephritick torments , by giving her a good dose of an inflammable spirit . ( but this upon the by . ) i have elsewhere given an account of the effects of spirit of wine , upon several other acid menstruums , wherewith i mingl'd and digested it ; by which it may appear , that it does not work upon them uniformly , as they are all of them acids ; but differingly enough , according to the nature and proportion of the acid corpuscles , with which the vinous spirits are brought to be associated . and , to shew that this change and contemperation of the menstruum by the spirit of wine , is produc'd rather by a peculiar fitness of the convening corpuscles of both , than by the contrariety or hostility , that the vinous spirit , which some moderns will have to be an alcaly , has to the aqua fortis as an acid ; i shall add , that pure spirit of wine being mixt in a due proportion with highly rectifi'd spirit of urine ; which is reckon'd by chymists among volatile alcalies , and of which a drop or two is so fiery upon the tongue ; as to be ready to burn it , or to blister it ; this vinous spirit i say , will very much take off the caustick penetrancy of the urinous one , and compose with it a salt much more moderate than the spirit was , and which being sublim'd , or ( which is better but harder to be done , ) reduc'd into a liquor , affords a mixture of no little use in fome fevers and other diseases as a medicine ; and with a small , if skilful alteration , is of great use in divers chymical experiments as a menstruum . a few grains of glass of antimony made without addition , being taken inwardly , will vehemently both vomit and purge . but tho' wine , notwithstanding its copious spirits , will , if it be well impregnated with the corpuscles of this glass , work upwards and downwards violently enough ; yet of spirit of vinegar , that is , of degenerated wine , be for a competent time digested upon this glass finely powder'd , and , when the liquor is sufficiently impregnated with the particles of the glass , be abstracted from it , there will emerge from the antimonial and acetous corpuscles , a multitude of minute concretions , of which many grains may be given without ordinarily provoking either vomits or stools : which correction may hint , that 't is not necessary that all mortifications usefully made by medicines , should be of acids , since here we see , that acids themselves prove correctors . and perhaps it may be by some such kind of combinations , that some poisons ( for i do not think they all work one way , or peculiarly assault the heart ) may be subdued . and i have sometimes suspected , that it may as probably be upon this account , as upon any that has been offer'd , that a man stung with a scorpion may be cur'd , by crushing the animal that stung him upon the hurt , as is prescrib'd by many physicians , and as an acquaintance of mine told me , he try'd upon himself ( as another virtuoso did on a souldier ) with good success : and when i consider what a multitude and variety of figures may fit the corpuscles that are endowed with them , to make coalitions very different from both the component parts ; i can scarce think it very improbable , that in a patients body there may be made , between the corpuscles of the peccant matter , and those of a medicine , such useful combinations as may produce resulting concretions , innocent , if not also beneficial . if i had leizure , and thought it fit , i could easily add a great number of instances , about such changes of colours , odours , tasts , and other qualities , as are produc'd by the coallescence of the small parts of differing bodies , and discourse of the natural consequent of such coalitions : but having done that sufficiently in other papers , it will be here more proper to intimate to you , that when a particle of peccant matter comes to be associated with one of a specifick medicine , that combination may alter it for the better , not only by changing its bigness and figure , but also by encreasing , or lessening its stifness , and its solidity , and giving a new modification to its motion ; as a little attention to the natural consequences of the coalitions of bodies , may easily induce you to grant . and i shall add ( as it were ex abundanti ) that the small concretions , made by the union of some morbifick with some medicinal corpuscles , may not only become innocent , but sometimes also beneficial , which may be illustrated by what happens by a further preparation , to common sublimate ; for though this be a substance so highly corrosive and mischievous , that a few grains of it may suffice to kill a man ; yet by making a coalescence of it with less than its weight of quicksilver , which is a body insipid as well as modorous , the corrosive sublimate will be so alter'd and tam'd , as to be turn'd into what chymists call , because 't is freed from sharpness , mercurius dulcis ; which if it be skilfully prepar'd and given , though in the quantity of many grains , is not only for the most part an innocent thing , but a very good medicine , and that perhaps in more cases than physicians generally know it to be good in . the newly mention'd account may hint to us a probable argument , to show , that , notwithstanding all the digestions and changes that a specifick medicine may receive in its way , it may prove a salutary one , when it arrives at the part it should relieve . for , tho' the corpuscles of the medicine should in their way to the part affected be considerably chang'd , yet 't is possible that these alter'd corpuscles may , by that very alteration , be made medicinal ; since they may be qualifi'd , ( even by those changes ) when they arrive at the part affected , to combine themselves strictly with some corpuscles , whether morbifick or others , that they find already there ; and may with them compose new concretions that may acquire a new nature very friendly to the patient . something analogical to this we may observe in asparagus , which being eaten , afford store of particles , that mixing with those they meet with in the kidneys or the bladder , produce a new odour , very differing , both from that of meer urine , and from that of the plant it self . and so if good turpentine be taken at the mouth , 't is known that arriving at the kidneys and bladder , it will mingle its minute parts with those it meets with there ; whence will emerge corpuscles , that will impregnate the urine with a very differing odour , from that which belongs to either of the liquors , since it oftentimes has a fragrancy somewhat like the smell of violets . before i conclude this paper , 't is like it will be thought fit that i should take notice of a difficulty , that i know maybe objected , if not against the past discourse , yet against the sufficiency of it to answer the design i propose to my self in writing it . for it may be said , that , whereas my arguments and explications suppose all along , that the specifick remedies are taken in at the mouth ; 't is known that divers of the asserters of specificks reckon among them , some that are not by swallowing taken into the body , but only outwardly apply'd , or perhaps do but barely touch it ; as may be observ'd in amulets , rings , &c. on occasion of this considerable difficulty , i have , if i misremember not , represented divers things in another tract . but however it may be fit in this place , briefly to say somewhat , by way of answerto it . we may then take notice , that the confidence with which many physicians reject , and some of them deride , external specificks , if i may so call them , seems to be built upon these two things : the one , that the medicine cannot in part , as 't is certain it do's not in the mass , get into the body ; and the other , that , in case a specifick should have some part of it subtil enough to gain admittance , that part must be too small and inconsiderable , to be able to produce in the body any such notable change , as is necessary to the expulsion of peccant humours , and the conquering of a disease . as to the former of these grounds , i largely enough show in another paper , * that a mans skin , tho' it seems an entire continued body , is really perforated with a great multitude , and perhaps a not inconsiderable variety , of little cutlets and inlets , which we call pores ; many of which are visible , even in the skins of dead animals , by good microscopes ; and others are manifestly inferr'd , from the numerous little drops that cover all the skin , at the first eruption of sweat. and that these little perforations may be inlets to the finer particles of externally apply'd medicines , may appear probable by several phaenomena , such as these . that water will soak through the pores of a fine bladder , and dissolve salt of tartar , or even white sugar , contain'd in it : that i have prepar'd a certain liquor , whose fumes , tho' not agitated by heat , would quickly penetrate divers membrans of dead animals , and manifestly work on metalline bodies wrapt up in them : that 't is a known thing , that quicksilver outwardly apply'd in ointments , girdles , &c. will get in at the pores of the skin , and invade the internal parts of the body , and stay there longer , and perhaps too operate more , than the physician desired . and when once the effluvia of these externally apply'd remedies have gain'd admittance at the pores of the skin , 't is not very difficult to conceive , how they may proceed further . for underneath the cuticula or scarf skin , and close to it , there are so great a multitude of capillary vessels , that you can scarce thrust a small pin into any part , but that the point of it will meet and tear some of these little vessels ; as will appear by a small drop of blood , that will be made to issue out at the new made hole , as small as it is . to which instance , if it were necessary , i could add divers others of the multitude and spreading of the capillary vessels , that lie close beneath the skin , and for the most part carry blood , tho' some of them may contain other juices , and discharge their recrements by sweat , or insensible transpiration , at the cutaneous outlets . now these capillary vessels , as small as they are , having their cavities immediately continu'd with those of less slender ones , and by their intervention with those of the greater , which are branches of the greatest of all ; the corpuscles of the medicine , once got into the capillary vessels , may have an easy passage , by means of the liquors they contain , into these greater branches of the principal veins , and so , by vertue of the circulation , come to be quickly mingled with the mass of blood , and by it may be easily convey'd to all the parts of the body : as it has been divers times observ'd , * that arsenical amulets worn upon the breast , did , tho' they scarce touch'd the skin , produce threatning distempers in the heart , and several mischievous symptoms in other parts of the body . and i find it recorded in good authors , that cantharides , even when but held in the hand , nay sometimes , tho' but carried in ones pocket , transmitted their hurtful effluvia as far as the bladder , and excited great pain and other bad symptoms there . as for the second ground on which specifick remedies are rejected , that , tho' they could get entrance into the body , yet it would be but by their effluvia ; and these are no way likely to prove efficacious enough , to have any considerable effect upon an internal disease : to remove this difficulty , i shall briefly observe ; 1. that the number of the corpuscles , that may pass from the outward medicine into the body , may be far greater , and therefore make them more considerable , than most men are apt to think . this may be rendred probable , by the great multitudes of odorous , and consequently sensible , expirations , that are continually emitted for a very long time together , by ambergreece , musk , civet , and much more by skilfully made compositions of them . and that also subtil effluvia , even without the assistance of heat , may quickly penetrate membrans so plentifully , as to act on stable bodies contain'd in them , i have intimated a little above , and have experimentally made appear to divers curious men . 2. that the corpuscles of a medicine may retain their nature , and not loose their power of operating , notwithstanding their being , as it were , strain'd through the skin ; as may be argued from the mercury , that we not long since mention'd to have been found in the form of quick-silver , in the bodies of some men , that had been too frequently anonited with mercury , mix'd up with unctuous things into an ointment : by which the patient may be as long and violently salivated , as if he had swallow'd a bolus or pills with mercury . and so i have divers times observ'd , as i doubt not but others have oftner done , that a little opium , mix'd up with other ingredients for plaisters , did by outward application take off the acute pains of inward parts , tho' moderately remote from the plaister . 3. and that the corpuscles of a specifick may on divers occasions act more powerfully , by getting in at the pores of the skin , than if the remedy that afforded them had been taken in at the mouth : because if it had , the particles might be divided , or perhaps on other accounts , ( as by dilution , composition with those of the chyle , &c. ) much alter'd , by the ferment or the menstruum of the stomach , by their filtration through the guts , and their long and winding passage through them and the lymphiducts , before they arrive at the heart , to be mingled with the blood ; whereas the corpuscles of the external specifick , presently after they are past the skin , get into the capillary vessels of the blood that lie under it , and by their means are speedily mix'd with the circulating mass of that liquor , and so escape the formerly mention'd alterations , that other medicines are subject to before they are admitted into the mass of blood. by which it may appear , that those physicians are much mistaken , that think a topical medicine can at best relieve but the part 't is apply'd to , because its corpuscles cannot be suppos'd to reach beyond that part of the body , that lies very near the medicine they issue from . but , tho' this reasoning might be excusable enough , if not allowable , before the circulation of the blood was discover'd , yet , now 't is known how great an intercourse that liquor maintains between distant parts of the body , the argument is not seasonable . and on this occasion , i shall add an advertisement , that i remember not i have met with in authors ; which is , that body 's outwardly apply'd may prove specificks for some diseases or distempers , that one would not think them very good for , by the bare knowledge of their effects when taken in at the mouth . thus camphire swallow'd , is , in the dose of a very few grains , a great heater of the blood , and is in some country's , perhaps not altogether without reason , extoll'd by physicians in some kinds of ill condition'd fevers : but outwardly it is apply'd to take off those rednesses of the face , that are thought to proceed from heat of blood ; and 't is us'd in ointments against burns . so spirit of wine , that is so hot when drunk , is a very good remedy to take out the fire , as they speak , in burns , especially if the part be early moistend with it . bread , that is counted so moderate and well temper'd and aliment , when eaten , if it be chew'd and outwardly apply'd , hath considerable vertues in several external affections . and i know an ancient and experienc'd physician , that uses to purge . children , that will not easily be brought to swallow medicines , by applying something to their navels , that do's not offend them by colour , smell , or griping : and this himself more than once confess'd to me , is but an ordinary aliment , that most men , and i among others , have frequently taken unprepar'd , which he freely nam'd to me , but which i have not yet had opportunity to make tryal of . that what we have been saying about the possible efficacy of external specificks , may appear the less improbable , 't will be fit to take notice of soms observations , that comport very well with our doctrine . and though the instances to be brought will not be all of them of remedies that deserve the name of specificks ; yet , besides that some of them may perhaps have a title to it , they will all conduce to show , that simples or druggs externally apply'd , may have considerable operations against internal distempers of the body . 't were easy for me to mention a great many external specificks out of physicians books . but i purposely forbear it , because to speak freely , i suspect that most of those remedies , though greatly extoll'd , have been but little examin'd , by the deliverers of them . and it may suffice for my present purpose to alledge a few instances that have been recommended to me , either by my own experience , or that of some friends . only there is one observation that is so solemnly and expresly deliver'd by galen , upon his own knowledge , & so well back'd , by other eminent physicians , that i shall let it lead the way . this memorable story , that is related by galen , is of a piony root , which having been worn as ah apensum about a boy , that had been epileptick for divers months , kept him from his disease as long as he wore it about him ; but when by an accident he ceas'd to do so , the disease invaded him again , and yet by applying the remedy again , he was the second time freed from it , which galen observing , did for curiosity make the root be laid aside , but finding the fits to return , he imploy'd it again with the former success . i liv'd in the same house with a learned and judicious person , that was subject to be paralytick , who being frequently tortur'd by violent cramps , was ordinarily and speedily reliev'd by wearing or handling the tooth of a true hippopotamus or river-horse . and he affirm'd to me , that upon leaving off , the use of it , for any considerable time , either out of curiosity , or to accommodate some friend , the fits would return with violence upon him . i remember also , that having my self been for some years frequently subject to cramps , and complaining of it to a physician that had been a traveller into cold country's , he told me , that he had brought home with him some rings made of the true elks hoof , from a place where these animals are usually imploy'd , and that with these he had cur'd many of the cramp , and therewithal presented me one to make tryal of , which i the more willingly accepted , because he confess'd to me , that divers rings that were sold for such as his , and look'd like them , were either counterfeit or of no efficacy . and tho' i did not find that if the cramp seiz'd me in the calf of the leg , the ring would much relieve me , yet when the fits were but moderate , and in other parts , especially the hands , i found my self eas'd , so often , and so soon , that i was at first surpriz'd at it , and us'd to have the remedy laid every night by my bed-side , to have it ready when occasion should require . and that which i thought some what strange , was , that several times , when the cramp seiz'd my foot or my toes , the pain was quickly remov'd , tho' i apply'd the ring but to my finger : which made me much regret the loss of it . an eminent physician speaking to me one day of a patient of his , that was subject to a nocturnal incontinentia urinae , that was very inconvenient as well as shameful ; i told him of an empyrical remedy , which is mention'd in another paper , whose success i neither would warrant , nor did altogether dispair of , and which at least seem'd safe , tho' it should not prove effectual . this was only a simple substance , ( belonging to the animal kingdom ) that was to be worn in a sine sarsanet bag between the shift and the skin , for which a good while after the physician gave me great thanks , telling me , that he was surpriz'd at the effect of it , and that he observ'd that when the patient had worn it so long , that probably the vertue began to decay , that is in my sense , that the effluvia were almost spent , the patient found need to take a fresh remedy , to continue the benefit she had found by the former . i do not affirm or expect , that the three fornam'd appensa , nor the other remedy's i am about to mention , will always succeed . and i think , one may assign some not improbable reasons of the want of uniformity in their effects . but for my present argument , it suffices that they do sometimes succeed , since that is enough to show it possible , that outward medicines may operate upon inward distempers . having one day given a visit to one of the skilfullest and candidest physicians of the famous colledge of london , i observ'd in his chamber , a fine new fashion'd clock ; and having taken notice of it to him , as a thing i had not seen there before ; he desir'd me not to think , he was rich and vain enough to purchase , so dear a rarity ; but that it belong'd to a courtier whom he nam'd to me , of whose daughter he told me this story . this young lady had a great tumor in her neck or throat , which being apprehended to be of a scrophulous nature , made her father fear it would oblige him to increase her portion more than his estate could conveniently bear . wherefore at length he address'd himself to my relator , who judging the case to be difficult , and being unwilling to torment the lady with a long course of physick , told the courteour , that if he could animate her to suffer a remedy he would propose , and would assist him to procure it , he hop'd to remove this tumour without weakning her , or putting her to pain . soon after , all parties being agreed , and the desired conveniency procur'd , the patient was brought into a room , where there was yet in bed the body of a man that had dy'd of a lingring disease . this mans hand the doctor took , and laid it upon his patients tumour , keeping it there till she either complain'd or confess'd that she felt the coldness of it penetrate to the innermost parts of her tumour . this application was afterwards repeated more than once , whilst the body continued without smelling : and by this course the tumour was dispell'd , and the patient so reliev'd , that her father , by way of gratitude , knowing how much the physician was a lover of curiosities , made him a present of that clock . the learned doctor ascrib'd this odd remedy to helmont , who is indeed to be thank'd for having mention'd and recommended a medicine , that was unlikely to be good , besides that it was not in use . but the knowledge of it seems to me to have been for the main very much ancienter than our age : since there is mention made of one very like it by so ancient an author as pliny ; tho' since his time till helmonts it hath been generally forgotten or disbeliev'd , save that one physician ( franciscus ulmus ) who , tho' no ill observer , has not had the fortune to be famous , takes notice of a case very like that of our courtiers daughter , affirming , that by that one remedy , after others had been fruitlesly imploy'd , he knew a noble virgin to have been perfectly cur'd . i was one summer , to my great surprize obnoxious to frequent bleedings at the nose ; for which i sometimes us'd one remedy , and sometimes another , for the most part with good , but not still with quick success . but falling once unexpectedly into a fit , whose violence somewhat alarm'd me , i resolv'd to try an unusual remedy : and having easily obtain'd of my sister , in whose house this accident happen'd , some true moss of a dead mans scull , which had been sent her , by a great person , for a present out of ireland , in which country , i found it less rare and more esteem'd than elsewhere : i was going to imploy it after the usual manner , which is to put it up into the patients nostrils , but before i did it , i had the curiosity to try , notwithstanding the briskness of my haemorrhagy , whether the medicine would produce its effect by being only held in my hand , and therefore covering a piece of the moss with my fist , that the warmth might a little actuate the medicine , i found , to the wonder of the by-standers , that the blood speedily stopp'd , nor thanks be to god have i been troubled with a haemorrhagy for some years from that very time . but this is far less strange than what was affirm'd to have happen'd to one of the eminentest members of the royal society . this learned gentleman , who was of a very sanguine complexion , found himself much affected by the use of the moss of a human scull , [ pieces of which i have seen sticking to the roots of the vegetable , when it was genuine ] which had so strange an operation upon him , that sometimes when he was let blood , if for curiosities sake he held a quantity of this moss in his hand , the efflux of the blood would cease , till he laid it by again ; which was not only solemnly averr'd to me by himself , but confirm'd to me by his ingenious physician , with both whom i had a particular acquaintance ; which otherwise i should have thought scarce credible , unless imagination , a faculty very strong in that gentleman , contributed to the strange effect of the remedy . the hitherto mention'd external specificks are afforded by vegetables and animals , which being bodies of a slighter texture , may be suppos'd to have their parts more effluviable : and therefore i shall now add two or three examples afforded by the mineral kingdom , which consisting of bodies that never were living , and which are for the most part very close and compact , are generally thought to have their parts indispos'd to emit effluvia . i knew a person of great learning , and by profession a physician , who enjoy'd a health good enough , save that usually after a few hours sleep , he wak'd in the night with great terrors , follow'd for a long time with such violent palpitations of the heart , as were very troublesom , and sometimes frightful to him . to remove this distemper , he try'd all that his art suggested to him , but without success , whereupon he complain'd of it to several of his acquaintance ; and mentioning it one day among a company of merchants , whereof some frequented very remote country's ; one of them told him , he would easily relieve him , by a remedy that had been found efficacious both upon himself and others . this he told him was , to take divers flat and smooth cornelian stones , such as they bring from the east-indies , to cut rings out of , and to sow eight or ten of them to a piece of scarlet or flannel , to be hung about his neck , so as that the stones may immediately touch the skin over against the heart , and the mouth of the stomach . this remedy the physician procur'd , and in no long time , found the great benefit of it , insomuch that he thought he might now securely leave off the use of these stones , which he did once or twice out of curiosity , as well as for his ease , but finding the distemper to return each time , within very few weeks after he had laid aside his remedy , he resolv'd to keep it always on , as he had long successfully done , when he told me the story . and to convince me , presented me with some of the cornelians , that he had , for fear of wanting them , procur'd in greater number than he needed at once . but since i have not yet had occasion to make tryal of them , i shall not conclude that the remedy will always succeed , but only ( which is enough for my present purpose ) that 't is at least possible that such an external remedy may be very effectual . i afterwards thought ( which i here note , to add to the probability of what i have been relating ) that pos ; sibly those that first made use of the foremention'd remedy , may have had a hint from what galen saith of the jasper : which stone we observe to be various in point of colour , and i have seen in the green mixtures of red almost as deep as that of cornelians . of this stone galen relates that some made rings , in which were graven a dragon having beams issuing from him , and commended it as very friendly to the stomach , being apply'd to the mouth of it . and tho' he omitted ( and found he safely might do it ) the sculpture , he yet approves the stones upon his own frequent experience , applying them almost as our merchant did ; sane hujus ( says he ) ego quo lapidis abunde feci periculum torquem enim ex hujusmodi lapillis confectum collo suspendi ita ut lapides os ventriculi contingerent apparebant , autem nihilominus prodesse etiamsi sculpturam non haberent , &c. i have lately mention'd the efficacy of a cramp ring upon some parts of the genus nervosum . but some will perhaps think it more considerable , if a stone ring worn on the finger shall be able to work upon the mass of blood , and particularly that deprav'd portion of it , that nature relegates to such distant parts as the hemorrhoidal veins . and yet the experienc'd monardes , having desrib'd the blood-stone that is brought from new spain , and represented it as a jasper , not only commends it against hemorrhages , being applyed to the bleeding part , but adds the following words , which declare that he speaks upon experience , vidimus nonnullos haemorrhoidum fluxu afflictos remedium sensisse , annulos ex hoc lapide confectos in digito continue gestando : nec non & menstruum fluxum sisti . i know you will expect here , that i should not on this occasion pretermit the lapis nephriticus ; of which sort of stones , tho' many have been found ineffectual against the disease that gives them their name , and tho' it be scarce possible to choose those few that are good , without having particularly and actually try'd them ; yet that some of them are of great virtue , we have the testimony of the inquisitive and judicious boetius , and that other learned writer about gems johannes de laet , whose praises are confirm'd by the historical testimonies of monardes and others . but none that i have met speaks more home to our purpose than a considerable merchant of leipsick , whose rare observations are recorded by a man of very great reading the learned * untzerus , to whom i refer you , contenting my self to mention in this place two of the ten remarks he sets down , the first , that the merchant affirm'd to our author , that by wearing this stone for some days , the calculous matter was so powerfully proscrib'd , that a multitude of small grains of sand were expell'd , even at the corners of his eyes . the like effect , to which he often observ'd of that remedy in divers other persons . the second , that by wearing the same stone , his wife who was troubled with a great catarrh found it considerably cathartick , insomuch that the first day she was thereby purg'd fourteen or fifteen times , the next nine or ten times , and afterwards had her body kept very open . and he adds , that he found also this stone to operate like a purge , tho' not so strongly upon himself . but enough , if not more than enough , of the vertues of periapta and appensa especially , since more instances of them may be met with in some other papers : and even without them , or at least with them , those particulars i come from mentioning , may furnish a sufficient answer to the objection that has occasion'd them . the conclusion . and now , sir , you have what the consideration of the nature of the things i treat of suggested to me , about the principal ways , by which i conceive specifick medicines may cure diseases , or at least much lessen them . i said the principal ways , because i am far from denying , that there may be many others , that must not here be mention'd , lest i should too much transgress the limits that become an epistle ; especially , this being already far more prolix than i at first intended ; though i purposely omitted the authorities and arguments of divers physicians and chymists , that maintain that there are specifick medicines , bccause they proceed upon principles , ( such as substantial forms , real qualities , ideas , or chaoses and the like , ) which i could not fairly employ , because i do not admit them . but though i forbore to lengthen my discourse , by improper , and i hope needless transcriptions out of others ; yet 't is long enough to prompt me , now at the close of it to remind you of two or three things that i declar'd at the beginning . as first , that i did not pretend that a specifick medicine , or nature by a specifick , does commonly effect the cure by one of the particular ways that i propos'd , exclusively to the rest ; since i rather think that oftentimes two , and sometimes more , concur to the effect . secondly , that i propos'd to my self , to explicate the ways of working of specifick remedies , only in general . and thirdly , that i did not assert , that the ways i pitch'd upon were the true and genuine ones , by which the medicine does act , but only propounded them , as ways by which it may act : so that without being dogmatical , i offer you my explications , but as possible , and perhaps not improbable ; and that may suffice for the occasion and scope of this letter ; in which i presume , you remember i aim'd but at shewing you , that the operations of specifick medicines are not irreconcileable to the principles of the corpuscular philosophy : which i hope you will without reluctancy grant , if , by my good fortune , the difficulties that made you hesitate , seem to you to be lessen'd by so barren an intellect as mine , discoursing of an abftruce subject , which belongs to a prosession that i am not of . upon which account it may be justly presum'd , that you , who have so much more sagacity , and are so much more concern'd than i in the subject i have been treating of ; and who being a profess'd physician , have much more opportunity to discover the various courses that nature does or may take in curing diseases ; will be able to give your self far more satisfaction , than you could hope to receive from me , who have therefore propos'd to you my conjectures very diffidently , tho' i am very poisitive in asserting my self to be sir , your most , &c. robert boyle . the advantages of the use of simple medicines . propos'd by way of invitation to it . by the honourable robert bole fellow of the royal society . an invitation to the use of simple medicines . to the very learned dr. f. §i . sir , since specifick medicines , to deserve that name , must be very efficacious ; and yet are for the most part either simple or very little compounded , what has been said about them in the foregoing tract concerning specificks may afford me a not improper rise to invite you , and thereby others of your profession , on whom your authority and example may justly have much influence , to seek after and imploy , more than they are wont to do , such remedies as are either simple , or , when there happens a necessity to compound , are made up of no more ingredients than are absolutely requisite to answer the indications , and the physicians scope . this sort of simple , or but lightly compounded , remedies , i am induc'd to prefer before those pompous compositions , wherein men seem to have hop'd to surmount diseases by the multitude of the ingredients , upon the following reasons . in all which i desire the advantages ascrib'd to simple medicines , above others may be understood , not in an absolute and indefinite sense , but , as they speak caeteris paribus , which i here give you notice of once for all and the first advantage that i shall mention , is , that it is much less difficult , to foresee the operation of a simple , than of a very compounded medicine . so that physicians may proceed more securely , in imploying the former than the latter sort of remedies . and indeed , if i do not greatly mistake , we often presume too much of our own abilities when we believe that we know before hand , what the qualities and effects of a mixture of many ingredients of differing natures , will be : since many bodies , by composition , and the change of texture consequent thereupon , do receive great and unexpected alterations in their qualities . several manifest instances of this truth may be met with in our history of colours ; in divers of whose experiments , the colour produc'd upon the mixture of bodies , is quite different from that of any of the ingredients . as , when a blew solution of copper made in spirit of urine , does with syrup of violets , which is also blew , produce a fair green. and even since i began to write this section , a tryal purposely made has afforded me a new instance of the same import . for having put together some tincture of iron , made with good spirit of vinegar , and a volatile tincture of sulphur , ( which i elsewhere show how to make ) from a confusion of these two very red liquors , there emerg'd in a trice , a very dark and almost inky mixture , that retain'd nothing at all of redness . the like notable changes i have several times produc'd by mixtures , in divers other qualities of bodies than their colours , as in their odours , tasts , &c. and why such alterations may not be also effected by composition , in some of the medicinal qualities of bodies , i do not yet see . quick-silver it self inwardly taken , does usually cause , either no manifest evacuation , or one that is made at the mouth : but if it be dissolv'd in spirit of niter , and precipitated with sea-salt , this white precipitate being edulcorated , if it be warily given in a just dose , doth ( as far as i can yet learn ) seldom fail of working , and yet seldomer work by salivation , but by siege . on the other side glass of antimony ( made per se ) whereof a very few grains given in substance , are wont to work violently upwards and downwards , being dissolved in spirit of vinegar , ( which is not easily and quickly done ) will not usually either vomit or purge , tho the menstruum be drawn from it , and tho it be given in a larger dose , than that of the uncompounded glass . and tho if crude antimony be flux'd with niter and tartar , as in the ordinary way of making crocus metallorum , there is produc'd , as is vulgarly known , a medicine so emetick and cathartick , that an ounce or less of the wine wherein it has been infus'd , without sensibly loosing its weight , is wont to work strongly enough both upwards and downwards : yet i have known some that would without scruple , take several grains of crude antimony in substance , and one particularly that continued the use of it long , without being vomited or purg'd by it . and tryals purposely made have inform'd me , that if , instead of salt-peter and tartar , antimony be prepar'd with well dry'd sea-salt , and a little salt of tartar , tho both , these amount not to above half the weight of the niter and tartar vulgarly us'd , yet the antimony well flux'd with these ( for about an hour ) is thereby so alter'd and corrected , that it affords an useful medicine , of which one may give from 12 or 15 grains to half a dram , or more in substance , without ordinarily working , either by vomit or siege , but usually by sweat , and sometimes by urine . whence we may gather , that antimony may be either made a more dangerous , or a more friendly medicine , than of it self it is , according to the ingredients 't is associated with , tho these be in themselves innocent , and perhaps of kin to one another . and even chymists , as well as other prescribers of remedies , may be found , tho less frequently , to add to a simple , such things as rather deprave , than improve it . as one of their great patrons ( a happy practitioner ) complains , that flower of sulphur , by being sublim'd , ( as by many it is ) from calcin'd vitriol , and one or two other things , under pretence of purifying and subtillizing it , does really acquire a hurtful corrosiveness . and if i had here the leizure , instances enough might be brought to show , that chymists sometimes mistakingly produce by their additions to a medicine , other qualities , if not also worse , than they design'd or expected . § ii. another advantage of simpler medicines , is , that caeteris paribus , they are more safe than compounded ones , especially if the patients be valetudinary persons . 't is too much the custom , both of many herbarists , and several other writers on the materia medica , to give us rather encomiums than impartial accounts of the simples they treat of ; enumerating and magnifying all the vertues they have , and sometimes more than they have , without taking notice of their ill qualities , upon whose account nevertheless they may be inconvenient , if not hurtful and dangerous , to some constitutions , and in divers cases . we know that divers perfumes , as musk and amber , tho very grateful and refreshing to most mens spirits , are yet very hurtful to many women , and especially to those that are hysterical . and i have known the smell of musk very much disaffect an eminent person , though otherwise of a robust constitution . i have also known several persons , not all of them of the same sex , very much offended by the smell of roses , which yet is very moderate , as well as to most persons , whether men or women , very grateful . i know a very great person to whom honey , whether inwardly taken , or outwardly apply'd , is almost as hurtful as poyson , having several times produc'd strange and frightful symptoms , even when the patient knew not that any honey had been imploy'd , and consequently could not be thus oddly distemper'd by the force of imagination . i think i have elsewhere taken notice of the harm , that both i and others , subject to diseases of the eyes , have receiv'd , even by the moderate use of parsley . on this occasion i shall add what occurr'd to me long after i had dictated what i said of parsley , that worm-wood , tho for many uses , an excellent plant , has been found by many so apt to disaffect the head , and so unfriendly to the eyes , that i have for some years forborn it my self for fear of the head-ach , and forewarn'd others of it that are subject to weak eyes . but i know a very learned man , whose elegant pen has made him deservedly be taken notice of by many , who , tho he have naturally very good eyes , found upon an obstinate tryal , that his curiosity seduced him to make of the plentiful use of worm-wood-wine and beer , that within less than three weeks , his sight was by degrees brought to be so weak , that he could not read a gazet without spectacles ; but by totally leaving off worm-wood , he quickly recover'd the vigour of his sight , without the use of any of the helps that his profession , which is physick , would have plentifully suggested to him . this relation i had from himself soon after the thing happen'd , on occasion of what i told him about parsley , &c. and to speak more generally , i doubt not , but if men were not so prepossess'd with the praises that authors give to simples , that they overlook the inconveniencies they may on divers occasions produce , we should find in many medicines bad qualities , that are not yet taken notice of . and i have more than once hit , but too well , in the prognosticks i made of the hurt , some patients would receive by the use of applauded medicines , prescribe them , even by considerable and learn'd men , when upon their authority my warnings were neglected , and the use of the medicines unhappily persisted in . i remember i once saw in the hands of a learned and curious traveller into the eastern parts of the world , an arabick manuscript about the materia mèdica , which made me regret the loss of the most part of the little skill i once had in that language . for besides that it was written in a delicate hand , and the letters in fit places , curiously adorn'd with gold and azure , the method seem'd to be more accurate than any thing i had seen on that subject . and that which pleas'd me not a little , was , that the author had been so wary , that after the columns wherein he taught , besides many other things , the vertues , doses , &c. of every drug he treated of , he had a distinct column for the bad qualities of it , and the constitutions and diseases wherein the use of it may be dangerous or inconvenient . i think it therefore not unreasonable to suspect , that , where a great many ingredients are blended into one medicine , one or other of them may have other operations , besides that design'd by the physician ; it may awaken some sleeping ferment , and , if not produce a new distemper , may excite and actuate some other hostile matter , that lay quiet in the body before , and perhaps would have been little by little subdu'd by nature , if it had not been unseasonably rous'd and assisted by some ingredient , that perhaps was needlesly put into the medicine . i have had so many unwelcome proofs of this in my self , that it engages me to be the more careful to caution others against the like inconvenience . § iii another benefit accrewing from the use of simpler medecines , is , that thereby the patient may , without burdening his stomach , or nauseating the remedy , take a larger dose of the medicine , or of that ingredient of it wherein the vertue chiefly resides . for , whereas physicians are oblig'd to stint themselves in the dose of the medicine , for fear of disgusting the patient , or oppressing his stomach ; when there are many things heap'd together in a moderate dose of one compounded medicine , these ingredients that are either superfluous , or at least are less efficacious , must necessarily take up a considerable part of that determinate dose , and consequently leave much the less of the more appropriated or useful ingredients . to say , that all the ingredients that are thrust into a great composition , are proper and conduce unto the same purpose , i doubt is not always true . and however is not a sufficient answer , since it does not avoid the inconvenience i have been objecting . if a baker , being to make the best bread he can , especially for a person of a weak stomach , should to wheaten flower add the meal of rye , of barley , and of oats ; tho' all these ingredients be good and nourishing , and each of them is by many us'd to make bread , yet none will take him for a skilful baker , and few would prefer this compounded bread , to that more simple one made of wheat alone . and so to make good gun-powder a skilful man would not to salt-peter , brimstone , and charcole add wax , rosin , and camphire , though these be very inflammable substances as well as sulphur . and thus if one would make an aqua vitae , whereof but one small cup were to be given for the quick recovery of fainting persons , he would not with spirit of wine , or good brandy , mix mead or cyder , and strong bear or ale , tho' each of these be it self a spirituous liquor . gum arabick ( whereof i prefer that which is transparent and colourless ) is prescrib'd in several compositions , as a drug proper to mitigate the sharpness of urine . but by the quantity of the other ingredients that 't is mix'd and clog'd with , no more than a small proportion of it usually comes to be given in one dose . but when i have had the curiosity , leaving out all the other things , to give about a dram , or perhaps more of it at one time , reduc'd by long pounding ( for the best is very tough ) to fine powder , in a large draught of small ale or beer , or some other convenient vehicle , i found very considerable effects of it . and i remember that a gentleman of great note , coming to bid me farewel , because of a long and troublesome journey , he was taking to mineral waters , which he intended to drink for many weeks , to ease him of a very painful sharpness of urine ; i that knew it was not venereal nor from the stone of the bladder ( for when those causes of the strangury , the medicine is not near so powerful ) i desir'd him , before he went to make use of this powder , once , or ( if there should be need ) twice a day . which when he had done , it so reliev'd , him that he thought himself quite cur'd , and forbore his intended journey not only that year , but the next . for the chin-cough , as they call it in children , whose odd symptoms do usually fright the parents and attendants , and oftentimes frustrate the endeavours of physicians , skilful in curing other coughs , i have not known any magisterial composition so effectual , as the simple juice of pulegium ( by many call'd penny-royal ) sweetn'd a little with sugarcandy , and given long enough from time to time , in the quantity of a childs spoonful . ( this plant may be also made to afford a syrup , that will keep , and is useful in coughs , but which i doubt , is not so efficacious as the simple juice . ) there are many and obvious experiments of the great efficay of so simple a remedy as asses milk ; ( which yet in some cases , i think inferiour to goats milk , ) if it be given in a sufficient quantity , and for a competent time , there are also many instances of dangerous and stubborn diseases , that have been cur'd even by common cows milk , when it has been very plentifully taken , and for a long continuance of time , and perhaps it is no less remarkable , that in a far less time now and then , not extending to very many daies , fluxes , as dyarrhaeas , and tho more seldom even dysenterical ones , are happily and easily cur'd , as i have sometimes known by the bare use of so slight a remedy as milk , wherein , whilst it is gently boyling , an equal quantity of fair water is little by little put , till at last there remains but as much liquor as the milk alone amounted to at first . this simple alimentous medicine being liberally taken ( for it should be us'd instead of all other drinks whilst the disease continues ) has been very frequently found to cure fluxes , not all of one sort , in ireland it self , where that kind of disease is endemical . and , tho i have formerly in another paper recommended the use of paronychia foliis rutaceis , against that sad and stubborn disease the kings-evil , yet i presume you will allow me , by the mention of a tryal that was since made with it , to give a notable confirmation of the utility of giving an alterative simple , if need require , in considerable quantity . a physician that i knew , was sent for to a scrophulous patient , in whose throat there was a tumour , so big and so unluckily seated , that much compressing the asophagus it rendr'd deglutition exceeding difficult : so that being likewise so hard and stubborn , that tho the physician was also a famous chyrurgion , he could neither discuss it , or bring it to suppuration ; the patient , tho rich , was in imminent danger of being starv'd . in this strait the physician remembring the character i had given of paronychia , or whitlom grass , sent about the country to to get all that could be procur'd : and at first gave a little of it in form of infusion , in such liquid aliments as the patient was able , with much ado , little by little to get down . and having by this means , after some time , made the deglutition less difficult , he gave the remedy more and more plentifully , to imbue the whole mass of blood and juices of the body with the vertue of the herb , whereby the tumour was at length resolv'd , and the patient secur'd , so much to the physicians reputation as well as profit , that , as he said , he thought gratitude oblig'd him to give me a circumstantial account of his success ; as he very civilly did in a long letter whereof i have given you the substance . and tho i might here entertain you with the vertues of some other simple remedies , plentifully given , yet for brevity sake i shall rather observe in general , that i doubt not but several simple medicines ( i speak of alterative not evacuating ones , would be found far more effectual than they are commonly thought , if they were given in a much larger dose , and continued for a competent time . and probably so many physicians ( especially of the old school , ) would not be so forward to reject either specifick or simple remedies , as having found some of them not to answer expectation ; if they would allow them as fair a tryal , as they give to their own prescriptions , such as the chalybeats of the shops , the spaw , or tunbridge waters , the decoctions of guajacum , &c. which they often give with divers intermediate helps for a month or six weeks , and sometimes for two months together , without expecting that in a few weeks , much less in a very few days , they should perform the cure . § iv. the fourth thing that may recommend the use of simple medicines , is , that caeteris paribus they are more easy to be procur'd then compounded ones . this assertion needs little proof . and where several simples are requir'd , one or more of them may oftentimes be difficult to be got ; and all of them will still be troublesome to be fetcht , and to be made up into a composition . how useful the knowledge of parable remedys may be , i have indeavour'd to show in a distinct paper ; and therefore shall not discourse of it here , but only add this one observation , that some medicines are so parable , that without resorting for them to apothecarys shops ( which are not every where at hand , nor always furnished with them ) we may find them in those of other trades-men . thus among masons and bricklayers we most commonly meet with quicklime ; whose bare infusion in common water [ about a pound of the former , as 't is more or less strong , to about three or four quarts of the latter , ] is of it self a good medicine in divers cases , and as experience has perswaded me , may be made the basis of several good remedys , both inward and outward . among the latter of which may be reckon'd an oyntment , that i usually kept by me for burns , and made only by beating up strong lime-water with as much good lin-seed oyl , as could be made throughly to incorporate with it into a very white unguent . and i shall add concerning linseed oyl , ( since i have mention'd it ) which is to be had in the shops of varnishers and painters ; that of it self , being exhibited in a large dose , as of several ounces at a time , i have known it answer the commendations given it by eminent physicians , for breaking of pleuritical empyemas simple oyl of turpentine also , that may be usually had in the shops of the same trades-men , is in reality a noble remedy in divers affections , not only inward , in which chymists commend it , but outward too . and i have had great thanks , both from physicians and chyrugeons , for recommending the use of it to them in wounds , and particularly , where one would expect little from it in the stanching of blood , if it be seasonably apply'd very hot to the wounded parts , where it also much promotes a good digestion . and i am confirm'd in the good opinion i have long had of this oyl , by the information that 's given me , that very experienced chyrurgeon has lately been so charitable , as to publish a little book , considerable for the useful observations it contains , of notable cures done by him in chyrurgical cases , chiefly with oyl of turpentine . and i shall add , that a chyrurgeon to a great monarch , and one of the skilfullest men i ever met with of his profession , confess'd to me , that in an admir'd cure that he had then lately done of a desperate gangrene , in an eminent person , very aged and almost bed-rid , the medicine he ascrib'd most to , was the oyl we were speaking of . and , because both he and others make much and good use of spirit of wine in gangrens , which yet is thought to be unmingleable with oyl of turpentine , because if it be shaken with it , it will quickly separate again from it ; i thought it might do practitioners some service , to make for them a mixture of oyl of turpentine and spirit of wine , that might probably be more penetrant than the former , and less fugitive than the latter , which of it self does not stay long enough upon the parts 't is apply'd to . which mixture i easily made , by digesting for a while , and strongly shaking from time to time , about equal parts by guess of good oyl of turpentine and throughly dephlegm'd spirit of wine , till this liquor , by imbibing or dissolving great store of the oleaginous parts , have attain'd a yellow colour , for which reason i call it the tincture of oyl of turpentine . and , since my subject has led me into the shops of colour-sellers , i will before i leave them , take notice of one simple that is wont to be found there , which if it were not very offensive to the tast , and somewhat disagreeable to the stomach , would be perhaps preferable for its antinephritick vertue , to the most pompous compositions of the shops , and some of the celebrated arcana of the ( vulgar ) chymists . i procur'd it , not without some difficulty , from a spagyrist , very well vers'd in the school of paracelsus and helmont ; who , tho a sparing commender of remedyes , extoll'd this as the best he had ever met with , to cure the stone where it was not too big to pass , and to prevent the increase of it where it was . i have known it us'd in clysters , with very good success in a fit of that disease . but inwardly i had no occasion to try it but upon my self . and judging it innocent enough , ( as indeed i found it rather anodyne than driving , i took it now and then , mix'd with oyl of sweet almonds chiefly to allay the tast , for otherwise i had long found that alone , insufficient ) as a preservative from grave . and , thanks be to god , i divers times thought it more manifestly effectual to that purpose , by lessening either the bulk of the grains , or the quantity of the sand , or both , than any of the remedyes i had taken for prevention in several years before . and yet i scarce took a quarter of the dose , prescrib'd by the spagyrist that communicated the medicine to me ; which in short is ( for i presume you would gladly know it ) to take from time to time , by it self or in some convenient vehicle two or three ounces of the express'd oyl of walnuts , which , if the great staleness of it he requires be necessary , ( which i mean to examine by tryals ) is scarce to be had but at the shops of artificers , because he would have it at least a year old , and judg'd it the elder the better . before i quite leave the shops of trades-men , i shall take notice of one medicine more , that seems to have been first lodg'd there , and from thence translated into the shops of apothecaries . the medicine i mean is castile or else venetian soap , ( for either is often imploy'd in stead of the other ) which being a body abounding with alcalisite salts and oleaginous parts well combin'd , invited me to make some experiments with it , as a substance that may be applicable to good uses , not only mechanical but medical . of some of tho former sort i elsewhere make mention . and as to its medicinal vertues , i take notice in another paper of its efficacy against the jaundise ; for which i have since been inform'd , that , as nauseous a medicine as it is , 't is in great request among some skilful men in holland . and some fresh , but not sufficient , experience has recommended it to me against the stone . but that vertue of it which i as yet most prize it for , and now intend to communicate to you , you will best gather from the following story . having had some dealings with a considerable merchant ( of cork , in ireland ) he sadly complain'd to me , that he was afflicted with a necessity of making bloody water to that degree , that he fear'd he must soon quit his profession , being already unable to ride about his business , and scarce able to walk a foot the length of a street , without stooping to make red water . hereupon i told him i had a medicine , that , if he could digest the unpleasantness of it , would , i thought , by the blessing of god , do good even in his case . and it was only to scrape with a knife as much castile soap into a spoon , as it would conveniently hold without being press'd , i. e. neat a dram , and having fill'd the vacant part with small ale , or some other , convenient drink , to facilicate the swallowing so nauseous a remedy , wash it down with a somewhat large draught of the same liquor , or other fit vehicle , repeating the dose twice or thrice a day , if need requir'd . the manifest relief he found by this seemingly despicable medicine , within ( if i misremember not ) two or three days , invited him to continue the use of it a while longer , and afterwards to return me solemn thanks for it ; declaring that now for four years together he had liv'd quite free from his distemper , without scrupling to ride journeys on horse back , as his occasions requir'd . to which he added , that in regard i had not confin'd him to secresy , he presum'd i intended the medicine should do as much good as might be , and therefore scrupled not to give it to several others , who were likewise happily cur'd by the use of the same remedy . which account was therefore the more welcom to me , because in the place were i liv'd , i had not opportunity to make further tryals of its efficacy . and on this occasion i shall beg leave to advertise you once for all , in reference to the remedies deliver'd by me , either in this paper or in my other writings ; that i am as sensible as another of the almost insuperable difficulty , of making any certain experiments in physick ; and that , having of a long time ( for reasons given in due place ) studiously , tho not unreservedly , declin'd the occasions of giving ( and consequently of reiterating ) medicines : i justly desire that none of my readers , and especially that dr. f. would too much rely upon them , till they have been more competently try'd , than perhaps some of them , for want of opportunity , have been ; and administred to patients of differing complexions , ages , and other circumstances . you may find other instances of the vertue of parable , and some of them unpromising medicines , in one of my essay's of the usefulness of experimental philosophy ; to which i the less scruple to refer you , because i do not remember what i have there written many years ago , so perfectly , as not to fear that i might by enlarging this section , put you to the trouble of reading some things here that you have met with there already . and yet i am somewhat incouraged both to mention to you that book , and to present you some other receipts in this paper ; because it has pleas'd god so far to bless divers of the medicines i have there recommended , or do there mention , that they have been prosperous to many patients , and not altogether unuseful to some noted physicians ; and have procur'd me from both more thanks than i pretended to ; besides inviting encouragements to further communications . §. v. the last thing in order , but not in importance , that induces me to wish , that physicians would imploy simpler medicines as much as conveniently may be , is , that 't is one of the likeliest ways , ( and perhaps little less than absolutely necessary ) to promote the practical knowledge of the materia medica . for , whilst in one receipt ▪ a multitude of ingredients are mingl'd , if not confounded , 't is almost impossible to know with any certainty , to which of the simples the good or bad effect of the remedy is to be attributed , or whether it be not produc'd by a power , resulting from the particular quality's of all of them , united into one temperament , and by its means acting conjointly , and , as the school men speak per modum unius . so that by this way of heaping up or blending simples into one compounded remedy , i see not how in many ages men will be able to discover the true qualities good and bad , of the particular bodies , that are compris'd under the name of the materia medica ; whereas , when a physician often imploys a simple , and observes the effect of it , the relief or prejudice of the patient , may very probably , if not with medical certainty , be ascrib'd to the good or bad qualities of that particular remedy . and this difficulty of discerning , what ingredient it is of a very compounded medicine , that helps or hurts the patient , is much increas'd to those that affect to write bills , wherein something is prescrib'd , which tho , because it goes under one name , passes but for one ingredient , is yet a very compounded body ; as is evident , in those many pompous receipts wherein treacle , ( that alone consists of above sixty several simples ) methridate , and divers other famous ancient compositions ; that each of them consists of good store of ingredients . i had once thoughts of drawing up a discourse of the difficulties of the medicinal art ; and had divers materials by me for such a work , which afterwards i laid aside , for fear it should be misimploy'd to the prejudice of worthy physicians . but among the difficulties that occurr'd to me , i shall on this occasion mention one , which was ; that 't is a harder work than most men think , to discover fully the nature , or the good and bad quality's in reference to physick , of this or that single plant , or other simple , that has a place in the materia medica . for besides the great difference that there may be in plants of the same denomiation , according to the climate , soil , the goodness of the seeds that produce it , the culture , or the want of it , the time of the year , the seasonableness or intemperateness of the weather , the time and manner of gathering it , how it has been kept , the parts of it that are , and those that are not made use of , together with other circumstances too many to be here enumerated : besides all these , i say , the unheeded textures of parts that are thought of an uniform nature , and the length of time during which they have been kept , without being suspected to be superannuated , and indeed without being so , may so much vary the nature of a plant , that i have sometimes almost in a trice shewn the curious a notable disparity in the parts of the same fresh leaf of a common plant : and ( nb. ) i have found by tryal purposely made , that some seeds of common use in physick ( and not putrefy'd ) will , being distill'd at one time of the year , afford an acid spirit or liquor ; but at another time of the year , tho destill'd the same way without any addition , afford not an acid , but a kind of urinous spirit , that contains a volatile salt , which in smell , tast , and divers operations , i found to be of great affinity to the volatile salt of urine , or that of hartshorn . and indeed so many things may be pertinently and usefully propos'd to be inquir'd into , about this or that particular plant made use of by physicians , that perhaps they would be less inclin'd to compound numbers of them in one receipt , if they were aware how much useful employment the indagation of the quality's of so much as a few single plants would give them : and yet without the knowledg of the properties of the separated ingredients , a physician prescribes , it will be scarce possible for him to know , with sufficient certainty , how the compound made up of them , will be qualify'd and operate , which reflection , i the less scruple to propose , because i am conifirm'd in it by galen himself , who very book , where he largely treats de medicamentorum compositione , hath this assertion ; in universum , nemo probe uti possit medicamento composito , qui simplicium vires prius non accurate didicerit . i presume you will easily allow , that much of what has been said in favour of those simple medicines we owe to natures ( or rather to its authors ) bounty , may be extended to many of the remedy's that are afforded us by the chymists art. for without now entering into the question , whether the spirits , oyls , and salts , that are obtain'd by what spagyrists call analyses by the fire , are principles in the strict sense of the word ; it will scarce be doubted , but that the spirit , or the oyl , or the salt of a mix'd body chymically resolv'd , is so slightly or unequally compos'd , that the ingredient whence it takes its name , is far more predominant , than it was when combin'd with others , in the entire or not yet analys'd concrete . and that such supposed principles , of medicines of a simpler order , may be very efficacious remedys , may be justly argu'd from the great and beneficial effects of such as oyl of vitriol , spirit of urine ( nb. ) a medicine of great use both inward and outward , spirit of harts-horn , spirit of niter , spirit of wine , and oyl of turpentine ; of which last nam'd liquor i shall add , that , besides the vertues already ascrib'd to it in this paper , whilst it retains its simplicity , it may in many cases be imploy'd as a menstruum , and by being combin'd with an ingredient or two , be made to afford divers medicines , which tho but little compounded , are not of little vertue . for i have found it readily enough to dissolve camphire , mastick , and some other gums , of which balsoms may be made , and others may be obtain'd by the help of the same liquor , even from divers mineral and metalline bodies . i will not insist on so known a medicine as the common terebinthinate balsom of sulphur ; tho this be a remedy , with as much as 't is peculiarly extoll'd for diseases of the lungs , ( wherein yet its heat requires that it be very warily given to patients of some complexions ) has vertues that are not confin'd to the distempers of those parts ; since both i and some i commended it to , have found it very effectual ( outwardly apply'd ) in troublesome haemorroidal pains and tumors : and ( nb. ) some experience inclines me to think its vertues may not be much greater in pulmonick than in paralytick distempers : in which ( last ) it may be us'd , not only outwardly , but chiefly inwardly ; and that in a pretty large dose with a cephalick , and , in some cases , an antiscorbutick vehicle . but i shall rather take notice to you , that perhaps it will be found worth while to try , at least in external affects , the use of divers tinctures , and consequently balsoms that may be obtaind by the help of oyl of turpentine from divers solid mineral body's , upon which i have found by tryal , that this liquor may be ting'd ( tho not of the same colour on all of them , ) among which i shall name , besides crude zink , crude antimony , and even crude copper ( in filings ; ) a noble subject , antimonial cinnabar ; from which , tho i found i could ( but not hastily ) draw a fine tincture , i had not opportunity to make tryal of that promising medicine . §. vi. and as for those other medicines , that are not made by bare analysis , but by synthesis or composition ; tho i think an experienc'd chymist may , in many cases , with less uncertainty than a galenist ( who employs crude ingredients of a more compounded nature ) foresee what quality the produc'd mix'd body may have : yet i could wish , that even the spagyrists themselves were more sparing , than many of them are , in the number of the ingredients they imploy to compose one medicine . for most of the arguments , upon which i grounded my invitation to the use of simple remedies , are applicable to chymical ones , as well as others : and on this occasion i shall represent two things . first that in many cases , preparations skilfully diversify'd , may be usefully substituted to composition : since one body dexterously expos'd to differing operations , may acquire as various , or as considerable , qualities , as would accrew to it by the addition of such other bodies , as an ordinary chymist would in probability associate with it . thus , not to mention quick-silver , antimony alone , whether prepar'd without addition , as when flowers of several sorts are made of the more volatile , and true antimonial glass of the more fixt part , or being associated but with one or two ingredients , may afford a skilful spagyrist , medicines numerous and various enough , almost to furnish a shop ; or at least to answer the physicians scope , where he would imploy an emetick , a cathartick , a diaphoretick , a deobstruent , a diuretick , a bezoardick or cordial medicine ; to name now no other qualities , that may be found in some antimonial preparations , in a degree considerable enough to ennoble them . which . instances , and others of the like nature i presume you will allow me to make use of in this discourse , because , though i do commonly , yet i do not always , imploy the term simple medicine or remedy in the strict and absolute sense , but in a comparative one , that excludes compositions of more than two or three , or at the utmost a very few , ingredients . secondly , without bringing together a chaos , or so much as a considerabe number , of ingredients , one or two , or at most three auxilary ones , if judiciously chosen and skilfully manag'd , may oftentimes produce more efficacious remedies , than the admirers of pompuous processes would expect , or perhaps be able to make those processes vye with . the violently emetick and purgative vertue of glass of antimony made per se , may be , as i elsewhere show , more powerfully corrected by mere distill'd vinegar , than by many famous stomachick and cordial elixirs , and other elaborate preparations . and sometimes a seemingly improper addition may not only correct , but give new and unexpected vertues to a drug . thus , though sublimatum corrosivum be a mercurial concrete , so fretting , that a very few grains of it may be able to kill a man ; yet by adding and carefully uniting to it about an equal weight of running mercury , there is obtain'd , when they are well united by sublimations , a compound that is so free from being corrosive , that chymists call it mercurius dulcis , which though some unwary practitioners , as well galenists as chymists , have too often by their misimployment of it , discredited , yet experience shows that in skilful hands it may be usefully imployed , not only in some venereal affections , but in divers other distempers . and i shall now add , that being carefully prepar'd , and well given , it may not only be freed from corrosiveness , but much allay the sharpness both of some emptying medicines , & of some peccant humors . to countenance the latter part of which observation , i shall acquaint you with one use of it , that perhaps you have not yet made . i remember , i had an opportunity to observe the efficacy of mercurius dulcis , in a stubborn disentery , that had baffled the remedies of an eminent physician . but though a reflection on the vertue , i knew this medicine to have , of allaying sharp humors , and resisting putrefaction , may justly increase my favourable opinion of it ; yet not thinking my experience competent , i imparted it to an ancient and expert chyrurgeon , that was the chief of those that belong'd to a famous and judicious general of an army ; who thereupon frankly confess'd to me , that this was his great arcanum , wherewith he had cur'd many scores , or rather hundreds of souldiers in this generals army . only , where as my way is to give from 8 , or 10 , to 12 , or at most 15 grains of mercurius dulcis for a dose , made up with some little rhubarb , &c. or other ingredient that would make it work , once , twice , or thrice with another patient , ( for the disentery it self helps to carry off the medicine ) he , both to disguise it , and to make it more easily takeable , made it up with sugar and mucilage of cum-dragon into lozenges , whereof one might containfrom near a scruple to half a dram of the mercurius dulcis , of which he order'd the souldiers to take one at a time , without hindering their march ; only bidding them have a great care , that nothing should stick between their teeth , or in their throats . 3. but the efficacy of this simple preparation of mercury , is much inferiour to that more simple , although more tedious , preparation of gold , which was made the same way in two differing countries , by two dexterous physicians , both of them of my acquaintance . for though i had long been prejudic'd ( not without specious grounds ) against pretended aurum potabiles , and other boasted preparations of gold ; ( for most of which i have still no over-great esteem ) yet , i saw such extraordinary and surprizing effects of the tincture of gold i speak of , upon persons of great note , that i was particularly acquainted with both before they fell desperately sick , and after their strange recovery , that i could not but change my former opinion , or a very favourable one of some preparations of gold ; and i should have thought that this medicine ( as little compounded as it is , ) could scarce he paid , by a great store of the noble metal that afforded it , if it could have been made in great quantity , or without a great deal of pains and time . i can speak thus circumstantially , because by the kindness of the artists , and the pains i had spent in working on the same subject they make their menstruum of , i so far knew , and partly ( by themselves invited ) saw , the preparation of it , that to bring home what has been said , to the present occasion ) i can tell you , that there is no ingredient associated to the gold , save one , that comes from above , and is reputed one of the simplest bodys in nature , and of which one may take two or three ounces altogether unprepar'd , without the least inconvenience . and yet the dose of this almost insipid medicine , that was given to an old courtier , even in a violent apoplexy , wherein other remedies had by skil'ful men been us'd in vain , was but six or eight drops . in another very ancient and corpulent person the dose was greater , because the tincture was more unripe and diluted ; but the effect was as sudden , tho the patient was not bled , and tho there was not in either of these two cases , any notably sensible , evacuation made . [ both these recover'd persons are yet alive ] the same medicine a while after , saved the life of another gentleman i know , who , having lain above two and twenty days sick of an ill conditioned feaver , was condemn'd by three physicians , whereof one told me with great grief , that he would not out-live the next morning ; and yet upon the taking of a large dose of this tincture , he was presently reliev'd , and from that time found a sensible amendment towards a recovery , which he now injoys ; tho he were then reputed to be about , if not above fourscore years old . some other odd effects of this . remedy i could tell you of : but it has already much swell'd this section , and yet i thought it not amiss to relate these things to you , both , because they are very pertinent to the scope of it , and because you may be , as i long was , prejudic'd against medicines made of so fix'd , and , as is suppos'd , un-alterable a metal as gold. 4. this is not the only medicine made of that noble body , of which i have known very notable effects . but , because they belong to another paper , i shall not particularly mention them in this ; but pass on to tell you , that the preparation of silver , that i have long since deliver'd in another book , tho' it may seem but slight , has been found very effectual , and much us'd , by one of the eminentest physicians of this nation , to whom i recommended it : and who acknowledg'd to me , that he gave it to patients of very high quality , tho' disguis'd , to avoid alarming those that are fearful of chymical medicines . and since that i gave it to a great lady that was hydropical , and judg'd to be dangerously ill , with notable success ; and the cure has already for some years held good . but i confess to you , that i look upon copper , and its magistery blew vitriol , as a much nobler subject to make remedy's of , than silver , and perhaps than gold it self . and if i were to make physick my profession , there is no metal which i should so willingly bestow pains upon as copper induc'd thereunto by the excellent and very extraordinary effects , ( not all of them to be mention'd in this paper , that i have had opportunity to see , of some remedies , which tho' i could never learn how to make , i knew were made of that metal , or vitriol abounding in it . [ but first freed from all cruelticle violence . ] and for appeasing of pains , produc'd even by inveterate maladies , the laudanums ) and other opiate preparations , that are prescrib'd and prais'd in physicians and chymists books , and much us'd ( oftentimes with good success ) in their practice , seem to me , bccause of the stupor , and some other inconvenient symptoms , they are wont more or less to be followed by , far inferiour to the sulphureous parts , as a chymist would call them , of skillfully prepar'd venus ; these being much more harmlesly and friendly anodynous . and i remember that an empyrick , to whom , at his request , i taught a very uncertain way ( for it rarely hits ) of making a kind of sulphur of vitriol alone , in the form of a brick colour'd powder ; came purposely to give me solemn thanks for the reputation he had gain'd by that medicine , of which the first time he had the good luck to make it , he gave , as he was instructed , four or five grains of it , to a woman that could not sleep , but had been for divers months raving mad , [ maniaca . ] which single dose not only gave her a good nights rest , but brought . her to talk sense when she wak'd in the morning . i knew also a chymist , that was much courted even by learned doctors , for an internal anodyne he us'd , and could sell at almost what rate he pleas'd , to take off inveterate pains in the heads and shins of venereal patients ; and the same person cur'd venereal ulcers in a very short time , only by strowing on them an indolent powder . and tho he was so shy , that he would not let even the physicians , i recommended to him , see his medicine , yet having one day been told of a kindness i had done him , unknown to him ; he took it so well , that he not only allow'd me to see and handle his medicine , but when i guess'd by the ponderousness and effects ; of it , that it was some . preparation of mercury fixt with sulphur of venus , he frankly acknowledg'd to me , that , tho it would indure not only ignition , but a strong & lasting fire , that in the former part of my conjecture ( that the body of it was mercurial ) i was in the right ; and in the latter part i shot very near the mark ; but added , that that the true sulphureous parts of venus were in his way so difficult to be obtain'd , and requir'd so much time , that he could seldom prevail with himself , ( who indeed was voluptuous enough ) to go through so troublesome a work . and in effect i found , upon various tryals , the constituent parts of that metal to be much more strictly united than the generality even of chymists imagaine . for the extraordinary effects of this medicine , i can refer you to the testimony of very ingenious men of your own profession , ( and probably acquaintance too . ) and since i know you study helmont , i presume you will the more readily believe them , if i put you in mind of that notable passage , where he says : nihil , aeque victoriose in humidum radicale , agit atque primum ens cupri , vel ad vitam longam sulphure vitrioli est benignius ; ideoque sulphur philosophorum indigitat . but my intended brevity forbids me to insist longer on this metal , or to take notice of more than one other metal . and because that of steel , physicians as well as chymists make great variety of remedies , some of which are produc'd by preparations slight enough ; and the like may be said of mercury , witness the remedy formerly commended against the worms , made of nothing but crude quick-silver barely decocted in common water : for this reason , i say , i shall pitch upon lead , whose calx dissolv'd in spirit of vinegar affords as you know , saccharum saturni , which tho so easy and simple a preparation , is a magistery that has more vertues than every physican knows , or perhaps so much as suspects ; especially in mortifying sharp humours in the eyes , which i have known or made it do sometimes almost in a trice . [ but i do not think it safe to make the plantain or rose-water 't is to be dissolv'd in , considerably strong of it . ] and for burns , i have seldom seen any thing equal to it , and therefore have often us'd it upon my self ( barely dissolv'd in common , or else plantain water . ) but i fear 't is not so safe as effectual , in some inward distempers of the bowels , that are judg'd to be caus'd by acid humours ; unless it be very warily and skilfully given . [ but as to its external use , i presume , i need not tell so skilful a doctor as you ( nb. ) how great it is in healing , and in the mean time appeasing , the pains of divers sorts of ulcers . and therefore i shall mention but one particular , which 't is like you have not met with ; namely , that i know a very ancient and experienc'd person , who , besides a vast practice otherwise , was chyrurgeon to a great hospital ; who professing much kindness , and owning some obligation to me , confess'd to me , that amongst all the medicines he has try'd to stop bleeding , and prevent accidents in amputations , that which he oftenest us'd , and most rely'd on , is a solution of saccharum saturni in plantain water ( or for a need in pure common water : ) for having dissolv'd ℥ j. of the former in about a pint or pound of the latter ; as soon as ever the limb or other part is taken off , he immediately apply's stupes drench'd in this liquor , as hot as the patient can well endure ; and having bound them carefully on , he makes , no hast to take them off , but allows the medicine time enough to perform its operation : to countenance this i would tell you an odd experiment of mine , of the efficacy of a saturnine liquor to resist putr faction , in the bodys of animals , but that the relation would take up too much time . ] 5. perhaps i need not tell you , that i could here mention divers other experiments , as well upon saturn , as the other metals i have nam'd above ; but that my scope confines me to such preparations , as wherein the metaline subject is compounded but with very few others ; and also that of those that are more remote from simplicity , you may meet with several in some of my other papers , which i am not in this to defraud . what has been above noted about metals , may be extended to minerals : namely , that when there is need to compound them , it may of tentimes be sufficient to associate them with one or two , or at most a very few auxiliary ingredients , if i may so-call them ; this is apparent in several useful preparations of antimony , that are vulgarly enough known . to which divers may be added that are made of common sulphure , by slight additions . of which sort , because i elsewhere deliver several , i shall now mention but one , which though i have many years ago describ'd in the history of colours , i shall not scruple to take notice of here , because i there consider not its medicinal vertues , which yet are very great , especially in asthmas and coughs , in which i do not remember that i ever gave it without benefit to the patient ; nor was it less successful in the hands of physicians , that were willing to try it for me , especially in those of a person , who though well furnish'd with choice remedies of his own , often came to me for a supply of this spirituous and penetrating tincture , with which he assur'd me he did notable things in asthmatical cases ; and particularly in one that was very obstinate , and had lasted many years . but not having had quite so many opportunities as i wished of giving it my self , i shall be glad , that further tryal may be made of it by so skilful an administrer as you . and therefore lest you should not have the book lately refer'd to at hand , i shall here repeat , that our medicine is made of flowers of sulphur , exactly mix't with an equal weight of finely powder'd sal-armoniac , and somewhat more than an equal weight of good quick-lime , separately reduc'd to a suttle powder . for these three ingredients being diligently and nimbly mix'd , and put into a retort , to be plac'd in a sand furnace , and fitted with a large receiver very well luted to it . this mixture , i say , being duly distill'd in such vessels , will afford a blood red and smoaking spirit , exceeding sulphureous both in smell and oven mechanical operations . and in this distillation the sulphureous parts sometimes came over accompany'd with such store of saline ones , that a good part of what past into the receiver shot into the form of a volatile sulphureous salt. and i remember that having for curiosity's sake added to the fluid tincture a due proportion of an ardent spirit ( such as that of wine ) exactly dephlegm'd , i had a mixture ( whether in the form of a coagulum or not ) which afforded me some odd phaenomena not here to be mention'd , and which we subled with a gentle fire to unite them into a composition that may for distinction sake be call'd sa trium regnorum , because it contains urinous particles , vinous ones , ( and perhaps some of soot ) and sulphureous ones : whereof the first belongs to the animal , the second to the vegetable , and the last to the mineral kingdom , as chymists are wont to speak . but what vertues this salt ( that would presently gild silver , ) and the spirit that may be made to accompany it , may have in physick , i had not occasion to try . but yet i have mention'd it upon the by , that you may make use of it , if you think it worth while to do so . to whch i shall here present you with no inducements , since i perceive that the particulars above mention'd about simple preparations of gold and other metals , have already made this section enormously great . and yet i hope you will not be displeas'd at it ; since to so sugacious a person as dr. f. these passages may afford some not altogether useless hints : and at least 't is an encouragement to industry , to know that the subjects a man works on are capable of affording excellent things . §. vii . 1. i foresee it may be objected against the frequent use of simple medicines , that oftentimes it happens that a disease , or a morbisick matter , is not the effect of a single cause , but is produc'd by the concurrence of two , or perhaps more , causes , which producing several symptoms , 't is not probable that one simple drag will be able to answer those different indications this objection i confess is considerable , & there are cases wherein i acknowledg it to be so weighty as to invite & warrant a physician , to imploy in them a medicine consisting of more ingredients than one or two ; which i can admit without prejudice to any design , since i formerly declar'd i did not intend to perswade you to consine your self to simple remedy's ( so much as in the late sense above intimated of that term ) but only to imploy them where they may suffice ; and where they cannot to make use of medicines as little compounded as the case will permit , 2. but having premis'd this advertisement , i presume i may offer you two or three considerations , that may lessen the force of the lately propos'd objection and first , tho i readily grant , that there are diseases , whereof each may proceed from differring causes , and that a remedy may be available against it , when 't is produc'd by one of those causes , without being so when it flows from another ; yet it may also easily happen , that in one case the disease may be cur'd by one simple medicine , and in another , by a remedy not compounded . nay , it may also happen , that the same simple may cure a distemper , by which soever of the two causes it is produe'd . this i have in another paper endeavour'd to make out . and what we see of the effects of the jesuits powder , as they call it in different kinds of agues , as tertians , quartans , &c. and of pacating medicines ( most of which indeed owe their vertue to opium , but some are mineral , and have nothing of the poppy in them ) in appeasing pains produc'd by humours , and other causes very differing ; may keep what has been said from appearing improbable , and , if i mistake not , it may divers times happen , that , whatever it were that at first produc'd a portion of morbisick matter , that first produc'd matter , is the cause of the continuance of the disease , by vertue of some peculiar texture or noxious constitution , which if a generous medicine can destroy , the disease will , at least little by little , cease . 3. it not unfrequently happens , that several symptoms that seem very differing , may so depend upon the primary or principal cause of the disease , that if a medicine , how simple soever , be capable to destroy that cause , all the various symptoms will , by degrees at least , vanish of themselves : as we often see , that when mercury , tho perhaps but crude , is skilfully apply'd , and raises a kindly salivation , a great variety of inconveniencies that afflicted a venereal patient , and seem'd to require many differing and topical applications , are remov'd by the same remedy ; insomuch that not only frightful ulcers , but such modes as one would think searce possible to be dissipated by the strongest plaisters , are sometimes happily cur'd by well prepar'd quicksilver , taken in at the mouth , as i have been assured by more than one eminent physician upon his own experience , and tho not unfrequently there be several , & sometimes very different symptoms , that accompany that disease of children that in england we call the rickets ; ( and of which there dye several almost every week in london alone ) ▪ yet that medicine which i have elsewhere describ'd under the name of ens ( primum ) veneris [ made of strongly calcin'd and well dulcify'd colcothar of dantsick vitriol , and elevated with sal armoniack into the form of a reddish sublimate ] has prov'd , by gods blessing on it , so successful , that partly by a sister of mine , ( to whom i communicated it ) and partly by my self , and those i directed to take it , or to give it ; i think i may safely say , that two or three hundred children have been cur'd by it , and that almost always without the help of any other inward medicine , or using any topical application at all . 4. but the main thing that i intended , by way of answer to the foreseen objection , was , that in a simple medince nature her self does oftentimes so well play the apothecary , as to render the compositions made in his shop unnecessary . for , tho we are wont to look upon this or that plant or mineral , as an entire and simple body , yet we may much mistake , if we look upon it as a homogeneous one . in several plants that are organical bodies , this truth is manifest ; as for instance , in oranges the succulent part is soure and cooling , but the yellow rind considerably bitter and hot : and so in lemons the pulp , the yellow part of the rind , and the seeds have their differing qualities and medicinal vertues . and even in such vegetable substances as are homogeneous as to sense , there may be parts , whose operations may be not only differing , but contrary ; as is manifest in the root , we call rhubarb , which affords as well notably astringent , as laxative and purgative parts . and so in minerals themselves good and clean lead-oar , for instance , tho an uniform body as to sense , consists of very dissimilar parts , and affords sulphureous and perhaps other recrements , besides malleable lead , which is it self a compounded body . thus also shining marcasites , tho they appear homogeneous , will by barely being expos'd for a competent time to the moist air , afford an efflorescence , that is perfectly vitriolate , and consequently contains an acid salt , two kinds of sulphur , a terrestrial substance , and at least one metal , ( for oftentimes it holds both copper and iron , tho one predominate , ) which last nam'd substances themselves are neither of them simple bodies . 5. and if we admit the chymical analysis of mixts to be genuine , we shall find that almost all those that belong to the vegetable kingdom , or to the animal , and many that are refer'd to the mineral kingdom , how uniform soever they may appear to the eye , do each of them contain several different , and sometimes hostile substances . thus hartshorn , tho it appears a dry and homogeneous substance , will in distillation afford a volatile salt , an urinous spirit , a waterish liquor , or phlegm , a swiming oyl and a sinking one , a white and porous earth , or terra damnata , and perhaps some , tho but very little , fixt salt. thus also in the vegetable kingdom , tartar , for instance , may without addition be made to afford , as experience hath assur'd me , a volatile salt very like that of urine , a phlegme , an acid spirit , another spirit too which i have elsewhere given the name of adiaphorous , two faetid oyls , whereof one will sink in water , and the other swim on it , an earth or terra damnata , and a fixt lixivial salt , upon which the newly mention'd acid spirit manifests such a hostility , that when they are put together , they tumultuate with noise and bubbles , and in the conflict mortify each other . and thus likewise in the mineral kingdom , not to repeat what i lately said of the compoundedness of vitriol ; nor confidently to urge the opinion of divers eminent physicians , that mars ( as they call steel and iron ) affords parts whereof some are astringent , and other operative , because i am not yet sure these contrary qualitys , do not proceed from the differing degrees of fire , and other circumstances of the preparations of the metal : we see that native cinnabar affords by distillation , besides running mercury , a dry substance , whence i have obtain'd a sulphur that would presently gild silver , and a terrestrial substance , whose nature i had not occasion to examine . and i the rather take notice of these differing parts in native cinnabar , because it is a mineral that i much esteem ; and tho here in england it is very rarely , or scarce at all imploy'd as an inward medicine , yet i know some forraign physicians of several nations , that look upon it , as one of their chief arcanums , and both use it , and conceal it , accordingly . but i do not willingly imploy it , till it has been prepar'd , by grinding it exactly , upon a porphire , or other fit stone , as a painter would do to make a pigment of it , and by freeing it from certain salts , that often undiscernedly adhere to it , and sometimes may be hurtful ; which is done by first washing it very carefully with boyling water , and then , after it has been throughly dry'd , by burning upon it several times , one after another , some vinous spirits perfectly dephlegm'd . [ the dose , if it be to be long continu'd , may be three , four or five grains : but when 't is to be given but seldom , and for an urgent case , it may be from six or seven , to ten or twelve grains . §. viii . 1. what has been said in the foregoing discourse , to manifest , that a simple , whether organical or not , may notwithstanding its intireness or its seeming homogeneity , contain or afford very , dissimilar parts ; may help us to conceive , that being really a compounded body , it may afford parts differing enough to answer differing indications , or attain several scopes , that are wont to be look'd on by physiciaus as necessary , or at least very useful to the cure of this or that disease ; as in many diarrhaeas or fluxes of the belly , whereas , 't is judg'd requisite first to evacuate the peccant matter , and then to give astringents , to hinder the immoderate evacuation wherein the disease is thought to consist ; rhubarb answers both those indications , by its purgative and its more terrestrial parts , whereof the former dispatch their work first , which makes the astringent operation of the latter seasonable and safe . 2. i have divers times observ'd , that so common and despicable a simple as ground ivy , has perform'd things whose variety seem'd to argue , that it contains parts of very differing vertues ( as of opening , contemperating , healing , &c. ) and is thereby capable of answering differing intentions , especially in distempers of the lungs & breast , & indeed partly by the syrup of it , partly by the infusion of the leaves , and partly by medicines made of them in a consistent form ; the happy effects of this simple have procur'd me the thanks of divers considerable persons , some of which had before unsuccesfully us'd many prescriptions of learned men . and i remember i knew an ingenious person , who being master of a considerable manufacture , which was gainful to him , whilst his servants continu'd tolerably well , was very much incommodated and perplex'd , to find them so obnoxious to violent colicks , ( which he imputed to the copious steams of the vinegar his art requir'd , ) that he was forc'd almost weekly to allow them some days of cessation from working , to preserve or recover themselves . and i remember that from this inconvenience , he was at length , as himself confess'd to me , in great part freed by making his workmen frequently use a strong infusion or tincture of the leaves of our ground-ivy made with ( not pure or dephlegm'd spirit of wine , but ) good unrectify'd nants brandy . i could here add divers other uses , both internal and external , of this seemingly despicable plant , there being scarce any one english herb known to me , of which , for its manifest vertues , the experience of others and my own have given me a greater esteem . and i am apt to think , that the efficacy which this and some other simples , that the fear of prolixity makes me silently pass by , would be found both greater and more various than they are commonly thought , if physicians in prescribing medicines would more often either ordain simple ones , or at least associate but very few together , and compensate the small number of ingredients , by the greater quantity of those that are the most appropriated or operative , and by persisting in their use for a competent time . tho 't is not every efficacious simple , or but lightly compounded remedy , that can fitly be imploy'd about the proof of what i am now endeavouring to show , yet i shall subjoyn such instances , as will , i hope , suffice for the present occasion . mineral waters , as well acidubae , as the german spaw , our tunbridge , &c. as thermae , such as those of bath , &c , tho but natural medicines ; and some of them but outwardly administred , are notoriously known in their native simplicity to be able one of them single , frequently to cure several diseases , and consequently to take off a good number of differing symptoms , that afford various indications . it may help much to make it probable that the same simple may comprise qualities fit to answer differing scopes , and thereby cure differing symptoms , if it be consider'd , that there are several poysons that do each of them produce symptoms not only very frightful , but very various , and yet all these have been oftentimes conquer'd by a specifick antidote , that is perhaps but a simple herb or other uncompounded drug . i had once , ( and but once ) the opportunity of making a tryal , whereof i shall now give you a brief account , of the vertue of a stone taken out of the head of an enormously great african serpent ; which stone was affirm'd to the possessor of it , governour of the famous english east india company , to be highly available against the bitings of all venemous animals . the substance of the experiment ( to give it you in short ) was this , i caus'd a young cat to be bitten by a fierce and highly irritated viper , which so inrag'd the cat , that in revenge he endeavour'd to bite off her head , which he took in his mouth , and did not let go , till , as the spectators concluded , she had bit him again , at , least by the tongue ; soon after which venemous hurt , the cats head swell'd very much , and tho he soon grew so weak , that he was not able to stand on his legs , but lay along on the ground , yet he seem'd to be grown quite mad , for he foam'd at the mouth , and snapt at the end of a wand , or such like things , that were but held near him ; and , which was more , in his rage bit one of his own legs , that lay not far from his mouth , much to the surprise of the spectators . but , tho in this desperate condition it seem'd in vain to attempt any thing for his rescue , because one could make him take nothing , and every one was affraid to come near him ; yet having mix'd a little of the powder'd stone with some sponfuls of fair water , it was by the help of the neck of a glass retort , that we imploy'd in stead of a funnel , pour'd by degrees upon the cats mouth ; which lying open , tho he endeavour'd to shake it off , yet some of it was concluded to have got in ; and within one hour or two after , if not less , he did , to the no small wonder of the by-standers , get upon his legs again , and not only seem'd to have much of the tumidness of his head , but readily enough took the medicine i caus'd to be given him ; and would probably have scap'd very well , if , whilst i was at dinner with the company , some unruly people had not hurt him more mortally than the viper had done . physicians and others have observ'd in the plague a great variety of symptoms , among which there are divers , whereof each , if single would psas for a particular disease . and this diversity of symptoms may be not unfrequently observ'd , not only in pestilences that happen at times , or in countries distant from one another , but in the same plague reigning in the same place . and yet 't is possible , that a simple remedy may be available against this so multifarious or manifold ( if i may so call it ) and violent a disease . of which observation ( to omit what might be alledg'd out of some other authors ) i shall give one instance out of galen himself , who , treating at large of the terra samia , takes occasion 'to bring in the vertues of bolarmony ( bolus armena ) which i should guess by his manner of mentioning it to have been little , if at all , known to physicians till his time. this earth , that appears a body so simple and uniform ; he not only commends for sevearal diseases , as spitting of blood , fluxes of the belly , dysenteries catarrhs , defluxions from the head upon the breast , difficulty of breathing thence insuing , and even ulcers of the lungs ; but adds , what makes very much and directly for our purpose , in the following words . in magna hac peste , ( whereof he had spoken before ) cujus eadem facies fuit atque ejus quae thucidydis memoria grassabatur , quotquot hoc medicamen bibere celeriter curati sunt . [ the way of giving it ( which i add by the by , because it may sometime or other be of use ) was this , bibitur , says he , ex vino albo consistentiâ tenui , modice diluto , si aut planè febri careat , aut leviter eâ teneatur , sin gravius febriat , admodum aqueo . ] and so excellent a medicine did this simple one prove in that terrible plague , that our author sayes , quibus non profuit omnes interiere ; scil. cum nec alio quovis medicamine , juvarentur : unde colligiter , concludes he , quòd iis duntaxat non fuerit auxilio qui plane erant incurabiles . 3. there are few diseases that put on so many forms , or are attended with greater variety of symptoms , than that which physicians call affectio hysterica , and whose paroxysus or effects are vulgarly known in england by the name of fits of the mother . and yet we have often remov'd , and not seldom in a quarter of an hour or less , hysterical paroxysus and symptoms , and sometimes such as made the patient swoon or lye along as almost dead , by the bare odour , of well rectify'd spirt of harts-horn , or the mere pungent and powerful smell of a spirit of sal armoniack , which by a peculiar way i made very strong , purposely for external uses . and if i had not out of the experienc'd monardes , physician to the viceroy of the spanish indies , already mention'd in another treatise an antiscorbutical gem ; i would here add another remedy against the same disease , more considerable to my present purpose , since 't is only a simple stone outwardly apply'd . 4. but , because i think not fit in this place to insist on a testimony already alledg'd , tho its credibility , as well as that of the thing to be confirm'd by it , may be much favour'd by what has been related , concerning the vertues of stones outwardly apply'd , in the latter part of the discourse about specificks : for this reason , i say , i shall add a couple of other remarkable instances , of the efficacy of even dry and solid bodies , tho but externally apply'd in diseases attended with several , and divers of them uncommon symptoms , whereof , whatever many think of the harmlessness of our english vipers , i have here known several instances , in men as well as brutes . and yet in these dangerous cases , many that come from east india extol the great efficacy of some of those stony concretions , that are said to be found in the heads of a certain kind of serpents about goa , and some other eastern countreys : for tho most physicians reject or question the power ascrib'd to these stones , for curing the bitings of vipers , and tho i do not wonder at their diffidence , because in effect many of the stones brought from india are but counterfeit ; and of those that were really taken out of serpents , several , for a reason i must not stay to mention , are insignificant ; ( and such perhaps were those that the learned and curious redy made his tryals with ) yet there are others , whose vertues are not well to be deny'd . for , not to build on vulgar traditions , which are but too often deceitful , one of the eminentest doctors of the london colledge assur'd me , that he had , with one of these stones , done , tho contrary to his expectation ; a notable cure , which he related to me at large . and one of our chief english chyrurgeons affirm'd to me , that he had done the like upon another person ; both of these cures being perform'd by the bare application of the stone , to the place bitten by the viper or adder . and a very intelligent person , who had the direction of a considerable company of traders in east india , where he long liv'd , assur'd me that he had with this stone cur'd several persons of the hurts of venemous animals , but , this testimony is much less considerable , as to the number of cures , than that of a great traveller into the southern parts of the same india , who , tho he were bred by a famous cartesian philospher , and were forward enough to discredit vulgar traditions about the countreys he had long liv'd in ; yet being for those reasons ask'd by me , what i might safely believe of the stones i speak of , seriously affirm'd to me , that he had cur'd above threescore persons of the bitings or stings of several sorts of poysonus creatures ; and that he perform most of those cures , by the outward application of one stone ; because , finding it excellent , he was invited to keep to it , especially in difficult . cases . and this same experience of my own , made with a genuine stone of this kind , upon the bodies of brutes , much inclines me to give credit to . but , because this stone is afforded by an animal , i shall add the vertues of another , that properly belongs to the mineral kingdom ; in a disease , whose symptoms , tho not so various , are sometimes dangerous , and too often mortal . to shew you then , that in spite of great closeness and hardness , a simple remedy outwardly apply'd , may be a very effectual one , i shall inform you , that tho the solid i am speaking of past for a bloodstone , yet by its colour and some other visible qualities , i should rather have taken it for an agat . it was but about the bigness of a small nutmeg , and had in it a perforation , by which a stiring past through it , to fasten it to the part affected . this stone had been long kept in the family that possess'd it , when i saw it , being for its rare vertues left by one to another . but , to omit the reports that went of it , the notable case , that makes it pertinent for me to mention it here , was this . an ingenious gentleman , that was a man of letters , and when i saw him , was in the flower of his age , and of a complexion so highly sanguine , as is not usually to be met with , was from time to time subject to hemorrhages at the nose ; so profuse and so difficult to be restrain'd , that his physician , tho a person famous and very well skill'd in his art , told me he often fear'd he should loose his patient , and that he would be carry'd away by this unbridled distemper ▪ but when good method and variety of remedies had been try'd , without the desir'd success , this stone was at length obtain'd from an ancient kinswoman of the gentlemans , to tye about his neck , so as to touch his naked skin . this when he did in the fits , it would stop the bleeding ; and if he wore it for some considerable time together , he all that while continu'd well , as both his learned physician and himself inform'd me . and , because i was apt to ascribe somewhat of this effect to imagination , on , the patient told me , that a while before one of the chief women in the city , ( whom he nam'd to me ) fell into so violent a bleedings , that , tho' it brought her into a swoon , yet that it self , which is somewhat strange , did not hinder her to bleed on , till the stone , having been ty'd about her neck , made her cease to do so , tho' she knew nothing of its having been apply'd to her . and this it self is less strange than what the gentleman affirm'd to me of the power of this gem , as it may deservedly be called . for his complexion inclining him , as was above intimaed , to breed great store of blood , his doctor thought fit to order him , for prevention , to breath a vein , from time to time , which when he was about to do , he was obliged to lay aside the stone for a while , because , whilst he kept it on , the blood would not issue out , at least with the requisite freedom . but how far have i already past beyond the designed limits of this little tract ! wherein i at first intended , but to lay before you the five chief advantages i had observ'd , mere simple remedies to have of very compounded ones ; and briefly to propose the main grounds , on which i ascrib'd those advantages to such remedies . but tho' the better to keep this writing from being prolix , i design'd that it should consist chiefly of such particulars , as i could best spare from other papers ; and tho' for that reason i have purposely omitted many parable , and other but little compounded or elaborate medicines : yet i now perceive that , so many new particulars having offer'd themselves on several occasions , whilst i was writing , my pen has slipt into the mention of many more receipts , and historical passages , than were at first intended . but believing the subject to be very useful , and not despairing but that the things deliver'd on it may not be altogether useless ; i dare hope you will pardon such faults , as only my desire of making the parts of this small writing , rather serviceable than methodical or well proportion'd , drew me unawares into . but whatever were the cause of my prolixity , the bulk which i see this paper has already swell'd to , admonishes me , that i ought to put a speedy period to it , without spending time solicitously to declare in what sense i commend the medicines deliver'd in this invitation , for by recalling to mind , what i have formerly wrote ( in a treatise you have been pleas'd to peruse * ) about the limitations , with which i would have the praises i give of tome remedys understood , and the cautions with which i would have them administred ; you will easily be perswaded , that looking upon them but as fit tools in a skilful workmans hands , i do not pretend that any of them should do the offices both of physick and physician too : and that i propose not the medicines mention'd in this short paper , as sure specificks , but as instances that there are remedies , which notwithstanding their being but simple ones , may be very good ones . i am sir your most &c. r. b. finis . a catalogue of late physick books sold by samuel smith , at the prince's arms , in st. pauls churchyard . fol. boneti anatomia , 2. vol. 1680. — mercurius , 1682. — medicina septentrionalis , 1684. bidloo anat. humani corporis ( 105 fig. illnjirata ) 1685. breinii plantarum exoticar . cent , cum figuris , 1680. bibliotheca anatom . cum fig. 2 vol. 1685. fabriti hildani opera cum severino , 1682. hippocratisopera foetii . hartmanni opera omnia , 1684 , horstii opera med. paracelsi opera , 2 vol. dioscoridis opera , g. lat. saxoniae opera mid. 1680. piso hist . natsiralis de rebus indiae . schenkii observat . med. mentzelii index plant , cum figuris , 1683. lepenii bibliotheca med. 1683. riverii opera , 1679. zwelferi pharmacopeia , 2 vol. pharmacop . angust . renovata , fine notis , 1685. wedelii tabulae . quartoes . alpinus medicina aegypt . borriehius de ortu & progressu chimiae . borrichii hermetis aegyptiorum & chym. sapientia . — de somno & somniferis . baubini pinax cum prodromo . broeckbuysen oeconomia corporis anim. 1683. blasii anatomia , 1681. borellus de motu animalium , 2 vol. 1685. price 12 s. bellinus at urinis & pulsibus . 1685. bohn chymia , 1685. barbetti opera omnia . 1685. blegny zodiacus galen . med. chymic . 1682 — zodaius gal. med. an. 4 & 5. 1685. bartholini acta medica . 4 vol. castelli lexicon med. 1682. per bruno , cardilucil officina sanitatis . clauderi methodus balsamandi . — de' tinctura universali . collectanea chymica leydensia , 1684. clauderi inventum cinnabaricum , 1684. cleyer specimina medicinae sinicae , 1682. coberi observat . med. 1684. charas pharmacopeia regia , 1683. charas theriaca andromachi , 1684. — opera omnia , 1684. diemerbroeck anatomia . davissoni comment , in medicinam severini ettmulleri opera med , 1685. — medicus , 1685. — chimia . dolaei encyclopedia med. 1684. fernelii opera , 1683. van helmontii opera , 1682. glisson de naturae substantia . hoffmanni praxis med. 1680. helwigii observationes med. 1680. hoffmannus in schroderum . joel opera medica . kyperi anthropologia corporis humani . konig regnuim animale , 1682. kunckelii ars vitraria . kirekringii specilegium anatom . licetus de monstris . micaelis de apoplexia , 1685. morhoff de scypho vitreo . museum hermetic . miscellanea curiosa m. physica , 7 vol. an. x — id. decuria secunda anni primi , 1683. — dec. 2. an. 2. — dec. 2. an. tertius , 1685. margravi materia medica . — prodromes . pauli quadripartitum botanicum . — de febribus . plateri praxis . pecblinus de potu theae , 1684. paulini cynographia curiosa , 1685. peyeri merycologia , 1685. regii medicina . rolfinchius de purgantibus , 1683. — ordo & methodus med , specialis — concilia med. — chimia . sacra eleusinia patefacta , 1684. schenckii hist . de humor , totius corporis , 1684 salamandrae descriptio , 1683. sylvii opera med. schrokii pharmacopeia , augustana . — hist . moschi . sturmii collegium curiosum , 2 vol. 1584. du verney de auditu , in fig. 1685. ang. salae opera med , 1682. swammerdam miraculum naturae . vigerii opera med , versaschae de apoplexia . weltheri sylva medica . welschii decades x. med . — observat . & curat , med . — concilia , med . wedelii opiologia . — physiologia med. — pharmacia . — de medicam . facultatibus . — de medicam . compositione . — am aenitates materiae med. 1684. — disputationes variae , 2 vol. weidenfeld de usu spir. vini lulliani , 1684 wepferi cicutae aquaticae . zwelferi pharmacop . octavoes . bartholin de ductu salivali ; 1685. bruelis praxis med. bontekoe de febribus , 1683. tho. bartholini hist . anatomica . becke de procidentia uteri , 1683. borelli observat . med. briggs opthalmo graphin . — nova visionis theoria , barthol . anatomia . beck . experimenta , 1684. beckeri physica subterranea cum supplemento , 1681. brunneri experimenta nova circa pancreas , 1682. charleton de causis catumor , &c. 1685. ent contra parisanum , de circ . sang. 1685. — contra thruston de respiat . 1685. camerarii sylloges memorabilium me. 2 vol. 1683. deckeri exercitationis med pract . dodonaei praxis medica . franchimont lithotomia med. 1683. franciscus de venae sectione . 1685. felicis de ovis cont . malpighi , 1684. funerwalfi anatomia . gockelii concilia & observat . med 1683. de graaf opera . grulichius de hydrope , 1681. — de bile , 1682. grimm compend . med. chym. 1684. gieswin hodegus , med . guiberti opera med. hartmanni praxis chymiatrica , 1682. heide anatome mytuli & observat . med. 1684. hippocratis opera , 2 vol. juncken chymia experiment alis , 1681. — medicus praesenti seculo accom . 1682. inventa nova antiqua med. 1684. le mort pharmacia & chimia , 1684. lossii concil . med. 1684. lister de fontibus med. angliae . — de insectis , 1685. — appendix ad hist . animal . angl. 1685. liseri culter anatomicus : maachetti anatomi meekren observat . med. chyrur . 1682 : merett pinax : oeconomia animalis , 1685. plateri observat . med. peonis & pythagor . exercit. anat. & med. 1682 : plot de origine fontium , 1685. rulandip de phlebotomia . riverii institutiones : — praxis , 2 vol. — observat . rulandi curationes empericae , 1680. sydenhami opera universa londini , 1685. sraussii isagoge physica , 1684. schroderi pharmacopeia : sacchius iris febrilis , 1684. — methodus curandi febris , 1685. sculteti chyrurgia cum append. sthal aetiologia phys . chym. 1683. tilingii lilium curiosum , 1683 : prodromus , med . — de laudano opiato . — de febribus . theatrum chymicum , 6 vol. tulpii observat . med . 1685. versaschae observat . med . welsch rationale vulnerum lethalium , 1685. wepferi de apoplexia : witten memoria medicor . weberi anchora saucitor . zypaei fundamentu med . 1683 : twelves . bayle tract . de apoplexia . — dissertationes physicae . — dissertationes medicae . — problemata physica med. blondel thermarum aquis granen . & porcet . descript . 1685. barbetti chyrurgia : — praxis cum notis deckerii : broen de duplici bile veterum , 1685. barthol . de ovariis : — de unicornu : — de pulmenum substantia : beughen bibliographia med. & physica , 1682 : beguini tyrocinium chymicum : comelini catalogus plantarum , 1682 : closs . de aquis min. & mixtionibus , 1685. drelincurt praeludium anat. — experimenta anat. 1684. — de foeminarum ovis . — de conceptione advers . 1685. — de hum , foetus membranis . p 685. guiuri arcanum acidular . 1682. glissoni opuscula , 3 vol. van helmont . fundamenta med. 1681 : hoffmanus de usu lienis , &c. 1682 : harvey de gener. animal . — de motu cordis : hoffman de cinnabari antimonii , 1685. ab heer fons spadanus & observ . med. 1685. kirchim de peste , 1681. kirckring . in basilvalent . currum triumph . kunckelii observat . chymiae , 1681 : le mort compendium chymicum , 1862. muralti vade mecum anat. 1682. mysteria physico-medica , 1681. maurocordatus de motu pulmonum , 1682. macasii promptuarium materiae med. matthaei experimenta chymica , 1683. muis praxis chyrurgica duabus partibus , 1684. — decus quinta , 1685. morelli methodus perscribendi formulas . remedior . primerose ars pharmae . pecket anatomia . redus de insectis . reidlini observ . med . rivinus de peste lipsiensi , 1680. riverii arcana . st. romani physica , 1684. recuell de curiositez , en medicine , 1685. smitzii compend . med . 1682. stockhameri micocosmographia . severi in synopsis chyrurgio . schraderi observationes , med . schola salernitana . sponii aphorismi hippoc. 1684. swalve quaerelae ventriculi . — alcali & acidum . tilingius de renum structura , verlae anat. oculi . vigani medulla chymiae . du verney traite de l'organe de l'ouvie , 1683. tencke instrumenta curat . morb , 1683. wedelii theoremata med. — de sale volat. plantarum . advertisement . that these afore mentioned books in physick and chymistry , with many other forreign books , are sold by samuel smith , at the prince's arms in st. pauls church yard ; and that he will furnish himself with much variety of new books in that kind , from time to time , as they shall come from franckfort mart ; and likewise he can procure such other books for gentlemen , which perhaps are not to be met with here , from his correspondents , if to be had , beyond sea. books printed for , and sold by samuel smith . the philosophical transactions published by the royal society monthly , beginning january 1683 : jo. goedartius de insectis in methodum redactus cum notularum additions opera m. lister , item appendicis ad hist . animalium angliae , cum 21 figuris aeneis illustrata , 1685. enquiry after happiness by the author of practical christianity , 1685. the duty of servants , &c. by the same author , 1685. boyl's memoirs for the nat. history of human blood , especially the spirit of that liquor , 1684. price 2 s. — experiments and considerations about the porosity of bodys , in two essays , 1684 , price 1 s. 6 d. history of mineral waters , 1685. price 1 s. — of the reconcileableness of specifick medicines to the corpuscular philosophy , with an invitation to the use of simple medicines . tuta ac efficax luis venerea , sepe absque mercurio ac semper absque salvatione mercuriali curandae methodus authore d.a.m.d. 1684. de variatione , ac varietate pulsus observationes , accessit ejusdem authors nova medicinae tum speculativae , tum practicae clavis . sive ars explorandi medicas plantarum ac corporum quorumcumqne faultates ex solo sapore , 1685. the whole art of the stage , &c. translated out of french. in quarto , 1684. price 5 s. a new history of ethiopia , being a full and accurate description of the kingdom of abessinia , vulgarly , though erroneously , called the empire of prester john , in four books ( illustrated with many copper plates ) and also a new and exact map of the countrey , and a preface shewing the usefulness of this history , with the life of gregorius abba , &c. by the learned job ludolphus counceller to his imperial majesty and the dukes of saxony , and treasurer to his highness , the elector palatine . in fol. 1684 price 12 s. guideon's fleece , or a vindication of the colledge of physicians , in answer to a book intituled the conclave of physicians . by dr. harvey , in quarto , 1684. pr. 6. di an anatomical account of an elephant which was lately dissected in dublin , june 17 , in the year 1681. by a. m. med. of trinity colledge near dublin , illustrated with cuts , in quarto , 1682. price 1. s. swammerdami ( johan . ) amst , m. d. miraculum naturae . in octavo . a philosophical account of the hard frost , with what effects it may probably have upon human bodies , as to health and sickness , in quarto . 2 d. stitcht . the true method of curing consumptions . by s. h. med. d. 1683. price 1. s. a discourse about bagnio's , and mineral baths , and of the drinking of spaw water , with an account of the medicinal vertues of them , and also shewing the usefulness of sweating , rubbing , and bathing , and the great benefit many here received from them in various distempers . by s. h. med. doct. 1683. miracles , works above and contrary to naturer ; or an answer to a late translation out of spinosa's tractatus theologice-politicus , mr. hobs leviathan , &c. in quarto , 1683. price 1. s. a treatise of self examination , in order to the worthy receiving the holy communion . by monsieur john claude minister of the reformed church at paris : translated from the french original , in twelves , 1683. protestancy to be embraced ; or a new and infallible method to reduce romanists from popery to protestancy . 1683. pr. 1. s. the art of divine converse , being a new years-gift , directing how to walk with god all the year long , in twelves , pr. 6 , d. the councils of wisdom , or the maxims of solomon , in twelves , 1683. pr. 1. s. the ten pleasures of marriage . in twelves . the dutch rogue : or gusman of amsterdam , traced from the cradle to the gallows , 1683. in twelves . dr. smith's sermon about frequent communion , 1685. mr. fish's sermon on the 9th of may , 1684. history of the original and progress of ecclesiastical revenues , by the learned p. simon , 1685. contra hist . aristeae de lxx interpretibus dissertatio , five responsio ad d. isaac vosfium de septuaginta , &c. per h. hoday a. m. 1685. epigramatum delectus ex omnibus tum veteribus tum recentioribus poetis s accurate decerptus , &c. cum dissertatione , de ver a pulchritudine & adumbrata , in qua ex certis principiis , rejectionis at selectionis epigramatum causae reduntur . adjectae sunt elegantes sententiae ex antiquis poetis parce , sed severiori judicio selectae . 1685. a discourse about toleration , wherein the late pleas for it made by the d. of b. and the nameless author of the considerations concerning toleration are fully answered , and the popular arguments drawn from the practices of the united netherlands stated at large , and shown to be weak , fallacious and insufficient ; in quarto , pr. 1 s. 1685. finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29016-e620 galen . de simpl . medicam . fac. lib. 11. galen . de simpl . med. fac. lib. 11. the essay of the porosity of animal bodies . * ego ab anno 1649. in hunc diem per integros 14 annos ultra mille febricitantes sine ven. , sectione , sine purgatione , sine sudoriseris , sine diureticis , sine alterantibus , sine corrobarantibus , sine topicis , & siquid praeterea unico fere medicamento praecipitante , deo inprimis benedicente , curavi : non considerando , an febris sit intermittens , an continua , an tertiana vel quartana ( quae tamen difficilius curatur quàm aliae ) nec expectatà coctione , nec habito respectu sexûs , ( ne p●erperis quidem exceptis ) aetatis , anni , temporis , vel aliarum circumstantiarum : & quidem paucorum dierum spatio sine recidiva vel aliquo notabili incommodo , nisi ubi aeger ipse per incontinentiam de novo paroxysmos provocarit . kergerus de fermentatione , sect . 3. cap. 3. pag. mihi 250. n. b. * the paper here mean't is the essay of the porosity of bodys . * see this at large proved by the learned diemerbro●●k de peste , lib. 2. cap. 11. in annotat. galen de simp. med. facultatib . lib. ●ono . tit. de lapid . nic. monard simpl. med. hist . cap. 36. p. 329. * untzer . de nephrit . lib. 1. cap. 24. notes for div a29016-e5940 galen . de con. p. sec. gen. lib. 1. the vsefulness of exp. philosophy . galen . de simpl. med. facult . lib. ix . tiul . de terra samia . see nicol. monard simpl . med. histor . cap. 36. p. m. 329. * see the appendix to the i section of the ii part of the usefulness of exper. philosophy . p. 389-390 and of the 2d . edition . memoirs for the natural history of humane blood, especially the spirit of that liquor by robert boyle. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1683 approx. 281 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 159 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28998 wing b3993 estc r25642 09050180 ocm 09050180 42323 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28998) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 42323) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1276:15) memoirs for the natural history of humane blood, especially the spirit of that liquor by robert boyle. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [14], 289, 7 p. printed for samuel smith, london : 1683/4. errata: p. 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ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng blood -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-11 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-05 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion memoirs for the natural history of humane blood , especially the spirit of that liquor . by the honourable robert boyle fellow of the royal society . etsi enim haud pauca , eáque ex praecipuis , supersint absolvenda , tamen consilium est universum opus potiùs promovere in multis , quàm perficere in paucis . verulam . in praefat. ad histor . natural . & experiment . london , printed for samuel smith at the princes arms in st. pauls church-yard , 1683 / 4. the preface introductory address'd to the very ingenious and learned doctor j. l. i willingly acknowledge , that divers physicians have amply and learnedly , and some of them very eloquently , set forth the praises of the blood , and manifested how noble and excellent a liquor it is , but i must beg their pardon if i doubt whether their writings have not better celebrated its praises , then discover'd to us its nature . for , tho the laudable curiosity of the moderns has acquainted us with several things not deliver'd to us by the ancients , yet , if i mistake not , what is generally known of humane blood , is as yet imperfect enough , and consists much more of observations than experiments ; being suggested far more by the phaenomena that nature her self has afforded physicians , than by tryals industriously made , to find what she will not , unsolicited by art , discover . i will not be so rash as to say , that to mind ( as too many anatomists have done ) the solid parts of the body , and overlook enquiries into the fluids , and especially the blood , were little less improper in a physician , than it would be in a vintner to be very solicitous about the structure of his cask , and neglect the consideration of the wine contain'd in it . but though i will not make so bold a comparison , yet when i consider how important a part of the humane body , the blood is ; and that as when it is well constituted , and does orderly move , it conveys nourishment and vigour , and motion , and in a word health to the rest of the living engine : so the mass of blood being either vitiated , or ( which is very often the effect of that depravation ) disorderly mov'd , is the seat of divers , and the cause of most diseases , whose cure consequently depends mainly upon the rectifying of the blood when ( i say , ) i consider these things , i cannot but think it an omission , that so important a subject has not been more skilfully and industriously enquir'd into . but i hope you were not in earnest , when you solicited me to repair that omission . for you know , i have not the vanity to pretend to be a physician . and being none , i must want both the skill and many opportunities , wherewith a man that were professedly so , would be advantag'd . and though i deny not that many years ago i propounded to some ingenious physicians a history of the fluid parts of the body , such as the humours and other juices , and also the spirits of it ; and did particularly draw up a set of enquiries , and make divers experiments in reference to the blood , yet those papers being since lost , and a long tract of time , and studies of a quite other nature , having made me lose the memory of most of the particulars ; i find my self unable to contribute any thing considerable to your laudable design . and as all the search your commands oblig'd me to make after my papers , has hitherto prov'd fruitless , so they having been written when i had far more health , vigour , and leisure than i now have , and when my thoughts were much more conversant with medicinal subjects ; any thing that i shall now present you about the blood , will not only be extremely short of what ought to be said , but will also be short even of what , if i mistake not , i did say of it . but yet all this is said , not to excuse me from obeying you at all , but to excuse me for obeying you so unskilfully . for , since you will have me set down what i can retrieve about humane blood , you shall receive it in the following paper ; which consists of four parts . the first whereof contains a set of titles ( which i call of the first order , for reasons to be given you in the advertisements about them ) towards the natural and medical history of humane blood , which may direct those that want better guides , what enquiries to make , and to what heads to refer , what they have found by observation or tryal . but because this part contains but bare titles ( whose systeme yet perhaps i look upon as likely to make the usefullest part of the ensuing papers ) and because i have neither leisure nor materials to answer all or most of the titles , i thought fit in a couple of subjects , namely the serum of humane blood , which is a natural , and the spirit , which is a factitious part of it , to give some instances of what i had thoughts to do on others ; and propose some example to those that may be more unpractis'd in drawing up natural histories , than the general design and course of my studies of natural things permitted me to be . and what is said on these two subjects , makes the third and fourth part of these papers . as for the other titles ( of the history of the blood ) i contented my self , in compliance with my haste , to set down what occur'd to me in the casual order wherein they offer'd themselves ; without scrupling to mingle here and there among the historical notes , some experiments that i formerly but design'd , as tryals that might prove luciferous , whatever the event should be . this rapsody of my own observations makes one of the four parts , and the second in order , of what your commands embolden me to offer you at this time . and i shall be very glad to be so happy as to find , that by doing a thing , that i am wont to do so delightfully as to obey you , i have by breaking the ice contributed something to so noble and useful a work as the history of humane blood. about which , that i may not make the porch much too great for the building , i shall add to this preamble nothing but these two advertisements ; of which the first shall be , that it is not my design in these papers , to treat of my subject , as it may be consider'd ( to borrow a school phrase ) in fieri , which would have oblig'd me to trace the progress from the reception of aliments at the mouth , to the full elaboration , which were to write the history of sanguification as well as that of blood ; but to treat of this liquor as 't is compleatly elaborated , and that too , not as 't is form'd in the vessels of a living body , but as it is extravasated , and let out by the lancet ; such blood alone being that on which i had some opportunity to make tryals , and to this first advertisement , i shall subjoyn as the second , that in the following papers i have , as the title intimates , treated but of such humane blood , as was taken from sound persons ; both because being no profess'd physician , i had not the opportunities of examining that of sick persons molested with particular diseases , ( which yet would much conduce to a compleat history of the blood ; ) and because the knowledge of the nature of the blood , when 't is rightly conditioned , is necessary to those that would discern , in what particulars , and how far it deviates in the sick , according to that generally received axiome , rectum est index sui & obliqui : on which account the scheme of titles drawn up for the history of healthy blood , may serve for a direction to any that would write the history of morbid or depraved blood in any particular disease , as a pleurisie , a quartan ague , the dropsy , the scurvy , &c. for having compared the qualities and accidents of this vitiated blood , with those of the blood of sound men deliver'd in the forementioned systeme of titles , 't will not be difficult for a physician to find , to what heads he is to refer those things that considerably recede from such as belong to healthy blood. and these recessions or depravations , with perhaps a few additions of some peculiarities , if any occur , will make up the history of the blood as 't is wont to be vitiated in that particular disease , one general admonition sufficing ( if that it self be not unnecessary ) to make the reader take notice , that in all other points the blood of persons sick of that disease is not unlike that of those that are healthy . this book being printed in the absence of the author , some errata's have escaped the press which be pleas'd to correct thus . pag. 4. line 4. for he takes read it takes . p. 12. l. 8. for he r. the. ibid. l. 14. for sorts r. salts . p. 18. l. 23 for a blood r blood. ibid. l. 24. for liquor r. a liquor . p. 30. l. 12. for vrine r. wine . p. 57. l. 15. for or , r. and. p. 65. l. 5. for ℥ viij . r. ℥ viijss . p. 70. l. 25. for the water . r. in the water . p. 77. l. 25. for at r. a. p. 100. l. 5. for which r. with , p. 140. l. 2. for operation of this r. operation . of this . p. 157. l. 18. for weeks r. months . ibid. l. 19. for months r. weeks . p. 187. l. 10. these words , for the sixt salt of blood does it self much resemble sea-salt , whether its spirit be acid or no , should be included in a parenthesis . p. 190. l. 12. for so r. so close , p. 194. l. 15 , for base r. bare . p. 215. l. 21. for dephlegm'd sulphur r. dephlegm'd , sulphur . p. 217. l. 10 for + in which r. in which . p. 225. l. 11. for histories r. history . p. 228. l. 13. for their remain'd ℥ ij . + . r. there remain'd ℥ iij. + . p. 229. l. 10. for portion r. proportion . p. 230. l. 9. for their r. there , ibid. l. 10. for fourteen r. thirteen . p. 233. l. 3. for subliming salt r. subliming the salt. p. 234. dele the first three lines experiments belonging , &c. p. 252. l. 15. for by r. that by . ibid. l. 16. for what r. one may see what . p. 259. l. 3. deest [ experiment i. ] p. 268. l. 12. after made deest . [ having set down these preliminaries , i shall proceed to ] experiment i. &c. p. 274. l. 3. deest [ eight . ] p 282. for conclusion r. post-script . the natural history of humane blood. part . i. containing a list of titles for the history of humane blood . to which are premis'd some advertisements about them . that the scope and meaning of the ensuing scheme of titles , ( and divers others that i drew up for differing subjects ) may be the more clearly understood , i must lay down in this place some passages borrowed from the ( unpublish'd ) essay or letter i wrote to mr. oldenburg ( secretary to the r. society ) about the way of compileing a natural history . i propos'd then in that tract three sorts of heads , to which the particulars that might occurr , and properly belong to the history of the subject to be treated of , whether a body , or a quality or an operation , or a process , ( that is , a progressive change ) might conveniently be referred . these distinct sets of topicks or enquiries i call orders , ranks or classes , and because to each of these sets , it was found by experience , that things of somewhat differing nature were to be referr'd , as queries more properly so called , propositions either affirmative or negative , and other heads of natural history , that are less fit to be reduc'd to either of the two former sorts , then to be look'd upon as subjects to be treated of . for this reason , i say , among others , i thought fit to comprize all these sorts of particular topicks , or articles or inquiry ( to use our illustrious verulam's phrase ) under the general and comprehensive name of titles . the first order or classis of these titles , i would have to consist of such as occurr'd readily enough to my thoughts , upon the first deliberate view , or general survey , of the subject to be treated of . for 't is scarce to be expected that at the first attempt a man should be so clear sighted , or so happy , as to pitch , or light upon as direct and compendious ways of indagation , and as good methods of digesting , and delivering what is discovered , as when a studious enquiry has furnish'd him with better informations about the subject he is to treat of ; and therefore it may suffice for the first time , that the mind do as it were walk round the object , it is to contemplate , and view it on every side , observing what differing prospects it will that way afford , ( as when a painter or an anatomist looks upon a mans body , first when the face and belly are towards him , then when the back and other hinder parts are so ) and that he takes notice of the limits and boundaries of it , and of the most essential and considerable parts , or other things that belong to it . wherefore in the first uassis of titles , one need not be too scrupulous about the enumerating , and marshalling the particulars referable to it , but may be more solicitous , that the titles should be various , and comprehensive enough , than that they should be nicely methodical , and much less than that they should be accommodated to any particular hypothesis . and because , even at the first deliberate view , some ( though perhaps very few ) of these titles may appear considerable , and fertile enough to deserve , that there should to each of them be refer'd two or a greater number of subordinate , and more particular topicks ; i thought fit for methods sake to call the capital titles , that is those of the first classis , primary titles , and the subordinate , secondary ones . [ of which distinction a notable instance will be met with in what is hereafter delivered , about the spirit of humane blood. all the sixteen titles together with the appendix , contained in that epistolary discourse , being secondary titles , referable to that primary one , which is the eighteenth in the first classis of the history of humane blood. ] when by reading , conference , meditation , and ( which is here mainly to be consider'd ) the tryals suggested in the topics of the first classis , or order , the naturalist has receiv'd the best and fullest information he can procure , of all that belongs to the subject he is to treat of , he may then proceed to frame another set of titles , which may be called the second , or ( if no other interpose ) the last order or classis of them , which , if he have been diligent and any thing prosperous , will be much more copious and better rang'd than the first . for now divers things will in likelyhood appear to belong to the subject of the history , which were not at first taken notice of to do so , yea perhaps were not at all thought of , and the further discovery made of the nature of the thing treated of , may direct the historian to range his topics , or titles in a better order , and more natural method , than those of the first classis . and , which is a thing of far greater moment , divers , and perhaps most , of the particular titles will appear to be of greater extent , or more comprehensive , than they were formerly conceived to be : so that a particular title may well be thought fit to be branch'd into many subordinate topics , or articles ( which we lately called secondary titles ) some one of which may perhaps comprize as many experiments , or observations , as 't was at first guess'd would appertain to the prime or more general title itself . and from the materials orderly drawn together under this last set or classis of titles , with some requisite changes in point of method , and connexions , and some additional things as transitions &c. by the help i say , of such alterations and additions , the particulars whereof the last order or classis consists , may be digested and framed into an inchoate natural history of the subject they have relation to ; i said , an inchoate history , to intimate , hat even after all that has been already done , i think it too probable that the history will hereafter appear to have been rather begun then compleated , the nature of things , & the industry of skilful men being so very fertile , that the knowledg of the subject of the history will from time to time be encreas'd , and so the history it self may be enlarged and corrected , but will not , i fear in many ages , if ever it be at all , be made absolutely perfect . and on this occasion i must add that when the subject to be treated of is very comprehensive or very difficult , as the generation of living creatures , magnetism , fermentation , gravity , &c. it may be very useful , if not almost necessary , to interpose between the titles of the last and those of the first classis , a set of titles that may be call'd of the middle order , or classis . for the framing whereof the historian is considerately and narrowly to re-survey the nature of the subject , and make a heedful collation of that , and of the several notices attain'd by his endeavours to furnish the differing titles of the first classis with a competent number of particulars . for by this collation there will in likelihood be suggested to him , many new topics of enquiry , and hints , which added to the former will deserve to have a new classis fram'd consisting of articles more copious , and various than the first , and fit to be rang'd in another order . it may perhaps illustrate what i have been saying and am going to say , about the several classes of titles , if on this occasion i shall add , that a natural subject being proposed to be historically treated of , there may occurr something like what happen'd to the israelites , in reference to the land of canaan . for at their first entrance into it , joshua , and the other spyes took a transient view of the country , and could bring back but an unaccurate account of it , together with a little of the most remarkable fruit. but upon a second expedition , the spyes were furnished with fuller instructions , and order'd to direct their researches to the answering of a great many particular articles of enquiry ; their industry to answer which produced in methodical tables or schemes , a far more copious and distinct chorography , and survey of the fruitfull land of canaan . it is scarce to be expected that at the very first time the titles , whether primary or secondary , of a natural history should be made so comprehensive , and be so skilfully bounded , as not to need to be either enlarged , or reformed by second thoughts , and a further progress in the practical knowledge of the subject treated of . i therefore thought it necessary , or at least useful , to subjoin to the first edition of the titles of each of the natural histories , i delineated , a mantissa or appendix , that should consist of two sorts of particulars ; viz , paralipomena and other addenda , whereof the first should contain such things , as may be properly referrable to some one or more of the titles , ( either primary , or secondary , ) distinctly enumerated in the scheme of the history , and were but by haste or oversight kept from having place among them . the other consists of new particulars , that , after the history was written , were suggested by further discoveries ; whether these particulars did directly belong to any of the preceding titles , or might only in a general way contribute somewhat to the knowledge , or illustration of the subject . titles of the first order . for the natural history of humane blood of healthy men . 1 of the colours of humane blood arterial and venal . 2. of the tast of humane blood. 3. of the odours of humane blood. 4. of the heat of freshly emitted humane blood. 5. of the inflammability , and some other qualities of humane blood. 6. of the aerial particles naturally mix'd with humane blood ; and also found in its distinct parts . 7. of the specifick gravity of humane blood entire . 8. of the specifick gravity of the two obvious parts of humane blood , the red ( and fibrous ) and he serous . 9. of the consistence of entire humane blood. 10. of the disposition of humane blood to concretion , and the time wherein it is performed . 11. of the liquors and sorts that coagulate humane blood. 12. of the liquors and salts that impede or dissolve its coagulation . 13. of the liquors , &c. that preserve humane blood. 14. of the mixtures that humane blood may admit from aliments . 15. of the spontaneous or natural analysis of humane blood into a serous and a fibrous part . 16. of the respective quantities of the serous and fibrous part of humane blood. 17. of the differences between the serous and the red part of humane blood. 18. of the artificial or chymical analysis of humane blood , and first of its spirit . 19. of the vol. salt of humane blood , and its figures . 20. of the phlegm of distill'd humane blood. 21. of the two oyls of humane blood. 22. of the fixt salt of humane blood. 23. of the terra damnata of humane blood. 24. of the proportion of the differing substances chymically obtain'd from humane blood. 25. of the fermentation or putrefaction of humane blood , and its phoenomena . 26. of the mechanical uses of humane blood , as in husbandry , &c. 27. of the chymical uses of humane blood. 28. of the medicinal uses of humane blood. 29. of the difference between humane blood as 't is found in sound persons differingly constituted and circumstantiated , as men , women , ( when menstruous , and when not ) children moors , negro's , &c. 30. of the affinity and difference between the blood of men , and that of divers other animals , as quadrupeds , birds , fishes , and sanguineous insects . an appendix , containing 1. paralipomena relating to the history of humane blood. 2. miscellaneous observations , experiments and enquiries about humane blood ( to be added to the history of it . ) i do not think it unlikely that some of the titles of our intended history of blood and a greater number of the particulars that you will meet with in it , may seem frivolous to you at the first perusal . but perhaps in process of time , these very things will not appear impertinent , nor be found useless . for 't is a matter , as of more difficulty , so of more utility , than men are wont at first to discern , to find out , and bring into a narrow compass , a considerable number of particulars relating to one subject , and present them as it were at one view , to the intellect to act upon and there is many a particular experiment o● observation which upon the first , or perhaps the 2d reading may seem but slight or superfluous , which afterwards is found capable of being made good use of by those who seriously intend , and endeavour to attain , not a maim'd or a superficial , but a deep and solid knowledge of the subject of their enquiry . and to such indagators many particulars , that at first were past by unregarded , because there appeared no direct use or obvious application of them , will be found serviceable to hint new hypotheses or theories , or to illustrate them , to examine those of others , and if they be true , to confirm them , and if erroneous , to confute them . for , to be short , the knowledge of matters of fact cannot but be some way or other , and probably more ways than one , serviceable to a naturalist , that has sagacity and judgment to make a right use of them . having already advertis'd you , that the following papers treat of none but extravasated blood , since i had no other at command , to make my tryals upon ; i presume you will not wonder that you find not in the scheme of titles such as these . of the process of sanguification , or the series of changes that the aliment successively undergoes , from its being taken in at the mouth , till it be turned into blood. of the motions of the mass of blood , and particularly its circulation . of the chyle , lympha , and other liquors , that are suppos'd to enter and mingle with the blood. whether the humours , phlegm , gall , and melancholy , be really contained in the blood , as constituent parts of it . whether some other substances may not with as much reason be admitted into the composition of the blood. these , as i was saying , and perhaps some other titles should have been added , if my design had reached further , than to treat of blood separated from the body , and i wish that you , who by your abilities and profession are far better qualify'd than i for such a work , would fill up these , titles and add them , some as preliminaries , and others as appendices , to the history of blood i have adventur'd to begin . perhaps it may not be altogether impertinent to add , that i had once some thoughts of a designation of a natural history of other liquors of a humane body , as well as the blood ; i mean such as the gall , the lympha , the succus pancreaticus , spittle , urine , milk , &c. but i quickly perceiv'd it was fit for me to resign such tasks to physicians ; only i shall here subjoin , as a small specimen , a set of titles for the history of urine , which though by reason of its affinity in many regards to blood , it must have many titles in common with it , yet some will be differing according to the nature of the subject ; which ( liquor ) i therefore pitch upon , because i dare own to you , and i do it not without premeditation , and having wrought on urine longer than on a blood itself , that i think urine to be a liquor , which , as much despis'd as it is by others , deserves to be solicitously enquir'd into by physicians , naturalists , and upon special accounts by chymists ; who will perhaps be excited to seek and hope for great matters , both for medicine and alchymy , from this liquor skilfully handled , when they consider that the phosphorus , of which i have elsewhere related so many new , and some of them surprizing , phaenomena , is made , at least according to my way of meer urine by a simple distillation . titles of the first classis , for the natural history of humane vrine emitted by healthy men . 1. of the colours of humane urine . 2. of the tast of humane urine . 3. of the odours of humane urine fresh and putrify'd . 4. of the heat and cold of humane urine . 5. of the specific gravity of humane urine . 6. of the consistence of humane urine , as to density , viscosity , &c. 7. of the aerial particles contain'd in humane urine . 8. whether humane urine is a fit liquor for fermentation properly so call'd . 9. of the differences between fresh and stale humane urine . 10. of the fermentation or putrefaction of humane urine , and the time it requires . 11. of the spontaneous separation of parts in humane urine . 12. of the vulgar analysis of humane urine by distillation . 13. of some other ways of distilling humane urine . 14. of the proportion of the principles , or ingredients of humane urine . 15. of the spirits of humane urine . 16. of the phlegm of humane urine . 17. of the volatile salt of humane urine . 18. of the fixt salt of humane urine . 19. of the compounded salt of humane urine . 20. of the shining substances obtainable from humane urine . 21. of the salt that is predominant in humane urine . 22. of the empyreumatical oyl , or oyls of urine . 23. of the mellago , or rob of humane urine , and its uses . 24. of the terra damnata of humane urine . 25. of some accidental differences of humane urine , as 't is emitted in the morning , or at certain distances from meat , or after the use of certain aliments , or medicaments , as sparagus , turpentine &c. or at differing seasons of the year , as winter , summer , &c. 26. of the affinity of humane urine with divers other bodies , especially vegetable and mineral . 27. of the hostility of humane urine with acids , &c. 28. of the affinity and difference between urine , blood , gaul , milk , &c. and divers other liquors , or juices belonging to the animal kingdom particularly of the comparison between humane urine and that of beasts . 29. of the mechanical uses of human urine . 30. of the chymical uses of humane urine , and its parts especially as menstruums . 31. of the medicinal uses of humane urine , external and internal . an appendix , containing 1 paralipomena relating to the history of humane urine . 2. promiscuous observations , experiments and inquiries about humane urine , ( to be added to the history of it . ) the ii. part. containing miscellaneous experiments and observations , about humane blood. if i were furnished with all the former experiments , observations , and papers , that at several times i made and wrote about humane blood , or were supplyed with materials and opportunities to repair the want of them , ( as possibly , god assisting , i may hereafter be , ) this second part of our work would perhaps appear much less maimed , and jejune , than it will now be found . but i am so sensible of the disadvantage , that the want of those requisite helps must have brought to this rapsody of unconnected notes , ( written at differing times , and on differing occasions ) that i was more than once inclin'd totally to omit it . and 't is the importance of the subject , upon which even mean experiments may sometimes prove of good use , that keeps me from suppressing it . which i thus early give notice of , that nothing more than loose experiments , and those referable but to some of the titles of the history of humane blood , ( divers others being left untouch'd ) may in the second part of our memoirs be expected . to the iv. ( primary ) title of the history of humane blood , experiment i. having for some reasons , that need not here be mention'd , been induc'd to enquire of more than one person , that has us'd to let many men blood , whether they did not observe , that some persons found a manifest and considerable change in the heat of the blood , as it came to issue out first or last ? i was answered affirmatively and told that several persons that had no feaver said , that after their blood had run out a while , they found it come sensibly hotter than before ; and some of them complain'd , that it came with a degree of heat that was troublesom , and as they fancy'd , ready to scald them . to the same title of the history of humane blood. experiment ii. i got a chirurgeon to put a seal'd weather-glass , adjusted by the standard of gresham colledge , into the porringer wherein he was going to bleed a young gentlewoman , that , as the blood ran out of the open vein , it might fall upon the ball of the instrument ; in which the liquor was made by the warmth to ascend a good way , but not much ( if at all ) nearer than about an inch to the smaller upper ball of the thermoscope . to the same title , experiment 3. but within less than an hour before this time , having procured a man of middle age ( that seemed healthy enough , and was let blood in the same shop by the same chirurgeon ) to bleed upon the same weather-glass , the tincted spirit of wine ascended above all the marks belonging to the stem , and from the top of the stem expanded it self to a considerable quantity in the small upper ball of the stem , ( for the chirurgeon told me it was a fourth part of the height of the ball ; ) so that , though we could not determine how high it would have risen if the stem had been long enough , yet it seem'd manifest that the warmth that made it rise , did considerably exceed the usual warmth of the air in the dog-days , these gag'd thermoscopes being wont to be so fram'd , as to keep the liquor in the stem all the year long without sinking quite into the greater ball in winter , or ascending into the lesser in summer . we employed also , when a young woman was blooded , a sealed thermometer that was not gag'd , but was much shorter than the other , and in this the tincted spirit was raised almost to the top , which argued no inconsiderable degree of heat . to the same title , experiment 4. i know not whether it may be worth while to take notice on this occasion , that a porringer whereinto a healthy man had been let blood having been brought from the chirurgeons house to my lodging , though the blood was already coagulated , yet when i thrust into it the ball of the forementioned gag'd thermoscope , it appeared to have retained warmth enough to make the spirit of urine ascend , by my guess , at least three or four fingers breadth above its former station . to the v. title of the history . since humane blood does in distillation afford a not inconsiderable quantity of oyl , one may well suppose it to be a combustible body : but every one will not think it so inflammable , as upon tryal purposely made i found it to be . for having taken a piece of humane blood dryed till it was almost pulverable , and held it in the flame of a candle , it would take fire , and afford a flame much like that which excited it , burning with a crackling noise ( much like that of sea salt cast into the fire ) and here and there melting . but the inflammableness of such dryed blood did much better appear , when putting together 4 or 5 throughly kindled coals , we laid on them a piece of dry'd blood of the bigness of a small nutmeg , or thereabouts , for this yielded a copious and very yellow flame , and if it were seasonably and warily blown from time to time , as the effluvia degenerated into smoak , it would by these frequent re-accensions continue to yield clear and yellow flames of no contemptible bigness ( in proportion to the body that yielded them ) much longer than one would expect . and during a good part of this deflagration , the blood appeared as it were to fry upon the coals , and in good part to melt into a black substance almost like pitch . there was also a crackling noise produc'd , like that which chymists observe when they decrepitate common salt. these experiments for the substance were repeated . but i shewed another instance of the inflammableness of blood , that was somewhat surprising . for , having caus'd some humane blood ( being part of the same that was made use of in the foregoing tryals ) to be so far dry'd that it was reducible to fine powder , i took some of this powder that had past through a fine search , and casting it through the flame of a good candle , the grains in their quick passage through it took fire , and the powder flash'd , not without noise , as if it had been rosin . this experiment was reiterated with success . to the vii . title of the history . the specific gravity of humane blood is more difficult to be ●etermin'd , than one would readily ●magine . for the gravity of blood may differ sensibly in several persons according to their sex , age , constitution , &c. and in the same person it may be varyed by the time of the year , and of the day , and by being drawn at a greater or lesser distance from a meal , and by divers other circumstances . but besides all these things there is a mechanical difficulty , if i may so call it , that attends the work we are speaking of . for the blood begins to coagulate so soon after it is emitted , that 't is scarce a practicable thing to weigh it hydrostatically , either by immersing into it a solid body heavier than it self or by weighing the whole blood in water ; the former way being opposed by the fibrous part of the blood , and the latter by the serum . and upon the same account it is somewhat ( though not so much ) difficult to compare with any accurateness , the weight of blood , with that of water in a glass , as also for other reasons which he that shall considerately go about to try it , will quickly find but however , since it may be a thing of considerable use , to have some tolerable estimate , though nor an exact one , of the difference in gravity between water and humane blood , by which so many parts of the body , consistent as well as fluid , are by various changes of texture both constituted and nourished . i shall subjoyn a tryal , that this consideration invited me to make as well as i could . we took the blood of a sound man emitted all at one time , and put the whole mass of it , as well the serous as the fibrous part , into an oblong glass , of the fittest size and shape we could light on amongst several . and haveing suffered the blood to rest till all was setled , and the many bubbles vanished , we carefully mark'd with a diamond that narrower part of the glass , which the upper surface of the blood reach'd to . then we weighed the glass and the blood in a very good ballance and having poured out the blood ( for other uses ) and washed the glass , it was filled with common water to the lately mentioned mark , and then weighed again in the same ballance ; afterwards the water being poured out , the glass alone was counterpoised in the same scales , and its weight being deducted from each of the two formerly mentioned weights , the water was found to have weighed ℥ ix . ʒvi . 50. gr. and the blood ( equal to it in bulk ) to have weigh'd ℥ x. ʒij . 4. gr. so that the difference between them being ʒiij . 14. gr . the blood was beavier than so much water , but about the 25th part ( for i omit the fraction ) of its own weight . but this experiment , for the reasons above intimated , deserves to be reiterated more than once . to the xi . title of the history . though rectified spirit of wine be a menstruum consisting of very subtil parts , and upon that account be a good dissolvent of divers vegetable substances , and as experience has assured me , of some metalline ones too , that seem to be more solid than the fibrous part of humane blood ; yet looking upon this body as of a very differing texture from those , i thought spirit of wine might have a very differing operation upon it . and accordingly having separated from the serum a clot of blood , that was coagulated but soft enough , as the fibrous part uses to be before 't is dryd , i kept it for divers hours in a very well dephlegmed vinous spirit , from whence i afterwards took it out as hard as if it had been well dry'd by the fire . to the xix . title of the history , experiment 1. the volatile salt of humane blood as fugitive as 't is , is yet so fusible , that if it be dextrously handled , one part of it may be brought to melt , and as i have tryed , even to boil , whilst the rest is flying away . the like i have tryed with some other volatile salts , and i presume the observation will hold in most , if not all of them . to the same title , experiment 2. though the volatile salt of humane blood , when 't is by sublimation made white and clean , seems to be a very homogeneous substance and according to the principles of the chymists ought to be so ; yet i am apt to suspect , either that its substance is not altogether similar , or that the corpuscles that compose it are of sizes , if not also of shapes , differing enough . for having weighed out some grains of a resublimed salt of humane blood , that seemed very pure , the odour was so strong and diffusive , that one would have expected the whole salt , being but six grains , should in a few hours evaporate away , especially being left in a south window exposed to the air in a flat piece of glass . and yet several days after , if i mistake not seven or eight , i found the salt so little diminish'd as to its sensible bulk , ( for i did not think fit to weigh it ) that it seemed to have wasted but little , and yet what remained had scarce any odour at all that i ( whose organs of smelling are acute enough ) could well perceive , notwithstanding which this white body retain'd a saline tast ; and a little of it being for tryals sake put upon a solution of common sublimate in fair water , readily turned it white . so that it seemed that the penetrant and diffusive odour of the volatile salt of blood proceeded from some particles much more subtile and fugitive than the other parts that composed it . but this experiment ought to be reiterated with differing quantities of salt by which means perhaps a heedful observer may discover , whether the comparative fixity of the salt , that remains after the odorous particles are ( at least for the most part ) flown away , may not arise from their coalition with some acid corpuscles that are wont to rove up and down in the air , and adhere to bodies , disposed to admit their action . to the same title , experiment 3. a dram of volatile salt of humane blood sublim'd in a lamp furnace , was put into as much common water , as in a narrow cylindrical glass served to cover the whole ball of our standard or gag'd thermoscope , and when after this had stood a while in the water to be brought to its temper , we put in the above mentioned salt , the tincted spirit of wine manifestly subsided about two tenth parts of an inch , and probably would have fallen lower if there had been more water in the vessel , to make a seasonable solution of the salt , whereof a considerable part lay undissolved at the bottom . to the same title , experiment 4. when we perceived the liquor to subside no more , we put to it by degrees some strong spirit of nitre , till it would no longer make any manifest conflict with the dissolved salt. the event of which tryal was , that the liquor in the thermoscope began presently to mount , and continued to do so as long as the conflict lasted , at the end of which we found by measure , that it had ascended more than three inches and a half above the station it rested at when the ebullition began . to the same title , experiment 5. the figuration of the volatile salt of humane blood may be considered , either in regard of the single grains , or of that aggregate of them , which when they are made to ascend to the top of the glass , may be called its sublimate . the latter of these may be best observed , when the saline exhalations first ascend , and fasten themselves to the inside of the blind head , or other glass that is set to receive them . for , though towards the end of the operation the corpuscles lye so thick and confus'd , as to leave no distinct figures , yet at first one may often observe the little saline concretions to lye in rows , sometimes straight enough , and sometimes more or less crooked , with differing coherencies and interferings , so that though sometimes these rows of concretions may , especially if a little befriended by the spectators fancy , represent either trees , or their branches , or harts-horn , &c. yet these seem not to be constant representations , depending upon the particular nature of humane blood , but casual figurations that depend upon several accidental causes and circumstances , such as the degree of fire employ'd to sublime the salt , the plenty or paucity of the ascending matter the capacity and figure of the vessel that receives it , besides several others not needful to be here enumerated . nor is the salt of humane blood the only volatile one , among whose elevated concretions i have observed the above named circumstances to produce diversity of configurations . but as to single grains of the volatile salt of blood , i discerned a good many of them to be finely shap'd . but whether it were accidental or not , further tryal must inform me . i could not , that i remember , observe these handsom figures in the concretions that compos'd the sublimate , that was obtained by rectifying or elevating again the salt that first came over , but in the grains that in the first destillation fasten themselves to the upper part and sides of the receiver ; for of these divers were of considerable bigness and solidity , and though they were not all of the same shape , some of them being not unlike to cubes , others to parallelopipeds , others to octoedrons , being almost like grains of alum ; yet most of them were prettily shaped , being comprehended by planes smooth , finely figur'd , and aptly terminating in solid angles , as if the concretions had been cut and polished by a jeweller . to the same title , experiment 6. there is another way that i have used to observe the figures of the salt of blood which was to rectify the spirit of blood , so as it may be fully satiated with the salt whilst the liquor ( in the receiver continued yet somewhat warm . for then setting aside this over impregnated liquor when it came to be quite refrigerated ( which should be done very slowly ) there appear'd at the bottom of the vial a good number of saline concretions of differing sizes , several of which , as far as the rest would suffer me to see them , were shot into crystalline plates very smooth , and prettily figur'd , having to the best of my conjecture , their broad and parallel surfaces of a hexagonal or an octogonal figure regular enough . to the same title , experiment 7. according to the hypothesis of divers learned naturalists and physicians , i suppos'd it would be thought considerable , to know what would happen upon putting together the volatile salt of humane blood , and the spirit of nitre , with the more fugitive parts of which salt they conceive the air to be plentifully , and some of them to be vitally impregnated . to gratify some of these philosophers , we took a dram of dry volatile salt of blood , ( which we made choice of , rather than spirit , because we had a mind to know what quantity of acid salt it would retain ; ) and having dissolv'd it in some distill'd water , we drop'd into it good spirit of nitre , till the two liquors , thô they were shaken , would no longer manifestly act upon one another ; the conflict being ceas'd , we slowly evaporated the superfluous moisture , which steam'd almost all away before the saline part would coagulate . at length it came to driness , and then the middlemost part appear'd in the form of thin crystals , not unlike those of salt petre ; but the rest , which was by much the greater part of the concretion seem'd to be a confus'd mass without any distinct figure . this mass weighed but 12 gr . more than a dram . so that as far as this single experiment can inform us , the volatile salt of blood may be satiated by so little as a fifth part of its weight of the saline corpuscles of spirit of nitre . this compounded salt being laid in a window , did appear to be very prone to be resolv'd by the moisture of the air , or in the chymists phrase to run per deliquium . a little of the same salt being put upon a well-kindled coal , readily melted , and seem'd to boil , and towards the latter end , made a noise , and afforded a flame very like common nitre , save that its colour was more yellow . the strong smell that accompanied this deflagration , was like that which is peculiar to spirit of nitre . to the xxi . title of the history , experiment 1. humane blood , as most of the other subjects of the animal kingdom that i have had occasion to examine , afforded by distillation in a retort an empyreumatical and very fetid oyl , whose colour was almost black ; but that seem'd to me to proceed only from the intense and opacous redness of the liquor , since some portions of it being purposely look'd on against the light , when they were spread very thin upon glass , appear'd of a deep yellow , or of a reddish colour , as they chanc'd to lye more or less thick upon the glass . experiment 2. when the blood was well dry'd , before it was committed to distillation , i found it to afford a greater quantity of oyl , in proportion to the weight of the dry body , than was at first expected . once out of a pound of not over-well dry'd blood , we had near an ounce and a half of oil ; and from another parcel we had it in a far greater proportion to the quantity of blood that afforded it . experiment 3. i remember , that having many years ago had the curiosity to ●repare blood by a very convenient digestion , and to rectifie very carefully the distill'd liquors that came over , with the flame of a lamp , i obtain'd among other things two oyls of very differing colours , the one being of a yellow or pale amber colour , and the other of a deep red. but that which surpriz'd even ingenious spectators , was , that thô these oils were both of them afforded by the same blood , and were clear and pure enough , yet they would not only swim in distinct masses one over another , but if they were confounded by being shaken together , would little by little separate again , as common oil and water are wont to do . whether the difference in specifick gravity between these two oils could keep them from permanently mixing , when they were mingled , as well as it kept their masses distinct before they were shaken ; or whether this seeming antipathy proceeded from some particular incongruity in the textures of these liquors , i shall not now stay to dispute . experiment 4. it may be of some use , especially to those that aim at making medicinal uses of humane blood , to know , that having had a suspicion that the oil of blood might contain or conceal divers saline particles , capable of being separated from it ; we took a parcel of unrectifi'd oil , and having put to it a convenient quantity of distill'd water ( i suppose rain-water would have done as well , thô common water would not ) we diligently confounded these liquors by frequent agitation , that the water might rob the oil of its separable saline corpuscles . of which trial the event was , that after the liquors were well settled , the water ( whereof we purposely forbore to employ too much ) was found impregnated with saline corpuscles , that it had by dissolution obtain'd from the oil , by vertue of which it was endowed with a moderately brisk tast , and would readily turn syrup of violets green , and precipitate out of a solution of common sublimate a white powder , to name now no other of its resemblances to weak spirit of humane blood. and this operation i the more willingly relate on this occasion , that you may be invited to try what the like method will do on other empyreumatical oils , as of hartshorn , urine , &c. drawn from bodys that belong to the animal kingdom . experiment 5. to examine a conjecture , whose grounds i cannot stay to set down , we put some unrectified oil of humane blood into a concave piece of glass , and then having dropt into it as much oil of vitriol as might by guess amount to a fourth or third part of the fetid oil , we stirr'd them well together with a slender piece of solid glass , by which means the mixture was made to send up good store of whitish fumes or smoke , and grew , as was expected , considerably hot , it being indeed so hot , that thô it amounted not to above a spoonful , yet i was not able without pain & inconvenience , to hold my finger underneath that part of the glass that contain'd the incalescent liquors . experiment 6. it may be worth while to relate , that what i have elsewhere observ'd about some other empyreumatical oils , holds true in that of humane blood : for having taken some of this liquor unrectifi'd , thô in that state it appear'd gross , and dark , and muddy , yet it would readily , even in the cold , dissolve in , or mingle with highly rectifi'd vinous spirits , to which it communicated a reddish colour deep enough , agreeably to what i formerly noted touching the colour of this oil. to the xxii . title of the history . i do not remember to have met with , in any author , an account of the qualities of the fix'd salt of humane blood , and i know not whether any have had the curiosity to prepare it , whereat i do not much wonder , since to obtain so much as ℥ j. of it there is requisite a considerable quantity , perhaps some pounds of blood , and the calcination requires so obstinate a fire , that a mans patience may easily be tired before the operation be perfected , or by the small appearance of calcination that the caput mortuum will afford him after having been kept three or four hours in the fire , he may be induc'd to conclude that all the salt of blood is volatile in a good fire , and consequently , that it will yield no fix'd salt. but having by an obstinate calcination obtain'd between three or four drams of this salt , i found not that it was a fix'd alcaly or a lixiviate salt , but rather as i expected , of the nature of common or sea-salt , thô not without some little diversity which discover'd itself by some nice tryals . but as to the main our salt was scarce distinguishable from marin salt , for it tasted very like it , a strong solution of it did not readily ( for i was not at leisure to wait long for the event ) turn syrup of violets green or greenish , nor ( which was more ) precipitate a brick colour or brownish yellow , no more than a white powder , out of solution of sublimate . i also found by tryal that the spirit of salt did not dissolve it as an alcaly . and to these ways of examining it i added three others , that i had not known us'd for such a purpose , and which had all three of them such events as were expected , for having put some oyl of vitriol upon a little of our dry salt , it did immediately , as i had divers times observ'd it to do upon common salt , corrode it with great violence , and with much foam and smoak . we also drop'd a little of our fix't salt dissolved in distilled water , upon a solution of fine silver made in aqua fortis , whereupon immediately ensued a precipitation of a copious white powder . and lastly for further tryal , having put some leaf gold into aqua fortis , which would not ( as will easily be believ'd ) work upon it , whilst it was swimming there without being so much as discolour'd , i put a little of our powder'd salt into the liquor , which being thereby turned into a kind of aqua regia , did in a trice , without the assistance of heat , totally dissolve it . to the xxiii . title of the history of humane blood. there is a far greater calcination than one would expect , required to obtain the caput mortuum of humane blood , which affords but very little of it . for from ℥ xxiv . of dry'd blood , ( which perhaps was but the third or fourth part , in weight of the entire blood that afforded it ) we could get after two days calcination but ʒij . 9 gr . of earth . and though this were so carefully made that it may very probably be supposed to deserve the name of terra damnata , better then most substances to which chymists are wont to give that appellation , yet one may suspect , that this it self was not pure elementary earth , since it had a red colour , very like that of colcotar of vitriol . to the vxxi . title of the history . the quantities of the principles , or rather of the several differing substances , obtain'd by distillation from humane blood , may seem easy , but is indeed very difficult , if at all possible , to be determin'd not only because of the sometimes great disparity , as to proportion , that may be met with of the fibrous , or concreted part to the serum , in the blood of differing persons , and even of the same person according to differing circumstances , but also , because it is more difficult to distill even the dryed and pulverable part of blood without addition , than those that have not try'd , will easily judge , and i doubt that few have try'd it well , because i have not met with any that takes notice of the necessity of shifting the retort , to gain as much volatile substance as may be obtain'd , and leave as little as may be in the caput mortuum . for when we distill'd a somewhat considerable quantity of dry'd blood , though it was warily done by an expert artist , yet the same heat , that made the lower part of the blood pass in the form of exhalations into the receiver , made the matter so swell , that it heav'd up to the upper part of the vessel a considerable quantity of black matter , which an ordinary distiller would have taken and thrown aside for caput mortuum , but which an heedful eye might easily discern to be much of the same nature with what it was , when it was first put in , though it were blackened by the ascending fumes . wherefore we took it out and mixing it with the remaining substance , that was less remote from the nature of a true caput mortuum , it was again in another retort committed to distillation , whereby we obtain'd more oyl , &c. and perceiving that even this seeming caput mortuum , had at the top of it a pretty deal of matter , that i did not think sufficiently dispirited , if i may so speak , i caused it to be taken out and distill'd in a fresh retort , in which it afforded a not contemptible quantity of volatile matter . having thus prepar'd you not to expect any thing of accurateness , in the determination of the quantities of the differing substances obtainable even from dryed humane blood , that i may assist you to make some guess at it , that may approach somewhat ●ear the truth , i will inform you , that having thus in three retorts distill'd 24 ounces of dryed humane blood , we obtained of volatile ●ubstances , i mean spirit together with a little phlegm , white salt , and very high coloured oyl ℥ xiij . and a dram , besides several parcels of thick oyl , that stuck to the retorts and the receiver , which we estimated at seven drams more . so that the whole quantity of the volatile part amounted to fourteen ounces , of which we found the oyl to be about ℥ iij. + ʒvj . and the clear liquor ( which though probably not without some phlegm , may deserve the name of spirit , because it was fully satiated with saline and spirituous parts ) to be ℥ vi + . ʒiijss . besides the volatile salt , which when the spirit was drain'd from it , appear'd white , but wet ; for which reason 't was not possible to determine exactly , neither how much liquor it yet retain'd , nor consequently how much it self weighed but you may guess pretty near the truth when i shall have told you , that having carefully sublim'd the salt , there remain'd in the glass ʒij and about five grains of phlegmatick liquor , which was not judged devoid of salt , thô it could not by that operation be separated . and of volatile salt in a dry form we obtain'd ℥ j + ʒijss . the caput mortuum amounted to ℥ viij , and somewhat better , which being calcin'd for two days together , afforded not white , but only brownish red ashes ; whence we obtain'd ʒvij and a quarter of white and fixt , but not truly lixiviate , salt , and ( as was lately noted to another purpose , under the next foregoing title ) ʒij , and nine grains of earth . in this troublesom experiment there occurr'd so many necessary operations , in each of which we could scarce possibly avoid losing some , and now and then a considerable portion of the matters we handled , that if you had been present at the tryals , perhaps you would not think it strange that i should write , ( as i did a little above ) that i think it a very difficult thing in practice , to determine exactly the proportions of the differing substances , that may be chymically obtain'd by vulgarly known operations , from a proposed parcel of humane blood ; especially since i think that 't is without sufficient grounds that chymists do universally take it for granted , that in distillations carefully made , the matter that passes into the receiver , or at least ascends , together with the remains , or caput mortuum , amount to just the weight that the entire body had before distillation . which paradox i endeavour to make highly probable , if not certain , in another paper , that belongs not to the present collection . the third part , containing promiscuous experiments and observations about the serum of healthy mans blood ; ( whereof the first may be referr'd to the sixteenth , and most of the rest to the seventeenth of the titles of the first order . ) since the division that nature her self makes of humane blood , when being let out of the veins , it is suffer'd to refrigerate and settle , is , into a fluid or serous , and a consistent or fibrous part ; and since 't is found that oftentimes the former of these parts either equals or exceeds the latter in quantity ; i thought it might probably much conduce to the better discovery of the nature of the blood , to make some tryals upon the serum by it self , of which it will not , i hope , be useless to give a summary account in the following promiscuous observations , that were made only upon the serum , or whey of the blood of persons presum'd to be sound . 1. having separately weighed the serum , and the consistent part of a parcel of humane blood , obtained at once by a single phlebotomy , we found the latter to weigh ℥ iv + ʒviss . and the former ℥ iij + ʒvj . and having made the like tryal with another parcel of blood drawn from another person , the fibrous part weighed ℥ iv + ʒv , and the serum four ounces . but thô in both these tryals the weight of serum that appear'd in one mass , was inferiour to that of the fibrous part , yet it would not be safely inferr'd , that , absolutely speaking , the fibrous part of either of these parcels of blood exceeded the other , since we weighed only the serum that we found in a distinct mass ; whereas a multitude of serous particles may well be suppos'd to be lodg'd between the parts of the consistent mass or portion of the blood ; since besides that it is , probably upon the account of the interspersed serosity , very soft , it affords a great deal of aqueous liquor . 2. this may sufficiently appear by the following experiment , which was purposely made to examine this conjecture . we took a porrenger of blood , wherein the serum was separated from the fibrous portion , that was coagulated into one consistent mass , and having carefully pour'd off all the fluid part , we put the remaining mass , ( which weighed ℥ iv . + ʒ v + 34 gr . ) into a small head and body , and distill'd it in the digestive furnace , till the matter left in the bottom of the cucurbite was quite dry , which it did appear to be long before it was so indeed . then taking out the separated parts of this red mass , the dry'd portion was found to weigh but ℥ j + ʒiij + 34 gr . whereas the serous liquor that pass'd into the receiver , and was lympid and aqueous , without any shew of salt or oyl , amounted to ℥ iij + 53 gr . for further satisfaction we repeated this experiment with the fibrous part of another parcel of humane blood , and found the dry mass remaining in the cucurbite to weigh but ℥ j + ʒvj + 50 gr . whereas the phlegmatick liquor distill'd from it amounted to ℥ vij , that is to more than three times and a half as much as the dry part . 3. having hydrostatically examin'd the serum of humane blood , we found it heavier than common water . for a piece of red sealing-wax , being suspended in a good ballance by a horse-hair , was found in the air to weigh ʒj + 56. gr . and the water 35 gr . but did in the serum weigh but 33 gr . this tryal was confirm'd by a more exact one , made with an instrument that i purposely caus'd to be made for weighing liquors nicely , in which , when common water weighed 253 grains , an equal bulk of serum weighed 302. and because i suppos'd that all serums of humane blood would not be of equal specific gravity , i thought fit to try that of the blood of another person in the same instrument , and found it to weigh two grains less , that is , 300 grains in all . 4. we once employ'd some serum that could not be ( or at least was not ) pour'd off so clear , but that it appear'd of a reddish colour ; and thô we filter'd it through cap-paper , yet a good number of the tinging corpuscles were so throughly mingled with it , that the liquor passd through the filtre of a yellow colour . 5. to try whether acids would coagulate our serum , as i had found they would some other animal liquors , i dropt into it some spirit of salt , which did immediately produce with it some white concretions that quickly subsided to the bottom , and there ( when there was a pretty quantity of them ) appear'd like a very light and tender cheese-curd . the like operation , but more powerful had oyl of vitriol upon another parcel of our serum . 6. we dropt into some of our liquor , good spirit of sal-armoniac , which , as we expected , rather made it more fluid , than did appear to coagulate it , as the acid liquors had done . 7. to try whether these precipitations did not more proceed from the coalition and texture of the acid salts and the serum , than barely from the peculiar action of those salts as acids , we dropt into another portion of our serum , a strong alcalisate salt , viz. oyl of tartar per deliquium , which instantly produc'd a white curd , as the spirit of salt had done , but not , as it seem'd to us , so copiously . 8. we pour'd also upon some serum , highly rectifi'd spirit of wine , which , as we expected , did presently coagulate some part of it into a white curd , that was copious enough , but appear'd much lighter than either of the former , since it would not like them subside , but kept at the top of the liquor . 9. to try also what a salt compounded with a metal , would do upon our serum , we put to it a little strong solution of sublimate , with which it presently afforded a white and curdled substance . we put some of our serum upon some filings of mars , but by reason of the colour of the liquor it self , we could not satisfie our selves about the event . and thô we afterwards put another parcel of serum upon filings of the same metal , yet neither did this give us satisfaction , in regard the vial having been mislaid , was not look'd upon again till many days after ; at which time the liquor was grown so thick and muddy , that we could not well discern any more of the colour , than that it was somewhat dark , but not either black or blackish ; yet by a tryal or two that we made with a little of this liquor , it seem'd to have made a solution of some part of the steel : for putting it to some fresh infusion of galls made with water , it presently afforded a copious precipitate ; but this was so far from being inky , that it was not so much as dark colour'd , but rather whitish ; at which some analogous experiments ( mentioned in another treatise ) that i formerly made , kept me from wondering . yet i shall not omit to add on this occasion , that having mix'd with some of our impregnated serum , a convenient quantity of infusion of galls made in a highly rectifi'd vinous spirit , the two liquors did not only afford a kind of coagulum , or precipitate , but being left together for some hours , associated into a consistent body , wherein the eye discover'd no distinct liquor at all . 10. but expecting more clear success , by putting some of our liquor upon filings of copper , which when wrought upon by bodys that have in them any thing of urinous salt , are wont to give a conspicuous tincture , we accordingly found that the metal had in a very few hours discolour'd the menstruum ; and afterwards ( the vial being left unstopt , that the air might have access to the liquor ) it began by degrees to grow more and more blew , and within a day after was of a deep ceruleous colour . 11. and , to be confirm'd in our conjecture , that this tincture proceeded from some particles of volatile salt latent in the liquor , we mix'd some of it with a convenient quantity of syrup of violets , and thereby obtain'd what we look'd for , namely , a colour , which by reason of the action of those particles upon the syrup , appear'd of a fine green. 12. the blew tincture or solution of copper ( mention'd number the 10th ) i thought fit to keep for some time , to try whether the metalline particles would as it were embalm the serum they were dispers'd through , and preserve the liquor from putrefaction . and in effect , thô the vial was left unstopt in a window in my bed-chamber for many weeks , yet i ( whose organs of smelling are very tender , and who did often put the vial to my nose ) did not perceive the liquor to grow at all stinking . 13. about ℥ ij , by guess of serum of humane blood were left in an unstop'd vial , ( which they more then half fill'd ) for twenty days or three weeks and though the glass usually stood in a south window , and in the month of july , yet , somewhat to our wonder , the serum did not by the smell appear putrefy'd , and yet had let fall a considerable quantity of whitish sediment . but within three or four days after this , the liquor was found to stink offensively . wherefore we tryed whether this more then incipient putrefaction was accompanyed with any acidity , but could not perceive that it was , since it would not so much as take off the blew colour of the infusion of lignum nephriticum or our succedaneum to it . when it was in this state we put it to distill in a low cucurbite with a gentle fire , to try if from this faetid liquor , as is usual from putrefy'd urine , the spirit would first ascend . but we found the liquor that first came over to be so little spirituous or saline , that it would not in an hours time turn syrup of violets green . but yet we judg'd it not quite destitute of volatile alcaly , because having let fell some of it into a good solution of sublimate , it presently made at white precipitate . 14. we took some ounces of serum of humane blood , filtred through cap paper to free it from all concreted substance , and having committed it to distillation in a small retort place'd in a sand furnace , we obtained only a few large drops of a darkish red oyl , some of which subsided to the bottom of the other liquor , but the greater part swam upon it . we obtain'd in this first distillation no volatile salt in a dry form , but after a pretty deal of insipid phlegm had been drawn off , there came over a good proportion of spirituous liquor , which smell'd almost like the spirit of blood ; and contain'd a pretty deal of volatile alcaly , so that it would readily turn syrup of violets green , and make a white precipitate in the solution of sublimate , and a great ebullition with spirit of salt : this spirit being rectifyed in a small head and body , there was left in the bottom of the glass a greater quantity than was expected of a substance thick like honey , and which was for the most part of a dark red , and seem'd to contain more oyl than appeared upon the first distillation . the liquor that came over the helm , seem'd more pure , but not very much stronger . than the first spirit . yet , having put it into a glass egg with a slender neck , and given the vessel a convenient situation in hot sand , we obtain'd a volatile alcaly that sublim'd into the neck in the form of a white salt. if this tryal be reiterated with a success like that i have now recited , 't will seem to argue that the serous or fluid part of the blood affords the same elementary principles or similar substances , both as to number and kind , that the fibrous and consistent part does , though not as to quantity , that of the oyl and dry salt being less in a determinate portion of serum , than they would be in a like quantity or weight of the concreted part of the blood. having long since observ'd , that though the spirituous parts of mans urine are wont to require that the liquor be digested or putrefy'd about six weeks , to loosen them from the more sluggish parts , and make them ascend before the phlegm , yet if fresh urine be pour'd upon a due proportion of quick-lime , a good part of the spirit will presently be untyed , and made capable of ascending in distillation , i thought it worth while to try , what would be afforded by the serum of humane blood if it were put upon quick-lime , before we distill'd it . in pursuit of this enquiry , we put these two bodies together , upon whose commixture there ensued ( but not presently ) a sensible but transient heat . this compounded body being committed to distillation afforded first a kind of phlegm in a gentle fire , and then in a stronger , a moderate quantity of liquor that was thought to smell manifestly of the lime , but had not a brisk tast . this was accompany'd with somewhat more of high coloured & faetid oil than was expected . the other liquor being slowly rectify'd , the spirit that first came over had a strong and piercing smell , but less rank than that of humane blood drawn the ordinary way . it s tast also was not only quick , but somewhat fiery . being dropt upon syrup of violets , it presently turn'd it green , with a strong solution of sublimate in water , and another of quick-silver in aqua fortis , it immediately made two white precipitates . and being mingled with some good spirit of sea-salt though upon their being confounded there appear'd a thick but whitish smoke , there was not produc'd any visible conflict or bubbles . yet the colour of the spirit of salt , appear'd much heightn'd by this operation . but here i must , though not in due place , take notice , that having put the lately mentioned mixture of the spirit of serum and of salt to evaporate , that we might observe whether it would afford a salt much figur'd like sal-armoniac ; we found , that it did not , bot that the colour produc'd in the mixture whilst fluid , was so heightned in the concretion we speak of , that it appeared of a blood-red colour , but for the shape , it was so confus'd , that we could not reduce it to any known kind of salt. by all which phoenomena this spirit of the serous part of blood , seems to be very near of kin to that of the concreted part of blood , elsewhere by us described . because quick-lime is wont to be suspected by physicians , by reason of its caustick and fretting quality , i thought fit to try whether the fixt salt of pota-shes ( which is a lixiviate alcaly as well as lime , ) being substituted in the room of it , would in distillation have the same effect upon serum of humane blood. wherefore to four parts of the liquor , we put one of the salt , and having distill'd them slowly in a glass head and body , we obtain'd good store of a liquor , which was not judg'd any thing near so strong , as that formerly mention'd to have been drawn off from quick-lime . and having put this weak liquor , afforded by our serum , to rectify with a gentle heat , we found that even the two spoonfuls of liquor that first ascended , were not spirituous , but very phlegmatick . nor would it well turn syrup of violets green , though it afforded some little and light precipitate , when it was put upon a solution of sublimate . this may seem somewhat the more remarkable , if i add on this occasion an experiment , that may be sometimes of practical use , especially in physick , and may afford much light to those that are studious , to know the nature and preparations of so very useful a subject , as humane vrine . we took three parts of fresh urine , ( that was not many hours old ) and having put into it one part of salt of pot-ashes , ( because that was at hand , for else i presume the fixt salt of tartar , or even of common wood ashes , would have served the turn ) and having slowly distill'd them in a head and body , there first ascended a liquor spirituous enough ; which being set aside , we continued the distillation ( after having poured the mixture into a retort ) till the remains appeared dry . in this operation it is to be noted ; that we obtain'd not one drop of oyl ; and that ( perhaps for that reason ) this spirit of urine was not near so faetid , as being made the common way 't is wont to be : and that the liquor that came over toward the latter end of the distillation , was so unlike that which the serum of blood afforded us , that it was not only considerably strong , and manifestly stronger than that which first ascended , but had a penetrating and fiery tast , which left a lasting impression upon the tongue ; and with good spirit of salt made a notable ebullition , which i remember not , that upon tryals purposely made , i found the spirit of urine drawn from quicklime to have done . and , whereas with this last mentioned liquor , i never ( that i remember ) found any volatile salt to ascend ( in a dry form ) in the operation made by the help of salt of pot-ashes , there came up without rectification , divers grains of volatile salt , one of which was crystalline , and considerably large ; so that we could with pleasure observe it to be like a plate curiously figur'd ; but because of some lesser corns of salt , that hid one part of it , i could not clearly discern whether it were hexagonal or octogonal . but here i must not conceal , that having for greater certainty reiterated this experiment , it had not so good success ; the liquor that came over appearing much more phlegmatick , than that which the former tryal afforded us ; tho we both times employ'd salt of pot-ashes taken out of the same vessel , and the urine of the same person . so that what the reason of the difference may be , does not yet occur to me ; but perhaps will upon further tryals : yet this liquor , that appear'd so weak at its first coming over , being rectified per se , afforded more than was expected of a brisk saline spirit , from which we easily obtain'd a pretty quantity ( in proportion to the liquor ) of volatile salt in a dry form , and of a very white colour . we took between two and three ounces of serum of humane blood , and having put it into a bolthead , capable by our guess of containing about four times as much liquor , and having seal'd the glass hermetically , set it by , as well to observe whether any manifest changes would appear in it within a week or two , ( of which none in that time occurr'd to us ) as for some other purposes , that may be guess'd at by the following account of the event . 1. after we had kept the liquor seal'd up above a whole year , it did not appear to be at all coagulated , nor to have let fall any manifest residence ; but seem'd to be as fluid as when it was first put in . 2. it did not appear to have bred any the least worm or maggot . and this i the rather take notice of , because it agrees very well with what i have elsewhere alledg'd , in disfavour of their opinion , that think , all the fluid and soft parts of humane bodies do naturally , and of themselves , in no long time breed worms , or some such insects ; which , for my part , i never observ'd to be generated in blood it self , though very long kept , and putrified , provided it were fresh enough when put into the glass , and by an exact closure kept from being any way blown upon by flies , or impregnated by seminal particles , that may be unsuspectedly convey'd to it by the air. 3. nor did there appear to the eye any mother , as they call it , or recrementitious substance , that is suppos'd in liquors always to accompany , and betoken putrefaction . 4. one of my designs , in our experiment , being to try whether the serum would , by the mutual action of the parts upon one another , or by that of some catholick , permeating fluid , afford so much air as would either crack , or more violently break the glass ; the tip at which the bolt-head was seal'd , was warily taken off with a key , whereupon there rush'd out a pretty deal of air , with a considerable noise : and i doubted not that this generated ( or at least extricated ) air , had been considerably compress'd whilst it was pent up ; when casting my eyes on the liquor , to discover what change this eruption had made there , i perceiv'd on the upper surface of the liquor a multitude of small bubbles , such as are wont to be seen in drink a little bottled , upon the opening of the vessel ; and also in divers liquors , after the air has been pent up with them , when the glasses come to be unstopp'd . and i also the less wonder'd at this , because i remember'd what formerly hapned to me , after having seal'd up some sheeps blood , and kept it for several days in a gentle warmth ; for , tho the glass it was enclos'd in , were far larger than this that contained our serum ; yet after some time , when no body offer'd any violence to it , or was near enough to stir it , it was suddenly blown up with a surprizing noise by the aereal or elastical corpuscles that were produced , or set free by the putrefaction we discover'd to have been made . 5. the smell of our serum was strong , but not cadaverous , but rather resembled that of the tincture of sulphur made with salt of tartar and spirit of wine , or of some such sulphureous preparation . 6. one of the chief aims i had in keeping our serum so long seal'd up , was to try , whether by a digestion , or putrefaction for some months , the serum of blood would like urine ( which is commonly thought to be a liquor made of it , and of very near cognation to it ) afford a saline spirit , or an alcaly volatile enough to ascend before the phlegm . and in pursuit of this enquiry we committed our serum to distillation in a small glass head and body , and in a digestive furnace , being careful to take the first spoonful , or thereabouts of spirit that passed into the receiver : but we found , that , tho this liquor at first smell'd strong enough , ( i say at first , because the odour soon after grew fainter ) yet the tast was not at all brisk nor spirituous like that wont to be obtain'd by distillation from putrify'd urine . nor did our liquor being drop'd into a little syrup of violets , give it presently any manifest greenness . but yet , because i found it not insipid , i thought fit to examine it a little more critically , and dropt a convenient quantity of it into a clear and saturate solution of sublimate in common water , by which means there was produc'd a whiteness like that ( but not near so dense ) which spirit of urine , or volatile salt would have produc'd . and by this i was invited to mix some of it with a little syrup of violets upon a piece of white paper , and also to wet with the same ( distill'd ) liquor , some small filings of copper spread upon another piece of paper , and to leave them both all night in the open air , that the liquor might have time enough to work upon the syrup , and the metal . by which course we found in the morning , that the former was turn'd green , and the latter was so far dissolv'd as to leave a large blewish stain upon the paper . i mention these things the rather , because according to the opinion of some learned men , this degenerated serum should have been of an acid , not an alcalisate nature . 7. the near cognation that , according to some learned physicians , there is between milk , and the more serous part of the blood , invited me to try whether , ( according to an experiment made on new milk , that i have heard ascribed to the famous sylvius , ) our serum of humane blood would grow red , by being kept continually stirring over a moderate heat with a competent quantity of salt of tartar , but in two tryals , we found not any redness produc'd , tho one of them was made in a vessel of refin'd silver , with an eighth part of the salt in reference to the serum , which was the same proportion that we had us'd when we made the experiment succeed well in milk. 8. perhaps it will be needless to take notice , that the serum of humane blood will by heat be in a short time coagulated into a kind of gelly , or rather , as far as i have observ'd , into a substance like a custard , as to consistence , tho not as to colour . and therefore i shall now add , that having found that acid spirits also would coagulate serum . i thought fit to try , whether alcalys would not oppose , or retard its coagulation . of which tryal the event was , that having put spirit of humane blood to a convenient quantity of serum , and caus'd them to be kept stirring over a very gentle fire , though the volatile alcaly did not hinder the coagulation , yet it seem'd to make it both more slow , and more soft or laxe . and this effect was yet more considerable , when we try'd another parcel of serum with salt of tartar instead of spirit of blood. the fourth part , containing the history of the spirit of humane blood begun ; in an epistolary discourse to the very learned dr. j. l. sir , having by want of leisure and opportunity , been reduced to treat of the history of humane blood in so imperfect and desultory a way , that several of the titles have been left wholly untouch'd , and others have been but transiently and jejunely treated of ; i thought fit to handle more fully , some one of the primary titles , and branch it into its several subordinate or secundary titles . and for this purpose i pitch'd upon the spirit of humane blood , being willing on so noble a subject to give a specimen of what might have been done to illustrate the other primary titles , if some requisites had not been wanting . and since the spirit of humane blood is at least one of the noblest of urinous or volatile alcalies ; so that most of the things that shall be taught concerning that , may with some little variation be apply'd to spirit of urine , hartshorn , sal-armoniac , soot , &c. i thought fit to lay down a scheme of subordinate titles , whose heads ( which amount to above half the number of the primary ones , that belong to the whole history of blood ) should be so numerous and comprehensive , that this paper may pass not only for an example , but for a kind of summary of the history of volatile salts in general , and so supply the loss of a paper that i once begun on that subject . and now i should without further preamble proceed to the intended history , but that i think it requisite to premise three or four short advertisements . whereof the first shall be , that the spirit i employ'd in making the following tryals and observations , was drawn from humane blood without any sand , clay , or other additament , ( save perhaps that by a mistake that could do no mischief , a small parcel had some vinous spirit put to it to preserve it a while ) and that the first distillations ( which i so call to distinguish them from rectifications ) were perform'd in retorts plac'd in sand , ( and not with a naked fire ) care being taken that the vessels were not too much fill'd because blood , n. b. if it be not well dry'd , is apt to swell much , and pass into the neck of the retort , if not into the receiver . secondly , i desire to give notice , that the blood we made use of , was drawn from persons that parted with it out of custom , or for prevention , which was the main reason why i was so scantly furnished with blood , that of sound persons being in the place i resided in , very difficult to be procur'd in quantity , and that of sick persons being unfit for my purpose . thirdly , it may not be amiss for obviating of some scruples , to advertise that , there being so great a cognation between the spirit and volatile salt of humane blood , that , as we shall see anon , 't is probable that the latter is little other than the spirit in a dry form , and the former than the salt united with phlegm enough to give it a liquid form ; 't is presum'd that it may be allowable to consider the volatile salt of blood as its dry spirit . lastly , to the three foregoing , 't will be fit to add this fourth advertisement , that tho , in comparison of the particulars thrown in to the second and third part of those memoirs , the ensuing fourth part is methodically written , yet you are not to expect to find in the method any thing of accurateness ; since the experiments and observations whereof this fourth part consists , were written in loose papers , at distant times and on differing occasions , and because of this and of my haste , will be found , without any regular dependence or connexion , referr'd to the titles under which they are ranged , in that order , or rather disorder , wherein they chanc'd to come to hand . a list of the secondary titles concerning the spirit of humane blood. a. 1. whether humane blood may be so order'd by fermentation or putrefaction , as that in distillation , a spirit , either urinous or vinous , may ascend before the phlegm . b. 2. whether spirit of humane blood be really any thing but the volatile salt and phlegm well commix'd . c 3. of the species of saline bodies to which spirit of humane blood is to be referr'd . d. 4. whether spirit of humane blood be differing from spirit of urine , and other spirits that are call'd volatile alcalies . e. 5. of the quantity of spirit contain'd in humane blood : whether accompanyed which its serum or dry'd . f. 6. of the specifick gravity of spirit of humane blood. g. 7. of the odour , tast , colour , transparence and consistence of the spirit of humane blood. h. 8. of the dissolutive power of the spirit of humane blood. i. 9. of the tinctures that may be drawn with spirit of humane blood. k. 10. of the coagulating power of the spirit of humane blood. l. 11. of the precipitating power of the spirit of humane blood. m. 12. of the affinity between spirit of humane blood , and some chymical oyls and vinous spirits . n. 13. of the relation between spirit of humane blood and the air. o. 14. of the hostility of spirit of humane blood with acids , whether they be in the form of liquors , or of fumes . p. 15. of the medicinal vertues of spirit of humane blood outwardly applied . q. 16. of the medicinal vertues of spirit of humane blood inwardly us'd in pleurisies , headachs , coughs , fevers , scurvies , cachexies , dropsies , fits of the mother , &c. app. an appendix containing parralipomena , and promiscuous experiments , and observations concerning the spirit of humane blood. the i. ( secondary ) title . whether humane blood may be so order'd by fermentation , or putrefaction , as that in distillation a spirit either vrinous or vinous , may ascend before the phlegm . it is not unlike , that you will think the question propos'd in this title , more curious than necessary ; and i shall not quarrel with you if you do so . but that you may not think it groundless , i desire two things may be consider'd ; first , how ordinary it is , especially since the learned dr. willis's writings came to be applauded , to look upon fevers as inordinate fermentations of the blood. and the second , that tho humane urine , which has a great cognation with the humane blood , will not , whilst fresh , afford by distillation a spirit or volatile salt , till the phlegm be first drawn off , and then requires a good fire to make it rise ; yet , if it be kept for a competent time ( which usually amounts to divers weeks ) in fermentation , ( as chymists commonly call that , which in this case i would rather stile putrefaction ) the spirit and volatile salt will with a gentle fire ascend , before much , if not before any phlegm . these two considerations , as i was intimating , may keep that from being thought a groundless question , which has been above propos'd . and , thô i more incline to the negative than to the affirmative , at least as to the first part or member of the question , yet i thought it well deserv'd to be determin'd , if it may be , by experiment . but for want of a sufficient quantity of blood , and good luck in making tryals with that i could procure , i must suspend my judgment , till further experience resolve me one way or other . by what i have yet try'd , i am not much encourag'd to expect from humane blood a vinous or ardent spirit , thô that be the usual product of fermentation in liquors , and i am the less encourag'd to expect this , because i am not sure that there is any fermentation truly & properly so call'd in humane blood , either within or out of the body ; having never yet found any thing in the blood , or urine , that convinc'd me , that either of those liquors would afford an ardent spirit . i remember i once kept humane blood for a year together , in a glass very carefully , and if i mistake not , hermetically clos'd , with a purpose to try , whether any spirits would first ascend . but when the blood came to be expos'd to the contact of the air , the stink was so great and offensive , especially to some ladies that liv'd in the house , that we were fain to have it hastily thrown away . another time , having caus'd some sheeps blood to be digested in a pretty large vial hermetically sealed , after it had continued a good while in the digestive furnace , upon a sudden , thô no body touched it , it broke with a surprizing noise , and blew off the long neck of the vial. two or three almost like mischances i had with attempts made on humane blood , which i was the more troubled at , because i thought it not very improbable , that by putrefaction the texture of blood , like that of urine , may be so loosen'd or otherwise alter'd , that a volatile salt or spirit may in a slow distillation ascend before the phlegm . but , as i said before , 't is only from further experience that i must expect satisfaction in these enquiries . yet in the mean time i shall add on this occasion , that the ill success i had in my attempts to draw a spirit from entire portions of blood , without separating any part from it , or adding any foreign body to it , did not hinder , but rather invite , me to try , whether i could not make some experiment of affinity to those above mentioned upon whose success i might ground some kind of conjecture , what would have been the events of those tryals , in case they had not miscarryed . wherefore looking upon the serum of blood as the likelyest part of it , as well as much more likely than the entire blood , to concur to a fermentation properly so call'd ; we took some ounces of this serum , and put to it about a fourth part of raisins ( of the sun ) well bruis'd , and kept them in a glass , whereof a considerable part was left empty , and having clos'd the vessel , we kept it in a warm room for many days . the event of this tryal was , that within few days the raisins began to emerge , and afterwards continued to float ; and there was produc'd or extricated a considerable quantity of permanent and springy air , as by a certain contrivance described in another paper , did manifestly appear . both which phaenomena seem'd plainly to argue , that there had been some degree of fermentation produc'd in the mixture . but yet when we came to distill the thus alter'd serum , thô it did not stink , as if it had putrefied it would have done , yet the liquor that first ascended , even with a gentle heat , did not tast or smell like a vinous spirit , thô it was differing from meer phlegm . if i had been furnished with a greater quantity of serum , perhaps the reiterated experiment would have given more satisfaction ; and in making it i would have been careful to observe , whether the produc'd fermentation might not be suspected to proceed not so much from the whole serum as such , as from the aqueous particles , in distinction from the others that concur'd with them to compose it . as for the second question intimated in this present first title , namely , whether blood will by digestion or putrefaction be so opened , as that when it is distill'd , the spirit will ascend before the phelgm : i likewise endeavour'd to try , that , with the serous part of the blood pour'd off from the fibrous or coagulated , as supposing it in this separated state , more proper for our tryal than the entire blood : and having kept a pretty quantity of this serum above four times as long , as i had observ'd to have been sufficient , to make urine in distillation part with its spirit before its phlegm ; we distill'd this long kept liquor with a very gentle sire , that few or none besides the fugitive parts might at first ascend . but we found the liquor that came over , to have but little strength , either as to smell or tast , nor would it readily turn syrup of violets green. i say readily , because after they had been some hours together it would . but yet as a volatile alcaly , it would presently turn a strong solution made of common sublimate in fair water , into a white , opacous , and almost milky liquor . the ii. ( secondary ) title , whether spirit of humane blood be really any thing but the volatile salt and phlegm well commix'd ? since the question mov'd in this title may be also propounded concerning other alcalisate spirits , as those of urine , harts-horn , soot , &c. it is upon that account the more important . and for this reason , as well as for the difficulty of determining it by cogent proofs , i may think my self oblig'd to forbear taking upon me to decide it peremptorily , till further experience shall have furnish'd me with fuller information . so that for the present about this difficult question , i shall venture to say no more than this , that what has hitherto occurr'd to me , inclines me to think that the spirit of humane blood is totally compos'd of volatile salt and phlegm , if by phlegm , we understand not simple , or elementary water , but a liquor , that , althô it pass among chymists for phlegm , and deserves that name better than any other liquor afforded by humane blood , yet in the strictest acception it is not that ; for when the spirit , volatile salt , and oil , are separated from it by distillation and sublimation , as far as they are wont to be in chymical preparations of volatile alcalies , the remaining liquor , which passes for phlegm , will yet be impregnated with some particles of oyl , and perhaps also with some few of volatile salt , that are too minute to be distinguishable by the naked eye . but whether frequent rectifications may so accurately separate these heterogeneous parts , as perfectly to free the aqueous ones from them , and thereby reduce the phlegm to simple or elementary water , i am content at least till i shall have had sufficient quantities of distill'd blood for making the requisite tryals , to leave as a problem . and this the rather , because i am not sure , but that by frequent distillations , some particles of the fire may from time to time substantially be associated with those of the liquor ; nor yet but that even in the first distillation of humane blood , the fire may have either separated or produc'd a liquor that though almost strengthless , and not justly referable to either of the receiv'd principles or ingredients , oyl , salt and earth , is not yet phlegm truly so call'd , but a liquor as yet anonymous ; as i have elsewhere shewn , that woods and many other bodies afford by distillation a liquor that is not an oyl , and is neither acid nor alcalisate , and yet is no true phlegm , but as i have there styled it , an adiaphorous spirit . it will probably be thought material , if on this occasion i add , in favour of the opinion or conjecture to which i lately own'd my self inclin'd , that considering that the knowledge of the composition of a body may be sometimes as well , if not better , investigated by the way of generating or producing of it , as by that of analysing or resolving it ; i made for tryals sake the following experiment . we dissolv'd in distilled water as much volatile salt of humane blood as the liquor would take up , and then having carefully distill'd it in a conveniently shap'd vessel , with a regulated degree of heat , the distillation afforded us such a liquor as was desir'd , namely one that by smell , tast and divers operations , appear'd to be a good brisk spirit of humane blood. this experiment for the main , was made another time with the like success . the iii ( secondary ) title . of the species of saline bodies to which the spirit of humane blood is to be refer'd . i need not spend much time to declare a thing that is now so well known to many physicians and chymists of this and some of the neighbouring countries , as 't is that of late years saline spirits obtain'd by distillation have been observ'd to be of two sorts . but because there are many , even of the learned especially in the remoter parts of europe , that are not well acquainted with this distinction , lest some to whom you may shew this paper should chance to be of that number , it may not be amiss to intimate in two or three words , that the saline spirits that ascend in distillation , are some of them acid in tast , as spirit of nitre , spirit of vitriol , &c. and some others have tasts very differing from that , being rather somewhat like common salt , or like lixiviate salts . and the difference is greater in their operations than in their tasts ; for being put together there will presently ensue a manifest conflict between them , and usually ( for i have not found it to hold in all cases ) the one will precipitate the bodies that the other hath dissolved . and 't is necessary to add , that among the salts called alcalies , some are fixt in considerable degrees of fire , and others not , for which reason divers modern spagyrists and physicians , that take acid and alcaly for the true principles of mixt bodies , call the one fixt and the other volatile alcalies . and , though i have elsewhere questioned this doctrine , and given my reasons why i approve neither it nor the appellations newly mention'd , and often call the salts made by combustion , simply alcalies or else lixiviate salts , and those that ascend sometimes vrinous , and sometimes volatile salts and spirits : yet , since the names of fixt alcalies and volatile ones are now much in request , i shall comply with custom , & oftentimes ( though not always ) make use of them in the sense of those that employ them . these things being premis'd i may now seasonably propound this important question , to what species of saline bodies the spirit of humane blood is to be referr'd ? i say of saline bodies because though the spirit of blood be a liquor , yet it s more efficacious operations seem almost ( if not more then almost ) totally to depend upon the fugitive salt wherewith it abounds . the ground of the foregoing question may be twofold ; the one , that i have elsewhere prov'd against the general supposition , that some volatile salts , that arise even in a dry form , may not be of an alcalisate ; but acid nature , and the other , that not only helmont and his disciples , but a great part of the modern chymists and physicians too , ascribe digestion to an acid ferment or menstruum in the stomach ; whence one may suspect that store of acid corpuscles may pass into the mass of blood , & impregnate it , as i elsewhere shew that particles of differing natures may be even by the senses discovered to do . but notwithstanding this , i shall not scruple to say in answer to the propounded question , that , as far as i have hitherto been able to observe , the spirit of humane blood is manifestly referable to that classis that many call volatile alcalies ( and i often call vrinous spirits ) for i find spirit of blood capable of doing those things , the performance of which has been looked on almost ever since i publickly propos'd them , as the touchstone to know volatile alcalies , and distinguish them from the other sorts of saline bodies . for the spirit of humane blood will make a great conflict with divers acid spirits , as spirit of salt , aqua fortis , &c. it will immediately turn syrup of violets from its blew colour into a fair green , 't will precipitate a solution of sublimate in common water , into a white powder , and in short i found it to perform those other things that may be expected from volatile alcalies as such , as often as i had occasion to make tryal of it , sometimes on one body , and sometimes on another . if i were sure ( as for reasons elsewhere declar'd i am not ) that the digestion of aliments were made by an acid ferment or juice , whencesoever the stomach is furnish'd with it , i should be prone to suspect that some acid particles may be mingled with the blood. but however that would not hinder me from referring the spirit of humane blood to volatile alcalies , because so few acid particles would be either destroy'd by the alcalisate ones , that are so abundant in the spirit , or at least these would be so very much predominant , as to allow us very warrantably to give on their account a denomination to the mixture . as if a few drops of spirit of vinegar were mix'd with some pints or pounds of stale vrine , they would either be depriv'd of their acidity by some corpuscles of a contrary nature , that they would meet with in the liquor , or they would be so obscur'd and overpower'd by the fugitive salts it abounds with , that the acetous corpuscles would not hinder the spirituous liquor drawn from the mixture by distillation to be justly referable to the classis of volatile , vrinous salts . the iv. ( secondary ) title . whether spirit of humane blood be differing from spirit of vrine , and other spirits that are call'd volatile alcalies ? the question , whether there be any difference be●ween the spirit of humane blood , and other volatile alcalies ? as spirit of urine , harts-horn , &c. seems to me very difficult to be decided , because two bodies may agree in many qualities , and perhaps in all of those that are the most obvious , and yet may on some third body , or in some cases , manifest distinct powers , and have their peculiar operations . nor do i yet see any certain way , by which the affirmative part of the question , thô it should be true , can be clearly demonstrated . therefore leaving the peremptory decision of this question , to those that shall think themselves qualify'd to make it , i shall ( at least till i be further inform'd ) content my self to make a couple of remarks , in reference to the propos'd enquiry . and first i think , there may be a great difference between volatile salts or spirits , as they are ordinarily prepar'd for medicinal uses , and as they may , by reiterated rectifications , and otherways of depuration , be brought to as great a simplicity or purity , as a dextrous chymist can bring them to : i thus express my self , because as to an exquisite or elementary simplicity thô some eminent artists pretend to it , i am not sure that chymists can attain it ; especially considering what i elsewhere shew of the unheeded commixtures , that may ( at least sometimes ) be made by the corpuscles of the fire , with those of the bodies it works on . my other remark is , that whether or no , if the spirit of humane blood , and other liquors abounding like it in volatile alcalies , were reduc'd to as great a purity as they can by art be brought to , they would be altogether alike in their nature and qualities ; yet , if we consider them ( as men use to do ) in that state wherein they are wont to be thought pure enough for medicinal uses , and are accordingly employ'd by physicians and chymists ; i think it very probable , that there is some difference between the spirit of humane blood and some other volatile alcalies , and particularly those afforded by urine and by harts-horn . for thô to me the bad smells of all these liquors seem to be much alike , yet divers ladies , and those of very differing ages , affirm they find a manifest difference between these smells , and do abhor the odour of spirit of blood as a stink , though they will with pleasure hold their noses a great while over the sp. of harts-horn , and even that of ( vulgar or european ) sal-armoniac ( which is in effect a sp. of mans urine ) and affirm themselves to be much refresh'd by it . and , whereas with spirit of urine or of sal-armoniac joyn'd in a due proportion with spirit of salt , i have usually ( as i have long since noted in another paper a ) been able to make a salt that shoots into the peculiar figure of sal-armoniac , which figure is very differing from that of sea salt , nitre , &c. i have seldom , if ever obtain'd ( at least in any quantity ) a salt of that shape , by the commixture of the spirit of humane blood , with that of common salt ; for , though their saline corpuscles , upon the evaporation of the superfluous moisture , would coagulate together , yet the concretion seem'd confus'd , and either all or a great part of it was destitute of that neat and distinct shape , that i had several times observ'd in concretions , made by the mixture of the spirit of sea-salt with urinous spirits . and , as to the medicinal vertues of spirit of blood , though i have not had opportunity to make comparisons experimentally , and therefore shall forbear to affirm any thing my self , yet , if we credit the famous helmont , there is a considerable difference between the sp. of humane blood , & that of humane urine , since he somewhere expressly notes , ( though i remember not the place , nor have his book at hand ) that the spirit of humane blood cures epilepsies , which is a thing the spirit of urine will not do . the v. ( secondary ) title . of the quantity of spirit contain'd in humane blood whether accompany'd with its serum or dry'd . 't is not easy to determine the exact proportion of that liquor , which , when by distillation obtain'd from humane blood , the chymists call its spirit , in reference to the other principles or ingredients whereof the blood consists . for some mens blood may be much more phlegmatick or serous than that of others , which it self may be more or less spirituous according to the complexion , age , sex , &c. of the person that bleeds . but , to make some estimate , that will not probably much recede from what may be ordinarily found , i shall inform you , that twelve ounces of healthy humane blood afforded us seven ounces and a half of phlegm , and consequently about four ounces and a half of dry stuff . and then i shall add , that having committed to distillation in a retort in a sand furnace seven ounces of well dry'd ( but not scorch'd ) blood , we obtain'd about seven drams , that is , about an eighth part of spirit , to which thô it were not rectified , that name may well enough be given , because it was so very rich in spirituous and saline parts , that it left in the receiver , and in the vial i kept it in , a good deal of volatile salt undissolv'd , which a phlegmatick liquor would not have done . and if that be admitted for a truth , that was above propos'd as a very likely conjecture ; namely , that spirit of blood is but salt and phlegm united , we may well suppose that humane blood yields a far greater proportion of spirit than this ; since from the seven ounces of dry'd blood last mentioned , we obtain'd about five drams of volatile salt , which if we had by distillations united with a fit quantity of phlegm , would probably have afforded us near two ounces more of a liquor deserving the name of spirit . the vi. ( secondary ) title . of the consistence and specifick gravity of the spirit of humane blood. to the consistence of the spirit of humane blood , taken in the more laxe sense of the word consistence , one may refer its specifick gravity , ( as that is usually proportionate to the density of bodies , ) the greater or lesser degree of fluidity that belongs to the liquor as a mass , and the greater or lesser subtilty of the minute parts whereof it is compos'd , or wherein it abounds . and as to the first of the three attributes , we have noted to be referrable to the consistence of our spirit ; gravity is a quality that is so radicated , if i may so speak , in the nature of visible fluids or liquors , and does so obstinately accompany them , that i durst not omit to examine the specifick gravity ( that is , the gravity in proportion to the bulk ) of spirit of humane blood ; though by reason of the small quantity i had of it , i could not make use of the same instruments , that i was wont to employ in hydrostatical tryals , where i was not so stinted in the liquor to be examined . but however i made a shift to make a tryal of this kind , by which i found , that a compact body weighing fifty eight grains in the air , and in water six grains and three fourth parts weighed in rectified spirit of humane blood , but five grains and one fourth part . and on this occasion i shall tell you , what i presume , you did not expect , which is , that notwithstanding the volatility of our spirit of blood , i found that a pretty large piece of amber being put into it , did not , as most men would confidently expect , fall to the bottom of the liquor , but kept itself floating at the upper part of it , and if plung'd into it would emerge . the next quality we refer'd to the consistence of our spirit of blood , is the degree of its fluidity , or , if you please , it s greater or lesser immunity from tenaciousness or viscosity , which some modern philosophers ( whose opinion needs not here be discuss'd ) think to belong to all liquors as such . now one may be the more inclin'd to expect a manifest degree of tenacity in the spirit of humane blood , because among many modern chymists it passes for an alcaly ; and we know that divers other alcalisate liquors , as oyl of tartar per deliquium , fix'd nitre resolv'd the same way , solution of pot-ashes , &c. are sensibly unctuous , and but languidly fluid . but yet i did not observe , that some rectified spirit of humane blood , that i purposely try'd between my fingers , did feel more unctuous than common water . and whereas those that sell brandy , or spirit of wine , are wont to shake it , till it afford some froth , and then by the stay this makes on the surface , to judge of the tenacity or tenuity of the liquor , esteeming that to be the most vnctuous , whereon the bubbles make the longest stay , and that the finest on which they soonest disappear ; i thought fit by the same method to examine spirit of humane blood , and found that the froth would last very little on the surface of it , the bubbles breaking or vanishing , almost ( if not quite ) as nimbly , as if the liquor had been good spirit of wine . and i likewise observ'd , that when i warily let fall some of our well rectify'd spirit of blood upon some other body , it seemed to me , that the single drops were manifestly smaller than those of water , and of several other liquors , would have been , which will be much confirm'd by one passage of what i have to say about the third quality referrable to the consistence of the spirit we treat of . because it may be a thing of some importance , as well as curiosity , to know how subtil the active parts of spirit of humane blood are , and how disposed and fitted to disperse or diffuse themselves through other liquors of convenient textures ; to make a visible discovery of this , i bethought my self of a method , that having formerly devised for several purposes , i thought fitly applicable to my present design . for having looked upon it as a great defect , that men have lazily contented themselves to say in general , that such a body is of subtile , or of very subtile parts , without troubling themselves to find out any way of making more particular and less indeterminate estimates of that subtilty ; i was invited to find out and practise a way that might on divers occasions somewhat supply that defect . but having delivered this easy method in another paper , i shall forbear to repeat a tedious account of it in this ; since it may here suffice to tell you in short , what will perhaps surprize you ; namely , that according to the forementioned way , we so prepar'd common water by infusions made in it without heat , that by putting one single drop of our rectified spirit of humane blood into ℥ iv . + ℈ iv . ( which make 2000 grains ) of the prepar'd water , and lightly shaking the vial , there appeared throughout the liquor a manifest colour , whereof no degree at all was discernible in it just before . which sufficiently argues a wonderful subtilty of parts in the spirit we employ'd ; since that a single drop of it could disperse its corpuscles , so as to diffuse it self through , and mingle with two thousand times as much water , and yet retain so much activity , as to make their presence not only sensible , but conspicuous , by a manifest change of colour they produc'd . i confess this computation is made , upon supposition that a drop of water weighs about a grain , and that a drop of our spirit of blood was of the same weight with a drop of water . the former supposition is commonly made ; and though i have not found it to be exactly true , but that a drop of water weigh'd a tantillum more than a grain ; yet that difference is much more than recompens'd , by that which we found between the weight of a drop of water , and the weight of one of spirit of humane blood. for having in a very good and carefully adjusted ballance , let fall ten drops of common water , and as many of our rectified spirit of humane blood , ( as judging it a safer way to make an estimate , by comparing so many drops of each liquor than one alone ; ) we found , as we might well expect , that a drop of this last nam'd liquor , as it was manifestly lesser , so it was far lighter , than a drop of water , in so much , that the whole ten drops did not amount to four grains . so that we may safely judge the drop of spirit to have manifestly diffused it self , and acted upon above 4000 times so much water in weight , ( and perhaps in bulk too ) since indeed the proportion extended a good way towards that of one to 5000 ; and so may be said to be as that of one to between 4000 and 5000 , which , tho it may seem incredible to those that are unacquainted with the great subtilty of nature and art , in the comminutions they can make of bodies ; yet i can by repeating the experiment easily convince a doubter , in less than a quarter of an hour . and this subtilty of the parts of blood will appear yet greater , if it be consider'd , ( what i think i can evince , ) that no contemptible part of the single drop i employ'd was phlegm , useless to the change produc'd , the operation being due to the energy of the saline spirits of the little drop . the vii . ( secondary ) title . of the odour , taste , colour , and transparence of the spirit of humane blood. those qualities , that in my opinion more generally than deservedly are call'd first , do not any of them belong to the spirit of humane blood , in such manner as to oblige me to say any thing of them in relation to it . and therefore i shall content my self to have made this transient mention of them , to keep it from being thought , that through forgetfulness i had overlook'd them . yet something there is , that may not inconveniently be refer'd to the heat or coldness of spirit of humane blood ; in regard that physicians , as well as philosophers , distinguish these qualities into actual and potential . for it seems , that the spirit of humane blood is in reference to some liquors potentially cold , since it refrigerates them , and in reference to some others potentially hot , since being mingled with them , the mixture becomes actually hot . of this last i shall here set down the ensuing instance . into a slender cylindrical glass we put the lower part of an hermetically seal'd thermoscope , which in this paper and elsewhere i usually call the gag'd one , because it was adjusted according to the standard of such instruments kept at gresham colledge . into this cylindrical glass we pour'd as much moderately strong spirit of blood , as would cover the ball of the thermometer , and then drop'd on that liquor some good spirit of salt , upon whose mingling with it there was produc'd a conflict accompany'd with noise and bubbles , and a heat , which nimbly enough made the spirit of wine ascend above two inches and a half . this experiment is therefore the more considerable , because there are divers volatile alcalies that being confounded with acid spirits , tho they seem to make a true effervescence , yet do really produce a notable degree of coldness . and that which to me seem'd considerable on this occasion , was , that whereas i had several times found by tryal , that the spirit of verdegrease ( which some call the spirit of venus ) would with the volatile salt of sal armoniack , or of urine , produce a seeming effervescence , but a real coldness ; this spirit of verdegrease it self , being mix'd in the forementioned small cylindrical glass , with but moderately strong spirit of blood , did not only produce a hissing noise and store of bubbles , but an actual heat , whereby the spirit of wine in the thermoscope was made quickly to ascend above an inch and a half , tho the liquors employ'd amounted not both together to two spoonfuls . the viii . ( secundary ) title . of the dissolutive power of spirit of humane blood. it will not only serve to manifest the subtilty and penetrancy of the spirit of human blood , but it may be also of some use to physicians , if it be made appear by experiments , that this spirit is by itself not only a good medicine for several diseases , ( as will be hereafter shewn , ) but may be also employ'd as a menstruum , to dissolve several bodies , and even some metalline ones . and because these last mention'd are the most unlikely to be readily dissoluble , by a substance belonging to the animal kingdom , as chymists speak ; i shall subjoyn two tryals , that i made to evince this dissolutive power of the spirit of blood. and first we took crude copper in filings , ( which if they be very small , are so much the fitter for our purpose ) and having pour'd on them some highly rectify'd spirit of human blood , we shook them together , and in about a quarter of an hour or less , perceiv'd the menstruum to begin to look a little blewish , which argu'd its operation to have already begun . and this colour grew higher and higher , till after some hours the menstruum had dissolved copper enough to make it deeply ceruleous . some other , and somewhat differing tryals on the same metal will be met with in their proper place . in the mean time i shall here take notice , that in some circumstances the spirit of blood has such an operation upon copper , whose quickness is surprising . for having made a coin'd piece of that metal clean and bright ( that no grease or foulness might hinder the effect of the liquor , ) and put a drop or two of our spirit upon it , within about half a minute of an hour , ( observ'd by a watch that shew'd seconds ) the verge of the moistned part of the surface appear'd blewish , and almost presently after , the rest of the wetted part acquir'd a fine azure colour . we also took filings of zink , or ( as in the shops they call it ) spelter , and having pour'd on them very well rectified spirit of blood , we observ'd , that even in the cold it quickly began to work manifestly , thô not vigorously . but being assisted with a little heat , it dissolv'd the zink briskly , and not without producing store of bubbles , being also a little discolour'd by the operation of this experiment , some use is made in another place , and therefore need not be deliver'd in this . on this occasion i shall add , that for curiosities sake i took a piece of coagulated blood , but not dry'd , somewhat bigger than a large pea , having a care to take it from the lower part of the lump of blood , that it might be black , the superficial part of fibrous blood that lies next the air , being usually red. this clot of blood we put into a slender vial of clear glass , that the colour might be the better discern'd , and then pour'd on it a little rectified spirit of humane blood , and shook the glass alittle ; whereupon in a trice the colour of ( at least ) the superficial part of the blood , was , as i had conjectur'd , manifestly chang'd , the blackness quite disappearing , and being succeeded by a very florid colour like that of fine scarlet . the liquor also was ting'd , but not with near so deep or so fair a red , and by the little bubbles that from time to time past out of the clod into it , it seem'd to work somewhat like a menstruum . and yet soon after coming to look upon this lump of blood again , i found it to have much degenerated from its former colour , to one less fair and more dark . we took also another clot of blood like the former , save that one part of it which had lain next the air , was not black ; and having in a vial like the former pour'd on it some spirit of blood , taken out of the same vial whence i took the first parcel , the reddish colour seem'd presently to be much improv'd , and made more fair , and like true scarlet . but the black was not so alter'd , as to be depriv'd of its blackness , but retain'd a dark and dirty colour . so that this second experiment requires a further tryal , when there shall be conveniency to make it , and it will the rather deserve one , because what has been already recited of the operation of the spirit upon the two parcels of blood , may suggest uncommon reflections to speculative wits . and here on this occasion it will be proper to relate to you , that having a confus'd remembrance , that i had a great while before put up some humane blood , with a certain quantity of volatile spirit , to keep it fluid and preserve it , without distinctly remembring what volatile alcaly i had employ'd ; i found among other glasses that had been laid aside , one bolt-head with a long neck , to which was ty'd a label , importing that at such a time twelve drams of humane blood , were put up with two drams of spirit of humane blood. by the date of this paper it appear'd , that this blood had been preserv'd much above a whole twelve month ; and yet it appear'd through the glass of a fine florid colour , and seem'd to be little less than totally fluid . and indeed when we came to open the vessel , which was carefully stopt with a good cork , and hard sealing wax , we found no ill scent or other sign of putrefaction in the mixture , and but a very small portion of blood lightly clotted at the bottom ; the rest passing readily through a rag. so that the spirit of humane blood seems to have a great embalming vertue ; since 't was able so long and well to preserve six times its weight , of a body so apt to concrete and putrefie , as humane blood is known to be , and probably would have preserv'd it much longer , if we had thought fit to prosecute the experiment . to this account of our trial i know not whether it will be worth while to add , that having broken it off , that we might distill the above mentioned mixture with a very gentle heat , the first liquor that ascended was not a spirit , but a kind of phlegm , thô afterwards there came up , besides a spirituous liquor , a volatile salt in a dry form . on this occasion i shall subjoyn the following tryal , long since made with a spirit , that i supposed to have been weaker than that , with which the lately mentioned experiments were made . in order to a design that need not here be mentioned , i caus'd some filings of mars to be purposely made , that being presently employ'd they might not contract any rust , whereby the operation of our liquor might be made doubtful . on these we poured some of our spirit , and having kept them together a while in digestion , we found as we expected , that the liquor had wrought on the metal , and produc'd a considerable quantity of a light substance , in colour almost like crocus , but something paler . and we also found more than we expected ; for there appeared in the liquor good store of thin plates , like a kind of terra foliata , ( as the chymists speak ) which after a very slight agitation , being held against the sunbeams , exhibited the colours of the rain-bow in so vivid a manner , as did not a little delight , as well as surprize the spectators , but i did not perceive that the tast of the liquor was considerably martial . the ix . ( secondary ) title . of the tinctures that may be drawn with spirit of humane blood. most of those extractions the chymists call tinctures , being , as i have elsewhere shewn , partial solutions of the bodies from which they are obtain'd , 't will i presume be easily granted , that since the spirit of blood is able ( as in the foregoing title it has appear'd to be ) to dissolve copper and zink , that are solid and metalline bodies , 't will be able to extract tinctures out of divers others . but , that this power of our menstruum may be rather prov'd than supposed , it will not be amiss to add a few instances of it . spirit of blood being put upon english saffron , did soon acquire upon it a fine yellow colour . spirit of blood being put upon powder'd curcuma , or , as tradesmen are wont to call it , turmerick , did in the cold extract from it a lovely tincture , like a rich solution of gold ; which probably ( to intimate that upon the by ) may prove a good de-obstruent medicine , particularly in the jaundise ; in which disease turmerick that is taken to be a kind of east indian saffron , is upon experience commended , and in this our tincture is united with spirit of humane blood , which is very near of kin to spirit of urine , and probably at least as efficacious ; with which liquor , when well rectify'd , i have had more than ordinary success in the jaundise . to make some trial of the extracting power of the spirit of blood , upon substances that have belong'd to animals , i thought it might particularly conduce to some medical purposes , to try what it would do upon the solid part of humane blood it self slowly dry'd , so as not to be burn'd , but only to be reducible with some pains to fine powder . accordingly upon this well sifted powder of blood , we put some moderately strong spirit of the same subject , on which the liquor began very soon to colour it self , even in the cold ; and within no long time after , it appear'd as red as ordinary french claret wine . this extraction made me suspect , that the phlegm that was not carefully separated from the spirit i then employ'd , might hasten the coloration of the menstruum . for which reason i put upon another portion of the same powder some rectify'd spirit of blood , so well deflegmed that it would not dissolve a grain of the volatile salt of blood : and i found indeed , as i suspected , that this menstruum did not any thing near so soon draw a tincture , as the other had done ; for after divers hours the colour it had obtain'd was but brown , but after some hours longer the colour appear'd to be heightned into redness , but yet manifestly inferiour to that of the somewhat phlegmatick spirit above mentioned , whereto it did yet in a longer time grow almost equal . by this means we may not only disguise the spirit of blood , but impregnate it with the finer parts of the unanalys'd solid body , which may possibly make the spirit a remedy more proper for some diseases or constitutions : and this medicine i sometimes call the entire tincture of humane blood , because it consists of nothing else but such blood. to shew at length that the spirit of humane blood may extract tinctures out of some of the hardest bodies , i made the following experiment . we took some choice filings of steel ( for such are those that are saved by the needlemakers ) and having put them into a small egg , we pour'd on them some highly rectify'd spirit of blood , and kept them all night in digestion in a moderate heat . the next day ( but not early ) we found the menstruum turn'd of a brownish red colour , that was deep enough . and some of the filings that chanc'd to stick to the sides of the glass , but were higher than the liquor could reach in its gross body , seem'd to have been , either by exhalations from the menstruum , or perhaps by the transient contact of it , as it was pouring in , turn'd into a kind of yellow crocus martis . i must not here forget , that having kept the menstruum and the filings together in the forementioned egg for some days longer , the colour was grown opacous , and appear'd to be black , when it was look'd on in any considerable bulk , this last expression i employ , because it had another appearance , when it was somewhat thinly spread upon white paper . perhaps it may be a remark not altogether useless to physicians , among many of whom chaly beate remedies are in very great request , if i add , that for reasons not needful to be mentioned here , having a suspicion that our spirit would work upon steel , in another manner than the acid solvents wont to be used by chymists and physicians , we pour'd some of our tincture drawn from filings of steel , upon a freshly drawn tincture of galls ( infus'd in common water , ) and did not find that this liquor would with the infusion make any inky mixture , nor that the precipitate that was quickly produc'd , was of a black , much less of a true inky colour : though i have found means to produce in a trice a black mixture , with other martial solutions and tinctures , which for curiosities sake i sometimes made green , sometimes red , sometimes yellow , and sometimes , if i mistake not , of neither of those colours . i have been the more express in setting down the particulars above delivered , because i hope they may be somewhat helpful to rectify the judgment of divers very ingenious modern physicians , especially among the cultivaters of chymistry , who build much upon a supposition , which though i deny not to be specious , i doubt is not solid , and i fear may be of ill consequence . for by the above recited tryals it may appear , that 't is unsafe either to suppose , that if chalybeates be dissolv'd in the body , it must be by some acid juice ; or to conclude , that if steel be dissolv'd by the liquors of the body , it must be ex praedominio , ( as they speak ) alcalisate ; since a liquor that exercises a great hostility against acids , dissolves it ; and by parity of reason one may probably infer the quite contrary of what they suppose ; in regard that steel in our experiment was ( partially at least ) dissolv'd by what they call an alcaly ; and consequently ought to be ex praedominio , of an acid nature . but of this hypothesis we elsewhere purposely discourse , and therefore shall here add nothing concerning it , but leave it to be consider'd , whether it would not be requisite to seek out some other way , than physicians have hitherto pitch'd on , to explicate the manner of operation of chalybeate medicines in the humane body ; and whether some use may not be made in medicine , of martial remedies prepar'd by volatile alcalies , instead of acids . i put some spirit of humane blood upon powder'd amber , sifted through a fine sieve , and kept it in digestion for some days , giving it a pretty degree of heat ; but we obtain'd not hereby any tincture at all considerable ; whether it was , that the spirit was not yet highly enough rectify'd , or that the amber ( which was of a finer sort of white amber ) was not so proper to yield its tincture , as i have several times found courser , but deeper colour'd amber to be . to this ( ix . ) title may be refer'd the event that followed , upon our having put some spirit of humane blood upon that sort of gum-laccae , that comes out of the east indies in grains , and ( for that reason ) is commonly call'd seed-lac . for the spirit we put upon this , tho this be a resinous gum , and of no easy solution , soon became tincted ; which i expected it should , because i conjectur'd that the redness wont to appear in many of the seed-like grains , is but superficial , and proceeds from some adhering blood of the little ( winged ) insects , that by their bitings occasion the production of this gum , upon the twigs of the tree where the lac is found ; on which twigs i have more than once seen store of these gummous grains . so that the tincture seems not to be drawn from the lac it self , but rather to be afforded by the blood of these little animals , which the spirit of humane blood , that will draw tinctures from dry'd mans blood , dissolves ; and this tincture may probably be a good medicine , since most of the insects us'd in physick , as millepedes , lice , bees , aunts , &c. even in our colder climates , afford medicines of very subtle and pierceing parts , and of considerable efficacy . the x. ( secondary ) title . of the coagulating power of the spirit of humane blood. though the spirit of humane blood , have such a dissolving power as we have mention'd , in reference to some bodies , yet upon some others it seems to have a quite contrary operation . i say seems , because it may be question'd , ( and i am not now minded to dispute it ) whether the effect i am going to speak of be a coagulation , properly so call'd , that one body makes of another or a coalition of particles fitted , when they chance to meet one another , ( in a convenient manner , ) to stick together . but whatever name ought to be properly given to the thing i am about to speak of , i have found by tryal purposely made , that the highly rectifyed spirit of humane blood , being well mingled by shaking with a convenient quantity , ( which should be at least equal ) of vinous spirits that will burn all away , ( for if either of the liquors be phlegmatick , the experiment succeeds either not at all , or not so well ) there will presently ensue a coagulation or concretion , either of the whole mixture , or a great portion of it , into corpuscles of a saline form , that cohering loosly together , make up a mass that has consistence enough not to be fluid , though it be very soft : and in this form it may remain as far as i have yet tryed , for a good while , perhaps several weeks , or months at least , if it be kept in a cool place . the xi . ( secondary ) title . of the precipitating power of spirit of humane blood. of the precipitating power of spirit of humane blood , i have yet observ'd nothing that is peculiar , and therefore it may suffice to say in general , that , as far as i have had occasion to try , it has in common with those other volatile spirits , which i elsewhere call vrinous , a power of precipitating most bodies that are dissolv'd in acid menstruums i say most , because ( as i have elsewhere more fully shewn ) it is an error , though a vulgar one , to suppose ( as chymists and physicians are wont to do ) that whatever is dissolv'd by an acid will be precipitated by an alcali as such , whether fixt or volatile , which latter sort they take the spirits of urine , blood , &c. to be of . for there is no necessity this rule should hold , when the body is of such a nature , that it may be dissolv'd as well by an alcaly as by an acid. and though , the hypothesis of alcali and acidum allowed them not to think there were any such bodies , yet i have in another paper experimentally evinc'd , that there are so . and it may be prov'd without going very far , since we lately observ'd a that good spirit of humane blood would in the cold dissolve both copper & zink , which are bodies that will each of them be readily dissolv'd by aqua fortis , and some other acid menstruums . bating such bodies as those i have been speaking of , i have not found but that spirit of humane blood precipitates other bodies dissolv'd in acid menstruums , much after the same manner that spirit of urine and other such volatile alcalies are wont to do . of this , among other instances , i remember that i made tryal upon red-lead or minium dissolv'd in the acid salt of vinegar , silver in aqua fortis , gold in aqua regia , and tin dissolv'd in an appropriated menstruum . i also with our spirit precipitated the solutions of divers other bodies , which need not here be nam'd . but in regard of the great and frequent use that men make of sea salt , in preserving and seasoning what they eat , it may not be amiss particularly to mention that out of a solution of common salt made in common water , we could readily precipitate with the spirit of blood , a substance that looked like a white earth ; and such a substance i obtain'd in far greater quantity , from that which the salt-makers call bittern , which usually remains in their salt pans after they have taken out as much , or near as much salt , as would coagulate in figured grains . the spirit of humane blood does also make a precipitation of dantsick vitriol dissolv'd in water , but not , that i have observ'd , a total one , which you need not wonder at , because it will dissolve copper , which is one of the ingredients of blew vitriol . the xii . ( secondary ) title . of the affinity between spirit of humane blood and some chymical oyls and vinous spirits . though in another paper a i declare my self , for reasons there express'd , dissatisfy'd with the vulgar notions of sympathy , antipathy , friendship , affinity , hostility , &c. that are presum'd to be found among inanimate bodies , yet in this place nothing forbids to employ the terms affinity cognation , and hostility , in the laxe and popular sense , wherein they are us'd not only by the vulgar , but by school philosophers and chymists . it seems then , according to this acception of the word affinity , that there is such a thing between rectifyed spirit of humane blood , and pure spirit of wine ; since we have formerly ( under the tenth title ) observ'd , that being put together they will readily concoagulate , and continue united a long time . it is very probable , that the like association may be also made with other ardent spirits prepar'd by fermentation . we have likewise formerly noted , that our spirit will make a solution of the finer parts of humane blood well dry'd , which instance i mention on this occasion , because it seems to be the effect of some affinity or cognation ( as most men would call , what i would call mechanical congruity ) between the spirit and the body it works on , in regard i found , by more than one tryal purposely made , that a highly rectifyed vinous spirit ( for if it be phlegmatick , the water may dissolve some of the blood ) would not ( at least in divers hours that my tryals lasted ) draw any tincture from it . with lixiviate liquors , such as are made of salt of tartar , fix'd nitre , &c. resolv'd in the air or otherwise , the chymist will expect that the spirit of blood should have an affinity , since they esteem all these liquors alcalies though this be volatile and those be fix'd . but though these liquors comport well with one another , yet we find not that they strictly associate by concoagulation , as we lately observ'd the spirit of blood to do with spirit of wine . the same spirit of blood mingles readily with that spirit of vegetables , that i have elsewhere given a large account of under the title of adiaphorous spirit , which argues that there is some affinity between them , or rather , that there is not any manifest hostility or contrariety . the like relation may be found between spirit of blood and many other liquors , which it were needless and tedious to enumerate . it may better deserve the consideration of a chymist , that though there is manifestly a near cognation between the spirit of humane blood and the oyl , since they both proceed immediately from the same body , yet even dephlegm'd spirit of blood being shaken , and thereby confounded with its oyl , will quickly separate again from it , though with spirit of wine ( which is according to the chymists a liquid sulphur as well as the oyl ) it will permanently unite , notwithstanding that these two liquors do ( to speak in their language ) belong even to differing kingdoms , the one to the animal , and the other to the vegetable . with the essential oyls ( as chymists call them ) of aromatick vegetables , or at least with some of them the well rectifyed spirit of h. blood seems to have a greater affinity . for having taken a dram of this liquor , and an equal weight of oyl of anise-seeds drawn in a lembick [ per vesicam , ] and shaken them well together they made a soft or semifluid white coagulum , that continu'd in that form for a day or two , and probably would have longer done so , if i had not had occasion to proceed further with it . it may not be impertinent on this occasion to take notice , that because i presum'd , that , though spirit of blood would not totally mix with essential oyls , ( as chymists call them ) it might either communicate some saline parts to them , or work a change in them ; i digested a while in a glass with a long neck , some rectifyed spirit of humane blood , with a convenient quantity of oyl of anise-seeds drawn in a lembick , and found , as i expected , that the oyl grew colour'd of a high yellow , and afterwards attain'd to a redness ; which experiment i the rather mention , because it may possibly afford you a hint about the cause , of some changes of colour , that are produc'd in some of the liquors of the body . upon the foremention'd affinity or congruity of the spirit of blood with that of wine , and with ( some ) essential oyls , i founded a way of taking off the offensive smell of spirit of humane blood , which is the only thing that is likely to keep the more delicate sort of patients from employing so useful a medicine , as this will hereafter appear to be . but to deal with a philosophical candor , i must not conceal from you , that , till experience shall be duly consulted , i shall retain a doubt , whether the way employ'd to deprive our spirit of its stink , will not also deprive it of part of its efficacy . but on the other side , i consider it as a thing probable enough , that these aromatis'd spirits may , by being impregnated with many of the finer parts of the oyls employ'd to correct their odour , be likewise endow'd with the vertues of those oyls , which are liquors that chymists not improbably believe to consist of the noblest parts of the vegetables that afford them . to aromatise the spirit of humane blood we employ'd two differing ways , the first whereof was this ; we took a convenient quantity of well rectifyed spirit of blood and having put it into a glass egg , we added to it as much , or ( what may in many cases more than suffice ) half as much , essential oyl of anise-seeds for instance ; and having shaken these liquors together to mingle them very well , we plac'd the glass in a sit posture , in a furnace where it should not have too great a heat , by which means the slight texture of the coagulum being dissolv'd , part of the oyl ( sometimes a great portion of it ) appear'd by it self floating at the top of the spirit . whence being separated by a tunnel or otherwise , the remaining liquor was whitish and without any stink , the smell predominant in it being that of the anise-seeds , of which it tasted strongly , though the saline spirituous parts of the blood did in this liquor retain a not inconsiderable degree of their brisk and penetrant tast . the other way i thought of to aromatise our spirit of blood , was by employing a medium to unite it with essential oyls . for which purpose in a vinous spirit , so dephlegm'd that in a silver spoon it would totally burn away , we dissolv'd by shaking a convenient proportion , as an eighth part or a far less ( according to the strength of the oyl ) of an essential oyl ( of anise-seeds for instance , ) and to this solution we added an equal quantity , or some other convenient one , of our rectifyed spirit of blood , and having by shaking mix'd them as well as we could , we suffer'd the expected coagulum ( which was soft and not uniform ) to rest for some time , after which it appear'd that some of the oyl was reviv'd , and swam in drops distinct from the other liquor , which consisted of a mixture of the two spirits , impregnated with the particles of the oyl they had intercepted and detain'd . this liquor abounded with little concretions made by the concoagulation of the sanguineous and vinous spirits . and these with a very gentle heat sublim'd in the form of a volatile salt , to the upper part of the glass ; which salt seem'd to have a much less penetrating odour , then the meer volatile salt of humane blood , but had quite lost its stink , and yet retain'd a considerable quickness , and somewhat of the scent of the anise seeds ; the remaining liquor also was depriv'd of its ill smell , and moderately imbued with that of the oyl . i thought it worth trying , whether there would be any affinity between our spirit ( which i perceiv'd contain'd in it many latent particles of an oleaginous nature ) and the highly rectifyed oyl of petroleum ; which is a mineral bitumen : and having shaken together a convenient quantity of these two liquors in a new vial , they presently turn'd into a white mixture . and tho after it had for many hours been left to settle , the greater part of the oyl swam above the spirit , yet there appear'd betwixt the two liquors a good quantity of a whitish matter , which seem'd to be something that had been produc'd by the precipitation or union of many particles of the spirit and oyl , that were more dispos'd than the rest to combine with one another . the xiii . ( secondary ) title . of the relation between spirit of humane blood and the air. that the contact of the air has a speedy and a manifest operation upon humane blood , is elsewhere shewn by some experiments of an italian virtuoso , signior — and some of mine . but whether , after humane blood has had its texture so much alter'd , as it uses to be by distillation , it will retain any peculiar relation to the air , i have not been able to make tryals enough to determine ; but however it will not be amiss , to set down the chief experiments i made on this occasion , because they may be considerable as parts of our history , tho they should not be so , as arguments decisive of our controversy . the first experiment was quickly made , by thinly spreading upon a piece of white paper , ( which ought to be close , that it may not soak up the liquor ) some small filings of copper , and wetting them well , without covering them quite over , with a few drops of good spirit of blood , for by this means being very much expos'd to the free air , the action of the liquor was so much promoted , that within a minute or two it did , even in the cold , begin to acquire a blewish colour , and in fewer minutes than one would have expected , that colour was so heightened as to become ceruleous . but when i put another parcel of the same filings into a vial , and cover'd them with spirit of blood , and then stopt the vial , to keep it from intercourse with the external air , the liquor would not in some hours acquire so deep a colour . the other experiment we made , in order to the lately propos'd enquiry , was the same for substance , that i had formerly made , ( and have elsewhere at large deliver'd ) with the spirit of urine , and with that of sal-armoniac , save that , to spare our spirit of blood , we employ'd a far less quantity of it , then we did of either of the foremention'd liquors . for having in a clear cylindrical vial of about an inch diameter , put more filings of copper than were requisite to cover the bottom , we pour'd upon it , but so much spirit of humane blood , as serv'd to swim a fingers breadth , or about an inch above them . this liquor , because of the quantity of air , that was contain'd in the vial , did within few hours acquire a rich blew colour , and this after a day or two began to grow more faint , and continued to do so more and more , till it came to be almost lost ; but yet the liquor was not altogether lympid , or colourless , as i have often had it with spirit of urine , or of sal-armoniac ; which remains of blewishness i was apt to attribute to the great quantity of air , that was included in the vial with so small a quantity of liquor . and tho i thought it not impossible , but that length of time might destroy these remains of blewishness also , yet not having leisure to wait so long , i unstopt the vial , and perceiv'd , as i expected , that in a very short time , perhaps about two minutes of an hour , the surface of the liquor , where it was touch'd by the newly enter'd air , became ceruleous , and in a short time after , perhaps less than a quarter of an hour , the whole body of the liquor had attain'd a deeper colour than that of the sky , which colour , the vial being seasonably and carefully stop't , began in two or three days to grow paler again . these experiments would , i question not , to many seem manifestly to infer a great cognation or affinity ( for i know not well what name to give it ) between the spirit of humane blood and the air. but tho i shall not deny the conclusion as 't is an assertion , i dare not rely on the validity of the inference ; because i have for curiosities sake made the like experiments succeed , with other spirits abounding with volatile salt. i foresee it may very speciously be pretended , that those tryals succeeded upon the account of some spirituous parts of the blood , since spirit of urine is made of a liquor separated from the blood ; and that , tho the sal-armoniack that is made in the east , may consist in great part of camels urine , yet that which is made in europe , ( where camels are rarities ) and is commonly sold in our shops , is made of mans urine , and consequently its spirit may well be presum'd to be impregnated with spirit of humane blood. and i confess , that when this consideration came first into my mind , it appear'd so probable , that i should perhaps have acquiesced in it , if it were not for what i am going to subjoyn ; namely , that i found by tryal carefully made , that with another volatile spirit made without any substance that is afforded by the body of man , i could with filings of copper make an experiment , very analogous to that above related . but because in this tryal , the reiterated contact of the air produc'd in the liquor not a ceruleous , but a green colour , i am willing to suspend my judgment about the problem lately propos'd , till experience shall have further inform'd me . i know not whether it will be worth while to relate , that having in an unstopt glass , put some spirit of humane blood into a receiver , plac'd upon our pneumatick engine , and withdrawn the incumbent air by pumping ; the spirit of blood seem'd to afford lesser and fewer aereal bubbles , than such a quantity of common water it self would probably have done . but , as i lately intimated , i know not whether this observation be considerable , because being not willing to weaken by exposing it , a fresh parcel of spirit , i know not whether the paucity of air observ'd in that lately mentioned , were accidental or not . the xiv . ( secondary ) title . of the hostility of the spirit of humane blood to acids , whether they be in the form of liquors or fumes . that there is in the spirit of humane blood , such a thing , as a chymist or a vulgar philosopher would call hostility , or an antipathy in reference to acids , has been plainly enough , tho very briefly , intimated in a passage belonging to the third of the precedent titles . but yet it may not be impertinent to add in this place , that our spirit of humane blood exercises this hostility against more than one sort of acid spirits , tho perhaps they differ not a little from one another , as spirit of salt , spirit of nitre , spirit and oyl of vitriol , aqua fortis , aqua regia , &c. and not only against factitious acids , but against natural ones too , the spirit of humane blood may discover a manifest hostility , as i found by the conflict it would make with newly express'd juice of lemmons which it would put into a confus'd agitation accompany'd with bubbles . and this was yet the more evident , when i employ'd the volatile salt of blood , that is , the spirit in a dry form : for having squeez'd upon a parcel of this , some juice of lemmons , there was presently excited a great commotion , accompany'd not only with froth , but with noise . but ( to return to the strongly acid liquors made by distillation ) whether the great commotion , and froth , and hissing noise , that usually follows upon the mixing of spirit of humane blood with any of these menstruums , do proceed from a true hostility , or an antipathy deservedly so call'd , or else be a motion to coalescence or union ; or an effect of the disturb'd motions proper to the differing , but now confounded , liquors ; or lastly , a consequent of some impediment , which the new texture of the mingled liquors gives to the free passage of some aethereal or other suttle permeating matter or fluid , i shall not take upon me to determine ; but rather to what i lately told you , of the at least seeming contrariety of the spirit of humane blood to acid spirits , i shall add ( what perhaps you did not expect ) that this hostility extends even to the invisible effluvia or emanations of these liquors , as may be readily seen by the following way , that i long since pitch'd upon to make it not only visible but manifest . this is easily done by putting any strong acid spirit , as of salt , or of nitre , &c. into a vial somewhat wide-mouth'd , and some well dephlegm'd spirit of blood into another , for when i purposely inclin'd these glasses so towards one another , that their lips did almost touch , and their respective liquors were ready to run out , tho neither of the liquors did at all visibly fume whilst they were kept asunder , tho the glasses were unstopt , yet , as soon as the liquors came to be approached in the way just now mention'd , the fumes meeting each other in the air would make little coalitions , which would be manifestly visible in the form of ascending smoke , which was wont at first to surprize the delighted spectators ; and this production of smoke would continue a good while , if the vials were not sever'd to make it cease , which upon their remove it would presently do . i have divers times practis'd a more easy way of making these fumes conspicuous ; but it belongs more to another paper , and what has been now deliver'd may suffice for my present purpose . yet it may not be improper to take this occasion , to acquaint you with an experiment that i made , to observe what the contrary salts , that abound in our spirit of blood and in some acid liquors , would produce , when they were combin'd and brought into a dry form . i shall therefore annex a transcript of the experiment i speak of , as i find it registred in one of my note books . [ we took some pure volatile salt of humane blood , and having just satiated it with spirit of nitre , we slowly evaporated away the superfluous moisture , that the acid and urinous salts might be united into a dry concretion , from which my design was to separate them again , the salt of blood in its pristine form , and the spirit of nitre in the form of salt-peter . to effect this , we put the compounded salt into a small bolt-head with a long and slender neck , and then added to it a convenient quantity of salt of tartar , and as much distill'd water as would suffice to make the mixture somewhat liquid , to promote the action of the contrary salts upon one another . by which mutual actions we suppos'd , that the saline spirits of nitre , being more congruous to the fix'd salt than to the volatile , would forsake the salt of blood , ( which it detain'd before from flying away , ) and give it leave to sublime ; and accordingly having kept the glass , wherein the mixture was made , for a competent time in a convenient heat , we obtain'd what we look'd for ; since a good proportion of fine volatile salt ascended in a dry form , into the neck . ] having put to some of the spirit of humane blood , a small quantity of exceeding strong spirit of nitre , there was upon the conflict of the two liquors excited so great a quantity of thick white fumes , that i could not but wonder at it , having never seen any thing of that kind comparable to it . and these fumes circulating long in the cavity of the glass , whereof perhaps a tenth part was full of liquor , did many of them , tho the vessel were wide-mouth'd , fall back and run down the sides of the glass into the stagnant mixture , as if they had compos'd streams of a milky liquor . and when at length , after these fumes had disappear'd , we dropt in a little more of the same smoaking spirit of nitre , the like strange plenty of white exhalations did presently ensue , and continue to circulate a great while in the open glass , the mixture in the mean while appearing reddish . being settled , and seeming to have been so discolour'd by a fattish substance , we put to it a little rain or distill'd water , and having by filtration separated it from the faeces , and slowly evaporated the thus clarified liquor , the saline parts shot into crystals much of the shape , and crossing one another much after the manner , of stiriae of salt-peter ; but their colour after a while appear'd yellow , as if some oyly substance were yet mix'd with them . n. b. tho on several occasions the spirit of blood appear'd thus . oily , yet i remember i had not long since some distill'd from another parcel of blood , which after having been kept a year , was limpid and colourless like an ordinary vegetable spirit . some of the forementioned crystalls being put upon well kindled charcoals , did presently melt and burn away with a noise not unlike salt-peter ; but the flame seem'd not quite so halituous , and was more differing in colour , being not at all blew but very yellow . after the deflagration was quite past , i was curious to see if any fixt substance was left upon the coals , and found it to be somewhat odd ; for it was not of a light colour , nor of an incoherent body , like ashes , but a little lump of a dirty colour'd matter , in which i could not perceive an alcalisate tast , and indeed scarce any at all . and this brittle substance ( for such it was ) being held in the flame , became red hot , without appearing destroy'd by that ignition , no more than afterwards it did by being a good while kept upon a glowing coal . the xv. ( secondary ) title . of the medicinal vertues of spirit of humane blood outwardly apply'd . having resided for many years last past , in a place so well furnished with learned physicians as london is , i was careful to decline the occasions of entrenching upon their profession . and tho that care did not always secure me quiet , yet it did it so far , as that you , to whom my circumstances are not unknown , will not i hope expect , that i should say much upon my own experience , of the medicinal vertues of spirit of humane blood ; yet since i had some few opportunities to get tryals made by practitioners in physick , ( who were pleas'd very willingly to make them for me , ) that i may not leave this subject wholly untouch'd , i will subjoyn what occurs , either to my memory , or to my thoughts , about it . when i consider , that , as far as i have observ'd , we do not meet regularly with any acid substance , ( except perhaps in the succus pancreaticus ) in a sound humane body : for the fixt salt of blood does it self much resemble sea-salt , whether its spirit be acid or no ; whereas the several parts of it , whether solid , as bones , or liquid , as blood , afford in distillation store of liquor impregnated with volatile salt ; i am induc'd to think it probable , that the spirit of humane blood , wherein such a salt abounds , and whereof it is the main and predominant ingredient , is like to have notable operations upon the humane body , and afford medicines of great efficacy in many of its diseases . and , tho against most of these it is to be internally given , yet there are some against which it may be successful , when but externally administred . for , as well rectified spirit of humane blood abounds with very subtile particles , which in point of tast , odour , diffusiveness and penetrancy , do much resemble those of strong spirits of urine , of harts-horn , and of sal-armoniack ; so one may very probably expect to find the same vertues in the spirit of blood , that experience has manifested to belong to those other spirituous liquors . i have seldom , if ever , seen any medicine operate so nimbly in fits of the mother , as a well dephlegm'd spirit of sal-armoniac ; which as i formerly noted is in effect mainly a spirit of urine ; which it self is granted to be , a liquor separated from blood : for this spirit being held to the noses of hysterical women , has often in a trice , to the wonder of the by-standers fetch'd them out of their fits. nor is this the considerablest effect that i have had of this spirit , for sometimes it has with a strange quickness brought to themselves patients that were fallen to the ground , and either really were , or were judg'd to be , epileptical . and even in agonizing persons , where it could not recover them , it would frequently for the time , bring them out of their swoons , and make them know and understand the assistants , and perhaps speak to them too : of which , if it were needful i could give more then one instance . but i shall rather add , that if nature be not quite spent , and the case wholly desperate , this may be of great advantage , because it allows the physician some ( tho perhaps but little ) time , and a good opportunity to administer other remedies which the patient , unless excited and brought to himself , would not be made to take . of which i shall give you a memorable instance in a patient of the very learned dr. willis's , who being in the fitt of an apoplexy , when he was necessitated to go from her out of the town , and leave her in that condition , he committed her to the care of a very ingenious physician , who ( whether by his direction or no , i remember not ) came to me to acquaint me with it , complaining that they could not hope for any success of their remedies , in regard she was so stupid , and had shut her mouth so , that they could not get any down ; whereupon i gave him , and told him the use of , a very subtile spirit that i had by me for such cases , tho i remember not , whether it were of sal-armoniac , or some other volatile and liquid alcaly ; by applying which to her nose , the physician found he could presently make her open her eyes , and in part come to her self ; but then she would again , when the glass was remov'd , soon relapse into her former condition . wherefore having by those frequent vicissitudes gain'd some time , and got a medicine for his purpose he then held the glass to her nose for a good while together ; by which means she so recovered her senses , that she knew the by-standers , and being exhorted to take a medicine that was offered her , which they told her would do her much good , she understood them , and swallowed it ; and tho afterwards , upon the removal of the vial , she relaps'd into a senseless state , yet by the help of the urinous spirit they kept her alive , till the very brisk medicine she had taken began to act its part , and make a copious evacuation , which did not only rouse her , but little by little relieve her ; so that in a short time she happily escap'd a danger , that was judg'd to be very hardly , if at all , superable by any medicines . but here i must give you notice , that in such difficult and desperate cases i am not content that a vial with a somewhat long neck be held to the nose , but sometimes order that little pellets of lint or cotton , or of thin rags , be dipt into the spirit and thrust up into the nostrils . and the same thing i would advise , if need should require it , in the administration of spirit of humane blood. and as , for external uses , i make a particular preparation of spirit of sal-armoniac , or of urine , that is more strong and penetrant , then that which is made the more ordinary way : so , if i had been furnish'd with store of spirit of blood , i would have handled it in a not very unlike manner . and however with the little i had , i made the following experiment , for tryals sake . we took some dry'd volatile salt of humane blood , ( being then better able to spare that than spirit , ) and put to it as much spirit of nitre , as would just serve to satiate it ; and then by evaporation we obtain'd thence an anomalous kind of compounded salt , which afterwards , because we desired a medicine in a dry form , we sublim'd from a convenient quantity of a well chosen fixed alcaly , ( if i mistake not , we took an equall weight of salt of tartar ) fit to retain , not only the phlegmatick parts , but the oleaginous too , which oftentimes lye conceal'd in volatile salts and liquors , wherein they do not at all at first appear , and unto which the greatest part of their foetid or offensive smell may probably be imputed . by this means we obtain'd a dry white salt of a very piercing smell . but i had no opportunity to try this sublim'd salt upon diseased persons : for whose sake , i also made use of another way to bring over the saline part of blood in a liquid form , ( which for the use of smelling i for the most part prefer to the dry ) for which purpose we mix'd two parts of dry'd humane blood , with three parts of lime , and then distill'd them with a pretty strong fire , by which means we obtain'd , as we expected , a pretty deal of spirit unaccompanyed with any volatile salt in a dry form , which spirit seem'd , even without rectification , to have a stronger smell , and a more fiery tast then other spirit of blood , after a rectification . and i guess'd that if we had taken more or stronger lime , we should have had less oyl , and a more piercing spirit , since the lime would probably have retain'd most of the oyl , and perhaps all the superfluous moisture . i have likewise often found , that slighter head-aches have been cured in less ( and perhaps much less ) time than a quarter of an hour , by the base smell of some of these well depurated volatile alcalies ; and if i misremember not , i have been relieved particularly by that of h. b. ) and i have very rarely for these many years us'd , or ( thanks be to god ) needed any other medicine to free my self from pains of the head. and even violent and durable pains of that part have been , if not quite remov'd yet much lessen'd , by the same remedy often reiterated , which i have likewise observ'd to be usually enough very effectual in faintings , especially those of hysterical and hypochondriacal women ; which makes it probable , that our spirit of humane blood , which is a liquor that in many qualities manifestly resembles other volatile alcalies , ( and perhaps surpasses them , ) and which , when well freed from its oyl , can by few , if by any , be distinguisht from other urinous spirits , may by its odour be available in the forementioned maladies . i expect you should tell me , that the ill scent of spirit of blood will hinder that sex from useing it externally , to divers of whose distempers it is the most proper . to this it may be answer'd , that most of those that find themselves in pain or danger , would be content to be eas'd or rescu'd by an unpleasant medicine . for we may apply to health , what vespasian said of the tax that was paid him , upon the score of urine , lucri bonus odor ex re qualibet . and accordingly we see , that ladies themselves ordinarily make use in such cases of burnt feathers , and in these and some others of castoreum , galbanum and asafoetida , whose smells are offensive enough to men . but for the more delicate and nauseous patients , one may much lessen the offensive odour of our spirit , by long digestions , or by reiterated , or skilful rectifications . and if even then they cannot be reconcil'd to the odour of so good a remedy , that odour may ( as was formerly intimated on another occasion ) be corrected by uniting it with a convenient quantity of highly rectified spirit of wine ; by which means it may perhaps ( for i am not sure on 't ) lose somewhat of its penetrancy , as well as of its urinous odour , but yet may remain subtile and active enough for divers good purposes . and if you would not only correct the smell of the spirit of blood , but make it afford a fragrant one , you may do it by dissolving in the spirit of wine a convenient quantity of some aromatick , or other well scented , chymical oyl , whose proportion may be found by letting it fall drop after drop into the vial , and frequently shaking it to mingle the liquors well , till you find by your smell , that the offensive odour of the spirit of blood is sufficiently obscured ; or ( if you will not only correct it , but perfume the liquor ) that the mixture is sufficiently imbued with the grateful odour of the oyl , wherewith you compounded it . i shall add on this occasion , that , if we aim chiefly at correcting or changing the smell of spirit of blood , we may usefully employ a chymical oyl , more mild or temperate than the aromatick ones of cinnamon or cloves . for tryal purposely made has inform'd me , that , if the oyl of rhodium ( which is much esteem'd by perfumers ) be sincerely and skilfully made , ( which i fear it is not over frequently ) a very few drops of it will make an ounce of alcohole of wine so fragrant , that this solution being shaken together with a convenient quantity ( perhaps much less than an equal one ) of well rectify'd spirit of humane blood , there will emerge a mixture , that i found to have a scent brisk enough , and yet to be not only free from stink , but imbu'd , tho not strongly , with the odoriferous particles of the rhodium . i must not here omit , that divers happy practitioners , as well physicians as profess'd chymists , do highly extol the oyl of amber , against convulsion fits and other distempers of the brain and genus nervosum : and indeed experience has so recommended some medicines of amber to me , that in some cases there are few that i more willingly give or take . and besides the great character that helmont has left of amber dissolv'd in spirit of wine , experience has brought such credit to it in divers cases , ( for there are some cases and constitutions wherein i suspect it of too much heat ) that many patients , as well women as men , had much rather endure the smell , than deny themselves the benefit of the tincture or the oyl . and if you have any such patients , perhaps you will not be ill pleas'd to be advertiz'd , that you may according to the formerly mentioned way , employ the high tincture of amber taken with spirit of wine ; to correct the odour , and encrease ( at least in number ) the vertues of spirit of humane blood. and because it requires some skill , and not seldom a pretty deal of time , to draw this tincture from crude amber , tho finely powder'd , i bethought my self of the following way , to draw speedily a strong tincture from the oyl it self ; for , tho this oyl will not , even by long shaking , dissolve throughly in spirit of wine , as the aromatick and other oyls lately mentioned will do ; yet i found that by well shaking those two liquors together , and leaving them to settle at leisure ; tho they would separate into distinct masses , yet the spirit of wine would even in the cold extract from the oyl a fine tincture of a high yellow colour , little , if at all , different from that of the oyl it self . of which tincture i afterwards mix'd as much with spirit of blood , as suffic'd to obscure the urinous smell , and make that of the oyl of amber somewhat predominant , and as we judg'd , more subtile and brisk than it was before . three things more i have to intimate concerning the external use of our spirit of blood. the first is , that by what has been said of the good effects it may have , when ( after it has been , by the lately mentioned or other preparations , imbu'd with chymical oyls ) it is smelt to , i would by no means be thought to deny , that it is after these changes fit to be also inwardly employ'd , as i shall have ere long occasion more particularly to declare . my second admonition shall be , that , whereas in some mixtures it will be hard to hit upon the proportion of the chymicall oyl , or other things employ'd to correct the smell of the spirit of blood , so exactly , but that after the mixture has had some time to settle , a separation of some oleaginous parts will be made : the bulk of the mixture may be freed from it , by pouring all into a glass tunnel somewhat sharp at the bottom , after the manner us'd among chymists to separate oyls from other liquors , and then the mixture that will run through before the oyl , may be kept close stopt in a vial by it self , and the fragrant oyl ( unless it be of cinnamon or cloves ) reserv'd for other uses . and whereas frequently , if not most commonly , if the vinous spirit were sufficiently rectified , there will , by the concoagulation of the saline and urinous particles , be produc'd a kind of salt ; you may either pour the liquid part from it into another vial , and use each of them separately without more ado , or else without thus separating them , you may sublime with a very gentle warmth , as much as will ascend from the rest of the mixture in a dry form . and this sal volatile oleosum of spirit of blood , when it was duly prepar'd , i found to be depriv'd of its former bad scent , and perhaps endow'd with a fragrant one , and yet to have an odour more subtile , brisk , and piercing , than i had thought it reasonable to expect . the third and last thing i would advertise , is , that besides those medicinal uses , that may be made of the odours of spirit of blood simple or compounded , it may have considerable vertues , apply'd in substance as a liquor , by way of fomentation or otherwise ; which i think the more likely , because the spirit of sal-armoniac has been much commended , for mitigating the sharp pains of the gout , and is said to have been successfully us'd in the erysipelas . and when i consider , that our liquor is very spirituous and penetrating , and so fit to strengthen and resolve , and also of an alcalisate nature , which fits it to mortify acidities , it seems very probable , that , by vertue of these and other friendly qualities , it may , by being apply'd in its liquid form , prove good in divers cases , where the chyrurgions or the physicians help is wont to be requir'd . but 't is high time for me to proceed , from the external to the internal uses of the spirit of humane blood , the xvi . ( secondary ) title . of the medicinal vertues of spirit of humane blood inwardly us'd . i have long been prone to think , that 't is not necessary the number of specifically different morbific matters ( as physicians call actually noxious humours or other substances ) in the humane body , should be near so great as that of the diseases 't is obnoxious to ; and consequently , that every disease , that has a distinct name assign'd to it , does not always require a distinct sort of peccant matter to produce it ; but that the same hurtful humour , or other agent , may produce sicknesses that pass for differing ones , ( and accordingly have distinct denominations ) only as the same morbific agents bad effects are diversify'd , partly by its own greater or lesser quantity , and more or less active qualities , and partly ( and indeed chiefly ) by the particular natures , or structures and situations , of the parts that it invades . to this opinion i have been led by divers inducements , that i shall not now stay to set down ; especially , since the probability of it may be easily deduc'd , from what frequently enough occurs among sick persons , of the metastases of morbific matters ; the same acid or sharp humour , for instance , producing sometimes a colic , sometimes after that a palsey , sometimes a cough , sometimes a flux of the belly , sometimes an ophthalmi● , sometimes a violent head-ach , sometimes convulsions , and sometimes other distempers ; as the peccant humour , or other noxious matter , happens primarily to invade , or afterwards to be translated to , this or that particular part of the body . and to the hitherto propos'd notion 't is very agreeable , that one remedy , by being capable victoriously to oppugn one or two of the principal kinds of morbific matter , may be able to cure differing diseases ; especially if it be endow'd with any variety of active vertues . and upon this ground i am apt to think , that the spirit of humane blood , skilfully prepar'd and administred , may be a good remedy in no small number of internal affections of the humane body . and indeed volatile alcalies in general , have been in england so prosperously made use of in physick , since the year 1656 , ( about which time i had the good fortune to contribute so to introduce them , as to bring them by degrees into request , by divulging easy ways of making them , as well as by declaring their vertues ) that i see small cause to doubt , but that they will hereafter be more generally esteem'd and employ'd , than yet they are , and will little by little invite physicians to prefer them to a great many vulgar remedies , that for want of better are yet in common use , tho they clog or weaken the patient , and want divers advantageous qualities that may be found in volatile alcalies . for ( to apply what has been said to our present subject , as an instance that may serve for other urinous spirits ) the spirit of humane blood is endowed with divers qualities , that are both active and medicinal . for it mortifies acid salts , which are the causes of several diseases , and , if i mistake not , of some that are not wont to be imputed to them . it is a great resolvent , and on that score fit to open obstructions , that produce more than a few diseases . it is both diaphoretick and diuretick , and on both these accounts fit to assist nature , to discharge divers noxious salts , and expel divers contagious or malignant corpuscles that offend her . it resists putrefaction and coagulation of the blood , gives it a briskness and spirituosity that promotes the free circulation of the blood , to which it is congeneal ; by which means ( tho not perhaps by these only ) it becomes a good cordial , and probably against some poysons an antidote . and , which is none of the least , nor least extensive , vertues , it is very friendly to the genus nervosum , and upon that account is like to be very proper in fits of the , mother ( as they are call'd , ) convulsions , some sorts of head aches , palseys , incipient apoplexies , some sort of asthmas , &c. it is also balsamical in some circumstances , and may have divers other vertues that have not yet been observ'd . for a medicine that does not weaken , not cause great evacuations , nor clog the stomach , nor is blemish'd with the excess of any manifest quality , but has in it self a complex of so many useful powers , may reasonably be suppos'd , likely to be available in more than a few diseases ; since a good part of those that humane bodies are lyable to , may be powerfully oppugn'd by some of those excellent qualities , one or more , whose confluence may be found in the spirit of humane blood. i presume therefore that one may rationally propose it , as likely to be a good remedy in many distempers , especially wherein either spirit of urine , or the urinous spirit of sal-armoniac , have been found successful medicines ; such as hysterical fits , pleurisies , coughs , some scorbutick distempers , convulsions , apoplexies , some kinds of feavers , head-aches , the jaundise , &c. but i formerly prepar'd you not to expect that i should say much of the virtues of the spirit of humane blood ( inwardly given , ) upon my own personal experience . and therefore i shall not scruple to tell you , that helmont himself , as little as he is apt to praise other than his own or the paracelsian arcana , more than once commends the spirit of cruor , though that be in his sense of the word , not yet fully elaborated humane blood ) against the epilepsy , which he says it will cure even in adult persons , which is a vertue he expresly denies to the spirit of urine . and a famous writer about the hermetick physick ( but , if i mistake not , better vers'd in divers other parts of learning , than in chymical arcana , ) tho he so far depretiates spagyrical preparations , as to commend the utility but of a very few of them , is pleas'd to put the distill'd liquor of blood into the number of those very few that he vouchsafes a good character to . i am the more inclin'd to give credit to these praises of spirit of blood , because , as i remember , this was the medicine that i made use of in the following case . a young lady , in whose family the consumption was an hereditary disease , was molested with a violent and stubborn cough , that was judg'd consumptive , and look'd upon by those that gave her physick , as not to be cured by any other way , then a seasonable remove from london into the french air ; but she was already so far gone and weakened , and there remain'd so much of the winter , that 't was judg'd she would die before the season would make it any way fit for her to undertake so long and troublesome a journey ; but if she could be kept alive till the end of the spring , there would be some hopes she might in france recover . on this occasion being solicited by some friends of hers and mine , to try what i could do to preserve her , i sent her some spirit of humane blood very carefully prepar'd and rectify'd , ( to which i gave some name that i do not well remember , ) upon the use of which she manifestly mended , notwithstanding the unfriendliness of the season ; insomuch that about the end of february , she had gain'd relief and strength enough to venture to cross the seas , and make a journey to montpellier , whence in autumn she brought home good looks and recovery . if i much misremember not , the same spirit of blood , made very pure and subtile by the help of a lamp furnace , was the medicine that i put into the hands of an ingenious and successful physician , who complain'd to me that he had a patient , that had quite puzzled him , as well as baffled the endeavours of other eminent doctors , whom the difficulty of the case had invited at several times to try their skill upon him . this man was frequently obnoxious to such violent and tormenting fits of the head-ach , that he could not endure the light , and was offended with almost every noise or motion that reach'd his ears ; insomuch that he was forc'd to give over his profession , which was that of a taylor : but upon the constant use of the before mentioned spirit of blood , ( for the other medicines he took were much inferior to it , and had not before been available ) he received such relief , as made him with great joy and thankfulness return to the exercise of his trade , and the physician , to whom i gave the remedy for him , told me one circumstance , too considerable to be here omitted ▪ namely , that the patient having by our famous harvey's advice , been us'd to bleed once in two or three months , the physician counsell'd him , notwithstanding his recovery , not abruptly to break off his ancient custom , and the patient thereupon sent for the same chyrurgeon that had been formerly wont to let him blood , and to complain of the great badness of his blood ; but when this chyrurgeon who knew not what had been done to the patient , came to open a vein again , and perceived what kind of blood it afforded , he was so surpriz'd , that he stop'd the operation , and asked the man with wonder , how he came by such florid blood , adding , that 't was pitty to deprive him of so well conditioned a liquor . the medicinal vertues hitherto mentioned belong to the spirit of humane blood , as 't is pure and simple : but 't is not improbable that it may acquire other , and perhaps nobler faculties ; if it be dexterously corrected , diversified , or united with fit ingredients , that is , in a word , skilfully altered or compounded . these things may be performed several ways . for they may be done either by uniting as well as one can , by long digestion , or frequent cohobations , the spirit of humane blood with the oyls , salt , and ( if need be ) phlegm , of the same concrete , into such a kind of mixture as some chymists call clyssus . or , 2. by uniting the spirit of blood with acids , as with spirit of nitre , spirit of vinegar , spirit of verdegrease , oyl of vitriol , &c. and employing these mixtures , either in their liquid form , or reduced by evaporation into chrystals or other salts ; and making use of these either as they are , or after a kind of analysis of them . or , 3. by uniting our spirit with metalline solutions , as of gold , silver , mercury , and with solution of minium made with spirit of vinegar , by mixture of which liquor with spirit of blood , and a slow evaporation of them , i remember i have had pretty store of finely figured chrystals . or , 4. by dissolving in spirit of blood carefully dephlegm'd sulphur opened with salt of tartar. or else , by dissolving in it some metalline bodies , as copper , zink , and iron , which last will afford a martial liquor , that differing much from other preparations of steel , that are wont to be made with acids , may probably have some vertues , distinct from those of the known remedies made of that metal . but i cannot stay to enumerate the several ways whereby the spirit of humane blood may be made serviceable to the medicinal art. yet one preparation there is , which tho i have already taken notice of in the foregoing title , and therefore can scarce mention without some repetition , yet i think i ought not to pre●ermit it on this occasion ; partly because whereas it was formerly propos'd with respect only to the outward uses of it , i shall now consider it with reference to the inward ; and partly because by this way of proceeding we may at once correct , diversifie and compound our spirit of blood. this operation may be perform'd two ways , whereof the former is more simple than the latter . the first is , to add to well rectify'd spirit of blood , a double weight , or about an equal one , ( as the liquors , especially the volatile alcaly , are more or less strong ) of alcohole of wine . for these liquors being well shaken together , will in very great part coagulate into salt , which with a very gentle heat will sublime in a dry form , + in which i found it to have lost almost all its offensive smell . and tho against this way of proceeding i know it may be objected , ( as was formerly intimated ) that the efficacy of the medicine may , as well as the urinous smell , be much weakned by this preparation ; yet i found this salt to retain a considerable degree of quickness and penetrancy , which its volatility kept me from thinking strange . and experience has perswaded me , that divers of these compounded , or , if i may so stile them , resulting salts , ( which some chymists call salia enixa , for all agree not in the sense of that name ) tho they seem to have their activity clog'd , may have considerable operations both in chymistry and physick . and why the emergent salt we speak of , may not be of that number , i see no sufficient cause ; ( n. b. ) especially since such a kind of mixture , tho made with another urinous spirit , has had such effects in feavers , as i thought extraordinary . nor is the liquor that our compounded salt leaves behind , to be thrown away : since if it be dephlegmed , it may afford a not despicable liquor , both for medical and mechanical uses , of which it may here suffice to have given you in general this hint . and if the more simple way of altering the spirit of humane blood , be carry'd on a little further , by dissolving in the alcohole of wine , before the conjunction of the two spirits be made , a convenient proportion ( as perhaps a twentyeth or twenty-fourth part ) of an essential chymical oyl , as of cloves , anise-seeds , marjoram , &c. the volatile salt that will be sublim'd from this mixture , will not only be depriv'd of its stink , but endow'd with the smell and the relish of the oyl ; which by being thus united with a salt very subtile and friendly to nature , will less overpower and offend the brain and stomach , than meer chymical oyls are wont to do ; and being associated with such agile and penetrating corpuscles , will with them gain admission into the more inward recesses of the body , and there exercise the vertues that belong to the vegetables that afforded the oyls , or at least to the oyls themselves . in these odoriferous aromatick mixtures the oleaginous particles are , by the intervention of the saline ones , brought to mix readily with other liquors , and even with aqueous vehicles , and to continue long enough mix'd , for the patient to take them commodiously . and thus by this one method there may be a multitude of salia volatilia oleosa , that is , of pleasing , subtile and efficacious remedies for inward uses , prepar'd , even as many as the physician or chymist shall please to make essential oyls , ( or others that will dissolve in alcohole of wine ; ) and if these be drawn from cephalick plants , as marjoram , rosemary , lavender , &c. or from cephalick spices , as nutmegs , cinnamon , &c. they will probably afford very brisk and grateful medicines to relieve and comfort the brain and spirits ; as they may the heart , liver , and other viscera , if in the sublimation the saline particles of blood be associated with those of oyls , drawn from vegetables whose vertues do peculiarly respect those parts . other ways might be here propos'd of making remedies , whereof the spirit of blood should be the main ingredient . but i willingly leave that work to your self , and those of your profession , if you think fit to prosecute it ; since my present task does not require that i should write like what i am not , a profess'd physician , but like what i endeavour to be , a diligent natural historian . and for the same reason i purposely forbear , to insert here some chymical processes that i have met with of remedies that admit of distill'd blood , tho i have also declin'd the mention of them for two other reasons , one , that the authors do not recommend them upon their own experience , and the other , that these medicines being much , more compounded than those i lately propos'd , wherein our spirit is mingled but with some one chymical oyl or other , diluted with alcohole of wine ; their preparations are less fit for my design ; which leads me to consider the effects of humane blood upon patients , less as they are sanative , than as they are signs of qualities , whose knowledge tends to the discovery of the nature of spirit of humane blood , and so of that of blood it self . and this , sir , it may suffice to have at present set down , touching the history of the spirit of humane blood ; of which , and of the other parts constituting that red body , or obtainable from it , i might have given you a far less incomplete account , if i had had more leisure ; and if , for want of materials to make experiments upon the entire liquor , and the concreted and serous parts of it distinctly , and especially to afford a sufficient quantity of the spirit , i had not been so straitned that i was fain to leave many things untry'd , and to try some others in much less quantities , and much more unaccurately than otherwise should have been done by , sir , your , &c. an appendix to the memoirs for the history of humane blood. having elsewhere mentioned the reasons that mov'd me to think it fit to subjoyn an appendix to each of the natural histories , that i drew up , or design'd , of particular subjects ; it would be needless to trouble you with them in this place , where it may therefore suffice to advertise you , that the following particulars i have thrown together as they occur'd to me , to be annexed to the foregoing history of humane blood , are made up of two sorts : some which through haste or otherwise were praetermitted , when they should have been rang'd under one or other of the foregoing titles , and so are answerable to those , that in the first part of these memoirs were call'd paralipomena ; and others that are for the most part of kin to those , that are there stil'd addenda ; tho some of them may be judg'd to deserve better the name of supernumerary , which yet i thought fit to let pass among the rest , because , tho they do not directly belong to any of the distinct titles of our history , yet they may obliquely be refer'd to one or other of them , or are at least capable of being made some way subservient to the general design of the history it self . but the paucity of the particulars that i am at present furnished with , makes me fear it may favour of ostentation , if in so much penury of matter i should curiously refer the particulars that now occur to me to the differing titles , primary and subordinate , that have been enumerated in the schemes of our intended histories . and therefore , till i be better stock'd with materials , i shall forbear to make scrupulous references of them , or so much as constantly distinguish the paralipomena , from the other addenda ▪ contenting my self to refer some of them in a general way , and in the order they chance to come to hand , to that part of the memoirs , whether the second , the third , or the fourth , to which they respectively seem most to belong . 't is hop'd that neither connection nor style will be expected , in loose notes hastily set down at several times , to secure the matters of fact , then fresh in memory , from being , as to any necessary circumstances , forgotten . some tryals may seem to have been made extravagantly and quite at random , which perhaps would be otherwise thought of , but that i judg'd it not worth while , especially writing in haste , to spend time in setting down the inducements i had to make them , or the aims i had in them . i am well aware , that some few of the following tryals may seem but repetitions of others , recited in the body of the history . but these were added on purpose , that where the event of both tryals was the same , they might confirm one another , which , where the subject has lain uncultivated , is oftentimes a desireable thing ; and where they disagree in any considerable circumstances , their difference may occasion further tryals , and in the mean time keep us from building dogmatical conclusions upon the circumstances wherein they differ . particulars referable to the second part of the history . experiment . i. the proportion of the substances obtainable from dry'd humane blood , being as i formerly noted , very difficult , to be determin'd , because of that difficulty , and the importance of the inquiry , i thought fit to employ some blood , that i made a shift to collect since the writing of the second part of the foregoing history , in making another experiment , that we may make the nearer and safer estimate , of the quantities of the distinct substances sought after . for this end i caus'd twelve ounces of dry'd blood to be carefully distill'd by an expert laborant , well admonished of the difficulty of his task , and the exactness he was to aim at in performing it . the distillation being ended , the substances obtain'd were brought me , with this note of their quantities . twelve ounces of dry'd humane blood yielded , of volatile salt and spirit together five ounces , of which we pour'd off from the wet salt ʒxiij+ . 54. gr . so that their remain'd ℥ xiij+ . ʒij+ . 6. gr . of volatile salt ; of foetid oyl there were two ounces , of caput mortuum four ounces , and two drams . so that in spite of all his care there was lost , by sticking to the retorts and other glasses ( which i presum'd , retain'd little else than the more viscous oyl and phlegm , ) and by avolation of some more subtil parts ( especially upon pouring the liquors from vessel to vessel , ) about six drams . the four ounces and two drams of caput mortuum being diligently calcin'd , afforded but six drams and a half of ashes : of which very great decrement , the accension and consumption of the more fixed oleaginous part seems to be the cause . and if it be so , we may suppose , that there is a far greater portion of oyl , in humane blood , than has been hitherto taken notice of . these ashes were not white or gray , as those of other bodies use to be , but of a reddish colour , much like that of bricks ; and yet the watchful laborant affirm'd , he could easily know them to be true ashes , because that whilst there remain'd any thing oily or combustible in the caput mortuum , it would look like a throughly kindled charcoal ( which it would continue to do far longer , than one would expect : ) but when that combustible substance was quite wasted , the remaining caput mortuum would look in the fire like dead and ordinary ashes , tho , when they were cold , they appear'd and continued red. these ashes being carefully elixiviated , afforded five scruples of white-fixt salt , besides a little , which being casually got into the contiguous sand , and thence recover'd by water , and reduc'd to the like white salt , amounted to about a scruple more . so that their remained for the terra damnata fourteen scruples & about a half , that is , a good deal above twice the weight of the salt , whence it appears , that according to this analysis , the pure fixt salt of humane blood is but between the 57th and 58th part even of dry'd blood , and therefore probably amounts but to the 150th or perhaps the 170th part ( in weight ) of blood , as it flows from the vein opened by a lancet : and the fixt earth or terra damnata , is to the dry'd blood that affords it , as 19. and about a half to 1. experiment ii. in regard the foregoing experiment , and another of the like nature formerly mentioned were made with dried and pulverable blood of several persons put together , though i knew it would be scarce possible , in so small a quantity of blood , as i could obtain at once from one person , to find out with any accurateness , the quantities of the several substances , it was capable of affording ; yet , to be able to make some tolerable estimate grounded upon experience , i was invited to make a tryal , whose success , though in one part of it unlucky , was registred as follows . an entire parcel of humane blood weighing ten ounces and 73 gr . being slowly distilled to dryness in a head and body on a digestive furnace , afforded of phlegmatick liquor ℥ vij+ . ʒij+ . 47. gr . and of caput mortuum , or rather of dry substance ℥ ij+ . ʒij . this pulverable matter being beaten and put into a retort , and distill'd in sand by degrees of fire afforded ʒij+ . 48. gr . of oyl . but there happen'd an unlucky mistake about the salt and spirit : for after the latter was poured off , which weighed but 48. gr . the wet salt which stuck in good quantity to the lateral and upper parts of the receiver , instead of haveing been wash'd out , as it should have been , with the phlegm of the same blood , was wash'd out with distill'd water , whence we obtained by sublimation into the neck of a glass egg , ʒj+ . 5. gr . of dry salt. but by the tast of the distill'd water whence it was sublim'd , it appear'd that all the salt had not been raised : which invited me to put to it as much good spirit of salt as i supposed to be at least sufficient to satiate it , with design to try , whether by evaporating this mixture to dryness , and subliming salt by the help of an alcaly , we might not recover all , or almost all , the volatile salt , that had been somewhat fix'd by the acid spirit . the retort being cut , that the caput mortuum might be taken out , it was found to weigh ʒvj+ . 12. gr . which being carefully calcined yielded but two scruples and four grains of ashes , which the laborant said were red. these being elixiviated , afforded eighteen grains of salt , besides the remaining earth or terrestrial substance , which , i keep by me , because , notwithstanding all the violence of fire it has undergone , 't is of a red colour , which seems to some to have an eye of purple in it . experiments belonging to the primary title of the natural , history of humane blood. experiment iii. spirit of vinegar being put upon the florid superficies of a parcel of humane blood , did very quickly deprive it of its fresh scarlet colour , and make it of a dark or dirty colour . experiment iv. the juice of a lemmon squeez'd upon the florid surface of blood , did presently somewhat impair the colour , but did not appear to alter it any thing near so much , as the spirit of vinegar had done . experiment v. juice of orange chang'd the colour of the florid surface of blood , less than juice of lemmons had done . experiment vi. the black or lower part of a portion of humane blood being turn'd uppermost , and thereby expos'd to the air , within half or three quarters of an hour , ( somewhat more or less ) acquired by the contact of it , a pleasant and florid colour . experiment vii . but if upon the black surface of the blood some good urinous spirit ( as that of sal-armoniack ) were dropt , there would be an alteration produced in a trice , and a pleasant red colour , tho perhaps somewhat inferiour to that produc'd by the contact of the air , would presently appear on the surface of the blood. experiment viii . fixt alcalies , or lixiviate salts resolv'd per deliquium , did likewise alter the black superficies of the blood to a red colour , but not so florid or pleasant , as that produced by the urinous spirit above mentioned . experiment ix . the freshly drawn juice of the leaves of scurvygrass , being dropt upon the black superficies of a lump of humane blood , seemed presently to make some change in the colour of it , making us judge it somewhat reddish and inclinable to floridness . the seven foregoing notes suppose it to be already known , that when healthy blood is suffered to settle in a porringer , that surface of the concreted part , which is expos'd to the air , will be adorned with a fine red colour , and if the same mass be turned upside down , that which before was the lower surface of it , will appear of a very dark and blackish colour . experiment x. having for tryals sake almost filled a vial capable of containing by guess near a pound of humane blood , with a mixture of that liquor , and some rectify'd spirit of wine , whose proportion i cannot remember , but guess it was a fourth , or eighth part : at the end of above three years , looking upon the same glass , stop'd with nothing but a cork , we found it coagulated , or , to speak more warily in a consistent form . and the vessel being unstop'd , there appeared no sign of putrefaction in the blood ; and having smelt to it , we could not perceive that it did at all stink : so balsamick a vertue has dephlegmed spirit of wine , to preserve humane blood. experiment xi . we took a piece of fibrous or concreted blood , of the bigness of a large bean ( or thereabouts ) and having put it into a small glass vessel with a flattish bottom , we poured on it as much highly rectify'd ▪ vinous spirit , as might serve to cover it , tho it had been twice thicker than it was ; then we lightly cover'd this open-mouth'd glass with another , and set the vessel in a quiet place , that the vinous spirit might have leisure to imbibe the serous or aqueous parts of the blood , and thereby harden that yet soft substance ; and in effect it quickly seemed to have gain'd a superficial crust , but the internal parts continuing yet soft , we left the liquor upon the blood for a day or two longer , and then we found , that the action of the liquor had quite penetrated the lump of blood , and made it moderately hard and friable . this experiment , having been made in the cold , may much confirm a tryal elsewhere mentioned , to have been made to the same purpose ; and both of them together induc'd me to fear that two or three ingenious writers , that in their chymical receipts prescribe solutions and tinctures of concreted blood in spirit of wine , have set down the pompous processes wherein these operations are prescrib'd , rather according to conjectures than experience . experiment xii . it may be of some use to the speculative , to know how much volatile salt of blood is dissoluble in water or phlegm ; and therefore having caused an ounce of distilled water ( for common water , because of some saltishness that usually accompanies it , would not have been so proper on this occasion ) to be carefully weigh'd out , we put into it , little by little , some dry and white volatile salt of blood , and shook it well into the liquor , to make it disperse the better ; we allow'd it also a competent time for solution , and by this means we found , that ℥ i. of water would dissolve at least ʒij . that is , a fourth part of its weight of dry salt , and that in the cold . for afterwards by the help of heat , we made the same liquor dissolve near five and twenty grains more . in which last part of the experiment i had a further aim , which was to try , whether upon the refrigeration of the liquor , the dissolv'd salt would not shoot into crystals of observable figures . but the event answered not at that time my desire ; yet left me not without some intention to reiterate the experiment , if i shall get another opportunity . post-script . experiment xiii . we put the above mentioned solution into a retort , to be drawn off with a pretty quick heat , ( which on this occasion we prefer'd to a much slower one ) and thereby obtain'd a distill'd liquor , that contain'd all the volatile salt , save a little that escaped in a dry form ; which liquor tasted strong enough to pass for quite , or at least almost , as brisk a liquor , as moderate spirit of blood drawn the common way , and consequently discover'd near enough , what proportion should be taken , of the aqueous ingredient to the saline when one would make such a spirit . the knowledge of which proportion may probably ease us of some tryals , that would otherwise be necessary to find it out , when we are ( as we may often be ) less stored with spirit than with volatile salt , and desire to employ this in a liquid form ; in which we are wont to call it , for distinctions sake , the aqueous ( not the phlegmatick ) spirit of blood. if opportunity had not been wanting , we would have try'd , whether by repeating the distillation twice or thrice , a better or stricter union of the salt and liquor would not have been effected : and this the rather , because having ordered the vial that contain'd this aqueous spirit , in which the water had been , if i may so speak , superonerated to be kept stopt during a frosty night , we perceived at the bottom of the glass ( what we had miss'd of before ) a pretty deal of volatile salt , coagulated or shot into crystals , tho the crystals that were this way obtain'd , were fine and clear , and some of them larger than spangles , yet being much more numerous than we desired , by adhering closely and confusedly enough to one another , they kept us from being able to discover the figure of particular grains , and made me somewhat doubt , whether the single crystals were all of them of the same shape ; all that i could clearly discern , being , that divers of those concretions were flat , thin plates with fine rectilinear angles that inclin'd us to think , that if the whole plains could have been perfectly discovered their broadest surface would have been found hexagonal , or of some polygone figures very near of kin to that . experiment xiv . we put an ounce of distilled water , wherein we dissolv'd as much volatile salt of humane blood , as it would well take up , into a glass egg , and exposed it during a frosty night to congeal : which we did with design to discover , whether , as the saltness that is in sea water keeps it here in england from freezing , ( at least in ordinary winters , ) so the volatile salt of humane blood , which much resembles the other in tast , would have the like effect upon water , especially if it were fully impregnated therewith . to this conjecture the event was answerable , the frost having produced no ice in our solution , nor having so much as made any of the salt manifestly shoot , ( as i wish'd it had done , hoping thereby to discover somewhat about the figuration of the salt of humane blood. ) and , tho afterwards we removed it into a frigorifick mixture , that would probably have frozen beer and ale , and perhaps the weaker sort of french wine ; yet we did not perceive it to glaciate any part of our solution , but only made it let fall a pretty deal of matter , that seemed to be feculent , ( for what it was , i had not opportunity to examine . ) experiment xv. sea-salt dissolv'd in water renders that liquor much more difficult to be frozen , than it was before ; and yet being joyn'd with ice or snow , the other ingredient of our frigorifick mixture , it does , when outwardly apply'd , very much conduce to the artificial congelation of it , which usually would not succeed without it . wherefore to try whether , as volatile salt of humane blood , being dissolved in water , did , as was formerly noted , hinder it from freezing , so it would outwardly apply'd highly promote its glaciation ; we mixed by guess about a scruple of this salt with a convenient quantity of beaten ice , and having put into this mixture a somewhat slender pipe of glass with common water in it , we found , after a while , the water that lay in the lower part of the glass vessel , and was surrounded by the mixture , was turned into ice . experiment xvi . to try some suspicions i had about the saline and aqueous parts , that i thought might he concealed in the fibrous or consistent part of humane blood , i caused some of it to be in an open and shallow glass exposed to the air in a frosty night , and the next morning found it to be lightly frozen , and the surface of the ice prettily figur'd with resemblances of combs , with teeth on both sides or edges ; on which account these figures did not ill resemble those , that i have oftentimes obtained , by slowly coagulating into salt , a solution of sal-armoniack made in common water . in the second part of the foregoing memoirs , i have not said any thing of the medicinal vertues of humane blood it self , ( for those of the spirit belong to the fourth part ) and , tho i might now , if i thought fit , say something not impertinent to that subject , in this appendix , both out of some printed books and my own observations , yet i now forbear to do it , not only for a reason that 't is not necessary i should here declare , but because four or five processes that i have met with about humane blood in paracelsus , burgravius , ( famous for his biolychnium made of that subject ) and one or two more , about the transplantation of diseases by means of the patients blood , are such , as either i do not well understand , because of their being ( probably on purpose ) obscurely pen'd , or seem in themselves unlikely , of which sort is the biolychnium , or lamp of life , in which 't is pretended that the blood is so prepar'd , that the state of health of the person whose it is , may be discover'd by the manner of the burning of the flame it affords , ( tho he be perhaps at a great distance from it , ) and his death by its extinction . besides that , as i have elsewhere noted , some circumstances relating to the ashes of humane blood , make me doubt , whether some of these processes were not rather the products of fancy than experience . and , tho i think those medicines less improbable , that without much destroying the texture of the blood by fire , aim at transplanting diseases by its intervention , yet i thought fit to decline transcribing the forementioned medicines , till experience shall warrant me to do it . and i shall also at present forbear to set down my own tryals , because i have not yet seen the events of them . but yet i shall invite you to endeavour with me to prepare two , that , if they succeed , may afford , especially the last of them , considerable medicines . the first medicine that i attempted , was , by putting to salt of tartar oyl of humane blood instead of oyl of turpentine : and by keeping them long , and stirring them frequently , in the open air , to make such a saponary concretion , as is not unknown to many in london , by the name of matthews's corrector , which as he made it with common oyl of turpentine , tho it seem but a slight composition , is yet esteemed and imploy'd with good success , by some doctors of physick and other practitioners in london . to make the other medicine , we endeavoured to unite by long digestion , the salt , spirit , and oyl of humane blood , into a mixture , which some chymists ( for their terms are not by all of them used in the same sense ) call a clyssus . but having begun this , without having had time to finish it , we shall say no more of it , but that divers chymists may not improbably look upon this sort of compositions , as one of the noblest sort of preparations that many a drug is capable of . particulars referable to the third part of the history . experiment . i. a young man having bled into a porringer , and the blood having been kept several hours , that a sufficient separation might be made of the coagulated or consistent part and the fluid , the fibrous portion and the serum were separately weighed : and the difference of the two masses in point of weight was not so great as one would have expected , the curdled part of the blood weighing about six ounces , and the serous part not many drams from that weight . this tryal is here set down by comparing it with some others , what difference there is between the bloods of sound persons , as to the proportion of the serum , and the concreted part . experiment . ii. humane urine , having first ( that i know of ) by the very ingenious mr. hook , and oftentimes by me , been observ'd , when frozen , to have on the surface of the ice , figures not ill resembling combs or feathers ; the great affinity generally supposed to be betwixt vrine and the serum of blood , made me think fit to try at once whether this last nam'd liquor would freeze with such a degree of cold , as would easily , and yet not very easily glaciate water , and whether , in case it should freeze , the ice would have a surface figur'd like that of frozen urine . but , having for this purpose exposed some serum of humane blood to the cold air , in two freezing nights consecutively , the serum was not found to congeal , tho some grumous parts of the same blood did , as has formerly been noted , yet i scarce doubted , but an exceeding hard frost would have produc'd , at least a thin plate of ice upon the surface of our liquor . and to confirm this conjecture , we took the same serum , and having strained it through a linnen cloath , to separate the liquor as much as by that way we could , from any clotted or fibrous parts , that might have lain conceal'd in it , we put it into a shallow , concave glass , and laid that upon some of our frigorifick mixture , made of ice and salt , which we have described , and often made use of , in the history of cold. by this means the exposed serum , being frozen from the bottom upwards , there appeared here and there upon the ice contiguous to the air , certain figures , that did not ill resemble those of conglaciated urine . experiment . iii. having formerly had occasion to observe that mans urine would tolerably well serve for what they call an invisible ink : and haveing consider'd ( when i remembred this ) the great affinity that is suppos'd to be between urine and the serum of blood , i thought fit to try , whether the latter might not be employ'd like the former to make a kind of invisible ink , to this effect we took some serum of humane blood , and having dipt a new pen in it , we trac'd some characters upon a piece of white paper , and having suffer'd them to dry on , we held the unwritten side of the paper over the flame of a candle , keeping it always stirring , that it might not take fire . by which means the letters that had been written , appeared on the upper surface of the paper , being tho , not of an inky blackness , yet of a colour dark enough to be easily legible and very like to some others that having been purposely written with fresh urine , and made visible , by heat , were compar'd with them . particulars referable to the fourth part of the history . i confess , the defectiveness of our historical knowledge of humane blood extravasated , has been such , that among the authors i have had occasion to peruse , i have met with so few matters of fact delivered upon their own knowledge , that the things i have thought fit to transcribe out of their books into this little tract , do scarce all of them together amount to half a sheet of paper , but yet i would not impute this penury , either to the laziness or the ignorance of writers , but rather to this that they wanted some person , exercised in designing natural histories to excite their curiosity , and direct their attention ; there being many that would enquire , if they knew what questions were fit to be ask'd , about a propos'd subject , as for instance humane blood , and what researches ought to be made , to discover its nature . upon this account , i hope that after some time the foregoing scheme of titles , and the papers that refer to it , will give occasion to a great many more experiments and observations about the blood , ( and perhaps other liquors of the humane body ) than hitherto have been published by others , or are now imparted by me . which last words i set down , because i would not be thought guilty of the vanity of pretending to have near exhausted the subject i have treated of ; since besides other deficiencies , i now perceive that i wholly omitted a considerable title which might either have been refer'd to the primary ones of the first order , or employ'd as a kind of preliminary to the secondary titles of the history of the spirit of blood. this pretermitted title should have been of the several ways of distilling humane blood ; since according to these , the produc'd spirit , salt , &c. may be considerably diversify'd . upon this account i thought fit , to distil three portions of dry'd blood , each with a differing additament . the first with a mineral alcaly , quicklime : the next with a vegetable alcaly , calcin'd tartar : and the third with a sulphureous acid , oyl of vitriol . and , tho some accidents kept me from prosecuting the tryals as i desir'd , yet the first having succeeded indifferent well , and the two others not having wholly miscarried , i shall subjoyn the accounts of all three as they were set down in my notes . having observed that divers bodies , when they were distill'd with quick lime , afforded liquors differing from those they would have yielded , if they had been distilled , either per se , or with some vulgar additaments ; we took ℥ v. of concreted , but not dry'd humane blood , and having mixed it with an equal weight of quick-lime , ( such as i could procure , but not so strong as i have often seen , ) we distilled it by degrees of fire in a retort placed in sand , by which means we obtain'd a large proportion of reddish spirituous liquor , which did not seem considerably phlegmatick ; together with some oyl , which was but in very small quantity , the rest being probably kept back , ( and perhaps some of it destroy'd ) by the lime : and of this little oyl that did come over , there was a small portion that sunk in the spirit , the rest swimming upon it . the above mentioned spirit being put into a small head and body , was set into a digestive furnace , to rectify at leisure with a very gentle heat , and the receiver was three or four times shifted , that we might observe what difference , if any , there would be betwixt the successively ascending portions of liquor . the first spirit that came over did not smell near so rank as that is wont to do that is distill'd per se . this observation belongs also to the three or four succeeding portions of liquor : probably , because the lime had better freed the spirit of the first distillation from the faetid oyl , many of whose particles are wont , tho unperceivedly , to mingle with it when it is drawn over without additament . the rectify'd spirit , which was clear and colourless , had a tast much stronger than its smell ; for a small drop of it upon the tongue , had something of fieryness that was surprizing , and lasted longer than one would wish ; which made me doubt , whether the spirituous part of the blood had not carry'd up with it , some of the fiery parts of the quick-lime ; which doubt , if future tryals resolve in the affirmative , one may expect some uncommon effects from such a spirit , which in this case would be enriched with a kind of volatilis'd alcaly , a thing much desir'd by many chymists and physicians . upon occasion of this suspition , we dropt a little of it into a strong solution of sublimate in fair water , and it seemed at the first contact to make a precipitate a little enclining to yellow , ( as i have observed the saline parts of quicklime to do in a greater measure , ) tho afterwards the precipitate appeared white , like that made with ordinary volatile liquors of an urinous nature . but because i expected that our alcalisate spirit of blood , if i may so call it , would have some peculiar qualities , discriminating it from the spirit drawn without addition ; i thought fit to make a few tryals with it , whose event justify'd my conjectures . for having put into a glass egg with a slender neck , some of our well rectify'd spirit , it did not then afford any volatile salt in a dry form : ( tho afterwards , if i mistook not , by another tryal , we at length obtain'd a little ) and having continued the tryal somewhat obstinately , we found the spirit to have by the action of the fire , lost its limpidness , and to have been made muddy or troubled . having mingled another portion of it with a highly rectify'd , ardent spirit , and kept them all night in the cold , no coagulation ensued , nor could we perceive any , after it had been kept divers hours in a moderate heat . but the mixture acquired a yellow colour , and let fall , somewhat to our surprize , a pretty deal of darkish powder , tho not enough to invite us to make any tryals upon it . we put to another parcel of our spirit some good spirit of salt , but , tho they smok'd much at their meeting , yet we observ'd no noise nor bubbles upon their commixture . and having mingled another portion with oyl of vitriol , tho there was produc'd a very great smoke , and besides that an intense degree of heat , ( the quantity of the matter considered , ) yet there was no visible ebullition , nor any noise or bubbles produc'd , but the colour of the oyl of vitriol was very much heightned , the mixture growing almost red . from these , and the like phaenomena one may gather , that our alcalisate spirit of blood is in several things differing from the simple . whether this disparity will make it a more potent medicine , or make it , by too much participation of the fiery parts of the lime ; a less safe remedy , future experience must discover . but it seems not improbable , that either as a medicine , or as a menstruum , if not in both capacities , it may be a not inconsiderable liquor . for which reason i have made my account of it the more circumstantial . experiment ii. we tooke ℥ ij of tartar calcined to whiteness by equal weight of ( kindled ) nitre , and mingled this alcaly with ℥ ij of dry'd and powder'd humane blood. this mixture being distill'd in a retort in a sand furnace , made it appear by its productions , that quicklime on these occasions acts otherwise upon the blood than other alcalies do . for , whereas the distillation wherein lime was employ'd , afforded us , as has been noted , a spirit that before rectification was very strong , and unaccompanied with dry salt ; the calcinatum of nitre and tartar afforded us at the very first distillation , a spirit less strong ; but withal , so much volatile salt as cover'd almost all the inside of the receiver , not now to mention the difference of their respective caput mortuums . ) and tho the strong saline spirit of blood made with quicklime , did not , as we lately noted , make an effervescence with acid spirits , yet this volatile salt readily did it upon the affusion of spirit of salt. experiment iii. besides the fixt alcalisate additaments , with which i distill'd the dry'd blood of men , i thought fit to add to it a very acid additament , viz. oyl of vitriol ; and this the rather , because i had long since found by tryal , ( and , if i misremember not , have elsewhere related ) that this liquor being mix'd with some other bodies , particularly with some belonging to the animal kingdom , did in an odd manner mingle its own substances ( for i take it not to be a simple body ) with them , and notably diversify the products of the distillation . we put therefore upon ℥ iij. of powder'd humane blood , an equal weight of oyl of vitriol , and left them for some time together , to try if by the action of this corrosive menstruum , tho upon a body not of a mineral nature , some heat would not be excited , and accordingly we found , that after a while , tho not at the very first , the mixture grew sensibly warm . then we removed the retort into a sand furnace , and distilling it by degrees of fire , we had a spirit which was preceded by a pretty deal of phlegmatick liquor , of an odd sulphureous smell , but so strong and lasting , that i could not but wonder at it . the caput mortuum i was fain to let alone , because i had some inducements to suppose , that it was of so compounded a nature , that i should not in my present circumstances have the opportunity to examine it throughly . but it seemed remarkable , that , notwithstanding the great acidity of oyl of vitriol , and the fixative power it exercises on many bodies , wherewith it is committed to distillation , our experiment afforded us a pretty quantity of volatile matter in the form of a white salt. but indeed the smell and tast of it were so uncommon , that i was troubled i had not then conveniency to examine it carefully ; much less to try , whether it had any peculiar vertues or operations in physick ; tho i had then by me a glass instrument , that i purposely provided to obviate the great inconvenience that is usually met with , and has been often complain'd of by me as well as others , in the way chymists are wont to imploy , when they are put to make repeated sublimations of volatile salts , whether alone or with additaments of this instrument i cannot now stay to give you an account , but if it continue to appear as usefull as expeditious , i may hereafter do it by presenting you one ready made . experiment . i. to some naturalists and physicians that delight to frame hypotheses , perhaps it may not be unwelcome to know , that for curiosities sake we attempted to make aurum fulminans , by precipitating a solution of gold ( made in aqua regia ) with spirit of humane blood , by dulcifying the precipitate with common water , and then drying it leisurely and that by this means we succeeded in the attempt . experiment . ii. having into a wide-mouth'd glass put as much spirit of blood , as would more than cover the ball of a small seal'd weather-glass , and suffer'd this instrument to stay a while , that the ambient liquor and the included might be reduc'd to the same temper , as to heat and cold ; we pour'd on some spirit of verdegreece made per se , and observ'd that , tho this spirit with some other volatile saline liquors , had a very differing operation , yet working on our spirit of blood , with which it made a conflict and excited bubbles , there was produc'd in the mixture a degree of warmth , that was not insensible on the outside of the glass , but was much more sensible in the thermoscope , whose liquor being hereby rarified , ascended to a considerable height above the former station , towards which when the conflict of the two liquors was over , it began , tho but slowly , to return . experiment . iii. having by degrees mix'd our spirit of blood , with as much good spirit of nitre as it would manifestly work on , there was , not without noise , produc'd great store of bubbles by their mutual conflict ; which being kept in a quiet place , till after the liquors had quite ceased to work on one another , it began to appear , that notwithstanding all our care to free the spirit of blood from oyl , something of oleaginous that had been concealed in it , had been manifested , and partly separated , by this operation ; since not only a somewhat red colour was produced by it , but after a while the surface of the liquor was covered with a film , such as i have often observed in saline liquors , copiously impregnated with antimony or other sulphureous bodies . and this thin membrane had its superficies so disposed , that looking upon it with eyes placed conveniently in reference to it and the light , it did to me , and other persons , that did not at all look on it from the same place , appear adorned with vivid colours of the rainbow , as red , yellow , blew and green ; and as i remember , in the same order that these colours are to be seen in the clouds . experiment . iv. having unexpectedly found amongst some other long neglected glasses , a vial that was written upon above twelve years before , and inscrib'd spirit of humane blood , it appear'd to have been , by i know not what accident , very loosely stopt : and yet not so , as to give me cause to think , that the liquor was much wasted . but notwithstanding this , and that the liquor had acquired a deep colour , almost like that of red wine ; yet it was so dispirited and strengthless , that it appear'd to be very little other than nauseous phlegm . which observation i therefore think not unworthy to be preserv'd , because by it we may guess , how little a portion of the noble and genuine spirit or salt , may suffice to make a liquor pass for spirit of humane blood. experiment . v. in a frosty season we expos'd late at night two or three spoonfulls by guess of spirit of humane blood , that was not of the best , being at the utmost but moderately strong . and tho the cold of that season had throughly frozen a vial almost full of oyl of vitriol , and the night wherein our spirit was exposed , was ( at least ) moderately frosty , yet the next morning we did not find so much as any superficial ice upon it . but having remov'd the vial into a mixture of powder'd ice and common salt we found in no very long time , that most part of the spirit was turn'd into thin plates of ice , which joyn'd close together , and had their edges upwards , like those of the leaves of a book , when it is held with its back downwards . experiment . vi. to make a further tryal of that imperfect one mentioned in the subordinate title , we took a clot of humane blood of the bigness of a bean , or thereabouts , and having put it into a vial in such manner , that that part , which before was contiguous to the air , and for that reason , was florid , was now the undermost , and the other , which was blackish lay now uppermost , we made haste to pour upon it as much spirit of humane blood , as was more than sufficient to cover it , and perceiv'd that the contact of it presently began to lessen the blackness of the surface of the blood , and bring it to a considerable degree of floridness ; and to try whether that would continue , we stopt the vial , and set it by till the next morning , ( for it was then night , ) when looking upon it , we found the superficial colour not to be black but still red. experiment vii . upon the powder of dry'd humane blood we put ( in a small vial ) some of the rectify'd spirit of humane blood , which quickly dissolv'd part of it , and acquired a deep and pleasant colour . but highly rectified spirit of wine , being put upon some of the same powder in a like glass , did not in many hours acquire any manifest tincture , and got but a pale yellow one , even after having been for a longer time kept in a moderate heat . and yet common water , being put upon another portion of the same powder , did quickly enough appear , by the colour it acquir'd , to have dissolv'd a pretty deal of it . experiment viii . some of our spirit of humane blood being put upon some curious vitriol , that i had as a rarity ( if i mistake not ) from the east indies , part whereof was in lumps , and part beaten to powder ; that liquor which was put upon the former , being able to dissolve it but slowly , made little or no froth ; but the spirit that was put upon the latter , by hastily working on it produc'd a manifest one . and the solutions made of both parcels of vitriol , were of a deeper and more lovely blew , than the mineral it self had been : nor did i observe in them any precipitate of a dark colour , as i have done upon the mixture of spirit of urine and ordinary vitriol . experiment ix . having with a clean pen drawn some letters upon white paper with spirit of humane blood , and as soon as 't was dry , mov'd the unwritten side over the flame of a candle , we found that this liquor may for a need be imployed , as an invisible ink , that seemed to be somewhat better , than those formerly mentioned to have been afforded us by serum and urine . experiment x. having found by tryal that divers salts , some that are volatile and some that are not , being put in powder into water , will whilst they are dissolving , sensibly refrigerate it ; and on the other side that some very subtil spirits actually cold , being put into cold water , will quickly produce in it a sensible warmth , i thought it would not be amiss to try , what spirit of humane blood would do , when employed after the same manner . having therefore placed a sealed thermoscope in an open mouthed glass , furnished with as much distilled water as would cover the ball of the instrument , we left it there for a while to bring the internal liquor and the external to the same degree of coldness . then we poured upon the immersed ball two or three spoonfuls of spirit of humane blood ( which was all we could spare for this tryal ) but perceived very little alteration to ensue in the thermoscope , only that it seemed , the spirit of wine in the stem did a little , and but a very little , subside which effect ( tho it had been much more manifest ) i should not have been surpriz'd at , partly because i found spirit of urine to have a like , or somewhat more considerable effect , and partly because i remembred , what i elsewhere relate about the operation of the pure salt of humane blood upon distill'd water ; which liquor i therefore make use of in these and many other experiments , because in our common pump-water or well-water , and in most other common waters , i have observed a kind of common salt , which tho in very small quantity , makes it apt to coagulate with , or precipitate , some kind of saline corpuscles , whether more simple , or more compounded . but before i quite dismiss the lately recited experiment , i must acknowledge , that i dare not acquiesce in it . since probably the effect of the spirit of blood would have been more considerable , if i had been furnish'd with a sufficient quantity of it , to pour into the water . experiment xi . into a slender cylindrical vial we put filings of copper , more than enough to cover the bottom , and then pouring on some spirit of humane blood , till it reach'd about an inch above the filings , we stopt the glass close , and , as we expected , the menstruum dissolved some of the metal , and acquired upon it a deep ceruleous colour , which by keeping the vessel in a quiet place for some days , did by degrees disappear , and left the liquor like water . and then the glass being unstopt , there did , as was expected , appear a fine blew surface on the confines of the air and the liquor , in a minute of an hour or less ; and this fine colour extending it self downwards , was in no long time diffus'd through the whole body of the liquor ; and that so plentifully , as to render it almost opacous . but , tho i kept the glass many days after well stopt , yet ( whether it were that there was too much air left in the vial , or for some other reason ) the colour did not disappear , as was expected , but continued very intense . this may confirm and diversifie an experiment related in the thirteenth title of the fourth part of the memoirs . experiment xii . it is not only upon copper in its perfect metalline form , but by nature it self embryonated in , or blended with stony matter , that our spirit of humane blood did manifestly work : for having pour'd some upon well powdered lapis armenus , the liquor did even in the cold , and in no long time , ( for it exceeded not a few hours ) acquire a deep and lovely blew , almost like the solution of filings of crude copper , made with the same menstruum . the conclusion . and here , sir , i shall at length dismiss a subject , about which i now perceive i have already entertained you much longer than at first i imagined . and yet , if i prevail with you , your trouble is not quite at an end ; since i must exhort you to take the pains , for your own satisfaction and mine , to try over again such of the foregoing experiments , as you shall judge likely to be of a contingent nature . for , tho i hope you 'l do me the right to believe , that i have as faithfully as plainly delivered matters of fact , without being biassed by hypotheses , or aiming at elegance , yet my exhortation may be reasonable . for i have observ'd humane blood to be a thing so diversifyable by various circumstances , and especially by the habitual constitution of the person that bleeds , and his present condition at the very time of phlebotomy , that i dare not undertake , that every repeater of the like experiments with mine , will always find the events to be just such as i have recited mine to have had . nay i dare not promise my self an exact uniformity of successes , even when i my self shall reiterate some ( of the nicer ) of my own tryals ; especially if i can do it , as i desire with greater quantities of blood than ( for want of them ) the first were made with . to the particulars already deliver'd in order to the history of humane blood , i could now , sir , add some others , if time and discretion would permit me to do it . for , as little cultivated as the subject has been , i found it not so barren , but that , whilst i was delivering some tryals concerning it , the consideration of those , and of the nature of the thing , suggested new ones to me . but 't is high time i should break off an appendix , that , being but a rhapsody of the notes and other things , that have occur'd to me since the memoirs were written , may i fear , seem already too prolixe , as well as confused . i do not forget , that the two last subordinate titles of the fourth part of the memoirs , concern the external and internal use of the spirit of blood in physick ; and that therefore perchance it may be expected , that i should here add some experiments or observations , relating to those titles . but i hope the lately mentioned reasons , and my just backwardenss to part with some of them , because they are not yet finished , will make you easily excuse my laying them aside ; which i am like to do long , unless you , and your learned friends shall peremptorily require them of me , in a fitter season than this ; in which some occasions , that i cannot dispense with , call me off to other employments , and oblige me to leave a further inquiry into this subject to your self , and those able profess'd physicians , who have , as well more obligation , as more ability than i , to pursue it effectually . this i may well hope that you and they will do , since upon a cursory review of a part only of what i have written , so many things sprang up even in my thoughts , as original tryals , if i may so call them , or as other things fit to be further consider'd , that i perceived 't would not be difficult to encrease the appendix , by two sorts of particulars ; the one made up of designed experiments , that is , such as have not yet been try'd , and yet seem worthy to be so , ( to which 't is probable our excellent verulam would have given the title of historia designata : ) the other should consist of such tryals as i call ▪ succedaneous experiments , that is , such as i intended should be made upon the blood of beasts , in such cases and circumstances , wherein the blood of men , either cannot be had , or ought not to be procured . when i shall next have the happiness to converse with you , you may command a sight of what i have drawn up of this kind . and , if god shall please to vouchsafe me health and conveniency , i may perhaps ( for i must not absolutely promise it ) offer you what addenda have occur'd to me , as things not unfit to make way for a more copious , and less unaccurate , scheme of titles , such as those that in the first part ( of the memoirs ) are call'd titles of the second classis , or order : for which scheme i was the rather invited to think it fit , materials should be by some body provided , because second thoughts made me sensible that the particulars compil'd in this small book , come far short , ( as i lately acknowledged , and you will easily believe , ) of comprizing all that should and may be known of so noble and useful a subject , as i have ventur'd to treat of . and i will freely confess to you on this occasion , that for my part , in the prospect i have of the future advancement of humane knowledge , i think most of those virtuosi that now live , must content themselves with the satisfaction , of having imploy'd their intellects on worthy objects , and of having industriously endeavoured , by promoting useful knowledge , to glorify god and serve mankind . for i presume , that our enlightned posterity will arrive at such attainments , that the discoveries and performances , upon which the present age most values it self , will appear so easy , or so inconsiderable to them , that they will be tempted to wonder , that things to them so obvious , should lye so long conceal'd to us , or be so much priz'd by us ; whom they will perhaps look upon with some kind of disdainful pity , unless they have either the equity to consider , as well the smalness of our helps , as that of our attainments ; or the generous gratitude to remember the difficulties this age surmounted , in breaking the ice , and smoothing the way for them , and thereby contributing to those advantages , that have enabled them so much to surpass us . and since i scruple not to say this of those shining wits and happy inquirers , that illustrate and ennoble this learned age , i hope you will not think that i , who own my self to be more fit to celebrate than rival them , would disswade you from improving and surpassing the slight performances , that are in this little tract submitted to your judgment by , sir , your very humble servant . knightsbridge , december 22 , 1683. finis . a catalogue of late physick books sold by samuel smith , at the prince's arms in st. pauls churchyard . fol. boneti anatomia , 2. vol. 1680. — mercurius , 1682. breinii plantarum exoticar . cent. cum figuris , 1680. fabritii hildani opera cum severino , 1682. hippocratis opera foetii . dioscoridis opera , g. lat. saxoniae opera . med. 1680. piso hist . naturalis de rebus indiae . schenkii observat . med. mentzelii index plant. cum figuris , 1683. lepenii bibliotheca med. 1683. riverii opera , 1679. zwelferii pharmacopeia . quartoes . bauhini pinax cum prodromo . broeckhuysen oeconomia corporis anim. 1683. boyle opera omnia , 2 vol. blasii anatomia , 1681. borellus de motu animalium , 2 vol. bl●ny zodiacus galen . med. chymicus , 1682. bartholini acta medica . castelli lexicon med. 1682. cardilucii officina sanitatis . clauderi methodus balsamandi . cleyer specimma medicinae sinicae , 1682. charas pharmacopeia regia , 1683. diemerbroeck anatomia . fern●lii opera , 1683. van helmontii opera , 1682. gockelii deliciae academicae , 1682. hoffmanni praxis med. 1680. helwigii observationes med. 1680. hoffmannus in schroderum . joel opera medica . kyperi anthropologia corporis humani . konig regnum animale , 1682. kirckringii specilegium anatom . licetus de monstris . museum hermetic . miscellanea curiosa m. physica , 7 vol. 1682. — id. decuria secunda anni primi , 1683. margravi materia medica . — prodromus . regii medicina . rolfinchius de purgantibus , 1683. — ordo & methodus med. specialis . — concilia med. sylvii opera med. schorkii pharmacopeia . — hisi . moschi . ang. salae opera med . 1682. swammerdam miraculum naturae . vigerii opera med . versaschae de apoplexia . waltheri sylva medica . welschii decades x. med . wedelii opiologia . — physiologia med. — pharmacia . — de medicam . facultatibus . — de medicam . compositione . wepferi cicutae aquaticae . zwelferi pharmacop . octavoes . borelli observat . med. barthol . anatomia . beckeri physica subterranea cum supplemento , 1681. brunneri experimenta nova circa pancreas , 1682. camerarii sylloges memorabilium med. 2 vol. 1683. deckeri exercitationis med pract . dodonaei praxis medica . franchiment lithotomia med. 1683. funerwalfi anatomia . gockelii concilia & observat . med. 1683. de graaf opera . grulichius de hydrope , 1681. — de bile , 1682. hartmanni praxis chymiatrica , 1682. heido anatome nytuli & observat . med. 1684. hippocratis opera , 2 vol. juncken chymia experimentalis , 1681 : medicus praesenti seculo accommodat . 1682. liseri culter anatomicus : ma●chetti anatomia : meekren observat . med. chyrur . 1682 : mereti pinax : plateri observat . med. peonis & pythagor . exercit. anat. & med. 1682 : riverii institutiones : schroderi pharmacopeia : swalve quaerelae ventriculi : — alcali & acidum : tilingii lilium curiosum , 1683 : tilingii prodromus , med . versaschae observat . med . wepferi de apoplexia : witten memoria medicor . zypaei fundamenta med , 1683 : twelves . barthol . de ovariis : — de unicornu : — de pulmonum substantia : beughen bibliographia med. & physica , 1682 : barbetti chyrurgia : — praxis cum notis deckerii : beguini tyrocinium chymicum : comelini catalogus plantarum , 1682 : drelincourt praeludium anat. guiuri arcanum acidular . 1682 : glissoni opuscula , 3 vol. van helmont . fundamenta med. 1682 : hoffmanus de usu lienis , &c. 1682 : harvey de gener. animal . — de motu cordis : kirckring . in basil valent. currum triumph . kunckelii observat . chymiae , 1681 : le mort compendium chymicum , 1682 : mauro cordatus de motu pulmonum , 1682. macasii promptuarium materiae med. matthaei experimenta chymica , 1683 : muis praxis chyrurgica duabus partibus , 1684. morelli methodus perscribendi formulas remedior . primerose ars pharmac . pecket anatomia : redus de insectis : reidimi observ . med . rivinus de peste lipsiensi . 1680 : smitzii compena . med . 1682 : stockhameri microcosmographia , 1682 : verlae anat. oculi : vigani medulla chymiae : advertisement . that these above mentioned books in physick and chymistry , with many other forreign books , are sold by samuel smith , at the prince's arms in st. pauls church-yard ; and that he will furnish himself with much variety of new books in that kind , from time to time , as they shall come from franckfort mart ; and likewise he can procure such other books for gentlemen , which perhaps are not to be met with here , from his correspondents , if to be had , beyond sea. books printed for , and sold by samuel smith . the philosophical transactions published by the royal society monthly , beginning january 1683 : the whole art of the stage , &c. translated out of french : in quarto , 1684 price 5. s. a new history of ethiopia , being a full and accurate description of the kingdom of abessinia , vulgarly though erroneously , called the empire of prester john in four books ( illustrated with many copper plates ) and also a new and exact map of the countrey , and a preface shewing the usefulness of this history ; with the life of gregorius abba , &c. by the learned job ludolphus councellour to his imperial majesty and the dukes of saxony , and treasurer to his highness , the elector palatine , in fol. 1684. price 12. s. guideon's fleece , or a vindication of the colledge of physicians , in answer to a book intituled the conclave of physicians . by dr. harvey , in quarto , 1684. pr. 6. d. an anatomical account of an elephant which was lately dissected in dublin , june 17 , in the year 1681. by a. m. med. of trinity colledge near dublin , illustrated with cuts , in quarto , 1682. price 1. s. swammerdami ( johan . ) amst . m. d. miraculum naturae . in octavo . the true method of curing consumptions . by s. h. med. d. 1683. price 1. s. a discourse about bagnio's , and mineral baths , and of the drinking of spaw water , with an account of the medicinal vertues of them , and also shewing the usefulness of sweating , rubbing , and bathing , and the great benefit many have received from them in various distempers . by s. h. med. doct. 1683. price 1. s. miracles , works above and contrary to nature ; or an answer to a late translation out of spinosa's tractatus theologice-politicus , mr. hobs leviathan , &c. in quarto , 1683. price 1. s. a treatise of self examination , in order to the worthy receiving the holy communion . by monsieur john claude minister of the reformed church at paris : translated from the french original , in twelves , 1683. price 1 s. protestancy to be embraced ; or a new and infallible method to reduce romanists from popery to protestancy . by dr. abercromby , m. d. in twelves , 1683. pr. 1. s. the art of divine converse , being a new years-gift , directing how to walk with god all the year long , ( by the same author ) in twelves , price 6 d. the councils of wisdom , or the maxims of solomon , in twelves , 1683. pr. 1 s. the ten pleasures of marriage . in twelves . the dutch rogue , or gusman of amsterdam , traced from the cradle to the gallow's , 1683. in twelves . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28998-e2810 of this salt see the notes referr'd to the 22d title . notes for div a28998-e5550 a the usefulness of experimental philosophy . a see the viii . title . a about the mechanical origine or production of qualities . see the producibility of chymical principles . spiritus vitae n. 16. pag. m. 122. the christian virtuoso shewing that by being addicted to experimental philosophy, a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good christian / by t.h.r.b., fellow of the royal society ; to which are subjoyn'd, i. a discourse about the distinction that represents some things as above reason, but not contrary to reason, ii. the first chapters of a discourse entituled, greatness of mind promoted by christianity, by the same author. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1690 approx. 239 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 120 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28945 wing b3931 estc r19536 12258621 ocm 12258621 57680 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28945) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57680) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 172:8) the christian virtuoso shewing that by being addicted to experimental philosophy, a man is rather assisted than indisposed to be a good christian / by t.h.r.b., fellow of the royal society ; to which are subjoyn'd, i. a discourse about the distinction that represents some things as above reason, but not contrary to reason, ii. the first chapters of a discourse entituled, greatness of mind promoted by christianity, by the same author. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. reflections upon a theological distinction. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. greatness of mind promoted by christianity. [20], 120, [4], 35, [2], 57 p. printed by edw. jones for john taylor ... and john wyat ..., in the savoy : 1690. "reflections upon a theological distinction" and "greatness of mind promoted by christianity" each has special t.p. first ed., 2nd issue. cf. nuc pre-1956. the second part of the christian virtuoso never published. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng philosophy and religion -early works to 1800. faith and reason -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-03 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-03 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the christian virtuoso : in two parts . tome i. the christian virtuoso : shewing , that by being addicted to experimental philosophy , a man is rather assisted , than indisposed , to be a good christian . the first part. by t. h. r. b. fellow of the royal society . to which are subjoyn'd , i. a discourse about the distinction , that represents some things as above reason , but not contrary to reason . ii. the first chapters of a discourse , entituled , greatness of mind promoted by christianity . by the same avthor . in the savoy : printed by edw. jones , for john taylor at the ship , and john wyat at the golden-lion , in st. paul's church-yard , 1690. the preface . when , many years ago , i was induced to write something about the subject of the following treatise ; i did it , partly to give some satisfaction to a friend , and partly to impose upon myself an obligation , to consider the more attentively upon what grounds it may be asserted , that there is no inconsistence between a man's being an industrious virtuoso , and a good christian . how little fond i was of troubling the publick with a discourse of this nature , may be guessed by my having thrown it aside , among other neglected papers , for several years . and it had still continued in that obscurity , if the , formerly unprevalent , desires of those that would have it appear in publick , had not been enforced by an observation or two , that i could not but make . for i could scarce avoid taking notice of the great and deplorable growth of irreligion , especially among those that aspired to pass for wits , and several of them too for philosophers . and on the other side , it was obvious , that divers learned men , as well as others , partly upon the score of their abhorrence of these infidels and libertines , and partly upon that of a well-meaning , but ill-informed , zeal , had brought many good men to think , that religion and philosophy were incompatible ; both parties contributing to the vulgar error , but with this difference , that the libertines thought a virtuoso ought not to be a christian ; and the others , that he could not be a true one. 't is like , it may seem to some readers , that i have too much enlarged the notion of experience , and too much insisted on the proofs deducible from that topick : but 't is not improbable , that others may approve the reasons , with which that ample notion of experience is , where it is proposed , accompanied . and the ingenious person , i was chiefly to please , being a great lover and valuer of experience , and of arguments grounded on it , the desire of gratifying him enticed me to say so much , that when i took up the thoughts of making this treatise publick , i found the effects of my complaisance so interwoven with the other parts of the discourse , that i could not make any great alteration , ( for some i did make ) without almost spoiling the contexture of it . i hope the equitable reader will not expect to find every subject , of which i have occasion to discourse , fully treated of : for i neither designed nor pretended to write a body of natural theology , nor a demonstration of the christian religion ; but thought it sufficient for me , to consider the points i wrote of , as far forth as was necessary , or very conducive , to my purpose . and therefore i thought myself , not only warranted , but obliged , ( in point of discretion ) to decline the mention of several arguments and reflections , that would indeed have been very proper , if my design had been , to shew , why one should be a christian ; but impertinent , to shew , that a virtuoso , while such , may be a true christian . but , as for this reason , i omitted many things , that would have enrich'd or adorn'd my discourse ; so i have endeavoured to make some amends , both by suggesting some new subjects , and by adding on those that have been already treated of by others , divers thoughts , into which i was led by the attentive consideration of the subject itself ; on which score , they may probably not have yet occurr'd to the reader , and may appear to him , either to be new , as to the substance ; or , if any of them be coincident with the more known ones , to have something of peculiar , as to the way of propounding , or of applying , them . and , i confess , i was somewhat encouraged to communicate my thoughts on these subjects , by considering , that ( thô is ought not to be so , yet ) 't is notorious , that in the age we live in , there are too many persons that are like to be found more indisposed to be impress'd on by arguments , in favour of religion , from profess'd divines , how worthy soever , than from such as i , who am a lay-man , and have been look'd upon as no undiligent cultivator of experimental philosophy . and that the style might not be unsuitable to the writer , and the design ; i thought fit , in my arguments and illustrations , both to employ comparisons drawn from telescopes , microscopes , &c. and to make frequent use of notions , hypotheses , and observations , in request among those , that are called the new philosophers . which i the rather did ; because some experience has taught me , that such a way of proposing and elucidating things , is , either as most clear , or , upon the account of its novelty , wont to be more acceptable , than any other , to our modern virtuosi ; whom thus to gratify , is a good step towards the persuading of them . for 't is easie to observe , that some men are more accessible to truth , and will be more prevailed upon by it , when it is presented to them in one dress , than when it appears in another : as we daily see , that some persons will be more easily prevailed with to take a medicine , and that it will have a more kindly operation upon them , if it be exhibited in that form and consistence , that is best lik'd by the patients ; whereof some love to have the ingredients , the medicine is to consist of , offer'd them in a liquid , others in a soft , and others in a dry , form. though i am wont , as well as inclinable to spare the present age ; and though my censures of some reputed virtuosi that live in it , are written with as harmless and friendly designs , as was the seeming rudeness of the angel to st. peter , when he struck him on the side , and hastily rouzed him , but to awake him , to take off his chains , and to free him from the dangers that threatned him ; yet i shall be more troubled than surprized , if i shall find the following treatise disliked by divers persons , that would pass for virtuosi , and by some that really are so . for some men , that have but superficial , thô conspicuous , wits , are not fitted to penetrate such truths , as require a lasting and attentive speculation ; and divers , that want not abilities , are so taken up by their secular affairs , and their sensual pleasures , that they neither have disposition , nor will have leisure , to discover those truths , that require both an attentive and penetrating mind . and more than of either of these sorts of men there are , whom their prejudices do so forestal , or their interest byas , or their appetites blind , or their passions discompose , too much , to allow them a clear discernment , and right judgment , of divine things . upon which , and other accounts , i shall not think it strange , if what i write shall make no great impression on readers thus qualified , whom to convert , 't is not enough to convince them : nor shall i be greatly discouraged , or think much the worse of my arguments , if they do not make proselytes of those , whom sinister considerations make such resolved adversaries to the truth , that he alone , that can preach from heaven , is able to prevail upon them ; and they must be converted , almost as saul the persecutor was , by an extraordinary light from heaven , and a power able to strike them to the ground . but though i am not so little acquainted with the present age , as to expect to plead for religion with the approbation of atheists , or of libertines , yet i shall not think my pains altogether mispent , if what i have written , either startle any irreligious reader so far , as to engage him to consult abler assertors of christianity and virtue , than i pretend to be ; or else prove so happy , as to confirm and strengthen , by new arguments and motives , those that have heartily embraced the christian faith and morals , though perhaps not upon the firmest grounds . for it will be no small satisfaction to me , if , though i cannot convert the resclvedly irreligious , i shall at least furnish those that are not so , with preservatives against them , and hinder their impiety from being contagious . but i fear , that those that are enemies , both to the doctrines i propose , and to the aims i persue , will not be the only persons that will find fault with the following tract ; since , perhaps , there will not be wanting some ingenious men , that expected , as well as desired , that i should never write but as a naturalist , because they themselves esteem nothing , save the laws and phoenomena of nature , to be subjects worthy of a philosophical pen : as if , because rational spirits are invisible and immaterial . beings , all disquisitions about them must be airy and uncertain speculations , and , like their objects , devoid of solidity and usefulness . but though among these ingenious men there are several , whose expectations from me i am much more disposed to gratify , than disappoint ; yet , on such an occasion as this , i must take the liberty to own , that i do not think the corporeal world , nor the present state of things , the only or the principal subjects , that an inquisitive man's pen may be worthily employed about ; and , that there are some things that are grounded , neither upon mechanical , nor upon chymical , notices or experiments , that are yet far from deserving to be neglected , and much less to be despised , or so much as to be left uncultivated , especially by such writers , as being more concerned to act as christians , than as virtuosi , must also think , that sometimes they may usefully busy themselves about the study of divine things , as well as at other times employ their thoughts about the inspection of natural ones . there are some objects , whose nobleness is such , that , though we derive no advantage from them , but the contentment of knowing them , and that but very imperfectly too ; yet our virtuosi themselves justly think much pains and time , and , perhaps , cost too , well spent in endeavouring to acquire some conjectural knowledge of them : as may be instanced in the assiduous and industrious researches they have made about the remote coelestial part of the world , especially the stars and comets that our age has exposed to their curiosity . for most of these , though they require chargeable telescopes , and tedious , as well as unhealthy , nocturnal observations , are objects , of which we can know very little with any certainty ; and which , for ought appears , we can make no useful experiments with . since therefore we so much prize a little knowledge , of things that are not only corporeal , but inanimate ; methinks we should not undervalue the studies of those men , that aspire to the knowledge of incorporeal and rational beings , which are incomparably more noble , than all the stars in the world , which are , as far as we know , but masses of senseless and stupid matter . since also the virtuosi deservedly applaud and cherish the laborious industry of anatomists , in their enquiries into the structure of dead , ghastly , and oftentimes unhealthfully as well as offensively foetid , bodies : can it be an employment improper for a christian virtuoso , or unworthy of him , to endeavour the discovery of the nature and faculties of the rational mind ; which is that , that enobles its mansion , and gives man the advantage he has of the beasts that perish ? i am content , that merely natural philosophy should often employ my thoughts , and my pen ; but i cannot consent it should engross them , and hinder me from being conversant with theological subjects . and since , among my friends , i have some , ( and those not inconsiderable for their number , and much less for their merit , ) that press me to treat of religious matters , as well as others , that would have me addict myself to cultivate physical ones ; i , who think myself a debtor to both these sorts , am willing to endeavour to gratify both ; and having already , on many occasions , presented the later sort with large , as well as publick , effects of my complaisance for them , i hope , they will not think it strange , that i should now and then have regard to the former sort , too ; especially , since i had higher motives , than complaisance ought to be , to induce me to treat sometimes of things that might be grateful to those friends , that are much so to religious composures . i presume , it will be taken notice of , that , in the following treatise , as well as in divers of my other writings , especially about subjects that are purely , or partly , philosophical ; i make frequent use of similitudes , or comparisons : and therefore i think myself here obliged to acknowledge , once for all , that i did it purposely . and my reasons for this practise , were , not only because fit comparisons are wont to delight most readers , and to make the notions , they convey , better kept in memory ; whence the best orators and preachers have made great and successful use of metaphors , allegories , and other resemblances ; but i was induced to employ them chiefly for two other reasons : 1. that though i freely confess , that arbitrary similitudes , and likewise those that are foreign to the subject treated of , such as are most of the vulgar ones , that are usually borrowed from the fictions of the poets , and from the uncertain , and often ill-applied , relations of pliny , aelian , and other too frequently fabulous writers , are scarce fit to be made use of but to vulgar readers , or popular auditories ; yet comparisons fitly chosen , and well applied , may , on many occasions , usefully serve to illustrate the notions for whose sake they are brought , and , by placing them in a true light , help men to conceive them far better , than otherwise they would do . and , 2. apposite comparisons do not only give light , but strength , to the passages they belong to , since they are not always bare pictures and resemblances , but a kind of arguments ; being oftentimes , if i may so call them , analogous instances , which do declare the nature , or way of operating , of the thing they relate to , and by that means do in a sort prove , that , as 't is possible , so it is not improbable , that the thing may be such as 't is represented : and therefore , not only the illustrious verulam , though not more a florid , than a iudicious , writer , has , much to the satisfaction of his readers , frequently made use of comparisons , in whose choice , and application , he was very happy ; but that severe philosopher monsieur des cartes himself somewhere says , that he scarce thought , that he understood any thing in physiques , but what he could declare by some apt similitude ; of which , in effect , he has many in his writings ; [ as , where he compares the particles of fresh water , to little eels ; and the corpuscles of salt in the sea-water , to little rigid staves ; and where , after the stoicks , he compares the sense of objects by the intervention of light , to the sense that a blind man hath of stones , mud , &c. by the intervention of his staff. ] to which i shall add , that proper comparisons do the imagination almost as much service , as microscopes do the eye ; for , as this instrument gives us a distinct view of divers minute things , which our naked eyes cannot well discern ; because these glasses represent them far more large , than by the bare eye we judge them ; so a skilfully chosen , and well-applied , comparison much helps the imagination , by illustrating things scarce discernible , so as to represent them by things much more familiar and easy to be apprehended . i confess , i might , on some occasions , have spoken , not only more positively , and boldly ; but , as to many learned readers , more acceptably , if i would have discoursed altogether like a cartesian , or as a partizan of some other modern sect of philosophizers . but , besides that , i am not minded to give myself up to any sect , i thought it convenient , that a discourse , designed to work on persons of differing persuasions about philosophical matters , should not declare itself dogmatically , or unreservedly , of a party , but employ rather the dictates of reason , or principles either granted , or little contested , than proceed upon the peculiar principles of a distinct party of philosophizers . if now and then i have insisted upon some particular subjects , more than appears absolutely necessary , i did it , because that , though i wrote this treatise chiefly for my friends , yet i did not write it for them only ; but was willing to lay hold on some of the occasions that the series of my discourse offered me , to excite in myself those dispositions that i endeavoured to produce in others : and , by insisting upon some reflections , impress them more deeply upon my own mind ; especially when i was treating of some points , either so important , or so opposed , or both , that they can scarce be too much inculcated . the name of the person , to whom the following papers were address'd , not being necessary to be made publick ; some reasons made it thought convenient , that it should remain unmentioned . postscript . to give an account of the prolixity , that some might otherwise censure , of the foregoing preface , i must advertise the reader , that 't is of an ancient date , and that the first part of the treatise , that it belongs to , was already written , and 't was then designed , that the second part should accompany it to the press : on which score 't was presumed , that , as the particulars that make up the preamble would not appear superfluous , in regard of the variety of subjects to be treated of ; so , its length would scarce be found disproportionate to the bulk of the whole designed book . the christian virtuoso : shewing , that by being addicted to experimental philosophy , a man is rather assisted , than in disposed , to be a good christian . the first part. sir , i perceive by what you intimate , that your friends , dr. w. and mr. n. think it very strange , that i , whom they are pleas'd to look upon as a diligent cultivater of experimental philosophy , should be a concern'd embracer of the christian religion ; tho' divers of its articles are so far from being objects of sense , that they are thought to be above the sphere of reason . but , tho' i presume they may find many objects of the like wonder , among those with whom i am compriz'd by them , under the name of the new virtuosi ; and among these , they may meet with divers persons more able than i , to ease them of their wonder ; yet , since they are pleas'd by singling me out , as it were to challenge me to do it , i shall endeavour to make them think it at least less strange , that a great esteem of experience , and a high veneration for religion , should be compatible in the same person . wherefore i shall not deny , that i am now and then busied in devising , and putting in practice , tryals of several sorts , and making reflections upon them : and i own too , that ( about natural things ) i have a great reverence for experience , in comparison of authority . but withal , i declare , that to embrace christianity , i do not think i need to recede from the value and kindness i have for experimental philosophy , any thing near so far as your friends seem to imagin . and i hope it will appear , that , if the experimental way of philosophising i am addicted to , have any things in it that indispose a man to assent to the truth , and live according to the laws , of the christian religion ; those few things are more than countervail'd by the peculiar advantages , that it affords a man of a well-dispos'd mind , towards the being a good christian . i said , a man of a well-dispos'd mind ; that is , one , that is both docile , and inclin'd to make pious applications of the truths he discovers ; because such a qualification of mind , i hope , god , through his goodness , has vouchsaf'd me ; and the occasion given by your friends to the following discourse , relating peculiarly to me , a personal account of my opinions , and reasons of them , ought to suffice . and 't will be ex abundanti , ( as they speak , ) if my discourse be found , as it often will be , to extend much farther . which reflection , i desire you would frequently have in your thoughts , to prevent mistaking the design of the following epistle . i doubt not , but the popular prejudices , that i perceive your two friends , among many other more devout than well-inform'd persons , have entertain'd , will make them think , that what i have now deliver'd needs good proof , and perhaps better than it is capable of . and therefore i hope you will easily allow me the liberty , i am going to take , of briefly premising some things , to clear the way for the principal points , design'd to be discours'd of in this letter . i know you need not be told , that the philosophy ▪ which is most in request among the modern virtuosi , and which by some is call'd the new , by others the corpuscularian , by others the real , by others ( tho' not so properly ) the atomical , and by others again the cartesian , or the mechanical , philosophy ; is built upon two foundations , reason and experience . but it may not be impertinent to observe to you , that although the peripatetick , and some other philosophies , do also pretend to be grounded upon reason and experience ; yet there is a great difference betwixt the use that is made of these two principles , by the school-philosophers , and by the virtuosi . for those , in the framing of their system , make but little use of experience ; contenting themselves for the most part to employ but few and obvious experiments , and vulgar traditions , usually uncertain , and oftentimes false ; and superstructing almost their whole physicks upon abstracted reason ; by which , i mean , the rational faculty endowed but with its own congenit or common notions and idea's , and with popular notices ; that is , such as are common among men , especially those that are any thing learned . but now , the virtuosi i speak of , and by whom , in this whole discourse , i mean those , that understand and cultivate experimental philosophy , make a much greater and better use of experience in their philosophical researches . for they consult experience both frequently and heedfully ; and , not content with the phaenomena that nature spontaneously affords them , they are solicitous , when they find it needful , to enlarge their experience by tryals purposely devis'd ; and ever and anon reflecting upon it , they are careful to conform their opinions to it ; or , if there be just cause , reform their opinions by it . so that our virtuosi have a peculiar right to the distinguishing title that is often given them , of experimental philosophers . i can scarce doubt , but your friends have more than once oblig'd you to take notice , of the prophane discourses and licentious lives of some virt●…osi , that boast much of the principles of the new philosophy . and i deny not , but that , if the knowledge of nature falls into the hands of a resolved atheist , or a sensual libertine , he may misemploy it to oppugn the grounds , or discredit the practice , of religion . but it will fare much otherwise , if a deep insight into nature be acquir'd by a man of probity and ingenuity , or at least free from prejudices and vices , that may indispose him to entertain and improve those truths of philosophy , that would naturally lead him to sentiments of religion . for , if a person thus qualify'd in his morals , and thereby dispos'd to make use of the knowledge of the creatures to confirm his belief , and encrease his veneration , of the creator , ( and such a person i here again advertise you , and desire you would not forget it , i suppose the virtuoso this paper is concern'd in , to be ) shall make a great progress in real philosophy ; i am perswaded , that nature will be found very loyal to her author , and in stead of alienating his mind from making religious acknowledgments , will furnish him with weighty and uncommon motives , to conclude such sentiments to be highly rational and just . on which occasion , i must not pretermit that judicious observation of one of the first and greatest experimental philosophers of our age , ( sir francis bacon ) that god never wrought a miracle to convince atheists ; because in his visible works he had plac'd enough to do it , if they were not wanting to themselves . the reason he gives for which remark , i shall confirm , by observing , that 't is intimated in a passage of st. paul , asserting both that the invisible things of god are clearly seen from the creation of the world , as tokens and effects , ( as i remember the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the greek doth elsewhere signify , ) and that his divinity and eternal power may be so well understood by the things that are made , that the gentiles , who had but the light of nature to lead them to the acknowledgment of the true god , were excuseless , for not being brought by that guide to that acknowledgment . and indeed , the experimental philosophy giving us a more clear discovery , than strangers to it have , of the divine excellencies display'd in the fabrick and conduct of the universe , and of the creatures it consists of , very much indisposeth the mind , to ascribe such admirable effects to so incompetent and pitiful a cause as blind chance , or the tumultuous justlings of atomical portions of senseless matter ; and leads it directly to the acknowledgment and adoration of a most intelligent , powerful and benign author of things , to whom alone such excellent productions may , with the greatest congruity , be ascrib'd . and therefore , if any of the cultivaters of real philosophy pervert it to countenance atheism , 't is certainly the fault of the persons , not the doctrine ; which is to be judg'd of by it's own natural tendency , not by the ill use that some bad men may make of it ; especially if the prevaricating persons are but pretenders to the philosophy they misemploy ; which character will perhaps be found to belong to most , if not all , the atheistical and prophane men , the objection means . for most of these do as little understand the mysteries of nature , as believe those of christianity ; and of divers of them it may be truly said , that their sensuality , and lusts , and passions , darken'd and seduc'd their intellects : their immorality was the original cause of their infidelity ; nor were they led by philosophy to irreligion , but got and perverted some smattering of philosophy , to countenance the irreligious principles , they brought with them to the study of it . but all this notwithstanding , i fear , if not foresee , that you will surmise , that the study of natural philosophy , how innocent soever it may be in it self , will , in this libertine city , engage me to converse with many , who , tho' they pass for virtuosi , are indeed atheists ; whose contagious company must endanger , if not infect , me . this obliges me to tell you , that tho' i have no reason to take it at all unkindly , that you are jealous of me on the score of being solicitous for my safety ; yet i hope my danger is not so great as you may apprehend it . for first , i must own to you , that i do not think there are so many speculative atheists , as men are wont to imagin . and tho' my conversation has been pretty free and general among naturalists , yet i have met with so few true atheists , that i am very apt to think , that men's want of due information , or their uncharitable zeal , has made them mistake or misrepresent many for denyers of god , that are thought such , chiefly because they take uncommon methods in studying his works , and have other sentiments of them , than those of vulgar philosophers . and in the next place i must tell you , that having , through the goodness of god , chosen my religion , not inconsiderately , but upon mature deliberation ; i do not find those virtuosi , you call atheists , such formidable adversaries , as those that are afraid to hear them , do , by that apprehension , appear to think them . and indeed , i have observ'd the physical arguments of the atheists to be but very few , and those far enough from being unanswerable . and as for the very chief of them , tho' they are wont to puzzle such as are not vers'd in nice speculations , because they represent the assertion of a deity , as a doctrine encumber'd with inextricable difficulties ; yet i do not think the objections solidly grounded , since the same difficulties , or others not inferior , may be urg'd against those hypotheses and principles , that the deniers of god do or must admit . and indeed , most of the perplexing difficulties the atheists lay so much stress on , do not proceed from any absurdity contained in the tenent of the theists , but from the nature of things ; that is , partly from the dimness and other imperfections of our human understandings , and partly from the abstruse nature , that , to such bounded intellects , all objects must appear to have , in whose conception infinity is involv'd ; whether that object be god , or atoms , or duration , or some other thing that is uncausable . for , however we may flatter our selves , i fear we shall find , upon strict and impartial tryal , that finite understandings are not able clearly to resolve such difficulties , as exact a clear comprehension of what is really infinite . but to persue this discourse , would lead us too far . and 't is more fit , after so much has been said concerning not only the design of this tract , but the new philosophy , the virtuosi , and my self ; to proceed to those more particular things , that directly tend to the main scope of our epistle . the first advantage , that our experimental philosopher , as such , hath towards being a christian , is ▪ that his course of studies conduceth much , to settle in his mind a firm belief of the existence , and divers of the chief ▪ attributes , of god : which belief , is , in the order of things , the first principle of that natural religion , which it self is pre-required to reveal'd religion in general , and consequently to that in particular , which is embrac'd by christians . that the consideration of the vastness , beauty , and regular motions , of the heavenly bodies ; the excellent structure of animals and plants ; besides a multitude of other phaenomena of nature , and the subserviency of most of these to man ; may justly induce him , as a rational creature , to conclude , that this vast , beautiful , orderly , and ( in a word ) many ways admirable system of things , that we call the world , was fram'd by an author supremely powerful , wise , and good , can scarce be deny'd by an intelligent and unprejudic'd considerer . and this is strongly confirm'd by experience , which witnesseth , that in almost all ages and countries , the generality of philosophers , and contemplative men , were persuaded of the existence of a deity , by the consideration of the phaenomena of the universe ; whose fabrick and conduct they rationally concluded could not be deservedly ascrib'd , either to blind chance , or to any other cause than a divine being . but , tho' it be true , that god hath not left himself without witness , even to perfunctory considerers ; by stamping upon divers of the more obvious parts of his workmanship , such conspicuous impressions of his attributes , that a moderate degree of understanding , and attention , may suffice to make men acknowledg his being ; yet , i scruple not to think , that assent very much inferior to the belief , that the same objects are fitted to produce in an heedful and intelligent contemplator of them : for the works of god are so worthy of their author , that , besides the impresses of his wisdom , and goodness , that are left as it were upon their surfaces ; there are a great many more curious and excellent tokens , and effects , of divine artifice , in the hidden and innermost recesses of them ; and these are not to be discovered by the perfunctory looks of oscitant or unskilful beholders ; but require , as well , as deserve , the most attentive and prying inspection of inquisitive and well-instructed considerers . and sometimes in one creature , there may be i know not how many admirable things , that escape a vulgar eye , and yet may be clearly discern'd by that of a true naturalist ; who brings with him , besides a more than common curiosity and attention , a competent knowledge of anatomy , opticks , cosmography , mechanicks , and chymistry . but treating elsewhere purposely of this subject , it may here suffice to say , that god has couch'd so many things in his visible works , that the clearer light a man has , the more he may discover of their unobvious exquisiteness , and the more clearly and distinctly he may discern those qualities that lye more obvious . and the more wonderful things he discovers in the works of nature , the more auxiliary proofs he meets with to establish and enforce the argument , drawn from the universe and its parts , to evince that there is a god : which is a proposition of that vast weight and importance , that it ought to endear every thing to us , that is able to confirm it , and afford us new motives to acknowledge and adore the divine author of things . in reference to this matter , we may confidently say , that the experimental philosophy has a great advantage of the scholastick . for in the peripatetick schools , where things are wont to be ascrib'd to certain substantial forms , and real qualities ; ( the former of which are acknowledg'd to be very abstruse and mysterious things , and the later are many of them confessedly occult ; ) the accounts of natures works may be easily given in a few words , that are general enough to be applicable to almost all occasions . but these uninstructive terms do neither oblige , nor conduct , a man to deeper searches into the structure of things , nor the manner of being produc'd , and of operating upon one another . and consequently , are very insufficient to disclose the exquisite wisdom , which the omniscient maker has express'd in the peculiar fabricks of bodies , and the skilfully regulated motions of them , or of their constituent parts : from the discernment of which things , nevertheless , it is , that there is , by way of result , produc'd in the mind of an intelligent contemplator , a strong conviction of the being of a divine opificer , and a just acknowledgment of his admirable wisdom . to be told , that an eye is the organ of sight , and that this is perform'd by that faculty of the mind , which from its function is call'd visive ; will give a man but a sorry account of the instruments and manner of vision it self , or of the knowledge of that opificer , who , as the scripture speaks , form'd the eye . and he that can take up with this easy theory of vision , will not think it necessary to take the pains to dissect the eyes of animals , nor study the books of mathematicians , to understand vision ; and accordingly , will have but mean thoughts of the contrivance of the organ , and the skill of the artificer , in comparison of the idea's that will be suggested of both of them , to him that , being profoundly skill'd in anatomy and opticks , by their help takes asunder the several coats , humours , and muscles , of which , that exquisite dioptrical instrument consists : and having separately consider'd the figure , size , consistence , texture , diaphaneity , or opacity , situation , and connexions , of each of them , and their coaptation in the whole eye , shall discover , by the help of the laws of opticks , how admirably this little organ is fitted , to receive the incident beams of light , and dispose them in the best manner possible , for compleating the lively representation of the almost infinitely various objects of sight . 't is easie for men to say in general terms , that the world is wisely fram'd ; but i doubt it often happens , that men confess , that the creatures are wisely made , rather because upon other grounds they believe god to be a wise agent , than because so slight an account as the school philosophy gives of particular creatures , convinces them of any divine wisdom in the creator . and tho' i am willing to grant , that some impressions of god's wisdom are so conspicuous , that ( as i lately intimated ) even a superficial philosopher may thence infer , that the author of such works must be a wise agent ; yet , how wise an agent he has in those works express'd himself to be , none but an experimental philosopher can well discern . and 't is not by a slight survey , but by a diligent and skilful scrutiny , of the works of god , that a man must be , by a rational and affective conviction , engag'd to acknowledge with the prophet , that the author of nature is wonderful in counsel , and excellent in working , isa . xxviii . 29. ii. after the existence of the deity , the next grand principle of natural religion , is , the immortality of the rational soul ; whose genuine consequence is , the belief and expectation of a future and everlasting state. for this important truth , divers arguments may be alledg'd , that may persuade a sober and well-disposed man to embrace it : but to convince a learned adversary , the strongest argument , that the light of nature supplies us with , seems to be that which is afforded by the real philosophy . for this teacheth us to form true and distinct notions of the body , and the mind ; and thereby manifests so great a difference in their essential attributes , that the same thing cannot be both . this it makes out more distinctly , by enumerating several faculties and functions of the rational soul ; such as , to understand , and that so , as to form conceptions of abstracted things , of universals , of immaterial spirits , and even of that infinitely perfect one , god himself : and also , to conceive , and demonstrate , that there are incommensurable lines , and surd numbers ; to make ratiocinations , and both cogent and concatenated inferences , about these things ; to express their intellectual notions , pro re natâ , by words or instituted signs , to other men ; to exercise free-will about many things ; and to make reflections on its own acts , both of intellect and will. for these and the like prerogatives , that are peculiar to the human mind , and superior to any thing that belongs to the outward senses , or to the imagination it self , manifest , that the rational soul is a being of an higher order , than corporeal ; and consequently , that the seat of these spiritual faculties , and the source of these operations , is a substance , that being in its own nature distinct from the body , is not naturally subject to dye or perish with it . and in reference to this truth , our virtuoso hath an advantage of a mere school-philosopher . for being acquainted with the true and real causes of putrefaction , and other physical kinds of corruption ; and thereby discerning , that the things that destroy bodies , are the avolation , or other recess , of some necessary parts , and such a depraving transposition of the component portions of matter , as is altogether incongruous to the structure and mechanical modification , that is essential to a body of that species , or kind , it belongs to : our naturalist , i say , knowing this , plainly perceives , that these causes of destruction can have no place in the rational soul ; which being an immaterial spirit , and consequently a substance not really divisible , can have no parts expell'd or transpos'd , and so being exempted from the physical causes of corruption that destroy bodies , she ought to last always . and being a rational creature , endow'd with internal principles of acting , as appears in free-will , she ought to live for ever , unless it please god to annihilate her ; which we have no reason to suppose he will do . but on the other side , the modern peripateticks ( for i question whether aristotle himself were of the same opinion ) maintain substantial forms , by some of them , styl'd semi-substantiae , to which in apes , elephants , and others , that pass for ingenious animals , they ascribe some such faculties and functions , as seem to differ but gradually from those of the rational soul ; and ( how innocent soever i grant their intentions to be ) their doctrine tends much to enervate , if not quite to disable , the chief physical way of probation , whence the immortality of man's mind is justly inferr'd . for since according to the peripateticks , substantial forms , are , as they speak , educ'd out of the power or potentiality of the matter ; and do so depend upon it , not only as to action , but as to being , that they cannot at all subsist without it : but when the particular body ( as an herb , a stone , or a bird , ) is destroy'd , they perish with it ; or , ( as some of them scarce intelligibly express the same thing ) fall back into the basom of the matter : i think they give great advantage to atheists , and cavillers , to impugn the minds immortality . for if to an ape , or other brute animal , there belongs a being more noble than matter , that can actuate and inform it , and make it self the architect of its own mansion , tho' so admirable as that of an ape , or an elephant ; if this being can in the body it hath fram'd , perform all the functions of a vegetable soul ; and besides those , see , hear , tast , smell , imagin , infer , remember , love , hate , fear , hope , expect , &c. and yet be a mortal thing , and perish with the body : 't will not be difficult for those enemies of religion , who are willing to think the soul mortal , because their brutish lives make them wish she were , to fancy , that human minds are but a somewhat more noble , but not for that less mortal , kind of substantial forms ; as amongst sensitive souls themselves , which they acknowledge to be equally mortal , there is a great disparity in degrees , that of a monky , for instance , being very far superior to that of an oyster . iii. the third main principle of unreveal'd religion , and consequently of reveal'd , ( which presupposes natural religion , as it 's foundation ) is a belief of the divine providence . and in this grand article , as well as in the two foregoing , a man may be much confirm'd by experimental philosophy ; both as it affords him positive inducements to acknowledge the article , and as it shews the great improbability of the two main grounds , on one or other of which , ( for they are not well consistent ) is founded the denyal of god's providence . a virtuoso , that by manifold and curious experiments searches deep into the nature of things , has great and peculiar advantages , to discover and observe the excellent fabrick of the world , as 't is an immense aggregate of the several creatures that compose it ; and to take notice in its particular parts , especially those that are animated , of such exquisite contrivances , and such admirable coordinations , and subordinations , in reference to each other , as lie hid from those beholders that are not both attentive and skilful . when our virtuoso contemplates the vastness , scarce conceivable swiftness , and yet constant regularity , of the various motions , of the sun , moon , and other celestial lights : when he considers how the magnetism of the earth makes its poles constantly look the same way , notwithstanding the motions of its fluid vortex ; how by daily turning about its own center in four and twenty hours , it receives as much light , and benefit from the sun , and all the glorious constellations of the firmament , as if they , with all the vast heavenly region they belong to , mov'd about it in the same time ; how by its situation among them , it enjoys the regular vicissitudes of day and night , summer and winter , &c. how the several parts of the sublunary world are mutually subservient to one another , and most of them ( one way or other ) serviceable to man ; how excellently the bodies of animals are contriv'd ; what various and congruous provision is made for differing animals , that they may subsist as long as they should , according to the institution of nature , by furnishing them , according to their respective natures , some with strength to take their food by force , others with industry to procure it by subtilty ; some with arms , as horns , hoofs , scales , tusks , poysons , stings , &c. to defend themselves , and offend their enemies ; some with wings or swiftness to fly from dangers ; some with foresight to prevent them ; some with craft , and perhaps strange fetches of it , to elude them ; how being distinguish'd into two sexes , each of these is furnish'd with apposite organs , for the propagation of the species , and with skill and kindness to nourish and train up their young ones , till they can shift for themselves ; how admirable , and indeed astonishing , a process is gone through in the formation of the foetus ▪ , especially of a human one ; how divers animals are endowed with strange instincts , whose effects sometimes seem much to surpass those of reason it self ; tho' they are superadded to the mechanical structure of the animal , and argue a respect to things very remote from it , either in time , place , or both , and perhaps also to the grand fabrick or system of the world , and the general oeconomy of nature . when , as i was saying , a philosopher duly reflects on these things , and many others of the like import , he will think it highly rational to infer from them these three conclusions . first , that a machine so immense , so beautiful , so well contriv'd , and , in a word , so admirable , as the world , cannot have been the effect of mere chance , or the tumultuous justlings and fortuitous concourse of atoms , but must have been produc'd by a cause , exceedingly powerful , wise , and beneficent . secondly , that this most potent author , and ( if i may so speak ) opificer of the world , hath not abandon'd a masterpiece so worthy of him , but does still maintain and preserve it ; so regulating the stupendiously swift motions of the great globes , and other vast masses of the mundane matter , that they do not , by any notable irregularity , disorder the grand system of the universe , and reduce it to a kind of chaos , or confus'd state of shuffl'd and deprav'd things . thirdly , that as it is not above the ability of the divine author of things , though a single being , to preserve and govern all his visible works , how great and numerous soever ; so he thinks it not below his dignity and majesty , to extend his care and beneficence to particular bodies , and even to the meanest creatures ; providing not only for the nourishment , but for the propagation , of spiders and ants themselves . and indeed , since the truth of this assertion , that god governs the world he has made , would appear ( if it did not by other proofs ) by the constancy , and regularity , and astonishingly rapid motions of the vast coelestial bodies , and by the long trains of as admirable , as necessary , artifices , that are employ'd to the propagation of various sorts of animals , ( whether viviparous , or oviparous ; ) i see not why it should be deny'd , that god's providence may reach to his particular works here below , especially to the noblest of them , man ; since most of those learned men that deny this , as derogatory to god's majesty and happiness , acknowledge , that at the first creation , or ( if they dislike that term ) formation of things ; the great author of them must not only have extended his care , to the grand system of the universe in general , but allow'd it to descend so low , as to contrive all the minute , and various parts , ( and even the most homely ones ) not only of greater and ( reputedly ) more perfect animals , as elephants , whales , and men ; but such small and abject ones , as flies , ants , fleas , &c. which being manifestly propagated by eggs laid by the female , cannot reasonably be thought the off-spring of putrefaction . whence i gather , as from matter of fact , that to be concern'd for the welfare , even of particular animals ; as it is agreeable to god's all-pervading wisdom , and exuberant beneficence ; so ( whatever men's vanity may make them surmise ) it is not truly derogatory to his adorable greatness and majesty . and on this occasion , i shall add , that since man is the noblest of god's visible works ; since very many of them seem made for his use ; since , even as an animal , he is ( as the psalmist truly speaks ) wonderfully made , and curiously , or artificially wrought ; and since god has both given him a rational mind , and endow'd it with an intellect , whereby he can contemplate the works of nature , and by them acquire a conviction of the existence , and divers attributes , of their supremely perfect author ; since god hath planted notions and principles in the mind of man , fit to make him sensible , that he ought to adore god , as the most perfect of beings , the supreme lord and governor of the world , the author of his own nature , and all his enjoyments : since all this , i say , is so , natural reason dictates to him , that he ought to express the sentiments he has for this divine being , by veneration of his excellencies ; by gratitude for his benefits ; by humiliation , in view of his greatness , and majesty ; by an awe of his justice ; by reliance on his power , and goodness , when he duly endeavours to serve and please him ; and , in short , by those several acts of natural religion , that reason shews to be suitable , and therefore due to those several divine attributes of his , which it has led us to the knowledge of . and here i shall take leave to add , that , from the cartesian principles , ( which you know are embrac'd , by a great part of the modern virtuosi ) i think , i may draw a double argument for divine providence . for first , according to the cartesians , all local motion ( which is , under god , the grand principle of all actions among things corporeal ) is adventitious to matter ; and was at first produc'd in it , and is still every moment continu'd and preserv'd immediately by god : whence may be inferr'd , that he concurs to the actions of each particular agent , ( as they are physical ; ) and consequently , that his providence reaches to all and every one of them . and secondly , the same cartesians believe the rational soul to be an immaterial substance , really distinct and separable from the body . whence i infer , that the divine providence extends to every particular man ; since when ever an embryo , or little human body form'd in the womb , is , by being duly organiz'd , fitted to receive a rational mind , god is pleas'd to create one , and unite it with that body . in which transaction , there seems to me a necessity of a direct and particular intervention of the divine power ; since i understand not , by what physical charm or spell an immaterial ▪ substance can be allur'd into this or that particular embryo , of many that are at the same time fitted to receive a human soul ; nor by what merely mechanical ty , or band , an immaterial substance can be so durably ( perhaps for 80 or 100 years ) joyn'd and united with a corporeal , in which it finds no parts , that it has organs to take hold of , and to which it can furnish no parts to be fasten'd upon by them . nor do i better conceive , how a mere body can produce pain , pleasure , &c. by its own mere action , or rather endeavour to act , on an immaterial spirit . nor will the force of all that has been said for god's special providence , be eluded , by saying , with some deists , that after the first formation of the universe , all things are brought to pass by the setled laws of nature . for tho' this be confidently , and not without colour , pretended ; yet , i confess , it does not satisfie me . for , beside the insuperable difficulty there is , to give an account of the first formation of things , which many ( especially aristotelian ) deists will not ascribe to god ; and besides that the laws of motion ▪ without which the present state and course of things could not be maintain'd , did not necessarily spring from the nature of matter , but depended upon the will of the divine author of things : besides this , i say , i look upon a law , as a moral , not a physical , cause , as being indeed but a notional thing , according to which ▪ an intelligent and free agent is bound to regulate its actions . but inanimate bodies are utterly incapable of understanding what a law is , or what it injoyns , or when they act conformably or unconformably to it ; and therefore the actions of inanimate bodies , which cannot incite or moderate their own actions , are produc'd by real power , not by laws ; tho' the agents , if intelligent , may regulate the exertions of their power by settled rules . iv. i have taken notice of two other accounts , upon which the experimental knowledge of god's works , may , in a well-dispos'd mind , conduce to establish the belief of his providence ; and therefore , tho' i shall not dwell long upon them , i must not altogether pretermit them . first then , when our virtuoso sees how many , and how various , and oftentimes how strange , and how admirable structures , instincts , and other artifices , the wise opificer hath furnish'd , even brutes and plants withal , to purchase and assimilate their food , to defend or otherwise secure themselves from hostile things , and ( to be short ) to maintain their lives , and propagate their species ; it will very much conduce to persuade him , that so wise an agent , who has at command so many differing and excellent methods and tools , to accomplish what he designs ; and does oftentimes actually employ them , for the preservation and welfare of beasts , and even of plants , can never want means to compass his most wise and just ends , in relation to mankind ; being able , by ways that we should never dream of , to execute his menaces , and fulfil his promises . but of these rare structures , instincts , and other methods , and , if i may so style some of them with reverence , stratagems and fetches of divine skill , that god is pleas'd to employ in the conduct of the visible world , especially animals , i have already elsewhere purposely discours'd , and therefore shall now proceed , and observe , in the second place , that , when we duly consider the very differing ends , to which many of god's particular works , especially those that are animated , seem design'd , in reference both to their own welfare , and the utility of man ; and with how much wisdom , and , i had almost said , care , the glorious creator has been pleas'd to supply them with means admirably fit for the attainment of these respective ends ; we cannot but think it highly probable , that so wise , and so benign a being , has not left his noblest visible creature , man , unfurnish'd with means to procure his own welfare , and obtain his true end , if he be not culpably wanting to himself . and since man is endowed with reason , which may convince him , ( of what neither a plant , nor brute animal is capable of knowing , namely ) that god is both his maker , and his continual benefactor ; since his reason likewise teacheth him , that upon both those accounts , besides others , god may justly expect and require worship and obedience from him ; since also the same rational faculty may persuade him , that it may well become the majesty and wisdom of god , as the sovereign rector of the world , t●… give a law to man , who is a rational creature , capable of understanding and obeying it , and thereby glorifying the author of it ; since , ( farthermore ) finding in his own mind ( if it be not deprav'd by vice , or lusts ) a principle that dict●●●●… to him , that he owes a veneration , and other suitable sentiments , to the divinely excellent author of his being , and his continual and munificent benefactor ; since , on these scores , his conscience will convince him of his obligation to all the essential duties of natural religion ; and since , lastly , his reason may convince him , that his soul is immortal , and is therefore capable , as well as desirous , to be everlastingly happy , after it has left the body ; he must in reason be strongly inclin'd to wish for a supernatural discovery of what god would have him believe and do. and therefore if , being thus prepared , he shall be very credibly informed , that god hath actually been pleas'd to discover , by supernatural revelation , ( what , by reason , without it , he can either not at all , or but rovingly , guess at ) what kind of worship and obedience will be most acceptable to him ; and to encourage ▪ man to both these , by explicite promises of that felicity , that man , without them , can but faintly hope for , he would be ready then thankfully to acknowledge , that this way of proceeding beseems the transcendent goodness of god , without derogating from his majesty and wisdom . and by these and the like reflections , whereof some were formerly intimated , a philosopher , that takes notice of the wonderful providence , that god descends to exercise for the welfare of inferiour and irrational creatures , will have an advantage above men not vers'd in the works and course of nature , to believe , upon the historical and other proofs that christianity offers , that god has actually vouchsafed to man , his noblest , and only rational visible creature , an explicite and positive law , enforc'd by threatning severe penalties to the stubborn transgressors ; and promising , to the sincere obeyers , rewards suitable to his own greatness and goodness . and thus the consideration of god's providence , in the conduct of things corporeal , may prove , to a well dispos'd contemplator , a bridge , whereon he may pass from natural to reveal'd religion . i have been the more particular and express , in what i have said about divine providence , because i did not find other writers had made it needless for me to do so : and i dwelt the longer upon the existence of the deity , and the immortality of the soul , that i might let you see , that i did not speak groundlesly or rashly , but that i had consider'd what i said , when i asserted , that the experimental philosophy might afford a well dispos'd mind considerable helps to natural religion . i find my self therefore now at liberty to proceed to farther considerations , and represent to you , that v. another thing , that disposes an experimentarian philosopher to embrace religion , is , that his genius and course of studies accustoms him to value and delight in abstracted truths ; by which term , i here mean such truths , as do not at all , or do but very little , gratifie mens ambition , sensuality , or other inferiour passions and appetites . for , whereas the generality of those that are averse from religion are enclin'd to be so , upon this account , ( among others ) that they have a contempt or undervaluation of all truths , that do not gratifie their passions or interests ; he that is addicted to knowledge experimental , is accustom'd both to persue , esteem , and relish many truths , that do not delight his senses , or gratifie his passions , or his interests , but only entertain his understanding with that manly and spiritual satisfaction , that is naturally afforded it by the attainment of clear and noble truths , which are its genuine objects and delights . and tho' i grant , that the discoveries made by the help of physical or mechanical experiments , are not , for the most part , of kin to religion ; yet , besides that some of them do manifestly conduce to establish or illustrate natural theology , which is that , ( as , tho' noted already , deserves to be inculcated ) which reveal'd religion , and consequently that of christians , must be founded on , or must suppose : besides this , i say , we may argue à fortiori , that he , that is accustomed to prize truths of an inferior kind , because they are truths , will be much more dispos'd to value divine truths , which are of a much higher and nobler order , and of an inestimable and eternal advantage . vi. there is another thing , that is too pertinent to the main scope of this discourse to be here pretermitted : and it is , that both the temper of mind , that makes a man most proper to be a virtuoso , and the way of philosophising , he chiefly employ's , conduce much to give him a sufficient , and yet well grounded and duly limited , docility ; which is a great disposition to the entertainment of reveal'd religion . in the vulgar and superficial philosophy , wherein a man is allowed to think , that he has done his part well enough , when he has ascrib'd things to a substantial form , or to nature , or to some real quality , whether manifest or occult , without proving that there are such causes , or intelligibly declaring , how they produce the phaenomena , or effects referr'd to them ; in this philosophy , i say , 't is easie for a man to have a great opinion of his own knowledge , and be puft up by it . but a virtuoso , that cannot satisfie himself , nor dares pretend to satisfie others , till he can , by hypotheses that may be understood and prov'd , declare intelligibly the manner of the operation of the causes he assigns , will often find it so difficult a task to do so , that he will easily discern , that he needs further information , and therefore ought to seek for it where 't is the most likely to be had ; and not only to admit , but welcome it , if he finds it . besides , the litigious philosophy of the schools seldom furnishes its disciples with better than dialectical or probable arguments , which are not proper , either fully to satisfie the person that employs them , or leave his adversary without any answer , plausible at least , if not full as probable as the objection ; upon which account , men that have more wit than sincere love of truth , will be able to dispute speciously enough , as long as they have a mind to do so . and as such slippery arguments are not able to convince even him that employs them , if he be a man of judgment ; so , if he deals with a witty adversary , they will leave him able to elude any arguments of the like nature , with which he shall be press'd . and in effect we see , that in the aristotelian philosophy there are divers questions , such as , whether the elements retain their distinct nature in a mixt body ? whether the caelestial orbs are mov'd by intelligences ? to omit many others , which are as it were stated questions ; and as they have been disputed from age to age , are like to continue questions for many more , if that philosophy shall last so long . but a virtuoso , that is wont in his reasonings to attend to the principles of mathematicks , and sound philosophy , and to the clear testimonies of sense , or well verifi'd experiments , acquires a habit of discerning the cogency of an argument , or way of probation ; and easily discerns , that dialectical subtilties , and school tricks , cannot shift off its force , but finds more satisfaction in embracing a demonstrated truth , than in the vain glory of disputing subtilly against it . vii . another thing that may dispose a studious searcher of truth , ( not by speculations only , but ) by experiments , for theology , is , that his inquisitiveness , and course of studies , makes him both willing and fit to search out and discover deep and vnobvious truths . i have with trouble observ'd , that the greater part of the libertines we have among us , being men of pilate's humor , ( who , when he had scornfully ask'd what is truth ? would not stay for an answer ) do , with great fastidiousness , decline the study of all truths that require a serious and setled application of mind . these men are , for the most part , a sort of superficial and desultory wits , that go no further than the out side of things , without penetrating into the recesses of them ; and being easily tir'd with contemplating one , pass quickly to another ; the consideration whereof they , with the same lightness , forsake . and upon this account , among others , it is , that this sort of men , tho' often much applauded by others , because the most are but superficial , as well as they , do almost as seldom make good philosophers , as good christians . for tho' all the good arguments , that may be brought to evince the truth of natural ( and reveal'd ) religion , be not abstruse ; yet some of the chief ones , especially those that prove the existence and special providence of god , and the souls immortality , are , if not of a metaphysical , yet at least of a philosophical , nature ; and will scarce be clearly understood , and duely relish'd , but by a person capable of , and somwhat accustom'd to , attentive and lasting speculations , ( as in another paper has been more fully declar'd . ) but now , a man addicted to prosecute discoveries of truths , not only by serious meditation , but by intricate and laborious experiments , will not easily be deterr'd from effectually prosecuting his end , by the troublesomness or difficulties that attend the clearing of those notions , and matters of fact , whereon solid arguments for natural , or reveal'd , religion , are founded ; how remote soever those truths may be from vulgar apprehensions . in short , whereas a superficial wit , such as is frequently found in libertins , and often helps to make them such , may be compar'd to an ordinary swimmer , who can reach but such things as float upon the water ; an experimental philosopher may be compar'd to a skilful diver , that cannot only fetch those things that lye upon the surface of the sea , but make his way to the very bottom of it ; and thence fetch up pearls , corals , and other precious things , that in those depths lye conceal'd from other men's sight and reach . we have already seen , that experimental philosophy is , in its own nature , friendly to religion in general . wherefore i shall now add , that the reverence i pay experience , especially as it gives both grounds and hints to rational notions and conclusions , does not a little conduce to the assent i give to the truth of the christian religion in particular . this excellent religion is recommended to well disposed minds , by a greater number of prerogatives , and other arguments , than it were proper for me to insist on in this discourse : and yet my design engages me to consider a few of them somwhat particularly . 1. and first , i shall observe , that , whereas the three grand arguments , that conjointly evince the truth of the christian religion in general , are ( at least in my opinion ) the excellency of the doctrine , which makes it worthy to have proceeded from god ; the testimony of the divine miracles , that were wrought to recommend it ; the great effects , produc'd in the world by it . two of these three arguments ( for the first is of a more speculative nature ) are bottom'd upon matters of fact , and consequently are likely to be the most prevalent upon those that have a great veneration for experience , and are duly dispos'd to frame such pious reflections , as it warrants and leads them ▪ to make . this last clause i add , because , though i have formerly more than intimated somthing of the like import , yet 't is so necessary to my design that you should take special notice of it , that i must not here omit to advertise you , that , when , in this discourse , i speak of an experimental philosopher , or virtuoso ; i do not mean , either , on this hand , a libertine , tho' ingenious ; or a sensualist , though curious ; or , on that hand , a mere empirick , or some vulgar chymist , that looks upon nothing as experimental , wherein chymistry , mechanicks , &c. are not employ'd ; and who too often makes experiments , without making reflection on them , as having it more in his aim to produce effects , than to discover truths . but the person i here mean , is such a one , as by attentively looking about him , gathers experience , not from his own tryals alone , but from divers other matters of fact , which he heedfully observes , though he had no share in the effecting them ; and on which he is dispos'd to make such reflections , as may ( unforcedly ) be apply'd to confirm and encrease in him the sentiments of natural religion , and facilitate his submission and adherence to the christian religion . an experimental philosopher , thus dispos'd , will , with the divine assistance , ( which he will be careful to implore ) find pregnant motives to the belief of christianity , in the two last of the three arguments of its truth , that i lately propos'd . that which is drawn from the effects of this religion in the world , as it is last nam'd , so i shall defer the consideration of it , till i have treated of the other ; namely the testimony of divine miracles , whose difficulty makes it requisite for us to consider it the more attentively , and distinctly declare the grounds , upon which experience may be esteemed a good topick on the present occasion . for the clearing of this matter , i shall represent to you , that the word experience may admit of divers senses , whereof one is far more comprehensive than another ; and likewise of several divisions and distributions . for , besides its more restrained acceptation , it is somtimes set in contra-distinction to reason , so as to comprehend , not only those phaenomena that nature or art exhibits to our outward senses , but those things that we perceive to pass within our selves ; and all those ways of information , whereby we attain any knowledge that we do not owe to abstracted reason . so that , without stretching the word to the utmost extent of which 't is capable , and to which it has been enlarg'd ; it may be look'd upon as so comprehensive a term , that i think it may be of some importance to my present design , and perhaps to theology it self , to propose to you a distribution of experience , that will not , i hope , be found useless to clear the extent of that term. i shall then take the freedom to enlarge the signification of the word beyond its commonest limits , and divide it , for distinctions sake , into immediate and vicarious experience ; or rather somwhat less compendiously , but perhaps more commodiously , into personal , historical , and supernatural , ( which may be also styl'd theological : ) referring the first of the three members of this distribution to immediate experience , and the two others , to vicarious . i call that personal experience , which a man acquires immediately by himself , and accrews to him by his own sensations , or the exercise of his faculties , without the intervention of any external testimony . 't is by this experience that we know , that the sun is bright ; fire , hot ; snow , cold , and white ; that upon the want of aliments we feel hunger ; that we hope for future goods ; that we love what we judge good , and hate what we think evil ; and discern that there is a great difference between a triangle and a circle , and can distinguish them by it . by historical experience , i mean that , which tho' it were personal in some other man , is but by his relation or testimony , whether immediately or mediately , conveyed to us . 't is by this that we know , that there were such men as julius caesar , and william the conqueror , and that joseph knew that pharaoh had a dream , which the aegyptian wise men could not expound . by theological experience , i mean that , by which we know what , supposing there is some divine revelation , god is pleas'd to relate or declare concerning himself , his attributes , his actions , his will , or his purposes ; whether immediately , ( or without the intervention of man ) as he somtimes did to job and moses , and constantly to christ our saviour : or by the intervention of angels , prophets , apostles , or inspir'd persons ; as he did to the israelites , and the primitive christian church ; and does still to us , by those written testimonies we call the scriptures . by personal experience , we know that there are stars in heaven ; by historical experience , we know that there was a new star seen by tycho and other astronomers , in cassiopaea , in the year 1572. and by theological experience we know , that the stars were made on the fourth day of the creation . by this you may see , that i do not in this discourse take experience in the strictest sense of all , but in a greater latitude , for the knowledge we have of any matter of fact , which , without owing it to ratiocination , either we acquire by the immediate testimony of our own senses and other faculties , or accrews to us by the communicated testimony of others . and i make the less scruple to take this liberty , because i observe , that , even in common acceptation , the word experience is not always meant of that which is immediate , but is often taken in a latitude . as when we say , that experience teaches us , who perhaps were never out of england , that the torrid zone is habitable , and inhabited ; and persuades learned men , that never had opportunity to make nice coelestial observations , that stars may be generated and perish , or at least begin to appear , and then disappear , in the coelestial region of the world. and on this kind of historical experience , consisting of the personal observations of hippocrates , galen , and other physicians , transmitted to us , a great part of the practice of physick is founded . and the most rational physicians reckon upon , as matters of fact , not only what other physicians have left upon record , but divers present things , which themselves can know but by the relation of their patients ; as , that a man has a particular antipathy to such a thing , which the doctor perhaps judges fit for him to use ; or that a woman with child longs for this or that determinate thing . and physicians reduce these and the like matters of fact to experience , as to one of the two columns of physick , distinguished from reason . since then learned men , as well as common use , confine not the application of the word experience to that which is personal , but employ it in a far greater latitude ; i see not , why that , which i call theological experience , may not be admitted ; since the revelations that god makes concerning what he has done , or purposes to do , are but testimonies of things , most of them matters of fact , and all of them such , as , so far forth as they are merely revelations , cannot be known by reasoning , but by testimony : whose being divine , and relating to theological subjects , does not alter its nature , tho it give it a peculiar and supereminent authority . having premis'd and clear'd the propos'd distribution of experience , it will now be seasonable to consider , how it may be apply'd to the matters of fact , that recommend the credibility of the christian religion ; and on this occasion , i shall distinctly offer you my thoughts , in the two following propositions . prop. i. we ought to believe divers things upon the information of experience , ( whether immediate , or vicarious ) which , without that information , we should judge unfit to be believ'd ; or antecedently to it , did actually judge contrary to reason . this proposition may be understood , either of persons , or of things , and will hold true , as to both . and first , as to persons ; if your own observation of what occurs among mankind do not satisfy you , that we are oblig'd , after sufficient tryal , frequently to alter the opinions , which upon probable reasons we had before entertain'd , of the fidelity , or prudence , or justice , or chastity , &c. of this or that person ; i shall refer you to the records of history , or appeal to the tribunals of judges . for both in the one , and at the other , you will find but too many instances and proofs from matters of fact , that persons look'd on , even by intelligent men , as honest , virtuous , and perhaps holy too , have prov'd guilty of falseness to their friends , perfidiousness to their princes , disloyalty to their husbands or wives , injustice to their neighbours , sacrilege , perjury , or other impieties to their god : and in the courts of justice , you will find a great part of the time employ'd to detect and punish , not only civil transgressions , as thefts , cheats , forgery , false-witness , adultery , and the like hainous crimes , perpetrated by those , that , before they were throughly sifted , pass'd for honest ; but you will find sins against nature , such as sodomy , and other unnatural lusts , the murders of parents by their children , and innocent children by their parents , nay , self-murder too ; tho' this be a crime , which cannot be acted without a violation of what seems the most universal and radicated law of nature , ( and is acknowledg'd so by wicked men ) self-preservation . but it will not be necessary more solicitously to prove , that we ought , upon the testimony of experience , to change the opinions we thought we had rationally taken up of persons ; and therefore i shall now proceed to make good the proposition , in the sense i chiefly intended , which is , as it relates to things . if experience did not both inform and certify us , who would believe , that a light black powder should be able , being duly manag'd , to throw down stone-walls , and blow up whole castles and rocks themselves , and do those other stupendous things , that we see actually perform'd by gun ▪ powder , made use of in ordnance , and in mines ? who would think , that two or three grains of opium , should so stupify a large human body , as to force a sleep , and oftentimes even without that , suspend the sharpest torments , in the cholick , gout , and other the most painful diseases , and that in patients of quite different ages , sexes , and constitutions ; in whom also the diseases are produc'd by differing , or even by contrary , causes ? who would believe , that the poyson adhering to the tooth of a mad dog , tho' perhaps so little as to be scarce discernable by sense , should be able , after the slight hurt is quite heal'd , to continue in the warm , and still perspirable , body of the bitten person , not only for some days or months , but sometimes for very many years ? and after , having lurk'd all that while , without giving any trouble to the patient , should on a sudden pervert the whole oeconomy of his body , and put him into a madness like that of the dog that bit him , discovering it self by that ▪ as admirable as fatal , symptom of hydrophobia ? but , besides a multitude of instances that may be given of truths , that , were it not for experience , we should refuse to believe ; because the small strength of such agents , seems altogether disproportionate to the effects ascrib'd to them : many other instances might be alleg'd , wherein we assent to experience , even when its informations seem contrary to reason , and that which , perhaps , we did actually and without scruple take to be true. since gravity is the principle , that determins falling bodies to move towards the center of the earth ; it seems very rational to believe , with the generality of philosophers , that therein follow aristotle ; that , in proportion as one body is more heavy than another , so it shall fall to the ground faster than the other . whence it has been , especially by some of the peripatetick school , inferr'd , that of two homogeneous bodies , whereof one does , for example , weigh ten pounds , and the other but one pound ; the former being let fall from the same height , and at the same time , with the latter , will reach the ground ten times sooner . but notwithstanding this plausible ratiocination , experience shews us , ( and i have purposely try'd it ) that ( at least in moderate heights , such as those of our towers , and other elevated buildings ) bodies of very unequal weight , let fall together , will reach the ground at the same time ; or so near it , that 't is not easy to perceive any difference in the velocity of their descent . 't is generally taken for granted by naturalists , as well as others , that strong and loud noises , as they are heard much farther off than fainter sounds , so , if the sonorous bodies be equally distant from the ear , the very strong sound will arrive much sooner at it , than the other ; and yet by the experiments of the moderns about the velocity of sounds , ( in making divers of which , i have endeavour'd to be accurate ) it appears , that weaker sounds are ( at least as to sense ) transmitted through the air as swiftly as stronger ones . and indeed , 't is often observ'd , that when cannons and muskets are discharg'd together , the noises of both arrive also together at the ear ; which would not be , if the sound of a cannon were any thing near as much swifter , as 't is louder , than that of a musket . it seems irrational to conceive , that a smaller and weaker loadstone , may draw away a piece of steel from a larger and stronger ; and yet experience ( which both others and i have made ) evinces , that in some cases , this paradox is a truth . it has generally , by philosophers as well as other men , been look'd upon as manifest , and consonant to reason , that cold condenses water more or less , according as the degree of the cold is ; and ( consequently ) that ice is water reduc'd into a lesser volume . but 't is plain , by experiments carefully made , ( some of which i have elsewhere publish'd ) that by glaciation , water is rather expanded ; or at least , that ice takes up more room , than the water did before it was congeal'd . and of this sort of instances , where we believe , upon the authority of experience , things that are contrary to what we should otherwise judge to be a dictate or conclusion of reason ; i could add many , if i thought it as needful in this place , as in some other papers , where i have given them already . and now it will be seasonable to put you in mind , that in one part of the proposition , hitherto discours'd of , it appears , that i design'd to extend the force of the arguments , grounded upon experience , to that which is not immediate , but vicarious ; that is , not personally our own , but communicated by others ; provided it be competently attested , and duly convey'd to us. there will need but a little reflection on what is judg'd reasonable , and freely practis'd , by philosophers themselves , to justify this proposition . for how many conclusions have the modern naturalists admitted , tho' not only abstracted reason never led men to make them , but plausible arguments , and the notions and axioms of the most generally receiv'd philosophy , were repugnant to them . thus , that in heaven it self there should be generations and corruptions , was not only unobserv'd before the time of aristotle , ( who thence argues the incorruptibility of coelestial bodies ) but is contradicted by his arguments ; and yet both many others , and i , have seen great spots ( perhaps bigger than england , or than europe it self ) generated and dissipated on or near the surface of the sun ; and several of the modern philosophers and astronomers , having never had the good fortune to see any of these , ( which indeed of late years have but rarely appear'd ) must take these phaenomena upon the credit of those that have observ'd them . and much more must they do so , who , in spight of the vulgar philosophy , which made all comets sublunary , believe , there were coelestial , and perhaps firmamentary , comets . for , that they were above the concave of the moon 's orb , we must believe upon the affirmation of those that observ'd them , which very few have done themselves . and the height of the famous comet , or disappearing star , in cassiopaea , in the year 1572. whereon so much stress is laid by our philosophers and mathematicians , is admitted and urg'd , chiefly upon the belief they have , not only of tycho's veracity , but his skill in observing the motions and phaenomena of that coelestial light , and particularly its having no parallax . in short , the great architect of experimental history , sir francis bacon , when he divides it but into three parts , assigns the second of them to what he calls praeter-generations ; such as monsters , prodigies , and other things ; which being ( as to us ) but casualties , all those that happen'd in other times and places than we have liv'd in , ( and those will be confess'd to be incomparably more than any of us has personally observ'd ) we must take upon the credit of others . and yet these , ( vicarious experiments ) by suggesting new instances of nature's power , and uncommon ways of working ; and by overthrowing , or limiting , received rules and traditions , afford us a considerable and instructive part of natural history , without which , it would not be either so sound , or so compleat . prop. ii. after what has been hitherto discours'd , it may be , i hope , both seasonable and warrantable to advance to , and assert , our second proposition ; viz. that we ought to have a great and particular regard to those things that are recommended to our belief , by what we have reduc'd to real , tho' supernatural , experience . for , 1. 't is manifest , that the most rational men scruple not to believe , upon competent testimony , many things , whose truth did no way appear to them by the consideration of the nature of the things themselves ; nay , tho' what is thus believ'd upon testimony be so strange , and , setting aside that testimony , would seem so irrational , that antecedently to that testimony , the things at last admitted as truths , were actually rejected as errors , or judg'd altogether unfit to be believ'd . and i must here desire you to consider , that the points wherein experience over-rules that , which , before it superven'd , was judg'd to be most agreeable to reason , concern things merely natural or civil , whereof human reason is held to be a proper judge : whereas many of the points recommended by supernatural experience , concern things of a superior order ; many of which are not to be adaequately estimated by the same rules with things merely corporeal or civil ; and some of which , as the essence and manner of existence , and some peculiar attributes , of the infinite god , involve or require such a knowledge of what is infinite , as much passes the reach of our limited intellects . but this is not all . for , 2. you may consider in the next place , that , whereas 't is as justly as generally granted , that the better qualify'd a witness is , in the capacity of a witness , the stronger assent his testimony deserves ; we ought of all the things that can be recommended to us by testimony , to receive those with the highest degree of assent , that are taught us by god , by the intervention of those persons , that appear to have been commission'd by him to declare his mind to men. for the two grand requisites of a witness , being the knowledge he has of the things he delivers , and his faithfulness in truly delivering what he knows ; all human testimony must on these accounts be inferior to divine testimony : since this ( later ) is warranted both by the veracity of god , ( which is generally acknowledg'd by those that believe his existence ) and by his boundless knowledge ; which makes it as impossible he should be deceiv'd himself , as the other does , that he should deceive us . and , because that , for the delivery of the divine testimony we are speaking of , it has oftentimes pleas'd god , who is a most free , as well as a most wise , agent , to make use of unpromising persons as his instruments ; i shall not on this occasion altogether overlook this circumstance , that an experimental philosopher so often encreases his knowledge of natural things , by what he learns from the observations and practises , even of mean , and perhaps of illiterate , persons , ( such as shepherds , plowmen , smiths , fowlers , &c. ) because they are conversant with the works of nature ; that he is not only willing to admit , but often curious to seek for informations from them , and therefore is not like to find much repugnancy in receiving the doctrines of reveal'd religion , such as christianity , if the teachers of it were honest men , and had opportunity to know the truth of the things they deliver , tho' they were fishermen , tentmakers , or some other mean profession . and indeed , ( to enlarge a little upon a subject that , i fear , has scarce been consider'd ) such a person as our virtuoso , will , with both great willingness , and no less advantage , exercise himself in perusing , with great attention , and much regard , the writings of the apostles , evangelists , and ancient prophets ; notwithstanding any meanness of their first condition , or of their secular employments . and in these sacred writings , he will not only readily suffer himself to be instructed in these grand and catholick articles of religion , which , because of their necessity or very great usefulness , are to be met with in many places , and in variety of expressions , by honest and duly dispos'd readers : but he will , in stead of disdaining such tutors , both expect , and carefully strive , to improve his knowledge of divine things in general , even by those hints , and incidental passages , that a careless or ordinary reader would overlook , or not expect any thing from . for , as the faecundity of the scriptures is not wont to be enough discern'd , when the sacred writers transiently touch upon , or glance at , a great many subjects , that they do not expresly handle , and that therefore are not vulgarly taken notice of ; so the docility we have ascrib'd to our virtuoso , will make him repose a great deal of trust in the testimony of inspir'd persons , such as christ and his apostles , about things of all sorts , either usually taken notice of or not , that relate to objects of a supernatural order ; especially if among these , god himself , and his purposes , be compriz'd , since divers of those things are not knowable without revelation , and others are best known by it . and to be allow'd to ground a belief about such things , on the relations and other testimonies of those that were in the scripture-phrase , eye witnesses and ministers of the things they speak of , will by our virtuoso be justly reputed such an advantage , in order to the knowledge of things divine , as the consulting with navigators and travellers to america , is , to him that is curious to learn the state of that new-world . for an ordinary sea-man or traveller , that had the opportunity with columbus to sail along the several coasts of it , and pass up and down thorow the country , was able at his return to inform men of an hundred things , that they should never have learn'd by aristotle's philosophy , or ptolomy's geography ; and might not only acquaint them with divers particulars , consonant to the opinions which their formerly receiv'd physicks and cosmography did suggest , but also rectify divers erroneous presumptions and mistakes , which till then they thought very agreeable to the dictates of those sciences , and so to reason . and , as one , that had a candid and knowing friend intimate with columbus , might better rely on his informations about many particulars of the natural history of those parts , than on those of an hundred school-philosophers , that knew but what they learned from aristotle , pliny , aelian , and the like ancient naturalists ; so , and much more , may we rely on the accounts given us of theological things , by the apostles , and constant attendants of him that lay in the bosom of god his father , and commission'd them to declare to the world the whole counsel of god , as far as 't was necessary for man to know . we know , that fuller try al 's are allow'd , among ingenious men , to rectify the informations of the more imperfect ones ; and therefore i shall add , that , tho' the innate notions and sentiments , that nature gives us of the attributes and mind of god , be highly to be priz'd ; yet the informations that theological experience affords of those abstruse things , is far more excellent and compleat . for methinks , those great depths of god may be compar'd to the depths of the ocean . and we know , that in the sea , there are some abysses so deep , that the seaman's sounding-lines have never been able to reach to the bottom of them ; and where they are not unfathomable , all we are wont to do by our soundings , is , to fetch from the bottom some little gravel , or mud , or shells , or some such thing , that sticks to the tallow'd end of the plummet , and gives us but a very imperfect account of the bottom , even of the shallower parts of the sea : but if a skilful diver be employ'd , he will not only tell us , whether the bottom be muddy , gravelly , or sandy ; but will be able to give us a kind of topography of that submarine land , and acquaint us with many surprizing particulars , that we should never otherwise have discover'd , or perchance so much as dream'd of . and peradventure it may be no hyperbole to say , that the informations of a plummet , which reaches not to some depths , and brings but a very slender account of soils that lye in any , are not more short of those of a diver , than the informations philosophy gives us of some divine things , are of those compleater ones that may be had from the holy scriptures . and when i remember , how many opinions about the submarine parts , that i , among many other men , thought probable , i found cause to change , upon the conversation i had with a famous diver , that sometimes , by the help of an engine , stay'd several hours at the bottom of the sea ; i find the less reluctancy , to suffer opinions about divine matters , that before seem'd probable to me , to be rectifi'd by the fuller discoveries made of those things by the preachers of the gospel . you may find some things applyable to the confirmation of what has been newly deliver'd , in an essay , ( which you may see when you please ) that considers the bounds and use of experience in natural philosophy . wherefore remembring , that , before this late excursion , i was speaking of miracles , i shall now resume the subject , and proceed to tell you , that i have the more insisted upon the miracles that may be pleaded to recommend the christian religion , because i thought , that an argument grounded on them is little less than absolutely necessary , to evince , that any religion that men believe to be supernaturally reveal'd , and consequently that the christian , does really proceed from god. for , tho' the excellency of the christian doctrine , and other concurrent motives , may justly persuade me , that 't is worthy and likely to be given by god ; yet that de facto this doctrine comes from him by way of supernatural revelation , i can scarce be sufficiently ascertained , but by the miracles wrought by christ and his disciples , to evince , that the doctrine they preach'd , as commission'd by god to do so , was indeed his , being , as such , own'd by him. but these miracles having been wrought ( when 't was most fit and needful they should be wrought ) in the first ages of the church ; we , that live at so great a distance from them , can have no knowledge of them by our own senses , or immediate observation ; but must believe them upon the account of the formerly mention'd historical or vicarious experience , which is afforded us by the duly transmitted testimony of those , that were themselves ( to speak once more in an evangelist's phrase ) eye-witnesses and ministers of the things they relate . and since we scruple not to believe such strange prodigies , as celestial comets , vanishing and reappearing stars , islands founded by subterraneal fires in the sea , darkenings of the sun for many months together , earthquakes reaching above a thousand miles in length , and the like amazing anomalies of nature , upon the credit of human histories ; i see not , why that vicarious experience should not more be trusted , which has divers peculiar and concurrent circumstances to confirm it , and particularly the death that most of the first promulgators chearfully suffer'd to attest the truth of it , and the success and spreading of the doctrine authoriz'd by those miracles , and receiv'd chiefly upon their account . to which things , some perhaps would add , that 't is less incredible , that the author of nature should , for most weighty purposes , make stupendous alterations of the course of nature ; than that nature her self , for no such end , should by such prodigies , as are newly mention'd , as it were , throw her self out of her own course . miracles being so necessary to the establishment of reveal'd religion in general , it may be look'd upon as a farther disposition in our virtuoso to receive the christian religion , that the philosophy , he cultivates , does much conduce to enable him to judge aright of those strange things , that are by many propos'd as miracles , and believ'd to be so . for first , the knowledge he has of the various , and sometimes very wonderful , operations of some natural things , especially when they are skilfully improv'd , and dexterously apply'd by art , particularly mathematicks , mechanicks , and chymistry , will qualify him to distinguish , between things that are only strange and surprizing , and those that are truly miraculous : so that he will not mistake the effects of natural magick , for those of a divine power . and by this well-instructed wariness , he will be able to discover the subtil cheats and collusions of impostors ; by which , not only multitudes of all religions , especially heathen , but even learned men of most religions , for want of an insight into real philosophy , have formerly been , or are at this day , deluded , and drawn into idolatrous , superstitious , or otherwise erroneous , tenents or practices . and on the other side , the knowledge our virtuoso may have of what cannot be justly expected or pretended from the mechanical powers of matter , will enable him to discern , that divers things are not produceable by them , without the intervention of an intelligent superior power ; on which score he will frankly acknowledge , and heartily believe , divers effects to be truly miraculous , that may be plausibly enough ascrib'd to other causes in the vulgar philosophy ; where men are taught and wont to attribute stupendous unaccountable effects to sympathy , antipathy , fuga vacui , substantial forms , and especially to a certain being presum'd to be almost infinitely potent and wise , which they call nature : for this is represented as a king of goddess , whose power may be little less than boundless ; as i remember galen himself compares it to that of god , and saith , that he could not do such a thing , because nature cannot ; and censures moses for speaking as if he were of another mind . the whole passage is so weighty , that i thought fit to direct you to it in the margent , tho' , to comply with my hast , i forbear to transcribe and descant upon so prolix a one , and add to it divers other passages that i have met with in famous authors ; who , for want of knowing the true extent of the powers of matter and motion , left to themselves in the ordinary course of things , ascribe to natural causes , as they call them , such effects as are beyond their reach , unless they be elevated by agents of a superior order . i know it may be objected , that the hitherto-mention'd dispositions , that experimental knowledge may give a man , to admit the histories of the miracles recorded in the gospel ; and likewise to expect , that god will be able to perform the promises and menaces that are in his name deliver'd there , may be countervail'd by this , that those , who are so much acquainted with the mysteries of nature , and her various and strange ways of working , as a virtuoso may well be , may by that knowledge be strongly tempted to think , that those surprizing things that other men call miracles , are but effects of her power ; the extent of which , is not easily discern'd by ordinary men , nor safely defin'd by philosophers themselves . but this objection being plausible enough , to make me think it deserv'd to be seriously consider'd , i took an occasion that was once offer'd me , to examine the validity of it in a paper by it self : and this being at your command , i shall refer you to it . and i hope , that in the mean time it may suffice to say , that to make it reasonable to judge this or that particular performance , a supernatural one , it is not at all necessary , that it surpass the whole power of nature , that is , of physical agents ; provided , it surpass the power of that cause , or that complex of causes , from which , the effect must in reason , if it be purely natural or physical , be suppos'd to have proceeded . as for instance , that a fisherman or two should speak other languages than their own , does not at all exceed the power of nature , if they employ'd a competent time in learning them . but that a great number of fishermen , and other illiterate persons , should all on a sudden become linguists , and in an hour's time be able to speak intelligibly to a great number and variety of nations in their respective languages , as the new testament relates , that the apostles and their companions did on the day of pentecost : that gift of tongues , i say , was an ability , which in those circumstances of place , time , and persons , wherein 't was exercis'd , may justly be concluded to have been supernatural or miraculous . i fear you will think , i have dwelt too long upon the argument for christianity , drawn from that sort of matters of fact we call miracles ; tho' the uncommon way that my design led me to represent them in , would not permit me to make it out in few words . wherefore i shall now pass on to another argument , in favour of the same religion , that is afforded by experience , being drawn from the strangely successful propagation , and the happy effects of christianity , in the world. but having formerly had occasion to display this argument in a separate paper , which you may command a sight of , if i shall not have time to annex a transcript of it to the later sheets of this first part of the present essay , i will refer you for more ample proof to that writing , and content my self in this place briefly to touch some of the heads , and subjoyn a reflection or two that you will not meet with in that paper . 't is a notorious matter of fact , that in less than half an age , the christian religion was spread over a great part of the then known world ; insomuch , that in a few years after it began to be preach'd , the apostle of the gentiles could tell the romans with joy , that their faith ( i. e. profession of the gospel ) was spoken of throughout the whole world. and in the second century , tertullian , and other famous writers , shew , that the gospel had already numerous proselytes , in a great number of different kingdoms and provinces . but i forbear to mention , what he and others have magnificently said of the success of the gospel , because i had rather refer you to the plain narratives made of it by eusebius , socrates scholasticus , and other grave authors ; being of opinion , that mere historians may give to a philosophical reader , a more advantageous idea of the efficacy of that excellent doctrine , than eloquent orators , as such , can do . this wonderful quick progress of this religion being ascertain'd to our virtuoso , by a thing he is so much sway'd by , as experience ; it does not a little dispose him to believe the truth of so prevalent a religion . for , if he considers the persons that first promulgated it , they were but half a score of illiterate fishermen , and a few tent-makers , & other tradesmen . if he considers the means that were employ'd to propagate this doctrine , he finds , that they had neither arms , nor external power , to compel men to receive it ; nor riches , honours , or preferments , to bribe or allure them to it ; nor were they men of philosophical subtilty , to intrap or entangle the minds of their auditors . nor did they make use of the pompous ornaments of rhetorick , and fetches of oratory , to inveagle or entice men ; but treated of the most sublime and abstruse matters , in a most plain and unaffected style , as became lovers and teachers of truth . if he considers the nature of the doctrine , that in little time obtain'd so many proselytes , he will find , that , instead of being suited to the natural apprehensions , or the receiv'd opinions , of men ; and instead of gratifying their corrupt affections , or complying with so much as their innocentest interests ; it prescrib'd such mortifications , and such great strictness of life , and high degrees of virtue , as no legislator had ever dar'd to impose upon his subjects , nay , nor any philosopher on his disciples . and this doctrine was propos'd in such a way , and was accompany'd with predictions of such hardships and persecutions , that should in those times be the portion of its sincere professors , as if the law-giver had design'd rather to fright men from his doctrine , than allure them to it ; since they could not believe what he said , and foretold , to be true , without believing , that they should be made great sufferers by that belief . if our virtuoso considers the opposition made to the progress of the gospel , he will find cause to wonder , that it could ever be surmounted . for the heathens , which made by far the greatest part of the world , were deeply engag'd in polytheism , idolatry , magical rites and superstitions , and almost all kind of crimes , and some of these were shameless debaucheries , which oftentimes made a part of their worship . and the jews were by the corrupt leaven of the pharisees , and the impious errors of the sadduces , and the general mistakes of the nation about the person , office , and kingdom , of the messias ; and by their dotage upon their vain traditions , and numerous superstitions , grounded upon them : the gentiles , i say , and the jews , who were those that were to be converted , were , on these and other accounts , highly indispos'd to be made proselytes . especially when they could not own themselves to be such , without exposing their persons to be hated and despised , their possessions to be confiscated , their bodies to be imprison'd and tormented , and oftentimes their lives to be , in as ignominious as cruel ways , destroy'd . and whilst the secular magistrates made them suffer all these mischiefs , the venerated priests , the subtil philosophers , and the eloquent orators , persuaded the world ; that they deserv'd yet more than they endur'd ; and employ'd all their learning and wit to make the religion odious and ridiculous , as well as the embracers of it miserable : accusing the martyrs , and other christians , of no less than atheism , incest , and the inhuman shedding and drinking the innocent blood of infants . these and the like matters of fact when our virtuoso reflects on , and considers by what unpromising means , ( as far as they were but secular ) such seemingly insurmountable difficulties were conquer'd ; he cannot but by this historical experience be inclin'd to think , that effects , so disproportionate to the visible means , could not be brought to pass without the peculiar assistance and extraordinary blessing of god : by whom those successful preachers averr'd themselves to be commissionated . for , that the supernatural help , the christian doctrine appears to have had , was divine , not diabolical , will seem evident to our virtuoso , from the nature , tendency , and effects , of the doctrine it self ; which expresly teacheth , that there is but one god ; that he alone is to be worshipp'd , and not idols , nor any of the heathen daemons or deities ; that the devils are wicked , apostate , malicious , and miserable creatures , that are hated of god , and do extremely hate mankind ; and that those vices , as well as rites of worship that they have establish'd in the world , were abominable to god , and would be by degrees destroy'd by him : as in effect they soon began to be in many places of the world , where the worshippers of christ cast the devil out of his temples , out of mens veneration , & oftentimes out of their bodies too . one circumstance there is of the propagation of the gospel , which , tho' it may seem more extrinsecal than those hitherto mention'd , is yet too considerable to be here pretermitted ; since it is this , that the quick spreading and success of the christian doctrine in the world , was foretold both by the prophets of the old testament , and the author and promulgators of the new. for it being notorious , that there have been divers errors and superstitions , that have with too much celerity been spread far and wide in the world ; either by mere accidents , ( as they were reputed ) that were very friendly to them , or by the industry and artifices of men : this , i say , being so , it ought to be no small satisfaction to equitable judges , that the quick progress , and notable effects , of the christian religion , were foretold , partly by the ancient prophets , and partly by the messias and his apostles . for by these accomplish'd predictions it may appear , that the wonderful success of the gospel was not an effect of chance , but was long before determin'd by divine providence , as a work sit to be dear to god , and to be accomplish'd in a wonderful way by his peculiar assistance , ( as will by and by be somewhat more fully declar'd . ) that the triumphs of the gospel were foretold by several of the old prophets , may appear by their yet extant writings ; some of which are alleg'd to that purpose , by those writers of the new testament , that were endow'd with the same prophetick spirit . and if you please to consider the passages cited in the margent , you will easily grant , that those ancient inspir'd writers foresaw , that in the days of the messias , there should be a great and notable conversion of of the gentiles of several nations , to the worship of the only true god of israel : and tho' god did not think fit , that those predictions , extant in the gospel , should be so conspicuous and pompously set forth , that speak of the conversion that should be made , not only of the heathen world , but ( of a more ▪ refractory portion of mankind ) a great part of the jewish nation , to the christian doctrine ; yet there are divers passages in the new testament , that are real , tho' some of them unheeded , prophecies of the wonderful progress of the gospel , and the large extent of the kingdom of the messias . thus christ foretold , that his twelve apostles should be his witnesses , not only in judaea and samaria , but to the uttermost parts of the earth . and , according to the most probable explication of that text , in the 24th of st. matthew's gospel , which is usually referr'd to the end of the world , but seems rather to respect the destruction of jerusalem ; there is a prediction , that before the end , ( of the jewish polity , as well as the mosaical oeconomy ) the gospel of the kingdom ( of the messias ) should be preach'd or proclaim'd in the whole world , ( in that sense of the term world that was then much in use , and was employ'd by the evangelist luke to signify the roman world or empire . ) to which may be added , that ten or twelve fishermen ( called the apostles ) were sent to convert all nations to the worship of a crucify'd person ; which would have been a strange commission to be given such men at that time , if their master , who sent them , had not foreseen the success , as well as known the truth , of the doctrine he sent them to preach . the quick diffusion of the christian faith , and the swift growth of the christian church from despicable beginnings , to a greatness very disproportionate to them , are more than intimated , by what christ says of the leaven hid in a great quantity of meal ; and of the mustard seed that quickly grows ( in the hot and fertile country of judaea ) to a wonderful bigness and height ; since these passages , that perfunctory readers look on but as mere parables , were really prophecies , that quickly began to be manifestly fulfill'd . and it may bring no small authority to the predictions of the new testament , that when divers of them were made , there appear'd no likelihood that they should ever be made good . when a poor virgin , that was betroth'd to a carpenter , confidently pronounces , that all ages should call her blessed ; what probability was there , that what she said , should ever come to pass ? and when another private woman , then living in a village , had it foretold her , that a censur'd action of hers should be reported through the whole world , to her great praise ; what sober man , that were not a prophet , would venture to lose his credit , by making such a promise ? and therefore , since we see such unlikely predictions actually accomplish'd , it may well convince an unbyass'd man , that the authors of them , as well as the ancient seers , were really endow'd with a truly prophetick spirit ; and that the events by that foretold , were not effects of chance or policy , but of divine providence . i thought it not improper , to make the mention of these predictions follow so close the discourse of the miracles , because true prophecies of unlikely events , fulfill'd by unlikely means , are supernatural things ; and , as such , ( especially their author and design consider'd ) may properly enough be reckon'd among miracles . and i may add , that these have a peculiar advantage above most other miracles , on the score of their duration : since the manifest proofs of the predictions continue still , and are as visible as the extent of the christian religion ; and some of them are still more and more accomplish'd , by the conversions made of multitudes of infidels , in several vast regions of america , ( to name no other countries . ) so that if we may call some miracles transient ones , such as the turning water into wine at a wedding-feast in galilee ; and the darkening of the sun , when the moon was full , at the crucifixion of christ : accomplish'd predictions may be styl'd permanent ones ; and their difference may be set forth by the differing states of the mosaick manna : for , tho' both that which fell daily ( except on the sabbath ) in the wilderness , and that which was laid up in a pot before the testimony , were supernatural productions ; yet , whereas a portion of the former outlasted not two or three days , that kept in the pot was preserv'd many ages , and continu'd to be ( as it was foretold it should ) a visible miracle . there is another reason , why the wonderful propagation of the gospel should be annex'd to the argument drawn from miracles , in favour of the christian religion . for the preachers of it , both pretended and appeal'd to miracles , as proofs of the truth of their doctrine : and if we consider the great disadvantages they lay under , and the powerful opposition of all sorts that they met with and surmounted ; it cannot reasonably be thought , that such unlikely men should so succesfully preach so uninviting a doctrine , unless it were confirm'd by conspicuous miracles . or at least , if so uneasy and persecuted a religion was propagated without miracles , that propagation it self ( as one of the fathers well observes ) may justly pass for a miracle ; and be no less fit than another , to confirm the religion so admirably propagated . the past discourse has , i hope , manifested , that a virtuoso has some helps , that other men , generally speaking , have not , to make him judiciously approve the arguments for the truth of the christian religion , that are grounded on the miracles wrought in its favour , and the wonderful success of it in the world. but , because a reveal'd religion , how true soever it be , can scarce be prov'd but by moral demonstrations ; and because for this reason , it is not always sufficient , that the arguments be good in their kind , but there are some qualifications requir'd in the minds of them that are to be convinc'd by them ; i shall now add , that experimental philosophy does also dispose the minds of its cultivaters to receive due impressions from such proofs , as miracles do , as well as other topicks , afford the christian religion . another thing then that qualifies an experimentarian for the reception of a reveal'd religion , and so of christianity , is , that an accustomance of endeavouring to give clear explications of the phaenomena of nature , and discover the weakness of those solutions that superficial wits are wont to make and acquiesce in , does insensibly work in him a great and ingenuous modesty of mind . and on the score of this intellectual , as well as moral , virtue , not only he will be very inclinable , both to desire and admit further information , about things which he perceives to be dark or abstruse ; but he will be very unapt to take , for the adaequate standard of truth , a thing so imperfectly inform'd , and narrowly limited , as his mere or abstracted reason ; ( as i think i have elsewhere intimated , that one may call that , which is furnish'd only with its own , either congenite , or very easily and very early acquir'd , notions and idaea's , and with popular notices . ) and tho' a vulgar philosopher , that allows himself to refer the obscurest things in nature to substantial forms , real qualities , sympathy , antipathy , and some few other terms , which , to be employ'd by him , need not , and perhaps for their darkness cannot , be clearly understood ; and by which he pretends to explain all things in nature ; and may indeed explicate one thing as well as another : tho' ( i say ) such a titular philosopher may presume , that he understands every thing ; and may be easily tempted to think , that he must not hope , nor desire to learn from less able men than his first teachers ; and that , that cannot be true , or be done , which agrees not with his philosophy ; yet a sober and experienc'd naturalist , that knows what difficulties remain , yet unsurmounted , in the presumedly clear conception and explications even of things corporeal , will not , by a lazy or arrogant presumption , that his knowledge about things supernatural is already sufficient , be induc'd to reject , or to neglect , any information that may encrease it . and this frame of mind is a very happy one , for a student in reveal'd theology , where cautiousness is not more necessary for the avoiding of errors , than docility is advantageous for the learning of truth : since the knowledge and goodness of the divine teacher is such , that a scholar , to improve his intellect , needs but bring a mind fitted to receive the genuine informations , that are most liberally offer'd , ( in the scripture ) and will never deceive him , that employs , together with servent prayers , a due care not to mistake the meaning of them . an assiduous conversation with the exquisitely fram'd , and admirably manag'd , works of god , brings a skilful considerer of them to discover from time to time , so many things to be feazable , or to be true , which , whilst he argu'd but upon grounds of incompetently inform'd reason , he judg'd false or unpracticable ; that little by little he acquires a habit of receiving some sorts of opinions , and especially those that seem unfriendly to religion , but as probationers , with a disposition to reform or discard them upon further information . and this , as he is resolv'd to submit to , in case he meets with it , so he is dispos'd to receive , if not to expect it , by having often found himself oblig'd , upon subsequent information , to mend or lay aside his former opinions , tho' very agreeable to the best light he had to judge by , when he entertain'd them . as , tho' it seems a visible truth , that the discus of venus is , in all respects to the sun , totally luminous ; yet when the telescope discovers her to have her full and her wane , like the moon , he will believe this further observation , against the first made with his naked eyes . and indeed , i have sometimes doubted , whether to be vers'd in mathematicks , and other demonstrative parts of philosophy , bring a greater advantage to the mind , by accustoming and assisting it to examine strictly things propos'd for truths , and to evince strongly the truths a man knows , to others ; than by fitting him to discern the force of a good argument , and submit willingly to truths clearly evinc'd , how little soever he may have expected to find such conclusions true . 't will not be difficult to apply these reflections to our present purpose ; since there are several passages in the scripture that sufficiently declare , both that multitudes persist in a criminal infidelity , out of an over-weaning conceit of their own knowledge , and a readiness to be sway'd rather by strong prejudices , than by the strongest arguments that would remove them ; and , that docility is a very happy disposition to the entertainment of reveal'd religion : in reference to which , this qualification will be the more easily found in our virtuoso ; because , whereas the things , about which he has been accustom'd to be sensible of his ignorance , or desire further instruction , are within the sphere of nature , and the jurisdiction of philosophy ; many of the things that reveal'd religion declares , ( such as are the decrees , the purposes , the promises , &c. of god , and his most peculiar manner of existing and operating ) are things so sublime and abstruse , that they may well be look'd upon as of an higher order than merely physical ones , and cannot be satisfactorily reach'd by the mere light of nature . 't is true , that our philosopher , because he is so , will examine more strictly , than ordinary men are wont or able to do , the proofs brought for this or that propos'd revelation . but that is no disadvantage to a supernatural religion , such as the christian ; if it be , as we now suppose it to be , true ; and the real truth about religion it self , does not require credulity , but only docility . and perhaps this matter may be illustrated , by comparing what happens to a philosopher in the examen of opinions , and to a chymist in that of metals . for if a piece of coin , that men would have pass for true gold , be offer'd to an ordinary man , and to a skilful refiner ; tho' the later will examine it more strictly , and not acquiesce in the stamp , the colour , the sound , and other obvious marks , that may satisfy a shopkeeper , or a merchant ; yet when he has try'd it by the severer ways of examining , such as the touchstone , the cupel , aqua-fortis , &c. and finds it to hold good in those proofs , he will readily and frankly acknowledge , that 't is true gold , and will be more thorowly convinc'd of it , than the other person ; whose want of skill will make him still apt to retain a distrust , and render him indeed more easy to be persuaded , but more difficult to be fully satisfy'd . on the like account ; tho' our virtuoso will examine with more strictness and skill , than ordinary men are able , miracles , prophecies , or other proofs , said to be supernatural , that are alledg'd to evince a reveal'd religion ; yet if the certain and genuine characters of truth appear in it , he will be more thorowly convinc'd of it than a less skilful man , whose want of good criteria , ( or touchstones ) and sound judgment , will incline him to be diffident , and to be still afraid of having been impos'd on . i expect , in the mean time , that you should here object against what has been said in the later leaves of the past discourse , that it hath degraded the human intellect , by ascribing so much to experience , natural or supernatural , that it has left nothing for reason to do , unless servilely to obey . but , tho' this objection be plausible , yet the answer to it will not be very difficult , if the matter it self be duly consider'd , and reason be brought to act , even on this occasion , not as an interessed party , but an unbyass'd judge . for we have already shewn , that rational philosophers scruple not to alter or renounce the opinions , that specious reasons had suggested to them , when once they either find those opinions contradicted by experience , or meet with other opinions more conformable to experience . and aristotle himself , tho' he be accus'd to have , perhaps the first of all the ancient naturalists , perverted physicks , by wresting them to a compliance with logical and metaphysical fancies ; yet even he confesses , not only that in the science of nature , reason ought to comport with the phaenomena , and the phaenomena with reason ; but that to adhere to plausible ratiocinations , with the neglect of sensible observations , is a weakness , or disease , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) of mind . i will not here mention what i say in another paper , by way of attempt to settle the bounds of reason and experience , in reference to natural philosophy ; but it may concern our present argument , to imploy a few lines in this place , towards the further clearing the lately propos'd objection . we may observe then , that , whether or no it be true , which is taught by aristotle , and commonly receiv'd in the schools , that the understanding is like blank paper ; and that it receives no knowledge , but what has been convey'd to it through the senses : whether , i say , this be or be not admitted , 't is plain , that the notions which are either congenite with the understanding , or so easily and early acquir'd by it , that divers philosophers think them innate , are but very few , in comparison of those that are requisite to judge aright , about any one of a multitude of things , that occur , either in natural philosophy , or theology . for in the divine nature , power , wisdom , and other attributes , there is a faecundity that has produc'd a world of contrivances , laws , and other things , that exceedingly surpass both the number and variety , that the dim and limited intellect of man could reach to , by framing and compounding idaea's , without the assistance of the patterns , afforded by the works and declarations of god. on the account of the same prerogative of the divine knowledge , it must frequently happen , that the notions and opinions , men take up , of the works and mind of god , upon the mere suggestions of the abstracted reason , ( if i may so call it ) newly spoken of , must not only be almost always very deficient , but will be oftentimes very erroneous . of which , we see evident proofs in many of the opinions of the old philosophers , who , tho' men of strong natural parts , were misled by what they mistook for reason , to maintain such things about the works and the author of nature , as we , who , by the favour of experience and revelation , stand in a much clearer light , know to be false , and often justly think utterly extravagant . the importance of the subject lately spoken of , and its being too little consider'd , may make it deserve to be inculcated ; and therefore i shall subjoyn on this occasion , that that which i have lately call'd abstracted reason , is but a narrow thing , and reaches but to a very small share of the multitude of things knowable , whether human or divine , that may be obtain'd by the help of further experience , and supernatural revelation . this reason , furnish'd with no other notices than it can supply it self with , is so narrow and deceitful a thing , that he that seeks for knowledge only within himself , shall be sure to be quite ignorant of far the greatest part of things , and will scarce escape being mistaken about a good part of those he thinks he knows . but , notwithstanding what has been hitherto said , i am far from intending to deny reason any of its just prerogatives . for i shew in another paper , that experience is but an assistant to reason , since it doth indeed supply informations to the understanding ; but the understanding remains still the judge , and has the power or right , to examine and make use of the testimonies that are presented to it . the outward senses are but the instruments of the soul , which hears by the intervention of the ear , and in respect of which , the eye it self is but a more immediate optical tube ; and the sense does but perceive objects , not judge of them . nor do the more wary among the philosophers , trust their eye , to teach them the nature of the visible object ; but only employ it to perceive the phaenomena it exhibits , and the changes that happen to its self by the action of it . and whereas 't is confess'd , that the sensories may deceive us , if the requisites of sensation be wanting ; as when a square tower appears round at a great distance , and a straight stick half in the water , appears crooked , because of the double medium ; 't is the part of reason , not sense , to judge , whether none of the requisites of sensation be wanting ; which ( give me leave to add ) oftentimes requires , not only reason , but philosophy ; and then also 't is the part of reason to judge , what conclusions may , and what cannot , be safely grounded on the informations of the senses , and the testimony of experience . so that when 't is said , that experience corrects reason , 't is somewhat an improper way of speaking ; since 't is reason it self , that , upon the information of experience , corrects the judgments she had made before . and this ( borrow'd from the foremention'd paper , because 't was never publish'd ) prompts me to illustrate the use of reason , by comparing her to an able judge , who comes to hear and decide causes in a strange country . for the general notions he brings with him , and the dictates of justice and equity , can give him but a very short and imperfect knowledge of many things , that are requisite to frame a right judgment , about the cases that are first brought before him ; and before he has heard the witnesses , he may be very apt to fall into prejudicate opinions of things , ( whether persons or causes . ) but when an authentick and sufficient testimony has clear'd things to him , he then pronounces , according to the light of reason , he is master of ; to which , the witnesses did but give information , tho' that subsequent information may have oblig'd him , to lay aside some prejudicate opinions he had entertain'd before he receiv'd it . and what is said of natural experience , in reference to the understanding , may , with due alteration , be apply'd to supernatural revelation : for here also the understanding is to examine , whether the testimony be indeed divine ; and , whether a divine testimony ought to be ( as it will easily perceive it should ) believ'd , in what it clearly teaches ; to omit other uses of reason , ( about theological matters ) which belong not to this place ; where it may suffice to have shewn , that reason is not degraded from the dignity that belongs to her , of perceiving and judging ; tho' she be obliged by her own dictates , to take in all the assistance she can , from experience , whether natural , or supernatural ; and by the fuller accounts of things she receives from those informations , to rectify , if need be , her former and less mature judgments . in short , those that cry up abstracted reason , as if it were self-sufficient , exalt it in words ; but we that address reason to physical and theological experience , and direct it how to consult them , and take its informations from them , exalt it in effect ; and reason is much less usefully serv'd , by the former sort of men , than by the later ; since whilst those do but flatter it , these take the right way to improve it . i hope you will not imagine , that i have , in the foregoing part of this letter , said all that i could say pertinently . for , being mindful of the brevity becoming an epistolary discourse , i omitted several arguments , that would have challeng'd their places in a just treatise ; and have but touch'd upon most of those i have mention'd ; tho' reasonings of this kind are usually like tapestry , which loses much by being look'd on whilst the hangings are folded up , which should be display'd to their full dimensions . but having offer'd you some things , which perhaps you have not met with elsewhere ; and having , tho' but transiently , touch'd upon the grounds of divers other considerable arguments ; i hope that your learning and sagacity , will both supply what you will discern to have been omitted , and enforce what has been but intimated ; and then i shall not despair , that what i have said may suffice to persuade you , that experimental philosophy may greatly assist a well-dispos'd mind , to yield an hearty and operative assent to the principles of religion . i am , sir , your most &c. the end of the first part. reflections upon a theological distinction . according to which , 't is said , that some articles of faith are above reason , but not against reason . in a letter to a friend . in the savoy : printed by edw. jones , for john taylor at the ship in st. paul's church-yard . mdcxc . advertisement . after the author had begun the second part of his christian virtuoso , and made some progress in it , which he designed to continue till he had compleated it ; he was obliged to leave the country , where he enjoyed some leisure , and to remove to london ; where sickness , and business , and a multitude of visits he could not avoid receiving , did so distract him , that these remora's , added to the fertility of the subjects that remained to be treated of , which he found much greater than he was at first aware of , made him lay aside the materials he had prepared for the second part , to a fitter opportunity , and comply with the occasions he had , to publish some tracts that required more haste . and 't is for the like reasons , that having at present some other essays of a quite differing nature in the press , he is obliged to postpone his resuming and finishing the second part of the christian virtuoso ( which will require more sheets than the former ) for some longer time ; thô yet to comply with the solicitations of the printer , he consents both to let the first part come abroad , and ( to make the book of a more decent size ) add to it , by way of substitution , a discourse that is of affinity enough to the other , upon the account of some of the points it handles , and more upon that of its scope ; and that will not be ill received , if it have the good fortune to find the publick as kind to it , as private perusers have been . for my learned friend mr. h. o. sir , 1. i can neither admire nor blame the curiosity you express , to receive some satisfaction about the important distinction that is made use of , in defence of some mysteries of the christian religion ; namely , that they are indeed above reason , but not against reason . for though divers learned men have , especially of late , employed it ; yet i perceive you and your friends n. n. think , that they have not done it so clearly , as both to prevent the exceptions of infidels , or render them more groundless ; and at least , to obviate the surmises of those others , who have been persuaded to look upon this distinction , but as a fine evasion , whereby to elude some objections that cannot otherwise be answered . and indeed , as far as i can discern by the authors wherein i have met with it , ( for i pretend not to judge of any others , ) there are divers that employ this distinction , few that have attempted to explain it , ( and that i fear , not sufficiently ) and none that has taken care to justifie it . ii. in order to the removal of the difficulties that you take notice of , i shall endeavour to do these two things : 1. to declare in what sense i think our distinction is to be understood . and , 2. to prove that it is not an arbitrary or illusory distinction , but grounded upon the nature of things . though i do not desire to impose my sentiments on any man , much less on you ; yet because i , as well as others , have had some occasions to make use of the distinction we are considering ; i think myself obliged , before i go any further , to acquaint you in what sense i understand it . iii. by such things then in theology , as may be said to be above reason , i conceive such notions and propositions , as mere reason , that is , reason unassisted by supernatural revelation , would never have discover'd to us : whether those things be to our finite capacities , clearly comprehensible or not . and by things contrary to reason , i understand such conceptions and propositions , as are not only undiscoverable by mere reason , but also , when we understand them , do evidently and truly appear to be repugnant to some principle , or to some conclusion , of right reason . iv. to illustrate this matter a little , i shall propound to you a comparison drawn from that sense , which is allow'd to have the greatest cognation with the understanding , which i presume you will readily guess to be the sight . suppose then , that on a deep sea , a diver should bid you tell him , what you can see there ; that which you would answer , would be , that you can see into a sea-green liquor , to the depth of some yards , and no further : so that if he should farther ask you , whether you see what lies at the bottom of the sea , you would return him a negative answer . if afterwards the diver letting himself down to the bottom , should thence bring up and shew you oysters or muscles with pearls in them ; you would easily acknowledge , both that they lay beyond the reach of your sight , and consequently argued an imperfection in it ; thô but such an imperfection , as is not personal but common to you with other men , and that the pearls have the genuin colour and lustre , that naturally belongs to such gems . but if this diver should pretend , that each of these pearls he shews you , is as large as a tennis-ball , or some of them bigger than the shells they were inclos'd in , and that they are not round but cubical , and their colour not white or orient , but black or scarlet ; you would doubtless judge what he asserts , to be not only ( or not so properly , ) undiscernable by your eyes , but contrary to the informations of them , and therefore would deny what he affirms . because , that to admit it , would not only argue your sight to be imperfect , but false and delusory ; thô the organ be rightly qualified , and duly applied to its proper objects . v. this illustration may give you some superficial notion of the difference betwixt a thing 's being above reason , and its being contrary to it . but this may better appear , if we consider the matter more distinctly . and to offer something in order to this , i shall beg leave to say , that , in my opinion , the things that may be said to be above reason , are not all of one sort , but may be distinguish'd into two kinds , differing enough from each other . vi. for it seems to me , that there are some things , that reason by its own light cannot discover ; and others , that , when propos'd , it cannot comprehend . vii . and first , there are divers truths in the christian religion , that reason left to itself , would never have been able to find out , nor perhaps to have so much as dream'd of : such as are most of those that depend upon the free will and ordination of god , as , that the world was made in six days , that christ should be born of a virgin , and that in his person there should be united two such infinitely distant natures as the divine and human ; and that the bodies of good men shall be rais'd from death , and so advantageously chang'd , that the glorified persons shall be like , or equal to , the angels . viii . of this kind of theological truths , you will easily believe , that 't were not difficult for me to offer divers other instances ; and indeed there are many truths , and more i think than we are wont to imagine , that we want mediums , or instruments to discover , thô , if they were duly propos'd , they would be intelligible to us : as , for my part , when by looking on the starry heaven , first with my naked eyes , and then with telescopes of differing lengths , i did not only discry more and more stars , according to the goodness of the instruments i imployed , but discover'd great inducements to think , that there are in those inestimably remote regions , many celestial lights , that only the want of more reaching telescopes conceal from our sight . ix . and thus much i presume you will close with the more easily , because it disagrees not with the sentiments of some few ( for i dare say not , many ) orthodox divines . but i must take leave to add , that besides these mysterious truths , that are too remote , and hidden , to be detected by human reason ; there is another sort of things , that may be said to be above reason . x. for there are divers truths delivered by revelation , ( contained in the holy scriptures , ) that not only would never have been found out by mere natural reason ; but are so abstruse , that when they are proposed as clearly , as proper and unambiguous expressions can propose them in ; they do nevertheless surpass our dim and bounded reason , on one or other of those three accounts that are mentioned in a dialogue about things transcending reason ; namely either , as not clearly conceivable by our understanding , such as the infiniteness and perfections of the divine nature ; or inexplicable by us , such as the manner , how god can create a rational soul ; or how , this being an immaterial substance , it can act upon a human body , and be acted on by it ; ( which instance i rather chose , than the creation of matter , because it may be more easily proved ) or else asymmetrical , or unsociable ; that is , such , as we see not how to reconcile with other things , which also manifestly are , or are by us acknowledged to be , true ; such as are the divine prescience of future contingents , and the liberty that belongs to man's will , at least in divers cases . xi . it will not perhaps be improper to observe , on this occasion , that , as of things that are said to be above reason , there are more kinds than one ; so there may be a difference in the degrees , or , at least , the discernableness , of their abstruseness . xii . for some things appear to surpass , or distress , our understandings , almost as soon as they are propos'd , at least , before they are attentively look'd into . as , what is said to be infinite , either in extent or number . but there are other things , the notions whereof , as they first arise from the things considered in gross , and as it were indefinitely , are such , as do not choque or perplex our understandings ; and are so far intelligible , that they may be usefully employ'd in ordinary discourse . but when we come to make a deep inspection into these , and prosecute to the uttermost the successive inferences that may be drawn from them ; we reason our selves into inextricable difficulties , if not flat repugnancies too . and to shew you , that i do not say this gratis ; be pleas'd to consider with me , that , we usually discourse of place , of time , and of motion ; and have certain general indeterminate conceptions , of each of these ; by the help of which , we understand one another , when we speak of them ; thô , if we will look thorowly into them , and attentively consider all the difficulties , that may be discover'd by such an inspection ; we shall find our reason oppress'd by the number and greatness of the difficulties , into which we shall argue ourselves ; or , at least , may be argued by others ; thô these men , who do make such shrewd objections against the hypothesis , we embrace , will hardly be able themselves to pitch on any , that will not allow us to repay them in the same coin . xiii . what has been newly said , may , i hope , assist us to clear a difficulty , or scruple , ( about the distinction we treat of , ) which since it sprung up in my own mind , may very probably occur also to your thoughts ; namely , that if any theological proposition be granted to surpass our reason ; we cannot pretend to believe it , without discovering , that we do not sufficiently consider what we say : since we pretend to exercise an act of the understanding , in embracing somewhat that we do not understand , nor have a notion of . xiv . but on this occasion we may justly have recourse to a distinction , like that i have lately intimated . for , in divers cases , the notions , men have of some things , may be different enough , since the one is more obvious and superficial , and the other more philosophical or accurat . and of these two differing kinds of conceptions , i have already offer'd some instances in the very differing notions , men have of place and time : which , thô familiar objects , i elsewhere shew to be each of them of so abstruse a nature , that i do not wonder to find aristotle himself complaining of the difficulty that there is to give a clear , and unexceptionable , notion of place ; nor to find so acute a wit as st. austin , ingenuously confessing his disability to explicate the nature of time. xv. and what is said of the great intricacies , that incumber a deep scrutiny into these familiar objects of discourse , will hold , as to the divisibility of quantity ; as to local motion ; and as to some other primary things ; whose abstruseness is not inferior in degree , thô differing as to the kinds of things , wherein it consists . xvi . by such instances as these , it may appear , that without talking as parrots , ( as your friends would intimate , that those that use our distinctions must do ; ) or as irrational men ; we may speak of some things that we acknowledge to be on some account or other above our reason ; since the notions we may have of those things , however dim and imperfect , may yet be of use , and may be in some measure intelligible , thô the things they relate to , may , in another respect , be said to transcend our understanding ; because an attentive considerer may perceive , that something belongs to them , that is not clearly comprehensible , or does otherwise surpass our reason ( at least in our present state. ) xvii . having dispatch'd the objection , that requir'd this digression : i shall now step again into the way , and proceed in it by telling you , that any one apposite instance may suffice to clear the former part of the expression that is imploy'd , when 't is said that a mystery , or other article of faith , is above reason , but not contrary to it : for if there be so much as one truth , which is acknowledg'd to be such , and yet not to be clearly and distinctly comprehensible , it cannot justly be pretended , that to make use of the distinction we are treating of , is to say something , that is not intelligible , or is absurd . and it will further justify the expression quarrelled at , if we can make it appear , that it is neither impertinent or arbitrary , but grounded on the nature of things . and this i shall endeavour to do , by shewing , that though i admit two sorts of things , which may be said to be above reason , yet there is no necessity , that either of them must ( always ) be contrary to reason . xviii . as for the first sort of things said to surpass reason , i see not , but that men may be unable , without the assistance of a more knowing instructer , to discover some truths ; and yet be able , when these are revealed or discovered to them by that instructer , both to understand the disclosed propositions by their own rational faculty , and approve them for true , and fit to be embraced . the intellect of man being such a bounded faculty as it is , and naturally furnished with no greater a stock or share of knowledge , than it is able by its own endeavours to give itself , or acquire ; 't would be a great unhappiness to mankind , if we were obliged to reject , as repugnant to reason , whatever we cannot discover by our own natural light ; and consequently , to deny our selves the great benefits we may receive from the communications of any higher and more discerning intellect . an instance to my present purpose may be found among rational souls themselves , though universally granted to be all of the same nature . for , thô a person but superficially acquainted ( for example ) with geometry , would never have discovered by his own light , that the diameter of a square is incommensurable to the side ; yet when a skilful mathematician dextrously declares , and by a series of demonstrations proves , that noble theorem ; the disciple by his now instructed reason will be able , both to understand it , and to assent to it : insomuch , that plato said , that he was rather a beast than a man that would deny it . xix . other instances may be alledged to exemplify the truth newly mentioned . and indeed , there is not so much as a strong presumption , that a proposition or notion is therefore repugnant to reason , because it is not discoverable by it ; since it is altogether extrinsecal and accidental to the truth or falsity of a proposition , that we never heard of it before ; or that we could never have found it out by our own endeavours ; but must have had the knowledge of it imparted to us by another . but then this disability to find out a thing by our own search , doth not hinder us from being able by our own reason , both to understand it when duly proposed , and to discern it to be agreeable to the dictates of right reason . to induce you to assent to the later part of this observation , i shall add , that these intellectual assistances may oftentimes not only enlighten , but gratify , the mind , by giving it such informations , as both agree with its former maimed or imperfect notices , and compleat them . when , for example , an antique medal , half consumed with rust , is shewed to an unskilful person , though a scholar ; he will not by his own endeavours be able to read the whole inscription , whereof we suppose some parts to be obliterated by time or rust ; or to discover the meaning of it . but when a knowing medalist becomes his instructer , he may then know some ( much defaced ) letters , that were illegible to him before , and both understand the sense of the inscription , and approve it as genuine and suitable to the things , whereto it ought to be congruous . and because divers philosophical wits are apt , as well as you , to be startled at the name of mystery , and suspect , that because it implies something abstruse , there lyes hid some illusion under that obscure term : i shall venture to add , that agreeably to our doctrine we may observe , that divers things that relate to the old testament , are in the new called mysteries , because they were so under the mosaick dispensation ; thô they cease to be so , now that the apostles have explained them to the world. as the calling of the gentiles into the church of god , is by their apostle called a mystery ; because , to use his phrase , it had been hid from ages and generations : though he adds , but now 't is made manifest to his saints . and the same writer tells the corinthians , that he shows them a mystery , which he immediately explains , by foretelling , that all pious believers shall not dye , because that those that shall be found alive at the coming of christ , shall not sleep , but be changed ; as the other dead shall be raised incorruptible . which surprising doctrine , though because it could not be discovered by the light of nature , nor of the writings of the old testament , he calls a mystery ; yet it is no more so to us , now that he hath so expresly foretold it , and therefore declared it . xx. other instances i content myself to point at in the margin , that i may pass on to confirm the observation i formerly intimated ; that divers things which the scripture teaches beyond what was known , or ( in probability ) are discoverable by natural light , are so far from being against reason , by being ( in the sense declared ) above it ; that these discoveries ought much to recommend the scripture to a rational mind ; because they do not only agree with the doubtful or imperfect notions we already had of things , but improve them , if not compleat them . nay , i shall venture to add , that these intellectual aids may not seldom help us to discern , that some things , which not only are above reason , but at first sight seem to be against it ; are really reconcileable to reason , improved by the new helps , afforded it by revelation . to illustrate this by a philosophical instance , when gallileo first made his discoveries with the telescope , and said , that there were planets that moved about jupiter ; he said something , that other astronomers could not discern to be true , but nothing that they could prove to be false . and even when some revelations are thought not only to transcend reason , but to clash with it ; it is to be considered , whether such doctrins are really repugnant to any absolute catholick rule of reason , or only to something , which so far depends upon the measure of acquired information we then enjoy , that , though we judge it to be irrational , yet we are not sure , that the thing , this judgment is grounded on , is clearly and fully enough known to us . as , to resume the former example , when gallileo , or some of his disciples , affirmed venus to be sometimes horned like the moon ; thô this assertion were repugnant to the unanimous doctrine of astronomers , who thought their opinion very well grounded , on no less a testimony than that of their own eyes ; yet in effect the proof was incompetent , because their unassisted eyes could not afford them sufficient information about this case . and so , when gallileo spoke of hills and valleys , and shadows , in the moon , they were not straight to reject what he taught , but to have , if not a kind of implicit faith , yet a great disposition to believe what he delivered , as upon his own knowledge , about the figure and number of the planets . for they knew , that he had , and had already successfully made use of , a way of discovering coelestial objects , that they were not masters of ; nor therefore competent judges of all the things , though they might well be of many , that he affirmed to be discoverable by it . and though they could not see in the moon what he observed , ( valleys , mountains , and the shadows of these ) yet they might justly suspect , that the difference of the idea that they framed of that planet , and that which he proposed , might well proceed from the imperfection of their unaided sight ; especially considering , that what he said , of the differing constitution of what is there analogous to sea and land , did rather correct and improve , than absolutely overthrow , their former notices . for he allowed the spots they saw , to be darker parts of the moon , and gave causes of that darkness ; which their bare eyes could not have led them to any such knowledge of . and the non-appearance of the mountainous parts of the moon in that form to the naked eye , might well be imputed to the great distance betwixt them and us , since at a far less distance square towers appear round , &c. xxi . it now remains , that i say something , that may both make some application of the form of speech hitherto discoursed of , and afford a confirmation of the grounds whereon , i think , it may be justified . this i am the rather induced to do , because i expect it will be objected , that he that acknowledges , that the thing he would have us believe , transcends our reason , has a mind to deceive us , and procures for himself a fair opportunity to delude us , by employing an arbitrary distinction , which he may apply as he pleases . xxii . but to speak first a word or two to this last clause ; i acknowledge , that such a distinction is capable enough of being misapplied : and i am apt to think , that , by some school-divines , and others , it has been so . but , since there are other distinctions that are generally and justly received by learned men , and even by philosophers themselves , without having any immunity from being capable to be perverted ; i know not , why the distinction , we are considering , should not be treated as favourably as they . and however , the question at present is not , whether our distinction may possibly be misapplied by rash or imposing men ; but whether it be grounded on the nature of things . to come then to the thing it self , i consider , that for an opinion to be above reason , in the sense formerly assigned , is somewhat , that ( as was noted in reference to the first sort of things , that surpass it ) is extrinsecal and accidental to its being true or false . for to be above our reason , is not an absolute thing , but a respective one , importing a relation to the measure of knowledge , that belongs to the human understanding , such as 't is said to transcend : and therefore it may not be above reason , in reference to a more enlightned intellect ; such as in probability may be found in rational beings of an higher order , such as are the angels ; and , without peradventure , is to be found in god ▪ whom , when we conceive to be a being infinitely perfect , we must ascribe to him a perfect understanding , and boundless knowledge . this being supposed , it ought not to be denied , that a superior intellect may both comprehend several things that we cannot ; and discern such of them to be congruous to the fixt and eternal idea's of truth , and consequently agreeable to one another , as dim-sighted mortals are apt to suspect , or to think , to be separately false ; or , when collated , inconsistent with one another . but to lanch into this speculation , would lead me farther than i have time to go . and therefore i shall content my self to offer you one argument , to prove , that of things that may be said to be above reason , in the sense formerly explained , it is no way impossible , that even such an one should be true , as is obnoxious to objections not directly answerable . for i consider , that of things above reason , there may be some which are really contradictory to one another , and yet each of them is maintainable by such arguments , as very learned and subtle men do both acquiesce in , and enforce , by loading the embracers of the opposite opinion , with objections they cannot directly answer . xxiii . this i take to be manifest , in the case of the controversy about the endless divisibility of quantity ; as , suppose , of a straight line . for many eminent mathematicians , and a greater number of naturalists , and in particular almost all the epicureans , and other atomists , stifly maintain the negative . the affirmative is nevertheless asserted , and thought to be mathematically demonstrated , by aristotle in a peculiar tract ; and both by his school , and by several excellent geometricians besides . and yet in reality , the assertions of these two contending parties are truly contradictory ; since , of necessity a straight line proposed must be , at least mentally , divisible , into parts that are themselves still further divisible ; or , it must not be so , and the subdivisions must at length come to a stop . and therefore one of the opposite opinions must be true . and 't is plain to those , that have , with competent skill and attention , impartially examined this controversy , that the side that is pitched upon , whichsoever it be , is liable to be exposed to such difficulties , and other objections , as are not clearly answerable ; but confound and oppress the reason of those that strive to defend it . xxiv . i have , sir , the more largely discoursed of the foregoing distinction ; not only , because i did not find my self to have been prevented by others ; but , because i look upon the explaining and justifying of it to be of importance , not alone to the defence of some mysteries of the christian religion , but ( what perhaps may have escaped your observation ) of some important articles of natural theology it self . for though natural religion taught divers heathen philosophers , such truths as these , viz. the production of the rational soul or mind , which is an immaterial substance ; the formation of the world out of the universal matter , though this action required , that an incorporeal substance gave motion to a body ; that god knows men's thoughts and intentions , how carefully soever they strive to hide them ; and that god foreknows the events of the free actions of such men , as are not to be born these many ages ; though , i say , these , and some other sublime , truths , were by divers men embraced before the gospel began to be preached ; yet when i attentively consider , how hard it is to conceive the modus of these things , and explain how some of them can be performed ; and also , how some of the divine attributes , as eternity , immensity , omnipresence , and some others , belong to god ; and how some actions , as the moving of bodies , and the creation of human minds , with all their noble faculties , are exercis'd by him : when i consider such things , i say , i acknowledge , that , to my apprehension , there are some doctrine allowed to have been discovered by the mere light of nature , that are liable to such objections from physical principles , and the setled order of things corporeal ; as , if they be urged home , will bring those that are ingenuous to acknowledge , that their intellects are but dim and imperfect , and indeed disproportionate to the sublimest and most mysterious truths ; and that they cannot perfectly comprehend them ▪ and answer all the difficulties that incumber them ; though they find themselves obliged to admit them , because of the weighty positive reasons , that recommend those heteroclite truths to their assent . xxv . if you should now tell me , that , after all i have said , 't is plain , that the question'd distinction ▪ if it were granted , might be of very bad consequence ; as affording shelter to any unintelligible stuff , that some bold enthusiast , or conceited philosophizer , may obtrude under the venerable title of a mystery , above the jurisdiction of reason ; and , that though the distinction were admitted , it would not be a good proof of any disputed article of the christian religion : if , i say , this shall be objected , i shall answer , ( what in part is intimated already ) that i do not deny , but that our distinction is liable to be ill employed , but that this is no other blemish than what is common with it to divers other distinctions , that are without scruple admitted , because they are useful ; and not rejected , because they have not the privilege , that they can never be misapplied : and therefore , both in reference to those distinctions , and to that we have been treating of , it becomes men to stand upon their guard , and strictly examine , how far the notion , or doctrine , proposed as a mystery , does require , and is entituled to , the benefit of this distinction . i shall also readily grant the greatest part of the second member of your objection . for i think it were great weakness in a christian , to urge our distinction as a positive proof : since , thô it be extrinsecal to an abstruse notion , to be , or not to be , above reason ; ( as was just now noted to another purpose , ) yet , generally speaking , that abstruseness is less fit to bring credit to a conception , or a doctrine , than 't is to make it to be distrusted . nor are christians such fond discoursers , as to pretend , that such an article of religion ought to be believed , because 't is above reason , as if that were a proof of its truth ; but only , that if it be otherwise well proved , it ought to be believed , notwithstanding its being above reason . xxvi . and this i shall represent in favour of those that believe these abstruse articles , that are clearly revealed in the scripture , upon the authority of the divine revealer ; ( who never deceives others , nor can be himself deceived , ) that since , as we have lately shewn by the contradictory opinions about the divisibility of quantity , some doctrines must be true , whose difficulties do not appear to be surmountable by our dim reason ; and since the perfectness of god's knowledge permits us not to doubt , but that he certainly knows which of the two contending opinions is the true ; and can declare so much to men : it would not be a sure ground of rejecting a revealed article , to alledge , that 't is encumber'd with confounding difficulties , and lyable to many and weighty objections . xxvii . and , ( to add somewhat that may help to defend some truths of natural , and others of revealed , religion ) that a thing may be rationally assented to , upon clear positive evidence , though we cannot directly answer the objections , that a speculative and subtle wit may devise against it ; is a truth , which , as important as it is to religion in general , and the christian religion in particular , i think one may sufficiently manifest by this one instance , that , because we can walk up and down , and so remove our bodies from place to place , by this one argument , i say , we are justly satisfied , that there is local motion in the world , notwithstanding all the specious and subtle arguments , that zeno and his followers have employed to impugne that truth : against which , they have alleged such difficulties , as have not only puzzled and perplexed , but ( for ought yet appears ) nonplus'd the antient philosophers , and , i doubt , those moderns too , that have attempted to give clear solutions of them . xxviii . if now , sir , we look back upon what hath hitherto been discoursed , i hope you will allow me to gather thence the conclusion i aim at , which is , that there is no necessity , that every notion or proposition that may be found deliver'd in the holy scriptures , that surpasses our reason , must therefore be contradictory to it : and that , in case the christian religion be true , and it's mysteries or other articles divinely revealed ; 't is not enough , for the confutation of any of them , to reject the expression , that 't is above reason , but not contrary to it ; as if it involved an unintelligible or groundless distinction : for thô this will not evince the truth of a mystery , since that must be establish'd upon its proper grounds and arguments ; yet it will keep it from being therefore absurd or false , because it transcends our reason : since to do so , may belong almost indifferently to a chymerical notion , and a mysterious truth . and if the expression be employed to justify any thing , that , thô styl'd a mystery , is but a pretended one ; the error will lye , not in the groundlesness of the distinction , but the erroneousness of the application . i am , sir , your most &c. finis . greatness of mind , promoted by christianity . in a letter to a friend . the first part. london , printed by edward jones , for john taylor at the ship in st. paul's church-yard . mdcxci . to my honoured friend sir r. m. sir , i do not wonder , that a great soul , like yours , should enquire , what aspect religion , and particularly that of christians , has upon greatness of mind : but , i confess , i somewhat marvel , that you should be put upon the enquiry , by the suggestions of such a libertine as mr. n. n.'s confidently pretending , that his atheistical and sensual principles are much more friendly , than the doctrines of christianity , to a noble frame of mind . wherefore i dare not permit the sense i have of my own weakness , how great and just soever , to keep me from presenting you with my thoughts ; and the rather , because i presume you are not indisposed to receive a satisfaction in this point , since you seem to expect it from a pen that is no better than mine ; which , you well know , must not be , on this occasion , assisted by the arguments and ornaments , that the fine sentences of the fathers , and other divines and humanists , might afford to a person that were at leisure , and furnished with a library . yet i shall not much , either excuse , or deplore , my being so ill accommodated for the task you impose upon me ; because as you seem to desire but my own thoughts , so i know not , whether common place-books would afford me any great assistance on so uncommon a theme ; and , i confess , that , when the matter will bear it , i , as well as you , do less care for authorities , especially taken from discourses , designed rather to persuade than prove , in comparison of those arguments , that are suggested by a due consideration of the nature of the thing . but yet , i presume , you will readily give me leave to do that frequently enough , which your friend , perhaps , will call preaching . for besides that , your desires , and my haste , confine me to the bible and my own thoughts ; the frequent citation of texts of holy scripture is exacted by the nature of the question i am to handle : it being necessary , for the evincing of the doctrines of christianity , not to be inconsistent with greatness of mind , that we as well consider , what those doctrines are , which sure will be best declared by the scriptural texts that contain them , as what are the attributes of greatness of mind . chap. i. to proceed then with some method , as well as much brevity , i conceive , it will be no unfit way to come to a resolution in our inquiry , if i first set down and enumerate the chiefest things , that , in the estimation of intelligent men , do , as if they were so many ingredients , make up what we call magnanimity or greatness of mind , that not being a single starr , but a constellation of elevated and radiant qualities ; and then shew , that religion , especially that of the christians , is , at least , consistent with each of these , if it do not also promote it . but in this enumeration , thô i shall , ex abundanti , take in some qualities , that are not essential to greatness of mind , but rather accessions to it ; yet i shall not scrupulously distinguish those things that are necessary to compleat it , and those that are partly some of them signs , and some of them effects of it ; hoping from your equity , that these additional things will be thought to make full amends , if , through haste or mistake , i should chance to have omitted any property , that you may judge to belong to the true notion of generosity . i shall , in the following discourse , take it for granted , ( and i hope i need not tell you , that i do so ) that as we think not masons , but jewellers , fit to judge of the genuineness and value of precious stones ; so you will allow me to take the notion and measures of greatness of mind , not from the opinions of the injudicious vulgar , but the judicious estimates of reason , improv'd by philosophy , and enlightn'd by natural theology . i know , the undiscerning multitude , whose judgment seems rather lodg'd in the eye than in the brain , when they hear men name greatness of mind , are apt to fancy something , that , like the coronation of a king , is attended with pomp and splendor , and a numerous train of gazers , and the loud acclamations of the people . and , at least , when mention is made of an heroick soul , they imagine , that it cannot be but in a great commander , like a roman emperor , or a tartarian general , that leads and defeats armies , and desolates whole countries , and leaves them peopled only with carkasses . but reason and religion , that look on human things with eyes untroubled by those pompous outsides that dazle the vulgar , can easily see a vast difference betwixt greatness of fortune and greatness of mind . and not only christianity teaches , that god , who is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 respecter of persons , acts 10. and 34. 2 sam. 14. and 14. sees not persons as man sees them ; and that a thing that is sublime amongst men , may be an abomination to him : but philosophers themselves can easily distinguish betwixt that real greatness , that truly belongs to the man , and that theatrical one , that fortune may have annext to his condition . and , thô they pay a peculiar honor and respect to great virtue in sovereigns , rather than in subjects , because in the former , 't is more diffusively beneficial , and cannot last without resisting stronger temptations ; yet , they do not think , that a great empire always either finds , or makes , a great soul. and if dignities , how high soever , be attain'd by mean submissions , or weak actions , they think this extrinsecal greatness can no more make a mean soul great , than high stilts can make a dwarf a proper man. perhaps , they look upon many , who , for making a great bustle and noise in the world , are , by themselves , and the shallow vulgar , thought great spirits , but as gnats , that are in themselves small and worthless creatures , and are really considerable for nothing , save the noise and the stings wherewith they are able to disturb mens rest . that lucky monarch , that overcame so great a part of the then known world , and conquer'd countrys , faster than one would have thought he could have travell'd over them , has this character given of his stupendious exploits , by the roman historian , that all he had done , was , that he durst well despise despicable things . and in a poet of the same nation , this is his elogy , faelix terrarum praedo non utile mundo , editus exemplum . and if such persons as they , had so little respect for so great a monarch , that was a lawful sovereign ; what liberty , think you , do philosophers allow themselves , who so little value the favourites of fortune , for their being so that even such as those prosperous usurpers , phocas , &c. that her fondness , and the applause of a multitude , ( as blind , perhaps , as she is painted ) have seated in the throne ; philosophers , in their thoughts , do as well doom to a scaffold , as religion does to hell. and certainly , true greatness of mind must be something that both resides in the soul , and is perfective of it ; neither of which properties belong to any thing that fortune can bestow : and all that outward greatness can do , is not to make a soul great , but to afford one that is , the opportunity of shewing itself to be so . and all these submissions and respects that custom , or fear , or interest make men pay to those , whom , only their titles , or their places , or their power makes great ones , do as little argue or increase the real worth of those envied persons , as the standing for more than formerly in an account , turns a brass counter into silver or gold. and as no less skill in arithmetick is requir'd , to multiply , &c. a thousand farthings than a thousand guinea's , thô one of the latter , be worth almost a thousand of the former ; so the ordering or disposing of all things according to the best rules , and after the best manner they are capable of , may argue no less greatness of mind in a private man , than is exercis'd by a great monarch , in those actions that attract the eyes , and busie the tongues , of nations . and as it usually speaks a man a better artist to make a pocket-watch , than a great town-clock , all the advantage the later has of the former , consisting in the greatness of the matter that is wrought , and not that of the skill , that is display'd : so it sometimes happens , that those productions of virtue argue a greater soul , that make , by far , a lesser shew and noise . and you may remember , not only , that socrates , notwithstanding his private , and even necessitous , condition , was by the oracle preferr'd to all the grecians , when greece was the theatre of generous minds : but , that a far truer oracle than that of delphos , pronounc'd the poor widows mind , and circumstances , to have made her mite a greater liberality , than all that the rich man had bestow'd upon the corban . and it is the sentence of no worse a judge than salomon . let us not then from the mean notions of the vulgar , and the fond opinions of common souls , take our estimates of so sublime and extraordinary a quality , as greatness of mind . for many things , to which they give not only their approbation , but their applause , are , and ought to be , as little esteem'd , if they be condemn'd by the wise , as a piece of brass money , that has long past currant among the people , ought to be thought good gold , when refiners and say-masters have declar'd it counterfeit . and if you ask me , what notion then of greatness of mind , i am willing to allow , i shall freely tell you , that , in my apprehension , the man that has a great mind , is he that uses his utmost moral diligence to find out what are the best things he can do , and then , without being deterr'd by dangers , or discourag'd by difficulties , does resolutely and steadily persue them as far as his ability and opportunities will serve ; and this out of an internal principle of love to god and man , and with a sincere aim , to glorify the one , and benefit the other . chap. ii. but , before i descend to particulars , it will not be amiss to take notice of one consideration , that may , in general , make it probable , that the christian religion is rather favourable , than opposite , to true magnanimity . that this argument may make somewhat the more impression , i shall , thô very briefly , observe that the aspects , both of the author , the rules , the aims , or scopes , and the rewards of virtue , as 't is recommended by christianity , have a great and direct tendency to elevate it , and make it heroick . and first , the prime author of the doctrine of the gospel being god himself , who both knows man perfectly , and is mentioned in scripture as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or lover of mankind ; 't is but reasonable to suppose , that the doctrines and laws he caused to be solemnly delivered to mankind , and confirmed by miracles , and whose system is , in the apocalypse , honoured with the title of the everlasting gospel , ( i. e. ) not to be succeeded by a more perfect institution , as the mosaick law was by that ; should be fitted to beget and advance solid and sublime virtue , and be more , than any other institution , perfective of human nature . next , the rules , and ( if there be any such ) the counsels of the christian religion require , and tend to , extraordinary degrees of virtue : the divine legislator , being able to look into the hearts of men , makes his laws reach those , and those principally , too . the loving god with all our hearts , with all our minds , &c. and our neighbour as our selves , as comprehensive as those two grand principles of virtue are , is by our saviour made the summary of the moral law , and adopted into the gospel ; the cleansing ourselves from all filthiness , both of flesh and spirit ; and the abstaining from all kind , or appearance , of evil , are the negative parts of the christians duty ; and for the positive parts , we are plainly told , that unless our righteousness exceed that boasted one of the scribes and pharisees , we shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven . we are urged to grow in grace , to add to our faith , virtue , and to that , a whole train of excellent qualities . and , for fear any such thing should be thought to be purposely omitted , because left unmentioned , this general exhortation is given us ; finally , my brethren , whatsoever things are true , &c. but there is yet a more aspiring path of virtue trac'd us out in the gospel , where it proposes to us the example of christ , as one , whose steps we are to tread in : for not only that divine person never committed any sin , neither was guile found in his mouth ; but the supreme and omniscient judge , god himselfe , declared , by a voice from heaven , his full approbation both of his person and his doctrine , when he said , this is my beloved son , in whom i am well pleased , hear he him . and his sinless life , which was a living law , did not only surpass the examples , but even the precepts and the idea's too , of the heathen moralists and philosophers , as may be elsewhere shewn . and the becoming a serious disciple of so perfect and divine a teacher , does itself so engage a man to renounce his former vices , that when st. paul had dissuaded his romans from divers other vices , instead of exhorting them to the contrary virtues in particular , he only desires them , in general , to put on the lord jesus christ , as a comprehensive durty , which contain'd in it all the virtues , he declin'd to enumerate . thirdly , but thô he calls us to high degrees of virtue , yet he does not to unattainable ones ; for , thô philosophy wisely forbore , thô not always to commend , yet to injoyn , things disproportionate to human infirmities ; yet , he may well be allow'd to engage us to more than human virtues , that by his divine assistances , if they be duly sought , is always ready to inable us to acquire and practise them. of his fulness , says st. john , we have all received , and grace for grace ; ( i. e. ) either graces answerable to his , as the faculties of a child's mind , are to those of a perfect man ; or , grace upon grace , ( i. e. ) an accumulation of graces heaped upon one another ; which may keep you from wondring , that st. paul should dare to say , that he could do all things thorow christ that strengthned him . and where his invitations meet with an honest and a willing mind , his commands do not only chaulk out the way , but give strength to walk in it ; and he usually , does by his spirit , such a kind of work , as he sometimes did miraculously by his power , when he at once bid , and enabled , a paralytick person that wanted strength to stir from his bed , to rise and walk . and when , having commanded st. peter to walk to him upon the sea , he enabled him securely to tread upon the waves ; thereby approving and rewarding the excellent notion that disciple had , that the command of christ was a sufficient cause to put him upon action , thô a miracle were requisite to carry him thorow with it . fourthly , the rewards propos'd to virtue and piety , by the christian religion , do exceedingly tend to animate and heighten them ; whether we consider the recompences the gospel propounds in this life , or those that it promises in the next . the great present rewards of virtue , are , you know , the approbation of good men , and the applause of a man 's own conscience . the first of these is as well attainable by christian hero's , as by any other ; for virtue loses neither its worth , nor amiableness , by being baptiz'd ; and thô in some times and places lesser degrees of it may be disregarded , or traduc'd , yet , generally speaking , the greater degrees of it will either invite , or extort , mens esteem . among the roman persecutors , the exemplary lives and constancy of the primitive christians , brought it to be proverbially said , that such a man was a good man , saving that he was a christian ; and , soli christiani mortis contemptores , was usually in heathen's mouths . there are divers qualities , and those more press'd by the christian , than any other , institution , that have in them so much of native loveliness , that st. paul might justly say of them , that he that exercises himself in them , is , generally speaking , both ceptable to god , and approv'd by men. nor did those virtues that recommended the great constantine , whilst he was a gentile , lose their lustre , or the veneration they procured him , when he turn'd christian , and practis'd them with higher aims , than that of satisfying himself , and pleasing his people . and as for the reward of a good conscience , which was able to make hercules undergo all his labors ; and made all the other hero's of the gentile world ; i think , it will not be doubted , but that this inward recompence is received , not only without any defalcations , but with great improvements , by him , whose virtues flow from religion . for , to him the applauses of conscience may well be more acceptable than all the various sorts of musick , that solemniz'd the dedication of nebuchadnezar's golden image , since in him conscience does not , as in mere natural men , act only the part of a domestick judge , but that of a delegate from god himself ; and its absolutions are less welcome , as they are approbations of reason , than as they are the pledges of gods acceptance , and of that higher reward that will be consequent to it in the life to come . for these joys , that are plac'd on the other side of the grave , are much the noblest part of the recompence of virtue , and proportionable incitements to the practice of it ; and yet , on the account of future rewards , the christian has much greater motives to heroick virtue , than the heathen moralist , or philosopher . for , the posthume state of man is so dim and uncertain , that we find even the greatest men , among the heathens , speak very doubtfully , and not without ifs and and 's , of a future state , and much more of a future happiness , as may be instanc'd in socrates , cyrus , seneca , and many others ; so that they rather seem'd to have wish'd , or hop'd , than believ'd , their future felicity : and , i fear , that many of them , finding that happy state describ'd chiefly by the poets , reckon'd it among poetick fictions . and those that did , though but waveringly , expect recompences in the life to come , had but poor and mean idea's suggested to them of it ; the hopes they were entertain'd with , being of fortunate islands and the elysian fields , which are not so transcendent as to make a diffident man very forward to quit the gardens of epicurus , that he has here in possession , upon the doubtful hopes of other gardens in elysium . whereas , to excite the christian to an heroick degree of virtue , he is not allow'd to hope , but commanded to be intirely confident of passing out of this world into a place , to which the poets elysium is much more inferior , than the possession of a garden is to that of an empire . to attempt the description of that coelestial happiness , would be , contrary to my inclination , to launch out into a common place ; and were a work , that if my haste did not , my disability would , dissuade me from : and therefore , though it be a state made up of the confluence of all sort of things rationally desireable ; yet , having only said in general of all the other goods that it comprizes , that the scripture tells us , that eye has not seen , nor ear heard , nor the heart of man conceiv'd , what god has laid up for them that fear him : i shall particularly take notice only of those parts of this inestimable reward , that may peculiarly concern my present purpose , by being the chief things that heroick souls are wont to aspire too ; a good name , honour , and dignity . to have a good name for good actions , cannot but be a very desireable thing , the applause of wise and good men , being a loud eccho from without , that , by repeating it , confirms the approbation given by the conscience within . but though to do virtuous and worthy actions be the best and likeliest way of acquiring a good name , yet 't is not a certain one : for , such is the ignorance , the malice , or the enmity of a great many , that no man is sure to escape being mis-represented , or traduc'd ; as , we see , that the sublimity , the brightness , and the regular courses of the stars themselves , could not hinder wanton poets , or fanciful astronomers , from giving those luminous constellations the names not only of the nobler beasts , as the lyon , the eagle , and the whale ; but even of animals that lie under an ill name , as the dog , the goat , and the scorpion . and though it be true , that oftentimes innocency long clouded , does , like lightning , break out at last ; yet oftentimes too , that happens not till malice and envy are dead , because the maligned person is so ; by which means he does not live to know he is justified ; and many , if not all , of those mis-inform'd men are dead and gone for whose good opinion he was chiefly concern'd . but though the christian may , as well as any other , be traduc'd by calumny , which often serves good men , ( as the heathen persecuters did the martyrs , when they exposed them to the peoples view , cloath'd in the skins of beasts , to make them hideous and hateful ; ) yet he is justly cheared by the assurance he has , that there will come a time when opprest and disfigur'd innocency shall shine forth and triumph , and his good name , as well as his body , shall have a glorious resurrection , even in the sight of his accusers and enemies , and of all those whom their slanders did either prevail with , or startle . for at that great and general assize , to which there shall be a far greater confluence , than the assyrian monarch drew to the plains of babylon , the heroick disciples of the apostles will be able to say , upon happier terms than the apostles themselves did here below , that they are made a spectacle to god , to angels and to men. and in that illustrious assembly , of the first born , whose names are written in heaven , being present , the men , not only of all nations , but of all ages too , the vizards shall be as well taken off , as the masques ; and the formerly traduc'd saints , being welcom'd with the title of good and faithful servants , shall solemnly be acquitted by the sentence , not of a fallible , or partial , judge , but of an infinite and supreme one , that searches the hearts and reins , and cannot be deceiv'd or brib'd ; and , to be sure , that the injur'd saint shall come off with honour enough , he shall then be absolv'd by being crown'd . this celestial crown comprehending , in the scripture dialect , both the remaining parts of the christians reward , honour and dignity , or glory , and preferment ; it will be pertinent to mention some advantages that giveit an high preference about the crowns of monarchs here below . and first , earthly crowns may somtimes be the fruits and recompences of worth and virtue , but are not at all the proofs of them . they are usually the gifts of nature , and , not unfrequently , of fortune ; and history gives us cause to wish , they were more seldom the acquists of crimes . but the celestial crowns proclaim , thô not the merit , the worth of them that receive them , being never adjudg'd but to such , whom previous graces and virtues have fitted and qualified for the inheritance of the saints in light. besides , as an earthly crown may be acquir'd without merit , so it may be possess'd without happiness . and if crimes be made steps to a throne , they prove so many thorns to him that sits on it , who is there a more illustrious , not a less tormented , malefactor . the sublimity of a throne , as little as the height of a scaffold , keeping a criminal person from feeling the punishments inflicted on him there . as may appear by the instance of herod agrippa , whose throne , and glistering habit , which josephus takes notice of , thô they procur'd him not only the acclamations , but adorations , of the dazled multitude , could not protect him from the incens'd justice of an higher king than he ; so that whilst others treated him as a god , he found himself one of the most miserable of men , and was fain to hasten from a seat , which occasion'd , but could not protect , his impiety . but a coelestial crown , as it is graciously bestowed for the supream recompence of virtue , and on that account may be called a crown of righteousness ; so it always proves a blessing as inseparable from happiness , as a thing is from it self . the crowns of this world , by the very advantage of being hereditary , shew , that they cannot preserve the possessors from death . but the crown , i speak of , is by the divine bestower of it , called , a crown of life ; and of it , in respect of other crowns , may be truly said , what solomon said of wisdom , in reference to other goods , that the excellency of it is , that it gives life to the owner thereof . and though earthly crowns be such transitory things , that we may observe , that even the four great monarchies of the world were by god represented to nebuchadnezar , but as parts of a dream , whereas the kingdom promis'd to christians , is called in the scripture , a kingdom that cannot be moved , as the believers crown is , in opposition to those fading crowns of lawrel , that adorn'd the heads of the roman conquerors , called an unwithering crown of glory : as if the lawrel plac'd on the christians head , could grow and flourish in the wreath , better than it did on the tree . but all that i have yet said is inferior to this last prerogative of the coelestial crown , that it does not only confer a relative dignity or preeminence , but an essential worth and excellency ; as if the diamonds , which adorn'd that crown , should impart their own sparklingness , transparency , and incorruptibility , to the person that wears it . the highest preferments here below do raise a man above others , without raising him above himself . by being at the top of a ladder , a man comes to an higher station , but is not really taller than he was ; and a vane , by being plac'd on the top of the highest steeple , is not from iron turn'd into gold or silver , but remains still of the same base metal it was , and is but a weather-cock , and so the sport of the winds . but a coelestial crown is always attended with a personal improvement , befitting so high a dignity . the heavenly coronation has a virtue like that of the unction of saul , who , upon his being made king , was inabled to prophecy , and was turn'd into an other man. and the resemblance holds in this too , that christ is said , to have made his redeemed ones , not only kings , but priests to god and his father , as if the kingly dignity were not enough , unless the sacred character of a priestly office were added . congruously to which , st. peter calls christians , in general , a royal priesthood ; the understanding , the will , the affections , are all refin'd and elevated ; and the very body itself is transformed into a spiritual body . as if the glorify'd soul did shine , with an undiminish'd splendor , through its happily chang'd mansion . and we may well suppose , that this will be a bright and noble structure , if we remember , that the angels , who , in their apparitions to good men , were wont to be very careful not to frighten them , did yet appear with a majestick splendor ; and that angel that the apostles saw in our saviours sepulchre is represented as a young man cloathed in a long white and shining garment . and we are told by st. paul , that , in the future state , our vile bodies shall be transform'd into the likeness of his glorious body ; and how glorious it is in heaven , we may guess , by what it was at his transfiguration here on earth , during which , the scripture relates , that his face did shine as the sun , and his raiment was white as the light. and of moses and elias , thô they came to speak to him of his death , 't is added by st. luke , that they also appear'd in glory . and since our saviour has assured us , that those shall be accounted worthy of that state , shall be like , or equal to the angels ; and that then the righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father , who knows , but that the transfigur'd soul and body of some happy saint may be as glorious a sight , as that which appear'd to st. john in the apocalyps , when he saw an angel standing in the sun ? if it be said , that these are very bold hyperbolies , i hope the texts , i have mention'd , will keep them from seeming altogether groundless conceits . and , when among other excellent prerogatives , that our saviour promises the persevering beleivers , one is , that he will give them power over the nations , and to rule them with a rod of iron ; and the other , which may well be the last , is exprest in these words . to him that overcometh , will i grant to sit with me in my throne , even as i evercame , and am set down with my father in his throne . and thô i readily yield , that these expressions are not to be and literally , taken ; yet , when i consider the infinite power , and goodness , of god ; and that , for ought we know , he may have numberless dominions , and setts of governable creatures , that we are yet strangers too ; i think , god's attributes , and christ's expressions , may warrant us to expect amazing things from him that is able , and has declar'd himself willing , to do for us above what we can ask , or , in our present state , so much as think . and , at least , that will be allow'd me , which i drive at in this celebration of our future happiness , that the christian religion , by proposing such inestimable rewards , presents beleivers with far higher motives to heroick virtue , than morality , or philosophy , can afford other men. advertisement . the author being desir'd to add yet something to the foregoing discourses , to give the book they make parts of , a thickness more proportionate to its largeness ; he did among other papers of his , that he turn'd over in compliance with that request , light upon an epistolary discourse , which by its very being unfinish'd , seem'd ( by reason of its shortness ) the more fit to serve the present turn . for this tract having been drawn up in a countrey , whence the author was oblig'd to remove , before he had made any considerable progress in his work ; he was easily induc'd to put it up in a bundle of other writings , which , like this , were laid aside till he should be at much leisure to compleat them . but upon the newly mention'd occasion , finding that among divers loose and lesser memoirs , that had been thrown together in order to the design'd treatise , there were 15 or 20 pages at the beginning that were coherent enough ; he was content they should attend the christian virtuoso , because of the affinity of the things design'd in both the papers ; which being to recommend the christian religion to worthy souls , 't was congruous enough that a discourse which shews , that the christian religion may very well consist with a philosophick genius ; should be accompany'd by another that tends to manifest , that greatness of mind , which comprizes uncommon degrees of virtue , is not only consistent with christianity , but may be highly promoted by it . those that reflect on this aim , will not ( 't is hop'd ) think it strange , that the style is a little rais'd ; since tho' the subject be theological , yet the writer , ( who was then many years younger than he now is ) being a person of honour , and writing for a noble gentleman , who , like himself , was a layman ; 't was thought not only allowable but fit , that the style should not be altogether unsuitable to the subject and to the aim : which was to make impressions on an illustrious person , not by dry precepts , or languid discourses , but by exciting him to heroick virtue , by the noblest patterns and ideas , and the most moving incentives , he could propose . and tho' the discouragements lately mention'd , and since increas'd by the authors not being able to find some of the principle materials he had , in loose sheets , provided for the following discourse ; oblige him to lay aside the thoughts of compleating it ; yet because 't is very possible that some elevated soul may have a mind to prosecute the design , or cultivate so noble a subject ; he thought it not amiss ( as little samples of his method or way of treating it ) to subjoyn to the greater fragment , besides the index of the heads of discourse , intended for the first part , 5 or 6 lesser fragments that he lighted on , whilst he was seeking for some papers belonging to the same tract , that should have been , but were not , found in their company . chap. iii. to have high aims and noble designs , is so genuin a mark , and effect of greatness of mind , that there is not any more generally acknowledged ; insomuch that ambition , tho' it be but a depravation or a counterfeit of this heroick frame of mind , does yet so dazzle the eyes of the greater part of men , as to pass for magnanimity ; and noble attempts do oftentimes , even when they fail of success , not miss of esteem . — magnis tamen excidit ausis , was meant for an encomium by him that said it . and i remember that one of the ancients reckons it among the glories of that great captain , hannibal , who long successfully disputed , with the romans , the empire of the world , that he resolved to besiege rome , tho' he never prov'd able to lead his army within the sight of her walls . now , as to have elevated aims is one of the chief signs , and indeed parts , of an heroick temper of mind ; so , there are no men that seem to me to have nobler and sublimer aims , than those to which a true christian is encouraged ; since he aspires to no less things than to please and glorify god ; to promote the good of mankind ; to improve , as far as is possible , his personal excellencies in this life ; and to secure to himself for ever a glorious and happy condition in the next . chap. iv. one of the grand difficulties , that he , who would be highly virtuous , must expect to surmount and conquer , especially in such a degenerous age , as ours , is the temptation that is afforded by the universality of vitious customs and examples . i wish 't were needless , solicitously to prove , either how great an influence examples , especially bad ones , have on the generality of men ; or how general bad examples have been in most ages , and in particular in that we live in . the scandal given by bad examples , tho' it be one of the most obvious temptations , is none of the least dangerous . for interest , bashfulness , and that very complaisance and civility , that is so usually found in well-bred , or good-natur'd , persons , makes them very unwilling to offend or disoblige the company they live with ; and whom they have several inducements rather to please and gratify by imitation and compliance , than tacitly to reproach by nonconformity to their sentiments , and practices . and , in effect , we find , that many that could not be perverted by the frowns and threats of the vitious , have been debauch'd by their company and example . against this powerful temptation , religion strongly arms it's hero , both by precepts and precedents . thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil , was the express command of the mosaic law. say not thou a confederacy to all , to whom this people shall say a confederacy , was the command of god to his prophet . our saviour makes it an argument to dissuade his disciples from an anxious solicitude about meat and drink and cloathing , that after all these things the gentiles ( which are by far the most numerous part of mankind ) do seek . and , upon the same ground , he endeavours in the same divine sermon upon the mount to keep them from vain repetitions in prayer . and , whereas it may seem an immodesty to dare to dissent from others , that vastly surpass us in number ; the heroick conqueror of canaan speaks thus to the whole body of the victorious jewish nation , that they may choose to serve whom they thought fit , and worship either the gods whom their fathers served , or those worshipp'd by the neighbouring nations , but as for me and my house , we will serve the lord , be you not conformed to this world , says st. paul. and another apostle , speaking of himself and the true christians of his time , scruples not to affirm it passionately and roundly , we know that we are of god , and the whole world lies in wickedness . nor does religion furnish us with precepts only , to disobey custom , and example , but with precedents too , of which there are three so illustrious , that i know not how to pass them by . the first is afforded by lot , who lived in a place , that was grown so proverbial for the height of wickedness , that to aggravate their sins by the most hyperbolical comparison , we must liken them to themselves ; and they were grown so wicked , that in a place where an admirable plenty , and an unbounded libertinisme could not but make them very populous , there could not be found half a score of good men , the generality of that cursed people being fallen so much not only from virtue , but from common honesty , that they did not restrain themselves so much , as to human vices . and yet , even the sins of sodom , which cryed so loud as to reach heaven , and bring down fire and brimstone from thence , disturbed lot's quiet , without destroying his innocence , and an apostle assures us , that , that just man was but vex'd with the filthy conversation of the wicked , not prevail'd with in the least to imitate it . the next instance of a religious courage , inflexible to bad examples , is afforded us by the three friends of daniel , who , at the great solemnity of the dedication of nebuchadnezars golden image ; when they had , besides that great and stern monarchs command , the example not only of many men but many nations , and a more numerous assembly of persons , considerable for quality and dignity , than the world ever saw before or since , singly opposed their naked constancy to the haughty tyrants menaces , and the prostrate world's example . and yet these men were courtiers , bred among that supple sort of fine creatures ; that were as accustom'd to bow their consciences , as their knees , to their proud master . they had not only lives to lose , but the chief dignities of the province of babylon , then the queen of nations . and they could not upon their refusal quit the stateliest palace in the world , without immediately changing it for a burning fiery furnace . the last instance i shall name , and the most illustrious that can be named , is , that i am supplied with by noah , he lived in an age , in which there were as many hainous sinners almost as there were men , thô vice has generally had a benjamins portion , in the distribution of mankind betwixt it and virtue , yet , methusala excepted , the inequallity was grown such , as gave vice rather a monopoly than a share of men ; or if a distribution were to be admitted , 't was such a one , as that made of saul and his army , when all the people were on one side , and only he and jonathan on the other : 't is strange , that when the world was so recent , that many , that were then alive might remember and converse with one , that for two hundred years liv'd contemporary with adam , ( for so we may gather methusala to have done ) men should so soon forget all sentiments of piety . but yet in noah's time , the world could not be compared to its present state , where thô it be night in one place , 't is day in another ; but to the state of tohu va bohu , or the first chaos , where darkness was over the face of the universal deep . for the scripture tells us , that all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth , that every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was only evil continually . and tho' noah's family were saved with him in the ark , yet it may be doubted , whether that were a certain token of their being untoucht by the general contagion . for that wonderful vessel contain'd beasts clean and unclean , harmless and rapacious , and in it were saved wolves as well as lambs , and vultures as well as doves . and where god gives the reason , why he vouchsafed to receive noah and his house into the ark , he expresses it thus ; for thee have i seen righteous before me in this generation , without making mention of any of his family . nor , was the wickedness of the antediluvian world more universal than it was great ; that mungrel breed were guilty of sins as gigantic as themselves . the text says , that the earth was filled with violence through them ; and those impious rebels against their maker broke the laws of nature with an insolence , that provoked him to break off the course of nature to punish them , since nothing less than an universal deluge of water could place limits to such an impetuous and over-flowing impiety . but all these sinful examples , how general soever , could not prevail on noah so much as to keep him from giving one of a quite contrary nature ; the scripture calls him an herald or preacher of righteousness ; and tho' it appears not , that he made any converts , he persever'd in his rejected admonitions for sixscore years , a time long enough to have tired his patience , especially since he did not any of his hearers obstinacy . and his constancy rais'd him as much above the reach of their temptations , as the waters that punished their sin rais'd his ark above their drowned mansions . and now go and compare with any constancy of the following times , where virtue has always had some party , tho' not a numerous one , this unequall'd singularity of noah , which god himself seems to have taken special notice of , not only by that patriarchs wonderful preservation , but by saying emphatically , thee have i seen righteous before me in this generation , which was so brutish and depraved , that i know not whether he were not obliged to live among worse brutes before he finish'd the ark than afterwards , when in it he was shut up with lyons , foxes , and tygres . another virtue , that belongs to a great mind , is constancy , or persevering patience in afflictions . this quality hath so noble an appearance , that when 't is exercis'd even by malefactors , it obtains our esteem ; and whilest we cannot so much as excuse their actions , we cannot but commend the manner of their suffering for them : calmness of mind , in the midst of outward storms , being something that looks so handsomely , that crimes and gibbets cannot keep it from doing so ; nor hinder those in whom 't is found , from being both pitied and applauded . that this part of greatness of mind is befriended by the christian religion , more than by any other institution , will appear ; if we consider , what it contributes to constancy and patience , under outward pressures and calamities , by precept , by examples , and by arguments . chap. v. humility is a virtue , that , at the first blush , seems so distant from greatness of mind , that some would think it improper to refer the former to the later , under any other notion , than that of an opposite . but , whatever may be thought of humility , solitarily consider'd , yet , when we find it in conjunction with those other qualities , that contribute to make up greatness of mind , it adds to their number ; and ▪ tho ▪ it does not perhaps shine as bright as some of them , is as amiable as any ; and imparts somewhat of its own loveliness to all the rest . and you will not much wonder , that i place this virtue among those that constellate , if i may so speak , an heroick mind , if you consider , whence humility may in such a soul proceed , and what difficulties it may surmount . for if wealth , honour , and other outward blessings exalt our hero's condition ; to be humble , in the midst of such advantages , argues a mind elevated above the presents of fortune , and speaks a soul great enough to undervalue those things that ordinary souls admire ; and which even men that pass for great , make the objects of their ambition , and , when attain'd , of their pride . and if our hero be ennobled with great virtues , or famous for great actions ; his humility argues , that he has so rais'd an idea of virtue , and dares aspire to such a pitch of it , that he cannot rest satisfy'd with greater attainments , than persons , but ordinarily virtuous , aim at ; and looks upon himselfas oblig'd and born to an unwearied pursuit of heroick and still increasing degrees of excellency . and if a laudable practice , by being extremely difficult , is a mark of a great soul , humility must not be deny'd that character ; for this is a virtue more difficult to excellent , than to ordinary , souls . in other cases , a hero is to contend but with his vices , or his passions , or his open enemies ; but to be humble , he must overcome his virtues too ; and that , when they act unitedly as one body : since , tho' other virtues naturally assist one another , they all conspire to ruin humility ; which , having pride to contend with , is to deal with so subtle an adversary , that sometimes even by being foil'd he overcomes . and as the torpedo poisons his arm that wounds it ; so sometimes in the best arguments we employ against pride , the very strength and seeming success of them , tempts the maker of them to be proud ; and i will not swear , that , at this very time , i exalt our hero's humility , without any diminution of my own. to the attainment of an eminent degree of this lovely both vertue , and grace , the gospel conduces , by furnishing its embracers with express injunctions ; clear directions ; high rewards , and other weighty motives ; and the noblest paterns and perfectest examples , that ever were , or can be , given ▪ the heads of the discourse , entitul'd greatness of mind , befriended by christianity . the introduction . 1. of the true notion of greatness of mind . 2. of the tendency , that the christian religion has to promote greatness of mind in general . 3. that christianity gives men noble aims , such as the glory of god , the pleasing of him , the general good of men , personal excellencies in this world , and eternal happiness in the next . the virtues or qualifications , which , as so many constituent parts , make up greatness of mind , and are peculiarly befriended by christianity ; are chiefly these , 4. courage or valour . 5. constancy and patience in afflictions . 6. bounty or liberality . 7. forwardness to oblige . 8. readiness to forgive . 9. a just and impartial estimate of riches , and other things that ordinary men covet and admire . 10. humility . 11. a contempt of all that 's base . the end of the first part. greatness of mind , promoted by christianity . the second part. the former discourse has , i hope , sufficiently manifested , that , of the several virtues and noble qualities that make up true greatness of mind , there is not any that is not at least consistent with christianity , and that most of them are eminently promoted by it . but i expect your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will pretend , that there are some qualities required by our religion , that directly and powerfully tend to debase the mind they possess ; and hinder it from attaining , or even aspiring , to such great things as it would reach to , if it were not detain'd or depress'd by religion . let us now therefore examin , whether , notwithstanding , the wings which we have shewn that religion adds to the mind , the cloggs that it fastens to her , be heavy enough to disable her to raise her self above the pitch of vulgar souls ; and force her , instead of soaring aloft , to flutter about the earth . the chief things , that , as far as i can learn , are alleged , either by philédonus , or more considering adversaries than he ; to shew religion to be either quite inconsistent with , or very unfriendly to , greatness of mind , are these . — but , in regard that i find not the answers that were drawn up to the objections ; and 't is not so convenient to let the later appear unaccompany'd by the former , 't is thought the safest way to leave them both at present unmentioned ; and only take notice , that to the last of the six objections , which , to deal candidly , were named and considered , these words were found subjoyned . and now , if it appear , that neither any nor all of these , have such an unfriendly aspect on greatness of mind , as is pretended ; and that at least the impediments , they can bring , are much more than countervail'd by the assistances that religion affords heroick virtue ; i hope it will appear , that greatness of mind is not incompatible with christianity , but rather promoted by it . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28945-e1010 rom. 1. 20. psal . 94. 9. psalm 138. 14 , 15. about some causes of atheism . an essay of improbable truths . luke 1. 2. john i. 18. act. xx. 27. 1 cor. ii. 10. luke i. 2. gal. de vsu part . lib. xi . cap. xiv . see acts ii. rom. 1. 8. gen. 49. 11. isa . 2. 2. psalm 2. 8. mal. 1. 11. mat. xxiv . 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luke ii. 1. mat. 26. 13. exod. xvi . 14 , 21 , 26 , 33. notes for div a28945-e6800 coloss . i. 26. eph. iii. 3 , 5 , 6. 1 corinth . xv. v. 51 , 52. see mat. xiii . 11. ephes . v. 31. notes for div a28945-e8550 mark xii . 43. prov. xvi . 32. tit. iii. 4. revel . xiv . 6. 2 cor. vii . 1. 1 thess . v. 22. matth. v. 20. 2 pet. iii. 18. i. 5. phil. iv. 8. 1 pet. ii. 22. mat. xvii . 5. rom. xiii . 14. john i. 16. phil. iv. 13. matt. 9. 6. mat. xiv . 29. rom. xiv . 18. dan. iii. 7. 1 cor. ii. 9. dan. iii. 1 cor. iv. 9. heb. xii . 2 , 3. matt. xxv . 21. jer. xvii . 10. col. i. 12. acts xii . 21. rev. ii. 10. eccl. vii . 12. dan. ii. heb. xii . 28. 1 pet. v. 4. 1 sam. x. 6. rev. 1. 6. 1 pet. ii. 9. mark xvi . 5. luke xxiv . 4. phil. iii. 21. matt. xvii . 2. luke ix . 31. matt. xxii . 30. mat. 13. 43. rev. xix . 17. rev. ii. 26 , 27 rev. 3. 21. eph. 3. 20. first fragment . second fragment . 1 john , 5. 9. gen. 6. 12. 2. peter , 2. 5 ▪ gen. 7. 1. third fragment . fourth fragment . fifth fragment . notes for div a28945-e11730 sixth fragment . a defence of the doctrine touching the spring and weight of the air propos'd by mr. r. boyle in his new physico-mechanical experiments, against the objections of franciscus linus ; wherewith the objector's funicular hypothesis is also examin'd, by the author of those experiments. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1662 approx. 303 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 69 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28956 wing b3941 estc r26549 12258632 ocm 12258632 57681 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28956) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 57681) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 172:9) a defence of the doctrine touching the spring and weight of the air propos'd by mr. r. boyle in his new physico-mechanical experiments, against the objections of franciscus linus ; wherewith the objector's funicular hypothesis is also examin'd, by the author of those experiments. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. sharrock, robert, 1630-1684. [12], 122 p., [1] leaf of plates : ill. printed by f.g. for thomas robinson ..., london : 1662. this work contains the first formulation of boyle's law. edited by robert sharrock. errata: p. 122. reproduction of original in british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng line, francis, 1595-1675. air -early works to 1800. air-pump -early works to 1800. physics -experiments -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-07 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-07 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a defence of the doctrine touching the spring and weight of the air , propos'd by mr. r. boyle in his new physico-mechanical experiments ; against the objections of franciscvs linvs . wherewith the objector's funicular hypothesis is also examin'd . by the author of those experiments . london : printed by j. g. for thomas robinson bookseller in oxon , 1662. the publisher to the reader . friendly reader , you may possibly in this volume have expected the appendix which the author heretofore promised , and has intended shall contain some additional experiments to those which were formerly publish'd , and are here now reprinted in this second edition . these following answers to franciscus linus and mr. hobbes are presented in compensation of the delay , and for your forbearance of that appendix , which ere long you may expect in kind . for the author having hinted the promise seems thereby to acknowledge the debt , and to be content to continue the obligation to see it performed . and these ought the rather to be his excuse , because the writing these answers , and publishing the sceptical chymist , and some other discourses , have been the principal hindrances to that piece ; which is really so near a readiness , that part of it has lyen at the press these six moneths : but yet it being not all perfected , the stationer was loth to delay any longer the publication of these , for which he has been so frequently call'd upon . and they ( though a latine edition is intended ) appear now the rather in english , that they may accompany the second edition of the original experiments , which were printed first in that language in octavo ; and that instead of the promised appendix they may complete the bulk of the quarto volume . as for that part of this piece that concerns mr. hobbes , it might have been larger : but the information that the author had that the learned dr. wallis was writing against some passages in mr. hobbes his dialogues ( as well that concerning the air as the rest ) was the occasion why his h. would make no animadversion on some passages therein , and thought it not fit to enlarge upon others . and for the errata of the press i hope they will not be many : however the author as to these is to be excused , who never ( in regard to his eyes and impediments on other occasions ) gives himself the trouble of corrections and revises ; neither could the publisher much attend the press , it being printed in a distant place from his usual abode . if , as i wish , you shall find this jealousie of mine to have been causless , you will have reason to give the piece that is so kindly offered , and leads you such rare and untrodden paths in the best way of natural philosophy , the fairer entertainment and acceptance . farewell . ro. sh. the avthor's preface and declaration . they that know how indispos'd i naturally am to contentiousness , will , i presume , wonder to see me publickly engaged in two controversies at once . but that i am still as averse as ever from entering into disputes that may handsomly be declin'd , the way wherein i have managed the following controversies will , i hope , evince . and the inducements i now have to appear in publick are such , that it would be hard for me to resist the being prevail'd on by them . for , in the first place , i was ( by name , as it were ) challenged by a person , who undertook to disprove not one or two of my conjectures , but as much of the whole body of my treatise as concern'd the spring of the air , which most of my explications suppose . and this being done by a learned man , who writes very confidently of the goodness of his hypothesis and arguments , and his book being soon after follow'd by another written by mr. hobbs , a man of name in the world ; there seem'd to be some danger that so early an opposition might oppress the doctrine i had propos'd , before it was well understood and duly ponder'd . wherefore i fear'd i might be wanting to the truth and my self , if i should at such a time be altogether silent ; especially since i might probably divert many who would otherwise be forward to appear against us , by letting them see how defensible our doctrine is even against such adversaries as hose i have reply'd to . and this course i the rather chose , that in case i should henceforward comply with those who would have me forbear to write any further of these controversies , it might not be presently inferr'd from my silence , that a good cause cannot enable a pen no better then mine to defend it . but i scarce doubt but that intelligent readers , especially those that are imbued with the principles of the corpuscularian philosophy , will be much more apt to think that i had reason to write the following discourses , then to think that i had any to make them so prolix : and especially ingenious men , that are accustomed to admit nothing that either is not intelligible , or is precarious , will think divers of the objections i reply to needed no answers , or at least no solemn ones . but to these i have four things to represent . and first , that which not a little swells the bulk of the following treatises , is the inserting those passages of my adversaries that i examine in their own words : which being a practice that i expect from any that shall think fit to animadvert upon any opinion or argument of mine ; i thought it but equitable to do what i desir'd to have done to me , though oftentimes i could not do it in a little room . next , i was the more willing to prosecute some of franciscus linus his objections , because the fear of being reduc'd to grant a vacuum has so prevail'd with many eminent persons bred up in the received philosophy of the schools , that though they disagree both with him and among themselves about the particular manner of solving the phaenomena of the torricellian experiment ; yet they agree in ascribing them to some extremely-rarefi'd substance that fills up the space deserted by the quicksilver . so that this opinion , as to the main , being approved by many eminent schoalrs , especially of that most learned order of the jesuites , ( to whom perhaps its congruity to some articles of their religion chiefly recommends it ) i was willing to pay them that respect , as not to dissent from persons , divers of whom for their eminence in mathematicks and other learning i much esteem , without shewing that i do it not but upon considerations that i think weighty . thirdly , though the examiners hypothesis have but few , and not very considerable , arguments to countenance it ; yet his objections against our doctrine ( the reply to which takes up the first part of the following treatise ) are such , as though they may be solidly answered by any that throughly understands our hypothesis , yet they may chance puzzle such readers as do not , and these possiblywill prove more then a few . and , lastly , because that sometimes when the argument objected did not perhaps deserve to be much insisted on , the argument treated of deserv'd to be considered ; i thought it not amiss to make use now and then of some such opportunities to illustrate the matter it self under consideration : which i the rather did for these two reasons ; first , because i find that , except by some able mathematicians and very few other contemplative men , the doctrine of the spring of the air , at least as i have proposed it , is not yet sufficiently apprehended , ( and therefore needs to be inclucated . ) insomuch that through a great part of some late discourses of men otherwise eminently learned , ( written against other elaterists , not me ) there seems to run so great and clear a mistake , perhaps for want of skill in the hydrostaticks , that i can scarce impute it to any thing , but to their not throughly understanding the hypothesis they would confute . and , next , because i was willing to lay down in my answer to the objections i examin'd , the grounds of answering such other arguments as may be built upon the same or the like principles . and perhaps i may truly enough say , that in the following treatise i have already in effect answered several discourses , written some before and some since mine , by learned men , about the torricellian and other new experiments relating to a vacuum , though i forbore to mention the names or words of the authors , because i found not that my writings or experiments were as yet known to them . to these things i may adde , that i thought the discourses of linus the fitter to be insisted on , because he seems to have more diligently then some others , ( who yet venture to dispute against it ) enquired into our doctrine . and i shall not scruple to say thus much of an adversary , ( and one to whom i gave no provocation to be so ) that though i dare not speak in general of those that have written either about the weight of the air , or else for or against a vacuum , because ( as i acknowledge in the first chapter following ) i cannot yet procure the books of divers learned men , especially of those great personages , robervall , balianus and casatus ; yet among the writers i have hitherto met with , who have recourse to the aristotelean rarefaction and condensation in the controversies under debate , scarce any seems to have contrived his hypothesis better then our linus . not that i think his principle is either true , or ( at least to such as i ) intelligible ; but that the funiculus he assumes being allow'd him , he may , for a reason to be touch'd a little below , make out , though not all the phaenomena of my experiments , yet many more of them then most other plenists , that deny the spring of the air , can deduce from their hypotheses if granted . and in regard that , whereas we ascribe to the air a motion of restitution outwards , he attributes to it the like motion inwards , it cannot but happen that , though the principles cannot both be true , yet many of the phaenomena may be explicable by which of them soever is granted : because of this , i say , it is not so easie as many ingenious readers may be apt to think , to draw pertinent objections from experience against the adversary i have to deal with . which irepresent , lest , as some may think i have employ'd more arguments then i needed , so others should think i have omitted many ; as indeed i have omitted some , that i might pertinently have employ'd . but there is another sort of persons besides those i mention'd at the beginning of this preface , to whom i must addresse the remaining part of it ; namely , to those who seem troubled , that i suffer my self to be diverted either by linus or mr. hobbs from perfecting those experimental treatises that are lying by me , almost promis'd by the learned publisher of the latine edition of my essays ; and from prosecuting those wayes of enquiry into the nature of things , wherein they are pleas'd to think i may be more serviceable to reall learning and the lovers of it . and i confess that these mens reasons and perswasions have so far prevailed with me , that after what i have done in the two following treatises , to vindicate my writings from the objections made against them by two learned men of very differing hypotheses , and thereby to shew in some measure that i am not altogether unacquainted with the way of defending oppos'd truths , i have laid aside the thoughts of writing any more distinct or entire polemicall treatises about the subjects already disputed of . and to this i am invited by several other reasons ( besides what i have newly intimated . ) for first , as i elsewhere declare , it was not my chief design to establish theories and principles , but to devise experiments , and to enrich the history of nature with observations faithfully made and deliver'd ; that by these , and the like contributions made by others , men may in time be furnish'd with a sufficient stock of experiments to ground hypotheses and theorys on . and though in my physico-mechanicall epistle and my specimens i have ventur'd some conjectures also at the causes of the phaenomena i relate , lest the discourse should appear to inquisitive readers too jejune ; yet ( as i formerly said ) i propos'd my thoughts but as conjectures design'd ( though not only , yet chiefly ) to excite the curiosity of the ingenious , and afford some hints and assistance to the disquisitions of the speculative . and accordingly i have not forborn to mention divers things , which judicious readers may easily perceive i foresaw that many , would think unfavourable to the opinions i inclin'd to . so that for me to leave experimental for controversial studies , were a course unsuitable to the principal scope of my writings . next , though i have adventur'd to improve the doctrine of the spring and weight of the air by some supplements where i found it deficient , and to recommend it by some new illustrations and arguments deduc'd from my experiments : yet the hypotheses themselves ( for the main ) being the opinions also of far learneder men then i , it might be thought injurious both to them and to our common cause , if i should needlesly go about to hinder them from the honour of vindicating the truths we agree in ; especially , some of them being excellent mathematicians , and others eminent naturalists , whose concern to maintain the hypotheses against objections , if any shall arise , is equal to mine , and whose leisure and abilities far exceed those of a person who both is sickly , and hath other employments enough , and who ( if he were far better skil'd in geometry then he pretends to be ) hath such a weakness in his eyes , as makes him both unwilling and unfit to engage in any study where the conversing with mathematical schemes is necessary . thirdly , nor do i see much cause to doubt that the things i have deliver'd will notwithstanding my silence be left undefended : the forwardness i have already observ'd in divers virtuosi to vindicate those writings , which they are pleas'd to say have convinc'd them , and to save me the labour of penning the following treatises , scarce permitting me such an apprehension . especially since there are some things that will much facilitate their task , if not keep men from putting them upon it . for though mr. hobbs and linus have examin'd my writings upon principles wherein they differ as much from each other as from me ; yet neither have they seen cause to deny any thing that i deliver as experiment , nor have their objections been considerable , whether as to number or to weight , against the applications i have made of my principles to solve the phaenomena . so that usually without objecting any incongruity to my particular explications , they are fain to fall upon the hypotheses themselves : in whose defence i think i may with the more reason expect to be seconded , because not only i have endeavour'd , as i formerly noted , to lay the grounds of answering such objections as i foresaw might arise ; but i have also , to prevent or ease their labour , written the two first parts of my defence against linus , without being oblig'd to do so for the vindicating of my explications , which are particularly maintain'd in the third part. i know not whether i may venture to adde on this occasion , that those who have taken notice of the usefulness of experiments to true philosophy , and have observ'd that neverthelesse the difficulty , trouble , and charge of making them is such , that even in this learned age of ours there are very few bacon's or mersennus's to be met with , and those who have either made themselves , or at least seen others make experiments , even such as those i have publish'd , with the care i am wont to think my self oblig'd to employ on such occasions ; will perhaps not only believe that they cost me far more time and pains then they that have not made or seen such tryals are apt to imagine , but will possibly think it enough for a person that is not by profession a scholar , to make them carefully , and set them down faithfully , and will allow him to let others vindicate the truths he may have the good fortune to discover , especially , when there are so many fitter for it then he , who have ( as well as his adversaries ) more leisure to write disputations then opportunity to prosecute experiments ; the latter of which to be perform'd as it ought to be , doth in many cases , besides some dexterity scarce to be gain'd but by practice , require sometimes more diligence , and oftentimes too more cost , then most are willing , or then many are able , to bestow upon them . to be short , though if any thing very worthy to be taken notice of by me be suggested against any of my chief opinions or explications , i may either take an occasion to say somewhat to it elsewhere , or at least have an opportunity to consider it in a review , wherein i may alter , mend , supply , vindicate or retract divers passages of my other writings : yet i would not have it expected that i should exchange a book with every one that is at leisure to write one against a vacuum , or about the air. which declaration i make , not that i think it will or ought to hinder any man from making use of his liberty to expresse a dissent , if he sees cause ; but for these two reasons . the one , that my silence might not injure either the truth or my self , by tempting men to think , that whatever i do not answer , i cannot ; but might give unbiass'd and judicious readers a caution to allow as little of advantage to the writings of my adversaries upon the account of their being unanswer'd by me , as if i were no longer in the world. and the other , that i may not hinder those who would reply to such adversaries , by leaveing them an apprehension that either i may prevent them , or they me . to conclude , i see no cause to despair , that whether or no my writings be protected , the truths they hold forth will in time in spite of opposition establish themselves in the minds of men , as the circulation of the bloud , and other formerly much contested truths have already done . my humour has naturally made me too careful not to offend those i dissent from , to make it necessary for any man to be my adversary upon the account of personal injuries or provocations . and as for any whom either judgment or envy may invite to contend , that the things i have communicated to the world deserved not so much applause as they have had the luck to be entertain'd with ; that shall make no quarrel betwixt us : for perhaps i am my self as much of that mind as he ; and however i shall not scruple to prosess my self one of those who is more desirous to spend his time usefully , then to have the glory of leaving nothing that was ever written against him unanswer'd ; and who is more sollicitous to pursue the wayes of discovering truth , then to have it thought that he never was so much subject to humane frailties as to miss it . a defence of mr. r. boyle's explications of his physico-mechanical experiments , against franciscus linus . the i. part. wherein the adversaries objections against the elaterists are examined . chap. i. a newly published treatise , de corporum inseparabilitate , being brought to my hands , i find several chapters of it employ'd to oppose the explications i ventur'd to give of some of my new experiments touching the spring of the air. wherefore though i am very little delighted to be engag'd in controversies , and though i be not at present without employments enough ( of a private , and of a publick nature ) to make it unseasonable for me , to be by a work of this sort diverted from them ; yet for the reasons specified in the preface , i hold it not amiss to examine briefly what is objected against the thing i have delivered : and the rather , partly , because the learned author , whoever he be ( for 't is the title-page of his book that first acquainted me with the name of franciscus linus ) having forborne provoking language in his objections , allowes me in answering them to comply with my inclinations & custom of exercising civility , even where i most dissent in point of judgement . besides , the author himselfe has somewhat facilitated my reply to him , by directing me in the ninth page to some books and passages that i had not , when i publisht my epistle , either seen or taken notice of . as indeed there are besides some of these several other discourses that treat of the torrecellian experiments , which though by the names of their authors i guess to be learnedly written , i have not to this day had opportunity to peruse , my stay in the remoter parts of ireland ( whither philosophical books were not , in that time of publick confusion , brought ) having kept me from hearing of divers of them , till they were all bought up . which i here mention , to excuse my self if i have not taken notice of some things or passages to be met with in these writings , which their learned authors or inquisitive readers might justly perhaps expect i should take some notice of , in case those writings had fallen into my hands . but to digress no further . 't is true indeed , and it somewhat troubles me that it is so , that i can scarce promise my self to make my adversary a proselyte , since he without scruple assumes those very things as principles , that to me seem almost as great inconveniences as i would desire to shew any opinion i dislike , to be liable unto . but since whatever operation the following discourse may have upon the person that occasion'd it , i hope it may bring some satisfaction to those philosophers who can as little as i understand the aristotelean rarefaction , and who will as well as i be backward to admit what they cannot understand ; it shall suffice me to defend the truths i have deliver'd , if i cannot be so happy as to convince my acute adversary of them ; and i shall not believe my labour lost , if this discourse can contribute to the establishment of some notions in philosophy that i think not inconsiderable , in the minds of those whose clear principles make me the most respect their judgements , and for whose sakes i principally write . now though i be not in strictness oblig'd to defend any more then such of my own explications as the examiner has thought fit to question , and those particulars which i have added by way of improvement to the two hypotheses of the spring and weight of the air : yet that i may the more effectually prosecute what i lately intimated i aim at in this writing , and may as well illustrate my doctrine as defend it , i shall divide the ensuing treatise into three parts ; whereof the first is design'd to answer my adversaries objections against our principles ; the second shall examine the funicular hypothesis he would substitute in their stead ; and the third shall contain particular replyes to what he alledges against some of my particular explications . chap. ii. although our author confesses in his second chapter , that the air has a spring as well as a weight , yet he resolutely denies that spring to be near great enough to perform those things which his adversaries ( whom for brevities sake we will venture to call elaterists ) ascribe to it . and his whole fourth chapter , as the title declares , is imploy'd to prove that the spring of the air is unable in a close place to keep the mercury suspended in the torrecellian experiment . the proof of this assertion he sayes is easie : but alledges two or three arguments for it , which i think will be more easily answer'd then his assertion evinc'd . in the first he sayes that those experiments concerning the adhesion of ones finger , &c. which he had mentioned in the foregoing chapter , eodem modo se habent in loco clauso ac in aperto . but the answering of this we shall suspend till anon ; partly , because it may then be more conveniently examin'd , and partly , because our author seems not to build much upon it , his chief argument being that which he proposes in these words , cum tota vis hujus elaterii pendeat à refutato jam aëris aequipondio cum digitis 29½ argenti vivi , ita ut nec plus , nec minus faciat hoc elaterium in loco occluso , quam fit per illud aequipondium in loco aperto ; manifestum est , cum jam ostensum sit fictitium planè esse hujusmodi aequipondium , fictitium quoque esse tale elaterium . wherefore since all the validity of his objection against the spring of the air depends upon his former chapter , wherein he thinks he has disprov'd the weight of the air ; it will behove us to look back into the former chapter , and examine the four arguments which he there proposes . but i must crave leave to vary from his method , and consider the third in the first place , because the removal of that objection will facilitate and shorten the answer to the rest . his third argument therefore is thus set down . nam si tubus viginti tantum digitorum ( quo usi sumus in primo argumento ) non totus impleatur argento , ut prius , sed spatium aliquod inter digitum superiorem & argentum relinquatur in quo fit solus aër ; videbimus substracto inferiore digito superiorem non solum deorsum trahi ; ut prius , sed etiam argentum jam descendere , idque notabiliter , quantum nimirum extendi potest exigua illa aëris particula à tali pondere descendente . unde si loco illius aëris ponatur aqua , aliusve liquor qui non tam facilè extenditur , descensus nullus erit . hinc , inquam , contra hanc sententiam formatur argumentum : nam si externus ille aër neque at velhos viginti digitos argenti à lapsu sustentare , uti jam vidimus , quomodo quaeso sustentabit 29½ ? certè haec nullatenus reconciliari possunt . but to this argument , which he thinks so irreconcilable with his adversaries hypothesis , he has himself furnisht them with an answer in these words , dices forte ideo argentum in hoc casu descendere , quia deorsum truditur ab aëre illo sese per suum elaterium dilatante . which answer i think sufficient for the objection , notwithstanding the two exceptions he takes at it . for first , whereas he sayes , that sic deberet digitus potius à tubo repelli , quam eidem affigi , cum non minus sursum quam deorsum fiat hujusmodi dilatatio : he considers not , that though the endeavour of the included air to expand it selfe be at first every way alike , yet the expansion it selfe in our case must necessarily be made downward , and not upward ; because the finger that stops the tube being expos'd on the upper parts and the sides to the external air , has the whole weight and pressure of the atmosphere upon it ; and consequently cannot be thrust away but by a force capable to surmount that pressure : whereas on the lower side of the included air there is the weight of the whole mercurial cylinder to assist the spring of the air , to surmount the weight of the atmosphere that gravitates upon the restagnant mercury . so that the air included and endeavouring to expand it selfe , finding no assistance to expand it self upward , and a considerable one to expand it selfe downward , it is very natural that it should expand it selfe that way whence it finds less resistance . as accordingly it will happen , till the spring of the air be so far debilitated by its expansion , that its pressure , together with the weight of the mercury that remains suspended , will but counter-balance , not overcome , the pressure of the outward air upon the restagnant mercury . and this explication may be confirm'd by this trial that i have purposely made , namely , that if in stead of quicksilver you employ water , and leave as before in the tube an inch of air , and then inverting it , open it under water , you will perceive the included inch of air not to dilate it selfe any thing near ( for i need not here define the proportion ) halfe so far as it did when the tube was almost fill'd with mercury ; because the weight of so short a cylinder of water does but equal that of between an inch and an inch and an halfe only of quicksilver , and consequently the inward air is far less assisted to dilate it self and surmount the pressure of the outward air by the cylinder of water then by that of mercury . and as for what our author sayes , that if instead of air , water or some other liquor be left at the top of the tube , the quick-silver will not descend : the elaterists can readily solve that phaenomenon , by saying that water has either no spring at all , or but an exceeding weak one ; and so scarce presses but by its weight , which in so short a cylinder is inconsiderable . now the same solution we have given of our examiners objection , gives us also an account why the finger is so strongly fastned to the upper part of the orifice of the tube it stops ; for the included air being so far dilated that an inch , for example , left at first in the upper part of the tube , reaches twice or thrice as far as it did before the descent of the quick-silver , its spring must be proportionably weakned . and consequently that part of the finger that is within the tube will have much less pressure against it from the dilated air within , then the upper part of the same finger will have from the unrarefi'd air without . by which means the pulp of the finger will be thrust in ( which our author is pleas'd to call suckt in ) as we shall ere long have occasion to declare in our answer to his second argument . and having said thus much to our authors first exception against the solution he foresaw we would give of his third argument ; we have not much to say at present to his second . for whereas he sayes , concipi non posse quomodo aër ille sic se dilatet , argentumque deorsum trudat , nisi occupando majorem locum : quod tamen hi autores quam maxime refugiunt , asserentes rarefactionem non aliter fieri , quam per corpuscula aut vacuitates : i wish he had more clearly express'd himself , since as his words are couch'd i cannot easily guess what he means , and much less easily discern how they make an argument against his adversaries . for , sure he thinks them not so absurd , as to imagine that the air can dilate it self , and thrust down the mercury , without in some sense taking up more room then it did before : for the very word dilatation , and the effect they ascribe to the included air , clearly imply as much ; so that i see not why he should say that they are so averse from granting the air to take up more place then before , especially since he takes notice in the former chapter , that we compare the expansion of the air to that of compress'd wooll ; and since he here also annexes that we explicate rarefaction either by corpuscles or vacuities . but this later clause makes me suspect his meaning to be , that the elaterists do not admit that the same air may adequately fil more of place at one time then at another ; which i believe to be as true as that the self-same lock of compress'd wooll has no more hairs in it , nor does adequately fill more place with them , when it is permitted to expand it self , then whilest it remain'd compress'd . but against this way of rarefaction our author here has not any objection , unless it be intimated in these words , concipi non potest : which if it be , i shall need only to mind him in this place , that whereas many of the chiefest philosophers , both of ancient and our own times , have profest they thought not the aristotelean way of rarefaction conceivable ; and he acknowledges ( as we shall see anon ) that it is not clear ; what the ablest of his party ( the modern plenists ) are wont to object against the way of rarefaction he dislikes , is , that it is not true , not that it is not intelligible . chap. iii. our authors second objection ( for so i reckon it ) is thus propos'd by him . si sumatur tubus utrinque apertus , sed longior , put a digitorum 40. argentoque impleatur , eique digitus supernè applicetur ut prius , videbimus subtracto inferiore digito , argentum quidem descendere usque ad consuetam suam stationem ; digitum autem superiorem fortiter intra tubum trahi , eique firmissime , ut prius , adhaerere . ex quo rursum evidenter concluditur , argentum , in sua statione constitutum , non ibidem sustentari ab externo aëre , sed à funiculo quodam interno suspendi , cujus superior éxtremitas , digito affixa , eum sic intra tubum trahit , eique affigit . but this argument being much of the same nature with that drawn from his third experiment , the answer made to that and to his first may be easily apply'd , and will be sufficient for this also ; especially because in our present case there is less pressure against the pulp of the finger in the inside of the tube then in the third experiment ( where some air is included , though much expanded and weakned ; ) the pressure of the atmosphere being in the present case kept off from it by the subjacent mercury , whereas there is nothing of that pressure abated against the other parts of the finger that keep it off from the deserted cavity of the tube , save only that from the pulp that is contiguous to the tube , there may be somewhat of that pressure taken off by the weight of the glass it self . but as for that part of the finger which immediately covers the hole , whether or no there be any spring in its own fibres , or other constituent substances , which finding no resistance in the place deserted by the quick silver , may contribute to its swelling ( for that we will not now examine ) he that has duly consider'd the account already given of this intrusion of the pulp into the glass , will find no need of our authors internal funiculus , which to some seems more difficult to conceive , then any of the phaenomena in controversie is to be explain'd without it . chap. iv. by what we have already said against our examiners third argument , we may be assisted to answer his first , though he propose it as a very clear demonstration ; and though it be indeed the principal thing in his book . sumatur ( sayes he ) tubus brevior digit is 29½ puta digitorum 20. non tamen clausus altero extremo , ( ut hactenus ) sed utrinque apertus : eic tubus , immerso ejus orificio argento restagnanti , suppes●oque digito , n●effluat argentum tubo infundendum , impleatur argento vivo : aliusque deinde digitus orificio quoque applicetur , illudque bene claudat . quo facto , si subtrahatur inferior digitus , sentietur superior vehementer trahi , ac sugi intra tubum , tamque pertinaciter ei ( vel argento potius , ut postea ) adhaerere , ut ipsum tubum cum toto argento incluso facilè elevet teneatque in vase pendulum . ex quo sane experimento clarissimè refellitur haec sententia : cum enim , juxta eam , argentum in tubo hujusmodi 20. tantum digitorum , sursum trudatur à praeponderante ante aëre externo : nunquam profecto per eam explicabitur , quomodo digitus ille sic trahatur deorsum , tuboque tam vehementer adhareat ; non enim à trudente sursum potest sic deorsum trahi . thus far our authors objection , in answer whereunto i have divers things to represent , to shew , that a good account may be given of this experiment in the hypothesis of the elaterists , which is sufficient to manifest how far the argument is from being so unanswerable as the proposer of it would perswade his reader . i deny then that the finger is drawn downward , or made by suction to adhere to the tube ; but i explicate that which he calls the suction of the finger , as i lately did in answer to his third argument , as we shall more particularly see anon . he sayes indeed , that the air which thrust up the quicksilver cannot so strongly draw down the finger . as if the air were not a fluid body , but a single and entire pillar of some solid matter . but to shorten our reply to his objections , the best way perhaps will be briefly to explicate the phaenomenon thus : when the tube is fill'd with quicksilver , the finger that stops the upper orifice is almost equally press'd above and at the sides by the contiguous air ; but when the lower finger is remov'd , then the cylinder of mercury , which before gravitated upon the finger , comes to gravitate upon the restagnant mercury , and by its intervention to press against the outward air : so that against those parts of the finger that are contiguous to the air there is all the wonted pressure of the outward air ; whereas against that pulp that is contiguous to the mercury there is not so much pressure as against the other parts of the finger by two thirds . i say by two thirds , or thereabout , because the mercurial cylinder in this experiment is suppos'd to be twenty inches high ; and if it were but a little more then thirty inches high , ( which is a third more ) then the weight of the quicksilver would take off not two thirds onely , but the whole pressure of the outward air , from the above-mentioned pulp of the finger . for in that case the quicksilver would quite desert it , and settle beneath it . wherefore since it has appeared by our answer to the examiners third argument , that the pressure of the outward air is taken off from the body that remains in the upper part of the tube , according to the weight of the liquor suspended in the tube ; and since in our hypothesis the pressure of the outward air is able to keep thirty inches of quicksilver , or two or three and thirty foot of water , suspended in a tube ; it need be no great wonder , if a pressure of the ambient air , equal to the weight of a cylinder of water of near twenty two foot long , should be able to thrust in the pulp of the finger at the upper orifice of the tube , and make it stick closely enough to the lip of it . i know the examiner affirms , that no thrusting or pressure from without can ever effect such an adhesion of the finger to the tube . but this should be as well prov'd as said . but , first , though i am willing to think the examiner would not knowingly relate any thing he is not perswaded of ; yet as far as i and another person very well vers'd in these experiments have purposely tryed , i could not find the adhesion of the finger to the tube to be near so strong as our author hath related . secondly , if you carefully endeavour by pressure and otherwise to thrust the pulp of your finger into the orifice of the tube , you may through the glass perceive it to be manifestly tumid in the cavity of the pipe. and if by pressing your finger against the orifice of the tube , you should not make the pulp adhere quite so strongly to the tube , nor swell quite so much within it , as may happen in some mercurial experiments ; it is to be consider'd , that the air being a fluid as well as a heavy body , it does not ( as grosser weights would ) press only against the upper part of the finger , but pressing as much of the finger as is expos'd to it almost every where , and almost uniformly , as well as strongly , it does by its lateral pressure on every side thrust in the pulp of the finger into the hole where there is not any resistance at all , or at least near so much pressure against the pulp as that of the ambient air against the parts of the finger contiguous to it . by this it may appear that we need not borrow the objection our author offers to lend us ; namely , that in the experiment under consideration the quicksilver is press'd downward by the spring of some air lurking betwixt it and the finger . ( though i am prone to think that unless the experiment be made with a great deal of care , such a thing may easily happen , and contribute to the stronger adhesion of the finger to the tube . ) this i say may appear notwithstanding what our author objects , that the air expanding it self wil thrust away the finger upwards , since the contrary of that pretence we have lately manifested in the answer to his third argument . and as for what he adds to confirm his argumentation in these words , quod vel inde confirmatur , quia cum praponderans ille aër succedat ( uti asseritur ) loco sublati inferioris digiti , id est , eodem modo nunc sustentet argentum quo ante ab applicato digito inferiore sustentabatur ; manifestum est , non debere , juxta hanc sententiam , magis deorsum trahi digitum superiorem post sublatā inferiorem quam ante . cum it aque contrarium planè doceat experientia , satis liquet sententiam illam esse falsam . we must consider that the tube being suppos'd perfectly full of mercury , the finger that stops the lower orifice is wont to be kept strongly press'd against it , lest any of that ponderous liquor should get out between the tube and the finger . so that although both the lower finger do indeed keep up the mercury in the tube , and the pressure of the outward air would do so too ; yet there is this difference , that the pressure of the atmosphere depending upon its weight , cannot be intended and weakned as we please , as can that of the undermost finger . and therefore whereas the atmospherical cylinder will not keep up a cylinder of quicksilver of above thirty inches high , those that make the torricellian experiment do often , upon one occasion or other , keep up with the , finger a mercurial cylinder of perhaps forty or fifty inches or far more : so that whereas in our case , before the removal of the undermost finger , the pulp of the uppermost must have about the same pressure against it where it is contiguous to the mercury , as there is against the other part of the same finger ; after the removal of the undermost finger , there is as much of the atmospherical pressure , if i may so speak , taken off from the newly-mention'd pulp as counter-balances a cylinder of quicksilver of twenty inches long . chap. v. the examiners fourth and last experiment is thus propos'd . quarto denique ( sayes he ) impugnatur : quia ex eo sequeretur , argentum vivum per similem tubum è vasculo exsugi posse eâdem prorsus facilitate quâ ex eodem exsugeretur aqua : quod tamen experientiae repugnat , quâ docemur aquam in ●s sugentis facillime attrahi ; quo tamen argentum vivum ne toto quidem adhibito conatu perduci queat , imo vix ad tubi medietatem . sequelam autem sic ostendo : quia cum in hac sententia nihil aliud agendum sit quam hoc , ut per tubum sic ascendat subjectus liquor , sive aqua fuerit , sive argentum , nisi ut sugendo sursum trahatur aër tubo inclus s , quo sic attracto ascendit illico subjectus liquor , protrusus nimirum ab externo aëre jam praeponderante ( uti docet pecquetius in dissertatione anatomica pag. 63. ) manifestum est , eadem planè facilitate exsugendum sic argentum vivum qua exsugitur aqua : quod quum experientiae tam aperte repugnat , necesse est sententiam ex qua sequitur falsam esse . this experiment i remember i made some years ago , accordingly 't is alledg'd in the fourth essay of the treatise ( i was then writing ) to prove against the vulgar opinion , that liquors do not to prevent a vacuum spontaneously ascend , which i presume will be so far allow'd of by our author , who would have liquors suppos'd to be rais'd by suction violently drawn up by the contraction of his funiculus . but to examine this experiment , as it concerns the present controversie , we may recal to mind that we formerly shew'd in the answer to our authors third argument , that when the mercurial cylinder that leans upon the restagnant mercury has at the other end of it air , kept from any entercourse with the atmosphere , that included air has so much of the pressure of the external air taken off from it as counterpoises the mercurial cylinder . and the finger that is expos'd to the whole pressure of the ambient air in some of its parts , and in others but to the much fainter pressure of the included air , endures an unusual pressure from the preponderating power of the atmosphere . we may consider also that there is against the thorax and those muscles of the abdomen that are subservient to respiration the pressure of the whole ambient air. which pressure , notwithstanding the muscles design'd for the use of respiration , are able without any considerable resistance to dilate the thorax at pleasure ; because , as fast as they open the chest , and by dilating it weaken the spring of that air which is then within the body , the external air by flowing in , for want of finding the usual resistance there , keeps that within the thorax in an aequilibrium of force with that without . these things premised , 't is not difficult in our hypothesis to give an answer to the examiners experiment . for we say when a cylinder of mercury is rais'd in the tube to any considerable height , the pressure of the air in the thorax is lessen'd by the whole weight of that mercurial cylinder , and consequently the respiratory muscles are thereby disabled to dilate the chest as freely as they were wont , by reason of the prevalency of the undiminish'd pressure of the external air against the weakned pressure of the internal : but if in stead of mercury , you substitute water , so short a cylinder of that comparatively light liquor takes off so little of the pressure of the included air , that it comes into the lungs with almost its usual strength , and consequently with almost as much force as the outward air presses with against the thorax . and on this occasion there occurrs to my thoughts a noble experiment of the most ingenious monsieur paschal , which clearly shews , that if we could free the upper part of such a tube as we are now considering from the pressure of all internal air , it would follow , as the examiner sayes it should , that the quicksilver would by the pressure of the outward air be impell'd up into the tube as well as water , till it had attain'd a height great enough to make its weight not inferiour but equal to that of the atmosphere . the experiment it self being so pertinent and considerable , we shall annex it in the same words wherein it is related by his country-man and acquaintance , the learned and candid gassendus . neque hoc verò solum , sed insuper vitreo diabete clysteréve ea qua par fuerit longitudine confecto , & post embolum ad orificium usque compulsum , immisso ad normam in subjectum hydrargyrum deprehendit , ubi embolum sensim deinde educitur , consequi hydrargyrum ascendereque ad eandem usque duorum pedum & digitorum trium cum semisse altitudinem . to which he immediately subjoynes a circumstance very considerable to the present controversie in the following clause . ac ubi deinceps , adhibita licet non majore vi , embolum altius educitur , consistere hydrargyrum , neque amplius consequi , ac fieri interim inane quod spatium intercipitur ab ipso ad embolum usque . thus far he . so that as to the examiners experiment , we may well explicate it in our hypothesis , by saying , that agreeably to it it happens , that in a more forcible respiration the mercurial cylinder is raised higher then in a more languid ; because , in the former case , the chest being more dilated , the included air is also more expanded ; whereby its debilitated spring cannot as before enable the mercurial cylinder to counterpoise altogether the pressure of the ambient air. and that the reason why the quicksilver is not by respiration rais'd as high as it is kept suspended in the torricellian experiment , is not , that the pressure of the outward air is unable to raise it so high , but because , as we have already declar'd , the free dilatation of the thorax is opposed by the pressure of the ambient air ; which pressure being against so great a superficies , and being but imperfectly resisted by the debilitated pressure of the air within the thorax , will be easily imagined to be very considerable by him who considers that in our engine , the pressure of the external air against the sucker of less then three inches diameter was , as we relate in the 33. experiment , able to thrust up a weight of above a hundred pound . and here we may observe upon the by in confirmation of our former doctrine , that when we strongly suck up quicksilver in a glass tube , though the elevation of the quicksilver be according to our author performed likewise by his funiculus contracting it selfe every way , and though there be a communication betwixt the internal surface of the lungs , and the cavity of the tube ; yet we feel not in our lungs any endeavour of the shrinking funiculus to tear off that membrane they are lin'd with . and thus we have examin'd our authors four arguments , to prove that in the torricellian experiment the quicksilver cannot be kept suspended by the counterpoise of the external air : against which opinion he tells us indeed , that other arguments might be alledg'd , but as it is not probable that if he had thought them better then those he has elected to insist on , he would have omitted them ; so 't is not unlikely that answers might be as well found for them as for the others ; especially since that which he singles out for a specimen is , that from his adversaries hypothesis it would follow , that the quicksilver would descend much more ( i suppose 't is a mistake of the press , for much less ) in cold weather then in hot , because the air is then thicker and heavier , and therefore ought to impel up the quicksilver higher . for besides that we shall in its due place question the validity of our authors consequence ; it will be here sufficient to reply , that the observation on which he grounds it does not constantly hold , as his objection supposes : which may appear by that part of our 18. experiment whence the matter of fact is desum'd , as we shall have occasion-to take further notice of when we shall come to the defence of that experiment . so that what has been hitherto discours'd on both sides being duly consider'd , the reader is left to judge what ground the examiner had for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherewith he is pleas'd to conclude his third chapter , maneat igitur tot argumentis comprobatum , quorum quodlibet se solo suf ficit , argentum ( facto experimento in loco aperto ) per externi aëris gravitatem à lapsu minimè sustentari . chap. vi. his fourth chapter , wherein the title promises that he will prove , argentum in loco occluso non sustentari à lapsu per ipsum aëris elaterium , is very short , and does not require that we should dwell long upon it . for the proof he brings of his assertion being this , cum tota vis hujus elaterii pendeat à refutato jam aëris aequipondio cum digitis 29½ argenti vivi , ita ut nec plus net minus faciat hoe elaterium in loco occluso quam fit-per illud aequipondium in loco aperto ; manifestum est , cum jam oftensum sit fictitium planè esse hujusmodi aequipondium , fictitium quoque esse tale elaterium : this being no new argument , but an inference from those he had set down in the former chapter , by our answers to them it is become needless for us to make any distinct reply to this . we shal rather desire the reader to take notice , that whereas our author sayes that according to his adversaries , ncc plus nec minus faciat hoc elaterium in loco occluso quam fit per illud aequipondium in loco aperto ; whatever others may have written , we for our part allow of this opinion but in some cases ; for in others we have perform'd much more by the spring of the air , which we can within certain limits increase at pleasure , then can be perform'd by the bare weight , which for ought we know remains alwayes somewhat near the same . and of this advantage that the spring of the air may have in point of force above the weight of it , we have formerly given an instance in our 17. experiment , ( where , by compressing the air in the receiver , we impell'd the mercurial cylinder higher then the station at which the counterpoise of the air is wont to sustain it ) and shall hereafter have occasion to give yet more considerable proofs . to the lately recited words our examiner subjoyns these ; adde , cum allata jam capite praecedente experimenta de adhaesione digiti , &c. eodem modo se habent in loco clauso ac in aperto , necessarium esse facta ex eis argumenta contra aquipondium , eadem quoque contra elaterium vim habere . but though he propose this as a new argument , yet since 't is built but upon the adhesion of the finger ( of which we have already given an account in our hypothesis ) i see not how it requires any new and particular answer . and whereas he sayes , that the experiments he had mentioned concerning the adhesion of ones finger , &c. eodem modo se habent in loco clauso ac in aperto ; i could wish he had added what way he took to make the tryals . for he gives no intimation that he did them any other wayes then in ordinary rooms . and in such there scarce ever wants a communication betwixt the inward and outward air , either at the chimney , or window , or door not exactly shut , or at some hole or crevice or other , by means of which the weight of the atmosphere has its operation within the room . to his second argument our author adds not a third , unless we take that for an argument which he immediately annexes to his last recited words : et profectò ( sayes he ) si secum expenderent hi authores , quanta sit difficultas explicandi hujusmodi aëris elaterium , nisi idem aër se solo occupet majorem locum ( ut paulo ante ) credo eos sententiam facilè mutaturos . but this being said gratis , does not exact an answer ; and he must make it more intelligible then any man that i know of has yet done , how the same air can adequately fill more space at one time then at another , before he perswade me to change my opinion about the spring of the air : especially since he himself allowes that the air has a spring , whereby it is able , when it has been violently compress'd , to recover its due extension ; the manner whereof if he will intelligibly explicate , his adversaries will have no great difficulty to make out the spring of the air. but whether his hypothesis , or ours , be the more intelligible , will be more properly considered in the second part of our discourse , to which we will therefore now proceed . the ii. part. wherein the adversaries funicular hypothesis is examin'd . chap. i. what is alledged to prove the funiculus is consider'd ; and some difficulties are propos'd against the hypothesis . the hypothesis that the examiner would , as a better , substitute in the place of ours , is , if i mistake it not , briefly this ; that the things we ascribe to the weight or spring of the air are really perform'd by neither , but by a certain funiculus , or extremely thin substance , provided in such cases by nature , ne detur vacuum , which being exceedingly rarefied by a forcible distension , does perpetually and strongly endeavour to contract it self into dimensions more agreeable to the nature of the distended body ; and consequently does violently attract all the bodies whereunto it is contiguous , if they be not too heavy to be remov'd by it . but this hypothesis of our authors does to me , i confess , appear liable to such exceptions , that though i dislik'd that of his adversaries , yet i should not imbrace his , but rather wait till time and further speculations or tryals should suggest some other theory , fitter to be acquiesc'd in then this ; which seems to be partly precarious , partly unintelligible , and partly insufficient , and besides needless : though it will not be so convenient to prove each of these apart , because divers of my objections tend to prove the doctrine , against which they are alledged , obnoxious to more then one of the imputed imperfections . first , then , the arguments by which our author endeavours to evince his funiculus , are incompetent for that end . the arguments which he proposes in his sixth chapter ( where he undertakes to make good his assertion ) i there find to be three . the first he sets down in these words , constat hoc primò ex jam dictis capite praecedente : nequit enim argentum descendens sic digitum deorsum trahere , tuboque affigere , nisi à tali funiculo suspendatur , eumque suo pondere vehementer extendat , ut per se patet . but to this proof answer has been made already in the former part of this discourse : onely whereas the author seems to refer us to the foregoing chapter , we will look back to it , and take notice of what i find there against the vacuists . for though i neither am bound , nor intend , in this discourse to declare my selfe for , or against , a vacuum ; yet since i am now writing against the funicular hypothesis . it will much conduce to shew that it is not firmly grounded , if i examine what he here alledges against the assertors of a vacuum . in the next place therefore i consider that , according to the examiner , there can be no vacuum ; and that he makes to be the main reason why nature in the torricellian and our experiments does act after so extraordinary a manner , as is requisite to the production of his funiculus . for in the 47. page , having in his adversaries name demanded what need there is at the descent of the quicksilver , that before it falls a superficies should be separated from it , and extended ; respondeo ( sayes he ) ideo hoc fieri , ne detur vacuum ; cum nihil aliud ibi adsit quod loco argenti descendentis possit succedere . to which he immediately subjoyns , ( with what cogency i will not now examine : ) atque hinc plane confirmatur commune . illud per tot jam elapsa secula usurpalum in scholis axi●●●a viz. naturam à vacuo , abhorrere . and though he seem to make his funiculus the immediate cause of the phaenomena occurring in the torricellian and our experiments : yet that , if you pursue the inquiry a little higher ; he resolves them into natures abhorrency of a vacuum , himself plainly informs us in the next page ; namlicet ( sayes he ) immediata ratiocur aqua v. g. ex hydria hortulana superne clausa ( quo exemplo . utuntun ) non descendat , non sit metus vacui , sed ea quam modo diximus , nempe quod non detur sufficiens pondus ad solvendum illum nexum quo adhaer eat aqua clausae hydriae summitati ; ad eam tamen rationem tandem necessario veniendumest . but , though as well our author 's fumiculus , as the other scarce conceivable hypotheses that learned men have devised , to account for the suspension of the quicksilver otherwise then by the resistance of the external air , seem to have been excogitated onely to shun the necessity of admitting a vacuum : yet i see not how our examiner cogently proves , either that there can be none in rerum naturâ , or that defacto there is none produc'd in these experiments . for in his fifth chapter ( where he professedly undertakes that task ) he has but these two incompetent arguments . the first is drawn from the attraction , as he supposes , of the finger into the deserted cavity of the tube in the torricellian experiment : quaequidem ( sayes he ) tam vehemens tractio & adhaesio , cum non nisi à reali aliquo corpore inter digitum & argentum constitutum queat provenire , manifestum est spatium illud vacuum non esse , sed verâ aliquâ substantiâ repletum . but to this argument having already given an answer , let us ( without staying to urge , that the vacuists will perhaps object , that they see not a necessity , though they should admit of traction in the case , that the internal substance must therefore perfectly replenish the deserted cavity ; without pressing this , i say , let us ) consider his other , which he draws from the diaphaneity of the deserted part of the tube , which space ( he sayes ) were it empty , would appear like a little black pillar , eo quod nullaespecies visuales neque ab eo neque per illud possunt ad oculum perventre . but ( not to engage our selves in optical speculations and controversies ) if we grant him some what more then perhaps he can prove ; yet as the experiment will not demonstrate that there is nothing of body in any part of the space deserted by the mercury , so neither will the argument conclude ( as the proposer of it does twice in this chapter ) that space verâ aliquâ substantiâ repleri . for according to the hypothesis of the epicureans and other atomists , who make light to be a corporeal effluvium from lucid bodies , and to consist of atoms so minute , as freely to get in at the narrow pores of glass , there will be no cause to deny interspers'd vacuities in the upper part of the tube . for the corpuscles of light that permeate that space may be so numerous , as to leave no sensible part of it un-inlightned ; and yet may have so many little empty intervals betwixt them , that , if all that is corporeal in the space we speak of were united into one lump , it would not perhaps adequately fill the one half ( not to say the tenth , or even the hundredth part ) of the whole space : according to what we have noted in the 17. experiment , that a room may appear full of the smoke of a perfume , though if all the corpuscles that compose that smoke were re-united , they would again make up but a small pastil . to which purpose i remember i have taken camphire , of which a little will fill a room with its odour , and having in well-clos'd distillatory glasses caught the sumes driven over by hear , i thereby reduc'd them to re conjoyn into true camphire , whose bulk is very inconsiderable in comparison of the space it fills as to sense , when the odorous corpuscles are scattered through the free air. to which i might adde , that the torricellian experiment being made in a dark night , or in a room perfectly darken'd , if it succeed ( as there is little cause to suspect it will not ) it may well be doubted whether our authors argument will there take place . for if he endeavour to prove that the place in question was full in the dark , because upon the letting in of the day , or the bringing in of a candle , the light appears within it ; the vacuists may reply according to their hypothesis , that that light is a new one , flowing from the lucid body that darts its corporeal beams quite through the glass and space we dispute about , which for want of such corpuscles were not just before visible . and supposing light not to be made by a trajection of atoms through diaphanous bodies , but a propagation of the impulse of lucid bodies through them ; yet it will not thence necessarily follow , that the deserted part of the tube must be full : as in our 27. experiment ( though many of those gross aerial particles that appear'd necessary to convey a languid sound were drawn out of our receiver at the first and second exsuction ; yet there remain'd so many of the like corpuscles , that those that were wanting were not miss'd by the sense , though afterwards , when a far greater number was drawn out , they were ) so there may be matter enough remaining to transmit the impulse of light ; though betwixt the particles of that matter there should be store of vacuities intercepted . whereas our author pretends to prove , not onely that there is no coacervate vacuity in the space so often mentioned , but absolutely that there is none . for 't is in this last sense , as well as the other , that the schools and our author , who defends their opinion , deny a vacuum . but notwithstanding what we have now discours'd , as in our 17. experiment we declin'd determining whether there be a vacuum or no ; so now what we have said to the examiners argument , has not been to declare our whole sense of the controversie , but onely to shew , that though his hypothesis supposes there is no vacuum , yet his arguments do not sufficiently prove it : which may help to shew his doctrine to be precarious ; for otherwise the cartesians , though plenists , may plausibly enough ( whether truly or no i now dispute not ) decline the necessity of admitting a vacuum in the deserted space of the tube , by supposing it fill'd with their second and first element , whose particles they imagine to be minute enough freely to pass in and out through the pores of glass . but then they must allow the pressure of the outward air to be the cause of the suspension of the quicksilver : for though the materia coelestis may readily fill the spaces the mercury deserts ; yet that within the tube cannot binder so ponderous a liquor from subsiding as low as the restagnant mercury ; since all the parts of the tube , as well the lowermost as the uppermost , being pervious to that subtile matter , it may with like facility succeed in whatever part of the tube shall be for saken by the quicksilver . the examiners second argument in the same place is , that since the mercurial cylinder is not sustain'd by the outward air , it must necessarily be , that it be kept suspended by his internal string . but since for the proof of this he is content to refer us to the third chapter ; our having already examin'd that , allows us to proceed to his third argument , which is , that the mercurial cylinder , resting in its wonted station , does not gravitate : as may appear by applying the finger to the immers'd or lower orifice of the tube . whence he infers , that it must of necessity be suspended from within the tube . and indeed if you dexterously apply your finger to the open end of the tube , when you have almost , but not quite , lifted it out of the restagnant mercury , ( which circumstance must not be neglected , though our author have omitted it ) that so you may shut up no more quicksilver then the mercurial cylinder is wont to consist of , you will find the experiment to succeed well enough : ( which makes me somewhat wonder to find it affirm'd , that the learned maignan denies it ) not but that you will feel upon your finger a gravitation or pressure of the glass-tube , and the contained mercury , as of one body ; but that you will not feel any sensible pressure of the mercury apart , as if it endeavoured to thrust away your finger from the tube . but the reason of this is not hard to give in our hypothesis ; for according to that , the mercurial cylinder and the air counterpoising one another , the finger sustains not any sensibly-differing pressure from the ambient air that presses against the nail and sides of it , and from the included quicksilver that presses against the pulp . but if the mercurial cylinder should exceed the usual length , then the finger would feel some pressure from that surplusage of quicksilver , which the air does not assist the finger to sustain . so that this pleasant phaenomenon may be as well solv'd in our hypothesis , as in the examiners : in which if we had time to clear an objection , which we fore-see might be made , but might be answer'd too ; we would demand why , when the mercury included in the tube is but of a due altitude , it should run out upon the removal of the finger that stops it beneath , in case it be sustain'd onely by the internal funiculus , and do , according to his doctrine , when the funiculus sustains it , emulate a solid body , if the pressure of the external air has not ( as our author teaches it not to have ) any thing to do in this matter . and if some inquisitive person shall here object , that certainly the finger must feel much pain by being squeez'd betwixt two such pressures , as that of a pillar of thirty inches of quick-silver on the one side , and an equivalent pressure from the atmospherical pillar on the other , it may readily be represented , that in fluid bodies ( such as are those concern'd in our difficulty ) a solid body has no such sense of pressure from the ambient bodies as ( unless experience had otherwise instructed us ) we should perhaps imagine . for , not to mention that having inquired of a famous diver , whether he found himself sensibly compressed by the water at the bottom of the sea ; he agreed with the generality of divers in the negative : i am inform'd that the learned maignan did purposely try , that his hand being thrust three or four palmes deep into quicksilver , his fingers were not sensible , either of any weight from the incumbent , or of any pressure from the ambient , quicksilver . the reason of which ( whether that inquisitive man have given it or no ) is not necessary in our present controversie to be lookt after . to these three arguments the examiner addes not a fourth , unless he design to present it us in this concluding passage : huc etiam faciunt insignes librationes quibus argentum subito descendens agitatur : idem enim hic fit quod in aliis pendulis & ab alto demissis fieri solet . but of this phaenomenon also 't is easie to give an account in our hypothesis by two several wayes ; whereof the first ( which is proper chiefly when the experiment is made in a close place , as our receiver ) is , that the quicksilver by its sudden descent acquires an impetus superadded to the pressure it has upon the score of its wonted gravity ; whereby it for a while falls below its station , and thereby compresses the air that leans upon the restagnant mercury . which air by its own spring again forcibly dilating it self to recover its former extension , and ( as is usual in springs ) hastily flying open , expands it self beyond it , and thereby impells up the quicksilver somewhat above its wonted station , in its fall from whence it again acquires somewhat ( though not so much as before ) of impetus or power , to force the corpuscles of the air to a sub-ingression ; and this reciprocation of pressure betwixt the quicksilver and the outward air decreasing by degrees , does at length wholly cease , when the mercury has lost that superadded pressure , which it acquired by its falling from parts of the tube higher then its due station . but this first way of explicating these vibrations is not necessary in the free air : for if we consider the ambient air onely as a weight , and remember what we have newly said of the impetus acquir'd by descent ; this phaenomenon may be easily enough explain'd , by taking notice of what happens in a balance , when one of the equiponderant scales chancing to be depress'd , they do not till after many vibrations settle in aequilibrio . and on this occasion i shall adde this experiment : i took a glass pipe , whose two legs ( very unequal in length ) were parallel enough , and both perpendicular to that part of the pipe that connected them , ( such a syphon is describ'd in our 36. experiment , to find the proportion of the gravity of mercury and water ) into this quicksilver was pour'd till 't was some inches high , and equally high in both legs : then the pipe being inclin'd till the most part of the quicksilver was fallen into one of the legs , i stopt the orifice of the other leg with my finger , and erecting again the pipe , though the quicksilver were forc'd to ascend a little in that stopt leg ; yet by reason my finger kept the air from getting away , the quicksilver was kept lower by a good deal in that stopt leg then in the other ; but if by suddenly removing my finger i gave passage to the included and somewhat comprest air , the preponderant quicksilver in the other leg would with the mercury in this unstopt leg , make divers undulations before that liquor did in both legs come to rest in an aequilibrium . of which the reason may be easily deduc'd from what has been newly deliver'd ; and yet in this case there is no pretence to be made of a funiculus of violently distended air to effect the vibrations of the mercury . chap. ii. divers other difficulties are objected against the funicular hypothesis . thirdly , but though our examiner have not sufficiently proved his hypothesis , yet perhaps it may be in its own nature so like to be true , as to deserve to be imbrac'd as such . wherefore we will now take notice of some of those many things that to our apprehension render it very improbable . and first , whereas our author acknowledges that quicksilver , water , wine , and other liquors , will , as well one as another , descend in tubes exactly sealed at the top , in case the cylinder of liquor exceed the weight of a mercurial cylinder of 29½ . inches ; and will subside no longer then till it is come to equiponderate a cylinder of quicksilver of that height ; whereas , i say , the examiner is by the ingenious monsieur paschall's , and other experiments , induc'd to admit this ; it cannot but seem strange that , whatever the liquor be , there should be just the same weight or strength to extend them into a funiculus : though water , for instance , and quicksilver be near fourteen times as heavy one as the other , and be otherwise of very distant natures ; and though divers other liquors , as oyle and water , be likewise of textures very differing . and this may somewhat the more be wondred at , because our author ( in his animadversions upon our 31. experiment ) is pleased to make so great a difference betwixt the disposition of bodies of various consistences , as fluid and firm , to be extenuated into a funiculus , that he will not allow any humane force to be able to produce one , by the divulsion of two flat marbles , in case the contact of their surfaces were so exquisite as quite to exclude all air ; though in the same place his ratiocination plainly enough teaches ( which experience however does ) that adhering marbles , though with extraordinary difficulty , may be forcibly sever'd , and according to him the superficial parts may be distended into a funiculus , that prevents a vacuum . but now the hypothesis of his adversaries is not at all incumbred with this difficulty . for the weight of the outward air being that which keeps liquors suspended in tubes sealed at the top ; it matters not of what nature or texture the suspended liquor is , provided its weight be the same with that of a mercurial cylinder equiponderant to the aerial one : as if there be a pound of lead in one scale , it will not destroy the aequilibrium , whether what be put in the other be gold , or quicksilver , or wooll , or feathers , provided its weight be just a pound . in the next place we may take notice , that the account our examiner gives us of his funiculus in the tenth chapter , ( where he takes upon him to explicate it ) is much more strange then satisfactory , and not made out by any such parallel operations of nature , as his adversaries will not ( and may not well do it ) dispute the truth of . whereas the weight and spring of the air may be inferr'd from such unquestion'd experiments as are not concern'd in our present controversie . for the gravity of the air may be manifested by a pair of scales , & the spring of it discloses it self so clearly in wind-guns and other instruments , that our adversary ( as we have already had occasion to inculcate ) does not deny it . but to consider his explication of his funiculus , he would have us note two things : first , argentum dum replet totum tubum , non mere tangere ejus summitatem ( ut primo aspectu videtur ) sed eidem quoque firmiter adhaerere . patet hoc ( subjoyns he ) experimento illo in primo argumento capit is tertii de tubo utrinque aperto . but what is to be answer'd to this proof may be easily gathered from what we have replyed to that argument . and to what our author addes to prove , that the adhesion of the finger is to the subjacent mercury , not to the tube ; namely , that licet illud tubi orificium oleo , aliâve materiâ adhaesionem impediente , inungatur , non minus tamen firmiter adhaerebit digitus quàm priùs ; an answer may be drawn from the same place ; nor perhaps will his reasoning much satisfie those who consider that bodies by trusion may easily enough be made stick together , as much as in our case the tube and finger do , notwithstanding one of them is anoynted with oyle , and that this adhesion of the finger to the tube is to be met with in cases where the surface of the included quicksilver is not contiguous to the finger , but many inches below . as for what he addes concerning the reason why water , and quicksilver ascend by suction , we have already taught what is to be answered to it , by ascribing that ascension to the pressure of the external air : without any need of having recourse to a funiculus ; or imagining with him in this place , that because nothing besides the water or quicksilver can in such cases succeed , the air , ( which yet is not easie to be prov'd in reference to a thin aethereal substance ) therefore , partes ipsius aëris ( to use his expression ) sic tubo inclusae ( quae aliàs tam facile separantur ) nunc tam fortiter sibi invicem agglutinentur , ut validissimum ( uti videmus ) conficiunt catenam , qua non solum aqua , sed ponderosum illud argentum sic in altum trahatur . which way of wreathing a little rarefied air into so strong a rope , how probable it is , i will for a while leave the reader to judge , and advance to our author's second notandum , which he thus proposes : rarefactionem sive extensionem corporis ad occupandum majorem locum fieri non solo calore , sed etiam distensione seu vi divulsivâ : sicut è contra condensatio non solo frigore perficitur , sed etiam compressione , uti innumera passim docent exempla . and 't is true and obvious , that the condensation of bodies , taking that word in a large sense , may be made as well by compression as cold . but i wish he had more clearly exprest what he means in this place by that rarefaction , which he sayes is to be made by distension , or a vis divulsiva , whereof he tells us there are innumerable instances . for , as far as may be gathered from the three examples he subjoyns , 't is onely the air that is capable of being so extended as his hypothesis requires quicksilver and even stones must be . and i know not how it will be proved , that even air may be thus extended so far , as in the magdeburg experiment , to fill a place more then two thousand times as big as that it fill'd before . for that the same air in this and his two foregoing instances does adequately fill more space at one time then another , he proves but by the rushing in of water into the evacuated glass , and filling it within a little quite full , which , he sayes , is done by the distended air that contracting it self draws up the water with it . which explication how much less likely it is , then that the water is in such cases impell'd up by the pressure of the atmosphere , we shall anon ( when we come to discuss his way of rarefaction and condensation ) have occasion to examine . in the mean time let us consider with him the explication which , after having premis'd the two above recited observations , he gives us of his funiculus ; cum per primum notandum argentum ita adhaereat tubi vertici , & per secundum , rarefactio fiat per meram corporis distensionem , ita rem se habere , ut argentum descendens à vertice tubi affixam ei relinquat superficiem suam extimam sive supremam , eamque eousque suo pondere extendat extenuetque , donec facilius sit aliam superficiem similiter relinquere quam priorem illam ulterius extendere : secundam igitur relinquit , eamque eodem modo descendendo extendit , donec facilius sit tertiam adhuc separari quam illam secundam extendere ulterius : & sic deinceps , donec tandem vires amplius non habeat superficies sic separandi & extendendi ; nempe donec perveniat ad altitudinem digitorum duntaxat 29½ , ubi quiescit , ut capite primo dictum est . thus far our examiners explication : by which 't is easie to discern , that he is fain to assigne his funiculus a way of being produc'd strange and unparallell'd enough . for , not to repeat our animadversions upon the first of the two notandum's , on which the explication is grounded , i must demand by what force , upon the bare separation of the quicksilver and the top of the tube , the new body he mentions comes to be produc'd ; or at least how it appears that the mercury leaves any such thing as he speaks of behind it . for the sense perceives no such matter at the top of the tube , nor is it necessary to explicate the phaenomena as we have formerly seen . it may also be marvell'd at , that the bare weight of the descending mercury should be able to extend a surface into a body . and besides , it seems precariously affirm'd , that there is such a successive leaving behind of one surface after another as is here imagin'd : nor does it at all appear how , though some of the quicksilver were turn'd into a thin subtile substance , yet that substance comes to be contriv'd into a funiculus of so strange a nature , that scarce any weight ( for ought appears by his doctrine ) can be able to break it ; that contrary to all other strings it may be str●●●●ed without being made more slender ; and that it has other very odde properties , some of which we shall anon have occasion to mention . as for what our author subjoynes in these words , eodem itaque fere modo separari videntur hae superficies ab argento descendente , & in tenuissimum quendam per descendens pondus extendi , quo per calorem in accensa candela separantur hujusmodi superficies à subjecta cera aut sevo , & in subtilissimam flammam extenuantur . ubi not atu dignum , quemadmodum flamma illa plusquam millies sine dubio majus spatium occupat , quàm antea occupaverat pars illa cerae ex qua conficitur ; ita prorsus & his existimandum funiculum illum plusquam millies majus spatium occupare quàm prius occupaverat illa argenti particula ex qua sit exortus : uti etiam sine dubio contingit , quando talis particula à subjecto igne in vaporem convertitur . though it be the onely example whereby he endeavours to illustrate the generation of his funiculus , yet ( i presume ) he scarce expects we should think it an apposite one . for , besides that there here intervenes a conspicuous and powerful agent , namely , an actual fire to sever and agitate the parts of the candle ; and besides that there is a manifest wasting of the wax or tallow turn'd into flame ; besides these things , i say , we must not admit , that the fuel when turn'd into a flame does really fill ( i say not , with our author ) more then a thousand times , but so much as twice more of genuine space then the wax 't was made of . for it may be said that the flame is little or nothing else then an aggregate of those corpuscles which before lay upon the upper superficies of the candle , and by the violent heat were divided into minuter particles , vehemently agitated and brought from lying as it were upon a flat to beat off one another , and make up about the wiek such a figure as is usual in the flame of candles burning in the free air. nor will it necessarily follow , that the space which the flame seems to take up should contain neither air nor aether , nor any thing else , save the parts of that flame , because the eye cannot discern any other body there : for even the smoke ascending from the snuff of a newly-extinguish'd candle appears a dark pillar , which to the eye at some distance seems to consist of smoke ; whenas yet there are so many aerial and other invisible corpuscles mingled with it , as if all those parts of smoke that make a great show in the air were collected and contiguous , they would not perhaps amount to the bigness of a pins head : as may appear by the great quantity of steams that in chymical vessels are wont to go to the making up of one drop of spirit . and therefore it does not ill fall out for our turn , that the examiner , to inforce his former example , alledges the turning of a particle of quicksilver into vapour , by putting fire under it : for if such be the rarefaction of mercury , 't is not at all like to make such a funiculus as he talks of , since those mercurial fumes appear by divers experiments , to be mercury divided and thrown abroad into minute parts , whereby though the body obtain more of surface then it had before , yet it really fills no more of true and genuine space , since if all the particular little spaces fill'd by these scatter'd corpuscles were reduc'd into one , ( as the corpuscles themselves often are in chymical operations ) they would amount but to one total space , equal to that of the whole mercury before rarefaction . but these objections against this explication are not all that i have to say against our adversaries funiculus it self . for i farther demand how the funiculus comes by such hooks or graple-irons , or parts of the like shape , to take fast hold of all contiguous bodies , and even the smoothest , such as glass , and the calm surfaces of quicksilver , water , oyle , and other fluids : and how these slender and invisible hooks cannot onely in the tersest bodies find an innumerable company of ears or loops to take hold on , but hold so strongly that they are able not alone to lift up a tall cylinder of that very ponderous metall of quicksilver , but to draw inwards the sides of strong glasses so forcibly , as to break them all to pieces . and 't is also somewhat strange , that water and other fluid bodies ( whose parts are wont to be so easily separable ) should , when the funiculus once layes hold on the superficial corpuscles , presently emulate the nature of consistent bodies , and be drawn up like masses each of them of an intire piece ; though even in the exhausted receiver they appear by their undulation ( when they are stir'd by bubbles that pass freely through them ) and many other signs to continue fluid bodies . it seems also very difficult to conceive how this extenuated substance should acquire so strong a spring inward as the examiner all along his book ascribes to it . nor will it serve his turn to require of us in exchange an explication of the airs spring outward , since he acknowledges , as well as we , that it has such a spring . i know , that by calling this extenuated substance a funiculus , he seems plainly to intimate that it has its spring inward , upon the same account that lute-strings and ropes forcibly stretch'd have theirs . but there is no small disparity betwixt them : for whereas in strings there is requir'd either wreathing , or some peculiar and artificial texture of the component parts ; a rarefaction of air ( were it granted ) does not include or infer any such contrivance of parts as is requisite to make bodies elastical . and if the cartesian notion of the cause of springiness be admitted , then our extenuated substance having no pores to be pervaded by the materia subtilis ( to which besides our author also makes glass impervious ) will be destitute of springiness . and however , since lute-strings , ropes , &c. must , when they shrink inwards , either fill up or lessen their pores , and increase in thickness as they diminish in length ; our examiners funiculus must differ very much from them , since it has no pores to receive the shrinking parts , and contracts it self as to length , without increasing its thickness . nor can it well be pretended that this self-contraction is done ob fugam vacui , since though it should not be made , a vacuum would not ensue . and if it be said that it is made that the preternaturally stretch'd body might restore it self to its natural dimensions : i answer , that i am not very forward to allow acting for ends to bodies inanimate , and consequently devoid of knowledge ; and therefore should gladly see some unquestionable examples produc'd of operations of that nature . and however to me , who in physical enquiries of this nature look for efficient rather then final causes , 't is not easie to conceive how air by being expanded ( in which case its force ( like that of other rarify'd bodies ) seems principally to tend outwards , as we see in fired gun-powder , in aeolipiles , in warm'd weather-glasses , &c. ) should acquire so prodigious a force of moving contiguous bodies inwards . nor does it to me seem very probable , that , when for instance part of a polish'd marble is extended into a funiculus , that funiculus does so strongly aspire to turn into marble again . i might likewise wish our author had more clearly explicated , how it comes to pass ( which he all along takes for granted ) that the access of the outward air does so much and so suddenly relax the tension of his funiculus ; since that being ( according to him ) a real and poreless body , 't is not so obvious how the presence of another can so easily and to so strange a degree make it shrink . but i will rather observe , that 't is very unlikely that the space which our adversary would have replenish'd with his funicular substance , should be full of little highly-stretcht strings , that lay fast hold of the surfaces of all contiguous bodies , and alwayes violently endeavour to pull them inwards . for we have related in our 26. experiment , that a pendulum being set a moving in our exhausted receiver , did swing to and fro as freely , and with the string stretch'd as streight , as for ought we could perceive it would have done in the common air. nay , the balance of a watch did there move freely and nimbly to and fro ; which 't is hard to conceive those bodies could do , if they were to break through a medium consisting of innumerable exceedingly-stretch'd strings . on which occasion we might adde , that 't is somewhat strange that these strings , thus cut or broken by the passage of these bodies through them , could so readily have their parts re-united , and without any more ado be made intire again . and we might also take notice of this as another strange peculiarity in our authors funiculus , that in this case the two divided parts of each small string that is broken do not , like those of other broken strings , shrink and fly back from one another ; but ( as we just now said ) immediately redintegrate themselves : whereas , when in the torricellian experiment the tube and contain'd mercury is suddenly lifted up out of the restagnant quicksilver into the air , the funiculus does so strangely contract it self , that it quite vanishes ; insomuch that the ascending mercury may rise to the very top of the tube . these , i say , and divers other difficulties might on this occasion be insisted on ; but that , supposing our selves to have mentioned enough of them for once , we think it now more seasonable to proceed to the remaining part of our discourse . chap. iii. the aristotelean rarefaction ( proposed by the adversary ) examin'd . but this is not all that renders the examiners hypothesis improbable : for , besides those already mentioned particulars , upon whose score it is very difficult to be understood ; it necessarily supposes such a rarefaction and condensation , as is , i confess , to me , as well as to many other considering persons , unintelligible . for the better discernment of the force of this objection we must briefly premise , that a body is commonly said to be rarefi'd or dilated , ( for i take the word in a larger sense then , i know , many others do , for a reason that will quickly appear ) when it acquires greater dimensions then the same body had before ; and to be condens'd , when it is reduc'd into less dimensions , that is , into a lesser space then it contain'd before : ( as when a dry spunge being first dipp'd in water swells to a far greater bulk , and then being strongly squeez'd and held compressed , is not onely reduced into less room then it had before it was squeezed , but into less then it had even before it was wetted . ) and i must further premise , that rarefaction ( as also condensation ) being amongst the most obvious phaenomena of nature , there are three ( and for ought we know but three ) wayes of explicating it : for , either we must say with the atomists and vacuists , that the corpuscles whereof the rarefied body consists do so depart from each other , that no other substance comes in between them to fill up the deserted spaces that come to be left betwixt the incontiguous corpuscles ; or else we must say with divers of the ancient philosophers , and many of the moderns , especially the cartesians , that these new intervals produced betwixt the particles of the rarefied body are but dilated pores , replenished , in like manner as those of the tumid spunge are by the imbibed water , by some subtile aethereal substance , that insinuates it self betwixt the disjoyned particles : or , lastly , we must imagine with aristotle and most of his followers , that the self-same body does not onely obtain a greater space in rarefaction , and a lesser in condensation , but adequately and exactly fill it , and so when rarefied acquires larger dimensions without either leaving any vacuities betwixt its component corpuscles , or admitting between them any new or extraneous substance whatsoever . now 't is to this last ( and , as some call it , rigorous ) way of rarefaction that our adversary has recourse in his hypothesis : though this , i confess , appear to me so difficult to be conceived , that i make a doubt whether any phaenomenon can be explained by it ; since to explain a thing is to deduce it from something or other in nature more known then it self . he that would meet with full discussions of this aristotelean rarefaction , may resort to the learned writings of gassendus , cartesius and maignan , who have accused it of divers great absurdities : but for my part , i shall at present content my self to make use to my purpose of two or three passages that i meet with ( though not together ) in our author himself . let us then suppose , that in the magdeburg experiment he so often ( though i think causlesly enough ) urges to prove his hypothesis ; let us ( i say ) for easier considerations sake suppose , that the undilated air , which ( as he tells us ) possessed about half an inch of space , consisted of a hundred corpuscles , or ( if that name be in this case disliked ) a hundred parts ; ( for it matters not what number we pitch upon ) and 't will not be denyed , but that as the whole parcel of air , or the aggregate of this hundred corpuscles , is adequate to the whole space it fills , so each of the hundred parts , that make it up , is likewise adequately commensurate to its peculiar space , which we here suppose to be a hundredth part of the whole space . this premised , our author having elsewhere this passage , corpore occupante locum verbi gratia duplo majorem , necesse est ut quaelibet ejus pars locum quoque duplo majorem occupet ; prompts us to subjoyn , that in the whole capacity of the globe ( which according to him was two thousand times as great as the room possessed by the unexpanded air ) there must likewise be two hundred thousand parts of space commensurate each of them to one of the fore-mentioned hundredth parts of air ; and consequently , when he affirms that that half inch of air possessed the whole cavity of the globe , if we will not admit ( as he does not ) either vacuities or some intervening subtile substance in the interval of the aeriall parts , he must give us leave to conclude , that each part of air does adequately fill two thousand parts of space . now that this should be resolutely taught to be not onely naturally possible , ( for we dispute not here of what the divine omnipotence can do ) but to be really and regularly done in this magdeburg experiment , will questionless appear very absurd to the cartesians and those other philosophers , who take extension to be but notionally different from body , and consequently impossible to be acquir'd or lost without the addition or detraction of matter ; and will , i doubt not , appear strange to those other readers , who consider how generally naturalists have looked upon extension as inseparable , and as immediately flowing from matter ; & upon bodies , as having necessary relation to a commensurate space . nor do i see , if one portion of air may so easily be brought exactly to fill up a space two thousand times as big as that which it did but fill before without the addition of any new substance ; i see not ( i say ) why the matter contained in every of these two thousand parts of space may not be further brought to fill two thousand more , and so onwards , since each of these newly-replen shed spaces is presumed to be exactly filled with body , and no space , nor consequently that which the unrarefied air replenished , can be more then adequately full . and since , according to our adversary , not onely fluid bodies , as air and quicksilver , but even solid and hard ones , as marble , are capable of such a distension as we speak of , why may not the world be made i know not how many thousand times bigger then it is , without either admitting any thing of vacuity betwixt its parts , or being increased with the addition of one atome of new matter ? which to me is so difficult to conceive , that i have sometimes doubted , whether in case it could be proved , that in the exhausted globe we speak of there were no vacuities within , nor any subtile matter permitted to enter from without , it were not more intelligible to suppose that god had created a new matter to joyn with the air in filling up the cavity , then that the self-same air should adequately fill two thousand spaces , whereof one was exactly commensurate to it even when it was uncompressed . for divers eminent naturalists , both ancient and modern , believing upon a physical account the souls of men to be created and infused , will admit it as intelligible that god does frequently create substances on certain emergent occasions . but i know that many of them will not likewise think it conceivable , that without his immediate interposition an accession of new , real dimensions should be had without either vacuities or accession of matter . and indeed when i considered these difficulties and others , that attend the rarefaction our examiner throughout his whole book supposes , and when i found that ever and anon he remits us to what he teaches concerning rarefaction ; i could not but with some greediness resort to the chapters he addressed me to . but when i had perused them , i found the difficulties remained such still , and that 't was very hard even for a witty man to make more of a subject then the nature of it does bear . which i say , that by professing my self unsatisfied with what he writes , i may not be thought to find fault with a man for not doing what perhaps is not to be done , and for not making such abstruse notions plain , as are scarcely ( if at all ) so much as intelligible . and indeed as he has handled this subject modestly enough , so in some places his expressions are to me somewhat dark ; which i mention , not to impute it as a crime in him , that he wrote in a diffident and doubtful strain of so difficult a matter , but to excuse my self if i have not alwayes guessed aright at his meaning . the things he alledges in favour of the rarefaction he would perswade are two : the one , that the phaenomena of rarefaction cannot be explicated either by vacuities or the subingression of an aethereal substance ; and the other , that there are two wayes of explicating the rigorous rarefaction he contends for . his objections against the epicurean and cartesian wayes of making out rarefaction are some of them more plausible then most of those that are wont to be urged against them ; yet not such as are not capable enough of answers . but whilest some of the passages appeared easie to be replyed to by the favourers of the hypothesis they oppose , before i had fully examined the rest , chancing to mention these chapters to an ingenious man , hereafter to be further mentioned in this treatise ; he told me he had so far considered them more then the rest of the book , that he had thought upon some hypotheses , whereby the phaenomena of rarefaction might be made out either according to the vacuists , or according to the cartesians , adding , that he had also examined the instance our adversary pretends to be afforded him of his rarefaction by what happens in the rota aristotelica . wherefore being sufficiently distressed by avocations of several sorts , and being willing to reserve the declaration of my own thoughts concerning the manner of rarefaction and condensation for another treatise , i shall refer the reader to the ingenious conjectures about this subject , which the writer of them intends to annex to the present discourse ; and onely adde in general , that whereas the examiners argument on this occasion is , that his way of rarefaction must be admitted , because neither of the other two can be well made out , his adversaries may with the same reason argue that one of theirs is to be allowed , since his is incumbred with such manifest difficulties . and they may enforce what they say by representing , that the inconveniences that attend his hypothesis about rarefaction are insuperable , arising from the unintelligible nature of the thing itself ; whereas those to which the other wayes are obnoxious , may seem to spring but from mens not having yet discovered what kind of figures and motions of the small particles may best qualifie them to make the body that consists of them capable of a competent expansion . after our authors objections against the two wayes of rarefaction proposed , the one by the vacuists , and the other by the cartesians and others , that admit the solidest bodies , and even glass itself , to be pervious to an aethereal or subtile matter ; he attempts to explicate the manner by which that rigorous rarefaction he teaches is perform'd : and having premised , that the explication of the way how each part of the rarefy'd body becomes extended , depends upon the quality of the parts into which the body is ultimately resolv'd ; and having truly observ'd , that they must necessarily be either really indivisible , or still endlesly divisible ; he endeavours to explicate the aristotelean rarefaction according to those two hypotheses . but , though he thus propose two wayes of making out his rarefaction ; yet besides that they are irreconcilable , he speaks of them so darkly and doubtfully , that it seems less easie to discern which of the two he would be content to stick to , then that he himself scarce acquiesces in either of them . and , first , having told us how rarefaction may be explain'd , in case we admit bodies to be divisible in infinitum , he does himself make such an objection against the infinity of parts in a continuum , as he is fain to give so obscure an answer to , that i confess i do not understand it ; and presume , that not onely the most part of unprejudiced readers will as little acquiesce in the answer as i do ; but even the author himself will not marvel at my confession , since in the same place he acknowledges the answer to be somewhat obscure , and endeavours to excuse its being so , because in that hypothesis it can scarce be otherwise . wherefore i shall onely adde on this occasion , that 't is not clear to me , that even such a divisibility of a continuum as is here supposed would make out the rarefaction he contends for . for , let the integrant parts of a continuum be more or less finite or infinite in number , yet still each part , being a corporeal substance , must have some particle of space commensurate to it ; and if the whole body be rarefied , for instance , to twice its former bigness , then will each part be likewise extended to double its former dimensions , and fill both the place it took up before , and another equal to it , and so two places . the second argument alledged to recommend the hithertomentioned way of explicating rarefaction is , that many learned men , amongst whom he names two , aquinas and suarez , have taught that the same corporeal thing may naturally be , and de facto often is , in the souls of brutes really indivisible and virtually extended . but , though i pay those two authors a just respect for their great skill in scholastical and metaphysical learning ; yet the examiner cannot ignore , that i could make a long catalogue of writers , both ancient and modern , at least as well vers'd in natural philosophy as st. thomas and suarez , who have some of them in express words denyed this to be naturally possible ; and others have declared themselves of the same judgment by establishing principles , with which this conceit of the virtual extension of the indivisible corpuscles is absolutely inconsistent . and though no author had hitherto opposed it , yet i , that dispute not what this or that man thought , but what 't is rational to think , should nevertheless not scruple to reject it now ; and should not doubt to find store of the best naturalists of the same opinion with me , and perhaps among them the examiner himself , who ( however this acknowledgment may agree with the three following chapters of his book ) tells us , ( pag. 160. ) that juxia probabiliorem sententiam hujusmodi virtualis extensio rei corporea concedenda non est , ut pote soli rei spirituali propria . but to conclude at length this tedious enquiry into the aristotelean way of rarefaction , ( which is of so obscure a nature that it can scarce be either proposed or examined in few words ) i will not take upon me resolutely to affirm which of the two wayes of explicating it ( by atomes or by parts infinitely divisible ) our author declares himself for . but which of them soever it be , i think i have shown that he has not intelligibly made it out : and i make the less scruple to do so , because he himself is so ingenuous as ( at the close of his discourse of the two wayes ) to speak thus of the opinion he prefers ; praestat communi & receptae hactenus in scholis sententiae insistere , quae licet difficultates quidem non clarè solvat , its tamen aperte non succumbit . so that in this discourse of rarefaction , to which our author has so often in the fore-going part of the book referred us , as that which should make good what there seemed the most improbable ; he has but instead of a probable hypothesis needlesly rejected , substituted a doctrine which himself dares not pretend capable of being well freed from the difficulties with which it may be charged ; though i doubt not but other readers , especially naturalists , will think he has been very civil to this obscure doctrine , in saying that difficultatibus non aperte succumbit . as for the other way of explicating rarefaction , namely , by supposing that a body is made up of parts indivisible ; he will not , i presume , deny , but that the objections we formerly made against it are weighty . for according to this hypothesis ( which one would think he prefers , since he makes use of it in the three or four last chapters of his book ) necessariò fatendum est ( sayes he ) unam eandemque partem poni in duplici loco adaequate : cum enim indivisibilis sit , locumque occupet majorem quam prius , necesse est ut tota sit in quolibet puncto totius loci , sive ut per totum illud spatium virtualiter extendatur . so that when he in the very next page affirms , that by this virtual extension of the parts , the difficulties that have for so many ages troubled philosophers may be easily solved , he must give me leave ( who love to speak intelligibly , and not to admit what i cannot understand ) to desire he would explain to me what this extensio virtualis is , and how it will remove the difficulties that i formerly charged upon the aristotelean rarefaction . for the easier consideration of this matter , let us resume what we lately supposed , namely , that in the magdeburgick experiment the half inch of undilated air consisted of a hundred corpuscles ; i demand how the indivisibility of these corpuscles will qualifie them to make out such a rarefaction as the author imagines . for what does their being indivisible do in this case , but make it the less intelligible how they can fill above a hundred parts of space ? 't is easie to fore-see he will answer , that they are virtually extended . but not here to question how their indivisibility makes them capable of being so ; i demand , whether by an atoms being virtually extended , its corporeal substance do really ( i mean adequately ) fill more space then it did before , or whether it do not : ( for one of the two is necessary . ) if it do , then 't is a true and real , and not barely a virtual extension . and that such an extension will not serve the turn , what we have formerly argued against the peripatetick rarefaction will evince ; and our adversary seems to confess as much , by devising this virtual extension to avoid the inconveniences to which he saw his doctrine of rarefaction would otherwise plainly appear expos'd . but if it be said , that when an atome is virtually extended , its corporeal substance fills no more space then before : this is but a verbal shift , that may perhaps amuse an unwary reader , but it will scarce satisfie a considering one . for i demand how that which is not a substance can fill place ; and how this improper and but metaphorical extension will salve the phaenomena of rarefaction : as how the half inch of air at the top of the fore-mentioned globe shall without a corporeal extension fill the whole globe of two thousand times its bigness when the water is suck'd out of it , and act at the lower part of the globe . which last clause i therefore adde , because not onely our author teaches ( pag. 91. & 92. ) that the whole globe was filled with a certain thin substance , which by its contraction violently snatch'd up the water into which the neck of the glass was immers'd ; but in a parallel case he makes it his grand argument to prove , that there is no vacuum in the deserted part of the tube in the torricellian experiment , that the attraction of the finger cannot be performed but by some real body . wherefore till the examiner do intelligibly explain how a virtual extension , as it is opposed to a corporeal , can make an atome fill twice , nay , two thousand times more space then it did before ; i suppose this device of virtual extension will appear to unbiass'd naturalists but a very unsatisfactory evasion . two arguments indeed there are which our adversary offers as proofs of what he teaches . the first is , that they commonly teach in the schools , that at least divinitus ( as he speakes ) such a thing as is pleaded for may be done , and that consequently it is not repugnant to the nature of a body . but , though they that either know me , or have read what i have written about matters theological , will , i hope , readily believe , that none is more willing to acknowledge and venerate divine omnipotence ; yet in some famous schools they teach , that it is contrary to the nature of the thing . and that men who think so , and consequently look not upon it as an object of divine omnipotence , may ( whatever he here say ) without impiety be of a differing mind from him about the possibility of such a rarefaction as he would here have , our author may perchance think fit to grant , if he remember that he himself sayes a few pages after , cum tempus sit ens essentialiter successivum , it a ut ne divinitus quidem possint duae ejus partes simul existere , &c. but , not now to dispute of a power that i am more willing to adore then question , i say , that our controversie is not what god can do , but about what can be done by natural agents , not elevated above the sphere of nature . for though god can both create and annihilate , yet nature can do neither : and in the judgment of true philosophers i suppose our hypothesis would need no other advantage to make it be preferred before our adversaries , then that in ours things are explicated by the ordinary course of nature , whereas in the other recourse must be had to miracles . but though our authors way of explicating rarefaction be thus improbable , yet i must not here omit to take notice , that his funiculus supposes a condensation that to me appears incumbred with no less manifest difficulties . for , since he teaches that a body may be condens'd without either having any vacuities for the comprest parts to retire into , or having pores filled with any subtile and yielding matter that may be squeez'd out of them ; it will follow , that the parts of the body to be condens'd do immediately touch each other : which supposed , i demand how bodies that are already contiguous can be brought to farther approximations without penetrating each other , at least in some of their parts . so that i see not how the examiners condensation can be perform'd without penetration of dimensions . a thing that philosophers of all ages have looked upon as by no means to be admitted in nature . and our author himself speaks somewhere at the same rate , where to the question , why the walls that inclose fired gun-powder must be blown asunder ? respondeo ( sayes he ) haec omnia inde accidere , quod pulvis ille sic accensus & in flammam conversus , longe majus spatium nunc occupet quàm prius . unde fit , ut cum totum cubiculum antea fuerit plenissimum , disrumpantur sic parietes , ne detur corporum penetratio . in the magdeburgick experiment he tells us ( as we have heard already ) that the whole capacity of the globe is filled with an extremely thin body . but not now to examine how properly he calls that a rare body , which according to him intercepts neither pores nor any heterogeneous substance , the greater or lesser absence of which makes men call a body more or less dense ; not to insist on this , i say , let us consider , that before the admission of water into the exhausted globe there was , according to him , two thousand half inches of a substance , which , however it was produc'd or got thither , was a true and real body ; and that after the admission of the water there remained in the same globe , besides the water that came in , no more then one half inch of body . since then our author does not pretend ( which if he did , might be easily disproved ) that the one thousand nine hundred ninety nine half inches of matter , that now appear no more , traversed the body of water ; since he will not allow that it gets away through the pores of the glass , i demand , what becomes of so great a quantity of matter ? for that 't is annihilated i suppose he is too rational a man to pretend , ( nor , if he should , would it be at all believ'd ) and to say , that a thousand and so many hundred parts of matter should be retir'd into that one part of space that contains the one half inch of air , is little less incredible : for that space was suppos'd perfectly full of body before , and how a thing can be more then perfectly full , who can conceive ? to dispatch : according to our authors way of condensation , two , or perhaps two thousand , bodles may be crouded into a space that is adequately fill'd by one of them apart . and if this be not penetration of dimensions , i desire to be informed what is so ; and till then i shall leave it to any unprepossess'd naturalist to judge , whether an hypothesis that needs suppose a thing so generally concluded to be impossible to nature , be probable or not ; and whether to tell us that the very same parcel of air , that is now without violence contain'd in half an inch of space , shall by and by fill two thousand times as much room , and presently after shrink again into the two thousandth part of the space it hewly possess'd , be not to turn a body into a spirit , and , confounding their notions , attribute to the former the discriminating and least easily conceivable properties of the later . and this argument is , i confess , with me of that weight , that this alone would keep me from admitting the examiners hypothesis : yet if any happier contemplator shall prove so sharp-sighted , as to devise and clearly propose a way of making the rarefaction and condensation hither to argued against , intelligible to me , he is not like to find me obstinate . nor indeed is there sufficient cause why his succeeding in that attempt should make our adversaries hypothesis preferrable to ours , since that would not prove it either necessary , or so much as sufficient , but onely answer some of the arguments that tend to prove 't is not intelligible . and that we have other arguments on our side then those that relate to rarefaction and condensation , may appear partly by what has been discours'd already , and partly by what we have now to subjoyn . chap. iv. a consideration ( pertinent to the present controversie ) of what happens in trying the torricellian and other experiments , at the tops and feet of hills . there remain then yet a couple of considerations to be oppos'd against the examiners hypothesis , which , though the past discourse may make them be look'd upon as needless , we must not pretermit , because they contain such arguments as may not onely be imployed against our adversaries doctrine , but will very much tend to the confirmation of ours . i consider then further , that the hypothesis i am opposing , being but a kind of inversion of ours , and supposing the spring or motion of restitution in the air to tend inwards , as according to us it tends outwards ; it cannot be , that if the supposition it self were ( what i think i have prov'd it is not ) true , many of the phaenomena would be plausibly enough explicable by it : the same motions in an intermediate body being in many cases producible alike , whether we suppose it to be thrust or drawn ; provided both the endeavours tend the same way . but then we may be satisfied whether the effect be to be ascribed to pulsion or to traction , ( as they commonly speak , though indeed the later seems reducible to the former ) if we can find out an experiment wherein there is reason such an effect should follow , in case pulsion be the cause inquired after , and not in case it be traction . and such an experimentum crucis ( to speak with our illustrious verulam ) is afforded us by that noble observation of monsieur paschall , mentioned by the famous pecquet , and out of him by our author : namely , that the torricellian experiment being made at the foot and in divers places of a very high mountain , ( of the altitude of five hundred fathom or three thousand foot ) he found , that after he had ascended a hundred and fifty fathom , the quicksilver was fallen two inches and a quarter below its station at the mountains foot ; and that at the very top of the hill it had descended above three inches below the same wonted station . whence it appears that the quicksilver being carried up towards the top of the atmosphere , falls down the lower , the higher the place is wherin the observation is made : of which the reason is plain in our hypothesis , namely , that the nearer we come to the top of the atmosphere , the shorter and lighter is the cylinder of air incumbent upon the restagnant mercury ; and consequently the less weight of cylindrical mercury will that air be able to counter-poise and keep suspended . and since this notable phaenomenon does thus clearly follow upon ours , and not upon our adversaries hypothesis ; this experiment seems to determine the controversie betwixt them : because in this case the examiner cannot pretend , as he does in the seventeenth and divers other of our experiments , that the descent of the quicksilver in the tube is caus'd , not by the diminution of the external airs pressure , but from the preternatural rarefaction or distension of that external air ( in the receiver ) when by seeking to restore it self , it endeavours to draw up the restagnant mercury : for in our present case there appears no such forcible dilatation of that air , as in many of the phaenomena of our engine he is pleas'd to imagine . it need therefore be no great wonder , if his adversaries do , as he observes , make a great account of this experiment , to prove that the mercury is kept up in the tube by the resistance of the external aire . nor do i think his answers to the argument drawn from hence will keep them from thinking it cogent . for to an objection upon which he takes notice that they lay so much stress , he replyes but two things ; which neither singly nor together will near amount to a satisfactory answer . but because that though experiments made in very elevated places are noble ones , and of great importance in the controversies about the air , yet there are but very few of those that are qualified to make experiments of that nature , who have the opportunity of making them upon high mountains ; we did with the assistance of an ingenious man attempt a tryal , wherein we hoped to find a sensibly-differing weight of the atmospere , in a far less height then that of an ordinary hill. but in stead of a common tube we made use of a kind of weather-glass , that the included air might help to make the event notable , for a reason to be mentioned ere long ; and in stead of quicksilver we employ'd common water in the pipe belonging to the weather-glass , that small changes in the weight or resistance of the atmosphere in opposit on of the included air might be the more discernable . the instrument we made use of consisted only of a glass with a broad foot and a narrow neck ( a b ) and a slender glass-pipe ( c d ) open at both ends : which pipe was so placed , that the bottom of it did almost , but not quite , reach to the bottom of the bigger glass ( a b ) within whose neck ( a ) it was fastned with a close cement , that both kept the pipe in its place , and hindred all communication betwixt the inward ( i i ) and outward ( k k ) air , save by the cavity of the pipe ( c d ) . now we chose this glass ( a b ) more then ordinarily capacious , that the effect of the dilatation of the included air ( i i ) might be the more conspicuous . then conveying a convenient quantity of water ( h h ) into this glass , we carried it to the leads of the lofty abby-church at westminster , and there blew in a little air to raise the water to the upper part of the pipe , that being above the vessel ( a b ) we might more precisely mark the several stations of the water then otherwise we could . afterward having suffered the glass to rest a pretty while upon the lead , that the air ( i i ) within might be reduc'd to the same state , both as to coldness and as to pressure , with ( k k ) that without , having marked the station of the water ( f ) , we gently let down the vessel by a long string to the foot of the wall , where one attended to receive it ; who having suffer'd it to rest upon the ground , cry'd to us that it was subsided about an inch below the mark ( f ) we had put : whereupon having order'd him to put a mark at this second station of it ( e ) , we drew up the vessel again ; and suffering it to rest a while , we observ'd the water to be re-ascended to or near the first mark ( f ) , which was indeed about an inch above ( e ) the other . and this we did that evening a second time with almost a like success : though two or three dayes after , the wind blowing strongly upon the leads , we found not the experiment to succeed quite so regularly as before ; yet the water alwayes manifestly fell lower at the foot of the wall then it was at the top : which i see no cause to ascribe barely to the differing temperature of the air above and below , as to heat and cold , since according to the general estimate , the more elevated region of the air is , caeteris paribus , colder then that below , which would rather check the greater expansion of the included air at the top of the leads then promote it . but the better to avoid mistakes and prevent objections , we thought fit to try the experiment within the church , and got into a gallery of the same height with the leads : but the upper part of the pipe being casually broken off , we thought fit to order the matter so , that the surface ( g ) of the remaining water in the pipe should be about an inch higher then the surface of the water in the vessel . and then my above-mentioned correspondent letting down the glass , almost as soon as it was setled upon the pavement , kneeling down to see how far it was subsided , i found that not only it was fallen as low as the other water , but that the outward air deprest it so far , as whilest i was looking on , to break in beneath the bottom of the pipe , and ascend through the water in bubbles : after which the glass being drawn up again , my correspondent affirm'd , that the water was very manifestly re-ascended . but because by the unlucky breaking of a glass , we were hindred to observe , as we designed , what would happen as well in a weather-glass , so contriv'd that the weight or pressure of the atmosphere should make no change in it , as in another whose included air was at the top , ( whereas in that we imploy'd the included air was in the lower part , ) and because there happened in our tryals a circumstance or two that seem'd not so devoid of difficulties , but that we think it may require further examination , we design to set down a more particular account of this experiment , ( as how it succeeds with quicksilver instead of water , together with the capacity of the vessel ( a b ) and the bore of the pipe ( c d ) with some other variety of circumstances ) together with the event of the curiosity we had ( which seemed very successful ) to try the torricellian experiment upon the above-mentioned leads , and then let down the tube together with the restagnant mercury to the ground , to observe the increasing altitude of the quicksilver , in the formerly-mentioned appendix to the epistle we have been defending . and it shall suffice us in the mean time that the tryals already mentioned seem to make it evident enough that the atmosphere gravitates more , caeteris paribus , neer the surface of the earth , then in the more elevated parts of the air. for the leads on which we made our tryals were found by measure to be in perpendicular height but threescore and fifteen foot from the ground . to which we shall only add this at present , that once being desirous to observe what we could touching the proportions of the subsidence of the water to the height of its several stations from the ground , purposely carrying down the vessel so as not considerably to heat it , from the leads down the staires to a little window that we guest to be almost half way to the bottom , we there perceived the water to have already subsided about a barley-corns length , notwithstanding that probably in spight of our care , the vessel were a little warmed by the heat of his body that carried it , since by that time we were come to the foot of the wall , the water stood almost at the highest mark ; but after the vessel was suffered to rest a while , it relapsed by degrees to the lowest . and thus much for the first of the things i had to represent in favour of our doctrine . the other particular i shall mention for confirmation of our hypothesis , is that experiment ( which , though it be needless , seems yet more cogent and proper to prevent evasions ) made by the same monsieur paschal , of carrying a weakly-blown foot-ball from the bottom to the top of an high mountain . for that foot-ball swell'd more and more , the higher it was carried , so that it appeared as if it were full blown at the top of the mountain , and gradually growing lank again , as it was carried ; downwards ; so that at the foot of the hill it was flaccid as before . this , i say , having thus happened , we have here an experiment to prove our hypothesis , wherein recourse cannot be had to any forcibly and preternaturally distended body , such as that is pretended to be which remaines in the deserted space of the tube in the torricellian experiment . the other thing which the examiner alledges against our argument from monsieur paschals tryals , is , that supposing it to be true , yet it cannot thence be inferr'd , that the subsidence of the mercury at the top of the hill proceeded from the atmospherical cylinder's being there lighter and less able to sustain the quicksilver . sed dici potest ( sayes he ) ideo sic in vertice montis magis descendisse , quod ibidem esset aura frigidior , aut ex alio temperamento hujusmodi descensum causante . but this solution will not serve the turn : for the coldness of the ambient air ( which yet the experimenters take not notice of ) would rather contract the rarefied substance within the tube , and so draw up the mercury higher , as our author himself teaches us , that 't is from the shrinking of the funiculus occasion'd by the cold that the water in thermometers ascends in cold weather . and whereas the only proof he adds of so improbable an explication is taken from our eighteenth experiment , wherein we relate , that sometimes the quicksilver did sensibly fall lower in colder then in far less cold weather : i answer , that this eighteenth experiment will scarce make more for him then against him : for , as i there take notice that the quicksilver descended in cold weather , so it sometimes descended likewise in hot weather , and rose in cold . and 't is very strange , that in all the observations made , in differing countries and at differing times , it should still so happen that the mercurial cylinder should be shorter near the top of the atmosphere then further from it ; if the resistance of the outward air have nothing to do with the keeping it suspended . and 't is yet more strange , that the foot-ball should in like manner grow turgid and flaccid , according as it is carried into places where it has a shorter or longer pillar of air incumbent on it . i was going to proceed to what remains of this second part of our treatise , but that since i begun this chapter casually meeting with an experiment lately sent in a letter to a very ingenious † acquaintance of his and mine by a very industrious physician * ( who is said to have had the curiosity to try over again many of the experiments of our engine ) and finding it very proper to confirm our newly related experiment made at westminster , and to be of such a nature as we have not in this part of england the opportunity to try the like , for want of hills high enough , i shall ( according to the permission given me ) insert it in this place . and the rather , that as the mountains have by the trials made on them of the torricellian experiment , afforded us a noble proof of the weight of the air ; so they may afford us one of its spring : wherein i hope the phaenomenon of the waters descent will not be ascribed to any attraction made of the water by the violently-distended outward air. and because the experiment was not made by us , but by another , we will set it down in his words , which are these : this fifteenth of october 1661. we took a weather-glass a b , of about two foot in length , and carrying it to the bottom of hallifax hill , the water stood in the shank at thirteen inches above the water in the vessel : thence carrying it thus fill'd , with the whole frame , immediately to the top of the said hill , the water fell down to the point d , viz. an inch and a quarter lower then it was at the bottom of the said hill ; which ( as he rightly inferrs ) proves the elasticity of the air : for the internal air a c , which was of the same power and extension with the external at the bottom of the hill , did manifest a greater elasticity then the mountain-air there * , and so extended it self further by c d. the like experiment , i hear , the same ingenious doctor has very lately repeated , and found the descent of the water to be greater then before . and though some virtuosi have thought it strange , that in an hill far inferiour to the alps and appennines , so short a cylinder of so light al quor as water should fall so much ; yet i see not any reason to distrust upon this ground either his experiment or ours ( lately mention'd to have been made at westminster ; ) but rather to wonder the water fell not more ( if the hill be considerably high : ) for their suspicion seems grounded upon a mistake , as if because the quick-silver in the torricellian experiment made without purposely leaving any air in the tube , would not , at the top of the mention'd hill , have subsided above an inch , if so much , the water , that is near fourteen times lighter , should not fall above a fourteenth part of that space ; whereas in the torricellian experiment , the upper and deserted space of the tube has little or no air left in it , but the correspondent part of the weather-glass was furnish'd with air , whose pressure was little less then that of the atmosphere at the bottom of the hill ; and consequently must be much greater then the pressure of the same atmosphere at the top of the hill , where the atmospherical cylinder's gravity ( upon whose account it presses ) must be much diminish'd by its being made much shorter , and by its consisting of an air less comprest . and thus much for the first of the two considerations wherewith i promised to conclude this second part of the present tract . onely before i proceed i must in a word desire the reader to take notice , that though i have here singled out but one of the nine experiments which the examiner in the 11. and 12. chapters reckons up as urg'd by his adversaries ; yet i do not thereby declare my acquiescing in his explications of those phaenomena , but onely leave both them and some other things he delivers about siphons and the magdeburg experiments , to be discours'd by those that are more concerned to examine them , contenting my self to have sufficiently disproved the funiculus which his expositions suppose , and cleared the grounds of explicating such experiments aright . chap. v. two new experiments touching the measure of the force of the spring of air compress'd and dilated . the other thing that i would have considered touching our adversaries hypothesis is , that it is needless . for whereas he denies not that the air has some weight and spring , but affirms that it is very insufficient to perform such great matters as the counterpoising of a mercurial cylinder of 29. inches , as we teach that it may : we shall now endeavour to manifest by experiments purposely made , that the spring of the air is capable of doing far more then 't is necessary for us to ascribe to it , to salve the phaenomena of the torricellian experiment . we took then a long glass-tube , which by a dexterous hand and the help of lamp was in such a manner crooked at the bottom , that the part turned up was almost parallel to the rest of the tube , and the orifice of this shorter leg of the siphon ( if i may so call the whole instrument ) being hermetically seal'd , the length of it was divided into inches , ( each of which was subdivided into eight parts ) by a straight list of paper , which containing those divisions was carefully pasted all along it : then putting in as much quicksilver as served to fill the arch or bended part of the siphon , that the mercury standing in a level might reach in the one leg to the bottom of the divided paper , and just to the same height or horizontal line in the other ; we took care , by frequently inclining the tube , so that the air might freely passfrom one leg into the other by the sides of the mercury , ( we took ( i say ) care ) that the air at last included in the shorter cylinder should be of the same laxity with the rest of the air about it . this done , we began to pour quicksilver into the longer leg of the siphon , which by its weight pressing up that in the shorter leg , did by degrees streighten the included air : and continuing this pouring in of quicksilver till the air in the shorter leg was by condensation reduced to take up but half the space it possess'd ( i say , possess'd , not fill'd ) before ; we cast our eyes upon the longer leg of the glass , on which was likewise pasted a list of paper carefully divided into inches and parts , and we observed , not without delight and satisfaction , that the quicksilver in that longer part of the tube was 29. inches higher then the other . now that this observation does both very well agree with and confirm our hypothesis , will be easily discerned by him that takes notice that we teach , and monsieur paschall and our english friends experiments prove , that the greater the weight is that leans upon the air , the more forcible is its endeavour of dilatation , and consequently its power of resistance , ( as other springs are stronger when bent by greater weights . ) for this being considered , it wil appear to agree rarely-well with the hypothesis , that as according to it the air in that degree of density and correspondent measure of resistance to which the weight of the incumbent atmosphere had brought it , was able to counter-balance and resist the pressure of a mercurial cylinder of about 29. inches , as we are taught by the torricellian experiment ; so here the same air being brought to a degree of density about twice as great as that it had before , obtains a spring twice as strong as formerly . as may appear by its being able to sustain or resist a cylinder of 29. inches in the longer tube , together with the weight of the atmospherical cylinder , that lean'd upon those 29. inches of mercury ; and , as we just now inferr'd from the torricellian experiment , was equivalent to them . we were hindered from prosecuting the tryal at that time by the casual breaking of the tube . but because an accurate experiment of this nature would be of great importance to the doctrine of the spring of the air , and has not yet been made ( that i know ) by any man ; and because also it is more uneasie to be made then one would think , in regard of the difficulty as well of procuring crooked tubes fit for the purpose , as of making a just estimate of the true place of the protuberant mercury's surface ; i suppose it will not be unwelcome to the reader , to be informed that after some other tryals , one of which we made in a tube whose longer leg was perpendicular , and the other , that contained the air , parallel to the horizon , we at last procured a tube of the figure exprest in the scheme ; which tube , though of a pretty bigness , was so long , that the cylinder whereof the shorter leg of it consisted admitted a list of paper , which had before been divided into 12. inches and their quarters , and the longer leg admitted another list of paper of divers foot in length , and divided after the same manner : then quicksilver being poured in to fill up the bended part of the glass , that the surface of it in either leg might rest in the same horizontal line , as we lately taught , there was more and more quicksilver poured into the longer tube ; and notice being watchfully taken how far the mercury was risen in that longer tube , when it appeared to have ascended to any of the divisions in the shorter tube , the several observations that were thus successively made , and as they were made set down , afforded us the ensuing table . a table of the condensation of the air. a a b c d e 48 12 00 added to 29⅛ makes 29 2 / 16 29 2 / 16 46 11½ 01 7 / 16 30 9 / 16 30 6 / 16 44 11 02 13 / 16 31 15 / 16 31 12 / 16 42 10½ 04 6 / 16 33 8 / 16 33 1 / 7 40 10 06 3 / 16 35 5 / 16 35 — 38 9½ 07 14 / 16 37 — 36 15 / 19 36 9 10 2 / 16 39 4 / 16 38⅞ 34 8½ 12 8 / 16 41 10 / 16 41 2 / 17 32 8 15 1 / 16 44 3 / 16 43 11 / 16 30 7½ 17 15 / 16 47 1 / 16 46⅗ 28 7 21 2 / 16 50 5 / 16 50 — 26 6½ 25 3 / 16 54 5 / 16 53 10 / 13 24 6 29 11 / 16 58 13 / 16 58 2 / 8 23 5¾ 32 3 / 16 61 5 / 16 60 18 / 23 22 5½ 34 15 / 16 64 1 / 16 63 6 / 11 21 5¼ 37 15 / 16 67 1 / 16 66 4 / 7 20 5 41 9 / 16 70 11 / 16 70 — 19 4 3 / 4 45 — 74 2 / 16 73 11 / 19 18 4½ 48 12 / 16 77 14 / 16 77⅔ 17 4¼ 53 11 / 16 82 12 / 16 82 4 / 17 16 4 58 2 / 16 87 14 / 16 87⅜ 15 3¾ 63 15 / 16 93 2 / 16 93⅕ 14 3½ 71 5 / 16 100 7 / 16 99 6 / 7 13 3¼ 78 11 / 16 107 12 / 16 107 7 / 13 12 3 88 7 / 16 117 9 / 16 116 4 / 8 a a. the number of equal spaces in the shorter leg , that contained the same parcel of air diversly extended . b. the height of the mercurial cylinder in the longer leg , that compress'd the air into those dimensions . c. the height of a mercurial cylinder that counterbalanc'd the pressure of the atmosphere . d. the aggregate of the two last columns b and c , exhibiting the pressure sustained by the included air. e. what that pressure should be according to the hypothesis , that supposes the pressures and expansions to be in reciprocal proportion . for the better understanding of this experiment it may not be amiss to take notice of the following particulars : 1. that the tube being so tall that we could not conveniently make use of it in a chamber , we were fain to use it on a pair of stairs , which yet were very lightsom , the tube being for preservations sake by strings so suspended , that it did scarce touch the box presently to be mentioned . 2. the lower and crooked part of the pipe was placed in a square wooden box , of a good largness and depth , to prevent the loss of the quicksilver that might fall aside in the transfusion from the vessel into the pipe , and to receive the whole quicksilver in case the tube should break . 3. that we were two to make the observation together , the one to take notice at the bottom how the quicksilver rose in the shorter cylinder , and the other to pour in at the top of the longer , it being very hard and troublesome for one man alone to do both accurately . 4. that the quicksilver was poured in but by little and little , according to the direction of him that observed below , it being far easier to pour in more , then to take out any in case too much at once had been poured in . 5. that at the beginning of the operation , that we might the more truly discern where the quicksilver rested from time to time , we made use of a small looking-glass , held in a convenient posture to reflect to the eye what we desired to discern . 6. that when the air was so compress'd , as to be crouded into less then a quarter of the space it possess'd before , we tryed whether the cold of a linen cloth dipp'd in water would then condense it . and it sometimes seemed a little to shrink , but not so manifestly as that we dare build any thing upon it . we then tryed likewise whether heat would notwithstanding so forcible a compressure dilate it , and approching the flame of a candle to that part where the air was pent up , the heat had a more sensible operation then the cold had before ; so that we scarce doubted but that the expansion of the air would notwithstanding the weight that opprest it have been made conspicuous , if the fear of unseasonably breaking the glass had not kept us from increasing the heat . now although we deny not but that in our table some particulars do not so exactly answer to what our formerly intimated hypothesis might perchance invite the reader to expect ; yet the variations are not so considerable , but that they may probably enough be ascribed to some such want of exactness as in such nice experiments is scarce avoidable . but for all that , till further tryal hath more clearly informed me , i shall not venture to determine whether or no the intimated theory will hold universally and precisely , either in condensation of air , or rarefaction : all that i shall now urge being , that however , the tryal already made sufficiently proves the main thing for which i here alledge it ; since by it 't is evident , that as common air when reduc'd to half its wonted extent , obtained near about twice as forcible a spring as it had before ; so this thus-comprest air being further thrust into half this narrow room , obtained thereby a spring about as strong again as that it last had , and consequently four times as strong as that of the common air. and there is no cause to doubt , that if we had been here furnisht with a greater quantity of quicksilver and a very strong tube , we might by a further compression of the included air have made it counter-balance the pressure of a far taller and heavier cylinder of mercury . for no man perhaps yet knows how near to an infinite compression the air may be capable of , if the compressing force be competently increast . so that here our adversary may plainly see that the spring of the air , which he makes so light of , may not onely be able to resist the weight of 29. inches , but in some cases of above an hundred inches of quicksilver , and that without the assistance of his funiculus , which in our present case has nothing to do . and to let you see that we did not ( a little above ) inconsiderately mention the weight of the incumbent atmospherical cylinder as a part of the weight resisted by the imprisoned air , we will here annex , that we took care , when the mercurial cylinder in the longer leg of the pipe was about an hundred inches high , to cause one to suck at the open orifice ; whereupon ( as we expected ) the mercury in the tube did notably ascend . which considerable phaenomenon cannot be ascribed to our examiners funiculus , since by his own confession that cannot pull up the mercury , if the mercurial cylinder be above 29. or 30. inches of mercury . and therefore we shall render this reason of it , that the pressure of the incumbent air being in part taken off by its expanding it self into the suckers dilated chest ; the imprison'd air was thereby enabled to dilate it self manifestly , and repel the mercury that comprest it , till there was an equality of force betwixt the strong spring of that comprest air on the one part , and the tall mercurial cylinder , together with the contiguous dilated air , on the other part . now , if to what we have thus delivered concerning the compression of air we adde some observations concerning its spontaneous expansion , it will the better appear how much the phaenomena of these mercurial experiments depend upon the differing measures of strength to be met with in the airs spring , according to its various degrees of compression and laxity . but , before i enter upon this subject , i shall readily acknowledge that i had not reduc'd the tryals i had made about measuring the expansion of the air to any certain hypothesis , when that ingenious gentleman mr. richard townely was pleased to inform me , that having by the perusal of my physico-mechanical experiments been satisfied that the spring of the air was the cause of it , he had endeavoured ( and i wish in such attempts other ingenious men would follow his example ) to supply what i had omitted concerning the reducing to a precise estimate how much air dilated of it self loses of its elastical force , according to the measures of its dilatation . he added , that he had begun to set down what occurred to him to this purpose in a short discourse , whereof he afterwards did me the favour to shew me the beginning , which gives me a just curiosity to see it perfected . but , because i neither know , nor ( by reason of the great distance betwixt our places of residence ) have at present the opportunity to enquire , whether he will think fit to annex his discourse to our appendix , or to publish it by it self , or at all ; and because he hath not yet , for ought i know , met with fit glasses to make an any-thing-accurate table of the decrement of the force of dilated air ; our present design invites us to present the reader with that which follows , wherein i had the assistance of the same person that i took notice of in the former chapter , as having written something about rarefaction : whom i the rather make mention of on this occasion , because when he first heard me speak of mr. townley's suppositions about the proportion wherein air loses of its spring by dilatation , he told me he had the year before ( and not long after the publication of my pneumatical treatise ) made observations to the same purpose , which he acknowledged to agree well enough with mr. townley's theory : and so did ( as their author was pleased to tell me ) some tryals made about the same time by that noble virtuoso and eminent mathematician the lord brouncker , from whose further enquiries into this matter , if his occasions will allow him to make them , the curious may well hope for something very accurate . a table of the rarefaction of the air. a b c d e 1 00 0 / 0 subttracted from 29¾ leaves 29¾ 29¾ 1 1 / 2 10⅝ 19⅛ 19⅚ 2 15⅜ 14⅜ 14⅞ 3 20 2 / 8 9 4 / 8 9 15 / 12 4 22⅝ 7⅛ 7 7 / 16 5 24⅛ 5⅝ 5 19 / 20 6 24⅞ 4⅞ 4 23 / 24 7 25 4 / 8 4 2 / 8 4¼ 8 26 0 / 0 3 6 / 8 3 23 / 32 9 26⅜ 3 1 / 8 3 11 / 36 10 26 6 / 8 3 0 / 0 2 39 / 40 12 27⅛ 2⅝ 2 23 / 48 14 27 4 / 8 2 2 / 8 2⅛ 16 27 6 / 8 2 0 / 0 1 5● / 64 18 27⅞ 1⅞ 1 47 / 72 20 28 ● / ● 1 6 / 8 18 9 / 0 24 28 2 / 8 1 4 / 8 1 23 / 96 28 28⅜ 1⅜ 1 1 / 16 32 28 4 / 8 1 2 / 8 0 119 / 128 a. the number of equal spaces at the top of the tube , that contained the same parcel of air. b. the height of the mercurial cylinder , that together with the spring of the included air counterbalanced the pressure of the atmosphere . c. the pressure of the atmosphere . d. the complement of b to c , exhibiting the pressure sustained by the included air. e. what that pressure should be according to the hypothesis . to make the experiment of the debilitated force of expanded air the plainer , 't will not be amiss to note some particulars , especially touching the manner of making the tryal ; which ( for the reasons lately mention'd ) we made on a lightsome pair of stairs , and with a box also lin'd with paper to receive the mercury that might be spilt . and in regard it would require a vast and in few places procurable quantity of quicksilver , to employ vessels of such kind as are ordinary in the torriccllian experiment , we made use of a glass-tube of about six foot long , for that being hermetically sealed at one end , serv'd our turn as well as if we could have made the experiment in a tub or pond of seventy inches deep . secondly , we also provided a slender glass-pipe of about the bigness of a swans quill , and open at both ends : all along which was pasted a narrow list of paper divided into inches and half quarters . thirdly , this slender pipe being thrust down into the greater tube almost fill'd with quicksilver , the glass helpt to make it swell to the top of the tube , and the quicksilver getting in at the lower orifice of the pipe , fill'd it up till the mercury included in that was near about a level with the surface of the surrounding mercury in the tube . fourthly , there being , as near as we could guess , little more then an inch of the slender pipe left above the surface of the restagnant mercury , and consequently unfill'd therewith , the prominent orifice was carefully clos'd with sealing wax melted ; after which the pipe was let alone for a while , that the air dilated a little by the heat of the wax , might upon refrigeration be reduc'd to its wonted density . and then we observ'd by the help of the above-mentioned list of paper , whether we had not included somewhat more or somewhat less then an inch of air , and in either case we were fain to rectifie the error by a small hole made ( with an heated pin ) in the wax , and afterwards clos'd up again . fifthly , having thus included a just inch of air , we listed up the slender pipe by degrees , till the air was dilated to an inch , an inch and an half , two inches , &c. and observed in inches and eighths , the length of the mercurial cylinder , which at each degree of the airs expansion was impell'd above the surface of the restagnant mercury in the tube . sixthly , the observations being ended , we presently made the torricellian experiment with the above-mention'd great tube of six foot long , that we might know the height of the mercurial cylinder , for that particular day and hour ; which height we found to be 29 ¾ inches . seventhly , our observations made after this manner furnish'd us with the preceding table , in which there would not probably have been found the difference here set down betwixt the force of the air when expanded to double its former dimensions , and what that force should have been precisely according to the theory , but that the included inch of air receiv'd some little accession during the tryal ; which this newly-mention'd difference making us suspect , we found by replunging the pipe into the quicksilver , that the included air had gain'd about half an eighth , which we guest to have come from some little aerial bubbles in the quicksilver , contain'd in the pipe ( so easie is it in such nice experiments to miss of exactness . ) we try'd also with 12. inches of air shut up to be dilated ; but being then hindred by some unwelcome avocations to prosecure those experiments , we shall elsewhere , out of other notes and tryals ( god permitting ) set down some other accurate tables concerning this matter . by which possibly we may be assisted to resolve whether the atmosphere should be look'd upon ( as it usually is ) as a limited and bounded portion of the air ; or whether we should in a stricter sense then we did before , use the atmosphere and aereal part of the world for almost equivalent terms ; or else whether we should allow the word atmosphere some other notion in relation to its extent and limits ; ( for as to its spring and weight , these experiments do not question , but evince them . ) but we are willing , as we said , to referre these matters to our appendix , and till then to retain our wonted manner of speaking of the air and atmosphere . in the mean time ( to return to our last-mention'd experiments ) besides that so little a variation may be in great part imputed to the difficulty of making experiments of this nature exactly , and perhaps a good part of it to something of inequality in the cavity of the pipe , or even in the thickness of the glass ; besides this , i say , the proportion betwixt the several pressures of the included air undilated and expanded , especially when the dilatation was great ( for when the air swell'd but to four times its first extent , the mercurial cylinder , though of near 23. inches , differ'd not a quarter of an inch from what it should have been according to mathematical exactness ) the proportion , i say , was sutable enough to what might be expected , to allow us to make this reflection upon the whole , that whether or no the intimated theory will hold exactly , ( for about that , as i said above , i dare determine nothing resolutely till i have further considered the matter ) yet since the inch of air when it was first included was shut up with no other pressure then that which it had from the weight of the incumbent air , and was no more comprest then the rest of the air we breathed and moved in ; and since also this inch of air , when expanded to twice its former dimensions , was able with the help of a mercurial cylinder of about 15. inches to counterpoise the weight of the atmosphere , which the weight of the external air gravitating upon the restagnant mercury was able to impell up into the pipe , and sustain above twenty eight inches of mercury when the internal air by its great expansion had its spring too far debilitated to make any considerable ( i say considerable , for it was not yet so dilated as not to make some ) resistance : since , i say , these things are so , the free air here below appears to be almost as strongly comprest by the weight of the incumbent air as it would be by the weight of a mercurial cylinder of twenty eight or thirty inches ; and consequently is not in such a state of laxity and freedom as men are wont to imagine ; and acts like some mechanical agent , the decreement of whose force holds a stricter proportion to its increase of dimension , then has been hitherto taken notice of . i must not now stand to propose the several reflections that may be made upon the foregoing observations touching the compression and expansion of air ; partly because we could scarce avoid making the historical part somewhat prolix ; and partly because i suppose we have already said enough to shew what was intended , namely , that to solve the phaenomena there is not of our adversaries hypothesis any need : the evincing of which will appear to be of no small moment in our present controversie , to him that considers , that the two maine things that induced the learned examiner to reject our hypothesis are , that nature abhors a vacuum , and that though the air have some weight & spring , yet these are insufficient to make out the known phaenomena ; for which we must therefore have recourse to his funiculus . now as we have formerly seen , that he has not so satisfactorily disproved as resolutely rejected a vacuum , so we have now manifested that the spring of the air may suffice to perform greater things then what our explication of the torricellian experiments and those of our engine obliges us to ascribe to it . wherefore since besides the several difficulties that incumber the hypothesis we oppose , and especially its being scarce , if at all , intelligible , we can adde that it is unnecessary ; we dare expect that such readers as are not byass'd by their reverence for aristotle or the peripatetick schools , will hardly reject an hypothesis which , besides that it is very intelligible , is now prov'd to be sufficient , only to imbrace a doctrine that supposes such a rarefaction and condensation , as many famous naturalists rejected for its not being comprehensible , even when they knew of no other way ( that was probable ) of solving the phaenomena wont to be explicated by it . the iii. part. wherein what is objected against mr. boyle's explications of particular experiments , is answered . and now we are come to the third and last part of our defence ; wherein we are to consider what our examiner is pleas'd to object against some passages of our physicho-mechanical treatise . but though this may seem the only part wherein i am particularly concern'd ; yet perhaps we shall find it , if not the shortest , at least the easiest , part of our task . partly , because our author takes no exceptions at the experiments themselves , as we have recorded them ( which from an adversary , who in some places speaks of them as an eye-witness , is no contemptible testimony that the matters of fact have been rightly delivered : ) and partly , because there are divers experiments which , together with their explications , the examiner has thought fit to leave untoucht , and thereby allows us to do so too : and partly also , because that ( as to divers of those experiments upon which he animadverts ) he does not pretend to shew that our explications are ill deduc'd or incongruous to our principles ; but only that the phaenomena may be explain'd either better or as well by his hypothesis , whereof he supposes himself to have demonstrated the truth , together with the erroneousness of ours , in the other parts of his book , especially the third , fourth and fifth chapters . so that after what we have said to vindicate the hypothesis we maintain , and take away our authors imaginary funiculus ; it will not be requisite for us on such occasions to examine his particular assertions and explications . which advertisement we hope the reader will be pleased to bear in mind , and thereby save himself and us the trouble of a great deal of unnecessary repetition . wherefore presuming he will do so , we shall not stay to examine the first and second corollaries , which in his 17. chapter he annexes to the manner of emptying our receiver by our pump . neither should we say any thing as to his third and last corollary , but that we think fit to desire the reader to take notice , that according to what he teaches in that place , the more the air is rarefied , the more forcibly it is able to contract it self . a defence of our 1. and 2. experiments . and to proceed now to his 18 chapter , which he intitles de experiment is boyleanis , we shall find according to what we lately noted , that against the first experiment he objects nothing save that , if one of the fingers be applied to the orifice of the valve when the pump is freed from air , the experimenter shall feel to his pain that the sucker is not thrust inward by the external air , but , as the finger , drawn inward by the internal . but this phaenomenon of the intrusion of the finger into a cavity , where it finds no resistance , having been formerly accounted for according to our hypothesis , we shall not need to repeat our explication of it ; though this mistaken phaenomenon supplies our adversary with divers of his following animadversions , and indeed with a great part of his book . and accordingly his objection against our second experiment being of the same nature with that against the first , requires but the same answer : for it will not alter the case that he adds upon this experiment , hoc esse discrimen manifestum inter pressionem & suctionem , quod suctio efficiat hujusmodi adhaesionem , pressio autem minimè ; since to say so is but to affirme , not to prove . the 3. experiment . what our author would except against the 3. experiment he ought to have more intelligibly exprest : for whereas of a discourse wherein i deliver several particulars , he onely sayes that nullatenus satisfacit , ut legenti constabit ; i would not do the reader the injury to suspect him of taking this proofless assertion for a rational confutation ; especially since upon the review of that third experiment i find nothing that agrees not with my hypothesis , however it may disagree with the examiners . but , to consider the explication he substitutes in the room of our doctrine , which he rejects , he gives it us in these words ; hoc quoque experimentum principiis nostris optimè convenit : cum enim per illam emboli depressionem aër in cavitate brachii inclusus separetur ab eodem brachio , descendatque simul cum embolo ( uti de aqua simul cum argento vivo descendente capite decimo tertio vidimus ) fit ut in tota illa depressione , novae semper ab aëre illo desoendente supersicies diripiantur simul & extendantur , ut ibidem de aqua est explicatum : cum itaque aeque facile diripiantur & extendantur hujusmodi superficies in fine depressionis ac initio , mirum non est quod eadem utrobique sentiatur deprimendi difficultas . by which though he seems to intend an opposition to that part of the third experiment which i oppos'd not against his opinion , but that of some learned vacuists : yet ( not to mention that he seems to have somewhat mistaken my sense ) he offers nothing at all to invalidate my inference against them ; but instead of that proposes a defence of his own opinion , which supposes the truth of his disproved hypothesis , and is either unsatisfactory even according to that , or else disagrees with what himself hath taught us but a little before . for 't is evident that the more the sucker is depress'd , the more the cylinder is exhausted of air. and in his third corollary ( which we lately desired the reader to observe ) speaking of the air in the receiver ( and the case is the same with the air in the cylinder ) he affirms more then once , eo magis extendi ac rarefieri aërem relictum , quo plus inde exhauritur , majoremque proinde acquirere vim sese contrahendi . whereas here he would have us believe , that the little internal air that was in the cavity of the shank of the stop cock , does as strongly retract the sucker , or , which in our case is all one , refist its depression , when the sucker is yet near the top of the cylinder , ( and consequently when the included air is but a little dilated ) as when the same sucker being forced down to the lower part of the cylinder , the same portion of remaining air must be exceedingly more distended . the 4. experiment . in the fourth experiment , touching the swelling of a bladder upon the removal of the ambient air ; and proportionably to that removal our author objects nothing against the explication we give of it by the spring of the air included in the bladder , and distending it according as the pressure of the ambient air is weakned . but he endeavours also to explicate it his way , to which he sayes this circumstance does excellently agree , that upon the regress of the external air into the receiver , the tumid bladder immediately shrinks , because ( saith he ) by such ingress of the external air , the air in the receiver , which drew the sides of the bladder outward from the middle of it , is relax'd . which explication whether it be more natural then ours ( that ascribes the shrinking of the bladder to the pressure of the air that is let into the receiver ) let the reader judge , who has considered what we have formerly objected against the examiners funiculus , and the relaxation of it upon the admission of air. as for the reason likewise he adds , why a perforated bladder does not also swell , namely , that by the hole , how little soever , the included air is suck'd out by the rarefi'd ambient , we leave it to the impartial reader to consider whether is the more genuine explication , either ours ( against which he has nothing to object ) or his , which to make clearly out he ought ( according to what we formerly noted disputing against his funiculus ) to shew us what kind of strings they are ; which though , according to him , strongly fastned to the inside of the receiver and the superficies of the bladder , must draw just as forcibly one as another , how long soever they be without the bladder in comparison of those that within the bladder draw so as to hinder the diduction of its sides . for experience shews , that in a perforated bladder the wrinkles continue as if there were no drawing at all . and though he could describe how such a string may be context , yet our explication will have this advantage in point of probability above his , that whereas he denies not that the air has spring and weight , as we deny his funiculus to have any other then an imaginary existence ; and whereas he acknowledges that by the instrument the air about the bladder is exhausted ; to shew that there needs no more then that , and consequently no funiculus , to draw asunder the sides of the bladder , we can confirm our explication by the formerly mentioned experiment of the ingenious paschall , who carrying a flaccid foot-ball from the bottom to the top of a high mountain , found it to swell proportionably as he ascended , and as the weight and pressure of the ambient air decreased , and likewise to shrink again as he descended . and yet in this case there is no recourse to be had to a funiculus of violently-rarefi'd air to draw asunder every way the sides of the foot-ball . but however the examiner will be able to defend his explication , it may suffice us that he has objected nothing against ours . the 5. experiment . against the cause we assign of the fifth experiment he likewise objects nothing , but onely ascribes the breaking of the bladder to the self-contraction of the rarefi'd air in the receiver . and therefore referring the reader to what we have newly said about the last experiment , we will with our author pass over the sixth and seventh , to which he has no quarrel , and proceed to the eighth . the 8. experiment . this is that wherein we mention our having broke a glass-receiver , which was not globular , by the exhaustion of most of the inward air , whereby its debilitated pressure became unable to resist the unweakned pressure of the outward air. but this explication the examiner confidently rejects in these words , at profecto non videtur credibile , mollissimum hunc aërem tam vehementer vitrum ( tantae praesertim crassitudin is quantae ibidem dicitur ) undique sic comprimere ut illud perfring at : as if it were more credible that the little air within ( which , according to him , is so much thinner then common air ) should be able to act more powerfully upon the glass then the air without , which himself confesses to be a heavy body , and which not onely reaches from the surface of the earth to the top of the highest mountains , but which ( as may not improbably be argued from what we have elsewhere delivered ) may , for ought we know to the contrary , be heaped upon the receiver to the height of some hundreds of miles , nay , to i know not how many thousands , in case the atmosphere be not a bounded port on of the air , but reach as high as it. as for the explication he substitutes in these words , verius itaque respondetur , ideo sic fractum esse illud vitrum , quia per exhaustionem illam latera ejus vehementius introrsum sint attracta , quam ut ob figuram illam resistendo minus idoneam resistere potuerunt . cum enim inclusus aër lateribus vitri firmissimè adhaereat , nihil aliud erit aërem illum sic exhaurire , quam satagere latera vitri introrsum flectere : by what we have already discoursed about the funiculus , the reader may easily discern what is to be answered . nor does our author here shew us any way by which his imaginary strings should take such fast hold of the sides of the glass , as to be able to draw them together notwithstanding the resistance they find from the close texture of the body to be broken . the 9. experiment . our explication of the ninth experiment he handles very severely : for having briefly recited it , he proposes his objection against it thus , sed profecto nimis longè videtur hoc à veritate recedere : potestque vel inde solum satis refutari ; quia si tanta sit pressura aeris sic per tubum illum in phialam descendent is , ut ipsam phialam perfringat , deberet profecto inclusam aquam , cui immergitur ille tubus , valde quoque ante fractionem phialae commovere , bullulasque in eadem excitaro , &c. ut constat , siquis , insufflando per illum tubulum , aquam vel mediocriter sic premat . at certum est aquam , antequam frangatur sit phiala , nec tantillum moveri : ut experienti constabit . but , i do confess , i do for all this think our explication more true , then well considered by our author . for the putting of water into the vial that was broken , was done ( as is clearly intimated in the beginning of our narrative ) upon a particular design ( as indeed we tryed divers other things with our engine , not so much with immediate reference to the spring of the air , as to make use of such tryals in some other of our writings . ) and accordingly in the second tryal mentioned in the same experiment the water was omitted . but , notwithstanding this water , the sides of the glass being exposed to the pressure of the atmosphere , had that whole pressure against them before the exhaustion of the receiver ; so that there needed no such blowing in of the air afresh as our author imagines , to effect the breaking of the vial , it being sufficient for that purpose , that the pressure against the convex superficies of it was taken off by the exhaustion of the receiver , the pressure against the concave superficies remaining as great as ever . and therefore we need not altogether deny what the examiner sayes , that licet clausus superne fuisset tubulus ille , codem tamen modo fracta sine dubio , fuisset phiala . for , since in such cases the air ( as we have often taught ) is shut up with the whole pressure of the atmosphere upon it , it may almost as easily break the glass as if it were unstopt . and accordingly we mention in the 36. experiment the breaking of a thin glass hermetically seal'd upon the recess of the ambient air. but , how confidently soever our author speaks , i thought fit to adde the word almost , because we observed in the 39. experiment , that such thin vials ( and thick ones will not break ) are subject upon the withdrawing of the ambient air to retch a little , whereby the spring of the air within the vial might in some cases ( i say , in some ) be so far weakned as not to be able to break it , unless assisted by the pressure of the atmosphere wherewith it communicates , and which leans upon it . and when the vial does actually begin to break , then the pursuing pressure of the outward air upon the yielding air within the vial may help to throw the parts of the glass more forcibly asunder . all the experiments from the 9. to the 17. exclusively our examiner leaving uncensured , we may with him , advance to the consideration of the 17. the 17. experiment defended . in this we relate how , when we made the torricellian experiment , we shut up the restagnant mercury together with the tube and the suspended mercurial cylinder ( of about 29. inches ) in our receiver , that by drawing off and letting in the air at pleasure upon the restagnant mercury , and consequently weakning and increasing its pressure , we might make it more clearly appear then hither to had been done by experiment , that the suspension of the mercurial cylinder , and the height of it , depended upon the greater or lesser pressure of the air. but against our explication of this experiment ( which has had the good fortune to convince and satisfie many ingenious men ) the examiner objects nothing in particular , contenting himself to have recourse here also to his funiculus . yet two observations of ours he is pleased to take notice of . the first is , that though the quicksilver were exactly shut up into our receiver after the manner newly declared , yet the suspended quicksilver did not descend : whence having said that i argue , that it is now sustained not by the counterpoise of the atmosphere , but by the spring of the air shut up in the receiver , he subjoyns onely this , sed rectius sane infertur , cylindrum illum nihil ibidem antea praestitisse . but whether this be not gratis dictum we leave the reader to collect from what we have formerly discourst in the second part of this defence of the spring of the air ; especially from that experiment ; by which it appears , that spring may sustain a far higher cylinder of quick-silver . in the second observation he mentions of ours , he summarily recites our explication of the descent and ascent of the mercury in the tube , by the debilitated and strengthned spring of the air. but without finding fault with our application of that principle to the phaenomena , he sayes that he has sufficiently refuted the principle it self in the fourth chapter , ( which how well he has done we have already seen ) and therefore explicates the matter thus ; dico igitur ( sayes he ) argentum per illam exhaustionem sic in tubo descendere , quod deorsum traha●ur ab aëre qui incumbit argento restagnanti : siquidem incumbens ille aër jam per exhaustionem valde rarefactus & extensus , sese vehementer contrahit , & contrahendo conatur etiam subjectum sibi argentum restagnans è suo vasculo elevare , unde fit ut ( argento illo restagnante minus jam gravitante in fundum sui vasculi ) argentum quod est in tubo descendat ; ut per se patet . adeoque mirum non est , quod , ingrediente postea aëre externo , rursum argentum ascendat , cum per illum ingressum vis illa sic elevans argentum restagnans debilitetur . but this explication supposing such a funiculus as we have already shewn to be but fictitious , the reader will easily gather what is to be judged of it from what has been already delivered . wherefore i shall onely subioyn , that by this explication , were it admitted , there is onely an account given of that part of our seventeenth experiment which relates to the descent of the mercury below its wonted height , and its re-ascent to it . but as for our having , by the forcing in some more air into the receiver , impell'd the quicksilver to a considerably-greater height then 't is wont to be sustain'd at in the torricellian experiment , i confess i understand not how the examiner gives an account of it in the following words , ( which are immediately annex'd to those we last recited of his , and which are all that he employes to explicate this notable phaenomenon ) atque hinc etiam redditur ratio alterius quod ibidem quoque notaîur , nempe quod per violentam intrusionem aëris externt in recipientem , ascenderit argentum notabiliter supra digitos 29½ . nam sicut per extractionem aëris argentum infra stationem detrahitur , sic etiam per intrusionem novi supra eandem elevabitur . for in this passage i see not how he himself does not rather repeat the matter of fact , then give any account how it is perform'd . and if it be alledged on his behalf , that according to his principles it may be said that , upon the pressure of the adventitious air upon the restagnant mercury , the funiculus in the tube , that was not able before to draw it up above 29½ . inches , is now enabled to draw it up higher ; i demand upon what account this new air does thus press against the restagnant mercury , and impell up and sustain that in the tube . it will not be said that 't is by its weight ; for as much mercury as may be thus impell'd up above the usual station will weigh a great many times more then the air forc'd into the receiver . and therefore it remains that the additional air counterpoises the additional mercury by its spring . and if we consider withall , that there 's no reason to doubt , ( especially considering what we have formerly delivered upon tryal touching the power of comprest air to impell up quicksilver ) but that , had we not been afraid of breaking our vessel , we might by forcing more air into the receiver have impell'd it up to the top of the tube , and kept it there ; we shall scarce deny but that , supposing there could be no such funiculus as our examiner's in rerum natura , the pressure of the incumbent air alone might suffice to keep a correspondent cylinder of mercury suspended : and that without any attraction of the restagnant mercury by a funiculus of violently distended air in the receiver , the quicksilver in the tube may be made to rest at any height greater or lesser , provided it exceed 30. inches , onely because its weight is just able to counterbalance the pressure of the contiguous air. i know not whether i may not adde ( to express an unwillingness to omit what some may think proper to do my adversary right ) that it may be said for the examiner , that he in the 11. page acknowledging with us a power in the air to recover its due extension if it be crouded into less room then its disposition requires ; a man may from that principle solve the phaenomena in question by saying , that the air in the receiver being forcibly comprest by the intrusion of fresh air into the same vessel , does by its endeavour to recover its due expansion press upon the restagnant mercury , and force up some of it into the tube . but this explication , though it agree with what the author teaches in a place very distant from his notes upon our 17. experiment , now under debate ; yet still 't is not clear to me how , by what he sayes in these notes , the phaenomenon is accounted for as the word hinc imports it to be . but otherwise i need not quarrel with the explication , since without recurring to the funiculus for the sustaining of the additional mercury , the solution of the phaenomenon is given upon the same principle that i employ . the 18. experiment . our examiner in his animadversion upon the 18. experiment , having recited my conjecture at the cause why a cylinder of mercury did in winter rise and fall in the tube , sometimes as water is wont to do in a weather-glass , according to the laws of heat and cold , and sometimes quite contrary thereunto ; adds , that this experiment does strongly enough overthrow our hypothesis of the atmospherical cylinder , and clearly shew that the quicksilver is not sustained by it : nam ( sayes he ) si hic ab eo sustentatum fuisset , debuisset potius frigidiore tempore ascendere quam descendere , eo quod aër tunc multo densior esset & gravior . itaque non sustentatur argentū ab aër is aequipondio , ut asseritur . and by the same argument he concludes against the mercury's being sustained by the spring of the air. but in his animadversions upon this experiment he seems to have been too forward to reprehend ; for he neither well confutes my conjecture , nor substitutes so much as a plausible one in the stead of it . and as to his objection i answer , first , that it doth not conclude : because that as sometimes the quicksilver in the tube did rise in warmer , and fall in colder , weather ; so at other times it did rather emulate the ascent and descent of water in a weather-glass . secondly , though it be true , that cold is wont to condense this or that parcel of air , and that a parcel of air may be made heavier by condensation ; yet that is in regard of the ambient air that retains its wonted laxity , in which the condensed air is weighed . but our author has not yet proved , that in case the cold of the winter should condense the whole incumbent atmosphere , it would then gravitate sensibly more upon the restagnant quicksilver then before . as a pound of wooll will not sensibly vary its weight , though the hairs whereof it is composed be made to lye sometimes in a looser , sometimes in a closer , order . and , thirdly , this objection does as little agree with his doctrine as with my conjecture : for in the 50. page , where he gives us an account according to his principles of the rising and falling of water in a weather-glass , and compares it with the suspension of quicksilver , he tells us , hinc fit quod , contracto hoc funiculo per frigus , aqua illa tempore frigido ascendat , descendat autem tempore calido , eo quod per calorem funiculus ille dilatetur . so that , according to the examiner himself , the quicksilver ought to have ascended in colder , and descended in warmer , weather . now , although i proposed my thoughts of the difficult phaenomenon under consideration but as a conjecture , and therefore shall be ready to alter them , either upon further discovery , or better information ; yet i see not why it should be post-posed to the examiner's , who , though he rejects our explication , substitutes no other then what may be gathered from these words , ego certe non dubito quin dentur hujusmodi occultae causae , quibus funiculus ille subtilis , quo in tubo suspenditur argentum ( ut dictum est capite decimo ) modo producatur , modo abbrevietur , &c. sicque argentum nunc demittat , nunc elevet . for , since we have made it probable that the copious fumes , sometimes suddenly ascending into the air , and rolling up and down in it , sometimes sensibly altering ( if good authors may be credited ) the refraction of it , and since some other causes , mentioned in our eighteenth experiment , may alter the density and gravity of the air that leans upon the restagnant mercury ; i suppose the reader will think it more intelligible and probable , that alterations , other then those produced by heat and cold , may happen to the incumbent atmosphere , which freely communicates with the neighbouring air , and may thereby become sometimes more stufft , and sometimes more destitute of adventitious exhalations ; then that such changes should happen to a funiculus included in glass , which according to our author is impervious to the subtilest steams that are , and concerning which he offers not so much as a conjecture upon what other account it can happen to be sometimes contracted , and sometimes stretch'd . the 19. experiment . upon this the examiner has onely this short animadversion , in decimo nono ostendit aquam eodem modo per exhaustionem recipient is descendere , quo in praecedente descendere ostender at argentum vivum ; cujus cum eadem sit ratio , non est cur amplius ei insistamus . in which words since he offers nothing new or peculiar to shew any incongruity in our explication to our principles , which agree very well with the new phaenomena of the experiment ; we are content to leave the reader to judge of the hypotheses themselves , which of the two is the more probable , either ours , that onely requires that the air in the receiver should equally resist a cylinder of water and of quicksilver , when their weight is but the same , though their altitudes be not ; or the examiner's , which exacts that ( according to what we formerly elsewhere noted ) bodies of such differing nature and texture as quicksilver and water should need but just the same weight or strength to rarefie them into a funiculus . the 20. experiment . in his examen of this experiment our author makes me infer from the phaenomena he repeats , that not onely the air , but the water also has a spring . but though i suspect not that he does wilfully mistake my sense , yet by what i write in this and the following experiments the reader may well enough perceive , that i spoke but very doubtfully of a spring in the water ; nay , and that i did in the 154. page expresly teach , that the intumescence of it might ( at least in great part ) proceed from that of the small parcels of air , which i thought to be usually harboured in the body of that liquor . but whereas i ascribe the appearance of the bubbles in the water to this , that upon the exhaustion of some of the air incumbent on the water , the pressure of what remains is much debilitated , whereby the little particles of air lurking in the water are allowed to expand themselves into bubbles ; he rejects this explication as manifestly false : nam ( sayes he ) si it a sieret , deberent profecto hujusmodi bullulae non è fundo vasis sic ascendere , ( uti tam in hoc quam in sequentibus experiment is in quibus de istis bullis agitur semper asseritur ) sed è superiore parte aquae , ubi minus premuntur , ut per se est manifestum . but why he should be here so peremptory i confess i do not , for all this objection , yet see : for in the bottom of the next page he sayes , he will not deny but that aerial particles latitant in the other parts of the water ( he had before spoken of the bottom of it ) may be extended into bubbles by his way of rarefaction . and that we particularly mentioned the rising of bubbles , even from the bottom of the water , was because that circumstance seem'd to deserve a peculiar note ; and not ( as he seems to imagine ) as if the bubbles did not also rise from the superior parts of the liquor , since we did take notice of it about the middle of the 149 page . and we often in this and the following experiments observ'd , that the ascending bubbles grew bigger the nearer they came to the top . which agrees more clearly with our hypothesis , wherein their conspicuous swelling as they ascend is attributed more to the lessening of the pressure of the incumbent air then to the decrement of the weight of the incumbent water , ( since when the surface of this liquor is lean'd upon by the atmosphere , the ascending bubbles scarce sensibly increase in vessels no deeper then ours ) then with the explication which the examiner gives in these words , respondeo , aquam per illam aëris exhaustionem non sponte sic ascendere , sed sursum violenter trahi , ac elevari à rarefacto illo aëre sese contrahente . quemadmodum enim aqua aliqualem patitur compressionem ( ut experientiâ constat ) ita & aliqualem quoque hic patitur , distensionem . atque hinc clarè patet , cur potius à fundo vasis quam à parte aquae superiore oriantur hujusmodi bullae . cum enim vehemens illa suctio conetur aquam à fundo phialae elevare , nascitur ibidem subtilis quaedam materia quae in bullas conversa sic ascendit , uti capite decimo quinto in quarto experimento dictum est . for , whatever he may think , it does not hence so clearly appear how the endeavour onely of the funiculus to draw up the water from the bottom of the vial , to which , that endeavour notwithstanding , it remains contiguous , should generate in some parts of the bottom of the glass , and not in others , such a subtil matter as he tells us of . and i suppose the reader will , as well as i , wish he had more intelligibly declared how this strange generation of subtil matter comes to be effected . and i presume it will likewise be exected that he also declare , why both in our case and in the torricellian experiment the bubbles grow so much larger by being nearer the top of the liquor ; if , as he rejects our explication of this circumstance , the effect of the fuction he speaks of be greater upon the lower part of the liquor then the upper , to which alone nevertheless his funiculus , that is said so to draw the liquor , is contiguous . our author making no particular objection against the 10. following experiments , we also shall pass them by , and fall with him upon the consideration of the 31. experiment . the 31. experiment . upon this our author having recited our conjecture at the cause why two very flat and smooth marbles stick so closely together , that by lifting up the uppermost you may take up also the lowermost , approves my way of examining that conjecture . but whereas i say that the reason why , though the marbles were kept together by the pressure of the ambient air , yet they did not fall asunder in our exhausted receiver , no not though a weight of 4. ounces were hung at the lower stone , might be , that by reason of some small leak in the receiver the air could not be sufficiently drawn out : yet he tells us with his wonted confidence , certum esse , sententiam illam vel hoc solo experimento satis refelli . but possibly he would have spoken less resolutely , if he had made all the tryals about the adhesion of marbles that we relate our selves to have made in the short history we have publish'd of fluidity and firmness . for our examiner speaks as if all that we ascribe to the air in such experiments were to sustain the lower marble with the weight perhaps of a few ounces : whereas in case the air be kept from getting in at all between the stones , it may ( according to our hypothesis ) sustain a weight either altogether or well-nigh equal to that of a pillar of air as broad as the basis of the lower marble , and as long as the atmosphere is high , or to the weight of a pillar of quicksilver of the same thickness , and about 30. inches long ; these two pillars appearing by the torricellian experiment to counterpoise each other . and therefore since in the seventeenth experiment , when we had exhausted our receiver as far as we could , there remain'd air enough to keep up in the tube a cylinder of about an inch long of quicksilver ; and since the broader the contiguous marbles are , the greater weight fastned to the lowermost may be sustain'd by the resistance of the air , ( as is obvious to him that considers the hypothesis , and as we have proved by experiment in the forementioned tract ) it need be no wonder that the air remaining in the receiver should be able to support the lowermost marble , whose diameter was near two inches , and a weight of four ounces , those two weights being inferior to that of a mercurial cylinder of that diameter and an inch in length . and though it were not , yet we are not sure that the receiver was as well emptied when we made the 31. experiment , as when we made the 17. and ( if my memory does not much mis-informe me ) 't was with the same pair of marbles that in the presence of an illustrious assembly of virtuosi ( who were spectators of the experiment ) the uppermost marble drew up the lowermost , though that were clog'd with a weight of above 430. ounces . as for the account the examiner substitutes of our phaenomenon , i know not whether many readers will acquiesce in it : for , not to insist upon the objection which himself takes notice of , that according to him the distended air in the receiver should draw asunder the adhering marbles ; his explication supposes that there cannot naturally be a vacuum , whence he infers that , necesse er at ut lapis ille non aliter descenderet , quàm relinquendo post se tenuem hujusmodi substantiam , qualis ab argento vivo aut aquâ sic descendentibus relinqui solet . but whereas he adds , that the cause of the obstinate adhesion we meet with in our case is , that such a substance is far more difficult to be separated from marble then from quicksilver or any other kind of body ; that assertion is precarious . and though i have tryed experiments of this nature with stones of several sizes , perhaps an hundred times , yet i never could find that by their cohesion they would sustain a weight greater then that of a pillar of the atmosphere that prest against the lowermost : which is a considerable circumstance , that much better agrees with our explication then our adversaries . and whereas he further sayes , unde existimo planè , si perfectè complanata fuerint duo marmora sic conjuncta , it a ut nullus omnino aër inter utrumque mediaret , non posse ea ullis humanis viribus ab invicem divelli : i hope i need not tell the reader , that whether or no this agree with what he had immediately before taught of the separableness of a subtil substance even from marble , so bold and improbable an assertion requires the being countenanc'd with a much better proof then the onely one he subjoyns in these words , uti etiam confirmat exemplum quod ibidem adducit author de lamina aenea , tabulae cuidam marmoreae ita adhaerente , ut à lacertoso juvene , de suis viribus gloriante , non potuerit per annulum centro ejus affixum inde elevari . for sure there is great odds betwixt the strength of a man unassisted by any engine , and the ut most extent of humane power . and indeed according to our hypothesis , and without having recourse to natures dreading of a vacuum , the case is clear enough : for , supposing the plate to be of any considerable breadth , the pillar of the atmosphere that lean'd upon it , and must at the instant of its deserting the superficies of the table all at once be lifted up with it , may well exceed the force of a single man , especially in an inconvenient posture ; since by the cohesion of a pair of marbles of about three inches diameter , i did with my own hands take up above a thousand and three hundred ounces . the 32 , and 33. experiments . against our explication of these two , which our author examines together , he objects nothing peculiar , but contents himself to explicate them by his funiculus : wherefore neither shall we need to frame any peculiar defence for it , especially if the reader will be pleased to refer hither as much of what we oppos'd to his animadversion on the third experiment as is justly applicable to our present controversie . our author indeed endeavours to prove his explication by saying , that the distended air in the exhausted cylinder draws up the sucker with the annexed weight , eodem fere modo quo videmus in cucurbitulis dorso aegrotantis applicatis , in quibus , extincta jam flamma , rarefactus aër se contrahens carnem tam vehementer , uti videmus , elevat attrahitque intra cucurbitulam . but that phaenomenon is easily enough explicable in our hypothesis , by saying , that upon the vanishing of that heat which strengthned the pressure of the included air , the spring of it grows too weak to resist any longer the pressure of the ambient air ; which thereupon thrusts the flesh and neighbouring bloud of the patient into the cupping-glass , almost after the same manner as we formerly taught the pulp of the finger to be thrust into the deserted cavity of the glass-tube in the torricellian experiment . the 34 , 35 , and 36. experiments . to these our author saying nothing but this , in his tribus nihil peculiariter occurrit hic explicandum , cujus ratio ex jam dictis non facile pateat ; we also may be allow'd to pretermit them , and pass on to the 37. experiment . of the appearance of light or whiteness , mentioned in this experiment , the examiner confesses that we have assigned a cause probable enough , by referring it to the vehement and sudden commotion of the included air. and indeed though i do still look upon some of the things that i hesitantly propos'd about this difficult phaenomenon but as meer conjectures , and though he annexes his explication of it ; yet i see not but that it is coincident with ours , or not better then it . for , to what i had said of the commotion of the parts of the air , he adds onely in two or three several places their being violently distended ; which how it improves the explication of the phaenomenon i do not readily see . and whereas he subjoyns , existimo autem dicendum potius candorem illum esse lumen quoddam reflexum , quam innatum , eo quod ( ut testatur author ) in tenebris non appareat , sed solum de die aut accensa candela : i presume the attentive reader will easily discern that his opinion is much-what the same that i propos'd and grounded on the same reason . but the chief difficulty in this abstruse phaenomenon , namely why we meet with it but sometimes , our examiner's explication leaves untouch'd . the 38. and 39. experiments . against these our author makes no peculiar objections . the 40. and 41. experiments . but in his animadversions upon these , having told the reader that i seem to ascribe the sudden extinction of the included animals to the excessive thinness of the air remaining in the receiver , made by the recess of what was drawn out , unfit for respiration ; he adds resolutely enough , verum impossibile videtur , ut hujusmodi animalcula ob solum defectum crassioris aëris tam cito moriantur : but gives no other reason then that they dye so soon , which is no more then what he said in the newly-cited words , and besides is grounded upon something of mistake . for the creatures he mentions were a bee , a flye , and a caterpillar , and those included too in a small receiver , which could be suddenly exhausted : and these indeed became moveless within a minute of an hour ; but that minute was not ( as the word is often us'd to signifie in english ) a moment , but the sixtieth part of an hour . and though these insects did in so short a time grow moveless , yet they were not so soon kill'd ; as appears by the narrative . the sanguineous animals that did indeed dye , were kill'd more slowly . and i remember that having purposely enquir'd of a man ( us'd to go under water by the help of an engine wherein he could carry air with him to the bottom of the sea ) how long he could endure , before he was accustomed to dive , without breathing or the use of a spunge ; he told me , that at first he could hold out about two or three minutes at a time : which made me think that divers become able to continue under water so long , either by a peculiarly-convenient constitution of body , or by a gradual exercise . and i am apt to think that he did , as men are wont to do , when he said two or three minutes , mean what is indeed a much shorter time then that when exactly measured amounts to . for , having purposely made tryal upon a couple of moles that were brought me together alive , one of them included in a small , though not very small , receiver was between two and three minutes in killing ; whereas the other being immediately after detain'd under water did not there continue full a minute and a quarter , before it finally ceas'd from giving any sign at all of life . by which tryal it may appear , that 't is not impossible that the want of respiration should dispatch an animal in as little time as is mentioned in the experiment i am now defending . and indeed our author either should have proved that 't is not possible for the want of air to destroy animals so soon , or should have given us some better account of the phaenomenon . for whereas he teaches us , that according to his doctrine the little animals above-mentioned were so soon kill'd , qui a per rarefactum illum aërem sese contrahentem extractus sit eorum halitus : i see not that hereby , if he explicate the phaenomenon otherwise then we , he explains it better ; for he seems to speak as if he thought this halitus to be some peculiar part of the animal in which his life resides . and besides he seems not to consider , that whereas , according to me as well as according to him , the air contained in the lungs ( supposing these animalcula have any ) must in great part pass thence into the receiver , ( for whether that be done by the spring of the air it self , that was harboured in the lungs , or the traction on of the more rarefi'd air in the receiver , is not material in our present case ) the examiner must , as well as i , render a reason why the extenuation or recess of the halitus should cause the hasty death of the included animals ; and condemning my conjecture he ought to have substituted another reason : and though he subjoyns these words , and concludes with them , atque hinc quoque ortae sunt vehementes illae convulsiones , quas ante mortem passas esse aviculas quasdam memorat ibidem author ; yet i doubt not but the reader will think it had not been amiss that the author had more intelligibly deduc'd these tragick symptoms from his assumption , for the sake of those that are not anatomists and physicians enough to discern how his funiculus could produce these effects . for my part , as in the 41. experiment i tender'd my thoughts concerning respiration but doubtingly , so i am yet unwilling to determine resolvedly in a matter of that difficulty . the 42 , and 43. experiments . in his examen of these two last of our physico-mechanical experiments , the author contents himself to endeavour to explicate the phaenomena recited in them by the contraction of the rarefi'd air ; which , according to him , endeavours to draw up the subjacent water out of the vial , whereby it vehemently distends the parts of that water , as he taught in the like case upon the 20. experiment . but since we have already consider'd his animadversion upon that , although this presumed distension of the water is not visible that we have observ'd , when cold water , that has been first freed from his interspers'd air , is put into the receiver , notwithstanding that the funiculus should in that case also distend it ; we are so afraid of tiring out the readers patience by the frequent repetition of the same things , that we will leave it to him to judge which of the two explications , the examiner's or ours , is to be preferred , without troubling him and our selves with defence of accounts against which our adversary does not here make any peculiar objections . and thus have we by gods assistance considered what the exam ner hath been pleased to oppose either against our particular explications , or against the hypotheses that divers of them suppose : wherein i have been the more particular and prolix , because i would willingly excuse my self and others from the trouble of any more disputes of this kind . i hope there is not in my answers any thing of asperity to be met with ; for i have no quarrel to the person of the author , or his just reputation ; nor did i intend to use any more freedom of speech in the answering his objections , then his resolute way of proposing divers of them made it on those occasions needful for the caution of those readers who are not acquainted with our differing wayes of writing , and perhaps have not observed that some men are wont to consider as much what they propose but with a perhaps , or some such expression of diffidence , as others do what they deliver far more resolutely . and though being very far from being wedded to my opinions , i am still ready to exchange them for better , if they shall be duly made out to me , ( which i think it possible enough they may hereafter be ; ) yet peradventure the reader will think with me , that the examiner has not given me cause to renounce any of them , since the objections he has propos'd against me have been sufficiently answered , and since the hypothesis he would substitute in the room of ours ( besides that it is partly precarious ) supposes things which divers of the eminentest wits of our age ( otherwise of differing opinions ) profess they cannot admit or so much as understand : whereas the weight and spring of the air are not denyed by our author himself , and are demonstrable by experiments that are not controverted betwixt us . which things i represent for the defence of what i think the truth , and not to offend my learned adversary , who shall have my free consent to be thought to have fail'd rather in the choice then in the management of the controversie . though since this passes for his first book , and since consequently he is not like to have been provoked , or engaged in point of reputation , to challenge me or any of those far more eminent persons he has nam'd among his adversaries , i am induc'd by the severity wherewith i have known eminent virtuosi speak of his attempts , and particularly of his funiculus , to fear that some of those he has needlesly oppos'd , will be apt to apply to him that of st. austin against some of his adversaries , that had disputed against him with much more subtilty then reason , in mala causa non possunt aliter , at malam causam quis eos coegit habere ? but this notwithstanding i am , as i was going to say , content my adversary should be thought to have said for his principles as much as the subject will bear ; nor would i have it made his disparagement , that i have declared that his whole book has not made me depart from any of my opinions or explications , since his hypothesis and mine being inconsistent , it may be looked upon as a sign rather that each of us have , then that either of us have not , reason'd closely to his own principles , that the things we infer from our contrary suppositions do so generally disagree . finis . an explication of rarefaction . the chief arguments of the author of a certain treatise de corporum inseparabilitate , whereby he endeavours to invalidate the hypothesis of the weight and spring of the air , and to set up and establish instead thereof an unintelligible hypothesis of attraction , performed by i know not what strange imaginary funiculus , are onely five , two against the former , and three for the later . the first of which is , that the weight and spring of the air are not sufficient to perform the effects ascribed to them : the second , that could they be performed by that hypothesis granted , yet the way of this strange spring it self is not intelligibly explained or explicable by the defenders of it . now the former of these being little else but a bare affirmation , and the later bearing some shew of demonstration , i shall endeavour to examine it as i find it set down in his 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , and 24. chapters , to which ( especially the 23. ) he very often in his book refers the reader for satisfaction , pretending there to evince that rarefaction cannot be made out any otherwise then by supposing a body to be in 2 , 3 , 4 , 10 , 100 , 1000 , 1000000 of places at the same instant , and adequately to fill all and every one of those places . first therefore , we will examine his negative , and next his affirmative , arguments for this strange hypothesis . his negative i find in the 20. chapter , where he endeavours to confute the two wayes of explicating the rarefaction and spring of the air , namely , that of the vacuists and that of the plenists . concerning the first of these we find him conclude it impossible , first , because he had before proved that there can be no vacuum , which being done by a circle ( viz. there is no vacuum in the tube because nature abhors a vacuum , and we see nature abhors a vacuum because she will not suffer a vacuum in the tube above the mercury , but to prevent it will continually spin the quicksilver into supe ficies , and never diminish the body of it ) will suffer me to pass to his next , which is , that this way is false , because in the experiment of the carps bladder the air is rarefi'd a 1000. times bigger ; nay , in respect of the body of gold it has 1000000. times less matter in equal spaces . and this , sayes he , is a phaenomenon that is impossible ever to be made out by interspers'd vacuities . now that the vacuists cannot presently , by so bold an assertion as this , be made to forsake their principles , he may perceive by these following solutions which i shall give of all the phaenomena he recites , flowing naturally from an hypothesis that i shall for the present assume . let us suppose then the particles of bodies , at least those of the air , to be of the form of a piece of riband , that is , to be very long , slender , thin and flexible laminae , coyled or wound up together as a cable , piece of riband , spring of a watch , hoop , or the like , are : we will suppose these to have all of them the same length , but some to have a stronger , others a weaker spring : we will further suppose each of these so coyled up to have such an innate circular motion , as that thereby they may describe a sphere equal in diameter to their own , much after the manner that a meridian turn'd about the poles of a globe will describe by its revolution a sphere of the same diameter with its own in the air. by this circular motion the parts of the laminae endeavouring to recede from the centre or axis of their motion , acquire a springiness outward like that of a watch-spring , and would naturally flye abroad untill they were stretch'd out at length , but that being incompast with the like on every side , they cannot do it without the removal of them , as not having room sufficient for such a motion . and the faster this circular motion is , the more do the parts endeavour to recede from the axis , and consequently the stronger is their spring or endeavour outward . these springy bodies thus shap'd and thus moved are sufficient to produce all the phaenomena he names as impossible to be explicated . and , first , for the business of expansion , it will very naturally be explained by it : as let us suppose for instance the diameter of these small coyled particles of the air ( which being next the earth are press'd upon by all those numerous incumbent particles that make up the atmosphere , and are thereby so crouded that they can but very little untwist themselves ; let us suppose , i say , the diameter of these particles ) to be 1 / 1000000000000 of an inch ; and then to be much of the form of those represented in the 4. figure by a b c d : and that these particles , when a considerable quantity of the pressure of the ambient parts is taken away , will flye abroad into a coyle or zone ten times as big in diameter as before ; that is , they will now be 10 / 1000000000000 of an inch in diameter , and appear in the form of those in the figure exprest by e f g h : these zones whirl'd round as the former will describe a sphere a 1000. times as big in bulk , and thereby fence that space from being entred by any of the like zones : this it would do , supposing those spheres did immediately alwayes touch each other ; but because of their circular motion , whenever they meet they must necessarily be beaten , and flye off from one another , and so require a yet greater space to perform their motion in . this suppos'd , there are no phaenomena of rarefaction ( which is enough at present to answer what he objects ) but may be naturally and intelligibly made out . as first , for that of the swelling of a carps bladder , if we suppose some small parcels of the former comprest laminae to lye latitant within the folds of it , and being much coyled up together scarce to take any sensible room , this bladder in the air will appear to contain very little or nothing within it ; whereas when the pressure of the air is taken off in good part from the outsides of it , then those formerly latitant particles disclose themselves by flying open into much bigger zones , so as perhaps to be able to defend a thousand times bigger space from being entred into by their like or any other gross particles , such as those of the bladder . now because the pores of a bladder are such as are not easily permeable by the particles of air , therefore these lurking particles so expanding themselves must necessarily plump out the sides of the bladder , and so keep them turgid untill the pressure of the air that at first coyled them be re-admitted to do the same thing for them again . next , as for rarefaction by heat , that will as naturally follow as the former from this hypothesis . for the atoms of fire flowing in in great numbers , and passing through with a very rapid motion , must needs accelerate the motion of these particles , from which acceleration their spring or endeavour outward will be augmented , that is , those zones will have a strong nitency to flye wider open , ( for we know that the swifter any body is moved circularly , the more do the parts of it endeavour to recede from the centre of that motion ) from whence if it has room will follow a rarefaction . as for the conveyance of light , that being according to epicurus performed by the local motion of peculiar atoms , their motions to and fro through this medium will be less impeded by the rarefi'd air then by the condens'd ; as indeed upon experiment we shall really find them . as for his third objection drawn from his supposed attractive virtue of the thus rarefi'd air , that is quickly answered , by denying it to have any power at all of attraction ; and by shewing ( which is already done ) that what effects he would have to be performed by the attraction of the included , is really done by the pressure of the ambient , air. and , lastly , the phaenomena of my lord bacons experiment are sufficiently obvious and easie to be deduc'd . so then , by granting epicurus his principles , that the atoms or particles of bodies have an innate motion ; and granting our supposition of the determinate motion and figure of the aerial particles , all the phaenomena of rarefaction and condensation , of light , sound , heat , &c. will naturally and necessarily follow : and the authors objections against this first way of rarefaction will signifie very little . as to the second way of rarefaction , by the intrusion or intervention of some subtil matter of aether into the spaces deserted by the raresying particles , which is that propos'd by the assertors of a plenum , this also is by the author condemned , and branded with impossibility . and why ? first , because 't is ( he sayes ) impossible that the above-mentioned phaenomena of the carps bladder can be explained by it . secondly , because 't is impossible to give a reason from it of the impetuous ascent of water admitted into an exhausted receiver . and , thirdly , because 't is impossible to explicate the phaenomena of gun-powder . his reasons to confirm which three impossibilities , because drawn from a meer mistake , or ignorance of those hypotheses which have been invented by the assertors of that opinion , i shall pass over , and content my self to explain a way how these impossibilities may become possibilities , if not probabilities . and the way that i shall take , shall be that of the most acute modern philosopher monsieur des cartes , published in his philosophical works : which is this , that the air is a body consisting of long , slender , flexible particles , agitated or whirl'd round by the rapid motion of the globuli coelestes , and the subtile matter of his first element , whereby they are each of them enabled to drive or force out of their vortice all such other agitated particles . now the swifter these bodies are whirl'd round , the more do their flexible parts fly asunder and stretch themselves out ; and the more forcibly do they resist the ingresse of any other so agitated particles into their vortice , and consequently the slower their motion is , the less will be their resistance . and because there is a vast number of these whirled particles lying one above another , and each particle having its peculiar gravity ; it will necessarily follow that the undermost ( which to maintain their vortice must resist so great a pressure ) must very much be hindred from expanding themselves so far as otherwise they would , were there none of those incompassing agitated particles that lay in their way : and that those being by any means removed , or they themselves by a more rapid motion of the particles of their vehicles , the first and second element , ( which is according to that hypothesis an effect of heat ) more swiftly and strongly whirled round , they presently begin to expand themselves , and maintain a bigger vortice then before . now to perform what i just now promised , i shall endeavour to give a possible , if not a probable , cause of the objected phaenomena . and , first , for that of the carps bladder , where the air is rarefi'd ( sayes the author ) 1000. times , it will easily be explained by supposing the few particles of the air , which ( whilest they sustain the pressure of all the incumbent atmosphere ) inconspicuously luck within the bladder , ( each of them being able to maintain but a very small vortice ) to be by the subsiding mercury in the torricellian experiment freed from the pressure of the air , and their motion continuing the same ( by reason that the transcursion of their vehicles is not at all or very little hindered either by the glass or bladder ) their parts having room to expand themselves , will flye abroad to such extensions as may perhaps make a vortice 1000. times as big in bulk as what they were not able just before to exceed . hence the particles of the air ( being so gross as not easily to pervade the pores of the bladder ) must necessarily drive out the fides of the bladder to its utmost extent , and serve to fill the receiver in the magdeburgick experiment . now , whereas these particles will by the same pressure of the air be reduc'd to the same state they were in at first , that is , to be thronged into a very little room , and thereby be able to maintain a very small vortice ; the air let in in the torrecellian experiment reduces the air in the bladder to its former inconspicuousness ; as the admission of the water in the magdeburg experiment does that receiver full of rarefi'd air into the bigness of a hazel nut. now the water in this last-mention'd experiment enters with a great impetuosity , because driven on with the whole pressure of the atmosphere , and resisted onely by the small force of the so-far-rarefi'd air. as for the authors objection against this way of rarefaction drawn from the phaenomena of gun powder , i shall endeavour to answer it by shewing them possibly explicable by a cartesian hypothesis . for supposing those terrestrial parts of the gun powder to be first at rest , and afterwards agitated by the rapid motion of his first element , there will be sufficient difference of the former and later condition in respect of extension ; and supposing the particular constitution of gun-powder ( arising partly from the specifick forms of the particles of its ingredients ; nitre , sulphure and char-coal , and partly from their proportionate commistion ) to be such as will readily yield to the motion of his materia subtilis , so soon as an ingress is admitted to it by the fireing of any particular parcel of it , the expansion will be speedy enough . so then let us suppose a barrel of gun-powder placed in some close room , to some grains of which we will suppose some actual fire to be applied , by which actual fire ( the texture of the powder being such ) those grains are suddenly fired , that is , many millions of parts , which before lay still and at rest , are by the action of the burning coals shatter'd , as it were , and put into a posture ready to be agitated by the rapid motion of the materia subtilis : into which posture they are no sooner put , then agitated and whirled sufficiently by it ; whence follows a vast expansion of that part of gun-powder so fired . for each of its parts being thus whirl'd and hurried round , expell and beat off with great violence all the contiguous particles , so as that each particle takes up now 1000. times as much elbow-room ( if i may so speak ) as just before serv'd its turn , and consequently those that are outermost take every one their way directly from the parcel or corn they had lain quiet in , being hurried away by the sudden expansion of the particles that lay next within them ; so that whatever grain or parcel of gun-powder they chance to meet with , before they have lost their motion , they presently shiver and put into such a motion as makes them fit to receive the action of the materia subtilis . which subtil matter being every where present , and nothing slow in performing its office , immediately agitates those also like the former ; so that in a trice the particles of the whole barrel of gun-powder are thus disordered , and by the motion the materia subtilis must needs be hurried away with so great an impetuosity on all sides , as not onely to break in pieces its slight wooden prison , and remove the lighter particles of the ambient air , but huge beams , nay , vast accumulated masses of the most compacted structures of stone , and even shake the very earth it self , or whatever else stands in its way , whose texture is so close as not to give its particles free passage through its pores . this understood , i see not , first , what the authors three arguments brought to prove his objection signifie , for there are no more corpuscles in the room before the gun-powder is fired then after , nor is there any more matter or substance before the sides of the room by yielding give place for the external fluid bodies to succeed , and the onely change is this , that the globuli secundi elementi ( as he calls them ) are expell'd out of the room , and the materia primi elementi succeeds in the place of it . nor do i see , secondly , what great reason he had for his grand conclusion , haec abundè demonstrant , rarefactionem per hujusmodi corpuscula nullatenus posse explicari . having thus examined the authors first arguments , that rarefaction cannot be made out by any other way then his ; we shall find his other , which he brings to establish his own hypothesis , much of the same kind . as , first , that his way of rarefaction implies no contradiction : for if the affirming a body to be really and totally in this place , and at the same time to be really and wholly in another , that is , to be in this place , and not to be in this place , be not a contradiction , i know not what is . next , that some learned school-men have thought so ; to which i answer , more learned men have thought otherwise . and , lastly , that there are very plain examples of the like nature to be found in other things ; of which he onely brings one , viz. that of the rota aristotelica , which upon examination we shall find to make as little to the purpose as any of the other . an explication of the rota aristotelica . the great problem of the rota aristotelica , by his explication of which he pretends not onely to solve all the difficulties concerning local motion , quae philosophorū ingenia hactenus valde exercuerant , but to give an instance for the confirmation of his unintelligible hypothesis of rarefaction , wherein there is extensio seu correspondentia ejusdem rei ad locum nunc majorem , nunc minorem ; we may upon examination find to be either a paralogisme , or else nothing but what those philosophers said whom he accounts gravel'd with it . of this subject he begins in his 25. chapter , where after he has set down a description of it , he makes an instance in a cart-wheel ; rem ante oculos ponit rota alicujus currus , ejusque umbo seu lignum illud crassum & rotundum cui infiguntur radii ; siquidem dum progrediente curru ipsa rota circumducta describit in subjecta terra orbitam sibi aequalem , umbo ille describit in subjecto aëre orbitam . ( i suppose both here and before he means lineam ) se multo longiorem , utpote aequalem orbitae totius rotae , licet ipse non nisi semel quoque fuerit circumvolutus . ( as for what he sayes , that the nave must be suppos'd to pass through the air , and not to touch a solid plain , i do not yet understand the force of his reason , nor why he sets it down , making nothing to his present purpose , unless it were because he did not well understand the thing ) in which , sayes he , the great difficulty is to explain how the nave should be so turned about its axis , ut partes suas successivè applicet lineae duplo plures partes habenti , idque motu perpetuo ac uniformi nè vel ad oculum instar interrupto . which how true , and what great occasion he had to wonder at the solution of that problem by the example of a man standing still and another walking , we shall find by and by , when we come to explain the problem : but first i shall examine his hypoth sis and explication . and first , he supposes time to consist of a determinate number of indivisibles , ( that is , such as have neither prius nor posterius included in them ) which he calls instants . and next he supposes the praesentiam localem seu ubicationem cujuslibet part is indivisibilis & virtualiter extensae esse quoque indivisibilem & virtualiter extensam : which supposition so strangely exprest is no more then this , that the extension or space of his indivisibles is also indivisible . but as for his virtual extension , i consess i understand as little what it is as i verily believe he did ; and therefore i will proceed to his following supposition . his third therefore is , that by how much more rare a body is , by so much the more are its indivisibles virtually extended . hence his fourth is , that though these indivisibles be really indivisible , yet they are virtually in quotvis partes divisibiles . whence he deduces his fifth principle , that since these indivisibles are really indivisible and virtually extended , they must necessarily be moved after the same manner that other indivisible and virtually-extended things are . his instances are in the motions of an angel and an indivisible piece of wood , which , he sayes , are both of the same kind . as for that of angels , having no immediate revelation , and a spirit and its actions not falling under sense , and not having any third way by which to be inform'd , i shall leave him there to enjoy his fancies . but as for that of his piece of wood , we shall find it sufficiently full of absurdities and contradictions . and first , he calls it indivisible , but why i know not , for 't is neither really nor yet mentally so : not mentally so by his fourth principle , where he sayes that 't is virtualiter in quotvis partes divisibiles , by which word virtualiter he means the same thing with mentaliter , or nothing . nor , secondly , is it really so : for then ( according to the main business of his book , as may be gathered from the first words of his title-page , tractatus de corporum inseparabilitate ) it would be impossible that any thing in the world should be divisible ; for he making an inseparable continuity , and that bodies will rather be ( i can't tell how ) stretcht beyond their own dimension in infinitum , then part from one another ; a body may as soon pass through the dimensions of any one indivisible , as pass between two . next , he grants in the strange stretching or rarefaction of these indivisibles a temporary motion of the condens'd dimension ; whence there will follow that there must be distinct places or ubi's , it must be terminus à quo , terminus ad quem , & medium . and next , it were impossible to divide a line into two parts , supposing it consisted of an unequal number of indivisibles ; as if 101. indivisibles of exceedingly-rarefi'd air should be extended in length an inch , it were impossible to divide that inch into two equal parts . i might run over many more , but it would be too tedious to be here recited . as for his indivisible parts of time , those also must necessarily be in quotvis partes divisibiles ; for else the same body or indivisible must necessarily be in divers places at the same instant . but because he can swallow , nay confidently affirm , this and many other such like contradictions and absurdities , i am not willing to mention them ; and i think it would have made more for the authors reputation if he had done so too . as for his last chapter , where he applies these principles to the explication of the rota aristotelica , i have not here time to set down all the absurdities that any one that has but a smattering in the mathematicks may observe : as , sometimes half an indivisible part of a circumference may touch an indivisible of a line ; sometimes one may touch half , a quarter , a hundredth part , a whole one , two , ten , a hundred , &c. at the same instant ; nay , an indivisible of a circle may be all of it in a thousand places together , and the like . and this he brings as a great argument to establish his hypothesis of rarefaction , pretending it to comprise many aenigma's and very great difficulties ; whereas the thing is very plain and easie , and contains no such obscurities . for if , for example , we suppose a wheel abcd to be moved in a direct motion from aic to klm , every point of it retaining the same position to that line that they had at the beginning of their motion , each of the points aeigc will on a plain , or in the medium it pervades , pass through or describe a line equal to the line il , and not onely all the points lying in the line aic , but all and every point of the whole area of the circle ; this must necessarily happen if the diameter aic be moved parallel to it self : but if whilest it be thus moved with an equal progression , it be likewise moved with an equal circulation , the case will be altered . for then , first , each point will by this compound motion describe on the plain or medium either a perfect cyclorid , as when the wheel makes one perfect revolution , whilest the whole is progressively moved from i to l ; or some piece , as when the wheel has not perfected its revolution ; or more then a whole one , as when the circle has made more then one whole revolution whilest it is moved in its determinate length . i shall here onely consider the first , as pertaining more especially to my present purpose , and in regard the two later on occasion may be easily explicated by it . next , each point of this circle acquires from its compounded motion various degrees of celerity as to its progression , according to its various position to a point which is alwayes found in some part of the line drawn through the centre of the circular motion perpendicular to the progressive . and it is found thus , as the circumference to the radius , so is the line of the progressive motion to the distance of the point from the centre . and this happens because the line of progression is equal to the circle described on that distance as radius ; each point therefore of this smaller circle , when it comes to touch the perpendicular , must , as to its progressive motion , stand still : this point therefore will be the centre of this compounded motion . now because for the explication of the rota aristotelica we need not consider any other then those points which are transient through or cross the perpendicular line , we shall onely examine them . let then in our example a be the centre or immoveable point , the circumference therefore abcd will be equal to il or ak by our hypothesis . now because the point i , which is the centre of the rotation , has onely one motion , viz. that of lation , its celerity will be equal to the single celerity of the lation ; we will therefore put it to have one degree . c , because it is moved with two motions , both tending the same way , and each equal to the velocity of i , must needs have two degrees of velocity . the point f , because moved with two motions , both tending the same way , the one ( viz. its lation ) being equal to that of i , and the other ( because it is but half as far distant from the centre of rotation as c , and therefore is moved but with half the celerity of c , which was equal to that of i ) but half as quick , we will put to have one degree and an half . by the like method we might find the velocity of all the points in the perpendicular , viz. such as we have there marked some of them ; but it would be too tedious , we needing not to consider more then the two points a and e. the point at e being moved forward by its progression with the same velocity that i , but by its rotation ( which is but half as swift as that of the circle abcd , that is double the circle efgh ) being moved the contrary way or backwards with half the velocity , loseth half of its progression forwards . the point in a being by its progression moved forwards equally swift with i , and by its rotation ( the circle abcd being equal to the line il ) being carried backwards with equal velocity , must necessarily stand still as to its progression . now having shewn that the point a ( being by reason of its two equal opposite motions at rest ) does onely touch a point of the line ak , and is not at all moved on it ; and that the point e ( being carried forward twice as fast by its progression as it is carried backward by its rotation , and thereby moved half as fast as the point i ) does not onely touch the line ek , but whilest it touches it is moved on it with a progressive motion half as swift as that of i : it will necessarily follow , that each point situate in e must necessarily describe a small line , which is a part of the whole ec . now both the contact of the former , and the contact and progression of the later , being performed by an infinite succession of points in the space of an infinite succession of instants ; i see not any one difficulty of this problem but may satisfactorily be given an account of by it , without having recourse to the hypothesis of the determinate number of indivisibles of space and time ; which at best will onely come to this , that in such a determinate moment or minute space of time , ( which consists of an infinite consecution of instants , and has prius and posterius in it ; though yet he will call it an instant , and have it to have the same proprieties with an instant used in the common philosophical sense ) such a determinate minute corpuscle ( which , though it have extension in length , breadth and thickness , yet will he not admit it to be divisible or have parts , no not though , according to his hypothesis , the indivisible of one body may be rarefied to be as big in bulk as a million of the indivisibles of another , but will have it to be called and to be a real indivisible ) will successively pass over such a determinate space or length ( which yet he will not admit to be divisible , though according to his principles it may equalize the length of millions of his other indivisibles , nor admit a successive motion , but instantaneous , though that does necessarily put a body into two , three , ten , a hundred , &c. places at once ; but will have these also to be indivisible . ) haste makes me pass over the absurdities about the contact of a circle and a line , and to comprise in short all that great explication he has given of this and other intricate ( as he calls them ) problems , which is this , that the reason of the celerity of the motion of some one of these indivisibles above another is , that it passes through a greater part of an indivisible in the same instant then the slower ; that is in plain sense no more then this , one body is swifter then another because it is moved faster , from whence he draws several corollaries , as that hence may be given a reason why an eagle is swifter then a tortoise , viz. because it moves faster . i should have solved several objections which may be brought against the divisibility of quantity in infinitum ; but that as all the scholastick writers are full of them , so it is a subject which we are least able to dispute of , having very little information of the nature of infinity from the senses . finis . the citations english'd . chap. 2. pag. 4. cum tota vis , &c. being the whole power of the spring of the air depends upon the aequilibrium of its weight with twenty nine inches and an half of quicksilver , so that this spring doth neither more nor less in a shut place , then is done by that aequilibrium in an open place : it is manifest , seeing we have shewed the aequilibrium to be plainly fictitious and imaginary , that the spring ascribed to the air is so likewise . ibid. nam si tubus , &c. for if a tube but twenty inches long ( such as we used in our first argument ) be not quite filled with quicksilver , as before , but a little space be left betwixt the mercury and the finger on the top of the tube , in which air onely may abide : we shall find that the finger below being removed , the finger on the top will not onely be drawn downwards , as before , but the quicksilver shall descend also , and that notably , viz. as much as so small a parcel of air can be extended by such a descending weight . so that if instead of air , water or any other liquor which is not so easily extended be put in its place , there will be no descent at all . hence , i say , against this opinion an argument is framed : for if the external air cannot keep up those twenty inches of quicksilver from descending , as we have proved ; how shall it keep up twenty nine inches and an half ? assuredly these can no way be reconciled . p. 5. dices fortè , &c. you will perchance say , that the quicksilver therefore doth in the alledged case descend , because it is thrust down by that parcel of air which dilates it self by its own spring . ibid. sic deberet , &c. so should the finger be rather thrust from the top of the tube , then thereby fastned to it ; because this dilatation must be made as well upwards as downwards . p. 6. concipi , &c. it cannot be conceived how that air should dilate it self , or thrust down the mercury , unless by taking up a greater place ; which thing these authors are much against , asserting that rarefaction can be made no other wayes then by corpuscles or vacuities . chap. 3. p. 7. si , &c. if you take a tube open at both ends of a good length , suppose forty inches long , and fill it with mercury , and place your finger on the top as before , taking away your lower finger you will find the mercury to descend even to its wonted station , and your finger on the top to be strongly drawn within the tube , and to stick close unto it . whence again it is evidently concluded that the mercury placed in its own station is not there upheld by the external air , but suspended by a certain internal cord , whose upper end being fastned to the finger draws and fastens it after this manner into the tube . chap. 4. p. 8 , 9. sumatur , &c. take a tube shorter then twenty nine inches and an half , for instance of twenty digits , not shut , as hitherto , at one end , but with both ends open : let this tube , its orifice being immers'd in restagnant mercury , and one finger being plac'd underneath , that the mercury to be poured in run not through , be filled with mercury ; and then another finger be applied to its orifice , to close it well : which being done , if you draw away your lower finger , the upper will be found to be strongly drawn and suck'd into the tube , and so stifly to adhere to it , ( or rather to the quicksilver , as i shall hereafter shew ) that it will elevate the tube it self with all the quicksilver , and make it continue to hang pendulous in the vessel . from which experiment this opinion is most clearly refuted : for , seeing according to it the quicksilver in such a tube but twenty inches long must be thrust upwards by the preponderating air ; it will never by it be explained how this finger is so drawn downwards , and made so strongly to stick to the tube . for it cannot by the air thrusting upwards be thus drawn downwards . p. 11. quod vel , &c. which is thence confirmed , because if that preponderating air succeeds , as is asserted , in the place of the lower finger which was withdrawn , that is , if it uphold the quicksilver after the same manner which it was upheld by the lower finger applied under it ; it is manifest , according to this opinion , that the finger on the top ought not to be more drawn downwards after the lower finger is removed then before . seeing then that experience teacheth the contrary , it is manifest that opinion must be false . chap. 5. p. 12. quarto , &c. in the fourth place it is impugn'd , because thence it would follow that quicksilver through a like tube might be suck'd with the same easiness out of a vessel that water is suck'd out of the same . which not withstanding is contrary to experience , by which we are taught that water is easily drawn into the mouth of him that sucks , whereas quicksilver cannot be drawn thither by his utmost endeavour , nay , scarce unto the middle of the tube . the sequel i thus manifest : because seeing , according to this opinion , that the liquor underneath , whether it be water or mercury , may so ascend , no more is requir'd but that the air shut in the tube may be drawn upwards by sucking ; which being drawn up , the liquor underneath will immediately ascend , being thrust thither by the external air now preponderating , ( as pecquet declares in his anatomical discourse , p. 63. ) it is manifest that the mercury may be suck'd out with the same easiness that water is suck'd out with . which being so evidently against experience , the opinion from whence it is deduced must needs be false . p. 14. neque hoc , &c. and not onely this , but over and above , if a glass diabetes or syringe be made of a sufficient length , and after that the sucker is thrust into the utmost orifice , it be placed according to use in the mercury underneath ; he finds that as soon as the sucker is drawn out , the mercury follows , and ascends to the same height of two feet and three inches and an half . and when afterwards , although no greater force be added , the sucker is drawn higher , he finds that the mercury stands , and follows no further , and so that space is made empty which remains between the mercury and the sucker . p. 16. maneat igitur , &c. be it therefore confirm'd by so many arguments , of which every one is sufficient in it self , that quicksilver ( the experiment being made in an open place ) is not upheld from falling by the weight of the external air. cap. 6. p. 16. argentum , &c. that quicksilver in a close place is not upheld from falling by the elater or spring of the air. ibid. cum tota , &c. seeing the whole power of this spring depends upon the already-confured aequilibrium of the air with 29. inches and an half of quicksilver , so that this spring does neither more nor less in a close place then is done by that aequilibrium in an open place ; it is manifest , seeing this aequilibrium is already shewn to be plainly fictitious and imaginary , that the spring of the air is so likewise . ibid. nec plus , &c. and that this spring doth neither more nor less in a close place , then is done by that aequilibrium in an open place . p. 17. adde , &c. adde , that seeing the experiments brought in the chapter above of the adhesion of the finger , &c. are alike in a close and an open place ; it is necessary and certain that the same arguments made against the aequilibrium have force against the spring of the air. ibid. et profecto , &c. and really if these authors would consider how great a difficulty there is in explaining this spring of the air , unles ; the same air by it self alone may take up a greater place , i believe they would readily alter their opinion . part 2. chap. 1. p. 20. constat hoc , &c. this appears from what has been already spoken in the preceding chapter : for the quicksilver descending cannot so draw the finger downwards , and fasten it unto the tube , unless it be hung upon the finger by such a cord , which by its weight it vehemently stretches , as is manifest by it self . ibid. respondeo , &c. i answer , that this comes to pass that there may be no vacuity , seeing there is nothing else there that can succeed into the place of the descending quicksilver . p. 21. and hence is confirm'd that common axiom used in the schools for so many ages past , that nature doth abhor a vacuum . ibid. nam licet , &c. for though the immediate cause why water ( for instance ) doth not descend from a gardeners watering-pot ( for that example they use ) stopt on the top , is not the fear of a vacuum , but the reason now mentioned , namely , that there is not weight sufficient to loose that conjuncture by which the water doth adhere to the top of the closed water-pot : nevertheless in the end we must of necessity come to that cause . ibid. quae quidem , &c. which traction and adhesion when it cannot proceed but from some real body placed between the finger and the mercury , it is manifest that that space is not empty , but filled with some true substance . ibid. eo quod , &c. because no visual species's could proceed either from it , or through it , unto the eye . p. 22. vera , &c. to be filled with any true substance . p. 25. huc etiam , &c. and to this purpose make those considerable vibrations with which quicksilver is stirred in its descent : for the same thing happens here that befalls other pendula in their fall from on high . p. 29. argentum dum , &c. quicksilver while it fills the whole tube doth not onely touch its top , ( as you would think at the first sight ) but doth firmly stick unto it also ; as it is manifest from the experiment mentioned in the first argument of the third chapter , concerning the tube open at both ends . ibid. licet illud , &c. though that orifice of the tube be anointed with oyle , or any other matter that will hinder adhesion , nevertheless the finger will no less firmly stick then before . ibid. partes , &c. that the parts of air it self so shut up in the tube ( which otherwise are so easily severed ) are now so firmly glued to one another , that they make ( as we see ) a strong chain , by which not onely water but even weighty quicksilver is drawn on high . ibid. rarefactionem , &c. that the rarefaction or extension of a body so as to make it take up more space is not onely made by heat , but by distension or a certain disjoyning power ; as on the contrary condensation is not onely made by cold , but also by compression , as infinite examples hear us witness . p. 30. cum per , &c. seeing by the first note 't is manifest that the quicksilver doth so stick to the top of the tube , and by the second note the rarefaction is made onely by the meer distension of the body ; it so comes to pass that the descending quicksilver leaves its external or upper superficies fixed unto the top of the tube , and by its weight doth so stretch and extenuate it , untill it becomes easier to leave another superficies in like manner , then to extend that any further . it leaves therefore a second , and doth by its descent extend that a little further , untill it becomes easier to separate a third then to extend that any further : and so forwards , untill at length it hath no power to separate or extend any more superficies , namely , untill it comes unto the heighth of 29. inches and an half ; where it acquiesces , as we have declared in the first chapter . p. 31. these surfaces seem to be separated from the quicksilver , and to be extended into a most slender string by the weight that falls down , after the same manner that in a lighted candle surfaces of like sort are separated from the wax or tallow underneath by the heat above , and are extenuated into a most subtil flame . in which it is worth observation , that as that flame doth doubtless take up more then a thousand times a greater space then the part of the wax of which the flame was made took up : so is it here to be thought , that that string doth take up a space more then a thousand times as big as that which the small particle of mercury , from whence it arose , did before take up . as also it doubtless happens when such a particle by a fire underneath is turned into a vapour . p. 37. corpore , &c. a body taking up a place , for instance , twice as big as it self ; it is of necessity that every part of it must likewise take up a place twice as big as it self . p. 42. juxta , &c. according to the more probable opinion such a virtual extension of a corporeal being is not to be granted , as being onely proper to such as are spiritual . p. 43. praestat , &c. it is better to continue in the common opinion , which hath been hitherto received in the schools : which although it doth not clearly resolve all difficulties , yet it doth not openly lye under them . ibid. necessario , &c. we must needs confess that one and the same part must be in two places adequately . for seeing it is indivisible , and takes up a greater place then before , it must of necessity be all in every point of that place , or that be virtually extended through all that space . p. 45. cum tempus , &c. seeing time is a being essentially successive , so that neither by divine power can two of its parts exist together . p. 46. respondeo , &c. i answer , that all these things happen because the gun-powder so kindled and turned into flame takes up a much greater space then before . whence it comes to pass that seeing the chamber was before quite full , by this means the walls are broken that there may be no penetration of bodies . p. 50. partim , &c. sometimes within the chappel , sometimes in the open air ; the wind sometimes blowing , and sometimes being still . p. 54. sed d'ci , &c. but it may be said , that on the top of the mountain it therefore descended after that manner , because the air was more cold there , or of some other temperature , such as might cause this descent . p. 71. hoc esse , &c. that this is the difference between pression and suction , that suction makes such an adhesion , and pression doth not . ibid. hoc quoque , &c. and even this experiment doth very well agree with our principles : for seeing by this depression of the sucker , the air shut up in the cavity of the cylinder is separated from the cylinder , and doth descend together with the sucker , ( as we have , chap. 13. observed of water descending together with quicksilver ) it comes to pass that in that whole depression new surfaces are taken from that descending air , and stretched out , as we have there explained it in the case of descending water . since therefore such sufaces are as easily slipt off and extended in the end of the depression as in the beginning ; it is no wonder that there is found the same difficulty of depressing it at both times . p. 72. eo magis , &c. that the air is so much the more extended and rarefied , by how much the more is thence exhausted , and so doth acquire a greater force of contracting it self . p. 74. at profecto , &c. but truly it seems not credible that this most soft air should so vehemently compress a glass on all sides ( especially one of that thickness there mention'd ) as to break it . ibid. verius , &c. it is therefore more truly answered , that the glass is therefore so broken , because by that exsuction its sides are more vehemently drawn inwards then ( by reason of the figure unfit for resistency ) they were able to resist . for seeing the included air doth most firmly stick to the sides of the glass , to draw out the air will be nothing else but to endeavour to bend the sides of the glass inwards . p. 75. sed profecto , &c. but truly this seems too far remov'd from truth , and may be by this alone sufficiently refuted . because if the pressure of the air which descends by that tube into the vial be so great as to break the vial it self , it ought certainly , before the breaking of the vial , very much to move the water in which the tube is immers'd , and to excite bubbles in it , &c. as appears , if any one blowing through that tube doth make but an ordinary pressure upon the water . but it is sure that the water before the vial is broken doth not move at all : as the experimenter will find . ibid. licet , &c. though the tube had been shut at the top , the vial had doubtless been broken after the same manner . p. 77. sed rectius , &c. but it is more rightly thence inferr'd , that that cylinder did nothing there before . ibid. dico , &c. i say then that the quicksilver doth by that exhaustion so descend in the tube , because it is drawn downwards by the air incumbent upon the restagnant quicksilver . for that incumbent air , being by its exhaustion greatly rarefied and extended , vehemently contracts it self , and by this contraction doth endeavour to lift the restagnant mercury out of its vessel ; whence it comes to pass that ( the restagnant mercury now less gravitating upon the bottom of its vessel ) the quicksilver in the tube must descend , as is manifest in it self : so that it is no wonder that , the external air afterwards entring , the quicksilver again ascends , seeing by that ingress the force which elevates the restagnant quicksilver is weakned . p. 78. atque hinc , &c. and hence is a reason also given of another thing which is there noted , namely , that by the violent intrusion of the external air into the receiver the quicksilver ascended considerably above 29. inches and an half . for as by the extraction of the air the quicksilver is deprest below its station , so by the intrusion of new air it is elevated above it . p. 80. nam si , &c. for if it were kept up by that , it ought rather to ascend then descend in colder weather , because the air then would be more dense and heavy . therefore the quicksilver is not upheld by the aequilibrium of air , as is asserted . ibid. hinc fit , &c. hence it comes to pass , that this funicle being contracted by the cold , the water doth ascend in cold weather ; but doth descend in hot , because by heat the funicle is dilated . p. 81. ego certè , &c. i truly do not doubt but there are some such occult causes , by which the slender eunicle that suspends ( as we mentioned in the 10. chapter ) the quicksilver in the tube is sometimes lengthned , sometimes shortned , and so doth sometimes let down , and sometimes lift up the quicksilver . ibid. in decimo nono , &c. in the 19. he shews that water doth in the same manner descend upon the exhausting the receiver , as he had shewn quicksilver in the foregoing chapter to descend . of both which seeing there is the same cause , there is no reason we should any longer insist on this . p. 82. nam si , &c. for if it were done so , these bubbles ought not so to have ascended from the bottom of the vessel , ( as it is asserted they did , both in this and the following experiments that treat of bubbles ) but from the upper part of the water , where they are less comprest ; as it is apparently manifest . p. 83. respondeo , &c. i answer that the water , upon that exhaustion of the air , doth not so ascend of its own accord , but is violently drawn or lifted upwards by that rarefied air contracting it self . for as water doth suffer some compression ( as appears by experience ) so here also it suffers some distension . and hence it is clearly manifest why these bubbles should arise rather from the bottom of the vessel , then from the upper part of the water . for when that vehement suction doth endeavour to elevate the water from the bottom of the vial , there arises there a certain subtil matter , which being turned into bubbles doth so ascend as is mentioned in the 15. chapter and the 4. experiment . p. 84. certum esse , &c. it is certain that that opinion is sufficiently refuted by this single experiment . p. 85. necesse , &c. it must needs be that that stone could not otherwise descend , then by leaving behind it such a thin substance as is left by quicksilver or water descending in like manner . p. 86. unde , &c. whence i plainly conceive that if two perfectlypolish'd marbles were so joyned that no air at all were left between them , they could not be drawn asunder by all the power of man. ibid. uti etiam , &c. which also is confirmed by the example the author there brings of a brass plate sticking so close to a marble table , that by a lusty youth , who boasted of his own strength , it could not be lifted off by a ring fixed to its centre . p. 87. eodem , &c. almost the same manner as we see in cupping-glasses applied to a patients back , in which the flame being extinct , the rarefied air contracting it self doth so vehemently ( as we see ) lift up , and draw the flesh within the glass . ibid. in his , &c. in these three there is nothing occurs to be peculiarly here explicated , the account of which is not easie from what is already delivered . p. 88. existimo , &c. but i think that whiteness should be rather called a reflex then an innate light , because , as the author bears witness , it appears not in the dark , but onely in the day , or by candle-light . ibid. verum , &c. but it seems impossible that such animals should dye so soon onely for want of a thicker air. p. 89. quia per , &c. because by the self-contraction of the rarefied air their breath is drawn out of their bodies . p. 90. atque hinc , &c. and thence also arose those vehement convulsions , which the author there mentions certain small birds to have endured before their death . p. 92. in mala , &c. in a bad cause they can do no other ; but who compell'd them to undertake a bad cause ? a summary of the contents of the several chapters . part i. wherein the adversaries objections against the elaterists are examined . chap. 1. the occasion of this writing , pag. 1. franciscus linus his civility in writing obliges the author to the like , p. 2. books concerning the torrecellian experiment wherewith the author was formerly unacquainted , ibid. the inconvenience of linus's principles , ibid. the division of the ensuing treatise into three parts . chap. 2. a repetition of the adversary's opinion and arguments . his arguments against the weight of the air examined , p. 4. an experiment of his to prove that the external air cannot keep up twenty inches of quicksilver from descending in a tube twenty inches long , ibid. the authors answer and reconciliation of the experiment to his own hypothesis , p. 5. and the relation of an experiment of the authors , wherein onely water being employed instead of quicksilver , without other alteration of the adversaries experiment , it agrees well with and confirms the authors hypothesis , and his explication of the mentioned experiments , ibid. that water hath no spring at all , or a very weak one , p. 6. the second argument examined , ibid. whether the same quantity of air can adequately fill a greater space , p. 7. the conceivableness of both hypotheses compared , ibid. chap. 3. another argument of the adversaries , from an experiment wherein the mercury sinking draws the finger into the tube , examined . q. whether the mercury placed in its own station is upheld by the external air , or suspended there by an internal cord ? p. 7 , 8. chap. 4. a repetition of franciscus linus his principal experiment , wherein in a tube of twenty inches long the finger on the top is supposed to be strongly drawn and suck'd into the tube , p. 9. the experiment explicated without the assistance of suction , by the pressure of the external air upon the outside of the finger , thrust , not suck'd in , p. 10. franciscus linus his argumentation considered , p. 11. chap. 5. the examiners last experiment considered , in which he argues against the authors hypothesis , because mercury is not suck'd out of a vessel through a tube so easily as water is , p. 12 , 13. an experiment of monsieur paschall shewing , that if the upper part of a tube could be freed from the pressure of all internal air , the mercury would by the pressure of the outward air be carried up into the tube as well as water , till it had attained a height great enough to make its weight equal to that of the atmosphere , p. 14. why in a more forcible respiration the mercurial cylinder is raised higher then in a more languid , p. 14 , 15. a remark by the bie , that the contraction of the adversaries supposed funiculus is not felt upon the lungs , p. 15. chap. 6. the examination of the adversaries 4. chapter , p. 16. that the spring of the air may have some advantage in point of force above the weight of it , p. 17. that it is unintelligible how the same air can adequately fill more space at one time then at another , p. 18. part ii. wherein the adversaries funicular hypothesis is examined . chap. 1. wherein what is alledged to prove the funiculus is considered ; and some difficulties are proposed against the hypothesis . the nature of this supposed funiculus described , p. 19. that according to the adversaries opinion this funiculus is produced by nature onely to hinder a vacuum , p. 20 , 21. the adversaries proofs that there is no vacuum examined , p. 21 , 22. that where no sensible part is un-enlightned , the place may not be full of light , p. 22. the same true in odours , ibid. that there may be matter enough to transmit the impulse of light , though betwixt the particles of that matter there should be store of vacuities intercepted , p. 23. that a solid body hath no considerable sense of pressure from fluid bodies , p. 25. of the causes of the vibrations of quicksilver in its descent , p. 26 , 27. chap. 2. wherein divers other difficulties are objected against the funicular hypothesis . as that in liquors of divers weights and natures , as water , wine and quicksilver , there should be just the same weight or strength to extend them into a funiculus , p. 27. that whereas the weight and spring of the air is inferr'd from unquestioned experiments , the account of that hypothesis is strange and unsatisfactory . as that the quicksilver doth not onely touch the top of the glass , but stick to it ; that nature wreaths a little rarefied air into a strong rope even able to draw up quicksilver , p. 28 , 29. that rarefaction is performed by a certain unknown force , or vis divulsiva , p. 30. that thin surfaces are left successively one after another , that these surfaces are contrived into strings , that may be stretch'd without being made more slender , &c. p. 31. the illustration of the manner how his funiculus is made , from the rarefaction of wax or tallow in a lighted candle , is considered , p. 32. and shewed not to be apposite , ibid. divers other difficulties and improbabilities manifested in the funicular hypothesis , p. 33. of the inward spring necessary to the contraction of his funiculus , p. 33 , 34. an argument from a pendulum's moving freely in an exhausted receiver , that the medium it moves in doth not consist of an innumerable exceedingly-stretch'd strings , p. 35. chap. 3. the aristotelean rarefaction proposed by the adversary examined . what rarefaction and condensation is , p. 36. three wayes of explicating how rarefaction is made , p. 36 , 37. absurdities in resolving the magdeburg experiment by the aristotelean way of rarefaction , p. 38. the inconveniences of the several hypotheses compared , p. 39. the difficulties in the adversaries explaining rarefaction by bodies infinitely divisible , p. 41. the difficulties of explaining it by supposing bodies made up of parts indivisible , p. 43 , 44. the difficulties wherewith his condensation is incumbred , as that it infers penetration of dimensions , &c. p. 46. chap. 4. a consideration pertinent to the present controversie , of what happens in trying the torrecellian and other experiments at the top and feet of hills . that the funicular hypothesis is but an inversion of the elastical , one supposing a spring inwards , the other outwards ; one performing its effects by pulsion , the other by traction , p. 48. that these tryals on the tops and feet of hills determine the case for the authors hypothesis , p. 49. the truth of the observation of monsieur paschall confirmed , p. 50. and the several tryals that have been made of it related , ibid. a tryal of the authors from the leads of the abbey-church at westminster , p. 51 , 52 , 53. that the subsidence of the mercury at the top of a hill proceeds from the lightness of the atmospherical cylinder there , p. 54. the relation of an experiment lately made at hallifax hill in confirmation of the former , p. 56. chap. 5. two new experiments touching the measure of the force of the spring of the air compress'd and dilated . that it is capable of doing far more then the necessity of the authors hypothesis requires , p. 57. the first experiment , of compressing air by pouring mercury into a crooked tube , related , p. 58. wherein the same air being brought to a degree of density twice as great , obtains a spring twice as strong as before , p. 59. a table of the condensation of the air according to this experiment , p. 60. particular circumstances observed in the making the experiment , p. 61. how far the spring of the air may be increased , p. 62. of the decrement of the force of dilated air , p. 63. a table of the rarefaction of the air , p. 64. particular circumstances in making the experiment whence this table was drawn , p. 65 , 66. that the free air here below appears to be near as strongly comprest by the weight of the incumbent air as it would be by the weight of a mercurial cylinder of 28. or 30. inches , p. 67. part iii. wherein what is objected against mr. boyle's explications of particular experiments is answered . the entrance into this part of the discourse , with an advertisement how far onely it will be requisite to examine the adversaries assertions and explications , the hypotheses on both sides being before considered , p. 69 , 70. a defence of the first and second experiments , concerning the intrusion of the finger into the orifice of the valve of the evacuated receiver , p. 70. a defence of the third experiment , why the sucker being drawn down there is no greater difficulty in the end then in the beginnin of the gdepression , p. 71 , 72. of the fourth experiment , touching the swelling of a bladder upon the exhaustion of the ambient air , and proportionably to that exhaustion , p. 72 , 73. the authors and the funicular hypothesis in the explication of this phaenomenon compared , ibid. of the fifth experiment , p. 73. of the eighth experiment , about the breaking of a glass-receiver which was not globular upon the exhaustion of the inward air , p. 74. whether it were more likely to be broken by the pressure of the atmosphere without , or a contraction of a string of air within , ibid. of the ninth experiment , p. 75. whether the breaking of the vial outwards in the exhausted receiver , was caused by the pressure of the atmosphere through the tube which was open to the ambient air , ibid. of the 17. experiment , p. 76 , 77 , 78 , 79. the torrecellian experiment being made within the receiver , whether the descent and ascent of the mercury in the tube , under and above its wonted station , be caused by the debilitated and strengthned spring of the air , ibid. of the 18. experiment , p. 79 , 80. whether the authors or the funicular hypothesis assign the more probable cause why a cylinder of mercury did in winter rise and fall in the tube , sometimes as water in a weather-glass according to the laws of heat and cold , and sometimes contrary thereunto , ibid. of the 19. experiment , p. 81. of the 20. experiment , p. 82 , 83. some mistakes in the adversary of the authors meaning about the spring of the water , and the places whence the bubbles arose , ibid. the hypotheses compared , ibid. of the 31. experiment , p. 84 , 85 , 86. of the cause why the marbles fell not asunder in the exhausted receiver , though a weight of four ounces were hung at the lower stone , ibid. whether the account of the author or adversary be more satisfactory , ibid. of the 32. and 33. experiments , of the re-ascent of the sucker and its carrying up a great weight with it upon the exhaustion of the receiver , p. 86 , 87. how the flesh and neighbouring bloud of a patient is thrust up into a cupping-glass , ibid. of the 37. experiment , and the cause of the appearance of light or whiteness therein , p. 87. of the 40. and 41. experiments , concerning the cause of the sudden death of animals in the exhausted receiver , p. 88 , 89. of the 42. and 43. experiments , p. 90. the conclusion , p. 91 , 92. finis . errata . page 13. line 19. lege which pressure notwithstanding , the. p. 14. l. 21. hydrargyrum , deprehendit . p. 29. l. 29. ut validissimam conficiant cat . p. 31. l. 27. quendam funiculum per. p 58. l. 2. alamp . p. 69. l. 9. physico-mechanical . p. 70. l. 19. boylianis . p. 72. l. 17. removal : our . p. 74. l. 29. quam ut ( ob figuram illam resistendo minus idoneam ) resistere potuerint . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28956-e400 about the history of flame , of heat , of colours , of the origine of qualities and forms , &c. notes for div a28956-e1140 pag. 20. pag. 16. pag. 17. pag. 15. pag. 12. pag. 14. pag. 8. gass . phys . sect. 1. lib. 2. pag. 204. de nupero inanis experimento . pag. 19. pag. 19. 20. pag. 20. pag. 21. pag. 21. pag. 11. pag. 24. pag. 48. pag. 22. pag. 25. pag. 38. pag. 38. pag. 40. pag. 40 , 41. pag. 41. pag. 43 , 44. pag. 42. pag. 160. pag. 169. pag. 163. chap. 5. pag. 175● . pag. 159. pag. 66. pag 68. pag. 50. † mr. croon one of the learned professors of gresham colledge . * dr. hen. power . see the second figure . * probably these or the like words , did manifest pressure , are here omitted , for the mountaine-aire there seems to have acted rather by its weight then elasticity . page 11. see the 5. figure . see part 2. c 5. sed contra manifestè . see also in the 43. experim . these passages , — and this effervescence was so great in the upper part of the water , &c. as also , — the effervescence was confin'd to the upper part of the water , unless , &c. see more concerning this objection in the answer to it as 't is propos'd by mr. hobbes . an essay of the great effects of even languid and unheeded motion whereunto is annexed an experimental discourse of some little observed causes of the insalubrity and salubrity of the air and its effects / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1685 approx. 297 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 158 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28961 wing b3949 estc r36503 15713696 ocm 15713696 104480 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28961) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 104480) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1179:4) an essay of the great effects of even languid and unheeded motion whereunto is annexed an experimental discourse of some little observed causes of the insalubrity and salubrity of the air and its effects / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 288 p. in various pagings. printed by m. flesher for richard davis ..., london : 1685. "an experimental discourse of some unheeded causes of the insalubrity and salubrity of the air" has special t.p. and separate paging. reproduction of original in the british library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng medical climatology -early works to 1800. air. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-06 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2006-06 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion an essay of the great effects of even languid and unheeded motion . whereunto is annexed an experimental discourse of some little observed causes of the insalubrity and salubrity of the air and its effects . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by m. flesher , for richard davis , bookseller in oxford . 1685. advertisement of the publisher . t is thought fit the reader should be inform'd , that the insuing tract ( about the effects of languid motions ) was design'd to be a part of the authour's notes about the origine of occult qualities , and should have come abroad together with the papers about the effluvia of bodies ( most of which are already publish'd . ) and accordingly it was printed seven or eight years ago : which circumstance is here mention'd , to give a reason why several particulars were omitted in the body of the discourse , that will be found annex'd to the end of it . for these occurring to the authour whilst he cursorily read over the tract it self , when it was upon the point to be made publick , 't was thought fit rather to subjoin them by way of a short appendix , than to let any thing be lost that seem'd pertinent to so difficult and uncultivated a subject , as that they belong to . the reader is farther to be advertis'd , that of the three preliminary discourses , which the authour intended for introductory ones to what he design'd to say more particularly about the mechanical origine or production of occult qualities , one was concerning the relations betwixt the pores of bodies and the figures of corpuscles : but that the great intrieacy and difficulty he found in this copious subject , made him consent , that the discourse of local motion , which should have accompany'd it to the press , should be printed long before it . and those papers about pores and figures having been for a great while out of the authour's power , he now to gratify the stationer with something that may in their stead make up the formerly printed essay a book of a convenient bulk , has put into his hands what now comes forth , about some unheeded causes of the healthfulness and insalubrity of the air : which being chiefly attributed to subterraneal steams , subtile and for the most part invisible , are as near of kin to the other effluviums treated of in the introductory discourse , as is requisite to keep the mention that is made of them in this book , from appearing very incongruous . an essay of the great effects of even languid and vnheeded local motion . chap. i. how superficially soever the local motion of bodies is wont to be treated of by the schools , who admit of divers other motions , and ascribe almost all strange things in physicks to substantial forms and real qualities ; yet it will become us , who endeavour to resolve the phaenomena of nature into matter and local motion , ( guided , at the beginning of things , immediately , and since regulated , according to settled laws , by the great and wise author of the universe , ) to take a heedfull notice of its kinds and operations , as the true causes of many abstruse effects . and though the industry of divers late mathematicians and philosophers have been very laudably and happily exercised on the nature and general laws of this motion ; yet i look upon the subject in its full extent to be of such importance , and so comprehensive , that it can never be too much cultivated , and that it comprises some parts that are yet scarce cultivated at all . and therefore i am not sorry to find my self obliged , by the design of these notes , ( written , as you know , to facilitate the explicating of occult qualities ) to endeavour to improve some neglected corners of this vast field , and to consider , whether , besides those effects of local motion which are more conspicuous , as being produced by the manifest striking of one body against another , where the bulk , &c. of the agent , together with its celerity , have the chief interest ; there may not be divers effects , wont to be attributed to occult qualities , that yet are really produced by faint or unheeded local motions of bodies against one another , and that oftentimes at a distance . but , before i enter upon particulars , this i must premise in general , ( which i have elsewhere had occasion to note to other purposes , ) that we are not to look upon the bodies we are conversant with , as so many lumps of matter , that differ onely in bulk and shape , or that act upon one another merely by their own distinct and particular powers ; but rather as bodies of peculiar and differing internal textures , as well as external figures : on the account of which structures , many of them must be considered as a kind of engines , that are both so framed and so placed among other bodies , that sometimes agents , otherwise invalid , may have notable operations upon them , because those operations being furthered by the mechanism of the body wrought on , and the relation which other bodies and physisical causes have to it , a great part of the effect is due , not precisely to the external agent , that 't is wont to be ascribed to , but in great measure to the action of one part of the body it self ( that is wrought on ) upon another , and assisted by the concurring action of the neighbouring bodies , and perhaps of some of the more catholick agents of nature . this notion or consideration being in other papers particularly confirmed , i shall not now insist upon it , trusting that you will not forget it , when there shall be occasion to apply it in the following notes . there may be more accounts than we have yet thought of , upon which local motions may perform considerable things , either without being much heeded , or without seeming other then faint , at least in relation to the considerableness of the effects produced by them . and therefore i would not be understood in an exclusive sense , when in the following discourse i take notice but of a few of the above-mentioned accounts ; these seeming sufficient , whereto , as to heads , may be conveniently enough referred the instances i allot to this tract . and concerning each of these accounts , i hold it requisite to intimate in this place , that i mention it onely , as that whereon such effects of local motion , as i refer to it , do principally depend : for , otherwise , i am so far from denying , that i assert , that in divers cases there are more causes than one , or perhaps than two of those here treated of apart , that may notably concur to phaenomena directly referred to but one or other of them . to come then closer to our subject ; i shall take notice , that among the severall things , upon whose account men are wont to overlook or undervalue the efficacy of local motions , that are either unheeded or thought languid , the chief , or at least those that seem to me fittest to be treated of in this paper , are those that are referable to the following observations . chap. ii. observat . i. men are not usually aware of the great efficacy of celerity , even in small bodies , and especially if they move but through a small space . what a rapid motion may enable a body to doe , may be judged by the powerfull and destructive effects of bullets shot out of cannons , in comparison of the battering engines of the ancients , which , though i know not how many times bigger then the bullets of whole cannon , were not able to batter down walls and towers like bullets , whose bulk compared with theirs is inconsiderable . other examples of a like nature might be without impertinency alledged on this occasion ; but , because the latter part of our proposition contains that which i chiefly aim at , i shall proceed to instances fit to prove that . i have sometimes caused a skilfull turner to turn for me an oblong piece of iron or steel , and placing my naked hand at a convenient distance to receive the little fragments , perhaps for the most part lesser then small pins heads , as they flew off from the rod , they were , as i expected , so intensely heated by the quick action of the tool upon them , that they seemed almost like so many sparks of fire ; so that i could not endure to continue my hand there . and i remember , that once asking an expert workman , whether he ( as i had sometimes done ) did not find a troublesome heat in the little fragments of brass that were thrown off when that metall was turning ? he told me , that heat was sometimes very offensive to his eyes and eye-lids . and when i asked , whether it was not rather as dust cast into them , than from their heat ; he replied , that besides the stroke , he could sensibly feel a troublesome heat , which would make even his eye-lids sore : and that sometimes , when he employed a rough tool , that took off somewhat greater chips , he had found the heat so vehement , that not onely 't would scorch his tender eye-lids , but the thick and hard skin of his hands : for proof whereof he shewed me in one of his hands a little blister , that had been so raised , and was not yet quite gone off . and inquiring about these matters of a famous artist , imployed about the finishing up of cast ordnance , he confess'd to me , that , when with a strong as well as peculiar engine he and his associates turned great guns very swiftly , to bring the surface to a competent smoothness , the tools would sometimes throw off bits of metal of a considerable bigness , which , by reason of their bulk and their rapid motion , would be so heated as to burn the fingers of the country-people that came to gaze on his work , when he , for merriment sake , desired them to take up some of those pieces of metall from the ground . which i thought the more remarkable , because by the contact and coldness of the ground i could not but suppose their heat to have been much allayed . not to mention , that i learnt from an experienced artificer , that in turning of brass the little fragments of that metall acquire an intenser heat than those of iron . i remember also , that , to vary the experiment mentioned just before this last , by making it with a bodie far less solid and heavy than brass or iron , i caused an artificer to turn very nimbly a piece of ordinary wood , and holding my hand not far off , the powder , that flew about upon the operation , struck my hand in many places with that briskness , that i could but uneasily endure the heat which they produced where they hit . which heat whether it were communicated from the little , but much heated , fragments to my hands , or produced there by the brisk percussion on my hand , or were the joint effect of both those causes ; it will however be a good instance of the power of celerity even in very small bodies , and that move but a very little way . 't is considerable to our present purpose , that by an almost momentany percussion , and that made with no great force , the parts , even of a vegetable , may be not onely intensely heated , but brought to an actuall ignition ; as we have severall times tried , by striking a good cane ( of that sort which is fit for such experiments ) with a steel , or even with the back of a knife . for , upon this collision , it would send forth sparks of fire like a flint . to the same purpose may be alledged , that , by but dextrously scraping good loaf-sugar with a knife , there will be made so brisk an agitation of the parts , that store of sparks will be produced . but that is more considerable , which happens upon the collision of a flint and a steel : for , though vitrification be by chymists esteemed the ultimate action of the fire , and though , to turn sand or stones , though very finely poudered , into glass , 't is usually required that it be kept for divers hours in the intense fire of a glass-house ; and though , lastly , the glass-men complain , that they cannot bring flints or sand to fusion without the help of a good proportion of borillia or some other fixed salt : yet both actuall ignition and vitrification are brought to pass almost in a moment by the bare vehemence of that motion that is excited in the parts of a flint when it is struck with a steel : for those sparks that then fly out , ( as an ingenious person has observed , and as i have often seen with a good microscope , ) are usually real and permanent parcels ( for the most part globulous ) ofstone vitrified and ignited by the vehemence of the motion . and that this vitrification may be of the stone itself , though steel be a metal of a far more fusible nature then a flint , i am induced to think , because i have tried , that not only flints with steel , but flints with flints , and more easily pieces of rock crystal between themselves , will by collision strike fire . and the like effect of collision i have found my self in some precious stones , harder than crystall . and afterwards inquiring of an ingenious artificer that cuts diamonds , whether he had not observed the like , when diamonds were grated on by the rapid motion of his mill ? he replied , that he observed diamonds to strike fire almost like flints ; which afterwards was confirmed to me by another experienced cutter of gems ; and yet having made divers trials on diamonds with fire , he would not allow that fire itself can bring them to fusion . nor are fluid bodies , though but of small dimensions , to be altogether excluded from the power of making considerable impressions on solid bodies , if their celerity be great . whether the sun-beams consist , according to the atomical doctrine , of very minute corpuscles , that , continually issuing out of the body of the sun , swiftly thrust on one another in physically-straight lines ; or whether , as the cartesians would have it , those beams be made by the brisk action of the luminary upon the contiguous fluid , and propagated every way in straight lines through some ethereal matter harboured in the pores of the air ; it will be agreeable to either hypothesis , that the sun-beams , refracted or reflected by a burning-glass to a focus , do there , by their concourse , compose a small portion of fluid matter ; and yet the celerity , wherewith the soft and yielding substance is agitated , enables so few of them as can be circumscribed by a circle , not a quarter of an inch in diameter , to set afire green wood in lesse than a minute , and ( perhaps in as little time as that ) to melt not onely tinn and lead thinly beaten , but , as i have tried , foliated silver and gold. the operation of small portions of fluid matter on solid bodies will be farther exemplified in the iv. chapter , by the effects of the blown flame of a lamp on glass and metalls ; so that i shall here need but to point in general at the wonderfull effects that lightning has produced , as well by the celerity of its motion , as by the matter whereof it consists . of which effects , histories and the writings of meteorologists afford good store ; and i have been an admiring observer of some of them , one of the last of which was the melting of metal by the flame in its passage , which probably lasted but the twinckling of an eye . and even a small parcel of air , if put into a sufficiently-brisk motion , may communicate a considerable motion to a solid body ; whereof a notable instance ( which depends chiefly upon the celerity of the springy corpuscles of the air ) is afforded by the violent motion communicated to a bullet shot out of a good wind-gun . for , when this instrument is well charged , the strongly-comprest air being set at liberty , and forcibly endeavouring to expand it self to its wonted laxity , its corpuscles give a multitude of impulses to the bullet , all the while that it continues moving along the barrel , and by this means put it into so rapid a motion , that i found by trial , the bullet would in a moment be flatted , almost into the figure of a hemisphere , by being shot off against a metalline plate . and farther to shew , how swift that motion must have been , and with what celerity a vehement agitation may be communicated to the parts of a solid body , i shall add here ( though the phaenomenon might be referred to the v. chapter , ) that , though the contact of the bullet and the metalline plate lasted probably but a physical moment ; yet the minute parts of the bullet were put into so various and brisk an agitation , that making hast to take it up before it should cool , i found it too hot to be with overmuch ease held between my fingers . chap. iii. observat . ii. we are too apt to think , that fluid bodies , because of their softness , cannot have by their bare motion , especially if insensible , any sensible effect upon solid ones ; though the fluid moves and acts as an intire body . 't is not my purpose here to insist on the efficacy of the motion of such fluid bodies as may have their motions discovered by the eye , like streaming water ; or manifestly perceived by the touch , as are the winds that beat upon us : since 't were needless to give instances of such obvious things , as the great effects of overflowing waters and violent winds ; the later of which , notwithstanding the great tenuity and softness of the air and the effluvia that swim in it , have been sometimes able to blow down not onely timber-trees , but houses and steeples , and other the firmest structures . but the motions i intend to speak of in this chapter are such , as we do not immediately either see or feel ; and though these be exceeding rare , yet the operation of sounds , even upon solid bodies , and that at a distance from the sonorous ones , afford me some instances to my present purpose , which i shall now proceed to mention . it has been frequently observed , that , upon the discharge of ordnance and other great guns , not onely the sound may be distinctly heard a great way off ; but that , to a good distance , the tremulous motion of the air that produces sound , without producing any sensible wind , has been able sensibly to shake , and sometimes violently to break , the glass-windows of houses and other buildings , especially when the windows stand in the way wherein the propagation of the sound is directly made . 't is true , that these observations are most frequent , when the place , where the artillery is placed , stands upon the same piece of ground with the houses whose windows are shaken ; and so it may be suspected , that the shake is first communicated by the cannon to the earth or floor on which they play , and is afterwards by that propagated through the intermediate parts of the ground to the foundations of the houses , and so to the windows . and i readily grant , and may elsewhere shew , that a violent impulse upon the ground may reach to a greater distance than men usually imagine : but in our present case i see no necessity of having recourse to any thing but the wave-like motion of the air for the production of our phaenomenon , since the like may be produced by local motion transmitted by fluids , as may appear by the following instances . i was once invited by an engineer , to see triall made of a strange instrument he had to sink ships , though great ones , in a few minutes ; and though an unlucky accident kept me from arriving there 'till near a quarter of an hour after the triall had been made on an old fregat , with better successe than my philanthropy allowed me to wish ; yet causing my self to be rowed to the place , where the great vessell was newly sunk , the odness of the effect , which was performed upon the water by a small instrument outwardly applied , made me inquisitive , what noise and commotion had been made : and i was informed partly by the engineer himself , and partly by some acquaintances of mine , who among a great number of spectators stood aloof off in ships and other vessels lying at anchor , to see the event ; that , upon the engine 's operating , the explosion was so great , that it made a kind of storm in the water round about , and did so rudely shake vessels that lay at no inconsiderable distance , as to make those that stood on them to stagger . in the late great sea-fight between the english fleet commanded by his royal highness the duke of york , and the dutch admiral opdam , ( who therein lost the victory and his life , ) though the engagement were made very many leagues from the hague , yet the noise of the guns not onely reached to that place , but had a notable effect there ; of which when i enquired of the english embassadour that as yet resided there , he was pleased to assure me , that it shook the windows of his house so violently , that not knowing what the cause was , he was surprized and much allarmed , apprehending , that some rude fellows were about to break his windows to affront him . and if there be a greater disposition in some other bodies than there is in glass-windows to receive strong impulses from the air agitated by sounds , these may be sensibly , though not visibly , wrought upon , and that at a good distance , by the noise of a single piece of ordnance ; as may appear by that memorable circumstance of an odd case about a gangrene mentioned by the experienced simon pauli in his ingenious tract de febribus malignis , pag. 71. atqui aeger ille gallus brachio truncatus , octiduum quidem superfuit , sed horrendis totius corporis convulsionibus correptus ; qui quoque , ( ut & illa addam observatione dignissima , ) dum in domini sui aedibus ad plateam kiodmoggerianam , romanè laniorum appellares , decumberet , ac , me ac aliis aliquandiu ad lectum illius considentibus quidem , sed nobis non attendentibus , exploderentur tormenta bellica ex regiis ac praetoriis navibus , sinistrâ truncum dextri brachii fovens ac complectens , toties quoties exploderentur singula exclamabat , au , au , me miserum ! jesu , maria , contundor penitús : adeò permolesta & intolerabilis illi erat tormentorum explosio , & quidem ex loco satis longinquo , terrâ non firmâ aut contiguâ , verùm super salo aut mari balthico , instituta . by this it appears , that the guns , whose discharge produced these painfull motions in the patient , rested upon a floating body . and i remember , that an illustrious commander of a very great man of war , being asked by me , whether of the many wounded men , he had in his ship in a very long sea-fight , none of them were affected by that noise of the enemy's cannon discharged in ships at a distance ? he answered me , that some , whose bones were broken , would sadly complain of the torment they were put into by the shake they felt at the going off of the enemy's cannon , though they were too much accustomed to the report of great guns , to be , as 't was a bare noise , offended by it . if after all this ti be surmized , that these motions were not conveyed by the air , but propagated by the water , ( and , in some cases , some part of the shoar ) from the ships , where the guns were fired , to the houses where the windows were shaken , or the places where the wounded men lay : i answer that , if this could be made probable , it would accommodate me with very eminent instances for the chapter of the propagable nature of motion : and though it be very difficult to find such examples of shakes excited by sounds as are not liable to the mentioned objection ; because the sonorous bodies here below do all either strike , or lean , upon such gross and visible bodies as the earth and water ; yet there is one kind of sound , that must be confessed to be propagated by the air , as being made in it ; and that is thunder , whose noise does sometimes so vehemently affect the air , though without producing any sensible wind , that both others and i have observed it very sensibly to shake great and strong houses , notwithstanding the distance of the clouds where the noises were first produced . and i remember , that , having inquired of some sea-captains , that in stout vessels sailed to the indies , whether they had nor in those hot regions observed their ships , though very much less tall then houses , to be shaken by vehement thunders ? i perceived , that some of them had not much heeded any such thing ; but a couple of others told me , they had observed it in their ships ; and one of them told me , that once , when the claps of thunder were extraordinary great , some of them shook his ship so rudely as to make the unwonted motions disorder his great guns . all which i the less wonder at , when calling to mind , what i have mention'd in the foregoing chapter and elsewhere of the power of the celerity of motion , i consider , that there is no celerity that we know of here below , that is near so great , as that wherewith a sound is propagated through the air . for , whereas the diligent mersennus observes , that a bullet shot out of a cannon or a musket does not overpass two hundred and forty yards in a second , or sixtieth part of a minute ; i have more than once diligently observed , that the motion of sound passes above four hundred yards in the same time of a second here in england ; which i therefore add , because mersennus relates , that in france he observed a sound to move in that time many yards more ; which may possibly proceed from the differing consistence of the english air and the french. the great loudness of these sounds , and the vehement percussion that the air receives in their formation , will probably make it be easily granted , that 't was onely the impetuosity of the motion of the medium , that gave the shake to the windows and other solid bodies that i have been mentioning to have been made to tremble by the report of cannon or thunder : but yet i will not on this occasion conceal , that perhaps it may without absurdity be suspected , that some of those tremulous motions of solid bodies might either depend upon , or at least be promoted by , some peculiar disposition , that glasse ( which is endued with springiness , ) and some other bodies that perhaps are not quite devoid of that quality , may have to be moved by certain congruous sounds ( if i may so call them ) more than they would by others , though perchance more loud . but though this surmize should be admitted ; yet it would not render the lately-recited instances improper for the design of this discourse , but onely would make some of them fit to be referred to another chapter ; to which i shall advance , as soon as i shall have annexed an odd observation of the experienced platerus , which argues , that , where there is a peculiar disposition , even in a firm body , it may receive considerable impressions from so languid a motion ( though in likelihood not peculiarly modified ) of the air as is not sensible to other bodies of the same kind . foemina quaedam ( says he ) in subitaneum incidit morbum , viribus subitò prostratis , se suffocari indesinenter clamitans , etsi neo stertoris nec tussis aliqua essent indicia ; maximè verò de aura quadam adveniente , si vel leviter aliquis adstantium se moveret , quae illam opprimeret , conquerebatur , séque suffocari , si quis propiùs accederet , clamitabat : vixdum biduum in ea anxietate perseverans , expiravit . to which he adds : vidi & alios aegros , de simili aura , quae eos , si quis illis appropinquaret , in suffocationis periculum induceret , conquerentes ; quod semper pessimum esse signum deprehendi . chap. iv. observat . iii. men undervalue the motions of bodies too small to be visible or sensible , notwithstanding their numerousness , which inables them to act in swarms . most men , when they think at all of the effluvia of bodies and their motions , are wont to think of them as if they were but much finer sorts of dust , ( whose grains , by reason of their smalness , are invisible , ) which , by the various agitation of the air , are as 't were by some faint wind blown against the surfaces of the bodies they chance to meet in their way , and that they are stopped in their progress without penetrating into the interior parts of the bodies they invade . and according to this notion , 't is no wonder , that men should not fancy , that such minute bodies passing , as they suppose , no further than the surfaces of those on which they operate , should have but faint operations upon them . but we may have other thoughts , if we well consider , that the corpuscles we speak of , are , by their minuteness , assisted , and oftentimes by their figure inabled , to pierce into the innermost recesses of the body they invade , and distribute themselves to all , or at least to multitudes of the minute parts , whereof that body consists . for this being granted , though we suppose each single effluvium or particle to be very minute ; yet , since we may suppose , even solid bodies to be made up of particles that are so too , and the number of invading particles to be not much inferior to that of the invaded ones , or at least to be exceedingly great , it need not seem incredible , that a multitude of little corpuscles in motion ( whose motion , may , for ought we know , be very swift ) should be able to have a considerable operation upon particles either quiescent , or that have a motion too slow to be perceptible by sense . which may perhaps be the better conceived by the help of this gross example : if you turn an ant-hill well stocked with ants-eggs , upside down , you may sometimes see such a heap of eggs mingled with the loose earth , as a few of those insects , if they were yoaked together , would not be able at once to draw after them ; but if good numbers of them disperse themselves and range up and down , and each lay hold of her own egge , and hurry it away , 't is somewhat surprizing to see ( as i have with pleasure done ) how quickly the heap of eggs will be displaced , when almost every little egge has one of those little insects to deal with it . and in those cases , wherein the invading fluid does not quite disjoin and carry off any great number of the parts of the body it invades , its operation may be illustrated by that of the wind upon a tree in autumn : for , it finds or makes it self multitudes of passages , for the most part crooked , not onely between the branches and twigs , but the leaves and fruits , and in its passing from the one side to the other of the tree , it does not onely variously bend the more flexible boughs and twigs , and perhaps make them grate upon one another , but it breaks off some of the stalks of the fruit , and makes them fall to the ground , and withall carries off divers of the leaves , that grew the least firmly on , and in its passage does by its differing parts act upon a multitude of leaves all at once , and variously alters their situation . but to come to closer instances : suppose we cast two lumps , the one of sugar , the other of amber , into a glass of beer or water , they will both fall presently to the bottom . and though perhaps the amber may be lighter than the sugar , ( for , i have found a notable difference in the specific gravity of pieces of amber , ) yet the aqueous particles are far from being able to displace the amber or any sensible part of it , or exercise any visible operation upon it : but the same minute particles of the liquor being of a figure that fits them to insinuate themselves every way into the pores of the sugar , though the lump consisted of very numerous saccharine corpuscles , yet the multitude of the aqueous particles , to which they are accessible , is able in no long time to disperse them all , and carrying them along with themselves , make the whole lump of sugar in a short time quite disappear . the point above discoursed of , may be more nimbly exemplified in some chymical operations , and particularly in this . if , by a due degree of fire , you abstract from running mercury four or five times its weight of good oil of vitriol , there will remain at the bottom a dry and brittle substance exceeding white ; and , if upon this heap of mercurial and saline bodies , which sometimes may be coherent enough , you pour a good quantity of limpid water , and shake them together , you may see in a trice the multitude of little white grains , that make up the masse , pervaded , and manifestly altered , by the dispersed corpuscles of the water ; as will plainly appear by the change of the calx or precipitate from a white masse into one of a fine limon-colour . but to give instances in fluid bodies , ( which i suppose you will think far the more difficult part of my task , ) though you will easily grant , that the flame of spirit of wine , that will burn all away is but a visible aggregate of such e●●luvia swiftly agitated , as without ●●y sensible heat would of themselves invisibly exhale away ; yet , if you be pleased to hold the blade of a knife , or a thin plate of copper , but for a very few minutes , in the flame of pure spirit of wine , you will quickly be able to discern by the great heat , that is , the various and vehement agitation of the minute corpuscles of the metal , what a number of them must have been fiercely agitated by the pervasion of the igneous particles , if we suppose , ( what is highly probable , ) that they did materially penetrate into the innermost parts of the metall ; and whether we suppose this or no , it will , by our experiment , appear , that so fluid and yielding a body , as the flame of spirit of wine , is able , almost in a trice , to act very powerfully upon the hardest metalls . the power of extreamly-minute parts of a fluid body , even when but in a moderate number they are determined to conspire to the same operation , may be estimated by the motions of animals , especially of the larger and more bulky sorts , as horses , bulls , rhinocerots and elephants . for , though the animal spirits be minute enough to be invisible , and to flow through such tender passages , that prying anatomists have not been able in dissected nerves to discern so much as the channels through which they pass ; yet those invisible spirits , conveyed ( or impelled ) from the brain to the nerves , serve to move in various manners the lims , and even the unwieldy bodies themselves of the greatest animals , and to carry them on in a progressive motion for many hours together , and perhaps enable them to spring into the air , and move through it by leaping ; though divers of these animals weigh many hundred , and others several thousand of pounds . i will not here consider , whether the following experiment may at all illustrate motions that are produced by the fluid parts of animals in some of the consistent ones : but i presume , it may confirm the observation maintained in this chapter , if i add , what i have tried of the considerable force of a number of aqueous particles , as flexible and as languid as they are thought to be , insinuating themselves into the pores or intervals of a rope that was not thick . for in moist weather i sometimes observed , that the aqueous and other humid particles , swimming in the air , entering the pores of the hemp in great numbers , were able to make it shrink , though a weight of fifty , sixty , or even more pounds of lead were tied at the end to hinder its contraction , as appeared by the weights visibly being raised in wet weather above the place it rested at in dry . but to return to what i was formerly speaking of the determination of the motion of fluids ; i shall , on this occasion , observe , that , though the wind or breath , that is blown out at a small crooked pipe of metal or glass , such as tradesmen for its use call a blow-pipe , seems not to have any great celerity , especially in comparison of that of the parts of flame ; and is it self of little force ; yet , when by this wind the flame of a lamp or candle is directed so as to beat with its point upon a body held at a convenient distance from the side of the flame , the burning fluid , determined , and perhaps excited by this wind , acquires so great a force , that , as we have often tried , it may be made , in a few minutes , to melt not onely the more fusible metals , but silver , or even copper it self ; which yet may be kept for many hours unmelted in a crucible kept red-hot , or even in the flame of the lamp or candle , unassisted by the blast . and if we can so contrive it , that a flame does not come to invade onely the surface that invests a body , but comes to be intermingled with the smaller ( though not the smallest ) parts it consists of , as with its filings or its powder ; the flame will then have a far more quick and powerfull operation than the body exposed to it . this i exemplify ( in other papers ) and in this place it may suffice to observe , that , whereas a pound or two of tartar may cost you some hours to calcine it to whiteness , if the flame have immediate access onely to the outward parts ; you may calcine it in a very small part of that time , if , mixing with its gross powder an equal weight of good salt-peter , you fire the mixture , and keep it stirring , that the parts of the kindled nitre may have access at once to very many parts of the tartar , and have opportunity to calcine them . and by somewhat a like artifice , i elsewhere teach , how nitre it self may without tartar be speedily reduced to a calcinatum , not unlike that newly mentioned . but it may be said , that some of the foregoing instances ( for it cannot be truly said of all ) may indeed illustrate what we are discoursing of , but will not reach home to our purpose . i shall therefore consider the load-stone , which you acknowledge to act by the emission of insensible particles . for , though iron and steel be solid and ponderous bodies , and magnetical effluvia be corpuscles so very minute , that they readily get in at the pores of all kind of bodies , and even of glass it self ; yet these magnetical effluvia , entring the steel in swarms , do in a trice pervade it , and a multitude even of them , acting upon the corpuscles of the metal , do operate so violently on them , that , if the load-stone be vigorous enough , and well capped , it will attract a notable proportion of steel , and surmount the gravity of that solid metal , which i have found to exceed , when the stone has been very good and little , above fifty times the weight of the magnet by whose effluvia it was supported : for , to these i rather ascribe magnetical attraction and sustentation , than to the impulse or pressure of the ambient air , to which many corpuscularians have recourse ; because i have found by trial ( which i elsewhere relate ) that the pressure of the ambient air is not absolutely necessary to magnetical operations . i remember , that , to help some friends to conceive , how such extreamly-minute particles as magnetical effluvia , may , by pervading a hard and solid body , such as iron , put its insensible corpuscles into motion , and thereby range them in a new manner , i took filings of steel or iron freshly made , that the magnetical virtue might not be diminished by any rust , and having laid them in a little heap upon a piece of paper held level , i applied to the lower side of the paper , just beneath the heap , the pole of a vigorous load-stone , whose emissions traversing the paper , and diffusing themselves through the incumbent metall , did in a trice manifestly alter the appearance of the heap ; and , though each of the filings might probably contain a multitude of such small martiall corpuscles as steel may be divided into by oil of vitriol or spirit of salt ; yet the magnetical effluvia , immediately pervading our metalline heap , did so remove a good part of the filings that composed it , as to produce many erected aggregates , each of which consisted of several filings placed one above another , and appearing like little needles , or rather like the ends of needles broken off at some distance from the point . and as these little temporary needles stood all of them erected ( though more or less , according to their distance from the pole of the magnet ) upon the flat paper ; so they would , without losing their figure or connexion , be made as it were to run to and fro upon the paper , according as the load-stone , that was held underneath it , was moved this way and that way ; and as soon as that was taken quite away , all this little stand of pikes ( if i may so call it ) would ( almost in the twinkling of an eye ) relapse into a confused heap of filings . there are two ways of explicating the turning of water into ice ; one or other of which is approved almost by all the corpuscularian philosophers . the first is that of the cartesians , who give an account of glaciation by the recesse of the less subtile particles of the etherial matter , without which the finer parts were too small and feeble to keep the eel-like particles of water flexible , and in the form of a liquour . the atomists on the other side ascribe the freezing of water to the ingress of multitudes of frigorifick corpuscles , as they call them , which , entering the water in swarms , and dispersing themselves through it , crowd into the pores , and hinder the wonted motion of its parts , wedging themselves ( if i may so speak ) together with them into a compact body . but which soever of these two hypotheses be pitched upon , the phaenomenon it self will afford me a notable instance to my present purpose . for , the particles of water , and much more the corpuscles of cold , are confessed to be singly too small to be visible , and their motions are not said to be swift , but may rather be judged to be slow enough ; and yet those minute aqueous , or more minute frigorifick particles , because of their number , produce in the glaciation of the liquour so forcible a motion outwards , as to make it break bottles , not onely of glass and earth strongly baked , but , as i have several times tried , of metal it self , that being full of the liquour were firmly stopped before the supervening of the cold. and the expansive endeavour of freezing water is not onely capable of doing this , but of performing so much greater things , which i elsewhere relate , that my trials have made me sometimes doubt , whether we know any thing in nature , except kindled gunpowder , that bulk for bulk moves more forcibly , though the motion seems to be very slow . chap. v. ( of the propagable nature of motion . ) observat . iv. men are not sufficiently aware , how propagable local motion is , even through differing mediums , and solid bodies . there are four principal occasions on which i have observed , that men are wont to think the communicating of motion much more difficult than indeed it is . and first , there are many , that observing how usually those bodies that hit against hard ones rebound from them , easily perswade themselves , that motion can scarce be transmitted or diffused through solid bodies . but though it be true , that oftentimes in such cases the progressive motion of the body or the solid , that is struck or impelled , be either inconsiderable , or , perhaps , not so much as sensible ; yet the impulse may make a considerable impression , and may be communicated to a great share of the particles of that matter , whereof the solid mass consists ; as we see in the striking of a timber-beam at one end , the motion , though perhaps it were not strong at the first , may become sensible at the other . though bell-metal be so hard a body , that it is reckoned harder than iron it-self , insomuch that oftentimes it resists even files of steel , which readily work on iron ; yet this solidity hinders not but that , as i have found , conveniently shaped vessels of bell-metal , though thick , will be sensibly affected by a motion that neither is strong , nor touches them in more than a short line , or perhaps than a physical point . the truth of this i have found by trial on more than one such vessels and particularly on one that was hemisphaerical , which being placed or held in a convenient posture , if i did but gently pass the point of a pin for a little way along the brim of it , it would sensibly resound , and that ( to a very attentive ear ) so long , and in such a ringing manner , as made it highly probable , that the parts , immediately touched ( and not so much as scratched ) by the point of a pin , were not onely put into a vibrating motion themselves , but were enabled to communicate it to those that were next them , and they to those that were contiguous to them ; and so the tremulous motion was propagated quite round the bell , and made divers successive circulations before it quite ceased to be audible . and if , in stead of drawing a line on the brim of the vessel , i struck it , though but faintly , with the point of a pin , though the part immediately touched would be but a physical point , yet the motion would be , like the former , propagated several times quite round ; as was argued by the ringing and duration of the produced sound , though this metalline vessel were seven inches in diameter , and of a considerable thickness . nor was a solidity like that of brass requisite to produce these effects . for i found them to insue much after the same manner , when i employed onely a short and slender thread of glass , which though little , if at all , thicker than a pin , was yet hollow quite through . now if it be true , as 't is highly probable , that sound , as it belongs to the air , consists in an undulating motion of the air , and so in our case requires a vibrating motion in the sonorous body to impart that motion to the air ; we must grant in our instances a wonderfull propagableness of motion , even when 't is not violent , in solid bodies themselves ; since the point of a pin , gently striking a part , no bigger than it self , of a mass of very solid metal , could thereby communicate a sensible motion , and that several times circulated , to millions of parts equall to it in bulk , and much exceeding it in hardness . and since the effect was more considerable , when the trial was made in a much greater , than in a smaller vessel ; 't is probable , that , if i had had the opportunity of experimenting on a large and well-hung bell , the phaenomenon would have been more notable ; as it also seemed to be on our vessel , if , in stead of striking it with the point of a pin , we cast , though but faintly , against the lower part of it a grain of shot , less than a small pins-head , or let a little grain fall , from about one foot high , upon the inside of the inverted hemisphere . and to shew , that even soft and yielding bodies , and but faintly moved , are not to be excluded from a power of putting such hard ones into motion ; i shall add , that i found almost the like effects to those above mentioned , by passing the pulp of my finger a little way along the lower part of the vessel . nay , that fluid bodies themselves may communicate such an intestine and propagable motion , to harden solid ones , i may have hereafter an occasion to shew by the effects of a small flame , and the sun-beams on glass and steel . and i shall here on this occasion add this word about the propagation of motion produced in solid bodies by heat , that it much depends upon the particular textures of the bodies . for i found , that when i heated a piece of glass or of a fire-stone , i could without inconvenience hold my naked hand upon parts that were very near ( suppose within an inch off ) the ignited portions of them . but , if we take a rod of iron , for instance , and heat one end red-hot , the heat of that end will be so propagated towards the other , that it will offend one's hand at several times the distance , at which one might conveniently hold the rod , if it were of glass . in many buildings it may be observed , ( and is thought a sign of the firm cohesion of their parts , ) that a stamp of one's foot , nay or bare treading , or some such other lesse brisk impulse , made in one room , will have a sensible effect in all or most of the others . and it often happens , that , by the hasty shutting of a door , the whole house is made to tremble ; whence we may argue , that , even among solid bodies , motion made in one place may be readily propagated to many others : and if , as to the latter of the instances , the sudden impulse and compression of the air , made by the door supposed to be hastily shut , have any considerable share in the effect , the phaenomenon will serve to shew the efficacy even of such a motion of a fluid body , as we cannot directly feel upon divers large and firmly connected solid bodies . in earthquakes the tremulous motion sometimes extends so very far , that , though it seems highly probable , that the shake that is given to one part of the earth by the firing and explosion of subterraneal exhalations , ( if that be the true and onely cause of earthquakes ) is not capable of reaching near so far as divers earthquakes have done , but that the fire passes through some little subterraneal clefts , or channels , or hidden conveyances , from one great cavity or mine to another ; yet 't is not improbable but that the vehemently tremulous motion does oftentimes reach a very great way beyond the places where the explosions were made . since , though seneca would confine the extent of earthquakes to two hundred miles , yet observations made in this and the last century warrant us to allow them a far greater spread . the learned josephus acosta affirms , that in the kingdom of peru in the year 1586 an earthquake reached along the shoar of the pacifick sea 160 leagues ; and adds , that sometimes it has in those parts run on from south to north 300 leagues . and in the beginning of this our age ( anno dom. 1601 ) good writers relate a much larger earthquake to have happened , since it reached from asia to that sea that washes the french shoars , and , besides some asiatick regions , shook hungary , germany , italy and france , and consequently a great part of europe . and if that part of the narrative be certain , which relates , that this lasted not much above a quarter of an hour , it will be the more likely , that this earthquake shook great tracts of land beyond those places , to which the fired matter , passing from one cavity to another , could reach in so short a time : as you will the more easily guesse , if you try , as i have done , that in trains of gunpowder it self the fire does not run on near so swiftly as one would imagine . but though i have been in more earthquakes then one ; yet , since they were too sudden and too short to afford me any considerable observation , i shall say no more of them ; but proceed to take notice , that oftentimes the motion of a coach or cart , that passed at a good distance from the place that i was in , has made the buildings so sensibly shake , that i could not but wonder , that so great a portion of so firm and sluggish a body , as the earth , could , by a cause that seemed very disproportionate to such an effect , be made to tremble it self , and manifestly to shake firm buildings that were founded on it . and this observation made me the more inclinable to give credit to their relations , who tell us , that in a calm night , the march of a troup of horse may be felt , by attentive scouts watching at a great distance off , by the shake that the ground receives from the trampling of the horses ; though i formerly suspected much , and do yet a little , that the impulse of the air conveyed along the resisting surface of the ground , might mainly contribute to the effect that is ascribed onely to the motion of the soil . before i advance to the second member of this chapter , it may not be impertinent to note , that in peculiarly disposed bodies , and especially in organical ones , a very languid motion may have a far greater effect , than it could produce by a bare propagation of it self . for it may so determine the motion of the spirits or other active parts of the body it works on , as to make multitudes of them act as if they conspired to perform the same motions . as when a ticklish man , by having the pulp of one's finger passed gently along the sole of his foot or the palm of his hand , has divers muscles and other parts of his body and face put into preternatural or unusual motions . and most men by being lightly tickled with the end of a feather or straw , within their nostrils , have their heads and many parts of their bodies put into that violent commotion , wherein sneezing consists . and i remember , that having for some time been , by a distemper , ( from which god was graciously pleased a while after to free me , ) quite deprived of the use of my hands ; it more than once hapned to me , that sitting alone in a coach , if the wind chanced to blow a single hair upon my face in the summer-time , the tickling or itching , that it produced , was so uneasy to me , 'till by calling out to a footman i could get it removed , that , though i could well bear it as long as i was wont to do , when , having the use of my hands , i could relieve my self at pleasure ; yet if i were forced to endure the itching too long , before any came to succour me , the uneasiness was so great , as to make me apprehend falling presently either into convulsions or a swoon . but 't is time to proceed to the second member of this chapter . 2. others there are , that cannot believe , that local motion , especially if it be languid , can be propagated through differing mediums , each of which , save that wherein the motion is begun , must , they think , either repell , or check and dead it . to these i shall recommend the consideration of an experiment , i remember i made before some learned men in our pneumatick engine . for , having caused a large and thick glass receiver to be so blown , that it had a glass button in the inside of that part which upon the engine was to be placed upwards ; i caused a watch to be suspended by a little silverchain fastned to that button by as slender and soft a body , as i thought would be strong enough to support my watch ; and then , the glass being cemented on close to the receiver , to prevent a commerce between the cavity of it and the air , the watch , that hung freely near the middle of the cavity of the receiver , made it self to be heard by those attentive listners , that would hold their ears directly over the suspended watch , whose motions were thereby argued to have been propagated , either through the included air , or along the string to the concave part of the glass , and through the whole thickness of the glass to the convex part , and thence , through the interposed air to the ear. and this mention of watches minds me of what i often observed in a small striking watch , that i have worn in my pocket . for , when it struck the hours , and in some postures when the balance did but move , i could plainly feel the brisker motions of the bell , and sensibly the languid ones of the balance , through the several linings of my breeches , and some other interposed soft and yielding bodies ; and this , though the watch ( as i said ) was small , and the balance included in a double case , and though the outwardmost were of ( what they call ) chagrine , and the innermost of gold ; which i therefore mention , because that closest of metals is observed more to dead sounds and motions than harder metals , as silver , copper , and iron . that motion may be propagated through differing mediums , may seem the more probable by the shakings that are often felt by men lying on beds that stand in rooms close shut , when loud claps of thunder are produced ( perhaps at a great distance off ) in the clouds . and whether it will be fit to add to this instance that which you have lately met with in the iii. chapter of a wounded frenchman at copenhagen , i leave you to consider . i know not whether it will be very proper to take notice on this occasion of an odd phaenomenon recited by the experienced agricola in these words . si animal dejicitur in antrum viburgense , quod est in carelia , regione scandiae , erumpit , ut perhibent , sonus intolerabilis magno cum flatu : si leve pondus in specum dalmatiae , quamvis , inquit plinius , tranquillo die , turbini similis emicat procella . 3. as those of whom i took notice at the beginning of this chapter , are backward to allow , that motion may be considerably propagated through solid bodies ; so on the contrary , there are others that are indisposed to think , that 't is near so propagable as indeed it is through fluid bodies ; because they presume , that the easy cession of the parts of fluids will dead the impulse received by those of them that are first acted on by the impelling body . and 4. there is yet another sort of naturalists , who , though they may be brought to grant , that motion may by propagated even through a soft and yielding medium , cannot believe , that it should through such a medium be propagated to any considerable distance ; being perhaps induced to this opinion by observing , that , though a body somewhat broad as well as solid , as the palm of one's hand or a battledore , be moved through the air swiftly enough to make a wind ; yet that wind will not be strong enough to be felt any more than a very little way off . wherefore , because the instances , to which i assign the remaining part of this chapter , may be for the most part applicable to the removal of both these prejudices ; it may for brevity sake be expedient to consider them both together . if luminous bodies act on our eyes , not by a substantial diffusion of extreamly minute particles , as the atomists would have it , but by a propagated pulsion of some subtile matter contiguous to the shining body , ( as the cartesians and many other philosophers maintain ; ) 't will be manifest , that a body less than a small pin's head may give a brisk motion to a portion of fluid matter many millions of times greater than it self ; since in a dark night a single spark of fire may be seen in differing places , whose distance from it exceeds many thousand times the spark's diameter . not to mention the great remove , at which the flame of a small taper may not onely be seen , but appear greater than near at hand . and if we compare the diameter of that bright planet venus , which yet shines but with a borrowed and reflected light , with its distance from the earth , we may easily conclude , that the fixed stars , which probably are so many suns that shine by their own native light , must impell a stupendious proportion of etherial matter , to be able at that immense distance to make such vivid impressions , as they do , upon our eyes . but to descend to instances less remote and disputable , i shall , in order to the removal of the two lately mentioned prejudices , proceed to consider ; that , though it be true , that fluid bodies do easily yield to solid ones that impell them , and thereby oftentimes quickly dead the motion of those solids ; yet the motion , being lost onely in regard of the solid body , is not lost , but transmitted and diffused in reference to the fluid . as when a log of wood , or any such body specifically lighter than water , is let fall in the middle of a pond , though its progress downwards be checkt , and it be brought to rest quietly on the surface of the water ; yet its motion is not lost , but communicated to the parts of the water it first strikes against , and by those to others , 'till at length the curls or waves produced on the surface of the water spread themselves , till they arrive at the brinks , and would perhaps be farther expanded , if these did not hinder their progress . from which instance we may learn , that , though the nature of fluid bodies , as such , requires , that their parts be actually distinct and separately moved ; yet the particular corpuscles that compose them , being ( at least here below ) touched by divers others , the new motion that is produced in some of them by an impellent solid , must needs make them impell the contiguous corpuscles , and these those that chance to lie next to them , and so the impulse may be propagated to a distance ; which you will the more easily believe may be great , if you consider with me , both that in a fluid body the corpuscles , being already in the various motion requisite to fluidity , yield more easily to the impellent , and also that being fully , or very near it , counterpoised by others of the same fluid , a scarce imaginably little force may suffice to impell them ; insomuch that , though the brass scale of a balance , of divers inches in diameter , may well be supposed to outweigh many myriads of such particles as compose water , wine , &c. yet , ( as i elsewhere more fully relate ) when such a scale was duly counterpoised with another like it , i could easily put it into various motions onely with the invisible effluvia of no great piece of amber . and if we consider that obvious instance of the swelling circles made by casting a stone into a pond or other stagnant water , we shall be the more easily perswaded , that , even in a heavy fluid , a motion may reach a far greater way , than men are usually aware of , beyond the parts on which it was first imprest . on this occasion i must not omit a strange observation given me by a very experienced navigator , that much frequents the coast of groenland , and other arctick regions , to fish for whales . for this person being discoursed with by me about the effects of the breaking of those vast piles of ice , that are to be met with in those parts , assured me , that not onely he had often heard the ice make in breaking terribler noise than the loudest claps of thunder with us , but that sometimes , when the sea-water had , as it were , undermined the foundation of the mountainous piece of ice , he has known it at length suddenly fall into the subjacent sea with so much violence as to make a storm at a great distance off ; insomuch that once , when he lay two leagues off of the place where this stupendious mass of ice fell , it made the waves goe so high as to wash clear over the stern of the ship , with danger enough to some of his men , and to sink several of his shallops that were riding by , though scarce any small vessels in the world use to be so fitted for rough seas as those about groenland . and whereas , though the air be a much thinner fluid , we are apt to think it indisposed to propagate motion far , give me leave to tell you , that we may take wrong measures , if we think , that , ( for instance ) the undulating motion , into which the air is put by the action of sonorous bodies , reaches but a little way , as we are apt to presume it does , because we judge of it by the effect it has on our ears when the sound is made in disadvantageous places . for one , that , for instance , hears a lute or a viol plaid on in a room furnished with hangings , will be apt to think the sound faint and languid in comparison of what it would appear to him , if the same instrument were plaid on after the same manner in an arched room without hangings ; these soft and yielding bodies being apt to dead the sound , which the figure and hardness of the vaulted room would reflect . and so , when a man speaks aloud in the free air , we are not wont to take any notice of a progress made by the motion of the air beyond the place we are in , when our ears receive the sound ; but if the place happen to be furnished with an echo , though at many times that distance from the speaker , we may then easily take notice , that the motion of the air was carried on , and that with good vigour , to a far greater distance than else we should have observed . and i have often thought , that , even by the better sort of our echoing places , we are not informed , to near how great a sphere the motion , which the air is put into by sounds , may extend it self , where its diffusion and vigour are not hindred nor weakned by bodies either placed too near , or indisposed to promote its operation . what has been lately said of the great diffusion of sounds , if themselves be loud and great , will appear highly probable , by what is related by the learned fromundus , who being professour of philosophy at lovain , in the year 1627 , had opportunity enough to know the truth of what he relates ; namely that , at the famous siege of ostend in flanders , the thunder of the great ordnance was heard at above thirty dutch leagues , which , according to the vulgar reckoning , amounts to a hundred and twenty of our english miles . and that is yet , as he truly observes , more strange , and makes more for our present purpose , which he adds concerning the diffusion of the sound of a drum , which , he says , was , upon a time , heard at sea twelve leagues off . but to return to what i was saying of echo's , to confirm my conjecture about them , i shall think it needlesse to offer you any other argument , than that which you will draw your self from the notable relation i met with in the learned varenius of an observation made by david fraelichius , who , in the company of a couple of students , had the curiosity ( in the month of june ) to visit the mountain carpathus , esteemed the highest of all the hungarian hills , and said to be much more steep and difficulty accessible than any of the alps themselves . fraelichius then ( in my authour ) having related with what difficulty he and his companions ascended above that region of the air , where they met with clouds and vehement winds , adds this memorable observation , for whose sake i mention the story : explosi ( saies he ) in ea summitate sclopetum , quod non majorem sonitum primò prae se tulit , quàm si tigillum vel bacillum confregissem ; post intervallum autem temporis murmur prolixum invaluit , inferiorésque montis partes , convalles , & sylvas opplevit . descendendo per nives annosas intra convalles , cùm iterum sclopetum exonerarem , major & horribilior fragor quàm ex tormento capacissimo inde exoriebatur : hinc verebar , nè totus mons concussus mecum corrueret ; duravitque hic sonus per semiquadrantem horae , usque dum abstrusissimas cavernas penetrasset , ad quas aer undique multiplicatus resiliit . et talia quidem objecta concava in summitate se non illico offerebant , idcirco ferè insensibiliter primùm sonus repercutiebatur , donec descendendo antris & convallibus vicinior factus , ad eas fortiùs impegit . chap. vi. observat . v. men usually think not what the modification of the invisible motion of fluids may perform on the disposed bodies of animals . in this observation i expresly mention the disposed bodies of animals , to intimate , that there is a peculiar aptitude required in those animals , or some particular parts of them that are to be sensibly affected by such motions as we are treating of , which would otherwise be too languid to have any sensible operation on them . it seems the less strange to me , that continuing sounds , and other somewhat durable impulses of the air or other fluids , should have a manifest operation upon solid bodies , when i consider the multitude of strokes that may in a very short and perhaps scarce observable time , be supposed to be given by the parts of the fluid to the consistent body . for , though each of these single would perhaps be too languid to have any sensible effect at all ; it being opportunely and frequently repeated by the successive parts of the fluid , as by so many little swimming hammers or flying bullets , they may well have a notable effect upon the parts of a body exposed to their action : as may be argued from the great swing that may be given to pendulums by a very languid force , if it successively strike the swinging body , when having finished its excursion , 't is ready to return towards the perpendicular ; as also from the tremulous motion that is imparted even to the metalline string of a musical instrument , by the congruous motion the air is put into by another trembling string , ( as there may be hereafter occasion to declare . ) i remember , scaliger tells a pleasant story of a knight of gascony , whom the sound of a bagpipe would force presently to make water ; adding , that a person disobliged by this man , and resolving to be merrily revenged on him , watched a time when he sate at a feast so as he could not well get out , and brought a bagpiper to play unawares behind him ; which he did so unluckily , that the musick had presently its wonted effect upon the poor knight , to his great confusion and the laughter of the company . on which occasion i shall add , that i know a very ingenious gentleman , who has confessed to me , that the noise of a running tap is wont to have almost the like operation upon him. 't is a common observation , that the noise that an ungreased cart-wheel makes in grating against the axel-tree , and the scraping of a knife upon a plate of silver or pewter , and some other such brisk and acute sounds , do so affect divers parts of the head , as to produce that effect that is commonly called setting the teeth on edge ; which whether it proceed from any commerce between the auditory nerves , and those that are inservient to the motion we have mentioned , i leave anatomists to consider . but these effects of acute sounds are much less considerable than that which i elsewhere relate of an ingenious domestick of mine , who several times complained , that the tearing of brown paper made his gums bleed : which argued that the sound had an operation not onely upon the nervous and membranous parts , but the bloud and humours themselves . sir henry blunt , in his voiage to the levant , giving an account of what he observed in egypt , has , among other remarkable things , this passage : many rarities of living creatures i saw in gran cairo , but the most ingenious was a nest of four-legged serpents of two foot long , black and ugly , kept by a frenchman , who when he came to handle them , they would not endure him , but ran and hid in their hole ; then would he take his cittern and play upon it : they , hearing his musick , came all crawling to his feet , and began to climbe up him , till he gave over playing , then away they ran . this recalls to my mind , what some men of repute , and particularly the learned kircherus , relate concerning a great fish , in or about the streights that sever sicily from italy , which is said to be much affected with a peculiar kind of tune , ( harsh enough to humane ears ) by which the mariners are wont to allure it to follow their vessels . and it may much strengthen the conclusion maintained in this chapter , if there be any certainty in the famous tradition , that the lion is terrified and made to run away by the crowing of a cock : i say , if , because though i doubt not but some peculiar kinds of sounds , as well as of other sensible objects , may be particularly and exceedingly ungratefull to the sensories of this or that peculiar kind of animals , and consequently to the ears of lions ; yet a late french traveller into the levant gives me cause much to question the matter of fact , affirming , that rowing along the brink of tigris or euphrates , ( for i do not punctually remember which , ) they were , for many hours in the night , terrified by lions that attended them along the brink of the river , and would not at all be frighted by the frequent crowing of the cocks that chanced to be in the passengers boat. of which unconcernedness of the lions , our observing traveller took much more notice than the lions appeared to do of the crowing of the cocks . i might on this occasion say something of the received tradition , that many sleeping persons will be more easily waked by being called upon by their own usual names , than by other names , though uttered with a louder voice . but this it may suffice to have mentioned ; nor will i here insist on that more certain example of the operation of a sound , which is afforded by the starting of men or greater animals , upon a surprizing , though not vehement , noise ; though this oftentimes puts so many of the spirits and muscles into motion , that the whole bulk of the animal is suddenly raised from the ground , which perhaps it could not be by the bare counterpoise of some hundreds of pounds : this , i say , i will not in this place insist on , because the phaenomenon seems to depend rather upon the loudness or acuteness of the sound , than upon any determinate modification of it , particularly relating to the animal it self . but the eminentest instance of the efficacy of peculiarly modified sounds upon disposed bodies , is afforded by what happens to those which are bit by a tarantula . for though the bitten person will calmly hear divers other tunes , yet when a peculiarly congruous one comes to be plaid , it will set him a dancing with so much vigour as the spectators cannot but wonder at , and the dancing will sometimes continue many hours , if the musick do so , and not otherwise . i know there are some that question the truth of the things related of these tarantati , ( as the italians call them , ) and i easily grant , that some fictions may have been suffered to pass under the countenance of so strange a truth . but besides the affirmations of some learned men , ( as well physicians as others ) my doubts have been much removed by the accounts i have received from an ingenious acquaintance of mine own , who at tarentum it self , whence the insect takes its name , and elsewhere , saw many bitten persons in their dances , some in publick and some in private places , and amongst the rest a physician , on whom the tune that fitted his distemper had the same operation as on the other patients . and the learned epiphanius ferdinandus , who practised physick in apulia and calabria for many years , not onely delivers upon his own personal observation , several narratives of the effects of musick upon the tarantati , but invites any that may doubt of the truth of such narratives to repair to him at a fit season , undertaking to convince them by ocular demonstration . i know a very honest and sober musician , who has divers times affirmed to me , that he could at pleasure , by playing a certain tune , ( which he acquainted me with , and which did not much move others ) make a person ( whom he named to me ) weep , whether she would or no. and i might add , that when i have been taking physick , or am any thing feverish , the repetition of two verses of lucan seldom fails ( as i have often tried ) of producing in me a chilness , almost like that , but fainter , that begins the fit of an ague . but on this instance i look not as a strong proof of the physical efficacy of sounds ; because those two verses having been emphatically read , when divers years agoe i lay sick of a slow fever , and could not rest , they made so strong an impression on me , that whenever i am under a discomposure any thing near like that , that then troubled me , those verses revive , as 't were , in my brain and some other parts that disposition , or rather indisposition , with which my first hearing of those verses was accompanied . it may be the less admired , that the vibrating motion of the air , that produces sounds , should have such effects upon disposed organical bodies , since light it self , which either consists of briskly moving effluvia far more subtile than aerial corpuscles , or is propagated by the pulse of a far more subtile body than air , may have a notable operation upon disposed bodies . for we commonly observe , that the sun-beams , by beating upon the face or eyes of some that come suddenly out of a shaded place into the light , presently make them sneeze ; which you know is not done without a vehement motion of divers parts of the body . and though colour be but a modification of light ; yet , besides that 't was anciently a practice , as the history of the macchabees informs us , to shew red objects to elephants , to make them more fierce , 't is a familiar observation , that red cloaths do offend and irritate turky-cocks . and that is more remarkable , which is related by the very learned physician valesius , of a person that he knew , who , if he looked upon red objects , would not onely have his eyes offended , but was subject to an effusion of humours in the neighboring parts . chap. vii . observat . vi. men suspect not what efficacy the invisible motions of fluids may have , even upon inorganical bodies , upon the score of some determinate congruity or relation betwixt a peculiar texture of the one , and the peculiar modification of the others motion . though the experiments delivered in the foregoing chapter have , i presume , sufficiently manifested , that the modification given to the motions of the air by sonorous bodies may have considerable effects upon animals , in whose organized bodies the curiously contrived parts have an admirable connexion with , and relation to , one another , and to the whole symmetrical fabrick they make up ; yet , i fear , it will scarce seem credible , that sonorous motions of the air , not very loud , should find , even in bodies inanimate and inorganicall , such congruous textures and other dispositions to admit their action , that even more languid sounds , peculiarly modified , may sensibly operate upon them , and much more than sounds that are louder and more vehement , but not so happily modified . to make this good by particular experiments , i shall begin with that , which , though the effect may seem inferiour to that of most of the others , i judge fittest to manifest , that the produced motion depends upon the determinate modification of that of the impellent fluid . that a certain impulse of air , made by one of the unison-strings of a musical instrument , may suffice to produce a visible motion in another , is now become a known experiment ; of the cause and some unobserved phaenomena of which i elsewhere more fully discourse . but , that it may not be suspected in this case , that the shake of the untouched string is communicated to it by the propagated motion of the instrument it self , to which the string , that is struck , is also fastned ; i shall add , that , according to what i elsewhere relate , i found by trial purposely made , that a string of wire , ( which you will grant to be a more solid body than an ordinary gut-string , ) may be without another string brought to tremble by a determinate sound made at a distance , which produced but such an impulse of the air , as could neither be seen nor felt by the by-standers , nor would communicate any sensible motion to the neighbouring strings . 't is true , that in this case the string , in which the trembling was produced , was a single , long , slender and springy body , fastned at both ends to a stable one ; and therefore it may seem altogether groundless to expect , that any thing like this effect should be by the same cause produced in bodies that do not appear so qualified . but , as we elsewhere shew , that a certain degree or measure of tension is in order to this phaenomenon the principal qualification , without which all the other would be unavailable ; perhaps 't will not be absurd to enquire , whether , in bodies of a very differing appearance from strings , the various textures , connexions , and complications , that nature or art , or both , may make of the parts , may not bring them to a state equivalent to the tensions of the strings of musical instruments , whereby divers of the mentioned parts may be stretched in the manner requisite to dispose them to receive a vibrating motion from some peculiar sounds : and whether these trembling parts may not be numerous enough to affect their neighbours , and make , in the body they belong to , a tremulous motion discernible , though not by the eye , yet by some other sense . this conjecture or inquiry you will , i hope , have the less unfavourable thoughts of , when you shall have considered the following experiments . i remember , that many years agoe i found by trial , that , if a somewhat large and almost hemispherical glasse , though not very thin , were conveniently placed , a determinate sound , made at a convenient distance from the concave surface of the glasse , would make it sensibly ring , as a bell does a while after it has been struck . but this noise was the effect of a determinate sound ; for , though the voice were raised to a higher tone , or if the sound were made louder , the same effect would not insue . i remember also , th●● , some years after , i observed , that large empty drinking-glasses of fine white metal had each of them its determinate tension , or some disposition that was equivalent as to our purpose . for , causing the strings of a musical instrument to be variously screwed up , and let down , and briskly struck , we found , as i expected , that the motion of one string , when 't was stretched to a certain note or tone , would make one of the glasses ring , and not the other ; nor would the sound of the same string , tuned to another note , sensibly affect the first glasse , though perhaps it might have its operation upon another . and this circumstance is not , on this occasion , to be omitted , that , after we had found the tone proper to one of the glasses , and so tuned the string , that , ( i say ) when that was struck , the glasse would resound . having afterwards broken off a part of the foot of the glass , yet not so much but that it continued to stand upright , the same sound of the string would no longer be answered by the vessel , but we were obliged to alter the tension of the string , to produce the former effect . the learned kircherus , as i have been informed , somewhere mentions a correspondence between some liquours and some determinate sounds ; which i suppose may be true , though the triall did not succeed with me , perhaps for want of such accommodations for so nice an experiment as i could have wished , but could not procure : but if you can , you will oblige me to make the trials so as to satisfie your self and me , whether the agitation of the liquour be caused immediately by the motion of the air , or be communicated by the intervention of the tremblings of the vessel . an artist famous for his skill in making organs , answered me , that , at some stops of the organs , some seats in the church would tremble . but , because i suspected by his relation , that the greatness of the sound chiefly effected it , because , when that pipe , which they call the open diapason , sounds , the chair or seat , on which the organist sits , and perhaps the neighbouring part of the organ trembles ; i shall add , that i have divers times observed certain sounds of an excellent organ to make not onely the seat , i sate on in the church , tremble under me , but produce an odd tremulous motion in the upper part of my hat , that i could plainly feel with my hands . and that , which makes me apt to believe that this effect depends upon the determinate tone , rather than upon the loudness of the sound , is , that i have oftentimes felt , and diligently observed such a kind of motion in the upper part of my hat , upon the pronouncing of some words in ordinary discourse ; in which case the effect could not with probability be referred to the greatness of the sound , but its peculiar fitness to communicate such a motion to a body so disposed . nor is it onely in such small and yielding bodies , as hats and strings , that sounds that are not boisterous may produce sensible effects , for , if they be congruous to the texture of the body they are to work on , they may excite motions in it , though it be either solid or very bulky : of which i shall here subjoyn a couple of instances . an ancient musician affirmed to me , that , playing on a base-viol in the chamber of one of his scholars , when he came to strike a certain note on a particular string , he heard an odd kind of jarring noise , which he thought at first had either been casual , or proceeded from some fault in the string ; but , having afterwards frequent occasion to play in that same room , he plainly found , that the noise , he marvelled at , was made by the tremulous motion of a casement of a window , which would be made to tremble by a determinate sound of a particular string , and not by other notes , whether higher or lower . to this first instance i shall add the second , which , i confesse , i was not forward to believe , till trial had convinced me of the truth ; and i scrupled it the rather , because , if the reflexion of determinate sounds should appear to proceed from the peculiar kind of tremulous motion into which the parts of the resonant body are put , it may incline men to so great a paradox , as to think , that such a motion of the air as our bodies do not feel , may produce a trembling in so solid a body as a stone-wall of a great thickness . the experiment or observation it self i shall give you in the same words i set it down some hours after i made it , which were these . yesterday i went to satisfy my self of the truth of what had been told me by an ancient musician , to whom i had been relating what i had observed of the effects of some determinate sounds even upon solid bodies , and of whom i enquired , if he had met with any thing of the like nature : taking him along with me , i found , that though the place be but an arch , yet it would not answer to all notes indifferently , when we stood in a certain place , but to a determinate note , ( which he afterwards told me was ce fa ut a little flatted , ) to which note it answered very resonantly , and not sensibly to others , which we made trial of , whether higher or lower than it ; and , ( which added to the strangeness , ) when i made him raise his voice to an eighth , as consonant as those two sounds are wont to be in all other cases , the vaulted arch did not appear to us affected with the note . the musician added , that he had tried in most arches all about the city , and could not find such a peculiarity in them , as being to be made resonant by all notes or sounds indifferently that were strong enough ; and also , that as this arch for this hundred years has been observed to have this property , so an ancient and experienced builder informed him , that any vault that were exquisitely built , would peculiarly answer to some determinate note or other . chap. viii . observat . vii . men look upon divers bodies as having their parts in a state of absolute rest , when indeed they are in a forced state , as of tension , compression , &c. this observation will probably seem paradoxicall . for , when an intire body , especially if it be of a solid consistence , and seem to be of an homogeneous or uniform matter , appears to be movelesse , we are wont to take it for granted , that the parts , which that body is made up of , are perfectly at rest also . but yet this will scarce be thought a reasonable supposition , if we do but rightly consider some obvious phaenomena , which may teach us , that , whilst a whole body , or the superficies that includes it , retains its figure , dimensions and distance from other stable bodies that are near it , the corpuscles that compose it may have various and brisk motions and endeavours among themselves . as , when a bar of iron or silver , having been well hammered , is newly taken off of the anvill ; though the eye can discern no motion in it , yet the touch will readily perceive it to be very hot , and , if you spit upon it , the brisk agitation of the insensible parts will become visible in that which they will produce in the liquour . besides , when the lath of a cross-bow stands bent , though a man do neither by the eye nor the touch perceive any motion in the springy parts , yet if the string be cut or broken , the sudden and vehement motion of the lath , tending to restore it to the figure it had before it was bent , discovers a springiness ; whence we conclude it was before in a state of violent compression . and , though the string of a bent bow do likewise appear to be in a state of rest ; yet , if you cut it asunder , the newly made extreams will fly from one another suddenly and forcibly enough to manifest , that they were before in a violent state of tension . and on this occasion i could add divers instances taken not onely from the works of art , but those of nature too , if they did not belong to another paper : but , one sort of observations 't will be proper to set down in this place ; because in those already mentioned , the bow and string were brought into a violent state by the meer and immediate force of man. i shall therefore add , that there are divers bodies , in which , though no such kind of force appears to have antecedently acted on them , we may yet take notice of a state of violent compression or extension , and a strong endeavour or tendency of the parts , that to the eye or the touch seem at rest , to shrink or to fly out ; and this endeavour may in some cases be more lasting and more forcible than one would easily suspect or believe . but examples of this kind you must not expect that i should give you out of classick authours , since in them 't is like you have not met with either an instance or a conjecture to this purpose ; but some few things that i tried my self , and some others that i learnt by inquiry from some tradesmen , whom i judged likeliest to inform me , i shall briefly acquaint you with . i have sometimes observed my self , and have had the observation confirmed to me by the ingeniouser traders in glass ; that a glass , that seemed to have been well baked , or nealed , ( as they call it ) would sometimes , many days or weeks , or perhaps months , after it is taken from the fire , crack of its own accord ; which seems for the most part to happen upon the score of the strong , but unequall , shrinking of the parts of the glasse . and the glass-men will tell you , that , if they take their glasses too hastily from the fire , not allowing them leisure to cool by degrees , they will be very apt to crack . but i remember , that , to satisfy some ingenious men , i devised a way of exhibiting a much more quick and remarkable phaenomenon of that kind . having made then , by a way i elsewhere teach , a flat lump of metalline glass , two or three or four times as thick as an ordinary drinking-glass , i observed , as i expected , that , though it had been melted in a very gentle fire , it s very fusible nature needing no other , and though it were removed but very little from the fire , it was so disposed to shrink upon a small degree of refrigeration , or rather abatement of heat , that , before it was sensibly cold , it would crack with a noise in so vehement a manner , that , notwithstanding the ponderousness of the matter ; which had been purposely laid upon a levell , parts of a considerable bulk , weighing perhaps some drams , would fly , to a not inconsiderable distance from one another . and this experiment i took pleasure to make more than once . and if you will be content with an instance which , though otherwise much inferiour , may not be unwelcome , for its being easily and readily made ; i shall offer you one that i have often repeated . take a piece of copper , ( if the plate be thick , 't is so much the better , ) and , having throughly brought it to a red or white heat among kindled coals , take it from the fire , and when it begins to cool a little , hold it over a sheet or two of white paper , and you will perceive good store of flakes to fly off , not without some little noise , one after the other , and sometimes perhaps as far as the farthermost edges of the paper ; which flakes or scales seem by their brittleness and colour , to be but parts of the surface of the metal vitrified by the vehement action of the fire , and afterwards by a too hasty refrigeration shrinking so violently , as to crack and leap from one another , like the contiguous parts of the string of a viol or other musical instrument , that breaks by the moisture of the air. and on this occasion i shall add , that , having afterwards inquired of an expert artificer , that made metalline concaves , about the shrinking of his mixtures of metalls , he confessed to me , that he usually observed them to shrink upon refrigeration . and the like i my self have observed in iron of a great thickness , and purposely fitted to a hollow body of metall , which it would not enter when it was ignited , though it would when 't was cold . but to shew you by a notable instance or two , both that metals may shrink , and that they may doe so with a very considerable force , i shall add , that i found by inquiry , that the lately mentioned artificer , after he had made some large concaves of an unfit mixture of metals , and having removed them from the fire , had been very carefull to keep the cold air from them , lest they should cool too hastily , observed yet to his great loss , that , when they came to be further refrigerated , they would ( perhaps after three hours ) crack with a great noise , though this metalline mixture were perchance harder than iron , and three or four times as thick as common looking-glasses . but the misfortune of another tradesman afforded me a yet more considerable phaenomenon . for this excellent artificer , whom i often employ , and with whom i was a while since discoursing of these matters , complain'd to me , that , having lately cast a kind of bell-metall upon a very strong solid instrument of iron of a considerable superficial area , though the metal were suffer'd in a warm room to cool , from about eight a clock on saturday night till about ten or twelve on monday morning , and were then ( which is to be noted ) considerably hot to the touch ; yet it cool'd so far , that , shrinking from the iron that would not shrink with it , the bell-metall cracked in divers places with noises loud as the report of a pistoll , though the metall , he affirm'd to me , was an inch and half , or two inches thick . and the same person shewed me a large cylinder of iron , about which , for a certain purpose , a coat of bell-metall had been cast some days before , on which ( bell-metall ) there was a crack near one end made by the coldness of the iron , though the thickness of the bell-metall , as near as i could measure it , exceeded an inch , and ( as the workman affirmed ) an inch and a quarter . nor is it onely in such mixtures as bell-metall , which , though very hard , may be very brittle , but even in a metal that is malleable when cold , that the like phaenomenon may be met with , as i have been assured by another ingenious artificer , of whom i inquired , whether he had taken notice of the shrinking of metalls ; who affirm'd to me , that , having had occasion to cast about a cylinder of iron a ring or hoop of brass , he found to his trouble , that , when the metall began to cool , the parts shrunk from one another so as to leave a gaping crack , which he was fain to fill up with soulder quite crosse the breadth of the ring , though this were above an inch thick . i should not , pyrophilus , have in this chapter entertained you with more experiments of others than of my own , if i had the conveniency of living near founders of metalls , as the tradesmen had whose observations i have rectied , and whose sincerity in them i had no cause to question . and both their experiments and mine seem to teach , that a body may be brought into a state of tension , as well by being expanded and stretch'd by the action of the fire upon the minute parts , as by the action of an external agent upon the intire body . and , to speak more generally , the state of violent contraction and compression may not unfitly be illustrated by a bow that is bent . for , as the bow it self is brought to a state of compression by the force of the archer , that bent it ; so by the elastical force of the bent bow , the string is brought into a violent state of tension , as may be made evident by the cutting off the string in the middle ; for then both the bow will fly suddenly outwards , and the parts of the string will swiftly and violently shrink from one another . and according to this doctrine , the effect of other bodies upon such as are thus brought into , what men call , a preternatural state , is not to be judg'd barely according to usual measures , but with respect to this latent disposition of the patient : as , for instance , though the string of a viol not screwed up , will not be hardned by the vapours that imbue the air in moist weather ; yet a neighbouring string of the same instrument , though perhaps much stronger , being screw'd up , and thereby stretched , will be so affected with those vapours , as to break with noise and violence . and so when one part of a piece of glass is made as hot as can be , without appearing discolour'd to the eye , though a drop or two of cold water have no effect upon the other part of the same glasse , yet if it touch the heated part , whose wonted extension ( as i have elsewhere proved ) is alter'd by the fire that vehemently agitates the component particles , the cracking of the glass will almost always presently ensue . if against these instances it be alledged , that it is possible to assign another cause of the seemingly spontaneous breaking of the bodies mention'd in this chapter , than that which i have propos'd , it will not much concern this discourse to examine the allegation ; for , whatever the latent cause of the phaenomena may be , the manifest circumstances of them suffice to shew , that bodies , which , as to sense , are in a natural state of rest , may be in a violent one , as of tension , and may have , either upon the score of the contexture of the parts among themselves , or upon that of some interfluent subtile matter , or some other physical agent , a strong endeavour to fly off or recede from one another ; and that , in divers bodies , the cause of this endeavour may act more vigorously than one would easily believe : and this suffices to serve the turn of this discourse . for i presume that a person of your principles will allow , that local motion must be produc'd by local motion , and consequently , that , without a very strong , though invisible and unheeded one , such hard and solid bodies as thick pieces of metall could not be made to crack . i know not whether i may on this occasion acquaint you with an odd relation i had from a very honest and credible , as well as experienced , artist , whom i , for those reasons , have several times made choice to deal with about precious stones , and other things belonging to the jewellers and goldsmiths trades . for , considering with him one day a large lump of matter , which contained several stones that he took for course agats , and which were joyned together by a cement , that in most places was harder than most ordinary stones , i perceived that there remained divers pretty large cavities in this cement , which seemed to have contained such stones as those that yet made parts of the lump . upon which occasion he affirmed to me , that several of the stones grew whilst they were lodg'd in those cavities . and when i told him , that , though i had been long of an opinion , that stones may receive an increment after their first formation , yet i did not see how any such thing appeared by those we were looking upon : he gave me in many words an account of his assertion , which i reduced to this , that the stones he spoke of , did , after they were first formed , really tend to expand themselves by virtue of some principle of growth , which he could not intelligibly describe ; but that these stones being lodg'd in a cement extreamly hard , and therefore not capable of being forced to give way , their expansive endeavour was rendered ineffectual , but not destroyed : so that when afterwards these stones came to be taken out of the cement wherein they were bedded , and to whose sides 't is like they were not exquisitely congruous , the comprest stones , having their sides now no longer wedged in by the harder cement , quickly expanded themselves , as if 't were by an internal and violently comprest spring , and would presently burst asunder , some into two , and some into more pieces : of which he presented many to his friends , but yet had reserved some , whereof he presented me one , that i have yet by me , together with some of the mass , whose cement i find to bear a better polish than marble , and to be very much harder than it . and , in answer to some questions of mine , he told me , that he had taken up these stones himself , naming the place to me , which was not very far off , and that he observed all that he told me himself , and more than once or twice , and that i needed not suspect , as i seemed to doe , that 't was the strokes employed to force the stones out of their beds , that made them break . for , besides that many of them , which ( it seems ) were not comprest enough , did not break , several of those , that did , were taken out , without offering them any such violence , as that their bursting could with any probability be imputed to it . chap. ix . observat . viii . one main cause why such motions as we speak of are overlook'd , is , that we are scarce wont to take notice but of those motions of solid bodies , wherein one whole body drives away another , or at least knocks visibly against it , whereas many effects proceed from the intestine motions produced by the external agent , in , and among , the parts of the same body . this observation is like to be much more readily understood than granted , and therefore i shall offer by way of proof the following experiments . we caused in a large brass stop-cock the movable part to be nimbly turned to and fro in the contiguous cavity of that part that was made to receive it , in that part of the instrument that is wont to be kept fixt . and though this motion of the key were made onely by the bare hand , yet in a short time the mutual attrition of the contiguous parts of the instrument made so brisk an agitation in the other parts , that the incalescence made the metal it self to swell , insomuch that the key could no more be turned , but remained fixt , as if it had been wedged in , so that , to make it work as before , it was necessary by cooling it to make it shrink a little , and so take off the mutual pressure of the key , and the other part of the stop-cock . nor is this to be looked on as a casual experiment ; for , besides that it was made more than once , and is very analogous to some other trials of mine ; i found , that a maker of such instruments complained to me , that he was several times forced to intermit his work , and plunge his instrument in cold water , before he could , by grinding , adjust the key to the cavity it ought to fit . i presume i need not take notice to you , that this experiment confirms what i elsewhere mention of the dilatation of metals themselves by heat , and therefore i proceed to the next instance . this is afforded by the known experiment of passing one 's wetted finger upon the orifice of a drinking-glass almost fill'd with water . for , though the eye does not immediately discern any motion , that , by reason of the pressure of the finger , is made by one part of the glass upon another ; yet , that a vibrating motion is thereby produced , may be argued by the dancing of the water , especially that which is contiguous to the prest sides of the glass , by which 't is oftentimes so agitated , that numerous drops are made to leap quite over , and others are tossed up to a good height into the air. and that there may be considerable motions in the sides of the glass , whilst it does not break in pieces , we may probably guess by this , that , in drinking-glasses artificially cut by a spiral line , both i , and others , have often found by trial , that , a glass being dextrously inverted and shaken , the parts will vibrate up and down so manifestly , as sometimes to lengthen the glass , by my estimate , a quarter of an inch or more , and yet , the glass being set again upon its foot , it appeared that it had not been hereby at all injured . that two pieces of iron or steel , by being strongly rubbed against one another , will at length acquire a temporary heat , is not hard to be believed : but that an edg'd tool of hardened steel should , by having its edge rubbed against , have a manifest and permanent change made in its texture , you did not perhaps suspect ; and yet , having had the curiosity to cause some metals , and particularly iron and steel , to be turned by an excellent artificer , i learned partly by his experience , and partly by my own , that the edge of the steel-tool , with which he by degrees shaved off the protuberant parts of the metal , would be so heated and agitated , that , in no long time , if care were not taken to prevent it , the tool would be brought to look of blewish and yellowish colours , and , permanently losing its former temper , would become so soft , as to be uselesse for its former work , unlesse it were again artificially hardened : and therefore , to prevent the trouble of tempering his tools again , this artist , from time to time , dipt it , when it began to grow too hot , into a certain liquour , which he affirms , upon much experience to have a peculiar fitness for that purpose . nor is it always necessary that the body , that makes the parts of an inanimate body work considerably on one another , should be either very hard , or impetuously moved . for , i remember , that , having once by me some short bars of fine tin , i resolved to try whether , meerly with my naked hands , ( which you know are none of the strongest or hardest , ) ▪ i could not procure a considerable internal commotion among the parts ; and accordingly , laying hold on the two ends of the bar with my two hands , i slowly bent the bar towards me and from me two or three times , and having by this means broke or cracked it in the midst , i perceived , as i expected , that the middle parts had considerably heated each other . what use may be made of this experiment in the search of the hidden cause of elasticity , would be less properly considered in this place than in another . but since i have named that quality , i shall take this rise to intimate , that if the restitution of a springy body , sorcibly bent , proceed onely ( as some learned moderns would have it ) from the endeavour of the comprest parts themselves to recover their former state , one may not impertinently take notice of the elasticity that iron , silver and brass acquire by hammering , among the instances that shew what in some cases may be done by a motion wherein the parts of the same body are , by an almost unheeded force , put to act upon one another . but if springiness depend chiefly upon the pervasion of a subtile matter , as the cartesians would have it , then the instances will properly belong to another subject . § the foregoing examples may also suffice to make out ( what i am unwilling to refer to another head ) this subordinate observation , that men are more usually than justly prepossessed with an opinion , that nothing considerable is to be expected from the motion of a body against another , unless the former do make a manifest percussion or trusion of the latter . but , because this prepossession especially prevails in cases where the body that is by friction or attrition to affect the other , is it self soft or yielding , i shall on this occasion add a few instances to remove this prejudice . an artist , eminent for grinding of optical glasses , confessed to me , that sometimes when he went about to polish his broader glasses , though but upon a piece of leather sprinkled with puttee , that friction did so heat or otherwise agitate the parts of the glass , as , to his great loss , 〈◊〉 make it crack from the edge to the middle ; which seemed the more strange , because we fee , what intense degrees of heat glasses will endure without cracking , if the fire be but gradually applied , as this artist's glasses mus● have been gradually heated . but i think it worth inquiry , whether in this case the whole work be performed by meer heat , and whether there intervene not a peculiar kind of motion , into which some bodies are disposed to be put by a peculiar kind of friction , which seems fitted to produce in manifestly springy bodies , and perhaps in some others , ( of which divers may be springy that are not commonly taken to be so , ) such a vibrating or reciprocal motion , as may have some notable effects , that are not wont to be produced by moderate heats , nor always by intense ones themselves . the trembling of the parts of a drinking-glass , and the visible vibration of the long and great strings of a base-viol , upon peculiar sounds , may give some countenance to this conjecture . and that in some bodies there may be such a tremulous motion produced , by rubbing them upon so soft a thing as wool , or upon a piece of cloath , i tried by this experiment : we cast into a hollow vessel , very smooth within , and of an almost hemispherical figure , severall ounces of good melted brimstone , and having suffered it to cool , and taken it out , the convex surface , as had been desired , came off well polished ; then this conveniently shaped lump , which had ( if i well remember ) four or five inches in diameter , being briskly rubbed in the same line forwards and backwards , upon a cushion or some such woollen thing , in a place free from other noises , i could , by holding my ear to it , and attentively listening , plainly hear a crackling noise made by the agitated parts , which continued a brisk , and , as i supposed , a vibrating motion for some time after the friction was ended . that there may be a considerable commotion produced among the internal parts of bodies , by rubbing them even against soft bodies , i have divers times observed , by the sulphureous steams that i could smell , if , after having a little rubbed a lump of good sulphur upon my cloaths , i presently held it to my nose . which brings into my mind , that i have had the like effect from much harder and closer bodies than sulphur , when they were rubbed upon bodies that were so too . for having purposely taken hard stones cut out of mens bladders , and rubbed a couple of them a little against one another , they quickly afforded , as i expected , a rank smell of stale urin. that diamonds themselves will , by rubbing upon woollen cloaths , be made electrical , seems to argue , that even their parts are set a moving : and that the commotion reaches to the internal parts , i am the more apt to think , because i have a diamond , that , if i rub it well and luckily against my cloaths , will , for a little while , shine or glimmer in the dark ; which is the same phaenomenon that i elsewhere relate my self to have produced in the king 's larger diamond , by giving it one brisk stroke with the point of a bodkin , where the light that presently appeared in the gem , seemed not referrable to any thing so likely as the sudden commotion made in the internal parts of that peculiarly constituted stone . what a peculiar modification of motion , distinct from its degrees of impetus , may doe in fluid bodies , we have formerly in this essay taken notice of . but perhaps it may be worth while to enquire , what kinds there are of it , and what effects they may have in the parts of solid bodies themselves . for i have observed , that though those stones that the italian glass-men use are very hard , and , if i misremember not , have several times afforded me sparks of fire by collision ; yet , by rubbing them a little one against another , i found , that such an agitation was made in their parts , as to make them throw out store of foetid exhalations : and 't is possibly to the stony ingredient that glass owes the quality i have observed in it , and elsewhere mentioned , of emitting offensive steams . and 't is remarkable to our present purpose , that , though so vehement an agitation of the parts , as is given to glass by heat , when 't is made almost red-hot in the fire , does not make it sensibly emit odours ; yet barely by dextrously rubbing two solid pieces of glass against one another , one may , in a minute of an hour , make those fixed bodies emit such copious steams as i found , not onely sensibly , but rankly , foetid ; though one would think those stinking exhalations very indisposed to be forced off , since they were not expelled by the vehement fire , that the glass long endured in the furnace where 't was kept melted . there are few things that shew better , both how the parts of inorganical bodies communicate their vibrating motions to one another , and how brisk those motions are , than that which happens upon the striking of a large bell with a clapper or a hammer . for though the stroak be immediately made but upon one part ; yet the motion , thereby produced , is propagated to the opposite , and the successive vibrations of the small parts do , even in so solid and close a body as bell-metal , run many times round ; as may appear by the durableness of the ringing noise , which seems plainly to proceed from the circularly successive vibrations of the parts , which , unless they briskly tremble themselves , can scarcely be conceived to be fitted to give the air that tremulous motion , whose effect on the ear , when the first and loud noise , made by the percussion , is past , we call ringing . and this motion of the parts of the sounding bell may be further argued by this , that , if the finger , or some other soft body , be laid upon it , the sound will be checked or deaded , and much more , if a broad string , though of a soft substance , be tied about it . and not onely an attentive ear may often make us guess , that the ringing sound is produced by a motion propagated circularly in the bell , but this vibrating motion may sometimes be also felt by the tremulous motion communicated by the trembling parts of the bell to the finger , that is warily applied to it . that this motion passes in a round , from one side of the bell to the other , seems manifest by the great difference of sound , especially in regard of ringing , that may be observed in a sound bell , and in a crack'd one ; where yet all the matter and the former figure are preserved , onely the intireness or continuity , which is necessary to the circulation ( if i may so call it ) of the tremulous motion , is at the crack stopt or hindred . and that the motion of the parts is very brisk , may be guessed partly by what has been said already ; but much more if that be true , which , not onely is traditionally reported by many , but has been affirmed to me by several artificers that deal in bells , who averred , as an experienced thing , that if a conveniently sized bell were bound about , any thing hard , with a broad string , and then struck with the usual force , that it would otherwise bear very well ; that percussion would break it , giving a disorderly check to the brisk motion of the parts of the bell , whereof some happening to be much more ( and otherwise ) agitated than others , the force of their motion surmounts that of their cohesion , and so produces a crack . but , in regard great bells are not easie to be procured , nor to be managed when one has accesse to them , i shall add , that i took the bell of a large watch , or very small clock made of fine bell-metall , which had no handle or other thing put to it , save a little bodkin or skiver of wood , whose point we thrust into the hole that is usually left in the middle of the basis ; and this sharp piece of wood serving for a handle to keep the bell steady enough , we placed in the cavity of it , near the edges , ( for that circumstance must not be omitted , ) some black mineral sand , or , in want of that , some small filings of steel or copper , or some other such minute and solid powder , which yet must not be too small , and then striking moderately with the key against the side of the bell , we observed , ( as we expected ) that , whilst it continued briskly ringing , it made many of the filings to dance up and down , and sometimes to leap up , almost like the drops of water , formerly mentioned to skip , when the brim of the glass was circularly prest by the wetted finger . which prompts me to add , that , having put a middle-sized drop of water ( for in this case the quantity is a considerable circumstance ) near the lower edge of the bell , 't was easie to make it visibly tremble , and be as it were covered over with little waves , by a somewhat brisk stroke of the key on the opposite side . and this effect was more conspicuous , when a very large drop of water was placed near the edge , on the convex side of a hand-bell , whose clapper was kept from any where touching the inside of it . and to obviate their jealousie , that , not having seen the manner of the above-mentioned motion of the sand , might suspect that 't was produced by the impulse which the bell , as an intire body , received from the percussion made by the key , we several times forbare putting-in the filings , till after the stroke had been given ; which satisfied the spectatours , that the dancing and leaping of the minute bodies proceeded from the same drisk vibrations of the small parts of the bell , which , at the same time striking also the air , produced a ringing sound , which might very well , as it did , out-last the skipping of the filings ; the exceedingly minute particles of the air being much more easily agitable , than the comparatively gross and heavy corpuscles of the powder . and this success our experiment had in a bell , that little exceeded an inch and half in diameter . and here , pyroph . i shall put an end to this rhapsody of observations , hoping , that , among so many of them , some or other will be able to engage you , if not to conclude , yet at least to suspect , that such local motions , as are wont either to be past-by unobserved , or be thought not worth the observing , may have a notable operation , though not upon the generality of bodies , yet upon such as are peculiarly disposed to admit it , and so may have a considerable share in the production of divers difficult phaenomena of nature , that are wont to be referred to less genuine , as well as less intelligible , causes . finis . an experimental discourse of some unheeded causes of the insalubrity and salubrity of the air , being a part of an intended natural history of air . london , printed by m. flesher , for richard davis , bookseller in oxford . 1685. the preface . having heretofore had occasion to draw together under certain heads , divers unpublish'd observations and experiments of my own , and some of other men , by way of memorials for a natural history of the air ; i thought fit by more largely treating of two or three of the subjects distinctly mention'd in my scheme of titles , to give a semplar or specimen of what may be done upon the other heads of the designed history . vpon this account i treated somewhat largely of the salubrity and insalubrity of the air , as a subject , which for the importance of it to mens healths and lives , i thought deserv'd to be attentively consider'd , and have its causes diligently inquir'd into . and having observ'd that among the six principal causes of the healthfulness or insalubrity of the air , namely the climate , the soil , the situation of the place , the seasons of the year , the raigning winds and contingencies ( whether more or less frequent ) and especially subterraneal steams , having i say observ'd that among these causes there was one , viz. the last nam'd , about which , i thought i could offer something , that i had not met with in the books of physicians that treat of it ; i was thereby invited to set down my thoughts and observations by way of conjectures , which i was made to believe would appear uncommon , and would not prove useless . these observations and reflexions i referr'd for clearness and distinctions sake to four propositions . but when i had gone thorough the three first , and made some progress in the fourth , being hinder'd by divers avocations to make an end of it , i laid by the whole discourse in a place which i thought a safe one , but when afterwards i had some opportunity to dispatch what remain'd , i found all the diligence i us'd to retrieve the entire manuscript unsuccessfull . at this surprizing accident i confess i was somewhat troubled ; because whatever may be thought of the discursive part of those papers , the historical part contain'd divers matters of fact , that i did not meet with in books , nor can now distinctly remember , and will not perhaps be lighted on by even physicians , or such naturalists as derive their knowledge onely from them . 't is upon this consideration , that having afterwards met with many papers that belong'd to most parts of the unhappy discourse , i thought fit to put them together in the best order i could , that i might not loose what might give some light to so important a subject as the theory of diseases . and this course i the rather pitch'd upon , because before the papers about the salubrity of the air , i miss'd two other of my manuscripts , whereof the former contain'd a cellection of medicinal things , and the second a defence of the mechanical way of philosophizing about natural things , as it respects religion . and i remember'd that having formerly lost a manuscript i was much concern'd for , i purposely made a noise of it , whence i suppos'd the plagiary would conclude himself unable to make it pass for his . and in effect the book was in a while after privately brought back , so that i found it laid in a by-place , where i had before as fruitlesly as carefully sought it . an experimental discourse of some unheeded causes of the insalubrity and salubrity of the air , &c. the sixth and last thing upon which the salubrity and insalubrity of the air depends , is the impregnation it receives from subterraneal effluvia . and , though this be a cause not wont to be much heeded by physicians themselves ; yet i take it to be oftentimes one of the most considerable in its effects . the effluvia that pass into the air , may be distinguish'd into several sorts , according to their respective natures , as has been elsewhere shewn ; wherefore i shall now only take notice of the differences that may be taken from place and time ; upon which account we may consider , that some of them arise from the crust ( if i may so call it ) or more superficial parts of the earth ; and others have a deeper original , ascending out of the lower parts , and as it were bowels , of the terraqueous globe . and to this difference taken from place , i must add another , perhaps no less considerable , afforded by time ; which difference relates chiefly to the second sort of steams newly mentioned . of the subterraneal effluvia , some are almost constantly or daily sent up into the air , and those i therefore call ordinary emissions ; and others ascend into the air but at times , which are not seldom distant enough from one another , and those i call extraordinary emissions ; whether they come at stated times , and so deserve the title of periodical , or else uncertainly , sometimes with far greater , sometimes with far smaller intervals , and so may be called fortuitous or irregular . but , though i thought it might render what i am about to say more clear , if i made and premised the two foregoing distinctions , yet because in many cases , nature does not appear solicitous to observe them , but at the same time imbues the air with steams referable to divers members of these distinctions , i shall several times , though not always , take the liberty to imitate her , and consider the effluvia of the terraqueous globe , in the more general notion , that they are so . i know 't is frequently observed , and usually granted , that marrish grounds , and wet soils are wont to be unhealthfull , because of the moist and crude vapours , that the stagnating waters send up too copiously into the air. and on the other side , dry soils are , because of their being such , generally lookt upon as healthy . nor do i deny , that these observations do most commonly hold true ; but yet i think , that besides what can be justly ascribed to the moist vapours , or dry exhalations , we have been speaking of ; in many places the healthfulness and insalubrity of the air may be ascribed to other sorts of effluvia from the soil , than those that act merely , or perhaps principally , as these are either moist or dry . proposition i. to deliver my thoughts about this matter somewhat more distinctly , i shall lay them down in the four ensuing observations or propositions , whereof the first shall be this : it seems probable that in divers places , the salubrity or insalubrity of the air considered in the general , may be in good part due to subterraneal expirations , especially to those that i lately call'd ordinary emissions . for in some places the air is observ'd to be much more healthy , than the manifest qualities of it would make one expect : and in divers of these cases i see no cause to which such a happy constitution , may more probably be ascrib'd , than to friendly effluvia sent up from the soil into the air ; which particles either by promoting transpiration ( that great instrument of health and recovery ; ) or by hindering the production , or checking the activity , of morbifick ferments ; or by mortifying and disabling some noxious particles , that would otherwise infest the air , or by other ways , that i shall not now stay to enumerate ; may not a little contribute to keep the bodies of those that live in that air , in that regular and desirable state , we call health . i know indeed that 't is generally thought , and often true , that mineral bodies do send up exhalations , hurtfull not only to plants , but to men ; but when we mean subterraneal things indefinitely , though ( men are wont to look upon them but slightly under a general confused notion ) we employ a word more comprehensive than most men are aware of , there being a great variety , as well as multitude of bodies , that nature has lodg'd in her dark store-houses under the surface of the earth . and of these differing sorts of bodies , though 't is probable that the greatest part are such whose effluvia are unhealthfull to men , yet there may be others whose emanations may be friendly to him ; i have known it observ'd that over some tin mines in the western parts of england , not only trees , but far more tender plants , as grass , are wont to prosper and flourish , and ( if i much misremember not ) i have seen verdent trees growing just over a vein of another sort of mineral , that lay near the surface of the earth : and 't is likewise observable about those that constantly dig in those tin-mines , that they do not lead a short and sickly life as in many others , but arrive at a great and vigorous age. and an ancient possessor of some of these mines being askt by me , whether amongst the otherwise differing exhalations that ascended into the air , he did not find a difference as to smell bad or good ; he answer'd , that though most of those visible fumes had a smell that participated enough of sulphur or bitumen to be offensive , yet some others were so far from being ungratefull , that they were well scented . and on this occasion i remember , that not long since , a friend of mine , and another virtuoso , being partners in a chargeable attempt to discover a mine , in digging deep for it , they accidentally broke into a vast subterraneal cavern , into which , because the diggers would not venture to descend , one of these curious gentlemen caused himself to be let down , and there found the air very temperate and refreshing , and that he long breath'd it with delight , and on the floor , or soil ( which reach'd farther than he could discover ) he found many and various minerals most of them embryonated , or imperfectly form'd , and store of a kind of mineral earth , whose smell was fragrant and very pleasant both in his judgment , and that of some ladies . and though , when some of those minerals were brought to me , a small lump of this earth that was among them , had been kept so long in the air , as to spend most of its odoriferous particles , yet the smell it still retain'd , was , though but faint , yet pleasing . that from fossiles that lye hid under the surface of the earth , and have a considerably large spread , there may ascend store of wholsome effluvia into the air , seem'd to me the more probable by what i noted at my last being in ireland , where , being invited by a brother of mine to pass some time in a countrey house of his , to which there belong'd a very large sheep-walk that produc'd short , but excellent grass ; i learn'd ( and was easily perswaded by some things i took notice of ) that this place was justly reputed very healthfull , and this salubrity of the air , together with the sweetness of the grass , some circumstances invited me to ascribe to this ; that the soil was sustain'd by a large tract of limestone , which i suppos'd to emit continual exhalations into the air ; which conjecture will perhaps with the less scruple be assented to , if i add that it has been long and generally observ'd , that as far as the limestone extends , that tract of ground makes the snow that falls on it thaw , or melt much sooner , than it does on the neighbouring lands . after i had made this observation , i mention'd it in discourse to an inquisitive person , that had seen and been employed about several mines ; and i asked him whether he had met with any thing of this kind ; to which he answer'd me , that in derbyshire , at a place which he nam'd to me , he and others had observ'd , that a large tract of limestone land was so warm ( as they speak ) as to dissolve the snow that fell on it , very much sooner than another great scope of land , which was divided from it but by a glin , where the soil did not cover limestone , but free-stone . afterwards , discoursing of this subject with an ingenious person , that had visited the hungarian , and bohemian mines ; he told me , that during his stay among the former , he often walked abroad with the overseer of them , a famous and experienc'd mineralist , who delighted to breathe the fresh morning air upon some hills abounding with minerals ; that his guide made him observe , that when they were over a tract of land that afforded much of that noble oar ( which by a german name he called rot-gulden ertz ) he found the smell to be pleasing , and the air refreshing . and whereas , in passing over some other mines , he found himself molested by offensive fumes ; he felt no such effect , when he was upon that scope of ground under which there lay veins of cinnabar , or , if you please , a mine of quick-silver our : and his ancient guide told him , that next the rot-gulden ertz before mentioned , the soil containing these cinnabarine veins , was that whose incumbent air was the most eligible for pleasantness and salubrity . and i the less wonder , that in some places the subjacent fossiles should impregnate the air with wholsome effluvia , because i remember i had the curiosity to ride many miles , ( though in the depth of winter , ) to see a scope of ground that was famous for a good pottery ; where , besides many other mineral earths that i took notice of , there was a pit or groove , that reach'd , if i mistake not , fifteen or twenty foot beneath the surface of the ground ; whence they dug up a kind of white clay , so richly impregnated with subtile and noble parts , that it afforded a chymist or two of my acquaintance ( for i had my self no opportunity to distill it ) good store of a subtile spirit , of a volatile and saline nature , which upon trial they highly extoll'd for it's cordial , and other virtues in physick ; and which , by some peculiar mechanical trials i made with it , i concluded to abound with a volatile salt , not unlike that of urine or hartshorn . and since by this instance we see , that some unsuspected fossiles may be enrich'd with medicinal and fugitive salts and spirits ; it may reasonably be suppos'd , that these ascending into the incumbent air , may highly conduce to the salubrity of it . and the curiosity i have had to examine chymically some boles , and other bodies , which are wont to be unregardedly compriz'd under the confus'd notion of earths , makes me suspect , that there may be far more species of salubrious fossiles than many have yet taken notice of . but peradventure you will much the more easily admit in general , that subterraneal tracts of great extent may for a very long time send up into the air copious expirations , not discernable by any of oursenses , nor commonly suspected to be found in that body , if you please to consider with me ( what i do not remember to have been taken notice of to this purpose ) that the common air we live in , and breathe , does always abound , and for many ages has been impregnated , with the copious magnetical effluvia of the earth ; which our industrious gilbert , and after him some learned jesuits and others , have proved to be a great , though faint magnet ; and whose emanations , as they constantly stream through the air , i have elsewhere by particular experiments shewn to be capable of passing through the pores of glass it self , and acting almost instantaneously , and yet manifestly , upon bodies hermetically seal'd up in it . but , though from what has been said it may be inferr'd , that 't is not improbable the salubrity of the air in some places may be chiefly , or at least in part , due to the wholsome expirations of subterraneal bodies ; yet , generally speaking , the air is deprav'd , in far more places than it is improv'd , by being impregnated with mineral expirations . and indeed , besides that , among the minerals known unto us , there are many more that are noxious , than that are wholsome ; the power of the former to doe mischief is wont to be far more efficacious , than that of the latter to doe good ; as we may guess by the small benefit men receive in point of health by the effluvia of any mineral , or other fossile , known unto us , in comparison of the great and sudden mischief that is often done by the expirations of orpiment , sandarach , and white arsenick ; for , though that sold in shops is factitious , being made of orpiment sublim'd with salt , yet it is found natural in some hungarian , and other mines . on which occasion , i remember that the ingenious person lately mention'd to have with his guide taken the air upon the hills of that mineral countrey , answer'd me , that , when his guide and he walk'd over some veins of these noxious minerals , he met with several odorous steams , which , though differing from one another , agreed in this , that they were all offensive to him ; and particularly , some of them by their unwelcome sharpness , and others by giving him a troublesome difficulty of respiration . i will not here urge those sulphureous steams , that so suddenly deprive dogs of sense and motion , in the neapolitan grotta de cani ; because there the exhalations are too much included , and as it were pent up : but it is very proper to allege for my present purpose the aorni or averni , which are mention'd by good authours to be found , some in hungary , and some in other countries ; for in these places there ascend out of the earth such noxious and plentifull exhalations , as kill those animals that draw in the air they infect ; and some of them are able to precipitate , even the birds that fly over the caverns that emit them . but there are a multitude of places , where 't is not so manifest that hurtfull exhalations ascend into the air , and yet they really do so : there being in many places whole tracts of land , that near the surface of the earth abound with marchasitical minerals , as these do with a sharp vitriolate salt , which , together with the ill condition'd sulphur that they also plentifully contain , ascend into the air , and render it corrosive . on which occasion i remember , that for curiosities sake i took some english shining marchasite ; and caus'd a pound of it to be distill'd in an earthen vessel with a good fire , by which means , notwithstanding it's dryness , i obtain'd two or three spoonfuls of a limpid liquor , that smell'd very strongly , like that which the helmontians call gas sulphuris ; and which appear'd manifestly to be of an acid nature , both by the taste , and by it 's readily corroding , and dissolving unbeaten coral , even in the cold , to mention here no other tryals that i made with it . and the mineral afforded me , together with this liquor , about an ounce and three quarters of inflammable sulphur , part whereof ascending ( as may be guess'd ) in the form of very agile corpuscles , these fasten themselves all about to the inside of the receiver , and there compos'd divers thin coats , or films , as 't were , of sulphureous matter sticking to one another ; which at their first taking off , and for some time after , might be bent or folded like leaves of paper , but afterwards harden in the air. mineralists , and some other good authours , mention divers places as abounding with marchasitical fossiles , but i am apt to think , they are far more common than is vulgarly taken notice of ; for i have met with them where one would little expect them . and , though in england all our vitriol ( which is now plentifully vended into foreign parts ) be made of vitriolate stones , or bodies that pass for stones ; yet that is not true which our mineralists are wont thence to conclude , that there is no other vitriolate or marchasitical matter in england : for a famous dealer in fossiles , having found a mine , which he knew not what to make of , and therefore carefully conceal'd , address'd himself to me , because , he said , he knew i would not betray or supplant him : and having at his desire taken a private view of what he had discover'd , i presently found it to be a vein , that lay at some depth under ground , and ran along ( how far i know not ) like a vein of metalline oar , ( and for such upon that account he mistook it ) consisting of a black and heavy stuff , which upon a few easie trials i quickly found to be of a vitriolate nature ; insomuch that , somewhat to my wonder , i was able to make it yield in few hours store of pure vitriol , without any troublesome or artificial preparation . proposition ii. it is probable that in divers places some endemical diseases do mainly , or at least in part depend upon subterraneal steams . under the name of endemical diseases , i do not comprise those onely that are very peculiar to this or that countrey ; as the plica is said to be to poland , ( whence it receives its name of polonica ; ) or an odd kind of colique in one part of france , ( from which 't is called la colique de poictou ; ) but also those that are more rise in some countries than in most others ; such as agues in kent , and in that part of essex they call the hundreds ; the consumption ( though that be an ambiguous name ) in england , whence foreign physicians call it the tabes anglica ; and fluxes of the belly in ireland , where they are so rise as commonly to pass under the name of the countrey disease . that these endemical , or ( if we may so call them ) topical distempers , do in many places proceed from some excessive heat , moisture , or other manifest quality of the air ; from bad diet , vulgar intemperance , and other causes that have little or no connexion with subterraneal reeks , i readily grant . but , that in some places the endemical disease may either be principally caus'd , or much fomented , by noxious effluvia , i am enclin'd to suspect upon the following grounds . 1. there are some places , in which the endemical disease cannot be probably imputed to any manifest cause ; as he may perceive that shall consider how often it happens , that the causes which are assign'd of such diseases , if they were the true ones , must produce the like distempers in many other places , where yet it is notorious that they are not endemical . 2. that subterraneal bodies may send up copious steams , of different kinds , into the air , has been already made out . 3. it has been also shewn , that the matters that send up these effluvia , may be of a large extent . and i remember on this occasion that i have sometimes observ'd , and that in more countries than one , a whole tract of land that abounded with minerals of one kind ; and within no great distance , as perhaps a mile or a league , another large tract of land , whose subterraneal part abounded with minerals of a very differing sort . 4. we have also above declar'd , and 't is highly probable from the nature of the thing it self , that those copious steams ( saline , sulphureous , arsenical , antimonial , &c. ) that impregnate the air , may very much conduce to make it hurtfull to a humane body , in the way requisite to produce this or that determinate disease : as i not long since related from the chymist that visited the hungarian mines , that in some places he found the reeks ascending from them into the air ( though in an elevated place , and expos'd to the winds ) make him as it were asthmatical , and give him a troublesome difficulty of respiration . and here let me add an observation , which perhaps will not be thought fit to be slighted by physicians : namely , that some parts of the substance of the air ( for i speak not of its heat , coldness , or other such qualities ) do not onely affect humane bodies , or at least many individuals among them , as they are taken in by respiration , but as they outwardly touch the skin : and the skin being ( as i have elsewhere shewn ) full of pores , and those perhaps of different sizes and figures , those corpuscles that get in at them may have their operation , even upon the most inward parts of the body . to make this more clear and probable , because 't is a thing of importance , i desire these things may be observ'd . 1. that when i speak of the air , i do not in this place understand that air , which i elsewhere teach to be more strictly and properly so call'd , and to consist of springy particles ; but the air in its more vulgar and laxe signification , as it signifies the atmosphere , which abounds with vapours , and exhalations , and in a word with corpuscles of all sorts , except the larger sort of springy ones ; and many of them may be so small , and so solid , or so conveniently shap'd , as to get entrance at some of the numerous orifices of the minute or miliary glandules of the skin , or at other pores of it . thus , though paper be not pervious to the uncompress'd elastical parts of the air , yet it may be easily penetrated by other corpuscles of the atmosphere : for i remember , i have for curiosities sake prepar'd a dry body , out of a substance belonging to the animal kingdom , which being lapt up in paper , would , without wetting or discolouring , or any way sensibly altering it , pass in a trice through the pores of it in such plenty , as to have not onely a visible , but a manifest operation on bodies plac'd at some distance from it . and though a bladder almost full of air , having its neck well tyed , be held near the fire in various postures , the elastical air , though rarefied , or attenuated by the heat , will rather burst the bladder , ( as i have more than once found ) than get out at the pores , yet we have often made a certain substance , belonging to the mineral kingdom , that , if a bladder were wet or moist , ( as the skins of living men are wont to be ) would readily pervade it , and have a sensible operation , even upon solid bodies plac'd within it . this experiment ( that i can repeat when i will ) is therefore the more considerable to our present purpose , because in the bladder of a dead animal , the porosity may be well suppos'd to be much less than it was in the animal when alive ; in which state the parts of the humane body are much more perspirable than one would easily believe , partly because of the heat that is continually diffus'd from the heart , and partly because of the copious steams that are in perpetual motion , and keep the parts warm , moist and supple : and it is not to be pretermitted in our present instance , that the bladder of urine consists not of a single membrane , and is probably of a stronger texture , by reason of the subtile salt liquor it is instituted to contain , than many another membranes of the body , or the epidermis . and this is the first thing i would have noted . the next is , that , whereas in the instances newly recited , and some others that are by and by to be mention'd , the effects were produc'd when the ambient air , impregnated with mineral corpuscles , had but a very short time ( perhaps not many minutes ) to work upon the bodies expos'd to it : in those countries that are very subject to endemical diseases , the inhabitants are wont to live all the year long , and perhaps during their whole life , expos'd to the action of the vitiated air : and how much a far shorter time will serve , to make the corpuscles that rove in the air , penetrate into bodies of no very close contexture , may be guess'd by the breaking even of the bigger strings of lutes and vials , by the numerous ( though invisible ) vapours , that get into them in rainy weather ; and much more by the effects of such vapours , when insinuating themselves in swarms into the pores of a rope , they shorten it so forcibly , as to enable it , by shrinking it self to lift up and keep suspended considerable weights , as i have elsewhere shewn by tryals purposely made . these things may render it probable , that , though in a small compass of time the noxious effluvia that rove in the air , may be too thinly dispers'd in it , to insinuate themselves in any considerable number at the pores of the skin ; yet , by reason of the continual contact of the air , ( especially as to the face , hands , and some other parts ) which may last day and night for many months , or perhaps years , there may be opportunity for a considerable number of morbifick particles , to insinuate themselves into the cutaneous pores . 3. and thus having once got entrance , they may by the capillary vessels that reach to , or terminate at the skin , pass on to somewhat larger vessels ; and so may get into the mass of bloud , and by its circulation be carried to all the parts of the body ; and so be enabl'd both to deprave the bloud , and other juices themselves , and to gain access to any determinate part of the body , which their peculiar shapes , figures , &c. qualifies them to produce some particular distemper in . this whole doctrine may be made more probable , by what experience shews of the virtues of certain plasters , especially mercurial ones , in distempers that are not at all , or at least are not chiefly cutaneous ; and ( which comes more home to our argument ) of the efficacy of periaptae , and appensa , such as piony-root , bloud-stone , lapis nephriticus , quick-silver in a quill , a dry'd toad in a cesnet bag , &c , whereof , though many answer not the characters that are wont to be given of them , yet some of them , experience has convinc'd me to be of greater efficacy than i expected : and much more activity may be presum'd to be , in divers noxious effluvia from subterraneal bodies ; as may be gather'd from the effects of the mercurial girdles , that some unwary persons wear to cure the itch ; and from what i elsewhere relate of the fits of the colicque , often produc'd in a friend of mine by the effluvia of masses of loadstone . and this last example may serve for a proof of another part of our hypothesis , by shewing that mineral effluvia , may not onely be noxious in a general way , but may produce this or that determinate disease . that arsenical appensa , though much extoll'd by divers physicians themselves , and sold dear by empyricks , as ( if worn near the heart ) wonderfull amulets against the plague , have ( especially in some persons and circumstances ) produc'd some of the noxious effects of arsenical poysons , and particularly caus'd in some great faintness and dispiritedness , i find by the testimony of divers eminent physicians . to which i shall add a remarkable one , which may probably be referr'd partly to this third observation , as well as to what i lately deliver'd about the bad effects of mineral exhalations , breath'd in with the air they vitiated : and i the rather mention this case , because 't is not onely an odd one , but is a considerable argument to shew , that noxious mineral expirations may manifestly produce a determinate distemper in unlikely parts of the body . the observation is this ; i knew , and on some occasions employ'd , a chymical laborant that fansi'd that he could make a rare medicine out of red arsenick , ( as some call what others style sandarach , ) which is thought to differ little from common orpiment , saving its being much higher colour'd : this laborant then working long and assiduously upon this mineral , and rubbing it frequently in a mortar , came divers times to me ; and complain'd of a disaffection he thence contracted in the organs of respiration ; for which i gave him something that happen'd to relieve him ; which encourag'd him to complain to me of another distemper , that , though not so dangerous , did often very much molest him : which was , that when he was very assiduous in the preparation of his sandarach , it would give him great pains , and ( if i misremember not ) some tumours too , in his testicles : and this , for ought i know , happen'd to him as long as he was earnest about that process ; for the medicines that had reliev'd him in his other distemper , did not remove this : and i having occasion to go for a while into the countrey , found him gone at my return . it may strengthen the conjecture lately propos'd , of the possible insinuation of effluvia that rove in the air , at the pores of the skin , if i add that i have had the curiosity to enquire of more than one traveller , that had visited the famous pico of tenarif ( at whose upper part there are found scatter'd parcels of sulphur , and divers manifest tokens of a vulcan ) whether the sulphureous steams ( that i suppos'd to be copious near the top of the mountain ) did not work upon the silver money they had in their pockets , and discolour it : to which he answer'd that 't was no uncommon observation , to find at mens return from visiting the top of the hill , that the money they carried about them was blackn'd , and that he himself had particularly observ'd it to be so : which might easily gain credit with me , who have divers times made a preparation of sulphur , which , even in the cold , sends out exhalations so penetrant , that , having for tryals sake put some pieces of coyn ( which ought not to be golden ) into a leather purse ; they were able , and that in not very many minutes , to discolour manifestly the money , in spite of the interposition of the purse that contain'd it . but i had a more considerable instance of the efficacy of the sulphureous expirations of the pico of tenarif , by a sober person that is one of the chief directours of the famous east-india-company of london ; who , being question'd by me about some circumstances of his journey to visit the top of that stupendious mountain , answer'd me , that among other effects the sulphureous air had upon him , ( who is of a very fine complexion ) he found at his return to the bottom , that his light-colour'd hair had manifestly changed colour , and was in many places grown forked at the ends . these observations may make it probable , that mineral exhalations may not only affect humane bodies , as they are drawn into the lungs with the air they swim in , but as they insinuate themselves into the pores of the skin . one considerable objection i foresee may be made , against the proposition i have been all this while endeavouring to render probable ; namely , that 't is scarce conceivable , that in so many ages as endemical diseases have afflicted some countries , the subterraneal matter , to which i do in great part impute some of them , should not be wasted and spent . i might perhaps on this occasion move a doubt , whether we have had such continued accounts of the temperature of the air , of all the countries where diseases are now endemical , as to know that they have been always so ; and that some of those diseases have not been worn out here or there , and some others have not of later ages begun to appear in this or that place . but contenting my self at present to have hinted this question , i shall not stay to discuss it ; but proceed to offer three things , by way of direct answer to the objection . 1. and first , i think it very possible , that divers subterraneal bodies that emit effluvia , may have in them a kind of propagative or self multiplying power : i will not here examine , whether this proceed from some seminal principle , which many chymists and others ascribe to metals , and even to stones , or ( which is perhaps more likely ) to something analagous to a firment , such as in vegetables enables a little sour dough to extend it self through the whole mass ; or such , as when an apple or pear is bruis'd in one part , makes the putrify'd part by degrees to transmute the sound into it's own likeness ; or else some maturative power , whereby an inanimate body may gradually admit of such a change , or acquire such qualities , as may be in mens estimate perfective of it , and perhaps give it a new denomination ; as anana's in the indies , and medlars , and some other fruits here in europe , do after they are gathered , acquire ( as it were , spontaneously ) in process of time , a consistence and sweetness , and sometimes colour and odour , and in short such a state as by one word we call maturity or ripeness : and so some metalline ores , and some mineral earths themselves , have been observ'd by mineralogists , to acquire in tract of time such a change , as to afford some metal or other body , which either it did not afford before , or at least did not afford so copiously , or so well qualify'd . this i have purposely made out in another paper : and the observation particularly holds as to niter , which is thought to be the most catholick fossile we have ; and to be at least one of those fossiles , that do the most plentifully emit effluvia into the air. 2. when i consider , that even in those mines that are accounted deep ones , the spades of men are not wont to reach to the ten thousandth part of the thickness of the earth , between its surface , and its centre , which yet is but its semi-diametre ; i cannot but confess , that we know very little of the nature or constitution of the lower part of the terrestrial globe ; since we know little or nothing experimentally , of what lyes beneath that comparatively very thin crust or scurf , ( if i may so call it ) that humane industry has been hitherto confin'd to . and upon this account i do not think it absurd to suspect , that from the lower subterraneal regions there may be , either continually , or periodically , emitted into the region of mines ( if i may so call it ) great store , and variety of mineral exhalations , which may continually repair the loss of those , that from time to time ascend out of the fossile region ( as i may also call that of mines ) into the atmosphere . but the things i could alledge to countenance this conjecture , must not be insisted on in this place . therefore i proceed to consider . 3. that bodies so heavy , and consequently so abundant in parts of solid matter crouded together , as minerals , and other fossiles are wont to be , may well be suppos'd capable , without destructively wasting themselves to emit store of such minute particles as effluvia , for an exceeding long time . this will be easily granted by him that shall consider the particulars laid together in a small tract , that i purposely writ , about the admirable subtilty of effluvia . and 't will be the more easily believ'd , if it be consider'd how long some load-stones , sever'd from their mine , have been kept in the air without any notable , or perhaps so much as sensible diminution of their virtue . and this brings into my mind what an eminent physician , who was skill'd in perfumes , affirm'd to me about the durableness of an effluviating power , that was not natural to a metal , but adventitious , and introduc'd by art : for he assur'd me that he had a silver watch-case , that had been so well perfum'd , that though he usually wore the watch in his pocket , it continued to be well scented sixteen years . the same person had a way of perfuming factitious marble quite thorough , whose grateful scent he affirm'd would last exceedingly ; and of this perfum'd marble he presented me a ball , which having been some months after gotten from me by a great lady , i was disabled from observing the durableness of the fragrancy . i might perhaps be thought wanting to my cause , if , before i dismiss the proposition i have been all this while discoursing of , i should not observe , that subterraneal effluvia may contribute to endemical diseases , not only as they vitiate the air , that men breathe in , or are immediately touch'd by ; but as they may impregnate or deprave the aliments that men feed upon . for first , they do mingle themselves with the water , which either men drink it self alone , ( as is the custome with many nations , and of some men in most nations ; or make of it their bear , ale , or other factitious drinks , prepar'd of water and barley , oats , rice , &c. that divers springs , and other waters are imbued with mineral corpuscles , may be judg'd by some of the medicinal springs : for , though divers acidulae and thermae afford good store of palpable sulphur or salt , yet all do not ; and having purposely examin'd a famous one , i could with a pair of nice scales scarce discover any sensible difference at all between the medicinal water , and the common water that was to be met with thereabouts . and that which impregnated this , and which i found by tryal on my self , and some other bodies , enabl'd it to work very manifestly like a mineral water , was a sort of corpuscles so minute and subtile , that if the bottles were not kept well stopt , they would in a short time vanish , and leave the liquor dispirited . experience has assur'd me , that there are ways of making common water violently and hurtfully operative upon humane bodies , though its sensible qualities would not make one suspect any change in it : but the ill use that bad men may make of such liquors , makes me forbear to express my self more clearly : nor is it necessary that i should add anything to confirm the propos'd conjecture , save what may be inferr'd from these two particulars ; the first whereof is the scarce at all sensible change that may be made in water , and some other liquors , that are made strongly emetick by crocus metallorum , and by antimony vitrify'd without addition : and the second may be taken from those averni , whence there continually ascend such pernicious exhalations , as in some places intoxicate or kill even the birds that fly over those poysonous vents ; for if such exhalations , or even far less deadly ones , should ( as they may be reasonably suppos'd , sometimes to do ) meet with either running or stagnant waters in their ascent , there is little doubt to be made , but they will impregnate them , and make them noxious . and on this occasion we may pertinently recall to mind , what i have formerly deliver'd about a place upon the borders of lancashire , where the water and mud of a ditch is so copiously impregnated with subterraneal exhalations , ( whether they be bituminous , sulphureous , or of some unknown kind ) that they may easily be fir'd at the surface of the water , or earth , and made to burn like a candle , as an ingenious man did at my request successfully try . but there is another account , upon which the effluvia of the lower parts of the earth may have a greater stroke in producing of endemical diseases ; namely , as they mingle with the water , and other liquors that are necessary to the nutrition and growth of plants ; and , by depraving those juices , make the vegetables that are nourish'd by them unhealthy for the men that eat them , or make drinks of them : and these noxious exhalations may be suppos'd in many places to impregnate the juices of the earth , much more copiously than they do the running or stagnant waters lately spoken of : because the difficulty of pervading the earth in their ascent , may so long check them , as to make them very numerous in a small space , and perhaps make them convene into bodies , so far of a saline nature as to be dissoluble either in common water , or some other subterraneal liquor ; by whose help , as by vehicles , they may insinuate themselves into the roots of plants , and be thence conveyed to other parts . divers things might be alledg'd to keep this conjecture from being improbable , if i had leisure to insist on them : but i i shall now only mention two things that on this occasion come into my mind : the first whereof is , that enquiring of a famous chymist , who liv'd in a countrey abounding with mines of vitriol , whether he did not observe , that the oaks growing over them were more solid , or heavy , than those trees are elsewhere wont to be ; he answer'd me , that he did , and that the difference was remarkable : the other is , that the parts of some minerals , ( probably by reason of the smallness and solidity of the corpuscles they consist of ) are capable of insinuating themselves very plentifully into the pores of growing vegetables , without being really subdu'd by what philosophers are pleas'd to call the concocting faculty of the plant ; and , instead of being assimilated by the vegetable , they retain their own mineral nature , and upon the recess or evaporation of the juice that serv'd them for a vehicle , may sometimes discover their being mineral , even to an unassisted eye . for i remember i have seen a piece of a vine , that grew not far from paris , which being broken , i perceiv'd a multitude of the internal pores of the root , and , if i mistake not , part of the trunk also , to be stuff't with corpuscles of a marchasitical nature ; as manifestly appear'd by their colour , and their shining lustre , and also by their weight . there goes a tradition among learned men , that the leaves of vines that grow in some places of hungary , whose mines afford gold , are as it were gilt on the lower side , by ascending exhalations of a golden nature : whether this be true or no , i shall not take upon me to determine : but i remember , that having made enquiry about the truth of it , of a very ingenious traveller , whose curiosity led him to visit heedfully those famous mines : he told me , that he did not remember he had observ'd what is reported about the leaves of the vine : but he knew very well that at tockay ( a place that affords the famousest wine of hungary , and indeed the best i have drunk ) very many of the kernels of the grapes would appear guilt over , as it were , with leaf gold . to what has been already discours'd , may be added , that since men are not wont to feed upon either beasts , or birds of prey , as carnivorous animals usually are , but upon such as live upon grass , or seeds , or other vegetable substances , and drink nothing but fair water ; the noxious exhalations that make vegetables , and water unwholsome , may by their means have a very bad influence upon sheep , cows , deer , pigeons and other animals that seed upon such deprav'd vegetables , and drink such noxious waters ; and consequently may be very hurtfull to those men that feed upon such animals , and may by the deprav'd aliment they afford , determine them to an endemical disease , such as that vitiated nutriment is fitted to produce . perhaps it will not seem improper to add on this occasion , that 't is possible that in certain places the latent minerals may be of such a nature , as that their effluvia may , instead of promoting , hinder the production of some particular disease , whether epidemical or endemical in the bodies of them that inhabit those places . for as physicians observe that the more manifest morbifick causes of some sicknesses , are quite contrary to those of others , so i think it not improbable , that there may also be a mutual contrariety , between those latent morbifick causes , that are sent up by subterraneal agents . and therefore it need to be no wonder , if some of these should either disable those to which they are hostile , or should at least work in humane bodies a great indisposition to admit their hurtfull operations , which methinks those physicians and chymists should easily grant , who with a boldness that i do not applaud , prescribe amulets , wherein arsenick , or some other poysonous drug is employ'd , as preservatives from the plague , against which , i doubt the chief succours they afford , proceeds from the confidence or fearlesness they give those that wear them . but to return to our subterraneal effluvia , since there are divers whole countries , or lesser places , that are either altogether , or in great part , free from this or that particular disease ; as in several parts of scotland from agues , especially if i mistake not quartans , are very unfrequent , insomuch that a learned physician answer'd me , that in divers years practice he met not with above three or four , and in several large regions of the east-indies , notwithstanding the excessive heat of the climate , the plague is very rare : since ( i say ) these things are so , it seems not altogether improbable that the subterraneal steaws may contribute to this advantage , by impregnating both the air , the earth , and the water , with corpuscles endow'd with qualities unfriendly to these diseases , which seems to be somewhat the more credible , because it has been observ'd that some vast tracts of land will neither breed nor maintain venemous creatures , as is undoubtedly believ'd of the whole kingdom of ireland , where i confess i neither did see any alive , nor met with any other that did ; for as to spiders , though they breed in that countrey , where i have seen many of them , and sometimes even upon irish wood , yet they are unanimously believ'd not to be poysonous there : and some writers tell us , how truly i know not , of some other countries , to which they affirm the like privilege to belong . but there is one instance afforded us by begninus , who travel'd much to visit mines , which if it be strictly true , is very notable for my present purpose . dignum admiratione est , says he , quod quamvis in vicinia hydriae comitatus gloriciensis , ubi reperitur copiosè ☿ singulis ferè annis lues pestifera grassatur , illa tamen semper immunis ab hac manere soleat , idque viri provectae aetatis se observasse & à majoribus suis accepisse , mihi sanctè confirmârunt . to which i should add the testimony of the learned michael mayerus , who pronounces mercury to be an alexipharmacum against divers diseases , and particularly the plague , if i did not suspect by his way of mentioning this last disease , that he but borrowed his encomium of mercury from begninus . but however ; what has been related , has invited me to consider , whether there may not be some virtue , as well as some danger , in amulets of quicksilver that are by many extoll'd against the plague . but this onley upon the bye . proposition iii. it is likely , that divers epidemical diseases are in great part produc'd by subterraneal effluvia . i am very well aware , that divers diseases that extraordinarily invade great numbers of people at the same time ; ( and were therefore , by the greeks called epidemical ) may be rationally refer'd to manifest intemperatenesses of the air , in point of heat , cold , moisture , or some other obvious quality . and therefore the proposition speaks but of some epidemical diseases , and imputes those it speaks of to subterraneal effluvia , not as total , but as partial , and sometimes as principal , agents in the production of them . in favour of the propos'd conjecture thus explain'd , i shall offer two things to consideration . i. and first , it seems not very improbable , that divers of those morbifick excesses ( especially if they be sudden ) that are observ'd in the air , may proceed from the unusually copious ascent of hurtfull exhalations that mingle with the air , and diffuse themselves through it . we are greater strangers than we commonly take notice of , to the subterraneat part of the globe we inhabit : and if i had leasure , and thought it necessary , i could shew , that there are a great many odd and surprizing things to be met with in the structure and disposition even of those parts of the earth , that lie but a little way beneath the surface of it , and partly have been , and partly may easily enough be , actually penetrated by the industrious labours of men . and as for the deeper subterraneal regions , we are so much more unacquainted with them , that we are scarce fit so much as to conjecture , how far they extend , or what kind of materials they contain , and what is the gross , and ( if i may so speak ) the mechanical fabrick of the greater masses , whether solid or fluid , they consist of : and least of all can we determine what motions , whether periodical , or others , these masses , or other portions of deeply lodg'd matter , may have . on such grounds as these , i conceive ▪ it possible , that , among the many and various effluviating bodies , that the terrestrial globe may conceal in its bowels , there may be some , whose reeks ascending plentifully into the air , may occasion in it an excess of heat , cold , moisture , thickness , or some other manifest quality . so that sometimes ( not to say many times ) even those manifest intemperatenesses of the air , to which an epidemical disease is wont to be wholly imputed , ( though perhaps not very justly ) may in part proceed from subterraneal bodies ; for i elsewhere shew , that these by their conflicts , or mutual actions on one another , may excite great and sudden heats , and on that account send up such copious steams into the atmosphere , as may produce there sudden and excessive heats , lightnings , thunders , &c. and i shall now add ( what perhaps will appear somewhat strange ) that i think sudden and unseasonable refrigerations of the air , may proceed from the action of subterraneal bodies upon one another : for tryal purposely made has inform'd me , that there are certain minerals , whereof some may be employed in their crude simplicity , and the other requires but a slight preparation , such as it may have in the bowels of the earth ; which minerals being put together , will produce by their reaction an intense degree of cold , not onely as to sense , but when examined by a seal'd weather-glass . the changes of the air that produce epidemical diseases are sometimes so great and sudden , that they cannot , in my opinion , with probability be imputed to the action of the sun , or the moon , ( which are causes that act in too general , and too uniform a way , to have those particular and anomalous effects attributed to them ; ) as probably as they may be to subterraneal bodies , that often act with more suddenness and impetuosity , and without any regularity , at least that is known to us . the difference we find in seasons , that bear the same name , and should be alike in temperature● , is oftentimes very great , and sometimes also very lasting . it is proverbially said in england , that a peck of march dust is worth a king's ransom : so unfrequent is dry weather during that month , in our climate . and yet in some years , and particularly the last , 't was a rare thing to have a shower either in march , april , or may , sometimes in the month last named , there are heats greater than in the dog-days of that same year ; though usually here in england , divers mornings of that month are cold , and some of them frosty . and now and then i have observ'd in the same months and days , at no great distance from one another , that the weather has been sultry hot , and has also produc'd a great snow . we have seen summers like that which is remember'd for the siege of colchester , that for almost the whole season , where more dark and rainy , than several winters have been observ'd to be . to which purpose i remember , that when i was about to write the history of cold , i was fain to watch almost a whole winter to find two or three frosty days , to make an experiment or two i had need of , that requir'd not a cold that was either lasting or very intense . but instances of this kind are so obvious , to those that are at all heedfull observers , that i may safely pass them by , and inculcate that the sun being in the same signs , at the same times of the year , it does not appear , how he should produce so great a disparity of the temperature of the air in seasons of the same denomination ; ( as the winters or the summers of differing , and yet perhaps immediately consecutive , years . ) and therefore i do not so much wonder , that many learned writers fly to astrology for an account of these irregular phaenomena , and ascribe them to the influences of certain stars ; notwithstanding what divers eminent philosophers , and some great astronomers too , have said to prove the vanity of judiciary astrology . i shall not now stay to discuss the question , whether the stars have any influence distinct from their light and heat : because , my opinion about it being somewhat peculiar , i have discoursed of it in a paper by it self . but this i shall now say , that the fixt stars being but general , and ( if i may so speak ) indefinite agents , almost unimaginably remote from us , 't is nothing near so likely that such effects as ( besides that they happen very suddenly and irregularly ) are oftentimes confin'd to a town , or some other narrow compass , should be produc'd by certain stars : as that they should be so by subterraneal bodies , which are near at hand , of very various natures , and subject to many irregular and differing motions , commixtures , reactions , and other alterations . i have known a great cold in a day or two invade multitudes in the same city , with violent , and as to many persons fatal symptomes ; when i could not judge , ( as others also did not ) that the bare coldness of the air could so suddenly produce a disease so epidemical and hurtfull : and it appear'd the more probable , that the cause came from under ground , by reason that it began with a very troublesome fog . that there may be many subterraneal bodies , which by their commixtures may produce a sudden heat , will be easily granted by those that know , ( what i elsewhere purposely make out ) that there are subterraneal menstruums ; and are acquainted with chymical operations , such as the great effervescence made , when oil of vitriol is put upon filings of iron , or spirit of niter upon butter of antimony ; to which i might add many other of the like kind that i have tryed , as when spirit of niter is put upon filings , either of iron , copper , or tin , or upon crude quicksilver ; which i shall content my self to have nam'd , because i have another instance that comes closer to our present purpose . for whereas i have shewn above , that there is in many places great store of marcasitical matter beneath the surface of the earth , and sometimes very near it ; i shall now add that i have purposely tryed , that putting a little spirit drawn from niter , ( with which salt the earth in many places abounds ) or a litle oil of vitriol , upon powder'd marcasites ( which being hard stones are more difficultly wrought upon , than many other subterxaneous marcasitical bodies of a looser texture ) there presently ensued a strong reaction between the liquid and the solid bodies , whereby was produc'd much heat , not without visible fumes , and strongly scented , though not visible , exhalations . and such kind of odorous effluvia were emitted , upon the putting a little spirit of salt upon our powder'd marcasites . and because sulphur is a mineral that ( either pure , or copiously mix'd with others ) is to be plentifully met with in the bowels of the earth , and in many places burns there , i shall add , that i have found acid spirit of sulphur ( made the common way ) to work sensibly upon marcasitical matter , hard enough coagulated . an experienc'd german chymist relates , that in some parts of his country he met with vitriol stones , or marcasites , that , by the action of mere common water resting a competent time upon them , will grow so hot as to enable the liquor to retain a sensible heat , when it had pass'd a pretty way from them . and , as i elsewhere shew , that many accidents may occasion the breaking out of waters , or the change of their course in subterraneal places ; so , that common water may produce in a very short time considerable degrees of heat in mineral bodies , may appear by mixing with two or three pounds of fine powder of common brimstone a convenient quantity , ( for now i remember not well how much i took ) of filings of iron , for this mixture being thoroughly drench'd with common water , did in a short time grow intensely hot , and send up such a thick smoke as good quicklime is wont to doe , whilst men slake it with water . it is observable to our present purpose , what account was given me by a domestick of mine , that liv'd in the north part of england , of a certain mineral groove which he had often occasion to resort to : for , when i ask'd whether the damp that place was molested with , did frequently recurr ; he answer'd me , that at the time he was there it would annoy the workmen , ( if they did not take good care of themselves ) more than once in one day . and by enquiries that i made of others that were conversant in mines , i learn'd , that in divers places they were molested with damps , that came not at stated periods , but irregularly ; sometimes with much greater , and sometimes with far lesser , intervals between them : the times of their duration being also not seldom unequal . so that , supposing such noxious effluvia to be plentifully emitted from the lower parts of the soil , it need be no wonder , that an epidemical disease should be rise in this or that particular town or part of a country , without spreading much farther ; and that it should begin suddenly in places where it was not expected : for , besides that these swarms of effluvia , being produc'd by casual concourses of circumstances , may oftentimes be excited , and invade this or that place , without giving the inhabitants any warning , besides this , i say , 't is not always necessary that these noxious effluvia should be generated just under the places they molest , since the motion of the air , especially when the wind sits favourably , may suffice to carry them to the town or other place that feels their ill effects : and yet they may seem to be almost confin'd to those places ; sometimes because the neighbouring places are not inhabited enough to make their ill qualities taken notice of ; but more frequently because , by being diffus'd thorough a greater tract of air , they are more and more disperst in their passage , and thereby so diluted ( if i may so speak ) and weakn'd , as not to be able to doe any notorious mischief . and here i consider too , that 't is not always necessary that the harm that is done by these morbid constitutions of the air , should proceed onely or precisely from these subterraneal exhalations we are speaking of , by virtue onely of their own qualities , which they bring with them from under ground . for 't is very possible , that these effluvia may be in their own nature either innocent enough , or at least not considerably hurtfull , and yet may become very noxious , if they chance to find the air already imbu'd with certain corpuscles fit to associate with them : for , though these sorts of particles were perhaps neither of them a-part considerably hurtfull , yet there may from their combinations result corpuscles , of a new and very morbifick nature . this may be somewhat illustrated by considering , that the spirituous steams of salt-peter are not wont sensibly to work on gold , nor yet the spirituous parts that the fire raises from sal-armoniac ; and yet when these two sorts of particles convene , there results from their coalitions certain corpuscles of a new nature , that compose the liquor chymists call aqua regis ; which by its fretting quality corrodes and dissolves gold. by analogy to this we may conceive , that sometimes the subterraneal effluvia may find the air already impregnated with such corpuscles , that by associating themselves therewith they may compose corpuscles far more capable , than themselves were whilst apart , of having ill effects upon the mass of bloud , or some determinate parts of humane bodies , and consequently of produceing diseases there . and this instance may appear the more apposite ; because it may be said , that as , though silver and gold , and diamonds and rubies , &c. be put together , and aqua regis be pour'd upon them , it will leave all the rest uncorroded , and fall onely upon the gold ; so the newly produc'd corpuscles that i have been speaking of , whether breathed in with the air in respiration , or carried up and down by the bloud , or other liquors of the body , may pass by other parts of it without doing them any sensible harm , and attacking this or that determinate part , produce there some disease such as the fabrick and situation of that part peculiarly dispose it to be affected with . and i shall add on this occasion , that in our hypothesis we may render a probable reason , why in some epidemical diseases , some persons may escape much better than other , that seem likely to be , at best , as obnoxious to them , without a recourse to the peculiar constitutions of the bodies of differing persons ; for it may be conjectur'd , that the noxious corpuscles that infest the air , may ( especially in windy weather ) be very unequally disperc'd through the air , and many fly in far greater or lesser numbers within equal spaces of air ; and consequently the persons , that have the ill luck to be in the way of the more numerous swarms of morbifick corpuscles , may be much more prejudiced by them than others , though of weaker constitutions , who happen to be attaqu'd but by few of them . on which occasion , i remember , that a great many trees in some land that belongs to me , having been suddenly much endamag'd by a wind , that was not able to doe it by it's bare strength ; i had the curiosity to view somewhat heedfully a tree that stood in the garden , and perceiv'd that all the considerable mischief was done to that side of the tree , which respected the corner whence the hurtfull wind blew , the leaves of the other side continuing fresh and verdant , as being by the other part of the same tree fenc'd from the wind : and it was farther observ'd , that even the expos'd side of the tree was not every-where endamag'd ; for there were divers parts , where the leaves continued sound and green , though neighbouring leaves were some more , some less ( for all that were prejudic'd were not totally ) blasted : the sound leaves and the discolour'd being so odly mingled , that i conjectur'd the cause of the mischief to have been this ; that some arsenical or other corrosive or poisonous exhalations , being suddenly emitted from the subterraneal parts into the air , were by the wind they chance to meet with there , hurry'd along with it , and blown against the bodies that stood in it's way , moving in the air , like hail-shot discharg'd out of a gun , here in a closer , and there in a more scattering order , so that as more or fewer of them happend to fall upon the same branch or leafe , they left more , or less marks of their passage , by destroying the texture and colour in the leaves or parts of them they chanc'd to beat upon . and this may possibly be the cause of some of those sudden and sometimes fatal effects , that i have known in some places the people talk much of , complaining , that such a one had his eyes , or his face , or onely one side of it blasted , by a malignant wind , of which i thought i saw an example in a domestick of my own , whilst in such a wind he was riding after me , who ( thanks be to god ) had no such mischief done me . but the vulgar have entertain'd such strange conceits and stories about these blastings , on which account some of them say that men are planet-struck that the fabulous things mingled with those that are possible , have made intelligent persons reject them all . one thing more i shall take notice of in favour of our hypothesis , which is , that it well agrees with what has been observed , not without some wonder , of the very short duration of some epidemical diseases , in certain times and places . for this may proceed from hence , either that all the morbifick expirations ascended into the air almost at once , or at least within a short time , and so were easily spent , that is by diffusion or dispersion so weakned , as to be disabled from doing much mischief : or else the subterraneal commotion that produc'd them may pass on from one place to another , and so cease to afford the air incumbent on the first place , the supplies necessary to keep it impregnated with noxious exhalations . and it agrees well with this conjecture , that sometimes we may observe certain epidemical diseases to have as it were a progressive motion , and leaving one town free pass on to another . of which some observations that i have made , encline me to think , that if physicians would heedfully mind it , they might take notice of several instances . one thing more may be added , as consonant to our hypothesis ; namely , that sometimes an epidemical disease ceases in this or that place , almost as sudden as it invaded , or at least in a much shorter time than physicians expected . for according to our hypothesis it may well happen , that after one sort of exhalations , whose peculiar qualities make them morbifick , have deprav'd the air incumbent on a particular place ; there may by a new or farther commotion of subterraneal bodies , be sent up into the air store of expirations of another kind , which meeting with those that formerly impregnated it , may either precipitate them , and so free the air from them ; or by other operations on them , and sometimes even by coalitions with them , so alter their nature as to disable them from doing any farther mischief . this i shall illustrate , if not confirm , by that very remarkable phaenomenon that is yearly observ'd at grand cairo in aegypt ; for , ( though i know not whether or no the corpuscles that produce it arise from under ground , the affirmative part of the question being not improbable ) it appears , that by the intermixture of adventitious corpuscles , with the formerly pestilential air , 't is so alter'd and corrected , that within one day or two , if not within a lesser compass of time , there is a stop put to the progress of the plagues ; that in that favourable time of year , namely about the middle of summer , scarce ever misses of raging in that populous city : and , which is more admirable , these sanative corpuscles ( if i may so call them ) operate so powerfully , that of those that are already seiz'd by that fatallest of diseases , the plague , few or none die of it , after once these antidotal particles have sufficiently impregnated the air. i confess so great and sudden a change is very wonderfull , and i should scarce think it credible , if i had not had the means and curiosity to enquire about it of divers persons , some of them very intelligent , that either curiously visited , or also made some considerable stay in , that great city ; and found them agree in the main about the truth of the matter of fact ; which is much confirm'd to me by so eminent a testimony as that of the learned prosper alpinus , who for several years practis'd physick in grand cairo , and as an eye-witness delivers what he relates more authentically , as well as more particularly , than any i have met with . and , though he endeavours to give several reasons of this strange and sudden cessation of the malignity of the plague , yet i doubt they are not sufficient for so wonderfull an effect ; unless we take in some new exhalations , that then impregnate and correct the air. and we shall scarce doubt of the great interest these have in the effect produc'd , if we give credit to what the recentest writer i have met with of voyages into egypt , has lately publish'd about the annual pestilence at grand cairo , a city he much frequented . this authour , in the account he gives of the present state of egypt , relates that a little after the middle of our june ( and usually upon the very seventeenth day ) there begin to fall towards the last quarter of the night , near the morning , certain drops of a kind of dew , which causes the river to be fruitfull , and purifies the air from all the infection of camsims , by which i presume he means the pestilence : for after some lines interpos'd he subjoins , the drops or dew purifies the air , for as soon as it falls the plague ceases to be mortal , none dies of it ; the air is wholesome , all distempers cease , and if any person grows sick , he never dies . and then , he adds , this dew gives life to every thing ; and when it falls upon the wheat , it causeth it to continue many years without corruption or worms , and is far more nourishing than that corn on which it never falls . for this cause they never house the corn of the grand seignior in the barns , till this dew is fallen upon it , that it might keep the longer without worms . as well this conjecture , as some other things deliver'd here and there in this paper ( about the salubrity of the air , ) may probably gain the more credit , if i here subjoin what i learn'd by inquiry from a very ingenious gentleman , who was owner of one or more of the mines , that afford the phaenomenon i am to mention . which is this , that in the tin-mine countreys in devonshire , it sometimes happens , ( as perhaps i may have elsewhere noted to another purpose , ) that upon a sudden , a spot of ground , and that not always narrow , will be as 't were blasted by the ascending hurtfull fumes ; insomuch that not onely the grass , fern and other more tender vegetables , will be turned black , and as it were burnt or scorched up ; but now and then trees also , without excepting oaks themselves will be blasted and spoil'd by the powerfull operation of these subtil and poisonous effluvia . it will probably be here expected , that among the epidemical diseases that our hypothesis derives from subterraneal effluvia , i should particularly treat of the cause of pestilential fevers , and the plague it self . but , though some such fevers may not improbably be in great part imputed to the noxious expirations of the globe we inhabit ; yet , as to the true plague it self , i freely confess i am at a loss about it's origine . the sacred writings expresly teach , that some plagues , and particularly that which in david's time swept away in three days 70000 persons , have been in an extraordinary manner inflicted by god. and to me it appears either scarce possible , or far more difficult than those that have not attentively enough considered the matter , are wont to think it ; to deduce the abstruce origine , strange symtomes , and other odd phaenomena of some plagues that are recorded in history , from merely corporeal causes . on the other side , it seems unphilosophical , and perhaps rather seems than is very pious , to recur without an absolute necessity to supernatural causes , for such effects as do not manifestly exceed the power of natural ones : though the particular manner of their being produc'd , is perchance more than we are yet able clearly to explicate . and i think it the more questionable , whether all plagues are supernatural exertions of god's power and wrath against the wicked , because i observe that brutes ( which are as well uncapable of moral vice , as moral vertue ) are yet oftentimes subject to murrains , such as may without incongruity be lookt upon as the pestilences of beasts . and 't is the less likely , that these sweeping and contagious maladies should be always sent for the punishment of impious men , because i remember to have read in good authours , that , as some plagues destroy'd both men and beasts , so some other did peculiarly destroy brute animals , of very little consideration or use to men , as cats , &c. upon these and the like reasons i have sometimes suspected , that in the controversie about the origine of the plague , namely , whether , it be natural , or supernatural ; neither of the contending parties is altogether in the right : since 't is very possible , that some pestilences may not break forth , without an extraordinary , though perhaps not immediate , interposition of almighty god , provok'd by the sins of men : and yet other plagues may be produc'd by a tragical concourse of merely natural causes . but though the difficulties that incumber each of the opposite opinions , keep me both from dogmatically asserting , that all plagues have a supernatural origine ; and from denying that any have it : yet , to say something on such an occasion , though i can speak but very hesitantly , i shall venture to add , that , whether or no the true plague be said to descend to the earth from a higher sphere than that of nature ; yet its propagation and effects are ( at least for the most part ) carry'd on mainly by a malignant disposition in the air ; without which some plagues could never have been so catching as they were , nor so suddenly mortal ; and that in divers pestilences this malignant disposition in the air , may probably be in great part imputed to some kinds of subterraneal expirations , i am prone to think ; and that chiefly upon two accounts . the first thing that induces me to this conjecture , is , that not any of the several causes to which the plague is wont to be imputed seems to me to be sufficient . those that fetch it from the malevolent aspects and influence of the celestial lights , besides that they suppose some things very difficult to be prov'd , have recourse to agents too remote , too general , and too indeterminate , to be acquiesc'd in as the causes of such particular symtomes and phaenomena , as oftentimes accompany pestilences . and as for those other sects of physicians that confidently derive the plague , some from internal putrefaction , and others from excessive heats , noisome stinks , corrupt aliments , and such other celebrated causes ; though each party alledges plausible reasons for its own opinion , yet their objections against their adversaries are much stronger than their arguments are for themselves . and the learned diemer-broeck , though his own hypothesis seem to be more theological than philosophical , has much enervated the arguments brought for the several opinions lately nam'd , and by him dissented from . the reasons he employs to refute all the receiv'd opinions about the origine of the plague , except his own , are divers of them worthy of so learned a man ; to whom , though i had leisure to transcribe them , i should refer the curious : my present design being onely to deliver some few things that seem more favourable to my conjectures , than to his opinion , and were suggested to me , partly by my own thoughts , and partly by the informations , that , to examine those thoughts , i procur'd by consulting some uncommon authours , and asking questions of great travellers and navigatours . by this means i came to learn , that divers great countries are usually free from the plague , that according to the vulgar hypotheses , ought to be as much subject to it , if not more , than england , france , italy , and those other parts of europe and asia , where that fatal disease rages from time to time in the parched regions of africk , to which the excessive heats would make one expect , that the plagues should make far more frequent visits than to our temperate european countries ; leo africanus informs us , that some parts are so seldom afflicted with that dreadfull disease , that it usually spares the inhabitants 29 , or 30 years together . and he expresly records , that in numidia it self , ( if i much misremember not the countrey 's name , notwithstanding the raging heat of the climate , the plague is wont to be produc'd but once in a hundred years . our * purchas informs us that in the land of negro's it is not known at all . and to omit what some travellers and navigatours relate of japan , as if it were seldom or never invaded by the pestilence ; i do not remember that in new england , which contains a great extent of land , though i have had both curiosity and opportunity to inquire after the diseases of that countrey , i ever heard the english take any notice of the plague , since their setling there above threescore and ten years ago . and as for the east indies , sir philibert vernatti , a virtuoso of great fame and authority at batavia where he resides , in his ingenious returns to the queries sent him by the royal society ( of naturalists ) answers thus to the fifteenth . [ pestis morbus est indiarum incolis incognitus ] the plague is a disease unknown amongst the indians . and of the countries that lie yet more remote , as the great empire of china , and the kingdoms of tunquin , and of cochinchina , that great traveller alexander de rhodes , who spent 30 years in those parts , affirms , that the plague is not so much as spoken of there . and yet the same jesuit does , upon grounds probable enough , estimate the number of the people of china alone to be two hundred and fifty millions ; [ a number i take to exceed by far that of all the nations of europe . ] now when i consider , how vast tracts of land are compriz'd in those countries , some of which the plague does not at all , and others but exceeding unfrequently , invade ; this immunity seems to me very unfavourable to most , if not all , the opinions receiv'd among physicians , as also that of diemerbroeck himself who derives the plague from a supernatural cause , the wrath of god against the sins of men . for in regions of such extent , and divers of them very populous , which are seated under very differing climats , and which are some of them inhabited by nations , that make war with numerous armies , fight bloudy battels , leave heaps of unbury'd bodies expos'd to the putrefying heat of the sun ; are sometimes forc'd , as well as others to live upon very unwonted and unwholsome foods ; that worship stocks and stones , and beasts , and some of them devils , whom they know to be such ; that are at least as guilty as europeans , of assassinats , poisonings , rapes , oppression , sodomy , and other crying sins : in these regions , i say , 't is not imaginable but that great intemperatures of the air , especially , in point of heat , stench of dead bodies kill'd in fights , unwholsomness of aliments , malevolent aspects of celestial bodies , high provocations of the divine justice , and in short , all the causes , to one or other of which the several parties of physicians are wont to refer the plague , should be wanting any more than in our europe ; and yet the plague which is presum'd to be the effect of one or other of those causes , is not here observed to be produc'd . i know that it may be said , that the historical things i have been reciting , do not onely oppugn the several receiv'd opinions of physicians about the cause of the plague , but disfavour my conjectures too . but if this be said , i desire it may also be consider'd , that my judgment about the plague consists of two parts ; one , that 't is exceeding difficult to assign the true and adequate cause of the origine of the pestilence ; and the other , that whatever be the cause of its first eruption , its propagation and divers of its symptomes , may be probably enough refer'd to the depravation of the air by subterraneal steams , and their effects . if this be duly consider'd the historical observations will appear not to overthrow the first member of our hypothesis , but rather to confirm it : and 't is upon this account that i have mention'd them in this place . and as to the second member it may be said , that since in the east indies and the other countries , i have nam'd , as privileg'd from this raging disease , it is not observ'd to break out : as it cannot be said that subterraneal effluvia do in those countries promote the propagation of it ; so it cannot be prov'd that they could not doe it , incase the plague were begun by other causes . but in regard i think it not improbable that sometimes the plague is not onely fomented but begun by noxious expirations of the terrestrial globe , i shall add that this supposition , though i confess it be somewhat disfavour'd by some of the lately mention'd observations , yet is not absolutely inconsistent with them . for first , it may be said that some of the countries i speak of , may be destitute of those noxious minerals to which we impute some plagues , it holding true in minerals as well as in plants . non omnis fert omnia tellus , and to omit what i have not without some wonders observ'd , of the limits of differing sorts of mines and mineral veins in very bordering parts of the same tract of land , i cannot but here take notice , that though sulphur be in many countries usually found , and that in plenty where there are other metalline veins , insomuch that chymists make it one of the three principles of all metals , yet in the mines of england more strictly so call'd , i do not remember i ever met with so much as an ounce of native sulphur , and i could not find by divers mineralists , of whom i purposely ask'd the question that they had met with any among the various mines they had frequented . it may also happen that there may be hurtfull minerals in a countrey , and yet not capable of often producing or promoting pestilences there , even upon moderate earthquakes . for 't is possible that these orpimental or other noxious minerals may have their beds or veins lying so deep in the earth , that they are not ordinarily able to send up effluvia , strong and copious enough to make a pestilential depravation of the air , and even in lesser earthquakes the commotion or agitation of the ground , especially if the earth-quakes proceed ( as one may suspect that divers of them do ) from the sudden fall of ponderous masses in the hollow parts of the earth and the shakings of the ground thereby produc'd , and sometimes spreading far , may not reach so far downwards as much to affect these very deep mines , and yet some other more violent earthquakes , may affect even these ; upon which ground one may give some tolerable account why the plague in some parts of africk has been observ'd to rage but once in thirty or once in an hundred years ; for there may be periodical paroxysms , if i may so call them , or grand and vehement commotions in subterraneal parts , though men have not yet , for want of sufficient longevity or curiosity observ'd them . on which occasion , i remember that a late judicious french historian recounts that in part of the last age , and part of this , a very pernicious disease of the nature of a colick raign'd in france every tenth year for a long tract of time . and the experienc'd * platerus relates , that at basil , where with great success he practis'd physick fifty six years , the city was afflicted with furious plagues once about every tenth year for seventy years together , of each of which pestilences he gives a particular account in his usefull observation . it may also farther be said , that those exhalations in the east indies , &c. that would otherwise be pestiferous , may be corrected by other expirations that may be either of benign nature , or of such a nature , as though noxious in themselves , may fit them by combining with those that would be pestiferous to disable them to be so , as i elsewhere observ'd out of beguinus , that a countrey abounding in veins and masses of cinnabar , which is the ore of quicksilver , was preserv'd from the plague , when the neighbouring regions were wasted by it ; and i shall illustrate this matter somewhat farther by taking notice , that though corrosive sublimate be so mischievous a mineral composition , that a few grains may kill a man , yet the fumes of this combin'd with those of crude , common quicksilver , which are themselves unwholesome enough , make mercurius dulcis , which is a mixture so innocent , that being well prepar'd , and well administred , it is both safely and usefully given even to children . if what has been said will not suffice , i shall propose another possible way of accounting for the immunity of some countries from the plague . for one may conceive that in such regions the soil , and other assisting causes may constantly produce in the air such a constitution as is found in the air of egypt , during the time of the increase , and overflowing of nile , which usually lasts every year for several weeks , for during this time the air is so antipestilential , that not only the plague does not make a new eruption ; but is either wonderfully check'd or quite suppress'd in those houses that it has already invaded , so that its mortal infection reaches no farther , and that it may not be thought incredible that some countries may have , if i may so speak , an antidotal nature , in reference to some pernicious evils , i shall represent that there are some whole countries which are privileg'd from producing vipers , toads , and other venemous creatures , as is vulgarly known concerning ireland , where i could never see any such , nor find by enquiry of either the natives , or english inhabitants , that they had met with any in that kingdom , where 't is an uncontroll'd tradition , that if poysonous creatures have been carefully brought there from other parts , they have died almost as soon as they came thither . there are some other islands to which a like hostility to venemous animals is ascrib'd : and as it seems not inpossible that some countries should have a soil that so impregnats the air as to make it suppress or quite enervate many differing sorts of poysons , so others may by their constitution be qualify'd to master or resist poisonous expirations or wandering corpuscles that elsewhere are wont to produce the plague . and this may suffice for the first thing whereon we ground our hypothesis . the second thing that invited me to the above propos'd suspicion or conjecture , is , that it affords a not improbable account of some considerable things , relating to the production and phaenomena of the plague . ( 1. ) as first , 't is observ'd that sometimes the plague breaks out , when there has not preceded any such immoderate distemper of the air , or any casual enormity capable of producing so great and anomalous an effect . nay , which is more , it has been observ'd , that very great and unusual intemperatenesses of the air have several times happen'd , and divers notable and threatning aspects of the stars have been noted by good writers without being follow'd by the plague . the celebrated * fernelius relates , that near the time he writ this observation , that year , which of all those that had pass'd in the memory of man , was all the world over the most immoderately hot , and was yet most healthfull . and the same authour reports the plague to have begun in the midst of winter , and to have gone off in summer , and that several times ardent summers have been altogether free from the plague : which i also have noted to be true . johannes morellus observes , that in his countrey after a dry winter , and wherein the north wind reign'd , though it were succeeded by a most temperate and healthfull spring , yet this brought in the plague , and that , when the north wind was predominant and the air pure and sincere . which i the less scruple to believe , because i observ'd something very like it in the constitutions of the air , that preceded and accompany'd the dreadfull london plague that broke out in the year 1665. which phaenomena much disfavour their opinion that impute the plague to the excesses of the manifest qualities of the air ; but are agreeable to our hypothesis , since by what has been formerly deliver'd , we may gather that noxious subterraneal fumes may be suddenly , and without any warning belch'd up into the air , and , by depraving it , produce fatal diseases in many of those that are constantly surrounded by it , and draw it in , almost every moment , with their breath . of the deadly hurtfulness of divers subterraneal expirations , at their first eruption , there are many histories extant in approv'd authours : and we have observ'd instances of that sort , in the times and countries we live in . but , because all poisonous , and even mortal , exhalations are not therefore truly pestiferous , but may , like many other poisons , kill the persons they immediately invade , without qualifying them to infect others ; i shall add a passage out of that excellent historian monsieur de mezeray who relates in the life of philip de valois , that the plague that happened in france in the year 1346. was so contageous and destructive , that scarce a village , or even a house , escap'd uninfected by it . he adds , that this pestilence , than which none had been observ'd more furious and spreading , began two years before in the kingdom of cathay , by a vapour that was most horribly stinking , which brake out of the earth like a kind of subterraneal fire , consum'd and devour'd above 200 leagues of that countrey , even to the very trees and stones , and infected the air in a wonderfull manner . from cathay , say's he , it pass'd into asia and greece , thence into africk , afterwards into europe , which it ransack'd throughout . other instances , of pestilences begun by noxious subterraneal fumes , i have met with in good authours ; but cannot now recall the particulars to mind , and therefore shall pass on to the second observation . ( 2. ) in the next place then ; whereas 't is noted by diligent observers , that there is a wonderfull diversity in several countries , and even in the same countrey at several distant times , of those raging diseases , that physicians agree in calling the plague , ( whence it happens that such medicins or methods of curing as are in one plague succesfull , as phlebotomy , purging , &c. do oftentimes in another prove dangerous , if not mortal ) whereas ( i say ) this great variety has been observ'd in plagues ; it may be fairly accounted for , by the great number and diversity that has been actually found , or may be reasonably suppos'd , in the numerous minerals , and other bodies that nature has lay'd up in the subterraneal regions : especially if we consider , that the number of such bodies may be much increas'd and diversified , by the various combinations which may be made of them , not onely by casualties , but by the action of subterraneal fires , and aestuaries , and menstruums , such as i have elsewhere shewn to be lodg'd beneath the turf or superficies of the earth . and the ascending corpuscles of those mineral bodies , being most of them solid and subtile , may produce in the bloud ; and so in the body , far more odd , and violent symtomes , than the peccant humours that use to beget ordinary diseases . which may be one reason , and perhaps the chief , why the ancient heathens , and hippocrates himself , acknowledg'd in pestilential diseases 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , somewhat of divine , surpassing ordinary nature . what these mineral substances are , whose steams produce such odd and dismal symtomes , i think exceeding hard to determine . yet , if i were to name one sort , i should perhaps think the least unlikely to be orpiment . for , of the poysonous minerals we are acquainted with , i know not any of which there is greater quantity in the bowels of the earth ; especially taking that name , in the latitude allowed it , by those skilfull men , that make three sorts of it , viz. yellow , red and white orpiment , divers of whose mischievous effects seem to agree well enough with the symtomes of some plagues , and may be guessed to have at least a considerable interest in the production of them . but yet , to speak candidly , i do not think that these minerals are the causes , even of all those pestilences whose efficients may come from under the ground : for several reasons , and some drawn from experience , make me think that the subterraneal regions have many kinds of very mischievous fossiles , of which physicians , and even chymists , have no knowledge , and for which they have not any distinct names ; and that the various associations of these , which nature may by fire and menstruums make under ground , and perhaps in the air it self ; may very much increase the number , and variety of hurtfull matters , and also heighten their hostility to humane bodies : as i think may be argued from the factitious white arsenick that is commonly sold in shops , which though usually made of orpiment , by the addition of so innocent a body as common salt , ( which is found in great plenty under ground , ) is observ'd to be far more poysonous than orpiment it self . and i remember that a skilfull chymist , having in my presence tasted some prepar'd , and , as was thought , somewhat corrected arcenick ; was quickly invaded by such symtomes , as he thought would presently kill him . but , through god's blessing , i quickly put him out of danger , though not out of pain , by early prescribing him store of oil of sweet almonds , and something made of lemmons , that i chanc'd to have by me : but to return to what i was saying ; sandarach seems to be , but orpiment whose yellow colour is deepn'd to redness : and native arsenick , ( for i have seen such a thing , though it rarely comes into england , ) seems to be little other than pale or white orpiment . and indeed in hungary , all three may be found not far from one another in the same mine ; as i learn'd by inquiry from an observing eye-witness , by whose means , and of another chymist , divers native orpimental minerals ( to say nothing of realgar ) because it is a factitious combination of orpiment and sulphur , came to my hands . and as this sort of fossiles comprizes more numerous and various ones , than is vulgarly noted , so the very noxious effects of the effluvia of orpiment , are not unknown to divers physicians : and the learned sennertus gives a particular instance of it in a painter , who upon opening a box where orpiment , which men of his profession use as a pigment , had been long kept , had his face all swell'd , and was cast into fainting fits. and as white arsenick is of a more piercing and corrosive nature , so it were not difficult to shew out of the writings of eminent physicians that its effects have divers times proved very hurtfull , and sometimes mortal . when but externally worn in amulets , especially if the pores of the skin were open by exercise and sweat ; and the nature of the symptomes produced seems to confirm our hypothesis , since the persons that wore these arsenical amulets were affected , some with great anxieties about the heart , some with inflammation , some with burning fevers , some with exulceration of the breasts , so some with pussles like those of the plague , and these were sometimes black , as if made with a caustick : most patients were affected with great weakness and faintness , &c. as if they had swallowed poison ; and of one young man 't is recorded , that having heated himself in a tennis-court with an amulet upon his breast , the virulence of its corpuscles made him fall down stark dead upon the spot . and 't is a considerable circumstance in these observations , that several patients were cur'd of the symptomes that seem'd to be pestilential ones by the same remedies that are alexipharmacal against the plague , whence it may also be made probable , that the plague it self many times is a natural , though a dreadfull and anomalous disease , since its effects and symptomes so much resemble those of acknowledg'd poisons , and have been cur'd by antidotes effectual against other poisons . i have not time to mention what i have my self try'd and observ'd about the bad effects of orpiment , and its kinds . but i remember , that enquiring of an ingenious man , who sometimes visited a mine which was known to abound with orpimental fossils ; he answer'd me , that when he walked over the neighbouring grounds , he found himself much disorder'd , especially in his thorax by the effluvia , and that the mine-men and diggers were subject to a malignant anomalous and dangerous sort of fevers , though he said he was apt to impute , i know not how truly , some part of their obnoxiousness to it , to their drinking too much strong wine . but though 't is probable the effluvia of orpimental bodies may have a great interest in several plagues , yet , i strongly suspect that many others may proceed from the steams of such subterraneal bodies as are not yet distinctly known to us ; and possibly have their effluvia variously combin'd , either beneath or above the surface of the earth . i say above ; because i have several times , and that without heat , combin'd separately invisible fumes of differing kinds , into manifestly visible ones in the free and open air. and that the subterraneal effluvia may produce effects , and therefore probably be of natures , very uncommon , irregular , and if i may so speak , extravagant , may appear in those prodigious crosses that were seen in our time , viz. in the year 1660. in the kingdom of naples , after an eruption of the fiery mountain vesuvius : of which prodigies the learned kircherus has given an account in a particular diatribe . for these crosses were seen on linen garments , as shirt-sleeves , womens aprons , that had lain open to the air , and upon the expos'd parts of sheets ; which is the less to be admired , because as kircher fairly guesses , the mineral vapours were by the texture that belongs to linen [ which consists of threads crossing one another for the most part at or near right angles ] easily determin'd to run along in almost streight lines , crossing each other , and consequently to frame spots resembling some one , and some another kind of crosses . these were extremely numerous in several parts of the kingdom of naples : insomuch that the jesuit that sent the relation to kircher says that he himself found thirty in one altar-cloth , that fifteen were found upon the smock sleeve of a woman , and that he reckoned eight in a boy 's band : also their colour and magnitude were very unequal , and their figures discrepant , as may appear in many pictures of them drawn by the relatour : they would not wash out with simple water , but requir'd soap ; their duration was also unequal , some lasting ten or fifteen days , and others longer before they disappear'd . and these crosses were found not onely upon linen garments expos'd to the air , but upon some of those ( belonging to altars ) that were kept lock'd up in chests ( to which possibly they might have access by the key-holes , or some unheeded chinck . ) to which strange phaenomena if i had the leisure to add some others that i have met with in agricola , and other approved authours , whose relations my memory doth not now serve me particularly to cite ; i presume it would appear yet more probable that subterraneal effluvia may now and then be of a very anomalous nature , and produce strange effects , and among them variety of pestiferous ones in the air. but , to add this upon the bye : though i fear physicians will not be able to discover all the subterraneal bodies whose effluvia produce or contribute to the plague : yet i do not think it impossible that by diligent observations and trials , sagacious men may discover divers of them ; and perhaps antidotes against them . and though the business of this paper be to treat of the causes , not the remedies of the plague ; yet i love mankind too well , to suppress on this occasion an observation , that , by god's blessing , may in some cases , save the lives of many . in the late great plague that swept away so many thousands at london , there staid in the city an ingenious physician , that was bred by the learned diemerbroeck , ( whose book de peste , i prefer to any i have yet read of that disease . ) this doctour ( whose name i am sorry i have forgotten ) hearing that i was desirous to receive an account of the plague from some intelligent eye-witness , and having soon after some occasion to pass near the place in the countrey where i then resided , was pleas'd to give me a visit , and a rational account of the main things i desired to know ; and when i inquired about his method of cure , after he had told me that he had twice had the plague himself , whereof he shewed me some effects ; he added , that after many and various trials , he perceiv'd that abundance of his patients died , after the bubos , ( carbuncles ) or pestilential tumours appear'd ; because upon a little refrigeration of the body by the air , and oftentimes by the very fear that disheartened the patient , the tumours would suddenly subside , and the pestilential matter recoiling upon the vital parts , would quickly dispatch the fatal work . wherefore he bethought himself of a method , by means of which he assur'd me , he had not lost one patient of very many he treated ; if he could but , as he usually did , by good alexipharmical , and cordial remedies , enable and excite nature to expell the peccant matter into a tumour ; for then he presently clapp'd on an appropriated drawing plaster , which would never suffer the tumour to subside ; but break it , or make it fit for opening , and thereby give nature a convenient vent , at which to discharge the matter that oppress'd her . this plaster 't will easily be thought i was desirous to know ; and he told me 't was a chymical one , and that 't was no other than the magnes arsenicalis of angelus sala , whose description , because the book wherein 't is found , is in few hands , i have here annext . if this prove as successfull in other plagues , as it did to those that us'd it in that of london ; there will be just cause to admire and praise the benignity of divine providence , which in a poisonous mineral , that probably does oftentimes concur to produce the plague , has laid up a remedy for it . emplastrum attractivum pestilentiale nostrum . ℞ gummi sagapeni , ammoniaci , galbani an . ℥ iii. terebinthinae coctae , cerae virginis ana ℥ ivss . magnetis arsenicalis subtiliter pulverisati ℥ ii . radic ' aronis pulverisat ' ℥ i. gummi depurentur cum aceto scyllitico , & ad consistentiam emplastri coquantur , & postea ponderentur , deinde cum rebus aliis fiat emplastrum lege artis , hoc emplastro carbunculus obducatur , quod paucis horis venenum extrahit . praeparatio magnetis arsenicalis antea dicti . ℞ arsenici chrystallini , sulphuris vitri , antimonii crudi ana , haec tria in mortario ferreo pulverisentur , in vase fortissimo vitreo , ponantur ad ignem arenae donec vitrum optimè incalcscat , & praedicta solvantur & liquentur instar picis , quod observabitur quando filum quoddam immittitur in fundum quod extractum postea instar terebinthinae trahetur ubi satis coctum erit , postea remove vitrum ab igne , & ubi refrigeratum est rumpe , & subtiliter pulverisa , & ad usum serva . by the same motive ( philanthropy ) i am induc'd to add on this occasion , that having had some opportunity to oblige an ancient and very experienc'd physician , to whose care was committed a great pesthouse , where the contagion was so strong , that he lost three physicians that were to be assistants to him , and three chirurgeons of four that were to be subservient to him ; i disir'd to learn of him , if he counted it not too great a secret , what antidote he us'd to preserve himself from so violent and fatal an infection . this request he readily granted , but withall told me , that his method would not seem to me worth mentioning , if i were one that valu'd medicines by their pompousness , not their utility . for , besides ardent prayers to god , and a very regular diet , his constant antidote was onely , to take every morning fasting a little sea-salt dissolv'd in a few spoonfulls of fair water ; which he made choice of , both because it kept his body soluble without purging or weakning it , and for other reasons which i must not now stay to set down . i know this medicine may appear a despicable one ; but yet in my opinion it ought not to be despis'd , after such experience as i have related has recommended it . for i think it desirable , that notice be taken of all remedies , that have been found by good trials , not bare conjectures or uncertain reports , available against the plague . for , since pestilences , as we have lately noted , are exceeding various in their kinds , 't is very possible , and not unlikely , that their appropriated remedies may be so too . and therefore i would not easily lay aside every medicine , that this or that learned physician may speak slightly of , or even may declare that he has found it unsuccessfull against the plague ; since the same medicine may be available in a pestilence of another kind , in which perhaps the remedies commended by the physician we speak of , will be found inefficacious . this consideration forbids me to pass by what happen'd to me in the great london plague above-mention'd ; namely , that a very learned physician having once recommended to me an herb little noted in england , as a most effectual and experienced antidote against the plague , i caus'd it to be cultivated in a garden ( as i still do every year ; ) and when the pestilence raged most , having some of it by me , made up with a little sugar in the form of a fine green conserve , i sent it to two infected persons , who , by the divine benediction on it , both of them recover'd . but having made but those two trials , i dare not ground much upon them onely ; though i usually keep the plant growing in a garden , partly because both the taste and colour ; one or other of which in most antidotes is offensive , are in this pleasant ; and partly because some little experience has invited me to believe the commendations that i have found given of it , against the bitings of venomous creatures : whereof i remember a notable instance is recorded by petrus spehrerius of a roman , who having with his staff pierc'd or crush'd a viper , that he took to be dead , had so strong a venom transmitted along the staff , that the insuing night he had a very great inflammation in both his lips , to which superven'd an exceeding ardent fever and strange tortures ; from all which serianus pacyonius , a noted physician that was call'd to him , free'd him as it were by miracle , by the juice of goats-rue , or as others call it galega , that grew copiously in that place . it may without disgust be taken somewhat plentifully , ( and so it ought to be ) in its entire substance as a salad ; or else one may give its conserve , its syrup , or , which is better , its juice newly express'd . ( 3. ) it likewise agrees with our hypothesis ; that sometimes the plague ceases , or at least very notably abates of its infectiousness and malignity , in far less time than according to the wonted course of that ravenous disease , physicians did , or rationally could expect . for sometimes it may happen , that , though the temperature or intemperateness of the air continues the same , the matter that afforded the pestiferous exhalations may be either spent under ground , or so alter'd by combination with other subterraneal bodies , or by some of those many accidents that may happen , altogether unknown to us , in those deep and dark recesses . and if once the fountain of these noxious effluvia be stopt , so that those that are in the air cease to be recruited , the wind and other causes may in a short time dissipate them , or at least dilute them with innocent air , so far , as to keep the disease they produc'd from being any thing near so mischievous as before . and here i consider , that it may several times happen , that , though the minerals that emit the hurtfull expirations , remain where they were under ground , and be not considerably wasted , yet their fatal effects may not be lasting , because the effluvia were generated by the conflict of two or more of them , which vehemently agitated one another , and sent up fumes , which ceas'd to ascend , at least in great plenty , when the conflict and agitation ceas'd . as , i have try'd that by putting good spirit of salt upon filings of steel or iron in a conveniently shap'd glass , there will be made a great conflict between them , and without the help of external heat , there will be sent up into the air store of visible fumes of a very sulphureous odour , and easily inflammable , which copious elevation of fumes will lessen or cease , as does the tumultuous agitation that produc'd them . and so likewise , if you pour aqua fortis upon a convenient proportion of salt of tartar , there will be at first a great ebullition produc'd , and , whilst that continues , store of red and noisome fumes will be elevated , but will not long outlast the commotion of the mixture , whose active parts will in no long time combine into a kind of nitrous salt , wherein the noxious parts of the menstruum are as it were pinion'd , and hinder'd from evaporating or ascending , though really they retain much of their pristine nature , as i elsewhere shew . it may also happen , that soon after that commotion of subterraneal matter , which sent forth pestiferous exhalations , a more intense degree of subterraneal heat , or perhaps the same latent fire , extending it self farther and farther , may force up fumes of another sort , that being of a contrary nature , may be , if i may so speak , antidotal against the former ; and by precipitating them , or combining with them , may disable them from acting so mischievously as otherwise they would . to countenance which i shall tell you , that i have sometimes purposely made distillations , in which one part of the matter being , after the operation ended , put to the other , there will ensue a sudden and manifest conflict between them , and sometimes an intense degree of heat . and that mineral exhalations , though otherwise not wholesome , may disable pestiferous effluvia , may be gather'd from what i lately noted about a countrey , which abounding with veins of cinnabar , was , probably by their expirations , preserved from the pestilence . and our hypothesis will perhaps appear somewhat the more probable , if we reflect on what i lately mention'd of the sudden check , that is almost every summer given to the plague , which at that time is wont to reign at grand cairo . for since 't is generally observ'd and complain'd of , that morbifick causes doe their work much more effectually than sanative ones . it seems very probable that exhalations ascending from under-ground into the atmosphere , may be capable of producing pestilential fevers , and the plague it self , since those corpuscles that impregnate the egyptian air upon the swelling of the nile , are able to put a speedy stop , not onely to the contagiousness , but to the malignity of the plague , even when 't is assisted by the summer heat , which at grand cairo is wont to be excessive . but having insisted perhaps too long on this egyptian pestilence , i shall onely add , by way of illustration of the conjecture that invited me to mention it , that the accession even of expirations that are not themselves wholsome , may sometimes serve to correct the air , and put a sudden check to an epidemical disease . for corpuscles of differing kinds may by their coalitions acquire new qualities , and each sort of them lose some of those they had before : as , suppose there wander'd in the air a great many effluvia , which by their determinate shape and bulk were apt to corrode or irritate the lungs , or the membranes of the brain , &c. as those of nitre are to corrode silver ; it may happen that another sort of reeks , though in their own nature unwholsome , may , by associating themselves with the first sort , and composing with them curpuscles of new qualities , abolish or much weaken the noxious ones they had before , in reference to this or that part of the humane body . though the spirits of salt-peter will readily corrode silver , yet if you add to them ( as for some purposes i am wont to do ) about half as much or less of the spirituous particles of common salt , ( which yet are corrosive enough , and will fret asunder the parts of iron , copper , antimony , &c. ) there will emerge a body that will not at all corrode pure silver . proposition iv. t is very probable , that most of the diseases that even physicians call new ones , are caus'd either chiefly or concurrently by subterraneal steams . the product of my first endeavours to bring credit to the foregoing proposition , appearing to have miscarry'd , when i came to send to the press the things i had written about it ; that at least what can be preserv'd of it may not be lost , i shall substitute in stead of it the following account . at the entrance of my discourse i observ'd that the term new disease was much abused by the vulgar , who are wont to give that title to almost every fever , that , in autumn especially , varies a little in its symptoms , or other circumstances , from the fevers of the foregoing year or season . and therefore i declared , that by new diseases i meant onely such , whose symptoms were so uncommon , that physicians themselves judged them to deserve that appellation ; such , for instance , as the sudor anglicus or sweating sickness ; that disease which the learned wierus and others call in dutch die varen ; an unheard-of disease describ'd by ronseius , that in the year 1581 invaded and destroy'd many in the dukedom of lunenburg ; to which many physicians add the rickets , and others generally the lues venerea . having clear'd the terms , i next consider'd whether there were really any new diseases properly so call'd , and gave some reasons to suspect that some diseases , which among physicians themselves have pass'd for new , were extant before in rerum natura , though not in the countrey wherein even the learned judg'd them to be new . and i intimated , that to examine this suspicion throughly , 't is not safe to acquiesce in the books of physicians onely ; but 't is fit to consult the writings of geographers , whether ancient ( among whom i particularly recommended strabo ) or modern , together with the relations of historians , navigators and other travellers . and here i inquired , without determining any thing , whether the lues venerea be , as most physicians are wont to suppose a disease wholly new , or onely new to our european world , and brought hither from some african or other remote region , where it may be probably suspected to have long been endemical . but taking it for granted , with the generality of physicians , that some new diseases are to be admitted ; i advanced to consider some of the causes , to which they may be imputed ; and to give some reasons , why i do'nt acquiesce in their opinion , though very general , that derive them onely or chiefly from the varying influences of the heavenly bodies . for the most powerfull of those , namely the sun and moon , act in too general and indeterminate a way , to afford a sufficient account of this affair . and as for the other lights , the fixt stars , besides their being universal and indefinite agents , their scarce measurable remoteness makes it justly questionable , whether they have any sensible operation upon any part of our bodies , save our eyes . and , though i deny not that great intemperateness of the air , as to the four first qualities , as heat , cold , driness and moisture , are wont ( not over justly ) to be call'd , may dispose mens bodies to several great distempers , and may also be concurrent causes of those we are speaking of : yet neither can i acquiesce in these , when i consider how much more frequently they happen , than new diseases do ; and that their action , though various , is too general and indeterminate to perswade me , that they can be the adequate causes of effects so rare and anomalous ▪ as diseases odd enough to deserve the title of new . but now ; the subterranean region of our globe , besides that it is always near us , abounds with variety of noxious minerals , and probably conceals great quantities of differing sorts of them , that are yet unknown to us . and since we have elsewhere proved , that there want not causes in the bowels of the earth , to make great and irregular , and sometimes sudden confluxes , conflicts , dissipations , and other considerable changes , amongst the materials , that nature has plentifully treasured up in those her secret magazins . and since , in making out the three former propositions , we have manifested , that the subterraneal parts of the globe we inhabit , may plentifully send up noxious effluvia of several kinds into the air ; it ought not to seem improbable that among this emergent variety of exotick and hurtfull steams , some may be found capable to disaffect humane bodies , after a very uncommon way , and thereby to produce new diseases ; whose duration may be greater or smaller , according to the lastingness of those subterraneal causes , that produce them . on which account it need be no wonder , that some new diseases have but a short duration , and vanish not long after , there appearing the source or fomes of the morbifick effluvia , being soon destroy'd , or spent : whereas some others may continue longer upon the stage , as having under ground more settled and durable causes to maintain them . which last part of the observation may be illustrated by what happen'd in calabria ; which province , though it have been observed to have acquired , within these two or three ages , the faculty of producing manna upon certain trees * ; yet this great change , though sudden enough , had it seems such stable causes , as well as of great extent , that it hath lasted several scores of years , and continues in that countrey to this day . i am not ignorant that the whole doctrine propounded in the four propositions about the insalubrity of the air , is not at all comfortable either to patients or physicians : but important theories deserv'd to be inquir'd into , and , if true , to be deliver'd though we could wish they were untrue . and judicious men rather thank than blame those that have given us account of latent or unsuspected , though perhaps irremediable causes of diseases and of death ; or have recorded the histories of some poysons , whereof the true antidotes are yet unknown . uncommon notions about diseases may serve to inlarge the physicians mind and excite his attention and curiosity : and , besides that they may keep him from too obstinately persisting in the use of receiv'd medicins , though unsuccessfull , upon a supposition that the disease can have no other causes , than those wont to be assign'd it by classick authours : besides this , i say ; i do not despair , but that either the sagacity or fortune of this inquisitive age , or at least of posterity , may by the blessing of god be happy enough to find proper remedies , even for those diseases that proceed from subterranean effluvia , when once by proper signs they shall be distinctly discover'd ; ( of which power of appropriated remedies ) i have known some instances , as to the very bad symptoms produc'd by antimonial and some other mineral fumes . some of the points discours'd of under the fourth proposition , were of affinity enough to paradoxes to have need of being illustrated or confirmed by observations and experiments . and therefore having accidentally retriev'd some of this last nam'd sort , i shall venture to subjoin them as a specimen , though without transitions or applications , but just as i found them thrown together , in one loose sheet , wherein i lighted on them . but it is time to conclude with the recital of the promised experiments . which i would immediately do , but that i hold it fit to premise , by way of introduction to them , that i hope the things hitherto discours'd will appear much the more probable , if we shall prove by experiments , that which seems much less likely than any thing we have above deliver'd ; namely , that metals completely formed and malleable may be elevated into the air , and that perhaps without any great violence of fire , in the form of exhalations and vapours ; the singly invisible corpuscles still retaining their metalline nature . this at least , as to some metals , i have endeavour'd to prove in another tract , [ entitl'd a paradox about the fuel of flames . ] but because that discourse was never publish'd i will here set down two or three experiments , ( not mention'd , that i remember in it . ) which i do , the more willingly , because it may be a thing of no small moment in physick , if it be shewn that fixt and solid bodies , such as metals are , may by art be reduc'd into such minute corpuscles , that without loosing their nature and all their properties , they may become parts of fumes , or perhaps of invisible vapours , or even of flame it self . particulars belonging to the ivth proposition . exper. i. we took three parts or pounds of dantsic vitriol ( which is blew and somewhat partakes of copper ) and two parts or pounds of good sea-salt ; these being very well powder'd and mix'd were distill'd with a strong naked fire , to force out all that could be driven over : and by this means we not onely obtain'd a spirit of salt of a manifestly blewish colour , but there ascended also a considerable quantity of powder , which being shaken with the liquor , settled at the bottom of it in the form of a powder , which was judg'd to consist of corpuscles of a cupreous nature , and perhaps also of some of a martial nature . but i unhappily neglected the opportunity of examining this powder , which came up in quantity enough to have serv'd for various trials . exper. ii. by substituting english vitriol ( which is green , and is much more abundant in iron than that of dantsic , ) and proceeding in other respects as in the former process , we obtain'd a very yellow spirit , with a considerable quantity of a yellowish powder , that was guess'd to be a kind of crocus martis . exper. iii. we took very thin plates of copper , and cast them into a retort , upon an equal or a double weight ( for we did not always use the same ) of good mercury sublimate ; and luting on the receiver , gave a fire by degrees for several hours : by which means we usually obtain'd some running mercury , ( which seemed to be very well purifi'd and was perhaps also impregnated ) together with some sublimate that had not fasten'd upon the copper . and at the bottom of the retort we had good store of a ponderous and brittle substance , that did not look at all like a metal , but rather like something of a gummous or resinous nature , being also fusible and inflammable almost like sealing wax . this , having not opportunity to prosecute the experiment at home , i put into the hands of an industrious physician , that was earnest with me to impart to him the process , and let him pursue it for me . he according to my direction expos'd this metalline rosin ( if i may so call it ) grossly beaten to the free air , where it did , according to expectation , in a short time change colour , and turn to a kind of verdegreece : which being dissolv'd in good spirit of salt gave a solution of a very lovely green colour . this being slowly distill'd ad siccitatem , yielded but a very weak and phlegmatick liquour ; and the caput mortuum was again dissolv'd in fresh spirit , and the menstruum abstracted as before . this was done several times , till the matter was so impregnated , that the menstruum being drawn off from it , came over as strong almost as when it was put on . this done , the thus impregnated verdegreece was diligently mingl'd with tripoly , or some such insipid and fixt additament , and distill'd with a strong fire ; by which means it afforded good store of a liquour colourless like common water : which made the physician suppose the experiment had miscarry'd , till i having dropt into it a colourless liquor , namely spirit of hartshorn or of sal-armoniac ; he was much and delightfully surpriz'd , to find it presently disclose a deep and lovely blew colour . what afterwards became of this odd spirit , i need not here declare ; what has been said being sufficient , to shew that corpuscles of copper may be elevated in the form of exhalations both transparent and colourless . the next following experiment though in part mention'd by some chymist is here subjoin'd , because it 's necessary and applied to a particular purpose . exper. iv. if from good ▪ cornish tin you warily distill an equal or double weight of venetian sublimate , into a very large receiver very well luted on to the retort , you will obtain a spirituous liquor , which as soon as the free air comes to touch it , will send up abundance of white exhalations in the form of a thick smoak , which will continue to be emitted much longer than one would imagine . but that which i desire to have particularly observ'd in this experiment is , that though this liquor be thus apt to emit smoak , not onely plentifully , but as one would think with violence , yet i found by trial , that even when i put it into a vessel not strait mouth'd , if i did but lay a piece of a single leaf of paper flat-wise upon the orifice of the glass , so as to cover it all , the visible production of the fumes would presently cease ; and the liquor would lie like common water , as long as the paper lay , though but lightly upon the glass ; though upon the removal of that , the liquor would send up plentifull fumes as before , which seems to argue , that some metalline substances may , by the contact of the air , have their copious ascension into the atmosphere very much help'd and promoted , as if the air had saline or other sort of particles in it , that are in reference to some mineral bodies of a very volatilizing nature . the way by which i have divers times elevated the fixedst of ▪ metals , gold it self , i have deliver'd in another paper , and shall not here repeat it . but i shall now set down an experiment that when it is carefully made , is easie to be perform'd , and yet affords a notable and sensible proof , that the corpuscles of a metal may be made to ascend , and that plentifully , even with a very moderate heat , under the form of ordinary fumes or smoak . to effect this i devis'd the following experiment . we took copper and dissolv'd it in good aqua fortis , till the menstruum was satiated with it , in the strong solution we steep'd a while some brown or other porous paper , that being fitter than the finer , to soak up the menstruum ; then slowly evaporating the superfluous moisture , we put a quantity of this imperfectly dry'd paper upon the hearth , at such a distance from a fire of actually flaming wood that the paper was not kindled , but yet was so scorch'd , as to afford very plentifull fumes : these look'd like ordinary smoak , whilst they mov'd through the air , and would questionless have mingl'd with it , and been dispers'd through it , if the body that emitted them had not been purposely plac'd for a future design . but when the motion of the air towards the flame had carry'd these fumes to it , the metalline smoak did , as i expected , disclose its nature ; for being actually kindled , it ting'd the flame of a lovely colour , for the most part blew , and sometimes green , as it happen'd to be variously mix'd with the flame and smoak of the wood. the end . a short supplement to the essay of the great effects of even languid and vnheeded local motion . that i may not be altogether wanting to the expectation that may have been rais'd , by a passage in the advertisement prefix'd to the foregoing essay ; i shall here subjoin some particulars , which perhaps will not be unwelcome to the readers , that occurr'd to my remembrance , whilst i was , with a transient eye , reviewing the heads of the past discourse . but these paralipomena or supplements will be but few , not onely because of my want of leasure to review the tract they belong to deliberately , but also because some instances , that might be here subjoin'd , may be more opportunely brought in in other papers . to the iiid . chapter . that the motion of the air that accompanies sounds may be propagated to great distances , and yet make considerable impressions on the bodies it finds there , dispos'd to admit its action , may be notably confirm'd , by a phaenomenon i have met with , in the learned mathematician borellus , who relates it upon his own knowledge , and not undeservedly magnifies it : which i shall therefore recite in his own words . aderam ( says he ) tauromenii siciliae , quando aetna mons eruptionem quandam effecerat propè ennam , urbem fere 30. milliaria à tauromenio distantem , tunc vicibus interpolatis eruptiones ingentes ignis vorago efficiebat , grandi sono & strepitu , & tunc omnia tauromenii aedificia , tremore concutiebantur , in quo circumstantiam notatu dignissimam observavi : scilicet , quòd domus & aedificia quae directè exposita erant prospectui ejusdem voraginis , vehementissimè concutiebantur ; reliquae verò domus , quae conspectu voraginis privabantur , satis lentè & leniter tremorem efficiebant . upon which matter of fact he thus argues : profectò , si hujusmodi tremor factus fuisset à concussione & resilitione soli tauromenitani , omnes domus aequè concussae fuissent , & aequali tremore agitatae , ita ut non possit conspectus voraginis tam insignem & evidentem inaequalitatem tremoris procreare ; igitur necessariò à tremore ejusdem aëris incusso in parietibus domorum liberè percussiones excipientum , agitatio illa efficiebatur . videas hinc , ( infers he ) quanta soni ad 30 milliarium distantiam efficacia sit . to the vth. chapter . that motion may be propagated far , through bodies of differing natures , may be inferr'd from what is mention'd in this chapter , especially about earthquakes . but because it may reasonably be suspected , that the active matter which produces those stupendious motions , is dispers'd into divers places , and may be of considerable extent , i shall here subjoin , out of the eloquent famianus strada , an instance , which is much the most memorable to my purpose that i remember to have met with in history ; to manifest to how great an extent a motion excited in a very narrow compass , perhaps but a very few fathom square , may be propagated through differing mediums , and one of them as solid as earth . this famous historian then , having describ'd a stupendious work , that had been with great skill and care made by the prince of parma , to keep the city of antwerp , which he closely besieged , from being reliev'd by the river scheldt ( which , though not broad , is deep ) proceeds to relate , that an engineer , who was a great master in his art , having undertaken to destroy this great work with a vessel ( which i think we may call a floating mine ) fraught with gunpowder , fireworks , &c. perform'd it with so tragical a success , that some spanish officers that were present , reckon'd 800. to have been kill'd outright , besides a great number that were wounded and maim'd . but that part of the narrative which comes home to our present purpose , is deliver'd in these words . on a sudden the fatal ship burst , with such a horrid crash , as if the very sky had rent asunder , heaven and earth had charg'd one another , and the whole machine of the earth it self had quaked . for the storm of stones , chains and bullets being cast out with thunder and lightning , there followed such a slaughter , as no man , but that actually it happen'd , could have imagin'd . the castle on which the internal ship fell , the pile-work of the bridge to st. mary's fort , that part of the naval bridge next the castle , souldiers , mariners , commanders , a great number of cannons , armour and arms ; all these this furious whirlwind swept away together , tossed in the air , and disperst as wind doth leaves of trees . the scheldt prodigiously gaping was first seen to discover its bottom , then swelling above the banks , was even with the rampiers , and overflowed st. mary's fort above a foot . the motion of the panting earth n. b. extended its force and fear above nine miles . [ if he means the miles of that countrey , or dutch leagues , they amount to 36 english miles . ] there were found stones , and that very great ones , as grave-stones , and the like , a mile off the river , struck into the ground , in some places four palms . to the vith . chapter . observation i. what is delivered in this chapter about the operation of sounds and animals , particularly that which is mention'd ( pag. 72. ) about the effect of musick upon serpents at grand cairo , may be not onely confirm'd but exceeded , by a strange relation that i had from a person of unsuspected credit ▪ which narrative having appear'd to me so considerable , as well to deserve a place among my adversaria , i shall subjoin that part of it which concerns our present subject , in the words wherein i find it set down . sir j. c. a very candid and judicious traveller , favouring me yesterday with a visit , told me among other remarkable things relating to the east indies , ( which countries he had curiously visited ) that he with divers european merchants had seen , ( and that if i mistake not , several times ) an indian , who by many was thought to be a magician , that kept tame serpents of a great bulk . and that when the owner of them plaid upon a musical instrument , these serpents would raise themselves upright into the air , leaving upon the ground but 3 or 4 inches of their tail , upon which they lean'd for their support . he added , that at the same time that they erected their bodies , they also stretcht and lengthen'd them in a strange and frightfull manner ; and whilst they were thus slender , they were taller than he or any man of ordinary stature . but that which appear'd to him the most wonderfull and surprising , was , that they manifestly seem'd to be very much affected with the musick they heard ; insomuch that some parts of the tune would make them move to and fro with a surprising agility , and some other parts of it would cast them into a posture , wherein they seem'd to be half asleep , and as it were to melt away with pleasure . to the vith . chapter . pag. 75. observation ii. because the truth even of the principal effects of the biting of the tarantula , has of late been publickly call'd in question , i was glad to meet with an ingenious traveller , that in calabria or apulia was himself bitten by one of those venomous insects ; and though it were but slightly , yet the effects he felt in his own body , and those greater ones he saw produc'd in other persons , that were more unhappily bitten , brought credit to the main of what sober writers affirm of the symptoms and cure of that poyson . and the learned , &c. to the viith . chapter . pag. 83. much of what is delivered in this chapter and elsewhere , about the operation of air or invisible fluids ( whose motions affect not the touch ) upon congruous solids , may be confirm'd by that notable experiment , which has been published in an elegant discourse by the learned morhofius ; about a dutch wine seller in amsterdam , by name nicolaus petterus , who , having found the tone or note peculiarly belonging to a large belly'd drinking glass , such as the dutch call römer , and many here call rhenish wine glasses , would , by accommodating his voice exactly to that tone , and yet making it loud and lasting , make the vessel , though not visibly touched , first tremble and then burst ; which it would not do , if the voice were , though but a little , too low or too high . this notable experiment has been seen by many vertuosi , both before and since he publish'd it . and the very ingenious writer , as he passed through london , not onely related it to me , but very civily offer'd me farther satisfaction , if i could furnish him with a römer , which i was very sorry that where we then were was not to be procur'd . to the viiith . chapter . observation i. it may add probability to some things deliver'd in this chapter and in divers other passages of this treatise , if i here recount a strange phoenomenon , that came into my memory whilst i was running over those parts of this discourse . the phoenomenon , in short , was this . having met with divers pieces of transparent glass , which i had reason to think to be of a texture or temper very differing from ordinary glass , i thought fit to try , whether some of them were not far more springy and brittle than their thickness would make one expect . and accordingly , though i found several wherein the experiment would not succeed , especially if their figure were not convenient , yet with some others , i had very good success , and particularly with some that were shap'd almost like the sharper end of the neck of a retort . for though these pieces of glass were much thicker than such necks are wont to be , being perhaps 6 or 7 times as thick as common drinking glasses , yet i more than once made the tryal succeed so well , that , by obliquely scratching them , or tickling them if i may so speak , on the inside with the head or point of a pin , they would forceably burst into many pieces in my hand . in which surprizing phoenomenon , the matter of the glass seem'd to contribute something to this odd effect , of so languid a motion , but much less than the texture , or tension , it obtain'd by the peculiar way of ordering it in the fire and the air. to the viiith . chapter . observation ii. to shew that the suspicion i mention my self , a little before the end of this chapter , to have had , that the breaking of the stones there spoken of might possibly be produc'd or promoted by some impressions , remaining after the strokes employ'd to force the stones out of their beds , was not altogether without ground . i shall here observe , that it need not seem incredible , that faint strokes and attritions may leave more lasting and operative motions among the insensible parts , even of compact and solid bodies , than one would readily imagine . for i have several times found , sometimes by observations designedly made , and sometimes by undesigned accidents , that , having caus'd somewhat thin vessels of glass , especially urinals , to be diligently made clean with sand mixt with water , to loosen or grate off the foulness that adher'd to the sides of the vessel ; though the vessels , after having been thus made clean , did not appear to have receiv'd the least injury , and would continue very intire perhaps for several hours , yet after that time they would of themselves break with noise , and thereby become unserviceable for the future . but though this happen'd to many urinals , yet , because to more others it did not , it seem'd probable that the dissilition depended chiefly upon the peculiar texture of the glass in this or that vessel , whether acquir'd by a mixture of the ingredients , that was not uniform enough or made in a due proportion ; or else by the too hasty refrigeration of the vessel , especially if it chanc'd , as is not very unusual , to be cool'd more hastily in one part than another . to the ixth . chapter . pag. 110. observation i. because there are divers gems ; particularly those transparent ones that are red or blew , that are much harder than iron or steel , it may much strengthen the proof of our 8th observation , if i here relate that a jeweller to a great princess answer'd me , that when he polish'd saphyrs , rubies , and some sorts of other hard gems , upon his mill , they would seem when attrition had made them very hot , to be all on fire , like so many little coals : and that each of them had the light it afforded ting'd with a colour proper to the stone ; so that the ruby gave a red light , the saphyr a blew , &c. and i remember that inquiring of a skilfull cutter of diamonds and polisher of gems , whose customer i had been , about some conjectures i had concerning things belonging to his profession , he answer'd me that sometimes , when he polish'd certain stones , especially rubies , that were pretty large and perhaps not thick , he could plainly perceive that the stone gap'd at and near the edge , as if it were begun to be crack'd ; which sign admonished him to make haste to slacken the motion of the mill , lest the stone should absolutely burst ; which if it did not he could not perceive any flaw in it when it was throughly cold , but , which was strange , it appear'd as entire as ever . he added , in confirmation of what he had said of the intense heat that gems would sometimes acquire by attrition , whilst they were in polishing , that having lately given by this means too great a degree of heat , to an oriental topaz ( which sort of that gem is very hard , ) it crack'd upon the mill , in so much that one part of it quite separated from the rest , and spoil'd the stone in the capacity of a gem ; as a proof whereof he had laid it aside for me , and would needs make me accept it , as a curious , though not an usefull , thing . to the ixth chapter . observation ii. to confirm what has been said in the 8th observation , to shew that slow and insensible intestine motions of the parts of a body that seem quiescent , may be very operative , chance afforded me a notable instance , which was this . i had , to preserve a liquor from which i expected a curious experiment , inclos'd it in a strong vial , to whose neck a thick glass stople was but too exquisitely adapted . this vessel i set upon the edge of a window , in a high and secure place , that it might not be mov'd . there it continu'd many months , or , if i misremember not , above a year . and the liquor was of such a nature , that if any body had , though but for a few moments , taken out the stople , i could easily discover it . but after all this while , one day that i was sitting in my closet , at a good distance from the place in which the vial stood , i heard a loud and brisk noise , almost like the report of a pistol , and then perceiv'd that something came rolling to my feet : i hastily took it up , and , found it to be the thicker and larger part of the stople of my vial , which of it self had flown off , leaving the remaining part so closely and strongly adjusted to the neck , which serv'd it for a kind of socket , that i could by no means pull it out thence . at this accident i was not a little surpriz'd , considering the thickness of the solid glass , and that it had stood so long unmov'd , and that the bigger and heavier part of the stople broke off from the other with such violence , and was carry'd from it by invisible motors to so great a distance . which seem'd the more strange , because there was no shaking nor treading in the room , that could put the parts of the glass into motion , there being no body present but my self , who was sitting quietly and studying . to the ixth chapter . observation iii. to confirm what i have in the eighth observation and elsewhere deliver'd about the latent motion of parts that may be in a body not onely quiescent but solid , i shall here add a strange instance , which was afforded me by a diamond , belonging to an ingenious merchant of that sort of gems , who brought many fine ones out of the east indies . for having at the diamond-mine it self , purchas'd amongst other stones that grew there , a rough diamond that he valued at about a hundred pound , and had well considered when he bought it ; coming to look over his purchase again once more , about ten days or a fortnight after , he was much surpriz'd to find , to his great loss , that this diamond had of it self crack'd in several places , and so became of little or no value , but as 't was a rarity : and indeed i could not without wonder , see so fair and hard a stone so oddly spoil'd with clefts , that seem'd to penetrate so very deep , that 't was guess'd 't would not be very difficult to pull the parts of the stone asunder . and on this occasion he told me , that he had admir'd this accident at first , much more than he did afterwards . for complaining of it to divers merchants and jewellers , that he met with in those parts ; he was told , that , though it seldom happen , yet 't was no such wonderfull accident ; the like misfortune having befallen others as well as him . a postscript . that every common reader may understand whatever is contain'd in the foregoing treatises , the publisher thought fit to english the latin passages that are not translated by the authour . i. tract i. page 21. simon pauli , in his ingenious treatise of pestilential fevers , p. 71. tells us of a sick frenchman , who liv'd several days after his arm was cut off , though he was all the while most cruelly tortur'd by not ordinary convulsion fits : but what is most observable is this that i and others sitting one day by his bed-side , but not taking notice that the great guns were going off from the king's ships , he laying hold , and cherishing the stump of his right arm , broke out at every shot into these pitifull words : jesus maria , what do i not suffer ! i am quite bruis'd ; so troublesome , and insufferable to him was the shooting of the great guns , though at a great distance , they being , fired not in a joining continent , but on the balthick-sea . ii. platerus in the first book of his observations , p. 185. gives us this following account , p. 26. a woman being fallen sick on a sudden complain'd continually of her being strangled , though there was no great appearance thereof ; this she ascribed chiefly to a certain air , or wind , which she was so sensible of , that if any body happen'd to come near her , she would immediately complain of her being choak'd , and died the second day of this odd distemper : to which he adds , i have known several others complain of a not unlike wind , and that they were in danger of being choak'd , if any body came near 'em : which i conceiv'd always to be a very ill sign . iii. page 57. if you throw down an animal into the hole of viburg , which is in carelia , a countrey in scandia , 't is reported that there breaketh immediately forth a great and insufferable sound , together with a strong wind : if a small weight be thrown into the gap of dalmatia , though , says plinius , in a calm day , there is a storm immediately rais'd not unlike that which is occasion'd by a whirlwind . agricola de natura eorum quae effl . è terra , l. 4. c. 7. iv. page 67. i discharg'd a pistol , being upon the top of the hill , which at first made no greater noise than that which usually happens at the breaking of a small rod : but after a little while the noise became stronger , and filled the lower parts of the hill , the valleys , and neighbouring woods . now coming down lower through snow that had lain there several years , and having discharg'd again the pistol , the noise became on a sudden louder than that of the greatest guns . which gave me some grounds to fear that the whole hill , being thus shaken , should at length subside : this sound lasted half a quarter of an hour , till it had penetrated into the remotest grotto's , whence the parts of the air thrusting one another had been strongly rever berated : and because no such concavities were in the top of the hill , the sound was first insensibly reverberated , till coming lower and nearer the grotto's and valleys it was strongly dash'd against ' em . v. tract ii. page 48. 't is worthy our admiration , says beguinus , that though in the neighbourhood of hydria , in the countrey of gloricia , where a great quantity of mercury is found , the pest almost every year rageth , yet it is always free from the plague : and this was confirm'd to me by persons of a very great age , who said they had receiv'd it from their ancestours . vi. an attractive pestilential plaster . page 84. take of the gums sagapen , ammoniac , galbanum three ounces , of boil'd turpentine , and virgin-wax four ounces , and a half , of the arsenical loadstone well pulveris'd two ounces , of arons root pulveris'd anounce ; let the gums be depurated with the vinegar of squills , and boil'd to the consistency of a plaster , and lastly weigh'd ; then according to the usual method with other things make up a plaster : cover the carbuncle with this plaster , and in a few hours it will draw out all the venom . the true preparation of the foremention'd arsenical loadstone . take equal parts of crystal-arsenick , of sulphur of glass , of crude antimony : bray them to powder in an iron mortar , set them in a strong glass on a fire of sand , till the glass be very hot , and the foremention's druggs melted like pitch : which you shall know when having thrust a thred into the bottom , the matter sticking to it does rope like turpentine ; which is a sign of its being well enough boil'd : remove then the glass from the fire , and when it is cold break it ; reduce the matter into small powder , and keep it for your use . a passage belonging to the supplement . borel . de vi percussionis prop. cxi . has these observable words . i was at tauromenium in sicily when the mountain of aetna broke out near enna , a town distant about thirty miles from tauromenium ; whilst the gap did send out now and then with a great noise fire and flame all the houses of tauromenium were sensibly shaken : and it was observable that such houses as look'd directly towards the gap , were most of all agitated . those that look'd otherwise shaking more slowly , upon which matter of fact he argues thus : had this trembling been occasion'd by the shaking of the ground of tauromenium , all the houses had been equally shak'd , since this inequality of motion could not be ascrib'd to their different situation . hence then we must needs conclude that this agitation was produc'd by the impression of the air upon the walls of the houses , which demonstrates to us the great efficacy of a sound , though at thirty miles distance . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28961-e520 mr. hooke notes for div a28961-e800 plater . observ . lib. 1. p. 185. notes for div a28961-e1540 natur. quaest . lib. vi. cap. 25. lib. iii. cap. 26. de nat . eorum quae effi . è terra lib. iv. cap. 7. from. meteor , lib. ii. art. 9. geograph . general . lib. i. cap. xix . notes for div a28961-e3680 * * purchas ' s philgrimage , lib. 6. cap. 13. * * lib. 2. p. m. 323. * * de abditis rerum caus . lib. 2. c. 13. see diemerbroeck de peste , lib. 1. cap. 8. senn. m. p. e. vi . p. 65. in observat . nobil . apud schenkium , l. 7. observ . med. tit. de venenis ex animalibus . a discourse of subterraneal steams as they affect the air. * * c. magnenus de manna , cap. 9. dic amabo , altomari , cur ante trecentos annos nullum manna fuit in oenotria ; jam certé aderant pagi ibidem urbésque vicinae neque fefellisset curiosam incolarum solertiam . &c. 15. ante 240. annos nullum mannae calabreasis in autoribus vestigium est . notes for div a28961-e9930 borel . de vi percussionis . prop. cxi . famian . strad . de bello belg. dec. 2. lib. 6 , vel 7. the excellency of theology compar'd with natural philosophy (as both are objects of men's study) / discours'd of in a letter to a friend by t.h.r.b.e. ... ; to which are annex'd some occasional thouhts about the excellency and grounds of the mechanical hypothesis / by the same author. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1674 approx. 344 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 156 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28966 wing b3955 estc r32857 12774707 ocm 12774707 93740 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28966) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 93740) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1521:12) the excellency of theology compar'd with natural philosophy (as both are objects of men's study) / discours'd of in a letter to a friend by t.h.r.b.e. ... ; to which are annex'd some occasional thouhts about the excellency and grounds of the mechanical hypothesis / by the same author. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [32], 232, [6], 40 p. printed by t.n. for henry herringman ..., london : 1674. "about the excellency and ground of the mechanical hypothesis" has special t.p. and separate paging. "t.h.r.b.e." is the honourable robert boyle, esq. errata: p.[8] at beginning; p. [1] before about the excellency and ground of the mechanical hypothesis. reproduction of original in the union theological seminiary library, new york. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng faith and reason. matter -constitution. physics -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-11 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-05 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the excellency of theology , compar'd with natural philosophy , ( as both are objects of men's study . ) discours'd of in a letter to a friend . by t. h. r. b. e. fellow of the royal society . to which are annex'd some occasional thoughts about the excellency and grounds of the mechanical hypothesis . by the same author . felicitatem philosophi quaerunt ; theologi inveniunt ; soli religiosi possi●ent . london , printed by t. n. for henry herringman , at the anchor in the lower walk of the new exchange . 1674. the publisher's advertisement to the reader . when i shall have told the reader , that the following discourse was written in the year 1665 , while the authour , to avoid the great plague that then rag'd in london , was reduc'd with many others to go into the countrey , and frequently to pass from place to place , unaccompanied with most of his books ; it will not , i presume , be thought strange , that in the mention of some things taken from other writers , as his memory suggested them , he did not annex in the margent the precise places that are referr'd to . and , upon the same score , it ought not to seem strange , that he has not mention'd some late discoveries and books that might have been pertinently taken notice of , and would well have accommodated some parts of his discourse ; since things that may thus seem to have been omitted , are of too recent a date to have been known to him when he writ . but if it be demanded , why then a discourse finished so long ago , did not come abroad much sooner ? i must acquaint the reader , that 't was chiefly his real concern for the welfare of the study he seems to depreciate , that kept these papers so long by him . for he resisted for several years the desires of persons that have much power with him , and suppress'd the following discourse , whilst he fear'd it might be misapply'd by some enemies to experimental philosophy , that then made a noise against it , without suffering these papers to come abroad , till the addresses and encomiums of many eminent forreign virtuosi , and their desire to be admitted into the royal society , had sufficiently manifested , how little its reputation was prejudic'd , or like to be endanger'd , by the attempts of some envious or misinform'd persons . and to this reason must be added the authors backwardness to venture abroad a discourse of an unusual nature , on which account , among others , he declin'd to have his name prefix'd to it ; though , now the book is printed , he finds cause to fear , that 't will not be long conceal'd ; since he meets with some marginal references to other tracts of his , which ( these papers having long lain by him ) he forgot to have been set down for private use , and which should not have been expos'd to publick view . errata . in the author's preface , p. 13. l. 7 , 8. for somewhat , r. much . in the introduction , p. 2. l. 18. point thus , else ; our . in the book , p. 51. l. 17. for corpuscularium , r. corpuscularian . p , 75. l. 2. for he , r. we . p. 114. l. 3. r. theology for philosophy . p. 133. l. 10. r. yet many of . ibid. l. 19. r. else do but. p. 171. l. ult . for of . r. or . p. 172. l. 28. for indeed , r. 't will perhaps he said that . p. 201. l. 12. point thus ; predecessors , did unanimously teach . the author's preface . i am not so little acquainted with the temper of this age , and of the persons that are likeliest to be perusers of the following tract , as not to foresee it to be probable enough , that some will ask , for what reason a discourse of this nature was written at all ; and that others will be displeas'd that it has been written by me. those that would know , by what inducements my pen was engag'd on this subject , may be in great part inform'd by the epistle it self , in divers places whereof , as especially about the beginning , and at the close , the motives that invited me to put pen to paper are sufficiently express'd . and though several of those things are peculiarly apply'd , and ( if i may so speak ) appropriated to the person the letter is address'd to ; yet that undervaluation , i would disswade him from , of the study of things sacred , is not his fault alone , but is grown so rise among many ( otherwise ingenious ) persons , especially studiers of physicks , that i wish the ensuing discourse were much less seasonable than i fear it is . but i doubt , that some readers , who would not think a discourse of this nature needless or useless , may yet not be pleased at its being written by one , whom they imagine the acceptance his endeavours have met with , ought to oblige to spend his whole time in cultivating that natural philosophy , which in this letter he would perswade to quit the precedency , they think it may well challenge , before all other sorts of learning . i am not unsensible of the favourable reception that the philosophical papers i have hitherto ventured abroad , have had the happiness to receive from the curious : but i hope , they will not be displeas'd , if i represent , that i am no lecturer or professor of physicks , nor have ever engag'd my self by any promise made to the publick , to confine my self , never to write of any other subject ; nor is it reasonable , that what i did or may write , to gratifie other mens curiosity , should deprive me of mine own liberty , and confine me to one subject ; especially since there are divers persons , for whom i have a great esteem and kindness , who think they have as much right to solicit me for composures of the nature of this , that they will now have to go abroad , as the virtuosi have to exact of me physiological pieces . and though i be not ignorant , that ( in particular ) the following discourse , which seems to depreciate the study of nature , may at first sight appear somewhat improper for a person , that has purposely written to show the excellence and usefulness of it ; yet i confess , that , upon a more attentive consideration of the matter , i cannot reject , no , nor resist , their reasons , who are of a quite differing judgment . and 1. my condition , and my being a secular person ( as they speak ) are look'd upon as circumstances that may advantage an author that is to write upon such a subject as i have handled . i need not tell you , that as to religious books in general , it has been observ'd , that those penn'd by lay-men , and especially gentlemen , have ( caeteris paribus ) been better entertain'd , and more effectual than those of ecclesiasticks : and indeed 't is no great wonder , that exhortations to piety , and disswasions from vice , and from the lusts and vanities of the world , should be the more prevalent for being press'd by those , who have , and yet decline , the opportunities to enjoy plentifully themselves the pleasures they disswade others from . and ( to come yet closer to our present purpose ) though i will not venture to say with an excellent divine , that what ever comes out of the pulpit , does with many pass but for the foolishness of preaching ; yet it cannot well be deni'd , but that if all other circumstances be equal , he is the fittest to commend divinity , whose profession it is not ; and that it will somewhat add to the reputation of almost any study , and consequently to that of things divine , that 't is prais'd and preferr'd by those , whose condition and course of life exempting them from being of any particular calling in the common-wealth of learning , frees them from the usual temptations to partiality to this or that sort of study , which others may be engag'd to magnifie , because 't is their trade or their interest , or because 't is expected from them ; whereas these gentlemen are oblig'd to commend it , onely because they really love and value it . but there is another thing that seems to make it yet more fit , that a treatise on such a subject should be penn'd by the authour of this : for profess'd divines are suppos'd to be busied about studies , that even by their being of an higher , are confess'd to be of another , nature , than those that treat of things corporeal . and since it may be observ'd , that there is scarce any sort of learned men , that is more apt to undervalue those that are vers'd onely in other parts of knowledge , than many of our modern naturalists , ( who are conscious of the excellency of the science they cultivate , ) 't is much to be fear'd , that what would be said of the preeminences of divinity above physiology by preachers ( in whom the study of the latter is thought either but a preparatory thing , or an excursion ) would be look'd upon as the decision of an incompetent , as well as interressed , judge ; and their undervaluations of the advantages of the study of the creatures , would be ( as their depreciating the enjoyment of the creatures too often is , ) thought , to proceed but from their not having had sufficient opportunities to relish the pleasures of them . but these prejudices will not lie against a person , who has made the indagation of nature somewhat more than a parergon , and having by a not-lazie nor short enquiry manifested , how much he loves and can relish the delight it affords , has had the good fortune to make some discoveries in it , and the honour to have them publickly , and but too complementally , taken notice of by the virtuosi . and it may be not impertinent to add , that those who make natural philosophy their mistris , will probably be the less offended to find her in this tract represented , if not as an handmaid to divinity , yet as a lady of a lower rank ; because the inferiority of the study of nature is maintain'd by a person , who , even whilst he asserts it , continues ( if not a passionate ) an assiduous courter of nature : so that , as far as his example can reach , it may show , that as on the one side a man need not be acquainted with , or unfit to relish , the lessons taught us in the book of the creatures , to think them less excellent than those , that may be learned in the book of the scriptures ; so on the other side , the preference of this last book is very consistent with an high esteem and an assiduous study of the first . and if any should here object , that there are some passages , ( which i hope are but very few ) that seem a little too unfavourable to the study of natural things ; i might alledge for my excuse the great difficulty that there must be in comparing two sorts of studies , both of which a man much esteems , so to behave ones self , as to split a hair between them , and never offend either of them : but i will rather represent , that in such kind of discourses as the ensuing , it may justly be hop'd , that equitable readers will consider , not onely what is said , but on what occasion , and with what design 't is delivered . now 't is plain by the series of the following discourse , that the physeophilus , whom it most relates to , was by me look'd upon as a person , both very partial to the study of nature , and somewhat prejudic'd against that of the scripture ; so that i was not always to treat with him , as with an indifferent man , but , according to the advice , given in such cases by the wise , i was ( to use aristotle's expression ) to bend the crooked stick the contrary way , in order to the bringing it to be straight , and to depreciate the study of nature somewhat beneath its true value , to reduce a great over valuer to a just estimate of it . and to gain the more upon him , i allow'd my self now and then to make use of the contempt he had of the peripatetick and vulgar philosophy , and in some passages to speak of them more slightingly , than my usual temper permits , and than i would be forward to do on another occasion ; that , by such a complaisance for his opininions , i might have rises to argue with him from them . but to return to the motives that were alledg'd to induce me to the publication of these papers , though i have not nam'd them all , yet all of them together would scarce have prov'd effectual , if they had not been made more prevalent by the just indignation i conceived , to see even inquisitive men depreciate that kind of knowledge , which does the most elevate , as well as the most bless , mankind , and look upon the noblest and wisest employments of the understanding , as signs of weakness in it . 't is not that i expect , that whatever can be said , and much less what i have had occasion to say here , will make proselytes of those that are resolved against the being made so , and had rather deny themselves the excellentest kinds of knowledge , than allow that there can be any more excellent , than what they think themselves masters of : but i despair not , that what is here represented , may serve to fortifie in a high esteem of divine truths those that have already a just veneration for them , and preserve others from being seduc'd by injurious , though sometimes witty , insinuations , to undervalue that kind of knowledge , that is as well the most excellent in it self , as the most conducive to man's happiness . and for this reason i am the less displeas'd to see , that the following letter is swell'd to a bulk far greater than its being but a letter promises , and then i first intended . for i confess , that when the occasion hapned that made me put pen to paper , as i chanc'd to be in a very unsetled condition ( which i fear has had too much influence on what i have written , ) so i did not design the insisting near so long upon my subject as i have done ; but new things springing up ( if i may so speak ) under my pen , i was content to allow them room in my paper , because writing as well for my own satisfaction , as for that of my friend , i thought it would not be useless to lay before my own eyes , as well as his , those considerations that seem'd proper to justifie to my self as well as to him , the preference i gave divine truths ( before physiological ones ) and to confirm my self in the esteem i had for them . and though i freely confess , that the following discourse doth not consist of nothing but ratiocinations , and consequently is not altogether of an uniform contexture ; yet that will , i hope , be thought no more than was fit in a discourse , design'd not onely to convince , but to perswade : which if it prove so happy as to do , as i hope the peruser will have no cause to regret the trouble of reading it , so i shall not repent that of writing it . the introduction . sir , i hop'd you had known me better , than to doubt in good earnest , how i relish'd the discourse your learned friend entertain'd us with yester-night . and i am the more troubled at your question , because your way of inquiring , how much your friends discourse obtain'd of my approbation , gives me cause to fear , that you vouchsafe it more of yours then i could wish it . but before i can safely offer you my sense of the discourses , about which you desire to know it , i must put you in mind , that they were not all upon one subject , nor of the same nature : and i am enough his servant to acknowledge , without the least reluctancy , that he is wont to shew a great deal of wit , when he speaks like a naturalist , onely of things purely physical ; and when he is in the right , seldom wrongs a good cause by his way of managing it . but as for those passages , wherein he gave himself the liberty of disparaging the learned dr. n. onely because that doctor cultivates theological as well as physical studies and does both oftentimes read books of devotion ▪ and sometimes write them ; i am not so much a courtier , as to pretend that i liked them . 't is true , he did not deny the doctor to be a learned and a witty man , as indeed the wise providence of god has so ordered it , that to stop the bold mouthes of some , who would be easily tempted to imagine , and more easily to give out , that none are philosophers , but such as , like themselves , desire to be nothing else . our nation is happy in several men , who are as eminent for humane , as studious of divine learning ; and as great a veneration as they pay to moses and st. paul , are as well vers'd in the doctrine of aristotle , and of euclid ; nay , of epicurus and des cartes too , as those that care not to study any thing else . but though for this reason mr. n. had not the confidence to despise the doctor , and some of his resemblers , whom he took occasion to mention ; yet he too plainly disclos'd himself to be one of those , who though they will not deny , but that some , who own a value for theology , are men of parts ; yet they talk , as if such persons were so , in spight of their being religiously given ; that being , in their opinion , such a blemish , that a man must have very great abilities otherwise , to make amends for the disadvantage of valuing sacred studies , and surmount the disparagement it procures him . wherefore since this disdainful humour begins to spread much more than i could wish it did among differing sorts of men , among whom i should be glad not to find any naturalists ; and since the question you ask'd me , and the esteem you have for your friend , makes me fear you may look on it with very favourable eyes : i shall not decline the opportunity you put into my hands of giving you , together with a profession of my dislike of this practice , some of my reasons for that dislike ; and the rather , because i may do it without too much exceeding the limits of an epistle , or those which the haste , wherewith i must write this , does prescribe to me . for your friend does not oppose , but onely undervalue theology ; and professing to believe the scriptures ( which i so far credit , as to think he believes himself when he says so ) we agree upon the principles : so that i am not to dispute with him as against an atheist , that denies the authour of nature , but onely against a naturalist , that over-values the study of it . and the truths of theology are things , which i need not bring arguments for , but am allowed to draw arguments from them . but though , as i just now intimated , i design brevity ; yet for fear the fruitfulness and importance of my subject should suggest things enough to me to make some little method , requisite to keep them from appearing confused ; i shall divide the following epistle into two distinct parts . in the former of which i shall offer you the chief positive considerations , by which i would represent to you the study of divinity , as preferable to that of physicks : and in the second part i shall consider the allegations , that i foresee your friend may interpose : in favour of natural philosophy . from which distribution you will easily gather , that the motives on the one hand , and the objections on the other will challenge to themselves distinct sections in the respective parts whereto they belong . so that of the order of the particulars you will meet with , i shall not need to trouble you with any further account . the excellency of theology : or , the preeminence of the study of divinity , above that of natural philosophy . the first part . to address my self then , without any farther circumstance or preamble , to the things themselves , that i mainly intend in this discourse , i consider in the general , that as there are scarce any motives accounted fitter to engage a rational man in a study , than that the subject is noble , that 't is his duty to apply himself to it , and that his proficiency in it will bring him great advantages ; so there is not any of these three inducements , that does not concur in a very plentiful measure to recommend to us the study of theological truths . the first section . and first , the excellency and sublimity of the object we are invited to contemplate , is such , that none that does truly acknowledge a deity can deny , but that there is no speculation , whose object is comparable in point of nobleness , to the nature and attributes of god. the souls of inquisitive men are commonly so curious , to learn the nature and condition of spirits , as that the over-greedy desire to discover so much as that there are other spiritual substances besides the souls of men , has prevail'd with too many to try forbidden ways of attaining satisfaction ; and many have chosen rather to venture the putting themselves within the power of daemons , than remain ignorant whether or no there are any such beings : as i have learned by the private acknowledgments made me of such unhappy ( though not unsuccessful ) attempts , by divers learned men ( both of other professions , and that of physick , ) who themselves made them in differing places , and were persons neither timerous nor superstitious : ( but this onely upon the by. ) and certainly that man must have as wrong as mean a notion of the deity , and must but very little consider the nature and attributes of that infinitely perfect being , and as little the nature and infirmities of man , who can imagine the divine perfections to be subjects , whose investigation a man may ( inculpably ) despise , or be so much as fully sufficient for . not onely the scripture tells us , that his greatness is incomprehensible , and his wisdom is inscrutable ; that he humbles himself to look into ( or upon ) the heavens and the earth ; and , that not onely this or that man , but all the nations of the world are , in comparison of him , but like the small drop of a bucket , or the smaller dust of a ballance : but even the heathen philosopher , who wrote that eloquent book de mundo , ascrib'd to aristotle in his riper years , speaks of the power , and wisdom , and amiableness of god , in terms little less lofty , though necessarily inferiour to so infinitely sublime a subject ; which they that think they can , especially without revelation , sufficiently understand , do very little understand themselves . but perhaps your friend will object , that to the knowledge of god there needs no other then natural theology ; and i readily confess , being warranted by an apostle , that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , was not unknown to the heathen philosophers ; and that so much knowledge of god is attainable by the light of nature , duly employ'd , as to encourage men to exercise themselves more than most of them do in that noblest of studies , and render their being no proficients in it , injurious to themselves as well as to their maker . but notwithstanding this , as god knows himself infinitely better then purblind man knows him , so the informations he is pleased to vouchsafe us , touching his own nature and attributes , are exceedingly preferable to any account , that we can give our selves of him , without him. and methinks , the differing prospects we may have of heaven , may not ill adumbrate to us the differing discoveries that may be made of the attributes of its maker . for as , though a man may with his naked eye see heaven to be a very glorious object , enobled with radiant stars of several sorts ; yet when his eye is assisted with a good telescope , he can not onely discover a number of stars ( fix'd and wandring ) which his naked eye would never have shown him ; but those planets which he could see before , will appear to him much bigger , and more distinct : so , although bare reason well improv'd will suffice to make a man behold many glorious attributes in the deity ; yet the same reason , when assisted by revelation , may enable a man to discover far more excellencies in god , and perceive them , he contemplated before , far greater and more distinctly . and to shew how much a dim eye , illuminated by the scriptures , is able to discover of the divine perfections , and how unobvious they are to the most piercing philosophical eyes , that enjoy but the dim light of nature ; we need but consider , how much more suitable conceptions and expressions concerning god are to be met with in the writings of those fishermen and others , that penn'd the new testament , and those illiterate christians that received it , than amongst the most civiliz'd nations of the world ( such as anciently the greeks and romans , and now the chineses and east-indians ) and among the eminentest of the wise-men and philosophers themselves , ( as aristotle , homer , hesiod , epicurus , and others . ) besides that the book of scripture discloses to us much more of the attributes of god , than the book of nature ; there is another object of our study , for which we must be entirely beholding to theology : for though we may know something of the nature of god by the light of reason , yet we must owe the knowledge of his will , or positive laws , to his own revelation . and we may ghess , how curious great princes and wise men have been to inform themselves of the constitutions established by wise and eminent legislators ; partly by the frequent travels of the ancient sages and philosophers into forreign countries , to observe their laws and government , as well as bring home their learning ; and partly by those royal and sumptuous expences , at which that great and learned monarch ptolomeus philadelphus stuck not to procure an authentick copy of the law of moses , whom he considered but as an eminent legislator . but certainly that , and other laws recorded in the bible , cannot but appear more noble and worthy objects of curiosity to us christians , who know them to proceed from an omniscient deity , who being the authour of mankind , as well as of the rest of the universe , cannot but have a far perfecter knowledge of the nature of man , than any other of the law-givers , or all of them put together can be conceived to have had . but there is a farther discovery of divine matters , wherewith we are also gratified by theology : for besides what the scripture teaches us of the nature and the will of god , it contains divers historical accounts ( if i may so call them ) of his thoughts and actions . the great alexander thought himself nobly employ'd , when he read of the grecian actions in homer's verses ; and , to know the sentiments of great and wise persons , upon particular occasions , is a curiosity so laudable , and so worthy of ▪ an inquisitive soul , that the southern queen has been more prais'd than admir'd , for coming from the remoter parts of the earth , to hear the wisdom of solomon . now the scripture does in many places give our curiosity a nobler employment , and thereby a higher satisfaction , than the king of macedon , or the queen of sheba could enjoy ; for in many places it does , with great clearness and ingenuity , give us accounts of what god himself hath declar'd of his own thoughts , of divers particular persons and things , and relates , what he that knows and commands all things , was pleas'd to say & do upon particular occasions . of this sort of passages are the things recorded to have been said by god to noah , about the sinful worlds ruine , and that just man's preservation ; and to moses in the case of the daughters of zelophehad . and of this sort are the conferences , mentioned to have pass'd betwixt god and abimelech , concerning abraham's wife ; betwixt god and abraham touching the destruction of sodom ; betwixt god and solomon , about that kings happy choice ; betwixt god and jonah , about the fate of the greatest city of the world : and above all these , those two strange and matchless passages , the one in the first book of kings , touching the seducing spirit that undertook to seduce ahab's prophets ; and the other , that yet more wonderful relation of what pas'd betwixt god and satan , wherein the deity vouchsafes not onely to praise , but ( if i may so speak with reverence ) to glory in a mortal . and the being admitted to the knowledge of these transactions of another world ( if i may so call them ) wherein god has been pleased to disclose himself so very much , is an advantage afforded us by the scripture , of so noble a nature , and so unattainable by the utmost improvement we our selves can make of our own reason , that , did the scripture contain nothing else that were very considerable , yet that book would highly deserve our curiosity and gratitude . and on this occasion , i must by no means leave unobserv'd another advantage that we have from some discourses made us in the bible ; since it too highly concerns us , not to be a very great one ; and it is , that the scripture declares to us the judgment , that god is pleas'd to make of some particular men , upon the estimate of their life and deportment . for though reason alone , and the grounds of religion in general , may satisfie us in some measure , that god is good and merciful , and therefore 't is likely he may pardon the sins and frailties of men , and accept of their imperfect services ; yet , besides that we do not know , whether he will pardon , unless we have his promise of it ; besides this ( i say ) though by vertue of general revelation , such as is pretended to in divers religions , we may be assured , that god will accept , forgive , and reward those that sincerely obey him , and perform the conditions of the covenant , whether it be express , or implicite , that he vouchsafes to make with them ; yet since 't is he that is the judge of the performance of the conditions , and of the sincerity of the person ; and since he is omniscient , and a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , and so may know more ill of us , than even we know of our selves ; a concerned conscience may rationally doubt , whether in gods estimate any particular man was so sincere as to be accepted . but when he himself is pleas'd to give elogiums ( if i may with due respect so style them ) to david , job , noah , daniel , &c. whilst they were alive , and to others after they were dead , ( and consequently having finished their course , were pass'd into an irreversible state ) we may learn with comfort , both that the performance of such an obedience as god will accept , is a thing really practicable by men ; and that even great sins and misdemeanors are not ( if seasonably repented of ) certain evidences , that a man shall never be happy in the future life . and it seems to be for such an use of consolation to frail men ( but not at all to encourage licentious ones ) that the lapses of holy persons are so frequently recorded in the scriptures . and bating those divine writings , i know no books in the world , nor all of them put together , that can give a considering christian , who has due apprehensions of the inexpressible happiness or misery of an immortal state in heaven or in hell , so great and well grounded a consolation , as may be deriv'd from three or four lines in st. john's apocalypse , where he says , that he saw in heaven a great multitude , not to be numbred , of all nations , and tribes , and people , and tongues , standing before the throne , and before the lamb , clothed in white robes , with palms ( the ensigns of victory ) in their hands ; and the praises of god and of the lamb in their mouthes . for from thence we may learn , that heaven is not reserv'd onely for prophets , and apostles , and martyrs , and such extraordinary persons , whose sanctity the church admires , but that through gods goodness , multitudes of his more imperfect servants have access thither . though the infinite perfections and prerogatives of the deity be such , that theology it self can no more than philosophy afford us another object for our studies , any thing near so sublime and excellent , as what it discloses to us of god ; yet divinity favours us with some other discoveries , namely , about angels , the universe , and our own souls , which though they must needs be inferiour to the knowledge of god himself , are , for the nobleness of their objects , or for their importance , highly preferable to any that natural philosophy has been able to afford its votaries . but before i proceed to name any more particulars , disclos'd to us by revelation , 't will be requisite , for the prevention or removal of a prejudice , to mind you , that we should not make our estimates of the worth of the things we owe to revelation , by the impressions they are wont now to make upon us christians , who learned divers of them in our catechisms , and perhaps have several times met with most of the rest in sermons , or theological books . for 't is not to be admir'd , that we should not be strongly affected at the mention of those truths , which ( how valuable soever in themselves ) were for the most part taught us when we were either children , or too youthful to discern and prize their excellency and importance . so that though afterwards they were presented to our riper understanding , yet their being by that time become familiar , and our not remembring that we ignor'd them , kept them from making any vigorous impressions on us. whereas if the same things had been ( with circumstances evincing their truth ) discover'd to some heathen philosopher , or other vertuous and inquisitive man , who valu'd important truths , and had nothing but his own reason to attain them with , he would questionless have receiv'd them with wonder and joy . which to induce us to suppose we have sundry instances , both in the records of the primitive times , and in the recent relations of the conversion of men to christianity among the people of china , japan , and other literate nations . for though bare reason cannot discover these truths , yet when revelation has once sufficiently propos'd them to her , she can readily embrace , and highly value divers of them ; which being here intimated once for all , i now advance to name some of the revelations themselves . and first , as for angels , i will not now question , whether bare reason can arrive at so much as to assure us , that there are such beings in rerum naturâ . for though reason may assure , that their existence is not impossible , and perhaps too not improbable ; yet i doubt , whether 't were to meer ratiocination , or clear experience , or any thing else but revelation , convey'd to them by imperfect tradition , that those heathen philosophers , who believ'd that there were separate spirits other than humane , ow'd that perswasion . and particularly as to good angels , i doubt , whether those antient sages had any cogent reasons , or any convincing historical proofs , or , in short , any one unquestionable evidence of any kind , to satisfie a wary person so much as of the being ( much less to give a farther account ) of those excellent spirits . whereas theology is enabled by the scripture to inform us , that not onely there are such spirits , but a vast multitude of them ; that they were made by god and christ , and are immortal , and propagate not their species ; and that these spirits have their chief residence in heaven , and enjoy the vision of god , whom they constantly praise , and punctually obey , without having sinn'd against him ; that also these good angels are very intelligent beings , and of so great power , that one of them was able in a night to destroy a vast army ; that they have degrees among themselves , are enemies to the devils , and fight against them ; that they can assume bodies shap'd like ours , and yet disappear in a trice ; that they are sometimes employ'd about humane affairs , and that not onely for the welfare of empires and kingdomes , but to protect and rescue single good men . and though they are wont to appear in a dazling splendor , and an astonishing majesty , yet they are all of them ministring spirits , employ'd for the good of the designed heirs of salvation . and they do not onely refuse mens adoration , and admonish them to pay it unto god ; but , as they are in a sense made by jesus christ , who was true man as well as god ; so they do not onely worship him , and call him simply , as his own followers were were wont to do , the lord , but stile themselves fellow servants to his disciples . and as for the other angels , though the gentiles , as well philosophers as others , were commonly so far mistaken about them , as to adore them for true gods , and yet many of them to doubt whether they were immortal ; the scripture informs us , that they are not self-originated , but created beings ; that however a great part of mankind worships them , they are wicked and impure spirits , enemies to mankind , and seducers of our first parents to their ruine ; that though they beget and promote confusion among men , yet they have some order among themselves , as having one chief , or leader ; that they are evil spirits , not by nature , but apostacy ; that their power is very limited , insomuch that a legion of them cannot invade so contemptible a thing as a herd of swine , without particular leave from god ; that not onely good angels , but good men , may , by resisting them , put them to flight , and the sincere christians that worsted them here , will be among those that shall judge them hereafter ; that their being immortal , will make their misery so too ; that they do themselves believe and tremble at those truths , they would perswade men to reject ; and that they are so far from being able to confer that happiness , which their worshippers expect from them , that themselves are wretched creatures , reserv'd in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day ; at which they shall be doom'd to suffer everlasting torments , in the company of those wicked men that they shall have prevail'd on . we may farther consider , that as to things corporeal themselves , which the naturalist challenges as his peculiar theme , we may name particulars , and those of the most comprehensive nature , and greatest importance , whose knowledge the naturalist must owe to theology . of which truths i shall content my self to give a few instances in the world it self , or the universal aggregate of things corporeal ; that being look'd upon as the noblest and chiefest object , that the physicks afford us to contemplate . and first , those that admit the truths reveal'd by theology , do generally allow , that god is not onely the author , but creator of the world. i am not ignorant of what anaxagoras taught , of what he call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — ( and tully mentions ) in the production of the world ; and that what many other grecians afterwards taught of the worlds aeternity , is peculiarly due to aristotle , who does little less then brag , that all the philosophers that preceded him were of another mind . nor will i here examine ( which i else-where do ) whether , and how far by arguments meerly physical , the creation of the world may be evinc'd . but whether or no meer natural reason can reach so sublime a truth ; yet it seems not that it did actually , where it was not excited by revelation-discovery . for though many of the antient philosophers believ'd the world to have had a beginning , yet they all took it for granted , that matter had none ; nor does any of them , that i know of , seem to have so much as imagin'd , that any substance could be produced out of nothing . those that ascribe much more to god than aristotle , make him to have given form onely , not matter , to the world , and to have but contriv'd the pre-existent matter into this orderly systeme we call the universe . next , whereas very many of the philosophers that succeeded aristotle , suppose the world to have been aeternal ; and those that believ'd it to have been produc'd , had not the confidence to pretend to the knowing how old it was ; unless it were some extravagant ambitious people , such as those fabulous chaldaeans , whose fond account reach'd up to 40000 or 50000 years : theology teaches us , that the world is very far from being so old by 30 or 40 thousand years as they , and by very many ages , as divers others have presum'd ; and does , from the scripture , give us such an account of the age of the world , that it has set us certain limits , within which so long a duration may be bounded , without mistaking in our reckoning . whereas philosophy leaves us to the vastness of indeterminate duration , without any certain limits at all . the time likewise , and the order , and divers other circumstances of the manner , wherein the fabrick of the world was compleated , we owe to revelation ; bare reason being evidently unable to inform us of particulars that preceded the origine of the first man ; and though i do not think religion so much concern'd , as many do , in their opinion and practise , that would deduce particular theorems of natural philosophy from this or that expression of a book , that seems rather design'd to instruct us about spiritual than corporeal things . i see no just reason to embrace their opinion , that would so turn the two first chapters of genesis into an allegory , as to overthrow the literal and historical sense of them . and though i take the scripture to be mainly design'd to teach us nobler and better truths , than those of philosophy ; yet i am not forward to condemn those , who think the beginning of genesis contains divers particulars , in reference to the origine of things , which though not unwarily , or alone to be urg'd in physicks , may yet afford very considerable hints to an attentive and inquisitive peruser . and as for the duration of the world , which was by the old philosophers held to be interminable , and of which the stoicks opinion , that the world shall be destroyed by fire ( which they held from the jews ) was physically precarious ; theology teaches us expresly from divine revelation , that the present course of nature shall not last always , but that one day this world ( or at least this vortex of ours ) shall either be abolished by annihilation , or ( which seems far more probable ) be innovated , and , as it were , transfigur'd , and that by the intervention of that fire , which shall dissolve and destroy the present frame of nature : so that either way , the present state of things ( as well naturall as political ) shall have an end . and as theology affords us these informations about the creatures in general ; so touching the chiefest and noblest of the visible ones , men , revelation discovers very plainly divers very important things , where reason must needs be in the dark . and first , touching the body of man ; the epicureans attributed its original , as that of all things else , to the casual concourse of atoms ; and the stoicks absurdly and injuriously enough ( but much more pardonably than their follower herein , mr. hobbs ) would have men to spring up like mushrooms out of the ground ; and whereas other philosophers maintain conceits about it , too wild to be here recited ; the book of genesis assures us , that the body of man was first form'd by god in a peculiar manner , of a terrestrial matter ; and 't is there described , as having been perfected before the soul was united to it . and as theology thus teaches us , how the body of man had its first beginning ; so it likewise assures us , what shall become of the body after death , though bare natural reason will scarce be pretended to reach to so abstruse and difficult an article as that of a resurrection ; which , when propos'd by st. paul , produc'd among the athenian philosophers nothing else but wonder or laughter . not to mention , that theology teaches us divers other things about the origine and condition of mens bodies ; as , that all mankind is the off-spring of one man and one woman ; that the first woman was not made of the same matter , nor after the same manner as the first man , but was afterwards taken from his side ; that both adam and eve were not , as many epicureans and other philosophers fanci'd that the first men were , first infants ; whence they did , as we do , grow by degrees to be mature and compleat humane persons , but were made so all at once ; and , that hereafter , as all mens bodies shall rise again , so they shall all ( or at least all those of the just ) be kept from ever dying a second time . and as for the humane soul , though i willingly grant , that much may be deduc'd from the light of reason onely , touching its existence , properties , and duration ; yet divine revelation teaches it us with more clearness , and with greater authority ; as , sure , he that made our souls , and upholds them , can best know what they are , and how long he will have them last . and as the scripture expresly teaches us , that the rational soul is distinct from the body , as not being to be destroy'd by those very enemies that kill the body ; so about the origine of this immortal soul ( about which philosophers can give us but wide and precarious conjectures ) theology assures us , that the soul of man had not such an origination , as those of other animals , but was gods own immediate workmanship , and was united to the body already form'd : and yet not so united , but that upon their divorce , she will survive , and pass into a state , in which death shall have no power over her . i expect you will here object , that for the knowledge of the perpetual duration of separate souls , we need not be beholding to the scripture , since the immortality of the soul may be sufficiently prov'd by the sole light of nature , and particularly has been demonstrated by your great des cartes . but you must give me leave to tell you , that , besides that a matter of that weight and concernment cannot be too well prov'd , and consequently ought to procure a welcome for all good mediums of probation ; besides this , i say , i doubt many cartesians do , as well as others , mistake , both the difficulty under consideration , and the scope of des cartes's discourse . for i grant , that by natural philosophy alone , the immortality of the soul may be prov'd against its usual enemies , atheists and epicureans . for the ground , upon which these men think it mortal , being , that 't is not a true substance , but onely a modification of body , which consequently must perish , when the frame or structure of the body , whereto it belongs , is dissolv'd : their ground being this , i say , if we can prove by some intellectual operations of the rational soul , which matter , however modifi'd , cannot reach , that it is a substance distinct from the humane body , there is no reason , why the dissolution of the latter should infer the destruction of the former , which is a simple substance , and as real a substance as matter it self , which yet the adversaries affirm to be indestructible . but though by the mental operations of the rational soul , and perhaps by other mediums it may , against the epicureans , and other meer naturalists , who will not allow god to have any thing to do in the case , be prov'd to be immortal in the sense newly propos'd ; yet the same proofs will not evince , that absolutely it shall never cease to be ▪ if we dispute with philosophers , who admit , as the cartesians and many others do , that god is the sole creator and preserver of all things . for how are we sure but that god may have so ordain'd , that , though the soul of man , by the continuance of his ordinary and upholding concourse , may survive the body , yet , as 't is generally believ'd , not to be created till it be just to be infus'd into the body ; so it shall be annihilated when it parts with the body , god withdrawing at death that supporting influence , which alone kept it from relapsing to its first nothing . whence it may appear , that notwithstanding the physical proofs of the spirituality and separableness of the humane soul , we are yet much beholding to divine revelation for assuring us , that its duration shall be endless . and now to make good what i was intimating above , concerning the cartesians , and the scope of des cartes's demonstration , i shall appeal to no other than his own expressions to evince , that he consider'd this matter for the main as we have done , and pretended to demonstrate , that the soul is a distinct substance from the body ; but not that absolutely speaking it is immortal . cur ( answers that excellent author ) de immortalitate animae nihil scripserim , jam dixi in synopsi mearum meditationum . quod ejus ab omni corpore distinctionem satis probaverim , supra ostendi . quod vero additis , ex distinctione animae á corpore non sequi ejus immortalitatem , quia nihilominus dici potest , illam à deo talis naturae factam esse , ut ejus duratio simul cum duratione vitae corporeae finiatur , fateor á me refelli non posse . neque enim tantum mihi assumo ut quicquam de iis quae à libera dei voluntate dependent , humanae rationis vi determinare aggrediar . docet naturalis cognitio , &c. sed si de absoluta dei potestate quaeratur , an forte decreverit , ut humanae animae iisdem temporibus esse desinant , quibus corpora quae illis adjunxit ; solius dei est , respondere . and if he would not assume to demonstrate by natural reason , so much as the existence of the soul after death , unless upon a supposition ; we may well presume , that he would less take upon him to determine , what shall be the condition of that soul after it leaves the body . and that you may not doubt of this , i will give you for it his own confession , as he freely writ it in a private letter to that admirable lady , the princess elizabeth , first daughter to frederick king of bohemia , who seems to have desir'd his opinion on that important question , about which he sends her this answer , pour ce qui , &c. i. e. as to the state of the soul after this life , my knowledge of it is far inferiour to that of monsieur ( he means sir kenelm ) digby . for , setting aside that which religion teaches us of it , i confess , that by mee● natural reason we may indeed make many conjectures to our own advantage , and have fair hopes , but not any assurance : and accordingly in the next clause he gives the imprudence , of quitting what is certain for an uncertainty , as the cause why , according to natural reason , we are never to seek death . nor do i wonder he should be of that mind . for all that meer reason can demonstrate , may be reduced to these two things ; one , that the rational soul , being an incorporeal substance , there is no necessity that it should perish with the body ; so that , if god have not otherwise appointed , the soul may survive the body , and last for ever : the other , that the nature of the soul , according to des cartes , consisting in its being a substance that thinks , we may conclude , that , though it be by death separate from the body , it will nevertheless retain the power of thinking . but now , whether either of these two things , or both , be sufficient to endear the state of separation after death , to a considering man , i think may be justly question'd . for , immortality or perseverance in duration , simply consider'd , is rather a thing presuppos'd to , or a requisite of , felicity , than a part of it ; and being in it self an adiaphorous thing , assumes the nature of the state or condition to which 't is joyn'd , and does not make that state happy or miserable , but makes the possessors of it more happy or more miserable than otherwise they would be . and though some school-men , upon aery metaphysical notions , would have men think it is more eligible to be wretched , than not to be at all ; yet we may oppose to their speculative subtilties the sentiments of mankind , and the far more considerable testimony of the saviour of mankind ▪ who speaking of the disciple that betray'd him , says , that it had been good for that man if he had never been born . and eternity is generally conceived to aggravate no less the miseries of hell , than it heightens the joys of heaven . and here we may consider , first , that meer reason cannot so much as assure us absolutely , that the soul shall survive the body : for the truth of which we have not onely cartesius's confession , lately recited , but a probable argument , drawn from the nature of the thing , since , as the body and soul were brought together , not by any meer physical agents , and since their association and union whilst they continued together , was made upon conditions that depended solely upon gods free and arbitrary institution ; so , for ought reason can secure us of , one of the conditions of that association may be , that the body and soul should not survive each other . secondly , supposing that the soul be permitted to outlive the body , meer reason cannot inform us what will become of her in her separate state , whether she will be vitally united to any other kind of body or vehicle ; and if to some , of what kind that will be , and upon what terms the union will be made . for possibly she may be united to an unorganiz'd , or very imperfectly organiz'd , body , wherein she cannot exercise the same functions she did in her humane body . as we see , that even in this life the souls of natural fools are united to bodies , wherein they cannot discourse , or at least cannot philosophize . and 't is plain , that some souls are introduc'd into bodies , which , by reason of paralytical and other diseases , they are unable to move , though that does not always hinder them from being obnoxious to feel pain . so that , for ought we naturally know , a humane soul , separated from the body , may be united to such a portion of matter , that she may neither have the power to move it , nor the advantage of receiving any agreeable informations by its interventions , having upon the account of that union no other sense than that of pain . but let us now consider what will follow , if i should grant that the soul will not be made miserable , by being thus wretchedly matched . suppose we then , that she be left free to enjoy what belongs to her own nature : that being onely the power of always thinking , it may well be doubted , whether th'exercise of that power wil suffice to make her happy . you will perchance easily believe , that i love as well as another to entertain my self with my own thoughts , and to enjoy them undisturbed by visits , and other avocations ; i would , onely accompanied by a servant and a book , go to dine at an inn upon a road , to enjoy my thoughts the more freely for that day . but yet , i think , the most contemplative men would , at least in time , grow weary of thinking , if they received no supply of objects from without , by reading , seeing , or conversing ; and if they also wanted the opportunity of executing their thoughts , by moving the members of their bodies , or of imparting them , either by discoursing , or writing of books , or by making of experiments . on this occasion i remember , that i knew a gentleman , who was , in spain , for a state-crime , which yet he thought an heroick action , kept close prisoner for a year in a place , where though he had allowed him a diet not unfit for a person of note , as he was ; yet he was not permitted the benefit of any light , either of the day or candles , and was not accosted by any humane creature , save at certain times by the jaylor , that brought him meat and drink , but was strictly forbidden to converse with him . now though this gentleman by his discourse appear'd to be a man of a lively humour , yet being ask'd by me , how he could do to pass the time in that sad solitude , he confessed to me , that , though he had the liberty of walking too and fro in his prison , and though by often recalling into his mind all the adventures and other passages of his former life , and by several ways combining and diversifying his thoughts , he endeavoured to give his mind as much variety of employment as he was able ; yet that would not serve his turn , but he was often reduc'd , by drinking large draughts of wine , and then casting himself upon his bed , to endeavour to drown that melancholly , which the want of new objects cast him into . and i can easily admit , he found a great deal of difference between the sense he had of thinking when he was at liberty , and that which he had when he was confin'd to that employment , whose delightfulness , like fire , cannot last long , when it is , as his was , denied both fuel and vent . and , in a word , though i most readily grant , that thinking interwoven with conversation and action , may be a very pleasant way of passing ones time , yet man being by nature a sociable creature , i fear , that alone would be a dry and wearisome imployment to spend eternity in . before i proceed to the next section , i must not omit to take notice , that though the brevity i propos'd to my self , keeps me from discoursing of any theological subjects , save what i have touch'd upon about the divine attributes , and the things i have mention'd about the universe in general , and the humane soul ; yet there are divers other things , knowable by the help of revelation , and not without it , that are of so noble and sublime a nature , that the greatest wits may find their best abilities both fully exercis'd , and highly gratifi'd by making enquiries into them . i shall not name for proof of this the adorable mystery of the trinity , wherein 't is acknowledg'd , that the most soaring speculators are wont to be pos'd , or to loose themselves : but i shall rather mention the redemption of mankind , and the decrees of god concerning men. for though these seem to be less out of the ken of our natural faculties ; yet 't is into some things that belong to the former of them , that the scripture tells us , the angels desire to pry ; and 't was the consideration of the latter of them , that made one that had been caught up into the mansion of the angels , amazedly cry out , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. not are these the onely things that the scripture it self terms mysteries , though , for brevities sake , instead of specifying any of them , i shall content my self to represent to you in general ; that , since gods wisdom is boundless , it may , sure , have more ways than one to display it self . and though the material world be full of the productions of his wisdom ; yet that hinders not but that the scripture may be enobled with many excellent impresses , and , as it were , signatures of the same attribute . for , as i was beginning to say , it cannot but be highly injurious to the deity , in whom all other true perfections , as well as omniscience , are both united and transcendent , to think , that he can contrive no ways to disclose his perfections , besides the ordering of matter and motion , and cannot otherwise deserve to be the object of mens studies , and their admiration , than in the capacity of a creator . and i think , i might safely add , that besides these grand and mysterious points i came from mentioning , there are many other noble and important things , wherein unassisted reason leaves us in the dark ; which though not so clearly reveal'd in the scripture , are yet in an inviting measure discover'd there , and consequently deserve the indagation of a curious and philosophical soul. shall we not think it worth enquiring , whether the satisfaction of christ was necessary to appease the justice of god , and purchase redemption for mankind ? or whether god , as absolute and supreme governour of the world , might have freely remitted the penalties of sin ? shall we not think it worth the inquiring , upon what account , and upon what terms , the justification of men ●●wards god is transacted , especially considering how much it imports us to know , and how perplexedly a doctrine , not in it self abstruse , is wont to be delivered ? shall not we inquire , whether or no the souls of men , before they were united to their bodies , pre-existed in a happier state , as many of the ancient and modern jews and platonists , and ( besides origen ) some learned men of our times do believe ▪ and shall not we be curious to know , whether , when the soul leaves the body , it do immediately pass to heaven or hell ( as 't is commonly believed , ) or for want of organs be laid , as it were , asleep in an insensible and unactive state , till it recover the body at the resurrection ? ( as many socinians and others maintain : ) or whether it be conveyed into secret recesses , where , though it be in a good or bad condition , according to what it did in the body , 't is yet repriev'd from the flames of hell , and restrain'd from the beatifick vision till the day of judgment ? ( which seems to have been the opinion of many , if not most of the primitive fathers and christians . ) shall not we be curious to know , whether at that great decretory day , this vast fabrick of the world , which all confess must have its frame quite shatter'd , shall be suffer'd to relapse into its first nothing , ( as several divines assert ; ) or shall be , after its dissolution , renew'd to a better state , and , as it were , transfigur'd ? and shall not we inquire , whether or no in that future state of things , which shall never have an end , we shall know one another ? ( as adam , when he awak'd out of his profound sleep , knew eve whom he never saw before ; ) and whether those personal friendships and affections , we had for one another here , and the pathetick consideration of the relations ( as of father and son , husband and wife , chaste mistris and virtuous lover , prince and subject , ) on which many of them were grounded , shall continue ? or whether all those things , as antiquated and slight , shall be obliterated , and , as it were , swallowed up ? ( as the former relation of a cousin a great way off , is scarce at all consider'd , when the persons come so to change their state , as to be united by the strict bonds of marriage . ) but 't were tedious to propose all the other points , whereof the divine takes cognizance , that highly merit an inquisitive mans curiosity ; and about which , all the writings of the old greek and other heathen philosophers put together , will give us far less information , than the single volume of canonical scripture . i foresee indeed , that it may nevertheless be objected , that in some of these inquiries , revelation incumbers reason , by delivering things , which reason is obliged to make its hypothesis consistent with . but , besides that this cannot be so much as pretended of all ; if you consider how much unassisted reason leaves us in the dark about these matters , wherein she has not been able to frame so much as probable determinations , especially in comparison of those probabilities that reason can deduce from what it finds one way or other delivered in the scripture : if you consider this , i say , you will , i presume , allow me to say , that the revealed truths , which reason is obliged to comply with , if they be burdens to it , are but such burdens as feathers are to a hawk , which instead of hindring his flight by their weight , enable him to soar toward heaven , and take a larger prospect of things , than , if he had not feathers , he could possibly do . and on this occasion , sir , the greater reverence i owe to the scripture it self , than to its expositors , prevails upon me to tell you freely , that you will not do right , either to theology , or ( the greatest repository of its truths ) the bible ; if you imagine that there are no considerable additions to be made to the theological discoveries we have already , nor no clearer expositions of many texts of scripture , or better reflections on that matchless book , than are to be met with in the generality of commentators , or of preachers , without excepting the antient fathers themselves . for , there being in my opinion two things requisite , to qualifie a commentator to do right to his theme , a competency of critical knowledge , and a concern for the honour and interest of christianity in general , assisted by a good judgment to discern and select those things that may most conduce to it ; i doubt , there are not many expositors , as they are call'd , of the scripture , that are not deficient in the former or the latter of these particulars , and i wish there be not too many that are defective in both . that the knowledge of at least greek and hebrew is requisite to him , that takes upon him to expound writings penn'd originally in those languages , if the nature of the thing did not manifest it , you might easily be perswaded to believe , by considering with what gross mistakes the ignorance of languages has oftentimes blemish'd not onely the interpretations of the school-men and others , but even those of the venerable fathers of the church . for though generally they were worthy men , and highly to be regarded , as the grand witnesses of the doctrines and government of the antient churches ; most of them very pious , many of them very eloquent , and some of them ( especially the two criticks , origen and jerom ) very learned ; yet so few of the greek fathers were skill'd in hebrew , and so few of the latin fathers either in hebrew or greek , that many of their homilies , and even comments , leave hard texts as obscure as they found them ; and , sometimes misled by bad translations , they give them senses exceeding wide of the true : so that many times in their writings they appear to be far better divines then commentators , and in an excellent discourse upon a text , you shall find but a very poor exposition of it . many of their eloquent and devout sermons being much better encomiasts of the divine mysteries they treat of , than unvailers . and though some modern translations deserve the praise of being very useful , and less unaccurate than those which the latine fathers us'd ; yet when i read the scriptures ( especially some books of the old testament ) in their originals , i confess i cannot but sometimes wonder , what came into the mind of some , even of our modern translators , that they should so much mistake , and sometimes injure certain texts as they do ; and i am prone to think , that there is scarce a chapter in the bible ( especially that part of it which is written in hebrew ) that may not be better translated , and consequently more to the credit of the book it self . this credit it misses of , not onely by mens want of sufficient skill in critical learning , but ( to come to the second member of our late division ) for want of their having judgment enough to observe , and concern enough to propose those things in the scripture , and in theology , that tend to the reputation of either . for i fear there are too many , both commentators and other divines , that ( though otherwise perhaps pious men ) having espous'd a church or party , and an aversion from all dissenters , are solicitous when they peruse the scripture , to take notice chiefly , if not onely ( i mean in points speculative ) of those things , that may either suggest arguments against their adversaries , or answers to their objections . but i meet with much fewer than i could wish , who make it their business to search the scriptures for those things ( such as unheeded prophecies , over-look'd mysteries , and strange harmonies ) which being clearly and judiciously proposed , may make that book appear worthy of the high extraction it challenges ( and consequently of the veneration of considering men ) and who are sollicitous to discern and make out , in the way of governing and of saving men , reveal'd by god , so excellent an oeconomy , and such deep contrivances , and wise dispensations , as may bring credit to religion , not so much as 't is roman , or protestant , or socinian , but as 't is christian . but ( as i intimated before ) these good affections for the repute of religion in general , are to be assisted by a deep judgment . for men that want either that , or a good stock of critical learning , may easily over-see the best observations ( which usually are not obvious ) or propose as mysteries , things that are either not grounded , or not weighty enough ; and so ( notwithstanding their good meaning ) may bring a disparagement upon what they desire to recommend . and i am willing to grant , that 't is rather for want of good skill and good judgment , than good will , that there are so few that have been careful to do right to the reputation of the scripture , as well as to its sense . and indeed when i consider , how much more to the advantage of those sacred writings , and of christian theology in general , divers texts have been explain'd and discours'd of by the excellent grotius , by episcopius , masius , mr. mede , and sir francis bacon , and some other late great wits ( to name now no living ones ) in their several kinds ; than the same places have been handled by vulgar expositors , and other divines : and when i remember too , that none of these newly named worthies was at once a great philosopher , and a great critick ; ( the three first being not so well vers'd in philosophical learning , and the last being unacquainted with the eastern tongues : ) i cannot but hope , that when it shall please god to stir up persons of a philosophical genius , well furnish'd with critical learning , and the principles of true philosophy , and shall give them a hearty concern for the advancement of his truths ; these men , by exercising upon theological matters , that inquisitiveness and sagacity that has made in our age such a happy progress in philosophical ones , will make explications and discoveries , that will justifie more than i have said in praise of the study of our religion and the divine books that contain the articles of it . for these want not excellencies , but onely skilful unvailers . and if i do not tell you , that you should no more measure the wisdom of god couch'd in the bible , by the glosses or systems of common expositors and preachers , than estimate the wisdome he has express'd in the contrivance of the world by magirus's or eustachius's physicks ; yet i shall not scruple to say , that you should as little think , that there are no more mysteries in the books of scripture , besides those that the school-divines and vulgar commentators have taken notice of , and unfolded ; as that there are no other mysteries in the book of nature , than those which the same school-men ( who have taken upon them to interpret aristotle and nature too ) have observ'd and explain'd . all the fine things , that poets , orators , and even lovers have hyperbolically said in praise of the beauty of eyes , will nothing near so much recommend them to a philosophers esteem , as the sight of one eye skilfully dissected , or the unadorn'd account given of its structure , and the admirable uses of its several parts , in scheiner's oculus , and des-cartes's excellent dioptricks . and though i do not think my self bound to acquiesce in , and admire every thing that is propos'd as mysterious and rare by many interpreters and preachers ; yet i think , i may safely compare several things in the books we call the scripture , to several others in that of nature , in ( at least ) one regard . for , though i do not believe all the wonders , that pliny , aelian , porta , and other writers of that stamp , relate of the generation of animals ; yet by perusing such faithful and accurate accounts , as sometimes galen , de usu partium , sometimes vesalius , sometimes our harvey ( de ovo ) and our later anatomists , and sometimes other true naturalists , give of the generation of animals , and of the admirable structure of their bodies , especially those of men , and such other parts of zoology , as pliny , and the other writers i nam'd with him , could make nothing considerable of ; by perusing these ( i say ) i receive more pleasure and satisfaction , and am induc'd more to admire the works of nature , than by all their romantic and superficial narratives . and thus ( to apply this to our present subject ) a close and critical account of the more vail'd and pregnant parts of scripture , and theological matters , with such reflections on them , as their nature and collation would suggest to a philosophical , as well as critical , speculator , would far better please a rational considerer , and give him a higher , as well as a better grounded , veneration for the things explain'd , than a great many of those sleighter or ill-founded remarks , wherewith the expositions and discourses of superficial writers , though never so florid or witty , gain the applause of the less discerning sort of men . and here , on this occasion , i shall venture to add , that i despair not , but that a further use may be made of the scripture , than either our divines or philosophers seem to have thought on . some few theologues indeed have got the name of supralapsarians , for venturing to look back beyond the fall of adam for god's decrees of election and reprobation . but , besides that their boldness has been dislik'd by the generality of divines , as well as other christians , the object of their speculation is much too narrow to be any thing near and adequate to such an hypothesis as i mean. for me-thinks , that the encyclopedia's and pansophia's , that even men of an elevated genius have aimed at , are not diffus'd enough to comprehend all that the reason of a man , improv'd by philosophy , and elevated by the revelations already extant in the scripture , may , by the help of free ratiocination , and the hints contain'd in those pregnant . writings ( with those assistances of god's spirit , which he is still ready to vouchsafe to them that duly seek them , ) attain unto in this life . the gospel comprises indeed , and unfolds the whole mystery of man's redemption , as far forth as 't is necessary to be known for our salvation : and the corpusculariùm or mechanical philosophy , strives to deduce all the phoenomena of nature from adiaphorous matter , and local motion . but neither the fundamental doctrine of christianity , nor that of the powers and effects of matter and motion , seems to be more than an epicycle ( if i may so call it ) of the great and universal system of god's contrivances , and makes but a part of the more general theory of things , knowable by the light of nature , improv'd by the information of the scriptures : so that both these doctrines , though very general , in respect of the subordinate parts of theology and philosophy , seem to be but members of the universal hypothesis , whose objects , i conceive , to be the nature , counsels , and works of god , as far as they are discoverable by us ( for i say not to us ) in this life . for those , to whom god has vouchsafed the priviledge of mature reason , seem not to enlarge their thoughts enough , if they think , that the omniscient and almighty god has bounded the operations of his power , and wisdom , and goodness , to the exercise that may be given them for some ages , by the production and government of matter and motion , and of the inhabitants of the terrestrial globe , which we know to be but a physical point in comparison of that portion of universal matter , which we have already discover'd . for i account , that there are four grand communities of creatures , whereof things meerly corporeal make but one ; the other three , differing from these , are distinct also from one another . of the first sort are the race of mankind , where intellectual beings are vitally associated with gross and organical bodies . the second are daemons , or evil angels ; and the third , good angels ; ( whether in each of those two kinds of spirits , the rational beings be perfectly free from all union with matter , though never so fine and subtile ; or whether they be united to vehicles , not gross , but spirituous , and ordinarily invisible to us. ) nor may we think , because angels and devils are two names quickly utter'd , and those spirits are seldome or never seen by us , there are therefore but few of them , and the speculation of them is not considerable . for , as their excellency is great , ( as we shall by and by shew ) so for their number , they are represented in scripture as an heavenly host , standing on the right and left hand of the throne of god. and of the good angels , our saviour speaks of having more than twelve legions of them at his command . nay , the prophet daniel saith , that to the antient of days , no less than millions ministred unto him , and hundreds of millions stood before him . and of the evil angels the gospel informs us , that enough to call them a legion ( which you know is usually reckon'd , at a moderate rate ▪ to consist of betwixt six and seven thousand ) possess'd one single man. for my part , when i consider , that matter , how vastly extended , and how curiously shap'd soever , is but a brute thing , that is onely capable of local motion and its effects and consequents on other bodies , or the brain of man , without being capable of any true , or at least any intellectual , perception , or true love or hatred ; and when i consider the rational soul as an immaterial and immortal being , that bears the image of its divine maker , being indow'd with a capacious intellect , and a will that no creature can force : i am by these considerations dispos'd to think the soul of man a nobler and more valuable being , than the whole corporeal world ; which though i readily acknowledge it to be admirably contriv'd , and worthy of the almighty and omniscient author , yet it consists but of an aggregate of portions of brute matter , variously shap'd and connected by local motion ( as dow , and roles , and loves , and cakes , and vermicelli , wafers , and pie-crust , are all of them diversified meal ; ) but without any knowledge either of their own nature , or of that of their author , or of that of their fellow-creatures . and as the rational soul is somewhat more noble and wonderful , than any thing meerly corporeal , how vast soever it can be , and is of a more excellent nature , than the curiousest piece of mechanism in the world , the humane body ; so to enquire what shall become of it , and what fates it is like to undergo hereafter , does better deserve a man's curiosity , than to know what shall befall the corporeal universe , and might justly have been to nebuchadnezzar a more desirable part of knowledge , than that he was so troubled for want of , when it was adumbrated to him in the mysterious dream , that contain'd the characters and fates of the four great monarchies of the world. and as man is intrusted with a will of his own , whereas all material things move onely as they are mov'd , and have no self-determining power , on whose account they can resist the will of god ; and as also of angels , at least some orders of them , are of a higher quality ( if i may so speak ) than humane souls ; so 't is very probable , that in the government of angels , whether good or bad , that are intellectual voluntary agents , there is requir'd and employ'd far greater displays of gods wisdom , power , and goodness , than in the guidance of adiaphorous matter ; and the method of god's conduct in the government of these , is a far nobler object for men's contemplation , than the laws , according to which the parts of matter hit against , and justle , one another , and the effects or results of such motions . and accordingly we find in scripture , that , whereas about the production of the material world , and the setting of the frame of nature , god employ'd onely a few commanding words , which speedily had their full effects ; to govern the race of mankind , even in order to their own happiness , he employ'd not onely laws and commands , but revelations , miracles , promises , threats , exhortations , mercies , judgments , and divers other methods and means ; and yet oftentimes , when he might well say , as he did once by his prophet , what could i have done more to my vineyard that i have not done it ? he had just cause to expostulate as he did in the same place , wherefore , when i looked that it should bring forth grapes , brought it forth wild grapes ? and to complain of men , as by that very prophet he did even of israel , i have spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people . but not to wander too far in this digression ; what we have said of men , may render it probable , that the grand attributes of god are more signally exercis'd , and made more conspicuous in the making and governing of each of the three intellectual communities , than in the framing and upholding the community of meer bodily things . and since all immaterial substances are for that reason naturally immortal , and the universal matter is believ'd so too , possibly those revolutions , that will happen after the day of judgment , wherein though probably not the matter , yet that state and constitution of it , on whose account it is this world , will be destroyed , and make way for quite new frames and sets of things corporeal , and the beings that compose each of these intellectual communities , will , in those numberless ages they shall last , travel through i know not how many successive changes and adventures ; perhaps , i say , these things will no less display , and bring glory , to the divine attributes , than the contrivance of the world , and the oeconomy of man's salvation , though these be ( and that worthily ) the objects of the naturalists and the divines contemplation . and there are some passages in the prophetical part of the scripture , and especially in the book of the apocalypse , which , as they seem to intimate , that as god will perform great and noble things , which mechanical philosophy never reach'd to , and which the generality of divines seem not to have thought of ; so divers of those great things may be , in some measure , discover'd by an attentive searcher into the scriptures , and that so much to the advantage of the devout indagator , that st. john , near the beginning of his revelations , pronounces them happy , that read the matters contain'd in this prophecy , and * observe the things written therein . which implies , that by heedful comparing together the indications couched in those prophetick writings , with events and occurrences in the affairs of the world , and the church , we may discover much of the admirable oeconomy of providence in the governing of both : and i am prone to think , the early discoveries of such great and important things , to be in gods account no mean vouchsafements , not onely because of the title of happy is here given to him that attains them , but because the two persons , to whom the great discoveries of this kind were made , i mean , the prophet daniel and st. john , the first is by the angel said to be , on that account , a person highly favour'd ; and the other is in the gospel represented as our saviour's beloved disciple . and you will the more easily think the foreknowledge of the divine dispensations gatherable from scripture to be highly valuable , if you consider , that , according to st. paul , those very angels that are call'd principalities and powers in heavenly places , learnt by the church some abstruse points of the manifold wisdom of god. but i must no longer indulge speculations , that would carry my curiosity beyond the bounds of time it self , and therefore beyond those that ought to be plac'd to this occasional excursion . and yet , as on the one side , i shall not allow my self the presumption of framing conjectures about those remote dispensations , which will not , most of them , have a beginning before this world shall have an end ; so on the other side i would not discourage you , or any pious inquirer , from endeavouring to advance in the knowledge of those attributes of god , that may successfully be studied , without prying into the secrets of the future . and here , sir , let me freely confess to you , that i am apt to think , that , if men were not wanting to gods glory , and their own satisfaction , there would be far more discoveries made , than are yet attain'd to , of the divine attributes . when we consider the most simple or uncompounded essence of god , we may easily be perswaded , that what belongs to any of his attributes ( some of which thinking men generally admire ) must be an object of enquiry exceeding noble , and worthy of our knowledge . and yet the abstruseness of this knowledge is not in all particulars so invincible , but that i strongly hope , a philosophical eye , illustrated by the revelations extant in the scripture , may pierce a great deal farther than has yet been done , into those mysterious subjects , which are too often ( perhaps out of a mistaken reverence ) so poorly handled by divines and schoolmen , that not onely what they have taught , is not worthy of god ( for that 's a necessary , and therefore excusable , deficiency ) but too frequently it is not worthy of men , i mean , of rational creatures , that take upon them to treat of such high points , and instruct others about them . and i question not but your friend will the less scruple at this , if he call to mind those new and handsome notions about some of the attributes of god , that his master cartesius , though but moderately vers'd in the scriptures , has presented us with . nor do i doubt but that a much greater progress might be made in the discovery of subjects , where , though we can never know all , we may still know farther , if speculative genius's would propose to themselves particular doubts and enquiries about particular attributes , and frame and examine hypotheses , establish theorems , draw corollaries ; and ( in short ) apply to this study the same sagacity , affiduity , and attention of mind , which they often imploy about inquiries of a very much inferiour nature ; insomuch as des-cartes ( how profound a geometrician soever he were ) confesses in one of his epistles , that he employ'd no less then six weeks to find the solution of a problem or question of pappus . and pythagoras was so addicted to , and concern'd for geometrical speculations , that when he had found that famous proposition , which makes the 47 th . in euclid's i. book , he is recorded to have offer'd a hecatomb , to express his joy and gratitude for the discovery : which yet was but of one property of one sort of right-lin'd triangles . and certainly if christian philosophers did rightly estimate , how noble and fertile subjects the divine attributes are , they would find in them wherewithall to exercise their best parts , as well as to recompence the imployment of them . but because what i would disswade , does not perhaps proceed onely from laziness , but from a mistake ; as if there were little to be known of so incomprehensible an object as god , save that in general all his attributes are like himself , infinite , and consequently not to be fully known by humane understandings , because they are finite ; i shall add , that though it be true , that by reason of god's infinity , we cannot comprehend him , that is , have a full and adequate knowledge of him ; yet we may not onely know very many things concerning him , but , which is more , may make an endless progress in that knowledge . as , no doubt , pythagoras ( newly mention'd ) knew very well what a triangle was , and was acquainted with divers of its properties and affections before he discover'd that famous one. and though since him , euclid , archimedes , and other geometricians have demonstrated , i know not how many other affections of the same figure , yet they have not to this day exhausted the subject : and possibly , i , ( who pretend not to be a mathematician ) may now and then in managing certain aequations i had occasion for , have lighted upon some theorems about triangles , that occurr'd not to any of them . the divine attributes are such fruitful themes , and so worthy of our admiration , that the whole fabrick of the universe , and all the phenomena exhibited in it , are but imperfect expressions of gods wisdom , and some few of his other attributes . and i do not much marvel , that the angels themselves are represented in scripture as imploy'd in adoring god , and admiring his perfections . for even they being but finite , can frame but inadequate conceptions of him ; and consequently must endeavour by many of them to make amends for the incompleatness of every one of them ; which yet they can never but imperfectly do . and yet gods infinity can but very improperly be made a discouragement of our enquiries into his nature and attributes . for ( not now to examine whether infinity , though express'd by a negative word , be not a positive thing in god ) we may , notwithstanding his infinity , discover as much of him as our nature is capable of knowing : and what harm is it to him that is drinking in a river , that he cannot drink up all the water , if he have liberty fully to quench his thirst , and take in as much liquor as his stomack can contain . infinity therefore should not hinder us from a generous ambition to learn as much as we can of an object , whose being infinite does but make our knowledge of it the more noble and desirable , which indeed it is in such a degree , that we need not wonder that the angels are represented as never weary of their employment of contemplating and praising god. for , as i lately intimated , that they can have but inadequate idea's of those boundless perfections , and by no number of those idea's can arrive to make amends for the incompleatness of them ; so it need not seem strange that in fresh discoveries of new parts ( if i may so call them ) of the same object , it being such a one , they should find nobler and happier entertainments than any where else variety could afford them . the second section . having thus taken notice of some particulars of those many which may be employ'd to shew , how noble the objects are , that theology proposes to be contemplated ; i now proceed to some considerations that may make us sensible how great an obligation there lies on us , to addict our selves to the study of them . yet of the particulars whereon this obligation may be grounded , i shall now name but two , they being indeed comprehensive ones , obedience , and gratitude . and first let me represent , that it needs not , i suppose , be solicitously proved , that 't is the will and command of god , that men should learn those truths that he has been pleased to teach , whether concerning his nature or attributes , or the way wherein he will be served and worshipped by man. for if we had not injunctions of scripture to that purpose , yet your friend is too rational a man to believe , that god would so solemnly cause his truths to be published to mankind , both by preaching and writing , without intention to oblige , those ( at least ) that have the capacity and opportunity to enquire into some of them ; and if it appear to be his will , that a person so qualified , should search after the most important truths that he hath reveal'd , it cannot but be their duty to do so . for though the nature of the thing it self did not lay any obligation on us , yet the authority of him that commands it , would : since being the supreme and absolute lord of all his creatures , he has as well a full right to make what laws he thinks fit , and enjoyn what service he thinks fit , as a power to punish those that either violate the one , or deny the other ; and accordingly 't is very observable , that before adam fell , and had forfeited his happy state by his own transgression , he not onely had a law impos'd upon him , but such a law , as , being about a matter it self indifferent ( for so it was to eat or not to eat of the tree of life as well as of any other , ) derived its whole power of obliging from the meer will and pleasure of the law-giver . whence we may learn , that man is subject to the laws of god , not as he is obnoxious to him , but as he is a rational creature , and that the thing that is not a duty in its own nature , may become an indispensible one barely by its being commanded . and indeed , if our first parent in the state of innocency and happiness , wherein he tasted of gods bounty , without , as yet , standing in need of his mercy , was most strictly obliged out of meer obedience to conform to a law , the matter of which was indifferent in it self ; sure we , in our laps'd condition , must be under a high obligation to obey the declared will of god , whereby we are enjoyned to study his truths , and perform that which has so much of intrinsick goodness in it , that it would be a duty , though it were not commanded ; and has such recompences proposed to it , that it is not more a duty , then it will be an advantage . but it is not onely obedience and interest that should engage us to the study of divine things , but gratitude , and that exacted by so many important motives , that he who said , ingratum si dixeris , omnia dixeris , could not think ingratitude so much worse than ordinary vices , as a contempt of the duty i am pressing , would be worse than an ordinary ingratitude . it were not difficult on this occasion to manifest , that we are extremely great debtors unto god , both as he is the authour and the preserver of our very beings ; and as he ( immediately or mediately ) fills up the measure of those continual benefits with all the prerogatives and other favours we do receive from him as men ; and the higher blessings , which ( if we are not wanting to our selves ) we may receive from him as christians . but to shew , in how many particulars , and to how high a degree , god is our benefactor , were to lanch out into too immense a subject ; which 't were the less proper for me to do , because i have in other papers discours'd of those matters already . i will therefore single out a motive of gratitude , which will be peculiarly pertinent to our present purpose . for whereas your friend does so highly value himself upon the study of natural philosophy , and despises not onely divines , but states-men , and even the learned'st men in other parts of philosophy and knowledge , because they are not vers'd in physicks ; he ows to god that very skill , among many other vouchsafements . for it is god who made man unlike the horse and the mule , who have no understanding , and endow'd him with that noble power of reason , by the exercise of which he attains to whatever knowledge he has of natural things above the beasts that perish . for , that may justly be applied to our other acquisitions , which moses , by gods appointment , told the israelites concerning the acquists of riches ; where he bids the people beware , that when their herds , and their flocks , and other treasures were multipli'd , their heart be not lifted up , and prompt them to say , my power , and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth . but , ( subjoyns that excellent person , as well as matchless law-giver ) thou shalt remember the lord thy god , for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth . but to make men rational creatures , is not all god has done towards the making them philosophers . for , to the knowledge of particular things , objects are as well requisite as faculties ; and if we admit the probable opinion of divines , who teach us , that the angels were created before the material world , as being meant by those sons of god , and morning stars , that with glad songs and acclamations celebrated the foundations of the earth ; we must allow , that there were many creatures endowed with at least as much reason as your friend , who yet were unacquainted with the mysteries of nature , since she her self had not yet receiv'd a being . wherefore god having as well made the world , as given man the faculties whereby he is enabled to contemplate it ; naturalists are as much obliged to god for their knowledge , as we are for our intelligence to those that write us secrets in cyphers , and teach us the skill of decyphering things so written ; or to those who write what would fill a page in the compass of a single peny , and present us to boot a microscope to enable us to read it . and as the naturalist hath peculiar inducements to gratitude for the endowment of knowledge ; so ingenuity lays this peculiar obligation on him to express his gratitude in the way i have been recommending , that 't is one of the acceptablest ways it can be express'd in ; especially since by this way , philosophers may not onely exercise their own gratitude towards god , but procure him that of others . how pleasing mens hearty praises are to god , may appear among other things , by what is said and done by that royal poet , whom god was pleased to declare a man after his own heart ; for he introduces god pronouncing , whoso offereth praise , glorifieth me ; where the word our interpreters render offereth , in the hebrew signifies to sacrifice ; with which agrees , that else-where those that pay god their praises , are said to sacrifice to him the calves of their lips . and that excellent person , to whom god vouchsafed so particular a testimony , was so assiduous in this exercise , that the book which we , following the greek , call psalms , is , in the original , from the things it most abounds with , called sepher tehillim , i. e. the book of praises . and to let you see , that many of his praises were such , as the naturalist may best give , he exclaims in one place , how manifold are thy works , o lord ? how wisely hast thou made them , ( as junius and tremellius render it , and the hebrew will bear ) and else-where , the heavens declare the glory of god , and the firmament sheweth his handy-work , &c. again , in another place , i will praise thee , because i am fearfully and wonderfully made . marvellous are thy works , and that my soul knoweth right well . and not content with many of the like expressions , he does several times in a devout transport , and poetical strain , invite the heavens , and the stars , and the earth , and the seas , and all the other inanimate creatures , to joyn with him in the celebration of their common maker . which though it seem to be meerly a poetical scheme , yet in some sort it might become a naturalist , who by making out the power , wisdom , and goodness of the creator , and by reflecting thence on those particulars wherein those attributes shine , may , by such a devout consideration of the creatures , make them , in a sense , joyn with him in glorifying their author . in any other case , i dare say , your friend is not so ill natur'd , but that he would think it an unkind piece of ingratitude , if some great and excellent prince , having freely and transcendently obliged him , he should not concern himself to know what manner of man his benefactor is ; and should not be solicitous to inform himself of those particulars , relating to the person and affairs of that obliging monarch , which were not onely in themselves worthy of any mans curiosity , but about which the prince had solemnly declar'd he was very desirous to have men inquisitive . and sure 't is very disingenious , to undervalue or neglect the knowledge of god himself for a knowledge which we cannot attain without him , and by which he design'd to bring us to that study we neglect for it : which is not onely not to use him as a benefactor , but as if he meant to punish him ( if i may so speak ) for having oblieged us , since we so abuse some of his favours , as to make them inducements to our unthankful disregard of his intentions in the rest . and this ingratitude is the more culpable , because the laws of ingenuity , and of justice it self , charge us to glorifie the maker of all things visible , not onely upon our own account , but upon that of all his other works . for by gods endowing of none but man here below with a reasonable soul , not onely he is the sole visible being that can return thanks and praises in the world , and thereby is oblieged to do so , both for himself , and for the rest of the creation ; but 't is for mans advantage , that god has left no other visible beings in the world , by which he can be studied and celebrated . for , reason is such a ray of divinity , that , if god had vouchsafed it to other parts of the universe besides man , the absolute empire of man over the rest of the world must have been shar'd , or abridg'd . so that he , to whom it was equally easie to make creatures superior to man ( as the scripture tells us of legions , and myriads of angels ) as to make them inferiour to him , dealt so obligingly with mankind , as rather to trust ( if i may so speak ) our ingenuity , whether he shall reap any celebrations from the creatures we converse with , than lessen our empire over them , or our prerogatives above them . but i fear , that , notwithstanding all the excellency of reveal'd truths , and consequently of that onely authentic repository of them , the scripture , you , as well as i , have met with some ( for i hope there are not many ) virtuosi , that think to excuse the neglect of the study of it , by alledging , that to them who are lay-men , not ecclesiasticks , there is requir'd to salvation the explicit knowledge but of very few points , which are so plainly summ'd up in the apostles creed , and are so often and conspicuously set down in the scripture , that one needs not much search or study it to find them there . in answer to this allegation , i readily grant , that through the great goodness of god , who is willing to have all men saved , and come to the knowledge of the truth , that is necessary to be so , there are much fewer articles absolutely necessary to be by all men distinctly believed , than may be met with in divers long confessions of faith , some of which have , i fear , less promoted knowledge than impair'd charity . but then it may be also consider'd , 1. that 't is not so easie for a rational man , that will trouble himself to enquire no farther than the apostles creed , to satisfie himself upon good grounds , that all the fundamental articles of christianity are contain'd in it . 2. that the creed proposes onely the credenda , not the agenda of religion ; whereas the scriptures were designed , not onely to teach us what truths we are to believe , but by what rules we are to live ; the obedience to the laws of christianity being as necessary to salvation , as the belief of its mysteries . 3. that besides the things which are absolutely necessary , there are several that are highly useful , to make us more clearly understand , and more rationally and firmly believe , and more steadily practise , the points that are necessary . 4. and since , whether or no those words of our saviour to the jews , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , be to be rendred in the imperative or the indicative mode ; st. paul would have the word of christ to dwell richly in us , ( by which , whether he mean the holy scriptures then extant , or the doctrine of christ , is not here material ; ) thereby teaching us , that searching into the matters of religion may become necessary as a duty , though it were not otherwise necessary as a means of attaining salvation . and indeed 't is far more pardonable to want or miss the knowledge of truths , than to despise or neglect it . and the goodness of god to illiterate or mistaken persons , is to be suppos'd meant in pity to our frailties , not to encourage our laziness ; nor is it necessary , that he that pardons those seekers of his truths that miss them , should excuse those despisers that will not seek them . but whether or no by this design'd neglect of theology the persons , i deal with , do sufficiently consult their own safety , i doubt they will not much recommend their ingenuity . for to have received from god a greater measure of intellectual abilities than the generality of christians , and yet willingly to come short of very many of them , in the knowledge of the mysteries and other truths of christianity , which he often invites us , if not expresly commands , to search after , is a course that will not relish of over-much gratitude . is it a piece of that , and of ingenuity , to receive ones understanding and ones hopes of eternal felicity from the goodness of god , without being sollicitous of what may be known of his nature and purposes by so excellent a way as his own revelation of them ? to dispute anxiously about the properties of an atome , and be careless about the inquiry into the attributes of the great god , who formed all things ; to investigate the spontaneous generation of such vile creatures as insects , than the mysterious generation of the adorable son of god ; and , in a word , to be more concern'd to know every thing that makes a corporeal part of the world , than the divine and incorporeal authour of the whole ? and then , is it not , think you , a great piece of respect , that these men pay to those truths , which god thought fit to send sometimes prophets and apostles , sometimes angels , and sometimes his onely son himself to reveal , that such truths are so little valued by them , that rather than take the pains to study them , they will implicitly , and at adventures believe , what that society of christians , they chance to be born and bred in , have ( truly or falsly ) delivered concerning them ? and does it argue a due regard to points of religion , that those , who would not believe a proposition in staticks , perhaps about a meer point , the centre of gravity , or in geometry , about the properties of some nameless curve line , or some such other things , ( which to ignore , is usually not a blemish , and about which , to be mistaken , is more usually without danger , ) should yet take up the articles of faith , concerning matters of great and everlasting consequence , upon the authority of men , fallible as themselves , when satisfaction may be had without them from the infallible word of god ? in this very unlike those bereans , whom the evangelist honours with the title of noble , that when the doctrines of the gospel were proposed to them , they searched the scriptures daily , whether those things were so . again , if a man should refuse to learn to read any more , than just as much as may serve his turn , by intituling him to the benefit of the clergy , to save him from hanging , would these men think so small a measure of literature , as he had acquir'd on such an account , could prove that man to be a lover of learning ; and yet a neglecter of the study of all not absolutely necessary-divine truths , during ones life , because the belief of the articles of the creed may make a shift to keep him from being doom'd to hell for ignorance after his death , will not by ( what in a learned man must be ) so pitiful a degree of knowledge be much better intitled to that ingenuous love of god and his truths , that becomes a rational creature and a christian . the antient prophets , though honour'd by god with direct illuminations , were yet very solicitous to find out and learn the very circumstances of the evangelical dispensations , which yet they did not know . and some of the gospel mysteries are of so noble and excellent a nature , that the angels themselves desire to look into them . and though all the evangelical truths are not precisely necessary to be known , it may be both a duty not to despise the study of them , and a happiness to employ our selves about it . it was the earnest prayer of a great king , and no less a prophet , that his eyes might be opened to behold ( not the obvious and necessary truths , but ) the wondrous things of gods law. he is pronounced happy in the beginning of the apocalypse , that reads and observes the things contain'd in that dark and obscure part of scripture . and 't is not onely those truths that make articles of the creed , but divers other doctrines of the gospel , that christ himself judged worthy to be concluded with this epiphonema , he that hath ears to hear , let him hear ; on which the excellent grotius makes this just paraphrase , intellectus nobis à deo potissimum datus est , ut eum intendamus documentis ad pietatem pertinentibus the third section . i come now to our third and last inducement to the study of divine things , which consists in , and comprises the advantages of that study , which do as much surpass those of all other contemplations , as divine things transcend all other objects . and indeed , the utility of this study is so pregnant a motive , and contains in it so many invitations , that your friend must have as little sense of interest as of gratitude , if he can neglect such powerful and such ingaging invitations . for , in the first place , theological studies ought to be highly endeared to us by the delightfulness of considering such noble and worthy objects as are therein propos'd . the famous answer given by an excellent philosopher , who being ask'd what he was born for , repli'd , to contemplate the sun , may justly recommend their choice , who spend their time in contemplating the maker of the sun , to whom that glorious planet it self is but a shadow . and perhaps that philosopher failed more in the instance than in the notion : for his answer implies , that man's end and happiness consists in the exercise of his noblest faculties on the noblest objects . and surely the seat of formal happiness being the soul , and that happiness consequently consisting in the operations of her faculties ; as the supreme faculty of the mind is the understanding , so the highest pleasures may be expected from the due exercise of it upon the sublimest and worthiest objects . and therefore i wonder not , that though some of the school-men would assign the will a larger share in mans felicity , than they will allow the intellect ; yet the generality of them are quite of another mind , and ascribe the preheminence in point of felicity to the superiour faculty of the soul. but , whether or no this opinion be true in all cases , it may at least be admitted in ours : for , the chief objects of a christian philosophers contemplation , being as well the infinite goodness , as the other boundless perfections of god , they are naturally fitted to excite in his mind an ardent love of that adorable being , and those other joyous affections and virtuous dispositions , that have made some men think happiness chiefly seated in the will. but having intimated thus much by the way , i pass on to add , that the contentment afforded by the assiduous discovery of god and divine mysteries , has so much of affinity with the pleasures , that shall make up mens blessedness in heaven it self , that they seem rather to differ in degree than in kind . for , the happy state even of angels is by our saviour represented by this imployment , that they continually see the face of his father who is in heaven . and the same infallible teacher , intending elsewhere to express the celestial joys that are reserv'd for those , who for their sake deny'd themselves sensual pleasures , imploys the vision of god as an emphatical periphrase of felicity , blessed , said he , are the pure in heart , for they shall see god. and as aristotle teaches , that the soul doth after a sort become that which it speculates , st. paul and st. john assure us , that god is a transforming object , and that in heaven we shall be like him , for ( or , because ) we shall see him as he is . and though i readily admit , that this beatisick vision of god , wherein the understanding is the proper instrument , includes divers other things which will concur to the compleat felicity of the future life ; yet i think , we may be allowed to argue , that that ravishing contemplation of divine objects , will make no small part of that happy estate , which in these texts take its denomination from it . i have above intimated , that the scripture attributes to the angels themselves transports of wonder and joy upon the contemplation of god , and the exercises they consider of his wisdom , justice , or some other of his attributes . but least in referring you to the angels , you should say , that i do in this discourse lay aside the person of a naturalist , in favour of divines ; i will refer you to des cartes himself , whom i am sure your friend will allow to have been a rigid philosopher , if ever there were any . thus then speaks he in that treatise , where he thinks he imploys a more than mathematical rigor ; and where he was obliged to utter those ( i had almost said passionate ) words , i am going to cite from him , onely by the impressions made on him by the transcendent excellency of the ob●●… he contemplated ; sed priusquam ( says he ) hoc diligentius examinem , simulque in alias veritates quae inde colligi possunt , inquiram , placet hic aliquandiu in ipsius dei contemplatione immorari , ejus attributa apud me expendere , & immensi hujus luminis pulchritudinem , quantum caligantis ingenii mei acies ferre poterit , intueri , admirari , adorare . ut enim in hac sola divinae majestatis contemplatione summam alterius vitae felicitatem ex consistere fide credimus ; ita etiam jam ex eadem , licet multo minus perfecta , maximam , cujus in hac vita capaces simus , voluptatem , percipi posse experimur . but as high a satisfaction as the study of divine things affords by the nobleness of its object , the contentment is not much inferiour that accrues from the same study upon the score of the sense of a mans having in it performed his duty . to make actions of this nature satisfactory to us , there is no need , that the things we are employ'd about , should in themselves be excellent or delightful ; the inward gratulations of conscience for having done our duties is able to ●●…d the bitterest pills , and , like the wood that grew by the waters of marah , to correct and sweeten that liquor , which before was the most distastful . those antient pagan heroes , whose vertues may make us blush , being guided but by natural reason , and innate principles of moral virtues , could find the most difficult and most troublesome duties , upon the bare account of their being duties , not onely tolerable but pleasant . and though to deny some lusts be , in our saviours esteem , no less uneasie , then for a man to pluck out his right eye , or cut off his right hand ; yet even ladies have with satisfaction chosen , not onely to deny themselves the greatest pleasures of the senses , but to sacrifice the seat of them , the body it self , to preserve the satisfaction of being chaste . nor are they onely the dictates of obedience that we comply with in this study , but those of gratitude ; and that is a vertue that has so powerful an ascendant upon ingenuous minds , that those , whose principles and aims were not elevated by religion , have , in acknowledgment to their parents and their countrey , courted the greatest hardships , and hazards , and sufferings , as if they were as great delights and advantages . and a gratefull person spends no part of his life to his greater satisfaction , than that which he ventures or imploys for those to whom he is oblieged for it ; and oftentimes finds a greater contentment even in the difficultest acknowledgments of a favour , than he did in receiving of it . another advantage , and that no mean one , that may accrue from the contemplation of theological truths , is , the improvement of the contemplator himself in point of piety and virtue . for , as the gospel is styl'd , the mystery of godliness ; and st. paul elsewhere calls what it teaches , the truth which is according to godliness , that is , a doctrine fram'd and fitted to promote the interest of piety and virtue in the world : so this character and encomium belongs ( though perhaps not equally ) to the more retir'd truths discover'd by speculation , as well as to those more obvious ones , that are familiarly taught in catechisms and confessions of faith. i would by no means lessen the excellency and prerogatives of fundamentals ; but , since the grand and noblest engagements to piety and virtue , are a high veneration for god and his christ , and an ardent love of them ; i cannot but think , that those particular inquiries , that tend to make greater discoveries of the attributes of god , of the nature , and offices , and life of our saviour , and of the wisdom and goodness they have display'd in the contrivance and effecting of man's redemption ; do likewise tend to increase our admiration , and inflame our love , for the possessors of such divine excellencies , and the authors of such invaluable benefits . and as the brazen serpent , that was but a type of one of the gospel mysteries , brought recovery to those that look'd up to it ; so the mysteries themselves , being duly consider'd , have had a very sanative influence on many that contemplated them. nor is it likely , that he that discerns more of the depth of gods wisdom and goodness , should not , caeteris paribus , be more disposed than others to admire him , to love him , to trust him , and so to resign up himself to be governed by him : which frame of mind both is it self a great part of the worship of god , and doth directly tend to the production and increase of those vertues , without the practise of which , the scripture plainly tells us , that we can neither obey god , nor express our love to him . and from this bettering of the mind by the study of theology , will flow ( to add that upon the by ) another benefit , namely , that by giving us a higher value for god and his truths , it will endear heaven to us , and so not onely assist us to come thither , but heighten our felicity there . i know it may be said , that the melioration of the mind is but a moral advantage . but give me leave to answer , that , besides that 't is such a moral advantage as supposes an intellectual improvement whose fruit it is , a moral benefit may be great enough , even in the judgment of a meer philosopher , and an epicurean , to deserve as much study as natural philosophy it self . and that you may not think that i speak this onely , because i write in this epistle as a friend to divines , i will tell you , that epicurus himself , who has now adays so numerous a sect of naturalists to follow him , studied physicks , and writ so many treatises about them for this end , that by knowing the natural causes of thunder , lightning , and other dreadful phaenomena , the mind might be freed from the disquieting apprehensions men commonly had , that such strange and formidable things proceeded from some incensed deity , and so might trouble the mind , as well as the air. this account i have been giving of epicurus his design , is but what seems plainly enough intimated by his own words , preserved us by laertius , near the end of his physiological epistle to herodotus , where recommending to him the consideration of what he had delivered about physical principles in general , and meteors in particular , he subjoyns , si enim ab istis non discesserimus , tum id unde oritur perturbatio , quodque metum ingerit , recta cum ratione edisseremus , nosque ab ipsis eximemus . and to this in the close of his meteorological epistle to pythocles , his best interpreter , gassendus , makes him speak consonantly , in these words , maxime veró dede teipsum speculationi principiorum , ex quibus constant omnia , & infinitatis naturae , aliorumque his cohaerentium insuper veró & criteriorum , affectuumque animi , & scopum illius in quem ista edisserentes collineavimus , attende , tranquillitatem intelligo statumque mentis imperturbatum . but this is not all the testimony i can give you from epicurus himself to the same purpose , for among his ratae sententiae , preserved us by laertius , ( himself reputed an epicurean ) i find one that goes further ; si nihil ( says he ) conturbaret nos quod suspicamur , veremu que ex rebus sublimibus , neque item quod ex ipsa morte , ne quando nimirum ad nos pertine at aliquid , ac nosse praeterea possemus , qui germani fines dolorum atque cupiditatum sint ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) nihil physiologiâ indigeremus . thus far the testimony of epicurus , of whose mind though i am not at all , as to what he would intimate , that physiology is either proper to free the mind from the belief of a provident deity , and the souls immortality , or fit for no other considerable purposes ; yet this use we may well make of these declarations , that , in epicurus's opinion , a moral advantage that relates to the government of the affections , may deserve the pains of making inquiries into nature . and since it hence appears , that a meer philosopher , who admitted no providence , may think it worth his pains , to search into the abstrusest parts of physicks , and the difficultest phaenomena of nature , onely to ease himself of one troublesome affection , fear ; it need not be thought unphilosophical , to prosecute a study , that will not onely restrain one undue passion , but advance all vertues , and free us from all servile fears of the deity ; and tend to give us a strong and well-grounded hope in him ; and make us look upon gods greatest power , not with terrour , but with joy. there is yet another advantage belonging to the study of divine truths , which is too great to be here pretermitted . for whereas there is scarce any thing more incident to us whilst we inhabit our ( batté chómer ) cottages of clay , and dwell in this vale of tears , than afflictions ; it ought not a little to endear to us the newly mention'd study , that it may be easily made to afford us very powerful consolations in that otherwise uneasie state . i know it may be said , that the speculations about which the naturalist is busied , are as well pleasing diversions , as noble imployments of the mind . and i deny not that they are often so , when the mind is not hinder'd from applying it self attentively to them ; so that afflictions slight and short may well be weather'd out by these philosophical avocations ; but the greater and sharper sort of afflictions , and the approaches of death , require more powerful remedies , than these diversions can afford us . for in such cases , the mind is wont to be too much discompos'd , to apply the attention requisite to the finding a pleasure in physical speculations ; and in sicknesses , the soul is oftentimes as indispos'd to relish the pleasures of meerly humane studies , as the languishing body is to relish those meats , which at other times were delightful : and there are but few that can take any great pleasure to study the world , when they apprehend themselves to be upon the point of being driven out of it , and in danger of losing all their share in the objects of their contemplation . it will not much qualifie our sense of the burning heat of a feaver , or the painful gripes of the cholick , to know , that the three angles of a triangle are equal to two right ones ; or that heat is not a real quality ( as the schools would have it , ) but a modification of the motion of the insensible parts of matter ; and pain not a distinct , inherent quality in the things that produce it , but an affection of the sentiment . the naturalists speculations afford him no consolations that are extraordinary in , or peculiar to , the state of affliction ; and the avocations they present him with , do rather amuse the mind from an attention to lesser evils , than bring it any advantages to remove or compensate them ▪ and so work rather in the nature of opiates , than of true cordials . but now , if such a person as dr. n. falls into adversity , the case is much otherwise ; for we must consider , that when the study of divine things is such as it ought to be , though , that in it self , or in the nature of the imployment , be an act or exercise of reason ; yet being apply'd to , out of obedience , and gratitude , and love to god , it is upon the account of its motives , and its aim , an act of religion ; and as it proceeds from obedience , and thankfulness , and love to god , so it is most acceptable to him ; and upon the account of his own appointment , as well as goodness , is a most proper and effectual means of obtaining his favour ; and then i presume , it will easily be granted , that he who is so happy as to enjoy that , can scarce be made miserable by affliction . for not now to enter upon the common-place of the benefits of afflictions to them that love god , and to them that are lov'd by him , it may suffice , that he who ( as the scripture speaks ) knows our frame , and has promised those that are his , that they shall not be over-burden'd , is dispos'd and wont to give his afflicted servants , both extraordinary comforts in afflictions , and comforts appropriated to that state . for though natural philosophy be like its brightest object , the stars , which , however the astronomer can with pleasure contemplate them , are unable , being meer natural agents , to afford him a kinder influence than usual , in case he be cast upon his bed of languishing , or into prison ; yet the almighty and compassionate maker of the stars , being not onely a voluntary , but the most free , agent , can suit and proportion his reliefs to our necessities , and alleviate our heaviest afflictions by such supporting consolations , that not onely they can never surmount our patience , but are oftentimes unable so much as to hinder our joy ; and when death , that king of terrours , presents it self , whereas the meer naturalist sadly expects to be depriv'd of the pleasure of his knowledge by losing those senses and that world , which are the instruments and the objects of it ; and perhaps ( discovering beyond the grave nothing but either a state of eternal destruction , or of eternal misery , ) fears either to be confin'd for ever to the sepulchre , or expos'd to torments that will make even such a condition desirable ; the pious student of divine truths , is not onely freed from the wracking apprehensions of having his soul reduc'd to a state of annihilation , or cast into hell , but enjoys a comfortable expectation of finding far greater satisfaction than ever in the study he now rejoyces to have pursu'd ; since the change , that is so justly formidable to others , will but bring him much nearer to the divine o●jects of his devout curiosity , and strangely elevate and inlarge his faculties to apprehend them . and this leads me to the mention of the last advantage belonging to the study i would perswade you to ; and indeed , the highest advantage that can recommend any study , or invite men to any undertaking ; for this is no less than the everlasting fruition of the divine objects of our studies hereafter , and the comfortable expectation of it here . for the employing of ones time and parts , to admire the nature and providence of god , and contemplate the divine mysteries of religion , as it is one of the chief of those homages and services , whereby we venerate and obey god ; so it is one of those , to which he hath been pleased to apportion no less a recompence , than ( that which can have no greater ) the enjoyment of himself . the saints and angels in heaven have divers of them been employ'd to convey the truths of theology , and are sollicitous to look into those sacred mysteries ; and god hath been pleased to appoint , that those men who study the same lessons that they do here , shall study them in their company hereafter . and doubtless , though heaven abound with unexpressible joys , yet it will be none of the least that shall make up the happiness even of that place , that the knowledge of divine things , that was here so zealously pursu'd , shall there be compleatly attain'd . for those things that do here most excite our desires , and quicken the curiosity and industry of our searches , will not onely there continue , but be improv'd to a far greater measure of attractiveness and influence . for all those interests , and passions , and lusts , that here below either hinder us from clearly discerning , or keep us from sufficiently valuing , or divert us from attentively enough considering , the beauty and harmony of divine truths , will there be either abolish'd , or transfigur'd : and as the object will be unveil'd ; so our eye will be enlighten'd , that is , as god will there disclose those worthy objects of the angels curiosity , so he will inlarge our faculties , to enable us to gaze without being dazl'd upon those sublime and radiant truths , whose harmony as well as splendor we shall be then qualifi'd to discover , and consequently with transports to admire . and this enlargement and elevation of our faculties , will , proportionably to its own measure , increase our satisfaction at the discoveries it will enable us to make . for theology is like a heaven , which wants not more stars than appear in it , but we want eyes , quick-sighted and piercing enough to reach them . and as the milky way , and other whiter parts of the firmament , have been full of immortal lights from the beginning , and our new telescopes have not plac'd , but found them , there ; so , when our saviour , after his glorious resurrection , instructed his apostles to teach the gospel , 't is not said that he alter'd any thing in the scriptures of moses and the prophets , but onely open'd and enlarg'd their intellects , that they might understand the scriptures : and the royal prophet makes it his prayer , that god would be pleased to open his eyes , that he might see wonderful things out of the law ; being ( as was above intimated ) so well satisfi'd , that the word of god wanted not admirable things , that he is onely sollicitous for the improvement of his own eyes , that they might be qualifi'd to discern them . i had almost forgotten one particular , about the advantages of theological studies , that is too considerable to be left unmention'd : for as great as i have represented the benefits accruing from the knowledge of divine truths ; yet to endear them to us , it may be safely added , that , to procure us these benefits , the actual attainment of that knowledge is not always absolutely necessary , but a hearty endeavour after it may suffice to entitle us to them . the patient chymist , that consumes himself and his estate in seeking after the philosophers stone , if he miss of his idoliz'd elixir , had as good , nay better , have never sought it , and remains as poor in effect , as he was rich in expectation . the husbandman that employs his seed and time , to obtain from the ground a plentiful harvest , if , after all , an unkind season happen , must see his toil made fruitless ; — longique perit labor irritus anni . too many patients , that have punctually done and suffer'd for recovery all that physicians could prescribe , meet at last with death in stead of health . you know what entertainment has been given by skilful geometricians to the laborious endeavours , even of such famous writers as scaliger , longomontanus , and other tetragonists ; and that their successor mr. hobbs , after all the ways he has taken , and those he has propos'd , to square the circle , and double the cube , by missing of his end , has , after his various attempts , come off , not onely with disappointment , but with disgrace . and ( to give an instance even in things celestial ) how much pains has been taken to find out longitudes , and make astrological precictions with some certainty , which for want of coming up to what they aimed at , have been useless , if not prejudicial to the attempters . but god ( to speak with st. paul on another occasion ) that made the world , and all things therein , and is lord of heaven and earth , seeks not our services , as though he needed any thing , seeing he giveth life , and breath , and all things : his self-sufficiency and bounty are such , that he seeks in our obedience the occasions of rewarding it , and prescribes us services , because the practise of them is not onely sutable to our rational nature , but such as will prevail with his justice , to let his goodness make our persons happy . agreeably to this doctrine we find in the scripture , that abraham is said to have been justified by faith , when he offered his son isaac upon the altar , ( though he did not actually sacrifice him ) because he endeavour'd to do so ; although , god graciously accepting the will for the deed , accepted also of the bloud of a ram instead of isaac's . and thus we know , that 't was not david , but solomon that built the temple of hierusalem , and yet god says to the former of those kings ( as we are told by the latter ) for asmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name thou didst well in that it was in thine heart ; notwithstanding thou shalt not build the house , &c. and if we look to the other circumstances of this story , as they are delivered in the second book of samuel , we shall find , that upon david's declaration of a design to build god an house , god himself vouchsafes to honour him , as he once did moses , with the peculiar title of his servant ; and commands the prophet to say to him , also the lord tells thee , that he will make thee an house : to which is added one of the graciousest messages that god ever sent to any particular man. by which we may learn , that god approves and accepts even those endeavours ( of his servants ) if they be real and sincere , that never come to be actually accomplished : good designs and endeavours are our part , but the events of those , as of all other things , are in the all-disposing hand of god , who , if we be not wanting to what lies in us , will not suffer us to be losers by the defeating dispositions of his providence ▪ but crown our endeavours either with success , or with some other recompence , that will keep us from being losers by missing of that . and indeed , if we consider the great elogies that the scripture , as well frequently as justly , gives god's goodness ( which it represents as over , or as above , all his works ) and that his purer eyes punish , as well as see , the murder and adultery of the heart , when those intentional sins are hinder'd from advancing into actual ones ; we can scarce doubt but he , whose justice punishes sinful aims , will allow his infinite goodness to recompense pious attempts : and therefore our saviour pronounces them blessed , that hunger and thirst after righteousness , assuring them that they shall be satisfi'd , and thereby sufficiently intimating to us , that an earnest desire after a spiritual grace ( and such is the knowledge of divine things ) may entitle a man to the complete possession of it , if not in this life , yet in the next , where we shall not any more walk by faith , but by sight , and obtain as well a knowledge as other endowments , befitting that glorious state , wherein the purchaser of it for us , assures us , that we shall be [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] equal , or like to the angels . the considerations , sir , i have hitherto laid before you , to recommend the study of divine truths , have , i hope , perswaded you , that 't is on many accounts both noble and eligible in it self ; and therefore i shall here conclude the first part of this discourse . and in regard that the undervaluation physiophilus expresses for that excellent imployment , seems to flow ( chiefly at least ) from his fondness and partiality for natural philosophy ; it will next concern us to compare the study of theology with that of physicks , and show , that the advantages which your friend alledges in favour of the latter , are partly much lessen'd by disadvantageous circumstances , and partly much out-weigh'd by the transcendent excellencies of theological contemplations : the study whereof will thereby appear to be not onely eligible in it self , but preferrible to its rival . and i must give you warning to expect to find the second part , which the making this comparison challenges to it self , a good deal more prolix than the first ; not onely because it often requires more trouble , and more words to detect and disprove an errour , than to make out a truth ; but also because that divers things tending to the credit of divinity , and which consequently might have been brought into the first part of this discourse , were thought more fit to be interwoven with other things , in the answers made to the objections examin'd in the second . the excellency of theology : or , the preeminence of the study of divinity , above that of natural philosophy . the second part . i shall , without preamble , begin this discourse , by considering the delightfulness of physicks , as the main thing that inveigles your friend , and divers other virtuosi , from relishing , as they ought , and otherwise would , the pleasantness of theological discoveries . and to deal ingenuously with you , i shall not scruple to acknowledge , that though the address i have made to nature has lasted several years , and has been toilsome enough , and not unexpensive ; yet i have been pleas'd enough with the favours , such as they are , that she has from time to time accorded me , not to complain of having been unpleasantly imploy'd . but though i readily allow the attainments of naturalists to be able to give philosophical souls sincerer pleasures , than those that the more undiscerning part of mankind is so fond of ; yet i must not therefore allow them to surpass , or even equal , the contentment , that may accrue to a soul qualified by religion , to relish the best things most from some kind of theological contemplations . this , i presume , will sufficiently appear , if i shew you , that the study of physiology is not unattended with considerable inconveniencies , and that the pleasantness of it may be , by a person studious of divinity , enjoy'd with endearing circumstances . but before i name any of the particular reasons that i am to represent , i fear it may be requisite to interpose a few words , to obviate a mistake , which , if not prevented , may have an ill aspect , not onely upon the first section , but upon a great part of the following discourse . for i know that it may be said , that whereas i alledge divers things , to lessen the lately mentioned delightfulness of the study of physic , and to depreciate some other advantages , by which the following sections would recommend it , some of the same things may be objected against the delightfulness of the study of divinity . but this objection will not , i presume , much move you , if you consider the argument and scope of the two parts of this letter . for in the former i have shewn by positive proofs , that the study of theology is attended with divers advantages , which belong to it , either onely as some of them do , or principally as others . and now in the second part i come to consider , whether what is alledged in behalf of the study of philosophy , deserve to counter-ballance those prerogatives or advantages ; and therefore it neither need be , nor is my design , to compare , for instance , the delightfulness of the two studies , philosophy and physicks , but by shewing the inconveniences that allay the latter , to weaken the argument that is drawn from that delightfulness , to conclude it preferrable to the study of theology . so that my work , in this and the following sections , is , not so much to institute comparisons , as to obviate or answer allegations . for since i have in the past discourse grounded the excellency of the study of divinity , chiefly upon those great advantages that are peculiar to it ; my reasonings would not be frustrated , though it should appear , that in point of delightfulness , certainty , &c. that study should , in many cases , be liable to the same objections with the study of nature , since 't is not mainly for these qualities , but , as i was saying , for other and peculiar excellencies that i recommended divinity , and therefore , supposing the delightfulness , &c. of that and of physicks , to be allayed by the same , or equal inconveniences or imperfections ; that supposition would not hinder the scales to be swayed in favour of divinity , upon the score of those advantages that are unquestion'd , and peculiarly belong to it . i know not whether i need add , that , notwithstanding this , you are not to expect , that i should give philosophy the wounds of an enemy . for my design being not to discourage you , nor any ingenious man , from courting her at all , nor from courting her much , but from courting her too much , and despising divinity for her , i employ against her not a sword to wound her , but a ballance , to shew , that her excellencies , though solid and weighty , are less so , than the preponderating ones of theology . and this temper and purpose of mine renders my task difficult enough to have , perhaps , some right to your pardon ▪ as well as some need of it , if i do not every where steer so exactly , as equally to avoid injuring the cause i am to plead for , and disparaging a study , which i would so little depreciate , that i allow it a great part of my inclinations , and not a little share of my time. and having said this , to keep the design of this discourse from being misunderstood , i hope we may now proceed to the particulars , whose scope we have been declaring . returning then to what i was about to say before this long , but needful , advertisement interrupted me , i shall resume my discourse of the delightfulness of the study of physicks , about which i was going in the first place to tell you , that i know you and your friend will freely grant me , that the knowledge of the empty and barren physiology , that is taught in the schools , as it exacts not much pains to be acquir'd , so it affords but little satisfaction when attain'd . and as i know you will give me leave to say this ; so , being warranted by no slight experience of my own , i shall take leave to say also , that the study of that experimental philosophy , which is that whereof your friend is so much enamour'd , is , if it be duly prosecuted , a very troublesome and laborious imployment . for , ( to mention at present but this ) that great variety of objects the naturalist is not onely by his curiosity , but by their secret dependances upon one another , engag'd to consider , and several ways to handle , will put him upon needing , and consequently upon applying himself to such a variety of mechanick people , ( as distillers , drugsters , smiths , turners , &c. ) that a great part of his time , and perhaps all his patience , shall be spent in waiting upon trades-men , and repairing the losses he sustains by their disappointments , which is a drudgery greater than any , who has not try'd it , will imagine , and which yet being as inevitable as unwelcome , does very much counter-ballance and allay the delightfulness of the study we are treating of . in which so great a part of a mans care and time must be laid out in providing the apparatus'es necessary for the trying of experiments . but this is not all . for when you have brought an experiment to an issue , though the event may often prove such as you will be pleas'd with ; yet it will seldome prove such as you can acquiesce in . for it fares not with an inquisitive mind in studying the book of nature , as in reading of aesop's fables , or some other collection of apologues of differing sorts , and independant one upon another ; where when you have read over as many at one time as you think fit , you may leave off when you please , and go away with the pleasure of understanding those you have perus'd , without being sollicited by any troublesome itch of curiosity to look after the rest , as those which are needful to the better understanding of those you have already gone over , or that will be explicated by them , and scarce without them . but in the book of nature , as in a well contriv'd romance , the parts have such a connection and relation to one another , and the things we would discover are so darkly or incompleatly knowable by those that precede them , that the mind is never satisfied till it comes to the end of the book ; till when all that is discover'd in the progress , is unable to keep the mind from being molested with impatience to find that yet conceal'd , which will not be known till one does at least make a further progress . and yet the full discovery of natures mysteries , is so unlikely to fall to any mans share in this life , that the case of the pursuers of them is at best like theirs , that light upon some excellent romance , of which they shall never see the latter parts . for indeed ( to speak now without a simile ) there is such a relation betwixt natural bodies , and they may in so many ways ( and divers of them unobserv'd ) work upon , or suffer from , one another , that he who makes a new experiment , or discovers a new phaenomenon , must not presently think , that he has discover'd a new truth , or detected an old error . for , ( at least if he be a considering man ) he will oftentimes find reason to doubt , whether the experiment or observation have been so skilfully and warily made in all circumstances , as to afford him such an account of the matter of fact , as a severe naturalist would desire . and then , supposing the historical part no way defective , there are far more cases than are taken notice of , wherein so many differing agents may produce the exhibited phaenomenon , or have a great influence upon the experiment or observation , that he must be less jealous than becomes a philosopher , to whom experiments doe not oftentimes as well suggest new doubts , as present new phaenomena . and even those trials , that end in real discoveries , do , by reason of the connection of physical truths , and the relations that natural bodies have to one another , give such hopes and such desires of improving the acquists we have already made , to the explicating of other difficulties , or the making of further discoveries , that an inquisitive naturalist finds his work to increase daily upon his hands , and the event of his past toils , whether it be good or bad , does but engage him into new ones , either to free himself from his scruples , or improve his successes . so that , though the pleasure of making physical discoveries , is , in it self consider'd , very great ; yet this does not a little impair it , that the same attempts which afford that delight , do so frequently beget both anxious doubts , and a disquieting curiosity . so that , if knowledge be , as some philosophers have styl'd it , the aliment of the rational soul , i fear i may too truly say , that the naturalist is usually fain to live upon sallads and sauces , which though they yield some nourishment , excite more appetite than they satisfie , and give us indeed the pleasure of eating with a good stomach , but then reduce us to an unwelcome necessity of always rising hungry from the table . of divers things , that lessen the delightfulness of physiological studies , i do so amply discourse in other papers , that i might well remit you thither ; but indeed it is not necessary that i should insist on this argument any further . 't is true , that such a reference might be very proper , if the mysteries of theology and physick were like those of theology and necromancy , or some other part of unlawful magick , whereof the former could not be well relish'd without an abhorrence of the latter . but as the two great books , of nature and of scripture , have the same authour ; so the study of the latter does not at all hinder an inquisitive man's delight in the study of the former . the doctor i am pleading for , may as much relish a physical discovery , as physiophilus ; nay , by being addicted to theology and religion , he is so far from being uncapable of the contentments accruing from the study of nature , that beside those things that recommend it to others , there are several things that peculiarly endear it to him. for i. he has the contentment to look upon the wonders of nature , not onely as the productions of an admirably wise author of things , but of such an one as he intirely honours and loves , and to whom he is related . he that reads an excellent book , or sees some rare engine , will be otherwise affected with the sight or the perusal , if he knows it to have been made by a friend , or a parent , than if he considers it but as made by a stranger , whom he has no particular reason to be concern'd for . and if rehoboam did not as well degenerate from the sentiments of mankind , as from his family , he could not but look upon that magnificent temple of solomon with another eye , than did the throngs of strangers that came onely to gaze at it , as an admirable piece of architecture , whilst he consider'd that 't was his father that built it . and if ( as we see ) the same heroick actions , which we read in history , of some great monarch , that strangers barely and unconcernedly admire , the natives of his countrey do not onely venerate , but affectionately interest themselves therein , because they are his countrey-men , and their ancestors were his subjects : how much may we suppose the same actions would affect them , if they had the honour to be that prince's children ? we may well therefore presume , that 't is not without a singular satisfaction , that the contemplator , we are speaking of , does in all the wonders of nature discover , how wise , and potent , and bountiful that author of nature is , in whom he has a great interest , and that so great an one , as both to be admitted into the number of his friends , and adopted into the number of his sons , and is thereby in some measure concern'd in all the admirations and praises , that are paid either by himself or others , to those adorable attributes that god has displayed in that great master-piece of power and wisdom , the world. and when he makes greater discoveries in these expresses and adumbrations of the divine perfections , the delightfulness of his contemplation is proportionably increas'd upon such an account , as that , which indears to the passionate lover of some charming beauty an excellent , above an ordinary , picture of her ; because that the same things that make him , as it does other gazers , look upon it as a finer piece , make him look upon it as the more like his mistress , and thereby entertain him with the sublimer idea's of the belov'd original ; to whose transcendent excellencies he supposes that the noblest representations must be the most resembling . and there is a farther reason , why our contemplator should find a great deal of contentment in these discoveries . for we have in our nature so much of imperfection , and withall so much of inclination to self-love , that we do too confidently proportion our idea's of what god can do for us , to what we have already the knowledge or the possession of . and though , when we make it our business , we are able with much ado somewhat to enlarge our apprehensions , and raise our expectations beyond their wonted pitch ; yet still they will be but scantly promoted and heightned , if those things themselves be but mean and ordinary , which we think we have done enough if we make them surpass . a countrey villager , born and bred in a homely cottage , cannot have any suitable apprehensions of the pleasures and magnificence of a great monarchs court. and if he should be bid to scrue up his imagination to frame idea's of them , they would be borrow'd from the best tiled house he had seen in the market-towns where he had sold his turnips or corn , and the wedding-feast of some neighbouring farmers daughter . and though a child in the mother's womb had the perfect use of reason , yet could it not in that dark cell have any idea's of the sun or moon , or beauties or banquets , or algebra or chymistry , and many other things , which his elder brothers , that breath fresh air , and freely behold the light , and are in a more mature estate , are capable of knowing and enjoying . now among thinking men , whose thoughts run much upon that future state which they must shortly enter into , but shall never pass out of ; there will frequently and naturally arise a distrust , which though seldome own'd , proves oftentimes disquieting enough ! for such men are apt to question , how the future condition which the gospel promises , can afford them so much happiness as it pretends to ; since they shall in heaven but contemplate the works of god , and praise him , and converse with him , all which they think may , though not immediately , be done by men here below , without being happy : but he that by telescopes and microscopes , dexterous dissections , and well imploy'd furnaces , &c. discovers , the wondrous power and skill of him that contriv'd so vast and immense a mass of matter , into so curious a piece of workmanship as this world , will pleasingly be convinc'd of the boundless power and goodness of the great architect . and when he sees how admirably every animal is furnish'd with parts requisite to his respective nature ; and that there is particular care taken , that the same animal , as for example , man , should have differing provisions made for him according to his differing states within the womb , and out of it , ( a humane egg , and an embrio , being much otherwise nourished and fitted for action , than is a ( compleat ) man ; ) he , i say , who considers this , and observes the stupendious providence , and excellent contrivances , that the curious priers into nature ( and none but they ) can discover , will be as well enabled as invited to reason thus within himself : that sure god , who has with such admirable artifice fram'd silk-worms , butterflies , and other meaner insects , and with such wonderful providence taken care , that the nobler animals should as little want any of all the things requisite to the compleating of their respective natures ; and who , when he pleases , can furnish some things with qualifications , quite differing from those which the knowledge of his other works could have made us imagine , ( as is evident in the load-stone and in quick-silver among minerals , and the sensitive plant among vegetables , the camelion among animals , &c. ) this god , i say , must needs be fully able to furnish those he delights to honour ▪ with objects suitable to their improv'd . faculties , and with all that is requisite to the happiness he intends them in their glorifi'd state ; and is able to bring this to pass by such amazing contrivances , as perhaps will be quite differing from any , that the things we have yet seen suggest to us any idea's of . and sure he , that has in so immense , so curious , and so magnificent a fabrick , made such provision for men , who are either desperately wicked , or but very imperfectly good , and in a state where they are not to enjoy happiness , but by obedience and sufferings to fit themselves for it , may safely be trusted with finding them in heaven imployments and delights becoming the felicity he designs them there ; as we see that here below , he provides as well for the soaring eagle , as for the creeping caterpillar , ( and is able to keep the ocean as fully supply'd with rivers , as lakes or ponds are with springs and brooks . ) and as a state of celestial happiness is so great a blessing , that those things that afford us either greater assurances , or greater foretastes of it , are of the number of the greatest contentments and advantages , that short of it we can enjoy ; so 't is hard for any divine to receive so much of this kind of satisfaction , as he who by skilfully looking into the wonders of nature , has his apprehensions of god's power and manifold wisdom ( as an apostle calls it ) elevated and enlarg'd . as when the queen of sheba had particularly survey'd the astonishing prudence that solomon display'd in the ordering of his magnificent court ; she transportedly concluded those servants of his to be happy enough to deserve a monarchs envy , that were allowed the honour and priviledge of a constant and immediate attendance on him . the second section . i doubt not but you have too good an opinion of your friend , not to think that you may alledge in his favour , that the chief thing which makes him prefer physiology to all other kind of knowledge , is , that it enables those who are proficients in it to do a great deal of good , both by improving of trades , and by promoting of physick it self . and i am too mindful of what i writ to pyrophilus , to deny , either that it can assist a man to advance physick and trades , or that , by so doing , he may highly advantage mankind . and this , i , ( who would not lessen your friends esteem for physicks , but onely his partiality ) willingly acknowledge to be so allowable an endearment of experimental philosophy , that i do not know any thing , that to men of a humane , as well as ingenious disposition , ought more to recommend the study of nature ; except the opportunity it affords men to be just and grateful to the author both of nature and of man. i do not then deny , that the true naturalist may very much benefit mankind ; but i affirm , that , if men be not wanting to themselves , the divine may benefit them much more . it were not perchance either unseasonable , or impertinent to tell you on this occasion , that he who effectually teaches men to subdue their lusts and passions , does as much as the physician contribute to the preservation of their bodies , by exempting them from those vices , whose no less usual than destructive effects are wars , and duels , and rapines , and desolations , and the pox , and surfets , and all the train of other diseases that attend gluttony and drunkenness , idleness and lust ; which are not enemies to mans life and health barely upon a physical account , but upon a moral one , as they provoke god to punish them with temporal as well as spiritual judgments ; such as plagues , wars , famines , and other publick calamities , that sweep away a great part of mankind ; besides those personal afflictions of bodily sickness , and disquiets of conscience , that do both shorten mens lives , and imbitter them . whereas piety having ( as the scripture assures us ) promises both of this life , and of that which is to come , those teachers that make men virtuous and religious , by making them temperate , and chaste , and inoffensive , and calm , and contented , do not onely procure them great and excellent dispositions to those blessings , both of the right hand and of the left , which god's goodness makes him forward to bestow on those , who by grace and virtue are made fit to receive them ; but do help them to those qualifications , that by preserving the mind in a calm and cheerful temper , as well as by affording the body all that temperance can confer , do both lengthen their lives , and sweeten them . these things , i say , 't were not impertinent to insist on , but i will rather chuse to represent to you , that the benefits which men may receive from the divine , surpass those which they receive from the naturalist , both in the nobleness of the advantages , and in the duration of them . be it granted then , that the naturalist may much improve both physick and trades ; yet since these themselves were devised for the service of the body , ( the one to preserve or restore his health , and the other to furnish it with accommodations or delights ; ) the boasted use of natural philosophy , by its advancing trades and physick , will still be to serve the body ; which is but the lodging and instrument of the soul , and which , i presume , your friend , and which i am sure your self , will be far from thinking the noblest part of man. i know it may be said , nor do i deny it , that divers mechanical arts are highly beneficial , not onely to the inventors , but to those places , and perhaps those states , where such improvements are found out and cherish'd . but though i most willingly grant , that this consideration ought to recommend experimental philosophy , as well to states as to private persons ; yet , besides that many of these improvements do rather transfer than increase mankind's goods , and prejudice one sort of men as much as they advantage another , ( as in the case of the eastern spices , of whose trade the portugals and dutch by their later navigations , did , by appropriating it to themselves , deprive the venetians ) or else does but increase that , which , though very beneficial to the producers , is not really so to mankind in general : of which we have an example in the invention of extracting gold and silver out of the oar , with mercury . for though it have vastly enrich'd the spaniards in the west indies , yet 't is not of any solid advantage to the world ; no more than the discovery of the peruvian and other american mines ; by which , ( especially reckoning the multitudes of unhappy men that are made miserable , and destroyed in working them , ) mankind is not put into a better condition than it was before . and if the philosopher's stone it self , ( supposing there be such a thing ) were not an incomparable medicine , but were onely capable of transmuting other metalls into gold , i should perhaps doubt , whether the discoverer of it would much advantage mankind ; there being already gold and silver enough to maintain trade and commerce among men ; and for all other purposes , i know not , why a plenty of iron , and brass , and quick-silver , which are far more useful metalls , should not be more desirable . but not to urge this ; we may consider , that these advancements of inriching trades do still bring advantages but to the outward man , and those many arts and inventions that aim at the heightning the pleasures of the senses , belong but to the body ; and even in point of gratifying that , are not so requisite and important , as many suppose : education , custome , &c. having a greater interest than most imagine in the rellish men have even of sensitive pleasures . and as for physick , not to mind you , that it has been lowdly ( how justly , i here examine not , ) complain'd of , that the new philosophy has made it far greater promises than have yet been perform'd ; i shall onely take notice , that since all that physick is wont to pretend to , is , to preserve health , or restore it , there are multitudes in the world that have no need of the assistance the naturalist would give the physician ; and a healthy man , as such , is already in a better condition , than the philosopher can hope to place him in , and is no more advantag'd by the naturalist's contribution to physick , than a sound man that sleeps in a whole skin , is by all the fine tools of a chirurgeons case of instruments , and the various compositions of his chest . and as the benefits that may be derived from theology , much surpass those that accrue from physicks , in the nobleness of the subject they relate to ; so have they a great advantage in point of duration . for all the service that medicines , and engines , and improvements can do a man , as they relate but to this life , so they determine with it . physick indeed and chymistry do , the one more faintly , and the other more boldly , pretend sometimes not onely to the cure of diseases , but the prolongation of life : but since none will suspect , but that the masters of those parts of knowledge would employ their utmost skill to protract their own lives , those that remember , that solomon and helmont liv'd no longer , than millions that were strangers to philosophy ; and that even paracelsus himself , for all his boasted arcana , is by helmont and other chymists confessed to have died some years short of 50 ; we may very justly fear , that nature will not be so kind to her greatest votaries , as to give them much more time than other men , for the payment of the last debt all men owe her . and if a few years respite could by a scrupulous and troublesome use of diet and remedies be obtain'd ; yet that , in comparison of the eternity that is to follow , is not at all considerable . but , whereas within no great number of years , ( a little sooner , or a little later ) all the remedies , and reliefs , and pleasures , and accommodations , that philosophical improvements can afford a man , will not keep him from the grave , ( which within very few days will make the body of the greatest virtuoso as hideous and as loathsome a carcase as that of any ordinary man ; ) the benefits that may accrue to us by divinity , as they relate chiefly , though not onely , to the other world ; so they will follow us out of this , and prove then incomparably greater than ever , when they alone shall be capable of being enjoy'd . so that philosophy , in the capacity we here consider it , does but as it were provide us some little conveniences for our passage ( like some accommodations for a cabbin , which out-lasts not the voyage , ) but religion provides us a vast and durable estate , or , as the scripture styles it , an unshaken kingdom , when we are arriv'd at our journeys end . and therefore the benefits accruing from religion , may well be concluded preferible to their competitors , since they not onely reach to the mind of man , but reach beyond the end of time it self ; whereas all the variety of inventions that philosophy so much boasts of , as whilst they were in season they were devis'd for the service of the body , so they make us busie , and pride our selves about things , that within a short time will not ( so much as upon its score ) at all concern us . the third section . i expect you should here urge on your friends behalf , that the study of physicks has one prerogative , ( above that of divinity , ) which , as it is otherwise a great excellency , so does much add to the delightfulness of it . i mean , the certainty , and clearness , and the thence resulting satisfactoriness of our knowledge of physical , in comparison of any we can have of theological matters , whose being dark and uncertain , the nature of the things themselves , and the numerous controversies of differing sects about them , sufficiently manifest . but upon this subject , divers things are to be consider'd . for first , as to the fundamental and necessary articles of religion , i do not admit the allegation , but take those articles to be both evident , and capable of a moral demonstration . and if there be any articles of religion , for which a rational and cogent proof cannot be brought , i shall for that very reason conclude , that such articles are not absolutely necessary to be believ'd ; since it seems no way reasonable to imagine , that god having been pleased to send not onely his prophets and his apostles , but his onely son into the world , to promulgate to mankind the christian religion , and both to cause it to be consign'd to writing , that it may be known , and to alter the course of nature by numerous miracles , that it might be believ'd ; it seems not reasonable , i say , to imagine , that he should not propose those truths , which he in so wonderful and so solemn a manner recommended , with at least so much clearness , as that studious and well-dispos'd readers may certainly understand such as are necessary for them to believe . 2. though i will not here engage my self in a disquisition of the several kinds , or , if you please , degrees , of demonstration , ( which yet is a subject that i judge far more considerable than cultivated , ) yet i must tell you , that as a moral certainty ( such as we may attain about the fundamentals of religion ) is enough in many cases for a wise man , and even a philopher to acquiesce in ; so that physical certainty , which is pretended for the truths demonstrated by naturalists , is , even where 't is rightfully claim'd , but an inferiour kind or degree of certainty , as moral certainty also is . for even physical demonstrations can beget but a physical certainty , ( that is , a certainty upon supposition that the principles of physick be true , ) not a metaphysical certainty , ( wherein 't is absolutely impossible , that the thing believ'd should be other than true . ) for instance , all the physical demonstrations of the antients about the causes of particular phaenomena of bodies , suppose , that ex nihilo nihil fit ; and this may readily be admitted in a physical sense , because according to the course of nature , no body can be produc'd out of nothing , but speaking universally it may be false , as christians generally , and even the cartesian naturalists , asserting the creation of the world , must believe , that , de facto , it is . and so whereas epicurus does , i remember , prove , that a body once dead cannot be made alive again , by reason of the dissipation and dispersion of the atoms , 't was , when alive , compos'd of ; though all men will allow this assertion to be physically demonstrable , yet the contrary may be true , if god's omnipotence intervenes , as all the philosophers that acknowledge the authority of the new testament , where lazarus and others are recorded to have been raised from the dead , must believe , that it actually did appear , and even all unprejudic'd reasoners must allow it to be possible , there being no contradiction impli'd in the nature of the thing . but now to affirm , that such things as are indeed contradictories cannot be both true , or , that factum infectum reddi non potest , are metaphysical truths , which cannot possibly be other than true , and consequently beget a metaphysical and absolute certainty . and your master cartesius was so sensible of a dependance of physical demonstrations upon metaphysical truths , that he would not allow any certainty not onely to them , but even to geometrical demonstrations , till he had evinc'd , that there is a god , and that he cannot deceive men that make use of their faculties aright . to which i may add , that even in many things that are look'd upon as physical demonstrations , there is really but a moral certainty . for when , for instance , des-cartes and other modern philosophers , take upon them to demonstrate , that there are divers comets that are not meteors , because they have a parallax lesser than that of the moon , and are of such a bigness , and some of them move in such a line , &c. 't is plain , that divers of these learned men had never the opportunity to observe a comet in their lives , but take these circumstances upon the credit of those astronomers that had such opportunities . and though the inferences , as such , may have a demonstrable certainty ; yet the premisses they are drawn from having but an historical one , the presumed physico-mathematical demonstration can produce in a wary mind but a moral certainty , and not the greatest neither of that kind that is possible to be attain'd ; as he will not scruple to acknowledge , that knows by experience , how much more difficult it is , than most men imagine , to make observations about such nice subjects , with the exactness that is requisite for the building of an undoubted theory upon them . and there are i know not how many things in physicks , that men presume they believe upon physical and cogent arguments , wherein they really have but a moral assurance ; which is a truth heeded by so few , that i have been invited to take the more particular notice of them in other papers , written purposely to show the doubtfulness and incompleatness of natural philosophy ; of which discourse , since you may command a sight , i shall not scruple to refer you thither for the reasons of my affirming here , that the most even of the modern virtuosi are wont to fancy more of clearness and certainty in their physical theories , than a critical examiner will find . onely that you may not look upon this as a put off , rather than a reference , i will here touch upon a couple of subjects , which men are wont to believe to be , and which indeed ought to be , the most throughly understood ; i mean the nature of body in general , and the nature of sensation . and for the first of these , since we can turn our selves no way , but we are every where environ'd , and incessantly touch'd by corporeal substances , one would think that so familiar an object , that does so assiduously , and so many ways affect our senses , and for the knowledge of which we need not inquire into the distinct nature of particular bodies , nor the properties of any one of them , should be very perfectly known unto us . and yet the notion of body in general , or what it is that makes a thing to be a corporeal substance , and discriminates it from all other things , has been very hotly disputed of , even among the modern philosophers , & adhuc sub judice lis est . and though your favourite des-cartes , in making the nature of a body to consist in extension every way , has a notion of it , which 't is more easie to find fault with , than to substitute a better ; yet i fear , 't will appear to be attended , not onely with this inconvenience , that god cannot , within the compass of this world , wherein if any body vanish into nothing , the place or space left behind it must have the three dimensions , and so be a true body , annihilate the least particle of matter , at least without , at the same instant and place , creating as much , ( which agrees very ill with that necessary and continual dependance , which he asserts matter it self to have on god for its very being ; ) but with such other inconveniences , that some friends of yours , otherwise very inclinable to the cartesian philosophy , know not how to acquiesce in it : and yet i need not tell you , how fundamental a notion the deviser of it asserts it to be . neither do i see , how this notion of a corporeal substance will any more , than any of the formerly received definitions of it , extricate us out of the difficulties of that no less perplexed , than famous controversie , de compositione continui . and though some ingenious men , who perhaps perceive better than others , how intricate it is , have of late endeavoured to shew , that men need not be sollicitous to determine this controversie , it not being rightly propos'd by the schoolmen that have started it ; and though i perhaps think , that natural philosophy may be daily advanc'd without the decision of it , because there is a multitude of considerable things to be discover'd and perform'd in nature , without so much as dreaming of this controversie ; yet still , as i would propose the question , the difficulties , till removed , will spread a thick night over the notion of body in general . for , either a corporeal and extended substance is ( either really or mentally ) divisible into parts endow'd with extension , and each of these parts is divisible also into other corporeal parts , lesser and lesser , in infinitum ; or else this subdivision must stop somewhere , ( for there is no mean between the two members of the distinction ; ) and in either case the opinion pitch'd upon will be liable to those inconveniences , not to say absurdities , that are rationally urg'd against it by the maintainers of the opposite ; the objections on both sides being so strong , that some of the more candid , even of the modern metaphysicians , after having tir'd themselves and their readers with arguing pro and con , have confess'd the objections on both sides to be insoluble . but though we do not clearly understand the nature of body in general ; yet sure we cannot but be perfectly acquainted with what passes within our selves in reference to the particular bodies we daily see , and hear , and smell , and taste , and touch. but alas , though we know but little , save by the informations of our senses ; yet we know very little of the manner by which our senses informs us . and to avoid prolixity , i will at present suppose with you , that the ingenious des cartes and his followers have given the fairest account of sensation , that is yet extant . now according to him , a man's body being but a well organiz'd statue , that which is truly called sensation is not perform'd by the organ , but by the mind , which perceives the motion produc'd in the organ ; ( for which reason he will not allow brutes to have sense properly so call'd ; ) so that if you ask a cartesian , how it comes to pass that the soul of man , which he justly asserts to be an immaterial substance , comes to be wrought upon , and that in such various manners , by those external bodies that are the objects of our senses , he will tell you , that by their impressions on the sensories , they variously move the fibres or threds of the nerves , wherewith those parts are endow'd , and by which the motion is propagated to that little kernel in the brain , call'd by many writers the conarion , where these differing motions being perceiv'd by the there residing soul , become sensations , because of the intimate union , and , as it were , permistion ( as cartesius himself expresses it ) of the soul with the body . but now , sir , give me leave to take notice , that this union of an incorporeal with a corporeal substance , ( and that without a medium ) is a thing so unexampled in nature , and so difficult to comprehend , that i somewhat question , whether the profound secrets of theology , not to say the adorable mystery it self of the incarnation , be more abstruse than this . for how can i conceive , that a substance purely immaterial , should be united without a physical medium , ( for in this case there can be none , ) with the body , which cannot possibly lay hold on it , and which it can pervade and flie away from at pleasure , as des-cartes must confess the soul actually does in death . and 't is almost as difficult to conceive , how any part of the body , without excepting the animal spirits , or the conarion , ( for these are as truly corporeal as other parts of the humane statue , ) can make impressions upon a substance perfectly incorporeal , and which is not immediately affected by the motions of any other parts , besides the genus nervosum . nor is it a small difficulty to a meer naturalist ( who , as such , does not in physical matters take notice of revelations about angels , ) to conceive how a finite spirit can either move , or , which is much the same thing , regulate and determine the motion of a body . but that which i would on this occasion invite you to consider , is , that supposing the soul does in the brain perceive the differing motions communicated to the outward senses ; yet this , however it may give some account of sensation in general , will not at all show us a satisfactory reason of particular and distinct sensations . for if i demand , why , for instance , when i look upon a bell that is ringing , such a motion or impression in the conarion produces in the mind that peculiar sort of perception , seeing , and not hearing ; and another motion , though coming from the same bell at the same time , produces that quite differing sort of perception that we call sound , but not vision ; what can be answered , but that it was the good pleasure of the author of humane nature to have it so ? and if the question be ask'd about the differing objects of any one particular sense ; as , why the great plenty of unperturbed light that is reflected from snow , milk , &c , does produce a sensation of whiteness , rather than redness or yellowness ? or why the smell of castor , or assa foetida , produces in most persons that which they call a stink , rather than a perfume ? ( especially since we know some hysterical women , that think it not onely a wholesome , but a pleasing smell . ) and if also you further ask , why melody and sweet things do generally delight us ? and discords and bitter things do generally displease us ? nay , why a little more than enough of some objects that produce pleasure , will produce pain ? ( as may be exemplifi'd in a cold hand , as it happens to be held out at a just , or at too near a distance from the fire : ) if , i say , these , and a thousand other questions of the like kind , be ask'd , the answer will be but the general one , that is already given , that such is the nature of man. for to say , that moderate motions are agreeable to the nature of the sensory they are excited in , but violent and disorderly ones , ( as j●ring sounds , and scorching heat ) do put it into too violent a motion for its texture ; will by no means satisfie . for , besides that this answer gives no account of the variety of sensations of the same kind , as of differing colours , tastes , &c. but reaches onely to pleasure and pain ; even as to these , it will reach but a very little way ; unless the givers of it can show , how an immaterial substance should be more harm'd by the brisker motion of a body , than by the more languid . and as you and your friend think , you may justly smile at the aristotelians , for imagining that they have given a tolerable account of the qualities of bodies , when they have told us , that they spring from certain substantial forms , though when they are ask'd particular questions about these incomprehensible forms , they do in effect but tell us in general , that they have such and such faculties , or effects , because nature , or the author of nature , endow'd them therewith ; so i hope you will give me leave to think , that it may keep us from boasting of the clearness and certainty of our knowledge about the operations of sensible objects , whilst , as the aristotelians cannot particularly show , how their qualities are produc'd , so we cannot particularly explicate , how they are perceiv'd ; the principal thing that we can say , being , in substance , this , that our sensations depend upon such an union or permistion of the soul and body , as we can give no example of in all nature , nor no more distinct account of , than that it pleased god so to couple them together . but i beg your pardon for having detain'd you so long upon one subject , though perhaps it will not prove time mis-spent , if it have made you take notice , that in spight of the clearness and certainty , for which your friend so much prefers physicks before theology , we are yet to seek , ( i say yet , because i know not what time may hereafter discover ) both for the definition of a corporeal substance , and a satisfactory account of the manner of sensation : though without the true notion of a body we cannot understand that object of physicks in general , and without knowing the nature of sensation , we cannot know that , from whence we derive almost all that we know of any body in particular . if after all this your friend shall say , that des-cartes's account of body , and other things in physicks , being the best that men can give , if they be not satisfactory , it must be imputed to humane nature not to the cartesian doctrine , i shall not stay to dispute how far the allegation is true ; especially since , though it be admitted , it will not prejudice my discourse . for , whatsoever the cause of the imperfection of our knowledge about physical matters be , that there is an imperfection in that knowledge is manifest ; and that ought to be enough to keep us from being puffed up by such an imperfect knowledge , and from undervaluing upon its account the study of those mysteries of divinity , which , by reason of the nobleness and remoteness of the objects , may much better than the nature of corporeal things , ( which we see , and feel , and continually converse with , ) have their obscurity attributed to the weakness of our humane understandings . and if it be a necessary imperfection of humane nature , that , whilst we remain in this mortal condition , the soul being confin'd to the dark prison of the body , is capable ( as even aristotle somewhere confesses ) but of a dim knowledge ; so much the greater value we ought to have for christian religion , since by its means ( and by no other without it ) we may attain a condition , wherein , as our nature will otherwise be highly blessed and advanced ; so our faculties will be elevated and enlarged , and probably made thereby capable of attaining degrees and kinds of knowledge , to which we are here but strangers . in favour of which i will not urge the received opinion of divines , that before the fall ( which yet is a less noble condition than is reserved for us in heaven , ) adam's knowledge was such , that he was able at first sight of them to give each of the beasts a name expressive of its nature ; because that in spight of some skill ( which my curiosity for divinity , not philosophy , gave me ) in the holy tongue , i could never find , that the hebrew names of animals , mention'd in the beginning of genesis , argued a ( much ) clearer insight into their natures , than did the names of the same or some other animals in greek , or other languages ; wherefore , ( as i said ) i will not urge adam's knowledge in paradise for that of the saints in heaven , though the notice he took of eve at his first seeing of her , ( if it were not convey'd to him by secret revelation ) may be far more probably urg'd , than his naming of the beasts : but i will rather mind you , that the proto-martyr's sight was strengthened so , as to see the heavens open'd , and jesus standing at the right hand of god ; and when the prophet had pray'd , that his servant's eyes might be open'd , he immediately saw the mountain , where they were , all cover'd with chariots and horsemen , which , though mention'd to be of fire , were altogether invisible to him before . to which , as a higher argument , i shall onely add a couple of passages of scripture , which seem to allow us even vast expectations as to the knowledge our glorifi'd nature may be advanc'd to . the one is that which st. paul says to the corinthians , for now we see through a glass darkly , but then face to face : now i know in part , but then shall i know even as also i am known . and the other , where christ's favourite-disciple tells believers , beloved , now we are the sons of god , and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know , that when he shall appear , we shall be like him : for we shall see him as he is . what has hitherto been discours'd , contains the first consideration , that i told you might be propos'd about the certainty ascrib'd to the knowledge we are said to have of natural things ; but this is not all i have to represent to you on this subject . for i consider further , that 't is not onely by the certainty we have of them , that the knowledge of things is endear'd to us , but also by the worthiness of the object , the number of those that are unacquainted with it , the remoteness of it from common apprehensions , the difficulty of acquiring it without peculiar advantages , the usefulness of it when attain'd , and other particulars , which 't is not here necessary to enumerate . i presume , you doubt not but your friend does very much prefer the knowledge he has of the mysteries of nature ( at many of which we have as yet but ingenious conjectures ) to the knowledge of one that understands the elements of arithmetick , though he be demonstratively sure of the truth of most of his rules and operations . and questionless copernicus received a much higher satisfaction in his notion about the stability of the sun , and the motion of the earth , though it were not so clear but that tycho , ricciolus , and other eminent astronomers have rejected it , than in the knowledge of divers of the theorems about the sphere , that have been demonstrated by euclid , theodosius , and other geometricians . our discovering that some comets are not , as the schools would have them , sublunary meteors , but celestial bodies , and the conjectural theory , which is all that hitherto we have been able to attain of them , do much better please both your friend , and you , and me , than the more certain knowledge we have of the time of the rising and setting of the fixed stars . and the estimates we can make , by the help of parallaxes , of the heights of those comets , and of some of the planets , though they are uncertain enough , ( as may appear by the vastly different distances that are assigned to those bodies by eminent astronomers ; ) yet these uncertain measures of such elevated and celestial lights do far more please us , than that we can by the help of a geometrical quadrant , or some such instrument , take with far greater certainty the height of a tower or a steeple . and so a mathematician , when he probably conjectures at the compass of the ter●estrial globe , and divides , though but unaccurately , its surface , first , into proportions of sea and land , and then into regions of such extents and bounds , and , in a word , skilfully plays the cosmographer ; thinks himself much more nobly and pleasantly imploy'd , than when , being reduc'd to play the surveyor , he does with far more certainty measure how many acres a field contains , and set out with what hedges and ditches it is bounded . now , that the knowledge of god , and of those mysteries of theology , that are ignor'd by far the greatest part of mankind , has more sublime and excellent objects , and is unattain'd to by much the greatest part even of learned men , and nevertheless is of unvaluable importance , and of no less advantage towards the purifying and improving of us here , and the making us perfect and happy hereafter , the past discourse has very much miscarried if it have not evinc'd . wherefore , as to be admitted into the p●ivy-council of some great monarch , and thereby be enabled to give a probable ghess at those thoughts and designs of his , that govern kingdoms , and make the fates of nations , is judged preferrable to that clearer knowledge that a notary can have of the dying thoughts and intentions of an ordinary person whose will he makes : and as the knowledge of a skilful physician , whose art is yet conjectural , is preferrable to that of a cutler that makes his dissecting knives , though this man can more certainly perform what he designs in his own profession , than the physician can in his : and ( in fine ) as the skill of a jeweller , that is conversant about diamonds , rubies , saphires , and some other sorts of small stones , which being for the most part brought us out of the indies , we must take many things about them upon report , is , because of the nobleness of the object , preferr'd to that of a mason that deals in whole quarries of common stones , and may be sure upon his own experience of divers things concerning them , which as to jewels we are allowed to know but upon tradition : so a more dimm and imperfect knowledge of god , and the mysteries of religion , may be more desirable , and upon that account more delightful , than a clearer knowledge of those inferior truths that physicks are wont to teach . i must now mention one particular more , which may well be added to those that peculiarly indear physicks to the divine that is studious of them . for , as he contemplates the works of nature not barely for themselves , but to be the better qualified and excited to admire and praise the author of nature ; so his contemplations are delightful to him , not barely as they afford a pleasing exercise to his reason , but as they procure him a more welcome approbation from his conscience , these distinct satisfactions being not at all inconsistent . and questionless , though esau did at length miss of his aim , yet , while he was hunting venison for the good old patriark that desired it of him , besides the pleasure he was us'd to take in pursuing the deer he chas'd , he took a great one in considering , that now he hunted to please his father , and in order to obtain of him an inestimable blessing . so , when david imployd his skilful hand and voice in praising god with vocal and instrumental musick , he receiv'd in one act a double satisfaction , by exercising his skill and his devotion ; and was no less pleas'd with those melodious sounds , as they were hymns , than as they were songs . and this example prompts me to add , that as the devout student of nature we were speaking of , does intentionally refer the knowledge he seeks of the creatures to the glory of the creator ; so in his discoveries , that which most contents him , is , that the wonders he observes in nature , heighten that admiration he would fain raise to a less disproportion to the wisdom of god ; and furnish him with a nobler holocaust for those sacrifices of praise he is justly ambitious to offer up to the deity . and as there is no doubt to be made , but that , when david invented ( as the scripture intimates that he did ) new instruments of musick , there was nothing in that invention that pleas'd him so much , as that they could assist him to praise god the more melodiously ; go the pious student of nature finds nothing more welcome in the discoveries he makes of her wonders , than the rises and helps they may afford him , the more worthily to celebrate and glorifie the divine attributes adumbrated in the creatures . and as a huntsman or a fowler , if he meets with some strange bird or beast , or other natural rarity , thinks himself much the more fortunate if it happen to be near the court , where he may have the king to present it to , than if he were to keep it but for himself or some of his companions ; so our devout naturalist has his discoveries of natures wonders indear'd to him , by having the deity to present them to , in the veneration they excite in the finder , and which they inable him to ingage others to joyn in . the fourth section . but i confess ( sir ) i much fear , that that which makes your friend have such detracting thoughts of theology , is a certain secret pride , grounded upon a conceit , that the attainments of natural philosophers are of so noble a kind , and argue so transcendant an excellency of parts in the attainer , that he may justly undervalue all other learning , without excepting theology it self . you will not , i suppose , expect , that a person , who has written so much in the praise of physiques , and laboured so much for a little skill in it , should now here endeavour to depretiate that so useful part of philosophy . but i do not conceive , that it will be at all injurious to it , to prefer the knowledge of supernatural , to that of meer natural things , and to think , that the truths , which god indiscriminately exposes to the whole race of mankind , and to the bad as well as to the good , are inferiour to those mysterious ones , whose disclosure he reckons among his peculiar favours , and whose contemplation employs the curiosity , and , in some points , exacts the wonder of the very angels . that i may therefore repress a little the overweening opinion your friend has of his physical attainments , give me leave to represent a few particulars conducive to that purpose . and first , as for the nobleness of the truths taught by theology and physicks , those of the former sort have manifestly the advantage , being not onely conversant about far nobler objects , but discovering things that humane reason of it self can by no means reach unto ; as has been sufficiently declared in the foregoing part of this letter . next , we may consider , that , whatever may be said to excuse pride ( if there were any ) in moscus the phoenician , who is affirmed to have first invented the atomical hypothesis , and in democritus and leucippus , ( for epicurus scarce deserves to be named with them , ) that highly advanc'd that philosophy ; and in monsieur des-cartes , who either improv'd , or at least much innovated the corpuscula●ian hypothesis : whatever ( i say ) may be alledged on the behalf of these mens pride ; i see no great reason , why it should be allowed in such as your friend ; who , though ingenious men , are neither inventors , nor eminent promoters of the philosophy they would be admir'd for , but content themselves to learn what others have taught , or at least to make some little further application of the principles that others have established , and the discoveries they have made . and whereas your friend is not a little proud of being able to confute several errours of aristotle and the antients , it were not amiss if he consider'd , that many of the chief truths that overthrow those errours , were the productions of time and chance , and not of his daring ratiocinations : for , there needs no great wit to disprove those that maintain the uninhabitableness of the torrid zone , or deny the antipodes , since navigators have found many parts of the former well peopl'd , and sailing round the earth , have found men living in countreys diametrically opposite to ours . nor will it warrant a man's pride , that he believes not the moon to be the onely planet that shines with a borrowed light , or the galaxy to be a meteor ; since that now the telescope shows us , that venus has her full and wain like the moon , and that the milky way is made up of a vast multitude of little stars , inconspicuous to the naked eye . and indeed of those other discoveries that overthrow the astronomy of the antients , and much of their philosophy about the celestial bodies , few or none have any cause to boast , but the excellent galileus , who pretends to have been the inventor of the telescope : for that instrument once discover'd ; to be able to reject the septenary number of the planets by the detection of the four satellites of jupiter , or talk of the mountains and valleys in the moon , requires not much more excellency in your friend , than it would to descry in a ship , where the naked eye could discern but the body of the vessel , ( to descry , i say ) by the help of a prospective glass , the masts , and sails , and deck , and perceive a boat tow'd at her stern : though indeed galileo himself had no great cause to boast of the invention , though we are much oblig'd to him for the improvement of the telescope , since no less a master of dioptricks than des-cartes , does acknowledge with other writers , that perspective-glasses were not first found out by mathematicians or philosophers , but casually by one metius , a dutch spectacle-maker . on which occasion i shall mind you , that to hide pride from man , divers others of the chief discoveries that have been made in physicks , have been the productions , not of philosophy , but chance , by which gunpowder , glass , and , for ought we know , the verticity of the load-stone , ( to which we owe both the indies ) came to be found in these later ages ; as ( more recently ) the milky vessels of the mesentery , the new receptacle of the chyle , and that other sort of vessels which most men call the lymphae-ducts , were lighted on but by chance , according to the ingenious confession of the discoverers themselves . we may farther consider , that those very things which are justly are alledg'd in the praise of the corpuscularian philosophy it self , ought to lessen the pride of those that but make use of it . for that hypothesis , supposing the whole universe ( the soul of man excepted ) to be but a great automaton , or self-moving engine , wherein all things are perform'd by the bare motion ( or rest ) the size , the shape , and the scituation or texture of the parts of the universal matter it consists of ; all the phaenomena result from those few principles , single or combin'd , ( as the several tunes or chimes that are rung on five bells , ) and these fertile principles being already establish'd by the inventors and promoters of the particularian hypothesis ; all that such persons as your friend , are wont farther to do , is but to investigate or guess , by what kind of motions the three or four other principles are varied . so that the world being but , as it were , a great piece of clock-work , the naturalist as such , is but a mechanitian ; however the parts of the engine , he considers , be some of them much larger , and others much minuter , than those of clocks or watches . and for an ordinary naturalist to despise those that study the mysteries of religion , as much inferiour to physical truths , is no less unreasonable , than it were for a watch-maker , because he understands his own trade , to despise privy-counsellers , who are acquainted with the secrets of monarchs , and mysteries of state ; or than it were for a ship-carpenter , because he understands more of the fabrick of the vessel , to despise the admiral , that is acquainted with the secret designs of the prince , and imploy'd about his most important affairs . that great restorer of physicks , the illustrious verulam , who has trac'd out a most useful way to make discoveries in the intellectual globe , as he calls it , confesses , that his work was ( to speak in his own terms ) partus temporis potius quám ingenii . and though i am not of his opinion , where he says in another place , that his way of philosophizing does exaequare ingenia ; yet i am apt to think , that the fertile principles of the mechanical philosophy being once setled , the methods of inquiring and experimenting being found out , and the physico-mechanical instruments of working on natures and arts productions being happily invented , the making of several lesser improvements , especially by rectifying of some almost obvious or supine errours ▪ of the schools , by the assistance of such facilitating helps , may fall to the lot of persons not endow'd with any extraordinary sagacity , or acuteness of parts . and though the investigation and clear establishment of the true principles of philosophy , and the devising the instruments of knowledge , be things that may be allowed to be the proper work of sublimer wits ; yet , if a man be furnish'd with such assistances , 't is not every discourse that he makes , or thing which he does by the help of them , that is difficult enough to raise him to that illustrious rank . and indeed , divers of the vulgar errours , as well as of scholars as other men , being mainly grounded upon the meer , and often mistaken , authority of aristotle , and perhaps some frivolous reasons of his scholastic interpreters of such precarious and ungrounded things , that to ruine them , does oftentimes require more of boldness than skill ; it may perhaps be said of your friend , in relation to his philosophical successes against such vulgar errours , as i am speaking of , what a roman said of alexander's triumph over the effeminate asiaticks , quod nihil aliud quám bene ausus sit vana contemnere . and in some cases it happens , that , when once a grand truth , or a happy way of experimenting has been found , divers phaenomena of nature , that had been left unexplain'd , or were left mis-explain'd by the schools , did , in my opinion , require a far less straining exercise of the mind to unriddle and explain them , than must have been requisite to dispel the darkness that attended divers theological truths that are now clear'd up , and perhaps than i have my self now and then imploy'd in some of those attempts , to illustrate theological matters , that you may have met in some papers that i have presum'd to write on such subjects . and indeed the improvements , that such virtuosi as your friend are wont to make of the fertile theorems and hints , that have been presented them by the founders or prime benefactors of true natural philosophy , are so poor and slender , and do so much oftner proceed from industry and chance , than they argue a transcendent sagacity , or a sublimity of reason , that , though such persons may have cause enough to be delighted with what they have done , yet they have none to be proud of it ; and their performances may deserve our thanks , and perhaps some of our praise , but reach not so high as to merit our admiration ; which is to be reserv'd for those , that have been either framers , or grand promoters , of true and comprehensive hypotheses , or ( else ) the authors of other noble and useful discoveries , many ways applicable . it will not perhaps be improper to add on this occasion , that , as our knowledge is not very deep , not reaching with any certainty to the bottom of things , nor penetrating to their intimate or innermost natures ; so its extent is not very large , not being able to give us , with any clearness and particularity , an account of the celestial and deeply subterraneal parts of the world , of which all the others make but a very small ( not to say contemptible ) portion . for , as to the very globe that we inhabit , not to mention , how many plants , animals , and minerals , we are as yet wholly ignorant of , and how many others we are but slenderly acquainted with ; i consider , that the objects about which our experiments and inquiries are conversant , do all belong to the superficial parts of the terrestrial globe , of which the earth , known to us , seems to be but as it were the crust or scurf . but what the internal part of this globe is made up of , is no less disputable than of what substance the remotest stars we can descry , consist : for even among the modern philosophers some think , the internal portion of the earth to be pure and elementary earth , which ( say they ) must be found there , or no where . others imagine it to be fiery , and the receptacle either of natural or hellish flames . others will have the body of the terrestrial globe to be a great and solid magnet . and the cartesians on the other side , ( though they all admit store of subterraneal loadstones ) teach , that the same globe was once a fix'd star , and that , though it have since degenerated into a planet , yet the internal part of it is still of the same nature that it was before ; the change it has received proceeding onely from having had its outward parts quite cover'd over with thick spots ( like those to be often observ'd about the sun , ) by whose condensation the firm earth we inhabit was form'd . and the mischief is , that each of these jarring opinions is almost as difficult to be demonstratively prov'd false as true. for , whereas to the centre of the earth there is , according to the modestest account of our late cosmographers , above three thousand and five hundred miles ; my inquiries among navigators and miners have not yet satisfi'd me , that mens curiosity has actually reached above one mile or two at most downwards , ( and that not in above three or four places , ) either into the earth or into the sea. so that as yet our experience has scarce grated any thing deep upon the husk , ( if i may so speak ) without at all reaching the kernel of the terraqueous globe . and alas ! what is this globe of ours , of which it self we know so little , in comparison of those vast and luminous globes that we call the fix'd stars , of which we know much less ? for , though former astronomers have been pleased to give us , with a seeming accurateness , their distances and bignesses , as if they had had certain ways of measuring them ; yet later and better mathematicians will ( i know ) allow me to doubt of what those have deliver'd . for since 't is confess'd , that we can observe no parallax in the fix'd stars ( nor perhaps in the highest planets , ) men must be yet to seek for a method to measure the distance of those bodies . and not onely the copernicans make it to be i know not how many hundred thousands of miles greater than the ptolomeans , and very much greater than even tycho ; but ricciolus himself , though a great anti-copernican , makes the distance of the fix'd stars vastly greater , than not onely tycho , but ( if i mis-remember not ) than some of the copernicans themselves . nor do i wonder at these so great discrepances , ( though some amount perhaps to some millions of miles , ) when i consider , that astronomers do not measure the distance of the fix'd stars by their instruments , but accommodate it to their particular hypotheses . and by this uncertainty of the remoteness of the fix'd stars you will easily gather , that we are not very sure of their bulk , no not so much as in reference to one another ; since it remains doubtful , whether the differing sizes , they appear to us to be of , proceed from a real inequality of bulk , or onely from an inequality of distance , or partly from one of those causes , and partly from the other . but 't is not my design to take notice of those things , which the famous disputes among the modern astronomers manifest to be dubious . for i consider , that there are divers things relating to the stars , which are so remote from our knowledge , that the causes of them are not so much as disputed of , or inquired into , such as may be among others , why the number of the stars is neither greater nor lesser than it is ? why so many of those celestial lights are so plac'd , as not to be visible to our naked eyes , nor even when they are help'd by ordinary telescopes ? ( which extraordinary good ones have assured me of . ) why among the familiarly visible stars , there are so many in some parts of the sky , and so few in others ? why their sizes are so differing , and yet not more differing ? why they are not more orderly plac'd , so as to make up constellations of regular or handsome figures ( of which the triangle is , perhaps , the single example ) but seem to be scatter'd in the skie as it were by chance , and have as confus'd configurations , as the drops that fall upon ones hat in a shower of rain ? to which divers other questions might be added , as about the stars , so about the interstellar part of heaven , which several of the modern epicureans would have to be empty , save where the beams of light ( and perhaps some other celestial effluvia ) pass through it ; and the cartesians on the contrary think to be full of an aethereal matter , which some , that are otherwise favourers of their philosophy , confess they are reduc'd to take up but as an hypothesis . so that our knowledge is much short of what many think , not onely if it be consider'd intensively , but extensively , ( as a schoolman would express it . ) for there being so great a disproportion between the heavens and the earth , that some moderns think the earth to be little better than a point in comparison even of the orb of the sun ; and the cartesians , with other copernicans , think the great orb it self , ( which is equal to what the ptolomeans call'd the sun's orb ) to be but a point in respect of the firmament ; and all our astronomers agree , that at least the earth is but a physical point in comparison of the starry heaven : of how little extent must our knowledge be , which leaves us ignorant of so many things , touching the vast bodies that are above us , and penetrates so little a way even into the earth that is beneath us , that it seems confin'd to but a small share of the superficial part of a physical point ! of which consideration the natural result will be , that , though what we call our knowledge , may be allowed to pass for a high gratification to our minds , it ought not to puff them up ; and what we know of the system , and the nature of things corporeal ▪ is not so perfect and satisfactory , as to justifie our despising the discoveries of spiritual things . one of the former parts of this letter may furnish me with one thing more , to evince the excellencies and prerogatives of the knowledge of the mysteries of religion ; and that one thing is such , that i hope i shall need to add nothing more , because it is not possible to add any thing higher ; and that is , that the preeminence above other knowledge , adjudg'd to that of divine truths by a judge above all exception , and above all comparison , namely , by god himself . this having been but lately shown , i shall not now repeat it , but rather apply what hath been there evinc'd , by representing , that if he , who determines in favour of divine truths , were such an one , as was less acquainted , than our over-weening naturalists with the secrets of their idoliz'd physicks ; or if he were , though an intelligent , yet ( like an angel ) a bare contemplator of what we call the works of nature , without having any interest in their productions , your friends not acquiescing in his estimate of things might have , though not a fair excuse , yet a stronger temptation . but when he , by whose direction we prefer the higher truths revealed in the scripture , before those which reason alone teaches us concerning those comparatively mean subjects , things corporeal , is the same god that not onely understands the whole universe , and all its parts , far more perfectly , than a watch-maker can understand one of his own watches , ( in which he can give an account onely of the contrivance , and not of the cause of the spring , nor the nature of the gold , steel , and other bodies his watch consists of , ) but did make both this great automaton , the world , and man in it : we have no colour to imagine , that he should either be ignorant of , or injuriously disparage , his own workmanship , or impose upon his favourite-creature , man , in directing him what sort of knowledge he ought most to covet and prize . so that since 't is he who fram'd the world , and all those things in it we most admire , that would have us prefer the knowledge he has vouchsafed us in his word , before that which he has allow'd us of his works , sure 't is very unreasonable and unkind to make the excellencies of the workmanship a disparagement to the author , and the effects of his wisdom a motive against acquiescing in the decisions of his judgment ; as if , because he is to be admir'd for his visible productions , he were not to be believ'd , when he tells us , that there are discoveries that contain truths more valuable than those which relate but to the objects , that he has expos'd to all men's eyes . the fifth section . i doubt , i should be guilty of a most important omission , if i should here forget to consider one thing , which i fear has a main stroak in the partiality your friend expresseth in his preference of physicks to theology ; and that is , that he supposes he shall by the former acquire a fame , both more certain and more durable , than can be hop'd for from the latter . and i acknowledge , not onely with readiness , but with somewhat of gratulation of the felicity of this age , that there is scarce any sort of knowledge more in request , than that which natural philosophy pretends to teach ; and that among the awaken'd and inquisitive part of mankind , as much reputation and esteem may be gain'd by an insight into the secrets of nature , as by being intrusted with those of princes , or dignifi'd with the splendid'st marks of their favour . but though i readily confess thus much , and though perhaps i may be thought to have had , i know not by what fate , as great a share of that perfum'd smoak , applause , as ( at least ) some of those , which among the writers that are now alive , your friend seems most to envy for it ; yet i shall not scruple to tell you , partly from observation of what has happen'd to others , and partly too upon some little experience of my own , that neither is it so easie as your friend seems to believe it , to get by the study of nature a sure and lasting reputation , neither ought the expectation of it , in reason , make men undervalue the study of divinity . nor would it here avail to object ( by way of prevention ) that the difficulties and impediments of acquiring and securing reputation , lie as well in the way of divines as philosophers , since this objection has been already consider'd at the beginning of this second part of our present tract . besides , that the progress of our discourse will shew , that the naturalist , aspiring to fame , is liable to some inconveniences , which are either not at all , or not near equally incident to the divine . wherefore without staying to take any further notice of this preventive allegation , i shall proceed to make good the first part of the assertion that preceded it ; which that i may the more fully do , give me leave ( after having premised , that a man must either be a writer , or forbear to print what he knows ; ) to propose to you the following considerations . and first , if your physeophilus should think to secure a great reputation , by forbearing to couch any of his thoughts or experiments in writing , he may thereby find himself not a little mistaken . for if once he have gain'd a repute ( upon what account soever ) of knowing some things that may be useful to others , or of which studious men are wont to be very desirous , he will not avoid the visits and questions of the curious . or , if he should affect a solitude , and be content to hide himself , that he may hide the things he knows ; yet he will not escape the sollicitations that will be made him by letters . and if these ways of tempting him to disclose himself , prevail not at all with him to do so , he will provoke the persons that have employ'd them ; who finding themselves disoblieg'd by being defeated of their desires , if not also their expectations , will for the most part endeavour to revenge themselves on him , by giving him the character of an uncourteous and ill-natur'd person ; and will endeavour , perhaps successfully enough , to decry his parts , by suggesting , that his affected concealments proceed but from a conscientiousness , that the things he is presum'd to possess , are but such , as , if they should begin to be known , would cease to be valu'd . you will say ( perchance , ) that so much reservedness is a fault : nor shall i dispute it with you , whether it be or not ; but , if he be open and communicative in discourse to those strangers that come to pump him , such is the disingenious temper of too too many , that he will be in great danger of having his notions or experiments arrogated by those to whom he imparts them , or at least by others , to whom those may ( though perchance designlessly ) happen to discourse of them . and then , if either physeophylus , or any of his friends that know him to be author of what is thus usurp'd , should mention him as such , the usurpers and their friends would presently become his enemies ; and , to secure their own reputation , will be sollicitous to lessen and blemish his . and if you should now tell me , that your friend might here take a middle way , as that which in most cases is thought to be the best , by discoursing at such a rate of his discoveries , as may somewhat gratifie those that have a curiosity to learn them , and yet not speak so clearly as divest himself of his propriety in them ; i should reply , that neither is this expedient a sure one , nor free from inconveniences . for most men are so self-opinionated , that they will easily believe themselves masters of things , if they do but half understand them . and however , though the persons to whom the discourse was immediately made , should not have too great an opinion of themselves , no more than too great a sagacity ; yet they may easily , by repeating what they heard and observ'd , give some more piercing wit a hint sufficient to enable him to make out the whole notion , or the discovery , which he will then without scruple , and without almost any possibility of being disprov'd , assume for his own . but if it happen , ( as it often will in extemporaneous discourse ) that a philosopher be not rightly understood ; either because he has not the leisure , no more than a design , to explain himself fully , or because the persons he converses with bring not a competent capacity and attention , he then runs a greater danger than before . for the vanity most men take in being known to have convers'd with eminent philosophers , makes them very forward to repeat what they heard such a famous wit say ; and oftentimes being secure of not being contradicted , ignorantly to misrecite it , or wittingly to wrest it in favour of the opinion they would countenance by it . so that , whereas by the formerly mention'd franckness of discourse he is onely in danger to have the truths he discover'd arrogated by others , this reservedness exposes him to have opinions and errours that he never dream'd of , father'd on him. and when a man's opinions or discoveries come once to be publickly discours'd of , without being propos'd by himself , or some friend well instructed by him , he knows not , what errours or extravagancies may be imputed to him ( and that without a moral possibility left to most men to discern them , ( by the mistake of the weak , or the disingenuity of the partial , or the artifices of the malitious . and even the greatness of a mans reputation does sometimes give such countenance to vain reports and surmises , as by degrees to shake , if not ruine , it . as we see , that fryer bacon , and trithemius , and paracelsus , who for their times were knowing as well as famous men , had such feats ascrib'd to them , as by appearing fabulous to most of the judicious , have tempted many to think , that all the great things that were said of them were so too . these are some of the inconveniences that a naturalist may be liable to , if he forbear the communicating of his thoughts and discoveries himself : but if physeophilus should , to shun these , aspire to fame by the usual way of writing books , he may indeed avoid these , but perhaps not without running into other inconveniences and hazards , very little inferiour to them . first then , we may consider , that whether a man writes in a systematical way , as they have done who have publish'd entire bodies of natural philosophy , or methodical treatises of some considerable part of it , or whether he write in a more loose and unconfin'd way , of any particular subject that belongs to physicks ; whichsoever , i say , of these two ways of writing books he shall make choice of , he will find it liable to inconvenience enough . for if he write systematically , first , he will be obliged ( that he may leave nothing necessary undeliver'd ) to say divers things that have been said ( perhaps many times ) by others already , which cannot but be unpleasant , not onely to the reader , but ( if he be ingenious ) to the writer . next , there are so many things in nature , whereof we know little or nothing , and so many more of which we do not know enough , that our systematical writer , though we should grant him to be very learned , must needs , either leave divers things that belong to his theme untreated of , or discourse of them slightly , and oftentimes ( in likelihood ) erroneously . so that in this kind of books there is always much said that the reader did know , and commonly not a little that the writer does not know . and to this i must add in the third place , that natural philosophy , being so vast and pregnant a subject , that ( especially in so inquisitive an age as this ) almost every day discovers some new thing or other about it , 't is scarce possible for a method , that is adapted but to what is already known , to continue long the most proper ; as the same clothes will not long fit a child , whose age will make him quickly out-grow them . and therefore succeeding writers will have a fair pretence to compile new systems , that may be more adequate to philosophy improv'd since the publication of the former . and though there were little of new to be added , and it were more easie to alter than to mend the method of our supposed authour ; yet novelty it self is a thing so pleasing and inviting to the generality of men , that it often recommends things that have nothing else to recommend them ; and we may apply to a great many other things , what i remember a famous courtier of my acquaintance used to say of mistresses , that another was preferable to a better , ( the better being but the same . ) but now if , declining the systematical way , one shall choose the other of writing loose tracts and discourses , he may indeed avoid some of the lately mention'd inconveniences , but will scarce avoid the being plunder'd by systematical writers : for these will be apt to cull out those things that they like best , and insert them in their methodical books , ( perhaps much curtal'd , or otherwise injur'd in the repeating , ) and will place them , not as their own authour did , where they may best confirm or adorn his discourse , and be illustrated or upheld by it ; but where it may best serve the turn of the compiler : and these methodical books promise so much more compendious a way than others to the attainment of the sciences they treat of , that though really for the most part they prove greater helps to the memory , than the understanding ; yet most readers , being , for want of judgment or of patience , of another mind , they are willing to take it for granted , that in former writers , if there have been any thing considerable , it has been all carefully extracted , as well as orderly digested by the later compilers : and though i take this to be a very erroneous and prejudicial conceit , yet it obtains so much , that as gol●smiths that onely give shape and lustre to gold are far more esteem'd , and in a better condition , than miners , who find the ore in the bowels of the earth , and with great pains and industry dig it up , and refine it into metall ; so those that with great study and toil successfully penetrate into the hidden recesses of nature , and discover latent truths , are usually less regarded or taken notice of by the generality of men , than those who by plausible methods and a neat style reduce the truths , that others have found out , into systems of a taking order and a convenient bulk . i consider in the second place , that as the method of the books one writes , so the bulk of them may prove prejudicial to the naturalist that aspires to fame : for if he write large books , 't is odds but that he will write in them many things unaccurate , if not impertinent , or that he will be oblig'd to repeat many things that others have said before ; and if he write but small tracts , as is the custome of the judiciousest authors , who have no mind to publish but what is new and considerable , as their excellency will make them to be the sooner dispers'd , so the smallness of the bulk will endanger them to be quickly lost ; as experience shows us of divers excellent little tracts , which , though publish'd not many years ago , are already out of print , ( as they speak ) and not to be met with , save by chance , in stationers shops . so that these writings ( which deserve a better fate ) come , after a while , either to be lost , ( which is the case of divers , ) or to have their memory preserv'd onely in the larger volume of some compiler , whose industry is onely preferable to his judgment ; it being observable , that ( by i know not what unlucky fate ) very few ( for i do not say , none ) that addict themselves to make collections out of others , have the judgment to cull out the choisest things in them ; and the small tracts , we are speaking of , being preserv'd but in such a quoter or abridger , will run a very great danger of being convey'd to posterity but under such a representation as it pleases the compiler . and this ( that i may proceed to my third consideration ) may make the naturalists fame very uncertain , not onely because of the want of judgment , that ( as i newly said ) is too often observable in compilers , whereby they frequently leave far better things than they take , but for the want of skill to understand the author they cite and epitomize , or candor to do him right . for sometimes mens physical opinions , and several passages of their writings , are so misrepresented by mistake or design , especially if those that recite their opinions be not of them , that men are made to teach or deliver things quite differing from their sense , and perhaps quite contrary to it ; of which , i my self have had some unwelcome experience , a learned writer pretending , i know not how often , that i asserted an opinion , about which i did expressly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and another noted writer having ( not out of design , but unacquaintedness with mechanicks , and the subject i writ of , ) given me commendations for having , by a new experiment , prov'd a thing , the quite contrary whereof i intended thereby to evince , and am not alone mistaken , if i did not do it . other naturalists i have met with , whose writings compilers have traduc'd out of hatred to their persons , or their religion ; as if truth could in nothing be a friend to one that is the traducers's enemy ; or as if a man that falls into an errour in religion , could not light upon a good notion in philosophy , in spite of all the truths we owe to aristotle , epicurus , and the other heathen philosophers . nay , some there are , that will set themselves to decry a man's writings , not because they are directly his enemies , but because he is esteem'd by theirs ; as you may remember an instance in a servant of yours , who had divers things written against him upon this very account . nor is it onely by the citations of profess'd adversaries or opponents , that a worthy writer's reputation may be prejudic'd , since 't is not unfrequently so by those , that mention him with an encomium , and seem dispos'd to honour him . for i have observ'd it to be the trick of certain writers , to name an author with much complement , onely for some one or few of the least considerable things they borrow of him ; by which artifice they endeavour to conceal their being plagiaries of more and better ; which yet is more excusable than the practise of some , who proceed to that pitch of disingenuity , that they will rail at an author , to whom indeed they owe too much , that they may not be thought to be beholden to him . but ( 4. ) i must add , that besides these dangers that a naturalists reputation with posterity may run through the ignorance or perversness of men , it is liable to divers other hazards , from the very nature both of men , of opinions , and of things . for , as men's genius's and inclinations are naturally various in reference to studies , one man passionately affecting one sort of them , and another being fond of quite differing ones ; so those inclinations are oftentimes variously and generally determin'd by external and accidental causes . as when some great monarch happens to be a great patron , or a despiser , and perhaps adversary , of this or that kind of learning : and when some one man has gain'd much applause for this or that kind of study ; imitation , or emulation oftentimes makes many others addict themselves to it . thus though rome under the consuls was inconsiderable for learning , yet the reputation of cicero , and favour of augustus , brought learning into request there ; where the small countenance it met with among most of the succeeding emperours , kept it far inferiour to what it had been among the greeks about alexander's age. and the age of the same augustus was enobled with store of poets , not onely by the countenance which he and maecenas afforded them , but probably also by the examples they gave to , and the emulation they excited in , one another . and after the decay of the roman empire , in the fourth century , natural philosophy and the mathematicks being very little valued , and less understood , by reason that mens studies were , by the genius of those ages apply'd to other subjects , every hundred years scarce produc'd one improver , ( not to say one eminent cultivator ) either of mathematicks or of physicks : by which you may see , how little certainty there is , that , because a man is skill'd in natural philosophy , and that science is now in request , his reputation shall be as great as now , when perhaps the science it self will be grown out of repute . but besides the contingencies that may happen to a naturalist's fame upon this account , that the science he cultivates , is , as well as others , subject to wanes and eclipses in the general esteem of men ; there is another uncertainty arising from the vicissitudes that are to be met with in the estimates men make of differing hypotheses , sects , and ways of philosophizing about the same science , and particularly about natural philosophy . for during those learned times , when physicks first and most flourish'd among the grecians , democritus , leucippus , epicurus , anaxagoras , plato , and almost all the naturalists that preceded aristotle , were corpuscularians , endeavouring , though not all by the same way , to give an account of the phaenomena of nature , and even of qualities themselves , by the bigness , shape , motion , &c. of corpuscles , or the minutest active parts of matter : whereas aristotle , having attempted to deduce the phaenomena from the four first qualities , the four elements , and some few other barren hypotheses , ascribing what could not be explicated by them , ( and consequently far the greatest part of natures phaenomena ) to substantial forms and occult qualities ; ( principles that are readily nam'd , but scarce so much as pretended to be understood , ) and having upon these slight and narrow principles reduc'd physicks into a kind of system , which the judicious modesty of the corpuscularians had made them backward to do ; the reputation that his great pupil alexander , as well as his learning gave him ; the easiness of the way he propos'd to the attainment of natural philosophy ; the good luck his writings had to survive those of democritus , and almost all the rest of the corpuscularians , when charles the great began to establish learning in europe : these , i say , and some other lucky accidents that concurr'd , did for about seven or eight hundred years together , make the corpuscularian philosophy not onely be justled , but even exploded out of the schools by the peripatetick ; which in our times is , by very many , upon the revival of the corpuscularian philosophy , rejected , and , by more than a few , derided as precarious , unintelligible , and useless . and to give an instance in a particular thing , ( which , though formerly named , deserves to be again mention'd to our present purpose , ) aristotle himself somewhere confesses , ( not to say brags ) that the greek philosophers , his predecessors did , unanimously teach , that the world was ( i say not created , but ) made , and yet he , almost by his single authority , and the subtile arguments ( as some have been pleased to think them , ) that he employ'd , ( though divers of them were borrow'd of ocellus lucanus , ) was able for many ages to introduce into the schools of philosophers that irreligious and ill-grounded opinion of the eternity of the world , which afterwards the christian doctrine made men begin to question , and which now both that and right reason have perswaded most men to reject . and this invites me to consider farther , that the present success of the opinions that your physeophilus befriends , ought not to make him so sure as he thinks he is , that the same opinions will be always in the same , or greater vogue , and have the same advantages , in point of general esteem that they now have , over their corrivals . for , opinions seem to have their fatal seasons and vicissitudes , as well as other things ; as may appear , not onely by the examples of it newly given , but also by the hypothesis of the earths motion , which having been in great request before pythagoras , ( who yet is commonly thought the inventor of it , ) had its reputation much increas'd by the suffrage of the famous sect of the pythagoreans , ( whom aristotle himself takes notice of as the patrons of that opinion ; ) and yet afterwards for near 2000 years it was laugh'd at , as not onely false , but ridiculous . after all which time , this so long antiquated opinion being reviv'd by copernicus , has in a little time made so great a progress among the modern astronomers and philosophers , that if it go on to prevail at the same rate , the motion of the earth will be acknowledg'd by all its mathematical inhabitants . but though it be often the fate of an oppress'd truth , to have at length a resurrection , yet 't is not always its peculiar priviledge ; for , obsolete errours are sometimes reviv'd , as well as discredited truths : so that the general disrepute of an opinion in one age will not give us an absolute security , that 't will not be in as general request in another , in which it may perhaps not onely revive , but reign . nor is it onely in the credit of mens opinions about philosophical matters , that we may observe an inconstancy and vicissitude , but in the very way and method of philosophizing ; for democritus , plato , pythagoras , and others , who were of the more sincere and ingenious cultivators of physicks among the greeks , exercis'd themselves chiefly either in making particular experiments and observations , as democritus did in his manifold dissections of animals ; or else apply'd the mathematicks to the explicating of a particular phaenomenon of nature , as may appear ( not to mention what hero teaches in his pneumaticks , ) by the accounts , democritus , plato , and others , give of fire and other elements , from the figure and motion of the corpuscles they consist of . and although this way of philosophizing were so much in request before aristotle , that ( albeit he unluckily brought in another , yet ) there are manifest and considerable footsteps of it to be met with in some of his writings , ( and particularly in his books of animals , and his mechanical questions ; ) yet the scholastick followers of aristotle did , for many ages , neglect the way of philosophizing of the antients , and ( to the great prejudice of learning ) introduc'd every where in stead of it a quite contrary way of writing . for , not onely they laid aside the mathematicks , ( of which they were for the most part very ignorant , ) but instead of giving us intelligible and explicite ( if not accurate ) accounts of particular subjects , grounded upon a distinct and heedful consideration of them , they contented themselves with hotly disputing , in general , certain unnecessary , or at least unimportant questions about the objects of physicks , about materia prima , substantial forms , privation , place , generation , corruption , and other such general things , with which when they had quite tyr'd themselves and their readers , they usually remain'd utter strangers to the particular productions of that nature , about which they had so much wrangled , and were not able to give a man so much true and useful information about particular bodies , as even the meanest mechanicks , such as mine-diggers , butchers , smiths , and even dary-maids , could do . which made their philosophy appear so imperfect and useless , not onely to the generality of men , but to the more elevated and philosophical wits , that our great verulam attempted with much skill and industry , ( and not without some indignation ) to restore the more modest and useful way practis'd by the antients , of inquiring into particular bodies , without hastening to make systems , into the request it formerly had ; wherein the admirable industry of two of our london physicians , gilbert and harvey , has not a little assisted him . and i need not tell you , that since him , des-cartes , gassendus , and others , having taken in the application of geometrical theorems , for the explication of physical problems ; he , and they , and other restorers of natural philosophy , have brought the experimental and mathematical way of inquiring into nature into at least as high and growing an esteem , as ever it possess'd when it was most in vogue among the naturalists that preceded aristotle . to the considerations i have hitherto deduc'd , which ( perhaps ) might alone suffice for my purpose , i shall yet subjoyn one that i take to be of greater weight than any of them , for the manifesting how difficult it is to be sure , that the physical opinions , which at present procure a champion or promoter of them veneration , shall be still in request . for besides that inconstant fate of applauded opinions , which may be imputed to the inconstancy of men , there is a greater danger that threatens the aspirers reputation from the very nature of things : for the most general principles of all , viz. the figure , bigness , motion , and other mechanical affections of the small parts of matter , being ( as your friend believes ) sufficiently and clearly establish'd already ; he must expect to raise his reputation from subordinate hypotheses and theories ; and in these i shall not scruple to say , that 't is extremely difficult , even for those that are more exercis'd than he , in framing them and in making of experiments to have so reaching and attentive a prospect of all things fit to be known , as not to be liable to have their doctrine made doubtful , or disprov'd by something that he did not discover , or that after-times may . this , i doubt not , but you would easily be prevail'd with to allow , if i had leisure and conveniency to transmit to you my sceptical naturalist . and without having recourse to that tract , it may possibly suffice , that we consider , that one of the conditions of a good * hypothesis is , that it fairly comport not onely with all other truths , but with all other phaenomena of nature , as well as those 't is fram'd to explicate . for this being granted , ( which cannot be deny'd , ) he that establishes a theory , which he expects shall be acquiesc'd in by all succeeding times , and make him famous in them , must not onely have a care , that none of the phaenomena of nature , that are already taken notice of , do contradict his hypothesis at the present , but that no phaenomena that may be hereafter discover'd , shall do it for the future . and i very much question , whether physiophilus do know , or , upon no greater a number and variety of experiments than most men build upon , can know , how incompleat the history of nature we yet have , is , and how difficult it is to build an accurate hypothesis upon an incompleat history of the phaenomena 't is to be fitted to ; especially considering that ( as i was saying ) many things may be discover'd in after-times by industry or chance , which are not now so much as dream'd of , and which may yet overthrow doctrines speciously enough accommodated to the observations that have been hitherto made . those antient philosophers , that thought the torrid zone to be uninhabitable , did not establish their opinion upon wild reasonings ; and as it continu'd uncontrol'd for many ages , so perhaps it would have always done , if the discoveries made by modern navigations had not manifested it to be erroneous . the solidity of the celestial orbs was , for divers centuries above 1000 years , the general opinion of astronomers and philosophers , and yet in the last age and in ours , the free trajection , that has been observ'd in the motion of some comets from one of the supposed orbs to another , and the intricate motions in the planet mars , ( observ'd by kepler and others , to be sometimes nearer , as well as sometimes remoter from the earth than is the sun ; ) these , i say , and other phenomena undiscover'd by the antients , have made even tycho , as well as most of the recent astronomers , exchange the too long receiv'd opinion of solid orbs for the more warrantable belief of a fluid aether . and though the celestial part of the world , by reason of its remoteness from us , be the most unlikely of any other to afford us the means of overthrowing old theories by new discoveries ; yet even in that we may take notice of divers instances to our present purpose , though i shall here name but this one , viz. that , after the ptolemaick number and order of the planets had past uncontradicted for very many ages ; and even the tychonians and copernicans , ( however they did by their differing hypotheses dissent from the ptolemaick system ( as to the order , ) did ( yet ) acquiesce in it as to the number of the planets ; by the happy discoveries , made by galilaeo of the satellites of jupiter , and by the excellent hugenius , of the new planet about saturn , ( which i think i had the luck to be the first that observ'd and shew'd disbelievers of it in england , ) the astronomers of all perswasions are brought to add to the old septenary number of the planets , and take in five others that their predecessors did not dream of . that the chyle prepar'd in the stomach pass'd through the mesaraick veins to the liver , and so to the heart , was for many ages the unanimous opinion , not onely of physicians , but anatomists , whose numerous diffections did not tempt them to question it ; and yet , since the casual , though lucky , discoveries made of the milky vessels in the thorax by the dextrous pecquet , those that have had with you and i the curiosity to make the requisite experiments , are generally convinc'd , that ( at least ) a good part of the chyle goes from the stomach to the heart , without passing through the mesaraick veins , or coming at all to the liver . 't were easie to multiply instances of this kind , but i rather choose to add , that 't is not onely about the qualities , and other attributes of things , but about their causes also , that new and oftentimes accidental discoveries may destroy the credit of long and generally approv'd opinions . that quick-lime exceedingly heats the water that is pour'd on to quench it , on the account of antiperistasis , has been very long and universally receiv'd by the school-philosophers , where 't is the grand and usual argument , urg'd to establish antiperistasis ; and yet i presume you have taken notice , that this proof is made wholly ineffectual in the judgment of many of the virtuosi , by some contrary experiments of mine , and particularly that of exciting in quick-lime full as great an effervescence by the affusion of hot water in stead of cold ▪ so it has been generally believ'd , that in the congelation of water , that liquor is condens'd into a narrower room ; whereas our late experiments * have satisfied most of the curious , that ice is water expanded , or ( if you please ) that ice takes up more room than the water did , whilst it remain'd unfrozen . and whereas the notion of natures abhorrence of a vacuum , has not onely ever since aristotle's time made a great noise in the schools , but seems to be confirmable by a multitude of phaenomena ; the experiments of torricellius , and some of * ours , evidencing , that the air has a great weight and a strong spring , have , i think , perswaded almost all , that have impartially consider'd them , that , whether there be or be not such a thing as they call fuga vacui , yet suction , and the ascension of water in pumps , and those other phaenomena that are generally ascrib'd to it , may be very well explicated without it , and are indeed caus'd by the weight of the atmosphere , and the elastical power of the air. and this puts me in mind to take notice , that even practical inventions , where one would think the matter of fact to be evident , may by undream'd of discoveries be brought to lose the general reputation they had for compleatness in their kind . for to endear the invention of sucking pumps and of syphons , it has been generally presum'd , that by means of either of these , water and any other liquor may , ob fugam vacui , be rais'd to what height one pleases ; and accordingly ways have been propos'd by famous authors , to convey water from one side of an high mountain to the other : whereas first the unexpected disappointments that were met with by some pump-makers , and afterwards experiments purposely made , sufficiently evince , that neither a pump nor a syphon will raise water to above 35 foot or thereabouts , nor quicksilver to so many inches . and as to the invention of weather-glasses , which has been so much and justly applauded and us'd , as it has been generally receiv'd for the truest standard of the heat and cold of the weather ; so it seems to be liable to no suspition of deceiving us : for not onely 't is evident , that in winter , when the air is very cold , the water rises much higher than in summer and other seasons , when 't is not so ; but if you but apply your warm hand to the bubble at the top , the water will be visibly depress'd by the rarifi'd air , which upon the removal of the hand returning to its former coldness , the water will forthwith as manifestly ascend again . and yet by finding , that , as the atmosphaere has a considerable weight , so this weight is not always the same , but varies much , and that , as far as i can yet discover , uncertainly enough ; i have had the luck to satisfie many of the curious , that these open thermometers are not to be safely rely'd on , since in them the liquor is made to rise and fall , not onely , as men have hitherto suppos'd , by the cold and heat of the ambient air , but ( as i have shewn by divers new experiments ) according to the varying gravity of the atmosphaere ; which variation has not onely a sensible , but a very considerable influence upon the weather-glass . to these instances i shall annex onely one more , from which we may learn , that notwithstanding a very heedful survey of all that at present a man can take notice of , or well suspect that he ought to take into his consideration , the case may be such , that having devis'd an instrument , he may use it many years with good success ; and yet , unless he were able to live very many more , he shall not be sure to out-live the danger of finding the same instrument ( though to sense as well condition'd as ever ) fallacious : as he that first appli'd a magnetick needle to the finding of the meridian line , might very probably conclude , that his needle pointing directly n. and s. or declining from it just two or three , or some other determinate number of degrees , he had discover'd a certain and ready way , without the help of sun or stars , or astronomical instruments , to describe a meridian line , and if he liv'd but an ordinary number of years after his observation , he might probably have found his instrument not deceitful ; which yet it may now be , the magnetick needle not onely declining in many places from the true points of n. and s. but ( as later discoveries inform us ) varying in tract of time its declination in the self same place . the considerations hitherto propos'd might easily enough be encreas'd by more of the same tendency , especially if i thought fit to borrow from a discourse ( of mine ) purposely written about the partiality and uncertainty of fame ; but in stead of adding to their number , i should think my self oblieged to excuse my having already mention'd so many , and insisted so much upon them , if i did not vehemently suspect , that in your physiophilus , ( as well as in many other modern naturalists , ) scarce any thing does more contribute to an undervaluation of the study of divinity , than that being eagerly ambitious of a certain , as well as a posthume fame , he is confident that physiologie will help to it ; and therefore the design of his discourse made me think it expedient to spend some time to manifest , that 't is far less easie than he thinks , to be as sure that he shall have the praises of future ages , as that ( though he have them ) he shall not hear them . the past considerations have , i presume , convinc'd you , that 't is no such easie matter for a naturalist to acquire a great reputation and be sure it will prove a lasting one . wherefore , that i may also confirm the second part of what formerly i propos'd , i now proceed to show , that , though the case were otherwse , yet he would have no reason to slight the study of divinity . 1. for , in the first place , nothing hinders , but that a man who values and inquires into the mysteries of religion , may attain to an eminent degree in the knowledge of those of nature . for frequently men of great parts may successfully apply themselves to more than one study ; and few of them have their thoughts and hours so much ingross'd by that one subject or imployment , but that , if they have great inclinations as well as fitness for the study of nature , they will find time , not onely to cultivate it , but to excel in it . you need not be told , that copernicus , to whom our late philosophers owe so much , was a churchman ; that his champion lansbergius was a minister , and that gassendus himself was a doctor of divinity . among the jesuites you know , that clavius and divers others have as prosperously addicted themselves to mathematicks as divinity . and as to physicks , not onely scheiner , aquilonius , kircher , schottus , zucchius , and others , have very laudably cultivated the optical and some other parts of philosophy ; but ricciolus himself , the learned compiler of that voluminous and judicious work of the almagestum novum , wherein he has inserted divers accurate observations of his own , is not onely a divine , but a professor of divinity . and without going out of our own countrey , i could , if i durst for fear of offending the modesty of those i should name , or injuring the merit of those i should omit ; i could ( i say ) if it were not for this , among our english ecclesiasticks name you divers , who though they apply themselves so much to the study of the scripture , as to be not onely solid divines , but excellent preachers , have yet been so happily conversant with nature , that , if they had liv'd in the learned times of the greeks , they would have rivall'd , if not eclips'd , some of them , pythagoras and euclid ; others of them , anaxagoras and epicurus ; and some of them , even archimedes and democritus themselves . and certainly , provided there be curiosity and industry enough imploy'd in the study of nature , it is not necessary , that the knowledge of nature should be the ultimate end of that study ; a fondness of the object being requir'd onely in order to the engaging the mind to such a serious application , as a higher aim may sufficiently invite us to ; and will rather promote than discourage . david became no less skilful in musick , than those that were addicted to it onely to please themselves in it ; though we may reasonably suppose , that so pious an authour of psalms and instruments aspired to an excellency in that delightful science , that he might apply and prefer it to the service of the temple , and promote the celebration of god's praises with it . and as experience has manifested , that the heathen philosophers , that courted moral vertue for her self , did not raise it to that pitch , to which 't was advanc'd by the heroick practises of those true christians , that in the highest exercise of vertue had a religious aim at the pleasing and injoying of god ; so i see not , why natural knowledge must be more prosperously cultivated by those selfish naturalists , that aim but at the pleasing of themselves in the attainment of that knowledge , than those religious naturalists , who are invited to attention and industry , not onely by the pleasantness of the knowledge it self , but by a higher and more ingaging consideration ; namely , that by the discoveries they make in the book of nature , both themselves and others may be excited and qualifi'd the better to admire and praise the authour , whose goodness does so well match the wisdom they celebrate , that he declares in his word , that those that honour him , he will honour . and as a man that is not in love with a fair lady , but has onely a respect for her , may have as true and perfect , though not as discomposing an idea of her face , as the most passionate inamorato ; so i see not , why a religious and inquisitive contemplator of nature may not be able to give a good account of her , without preferring her so far to all other objects of his study , as to make her his mistress , and perhaps too his idol . ii. and now i proceed to consider in the second place , that matters of divinity may , as well as those of philosophy , afford a reputation to him that discovers , or illustrates them . for though the fundamental articles of christian religion be , as i have formerly declar'd , little less evident than important ; yet there are many other points in divinity , and passages in the scripture , which ( for reasons that i have elsewhere mention'd ) are exceeding hard to be clear'd , and do not onely pose ordinary readers , and the common sort of scholars , but will sufficiently exercise the abilities of a great wit , and give him opportunity enough to manifest that he is one. for divers of the points i speak of are much benighted upon the score of the sublimity of the things they treat of ; such as are the nature , attributes , and decrees of god , which cannot be easie to the dimm understandings of us that are but men : and many other particulars that are not abstruse in their own nature , are yet made obscure to us by our ignorance , ( or at least imperfect knowledge , ) of the disus'd languages wherein they are deliver'd , and the great remoteness of the ages when , and the countreys where , the things recorded were done or said . so that oftentimes a man may need and show as great learning and judgment to dispel the darkness , wherein time has involv'd things , as that which nature has cast on them : and in effect we see , that st. augustine , st. hierom , origen , and others of the fathers , have acquir'd no less a reputation , than empedocles , anaxagoras , or zeno ; and grotius , salmasius , mr. mede , dr. hamond , and some other critical expounders of difficult texts of scripture , have thereby got as much credit , as fracastorius by his book de sympathia & antipathia ; levinus lemnius by his de occultis rerum miraculis ; or cardanus ( and his adversary scaliger ) by what they writ de subtilitate ; or even fernelius himself by his book de abditis rerum causis . and it will contribute to the credit which theological discoveries and illustrations may procure a man , that the importance of the subjects , and the earnestness wherewith men are wont to busie themselves about them , some upon the score of piety , and others upon that of interest , some to learn truths , and others to defend what they have long or publickly taught for truth , does make greater numbers of men take notice of such matters , and concern themselves far more about them , than about almost any other things , and especially far more , than about matters purely philosophical , which but few are wont to think themselves fit to judge of , and concern'd to trouble themselves about . and accordingly we see , that the writings of socinus , calvin , bellarmine , padre paulo , arminius , &c. are more famous , and more studied , than those of telesius , campanella , severinus danus , magnenus , and divers other innovators in natural philosophy . and erastus , though a very learned physician , is much less famous for all his elaborate disputations against paracelsus , than for the little tract against particular forms of church-government . and i presume you have taken notice , as well as i , that there are scarce any five new controversies in all physicks , that are known to , and hotly contended for by so many , as are the five articles of the remonstrants . iii. my second consideration being thus dispatch'd , it remains , that i tell you in the third place , that supposing , but not granting , that to prosecute the study of divinity , one must of necessity neglect the acquist of reputation ; yet this inconvenience it self ought not to deter us from the duty it would disswade . for in all deliberations , wherein any thing is propos'd to be quitted or declin'd , to obey or please god ; me thinks , we may fitly apply that of the prophet to the jewish king , who being perswaded ( to express his concern for god's glory ) to decline the assistance of an idolatrous army of israelites , and objecting , that by complying with the advice given him , he should lose a sum of money , amounting to no less than the hire of a potent army ; receiv'd from the prophet this brisk , but rational , answer , the lord is able to give thee far more than this . the apostle paul , who had been traduc'd , revil'd , buffetted , scourg'd , imprison'd , shipwrack'd , and ston'd for his zeal to propagate the truths , whose study i plead for ; after he had once had a glimpse of that great recompense of reward that is reserved for us in heaven , scruples not to pronounce , that he finds upon casting up the account ( for he uses the arithmetical term 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be reveal'd in us . and if all that the persecuted christians of his time could suffer were not suitable ( for so i remember the same greek word to signifie elsewhere ) or proportionable to that glory ; it will sure far out-weigh what we can now forego or decline for it . the loss of an advantage , and much more the bare missing of it , being usually but a negative affliction , in comparison of the actual sufferance of evil. christ did not onely tell his disciples , that he who should give the least of his followers so much as a cup of cold water upon the score of their relation to him , should not be unrewarded ; but when the same persons asked him , what should be done to them , who had left all to follow him ; he presently allots them thrones , as much outvaluing that all they had lost , as an ordinary recompense may exceed a cup of cold water . and indeed god's goodness is so great , and his treasures so unexhausted , that as he is forward to recompence even the least services that can be done him , so he is able to give the greatest a proportionable reward . solomon had an opportunity , such as never any mortal had , ( that we know of , ) either before or since , of satisfying his desires , whether of fame , or any other thing that he could wish ; ask what i shall give thee , was the proffer made him by him , that could give all things worth receiving ; and yet the wisdom even of solomon's choice , approv'd by god himself , consisted in declining the most ambition'd things of this life , for those things that might the better qualifie him to serve and please god. and to give you an example in a greater than solomon , we may consider , that he who being in the form of god , thought it not robbery to be equal with god ; and who by leaving heaven , did , to dwell on earth , quit more than any inhabitant of the earth can to gain heaven , and deny'd more to become capable of being tempted , than he did when he was tempted with an offer of all the kingdoms of the world , and the glory of them : this saviour , i say , is said in scripture to have , for the joy that was set before him , endured the cross , and despised the shame ; as if heaven had been a sufficient recompence for even his renouncing honours , and embracing torments . he that declines the acquist of the applause of men for the contemplation of the truths of god , does but forbear to gather that whilst 't is immature , which by waiting god's time he will more seasonably gather when 't is full ripe , and wholesome , and sweet . that immarcescible crown ( as st. peter calls it ) which the gospel promises to them , who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour , will make a rich amends for the declining of a fading wreath here upon earth , where reputation is oftentimes as undeservedly acquir'd , as lost : whereas in heaven , the very having celestial honours argues a title to them . and since 't is our saviour's reasoning , that his disciples ought to rejoyce when their reputation is pursued by calumny , as well as their lives by persecution , because their reward is great in heaven , we may justly infer , that the grounded expectation of so illustrious a condition may bring us more content , even when 't is not attended with a present applause , than this applause can give those who want that comfortable expectation . so that , upon the whole matter , we have no reason to despond , or to complain of the study of theology , for but making us decline an empty and transitory fame for a solid and eternal glory . the conclusion . by this time , sir , i have said as much as i think fit ( and therefore , i hope , more than upon your single account was necessary ) to manifest , that physeophilus had no just cause to undervalue the study of divinity , nor our friend the doctor , for addicting himself to it . i hope you have not forgotten what i expressly enough declar'd at the beginning of this letter , that both your friend and you admitting the holy scriptures , i knew my self thereby to be warranted to draw proofs from their authority . and if i need not remind you of this , perhaps i need not tell you by way of apology , that i am not so unacquainted with the laws of discoursing , but that , if i had been to argue with atheists or scepticks , i should have forborn to make use of divers of the arguments i have imploy'd , as fetch'd from unconceded topicks , and substituted others for such as yet i think it very allowable for me to urge , when i deal with a person , that , as your friend does onely undervalue the study of the scriptures , not reject their authority . and if the prolixity i have been guilty of already did forbid me to increase it by apologies not absolutely necessary , i should perchance rather think my self obliged to excuse the plainness of the style of this discourse ; which both upon the subject's score , and yours , may seem to challenge a richer dress . but the matter is very serious , and you are a philosopher , and when the things we treat of are highly important , i think truths clearly made out to be the most perswasive pieces of oratory . and a discourse of this nature is more likely to prove effectual on intelligent perusers , by having the reasons it presents perspicuously propos'd , and unprejudic'dly entertain'd , than by their being pathetically urg'd , or curiously adorn'd . and i have the rather forborn expressions that might seem more proper to move than to convince ; because i foresee , i may very shortly have occasion to employ some of the former sort in another letter to a friend of yours and mine , who will , i doubt , make you a sharer in the trouble of reading it . but writing this for you and physeophilus , i was far more sollicitous to give the arguments i imploy a good temper , than a bright gloss . for even when we would excite devotion , if it be in rational men , the most effectual pieces of oratory are those , which like burning-glasses inflame by nothing but numerous and united beams of light. if this letter prove so happy as to give you any satisfaction , it will thereby bring me a great one . for prizing you as i do , i cannot but wish to see you esteem those things now , which i am confident we shall always have cause to esteem ; and then most , when the light of glory shall have made us better judges of the true worth of things . and it would extremely trouble me to see you a disesteemer of those divine things , which as long as a man undervalues , the possession of heaven it self would not make him happy . and therefore , if the blessing of him whose glory is aim'd at in it , make the success of this paper answerable to the wishes , the importance of the subject , will make the service done you by it suitable to the desires of , sir , your most faithful , most affectionate , and most humble servant . finis . errata . in the introduction , p. 2 l. 18. point thus ; else ; our . p. 51. l. 17. r. corpuscularian . p. 114. l. 3. r. theology for philosophy . p. 133. l. 10. r. yet many of . ibid. l. 19. r. else do but. p. 201. l. 12. point thus , predecessors , did unanimously teach . about the excellency and grounds of the mechanical hypothesis , some considerations , occasionally propos'd to a friend . by t. h. r. b. e. fellow of the royal society . london , printed by t. n. for henry herringman , at the anchor in the lower walk of the new exchange . 1674. the publisher's advertisement . the following paper having been but occasionally and hastily pen'd , long after what the author had written ( by way of dialogue ) about the requisites of a good hypothesis , it was intended , that if it came forth at all , it should do so as an appendix to that discourse ; because though one part of it does little more than name some of the heads treated of in the dialogue , yet , according to the exigency of the occasion , the other part contains several things , either pretermitted , or but more lightly touched on in the discourse . but , although the author's design were to reserve these thoughts , as a kind of paralipomena to his dialogue ; yet , since he is not willing to let that , at least quickly , come abroad , and these are fallen into my hands ; i will make bold , with his good leave , to annex them to the fore-going treatise , not onely to compleat the bulk of the book , but because o● some affinity between them , since both aim at manifesting the excellency of the studies they would recommend . and perhaps 't will not be unwelcome to some of the curious to find , that our noble author in the same book , wherein he prefers the study of divine things to that of natural ones , does himself prefer the mechanical principles before all other hypotheses about natural things ; they being in their own nature so accommodate to make considering men understand , rather than dispute of , the effects of nature . of the excellency and grounds of the corpuscular or mechanical philosophy . the importance of the question , you propose , would oblige me to refer you to the dialogue about a good hypothesis , and some other papers of that kind , where you may find my thoughts about the advantages of the mechanical hypothesis somewhat amply set down , and discours'd of . but , since your desires confine me to deliver in few words , not what i believe resolvedly , but what i think may be probably said for the preference or the preeminence of the corpuscular philosophy above aristotles , or that of the chymists , you must be content to receive from me , without any preamble , or exact method , or ample discourses , or any other thing that may cost many words , a succinct mention of some of the chief advantages of the hypothesis we incline to . and i the rather comply , on this occasion , with your curiosity , because i have often observ'd you to be allarm'd and disquieted , when you hear of any book that pretends to uphold , or repair the decaying philosophy of the schools , or some bold chymist , that arrogates to those of his sect the title of philosophers , and pretends to build wholly upon experience , to which he would have all other naturalists thought strangers . that therefore you may not be so tempted to despond , by the confidence or reputation of those writers , that do some of them applaud , and others censure , what , i fear , they do not understand , ( as when the peripateticks cry up , substantial forms , and the chymists , mechanical explications ) of nature's phaenomena , i will propose some considerations , that , i hope , will not onely keep you kind to the philosophy you have embrac'd , but perhaps , ( by some considerations which you have not yet met with , ) make you think it probable , that the new attempts you hear of from time to time , will not overthrow the corpuscularian philosophy , but either be foiled by it , or found reconcilable to it . but when i speak of the corpuscular or mechanical philosophy , i am far from meaning with the epicureans , that atoms , meeting together by chance in an infinite vacuum , are able of themselves to produce the world , and all its phaenomena ; nor with some modern philosophers , that , supposing god to have put into the whole mass of matter such an invariable quantity of motion , he needed do no more to make the world , the material parts being able by their own unguided motions , to cast themselves into such a system ( as we call by that name ) ; but i plead onely for such a philosophy , as reaches but to things purely corporeal , and distinguishing between the first original of things , and the subsequent course of nature , teaches , concerning the former , not onely that god gave motion to matter , but that in the beginning he so guided the various motions of the parts of it , as to contrive them into the world he design'd they should compose , ( furnish'd with the seminal principles and structures or models of living creatures , ) and establish'd those rules of motion , and that order amongst things corporeal , which we are wont to call the laws of nature . and having told this as to the former , it may be allowed as to the latter to teach , that the universe being once fram'd by god , and the laws of motion being setled and all upheld by his incessant concourse and general providence ; the phaenomena of the world thus constituted , are physically produc'd by the mechanical affections of the parts of matter , and what they operate upon one another according to me●hanical laws . and now having shewn what kind of corpuscular philosophy 't is that i speak of i p●oceed to the particulars that i thought the most proper to recommend it . i. the first thing that i shall mention to this purpose , is the intelligibleness or clearness of mechanical principles and explications . i need not tell you , that among the peripateticks , the disputes are many and intricate about matter , privation , substantial forms , and their eduction , &c. and the chymists are sufficiently puzled , ( as i have elsewhere shewn , ) to give such definitions and accounts of their hypostatical principles , as are reconcileable to one another , and even to some obvious phaenomena . and much more dark and intricate are their doctrines about the archeus , astral beings , gas , blass , and other odd notions , which perhaps have in part occasion'd the darkness and ambiguity of their expressions , that could not be very clear , when their conceptions were far from being so . and if the principles of the aristotelians and spagyrists are thus obscure , 't is not to be expected , the explications that are made by the help onely of such principles should be clear . and indeed many of them are either so general and slight , or otherwise so unsatisfactory , that granting their principles , 't is very hard to understand or admit their applications of them to particular phaenomena . and even in some of the more ingenious and subtle of the peripatetick discourses upon their superficial and narrow theories , me thinks , the authors have better plaid the part of painters than philosophers , and have onely had the skill , like drawers of landskips , to make men fancy , they see castles and towns , and other structures that appear solid and magnificent , and to reach to a large extent , when the whole piece is superficial , and made up of colours and art , and compris'd within a frame perhaps scarce a yard long . but to come now to the corpuscular philosophy , men do so easily understand one anothers meaning , when they talk of local motion , rest , bigness , shape , order , situation , and contexture of material substances ; and these principles do afford such clear accounts of those things , that are rightly deduc'd from them onely , that even those peripateticks or chymists , that maintain other principles , acquiesce in the explications made by these , when they can be had , and seek not any further , though perhaps the effect be so admirable , as would make it pass for that of a hidden form , or occult quality . those very aristotelians , that believe the celestial bodies to be mov'd by intelligences , have no recourse to any peculiar agency of theirs to account for eclipses . and we laugh at those east-indians , that , to this day , go out in multitudes , with some instruments that may relieve the distressed luminary , whose loss of light they fancy to proceed from some fainting fit , out of which it must be rouz'd . for no intelligent man , whether chymist or peripatetic , flies to his peculiar principles , after he is informed , that the moon is eclipsed by the interposition of the earth betwixt her and it , and the sun by that of the moon betwixt him and the earth . and when we see the image of a man cast into the air by a concave spherical looking-glass , though most men are amaz'd at it , and some suspect it to be no less than an effect of witchcraft , yet he that is skill'd enough in catoptricks , will , without consulting aristotle , or paracelsus , or flying to hypostatical principles and substantial forms , be satisfied , that the phaenomenon is produc'd by the beams of light reflected , and thereby made convergent according to optical , and consequently mathematical laws . but i must not now repeat what i elsewhere say , to shew , that the corpuscular principles have been declin'd by philosophers of different sects , not because they think not our explications clear , if not much more so , than their own ; but because they imagine , that the applications of them can be made but to few things , and consequently are insufficient . ii. in the next place i observe , that there cannot be fewer principles than the two grand ones of mechanical philosophy , matter and motion . for , matter alone , unless it be moved , is altogether unactive ; and whilst all the parts of a body continue in one state without any motion at all , that body will not exercise any action , nor suffer any alteration it self , though it may perhaps modifie the action of other bodies that move against it . iii. nor can we conceive any principles more primary , than matter and motion . for , either both of them were immediately created by god , or , ( to add that for their sakes that would have matter to be unproduc'd , ) if matter be eternal , motion must either be produc'd by some immaterial supernatural agent , or it must immediately flow by way of emanation from the nature of the matter it appertains to . iv. neither can there be any physical principles more simple than matter and motion ; neither of them being resoluble into any things , whereof it may be truly , or so much as tolerably , said to be compounded . v. the next thing i shall name to recommend the corpuscular principle , is their great comprehensiveness . i consider then , that the genuine and necessary effect of the sufficiently strong motion of one part of matter against another , is , either to drive it on in its intire bulk , or else to break or divide it into particles of determinate motion , figure , size , posture , rest , order , or texture . the two first of these , for instance , are each of them capable of numerous varieties . for the figure of a portion of matter may either be one of the five regular figures treated of by geometricians , or some determinate species of solid figures , as that of a cone , cylinder , &c. or irregular , though not perhaps anonymous , as the grains of sand , hoops , feathers , branches , forks , files , &c. and as the figure , so the motion of one of these particles may be exceedingly diversified , not onely by the determination to this or that part of the world , but by several other things , as particularly by the almost infinitely varying degrees of celerity , by the manner of its progression with , or without , rotation , and other modifying circumstances ; and more yet by the line wherein it moves , as ( besides streight ) circular , elliptical , parabolical , hyperbolical , spiral , and i know not how many others . for , as later geometricians have shewn , that those crooked lines may be compounded of several motions , ( that is , trac'd by a body whose motion is mixt of , and results from , two or more simpler motions , ) so how many more curves may , or rather may not be made by new compositions and decompositions of motion , is no easie task to determine . now , since a single particle of matter , by vertue of two onely of the mechanical affections , that belong to it , be diversifiable so many ways ; how vast a number of variations may we suppose capable of being produc'd by the compositions and decompositions of myriads of single invisible corpuscles , that may be contained and contex'd in one small body , and each of them be imbued with more than two or three of the fertile catholick principles above mention'd ? especially since the aggregate of those corpuscles may be farther diversifi'd by the texture resulting from their convention into a body , which , as so made up , has its own bigness , and shape , and pores , ( perhaps very many , and various ) and has also many capacities of acting and suffering upon the score of the place it holds among other bodies in a world constituted as ours is : so that , when i consider the almost innumerable diversifications , that compositions and decompositions may make of a small number , not perhaps exceeding twenty of distinct things , i am apt to look upon those , who think the mechanical principles may serve indeed to give an account of the phaenomena of this or that particular part of natural philosophy , as staticks , hydrostaticks , the theory of the planetary motions , &c. but can never be applied to all the phaenomena of things corporeal ; i am apt , i say , to look upon those , otherwise learned , men , as i would do upon him , that should affirm , that by putting together the letters of the alphabet , one may indeed make up all the words to be found in one book , as in euclid , or virgil ; or in one language , as latine , or english ; but that they can by no means suffice to supply words to all the books of a great library , much less to all the languages in the world . and whereas there is another sort of philosophers , that , observing the great efficacy of the bigness , and shape , and situation , and motion , and connexion in engines , are willing to allow , that those mechanical principles may have a great stroke in the operations of bodies of a sensible bulk , and manifest mechanism , and therefore may be usefully imploy'd in accounting for the effects and phaenomena of such bodies , who yet will not admit , that these principles can be apply'd to the hidden transactions that pass among the minute particles of bodies ; and therefore think it necessary to refer these to what they call nature , substantial forms , real qualities ▪ and the like un-mechanical principles and agents . but this is not necessary ; for , both the mechanical affections of matter are to be found , and the laws of motion take place , not onely in the great masses , and the middle-siz'd lumps , but in the smallest fragments of matter ; and a lesser portion of it , being as well a body as a greater , must , as necessarily as it , have its determinate bulk and figure : and he that looks upon sand in a good microscope , will easily perceive , that each minute grain of it has as well it s own size and shape , as a rock or mountain . and when we let fall a great stone and a pibble from the top of a high building , we find not but that the latter as well as the former moves conformably to the laws of acceleration in heavy bodies descending . and the rules of motion are observ'd , not onely in canon bullets , but in small shot ; and the one strikes down a bird according to the same laws , that the other batters down a wall. and though nature ( or rather its divine author ) be wont to work with much finer materials , and employ more curious contrivances than art , ( whence the structure even of the rarest watch is incomparably inferiour to that of a humane body ; ) yet an artist himself , according to the quantity of the matter he imploys , the exigency of the design he undertakes , and the bigness and shape of the instruments he makes use of , is able to make pieces of work of the same nature or kind of extremely differing bulk , where yet the like , though not equal , art and contrivance , and oftentimes motion too , may be observ'd : as a smith , who with a hammer , and other large instruments , can , out of masses of iron , forge great bars or wedges , and make those strong and heavy chains that were imploy'd to load malefactors , and even to secure streets and gates , may , with lesser instruments , make smaller nails and filings , almost as minute as dust ; and may yet , with finer tools , make links of a strange slenderness and lightness , insomuch that good authors tell us of a chain of divers links that was fastned to a flea , and could be mov'd by it ; and , if i mis-remember not , i saw something like this , besides other instances that i beheld with pleasure of the littleness that art can give to such pieces of work , as are usually made of a considerable bigness . and therefore to say , that , though in natural bodies , whose bulk is manifest and their structure visible , the mechanical principles may be usefully admitted , that are not to be extended to such portions of matter , whose parts and texture are invisible ; may perhaps look to some , as if a man should allow , that the laws of mechanism may take place in a town-clock ; but cannot in a pocket-watch ; or ( to give you an instance , mixt of natural and artificial , ) as if , because the terraqueous globe is a vast magnetical body of seven or eight thousand miles in diameter , one should affirm , that magnetical laws are not to be expected to be of force in a spherical piece of loadstone that is not perhaps an inch long : and yet experience shews us , that notwithstanding the inestimable disproportion betwixt these two globes , the terrella , as well as the earth , hath its poles , aequator , and meridians , and in divers other magnetical properties , emulates the terrestrial globe . they that , to solve the phaenomena of nature , have recourse to agents which , though they involve no self-repugnancy in their very notions , as many of the judicious think substantial forms and real qualities to do ; yet are such that we conceive not , how they operate to bring effects to pass : these , i say , when they tell us of such indeterminate agents , as the soul of the world , the universal spirit , the plastic power , and the like ; though they may in certain cases tell us some things , yet they tell us nothing that will satisfie the curiosity of an inquisitive person , who seeks not so much to know , what is the general agent , that produces a phenomenon , as , by what means , and after what manner , the phenomenon is produc'd . the famous senner●us , and some other learned physicians , tell us of diseases which proceed from incantation ; but sure 't is but a very slight account , that a sober physician , that comes to visit a patient reported to be bewitch'd , receives of the strange symptoms he meets with , and would have an account of , if he be coldly answer'd , that 't is a witch or the devil that produces them ; and he will never sit down with so short an account , if he can by any means reduce those extravagant symptoms to any more known and stated diseases , as epilepsies , convulsions , hysterical fits , &c. and , if he can not , he will confess his knowledge of this distemper to come far short of what might be expected and attain'd in other diseases , wherein he thinks himself bound to search into the nature of the morbific matter , and will not be satisfi'd till he can , probably at least , deduce from that , and the structure of an humane body , and other concurring physical causes , the phaenomena of the malady . and it would be but little satisfaction to one , that desires to understand the causes of what occurrs to observation in a watch , and how it comes to point at , and strike , the hours , to be told , that 't was such a watch-maker that so contriv'd it : or to him that would know the true cause of an eccho , to be answer'd , that 't is a man , a vault , or a wood that makes it . and now at length i come to consider that which i observe the most to alienate other sects from the mechanical philosophy ; namely , that they think it pretends to have principles so universal and so mathematical , that no other physical hypothesis can comport with it , or be tolerated by it . but this i look upon as an easie indeed , but an important , mistake ; because by this very thing , that the mechanical principles are so universal , and therefore applicable to so many things , they are rather fitted to include , than necessitated to exclude , any other hypothesis that is founded in nature , as far as it is so . and such hypotheses , if prudently consider'd by a skilful and moderate person , who is rather dispos'd to unite sects than multiply them , will be found , as far as they have truth in them , to be either legitimately , ( though perhaps not immediately , ) deducible from the mechanical principles , or fairly reconcilable to them . for , such hypotheses will probably attempt to account for the phaenomena of nature , either by the help of a determinate number of material ingredients , such as the tria prima of the chymists , by participation whereof other bodies obtain their qualities ; or else by introducing some general agents , as the platonic soul of the world , or the universal spirit , asserted by some spagyrists ; or by both these ways together . now to dispatch first those , that i named in the second place ; i consider , that the chief thing , that inquisitive naturalists should look after in the explicating of difficult phaenomena , is not so much what the agent is or does , as , what changes are made in the patient , to bring it to exhibit the phaenomena that are propos'd ; and by what means , and after what manner , those changes are effected . so that the mechanical philosopher being satisfied , that one part of matter can act upon another but by vertue of local motion , or the effects and consequences of local motion , he considers , that as , if the propos'd agent be not intelligible and physical , it can never physically explain the phaenomena ; so , if it be intelligible and physical , 't will be reducible to matter , and some or other of those onely catholick affections of matter , already often mentioned . and , the indefinite divisibility of matter , the wonderful efficacy of motion , and the almost infinite variety of coalitions and structures , that may be made of minute and insensible corpuscles , being duly weighed , i see not why a philosopher should think it impossible , to make out by their help the mechanical possibility of any corporeal agent , how subtil , or diffus'd , or active soever it be , that can be solidly proved to be really existent in nature , by what name soever it be call'd or disguis'd . and though the cartesians be mechanical philosophers , yet , according to them , their materia subtilis , which the very name declares to be a corporeal substance , is , for ought i know , little ( if it be at all ) less diffus'd through the universe , or less active in it than the universal spirit of some spagyrists , not to say , the anima mundi of the platonists . but this upon the by ; after which i proceed , and shall venture to add , that whatever be the physical agent , whether it be inanimate or living , purely corporeal , or united to an intellectual substance , the above mention'd changes , that are wrought in the body that is made to exhibit the phaenomena , may be effected by the same or the like means , or after the same or the like manner ; as , for instance , if corn be reduc'd to meal , the materials and shape of the milstones , and their peculiar motion and adaptation , will be much of the same kind , and ( though they should not , yet ) to be sure the grains of corn will suffer a various contrition and comminution in their passage to the form of meal ; whether the corn be ground by a water-mill , or a wind-mill , or a horse-mill , or a hand-mill ; that is , by a mill whose stones are turned by inanimate , by brute , or by rational , agents . and , if an angel himself should work a real change in the nature of a body , 't is scarce conceivable to us men , how he could do it without the assistance of local motion ; since , if nothing were displac'd or otherwise mov'd than before , ( the like hapning also to all external bodies to which it related , ) 't is hardly conceivable , how it should be in it self other , than just what it was before . but to come now to the other sort of hypotheses formerly mention'd ; if the chymists , or others that would deduce a compleat natural philosophy from salt , sulphur , and mercury , or any other set number of ingredients of things , would well consider what they undertake , they might easily discover , that the material parts of bodies , as such , can reach but to a small part of the phaenomena of nature , whilst these ingredients are consider'd but as quiescent things , and therefore they would find themselves necessitated to suppose them to be active ; and that things purely corporeal cannot be but by means of local motion , and the effects that may result from that , accompanying variously shap'd , siz'd , and aggregated parts of matter : so that the chymists and other materialists , ( if i may so call them , ) must ( as indeed they are wont to do ) leave the greatest part of the phaenomena of the universe unexplicated by the help of the ingredients , ( be they fewer or more than three , ) of bodies , without taking in the mechanical and more comprehensive affections of matter , especially local motion . i willingly grant , that salt , sulphur , and mercury , or some substances analogous to them , are to be obtain'd by the action of the fire , from a very great many dissipable bodies here below ; nor would i deny , that , in explicating divers of the phaenomena of such bodies , it may be of use to a skilful naturalist to know and consider , that this or that ingredient , as sulphur , for instance , does abound in the body propos'd , whence it may be probably argu'd , that the qualities , that usually accompany that principle when predominant , may be also , upon its score , found in the body that so plentifully partakes of it . but not to mention , what i have elsewhere shown , that there are many phaenomena , to whose explication this knowledge will contribute very little or nothing at all ; i shall onely he●e observe , that , though chymical explications be sometimes the most obvious and ready , yet they are not the most fundamental and satisfactory : for , the chymical ingredient it self , whether sulphur or any other , must owe its nature and other qualities to the union of insensible particles in a convenient size , shape , motion or rest , and contexture ; all which are but mechanical affections of convening corpuscles . and this may be illustrated by what happens in artificial fire-works . for , though in most of those many differing sorts that are made either for the use of war , or for recreation , gunpowder be a main ingredient , and divers of the phaenomena may be deriv'd from the greater or lesser measure , wherein the compositions partake of it ; yet , besides that there may be fire-works made without gun-powder , ( as appears by those made of old by the greeks and romans , ) gun-powder it self owes its aptness to be fir'd and exploded to the mechanical contexture of more simple portions of matter , nitre , charcoal , and sulphur ; and sulphur it self , though it be by many chymists mistaken for an hypostatical principle , owes its inflammability to the convention of yet more simple and primary corpuscles ; since chymists confess , that it has an inflammable ingredient , and experience shews , that it very much abounds with an acid and uninflammable salt , and is not quite devoide of terrestreity . i know , it may be here alledg'd , that the productions of chymical analyses are simple bodies , and upon that account irresoluble . but , that divers substances , which chymists are pleased to call the salts , or sulphurs , or mercuries of the bodies that afforded them , are not simple and homogeneous , has elsewhere been sufficiently proved ; nor is their not being easily dissipable or resoluble a clear proof of their not being made up of more primitive portions of matter . for , compounded and even decompounded bodies , may be as difficultly resoluble , as most of those that chymists obtain by what they call their analysis by the fire ; witness common green glass , which is far more durable and irresoluble than many of those that pass for hypostatical substances . and we see , that some amels will be several times even vitrified in the fire , without losing their nature , or oftentimes so much as their colour ; and yet amel is manifestly not onely a compounded , but a decompounded body , consisting of salt and powder of pebbles or sand , and calcin'd tinn , and , if the amel be not white , usually of some tinging metall or mineral . but how indestructible soever the chymical principles be suppos'd , divers of the operations ascrib'd to them will never be well made out , without the help of local motion , ( and that diversified too ; ) without which , we can little better give an account of the phaenomena of many bodies , by knowing what ingredients compose them , than we can explain the operations of a watch , by knowing of how many and of what metalls the balance , the wheels , the chain , and other parts , are made ; or than we can derive the operations of a wind-mill from the bare knowledge , that 't is made up of wood , and stone ; and canvas , and iron . and here let me add , that 't would not at all overthrow the corpuscularian hypothesis , though either by more exquisite purifications , or by some other operations than the usual analysis of the fire , it should be made appear , that the material principles or elements of mixt bodies should not be the tria prima of the vulgar chymists , but either substances of another nature , or else fewer , or more in number ; as would be , if that were true , which some spagyrists affirm , ( but i could never find , ) that from all sorts of mixt bodies , five , and but five , differing similar substances can be separated : or , as if it were true , that the helmontians had such a resolving menstruum as the alkahest of their master , by which he affirms , that he could reduce stones into salt of the same weight with the mineral , and bring both that salt and all other kind of mixt and tangible bodies into insipid water . for , what ever be the numnumber or qualities of the chymical principles , if they be really existent in nature , it may very possibly be shewn , that they may be made up of insensible corpuscles of determinate bulks and shapes ; and by the various coalitions and contextures of such corpuscles , not onely three or five , but many more material ingredients , may be compos'd or made to result : but , though the alkahestical reductions newly mention'd should be admitted , yet the mechanical principles might well be accommodated , even to them . for , the solidity , taste , &c. of salt , may be fairly accounted for , by the stifness , sharpness , and other mechanical affections of the minute particles , whereof salts consist ; and if , by a farther action of the alkahest , the salt or any other solid body , be reduc'd into insipid water , this also may be explicated by the same principles , supposing a further comminution of the parts , and such an attrition , as wears off the edges and points that inabled them to strike briskly the organ of taste : for , as to fluidity and firmness , those mainly depend upon two of our grand principles , motion and rest . and i have else-where shewn , by several proofs , that the agitation or rest , and the looser contact , or closer cohaesion , of the particles , is able to make the same portion of matter , at one time a firm , and at another time , a fluid body . so that , though the further sagacity and industry of chymists ( which i would by no means discourage ) should be able to obtain from mixt bodies homogeneous substances differing in number , or nature , or both , from their vulgar salt , sulphur , and mercury ; yet the corpuscular philosophy is so general and fertile , as to be fairly reconcilable to such a discovery ; and also so useful , that these new material principles will , as well as the old tria prima , stand in need of the more catholick principles of the corpuscularians , especially local motion . and indeed , what ever elements or ingredients men have ( that i know of ) pitched upon , yet if they take not in the mechanical affections of matter , their principles have been so deficient , that i have usually observ'd , that the materialists , without at all excepting the chymists , do not onely , as i was saying , leave many things unexplain●d , to which their narrow principles will not extend ; but , even in the particulars they presume to give an account of , they either content themselves to assign such common and indefinite causes , as are too general to signifie much towards an inquisitive mans satisfaction ; or if they venture to give particular causes , they assign precarious or false ones , and liable to be easily disproved by circumstances , or instances , whereto their doctrine will not agree , as i have often elsewhere had occasion to shew . and yet the chymists need not be frighted from acknowledging the prerogative of the mechanical philosophy , since that may be reconcileable with the truth of their own principles , as far as these agree with the phaenomena they are apply'd to . for these more confind hypotheses may be subordinated to those more general and fertile principles , and there can be no ingredient assign'd , that has a real existence in nature , that may not be deriv'd either immediately , or by a row of decompositions , from the universal matter , modifi'd by its mechanical affections ▪ for , if with the same bricks , diversly put together and rang'd , several walls , houses , furnaces , and other structures , as vaults , bridges , pyramids , &c. may be built , meerely by a various contrivement of parts of the same kind ; how much more may great variety of ingredients be produc'd by , or , according to the institution of nature , result from , the various coalitions and contextures of corpuscles , that need not be suppos'd , like bricks , all of the same , or near the same , size and shape , but may have amongst them , both of the one and the other , as great a variety as need be wish'd for , and indeed a greater than can easily be so much as imagin'd . and the primary and minute concretions that belong to these ingredients , may , without opposition from the mechanical philosophy , be suppos'd to have their particles so minute and strongly coherent , that nature of her self does scarce ever tear them asunder ; as we see , that mercury and gold may be successively made to put on a multitude of disguises , and yet so retain their nature , as to be reducible to their pristine forms . and you know , i lately told you , that common glass and good amels , though both of them but factitious bodies , and not onely mix'd , but decompounded concretions , have yet their component parts so strictly united by the skill of illiterate tradesmen , as to maintain their union in the vitrifying violence of the fire . nor do we find , that common glass will be wrought upon by aqua fortis , or aqua regis , though the former of them will dissolve mercury , and the later gold. from the fore-going discourse it may ( probably at least ) result , that if , besides rational souls , there are any immaterial substances ( such as the heavenly intelligences , and the substantial forms of the aristotelians ) that regularly are to be numbred among natural agents , their way of working being unknown to us , they can but help to constitute and effect things , but will very little help us to conceive how things are effected ; so that , by what ever principles natural things be constituted , 't is by the mechanical principles that their phaenomena must be clearly explicated . as for instance , though we should grant the aristotelians , that the planets are made of a quintessential matter , and moved by angels , or immaterial intelligences ; yet , to explain the stations , progressions , and retrogradations , and other phaenomena of the planets , we must have recourse either to eccentricks , epicycles , &c. or to motions made in elliptical or other peculiar lines ; and , in a word , to theories , wherein the motion , and figure , scituation , and other mathematical or mechanical affections of bodies are mainly employ'd . but if the principles propos'd be corporeal things , they will be then fairly reducible , or reconcilable , to the mechanical principles ; these being so general and pregnant , that , among things corporeal , there is nothing real , ( and i meddle not with chymerical beings , such as some of paracelsus's , ) that may not be deriv'd from , or be brought to , a subordination to such comprehensive principles . and when the chymists shall shew , that mix'd bodies owe their qualities to the predominancy of this or that of their three grand ingredients , the corpuscularians will shew , that the very qualities of this or that ingredient flow from its peculiar texture , and the mechanical affections of the corpuscles 't is made up of . and to affirm , that , because the furnaces of chymists afford a great number of uncommon productions and phaenomena , there are bodies or operations amongst things purely corporeal , that cannot be deriv'd from , or reconcil'd to , the comprehensive and pregnant principles of the mechanical philosophy , is , as if , because there are a great number and variety of anthems , hymns , pavins , threnodies , courants , gavots , branles , sarabands , jigs , and other ( grave and sprightly ) tunes to be met with in the books and practises of musitians , one should maintain , that there are in them a great many tunes , or at least notes , that have no dependence on the scale of music ; or , as if , because , besides rhombusses , rhomboids , trapeziums , squares , pentagons , chiliagons , myriagons , and innumerable other polygons , regular and irregular , one should presume to affirm , that there are among them some rectilinear figures , that are not reducible to triangles , or have affections that will overthrow what euclid has taught of triangles and polygons . to what has been said , i shall add but one thing more ; that , as , according to what i formerly intimated , mechanical principles and explications are for their clearness preferr'd , even by materialists themselves , to others in the cases where they can be had ; so , the sagacity and industry of modern naturalists and mathematicians , having happily apply'd them to seueral of those difficult phaenomena , ( in hydrostaticks , the practical part of opticks , gunnery , &c. ) that before were , or might be referr'd to 〈◊〉 qualities , 't is probable , that , when this philosophy is deeplier searched into , and farther improv'd , it will be found applicable to the solution of more and more of the phaenomena of nature . and on this occasion let me observe , that 't is not always necessary , though it be always desirable , that he that propounds an hypothesis in astronomy , chymistry , anatomy , or other part of physicks , be able , à priori , to prove his hypothesis to be true , or demonstratively to shew , that the other hypotheses propos'd about the same subject must be false . for as , if i mistake not , plato said , that the world was god's epistle written to mankind , & might have added , consonantly to another saying of his , 't was written in mathematical letters : so , in the physical explications of the parts and system of the world , me thinks , there is somewhat like what happens , when men conjecturally frame several keys to enable us to understand a letter written in cyphers . for , though one man by his sagacity have found out the right key , it will be very difficult for him , either to prove otherwise than by trial , that this or that word is not such as 't is ghess'd to be by others according to their keys ; or to evince , à priori , that theirs are to be rejected , and his to be preferr'd ; yet , if due trial being made , the key he proposes , shall be found so agreeable to the characters of the letter , as to enable one to understand them , and make a coherent sense of them , its suitableness to what it should decipher , is , without either confutations , or extraneous positive proofs , sufficient to make it be accepted as the right key of that cypher . and so , in physical hypotheses , there are some , that , without noise , or falling foul upon others , peaceably obtain discerning mens approbation onely by their fitness to solve the phaenomena , for which they were devis'd , without crossing any known observation or law of nature . and therefore , if the mechanical philosophy go on to explicate things corporeal at the rate it has of late years proceeded at , 't is scarce to be doubted , but that in time unprejudic'd persons will think it sufficiently recommended by its consistency with it self , and its applicableness to so many phenomena of nature . a recapitulation . perceiving , upon a review , of the foregoing paper , that the difficulty and importance of the subject , has seduc'd me to spend many more words about it that i at first design'd ▪ t will not now be amiss to give you this short summary of what came into my mind to recommend to you the mechanical phelosophy , and obviate your fears of seeing it supplanted ; having first premis'd once for all , that presupposing the creation and general providence of god , i pretend to treat but of things corporeal , and do abstract in this paper from immaterial beings , ( which otherwise i very willingly admit , ) and all agents and operations miraculous or supernatural . i. of the principles of things corporeal , none can be more few , without being insufficient , or more primary than matter and motion . ii. the natural and genuine effect of variously determin'd motion in portions of matter , is , to divide it into parts of differing sizes , and shapes , and to put them into different motions , and the consequences , that flow from these , in a world fram'd as ours is , are , as to the separate fragments , posture , order , and situation , and , as to the conventions of many of them , peculiar compositions and contextures . iii. the parts of matter endow'd with these catholick affections are by various associations reduc'd to natural bodies of several kinds , according to the plenty of the matter , and the various compositions and decompositions of the principles ; which all suppose the common matter they diversifie : and these several kinds of bodies , by vertue of their motion , rest , and other mechanical affections , which fit them to act on , and suffer from , one another , become indow'd with several kinds of qualities , ( whereof some are call'd manifest , and some occult , ) and those that act upon the peculiarly fram'd organs of sense , whose perceptions by the animadversive faculty of the soul are sensations . iv. these principles , matter , motion , ( to which rest is related ) bigness , shape , posture , order , texture , being so simple , clear , and comprehensive , are applicable to all the real phaenomena of nature , which seem not explicable by any other not consistent with ours . for , if recourse be had to an immaterial principle or agent , it may be such an one , as is not intelligible ; and however it will not enable us to explain the phaenomena , because its way of working upon things material would probably be more difficult to be physically made out , than a mechanical account of the phaenomena . and , notwithstanding the immateriality of a created agent , we cannot conceive , how it should produce changes in a body , without the help of mechanical principles , especially local motion ; and accordingly we find not , that the reasonable soul in man is able to produce what changes it pleases in the body , but is confin'd to such , as it may produce by determining or guiding the motions of the spirits , and other parts of the body , subservient to voluntary motion . v. and if the agents or active principles resorted to , be not immaterial , but of a corporeal nature , they must either in effect be the same with the corporeal principles above-nam'd ; or , because of the great universality & simplicity of ours , the new ones propos'd must be less general than they , and consequently capable of being subordinated or reduc'd to ours , which by various compositions may afford matter to several hypotheses , and by several coalitions afford minute concretions exceedingly numerous and durable , and consequently fit to become the elementary ingredients of more compounded bodies , being in most trials similar , and as it were the radical parts , which may , after several manners , be diversified ; as in latin , the themes are by prepositions , terminations , &c. and in hebrew , the roots by the haeemantic letters ▪ so that the fear , that so much of a new physical hypothesis , as is true , will overthrow or make useless the mechanical principles , is , as if one should fear , that there will be a language propos'd , that is discordant from , or not reducible to , the letters of the alphabet . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28966-e970 ps . 145. ps . 147.5 . ps . 113.6 . isa . 40.15 . rom. j. 19 . genes . vj. numb . xxvij . 7 . genes . xx . genes . xviij . 1 kings iij. jonah iv . 1 kings ▪ xxij . from ver . 19. to ver . 24. job j. 6 , 7 , &c. job ij . 3 . see heb. v. 9 . psal . ciij. 17 , 18. acts j. 21 . 1 joh. iij. 20 . revel . vij . 9 . matth. xxvj . 53. dan. vij . 10 . joh. j. 3 . heb. j. 7 . luke xx . 35 , 36. col. j. 16 . matth. xxiv . 36 . mark xiij . 32 . matth. xviij . 10 . isa . vj. 2 , 3 matth. vj. 10 . 2 sam. xiv . 20 . mark xiij . 32 . 2 king. xix . 35 . 1 thess . iv . 16 . jude ix . dan. x. 13 , 21. col. j. 16 . revel . xij . 7 . acts xij . 7 , 8 , 9 , 10. dan. x. 13 . acts xij . 11 . 2 kings vj. 17 . luke xxiv . 4 . judg. xiij . 6 . heb. j. 14 . revel . xix . 10 . revel . xxij . 9 . matth. xxviij . 6 . revel . xix . 10 . joh. j. 3 coloss . j. 16 . matth. viij . 7 . luke iv . 33 . joh. viij , 34. 1 pet. v. 8 . 2 cor. xj . 3 . revel . xij . 9 . revel . xij . 7 . matth. xxv . 41 . 1 joh. iij. 8 . jude 6. mark v. 9 , 10 , 13. jam. iv . 7 . 1 pet. v. 9 . 1 cor. vj. 3 . matth. xxv . 41 . jam. ij . 19 . 2 pet. ij . 4 . jude 6 , 13. matth. xxv . 41 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . jam. iij. 6 . 2 pet. iij. ● , 10 , 13. gen. ij . 7 . acts xxiv . 15 . acts xvij . 20 , 32. gen. ij . acts xvij . 26 . gen. ij . 21 , 22. acts xxv . 15 . luke xx . 35 , 36. matth. x. 28 . gen. ij 7. zek. xij . 1 . luke xx . 35 , 36. matt. xxv . 46 . d●s cartes responsione ad objectiones secundas , pag. m. 95. mark xiv . 21 . 1 pet. j. 12 . rom. xj . 33 . gen. ij . 21 , 22 , 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . joh. v. 39 . acts xx . 27 . matth. xxvj . 53 . dan. vij . 10 . mark v. 9 . luke viij . 30 . dan. ij . 31 , 32 , &c. isa . v. 4 . isa . lxv . 2 . * * rev. j. 3 . to render the original word ( observe , or ) watch , rather than keep , seems more congruous to the sense of the text , and is a criticism suggested to me by an eminent mathematician as well as divine , who took notice , that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is us'd by the greeks as a term of art , to express the astronomical observation of eclipses , planetary conjunctions , oppositions , and other celestial phaenomena . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . ephis . iij. 10 ▪ isa . vj. 2 , 3. luke ij . 13 , 14. revel . v. 11 , 12. gen. ij . 16 , 17. seraph . love. psal . xxxij . 9 . deut. viij . 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 18 , job xxxviij . 5 , 6 , 7. psa . l.23 . hos . xiv . 2 . psal . civ . 24 . psal . xix . 1 . psal . cxxxix . 14 . 1 tim. ij . 4 . joh. xiij . 7 . heb. v. 9 . joh. v. 39 . search , or , you search the scriptures . coloss . iij. 16 . prov. xxvj . 10 . acts xvij . 11 . 1 pe● . j. 10 , 11. 1 pet. j. ●2 . psal . cxix . 18 . revel . j. matth. xj . 15 . mark iv . ● , 23. luke viij . 8 . matth. v. 8 . 1 joh. iij. 2 . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 medit. tertia sub finem . exod. xv . 25 . matth. v. 29 , 30. 1 tim. iij. 16 . tit. j. 1 . numb . xxj . 9 . diogenis laertii libr. 10. iob iv . 19 . psal . ciij. 14 . 1 cor. 10.13 . job xviij . 14 . dan. ix . 21 , 22. luke j. 11 , 26. acts x. 4 , 5 , 6. 1 pet. j. 12 . luke xxiv . 45 . psal . cxix . 18 . acts xvij . 24 , 25. jam. ij . 21 . 2 chron. vj. 8 , 9. 2 sam. vij . ver . 5. ver . 11. hab. j. 13 . matth. v. 6 . 2 cor. v. 7 . luke xx . 36 . notes for div a28966-e7520 ephes . iij. 10 . see examples of this in my notes about sensation and sensible qualities . acts vij . 56 . 2 kings vj. 17 . 1 cor. xiij . 12 . 1 joh. iij. 2 . gen. xxxvij . amos vj. 5 . * * see the requisites of a good hypothesis . see this subject handled at large in an appendix to the author's ex●men of antiperistasis . * * in the history of cold. * * now publish'd in the book of new physico-mechanical experiments . see a tract on this subject , premis'd by the authour to his book of cold. amos vj. 5 . 1 sam. ij . 30 . 2. chron. xxv . 9 . rom. viij . 18 . luke xxiij . 15 . ● kings iij. 5 . phil. ij . 6 . heb. xij . 2 . rom. ij . 7 . matth. v. 11 , 12. notes for div a28966-e12720 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . the lively oracles given to us, or, the christians birth-right and duty, in the custody and use of the holy scripture by the author of the whole duty of man, &c. allestree, richard, 1619-1681. 1678 approx. 320 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 120 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a23752) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 47945) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 5:3) the lively oracles given to us, or, the christians birth-right and duty, in the custody and use of the holy scripture by the author of the whole duty of man, &c. allestree, richard, 1619-1681. sterne, richard, 1596?-1683. pakington, dorothy coventry, lady, d. 1679. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [14], 226, [2] p. [s.n.], at the theater in oxford : 1678. authorship of the whole duty of man is attributed to richard allestree. cf. halkett & laing (2nd ed.). attributed also to robert boyle, lady pakington, bishop fell, etc. reproduction of original in yale university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng bible -study and teaching. bible -use. christian life -early works to 1800. 2004-04 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2004-04 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2004-05 emma (leeson) huber sampled and proofread 2004-05 emma (leeson) huber text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion imprimatur . jo. nicholas . vice cancell . oxon. junii 10. 1678. the lively oracles given to us or the christians birth-right and duty , in the custody and use of the holy scripture . by the author of the whole duty of man , &c. search the scriptures , jo. 5. 39. at the theater in oxford , 1678. the lively oracles given to us or the christians birthright & duty in the custody & use of the holy scripture . the preface . in the treatise of the government of the tongue publisht by me heretofore , i had occasion to take notice among the exorbitances of that unruly part , which sets on fire the whole course of nature , and its self is set on fire from hell , jam. 3. 6. of the impious vanity prevailing in this age , whereby men play with sacred things , and exercise their wit upon those scriptures by which they shall be judg'd at the last day , joh. 12. 48. but that holy book not only suffering by the petulancy of the tongue , but the malice of the heart , out of the abundance whereof the mouth speaks , mat. 12. 34. and also from that irreligion , prepossession , and supiness , which the pursuit of sensual plesures certainly produces ; the mischief is too much diffus'd , and deeply rooted , to be controul'd by a few casual reflections . i have therefore thought it necessary , both in regard of the dignity and importance of the subject , as also the prevalence of the opposition , to attemt a profest and particular vindication of the holy scriptures , by displaying their native excellence and beauty ; and enforcing the veneration and obedience that is to be paid unto them . this i design'd to do in my usual method , by an address to the affections of the reader ; soliciting the several passions of love , hope , fear , shame and sorrow , which either the majesty of god in his sublime being , his goodness deriv'd to us , or our ingratitude return'd to him , could actuate in persons not utterly obdurate . but where as men , when they have learnt to do amiss , quickly dispute and dictate ; i found my self concern'd to pass somtimes within the verge of controversy , and to discourse upon the principles of reason , and deductions from testimony , which in the most important transactions of human life are justly taken for evidence . in which whole performance i have studied to avoid the entanglements of sophistry , and the ambition of unintelligible quotations ; and kept my self within the reach of te unlearned christian reader ; to whose uses , my labors have bin ever dedicated . all that i require , is that men would bring as much readiness to entertain the holy scriptures , as they do to the reading profane authors ; i am asham'd to say , as they do to the incentives of vice and folly , nay , to the libels and invectives that are levell'd against the scriptures . if i obtain this , i will make no doubt that i shall gain a farther point ; that from the perusal of my imperfect conceptions , the reader will proceed to the study of the scriptures themselves : there tast and see how gracious the lord is , ps. 34. 8. and as the angel commanded saint john , rev. 10. 9. eat the book ; where he will experimentally find the words of david verified , ps. 19. 7. the law of the lord is an undefiled law , converting the soul : the testimony of the lord is sure , and giveth wisdom to the simple . the statutes of the lord are right , and rejoice the heart ; the commandment of the lord is pure , and giveth light to the eies . the fear of the lord is clean and endureth for ever , the judgments of the lord are true and righteous altogether . more to be desir'd are they then gold , yea , then much fine gold ; sweeter also then hony and the hony-comb . moreover by them is thy servant taught , and in keeping of them there is great reward . it is said of moses , ex. 34. 29. that having receiv'd the law from god , and converst with him in mount sina forty daies together , his face shone , and had a brightness fixt upon it that dazled the beholders ; a pledg and short essay not only of the appearance at mount tabor , mat. 17. 1. where at the transfiguration he again was seen in glory : but of that greater , and yet future change when he shall see indeed his god face to face , and share his glory unto all eternity . the same divine goodness gives still his law to every one of us . let us receive it with due regard and veneration ; converse with him therein , instead of forty daies , during our whole lives ; and so anticipate and certainly assure our interest in that great transfiguration , when all the faithful shall put of their mortal flesh , be translated from glory to glory , eternally behold their god , see him as he is , and so enjoy him . conversation has every where an assimilating power , we are generally such as are the men and books , and business that we deal with : but surely no familiarity has so great an influence on life and manners , as when men hear god speaking to them in his word . that word which the apostle , heb. 4. 12. declares to be quick and powerful , sharper then any two-edg'd sword , piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit , and of the joints and marrow , and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart . the time will come when all our books however recommended , for subtilty of discourse , exactness of method , variety of matter , or eloquence of language ; when all our curious acts , like those mention'd act. 19. 19. shall be brought forth , and burnt before all men : when the great book of nature , and heaven it self shall depart as a scroul roll'd together , rev. 6. 14. at which important season 't will be more to purpose , to have studied well , that is , transcrib'd in practice this one book , then to have run thro all besides , for then the dead small and great shall stand before god , and the books shall be open'd , and another book shall be open'd which is the book of life , and the dead shall be judg'd out of those things which were written in the books , according to their works , rev. 20. 12. in vain shall men allege the want of due conviction , that they did not know how penal it would be , to disregard the sanctions of gods law , which they would have had enforc'd by immediat miracle ; the apparition of one sent from the other world , who might testify of the place of torment . this expectation the scripture charges every where with the guilt of temting god , and indeed it really involves this insolent proposal , that the almighty should be oblig'd to break his own laws , that men might be prevail'd with to keep his . but should he think fit to comply herein , the condescention would be as successless in the event , as 't is unreasonable in the offer . our savior assures , that they who hear not moses and the prophets , the instructions and commands laid down in holy scripture , would not be wrought upon by any other method , would not be perswaded , by that which they allow for irresistible conviction , tho one rose again from the dead , luke 16. 31. the lively oracles given to us , or the christians birth-right and duty in the custody and use of the holy scripture . sect . i. the several methods of gods communicating the knowledg of himself . god , as he is invisible to human eies , so is he unfathomable by human understandings ; the perfection of his nature , and the impotency of ours , setting us at too great a distance to have any clear perception of him . nay , so far are we from a full comprehension , that we can discern nothing at all of him , but by his own light ; those discoveries he hath bin pleas'd to make of himself . 2. those have bin of several sorts ; the first was by infusion in mans creation , when god interwove into mans very constitution and being the notions and apprehensions of a deity : and at the same instant when he breath'd into him a living soul , imprest on it that native religion , which taught him to know and reverence his creator , which we may call the instinct of humanity . nor were those principles dark and confus'd , but clear and evident , proportionable to the ends they were design'd to , which were not only to contemplate the nature , but to do the will of god ; practice being even in the state of innocence preferrable before an unactive speculation . 3. but this light being soon eclips'd by adams disobedience , there remain'd to his benighted posterity , only som faint glimmerings , which were utterly insufficient to guide them tho their end , without fresh aids , and renew'd manifestations of god to them . it pleas'd god therefore to repair this ruine , and by frequent revelations to communicate himself to the patriarchs in the first ages of the world ; afterwards to prophets , and other holy men ; till at last he reveled himself yet more illustriously in the face of jesus christ , 2 cor. 4. 6. 4. this is the one great comprehensive revelation wherein all the former were involv'd , and to which they pointed ; the whole mystery of godliness being compris'd in this of gods being manifested in the flesh , and the consequents thereof . 1 tim. 3. 16. whereby our savior as he effected our reconciliation with god by the sacrifice of his death ; so he declar'd both that , and all things else that it concern'd man to know in order to bliss , in his doctrin and holy life . and this teacher being not only sent from god , jo. 3. but being himself god blessed for ever ; it cannot be that his instructions can want any supplement . yet that they might not want attestation neither to the incredulous world ; he confirm'd them by the repeted miracles of his life , and by the testimony of those who saw the more irrefragable conviction of his resurrection and ascension . and that they also might not want credit and enforcement , the holy spirit set to his seal , and by his miraculous descent upon the apostles , both asserted their commission , and enabled them for the discharge of it , by all gifts necessary for the propagating the faith of christ over the whole world. 5. these were the waies by which god was pleased to revele himself to to the forefathers of our faith , and that not only for their sakes , but ours also , to whom they were to derive those divine dictats they had receiv'd . saint stephen tells us , those under the law receiv'd the lively oracles to deliver down to their posterity , act. 7. 38. and those under the gospel , who receiv'd yet more lively oracles , from him who was both the word and the life , did it for the like purpose ; to transmit it to us upon whom the ends of the world are come . by this all need of repeted revelations is superseded , the faithful deriving of the former , being sufficient to us for all things that pertain to life and godliness , 2 pet. 1. 3. 6. and for this , god ( whose care is equal for all successions of men ) hath graciously provided , by causing holy scriptures to be writ ; by which he hath deriv'd on every succeeding age the illuminations of the former . and for that purpose endowed the writers not only with that moral fidelity requisite to the truth of history , but with a divine spirit , proportionable to the great design of fixing an immutable rule for faith and manners . and to give us the fuller security herein , he has chosen no other pen-men of the new testament , then those who were the first oral promulgers of our christian religion ; so that they have left to us the very same doctrin they taught the primitive christians ; and he that acknowledges them divinely inspir'd in what they preach'd , cannot doubt them to be so in what they writ . so that we all may injoy virtually and effectively that wish of the devout father , who desir'd to be saint pauls auditor : for he that hears any of his epistles read , is as really spoke to by saint paul , as those who were within the sound of his voice . thus god who in times past spake at sundry times , and in diverse manners to our fathers by the prophets , and in the later daies by his son , heb. 1. 1 , 2. continues still to speak to us by these inspir'd writers ; and what christ once said to his disciples in relation to their preaching , is no less true of their writings : he that despiseth you , despiseth me , luk. 10. 16. all the contemt that is at any time flung on these sacred writings , rebounds higher , and finally devolves on the first author of those doctrins , whereof these are the registres and transcripts . 7. but this is a guilt which one would think peculiar to infidels and pagans , and not incident to any who had in their baptism listed themselves under christs banner : yet i fear i may say , of the two parties , the scripture has met with the worst treatment from the later . for if we mesure by the frequency and variety of injuries . i fear christians will appear to have out-vied heathens : these bluntly disbelieve them , neglect , nay perhaps scornfully deride them . alas , christians do this and more ; they not only put contemts , but tricks upon the scripture , wrest and distort it to justify all their wild phancies , or secular designs ; and suborn its patronage to those things it forbids , and tells us that god abhors . 8. indeed so many are the abuses we offer it , that he that considers them would scarce think we own'd it for the words of a sensible man , much less of the great omniscient god. and i believe 't were hard to assign any one so comprehensive and efficacious cause of the universal depravation of manners , as the disvaluing of this divine book , which was design'd to regulate them . it were therefore a work worthy another inspired writing , to attemt the rescue of this , and recover it to its just estimate . yet alas , could we hope for that , we have scoffers who would as well despise the new as the old ; and like the husbandmen in the gospel , mat. 21. 36. would answer such a succession of messages by repeting the same injuries . 9. to such as these 't is i confess vain for man to address ; nay 't were insolence to expect that human oratory should succeed where the divine fails ; yet the spreading infection of these renders it necessary to administer antidotes to others . and besides , tho ( god be blest ) all are not of this form , yet there are many who , tho not arriv'd to this contempt , yet want som degrees of that just reverence they owe the sacred scriptures , who give a confus'd general assent to them as the word of god , but afford them not a consideration and respect answerable to such an acknowledgment . to such as these , i shall hope it may not be utterly vain to attemt the exciting of those drowsy notions that lie unactive in them , by presenting to them som considerations concerning the excellence and use of the scripture : which being all but necessary consequences of that principle they are supposed to own , viz. that they are gods word , i cannot much question their assent to the speculative part : i wish i could as probably assure my self of the practic . 10. indeed were there nothing else to be said in behalf of holy writ , but that it is gods word , that were enough to command the most awful regard to it . and therefore it is but just we make that the first and principal consideration in our present discourse . but then 't is impossible that that can want others to attend it ; since whatsoever god saies , is in all respects completely good . i shall therefore to that of its divine original add secondly the consideration of its subject matter ; thirdly , of its excellent and no less diffusive end and design ; and fourthly , of its exact propriety and fitness to that design , which are all such qualifications , that where they concur , nothing more can be requir'd to commend a writing to the esteem of rational men . and upon all these tests , notwithstanding the cavil of the romanists and others , whose force we shall examin with the unhappy issue of contrary counsels , this law of god will be found to answer the psalmists character of it , ps. 19. 7. the law of god is perfect : and 't will appear that the custody and use thereof , is the birth-right and duty of every christian. all which severals being faithfully deduced ; it will only remain that i add such cautions as will be necessary to the due performance of the aforesaid duty ; and our being in som degree render'd perfect , as this law of god , and the author thereof himself is perfect , mat. 5. 48. sect . ii. the divine original , endearments , and authority of the holy scripture . mens judgments are so apt to be biast by their affection , that we often find them readier to consider who speaks , then what is spoken : a temper very unsafe , and the principle of great injustice in our inferior transactions with men ; yet here there are very few of us that can wholly divest our selves of it , whereas , when we deal with god ( in whom alone an implicit faith may securely be reposed ) we are nice and wary , bring our scales and mesures , will take nothing upon his word which holds not weight in our own balance . 't is true , he needs not our partiality to be justified in his sayings , psal. 51. 4. his words are pure , even as the silver tried seven times in the fire , psal. 12. 6. able to pass the strictest test that right reason ( truly so called ) can put them to . yet it shews a great perverseness in our nature , that we who so easily resign our understandings to fallible men , stand thus upon our guard against god ; make him dispute for every inch he gains on us ; nor will afford him what we daily grant to any credible man , to receive an affirmation upon trust of his veracity . 2. i am far from contradicting our saviors precept , of search the scriptures , jo. 7. or saint pauls , of proving all things , 1 thes. 5. 21. we cannot be too industrious in our inquest after truth , provided we still reserve to god the decisive vote , and humbly acquiesce in his sense , how distant soever from our own ; so that when we consult scripture ( i may add reason either ) 't is not to resolve us whether god be to be believed or no in what he has said , but whether he hath said such and such things : for if we are convinc'd he have ; reason as well as religion commands our assert . 3. whatever therefore god has said , we are to pay it a reverence merely upon the account of its author ; over and above what the excellence of the matter exacts : and to this we have all inducements as well as obligation : there being no motives to render the words of men estimable to us , which are not eminently and transcendently appliable to those of god. 4. those motives we may reduce to four : first , the autority of the speaker ; secondly , his kindness ; thirdly , his wisdom ; and fourthly , his truth . first , for that of autority ; that may be either native , or acquired ; the native is that of a parent , which is such a charm of observance , that we see sa●omon , when he would impress his counsels , assumes the person of a father ; hear o my children the instructions of a father , prov. 4. 1. and generally thro that whole book he uses the compellation of my son , as the greatest endearment to engage attention and reverence . nay so indispensible was the obligation of children in this respect , that we see the contumacious child that would not hearken to the advice of his parents , was by god himself adjudged to death , deut. 21. 20. 5. nor have only gods , but mens laws exacted that filial reverence to the dictats of parents . but certainly no parent can pretend such a title to it as god , who is not only the immediat father of our persons , but the original father of our very nature ; not only of our flesh , but of our spirits also , heb. 12. 9. so that the apostles antithesis in that place is as properly applied to counsels as corrections , and we may as rightly infer , that if we give reverence to the advices of our earthly parents , much more ought we subject our selves to this father of our spirits . and we have the very same reason wherewith to enforce it : for the fathers of our flesh do as often dictate , as correct according to their own plesures , prescribe to their children not according to the exact mesures of right and wrong , but after that humor which most predominates in themselves . but god alwaies directs his admonitions to our profit , that we may be partakers of his holiness , heb. 12. 11. so that we are as unkind to our selves , as irreverent towards him , whenever we let any of his words fall to the ground ; whose claim to this part of our reverence is much more irrefragable then that of our natural parents . 6. but besides this native autority there is also an acquired ; and that we may distinguish into two sorts ; the one of dominion , the other of reputation . to the first kind belongs that of princes , magistrates , masters , or any that have coercive power over us . and our own interest teaches us not to slight the words of any of these , who can so much to our cost second them with deeds . now god has all these titles of jurisdiction ; he is the great king , ps. 48. 2. nor was it only a complement of the psalmists ; for himself owns the stile , i am a great king , mal. 1. he is the judg of all the world ; gen. 18. yea , that ancient of daies , before whom the books were open'd , dan. 7. 10. he is our lord and master by right , both of creation and redemtion ; and this christ owns even in his state of inanition ; yea , when he was about the most servile imploiment ; the washing his disciples feet ; when he was most literally in the form of a servant ; yet he scruples not to assert his right to that opposite title ; you call me master , and lord ; and ye say well , for so i am ; jo. 13. nor are these emty names , but effectively attended with all the power they denote . yet so stupid are we , that whilst we awfully receive the dictates of our earthly superiors , we slight and neglect the oracles of that god who is king of kings , and lord of lords . when a prince speaks , we are apt to cry out with herods flatterers , the voice of a god , and not of a man , act. 12. yet when it is indeed the voice of god , we chuse tot listen to any thing else rather then it . but let us sadly remember , that notwithstanding our contemts , this word shall ( as our savior tells us ) judg us at the last day , jo. 12. 38. 7. a second sort of acquir'd autority is that of reputation . when a man is famed for som extraordinary excellencies , whether moral or intellectual , men come with appetite to his discourses , greedily suck them in , nor need such a one bespeak attention ; his very name has don it for him , and prepossest him of his auditors regard . thus the rabbies among the jews , the philosophers among the greeks , were listened to as oracles , and to cite them was ( by their admiring disciples ) thought a concluding argument . nay , under christianity , this admiration of mens persons has bin so inordinate , that it has crumbled religion away in little insignificant parties ; whilst not only paul , apollo , or cephas , but names infinitly inferior , have become the distinctive characters of sects and separate communions . so easily alas are we charm'd by our prepossessions , and with itching ears run in quest of those doctrins which the fame of their authors , rather then the evidence of truth , commend to us . 8. and hath god don nothing to get him a repute among us ? has he no excellencies to deserve our esteem ? is he not worthy to prescribe to his own creatures ? if we think yes , why is he the only person to be disregarded ? or why do we so unseasonably depart from our own humor , as not to give his word a reverence proportionable to that we pretend for him ; nay , which we actually pay to men of like passions with our selves ? a contemt so absurd as well as impious , that we have not the example of any the most barbarous people to countenance us . for tho som of them have made very wild mistakes in the choice of their deities , yet they have all agreed in this common principle , that whatever those deities said , was to be receiv'd with all possible veneration ; yea , such a deference gave they to all significations of the divine will , that as they would undertake no great enterprize without consulting their auguries ; so upon any inauspicious signs they relinquisht their attemts . and certainly if we had the same reverence for the true god which they had for the false , we should as frequently consult him . we may do it with much more ease and certainty : we need not trust to the entrails of beasts , or motion of birds ; we need not go to delphos , or the lybian hammon for the resolving our doubts ; but what moses said to israel is very applicable to us , the word is nigh thee , deut. 30. 14. that word which david made his counsellor ▪ psal. 119. 24. his comforter , ver . 50. his tresure , ver . 72. his study ver . 99. and had we those awful apprehensions of god which he had , we should pay the like reverence to his word . did we well ponder how many titles of autority he has over us , we should surely be asham'd to deny that respect to him in whom they all conspire ; which we dare not deny to them separately in human superiors . 9. a second motive to esteem mens words , is the kindness of the speaker . this has such a fascinating power , as nothing but extreme ill nature can resist . when a man is assur'd of the kindness of him that speaks , whatever is spoken is taken in good part . this is it that distinguishes the admonitions of a friend from the reproches of an enemy ; and we daily in common conversation receive those things with contentment and applause from an intimate and familiar , which if spoken by a stranger or enemy would be despis'd or stomach'd . so insinuating a thing is kindness , that where it has once got it self believ'd , nothing it saies after is disputed ; it supples the mind , and makes it ductile and pliant to any impressions . 10. but what human kindness is there that can come in any competition with the divine ? it surpasses that of the nearest and dearest relations ; mothers may forget , yet will i not forget thee , isa. 49. 15. and the psalmist found it experimentally true , when my father and my mother forsake me , the lord taketh me up , ps. 27. 10. the tenderest bowels compared to his , are adamant and flint : so that 't is a most proper epithet the wise man gives him ; o lord thou lover of souls , wis. 11. 26. nor is this affection merely mental , but it attests it self by innumerable effects . the effects of love are all reducible to two heads , doing and suffering ; and by both these god has most eminently attested his love to us . 11. for the first , we cannot look either on our bodies or our souls , on the whole universe about us , or that better world above us ; but we shall in each see the lord hath don great things for us , psal. 114. nay , not only our enjoiments , but even the capacity to enjoy , is his bounty . had not he drawn mankind out of his original clay , what had we bin concern'd in all the other works of his creation ? so that if we put any value either upon what we have or what we are , we cannot but account our selves so much indebted to this his active love . and tho the passive was not practicable by the divine nature simply and apart , yet that we might not want all imaginable evidences of his love , he who was god blessed for ever , linkt his impassible to ●ur passible nature ; assum'd our humanity , that he might espouse our sorrows , and was ●orn on purpose that he might die for us . so that sure we may say in his own words , greater love then this hath no man , jo. 15 , 13. 12. and now 't is very hard , if such an unparallel'd love in god , may not as much affect us as the slight benefactions of every ordinary friend ; if it cannot so much recommend him to our regard , as to rescue his word from contemt , and dispose us to receive impressions from it ; especially when his very speaking is a new act of his kindness , and design'd to our greatest advantage . 13. but if all he has don and suffer'd for us cannot obtain him so much from us , we must surely confess , our disingenuity is as superlative as his love . for in this instance we have ●o plea for our selves . the discourses of men , ●tis true , may somtime be so weak and irrational , that tho kindness may suggest pity , it cannot reverence : but this can never happen in god , whose wisdom is as infinite as his love . he talks not at our vain rate who often talk only for talkings sake ; but his words are directed to the most important ends , and addrest in such a manner as befits him in whom are all the tresures of wisdom and knowledg , col. 2. and this is our third consideration , the wisdom of the speaker . 14. how attractive a thing wisdom is , we may observe in the instance of the queen of sheba , who came from the utmost parts of the earth , as christ saies , mat. 12. 42. to hear the wisdom of solomon . and the like is noted of the greek sages , that they were addrest to from all parts , by persons of all ranks and qualities , to hear their lectures . and indeed the rational nature of man do's by a kind of sympathetic motion close with whatever hath the stamp of reason upon it . but alas what is the profoundest wisdom of men compar'd with that of god ? he is the essential reason ; and all that man can pretend to , is but an emanation from him ; a ray of his sun , a drop of his ocean : which as he gives , so he can also take away . he can infatuate the most subtil designers ; and ( as he saies of him self ) makes the diviners mad turns the wise men back , and makes their wisdom foolishness , esay 44. 25. 15. how impious a folly is it then in us , to idolize human wisdom with all its imperfections , and despise the divine ? yet this every man is guilty of , who is not attracted to the study of sacred writ by the supereminent wisdom of its author . for such men must either affirm that god has not such a super●minency ; or that , tho he have in himself , he ●ath noth exerted it in this writing : the former is down-right blasphemy ; and truly the ●●ter is the same , a little varied . for that any ●hing but what is exactly wise , can proceed ●●om infinite wisdom , is too absurd for any ●an to imagin . and therefore he that ●harges gods word with defect of wisdom , ●ust interpretatively charge god so too . for ●●o 't is true , a wise man may somtimes speak ●olishly ; yet that happens thro that mixture of ignorance or passion , which is in the most knowing of mortals : but in god , who is a pure act , and essential wisdom , that is an impossible supposition . 16. nay , indeed it were to tax him of folly beyond what is incident to any sensible man , who will still proportion his instruments to the work he designs . should we not conclude him mad , that should attemt to fell a mighty oak with a pen-knife , or stop a torrent with a wisp of straw ? and sure their conceptions are not much more reverend of god , who can suppose that a writing design'd by him for such important ends , as the making men wise unto salvation , 2 tim. 3. 15. the casting down all that exalts it self against the obedience of christ , 2 cor. 10. 5. should it self be foolish and weak : or that he should give it those great attributes of being sharper then a two edged sword , piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit , of the joints and marrow heb. 4. 14. if its discourses were so flat and insipid , as som in this profane age would represent them . 17. 't is true indeed , 't is not as the apostle speaks , the wisdom of this world , 1 cor. 2. 6. the scripture teaches us not the arts of undermining governments , defrauding and circumventing our brethren ; but it teaches us that which would tend much more even to our temporal felicity ; and as reason promts us to aspire to happiness , so it must acknowledg , that is the highest wisdom which teaches us to attain it . 18. and as the holy scripture is thus recommended to us by the wisdom of its author ; so in the last place is it by his truth , without which the other might rather raise our jealousy then our reverence . for wisdom without sincerity degenerates into serpentine guile ; and we rather fear to be ensnar'd then hope to be advantag'd by it . the most subtil addresses , and most cogent arguments prevail not upon us , where we suspect som insidious design . but where wisdom and fidelity meet in the same person , we do not only attend , but confide in his counsels , and this qualification is most eminently in god. the children of men are deceitful upon the weights . psal. 62. 9. much guile often lurks indiscernibly under the fairest appearances : but gods veracity is as essentially himself , as his wisdom , and he can no more deceive us , then he can be deceiv'd himself . he is not man that he should die , num. 23. 19. he designs not ( as men often do ) to sport himself with our credulity ; and raise hopes which he never means to satisfy : he saies not to the seed of jacob , seek ye me in vain , ex. 45. 19. but all his promises are yea and amen , 2 cor. 1. 20. he is perfectly sincere in all the proposals he makes in his word : which is a most rational motive for us to advert to it , not only with reverence but love . 19. and now when all these motives are thus combined ; the autority , the kindness , the wisdom , the veracity of the speaker , what can be requir'd more to render his words of weight with us ? if this four-fold cord will not draw us , we have sure the strength , not of men , but of that legion we read of in the gospel , mar. 5. 9. for these are so much the cords of a man , so adapted to our natures , nay to our constant usage in other things , that we must put off much of our humanity , disclaim the common mesures of mankind , if we be not attracted by them . for i dare appeal to the breast of any sober , industrious man , whether in case a person , who he were sure had all the fore-mention'd qualifications , should recommend to him som rules as infallible for the certain doubling , or trebling his estate , he would not think them worth the pursuing ; nay , whether he would not plot and study on them , till he comprehended the whole art. and shall we then when god in whom all those qualifications are united , and that in their utmost transcendencies , shall we , i say , think him below our regard , when he proposes the improving our interests , not by the scanty proportions of two or three ; but in such as he intimated to abraham , when he shewed him the stars , as the representative of his numerous off-spring , gen. 15. 5. when he teaches us that highest , and yet most certain alchimy , of refining and multiplying our enjoiments , and then perpetuating them ? 20. all this god do's in scripture ; and we must be stupidly improvident , if we will take no advantage by it . it was once the complaint of christ to the jews , i am come in my fathers name and ye receive me not , if another shall come in his own name , him ye will receive , jo. 5. 43. and what was said by him the eternal essential word , is no less applicable to the written ; which coming in the name , and upon the message of god , is despis'd and slighted , and every the lightest composure of men preferr'd before it . as if that signature of divinity it carries , served rather as a brand to stigmatize and defame , then adorn and recommend it . a contemt which strikes immediatly at god himself , whose resentments of it , tho for the present supprest by his long-suffering , will at last break out upon all who persevere so to affront him , in a judgment worthy of god , wis. 12. 26. 21. but after all that has bin said , i fore-see som may say , that i have all this while but beaten the air , have built upon a principle which som flatly deny , others doubt of , and have run away with a supposition that the bible is of divine original , without any attemt of proof . to such as these i might justly enough object the extreme hard mesure they offer to divinity above all other sciences . for in those , they still allow som fundamental maxims , which are presupposed without proof ; but in this they admit of no postulata , no granted principle on which to superstruct . if the same rigor should be extended to secular cases , what a damp would it strike upon commerce ? for example , a man expects fair dealing from his neighbor , upon the strength of those common notions of justice he presumes writ in all mens hearts : but according to this mesure , he must first prove to every man he deals with , that such notions there are , and that they are obligatory : that the wares expos'd to sale are his own ; that dominion is not founded in grace , or that he is in that state , and so has a property to confer upon another ; that the person dealt with , paies a just price ; do's it in good mony ; and that it is his own ; or that he is in the state of grace ; or needs not be so , to justify his purchase : and at this rate the market will be as full of nice questions as the scholes . but because complaints and retortions are the common refuge of causes that want better arguments , i shall not insist here ; but to proceed to a defence of the question'd assertion , that the bible is the word of god. 22. in which i shall proceed by these degrees . first , i shall lay down the plain grounds upon which christians believe it . secondly , i shall compare those with those of less credibility which have generally satisfied mankind in other things of the like nature . and thirdly , i shall consider whether those who are dissatisfied with those grounds , would not be equally so with any other way of attestation . 23. before i enter upon the first of these , i desire it may be consider'd , that matters of fact are not capable of such rigorous demonstrative evidences , as mathematical propositions are . to render a thing fit for rational belief , there is no more requir'd but that the motives for it do over-poise those against it , and in that degree they do so , so is the belief stronger or weaker . 24. now the motives of our belief in the present case , are such as are extrinsic , or ●ntrinsic to the scriptures ; of which the extrinsic are first , and preparative to the other ; and indeed all that can reasonably be insisted on to a gain-saier , who must be suppos'd no competent judg of the later . but as to the former , i shall adventure to say , that the di●ine original of the scripture hath as great grounds of credibility as can be expected in any thing of this kind . for whether god ●nspir'd the pen-men of holy writ , is matter of fact , and being so , is capable of no other external evidence but that of testimony : and that matter of fact being also in point of time so remote from us , can be judg'd of only by a series of testimonies deriv'd from that age wherein the scriptures were written , to this : and the more credible the testifiers , and the more universal the testimony ; so much the more convincing are they to all considering men . 25. and this attestation the scripture hath in the highest circumstances , it having bin witness'd to in all ages , and in those ages by all persons that could be presum'd to know any thing of it . thus the old testament was own'd by the whole nation of the jews , as the writings of men inspir'd by god ; and that with such evidence of their mission , as abundantly satisfied those of that age , of their being so inspir'd ; and they deriv'd those writings with that attestation to their posterity . now that those of the first ages were not deceiv'd , is as morally certain as any thing can be suppos'd . for in the first part of the bible is contain'd the history of those miracles wherewith god rescued that people out of egypt , and instated them in canaan . now if they who liv'd at that time knew that such miracles were never don , 't is impossible they could receive an evident fable as an inspir'd truth . no single person , much less a whole nation can be suppos'd so stupid . but if indeed they were eie-witnesses of those miracles , they might with very good reason conclude , that the same moses who was by god impower'd to work them , was so also for the relating them ; as also all those precedent events from the creation down to that time , which are recorded by him . 26. so also for the preceptive parts of those books , those that saw those formidable solemnities , with which they were first publish'd , had sure little temtation to doubt that they were the dictats of god , when written . now if they could not be deceiv'd themselves , 't is yet less imaginable that they should conspire to impose a cheat upon their posterities ; nor indeed were the jews of so easy a credulity , that 't is at all probable the succeeding generations would have bin so impos'd on : their humor was stubborn enough , and the precepts of their law severe and burdensom enough to have temted them to have cast off the yoak , had it not bin bound upon them by irresistible convictions of its coming from god. but besides this tradition of their elders , they had the advantage of living under a theocracy , the immediat guidance of god ; prophets daily rais'd up among them , to fore-tell events , to admonish them of their duty , and reprove their back-slidings : yet even these gave the deference to the written word , nay , made it the test by which to try true inspirations from false : to the law and to the testimony ; if they speak not according to it , there is no light in them , esay 8. 20. so that the veneration which they had before acquir'd , was still anew excited by fresh inspirations , which both attested the old , and became new parts of their canon . 27. nor could it be esteem'd a small confirmation to the scriptures , to find in succeeding ages the signal accomplishments of those prophecies which were long before registred in those books ; for nothing less then divine power and wisdom could foretell , and also verify them . upon these grounds the jews universally thro all successions receiv'd the books of the old testament as divine oracles , and lookt upon them as the greatest trust that could be committed to them : and accordingly were so scrupulously vigilant in conserving them , that their masorits numbred not only the sections , but the very words , nay letters , that no fraud or inadvertency might corrupt or defalk the least iota of what they esteem'd so sacred . a farther testimony and sepiment to which , were the samaritan , chaldee , and greek versions : which being made use of in the synagogs o● jews , in their dispersions , and the samaritan● at sichem , could not at those distances receive a uniform alteration , and any other would be of no effect . add to this , that the original exemplar of the law , was laid up in the sanctuary , that the prince was to have a copy of it alwaies by him , and transcribe it with his own hand ; that every jew was to make it his constant discourse and meditation teach it his children , and wear part of it upon his hands and forehead . and now sure 't is impossible to imagin any matter of fact to be more carefully deduced , or irrefragably testified , nor any thing believ'd upon stronger evidence . 28. that all this is true in reference to the jews , that they did thus own these writings as divine , appears not only by the records of past ages , but by the jews of the present , who still own them , and cannot be suspected of combination with the christians . and if these were reasonable grounds of conviction to the jews , ( as he must be most ab●urdly sceptical that shall deny ) they must be so to christians also ; who derive them ●●om them : and that with this farther ad●antage to our faith , that we see the clear ●ompletion of those evangelical prophecies ●hich remain'd dark to them , and conse●uently have a farther argument to confirm ●s , that the scriptures of the old testament ●re certainly divine . 29. the new has also the like means of ●robation : which as it is a collection of the ●octrin taught by christ and his apostles , must if truly related be acknowledged no less divine then what they orally deliver'd . so that they who doubt its being divine , must either deny what christ and his apostles preacht to be so ; or else distrust the fidelity of the relation : the former strikes at the whole christian faith ; which if only of men , must not only be fallible , but is actually a deceit , whilst it pretends to be of god , and is not . to such objectors we have to oppose those stupendious miracles with which the gospel was attested ; such as demonstrated a more then human efficacy . and that god should lend his omnipotence to abet the false pretensions of men , is a conceit too unworthy even for the worst of men to entertain . 30. 't is true , there have bin by god permitted lying miracles ; as well as true ones have bin don by him ; such as were those of the magicians in egypt , in opposition to the other of moses ; but then the difference between both was so conspicuous , that he must be more partial and disingenuous , then even those magicians were , who would not acknowledg the disparity , and confess in those which were truly supernatural , the finger of god , exod. 8. 19. therefore both in the old and new testament it is predicted , that false prophets should arise , and do signs and wonders , deut. 13. 1. mat. 24. 11. 24. as a trial of their fidelity who made profession of religion ; whether they would prefer the few and trivial sleights which recommended a deceiver , before those great and numberless miracles which attested the sacred oracles deliver'd to the sons of men by the god of truth . whether the trick of a barchochebas , to hold fire in his mouth ; that of marcus the heretic , to make the wine of the holy sacrament appear bloud ; or that of mahomet , to bring a pidgeon to his ear , ought to be put in balance against all the miracles wrought by moses , our savior , or his apostles . and in a word , whether the silly stories which iamblichus solemnly relates of pythagoras , or those philostratus tells of apollonius tyaneus , deserve to rival those of the evangelists . it is a most just judgment , and accordingly threatned by almighty god , that they who would not obey the truth should believe a lie , 2 thes. 2. 11. but still the almighty , where any man or devil do's proudly , is evidently above him , exod. 18. 11. will be justified in his sayings , and be clear when he is judged , rom. 3. 4. 31. but if men will be sceptics , and doubt every thing , they are to know that the matter call'd into question , is of a nature that admits but two waies of solution ; probability , and testimony . first for probability , let it be consider'd who were the first promulgers of christs miracles . in his life time they were either the patients on whom his miracles were wrought , or the common people , that were spectators : the former , as they could not be deceiv'd themselves , but must needs know whether they were cur'd or no ; so what imaginable design could they have to deceive others ? many indeed have pretended impotency as a motive of compassion ; but what could they gain by owning a cure they had not ? as for the spectators , as their multitude adds to their credibility ; ( it being morally impossible that so many should at once be deluded in a matter so obvious to their senses ) so do's it also acquit them from fraud and combination . cheats and forgeries are alwaies hatcht in the dark , in close cabals , and privat juncto's . that five thousand men at one time , and four thousand at another , should conspire to say , that they were miraculously fed , when they were not ; and all prove true to the fiction , and not betray it : is a thing as irrational to be suppos'd , as impossible to be parallel'd . 32. besides , admit it possible that so many could have join'd in the deceit , yet what imaginable end could they have in it ? had their lie bin subservient to the designs of som potent prince that might have rewarded it , there had bin som temtation : but what could they expect from the reputed son of a carpenter , who had not himself where to lay his head ? nay , who disclaim'd all secular power ; convei'd himself away from their importunities ; when they would have forc'd him to be a king : and consequently , could not be lookt on as one that would head a sedition , or attemt to raise himself to a capacity of rewarding his abettors . upon all these considerations , there appears not the least shadow of probability ; that either those particular persons who publish'd the cures they had receiv'd , or those multitudes who were witnesses and divulgers of those , or his other miracles ; could do it upon any sinister design , or indeed upon any other motive but gratitude and admiration . 33. in the next place , if we come to those miracles which succeeded christs death , those most important , and convincing , of his resurrection and ascension , and observe who were the divulgers of those , we shall find them very unlikely to be men of design ; a set of illiterate men , taken from the fisher-boats , and other mean occupation : and such as needed a miracle as great as any of those they were to assert ( the descent of the holy ghost ) to fit them for their office . what alas could they drive at , or how could they hope that their testimony could be received , so much against the humor and interest of the present rulers ; unless they were assur'd not only of the truth of the things , but also of som supernatural aids to back and fortify them ? accordingly we find , that till they had receiv'd those ; till by the descent of the holy ghost they were endued with power from on high , luk. 24. 49. they never attemted the discovery of what they had seen : but rather hid them selves , kept all their assemblies in privacy and concealment for the fear of the jews , jo. 20. 19. and so were far enough from projecting any thing beside their own safety . afterwards , when they began to preach , they had early essays , what their secular advantages would be by it ; threatnings and revilings , scourgings and imprisonments , act. 4. 20. 5. 18. 40. and can it be imagined , that men who a little before had shewed themselves so little in ●ove with suffering , that none of them durst stick to their master at his apprehension , but one forswore , and all forfook him ; can it , i say , be imagin'd that these men should be so much in love with their own fable , as to venture all sorts of persecution for the propagating it ? or if they could , let us in the next place consider what probability there could be of success . 34. their preaching amounted to no less then the deifying of one , whom both their roman and jewish rulers , nay , the generality of the people had executed as a malefactor : so that they were all engag'd , in defence of their own act , to sift their testimony with all the rigor that conscious jealousy could suggest . and where were so many concern'd inquisitors , there was very little hope for a forgery to pass . besides the avow'd displesure of their governors made it a hazardous thing to own a belief of what they asserted . those that adher'd to them could not but know , that at the same time they must espouse their dangers and sufferings . and men use not to incur certain mischiefs , upon doubtful and suspicious grounds . 35 yet farther , their doctrin was design'd to an end to which their auditors could not but have the greatest reluctancy : they were to struggle with that rooted prepossession which the jews had for the mosaical law , which their gospel out-dated ; and the gentiles for the rites and religion of their ancestors ; and , which was harder then either , with the corruptions and vices of both : to plant humility and internal sanctity , so contrary to that ceremonial holiness , upon which the jews so valued themselves , and despis'd others : and temperance , justice , and purity , so contrary to the practice , nay , even the religion of the heathen : and to attemt all this with no other allurement , no other promise of recompence but what they must attend in another world , and pass too thro reproches and afflictions , torments and death . these were all such invincible prejudices , as they could never hope to break thro with a lie , nay , which they could not have encounter'd even with every common truth , but only with that , which being divine , brought its aids with it ; without which 't was utterly impossible for all the skill or oratory of men to overcome such disadvantages . 36. and yet with all these did these rude inartificial men contest , and that with signal success : no less then three thousand proselytes made by saint peters first sermon ; and that in jerusalem , the scene where all was acted , and consequently where 't was the most impossible to impose a forgery . and at the like miraculous rate they went on , till as the pharisees themselves complain , they had filled jerusalem with their doctrin . acts 5. 28. nor did judea set bounds to them ; their sound went out into all nations , rom. 10. 18. and their doctrin spred it self thro all the gentile world . 37. and sure so wonderful an event , so contrary to all human mesures , do's sufficiently evince there was more then man in it . nothing but the same creative power that produc'd light out of darkness , could bring forth effects so much above the proportion of the cause . had these weak instruments acted only by their natural powers , nothing of this had bin atchiev'd . alas , could these poor rude men learn all languages within the space of fifty daies , which would take up almost as many years of the most industrious student ? and yet had they not bin able to speak them , they could never have divulg'd the gospel to the several nations , nor so effectually have convinc'd the by-standers , act. 2. that they acted by a higher impulse . yet to convince the world they did so , they repeted their masters miracles as well as his doctrin ; heal'd the sick , cast out devils , rais'd the dead ; and where god communicated so much of his power , we may reasonably conclude he did it to promote his own work , not the work of the devil , as it must have bin if this whole scene were a lie . 38. when all this is weigh'd , i presume there will remain little ground to suspect , that the first planters of christian faith had any other design then what they avowed , viz. the bringing men to holiness here , and salvation hereafter . the suspicion therefore , if any , must rest upon later times ; and accordingly som are willing to persuade themselves and others that the whole scheme of our religion , is but a lately devis'd fable to keep the world in awe ; whereof princes have made som use , but clergy-men more ; and that christ and his apostles are only actors whom themselves have conjured up upon the stage to pursue their plot . 39. in answer to this bold , this blasphemous suggestion , i should first desire these surmisers to point out the time when , and the persons who began this design ; to tell us exactly whence they date this politic religion , as they are pleas'd to suppose it . if they cannot , they are manifestly unjust to reject our account of it when they can give none themselves ; and fail very much of that rigid demonstration they require from others . that there is such a profession as christianity in the world , is yet ( god be blest ) undeniable ; ( tho at the rate it has of late declin'd , god knows how long it will be so : ) we say it came by christ and his apostles , and that it is attested by an uninterrupted testimony of all the intervening ages , the suffrage of all christian churches from that day to this . and sure they who embraced the doctrin , are the most competent witnesses from whence they received it . 40. yet lest they should be all thought parties to the design , and their witness excepted against , it has pleased god to give us collateral assurances , and made both jewish and gentile writers give testimony to the antiquity of christianity . josephus do's this , lib. 20. chap. 8. and lib. 18. chap. 4. where , after he has given an account of the crucifixion of christ exactly agreeing with the evangelists ; he concludes , and to this day the christian people , who of him borrow their name , cease not to increase . i add not the personal elogium which he gives of our savior ; because som are so hardy to controul it : also i pass what philo mentions of the religious in egypt , because several learned men refer it to the essens , a sect among the jews , or som other . there is no doubt of what tacitus and other roman historians speak of christ as the author of the christian doctrin ; which it had bin impossible for him to have don ; if there had then bin no such doctrin , or if christ had not bin known as the founder of it . so afterward plinie gives the emperor trajan an account both of the manners , and multitude of the christians ; and makes the innocence of the one , & the greatness of the other , an argument to slacken the persecution against them . nay , the very bloody edicts of the persecuting emperors , & the scoffs and reproches of celsus , porphyrie , lucian , and other profane opposers of this doctrin , do undeniably assert its being . by all which it appears , that christianity had in those ages not only a being , but had also obtain'd mightily in the world , and drawn in vast numbers to its profession ; and vast indeed they must needs be , to furnish out that whole army of martyrs , of which profane , as well as ecclesiastic writers speak . and if all this be not sufficient to evince that christianity stole not clancu●arly into the world , but took its rise from ●hose times and persons it pretends , we must ●enounce all faith of testimony , and not believe an inch farther then we see . 41. i suppose i need say no more to shew that the gospel , and all those portentous miracles which attested it , were no forgeries , or stratagems of men . i come now to that doubt which more immediatly concerns the holy scripture , viz. whether all these transactions be so faithfully related there , that we may believe them to have bin dictated by the spirit of god. now for this , the process need be ●ut short , if we consider who were the pen●en of the new testament ; even for the most part the apostles themselves : matthew , and john who wrote two of the gospels , were certainly so : and mark , as all the ancients aver , was but the amanuensis to saint peter , who dictated that gospel . saint luke indeed comes not under this first rank of apostles ; yet is by som affirm'd to be one of the seventy disciples : however an apostolical person 't is certain he was , and it was no wonder for such to be inspired . for in those first ages of the church men acted more by immediat inflation of the spirit then since . and accordingly we find stephen , tho but a deacon , had the power of miracles ; and preacht as divinely as the prime apostles , act. 7. and the gift of the holy ghost was then a usual concomitant of conversion , as appears in the story of cornelius , acts 10. 45 , 46. besides , saint luke was a constant attendant on saint paul ( who derived the faith not from man , but by the immediat revelation of jesus christ , as himself professes , gal. 1. 12. ) and is by som said to have wrote by dictat from him , as mark did from saint peter . then as to the epistles they all bear the names of apostles , except that to the hebrews , which yet is upon very good grounds presum'd to be saint pauls . now these were the persons commissionated by christ to preach the christian doctrin , and were signally assisted in the discharge of that office ; so that as he tells them , it was not they who spake , but the spirit of the father that spake in them , mat. 13. 11. and if they spake by divine inspiration , there can be no question that they wrote so also . nay , indeed of the two , it seems more necessary they should do the later . for had they err'd in any thing they orally deliver'd , they might have retracted and cured the mischief : but these books being design'd as a standing immutable rule of faith and manners to all successions , any error in them would have bin irreparable , and have entail'd it self upon posterity : which agreed neither with the truth , nor goodness of god to permit . 42. now that these books were indeed writ by them whose names they bear , we have as much assurance as 't is possible to have of any thing of that nature , and that distance of time from us . for however som of them may have bin controverted ; yet the greatest part have admitted no dispute , whose doctrins agreeing exactly with the others , give testimony to them . and to the bulk of those writings , it is notorious that the first christians receiv'd them from the apostles , and so transmitted them to the ensuing ages , which receiv'd them with the like esteem and veneration . they cannot be corrupted , saies saint austin in the thirty second book against faustus the manich. c. 16. because they are and have bin in the hands of all christians . and whosoever should first attemt an alteration , he would be confuted by the inspection of other ancienter copies . besides , the scriptures are not in som one language , but translated into many : so that the faults of one book would be corrected by others more ancient , or in a different tongue . 43. and how much the body of christians were in earnest concern'd to take care in this matter , appears by very costly evidences ; multitudes of them chusing rather to part with their lives then their bibles . and indeed 't is a sufficient proof , that their reverence of that book was very avowed and manifest ; when their heathen persecuters made that one part of their persecution . so that as wherever the christian faith was receiv'd , this book was also , under the notion we now plead for , viz. as the writings of men inspir'd by god : so it was also contended for even unto death ; and to part with the bible was to renounce the faith. and now , after such a cloud of testimonies , we may sure take up that ( ill-applied ) saying of the high priest , mat. 26. 65. what farther need have we of witnesses . 44. yet besides these , another sort of witnesses there are , i mean those intrinsic evidences which arise out of the scripture it self ; but of these i think not proper here to insist , partly because the subject will be in a great degree coincident with that of the second general consideration ; and partly because these can be argumentative to none who are not qualified to discern them . let those who doubt the divine original of scripture , well digest the former grounds which are within the verge of reason ; and when by those they are brought to read it with due reverence , they will not want arguments from the scripture it self to confirm their veneration of it . 45. in the mean time , to evince how proper the former discourse is to found a rational belief that the scripture is the word of god ; i shall compare it with those mesures of credibility upon which all human transactions move , and upon which men trust their greatest concerns without diffidence or dispute . 46. that we must in many things trust the report of others , is so necessary , that without it human society cannot subsist . what a multitude of subjects are there in the world , who never saw their prince , nor were at the making of any law ? if all these should deny their obedience , because they have it only by hear-say , there is such a man , and such laws , what would become of government ? so also for property , if nothing of testimony may be admitted , how shall any man prove his right to any thing ? all pleas must be decided by the sword , and we shall fall into that state ( which som have phancied the primitive ) of universal hostility . in like manner for traffic and commerce ; how should any merchant first attemt a trade to any foreign part of the world , if he did not believe that such a place there was ? and how could he believe that , but upon the credit of those who have bin there ? nay indeed how could any man first attemt to go but to the next market town , if he did not from the report of others , conclude that such a one there was , so that if this universal diffidence should prevail , every man should be a kind of plantagnus , fixt to the soil he first sprung up in . the absurdities are indeed so infinite , and so obvious , that i need not dilate upon them . 47. but it will perhaps be said , that in things that are told us by our contemporaries , and that relate to our own time , men will be less apt to deceive us , because they know 't is in our power to examin and discover the truth . to this i might say , that in many instances it would scarce quit cost to do so ; and the inconveniences of trial would exceed those of belief . but i shall willingly admit this probable argument , and only desire it may be applied to our main question , by considering whether the primitive christians who receiv'd the scripture as divine , had not the same security of not being deceiv'd , who had as great opportunities of examining , and the greatest concern of doing it throly , since they were to engage not only their future hopes in another world , but ( that which to nature is much more sensible ) all their present enjoiments , and even life it self upon the truth of it . 48. but because it must be confest that we who are so many ages remov'd from them , have not their means of assurance , let us in the next place consider , whether an assent to those testimonies they have left behind them , be not warranted by the common practice of mankind in other cases . who is there that questions there was such a man as william the conqueror in this island ? or , to lay the scene farther , who doubts there was an alexander , a julius caesar , an augustus ? now what have we to found this confidence on besides the faith of history ? and i presume even those who exact the severest demonstrations for ecclesiastic story , would think him a very impertinent sceptic that should do the like in these . so also , as to the authors of books ; who disputes whether homer writ the iliads , or virgil the aeneids , or caesar the commentaries , that pass under their names ? yet none of these have bin attested in any degree like the scripture . 't is said indeed , that caesar ventured his own life to save his commentaries , imploying one hand to hold that above the water , when it should have assisted him in swimming . but who ever laid down their lives in attestation of that , or any human composure , as multitudes of men have don for the bible ? 49. but perhaps 't will be said , that the small concern men have , who wrote these , or other the like books , inclines them to acquiesce in the common opinion . to this i must say , that many things inconsiderable to mankind have oft bin very laboriously discust , as appears by many unedifying volumes , both of philosophers and schole-men . but whatever may be said in this instance , 't is manifest there are others , wherein mens real and greatest interests are intrusted to the testimonies of former ages . for example , a man possesses an estate which was bought by his great grand-father , or perhaps elder progenitor : he charily preserves that deed of purchase , and never looks for farther security of his title : yet alas , at the rate that men object against the bible , what numberless cavils might be rais'd against such a deed ? how shall it be known that there was such a man as either seller or purchaser ? if by the witnesses , they are as liable to doubt as the other ; it being as easy to forge the attestation as the main writing : and yet notwithstanding all these possible deceits , nothing but a positive proof of forgery can invalidate this deed . let but the scripture have the same mesure , be allowed to stand in force , to be what it pretends to be , till the contrary be ( not by surmises and possible conjectures ) but by evident proof evinc'd ; and its greatest advocats will ask no more . 50. a like instance may be given in public concerns : the immunities and rights of any nation , particularly here , of our magna charta , granted many ages since , and deposited among the public records : to make this signify any thing , it must be taken for granted , that this was without falsification preserved to our times ; yet how easy were it to suggest that in so long a succession of its keepers , som may have bin prevail'd on by the influence of princes to abridg and curtail its concessions ; others by a prevailing faction of the people to amplify and extend it ? nay , if men were as great sceptics in law , as they are in divinity , they might exact demonstrations that the whole thing were not a forgery . yet , for all these possible surmises , we still build upon it , and should think he argued very fallaciously , that should go to evacuate it , upon the force of such remote suppositions . 51. now i desire it may be consider'd whether our security concerning the holy scripture be not as great , nay , greater then it can be of this . for first , this is a concern only of a particular nation , and so can expect no foreign attestation ; and secondly , it has all along rested on the fidelity of its keepers ; which has bin either a single person , or at best som small number at a time ; whereas the scriptures have bin witness'd to by persons of all nations , and those not single , but collective bodies and societies , even as many as there have bin christian churches thro out the world . and the same that are its attestors have bin its guardians also , and by their multitudes made it a very difficult , if not an impossible thing to falsify it in any considerable degree ; it being not imaginable , as ● shew'd before from st. austin , all churches shall combine to do it : and if they did not ▪ the fraud could not pass undetected : and i● no eminent change could happen , much less could any new , any counterfeit gospel be obtruded , after innumerable copies of the first had bin translated into almost all languages , and disperst throout the world . 52. the imperial law compil'd by justinian , was soon after his death , by reason of the inroads of the goths , and other barbarous nations , utterly lost in the western world and scarce once heard of for the space of five hundred years , and then came casually to be retriv'd upon the taking of amalfis by the pisans , one single copy being found there a● the plundering of the city . and the whole credit of those pandects , which have ever since govern'd the western world , depends in a manner on that single book , formerly call'd the pisan ; and now , after that pisa was taken by the florentines , the florentine copy . but notwithstanding this ; the body of the civil law obtains ; and no man thinks it reasonable to question its being really what it pretends to be , notwithstanding its single , and so long interrupted derivation . i might draw this parallel thro many other instances , but these may suffice to shew , that if the scripture might find but so much equity , as to be tried by the common mesures of other things , it would very well pass the test . 53. but men seem in this case ( like our ●ate legislators ) to set up new extraregular courts of justice , to try those whom no ordinary rules will cast , yet their designs require should be condemn'd : and we may conclude , 't is not the force of reason , but of prejudice , that makes them so unequal to themselves as to reject the scripture , when they receive every thing else upon far weaker grounds . the bottom of it is , they are resolv'd not to obey its precepts ; and therefore think it the shortest cut to disavow its autority : for should they once own that , they would find themselves intangled in the most ●nextricable dilemma ; that of the pharisees about john baptist : if we say from heaven , he will say , why then did you not believe him ? mat. 21. 25. if they confess the scriptures divine , they must be self-condemn'd in not obeying them . and truly men that have such preingagements to their lust , that they must admit nothing that will disturb them ; do but prevaricate when they call for greater evidences and demonstrations : for those bosom sophisters will elude the most manifest convictions and like juglers , make men disbelieve even their own senses . so that any other waies o● evidence will be as disputable with them , as those already offer'd : which is the thir● thing i proposed to consider . 54. it has bin somtimes seen in popular mutinies , that when blanks have bin se● them , they could not agree what to ask : and were it imaginable that god should so far court the infidelity of men , as to allow them to make their own demands , to set down what waies of proof would perswade them i doubt not there are many have obstinac● enough , to defeat their own methods , as we● as they now do gods. 't is sure there is 〈◊〉 ordinary way of conviction left for them t● ask , god having already ( as hath also b● shew'd ) afforded that . they must therefore resort to immediat revelation , expect in stant assurances from heaven , that this boo● we call the bible is the word of god. 55. my first question then is , in wha● manner this revelation must be made to appear credible to them . the best account w● have of the several waies of revelation 〈◊〉 from the jews , to whom god was pleas● upon new emergencies signally to revel himself . these were first dreams ; secondly visions ; by both which the prophets received their inspiration . thirdly , vrim and ●hummim . fourthly , the bath-col ( as they ●erm it ) thunder and voice from heaven . let us consider them distinctly , and see whether our sceptical men may not probably find ●omwhat to dispute in every one of these . and first for dreams ; it is among us so hard to distinguish between those that arise from constitution , prepossession of phancy , diabolical , or divine infusion , that those that have the most critically consider'd them , do rather difference them by their matter , then any certain discriminating circumstances : and unless we had som infallible way of discerning , ●ur dependence on them , may more probably ●etray then direct us . 't is unquestionable that usually phancy has the greatest stroke in them . and if he that should commit himself ●o the guidance of his waking phancy , is not like to be over-wisely govern'd , what can we expect from his sleeping ? all this and more may doubtless be soberly enough objected against the validity of our common dreams . 56. but admit there were now such divine dreams as brought their evidence along with them ; yet sure 't is possible for prejudic'd men , to resist even the clearest convictions . for do we not see som that have made a shift ●o extinguish that natural light , those notions which are interwoven into the very frame and constitution of their minds , that so they may sin more at ease , and without reluctancy ? and sure 't is as possible for them to close their eies against all raies from without too , to resist revelation as well as instinct ; and more likely , by how much a transient cause is naturally less operative then a permanent . an instance of this we have in balaam , who being in these nightly visitations prohibited by god to go to balack ; and tho● he knew then , what he afterwards saies , num 23. 19. that god was not a man that he should lie , nor the son of man that he should repent ; ye● he would not take god at his first word , but upon a fresh bait to his covetousness , tries again for an answer more indulgent to his interest . besides , if god should thus revele himself to som particular persons , yet 't is beyond all president or imagination , that he should do it to every man ; and then how shall those who have these dreams , be able to convince others that they are divine ? 57. 't is easy to guess what reception ● man that produces no other autority , would have in this ludicrous age : he would certainly be thought rather to want sleep , then to have had revelations in it . and if jacob and the patriarchs , who were themselves acquainted with divine dreams , yet did not believe josephs ; any man that should now pretend i● that kind , would be sure to fall under the same irony that he did , to be entertain'd with a behold this dreamer cometh , genes . 37. 19. 58. the second way of revelation by vision was , where the man was wrapt into an extasy , his spirit for a while suspended from all sensible communication with the body , and entertain'd with supernatural light . in these the prophets saw emblematical representation of future events , receiv'd knowledg of divine mysteries , and commission and ability to discharge the whole prophetic office . now suppose god should now raise us prophets , and inspire them after this manner ; what would the merry men of this time say to it ? can we think that they who rally upon all that the former prophets have writ , would look with much reverence on what the new ones should say ? som perhaps would construe their raptures to be but like mahomets epilepsy ; others a fit of frenzy , others perhaps a being drunk with new wine , act. 2. 13. but those that did the most soberly consider it , would still need a new revelation to attest the truth of this : there being far more convincing arguments to prove the scriptures divine , then any man can allege to prove his inspiration to be so . and 't is sure a very irrational method , to attemt the clearing of a doubt , by somwhat which is it self more doubtful . 59. a third way , was by vrim and thummim , which writers tell us was an oracle resulting from the letters which were graven in the high priests pectoral , to which in all important doubts the jews of those ages resorted , and receiv'd responses ; but whether it were by the suddain prominency , or resplendency of the letters , or by any other way , is not material in this place to enquire : one thing is certain , that the ephod , and consequently the pectoral was in the priests custody , and that he had the administration of the whole affair . now i refer it to consideration , whether this one circumstance would not ( to those prejudic'd men i speak of ) utterly evacuate the credit of the oracle . they have taught themselves to look on priest-hood , whether legal or evangelical , only as a better name for imposture and cosenage : and they that can accuse the priests for having kept up a cheat for so many ages , must needs think them such omnipotent juglers , that nothing can be fence against their legerdemain : and by consequence , this way of revelation would rather foment their displesure at the ecclesiastics , then satisfy their doubts of the scripture . 69. lastly , for the fourth way , that of thunder and voice from heaven , tho that would be a signal way of conviction to unprejudiced men , yet it would probably have as little effect as the rest upon the others : men that pretend to such deep reasoning , would think it childish to be frighted out of their opinion by a clap of thunder ; som philosophical reason shall be found out , to satisfy them that 't is the effect only of som natural cause , and any the most improbable shall serve turn to supplant the fear of its being a divine testimony to that which they are so unwilling should be true . as for the voice from heaven , it must either be heard by others , and related to them ; or else immediatly by themselves : if the former , 't will lie under the same prejudice which the bible already do's : that they have it but by hear-say , and reporters would fall under the reproach either of design or frenzy ; that they meant to deceive , or were themselves deceiv'd by their own distemper'd phancy . but if themselves should be auditors of it ; 't is odds but their bottomless jealousies in divine matters would suggest a possibility of fraud , tho they knew not how to trace it : nay 't is more then possible that they will rather disbelieve their own senses , then in this instance take their testimony with all its consequences . 61. nor is this a wild supposition : for we see it possible not only for single men , but multitudes to disbelieve their senses , thro an excess of credulity ; witness the doctrin of transubstantiation . why may it not then be as possible for others to do the like thro a greater excess of incredulity ? besides , mens prepossessions and affections have a strange influence on their faith : men many times will not suffer themselves to believe the most credible things , if they cross their inclination . how often do we see irregular patients that will not believe any thing that their appetite craves , will do them hurt , tho their physicians , nay , their own even sensitive experience attest it to them ? and can we think that a diseas'd mind , gasping with an hydropic thirst after the plesures of sin , will ever assent to those premises , whose conclusion will engage to the renouncing them ? will not a luxurious voluptuous person be willing rather to give his cars the lie , to disbelieve what he hears , then permit them more deeply to disoblige his other senses , by bringing in those restraints and mortifications which the scripture would impose upon them ? 62. thus we see how little probability there is , that any of these waies of revelation would convince these incredulous men . and indeed , those that will not believe upon such inducements as may satisfy men of sober reason , will hardly submit to any other method according to that assertion of father abraham ; if they hear not moses and the prophets , neither will they be perswaded , tho one rose from the dead , luk. 16. 31. now at this rate of infidelity , what way will they leave god to manifest any thing convincingly to the world ? which is to put him under an impotency greater then adheres to humanity : for we men have power to communicate our minds to others , tell whether to we own such or such a thing , to which we are intitled ; and we can satisfy our auditors that it is indeed we that speak to them : but if every method god uses , do's rather increase then satisfy mens doubts , all intercourse between god and man is intercepted ; and he must do that of necessity , which epicurus phancied he did of choice ; viz. keep himself unconcern'd in the affairs of mortals , as having no way of communicating with them . nay what is yet , if possible , more absurd ) he must be suppos'd to have put the works of his creation out of his own reach , to have given men discoursive faculties , and left himself no way of address to them . 63. these inferences how horridly soever they sound , yet i see not how they can be disclaim'd by those , who are unsatisfied with all those waies by which god hath hitherto revel'd himself to the world . for can it be imagin'd , that god who created man a reasonable creature , that himself might be glorified in his free and rational obedience ; ( when all other creatures obey upon impulse and instinct ) can it , i say , be imagin'd , that he should so remisly pursue his own design , as to let so many ages pass since the creation , and never to acquaint manking with the particulars wherein that obedience was to be exercis'd . this sure were so disagreeable to his wisdom and goodness , that it cannot be charg'd upon his will : and consequently they who own not that he has made any such revelation , must tacitly tax him of impotence , that he could not do it . but if any man will say he has , and yet reject all this which both jews and christians receive as such , let him produce his testimonies for the others , or rather ( to retort his own mesure ) his demonstrations . and then let it appear whether his scheme of doctrin , or ours , will need the greater aid of that easy credulity he reproches us with . 64. i have now gon thro the method i proposed for evincing the divine original of the scriptures , and shall not descend to examin those more minute and particular cavils which profane men make against them ; the proof of this , virtually superseding all those . for if it be reasonable to believe it the word of god , it must be reasonable also to believe it of perfection proportionable to the author , and then certainly it must be advanc'd beyond all our objections . for to those who except to the stile , the incoherence . the contradictions or whatever else in scripture ; i shall only ask this one question , whether it be not much more possible that they ( who can pretend to be nothing above fallible men ) may misjudg , then that the infallible god should dictate any thing justly liable to those charges : i am sure they must depart as much from reason as religion , to affirm the contrary . but alas , instead of this implicit submission to gods word , men take up explicit prejudices against it ; condemn it without ever examining the truth of the allegation . 't is certain , that in a writing of such antiquity , whose original language has idioms and phrases so peculiar , whose country had customs so differing from the rest of the world ; 't is impossible to judg of it without reference to all those circumstances . add to this , that the hebrew has bin a dead language for well nigh two thousand years , nowhere in common use : nor is there any other ancient book now extant in it , besides those ; yet not all neither , of the old testament . 65. now of those many who defame holy writ , how few are there that have the industry to inquire into those particulars ? and when for want of knowledg , som passages seem improper , or perhaps contradictory ; the scripture must bear the blame of their ignorance , and be accus'd as absurd and unintelligible , because themselves are stupid and negligent . it were therefore methinks but a reasonable proposal , that no man should arraign it , till they have used all honest diligence , taken in all probable helps for the understanding it : and if this might be obtain'd . i believe most of its accusers would like those of the woman in the gospel , jo. 8. 9. drop away , as conscious of their own incompetency : the loudest out-cries that are made against it , being commonly of those who fall upon it only as a fashionable theme of discourse , and hope to acquire themselves the reputation of wits by thus charging god foolishly . but he that would candidly and uprightly endeavor to comprehend before he judges , and to that end industriously use those means which the providence of god by the labors of pious men hath afforded him , will certainly find cause to acquit the scripture of those imputations which our bold critics have cast upon it . i do not say that he shall have all the obscurities of it perfectly clear 〈◊〉 to him ; but he shall have so many of them as is for his real advantage , and shall discern such reasons why the rest remain unfathomable , as may make him not only justify , but celebrate the wisdom of the author . 66. yet this is to be expected only upon the fore-mention'd condition , viz. that he come with sincere and honest intentions ; fo● as for him that comes to the scripture with design , and wishes to find matter of cavil and accusations ; there is little doubt but tha● spirit of impiety and profaness which sen● him thither , will meet him there as a spirit of delusion and occecation . that prince of the air will cast such mists , raise such black vapors ; that as the apostle speaks , the light of the glorious gospel of christ shall not shine unto him , 2 cor. 4. 5. indeed were such a man left only to the natural efficacy of prejudice , that is of it self so blinding , so infatuating a thing , as commonly fortifies against all conviction . we see it in all the common instances of life ; mens very senses are often enslav'd by it : the prepossession of a strong phancy will make the objects of sight or hearing appear quite different from what they are . but in the present case , when this shall be added to satanical illusions , and both left to their operations by gods with-drawing his illuminating grace , the case of such a man answers that description of the scripture : they have eies and see not , ears have they and hear not , rom. 11. 8. and that god will so withdraw his grace , we have all reason to believe ; he having promis'd it only to the meek ; to those who come with malleable ductile spirits ; to learn , not to deride or cavil . saint peter tells us , that the unlearned and unstable wrest the scripture to their own destruction , 2 pet. 3. 15. and if god permit such to do so , much more will he the proud malicious . 67. i say not this , to deter any from the study of holy scripture , but only to caution them to bring a due preparation of mind along with them ; gods word being like a generous soveraign medicament ; which if simply and regularly taken , is of the greatest benefit ; but if mixt with poison , serves only to make that more fatally operative . to conclude , he that would have his doubts solv'd concerning scripture , let him follow the method our blessed lord has describ'd : let him do the will of god , and then he shall know of the doctrin , whether it be of god , jo. 7. 17. let him bring with him a probity of mind , a willingness to assent to all convictions he shall there meet with : and then he will find grounds sufficient to assure him that it is gods word and consequently to be receiv'd with all the submission and reverence , that its being so exacts . sect . iii. the subject matter treated of in the holy scripture is excellent , as is also its end and design . we have hitherto consider'd the holy scripture only under one notion , as it is the word of god ; we come now to view it in the subject matter of it : the several parts whereof it consists ; which are so various and comprehensive , as shews the whole is deriv'd from him who is all in all , 1 cor. 19 , 28. but that we may not speak only loosely , and at ●overs , we will take this excellent frame in pieces , and consider its most eminent parts distinctly . now the parts of holy writ seem to branch themselves into these severals . first , the historical ; secondly , the prophetic ; thirdly , the doctrinal ; fourthly , the preceptive ; fifthly , the minatory ; sixthly , the promissory . these are the several veins in this ●ich mine , in which he who industriously labors , will find the psalmist was not out in his estimate , when he pronounces them more to be desir'd then gold , yea , then much fine gold , psal. 19. 10. 2. to speak first of the historical part ; the things which chiefly recommend a history are the dignity of the subject , the truth of the relation , and those plesant or profitable observations which are interwoven with it . and first , for the dignity of the subject the history of the bible must be acknowledged to excel all others : those shew the rise and progress of som one people or empire this shews us the original of the whole universe ; and particularly of man , for whose use and benefit the whole creation was design'd by this mankind is brought into acquaintance with it self ; made to know the elements of its constitution , and taught to pu● a differing value upon that spirit which was breath'd into it by god , gen. 2. 7. and the fle●● whose foundation is in the dust , job 4. 19. and when this historical part of scripture contracts and draws into a narrow channel , when it records the concerns but of one nation yet it was that which god had dignified above all the rest of the world , markt it out for his own peculiar ; made it the repository of his truth , aud the visible stock from whence the messias should come , in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed , gen. 18. 18. so that in this one people of the jews , was virtually infolded the highest and most important interests of the whole world ; and it must be acknowled'gd , no story could have a nobler subject to treat of . 3. secondly , as to the truth of the relation , tho to those who own it gods word there needs no other proof ; yet it wants not human arguments to confirm it . the most undoubted symptom of sincerity in an historian is impartiality . now this is very ●minent in scripture writers : they do not record others faults , and baulk their own ; but indifferently accuse themselves as well as others . moses mentions his own diffidence and unwillingness to go on gods message , ex. 4. 13. his provocation of god at the wa●ers of meribah , num. 20. jonah records his own sullen behavior towards god , with as great aggravations as any of his enemies ●ould have don . peter in his dictating saint marks gospel , neither omits nor extenuates his sin ; all he seems to speak short in , is his ●epentance . saint paul registers himself as the greatest of sinners . 4. and as they were not indulgent to their own personal faults , so neither did any ●earness of relation , any respect of quality ●ribe them to a concelement : moses relates the ossence of his sister miriam in muti●ing . num. 12. 1. of his brother aaron in the matter of the calf , ex. 32. 4. with as little disguise as that of korah and his company . david , tho a king , hath his adultery and murder displaied in the blackest characters : and king hezekiahs little vanity of shewing his tresures , do's not escape a remark . nay , even the reputation of their nation could not biass the sacred writers ; but they freely tax their crimes : the israclites murmurings in the wilderness , their idolatries in canaan , are set down without any palliation or excuse . and they are as frequently branded for their stubborness and ingratitude , as the canaanites are for their abominations . so that certainly no history in the world do's better attest its truth by this evidence of impartiality . 5. in the last place it commends it sell both by the plesure and profit it yields . the rarity of those events it records , surprizes the mind with a delightful admiration ; and that mixture of sage discourses , and well-coucht parables wherewith it abounds , do's at once please and instruct . how ingenuously apt was nathans apologue to david , whereby with holy artifice he ensnar'd him into repentance ? and it remains still matter of instruction to us , to shew us with what unequal scales we are apt to weigh the same crime in others and our selves . so also that long train of smart calamities which succeeded his sin , is set out with such particularity , that it seems to be exactly the crime reverst . his own lust with bathsheba , was answer'd with amnons towards thamar ; his murder of vriah with that of amnon ; his trecherous contrivance of that murder , with absoloms traiterous conspiracy against him . so that every circumstance of his punishment , was the very echo and reverberation of his guilt . a multitude of the like instances might be produc'd out of holy writ ; all concurring to admonish us , that god exactly marks , and will repay our crimes ; and that commonly with such propriety , that we need no other clue to guide us to the cause of our sufferings , then the very sufferings themselves . indeed innumerable are the profitable observations arising from the historical part of scripture , that flow so easily and unconstrain'd , that nothing but a stupid inadvertence in the reader can make him baulk them : therefore 't would be impertinent here to multiply instances . 6. let us next consider the prophetic part of scripture , and we shall find it no less excellent in its kind . the prophetic books are for the most part made up ( as the prophetic office was ) of two parts ; prediction and instruction . when god rais'd up prophets , 't was not only to acquaint men with future events , but to reform their present manners : and therefore as they are called seers in one respect , so they are watch-men and shepherds in another . nay , indeed the former was often subservient to the other as to the nobler end ; their gift of fore-telling was to gain them autority , to be as it were the seal of their commission ; to convince men that they were sent from god : and so to render them the more pliant to their reproofs and admonitions . and the very matter of their prophecies was usually adapted to this end : the denouncing of judgements being the most frequent theme , and that design'd to bring men to repentance ; as appears experimentally in the case of nineveh . and in this latter part of their office , the prophets acted with the greatest incitation and vehemence . 7. with what liberty and zeal do's elijah arraign ahab of naboths murder , and foretel the fatal event of it , without any fear of his power , or reverence of his greatness ? and samuel , when he delivers saul the fatal message of his rejection , do's passionately and convincingly expostulate with him concerning his sin , 1 sam. 15. 17. now the very same spirit still breaths in all the propheties writings : the same truth of prediction , and the same zeal against vice . 8. first for the predictions , what signal completions do we find ? how exactly are all the denunciations of judgments fulfill'd , where repentance has not interven'd ? he that reads the 28. chap. of deut. and compares it with the jews calamities , both under the assyrians and babylonians , and especially under the romans , would think their opressors had consulted it , and transcrib'd heir severities thence . and even these nations , who were the instruments of accomplishing those dismal presages , had their own ●uins foretold , and as punctually executed . and as in kingdoms and nations , so to private persons none of the prophetic threatings ever return'd emty . the sentence pronounc'd against ahab , jezebel , and their ●osterity , was fulfill'd even to the most minute circumstances of place and manner ; as is evident by comparing the denunciation of ●lijah , 1 kings 21. 19. 23. with their tragical ands recorded in the following chapters . and as for jehu , whose service god was pleased ● use in that execution , tho he rewarded it with entailing the crown of israel on him or four descents ; yet he fore-told those ●●ould be the limits , and accordingly we find ●achariah , the fourth descendent of his line , was the last of it that sate on that throne , kings 15. 10. so also the destruction of ●chitophel and judas , the one immediat , he other many hundred years remote , are pre-told by david , psal. 109. and we find exactly answer'd in the event . 9. nor was this exactness confin'd only to the severe predictions , but as eminent in the more gracious . all the blessings which god by himself , or the ministry of his prophets promis'd , were still infallibly made good . at the time of life god return'd and visited sarah with conception , notwithstanding those natural improbabilities which made her not only distrust , but even deride and laugh at the promise , gen. 18. the posterity of that son of promise , the whole race of abraham was deliver'd from the egyptian bondage , and possest of canaan , at the precise time which god had long before signified to abraham , gen. 15. so likewise the return of the jews from the babylonish captivity , was fore-told many years before their deportation , and cyrus named for their restorer before he had either name or being save only in gods prescience , if. 44. 28. but i need not multiply instances of national or personal promises . the earliest , and most comprehensive promise of all was that of the messiah , in whom all persons and nations of the world were to be blest , gen. 22. 11. that see● of the woman that should bruise the serpents head , gen. 3. 15. to him give all the prophets witness , as saint peter observes , acts 10. and he who was the subject , made himself also the expounder of those prophecies in his walk to emmaus with the two disciples , lu. 24. 1● beginning at moses , and all the prophets , he expounded to them in all the scriptures , the things concerning himself . 10. this as it was infinitly the greatest blessing afforded mankind , so was it the most frequently and eminently predicted ; and that with the most exact particularity as to all the circumstances . his immaculate conception , the union of his two natures implied in his name immanuel ; behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son , and shall call his name immanuel ; is most plainly fore-told by is. chap. 7. 14. nay , the very place of his birth so punctually fore-told , that the priests and scribes could ●eadily resolve herods question upon the strength of the prophecy , and assure him christ must be born in bethlehem , mat. 2. 5. as for the whole business and design of his life , we find it so describ'd by isaiah , chap. 61. as christ himself owns it , luk. 4. 18. the spirit of the lord is upon me , because he hath appointed me to preach good tidings to the meek ; he hath sent me to bind up the broken hearted , to proclaim liberty to the captives , and recovering of sight to the blind , to set at liberty them that are bruised , to preach the acceptable year of the lord. 11. if we look farther to his death , the greatest part of the old testament has a direct aspect on it . all the levitical oeconomy of sacrifices and ablutions were but prophetic rites , and ocular predictions of that one expiatory oblation . nay , most of gods providential dispensations to the jews , carried in them types and prefigurations of this . their rescue from egypt , the sprinkling of blood to secure them from the destroying angel ; the manna with which they were fed , the rock which supplied them water : these and many more referr'd to christ , as their final and highest signification . 12. but besides these darker adumbration , we have ( as the apostle speaks ) a more sure word of prophecy . saint peter in his calculation begins with moses , takes samuel , and the whole succession of prophets after him , as bearing witness to this great event of christs passion , acts 4. 22. 24. and indeed he that reads the prophets consideringly , shall find it so punctually describ'd , that the evangelists do not much more fully instruct him in the circumstances of it . daniel tells us his death , as to the kind of it , was to be violent : the messiah shall be cut off ; and as to the design of it , 't was not for himself , dan. 9. 26. but the prophet isaiah gives us more then a bare negative account of it ; and expresly saies he was wounded for our transgressions , he was bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was on him , and by his stripes we were healed , chap. 53. 5. and again , ver . 10. thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin ; and ver 11. my righteous servant shall justify many , for he shall bear their iniquities . nor is , job an idumean , much short of even this evangelical prophet , in that short creed of his , wherein he owns him as his redeemer , i know that my redeemer liveth , &c. job . 19. 25 , 13. and as the end , so the circumstances of his sufferings are most of them under prediction : his extension upon the cross is mention'd by the psalmist : they pierced my hands , and my feet ; i may tell all my bones , psal. 22. 16. 17. as for his inward dolors , they are in that psalm so pathetically described , that christ chose that very form to breath them out in : my god , my god , why hast thou for saken one ? ver . 1. so his revilers did also transcribe part of their reproches form ver . 8. he trusted in god ; let him deliver him now if he will have him , mat. 27. 43. that vinegar which was offer'd him on the cross , was a completion of a prophecy ; in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink , ps. 69. 21. the piercing of his side was expresly fore-told by zachary ; they shall look on him whom they have pierced , zach. 10. 12. the company in which he suffer'd and the interment he had , are also intimated by isaiah : he made his grave with the wicked , and with the rich in his death , isai. 53. 9. nay , even the disposal of his garments was not without a prophecy : they parted my garments among them , and upon my vesture did they cast lots , ps. 22. 18. here are a cloud of witnesses , which as they serve eminently to attest the truth of christian religion ; so do they to evince the excellency of sacred scripture , as to the verity of the prophetic part . 14. as to the admonitory part of the prophetic writings , they are in their kind no way inferior to the other . the reproofs are autoritative and convincing . what piercing exprobrations do we find of israels ingratitude ? how often are they upbraided with the better examples of the brute creatures ? with the ox and the ass by isaiah , chap. 1. 3. with the stork and the crane , and the swallow , by jeremiah , chap. 8. 7. nay , the constancy of the heathen to their false gods is instanc'd to reproch their revol● from the true . hath a nation changed their gods which yet are no gods ! but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit . jer. 2. 11. what awful , what majestic representations do we find of gods power , to awake their dread ! fear ye not me saith the lord ? will ye not tremble at my presence ; who have placed the sand for the bounds of the sea by a perpetual decree , that it cannot pass over and tho the waves thereof toss themselves , yet can they not prevail ; tho they roar , yet can they not pass over it ? jer. 22. and again , thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity whose name is holy : i dwell in the high and holy place , if. 57. 15. so we find him describ'd as a god glorious in holiness , fearful in praises , doing wonders , ex. 15. 11. these and many other the like heights of divine eloquence we meet with in the prophetic writings : which cannot but strike us with an awful reverence of the divine power . 15. nor are they less pathetic in the gentler strains . what instance is there of the greatest tenderness and love , which god has not adopted to express his by ? he personates all the nearest and most endearing relations : that of a husband ; i will marry thee to my self , hos. 2. 19. of a father ; i am a father to israel , and ephraim is my first born : nay , he ●ies bowels with the tender sex , and makes it more possible for a mother to renounce her ●ompassions towards the son of her womb , then for him to with-draw his , isa. 49. 15. by all these endearments , these cords of a man , these bands of love , as himself stiles them , hos. 11. 4. endeavoring to draw his people to their duty , and their happiness . and when their per●erseness frustrates all this his holy artifice ; how passionately do's he expostulate with them ? how solemnly protest his aversness to their ruin ? why will ye die o house of israel ? for i have no plesure in the death of him that dieth , saith the lord god , ezek. 18. 31 , 32. with what regrets and relentings do's he think of abandoning them ? how shall i give thee up ephraim ? how shall i deliver thee israel ? how shall i make thee as admah ? how shall i set thee as zeboim ? my heart is turn'd within me , my repentings are kindled together ; hos. 11. 8. in short , 't were endless to cite the places in these prophetic books , wherein god do's thus condescend to solicit even the sensitive part of man ; and that with such moving rhetoric , that i cannot but wonder at the exception som of our late critics make against the bible , for its defect in that particular : for oratory is nothing but a dextrous application to the assections and passions of men . and certainly we find not that don with greater advantage any where then in sacred writ . 16. yet it was not the design of the prophets ( no more then of the apostle ) to take men with guile , 2 cor. 12. 16. to inveigle their affections unawares to their understandings ; but they address as well to their reasons , make solemn appeals to their judicative faculties . and now judg i pray between me and my vineyard , saics isa. 5. 3. nay , god by the prophet ezekiel solemnly pleads his own cause before them ▪ vindicates the equity of his proceedings from the aspersions they had cast on them ; and by most irrefragable arguments refutes that injurious proverb which went currant among them ; and in the close appeals to themselves , o house of israel are not my waies equal , are not your waies unequals ezek. 18. the evidences were so clear that he remits the matter to their own determination . and generally we shall find that among all the topics of disswasion from sin , there is none more closely prest , then that of the folly of it . idolatry was a sin to which israel had a great propension , and against which most of the prophets admonitions were directed . and certainly it can never be more expos'd and the sottish unreasonableness of it better displaied , then we find it in the 44. chap. of isaiah . in like manner we may read the prophet jeremy disswading from the same sin by arguments of the most irrefragable conviction , jer. 10. 17. and as the prophets omitted nothing as to the manner of their address , to render their exhortations effectual , the matter of them was likewise so considerable as to command attention ; it was commonly either the recalling them from their revolts and apostacies from god by idolatry , or else to convince them of the insignificancy of all those legal ceremonial performances they so much confided in , when taken up as a supersedeas to moral duties . upon this account it is , that they often depreciate , and in a manner prohibit the solemnest of their worships . to what purpose are the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? bring no more vain oblations : incense is an abomination to me ; the new moons and sabbaths , the calling of assemblies i cannot away with : it is iniquity even your solemn meetings , &c. is. 1. 11. 13. not that these things were in themselves reprovable ; for they were all commanded by god ; but because the jews depended so much on these external observances , that they thought by them to commute for the weightier matters of the law ( as our savior after stiles them ) judgment , mercy and faith , mat. 23. 23. lookt on these rites which discriminated them from other nations , as dispensations from the universal obligations of nature and common justice . 18. this deceit of theirs is sharply upbraided to them by the prophet jeremy ; where he calls their boasts of the temple of the lord , the temple of the lord , lying words : and on the contrary , laies the whole stress of their obedience , and expectation of their happiness on the justice and innocence of their conversation , ch . 7. 4. and after do's smartly reproch their insolence in boldly resorting to the house , which by bringing their sins along with them , they made but an asylum , and sanctuary for those crimes . will ye steal , murder and commit adultery , and swear falsely and burn incense to baal , and walk after other gods whomye know not , and come and stand before me in this house ? is this house which is called by my name , become a den of robbers in your eies ? chap. 7. 9 , 10 , 11. indeed all the prophets seem to conspire in this one design , of making them look thro shadows and ceremonies , to that inward purity , justice and honesty , which they were design'd to inculcate , not to supplant . and this design as it is in it self most excellent , most worthy the command of god , and the nature of man ; so we have seen that it has bin pursued by all the most apt , and most powerful mediums , that the thing or persons addrest to were capable of ; and so that the prophets are no less eminent for the discharge of this exhortatory part of their office , then they were in the former , of the predicting . 19. the next part of scripture we are to consider , is the doctrinal ; by which i shall not in this place understand the whole complex of faith and manners together ; but restrain it only to those revelations which are the object of our belief : and these are so sublime , as shews flesh and bloud never revel'd them . those great mysteries of our faith , the trinity , the incarnation , the hypostatical union , the redemtion of the world by making the offended party the sacrifice for the offence , are things of so high and abstruse speculation , as no finite understanding can fully fathom . i know their being so , is by som made an argument for disbelief ; but doubtless , very unjustly : for ( not to insist upon the different natures of faith and science , by which that becomes a proper object of the one which is not of the other ) our non-comprehension is rather an indication that they have a higher rise ; and renders it infinitly improbable that they could spring from mans invention . for 't were to suppose too great a disproportion between human faculties , to think men could invent what themselves could not understand . indeed these things lie so much out of the road of human imagination , that i dare appeal to the brests of the most perverse gain-saiers , whether ever they could have fallen into their thoughts without suggestion from without . and therefore 't is a malicious contradiction to reject these truths because of their dissonancy from human reason , and yet at the same time to ascribe their original to man. but certainly there can be nothing more inconsistent with mere natural reason , then to think god can be or do no more then man can comprehend . never any nation or person that own'd a deity , did ever attemt so to circumscribe him : and it is proportionable only to the licentious profaness of these later daies , thus to mesure immensity and omnipotence by our narrow scantling . 20. the more genuine and proper effect of these supernatural truths , is , to raise our admiration of that divine wisdom , whose waier are so past finding out ; and to give us a just sense of that infinit distance which is between it , and the highest of that reason wherein we so pride our selves . and the great propriety these doctrins have to that end , may well be ●eckon'd as one part of their excellency . 21. indeed there is no part of our holy faith , but is naturally productive of som peculiar vertue ; as the whole scheme together engages us to be universally holy in all manner of conversation , 1 pet. 1. 15. and it is the supereminent advantage true religion hath over all false ones , that it tends to so laudable an end . 22. the theology of the heathens was ●n many instances an extract and quintessence of vice . their most solemn rites , and sacredest mysteries were of such a nature , that instead of refining and elevating , they corrupted and debased their votaries ; immerst them in all those abominable pollutions which sober nature abhorr'd . whereas the principles of our faith serve to spiritualize and rectify us , to raise us as much above mere manhood as theirs cast them below it . 23. and as they are of this vast advantage ●o us , so also are they just to god , in giving us ●ight notions of him . what vile unworthy ●pprehensions had the heathen of their dei●ies ; intitling them not only to the passions but even to the crimes of men : making jupiter an adulterer , mercury a thief , bacchus a ●runkard , &c. proportionably of the rest ? whereas our god is represented to us as an essence , so spiritual , and incorporeal , that we must be unbodied our selves before we can perfectly conceive what he is : so far from the impotent affections and inclinations of men that he has neither parts , nor passions ; and is fain to veil himself under that disguise , to speak somtimes as if he had , merely in condescension to our grosser faculties . and again , so far from being an example , a patron of vice , this his eies are too pure to behould iniquity , hab. 1. 13. holiness is an essential part of his nature , and he must deny himself to put it off . 24. the greatest descent that ever he made to humanity , was in the incarnation of the second person : yet even in that , tho he was linked with a sinful nature , yet he preserved the person immaculate ; and while he had all the sins of the world upon him by imputation , suffer'd not any one to be inherent in him . 25. to conclude , the scripture describes our god to us by all those glorious attributes of infinity , power and justice , which may render him the proper object of our adorations and reverence : and it describes him also in those gentler attributes of goodness , mercy and truth , which may excite our love of and dependence on him . these are representations somthing worthy of god , and such as impress upon our mind great thoughts of him . 26. but never did the divine attributes so concur to exert themselves , as in the mystery of our redemtion : where his justice was satisfied without diminution to his mercy ; and his mercy without entrenching on his justice : his holiness most eminent in his indignation against sin , and yet his love no less so in sparing sinners : these contradictions being reconcil'd , this discord compos'd into harmony by his infinit wisdom . this is that stupendous mystery into which the angels desir'd to look , 1 pet 1. 12. and this is it which by the gospel is preach'd unto us ; as it follows , ver . 25. 27. and as the scripture gives us this knowledg of god , so it do's also of our selves ; in which two , all profitable knowledg is comprised . it teaches us how vile we were in our original dust ; and how much viler yet in our fall , which would have sunk us below our first principles , sent us not only to earth , but hell . it shews the impotence of our lapsed estate : that we are not able of our selves so much as to think a good thought : and it shews us also the dignity of our renovated estate , that we are heirs of god , and fellow-heirs with christ , ro. 8. 17. yet lest this might puff us up with mistaken hopes ; it plainly acquaints us with the condition on which this depends ; that it must be our obedience both active and passive , which is to intitle us to it : that we must be faithful to death , if we mean to inherit a crown of life , rev. 2. 10. and that we must suffer with christ , if we will be glorified with him . ro. 8. 17. and upon supposition that we perform our parts of the condition , it gives us the most certain assurance , engages gods veracity that he will not fail on his . by this it gives us support against all the adversities of life ; assuring us the sufferings of it are not worthy to be compared with the glory we expect . rom. 8. 18. yea , and against the terrors of death too ; by assuring us that what we look on as a dissolution , is but a temporary parting ; and we only put off our bodies , that they may put of corruption , and be clothed with immortality . 28. these and the like are the doctrins the holy scripture offers to us : and we may certainly say , they are faithful sayings , and worthy of all acceptation , 1 tim. 4. 15. the notions it gives us of god are so sublime and great , that they cannot but affect us with reverence , and admiration : and yet withall , so amiable and endearing that they cannot but raise love and gratitude , affiance and delight . 29. and , which is yet more , these milder attributes are apt to inspirit us with a generous ambition of assimilation ; excite us to transcribe all his imitable excellencies : in which the very heathens could discern consisted the accomplishment of human felicity . 30. and then the knowledg it gives us of our selves , do's us the kindest office imaginable : keeps us from those swelling thoughts we are too apt to entertain , and shews us the necessity of bottoming our hopes upon a firmer foundation : and then again keeps us from being lazy or secure , by shewing us the necessity of our own endevors . in a word , it teaches us to be humble and industrious , and whoever is so ballasted can hardly be shipwrackt . 31. these are the excellencies of the doctrinal part of scripture , which also renders them most aptly preparative for the preceptive . and indeed , so they were design'd : the credenda and the agenda being such inseparable relations , that whoever parts them , forfeits the advantage of both . the most solemn profession of christ , the most importunate invocations , lord , lord , will signify nothing to them which do not the things which he saies , mat. 7. and how excellent , how rational those precepts are which the scripture proposes to us from him , is our next point of consideration . 32. the first law which god gave to mankind was that of nature . and tho the impressions of it upon the mind be by adams fall exceedingly dimm'd and defac'd ; yet that derogates nothing from the dignity and worth of that law , which god has bin so far from cancelling , that he seems to have made it the rule and square of his subsequent laws : so that nothing is injoin'd in those , but what is consonant and agreable to that . the moral law given in the decalogue to the jews , the evangelical law given in the gospel tho christians , have this natural law for their basis and foundation . they licence nothing which that prohibits , and very rarely prohibit any thing which it licences . 33. 't is true , christ in his sermon on the mount , raises christians to a greater strictness then the jews thought themselves oblig'd to ; but that was not by contradicting either the natural , or moral law , but by rescuing the later from those corruptions which the false glosses of the scribes and pharisees had mixt with it ; and reducing it to its primitive integrity , and extent . in a word , as the decalogue was given to repair the defacings , and renew the impressions of the natural law ; so the precepts of the gospel were design'd to revive and illustrate both . and accordingly we find christ , in the matter of divorce , calls them back to this natural law ; in the beginning it was not so , mat. 19. 8. i say not but that even these natural notions are in som instances refin'd and elevated by christ ; the second adam being to repair the fall of the first with advantage : but yet he still builds upon that ground-work , introduces nothing that is inconsistent with it . 34. and this accordance between these several laws is a circumstance that highly recommends scripture precepts to us . we cannot imagin but that god who made man for no other end but to be an instrument of his glory , and a recipient of all communicable parts of his happiness , would assign him such rules and mesures as were most conducive to those ends . and therefore since the scripture injunctions are of the same mould , we must conclude them to be such as tend to the perfection of our being ; the making us what god originally intend us ; and he that would not be that , will certainly chuse much worse for himself . 35. i know there have bin prejudices taken up against the precepts of christ , as if they impos'd unreasonable , unsupportable strictnesses upon men : and som have assum'd liberty to argue mutinously against them ; nay , against god too for putting such natural appetites into men , and then forbidding them to satisfy them . 36. but the ground of this cavil is the not rightly distinguishing of natural appetites , which are to be differenc'd according to the two states of rectitude and depravation : those of the first rank are the appetites god put into man ; and those were all regular and innocent , such as tended to the preservation of his being : nature in its first integrity mesuring its desires by its needs . now christs prohibitions are not directed against these , he forbids no one kind of these desires . and tho the precept of self-denial may somtimes restrain us in som particular acts ; yet that is but proportionable to that restraint adam was under in relation to the forbidden tree , a particular instance of his obedience , and fence of his safety . so that if men would consider nature under this its first and best notion , they cannot accuse christ of being severe to it . 37. but 't is manifest they take it in another acception , and mean that corruption of nature which inordinatly inclines to sensitive things ; and on this account they call their riots , their luxuries , appetites put into them by god : whereas 't is manifest this was superinduced from another coast : the wise man gives us its true pedigree in what he saies of death , which is its twin-sister : by the envy of the devil came death into the world , wis. 2. 24. and can they expect that christ who came to destroy the works of the devil , 1 joh. 3. 8. should frame laws in their favor , make acts of toleration and indulgence for them ? this were to annul the whole design of his coming into the world ▪ which was to restore us from our lapst estate , and elevate us to those higher degrees of purity which he came not only to ●rescribe , but to exemplify to us . 38. but in this affair men often take nature ●n a yet wider and worse notion ; and under natural desires comprehend whatever upon any sort of motive they have a mind to do . the awe of a superior , the importunity of a companion , custom , and example , make men do many ill things , to which their nature would never promt them ; nay , many times such as their nature relucts to , and abhors , ●is certainly thus in all debauchery and excess . 't is evident , it gratifies no mans nature to be drunk , or to lie under undigested loads of meats : these are out-rages and violences upon nature , take it only in the most sensi●ive notion , such as the struggles to avert : and yet men make her bear , not only the oppression , but the blame too . 39. but besides 't is to be consider'd , that the nature of a man includes reason as well as sense , and to this all sorts of luxury are yet more repugnant , as that which clouds the mind , and degrades the man ( who in his constitution is a rational being ) and sets him ●n the rank of mere animals : and certainly these can be no appetites of nature , which thus subvert it . 40. the like may be said concerning revenge , particularly that absurdest sort of it , duels ; which certainly are as great contradictions to nature as can be imagin'd , the unravelling and cancelling its very first principle of self-preservation , ( which in other instances men bring in bar against duty . ) and yet men will say the generosity of their natures compels them to it ; so making their natures a kind of felo de se to prompt the destroying it self : when alas 't is only the false notion they have got of honor that so engages them . and if men would but soberly consider , they must be convinc'd that there is nothing more agreeable to reason then that precept of christ of not retaliating injuries ; which is in effect but to bid us to chuse a single inconvenience before a long train of mischiefs . and certainly if nature even in its deprav'd estate were left to determine , it would resolve it a better bargain to go off with a reprochful word , then to lose a limb , perhaps a life in the revenge of it . there being no maxim more indisputable , then that of evils the least is to be chosen . and the innate principle of self-love do's more strongly biass nature to preserve it self , then any external thing can to destroy ir . 41. know 't will be said to this , that revenge is a natural appetite : but i say still , self-preservation is more so ; and would prevail against as much of revenge as is natural , were it not heightned and fortified by phancy , and that chimera of point of honor , which , as it is now stated , is certainly one of the most emty nothings that ever was brought in balance with solid interests . and indeed 't is to belie nature , and suppose it to have forfeited all degrees of reason , as well as vertue , to fasten ●o absurd a choice upon her . but admit re●enge to be never so much the dictate of corrupt nature ; 't is certain 't is not of primitive regular nature . revenge is but a relative to ●njury : and he that will say god put the ap●etite of revenge into man , must say he put the appetite of injury into him also : which ●s such an account of the sixth daies creation , ●s is hardly consistent with gods own testimony of its being very good , gen. 1. 42. besides , 't is certain all the desires god infus'd into human nature , were such as ●ended to its preservation ; but this of revenge , is of all other the most destructive , as ●s too sadly attested by the daily tragical effects of it . in short , the wise man gives a good summary of the whole matter : god made man ●pright , but he sought out many inventions , eccl. 7. 29. 43. now if man have by his own voluntary act deprav'd himself , it would be neither just nor kind in god to warp his laws to mans now distorted frame ; but it is both , to keep up the perfect rectitude of those , and call upon man to reduce himself to a conformity with them : and when to this is added s●ch a supply of grace as may silence the plea of disability , there can nothing be imagin'd more worthy of god , or more indulgent to man. 44. and all this christ do's in the gospel in those precepts which the blind world makes the subject of their cavil or scorn . it were an easy task to evince this in every particular precept of the gospel ; but i shall content my self with the instances already given , and not swell this tract by insisting upon what has already bin the subject of so many pious and excellent discourses , as must already have convinc'd all but the obstinate . 45. we proceed therefore to a view of the promissory parts of scripture ; in which we are first in general to observe the great goodness of god , in making any promises at all to us ; and next to examin of what nature and excellence these promises are . and first if we consider how many titles god has to our obedience , we must acknowledg he may challenge it as his undoubted right : we are the work of his hands ; and if the potter have power over the clay ( the materials whereof are not of his making ) much more has god over his creatures , whose matter as well as form is wholly owing to him . we are the price of his blood . and if men account purchase an indefeisible title , god must have absolute dominion over what he has bought , and at so dear a price too as his own blood . lastly we depend upon him for the support of that being he has given us : we live merely upon his bounty , spend upon his stock . and what patron will not expect observance from one who thus subsists by him ? 46. yet as if god had none of these claims , these preingagements upon us , he descends to treat with us as free-men , by way of article and compact ; buies his own of us , and engages to reward that obedience , which he might upon the utmost penalties exact : which is such an astonishing indulgence as our highest gratitude cannot reach : and of this the sacred scriptures are the evidences and records ; and therefore upon that account deserve at once our reverence , and our joy . 47. but this will yet farther appear , if we look in the second place into the promises themselves ; which are so extensive as to take in both our present and future state : according to that of the apostle ; godliness hath the promise of this life , and of that which is to come , 1 tim. 4. 8. for the present , they are proportion'd to the several parts of our composition ; the body , and the mind , the outward and the inward man ; so stretching themselves to all we can really be concern'd for in this world . 48. and first for the body , the old testament abounds in promises of this sort . the first part of the 28. of deut. contains a full catalogue of all temporal blessings ; and those irreversibly entail'd upon the israelites obedience , ver . 1. the psalmist tells us , they that fear the lord shall lack nothing , ps. 34. 9. that they shall not be confounded in the perillous time , and in the daies of dearth they shall have enough , ps. 37. 19. and solomon , that the lord will not suffer the righteous to famish , pro. 10. 3. and tho under the gospel , the promises of temporal affluence seem not so large ; ( its design being to spiritualize us , and raise our minds to higher injoiments ; ) yet it gives us ample security of so much as is really good for us . it supersedes our care for our selves by assuring us all these things shall be added to us , mat. 6. 33. that is , all those things which our heavenly father knows we have need of , ver . 32. which is all the limitations the context gives . and certainly we have little temtation to fear want , who have him for our provider ; whose are all the beasts of the forrest , and the cattel upon a thousand hills , ps. 50. 10. 49. and when we are thus secur'd of all things necessary , it may perhaps be an equal mercy to secure us from great abundance ; which at the best , is but a lading ones self with thick clay , in the prophets phrase , hab. 2. 6. but is often a snare as well as a burden . 50 besides , the gospel by its precepts of temperance and self-denial , do's so contract our appetites , that a competence is a more adequate promise to them , then that of superfluity would have bin : and 't is also the mesure wherein all the true satisfaction of the senses consist ; which are gratifi'd with moderate plesures , but suffocated and overwhelm'd with excessive . the temperat man tasts and relishes his portion , whilst the voluptuous may rather be said to wallow in his plenty then injoy it . 51. and as the necessaries of life , so life it self , and the continuance of that , is a scripture promise . the fifth commandment affixes it to one particular duty : but it is in a multitude of places in the old testament annex'd to general obedience . thus it is , deut. 11. 9. and again , ver . 21. and solomon proposes this practical wisdom as the multiplier of daies : by me they daies shall be multipli'd , and the years of thy life shall be increas'd , pro. 9. 11. and chap. 3. length of daies is in her right hand , ver . 16. and tho we find not this promise repeted in the new testament , yet neither is it retracted : 't is true , the gospel bids us be ready to lay down our lives for christs sake , but it tells us withal , that he that will lose his life , shall save it : which tho it be universally true only in the spiritual sense , yet it often proves so in a literal . it did so eminently in the destruction of jerusalem , where the most resolute christians escap'd , while the base compliers perish'd together with those they sought to endear . this is certain , that if the new testament do not expresly promise long life , yet it do's by its rules of temperance and sobriety , contentedness and chearfulness , very much promote it : and so do's virtually and efficaciously ratify those the old testament made . 52. the next outward blessing is reputation : and this also is a scripture promise . the wise shall inherit glory , prov. 3. 38. and the vertuous woman solomon describes , is not only blessed by her children and husband , but she is praised in the gate , pro. 31. ult . nay , this blessing is extended even beyond life . the memory of the just shall be blessed , pro. 10. 7. nor do's the gospel evacuate this promise ; but rather promts us to the waies of having it made good to us , by advising us to abstain from all appearance of evil , 1 thes. 5. 22. to provide for honest things , not only in the sight of god , but also in the sight of men , 2 cor. 8. 21. 53. 't is true indeed , christ fore-warns his disciples that they shall be revil'd , and have all manner of evil spoken against them falsly , for his names sake : but then the cause transform'd the sufferings , and made it so honorable , that they were to count it matter of oy , mat. 5. 11 , 12. neither was this any paradox even in relation to their reputation ; which tho sullied by a few ill men of that age , yet has bin most illustrious among all ages since . their sufferings and indignities gave them a new title of honor , and added the martyr to the apostle . and the event has bin proportionable in all successions since : those holy men that fill'd up the pagan prisons , fill'd up the churches diptycs also , and have bin had as the psalmist speaks , in everlasting remembrance , ps. 112. 6. 54. and as scripture-promises thus take in all the concerns of the outward man , so do they also of the inward . the fundamental promise of this kind , is that of sending christ into the world , and in him establishing the ●ew covenant , which we find , jer. 31. 31. and is referr'd to by the author to the hebrews , i will put my laws in their hearts , and write them in their minds ; and their sins and ●niquities will i remember no more , heb. 10. 16. 55. and this is so comprehensive a promise as includes all the concerns of the inward man. the evils incident to the mind of man may be reduc'd to two ; impurity , and inquietude : and here is a cure to both . the divine law written in the heart , drives hence all those swarms of noysom lust , which ●●ke the egyptian frogs over-run and putrify ●he soul. where that is seated and enshrin'd , ●hose can no more stand before it , the dagon before the ark. this repairs the divine image in us ( in which consists the perfection of our nature ) renews us in the spirits of our minds , eph. 4. 22. and purges our consciences from dead works , heb. 6. 4. which all the cathartics and lustrations among the heathen , all the sacrifices and ceremonies of the law were not able to do . 56. secondly , this promise secures the mind from that restlesness and unquietness , which attends both the dominion and guilt of sin . to be subject to a mans lusts and corrupt appetites is of all others the vilest vassallage : they are the cruellest task-masters , and allow their slaves no rest , no intermission of their drudgery , and then again , the guilt that tortures and racks the mind with dreadful expectations , keeps it in perpetual agitation and tumult ; which is excellently describ'd by the prophet isaiah , the wicked is like the troubled sea , when it cannot rest ; whose waters cast out mire and dirt : there is no peace saith my god to the wicked , is. 48. 22. how prosperous soever vice may seem to be in the world , yet there are such secret pangs and horrors that dog it , that as solomon saies , eve● in laughter the heart is sorrowful , prov. 14. 13. 57. but this evangelical promise of being merciful to our iniquities , and remembring our sins no more , calms this tempest , introduces peace and serenity into the mind , and reconciles us at once to god and our selves . and sure we may well say with the apostle , these are great and precious promises , ● . pet. 1. 4. 58. there are besides many other which spring from these principal , as suckers from the root : such are the promises of fresh supplies of grace upon a good imploiment of the former . to him that hath shall be given , mat. 25. 29. nay , even of the source and fountain of all grace . he shall give the holy spirit to them that ask him , mat. 7. 11. such is that of supporting us in all difficulties and as●aults : the not suffering us to be temted above that we are able , 1 cor. 10. 13. which like gods bow set in the clouds , gen. 9. is our security , that we shall not be over-whelm'd by any ●eluge of temtation : and ( to instance no more ) such is that comprehensive promise of hearing our praiers , ask and it shall be given you , mat. 7. 7. this puts all good things within our reach , gives us the key of gods store-house , from whence we may furnish our selves with all that is really good for ●s . and if a few full barns could temt the ●ich man in the gospel , to pronounce a re●uiem to his soul ; what notes of acquiescence may they sing , who have the command of an ●●exhaustible store ; that are suppli'd by him whose is the earth , and the fulness thereof ? 59. and certainly , all these promises together must be ( to use the apostles phrase ) strong consolation ; such as may quiet and calm all the fears and griefs , all the tumults and perturbations of the mind , in relation to its present state . but then there are others relating to the future of a much higher elevation : those glories and felicities of another world , which are so far beyond our narrow conception , that the comprehension and injoiment must begin together . the scripture shadows it out to us by all the notions we have of happiness : by glory , rom. 8. 18. by a kingdom , mat. 25. 14. by joy , mat. 25. 21. and which comprehends all , by being with the lord , 1 thes. 4. 17. seeing him face to face , 1 cor. 13. 12. being like to him , 1 jo. 3. 2. in a word 't is bliss in the utmost extent : immense for quantity , and eternal for duration . 60. and surely this promise is so excellent for kind , so liberal in its degree , so transcendently great in all respects , that did it stand single , stript of all those that relate to this life , it alone would justify the name of gospel , and be the best tidings that ever came to mankind . for alas , if we compare the hopes that other religions propose to their votaries with these , how base , how ignoble are they ! the heathens elysium , the mahumetan paradise , were but higher gratifications of the sensual part , and consequently were depressions and debasements of the rational . so that in effect they provided a heaven for the beast , and a hell for the man. we may therfore confidently resume our conclusion , and pronounce the scripture promises to be so divine and excellent , that they could as little have bin made , as they can be perform'd by any but an holy and almighty author . 61. nor is their being conditional any impeachment to their worth , but an enhansement . should god have made them ( as som phancy he has his decrees ) absolute and irrespective ; he had set his promises at war with his precepts , and these should have superseded what those injoin . we are all very niggardly towards god , and should have bin apt to have ask'd judas's question ; to what purpose is this wast ? mat. 26. 8. what needs the labor of the course if the prize be certain ? and it must have bin infinitly below the wisdom and majesty of the supreme legislator , to make laws , and then evacuate them by dispencing rewards without any aspect on their observance . 't is the sanction which inspirits the law , without which the divine , as well as the human , would to most men be a dead letter . 62. but against this god has abuntdantly provided , not only by the conditionality of the promises , but the terror of his threats too ; which is the last part of scripture which falls under consideration . and these are of the most direful kinds ; and cannot better be illustrated then by the opposition they stand in to the promises : for as those included all things that might make men happy either as to this life or the next ; so these do all that may make them miserable . if we make our reflection on all the particulars of the promises , we shall find the threats answering them as their reverse or dark shadow . 63. and first as concerning the outward state , if we look but into the 28 of deut. we shall find , that after all the gracious promises which begun the chapter , it finally ends in thunder , in the most dreadful denunciations imaginable , and those adapted by a most peculiar opposition to the former promises : as the reader may see at large in that chapter . and the whole tenor of the scripture go's in the like stile . thus , psal. 140. 11. a wicked person shall not prosper in the earth , evill shall hunt the wicked man to overthrow him . the lord will not suffer the righteous to famish , but he casteth out the substance of the wicked ; pro. 10. 3. and again , the righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul , but the belly of the wicked shall want , pro. 13. 25. multitudes of like general threatnings of temporal improsperity there are every where scatter'd thro out the scripture ; and many more appli'd to particular vices , as sloth , unmercifulness , luxury , and the like ; which would be here too long to enumerate . 64. and altho these threatnings may seem somtimes to be literally confuted by the wealth and opulency of wicked men , yet they never miss of being really and vertually verified . for either their prosperities are very short , and only preparative to a more eminent ruin , which was the psalmists resolution of this doubt , psal. 72. or else if god leave them the matter of temporal happiness , yet he substracts the vertue and spirit of them , renders them emty and unsatisfying . this is well exprest by the psalmist in the case of the israelites : he gave them their desire , and sent leaness withall into their soul , psa. 106. 15. and by zophar , job . 20. 22. where speaking of the wicked , he saith ; in the fulness of his sufficiency shall he be in straits . and to this solomon seems to refer , when he saith , the blessing of the lord maketh rich , and he addeth no sorrow with it , pro. 10. 22. 65. neither is it only the comforts of life , but life it self that is threatned to be taken from wicked men : untimely death is throout the old testament frequently mention'd as the guerdon of impiety : 't is often assign'd judicially in particular cases : he shall be cut off from his people , being the usual sentence upon most offenders under the levitical law. but 't is also menaced more generally as an immediat judgment from god : the blood-thirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their daies , psal , 55. 23. farther yet , their names shall putrify as soon as their carkasses : the name of the wicked shall rot ; pro. 10. 7. nay both their infamy and their ruin are intail'd upon their posterity . the seed of evil doers shall never be renown'd . prepare slaughter for his children , for the iniquity of their fathers ; isa. 14. 20. 21. 66. if now we look on scripture threatnings in relation to the mind of man , we shall find them yet more severe : wilful impenitent sinners being cut off from the benefits of the new covenant , nor barely so , but look'd upon as despisers of it , and that blood of christ in which it was seal'd ; heb. 10. 29. nay as those murtherous wretches that shed it : they crucify to themselves the son of god afresh ; heb. 6. 6. and this is the fataliest sentence that can fall on any man in this life ; to be thus disfranchised of all the privileges of the gospel , and ranckt as well in punishment as guilt , with the most criminous of mankind . 67. from hence 't is consequent , that the mind remains not only in its native impurity , but in a greater and more incurable one ; whilst that bloud which alone could cleanse it , serves but to embrue and pollute it ; and as it were flush , and excite it to all immanities and vilenesses : and he that is thus filthy , 't is the doom pronounc'd against him , that he shall be filthy still , rev. 22. 11. 68. and then in the second place , what calm can there be to such a mind ? what remains to such a person , but that fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation , which the apostle mentions , heb. 10. 27. indeed , were there none but temporal mischiefs to fear , yet it were very unplesant to think ones self , like cain , out-law'd from the presence and protection of god ; to be afraid that every man that meets us should slay us , gen. 4. 14. nay , those confus'd indistinct fears of indefinite evils which attend guilt , are very unquiet uneasy inmates in the mind . this is excellently describ'd by moses ; the lord shall give thee a trembling heart , and failing of eies , and sorrow of mind , and thy life , shall ●ang in doubt before thee , and thou shalt fear day and night ; in the morning thou shalt say , would god it were evening , and in the evening , would god it were morning , deut , 28. 65 , 66 , 67. 69. and what can be more wretched then to have a mind thus agitated and tost , rackt and tortur'd ; especially when thro all these clouds it sees a glimpse of the eternal to●het ; and knows , that from the billows of this uneasy state , it must be tost into that lake of fire . and this is indeed the dregs of the cup of gods wrath , the dreadfullest and most astonishing of all scripture denunciations . this comprehends all that the nature of man is capable of suffering . divines distinguish it into the pain of sense , and of loss : that of sense is represented to us in scripture by fire ; and that accended , and render'd noisom as well as painful by brimstone , that afflicts the smell as well as the touch : somtimes by outer darkness , wailing and gnashing of teeth , to grate the ears , and consume the eies ; by intolerable thirst , to torment the palate . not that we are to think the sensitive pains of hell do not infinitly exceed all these ; but because these are the highest mesures our present capacities can make , and are adequate to those senses for whose carnal satisfactions we incur them . 70. the pain of loss is yet more dismal ; as being seated in the soul , whose spiritual nature will then serve it only to render its torments more refin'd , and acute . with what anguish will it then see it self banish'd from the presence of god , and consequently from all that may give satisfaction and bliss to the creature ? but yet with how much deeper anguish will it reflect on it self as the author of that deprivation ? how will it recollect the many despis'd tenders of grace , the easy terms on which salvation might have bin had ? and how sadly will conscience then revenge all it s stifled admonitions by an unsilenceable clamor , that worm which never dies , mar. 9. 48. how wounding will it then be to see abraham , isaac and jacob , and all the saints in the kingdom of god , luk. 13. 28. ( nay , that poor lazarus , whom here men turn'd over to the charity of their dogs ) and it self in the company of the devil and his angels , who will then upbraid what they once inticed to ? 71. nature abhors nothing more then to have our misery insulted over by those who drew us into it : yet that no circumstance may be lacking to their torment , this must be the perpetual entertainment of damn'd souls . and to all this eternity is the dismal adjunct ; which is of all other circumstances the most disconsolate , as leaving not so much as a glimpse of hopes ; which here uses still to be the reserve , and last resort of the miserable . 72. this eternity is that which gives an edg , infuses a new acrimony into the torments : and is the highest strain , the vertical point of misery . these are those terrors of the lord , with which the scripture acquaints us : and sure we cannot say that these are flat contemtible menaces ; but such as suit the dreadful majesty of that god who is a consuming fire , heb. 12. 29. so that these are as aptly accommodated for the exciting our dread , as the promises were of our love : both jointly concur to awake our industry . 73. for god has bin so good to mankind , as to make the threats conditional as well as the promises : so that we as well know the way to avoid the one , as we do to attain the other . nor has he any other intendment or end in proposing them , but that we may do so . see to this purpose , with what solemnity he protests it by moses ; i call heaven and earth to record against you this day that i have set before you life and death , blessing and cursing ; therefore chuse life , that both thou and thy seed may live , deut. 30. 19. 74. i have now run thro the several parts of scripture i proposed to speak of . and tho i have in each given rather short instances and essaies then an exact description , yet even in these contracted lineaments the exquisit proportions may be discern'd . and if the reader shall hence be incourag'd to extend his contemplations , and as he reads holy scripture , observe it in all its graces , and full dimensions ; i doubt not he will pronounce from his experience , that the matter of the divine book is very correspondent to the author : which is the highest eulogy imaginable . 75. in the next place we are to consider the holy scripture in relation to its end and design ; in proportion to which every thing is more or less valuable . the most exquisit frame , and curious contrivance , that has no determinat end or use , is but a piece of industrious folly , a spiders web , as the prophet speaks , isa. 59. 5. now those designs have alwaies been esteem'd the most excellent that have had te most worthy subjects , and bin of the greatest extent . accordingly , those who have projected the obliging and benefiting of other men ( tho but within a privat sphere ) have alwaies bin lookt on as men of generous and noble designs . those who have taken their level higher , and directed their aim to a more public good , tho but of a city or nation , have proportionably acquir'd a greater esteem . but those who have aspir'd to be universal benefactors , to do somthing for the common benefit of the world , their fame has commonly teach'd as far as their influence ; men have reverenc'd , nay somtimes ( according to the common excesses of mans nature ) ador'd them . many of the heathen deities ( especially their demi-gods ) having bin only those persons , who by introducing som useful art , or other part of knowledg , had oblig'd mankind . so we see what a natural gratitude men are apt to pay to worthy and generous designs . and if we will be content but to stand to this common award of our nature , the scripture will have the fairest claim imaginable to our reverence and thankfulness , upon this very account of the excellency of its designs . 76. nor need we borrow the balance of the sanctuary to weigh them in ; we may do it in our own scales ; for they exactly answer the two properties above mention'd , of profit and diffusiveness which in secular concerns are the standard rules of good designs . for first , it is the sole scope and aim of scripture , the very end for which 't was writ , to benefit and advantage men ; and that secondly , not only som small select number , som little angle or corner of the world , but the whole race of mankind , the entire universe ; and he that can imagin a more diffusive design , must imagin more worlds also . 77. now for the first of these , that it is the design of the scripture to benefit men , we need appeal but to scripture it self ; which surely can give the best account to what ends 't is directed ; and that tells us , it is to make us wise unto salvation , 2 tim. 3. 15. in which is comprehended the greatest benefit that mans nature is capable of : the making us wise while we live here , and the saving us eternally . and this sure is the most generous , the most obliging design , that 't is possible even for the creator to have upon the creature : and this is it which the holy scripture negotiates with us . 78. and first , the making us wise , is so inviting a proposal to humanity , that we see when that was much wiser then now it is , it caught at a fallacious tender of it ; the very sound of it , tho out of the devils mouth , fascinated our first parents , and hurried them to the highest disobedience , and certainest ruin . and therefore now god by the holy scriptures makes us an offer as much more safe , as it is more sincere ; when he sends his word thus to be a lamp to our feet , and a light to our paths , ps. 119. 105. to teach us all that is good for us to know , our affectation of ignorance will be more culpable then theirs of knowledg , if we do not admire the kindness , & embrace the bounty of such a tender . 79. now the making us wise must be understood according to the scripture notion of wisdom , which is not the wisdom of this world , nor of the princes of this world , which come to ●ought , as the apostle speaks , 1 cor. 2. 5. but that wisdom which descends from above , ja. 3. 17. which he there describes to be first pure , then peaceable , gentle and easy to be intreated , full of mercy and good fruits , without partiality , and without hypocrisy . indeed the scripture usually comprehends these and all other graces under wisdom ; for it makes it synonymous to that which includes them all , viz. the fear of the lord. thus we find throout the whole book of proverbs these us'd as terms convertible . in short , wisdom is that practical knowledg of god and our selves which engages us to obedience and duty ; and this is agreeable to that definition the wise man gives of it ; the wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way , pro. 14. 8. without this , all the most refin'd and aerial speculations , are but like thales's star-gazing ; which secur'd him not from falling in the water ; nay , betrai'd him to it . in this is all solid wisdom compris'd . 80. the utmost all the wise men in the world have pretended to , is but to know what true happiness is , and what is the means of attaining it ; and what they sought with so much study , and so little success , the scripture presents us with in the greatest certainty , and plainest characters , such as he that runs may read , hab. 2. 2. it acquaints us with that supreme felicity , that chief good whereof philosophy could only give us a name ; and it shews us the means , marks us out a path which will infallibly lead us to it . accordingly we find that solomon after all the accurate search he had made to find what was that good for the sons of men ; he shuts up his inquest in this plain conclusion : fear god and keep his commandments ; for god shall bring every work unto judgment , eccles. 12. 13 , 14 the regulating our lives so by the rules of piety , as may acquit us at our final account , is the most eligible thing that falls within human cognizance ; and that not only in relation to the superlative happiness of the next world , but even to the quiet and tranquillity of this . for alas , we are impotent giddy crea●ures , swai'd sometimes by one passion , som●imes by another ; nay often the interfearing of our appetites makes us irresolute which we are to gratify , whilst in the interim their ●trugling agitates and turmoils the mind . and what can be more desirable in such a ●ase , then to put our selves under a wiser conduct then our own ; and as opprest states ●se to defeat all lesser pretenders by becoming homagers to som more potent : so for us to deliver our selves from the tyranny of our ●usts , by giving up our obedience to him whose service is perfect freedom . 81. were there no other advantage of the exchange , but the bringing us under fixt and determinat laws , 't were very consideraable . every man would gladly know the terms of his subjection , and have som standing ●ule to guide himself by ; and gods laws are ●o ; we may certainly know what he requires of us : but the mandats of our passions are ●rbitrary and extemporary : what pleases them to day disgusts them to morrow ; and we must alwaies be in readiness to do we know not what , and of all the arbitrary governments that men either feel or fear , ●his is doubtless the most miserable . i wish our apprehensions of it were but as sensible : and then we should think the holy scripture did us the office of a patriot , in offering us a rescue from so vile a slavery . 82. and that it do's make us this offer , is manifest by the whole tenor of the bible . for first it rowzes and awakes us to a sense of our condition , shews us that what we call liberty , is indeed the saddest servitude ; that he that committeth sin is the servant of sin , jo. 8. 34. that those vices which pretend to serve and gratify us , do really subdue and enslave us , and fetter when they seem to embrace : and whereas the will in all other oppressions retains its liberty , this tyranny brings that also into vassallage : renders our spirits so mean and servile , that we chuse bondage ; are apt to say with the israelites , let us alone that we may serve the egyptians , ex. 14. 12. 83. and what greater kindness can be don for people in this forlorn abject condition , then to animate them to cast off this yoke , and recover their freedom . and to this are most of the scripture exhortations addrest ; as may be seen in a multitude of places , particularly in the sixth chapter to the romans , the whole scope whereof is directly to this purpose . 84. nor do's it only sound the alarm , put us upon the contest with our enemies , but it assists us in it , furnishes us with that whole armor of god which we find describ'd , eph. 6. 13. nay further it excites our courage , by assuring us that if we will not basely surrender our selves , we can never be overpower'd if we do but stand our ground ; resist our enemy , he will fly from us ; ja. 4. 7. and to that purpose it directs us under what banner we are to list our selves ; even his who hath spoil'd principalities and powers , col. 2. 15. to whose conduct and discipline if we constantly adhere , we cannot miss of victory . 85. and then lastly it sets before us the prize of this conquest ; that we shall not only recover our liberty , manumit our selves from the vilest bondage to the vilest and cruellest oppressors ; but we shall be crown'd for it too , be rewarded for being kind to our selves , and be made happy eternally hereafter for being willing to be happy here . 89. and sure these are terms so apparently advantageous , that he must be infinitly stupid ( foolish to destruction ) that will not be thus made wise unto salvation , that despifes or cavils at this divine book , which means him so much good , which designs to make him live here generously and according to the dignity of his nature , and in the next world to have that nature sublimated , and exalted , made more capacious of those refin'd and immense felicities , which there await all who will qualify themselves for them ; who ( as the apostle speaks ) by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory , and honor , and immortality , eternal life , rom. 2. 7. 87. but besides the greatest and principal advantages which concern our spiritual interest , it takes in also the care of our secular , directs us to such a managery of our selves , as is naturally apt to promote a quiet and happy life . it s injunction to live peaceable with all men , keeps us out of the way of many misadventures , which turbulent unruly spirits meet with , and so secures our peace . so also as to wealth , it puts us into the fairest road to riches by prescribing diligence in our callings : what is thus got being like sound flesh , which will stick by us ; whereas the hasty growth of ill-gotten wealth is but a tumor and impostume , which the bigger it swells , the sooner it bursts and leaves us lanker then before . in like manner it shews us also how to guard our reputation , by providing honest things not only in the sight of god , but also in the sight of men , cor. 8. 28. by abstaining even from all appearance of evil , 1 thes. 5. 22. and making our light shine before men , mat. 5. 16. it provides too for our ease and tranquillity , supersedes our anxious cares and sollicitud's , by directing us to cast our burden upon the lord , psal. 55. 22. and by a reliance on his providence how to secure to our selves all we really want . finally it fixes us in all the changes , supports us under all the pressures , comforts us amidst all the calamities of this life , by assuring us they shall all work together for good to those that love god ; ro. 8. 28. 88. nor do's the scripture design to promote our interests consider'd only singly and personally , but also in relation to societies and communities ; it gives us the best rules of distributive and commutative justice ; teaches us to render to all their dues , ro. 13. 7. to keep our words , to observe inviolably all our pacts and contracts ; nay tho they prove to our damage . psa. 15. 4. and to preserve exact fidelity and truth ; which are the sinews of human commerce . it infuses into us noble and generous principles , to prefer a common good before our private : and that highest flight of ethnic vertue , that of dying for ones country , is no more then the scripture prescribes even for our common brethren , 1 to. 3. 16. 89. but besides these generals , it descends to more minute directions accommodated to our several circumstances ; it gives us appropriate rules in reference to our distinct relations , whether natural , civil , ecclesiastical , or oeconomical . and if men would but universally conform to them , to what a blessed harmony would it tune the world ? what order and peace would it introduce ? there would then be no oppressive governors , nor mutinous subjects ; no unnatural parents , nor contumacious children : no idle shepherds , or straying flocks : none of those domestic jars which oft disquiet , and somtimes subvert families : all would be calm and serene ; and give us in reality that golden age , whereof the poets did but dream . 90. this tendency of the scripture is remarkably acknowledg'd in all our public judicatories , where before any testimony is admitted , we cause the person that is to give his testimony , first to lay hold of with his hands , then with his mouth to kiss the holy scriptures : as if it were impossible for those hands , which held the mysteries of truth , to be immediatly emploi'd in working falsehood ; or that those lips which had ador'd those holy oracles , should be polluted with perjuries and lies . and i fear , the civil government is exceedingly shaken at this day in its firmest foundation , by the little regard is generally had of the holy scriptures , and what is consequent thereto , the oaths that are taken upon them . 91. 't is true , we are far remov'd from that state which esaiah prophecied of under the gospel , tho we have the bible among us ; that when the law should go forth of sion , and the word of the lord from jerusalem , they should heat their swords into plow-shares , and their spears into pruning hooks , es. 2. 4. but that is not from any defect in it , but from our own perversness : we have it , but ( as the apostle speaks in another sense ) as if we had it not , 1 cor. 7. 29. we have it ( that is , use it ) to purposes widely different from what it means . som have it as a supersedeas to all the duty it injoins ; and so they can but cap texts , talk glibly of scripture , are not at all concern'd to practice it : som have it as their arsenal , to furnish them with weapons , not against their spiritual enemies , but their secular : applying all the damnatory sentences they there find , to all those to whose persons or opinions they have prejudice . and som have it as a scene of their mirth , a topic of raillery , dress their profane and scurrilous jests in its language ; and study it for no other end but to abuse it . and whilst we treat it at this vile rate , no wonder we are never the better for it . for alas , what will it avail us to have the most soveraign balsom in our possession , if instead of applying it to our wounds , we trample it under our feet ? 92 but tho we may frustrate the use , we cannot alter the nature of things . gods design in giving us the scripture was to make us as happy as our nature is capable of being ; and the scripture is excellently adapted to this end : for as to our eternal felicity , all that believe there is any such state , must acknowledg the scripture chalks us out the ready way to it : not only because 't is dictated by god who infallibly knows it , but also by its prescribing those things which are in themselves best ; and which a sober heathen would adjudg fittest to be rewarded . and as to our temporal happiness , i dare appeal to any unprejudic'd man , whether any thing can contribute more to the peace and real happiness of mankind , then the universal practice of the scripture rules would do . would god we would all conspire to make the experiment ; and then doubtless , not only our reason , but our sense too would be convinc'd of it . 93. and as the design is thus beneficial , so in the second place is it as extensive also . time was when the jews had the inclosure of divine revelation ; when the oracles of god were their peculiar depositum , and the heathen had not the knowledg of his laws , ps. 147. ult . but since that by the goodness of god the gentiles are become fellow-heirs , eph. 3. 6. he hath also deliver'd into their hands the deeds and evidences of their future state , given them the holy scriptures as the exact and authentic registres of the covenant between god and man , and these not to be like the heathen oracles appropriated to som one or two particular places , so that they cannot be consulted but at the expence of a pilgrimage ; but laid open to the view of all that will believe themselves concern'd . 94. it was a large commission our savior gave his disciples ; go preach the gospel to every creature , mar. 16. 15. ( which in the narrowest acception must be the gentile world ) and yet their oral gospel did not reach farther then the writen : for wherever the christian faith was planted , the holy scriptures were left as the records of it ; nay , as the conservers of it too ; the standing rule by which all corruptions were to be detected . 't is true , the entire canon of the new testament , as we now have it , was not all at once deliver'd to the church ; the gospels and epistles being successively writ , as the needs of christians , and the encroachments of heretics gave occasion : but at last they became all together the common magazine of the church , to furnish arms both defensive and offensive . for as the gospel puts in our hands the shield of faith , so the epistles help us to hold it , that it may not be wrested out of our hands again , either by the force of persecution , or the sly insinuations of vice or heresy . 95. thus the apostles like prudent leaders , have beat up the ambushes , discover'd the snares that were laid for us ; and by discomfiting satans forlorn hope , that earliest set of false teachers and corrupt practices which then invaded the church , have laid a foundation of victory to the succeeding ages , if they will but keep close to their conduct , adhere to those sacred writings they have left behind them in every church for that purpose . 96. now what was there deposited , was design'd for the benefit of every particular member of that church . the bible was not committed ( like the regalia , or rarities of a nation ) to be kept under lock and key ( and consequently to constitute a profitable office for the keepers ) but expos'd like the brazen serpent for universal view and benefit : that sacred book ( like the common air ) being every mans propriety , yet no mans inclosure : yet there are a generation of men whose eies have bin evil , because gods have bin good : who have seal'd up this spring , monopoliz'd the word of life , and will allow none to partake of it but such persons , and in such proportions as they please to retail it : an attemt very insolent in respect of god , whose purpose they contradict ; and very injurious in respect of man , whose advantage they obstruct . the iniquity of it will be very apparent , if we consider what is offer'd in the following section . sect . iv. the custody of the holy scripture is a privilege and right of the christian church , and every member of it ; which cannot without impiety to god , and injustice unto it and them , be taken away or empeacht . besides the keeping of the divine law , which is obsequious , and imports a due regard to all its precepts , commonly exprest in scripture by keeping the commandments , hearkning to , and obeying the voice of the lord , walking in his waies , and observing and doing his statutes and his judgments : there is a possessory keeping it , in reference to our selves and others ; in respect whereof , almighty god , deut. 6. and elsewhere frequently , having enjoin'd the people of israel , to love the lord their god with all their heart , and with all their soul , and with all their might , and that the words which he commanded them should be in their heart , he adds , that they shall teach them diligently to their children , and shall talk of them when they sit down in their houses , and when they walk by the way , and when they lie down , and when they rise up : and that they bind them for a sign upon their hand , and that they shall be as froutlets between their eies , and that they shall write them upon the posts of their house , and on their gates . so justly was the law call'd the scripture , being writen by them , and worn upon the several parts of the body , inscrib'd upon the walls of their houses , the entrance of their dores and gates of their cities ; and in a word , placed before their eies wherever they convers'd . 2. and this was granted to the jews , as matter of privilege and favor . to them , saies saint paul , rom. 9. 4. pertaineth the adoption , and the glory , aud the covenants , and the giving of the law. and the same saint paul , at the 3. chap. 2. v. of that epistle , unto the question , what advantage hath the jew , or what prosit is there of circumcision , answers , that it is much every way , chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of god. this depositum or trust was granted to the fathers , that it should be continued down unto their children . he made a covenant , saies david , ps. 78. v. 5. with jacob , and gave israel a law , which he commanded our fore-fathers to teach their children , that their posterity might know it , and the children which were yet unborn : to the intent that when they came up , they might shew their children the same . which scripture by a perpetual succession was to be handed down unto the christian church , the apostles on all occasions appealing unto them , as being read in the synagogues every sabbath day , act. 13. 27. and also privatly , in their hands ; so that they might at plesure search into them , jo. 5. 39. act. 17. 11. hereupon the jews are by saint austin call'd the capsarii , or servants that carried the christians books . and athanasius in this tract of the incarnation , saies , the law was not for the jews only , nor were the prophets sent for them alone ; but that nation was the divinity-schole of the whole world ; from whence they were to fetch the knowledg of god , and the way of spiritual living : which amounts to what the apostle saies , galat. 3. 24. that the law was a schole-master to bring us unto christ. 3. and 't is observable that the very same word , rom. 3. 2. in the text even now recited , which expresses the committing of the oracles of god to the jews , is made use of constantly by saint paul , when he declares the trust and duty incumbent on him in the preaching of the gospel : of which , see 1 cor. 9. 17. gal. 2. 7. 1 thes. 2. 4. 1 tim. 1. 11. tit. 1. 3. and therefore , as he saies , 1 cor. 9. tho i preach the gospel i have nothing to glory of ; for necessity is laid upon me , yea , wo is unto me if i preach not the gospel , for if i do this thing willingly , i have a reward ; but if against my will , a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me : so may all christians say ; if we our selves keep and transmit to our posterities the holy scriptures , we have nothing to glory of , for a necessity is laid upon us , and wo be unto us if we do not our selves keep , and transmit to our posterity the holy scriptures . if we do this thing willingly , we have a reward , but if against our will , the custody of the gospel , and at least that dispensation of it , is committed to us . but if we are traditors , and give up our bibles , or take them away from others ; let us consider how black an apostacy and sacrilege we shall incur . 4. the mosaic law was a temporary constitution , and only a shadow of good things to come , heb. 10. 1. but the gospel being in its duration as well as its intendment , everlasting , rev. 14. 6. and to remain when time shall be no more , rev. 10. 6. it is an infinitly more precious depositum , and so with greater care and solemner attestation to be preserv'd . not only the clergy , or the people of one particular church , nor the clergy of the universal are intrusted with this care ; but 't is the charge , the privilege and duty of every christian man , that either is , or was , or shall be in the world ; even that collective church which above all competition , is the pillar and ground of truth , 1 tim. 3. 15. against which the assaults of men and devils , and even the gates of hell shall not prevail , mat. 16. 18. 5. the gospels were not written by their holy pen-men to instruct the apostles , but to the christian church , that they might believe jesus was the christ , the son of god , and that believing they might have life thro his name , jo. 20. 31. the epistles were not addrest peculiarly to the bishops and deacons , but all the holy brethren , to the churches of god that are sanctified in jesus christ , and to all those that call upon the name of the lord jesus christ , rom. 1 , 7. 1 cor. 1. 2. 2 cor. 1. 1. galat. 1. 2. eph. 1. 1. col. 4. 16. 1 thes. 5. 27. phil. 1. 1. jam. 1. 1. 1 pet. 1. 1. 2 pet. 1. 1. revel . 1. 4. or if by chance som one or two of the epistles were addrest to an ecclesiastic person , as those to timothy and titus , their purport plainly refers to the community of christians , and the depositum committed to their trust ; tim. 6. 20. and saint john on the other side directs his epistles to those who were plainly secular ; to fathers , young men and little children ; and a lady and her children , epist. 1. chap. 2. 12. 13 , 14. and epist. 2. 1. 1. 6. but besides the interest which every christian has in the custody of the scripture upon the account of its being a depositum intrusted to him , he has also another no less forcible ; that 't is the testament of his savior , by which he becomes a son of god , no more a servant but a son ; and if he be a son , it is the apostles inference , that he is then an heir , an heir of god thro christ , gal. 4. 7. now as he who is heir to an estate , is also to the deeds and conveiances thereof ; which without injury cannot be detain'd , or if they be , there is a remedy at law for the recovery of them : so it fares in our christian inheritance ; every believer by the privilege of faith , is made a son of abraham , and an heir of the promises made unto the fathers , whereby he has an hereditary interest in the old testament ; and also by the privilege of the same faith he has a firm right to the purchast possession , eph. 1. 14. and the charter thereof , the new. therefore the detention of the scriptures , which are made up of these two parts , is a manifest injustice , and sacrilegious invasion of right , which the person wrong'd is impower'd , nay , is strictly oblig'd by all lawful means to vindicate . 7. which invasion of right , will appear more flagrant when the nature and importance of it is consider'd ; which relating to mens spiritual interest , renders the violation infinitly more injurious then it could be in any secular . i might mention several detriments consequent to this detention of scripture , even as many as there are benefits appendant to the free use of it ; but there is one of so fundamental and comprehensive a nature , that i need name no more ; and that is , that it delivers men up to any delusion their teachers shall impose upon them , by depriving them of means of detecting them . where there is no standard or mesures , 't is easy for men to falsify both ; and no less easy is it to adulterate doctrins , where no recourse can be had to the primary rule . now that there is a possibility that false teachers may arise , we have all assurance ; nay we have the word of christ , and his apostles that it should be so : and all ecclesiastic story to attest it has bin so . and if in the first and purest times ( those ages of more immediat illumination ) the god of this world found instruments whereby to blind mens minds , 2 cor. 4. 4. it cannot be suppos'd impossible or improbable he should do so now . 8. but to leave generals , and to speak to the case of that church which magisterially prohibits scripture to the vulgar : she manifestly stands liable to that charge of our savior , luk. 11. 52. ye have taken away the key of knowledg : and by allowing the common people no more scripture then what she affords them in their sermons and privat manuals , keeps it in her power to impose on them what she pleases . for 't is sure those portions she selects for them , shall be none of those which clash with the doctrins she recommends : and when ever she will use this power to the corrupting their faith , or worship ( yea , or their manners either ) they must brutishly submit to it , because they cannot bring her dictats to the test . 9. but 't will be said , this danger she wards by her doctrin of infallibility : that is , she enervates a probable supposition attested by event , by an impossible one confuted by event . for 't is certain , that all particular churches may err ; and tho the consciousness of that , forces the roman church upon the absurd pretence of universality , to assert her infallibility ; yet alas , tyber may as well call it self the ocean , or italy the world , as the roman church may name it self the universal ; whilest 't is so apparent that far the less part of christians are under her communion . and if she be but a particular church , she has no immunity from errors , nor those under her from having those errors ( how pernicious soever ) impos'd upon them . as to her having actually err'd , and in diverse particulars , the proof of that has bin the work of so many volumes , that 't would be impertinent here to undertake it : i shall only instance in that of image-worship ; a practice perfectly irreconcileable with the second commandment ; and doubtless , clearly discern'd by her to be so : upon which account it is , that tho by translations and paraphrases she wrests and moulds other texts to comply with her doctrins , yet she dares not trust to those arts for this : but takes a more compendious course , and expunges the commandment ; as is evident in her catechisms and other manuals . now a church that can thus sacrilegiously purloin one commandment ( and such a one as god has own'd himself the most jealously concern'd in ) and to delude her children split another to make up the number , may as her needs require , substract and divide what others she please : and then whilst all resort to scripture is obstructed ; how fatal a hazard must those poor souls run , who are oblig'd to follow these blind , or rather these winking guides into the ditch ? 10. but all these criminations she retorts by objecting the dangers of allowing the scriptures to the vulgar , which she accuses as the spring of all sects , schisms , and heresies . to which i answer first , that supposing this were true , 't was certainly foreseen by god , who notwithstanding laid no restraint ; probably as fore-seeing , that the dangers of implicit faith ( to which such a restraint must subiect men ) would be far greater : and if god saw fit to indulge the liberty , those that shall oppose it , must certainly think they do not only partake , but have transplanted infallibility from god to themselves . 11. but secondly , 't is not generally true , that sects , schisms , and heresies are owing to this liberty ; all ecclesiastical story shews us that they were not the illiterat lay-men , but the learned clarks who were usually the broachers of heresies . and indeed many of them were so subtil and aerial , as could never have bin forg'd in grosser brains ; but were founded not on scripture merely mistaken . but rackt and distorted with nice criticisms , and quirks of logic , as several of the ancients complain : som again sprang from that ambition of attaining , or impatience of missing ecclesiastical dignities : which appropriates them to the clergy . so that if the abuse infer a forfeiture of the use , the learned have of all others the least title to the scriptures ; and perhaps those who now ingross them , the least title of all the learned . 12. on the other side , church-story indeed mentions som lay-propugners of heresies ; but those for the most part were either so gross and bestial ; as disparag'd and confuted themselves and authors , and rose rather from the brutish inclination of the men , then from their mistakes of scripture : or else they were by the immediat infusion of the devil , who backt his heretical suggestions with sorceries and lying wonders , as in simon magus , menander , &c. and for later times , tho somtimes there happens among the vulgar a few pragmatic spirits , that love to tamper with the obscurest texts , and will undertake to expound before they understand ; yet that is not their common temper : the generality are rather in the other extreme , stupid and unobservant even of the plainest doctrins . and if to this be objected the multitude of quakers and fanatics , who generally are of the ignorant sort ; i answer , that 't is manifest the first propugners of those tenets in germany were not seduc'd into them by mistakes of scripture , but industriously form'd them , at once to disguise and promote their villainous designs of sedition and rapine : and as for those amongst us , it is not at all certain that their first errrors were their own productions : there are vehement presumtions that the seeds were sown by greater artificers ; whose first business was to unhinge them from the church , and then to fill their heads with strange chimera's of their privileges and perfections ; and by that intoxication of spiritual pride , dispose them for all delusions : and thereby render them , like samsons foxes , fit instruments to set all in combustion . 13. but admit this were but a conjecture , and that they were the sole authors of their own frenzy ; how appears it that the liberty of reading the scripture was the cause of it ? had these men bin of the romish communion , and so bin interdicted privat reading , yet som broken parts of scripture would have bin in sermons and books of devotion communicated to them ; had it not bin as possible for them to have wrested what they heard as what they read ? in one respect it seems rather more likely : for in those loose and incidental quotations the connexion is somtimes not so discernable : and many texts there are whose sense is so interwoven with the context , that without consulting that , there may be very pernicious mistakes : on which account it is probably more safe that the auditor should have bibles to consult . so that this restraint of scripture is a very fallible expedient of the infallible church . and indeed themselves have in event found it so : for if it were so soveraign a prophylactic against error , how comes it to pass that so many of their members who were under that discipline have revolted from them into that which they call heresy ? if they say , the defection was made by som of the learned to whom the scripture was allow'd , why do they not ( according to their way of arguing ) take it from them also upon that experiment of its mischief , and confine it only to the infallible chair ? but if they own them to have bin unlearn'd ( as probably the albigenses and waldenses , &c. were ) they may see how insignificant a guard this restraint is against error : and learn how little is got by that policy which controles the divine wisdom . 14 nor can they take shelter in the example of the primitive christians : for they in the constant use of the holy scriptures yielded not unto the jews . whereas the jews had the scriptures read publicly to them every sabbath day ; which josephus against appion thus expresses : moses propounded to the jews the most excellent and necessary learning of the law ; not by hearing it once or twice , but every seventh day laying aside their works , he commanded them to assemble for the hearing of the law , and throughly and exactly to learn it . parallel to this was the practice of the primitive church , perform'd by the lector , or reader , of which justin martyr in his 2. apol. gives this account . on the day call'd sunday , all that abide in towns or the countries about , meet in one place , and the writings of the apostles and prophets are read , so far as there is place . so tertullian in his apol . describing the offices in the public assemblies : we feed our faith with the sacred words , we raise our hopes , and establish our reliance . 15. and as the jews thought it indecent for persons professing piety , to let three daies pass without the offices thereof in the congregation ; and therefore met in their synagogues upon every tuesday and thursday in the week , and there perform'd the duties of fasting , praier , and hearing the holy scriptures ; concerning which is the boast of the pharisee , luk. 18. 12. in conformity hereto the christians also , their sabbath being brought forward from the saturday to the day following ; that the like number of daies might not pass them without performing the aforesaid duties in the congregation ; met together on the wednesdaies and fridaies , which were the daies of station , so frequently mention'd in tertullian , and others , the first writers of the church . tertullian expresly saies ▪ that the christians dedicated to the offices of piety , the fourth and sixth day of the week : and clemens alex. saies of the christians , that they understood the secret reasons of their weekly fasts , to wit , those of the fourth day of the week and that of preparation before the sabbath ; commonly call'd wednesday and friday . where , by the way , we may take notice what ground there is for the observation of the wednesday and friday in our church , and the litanies then appointed , so much neglected in this profligate age. 16. but secondly , as the jews were diligent in the privat reading of the scripture ; being taught it from their infancy which custom saint paul refers to 1 tim. 3. 15. whereof josephus against appion saies , that if a man ask any jew concerning the laws , he will tell every thing readier then his name : for learning them from the first time they have sense of any thing , they retain them imprinted in their minds . so were the first christians equally industrious in improving their knowledg of divine truth . the whole life of a christian , saies clem. alex. strom. l. 7. is a holy solemnity , there his sacrifices are praiers and praises , before every meal he has the readings of the holy scriptures ; and psalms , and hymns at the time of his meals . which tertullian also describes in his apol. and saint cyprian in the end of the epist. to donatus . 17. and this is farther evidenc'd by the early and numerous versions of the scriptures into all vulgar languages ; concerning which theodoret speaks in his book of the cure of the affections of the greeks , serm. 5. we christians ( sais he ) are enabled to shew the power of apostolic and prophetic doctrins , which h●ve fill'd all countries under heaven . for that which was formerly utter'd in hebrew , is not only translated into the language of the grecians , but also the romans , egyptians , persians , indians , armenians , scythians , samaritans ; and in a word to all the languages that are us'd by any nation . the same is said by saint chrysostom in his first homily upon saint iohn . 18. nor was this don by the blind zeal of inconsiderable men , but the most eminent doctors of the church were concern'd herein : such as origen , who with infinit labor contriv'd the hexapla . saint chrysostom , who translated the new testament , psalms , and som part of the old testament into the armenian tongue as witnesses geor. alex. in the life of chrysost. so vlphilas the first bishop of the goths translated the holy scripture into the gothic ; as socrat. eccl. hist l. 4. cap. 33. and others testify . saint jerom , who translated them not only into latin from the hebrew , the old italic version having bin from the greek ; but also into his native vulgar dalmatic : which he saies himself in his epistle to sophronius . 19. but the peoples having them for their privat and constant use , appears farther by the heathens making the extorting of them a part of their persecution : and when diverse did faint in that trial , and basely surrender'd them , we find the church level'd her severity only against the offending persons , did not ( according to the romish equity ) punish the innocent , by depriving them of that sacred book , because the others had so unworthily prostituted it ( tho the prevention of such a profanation for the future had bin as fair a plea for it as the romanists do now make : ) but on the contrary the primitive fathers are frequent , nay indeed importunat in their exhortations to the privat study of holy scripture , which they recommend to christians of all ranks , ages , and sexes . 20. as an instance hereof let us hear clemens of alex. in his exhort . the word , saies he , is not hid from any , it is a common light that shineth to all men ; there is no obscurity in it ; hear it you that be far off , and hear it you that are nigh . 21. to this purpose st. jerom speaks in his epistle to leta , whom he directs in the education of her young daughter , and advises , th●t instead of gems and silk , she be enamour'd with the holy scripture ; wherein not gold , or skins , or babylonian embroideries , but a correct and beautiful variety producing faith , will recommend its self . let her first learn the psalter , and be entertain'd with those songs ; then be instructed unto life by the proverbs of solomon : let her learn from ecclesiastes to despise worldly things ; transcribe from job the practice of patience and vertue : let her pass then to the gospels , and never let them be out of her bands : and then imbibe with all the faculties of the mind , the acts of the apostles , and epistles . when she has enrich'd the store-house of her breast with these tresures , let her learn the prophets , the heptateuch , or books of moses , joshua and judges , the books of kings and chronicles , the volumes of ezra and esther , and lastly the canticles . and indeed , this father is so concern'd to have the unletter'd semale sex skilful in the scriptures , that tho he sharply rebukes their pride and over-wening ; he not only frequently resolves their doubts concerning difficult places in the said scriptures , but dedicates several of his commentaries to them . 22. the same is to be said of saint austin , who in his epistles to unletter'd laics , encourages their enquiries concerning the scripture , assuring volusianus ep. 3. that it speaks those things that are plain to the heart of the learned and unlearned , as a familiar friend ; in the mysterious , mounts not up into high phrases which might deter a slow and unlearned mind , ( as the poor are in their addresses to the rich ; ) but invites all with lowly speech , feeding with manifest truth , and exercising with secret . and ep. 1. 21. tells the devout proba , that in this world , where we are absent from the lord , and walk by faith and not by sight , the soul is to think it self desolate , and never cease from praier , and the words of divine and holy scripture , &c. 23. saint chrysostom in his third homily of lazarus thus addresses himself to married persons , house-holders , and people enga'd in trades and secular professions ; telling them , that the reading of the scripture is a great defensative against siu ; and on the other side , the ignorance thereof is a deep and head-long precipice ; that not to know the law of god , is the utter loss of salvation ; that this has caus'd heresies , and corruption of life , and has confounded the order of things : for it cannot be by any means , that his labor should be fruitless , who emploies himself in a daily and attentive reading of the scripture . 24. i am not , saies the same st. chry. hom. 9. on colos. 3. a monk , i have wise and children , and the cares of a family . but 't is a destructive opinion , that the reading of the scripture pertains only to those who have addicted themselves to a monastic life ; when the reading of scripture is much more necessary for secular persons ; for they who converse abroad , and receive frequent wounds , are in greatest need of remedies and preservatives . so hom. 2. on mat. hearken all you that are secular , how you ought to order your wives and children ; and how you are particularly enjoin'd to read the scriptures , and that not perfunctorily , or by chance , but very diligently . 25. likewise hom. 3. on laz. what saiest thou , o man ? it is not thy business to turn over the scripture , being distracted by innumerable cares ; no , thou hast therefore the greater obligation : others do not so much stand in need of the aids of the scripture , as they who are conversant in much business . farther , hom. 8. on heb. 5. i beseech you neglect not the reading of the scriptures ; but whether we comprehend the meaning of what is spoken or not , let us alwaies be conversant in them : for daily meditation strengtheus the memory ; and it frequently happens , that what you now cannot find out , if you attemt it again ▪ you will the next day discover : for god of his goodness will enlighten the mind . it were endless to transcribe all the exhortations of the ancient doctors and fathers of the church ; they not only permitted , but earnestly prest upon all christians , whatever their estate or condition were , the constant reading of the holy scripture . nor indeed was their restraint ever heard of till the church of rome had espous'd such doctrins as would not bear the test of scripture ; and then as those who deal in false wares are us'd to do , they found it necessary to proportion their lights accordingly . 26. this peter sutor in his second book cap. 22. of the translation of the scripture honestly confesses , saying , that whereas many things are enjoin'd which are not expresly in scripture , the unlearned observing this , will be apt to murmur and complain that so heavy burthens are laid upon them , and their christian liberty infring'd . they will easily be with-drawn from observing the constitutions of the church , when they find that they are not contain'd in the law of christ. and that this was not a frivolous suggestion , the desperat attemt of the romanists above mention'd , in leaving out the second commandment in their primers and catechisms which they communicate to the people , may pass for an irrefragable evidence ; for what lay-man would not be shockt , to find almighty god command , not to make any graven image , nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above , or in the earth beneath , or in the water under the earth ; that no one should bow down to them , nor worship them : when he sees the contrary is practic'd and commanded by the church . 27. but would god none but the romanist were impeachable of this detention of scripture : there are too many among us that are thus false and envious to themselves : and what the former do upon policy and pretence of reverence , those do upon mere oscitancy and avow'd profaness ; which are much worse inducements . and for such as these to declaim against detention of the scripture , is like the law-suits of those who contend only about such little punctilio's as themselves design no advantage from , but only the worsting their adversaries : and it would be much safer for them to lie under the interdict of others , then thus to restrain themselves : even as much as the errors of obedience are more excusable , then those of contemt and profaness . 28. and here i would have it seriously consider'd that the edict of diocletian for the demolishing the christian churches , and the burning their bibles ; became the character and particular aggravation of his most bloudy persecution . now should almighty god call us to the like trial , should antichristian violence , whether heathen or other , take from us our churches and our bibles , what comfort could we have in that calamity , if our contemt of those blessing drove them from us ; nay , prevented perfecution , and bereft us of them even whilst we had them in our power ? he who neglects to make his constant resort unto the church , which by gods mercy now stands open ; or to read diligently the holy scriptures , which by the same divine goodness are free for him to use , in his own diocletian ; and without the terrors of death , or torments , has renounc'd , i● not the faith , the great instruments of its conveiance , and pledg of god almighties presence among the sons of men . 29. but what if men either upon the one motive or the other , will not read ; yet the scriptures continue still most worthy to be read : they retain still their propriety for all those excellent ends to which god design'd them : and as the prophet tells the jews , ez. 2. 5. whether they will hear , or whether they will forbear , they shall know there has bin a prophet among them ; so whether we will take the benefit or no , we shall one day find that the holy scriptures would have made us wise unto salvation . if thro our fault alone they fail to do so , they will one day assume a less grateful office ; and from guides and assistants , become accusers and witnesses against us . sect . v. the scripture has great propriety and fitness toward the attainment of its excellent end . we are now in the next place to consider how exactly the holy scriptures are adapted to those great ends to which they are directed : how sufficient they are for that important negotiation on which they are sent : and that we shall certainly find them , . if we look on them either intrinsecally , or circumstantially . for the first of these notions we need only to reflect on the third part of this discourse , where the scripture in respect of the subject matter is evinc'd to be a system of the most excellent laws , backt with the most transcendent rewards and punishments ; and the certainty of those confirm'd by such pregnant instances of gods mercies and vengeance in this world , as are the surest gages and earnests of what we are bid to expect in another . 2 now what method imaginable can there be used to rational creatures of more sorce and energy ? nay it seems to descend even to our passions and accommodates it self to our several inclinations . and seeing how few proselytes there are to bare and naked vertue , and how many to interest and advantage ; god closes with them upon their own terms , and do's not so much injoin as buy those little services he asks from us . 3. but because som mens natures are so disingenuous as to hate to be oblig'd no less then to be reform'd , the scripture has goads and scourges to drive such beasts as will not be led ; terrors and threatnings , and those of most formidable sorts , to affright those who will not be allur'd . nay lest incredulous men should question the reality of future rewards or punishments , the scripture gives as sensible evidence of them as we are capable of receiving in this world ; by registring such signal protections and judgments proportion'd to vertue and vice , as sufficiently attests the psalmists axiom : doubtless there is a god that judgeth the earth , psal. 58. 11. and leaves nothing to the impenitent sinner , but a fearful expectation of that fiery indignation threatned hereafter ; heb. 10. 27. 4. and now methinks the scripture seems to be that net our savior speaks of , that caught of every sort , mat. 13. 47. it is of so vast a compass , that it must , one would think , fetch in all kind of tempers : and sure had we not mixt natures with fiends , contracted som of their malice and obstinacy , mere human pravity could not hold out . 5. and as the holy scripture is thus fitly proportion'd to its end in respect of the subject matter , so is it also in reference to its circumstances , which all conspire to render it , the power of god unto salvation , ro. 1. 16. in the first rank of those we must place its divine original , which stamps it with an uncontroulable autority ; and is an infallible security that the matter of it is perfectly true : since it proceeds from that essential verity which cannot abuse us with fraudulent promises or threatnings : and from that infinite power that cannot be impeded in the execution of what he purposes . 6. yet to render this circumstance efficacious there needs another ; to wit , that its being the word of god be sufficiently testifi'd to us : and we have in the fore-going discourse evinced it to be so ; and that in the utmost degree that a matter of that kind is capable of , beyond which no sober man will require evidence in any thing . and certainly these two circumstances thus united , have a mighty force to impress the dictats of scripture on us . and we must rebel against god and our own convictions too , to hold out against it . 7. a third circumstance relates to the frame and composure of this divine book , both as to method , and stile : concerning which i have already made som reflexions . but now that i may speak more distinctly , i observe it takes its rise from the first point of time wherein 't was possible for mankind to be concern'd ; and so gradually proceeds to its fall and renovation : shews us first our need of a redeemer , and then points us out who it is by types and promises in the old testament , and by way of history and completion in the new. in the former it acquaints us with that pedagogy of the law which god design'd as our schole-master to bring us to christ , gal. 3. 25. and in the gospel shews us yet a more excellent way ; presents us with those more sublime elevated doctrins , which christ came down from heaven to revele . 8. as for the stile , that is full of grateful variety , somtimes high and majestic , as becomes that high and holy one that inhabiteth eternity , esai . 57. 15 and somtimes so humble and after the manner of men , as agrees to the other part of his characters ▪ his dwelling is with him that is of an humble spirit ▪ esay 57. 15. i know profane wits are apt to brand this as an unevenness of stile : but they may as well accuse the various notes of music as destructive to harmony , or blame an orator for being able to tune his tongue to the most different strains . 9. another excellency of the stile , is its propriety to the several subjects it treats of . when it speaks of such things as god would not have men pry into , it wraps them up in clouds and thick darkness ; by that means to deter inquisitive man ( as he did at sinai ) from breaking into the mount , ex. 20. and that he gives any intimation at all of such , seems design'd only to give us a just estimate how shallow our comprehensions are ; and excite us to adore and admire that abyss of divine wisdom which we can never sathom . 10. things of a middle nature , which may be useful to som , but are not indispensibly necessary to all , the scripture leaves more accessible ; yet not so obvious as to be within every mans reach : but makes them only the prize of industry , praier , and humble endevors . and it is no small benefit , that those who covet the knowledg of divine truth , are by it engag'd to take these vertues in the way . besides there is so much time requir'd to that study , as renders it inconsistent with those secular businesses wherein the generality of men are immerst : and consequently t is necessary that those who addict themselves to the one , have competent vacancy from the other : and in this it hath a visible use by being very contributive to the maintaining that spiritual subordination of the people to the pastors ; which god has establish'd . miriam and corahs partisans are a pregnant instance how much the opinion of equal knowledg unfits for subjection : and we see by sad experience how much the bare pretence of it has disturb'd the church , and made those turn preachers who never were understanding hearers . 11. but besides these more abstruse , there are easier truths in which every man is concern'd ; the explicit knowledg whereof is necessary to all ; i mean the divine rules for saving faith and manners . and in those the scripture stile is as plain as is possible : condescends to the apprehensions of the rudest capacities : so that none that can read the scripture but will there find the way to bliss evidently chalk'd out to him . that i may use the words of saint gregory , the lamb may wade in those waters of life , as well as the elephant may swim . the holy ghost , as st. austin tells us , lib. 2. of christian doctrin , chap. 6. has made in the plainer places of scripture magnificent and healthful provision for our hunger ; and in the obscure , against satiety . for there are scarce any things drawn from obscure places , which in others are not spoken most plainly and he farther adds , that if any thing happen to be no where explain'd , every man may there abound in his sense . 12. so again , in the same book , cap. 9. he saies , that all those things which concern faith and manners , are plainly to be met with in the scripture : and saint jerom in his comment on es. 19. tells us , that 't is the custom of the scripture to close obscure sayings with those that are easy ; and what was first exprest darkly , to propose in evident words : which very thing is said likewise by saint chrysostom , hom. 9. 2 cor. 4. 11. who in his first homily on saint mat. farther declares , that the scriptures are easy to be understood , and expos'd to vulgar capacities . 13. he saies again , hom. upon esay , that the scriptures are not mettals that require the help of miners , but afford a tresure easily to be had to them that seek the riches contain'd in them . it is enough only to stoop down , and look upon them , and depart replenish'd with wealth ; it is enough only to open them , and behold the splendor of those gems . again , hom. 3. on the second ep. to the thess. 2. all things are evident and strait , which are in the holy scripture ; whatever is necessary is manifest . so also hom. 3. on gen. 14. it cannot be that he who is studious in the holy scripture should be rejected : for tho the instruction of men be wanting , the lord from above will inlighten our minds , shine in upon our reason , revele what is secret , and teach what we do not know . so hom. 1. on jo. 11. almighty god involves his doctrin with no mists , and darkness , as did the philosophers : his doctrin is brighter then the sun-beams , and more illustrious ; and therefore every where diffus'd : and hom. 6. on jo. 11. his doctrin is so facile , that not only the wise , but even women , and youths must comprehend it . hom. 13. on gen. 2. let us go to the scripture as our mark , which is its own interpreter . and soon after saies , that the scripture interprets it self , and suffers not its auditor to err . to the same purpose saies cyril in his third book against julian . in the scripture nothing is difficult to them , who are conversant in them as they ought to be . 14. it is therefore a groundless cavil which men make at the obscurity of the scripture ; since it is not obscure in those things wherein 't is our common interest it should be plain : which sufficiently justifies its propriety to that great end of making us wise unto salvation . and for those things which seem less intelligible to us , many of them become so , not by the innate obscurity of the text , but by extrinsic circumstances ( of which perhaps the over-busy tampering of paraphrasts , pleased with new notions of their own , may be reckon'd for one . ) but this subject the reader may find so well pursued in mr. boyls tract concerning the stile of scripture , that i shall be kindest both to him and it to refer him thither ; as also for answer to those other querulous objections which men galled with the sense of the scripture , have made to its stile . 15. a third circumstance in which the scripture is fitted to attain its end , is its being committed to writing , as that is distinguish'd from oral delivery . it is most true , the word of god is of equal autority and efficacy which way soever it be deliver'd : the sermons of the apostles were every jot as divine and powerful out of their mouths , as they are now in their story . all the advantage therefore that the written word can pretend to , is in order to its perpetuity , as it is a securer way of derivation to posterity , then that of oral tradition . to evince that it is so , i shall first weigh the rational probabilities on either side . secondly , i shall consider to which god himself appears in scripture to give the deference . 16. for the first of these , i shall propose this consideration , which i had occasion to intimate before , that the bible being writ for the universal use of the faithful , 't was as universally disperst amongst them : the jews had the law not only in their synagogues , but in their privat houses , and as soon as the evangelical books were writ , they were scatter'd into all places where the christian faith had obtain'd . now when there was such a vast multitude of copies , and those so revered by the possessors , that they thought it the highest pitch of sacrilege to expose them , it must surely be next to impossible , entirely to suppress that book . besides , it could never be attemted but by som eminent violence as it was by the heathen persecutors ; which ( according to the common effect of opposition ) serv'd to enhance the christians value of the bible ; and consequently when the storm was past , to excite their diligence for recruiting the number . so that , unless in after ages , all the christians in the world should at once make a voluntary defection , and conspire to eradicate their religion , the scripture could not be utterly extinguish'd . 17. and that which secures it from total suppression , do's in a great degree do so from corruption and falsification . for whilst so many genuine copies are extant in all parts of the world , to be appeal'd to , it would be a very difficult matter to impose a spurious one ; especially if the change were so material as to awaken mens jealousies . and it must be only in a place and age of gross ignorance , that any can be daring enough to attemt it . and if it should happen to succeed in such a particular church , yet what is that to the universal ? and to think to have the forgery admitted there , is ( as a learned man saies ) like attemting to poison the sea . 18. on the other side , oral tradition seems much more liable to hazards , error may there insinuate it self much more insensibly . and tho there be no universal conspiracy to admit it at first ; yet like a small eruption of waters , it widens its own passage , till it cause an inundation . there is no impression so deep , but time and intervening accidents may wear out of mens minds ; especially where the notions are many and are founded not in nature , but positive institution , as a great part of christian religion is . and when we consider the various tempers of men , 't will not be strange that succeeding ages will not alwaies be determin'd by the traditions of the former . som are pragmatic , and think themselves fitter to prescribe to the belief of their posterity , then to follow that of their ancestors : som have interest and designs which will be better serv'd by new tenets : and som are ignorant and mistaking , and may unawares corrupt the doctrin they should barely deliver : and of this last sort we may guess there may be many , since it falls commonly to the mothers lot to imbue children with the first rudiments . 19. now in all these cases how possible is it that primitive tradition may be either lost or adulterated ? and consequently , and in proportion to that possibility , our confidence of it must be stagger'd . i am sure according to the common estimate in seculars it must be so . for i appeal to any man whether he be not apter to credit a relation which comes from an eie-witness then at the third or fourth , much more at the hundredth rebound : ( as in this case . ) and daily experience tells us ; that a true and probable story by passing thro many hands , often grows to an improbable lie . this man thinks he could add one becoming circumstance ; that man another : and whilst most men take the liberty to do so , the relation grows as monstrous as such a heap of incoherent phancies can make it . 20. if to this it be said that this happens only in trivial secular matters , but that in the weighty concern of religion mankind is certainly more serious and sincere : i answer that 't is very improbable that they are ; since 't is obvious in the common practice of the world , that the interests of religion are postpon'd to every little worldly concern . and therefore when a temporal advantage requires the bending and warping of religion , there will never be wanting som that will attemt it . 21. besides , there is still left in human nature so much of the venom of the serpents first temtation , that tho men cannot be as god , yet they love to be prescribing to him , and to be their own assessors as to that worship and homage they are to pay him . 22. but above all 't is considerable that in this case sathan has a more peculiar concern , and can serve himself more by a falsification here then in temporal affairs . for if he can but corrupt religion , it ceases to be his enemy , and becomes one of his most useful engins , as sufficiently appear'd in the rites of the heathen worship . we have therefore no cause to think this an exemt case ; but to presume it may be influenc'd by the same pravity of human nature , which prevailes in others ; and consequently are oblig'd to bless god that he has not left our spiritual concerns to such hazards , but has lodg'd them in a more secure repository , the written word . 23. but i fore-see 't will be objected , that whilst i thus disparage tradition , i do vertually invalidate the scripture it self , which comes to us upon its credit . to this i answer first that since god has with-drawn immediate revelation from the world ▪ tradition is the only means to convey to us the first notice that this book is the word of god : and it being the only means he affords , we have all reason to depend on his goodness , that he will not suffer that to be evacuated to us : and that how liable soever tradition may be to err , yet that it shall not actually err in this particular . 24. but in the second place ; this tradition seems not so liable to falsification as others : it is so very short and simple a proposition ; such and such writings are the word of god , that there is no great room for sophistry or mistake to pervert the sense ; the only possible deception must be to change the subject , and obtrude suppositious writings in room of the true , under the title of the word of god. but this has already appear'd to be unpracticable , because of the multitude of copies which were disperst in the world ; by which such an attemt would soon have bin detected . there appears therefore more reason as well as more necessity , to rely upon tradition in this , then in most other particulars . 25. neither yet do i so farr decry oral tradition in any , as to conclude it impossible it should derive any truth to posterity : i only look on it as more casual ; and consequently a less fit conveiance of the most important and necessary verities then the writen word : in which i conceive my self justifi'd by the common sense of mankind ; who use to commit those things to writing , which they are most solicitous to derive to posterity . do's any nation trust their fundamental laws only to the memory of the present age , and take no other course to transmit them to the future ? do's any man purchase an estate , and leave no way for his children to lay claim to it , but the tradition the present witnesses shall leave of it ? nay do's any considering man ordinarily make any important pact or bargain ( tho without relation to posterity ) without putting the articles in writing ? and whence is all this caution but from a universal consent that writing is the surest way of transmitting ? 26. but we have yet a higher appeal in this matter then to the suffrage of men : god himself seems to have determin'd it ; and what his decision is , 't is our next business to inquire . 27. and first he has given the most real and comprehensive attestation to this way of writing , by having himself chose it . for he is too wise to be mistaken in his estimate of better and worse , and too kind to chuse the worst for us : and yet he has chosen to communicate himself to the latter ages of the world by writing ; and has summ'd up all the eternal concerns of mankind in the sacred scriptures , and left those sacred records by which we are to be both inform'd and govern'd ; which if oral tradition would infallibly have don , had bin utterly needless : and god sure is not so prodigal of his spirit , as to inspire the authors of scripture to write that , whose use was superseded by a former more certain expedient . 28. nay , under the mosaic oeconomy , when he made use of other waies of reveling himself , yet to perpetuate the memory even of those revelations , he chose to have them written . at the delivery of the law , god spake then viva voce , and with that pomp of dreadful solemnity , as certainly was apt to make the deepest impressions ; yet god fore-saw that thro every succeeding age that stamp would grow more dim , and in a long revolution might at last be extinct . and therefore how warm soever the israelites apprehensions then were , he would not trust to them for the perpetuating his law , but committed it to writing ; ex. 13. 18. nay wrote it twice himself . 29. yet farther even the ceremonial law , tho not intended to be of perpetual obligation , was not yet referr'd to the traditionary way , but was wrote by moses , and deposited with the priests , deut. 31. 9. and after-event shew'd this was no needless caution . for when under manasses , idolatry had prevail'd in jerusalem , it was not by any dormant tradition , but by the book of the law found in the temple , that josiah was both excited to reform religion , and instructed how to do it ; 2 kings 22. 10. and had not that or som other copy bin produc'd , they had bin much in the dark as to the particulars of their reformation ; which that they had not bin convei'd by tradition , appears by the sudden startling of the king upon the reading of the law ; which could not have bin . had he bin before possest with the contents of it . in like manner we find in nehemiah , that the observation of the feast of tabernacles was recover'd by consulting the law ; the tradition whereof was wholly worn out ; or else it had sure bin impossible that id could for so long a time have bin intermitted , neh. 8. 18. and yet mens memories are commonly more retentive of an external visible rite , then they are of speculative propositions , or moral precepts . 30. these instances shew how fallible an expedient mere oral tradition is for transmission to posterity . but admit no such instance could be given , 't is argument enough that god has by his own choice of writing , given the preference to it . nor has he barely chosen it , but has made it the standard by which to mesure all succeeding pretences . 't is the means he prescribes for distinguishing divine from diabolical inspirations : to the law and to the testimony : if they speak not according to this word , there is no light in them , isai. 8. 20. and when the lawier interrogated our savior what he should do to inherit eternal life , he sends him not to ransac tradition , or the cabalistical divinity of the rabbins , but refers him to the law : what is written in the law ? how readest thou ? luk. 10. 26. and indeed , throout the gospel , we still find him in his discourse appealing to scripture , and asserting its autority : as on the other side inveighing against those traditions of the elders which had evacuated the written word : ye make the word of god of none effect by your tradition , mat. 15. 6. which as it abundantly shews christs adherence to the written word , so 't is a pregnant instance how possible it is for tradition to be corrupted , and made the instrument of imposing mens phancies even in contradiction to gods commands . 31. and since our blessed lord has made scripture the test whereby to try traditions , we may surely acquiesce in his decision , and either embrace or reject traditions , according as they correspond to the supreme rule , the written word . it must therefore be a very unwarrantable attemt to set up tradition in competition with ( much more in contradiction to ) that to which christ himself hath subjected it . 32. saint paul reckons it as the principal privilege of the jewish church , that it had the oracles of god committed to it ; i. e. that the holy scriptures were deposited , and put in its custody : and in this the christian church succeeds it , and is the guardian and conservator of holy writ . i ask then , had the jewish church by vertue of its being keeper , a power to supersede any part of those oracles intrusted to them ? if so , saint paul was much out in his estimate , and ought to have reckon'd that as their highest privilege . but indeed , the very nature of the trust implies the contrary ; and besides , 't is evident , that is the very crime christ charges upon the jews in the place above cited . and if the jewish church had no such right , upon what account can the christian claim any ? has christ enlarg'd its charter ? has he left the sacred scriptures with her , not to preserve and practice , but to regulate and reform ? to fill up its vacancies , and supply its defects by her own traditions ? if so , let the commission be produc'd ; but if her office be only that of guardianship and trust , she must neither substract from , nor by any superadditions of her own evacuate its meaning and efficacy : and to do so , would be the same guilt that it would be in a person intrusted with the fundamental records of a nation , to foist in fuch clauses as himself pleases . 33 in short , god has in the scriptures laid down exact rules for our belief and practice , and has entrusted the church to convey them to us : if she vary , or any way enervate them , she is false to that trust , but cannot by it oblige us to recede from that rule she should deliver , to comply with that she obtrudes upon us . the case may be illustrated by an easy resemblance . suppose a king have a forreign principality for which he composes a body of laws ; annexes to them rewards and penalties , and requires an exact and indispensable conformity to them . these being put in writing , he sends by a select messenger : now suppose this messenger deliver them , yet saies withall , that himself has autority from the king to supersede these laws at his plesure ; so that their last resort must be to his dictats , yet produces no other testimony but his own bare affirmation . is it possible that any men in their wits should be so stupidly credulous , as to incur the penalty of those laws upon so improbable an indemnity ? and sure it would be no whit less madness in christians , to violate any precept of god , on an ungrounded supposal of the churches power to dispense with them . 34. and if the church universal have not this power , nor indeed ever claim'd it , it must be a strange insolence for any particular church to pretend to it , as the church of rome do's ; as if we should owe to her tradition all our scripture , and all our faith ; insomuch that without the supplies which she affords from the oracle of her chair , our religion were imperfect , and our salvation insecure . upon which wild dictates i shall take liberty in a distinct section , farther to animadvert . sect . vi. the suffrage of the primitive christian church , concerning the propriety and fitness which the scripture has towards the attainment of its excellent end . against what has bin hitherto said to the advantage of the holy scripture , there opposes it self ( as we have already intimated ) the autority of the church of rome ; which allows it to be only an imperfect rule of faith , saying in the fourth session of the council of trent , that christian faith and discipline , are contain'd in the books written , and unwritten tradition . and in the fourth rule of the index put forth by command of the said council , the scripture is declar'd to be so far from useful , that its reading is pernicious if permitted promiscuously in the vulgar tongue , and therefore to be withheld : insomuch that the study of the holy bible is commonly by persons of the roman communion , imputed to protestants as part of their heresy ; they being call'd by them in contemt the evangelical men , and scripturarians . and the bible in the vulgar tongue of any nation , is commonly reckon'd among prohibited books , and as such , publicly burnt when met with by the inquisitors : and the person who is found with it , or to read therein , is subjected to severe penalties . 2. for the vindication of the truth of god , and to put to shame those unhappy innovators , who amidst great pretences to antiquity , and veneration to the scriptures , prevaricat from both : i think it may not be amiss , to shew plainly the mind of the primitive church herein ; and that in as few words as the matter will admit . 3. first i premise that ireneus and tertullian having to do with heretics , who boasted themselves to be emendators of the apostles , and wiser then they ; despising their autority , rejecting several parts of the scripture , and obtruding other writings in their steed , have had recourse unto tradition , with a seeming preference of it unto scripture . their adversaries having no common principle besides the owning the name of christians ; it was impossible to convince them , but by a recourse to such a medium which they would allow . but these fathers being to set down and establish their faith , are most express in resolving it into scripture : and when they recommend tradition , ever mean such as is also apostolical . 4. ireneus in the second book , 47. c. tells us , that the scriptures are perfect , as dictated by the word of god and his spirit . and the same father begins his third book in this manner , the disposition of our salvation is no otherwise known by us , then by those by whom the gospel was brought to us ; which indeed they first preach'd , but afterward deliver'd it to us in the scripture , to be the foundation and pillar of our faith. nor may we imagin , that they began to preach to others , before they themselves had perfect knowledg , as som are bold to say ; boasting themselves to be emendators of the apostles . for after our lords resurrection , they were indued with the power of the holy spirit from on high ; and having perfect knowledg , went forth to the ends of the earth , preaching the glad tidings of salvation , and celestial praise unto men . each and all of whom had the gospel of god. so saint matthew wrote the gospel to the hebrews , in their tongue . saint peter and saint paul preach'd at rome , and there founded a church : mark the disciple and interpreter of peter , deliver'd in writing what he had preach'd , and luke the follower of paul set down in his book the gospel he had deliver'd . afterward saint john at ephesus in asia publish'd his gospel , &c. in his fourth book , c. 66. he directs all the heretics with whom he deals , to read diligently the gospel deliver'd by the apostles , and also read diligently the prophets , assuring they shall there find every action , every doctrin , and every suffering of our lord declared by them . 5. thus tertullian in his book of prescriptions , c. 6. it is not lawful for us to introduce any thing of our own will , nor make any choice upon our arbitrement . we have the apostles of our lord for our authors , who themselves took up nothing on their own will or choice ; but faithfully imparted to the nations the discipline which they had receiv'd from christ. so that if an angel from heaven should teach another doctrin , he were to be accurst . and. c. 25. 't is madness , saies he of the heretics , when they confess that the apostles were ignorant of nothing , nor taught things different ; to think that they did not revele all things to all : which he enforces in the following chapter . in his book against hermogenes , c. 23. he discourses thus ; i adore the plenitude of the scripture , which discovers to me the creator , and what was created . also in the gospel i find the word was the arbiter and agent in the creation . that all things were made of preexistent matter i never read . let hermogenes , and his journy-men shew that it is written . if it be not written , let him fear the woe , which belongs to them thad add or detract . and in the 39. ch . of his prescript . we feed our faith , raise our hope , and establish our reliance with the sacred words . 6. in like manner hippolytus in the homily against noetus declares , that we acknowledg only from scripture that there is one god. and whereas secular philosophy is not to be had , but from the reading of the doctrin of the philosophers ; so whosoever of us will preserve piety towards god , he cannot otherwise learn it then from the holy scripture . accordingly origen in the fifth homily on leviticus , saies , in the scripture every word appertaining to god , is to be sought and discust ; and the knowledg of all things is to be receiv'd . 7. what saint cyprian's opinion was in this point , we learn at large from his epistle to pompey . for when tradition was objected to him , he answers ; whence is this tradition ? is it from the autority of our lord and his gospel ; or comes it from the commands of the apostles in their epistles ? almighty god declares that what is written should be obei'd and practic'd . the book of the law , saies he in joshua , shall not depart from thy mouth , but thou shalt meditate in it day and night , that you may observe and keep all that is written therein . so our lord sending his apostles , commands them to baptize all nations , and teach them to observe all things that he had commanded . again , what obstinacy and presumtion is it to prefer human tradition to divine command : not considering that gods wrath is kindled as often as his precepts are dissolv'd and neglected by reason of human traditions . thus god warns and speaks by isaiah : this people honors me with their lips , but their heart is far from me ; but in vain do they worship me , teaching for doctrins the commandments of men . also the lord in the gospel checks and reproves , saying ; you reject the law of god , that you may establish your tradition . of which precept the apostle saint paul being mindful , admonishes and instructs , saying ; if any man teaches otherwise , and hearkens not to sound doctrin , and the words of our lord jesus christ , he is proud , knowing nothing : from such we must depart . and again he adds , there is a compendious way for religious and sincere minds , both to deposit their errors , and find out the truth . for if we return to the source and original of divine tradition , human error will cease , and the ground of heavenly mysteries being seen , what soever was hid with clouds and darkness , will be manifest by the light of truth . if a pipe that brought plentiful supplies of water , fail on the suddain , do not men look to the fountain , and thence learn the cause of the defect , whether the spring it self be dry ; or if running freely , the water is stopt in its passage ; that if by interrupted or broken conveiances , it was hindred to pass , they being repair'd , it may again be brought to the city , with the same plenty as it flows from the spring ? and this gods priests ought to do at this time , obeying the commands of god , that if truth have swerv'd or fail'd in any particular , we go backward to the source of the evangelical and apostolical tradition , and there found our actings ; from whence their order and origation began . 8. it is true bellarmine reproches this discourse as erroneous ; but whatever it might be in the inference which saint cyprian drew from it , in it self it was not so . for saint austin , tho sufficiently engag'd against saint cyprian's conclusion , allows the position as most orthodox ; saying , in the fourth book of baptism , c. 35. whereas he admonishes to go back to the fountain , that is , the tradition of the apostles , and thence bring the stream down to our times ; 't is most excellent , and without doubt to be don . 9. thus eusebius expresses himself in his second book against sabellius . as it is a point of sloth , not to seek into those things , whereof one may enquire ; so 't is insolence to be inquisitive in others . but what are those things which we ought to enquire into ? even those which are to be found in the scriptures : those things which are not there to be found , let us not seek after . for if they ought to be known , the holy ghost had not omitted them in the scripture . 10. athanasius in his tract of the incarnation , saies , it is fit for us to adhere to the word of god , and not relinquish it , thinking by syllogisms to evade , what is there clearly deliver'd . again in his tract to serap . of the holy ghost ; ask not , saies he , concerning the trinity , but learn only from the scriptures . for the instructions which you will find there , are sufficient . and in his oration against the gentiles , declares , that the scriptures are sufficient to the manifestation of the truth . 11. agreeable to these is optatus in his 5. book against parmen . who reasons thus , you say 't is lawful to rebaptize , we say 't is not lawful : betwixt your saying and our gain-saying the peoples minds are amus'd . let no man believe either you or us . all men are apt to be contentious . therefore judges are to be call'd in . christians they cannot be ; for they will be parties ; and thereby partial . therefore a judg is to be lookt out from abroad . if a pagan , he knows not the mysteries of our religion . if a jew , he is an enemy to our baptism . there is therefore no earthly judg ; but one is to be sought from heaven . yet there is no need of a resort to heaven , when we have in the gospel a testament : and in this case , celestial things may be compar'd to earthly . so it is as with a father who has many children ; while he is present he orders them all , and there is no need of a written will : accordingly christ when he was present upon earth , from time to time commanded the apostles whatsoever was necessary . but as the earthly father finding himself to be at the point of death , and fearing that after his departure his children should quarrel among themselves , he calls witnesses , and puts his mind in writing ; and if any difference arise among the brethren , they go not to their fathers sepulcher , but repair to his will and testament ; and he who rests in his grave , speaks still in his writing , as if he were alive . our lord who left his will among us , is now in heaven , therefore let us seek his commands in the gospel , as in his will. 12. thus cyril of ierus . cat. 4. nothing , no not the least concernment of the divine and holy sacraments of our faith , is to be deliver'd without the holy scripture : believe not me unless i give you a demonstration of what i say from the scripture . 13. saint basil in his book of the true faith saies , if god be faithful in all his sayings , his words , and works , they remaining for ever , and being don in truth and equity ; it must be an evident sign of infidelity and pride , if any one shall reject what is written , and introduce what is not written . in which books he generally declares that he will write nothing but what he receives from the holy scripture : and that he abhors from taking it elsewhere . in his 29. homily against the antitrinit . believe , saies he , those which are written ; seek not those which are not written . and in his eth. reg . 26. every word and action ought to be confirm'd by the testimony of the divine●y inspir'd scriptures to the establishment of the faith of the good , and reproof of the wicked . 14. saint ambrose in the first book of his offic. saies : how can we make use of any thing which is not to be found in scripture ? and in his instit. of virgins . i read he is the first , but read not he is the second ; let them who say he is second , shew it from the reading . 15. greg. nyssen in his dial. of the soul and resurrect . saies . 't is undeniable , that truth is there only to be plac'd , where there is the seal of scripture testimony . 16. saint jerom against helvidius declares . as we deny not that which is written , so we refuse those which are not written . and in his comment on the 98. ps. every thing that we assert , we must shew from the holy scripture . the word of him that speaks has not that autority as gods precept . and on the 87. ps. whatever is said after the apostles , let it be cut off , nor have afterwards autority . the one be holy after the apostles , the one be eloquent ; yet has he not autority . 17. saint austin in his tract of the unity of the church , c. 12. acknowledges that he could not be convinc'd but by the scriptures of what he was to believe ; and adds they are read with such manifestation , that he who believes them , must confess the doctrin to be most true . in the second book of christian doctrin , c. 9. he saies , that in the plain places of scripture are found all those things that concern faith and manners . and in epist. 42. all things which have bin exhibited heretofore as don to mankind , and what we now see and deliver to our posterity , the scripture has not past them in silence , so far forth as they concern the search or defence of our religion . in his ●ract of the good of widowhood , he saies to ●ulian , the person to whom he addresses : what shall i teach you more then that we read in the apostle : for the holy scripture settlos the rule of our doctrin ; that we think not any thing more then we ought to think ; but to think so●erly , as god has dealt to every man the mesure of faith. therefore my teaching is only to ex●ound the words of this doctor , ep. 157. where ●ny subject is obscure , and passes our compre●ension , and the scripture do's not plainly afford its help , there human conjecture is presum●●ous in defining , 18. theophilus of alex. in his second paschal homily , tells us , that 't is the suggestion of a diabolical spirit to think that any thing besides the scripture has divine autority . and in his third he adds , that the doctors of the church having the testimony of the scripture , lay firm foundation of their doctrin . 19. chrysostom in his third homily on the first of the thessal . asserts , that from the alone reading or hearing of the scripture one may learn all things necessary . so hom. 34. on act. 15. he declares . a heathen comes and saies : i would willingly be a christian , but i know not who to join my self to ; for there are many contentions among you , many seditions and tumults ; so that i am in doubt what opinion i should chuse . each man saies , what y say is true , and i know not whom to believe ; each pretends to scripture which i am ignorant of 't is very well the issue is put here : for if the appeal were to reason , in this case there would be just occasion of being troubled : but when we appeal to scripture , and they are simple and certain , you may easily your self judg . he that agrees with the scripture is a christian , he that resists them , is far out of the way . and on ps. 95. if any thing be said without the scripture , the mind halts between different opinions ; somtimes inclining as to what is probable , anon rejecting as what is frivolous : but when the testimony of holy scripture is produc'd , the mind both of speaker and hearer is confirm'd . and hom. 4. on lazar . tho one should rise from the dead , or an angel come down from heaven , we must believe the scripture ; they being fram'd by the lord of angels , and the quick and dead . and hom. 13. 2 cor. 7. it is not an absurd thing that when we deal with men about mony , we wil trust no body , but cast up the sum , and make use of our counters ; but in religious affairs , suffer our selves to be led aside by other mens opinions , even then when we have by an exact scale and touchstone , the dictat of the divine law. therefore i pray and exhort you , that giving no heed to what this or that man saies , you would consult the holy scripture , and thence learn the divine riches , and pursue what you have learnt . and hom. 58. on jo. 10. 1. 't is the mark of a thief that he comes not in by the dore , but another way : now by the dore the testimony of the scripture is signified . and hom. on gal. 1. 8. the apostle saies not , if any man teach a contrary doctrin let him be accurs'd , or if he subvert the whole gospel ; but if he teach any thing beside the gospel which you have receiv'd , or vary any little thing , let him be accurs'd . 20. cyril of alex. against jul. l. 7. saies , the holy scripture is sufficient to make them who are instructed in it , wise unto salvation , and endued with most ample knowledg . 21. th●odoret dial. 1. i am perswaded only by the holy scripture . and dial. 2. i am not so bold to affirm any thing , not spoken of in the scripture . and again , qu. 45. upon genes . we ought not to enquire after what is past over in silence , but acquiesce in what is written . 22. it were easy to enlarge this discourse into a volume ; but having taken , as they offer'd themselves , the suffrages of the writers of the four first centuries , i shall not proceed to those that follow . if the holy scripture were a perfect rule of faith and manners to all christians heretofore , we may reasonably assure our selves it is so still ; and will now guide us into all necessary truth , and consequently make us wise unto salvation , without the aid of oral tradition , or the new mintage of a living infallible judg of controversy . and the impartial reader will be enabled to judg whether our appeal to the holy scripture , in all occasions of controversy , and recommendation of it to the study of every christian , be that heresy and innovation which it is said to be . 23. it is , we know , severely imputed to the scribes and pharisees by our savior , that they took from the people the key of knowledg , luk. 11. 52. and had made the word of god of none effect by their traditions , matt. 15. 6. but they never attemted what has bin since practiced by their successors in the western church , to take away the ark of the testament it self , and cut of not only the efficacy , but very possession of the word of god by their traditions . surely this had bin exceeding criminal from any hand : but that the bishops and governors of the church , and the universal and infallible pastor of it , who claim the office to interpret the scriptures , exhort unto , and assist in the knowledg of them , should be the men who thus rob the people of them ; carries with it the highest aggravations both of cruelty and breach of trust . if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy , saies saint john , revel . 22. 19. god shall take away his part out of the book of life , and out of the holy city , and from the things which are written in this book . what vengeance therefore awaits those , who have taken away not only from one book , but at once the books themselves , even all the scriptures , the whole word of god ? sect . vii . historical reflections upon the events which have happen'd in the church since the with-drawing of the holy scripture . 't will in this place be no useless contemplation to observe , after the scriptures had bin ravisht from the people in the church of rome , what pitiful pretenders were admitted to succeed . and first because lay-men were presum'd to be illiterate , and easily seducible by those writings which were in themselves difficult , and would be wrested by the unlearned to their own destruction ; pictures were recommended in their steed , and complemented as the books of the laity , which soon emprov'd into a necessity of their worship , and that gross superstition which renders christianity abominated by turks , and jews , and heathens unto this day . 2. i would not be hasty in charging idolatry upon the church of rome , or all in her communion ; but that their image-worship is a most fatal snare , in which vast numbers of unhappy souls are taken , no man can doubt who hath with any regard travail'd in popish countries . i my self , and thousands of others , whom the late troubles , or other occasions sent abroad , are and have bin witnesses thereof . charity , 't is true , believes all things , but it do's not oblige men to disbelieve their eies . 't was the out-cry of micah against the danites , jud. 18. 24. ye have taken away my gods which i have made , and the priest , and are gon away , and what have i more ? but the laity of the roman communion may enlarge the complaint , and say ; you have taken away the oracles of our god , and set up every where among us graven and molten images , and teraphims , and what have we more ? and 't was lately the loud , and i doubt me is still , the unanswerable complaint of the poor americans , that they were deni'd to worship their pagod once in the year , when they who forbad them , worship'd theirs every day . 3. the jews before the captivity , notwithstanding the recent memory of the miracles in egypt and the wilderness , and the first conquest of the land of canaan with those that succeeded under the judges and kings of israel and juda ; as also the express command of god , and the menaces of prophets , ever and anon fell to downright idolatry : but after their return unto this day , have kept themselves from falling into that sin , tho they had no prophets to instruct them , no miracles or government to encourage or constrain them . the reason of which a very learned man in his discourse of religious assemblies takes to be , the reading and teaching of the law in their synagogues ; which was perform'd with great exactness after the return from the captivity , but was not so perform'd before . and may we not invert the observation , and impute the image-worship now set up in the christian church , to the forbidding the reading of the scriptures in the churches , and interdicting the privat use , and institution in them ? 4. for a farther supplement in place of the scriptures , whose history was thought not edifying enough , the legends of the saints were introduc'd ; stories so stupid , that one would imagin them design'd as an experiment how far credulity could be impos'd upon ; or else fram'd to a worse intent , that christianity by them might be made ridiculous . yet these are recommended to use and veneration , while in the mean time the word of god is utterly forbidden , whereby the parties to this unhappy practice ( that i may speak in the words of the prophet jerem. 2. 13. ) have committed two evils , they have for saken the fountain of living waters , aud hewed them out cisterns , broken cisterns that can hold no water . 5. farther yet , the same unreasonable tyranny which permitted not the laity to understand almighty god speaking to them in the scripture ; hinder'd them from being suffer'd to understand the church or themselves speaking to him in their praiers ; whilst the whole roman office is so dispos'd , that in defiance of the apostles discourse , 1 cor. 14. he that occupies the room of the unlearned must say amen , to those praiers and praises which he has no comprehension of : and by his endless repetitions of paters , ave's and credo's , falls into that battology reprov'd by our savior , mat. 6. 7. and as 't was said to the woman of samaria , jo. 4. 22. knows not what he worships . yet this unaccountable practice is so much the darling of that church , that when in france about eighteen years since , the roman missal was translated into the vulgar tongue , and publish'd by the direction of several of their bishops ; the clergy of france rose up in great fury against the attemt , anathematizing in their circular epistles , all that sold , read , or us'd the said book : and upon complaint unto pope alex. the 7. he resented the matter so deeply , as to issue out his bull against it in the following words . 6. whereas sons of perdition , endevoring the destruction of souls , have translated the roman missal into the french tongue , and so attemted to throw down and trample upon the majesty of the holy rites comprehended in latin words : as we abominate and detest the novelty , which will deform the beauty of the church , and produce disobedience , temerity , boldness , sedition and schism ; so we condemn , reprobate and forbid , the said and all other such translations , and interdict the reading , and keeping , to all and singular the faithful , of whatever sex , degree , order ; condition , dignity , honor , or preeminence , &c. under pain of excommunication . and we command the copies to be immediatly burnt , &c. so mortal a sin it seems 't was tought for the laity to understand the praiers in which they must communicate . 7. nor is this all ; agreeable to the other attemts upon the holy scripture , was the bold insolence of making a new authentic text , in that unknown tongue in which the offices of praier had bin , and were to be kept disguis'd ; which was don by the decree of the council of trent in the fourth session . but when the council had given this prerogative to the version which it call'd vulgar , the succeeding popes began to consider what that version was ; and this work pius the fourth and fifth set upon , but prevented by death fail'd to complete it , so that the honor of the performance fell to sixtus the fifth , who in the plenitude of his apostolic power ( the translation being reform'd to his mind ) commanded it to be that genuine ancient edition , which the trent fathers had before made authentic , and under the pain of excommunication requir'd it to be so received : which he do's in this form . of our certain knowledg , and the plenitude of apostolic power , we order and declare that vulgar edition which has hin receiv'd for authentic by the council of trent , is without doubt or controversy to be esteem'd this very one , which being amended as well as it is possible , and printed at the vatican press , we publish to be read in the whole christian republic , and in all churches of the christian world . decreeing that it having bin approv'd by the consent of the holy universal church , and the holy fathers , and then by the decree of the general council of trent , and now by the apostolic authority deliver'd to us by the lord ; is the true , legitimate , authentic , and undoubted , which is to be received and held in all public and privat disputations , lectures , preachings , and expositions , &c. but notwithstanding this certain knowledg , and plenitude of apostolic power , soon after came clement the eighth , and again resumes the work of his predecessor sixtus , discovers great and many errors in it , and puts out one more reform'd , yet confest by himself to be imperfect ; which now stands for the authentic text , and carries the title of the bible put forth by sixtus , notwithstanding all its alterations . so well do's the roman church deserve the honor which she pretends to , of being the mistress of all churches ; and so infallible is the holy chair in its determinations : and lastly , so authentic a transcript of the word of god ( concerning which 't is said , mat. 5. 18. one jot or one title shall not fail ) is that which she establisht , and that has receiv'd so many , and yet according to the confession of the infallible corrector , wants still more alterations . 8. dependent upon this , and as great a mischief as any of the former , consequent to the with-drawing of the scripture , i take to be the step it made to the overthrow of the ancient and most useful disciplin of the church in point of penance , whose rigors alwaies heretofore preceded the possibility of having absolution . now of this we know a solemn part was the state of audience , when the lapst person was receiv'd after long attendance without dores , prostrations , and lamentations there , within the entrance of the church ; and was permitted with the catechumens or candidats of baptism , to hear the readings of the scripture , and stay till praier began , but then depart . he was oblig'd to hear the terrors of the lord , the threats of the divine law against sin and sinners , to stand among the unbaptiz'd and heathen multitude , and learn again the elements of that holy faith from which he had prevaricated ; and so in time be render'd capable of the devotions of the faithful , and afterward the reception of the eucharist . but when the scriptures were thought useless or dangerous to be understood and heard , it was consequent that the state of audience should be cut off from penance , and that the next to it , upon the self-same principle should be dismist : and so the long probation formerly requir'd should be supplanted ; and the compendious way of pardoning first , and repenting afterwards , the endless circle of sinning and being absolv'd , and then sinning and being absolv'd again , should prevail upon the church . which still obtains , notwithstanding the complaints , and irrefragable demonstrations of learned men even of the romish communion , who plainly shew this now receiv'd method , to be an innovation groundless and unreasonable , and most pernicious in its consequents . 9. and , by the way , we may take notice that there cannot be a plainer evidence of the judgment of the church , concerning the necessity of the scriptures being known , not only by the learned but mean christian , and the interest they have therein ; then is the ancient course of penance , establisht by the practice of all the first ages , and almost as many councils , whether general or local , as have decreed any thing concerning disciplin ; with the penitentiary books and canons , which were written for the first eleven hundred years in the whole christian world . for if even the unbaptiz'd catechumen , and the lapst sinner , notwithstanding their slender knowledg in the mysteries of faith , or frail pretence to the privilege thereof : had a right to the state of audience , and was oblig'd to hear the scripture read ; surely the meanest unobnoxious laic , was in as advantagious circumstances , and might not only be trusted with the reading of those sacred books , but might claim them as his birth-right . 10. i may justly , over and above what has bin hitherto alleg'd , impute to the governors of the same church , and their withholding from the laity the holy scripture ; the many dangerous errors , gross ignorances , and scandalous immoralities which have prevail'd among them both . it is no new method of divine vengeance , that there should be like people , like priest , hos. 4. 9. and that the idol shepherd who led his flock into the ditch , should fall therein himself , mat. 15. 14. and as the prophet zachary describes it , c. 11. 17. the sword shall be upon his arm , and upon his right eie : his arm shall be clean dried up , and his right eie shall be utterly darkned . 11. but no consequence can be more obviously deducible from that practice , then that men should justify the with-holding of the scripture , by lessening its credit , and depreciating its worth : which has occasion'd those reproches which by the writers of the church of rome , of best note , have bin cast upon it . as that it was a nose of wax , a leaden rule , a deaf and useless deputy to god in the office of a judg ; of less autority then the roman church , and of no more credit then esops fables , but for the testimony of the said church ; that they contain things apt to raise laughter or indignation , that the latin translation in the complutensian bible is placed between the hebrew text , and the septuagint version , as our savior was at his crucifixion between two thieves ; and that the vulgar edition is of such autority that the originals ought to be mended by it , rather then it should be mended from them : which are the complements of cardinal bellarmin , hosius , eckius , perron , ximenes , coqueus , and others of that communion : words to be answer'd by a thunderbolt , and fitter for the mouth of a celsus or a porphyrie , then of the pious sons , and zealous champions of the church of christ. 12. 't is to be expected that the romanists should now wipe their mouths , and plead not guilty ; telling us that they permit the scripture to the laity in their mother tongue : and to that purpose the fathers of rhemes and doway have publisht an english bible for those of their communion . i shall therefore give a short and plain account of the whole affair , as really it stands , and then on gods name let the romanist make the best of their apology . 13. the fourth rule of the index of prohibited books compos'd upon the command and auspice of the council of trent , and publish'd by the autority of pius the fourth , sixtus the fifth , and clement the eighth , runs thus ; since 't is manifest by experience , that if the holy bible be suffer'd promiscuously in the vulgar tongue , such is the temerity of men , that greater detriment then advantage will thence arise ; in this matter let the judgment of the bishop or inquisitor be stood to : that with the advice of the curat or confessor , they may give leave for the reading of the bible in the vulgar tongue , translated by catholics , to such as they know will not receive damage , but increase of faith and piety thereby . which faculty they shall have in writing ; and whosoever without such faculty shall presume to have or to read the bible , he shall not till he have deliver'd it up , receive absolution of his sins . now ( to pass over the iniquity of obliging men to ask leave to do that which god almighty commands ) when 't is consider'd how few of the laity can make means to the bishop or inquisitor , or convince them , or the curat or confessor , that they are such who will not receive damage , but encrease of faith and piety by the reading of the scripture ; and also have interest to prevail with them for their favor herein : and after all can and will be at the charge of taking out the faculty , which is so penally requir'd : 't is easy to guess what thin numbers of the laity are likely , or indeed capable of reaping benefit by this indulgence pretended to be allowed them . 14. but , besides all this , what shall we say , if the power it self of giving licences be a mere shew , and really signifies just nothing ? in the observation subjoin'd to this fourth rule it is declar'd , that the impression and edition thereof gives no new faculty to bishops , or inquisitors , or superiors of regulars to grant licences of buying , reading , or retaining bibles publisht in a vulgar tongue ; since hitherto by the command and practice of the holy roman and universal inquisition , the power of giving such faculties , to read or retain vulgar bibles , or any parts of scripture of the old or new testament , in any vulgar tongue ; or also summaries , or historical compendiums of the said bibles or books of scripture , in whatsoever tongue they are written , has bin taken away . and sure if a lay-man cannot read the bible without a faculty , and it is not in any ones power to grant it ; 't will evidently follow that he cannot read it : and so the pretence of giving liberty , owns the shame of openly refusing it , but has no other effect or consequence . and if any romanist among us , or in any other protestant country enjoies any liberty herein , 't is merely by connivance , and owed to a fear least the votary would be lost , and take the bible where it was without difficulty to be had , if strictness should be us'd . and should popery , which god forbid , become paramount ; the translations of the scripture into our mother tongues , would be no more endur'd here , then they are in spain : and they who have formerly bin wary in communicating the scriptures ; remembring how thereby their errors have bin detected , would upon a revolution effectually provide for the future , and be sure to keep their people in an egyptian darkness , that might it self be felt , but that allow'd the notices of no other object . they would not be content with that composition of the ammonite , to thrust out all the right eies of those that submitted to them , 1 sam. 11. 2. but would put out both ; as the philistins did to samson , that they might make their miserable captives for ever grind in their mill , jud. 16. 21. 15. but this heaviest of judgments will never fall upon the reform'd churches , till by their vicious practice and contemt of the divine law , they have deserted their profession ; and made themselves utterly unworthy of the blessings they enjoy , and the light of that gospel which with noon-day brightness has shin'd among them . upon which account , i suppose it may not be impertinent in the next place to subjoin som plain directions , and cautionary advices , concerning the use of these sacred books . sect . viii . necessary cautions to be us'd in the reading of the holy scriptures . it is a common observation : that the most generous and sprightly medicins are the most unsafe ; if not appli'd with due care and regimen : and the remark holds as well in spiritual as corporal remedies . the apostle asserts it upon his own experience , that the doctrin of the gospel , which was to som the savor of life unto life , was to others the savor of death , 2 cor. 2. 15. and the same effect that the oral word had then , the written word may have now ; not that either the one or the other have any thing in them that is of it self mortiferous , but becomes so by the ill disposition of the persons who so pervert it . it is therefore well worth our inquiry , what qualifications on our part are necessary to make the word be to us what it is in it self , the power of god unto salvation , rom. 1. 16. of these som are previous before our reading , som are concomitant with it , and som are subsequent and follow after it . 2. of those that go before , sincerity is a most essential requisit : by sincerity , i mean an upright intention , by which we direct our reading to that proper end for which the holy scriptures were design'd ; viz. the knowing gods will in order to the practicing it . this honest simplicity of heart is that which christ represents by the good ground , where alone it was that the seed could fructify , mat. 13. 8. and he that brings not this with him , brings only the shadow of a disciple . the word of god , is indeed , sharper then a two-edged sword , heb. 4. 12. but what impression can a sword make on a body of air ; which still slips from , and eludes its thrusts ? and as little can all the practical discourses of holy writ make on him , who brings only his speculative faculties with him , and leaves his will and affections behind him ; which are the only proper subjects for it to work on . 3. to this we may probably impute that strange inefficaciousness we see of the word . alas , men rarely apply it to the right place : our most inveterat diseases lie in our morals ; and we suffer the medicin to reach no farther then our intellects . as if he that had an ulcer in his bowels should apply all his balsoms and sanatives only to his head . 't is true , the holy scriptures are the tresuries of divine wisdom ; the oracles to which we should resort for saving knowledg : but they are also the rule and guide of holy life : and he that covets to know gods will for any purpose but to practice it , is only studious to entitle himself to the greater number of stripes , luk. 12. 47. 4. nay farther , he that affects only the bare knowledg , is oft disappointed even of that . the scripture , like the pillar of fire and cloud , enlightens the israelites , those who sincerely resign themselves to its guidance ; but it darkens and confounds the egyptians , ex. 14. 20. and 't is frequently seen , that those who read only to become knowing , are toll'd on by their curiosity into the more abstruse and mysterious parts of scripture , where they entangle themselves in inextricable mazes and confusions ; and instead of acquiring a more superlative knowledg , loose those easy and common notions which lie obvious to every plain well meaning reader . i fear this age affords too many , and too frequent instances of this ; in men who have lost god in the midst of his word , and studied scripture till they have renounc'd its author . 5. and sure this infatuation is very just , and no more then god himself has warn'd us of , who takes the wise in their own craftiness , job . 5. 12. but appropriates his secrets only to them that fear him , and has promis'd to teach the meek his way , psal. 25. 9. 14. and this was the method christ observ'd in his preaching ; unveiling those truths to his disciples , which to the scribes and pharisees , his inquisitive , yet refractory hearers , he wrapt up in parables : not that he dislik'd their desire of knowledg , but their want of sincerity : which is so fatal a defect as blasts our pursuits , tho of things in themselves never so excellent . this we find exemplifi'd in simon magus , acts 8. who tho he coveted a thing in itself very desirable , the power of conferring the holy ghost , yet desiring it not only upon undue conditions , but for sinister ends , he not only mist of that , but was ( after all his convincement by the apostles miracles , and the engagement of his baptism ) immerst in the gall of bitterness ; and at last advanc'd to that height of blasphemy , as to set up himself for a god ; so becoming a lasting memento , how unsafe it is to prevaricate in holy things . 6. but as there is a sincerity of the will in order to practice , so there is also a sincerity of the understanding in order to belief ; and this is also no less requisit to the profitable reading of scripture . i mean by this , that we come with a preparation of mind , to embrace indifferently , whatever god there reveles as the object of our faith : that we bring our own opinions , not as the clue by which to unfold scripture , but to be tried and regulated by it . the want of this has bin of very pernicious consequence in matters both of faith and speculation . men are commonly prepossest strongly with their own notions , and their errand to scripture is not to lend them light to judg of them , but aids to back and defend them . 7. of this there is no book of controversy that do's not give notorious proof . the socinian can easily over-look the beginning of saint john , that saies , the word was god , jo. 1. 1. and all those other places which plainly assert the deity of our savior ; if he can but divert to that other more agreeable text , that the father is greater then i. among the romanists , peters being said to be first among the apostles , mat. 10. 2 , and that on that rock christ would build his church , mat. 16. 18. carries away all attention from those other places where saint paul saies he was not behind the very chiefest of the apostles , 2 cor. 11. 5. that upon him lay the care of all the churches , 2 cor. 11. 28. and that the church was not built upon the foundation of som one , but all the twelve apostles , revel . 21. 14. so it fares in the business of the eucharist : this is my body , mat. 26. 26. carries it away clear for transubstantiation , when our saviors calling that which he drunk the fruit of the vine , mat. 26. 29. and then saint pauls naming the elements in the lords supper several times over bread and wine ; the bread that we break , is it not the communion of the body of christ : the cup that we bless , is it not the communion , & 1 cor. 10. 16. and again , he that eats this bread , and drinks this cup unworthily , &c. 1 cor. 11. 29. can make no appearance of an argument . 8. thus men once engag'd ransac for texts that carry som correspondency to the opinions they have imbibed ; and those how do they rack and scrue to bring to a perfect conformity ; and improve every little probability into a demonstration ? on the other side , the contrary texts they look on as enemies , and consider them no farther then to provide fences and guards against them : so they bring texts not into the scales to weigh , but into the field to skirmish , as partizans and auxiliaries of such or such opinions . 9. by this force of prepossession it is , that that sacred rule , which is the mesure and standard of all rectitude , is it self bow'd and distorted to countenance and abet the most contrary tenets : and like a variable picture , represents differing shapes according to the light in which you view it . and sure we cannot do it a worse office then to represent it thus dissonant to it self . yet thus it must still be till men come unbiast to the reading of it . and certainly there is all the reason in the world they should do so : the ultimate end of our faith is but the salvation of our souls , 1 pet. 1. 9. and we may be sure the scripture can best direct us what faith it is which will lead us to that end . 10. why should we not then have the same indifference which a traveller hath , whether his way lie on this hand or that ; so as it be the direct road to his journies end ? for altho it be infinitly material that i embrace right principles , yet 't is not so that this should be right rather then the other : and our wishes that it should be so , proceed only from our prepossessions and fondness of our own conceptions , then which nothing is more apt to intercept the clear view of truth . it therefore nearly concerns us to deposit them , and to give up our selves without reserve to the guidance of gods word , and give it equal credit when it thwarts , as when it complies with our own notions . 11. without this , tho we may call scripture the rule of faith , and judg of controversies ; yet 't is manifest we make it not so , but reserve still the last appeal to our own prejudicat phancies : and then no wonder , tho we fall under the same occaecation which our savior upbraids to the jews , that seeing , we see not , neither do we understand , mat. 13. 14. for he that will not be sav'd gods way , will hardly be so by his own . he that resolves not impartially to embrace all the scriptures dictats , comes to them as unsincerely , as the remnant of the jews did to jeremiah to inquire of the lord for them , which he no sooner had don , but they protest against his message , jer. 42. 20. and may expect as fatal an event . 12. but there are a set of men who deal yet more insincerely with the word ; that read it insidiously : on purpose to collect matter of objection and cavil : that with a malicious diligence compare texts in hope to find contradictions ; and read attentively , but to no other end then to remark incoherences and defects in the stile : which when they think they have started , they have their design ; and never will use a quarter of the same diligence in considering how they may be solv'd , or consulting with those who may assist them in it . for i think i may appeal to the generality of those who have rais'd the loudest clamors against the scripture , whether they have endeavor'd to render themselves competent judges of it by inquiring into the originals , or informing themselves of those local customs , peculiar idioms , and many other circumstances , by which obscure texts are to be clear'd . and tho i do not affirm it necessary to salvation that every man should do this ; yet i may affirm it necessary to him that will pretend to judg of the bible : and he that without this condems it , do's it as manifest injury , as a judg that should pass sentence only upon the indictment , without hearing the defence . 13. and certainly there cannot be any thing more unmanly and disingenuous , then for men to inveigh and condemn before they inquire and examin . yet this is the thing upon which so many value themselves , assuming to be men of reason , for that for which the scripture pronounces them brute beasts , viz. the speaking evil of those things they understand not , 2 pet. 2. 12. would men use due diligence , no doubt many of those seeming contradictions would be reconcil'd , and the obscurities clear'd : and if any should after all remain , he might find twenty things fitter to charge it on , then want of verity or discourse in the inspir'd writers . 14. alas what human writing is there of near that antiquity , wherein there are not many passages unintelligible ? and indeed , unless modern times knew all those national customs , obsolete laws , particular rites and ceremonies , phrases and proverbial sayings , to which such ancient books refer , 't is impossible but som passages must remain obscure . yet in these we ordinarily have so much candor , as to impute their unintelligibleness to our own ignorance of those things which should clear them , the improprieties of stile , to the variation that times make in dialects , or to the errors of scribes , and do not presently exclame against the authors as false or impertinent , or discard the whole book for som such passages . 15. and sure what allowances we make to other books , may with more reason be made to the bible ; which having bin writ so many ages since , past thro infinit variety of hands , and ( which is above all ) having bin the object of the devils , and wicked mens malice , lies under greater disadvantages then any human composure : and doubtless men would be as equitable to that as they are to others , were it not that they more wish to have that false or irrational then any other book . the plain parts of it , the precepts and threatnings speak clearer then they desire , gall and fret them ; and therefore they will revenge themselves upon the obscurer : and seem angry that there are som things they understand not , when indeed their real displesure is at those they do . 16. a second qualification preparatory to reading the scripture is reverence . when we take the bible in our hands , we should do it with other sentiments and apprehensions then when we take a common book ; considering that it is the word of god , the instrument of our salvation ; or upon our abuse of it a promoter of our ruin . 17. and sure this if duly apprehended . cannot but strike us with a reverential awe . make us to say with jacob , gen. 28. 17. surely god is in this place ; controle all trifling phancies , and make us read , not for custom or divertisement , but with those solemn and holy intentions which become the dignity of its author . accordingly we find holy men have in all ages bin affected with it , and som to the inward reverence of the mind , have join'd the outward of the body also , and never read it but upon their knees : an example that may both instruct and reproach our profaness ; who commonly read by chance , and at aventure : if a bible happen in our way , we take it up as we would do a romance , or play-book ; only herein we differ , that we dismiss it much sooner , and retain less of its impressions . 18 it was a law of numa , that no man should meddle with divine things , or worship the gods , in passing , or by accident , but make it a set and solemn business . and every one knows with how great ceremony and solemnity the heathen oracles were consulted . how great a shame is it then for christians to defalk that reverence from the true god , which heathens allow'd their false ones ? 19. now this proceeds somtimes from the want of that habitual reverence we should alwaies have to it as gods word , and somtimes from want of actual exciting it , when we go to read : for if the habit lie only dormant in us , and be not awak'd by actual consideration , it avails us as little in our reading , as the habitual strength of a man do's towards labor , when he will not exert it for that end . 20. we ought therefore , as to make it our deliberat choice to read gods word ; so when we do it , to stir up our selves to those solemn apprehensions of its dignity and autority , as may render us malleable , and apt to receive its impressions : for where there is no reverence , 't is not to be expected there should be any genuine or lasting obedience . 21. saint austin in his tract to honoratus , of the advantage of believing , makes the first requisit to the knowledg of the scriptures to be the love of them . believe me , saies he , every thing in the scripture is sublime and divine , its truth and doctrin are most accommodate to the refreshment , and building up of our minds : and in all respects so order'd , that every one may draw thence what is sufficient for him ; provided he approach it with devotion , piety , and religion . the proof of this may require much reasoning and discourse . but this i am first to perswade , that you do not hate the authors , and then that you love them . had we an ill opinion of virgil , nay , if upon the account of the reputation he has gain'd with our predecessors , we did not greatly love , before we understood him ; we should never patiently go thro all the difficult questions grammarians raise about him . many employ themselves in commenting upon him ; we esteem him most , whose exposition most commends the book , and shews that the author , not only was free from error , but did excellently well where he is not understood . and if such an account happen not to be given , we impute it rather to the interpreter then the poet. 22. thus the good father ; whose words i have transcrib'd at large , as being remarkable to the present purpose ; he also shews that the mind of no author is to be learnt from one averse to his doctrin : as that 't is vain to enquire of aristotles books from one of a different sect : or of archimedes from epicurus : the discourse will be as displeasing as the speaker ; and that shall be esteem'd absurd , which comes from one that is envi'd or despis'd . 23. a third preparative to our reading should be praier . the scripture as it was dictated at first by the holy spirit , so must still owe its effects and influence to its cooperation . the things of god , the apostle tells us , are spiritually discern'd , 1 cor. 2. 14. and tho the natural man may well enough apprehend the letter , and grammatical sense of the word ; yet its power and energy , that insinuative perswasive force whereby it works on hearts , is peculiar to the spirit ; and therefore without his aids , the scripture whilst it lies open before our eies , may still be as a book that is seal'd , esai . 29. 11. be as ineffective as if the characters were illegible . 24. besides our savior tells us the devil is still busy to steal away the seed as soon as it is sown , mat. 13. 17. and unless we have som better guard then our own vigilance , he is sure enough to prosper in his attemt . let it therefore be our care to invoke the divine aid ; and when ever we take the bible into our hands , to dart up at least a hearty ejaculation , that we may find its effects in our hearts . let us say with holy david , open thou mine eies o lord , that i may see the wondrous things of thy law. blessed art thou o lord , o teach me thy statutes , ps. 119. nay indeed 't wil be fit matter of a daily solemn devotion , as our church has made it an annual in the collect on the second sunday in advent : a praier so apt and fully expressive of what we should desire in this particular , that if we transcribe not only the example , but the very words , i know not how we can form that part of our devotion more advantageously . 25. in the second place we are to consider what is requir'd of us at the time of reading the scripture ; which consists principally in two things . the first of these is attention , which is so indispensably requisit , that without it all books are alike , and all equally insignificant : for he that adverts not to the sense of what he reads , the wisest discourses signify no more to him , then the most exquisit music do's to a man perfectly deaf . the letters and syllables of the bible are no more sacred then those of another book ; 't is the sense and meaning only that is divinely inspir'd : and he that considers only the former , may as well entertain himself with a spelling-book . 26. we must therefore keep our minds fixt and attent to what we read : 't is a folly and lightness not to do so in human authors ; but 't is a sin and danger not to do so in this divine book . we know there can scarce be a greater instance of contemt and disvalue , then to hear a man speak , and not at all mind what he saies : yet this vilest affront do all those put upon god , who hear or read his word , and give it no attention . yet i fear the practice is not more impious then it is frequent : for there are many that read the bible , who if at the end of each chapter they should be call●d to account , i doubt they could produce very slender collections : and truly 't is a sad consideration , that that sacred book is read most attentively by those , who read it as som preach the gospel , phil. 1. 15. out of ●●vy and strife . how curiously do men inspect , nay ransac and embowel a text to find a pretence for cavil and objection , whilst men who profess to look there for life and salvation . read with such a retchless heedlesness , as if it could tell them nothing they were concern'd in : and to such 't is no wonder if their reading bring no advantage . god is not in this sense found of those that seek him not , esai . 65. 1. 't is satans part to serve himself of the bare words and characters of holy writ , for charms and amulets : the vertue god has put there consists in the sense and meaning , and can never be drawn out by drousy inadverting readers . 27. this unattentiveness fore-stalls all possibility of good . how shall that convince the understanding , or perswade the affections , which do's not so much as enter the imagination . so that in this case the seed seems more cast away then in any of those instances the parable gives , mat. 13. in those it still fell upon the soil , but in this it never reaches that ; but is scatter'd and dissipated , as with a mighty wind , by those thoughts which have prepossess'd the mind . let no man therefore take this sacred book into his hand , till he have turn'd out all distracting phancies , and have his faculties free and vacant for those better objects which will there present themselves . and when he has so dispos'd himself for attention , then let him contrive to improve that attention to the best advantage . 28. to which purpose it may be very conducive to put it into som order and method . as for instance , when he reads the doctrinal part of scripture , let him first and principally advert to those plain texts which contain the necessary points of faith : that he may not owe his creed only to his education , the institution of his parents or tutors ; but may know the true foundation on which it is bottom'd , viz. the word of god , and may thence be able to justify his faith : and as saint peter exhorts , be ready to give an answer to every man that asks him a reason of the hope that is in him , 1 pet. 3. 15. for want of this it is , that religion sits so loose upon men , that every wind of doctrin blows them into distinct and various forms ; till at last their christianity it self vapors away and disappears . 29. but let men be careful thus to secure the foundation , and then 't will be commendable in them ( who are capable of it ) to aspire to higher degrees of speculation ; yet even in these it will be their safest course chiefly to pursue such as have the most immediat influence on practice , and be more industrious to make observations of that sort , then curious and critical remarks , or bold conjectures upon those mysteries on which god has spread a veil . 30. but besides a mans own particular collections , it will be prudence in him to advantage himself of those of others , and to consult the learned'st and best expositors ; and that not only upon a present emergency , when he is to dispute a point , ( as most do ) but in the constant course of this reading , wherein he will most sedatly , and dispassionatly judg of the notions they offer . 31. as to the choice of the portions of scripture to be read in course , tho i shall not condemn that of reading the whole bible in order , yet 't is apparent that som parts of it ( as that of the levitical law ) are not so aptly accommodated to our present state , as others are ; and consequently not so edificatory to us : and therefore i cannot see why any man should oblige himself to an equal frequency in reading them . and to this our church seems to give her suffrage ; by excluding such out of her public lessons . and if we govern our privat reading by her mesures , it will well express our deference to her judgment ; who has selected som parts of scripture , not that she would keep her children in ignorance of any , but because they tend most immediatly to practice . 32. neither will the daily reading the scripture in the rubricks order , hinder any man from acquainting himself with the rest . for he may take in the other parts as supernumeraries to his constant task , and read them as his leisure and inclination shall promt . so that all the hurt that can accrue to him by this method , is the being invited to read somtimes extraordinary proportions . 33. if it be objected , that to those who daily hear the church service , 't will be a kind of tautology , first to read those lessons in privat , which soon after they shall hear read publicly , i answer that whatever men may please to call it , 't will really be an advantage : for he that shall read a chapter by himself with due consideration , and consulting of good paraphrasts , will have div'd so far into the sense of it , that he will much better comprehend it when he hears it read : as on the other side , the hearing it read so immediatly after will serve to confirm and rivet the sense in his mind . the one is as the conning , the other the repeating the lesson ; which every schole-boy can tell us is best don at the nearest distance to each other . but i shall not contend for this , or any particular method ; let the scripture be read in proportion to every mans leisure and capacity , and read with attention ; and we need not be scrupulous about circumstances , when the main duty is secur'd . 34. but as in the doctrinal , so in the preceptive part , there is a caution to be us'd in our attention . for we are to distinguish between those temporary precepts that were adapted to particular times and occasions , and such as are of perpetual obligation . he that do's not this may bring himself under the jewish law , or believe a necessity of selling all and giving it to the poor because 't was christs command to the rich man , mat. 19. or incur other considerable mischiefs . 35. thus frequently commands are put in comprehensive indefinite words , but concern only the generality to whom the law is written ; and not those who are entrusted with the vindication of their contemt . accordingly 'tis said , thou shalt not kill , mark. 10. 19. which concerns the private person ; but extends not to the magistrate in the execution of his office , who is a revenger appointed by god , and hears not the sword in vain . rom. 13. 4. so the injunction not to swear at all , mat. 5. 34 refers to the common transactions of life ; but not those solemn occasions where an oath is to give glory to god , and is the end of all strife , heb. 9. 16. yet these mistakes at this day prevail with anabaptists and quakers , and bottom their denial of the magistrates power to protect his subjects by war ; and to determin differences in peace , by the oath of witnesses in judicial proceedings . 36. there is another distinction we are to attend to ; and that is between absolute and primary commands , and secundary ones : the former we are to set a special remark upon , as those upon whose observance or violation our eternal life or death inseparably depends . and therefore our first and most solicitous care must be concerning them . i mention this , not to divert any from aspiring to the highest degrees of perfection : but to reprove that preposterous course many take , who lay the greatest weight upon those things on which god laies the least ; and have more zeal for oblique intimations , then for express downright commands ; nay think by the one to commute for the contemt of the other . for example , fasting is recommended to us in scripture , but in a far lower key then moral duties : rather as an expedient and help to vertue , then as properly a vertue it self . and yet we may see men scrupulous in that , who startle not at injustice , and oppression ( that clamorous sin that cries to heaven ) who pretend to mortify their appetites by denying it its proper food , or being luxurious in one sort of it ; and yet glut their avarice , eat up the poor , and devour widows houses , mat. 23. 37. to such as these 't would be good advice to fix their attention on the absolute commands , to study moral honesty , and the essentials of christianity ; to make a good progress there , and do what god indispensably requires : and then it may be seasonable to think of voluntary oblations : but till then they are so far from homage , that they are the most reprochful flattery ; an attemt to bribe god against himself ; and a sacrilege , like that of dionysius ; who took away apollo's golden robe , and gave him a stuff one . 38. the second thing requisit in our reading is application : this is the proper end of our attention : and without this we may be very busy to very little purpose . the most laborious attention without it , puts us but in the condition of those poor slaves that labor in the mines : who with infinit toil dig that ore of which they shall never partake . if therefore we will appropriate that rich tresure , we must apply , and so make it our own . 39. let us then at every period of holy writ , reflect and look on our selves as the persons spoke to . when we find philip giving baptism to the eunuch upon this condition that he believe with all his heart , act. 8. let us consider that unless we do so ; our baptism ( like a thing surreptitiously obtain'd ) conveis no title to us ; will avail us nothing . 40. when we read our saviours denunciation to the jews , except ye repent , ye shall all likewise perish ; lu. 13. 5. we are to look on it as if addrest immediatly to our selves ; and conclude as great a necessity of our repentance . in those black catalogues of crimes which the apostle mentions , 1 cor. 6. 10. and gal. 5. 19 , 20 , 21. as excluding from the kingdom of heaven , we are to behold our own guilts arraign'd , and to resolve that the same crimes will as certainly shut heaven gates against us , as those to whom those epistles were immediatly directed . in all the precepts of good life , and christian vertue , we are to think our selves as nearly and particularly concern'd , as if we had bin christs auditors on the mount. so proportionably in all the threats and promises we are either to tremble or hope , according as we find our selves adhere to those sins or vertues to which they are affixt . 41. this close application would render what we read operative and effective , which without it will be useless and insignificant . we may see an instance of it in david ; who was not at all convinc'd of his own guilt by nathans parable ( tho the most apposite that was imaginable ) till he roundly appli'd it , saying , thou art the man : 2 sam. 12. and unless we treat our selves at the same rate , the scripture may fill our heads with high notions , nay with many speculative truths , which yet amounts to no more then the devils theology , ja. 2. 19. and will as little advantage us . 42. it now remains that we speak of what we are to do after our reading ; which may be summ'd up in two words : recollect and practice . our memories are very frail as to things of this nature . and therefore we ought to impress them as deep as we can , by reflecting on what we have read . it is an observation out of the levitical law , that those beasts only were clean , and fit for sacrifice , that chew'd the cud , lev. 11. 4. and tho the ceremony were jewish , the moral is christian , and admonishes us how we should revolve and ruminate on spiritual instructions . without this what we hear or read slips insensibly from us , and like letters writ in chalk , is wip●t out by the next succeeding thought : but recollection engraves and indents the characters in the mind . and he that would duly use it , would find other manner of impressions ; more affective and more lasting , then bare reading will leave . 43. we find it thus in all sciences : he that only reads over the rules , and laies aside the thoughts of them together with his book , will make but a slow advance ; whilest he that plods and studies upon them , repetes and reinforces them upon his mind , soon arrives to an eminency . by this it was that david attain'd to that perfection in gods law as to out-strip his teachers , and understand more then the ancients , ps. 119. 99 , 100. because it was his meditation as himself tells us , ver . 97 , 99. 44. let us therefore pursue the same method ; and when we have read a portion of scripture , let us recollect what observable things we have there met with : what exhortations to vertue , or determents from vice ; what promises to obedience , or menaces for the contrary : what examples of gods vengeance against such or such sins , or what instances of his blessing upon duties . if we do this daily , we cannot but amass together a great stock of scripture documents , which will be ready for us to produce upon every occasion . satan can assault us no where , but we shall be provided of a guard , a scriptum est ; which we see was the sole armor the captain of our salvation us'd in his encounter with him . mat. 4. ver . 4 , 7 , and 10. and will be as successful to us , if we will duly manage it . 45. the last thing requir'd as consequent to our reading , is practice . this is the ultimate end , to which all the fore-going qualifications are directed . and if we fail here , the most assiduous diligence in all the former will be but lost labor . let us mean never so well , attend never so close , recollect never so exactly ; if after all we do not practise , all the rest will serve but to enhance our guilt . christianity is an active science , and the bible was given us not merely for a theme of speculation , but for a rule of life . 46. and alas , what will it avail us that our opinions are right , if our manners be crooked ? when the scripture has shew'd us what god requires of us , nay , has evinc'd to us the reasonableness of the injunctions , the great agreeableness which they have to the excellency of our nature : and has backt this with the assurance that in keeping of them there shall be a great reward , ps. 19. 11. if in the midst of such importunate invitations to life we will chuse death ; we are indeed worthy , as the wise man speaks , to take part with it , wis. 1. 16. our crimes are hereby increas'd to a monstrous bulk , and also depriv'd of that veil and shelter which darkness and ignorance would have given them . and a vicious christian may have cause at the last day to wish that he had studied the alcoran rather then the bible . his sensualities might then have pleaded , that they were but the anticipating his paradice , taking up that before hand , which his religion propos'd to him as his summum bonum , his final and highest aim . but with what confusion must a christian then appear , whose institution obliges him to mortify the slesh : and yet has made it the business of his life , not only to satisfy , but even to enrage , and enflame its appetites ? that has set up a counter-discipline to that of the gospel he professes ; and when that requires austerities and self-denials , to reduce corrupt nature to a tameness and subjection ; has not only pull'd off the bridle , but us'd the spur ; contriv'd arts to debauch even corruption it self ; and has forc'd his relucting nature upon studied and artificial leudness ? such men may be thought to have read the scripture with no other design but to be sure to run counter to it ; that by informing themselves of gods will , they may know the more exactly how to affront and contradict it . 47. nay , so it is , too many unto malice add contemt ; are not content only sullenly to resist its precepts , but despise and revile them also ; arraign the wisdom of god , and pronounce the divine laws to be weak and impertinent ; lay their scenes of ridiculous mirth in the bible ; rally in the sacred dialect , and play the buffoons with the most serious thing in the world . an impious licentiousness which is now grown to that height , that it is one of the wonders of gods long-suffering , that there are not as many eminent instances of the vengeance , as there are of the guilt . i have formerly complain'd of it , and must still crave leave to do so . it is indeed so spreading an infection , that we can never be sufficiently arm'd against it . som degrees of it have tainted many who have not utterly renounc'd their reverence for the bible : there being those who in their solemn moods own it as gods word and profess they must finally stand or fall by its verdict ; who yet in their jocular humors make light and irreverent applications of its phrases and sentences , furnish out their little jests in its attire , and use it as if they thought it good for nothing else . 48. and certainly this abuse in men that own the bible , is infinitly more monstrous then in those who defy it : the later look on it as a common thing , and use it as such : but for those who confess it sacred , thus to prostitute it , is a flat contradiction as much against the rules of discourse as religion : 't is to offer the same abuse to christ in his word , which the rude soldiers did to his person ; to bow the knee before it , and yet expose it as an object of scorn and laughter . but sure there cannot be two things more inconsistent , then the avowing it to be dictated by god in order to the most important concern of man , and yet debase it to the vilest purposes ; make it the drudg and hackney to our sportful humors , and bring it out as the philistims did samson , only to make us merry , jud. 16. 25. 49. indeed one would wonder how that should become a proper instrument for that purpose , that those doctrins of righteousness , temperance and judgment to come ( every where scatter'd thro that book ) which set heathen felix a trembling , should set christians a laughing : and yet should men cite the same things and phrases out of another author , there would be no jest in it . it seems therefore that the spirit and essence of this sort of wit lies in the profaneness . how absurd is it then for men that do not utterly abjure religion , to affect this impious sort of raillery , which has nothing but daring wickedness to recommend it ? for certainly , of all the waies of discourse that ever pretended to wit , this has the least claim to it . 50. what strength of reason , or height of phancy is there , in repeting of phrases and fragments of books , when what they would say , they might much more properly express in their own words ? in any other instance but this of the bible , it would pass rather for a defect then an excess of wit. but that which i suppose renders it so taking , is , that it is the cheapest expedient for men to arrive to that reputation . men that cannot go to the cost of any thing that is truly ingenious , can by this means immediatly commence wits ; if they can but charge their memories with half a dozen texts , they need no other furniture for the trade : these mangled and transposed , will be ready at all turns , and render them applauded by those who have no other mesure of wit , but its opposition to piety . but would god , men would look a little before them , and consider what the final reckoning will be for such divertisements ; and if the whole world be an unequal exchange for a soul , what a miserable merchant is he that barters his for a bald insipid jest ? such as a sober man would avoid were there no sin in it . 51. i know men are apt to flatter themselves , that these lighter frolics will pass for nothing , so long as they do not seriously and maliciously oppose gods word : but i fear they will find god in earnest , tho they be in jest . he that has magnified his word above all things , psal. 138. 2. cannot brook that we should make it vile and cheap , play and dally with it . and if it were a capital crime to convert any of the perfume of the sanctuary to common use , ex. 30. 32. can we think god can be pleas'd to see his more sacred word , the theme of our giddy mirth , and have his own words echoed to him in profane drollery ? 52. but besides 't is to be consider'd that this wanton liberty is a step to the more solemn and deliberate contemt of gods word : custom do's strangely prescribe to us ; and he that a while has us'd any thing irreverently , will at last bring his practice into argument , and conclude that there is no reverence due to it . god knows we are naturally too apt to slight and easy apprehensions of sacred things ; and had need to use all arts and instruments to impress an awe upon our minds . 53. it will sure then be very unsafe for us to trifle with them , and by so undue a familiarity draw on that contemt which we should make it our care to avoid . the wise man saies , he that contemns small things , shall fall by little and little , eccl. 19. 1. and tho no degree of irreverence towards god or his word , can be call'd a small thing absolutely consider'd , yet comparatively with the more exorbitant degrees it may : and yet that smaller is the seed and parent of the greatest . it is so in all sins ; the kingdom of satan , like that of god , may be compard ' to a grain of mustard seed , mat. 13. 31. which tho little in it self , is mighty in its increase . 54. no man ever yet began at the top of villany , but the advance is still gradual from one degree to another ; each commission smoothing and glibbing the way to the next . he that accustoms in his ordinary discourse , to use the sacred name of god with as little sentiment and reverence , as he do's that of his neighbor or servant ; that makes it his common by-word , and cries lord and god upon every the lightest occasion of exclamation or wonder , this man has a very short step to the using it in oaths , and upon all frivolous occasions ; and he that swears vainly , is at no great distance from swearing falsely . it is the same in this instance of the scriptures : he that indulges his wit to rally with them , will soon come to think them such tame things that he may down-right scorn them : and when he is arriv'd to that , then he must pick quarrels to justify it , till at last he arrive even to the height of enmity . 55. let every man therefore take heed of setting so much as one step in this fatal circle ; guard himself against the first insinuation of this guilt : and when a jest offers it self as a temtation , let him balance that with a sober thought , and consider whether the jest can quit the cost of the profanation . let him possess his mind with an habitual awe , take up the bible with solemner thoughts , and other kind of apprehensions then any human author : and if he habituate himself to this reverence , every clause and phrase of it that occurs to his mind , will be apter to excite him to devout ejaculations then vain laughter . 56. it is reported of our excellent prince , king edward the sixth ; that when in his council chamber , a paper that was call'd for happen'd to lie out of reach , and the person concern'd to produce it , took a bible that lay by , and standing upon it reacht down the paper : the king observing what was don , ran himself to the place , and taking the bible in his hands , kissed it , and laid it up again . of this it were a very desirable moral , that princes , and all persons in autority , would take care not to permit any to raise themselves by either a hypocritical or profane trampling upon holy things . but besides that , a more general application offers its self ; that all men of what condition soever , should both themselves abstain from every action that has the appearance of a contemt of the holy scripture ; and also when they observe it in others , discountenance the insolence : and by their words and actions give testimony of the veneration which they have for that holy book , they see others so wretchedly despise . 57. but above all let him who reads the scripture seriously , set himself to the practice of it , and daily examin how he proceeds in it : he that diligently do's this , will not be much at leisure to sport with it : he will scarce meet with a text which will not give him cause of reflection , and provide him work within his own brest : every duty injoin'd will promt him to examin how he has perform'd ; every sin forbid , will call him to recollect how guilty he has bin , every pathetic strain of devotion will kindle his zeal , or at least upbraid his coldness : every heroic example will excite his emulation . in a word , every part of scripture will , if duly appli'd , contribute to som good and excellent end . and when a thing is proper for such noble purposes , can it be the part of a wise man to apply it only to mean and trivial ? would any but an idiot wast that soveraign liquor in the washing of his feet , which was given him to expel poison from his heart ? and are not we guilty of the like folly when we apply gods word to serve only a ludicrous humor : and make our selves merry with that which was design'd for the most serious and most important purpose ; the salvation of our souls . and indeed who ever takes any lower aim then that , and the vertues preparatory to it in his study of scripture , extremely debases it . 58. let us therefore keep a steady eie upon that mark , and press towards it as the apostle did ; phil. 3. 14. walk by that rule the holy scripture proposes ; faithfully and diligently observe its precepts , that we may finally partake its promises . to this end continually pray we in the words of our holy mother the church unto almighty god , who has caus'd all holy scripture to be written for our learning ; that we may in such wise hear them , read , mark , learn , and inwardly digest them , that by patience and comfort of his holy word , we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life , which he has given in our savior jesus christ. the contents . section . sect. 1. the several methods of gods communicating the knowledg of himself . pag. 1. sect. 2. the divine original , endearments , and autority of the holy scripture . p. 9. sect. 3. the subject matter treated of in the holy scripture is excellent , as is also its end and design . p. 63. sect. 4. the custody of the holy scripture is a privilege and right of the christian church , and every member of it , which cannot without impiety to god , and injustice unto it and them , be taken away or empeacht . p. 123. sect. 5. the scripture has great propriety and fitness toward the attainment of its excellent end . p. 145. sect. 6. the suffrage of the primitive christian church , concerning the propriety and fitness which the scripture has , toward the attainment of its excellent end . p. 165. sect. 7. historical reflexions upon the events which have happen'd in the church , since the with-drawing of the holy scripture . p. 180. sect. 8. necessary cautions to be us'd in the reading of the holy scripture . p. 193. finis . essays of the strange subtilty great efficacy determinate nature of effluviums. to which are annext new experiments to make fire and flame ponderable. : together with a discovery of the perviousness of glass. : also an essay, about the origine and virtue of gems. / by the honourable robert boyle ... ; to which is added the prodromus to a dissertation concerning solids naturally contained within solids giving an account of the earth, and its productions. by nicholas steno. ; englished by h.o. essays of the strange subtilty, determinate nature, great efficacy of effluviums boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1673 approx. 295 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 153 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28965 wing b3952 estc r170743 45097569 ocm 45097569 44036 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28965) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 44036) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1350:13 or 2565:4) essays of the strange subtilty great efficacy determinate nature of effluviums. to which are annext new experiments to make fire and flame ponderable. : together with a discovery of the perviousness of glass. : also an essay, about the origine and virtue of gems. / by the honourable robert boyle ... ; to which is added the prodromus to a dissertation concerning solids naturally contained within solids giving an account of the earth, and its productions. by nicholas steno. ; englished by h.o. essays of the strange subtilty, determinate nature, great efficacy of effluviums boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [8], 69, [3], 47, [1], 74, [10], 54, [4], 57-85, [23], 185 [i.e. 184] + p. printed by w.g. for m. pitt, at the angel near the little north door of st paul's church., london, : 1673. numerous pagination errors (p. 98-111 and p. 181). imperfect: lacks the prodromus to a dissertation concerning solids naturally contained within solids. reproduction of originals in the bodleian library and the harvard university library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng chemistry -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-06 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-06 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion essays of the strange subtilty great efficacy determinate nature of effluviums . to which are annext new experiments to make fire and flame ponderable : together with a discovery of the perviousness of glass . by the honorable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . — consilium est , universum opus instaurationis ( philosophiae ) potius promovere in multis , quàm perficere in paucis . verulamius . london : printed by w. g. for m. pitt , near the little north door of st paul's church . 1673. an advertisement to the reader . ' t is hop'd , the reader will not think it strange , not to meet with in the following papers a more close and uniform contexture of the passages that make them up , if he be seasonably inform'd of the rise and occasion of penning them , which was this . the author having many years ago written an essay about an experiment he made of nitre , by whose phaenomena he endeavour'd to exemplifie some parts of the corpuscular philosophy , especially the production of qualities ; he afterwards threw together divers occurring thoughts and experiments , which he suppos'd might be imployed by way of notes , to prove or illustrate those doctrines , and especially those that concern'd the qualities of bodies ; and among these observing those that are call'd occult , to be subjects uncultivated enough , ( at least in the way that seem'd to him proper , ) he propos'd to handle them more largely than most of the rest ; and in order to that design he judg'd it almost necessary , to premise some considerations and experimental collections about the nature and power of effluviums , about the pores of bodies and figures of corpuscles , and about the efficacy of such local-motions as are wont either to be judged very faint , or to be pass'd by unheeded . for he had often look'd upon these three doctrines , of effluvia , of pores and figures , and of unheeded motions , as the three principal keys to the philosophy of occult qualities . but having hereupon made such collections , as upon review appear'd too large to pass for notes on so short a text , he was induc'd to draw them into the form ( they now appear in ) of essays ; but he would not put himself to the trouble of doing it , with care to keep them from retaiaing much of their first want of exact method and connexion . nor was the author solicitous to finish them up , in regard that his other studies and occasions made him perceive , that in what he had design'd about occult qualities , he had cut himself out more work than probably he should during many years have opportunity to set upon in earnest , and complete . and in this condition these papers lay for divers years , ( as is well known to several that saw them , or even transcrib'd some of them , ) and might have continued to do so , if the author had not been induc'd to let them come abroad , partly by considering , that though the subjects , ( however he handled them ) were as well important as curious , yet he did not find himself prevented by others in what he had to publish about them ; and partly by the references he had made to them in some other papers , that he had promised his friends , wherein several things here deliver'd are vouched , and others suppos'd . and because the notes concerning the porosity of greater bodies and the figurations of minute particles , together with the paper about unregarded motions , having been long laid aside among other neglected papers , were some of them missing , and others so mis-us'd , that they could not easily be made ready to accompany those that now come abroad ; the author , that he might keep this book from having its dimensions too disproportionate , was content to add to the thickness of it , by subjoyning one of those little tracts , that lay by him , concerning flame , because of the affinity betwixt the preceding doctrine about effluviums in general , and experiments that shew in particular the subtilty and the efficacy of those of fire and flame . and though , to that tract it self , there belong another , design'd to examine , whether the matter of what we call the sun-beams , may be brought to be ponderable ; yet supposing this , hitherto cold and wet summer , to be like to be as unfriendly to the tryals to be made with burning-glasses as of late years some other summers have prov'd , he was easily prevail'd with , not to make those experiments that were ready , wait any longer for those , that probably will not in a short time be so ; especially since those that now come abroad have no dependency upon the others . of the strange subtilty of effluviums . by the honorable robert boyle . london : printed by w. g. for m. pitt at the sign of the white hart , over-against the little north door of st paul's church . 1673. of the strange subtilty of efflvvivms . chap. i. whether we suppose with the antient and modern atomists , that all sensible bodies are made up of corpuscles , not only insensible , but indivisible ; or whether we think with the cartesians , and ( as many of that party teach us ) with aristotle , that matter , like quantity , is indefinitely , if not infinitely divisible : it will be consonant enough to either doctrine , that the effluvia of bodies may consist of particles extremely small . for if we embrace the opinion of aristotle or des-cartes , there is no stop to be put to the sub-division of matter , into fragments , still lesser and lesser . and though the epicurean hypothesis admit not of such an interminate division of matter , but will have it stop at certain solid corpuscles , which for their not being further divisible are called atoms ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , ) yet the assertors of these do justly think themselves injured , when they are charged with taking the motes or small dust , that fly up and down in the sun-beams , for their atoms ; since , according to these philosophers , one of those little grains of dust , that is visible only when it plays in the sun-beams , may be composed of a multitude of atoms , and exceed many thousands of them in bulk . this the learned gassendus in his notes on diogenes laertius makes probable by the instance of a small mite , which , though scarce distinctly discernable by the naked eye , unless when 't is in motion , does yet in a good microscope appear to be a compleat animal , furnished with all necessary parts ; which i can easily allow , having often in cheese-mites very distinctly seen the hair growing upon their legs . and to the former instance i might add , what i have elsewhere told you of a sort of animals far lesser than cheese-mites themselves , namely those that may be often-times seen in vinegar . but what has been already said may suffice for my present purpose , which is only to shew , that the wonderful minuteness i shall hereafter ascribe to effluvia , is not inconsistent with the most received theories of naturalists . for otherwise in this essay the proofs i mean to employ , must be taken , not à priori , but à posteriori . and the experiments and observations i shall employ on this occasion will be chiefly those , that are referrible to one of the following heads . i. the strange extensibility of some bodies whilst their parts yet remain tangible . ii. the multitude of visible corpuscles , that may be afforded by a small portion of matter . iii. the smallness of the pores at which the effluvia of some bodies will get in . iv. the small decrement of bulk or weight , that a body may suffer by parting with great store of effluvia . v. the great quantity of space that may be fill'd , as to sense , by a small quantity of matter when rarified or dispers'd . but though to these distinct heads i shall design distinct chapters , yet you must not expect to find the instances solicitously marshall'd , but set down in the order they occurr'd to me ; such a liberty being allowable in a paper , where i pretend not to write treatises , but notes chap. ii. among many things that are gross enough to be the objects of our touch , and to be managed with our hands , there are some that may help us to conceive a wonderful minuteness in the small parts they consist of . i do not remember what cardan , and since him another writer have deliver'd about the thinness and slenderness to which gold may be brought . and therefore without positively assenting to , or absolutely rejecting what may have been said about it by others , i shall only borrow on this occasion , what i have mention'd on another upon my own observation ; namely , that silver , whose ductility and tractility are very much inferiour to those of gold , was , by my procuring , drawn out to so slender a wire , that , when we measur'd it , which was somewhat troublesom to do , with a long and accurate measure , we found , that eight yards of it did not yet fully counterpoise one grain : so that we might add a grain more without making the scale , wherein 't was put , manifestly preponderate , notwithstanding the tenderness of the ballance . whence we concluded , that a single grain of this wire amounted to 27 foot , that is , 324 inches . and since experience informs us , that half an english inch can by diagonal lines be divided into 100 parts great enough to be easily distinguish'd , even for mechanical uses , it follows , that a grain of this wire-drawn silver may be divided into 64800 parts , and yet each of these will be a true metalline , though but slender and short , cylinder , which we may very well conceive to consist yet of a multitude of minuter parts . for though i could procure no gilt wire near so slender as our newly mention'd silver-wire ; yet i tryed that some which i had by me was small enough to make one grain of it fourteen foot long : at which rate an ounce did amount to a full mile , consisting of 1000 geometrical paces , ( of 5 foot a-piece , ) and 720 foot over and above . and if now it be permitted to suppose the wire to have been , as in probability it might have been , further drawn out to the same slenderness with the above-mention'd silver-wire , the instance will still be far more considerable ; for in this case , each of those little cylinders , of which 64800 go to the making of one grain , will have a superficial area , which , except at the basis , will be cover'd with a case of gold ; which is not only separable from it by a mental operation , but perhaps also by a chymical one . for i remember , that from very slender gilt wire , though i could get none so slender as this of meer silver , i did more than once , for curiosities sake , so get out the silver , that the golden films , whilst they were in a liquor that plumpt them up , seem'd to be solid wires of gold : but when the liquor was withdrawn , they appear'd , ( as indeed they were ) to be oblong and extremely thin and double membranes of that metal , which , with an instrument that had been delicate enough , might have been ripp'd open , and displayed , and been made capable of further . divisions and subdivisions . to this i shall add , that each of the little silver cylinders i lately spake of , must not only have its little area , but its solidity ; and yet i saw no reason to doubt , but that it might be very possible , if the artificer had been so skilful and willing as i wish'd , to have drawn the same quantity of metal to a much greater length , since even an animal substance is capable of being brought to a slenderness much surpassing that of our wire , supposing the truth of an observation of very credible persons critical enough in making experiments , which , for a confirmation and an improvement of our present argument , i shall now subjoyn . an ingenious gentlewoman of my acquaintance , wife to a learned physician , taking much pleasure to keep silk-worms , had once the curiosity to draw out one of the oval cases , ( which the silk-worm spins , not , as 't is commonly thought , out of its belly , but out of the mouth , whence i have taken pleasure to draw it out with my fingers , ) into all the silken-wire it was made up of , which , to the great wonder as well of her husband , as her self , who both inform'd me of it , appeared to be by measure a great deal above 300 yards , and yet weigh'd but two grains and a half : so that each cylindrically shap'd grain of silk may well be reckon'd to be at least 120 yards long . another way , i remember , i also employed to help men by the extensibility of gold the better to conceive the minuteness of the parts of solid bodies . we took six beaten leaves of gold , which we measured one by one with a ruler purposely made for nice experiments , and found them to have a greater equality in dimensions , and to be nearer true squares , than could be well expected : the side of the square was in each of them exactly enough three inches and 2 / 8 , ( or 1 / 4 , ) which number being reduc'd to a decimal fraction , viz. 3125 / 100 , and multiplied by it self , affords 105625 / 10000 for the area , or superficial content of each square leaf : and this multiplied by 6 , the number of the leaves , amounts to 633750 / 10000 square inches , for the area of the six leaves . these being carefully weigh'd in a pair of tender scales , amounted all of them to one grain and a quarter : and so one grain of this foliated gold was extended to somewhat above fifty inches ; which differ'd but about a fifth part from an experiment of the like nature , that i remember i made many years ago in a pair of exact scales ; and so small a difference may very well be imputed to that of the pains and diligence of the gold-beaters , who do not always work with equal strength and skill , nor upon equally fine and ductile gold. now if we recal to mind what i was lately saying of the actual divisibility of an inch into an hundred sensible parts , and suppose an inch so divided to be applied to each side of a square inch of the leaf-gold newly mention'd , 't is manifest that by subtle parallel lines , drawn between all the opposite points , a grain of gold must be divisible into five hundred thousand little squares , very minute indeed , but yet discernible by a sufficiently sharp-sighted eye . and if we suppose an inch to be divided into two hundred parts , as i lately told you it was in a ruler i employ , then , according to the newly recited way , the number of the squares , into which a single grain is capable of being divided , will amount to no less than two millions . there is yet another way that i took to shew , that the extensibility , and consequently the divisibleness of gold is probably far more wonderful , than by the lately mention'd tryal it appears . for this purpose i went to a great refiner , whom i used to deal with for purify'd gold and silver , and inquir'd of him , how many grains of leaf-gold he was wont to allow to an ounce of silver , when it was to be drawn into gilt wire as slender as an hair ? to this he answer'd me , that eight grains was the proportion he allowed to an ounce when the wire was to be well gilt ; but if it were to be more slightly gilt , six grains would serve the turn . and to the same purpose i was answer'd by a skilful wire-drawer . and i remember , that desiring the refiner to shew me an ingot of silver , as he did at first gild it ; he shew'd me a good fair cylindrical bar , whereon the leaf-gold , that overlaid the surface , did not appear to be by odds so thick as fine venetian paper ; and yet comparing this with gilt wire , which i also desired to see , the wire appeared to be the better gilt of the two ; possibly because the gold in passing through the various holes , was by the sides of them not only extended but polished , which made it look more vividly than the unpolish'd leaves that gilded the ingot . so that , if we suppose an ounce of the gilt wire formerly mention'd to have been gilt with six grains of leaf-gold , it will appear by an easie calculation , that at this rate one ounce of gold , employ'd on gilding wire of that slenderness , would reach between ninety and an hundred miles . but if now we further suppose , as we lately did , that the slender silver-wire , mention'd at the beginning of this chapter , were gilt ; though we should allow it to have ( because of its exceeding slenderness , ) not , ( as the former ) 6 grains , but 8 grains of leaf-gold to an ounce of siver , it must be acknowledged , that an hollow cylinder or sheath of gold weighing but eight grains , may be so stretch'd , that 't will reach to no less than 60 times as much ( in weight ) of silver-wire as it covers : [ i said 60 times , for so often is 8 contain'd in 480 , the number of grains in an ounce ; ] and consequently ( a grain of that wire having been found to be 27 foot long , ) the ounce of gold would reach to seven hundred seventy seven thousand six hundred foot , that is , an hundred fifty five miles and above a half . and if we yet further suppose this superficial or hollow cylinder of gold to be slit all along , and cut into as slender lists or thongs as may be , we must not deny that gold may be made to reach to a stupendious length . but we need not this last supposition to make what preceded it an amazing thing : which yet though it be indeed stupendious and seem incredible , ought not at all to be judg'd impossible , being no more than what upon the suppositions and observations above laid down , does evidently follow . chap. iii. after what has been said of the minuteness of tangible objects , 't will be proper to subjoyn some instances of the smallness of such as yet continue visible . but in regard these corpuscles are singly too little to have any common measure apply'd to any of them , we must make an estimate of their minuteness by the number of those into which a small portion or fragment of matter may be actually divided , the multitude of these being afforded by so inconsiderable a quantity of matter , sufficiently declaring , that each of them , in particular , must be marvelously little . among the instances , where the smallness of bodies may be deduc'd from what is immediately the object of sight , it may not be unfit to take notice of the evaporation of water , which though it be granted to consist of gross particles in comparison of the spirituous and odoriferous ones of divers other liquors , as of pure spirit of wine , essential oyls of spices , &c. yet to shew that a small quantity of it may be dispers'd into a multitude of manifestly visible corpuscles , i thought upon , and more than once try'd , the rarefaction of it into vapors by help of an aeolipile , wherein , when i made the experiment the last time , i took the pains to register the event as follows . we put an ounce of common water into an aeolipile , and having put it upon a chasing-dish of coals , we observ'd the time when the streams of vapors began to be manifest . this stream was for a good while impetuous enough , as appear'd by the noise it made , which would be much increased , if we applied to it at a convenient distance a kindled brand , in which it would blow up the fire very vehemently . the stream continued about a quarter of an hour ( sixteen minutes or better , ) but afterwards the wind had pauses and gusts for two or three minutes before it quite ceased . and by reason of the shape of the aeolipile , ( which being fram'd chiefly for other purposes , was not so convenient for this ) a great portion of the vapors condens'd in the upper part of it , and fell down in drops ; so that supposing that they also had come out in the form of wind , and the blast had not been intermitted toward the latter end , i guess'd it might have continued uninterruptedly 18 or 20 minutes . note , that applying a measure to the smoak , that came out very visible in a form almost conical , where it seem'd to have an inch or more in diameter , 't was distant from the hole of the aeolipile about twenty inches ; and five or six inches beyond that , though it were spread so much , as to have four or five inches in diameter , yet the not uniform but still-cohering clouds ( which was the form wherein the vapors appear'd ) were manifest and conspicuous . after the rarefaction of water when 't is turn'd into vapors , we may consider that of fewel when 't is turn'd into flame ; to which purpose i might here propose several tryals as well of our own as others , about the prodigious expansion of some inflammable bodies upon their being actually turn'd into flame . but in this place to mention all these , would perhaps too much intrench upon another paper ; and therefore i shall here propose to your consideration but one instance , and that very easie to be tryed ; of which i find this account among my adversaria . having oftentimes burnt spirit of wine , and also oyl in glass-lamps , that for certain uses were so made , that the surface of the liquor was still circular , 't was obvious to observe , how little the liquor would subside by the wast that was made of it , in about half a quarter of an hour . and yet if we consider , that the naked eye after some exercise , may , as i have often tryed , discern the motions of a pendulum that swings fast enough to divide a single minute of an hour into 240 parts , and consequently half a quarter of an hour into 1800 parts ; if we also consider into how many parts of the time imployed by a pendulum , the vibrations , slow enough to be discernible by the eye , may be mentally subdivided ; and if we further consider , that without intermission , the oyl is preyed upon by an actual flame , and the particles of it do continually furnish a considerable stream of shining matter , that with a strange celerity is always flying away ; we may very well conceive , that those parts of flame into which the oyl is turned , are stupendiously minute , since , though the wasting of the oyl is in its progress too slow to be perceived by the eye , yet 't is undoubted that there is a continual decrement of the depth of the oyl , the physical surfaces whereof are continually and successively attenuated and turn'd into flame ; and the strange subtilty of the corpuscles of flame would be much the stronglier argued , if we should suppose , that instead of common oyl the flame were nourish'd by a fewel so much more compact and durable , as is that inflammable substance made of a metalline body , of whose lastingness i have elsewhere made particular mention , after having taught the way of preparing it . having in a pair of tender scales carefully weigh'd out half a grain of good gunpowder , we laid it on a piece of tile , and whelm'd over it a vessel of glass ( elsewhere describ'd , and often mention'd ) with a brass-plate to cover the upper orifice of it . then having fir'd the gunpowder , we observ'd that the smoak of it did opacate , and as to sense so fill the whole cavity of the glass , though its basis were eight inches , its perpendicular height above twenty inches , and its figure far more capacious than if it were conical , and this smoak , not containing it self within the vessel , issued out at two or three little intervals , that were purposely left between the orifice of the vessel and the plate that lay upon it . this cover we then remov'd , that we might observe how long the smoak would continue to ascend ; which we found it would do for about half a quarter of an hour , and during near half that time , ( viz. the three first minutes ) the continually ascending smoak seem'd to be , at its going out , of the same diameter with the orifice at which it issu'd ; and it would ascend sometimes a foot , sometimes half a yard , sometimes two foot or more into the air , before it would disperse and vanish into it . now if we consider , that the cavity of this round orifice was two inches in diameter , how many myriads of visible corpuscles may we easily conceive throng'd out at so large an out-let in the time above-mention'd , since they were continually thrusting one another forwards ? and into so many visible particles of smoak must we admit , that the half grain of powder was shatter'd , beside those multitudes , which , having been turn'd into actual flame , may probably be suppos'd to have suffer'd a comminution , that made them become invisible . and though i shall not attempt so hopeless a work , as to compute the number of these small particles , yet to make an estimate whereby it would appear to be exceeding great , i thought fit to consider , how great the proportion was between the spaces , that to the eye appear'd all full of smoak , and the dimensions of the powder that was resolv'd into that smoak . causing then the glass to be fill'd with common water , we found it to contain above two and twenty pints of that liquor , and causing one of those measures to be weigh'd , it was found to weigh so near a pound ( of sixteen ounces , ) that the computation of the whole water amounted to at least 160000 grains , and consequently 320000 half grains . to which if we add , that this gunpowder would readily sink to the bottom of water , as being ( by reason of the saltpeter and brimstone , that make up at least six parts of seven of it ) in specie heavier than it , and in likelyhood twice as heavy , ( for 't is not easie to determine it exactly , ) we may probably guess the space to which the smoak reach'd to exceed 500000 times that , which contain'd the unfir'd powder ; and this , though the smoak , being confin'd in the vessel , was thereby kept from diffusing it self so far as by its streaming out it seem'd likely that it would have done . to these instances from inanimate bodies i shall subjoyn one more taken from animals . whereas then men have with reason wonder'd , that so small a body as a cheese-mite , which by the naked eye is oftentimes not to be taken notice of , unless it move , ( if even then it be so , ) should by the microscope appear to be an animal furnish'd with all necessary parts ; whereas this , i say , has given just occasion to conclude , that the corpuscles that make up the parts of so small an animal , must themselves be extremely small ; i think the argument may be much improved by the following consideration . those that have had the curiosity to open from time to time eggs that are sat upon by a hatching hen cannot but have observed , how small a proportion in reference to the bulk of the whole egg the chick bears ; when that , which the excellent harvey calls punctum saliens , discloses the motion of the heart , and the colour of the blood ; and that even about the seventh or eighth day the whole chick now visibly form'd , bears no great proportion to the whole egg , which is to supply it with aliment , not only for its nourishment , but speedy growth for many days after . to apply this now to the matter in hand , having several times observed and shewn to others , that cheese-mites themselves are generated of eggs , if we conceive , that in these eggs , as in ordinary one , the animal at its first formation bears but a small proportion to the bulk of the whole egg , the remaining part being to suffice for the food and growth of the embryo probably for a pretty while ; since , if an ingenious person , that i desired to watch them , did not mis-inform me , they used to be about ten or twelve days in hatching ; this whole egg it self will be allowed to be but little in reference to the mite it came from , how extremely and unimaginably minute may we suppose those parts to be , that make up the alimental liquors , and even the spirits , that passing through the nerves or analogous parts , serve to move the limbs and sensories of but , as it were , the model of such an animal , as , when it rests , would not ( perhaps ) it self to the naked eye be so much as visible ; and in which we may presume the nobler sort of stabler parts to be of an amazing slenderness , if we consider , that , though in other hairy animals , the optick or some other of the larger nerves do , i know not how many times , in thickness and circuit surpass a hair of the same animal ; yet in a cheese-mite , though none of the largest of those creatures , we have divers times manifestly seen , as is before intimated , single hairs that grow upon the legs . another way there is , that i imployed to give men cause to think , that the invisible effluvia of bodies that wander through the air may be strangely minute ; and this was , by shewing how small a fragment of matter may be resolved into particles minute enough to associate themselves in such numbers with a fluid so much more dense than air , as water is , as to impart a determinate colour to the whole liquor . what i did with cocheneel in prosecution of this design , my experiments about colours may inform you ; but i shall now relate the success of an attempt made another way , for which perhaps some of your friends the chymists will thank me ; though i was not solicitous to carry on the experiment very far with gold , not because i judged that less divisible into a number of colour'd particles , but because i found , as i expected , that the paleness of the native colour of the gold may make it in the end less conspicuous , though , if i had then had by me a menstruum , as i sometimes had , that would dissolve gold blood-red , perhaps the experiment with gold would have surpass'd that , which 't is now time i should begin to relate , as soon as i have hinted to you by the way , that , for varieties sake , i made a tryal with copper calcin'd per se , that i might not be accused of having omitted to employ a metal whose body chymists suppose to be much opened by calcination . and though the event were notable even in comparison of that of the experiment made with cocheneel , yet my conjectures inclin'd me much to preferr the way describ'd in the following account . we carefully weigh'd out in a pair of tender scales one grain of copper not-calcin'd , but barely fil'd ; and because , as we made choice of this metal for its yielding in most menstruums a blew , which is a deep and conspicuous colour ; we also chose to make a solution , not in aqua fortis or aqua regis , but the spirit of sal armoniack ( as that is an urinous spirit , ) having found by former tryals , that this menstruum would give a far deeper solution than either of the others . this lovely liquor , of which we us'd a good proportion , that all the copper might be throughly dissolved , we put into a tall cylindrical glass of about four inches in diameter , and by degrees pour'd to it of distill'd water , which is more proper in this case than common water , which has oftentimes an inconvenient saltishness , 'till we had almost fill'd the glass , and saw the colour grow somewhat pale , without being too dilute to be manifest ; and then we warily pour'd this liquor into a conical glass , that it might be the more easie to fill the vessel several times to the same height . this conical glass we filled to a certain mark four times consecutively , weighing it , and the liquor too , as often in a pair of excellent scales purposely made for statical experiments , and which , though strong enough to weigh some pounds in each scale , would , when not too much loaden , turn with about one grain . these several weights of the glass , together with the contained liquor , we added together , and then carefully weighing the empty glass again , we deducted four times its weight from the above-mentioned summ , and thereby found the weight of the liquor alone , to be that , which reduc'd to grains amounted to 28534 ; so that a grain of copper , which is not full half so heavy in specie as fine gold , communicated a tincture to 28534 times its weight . but now if you please to take notice , that the scope of my experiment was to shew , into what a number of parts one grain of copper might be divided , you will allow me to consider , as i did , that this multitude of parts must be estimated by the proportion , not so much in weight as in bulk , of the tinging metal to the tinged liquor , and consequently , since that divers hydrostatical tryals have inform'd me , that the weight of copper to the weight of water of the same bulk is proximè as 9 to 1 , a grain-weight of copper is in bigness but the ninth part of as much water as weighs a grain ; and so the formerly mention'd number of the grains of water must be multiplied by 9 , to give us the proportion between the tinging and tinged bodies , that is , that a single grain of copper gave a blewness to above 256806 parts of limpid water , each of them as big as it . which , though it may seem stupendious , and scarce credible ; yet i thought fit to prosecute the experiment somewhat farther , by pouring all the liquor out of the tall cylindrical glass into another clean vessel , whence filling the conical glass twice , and emptying it as often into the same cylindrical glass , the third time i fill'd the conical glass with colourless distill'd water , and pouring that also into the cylindrical glass , we found the mixt liquor to have yet a manifest , though but a pale , blewness . and , lastly , throwing away what was in the cylindrical glass , we poured into it , out of the same conical glass , equal parts of distill'd colourless water , and of the tincted liquor we had formerly set apart in the clean vessel , and found , that , though the colour were very faint and dilute , yet an attentive eye could easily discern it to be blewish ; and so it was judg'd by an intelligent stranger that was brought in to look upon it , and was desir'd to discover of what colour he thought it to be . whereby it appears , that one grain of copper was able to impart a colour to above double the quantity of water above mentioned . this experiment i have allow'd my self to be the longer and more particular in relating , both because i know not , that any such has been hitherto either made or attempted , and because it will probably gratifie your chymists , that love to have the tinctures of metals believ'd very diffusive ; and because , if circumstances were not added , it would seem to you as well incredible , as perhaps it does seem stupendious , that a portion of matter should be able to impart a conspicuous colour to above 256806 times its bulk of water , and a manifest tincture to above 385200 , ( for so it did , when the proportion of the ting'd part to the whole mixture , made of it and the unting'd part , was as 2 to 31 , ) and a faint , but yet discernible and distinguishable colour to above five hundred and thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty times its bulk of water . chap. iv. it were easie for me ( pyroph . ) to give you several instances , to shew , that the effluvia of liquors may get in at the pores of bodies that are reputed of a close texture , but i shall at present forbear to mention such examples , not only because they belong to another place * , where i take notice of them , but because many such would not seem so remarkable , nor be so considerable to our present purpose , as a few taken from bodies that are not fluid . and first , it is deliver'd by writers of good credit , that several persons , ( for the experiment does not hold in all ) by barely holding for some time dryed cantharides in their hands , have been put to much pain at the neck of the bladder , and have had some other parts ministring to the secretion of urine sensibly injured . that this is true , i am induced to believe , by what i have elsewhere related to you of the unwelcome experiment i had of the effect of cantharides applied but outwardly to my neck , and that unknown to me , upon the urinary passages ; and that these operations are due to material effluxes , which , to get into the mass of blood , must pass through the pores of the skin , you will not , i presume , put me to prove . scaliger exercit. 186. relates , that in gascony , his countrey , there are spiders of that virulency , that , if a man treads upon them to crush them , their poyson will pass through the very soles of his shooes . which story , notwithstanding the reputation of the author , i should perhaps have left unmention'd , because of a much stranger about spiders , which he relates in the same section , but that i met with one that is analogous in the diligent piso's late history of brasile ; where , having spoken of another venemous fish of that country , and the antidotes he had successfully used to cure the hurts it inflicts , he proceeds to that fish the natives call amoreatim , of one kind whereof , call'd by the portugals peize sola , his words are these ; quae mira sanè efficacia non solum manum vel levissimo attactu , sed & pedem , licet optimè calceatum , piscatoris incautè pisciculum conterentis , paralysi & stupore afficit , instar torpedinis europaeae , sed minus durabili . lib. 5. cap. 14. what i shall ere long have occasion to tell you of the power of the torpedo , and some other animals , to affect the hand and arm of him that strikes them , seems applicable to the matter under consideration : for , though their affecting the striker at a distance , may very well be ascrib'd to the stupefactive or other venemous exhalations that expire ( and perhaps are as it were darted ) from the animal irritated by the stroke , and are breath'd in together with the air they infect ; yet their benumming , or otherwise affecting the arm that struck them , rather than any other part , seems to argue , that the poysonous steams get in at the pores of the skin of the limb , and so stupifie , or otherwise injure , the nervous and musculous parts of it . other examples belonging to this section may be referr'd hither from divers other places in these papers about occult qualities , and therefore i shall only add here that most remarkable proof , that some emanations , even of solid bodies , may be subtil enough to get through the pores , even of the closest bodies ; which is afforded us by the effluvia of the loadstone , which are by magnetical writers said to penetrate without resistance all kind of bodies . and though i have not tryed this in all sorts , yet having tryed it in metals themselves , i am apt to think , the general rule admits of very few exceptions , especially , if that can be fully made out , which is affirm'd about the perviousness of glass to the effluxions of the loadstone . for , not only glass is generally reputed to be as close a body as any is , but ( which weighs more with me ) i have by tryals purposely made , had occasion to admire the closeness of very thin pieces of glass . but the reason why i just now express'd my self with an if , was , because i was not entirely satisfied with the proof wont to be acquiesc'd in , of the perviousness of glass ; namely , that in dials and sea-compasses that are cover'd with plates of glass , the needle may be readily moved to and fro by a loadstone held over it . for these plates being commonly but fasten'd on with wax , or at best with cement , a sceptick may pretend , that the magnetical effluvia pass not through the glass , but through that much more pervious matter , that is imployed to secure the commissures , only from the access of the air. to put then the matter past doubt , i caused some needles to be hermetically seal'd up in glass-pipes , which being laid upon the surface of water ( whereon by reason of the bigness of the cavities they would lightly float , ) the included needles did not only readily feel the virtue of an externally applied loadstone , ( though but a weak one ) but complied with it so well , that i could easily , by the help of the needle , lead , without touching it , the whole pipe , this was shut up in , to what part of the surface of the water i pleased . and i also found , that by applying a better loadstone to the upper part of a sealed pipe , and a needle in it , i could make the needle leap up from the lower part as near to the loadstone as the interposed glass would give it leave . but i thought it would be more considerable , to manifest that the magnetical effluvia , even of such a dull body , as the globe of the earth , would also penetrate glass . and though this seem difficult to be tryed , because no ordinary loadstone , nor any iron touch'd by it , was to be imployed to work on the included iron ; yet i thought fit to attempt it after this manner : i took a cylindrical piece of iron of about the bigness of ones little finger , and between half a foot and foot long , ( for i had formerly observed , that the quantity of unexcited iron furthers its operation upon excited needles , ) and having hermetically seal'd it up in a glass-pipe but very little longer than it ; i supposed , that if i held it in a perpendicular posture ; the magnetical effluvia of the earth , penetrating the glass , would make the lower extreme of the iron answerable to the north pole ; and therefore having applied this to the point of the needle in a dial , or sea-compass , that look'd toward the north , ( for authors mean not all the same thing by the northern pole of a needle or loadstone , ) i presum'd it would , according to the laws magnetical ( elsewhere mention'd ) drive it away , which accordingly it did . and having for farther tryal inverted the included iron , ( so that the end which was formerly the lowermost , was now the uppermost ) and held it in a perpendicular posture just under the same point of the needle , that extreme of the iron-rod , which before had driven away this point , being by this inversion become ( in a manner ) a south-pole , did ( according to the same laws ) attract it : by which sudden change of poles , meerly upon the change of situation , it also appear'd , that the iron ow'd its virtue only to the magnetism of the earth , not that of another loadstone , which would not have been thus easily alterable . and this experiment i the more particularly relate , because this is not the only place , where i have occasion to make use of it . chap. v. another proof of the great subtilty of effluviums , may be taken from the small decrement of weight or bulk that a body may suffer by parting with great store of such emanations . that bodies , which infus'd in liquors impregnate them with new qualities suitable to those of the immers'd bodies , do so by imparting to them somewhat of their own substance , will , i presume , be readily granted by those that conceive not , how one body should communicate to another a solitary and naked quality , unaccompanied by any thing corporeal to support and convey it . but i would not have you think , pyrophilus , that the only matter of fact i have to countenance this notion , is that experiment , which has convinc'd divers chymists and physicians , otherwise not friends to the corpuscular philosophy , that medicines may operate without any consumption of themselves . for , though divers of these , some of them learned men , have confidently written , that glass of antimony and crocus metallorum , being either of them infus'd in a great proportion of wine , will make it vomitive ; and if that liquor be poured off , and new be poured on , every new portion of such liquor will be impregnated with the same virtue , and this though the liquor be chang'd a thousand times , and yet the antimonial glass or crocus will continue the same as well in weight as virtue ; and though thence some of them , especially chymists , argue , that some metals without imparting any thing substantial , but only , as helmont speaks of some of his arcana , by irradiation : yet , i confess , i have some doubts , whether the experiment have been competently tryed , and shall not fully acquiesce in what has been said , till some skilful experimenter deliver it upon his own tryal , and acquaint us too , with what instruments and what circumspection he made it . for , besides that the ingeniousest physicians i have question'd about it , acknowledg'd the tast , and sometimes the colour of the wine to be alter'd by the infus'd mineral , i could not acquiesce in the affirmation of an ordinary chymist or apothecary , or even physician , if he should barely averr , that he had weigh'd an antimonial medicine before 't was put to infuse , and after the infusion ended , and observ'd no decrement of weight . for i have had too much experience ( as i elsewhere mention ) of the difficulty of making exact statical tryals ; not to know , that such scales , as are wont to be imployed by chymists and apothecaries in weighing drugs , are by no means fit to make tryals with the nicety which that i am speaking of requires : it being easie , even with the better sort of such unaccurate scales , especially if they be not suspended from some fixt thing , but held with the hand , to mistake half a grain or a grain ; and perhaps a greater quantity , and at least more than by divers of the experiments of this essay appears necessary to be spent upon the impregnating of a considerable proportion of liquor with corporeal effluxions . besides , that if , when the beaten crocus or glass be taken out of the wine to be weigh'd again , the experimenter be not cautious enough to make allowance for the liquor that will adhere to the medicament , 't is plain that he may take notice of no decrement of weight , though there may be really effluviums of the mineral amounting to several grains , imbib'd by the liquor . and though he be aware of this , and dry the powder , yet 't is not so easie , even for a skilful man , to be sure that none of the more viscous particles of the liquor stick to the mineral , and being sensible upon the ballance , though not to the eye or hand , repair the recess of those emetick corpuscles that diffus'd themselves into the menstruum . and the sense of these difficulties put me upon the attempting to make so noble an experiment with excellent scales , and the care that it deserves : but after a long tryal , an unlucky accident frustrated at last my endeavours . but though , till competent relators give us an account of this matter upon their own tryal , and repeat the infusion very much oftener , than , for ought i find , any man has yet done , i must not acquiesce in all that is said of the impregnation of wine or other liquors by antimonial glass and crocus metallorum ; yet that after divers repeated infusions the mineral substance should not be sensibly diminish'd in bulk or virtue , may well suffice to make this instance , though not the only or chief that may be brought for our purpose , yet a pertinent one to it . for that there is a powerful emetick quality imparted to the liquor , is manifest by experience ; and that the mineral does not impart this virtue as 't were by irradiation , but by substantial effluxion , seems to me very probable ; not only because i conceive not , how this can be done otherwise , but because , as 't is noted above , the wine does oftentimes change colour by being kept a competent time upon the mineral , as if it drew thence a tincture ; and even when it is not discolour'd , i think it unsafe to conclude , that the menstruum has not wrought upon it . for i have kept good spirit of vinegar for a considerable time upon finely powder'd glass of antimony made per se , without finding the spirit to be at all ting'd , though 't is known , that antimonial glass is soluble in spirit of vinegar , as mine afterwards appear'd to be , by a longer digestion in the same liquor . but there may be a great number of minute particles dissolved in the menstruum before they be numerous enough to change the colour of it . and with this agrees very well what is observ'd , that though too great a quantity of the prepar'd antimony be put into the liquor , yet it will not be thereby made too strongly emetick . for the wine , being a menstruum , will , like other menstruums , be impregnated but to a certain measure , without dissolving the overplus of the matter that is put into it . and mars , which is a harder and heavier body than glass of antimony , is it self in part soluble in good rhenish or other white wine , ( and that in no long time , ) and sometimes even in water . i do not therefore reject the emetick infusion , as unfit to have a place in this chapter , but till the experiment have been a little more accurately made , i think it inferiour , as to our purpose , to some of the instances to be met with in the next chapter , and perhaps also to that mention'd by helmont , and tryed by more than one of my acquaintance , concerning the virtue of killing worms , that mercury imparts to the water or wine wherein it has been long enough infus'd , or else for a while decocted . though quicksilver given in substance is commended as an effectual medicine against worms , not only by many profest * spagyrists , but by divers ** methodists of good note . and though , some other things , chymical and philosophical , keep me from being of their opinion , who think that in this case the mercury impregnates the liquor as it were by irradiation , rather than in a corporeal manner , yet the eye does not perceive , that even limpid water takes any thing from clean and well purg'd mercury , which we know that divers corrosive liquors themselves will not work upon . to this instance i must add one that is yet freer from exceptions , which is , that having for curiosity sake suspended in a pair of exact scales , that would turn with a very small part of a grain , a piece of amber-greece bigger than a walnut , and weighing betwixt an hundred and six-score grains , i could not in three days and a half that i had opportunity to make the tryal , discover , even upon that ballance , any decrement of weight in the amber-greece ; though so rich a perfume , lying in the open air , was like in that time to have parted with good store of odoriferous steams . and a while after suspending a lump of assa foetida five days and a half , i found it not to have sustain'd any discernible loss of weight , though , in spite of the unfavourable cold weather , it had about it a neighbouring atmosphere replenish'd with foetid exhalations . and when twelve or fourteen hours after , perhaps upon some change of weather , i came to look upon it , though i found that in that time the aequilibrium was somewhat alter'd , yet the whole lump had not lost half a quarter of a grain ; which induc'd me to think , that there may perhaps be steams discernible even by our nostrils , that are far more subtil than the odorous exhalations of spices themselves . for , having in very good scales suspended in the month of march an ounce of nutmegs , it lost in about six days five grains and a half . and an ounce of cloves in the same time lost seven grains and five eigths . you will perhaps wonder , why i do not preferr to the instances i make mention of in this chapter , that which may be afforded by the loadstone , that is acknowledg'd continually to emit multitudes of magnetical steams without decrement of weight . but though i have not thought fit to pass this wholly under silence ; yet i forbear to lay so much stress on it , not only because my ballances have not yet satisfied me about the effluvia of loadstones , ( for i take them not all to be equally diffusive of their particles ; ) but because i foresee it may be doubted , whether loadstones , like odorous bodies , do furnish afresh of their own , all the corpuscles ▪ that from time to time issue from them ? or , whether they be not continually repaired , partly by the return of the magnetical particles to one pole that sallied out of the other ; and partly by the continued passage of magnetical matter ( supplied by the earth or other mundane bodies ) it make the pores or channels of the loadstone their constant thorow-fares . i doubt not but it will make it more probable , that a small quantity of matter being scatter'd into invisible effluvia may be exceedingly rarified and expanded , if it can be made appear , that this little portion of matter shall , for a considerable time , emit multitudes of visible parts , and that in so close an order among themselves , as to seem in their aggregate but one intire liquor , endow'd with a stream-like motion , and a distinct superficies , wherein no interruption is to be seen , even by an eye plac'd near it . to devise this experiment , i was induc'd , by considering , that hitherto all the ( total ) dissolutions that have been made of pigments , have been in liquors naturally cold , and consisting probably of much less subtile , and certainly of much less agitated parts , than that fluid aggregate of shining matter that we call flame ; whereas i argued , that if one could totally dissolve a body compos'd of parts so minute as those of a metal into actual flame , and husband its flame so , as that it should not immoderatly waste , i should thereby dissolve the metal in a far more subtil menstruum than our common water , or aqua fortis , or aqua regis , or any other known menstruum i have yet imployed . and consequently the attenuation and expansion of the metal in this truly igneous menstruum would much surpass not only what happens in ordinary metalline solutions , but possibly also what i have noted in the third chapter of this essay , about the strange diffusion of copper dissolv'd in spirit of urine and water . in prosecution of this design , i so prepar'd one single grain of that metal , by a way that i elsewhere teach , that it was dissolv'd in about a spoonful of an appropriated menstruum . and then having caus'd a small glass-lamp to be purposely blown to contain this liquor , and fitted it with a socket and wieck , we lighted the lamp , which , without consuming the wieck , burnt with a flame large enough and very hot , and seem'd to be all the while of a greenish blew , as if it were a but finer and shining solution of copper . and yet this one grain of prepar'd metal ting'd the flame that was from moment to moment produc'd , during no less than half an hour and six minutes . and now if we consider , that in this flame there was an uninterrupted succession of multitudes of colour'd particles newly extricated , and flying off in every of those many parts wherein a minute of time may either actually or mentally be divided ; and , if we consider flame as a light and very agitated body , passing with a stream upwards through the air , and if we also consider the quantity of liquor that would ( as i shall by and by tell you ) run through a pipe of a much lesser diameter than that flame , within the compass of the forementioned time : what a quantity of the streaming fluid we call flame , if it could have been preserv'd and collected into one body , may we suppose would appear to have issued out of one grain of copper in the space of thirty-six minutes ; and what a multitude of metalline corpuscles may we suppose to have been supplied for the tinging of that flame during so long a time ? since a cylindrical stream of water falling but through a very short pipe of glass , constantly supplied with liquors , did pass at such a rate , that , though the aqueous cylinder seem'd more slender by half , ( or perhaps by two thirds or better ) than the flame , yet we estimated , by the help of a minute-watch and a good pair of scales , that , if i had had conveniencies to let it run long enough , the water efflux'd in thirty-six minutes ( the time of the flames duration ) would have amounted to above nine gallons , or , ( reckoning a pint of water to contain a pound of sixteen ounces ) seventy-two pounds . chap. vi. the last sort of instances i shall propose to shew the strange subtilty of effluvia , is of such , as discover the great quantity of space that may by a small quantity of matter , when rarified or dispers'd , be either fill'd as to sense , or , at least , made ( as they speak ) the sphear of its activity . to manifest this truth , and thereby as well confirm the foregoing chapter , as make out what is design'd in this , i shall endeavour to shew , and help your imagination to conceive , how great a space may be impregnated with the effluxions of a body , oftentimes without any sensible , and oftener without any considerable decrement in bulk or weight of the body that affords them . and in order to this , though i shall not pretend to determine precisely how little the substances , i am to instance in , would waste upon the ballance , because you will very easily see they are not that way to be examin'd ; yet i presume , you will as easily grant , that the decrement of weight would be but inconsiderable , since of such light substances the loss even of bulk is so ; which last clause i shall now attempt to make good , by setting down some observations , partly borrow'd from the writings of approv'd physicians , and partly that my friends and i have made about the durable evaporation of such small particles of the effluxions of animals , as are actually not to be discern'd by the eye to have any of those things sticking to them , which are so very long in flying successively away . 't is wont to be somewhat surprizing to men of letters , when they first go a hawking with good spaniels , to observe , with how great sagacity those dogs will take notice of , and distinguish by the scent , the places where partridges , quails , &c. have lately been . but i have much more wonder'd at the quick scent of an excellent setting-dog , who by his way of ranging the fields , and his other motions , especially of his head , would not only intimate to us the kinds of game , whose scent he chanc'd to light on , but would discover to us where partridges had been ( though perhaps without staying in that place ) several hours before , and assist us to guess how long they had been gone before we came . i have had strange answers given me in ireland , by those who make a gain if not an intire livelihood by killing of wolves in that countrey , ( where they are paid so much for every head they bring in ) about the sagacity of that peculiar race of dogs they imploy in hunting them ; but not trusting much to those relators , i shall add , that a very sober and discreet gentleman of my acquaintance , who has often occasion to imploy blood-hounds , assures me , that if a man have but pass'd over a field , the scent will lye ( as they speak ) so as to be perceptible enough to a good dog of that sort for several hours after . and an ingenious hunter assures me , that he has observ'd , that the scent of a flying and heated deer will sometimes continue upon the ground from one day to the next following . and now we may consider these three things ; first , that the substance left upon the grass or ground by the transient tread of a partridge , hare , or other animal , that does but pass along his way , does probably communicate to the grass or ground but some of those effluxions , that transpire out of his feet , which being small enough to escape the discernment of the eye , may probably not amount to one grain in weight , or perhaps not to the tenth part of it . next , that the parts of fluid bodies , as such , are perpetually in motion , and so are the invisible particles that swim in them , as may appear by the dissolution of salt or sugar in water , and the wandering of aqueous vapours through the air , even when the eye perceives them not . and thirdly , that though the atmosphere of one of these small parcels of the exhaling matter we are speaking of , may oftentimes be exceeding vast in comparison of the emittent body , as may be guess'd by the distance , at which some setters , or blood-hounds , will find the scent of a partridge , or deer ; yet in places expos'd to the free air or wind , 't is very likely that these steams are assiduously carried away from their fountain , to maintain the fore-mention'd atmosphere for six , eight , or more hours , that is , as long as the scent has been observ'd to lye , there will be requisite a continual recruit of steams succeeding one another and that so very small a portion of matter as that which we were saying the fomes of these steams may be judg'd to be , being sensibly to impregnate an atmosphere incomparably greater than it self , and supply it with almost continual recruits , we cannot but think , that the steams it parts with , must be of an extreme and scarce conceivable minuteness . and we may further consider , that the substances , which emit these steams , being such as newly belong'd to animals , and were , for the most part , transpir'd through the pores of their feet , must be in likelihood a far more evaporable and dissipable kind of bodies than minerals or adust vegetables , such as gunpowder is made of ; so that if the grains of gunpowder emit effluviums capable of being by some animals perceiv'd at a distance by their smell , one may probably suppose , that the small grains of this powder may hold out very many times longer to supply an atmosphere with odorable steams , than the corpuscles left on the ground by transient animals . now though it be generally agree'd on , that very few birds have any thing near so quick a sense of smelling as setting-dogs or blood-hounds , yet that the odour of gunpowder , especially when assisted by the steams of the caput mortuum of powder formerly fir'd in the same gun , may be fowls be smelt at a notable distance , particularly when the wind blew from me towards them , i often perswaded my self i observ'd , especially as to crows , when i went a shooting ; and was confirm'd in that opinion , both by the common tradition , and by sober and ingenious persons much exercis'd in the killing of wild-fowl , and of some fourfooted beasts . i had forgotten to take notice of one observation of the experienc'd julius palmarius : whence we may learn , that beasts may leave upon the vegetables , that have touch'd their bodies for any time , such corpuscles , as , though unheeded by other animals , may , when eaten by them , produce in them such diseases as the infected animals had . for this author writes in his useful tract de morbis contagiosis , that he observ'd horses , beeves , sheep and other animals , to run mad upon the eating of some of the straw on which some mad swine had layn . and now to resume and prosecute our former discourse , you may take notice , that the effluvia , mention'd to have been smelt by animals , are , though invisible , yet big enough to be the objects of sense ; so that 't is not improbable , that , among the steams that no sense can immediately perceive , there should be some far more subtil than these , and consequently capable of furnishing an atmosphere much longer , without quite exhausting the effluviating matter that afforded them . * forestus , an useful author , recites an example of pestilential contagion long preserv'd in a cobweb . alexander benedictus writes also , that at venice a flock-bed did for many years harbour a pestiferous malignity to that degree , that when afterwards it came to be beaten , it presently infected the by-standers with the plague . and the learned * sennertus himself relates , that in the year 1542. there did in the city of uratislavia ( vulgarly breslaw , ) where he afterwards practised physick , dye of the plague , in less than six months , little less than six thousand men , and that from that time the pestilential contagion was kept folded up in a linnen cloth about fourteen years , and at the end of that time being display'd in another city , it began a plague there , which infected also the neighbouring towns and other places . * trincavella makes mention of a yet lastinger contagion , ( which occasion'd the death of ten thousand persons ) that lay lurking in certain ropes , with which at justinopolis those that dy'd of the plague had been let down into their graves . but , though none of these relations should to some criticks appear scarce credible , it may be objected , that all these things , wherein this contagion resided , were kept close shut up , or at least were not expos'd to the air. wherefore having only intimated , that the exception , which i think is not irrational , would , though never so true , but lessen the wonder of these strange relations , without rendering them unfit for our present purpose , i shall add , that though 't is the opinion of divers learned physicians , that the matter harboring contagion cannot last above twenty or a few more days , if the body it adheres to be expos'd to the free air and the wind , and though i am not forward to deny , that their judgement may hold in ordinary cases ; yet i must not deny neither , that a contagion may sometimes happen to be much more tenacious and obstinate : of which i shall give but that one , almost recent instance observ'd by the learned * dimmerbrook in his own apothecary , who having but remov'd with his foot , from one side to the other of a little arbour ( in his garden ) some straw , that had layn under the pallet , on which near eight months before a bed had layn , wherein a servant of the apothecaries , that recover'd , had been sick of the plague ; the infectious steams presently invaded the lower part of his leg , and produc'd a pungent pain and blister , which turn'd to a pestilential carbuncle , that could scarce be cur'd in a fortnight after , though during that time the patient were neither feaverish , nor , as to the rest of his body , ill at ease . this memorable instance , together with some others of the like kind , that our author observed in the same city ( of nimmegen ) obtain'd , not to say , extorted , even from him , this confession ; which i add , because it contains some considerable , and not yet mentioned circumstances of the recited case : hoc exemplo medicorum doctrina de contagio in fomite latente satis confirmatur . mirum tamen est , hoc contagium tanto tempore in praedicto stramine potuisse subsistere , utpote quod tota hyeme ventis & pluviis , ( he adds in another place ) nivibus & frigori , expositum fuisset . and now i will shut up this chapter with an instance , that some will think , perhaps , no less strange than any of the rest , which is , that though they that are skilful in the perfuming of gloves , are wont to imbue them with but an inconsiderable quantity of odoriferous matter , yet i have by me a pair of spanish gloves , which i had by the favour of your fair and virtuous sister ( f. ) that were so skilfully perfum'd , that partly by her , partly by those , that presented them her as a rarity , and partly by me , who have kept them several years , they have been kept about eight or nine and twenty years , if not thirty , and they are so well scented , that they may , for ought i know , continue fragrant divers years longer . which instance , if you please to reflect upon , and consider , that such gloves cannot have been carried from one place to another , or so much as uncover'd ( as they must often have been ) in the free air , without diffusing from themselves a fragrant atmosphere , we cannot but conclude those odorous steams to be unimaginably subtile , that could for so long a time issue out in such swarms , from a little perfum'd matter lodged in the pores of a glove , and yet leave it richly stock'd with particles of the same nature ; though , ( especially by reason of some removes , in which i took not the gloves along with me , ) i forgot ever since i had them , to keep them so much as shut up in a box. of the great efficacy of effluviums : by the honorable robert boyle . of the great efficacy of efflvvivms . chap. i. they that are wont in the estimates they make of natural things , to trust too much to the negative informations of their senses , without sufficiently consulting their reason , have commonly but a very little and slight opinion of the power and efficacy of effluviums ; and imagine that such minute corpuscles ( if they grant that there are such , ) as are not , for the most part of them , capable to work upon the tenderest and quickest of senses , the sight , cannot have any considerable operation upon other bodies . but i take this to be an error , which , as it very little becomes philosophers , so it has done no little prejudice to philosophy it self , and perhaps to physick too . and therefore though the nature of my design at present did not require it , yet the importance of the subject would invite me to shew , that this is as ill-gounded as prejudicial a supposition . and indeed if we consider the subject attentively , we may observe , that though it be true , that , caeteris paribus , the greatness of bodies doth , in most cases , contribute to that of their operation upon others , yet matter or body being in its own precise nature an unactive or moveless subject , one part of the mass acts upon another but upon the account of its local motion , whose operations are facilitated and otherwise diversified by the shape , size , situation and texture both of the agent and of the patient . and therefore if corpuseles , though very minute , be numerous enough , and have a competent degree of motion , even these small particles , especially if fitly shap'd , when they chance to meet with a body , which the congruity of its texture disposes to admit them at its pores , and receive their either friendly or hostile impressions , may perform such things in the patient , as visible and much grosser bodies , but less conveniently shap'd and mov'd , would be utterly unable ( on the same body ) to effect . and that you may with the less difficulty allow me to say , that the effluviums of bodies , as minute as they are , may perform considerable things , give me leave to observe to you , that there are at least six ways , by which the effluviums of a body may notably operate upon another ; namely , 1. by the great number of emitted corpuscles . 2. by their penetrating and pervading nature . 3. by their celerity , and other modifications of their motion . 4. by the congruity and incongruity of their bulk and shape to the pores of the bodies they are to act upon . 5. by the motions of one part upon another , that they excite or occasion in the body they work upon according to its structure . and 6ly , by the fitness and power they have to make themselves be assisted , in their working , by the more catholick agents of the universe . and though it may perhaps be sufficiently proved , that there are several cases wherein a body that emits particles , may act notably upon another body by this or that single way of those i have been naming ; yet usually the great matters are performed by the association of two , three or more of them , concurring to produce the same effect . upon which score when i shall in the following paper referr an instance or a phenomenon to any one of the forementioned heads , i desire to be understood as looking upon that but as the head , to which it chiefly relates , without excluding the rest . chap. ii. taking those things for granted , that have , i hope , been sufficiently proved in the former tract about the subtlety of effluviums , i suppose it will readily be allowed , that the emanations of a body may be extremely minute ; whence it may be rightly inferr'd , that a small portion of matter may emit great multitudes of them . now that the great number of agents may in many cases compensate their littleness , especially where they act or resist per modum unius , ( as they speak , ) men would perhaps the more easily grant , if they took notice to this purpose of some familiar instances . we see that not only lesser land-floods that overflow the neighbouring fields , but those terrible inundations that sometimes drown whole countreys , are made by bodies singly so so small and inconsiderable as drops of rain when they continue to fall in those multitudes we call showers . so the aggregates of such minute bodies as grains of sand being heaped together in sufficient numbers , make banks wherewith greatest ships are sometimes split , nay and serve in most places for bounds to the sea it self . and though a single corn of gunpowder , or two or three together , are not of force to do much mischief , yet two or three barrels of those corns taking fire all together are able to blow up ships and houses , and perform prodigious things . but instead of multiplying such instances , afforded by bodies of small indeed but yet visible bulk , i shall ( as soon as i have intimated , that the above-mentioned drops of rain themselves consist of convening multitudes of vapors most commonly invisible in their ascent , ) endeavour to make out what was proposed , by two or three instances drawn from the operations of invisible particles . and first , we see , that though aqueous vapours be look'd upon as the faintest and least active effluviums that we know of , yet when multitudes of them are in rainy weather dispersed thorow the air , and are thereby qualified to work on the bodies exposed to it , their operations are very considerable , not only in the dissolution of salts , as sea-salt , salt of tartar , &c. and in the putrefactive changes they produce in many bodies , but in the intumescence they cause in oak and other solid woods ; as appears by the difficulty we often find in and before rainy weather , to shut and open doors , boxes , and other wooden pieces of work , that were before fit enough for the cavities they had been adjusted to . i might here urge , that though the strings of viols and other musical instruments are sometimes strong enough to sustain considerable weights , yet if they be left screwed to their full tension , ( as it frequently happens ) they are oftentimes by the supervening of moist weather made to break , not without impetuosity and noise . but it may sute better with my present aim , if i mention on this occasion , ( what i elsewhere more fully take notice of : ) being desirous to try what a multitude even of aqueous steams may do , i caused a rope that was long , but not thick , and was in part sustained by a pully , to have a weight of lead so fastned to the end of it , as not to touch the ground , and after the weight had leisure allowed it to stretch the cord as far as it could , i observed that in the moist weather the waterish particles , that did invisibly abound in the air , did so much work upon and shorten the rope , as to make it lift up the hanging weight , which was , if i mis-remember not , about an hundred pounds . the invisible steams , issuing out of the walls of a newly plaster'd or whited room , are not sensibly prejudicial to those that do but transiently visit it , or make but a very short stay in it , though there be a charcoal-fire in the chimney ; but we have many instances of persons , that by lying for a night in such rooms , have been the next morning or sooner found dead in their beds , being suffocated by the multitude of the noxious vapours emitted during all that time . and here i think it proper to observe , that it may much assist us to take notice of the multitude of effluvia , and make us expect great matters from them , to consider , that they are not emitted from the body that affords them all at once , as hail-shot out of a gun , but issue from it as the vaporous winds do out of an aeolipil well heated , or waters out of a spring-head in continued streams , wherein fresh parts still succeed one another ; so that though as many effluxions of a body as can be sent out at one time were numerous enough to act but upon its superficial parts , yet the emanation of the next minute may get in a little farther , and each smallest portion of time supplying fresh recruits , and perhaps urging on the steams already entred , the particles may at length get into a multitude of the pores of the invaded body , and penetrate it to the very innermost parts . chap. iii. i come now to shew in the second place , that the subtile and penetrating nature of effluviums , may in many cases cooperate with their multitude in producing notable effects ; and that there are effluviums of a very piercing nature , though we shall not now enquire upon what account they are so , we may evince by several examples . for not only the invisible steams of good aqua fortis and spirit of nitre do usually in a short time , and in the cold , so penetrate the corks wherewith the glasses that contained them were stop'd , as to reduce them into a yellow pap ; but also the emanations of mercury have been sometimes found in the form of coagulated , or even of running mercury in the heads or very bones of those gilders , or venereal patients , that have too long or too unadvisedly been exposed to the fumes of it , though they never took quicksilver in its gross substance . chymists too often find in their laboratories , that the steams of sulphur , antimony , arsnick , and divers other minerals , are able to make those stagger , or perhaps strike them down , that without a competent wariness unlute the vessels wherein they had been distilled or sublimed ; of which i have known divers sad examples . and of the penetrancy even of animal steams we may easily be perswaded , if we consider , how soon in many plagues the contagious , though invisible , exhalations are able to reach the heart , or infect other internal parts ; though in divers of these cases the blood helps to convey the infection , yet still the morbifick particles must get into the body before they can infect the mass of blood. and in those stupefactions that are caused at a distance by the terpedo , the parts mainly affected seem to be the nervous ones of the hand and arm , which are of the most retired and best fenced parts of those members . and there is a spirit of sal armoniack , that i make to smell to , whose invisible steams , unexcited by heat , are of so piercing a nature , that not only they will powerfully affect the eyes and nostrils , and throats , and sometimes the stomachs too ( yet without proving vomitive , ) of the patients they invade , but also when a great cold has so clog'd the organs of smelling , that neither sweet nor stinking odours would at all affect them , these piercing steams have not only in a few minutes both made themselves a way , and which is more , so open'd the passages , that soon after the patient has been able to smell other things also . and by the same penetrating spirit , a person of quality was , some time since , restored to a power of smelling , which he had lost for divers years , ( if he ever had it equally with other men . ) i could easily subjoyn examples of this kind , but they belong to other places . and here i shall only add , that the steams of water it self assisted by warmth , are capable of dissolving the texture of even hard and solid bodies , that are not suspected to be saline ; as appears by the philosophical calcination ( as chymists call it ) wherein solid pieces of harts-horn are brought to be easily friable into pouder , by being hung over waters , whil'st their steams rise in distillation and without the help of furnaces . the exhalations , that usually swim every night in the air , and almost every night fall to the ground in the form of dews ( which makes them be judged aqueous , ) are in many places of the torrid zone of so penetrating a nature , that , as eye-witnesses have informed me , they would in a very short time make knives rust in their sheaths , and swords in their scabbards , nay and watches in their cases , if they did not constantly carry them in their pockets . and i have known even in england divers hard bodies , into which the vapours swimming in the air have insinuated themselves , so far as to make them friable throughout . but of the penetration of effluviums , i have given , in several places , so many instances , that 't is not necessary to add any here . and therefore to shew , that , as i intimated at the beginning of this chapter , the penetrancy and the multitude of effluviums may much assist each other , i shall now subjoyn ; that we must not for the most part look upon effluviums as swarms of corpuscles , that only beat against the outsides of the bodies they invade , but as corpuscles , which by reason of their great and frequently recruited numbers , and by the extreme smallness of their parts , insinuate themselves in multitudes into the minute pores of the bodies they invade , and often penetrate to the innermost of them ; so that , though each single corpuscle , and its distinct action , be inconsiderable , in respect of the multitude of parts that compose the body to be wrought on ; yet a vast multitude of these little agents working together upon a correspondent number of the small parts of the body they pervade , they may well be able to have powerful effects upon the body , that those parts constitute ; as , in the case mentioned in the former chapter , the rope would not probably have been enabled to raise so great a weight , though a vehement wind had blown against it , to make it lose its perpendicular straightness , but a vast multitude of watery particles , getting by degrees into the pores of the rope , might , like an innumerable company of little wedges , so widen the pores as to make the thrids or splinters of hemp , the rope was made up of , swell , and that so forcibly , that the depending weight could not hinder the shortning of the rope , and therefore must of necessity be rais'd thereby . and i have more than once known solid and even heavy mineral bodies , burst in pieces by the moisture of the air , though we kept them within-doors carefully shelter'd from the rain . chap. iv. that the celerity of the motion of very minute bodies , especially conjoyned to their multitudes , may perform very notable things , may be argued from the wonderful effects of fired gunpowder , aurum fulminans , of flames that invisibly touch the bodies they work on , and also whirlwinds , and those streams of invisible exhalations and other aerial particles we call winds . but because instances of this sort suit not so well with the main scope of this tract , i shall not insist on them , but subjoyn some others , which , though less notable in themselves , will be more congruous to my present design . that the corpuscles whereof odours consist , swim to and fro in the air , as in a fluid vehicle , will by most , i presume , be granted , and may be easily prov'd . but i have elsewhere shewn , that the motion of the effluviums of some sufficiently odorous bodies , has too little celerity to make a sensible impression on the organs of smelling , unless those steams be assisted to beat more forcibly upon the nostrils by the air , which hurries them along with it , when it enters the nostrils in the form of a stream , in the act of inspiration . and i have by familiar observation of hunters , fowlers , and partly of my own made manifest , that setting-dogs , hounds , crows and some other animals , will be much more affected with sents , or the odorous effluvia of partridges , hares , gunpowder , &c. when the wind blows from the object towards the sensory , than when it sits the contrary way , which way soever the nostrils of the animal be obverted , so the air be imbued with the odorous steams : and consequently the difference seems to proceed from this , that when the nostrils are obverted to the wind , the current of the air drives the steams forcibly upon the sensory , which otherwise it does not . that there is a briskness of motion requisite , and more than ordinarily conducive to electrical attractions , may be argued from the necessity that we usually find by rubbing amber , jett , and other electrical bodies , to make them emit those steams , by which 't is highly probable their action is performed : and though i have elsewhere shewn , that this precedent rubbing is not alwayes necessary to excite all electrical bodies ; yet in those that i made to attract without it , it would operate much more vigorously after attrition ; which i conconceive makes a reciprocal motion amongst the more stable parts , and does thereby as 't were discharge and shoot out the attracting corpuscles ; whose real emission , though it may be probably argued from what has been already said , seems more strongly proveable by an observation that i made many years ago , and which i have been lately inform'd to have been long since made by the very learned fabri . the observation was this ; that if , when we took a vigorously excited electrick , we did at a certain nick of time ( which circumstances may much vary , but was usually almost as soon as the body was well rubbed ) place it at a just distance from a suspended hair or other light body , or perhaps from some light powder ; the hair , &c. would not be attracted to the electrick , but driven away from it , as it seem'd , by the briskly moving steams that issue out of the amber or other light body . this argument i could confirm by another phaenomenon or two of affinity with this , if i should not borrow too much of what i have elsewhere noted about the history of electricity . i know a certain substance , which though made by distillation , does in the cold emit but a very mild and inoffensive smell , but when the vessel that holds it is heated , though no separation of constituent principles appear to be thereby made , ( the body being in all usual tryals homogeneous , ) the effluviums will be so altered , that i remember a virtuoso , that , to satisfie his curiosity ▪ would needs be smelling to it , when 't was heated , complain'd to me , that he thought the steams would have killed him , and that the effluviums of spirit of sal armoniack it self were nothing near so strong and piercing as those . and even among solid bodies , i know some , which , though abounding much in a substance wherein some rank smells principally reside , yet ( if they were not chafed ) were scarce at all sensibly odorous ; but upon the rubbing of them a little one against the other , the attrition making them , as it were , dart out their emissions , would in a minute or two make them stink egregiously . and as the celerity of motion may thus give a vigor to the emanations of bodies , so there may be other modifications of motion , that may contribute to the same thing , and are not to be wholly neglected in this place . for as we see , that greater bodies do operate differingly according to such and such modifications ; as there is a great difference between the effects of a dart or javelin , so thrown as that its point be alwayes forwards , and the same weapon if it be so thrown , that during its progressive motion the extremes turn about the center of gravity or some inward parts , as it happens when boyes throw sticks to beat down fruit from the tops of trees ; so there is little doubt to be made , but that in corpuscles themselves 't is not all one , as to their effects , whether they move with or without rotation , and whether in such or such a line , and whether with or without undulation , trembling or such a kind of consecution ; and in short , whether the motion have or have not this or that particular modification ; which how much it may diversifie the effects of the bodies moved , may appear by the motion , that the aerial particles are put into by musical instruments . for , though the effects of harmony , discord and peculiar sounds be sometimes very great , not only in human bodies , but , as we shall shew in the following tract , in organical ones too ; the whole efficacy of musick and of sounds that are not extraordinarily loud and different , seems , as far as 't is ascribable to sonorous bodies , to depend upon the different manners of motion whereinto that air is put , that makes the immediate impression on our organs of hearing . chap. v. i should now proceed to shew , how the celerity and other modes , that diversifie the motion of effluviums , may be assisted to make them operative by their determinate sizes and figures , and the congruity or incongruity which they may have upon that score with the pores of the grosser bodies they are to work on : but i think it not fit to entrench upon the subject of another * tract , where the relation between the figures of corpuscles and the pores of grosser bodies is amply enough treated of . and therefore i shall only in this place take notice of those effects of lightning , which seem referable , partly to the celerity and manner of appulse , and partly to the distinct sizes and shapes of the corpuscles that compose the destructive matter , and to the peculiar relation between the particles of that matter and the structure of the bodies they invade . i know that many strange things that are delivered about the effects of what the latins call fulmen ( which our english word lightning does not adaequately render ) are but fabulous ; but there are but too many that are not so ; some of which i have been an eye-witness of , within less than a quarter of an hour after that the things happened . and though it be very difficult to explicate particularly many of these true phenomena , yet it seems warrantable enough to argue from them , that there may be agents so qualified , and so swiftly moved , that notwithstanding their being so exceedingly minute , as they must be , to make up a flame , which is a fluid body , they must in an imperceptible time pervade solid bodies , and traversing some of them without violating their texture , burn , break , melt , and produce other very great changes in other bodies that are fitted to be wrought on by them . and of this i must not forget to mention this remarkable instance ; that a person curious enough to collect many rarities , bringing me one day into the study where he kept the choicest of them , i saw there among other things a fine pair of drinking-glasses that were somewhat slender , but extraordinarily tall ; they seem'd to have been designed to resemble one another , and made for some drinking entertainment . but before i saw them , that resemblance was much lessen'd by the lightning , that fell between them in so strange a manner , that , without breaking either of them , that i could perceive , it alter'd a little the figure of one of them , near the lower part of the cavity ; but the other was so bent near the same place as to make it stand quite awry , and give it a posture , that i beheld not without some amazement . and i cannot yet but look upon it as a very strange thing , and no less considerable to our present purpose , that nature should in the free air make of exhalations , and that such as probably when they ascended were invisible , such an aggregate of corpuscles , as should without breaking such frail bodies as glasses , be able in its passage thorow them , that is , in the twinkling of an eye , to melt them ; which to do is wont even in our reverberatory furnaces to cost that active flames a pretty deal of time . and this calls into my memory , that upon a time , hearing not far off from me such a clap of thunder as made me judge and say , that questionless some of the neighbouring places were thunder-strook , i sent presently to make inquiry ; which having justified my conjecture , i forthwith repaired to the house , where the mischief was done , by something , which those , that pretended to have seen it coming thither , affirm'd to be like a flame moved very obliquely . to omit the hurt , that seemed to have been done by a wind that accompanied it , or was perhaps produced by it , to divers persons and cattel ; that which makes me here mention it , was , that observing narrowly what had happen'd in an upper room , where it first fell , i saw , that it had in more than one place melted the lead in its passage , ( though that possibly outlasted not the twinkling of an eye , ) without breaking to pieces the glass-casements , or burning ( that i took notice of ) either the bed or hangings or any other combustible houshold-stuff ; though near the window it had thrown down a good quantity of the solid substance of the wall , through which it seem'd to have made its passage in or out . and that , which made me the less scruple to mention this accident , is , that having curiously pry'd into the effects of the fulmen , not only in that little upper room , but in other parts of the house , beneath whose lowermost parts it seem'd to have ended its extravagant course , i could not but conclude , that if so be it were the same fulmen , it must have more than once gone in and out of the house , and that the line of its motion was neither straight , nor yet reducible to any curve or mixed line , that i had met with among mathematicians ; but that , as i then told some of my friends , it moved to and fro in an extravagant manner , not unlike the irregular and wrigling motion of those fired squibs that boys are wont to make by ramming gunpowder into quills . but about thunder more perhaps elsewhere . i shall here only add , that whereas 't is a known tradition , which my own observations heedfully made seem now and then to confirm , that vehement thunder , if beer be not very strong , will usually ( for i do not say alwayes ) sowre it in a day or two ; if this degeneration be not one of the consequences of the great and peculiar kinds of the concussions of the air that happens in lowd thunder ( in which case the phenomenon will belong to the next discourse , ) the effect may probably be imputed to some subtile exhalations diffused thorow the air , which , penetrating the pores of the wooden vessels , whose contexture is not very close , imbue the liquor with a kind of acetous ferment ; which conjecture i should think much confirmed by a tryal , it suggested to me , if i had made it often enough to rely upon it . for considering that the pores of glass are straight enough to be impervious ( for ought i have yet observed ) to the steams or spirituous parts of sulphur as well as to other odorous exhalations , i thought it worth trying , whether there be any sulphureous steams or other corpuscles diffused thorow the air in time of thunder , that would not be too gross to get in at such minute pores as those of glass . and accordingly having hermetically sealed up both beer and ale apart , i kept them in summer time till there happen'd a great thunder , a day or two , after which the beer which we drank , that was good before , being generally complained of as sowred by the thunder , i suffer'd my liquors to continue at least a day or two longer , that the sowring steams , if any such there were , might have time enough to operate upon them , and then breaking the glasses , i found not that the liquors had been sowred , though we had purposely forborn to fill the glasses , to facilitate the degeneration of the liquors . perhaps it will be pardonable on this occasion to mention a practice , which is usual in some places where i have been , and particularly employ'd by a great lady , that is a great house-keeper , and is very curious and expert in divers physical observations ; for , talking with her about the remedies of the sowring of beer and other drinks by thunder , which is sometimes no small prejudice to her , she affirm'd to me , that she usually found the practice , i was mentioning , succeed : and that before the then last great thunder , of which i had observed the effects upon beer , she preserved hers by putting , at a convenient distance , under the barrels , chaffing-dishes of coals , when she perceiv'd that the thunder was like to begin , which practice , if it constantly succeed , may put one a considering , whether the fire do not by rarifying the air and discussing the sulphureous or other steams , by altering them , or by uniting with them the exhalations of the coals , or by some such kind of way , render ineffectual these sowring corpuscles , which perhaps require a determinate bulk and shape , besides their being crowded very many of them together , to have their full operation on barrell'd liquors . but these things are but meer conjectures , and therefore i proceed . chap. vi. the fifth way whereby effluviums may perform notable things , is the motion of one part upon another , that they may excite or occasion in the body they work on according to its structure . i shall in the following tract have occasion to say something of the motions into which the internal parts of inanimate bodies may put one another ; but the examples now produced are designed to manifest the efficacy , that effluviums may , on the newly mentioned accounts , have on organical and living bodies . to which instances it would yet be proper to premise , that even inanimate and solid bodies may be of such a structure as to be very much alterable by the appropriated effluviums of other bodies , as may be instanc'd in the power , that i have known some vigorous loadstones to have , of taking away in a trice the attractive virtue of an excited needle , or giving a verticity directly contrary to the former without so much as touching it . and we may pertinently take notice of the attractive virtue of the loadstone , as that , which may afford us an eminent example of the great power of a multitude of invisible effluviums , even from bodies that are not great , upon bodies that are inorganical or liveless : for taking it for granted , what both the epicureans , cartesians , and almost all other corpuscularian philosophers agree in , that magnetism is performed by corporeal emissions , we may consider , that these passing unresistedly thorow the pores of all solid bodies , and even glass it self , which neither the subtilest odours nor electrical exhalations are observ'd to do , seem to be almost incredibly minute , and much smaller than any other effluviums , though themselves too small to be visible ; and yet these so incomparably little magnetical effluxions proceeding from vigorous loadstones , will be able to take up considerable quantities of so ponderous a body as iron ; in so much that i have seen a loadstone not very great , that would keep suspended a weight of iron , that i could hardly lift up to it with one arm ; and i have seen a little one , with which i could take up above eighty times its weight . and these effluvia do not only for a moment fasten the iron to the stone , but keep the metal suspended as long as one pleases . this being premised , i come now to observe , that the chief effects of effluvia belonging to the fifth head are wrought upon animals , which by virtue of their curious and elaborate structure , have their parts so connected and otherwise contrived , that the motions or changes that are produced in one , may have by the consent of parts a manifest operation upon others , although perhaps very distant from it , and so fram'd as to declare their being affected by actions that seem to have no affinity at all with the agents that work upon the part first affected . i have shewn at large in another * treatise , that a humane body ought not to be look'd upon meerly as an aggregate of bones , flesh , and other consistent parts , but as a most curious and a living engin , some of whose parts , though so nicely fram'd as to be very easily affected by external agents , are yet capable of having great operations upon the other parts of the body , they help to compose . wherefore without now repeating what is there already deliver'd , i shall proceed to deliver such effects as are wrought on human bodies by these effluviums without any immediate contact of the bodies that emit them . and first , not to mention light , because its being or not being a corporeal thing is much disputed even among the moderns ; 't is plain , that our organs of smelling are sensibly affected by such minute particles of matter as the finest odours consist of . nor do they alwayes affect us precisely as odours , since we see , that many persons , both men and women , are by smells , either sweet or stinking , put into troublesom headaches . if it were not almost ordinary , it would be more than almost incredible , that the smell of a pleasing perfume should presently produce in a human body , that immediately before was well and strong , such faintnesses , swoons , loss of sensible respiration , intumescence of the abdomen , seeming epilepsies , and really convulsive motions of the limbs , and i know not how many other frightfull symptoms , that by the unskilful are often taken for the effects of witchcraft , and would impose upon physicians themselves , if their own or their predecessors experience did not furnish them with examples of the like phaenomena produc'd by natural means . those symptoms manifest , what the consent of parts may do in a humane body ; since even morbifick odours , if i may so call them , by immediately affecting the organs of smelling , affect so many other parts of the genus nervosum , as oftentimes to produce convulsive motions , even in the extreme parts of the hands and feet . nor is the efficacy of effluviums confined to produce hysterical fits , since these invisible particles may be able ( and sometimes as suddenly as perfumes are wont to excite them ) to appease them , as i have very frequently , though not with never-failing success , tryed , by holding a spirit , i usually make of sal armoniack , under the nostrils of hysterical persons . my remedy did not only often recover , in a trice , those whose fits were but ordinary , but did more than once , somewhat to the wonder of the by-standers , relieve , within a minute or two , persons of differing ages and constitutions , that were suddenly fallen down by fits , that the by-standers judg'd epileptical , ( but i , hysterical . ) i attribute the good and evil operations of the fore-mentioned steams , rather in general to the consent of the parts that make up the genus nervosum , than to any hidden sympathy or antipathy betwixt them and the womb , not only for other reasons , not proper to be insisted on here , but because i have known odours have notable effects even upon men. i know a very eminent person , a traveller , and a man of a strong constitution , but considerably sanguine , who is put into violent head-aches by the smell of musk. and i remember , that one day being with him and a great many other men of note about a publick affair , a man that had a parcel of musk about him , having an occasion to make an application to us , this person was so disordered by the smell , which to most of us was delightful , that in spight of his civility he was reduc'd to make us an apology , and send the perfumed man out of the room , notwithstanding whose recess this person complained to me , a good while after , of a violent pain in his head , which i perceived had somewhat unfitted him for the transaction of the affair whereof he was to be the chief manager . i know another person , whose happy muse hath justly made him many admirers , that is subject to the head-ach upon so mild a smell as that of damask-roses , and sometimes even of red-roses , in so much that walking one day with him in a garden , whose alleys were very large , so that he might easily keep himself at a distance from the bushes , which bore many of them red-roses ; he abruptly broke off the discourse we were engag'd in , to complain of the harm the perfume did his head , and desired me to pass into a walk , that had no roses growing near it . if it were not for the sex of this person , i could relate an instance that would be much more considerable of the operation of roses . for i know a discreet lady to whom their smell is not unpleasing , ( for she answer'd me that 't was not so at all , ) but so hurtful , that it presently makes her sick , and would make her swoon if not seasonably prevented : and she told me that being once at a court in which she was a maid of honour , though she her-self did not know whence it came , she found her self extremely ill on a sudden , and ready to sink down for faintness ; but being then in discourse with a person , whose high quality she payd her profound respect to , her civility , that kept her from complaining or withdrawing , might have been dangerous if not fatal to her , had not the princess who was speaking with her , and who knew her antipathy to roses , taken notice that her face grew strangely pale , and was covered with a cold sweat . for thereby presently guessing what might be the cause , which the sick lady her self did not , she asked aloud whether some body had not brought roses ( which were then in season ) into the bed-chamber , which question occasioned a speedy withdrawing of a lady , that stood at a distance off , and had about her roses , which were not seen by the patient , who was by this means preserved from falling into a swoon , though not from being for a while very much discomposed . but this you may tell me was the case of a woman , who complain'd her malady affected her heart , not her head. wherefore returning to what i was speaking of before i mention'd her , i shall proceed to tell you , that as odours may thus give men the head-ach , so i have often found the smell of rectified-spirit of sal armoniack to free men as well as women from the fits of that distemper ; and that sometimes in so few minutes , that the person reliev'd could scarcely imagine , they could so quickly be so . to which i shall not add the tryals that i have successfully made upon my self , because being , thanks be to god , very seldom troubled with that distemper , the occasions i have had of making them have not been many . and though i have not alwayes found so slight a remedy to work the desired cure , yet that it does it often , even in men , is sufficient to shew the efficacy of sanative effluviums . now , to manifest , that steams do not operate only upon hysterical women , or persons subject to the head-ach , i will add some instances of the effects they may produce upon other persons , and parts . 't is but too well known an observation , that women with child have been often made to miscarry by the stink of an ill-extinguisht candle , though perhaps the smoak ascending from the snuff were dissipated into the invisible corpuscles , a good while before it arriv'd at the nostrils of the unhappy woman ; and what violent and straining motions abortions are frequently accompanied with , is sufficiently known already . i think i have elsewhere mentioned , that a gentleman of my acquaintance , a proper and lusty man , will be put into the fits of vomiting by the smell of coffee , boyl'd in water ; i shall therefore rather mention , that i know a physician , who having been , for a long time when he was young , frequently compelled to take electuarium lenitivum , one of the gentlest and least unpleasant laxatives of the shops , conceived such a dislike of it , that still , as himself has complained to me , if he smell to it , as he sometimes happens to do in apothecaries shops , it will work ( now and then for several times ) upwards and downwards with him . i know another very ingenious persons of the same faculty , that has been a traveller by sea and land , who has complain'd to me , that the smell of the grease of the wheels of a hackney-coach , though it do but pass by him , is wont to make him sick and ready to vomit . every body knows , that smoak is apt to make mens eyes water , and excite in the organs of respiration that troublesom and vehement commotion we call coughing . but we need not have recourse at all to visible fumes , for the production of the like effects ; since we have often observed them , and repeated sneezings to boot , to proceed from the invisible steams of spirit of sal armoniack , when vials containing that liquor , though they were perhaps but very small , were approached too hastily , or perhaps too near to the nostrils . and because in most of the foregoing instances , the chief effects seem to be wrought , by the consent of parts , on the genus nervosum and the action of one of them upon the other , and thereby upon several other parts of the body , i will subjoyn a remarkable instance of the operation of a mild and grateful odour upon the humors themselves , and that in a man. a famous apothecary , who is a very tall and big man , several times told me , that though he was once a great lover of roses , yet having had occasion to employ great quantities of them at a time , he was so altered by their steams , that now , if he come among the rose-bushes , the smell does much discompose him . and the odour of roses , ( i mean incarnate-roses , which we commonly call damask-roses , though they be not the true ones , ) makes such a colliquation of humors in his head , that it sets him a coughing , and makes him run at the nose , and gives him a sore throat ; and by an affluence of humors makes his eyes sore , in so much that during the season of roses , when quantities of them are brought into his house , he is oblig'd for the most part to absent himself from home . chap. vii . one may shew on this occasion , that as there might be considerable things performed by effluviums , as they make one part of a living engine work upon another by virtue of its structure , so the action of such invisible agents may in divers cases be much promoted by the fabrick and laws of the universe it self , upon this account , that , by the operation of effluvia upon particular bodies , they may dispose and qualifie those bodies to be wrought upon , which before they were not fit to be , by light , magnetisms , the atmosphere , gravity or some other of the more catholick agents of nature , as the world is now constituted . but not to injure another tract , i shall conclude this , when i shall have taken notice , that in the instances hitherto produced , there has been a visible local distance between the body that emits steams , and that on which they work . but if i thought it necessary , it were not difficult to shew , that one might woll enough referr to the title of this tract divers effects of bodies that are applied immediately to ours ; such as are blood-stones , cornelions , nephritick-stones , lapis malacensis , and some amulets , and other solid substances applied by physicians outwardly to our bodies . for in these applications the gross body touches but the skin , and the great effects , which i elsewhere relate my self to have sometimes ( though not often , much less alwayes ) observed to have followed upon this external contact or near application , may reasonably be derived from the subtle emanations , that pass thorow the pores of the skin to the inward parts of the body : as is evident in those , who by holding cantharides in their hands , or having them apply'd to some remote external part , have grievous pains produc'd in their urinary parts , as it has happen'd to me as well as to many others . and to the insinuation of these minute corpuscles , that get in at the pores of the skin , seems to be due the efficacy of some medicines , that purge , vomit , resolve the humors , or otherwise notably alter the body being but externally applied ; of which i could here give several instances , but that they belong more properly to another place , and are not necessary in this , where it may suffice to name the notorious power , that mercurial oyntments or fumes , either together or apart , have of producing copious salvations , to shew in general , that both the steams and the emanations of outwardly applied medicinal bodies may have some great effects on human ones . of the determinate nature of effluviums . of the determinate nature of efflvvivms . chap. i. the effluviums of bodies , pyrophilus , being for the most part invisible , have been wont to be so little consider'd by vulgar philosophers , that scarce vouchsafing to take notice of their existence , 't is no wonder that men have not been solicitous to discover their distinct natures and differences . only * aristotle , and ( upon his account ) the schools , have been pleased to think , that the two grand parts of our globe do sometimes emit two kinds of exhalations or steams ; the earthy part affording those that are hot and dry , which they name fumes , and very often , simply , exhalations ; and the aqueous part , others that are ( not as many of his disciples mistake him to have taught , cold and moist , but ) hot and moist * , which they usually call vapours , to discriminate them from the fumes ( or exhalations , ) though otherwise , in common acceptation , those appellations are very frequently confounded . but , though the aristotelians have thus perfunctorily handled this subject , it would not become corpuscularian philosophers , who attribute so much as they do to the insensible particles of matter , to acquiesce in so slight and jejune an account of the emanations of bodies . and since we have already shewn , that besides the greater and more simple masses of terrestrial and aqueous matter newly mention'd , there are very many mixt bodies , that emit effluviums , which make , as it were , little atmospheres about divers of them , it will be congruous to our doctrine and design , to add in this place , that besides the slight and obvious differences , taken notice of by aristotle , the steams of bodies may be almost as various as the bodies themselves that emit them ; and that therefore we ought not to look upon them barely under the general and confused notion of smoak or vapours , but may probably conceive them to have their distinct and determinate natures , oftentimes ( though not always ) suitable to that of the bodies from whence they proceed . and indeed the newly mentioned division of the schools gives us so slight an account of the emanations of bodies , that , methinks , it looks like such another , as if one should divide animals into those that are horned , and those that have two feet : for , besides that the distinction is taken from a difference that is not the considerablest , there are divers animals ( as many four-footed beasts and fishes ) that are not comprised in it ; and each member of the division comprehends i know not how many distinct sorts of animals , whose differences from one another are many times more considerable , than those that constitute the two supreme genus's , the one having bulls and goats , and rhinoceros's , and deer , and elks , and certain sea-monsters whose horns i have seen ; and the other genus comprising also a greater variety , namely , a great part of four-footed beasts , and , besides men , all the birds ( for ought we know ) whether of land or water . and as it would give us but a very slender information of the nature of an elk or an unicorn , to know that 't is an horned beast ; or of the nature of a man , an eagle , or a nightingale , to be told , that 't is an horn-less beast ; so it will but very little instruct a man in the nature of the steams of quicksilver or of opium , to be told , that they are vapours hot ( or rather cold ) and moist ; or of the steams of amber or cantharides , or cinnamon , or tobacco , to be told , that they are hot and dry. for , besides that there may be effluviums , which , even by their elementary qualities , are not of either of these two supreme genus's , ( for they may be cold and dry , or cold and moist , ) these qualities are often far from being the noblest , and consequently those that deserve to be most consider'd in the effluviums of this , or that , body ; as we shall by and by have occasion to manifest . chap. ii. and here it may not be improper to mention an experiment , that , i remember , i divers years since employed to illustrate the subject of our present discourse . i consider'd then , that fluid bodies may be of very unequal density and gravity , as is evident in quicksilver , water and pure spirit of wine ; which , notwithstanding their great difference in specifick gravity , may yet agree in the conditions requisite to fluid bodies . therefore presuming , that by what i could make appear visible in one , what happens analogically in the other , may be ocularly illustrated , i took some ounces of roch-allom , and as much of fine salt-peter . i took some ounces of each , because , if the quantity of the ingredients be too small , the concoagulated grains will be so too , and the success will not be so conspicuous . these being dissolved together in fair water , the filtrated solution was set to evaporate in an open-mouthed glass , and being then left to shoot in a cool place , there were fastned to the sides and other parts of the glass several small crystals , some octoedrical , which is the figure proper to roch-allom , and others of the prismatical shape of pure salt-peter ; besides some other saline concretions , whose being distinctly of neither of these two shapes , argued them to be concoagulations of both the salts . and this we did by using such a degree of celerity in evaporating the liquor , as was proper for such an effect . for , by another degree , which is to be employ'd when one would recover the salts more distinctly and manifestly , the matter may ( as i found by tryal ) be so ordered , that the aluminous salt may , for the most part , be first coagulated by it self , and then from the remaining liquor curiously shap'd crystals of nitre may be copiously obtained . tryals like this we also made with other salts , and particularly with sea-salt , and with allom and vitriol ; the phaenomena of which you may meet with in their due places . for the recited experiment may , i hope , alone serve to assist the imagination to conceive , how the particles of bodies may swim to and fro in a fluid , ( which the air is , ) and though they be little enough to be invisible , may many of them retain their distinct and determinate natures , and their aptness to cohere upon occasion ; and others may , by their various occursions and coalitions , unite into lesser corpuscles or greater bodies differing from the more simple particles , that composed them , and yet not of indeterminate though compounded figures . chap. iii. these things being premis'd , we may now proceed to the particular instances of the determinate nature of effluviums ; and these we may not inconveniently reduce to the three following heads , to each of which we shall assign a distinct chapter ; the first of these i shall briefly treat of in this third chapter , and treat somewhat more largely of the others in the two following . in the first place then , that the effluviums of many bodies retain a determinate nature oftentimes in an invisible smallness , and oftener in such a size as makes them little enough to fly or swim in the air ; may appear by this , that these effluvia being by condensation or otherwise reunited , they appear to be of the same nature with the body that emitted them . thus in moist weather , the vapours of water , that wander invisibly through the air , meeting with marble-walls or pavements , or other bodies , by their coldness and other qualifications , fit to condense and retain them , appear again in the form of drops of water ; and the same vapours return to the visible form of water , when they fall out of the air in dews , or rains. quicksilver it self , if it be made to ascend in distillation with a convenient degree of fire , will almost all be found again in the receiver in the form of running mercury . which strange and piercing fluid , is in some cases so disposed to be strip'd of its disguises , and re-appear in its own form , that divers artificers , and especially gilders , have found , to their cost , that the fumes of it need not be , as in distillation , included in close vessels to return to their pristine nature , mercury having been several times found in the heads and other parts of such people , who have in tract of time been killed by it , and sometimes made to discover it self during the lives of those that dealt so much in it ; of which i elsewhere give some instances . wherefore i shall only observe at present , that 't is a common practice , both among gilders , and some chymists , that , when they have occasion to make an amalgam , or force away the mercury from one by the fire , they keep gold in their mouthes , which by the mercurial fumes , that wander through the air , will now and then , by that time 't is taken out of their mouths , be turned white almost , as if it had been silver'd over . a mass of purified brimstone being sublimed , the ascending fumes will condense into what the chymists call flores sulphuris , which is true sulphur of the same nature with that , formerly exposed to sublimation ; and may readily by melting be reduced into such another mass . and to give you another like example of dry bodies ; i tryed , that by subliming good camphire in close vessels , it would all , as to sense , be raised into the upper vessel , or part of the subliming-glass in the form of dry camphire as it was before . nay though a body be not by nature , but art compounded of such differing bodies as a metal and another mineral , and two or three salts ; yet , if upon purification of the mixture from its grosser parts , the remaining and finer parts be minute enough and fitly shap'd , the whole liquor will ascend , and yet in the receiver altogether recover its pristine form of a transparent fluid , composed of differing saline and mineral parts . this is evident in the distillation of what chymists call butter , or oyl of antimony , very well rectified . for , this liquor will pass into the receiver diaphanous and fluid , though , besides the particles of the sublimate , ( which is it self a factitious compounded body ) it abounds with antimonial corpuscles , carried over and kept invisible by the corroding salts ; whatever angelus sala , and those chymists that follow him , have affirm'd to the contrary ; as might be easily here proved , if this were a fit place to do it in . i found by inquiring of an ingenious person , that had an interest in a tin-mine , that i was not deceived in guessing , that tin it self , though a metal whose ore is of a very difficult fusion , and which i have by it self kept long upon the cupel without finding it to fly away , would yet retain its metalline nature in the form of fumes or flowers . for this experienc'd gentleman answer'd me , that divers times they would take great store of a whitish sublimate from the upper part of the furnaces or chimnies , where they brought their ore to fusion , or wrought further upon it ; and that this sublimate , though perhaps elevated to the height of an ordinary man , would , when melted down , afford at once many pounds of very good tin. on which occasion i shall add , that i have my self more than once raised this metal in the form of white corpuscles by the help of an additament , that did scarce weigh half so much as it . chap. iv. the second way , by which we may discover the determinate nature of effluviums , is , by the difference that may sometimes be observ'd in their sensible qualities . for , these effluviums that are endow'd with them , proceed from the same sort of bodies , and yet those afforded by one kind of bodies being in many cases manifestly differing from those that fly off from another , this evident disparity in their exhalations argues their retaining distinct natures , according to those of the respective bodies whence they proceed . i will not now stay to examine , whether in the steams , that are made visibly to ascend from the terrestrial globe by those grand agents and usual raisers of them , the sun , and the agitation of the air , the eye can manifestly distinguish the diversity of colours : but in some productions of art such different colours may be discovered in the exhalations , even without the application of any external heat to raise them . for , when spirit of nitre , for example , has been well rectified , i have often observ'd , that even in the cold the fumes would play in the unfill'd part of the stop'd vials it was kept in , and appear in it of a reddish colour , and , if those vessels were open'd , the same fumes would copiously ascend into the air , in the form of a reddish or orange-tawny smoak . spirit or oyl of salt also , if it be very well dephlegm'd , though it will scarce in the cold visibly ascend in the empty part of a vial , whilst it is kept well stop'd ; yet , if the free air be allow'd access to it , it will , in case it be sufficiently rectified , fly up in the form of a whitish fume . but this is inconsiderable in comparison of what happens in a volatile tincture of sulphur , i have elsewhere taught you to make with quick-lime . for , not only upon a slight occasion the vacant part of the vial will be fill'd with white fumes , though the glass be well stop'd ; but upon the opening the vial these fumes will copiously pass out at the neck , and ascend into the air in the form of a smoak , more white than perhaps you ever saw any . and both this and that of the spirit of salt-peter do by their operation , as well as smell , disclose what they are ; the latter being of a nitrous nature , ( as is confess'd ) and the former , of a sulphureous : in so much that having for curiosities sake in a fitly shap'd glass caught a competent quantity of the ascending white fumes , i found them to have conven'd into bodies transparent and geometrically figur'd , wherein 't was easie to discover by their sensible qualities , that there were store of sulphureous particles mixt with the saline ones . that the liquors of vegetables , distill'd in balneo or in water , are not wont to retain any thing of the colour of the bodies that afforded them , is a thing easie to be observ'd in distillations made without retorts or the violence of the fire . but it may be worth while to make tryal , whether the essential oyl of wormwood ascend colour'd like the plant , whence 't is first drawn over with water in the limbec , or rectified in balneo . for , i forgot to take notice of it , when upon some particularities , i observ'd in that plant , my curiosity led me to find , that not only in the first distillation in a copper limbec , tinn'd on the inside , the oyl came over green , but by a rectification purposely made in a glass-vessel , the purified liquor was not depriv'd of that colour . the mention of these essential oyls , as chymists call those that are drawn in limbecs , leads me to tell you , that , though these liquors be but effluvia of the vegetables they are distill'd from , condens'd again in the receiver into liquors ; yet , as subtile as they are , many of them retain the genuine taste of the bodies , whence the heat elevated them ; as you will easily find , if you will tast a few drops of the essential oyl of cinamon , for example , or of wormwood dissolv'd by the intervention of sugar or spirit of wine in a convenient quantity of water , wine , or beer . for , by this means you have the natural taste of this spice or herb. and wormwood is a plant , whose effluvia do so retain the nature of the body that parts with them , that i must not forbear to alledge here an observation of mine , that may shew you , that 't is possible , though not usual , that even without the help of the fire the expirations of a body may communicate its tast . for , among other things , that i had occasion to observe about some quantity of wormwood laid up together , i remember , i took notice , and made others do the like , that coming into a room , where 't was kept , not only the organs of smelling were powerfully wrought upon by the corpuscles that swarm'd in the air , but also the mouth was sensibly affected with a bitter tast . perhaps you will scarce think it worth while , that after this instance i should add , that i found the expirations of amber , kept a while in pure spirit of wine , tast upon the tongue like amber it self , when i chew'd it between my teeth . but i choose to mention this instance , because it will connect those lately mention'd with another sort , very pertinent to our present purpose . for , the expirations that i have obtain'd from amber , both with pure spirit of wine , and a more piercing menstruum , did manifestly retain in both those liquors a peculiar smell , with which i found it to affect the nostrils , when , for tryals sake , i excited the electrical faculty of amber by rubbing . and as for odours , 't is plain , that the essential oyls of chymists , well drawn , do many of them retain the peculiar and genuine sent of the spices or herbs that afforded them . and that these odours do really consist of , or reside in certain invisible corpuscles that fly off from the visible bodies , that are said to be endow'd with such smells , i have elsewhere prov'd at large ; and it may sufficiently appear from their sticking to divers of the bodies they meet with , and their lasting adhesion to them . other examples may be given of the setled difference of effluviums directly perceivable by humane organs of sense , as dull as they are ; which last expression i add , because i scarce doubt , but that , if our sensories were sufficiently subtile and tender , they might immediately perceive in the size , shape , motion , and perhaps colour too of some now invisible effluviums , as distinguishable differences , as our naked eyes in their present constitution see , between the differing sorts of birds , by their appearances , and their manner of flying in the air , as hawks , and partridges , and sparrows , and swallows . to make this probable i will not urge , that in fine white sand , whose grains by the unassisted eye are not wont to be distinguished by any sensible quality , i have often observ'd in an excellent microscope , a notable disparity as to bulk , figure , and sometimes as to colour : and that in small cheese-mites , which the naked eye can very scarcely discern , so far is it from discovering any difference between them , one may ( as was noted in the last essay ) plainly see , besides an obvious difference in point of bigness , many particular parts , on whose accounts the structure of those moving points may difference them from each other . and i have sometimes seen a very evident disparity even in point of shape between the very eggs of these living atoms , ( as a poet would perhaps stile them . ) but these kinds of proofs ( as i was saying ) i shall forbear to insist on , that i may proceed to countenance my conjecture by the effects of the effluviums , that are properly so call'd , upon animals . and first , though the touch be reckon'd one of the most dull of the five senses , and be reputed to be far less quick in men than in divers other animals ; yet the gross organs of that , may , in men themselves , even by accident , be so dispos'd , as to be susceptible of impressions from effluvia : of this in another paper i give some instances . and i know not whether divers of the presages of weather to be observ'd in some animals , and the aches and other pains , that , in many crazy and wounded men , are wont to fore-run great changes of weather , do not often ( for i do not say alwayes ) proceed ( at least in part ) from invisible and yet incongruous effluxions , which , either from the subterraneal parts , or from some bodies above ground , do copiously impregnate the air. and on this occasion it will not be impertinent to mention here what an experienc'd physician being ( if i much misremember not ) the learned dimmerbrook , relates concerning himself , who having been infected with the plague by a patient that lay very ill of it , though by gods blessing , which he particularly acknowledges , upon a slight but seasonable remedy , he was very quickly cured , and that without the breaking of any tumor ; yet it left such a change in some parts of his body , that he subjoyns this memorable passage ; ab illo periculo ad contagiosos mihi appropinquanti in emunctoriis successit dolor , vix fallax pestis indicium . two or three other observations of the like nature you meet with in another of my papers * . and i shall now add , that i know an ingenious gentlewoman ( wife to a famous physician ) who was of a very curious and delicate complexion , that has several times assur'd me , that she can very readily discover , whether a person , that comes to visit her in winter , came from some place where there is any considerable quantity of snow ; and this she does , ( as she tells me ) not by feeling any unusual cold ( for if the ground be frozen but not cover'd with snow , the effect succeeds not , ) but from some peculiar impression , which she thinks , she receives by the organs of smelling . i might add , that i know also ( as i may have formerly told you ) a very ingenious physician , who falling into an odd kind of feaver , had his sense of hearing thereby made so very nice and tender , that he very plainly heard soft whispers , that were made at a considerable distance off , and which were not in the least perceiv'd by the healthy by-standers , nor would have been by him before his sickness . which ( sickness ) i mention as the thing , that gave his organs of hearing this preternatural quickness , because when the feaver had quite left him , he was able to hear but at the rate of other men . and i might tell you too , that i know a gentleman of eminent parts and note , who , during a distemper he had in his eyes , had his organs of sight brought to be so tender , that both his friends and himself also have assur'd me , that when he wak'd in the night he could for a while plainly see and distinguish colours , as well as other objects , discernable by the eye , as was more than once try'd , by pinning ribbands or the like bodies of several colours , to the inside of his curtains in the dark . for if he were awaken'd in the night , he would be able to tell his bed-fellow , where those bodies were plac'd , and what colour each of them was of . i have mention'd these instances only to shew you , that if our sensories were more delicate and quick , they would be sufficiently affected by objects , that , as they are generally constituted , make no impressions at all upon them . for otherwise i know , that the species ( as they call them ) both of sounds and colours , are not held by many of the moderns , ( from whom in that i dissent not , ) to be so much corporeal effluxions , trajected through the medium , as peculiar kinds of local motion convey'd by it . therefore i shall now confirm the conjecture i would countenance by the discrimination made by the organs of other animals of such effluvia as to us men are not only invisible but insensible . and therefore partly to strengthen what i deliver'd , and partly to confirm what i am now discoursing of , it will not be impertinent to subjoyn two or three relations , that i had from persons of very good credit , whom i thought likely to make me no unsatisfactory returns to my questions about things they were very well vers'd in . a person of quality , to whom i am near allied , related to me , that to make a tryal , whether a young blood-hound was well instructed , ( or as the huntsmen call it , made ) he caus'd one of his servants , who had not kill'd , or so much as touch'd any of his deer , to walk to a countrey-town , four mile off , and then to a market-town three miles distant from thence ; which done , this nobleman did , a competent while after , put the blood-hound upon the scent of the man , and caus'd him to be follow'd by a servant or two , the master himself thinking it also fit to go after them to see the event ; which was , that the dog , without ever seeing the man he was to pursue , follow'd him by the scent to the above-mentioned places , notwithstanding the multitude of market-people that went along in the same way , and of travellers that had occasion to cross it . and when the blood-hound came to the chief market-town , he pass'd through the streets , without taking notice of any of the people there , and left not till he had gone to the house , where the man , he sought , rested himself , and found him in an upper room to the wonder of those that follow'd him . the particulars of this narrative the nobleman's wife , a person of great veracity , that happen'd to be with him when the tryal was made , confirm'd to me . enquiring of a studious person , that was keeper of a red-dear-park and vers'd in making blood-hounds , in how long time , after a man or deer had pass'd by a grassy place , one of those dogs would be able to follow him by the scent ? he told me , that it would be six or seven hours : whereupon an ingenious gentleman , that chanc'd to be present , and liv'd near that park , assur'd us both , that he had old dogs of so good a scent , that if a buck had the day before pass'd in a wood , they will , when they come where the scent lies , though at such a distance of time after , presently find the scent and run directly to that part of the wood where the buck is . he also told me , that though an old blood-hound will not so easily fix on the scent of a single deer , that presently hides himself in a whole herd ; yet if the deer be chas'd a little till he be heated , the dog will go nigh to single him out , though the whole herd also be chas'd . the above-nam'd gentleman also affirm'd , that he could easily distinguish whether his hounds were in chase of a hare or a fox by their way of running , and their holding up their nose higher than ordinary when they pursue a fox , whose scent is more strong . these relations will not be judg'd incredible by him that reflects on some of the instances that have already ( in the foregoing essay ) been given of the strange subtilty of effluvia : to which i shall now add , that i remember , that to try whether i could in some measure make art imitate nature , i prepared a body of a vegetable substance , which , though it were actually cold , and both to the eye and touch dry , did for a while emit such determinate and piercing , though invisible , exhalations , that having for tryals sake applied to it a clear metalline plate ( and that of none of the very softest kind neither ) for about one minute of an hour , i found , that , though there had ▪ been no immediate contact between them , i having pursposely interposed a piece of paper to hinder it ; yet there was imprinted on the surface of the plate a conspicuous stain of that peculiar colour , that the body , with whose steams i had imbued the vegetable substance , was fitted to give a plate of that mix'd metal . and though it be true , that in some circumstances , the lately mention'd instances about blood-hounds have a considerable advantage of this i have now recited ; yet that advantage is much lessen'd , not to say countervail'd , by some circumstances of our experiment . for , not to repeat , that the emittent body was firm and cold , the effect produced by the effluvium that guided the setting-dog , was wrought upon the sensory of a living and warm animal ; and such an one , whose organs of smelling are of an extraordinary tender constitution above those of men and other animals , and probably the impression was but transient ; whereas in our case the invisible steams of the vegetable substance wrought upon a body which was of so strong and inorganical a texture as a ( compounded ) metal , though it were fenc'd by being lapt up in paper , notwithstanding which these steams invaded it in such numbers , and so notably , as to make their operation on it manifest to the eye , and considerably permanent too ; since coming to look upon the plate after the third day , i found the induced colour yet conspicuous , and not like suddenly to vanish . hitherto in this chapter i have argued from the constant and setled difference of the sensible qualities of effluviums , that they do not always lose their distinct natures , when they seem to have lost themselves by vanishing into air. but before i dismiss this subject , i must consider an objection , which i know may be made against the opinion we have been countenancing . for it may be alledg'd , that there may be many cases , wherein the effluviums of bodies are , in their passage through the air , sensibly alter'd , or do affect the organs of sense otherwise than each kind of them apart would do : nor is this difficulty altogether irrational . for it seems consonant enough to experience , that some such cases should be admitted , and therefore in the foregoing discourse i have , where i thought it necessary , forborn to express my self in such general and absolute terms , as otherwise i might have done . but , as for such cases as i have insisted upon , and many more , i shall now represent , that the objected alterations need not hinder , but that effluviums at their first parting from the bodies , whence they take wing ( if i may so speak , ) may retain as much of the nature of those bodies , as we have ascribed to them , since the subsequent change may very probably be deduc'd from the combinations or coalitions of divers steams associating themselves in the air , and acting upon the sensory , either altogether and conjointly , or at least so near it , that the sense cannot perceive their operations as distinct . this i shall elucidate , but not pretend to prove , by what happens in sounds and tasts . for if , by way of instance , in a musical instrument , two strings tun'd to an eight , be touch'd together , they will strike the ear with a sound , that will be judg'd one , as well as pleasing , though each of the trembling strings make a distinct noise , and the one vibrates as fast again as the other . and if , into oyl of tartar per deliquium , you drop a due proportion of spirit of nitre , and exhale the superfluous moisture , the acid and alcalizate corpuscles , that were so small as to swim invisibly in those liquors , will convene into nitrous concretions , whose tast will be compounded of , but very differing from , both the tasts of the acid and tartareous particles ; which particles may yet , for the most part , by a skilful distillation , be divorc'd again . and so , if to a strong solution of pot-ashes or salt of tartar you put as much in weight of sal armoniack , as there is of either of those fixt salts contain'd in the liquor ; you may , besides a subtil urinous spirit that will easily come over in the distillation , obtain a dry caput mortuum , which is almost totally a compounded salt , differing enough from either of the ingredients , especially the alcalizate , as well in tast as in some other qualities : this salt ( free'd from its faeces ) being that diuretick salt , i several years ago gave quantities of , to some chymists and physicians , from the most of whom i received great thanks , accompanied with the ( more acceptable ) accounts of the very happy success they had employed it with , though usually but in a small dose , as from six , eight or ten grains to a scruple . but this being mentioned only upon the by , i shall proceed to tell you , that , since i intimated to you already , that i would mention examples of sounds and tasts only to illustrate what i had been delivering ; i shall now add some instances by way of proof , of the coalition and resulting change of steams in the air. 't is easily observable in some nose-gays , where the differing flowers happen to be conveniently mix'd , that in the smell afforded by it , at a due distance , the odours of the particular flowers are not perceiv'd , but the organ is affected by their joynt-action , which makes on it a confused but delightful impression . and so , when in a ball of pomander , or a perfum'd skin , musk , and amber , and civet , and other sweets are skilfully mix'd , the coalition of the distinct effluvia of the ingredients , that associate themselves in their passage through the air , produce in the sensory one grateful perfume , resulting from all those odours . but if you take spirit of fermented urine and spirit of wine , both of them phelgmatick , and mix them together , they will incorporate like wine and water , or any other such liquors , without affording any dry concretions . but if you expose them in a convenient vessel but to the mild heat of a bath or lamp , the ascending particles will associate themselves , and adhere to the upper part of the glass in the form of a white but tender sublimate , consisting both of urinous and vinous spirits , associated into a mixture , which differs from either of the liquors , not only in consistence , tast and smell , but in some considerable operations performable by this odd mixture ; which , this is not the place , to take further notice of . and if spirit of salt and spirit of nitre be , by distillation , elevated in the form of fumes , so order'd as to convene into one liquor in the receiver , this liquor will readily dissolve crude gold , though neither the spirit of nitre alone , nor that of salt would do so . and that you may have an ocular proof of the possibility of the distinctness and subsequent commixture of steams in the air ; i shall now add an experiment , which i long since devis'd for that purpose , and which i soon after shew'd to many curious persons , most of whom appear'd somewhat surpriz'd at it . the experiment was ; that i took two small vials , the one fill'd with spirit of salt , but not very strong , the other with spirit of fermented urine or of sal armoniack very well rectified : these vials being plac'd at some distance , and not being stop'd , each liquor afforded its own smell , at a pretty distance , by the steams it emitted into the air , but yet these steams were invisible . but when these vials , ( which should be of the same size ) came to be approach'd very near to each other , though not so , as to touch ; as when the two liquors are put together in the form of liquors , they will notably act upon one another ; so their respective effluviums meeting in the air , would , answerably to the littleness of their bulk , do the like , and , by their mutual occursions , become manifestly visible , and appear moving in the air like a little portion of smoak or of a mist , which would quickly cease , if either of the vials were remov'd half a foot or a foot from the other . and i remember , that , to add to the oddness of the phaenomenon , i sometimes made a drop of the spirit of salt hang at the bottom of a little stick of glass or some other convenient body , and held this drop thus suspended in the orifice of a vial that had spirit of sal armoniack in it , and was furnish'd with a somewhat long neck ; for by this means it happen'd , as i expected , that the ascending urinous particles , though invisible before , invading plentifully the acid ones of the drop , produced a notable smoak , which , if the drop were held a little above the neck of the glass , would most commonly fly upwards to the height of a foot or half a yard : but if the drop were held somewhat deep within the cavity of the neck , a good part of the produced smoak would oftentimes fall into the cavity of the vial , which was left in great part empty , sometimes in the form of drops , but usually in the form of a slender and somewhat winding stream of a white colour , that seem'd to flow down just like a liquor from the depending drop , till it had reach'd the spirit of sal armoniack ; upon whose surface it would spread it self like a mist . but this only upon the by . as for the main experiment it self , it may be , as i have found , successfully try'd with other liquors than these ; but 't is not necessary in this place to give an account of such tryals ; though perhaps , if i had leisure , it might be worth while to consider , whether these coalitions of differing sorts of steams in the air , and the changes resulting thence of their particular precedent quantities , may not assist us to investigate the causes of divers sudden clouds and mists , and some other meteorological phaenomena , and also of divers changes that happen in the air in reference to the coming in and ceasing of several either epidemical or contagious diseases , and particularly the plague , that seem to depend upon some occult temperature and alterations of the air , which may be copiously impregnated by the differing subterraneal ( not to add here , sidereal ) effluviums , that not unfrequently ascend into it ( or otherwise invade it , ) with pestiferous or other morbifick corpuscles , and sometimes with others of a contrary nature , and sometimes too perhaps , neither the one sort of steams , which may be suppos'd to have imbued the air , is in it self deleterious ; nor the other salutary , but becomes so upon their casual coalition in the air. you will perhaps think this conjecture of the resultancy of pestilential steams , the less improbable , if i here add that odd observation , which was frequently made in the formerly mentioned plague at nimmegen by a physician so judicious as * dimmerbrook , whose words are these ; illud notatu dignum saepissime observavimus , nempa in illis aedibus in quibus nulla adhuc pestis erat , si linteamina sordida aquâ & sapone nostrate ( ut in belgio moris est ) illio lavarentur , eo ipso die , vel interdum postridie , duos tres-ve simul peste correptos fuisse , ipsique aegri test abantur faetorem aquae saponatae illis primam & maximam alterationem intulisse . hoc ipsum quoque in meo ipsius hospitio infelix experientia docuit , in quo post lota linteamina statim gravem alterationem perceperunt plaerique domestici , & proximè sequenti nocte tres peste correptae , ac brevi post mortuae fuere . i omit the instances he further sets down to confirm this odd phaenomenon , of which , though perhaps some other cause may be devised , yet that i lately assign'd seems at least a probable one , if not the most probable ; since , as 't is manifest by daily experience , that the smell occasion'd by the washing of foul linnen with the soap commonly used in the netherlands , produces not the plague ; so by our learned author's observation it appears , either that there were not yet any pestilential effluxions in the air of those places , which on the occasions of those washings became infected , or at least that by the addition of the fetid effluvia of the soapy water , those morbifick particles , that were dispers'd through the air before , had not the power to introduce a malignant constitution into the air , and to act as truly pestilential , till they were enabled to do so by being associated with the ill-scented effluvia of the soap . whether also salutary , and , if i may so call them , alexipharmacal corpuscles may not be produc'd in the air by coalition , might be very well worth our enquiry : especially if we had a competent historical account of the yearly ceasing of the plague at grand cayro . for , as i have elsewhere noted out of the learned prosper alpinus , who practis'd physick there ; and as i have also been inform'd by some of my acquaintance who visited that vast city , that almost in the midst of summer as soon as the river begins to rise * , the plague has its malignity suddenly check'd , even as to those that are already infected , and soon after ceases ; so if other circumstances contradict not , one might guess , that this strange phaenomenon may be chiefly occasion'd by some nitrous or other corpuscles that accompany the overflowing nile , and by associating themselves with what hippocrates somewhere calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , disable them to produce their wonted pernicious effects . to which hypothesis suits well what is deliver'd by more than one traveller into egypt , and more particularly by our ingenious countreyman mr. george sandys , who not only takes notice , that about the time of the overflowing of nilus , whose abounding with nitre has been observed even by the antients , there is a certain moistening emanation diffus'd thorow the air. to prove , sayes he * , speaking of the overflowing of nilus , that it proceedeth from a natural cause , this one , though strange , yet true experiment will suffice . take of the earth of egypt adjoining to the river , and preserve it carefully , that it neither come to be wet nor wasted , weight it daily , and you shall find it neither more nor less heavy until the seventeenth of june , at which day it beginneth to grow more ponderous , and augmenteth with the augmentation of the river , whereby they have an infallible knowledge of the state of the deluge , proceeding without doubt from the humidity of the air , which having a recourse through all passible places , and mixing therewith increaseth the same , as it increaseth in moisture . that these sanative steams perform their effects meerly because they are moist , i presume naturalists will scarce pretend ; but that they may be of such a nature as by their coalition with the morbifick corpuscles to increase their bulk and alter their figure , or precipitate them out of the air , or clog their agility , or pervert their motions , and in a word destroy all or some tat least of those mechanical ▪ affections which made those corpuscles pestilential : that , i say , these antidotal vapours ( if i may so call them ) may have these effects upon those that formerly were morbifick , and that so there may result from the association of two sorts of particles , whereof one was of a highly noxious nature , a harmless mixture , might here be made probable by several things ; but that i hope what i have lately recited about the coalitions of the effluvia of spirit of salt and of urine ( liquors known to be highly contrary to each other ) is not already forgotten by you . and the experiment with which i am to conclude this essay will perhaps make you think it possible , that the pestiferous steams that have already pass'd out of the air , and invaded , but not too much vitiated , the bodies of men , may have their malignity much debilitated by the supervening of these antidotal particles . for in that experiment you will find , that the steams emitted into the air from the liquor there described , though that were actually cold , were able to reach , and manifestly to operate , ( and that probably by way of praecipitation , ) upon corpuscles that were fenc'd from them by the interposition of other bodies ; not more porous than those of living men. whether the fume of sulphur , which by many is extoll'd to prevent the infection of the air , do by its acid or other particles disarm , if i may so speak , the pestilential ones , i have not now time to inquire : no more than whether in ireland and some few other countries , that breed or brook no poysonous animals , that hostility may proceed , at least in great part , from the peculiar nature of the soyl , which both from its superficial and deeper parts , constantly supplies the air with corpuscles destructive to venemous animals . and some other particulars , that may be pertinently enough consider'd here , you may find treated on in other papers . and therefore at present i shall only intimate in a word , that having purposely made a visible and lasting stain on a solid body barely by cold effluvia , i did by the invisible and cold steams of another body make in two or three minutes a visible change in the colour of that stain . and as for the other part of the conjecture , ( viz. ) that meteors may sometimes be produc'd by the occursions of subterraneal effluvia , some of them of one determinate nature , and some of another , i think i could , to countenance it , give you divers instances of the plentiful impregnation ) of the air at some times , and in some places , with steams of very differing natures , and such as are not so likely to be attracted by the heat of the sun , as to be sent up from the subterraneal regions , and sometimes from minerals themselves . but for instances of this kind , i shall , for brevities sake , refer you to another paper * , where i have purposely treated of this subject , and particularly shewn , that though usually the effluxions that come from under ground are ill-scented , yet they are not alwayes so ; and also that sulphureous exhalations even from cold , and , for the most part , aqueous liquors may retain their determinate nature in the air , and act accordingly upon solid bodies themselves , to whose constitution those effluvia chance to be proportionate . but one memorable story not mention'd 〈…〉 that discourse is too much to our present purpose to be here omitted , especially having met with it in so approved an author as the experienc'd agricola , who having mention'd out of antient historians the raining of white and red liquors , which they took ( erroneously i doubt not ) for milk and blood , subjoyns , * ut autem majorèm fidem habe amus annalium monumentis facit res illa decantata , quae patrum memoriâ ( in another place he specifies the year of our lord ) in suevia accidit ; aer enim ille stillavit guttas , quae lineas vestes crucibus rubris quasi sanguineis imbuebant . which i the rather mention , because it does not only prove what i alledge it for ; but may keep , what is lately and very credibly reported to have happen'd in divers places of the kingdom of naples soon after the fiery eruption of vesuvius , from being judg'd a phaenomenon either altogether fabulous , ( as doubtless many have thought it , ) or a prodigie without all example , as is presum'd even by those that think it not miraculous . and to this i add , that 't will be the less improbable , that the more agile corpuscles of subterraneal salts , sulphurs and bitumens , may be rais'd into the air , and keep distinct natures there , if so fixt a body as common earth it self can be brought to swim in the air. and yet of this the worthy writer newly quoted gives us , besides what annals relate , this testimony upon his own knowledge : * certè hîc kempnicii undecimum abhinc annum mense septembri effluxerunt imbres , sic cum terra lutea commisti , ut eâ passim plateas scilicet stratas viderem conspersas . and to shew you that in some cases the particles even of vegetable bodies may not so soon perish in the air as they vanish there , but may retain distinct natures at a greater distance , than one would think , from the bodies that copiously emit them ; i shall add , that having desir'd an ingenious gentleman , that went on a considerable employment to the east-indies , to make some observations for me in his voyage ; he sent me among other things this remarque : that having sayl'd along the coast of ceylon , ( famous for cinnamon-trees and well-scented gums , ) though they coasted it almost a whole day , the wind , that then chanc'd to blow from the shoar , brought them a manifestly odoriferous air from the island , though they kept off many miles ( perhaps twenty or twenty-five ) from the shoar . nor should this be thought incredible , because the diffusion seems so disproportionate to that of other bodies dissolved by fluids ; as , for instance , though salt be an active body and resoluble into abundance of minute particles , yet one part of salt will scarce be tastable in an hundred parts of water . for sensibly to affect so gross an organ as that of our tast , there is usually required in sapid particles a bigness far exceeding that which is necessary to the making bodies fit objects for the sense of smelling , and , which is here mainly to be considered , there is a great difference between the power a body has to impregnate so thin and fine a fluid as air , whose parts are so rare and lax , and that which it has to impregnate liquors , such as water or wine , whose parts are so constipated as to make it not only visible and tangible , but ponderous . on which occasion i remember that having had a curiosity to try how far a sapid body could be diluted without ceasing to be so , i found by tryal , that one drop of good chymical , and , as artists call it , essential oyl of cinnamon being duly mix'd by the help of sugar with wine , retain'd the determinate tast of cinnamon , though it were diffus'd into near a quart of wine . so that making a moderate estimate , i concluded , that upon the common supposition , according to which a drop is reckon'd for a grain , one part of oyl had given the specifick tast of the spice , it was drawn from , to near fourteen thousand parts of wine . by comparing which experiment with what i noted about the proportion of salt requisite to make water tast of it , you will easily perceive ; that there may be a very great difference in point of diffusiveness between the little particles that make bodies sapid : which may serve to confirm both some part of the first chapter of the foregoing essay of the subtilty of effluvia ▪ and what i was lately saying to shew it possible , that antimonial glass might impart store of steams to the emetick wine , without appearing upon common scales to have lost of its weight ; since we see , that one drop of so light a body as oyl may communicate not insensible effluvia , but tastable corpuscles to near a quart of liquor . but this is not all for which i mention our experiment : for i must now add , that besides the almost innumerable sapid parts of a spicy drop communicated to the wine , it thence diffused a vast number of odorous particles into the air , which both i , and others perceived to be imbued with the distinct scent of cinnamon , and which perhaps the liquor would have been found able to have aromatized for i know not how long a time , if i had had leisure to prosecute the observation . chap. v. the third and last way i shall mention of shewing the determinate nature of effluviums , is to be taken from the consideration of their effects upon other bodies than the organs of our senses ; ( for of their operations upon these we have already spoken in the foregoing chapter ▪ ) for the effects , that certain bodies produce on others by their effluviums , being constant and determinate , and oftentimes very different from those , which other agents by their emissions work upon the same and other subjects , the distinct nature of the corpuscles emitted may be thence sufficiently gather'd . we may from the foregoing tract of the subtilty of effluvia , borrow some instances very pertinent to this place . for the temporary benumbedness or stupefaction , for example , produc'd in the fisherman's foot by the effluvia * of the fish ( amoreatim ) mention'd by the ingenious piso , manifests , that those stupifying emanations retain'd a peculiar and venemous nature during their whole passage through the shoe , stocking and skin , interpos'd betwixt the fish and the nervous part of the foot benumb'd by it . and though there are very few other bodies in the world , that are minute enough to pass through the pores of glass , 't is apparent , by the experiment there recited of the oblong iron hermetically seal'd up in a glass-pipe , that the magnetical effluvia of the earth may retain their peculiar and wonderful nature in a smallness that qualifies them to pass freely through the pores of glass it self . but that i may neither repeat what you have already met with in the foregoing tract , nor anticipate what i have to say in the next ; i will employ in this chapter some instances that may be spar'd from both . that divers bodies of a venemous nature may exercise some such operations upon others by their effluviums transmitted through the air , as they are wont to do in their gross substance , is a truth , whereof though i have not met with many , yet i have met with some examples among physicians . the learned * sennertus observes as a known thing , that the apprentices of apothecaries have been cast into profound sleeps , when in distilling opiat and hypnotick liquors they have received in at their nostrils the vapours exhaling from those bodies . 't is recorded by the * writers about poysons , that the root and juyce of mandragora casts those , that take it , into a deep sopor not unlike a lethargy . and though the apples of the same plant be thought to be much less malignant ; yet levinus lemnius relates that it happen'd to him more than once , that having laid some mandrake-apples in his study , he was by their steams made so sleepy , that he could hardly recover himself ; but the apples being taken away he regain'd alacrity , and threw off all drowsiness . among all poysons there is scarce any whose phaenomena are in my opinion more strange than those that proceed from a mad dog ; and yet even this poyson , which seems to require corpuscles of so odd and determinate a nature , is recorded by physicians to have been conveyed by exhalations . aretaeus writes ( as a learned modern quotes him , ) quòd à rabido cane , qui in faciem , dum spiritus adducitur , tantummodò inspiraverit , & nullo modo momorderit , in rabiem homo agatur . and as there are relations , among physicians , of animals , that have become rabiosi by having eaten of the parts or excrements of rabid animals ; so * caelius aurelianus , who writes , that some have been made to run mad , not by being bitten , but wounded only with the claws of a mad dog , tells us also of a man , that fell into a hydrophobia ( which is wont to be a high degree of the rabies , and by some of the antienter writers was employ'd to signifie that disease ) without being bitten by a mad dog , but infected solo odore ex rabido cane attracto . by which odours in this and other narratives of poysons i understand not a bare scholastick species , but a swarm of effluvia , which most commonly are all or at least some of them odorous . and though it may justly seem strange to many , that the venom of a mad dog should be communicated otherwise than by biting , which is suppos'd to be the only way he can infect by , it may appear less improbable , because matthaeus de gradibus names a person , who , he says , prov'd infected after many days , by only having put his hand into the mouth of a mad dog , who did not bite him . and the formerly mentioned matthiolus relates , that he saw two , that were made rabid without any would by the slabber of a mad dog , with which they had the misfortune to be besmear'd . * sennertus himself affirms of a painter of his acquainance , that , when he had open'd a box , in which he had long kept included realgar , a noxious mineral , sometimes used by painters and not unknown to chymists , and had unfortunately snuff'd in the steams of it , he was seis'd with a giddiness in his head and fainting fits , his whole face also swelling , though by taking of antidotes he escap'd the danger . divers other examples we have met with in the writings of physicians , which i forbear to add to these , because , i confess , i very much doubt the truth of them , though the deliverers of some of them be men of note . but the probability of most of the things already cited out of credible authors may be strengthned by what i shall now subjoyn , as a further proof of the distinct nature of effluvia ; of which it will be a very considerable proof , if medicines , which are of a milder and more familiar nature and operation than poysons , shall yet be able in some cases to retain , in their invisible particles swimming in the air , the same , ( though not so great ) power of purging , which is known to belong to them when their gross body is taken in at the mouth . of this i have elsewhere , on another occasion , given some examples . to which i shall now add , that i know a doctor of physick , that is usually purg'd by the odours or exhalations of a certain electuary , whose cathartick operation , when it is taken in substance , is wont to be but languid . and another doctor of my acquaintance , causing good store of the root of black hellebore to be long pounded in a mortar , most of those , that were in the room , and especially the party that pounded it , were thereby purg'd , and some of them strongly enough . and the learned sennertus somewhere affirms , that some will be purg'd by the very odour of colocynthis . and 't is not to be pass'd by unregarded ; that in the cases i have alledg'd , exhalations , that are endow'd with occult qualities , ( for those of cathartick medicines are reckon'd among such ) ascend into the air without being forc'd from the bodies they belong'd to by an external heat . and if i would in this place alledge examples of the operations of such effluvia , as do not pass into the air , but yet operate only by the contact of the external parts of the body , i could give instances , not only of the purgative , but the emetick qualities of some medicines exerted without their being taken in at the mouth , or injected with instruments . there are also other sorts of examples than those hitherto mentioned , that argue a determinate nature in the effluxions of some bodies emitted into the air. approv'd writers tell us , that the shadow of a walnut-tree with the leaves on it is very hurtful to the head ; and some instances they give us of great mischief it has sometimes done . and though the shadow , as such , is not likely to be guilty of such bad effects ; yet the effluvia of the neighbouring plant may be noxious enough to the head. for i , that was not at all prepossess'd with an opinion that it was so , and therefore without scruple resorted to the shade of walnut trees in a hot countrey , was by experience forc'd to think it might give others the head-ach , since it did to me , who , thanks be to god , both was , and am still very little subject to that distemper . and this brings into my mind an observation that i have met with among some ingenious travellers into the west-indies , who observe in general , and of late a country-man of our own affirms it in particular , of the poysonous manchinello-tree , that birds will not only forbear to eat of the fruit of venemous plants , but , as to some of them , will not so much as light on the trees : which i therefore mention , because probably nature instructs them to avoid such trees by some noxious smell , or other emanation , that offends the approaching birds . and i remember , that some of our navigators give it for a rule to those that happen to land in unknown islands or coasts , that they may venture to eat of those parts of fruits which they can perceive , the birds , like kind tasters , to have been pecking at before . nicolaus florentinus ( cited by sennertus ) tells us of a certain lombard , that having in a house , that he nam'd , at florence , burn'd a great black spider at the flame of a candle , so unwarily , that he drew in the steams of it at his nostrils , presently began to be much disorder'd and fell into a fainting fit , and for the whole night had his heart much disaffected , his pulse being so weak , that one could scarce perceive he had any ; though afterwards he was cured by treacle , diamose , and the powder of zedoary mixt together . and i remember , that being some years ago in ireland , i gather'd a certain plant ( peculiar to some parts of that countrey ) which the natives call maccu-buy , because of strange traditions that go about it ; the chief of which i found by tryal not to be true : but yet being satisfied , that its operations were odd and violent enough , i was willing to gratifie the chief physician of the countrey , who was desirous i should propose to him some wayes of correcting it ; and whilst i was speaking of one that required the pounding of it , he told me on that occasion , that intending to make an extract of it with vinegar , he caus'd his man to beat it well in a mortar , which the man soon repented he had begun to do : and the doctor himself , though at a pretty distance off , was so wrought upon by the corpuscles that issued out into the air , that his head , and particularly his face , swell'd to an enormous and disfiguring bulk , and continued tumid for no inconsiderable time after . i have not leisure to subjoyn many more instances to shew the determinate nature of effluviums , small enough to wander through the air ; nor perhaps will it be necessary , if you please but to consider these two things . the first , that many odoriferous bodies , as amber , musk , civet , &c. as they will , by the adhesion of their whole substance , perfume skins , linnen , &c. so they will in time perfume some bodies disposed to admit their action , though kept at a distance from them . and the other is , that in pestilential feavers and divers other contagious sicknesses , as the plague , small-pox , or measels , the same determinate disease is communicable to found persons , not only by the immediate contact of the infected party ; but without it , by the contagious steams that exhale from his body into the air. and having said this and desir'd you to reflect upon it , i shall conclude this chapter with an experiment , that possibly will not a little confirm a great part of it . considering then with my self , how i might best devise a way of shewing to the very eye , that effluvia elevated without the help of heat , and wandering in the air , may both retain their own nature , and upon determinate bodies produce effects , that a vulgar philosopher would ascribe to occult qualities : i remember'd , that i had found by tryals ( made to other purposes ) that volatile and sulphureous salts would so work upon some acid ones sublim'd with mercury , as to produce an odd diversity of colours , but chiefly an inky one ; on which account i judg'd it likely that my aim would by answer'd by the following experiment . i took an ounce , or better , of such a volatile tincture of sulphur , as i have elsewhere * taught you to make of quick-lime , sulphur and sal armoniack , and stop'd it up in a vial capable of containing at least twice as much ; then taking a paper whereon something had been written with invisible ink , i laid it down six inches off of the vial , which , being unstop'd , began , upon the access of the fire , to emit white fumes into it ; and by these , what was written upon the paper , notwithstanding its distance from the liquor , quickly became very legible , though not quite so suddenly , as if a paper , written with the same clear liquor , were held at the like distance directly over the orifice of the vial. and having caus'd several pieces of clean paper to be written on , with a new pen dip'd in the clear solution of sublimate made in water , 't was pleasant to see , how divers of the letters of several of these papers , being plac'd within some convenient distance of the vial , would be made plainly legible , and some of them more , some less blackish , according to their distances from the smoaking liquor , and other circumstances . but 't was more surprizing to see , that when i held or laid some of these papers , though with the written side upwards , just upon or over the orifice of the vial , though the contained liquor did not by some inches reach so high , yet the latent letters would become not only legible but conspicuous in about a quarter of a minute of an hour ( measur'd by a good watch fit for the purpose , as more than one tryal assur'd me . ) and as it may be observ'd , that in some circumstances the smoaking liquor and the solution of sublimate will make an odd precipitate almost of a silverish colour , so in one or two of our tryals we found a like colour produc'd , by the steams of that liquor , in some of the colourless ink. nor is it so necessary to employ a visibly smoaking liquor for the denigrating of invisible ink at a distance . for i have , to that purpose , with good success , though not equal to that i have recited , employ'd a couple of liquors , wherein there was neither sulphur , nor sal armoniack , nor sublimate . what other tryals i made with our volatile tincture of sulphur , 't is not necessary here to relate , only one experiment , which you will possibly think odd enough , i shall not omit ; because it will not only confirm the precedent tryals , but also much of the foregoing essay , by shewing the great subtilty and penetrating power of effluviums that seem rather to issue out very faintly , than to be darted out with any briskness . causing then something to be written with dissolv'd sublimate upon a piece of paper , we folded the paper with the written side inwards , and then inclos'd this in the midst of six sheets of paper , laid one upon another , not plac'd one within another , and folded up in the form of an ordinary letter or packet to be seal'd , that , the edges of the enclosing paper being inserted one within the other , the fumes might not get into this written paper but by penetrating through the leaves themselves : this done , that side of the packet , on which there was no commissure , and on which , were it to be sent away , the superscription should be written , was laid upon the orifice of the vial , which ( as was before intimated ) was some inches higher than the surface of the liquor , and left there about ten minutes ; after which taking off the folded papers , and opening them , we found , that the steams had pervaded all the leaves , in which the written paper had been enclos'd . for , though the leaves did not appear stain'd or alter'd , yet the formerly latent characters appear'd conspicuous . i have not time to discourse , whether and how far this experiment may assist us to explain some odd effects of thunder , or of that strange phaenomenon , ( glanc'd at in the foregoing chapter , ) which is said to have happen'd lately in the kingdom of naples after the great eruption of vesuvitus , which is said to have been follow'd by the appearing of the crosses formerly mention'd , some of which have been found on the innermost parts of linnen , that had been carefully folded up . but of these and the like things , i say , i have now no time to discourse , whether any thing derivable from our experiment may be pertinently apply'd to their explication . for which reason i shall add no more than that afterwards for further tryal we took a printed book , that chanc'd to be at hand , and which we judg'd the fittest for our purpose , because the leaves being broad they might the better preserve a small paper to be plac'd in the mid'st of them from being accessible to the exhalations sidewise , and having put the design'd paper into this book , and held it to the orifice of the vial , though there were no less than twelve leaves between them ; yet those letters , that happen'd to be the most rightly plac'd , were made inky in the short space of three minutes at the utmost ; though this liquor had been so long kept and so often unstop'd to try conclusions with it , that it had probably lost a good part of the most spirituous and piercing particles . new experiments , to make the parts of fire and flame stable & ponderable . by the honorable robert boyle . london : printed by william godbid , for moses pitt , at the sign of the white hart in little britain . 1673. a preface ; shewing the motive , design , and parts of the ensuing tract . the inducements which put me upon the attempt , express'd in the title of this essay , were chiefly these : first , i consider'd , that the interstellar part of the universe , consisting of air and aether , or fluids analogous to one of them , is diaphanous ; and that the aether is , as it were , a vast ocean , wherein the luminous globes , that here and there like fishes swim by their own motion , or like bodies in whirlpools are carried about by the ambient , are but very thinly dispers'd , and consequently that the proportion , that the fixt stars and planetary bodies bear to the diaphanous part of the world , is exceeding small and scarce considerable ; though we should admit the sun and fixt stars to be opacous bodies upon the account of their terminating our sight : which diffident expression i employ , because i have elsewhere shewn by two or three experiments , purposely devised , that a body may appear opacous to our eyes , and yet allow free passage to the beams of light. i further consider'd , that there being so vast a disproportion between the diaphanous part of the world and the globes , about which 't is every way diffused , and with which it is sometimes in great portions mingled , as in the water , which together with the earth makes up the globe we inhabit ; and the nature of diaphanous bodies being such , that , when the sun or any other luminous body illustrates them , that which we call light does so penetrate and mix it self per minima with them , that there is no sensible part of the transparent body uninlightned ; i thought it worth the enquiry , whether a thing , so vastly diffused as light is were some thing corporeal or not ? and whether , in case it be , it may be subjected to some other of our senses besides our sight , whereby we may examine ; whether it hath any affinity with other corporeal beings , that we are acquainted with here below ? i did not all this while forget , that the peripateticks make light a meer quality , and that cartesius ingeniously endeavours to explicate it by a modification of motion in an aetherial matter : but i remember'd too , that the atomists of old , and of late the learned gaffendus , and many other philosophers assert light to be corporeal ; and that some tears since , though i declined to pass my judgement about the question , yet i had employ'd arguments , that appear'd plausible enough to shew , that 't was not absurd to suppose , that the sun , which is the fixt star most known to us , might be a fiery body . and therefore doubting , whether the corporeity of light would be in haste determined by meer ratiocinations , i thought it very well worth the endeavouring to try whether i could do any thing towards clearing the dispute of it by experiments ; especially being perswaded , that , though such an attempt should be ineffectual , it would but leave the controversie in its former state , without prejudicing either of the contending hypotheses ; and yet , if it should prove successful , the consequences of it would be very great and useful towards the explicating of divers phaenomena in divers parts of natural philosophy , as in chymistry , botanicks , and ( if there be any such ) the allowable part of astrologie . ( nor perhaps would it be impossible by the help of slight theorical alterations ; to reconcile the experiments , i design'd , to either of the above-mention'd hypotheses , and so as to the explication of light , to one another . ) to compass then , what i aim'd at , i thought , 't was fit in the first place to try , what i could do by the union of the sun-beams , they being on all hands confess'd to be portions ( as i may so speak ) of true and celestial light : and then , i thought fit to try , what could be obtain'd from flame ; not only because that is acknowledg'd to be a luminary but because i hoped , the difficulties , i foresaw in the other tryals , might be in some measure avoided in those made with flame ; and if both sorts of them should succeed , the later and former would serve to confirm each other . according to the method i proposed of handling these two subjects , i should begin with some account of what i attempted to perform in the sun-beams : but the truth is , that when i chanc'd to fall upon the enquiry that occasion'd this paper , besides that the time of the year it self was not over-favourable , the weather proved so extraordinary dark and unseasonable that it was wonder'd at ; so that , though i was furnish'd with good burning-glasses , and did several times begin to make tryals upon divers bodies , as lead , quicksilver , antimony , &c. yet the frequent interposition of clouds and mists did so disfavour my attempts , that , however they were not all alike defeated , yet i could not prosecute the greatest part of them to my own satisfaction . and therefore being unwilling to build on them as yet ; i shall reserve an account of them for another opportunity ; and now proceed to the mention of that sort of experiments which depending less on casualities , 't was more in my power to bring to an issue . i know i might have saved both you and my self some time and pains by omitting several of these tryals , and by a more compendious way of delivering the rest . but i rather chose the course i have taken ; partly because the novelty and improbabilities of the truth i deliver seems to require , that it be made out by a good number of tryals ; partly because i thought it might not be altogether useless to you and your friends , to see upon what inducements the several steps were made in this inquiry ; partly because i was willing to contribute something towards the history that now perhaps will be thought fit to be made of the increment or decrement that particular bodies may receive by being exposed to the fire ; and partly ( in fine ) because the incongruity of the doctrine here asserted to the opinions of the schools , and the general prepossessions of mankind , made me think it fit by a considerable variety , as well as number , of experiments to obviate , as far as may be , the differing objections and evasions wherewith a truth so paradoxical may expect to be encountred . new experiments , to make fire and flame ponderable . though there be among the following tryals a diversity that invites me , as to rank them into four or five differing sorts , so to assign them as many distinct sections ; yet for the conveniency of making the references , there will be occasion to make betwixt them , i shall wave the distinction , and set them down in one continued series . and because i am willing to comply with my hast , as well as to deal frankly and without ceremony with you , i shall venture to subjoyn the naked transcripts of my experiments , as i had in an artless manner set them down with many others for my own remembrance among my adversaria , without so much as retrenching some circumstances that relate less to my present argument , than to some other purposes . i shall then begin with the mention of a couple of experiments , which though they might conveniently enough be referr'd to another paper ; yet i shall here set them down , because it seems very proper to endeavour to shew in the first place , that flame it-self may be as 't were incorporated with close and solid bodies so as to increase their bulk and weight . tryals of the first sort . experiment i. [ a piece of copper-plate not near so thick as a half-crown , and weighing two drachmes and twenty-five grains , was so plac'd with its broad part horizontal , in a crucible , whose bottom had a little hole in it , for fumes to get out at , that it could not be removed from its position , nor be easily made to drop down or lose its level to the horizon , though the crucible were turned upside down : then about an ounce and half of common sulphur being put into a taller and broader crucible , that , wherein the copper stuck , was inverted into the orifice of it , that the sulphur being kindled , the flame , but not the melted brimstone in substance , might reach the plate , and have some vent beyond it at the above-mentioned hole . this brimstone burn'd about two hours , in which time it seem'd all to have been resolved into flame , no flowers of sulphur appearing to have sublimed into the inside of the upper crucible ; and though the copper-plate were at a considerable distance from the ignited sulphur , yet the flame seem'd to have really penetrated it , and to have made it visibly swell or grow thicker ; which appear'd to be done by a real accession of substance : since , after we had wip'd off some little adhering sordes , and with them divers particles of copper that stuck close to them , the plate was found to weigh near two and thirty grains more than at first , and consequently to have increased its former weight by above a fifth part . ] exper. ii. [ having , by refining one ounce of sterling silver with salt-peter , according to our way reduc'd it to seven drachms or somewhat less ; we took a piece of the thus purified silver , that weighed one drachm wanting two grains , and having order'd it as the copper-plate had been in the former experiment , after the flame of above one ounce and a quarter of sulphur , ( that quantity chancing to be suitable to the capacity of the crucible ) had for about an hour and a half beat upon it , the silver-plate seem'd to the eye somewhat swell'd , and the lower surface of it , that was next the flame , was brought to a great smoothness , the weight being increas'd to one drachm five grains and three quarters ; which increase of weight falling so short of that which was gain'd by the copper , i leave it to you to consider , whether the difference may be attributed to the closeness and compactness of the silver , argued by its being heavier in specie than copper ; or to the greater congruity of the pores of copper to be wrought on by the fiery menstruum ; or to some other cause . ] if you should here ask me , by what rational inducements i could be led to entertain so extravagant an expectation , as that such a light and subtile body as flame should be able to give an augmentation of weight to such ponderous bodies as minerals and metals ; i shall now , to avoid making anticipations here , or needless repetitions hereafter , return you only this answer : that the expectation you wonder at may justly be entertained upon the same or such like inducements , as you may easily discover in another paper , entitled corollarium paradoxum . for , supposing upon the grounds there laid , that flame may act upon some bodies as a menstruum , it seems no way incredible , that , as almost all other menstruums , so flame should have some of its own particles united with those of the bodies expos'd to its action : and the generality of those particles being , ( as 't is shewn in the paradox about the fewel of flames , ) either saline , or of some such piercing and terrestrial nature , 't is no wonder , that being wedg'd into the pores , or being brought to adhere very fast to the little parts of the bodies expos'd to their action , the accession of so many little bodies , that want not gravity , should , because of their multitude , be considerable upon a ballance , whereon one or two , or but few of these corpuscles would have no visible effect . i could here , if it were expedient , mention some odd scruples about the preceding experiments , and some also of the subsequent ; but , lest you should , with some other of my friends , upbraid me with being too jealous and sceptical , i will not trouble you with them ; but proceed to the next sort of tryals , wherein , though the matter were not always manifestly beaten on by a shining flame ; yet it was wrought on by that , which would be called flame by those who take not that word strictly , but in a latitude , and which this igneous substance may more properly be stiled , than it can be call'd common fire , this being visibly harbour'd in burning coals or other gross materials , from which our metals were fenc'd . and i have elsewhere shewn by experiment , that visibility is not in all cases necessary to actual flame , particularly when the eye receives a predominant impression from another light. tryals of the second sort . exper. iii. into a crucible , whose sides had been purposely taken down to make it very shallow , was put one ounce of copper-plates ; and this being put into our cupelling-furnace , and kept there two hours , and then being taken out we weighed the copper ( which had not been melted ) having first blown off all the ashes , and we found it to weigh one ounce and thirty grains . exper. iv. [ supposing that copper , being reduc'd to filings , and thereby gaining more of superficies in proportion to its bulk , would be more expos'd to the action of the fire , than when 't is in places as it was formerly ; we took one ounce of that metal in filings , and putting them upon a very shallow crucible , and under a muffler , we kept them there about three hours , ( whilst other things that required so long a time were cupelling ; ) and afterwards taking them off , we found them of a very dark colour , not melted but caked together in one lump , and increas'd in weight ( the ashes and dust being blown off ) no less than about forty-nine grains . part of which increment , above that obtained by the copper-plates in the former experiment , may not improbably be due to the longer time that in this experiment the fil'd copper was kept in the fire . ] exper. v. [ being willing to see , whether calcin'd harts-horn , that i did not find easie to be wrought on by corrosive menstruums , would retain any thing of the flame or fire to which it should be expos'd ; we weigh'd out one ounce of small lumps of harts-horn , that had been burnt till they appear'd white , and having put them into a crucible , and kept them in a cupelling-furnace for two hours , whilst some metals were driving off there by the violence of the fire ; we found , that when they were taken out , they had lost six or seven grains of their former weight ; perhaps either because , notwithstanding the external whiteness of the lumps , the internal parts of some of them might not be so exquisitely calcin'd , but retain some oleaginous or other volatile substance ▪ or , because , having omitted to ignite them well before they were weigh'd , they may have since their first calcination imbib'd some moist particles of the air. which conjecture seem'd the likelier , because , having kept them a while in the scales they were weigh'd in , they did within two or three hours make it somewhat preponderate . on which occasion i shall add , that , at the same time , with the harts-horn we put in one ounce of well-heated brick , and kept that likewise in the furnace for above two hours ; at the end of which weighing it whilst it continued hot , we did not find it to have either sensibly got or lost ; but , some time after , it seem'd upon the ballance to have imbib'd some , though but very little , moisture from the air. ] exper. vi. [ upon a good cupel we put one ounce of english tin of the better sort , and having plac'd it in the furnace under a muffler , though it presently melted , yet it did not forsake its place , but remain'd upon the concave surface of the cupel , till at the end of about two hours it appear'd to have been well calcin'd ; and then being taken out and weighed by it self , the ounce of metal was found to have gained no less than a drachm . ] exper. vii . [ an ounce of lead was put upon the cupel , made of calcin'd harts-horn , and placed under the muffler after that the cupel was first made hot and then weighed . this lead did not enter into the cupel , but was turn'd into a pretty kind of litharge on the top of it , and broke the cupel , whereby some part of the cupel was lost in the furnace , and yet the rest , together with the litharge , weigh'd seven grains more than the ounce of lead and the heated cupel did when they were put in . ] but because , though this tryal shew'd that some weight was gain'd either by the metal or cupel , or both ; yet it did not by this appear , what either of them acquir'd ; it seem'd fit to subjoyn a further tryal . exper. viii . [ we took a cupel about two ounces in weight , made of about ten parts of bone-ashes , and one of charcoal-ashes , made up together with ale. this was by it self put in a cupelling-furnace , under a muffler ; and the laborant , well vers'd in weighing , was order'd to take it out , when 't was throughly and highly heated , and to weigh it whilst 't was in that condition ( i being then present : ) this being done , 't was forthwith plac'd again under the muffler , where some metalline bodies were cupelling , and kept there for about two hours ; at the end of which time 't was taken out red-hot , and presently put into the same ballance , as before , which was already fastned to a gibbet ; where having caus'd the adhering ashes to be blown off , i found , that whereas , when 't was first taken from under the muffler , we had but two ounces and two grains , now the same weight being put into the opposite scale , it had gain'd very near one and twenty grains . and here note , that 't was not without some cause , that i was careful to have the cupel weighed red-hot . for i had a suspition , that , notwithstanding the dryness of the bone , it might receive some little alteration of weight by imbibing some little particles wandering in the air ; which suspition the event justified . for leaving the cupel counterpois'd to cool in the ballance , in a short time it began sensibly to preponderate ; and suffering it to continue there nine or ten hours , till we had occasion to use the ballance , i found it at the end of that time to be about three grains heavier than before . ] this was not the only tryal we made about the augmenting the weight of cupels ; but this being the fairest , and exempt from those mischances , from which the other were not altogether free ; i shall content my self to have set down this : in the mention of which i thought fit to take notice of the increase of the weight of the cupel after it had layn in the scales , and also that we weighed it at first whilst it was throughly hot , because those circumstnces , as not being suspected , may easily be left unthought on , even by skilful experimenters ; and yet the weighing of the cupel , when it had been well neal'd , and the not weighing it soon enough after 't is taken from the fire , may keep those , that shall reiterate this experiment , from making it cautiously and accurately enough . for if the former circumstance be omitted , that which the cupel may seem to have lost of its substance , was nothing but the adventitious moisture of the air ; and if the later circumstance be neglected , the weight , it may seem to have gain'd from the fire , was indeed due to the waterish particles of the air. i could wish also , that tryal were made , whether the success would be the same in cupels made in differing sorts of bone-ashes , and other materials , wont to be employed for that purpose . for that i had not opportunity to do . exper. ix . iron being a metal , that experience had inform'd me will more easily be wrought on by fluids that have particles of a saline nature in them , than is commonly believed ; 't was not unreasonable to expect , that flame would have a greater operation on it , ( especially if it were before-hand reduc'd to small parts ) than on any of the bodies hitherto describ'd . which supposition will be confirm'd by the short ensuing note . [ four drachms of filings of steel being kept two hours on a cupel under a muffler , acquir'd one drachm six grains and a quarter increase of weight . ] exper. x. [ a piece of silver , refin'd in our own laboratory , being put upon a cupel under a muffler , and kept there for an hour and half , whilst other things were refining , was taken out and weigh'd again , and , whereas before it weighed three drachms , thirty-two grains and a quarter , it now weighed in the same scales three drachms , thirty-four grains and a half , or but little less . ] finding this memorial among divers others about the weight of bodies , expos'd to the fire , i thought it not amiss to annex it in this place ; though finding it to be but single , i would not have it to be rely'd on till further tryal have been made to discover , whether it was more than a casual and anomalous experiment ; and if the silver had not been refin'd , i should have suspected , that the copper , that was blended with it , as 't is usually blended with common silver , might have occasioned the increased of weight . ( postcript . ) since the foregoing experiment was first set down , meeting with an opportunity to reiterate the tryal once more , we did it with half an ounce of filings of silver , well refin'd with lead in our own laboratory , and kept it about three hours upon the cupel ; after the end of which time taking it out , we found it to be of a less pleasant colour than it was of before , and melted ( though not so perfectly ) into a lump , which weigh'd four drachms and six grains ; and yet , the success being so odd , and , if it prove constant , of such moment , i could wish the tryal were further repeated in differing quantities of the metal . exper. xi . [ we took a drachm of filings of zink or spelter , and having put it upon a cupel under a muffler , we kept it there in a cupelling-fire about three hours , ( having occasion to continue the cupellation so long for other tryals ; ) then taking it off the cupel , we found it to be caked into a brittle and dark-colour'd lump , which look'd as if the filings had been calcin'd . this being weigh'd in the same scales gain'd full six grains , and so a tenth part of its first weight . ] exper. xii . among our various tryals upon common metals , we thought fit to make one or two upon a metal brought us from the east-indies , and there call'd tutenâg , which name being unknown to our european chymists , i have elsewhere endeavoured to give some account of the metal it self ; whence i shall borrow the ensuing note , as directly belonging to our present purpose . [ two drachms of filings of tutenâg being put upon a cupel , and kept under the muffler for about two hours , the filings were not melted into a lump of metal , but look'd as if ceruss and minium being pouder'd had been mingled together ; some of the parts appearing distinctly white ; and others red : the calx being put into the ballance appear'd to have gained twenty-eight grains and a quarter . another time the experiment being reiterated with the like circumstances , we found , that two drachms of the filed tutenâg gained the like increase of weight , abating less than one grain . ] so that this indian metal seems to have gain'd more in the fire , in proportion to its weight , than any we have hitherto made tryal of . exper. xiii . [ being desirous to confirm by a clear experiment , what i elsewhere deliver contrary to the vulgar opinion of those that believe , that in all cupellations almost all the lead that is employ'd about them , does , together with the baser metals that are to be purg'd off from the silver or gold , fly away in smoak , as indeed in some sort of cupellations a good proportion may be blown off that way : we took two ounces of good lead and one drachm of filings of copper , and having caus'd a cupel to be ignited , and nimbly taken out of the furnace , and weighed , whilst 't was very hot , 't was presently put back , together with the two metals laid on it , into the cupelling-furnace , where having been kept for about two hours , it was taken out again , and 't was found , according to what ( as i elsewhere * note ) uses to happen in such circumstances , to have nothing on the surface of it worth weighing distinctly in the scales , in which the cupel with what was sunk into it amounted to four ounces three drachms and eleven grains , which wanted but nine grains of the whole weight of the cupel and the two metals , when they were all three together committed to the fire . ] so that , though we make a liberal allowance for the increment of weight that may with any probability be supposed to have been attained by the cupel and what was put upon it , yet it will easily be granted , that very much the greater part of the metals was not driven off in fumes , but enter'd into the substance of the cupel . tryals of the third sort . after having shewn that either flame or the analogous effluxions of the fire will be , what chymists would call , corporified with metals and minerals exposed naked to its action ; i thought it would be a desirable thing to discover , whether this flame or igneous fluid were subtile enough to exercise any such operation upon the light bodies shelter'd from its immediate contact by being included in close vessels ; but it being very difficult to expose bodies in glasses to such vehement fires without breaking or melting the glass , and thereby losing the experiment ; i thought fit , first to employ crucibles carefully luted together , that nothing might visibly get in or out , and of that attempt i find among my notes the following account . exper. xiv . [ we took an ounce of steel freshly filed from a lump of that metal , that the filings might not be rusty , and having included them betwixt two crucibles , as formerly , kept them for two hours in a strong fire , and suffer'd them to continue there till the fire went out ; the crucibles being unluted , the filings appear'd hard caked together , and had acquir'd a dark colour somewhat between black and blew , and were increas'd five grains in weight . ] the foregoing experiment being the first i mention of this kind , 't will not be amiss to confirm it by annexing the following memorial . [ an ounce of filings of steel being put between the crucibles luted together , after they had been kept about an hour and half in the fire , were taken out , and being weigh'd , were found to have gained six grains . ] exper. xv. [ two ounces of copper-plate were put into a new crucible , over which a lesser was whelmed , and the commissures were closed with lute , that nothing might fall in . after the same manner two ounces of tin were included betwixt crucibles , and also two ounces of lead ; these being put into the cupelling-furnace were kept in a strong fire about an hour and a half , while something else was trying there . and then being taken out , the event was , that the copper-plates , though they stuck together , were not quite melted , and seem'd some of them to have acquir'd scales like copper put into a naked fire , and the two ounces had gain'd eight grains in weight . the lead had broke through the bottom of the crucible , and thereby hinder'd the design'd observation . the tin acquir'd six grains in weight , and was in part brought to a pure white calx , but much more of it was melted into a lump of a fine yellow colour , almost like gold , but deeper . ] the prosecution of this tryal as to the copper-plates you will meet with in experim . xxi . to which i therefore referr you . n. b. because lead in cupellation enters the cupel , we were willing to try , if we could so far hinder it from doing so , as to make some estimate what change of weight the operation of the fire would make in it : and therefore being able already to make a near guess , how much a quantity of tin may gain by being calcined on a cupel , and remembring also from some of my former tryals the indisposition which tin gives lead to cupellation , we mixed a drachm of tin with two ounces of lead , and exposing the mixture ( in a cupel ) to the fire under a muffler , we first brought it to fusion , and then it seem'd at the top dry and swell'd and discolour'd ; notwithstanding which , having continued the operation a good while , because of other things that were to be done with the same fire , we were not lucky enough to bring the experiment to an issue worth the relating here , in reference to the scope above-propos'd , though in relation to another the success was welcome enough . ] exper. xvi . [ supposing that if copper were beaten into thinner plates than those we lately us'd , and kept longer in the fire , this would have a more considerable operation upon them , we took one ounce of very thinly hammer'd pieces of copper , and putting them betwixt two crucibles ( one whelm'd over another ) as in experim . xv. with some lute at the corners of the juncture , to keep the fire from coming immediately at the metal , we kept them in the cupelling-furnace about three hours , and then disjoyning the vessels , we found the metal covered with a dark and brittle substance , like that describ'd in the above recited experiment . which substance , when scal'd off , disclos'd a finely colour'd metal , which , together with these burnt scales , amounted to one and twenty grains above the weight that was first put in . ] if , when these things were doing , i had been furnished with a very good lute , which is no such easie thing to procure , as chymists , that have not frequently employed vulgar lutes , are wont to think ; i would have made a tryal of the ensuing experiment for a good while in the naked fire , notwithstanding that divers metalline minerals will scarce be brought to fusion in glasses , especially without such a fire , whose violence makes them break the vessels . for i thought , that by making a fit choice of the metals to be employed , i could prevent that inconvenience : but wanting the accommodations i desir'd , and yet presuming , that in a sand-furnace i might by degrees administer heat enough to melt so fusible a metal as fine tin , and keep it in fusion ; i resolved to make some tryals , first upon that , and then upon another metal . for though i was not sure of being then able to prosecute the experiment far enough ; yet i hoped , i might at least see some effects of my first tryal , which would enable me to guess , what i was to expect from a complete one . exper. xvii . [ we took then a piece of fine block-tin , and in a pair of good scales weighed out carefully half a pound of it ; this we put into a choice glass-retort , and kept it for two days or thereabouts in a sand-furnace , which gave heat enough to keep the metal in fusion without cracking the glass . then taking out the mixture , we carefully weigh'd it in the same scales , and found the superficies a little alter'd ( as if it were dispos'd to calcination ) and the weight to be increased about two grains or somewhat better . ] exper. xviii . [ the other experiment , i tryed in glasses , was with mercury , hoping , that , if i could make a precipitate per se in a hermetically seal'd glass , i should by comparing the weight of the precipitate , and the quick-silver that afforded it , have a clear experiment to my purpose ; and i should have no bad one , if i could but make it succeed with a glass , though not seal'd , yet well stop'd ; instead of those infernal-glasses ( as they call them ) which are commonly us'd and wont to be left open ( though some slightly stop them with a little paper or cotton : ) but though , partly that i might a little diversifie the experiment , and make it the more likely to succeed in one or other of the glasses , i divided the mercury and distributed it amongst several of them , and but a little to each , the success did not answer expectation , the hermetically seal'd glasses being unluckily broken ; and the precipitation in the others proceeding so slowly , that i was by a remove oblig'd to leave the tryal imperfect ; only i was encouraged , ( in case of a future opportunity ) to renew it another time , by finding that most of the glasses , though tall , and stop'd with fit corks , afforded some very fair precipitate , but not enough to answer my design . ] tryals of the fourth sort . most of the experiments hitherto recited , having been made as it were upon the by with others , whose exigencies 't was fit these should comply with ; very few of the expos'd bodies were kept in the cupelling-fire above two hours or thereabouts . upon which account i thought fit to try , how much some bodies , that had been already expos'd to the fire , would gain in weight by being again expos'd to it ; especially considering , that most calcinable bodies , ( for i affirm it not of all ) which yield rather calces than ashes by being without additament reduc'd in the fire to fine powder , seem'd to be by that operation open'd , or ( as a chymist would speak ) unlock'd , and therefore probably capable of being further wrought upon and increas'd in weight by such a menstruum as i suppos'd flame and igneous exhalations to be . and about this conjecture i shall subjoyn the ensuing tryals . exper. xix . [ one ounce of calx of tin , that had been made per se for an experiment in our own laboratory , being put in a new cupel and kept under the muffler for about two hours , was taken out hot and put into the scales , where the powder appear'd to have gain'd in weight one drachm and thirty-five grains by the operation of the fire , which made it also look much whiter than it did before , as appeared by comparing it with some of the calx that had not been exposed to the second fire : no part of the puttie was , as we could perceive , melted by the vehemence of the fire , much less reduc'd into metal . ] exper. xx. [ out of a parcel of filings of steel , that had been before expos'd to the fire and had its weight thereby increas'd some grains , not scruples ; we took an ounce , and having expos'd it at the same time with the calx of tin , and , for the same time , kept it in the fire , we took it out at the two hours end ; and found the weight to be increas'd two drachms and two and twenty grains . the filings were very hard bak'd together , and , the lump being broken , looked almost like iron . ] exper. xxi . the following experiment , though it may seem in one regard but a continuation of the xv th ; yet it has in this something peculiar from all the foregoing , that not only it affords an instance of the increase of weight obtain'd by a metal at the second time of its being expos'd to the fire , but shews also , that such an increment may be had , though this second ignition be made in close vessels . ] [ some of the copper mention'd in experim . xv. being accidentally lost , one ounce and four drachms of what remain'd was included betwixt two crucibles and expos'd to a strong fire for two hours , and suffer'd to continue there till the fire went out : when it was taken out , it appear'd to have gain'd ten grains in weight , and to have upon the superficial parts of the plates ( as we observ'd ) divers dark colour'd flakes , some of which stuck to the metal , but more , upon handling it , fell off . ] and here i shall conclude one of the two parts of our designed treatise : for , though i remember , that these were not all the tryals that were made and set down upon the subject hitherto treated of ; yet these are the chief , that having escaped the mischances , which befel some others , i can meet with among my promiscuous memorials ; whose number , when i drew them together , i could scarce increase , having by all these and other tryals of differing kinds wasted my cupels and commodious glasses , where i could not well repair my loss . whether i should have been able by reduction , specifick gravity , or any other of the ways , which i had in my thoughts , to make any discovery of the nature of the substance that made the increment of weight in our ignited bodies ; the want as well of leisure , as of accommodations requisite to go through with so difficult a task , keeps me from pretending to know . but these three things , i hope , i may have gained by what has been deliver'd . the first , that we shall henceforth see cause to proceed more warily in the experiments we make with metals in the fire , especially by cupellation . the next , that it will justifie and perhaps procure an easier assent to some passages in my other writings , that have relation to the substance , what-ever it be , that we are speaking of . and the third , ( which is the principal , ) that it will probably excite you , and your inquisitive friends , to exercise their sagacious curiosity , in discovering what kind of substance that is , which , though hitherto overseen by philosophers themselves , and , being a fluid , far more subtile than visible liquors , and able to pierce into the compact and solid bodies of metals , can yet add something to them , that has no despicable weight upon the ballance , and is able for a considerable time to continue fixt in the fire . additional experiments , about arresting and weighing of igneous corpuscles . experiments to discover the increase in weight of bodies , though inclos'd in glasses , being those that i considered as likeliest to answer what i design'd in the hitherto prosecuted attempt , and finding the seventeenth experiment as well as the next ( try'd upon mercury ) to be very slow , and its performance not to be very great , i began to call to mind , what , many years ago , experience had shewn me possible to be perform'd , as to the managing glass-vessels , even without coating them , in a naked fire , provided a wary person were constantly employ'd to watch them . and supposing hereupon , that , in no longer time than a laborant might , without being tir'd , hold out to attend a glass , a metal expos'd in it to a naked fire might afford us a much more prosperous tryal than that lately referr'd to , i afterwards resolv'd , when i should be able to procure some glasses conveniently shap'd , to prosecute my design ; in pursuance of which though i had not any furnaces fitted for my purpose , i directed a laborant to make the following tryals . exper. i. [ we took eight ounces ( troy weight ) of block-tin , which being cut into bits was put into a good round vial with a long neck , and then warily held over quick coals without touching them till it was melted ; after which it was kept almost continually shaken , to promote the calcination , near an hour , the metal being all the while in fusion , and the glass kept at some distance from the throughly kindled coals . the most part of this time the orifice of the vial was cover'd with a cap of paper ( which sometimes fell off by moving the glass ) to keep the air and steams of the coals from getting into the neck . and at the end of this time , he that held the glass being tir'd , and having his hand almost scorch'd , the vial being remov'd from the fire was broken , that we might take out the metalline lump , which had a little darkish calx here and there upon the upper surface , but much more beneath , where it had been contiguous to the bottom of the glass ; then putting all this carefully freed from little fragments of broken glass into the same ballance with the self-same counterpoise i had us'd before , i found , according to my expectation , an increase of weight , which amounted to eighteen grains , that the tin had acquir'd by this operation . ] exper. ii. [ this done we separated the calx for fear of losing it , and having melted the metal in a crucible , that by pouring it out it might be reduc'd to thin plates capable of being cut in pieces , and put into such another vial as the last ; we weigh'd it again together with the ●●tely reserv'd calx , but found , that , notwithstanding all our oare , we had lost three grains of the eighteen we had gain'd . this done we put the metal into another vial. but in regard the neck was shorter than that of the former , and could not like it be long held in ones hand ; and because also i was willing to see what interest the shaking of melted tin has in the quickness of the calcination , the glass , which had a stopple of paper put to it to keep out smoak and air , was held at some distance from the coals , only whilst the tin was melting ; and then was warily laid upon them and kept there for two hours , at the end of which 't was again taken off , and the metal weigh'd with the same counterpoise and ballance as formerly ; and then it appear'd to amount to eight ounces twenty-four grains , and to have much more separable calx than at the first time . nor did i much wonder , that the weight should be increas'd in this last operation but nine grains in two hours , and in the former twice so many in half the time ; since , during the two hours , the glass was kept in one posture , whereas in the first operation , it was almost perpetually shaken all the while 't was kept in fusion . and 't is observ'd , that the agitation of melted minerals will much promote the effect of the fire upon them , and conduce to their calcination . ] exper. iii. though these tryals might well satisfie a person not very scrupulous , yet to convince even those that are so , i undertook , in spite of the difficulties of the attempt , to make the experiment in glasses hermetically seal'd , to prevent all suspition of any accession of weight accruing to the metal from any smoak or saline particles getting in at the mouth of the vessel . and in prosecution of this design i thought upon a way of so hermetically sealing a retort , that it might be expos'd to a naked fire without being either crackt or burst ; an account of which tryal was thus set down . [ eight ounces of good tin carefully weigh'd out was hermetically seal'd up in a new small retort with a long neck , by which 't was held in ones hand , and warily approach'd to a kindled charcoal-fire , near which the metal was kept in fusion , being also ever now and then shaken for almost half an hour , in which time it seem'd to have acquir'd on the surface such a dark colour as argued a beginning of calcination , and it both emitted fumes that play'd up and down , and also afforded two or three drops of liquor in the neck of the retort . the laborant being not able to hold the glass any longer , 't was laid on quick coals , where the metal continued above a quarter of an hour longer in fusion ; but before the time was come that i intended to suffer it to cool in order to the removing it , it suddenly broke in a great multitude of pieces , and with a noise like the report of a gun ; but ( thanks be to god ) it did no harm neither to me nor others that were very near it . in the neck we found some drops of a yellowish liquor , which a virtuoso that tasted it affirm'd to be of an odious but peculiar sapor ; and as for the smell , i found it to be very stinking , and not unlike that of the distill'd oyl of fish . ] but , though our first attempt of this kind had thus miscarried , we were not thereby discourag'd , but in prosecution of the same design made the ensuing tryal . exper. iv. [ the tin which had been before ( in the first or some such experiment ) partly calcin'd in a glass , being melted again in a crucible , that it might be reduc'd to pieces small enough to be put into another glass , was put again into the scales , and the surplusage being laid aside , that there might remain just eight ounces ; these were put into a bolt-head of white glass with a neck of about twenty inches long , which being hermetically seal'd ( after the glass had been a while kept over the fire , lest that should break by the rarefaction of the air , ) the metal was kept in fusion for an hour and a quarter , as ( being hinder'd by a company of strangers from being there my self ) the laborant affirm'd . being unwilling to venture the glass any longer , it was taken from the fire , and when 't was grown cold , the seal'd end was broken off ; but before i would have the bottom cut out , i observ'd , that the upper surface of the metal was very darkly colour'd , and not at all smooth , but much and very odly asperated ; and the lower part had between the bottom and the lower part of the lump a pretty deal of loose dark-colour'd calx , though the neighbouring surface and some places of the lump it self look'd by candle-light ( it being then night ) of a golden colour . the lump and calx together were weigh'd in the same scales carefully , and we found the weight to have increas'd twenty-three grains and better , though all the calx , we could easily separate , being weigh'd by it self amounted not to four scruples or eighty grains . ] for confirmation of this experiment i shall subjoyn another , wherein but a quarter of so much metal was employed with such success as the annexed memorial declares . exper. v. [ two ounces of filings of tin were carefully weigh'd and put into a little retort , whose neck was afterwards drawn slenderly out into a very small apex ; then the glass was plac'd on kindled coals , which drove out fumes at the small orifice of the neck for a pretty while . afterwards the glass ; being seal'd up at the apex , was kept in the fire above two hours ; and then being taken off was broken at the same apex ; whereupon i heard the outward fire rush in , because when the retort was seal'd the air within it was highly rarified . then the body of the glass being broken , the tin was taken out , consisting of a lump , about which there appear'd some gray calx and some very small globuls , which seem'd to have been filings melted into that form . the whole weigh'd two ounces twelve grains , the later part of which weight appear'd to have been gain'd by the operation of the fire on the metal . in the neck of the retort , where it was joyn'd to the body , there appear'd a yellowish and clammy substance thinly spread , which smelt almost like the foetid oyl of tartar. ] exper. vi. to vary the foregoing experiments by making tryals on a mineral that is held to be of a very metalline nature , but is not a true metal , nor will be brought to fusion by so moderate a heat as will suffice to melt tin , and yet has parts less fixt than tin , as being far more easily sublimable , we thought fit to make the following experiment . [ we took an ounce of filings of zinke carefully weigh'd , and having as carefully put them into a round bolt-glass , we caus'd the neck to be drawn out very slender , and then order'd the laborant to keep it upon quick coals for the appointed time . afterwards returning home , i call'd for the glass , which he said he had kept four hours upon the coals ; answering me also , that there did for a great part of the time smoak appear to ascend from the zink and get out at the unstopt apex . and in effect i observ'd , that the upper part of the glass was lin'd with flores or sublimate of a darkish gray . the glass being dextrously cut asunder , we took out not only the filings of zinke , some of which were melted into little globuls , but the flores too , and yet weighing all these in the same scales , we had us'd before , we found five grains and somewhat better wanting of an ounce . which we the less wonder'd at , because of the continuance of the lately mention'd exhalations emitted by the filed mineral . ] exper. vii . for more ample confirmation of the truth discover'd by what i have been reciting about tin , i thought fit to try the like experiment upon another metal , which though of somewhat more difficult fusion than tin , i had reason to think might , if employed in a moderate quantity , and warily managed , be kept melted in glass without breaking it . and accordingly having carefully weigh'd out four ounces of good lead cut before-hand into pieces little enough for the orifice of the glass , i caused them to be put into a small retort with a long neck , wherein was afterwards left but an orifice not much bigger than a pins head : then leaving directions with the laborant what to do , because i was my self call'd abroad , at my return he brought me together with the glass , this account : that he had kept it over and upon the coals two hours , or better , and then supposing the danger of breaking the glass was over , he had sealed it up at the little orifice newly mention'd , and kept it on the coals two hours longer . before the glass ( which i found to be well seal'd ) was broken , i perceived the pieces of lead to have been melted into a lump , whose surface was dark and rugged , and part of the metal to have been turn'd into a dark-colour'd powder or calx : all this being taken out of the retort , was weigh'd in the same ballance , whereon the lead appear'd to have gain'd by the operation somewhat above thirteen grains . exper. viii . to shew that metals are not the only bodies that are capable of receiving an increase of weight from the fire , i thought fit to make upon coral a tryal , whereof my memorial gives me this account . [ little bits of good red coral being hermetically seal'd up in a thin bubble of glass , after two drachms of them had been weigh'd out in a pair of nice scales , were warily kept at several times over and upon kindled coals , and at length being taken out for good and all , were found of a very dark colour , and to have gain'd in weight three grains and about a half . ] exper. ix . one experiment there is , which , though it might have come in more properly at another place , is not to be omitted in this because it may invite us to consider , whether in the foregoing experiments , excepting those made on lead and tin in seal'd vessels , there may not be more of the fire adherent to or incorporated with the body expos'd to it , than one would conclude barely from the recited increments of their weight . for having taken very strong fresh quick-lime provided on purpose for choice experiments , and expos'd it , before the air had time to slake it , upon the cupel , to a strong fire where it was kept for two hours ; i found that it had increas'd in weight even somewhat beyond my expectation : for being seasonably put into the ballance , the lumps that weigh'd , when expos'd , but two drachms , amounted to two drachms and twenty-nine grains ; which makes this experiment a pregnant one to our purpose . for by this it appears , that notwithstanding a body may for many hours , or even for some days , be expos'd to a very violent fire , yet it may be still capable of admitting and retaining fresh corpuscles ; so that , though well made lime be usually observ'd to be much lighter than the stones whereof 't is made ; yet this lightness does not necessarily prove , that , because a burnt lime-stone has lost much of its matter by the fire , it has therefore acquir'd no matter from the fire ; but only inferrs , that it has lost far more than it has got . and this may give ground to suspect , that in most of the foregoing tryals the accession of the fiery particles was greater ( though in some more , in others less so , ) than the ballance discover'd ; since , for ought we know , divers of the less fixt particles of the expos'd body might be driven away by the vehemence of the heat ; and consequently the igneous corpuscles that fastned themselves to the remaining matter might be numerous enough , not only to bring the accession of weight that was found by the scales , but to make amends for all the fugitive particles , that had been expell'd by the violence of the fire . and since so fixt a body as quick-lime is capable of being wrought upon by the igneous effluvia , so as that they come to be as 't were incorporated with it , it may perchance be worth considering , whether in other calcin'd or incinerated bodies the remaining calces or ashes may not retain more than the bare impression ( unless that be stretch'd to mean some participation of a substance , ) of the fire . whether these particles that adhere to or are mingled with the stony ones of the lime may have any thing to do in the heat and tumult that is produc'd upon the slaking of lime , this is not a fit place to examine . and though by this experiment and those made in seal'd retorts , which shew that what is afforded by fire may in a corporeal way invade , adhere and add weight to even fixt and ponderous bodies , there is a large field open'd for the speculative to apply this discovery to divers phaenomena of nature and chymistry ; yet i shall leave this subject unmedled with in this place . a discovery of the perviousness of glass to ponderable parts of flame . with some reflexions on it by way of corollary . subjoyned as an appendix to his experiments about arresting and weighing of igneous corpuscles , by. the honorable robert boyle . london : printed by w. g. for m. pitt at the sign of the white hart , over-against the little north door of st paul's church . 1673. a discovery of the perviousness of glass to ponderable parts of flame . that i might obviate some needless scruples that may be entertain'd by suspitious wits upon this circumstance of our additional experiments , that the glasses employ'd about them were not exposed to the action of mere flame , but were held upon charcoals , ( which to some may seem to contain but a grosser kind of fire : ) and that also i might , by diversifying the way of tryal , render such experiments both more fit to afford corollaries , and more serviceable to my other purposes , i attempted to make it succeed with a body so thin and disingaged from gross matter as mere flame is allowed to be , knowing , that by going cautiously with it to work , one might handle a retort without breaking it , in spite of a violent agitation of kindled matter . exper. i. supposing then that good common sulphur by reason of its great inflammability and the vehemency and penetrancy of its flame , would be a very fit fuel for my purpose , i provided a small double vessel so contrived , that the one should contain as many coals as was necessary to keep the sulphur melted , and that the other , which was much smaller , and shap'd like a pan , should contain the brimstone requisite for our tryal ; and ( lastly , ) that these two should be with a convenient lute so joyned to one another , that all being clos'd at the top , save the orifice of the little pan , ( the fire and smoak of the coals having their vent another way , ) no fire should come at the retort to be employed , but the flame of the burning brimstone . then two ounces of filings of tin being heedfully weigh'd out , and put into a glass-retort provided for such tryals , and made fit to be easily seal'd up at the neck , when the time should be convenient , the sulphur ( which ought to be of the purer sort ) was kindled , and the glass by degrees exposed to it ; where it continued , as the laborant inform'd me , ( the smell of brimstone , peculiarly offensive to me , forbidding me to be present , ) near two hours before the metal melted ; after which he kept the retort near an hour and half more with the metal melted in it . then bringing it me to look upon , i perceived a pretty deal of darkish calx at the bottom , and partly too upon the surface of the far greater part of the metal , which now lay in one lump . the part of the retort that had been seal'd being broken off , we first took out the calx , and then the lump , and putting them into the scales , they had been formerly weigh'd in , found them to have made a very manifest acquist of weight , which , if both the laborant and i be not mistaken , ( for the paper , which should inform us , is now missing ) amounted to four grains and a half , gained by the recited operation . afterwards , we being grown more expert in making such tryals , the experiment was repeated with the same quantity of filings of the same metal : at the end of the operation , ( which in all lasted somewhat above three hours ) having broken off the seal'd neck of the retort , we found , that a good proportion of dark-colour'd calx had been produc'd . this being weighed with the uncalcin'd part of the metal , the two ounces we first put in appear'd to have acquir'd no less than eleven grains and a half ( and somewhat better . ) such superstructures , both for number and weight , may possibly in time be built on this and the like experiments , that i shall venture to obviate even such a scruple as is like to be judg'd too sceptical . but i remember , that , considering upon occasion of some of the experiments formerly recited , that though it were very improbable , yet it did not appear impossible , that the increment of weight , acquir'd by bodies expos'd in glass-vessels to the fire , might proceed , not from the corpuscles of fire , but from the particles of the glass it self , loosened by the power of so intense a heat , and forcibly driven into the inclos'd body ; i was content to take a couple of glasses , whereof one was shap'd into a little retort , and having weigh'd them , and then having kept them for a considerable time upon kindled coals , and then weigh'd them again , i could gather little of certainty from the experiment , ( the retort at one time seeming to have acquir'd above half a grain in the fire , ) save that there was no likelihood at all , that so considerable an increase of weight , as we divers times obtain'd in close vessels , should proceed from the glass it self , and not from the fire . exper. ii. because it seems evident enough , that , whatever chymists tell us of their hypostatical sulphur , common brimstone is a body heterogeneous enough , having in it some parts of an oyly or inflammable nature , and others acid ; and very near of kin to the spirits of vitriol ; i thought fit to vary our experiment , by making it with a liquor that is generally reputed to be as homogeneous as chymists themselves are wont to render any , i mean with a spirit of wine , or some such liquor as will totally flame away without affording soot , or leaving any drop of phlegm behind it . in prosecution of this design , we carefully weighed out an ounce of filings of block-tin , and put them into a glass-retort , fit for the purpose , whose neck was afterwards drawn out to a great slenderness ; and we also provided a conveniently shap'd metalline lamp , such as that the flame of this ardent spirit might commodiously burn in it , and yet not melt nor crack it ; which lamp , though furnished with a cotton wick , afforded no soot , because as long as it was supplied with liquor enough , it remained unburnt . these things being in readiness , the retort was warily approach'd to the flame , and the metal was thereby in a short time melted . after which the glass being kept expos'd to the same flame for near two hours in all , the seal'd apex of the retort was broken off , and there appear'd to have been produc'd a not inconsiderable quantity of calx , that lay loose about the remaining part of the tin , which , upon its growing cold , was harden'd into a lump . this , and the calx , being taken out of the retort with care , that no little fragment of glass should at all impose upon us , was weigh'd in the same scales as formerly , and found to have gain'd four grains and a half , besides the dust that stuck in the inside of the retort , of which we reckon'd enough to make about half a grain more ; so that of so fine and pure a flame as of this totally ardent spirit , enough to amount to five grains was arrested , and in good measure fixt by its operation on the tin it had wrought upon . exper. iii. for confirmation of the former tryal , wherein we had imployed the spiritus ardens of sugar , we made the like experiment with highly rectified spirit of wine , only substituting an ounce of lead instead of one of tin. the event , in short , was this ; that after the metal had been for two hours or better kept in the flame , the seal'd neck of the retort being broken off , the external air rush'd in with a noise , ( which shew'd the vessel to have been very tight , ) and we found pretty store of the lead ; for 't was above seven scruples , turn'd into a grayish calx , which together with the rest of the metal being weigh'd again , there was very near , if not full , six grains of increase of weight acquir'd by the operation . 1. n. b. the lump of lead , that remain'd after the newly recited operation , being separated from the calx , was weighed and cut in pieces , that it might be put into a fresh retort , wherein it was again expos'd to the flame of spirit of wine , that i might satisfie my self , whether probably the whole body of the lead might not , by repeated operations , or ( perhaps by one continued long enough ) be reduc'd to calx . and though , after the retort ( whose neck had been drawn out ) had been kept in the flame for about two hours , it was , by the negligence of a foot-boy , unluckily broken , and some of the calx lost ; yet we made a shift to save about five grains of it , ( whose colour was yellowish ; ) which was enough to make it likely , that , if we had had conveniency to pursue the operation to the utmost , the whole metal might have been calcin'd by the action of the flaming spirit . 2. n. b. and lest you should be induc'd by some chymical conceits to imagine , that the particles that once belong'd to flame , did make more than a coalition with those of the lead , and by a perfect union were really transmuted into the metal whose weight they increas'd ; i shall add , that ( according to a method elsewhere deliver'd ) i examin'd the seven scruples of calx , mention'd to have been made in the third experiment , by weighing them in air and water , and thereby found , as i expected , that though the absolute gravity of the metal had been increas'd by the particles of flame that stuck fast to it , yet this aggregate of lead and extinguish'd flame had lost much of its specifick gravity . for , whereas lead is wont to be to water of the same bulk , as about eleven and a half to one , this subtil calx of lead was to water of the same bulk little , if at all , more than as nine to one . these are not the only experiments i made of the operation of meer flame upon bodies inclos'd in glasses ; but these , i suppose , are sufficient to allow me to comply with my present haste , and yet make good the title prefixt to this paper . for , whence can this increase of absolute weight ( for i speak not of specifick gravity , ) observ'd by us in the metals expos'd to the mere flame , be deduc'd , but from some ponderable parts of that flame ? and how could those parts invade those of the metal inclos'd in a glass , otherwise than by passing through the pores of that glass ? but , because i judge it unphilosophical , either to more careful that what one writes should appear strange , than be true ; or to be forward to advance the repute of strangeness , to the prejudice of the interest of truth , though it be perhaps but a remote one , or a collateral one ; i shall deal so impartially , as to subjoyn on this occasion two or three short intimations , that may prove both seasonable for caution , in reference to the porousness of glass , and give a hint or two in relation to other things . i do not then by the foregoing experiments pretend to make out the porosity of glass any farther , than is exprest in the title of this paper ; namely , in reference to some of the ponderable parts of flame . for otherwise i am not at all of their mind , that think glass is easily penetrable , either , as many do , by chymical liquors ; or , as some , by quicksilver ; or , as others , at least by our air : those opinions not agreeing with the experiments i made purposely to examine them , as you may find in another paper . again , if we compare the increase we observe to be made in the weight of the bodies that we expose to the naked fire , and those of the same or the like kinds that we included in glasses , or so much as in crucibles ; it may be worth considering , whether this difference in acquir'd weight may not give cause to suspect , that the corpuscles , whereof fire and flame consists , are not all of the same size , and equally agitated , but that the interpos'd vessel keeps out the grosser particles like a kind of strainer , though it gives passage to the minutest and most active ? i offer it also to consideration , whether this perviousness of glass , even to the minute particles that pervade it , and their adhesion to the metal they work on , does necessarily imply pores constantly great enough to transmit such corpuscles ? or , whether it may not be said , that glass is generally of a closer texture , than when in our experiments the pores are open'd by the vehement heat of the flame that beats upon it , and in that state may let pass corpuscles too big to permeate glass in its ordinary state ; and that this penetration is much assisted by the vehement agitation of the igneous parts , which by the rapidness of their motion both force themselves a passage through the narrow pores of the glass , and pierce deep enough into those of the included body to stick fast there ; ( as hail-shot thrown with ones hand against a board , will pass off from it , but being shot out of a gun will pierce it , and lodge themselves in it ? ) and i know a menstruum that does not work upon a certain metal whilst the liquor is cold , or but faintly heated , and yet by intending the heat would be made to turn it into a powder or calx , ( for it does not properly dissolve it . ) perhaps it may not be amiss to add on this occasion , that though glass be generally acknowledged to have far smaller pores , than any other matter wont to be implyed to make vessels , that are to be expos'd to the fire ; yet till i be farther satisfy'd , i shall forbear both to determine , whether the rectitude , that some philosophers suppose in the pores of glass , as 't is a transparent body , or rather in their ranks or rows , may facilitate the perviousness we above observ'd in glass , and to conclude from the foregoing experiments , that ponderable parts of flame will be able as well to pass through the pores of metalline vessels as those of glass . for though , with a silver vessel , made merely of plate without soder , i made two or three tryals ( of which you may command an account ) in order to the resolving of these doubts ; yet by an accident , which , though it were not a surprizing one , was unlucky enough to defeat my endeavours , i was kept , for want of fit accommodations , from bringing my intended tryals to an issue . and now having endeavour'd by the foregoing advertisements to prevent the having unsafe consequences drawn from our experiments ; it remains that i briefly point at three our four corollaries that may more warily be deduc'd from them . to which , if i get time , i may subjoyn a hint or two about further inquiries . corollary i. confirming this paradox , that flame may act as a menstruum , and make coalitions with the bodies it works on . the experiments , we have made and recited of the premeating of flame ( as to some of its parts ) through glass-vessels , and of its working on included metals , may much confirm the paradox i have elsewhere propos'd , that flame may be a menstruum , and work on some bodies at the rate of being so ; i mean not only by making a notable comminution and dissipation of the parts , but by a coalition of its own particles with those of the fretted body , and thereby permanently adding substance and weight to them . nor is it repugnant to flames , being a menstruum , that in our experiment the lead and tin , expos'd to it , were but reduc'd to powder , and not dissolv'd in the form of a liquor , and kept in that state . for , besides that the interpos'd glass hinder'd the igneous particles from getting through in plenty enough ; i consider , that 't is not necessary , that all menstruums should be such solvents , as the objection supposes . for whether it be ( as i have sometimes suspected , ) that menstruums , that we think simple , may be compounded of very differing parts , whereof one may precipitate what is dissolved by the other ; or for some other cause , i have not now time to discuss . certain it is , that some menstruums corrode metals and other bodies without keeping dissolved all , or perhaps any considerable part ; as may be seen , if you put tin in a certain quantity of aqua fortis , which will in a very short time reduce it almost totally to a very white substance , which , when dry , is a kind of calx . and so by a due proportion of oyl of vitriol , abstracted from quicksilver by a strong fire , we have divers times reduc'd the main body of the mercury into a white powder , whereof but an inconsiderable part would be dissoluble in water . and such a white calx i have had by the action of another fretting liquor on a body not metalline . and having thus clear'd our paradox of the oppos'd difficulty , my haste would immediately carry me on to the next corollary , were it not , that there is one phaenomenon belonging to this place that deserves to be taken notice of . for , whether it be , as seems probable , from the vehement agitation of the permeating particles of flame , that violently tear asunder the metalline corpuscles , or from the nature of the igneous menstruum , ( which being as 't were percolated through glass it self , must be strangely minute , ) 't is worth observing , how small a proportion , in point of weight , of the additional adhering body may serve to corrode a metal , in comparison of the quantity of vulgar menstruums that is requisite for that purpose . for , whereas we are oblig'd to imploy , to the making the solution of crude lead , several times its weight of spirit of vinegar , and ( though not so many times ) even of aqua fortis , 't was observ'd in our experiment , that , though the lead was increas'd but six grains in weight , yet above six score of it were fretted into powder , so that the corrosive body appear'd to be but about the twentieth part of the corroded . coroll . ii. proposing a paradox about calcination and calces . another consequence , deducible from our discovery of the perviousness of glass to flame , may be this ; that there is cause to question the truth of what is generally taken for granted about calcination , and particularly of the notion , that not only others , but chymists themselves , have entertain'd about the calces of metals and minerals . for , whereas 't is commonly suppos'd , that in calcination the greater part of the body is driven away , and only the earth , to which chymists add the fixt salt , remains behind ; and whereas even mechanical philosophers , ( for two or three of them have taken notice of calcination , ) are of opinion , that much is driven away by the violence of the fire ; and the remaining parts by being depriv'd of their more radical and fixt moisture are turn'd into dry and brittle particles : whereas these notions , i say , are entertain'd about calcination , it seems , that they are not well fram'd , and do not universally hold ; since , at least they are not applicable to the metals , our experiments were made on . for , it does not appear by our tryals , that any proportion , worth regarding , of moist and fugitive parts was expell'd in the calcination ; but it does appear very plainly , that by this operation the metals gain'd more weight than they lost ; so that the main body of the metal remain'd intire , and was far from being , either as a peripatetick would think , elementary earth , or a compound of earth and fixt salt , as chymists commonly suppose the calx of lead to be . from which very erroneous hypothesis they are wont to inferr the sweet vitriol of lead , which they call saccharum saturni , to be but the sweet salt of it extracted only by the spirit of vinegar , which does indeed plentifully enough concurr to compose it . whence i conclude , that the calx of a metal even made ( as they speak ) per se , that is , by fire without additament , may be , at least in some cases , not the caput mortuum , or terra damnata , but a magistery of it . for , in the sense of the most intelligible of the chymical writers , that is properly a magistery wherein the principles are not separated , but the bulk of the body being preserved , it acquires a new and convenient form by the addition of the menstruum or solvent imployed about the preparation . and , not here to borrow any argument from my notes about particular qualities , you may guess , how true it is , that the greatest part of the body , or all the radical moisture is expell'd in calcination , which therefore turns the metal into an arid unfusible powder ; by this , that i have several times from calx of lead reduc'd corporal lead . and i remember , that having taken what i guess'd to be but about a third or fourth part of the calx of lead , produc'd by the third experiment ; i found by a tryal purposely devis'd , that without any flux-powder or any additament , but meerly by the application of the flame of highly rectified spirit of wine , there could in a short time be obtain'd a considerable proportion of malleable lead ; whereof the part i had the curiosity to examine , was true malleable lead ; so little was the arid powder , whence this was reduc'd , depriv'd by the foregoing calcination of the suppo'sd radical moisture requisite to a metal . the consideration of what may be drawn from this reduction in reference to the doctrine of qualities belongs not to this place . coroll . iii. one use , among the rest , we may make , by way of corollary , of the foregoing discovery , which is in reference to a controversie warmly agitated among the corpuscular philosophers themselves . for , some of them , that follow the epicurean or atomical hypothesis , think , that when bodies are expos'd in close vessels to the fire , though the igneous corpuscles do not stay with the bodies they invade , yet they really get through the pores of the interpos'd vessels , and permeate the included bodies in their passage upwards ; whereas others , especially favourers of the cartesian doctrine , will not allow the atomists igneous corpuscles , which they take to be but vehemently agitated particles of terrestrial matter , to penetrate such minute pores as those of glass ; but do suppose the operation of the fire to be perform'd by the vehement agitation made of the small parts of the glass , and by them propagated to the included bodies , whose particles by this violent commotion are notably alter'd , and receive new textures , or other modifications . but our experiments inform us , that , though neither of the two opinions seems fit to be despised , yet neither seems to have hit the very mark ; though the epicurean hypothesis comprize somewhat more of the truth than the other . for , though it be not improbable , that the brisk agitation communicated by the small parts of the glass to those of the body contain'd in it , may contribute much to the effect of the fire ; and though , by the small increment of weight , we found in our expos'd metal , 't is very likely , that far the greater part of the flame was excluded by the close texture of the glass ; yet on the other side 't is plain , that igneous particles were trajected through the glass , which agrees with the epicureans ; and they , on the other side , mistook , in thinking that they did but pass through , and divide and agitate the included bodies ; to which nevertheless our experiments shew , that enough of them , to be manifestly ponderable , did permanently adhere . whether these igneous corpuscles do stick after the like manner to the parts of meat , drest by the help of the fire , and especially roast-meat , which is more immediately expos'd to the action of the fire , may be a question , which i shall now leave undiscuss'd , because i think it difficult to be determin'd , though otherwise it seems worthy to be consider'd , in regard it may concern mens health , to know , whether the coction of meat be made by the fire , only as 't is a very hot body , or whether it permanently communicates any thing of its substance to the meat expos'd to it : in which ( last ) case it may be suspected , that not only the degree and manner of application of a fire , but the nature of its fuel may be fit to be consider'd . coroll . iv. the experiments above recited give us this further information , that bodies very spirituous , fugitive , and minute , may , by being associated with congruous particles , though of quite another nature , so change their former qualities , as to be arrested , by a solid and ponderous body , to that degree , as not to be driven away from it by a fire intense enough to melt and calcine metals . for , the foregoing tryals ( taking in what i * lately deliver'd of the lessen'd specifick gravity of calcin'd lead ) seems plainly enough to discover , that even the agitated parts of flame , minute enough to pass through the pores of glass it self , were as 't were entangled among the metalline particles of tin and lead , and thereby brought to be fixt enough to endure the heat that kept those metals in fusion , and little by little reduc'd them into calces : which is a phaenomenon that one would not easily look for , especially considering how simple a texture that of lead or tin may be suppos'd to be in comparison of the more elaborate structures of very many other bodies . and this phaenomenon , which shews us , what light and fugitive particles of matter may permanently concurr to the composition of bodies ponderous and fixt enough , may perchance afford useful hints to the speculative ; especially if this strict combination of spirituous and fugitive substance with such , as being gross or unwieldy , are less fit than organiz'd matter to entangle or detain them , be applied , ( as it may be with advantage ) to those aggregates of spirituous corpuscles , and organical parts , that make up the bodies of plants and animals . and this hint may suggest a main inference to be drawn from the operations of the sun-beams on appropriated subjects , supposing it to prove like that of flame on tin and lead . and now having dispatch'd our corollaries , we might here inquire , whether all the particles of fire and flame , that are subtile and agitated enough to penetrate glass , and fasten themselves to included bodies , be reduc'd by ignition to the same nature , or else retain somewhat of their proper qualities ? which inquiry i have some cause not to think so undeterminable , as at first blush it may appear . for , one of the ways , that may be propos'd for this examen , is already intimated at the close of the third experiment , which shews , that we may compare the specifick gravity of the calces of the same metal , made in glasses by the operation of flames ; whose fuels are of very differing natures . and i said , one of the ways , because 't is not the only way i could name , and have partly tryed . but though i might say more concerning expedients of this kind , and could perhaps propound other inquiries that may reasonably enough be grounded upon the hitherto recited phaenomena ( and those of some other like tryals , ) yet i must not unseasonably forget , that the pursuit of such disquisitions would lead me much farther than i have now the leisure to follow it . errata . pag. 44. l. 19. r. some metals work ; pag. 1. in the discourse about the determinate nature of effluviums , add the name of the author , viz. by the honorable robert boyle . finis . the printer to the reader . it hath been thought , it might be the interest of the reader , especially foreiners , to be advertised , that these essays are already translating into latin , and beginning also to be printed in that language ; which that it may duly be done , both as to this and the author 's other writings , to be publisht for the future , the greater care will be taken here , because it hath been several times found both at home and elsewhere , that the versions made of them abroad , and not in the place , where in case of any difficulty the author may be consulted with by the latin interpreters , are often very defective , and not seldom injurious to the sense he hath deliver'd them in . which being consider'd by those that desire to know the genuine sense of the author , 't is presumed , they will rather choose those versions , which are made by persons that have that advantage of comsulting him in any case of doubt , than such as shall mis-inform them ; notwithstanding the pretence of a cheaper rate of the book . which being thus advertised , the printer taketh this opportunity of farther acquainting the reader from the latin interpreter , that these essays , to his knowledge , were ready and in the press several months before dr. bartholin's acta philosophica & medica appear'd in england , in which there are two or three passages that may seem of affinity with some to be met with in the latter part of the papers about experiments of arresting the parts of flame , and of making them ponderable . a catalogue of the writings publisht by the honorable robert boyle . 1. seraphick love. london , for henry herringman , 1660. in 8o. 2. new experiments physico-mechanical , touching the spring of the air , and its effects . oxford , for thomas robinson , 1660. in 8o. in latin : oxford ; for the same , 1661. in 8o. 3. certain physiological essays ; to which is added , the physico-chymical essay about the differing parts , and redintegration of salt-peter ; as also , the history of fluidity and firmness . london , for henry herringman , 1661. in 4o. in latin ; london , by the same , 1661. in 4o. 4. some considerations touching the style of the h. scriptures . london , for h. herringman , 1661. in 8o. 5. the sceptical chymist . london , for john crook , 1661. in 8o. in latin ; london , for the same , in 8o. 1662. 6. a defence of the doctrine touching the spring and weight of the air , against the objections of franciscus linus . london , for tho. robinson , 1662. in 4o. 7. an examen of mr. hobbes his dialologus physicus de natura aeris ; with an appendix touching mr. hobbes his doctrine of fluidity and firmness . london , for tho. robinson , 1662. in 4o. 8. vsefulness of experimental philosophy . oxford , for rich. davies , 1663. in 4o. 9. experimental history of colours . london , for h. herringman , 1664. in 8o. in latin : london , for the same , 1665. in 12o. 10. history of cold. to which is added , an examen of antiperistasis , and of mr. hobbes his doctrine of cold. london , for john crook , 1665. in 8o. 11. hydrostatical paradoxes . oxford , for rich. davies , 1666. in 8o. in latin ; oxford , for the same , 1669. in 12o. 12. origine of forms and qualities . oxford , for rich. davies , 1667. in 8o. in latin ; oxford , for the same , 1669. in 12o. 13. free considerations about subordinate forms . oxford , for rich. davies , 1667. in 8o. in latin ; oxford , 1669. 14. continuation of new experiments physico-mechanical touching the spring and weight of the air , and the atmosphere of consistent bodies . oxford , for rich. davies , 1669. in 4o. 15. of the absolute rest of solid bodies . london , for h. herringman , 1669. in 4o. in latin ; london , for the same , 1672. in 12o. 16. several tracts ; viz. an introduction to the history of particular qualities : of cosmical qualities and suspitions : of the temperature of the subterraneal and submarine regions : of the bottom of the sea. oxford , for rich. davies , 1671. in 8o. in latin ; london , for the same , 1672. in 12o. 17. small tracts ; viz. of a discovery of the admirable rarefaction of the air , even without heat : new observations about the duration of the spring of the air : new experiments touching the condensation of the air by meer cold , and its compression without mechanical engins : the admirably differing extension of the same quantity of air rarified and compressed . london , for h. herringman , 1670. in 4o. in latin ; london , for the same , 1670. in 12o. 18. of the vsefulness of natural philosophy , tom. 2. oxford , for rich. davies , 1671. in 4o. 19. an essay about the origine and virtue of gems . london , for moses pitt , 1672. in 8o. in latin ; london , for the same , 1673. in 12o. 20. several tracts , containing new experiments touching the relation betwixt flame and air , and about explosions : an hydrostatical discourse answering some objections of dr. henry more : an hydrostatical letter , dilucidating an experiment about a way of weighing water in water : new experiments of the positive or relative levity of bodies under water : of the air 's spring on bodies under water : about the differing pressure of heavy solids and fluids . london , for rich. davies , 1672. in 8o. 21. essays , of the strange subtilty , the great efficacy , and the determinate nature of effluviums . to which are annext , new experiments to make fire and flame ponderable ; together with a discovery of the perviousness of glass . london , for moses pitt , 1673. in 8o. 22. a dialogue concerning the positive or privative nature of cold ; by a member of the r. society : and a discourse about the saltness of the sea ; and another of a statical hygroscope ; together with some phaenomena of the force of the air 's moisture . to which is added a paradox about the natural and praeternatural state of bodies , especially the air. london , for rich. davies , 1673. in 8o. notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28965-e200 and some that were publish'd an. 1669. under the title of the atmospheres of consistent bodies . notes for div a28965-e600 this essay was designed to be but a part of the author's notes upon his essay about salt-peter . in a paper about improbable truths . in some papers about flame . * a discourse of pores of bodies , and figures of corpuscles . * as quercetanus , libavius , zabata , burggravius . ** as vidius , paraeus , caesalpinus , &c. * lib. 6. observ . 22. * lib. 4. de eeb. cap. 3. * libr. 3. con. 17. * lib. 4. de peste . notes for div a28965-e3210 * of the pores of bodies , and figures of corpuscles . * the vsefulness of experimental philosophy . notes for div a28965-e4530 * lib. 1. meteor . cap. 3 , & 4. * cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . * about cosmical suspitions . * tract . de peste , lib. 2. cap. 3. * the plague which here miserably rageth upon the first of the flood doth instantly cease ; in so much as when five hundred dye at cayro the day before , which is nothing rare , ( for the sound keep company with the sick , holding death fatal , and , to avoid them , irreligion , ) not one doth dye the day following ; says mr. sandys in his travels , lib. 2. * mr. sandys in the book above-cited . * an essay of subterraneal exhalations . * agric. de nat. eorum quae effluunt è terra , lib. 12. pag. 236. * agric. de nat. eorum quae è terra effluunt , lib. 12. pag. 263. * see the essay of the subtilty of effluviums , chap. 4. * lib. 6. parte 7. cap. 1. * in explicatione herbarum biblicarum , cap. 2. * libro 3. acutor . morbor . * sennert . libr. 6. part . 6. cap. 2. * the liquor here mention'd is , for the main , the same with that describ'd by the author in his book of colours , experiment the 〈…〉 notes for div a28965-e7550 * essay the sixth of the useful . of nat. philos . notes for div a28965-e9840 * exp. iii. n. b. 2. tracts containing i. suspicions about some hidden qualities of the air : with an appendix touching celestial magnets and some other particulars : ii. animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo : iii. a discourse of the cause of attraction by suction / by the honourable robert boyle esq. ... selections. 1674 boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1674 approx. 298 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 162 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2003-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29052 wing b4054 estc r17545 13161366 ocm 13161366 98191 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29052) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 98191) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 446:30) tracts containing i. suspicions about some hidden qualities of the air : with an appendix touching celestial magnets and some other particulars : ii. animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo : iii. a discourse of the cause of attraction by suction / by the honourable robert boyle esq. ... selections. 1674 boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1 v. (various pagings) printed by w. g. and are sold by m. pitt ..., london : 1674. "errata": verso of 3rd prelim. leaf. in pt. [6] the 2nd prelim. leaf, containing "advertisement to the book binder", has been cut out, as in most copies. pts. [2-6] have separate paging and signatures and special title pages. reproduction of original in huntington library. svspicions about some hidden qualities in the air -obsevations about the grovvth of metals in their ore -some additional experiments relating to the suspicions about the hidden qualities of the air -animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo -of the cause of attraction by suction -new experiments about the preservation of bodies in vacuo boyliano. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng hobbes, thomas, 1588-1679. -problemata physica. air -early works to 1800. pneumatics -early works to 1800. 2000-00 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2001-09 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2002-06 allison liefer sampled and proofread 2002-06 allison liefer text and markup reviewed and edited 2002-07 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion tracts : containing i. suspicions about some hidden qualities of the air ; with an appendix touching celestial magnets , and some other particulars . ii. animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo . iii. a discourse of the cause of attraction by suction . by the honourable robert boyle , esq fellow of the royal society . london , printed by w.g. and are to be sold by m. pitt , at the angel against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. preface . among other papers that i design'd to contribute towards the natural history of the air , i began some years ago to set down a collection of some new or less heeded observations and experiments relating to the causes and effects of changes in the air , which i referr'd to several heads , as to the airs heat , coldness , moisture , driness , diaphaneity , opacity , consistence , several saltnesses and other titles ; the last of which was of the occult qualities of the air , supposing there be any such . and though afterwards i was , by sickness and other impediments , diverted from proceeding in that collection , and induc'd to lay aside some of the observations i had provided , and imploy in other treatises such as were proper to them ; yet as to the title that contain'd suspicions about some hidden qualities of the air , the possibility , if not likelihood , that either the matters of fact , or the intimations delivered in them , might afford hints not useless to the s●gacious and inquisitive , perswaded me to let it escape the fate of its companions , though possibly , if i had more consulted my own reputation , i should least of all have suffer'd this title to appear , there being none of the rest , that was not less conjectural . but it being thought unfit , that any thing should perish , that related to so considerable and uncommon a subject , as that of this title , i was content to cast the collected experiments into the following essay for the reasons express'd at the beginning and close of the insuing paper . which , 't was hop'd , may be the better understood , and less liable to have its design mistaken , by being usher'd in by this advertisement about the occasion of it . errata . in the first tract , pag. 41. l. 4. read halicarnasseus . in the tract of the cause of suction , p. 14. l. 4. r. 33½ for 36½ . svspicions about some hidden qualities in the air . besides the four first qualities of the air , ( heat , cold , dryness and moisture ) that are known even to the vulgar ; and those more unobvious , that philosophers and chymists have discovered , such as gravity , springiness , the power of refracting the beams of light ; &c. i have often suspected , that there may be in the air some yet more latent qualities or powers differing enough from all these , and principally due to the substantial parts or ingredients , whereof it consists . and to this conjecture i have been led , partly ( though not only or perhaps chiefly ) by considering the constitution of that air we live and breath in , which , to avoid ambiguities , i elsewhere call atmospherical air. for this is not , as many imagine , a simple and elementary body , but a confus●d aggregate of effluviums from such differing bodies , that , though they all agree in constituting , by their minuteness and various motions , one great mass of fluid matter , yet perhaps there is scarce a more heterogeneous body in the world . and as by air i understand not ( as the peripateticks are wont to do ) a meer elementary body ; so , when i speak of the qualities of the air , i would not be thought to mean such naked and abstracted beings ( as the schools often tell us of , ) but such as they call qualities in concreto , namely corpuscles indued with qualities , or capable of producing them in the subjects they invade and abound in . i have elsewhere shewn it to be highly probable , that , besides those vapours and exhalations which by the heat of the sun are elevated into the air , and there afford matter to some meteors , as clouds , rain , parhelions and rainbow● ; there are , at least at some times , and in some places , store of effluviums emitted from the subterraneal parts of the terrestrial globe ; and 't is no less probable , ( from what i have there and elsewhere deliver'd , ) that in the subterraneal regions there are many bodies , some fluid and some consistent , which , though of an operative nature , and like upon occasion to emit steams , seldom or never appear upon the surface of the earth , so that many of them have not so much as names assigned them even by the mineralists . now among this multitude and variety of bodies , that lye buried out of our sight , who can tell but that there may be some , if not many , of a nature very differing from those we are hitherto familiarly acquainted with ; and that , as divers wonderful and peculiar operations of the loadstone , ( though a mineral many ages ago famous among philosophers and physitians , ) were not discovered 'till of later ages , wherein its nobler virtues have been disclosed ; so there may be other subterraneous bodies , that are indowed with considerable powers , which to us are yet unknown , and would , if they were known , be found very differing from those of the fossiles we are wont to deal with ? i also further consider , that , ( as i have elsewhere endeavoured to make it probable ) the sun and planets ( to say nothing of the fixt stars ) may have influences here below distinct from their heat and light. on which supposition it seems not absurd to me to suspect , that the subtil , but corporeal , emanations even of these bodies may ( sometimes at least ) reach to our air , and mingle with those of our globe in that great receptacle or rendevouz of celestial and terrestrial effluviums , the atmosphere . and if this suspition be not groundless , the very small knowledge we have of the structure and constitution of globes so many thousands or hundred of thousands of miles remote from us , and the great ignorance we must be in of the nature of the particular bodies that may be presum'd to be contain'd in those globes , ( as minerals and other bodies are in the earth , ) which in many things appear of kin to those that we inhabit , ( as with excellent telescopes i have often with attention and pleasure observed , particularly in the moon , ) this great imperfection , i say , of our knowledge may keep it from being unreasonable to imagine , that some , if not many , of those bodies and their effluxions may be of a nature quite differing from those we take notice of here about us , and consequently may operate after a very differing and peculiar manner . and though the chief of the heteroclite effluviums , that indow the air with hidden qualities , may probably proceed from beneath the surface of the earth , and from the celestial bodies ; yet i would not deny but that , especially at some times and in some places , the air may derive multitudes of efficacious particles from its own operations , acting as a fluid substance upon that vast number and variety of bodies that are immediately expos'd to it . for , though by reason of its great thinness , and of its being in its usual state devoid both of tast and smell , it seems wholly unfit to be a menstruum ; yet i am not sure but it may have a dissolving , or at least a consuming , power on many bodies , especially such as are peculiarly dispos'd to admit its operations . for i consider , that the air has a great advantage by the vast quantity of it , that may come to work in proportion to the bodies that are expos'd to it : and i have long thought , that , in divers cases , the quantity of a menstruum may much more considerably compensate its want of strength , than chymists are commonly aware of , ( as there may be occasion elsewhere to exemplifie . ) and there are liquors , which pass for insipid , ( and are therefore thought to be altogether unfit to be solvents , ) which , though they have their active parts too thinly dispersed to be able presently to make sensible impressions upon our organs of tasting , yet are not quite destitute of corpuscles fit to act as a solvent ; especially if they have time enough to make with the other parts of the fluid such numerous and various motions , as must bring , now some of them , and then others , to hit against the body expos'd to them . which may be illustrated by the rust like to verdigrease , which we have observ'd in copper that has been long expos'd to the air , whose saline particles , little by little , do in tract of time fasten themselves in such numbers to the surface of the metal as to corrode it , and produce that efflorescence colour'd like verdigrease , which you know is a factitious body , wont to be made of the same metal , corroded by the sharp corpuscles of vineger , or of the husks of grapes : besides , that by the power , which mercury has to dissolve gold and silver , it appears , that it is not always necessary for the making a fluid fit to be a dissolvent , that it should affect the tast. and as to those bodies , on which the aerial menstruum can , though but slowly , work , the greatest quantity of it may bring it this advantage , that , whereas even the strongest menstruums , if they bear no great proportion in bulk to the bodies they are to work on , are easily glutted , and being unable to take up any more , are fain to leave the rest of the body undissolved , our aerial menstruum bears so vast a proportion to the bodies expos'd to it , that when one portion of it has impregnated it self as much as 't is able , there may still come fresh and fresh to work further on the remaining part of the expos'd body . besides the saline and sulphureous particles , that , at least in some places , may ( as i have elsewhere shewn ) impregnate the air , and give it a greater affinity to chymical menstruums more strictly so called ; i am not averse from thinking , that the air , meerly as a fluid body , that consists of corpuscles of differing sizes and solidities restlesly and very variously moved , may upon the account of these corpuscles be still resolving , or preying upon , the particles of the bodies that are expos'd to their action . for , many of those aerial corpuscles , some hitting and some rubbing themselves every minute against those particles of expos'd bodies that chance to lye in their way , may well , by those numerous occursions and affrictions , strike off and carry along with them now some and then others of those particles ; as you see it happens in water , which , as soft and fluid as it is , wears out such hard and solid bodies as stones themselves , if it often enough meet them in its passage , according to the known saying , gutta cavat lapidem non vi , sed saepe cadendo . and though the aerial corpuscles be very minute , and the bodies expos'd to them oftentimes large and seemingly solid ; yet this needs not make you reject our supposition , because 't is not upon the whole body at once , that , according to us , the aerial corpuscles endeavour to work , but upon the superficial particles , which may often be more minute than those corpuscles ; as you will the more easily believe , if you first observe with a good microscope , how many extant particles may be met with on the surface of bodies , that to the naked eye seem very smooth , and even of those that are polish'd by art with tripoly or puttee ; and then consider , that one of these protuberancies , being yet manifestly visible , may well be presum'd to consist of a multitude of lesser particles , divers of which may very well be as minute as those aerial corpuscles , that successively hit against them , and endeavour to carry them along with themselves . and this may be illustrated by a familiar instance . for , if you take a lump of loaf sugar , or even of a much solider and harder body , sal gemmae , and cast it into common water , though this liquor be insipid , and the motions of its corpuscles but very languid ; yet these corpuscles are capable to loosen and carry off the superficial particles of sugar or salt , that chance to lye in their way , and fresh corpuscles of water still succeeding to work upon the remaining particles of the expos'd body that stand in their way , the whole lump is by little and little dissolved , and ceases to appear to the eye a thing distinct from the liquor . some things that have occurr'd to me have made me suspect , that 't is not impossible , but that some bodies may receive a disposition to volatility , and consequently to pass into the air by the action either of the sun-beams , in the form of the sun-beams , or of some substance that once issued out of the sun and reach'd unto our air. for , there may be certain bodies for the most part in the form of liquors , which , though they pass off from some peculiarly dispos'd bodies , may during their stay or contact produce in them a great and strange aptness to be volatiliz'd . in favour of which conjecture , i might here alledge both the effects , which the paracelsians and helmontians ascribe to the alkahest of volatilizing even fixt and ponderous bodies barely by being often abstracted from them , and some other things , which i shall now leave unmention'd , because you may find them in my notes about volatility and fixity . but , whatever become of this conjecture , 't is consonant to experience , that , either upon the above-recited accounts , or also some others , those parts of the atmosphere , which , in a stricter sense , may be call'd the air , are , at least in some places , so intermixt with particles of differing kinds , that among that great number of various sorts of them , 't is very likely that there should be some kinds of an un-common and an unobserved nature . and i could countenance what has been said by the wasting of odorous bodies , and especially camphire , and by representing , that i have observed some solid bodies actually cold , when their superficial parts were newly taken off , to emit , though invisibly , such copious steams into the air , as to grow continually and manifestly lighter upon the ballance , so as to suffer a notable decrement of weight in a minute of an hour . but the mention i make of such things in an other paper , disswades me from insisting on them here , where 't will be seasonable to resume the discourse , which the mention of the dissolving power , that may be guess'd to be in the air , has for some pages interrupted , and to tell you , that those propounded , before i enter'd upon the digression , are the two main consideration à priori ( as they speak ) whereon i have grounded my surmize , which being propos'd but as a suspicion , i presume it will not be expected , that the arguments à posteriori , which i shall bring to countenance it , should be more than conjectures , much less that they should be demonstrations . and therefore i shall venture to lay before you some few phaenomena , which seem to be at least as probably referable to some latent quality in the air , as to any other cause i yet know . upon which score such phaenomena may be allowed to be pleaded in favour of our suspicion , 'till some other certain cause of them shall be satisfactorily assign'd . having premis'd thus much to keep you from looking for stronger proofs than i think my task obliges me to give ; the first phaenomenon , i shall propose , shall be the appearing or growth of some salts in certain bodies , which we observ'd to afford them either not at all , or at least nothing near in such plenty , or so soon , unless they be expos'd to the air. of such a phaenomenon as this , that is not so much as mention'd by vulgar philosophers , and very rarely , if at all , to be met with in the laboratories of chymists , you will not , i suppose , wonder , that i do not present you many examples , and some few i am able to name . for i remember , that suspecting a solid marchasite , hard as stone , to be fit to be made an instance for my purpose , i caus'd it to be broken , that the internal more shining parts might be expos'd to the air ; but , though this were done in a room , where a good fire was usually kept , so that the marchasite was not only shelter'd from the rain , but kept in a dry air , yet after a while i discover'd upon the glistering parts an efflorescence of a vitriolate nature . and afterwards meeting with a ponderous and dark colour'd mineral , and which , at the first breaking , discover'd to the eye no appearance of any salt , nor so much as any shining marchasitical particles , we found nevertheless , that a good quantity of these hard and heavy bodies , being kept expos'd to the air , even in a room that preserved them from the rain , though probably they had lain many ages intire in the hill , wherein they were found under ground ; yet in not many months , by the operation of the air upon them , they were , in great part , crumbled to powder exceeding rich in copperas . nay , i remember , that having for curiosities sake , laid up some of these stones in a room , where i constantly kept fire , and in the drawer of a cabinet , which i did not often take out to give them fresh air , some , if not most of them , were notwithstanding ●over'd with a copious efflorescence , which by its conspicuous colour between blew and green , by its taste , and by its fitness to make in a trice an inky mixture with infusion of galls , sufficiently manifested it self to be vitriol ; whose growth by the help of the contact of the air is the more considerable , because it is not a meer acid salt , but abounds in sulphureous and combustible parts , which i have divers times been able , by methods elsewhere mentioned , actually to separate or obtain from common vitriol without the addition of any combustible body , and sometimes without any additament at all . it was also uncommon , that our blackish minerals requir'd no longer time , nor no rain , to make them afford their vitriolate efflorescences : for i remember , i kept many of those marchasites , both glittering ones and others , of which they make and sell great quantities of vitriol at deptford , without perceiving in them a change that came any thing near to what i have recited . and i observ'd those , whose trade it is to make vitriol , to be often obliged to let their vitriol-stones , as they call them , lye half a year , or even eighteen months , or two years exposed , not only to the open air , but to the rain and sun , to be able to obtain from them their vitriolate parts . that also the earth or ore of allum , being robb'd of its salt , will in tract of time recover it by being expos'd to the air , we are assur'd by the experienc'd agricola , where , having deliver'd the way of making allum , he subjoins this advertisement : terra aluminosa , quae in castellis diluta , postquam effluxit , superfuit egesta et coacervata quotidie , rursus magis & magis fit aluminosa , non aliter atque terra ex qua halinitrum fuit confectum , suo succo plenior fit ; quare denuo in castella conjicitur & aquae affusae ea percolantur . i have likewise observ'd , as you also perchance have done , that some kind of lime in old walls and moist places has gain'd in length of time a copious efflorescence , very much of a nitrous nature ; as i was convinc'd by having obtain'd salt-peter from it by barely dissolving it in common water , and evaporating the filtrated solution : and that in calcin'd vitriol , whose saline parts have been driven away by the violence of the fire , particles of fresh salt may be found after it has lain a competent time in the air , i shall e're long have occasion to inform you . but in the mean time , ( to deal ingenuously with you , ) i shall freely confess to you , that , though these and the like observations have satisfied learned men , without having been call'd in question , and consequently have , at least , probability enough to ground our suspicion upon ; yet i , that am more concern'd for the discovery of a truth than the reputation of a paradox , propose the argument drawn from the foregoing observations , but as a probationer . for it yet seems to me somewhat doubtful , whether the salts , that appear in the forementioned cases , are really produc'd by the operation of the air working as an agent , or also concurring as an ingredient ; or whether these saline substances be not the production of some internal thing that is analagous to a seminal principle , which makes in these bodies a kind of maturation of some parts , which being once ripen'd , and perhaps assisted by the moisture of the air , disclose themselves in the form of saline concretions ; as in the feculent or tartareous parts of many wines there will in tract of time be generated or produc'd store of corpuscles of a saline nature , that produce the acid taste we find in tartar , especially that of rhenish wine . it may also be suspected , that the formerly mention'd salts found in marchasites , in nitrous and aluminous earths , &c. are made by the saline particles of the like nature , that among multitudes of other kinds swim in the air , and are attracted by the congenerous particles , that yet remain in the terrestrial bodies , that are , as it were , the wombs of such minerals , ( as i have elsewhere shewn , that spirit of nitre will , with fixt nitre and some other alkalys , compose salt-peter ; ) or else , that these aerial salts , if i may so call them , assisted by the moisture of the air , do soften and open , and almost corrode or dissolve the more terrestrial substance of these wombs , and thereby sollicit out and somewhat extricate the latent saline particles , and , by their union with them , compose those emerging bodies that resemble vitriol , allum , &c. but not only to suggest these scruples , as if i had a mind they should but trouble you , and keep you irresolute , i shall propound something towards the removal of them ; namely , that a convenient quantity of nitrous earth , or that other of those substances , which you would examine , be kept in a close vessel to which the air has not access , for at least as long time as has been observed to be sufficient to impregnate the like substance , or rather a portion of the same parcel that was chosen to be included : for , if the body , that was kept close , have either gain'd no salt at all , or very much less in proportion to its bulk than that which was kept expos'd , we may thence estimate , what is to be ascribed to the air in the production of nitre or other saline concretions . and , because i have observed none of these bodies , that would so soon , and so manifestly , even to the eye , disclose a saline substance , as the blackish vitriol-ore , i lately told you i kept in a drawer of my cabinet ; i judg'd that a very fit subject , wherewith to try , what maturation or time , when the air was secluded , would perform towards the deciding of our difficulty : and accordingly having taken some fragments of it , which we had carefully freed from the adhering vitriolate efflorescence , by whose plenty we were assured that it was very well dispos'd to be wrought on by the air , we put of these fragments of differing sizes into two conveniently shap'd glasses , which being hermetically sealed were ordered to be carried away , and kept in fit places ; by which means 't was expected , that , even without opening the glasses , we should be able easily to see by the chang'd colour of the superficial parts , whether any vitriolate efflorescence were produced ; but , through the negligence or mistake of those , to whom the care was recommended , the experiment was never brought to an issue ; and though i afterwards got more of the mineral , and made a second tryal of the same , i have not yet been inform'd of the event . but , sir , though , 'till the success of some such tryal be known , i dare not too confidently pronounce about the production or regeneration of salts in bodies that have been robb'd of them , and ascribe it wholly to the air ; yet , when i consider the several and great effects of the air upon divers other bodies , i think it not rash to conjecture in the mean time , that the operations of the air may have a considerable share in these phaenomena , and so that there may be latent qualities in the air , in the sense i declar'd above , where i told you , that , when i speak of these qualities , i look upon them in concreto , ( as they phrase it , ) together with the substances or ●orporeal effluvia they reside in : and of these aerial qualities , taken in this sense , i shall now proceed to mention some other instances . the difficulty we find of keeping flame and fire alive , though but for a little time , without air , makes me some times prone to suspect , that there may be dispers'd through the rest of the atmosphere some odd substance , either of a solar , or astral , or some other exotic , nature , on whose account the air is so necessary to the subsistence of flame ; which necessity i have found to be greater , and less dependent upon the manifest attributes of the air , than naturalists seem to have observed . for i have found by tryals purposely made , that a small flame of a lamp , though fed perhaps with a subtil thin oyl , would in a large capacious glass-receiver expire , for want of air , ●●in a far less time than one would be●eve . and it will not much lessen the difficulty to alledge , that either the gross fuliginous smoak did in a close vessel stifle the flame , or that the pressure of the air is requisite to impel up the aliment into the wieck : for , to obviate these objections , i have in a large receiver imploy'd a very small wieck with such rectified spirit of wine , as would in the free air burn totally away ; and yet , when a very small lamp , furnished ( as i was saying ) with a very slender wieck , was made to burn , and , fill'd with this liquor , was put lighted into a large receiver , that little flame , though it emitted no visible smoak at all , would usually expire within about one minute of an hour , and , not seldom , in a less time ; and this , though the wieck was not so much as sing'd by the flame : nor indeed is a wieck necessary for the experiment , since highly rectified spirit of wine will in the free air flame away well without it . and indeed it seems to ●●erve our wonder , what that should be in the air , which inabling it to keep flame alive , does yet , by being consum'd or deprav'd , so suddenly render the air unfit to make flame subsist . and it seems by the sudden wasting or spoiling of this fine subject , whatever it be , that the bulk of it is but very small in proportion to the air it impregnates with its virtue . for after the extinction of the flame , the air in the receiver was not visibly alter'd , and , for ought i could perceive by the ways of judging i had then at hand , the air retain'd either all , or at least far the greatest part of its elasticity , which i take to be its most genuine and distinguishing property . and this undestroy'd springyness of the air seems to make the necessity of fresh air to the life of hot animals , ( few of which , as far as i can guess after many tryals , would be able to live two minutes of an hour , if they were totally and all at once deprived of air , ) suggest a great suspicion of some vital substance , if i may so call it , diffus'd through the air , whether it be a volatile nitre , or ( rather ) some yet anonymous substance , sydereal or subterraneal , but not improbably of kin to that , which i lately noted to be so necessary to the maintenance of other flames . i know not , whether you will think it pertinent to our present discourse , that i observe to you , that by keeping putrifying bodies in glasses , which by hermes his seal were secur'd from the contact of the external air , i have not been able to produce any insect or other living creature , though sometimes i have kept animal substances and even blood so included for many months , and one or two of them for a longer time ; and though also these substances had a manifest change made in their consistence whilst they remain'd seal'd up . on this occasion i shall add an odd observation , that i met with in a little dissertation de admirandis hungariae aquis , written by an anonymous , but ingenious , nobleman of that countrey , where , speaking of the native salt that abounds in their regions , he says , that in the chief mine ( by them call'd desiensis ) of transylvania , there was , a few years before he writ , a great oak like a huge beam dug out of the middle of the salt ; but , though it was so hard , that it would not easily be wrought upon by iron-tools , yet being expos'd to the air out of the mine , it became so rotten , as he expresses it , that in four days it was easie to be broken and crumbled between ones fingers . and of that corruptive or dissolutive power of the air near those mines , the same author mentions other instances . having found an antimonial preparation to procure vomits , in a case where i did not at all expect it , i was afterwards curious to inquire of some physitians and chymists , that were of my acquaintance , whether they had not taken notice , that antimonium diaphoreticum , which , as its name imports , is wont to work by sweat or transpiration , would not become vomitive , if 't were not kept from the air ? to which one physitian , that was a learned man , assur'd me , it would , as he had found by particular tryals : and the like answer has been given me by more than one . and i find , that the experienc'd zwelfer himself does somewhere give a caution against letting the air have access to these antimonial medicines , lest it should render them , as he says it will , in tract of time , not only emetic , but dispos'd to produce heart-burnings , ( as they call them , ) faintings , and other bad symptoms . and i learnt by inquiry from a very ingenious doctor of physic , that , having carefully prepar'd antimonium diaphoreticum , he gave many doses of it whilst it was fresh and kept stopt in a glass ( without finding that in any patient it procur'd so much as one vomit , ) but having kept a parcel of the self same remedy for a pretty while in a glass only cover'd loosely with a paper , the medicine , vitiated by the air , proved emetic ( strongly enough ) to those , who neither by constitution , or foulness of stomach , or on any other discernable account , were more than others that had taken it disposed to vomit . by which observations , and from what i formerly told you of the salt-peter obtainable from quick-lime , a man partial to the air would be made forward to tell you , that this looks , as if either there were in the air a substance dispos'd to be assimilated by all kinds of bodies , or that the air is so vast and rich a rendevouz of innumerable seminal corpuscles and other analogous particles , that almost any body long expos'd to it may there meet with particles of kin to it , and fit to repair its wrongs and losses , and restore it to its natural condition . but without taking any further notice of this odd surmize , i will proceed to mention two or three other phaenomena of nature , that seem to favour the suspicion , that there may be secret qualities in the air in reference to some bodies . the ingenious monsieur de rochefort , in the handsom account he gives of the apple or fruit of the tree iunipa , whose juice is imploy'd by the indians to black their skins , that they may look the more terrible to their enemies , observes , that , though the stain , or , as he speaks , the tincture of this fruit cannot be wash'd out with soap , yet within nine or ten days it will vanish of it self ; which would make one suspect , that there may be in the air some secret powerful substance , that makes it a menstruum of more efficacy than soap it self to obliterate stains . i remember , i have seen this fruit , but not whilst it was succulent enough to have a tryal made with it ; which i was therefore troubled at , because the author does not clearly express , whether this disappearing of the tincture happens indifferently to the bodies it chances to stain , or only is observed on the skins of men. for , as in the former case 't will afford an instance pertinent to our present purpose ; so in the latter i should suspect , that the vanishing of the tincture may be due not so much to the operation of the air upon it , as to the sweat and exhalations of a human body , which abounding with volatile salt , may either destroy or carry off with them the colour'd particles they meet with in their passage . i have sometimes , not altogether without wonder , observ'd the excellency of the better sort of damasco-steel , ( for i speak not of all that goes under that name , ) in comparison of ordinary steel . and , besides what i have elsewhere taken notice of concerning it , there is one phaenomenon , which though i am not sure it belongs to the latent qualities of the air , yet because it may well do so , and i am unwilling it should be lost , i will here tell you , that having inquired of an eminent and experienc'd artificer , ( whom i long since imployed in some difficult experiments , ) about the properties of damasco-steel , this honest and sober man averr'd to me , that when he made instruments of it , and gave them the true temper , which is somewhat differing from that of other steel , he generally observed , that though , when rasors or other instruments made of it were newly forged , they would be sometimes no whit better , and sometimes less good , than those made of other steel ; yet when they had been kept a year or two or three in the air , though nothing else were done to improve them , they would be found much to surpass other instruments of the same kind , and what themselves were before ; in so much ; that some of them have been laid aside at first , as no way answering the great expectation conceived of them , which after two or three years were found to surpass it ; of which also i am now making a tryal . i have several times made a substance that consists chiefly of a metalline body , and is of a texture close enough to lye for many hours undissolv'd in a corrosive menstruum ; and yet this substance , that was fixt enough to endure the being melted by the fire without losing its colour , would , when i had purposely expos'd it to the air , be discoloured in a very short time , and have its superficial parts turned almost black . and this brings into my mind that very pretty observation , that has been newly made in italy by an ingenious man , who took notice , that , if after the opening of a vein the blood be kept 'till it be concreted , and have excluded the superficial serum , though the lower part be usually of a dark and blackish colour in comparison of the superficial parts , and therefore be counted far more feculent ; yet , if the lump or clott of blood be broken , and the internal and dark coloured parts of the blood be expos'd to the air , it will after a time ( for 't is not said how long ) be so wrought on by the contact of the air , that the superficial part of the blood will appear as florid as the lately mention'd upper part ( suppos'd to be , as it were , the flower of the blood , ) did seem before . and this observation i found to hold in the blood of some beasts , whereon i tryed it , in which i found it to succeed in much fewer minutes , than the virtuoso's experiment on human blood would make me expect . on the other side i have often prepar'd a substance , whose effect appears quite contrary to this . for , though this factitious concrete , whilst kept to the fire or very carefully preserved from the air , be of a red colour almost like the common opacous bloodstone of the shops ; yet , if i broke it , and left the lumps or fragments of it a little while in the air , it would in a short time ( sometimes perhaps not amounting to a quarter of an hour ) it would , i say , have its superficial parts turn'd of a very dark colour , very little , and sometimes scarce at all , short of blackness . a very inquisitive person of my acquaintance , having occasion to make , by distillation , a medicine of his own devising , chanc'd to observe this odd property in it , that at that time of the year , if it were kept stopt , it would be coagulated almost like oyl of anniseeds in cold weather ; yet , if the stopple were taken out , and so access were for a while given to the air , it would turn to a liquor , and the vessel being again stopt , it would , though more slowly , recoagulate . the hints , that i guess'd might be given by such a phaenomenon , making me desirous to know something of it more than barely by relation , i express'd rather a curiosity than a diffidence about it ; and the maker of it telling me , he thought , he had in a small vial about a spoonful of this medicine left in a neighbouring chamber , i desired his leave to consider it my self , which request being presently complied with , i found it , when he brought it into the room which i stayed in , not liquid but consistent , though of but a slight and soft contexture . and having taken out the cork , and set the vial in a window , which ( if i well remember ) was open , though the season , which was winter , was cold , yet in a little time that i stayed talking with the chymist , i found , that the so lately coagulated substance was almost all become fluid . and another time , when the season was less cold , having occasion to be where the vial was kept well stopt , and casting my eyes on it , i perceiv'd the included substance to be coagulated much like oyl of anniseeds . and this substance having , as the maker assur'd me , nothing at all of mineral in it , nor any chymical salt , it consisting only of two simple bodies , the one of a vegetable and the other of an animal substance , distill'd together , i scarce doubt but you will think with me , that these contrary operations of the air , which seems to have a power in some circumstances to coagulate such a body , and yet to dissolve and make it fluid when fresh and fresh parts are allow'd access to it , may deserve to be further reflected on , in reference ( among other things ) to the opportune operations , the inspired air may have on the consistence and motion of the circulating blood , and to the discharge of the fuliginous recrements to be separated from the blood in its passage through the lungs . there are two other phaenomena that seem favourable to our suspicion , that there are anonymous substances and qualities in the air , which ought not to be altogether praetermitted on this occasion ; though , because to speak fully of them would require far more time than i can now spare , i shall speak of them but succinctly . the latter of these two phaenomena is the growth or appearing production of metals or minerals dug out of the earth , and expos'd to the air. and this , though it be the last of the two , i mention first , because it seems expedient , lest it should prove too long an interruption to our discourse , to postpone the observations and annex them to the end of this paper ; only intimating to you now , that the caution i formerly interposed about the regeneration of salts in nitrous and other earths , may , for greater security , be applied , mutatis mutandis , to that production of metalline and mineral bodies we are speaking of . the other of the two phaenomena , i lately promis'd to mention , is afforded me by those various and odd diseases , that at some times and in some places happen to invade and destroy numbers of beasts , sometimes of one particular kind , and sometimes of another . of this we have many instances in the books of approved authors ; both physitians and others ; and i have my self observ'd some notable examples of it . but yet i should not mention it as a ground of suspicion , that there may be , in some times and places , unknown effluvia and powers in the air , but that i distinguish these from those diseases of animals , that proceed , as the rot in sheep often does , from the exorbitancy of the seasons , the immoderateness of cold , heat , or any other manifest quality in the air. and you will easily perceive , that some of these examples probably argue , that the subterraneal parts do sometimes ( especially after earthquakes or unusual cleavings of the ground ) send up into the air peculiar kinds of venomous exhalations , that produce new and mortal diseases in animals of such a species , and not in those of another , and in this or that particular place , and not elsewhere : of which we have an eminent instance in that odd plague or murrain of the year 1514 , which fernelius tells us invaded none but cats . and even in animals of the same species , sometimes one sort have been incomparably more obnoxious to the plague than another ; as dionysius halicarnaséus mentions a plague that attack'd none but maids ; whereas the pestilence that raged in the time of gentilis ( a fam'd physitian ) kill'd few women , and scarce any but lusty men. and so boterus mentions a great plague , that assaulted almost only the younger sort of persons , few past thirty years of age being attack'd by it : which last observation has been also made by several later physitians . to which may be added , what learned men of that faculty have noted at several times concerning plagues , that particularly invaded those of this or that nation , though confusedly mingled with other people ; as cardan speaks of a plague at basil , with which only the switzers , and not the italians , french , or germans , were infected . and iohannes utenhovious takes notice of a cruel plague at copenhagen , which , though it raged among the danes , spared both the english , dutch , and germans , though they freely enter'd infected houses , and were not careful to shun the sick . in reciting of which instances i would not be understood , as if i imputed these effects meerly to noxious subterraneal fumes ; for i am far from denying , that the peculiar constitutions of mens bodies are likely to have a great interest in them : but yet it seems less probable , that the pestilent venom diffused through the air should owe its enormous and fatal efficacy to the excess of the manifest qualities of the air , than to the peculiar nature of the pestilential poison sent up into the air from under ground , which when it is by dilution or dissipation enervated , or by its progress past beyond the air we breath in , or render'd ineffectual by subterraneal or other corpuscles of a contrary quality , the plague , which it , as a con-cause , produced , either quite ceases , or degenerates into somewhat else . but i have not time to countenance this conjecture , much less to consider , whether some of those diseases , that are wont to be call'd new , which either did begin to appear , or at least to be rise , within these two or three centuries , as the sudor anglicus in the fifteenth century , the scurvy , and the morbus hungaricus , the lues moraviae , novus morbus luneburgensis , and some others , in the last century of all , may be in part caus'd by the exotic steams this discourse treats of . but this consideration i willingly resign to physitians . and now , if the two forementioned suspicions , the one about subterraneal , the other about sydereal , effluviums , shall prove to be well grounded , they may lead us to other suspicions and further thoughts about things of no mean consequence ; three of which i shall venture to make mention of in this place . i. for we may hence be awakened to consider , whether divers changes of temperature and constitution in the air , not only as to manifest qualities , but as to the more latent ones , may not sometimes in part , if not chiefly , be derived from the paucity or plenty , and peculiar nature of one or both of these sorts of esfluviums . and in particular , we find in the most approved writers such strange phaenomena to have several times happen'd in great plagues and contagious diseases , fomented and communicated , nay ( as many eminent physitians believed ) begun , by some latent pestiferous , or other malignant , diathesis or constitution of the air , as have obliged many of the learned'st of them to have recourse to the immediate operation of the angels , or of the power and wrath of god himself , or at least to some unaccountable influence of the stars ; none of the solutions of which difficulties seems preferable to what may be gathered from our conjecture ; since of physical agents of which we know nothing so much , as that they are to us invisible and probably of a heteroclite nature , it need be no great wonder , that the operation should also be abstruse , and the effects uncommon . and on this occasion it may be consider'd , that there are clearer inducements to perswade us , that another quality of the atmosphere , its gravity , may be alter'd by unseen effluviums , ascending from the subterraneous regions of our globe ; and we have often perceived by the mercurial baroscope the weight of the air to be notably increased , when we could not perceive in the air nor surface of earth any cause to which we could ascribe so notable a change . and this gives me a rise to add , that i have sometimes allowed my self to doubt , whether even the sun it self may not now and then alter the gravity of the atmosphere otherwise than by its beams or heat . and i remember , i desired some virtuosi of my acquaintance to assist me in the inquiry , whether any of the spots , that appear about the sun , may not , upon their sudden dissolution , have some of their discuss'd and dispers'd matter thrown off , as far as to our atmosphere , and that copiously enough to produce some sensible alterations in it , at least as to gravity . ii. another thing , that our two foremention'd suspicions , if allow'd of , will suggest , is , that it may not seem altogether improbable , that some bodies , we are conversant with , may have a peculiar disposition and fitness to be wrought on by , or to be associated with , some of those exotic effluvia , that are emitted by unknown bodies lodged under ground , or that proceed from this or that planet . for what we call sympathies and antipathies , depending indeed on the peculiar textures and other modifications of the bodies , between whom these friendships and hostilities are said to be exercised , i see not why it should be impossible , that there be a cognation betwixt a body of a congruous or convenient texture , ( especially as to the shape and size of its pores , ) and the effluviums of any other body , whether subterraneal or sydereal . we see , that convex burning-glasses , by virtue of their figure and the disposition of their pores , are fitted to be pervaded by the beams of light and to refract them , and thereby to kindle combustible matter ; and the same beams of the sun will impart a lucidness to the bolonian stone . and as for subterraneal bodies , i elsewhere mention two minerals , which being prepared , ( as i there intimate , ) the steams of the one , ascending without adventitious heat and wandering through the air , will not sensibly work on other bodies ; but if they meet with that which we prepared , they will immediately have an operation on it , whose effect will be both manifest and lasting . iii. i now pass on to the other thing , that the two formerly mentioned suspicions may suggest , which is , that if they be granted to be well founded , we may be allow'd to consider , whether among the bodies we are acquainted with here below , there may not be found some , that may be receptacles , if not also attractives , of the sydereal , and other exotic effluviums that rove up and down in our air. some of the mysterious writers about the philosophers-stone , speak great things of the excellency of what they call their philosophical magnet , which , they seem to say , attracts and ( in their phrase ) corporifies the universal spirit , or ( as some speak ) the spirit of the world. but these things being abstrusities , which the writers of them profess'd to be written for , and to be understood only by , the sons of art ; i , who freely acknowledge i cannot clearly apprehend them , shall leave them in their own worth as i found them , and only , for brevity sake , make use of the receiv'd word of a magnet , which i may do in my own sense , without avowing the receiv'd doctrine of attraction . for by such a magnet , as i here purpose to speak of , i mean not a body that can properly attract our foreign effluviums ; but such an one , as is fitted to detain and join with them , when by virtue of the various motions , that belong to the air as a fluid , they happen'd to accost the magnet . which may be illustrated by the known way of making oyl of tartar ( as the chymists call it ) per deliquium . for , though the spagyrists and others suppose , that the fiery salt draws to it the aqueous vapours , yet indeed it does but arrest , and imbody with , such of those that wander through the air , as chance in their passage to accost it . and , without receding from the corpuscularian principles , we may allow some of the bodies , we speak of , a greater resemblance to magnets , than what i have been mentioning . for not only such a magnet may upon the bare account of adhesion by iuxta-position or contact , detain the effluviums that would glide along it , but these may be the more firmly arrested by a kind of precipitating faculty , that the magnet may have in reference to such effluviums ; which , if i had time , i could illustrate by some instances ; nay i dare not deny it to be possible , but that in some circumstances of time or place one of our magnets may , as it were , fetch in such steams as would indeed pass near it , but would not otherwise come to touch it . on which occasion i remember , i have in certain cases been able to make some bodies , not all of them electrical , attract ( as they speak ) without being excited by rubbing , &c. far less light bodies , than the effluviums we are speaking of . but this it may suffice to have glanc'd at , it not being here my purpose to meddle with the mystical theories of the chymists ; but rather to intimate , that , without adopting or rejecting them , one may discourse like a naturalist about magnets of celestial and other emanations , that appear not to have been consider'd , not to say , thought of , either by the scholastic , or even the mechanical , philosophers . of celestial & aerial magnets . if now , upon what i have granted in the close of the past discourse , you should urge the question further , and press me to declare , whether , as i think it no impossible thing , that nature should make , so i think it no unpracticable or hopeless thing , that men should find , or art should prepare , useful magnets of the exotic effluviums of the lower region of the earth , or the upper of the world : it would much distress me to give any other answer , than that i think it extreamly difficult , and not absolutely impossible ; and therefore i would not discourage any curious or industrious man from attempting to satisfie himself by experiments , because even a seemingly slight discovery in a thing of this nature may be of no small use in the investigation of the nature of the air , especially in some particular places , and of the correspondency , which , by the intervention of the air , the superficial part of the terrestrial globe may have both with the subterraneal regions of the earth , and the celestial ones of the universe . some of the things i have tryed or seen relating to this discovery , i must for certain reasons leave here unmentioned , and only advertise you , that several bodies , which experience has assur'd us do imbibe or retain something from the air , as some calcin'd minerals , some marchasites , some salts , as well factitious as natural , &c. may be fit to be often exposed to it , and then weighed again , and farther diligently examined , whether that which makes the increment of weight , be a meer imbibed moisture or also somewhat else , and likewise whether it be separable from the body or not , or however have endowed it with any considerably quality ; and if you chance to meet with a good magnet , you may then vary experiments with it , by exposing it long to the air in regions differing much in climat , or soil , or both , by exposing it by day only , or by night , at several seasons of the year , in several temperatures of the air , at several considerable aspects of the stars and planets , by making it more or less frequently part with what it has gain'd from the air ; and in short , by having regard to variety of circumstances , which your curiosity and sagacity may suggest . for , by thus diversifying the experiment many ways , you may perhaps , by one or other of them , make some unexpected and yet important discovery of what effluviums the air , in particular places and times , abounds with , or wants , and perchance too , of some correspondency between the terrestrial and etherial globes of the world. i shall neither be surpriz'd nor quarrel with you , if you tell me , that these are extravagant thoughts ; but if i had been fortunate in preserving all , that tryal , observation , or other productions of some curiosity , i once had for such inquiries , procur'd me , you would not perhaps think me so very extravagant . but though i must not here make any further mention of them , and shall only take notice of one body , namely vitriol , whether crude , or unripe , and ( as chymists speak ) embrionated , or spagyrically prepar'd ; yet some phaenomena of these vitriolate substances may for the present , i hope , somewhat moderate your censure for my putting you upon observations that i fear you your self will judge unpromising , and less favourable persons than you would think phantastical . and to let you see by a pregnant instance , that the air may not only have a notable operation upon vitriol , and that , after a strong fire could work no farther on it , but that this operation was considerably diversified by circumstances ; i shall begin what i have to alledge , with what the experienc'd zwelfer occasionally observ'd , and relates to usher in a caution about a chymical preparation of vitriol : for , having inform'd his reader , that the colcothar , that is made by a strong distillation , is not corrosive , he denies , that , ( to use his own words ) statim à distillatione sal ex eodem , affusâ aquâ , elici queat ; sed tum prius , ( continues he ) ubi aliquandiu aeri expositum fuerit ; tunc enim sal praebet quandoque candidum , quandoque purpureum , aspectu pulcherrimum , quod aliquando in copia acquisivi , & penes me asservo , quandoque etiam nitrosum . which testimony of this candid spagyrist has much the more weight with me , because i find , what he affirms of the saltlesness of newly and strongly calcin'd vitriol to be very agreeable to some of my experiments about colcothar of blew ( v●nereal ) vitriol ; which salt or mineral ( i mean vitriol ) is so odd a concrete , that i have thought fit more than once to recommend the making experiments about it to several curious persons , that had better opportunity to continue them than i , whose residence was not so fixt . and i remember , that one of these , a person industrious and versed in chymical operations , gave me this account , that not only he had differing kinds of salts from colcothar expos'd to the air for many months , and robb'd at convenient times of what it had acquir'd , but that in tract of time he found it so alter'd , that he obtain'd from it a pretty quantity of true running mercury . and now , to resume and conclude what i was saying about colcothar , there are two or three things i would propose to be observed by you , or any virtuoso that would assist me in these tryals about this odd calcinatum , ( for to call it terrae damnata , were to injure it . ) the first is , to take notice of ●ome circumstances that most observers would overlook ; such as ( besides the nature of the soil ) the temperature of the air , the month of the year , and the winds , the weight of the atmosphere , the spots of the sun , if any be , the moons age , and her place in the zodiack , and the principal aspects of the planets , and the other chief stars . for , though it be a boldness to affirm , that any , or perhaps all of these together , will have any interest in the production of the salt or other substance , to be made or disclosed in the colcothar ; yet in things new and exorbitant , it may be sometimes rash and peremptory to deny , even such things as cannot , without rashness , be positively asserted ; and in our case the small trouble of taking notice of circumstances will be richly paid by the least discovery made in things so abstruse and considerable . and as we cannot yet knowingly pronounce , so much as negatively , whether the libration of the moon and the motion of the sun ( and perhaps of some of the other planets ) about their own centers , and consequently their obverting several parts of their bodies to us , may have an operation upon our atmosphere ; so , for ought i know , there may be in those vast internal parts of the earth , whose thin crust only has been here and there dug into by men , considerable masses of matter , that may have periodical revolutions , or accensions , or estuations , or fermentations , or , in short , some other notable commotions , whose effluvia and effects may have operations , yet unobserved , on the atmosphere and on some particular bodies expos'd to it ; though these periods may be perhaps either altogether irregular , or have some kind of regularity differing from what one would expect . as we see , that the sea has those grand intumescencies , we call spring-tides , not every day , nor at any constant day of the month or week , but about the full and new moon ; and these spring-tides are most notably heighten'd , not every month , but twice a year , at or about the vernal and autumnal equinoxes ; which observations have not been near so antient and known , as the daily ebbing and flowing of the sea. the etestans of the antients i shall not now insist on , nor the observations that i think i elsewhere mention'd of the elder inhabitants of the caribe-islands , who , when the europeans first resorted thither , were wont to have hurricanes but once in seven years ; afterwards they were molested with them but once in three years ; and of late they are troubled with them almost every year . and a physitian that lived there told me , that he had scarce ever observed them to come but within the compass of two months joyning to one another . in which instances , and divers others that may be noted of what changes happen'd to great quantities of matter , nature seems to affect something of periodical , but not in a way that appears to us , regular . one may add on this occasion that memorable passage related by the learned varenius of those hot springs in germany , that he calls thermae peperinae , of which he affirms in more than one place , that they have this peculiarity , that they annually begin and cease to flow at certain times ; the former about the third day of may , and the latter near the middle of september , at which time they are wont to rest till the following spring . but though , for ought i know , our geographers observation will hold in hot springs ; yet it must not be extended to all , at least , if we admit that which is related by the accurate iohannes de laet , ( i suppose out of ximenes , or the famous conquerour of mexico , cortes , ) who tells us , that in the mexican province , xilotepec , fons celebratur , qui quatuor continuit annis scaturit , deinde quatuor sequentibu● deficit , & rursus ad priorem modum erumpit , & , quod mirabile , pluviis diebus , parciùs , quum sudum est tempus & aridum , copiosiùs , exuberat . but this is not a place to enlarge upon the grounds of my suspecting , there may be some periodical motions and commotions within the terrestrial globe ; what has been mention'd being only to invite you to take notice of circumstances in your observations of colcothar , some of which may , with the more shew of probability , be kept expos'd for a long time , because that bars of windows and other erected irons i have found to acquire in tract of time from the effluvia of the earth a settled magnetism . the other main thing i would recommend , is , that notice be taken not only of the kind of vitriol , the colcothar is made of ; ( for i generally used blew danzig vitriol ) as martial vitriol , hungarian vitriol , roman vitriol , &c. to which i have , for curiosity , added vitriol made by our selves of the solution of the more saline parts of marchasites in water , without the usual additament of iron , or copper ; but also , to what degree the calcination is made , and how far the calcin'd matter is freed from the salt by water . for these circumstances , at least in some places , may be of moment , and perhaps may afford us good hints of the constitution of the atmosphere in particular parts , as well as of the best preparation of colcothar for detaining the exotic effluviums . and i would the rather have experiments tryed again in other places with colcothar not calcin'd to the utmost , nor yet so exquisitly edulcorated , but that some saline particles should be left in it for future increase ; because i have more than once purposely tryed in vain , that the caput mortuum of blew vitriol , whereof the oyl and other parts had been driven off with a violent and lasting fire , would not , when fresh , impart any saltness to the water ; nor do i think , that out of some ounces purposely edulcorated i obtained one grain of salt. and this saltless colcothar being expos'd , some by me , and some by a friend that had conveniency in another place not far off , to the air , some for many weeks and some for divers months , we did not find it to have manifestly increased in weight , or to have acquired any sensible saltness , which , supposing the vitriol to have nothing extraordinary , gave me the stronger suspicion of some peculiarity in the air of that part of london , where the tryals had been made , at least during those times wherein we made them ; because not only former experience , made here in england , had assur'd me , that some colcothars will gain no despicable accession of weight by being expos'd to the air ; but accidentally complaining of my lately mention'd disappointment to an ingenious traveller , that had , in divers countries , been curious to examine their vitriols , he assured me , that , though he usually dulcified his colcothar very well , yet within four or five weeks he found it considerably impregnated by the air 't was exposed to . it remains , that i add one intimation more about vitriol , which is , that i have found it to have so great a correspondency with the air , that it would not be amiss to try , not only colcothar of differing vitriols ( whether barely made the common way , or without any metalline addition to the vitriol stones or ore , ) but other preparations of vitriol too , such as exposing vitriol , only calcin'd to whiteness by the sun-beams , or further to an higher colour by a gentle heat , or throughly calcined , and then impregnated with a little of its own oyl . for such vitriolate substances as these , the air may work upon , nay even liquid preparations of vitriol may be peculiarly affected by the air , and thereby perhaps be useful to discover the present constitution , or foretel some approaching changes of it . of the use of which conjecture , namely the peculiar action of the air on some vitriolate liquors , i remember i shew'd some virtuosi a new instance in an experiment , whereof this was the sum : [ i elsewhere mention a composition that i devis'd , to make with sublimate , copper , and spirit of salt , a liquor of a green exceeding lovely . but in the description of it i mention'd not ( having no need to do it there ) a circumstance as odd as the liquor it self was grateful . for the air has so much interest in the production of this green , that when you have made the solution of the copper and mercury with the spirit of salt , that solution will not be green , nor so much as greenish , as long as you keep it stopt in the bolt-head , or such like glass wherein 't is made . but if you pour it out into a vial , which , by not being stopt , leaves it expos'd to the air , it will after a while sooner or later attain that delightful green that so much endears it to the beholders eye . this appear'd so odd an experiment to the virtuosi , to whom i first related it , that those that could not guess by what means i attain'd it , could scarce believe it . but that troubled not me , who , to satisfie my self not only of the truth of the experiment , but that 't was not so contingent as many others , repeated it several times , and found the solution , 'till the air made it florish , to be of a muddy reddish colour quite differing from green . so that i remember , that having once kept some of the liquor in the same glass-egg , wherein the solution had been made , it look'd like very dirty water , whilst the other part of the same solution , having been expos'd to the air , emulated the colour of an emerald . in which change 't is remarkable , that to clarifie this liquor and give it a transparent greeness , i perceiv'd not , that any precipitation of foul matter was made to which the alteration could be ascrib'd ; and yet to make it the more probable that this change proceeded not from a subsidence made of some opacating matter effected by some days rest , i kept some of the solution seal'd up in a fine vial several months , without finding it at the end of that time other than a dark or muddy liquor , which , in short time , it ceas'd to be , when , the hermetic seal being broken off , the air was permitted to work upon it . and this i further observ'd in our various experiments on this liquor , that , according to the quality of the matter and other circumstances , the greeness was not attain'd to but at certain periods of time , now and then disclosing it self within two or three days , and sometimes not before nine or ten . ] with how little confidence of success tryals , that have the aimes of these i have been speaking of , are to be attempted , not only consideration but experience have made me sensible . but yet i would not discourage mens curiosity from venturing even upon slight probabilities , where the nobleness of the subjects and scope may make even small attainments very desirable . and 'till tryal have been made on occasions of great moment , 't is not easie to be satisfied , that men have not been wanting to themselves ; which i shall only illustrate by proposing , what , i presume , will not need that i should make an application of it . those adventurous navigators , that have made voyages for discovery in unknown seas , when they first discern'd something obscure near the horizon at a great distance off , have often doubted , whether what they had so imperfect a sight of , were a cloud , or an island , or a mountain : but though sometimes it were more likely to be the former , as that which more frequently occurr'd , than the latter ; yet they judg'd it advisable to steer towards it , 'till they had a clearer prospect of it : for if it were a deluding meteor , they would not however sustain so great a loss in that of a little labour , as , in case it were a country , they would in the loss of what might prove a rich discovery : and if they desisted too soon from their curiosity , they could not rationally satisfie themselves , whether they slighted a cloud or neglected a country . finis . observations about the grovvth of metals in their ore exposed to the air . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by william godbid , and are to be sold by moses pitt , at the angel over against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. observations of the grovvth of metals . it is altogether unnecessary to my present purpose , to examin , whether metals and minerals , as if they were a kind of subterraneal plants , do properly grow as vegetables do . for this inquiry belongs to another place , but not to this , where the reference made in the 39th page of the foregoing paper does not oblige me to speak of the growth of metals in any other than a lax and popular sense , in which a metal may be said to grow , if a portion of matter being assign'd , wherein as yet men can find either no metal , as gold or tin , or but such a quantity of it ; this being expos'd to the air , will after a time either afford some metal where there appear'd none before , or a greater proportion of metal than it had before . observations of this kind requiring length of time , as well as residence near places abounding with minerals , i have little or no opportunity to make any of them my self , at least with the wariness , that to me seems due to observations that i think not easie to be well made . and therefore i must content my self to set down what i have been able to learn by conversing with mineralists and travellers , and to add some particulars that i met with in authors of good credit . observations about the growth of tin. an ancient owner of mines , being asked by me , whether he could , otherwise than upon the conjectures of vulgar tradition , prove , that minerals grow even after the veins have been dug ? answer'd affirmatively ; and being desired to let me know his proofs , he gave me these that follow . he told me , that not far from his house there was a tin-mine , which the old diggers affirm'd to have been left off , some said eighty , some an hundred & twenty years ago , because they had by their washing and vanning separated all the ore from the rest of the earth , and yet of late years they found it so richly impregnated with metalline particles , that it was wrought over again with very good profit , and preferr'd to some other mines that were actually wrought , and had never been so robb'd . and when i objected , that probably this might proceed from the laziness and unskilfulness of workmen in those times , who left in the earth the tin that was lately separated , and might then have been so ; i was answer'd , that 't was a known thing in the country , that in those times the mine-men were more careful and laborious to separate the metalline part from the rest of the ore , than now they are . he also affirmed to me , that in his own time some tenants and neighbours of his ( imploy'd by him ) having got all the ore they could out of a great quantity of stuff , dug out of a tin-mine , they laid the remains in great heaps expos'd to the air , and within twenty and thirty years after , found them so richly impregnated , that they wrought them over again with good benefit . and lastly he assured me , that , in a work of his own , wherein he had exercis'd his skill and experience , ( which is said to be very great ) to separate all the particles of the tin from the terrestrial substances , that were dug up with it out of the vein , he caus'd dams to be made to stop the earthy substance , which the stream washed away from the ore , giving passage to the water after it had let fall this substance , which lying in heaps expos'd to the air , within ten or twelve years , and sometimes much less , he examin'd this or that heap , and found it to contain such store of metalline particles , as invited him to work it again and do it with profit . and yet this gentleman was so dexterous at separating the metalline from the other parts of tin-ore , that i could ( not without wonder ) see what small corpuscles he would , to satisfie my curiosity , sever from vast quantities ( in proportion ) of earthy and other mineral stuff . relations agreeable to these , i received from another very ingenious gentleman that was conversant with tin-mines , and lived not far from more than one of them . i was the more solicitous to procure an information about the growth of this metal , because the bulk of that , which is us'd in europe , being found in england , i have met with little or no mention of the growth of it in outlandish writers . observations about the growth of lead . as for the growth of lead in the ore expos'd to the air , i remember , i enquir'd about it of a person of quality , who had a patent for divers leaden mines that were suppos'd to contain silver , and wrought some of them himself at no small charge , yet not without profit ; and , as i remember , he answer'd me , that the lead-ore , that had been wrought and laid in heaps , did , in tract of time , grow impregnated with metal again , and , as experience manifested , became worth working a second time . and indeed some mineralists deliver it as a general observation , that the growth and renascence of metals is more manifest in lead than in any other of them . fessularum mons in hetruria , says boccatius certardus , who delivers it as a most approved truth , florentiae civitati imminens , lapiaes plumbarios habet , qui si excidantur brevi temporis spatio novis incrementis instaurantur . j. gerhard . in decade quaestionum , pag. m. 22. tu subtilius ne quaeras ( says agricola , speaking of the growth of mines in general ) sed tantummodo refer animum ad cuniculos , & considera , eos adeò interdum memoriâ hominum in angustum venisse , ut aliqua sui parte nullum aut admodum difficilem praebeant transitum , cùm eos satis latè agere soleant fossores , ne transituros impediant . in tales autem angustias sunt adducti propter accretionem materiae ex qua lapis est factus . but whether this increment of lead is observable in all mines of that metal , i was induc'd to doubt by the answer given me by a gentleman , whose house was seated near several lead-mines , and who was himself owner of one or two , which he yet causes to be wrought : for this gentleman , though a chymist , assured me , that in the country where he lives , which is divided by the sea from that of the person above-mention'd , he never observ'd the lead-ore to increase , either out of the veins or in them ; but that in some places , whence ore had been dug thirty or forty , if not fifty , years before , he perceived not on the sides of the passages , whence the ore had been dug , that any other had grown in its place , or that the passages , though narrow before , were sensibly straighten'd , much less block'd up . and indeed , if there were no other arguments in the cafe , the straightning of the ancient passages in process of time would not convince me . for , when i con●ider , that the soils that abound with metals do usually also abound with waters , which are commonly imbibed by the neighbouring earth ; and when i consider too , that water is somewhat expanded by being turned into ice , and that this expansion is made , ( as i have often tryed ) though slowly , yet with an exceeding great force , by which it often stretches or breaks the vessels that contain it : when i consider these things , i say , i am apt to suspect , that sometimes the increasing narrowness of the subterraneal passages in mines may proceed from this , that the soil that invirons them , if they lye not deep , may have the water , imbibed by them , frozen in sharp winters . by which glaciation , the moistened portion of the soil must forcibly endeavour to expand it self , and actually do so in the parts contiguous to the passage , since there it finds no resistance : and though the expansion made in one year or two be but small , and therefore not observed ; yet , in a succession of many winters , it may by degrees grow to be very considerable . but this suspicion i suggest not , that i would deny the growth of minerals , but to recommend this argument for it to further consideration . and yet i take this to be a better proof , than what is much relied on by some writers of metals , who urge , that in churches , and other magnificent buildings , that are leaded over , the metalline roofs , in a long tract of years , grow far more ponderous , in so much that often times there is a necessity to remove them , and exchange them for brass ones . for though this plausible argument be urged by several writers , and among them by the learned io. gerhardus , pag. m. 22 ; yet i fear they proceed upon a mistake . for having had some occasion to observe and inquire after this kind of lead , i soon suspected , that the increment of weight , ( which sometimes may indeed be very great ) was no clear proof of the real growth of the metal it self . for in that which i had occasion to consider , the additional weight as well as bulk seem'd to proceed from acetous or other saline corpuscles of the timber of those buildings , which by degrees exhaling and corroding that side of the lead which they fasten'd on , turned i● with themselves into a kind of cerusse : which suspicion i shall briefly make probable by noting , 1. that i have found by tryal purposely made , that woods afford an acid , though not meerly acid , liquor , capable of corroding lead . 2. that 't is known , that lead turned into cerusse increases notably in weight , some say , ( for i had not opportunity to try it ) above six or seven in the hundred . 3. that from the sheets of lead that have very long cover'd churches and the like buildings , there is often obtain'd by scraping a good proportion of white lead , which i have known much preferr'd by an eminent artist to common cerusse , when a white pigment was to be employed . and , by the way , mens finding this cerusse not on that side of the lead that is expos'd to the outward air , ( where i scarce ever observed any ) but on the inside that regards the timber and other woodes work , may disabuse those that fancied this cerusse to be a part of the lead calcin'd by the beams of the sun , that strike immediately upon the metal . and if to this it be added , that by distillation and otherwise i have found cause to suspect , that alabaster and white marble may emit spirituous parts that will invade lead ; it may be doubted , whether what galen relates of the great intumescence of leaden bands or fastenings , wherewith the feet of statues were fasten'd ( to their pedestals , ) be a sure argument of the real growth of that metal in the air. but i begin to digress , and seemingly to the prejudice of the particular scope of this paper ; but yet not to that of one of the main scopes of all my physical writings , the disquisition and advancement of truth . observations about the growth of iron . i did not find in one of our chief mines of iron , that there was any notice taken of the growth of that metal ; but in another place or two , some that deal in iron-ore , informed me , that they believe it grows , and may be regenerated ; and upon that account one of them set up a work , contiguous to some land of mine , to melt over again the remainder of ore that had been already wrought ( at a great distance from that place ) and had for some ages lain in heaps exposed to the free air ; but with what success this chargeable attempt has been made , i am not yet informed . but of the growth of iron in the island of ilva or elva , in the tyrrhene sea , not far from the coast of tuscany , not only ancient authors , as pliny and strabo , take special notice , but modern mineralists of very good credit , as falopius and caesalpinus , particularly attest the same thing ; of whom the latter speaks thus : vena ferri copiosissima est in italia ; ob eam nobilitata , ilva ; tyrreni maris insula , incredibili copiâ etiam nostris temporibus eam gignens : nam terra ; quae eruitur dum vena effoditur , tota procedente temporè in venam convertitur . and the experienc'd agricola gives us the like account of a place in his country , germany , in lygiis , says he , ad sagam oppidum in pratis eruitur ferrum , fossis ad altitudinem bipedaneam actis . id decennio renatum denuò foditur , non aliter ac ilvaeferrum . the learned iohan. gerhardus , out of a book which he calls conciones metallica ; i suppose he means the high-dutch sermons of mathesius , ( whose language i understand not ) has this notable passage to our present purpose : relatum mihi est a metallico fossore , ad ferrarias , quae non longè ambergâ distant , terram inanem cum ferri minera erutam , quam vocant den gummer , mixtam cum recrementis ferri , quae appellater der sinder , congestam in cumulos , instar magni cujusdam valli , solibus pluviisque exponi , & decimo quinto anno denuò excoqui , eliquarique ferrum tantae tenacitatis , ut sola laminae inde procudantur . observations about the growth of silver . of the growth , as is supposed , of silver in the form of trees or grass or other vegetables , i have met with some instances among mineralists , and i have elswhere mention'd , that an acquaintance of mine shew'd me a stone , wherein he affirmed the silver , i saw in it , to have increased since he had it . but for certain reasons , none of these relations seem to me very proper to my present purpose ; in order to which i shall therefore set down only one instance , which i lately met with in a french collection of voyages , publish'd by a person of great curiosity and industry , ( from whose civility i receiv'd the book . ) for there , in an account given by a gentleman of his country of a late voyage he made to peru , wherein he visited the famous silver-mines of potosi , i found a passage which speaks to this sense : le meilleur argent , &c. i.e. the best silver in all the indies and the purest is that of the mines of potosi ; the chief have been found in the mountain of aranzasse : and , ( some lines being interpos'd ) 't is added , that they draw this metal even from the mineral earths that were in times past thrown aside , when the ground was open , and the groves and shafts that are in the mountains were made ; it having been observ'd that in these recrements metal had been formed afresh since those times , which sufficiently shews the propensity of the soil to the production of this metal ; yet 't is true , that these impregnated earths yield not so much as the ordinary ore which is found in veins betwixt the rocks . observations about the growth of gold . as for the growth of gold , the enquiries i have yet made among travellers give me no great satisfaction about it , and though i have spoken with several that have been at the coast of guiny , and in congo , and other parts of afric , where much gold is to be had ; yet i could not learn by them , that they , or any acquaintance of theirs among the natives , had seen any mines or veins of gold , ( which yet divers authors affirm to be found in more than one kingdom in ethiopia , and in some other african countries . ) and having afterwards met with a learned traveller , that had carefully visited the famous gold-mine of cremnitz in hungary , he answer'd me , that he did not learn from the miners , whether or no the ores of gold &c. did really grow or were regenerated in tract of time , by being expos'd to the air , or upon any other account ; but the grand over●eer , who was lord of part of the soil , told him , that he thought the whole mountain to abound with particles of gold , and therefore was wont , when the diggers had almost exhausted the vein , to cast in store of earth , and dig up other neighbouring places , which , being kept there as in a conservatory , would afterwards afford gold , as the mine did before . and , if a late german professor of physic do not misinform us , his country affords us an eminent instance of the growth or regeneration of gold. nam corbachi , says he , quae est civitas westpha●iae sub ditione comitis de isenborg & waldeck , au●um excoquitur ex cumulis congestis , ita ut ●●ngulis quadrienni●s iterum elaboretur cumulus unus , semper se restaurante natur● , &c. postscript . since the setting down of the foregoing observations , i casually met with a curious book of travels , lately made by the very ingenious dr. edward brown , and finding in pag. 100. a couple of relations , that seem pertinently referable , the one , to a passage above-cited out of agricola , in the notes about the growth of lead , and the other to the present title about the ) growth of gold ; i thought fit to annex them in the learned authors own words , viz. 1. some passages in this mine cut through the rock , and long ●isus'd , have grown up again : and i observed the sides of some , which had been formerly wide enough , to carry their ore through , to approach each other , so as we passed with difficulty . this happens most in moist places ; the passages unite n●t from the top to the bottom , but from one side to another . 2. the common yellow earth of the country near cremnitz , especially of the hills towards the west , although not esteem'd ore , affords some gold : and in one place , i saw a great part of an hill digg'd away , which hath been cast into the works , washed and wrought in the same manner as pounded ore , with considerable profit . the foregoing observations about the growth of gold and other metals are not all that i might , perhaps without being blamed for it , have referr'd to that title . but all my papers , wherein other observations of this kind were set down , are not now at hand , and divers other instances , that i have met with among writers of the growth of metals , ( taking that expression in the sense i formerly declared ) do not seem to me so pertinent in this place , because the improving ores were not expos'd , nor perchance accessible , to the air. and even as to the instances that i have now mention'd , 'till severer observations have been made , to determin whether it be partly the contact or the operation of the air , or some internal disposition , analogous to a metalline seed or ferment , that causes this metalline increment , i dare not be positive ; though i thought the interest of the air in this effect might make it pardonable , to add on this occasion to the history of nature some particulars , of which the cause conjecturally proposed may be probable enough to countenance a suspicion , 'till further experience have more clearly instructed us . to what has been said of the growth of metals in the air , i might add some instances of the growth of fossile salts , and of some other minerals : but , besides that these belong to the paper about the saltnesses of the air ; what has been already said may suffice for the present occasion . postscript . after what i writ in the 23th page of the foregoing disoourse , having an opportunity to look again upon the marchasite there mention'd to have been hermetically seal'd up after its surface had been freed from the grains of vitriolate salt that adher'd to it , i perceiv'd , that , notwithstanding the glass had been so closely stopp'd , yet there plainly appear'd from the outside of the mass some grains of an efflorescence , whose colour , between blew and green , argued it to be of a vitriolate nature . if this be seconded with other trials made with the like success , it may suggest new thoughts about the growth of metals and minerals , especially with reference to the air. finis . some additional experiments relating to the suspicions about the hidden qualities of the air . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by william godbid , and are to be sold by moses pitt , at the angel over against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. some additional experiments relating to the suspicions about the hidden qualities of the air . the essay about suspicions of some hidden qualities of the air , having been detain'd somewhat long at the press , that it might come abroad accompanied with the other tracts design'd to attend i● , whilst i was rumaging among several papers to look for some other things , i met now and then with an experiment or observation , that seem'd to relate to some of the things deliver'd in that tract ; and though they be in themselves of no great moment , i am content to annex them to the rest , because , as in that company they may signifie somewhat , so i am unwilling that any matter of fact , relating to such a subject , should perish to save the labour of transcribing . exper. i. having occasion to dulcifie some calx of dantzig-vitriol , from which the oil had been a good while before distill'd ; water was put upon two large portions of it , that the liqour might be impregnated with the vitriolate particles remaining in the calx ; the water put upon one of these portions was , soon after it was sufficiently impregnated , filtrated and gently abstracted , by which means it afforded many drams of a kind of salt of vitriol that seem'd to differ very little from the vitriol that had been calcin'd : but the water that was put upon the other portion of calcin'd vitriol , was in a wide-mouth'd vessel left in the air for a month or six weeks ; after which time , when it came to be abstracted after the manner formerly recited , it afforded many drams of a salt that did not then , nor long after , look at all like common vitriol , or like the other , but shot white almost like salt-petre , or some other untincted salt. whether this experiment will constantly succeed , and at other seasons of the year than that 't was made in , which was summer , i had not the opportunity to make a full trial , though i endeavour'd it . but that the air may have a great stroke in varying the salts obtainable from cal●in'd vitriol , seem'd the more probable , because we had some colcothar that had lain many months , if not some years , in the air , but in a place shelter'd from the rain ; and having caus'd a lixivium to be made of it , to try what sort or plenty of saline particles it would yield , we found , when the superfluous moisture was exhaled , that they began to shoot into salt far more white than vitriol , and very differing from it in its figure and way of concretion . exper. ii. we took colcothar of venereal vitriol carefully dulcified , and leaving it in my study in the month of ianuary and february , by weighing it carefully before an ounce of it was expos'd to the air , and after it had continued there some weeks , we found it to have increas'd in weight four grains and about a quarter , besides some little dust that stuck to the glass . this sight experiment is here mention'd , that , being compar'd with the next ensuing trial , it may appear , that the difference of airs , seasons , calces of vitriol , or other circumstances , may produce a notable disparity in the increment of weight , the exposed bodies gain in the air. exper. iii. we put eight ounces of outlandish vitriol , calcin'd to a deep redness , into a somewhat broad and flat metalline vessel , and set it by upon a shelf , in a study that was seldom frequented ; and at the same time , that we might observe what increment would be gain'd by exposing to the air a larger superficies of the powder in reference to the bulk , we put into another metalline vessel , smaller than the other , only two ounces of colcothar , and set it on the same shelf with the other , this was done at the vernal equinox , ( the twelfth of march ; ) on the twenty fifth of iune we weigh'd these powders again , and found the eight ounces to have gained one dram and seventeen grains ; but the two ounces had acquired the same weight within a grain : then putting them back into their former vessels , we left them in the same place as formerly , 'till the twenty fourth of august ; when we found cause to suppose , that the greater parcel of colcothar had met with some mischance , either by mice or otherwise ; but the lesser parcel weigh'd twenty six grains heavier than it did in iune , amounting now to two ounces , one dram , forty two grains , having increased , in less than six months , above an hundred grains , and consequently above a tenth part of its first weight . no trial was made to discover what this acquir'd substance may be , that we might not disturb the intended prosecution of the experiment . exper. iv. because in most of the experiments of substances expos'd to be impregnated by the air , or detain its saline or other exotic particles , we employed bodies prepar'd and much alter'd by the previous operation of the fire ; we thought fit to make some trials with bodies unchanged by the fire , and to this purpose we took a marchasite , which was partly of a shining and partly of a darkish colour , and which seem'd well dispos'd to afford vitriol ; of this we took several smaller lumps , that amounted to two ounces ; these were kept in a room , where they were freely accessible to the air , which , by reason that the house , that was seated in the country , stood high , was esteemed to be very pure . after the marchasites had been kept in this room somewhat less than seven weeks , we weigh'd them again in the same ballance , and found the two ounces to have gained above twelve grains in weight . exper. v. the experiment us'd at the latter end of our paper , about celestial and aerial magnets , seeming to some vixtuess very strange , and the way that i employ'd in making that liquor , that turns green in the air , being somewhat troublesome , i remember i thought fit to try upon the same ground a way of producing the same phaenomenon more easie and more expeditious . and though perhap● this way will not succeed so constantly , nor always so well as the other , yet for its easiness and cheapness it will not probably be unwelcome to those that are desirous to see the odd phaenomenon . we took then , more than once , filings of clean crude copper , and having put on them a convenient quantity of good spirit of salt , we suffer'd the menstruum in heat ( which need not be very great ) to work upon the metal , which it usually does slowly , and not like aqua-fortis : when the liquor had by this operation acquir'd a thick and muddy colour , we decanted it into a clean glass with a wide mouth , which being left for a competent time in the open air , the exposed liquor came to be of a fair green , though it did not appear that any thing was precipitated at the bottom , to make it clear . exper. vi. perhaps it may not be impertinent to add , that i once or twice observ'd the fumes of a sharp liquor to work more quickly or manifestly on a certain metal sustained in the air , than did the menstruum it self that emitted those fumes on those parts of the metal that it cover'd : and this brings into my mind , that , asking divers questions of a chymist that had been in hungary and other parts , purposely to see the mines ; he answer'd me , among other things , that ; as to the ladders and other wooden work imployed in one or more of the deep hungarian mines , those that were in the upper part of the groves any thing near the external air , would by the fretting exhalations be render'd unserviceable , in not many months , whereas those ladders and pieces of timber , &c. that were imployed in the lower part of the mine , would hold good for two or three times as long . exper. vii . we took about the bigness of a nutmeg of a certain soft but consistent body , that we had caus'd to be chymically prepared , and which in the free air would continually emit a thick smoak : this being put into a vial , and placed in a middle sized receiver in our engin , continued for some time to afford manifest fumes , whilst the exhaustion was making ; 'till at length , the air having been more and more pump'd out , the visible ascension of fumes out of the vial quite ceas'd , and the matter having remain'd some time in this state , the smoaking substance was so alter'd , that it would not emit fumes , not only when the air was let into the receiver , but not in a pretty while after the vial was taken out of it , 'till it had been removed to the window , where the wind blowing-in fresh and fresh air , it began to smoak as formerly . the other phaenomena of this experiment belong not to this place ; but there are two , which will not be impertinent here , and the latter of them may deserve a serious reflection . the first of them was , that the substance hitherto mention'd had been kept in a large glass , whereinto it had been distill'd at least five or six weeks , and yet would smoak very plentifully upon the contact of the air , and be kept from smoaking , though the chymical receiver were stopp'd but with a piece of paper . the second was , that , when the vial was put unstopp'd in the receiver , and the receiver close luted on , though no exhaustion were made , yet the white fumes did very quickly cease to ascend into the receiver , as if this smoak participated of the nature of flame , and presently glutted the air , or otherwise made it unfit ( and yet without diminution of its gravity ) to raise the body that should ascend . finis . animadversions upon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by william godbid , and are to be sold by moses pitt , at the angel over against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. preface . upon the coming abroad of mr. hobbes's problemata physica , finding them in the hands of an ingenious person , that intended to write a censure of them , which several employments private and publick have , it seems ; hinder'd him to do ; i began , as is usual on such occasions , to turn over the leaves of the book , to see what particular things it treated of . this i had not long done before i found , by obvious passages in the third chapter , or dialogue , as well as by the title , which was problemata de vacuo , that i was particularly concern'd in it ; upon which i desired the possessor of the book , who readily consented , to leave me to examin that dialogue , on which condition i would leave him to deal with all the rest of the book . nor did i look upon the reflections i meant to make as repugnant to the resolutions i had taken against writing books of controversie , since the explications , mr. hobbes gave of his problems , seem'd to contain but some variations of , or an appendix to , his tract de natura aeris , which , being one of the two first pieces that were published against what i had written , was one of those that i had expresly reserv'd my self the liberty to answer . but the animadversions i first made upon mr. hobbes's problems de vacuo , having been casually mislaid e're they were finished ; before i had occasion to resume my task , there past time enough to let me perceive , that his doctrine , which 't will easily be thought that the vacuists disapproved , was not much relished by most of the plenists themselves , the modernest peripateticks and the cartesians ; each of them maintaining the fullness of the world , upon their own grounds , which are differing enough from those of our author , the natural indisposition i have to polemical discourses , easily perswaded me to let alone a controversie , that did not appear needful : and i had still persisted in my silence , if mr. hobbes had not as 't were summon'd me to break it by publishing again his explications , which in my examen of his dialogue de natura aeris i had shewn to be erroneous . and i did not grow at all more satisfied , to find him so constant as well as stiff an adversary to interspers'd vacuities , by comparing what he maintains in his dialogue de vacuo , with some things that he teaches , especially concerning god , the cause of motion , and the imperviousness of glass , in some other of his writings that are published in the same volume with it . for since he asserts that there is a god , and owns him to be the creator of the world ; and since on the other side the penetration of dimensions is confessed to be impossible , and he denies that there is any vacuum in the universe ; it seems difficult to conceive , how in a world that is already perfectly full of bodie , a corporeal deity , such as he maintains in his append. ad leviath . cap. 3 , can have that access even to the minute parts of the mundane matter , that seems requisite to the attributes and operations that belong to the deity , in reference to the world. but i leave divines to consider what influence the conjunction of mr. hobbes's two opinions , the corporeity of the deity , and the perfect plenitude of the world , may have on theology . and perhaps i should not in a physical discourse have taken any notice of the proposed difficulty , but that , to prevent an imputation on the study of natures works , ( as if it taught us rather to degrade than admire their author , ) it seem'd not amiss to hint ( in transitu ) that mr. hobbes's gross conception of a corporeal god , is not only unwarranted by sound philosophy , but ill befriended even by his own . my adversary having propos'd his problems by way of dialogue between a. and b ; `twill not , i presume , be wonder'd at , that i have given the same form to my animadversions ; which come forth no earlier , because i had divers other treatises , that i was more concern'd for , to publish before them . but because it will probably be demanded , why on a tract that is but short , my animadversions should take up so much room ? it will be requisite , that i here give an account of the bulk of this treatise . and first , having found that there was not any one problem , in whose explication , as propos'd by mr. hobbes , i saw cause to acquiesce , i was induc'd for the readers ease , and that i might be sure to do my adversary no wrong , to transcribe his whole dialogue , bating some few transitions , and other clauses not needful to be transferr'd hither . next , i was not willing to imitate mr. hobbes , who recites in the dialogue we are considering the same experiments that he had already mentioned in his tract de natura aeris , without adding as his own ( that i remember ) any new one to them . but my unwillingness to tire the reader with bare repetitions of the arguments i employ'd in my examen of that tract , invited me to endeavour to make him some amends for the exercise of his patience by inserting , as occasion was offer'd , five or six new experiments , that will not perhaps be so easily made by every reader that will be able ( now that i have perspicuously propos'd them ) to understand them . and lastly , since mr. hobbes has not been content to magnifie ●●mself and his way of treating of physical matters , but has been pleas'd to speak very slightingly of experimentarian philosophers ( as he stiles them ) in general , and , which is worse , to disparage the making of elaborate experiments ; i judg'd the thing , he seem'd to aim at , so prejudicial to true and useful philosophy , that i thought , it might do some service to the less knowing , and less wary , sort of readers , if i tryed to make his own explications enervate his authority , and by a somewhat particular examen of the solutions he has given of the problems i am concern'd in , shew , that 't is much more easie to undervalue a frequent recourse to experiments , than truly to explicate the phaenomena of nature without them . and since our author , speaking of his problemata physica , ( which is but a small book ) scruples not to tell his majesty , to whom he dedicates them , that he has therein comprised ( to speak in his own terms ) the greatest and most probable part of his physical meditations ; and since by the alterations , he has made in what he formerly writ about the phaenomena of my engine , he seems to have design'd to give it a more advantageous form : i conceive , that by these selected solutions of his , one may , without doing him the least injustice , make an estimate of his way of discoursing about natural things . and though i would not interess the credit of experimentarian philosophers in no considerabler a paper than this ; yet if mr. hobbes's explications and mine be attentively compared , it will not , i hope , by them be found , that the way of philosophising he employs , is much to be preferr'd before that which he undervalues . animadversions vpon mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo . a. may one , without too bold an inquisitiveness , ask , what book you are reading so attentively ? b. you will easily believe you may , when i shall have answer'd you , that 't was mr. hobbes's lately publish'd tract of physical problems , which i was perusing . a. what progress have you made in it ? b. i was finishing the third dialogue or chapter when you came in , and finding my self , though not named , yet particularly concern'd , i was perusing it with that attention which it seems you took notice of . a. divers of your experiments are so expresly mention'd there , that one need not be skill'd in decyphering to perceive that you are interessed in that chapter , and therefore seeing you have heedfully read it over , pray give me leave to ask your judgment , both of mr. hobbes's opinion , and his reasonings about vacuum . b. concerning his opinion , i am sorry i cannot now satisfie your curiosity , having long since taken , and ever since kept , a resolution to decline , at least until a time that is not yet come , the declaring my self either for or against the plenists . but as to the other part of your question , which is about mr. hobbes's arguments for the absolute plenitude of the world , i shall not scruple readily to answer , that his ratiocinations seem to me far short of that cogency , which the noise he would make in the world , and the way wherein he treats both ancient and modern philosophers that dissent from him , may warrant us to expect . a. you will allow me the freedom to tell you , that , to convince me , that your resentment 〈◊〉 his explicating divers of the phaenomena of your pneumatic engine ot●erwise than you have been wont to do , ( and perhaps in terms that might well have been more civil , ) has h 〈…〉 share in dictating this judgment of yours ; the best way will be , that entering for a while into the party of the vacuists you answer the arguments he alledges in this chapter to confute them . b. having always , as you know , forborn to declare my self either way in this controversie , i shall not tye my self strictly to the principles and notions of the vacuists , nor , though but for a while , oppose my self to those of the plenists : but so far i shall comply with your commands , as either upon the doctrine of the vacuists , or upon other grounds , to consider , whether this dialogue of mr. hobbes have cogently proved his , and the schools , assertion , non dari vacuum ; and whether he has rightly explain'd some phaenomena of nature which he undertakes to give an account of , and especially some produced in our engin , whereof he takes upon him to render the genuine causes . and this last inquiry is that which i chiefly design . a. by this i perceive , that if you can make our your own explications of your adversaries problems de vacuo , and shew them to be preferable to his , you will think you have done your work , and that 't is but your secondary scope to shew , that in mr. hobbes his way of solving them , he gives the vacuists an advantage against him , though not against the plenists in general . b. you do not mistake my meaning , and therefore without any further preamble , let us now proceed to the particular phaenomena consider'd by mr. hobbes ; the first of which is an experiment proposed by me in the one and thirtieth of the physico-mechanical experiments concerning the adhesion of two flat and polish'd marbles , which i endeavour'd to solve by the pressure of the air. and this experiment mr. hobbes thinks so convincing an one to prove the plenitude of the world , that , though he tells us he has many cogent arguments to make it out , yet he mentions but this one , because that , he says , suffices . a. the confidence he thereby expresses of the great force of this argument does the less move me , because , i remember , that formerly in his elements of philosophy he thought it sufficient to employ one argument to evince the plenitude of the world , and for that one he pitch'd upon the vulgar experiment of a gardeners watering-pot : but , whether he were wrought upon by the objections made to his inference from that phaenomenon in your examen of his dialogue de natura aeris , or by some other considerations , i will not pretend to divine . but i plainly perceive , he now prefers the experiment of the cohering marbles . b. of which it will not be amiss , though the passage be somewhat long ; to read you his whole discourse out of the book i have in my hand . a. 't is fit that you , who for my sake are content to take the pains of answering what he says , should be eased of the trouble of reading it , which i will therefore , with your leave , take upon me . his discourse then about the marbles is this : a. ad probandam universi plenitudinem , nullum nostin argumentum cogens ? b. imò multa : unùm autem sufficit ex eo sumptum , quod duo corpora plana , si se mutuò secundùm amborum planitiem communem tangant , non facile in instante divelli possunt ; successivè verò facillimè . non dico , impossibile esse duo durissima marmora ita cohaerentia divellere , sed difficile ; & vim postulare tantam , quanta sufficit ad duritiem lapidis superandam . siquidem verò majore vi ad separationem opus sit quàm illae , quâ moventur separata , id signum est non dari vacuum . a. assertiones illae demonstratione indigent . primò autem ostende , quomodo ex duorum durissimorum corporum , conjunctorum ad superficies exquisite laeves , diremptione difficili , sequatur plenitudo mundi ? b. si duo plana , dura , polita corpora ( ut marmora ) collocentur unum supra alterum , ita ut eorum superficies se mutuò per omnia puncta exactè , quantum fieri potest , contingant , illa sine magna difficultate ita divelli non possunt , ut eodem instante per omnia puncta dirimantur . veruntamen marmora eadem , si communis eorum superficies ad horizontem erigatur , aut non valde inclinetur , alterum ab altero facillimè ( ut scis ) etiam solo pondere dilabentur . nonne causa hujus rei haec est , quod labenti marmori succedit aer , & relictum locum semper implet ? a. certissimé . quid ergo ? b. quando verò eadem uno instante divellere conaris , nonne multo major vis adhibenda est ; quam ob causam ? a. ego , & mecum ( puto ) omnes causam statuunt , quod spatium totum inter duo illa marmora divulsa , simul uno instante implere aer non potest , quantacunque celeritate fiat divulsio . b. an qui spatia in aere dari vacua contendunt , in illo aere solo dari negant qui marmora illa conjuncta circumdat ? a. minimè , sed ubique interspersa . b. dum ergo illi , qui marmor unum ab altero revellentes aerem comprimunt , & per consequens vacuum exprimunt , vacuum faciunt locum per revulsionem relictum ; nulla ergo separationis erit difficultas , saltem non major quàm est difficultas corpora eadem movendi in aere postquam separata fuerint . itaque quoniam , concesso vacuo , difficultas marmora illa dirimendi nulla est , sequitur per difficultatis experientiam , nullum esse vacuum . a. recte quidem illud infers . mundi autem plenitudine suppos●ta , quomodo demonstrabis possibile omnino esse ut divellantur ? b. cogita primo corpus aliquod ductile , nec nimis durum , ut ceram , in duas partes distrahi , quae tamen partes ●on minus exacte in communi plano se mutuo tangunt quàm laevissima marmora . iaem quo pacto distrahatur cera , consideremus . nonne perpetuo attenuatur donec in filum evadat tenuissimum , & omni dato crasso tenuius , & sic tandem divellitur ? eodem modo etiam durissima columnae in duas partes distrahetur , si vim tantam adhibeas , quanta sufficit ad resistentiam duritiei superandam . sicut enim in cera partes primo extimae distrahuntur , in quarum locum succedit aer ; ita etiam in corpore quantumlibet duro aer locum subit partium extimarum , quae primae vulfionis viribus dirumpuntur . vis autem quae super at resistentiam partium extimarum duri , facilè superabit resistentiam reliquarum . nam resistentia prima est à toto duro , reliquarum verò semper à residuo . a. ita quidem videtur consideranti , quàm corpora quaedam , praesertim verò duris●ima , fragilia sint . does this ratiocination ●eem to you as cogent , as it did to the proposer of it ? b. you will quickly think it does not , and perhaps you will think it should not , if you please to consider with me some of the reflections that the reading of it suggested to me . and first , without declaring for the vacuists opinion , i must profess my self unsatisfied with mr. hobbes's way of arguing against them : for , where he says , dum ergo illi qui marmor unum ab altero revellentes aerem comprimunt & per consequens vacuum exprimunt , vacuum faciunt locum per revulsionem relictum ; nulla ergo separationis erit difficultas , saltem non major quàm est difficultas corpora eadem movendi in aere postquam separata fuerint . itaque quoniam , concesso vacuo , difficultas marmora illa dirimendi nulla est , sequitur per difficultatis experientiam , nullum esse vacuum . methinks he expresses himself but obscurely , and leaves his readers to ghess , what the word dum refers to . but that which seems to be his drift in this passage , is , that , since the vacuists allow interspersed vacuities , not only in the air that surrounds the conjoyned marbles , but in the rest of the ambient air , there is no reason , why there should be any difficulty in separating the marbles , or at least any greater difficulty than in moving the marbles in that air after their separation . but , not to consider , whether his adversaries will not accuse his phrase of squeezing out a vacuum as if it were a body , they will easily answer , that notwithstanding the vacuities they admit in the ambient air , a manifest reason may be given in their hypothesis of our finding a difficulty in the divulsion of the marbles . for , the vacuities they admit being but interspers'd , and very small , and the corpuscles of the atmosphere being according to them endow'd with gravity , there leans so many upon the upper surface of the uppermost marble , that that stone cannot be at once perpendicularly drawn up from the lower marble contiguous to it , without a force capable to surmount the weight of the aerial corpuscles that lean upon it . and this weigh● has already so constipated the neigh●bouring parts of the ambient air that he , that would perpendicularl● raise the upper marble from the lower shall need a considerable force to mak● the revulsion , and compel the al● ready contiguous parts of the incum●bent air to a subingression into the pores or intervals intercepted be●tween them . for the conatus of him that endeavo●rs to remove the uppe● marble , whilst the lower surface o● it is ●enc'd from the pressure of th● atmosphere by the contact of th● lower marble which suffers no air to come in between them , is not assisted by the weight or pressure of the at●mosphere , which , when the marble● are once separated , pressing as strong●ly against the undermost surface o● the upper marble , as the incumben● atmospherical pillar does against th● upper surface of the same marble● the hand that endeavours to raise i● in the free air has no other resistance than that small one of the marble own weight to surmount . a. but what say you to the reason that mr. hobbes , and , as he thinks , all others give of the difficulty of the often mention'd divulsion , namely , quod spatium totum inter duo illa marmora divulsa simul uno instante implere aer non potest , quantacunque celeritate fiat divulsio . b. i say , that , for ought i know , the plenists may give a more plausible account of this experiment , than mr. hobbes has here done ; and therefore abstracting from the two opposite hypotheses , i shall further say , that the genuine cause of the phaenomenon seems to be that which i have already assign'd ; and that difficulty of raising the upper stone that accompanies the airs not being able to come in all at once , to possess the space left between the surfaces of the two marbles upon their separation , proceeds from hence , that , 'till that space be fill'd with the atmospherical air , the hand of him that would lift up the superiour marble cannot be fully assisted by the pressure of the air against the lower surface of that marble . a. this is a paradox , and therefore i shall desire to know on what you ground it ? b. though i mention it but as a conjecture propos'd ex abundanti , yet i shall on this occasion countenance it with two things ; the first , that , since i declare not for the hypothesis of the plenists as 't is maintain'd by mr. hobbes , i am not bound to allow , what the common explication , adopted by my adversary , supposes ; namely , that either nature abhors a vacuum ( as the schools would have it , ) or that there could be no divulsion of the marbles , unless at the same time the air were admitted into the room that divulsion makes for i● . and a vacuist may tell you , that , provided the strength employ'd to draw up the superiour marble be great enough to surmount the weight of the aerial corpuscles accumulated upon it , the divulsion would ensue , though by divine omnipotence no air or other body should be permitted to fill the room made for it by the divulsion ; and that the air 's rushing into that space does not necessarily accompany , but in order of nature and time follow upon , a separation of the marbles , the air that surrounded their contiguous surfaces being by the weight of the collaterally superiour air impell'd into the room newly made by the divulsion . but i shall rather countenance what you call my paradox by an experiment i purposely made in our pneumatical receiver , where having accommodated two flat and polish'd marbles , so that the lower being fixt , the upper might be laid upon it and drawn up again as there should be occasion , i found , that if , when the receiver was well exhausted , the upper marble was by a certain contrivance laid flat upon the lower , they would not then cohere as formerly , but be with great ease separated , though it did not by any phaenomenon appear , that any air could come to rush in , to possess the place given it by the recess of the upper marble , whose very easie avulsion is as ●asily explicable by our hyphothesis , since the pressure of that little air , that remain'd in the receiver , being too faint to make any at all con●iderable resistance to the avulsion of the upper marble , the hand that drew it up had very little more than the single weight of the stone to surmount . a. an anti-plenist had expected , that you would have observed , that the difficult separation of the marbles in the open air does rather prove , that there may be a vacuum , than that there can be none . for in case the air can succeed as fast at the sides as the divulsion is made , a vacuist may demand , whence comes the difficulty of the separation ? and if the air cannot fill the whole room made for it by the separated marbles at the fame instant they are forc'd asunder , how is a vacuum avoided for that time , how small soever , that is necessary for the air to pass from the edges to the middle of the room newly made ? b. what the plenists will say to your argument i leave them to consider● but i presume , they will be able to give a more plausible account of the phaenomenon we are treating of , than is given by mr. hobbes . a. what induces you to dislike his explication of it ? b. two things , the one , that i think the cause he assigns improbable ; and the other , that i think another , that is better , has been as●ign'd already . and first , whereas mr. hobbes requires to the divulsion of the marbles a force great enough to surmount the hardness of the stone , this is asserted gratis , which it should not be ; since it seems very unlikely , that the weight of so few pounds as will suffice to separate two coherent marbles of about an inch , for instance , in diameter , should be able to surmount the hardness of such solid stones as we usually employ in this experiment . and though it be generally judg'd more easie to bend , if it may be , or break a broader piece of marble caeteris paribus , than a much narrower ; yet , whereas neither i , nor any else that i know , nor i believe mr. hobbes , ever observ'd any difference in the resistance of marbles to separation from the greater or lesser thickness of the stones ; i find by constant experience , that , caeteris paribus , the broadness of the coherent marbles does exceedingly increase the difficulty of disjoyning them : insomuch that , whereas not many pounds , as i was saying , would separate marbles of an inch , or a lesser , diameter ; when i increased their diameter to about four inches , if i misremember not , there were several men that successively try'd to pull them asunder without being able by their utmost force to effect it . a. but what say you to the illustration , that mr. hobbes , upon the supposition of the worlds plenitude , gives of our phaenomenon by drawing asunder the opposite pa●●s of a piece of wax ? b. to me it seems an instance improper enough . for first , the parts that are to be divided in the wax are of a soft and yielding consistence , and according to him of a ductile , or , if you please , of a tractile nature , and not , as the parts of the coherent marbles , very solid and hard . next , the parts of the wax do not stick together barely by a superficial contact of two smooth planes , as do the marbles we are speaking of ; but have their parts implicated , and as it were intangled with one another . and therefore they are far from a disposition to slide off , like the marbles ; from one another , in how commodious a posture soever you place them . besides 't is manifest , that the air has opportunity to succeed in the places successively deserted by the receding parts of the attenuated wax ; but 't is neither manifest , nor as yet well proved by mr. hobbes , that the air does after the same manner succeed between the two marbles , which , as i lately noted , are not forced asunder after such a way , but are , as himself speaks , sever'd in all their points at the same instant . a. i know , you forget not what he says of the dividing of a hard column into two parts by a force sufficient to overcome the resistance of its hardness . b. he does not here either affirm , that he , or any he can trust , has seen the thing done ; nor does he give us any such account of the way wherein the pillar is to be broken ; whether in an erected , inclined , or horizontal posture ; nor describe the particular circumstances that were fit to be mention'd in order to the solution of the phaenomenon . wherefore , 'till i be better inform'd of the matter of fact , i can scarce look upon what mr. hobbes says of the pillar , as other than his conjecture , which now i shall the rather pass by , not only because the case is differing from that of our polish'd marbles , which are actually distinct bodies , and only contiguous in one commissure ; but also , because i would hasten to the second reason of my dislike of mr. hobbes's explication of our phaenomenon , which is , that a better has been given already , from the pressure of the atmosphere upon all the superficial parts of the upper marble save those that touch the plane of the lower . a. you would have put fair for convincing mr. hobbes himself , at least would have put him to unusual shifts , if you had succeeded in the attempt you made , among other of your physico-mechanical experiments , to disjoyn two coherent marbles , by suspending them horizontally in your pneumatical receiver , and pumping out the air that inviron'd them ; for , from your failing in that attempt , though you rendred a not improbable reason of it , mr. hobbes took occasion , in his dialogue de nat●●a aeris , to speak in so high a strain as this : nihil isthic erat quod ageret pondus ; experimento hoc excogitari contra opinionem eorum qui vacuum asserunt aliud argumentum fortius aut evidentius non potuit . nam si duorum cohaerentium alterutrum secundùm eam viam , in quae jacent ipsae contiguae superficies , propulsum ●sset , facile separarentur , aere praximo in locum relictum successivè semper influente ; sed illa ita divellere , ut simul totum amitterent contactum , impossibile est , mundo pleno . oporteret enim aut motum fieri ab uno termino ad alium in instante , aut duo corporae eodem tempore in eodem esse loco : quorum utrumvis dicere , est absurdum . b. you may remember , that where i relate that experiment , i express'd a hope , that , when i should be better accommodated than i then was , i might attempt the tryal with prosperous success , and accordingly afterwards , having got a lesser engine than that i used before , wherewith the air might be better pumpt out and longer kept out , i cheerfully repeated the tryal . to shew then , that when two coherent marbles are sustained horizontally in the air , the cause , why they are not to be forc'd asunder , if they have two or three inches in diameter , without the help of a considerable weight , is the pressure i was lately mentioning of the ambient air ; i caused two such coherent marbles to be suspended in a large receiver , with a weight at the lowermost , that might help to keep them steddy ; but was very inconsiderable to that which their cohesion might have su●mounted ; then causing the air to be pumpt by degrees out of the receiver , for a good while the marbles stuck close together , because during that time the air could not be so far pumpt out , but that there remained enough to sustain the small weight that endeavoured their divulsion : but when the air was further pumpt out , at length the spring of the little , but not a little expanded , air , that remained , being grown too weak to sustain the lower marble and its small clog , they did , as i expected , drop off . a. this will not agree over-well with the confident and triumphant expressions just now recited . b. i never envied mr. hobbes's forwardness to triumph , and am content , his conjectures be recommended by the confidence that accompanies them , if mine be by the success that follows them . but to confirm the explication given by me of our phaenomenon , i shall add , that as the last mention'd tryal , which i had several times occasion to repeat , shews , that the cohesion of our two contiguous marbles would cease upon the withdrawing of the pressure of the atmosphere ; so by another experiment i made , it appears , that the supervening of that pressure sufficed to cause that cohesion . for , in prosecution of one of the lately mentioned tryals , having found , that when the receiver was well exhausted , two marbles , though considerably broad , being laid upon one another after the requisite manner , their adhesion was , if any at all , so weak , that the uppermost would be easily drawn up from off the other ; we laid them again one upon the other , and then letting the external air flow into the receiver , we found , according to expectation , that the marbles now cohered well , and we could not raise the uppermost but accompanied with the lowermost . but i am sensible , i have detained you too long upon the single experiment of the marbles : and though i hope the stress mr. hobbes lays on it will plead my excuse , yet to make your patience some amends , i shall be the more brief in the other particulars that remain to be consider'd in his dialogue de vacuo . and 't will not be difficult for me to keep my promise without injuring my cause , since almost all these particulars being but the same which he has already alledged in his dialogue de natur● aeris , and i soon after answered in my examen of that dialogue , i shall need but to refer you to the passages where you may find these allegations examin'd , only subjoyning here some reflections upon those few and slight things , that he has added in his problems de vacuo . a. i may then , i suppose , read to you the next passage to that long one , you have hitherto been considering , and it is this : ad vacuum nunc revertor : quas causas sine suppositione vacui redditurus es illorum effectuum , qui ostenduntur per machinam illam quae est in collegio greshamensi ? b. machina illa — b. stop here , i beseech you , a little , that , before we go any further , i may take notice to you of a couple of things that will concern our subsequent discourse . whereof the first is , that it appears by mr. hobbes's dialogue about the air , that the explications he there gave of some of the phaenomena of the machina boyliana , were directed partly against the virtuosi , that have since been honour'd with the title of the royal society , and partly against the author of that engine , as if the main thing therein design'd were to prove a vacuum . and since he now repeats the same explications , i think it necessary to say again , that if he either takes the society or me for profess'd vacuists , he mistakes , and shoots beside the mark ; for , neither they nor i have ever yet declar'd either for or against a vacuum . and the other thing i would observe to you , is , that mr. hobbes seems not to have rightly understood , or at least not to have sufficiently heeded in what chiefly consists the advantage , which the vacuists may make of our engine against him : for , whereas in divers places he is very solicitous to prove , that the cavity of our pneumatical receiver is not altogether empty , the vacuists may tell him , that since he asserts the absolute plenitude of the world , he must , as indeed he does , reject not only great vacuities , but also those very small and interspers'd ones , that they suppose to be intercepted between the solid corpuscles of other bodies , particularly of the air : so that it would not confute them to prove , that in our receiver , when most diligently exhausted , there is not one great and absolute vacuity , or , as they speak , a vacuum coacervatum , since smaller and disseminated vacuities would serve their turn . and therefore they may think their pretensions highly favour'd , as by several particular effects , so by this general phaenomenon of our engine , that it appears by several circumstances , that the common or atmospherical air , which , before the pump is set a work , possess'd the whole cavity of our receiver , far the greatest part is by the intervention of the pump made to pass out of the cavity into the open air , without being able , at least for a little while , to get in again ; and yet it does not appear by any thing alledg'd by mr. hobbes , that any other body succeeds to fill adequately the places deserted by such a multitude of aerial corpuscles . a. if i ghess aright , by those words , ( viz. it appears not by any thing alledg'd by mr. hobbes , ) you design to intimate , that you would not in general prejudice the plenists . b. your conjecture was well founded : for i think divers of them , and particularly the cartesians , who suppose a subtile matter or aether fine enough to permeate glass , though our common air cannot do it , have not near so difficult a task to avoid the arguments the vacuifts may draw from our engine , as mr. hobbes , who , without having recourse to the porosity of glass , which indeed is impervious to common air , strives to solve the phaenomena , and prove our receiver to be always perfectly full , and therefore as full at any one time as at any other of common or atmospherical air , as far as we can judge of his opinion by the tendency or import of his explications . a. yet , if i were rightly inform'd of an experiment of yours , mr. hobbes may be thereby reduc'd either to pass over to the va●uist's , or to acknowledge some aetherial or other matter more subtil than air , and capable of passing through the pores of glass ; and therefore , to shew your self impartial between the vacuists and their adversaries in this controversie , i hope you will not refuse to gratifie the plenists by giving your friends a more particular account of the experiment . b. i know which you mean , and remember it very well . for , though i long since devis'd it , yet having but the other day had occasion to peruse the relation i writ down of one of the best tryals , i think i can repeat it , almost in the very words , which , if i mistake not , were these : there was taken a bubble of thin white glass , about the bigness of a nutmeg , with a very slender stem , of about four or five inches long , and of the bigness of a crows-quill . the end of the quill being held in the flame of a lamp blown with a pair of bellows , was readily and well seal'd up , and presently the globous part of the glass , being held by the stem , was kept turning in the flame , 'till it was red hot and ready to melt ; then being a little removed from the flame , as the included air began to lose of its agitation and spring , the external air manifestly and considerably press'd in one of the sides of the bubble . but the glass being again , before the cold could crack it , held as before in the flame , the rarified air distended and plump'd up the bubble ; which being the second time remov'd from the flame , was the second time compress'd ; and , being the third time brought back to the flame , swell'd as before , and remov'd , was again compress'd , ( either this time or the last by two distinct cavities ; ) 'till at length , having satisfied our selves , that the included air was capable of being condens'd or dilated without the ingress or egress of air ( properly so called ) we held the bubble so long in the flame , strengthen'd by nimble blasts , that not only it had its sides plump'd up , but a hole violently broken in it by the over-rarified air , which , together with the former watchfulness , we imploy'd from time to time to discern if it were any where crackt or perforated , satisfied us that it was till then intire . a. i confess , i did not readily conceive before , how you could , ( as i was told you had , ) make a solid vessel , wherein there was no danger of the aires getting in or out , whose cavity should be still possest with the same air , and yet the vessel be made by turns bigger and lesser . and , though i presently thought upon a well stopt bladder , yet i well foresaw , that a distrustful adversary might make some objections , which are by your way of proceeding obviated , and the experiment agrees with your doctrine in shewing , how impervious we may well think your thick pneumatick receivers are to common air , since a thin glass bubble , when its pores were open'd or relax'd by flame , would not give passage to the springy particles of the air , though violently agitated ; for if those particles could have got out of the pores , they never would have broke the bubble , as at length a more violent degree of heat made them do ; nor probably would the compression , that afterwards insued of the bubble by the ambient air , be checkt near so soon , if those springy corpuscles had not remained within to make the resistance . methinks , one may hence draw a new proof of what i remember you elsewhere teach , that the spring of the air may be much strengthen'd by heat . for , in our case , the spring of the air was thereby inabled to expand the comprest glass , it was imprison'd in , in spite of the resisting pressure of the external air ; and yet , that this pressure was considerable , appears by this , that the weight of so small a column of atmospherical air , as could bear upon the bubble , was able to press in the heated glass , in spite of the resistance of its tenacity and arched figure . b. yet that which i mainly design'd in this experiment was , ( if i were able ) to shew and prove at once , by an instance not lyable to the ordinary exceptions , the true nature of rarefaction and condensation , at least of the air. for , to say nothing of the peripatetick rarefaction and condensation , strictly so call'd , which i scruple not to declare , i think to be physically inconceptible or impossible ; 't is plain by our experiment , that , when the bubble , after the glass had been first thrust in towards the center , was expanded again by heat , the included air possess'd more room than before , and yet it could perfectly fill no more room than formerly , each aerial particle taking up , both before and after the heating of the bubble , a portion of space adequate to its own bulk ; so that in the cavity of the expanded bubble we must admit either vacuities interspers'd between the corpuscles of the air , or that some fine particles of the flame , or other subtil matter , came in to fill up those intervals , which matter must have enter'd the cavity of the glass at its pores : and afterwards , when the red-hot bubble was removed from the flame , it is evident , that , since the grosser particles of the air could not get through the glass , which they were not able to do , even when vehemently agitated by an ambient flame , the compression of the bubble , and the condensation of the air , which was necessarily consequent upon it , could not , supposing the plenitude of the world , be performed without squeezing out some of the subtil matter contained in the cavity of the bubble , whence it could not issue but at the pores of the glass . but i will no longer detain you from mr. hobbes his explications of the machina boyliana ; to the first of which you may now , if you please , advan●● . a. the passage i was going to read , when you interrupted me , was this : b. machina illa eosdem effectus producit , quos produceret in loco non magno magnus inclusus ventus . a. quomodo ingreditur istuc ventus ? machinam nosti cylindrion esse cavum , aeneum , in quem protruditur cylindrus alius solidus ligneus , coriotectus , ( quem suctorem dicunt ) ita exquisitè congruens , ut ne minimus quidem aer inter corium & aes intrare ( ut putant ) possit . b. scio , & quò suctor facilius intrudi possit , foramen quoddam est in superiori parte cylindri , per quod aer ( qui suctoris ingressum alioqui impedire possit ) emittatur . quod foramen aperire possunt & claudere quoties usus postulat . est etiam in cylindri cavi recessu summo datus aditus aeri in globum concavum vitreum , quem etiam aditum claviculâ obturare & aperire possunt quoties volunt . denique in globo vitreo summo relinquitur foramen satis amplum , ( claviculâ item claudendum & recludendum ) ut in illum quae volunt immittere possint , experiendi causâ . b. the imaginary wind to which mr. hobbes here ascribes the effects of our engine , he formerly had recourse to in the 13th page of his dialogue , and i have sufficiently answer'd that passage of it in the 45th and 46th pages of my examen , to which i therefore refer you . a. i presume , you did not overlook the comparison mr. hobbes annexes to what i last read out of his problems , since he liked the conceit so well , that we meet with it in this place again , though he had formerly printed it in his dialogue de natura aeris . the words ( as you see ) are these : tota denique machina non multum differt , si naturam ejus spectes , à sclopeto ex sambuco , quo pueri se delectant , imitantes sclopetos militum , nisi quòd major sit , & majori arte fabricatus , & pluris constet . b. i could scarce , for the reason you give , avoid taking notice of it . and if mr. hobbes intended it for a piece of ralliery , i willingly let it pass , and could easily forgive him a more considerable attempt than this , to be reveng'd on an engine that has destroyed several of his opinions : but , if he seriously meant to make a physical comparison , i think he made a very improper one . for , not to urge , that one may well doubt how he knows , that in the inclosed cavity of his pot-gun , there is a very vehement wind , ( since that does not necessarily follow from the compreffion of the included air : ) in mr. hobbes's instrument , the air , being forcibly comprest , has an endeavour to expand it self , and when it is able to surmount the resistance of its prison , that part that is first disjoyn'd is forcibly thrown outwards ; whereas in our engine it appears by the passage lately cited of our examen , that the air is not comprest but expanded in our receiver , and if an intercourse be open'd , or the vessel be not strong enough , the outward air violently rushes in : and if the receiver chance to break , the fragments of the glass are not thrown outwards , but forced inwards . a. so that , whether or no mr. hobbes could have pitch'd upon a comparison more suitable to his intentions , he might easily have imployed one more suitable to the phaenomena . b. i presume , you will judge it the less agreeable to the phaenomena , if i here subjoyn an experiment , that possibly you will not dislike ; which i devis'd to shew , not only that in our exhausted receivers there is no such strong endeavour outwards , as most of mr. hobbes's explications of the things that happen in them are built upon , but that the weight of the atmospherical air , when 't is not resisted by the counterpressure of any internal air , is able to perform what a weight of many pounds would not suffice to do . a. i shall the more willingly learn an experiment to this purpose , because in your receivers , the rigidity of the glass keeps us from seeing , by any manifest change of its figure , whether , if it could yield without breaking , it would be press'd in , as your hypothesis requires . b. the desires to obviate that very difficulty , for their satisfaction , that had not yet penetrated the grounds of our hypothesis , made me think of employing , instead of a receiver of glass , one of a stiff and tough , but yet somewhat flexible , metal . and accordingly having provided a new pewter porrenger , and whelm'd it upside down upon an iron plate fasten'd to ( the upper end of ) our pneumatical pump , we carefully fasten'd by cement the orifice to the plate , and though the inverted vessel , by reason of its stiffness and thickness and the convexity of its superficies , were strong enough to have supported a great weight without changing its figure ; yet , as soon as by an exsuction or two the remaining part of the included air was brought to such a degree of expansion , that its weaken'd spring was able to afford but little assistance to the tenacity and firmness of the metal , the weight of the pillar of the incumbent atmosphere ( which by reason of the breadth of the vessel was considerably wide also ) did presently and notably depress the upper part of the porringer , both lessening its capacity and changing its figure ; so that instead of the convex surface , the receiver had before , it came to a concave one , which new figure was somewhat , though not much , increased by the further withdrawing of the included and already rarified air. the experiment succeeded also with an other common porringer of the same metal . but in such kind of vessels , made purposely of iron plates , it will sometimes succeed and sometimes not , according to the diameter of the vessel and the thickness of the plate , which was sometimes strong enough and sometimes too weak to resist the pressure of the incumbent air. and sometimes i found also , that the vessel would be thrust in , not at the top but side-ways , in case that side were the only part that were made too thin to resist the pressure of the ambient ; which phaenomenon i therefore take notice of , that you may see , that that powerful pressure may be exercised laterally as well as perpendicularly . perhaps this experiment , and that i lately recited of an hermetically sealed bubble , by their fitness to disprove mr. hobbes's doctrine , may do somewhat towards the letting him see , that he might have spar'd that not over-modest and wary expression , where speaking of the gentlemen that meet at gresham-college , ( of whom i pretend not to be one of the chief ) he is pleased to say , experimenta faciant quantum volunt , nisi principiis utantur meis nihil proficient . but let us , if you please , pass on to what he further alledges to prove , that the space in the exhausted receiver , which the vacuists suppose to be partly empty , is full of air. ( video ( says a. ) si suctor trudatur usque ad fundum cylindri aenei , obturenturque for amina , secuturum esse , dum suctor retrahitur , locum in cylindro cavo relictum fore vacuum . nam ut in locum ejus succedat aer , est impossible . to which b. answers , credo equidem , suctorem cum cylindri cavi superficie satis arctè cohaerere ad excludendum stramen & plumam , non autem aerem neque aquam . cogita enim , quod non ita accuratè congruerent , quin undiquaque interstitium relinqueretur , quantum tenuissimi capilli capax esset . retracto ergo suctore , tantum impelleretur aeris , quantum viribus illis conveniret quibus aer propter suctoris retractionem reprimitur , idque sine omni difficultate sensibili . quanto autem interstitium illud minus esset , tantum ingrederetur aer velocius : vel si contactus sit , sed non per omnia puncta , etiam tunc intrabit aer , modò suctor ma●ore vi retrahatur . postremò , etsi con●actus ubique exactissimus sit , vi tamen ●atis auct● per cochleam ferream , tum ●orium cedet , tum ipsum es ; atque it a quoque ingredietur aer . credin ' tu , ●osfibile esse duas superficies it a exactè ●omponere , ut has compositas esse suppo●unt illi ; aut corium it a durum esse , ut aeri , qui cochleae ope incutitur , nihi omnino cedat ? corium quanquam optimum admittit aquam , ut ipse scis , fortè fecisti unquam iter vento & pluvi● 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . itaque dubitare no● potes , quin retractus suctor tantum a● ris in cylindrum adeoque in ipsum rec●piens incutiat , quantum sufficit ad locu● semper relictum perfectè implendu● effectus ergo , qui oritur à retractio● suctoris , alius non est quàm ventu● ventus ( inquam ) vehementissimus● q● ingreditur undiquaque inter suctoris s●● perficiem convexan , & cylindri aen● concavam , proceditque ( versâ clavicul●● in cavitatem globl vitrei , sive ( u●●●ocatur recipientis . the substance of this ratiocin●●tion having been already propos'd ●● mr. hobbes in his dialogue of th● air , the 11th page , i long since a●swer'd it in the 30th and some of th● following pages of my examen ; an● therefore i shall only now take noti●● in transitu of some slight whether a●●ditions or variations , that occur ●● what you have been reading . and first , i see no probability in what he gratis asserts , that so thick a cylinder of brass , as made the chief part of the pump of our engine , should yield to the sucker , that was mov'd up and down in it , though by the help of an iron rack ; and whereas he adds , that the leather , that surrounds the more solid part of the sucker , would yield to such a force ; it seems , that that compression of the leather should by thrusting the solid parts into the pores make the leather rather less than more fit to give passage to the air ; nor would it however follow , notwithstanding mr. hobbes's example , that , because a body admits water , it must be pervious to air : for i have several times , by ways elsewhere taught , made water penetrate the pores of bladders , and yet bladders resist the passage of the air so well , that even when air included in them was sufficiently rarified by heat , or by our engine , it was necessary for the air to break them before it could get out ; which would not have been , if it could have escap'd through their pores . what mr. hobbes inculcates here again concerning his ventus vehementissimus , you will find answer'd in the place of my examen i lately directed you to . a. we may then proceed to mr. hobbes's next explication , which he proposes in these terms : a. causam video nunc unius ex machinae mirabilibus , nimirum cur suctor , postquam est aliquatenus retractus & deinde amissus , subitò recurrit ad cylindri summitatem . nam aer , qui vi magna fuit impulsus , rursus per repercussionem ad externa vi eadem revertitur . b. atque hoc quidem argumenti satis est etiam solum , quòd locus à suctore relictus non est vacuus . quid enim aut attrahere aut impellere suctorem potuit ad locum illum unde retractus erat , si cylindrus fuisset vacuus ? nam ut aeris pondus aliquod id efficere potuisset , falsum esse satis supra demonstravi ab eo quod aer in aere gravitare non potest . nosti etiam , quod cum è recipiente aerem omnem ( ut illi loquuntur ) exegerint , possunt tamen trans vitrum id quod intus fit videre , & sonum , si quis ●iat , inde audire . id quod solum , etsi nullum aliud argumentum esset ( sunt autem multa , ) ad probandum , nullum esse in recipiente vacuum , abundè sufficit . b. here are several things joyn'd together , which the author had before separately alledg'd in his often-mention'd dialogue . the first is , the cause he assigns of the ascension of the sucker forcibly deprest to the bottom of the exhausted cylinder , and then let alone by him that pumpt ; to which might be added ; that this ascension succeeded , when the sucker was clogg'd with an hundred pound weight . this explication of mr. hobbes you will find examin'd in the 33th and 39th , and some ensuing pages of my discourse . and as to his denying , that the weight or pressure of the air could drive up the sucker in that phaenomenon , because the air does not weigh in air , we may see the contrary largely proved in divers places of my examen , and more particularly and expresly in the four first pages of the third chapter . and whereas he says in the last place , that the visibility of bodies included in our receivers , and the propagation of sound , ( which , by the way , is not to be understood of all sound that may be heard , though made in the exhausted receiver , ) are alone sufficient arguments to prove no vacuum : i have consider'd that passage in the answer i made to the like allegation in the 45th page of the examen ; and shall only observe here , that , since the vacuists can prove , that much of the air is pumpt out of the exhausted receiver , and will pretend , that , notwithstanding many interspers'd vacuities , there may be in the receiver corporeal substance enough to transmit light and stronger sounds , mr. hobbes has not perform'd what he pretended , if he have but barely proved , that there may be substances capable of conveying light and sound in the cavity of our receiver , since he triumphantly asserts , nullum esse in recipienti vacuum . but we may leave mr. hobbes and his adversaries to dispute out this point , and go on to the next passage . a. which follows in these words : ad illud autem , quod si vesica aliquatenus inflata in recipiente includatur , paulo post per exuctionem aeris inflatur vehementius & dirumpitur , quid respondes ? b. motus partium aeris undiquaque concurrentium velocissimus & per concursum in spatiis brevissimis numeroque infinitis gyrationis velocissimae vesicam in locis innumerabilibus simul & vi magna , instar totidem terebrarum , penetrat , praesertim si vesica , antequam immittatur , quò magis resistat aliquatenus inflata fit . postquam autem aer penetrans semel ingressus est , facile cogitare potes , quo pacto deinceps vesicam tendet , & tandem rumpet . verùm si antequam rumpatur , versâ claviculâ , aer externus admittatur , videbis vesicam propter vehementiam motus temperatam diminutâ tensione rugosiorem . nam id quoque observatum est . iam si haec , quam dixi , causa minùs tibi vide atur verisimilis , vide an tu aut alius quicunque imaginari potest , quo pacto vesica distendi & rumpi possit à viribus vacui , id est , nihili . b. this explication mr. hobbes gave us in the 19th page of his dialogue de natura aeris , and you may find it at large confuted in the latter part of the third chapter of my examen . nor does , what he here says in the close about the vires vacui or nihili , deserve to detain us , since there is no reason at all , that the vacuists should ascribe to nothing a power of breaking a bladder , of whose rupture the spring of the included air supplies them so easily with a sufficient cause . after what mr. hobbes has said of the breaking of a bladder , he proceeds to an experiment which he judges of affinity with it , and his academian having propos'd this question : unde fit ut animalia tam cito , nimirum spatio quatuor minutorum horae , in recipiente interficiantur ? for answer to it our author says : b. nonne animalia sic inclusa insugunt in pulmones aerem vehementissimè motum ? quo motu necesse est ut transitus sanguinis ab uno ad alterum cordis ventriculum interceptus , non multò pòst sistatur . cessatio autem sanguinis , mors est . possunt tamen animalia cessante sanguine reviviscere , si aer externus satis maturè intromittatur , vel ipsa in aerem temperatum , antequam refrixerit sanguis , extrahantur . this explication is not probable enough , to oblige me to add any thing about it to what i have said in the 49th and the two following pages of my examen ; especially the most vehement motion , ascrib'd to the air in the receiver , having been before proved to be an imaginary thing . you may therefore , if you please , take notice of the next explication . [ idem aer ( says he ) in recipiente carbones ardentes extinguit , sed & illi , si , dum satis calidi sunt , eximantur , relucebunt . notissimum est , quòd in fodinis carbonum terreorum ( cujus rei experimentum ipse vidi ) saepissime è lateribus foveae ventus quidam undiquaque exit , qui fossores interficit ignemque extinguit , qui tamen reviviscunt si satis cito ad aerem liberum extrahantur . ] this comparison which mr. hobbes here summarily makes , he more fully display'd in his dialogue de natura aeris , and i consider'd , what he there alledg'd , in the 52th page and the two next of my examen . and , though i will not contradict mr. hobbes in what he historically asserts in this passage ; yet i cannot but somewhat doubt , whether he mingles not his conjecture with the bare matter of fact . for , though i have with some curiosity visited mines in more places than one , and propos'd questions to men that have been conversant in other mines , both elsewhere and in england ( and particularly in derbysbire where mr. hobbes lived long ; ) yet i could never find , that any such odd and vehement wind , as mr. hobbes ascribes the phaenomenon to , had been by them observed to kill the diggers , and extinguish well-lighted coals themselves : and indeed , it seems more likely , that the damp , by its tenacity or some peculiarly malign quality , did the mischief , than a wind , of which i found not any notice taken ; especially since we see , what vehement winds men will be able to endure for a long time , without being near-kill'd by them ; and that it seems very odd , that a wind , that mr. hobbes does not observe to have blown away the coals , that were let down , should be able ( instead of kindling them more fiercely ) to blow them out . a. the last experiment of your engine , that your adversary mentions in these problems , is deliver'd in this passage : a. si phialam aqua in recipiens dimiseris , exucto aere bullire videbis aquam . quid ad hoc respondebis ? b. credo sanè in tanta aeris motitatione saltaturam esse aquam , sed ut calefiat nondum audivi . sed imaginabile non est , saltationem illam à vacuo nasci posse . b. this phaenomenon he likewise took notice of , and attempted to explicate in his above-mention'd dialogue , which gave me occasion in the 46th and 47th pages of my examen , to shew how unlikely 't is , that the vehement motion of the air should be the cause of it ; but he here tells us , that 't is not imaginable , that this dancing of the water ( as he is pleas'd to call it ) proceeds from a vacuum , nor do i know any man that ever pretended , that a vacuum was the efficient cause of it . but the vacuists perhaps will tell him , that , though the bubbling of the water be not an effect of a vacuum , it may be a proof of it against him ; for they will tell him , that it has been formerly proved , that a great part of the atmospherical air is by pumping remov'd out of our exhausted receiver , and consequently can no more , as formerly , press upon the surface of the water . nor does mr. hobbes shew what succeeds in the room of it ; and therefore it will be allowable , for them to conclude against him ( though not perhaps against the cartesians ) that there are a great many interspers'd vacuities left in the receiver , which are the occasion , though not the proper efficient cause , of the phaenomenon . for they will say , that the springy particles of the yet included air , having room to unbend themselves in the spaces deserted by the air that was pumpt out , the aerial and springy corpuscles , that lay conceal'd in the pores of the water , being now freed from the wonted pressure that kept them coil'd up in the liquor , expanded themselves into numerous bubbles , which , because of their comparative lightness , are extruded by the water , and many of them appear to have risen from the bottom of it . and mr. hobbes's vehement wind , to produce the several circumstances of this experiment , must be a lasting one . for , after the agitation of the pump has been quite left off , provided the external air be kept from getting in , the bubbles will sometimes continue to rise for an hour after . and that which agrees very well with our explication and very ill with that of mr hobbes's , is , that , when by having continued to pump a competent time , the water has been freed from the aerial particles that lurk'd in it before , though one continue to pump as lustily as he did , yet the water will not at all be cover'd with bubbles as it was , the air that produc'd them being spent ; though , according to mr. hobbes's explication , the wind in the receiver continuing , the dance of the water should continue too . a. i easily ghess , by what you have said already , what you may say of that epiphonema wherewith mr. hobbes ( in his 18th page ) concludes the explications of the phaenomena of your engine . [ spero jam te certum esse , says he , nullum esse machinae illius phaenomenon , quo demonstrari potest ullum in universo locum dari corpore omni vacuum . ] b. if you ghess'd aright , you ghess'd that i would say , that as to the phaenomena of my engine , my business was to prove , that he had not substituted good explications of them in the place of mine , which he was pleased to reject . and as for the proving a vacuum by the phaenomena of my engine , though i declar'd that was not the thing intended , yet i shall not wonder , that the vacuists should think those phaenomena give them an advantage against mr. hobbes . for , though in the passage recited by you he speak more cautiously than he is wont to do , yet , by what you may have already observ'd in his argumentations , the way he takes to solve the phaenomena of our engine , is by contending , that our receiver , when we say it is almost exhausted , is as full as ever ( for he will have it perfectly full , ) of common air ; which is a conceit so contrary to i know not how many phaenomena , that i do not remember i have met with or heard of any naturalist , whether vacuist or plenist , that having read my physico-mechanical experiments and his dialogue , has embrac'd his opinion . a. after what you have said , i will not trouble you with what he subjoyns about vacuum in general , where having made his academian say , [ mundum scis finitum esse , & per consequens vacuum esse oportere totum illud spatium quod est extra mundum infinitum . quid impedit quo minus vacuum illud cum aere mundano permisceatur ? ] he answers : de rebus transmundanis nihil scio . for i know , that it concerns not you to take notice of it . but possibly the vacuists will think , he fathers upon them an impropriety they would not be guilty of , making them speak , as if they thought , the ultra-mundan vacuum were a real substance that might be brought into this world and mingled with our air. and since , for ought i know , mr. hobbes might have spar'd this passage , if he had not design'd it should introduce the slighting answer he makes to it ; i shall add , that by the account mr. hobbes has given of several phaenomena within the world , 't is possible , that the vacuists may believe his profession of knowing nothing of things beyond it . after the experimenta boyliana ( as your other adversary calls them ; ) mr. hobbes proceeds to the torricellian experiment , of which he thus discourses : a. quid de experimento senses torricelliano , probante vacuum per argentum vivum hoc modo : est in seq . figura ad a , pelvis sive aliud vas , & in eo argentum vivum usque ad b ; est autem c d tubus vitreus concavus repletus quoque argento vivo . hunc tubum si digito obturaveris erexerisque in vase a , manumque abstuleris , descendet argentum vivum à c ; verùm non effundetur totum in pelvim , sed sistetur in distantia quadam , puta in d. nonne ergo necessarium est , ut pars tubi inter c & d sit vacua ? non enim puto negabis quin superficies tubi concava & argenti vivi convexa se mutuo exquisitissim● contingant . b. ego neque nego contactum , nequ● vim consequentiae intelligo . by which passage it seems that he still persists in the solution of this experiment , which he gave in his dialogue de natura aeris , and formerly did , for the main , either propose , or adopt , in his elements of philosophy . b. this opinion or explication o● mr. hobbes i have , as far as concern● me , consider'd in the 36th , and some insuing pages , of my examen , to which it may well suffice me to refer you . but yet let me take notice of what he now alledges : b. si quis ( says he ) in argentum vivum , quod in vase est , vesicam immerserit inflatam , nonne illa amot â man● emerget ? a. ita certè , etsi esset vesica ferre● vel ex materia quacunque praeter aurum . b. vides igitur ab aere penetran● posse argentum vivum . a. etiam , & quidem illâ ipsâ vi quam à pondere accipit argenti vivi . i confess this allegation did a little surprize me : it concern'd mr. hobbes to prove , that as much air , as was displac'd by the descending mercury , did at the orifice of the tube , immers'd in stagnant mercury , invisibly ascend to the upper part of the pipe . to prove this he tells us , that a bladder full of air being depress'd in quicksilver , will , when the hand that depress'd it is remov'd , be squeez'd up by the very weight of the mercury , whence it follows , that air may penetrate quicksilver . but i know not , who ever deny'd , that air inviron'd with quicksilver may thereby be squeez'd upwards ; but , since even very small bubbles of air may be seen to move in their passage through mercury , i see not , how this example will at all help the proposer of it . for 't is by meer accident , that the air included in the bladder comes to be buoy'd up , because the bladder it self is so ; and if it were fill'd with water instead of air , or with stone instead of water , it would nevertheless emerge , as himself confesses it would do , if it were made of iron , or of any matter besides gold , because all other bodies are lighter in specie than quicksilver . but since the emersion of the bladder is manifest enough to the sight , i see not how it will serve mr. hobbes's turn , who is to prove that the air gets into the torricellian tube invisibly ; since 't is plain , that even heedful observation can make our eyes discover no such trajection of the air ; which ( to add that inforcement of our argument ) must not only pass unseen through the sustained quicksilver , but must likewise unperceivedly dive , in spite of its comparative lightness , beneath the surface of the ponderous stagnant mercury , to get in at the orifice of the erected tube . but let us , if you please , hear the rest of his discourse about this experiment . a. though it be somewhat prolix , yet , according to my custom hitherto , i will give it you verbatim . b. simul atque argentum vivum descenderit ad d , altius erit in vase a quàm antè , nimirum plus erit argenti vivi in vase quàm erat ante descensum , tanto quantum capit pars tubi c , d. tanto quoque minus erit aeris extra tubum quàm ante erat . ille autem aer qui ab argento vivo loco suo extrusus est , ( suppositâ universi plenitudine ) quò abire potest nisi ad eum locum , qui in tubo inter c & d à descensu argenti vivi relinquebatur ? sed quâ , inquies , viâ in illum locum successurus est ? quà , nisi per ipsum corpus argenti vivi aerem urgentis ? sicut enim omne grave liquidum , sae ipsius pondere , aerem , quem descendendo premit , ascendere cogit ( si via alia non detur ) per suum ipsius corpus ; ita quoque aerem quem premit ascendendo , ( si viae alia non detur ) per suum ipsius corpus transire cogit . manifestum igitur est , suppositâ mundi plenitudine posse aerem externum ab ipsa gravitate argenti viv● cogi in locum illum inter c & d. itaque phaenomenon illud necessitatem vacui non demonstrat . quoniam autem corpus argenti vivi penetrationi , quae fit ab aere , non nihil resistit , & ascensioni argenti vivi in vase a resistit aer ; quando illae duae resistentiae aequales erunt , tunc in tubo sistetur alicubi argentum vivum ; atque ibi est d. b. in answer to this explication i have in my examen propos'd divers things , which you may there meet with : and indeed his explication has appear'd so improbable to those that have written of this experiment , that i have not found it embrac'd by any of them , though , when divers of them oppos'd it , the phaenomena of our engine were not yet divulg'd . not then needlesly to repeat what has been said already , i shall on this occasion only add one experiment , that i afterwards made , and it was this : having made the torricellian experiment ( in a straight tube ) after the ordinary way , we took a little piece of a fine bladder , and raising the pipe a little in the stagnant mercury , but not so high as the surface of it , the piece of bladder was dexterously conveyed in the quicksilver , so as to be applied by ones finger to the immersed orifice of the pipe , without letting the air get into the cavity of it ; then the bladder was tyed very straight and carefully to the lower end of the pipe , whose orifice ( as we said ) it cover'd before , and then the pipe being slowly lifted out of the stagnant mercury , the impendent quicksilver appear'd to lean but very lightly upon the bladder , being so near an exact aequilibrium with the atmosperical air , that , if the tube were but a very little inclin'd , whereby the gravitation of the quicksilver , being not so perpendicular , came to be somewhat lessen'd , the bladder would immediately be driven into the orifice of the tube , and to the eye , plac'd without , appear to have acquir'd a concave superficies instead of the convex it had before . and when the tube was re-erected , the bladder would no longer appear suck'd in , but be again somewhat protuberant . and if , when the mercury in the pipe was made to descend a little below its station into the stagnant mercury , if , i say , at that nick of time the piece of bladder were nimbly and dexterously apply'd , as before , to the immers'd orifice , and fasten'd to the sides of the pipe , upon the lifting the instrument out of the stagnant mercury , the cylinder of that liquor being now somewhat short of its due height , was no longer able fully to counterpoise the weight of the atmospherical air , which consequently , though the glass were held in an erected posture , would press up the bladder into the orifice of the pipe , and both make and maintain there a cavity sensible both to the touch and the eye . a. what did you mainly drive at in this experiment ? b. to satisfie some ingenious men , that were more diffident of , than skilful in , hydrostaticks , that the pressure of the external air is capable of sustaining a cylinder of 29 or 30 inches of mercury , and upon a small lessening of the gravitation of that ponderous liquor , to press it up higher into the tube . but a farther use may be made of it against mr. hobbes's pretention . for , when the tube is again erected , the mercury will subside as low as at first , and leave as great a space as formerly was left deserted at the top ; into which how the air should get to fill it , will not appear easie to them , that , like you and me , know by many tryals , that a bladder will rather be burst by air than grant it passage . and if it should be pretended , either that some air from without had yet got through the bladder , or that the air , that they may presume to have been just before included between the bladder and the mercury , made its way from the lower part of the instrument to the upper ; 't is obvious to answer , that 't is no way likely , that it should pass all along the cylinder unseen by us ; since , when there are really any aerial bubbles , though smaller than pins heads , they are easily discernible . and in our case , there is no such resistance of the air to the ascension of the stagnant mercury , as mr. hobbes pretends in the torricellian experiment made the usual way . a. but , whatever becomes of mr. hobbes's explication of the phaenomenon ; yet may not one still say , that it affords no advantage to the vacuists against him ? b. whether or no it do against other plenists , i shall not now consider ; but i doubt , the vacuists will tell mr. hobbes , that he is fain in two places of the explication , we have read , to suppose the plenitude of the world , that is , to beg the thing in question , which 't is not to be presum'd they will allow . a. but may not mr. hobbes say , that 't is as lawful for him to suppose a plenum , as for them to suppose a vacuum . b. i think he may justly say so ; but 't is like they will reply , that , in their way of explicating the torricellian experiment , they do not suppose a vacuum as to air , but prove it . for they shew a great space , that having been just before fill'd with quicksilver , is now deserted by it , though it appeared not , that any air succeeded in its room ; but rather , that the upper end of the tube is either totally or near totally so devoid of air , that the quicksilver may without resistance , by barely inclining the tube , be made to fill it to the very top : whereas mr. hobbes is fain to have recourse to that which he knows they deny , the plenitude of the world , not proving by any sensible phaenomena , that there did get in through the quicksilver air enough to fill the deserted part of the tube , but only concluding , that so much air must have got in there , because , the world being full , it could find no room any where else ; which the vacuists will take for no proof at all , and the cartesians , though plenists , who admit an etherial matter capable of passing through the pores of glass , will , i doubt , look upon but as an improper explication . a. i remember on this occasion another experiment of yours , that seems unfavourable enough to mr. hobbes's explication , and you will perhaps call it to mind when i tell you , that 't was made in a bended pipe almost fill'd with quicksilver . b. to see whether we understand one another , i will briefly describe the instrument i think you mean. we took a cylindrical pipe of glass , clos'd at the upper end , and of that length , that being dexterously bent at some inches from the bottom , the shorter legg was made as parallel as we could to the longer : in this glass we found an expedient , ( for 't is not easie to do , ) to make the torricellian experiment , the quicksilver in the shorter legg serving instead of the stagnant quicksilver in the usual baroscope , and the quicksilver in the longer legg reaching above that in the shorter about eight or nine and twenty inches . then , by another artifice , the shorter legg , into which the mercury did not rise within an inch of the top , was so order'd , that it could in a trice be hermetically seal'd , without disordering the quicksilver . and this is the instrument that i ghess you mean. a. it is so , and i remember , that it is the same with that , which in the paradox about suction you call , whilst the shorter legg remains unseal'd , a travelling baroscope . but when i saw you make the experiment , that legg was hermetically seal'd , an inch of air in its natural or usual consistence being left in the upper part of it , to which air you outwardly applied a pair of heated tongs . b. yet that , which i chiefly aim'd at in the trial , was not the phaenomenon i perceive you mean ; for , my design was , by breaking the ice for them , to encourage some , that may have more skill and accommodation than i then had , to make an attempt that i did not find to have been made by any ; namely , to reduce the expansive force of heat in every way included air , if not in some other bodies also , to some kind of measure , and , if 't were possible , to determin it by weight . and i presumed , that at least the event of my tryal would much confirm several explications of mine , by shewing , that heat is able , as long as it lasts , very considerably to increase the spring or pressing power of the air. and in this conjecture i was not mistaken ; for , having shut up , after the manner newly recited , a determinate quantity of uncomprest air , which , ( in the experiment you saw , ) was about one inch ; we warily held a pair of heated tongs near the outside of the glass , ( without making it touch the instrument , for fear of breaking it , ) whereby the air being agitated was enabled to expand it self to double its former dimensions , and consequently had its spring so strengthen'd by heat , that it was able to raise all the quicksilver in the longer legg , and keep up or sustain a mercurial cylinder of about nine and twenty inches high , when by its expansion it would , if it had not been for the heat , have lost half the force of its elasticity . but whatever i design in this experiment , pray tell me , what use you would make of it against mr. hobbes . a. i believe , he will find it very difficult to shew , what keeps the mercury suspended in the longer legg of the travelling baroscope , when the shorter legg is unstopt , at which it may run out ; since this instrument may , as i have try'd , be carried to distant places , where it cannot with probability be pretended , that any air has been displac'd by the fall of the quicksilver in the longer legg , which perhaps fell long before above a mile off . and when the shorter legg is seal'd , it will be very hard for mr. hobbes to shew there the odd motions of the air , to which he ascribes the torricellian experiment . for , if you warily incline the instrument , the quicksilver will rise to the top of the longer legg , and immediately subside , when the instrument is again erected , and yet no air appears to pass through the quicksilver interpos'd between the ends of the longer and the shorter legg . but that which i would chiefly take notice of in the experiment , is , that upon the external application of a hot body to the shorter legg of the baroscope , when 't was seal'd up , the included air was expanded from one inch to two , and so rais'd the whole cylinder of mercury in the longer legg , and , whilst the heat continued undiminished , kept it from subsiding again . for , if the air were able to get unseen through the body of the quicksilver , why had it not been much more able , when rarified by heat , to pass through the quicksilver , than for want of doing so to raise and sustain so weighty a cylinder of mercury ? i shall not stay to inquire on this occasion , how mr. hobbes will , according to his hypothesis , explicate the rarefaction of the air to double its former dimensions , and the condensation of it again ; especially since , asserting that part of the upper legg , that is unfill'd with the quicksilver , to be perfectly full of air , he affirms that , which i doubt he cannot prove , and which may very probably be disproved by the experiment you mention in the discourse about suction , where you shew , to another purpose , that in a travelling baroscope , whose shorter legg is seal'd , if the end of the longer legg be open'd , whereby it comes indeed to be fill'd with air , the pressure of that air will enable the subjacent mercury notably to compress the air included in the shorter legg . b. i leave mr. hobbes to consider what you have objected against his explication of the torricellian experiment ; to which i shall add nothing , though perhaps i could add much , because i think it may be well spared , and our conference has lasted long already . a. i will then proceed to the la●● experiment recited by mr. hobbes in his problemata de vacuo . a. si phialam , collum habent●● longiusculum , ea●démque omni corpor● praeter aerem vacuam ore sugas , continuoque phialae os aquae immergas , videbis aquam aliquousque ascendere in phialam . quî fieri hoc potest nisi factum sit vacuum ab exuctione aeris , in euj●● locum possit aqua illa ascendere ? b. concesso vacuo , oportet quaeda● l●cae vacua fuisse in illo aere , etiam qu● erat intra phialam ante suctionem . c●● ergo non ascendebat aqua ad ea imple●da absque suctione ? is qui sagit phi●lam , neque in ventrem quicquam , neq●● in pulmones , neque in os è phialu ex●git . quid ergo agit ? aerum comm●vet , & in partibus ejus conatum sugen●● efficit per os exeundi , & non admittendo , conaetum redeundi . ab his conatibus contrariis compo●●tur circumitio in●●● phialam , & conatus exeundi quaquaversum . itaque phialae ore aquae immerso , aer in subjectam aquam penetrat è phiala egrediens , & tuntundem aquae in phialam cogit . praeterea vis illa magna suctionis facit , ut sugentis labra c●m collo phialae aliquando arctissimè cohaereant propter contactum exqusitissimum . b. as to the first clause of mr. hobbes's account of our phaenomenon , the vacuists will easily answer his question by acknowledging , that there were indeed interspers'd vacuities in the air contain'd in the vial before the suction ; but they will add , there was no reason , why the water should ascend to fill them , because , being a heavy body , it cannot rise of it self , but must be raised by some prevalent weight or pressure , which then was wanting . besides , that there being interspers'd vacuities as well in the rest of the air that was very near the water , as in that contained in the vial , there was no reason , why the water should ascend to fill the vacuities of one portion of air rather than those of another . but when once by suction a great many of the aerial corpuscles were made to pass out of the vial , the spring of the remaining air being weaken'd , whilst the pressure of the ambient air , which depends upon its constant gravity , is undiminished , the spring of the internal becomes unable to resist the weight of the external air , which is therefore able to impel the interpos'd water with some violence into the cavity of the glass , 'till the air , remaining in that cavity , being reduced almost to its usual density , is able by its spring , and the weight of the water got up into the vial , to hinder any more water from being impell'd up . for , as to what mr. hobbes affirms , that , is qui sugit phialam neque in ventrem quicquam , neque in pulmones , neque in as quicquam exugit : how it will agree with what he elsewhere delivers about suction , i leave him to consider . but i confess , i cannot but wonder at his confidence , that can positively assert a thing so repugnant to the common sentiments of men of all opinions , without offering any proof for it . but i suppose , they that are by tryal acquainted with sucking , and have felt the air come in at their mouths , will prefer their own experience to his authority . and as to what he adds , that the person that sucks agitates the air , and turns it within the vial into a kind of circulating wind , that endeavours every where to get out ; i wish , he had shewn us by what means a man that sucks makes this odd commotion of the air ; especially in such vials as i use to employ about the experiment , the orifice of whose neck is sometimes less than a pins head . a. that there may be really air extracted by suction out of a glass , me thinks you might argue from an experiment i saw you make with a receiver which was exhausted by your pump , and consequently by suction . for i remember , when you had counterpois'd it with very good scales , and afterwards by turning a stop-cock , let in the outward air , there rush'd in as much air to fill the space that had been deserted by the air pump● out , as weighed some scruples ( consisting of twenty grains a piece ) though the receiver were not of the largest size . b. you did well to add that clause ; for , the magdeburgic experiment , mentioned by the industrious schottus , having been made with a vast receiver , the readmitted air amounted to a whole ounce and some drachms . but to return to mr. hobbes , i fear not that he will perswade you , that have seen the experiment he recites , that as soon as the neck of the vial is unstopt under water , the air , that whirl'd about before , makes a sally out , and forces in as much water . for , if the orifice be any thing large , you will , instead of feeling an endeavour to thrust away your finger that stopt it , find the pulp of your finger so thrust inward , that a peripatetick would affirm that he felt it suckt in . and that intrusion may be the reason , why the lip of him that sucks is oftentimes strongly fasten'd to the orifice of the vials neck , which mr. hobbes ascribes to a most exquisit contact , but without clearly telling us , how that extraordinary contact is effected . and when your finger is removed , instead of perceiving any air go out of the vial through the water , ( which , if any such thing happen , you will easily discover by the bubbles , ) you shall see the water briskly spring up in a slender stream to the top of the vial , which it could not do , if the cavity were already full of air. and to let you see , that , when the air does really pass in or out of the vial immers'd under water , 't is very easie to perceive its motions , if you dip the neck of the vial in water , and then apply to the globulous part of it either your warm hands or any other competent heat , the internal air being rarified ; you shall see a portion of it , answerable to the degree of heat you applied , manifestly pass through the water in successive bubbles , whilst yet you shall not see any water get into the vial to supply the place deserted by that air. and if , when you have ( as you may do by the help of sucking ) fill'd the neck and part of the belly of the vial with water , you immerse the orifice into stagnant water , and apply warm hands to the globulous part as before , you will find the water in the vial to be driven out , before any bubbles pass out of the vial into the surrounding water ; which shews , that the air is not so forward to dive under the water , ( and much less under so ponderous a liquor as quicksilver , ) as mr. hobbes has supposed . a. that 't is the pressure of the external air , that ( surmounting the spring of the internal ) drives up the water into the vial we have been speaking of , does , i confess , follow upon your hypothesis : but an experimentarian philosopher , as mr. hobbes calls you among others , may possibly be furnished with an experiment to confirm this to the eye . b. you bring into my mind what i once devised to confirm my hypothesis about suction , but found a while since that i had omitted it in my discourse about that subject . and therefore i shall now repeat to you the substance at least of the memorial that was written of that experiment , by which the great interest of the weight of the atmospherical air in suction will appear , and in which also some things will occur , that will not well agree with mr. hobbes's explication , and prevent some of his allegations against mine . a. having not yet met with an experiment of this nature , such an one as you speak of will be welcome to me . b. we took a glass bubble , whose long stem was both very slender and very cylindrical ; then by applying to the outside of the ball or globulous part a convenient heat , we expell'd so much of the air , as that , when the end of the pipe was dipt in water , and the inward air had time to recover its former coolness , the water ascended either to the top of the pipe or very near it . this done , we gently and warily rarified the air in the cavity of the bubble , 'till by its expansion it had driven out almost all the water that had got up into the stem , that so it might attain as near as could be to that degree of heat and measure of expansion , that it had when the water began to rise in it . and we were careful to leave two or three drops of water unexpell'd at the bottom of the pipe , that we might be sure , that none of the included air was by this second rarefaction driven out at the orifice of it ; as the depression of the water so low assured us , on the other side , that the included air wanted nothing considerable of the expansion it had when the water began to ascend into the pipe . whilst the air was in this rarified state , we presently removed the little instrument out of the stagnant water into stagnant quicksilver , which in a short time began to rise in the pipe . now , if the ascension of the liquor were the effect of natures abhorrence of a vacuum ; or of some internal principle of motion ; or of the compression and propagated pulsion of the outward air by that which had been expell'd ; why should not the mercury haue ascended to the top of the pipe , as the water did before ? but de facto it did not ascend half , or perhaps a quarter so far ; and if the pipe had been long enough , as well as 't was slender enough , i question , whether the mercury would have ascended ( in proportion to the length of the stem ) half so high as it did . now of this experiment , which we tryed more than once , i see not , for the reason lately express'd , how any good account will be given without our hypothesis , but according to that 't is clear . a. i think i perceive why you say so ; for the ascension of liquors being an effect of the prevalency of the external airs pressure against the resistance it meets with in the cavity of the instrument , and the quicksilver being bulk for bulk many times heavier than water , the same surplusage of pressure that was able to impel up water to the top of the pipe , ought not to be able to impel up the quicksilver to any thing near that height . and if it be here objected , as it very plausibly may be , that the raised cylinder of mercury was much longer than it ought to have been in reference to a cylinder of water , the proportion in gravity between those two liquors ( which is almost that of fourteen to one ) being considered ; i answer , that when the cylinder of water reach'd to the pipe , the air possess'd no more than the cavity of the globulous part of the instrument , being very little assisted to dilate it self by so light a cylinder as that of water : but when the quicksilver came to be impell'd into the instrument by the weight of the external air , that ponderous body did not stop its ascent as soon as it came to be equiponderant to the formerly expell'd cylinder of water ; because , to attain that height , it reached but a little way into the pipe , and left all the rest of the cavity of the pipe to be fill'd with part of that air , which formerly was all s●ut up in the cavity of the bubble ; by which means the air , included in the whole instrument , must needs be in a state of expansion , and thereby have its spring weakened , and consequently disabled to resist the pressure of the external air , as much as the same included air did before , when it was less rarified ; on which account , the undiminished weight or pressure of the external air was able to raise the quicksilver higher and higher , 'till it had obta●ned that height , at which the pressure , compounded of the weight of the mercurial cylinder and the spring of the internal air ( now less rarified than before , ) was equivalent to the pressure of the atmosphere or external air. b. you have given the very explication i was about to propose ; wherefore i shall only add , that to confirm this experiment by a kind of inversion of it , we drove by heat a little air out of the bubble , and dipt the open end of the pipe into quicksilver , which by this means we made to ascend 'till it had fill'd about a fourth part or less of the pipe , when that was held erected . then carefully removing it without letting fall any quicksilver , or letting in any air , we held the orifice of the pipe a little under the surface of a glass full of water , and applying a moderate heat to the outside of the ball , we warily expell'd the quicksilver , yet leaving a little of it to make it sure that no air was driven out with it , then suffering the included air to cool , the external air was found able to make the water not only ascend to the very top of the pipe , and thence spread it self a little into the cavity of the ball , but to carry up before it the quicksilver that had remained unexpell'd at the bottom of the stem . and if in making the experiment we had first raised , as we sometimes did , a greater quantity of quicksilver , and afterwards drove it out , the quantity of water , that would be impell'd into the cavity of the pipe and ball , would be accordingly increased . a. in this experiment 't is manifest , that something is driven out of the cavity of the glass before the water or quicksilver begins to ascend in it : and here also we see not , that the air can pass through the pores of quicksilver or water , but that it drives them on before it , without sensibly mixing with them . in this experiment there appears not at all any circular wind , as mr. hobbes fancies in the suckt vial we are disputing of , nor any tendency outwards of the included air upon the account of such a wind ; but , instead of these things , that the ascension of the liquors into the cavity of the pipe depends upon the external air , pressing up the liquors into that cavity , may be argu'd by this , that the same weight of the atmosphere impell'd up into the pipe so much more of the lighter liquor , water , than of the heavier liquor , mercury . b. you have said enough on this experiment ; but 't is not the only i have to oppose to mr. hobbes his explication : for , that there is no need of the sallying of air out of a vial , to make the atmospherical air press against a body that closes the orifice of it , when the pressure of the internal air is much weakened ; i have had occasion to shew some virtuosi , by sucking out , with the help of an instrument , a considerable portion of the air contained in a glass ; for having then , instead of unstopping the orifice under water , nimbly applied a flat body to it , the external air press'd that body so forcibly against it , as to keep it fastened and suspended , though 't were clogg'd with a weight of many ounces . a. another experiment of yours mr. hobbes's explication brings into my mind , by which it appears , that , if there be such a circular wind , as he pretends , produced by suction in the cavity of the vial , it must needs be strangely lasting . for i have seen more than once , that , when you have by an instrument suckt much of the air out of a vial , and afterwards carefully closed it , though you kept the slender neck of it stopt a long time , perhaps for some weeks or months , yet when 't was open'd under water , a considerable quantity of the liquor would be briskly impell'd up into the neck and belly of the vial. so that , though i will not be so pleasant with mr. hobbes , as to mind you on this occasion of those writers of natural magick , that teach us to shut up articulate sounds in a vessel , which being transported to a distant place and open'd there , will rende● the words that are committed to it● yet i must needs say , that so lasting a circular wind , as , according to mr. hobbes , your experiments exhibited , may well deserve our wonder . b. your admiration would perchance increase , if i should assure you , that having with the sun-beams produced smoak in one of those well-stopt vials , this circular wind did not at all appear to blow it about , but suffered it to rise , as it would have done if the included air had been very calm . and now i shall add but one experiment more , which will not be liable to some of the things as invalid as they are , which mr. hobbes has alledged in his account of the vial , and which will let you see , that the weight of the atmospherical air is a very considerable thing ; and which may also incline you to think , that , whilst mr. hobbes does not admit a subtiler matter than common air to pass through the pores of close and solid bodies , the air he has recourse to will sometimes come too late to prevent a vacuum . the experiment , which was partly accidental , i lately found registred to this sense , if not in these words : [ having , to make some discovery of the weight of the air , and for other purposes , caus'd an aeolipile , very light considering its bulk , to be made by a famous artist , i had occasion to put it so often into the fire for several tryals , that at length the copper scal'd off by degrees , and left the vessel much thinner than when it first came out of the artificers hands ; and a good while after , this change in the instrument being not in my thoughts , i had occasion to imploy it , as formerly , to weigh how many grains it would contain of the air at such a determinate constitution of the atmosphere , as was to be met with , where i then chanced to be . for the making this experiment the more exactly , the air was by a strong , but warily applied , fire so carefully driven away , that , when clapping a piece of sealing-wax to the pin-hole , at which it had been forced out , we hindred any communication betwixt the cavity of the instrument and the external air , we suppos'd the aeolipile to be very well exhausted , and therefore laid it by , that , when it should be grown cold , we might , by opening the orifice with a pin , again let in the outward air , and observe the encrease of weight that would thereupon ensue : but the instrument , that , as i was saying , was grown thin , had been so diligently freed from air , that the very little that remain'd , and was kept by the war from receiving any assistance from without , being unable by its spring to assist the aeolipile to support the weight of the ambient air ; this external fluid did by its weight press against it so strongly , that it compress'd it , and thrust it so considerably inwards , and in more than one place so chang'd its figure , that , when i shew'd it to the virtuosi that were assembled at gresham-colledge , they were pleased to command it of me to be kept in their repository , where i presume it is still to be seen . finis . of the cause of attraction by suction . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by william godbid , and are to be sold by moses pitt , at the angel over against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. preface . having about twelve years ago summarily exprest and publish'd my opinion of the cause of suction , and a while before or after brought to the royal society the glass instrument i employ'd to make it out ; i desisted for some time to add any thing about a problem , that i had but occasionally handled : only , because the instrument i mention'd in my examen of mr. hobbes's opinion , and afterwards us'd at gresham-college , was difficult enough to be well made , and not to be procur'd ready made , i did for the sake of some virtuosi , that were curious of such things , devise a slight and easily made instrument , describ'd in the following tract , chap. 4th , in which the chief phaenomena , i shew'd before the society , were easily producible . but afterwards the mistakes and erroneous opinions , that , in print as well as in discourse , i met with , even among learned men , about suction , and the curiosity of an ingenious person , engaged me to resume that subject and treat of it , as if i had never before meddled with it , for the reason intimated in the beginning of the insuing paper . and finding upon the review of my later animadversions an mr. hobbes's problemata de vacuo , that some passages of this tract are referr'd to there ; i saw my self thereby little less than engaged to annex that discourse to those animadversions . and this i the rather consented to , because it contains some experiments , that i have not elsewhere met with , which , together with some other parts of that essay , may , i hope , prove of some use to illustrate and confirm our doctrine about the weight and spring of the air , and supply the less experienced than ingenious . friends to our hypothesis with more grounds of answering the later objections of some learned men , against whose endeavours i perceive it will be useful to employ variety of experiments and other proofs to evince the same truth ; that some or other of these may meet with those arguments or evasions with which they strive to elude the force of the rest . the title of the following essay may sufficiently keep the reader from expecting to find any other kind of attraction discours'd of , than that which is made by suction . but yet thus much i shall here intimate in general , that i have found by trials purposely made , that the examples of suction are not the only noted ones of attraction , that may be reduced to pulsion . of the cause of attraction by suction . chap. i. i might , sir , save my self some trouble in giving you that account you desire of me about suction , by referring you to a passage in the examen , i long since writ , of mr. hobbes's dialogus physicus de natura aeris , if i knew , you had those two books lying by you . but because i suspect , that my examen may not be in your hands , since 't is a most out of print , and has not for some years been in my own ; and because i do not so well remember , after so long a time the particulars that i writ there , about suction , as i do in general , that the hypothesis i proposed , was very incidentally and briefly discours'd of , upon an occasion ministred by a wrong explication given of suction by mr. hobbes , i shall here decline referring you to what i there writ● and proposing to you those thoughts about suction , that i remember i there pointed at , i shall annex some things to illustrate and confirm them ; that would not have been so proper for me to have insisted on in a short and but occasional excursion . and i should immediately proceed to what you expect from me , but that suction being generally look'd upon as a kind of attraction , it will be requisite for me to premise something about attraction it self . for , besides that the cause of it , which i here dispute not of , is obscure , the very nature and notion of it is wont by naturalists to be either left untouch'd , or but very darkly deliver'd , and therefore will not be unfit to be here somewhat explain'd . how general and ancient soever the common opinion may be , that attraction is a kind of motion quite differing from pulsion , if not also opposite to it ; yet i confess , i concur in opinion , though not altogether upon the same grounds , with some modern naturalists , that think attraction a species of pulsion . and at least among inanimate bodies i have not yet observed any thing , that convinces me , that attraction cannot be reduced to pulsion ; for , these two seem to me to be but extrinsical denominations of the same local motion , in which , if a moved body precede the movent , or tend to acquire a greater distance from it , we call it pulsion ; and if , upon the score of the motion , the same body follow the movent or approach to it , we call it attraction . but this difference may consist but in an accidental respect , which does not physically alter the nature of the motion , but is founded upon the respect , which the line , wherein the motion is made , happens to have to the situation of the movent . and that which seems to me to have been the chief cause of mens mistaking attraction for a motion opposite to pulsion , is , that they have look'd upon both the moving and moved bodies , in too popular and superficial a manner ; and consider'd in the movent rather the situation of the conspicuous and more bulky part of the animal or other agent , than the situation of that part of the animal , or instrument , that does immediately impress that motion upon the mobile . for those that attentively heed this , may easily take notice , that some part of that body , or of the instrument , which by reason of their conjunction in this operation is to be look'd on but as making one with it , is really placed behind some part of the body to be drawn , and therefore cannot move outwards it self without thrusting that body forward . this will be easily understood , if we consider , what happens when a man draws a chain after him ; for , though his body do precede the chain , yet his finger or some other part of the hand , wherewith he draws it , has some part or other that reaches behind the fore part of the first link , and the hinder part of this link comes behind the anteriour part of the second link ; and so each link has one of its parts placed behind some part of the link next after it , 'till you come to the last link of all . and so , as the finger , that is in the first link , cannot move forwards but it must thrust on that link , by this series of trusions the whole chain is moved forwards ; and if any other body be drawn by that chain , you may perceive , that some part of the last link comes behind some part of that body , or of some intervening body , which , by its cohesion with it , ought in our present case to be consider'd as part of it . and thus attraction seems to be but a species of pulsion , and usually belongs to that kind of it , which , for distinctions sake , is called trusion , by which we understand that kind of pulsion , wherein the movent goes along with the moved body without quitting it whilst the progress lasts ; as it happens , when a gardiner drives his wheel-barrow before him without letting go his hold of it . but i must not here dissemble a difficulty , that i foresee may be speciously urged against this account of attraction . for it may be said , that there are attractions , where it cannot be pretended , that any part of the attrahent comes behind the attracted body ; as in magnetical and electrical attractions , and in that which is made of water , when 't is drawn up into springs and pumps . i need not tell you , that you know so well , as that partly the cartesians , and partly other modern philosophers , have recourse on this occasion either to screwed particles and other magnetical emissions , to explicate phaenomena of this kind . and , according to such hypotheses , one may say , that many of these magnetical and electrical effluvia come behind some parts of the attracted bodies , or at least of the little solid particles , that are as it were the walls of their ●ores , or procure some discussion of the air , that may make it thrust the moveable towards the loadstone or amber , &c. but if there were none of these , nor any other subtil agents that cause this motion by a real , though unperceived , pulsion ; i should make a distinction betwixt other attractions and these , which i should then stile attraction by invisibles . but , whether there be really any such in nature , and why i scruple to admit things so hard to be conceived , may be elsewhere consider'd . and you will , i presume , the freelier allow me this liberty , if , ( since in this place 't is proper to do it , ) i shew you , that in the last of the instances i formerly objected ( that of the drawing up of water into the barrel of a syringe , ) there is no true attraction of the liquor made by the external air. i say then , that by the ascending rammer , as a part of which i here consider the obtuse end , plug , or sucker , there is no attraction made of the contiguous and subjacent water , but only there is room made for it , to rise into , without being expos'd to the pressure of the superiour air. for , if we suppose the whole rammer to be by divine omnipotence annihilated , and consequently uncapable of exercising any attraction ; yet , provided the superiour air were kept off from the water by any other way as well as 't was by the rammer , the liquor would as well ascend into the cavity of the barrel ; since , ( as i have elsewhere abundantly proved , ) the surface of the terraqueous globe being continually press'd on by the incumbent air or atmosphere , the water must be by that pressure impell'd into any cavity here below , where there is no air to resist it ; as by our supposition there is not in the barrel of our syringe , when the rammer , or whatever else was in it , had been annihilated . which reasoning may be sufficiently confirm'd by an experiment , whereby i have more than once shewn some curious persons , that , if the external air , and consequently its pressure , be withdrawn from about the syringe , one may pull up the sucker as much as he pleases , without drawing up after it the subjacent water . in short , let us suppose , that a man standing in an inner room does by his utmost resistance keep shut a door , that is neither lock'd nor latch'd , against another , who with equal force endeavours to thrust it open ? in this case , as if one should forcibly pull away the first man , it could not be said , that this man , by his recess from the door he endeavoured to press outwards , did truely and properly draw in his antagonist , though upon that recess the coming in of his antagonist would presently ensue ; so it cannot properly be said , that by the ascent of the rammer , which displaces the superiour air , either the rammer it self , or the expelled air , does properly attract● the subjacent water , though the ingress of that liquor into the barrel does thereupon necessarily ensue . and that , as the comparison supposes , there is a pressure of the superiour air against the upper part of the sucker , you may easily perceive , if having well stopt the lower orifice of the syringe with your finger , you forcibly draw up the sucker to the top of the barrel . for if then you let go the rammer , you will find it impell'd downwards by the incumbent air with a notable force . chap. ii. having thus premis'd something in general about the nature of attraction , as far as 't is necessary for my present design ; it will be now seasonable to proceed to the consideration of that kind of attraction , that is employed to raise liquors , and is by a distinct name called suction . about the cause of this there is great comention between the new philosophers ; as they are stiled , and the peripateticks . for the followers of aristotle , and many learned men that in other things dissent from him , ascribe the ascension of liquors upon suction to natures abhorrence of a vacuum . for , say they , when a man dips one end of a straw or reed into stagnant water , and sucks at the other end , the air contain'd in the cavity of the reed passes into that of his lungs , and consequently the reed would be left empty , if no other body succeeded in the place it deserts ; but there are only ( that they take notice of , ) two bodies that can succeed , the air and the ( grosser liquor ) the water ; and the air cannot do it , because of the interposition of the water , that denies it access to the immers'd orifice of th● reed , and therefore it must be the water it self , which accordingly does ascend to prevent a vacuum detested by nature . but many of the modern philosophers , and generally all the corpusc●larians , look upon this fuga vacue as but an imaginary cause of suction ; though they do it upon very differing grounds . for , the atomists ; tha● willingly admit of vacuities , properly so called , both within and without our world , cannot think that nature hates or fears a vacuum , and declines her usual course to prevent it : and the cartesians , though they do , as well as the peripateticks , deny that that there is a vacuum , yet since they affirm not only , that there is none in rerum natura , but that there can be none , because what others call an empty space having three dimensions , hath all that they think belonging to the essence of a body , they will not grant nature to be so indiscreet , as to strain her self to prevent the making of a thing that is impossible to be made . the peripatetic opinion about the cause of suction , though commonly defended by the schools , as well modern as ancient , supposes in nature such an abhorrence of a vacuum , as neither has been well proved , nor does well agree with the lately discover'd phaenomenon of suction . for , according to their hypothesis , water and other liquors should ascend upon suction to any hight to prevent a vacuum , which yet is not agreeable to experience . for i have carefully tryed , that by pumping with a pump far more stanch than those that are usually made , and indeed as well clos'd as we could possibly bring it to be , we could not by all our endeavour● raise water by suction to above * 36 ½ foot . the t●rricellian exp t shews , tha● the weight of the air is able to sustain , and some of our experim ts shew , 't is able to raise a mercurial cylinder equal in weight to as high a cylinder of water as we were able to raise by pumping . for mercury being near ●● times as heavy as water of the sam● bulk , if the weight of the air b● equivalent to that of a mercuri● cylinder of 29 or 30 inches , it mu●● be able to counterpoise a cylinder o● water near fourteen times as long that is , from thirty four to near thirt● six foot . and very disagreeable t● the common hypothesis , but consonant to ours , is the experiment th● i have more than once tryed , and ● think elsewhere deliver'd , namely● that , if you take a glass pipe of a●bout three foot long , and , dipping one end of it in water , suck at the other , the water will be suddenly made to flow briskly into your mouth : but , if instead of water you dip the lower end into quicksilver , though you suck as strongly as ever you can , provided that in this case , as in the former , you hold the pipe upright , you will never be able to suck up the quicksilver near so high as your mouth ; so that if the water ascended upon suction to the top of the same pipe , because else there would have been a vacuum left in the cavity of it , why should not we conclude , that , when we have suckt up the quicksilver as strongly as we can , as much of the upper part of the tube as is deserted by the air , and yet not fill'd by the mercury , admits , in part at least , a vacuum , ( as to air ) of which consequently nature cannot reasonably be suppos'd to have so great and unlimited an abhorrency , as the peripateticks and their adherents presume . yet i will not determine , whether there be any more than many little vacuities , or spaces devoid of air , in the cavity ; so called , of the pipe unfill'd by the mercury ; ( so that the whole cavity is not one entire empty space ; ) it being sufficient for my purpose , that my experiment affords a good argument ad hominem against the peripateticks , and warrants us to seek for some other cause than the fuga vacui , why a much stronger suction than that , which made water ascend with ease into the suckers mouth , will not also raise quicksilver to the same height or near it . those modern philosophers that admit not the fuga vacui to be the cause of the raising of liquors in suction , do generally enough agree in referring it to the action of the suckers thorax . for , when a man endeavours to suck up a liquor , he does by means of the muscles enlarge the cavity of his chest , which he cannot do but at the same time he must thrust away those parts of the ambient air that were contiguous to his chest , and the displac'd air does , according to some learned men , ( therein , if i mistake not , followers of gassendus , ) compress the contiguous air , and that the next to it , and so outwards , 'till the pressure , successively passing from one part of the air to the other , arrive at the surface of the liquor ; and all other places being as to sense full , the impell'd air cannot find place but by thrusting the water into the room made for it in the pipe by the recess of the air that pass'd into the suckers lungs . and they differ'd not much from this explication , that , without taking in the compression of the ambient air made by the thorax , refer the phaenomenon to the propagated motion or impulse , that is imprest on the air displac'd by the thorax in its dilatation , and yet unable to move in a world perfectly fill'd , as they suppose ours to be , unless the liquor be impell'd into as much of the cavity of the pipe , as fast as 't is deserted by the air that is said to be suck'd up . but though i readily confess this explication to be ingenious , and such as i wonder not they should acquiess in , who are acquainted but with the long known and obvious phaenomena of suction ; and though i am not sure , but that in the most familiar cases the causes assign'd by them may contribute to the effect ; yet , preserving for cartesius and gassendus the respect i willingly pay such great philosophers , i must take the liberty to tell you , that i cannot acquiess in their theory . for i think , that the cause of suction , they assign , is in many cases not necessary , in others , not sufficient . and first , as to the condensation of the air by the dilatation of the suckers chest ; when i consider the extent of the ambient air , and how small a compression no greater an expansion than that of the thorax is like to make , i can scarce think , so slight a condensation of the free air can have so considerable an operation on the surface of the liquor to be rais'd , as the hypothesis i examin requires : and that this impulse of the air by a suckers dilated thorax , though it be wont to accompany the ascension of the water procured by suction , yet is not of absolute necessity to it , will , i presume , be easily granted , if it can be made out , that even a propagated pulsion , abstracted from any condensation of air , is not so necessarily the cause of it , but that the effect may be produc'd without it . for suppose , that by divine omnipotence so much air as is displac'd by the thorax were annihilated ; yet i see not , why the ascension of the liquor should not ensue . for , when a man begins to suck , there is an aequilibrium , or rather aequipollency between the pressure , which the air , contained in the pipe , ( which is shut up with the pressure of the atmosphere upon it , ) has , by virtue of its spring , upon that part of the surface of the water that is environ'd by the sides of the pipe , and the pressure which the atmospherical air has , by virtue of its weight , upon all the rest of the surface of the stagnant water ; so that , when by the dilatation of the suckers thorax , the air within the cavity of the pipe comes to be rarified , and consequently loose of its spring , the weight of the external air continuing in the mean time the same , it must necessarily happen , that the spring of the internal air will be too weak to compress any longer the gravitation of the external , and consequently , that part of the surface of the stagnant water , that is included in the pipe , being less press'd upon , than all the other parts of the same surfaces must necessarily give way , where it can least , resist , and consequently be impell'd up into the pipe , where the air , having had its spring weakened by expansion , is no longer able to resist , as it did before . this may be illustrated by somewhat varying an instance already given , and conceiving , that within a chamber three men thrust all together with their utmost force against a door , ( which we suppose to have neither bolt nor latch ) to keep it shut , at the same time the three other men have just equal strength , and imploy their force to thrust it open . for though , whilst their opposite endeavours are equal , the door will continue to be kept shut , yet if one of the three men within the room should go away , there will need no new force , nor other accession of strength to the three men , to make them prevail and thrust open the door against the resistance of those that endeavour'd to keep it shut , who are now but two . and here ( upon the by ) you may take notice , that , to raise water in suction , there is no necessity of any rarified and forcibly stretch'd rope , as 't were , of the air , to draw up the subjacent water into the pipe , since the bare debilitation of the spring of the included air may very well serve the turn . and though , if we should suppose the air within the pipe to be quite annihilated , it could not be pretended ( since it would not have so much as existence ) that it exercises an attractive power ; yet in this case the water would ascend into the pipe , without the assistance of natures imaginary abhorrence of a vacuum , but by a mechanical necessity , plainly arising from this , that there would be a pressure of the incumbent atmosphere upon the rest of the surface of the stagnant water , and no pressure at all upon that part of the surface that is within the pipe , where consequently there could be no resistance made to the ascension of the water , every where else strongly urg'd by the weight of the incumbent air. i shall add on this occasion , that , to shew some inquisitive men , that the weak resistance within a vessel , that had but one orifice expos'd to the water , may much more contribute to the ascension of that liquor into the vessel , than either the compression or the continued or reflected impulse of the external air ; i thought fit to produce a phaenomenon , which by the beholders was without scruple judg'd an effect of suction , and yet could not be ascrib'd to the cause of suction , assign'd by either of the sects of philosophers i dissent from . the experiment was this : by a way , elsewhere deliver'd , the long neck of a glass-bubble was seal'd up , and almost all the air had been by heat driven out of the whole cavity of the bubble or vial , and then the glass was laid aside for some hours , or as long as we pleas'd ; afterwards the seal'd apex of the neck was broken off under water : i demand now of a peripatetic , whether the liquor ought to be suck'd or drawn into the cavity of the glass , and why ? if he says , as questionless he will , that the water would be attracted to hinder a vacuum , he would thereby acknowledge , that , 'till the glass was unstopt under water , there was some empty space in it ; for , 'till the sealed end was broken off , the water could not get in , and therefore , if the fuga vacui had any thing to do in the ascension , the liquor must rise , not to prevent an empty space , but to fill one that was made before . nor does our experiment much more favour the other philosophers , i dissent from : for in it there is no dilatation made of the sides of the glass , as in ordinary suction there is made of the thorax , but only there is so much air driven out of the cavity of the bubble , into whose room since neither common air nor water is permitted to succeed , it appears not , how the propagated and returning impulse , or the circle of motion , as to common air and water , does here take place . and then i demand , what becomes of the air , that has been by heat driven out , and is by the hermetical seal kept out of the cavity of the bubble ? if it be said , that it diffuses it self into the ambient air , and mingles with it , that will be granted which i contended for , that so little air as is usually displac'd in suction cannot make any considerable compression of the free ambient air ; for , what can one cubic inch of air , which is sometimes more than one of our glasses contains , do , to the condensation so much as of all the air in the chamber , when the expell'd corpuscles are evenly distributed among those of the ambient . and how comes this inconsiderable condensation to have so great an effect in every part of the room , as to be able there to impel into the glass as much water in extent as the whole air that was driven out of the cavity of it ? but if it be said , that the expell'd air condens'd only the contiguous or very neighbouring air , 't is easie to answer , that 't is no way probable , that the expell'd particles of the air should not by the differing motions of the ambient air be quickly made to mingle with it , but should rather wait ( which if it did we sometimes made it do for many hours ) 'till the vessels whence 't was driven out were unstopp'd again . but , though this could probably be pretended , it cannot truly be asserted . for if you carry the seal'd glass quite out of the room or house , and unstop it at some other place , though two or three miles distant ; the ascension of the water will , ( as i found by tryal ) nevertheless insue ; in which case i presume , it will not be said , that the air , that was expell'd out of the glass , and condens'd the contiguous or near contiguous air , attended the bubble in all its motions , and was ready at hand to impel-in the water , as soon as the seal'd apex of the vial was broken off . but i doubt not , but most of the embracers of the opinion i oppose , being learned and ingenuous persons , if they had been acquainted with these and the like phaenomena , would rather have changed their opinion about suction , than have gone about to defend it by such evasions , which i should not have thought worth proposing , if i had not met with objections of this nature publickly maintain'd by a learned writer , on occasion of the air 's rushing into the exhausted magdenburgic engine . but as in our experiment these objections have no place , so in our hypothesis the explication is very easie , as will anon be intimated . chap. iii. having thus shewn , that the ascension of water upon suction may be caus'd otherwise than by the condensation or the propagated pulsion of air contiguous to the suckers thorax , and thrust out of place by it ; it remains that i shew , ( which was one of the two things i chiefly intended , ) that there may be cases wherein the cause , assign'd in the hypothesis i am examining , will not have place . but this will be better understood , if , before i proceed to the proof of it , i propose to you the thoughts , i had many years since , and do still retain , about the cause of the ascension of liquors in suction . to clear the way to the right understanding of the ensuing discourse , it will not be amiss here to premise a summary intimation of some things that are suppos'd in our hypothesis . we suppose then first , without disputing either the existence or the nature of elementary air , that the common air we breath in , and which i often call atmospherical air , abounds with corpuscles not devoid of weight , and indowed with elasticity or springiness , whereby the lower parts , comprest by the weight of the upper , incessantly endeavour to expand themselves , by which expansion , and in proportion to it , the spring of the air is weaken'd , ( as other springs are wont to be ) the more they are permitted to stretch themselves . next , we suppose , that the terraqueous globe , being inviron'd with this gravitating and springy air , has its surface and the bodies plac'd on it prest by as much of the atmosphere as either perpendicularly leans on them , or can otherwise come to bear upon them . and this pressure is by the torricellian and other experiments found to be equivalent to a perpendicularly erected cylinder of about twenty nine or thirty inches of quicksilver , ( for the height is differing , as the gravity of the atmosphere happens to be various . ) lastly , we suppose , that , air being contain'd in a pipe or other hollow body that has but one orifice open to the free air , if this orifice be hermetically seal'd , or otherwise ( as with the mouth of one that sucks ) clos'd , the now included air , whilst it continues without any farther expansion , will have an elasticity equivalent to the weight of as much of the outward air as did before press against it . for , if the weight of the atmosphere , to which it was then expos'd , had been able to compress it further , it would have done so , and then the closing of the orifice , at which the internal and external air communicated , as it fenc'd the included air from the pressure of the incumbent , so it hindred the same included air from expanding it self ; so that , as it was shut up with the pressure of the atmosphere upon it , that is in a state of as great compression as the weight of the atmosphere could bring it to , so , being shut up and thereby kept from weakening that pressure by expansion , it must retain a springiness equipollent to the pressure 't was expos'd to before , which ( as i just now noted ) was as great as the weight ● the incumbent pillar of the atmosphere could make it . but if , as was said in the first supposition , the included air should come to be dilated or expanded , the spring being then unbent , its spring , like that of other elastical bodies , would be debilitated answerably to that expan●ion . to me then it seems , that , speaking in general , liquors are upon suction raised into the cavities of pipes and other hollow bodies , when , and so far as , there is a less pressure on the surface of the liquor in the cavity , than on the surface of the external liquor that surrounds the pipe , whether that pressure on those parts of the external liquor , that are from time to time impell'd up into the orifice of the pipe , proceed from the weight of the atmosphere , or the propagated compression or impulse of some parts of the air , or the spring of the air , or some other cause , as the pressure of some other body quite distinct from air. upon the general view of this hypothesis , it seems very consonant to the mechanical principles . for , if there be on the differing parts of the surface of a fluid body unequal pressures , 't is plain , as well by the nature of the thing , as by what has been demonstrated by archimedes , and his commentators , that the greater force will prevail against the lesser , and that that part of the waters surface must give way , where it is least prest . so that that , wherein the hypothesis i venture to propose to you , differs from that which i dissent from , is not , that mine is less mechanical ; but partly in this , that , whereas the hypothesis , i question , supposes a necessity of the protrusion or impulse of the air , mine does not require that supposition , but , being more general , reaches to other ways of procuring the ascension of liquors , without raising them by the impulse of the air ; and partly , and indeed chiefly , in that the hypothesis , i decline , makes the cause of the ascension of liquors to be only the increased pressure of the air external to the pipe ; and i chiefly make it to depend upon the diminished pressure of the air within the pipe , on the score of the expansion 't is brought to by suction . to proceed now to some experiments that i made in favour of this hypothesis , i shall begin with that which follows : we took a glass-pipe bended like a syphon , but so that the shorter legg was as parallel to the longer as we could get it made , and was hermetically seal'd at the end : into this syphon we made a shift ( for 't is not very easie ) to convey water , so that the crooked part being held downwards , the liquor reach'd to the same height in both the leggs , and yet there was about an inch and half of uncomprest air shut up in the shorter legg . this little instrument ( for 't was but about fifteen inches long ) being thus prepar'd , 't is plain , that according to the hypothesis i dissent from , there is no reason , why the water should ascend upon suction . for , though we should admit , that the external air were considerably comprest , or received a notable impulse , when the suckers chest is enlarged ; yet in our case that compression or protrusion will not reach the surface of the water in the shorter legg , because it is there fenc'd from the action of the external air by the sides of the glass , and the hermetical seal at the top . and yet , if one suck'd strongly at the open orifice in the longer legg , the water in the shorter would be deprest ; and that in the longer ascended at one suck about an inch and half : of which the reason is clear in our hypothesis . for , the spring of the included air , together with the weight of the water in the shorter legg , and the pressure of the atmospherical air , assisted by the weight of the liquor in the longer legg , counter-ballanced one another before the suction began : but , when afterwards upon suction the air in the longer legg came to be dilated and thereby weaken'd , 't was render'd unable to resist the undiminish'd pressure of the air included in the shorter legg , which consequently expanding it self by vertue of its elasticity , deprest the contiguous water , and made it proportionably rise in the opposite legg , 'till by the expansion its spring being more and more weaken'd , it arrived at an equipollency with the gravitation or pressure of the atmosphere . which last clause contains the reason , why , when the person that suckt had rais'd the water in the longer legg less than three inches higher by repeated endeavours to suck , and that without once suffering the water to fall back again , he was not able to elevate the water in the longer , so much as three inches above its first station . and if in the shorter legg there was but an inch and a quarter of space left for the air unfill'd by the water , by divers skilfully reiterated acts of suction he could not raise the liquor in the longer legg above two inches ; because by that time the air included in the shorter legg had , by expanding it self further and further , proportionably weaken'd its spring , 'till at length it became as rarified , as was the air in the cavity of the longer legg , and consequently was able to thrust away the water with no more force than the air in the long legg was able to resist . and by the recited tryal it appear'd , that the rarefaction usually made of air by suction is not near so great , as one would expect , problably because by the dilatation of the lungs the air , being still shut up , is but moderately rarified , and the air in the longer legg can by them be brought to no greater degree of rarity , than that of the air within the chest. for , whereas the included air in our instrument was not expanded , by my estimate , at one suck to above the double of its former dimensions , and by divers successive sucks was expanded but from one inch and an half to less than four inches and an half , if the suction could have been conveniently made with a great and stanch syringe , the rarefaction of the air would probably have been far greater ; since in our pneumatick engin air may , without heat , and by a kind of suction , be brought to possess many hundreds of times the space it took up before . from this rarefaction of the air in both the leggs of our instrument proceeds another phaenomenon , readily explicable by our hypothesis . for if , when the water was impell'd up as high as the suction could raise it ; the instrument were taken from th● suckers mouth , the elevated water would with violence return to its wonted station . for , the air , in both the leggs of the instrument , having by the suction loft much of the spring , and so of its power of pressing ; when once the orifice of the longer legg was left open , the atmospherical air came again to gravitate upon the water in that legg , and the air , included in the other legg , having its spring debilitated by the precedent expansion , was not able to hinder the external air from violently repelling the elevated water , 'till the included air was thrust into the space it possess'd before the suction ; in which space it had density and elasticity enough to resist the pressure , that the external air exercis'd against it through the interpos'd water . but our hypothesis about the cause of suction would not need to be solicitously prov'd to you by other ways , if you had seen what i have sometimes been able to do in our pneumatick engin. for , there we found by tryals purposely devis'd , and carefully made , that a good syringe being so conveyed into our receiver , that the open orifice of the pipe or lower part was kept under water , if the engin were exhausted , though the handle of the syringe were drawn up , the water would not follow it , which yet it would do if the external air were let in again . the reason of which is plain in our hypothesis . for , the air , that should have prest upon the surface of the stagnant water , having been pumpt out , there was nothing to impell up the water into the deserted cavity of the syringe , as there was when the receiver was fill'd with air. chap. iv. but because such a conveniency as our engin , and the apparatus necessary for such tryals are not easily procurable , i shall endeavour to confirm our hypothesis about suction by subjoining some experiments , that may be tryed without the help of that engin , for the making out these three things : i. that a liquor may be rais'd by suction , when the pressure of the air , neither as it has weight nor elasticity , is the cause of the elevation . ii. that the weight of the atmospherical air is sufficient to raise up liquors in suction . iii. that in some cases suction will not be made , as , according to the hypothesis i dissent from , it should , although there be a dilatation of the suckers thorax , and no danger of a vacuum though the liquor should ascend . and first , to shew , how much the rising of liquors in suction depends upon the weight or pressure of the impellent body , and how little necessity there is , where that pressure is not wanting , that , in the place deserted by the liquor that is suck'd , there should succeed air or some other visible body , as the peripatetic schools would have it ; to ●hew this , i say , i thought on the following experiments . we took a glass-pipe fit to have the torricellian experiment made with it , but a good deal longer than was necessary for that use : this pipe being hermetically seal'd at one end , the other end was so bent as to be reflected upwards , and make as it were the shorter legg of the syphon as parallel as we could to the longer , so that the tube now was shap'd like an inverted syphon with leggs of a very unequal length . this tube , notwithstanding its inconvenient figure , we made a shift , ( for 't is not easily done ) to fill with mercury , when 't was in an inclin'd posture , and then erecting it , the mercury subsided in the longer legg , as in the torricellian experiment , and attain'd to between two foot and a quarter and two foot and an half above the surface of the mercury in the shorter legg , which in this instrument answers to the stagnant mercury in an ordinary barometer , from which to distinguish it i have elswhere call'd this syphon , furnish'd with mercury , a travelling baroscope , because it may be safely carried from place to place . out of the shorter legg of this tube we warily took as much mercury as was thought convenient for what we had further to do , and this we did by such a way as to hinder any air from getting into the deserted cavity of the longer legg , by which means the mercurial cylinder , ( estimated as i lately mention'd ) retain'd the same height above the stagnant mercury in the shorter : the upper and clos'd part of this travelling baroscope you will easily grant to have been free from common air , not only for other reasons that have been given elsewhere , but particularly for this , that , if you gently incline the instrument , the quicksilver will ascend to the top of the tube ; which you know it could not do , if the place , formerly deserted by it , were possest by the air , which by its spring would hinder the ascension of the mercury , ( as is easie to be tryed . ) the instrument having been thus fitted , i caus'd one of the by-standers to suck at the shorter legg , whereupon ( as i expected ) there presently ensued an ascension of four or five inches of mercury in that legg , and a proportionable subsidence of the mercury in the longer , and yet in this case the raising of the mercury cannot be pretended to proceed from the pressure of the air. for , the weight of the atmosphere is fenc'd off by that , which closes the upper end of the longer tube , and the spring of the air has here nothing to do , since , as we have lately shewn , the space deserted by the mercury is not possest by the included air , and the pulsion or condensation of the air , suppos'd by divers modern philosophers to be made by the dilatation of the suckers chest , and to press upon the surface of the liquors that are to be suck'd up , this , i say , cannot here be pretended in regard the surface of the liquor in the longer legg is every way fenc'd from the pressure of the ambient air. so that it remains , that the cause , which rais'd the quicksilver in the shorter legg upon the newly recited suction , was the weight of the collaterally superiour quicksilver in the longer legg , which , being ( at the beginning of the suction ) equivalent to the weight of the atmosphere , there is a plain reason , why the stagnant mercury in the shorter legg should be rais'd some inches by suction ; as mercury stagnant in an open vessel will be rais'd by the weight of the atmosphere , when the suction is made in the open air. for , in both cases there is a pipe , that reaches to the stagnant mercury , and a competent weight to impel it into that pipe ; when the air in the cavity of the pipe has its spring weaken'd by the dilatation that accompanied suction . the second point formerly propos'd , which is , that the weight of the air is sufficient to raise liquors in suction ; may not be ill prov'd by arguments legitimately drawn from the torricellian experiment it self , and much more clearly by the first and fifteenth of our continued physico-mechanical experiments . and therefore i shall only here take notice of a phaenomenon , that may be exhibited by the travelling baroscope , which , though it be much inferiour to the experiments newly referr'd to , may be of some use on the present occasion . having then provided an instrument like the travelling baroscope , mention'd under the former head , but whose leggs were not so unequally long , and having in it made the torricellian experiment after the manner lately describ'd ; we order'd the matter so , that there remain'd in the shorter legg the length of divers inches unfill'd with stagnant mercury . then i caus'd one , vers'd in what he was to do , so to raise the quicksilver by suction to the open orifice of the shorter legg , that , the orifice being seasonably and dexterously closed , the mercury continued to fill that legg , as long as we thought fit ; and then having put a mark to the surface of the mercury in the longer legg , we unstopp'd the orifice of the shorter ; whereupon the mercury , that before fill'd it , was depress'd , 'till the same liquor in the longer legg was rais'd five inches or more above the mark , and continu'd at that height . i said , that the mercury that had been raised by suction , was depress'd , rather than that it subsided , because its own weight could not here make it fall , since a mercurial cylinder of five inches was far from being able to raise so tall a cylinder of mercury as made a counterpoise in the longer legg ; and therefore the depression we spea●● of , is to be referr'd to the gravitation of the atmospherical air upon the surface of the mercury in the shorter legg : and i see no cause to doubt but that , if we could have procured an instrument , into whose shorter legg a mercurial cylinder of many inches higher could have been suck'd up , it would by this contrivance have appear'd , that the pressure of the atmosphere would easily impel up a far taller cylinder of mercury than it did in our recited expe●●ment . that this is no groundless conjecture may appear probable by the experiment you will presently meet with . for if the gravity of an incumbent pillar of the atmosphere be able to compress a parcel of included air as much as a mercurial cylinder , equivalent in weight to between thirty and five and thirty foot of water , is able to condense it , it cannot well be denied that the same atmospherical cylinder may be able by its weight to raise and counter-ballance eight or nine and twenty inches of quicksilver , or an equivalent pillar of water in tubes , where the resistance of these two liquors to be rais'd and sustain'd by the air , depends only upon their own unassisted gravity . to confirm our doctrine of the gravitation of the atmosphere upon the surface of the liquors expos'd to it , i will subjoin an experiment , that i devis'd to shew , that the incumbent air , in its natural or usual state , would compress other air not rarified , but in the like natural state , as much as a cylinder of eight or nine and twenty inches of mercury would condense or compress it . in order to the making of this , i must put you in mind of what i have shewn elsewhere at large , and shall further confirm by one of the experiments that follows the next ; namely , that about twenty nine or thirty inches of quicksilver will compress air , that being in its natural or usual state ( as to rarity and density ) has been shut up in the shorter legg of our travelling or syphon-like baroscope , into half the room that included air possess'd before . this premis'd , i pass on to my experiment , which was this : we provided a travelling baroscope , wherein the mercury in the longer legg was kept suspended by the counterpoise of the air that gravitated on the surface of the mercury in the shorter legg , which we had so order'd , that it reached not by about two inches to the top of the shorter legg . then making a mark at the place where the stagnant mercury rested , 't was manifest according to our hypothesis , that the air. in the upper part of the shorter legg was in its natural state , or of the same degree of density with the outward air , with which it freely communicated at the open orifice of the shorter legg ; so that this stagnant air was equally prest upon by the weight of the collaterally superiour cylinder of mercury in the longer legg , and the equivalent weight of a directly incumbent pillar of the atmosphere . things being in this posture , the upper part of the shorter legg , which had been before purposely drawn out to an almost capillary smallness , was hermetically seal'd , which , though the instrument was kept erected , was so nimbly done by reason of the slenderness of the pipe , that the included air did not appear to be sensibly heated , though for greater caution we staid a while from proceeding , that , if any rarefaction had been produc'd in the air , it might have time to lose it again . this done , we open'd the lower end of the longer legg , ( which had been so order'd before , that we could easily do it , and without concussion of the vessel , ) by which means the atmospherical air , gaining access to the mercury included in the longer legg , did , as i expected , by its gravitation upon it so compress the air included in the shorter legg , that , according to the estimate we made with the help of a ruler , ( for by reason of the conical figure of the upper part of the glass we could not take precise measures , ) it was thrust into near half the room it took up before , and consequently , according to what i put you lately in mind of , endur'd a compression like that , which a mercurial cylinder of about twenty nine inches would have given it . this experiment , as to the main of it , was for greater caution made the second time with much the like success ; and though it had been more easie to measure the condensation of the air , if , instead of drawing out and sealing up the shorter legg of the instrument , we had contented our selves to close it some other way ; yet we rather chose to imploy hermes's seal , lest , if any other course had been taken , it might be pretended , that some of the included air , when it began to be comprest , might escape out at the not perfectly and strongly clos'd orifice of the legg wherein 't was imprison'd . to make it yet further appear , how much the ascension of liquors by suction depends upon pressure , rather than upon natures imaginary abhorrence of a vacuum , or the propagated pulsion of the air ; i will subjoin an instance , wherein that presum'd abhorrence cannot be pretended . the experiment was thus made : a glass-syphon , like those lately describ'd , with one legg far longer than the other , was hermetically seal'd at the shorter legg , and then by degrees there was put in , at the orifice of the longer legg , as much quicksilver as by its weight suffic'd to compress the air in the shorter legg into about half the room it possess'd before ; so that , according to the peripatetick doctrine , the air must be in a state of preternatural condensation , and that to a far greater degree , than ( as i have tryed ) 't is usually brought to by cold , intense enough to freeze water . then measuring the heighth of the quicksilver in the longer tube above the superficies of that in the shorter , we found it not exceed thirty inches . now , if liquors did rise in suction ob fugam vacui , there is no reason , why this quicksilver in the longer part of the syphon should not easily ascend upon suction , at least 'till the air in the shorter legg had regain'd its former dimensions , since it cannot in this place be pretended , that , if the mercury should ascend , there would be any danger of a vacuum in the shorter legg of the tube , in regard that the contiguous included air is ready at hand to succeed as fast as the mercury subsides in the shorter legg of the syphon . nor can it be pretended , that , to fill the place deserted by the quicksilver , the included air must suffer a preternatural rarefaction or discension ; since 't is plain in our case , that on the contrary , as long as the air continues in the state whereto the weight of the quicksilver has reduc'd it , it is kept in a violent state of compression ; since in the shorter legg it was in its natural state , when the mercury , poured into the longer legg , did by its weight thrust it into about half the room it took up before . and yet , having caus'd several persons , one of them vers'd in sucking , to suck diver's times as strongly as they could , they were neither of them able , not so much as for a minute of an hour , to raise the mercury in the longer legg , and make it subside in the shorter for more than about an inch at most . and yet to shew you , that the experiment was not favourably tryed for me , the height of the mercurial cylinder in the longer legg above the surface of that in the shorter legg was , when the suction was tryed , an inch or two shorter than thirty inches , and the comprest air in the shorter legg was so far from having been by the exsuction expanded beyond its natural and first dimensions , that it did not , when the contiguous mercury stood as low as we could make it subside , regain so much as one half of the space it had lost by the precedent compression , and consequently was in a preternatural state of condensation , when it had been freed from that state as far as suction would do it . whence it seems evident , that 't was not ob fugam vacui , that the quicksilver did upon suction ascend one inch ; for , upon the same score it ought to have ascended two , or perhaps more inches , since there was no danger , that by such an ascension any vacuum should be produc'd or left in the shorter legg of the syphon ; whereas , according to our hypothesis , a clear cause of the phaenomenon is assignable . for , before the suction was begun , there was an aequilibrium or equipollency between the weight of the superiour quicksilver in the longer legg , and a spring of the comprest air included in the shorter legg : but when the experimentor began to suck , his chest being widen'd , part of the air included in the upper part of the longer legg pass'd into it , and that which remain'd had by that expansion its pressure so weaken'd , that the air in the shorter legg , finding no longer the former resistance , was able by its own spring to expand it self , and consequently to depress the contiguous mercury in the same shorter legg , and raise it as much in the longer . but here a hydrostatician , that heedfully marks this experiment , may discern a difficulty , that may perhaps somewhat perplex him , and seems to overthrow our explication of the phaenomenon . for he may object , that if the comprest air in the shorter legg had a spring equipollent to the weight of the mercury in the longer legg , it appears not , why the mercury should not be suckt up in this instrument , as well as in the free air ; since , according to me , the pressure of the included air upon the subjacent mercury must be equivalent to the weight of the atmosphere , and yet experience shews , that the weight of the atmosphere will , upon suction , raise quicksilver to the height of several inches . to clear this difficulty , and shew , that , though it be considerable , 't is not at all insuperable , be pleased to consider with me , that i make indeed the spring of the comprest air to be equipollent to the weight of the compressing mercury , and i have a manifest reason to do it ; because , if the spring of the air were not equipollent to that weight , the mercury must necessarily compress the air farther , which 't is granted de facto not to do . but then i consider , that in our case there ought to be a great deal of difference between the operation of the spring of the included air and the weight of the atmosphere , after suction has been once begun . for , the weight of the atmosphere , that impels up mercury and other liquors , when the suction is made in the open air , continues still the same , but the force or pressure of the included air is equal to the counterpressure of the mercury no longer than the first moment of the suction ; after which , the force of the imprison'd air still decreases more and more , since this comprest air , being further and further expanded , must needs have its spring proportionably weaken'd ; so that it need be no wonder , that the mercury was not suckt up any more than we have related ; for there was nothing to make it ascend to a greater height , than that , at which the debilitated spring of the ( included but ) expanded air was brought to an equipollency with the undiminish'd and indeed somewhat increas'd weight of the mercurial cylinder in the longer legg , and the pressure of the aerial cylinder in the same legg , lessen'd by the action of him that suck'd . for whereas , when the orifice of this legg stood open , the mercury was prest on by a cylinder of the atmospherical air , equivalent to about thirty inches of quicksilver ; by the mouth and action of him that suck'd the tube was freed from the external air , and by the dilatation of his thorax , the neighbouring air , that had a free passage through his wind-pipe to it , was proportionably expanded , and had its spring and pressure weaken'd : by which means , the comprest air in the shorter legg of the syphon was inabled to impel up the mercury , 'till the lately mention'd equilibrium or equipollency was attain'd . and i must here take notice , that , as the quicksilver was rais'd by suction but a little way , so the cylinder that was rais'd was a very long one ; whereas , when mercury is suck'd up in the free air , it is seldom rais'd to half that length ; though , as i noted before , the impellent cause , which is the weight of the atmosphere , continued still the same , whereas in our syphon , when the mercury was suck'd up but an inch , the comprest air , possessing double the space it did before , had by this expansion already lost a very considerable part of its former spring and pressure . i should here conclude this discourse , but that i remember a phaenomenon of our pneumatic engin , which to divers learned men , especially aristotelians , seem'd so much to argue , that suction is made either by a fuga vacui , or some internal principle , that divers years ago i thought fit to set down another account of it , and lately meeting with that account among other papers , i shall subjoin it just as i found it , by way of appendix to the foregoing tract . among the more familiar phaenomena of the machina boyliana , ( as they now call it , ) none leaves so much scruple in the minds of some sorts of men , as this , that , when ones finger is laid close upon the orifice of the little pipe , by which the air is wont to pass from the receiver into the exhausted cylinder , the pulp of the finger is made to enter a good way into the cavity of the pipe , which doth not happen without a considerable sense of pain in the lower part of the fing●r . for most of tho● that are strangers to hydrostatic●● especially if they be prepossess'd wi●● the opinions generally receiv'd bot● in the peripatetick and other school● perswade themselves , that they f●● the newly mention'd and painful protuberance of the pulp of the finger to be effected not by pressure , as 〈◊〉 would have it , but distinctly by a●●traction . to this we are wont to answer that common air being a body 〈◊〉 devoid of weight , the phenomeno● is clearly explicable by the pressu●● of it : for , when the finger is fir●● laid upon the orifice of the pipe , no pain nor swelling is produc'd , because the air which is in the pipe presse● as well against that part of the finger which covereth the orifice , as the ambient air doth against the other parts of the same finger . but when by pumping , the air in the pipe , or the most part of it , is made to pass out of the pipe into the exhausted cylinder , then there is nothing left in the pipe , whose pressure can any thing near countervail the undiminish'd pressure of the external air on the other parts of the finger ; and consequently , that air thrusts the most yielding and fleshy part of the finger , which is the pulp , into that place where its pressure is unresisted , that is , into the cavity of the pipe , where this forcible intrusion causeth a pain in those tender parts of the finger . to give some visible illustration of what we have been saying , as well as for other purposes , i thought on the following experiment . we took a glass-pipe of a convenient length , and open at both ends , whose cavity was near about an inch in diameter , ( such a determinate breadth being convenient , though not necessary : ) to one of the ends of this pipe we caused to be firmly tyed on a piece of very fine bladder , that had been ruffled and oyl'd , to make it both very limber and unapt to admit water ; and care was taken , that the piece of bladder tyed on ●hould be large enough , not only to cover the orifice , but to hang loose somewhat beneath it . this done , we put the cover'd end of the pipe into a glass-body ( or cucurbit ) purposely made more than ordinarily tall , and the pipe being held in such manner , as that the end of it reach'd almost , but not quite , to the bottom of the glass-body , we caused water to be poured both into this vessel and into the pipe ( at its upper orifice , which was left open ) that the water might ascend equally enough , both without and within the pipe. and when the glass-body was full of water , and the same liquor was level to it , or a little higher within the pipe , the bladder at the lower orifice was kept plump , because the water within the pipe did by its weight press as forcibly downwards , as the external water in the large glass endeavour'd to press it inwards and upwards . all this being done , we caus'd part of the water in the pipe to be ●aken out of it , ( which may be done either by putting in and drawing out a piece of spunge or of linnen , or more expeditiously by sucking up part of the water with a smaller pipe to be immediately after laid aside ; ) upon which removal of part of the internal water , that which remained in the pipe being no longer able , by reason of its want of weight , to press against the inside of the bladder near as forcibly as it did before , the external water , whose weight was not lessen'd , press'd the sides and bottom of the bladder , whereto it was contiguous , into the cavity of the pipe , and thrusted it up therein so strongly , that the distended bladder made a kind of either thimble or hemisphere within the pipe. so that here we have a protuberance , like that above-mentioned of the finger● effected by pulsion , not attraction● and in a case where there can be no just pretence of having ●●course to natures abhorrance of a vacuum , since , the upper orifice of the pipe being left wide open , the air may pass in and out without resistance . the like swelling of the bladder in the pipe we could procure without taking out any of the internal liquor , by thrusting the pipe deeper into the water ; for then the external liquor , having by reason of its increase of depth a greater pressure on the outside of the bladder , than the internal liquor had on the inside of it , the bladder must yield to the stronger pressure , and consequently be impell'd up . if the bladder lying loofe at the lower end of the pipe , the upper end were carefully clos'd with ones thumb , that the upper air might not get out until the experimentor thought fit , and if the thus clos'd pipe were thrust almost to the bottom of the water , the bladder would not be protuberant inwards , as formerly ; because the included air by virtue of its spring , resisted from within the pressure of the external water against the outside of the bladder : but if the thumb , that stopp'd the pipes upper orifice , were remov'd , the formerly compress'd air having liberty to expand it self , and its elasticity being weaken'd thereby , the external water would with suddenness and noise enough , not to be unpleasant to the spectators , drive up the bladder into the cavity of the pipe , and keep it there very protuberant . to obviate an objection , that i foresaw might be brought in by persons not well vers'd in hydrostaticks , i caus'd the pipe fore-mention'd , or such another , to be so bent near the lower end , as that the orifice of it stood quite on one side , and the parts of the pipe made an angle as near to a right one as he that blew it could bring it to . this lower orifice being fitted with a bladder , and the pipe with its contained liquor being thrust under water after the former manner , the lateral pressure of the water forc'd the bladder into the short and horizontal legg , and made it protuberate there , as it had done when the pipe was straight . lastly , that the experiment might appear not to be confin'd to one liquor ; instead of water we put into the unbent pipe as much red wine ( who●e colour would make it conspicuous ) as was requisit to keep the bladder somewhat swelling outwards , when it was somewhat near the bottom of the water ; and then 't was manifest , that , according as we had foreseen , the superficies of the red liquor in the pipe was a good deal higher than that of the external water , and if the depth of both liquors were proportionably lessen'd , the difference of height betwixt the two surfaces would indeed , as it ought to happen , decrease , but still the surface of the wine would be the higher of the two , because being lighter in specie than the common water , the aequilibrium between the pressures of the two liquors upon the bladder would not be maintain'd , unless a greater height of wine compensated its defect of specifick gravity . and if the pipe was thrust deeper into the water , then the bladder would be made protuberant inwards , as when the pipe had water in it . by which it appears , that these phaenomena , without recourse to attraction , may be explicated barely by the laws of the aequilibrium of liquors . finis . new experiments about the preservation of bodies in vacuo boyliano . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . london , printed by william godbid , and are to be sold by moses pitt , at the angel over against the little north door of st. paul's church . 1674. preface . my willingness to make the bulk of the papers about the hidden qualities of the air less inconsiderable , by things that were of affinity to the subject , inducing me to tumble over some of my adversaria , i met among them with divers loose notes , or short memorials of some experiments i made several years ago ( and some of a fresher date ) about the preservation of bodies by excluding the air , wherefore i was easily perswaded to subjoin these to the additional experiments last recited . for it seems not yet clear , by what manifest quality the exclusion of the air should so much contribute to keep from putrefaction variety of bodies , that are usually found very much disposed to it . and therefore 'till the cause of this preservation be further p●●●●●ated , it may not be altogether impertinent to mention some experiments relating to it . and though these be only such as come now to hand , and were most of them set down rather as notes than relations , yet being faithfully register'd , and most of them having been made in vacuo boyliano ( as they call it ) they will problably be new , and so perhaps not altogether useless to naturalists , who may vary them , and requite me for them , by trying the same experiments , i made by the removal of the air by the bare exclusion of adventitious air. for sometimes through hast i did not , and sometimes for want of conveniency i could not , try , whether the same phaenomena would appear , if the same bodies were shut up with air in them , provided they were diligently kept from all commerce with the air without them . new experiments about the preservation of bodies in vacvo boyliano . exper. i. a piece of roasted rabbet , being exactly clos'd up in an exhausted receiver the sixth of november , was two months and some few days after taken out without appearing to be corrupted , or sensibly alter'd in colour , tast , or smell . exper. ii. a small glass-receiver , being half fill'd with pieces of white-bread , ( part crust and part crumb ) was exhausted , and secur'd the eleventh of march : the receiver being open'd the first of april , part of the bread was shaken out , and appear'd not to have been considerably , if at all sensibly impair'd in that time , save that the outside of some pieces of crumb seem'd to be a little , and but a little , less soft and white than before . there appear'd no drops or the least dew on the inside of the glass . the remaining bread was again secur'd soon after , the eighteenth of april , the bread was taken out again , and tasted much as it did the last time , the crust being also soft , and no drops of water appearing on the inside of the glass . exper. iii. this day ( being the ninth of march ) i open'd a small exhausted and secur'd receiver , wherein , ●bout the ninth of december , that is , about three months ago , we had included some milk : upon opening an access to the air , we found the milk well colour'd , and turn'd partly into a kind of whey , and partly into a kind of soft curd . the tast was not offensive , only a little sowrish like whey , and the smell was not at all stinking , but somewhat like that of sowrish milk. exper. iv. the violet-leaves , that were put up , and freed and secur'd from air the fifth of march , being this day open'd , ( april the seventh ) appear'd not to have chang'd their shape , or colour , or consistence : for , as for their odour , it could not be well judg'd of , because he that included them had , for his own ease , contrary to my express direction , ●rush'd many of them together in thrusting them down ; and by such a violation of their texture , it 's natural for violets to lose their fragrancy , and acquire an earthy smell . exper. v. having carefully placed some violets in an exhausted receiver , of a convenient size and bigness , and secur'd it from immediate commerce with the external air ; the seventh month after we look'd upon them again , and found they were not putrified or resolved into any mucilaginous substance , but kept their shape intire , some of them retaining their colour , but more of them having so lost it , as to look like white violets . exper. vi. november the fifth , we conveyed into a conveniently shap'd receiver some ounces of sheeps-blood , taken from an animal that had been kill'd that afternoon . and after the exhaustion of the air , during which , store of bubbles were generated in the liquor that made it swell notably , the included blood was kept in a place , ( whose warmth we judg'd equal to that of a digestive furnace ) for twenty days ; for one or two of the first of which , the blood seem'd to continue fluid , and of a florid colour , which afterwards degenerated into one that tended more to blackness . on the twenty fifth of november we came to let-in the external , and found it to rush into the receiver , and the glass containing the blood being held in a lightsom place , the most part of the bottom of it seem'd to be thinly overlaid with a coagulated substance of a higher colour than that which swam above it , which yet , though it appeared dark and almost blackish in the glass whilst it was look'd on in the bulk , yet , if it was shook , those parts of it that fell down along the inside of the glass , appear'd of a deep but fair colour . but whilst the blood continued in the glass , it was suppos'd not to stink , since , even when it was poured out , though its smell seem'd to me ( whose organs of smelling are tender ) to have i know not what that was offensive , yet to others it seem'd to smell but as the blood of a newly kill'd dog. exper. vii . some cream being put up and secur'd the seventeenth of march in an exhausted receiver , did this day appear to be more thick and almost butter-like at the top ( whose superficies seem'd rugged ) than otherwhere , and afterwards by being well shaken together in the not inconveniently shap'd glass , was easily enou●● reduc'd to butter , whose butter-milk , by the judgment of those who were more us'd to deal in it than i , appear'd not differing from ordinary butter-milk . and i found it had , like that , a grateful sowrness . the butter was judg'd to be a little sowrer than ordinary , but was not , as they speak , made . [ in the entry of this experiment , blanks were left for the years ; but the tenour of the words , and design of the experiment , and other circumstances , assure me , that the cream continued a year in the vessel . ] exper. viii . february the eighteenth we look'd again upon three vials , that had been exhausted and secur'd the fifteenth of september last , the one of these had in it some slices of roasted beef , and the other some shivers of white bread , and the last some thin pieces of cheese ; all which seem'd to be free from putrefaction , and look'd much as they did when they were first put up : wherefore we thought not fi● to let the air into the receiver , but left them as they were to lengthen the design'd trial. exper. ix . february the eighteenth , there was a fourth vial , wherein about six months before , viz. august the twelfth , had been inclos'd and secur'd some iuly-flowers and a rose ; and yet these being kept in the same place with the rest , though they seemed a little moist , retained their shape and colour , especially the rose , which look'd fresh enough to seem to have been gather'd but lately . n. b. that we observed not in any of these four receivers any great drops , or so much as dew in the upper parts , viz. those that were situated above the included matter . exper. x. iune the fourth we left some strawberries in an exhausted receiver , and coming to look upon them after the beginning of november , we found them to be discolour'd , but not alter'd in shape , nor affording any sign of corruption by being at all mouldy● wherefore we thought fit to leave them still in the receiver for further trial. exper. xi . may the second , 1669 , a piece of roasted beef , secur'd september the fifteenth , appear'd to be not at all alter'd : as did likewise a piece of cheese secur'd in another receiver ; and some pieces of a french rose the same day ( september the fifteenth ) secur'd in a third . n. b. the flowers seal'd up august the twelfth , 1668 , being this day look'd upon , appear'd fresh , and consequently did so after having been kept eight months and an half . exper. xii . there was taken beer of eight shillings a barrel , of a year old , near a pint of which , iune the seventeenth , was put into a conveniently shap'd glass , and it was afterwards exhausted and secur'd from the air ; the most part of the month of august prov'd extraordinarily hot . towards the latter end there was at several times great thunder , which made the beer in our cellar , and in most of those of the neighbourhood , turn soure . the first of september , the beer was open'd , but did not seem to have degenerated into any soureness . exper. xiii . being desirous to try , whether the thunder would have such effect upon ale exactly stopp'd in glass-vessels , as it often has on that liquor in the ordinary wooden casks ; i caus'd some ale moderately strong to be put into a conveniently shap'd receiver , and having exhausted the air and secur'd a glass-vessel , 't was put into a quiet , but not cool , place : last week , which was about six weeks after the liquor had been inclos'd , there happening some very loud thunder , and our beer , though the cask was kept in a good cellar , being generally noted to have been turn'd soure after this thunder ; i staid yet a day or two longer , that the operation upon our included liquor might be the more certain and manifest ; and then permitting an access to the outward air , we took out the ale , and found it to be good drink , and not at all soured . compare this with the wish made in the essay of the great efficacy of effluviums , chap. 5. pag. 28. that such an experiment should be tried . exper. xiv . september the twenty first , 1670 , some blackberries , included in an exhausted receiver , were open'd iune the twentieth , 1673 , and were found free from all mouldiness and ill sent , only there was found some liquor that was soure , which being taken out the berries were secur'd again . [ at the same time was another 〈◊〉 of the same berries exactly clos'd up i● a receiver , whence the air was 〈◊〉 pump'd , to try what difference in the event would appear by this variation . but , coming in october the eleventh , 1673 , to look upon the glass , we found it crack'd , and the fruit all cover'd over with a thick mould . nor was this the only vessel wherein trials , made to reserve fruits , without any exhaustion of the air , miscarried . ] october the eleventh , 1674 , the sam● berries , being look'd upon , appear'd to have their colour alter'd , and much less black than before , but did not appear putrefied by either loss of shape , or by any stinking smell , nor was the least mouldiness observed to be on them , though they had been kept in the same receiver above four year . that fructus horarii , especially so tender and juicy ones , should without any additament be preserved from putrefaction so many times longer than otherwise they would have lasted , as 't is more than would be expected , so it may give hopes , that both odd add useful things of this kind may be this way performed . postscript . the foregoing experiments , as the memorials themselves declare , were all of them made in vacu● boyliano , nor did i intend to set down any other : but meeting among those memorials with a short account of a couple of trials made without the help of our pneumatic engine , i was induc'd to annex them , because many may make the like , that will not be able to make such as have been hitherto recited . and these two requiring no peculiarly shap'd vessels , 't is thought , it may prove of some oeconomical as well as physical use , if it be shewn by experience , that liquors hermetically-seal'd the ordinary way in common bolt-heads may be kept from souring very much beyond their usual time of lasting . iune the fourteenth we put a convenient quantity of good ale into a bolt-head , and seal'd it up hermetically ; the next year , on the fifth of iuly , we broke off the seal , and found the liquor very good and without any sensible sowreness . the next day it was seal'd up again and set by for thirteen months , at which time the neck of the glass being broken , the ale was found pretty sowre , and therefore the trial was prosecuted no farther : so that , though this liquor would not by this way of preservation be kept from sowring so long as the wine , to be mention'd in the following experiment , yet even a small quantity of it was preserved good at the least above a year , which is very much longer than ale is wont to keep from sowring . iune the fourteenth , 1670 , in a large bolt-head was hermetically seal'd up about a pint , by guess , o● french claret-wine , which , when we came to look upon , iuly the fifth , 1671 , appear'd very clear and high colour'd , and had deposited store of feces at the bottom of the glass , but fasten'd no tartar that we could perceive to the sides . upon the breaking of the seal'd end of the glass , the by●standers thought , that there was an eruption of included air or steams , and , above the surface of the wine , there appear'd , to a pretty height , a certain white smoak almost like a mist , and then gradually vanished : the wine continued well-tasted , and was a little rough upon the tongue , but not at all sowre . the bolt-head was seal'd up again iuly the sixth 1671 , and so set by 'till august the fifth 1672 , at which time it was open'd again , and then the wine did still tast very well . iune the twenty sixth 1673 , the bolt-head with the same claret-wine was open'd , and was found very good , and was seal'd up again . october the eleventh 1674 , the same claret-wine was open'd again , and appear'd of a good colour , not sowre , but seem'd somewhat less spirituous than other good claret-wine , perhaps because of the cold weather . this , and the foregoing trial about the preservation of ale , were made in mr. oldenburg's house and presence . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29052-e380 in a paper aboue subterraneal steams . see the experiment in the discourse of the determinate nature of effluviums . notes for div a29052-e2640 varenius . lib. 1. geograph . vnivers . therm● omnes forè qu●● novimus fiu● cess●tione f●uunt exceptis piperini● germania , &c. amer. lib. v. cap. 7. notes for div a29052-e3630 lib. iii. cap. 6. agric. de vet. & nov. met. lib. ii. cap. 15. j. gerhard . professor tubingensis , decad. quaest. physico chymicarum , pag. m. 18. voyage du sicur au peru , pag. 15. johan . gerhardus in decade quastion●●● pag. ●● 19. notes for div a29052-e5060 this was made at oxford . notes for div a29052-e5780 credo , ( says mr. hobbes in his dialogus physicus : ) nam motus hic restitutionis , hobbii est , & ab illo primo & solo explicatus in lib. de corpore , cap. 21. art. 1. sine qua hypothesi , quantuscunque labor , ars , sumptus , ad rerum naturali● invisibiles causas inveniendas adhibeatur , frustra erit . and speaking of the gentlemen ( to whom it were not here proper for me to give epith●tes ) that us'd to meet at gresham-college , and are known by the name of the royal society , he thus treats them and their way of inquiring into nature : conveniant , studia conserant , experimenta faciant quantum volunt , nisi & principiis utantur meis , nihil preficient . a. fateris ergo nihil hactenus à collegis tuis promotam esse scientium causarum naturalium , nisi quod unus eorum machinam ●nvenerit , quâ motus excitari aeris possit talis , ut partes sphaerae simul undiquaque tendant ad centrum , & ut hypotheses hobbianae , antè quidem satis probabiles , hinc reddantur probabiliores . b. nec fateri pudet ; nam est aliquid prodire tenus , si non datur ultra . a. quid tenus ? quorsum autem tantus apparatus & sumptus machinarum factu difficilium , ut eatenus tantum prodiretis quantum ante prodierat hobbius ? cur n●n inde potiùs incepistis ubi ille defiit ? cur principiis ab illo positis non estis usi ? cumque aristoteles rectè dixit , ignorato motu ignorari naturam , &c. — ad causas autem , propter quas proficere ne paululum quidem potu●stis , nec poteritis , accedunt etiam aliae , ut odium hobbii , &c. de nat. aeris , p. 13. notes for div a29052-e14060 * see cont. of phys. mech . exp. the 15 th exp. see the authors defence of the doctrine touching the spring and weight of the air , against fr. linus , chap. 5. the general history of the air designed and begun by the honble. robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1692 approx. 511 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 137 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28985 wing b3981 estc r11260 13572026 ocm 13572026 100378 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28985) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 100378) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 836:21) the general history of the air designed and begun by the honble. robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. xii, 259, [1] p. printed for awnsham and john churchill ..., london : 1692. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng air -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-06 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-08 andrew kuster sampled and proofread 2006-08 andrew kuster text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the general history of the air , designed and begun by the honble robert boyle esq . imprimatur . june 29. 1692. robert southwell , p. r. s. london , printed for awnsham and john churchill , at the black swan in pater-noster-row , near amen-corner . mdcxcii . advertisement of the publisher to the reader . the design of the following papers the author 's own preface will acquaint thee with . and though , as thou wilt there see , his expectation of assistance ( in a work too great for one single man's vndertaking ) from others fail'd him ; yet i doubt not but his own experiments and collections would have made this treatise much larger before it had been published , had his health allowed him opportunity : but that permitting him not so much as to review these papers , or range them into that order , which would be most advantageous , thou art not to wonder , if thou findest some defects , some dislocations , and other faults in this publication , which the author's last hand would have prevented . the negligence of transcribers has let slip the characters of relators , and names and places of author's from whom several of the particulars in the following papers were taken : nor could it be hoped that the authors own memory ( were he in a state of health fit to be troubled with it ) should after so long a time as this collection has been making , and in that variety of men and books he has had to do with , be able to retrieve them . but this will be no great loss to the learned world , which is sufficiently acquainted with his great cantion , and will make no difficulty confidently to rely upon his unaffected candor and sincerity . i know not how much some other parts of his noble , and always busy designs for the advancement of knowledg , and the benefit of mankind , may suffer by that tenderness of his constitution , which the importunity of his friends can hardly prevail upon him to withdraw from philosophical cares . but this he has ordered so , that imperfect as it is , one cannot call it deficient ; since the foundation being here laid , and the draught made , every one may , if he please , add towards the compleating of the building , i will not say with materials equal to what his sagacity and laboratory used to afford : for we must not expect to find in every age a man able and ready to lay out so much cost , pains and skill , frankly , for the improvement of natural philosophy , and the information of the world , as he has done . the scheme of titles under which these materials for a history of the air are ranged , is somewhat different from that printed by him several years since , and distributed amongst his friends . but this is without any prejudice to the main design , since whatsoever any one hath collected under those heads , will be easily reducible to these , which in a more natural order are more comprehensive . in that first draught he followed my lord bacon's advice , not to be over-curious or nice in making the first set of heads , but to take them as they occur . but now that thus much comes to be published , which perhaps may serve to some men as a common place for the history of the air , the titles have been a little more increased or methodized , to which any one may add as he finds occasion : only in these the reader is desired to observe , i. that under the title of mineral substances , are comprehended earth , and all other fossiles to avoid multiplying of articles . ii. that when any mixed body is ranked under animal , vegetable , or mineral substances , it is put under that of the three which either it partakes most of , or to which most is owing in the present experiment , or which in its own nature it most resembles . iii. that it is not by an over-sight that lightning is put under two different titles ; for in one it is considered only in reference to the sight ; in the other it is considered as the product of sulphureous or inflamable effluviums taking fire , with the strange effects it produces ; which may be an example of puting the same thing with different views , under different heads . what is abovesaid was written whilst the author was living , to which it is necessary now to add , that the titles , as here printed , and the orders of the papers , as now ranged under them , were shewn to the author , and approved by him as fitter for the general history of the air , than those he had formerly printed . so that , reader , thou hast these papers as they were prepared and ordered to be published in his life-time ; and they had then gone to the press to be printed , just as thou now receivest them , had not the publisher the last winter been hastily called out of town . the contents of the several titles of the history of the air . title 1. what we understand by the air , page 1 title 2. of the constant and permanent ingredients of the air , 2 title 3. of the aether in the atmosphere , 9 title 4. of the springy particles of the air , and the spring of the air , 11 title 5. of the magnetical particles in the air , 15 title 6. of the destruction , generation , absorption and extrication of the air , 17 title 7. of the accidental or less constant ingredients of the air , 27 title 8. of aqueous particles in the air , and of the moisture and driness of the air , 29 title 9. of clouds , mists and fogs , 36 title 10. of terrestrial steams in the air , 37 title 11. of salts in the air , 39 title 12. of sulphur and inflamable particles in the air , and of lightning , and its effects , 60 title 13. of celestial influences or effluviums in the air , 67 title 14. of the height of the atmosphere , 83 title 15. of the motion of the air , and of winds , 84 title 16. of the air as the medium of sounds , and of sounds and noises in the air , and particularly thunder ; and of the air 's operation on the sounds of bodies , 89 title 17. of the weight of the air , 90 title 18. of the consistency of the air , its rarity , density , fluidity , subtilty , 148 title 19. of the heat and coldness of the air , 150 title 20. of the air in reference to light , its perspituity , opacity , reflections , refractions , colours , light and lightning , 189 title 21. of the operation of the air on the consistency of animal substances , 201 title 22. of the operation of the air on the consistency of vegetable substances , 204 title 23. of the operation of the air on the consistency of mineral substances , 206 title 24. of the air in reference to fire and flame , 208 title 25. of the air in reference to fermentation , 210 title 26. of the air as the receptacle of odours , 211 title 27. of the operation of the air on the odours of animal substances , 212 title 28. of the operation of the air on the odours of vegetable substances , 214 title 29. of the operation of the air on the odours of mineral substances , 215 title 30. of the operation of the air on the tastes of animal substances , 216 title 31. of the operations of the air on the tastes of vegetable substances , 217 title 32. of the operations of the air on the tastes of mineral substances , 218 title 33. of the operations of the air on the colours of animal substances , 219 title 34. of the operations of the air on the colours of vegetable substances , 220 title 35. of the operations of the air on the colours of mineral substances , 222 title 36. of the air destroying or introducing other less obvious qualities into animal substances , 229 title 37. of the air destroying or introducing other less obvious qualities into vegetable substances , 230 title 38. of the air destroying or introducing other less obvious qualities into mineral substances , 232 title 39. of the air in reference to the propagation and vegetation of plants , 234 title 40. of the air in reference to the generation , life and health of animals , 235 title 41. of heavy bodies sustained in , or taken up into the air , 251 title 42. of dew , 252 title 43. of rain , 253 title 44. of hail , 255 title 45. of snow , 256 title 46. of other things falling out of the air , 257 title 47. promiscuous experiments and observations of the air , 258 title 48. desiderata in the history of the air , and proposals towards supplying them , 259 the preface . the continual vse of the air is so absolutely necessary to our life ; the good or bad temperature of it is so important to our health ; and the scarce evitable presence and powerful pressure of it , has so great an interest in many of the phaenomena we meet with here below , and even in divers where its agency is not suspected ; that among mere bodies there are perhaps few subjects that more deserve our curiosity , whether as we are animals , or as we are naturalists . upon which account i can scarce think that any thing that conduces to the fuller knowledg of a body so diffused , so necessary , and so powerful , is fit to be despised , or is unworthy to be preserved in writing . and therefore , though i have formerly had occasion to treat , in distinct tracts , of some of the qualities or affections of the air , as its gravity , springiness , &c. yet i found my self inclined to contribute further to the knowledg of that vast and useful subject , by setting down some memorials , partly out of my own observations and trials , and partly out of those i had from persons of good credit , concerning some causes and effects of the changes of the air , and consequently concerning several of its qualities that were requisite to be taken into consideration in a work of that nature . and not content with this , though my own studies and affairs would not permit me to prosecute my self the design i am going to mention , yet thinking it might be a very useful thing , in reference both to philosophy and physick , that a natural history of the air ( though at first it should prove but a very imperfect one ) were faithfully compiled , i propounded the design to some virtuosi that seem'd to relish it , and undertook to be assistant in it . and to facilitate their work , i drew up a set of heads and inquiries of that sort , which in another paper i call titles of the first classis or order ; which , tho purposely set down without any anxious method , were comprehensive enough to have a good number and variety of particulars conveniently referr'd to them . but afterwards finding the persons to whom i had committed these schemes , to have been for many years very unmindful of their promises ; i did on this discouragement lay aside , not only the hopes of a general history of the air , but what i had already written about the changes of that body . and upon the same accounts , those scattered notes lay many years in loose neglected papers , till at length the curiosity and desires of some virtuosi , that knew i had gathered some remarks , though few and incoherent , touching some qualities of the air , obliged me to draw together those that without a troublesome search i could retrieve , offering themselves to promote the design that others had abandon'd . the desire to gratify these inquisitive men , and the conviction i am brought under , by such reasons as are mentioned at the beginning of this paper , that scarce any truth , whether historical or doctrinal , that relates to so important a subject as the air , is unfit to be preserv'd , prevail'd with me , rather to chuse a very disadvantageous way of setting down what i have to deliver about it , than suffer the loose observations i had occasion to make about some phanomena and qualities , and especially the changes of the air , to be lost . and therefore , though i have not the leisure to methodize my incoherent notes , and much less to weave them into continued discourses ; yet rather than let them perish , and disappoint those that will have them such as they are , i am content to refer to some of the titles prefixed to this treatise , as to a kind of common places , what my memory , or some old notes about divers things relating to the air , and especially to the causes and effects of its changes , supply me with in reference to that body . and upon the like account , i have not strictly confined my self to the mention of my loose observations , and those that i have been furnished with by answers to the questions i put to divers travellers and navigators : but i have also cast in several pertinent passages that chanced to occur to me in the reading of some voyages , and other books , especially such as either are out of print , or are but in few hands , or else are not extant in those that are called the learned languages . and that those virtuosi that are willing to contribute their industry to carry on the design that was at first proposed , might have some heads whereunto to refer what shall occur to them ; i thought fit to premise to my papers the above-mentioned scheme , or rough draught , of the general history ( which after many years i chanced to recover . ) i have also thought fit , that under three or four titles , my collections of particulars should be somewhat large and methodical , to afford the same persons some specimens of what i should have thought requisite to do upon particular subjects , if i would have ventur'd upon such a task , as to write a natural history of the air. i am not ignorant that i expose my self to censure , for suffering to pass out of my hands , memoirs so maimed and imperfect , that several of the subjects mentioned in the scheme of titles are left altogether untouch'd ; and those that are particularly mentioned , are for the most part touch'd upon but lightly . but the chief , though not perhaps the only reasons that kept me from being silenc'd by these considerations , though i confess them to be weighty , were these . first , that not pretending to write the history of the air , but only some memoirs for it ; i might without incongruity or indecency contribute what had occurr'd to me in reference to some of the titles , though i left the others to those that had made experiments or observations about them . next , that having through the fraud or negligence of some persons , lost sundry loose papers that i had provided for the history of the air , my unwillingness that the rest should undergo the same fate , invited me to impart them to many , as the best expedient to secure them . to which i , thirdly , add an inducement , which though last named , was the first in efficacy , as that which made the other two significant ; namely , that i had more than once observed , that when a work of this nature has been once begun and taken notice of , in such an inquisitive and active age as this of ours , it seldom fails to excite the curiosity and industry of others , whom , if the design be any thing well laid , the utility that it promises will invite to carry it on . title i. what we understand by the air . by the air i commonly understand that thin , fluid , diaphanous , compressible and dilatable body in which we breath , and wherein we move , which envelops the earth on all sides to a great height above the highest mountains ; but yet is so different from the aether [ or vacuum ] in the intermundane or interplanetary spaces , that it refracts the rays of the moon and other remoter luminaries . title ii. of the constant and permanent ingredients of the air. a short answer to a question about the nature of the air , given by mr. boyle to mr. h. oldenburg . as to your question , what i think the air to be ? i shall in the first place take it for granted , that by the air you mean not , either the pure element of air , which some , nor that etherial or celestial substance , that others ( upon what grounds i must not here examine ) assert ; but that , which i am wont to call the atmospherical air , which is that common air we breath and move in . but though i know you too well , to suspect that you design any ambiguity in your question ; yet i shall not adventure to answer it , till i have premised a distinction that is not usual : for , according to my thoughts , the air may be taken either for that which is temporary , ( if i may so call it ; ) or in a transient state ; or that which is lasting , and in a permanent state. this distinction , which perhaps you look'd not for , i shall illustrate by this example ; that if you sufficiently heat an eolipile furnished with water , and stay a pretty while to afford time for the expulsion of the aerial particles by the aqueous vapours , you may afterwards observe , that these last named will be driven out in multitudes , and with a noise , and will emulate a wind or stream of air , by blowing coals , held at a convenient distance , like a pair of bellows , and by producing a sharp and whistling sound against the edg of a knife , held in a convenient posture almost upon the orifice of the pipe , whence they issue out . but this vapid stream , though in these , and some other things it imitates true air , whilst the vehement agitation lasts , which the vapours it consists of , received from the fire ; yet in a very short time , especially if the weather , or the vessels it enters into , be cold , loses the temporary form it seemed to have of air , and returns to water , as it was at first . this premised , i come to speak directly , but dare not do it confidently , to your question : for though possibly i may have made as many trials as another about the nature of the air ; yet i freely confess to you , that i much suspect there lies yet something concealed in it , that needs a further discovery , which may perhaps be made by further trials . but in the mean time , ( not wholly to baffle your curiosity , since 't is so modest , as to desire to know of me , not what the true nature of the air is , but what i guess concerning its chiefest property or attribute ) i will acquaint you with some of the thoughts i long ago had , and which i yet took upon my self , and desire to have them look'd upon by you but as conjectures , entertain'd only till farther discoveries confirm them , or suggest better in their room . it seems then not improbable to me , that our atmospherical air may consist of three differing kinds of corpuscles . the first is made of that numberless multitude and great variety of particles , which , under the form of vapours or dry exhalations , ascend from the earth , water , minerals , vegetables and animals , &c. and in a word , of whatever substances are elevated by the celestial or subterraneal heats , and made to diffuse themselves into the atmosphere . the second sort of particles that make the air , may be yet more subtile than the former , and consist of such exceeding minute parts , as make up the magnetical steams of our terrestrial globe , and the innumerable particles , that the sun and other stars , that seem to shine of themselves , do either emit out of their own bodies , or by their pressure thrust against our eyes , and thereby produce what we call light ; which , whether we explicate it by the epicurean or cartesian hypothesis , argues a great plenty of a celestial , or some other very subtile matter , to be dispersed through , or harboured in the intervals of the stabler or grosser corpuscles of the atmosphere . but because you expect from me a distinguishing , and as it were , characteristick quality , which may put a difference between the parts already named of the atmosphere , and those to which most of the phenomena of our engine , and many other pneumatical experiments , seem to be due ; i shall add a third sort of atmospherical particles , compared with which , i have not yet found any , whereto the name of air does so deservedly belong . and this sort of particles are those , which are not only for a while , by manifest outward agents , made elastical , but are permanently so , and on that account may be stil'd perennial air. of the structure of the elastical particles of the air , divers conceptions may be framed , according to the several contrivances men may devise to answer the phenomena : for one may think them to be like the springs of watches , coil'd up , and still endeavouring to fly abroad . one may also fancy a portion of air to be like a lock or parcel of curled hairs of wooll ; which being compressed by an external force , or their own weight , may have a continual endeavour to stretch themselves out , and thrust away the neighbouring particles , and whatever other bodies would hinder them to recover their former state , or attain their full liberty . one may also fancy them like extreamly slender wires , such as those of gold and silver , that tradesmen unwind from some cylindrical bodies of differing sizes , on which they were rolled ; which pieces of spiral or curled wire may be , as of differing substances and consistences , so of very differing lengths and thicknesses , and have their curls greater or lesser , nearer each other , or more distant , and be otherwise diversified ; and yet all have springiness in them , and ( notwithstanding ) be , by reason of their shape , readily expansible on the score of their native structure , as also by heat , girations , and other motions ; and compressible by an external force into a very little room . i remember too , that i have among other comparisons of this kind , represented the springy particles of the air , like the very thin shavings of wood , ( that carpenters and joiners are wont to take off with their plainers ; ) for , besides that these may be made of differing woods , as oak , ash , firr , &c. and thereby be diversified as to their substance , they are usually of very various breadths , and lengths , and thicknesses . and perhaps you may the rather prefer this comparison , because it may seem somewhat to illustrate the production of the springy particles of the air : for to make these shavings , there is no art nor curious instruments required ; and their curls are no ways uniform , but many ways differing , and seemingly casual ; and , which is chiefly considerable , these shavings are producible out of bodies , that did not appear , nor were suspected to be elastical in their bulk , as beams and blocks ; almost any of which may afford springy shavings , barely by having some of its parts so taken off , as to be thin and flexible enough , and commodiously shap'd : which may perhaps illustrate what i tried , that divers solid , and even mineral bodies , not suspected of elasticity , being put into corrosive menstruums , devoid of that quality , there will , upon the convenient comminution of parts , insuing the action and re-action , that passes between them in the dissolution , result or emerge a pretty quantity of permanently elastical fire . but possibly you will think that these are but extravagant conjectures ; and therefore without adding any thing in favour of them , i shall proceed , and willingly grant , that one may fancy several other shapes ( and perhaps fitter than these we have mentioned ) for these springy corpuscles ; about whose structure i shall not now particularly discourse , because of the variety of probable conjectures that , i think , may be proposed concerning it . only i shall here intimate , that though the elastical air seem to continue such , rather upon the score of its structure , than any external agitation ; yet heat , that is a kind of motion , may make the agitated particles strive to recede further and further from the centers of their motions , and to beat off those , that would hinder the freedom of their gyrations , and so very much add to the endeavour of such air to expand it self . and i will allow you to suspect , that there may be sometimes mingled with the particles that are springy , upon the newly mentioned account , some others , that owe their elasticity , not so much to their structure , as their motion , which , variously brandishing them and whirling them about , may make them beat off the neighbouring particles , and thereby promote an expansive endeavour in the air , whereof they are parts . and though some of these may , in very cold climates and seasons , prove to be of those , which i not long since referr'd to temporary air ; yet others of them may be so minute and agile , and so advantageously shap'd , that at least in our climate , the air will scarce be so cold , but that the causes , which entertain the agitation , and keep it fluid , may also give a competent motion to particles so well disposed to be kept in it . and now , sir , 't will be time to indeavour to proceed to some particulars , that may countenance the conjectures i have hitherto been proposing . having not now the leisure to prosecute this discourse uninterruptedly , till it be compleatly finish'd , i thought it not unfit , not only to set down , in this paper , some of those occurring thoughts and observations of my own , upon this subject , that were the likeliest , unless this way preserved , to vanish out of my memory , and which may serve to recal divers others into it ; but also to annex some passages referable to the same purposes , borrowed from such books , as probably i may not have at hand , when i shall resume this treatise . these two sorts of passages make up the following notes , and are therefore to be look'd upon but as materially here laid together to be preserved , not so much for themselves ( though some of them perhaps deserve not to perish ) as in order to the finishing of the design'd structure . and though , for that reason , they may often appear very confusedly placed , yet they may seem more incoherent than they are , there being certain transitions , and other things , by which some of them may be so connected , as to be fit to make discoursive parts and paragraphs of the treatise they belong to ; upon which account 't is that they are put at divers distances one from another , that if hereafter i have leisure , there may be room for the transitions , &c. by which they are designed to be connected into coherent discourses . what is above said in reference to this tract in general , is applicable to those particular parts of it , whether chapters or sections , or other divisions that follow a line of astericks , such as the ensuing ********************** imployed to separate the unfinish'd part of the division it belongs to , from the foregoing . title iii. of the aether in the atmosphere .   title iv. of the springy particles of the air , and the spring of the air. aerem validè comprimere , aut dilatare . follibus lusoriis aerem pyulco ingerentes majorem subinde atque majorem difficultatem percipiunt ; quo enim magis aer conclusus à naturali raritate recedere cogitur , etiam major nisu resistit , neque solum magis densari renuit , sed & se latiùs explicare molitur . hinc didicimus & pneumaticos fontes construere , qui spiritu interno urgente aquam in altum evibrant , & plumbeas glandes fistulis ejaculari , non pulvere nitrato ignem concipiente , sed aere per vim densato ad antiquas dimensiones recuperandas erumpente . quoniam verò ingesta jam in conceptaculum non exigua aeris copia difficiliùs comprimitur novâ aeris accessione , quàm ut manus valeat trusillum rectâ impellere ; idcirco trusilli hastulam deformatam in helicem , & suae matrici insertam , adhibere operae pretium erit : dum enim manubrio agitante contorquetur cochlea , sensim deprimitur embolus , aeremque ingerit . ne autem morâ longiore opus sit perpetuâ versatione manubrii , ita cochleae matrix externam vasis faciem contingat , ut illi adnecti , atque ab eo disjungi valeat : initio enim , quando adhuc levis est aeris modicè compressi resistentia , lamella illa suo foramine interiùs claviculatim striato cohaerens hastulae emboli , si à vase disjuncta fuerit , unà cum hastulâ movebitur : deinde vero , quando jam trusillis aegrè impellitur , lamella illa cum vase connectatur , & non nisi versato manubrio adduci atque reduci embolus poterit , id quod satis lentè perficietur . rem claritatis gratia in fonte pneumatico explicemus . porrò hastula h. k. perforata sit , & continuo ductu usque ad emboli k. s. fundum pateat aeri ingredienti via h. s. sed foramini s. adjecta sit valvula , quae aeri regressum obstruat . similiter modioli fundo in i. valvula exteriùs apposita aperiatur ingesto aeri transitum praebens ; sed aeri intra vas compresso cum nusquam exitus pateat , valvula ipsa modioli foramen i. occludit . hastulae verò h. k. exterior facies sit in helicem striata , & lamellae m. n. tanquam matrici congruat , quae in m. & n. cochleolis adnecti queat exteriùs vasi , quasi esset ansae fulcrum . ubi immissum fuerit quantum satis est aquae , cochleolis m. & n. revolutis disjungatur matrix à vase : tum attractâ ansâ h. o. unà cum lamellâ m. n. attrahitur embolus k. s. & per apertum ductum h. s. ingreditur aer , modiolum implens . impulso deinde embolo , valvula ad s. clauditur , & aer ex modiolo per patentem valvulam i. ingeritur in vas ; ex quo nequit exire , neque aquam propellere , clauso scilicet epistomio e. & foramine a. qua propter comprimitur , & densatur ; ideoque attracto denuo embolo k. s. inclusus vasi aer se latius explicare connitens valvulam i. valide applicat foramini modioli , sibique exitum obstruit . toties adducitur atque reducitur embolus , & aer ingeritur , quoad magna premendi difficultas percipiatur ; ubi eò ventum fuerit , tunc lamella m. n. iterum vasi adnectatur suis cochleolis ; nec jam embolus rectâ adduci potest ; sed areptum in o. manubrium versatur , & embolus intrà , modiolum circumactus sensim attollitur , qui deinde revoluto in contrarium manubrio deprimitur , & multâ vi aer in vase comprimitur . laxato demum epistomio e. compressus in vase aer , aquam exprimit per tubum c. d. primùm quidem vehementius , subinde remissius , prout aeris vis elastica sensim longuescit . hoc idem quod de aere intra vas comprimendo ad aquam evibrandam comminisci placuit , servatâ analogiâ , dicendum est de aere , tum conatu manûs rectâ trusillum impellentis , tum ope cochleae similiter conformatae , intrà conceptaculum comprimendo , ut ex fistulâ deinde multâ vi emittatur plumbea glans , ubi reseratus aeri exitus illum subitò dilatari permiserit . quin & pneumatica hujusmodi tormenta citrà conceptaculum aeris compressi construere non inutilè accidat , si , quemadmodum nostrates pueri surculos sambuceos fungosâ medullâ exhauriunt , & utraque tubuli extremitate papyraceis globulis obstructâ , alterum globulum congruo cylindro propellunt , atque inclufum aerem densant , quoad aeris vim elasticam , & impellentis manus conatum non ferens extremus alter globulus edito seloppo expellatur ; ita ferream fistulam longiorem paraveris , cujus alteri extremitati immittatur plumbea glans obducta papyro , aut simili materiâ , ut exquisitè tubi osculum implens demum universam aeris . vim excipiar , alteram extremitatem aliquot spiris ambiat cava cochlea , quam impleat cylindrus ferreus in congruentem cochleam deformatus ; si enim hujusmodi cylindrus vix brevior fuerit , quàm fistula , & apto manubrio convolutus in fistulam sensim immittatur , totum aerem , quo fistula replebatur , ad exiguas spatii angustias adiget , ex quibus magnâ vi demum , quâ data : porta , erumpens ejaculabitur plumbeum globulum . title v. of the magnetical particles in the air.   title vi. of the destruction , generation , absorption and extrication of the air. new experiments about producing of air. and examining the bodies produced . that the air has a great interest in the production of many phenomena of nature , either not formerly known , or not formerly ascribed unto it , as the chief agent , if as any at all , has been , i suppose sufficiently manifested by our own experiments , as well as by those published by abler writers . that also the air is necessary not only to the well-being , but to the verry being and motions of the generality of animals , will be easily deduc'd from those trials whereby we have made it appear , that animals whose blood is hot , may be killed in our engine by the withdrawing of the air in about one minute of an hour , and that even those minute creatures , whose blood or analogous juice is cold , will for the most part , without excepting cheese-mites themselves , presently lose all their visible motions , upon the recess of the air , may appear from our experiments about respiration . wherefore the air , being a body so important in our speculations of nature , and so necessary to the continuance of our lives , i could not but think it deserv'd , that we should solicitously inquire , whether it may or may not be produc'd by art ; for if it can be so by any , not very uneasily practicable ways , the discovery may not only help us to explicate some difficult phenomena of nature , but may afford us , among several other uses , that of enabling us to supply divers , if not also submarine navigators with fresh air produced under water , and thereby lengthen their staying in places , where the continuance of it may be of great use both speculative and practical . upon these and the like motives , i resolv'd , notwithstanding the difficulties i foresaw my curiosity would meet with in so new an attempt , to try what i could do . but before i relate the success of this attempt , i must premise a couple of necessary advertisements . and first , when i here speak of production of air , i desire to be understood in a familiar sense , meaning by that expression the obtaining a sensible quantity of air , from bodies wherein it did not appear before they were handled after our way , that so much air , if any at all , was pre-existent . this i say , because i would not in this place needlesly ingage in the controversy about the ingenerability ( as they speak ) or the mutual transmutation of the bodies that are called elementary : for though i am not sure , but that some of our experiments may argue a new and real production of air , or a generation of it in the stricter sense , yet i shall now imploy the words generation and production , in the large and popular acception , and would signify by them , as i lately intimated , the obtaining of a sensible quantity of aerial substances from bodies , that did not appear to have it , whether this obtain'd substance were due to an extrication and union of aerial particles latent in the pores of the bodies that afforded it , or to a real production or generation of air , no where existent antecedently to our experiments . and this is the first of my two advertisements . the second is this , that among the difficulties , i foresaw , in making experiments suited to my design , i look'd upon it as one of the greatest , though the least obvious , that to satisfy such a disposition as mine , that is naturally prone enough to question things , it would be requisite for me to consider , and , if i could , to determine by appropriated trials , whether the fluid substances my experiments might afford me , deserv'd the name of air or not . wherefore i saw my self oblig'd to increase my task , and so direct my inquiries , that in the first place they may afford me sensible portions of such a substance , as in a popular sense may be stiled air , whether these obtain'd substances ought to be look'd upon as true air or no. so that my intended disquisition would naturally consist of two parts , whereof the former was to contain the ways of producing , that which seems air ; and the other to propound those of examining , how far the produc'd substance is indow'd with the qualities , that are judg'd to belong to air as such . but in regard that i thought it most convenient so to contrive my experiments , as to make such of them as i could to serve me , both to produce air , and to examine it , i shall be more than once obliged to mingle the two parts of my disquisition , and reserve for the latter of them , only those few trials , that concern purely the examen of the produced air. and upon this score it will be seasonable to take notice in this place , that forasmuch as there are divers qualities ascribed to air , which to me seem but accidental , and not universally to belong to air as such , i have not observed any one attribute that i think to be so much the property of air , and so fit to distinguish its true particles from aqueous vapours , earthy exhalations , and the effluvia of other bodies , as a durable elasticity or springiness . and therefore i shall henceforth imploy that , as the chief criterion , whereby to constitute a portion of matter aerial , and discriminate it from other flying and fluid substances , and consequently to allow or deny it the title of air. now among the several ways i thought of , whereby to produce air , those i judg'd fittest to put in practice were these . 1. by fermentation . 2. by corrosions and dissolutions of bodies . 3. by boiling of water and other liquors . 4. by the mutual actions of some , especially saline bodies , upon one another . 5. by the analyses and resolutions of certain substances . on january 17 , we conveyed into a long and large tube some filings of steel , and as much water as was thought convenient to dilute the oil of vitriol , which we also conveyed in a peculiarly shap'd glass , seal'd at both ends , but with a hole opened near one of them ; the external tube , and the water in them being exhausted , and the mercury in the gage , which we had also included , being so far impelled up into the open leg , that there was scarce any at all left in the seal'd one ; this , i say , being done , the external tube was by our way exactly closed : and then the oil of vitriol being by little and little , and at good intervals of time , poured out of the internal tube , to actuate the water , there were produced exceeding large bubbles by the action of the solvent upon the metal , which also produc'd a sensible heat , though not a great one . when this conflict had lasted a while , we observed , in compliance with the chief scope of this experiment , whether there would be any springy air produced by all those bubbles ; and we perceiv'd that there seem'd to be so much of it generated , that at length the mercury in the gage was impell'd to the very bottom of the open leg , and the air included in the other seemed to be more compress'd than it had been when it was put in by the weight of the atmosphere . but to try whether this spring ( wherein the warmth , formerly mentioned , might be suspected to have for that time some interest ) would continue , i removed the tube into another room where was no chimny ; and coming to look on it the next day , did not take notice of any sensible alteration in the gage ; and with the like success i visited it for three or four days : but then coming one day to look upon it , i found the mercury in the gage to have ascended about one inch and an half , and about that quantity of water to have got into the sealed leg ; which inclined me so much the more to suspect , that this change in the gage might have been accidental , a boy having unknown to me removed the tube from its wonted station , to place somewhat else there , without doing it heedfully enough . and this conjecture seems the more likely , because i have not seen any notable change to have happened in the gage from that time to this , ( which is the 25th of january at night ) the mercury in the open leg being about one inch and an half . march 8. a glass vial holding about a pint ( by guess ) was filled with wheat flower , and as much water as was sufficient to drench it well . afterwards the orifice was exactly and strongly closed with a cork , and an excellent cement : the glass was set in a warm place of the laboratory , because of the coldness of the season ; and having stood there a fortnight bating one day , it this morning broke by the mere dilatation of the included matter , whose visible part was last night observ'd to leave a considerable part unfill'd beneath the cork . notice was taken by the laborant of the event of this trial , by a noise which yet was no louder than one made upon the bursting of the glass into several pieces : to my taste the included matter was but a little sourish , but another afterwards judged it to be manifestly acid . march 9. having on the 23d of february put into a pretty large bolt-head a convenient quantity of bruised raisons , with as much water as i thought necessary to make them ferment ; and having caused the air to be carefully pump'd out , and taken sufficient order to keep any from forcing or stealing into the glass , i set it in the laboratory , that the warmth of the air might facilitate the fermentation . at the end of four or five days , it did not appear by a mercurial gage , ( which had been purposely inclosed together with the raisons ) that there was generated any springy substance . but being hindred by several occasions from looking after this glass from time to time , it seems the contained liquor fermented more violently than the time of the year would have made one expect : for about four of the clock in the afternoon , no body being in the laboratory , the glass flew in pieces with a loud noise like the report of a pistol ; which alarming a domestick of mine , that was in a chamber not far off , made him hasten to the laboratory , where he found the raisons thrown all about , and the middle part of the bolt-head ( for the bottom and the pipe were intire enough ) scattered into such little pieces , that they seemed almost to be vanished . on the 22d of february , i filled a glass that had a somewhat wide mouth , and might hold by estimation three pints ( or pounds ) of water ; to which that liquor , and a convenient quantity of bruised raisons upon the orifice of the glass , were tied the neck of a pretty large bladder , out of which the air having been diligently express'd , it was strongly fastned to our glass with one of our close cements ; so that by squeezing the bladder , we could not perceive that any air could get in or out . then , this done , we left the glass in a convenient place in the laboratory , till the 8th or 9th of march ; and then finding the bladder to be pump'd up , we would have tied up the contained air , but could not do it by reason of an imperceiv'd hole , perchance made with the point of a pin , by some one of them that handled it . wherefore taking off this bladder , we caused another that was very limber , to be put on after the manner newly described ; and yesterday morning we found it , though by estimation it might hold about two pounds of water , to be so full of air , that we could not without difficulty , and losing a pretty deal of the contain'd air , tie the bladder very close near the neck of it . and to try whether this same mixture would continue to produce air , ( whether fermented or not , i must not here dispute ) i caused another bladder to be fastned to the same glass as before , and found it this morning march 11. as full as if it were distended with a pair of bellows . april 28. into the bottom of a wide-mouth'd vial we put some good spirit of salt , and filings of steel , and whelm'd over it a rr. fitted with an eel-skin and a wire ; to the latter of which was tied a thin glass-vessel , hermetically seal'd at the bottom , tho 't was but slender , and furnished with a competent quantity of filings of copper , then we exhausted the rr. well with our engine , and afterwards by thrusting the glass that held the filings against the bottom of the vial , we broke it off , upon which the filings fell into the menstruum , which acting upon them , there ensued good store of bubbles that made a froth much deeper than was the liquor , and the successive generation of these bubbles continued a good while , and appear'd some of them large enough , though in the free air they would scarce have been visible , or at least would not have been taken notice of , the vial having been kept in our vacuum for a quarter of an hour longer , and no greenness to be seen in the liquor , the rr. was taken off , and the vial left open to the air. a bubble of air , whose diameter was near in length to that of a middle siz'd pea , was left at the top of a round vial with a long narrow neck , whose cavity was fill'd with fine oil of turpentine , and then being inverted into a vial fill'd with the same liquor , was set aside in a quiet place , and left there for a competent time . another vial shap'd like the former , but a pretty deal less , was fill'd neck and all with alcohol of wine , save a bubble of air about the same bigness with the former : this vial being inverted into another furnish'd with the same liquor , was set aside in the same window with it , and at the same time : the event was , that about the end of the 6th day , the bubble disappear'd in the glass that contain'd the oil of turpentine . and the like absorption , if i may so call it , i observ'd to have been made of the air by the contiguous spirit of wine , the next day after . may the 23d . we open'd another exhausted receiver , wherein was an unstop'd vial more than half full of an opacous and blackish liquor , which we guess'd ( for we found no inscription belonging to it ) to have been frogs spawn , and were sure to have been included at least three years : by the mercurial gage that was put up with it , it appear'd to have afforded some air , but not very much . it s smell was stinking , much like that of the pump of a ship , but yet it had produc'd no insects , nor had any appearance of mouldiness . a gentleman of my acquaintance , an industrious digger for mines , and owner of a good one , informs me , that when the miners meet with running water under ground , they are thereby supplied with air enough for free respiration : and when i ask'd whether he thought that air was produced or extricated by the motion of the water , or else were only concomitant to the stream ? he answered , that it seemed to him more like to proceed from the water it self : and further answered me , that standing waters did not afford air to the diggers ; and that running waters did it even at considerable depths , amounting to many fathoms . experiments about the production of air , and the examining thereof proposed . sect 1. to produce air by fermentation in exactly closed receivers . to produce air by fermentation in seal'd glasses . to separate air from liquors by boiling . to separate air from liquors by the engine . to produce air by corrosion , especially with sp. anti. to separate air by animal and sulphureous solvents . to obtain air in the exhausted receiver by burning glasses , and red hot irons . to produce air out of gun-powder , and other nitrous bodies . sect. 2. examine the produc'd aerial substance by its preserving or reviving . 1st . animals . 2dly . flame . 3dly . fire . 4thly . the light of rotten wood , fish . to examine it by its elasticity , and the duration thereof . as also by its weight . and by its lifting up the smoak of liquors . title vii . of the accidental or less constant ingredients of the air.   title viii . of aqueous particles in the air , and of the moisture and driness of the air. i shall not here determine whether in all the instances that are referr'd to this title , the phenomena be produced by the meer moisture of the air as such , or by some other agents , whose corpuscles are accompanied and assisted by the moist air as a vehicle and a concurrent cause . but without nicely distinguishing the grounds of particular operations , we shall refer the phenomena in general to the moisture of the air , ( or moist air ) that quality being the most obvious to be observ'd in these phenomena ; in the production of some of which it seems either the only , or the main cause , in others an assistant cause , and in all a not useless concomitant . the account upon which a body is dry , being usually but this , that the pores intercepted between its more stable parts , are not fill'd with any visible liquor , it is not to be expected that a quality so near of kin to a privation , should furnish much to our present historical notes : but yet driness may sometimes have a not-inconsiderable interest in the changes of a body , and that upon differing scores , whereof i take these two to be the chief . 1st . as the body by exsiccation is deprived of those liquid and exhalable parts that were before harbour'd in its pores , and were perhaps the principle of divers operations ascribed to it . and , 2dly . as these evaporable parts by their recess may occasion a change of texture in the body , especially in regard of the pores , whose bigness , figure , and perhaps position , being alter'd , the body by this change of texture acquires a disposition to act , and be acted on , in several cases , otherwise than formerly . sometimes when the weather began to be overcast , the hygroscope did not sensibly appear to grow heavier , and sometimes it would preponderate when i took notice of no vapours to make it do so : and though these things happen'd but seldom , in respect of the ordinary changes of the hygroscope according to those of the weather ; yet they made me suspect that sometimes the clouds may consist of other steams than aqueous , or that there may be some exhalations that may have a peculiar congruity with the pores of the hygroscope , and whose nature may be such as to the power of drying the hygroscope , that upon these or some other , yet unheeded accounts , the steams that are sometimes diffused in the air , may controul the usual and regular causes of increasing or lessening the gravity of the hygroscope . and this suspicion was the stronger , because having made hygroscopes with powder and salt , and also with the saw-dust of wainscot , hung at nice scales in very thin open glasses , purposely blown for lightness sake at the flame of a lamp , though they usually acquired and lost weight , as the weather grew moister or drier , yet sometimes they did not . at half of an hour after nine a clock at night , i look'd upon the half hundred weight that hung at the bottom of the rope , the weather being then fair , and a mark being put at that part of the erected board where the bottom of the weight touch'd , i perceiv'd the sky a while after to grow cloudy and overcast , but without rain ; wherefore going to visit the weight again , i found it to be risen ¼ of an inch or more ; and looking on my watch , perceiv'd there had pass'd an hour and a quarter since the mark was made . this morning i came again to look upon the weight between eight and nine of the clock , and found it raised above the newly mentioned mark , made last night about one inch , ( for 't was about 9 / 10 of an inch. ) this day the weather being fair and windy , the weight was fallen by ten at night about six inches beneath its station , at which i found it when i look'd on it in the morning . being not well yester-night , the weight was observ'd at bed-time , by two of my servants , and it then rested at the 11th of the erected bound . this morning about eight of the clock , i visited it my self , and found it to be risen about ⅛ of an inch above the eighth inch , the morning being cloudy , though the morning very dry and dusty . the weather growing more overcast , within somewhat less than an hour after , i visited the weight again , some scatter'd drops of rain then beginning to fall , and found it to be risen about half an inch above the newly mention'd eighth mark. i look'd when i was ready to go to bed upon the suspended weight of 56 pound , and mark'd how low it reach'd upon the divided board ; and a great part of the night having been rainy , i look'd again when i was dress'd in the morning , which was about half an hour after eight a clock , and i found the cord so shrunk , that the weight was raised above five inches higher than i left it the night before ; but the day recovering dry and windy , and sometimes warm , the rope was so stretch'd , that at night the weight sunk a good way beneath all the marks . n. b. the rope near the weight was in diameter ● of an inch , and four decimal parts of a tenth . we took a rope of near three foot and an half in length from the point of appension , and somewhat less than ● ( inch ) in diameter ; this we suffer'd to be stretch'd for some days by a weight of lead with an iron ring or ansula , weighing a quarter of an hundred , according to the great hundred , which is five score and twelve : and then placing a flat board under it so , that the weight just rested upon it , we had the rope well wetted over them with a spunge dip'd in water , and so often applied to it , that the liquor might be thorowly soak'd into the pores of the rope , which at first seem'd thereby a little stretch'd , rather than shorten'd ; but after an hour or two it began to shrink , so that we could make the weight swinge like a pendulum over the piece of board it lean'd upon before . but afterwards the same day the weight stretch'd out the rope again as much as formerly . 't is observable , that though morocco be an inland-town , and the soil of those parts be usually dry , if not parched ; yet doctor d. who was lately there , informed me , that about morocco , notwithstanding the violent heats he felt in the day-time , he observed the nocturnal air to be very damp , so as to make the clothes he put off at night exceeding moist , and unfit to be worn without airing the next morning . he added , that though the air was very piercing , and manifested it self to be so by many other signs , yet it would not make his knife rust in his pocket , or his sword in the scabbard , though it would quickly produce a rust in instruments of that metal exposed naked to it . air too moist cannot be wholesome . the air in our parts , viz. about oakly in buckingham-shire , though a high country , is , as i said before , between michaelmas and alhallontide very moist , especially in rainy weather , and upon a thaw , insomuch that wainscots , stair-cases and pictures will stand all of a water , and after run down in great drops ; and at brill , upon that high hill , 't is in divers houses worse than in the valley , insomuch that the stair-cases , especially if laid in oil , will run down with water : the north and north-east side of our houses are observed to be moister , insomuch that the furniture will rot , if fires be not made sometimes in the rooms , and the things aired : this is observ'd to be the most aguish season of the year . mr. j. t. as in another experiment wetried , whether or no the removal of the air out of the receiver would much alter the temperature of the included medium or space , as to heat and cold : so we indeavour'd to discover , whether the alteration would be notable , as to driness and moisture . to this purpose we did indeed wish for such a hygroscope ( or instrument wherewith to measure the moisture and driness of the air ) as we used many years ago , and since found well described by the industrious kircher , in a place of his ars magnetica , to which i therefore refer your lordship . but in regard that to this instrument there is requisite the beard of a wild oat seasonably gather'd , which we could not then procure ; we recall'd to mind another hygroscope , which , though it discover not such small mutations as the former , we thought might be usefully enough substicuted instead of it . of this hygroscrope , having particularly described it in another paper , we shall now only say in a word , that 't is made by fastning to the upper end of a piece of gut-string , or great lutestring , a very light index , and strongly fastning the lower end of the same string to the bottom of a box , or other convenient frame , the circumference of whose upper part may be at pleasure divided into degrees or other partitions , upon which the index may move to and fro . for the instrument being thus made , when the air grows moister , the vapours insinuating themselves into the pores of the filaments that compose the string , do somewhat shorten it ; and thereby those filaments being altered in point of contortion , the index that is fastned to them turns one way : and upon the recess of those vapours , or of others of like nature , the string comes to be wreath'd , and consequently the index to be moved another way . so that in a string of about three inches long , the point of the index will be oftentimes made to change its place very notably , by such a mutation of the air , as to driness and moisture , as was to be met with in the morning and at noon of the same day , tho such a change did not always need either rain , clouds or mists , or the absence of them , to make it notable . we took then one of these hygroscopes , and conveyed it into a small receiver , that the removal of the air being sudden , the change of temperature ( if any should happen ) in the exhausted cavity , might be the more sudden and conspicuous . but we found not that the emptying of the receiver made the index sensibly change place . and though this experiment were carefully made , yet for the greater security we repeated it once more ; and neither then perceiving the index to remove , we kept the receiver exhausted for a pretty while , lest there should be some more time requisite to the operation of the medium upon the instrument . but neither did this trial produce any sensible alteration of the index ; but after the key was turned , and access was thereby given to the excluded air , tho the cover were still kept on , we found that then within some hours , the index was considerably removed . so that as far as these experiments informed us , the ether or subtile matter that succeeds in the place deserted by the air , if that place be not left void ; and consequently the thinner and more fluid part of the atmosphere ( in which the corpuscles , that may be more properly called aerial , swim ) seems in its own nature to be very sensibly , neither cold , or hot , or dry , or moist . i said , as far as these experiments , i mean those we made in this engine with the thermoscope and hygroscope , inform us : because this conjecture ( for i dare yet call it no more ) may be examined divers other ways , whose events may either confirm , or oppose , or limit it . in the mean time i could wish , that if your lordship had one of kircher's hygroscopes at hand , you would frequently and carefully try the last-recited experiment with it ; because i have found , that if such a hygroscope be very well made , 't is admirable , as well as pleasant , to see how small a mutation of the neighbouring air it will take notice of . but i thought fit to desire to have it frequently tried , because care must be taken that such motions of the index be not mistaken for the effects of the altered temper of the medium in the receiver , which may in some cases proceed from those steams of the oil and water , which we elsewhere mention , that we now and then , tho but seldom , observed to get out of the cylinder into the receiver , and play up and down there . title ix . of clouds , mists and fogs . hearing that an excellent astronomer of my acquaintance , had often measured the height of clouds , i enquired of him what height he observ'd them to have ? and was answered , that though he had measured eighteen or twenty even of white clouds in fair weather , yet he observed scarce any one to be higher than three quarters of a mile , and few of them he found to exceed half a mile . a mist coming , driving upon the sea towards the shoar , though without any sensible wind , will raise a greater swell of a sea , than a brisk wind will do . n. i have observed in a ground near my house , which is somewhat moist in winter , as also in other places , especially after a warm day , and against fair weather in autumn , a moist blewish mist to ascend about twenty or thirty foot high , and then to subside again in dew . mr. j. t. title x. of terrestrial steams in the air. inquiring of an ingenious acquaintance of mine , who , in an inclosed scope of ground , has several veins of differing metals and minerals , whether he did not see , and sometimes smell steams ascending out of this or that spot of his ground , in circumstances where their ascension could not be imputed to the action of the sun ? he and his son , who was also a virtuoso , told me , that they had divers times seen as 't were pillars of fumes ascending like smoak , whereof some would be inodorous , some ill-scented , and some , though but seldom , well-scented . and you may have observed , as well as i , that fogs , some of which i have known to be very lasting , and to have a large spread , did require no tender nostrils to perceive them to stink . i have frequently observed the smoaking steams that arose out of the shafts of mines not wrought in : and it is certain , the charcoal made in cornwal ( especially of that wood that grows in the mineral part thereof ) doth afford a manifest arsenical and sulphureous smell beyond other charcoal . n. tel est par exemple ce nuage horrible d'une fumée epaisse qui s'eleva de la mer de crete au commencement de l'este de l'an 721. et qui s'etant repandu dans l'air le fit paroistre tout en feu . la mer n'en fut pas mesme exempte ; car les grosses masses de pierres enflammées qu'on en vit sortier , et qui se joignirent a l'isle qu' on nomme hiera , échauferent si fort les eaux qu'elles en bruloient les mains . title xi . of salts in the air. 't is sufficiently known that the peripatetick schools teach the air to be an element warm and moist ; and if it be an element , it ought , according to their principles , and those of the greatest part of other naturalists , to be a simple and homogeneous body . but because such an elementary or uniform purity is much easier to be found in the writings of schoolmen , than amongst the works of nature , many of the modern philosophers have justly forsaken this doctrine of the elementary simplicity of the air in some measure ; but perhaps very few of them , if any , have asserted the air to be so exceedingly compounded a body , as in my opinion it really is . for divers of them grant indeed , that the atmosphere is not absolutely pure , but yet think , that it differs but gradually from true and simple air , as water a little moved and troubled does from clear and settled water . but for my part , i confess i acquiesce not in either of those notions of the air. for , as i have elsewhere more fully declared in a short discourse , purposely treating of the substance of the air , although i will not deny that there is an ethereal matter more subtile than the common air , which ether i take to be diffused through all the interstellar part of the universe known to us , reaching to and surrounding all its great globles ; yet speaking of the air which we men live and breath in , i take our atmosphere to consist not only of the purer ether , but in great part of a vast multitude of effluvia emitted by the terraqueous globe , and the various bodies it is made up of , and perhaps in some part also of substantial emanations from the celestial bodies ; and that that whereby the atmosphere differs from such pure air , as the schools tell us of , is not a bare and indeterminate feculency , but a confused aggregate of several distinct and perhaps disagreeing kinds of effluvia . and amongst those , one of the principal sorts i take to be the saline ones , which rove up and down amongst others in that vast ocean of effluxions , we call the atmosphere : wherein yet i do not think there are to be met with , either all sorts of them every where , or perhaps any sort in like plenty , in all places , and at all seasons . to shew that the air is not unfurnished with parts of a saline nature , i might alledg some considerations that seem to make it probable à priori , as they speak , that there are always some such corpuscles emitted into the air. but instead of insisting on such particulars , because they may seem too little of an historical nature , to be fit for this paper , i shall content my self to take notice in the general , that almost ( if not more than almost ) all the arguments i have employed , to prove the copious ascension of subterraneal steams into the air , may be applied to our present purpose , since amongst the effluviating substances of the terraqueous globe , there are , as i have declared in another paper , huge quantities of common or marine salt , besides nitrous , aluminous , vitriolate , and perhaps other kinds of salts . to which i shall add , that the emission of subterraneal aporrheas or effluxes , is not the only means whereby the air may be impregnated with saline particles ; since the exhalations and vapours produced by the action of the sun-beams upon the more superficial parts of the earth and sea , may supply the air with swarms of corpuscles , as well of saline , as of any other nature . not to mention that the number of these may , in divers places , be much increased , by those vulcans , that have open vents to discharge their fumes into the air ; by those numerous fires which burning in our chimnies , produce much saline smoak ; and by other ways , which i shall here forbear to discourse of , for the reason lately given for my declining arguments drawn à priori : though some things applicable to this purpose , will in likelihood occur amongst the instances i am about to add , to make it seem probable à posteriori , or by some effects and phenomena , that the air is impregnated with saline corpuscles , that are none of its least active parts , and may have great interest in divers of its operations . from what has been hitherto delivered , to make it probable that there is a saline substance in the air , i thought fit to proceed to other inquiries . the first ; whether the aerial salts be of differing kind ? and if so , which they are ? and the second ; how it comes by its saline substance ? but about such differing points i durst promise my self but little satisfaction , and therefore shall not pretend to give you much . and yet , to say something to the first of the two inquiries , i am prone to think , that the saline particles of the atmosphere are not all of one sort , but that there may be three or four differing kinds of aerial salts . i know that divers learned men , some physicians , some chymists , and some also philosophers , speak much of a volatile nitre , that abounds in the air , as if that were the only salt wherewith it is impregnated . but though i agree with them , in thinking that the air is in many places impregnated with corpuscles of a nitrous nature ; yet i confess i have not been hitherto convinc'd of all that is wont to be delivered about the plenty and quality of the nitre in the air : for i have not found , that those that build so much upon this volatile nitre , have made out by any competent experiment , that there is such a volatile nitre abounding in the air. for having often dealt with salt-peter in the fire , i do not find it easy to be raised by a gentle heat ; and when by a stronger fire , we distil it in close vessels , 't is plain that what the chymists call spirit of nitre , has quite differing properties from crude nitre , and from those that are ascribed to the volatile nitre of the air ; these spirits being so far from being refreshing to the nature of animals , that they are exceeding corrosive : and even when i caused earth to be dug up in an old pigeon-house , because that is accounted the most nitrous sort of earth , and distill'd it with moderate fires , i did not find the volatile saline parts , that came over , to be like that , which these learned men conceive the air to be stored with . nor have i met with among them any positive proof , to evince the truth of their opinion ; which yet , as i was saying , i am content to admit as an ingenious supposition , 'till something be offered that shall prove it to be more ; which i think not impossible to happen , at least as to some times and places . but i am not yet sure , that the exhalations , that ascend from the subterraneal parts , and perhaps also the sun-beams themselves , may volatilize many of the nitrous corpuscles they chance to act upon , and elevate them into the air , without analyzing them , or destroying their texture , as our fires are wont to do . but however , i do not take the hitherto mention'd nitre to be the only salt , that impregnates the air : for when i consider how vast a portion of the terraqueous globe is cover'd with the salt sea , and how vast quantities of fossile salt , as well fine and clear , as course , are dug up in poland , especially near cracovia ; in hungary , transylvania , and in divers other parts of the earth : when i consider too , that we seldom find salt-peter in the earth , but that there is sea-salt mix'd with it , which puts the salt-peter-men to a great deal of trouble to separate it ; and that even from salt-peter , that passes for good , i had trouble enough , when i had the curiosity purposely to refine it , to free the purely nitrous from the other saline particles : i am prone to suspect , that in very many places , especially maritime ones , the effluvia of common salt do , at least as plentifully as those of salt-peter , abound in , or impregnate the air : which conjecture might be favoured by divers things , if i had leisure to insist on them . that in some places , that abound with marchasites , there is a kind of fretting vitriolate salt , copiously dispersed through the air , i have been inclin'd to think , partly by other inducements , and partly by the answers made me by a very observing man , who liv'd in a place , that i remember i visited ; where being forced to reside a good while , he found the hangings of his chamber , and the curtains of his bed , rotted by the vitriolate steams expir'd by the soil , whose effluvia had also very manifest and unwelcome effects , on divers other things , that were kept near that place ; tho on the opposite side of the river , in a town that is not half a mile distant from this place , neither i , at my being there , heard any such thing complain'd of , nor the relator , who had often occasion to repair thither , observ'd any such mischievous effects ; the soil of this latter place being chalky ; whereas the other above mentioned is vitriolate , insomuch that he observ'd , that when the moist and blackish mould had been beaten upon by the sun , that here and there the superficial parts would be as 't were besprinkled with a somewhat whitish saline efflorescence . besides the hitherto-mention'd kinds of salts , it seems not improbable to me , that the air ( especially about great towns , and some other particular places ) may be impregnated with volatile salts , that are of a nature contrary to acids . for that there may be places in the earth , even at a good depth under ground , that lodg such salts , i have been induced to think by the experience of an acquaintance of mine : who , hoping to find in the salt of what he supposed to be virgin-earth , the true receptacle of an universal spirit , from which he promised himself great and profitable matters , caused to be dug up a great deal of a certain clay , in a place abounding with minerals , and obtain'd thence by mere distillation , no inconsiderable quantities of spirit and salt , which in divers qualities , as smell , taste , &c. i judg'd to be near of kin to the spirit of urine or hartshorn . and yet this earth was dug up at the depth of many feet , not to say yards , beneath the surface of the ground , ( as an ingenious potter , from whom the chymist had the clay , assur'd me upon the place it self ) which i once visited , to see some other choice minerals , that innobled that soil ; whence i would have got a quantity of the above-mentioned clay , but that it being then the midst of winter , the rain had ( as the workmen speak ) drowned 〈◊〉 pit. in great cities , and also towns , where much wood is burnt , 't is probable that numerous particles of volatile salt may be dispersed through the neighbouring air. for , as i have elsewhere shewn , the soot of burn'd wood , which is but that small part of the smoak which chances in its passage upwards to stick to the chimny , does very much abound in a volatile saline spirit , which by many trials are found to have so much affinity to that of urine and of hartshorn , as not to be easily , but by the smell distinguished from it . besides , in several places the putrefaction of substances , that once were parts of animal bodies , may furnish the air with volatile salts , as i have elsewhere mentioned , that i found , that urine , without distillation , will by bare putrefaction afford saline and spirituous parts , that , whilst they yet swim in the copious phlegm , that makes up the body of the liquor , will manifestly discover themselves to be volatile , not only by their smell , but by their hissing with acid spirits , and by their dissolving some bodies , and precipitating others , according to the manner of volatile sulphureous salts , as those that abound in spirit of hartshorn , blood , &c. and i am apt to think , that 't is not only in the parts of animals , but also in those of many vegetables , that putrefaction may either extricate or produce volatile salts . and i remember , i have observ'd in some succulent vegetables , that chancing to lie in a heap together , in a convenient season of the year , to make them rot ; i observ'd , i say , when the putrefaction was come to a certain point , that the stink did so resemble that of carrion , that 't was not easy for me to believe it came from cadaverous plants , not animals . and that 't is not impossible for a vegetable to afford , without the help of an additament , a volatile salt , even in forma sicca , may be gathered from what i elsewhere relate , of my having distill'd such a salt from a certain spirituous seed , though i freely confess , i never obtained any ( without previous incineration ) from above two or three vegetables . but of this enough in this place . i shall now add , that besides the more simple salts hitherto enumerated , 't is not unlikely , that in some places the air may sometimes contain compounded salts . for i have elsewhere shewn , that some sorts of saline spirits , meeting one another in the air , may there convene . and i elsewhere teach how to order a couple of liquors so , that one will never of it self afford any thing in a dry form ; and yet the spirituous effluvia of this liquor , meeting with those of the other , will exhibite a volatile and saline body in a dry form ; though the liquors themselves being mingled , will not afford any such substance . what i have elsewhere delivered concerning subterraneal steams , may make it probable , that at least now and then , and in some places , there may be sent up from under ground into the air , among other effluvia , store of saline ones , which needs not be supposed all of them to be of an uncompounded nature . with which that agrees very well , that was related to me by a very intelligent acquaintance of mine , that liv'd long in parts of america , where there was a vulcan , which he and some others having the curiosity to visit , told me , that before they came any thing near the fire , or were offended by the heat , not only the skin of his face was almost corroded by the sharpness of the exhalations , but the colour of his hair was alter'd by it ; which kept him from prosecuting his intended discovery . 't is a known thing , and i have received information of it from more than one eye-witness , that about mount vesuvius , the ascending exhalations , that issue out at some of the holes , are of so saline and sulphureous a nature , that part of them stick about the orifices of those vents , in the form of flower of brimstone ; of which a learned acquaintance of mine brought away some quantity . and i have had brought me from some of those vulcans , a stone , whose caveties abounded with a white salt , which , by fit trials purposely made , was found near a-kin to sal-armoniac , and easily resoluble into a salt , whereof one part was somewhat fix'd , and the other very volatile , which made it highly probable , that the salt was compounded in the bowels of the vulcan : whence i have been credibly inform'd , that great quantities of it have been cast up in the fiery eruptions , and therefore store of it might in likelihood be dispersed through the air , since i found the salt it self to be sublimable . but , besides the saline substances hitherto mention'd , which may be referr'd to determinate species , i think it not impossible , that the air may , at least in some times and places , be impregnated with corpuscles of a saline nature , whether simple , or compounded , or of both kinds , not easily reducible to any of the sorts , we have been speaking of , or are acquainted with . for which reason i shall not presume to give them any other denomination , than that indefinite one of anonymous . and i have been inclin'd to think , there may be such bodies in the air , by these two inducements . the first ; that the particular aerial salts , that have been hitherto recited , are but few , as it seems probable , by what i have said in other papers of subterraneal steams and menstruments ; and that therefore there may ascend out of the earth into the air , saline fumes differing enough from those , whose kinds we have hitherto describ'd . but besides this consideration à priori , ( as they speak ) experience has presented us with some phenomena , that seems à posteriori to confirm this conjecture . for there happen such changes to some bodies , by being exposed to the air , as , though i am not sure , and therefore shall not be confident , that they are mainly produc'd by some nameless substance of a saline nature , may yet make it allowable to suspect them to proceed thence . and amongst these i shall take leave to insert some , which i deny not to be probably referrable , either to one or other of the formerly enumerated kinds of aerial saltness . for laying these instances before you together , they may , by appearing thus associated , give the stronger probability to our opinion , that there are saline substances in the air. and those instances , that are not so proper to perswade you , that there are anonymous salts , may serve to confirm that there are , at least in divers places , differing sorts of aerial salts . i remember i have more than once visited old glass-windows , in high and ancient buildings , and found some of the panes of glass here and there corroded , as if they had been worm-eaten ; which probably enough argued the sharp and fretting corpuscles , to have been carried along with the winds to which they were exposed , as will not easily be reduced to any formerly nam'd salts , whose being unable to corrode glass , especially no finer than that was i speak of , is sufficiently known to chymists . besides the above-mention'd phenomena , others have occurr'd to me , which possibly 't would not be thought impertinent to subjoin on this occasion ; but i chuse rather to reserve them for another discourse ; and now should put an end to this , but that i dare not conceal from you , that i sometimes had thoughts of trying , whether a discovery may not be made , what kind of saltness there is to be found in the air , and whether the aerial saltness does or does not abound there , at least at this or that time . but this i freely confess to be so difficult an attempt , that all that i can offer pretends but to disswade you from rejecting it , as too desperate and extravagant a thing to be fit to be tried . and i speak the less promisingly of what i am to say in the remaining part of this paper , because i have not by me any notes to assist my memory , ( which i dare not trust alone ) concerning the issues of the not numerous trials , i had opportunity to attempt in pursuance of those thoughts . this i well remember , that among other ways of making the intended aerial discoveries , i look'd upon this as the least unpromising , that such subjects should be carefully chosen out , as being disposed to be differingly wrought upon , according to the differing sorts of saltness , that may be found predominant in the air. this more general way of investigating the salts of the air , may contain divers particular methods , of which i shall now touch upon the following three . first , it may be worth while , to expose to the air such bodies , as we judg fittest to be wrought upon by the salt , that we think likeliest to be met with in it . so where we guess the air to be impregnated with nitre , we may expose lime to it , or some other body that we think disposed to imbibe or retain such a saltness . we may also hang up in such an air , clothes or silks died with such colours , that nitrous ( for instance ) or salino-sulphureous spirits ( as some chymists call them ) have been found peculiarly apt to make to fade , or to discolour them . in the places where we suspect vitriolate steams to abound , some appropriated preparations of sulphur , either common or metalline , may be exposed to try whether they will acquire a blackness , as i have several times found some of those sulphurs , though otherwise of no dark colour , to do , upon the least contact of vitriolate corpuscles . in some places also , which are judg'd likely to afford subterraneal steams , guesses may be made , whether this or that kind of salt ascends into the air , by spreading upon the ground , in places free from dirt and dusts , large pieces of clean and white linen cloth , that has no relish of sope or lees ; and observing , after they have lain a competent while , whether , and how they are discoloured , and what kind of saltness , if any , is to be found in the moisture imbib'd by them , from the ascending steams and falling dew . the next of the above-mention'd ways of inquirng after the saltness of the air , may be , to find , if it be possible , some one body , that is both capable to be wrought on by several aerial salts , and will be so differingly wrought on by them , as to discover which kind of salt it is , that has produc'd the change. that 't is very difficult to find such a body , i will readily grant , but that it may be possible i will not be forward to deny . for having pitch'd upon copper to make this trial with , though the attempt did not succeed according to my wish , yet perhaps it was chiefly for want of time and accommodations that it miscarried . for having taken plates of copper beaten thin , ( without regarding their bigness , or figure , or smoothness , as things not necessary to my purpose ) i caused the surfaces to be made very clean , that the colours might be the more easily produced , and the better discerned ; then , keeping these over glasses wherein were placed divers spirits , as of common salt , and of nitre , partly sincere , and partly diluted with water , i observ'd , as i expected , that though i put the glasses in no heat , yet there ascended fretting particles out of the liquors , and that within less than a day , the steams of the two above-mention'd liquors had much darken'd the surfaces of the copper plates , they met with in their way , the keeping them a while in the air was not hard to know by the differing discolorations that appear'd , which plate had been invaded by the saline corpuscles , and which by the nitrous : which i did not at all wonder at , because i have formerly found , as i have elsewhere noted , that whereas spirit of nitre will make of copper a greenish blew solution , spirit of salt will , if duly imployed , dissolve that metal into a grass-green liquor ; as the spirit of soot and that of urine will into a deep blew , almost like ultramarine . but , as i said , the want of time , of which good store may be requisite for such trials , kept me from prosecuting my attempt to an issue . notwithstanding which i look not upon the design as desperate , not only because of the incouragement i have already mention'd to resume it : but because i have observ'd pieces of malleable copper , brought me , to examine , out of an english mine , ( which is yet conceal'd ) to be overcast here and there with a fair verdigrease , which by circumstances i judg'd to have been produc'd , not by gross liquors , but by the air impregnated with steams fit to work on that metal . and possibly there may be other subterraneal bodies , and even metalline ones , that by their degree of colour , or peculiar kind of rust or stain , that they will acquire in the air , may help us to guess , what substances , and among others what salts the air of that place is impregnated with . i have been in a great and stately house , which being oddly seated , had this peculiar inconvenience , upon the score of the steams that infested the air , that those that dwelt in it , as one of the chief of themselves complained to me , could not keep their silver plate , of which they had great store , from being blemished by odd discolorations , or as they seem'd to think it , rust ; though when it was not used , they carefully kept it in a place judg'd convenient for such a purpose . and i have been informed by an observing man who liv'd there some time , that there is nothing more generally known in amsterdam , than that their silver plate there , exposed a little while to the common air , tarnishes immediately , contracting a dirty colour , partaking of yellow and black . another instance or two , though not afforded by plate , i could mention to the same purpose ; but i reserve them for another place ; my haste obliging me to pass on to the last of the three ways i proposed , of investigating the differences of aerial salts . the third way may be look'd upon , if you please , as a variation of the second ; but there is this difference betwixt them , that here we make use of metalline bodies , not crude , but already prepared by some chymical operations ; so that being before-hand reduc'd to very small parts , by the intervention of saline substances , the operation of the air upon them is wont to be much the sooner performed . in this third way then we imploy such factititious minerals or other bodies , as having for the most part an adventitious colour already , will change that colour by being exposed to the air. for it seems not impossible , but that by diligently observing what difference may be found in the discolorations , produc'd in these substances by the differing kinds of salts , as nitrous , salino-sulphureous , &c. that we have shewn may be met with in the air , some guesses may be made in a short time of this or that salt , which has the chief stroak in the production of the exhibited colour . and i shall on this occasion mention two or three bodies , without determining , till i be better satisfied , whether their changes proceed only or chiefly from the salt of the air ; but i am content not to pretermit them , because if they do not prove what i propose , they will at least clear the meaning of it , and may however help us to guess at the resemblance or difference of airs in several places , by the likeness or unlikeness of the produc'd changes of colour , whether these changes proceed from saline , or from any other substance intermingled with the air. if we precipitate a strong solution of good silver made in aqua fortis , with a competent quantity of spirit of sea-salt , we shall have a pouder , which at first will be very white ; but if the liquor be not poured off , this being exposed for a good while to the air , it would acquire on the surface a dark colour , which perhaps an attentive eye will discern somewhat various , as this or that kind of saltness happens to be predominant in the air. we took an equal weight of good filings of copper , and pouder'd sal-armoniac , which being well mix'd , were put into a cover'd crucible , and kept in a moderate fire over ignited coals , till the sal-armoniac had either quite or almost done smoaking ; then as much of the remaining mass as could be parted , was taken out , and look'd of a dark colour ; but this mass being grosly beaten , and exposed for some time to the air , look'd like a kind of verdigrease , which is a substance , whose colour may be observ'd somewhat to vary , according to the nature of the particular salts , which by working on , and imbodying with the copper , produce the pigment . but a parcel of the same mass being , before the air had time to work much upon it , grosly pouder'd , and hermetically seal'd in a glass egg , to fence it from the air , and left in a south window , did not appear discoloured , when the out side of the other parcel shew'd like verdigrease : which seems to argue , the change of colour to have been made by the aerial salt , if we suppose the moisture of the airto have had no interest in the change , or to have concurr'd to it , but as a kind of vehicle assistent to the salt. i also took spirit of the soot of wood , and having poured a little of it on the filings of copper , my expectations were answer'd by my finding , that the liquor dissolved some parts of the metal into a deep and lovely azur like ultramarine ; and that this solution being suffer'd to grow dry in an open glass , by the the mere operation of the air , the ceruleous colour very soon degenerated , even before the matter was quite dry , into a cyanious colour , such as may be seen in good turquoises . and to manifest that this change proceeded not from any peculiarity in the spirit of soot , and that this spirit acted as abounding with a salino-sulphureous salt ; i shall add , that i had the like success in a trial made with an urinous spirit drawn from animal substances , and put upon crude filings of copper . and in those trials i sometimes observ'd the differences of colours , that did not discourage me from hoping , that the prosecution of them might not be insignificant to my purpose . i have not been solicitous to describe the fore-mention'd changes of colours more particularly , because it had been very difficult to do so , and therefore i judg'd it more expedient not to attempt it . for there is so great a variety of colours , that few but painters can exactly enumerate , and distinguish them by proper names . and yet , besides those more noted ones , there are many others , for which , though our language , nor perhaps any other , is not copious enough to furnish us with distinct appellations , yet our eyes , especially when they have been attentively conversant with such objects , are sharp enough to discern them : and by the help of these nameless , as well as the stated colours , i am apt to think a heedful observer may perceive divers variations in the colours of the bodies , we have been speaking of , that may assist him to guess , what substance it is in the air whereto these diversities may be ascribed . and as nature is much more rich in things , than our dictionaries are in words , so has she furnished men with sensories capable of distinctly perceiving a far greater variety of objects , than they are able verbally to express . and this might be shewn by instances , in the organs and objects of senses less acute than sight , whose subtilty in distinguishing things i could exemplify , not only by what is related , but by what has been perform'd by some persons , not unknown to me , particularly our famous doctor harvey . but examples of this kind i have not leisure to stay on ; and therefore without spending more words upon this third way of discovering aerial salts , i shall barely recommend the care of such observations to their curiosity , who shall think it worth while to make them . with how little confidence of success , trials that have the aims of those i have been speaking of , are to be attempted , not only consideration , but experience hath made me sensible . but yet i would not discourage humane curiosity from adventuring even upon slight probabilities , where the nobleness of the subjects and scope may make even small attainments very desirable . those adventurous navigators that have made voyages for discovery in unknown seas , when they first discern'd something of obscure near the horizon , at a great distance off , have often doubted , whether , what they had so imperfect a sight of , were a cloud , or an island , or a mountain : but though usually it were more likely to be the former , ( as that which more frequently occurr'd than the latter ) yet they judg'd it advisable to stere towards it , till they had attained a clearer prospect of it : for if it were a deluding meteor , they would not however sustain such a loss in that of no great labour , as in case it were a country , they would in the loss of what might prove a noble and rich discovery . and if they desisted too soon from their curiosity , they could not rationally satisy themselves , whether they slighted a cloud , or neglected a country . i do not perceive that the air of our inland parts is considerably impregnated with esurine salt ; since i do not find the barrs and casements of our windows much impaired by rust after near eighty years standing ; or that they are more rusty towards one quarter than another ; though the air hereabout ( viz. oakly in buckingham-shire ) is very damp about the end of autumn , and beginning of winter . so that i conceive this salt either proceeds from the sea-vapours near the sea-coasts , or else from the dissolution of this esurine salt in the air , upon the burning of sea or other mineral coles . mr. j. t. mox ollam ex igni removent ; postea ex refrigerata eximunt halinitrum purissimum : quod candidi marmoris speciem gerit ; atque tunc etiam id quod terrenum est , in fundo residet . at terra , ex qua dilutum fuit factum , & rami quernei vel consimilis arboris alternis sub dio ponantur , & aqua quae combibit halinitrum conspergantur : quò modo quinque vel sex annis rursus apta fit and conficiendum dilutum . halinitrum quodammodo purum , quod dum terra tot annos quievit interea , ortum fuit , & quod lapidei parietes in cellis vinariis & locis opacis exudant , cum primo diluto permistum decoquatur . si verò locus aliquis talium venarum copiam suppeditaverit , ipsae statim non conjiciantur in castella ; sed primo convehantur in areas , atque cumulentur : quanto enim diutius aeri & pluviis expositae fuerint tanto meliores fiunt . nam in ejusmodi cumulis , aliquot post mensibus , quam venae in areas fuerunt congestae , nascuntur fibrae longe venis bonitate praestantes : deinde vehantur in sex , plurave castella , longa & lata ad novem pedes , ad quinque alta . si verò dum dilutum recoquitur , separata non fuerint , mox ex minoribus vasis infundatur in majora , eaque concludantur : in quibus item atramentum sutorium separatum ab alumine concrescit : utrumque excisum , & in hypocausto siccatum divendatur dilutum , quod in vasis & cupis non concrevit in cortinam refusum recoquatur : sed terra , quae in fundo cujusque cortinae resedit , ablata in castello unà cum venis , denuo aqua & urina diluatur . at terra quae in castellis diluto , postquam effluxit , superfuit egesta & coacervata quotidiè , rursus magis ac magis fit aluminosa , non aliter atque terra , ex quâ halinitrum fuit confectum , suo succo plenior fit : quare denuo in castella conjicitur , & aquae affusae ea percolantur . a learned observer , who practised physick in one of the most southern of the english colonies , being ask'd by me about the effects of the air there upon iron ; affirm'd to me , that the great guns there are so subject to become rusty , that after they have lain a very few years in the air , one may with a hammer knock off whole scales , or rather cakes of crocus murtis : and he observ'd , that those guns , that lay only expos'd to the air , did this much more than those that by accidents were drown'd , and lay cover'd with the salt water . and since dew is made of steams of the terrestrial globe , which whilst they retain that form , and were not yet convened into drops , did swim to and fro in the air , and made part of it ; the phenomena that shew the power of dew in working on solid bodies , may help to manifest how copiously the air may be impregnated with subtil saline parts . wherefore i shall here add , that having met with a person that was bred as well a scholar as a traveller , and had visited not only some of the maritine places of brasil , but some of the inward parts of that vast country , i inquired of him about the subtilty of brasilian dew , and its power to rust metals , about which he told me , that it was certainly very great , and would not only rust knives and such instruments , but likewise money , which he assured me he had particularly observed ; adding , that in several places the portugals kept their great guns cased over , that the dew might not fall upon them , and by its corrosiveness so rust them , as to be apt after a while to break in the discharge . and when i demanded whether he tasted the dew , to observe the saltness of it ? he replied , that he had not , but that he had in divers places observ'd , that it left the grass , &c. that it had rested on , cover'd over with a pure white salt , as if it had been a hoar frost . an ingenious traveller , and student of physick , being discoursed with by me about some particularities of his country ( which is sweedland ) relating to minerals , and their effects upon the air , assured me , that in a city , or notable town called fahlun , which is built on the lower part of an hill , containing one of the best copper mines in sweden , the exhalations , that are copiously emitted by the latent minerals , do so affect the air in and about the place , that their silver coins are oftentimes notably discolour'd by them , not seldom made even black or blackish , though the money be kept well tied up in bags or purses , and these perhaps placed one within another , and the whole aggregate be kept lock'd up in coffers or presses made of wood of perhaps an inch thick : he added , that these subterraneal steams have manifest effects upon brass , ( wherewith that country abounds ) insomuch that there being kept in the principal church seven crowns made of that metal upon a particular occasion , the sulphureous steams made those that look'd to them , take the pains to cleanse and brighten them at a months end , till finding that the labour was every month to begin again , they at length grew weary of it , and suffer'd these crowns to grow , as they yet continue , as black ( to use his own phrase ) as the tunnel of a chimny : this he averr'd to be true , as having a good opportunity to be sure of it , in regard of his being a native of this town . and he further assured me , that the corrosive exhalations did so penetrate the bars and vessels of iron that lie exposed to the air , that after a while , 't is easy with a hammer to knock off scales of mars , which are friable into a pouder like crocus , save that the colour is more dark . title xii . of sulphur , and inflamable particles in the air ; and of lightning , and its effect . yesterday a neopolitan lord , a person of high quality , and very curious , being ask'd by me some questions about some natural phenomena relating to vesuvius and the adjacent country ? assured me , that having had occasion to stay for divers months at a country house , but little distant from naples , he took much pleasure , taking the air on horse-back upon a very sulphureous soil , to take notice of divers observables to be met with there ; and that he often found , that when his horse trod something hard upon the ground , there would be produced a great , and as it were a crackling noise , which would have frighted a stranger ; and that oftentimes he could discern , that where his horse had trod , there would presently arise a dust , and fumes that were manifestly sulphureous and ready to take fire : adding , that sometimes he thought that they actually did so . he further told me , that he sometimes for curiosity sake , caused some clods , or as it were turfs , to be cut out of that soil , and laid in a kind of heap , and that then in the night he could observe , that the steams that plentifully issued thence would sometimes be kindled by or in the air , as they ascended in it . the same noble-man told me , that when some years ago there were eruptions of fire in mount vesuvius , he and others observ'd , with amazement and horror , that the flame , which shot up into the air from the volcano , was of so prodigious a height , as invited them to measure it with a quadrant , by which they found it to be near two miles high : and when i ask'd if he comprised in that height the altitude of the mountain it self ? he answered , that he did not , for the flame that appear'd above the top of the mountain , appear'd as high as the mountain it self ; and 't was from the top of the hill , and not the bottom , that they computed the height of the flame . he added , that sometimes the earth would tremble , and there would be discharges of such vast stones , and other heavy things , that he saw some massis of ignited matter thrown up a great way into the air , that were bigger than the chamber he did me the honour to visit me in , though that were a large room for a bed-chamber . voila tout ce qu' on peut dire de cette isle , qui semble un enfer , car on voit la mer du port , & de la coste toute noire & brûlée d' un petit escueil , qui paroist depuis enuiron soixante ans , & d' ou on vit sortir en ce temps lá une grande flamme , qui y a laisse une ouuerture si profonde , que si on y jette une pierre , on ne l' entend point tomber . mais ce qui est arriue depuis en ce port , n' est pas moins estonnant , je le rapporteray icy comme je l' ay appris de diuerses personnes en plusieurs endroits . il y a enuiron 18. ans que durant la nuit d' un certain dimanche , commenca dans le port de santorini un tres grand bruit lequel s' entendit jusques á chio , qui en est eloigne de plus de deux cent milles , mais de telle sorte qu' on crut à chio que c ' estoit l' armée venitienne qui combattoit contre celle des turcs , ce qui sit que dés le matin chacun monta aux lieux les plus éleuez pour en estre spectateur , & me souuiens que le reverend pere bernard superieur des capucins de chio , homme venerable , & tres digne de foy , me conta qu' il y avoit este trompé comme les autres , car il crut aussi bien qu' eux entendre plusieurs coups de canon ; cependant ils ne virent rien , & en effet ce fut un feu qui se prit dans la terre du fond du port de santorini , & y fit un tel effet , que depuis le matin jusqu ' au soir il sortit du fond de la mer quantite de pierres de ponce , qui montoient en haut auec tant de roideur & tant de bruit , qu' on eust dit que ce fusset autant de coups decanon , & cela infecta tellement l' air , que dans ladite isle de santorini , il mourut quantite de personnes , & plusieurs de la mesme isle en perdirent la veue , qu' ils recouurerent pourtant quelques jours apres . cette insection s' estendit aussi loin que le bruit qui l' avoit precede , car non seulement dans cette isle , mais mesme a chio , & á smyrne , tout l' argent deuint rouge , soit qu' il sut dans les coffres , ou dans les poclies ; & nos religieux demeurans en ces lieux lá me dirent que tous leurs calices en estoient deuenus rouges . au bont de quelques jours cette infection se dissipa , & l' argent reprit sa premiere couleur . ces pierres de ponce qui sortirent de la couurirent tellement la mer de l' archipel , que durant quelque temps , quand il regnoit de certains vents , il y avoit des ports qui en estoient bouchez , en facon qu' il n' en pouuoit sortir aucune barque , pour petite qu' elle fut , que ceux qui estoient dedans ne se fissent le chemin au travers de ces pierres de ponce auec quelques pieux ; & on en voit encor a present par toute la mer mediterranée , mais en petite quantité , cela s' estant dispersé ca & là . seneque raconte en une de ses epistres que santorini est bastie sur des mines de souphre , & cesont elles qui fournissent asseurement la matiere pour allumer ce feu . on dit qu' alexandre le grand mesura la mer en cet endroit , & n' y trouua point de fond . il y a pourtant une petite isle appellée firesia , a la pointe de laquelle on peut donner fonds , & point en aucun autre endroit . it has been often observ'd , that upon the falling of thunder there has been produc'd in the air , near the places where it fell , a strong odour of burnt brimstone . and i remember , that being one night at a town built almost upon the great lake of geneva , anciently called lacus lemanus : the thunder was so violent as much frighted the inhabitants ; though ( by reason of the neighbourhood of the high mountains of savoy and switzerland ) thunders be very frequent there : and the next day i had a great complaint made me , of the strong stink of sulphur , produc'd by the thunder that fell hard by , into the lake , and was ready to overcome by its smell , even a souldier that stood centionel near it . on july 24. an. 1681. the ship albemarl , whereof mr. edward lad was then master , being an hundred leagues from cape cod in latitude 48. about 3 p. m. met with a thunder storm , the lightning burnt the main-top-sail , split the main cap in pieces , rent the mast all along . there was in special one dreadful clap of thunder , in report bigger than of a great gun , at which all the ships company were amazed : then did there fall something from the clouds upon the stern of the boat , which it broke into many small parts , split one of the pumps , the other pump much hurt : it was a bituminous matter , smelling much like fired gunpowder : it continued burning in the stern of the boat. they did with sticks dissipate it , and poured much water on it , and yet they were not able , by all they could do , to extinguish it , until such time as all the matter was consumed . but the strangest thing of all is yet to be mentioned . when night came , observing the stars , they perceived that their compasses were changed . as for the compass in the biddekel the north point was turned clear south . there were two other compasses unhung in the locker in the cabbin , in one of which the north point stood south like that in the biddekel . as for the other the north point stood west , so that they sailed by needle , whose polarity was quite changed . the sea-men were at first puzled to work their vessel right , considering that the south point of their compass was now become north : but after a little use it was easy to them ; thus did they sail a thousand leagues . as for the compass , wherein the lightning had made the needle to point westward ; since is was brought to new-england the glass being broken , it has , by means of the air coming to it , lost its vertue . one of their compasses which had quite changed the polarity , from north to south , is still extant in that country , in the hands of mr. encrease mather ; the north point of the needle doth remain fixed to this day as it did immediately after the lightning caused the alteration . an industrious gentleman that was long an eminent planter of trees , wherewith he furnished many of his neighbours , presented me with a piece of a branch that seemed to have had a slit , for it reached thorow the bark almost to the very wood , from one end to the other , but had now the lips of the wound overgrown on each side with new bark : of this kind of gashes , he told me , he found in other branches of the same tree , which made him think that some envious knave had done this in spite : but considering the circumstances more curiously , he found that conjecture much discountenanced by some of them , and suspected that these wounds must have been made by some designless agent . for by his own observations , and those of his friends , it appeared , that these fissures are to be met with , not only in divers others of his own trees , of differing kinds , and in differing plantations , but also in the trees of several others , which tho growing in the same country , were remote enough from his : so that it having been observed with some wonder , that in the foregoing season , lightnings had been very numerous and frequent , he and his friends concluded , for reasons that need not be here repeated , that the above-mentioned gashes were some of the odd effects of those lightnings , which kept me from wondering at his negative answer , to the curiosity i had to know , whether all these wounds of the trees look'd the same way , as east or west , north or south . for i had formerly observed , that the same fulmen or flash of lightning reaching to the earth in the form of fire , appeared by the recent effects as well of its impetuous motion as of its violent heat , to have moved in an irregularly winding-line : which made me compare its motion to that of a squib , and help'd me to solve some odd phenomena of lightning , that this is not the fittest place to discourse of : the foregoing mention of what happened to the trees , being designed , partly to preserve the memory of an unusual phenomenon , and partly to show that whatever is wont to happen in animals , lightning is not always destructive or corruptive of vegetables , since the wounds inflicted to trees were happily cicatrized , and did not kill or poison the plants . and whether this phenomenon were produced , by some mineral exhalations kindled in the air , or by the violent and irregular motion of some such substance , or by both together , the phenomenon will be pertinent to the subject or design of the present tract . title xiii . of celestial influences or effluviums in the air. to mr. hartlib . dear sir , i shall not i hope altogether forget the charge which you have been pleased to lay upon me , in reference to the consideration of all winy liquors , their affections , and the several distempers incident to them , with my thoughts about the preserving of them , so as may best retard the quickness of their motion , and hinder their dyscrasy and corruption . to which end an exact scrutiny into the air , its quality , temperament and motion , and an inquiry of the efficacy and force that this hath upon all such bodies , will be in some measure necessary . and this puts me in mind to leave one request with you , viz. to beg-your assistance and countenance on all occasions to mr. streete , when he shall at any time wait on you , who both as to his undertaking , and to the modesty and simplicity of his spirit , doth very much emulate our so much joint-esteemed friend mr. mercator , who , though he may differ from the former , in reference to his method , or to some of the profounder parts of learning : yet i think it very possible to reconcile them in the main , and cannot but expect something extraordinary , in the asserting and perfecting of the theory of the planets , will be brought forth between them , which i should the more gladly see , by how much most scholars complain of it , as of a thing hitherto wanting , by how much also i guess , that having the examples of so many who have already attempted the same thing in vain , they will find themselves the more constrained to lay down some new choice , singular and undeniable hypothesis , for the better invitation of the admittance of their opinion among learned men , although such a work be no less necessary also for other reasons . for if we assert not the theory of the planets rightly , and upon such ground as are indubitably demonstrable ; we shall never be free from errors and disagreements in opinion about their motions , and the right calculation of them . and if we mistake in either of these , we must mistake of the true place in the heavens , in which each planet is , or constantly ought to be : and if we at all err in our judgment of their due places , it is impossible we should assert their several aspects , and the mutual influences and virtues they have ( through this ) one upon another : and so the physical use of their motions falls to the ground wholly , or at least becomes subject to very much uncertainty . and truly , if there be no such use at all of the motions of these bodies , as that which i may call physical , viz for predicting , and for ( in some measure ) determining the affections , dispositions and alterations , that are introduced into several things here , either immediately , or into the air immediately , by reason of the course of these superior bodies , it would very much lessen and depretiate with me , that toil , cost , pains , watchings , and continual exercises , and indeavours , that have been used for the gaining of exact observations in astronomy . seeing when we have done all , and obtained all beyond the mere bare knowledg of them , we can propound no end , benefit , use or advantage , that may recompense the trouble and pains bestowed upon them , ( at least upon some of them ) nor so much as any real or particular relation , between us and them ; and if so , we know them only to know them . but we shall at present presume the contrary , and therefore shall crave leave to say , that although several objections are commonly brought against any such use or application of these bodies , or of their power , influence or motions , which are occasioned partly by the superstition and paganism incident to this kind of doctrine ; partly by the imposture , ignorance , and want of learning , generally observed in the persons professing this knowledg ; partly by the manifest mistakes and uncertainty that there is in the predictions of this nature ; and partly by the inexplicableness of the way or manner how they come to affect one another , which admits not , as many conceive , of an easy visible or familiar demonstration . yet all these objections , if throughly examined , do not , as we humbly conceive , really null or take away the possibility of the thing simply , but are raised rather against the enormities and imperfections that are confessed to be in it : and it may , notwithstanding all those objections , still be certain , that these celestial bodies ( according to the angles they make one upon another , but especially with the sun or with the earth in our meridian , or with such and such other points in the heavens ) may have a power to cause such and such motions , changes and alterations ( stronger or weaker , according to the nature of the angle ) as the extremities of which shall at length be felt in every one of us : and this may be evidenced , 1st . by undeniable experiments , not only from things inanimate and vegitate , but from the undoubted observations of physicians , as well in several chronical as acute distempers , and more eminently in all lunatick , epileptick , paralitick or lethargick persons . 2dly . it may further admit of a demonstration : for if the extream motions of physick be generation and corruption , and the mean motions rarefaction and condensation , allowing then these bodies to have a share in promoting the mean motions , ( viz ) of rarefaction and condensation , we shall or may soon be convinced , that their effects then upon all other things here , cannot but be exceeding considerable . for the better understanding of which , i shall offer , a little more largely to you my conceptions , viz. that to speak properly and simply , i take generation and corruption to be the extreams of motion , rather than motions themselves : for the scope , intentions or effects of all physical motions ( strictly so taken ) are only to one of these ends , viz. either for generation or corruption : and these two are they also which limit and bound all motion ; for beyond these meets there is no physical progression , and therefore these two must be the true termini , as well à quo , as ad quem , of all such motion , seeing all things are corrupted to be generated , and all things generated are at length corrupted . but if these be rather the termini and extreams of motion , then motion it self . we must acknowledg , there are motions , which nature useth as means , between these two extreams ; which mean motion must be as opposite also one to another , as the two extreams . otherwise we should never be at a certainty , which way nature intends by her motion : otherwise also we must say one and the same course , or one and the same thing in nature , may simply and of it self , be the immediate cause of generation and corruption , of life and of death , of hardness and softness , which is absurd and impossible . now as these two motions of rarefaction and condensation , are opposite one to the other , as is required , so do they square to all other the instruments and phenomena in nature , ( viz. ) the one answering to heat , the other to cold ; the one to hardness , compactness and aridity , the other to gentleness , softness , sweetness , maturity , &c. for which reasons therefore , as well as for many other , which might be urged , ( if insisted on ) we do conclude , ( submitting it nevertheless to be examined ) that generation and corruption , rarefaction and condensation , is the simplest , plainest and truest analysis , that can be found in nature , for all physical motions , as unto some of which all motion , purely physical , may ( as we humbly conceive ) without straining , be immediately referred , and as by and through which all may likewise , with as little difficulty , be resolved . and having laid this as a second argument ; we say 3dly . that it cannot be denied , but all the affections and dispositions of moisture , heat , cold , drought , the course of all winds , showers , thundering , or whatsoever else is used by nature , to produce these two general and universal effects of rarefaction and condensation , do in a great measure , if not wholly , depend upon , and are altogether regulated by the course , motion , position , situations or aspects of the superiour and celestial bodies or planets . and therefore , 4thly . we say , that every planet hath its own proper light : and as the light of the sun is one thing , the light of the moon another ; so every planet hath its distinct light , differing from all the other . now we must either say , that this light is a bare quality , and that the utmost use and end of it is only to illuminate ; and there is no light but is accompanied further with some power , virtue or tincture , that is proper to it : which if granted , it will inform us then , that every light hath its own property , it s own tincture and colour , it s own specifique virtue and power ; and that according to the several bodies of light , there are several properties , tinctures and powers ; and that as one star differs from another in glory ( according to the apostle ) so one star and one planet differs from another in its virtue , in its colour , in its tincture , and in its property . and consequently , that those eminent stars and planets that are in the heavens , are not to be considered by us as sluggish inergetical bodies , or as if they were set only to be as bare candles to us , but as bodies full of proper motion , of peculiar operation , and of life . the sun not only shining upon the rest of the planets ; but by his quickning warmth , awakening , stirring and raising the motions , properties and powers , that are peculiar to them . according therefore to the angles , they make with the sun , and according as they are more or less enlightned by him ; according also as they are at the same time more directly or more obliquely , more remotely or more nearly scituated and placed , in respect to us ; so must the effects of the powers , virtues and tinctures , that are proper to them , be more or less felt by us . 5thly . for the manner of the planets , transmitting these their properties and powers , and of their affecting other bodies at so remote distance , there is nothing begged or required in it , that is insuperable to a man's apprehension or belief : ( seeing , ) 1. we affirm not any property , operation , virtue , or power , to be transmitted from any of the said planets , but what doth descend with its light , and is the real property of its light. 2. no man judgeth , that the light of any planet , or of the sun it self , is refracted , or by any other means weakned , hindred or impaired by the aether ( or that substance which fills up the space between one planet and another ) through which it passeth ; but that it doth descend whole directly and inrefracted unto , or upon our atmosphere . 3. but whatsoever is received by the atmosphere , is also received by the thin and subtile air , that is contiguous to the atmosphere : and this air therefore cannot but be capable of being moved , stirred , altered , and impressed by these properties , virtues and lights , as penetrating each part of it . 4. not only the air , by reason of its thinness and subtilty , is capable of being thus penetrated , moved and altered , by these planetary , virtues and lights : but forasmuch also as our spirits , and the spirits likewise of all mix'd bodies , are really of an aerious , ethereal , luminous production and composition ; these spirits therefore of ours , and the spirits of all other bodies , must necessarily no less suffer an impression from the same lights , and cannot be less subject to an alteration , motion , agitation and infection , through them and by them , than the other ( viz. ) the air : but rather as our spirits are more near and more analogous to the nature of light than the air , so they must be more prone and easy to be impressed than it . and if our spirits , and the spirits of all mix'd bodies may be altered , changed , moved and impressed by these superiour bodies , and their properties ; then these spirits being the only principles of energy , power , force and life , in all bodies wherein they are , and the immediate causes , through which all alteration comes to the bodies themselves . it is impossible therefore spirits should be altered and changed , and yet no alteration made in the bodies themselves : and therefore a less limit or extream cannot be set to the power or operation , or force of the superiour bodies upon the inferiour , than what must terminate at length into the very bodies themselves . 5. as a further confirmation or proof of this , in reference at least to our selves , i shall offer to your consideration the accidents that often happen to men , by the mere air , as convulsions , cramps , blastings , lameness , colds , many of which indure a man's life-time ; and which ( with many bitter infirmities that sometimes seize upon a man , while standing , walking , or lying in the air ) are rarely or never felt or discerned at the instant of their approach or insults upon a man , nor yet accompanied with the sense of any excess in the air for heat or cold at that time , and therefore not well referrable to any cause in the air , if not to the power of those properties and operations of the celestial bodies that we speak of : and this i submit to the judgment of common experience . 6. lastly ; as the sun-shining on the rest of the planets doth not , as we said , only barely illuminate their bodies ; but besides this , through the power , virtue and activity it hath , doth also raise , excite , awaken and stir up the several properties and dispositions that are in those several and respective bodies , whereby they are more lively and effectually brought forth upon us ; so we are to suppose it is in reference to this our planet , which is the earth , which is not only enlightned , warmed , cherished and fructified by the power , virtue and influence of the sun ; but hath its proper magnetical , planetary virtue , also fermented , stirred , agitated and awakened in it , which it remits back with the reflected light of the sun : and together with this magnetick planetary property of the earth , which is stirred and raised by the sun , are awakened also the seminal dispositions , odors and ferments that are lodged in , and proper unto particular regions or places , which do likewise emit and diffuse through the air , as their several and respective benign , grateful , so their several malignant , congelative and fracedonous natures and qualities . and hence therefore , though the air , its temperament , disposition and quality in general , is to be look'd at , according to the motions , influences and aspects of the several superiour bodies ; yet the particular healthfulness and unhealthfulness of places , the evil disposition of the air , evenings , nights , and early in the mornings , in some parts more than in others ; the super-abundant moisture , excessive winds , droughts or other seasons , proper to one country , and not to be observed in another neighbouring to it ; all these are rather to be allowed and referred to those odors , vapors and exhalations , that are through the power of the sun , or other planets , drawn forth from their particular seats into the air , from the planets themselves . and thus i have hinted , as well as i may , at the solutions of all the phenomena pertaining to this matter , that i can think of . and if this be so , then wholly to neglect this physical use ( and consideration ) of the motion of these bodies , and either to reject it , because of the superstition that hath been mix'd with it , or to exclude it from all manner of care , and from all other further scrutiny , as a thing not worth our inquiry or search at all after , is as great an extream on the other hand , and a mistake , that must not pass untaxed among learned men. you did not expect , i am sure , i should have adventured into so particular an apology for astrology ; nor did i intend it , when i begun my letter ; nor do i now aim to justify any thing further , than what may properly , if not necessarily , fall into the consideration of natural philosophy , being indeed much induced to think , that were the theory of the planets so exactly stated , so perfectly , or so undeniably demonstrated , that we might be sure we rightly understood the place , course and position of each of their bodies in the heavens ; this other doctrine of their physical use , with the weight , dignity , extent , considerableness or inconsiderableness of it , would soon confirm and demonstrate it self by the evidence and proof of it self , especially if any will please to take the pains to calculate these motions for his own private use , and according to the meridian he is in , and so compare them with his own observations , of the change and alteration of the air from day to day . which doubtless , as it was the way at first taken by the ancients , to find out their efficacy , ( i mean the making such a constant observation , and keeping such a diary ) so the doing of that again , and giving us first an history or diary of the observations of the weather , and its changes in all respects , and then an account of the several places , motions , or aspects , each day , of the several bodies of the heavens , with the agreements , doubts , or disagreements , that these bear one to another , and that must necessarily rise thereupon , would be that , that could not but prove both satisfactory and delightsom to us , in this great point , about their physical power and use . and the commodity of this in our oeconomical or civil concerns in husbandry , in gardening , in physick , and to the producing many other very stupendous effects , cannot possibly be so well credited or discerned as it would , if some such plain foundation and demonstration of the power of these bodies , in general , were laid . which methinks we should be much the more incouraged to undertake , having an advantage given us in this age , beyond what most ages ever had , by the use of those rare instruments , that they call the thermometers , or weather-glasses . and truly when i consider , that things of the greatest consequence do oft-times depend upon the most common observations ; and that matters of the highest improvement do receive their beginning from mean , small , ordinary experiments : i would have no man , who hath leisure , opportunity and time , to think it a slight thing to busy himself in collecting observations of this nature . it being much more commendable for a man to preserve the history of his own time , though but in the observation of the motions of this kind , than to say , upon every occasion that offers it self , this is the hottest , or this is the coldest ; or this is the rainiest , or this is the most seasonable or unseasonable weather that ever he felt ; whereas it may perhaps be nothing so . and if there were no other use , yet observations of this nature would much conduce to compleat the natural history of any place , as we may observe by that learned author who writ historiam naturalem brasiliae ; and who , to prove not only the habitableness , but healthfulness of that climate and country , exhibites the account of every day 's weather , observed by him for many years together , and so the agreement of it to that temper , which we account healthful . but the instituting and perfecting of accurate observations of this nature , by the help of several large and exact thermometers , placed in several rooms , or exposed after some convenient manner to the air it self , would be a more noble and useful undertaking , than ordinary . i say , the doing this accurately , by large and exact glasses , by placing several of them , either together , or at some fit distance one from another . it being much to be lamented , and that which i cannot but complain to my self of , that no improvement considerable hath , as i can learn , been made by any man , of these glasses , either in our own country , or any where else , since their first invention , ( but only to hang them in a room for ornament sake ) there being many things yet wanting , that were much to be desired for the perfecting of them . for ; 1. none hath hitherto given us the best proportions between the diameter of the head , and the diameter of the bodies or cylinder , although this be indeed the very first consideration , and that which is most necessary in the use of these instruments ; for as by how much the bigger the cylinder is , and by how much the lesser the head , by so much the more slow and imperceptible the air 's alteration and motion will be ; so by how much the bigger the head , and smaller the cylinder is , by so much the more quick , subtile and discernable will every small difference of the air appear , which therefore being on both sides capable of an extream , ought to be regulated necessarily , according to some mean. 2. admitting a mean or convenient proportion between these two diameters , to be as one to 16 , or one to 24. we in the next place do no less want the fittest proportion for the length of the cylinder , which must doubtless also be varied answerably , as we vary the proportion of its diameter , the smaller cylinder in proportion to its head , requiring the greater length , the bigger cylinder on the contrary the shorter length . 3. i have not hitherto seen any cylinder that hath been well graduated , 12 or 16 degrees being the most that are set upon the common weather-glass : whereas to the making of accurate observations , it would require a cylinder to be divided into at least 360 parts ; though i think it neither unreasonable nor unpracticable , to have one divided into 1000 parts , allowing but 10 degrees to each inch , which is no unusual division , seeing such an one will much better discover , not only the small , but the more suddain and remarkable changes of the weather , ( which are of chiefest use ) than any others that are common and ordinary . 4. although no liquor ought to be used in these glasses , that is subject to frost ; yet we have little or no account what those liquors are , that might be best or fittest for the accurate making of those experiments ; whether those whose property it is , somewhat to attract the air , and so to preserve themselves in at least their first quantity , as oleum sulphuris per campanam , ol. vitrioli , liquor salis tartari , &c. or , 2dly . whether those whose parts are finest , subtilest , and nearest of kin to the air , such as is spirit of wine , spirit of terebinth , well rectified , and according as there is occasion still fresh supplied . or , 3dly . whether those that are of a middle nature , as strong spirit of vinegar . or , 4thly . whether instead of these , and beyond these , it may not be best to use only well-refined quicksilver . all which several particulars , as they are necessary , and ought to be first ascertained , yet they are but preliminary to the experiments themselves . in the making of the experiments themselves , therefore it would be convenient ; 1st . that several thermometers of one proportion , length and graduation in their cylinders in all respects , as near as may be , were set in one frame together , either with one and the same , or with variety of liquors . 2dly . that several of these frames were set in several rooms , and that fome were exposed immediately to the air it self ; yet so as it may be conveniently sheltred from the actual rays of the sun , and from the injury of storms , rain and winds . in the history it self , there cannot be too much care and exactness provided ; the air of the chimny , cranny of a wall or door , breath of people , or other such accidents , do not interpose to deceive a man's observation , which must be circumspectly foreseen and considered . the proportion between the warmth of the day and night , in constant weather ; the agreement or disagreement of the motion of the air ; with the motions of the superiour bodies , in all uncertain , changeable and inconstant weather ; the efficacy or inefficacy through these , in foretelling of winds and rain ; the air its particular disposition , under thunder , under times of mildews or blastings , eminent eclipses , conjunctions ; with many other the like particulars , which will of themselves be incident to an ingenious , diligent , apprehensive person , may be the subject of this history . i shall not digress so far , as to tell you , what other things may be done by the help of this excellent instrument , this being not pertinent to our present purpose . yet it is certain , that drebble , that great , singular , learned mechanick , did by the help of this instrument , make a dial continually to move of it self ; regularly shewing both the times of the day , and other motions of the heavens ; did also make an automatous instrument of musick ; and found out a furnace which he could govern to any degree of heat : but whether these have died with him , or how far the meditations of others have wrought upon them , i shall humbly refer to a more leasurable inquiry . and if you can inform me among any of your acquaintance or correspondents , i should be glad to hear and to learn any thing of this nature , or relating to the further use , experiment or improvement of this rare little instrument , or to the further clearing , ventilating or discussing the theory or doctrine of the planets , or the physical use and power of these bodies that we have thus briefly made an essay of . thus far that letter . they have a received tradition in java , and probably in divers other islands of the south sea , that the beams of the moon are wont to cause contractures in the body of those men that stay too long exposed to them : the truth of which tradition was lately confirmed to me by an ingenious doctor , that with applause practised physick in those parts ; who assured me , that he had observed , that upon the account before mentioned some were made lame , or else had some of their limbs contracted for divers weeks , and some for many months , or even a longer time . and when i asked him , whether he had at any time been subject to that mischief himself ? he answered , that whilst he was a novice in those parts , after a very hot day , he laid himself down very slenderly covered , to sleep ( according to the custom of the place ) near the door of the house he lodg'd in ; but being unacquainted with the tradition , he unskilfully chose a place upon which the moon could fully beat for a good part of the night , which being past before he wak'd , when he went to rise , he found his neck so stiff , that he was scarce able at all to stir it ; and his mouth was so drawn awry , that 't was hideous to behold , and continued so unsightly , that shame forced him to keep within for some days ; during which he made use of brisk aromatick medicines , by whose help he got off a contracture that used to stay very much longer with others . and when i asked him , if these distempers were not occasioned rather by the coldness of the night and subtilty of the air , than the operation of the moon 's beams ? he answered me , that 't was generally observ'd , that the other causes , without the direct beams of the moon , were not wont to produce such bad effects ; and that his landlord , when he saw his mouth awry , told him , that if he had made him acquainted with his design to pass the night in the open air , he would have prevented this mischief , by lodging him in a place unexposed to the moon 's light. title xiv . of the height of the atmosphere .   title xv. of the motion of the air , and of winds . extract of a letter from fort st. george , dated january the 23d , 1668. although the bar of porta nova proved more shallow and dangerous than we were informed ; yet she ( our ship ) got safe in thither : and it was well she did so . had we kept her here , there had been no possibility of her escape from perishing in a dreadful storm , or rather hurricane , which happened here the 22d of november : the like hath not been known here in any man's memory . the tempest of wind and rain was so exceeding violent , that nothing could stand before it ; men and beasts carried into the sea by the violence of the winds and floods : the generality of the houses in this and the neighbour towns were ruined : scarce any trees left standing in gardens or elsewhere : the wall of this town laid flat in several places ; your godownes and other houses in and about the fort , uncovered and exceedingly shattered : no place in the fort where we could keep our persons , books or papers free from the wind or rain : nor scarcely any doors could stand against the violence of it : and we hourly feared the falling of the fort down upon us , it was so exceedingly rock'd : and yet abroad we could have no shelter , nor were able to stand against it . the repairing of the damage will necessarily require a great charge , which at first we thought would have amounted to 3000 pagothes : but hope it will come short thereof . captain brookehaven told me , that about the island mauricius , hurricanes were the most frequent of any place he knows ; and that near that island he met with one which lasted four days in all : in one of which days the storm had seven paroxysms or exacerbations , which the seamen call frights of weather , each of which he observed to differ two points of the compass from the preceding ; by which means the surface of the sea , by the collision of the waves , became to be all white , as if the ship had been among rocks . he added , that the storm made the day exceeding dark : and that the noise was rather like that of thunder , than of wind , insomuch that those on the shrouds could not hear those on the deck . a learned physician that travelled into america , affirmed to me , that those countries only have constant winds from the land in the night , which are furnished with hills ; and therefore the barbadoes wants such winds , because it has no hills . one of the east-indian committee ( who had lived years in the island of teneriff ) answered me , that he usually observed there the briezes to come in from the sea about nine of the clock in the morning , and that about two hours after sun set , there blew a sharp land wind , every way from the island to the sea-ward , which continued all night till the next morning . a learned traveller answered me , that though the air were generally calm and clear at the top of the mountains , yet sometimes he had met there with winds considerably strong . in lettere di venetia . martedi sui li 29. agosto 1679. alle hore 19. incirca si leuolevò nelle paludi della villa di fauis del dominio casareo tre miglia lontana da palma noua dominio veneto un uento chiamato bissa boua , che allargandosi per circa cinquanta passi scorse con tanto empito , e furore , che portò per aria diuersi huomini , che tagliauano il fieno in quei prati , e anco alcuni carri carichi di fieno con i buoui precipitandoli assai lontano con la rouina delli animali , de carri , e degli huomini , e passando per i campi sbarbicando ogni sorte di piante le portò per aria gettandole molti passi lontano , rendendo la terra per oue scorse cosi arsa , che pare non ui sii mai stata piantata cosa alcuna . arriuò nella villa decta bagnaria del dominio veneto doue gettò a terra molte case sino a fondamenti , et altre discoperse , e rouinò portando per aria tauole , traui , et ogni altra cosa che era dentro esse case restando mal trattate molte persone senza però la morte di alcuno . fuori di dettata villa ui e una chiesa chiamata s. tomaso la quale resto scoperta , e rouinata una parte del muro portando uia il campanile , e campane che nel giorno seguente non si erano per anco trouate ; — di lá si portò uerso seuigliano dominio veneto e rouinò tutta la campagna senza danno però della villa , mentre li passò poco lontano , de girando poco lungi dalla villa stessa spiantò da fondamenti un palazzo del d. co. horatio strasoldo , nel quale gli amazzò ogni sorte di animali che ui erano , portando per aria li mobili e sino le botti , esterminando parre della possessione . non restorono però offese persone , perche erano alla campagna a lauorare , e nel camino getto pure a terra due altre case che sono nel taglio per andare a strasoldo spiantandole affacto con la morte diuna donna , d'un fanciullo , e diuersi animali . di là uoltò uerso palma , et arriuando sino alle mura della fortezza girò uerso la villa di priuano mezo miglio distante quale rouinò la meta , spiantando da fondamenti belissimi palazzi , portando per aeria travi , tavole , et ogni altra cosa con la morte di molti , quantità di feriti , e diuersi strapazzati con far alla campagna di molto male . di poi scorse nella villa di visco dominio imperiale , e tra li altri danni fatti roninò tutto il palazzo novo del d. marco foscolini gentilhuomo di cinidal nel quale essendoni una gran rimessa da carozze , la di cui porta hauena tre cadenazzi , & entrando il turbine per li balconi gettò la carozza con tanto empito nella porta stessa che la ruppe , e portò fuori la caroza tutta fracassata gettandola sopra un muro della corte assa alto , portando il cielo della stessa mezzo miglio lontano , e vertò nel medemo palazzo ferito , e mal trattato un seruitore di esso foscolini , di cui ronino pure una braida , & un brolo essendo in detta villa restati due morti , e diversi feriti ; — s' inoltrò poi nella villa di s. vido di crauglio stato imperiale , la quale rouino tutta affatto senza restarui nemeno una casa , portando per aria coppi , travi , legne , sassi , e mobili con la morte di moltissime persone , e moltissimi feriti e rouinati , et in detta villa non si può anddare , ne con carri , ne con caualli per la grande moltitudine di rouinazzo , arbori et altro che hanno attrauer-sato le strade , essendo rimassi morti gran numero di animali — . da questo luoco si portò uerso villes villa imperiale buona parte della quale gettò a terra per andar al territorio di monfalcone con la morte di molte persone , et quantità di animali con lasciar le campagne per dove è passata senza piante , e come strada battuta — . hà danneggiato anco altre ville ma leggiermenre ; ne per anco si sà quello hauerà fatto piu avanti nel detto territorio . questo successo hà lasciato un spauento grande in queste parti , essendosi uedute cose incredibili mentre pioveuano sassi , tauole , arbori , traui , coppi , huomini , donne , fanciulli , botti , sorghi , uva , galline , animali , et in conclusione ciò che incontraua portaua per aria con un rumore , e fracasso cosi gradne , che faceua terrore essendo per dette ville un concorso grande di popolo uicino per uedere cose che si rendono incredibili . doctor b. answered me , that though the eastern winds blow near ▪ of a year at tangier , yet they seem not to reach far into the inland country , where he observed them to be very unfrequent . an ingenious gentleman who is owner of a mine or two near the sea , being asked by me , whether he could , by any peculiar change appearing in the deeper parts of the mines , foretel any alterations of weather ? he answered me , that the only presage he had constantly observed , was of the change of the wind. for many hours before the wind was to shift from some other corner , and get into the south , the water at the bottom of the mine would appear manifestly more troubled , or less limped than before : and when the wind was to blow from the east , he was usually forewarned of it by an unusual degree of clearness in the waters , which would appear more diaphanous than ordinary , though the south-wind had not immediately before operated on the waters . the depth of the mine was between fifteen and twenty fathom . he told me , that the hurricans about goa , are observed to come usually but at two seasons , about the beginning of march , and the 4th of october . title xvi . of the air as the medium of sounds , and of sounds and noises in the air , and particularly thunder ; and of the air 's operation on the sounds of bodies . this variety of the air is the cause of most dreadful thunders , which , when gregory described , he astonished his hearers . for upon the rising of several tempests altogether , the sky is of a sudden covered over with black and thick , as it were globes of smokey clouds : by and by the thunder breaks forth on every side , ratling continually with lightning , as incessantly flashing , enough to amaze the most resolute and most accustomed to the noise . ludolph's hist . of ethiop . l. 1. c. 5. the string of a viol has been by mr. f. observed to give a sharper sound against or in rainy weather , by almost half a note . mr. f. also assures me , that more than once or twice it has happened to him , that having put up false strings in his pocket , to make frets of , as judging them useless for any other purpose , the want of strings having driven him to make use of those , he has found them not false any more , but good strings . and also that he observes some strings apter to receive a tension from the moist air , than others are . title xvii . of the weight of the air. a short account of the statical baroscope , imparted by mr. boyl , march 24. 1665. in a letter to mr. h. oldenburgh . as for the new kind of baroscopes , which i lately intimated to you , that my haste would not permit me to give you an account of , though the necessity of preparing for an approaching journey , gives me the same excuse , i then had ; yet since your letters acquaint me , that you still design a communicating to the curious , as much information as may be , in reference to baroscopes , i shall venture to send you some ( though but an imperfect ) account of what i did but name in my former letter to you . though by a passage you may meet with in the page of my thermometrical experiments ; and though you may find , that i did some years ago think upon this new kind of baroscope ; yet the changes of the atmosphere's weight not happening then to be such as i wished , and being unwilling to deprive my self of all other use of the exactest ballance that i ( or perhaps any man ) ever had : i confess to you , that successive avocations put this attempt for two or three years out of my thoughts , till afterwards returning to a place , where i chanc'd to find two or three pairs of scales , i had left there , the sight of them brought it again into my mind ; and though i were then unable to procure exacter , yet my desire to make the experiment some amends for so long a neglect , put me upon considering , that if i provided a glass bubble more than ordinarily large and light , even such ballances as those might , in some measure , perform , that which i had tried with the strangely nice ones above-mentioned . i caused then to be blown at the flame of a lamp some glass bubbles as large , thin , and light , as i could then procure : and chusing among them one , that seem'd the least unfit for my turn , i counterpoized it in a pair of scales , that would lose their equilibrium with about the 30th part of a grain , and were suspended at a frame . i placed both the ballance and the frame by a good baroscope , from whence i might learn the present weight of the atmosphere : then leaving these instruments together , though the scales being no nicer , than i have expressed , were not able to shew me all the variations of the air 's weight , that appear in the mercurial baroscope ; yet they did what i expected , by shewing me variations no greater than alter'd the height of the mercury half a quarter of an inch , and perhaps much smaller than those : nor did i doubt , that if i had had either tender scales , or the means of supplying the experiment with convenient accommodations , i should have discerned far smaller alterations of the weight of the air , since i had the pleasure to see the bubble sometimes in an equilibrium , with the counterpoize , sometimes when the atmosphere was lighter , preponderate so manifestly , that the scales being gently stirred , the tongue would play altogether on that side , at which the bubble was hung : and at other times , when the air was heavy ( that which was at the first but the counterpoise ) would preponderate , and upon the motion of the ballance , make the tongue vibrate altogether on its side : and this would continue sometimes many days together , if the air so long retained the same measure of gravity ; and then again the bubble would regain an equilibrium , or a preponderance . so that i had oftentimes the satisfaction by looking first upon the statical baroscope ( as for distinction sake it may be called ) to foretel , whether in the mercurial baroscope the liquor were high or low . which observations , though they hold as well in winter as the spring , yet the frequency of their vicissitudes ( which perhaps was but accidental ) made them more pleasant in the latter of these seasons . so that the matter of fact having been made out by variety of repeated observations , and by sometimes comparing several of those new baroscopes together , i shall add some of those notes , about this instrument , which readily occur to my memory , reserving the rest till another opportunity . and , 1. if the ground on which i went in framing this baroscope , be demanded , the answer in short may be ; 1st . that though the glass bubble , and its counterpoise , at the time of their first being weighed , be in the air , wherein they both are weighed , exactly of the same weight ; yet they are nothing near of the same bulk , the bubble by reason of its capacious cavity ( which contains nothing but air , or something that weighs less than air ) being perhaps a hundred , or two hundred times bigger , than the metalline counterpoise . 2dly . that according to an hydrostatical law , ( which you know i have lately had occasion to make out ) if two bodies of equal gravity , but unequal bulk , were to be weighed in another medium , they will be no longer equiponderant : but if the new medium be heavier , the greater body , as being lighter in specie , will lose more of its weight than the lesser and more compact : but if the new medium be lighter than the first , then the bigger body will outweigh the lesser . and this disparity arising from the change of mediums , will be so much the greater , by how much the greater inequality of bulk there is between the bodies formerly equiponderant . 3dly . that laying these two together , i consider'd , that 't would be all one , as to the effect to be produced , wherein the bodies were weighed in mediums of differing gravity , or in the same medium , in case its ( specifick ) gravity were considerably altered ; and consequently , that since it appeared by the baroscope , that the weight of the air was sometimes heavier , and sometimes lighter , the alteration of it in point of gravity , from the weight it was of , at first counterpoising of the bubble in it , would unequally affect so large and hollow a body as the bubble , and so small and dense an one , as a metalline weight ; and when the air , by an encrease of gravity , should become a heavier medium than before , it would buoy up the glass more than the counterpoize , and if it grew lighter than it was at first , would suffer the former to proponderate . ( the illustration and proof can scarce be added in few words , but if it be desired , i may , god permitting , send you them at my next leisure . ) and though our english air , being about a thousand times lighter than water , the difference in weight of so little air , as is but equal in bulk to a bubble , seem'd to give small hopes , that it would be sensible upon a ballance ; yet by making the bubble very large and light , i supposed , and found the event , i have already related . 2. the hermetically seal'd glass bubble , i imployed , was of the bigness of a somewhat large orange , and weighed about one drachm and ten grains . i thought it very possible , if i had been better furnished with conveniences ( wherein i afterwards found , i was not mistaken ) to make ( among many that might be expected to miscarry ) some , that might be preferrable to this , either for capacity or lightness , or both , especially if care be taken , that they be not seal'd up whilst they are too hot . for though one would think , that it were advantageous to ratify and drive out the air , as much as is possible , because in such seal'd bubbles the air it self ( as i have elsewhere shewn ) has a weight , yet the advantage countervails not the inconvenience of being obliged to increase the weight of the glass , which when it includes highly ratified air , if it be not somewhat strong , will be broken by the pressure of the external air , as i have sufficiently tried . 3. by reason of the difficulties , and casualties , that may happen , about the procuring and preparing such large and light bubbles , as i have been lately mentioning , it may in some cases prove a convenience to be informed , that i have sometimes , instead of one sufficiently large bubble , made use of two that were smaller : and though a single bubble of competent bigness be much preferrable , by reason , that a far less quantity and weight of glass is requisite to comprize an equal capacity , when the glass is blown into a single bubble , than when it is divided into two ; yet i found , that the employing of two instead of one , did not so ill answer my expectation , but that they may for a need serve the turn , instead of the other , than which they are much easier to be procured . this instrument may be much improved by divers accommodations . as , 1st . there may be fitted to the ansa ( or checks of the ballance ) an arch of a circle , divided into 15 or 20 degrees , ( more or less according to the goodness of the ballance ) that the tongue resting over against any of these divisions , may readily , and without calculation , shew the quantity of the angle , by which when the scales propend either way , the tongue declines from the perpendicular , and the beam from its horizontal parallelism . 2dly . those that will be so curious , may instead of the ordinary counterpoise ( of brass ) imploy one of gold , or at least of lead , whereof the latter being of equal weight with brass , is much less in bulk , and the former amounts not to half its bigness . 3dly . these parts of the ballance that may be made of copper or brass , without any prejudice to the exactness , will by being made of one of those metals , be less subject than steel to rust with long standing . 4thly . instead of the scales , the bubble may be hung at one end of the beam , and only a counterpoise to it at the other , that the beam may not be burden'd with unnecessary weight . 5thly . the whole instrument , if placed in a small frame , like a square lanthorn with glass windows , and a hole at the top for the commerce of the internal and external air , will be more free from dust and irregular agitations , to the latter of which it will otherwise be sometimes liable . 6thly . this instrument being accommodated with a light wheel , and an index , may be made to show much more minute variations than otherwise . 7thly . the length of the beam , and exquisitness of the ballance , may easily , without any of the foregoing helps ( and much more with them ) make the instrument far exacter than those , i was reduced to imploy . and to these accommodations , divers other may be suggested by a further consideration of the nature of the thing . though in some respects the statical baroscope be inferiour to the mercurial , yet in others it has its own advantages and conveniency about it . at first it confirms ad oculum , our former doctrine , that the falling and rising of the mercury depended upon the varying weight of the atmosphere , since in this baroscope it cannot be pretended that a fuga vacui , or a funiculus , is the cause of the changes we observe . 2dly . it shows , that not only the air has weight , but a more considerable one than some learned men , who will allow me to have proved , that it has some weight , will admit . 3dly . this statical baroscope will oftentimes be more parable than the other , for many will find it more easy to procure a good pair of gold scales , and a bubble or two , than a long cane seal'd , a quantity of mercury , and all the other requisites of the mercurial baroscope , especially if we comprize the trouble and skill that is requisite to free the deserted part of the tube from air. 4thly . and whereas the difficulty of removing the mercurial instrument has kept men from so much as attempting to do it even to neighbouring places , the essential parts of the scale baroscope ( for the frame is none of them ) may very easily in a little room be carried wheresoever one will , without the hazard of being spoil'd , or injur'd . 5thly . there is not in statical baroscopes , as in the other , a danger of uncertainty , as to the goodness of the instrument , by reason , that in the mercurial the air is in some more , and in some less , perfectly excluded ; whereas in these that consideration has no place . 6thly . it being , as i formerly intimated , very possible to discover hydrostatically , both the bigness of the bubble , and the contents of the cavity , and the weight and dimensions of the glassy substance ( which together with the included air make up the bubble ) much may be discovered by this instrument , as to the weight of the air , absolute or respective . for when the mercury in the mercurial baroscope is either very high , or very low , or at a middle station between its greatest and least height , bringing the scale-baroscope to an exact equilibrium ( with very minute divisions of a grain ) you may by watchfully observing , when the mercury is risen or fallen just an inch , or a 4th , or ● of an inch. &c. and putting in the like minute divisions of a grain to the lighter scale , till you have again brought the ballance to an equilibrium , you may , i say , determine what known weight in the statical baroscope , answers such determinate altitudes of the ascending and descending mercury in the mercurial : and if your ballance be accommodated with a divided arch , or a whele and index , these observations will assist you for the future , to determine , by seeing the inclination of the tongue , or the degree mark'd by the index , to conclude readily , what potency the bubble has , by the change of the atmosphere's weight , acquired or lost . some observations of this nature i watchfully made , sometimes putting in a 64th , sometimes a 32d , sometimes a 16th , and sometimes heavier parts of a grain to the lighter scale : but one that knew not for what uses these little papers were , coming to a window where my baroscope stood , so unluckily shook them out of the scales , and confounded them , that he robb'd me of the opportunity of making the nice observations i intended , though i had the satisfaction of seeing , that they were to be made . 7thly . by this statical instrument we may be assisted to compare the mercurial baroscopes of several places ( though never so distant ) and to make some estimates of the gravities of the air therein . as if , for instance , i have found by observation , that the bubble i imploy ( and one may have made divers bubbles of several sizes , that the one may repair any mischance that may happen to another ) weighed just a drachm , when the mercurial cylinder was at the height of 29½ inches ( which in some places i have found a moderate altitude ) and that the addition of the 16th part of a grain is requisite to keep the bubble in an equilibrium , when the mercury is risen an 8th , or any determinate part of an inch , above the former station : when i come to another place , where there is a mercurial barometer , as well freed from air as mine ( for that must be supposed ) if taking out my scale-instrument , it appears to weigh precisely a drachm ; and the mercury , in the baroscope there , stand at 29½ inches , we may conclude , the gravity of the atmosphere not to be sensibly unequal in both those two places , though very distant . and though there be no baroscope there , yet if there be an additional weight , as for instance , the 16th part of a grain , requisite to be added to the bubble , to bring the scales to an equilibrium , it will appear , that the air , at this second place , is at that time so much heavier than the air of the former place was , when the mercury stood at 29½ inches . but in making such comparisons , we must not forget to consider the situation of the several places , if we mean to make estimates not only of the weight of the atmosphere , but of the weight and density of the air. for though the scales will show , as hath been said , whether there be a difference of weight in the atmosphere at the two places ; yet if one of them be in a vale or bottom , and the other on the top , or some elevated part of a hill , it is not to be expected , that the atmosphere in this latter place , should gravitate as much as the atmosphere in the former , on which a longer pillar of air does lean or weigh ; so that the bubble in both these places should be precisely of the same weight . and the mention i have made of the differing situation of places , puts me in mind of something , that may prove another use of our statical baroscope , and which i had thoughts of making trial of , but was accidentally hindered from the opportunity of doing it ; namely , that by exactly poizing the bubble , at the foot of a high steeple or hill , and carrying it in its close frame to the top , one may , by the weight requisite to be added to the counterpoize , there to bring the beam to its horizontal position , observe the difference of the weight of the air at the bottom and at the top ; and in case the hill be high enough , at some intermediate stations . but how this may assist men to estimate the absolute or comparative height of mountains , and other elevated places , and what other uses the instrument may be put to , when it is duly improved , and the cautions , that may be requisite in the several cases , which shall be proposed , i must leave to more leisure , and further consideration . i caused to be made with great care , by a skilful mathematical-instrument-maker , a hollow cube of brass , whose every side was as exactly as could be procured , an english inch. this we carefully counterpoised in a very good pair of scales , and found it to weigh 11 drachms , 1 grain and ½ , ( troy-weight ) then placing it in one of the scales as horizontally as we were able , we warily fill'd it with clear common water , ( of the best sort of that called pump-water ) till the surface of the water seem'd to lie as level , as we could make it , to the brims of the vessel : then weighing it carefully , we found the water alone ( for the cube had been counterpoized before ) to weigh 254 9 / 16 grains : so that in regard 't is scarce possible to know , that such a vessel is so filled , as to come nearer exactness , than within a drop or two : i presume we may , without any sensible error , suppose an inch of water to weigh 256 grains , which latter number i rather chufe , because its aliquot parts make it more convenient , and it agrees well enough with some trials , that i made with solid cubes , to measure the true weight of a cubick inch of water . this done , the vessel was well dried within , and the same scales being well counterpoized , the instrument was so too , and being placed on one of the scales as horizontically as we could , mercury ( distilled to have it more pure ) was warily put into it , till by degrees it had filled the vessel as to sight ; but we neither expected , nor found , that it would be brought to an exact level , and exquisitly fill all the corners of the vessel . but when it seem'd to be so well filled , that even a critical eye could not readily find fault with it , though the mercury appeared capable of some accession without overflowing , we weighed the quicksilver it self ( for the vessel had been counterpoized before ) and found it to weigh 7 ounces , 2 drachms , ( troy ) which falling somewhat short ( though not very much ) of what the above-mention'd weight of the water required , we tried to add a little more quicksilver , without making it run over , and found the increase of 82 grains ; so that now the quicksilver weighed 7 ounces , 3 drachms , 22 grains ; but it seem'd when the eye was placed in a level with the brims of the vessel , that it was rather a little of the highest , than any way depressed , and yet was not so full , but that we could add 112 grains to the former weight , without making it run over ; and perhaps we might have added yet more , but i decline doing it , because the last mentioned accession seem'd manifestly to make it so much swell above the brims of the vessel . by all which 't is evident that 't is scarce possible to determine precisely by such hollow instruments , the true weight of a cubick inch of quick-silver . and therefore , since by other ways of trial , i have found the proportion of the weight of mercury to water of the same bulk , to be somewhat less than that of 14 to 1 , i think we may , without any considerable inconvenience , suppose the weight of a cubick inch of quick-silver to be 3580 grains , which is near 14 times the above-mentioned weight of a cubick inch of water , and comes near enough to the second or middlemost of the three estimates lately set down ; and by the least estimate of all it appears that a cubick inch of quicksilver weighs 7¼ ounces troy weight , that is 8 ounces averdupois weight : and consequently when the quicksilver of the baroscope , kept up by the counterpoize of the air 30 inches , ( as i have observed it several times to be within a month last past ) the weight of the air that is incumbent on an inch square here below , amounts to 18 l. ⅛ troy weight ; that is in averdupois weight 15 l. 1 / 17. as 11 to 14 , or rather as 355 to 452 , so is the area of a square inscribed in a circle to the area of the circumscribed circle . hence 355 : 452 : : 1 : 1 , 2732394. hence if the side of an inscribed square be an inch , that multiplied by an inch , renders a cubick inch for the solid content . in like manner if the height of a cylinder erected on the circumscribing circle , be an inch , the solid content of that cylinder is 1,2732394 . wherefore 1 , and 1 , 2732394 multiplied , by the weight of the cubick inch of any kind of metal , give the weight of a cubick inch , and of a cylindrick inch that circumscribes the same , whence an inch table for both is easily made , by continual addition , or for any height propounded , multiplying both by the same . mr. townly's register , if i misremember not . nov. 23 2       28. 98 24 8       29. 54   9 p     28. 90 25 3¼         80 27 9 p       99 29 9       28. 97   9 p     29. 09 dec. 6 9 p     28. 97 7 9         60 8 9       29. 05 11 9       28. 93   3 p     29. 01 13 8●       28. 90   9 p       95 25 9 p     29. 04 26 9 p     28. 32 28 10 p     29. 13 jan. 1 9 p     28. 99 2 9         82 3 9       29. 08   9 p       06 5 10       28. 70 6 10       29. 09   9½ p     28. 62 7 8       28. 99 12 10       28. 88   4 p       98 16 1       29. 13   9 p     28. 65 17 10         14 21 9½       29. 05 22 4       28. 99   9 p       94 23 9         99 24 11 p     29. 06 25 9       28. 50   9 p     29. 10   29 9     28. 90     9 p     71   30 8       80 31 9 p 30. 12     febr. 1 12     22     2 8½   29. 97     15 9 p     28. 99 16 9 p       95 17 8       29. 10 mar. 2 9 p     28. 98 4 8½         78   9         86 12 9       28. 80   9 p       66 13 8½       29. 03 1671 apr. 1 6 p     28. 99   2 9 p     78 3 8½       29. 03 june 8 1       29. 18   8 p     28. 86 9 7         99 aug. 12 6     28. 90 sept. 6 8½       29. 15 7 10½       28. 65 8 7½       29. 05 12 9½       28. 98 29 8       28. 96   3 p     29. 08 30 9 p     29. 19 octo. 1 10     28. 63   3 8     29. 10 a register kept by mr. locke in oxford . d h th. bar. wind. weather at oxford . 1666 june 24 9 70 29   n e 2 fair.   22 76 ․ 29 1     fair. 25 4˙ 73˙ 29 1˙ n e 1 fair.   10 74 ․ 29 1˙ e 1 fair.   15 ․ 77 ․ 29 1 ․ s e 2 fair. 26 9˙ 73˙ 28 8 ․ n 1 fair.   12 75 ․ 28 7˙ n e 1 thunder .   13 75 ․ 28 7˙ s w 4 thunder , rain , hail .   14 74 ․ 28 8 ․ n 0 thunder , rain .   18 73 ․ 28 8 ․ n 1 clouds , dry .   22 72 ․ 28 8 ․     fair. 27 7 70 ․ 28 8 ․ n w 1 rain .   9 70 ․ 28 8 ․ n w 1 rain .   16 68˙ 28 8 ․ w 1 fair. 28 9 63˙ 29 1˙ w 0 clouds .   17 67˙ 29 1˙ n 1 clouds . 29 9 63˙ 29 2 ․ n 1 clouds .   19 69 ․ 29 1˙ n 1 clouds . 30 9 64 ․ 29 2 ․ n 0 clouds .   20 64 ․ 29 2˙ n 1 fair. july               1 9 57˙ 29 4 ․ w 2 fair. 2 11 63 29 3 ․ w 1 clouds . d h th. bar. hy. wind. weather   21 67˙ 29 2 ․       rain . 3 9 66 ․ 29 1˙   w 1 clouds .   22 66 ․ 29 1 ․       clouds . 4 11 64˙ 28 8˙   w 0 clouds .   17 68˙ 28 7 ․   s e 2 clouds . 5 9 65 ․ 28 7 ․   s w 2 clouds .   23 65˙ 28 7 ․   s w 2 rain . 6 9 63 29 1˙   w 1 fair.   16 67 ․ 29 1˙   s w 1 clouds . 7 9 67 29 1˙   s 2 fair.   23 72 28 7˙       lightning . 8 9 70 ․ 28 8˙   s w 2 clouds . 9 9 66· 29 2·   s w 2 fair. 10 9 66˙ 29 1˙   s 2 clouds . 11 10 67 ․ 29 1·   s 2 clouds . 12 10 66 ․ 29 2·   s 2 fair. 13 10 66 ․ 29 3˙   w 1 fair. 14 3 75 ․ 28 8·   s w 2 clouds . 15 9 67 ․ 29 1˙   s w 1 fair. 16 11 70˙ 29 1˙   s w 2 fair. 17 5 71 ․ 28 8·   e 0 clouds after rain .   19 71 ․ 28 8·   w 1 rain . 18 7 62 ․ 29 2·   s w 2 fair.   9 64 ․ 29 2˙   s w 2 fair. 19 9 65 ․ 29 3 ․   s w 2 cloudy . 20 12 67 ․ 29 4 ․   w 1 fair. 21 8 64˙ 29 4·   w 1 fair. 22 9 67 ․ 29 3·   s w 1 fair. 23 9 67 ․ 29 2 ․   e 1 thunder , rain .   15 71 ․ 29 1˙   n e 1 fair.   17 71 ․ 29 1˙   e 1 rain .   21 69˙ 29 2 ․     1 clouds , lightning . 24 9 67˙ 29 2˙   n 1 clouds . 25 9 67˙ 29 2·   n 1 clouds . 26 6 64˙ 29 3˙   n 1 close . 30 23 69˙ 29 3˙ 15     fair. 31 7 67˙ 29 3˙ 15 n w 0 fair. august                 15 10 60 29 2˙ 20     clouds . 16 9 59˙ 29 2˙ 19 n 1 fair. 29 21 64 29 2˙ 19       30 9 59 29 3· 19 n 0 fair. 31 7 61 ․ 29 3· 20 n e 0 fair.   9 61 29 3 ․ 20 n e 1 fair. september                 1 6 55 29 3˙ 17 n e 1 fair.   9 55· 29 3˙ 17 e 2 clouds . 2 9 52˙ 29 3 ․ 16 e 3 clouds . 3 9 49˙ 29 4 ․ 16 e 2 fair. 4 9 47˙ 29 3˙ 15 e 1 fair.   13 50˙ 29 3 ․ 15 e 2 dim reddish sun-shine   20 51 ․ 29 2˙ 14     this unusual colour of the air , which without a cloud appearing , made the sun-beams of a strange red dim light , was very remarkable . we had then heard nothing of the fire of london : but it appeared afterwards to be the smoak of london then burning , which driven this way by an easterly wind , caused this odd phenomenon . 5 22 49 ․ 29 1         6 9 44· 29 2 ․ 15 n e 1 fair. 8 9 44 ․ 29 4˙ 15 n e 1 fair. 9 9 46 ․ 29 4 ․   s w 1 thick , sun.   17 52 ․ 29 2 ․ 18 s 2 rain .   22 53 ․ 29 — ․ 20   2 rain . 10 9 52˙ 28 8· 20 s w 3 fair.   16 56˙ 28 8 ․ 20 w 2 rain . 11 11 53 28 8· 22 s w 2 cloudy . 12 9 52 29 — 23 s 3 close . 13 9 50· 29 2· 23 w 2 fair. 14 9 53˙ 29 1 ․ 23 s e 2 fair. 15 10 57 ․ 29 1 ․ 27 n e 1 close .   11 57˙ 29 1 ․ 28 n e 1 rain .   23 61 ․ 29 1 ․ 35     fair. 16 9 59˙ 28 8˙ 34 e — mist .   21 61˙ 28 7˙ 37     rain . 17 9 54˙ 28 8 ․ 35 n w 1 close .   22 49· 28 1· 30     rain . 18 9 42 ․ 28 8 ․ 37 n e 4 close after rain .   11 43 ․ 29 1 ․ 36 e n 3 close .   13 44 ․ 29 2 ․ 35 e n 3 close .   17 45· 29 3 ․ 35 e 2 fair.   23 45 29 4 ․ 35   0 fair. 19 9 41˙ 29 5 ․ 35 n 1 fair. 20 9 46 ․ 29 4 ․ 37 n 1 close . 21 8 47˙ 29 3˙ 36   0 thick mist .   22 52 ․ 29 4 ․ 38   0 fog . 22 10 48 ․ 29 4 ․ 37 s w 1 close . 23 9 46 ․ 29 5˙ 37 w 0 clouds . 24 8 49˙ 29 4˙ 38 s w 1 fair.   21 55 ․ 29 2 39   2 fair , h 19 few drops 25 6 53 ․ 29 1 ․ 38 s 1 clouds .   10 54 28 8 ․ 39 s 3 rain .   21 50 ․ 29 1· 38   0 fair. 26 8 49˙ 28 7˙ 39 w 3 close . 27 9 48˙ 29 2 ․ 37 w 3 fair.   23 48˙ 29 4 ․ 36   2 fair. 28 7 45 ․ 29 5 ․ 36 w 2 fair.   19 47˙ 29 4˙ 37   2 rain . 29 7 51 29 4 ․ 40 w n 1 rain .   12 53 29 5 ․ 38 w n 2 fair.   18 53 ․ 29 5˙ 35 n w 0 fair. 30 9 48 29 6˙ 37 w s 0 clouds .   21 57˙ 29 5˙ 46   2 fair. october                 1 8 54˙ 29 5˙ 45 s 1 clouds .   19 61· 29 5· 43   0 fair. 2 9 56˙ 29 5˙ 44 s w 2 close . 3 7 54 ․ 29 5 ․   s w 0 close . november                 25 10 ․ 32˙ 29 1·         26 9˙ 31 ․ 29 2 ․     0 thick fog .   18 31 ․ 29 1·     0 fog . 27 11 33 ․ 29 1·   w 0 fair.   18 34˙ 29 2·     0 clouds .   22 34 ․ 29 2 ․     2 clouds . 28 10 39· 28 7˙ 63 s w 2 rain .   21 36˙ 28 7˙ 62   2 fair. 30 9 31 28 7 ․ 60 w s 2 fair.   22 31 ․ 29 1 61     fair. december                 1 9 29· 29 3˙ 61 w 0 fair.   22 29 ․ 29 4 ․ 61   0 fair. 2 9 27 ․ 29 2 ․ 60 s e 2 clouds , thaw . 3 9 27˙ 28 7˙ 60 e 1 clouds .   17 27˙ 29 7˙ 61   0 rain . 4 9 26˙ 28 8˙ 60 s e 0 thick fog .   12 26˙ 28 8· 61 s 1 snow . 5 9 30 ․ 28 6˙ 63 s 1 hard rain .   21 34 ․ 28 6˙ 63   2 fair. 6 9 34· 29 1 ․ 64 w s 1 fair.   18 36˙ 29 1˙ 64   0 small rain . 7 9 32˙ 29 3 ․ 63 w 0 fair. 8 9˙ 32 29 3˙ 65 w s 3 small rain .   23 35 ․ 29 3 ․ 64   0 rain hard . 9 9 31 29 1 ․ 63 n 2 hard snow .   17 29˙ 29 1˙ 63   0 fair. 10 21 26 ․ 29 5 ․ 63     fair. 11 9 24˙ 29 5˙ 63 w n 1 hard frost , fair .   21 21˙ 29 5˙ 60   2 fair. 12 9 20 ․ 29 6 ․ 59 n 1 fair , hard frost . 13 10 21˙ 29 6˙ 61 n 1 fair , hard frost . 14 9 22˙ 29 6 ․ 63 n w 1 little mist , and slow thaw .   11 24 ․ 29 5˙ 63 n w 2 clouds , thaw . 15 9 25˙ 29 6 ․ 64 n 1 fair , little thaw . 16 9 24· 29 6˙ 63 n e 0 fog , hoar frost .   17 24˙ 29 6 ․ 63 ne 0 thaw , clouds . 17 9 22˙ 29 6˙ 63 n 0 clouds , hard frost .   22 23 ․ 29 5˙ 64     thaw , clouds . 18 10 24 ․ 29 5 ․ 65 n 2 small misty rain .   21 24˙ 29 5˙ 64     small rain . 19 9 23 ․ 29 5 ․ 64 n w   small snow , thaw . 20 9 23 ․ 29 5 ․ 64 n 2 mist , thaw .   22 22˙ 29 5˙ 64   0 fair , freeze . 21 10 20˙ 29 3˙ 63 s w 2 hard frost , clouds .   21 22 ․ 29 2˙ 63   1 snow . 22 9 22 ․ 29 2˙ 63 n w   clouds , no thaw .   22 21˙ 29 2 ․ 63     frost , fair . 23 8 21 ․ 29 1· 64 n 0 little snow last night , frost , close .   21 20 ․ 29 3 ․ 63   0 fair , hard frost . 24 10 17 ․ 29 4· 62 n w 2 fair , hard frost .   17 18˙ 29 3˙ 63 w 1 snow . 25 9 18˙ 29 4 62 n w 1 hard frost , fair .   22 19 ․ 29 4· 61     fair , hard frost . 26 9 18˙ 29 3 ․ 62 w 1 fair , hard frost .   19 22 ․ 29 2˙ 63   0 clouds , thaw . 27 8 22˙ 29 2· 64 n w 1 fog .   16 22˙ 29 2· 63 n w 1 close , thaw .   21 22 ․ 29 2· 63 n w 0 close , freeze . 28 9 20˙ 29 3 ․ 63 n w 0 close , frost .   22 18 ․ 29 3˙ 63 n w 0 close , frost . 29 10 16 29 4˙ 63 n w 0 fog , hard frost .   22 15˙ 29 5 ․ 62   0 thick fog , hard frost . 30 9 15 ․ 29 4˙ 62 n w 0 very thick fog , and hard frost .   22 15 ․ 29 4· 62 n w 0 clear , hard frost . 31 8 14 ․ 29 4˙ 62 n w 0 fair , hard frost .   15 15 ․ 29 5 ․ 63 n w 0 fair , hard frost . january 1667                 1 8 12 ․ 29 4˙ 62 n w 0 fog , hard frost . 2 10 13˙ 29 6· 63 s e 0 fair , hard frost . 3 9 10˙ 29 5˙ 63 s e 0 fair , hard frost .   22 11˙ 29 3˙ 63   0 close , hard frost . 4 10 13 29 3 ․ 63 e s 1 close , hard frost . 5 11 12 ․ 29 2˙ 62 e 0 snow , frost . 6 9 13 ․ 28 8· 63 e s 0 snow , frost .   15 14˙ 28 7˙ 63 e 0 close , frost . 7 9 16˙ 28 6· 64 e 0 close , hard frost .   17 18˙ 28 6 ․ 64 e 0 little dewy rain , and tendency to a thaw . 8 8 20˙ 28 6˙ 65 e n 0 close , thaw , little rain .   21 21˙ 28 8 ․ 64   0 close , thaw . 9 8 21˙ 29 2 ․ 65 e n 0 little snow , and little thaw .   21 22 ․ 29 3˙ 65   0 close . 10 9 21 ․ 29 3˙ 65 n e 0 close , frost .   22 21˙ 29 2 ․ 65   2 close . 11 8 20˙ 29 2˙ 65 n e 1 close , frost .   12 21 ․ 29 2 ․ 65 n e 0 close , gentle thaw . 12 9 21˙ 29 2 ․ 64 ne 0 close , frost . 13 11 22 ․ 28 7˙ 65 ne 0 thick fog , thaw .   22 23· 28 8 ․ 65   0 close , great thaw . 14 8 24˙ 28 7· 65 e 1 fog , perfect thaw .   21 24˙ 28 6˙ 65   2 close . 15 10 22˙ 28 6˙ 64 en 2 close , frost .   22 23 ․ 28 6˙ 65   0 small rain . 16 8 23˙ 28 7 ․ 65 es 1 close . 17 8 25 ․ 28 7˙ 65 en 0 fog . 18 7 25 ․ 28 6 ․ 65 ne 2 snow , thaw .   21 23 28 8˙ 64   2 little snow . 19 8 21 ․ 29 2˙ 64 ne 0 frost , little snow .   22 20 ․ 29 4 ․ 64     hard frost . 20 9 18 ․ 29 5 ․ 63 n 0 fair , hard frost .   22 20 ․ 29 6 ․ 63   0 fair , frost . 21 8 18 ․ 29 6˙ 63 nw 0 fair , hard frost .   17 21 ․ 29 6˙ 63 w 1 fair , frost . 22 9 25 ․ 29 5 ․ 66 sw 2 rain .   23 28˙ 29 3˙ 66   3 rain . 23 9 29 29 3˙ 67 ws 1 clouds .   17 32˙ 29 4· 67 w 1 fair. 24 9 29 29 5˙ 66 ws 1 fair.   21 32· 29 3˙ 66   4 close .   23 33˙ 29 2˙ 66   4 close . 25 8 36 ․ 28 8 ․ 67 sw 3 little misty rain .   19 42˙ 28 6 ․ 73   3 little misty rain . 26 8 38 ․ 28 8˙ 72 ws 2 close .   12 37˙ 28 8˙ 73 ws 1 rain . 27 10 33 29 2˙ 70 ws 2 fair. 28 22 30˙ 29 2˙ 69   1 rain . 29 6 30˙ 29 2˙ 70   1 mist .   16 31 ․ 29 3· 70 nw 0 clouds . 31 13 26˙ 29 4· 69 e 2 close . february                 1 9 26˙ 29 5· 69 e 2 close . 2 9 28 ․ 29 5 ․ 70 e 1 close . 3 9 31 ․ 29 4˙ 72 se 0 thick fog . 4 9 33˙ 29 5· 72 e 0 fog .   22 34 ․ 29 6· 73   0 close . 5 8 32˙ 29 7 ․ 72 e 1 close .   22 31 ․ 29 7˙ 71   2 close . 6 18 26 ․ 29 7 ․ 68 ne 1 clouds . 7 9 24 ․ 29 5˙ 69 ne 1 clouds , snow in the night .   23 23 ․ 29 5· 67   1 close . 8 10 22˙ 29 5· 67 en 2 frost , close . 9 8 21˙ 29 4˙ 67 es 1 close , frost .   22 22 ․ 29 4 ․ 68     snow . 10 9 23˙ 29 3˙ 69 se 1 rain .   16 28· 29 3 ․ 71 sw 2 misty .   23 32 ․ 29 2˙ 73   2 close . 11 9 34˙ 29 2˙ 73 sw 2 misty .   22 36˙ 29 1˙ 74     close . 12 8 35 ․ 28 7 ․ 74 se 2 close .   22 37 ․ 28 4· 73   2 fair. 13 8 34˙ 28 4 ․ 72 sw 3 fair.   22 36 ․ 28 2˙ 70   2 close . 14 8 34 ․ 28 4˙ 69 ws 3 fair.   22 33 ․ 28 6 ․ 68     fair. 15 8 32 ․ 28 5˙ 69 s 2 rain .   23 32˙ 28 5˙ 69 s 2 fair. 16 23 31˙ 28 7 ․ 69 n 1 close . 17 9 30˙ 28 8˙ 69 w 1 fog . 18 11 32˙ 29 4 ․ 66 nw 2 fair. 19 9 28 ․ 29 7 ․ 64 nw   hoar frost , fair .   15 33 ․ 29 6 ․ 56 s 2 fair. 20 9 28˙ 29 6˙ 63     fair. 21 9 28˙ 29 5˙ 63 es 1 fair. 22 8 29 ․ 29 5˙ 62 ne 1 close .   15 29 ․ 29 5 ․ 60 ne 1 rain . 23 8 27˙ 29 5· 63 ne 2 close . 24 9 26 ․ 29 6 ․ 62 ne 2 close . 25 10 25 ․ 29 5 ․ 62 ne 1 snow . 26 7 23˙ 29 4 ․ 61 ne 1 frost , little snow . 27 8 23 ․ 29 2 ․ 61 ne 1 close , frost . 28 9 21˙ 29 1 ․ 60 ne 1 fair , frost . march                 1 11 22˙ 29 2 ․ 59 e 1 fair , hard frost . 2 10˙ 23˙ 29 3 ․ 60 ne 1 clouds , frost .   17 26˙ 29 3 ․ 59 ne 1 hail . 3 9 24˙ 29 4 60 ne 2 close .   21 25˙ 29 4˙ 62   2 misty , rain . 4 9 25 ․ 29 4˙ 60 ne 2 close . 5 9 24˙ 29 2· 60 nw 2 close , about 6 small snow . 6 23 17˙ 29 4· 56   2 fair , hard frost . 7 9 15 ․ 29 4 ․ 55 ne 2 fair , very hard frost .   13 16 ․ 29 4˙ 54 ne 2 snow . 8 8 14˙ 29 2˙ 54 ne 2 very hard frost , thames frozen , carts went over . 9 8 18 ․ 28 8· 58 ne 2 snow hard , already deep , hard frost . 10 9 18˙ 29 2 ․ 58 ne 2 close , hard frost . 11 8 19 29 3˙ 57 ne 1 hard frost , little snow . 12 8 21 ․ 29 5 ․ 57 en 1 frost . 13 9 21 ․ 29 5˙ 56 ne 1 close , frost . 14 8 21˙ 29 4˙ 56 se 2 close , frost .   16 23˙ 29 3 ․ 55 se   close , thaw . 15 8 23˙ 29 2˙ 57 e 1 mist , thaw . 16 8 27 ․ 29 1· 59 se 2 rain .   21 30˙ 29 0 60   0 fair. 17 11 31 ․ 29 2˙ 60 ne 1 close . 18 8 28˙ 29 6· 61 ne 1 fair.   18 35· 29 6 ․ 62 s 1 fair. 19 8 33· 29 6· 61 sw 1 close . 20 6 37 ․ 29 6 ․ 61 w 1 fair. 21 10 35˙ 29 4 ․ 55 sw 2 small rain .   12 36· 29 4 ․ 56 sw 2 small rain .   23 38 ․ 29 1˙ 59   3 close . 22 9 37˙ 29 1· 58 w 2 fair. 23 9 35˙ 29 1· 58 se 1 clouds .   11 36˙ 29 1 ․ 58 se 1 rain . 24 9 35˙ 29 2˙ 58 nw 1 clouds . 26 7· 30 29 5 ․ 50 nw 1 fair. 27 7 29˙ 29 6· 49 ne 1 fair. 28 9 28˙ 29 5· 48 ne 2 fair. 1669 december i began to keep a register of heat and cold at london , by a thermometer of the royal society's standard : this thermometer i marked 2 d h t. 2 bar. hy. wind. weather 26 9 3 ° —           extream hard frost 1670 january                 13 10 4 ·               23 4 ··           close . 14 10 4           close .   22 4 ·           mix'd , i. e. part clouds , part clear . 15 23 3 ···             16 10 2 ···           fair. 17 10 2 ·           fair. 18 9 2 ···           mist . 19 10 1 ···           mist . 20 1 0 ··           clouds .   9 0           close , frost . 21 9 1           close . 22 23 1 ···           fair. 23 9 1 ··           fair. 24 9 1 ·           fair. 25 9 1           close . 26 8 0 ·           snow . 27 10 0 ·           snow . 28 10 0 ···           snow . 29 23 0           hard frost . 30 11 0 ·           hard frost . 31 11 0 ···           thaw . february                 2 11 0           frost . 3 10 0 ···           frost . 6 23 0             7 9 0 ·           snow . 8 9 0 ··           fair. 9 10 0 ·           fair. 10 9 1 —           close . 11 10 0 ··           fair. 12 10 1 ·           thaw . 13 9 1 ···           rain . 14 9 0 ···           fair , frost . 17 23 3           mist . 20 11 2 ···           fair. april                 1 10 1 ···           close . 1670 may i here divided the degres of the gresham-colledg-thermometer , each into 4 , so that 24 is now the same that 6 was before . d h t. 2 bar. hy. wind. weather . 27 9 24           fair. 29 11 31           fair.   23 24           fair. 30 7 22           fair.   23 29           fair. june                 1 9 28           cloudy . 1671                 may                 29 8 20           rain . june                 5 8 31           cloudy . 1672                 january                 31 9 4 .       ne   fair. february                 1 8 5 . —           fair. june                 15 16 36··           cloudy . 16 9 33 ․           cloudy .   17 37 ․       sw 2 fair. 20 9 29           cloudy . august                 15 6 24             17 8 22˙           close . 1672 october                 13 9 20 ․             december                 23 22 20·             27 17 18˙             1673 january                 1 22 18             4 18 14·             april                 3 17 5˙           snow . may                 10 21 16 ․       e     june                 9 22 22 ․       e   rain . 10 9 21 ․           cloudy . 12 9 23 ․           fair. 13 22 22˙           rain . 14 9 24˙           close . 17 9 26˙             18 9 26˙           close . 20 9 22˙           fair. 21 9 24 ․           fair. 2 6 23˙           fair. 27 10 26˙             28 9 25˙           rain . 1673 july memorand . that from the beginning of may , till the middle of july , there was scarce one dry day , but so great rains , that produced greater flouds than were known in the memory of man. d h t. 2 bar. hy. wind. weather . 2 9 25˙             8 10 26 ․             10 8 25 ․           fair. 14 17 31˙           fair. 25 22 35˙             28 12 33˙           close . 30 9 24˙           fair. 1674 march                 9 8 1       n e   frost and snow . 19 6 5˙           snow . 20 10 5·       n e   snow all day . december                 25 15 11 ․           fair. 27 16 11 ․       w   fair. 28 15 14˙       w   close . 1675 january                 3 16 14 ․       w   fair. april                 25 9 12 ․       n e   fair. 26 10 12 ․       n   fair. 27 12 12˙       e   fair. 28 9 12 ․       e   close . 1675 may                 2 9 16 ․           close . 23 15 27 ․           cloudy . june                 8 22 21 ․           cloudy . 9 13 21˙           close . 10 14 22 ․           close . 13 10 22˙       e   close . 14 9 17 ․           fair. 1681 march the thermometer marked 3 is one , which i began now to use at my return to oxford . d h t. 3 bar. hy. wind. weather . 14 14 46 29 4 ․   w   a little mist . 15 8 36 29 6   n w   fair. 16 12 45 29 5˙   n w 2 little rain . 17 7 37 29 7˙   e   fog . 18 8 33 29 7˙   e   fair. 23 11 34 28 8˙   n w   close . 24 12 32 29 2˙   n   cloudy . 25 18 33 28 7˙   n w   cloudy . 26 15 32   8 ․   n   cloudy . 27 13 28 29 2·   n   fair , snow this morning .   14   29 2middot ;   n   snow hard . 28 11 29   5 ․   n   cloudy . 30 7 34   5˙   w   close : all the foregoing week it rained in showers every day . april                 6 18 49   4˙   s   very fair . 7 9 45   5˙   s   very fair .   17 55   4˙   s w   very fair . 9 8 50   3 ․   s w   close .   14 50   2˙   s w   rain . 10 11 44   3˙   w 2 clouds , and a little shower this morning . 11 17 46   5˙   s w 2 fair ever since yesterday . 12 15 51   2·   s 3 fair since . 13 14 49   3˙   w 2 fair since . 14 13 45   3˙   s w 3 fair since . 15 17 54   3˙   e n 3 close all day . 16 8 45   3·   e n 1 misty .   17 52   2·   e n 1 a little shower between 4 and 5 17 6 49   2·   n e 1 thick fog , showers between 6 and 7 last night . 18 7 46   2·   s w 2 fair , and clouds since . may                 3 14 50 29 4 ․   n e 2 close , no rain since 18 april , but very hot and fair weather till yesterday , the wind for the most part between n and e. 4 10 44   4·   n e 1 close since . 5 8 37   4·   n e 1 clouds . 6 8 37   2˙   e n 1 fair , clouds yesterday .   19 46 29     w 1 cloudy . 7 7 41 28 8˙   w n 2 clouds .   11 43   8·   w 1 rain .   16 47   7˙   w 1 close . 8 9 41 29     n e 1 cloudy since . 9 9 42   2˙   e n 1 fair. 10 4 47   3·   n 1 fair since . 11 9 48   3·   s e 1 fair since .   15 61   2·   s w 1 fair since . 16 11 54   6˙   s w 1 fair , a little shower or two since .   18 65   5˙   w 1 fair since . 17 8 55   6˙   w n 1 fair since . 19 17 70   2˙   n e 1 fair since . 20 6 64   3·   n e 2 cloudy , no rain from hence till june 20 the driest spring that hath been known , there having been no rain from the end of march to the end of june . august                 2 6 65   3˙ 7 n w 1 fair. 3 11 60   3˙ 8 n 1 fair. 4 9 62   3· 9 w 1 fair. 5 9 62   3· 8 e 1 fair. 6 15 71   1·   s 1 fair. 7 9 68   2 ․ 9 s 1 fair.   15 72 28 8˙ 8 s w 2 cloudy . 8 8 68   7˙ 9 s 2 close .   11 69   7˙ 9 s 2 rain a little . 9 9 64   8˙ 10 s w 1 close .   17 66   7˙ 10 s 1 rain a hard shower . 10 6 62   7˙ 11 s w 2 close . 11 9 62 29 1· 11 s w 1 close . 12 8 66   2 ․ 17 s w 1 mist . 13 9 69 28 8˙ 18 s 1 rain .   14 72   7˙ 17 sw 1 fair , clouds . 14 8 67   8 ․ 17 s 1 fair.   16 72   6 ․ 16 se 1 thunder shower . 16 9 69 29 2 ․ 17 sw 1 rain for ⅛ hour , and then fair . 17 6 69   2 ․ 16       18 4 67   3˙ 16       1682 february                 10 12 25 29 5˙   en 1 close , frost . 11 10 24 29 6˙   ne 1 fair , ice . 12 15 27 29 7 ․   ne   very fair . 13 11 24 29 7˙ 61 ne 1 thick fog . 14 8 23 29 6˙ 63 ne 1 fair. 15 8 29 29 5˙ 65 en 1 close . 17 8 31 29 0 72 s 2 cloudy , and some rain . 20 17 42 28 7˙ 75 se 2 rain . 21 8 44 28 6˙ 75 s 2 rainy . 22 9 42 28 7 ․ 77 s 2 close . 24 10 41 29 2 ․ 74 se 1 close . 25 15 39 28 7˙ 75 ne 1 rain ever since yesterday in the afternoon . 26 10 38 29 1˙ 74 n 1 close . 27 7 37 29 3˙ 75 nw 1 close . 28 10 39 29 4· 73 w 1 close . 1682 march                 d h t. 3 bar. hy. wind. weather . 1 9 42 29 3· 74     fog . 5 16 30 29 1 ․ 67 s 1 very fair , hard frost in the morning . 6 10 28 29 2 ․ 67 ne 1 fair. 7 11 25 29 2· 65 n 2 very fair . 22 13 29 29 2 ․ 57 n 3 cloudy , and a little snow . 23 8 25 29 4˙ 56 n 2 close , frost . 24 7 29 29 4 ․ 57 w 1 close . 25 9 36 29 2 ․ 59 n 2 clouds . 26 8 31 29 4˙ 56 n 1 close . 27 8 34 29 4 ․ 57 w 2 fair.   13 39 29 3 ․ 59 wn 1 a shower . 28 7 35 29 4 ․ 56 nw 1 fair. 29 7 30 29 5˙ 50 n   clouds . 30 8 30 29 5· 48 ne 2 fair.   11 31 29 5˙ 47 ne 3 snow . 31 8 30 29 6 ․ 48 ne 2 fair. april                 1 8 30 29 6 ․ 49 ne 2 close . 2 9 33 29 6 ․ 50 ne 1 close .   19 36 29 6 ․ 51 ne 1 small mist . 3 7 34 29 6 ․ 51 ne 1 small mist . 4 9 34 29 6 ․ 50 ne 1 close . 5 7 34 29 5 50 ne 1 fog , and sun-shine . 6 9 39 29 4 ․ 49 n 1 fair. 7 9 39 29 5 ․ 48 n 1 fair. 8 8 39 29 5˙ 44 ne 1 fog , and sun-shine .   11 43 29 5˙ 44 se 2 fair. 9 7 40 29 3 ․ 40 se 2 thick fog .   14 41 29 1· 41 s 2 rain .   20 43 28 7 44 s 2 rain till past 6 , now fair . 10 7 43 28 6˙ 47 sw 2 close , rain in showers most part of the day . 11 8 43 28 6 ․ 49 sw 2 close rain in showers most part of the day . 12 7 41 28 5 ․ 48 sw 1 close , shower about noon .   16 44 28 6˙ 47 wn 1 fair. 13 6 37 28 8· 47 se 1 fair.   17 44 28 5˙ 47   2 rain . 14 7 42 28 2˙ 48 se 2 rain all the morning , till past 12   14 45 28 5· 50 w 3 rain , more or less , almost all the afternoon . 15 6 40 29 1· 50 sw 2 fair. 16 7 43 29 1˙ 48     fair , hard shower about 18 17 7 47 28 8· 49 se 1 close , showers several times in the day . 18 7 43 28 7˙ 50 se 1 rain the greatest part of the day . 19 6 44 28 7 ․ 52 s 2 close , rain a great part of the day . 20 6 44 28 6 ․ 51 se 1 rain , and so in showers several times of the day . 21 4 45 28 6˙ 51 s 1 cloudy , rain most part of the morning . 22 8 47 28 7 ․ 51 s 1 rain .   17 51 28 8˙ 52 n 1 rain most part of the afternoon . 23 7 46 29 2˙ 52 n 1 close .   13 49 29 3· 52 s 1 close , rain almost all the afternoon .   22 49 29 3˙ 52 n about 18 hard rain . 24 6 46 29 4 ․ 52 e 1 close , hard rain at night . 25 7 47 29 1˙ 52 es 1 close , some rain .   14 42 28 8˙ 53 se 1 dropping .   22 54 28 7 ․ 54   3 hard rain from 18 26 7 52 28 6 ․ 54 s 2 cloudy , rain often in the day . 27 5 52 28 8 ․ 55 sw 1 close , a good deal of rain before night . 28 18 51 28 ˙ 55 sw 1 close , rain a good part of the morning , and some in the afternoon . 29 8 47 29 1 ․ 55 sw 1 cloudy , a little rain in the afternoon . 30 5 47 28 8˙ 55 sw 1 fair.   18 46 28 6 ․ 55 ne 1 hard rain , which began about 11 , and lasted till 21 or 22 1682 may                 d h t. 3 bar. hy. wind. weather . 1 4 42 28 8 ․ 55 nw 2 cloudy .   21 47 29 2 ․ 54 nw 1 fair. 2 8 43 29 2· 54 sw 1 cloudy , hard rain from 19 or 20 all night . 3 6 49 28 7˙ 54 sw 2 clouds , wind w. all the afternoon , but fair , bating a little rain in the evening . 4 5 52 28 7 ․ 54 se 1 rain hard till 13   13 54 28 7˙ 54 n 1 rain hard till night . memorand . that new fitting my barometer , here the mercury was raised by addition of more in the receiver about 2 / 10 inch , which is almost 2 of my degrees , which are eights , though i suspect it is still by reason of included air , a degree or two too low .                   22 53 29 2˙ 54     small rain . 5 8 48 29 3 ․ 54 e 1 rain .   20 51 29 3· 55 e 1 close rain most part of the morning , and 2 or 3 showers in the afternoon . 6 7 48 29 3· 55 ne 1 mist . 7 8 46 29 4· 55 e 2 rain a great part of the day . 8 4 53 29 2 ․ 56 sw 2 hard rain till 7 or 8 9 10 54 29 1˙ 55 e 1 close .   14 55 29 1· 55 sw 1 rain . 10 9 50 29 2˙ 54 s 1 cloudy , a little rain about 17 , and again about 22 11 6 49 29 2˙ 54 sw 1 close . 11 9 50 29 2˙ 55 sw 1 short shower : several short showers in the afternoon . 12 6 49 29 3 ․ 54 sw 1 close ; a shower in the morning . 13 4 51 29 2· 53 e 1 close , several showers in the day . 14 9 53 29 4· 54 sw 2 clouds . 15 7 51 29 4˙ 51 s 1 fair. 16 8 61 29 2 ․ 48 se 1 fair , hard shower about 18 17 5 60 29 3· 48 sw 2 close . 18 7 57 29 5· 47 w 1 fair. 19 8 58 29 5 ․ 45 ws 1 fair. 20 5 63 29 3· 43 se 1 fair.   16 69 29 3· 43 ws 1 very fair . 21 8 59 29 3˙ 44 s 1 fair. 22 9 69 29 1˙ 42 se 1 fair.   17 47 29 1 ․ 38 sw 2 fair. 23 7 64 29 2˙ 38 w 1 fair , gentle rain from 8 to 11   10 63 29 2˙ 38 w 1 rain . 24 7 62 29 2 ․ 39 n 1 close . 25 6 59 29 3 ․ 42 nw 1 fair. 27 9 53 29 5 ․ 42 w 1 fair. 28 14 67 29 3˙ 33 s 1 fair. october                 14 9 45 29 6 ․ 49 w 1 close , rain last night . 16 13 48 29 4˙ 51 sw 2 rain till bed-time . 1682 october               17 9 47 29 2˙ 51 w 1 fair , little rain . 18 10 41 29 1˙ 51 sw 2 cloudy , hard rain from 5 to bed-time . 19 9 39 28 7˙ 51 w 1 fair , shower in the afternoon . 20 9 34 28 7˙ 51   0 rain . 27 22 38 29 7˙ 60     close . 28 10 37 29 7 ․ 60 en 2 fair. november                 8 18   29 8 ․       fair , hard frost . 9 9 22 29 8 ․ 57 n 1 fog , gone before noon : hard frost . 10 10 26 29 8· 58 en 1 fair , hard frost . 11 9 25 29 7˙ 56 ne 1 close , hard frost . 12               fair , hard frost . 13 10 26 29 5˙ 57 ne 1 close , hard frost . 14 13 23 29 7 ․ 57     thick fog , fair in the afternoon . 15 10 36 29 4 ․ 56 sw 1 close , rain this morning , hard rain 22 16 5 41 29 1˙ 66     hard rain , rain most part of the day .   17 41 29 1· 65 sw 1 rain . 17 11 39 29 1 ․ 64 ws 2 fair. 18 9 37 28 7˙ 64   0 fog , rain most part of the day . 19 9 33 29 1˙ 62 w 1 fair , rain in the night 20 10 40 29 1˙ 64 wn 1 fair , rain in the afternoon .   22 42 29 2 ․ 63   2 fair. 21 6 42 29 1· 64     hard rain till 10   16 43 29 2˙ 64 w 2 fair. 22 11 33 29 5 63 w 1 small fog , frost this morning . 23 9 28 29 5˙ 62 nw   fog , thick fog all day . 24 9 25 29 5 ․ 62 nw   thick fog , little rain in the evening . 25 8 35 29 3 67 sw 1 close , rain in the evening . 26 9 35 29 4· 65 wn 1 fair. 27 10 31 29 7˙ 64 wn 1 fair. 28 4 32 29 8˙ 65     fair. 29 8 33 29 7˙ 65 ws   small fog . 30 9 35 29 7˙ 65 sw 1 fair. december                 1 8 35 29 6˙ 66 s 1 mist . 2 9 34 29 6˙ 66 s 1 close . 3 9 34 29 6˙ 66 sw 1 foggy . 1683. june                 21 9 62 29 3˙ 46 w 1 close . 22 8 65 29 2˙ 48 ws 2 close , some showers . 23 7 59 29 4˙ 46 w 1 cloudy . 25 19 67 29 4˙ 44 wn 1 fair , mist in the morning . 26 10 64 29 5 ․ 43 s 1 very fair .   17 72 29 3˙ 43 s w 2 fair. 30 13 62 29 3˙ 37 w n 3 fair. an explication of the foregoing register . the first column with d at the top , contains the day of the month. the second column with h at the top , contains the hour of the day , which beginning from midnight , i count to 24 , which is midnight again ; so that 13 stands for 1 afternoon , and so on . the third column with th. at the top , marks the degrees of my thermoscope , which having been blown at a lamp , though the spaces of the degrees were equally divided , yet because of the unequal bigness of the small tube , towards the extremities , where it grew bigger , it did not always in every degree mark equally proportionable degrees of heat and cold. the points to be observed in that and the next column , which is that for the baroscope , shew the just place where the top of the tinged spirit of wine in the one , and the mercury in the other , stood between the line of the degree marked , and the following , when the observation was made . the thermoscope i made use of till december , 1669 , was a seal'd one , with all the degrees increasing with the heat in one continued series . the thermoscope which i used from decemb. 1669. to june 1675. and is marked 2. was one of mr. cotgraves adjusting , which beginning the reckoning from the temper of freezing , hath the numbers increasing both upwards and downwards ; the points shew it to be in the degrees ; above 0 , if set over ; and under 0 , if set under : and ˙ ˙˙ or ˙˙˙ shew it higher or lower in each degree . the thermoscope used from march 1681 , to the end , is marked 3 , and is of the kind of that used first . the column having hy. at the top , contains the degrees of moisture , as marked by an hygroscope made of the beard of a wild oat . in the column of the wind , i not having the convenience to observe the points exactly , have marked but 8 , but yet with this variety , that where i set two letters , the wind was most from that point whose letter stands first , v. g. w n signifies more west than north. when i set only one letter , it was in or very near that cardinal point . the strength is marked by 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4. 0 signifies not so much wind that mov'd any leaf that i could see in a garden i look'd into out of my window , but the letter join'd to it signifies which way the weather-cock then stood , whether the former wind left it so , or the present breeze blew that way . 1 signifies a gentle gale , just perceivable by the moving of the leaves or plants . 4 signifies a very violent storm : 2 and 3 the several degrees between 1 and 4 , as well as i could judg . these degrees , though not so exactly measured as i could have wish'd , i yet thought better than nothing . le tuyau recourbé estoit fermé au bout ae et ouuert alautre extremité b. la recourbure depuis . g. jusq ' a c. estoit pleine de mercure & tout lereste estoit plein d' air . la longueur ae. c. estoit 4 pouces ou 32 / 8. j'echauffay cet air , et il feit baisser le mercure jusques en f. qui estoit ⅜ plus bas , & en mesme temps il monta jusq ' en h. qui estoit 3 / 8 plus haut que g. ou c. pour sçauoir quélle hauteur de mercure auroit este necessaire pour empescher la dilatation de lair , & retenir le mercure en c. je nay quá trouuer ce qui seroit necessaire pour repousser le mercure en c. etainsy contenir lair dans léspace ae. c. non obstant la chaleur . je pose pour principe ceque lexperience fait voir , cest que quand une quantité dáir occupe un certain espace que jáppelle . ae. et que la pression qui leretient dans cet espace soit b. si●on vient a augmenter certe pression de telle quantité que lón voudra comme x. on diminuera l'espace ae. d'une certain quantité . d. laquelle quantité est au restant . m. comme x est a b. d. m. : : x. b. donc m. d. : : b. x. il est aisé d áppliquer cettereigle à lexperience cy dessus car ae. f. ou 35 / 8 de pouce sont lespace ae. lapression ordinaire de lâir qui est de 30 pouces jointe ae un pouce de haut que se trouue entre f. et h. est b x 31 pouces de mercure : et si nous y en adjoustons assez pour reduire láir a léspace . ae. c. ledit . ae. c. sera m. x 32 / 8 et. f. c. sera d. x ⅜ posant donc . m. d. b. 32. 3. 31. la quatriesme proportionelle sera . x. x 2 29 / 32 pouces , qui estants joints a b. x 31 pouces feront 33 29 / 32 pouces dont láir sera pressé en c. ae. qui sont pres de 4 pouces audessus de la pression ordinaire . experiment made at the spire of the cathedral-church in sarum , by colonel john windham , assisted by mr. tho. naish , clerk of the works , and john warner , in november , 1684. having gotten together all the surveighing chains the city afforded , and carefully examined their truth , and having prepared a proper frame for the baroscope , we went into the church , filled the tube , and with all the nicety we could use , purged it of the airy particles , and then immersing it , as in the forricellian experiment , the mercury was there suspended 30 inches , and 50 cents of an inch , measuring it from the surface of the stagnum : then drawing it up to the first floor above the vaulting , which is 1033 inches and ½ high from the pavement , the mercury subsided 9 cents of an inch : from thence drawing it up to the middle floor , which is 935 inches higher , the mercury subsided 8 cents lower than before : and from thence drawing it up to the weather-door , which is 2313 inches higher than the last , the mercury subsided 23 cents below its last station . so the whole height 't was drawn up , is 4281 inches and a half ; and the whole difference of the mercury's standing is 40 cents of an inch. and letting it down again the same way , the mercury reascended to its first stations . at another time with an inverted baroscope , like that figure in the margin , having made a mark where the liquor stood when 't was below in the church , and drawing it up to the first floor over the     inches .   inc. cen. vaulting which is above the pavement of the church 1033 and ½ . the liquor ascended 1 25 to the middle floor 1968. 2 39 to the 8 doors floor 2467. 3 22 to the weather-door 4281. 5 64 to the top 4800 , or 400 feet . 6 40 if your honour desires to have any other experiments made at that spire , mr. naish whom i have mentioned above , is a person well skill'd in the practical parts of mathematicks , and a great lover of learning , but more especially natural and experimental philosophy , having all or most of your honour 's phylosophical works . this person i know would most gladly and heartily imbrace any opportunity of serving your honour , whensoever you 'l be pleased to let me impart any thing to him in a letter . this is humbly advertised by , sir , your honour 's most obliged , and most obedient servant , john warner . ♃ decembris 17. anno 1685. at a place in the great continent in europe , but not far from the ocean , a learned acquaintance of mine keeping a baroscope some years , and being discours'd with by me , about the difference of the phaenomena that may be expected in places situate upon the continent , from what we find in this country , as it is an island : he related to me , that a few years since , casting his eyes upon the baroscope , in ordinary weather , and that was calm enough ; he was surprized to see the mercury so strangely raised , as to exceed above two inches its wonted station , which great alteration he found within few hours to have been the fore-runner of so hideous a storm as was generally wondred at , and did a great deal of mischief both in the towns and country of those parts , where it left sad instances of its fury . this wind came all along the continent : but my relator divers times observed , that when very boisterous winds blew from the sea , and the storms came thence , ( which lying to the southward ) the mercuty in the baroscope would considerably subside , as has likewise been often observed here in england by an ingenious gentleman , living within less than two leagues of the sea , to whom i presented a baroscope to make observations with . an industrious young man , that whilst he was my domestick , i bred up to chymistry , ( of which he now teaches courses ) related to me the other day , that toward the latter end of the last month ( which was june ) being at oxford , where his house is , he had occasion to cast his eyes upon his baroscope , and was not a little surprized to find that the quick-silver was in an extraordinary measure alter'd from the height it stood at but a while before : whereupon , though the weather were very hot and fair , as is usual in june , and had continued so for some days ; yet he took upon him to foretel from this great and quick subsidence of the mercury , that there would be e're long some notable change of weather . and accordingly it happened within about four or five hours ; that the sky was all overcast ; and there fell a hideous storm of rain , lightning and thunder , accompanied with such a whirlwind , as scarce any remember to have seen in that city . a letter to the author . honoured sir , i have been able to do so little in the attempts i have made to serve you , that i am ashamed to have been so well furnished to so small purpose . the barometer i had from you was conveyed safe into the country , and as soon as it came to my hands , i rode to minedeep , with an intention to make use of it there , in one of the deepest gruffs ( for so they call their pits ) i could find : the deepest i could hear of was about 30 fathom , but the descent so far either from easy , safe , or perpendicular , that i was discouraged from venturing on it . they do not , as in wells , sink their pits strait down , but , as the cranies of the rocks , give them the easiest passage ; neither are they let down by a rope , but taking the rope under their arm , by setting their hands and legs against the sides of the narrow passage , clamber up and down , which is not very easy for one not used to it , and almost impossible to carry down the barometer , both the hands being imployed . this information i should have suspected to come from their fear , had not an intelligent gentleman , neighbour to the hill , assured me 't was their usual way of getting up and down . for the sight of the engine , and my desire of going down into some of their gruffs , gave them terrible apprehensions , and i could not perswade them but that i had some design : so that i and a gentleman that bore me company , had a pleasant scene , whilst their fear to be undermined by us , made them disbelieve all we told them ; and do what we could , they would think us craftier fellows than we were . but , sir , i will not trouble you with the particulars of this adventure : but certain it is the women too were alarm'd , and think us still either projectors or conjurers . since i could not get down into their gruffs , i made it my business to inquire what i could concerning them : the workmen could give me very little account of any thing , but what profit made them seek after ; they could apprehend no other minerals but lead oar , and believed the earth held nothing else worth seeking for : besides , they were not forward to be too communicative to one , they thought they had reason to be afraid of . but at my return , calling at a gentleman's house , who lives under minedeep-hills , and who had sent out his son to invite me in ; amongst other things he told me this , that sometimes the damps catch them , and then if they cannot get out soon enough , they fall into a swound , and die in it , if they are not speedily got out ; and as soon as they have them above ground , they dig a hole in the earth , and there put in their faces , and cover them close up with turfs ; and this is the surest remedy they have yet found to recover them . in deep pits they convey down air by the side of the gruff , in a little passage from the top ; and that the air may circulate the better , they set up some turfs on the lee side of the hole , to catch , and so force down the fresh air : but if these turfs be removed to the windy side , or laid close over the mouth of the hole , those below find it immediately , by want of breath , indisposition , and fainting : and if they ehance to have any sweet flowers with them , they do not only lose their pleasant smell immediately , but stink as bad as carrion . notwithstanding this ill success , i had attempted some trials once more , had not the spreading of the contagion made it less safe to venture abroad , and hastened me out of the country sooner than i intended . but i have some hopes , the next journey i make into those parts , to give you a better account than this that follows . near the house where i sometimes abode , was a pretty steep and high hill. april . 3. hora inter 8 & 9. matutin . the wind west , and pretty high , the day warm , the mercury was at 29 inches and 1 / ●● being carried up to the top of the hill , it fell to 28 inches ¾ : ( or thereabouts , for i think it was a little above 28 inches ¾ : ) both going up and coming down , i observed that proportionably as i was higher or lower on the hill , the mercury fell or rose . at my return to the bottom of the hill , the mercury wanted of ascending to its former height ● of an inch , which i impute to the sun 's rarifying some particles of air that remained in the upper part of the tube , rather than to any other change in the air ; for i find it harder to clear the tube of air perfectly , than at first i thought , or of water , if that have been put in with the mercury , and i fear liable to the same inconvenience with air inclosed . i know this is far short of what you might have expected , and has , i fear , but little answered your desires , since i guess it was the perpendicular height of the place i made the experiment in , that you would have had , and perhaps other considerations of air , inclosed , and liable to mineral steams , would have made a trial in one of the gruffs more acceptable to you . i do not think any thing in this letter worthy of you , or fit for the publick . but since i find by the two last philosophical transactions , that observations on the torricellian experiment are much look'd after , and desired to be compared ; if for want of better , this should be thought fit to fill an empty space in the philosophical news-book , i shall desire to have my name concealed . but i fear that this very caution of being in print , where there is no danger of it , has too much of vanity in it . i 'm sure 't is boldness enough , though allaid with obedience , to venture such slight things to your sight . i visited the incrusting spring i formerly mentioned to you , and could not find any thing incrusted within at least 20 yards of the rise of it . the place where it works most , is about 40 or 50 yards from the spring-head , and is at a fall higher than my head : there it sheaths every thing with stony cases , and makes the sides of the bank hard rock , and from thence all along its stream , it covers sticks , &c. with a crust ; and some so candied i found above this fall , but not so frequent ; whether the mixing of air with the water in the fall , contributes any thing to the effect , i cannot guess ; but that the fall does , i suppose : for besides that at the above-mentioned fall , it seems to operate most strongly , i observed , that though i could not find any thing incrusted within a good distance of the spring , yet that the moss above the spring was a little incrusted , ( but not so firmly as at the other place ) for the water in the winter , when the springs are full , runs out also at a hole two or three yards above the place , where now only it rises , and from thence falls perpendicularly into this lower spring , from whence it runs by an easy descent to the next fall. a gentleman in whose field it rises , and by whose house it runs , told me upon inquiry , that he uses it both in his kitchen and brew-house , without any sensible ill effects , he being a pretty ancient , but healthy man , and long inhabitant of that place . it will bear soap , freezes quickly ; and waters his grounds upon occasion , with advantage . all the ill effects of it , that he can guess , are , that his horses are usually short-breathed , which he imputes to the drinking of that water . i brought with me from minedeepe some oar , and some stones ; but i think them so inconsiderable , that i shall not judg them worth sending , unless you please to command them . i am , sir , your most humble and most obedient servant , john locke . ch. ch. 5º may , 1666. postscript . i had forgot to mention to you , that in their gruffs , after burning , ( when they meet with hard rocks in their way , they make a fire upon them , that they may dig through the easier ) they find it very dangerous to go down into them , as long as there remains any fire or heat in any chinks of the rocks . some days ago the king doing me the honour to discourse with me about the use of baroscopes , was pleased to say , among other remarkable things , that at a time his majesty then named , he went from whitehall about six in the morning , towards the mouth of the river , attended by divers of the nobility , and particularly by one of the lords then present , whom his majesty put in mind of the adventure ; and then he added , that though the weather were exceeding fair , and likely to continue so , insomuch that some of the courtiers congratulated to his majesty so promising a morning ; yet when they were once gone too far to return , he told them he thought they would be much mistaken , and that they were to prepare for a storm ; which conjecture his majesty grounded upon his having , unknown to the company , consulted a good baroscope before he went out , and found the mercury in it to have suddenly , and very notably subsided . and accordingly within a very few hours the event verified his majesty's prediction , a sudden storm driving on the yatch he was in , for divers leagues , at a very unusual rate . nous apprenons de ces experiences , que puisque le poids de l' air et le poids de l' eau qui est dans les pompes se tiennent mutuellement en equilibre , ils pesent precisement autant l' un que l' autre ; & qu' ainsi en connoissant la hauteur ou l' eau s' éleve en tous les lieux du monde , nous connoissons en mesme temps combien chacun de ces lieux est pressé par le poids de l' air qui est au dessus d' eux ; et partant . que les lieux , qui sont au bord de la mer , sont pressez par le poids de l' air , qui est au dessus d' eux jusques au haut de sa sphere , autant precisement , que si au lieu de cét air on substituoit une colomne d' eau de la hauteur de 31 pieds deux poulces . ceux qui sont plus élevez de dix toises , autant que s' ils portoient de l' eau de la hauteur de 31 pieds un poulce . ceux qui sont élevez audessus de la mer de 500 toises , autant que s' ils portoient de l' eau à la hauteur de 26 pieds onze poulces : & ainsi du reste . nous apprenons par ces experiences que l' air qui est sur le niveau de la mer pese autant que l' eau , à la hauteur de 31 pieds deux poulces ; mais parce que l' air pese moins sur les lieux plus élevez que sur le niveau de la mer ; et qu' ainsi il ne pese pas sur tous les points de la terre egalement , & mesine qu' il pese differemment par tout , on ne peut pas prendre un pied fixe , qui marque combien tous les lieux du monde sont chargez par l' air , le fort portant le foible ; mais on peut en prendre un par conjecture bien approchant du juste ; comme par exemple , on peut faire estat , que tous les lieux de la terre en general considerez comme s' ils estoient également chargez d' air , le fort portant le foible , en sont autant pressez , que s' ils partoient de l' eau à la hauteur de 31 pieds ; et il est certain qu' il n' y a pas un demy pied d' eau d' erreur en cette supposition . or nous avons veu que l' air qui est au dessus des montagnes hautes de 500. toises sur le niveau de la mer , pese autant que l' eau à la hauteur de 26 pieds 11 poulces . et par consequent tout l' air qui s' étend de puis le niveau de la mer jusqu ' au haut des montagnes , hautes de 500 toises , pese autant que l' eau à la hauteur de 4 pieds un poulce , qui estant à peu prés la septiéme partie de la hauteur entiere ; il est visible que l' air compris depuis la mer jusques à ces montagnes est à peu pres la septiéme partie de la masse entiere de l' air. nous apprenons de ces mesmes experiences , que les vapeurs qui sont épaisses dans l' air , lors qu' il en est le plus chargé , pesent autant que l' eau à la hauteur d' un pied huit poulces ; puisque pour les contrepeser , elles font housser l' eau dans les pompes à cette hauteur , par deffus celle ou l' eau contrepesoit déja la pesanteur de l' air : de sorte que si toutes les vapeurs qui sont sur une contrée estoient reduites en eau , comme il arrive quand elles se changent en pluye , elles ne pourroient produire que cette hauteur d' un pied huit poulces d' eau sur cette contrée . et s' il arrive par fois des orages ou l' eau de la pluye qui tombe vienne à une plus grande hauteur ; c ' est parce que le vent y porte les vapeurs des contrées voisines . nous voyons aussi de là , que si toute la sphere de l' air estoit pressée & comprimée contre la terre par une force qui la poussant par le haut , la reduisist en bas à la moindre place qu' elle puisse occuper , & qu' elle la reduisist comme en l' eau , elle auroit alors la hauteur de 31 pieds seulement . et par consequent qu' il faut considerer toute la masse de l' air en l' estat libre ou elle est , de la mesme sorte que si elle eust este autrefois comme une masse d' eau de 31 pieds de haut á l' entour de toute la terre , qui eust esté rarefiée et dilatée extremement , et convertie en cet estat ou nous l' appellons air , auquel elle occupe à la verite plus de place , mais auquel elle conserve precisement le mesme poids que l' eau à 31 pieds de haut . et comme il n' y auroit rien de plus aisé que de supputer combien l' eau qui environneroit toute la terre à 31 pieds de haut peseroit de livres ; et qu' un enfant qui scait l' addition et la soustraction le pourroit faire ; on trouveroit par le mesme moyen combien tout l' air de la nature pese de liures , puisque c ' est la mesme chose ; et si on en fait l' épreuve , on trouvera qu' il pese à peu prés huit millions de millions de millions de liures . i' ay voulu avoir ce plaisir , et j ' en ay fait le compte en cette sorte . i' ay suppose que le diametre d' un cercle est à sa circonference , comme 7 á 22. i' ay suppose que le diametre d' une sphere estant multiplié par la circonference de son grand cercle , le produit est le contenu de la superficie spherique . nous scavons qu' on a divise le tour de la terre en 360 degrez cette division à esté voluntaire , car on l' eust divisée en plus ou moins si on eust voulu , aussi bien que les cercles celestes . on a trouve que chacun de ces degrez contient 50000 toises . les lieues autour de paris sont de 2500 toises ; et par consequent il y a 20 lieues au degré : d' autres en comptent 25 mais aussi ils ne mettent que 2000 toises à la lieue ; ce qui revient à la mesme chose . chaque toise a 6 pieds . un pied cube d' eau pese 72 libres . cela posé , il est bien aise de faire la supputation qu' on cherche . car puisque la terre a pour son grand cercle , ou pour sa circonference 360 degrez . elle a par consequent de tour 7200 lieues . et par la proportion de la circonference au diametre aura 2291 lieues . donc en multipliant le diametre de la terre par la circonference de son grand cercle ; on trouvera qu' elle á en toute sa superficie spherique 1649200 lieues quarrées . c ' est à dire 103 , 095 , 000 , 000 , 000 , toises quarr . c ' est à dire 3711 , 420 , 000 , 000 , 000 , pieds quarr . et parce qu' un pied cube d' eau pese 72 livres . ils ' ensuit qu' un prisme d' eau d' un pied quarre de base , et de 31 pieds de haut , pese 2232 livres . donc si la terre estoit couverte d' eau jusques à la hauteur de 31 pieds ; il y auroit autant de prismes d' eau de 31 pieds de haut , qu' elle a de pieds quarrez en toute sa surface . ( ie scay bien que ce ne seroient pas des prismes , mais des secteurs de sphere ; et je neglige exprés cette precision . ) et partant elle porteroit autant de 2232 livres d' eau , qu' elle a de pieds quarrez en toute sa surface . donc cette masse d' eau entiere peseroit . 8283 , 889 , 440 , 000 , 000 , 000 , livres . donc toute la masse entiere de la sphere de l' air qui est au monde , pese ce mesme poids de 8283. 889 , 440 , 000 , 000 , 000 , livres . c ' est à dire , huit millions de millions de-millions , deux cent quatre vingt trois mille huit cent quatre vingt neuf millions de millions , quatre cent quarente mille millions de livres . mr. pascal in his small tract , either de la pesanteur de l' air ; or in that del ' equilibre des liqueurs . de caetero , feci haud ita pridem experimentum ponderandi aeris , quod pulchrè successit ; nam sumptâ vitreâ lagenâ , valde levi et ad lampadem sufflatâ , ejus figurae , qualem hic excusam vides , magnitudine parvae pilae quales habentur in sphaeristeriis , non habente nisi minimam quandam aperturam per quam immittatur pilus in extremitate orificii sui b. ponderavi eam in bilance valde exacta , & frigida pondus habuit 78 granorum cum dimidio : postea calefeci eam carbonibus impositam , & reposui in bilaneem eo situ quo hic descriptum vidos , nimirum orificio in imum verso , & deprehendi eam vix habere pondus 78 granorum , tum immergendo orificium in aquam , refrigescere feci , & dum aer se condensat pro modo quo refrigescit lagena , intravit tantundem aquae quantum aeris calor antea expulerat ; denique ponderans eam cum omniilla aqua deprehendi eam habere pondus 72 granorum & dimidii plus quam antea : unde concludo aerem qui per ignem expulsus erat , se habere ad aquam quae in locum suum regressa erat uti ½ se habet ad 72½ , aut uti se habet 1. ad 145. sed potui in eo errasse difficile quippe est in ea re omnino exactum esse ; id saltem certò scio , quòd pondus aeris hoc modo fit sensibile , & prolixe hic deduxi processum meum , ut si te eadem curiositas incessat , possis id eodem modo perficere experimentum . vale. title xviii . of the consistency of the air ; its rarity , density , fluidity , subtilty . a thin but large bladder , wherein there was about the third part of the air it was capable of containing , being strongly tied at the neck , and at the opposite part suspended and clog'd at the bottom , with a weight of 14 pound ; so that it rested on the floor , which sustained it ; the strings that tied the bladder were well stretch'd before , and could not shrink a quarter of an inch without drawing up the weight . then two fire-shovels , with small coals and ashes were applied at a convenient distance , and kept moving to warm and rarify the included air , without cracking the bladder , by which means after some of the wrinckles of the bladder had been displayed , not without noise , the air being expanded , and consequently the bladder a little swell'd , and the whole string shorten'd , the weight was raised and made to swing like a pendulum . the same experiment being tried two or three times with a quarter of an hundred , succeeded not , though with larger bladders , the heat still either breaking the bladder with noise , or occasioning some little leak which hinder'd the desir'd success , though once we came so very near it , that 't is scarce to be doubted , that if we had had good accommodations , it would have succeeded well , and that perhaps if the weight had been greater . to try whether the corpuscles of the air would dive into a liquor that was exposed but to the ordinary pressure of the free air or atmosphere . we cover'd the bottom of a cylindrical vial with filings of copper , and then pour'd on it an urinous spirit , to the height of about three fingers breadth , and on this liquor we poured oil of almonds to the thickness of a crown piece of silver , or that of about the fifth part of an inch ; then we stopp'd the vial well , and left it in a quiet place for several days . the event was such as we expected , namely , that the urinous liquor did first acquire , and then lose a blew tincture , both were done but slowly . and when the colour was pretty well lost ( for the liquor was not clear , but somewhat troubled ) we took out the cork , and kept the vial unstopp'd for one minute of an hour , and then stopp'd it again ; that in that short time the upper part of the urinous spirit began to be ting'd with blew , and within an hour , though the vessel were all the while kept stopp'd , the sky-colour reach'd to the lower part of the liquor , which at this time is wholly and deeply of that colour , the oil that swims above it being clear . title xix . of the heat and coldness of the air. though the peripatetick doctrine about the limits and temperaments of the three regions , into which they divide the air , hath been so plausibly proposed , that it has been readily entertained , not only by the aristotelian schools , but by the generality of philosophers , as well modern as ancient : yet since i think it becomes a naturalist to consider , not so much how easy a doctrine is , by reason of its concinnity , to be remembred or supposed , as how strongly 't is to be proved . i must not dissemble , that as to this vulgar theory , i think it fitter we should wish it to be true , than that we should believe it is so : for i confess , that upon the best informations i have been able to procure from travellers by land and sea , or from writers that relate rather what they have observed , than what they have been taught , i have been much tempted to question the received doctrine of the schools , about the regions of the air. and that you may judg , whether or no my thoughts be rational , the ensuing discourse shall acquaint you with several of the particulars on which they are grounded . what i have in other papers written concerning cold , does not only make it less proper for me to treat of it indefinitely in this place , but would make it difficult for me to say much on this subject without repetition . and it were perhaps fittest for me to say nothing on an occasion wherein i have left my self little to say that is new and pertinent ; but yet since this title promises not any thing about cold in general , but only some less heeded particulars , relating to the coldness of the air : that i may not leave it wholly unfurnished , i will refer to it a few instances that ensue . the physician , elsewhere mentioned , that was lately at morocco , answered me , that notwithstanding the excessive heat that reign'd there in the day-time , he felt the night very cold , and so he did the mountanous air in those parts . an intelligent gentleman that stay'd a year in guinea , and spent part of that time in the land , answer'd me , that notwithstanding the excessive heat of the climate , he was divers times about four of the clock in the morning , reduced to be ready to tremble for cold , as he lay in his hammock , for about an hour together . a learned man that lived at jamaica , assured me , that when he laid in his hammock , about three or four foot from the ground , though he had much clothes under him , and little or none over him , he felt it cold beneath , and hot above . 't is obvious to every man's sense or observation ; that the greater heat that is usually found in our air , during the summer , than in other seasons of the year , has manifest effects upon such easily agitable bodies as liquors , and upon the juices and flesh of animals , and the softer parts of vegetables . but that even in places shelter'd from the sun-beams , the warmth of a temperate summer should be able sensibly to rarify and expand so cold and compact a body , as glass it self , would not be easily suspected or believed . and yet that this is one of the effects of the temperature of the air in summer , seems very probable by this experiment , that having two large factitious crystal viols , caused some stopples of the same matter to be exquisitely ground , and fitted this or that vessel , exactly closed when the stopple was in it , was very easy to be opened in winter , and in the colder parts of the neighbouring seasons ; but in summer 't was oftentimes so difficult to unstop the same vessel , that a man's force , though assisted with a string , was not able to pull out the stopple : to that i was often reduced to cause the necks of the vials to be held under a pump , or to be stirred to and fro in a vessel full of water , that the coldness of that liquor might take off the expansion that the heat of the season had given the glass , which being by this means made to shrink into its former dimensions , the vial and stopple would be easily enough disjoined . this was tried in several vessels , and in more than one year . but to make this experiment successful , two parts must at first have been exquisitly adjusted to one another , which in those glasses , with stopples of the same matter that are commonly sold , they are not usually found to be . we are wont to attribute the effects we feel of the summers heat , to the bare warmth of the air , and to the agitations that such warmth produces in the parts of our bodies , especially in the blood , juices and spirits , whereas it may very well happen , that we may find odd changes in our selves , upon very hot weather , which proceed not from the heat of the air , as such , but rather from this cause , that by such a degree of heat , divers bodies that we think not of , may be solicited to send forth effluvia that have emitted none by force , or at least no such quantity as could make them sensibly operative . and these effluvia may be the true and immediate causes of divers effects that are unwarily ascribed to the mere heat of the air , and that which it produces in our bodies . to illustrate and confirm this conjecture , i shall propose the following experiment . being in the heat of summer in the country , i took a some-what large piece of fine amber , that i usually imployed about electrical experiments ; and when the sun had reach'd a considerable height above the horizon , i placed it in a shaded part of a window , on which he shined freely , though i left the amber here for a competent time , yet i could not find that it would draw a piece of straw , feather , or other light body , that at a convenient distance was held to it . but when i removed it a very little further into a part of the window , into which the sun-beams fell freely , they quickly put its parts into such an agitation as made it emit electrical effluvia , and readily attract those light bodies that would not stir before , and which it would soon , though not immediately , lose the power of drawing , as before , if it were removed back into the neighbouring shaded part of the window . may 26. mr. nickson , who was four years governour of the english colony in hudsons-bay , answered me , that when they sail'd within a certain distance of floating islands of ice , if the wind blew from thence toward the ship , or as the seamen speak , if they were to the leeward of the ice , they could by the new and sensible cold they felt , know that such ice lay to windward of them , sometimes even before they were able to discover it by sight . and when i further asked , at what distance that might be , he answered , that 't was sometimes twelve or fifteen miles , if not twenty . he added , that usually when the wind blew from those great masses of congealed water , it brought along with it a foggy air , which he supposed to come ( as well as the cold ) from the ice . the same gentleman , answer'd me , that in that part of hudsons-bay wherein he winter'd , the rivers began to freeze about the latter end of october , or beginning of november , and usually were not free from ice till about the middle or latter end of may , though he divers times took the latitude of charleton island , the place most frequented by the english , and seated at the bottom of the bay , and found it to be near the same with that of london , and at most but about 52 degrees . when i inquired about the depth of the ice in the rivers , he answered , that they had often occasion to observe it ; for in the winter they made their wells there , ( not in the ground ) and were obliged to dig about six foot deep in the ice , before they could come at unfrozen water . he answered me , that when they sent their men up into the country , their bottles of brandy would oftentimes so freeze , that about a fourth part of it would be turned into ice . and when i asked , whether the unfrozen part of the liquor was not exceeding strong , he answered me , that it was , and sometimes so much so , as to be too fiery and unpleasant to the taste . he answered me , that he always found the ice fresh that floated upon the sea-water ; and that when they wanted fresh water , or had a mind to spare what they had aboard , they often supplied themselves out of the cavities of great floating masses of ice ; in which hollow places the sun-beams thawing some parts of the ice , they frequently found store of liquor that was produced by the action of the sun-beams upon the superior parts of the ice , whence the water ran into these cavities . he added , that when the seamen were in haste , they used to relieve themselves by cutting or breaking off pieces of the floating ice , and presently melting it in their pots . a learned traveller , that made some considerable stay among the high pyrenean mountains , answer'd me , amongst other notable things , about which i made inquiry , that he had several times observed at the top of one or other of those tall hills , that the air would be very hot , and that yet the same day , and perhaps within very few hours , the place would be cover'd with snow , though it were then summer-time . doctor n. answered me , that the winds he felt at morocco were so very hot , that they were ready to stifle him , seeming to him like the steams and smoak coming out of the mouth of an oven . the russian emperor's physician confirmed to me , that at arch-angel ( where he was more than once ) they averr'd to him , that in winter-time a northerly wind ( which comes from the sea ) produces a kind of thaw , so as to make the eves drop , though a north-east wind rather confirms the frost ; but on the contrary , a southerly wind blows over a thousand or a hundred mile of frozen land , does rather increase the frost than bring the thaw . a very inquisitive person that visited the lofty pyrenean mountains , answered me , that he and his company had more than once observed , from the top or higher part of one of those hills , that though it were fair weather there , yet a great way beneath them , the hill was surrounded with thick clouds , which produced storms of rain on the lower grounds : and that ( which was the chief point , i inquired after ) they could manifestly see , that out of those clouds , when it thunder'd , lightnings flash'd upwards , as well as they are generally observ'd to do it downward . october 19. doctor stubbs assured me , that having at jamaica taken a bolt-head about two foot and a half in length , he usually found that betwixt 7 and 8 in the morning , which they there call the faint time ( of the day ) because for want of the daily breezes , the excessive heat makes them to faint away ; the water was wont to rise in the neck but a quarter of an inch and a half , though at that time by reason of the winds , men found the heat very supportable : and after noon was past , the water would subside by degrees till towards the above-mention'd time the next morning . this happened in a south window , where the fresh winds come fully and freely in to beat upon the bolt-head , without any glass to skreen the vessel from the wind. he added , that though the bolt-head were not stopped , yet the water did not even in that hot country decrease sensibly in eight or ten months . a heedful person that frequented the coast of sumatra in the south-sea , answered me , that he never observed ice or frost , or snow , in that great island , but that he had known hail fall even in that torrid climate . though the famous island of ceylon lies almost in the midst of the torrid zone , namely , between the 6th and 10th degrees of northern latitude , yet an observing man that lived many years upon it , told me , that in hills not so high , but that we might easily ascend to the top in half an hour , the inequality of the air 's temperature , as to heat and cold , was very great : for he had divers times observed in himself and others , that though at the bottom of the hill the heat was so great , as to oblige them to go almost stark naked , yet when they ascended the hill , they found the air quite alter'd ; and as they went up higher and higher , the cold increased upon them ; so that notwithstanding the heat , so uneasy a motion as climbing , had given them , the coldness of the air obliged them to put on unusually warm clothes ; and at the top of the hill they would for all that be ready to quake for cold. captain knox answered me , that in 18 years that he spent in the inland of ceylon , he never observ'd any ice or snow , nor any more than a little kind of meteor that was between dew and hoar frost , which sometimes in winter-mornings appeared very oddly , but quickly vanished . and when i asked if he had not seen hail it self ; he answered , that he never saw it but once , but the inhabitants look'd upon it as a wonderful thing , unseen by them before , that the hail was as large as a black cherry , but not very round , and seem'd to have the corners melted , which made him think it had been form'd high in the air ; that for fear of mistaking , he not only gather'd some of it , but champ'd it between his teeth , and found it cold and hard , like our european hail ; and that he was fain to be nimble in making his trials , because when the hail came to touch the ground , it would melt away much more suddenly than one would have expected . gregory being ask'd , upon a very sultry day , whether it were not very hot in germany , made answer , to day has been something hot : such is the winter in suaquena . ludolf . hist of ethiop . l. 1. c. 5. the heat of the island suaquena , gregory used to call infernal : for , says he , it excoriates the skin ; melts hard indian wax in a cabinet , and sears your shooes like a red hot iron . the higher you ascend the mountains of ethiopia from the coast of the red sea , the more temperate you shall feel the air , insomuch , that as tellezius witnesses , in many regions of ethiopia the summer . heats are more mild than in portugal , so many degrees distant toward the north ; nay there are some mountainous countries , as in samen , where the cold is more dreaded than the heat . nevertheless there falls none or very little snow in these parts , only a certain small sort of hail sometimes covers the ground , which at a distance looks like snow . an intelligent person , that was for many years consul of the english nation at tripoli in barbary ; being asked some questions about the air , and the winds in those parts , answered me , that when in summer-time the wind blew over the great sandy deserts that reach very far into the country , the wind , and the sand it brought along with it , oftentimes felt as hot as the steams that come out of an oven when the mouth is opened , insomuch that he could not , without great inconvenience , turn his face towards the quarter whence the wind blew . an ingenious gentleman , that was imployed in the french colony , on the coast of africk , and liv'd in those parts about five years , answered me , that in the island of st. lovis , or near it , at a certain season of the year , when the hot winds blew from the continent , the sand on the shores would be so scorching hot , that he was not able to stand upon it , but it would , through the soles of his shooes , scorch his feet , unless he walked very fast . and then the air seem'd to him to be thick , and as he expressed it , heavy and hot , as if it came out of an oven . and when the wind blew from a wood , where divers elephants and other wild beasts lay dead ; the steams of their carcasses would make the air so stinking and offensive , that is was scarce supportable . in summo ejus montis , idae sc . fastigio sacellum est quod aedificiolo duntaxat constat saxis sibi invicem impositis & sine calce cohaerentibus fornicis in modum constructo , ad tectum prebendum . sublimi adeo loco est , & à vehementioribus ventis interdum ita perflato , ut lapilli inde transferantur . paulo infra id sacellum planities conspicitur montibus undique cincta , in quâ multa sunt pascua , ubi arietes & caprae cretenses aestate pinguescunt . si quis ex summo montis vertice undique prospiciat parum aberit , quin totius insulae ambitum videat cum aliis vicinis insulis , miso , cerigo , sive cytherareliquisque archipelagi . aeris intemperies in hoc monte adeo magna est quemadmodum ut in caeteris praecelsis montibus , ut in ipsis caniculae ardoribus meridie , nullo etiam spirante vento , ingens sentiatur frigus : qua de causa nec hyeme , nec aestare quisquam eum incolit . nam licet pastores interdiu ovium greges ad pascua agunt noctu tamen in valles se recipiunt . in the next chapter . latè porro patet hic mons ejusque radices utrinque maris littora , ut ante diximus attingunt ; nam licet urbi candiae sunt vicinae , meditullium tamen insulae occupat ipse mons , adeo in sublime evectus , ut nives ejus verticem perpetuo tegant ; tamque frigida aura mediis etiam aestatis ardoribus isthic est ut vix ferri queat : tametsi in convallibus magnus sit aestus . contigit id meae experientiae , quod etiam aliis contigisse audivi , ut ascenderem ad summitatem usque montis veneris , qui omuium in patavino agro altissimus est , ibi per totum diem habui aerem serenissimum , sed infra circiter medium montis vidi nubes , quae me visione vallium prohibebant , vesperi autem postquam de illo monte descendi , inveni factam eo die infera parte magnam pluviam cum in montis cacumine nihil pluisset ; ex eo intellexi me transiisse per mediam aeris regionem , in qua est facta pluvia , nec tamen eam sensi frigidissimam , imò vix aliquam animadverti differentiam frigidioris & calidioris aeris , nam aestivum tempus erat , pro aestivo tempore eram vestitus , nec tamen tantum frigoris , quod me laederet , ex eo loco percepi , pars igitur illa non est absolutè frigida , sed solùm comparatione inferi , aeris calidioris . idem de alpibus proprio exemplo edoctus testatum reliquit bartholinus syst . phys . instit . succinct . de terra , aere & igne , c. 4. resp . 1. doctor b. answered me , that being at and near morocco , he could see mount-atlas cover'd with snow , though it was then in the heat of summer , and excessively hot where he was . an intelligent traveller that had visited some high mountains , and particularly the alpes , and the pico of teneriffe , answered me concerning this prodigious hill , that he found it very cold in ascending towards the top ; and that as for the mount cenes , one of the famousest of the alpes , when he passed over it into italy , though it were in august , and the weather very clear , yet he felt at the top a wind so cold , that he could scarce possibly indure it , and seem'd to him the coldest that in all his various travels he had ever felt ; and yet some of the mountains seemed much higher , being then covered with snow . an intelligent gentleman that had been a traveller into the east-indies , told me , that he never saw nor heard of any snow or ice in guinea , but that in some parts of barbary , where in the plains and vallies he found the heat scorch insupportable , he could see the top of the mountains covered with snow , in which state they continued all the year . a man of letters that lived in many countries of the east-indies , being ask'd by me divers questions , partly about other things , and partly about the temperature of the air in several regions , gave me among other answers , this , that on the high mountain in the island of ceylon , notwithstanding the heat of the country , there was snow ; and the like he saw on the tops of the mountains of congo , though in the lower parts of the country they never have , that he heard of , either ice , snow or hail . about mid-summer , 1688 , i placed in the cave a glass , with spirits , which stood above temperate , about ½ of one of the small divisions : another glass placed without , in a common room , stood at hot . the christmass following , i placed the same glasses in the same places , and the glass in the cave stood as before , about temperate , that without stood at frost . the cave is cut into the bottom of a clift that fronts to the sea , the earth is about 80 foot above it , and it is cut right in about 130 foot. the other day two gentlemen belonging to the province of new-hampshire in new-england , ( whence they came not long since ) and imployed by that colony to his majesty here , answer'd me , that in the winter the coldest wind that blows in their country , is the north-west ; and being ask'd again , what was their hottest wind in summer , they told me , it was likewise the north-west . at which answer being surprized , i ask'd them , whether they could give any reason of so odd a phenomenon . whereto they answered , that they ascribed it to the large tract of the continent , and the great woods that lay to the north-west ; which woods , they said , in the winter had their branches , through which the wind past , all laden with snow : and in the summer , they said , the close air of the vallies , and the thick steams that fill'd it , would conceive so intense an heat , that sometimes in the heat of summer , when a sudden puff of wind blew upon their faces from those sultry vales , it seem'd to them as if it came out of the mouth of a furnace , and would be ready to overcome them with the faintness produced by the heat and vapours it brought along with it . de montibus ad bavariam stantibus mira est alberti chanow ●● nostri narratio : post bergreichensteinam ( oppidum fodinis hodie quae nobile ) esse montes non tam situ ( alii enim ad septentrionem , alii ad meridiem latus obvertunt ) quam coelo & temporibus adversantes , callibus latissimis montes illos dirimentibus ; monstri instar est ( quod se vidisse , & anno 1639 , in rem praesentem venisse religiosissimus ille & apostolicus vir asserit ) in altero monte saepius aestatem , in altero apposito hiemem dominari , ita ille siccus aestivat , hic altissimis nivibus obsitus à viatore superari non potest ; ob eamque causam messes ipsae variant , & dum in montibus ad nos obversis demessa sunt omnia , altera montium parte seges virescit : mirius illud quod in biessinensibus & czachroviensibus agris in tractu plsnensi , contiguis , quos unus tantum sulcus dirimit ac dividit , deprehenditur : czachrovienses adhuc hibernant , cum in biessinensi coelum ardeat , ibi caput attollit humo ●●●●mentum , cum czachroviiadolescit in culmum ; elemento quoque dispari , illud riget , hoc tepet & fervet , eâque ex causâ , dum czachrovienses bene pelliti ingrediuntur , biessinenses pellibus onerari se sentiunt , villosque deponunt . aliquid tale anno 1652. mihi quoque accidisse memini : nam cum glacio zambergam in bohemia contenderem , & glacio ob nives altissimas certum vehiculi genus , quod trabas dicimus , sumpsissem , superatis montibus , qui comitatum glacensem à bohemia dividunt , subitò alia rerum facies apparuit : altero enim montium latere viridia omnia reperimus , sic ut trahae nulli jam rei & usui essent , & currum petere cogeremur , nisi in luto natare placuisset ; at accolae montium illorum quotannis id sibi accidere confirmabant , ut unum latus montium profundissimae nives contegerent , quando alterum latus lectissimos flores proferret , & cum ibi omnia ventis verti viderentur apud se e floribus suavissimos odores efflari . i learned , by inquiry , of an ingenious gentleman , who several times went down into the hungarian gold-mine at cremnitz , that when he was drawn up out of the deep pit , or perpendicular groove , whose depth exceeded 100 feer ; when he had ascended above half the way , he found the air sensibly warm , and so it continued till he came by many foot nearer the day , as the workmen call the orifice of the pit. and when i ask'd whether this notable and suddain heat did not proceed from some mineral through which he passed in that region of the earth , or part of the groove ; he answered me , that he believed it did , in regard he was there surrounded with a vein or bed of native vitriol , some of one colour , some of another , which he found to be soft under ground , though it soon after harden'd in the air : and of these differingly colour'd sorts of vitriol he brought up thence several pieces , some of which he presented me . and when i ask'd whether the new heat he found in that part of the mine , did not proceed from its being much nearer than the lower part to the air , which at that time was hot ; and whether he found the heat to increase as he came nearer the day : he answered in the negative , and told me , that after he had in his ascent left beneath him that warm region , he found himself cold again in the superiour part of the groove , to which the vitriolate region did not reach . i remember on this occasion , that asking an intelligent person , who had more than once crossed the torrid zone , what expedient they used in his ship , to keep their beer and other liquors , cool enough to be drinkable in those sultry climates : he answered , that their way was to take the bottle they mean to use , and wrap it about with a course linnen cloth dipp'd in the sea-water , and then in some convenient place of the ship hang it in the wind , which beating freely and uncessantly upon it , would in no long time cool it to be potable enough . and this gentleman , who was an observing person , added farther , that having sometimes for curiosity sake taken away a bottle before it had been exposed above half the usual time , he was able to find by the taste , that part of the beer or wine , that was next the sides of the bottle to be refrigerated , whilst the more inward parts of the liquor did yet continue hot . the czar's chief physician confirmed to me , that in the year 1664 , or 63 , extraordinary dry and great scopes of land were set on fire , and miserably wasted by the great heat of the sun. and he added , that the very last year he found the like to have happened in norway , particularly in a place call'd by us bear-haven ; where having seen the ruine of divers wood-houses burnt , and inquiring into the cause , he was answered , that the weather being very dry and hot , not only the grass and other vegetables were scorch'd up , but those wooden houses among others , were set on fire ; which was confirmed to him by the governor of the place , and countenanced by this circumstance , that he saw the country covered with a fresh and verdent livery of new grass , brought up , instead of that which was burnt , by some rains that fell a while before . a traveller and scholar being ask'd by me , whether at mozambique , which is thought the hottest place in the known world , he had never observed the houses to be set on fire with the mere heat of the sun ? he answered me , that in the three months he stayed there , he saw no such thing , but the inhabitants affirmed it not to be very unfrequent ; and as he passed to and fro , shewed him divers houses that had been so burnt : which was the less strange , because the houses are not built of ordinary stone , whereof they have none there , but fetch'd from another place he named , where the stone is mingled with a substance , much of the nature of a sulphur vivum . and he added , that he himself had divers times seen the stones so heated in hollow places , that musket bullets being exposed there to the direct beams of the sun , were in no very long time melted . he said farther , that much of the excessive heat of mozambique proceeded from the soil , which is exceeding bare and dry , consisting of white sand ; and that it is not covered with grass , nor shaded with trees . an observing traveller that had been at mozambique , being for the most part where 't is not shaded with trees , sandy , he found the sun , which was almost in the zenith , to heat the ground so much , that he was not able to stand still for some time , but was fain to keep walking to avoid burning the soles of his feet . un gentilhomme de mes a mis plein de merit et digne de creance me mande entre plusieures choses extraordinaires qu' il a observées proche de barege aux pyrenées qu'il y a des ponts de niege d' un rocher à lautre pardessous les quells passent des torrents . il en a vu un qui embrasse deux torrents , et qui a vint neuf toises de long et autant de large par dessus . il y a par dessous ce pont neuf toises et demi entre les naissances de la voute les ponts sont tellement forts qu' il estime que du canon y passeroit , et il a fait rouler de grosses pieces par dessus . le tremblement de terre que souffrit la syrie l'an 750. ne fut gueres moins surprenant ; puisque la terre s'estant ouverte de toutes parts , plusieurs villes furent abîmées , d'autres renversées , et quelques unes qui estoient elevees sur des hauteures transportées dans des plaines eloignées de six mille de leur situation . on en peut dire autant du froid extreme qui l'an 753. glaça le pont-euxin a la longueur de cent mille , et toute l'estendue de la mer voisine , jusqu ' à 30 condées de profondeur , quoy qu'on ne fût encore qu'au commencement de l'automne . journal de seavans iii. 1685. asking an intelligent person that liv'd a good while in guinea , how they did to keep their water cool in so hot a place ; he told me , that in some corner of their hutts they were wont to make holes in the ground , in which they buried over night the long earthen jarrs , or other vessels , so as that the orifice of the vessels might be lower ( though not very much so ) than the level of the ground . by this means the water would become drinkable , with some coolness , from the beginning of the morning to nine or ten of the clock ; after which 't would grow distastefully hot . he added , that when they were abroad in the fields , he did as well cool his water by putting it into callibashes , and hanging them all night upon the branches of trees , especially where they were exposed to the wind. february . since now i have spoken so much of the cold , i hope it will not be too coldly taken , if in a few words i make it some way to appear unto our readers . we made three differences of the cold , all according to the places : in our house , in the woods , and in the open air , upon the ice , in our going to the ship. for the last , it would be sometimes so extream , that it was not indurable ; no clothes were proof against it , no motion could resist it . it would , moreover , so freeze the hair on our eye-lids , that we could not see ; and i verily believe , that it would have stifled a man in a very few hours : we did daily find by experience , that the cold in the woods would freeze our faces , or any part of our flesh that was bare ; but it was yet not so mortifying as the other . our house on the out-side was cover'd two third parts with snow ; and on the inside frozen and hung with ice-sickles . the clothes on our beds would be cover'd with hoar frost , which in this little habitacle was not far from the fire . but let us come a little nearer to it . the cook 's tubs wherein he did water his meat , standing about a yard from the fire , and which he did all day ply with melted snow-water ; yet in the night-season , whilst he slept but one watch , would they be firm frozen to the very bottom : and therefore was he fain to water his meat in a brass kettle close adjoining to the fire ; and i have many times both seen and felt , by putting my hand into it , that side which was next the fire , was very warm , and the other side an inch frozen . i leave the rest to our cook , who will almost speak miracles of the cold. the surgeon , who had hung his bottles of syrups , and other liquid things , as conveniently as he could , to preserve them , had them all frozen . our vinegar , oil and sack , which we had in small casks in the house , were all firm frozen . it may further in general be conceived , that in the beginning of june , the sea was not broken up ; and the ground was yet frozen ; and thus much we found by experience in the burying of our men ; in setting up the king's standard towards the latter end of june ; and by our well , at our coming away in the beginning of july ; at which time , upon the land , for some other reasons , it was very hot weather . capt. james . monsieur l. j. confirmed to me what he had formerly told me , that upon the highest mountain of the pyreneans , called pic de midi , he ascended at the end of august , or the beginning of september ( in the morning ) to the very top , where he and his company spread a tent , and staid till the evening : he says , he found the air temperate where the sun did not beat ; but on that side of their bodies whereon the sun shone , the heat was exceeding great , and was offensive , even to them that sat in the tent of oil'd cloth , if they sat too near the sunny side of the tent : they sometimes had wind at the top of the hill , which they found to blow cool enough , ( and found it very cold when they returned to the bottom . ) this hill is so high , that it may be seen from montauban , which is 27 leagues distant . when i asked whether the air in those places , where the sun did not beat , was considerably cold ? he told me , that the exercise they had been put to in ascending the top of the hill ( for the most part of the way they rid up ) kept them from being very competent judges of that ; but they found the wind northerly , though weak , yet very cooling ; and the north side of the mountain was even then cover'd with snow , and scarce at all passable . an ingenious physician , dr. b. that has been in divers of the inland parts of africa , among other answers that he return'd to the questions that i ask'd him , about the temperament of the air in those parts , gave me this memorable one , that having had occasion at morocco to use some good dried fine jalap that he had brought with him out of england , he found it by the heat of the air to be melted , and by comsequence to be impulverable , in which state it continued whilst he liv'd in that country : but when he was returned to tangier , he found it both there , and in the neighbouring parts , pulverable again . nel capo di comorino si termina cosi i' esta , come i' inverno dalla parte , di la dal capo verso notte , & dal ' altra parte correspond ill tempo assai contrario è diverso , di maniera che , chi va navigando , per quella costa nel mese di ottobre , sino ad aprile naviga nel esta , è non puo in tutto questo tempo , passare il capo per esser iui la stagione dell inverno , et ill padre , che resiede nelle chies ch' appartengono al capo di comorinone alcune la state , il che e cosa di gran meraviglia , essendo cio nel medessimo tempo nella distanza sola mente di due , otre miglia . an eminent virtuoso answer'd me , that in tirol he had visited a very deep mine into which he descended three hundred klasters , which by his computation makes about eighteen hundred of our feet : that he pass'd not through , that he took notice of , one hot region by the way . that at the bottom of the mine he breath'd very freely , because of the air-shafts , by which access was given laterally to the superiour air ; and that being thinly clothed with one of the digger's habits , he found at the bottom the air temperate , as to heat and cold , though it were then summer-season of the year : so that notwithstanding what is said of antiperistasis , no intense cold was retreated thither , to shun the heat of the superiour air. an ingenious gentleman , very conversant in our english mines , of one of which he is owner , answer'd me , that the deepest mine he had particularly visited , was a tin mine , whose depth was sixty six fathoms , that is almost four hundred foot. that descending into this mine in summer , he found it very cold at the bottom , and the greatest part of the way going down , without perceiving any hot region . and when i ask'd him how soon he begun to find a sensible cold in descending , he told me , that he found it within two fathom or less of the orifice of the pit ; and that in this and divers other mines he perceived a sensible cold to begin before he got down a yard , or perhaps half a yard beneath the upper part of the fast , as the mine-men call the solid earth , in which they distinguish from the loose earth that lies above it ; and is , if i may so call it , the scurf of the earth , that is far more light and porous than the other , though it be upon this loose earth that plants grow , and into which even great timber-trees themselves shoot , and spread their roots seldom or never reaching to , or penetrating into the fast , though this lie sometimes near enough to the external surface of the crusty earth . an exact relation of the pico teneriff , taken from mr. clappham . about the 20th of august , 1646 , mr. clappham , together with mr. philip ward , john webber , john cowling , thomas bridge , and george cove , all of them very considerable merchants , and worthy of credit , with one guide , servants and horses to carry their wine and provisions , did set out from oratava , a port-town in the island of teneriff , situated on the north , at two miles distance from the main sea : they travelled from twelve at night till eight in the morning , by which time they got to the top of the first mountains towards the pico de teraira ; here , under a very great and conspicuous pine-tree they brake their fast , dined , and refreshed themselves till two in the afternoon , and then proceeded through much sandy way , over many lofty mountains , but naked and bare , and not covered with pine-trees , as their first night's passage were , which exposed them to excessive heat , till they arrived to the foot of the pico , where they found many huge stones which seemed to have been fallen down from some superiour part. but before we proceed further , to give any account of this journey , give me leave here to intersert the opinion of dr. pugh , a person of very great reputation , at this time in the city , who lived twenty years himself on the place , both in the quality of a physician , and a merchant , and was very curious and inquisitive into all that was in the island : his opinion is , that the whole island of teneriff , being a ground mightily impregnated with brimstone , did in former times take fire , and blow up all , or near upon all at the same-time ; and the many mountains of huge stones calcined and burnt , which appear every where about the island , especially in the south-west parts of it , were raised and heaved up out of the bowels of the earth , at the time of the general conflagration ; and the greatest quantity of this sulphur lying about the center of the island , raised up the pico to that height , at which it is now seen . and he says , that any one upon the place , that shall carefully note the situation and manner of these calcined rocks , how they lie for three or four miles almost round the bottom of the pico , and in such order one above another , almost to the very sugar-loaf ( as 't is called ) as if the whole ground , and rising up together with the accension of the brimstone , the torrents and rivers of it did with a suddain eruption roul and tumble them down from the rest of the rocks , especially ( as was said before ) to the south-west ; for on that side , from the very top of the pico , almost to the sea-shore , lie huge heaps of these burnt rocks , one under another : and there remain to this time the very tracts of the rivers of brimstone , as they ran over all this quarter of the island , which has so wasted the ground beyond recovering , that nothing can be made to grow there , but broom . but on the north side of the pico , few or none of these stones appear ; and he concluded hence , that the vulcano discharged it self chiefly to south-west . he adds further , that mines of several metals were broken and blown up at the same time : these calcined rocks resembling some of them iron oar , some silver , and others like copper , particularly at a certain place in these south-west parts , called the azuleios , being very high mountains , where never any english but himself ( that he ever heard of ) was . there are vast quantities of a loose blewish earth , intermix'd with blew stones , which have on them a yellow rust , as that of copper and vitriol ; and likewise many little springs of vitriolate waters ; here he supposes was a copper-mine . and he was told by a bell-founder of oratava , that out of two horse-loads of earth , he got as much gold as made two large rings : and a portuguese told him , who had been in the west-indies , that his opinion was , there were as good mines of gold and silver there , as the best in the indies . there are likewise hereabouts nitrous waters and stones cover'd with a deep saffron colour'd rust , and tasting of iron . and further , he mentions one mr. gilbert lambell , a friend of his , who of two lumps of earth or oar , brought from the top of this side the mountain , made two silver spoons . all this he confirms from the late instance of the palm-island eighteen leagues from teneriff , where a vulcano was fired about twelve years since , the violence whereof made an earthquake in this island , so great , that he and others ran out of their houses , fearing they would have fallen upon their heads : they heard the noise of the torrents of flaming brimstone , like thunder , and saw the fire as plain by night , for about six weeks together , as a candle in the room ; and so much of the sand and ashes brought from thence , by the wind , by clouds , fell on his hat , as filled a sand-box for his ink-horn . thus far he . to resume therefore the narrative of their journey ; about six a clock this evening , they began to ascend up the pico ; but being now a mile advanced , and the way no more passable for their horses , they quitted and left them with their servants . in this mile's ascent some of their company grew very faint and sick : and from dr. pugh's report of eighteen in his company , that went up about the middle of august , long after this , but ten got up , and these had all drank very plentifully below ; the rest so disorder'd by fluxes , vomitings , and aguish distempers , they could go no farther : their horses hair stood upright , like bristles , with the vehement cold , who stood shaking , and refused to eat any thing till they came down . but calling for some of their wine , which was carried in small barrels-on a horse , they found it so wonderfully cold , that they could not drink it , till they had kindled a fire to warm it , although yet the temper of the air was very calm and moderate ; but when the sun was set , it began to blow with violence , and grew so cold , that taking up their lodging under certain great stones in the rocks , they were constrained to keep great fires before the mouth of them all night . about four in the morning they began to mount again , and being come about a mile up , mr. cowling , one of the company , failed , and was able to proceed no further . here begin the black rocks . the rest pursued their journey till they arrived to sugar-loaf , where they begin to travel again in a white sand , being fore-shod with shoes , whose single soles are made a finger broader than the upper leather , to incounter this difficult and unstable passage , till they are half way up ; and a spaniel that went up afterwards with dr. pugh , ( as he relates ) went crying all the way , having his skin burnt off his feet ; and then being ascended as far as the black rocks , which are all flat , and lie like a pavement , they climbed within a mile of the very top of the pico : but mr. clappham , who was the formost , would have perswaded mr. cove to descend again , as imagining the top of all on fire : but at last overcoming that apprehension , and persisting , they gained the summite , where they found no such smoak as appeared a little below , but a continual breathing of a hot and sulphurous vapour , which made their faces extreamly sore . in this passage they found no considerable alteration of air , and very little wind ; but being at the top , it was so impetuous , that they had much ado to stand against it , whilst they drank the king's health , and fired each of them a piece : here they also brake-fast , but found their strong-waters had quite lost its force , and was become almost insipid , whilst their wine was rather more spirituous and brisk than it was before . the top on which they stood being not above a yard broad , is the brink of a pit called the caldera , which they judged to be about a musket-shot over , and near fourscore yards deep , in shape like a cone , within hollow like a caldron , and all over cover'd with small loose stones , mixed with sulphur and sand , from heat ; and stirr'd up with any thing , puffs and makes a noise , and so offensive , that dr. pugh was almost stifled with the sudden emanation of vapours , upon the removing of one stone of these ; these stones are so hot , as they are not to be easily handled : they descended not above four or five yards into the caldera , in regard of its sliding from their feet , and the difficulty ; but some have adventured to the bottom . other observable materials they discovered none , besides a clearer sort of sulphur , which looks like salt upon the stones . from this famous pico they could ken the grand canaries , fourteen leagues distant ; palma 18 , and gomera 7 leagues ; which interval of sea seemed to them no larger than the river of thames about london : they discerned also the hierro , being distant above twenty leagues ; and so to the utmost limits of the sea much farther . so soon as the sun appeared , the shadow of the pico seemed to cover not only the whole island , and the grand canaries , but the sea to the very horizon , where the top of the sugar-loaf , or pico , visibly appeared to turn up , and cast its shadow into the air it self , at which they were much suprized . but the sun was not far ascended when the clouds began to rise so fast , as intercepted their prospect , both of the sea , and the whole island , excepting only the tops of the subjacent mountains , which seemed to pierce them through . whether these clouds do ever surmount the pico , they could not say ; but to such as are far beneath , they sometimes seem to hang above it , or rather wrap themselves about it , as constantly when the north-west winds blow : this they call the capp , and is a certain prognostick of ensuing storms . mr. john webber , one of this company , who had made a journey two years after , arriving at the top of the pico before day , and creeping under a great stone to shroud himself from the cold air , ( after a little space ) found himself all wet , and admiring whence it should proceed , perceived it at last to come from a perpetual trickling of the water from the imminent rocks above him . many excellent and very exuberant springs they found issuing from the tops of most of the other mountains , gushing out in great spouts , almost as far as the huge pine-tree which was mentioned . having stayed some time upon this top , they all descended by the sandy way , till they came to the foot of the sugar-loaf , which being steep , even to almost a perpendicular , they soon passed : and here they meet a cave of about ten yards deep , and fifteen broad , being in shape like an oven or cupola , having a hole at the top , which is near eight yards over ; by this they descended ( an active spaniard shewing them the way ) by a rope , which their servants held at the top , whilst the other end being fastened about his middle , he swings himself , till being over a bank of snow , he slides down and lights upon it . they are forced to swing thus in the descent , because in the middle of the bottom of this cave , opposite to the overture at the top , is a round pit of water , resembling a well , the surface whereof is about a yard lower than the snow , but as wide as the mouth at the top , and is about six fathom deep , as mr. lambell reports , who plumbed it . they suppos this water not a spring , but dissolved snow , or water blown in ; for some years it lies so full , one cannot get into the cave for water trickling through the rocks . about the sides of the grotte , for some height is ice , and icecles hanging down to the snow : but being quickly weary of this excessive cold place , and drawn up again , they continued their descent from the mountains by the same passages they went up the day before ; and so about five in the evening arrived to oratava , from whence they set forth : their faces so red and sore , that to reduce them and cool them , they were forced to wash and bathe them in whites of eggs , &c. the whole altitude of the pico in perpendicular , is vulgarly esteemed to be two miles and a half . no trees , herbs or shrubs in all the passage , but pines ; and amongst the white sands a kind of broom , being a bushy plant ; and at the side where they lay all night , a kind of cardon , which has stems of eight foot high , the trunk near half a foot thick , every stem growing in four squares , and emerging from the ground like tuffets of rushes ; upon the edges of these stems grow very small red buttons or berries , which being squeezed , produce a poisonous milk , which lighting upon any part of a horse , or other beast , fetches off the hair from the skin immediately : of the dead part of this they made their fires all night . this plant is also universal over the island , and is happly , and as i conjecture , a kind of euphorbium . in some part of this island also there grows a crooked shrub , which they call legnan-vell , which they bring for england as a sweet wood. there are likewise apricoks , peaches , and in standards , which bear twice a year : pear trees also which are as pregnant ; almonds of a tender shell , palms , plantanes , oranges and lemons , especially the pregnadas , which have small ones in their bellies , from whence they are so denominated . also they have sugar-canes , and a little cotton and colloquintida ; the roses blow at christmas ; there are good carnations , and very large , but tulips will not grow or thrive there : sampier clothes the rock in abundance , and a kind of clover the ground . another grass growing near the sea , which is of a broader leaf , so luscious , as it will kill a horse that eats of it , but no other cattel . there is also an herb which they make thread of . eighty ears of wheat have been found to spring from one root , but it grows not very high ; the corn of this is transparent and bright , like unto the purest yellow amber ; and one bushel has produced 130 in a seasonable year . the canary-birds ( which they bring to us in england ) breed in the barrancos of gills , which the water has fretted away in the mountains , being places very cold . there are also quails , partridges larger than ours , and exceeding beautiful ; great wood-pigeons , turtles at spring , crows ; and sometimes from the coasts of barbary appears the faulcon . bees are carried into the mountains , where they prosper wonderfully . they have wild goats on the mountains , which climb to the very top of the pico sometimes . also hogs , and multitudes of conies : camels are brought from lancerote , besides other cattel . fish . the cherna , a very large and excellent fish , better tasted than any we have in england . the mero , dolphin , shark , lobsters without the great claws , mussels , periwinkles , and the clacas , which is absolutely the very best shell-fish in the world ; they grow on the rocks , five or six under one great shell , through the top whereof they peep with their nebbs , from whence ( the shells being broken a little more open with a stone ) they draw them forth . there is likewise another fish like an eel , which has six or seven tails of a span in length , united to one head and body , which is also as short . besides these they have turtles and cabridos , which are preferable before our trouts . the island is full of springs of pure water , tasting like milk ; and in la laguna ( where the water is not altogether so limpid and olear ) they percolate it through a kind of spungy stone cut in form of a bason . the vines which afford those excellent wines , grow all about the island , within a mile of the sea ; such as are planted farther up , are nothing esteemed , neither will they thrive in any other islands . for the guanchios , or the ancient inhabitants , dr. pugh gives this full account . september the 3d. about twelve years since , he took his journey from guimar , a town inhabited for the most part by such as derive themselves from the old guanchios , in the company of some of them , to view their caves , and the bodies buried in them . this was a favour they seldom permit to any , ( having in great veneration the bodies of their ancestors , and likewise being most extreamly against any molestation of the dead ) but he had done many several eleemosinary cures amongst them , ( for they are generally very poor , yet the poorest thinks himself too good to marry with the best spaniard ) which endeared him to them exceedingly ; otherwise it is death for any stranger to visit those caves or bodies . these bodies are sewed up in goat-skins , with thongs of the same , with very great curiosity , particularly in the incomparable exactness and evenness of the seams ; and the skins are made very close and fit to the bodies : most of these bodies are entire , the eyes closed , hair on the head , ears , nose , teeth , lips , beard , all perfect , only discoloured , and a little shrivled : likewise the pudenda of both sexes . he saw about three or four hundred in several caves , some of them are standing , others lie on beds of wood , so hardned by an art they had , ( which the spaniards call curar , to cure a piece of wood ) which no iron can pierce or hurt . he said , that one day being a hunting , a ferret ( which is in use there ) having a bell about his neck , ran after a coney into a hole , where they lost the sound of the bell ; the owner being afraid he should lose his ferret , seeking about the rock and shrubs , found the mouth of a cave , and entring in , was so affrighted , that he cried out : it was at the sight of one of these bodies , very tall and large , lying with his head upon a great stone , his feet supported by a little wall of stone , the body resting on a bed of wood , as before was mentioned . the fellow being now a little out of his fright , enter'd in , and cut off a great piece of the skin that lay on the breast of this body , which the doctor says was more flexible and pliable than ever he felt any kids leather glove , and yet so far from being rotten , that the man made use of it for his flail many years after . these bodies are very light , as if made up of straw : and in some broken limbs he observed the nerves and tendons , and also some strings of the veins and arteries very distinctly . his great care was to enquire of these people , what they had amongst them of tradition , concerning the embalming and preservation of these bodies ? from some of the oldest of them ( above a hundred and ten years of age ) he received this account : that they had of old one particular tribe of men that had this art amongst themselves only , and kept it as a thing sacred , and not to be communicated to the vulgar ; these mix'd not with the rest of the inhabitants , nor married out of their own tribe ; and were also their priests and ministers of religion : that upon the conquest of the spaniard , they were most of them destroyed , and the art lost with them , only they held some traditions yet of a few ingredients that were made use of in this business . they took butter of goats milk , ( some said hogs grease was mingled with it ) which they kept in the skins for this purpose ; in this they boiled certain herbs ; 1st . a sort of wild lavender , which grows there in great quantities on the rocks . 2dly . an herb called jara , of a very gummy and glutinous consistence , which now grows under the tops of the mountains only . 3dly . a kind of a cyclamen or sow-bread . 4thly . wild sage growing plentifully in this island . these , with stones bruised and boiled in the butter , render'd it a perfect balsam . this prepared , they first unbowelled the corps ; and in the poorer sort , to save charges , they took out the brain behind : and these poor also were sewed up in skins with the hair on , whereas the richer were ( as was said before ) put up in skins so sinely and exactly dressed , as they remain most rarely pliant and gentle to this day . after the body was thus order'd , they had in a readiness a lixivium , made of the bark of pine-trees , with which they washed the body , drying in the sun in summer , and in stoves in winter ; this repeating very often . afterwards they began their unction with the balsam , both without and within , drying it again , as before : this they continue till the balsam had penetrated it self in the whole habit , and the muscles in all parts appeared through the contracted skin , and the body became exceeding light ; then they sewed them up in the goat-skins , as already mentioned . he was told by these ancient people , that they have above twenty caves of their kings and great persons , with their whole families , yet unknown to any but themselves , and which they will never discover . lastly , he says , that bodies are found in the caves of the grand canaries , in sacks , and quite consumed , not as those in teneriff . thus far of the bodies and embalming . anciently when they had no knowledg of iron , they made their lances of wood , harden'd as before , some of which the doctor has seen : he has also seen earthen pots so hard , that they cannot be broken , of these some are found in the caves , and old barrancos , and used by poorer sort of people that find them , to boil meat in ; likewise they did curar stone it self , that is to say , a kind of slate now called tabona , which they first formed to an edg or point , as they had occasion to use them , either as knives , or lancets to let blood. their food was barly rosted , and then ground with little mills , which they made of stones , and mix'd with milk and honey ; this they still fed on , and carried it on their backs in goat skins . to this day they drink no wine , nor care for flesh ; they are generally very lean , tall , active , and full of courage . he himself has seen them leap from rock to rock , from a very prodigious height , till they came to the bottom , sometimes making ten fathom deep at one leap. the manner is thus . first , they tertiate their lance , ( which is about the bigness of a half-pike ) that is , they poise it in their hand , then they aim the point of it at any piece of a rock , upon which they intend to light , sometimes not half a foot broad ; at their going off they clap their feet close to the lance , and so carry their bodies in the air ; the point of the lance first comes to the place , which breaks the force of their fall ; then they slide gently down by the staff , and pitch their feet upon the very place they first designed , and from rock to rock , till they come to the bottom . their novices sometimes break their necks in learning . he added several stories to this effect , of their great activity in leaping down rocks and clifts , and how eight and twenty of them made an escape from the battlement of an extraordinary high castle in the island , when the governour thought he had made sure of them . he told also ( and the same was seriously confirmed by a spaniard , and another canary . merchant then in the company ) that they whistle so loud , as to be heard five miles off ; and that to be in the same room with them when they whistle , were enough to endanger breaking the tympanum of the ear : and added , that he being in the company of one that whistled his loudest , could not hear perfectly for fifteen days after , the noise was so great . he affirms also , that they throw stones with a force almost as great as that of a bullet , and now use stones in all their fights , as they did anciently . mr. sydenham told me this day , that upon the 18th of august , he and his company began their journey toward the pike of teneriff , setting out from l' oratava , a town seated on the lower part of the mountain , from which town to the sea there are three miles of way always descending . he began his journey on sunday about 10 a clock at night , and travell'd till five in the afternoon of the monday following , resting two hours by the way ; the ground was continually rising , and during this time they travelled about 10 miles of their way upon mules . resting upon monday till 12 a clock at night , they resumed their journey , and travelled till about 9 in the morning , at which time they arrived at the top of the sugar-loaf , or highest pile of the mountain . they went up on the south side of the hill , on which side there was no snow , though on the north side there were much . they stayed about two hours on the top of the sugar-loaf , and then returned to that part of the hill where they had lodg'd the night before . i ask'd mr. sydenham what was the estimate made by the most knowing persons of the island , of the height of the hill ? and he told me , that the guides accounted it to be one and twenty miles high from the town , which , as was noted before , is seated three miles above the sea. and he added , that a sea-man with great confidence affirming himself to have accurately enough measur'd by observations made in a ship , and to have found the perpendicular height of the hill to be about seven miles . i asked him also from what distance the top of the sugar-loaf could be seen at sea , according to the common opinion of sea-men ? he answer'd , that the distance was wont to be reckoned threescore sea-leagues , of three miles to a league ; adding , that he himself had seen it above forty leagues off , and yet it appeared exceeding high , and like a blewish pyramide , manifestly a great deal higher than the clouds . and he also told me , that sometimes men could from thence see the island of madera , though distant from it 70 leagues ; and that the great canary , though 18 leagues off , seem'd to be very near them , as if they might leap down upon it . he told me , that the higher part of the region of snow was two miles , or two miles and a half lower than the foot of the sugar-loaf ; and that on the upper part of the hill they felt no wind. mr. sydenham told me , that being at the top of the sugar-loaf , drinking the king's health , he indeavoured to shoot off a birding-piece he had carried up with him , but though he snap'd it above twenty times , he could not make it go off ; whereas when he came down into the ordinary air , the first time he tried to shoot ; it went readily off . i ask'd him whether he had taken notice that the flint struck out any sparks of fire or no at the top of the hill , and whether he had mended and alter'd the flint coming downwards ? to the first he answered he did not remember , to the other that he remembred he did not . he also told me , that having carried up a borracha of sack , when they came to the top of the mountain , they drank divers healths very freely , but could not find themselves heated , or sensibly discomposed by the wine ; whereas when they were come down into a thicker air , they manifestly felt the heady operation of the liquor , which then made their guide and one of their company drunk . he described the sugar-loaf to be in the midst of a barren plain , in the upper part of the mountain , and to be exceeding steep . the top of the sugar-loaf is made shelving inward almost like a dish . but in many places of it there appear little holes ( regularly placed ) as it were so many little vents to a great fire burning in or below the bowels of the mountain . he told me , that the guide disswaded him from going to the middle of this shelving top , affirming it to be exceeding dangerous : but he ventur'd to thrust the scowring stick of his gun somewhat deep and rudely into one of those holes , from whence there arose a hot steam , which had like to have killed him , and hindred him from further trials . he added , that the top of the mountain seem'd to be little else than stones and sulphur , and that there were great store of pieces of brimstone , which are guessed to be sublimed up from the internal parts of the hill. being asked , whether he was sick or no in the ascent ? he said , that both he and all his company , which were about a dozen men , were sick for three or four hours , when they came into the subtile and piercing air of the upper part of the mountain : but as they went down again , they were not sick . and being asked what kind of sickness it was they felt ? he said it was like sea-sickness . he told me , that the sack they carried up with them to refresh themselves , seem'd to them at the top of the mountain so very cold , that they were not able to drink above two or three drops at a draught , by reason of the operation of the excessive cold upon their teeth . he added upon my inquiry , that his feet were not more than ordinarily warm , and yet one of the two pair of pumps he carried up with him were burnt off his feet by the brimstone . when i asked him about the difference of seasons at the same time in the same mountain , he told me , that he passed over one of them by name . on the one side of which it was excessively hot near the top or ridg , as well , though not quite so much , as in the lower regions on the side of the mountain ; but within a mile or two on the other side of the ridg he found winter-weather , as to cold and storminess , and yet there was snow as well on the other side as on this . to what depth the water will be frozen in hard winters . to what depth the earth will be frozen in that season . whether muscovian ice be considerably , or at least sensibly harder than english ice . whether by casting up water , or by spitting , the liquor will freeze before it comes to touch the ground . whether brandy , sack , &c. will freeze in russia . whether instruments of iron and steel be much more brittle there than here . of the cracking of the timber in wooden houses , and the causes of it . of the preservation of flesh , fish , herbs , eggs , &c. in hard weather . of the curing of those whose nose , cheeks , &c. are frozen . of the symptoms of those that are frozen to death . of the keeping of dead bodies . title xx. of the air in reference to light ; its perspicuity , opacity , reflections , refractions , colours , light , and lightning . a very learned traveller affirmed to me , that having occasion to reside sometimes on the riviera or coast of genoua , he had often observed , that from a high place he could both morning and evening clearly discern the island of corsica ; and sometimes also other places in that sea , though he could not see them at noon , how fair and clear so ever the weather was , when the sun was in or near the meridian . his late majesty k. charles the second , doing me one day the honour to discourse about several marine observations , was pleased among other things to acquaint me with this rare phaenomenon . he was one day walking upon the beach on the strand , not far from dover , to injoy the fresh air , and the prospect of the sea , when casually looking forwards to the verge of the visible horizon , he was very much surprized to discover there a new coast , with rising and falling grounds , newly , as it were , emerged out of the ocean , in a place where no such thing had been seen before . the strangeness of this unlook'd-for apparition made him suspect something of illusion offer'd to his eyes by the beams of the sun that shone upon the neighbouring objects ; wherefore he rubb'd his eyes , and the new scene not vanishing , he call'd to his royal highness the duke of york , ( who was present when his majesty was pleased to make me the relation ) and to some of the attending courtiers that were nearest at hand , to make them partakers and witnesses of this delightful spectacle , which after it had been gazed on a little while , did somewhat slowly disappear , as if it had sunk down again into the ocean . of the cause of this rare phaenomenon , i ventur'd to propose to the king this conjecture : that the place where it was seen lying the same way that the coast of france did , and that coast being but a little too far off to be discern'd before , it might very well happen , that either by action of the sun , or rather by subterraneal steams , the air interposed between the shore and his majesties eyes , was fill'd with vapors and exhalations that made it much more refractive than formerly ; and by help of this supervening refraction , the french coast that lay beyond it was raised , and as it were lifted up , in reference to the sight , and so became visible as long as that new refraction lasted : and when the steams that occasion'd it , were either got up too high , or were by the winds or sun too much dissipated or dispersed , the apparition ceased , together with the unusual refraction that caused it . and in favour of this conjecture i alledg'd that familiar experiment in which a piece of gold , or the like convenient object , being put into the bottom of an empty cup , and the eye being so placed , that the object is but just hid from it by the interposition of the side of the cup , if water be poured into the vessel , though neither the eye nor the object be at all removed , yet the piece of gold will be plainly seen , because the surface of the water , which is a thicker medium than the air , breaking the rays that tend from the object towards the beholder's eye , according to the laws of refraction , that is from the perpendicular they are so bended , that those fall now into the pupil , that if it were not for the water , would either fall upon the side of the cup , and so be hinder'd from passing forward ; or else would fall upon the eye-lids or eye-brows , or some other part above the pupil , and so would not make the object visible . the duke of york was also pleased to tell me , that he was somewhat surprized , when being near the borders of scotland , in a season that did not promise much fair weather , he saw one morning the sky very red , and thereupon said , that he fear'd they should have foul weather , according to the usual prognostick of country-men and mariners : but some of the scotish nobility that attended his highness , told him , that in that country such red mornings did not bode a foul day , but rather promise a fair one ; which prediction of theirs was justified by the event . upon which occasion i enquired of a very intelligent scotish noble-man , how far the observation held in his country ? to which he answer'd , that with a due limitation it was most commonly true ; for though when the redness seems to be very near the ground , and appears in somewhat narrow streaks of an intense red , it signifies bad weather ; yet if the morning redness appears elevated in the air or sky , especially if the wind be easterly , it usually foretels a fair day . some observations of capt. james , in his northern voyage , mr. j. t. and others . february . i practised some observations by the rising and setting of the sun , calculating the time of his rising and setting , by very true running glasses . as for our clock and watch , notwithstanding we still kept them by the fire-side in a chest , wrap'd in clothes , yet were they so frozen , that they could not go . my observations by these glasses , i compared with the stars coming to the meridian : by this means we found the sun to rise twenty minutes before it should ; and in the evening to remain above the horizon twenty minutes ( or thereabouts ) longer than it should do : and all this by reason of the refraction . capt. james . march. this evening the moon rose in a very long oval alongst the horizon . april . the weather continued with this extremity until the fifteenth , at which time our spring was harder frozen than it had been all the year before . i had often observed the difference betwixt clear weather and misty refractious weather , in this manner : from a little hill which was near adjoining to our house , in the clearest weather , when the sun shone with all the purity of air that i could conceive , we could not see a little island , which bare off us south-south-east some four leagues ; but if the weather were misty , ( as aforesaid ) then we should often see it from the lowest place . this little island i had seen the last year when i was on danby-island . the 13th i took the height of it instrumentally , standing near the sea-side , which i found to be 34 minutes , the sun being 28 degrees high . this shows how great a refraction here is . yet may this be noted by the way , that i have seen the land elevated by reason of the refractious air ; and nevertheless the sun hath risen perfect round . january 6. i observed the latitude with what exactness i could , ( it being very clear sun-shine weather ) which i found to be 51 , 52. this difference is by reason that here is a great refraction . january 21. i observed the sun to rise like an oval alongst the horizon ; i called three or four to see it , the better to confirm my judgment , and we all are agreed , that it was twice as long as it was broad . we plainly perceived withal , that by degrees as it got up higher , it also recovered roundness . attending upon sir peter wych , in his journey for warsaw the beginning of june , 16 69 / 70 , whilst we lay about three polish miles from the city , attending the preparations for his reception there , we had very clear and extream cold weather ; and for two days together we observed the sun and two parhelions , or three suns , from above ten a clock to near twelve , not the least cloud appearing in the air , but that so serene , that we took notice of the icy spangles in the air , flying about like atoms in the sun's beams . this is also worth taking notice of ; that whereas in ordinary frosty weather any smooth iron , or other metal , whether heads of sticks , pomels of swords , or barrels of guns , being brought out of the open air into a warm room , there will presently , first a dulness in the glass , and then drops of water appear : at this time there would immediately appear the likeness of an hoar frost . now whether the particles of cold be so subtile as to pierce or enter into polished metal , i will not determine ; tho the experience of wetting one finger with his spittle , and forthwith laying it to iron when it freezes hard , by its immediate adhesion , even in the moment of touching it , would make some way for the affirmative . that same month returning back from warsaw , i saw , upon my journey , the sun rise with a large pillar , coloured like a rain-bow ; perpendicular over it , out of a clear horizon ; and i remember monsieur hevelius told me , he observed it once set with the like , n. in cornwall they observe in their driving home levels or sink , the waters do also manifestly partake of the minerals , for in some mines they are sanative , where iron is observed ; and in others apt to cause wounds to fester and rankle . as the first was most manifest at karne key , the latter at relistian , both famous tin-works . asking of a chymist that travelled with a famous virtuoso of my acquaintance over part of the alpes that is said to be much subject to thunders , divers questions about thunder , i had among other answers , this , that he and my friend being together at the top of a forked mountain , between whose parts there lay a valley , that seem'd almost cover'd with a thick cloud ; and though the weather were clear at both the tops , he observed that the subjacent cloud being big with thunder , the lightning appeared quite through it , and seem'd to lie deep in it , so that casting his eyes down upon the cloud , he fancied that what he saw , was , ( to use his own comparison ) as if a shining fish were moving to and fro very swiftly in a somewhat troubled water . if i had seasonably had the relation , i had enquired of my friend about it ; but i was the more inclined to believe it , because i remember , that passing over a part of the alpes , less high than that where the recited observation was made , though it was very fair weather , and a clear sky at the top of the mountain where we were , yet a great way beneath us we saw dark clouds , through part of which we afterwards in our descent were obliged to pass , though then ( whether part of the matter had been in the mean while discussed , i examine not ) it seemed to us little different from a thick fog , which when we had passed thorow , we found the weather fair and clear enough to the foot of the mountain . meeting with an inquisitive noble-man that liv'd long at naples , i asked him whether he had ever seen any of those famous apparitions that are said sometimes to shew themselves in or near the sicilian strait , and is known by the name ( if i mistake not ) of morgane ? to this he answered me , that during the spring-time , he had once the curiosity to try whether this tradition had so much ground as was commonly believed ; and that accordingly on several fair mornings he rose before the sun , and look'd solicitously along the coast , without seeing any thing that answered his expectation : but not being discouraged by these disappointments , he one morning perceived , as he thought , two steeples in a neighbouring town where he knew there was but one ; which phaenomenon inviting him to continue his curiosity , he chose the first fair and cloudless morning to rise early on ; and casting his eyes towards the lately mentioned town , and the coast it was not remote from , he was surprized with a delightful prospect of a new town beyond the other , and incomparably greater than it , and furnish'd , as it seem'd to him and a doctor of physick that accompanied him , with walls and towers , and steeples and houses , and other things that were delightful , as well as wonderful to behold . but he answer'd me , that the colours were not near so lively as the figures , being for the most part somewhat dim , though adorned here and there with some redness : but this odd spectacle , as it was not invariable during the whole time it lasted , did not continue very long ; for when the sun was gotten up to such a height above the horizon as made his beams powerful , they quickly confounded all these airy structures in a kind of chaos , and made the fantastick city vanish . moist vapours are not the only cause or sign of the opacity of the air , since that dry blighting east wind , which from the effects country people call a red wind , makes the air at a distance seem blewish and thick . this is the wind which these two years last past , has been so pernicious to apples , and indeed to all sorts of trees , not only to blast the fruit , but the very leaves of such trees as it met withal , just in the tender ( as the woodmen call it ) i. e. when they are newly expanded out of the buds . mr. j. t. that air is sometimes more clear and transparent , and sometimes more dark , and , as it were , muddy , being clogg'd and opacated with terrestrial steams , is every man's observation . but there are some phaenomena that depend upon the density , diaphancity , &c. of the air , that are not so vulgarly taken notice of : for besides those that require skill in the doctrine of refractions , on which therefore i shall not now insist ; there are some others that may be worth your notice , which i shall give a taste of . considering the differing accounts that are given by good authors , of the number of the fixed stars , and comparing them with some observations of our own , i was thereby , and upon some other grounds , induced to suspect that the differing and unheeded constitutions of the air might occasion a difference in assigning the number of the stars : which made me inquire of several navigators and travellers , some into the torrid zone , and others into the frigid ones , what difference they found in contemplating the stars in those climates , and in ours ; and by this inquiry , i learned that in some places where the air is very pure , celestial observations may be more happily made . and particularly because i supposed that intense cold , by precipitating the darkning vapours out of the air , may probably make it more defecate and clear . i desired an ingenious physician that travelled in muscovy , to take notice of any thing that should favour or disfavour this conjecture . in compliance with which request of mine he informed me , that travelling one night in a sled in the more mediterranean parts of russia , the weather being extraordinary cold , he was invited to quit his sled a little to consider the sky , where he saw so many stars , and so much brighter than he had ever seen before , that he was almost as much surprized as delighted with so glorious a spectacle , which he shewed to some of his fellow-travellers that shared in his wonder . and this brought into my mind , that remembring that the ingenious capt. james being forc'd to winter in charlton-island , which though but of the latitude almost of cambridg , is but little , if at all , less cold than nova zembla it self , i should probably find something pertinent to our present subject in so diligent an observer . i resorted to his voyage , where i met with these notable observations . january 30 and 31 , there appeared in the beginning of the night more stars in the firmament than ever i had seen before , by two thirds . i could see the cloud in cancer full of small stars : and amongst the pleiades a great many small stars . about ten a clock the moon did rise , and then a quarter of them was not to be seen . the wind for the most part of this month hath been northe●ly , and very cold , &c. capt. james , p. 62. the russian emperor's physician confirmed to me by word of mouth , what he had some years since told me in a letter , that one night which was exceeding cold and clear , being awakened out of his sleep by a shake that had like to have overturn'd his sled , he look'd out and saw more stars by far than ever he saw in england , or the neighbouring parts of europe , and particularly that he saw many about the 7 stars , or the pleiades , and divers others he had not seen before in several other parts of the sky . he farther told me , that these stars seemed far more beautiful and bright than was usual , insomuch that he doubts not , that if it had not been for the snow , some of them would have cast a discernable shadow . for confirmation , he saith , that the phaenomena were not only taken notice of by him , but by others that travelled with him ; and that though he often gazed at the sky , since that time he never could see there near so many stars , nor so bright . december 4. i had not time the last week to tell you of something , that to us that have not been long in this country seems strange , but the people of this place say happens very often . on the 29th of the last month , after i had written and sent away my letters , looking out of the dutchesses window to see what weather it was , i saw towards the n e. alongst the horizon , it look'd as light , and just as if it had been break-of-day , ( it was then about a quarter past eleven ) and gave as great a light ; i went then into the drawing-room , and looking out of that window , could look more northerly , and saw it was more light due n. and saw several streaks of light , like the tail of the blazing star , all pointing n. and s. one of which was as long or longer than that we saw last year , for it reached from the horizon , and pass'd betwen charles's wain and the n. star , and reached up just over our heads . the small ones sometimes disappeared : and then we saw others of the same dimensions appear in other places , they were all near the great one ; two of them seem'd as if their light had come from the two guards in charles's wain ; and when they vanished , others appeared more south . i went to the other side of the house , and saw that the light reached from the w. or w n w. by the n. to the e. or e n e. i did not go out , because it blew very hard , and was very wet , contenting my self to see it out of the house , but sent geo. man up the hill , who saw the same , and it was so clear they could see the frith . about the new moon before , there was such a light as this seen by lord belcarus , as he came in the night from st. andrews to his house , and by the seamen of the yacht at leith , and by some here in town : but though the sky was not then so clear , there being broken clouds , yet it gave such light , as they could read very plainly , as they told me ; that began about 7 , and lasted till 9. this last i did not see till after 11 , and at a quarter of 12 it began to lessen , at which time i went to bed , and the tails were then no more to be seen . tell dr. flamsted of this , and know of him , whether he has seen or heard of such kind of things . this was from his royal highness the duke of york , then high commissioner in scotland . an intelligent gentleman that liv'd in africk , being asked by me , how far off he was able to see the top of the pico of teneriff at sea ? replied , that by the estimate of the captain of the ship , it was near 50 leagues , and yet it appear'd to him so high above some clouds , and so near , that he was fain to cast his head up to see it . title xxi . of the operation of the air on the consistency of animal substances . as on the one side the schools teach the air to be a simple and elementary body , that is , only hot and moist ; so on the other side , the generality of men are so accustomed to judg of things by their senses , that not finding the air to be a visible body , they ascribe less to it than even the school-men do ; and what is invisible , they think to be next degree to nothing . and indeed both the one sort of men and the other , are wont to consider the air only as a receptacle , that barely harbours the visible and palpable bodies committed to it , or as it were deposited in it , without acting upon them , unless it be perhaps a little upon the account of its manifest qualities , heat and moisture . but for my part , who look upon the air under another notion , and think it may as well alter as receive the bodies that lie exposed to it ; i am apt to allow it in reference to some bodies , certain other faculties and powers , among which some may be called generative and maturative , and others corruptive ; and this not only in respect of animals and other bodies of a slighter texture , but even of salts and minerals themselves . an observing man that had sailed to and fro between europe and the east-indies , answered me , among other things , about their way of transporting cheese ; that the cheese they used to take along were cheshire , of a very considerable thickness , which they inclosed in leaden boxes fit for them , and thereby were able to preserve them sound till they came to the east-indies . but in case they were not able , or neglected to make use of such boxes , he several times observed , that cutting a cheese in two , when they were any thing near the equinoctial , that most part of it would be very dry and brittle , and seem'd as if it were spoil'd : whereas the parts about the middle were so fat and soft , as if all the unctuous parts that were wanting in the dried portion of the cheese had retired thither , and was between cream and cheese . which conjecture was not contradicted by this , that if they cut some of them cheeses , when having left the torrid zone behind them , and had made a good progress in the temperate zone , they found the external portion good , and the consistence of the cheese uniform enough . quere , whether the moist particles that flie in the air , be not the great cause of all corruption of bodies , since acosta says , that in peru , where it seldom rains , all things , like dead bodies , keep a great while uncorrupted ? the like may be observed of egypt , if it be not to be rather imputed to the nitrous salt with which the air of that country so much abounds . mr. j. t. a man of letters , that divers times crossed the line in great portugal ships , answered me , that when they came near it and under it , he observed among other things , that there was a very manifest change made in the consistence of their bisket ; that most of their meat , and even their salt fish was much impaired , so that they were scarce able to eat it ; and that their pilot , who had been 23 times in the indies , assured them , he observed when they came to the equinoctial , that fresh water would not there be at all troubled or stinking , but clear and sweet , as if it were but newly put into the cask . doctor stubbs being inquired of by me concerning , &c. told me , that in jamaica the silken stuffs that were brought thither , will rot even whilst they keep their colour , if they be shown to the air ; though if they be not show'd thereto , but kept up close , they were not observed to rot , or be discoloured . title xxii . of the operation of the air on the consistency of vegetable substances . may 16. we opened a small glass-receiver ground to a plate of glass , in which there had been included for three years and some months , ( though i know not how many ) the half of a lemon cut transversly , together with a mercurial gage : the lemon kept its colour pretty well , and its shape very well , save that at the orifice the upper part of the pulp was depressed , seeming as it were dried up by the recess of the liquor contain'd in it ; which liquor did now stagnate upon the glass plate . when this began to be disjoined from the upper glass , there rush'd in , not without noise , a pretty deal of external air , which argued that the air afforded by the included lemon in so long a time , had not been near sufficient to fill the cavity of the receiver . neither the half lemon nor the liquor had any ill scent , or other sign of putrefaction or corruption ; neither of them had the least mould , which gave me a suspicion , as far as it could be grounded upon this experiment , that such a mould as might have been expected , being ( as may be guessed by the microscope ) a congeries of a very small kind of vegetables , could not any more than many greater ones , be produced without the concurrence of the air. the liquor was clear enough , and without faeces , being in colour between brown and reddish . it contained an acid taste ; and when i put a little of it upon sirrup of violets , it turned it to a purplish colour ; and which is more , being put upon small fragments ( not pouder ) of red coral , presently began manifestly to corrode them , and that in the cold. to the heat and piercing moisture of the air combin'd together , may be referr'd the observation of an intelligent scholar , from whom , when i ask'd him what he had taken notice of about these qualities , when he sail'd under or near the line , ( which he did several times ) he told me , that divers pastils or lozanges that he was wont to carry in his pockets , were so dissolved , that they spoil'd his pockets , and obliged him to cut them out , though the pastils of the same kind did never lose their old consistence till he came near the equator , nor keep their new consistence after he had passed some degrees beyond it , but grew solid again as before . title xxiii . of the operation of the air on the consistency of mineral substances . inquiring of an ingenious swedish gentleman that was a great dealer in the metals his country abounds with , whether the great cold of sharp winters in those northern climates had not a sensible operation upon iron : i learned from him , that in the chief copper mine ( which he had curiously visited ) being to draw up the oar from an exceeding great depth , they fastned their baskets , not as they use in other mines , to iron chains , but to ropes made of ox or bull-hides ; and that chiefly for this reason , that during the hard winter-frosts that are there usual , the links of their iron chains were very subject to be broken by the great cold joined to the weight of the oar , to the great danger , and oftentimes the destruction of the poor workmen that were digging beneath : which inconvenience was avoided by imploying leather , which the cold could not make brittle , instead of iron . asking an ingenious master of a glass-house , whether he had not observed that glasses , though as well neal'd as is ordinary , would sometimes of themselves break with a noise long after ; he answered me affirmatively : adding , that particularly having one time had an occasion to lay by for about half a year or longer , a numerous parcel of glasses , when he came to take them out , he found that about a fourth part of the whole batch was frozen of themselves ; and that in most or all of them , the cracks proceeded from some seeming stone or great grain of sand , which yet indeed was not sand , but some part of salt that had not obtained a sufficient comminution . a learned gentleman that is owner of an iron mine , informs me , that he has a house in suffolk within 6 miles of the sea ; and though the house be but 80 years old , yet the iron bars of the window that look towards the sea , are swelled , and ( as he calls it ) rotten , being brittle , and easy to be crumbled into pouder . and when i asked him whether the wind that came from the sea to these windows were not southern , he answered affirmatively . and to confirm what i was saying of the operation of sea-salt upon iron , he told me , that having had occasion to cause many bars of iron to be laid in a place upon the neighbouring shore , above the high-water-mark , a great storm chanced to increase the tide so far as to drench those bars for some hours after ; which remaining in the air , they were very much impaired , great thick flakes being easy to be struck off from them when they came to be hammer'd . a very experienc'd mason informed me , that the cathedral of salisbury is made of purbeck-stone , which in the air grows softer and softer , and will moulder away ; and so will some blechington-stone , though not exposed to wet ; whereas the stones dug up at painswick , within four miles of glocester , being very soft and friable at first , will by lying in the air ( as he has particularly observed ) acquire a crust-hard and glassy like marble ; and the oftner 'tis washed , the sooner will it acquire this hard and yellowish crust , which reaches but a very little way ( scarce the thickness of half a crown ) beneath the surface contiguous to the air. title xxiv . of the air in reference to fire and flame . a gentleman of my acquaintance being ask'd by me about the burning of candles in grooves ( or sutts ) that are not furnish'd with air-shafts , he told me , that the depths i desired to be informed of were very uncertain , and varied considerably , according to the different nature of the soil , and perhaps other circumstances , so that sometimes a candle would go out much sooner , and sometimes it would continue burning , though it were let down to the depth of eight , ten or more fathom . that when they come into close ground , though their candle will burn at first , yet after a while working , ( more especially if the stone be full of mundick ) the dust raised by their working will make their candles go out , so that they must leave working for a time , except they will be at the charge of conveying down air by pipes . i mention this as different from other sorts of damps . n. experiments touching the relation between flame , air. the burning of candles , &c. under a glass bell. the burning of spirit of wine under a glass bell. the burning of match , touch-wood , sponck , &c. under a bell. the keeping of animals under the same instrument whilst the flame is burning . the burning of bodies to ashes in seal'd glasses . the doing the like in exactly closed receivers . the burning of cotton in a seal'd glass . the burning of the mixture of flames under water in an e. r. the burning of spirit of wine and oil of turpentine in glass vessels with slender necks . the experiment of burning gun-powder . another of the pistols not firing in an e. r. the burning of a saline substance in an e. r. the burning of mixtures of salt-peter in an e. r. title xxv . of the air in reference to fermentation . we took a small handful of raisons , and having put them into a bolt-head , ( not large , but half filled with water ) we drew out the air , and then we removed the portable and exactly closed receiver , and put it on the digestive furnace , that the warmth of that place might promote the fermentation in spight of the unfavourableness of the season of the year . after a while there appeared signs of fermentation by the emerging of the raisons , which swan for some days on the top of the water , most of them beset with numerous bubbles ; nor did above very few of them subside at last , though after some days the bubbles grew fewer and fewer , and there appeared a sediment at the bottom of the glass . a fortnight after they were first sealed up , the upper part of the glass was accidentally broken whilst i stood by ; whereupon the external air rushed in with some noise : and i taking the vessel in my hand , perceived the surface of the liquor to be overspead with bubbles , almost like the forth of bottle-drink : there seem'd to me to come out at the little orifice made where the apex was broken off , a visible fume , which had a somewhat languid smell . the liquor was high colour'd of the raisons , and seem'd to have extracted something from them that gave it a better consistence than that of water . title xxvi . of the air as the receptacle of odours .   title xxvii . of the operation of the air on the odours of animal substances . may 23. we opened an exhausted receiver , wherein was pretty store of verjuice , or green and sour grapes . and though they had lain there we are sure about three years , and possibly much longer , yet there appear'd no mouldiness at all upon any of them : but the surfaces of the uppermost grains were somewhat discoloured , perhaps by a saline and confusedly formed efflorescence , which having look'd upon through a glass , and also tasted , i guessed to be a kind of tartar. the like liquor that the grains had afforded had an acid taste , and would in the cold corrode coral , but the grains smell'd somewhat musty . in all this time the verjuice had produced so little air , that we could scarce take notice of it by the mercurial gage that had been shut up with it . i inquired of my lord of sandwich , and a couple of gentlemen that accompanied him , whether it be true which is reported of the purity of the air at madrid , that though they have no houses of office , but every night throw out their excrements into the streets ; yet by the morning there remains no more smell of them . to which i was answered , that 't was true the excrements were so disposed of , but that madrid is the stinkingst town they ever came into ; yet that 't was difficult to discern in the morning any peculiar smell of what had been cast into the street by night ; but they jointly affirmed , that the place where the ambassador's numerous family resorted to make water in , did not smell of piss ; and that they often observed the dogs and cats that lay dead in the streets were deprived of stench : and his lordship supposed that the stench of a dead mule would in few hours vanish . title xxviii . of the operation of the air on the odours of vegetable substances . may 16. at the same time we opened another small receiver , wherein above three years before some large pieces of orange had been included : the rinds of these were much discolour'd , their surfaces being almost black . they had scarce afforded any liquor , and yet we could not perceive the least mould in any of them , nor had they a putrid smell . title xxix . of the operation of the air on the odours of mineral substances .   title xxx . of the operation of the air on the tastes of animal substances . he answered me , that they could very well preserve meat , as beef , without salting it , as long as the frost lasted , that is , during the whole winter . but when it was once thorowly frozen , they could not dress it so as to make it relish like good meat . mr. nickson . title xxxi . of the operations of the air on the tastes of vegetable substances .   title xxxii . of the operations of the air on the tastes of mineral substances .   title xxxiii . of the operations of the air on the colours of animal substances . enquiring of a man of letters , that had the curiosity to travel into the inland parts of brasil , whether in that countrey the air had not a great influence upon the colours of clothes : he told me it had , and even upon black ; insomuch that a kind of black taffety , which is the usual wear of the better sort , will , after it hath been worn a very few days , degenerate into an ironish colour : yet he answered me , that in the shops where 't is carefully kept from the air , the taffety continued of a good black. nor is it only upon the colour of stuffs , but of animals too , that he says the brasilian air has an operation ; for he says , that at a place 50 leagues beyond parigna , there is a region where white people do in a very short time grow basannez ( or tawny , ) though a little way out of that particular region , as for instance beyond it , they quickly recover their wonted colour . he told me , that upon charleton island they have flocks of certain birds , which the english there call partridges , though they resemble ours more in bulk than shape , being somewhat like wild pigeons , but a good deal bigger : these he says are white in the winter , and gray in the summer . title xxxiv . of the operations of the air on the colours of vegetable substances . alearned man that was physician to the governor of jamaica , being at his return ask'd divers questions by me , concerning that island , gave me among others , the following answer : lignum vitae , said he , and most other trees at jamaica , when they are newly cut down , where-ever you cut the wood , that part which is exposed to the air will quickly grow green , though that which is a little beneath it be yellow , or of another colour ; and this lignum vita , when green , is as soft as oak , or softer ; and many other jamaica woods that are soft , when newly cut down , will afterwards so harden in the air , that ordinary tools will make no impression upon them ; and the nails that pierced them easily before , can no more be forc'd out of them ; and this is chiefly conspicuous in the cabbage-tree , which being a wood soft enough when 't is cut down , the pith which is very copious will quickly rot of it self , and the rest of the tree serves for a pipe of perhaps 100 foot long , that will not corrupt under ground , but grow almost as hard as iron . enquiring of an inquisitive traveller , what he had observed about the power of the air , which i had been inform'd was great , in working upon divers bodies at the island of st. jago : he told me , that he and his company had not staid long enough there to make much observation of that kind ; but that seeing aloes growing plentifully there , they had gathered some plants of it , whose juice he found , as i have here in europe , to be very clammy , and excessively bitter , and , which was wondred at , of a very dark colour ; but having carried them in the ship towards the equinoctial , they found for a time the juice to be altered , having lost almost all its bitterness , and acquired a green colour . stains of linen will best go out at the time of the year , when the fruits or plants whose juice made them , are in their prime : this a gentlewoman assured me she had tried in new linen stain'd with juice of quinces ; and the lady n. n. affirmed , that she had particularly tried it in stains made with the juice of hopps , which she says are the worst stains of all ; and which having in vain tried to get out of her linen , she laid up her linen in her chest , and at the time of the year when hopps flourish , she found the stains vanish of themselves . title xxxv . of the operations of the air on the colours of mineral substances . aconsiderable instance of the changes that the contact of air is able to produce even upon solid minerals , i gave those that saw it by the following experiment . we took one part of lapis calaminaris , and about four parts of good salt-peter ; these being well pouder'd and mix'd , were put into a strong crucible , and kept in a vehement fire some hours , by which means the matter , as we expected , was alcaliz'd : upon the thus prepared lapis calaminaris we poured a convenient quantity of fair water , which afforded us a solution that was somewhat muddy , but appear'd of a deep red : this we pour'd into a wide-mouth'd glass , which we set in a window , that it might be the more accessible to fresh air. there after a while our darkish red solution turn'd quite green , and more diaphanous than before ; but continuing for some days to keep the glass in the same window , ( which respected the south ) we found our green solution to lose its colour by degrees , and at last to be resolv'd into a transparent liquor , and a subsiding pouder , that was not at all green , but red , or like brick-dust . these changes of colour succeeded in more than one parcel of our mineral solution . we took a very strong spirit of vinegar , and boiled it a while on crude filings of copper , without finding that 't was manifestly coloured by that operation , nor yet by letting it lie some hours in the same glass egg wherein it had been boiled . wherefore supposing this want of coloration to depend upon the air 's not co-operating in the best manner it might easily be made to do , we poured the liquor and the filings together into a broad flat glass , ( which we plac'd in a window shelving ) so that though the filings were wet , yet but one part of them was cover'd to any depth by the menstruum . this done , we observed , as was expected , that the filings exposed to the air , changed colour , and became of a greenish blew ; whilst those that were under the liquor manifested no change of colour , but kept that which belongs to copper , till the menstruum evaporating by degrees , they also being accessible to the air , acquir'd the same colour with the former vinegar . q. whether in a longer time the coloration would not have been made ? we took some filings of copper , and divided it into two parcels ; one we put into a flat and shallow glass with a wide mouth , and the other into a glass viol , whose neck was of the breadth usual to such vessels . upon each of these parcels of filings we pour'd a convenient quantity of one and the same strong solution of sal armoniac made in fair water , and without covering each of the vessels , let them stand by one another for a competent time . of which trial the event was such as was expected ; namely , that the liquor in the viol was but faintly colour'd , when that in the open glass , that had a large surface exposed to the free air , was very richly tinged . and this circumstance is not to be forgotten , that whereas all the lower part of the solution was of a deep blew almost like ultra-marine , that part which was contiguous to the air was cover'd over with a kind of film like thin ice , which was of a very differing blew , exceeding like that of the finer sort of turcoices . we took two small parcels of filings of copper , and put each of them into a small piece of paper , with the edges turn'd upward , and then put upon each of them three drops of good spirit of sal armoniac . one of these papers we left in the window , the other we put into a small receiver , which by help of our engine was emptied in little more than a minute of an hour . at the end of two minutes , after the putting on of the spirit , there appeared a manifest blew on some parts of that paper that was left in the window ; but that which was in the exhausted receiver , being deprived of the air that should befriend its operation , continued there full a quarter of an hour or more ( by a minute clock ) without appearing to be at all colour'd : wherefore taking off the receiver , we remov'd the paper to the same window where the other stood , and within about two minutes it began to disclose a blewness , which within about two minutes more was considerably heightned . into a slender viol , wherein we put a convenient quantity of the volatile or urinous spirit of the lees of wine ( elsewhere by us described ) which was of a yellow colour , we let fall some filings of copper ; and stopping the glass well , we drew a tincture , which according to expectation was manifestly green , but not of the pleasantest and most transparent sort of green liquors ; then suffering the viol to rest in a window for many days , we observed that the liquor did then but slowly return to a yellow colour , which when it had acquired , without any mixture of greenness ; we open'd the viol for a very little while to let in the air , and then stopp'd it well again ; the admitted air quickly began to change the surface of the liquor into a green colour ; which , though slowly , extended it self downwards , till it had tinged the whole liquor . this colour afterwards , by long standing , did by degrees grow to a pale yellow . the 19th of august presented me with some phaenomena that made me almost despair of reducing all those of our variable liquors to a settled theory . for coming that day at about ten a clock in the forenoon to a closet where i kept several vials furnish'd with this liquor , i perceived one of them that stood in the window , that had once almost quite lost its colour , to have re-acquired a very fair blew , at least as deep as that of the sky in a fair day . this viol i the rather watch'd , because i had taken notice , not without somewhat wondring at it , that for two days before , instead of losing , according to custom , the little remains of colour , that after many days standing it yet retained ; the colour began again to increase , though the viol were constantly kept stopp'd as before ; and that which made this regaining of the colour seem more strange , was , that there stood just by it another viol furnished with the spirit , and with filings taken out of the same parcels , yet the liquor of this parcel continued colourless . wherefore suspecting that some accident might have happened , whereby some little portions of air might have insinuated themselves thorow the cork of the altered liquor , i cast up my eyes to another viol that stood in so high a place that was not easy to reach it , and where it had long rested , and lost its colour : but upon this view i was confirmed , that the change lately mentioned in one of the viols , was not from the cork , but from some unobvious cause : for though this upper viol was furnish'd with a good glass stopple ; yet the liquor it contain'd was again grown caeruleous , though the liquor of another viol that stood just by it continued colourless . wherefore to satisfy my self further , i presently went to a private place , where i had in a cavity made in the thickness of a wall set aside two viols , that several days before had quite lost their colour ; and my former surprize was increased , when i found that one of them which was stopp'd with a cork , continued colourless ; yet the other that had a glass stopple , and stood just by it , had regain'd a fair caeruleous colour . both these were fitted for trial , with the same spirit and filings , and the same day with the others above-mentioned ; and the heat of the weather had so little influence upon this effect , that this day was remarkably cold , being made so by a northern wind , which made me observe it more so than i had found it for some time before . i must not forget on this occasion , that i was invited by the foregoing phaenomena , to look upon some spirit , not oil of amber , that i had kept in a viol for several days upon filings of copper , and had sometimes exposed to the air by unstopping the glass , and found , that though formerly the spirit kept its native colour better than i desired , yet it had acquired a green colour , which whether it will lose again by longer standing , time must determine . the slender viol , with spirit of honey mention'd n o the _____ though it had been wont to exchange its yellow colour for a blew , by the contact of the external air in a very short time , and sometimes within a minute or two ; yet being open'd this afternoon , in the same place where it used to be so , did not in above an hour's time turn blew , but remain'd a transparent yellowish colour . the viol with a glass stopple , mentioned n o 945. being for divers weeks left unstirred in the window where it stood before , i several times observed it to lose and regain colour ; and though sometimes it would only appear of a more faint or a more rich blew , yet sometimes also it would appear either quite or almost colourless , and perhaps in a day or two after it would be again as blew as the sky . and this , though i could not find that any thing in the weather was the true cause of this change , since the liquor would not only gain , but lose colour in colder weather ; and so it would also do in warmer : but on michaelmas-day i found it to have attained a deep blew ; and though since it has been now and then somewhat more dilute , yet during all the past month of october , i remember not to have seen it any thing mere colourless ; and this day being the first of november , i found it to have resumed a high colour , though a viol with a glass stopple , which had for many weeks stood just by it , and formerly did divers times correspond with it in its changes , has continued all the last month of a very pale blew , without either deepning its colour , or growing quite colourless . an inquisitive gentleman of my acquaintance , being ask'd by me about a mountain in wales , called _____ , where solid stones are said to change their colour very oddly , told me , that within sight of that hill , in a large piece of ground that was then newly put under tillage , he saw good numbers of stones that look'd like flints , and were full as hard , if not harder ; the colour of most of them was dark , the rest grey : these stones , which when the ground was newly turn'd up , were rust-coloured , he observed afterwards to grow lighter and lighter coloured ; so that after three or four years , being invited by this observation to take notice of it at his coming to that place again , he found these stones almost all of them turn'd white . about which phaenomenon , questioning the ancient inhabitants , with some expressions of wonder , they seem'd to make little of it , and assured him , in the neighbouring mountain almost all the stones that were exposed to the air , underwent the like changes , and within a few years were blanch'd . having put some mercurius sublimatus dalcis , and vitriolum romanum ( tied up in several papers apart ) into one box , at the end of twenty two months i found the sublimate mercury wholly changed into a substance so like antimony , that some not ignorant of the materia medica , have taken it for the same : and the superficies only of the vitriol had acquired the same colour , but was not at all altered within . this from a credible relator . title xxxvi . of the air destroying or introducing other less obvious qualities into animal substances .   title xxxvii . of the air destroying or introducing other less obvious qualities into vegetable substances . an intelligent gentleman that staid a year in guinea , related to me , that he and his company found the great heat and moisture of the air to dispose bodies so to putrefaction , that he observed the white sugar to be sometimes full of maggots ; and found that divers drugs , salves , and other medicinal things that were brought with him , had quite lost their virtue ; and some of them , especially ointments , were verminous . and he added , that in the island st. jago ( one of those of cabo-verde ) they laid store of sweet-meats upon tables to the heat of the sun , to dry up the superfluous moisture , which in strange abundance they had contracted the preceding night , which otherwise would quite spoil the sweet-meats , and bring them to putrify . oxford , though seated for the most part of it on a gravelly hill , i have known to be very disagreeable to some moist splenetick and valetudinary bodies , who i have heard complain , that they could not be so well there as elsewhere , especially in the spring ; so that i take the air of that place to be generally moist . mr. j. t. air too dry , though sufficiently hot , is not favourable , for the production of divers insects : for i have observed these two last dry springs , that there has been no soft garden-snails to be found abroad , and very few fleas bred in the house , which i impute to extraordinary long driness of the air , for want of moist vapors to nourish them ; since in wet summers we always swarm with snails , gnats , fleas , &c. whereas this year we have few or none . title xxxviii . of the air destroying or introducing other less obvious qualities into mineral substances . observandum etiam quod antimonium diaphoreticum quocunque modo , sive cum solo nitro aut addito etiam tartaro , paratum sit , tractu temporis aeri expositum pravam , & quasi malignam induat naturam , sumptumque intra corpus cordis angustias , cardialgias , lipothymias , vomitusque & similia prava symptomata procreet , quae facilè tamen evitabimus , si vel singulis diebus vel tribus mensibus recenter illud conficiamus , vel jam paratum antimonium diaphoreticum vetustum additâ portiunculâ nitri , aut etiam absque nitro , per unam vel alteram horam vulcano tradamus , penitusque igniamus , iterumque si nitrum additum fuerit , edulcoremus , & parumper reverberemus . to prove that it proceedeth from a natural cause , this one , though strange , yet true experiment , will suffice , take of the earth of egypt adjoining to the river , and preserve it carefully , that it neither come to be wet nor wasted ; weigh it daily , and you shall find it neither more nor loss heavy until the 17th of june , at which day it beginneth to grow more ponderous , and augmenteth with the augmentation of the river , whereby they have an infallible knowledg of the state of the deluge , proceeding , without doubt , from the humidity of the air , which having a recourse through all passible places , and mixing therewith , increaseth the same as it increaseth in moisture . a learned physician of the colledg of london confessed to me , that he found by his own observation , that antimonium diaphoreticum , being kept some years , though in a cover'd vessel , acquir'd a vomitive quality , which it had not before ; and that having long kept in a stopp'd glass a parcel of his own ceruss of antimony , of which he used to give 12 , 15 , or more grains , without finding it emetick ; he found that in process of time it was so degenerated , that when he gave four or five grains , it would cause vomits . earth laid up together in the air for four , five or six years , does make far better pots for closeness , and holding of the fire , than that which has lain but one season above ground , though that it self be much better than that which is newly dug up , which will be very apt to crack in the fire , or when it comes to wet ; as also those bricks that lie at the top of the furnace , and therefore are not so thick covered as they burn , and are apt to deceive builders when they come to be exposed to the rain and weather . title xxxix . of the air in reference to the propagation and vegetation of plants . an ingenious traveller that frequented the pyrenean mountains , especially that which many count the highest of them , and is known by the name of pic de midi , affirmed to me , that he , as well as several others , had manifestly observed a scarce credible difference between that side of those mountains that regards france , and that which reaches to spain ; for at the same time the former was verdant and flourishing , and yeilded a delightful prospect to the traveller , as well as plentiful provisions to the inhabitants : the spanish side of the hills was parch'd , and russet , and barren , and look'd dismally , like a wilderness : which great difference of countries , observable in the same hills at the same time of the year , he imputed to the fierce parching , and sometimes blasting winds beat upon the spanish side , and made that look so squallid , whilst the hills that suffer'd this mischief on one side , did by their height check these hurtful winds , and skreening from them , the french side of the mountains left them to injoy advantages that the soil and climate furnished them with . title xl. of the air in reference to the generation , life and health of animals . de vita igitur ac morte , & iis pene omnibus quae huic considerationi affinia sunt , dictum est . desanitate verò morboque non solum medici sed & physiciest , causas quadantenus referre . quatenus verò hi differant , & quatenus diversa contemplantur ignorare non convenit . equidem quòd confinis sit quadantenus haec medici physicique tractatio , & res ipsa testatur . nam & medici , quicunque paulò elegantiores & diligentiores sunt , de natura dicunt , & artis sua principia inde sumere dignantur ; & physici omnes fere , qui concinnitatis aliquid habent , tractationem naturae usque ad medicinam persequuntur . august 13. the temperature of the air , both as to salubrity and other regards , may be deriv'd as well from the subterraneal steams , as the superficial effluviums of the earth , and both these sorts of steams being variously transported and shuffled , and compounded by the winds and other motions of the air , upon the mixtures of them , the local qualities of the air , in differing places , may be supposed to result . about three months before the late great plague began in london , ( in the year 1665 ) there came to dr. m. a patient of his , to desire his advice for her husband ; and the doctor having inquired what ail'd him , she answered , that his chief distemper was a swelling in his groin , and upon that occasion added , that her husband assured her of his being confident that the next summer the plague would be very rife in london : for which prediction he gave this reason , that in the last great plague he fell sick of that disease , and he then had a pestilential tumor ; so in two other plagues that since happened , though much inferiour to that great one , each of them had a rising in his body to be its fore-runner ; and now having a great tumor in the forementioned place , he doubted not but it would be followed by a raging pestilence , which accordingly ensued . having heard much talk of something of this nature , as related by the doctor , i inquired of him how much of it was true , and received for answer the foregoing narrative . you did not perhaps expect that the mere local motion of the air should be mentioned by me among the causes of the effects of its changes : and indeed the phaenomena i have yet met with reducible to this kind , have been but very few , notwithstanding which i shall take notice , that this local motion may in certain cases operate on other bodies , either as it turns the air into a wind , or as the tremulous motion of the air is modified into found , or as the air is put into a vehement and disorderly motion by thunder . as to the first of these 't is evident , that upon the vehemence or slackness , and the places whence and where the changing wind happens to blow , there may divers effects ensue , especially in animated bodies . and this not only as the wind is accompanied with cold and hear , or moisture , or driness , but ( to restrain our selves to instances more closely pertinent to our present purpose ) as the wind is flowing air , or an aireal stream , for only as such it may ventilate the places through which it passes , and by expelling the stagnant air , and introducing other air , may contribute to many of those changes ( especially as to the health of animals ) that we see to depend upon the alteration of air , and perhaps among the more tender sort of animals , there may be found some in which the motion of the external air , though excluded by walls and windows , may have a considerable and immediate operation : for i have learned by enquiry from some curious natives of languedoc ( where i had the curiosity to look after silk-worms , abounding in that province ) that in case it happened when the worms having eaten their fill , began to dispose themselves to work their silken eggs ; in case , i say , it then happened to be thundering weather , a great part of the worms , especially the less vigorous , would be destroyed . he affirmed to me , that in some mines of above a thousand foot deep , he saw horses that had been let down by ropes to the 3d part of the depth , that is above a hundred yards , and that several of them died either in the letting down , or by the change of air ; yet several of them survived , and were imployed about the engines belonging to the mines , and seem'd not to have any sensible inconvenience as to respiration , though in the receptacles they wrought in , they were furnished with air but from the groove through which they were let down , and by a moderately big shaft . an ingenious traveller that has had the curiosity to visit the mines of several countries , as bohemia , saxony , swedeland , &c. answered me , that the deepest mine he saw in bohemia was of about 2000 of our feet . an intelligent person that was for many years consul of the english nation at tripoli in barbary ; and at another time governour of the castle ( called ) of the coast , belonging to the english african company in guinea , being discoursed with by me , about the diseases incident to that very unhealthy place , and about the worms that bred in mens legs , told me , that the great noxiousness of the air was not constant , but frequently ceased , and return'd within no long compass of time ; insomuch that all his men would continue in health for many days together , and then on a sudden divers of them would fall sick , especially of feavers and fluxes that usually killed them in forty eight hours or less . dr. c. chief physician to the russian emperor , confirmed to me , that being in russia in the winter , when the frost was very hard , and the east or north-east wind blew cold , if he turned his face toward the wind , and walked against , ( which at other times he was wont , and took a delight to do ) he found himself unable to fetch his breath , and almost stifled , as if the air were very thick , or rather a great stiffness brought upon the organs of respiration , whereby he was unable to move them as at other times , so that he was fain to turn his head from the wind that he might be able to fetch his breath . an observing person being ask'd about a tradition of sea-men , that the lice of europeans die when the ships pass the line : answered me , that he did not find it to be true , as it is wont to be delivered ; but this he plainly observed in several of our english with whom he sailed , that all the lice quitted their bodies , and got up into their heads , whence they dispersed themselves again when the ship had left the equator a pretty way behind it . but i remember that another acquaintance of mine , that divers times passed the equinoctial in portugal ships , which use to go to the indies well crouded with people , many of them more poor than cleanly , answered me , that he had heedfully observed those peoples numerous lice to die away as they cross the line , though in no long time after the same sort of cattle would begin to molest them again . his royal highness the duke of york , at his return out of scotland , having been pleased to discourse with some of us , that had the honour to be then near him , of some observations he made in his journey , mentioned among other things , that agues were very unfrequent in scotland , which yet that year were very rife over almost all england . this gave me afterwards the curiosity to inquire of a studious person , who is one of the chief of the scotish nobility , what he knew about the unfrequency of agues in his country . to which his lordship replied , that as to quartan agues it was generally taken notice of ; insomuch that when news was brought , that a gentleman whom he named fell sick of that disease , amongst them in the country it was look'd upon as a strange and remarkable thing . and though divers persons bring quartans out of england to edinburg , yet they so seldom keep them long there , that a scotish physician , whom he named to me , offered to lay five to one of the quick recovery of several patients of his , if they would make some reasonable stay in that city . aer autem corrigetur causa corruptionis ablata , & quod jam inductum est mali extinguendo , si igitur ex nimio humore aer putrescit , ignibus accensis qui omni putredini remedio sunt , exsiccandus , sic ignes , per vias & domus fiant ex odoratis plantis , qualis laurus est , mirtus , pinus , cupressus , rosmarimus , & reliquae ejus generis , qua ratione pestem athenis hippocrates extinxit ; vapores praeterea maligni per aerem sparsi , dissipandi sunt , id quod a magnis ventis fieri solet . sic olysiponi , cum trium dierum ingens procella venisset pestis extincta nuper est & in maroco ingens pestilentia vento quodam evanuit ; qui veluti è fornace ( adeo calidus erat ) exire videbatur , aerem autem nos imitando ventos commovere poterimus ; si bombardarum strepitus multos fieri curemus ; si verò vapores ex paludibus , ac stagnantibus aquis fieri videntur ; eas resiccare aut novare oportet frequenter , maximè per aestatem . renovantur autem novis supervenientibus aquis quas è fluminibus per canales traducere oportet ; aut siccandae sunt factis rivulis , & fossis per quae superfluant ad flumina ; quod cum primus magnus etruriae dux cosmus pisis fecisset ; & magna animi contentione , nunc faciat ferdinandus , factum est , ut saluberrimus ejus urbis aer per omne anni tempus sit redditus verum si cadaverum inhumatorum multitudo aerem inficit ; magna & profunda facta fovea sepeliantut ; si ab immunditie , & excrementis , quae per urbem & domos sparguntur , id quod , ut reor bisantii , & olysiponi , in causa est , cur pestis adeo saeviat , ac duret , mundare oportet omnia ; viae ac domus quotidiè , vel saltem semel in septimanâ repurgandae . 1. joh. beguinus in tyrocin . chymic . lib. 2. cap. 13. dignum admiratione est , quod quamvis in viciniâ hydriae comitatûs goriciensis , ubi reperitur copiose mercurius , singulis ferè annis lues pestifera grassatur , illa tamen semper immunis ab hac manere soleat , idque viri provectae aetatis se observasse , & à majoribus suis accepisse , mihi sanctè confirmarunt . hinc patet , mercurium esse summum omnis putredinis ac corruptionis alexipharmacum . 2 michael majerus in lusu de mercurio . argentum vivum est plurimorum morborum alexipharmacum , & ut testantur quidam , ipsius pestis ( cum eo loco ubi mercurius effoditur , & tractatur , nunquam aut rarissimè hoc contagium grassetur ) dummodò maneat in suâ propriâ naturâ , & non à salibus aut aquis corrosivis inficiatur , ac venenosus reddatur . a very ingenious physician that travell'd much in the east-indies , and visited some islands in the south-sea , to which our english were not permitted to have access , being ask'd of me some questions about the effects and changes of the air in those parts , related to me , that having made some stay in the fam'd island of ternate , he learned , that the dutch ( who had master'd the inhabitants ) did , upon a composition made with the king for his damages , cut down almost all the numerous clove-trees that grew in that island , that thereby they might keep up the high rate of that spice , as indeed they have done . whereupon there happened a change in the temperature of the air , that gave cause to conclude , that the exhalations of the blossoms which ( being dried ) afford the cloves , were not only very pleasant , but very healthful too : for no long time after the excision of these fragrant trees , the island became very unhealthful , which this physician very probably imputed to the corrosive and noxious steams , which plentifully issuing out from a kind of vulcan , or smoaking , and sometimes burning hill , depraves the air of that island that is but little , but had their hurtful effects formerly prevented by the aromatick and benign emanations of those numerous blossoms and trees that richly impregnated the air , and by their volatile and oily salts , opposed and hindred the effects of the sulphureous , and other sharp steams of the vulcan . and my relator assures me , that this change of the air 's constitution was so remarkable , and acknowledg'd when he was there , that whereas formerly sick and valetudinary persons used to be sent thither from batavia to recover their health by the goodness of the air ( as we often send consumptive persons into france ) the air at his being in ternate had been for divers years so unhealthful , that the dutch were fain ( from batavia , or other more healthy places ) to send men twice a year to releive the garisons , and bring back the many sick they usually found at their arrival in that formerly healthy island . an observing physician lately return'd from tangier , answered me , that though otherwise it be a healthy place , he took notice that 't was not unusual for new comers to find themselves feverish for many weeks , or some months after their arrival , especially if the piercing easterly wind happened to reign . this , he says , he found in himself , not only by a constant heat and some other symptoms , but by that main one of the praeternatural quickness of his pulse . he added , that this disease , though very mild , held him near four months : when the easterly winds happened to blow , on which his feaverishness so depended , that he could easily , when he awaked in the morning , know without asking whether that wind blew or not . may 16. we put into a small receiver five or six little ants , which run about very briskly ; but the air being pump'd out , they presently lost their motion , which they soon recovered upon the restoring of the air to them . then the air was again withdrawn , and the insects thereby brought to lie ( some upon their backs ) as stark dead : in which condition they were suffered to remain about five or six hours ; after which the air being let in upon them , they nevertheless continued seemingly dead for many minutes , ( as we guessed between 15 and 30 ) but at length all recovered , running nimbly up and down the glass , though it were late at night . si patrono queste barche dalla costa della pescaria , e vanno all isola di ceilam , nella costa della quale per la lunghezza di venti miglia , tre sole miglia lontane da terra , sette braccia abbasso arrivando sino alli dieci nel fondo , si ritrova infinita quanta di madreperle , escono per questa pesca le barche la matina col vento di terra , & arrivando al posto delle madreperle , gettare l'ancore , e fermaresi in quel posto , cominciano a tuftarsi nel mare i marinari , de quali ogni barca ne ha quindeci , e venti , e ciafcuno di essisi lega nel mezzo , con una fune , della quale ha cura uno , che resta in barca e con un ' altra func segandosi una pietra alla gamba , un ' altro ha pure cura di quella , e cingendosi un ' sacco di cuoio dinanzi , mettendosi le guante alle mani , cosi legato si tufta con violenza nel mare , lentando quelli le funi , e col peso della pietra , va con grandiss ' violenza giu , & arrivato ch'e , scioltasi dalla gamba quella fune , con la quale sta legata la pietra , resta egli libero , & la pietra viene subito tirata soprada quello , che n'ha cura , et il marinaro poi comincia con molta follecitudine à pigliare quelle madreperle , che li vengono dinanzi , e le mette nel sacco , e sentendosi mancare la respiratione , tocca la fune , con la quale sta legato nel mezzo , e quello subito con grandiss ' velocita lo tira et arrivando nella barca , scaricando le madre perle ripiglia fiato , e dopo torna a legarsi di nuovo la pietra , e di nuovo si tufta come sopra's ' e detto , e sempre cosi per tutta la giornata . et è tanto faticosa questa pesca , ch' essendo , tanto profunde le madre perl nel mare , molti mancando loro la respiratione si trovano affogati . it is , by long observation and often repeated experience , found certain , that if any foreigner lie on shore all night at johanna , they seldom miss to be taken with sickness there , or within a few days after their departure from the island , and are commonly seized with putrid feavers , whereof most die in two or three days , though those that have remained upon the place all day-long , for several days together , are almost always safe , if they go on board of ship every night about a mile , or a little further , from the shore . the island abounds with the greatest variety of plants and trees that can be almost imagined in that circumference , and is generally excessive hot in the day-time , but cold after sun-set . whence it may possibly be supposed , that the most volatile parts of those promiscuous ( and probably many of them poisonous ) plants , exalted in the day-time by degrees , and suddenly condensed at night , may by inspiration infect the mass of blood much after the same manner as in pestilential airs . the inhabitants themselves are very much subject to feavers , ( of what sort i could not learn ) for which they cut or scarify their breast or abdomen in several places : but they observe that few live , except their feaver terminates in a considerable number of botches in divers parts of the body . there is one hill there remarkable for height , which is seldom or never free from thick fogs or clouds hovering over the top of it , sometimes higher , sometimes lower , according as the weather alters . upon the coast of cormandell , and most maritime places of the east-indies , there are sometimes ( i think yearly ) fogs so thick ( notwithstanding it is then very hot ) that all , or most inhabitants from other nations , and the tenderer sort of the natives , are necessitated to keep their houses , with the doors and windows fast shut , there being little or no commerce at that time . at balassore in the bay of bengale , and in divers other parts in that country , there happens after great rains , so great corruption of the air , that the stinking smell is very nauseous to the inhabitants : which i presume may be chiefly occasioned by a great number of frogs , and other reptiles ( wherewith those places abound ) left upon the dry places after the inundation , and then putrified by the excessive heat of the sun. at this time there is great sickness and mortality amongst the natives , chiefly by violent feavers . in the return of english ships from the east-indies , they generally put their sick people on shore at st. helena , where they find so sensible alteration , that altho carried thither , there are few that do not recover so much strength as to walk about in two or three days , which , in all probability , must chiefly be attributed to the alteration of air , not of food , there being in most ships much the same benefit of fresh provision for those that are diseased . le chemin plus court de mosul a bagdad , est par la mesopotamie ; mais on n'y trouve aucun village , & le samiel y regne tout l'eté depuis mosul jusques a sourat ; ce qui oblige a prendre l'eau , sur le tigre où ce vent ne souffle point . le nom de ce vent et composé des mots , sam et jel , c'est a dire poison et vent comme qui diroit vent de poison . ce pourroit être le vent urens , dont parle job xxvii . 21. lorsque quelqu ' un a respiré ce vent , il tombe mort subitement quoi qu'il en ait quelques uns qui ont le temps de dire qu' ils brûlent au dedans . d' abord qu' on est mort , on devient tout noir , et si on tire le mort par le bras où par la jambe où par un autre endroit la chair quite les os et reste entre les mains de ceux qui la touchent . thevenot dans le bibliotheque universel tom. xiii . p. 266. doctor colins relates , that in muscovy their horses are much subject to a very scurvy disease , whose russian name i have forgot , from which the natives are wont to preserve them , by keeping goats in their stables : and being ask'd by me , whether he had this by tradition , or upon his own trial ? he affirmed , that he had found it true himself , and that he therefore was wont to keep goats in his own stable . the ingenious mr. rycaut , english consul at smyrna , being ask'd of me , whether at smyrna as well as at aleppo , he observed that the plague that uses to rage in the former part of the summer , degenerates into other diseases about the latter end of june , and beginning of july : he answered me , that at smyrna the observation does not hold so much as at aleppo ; but yet at smyrna they generally observe , that about that time of the year , though exceeding hot , that the malignity of the plague does notably lessen , for it is not quite so infectious , nor near so generally mortal as it was in the former part of the summer . when many years ago i heard of this strange phaenomenon of the pestilence at aleppo , i began to think whether a possible , though not perhaps the true cause of it may not be such as this : that the pestilential corpuscles that rove up and down in the air , during the former part of the summer , require such a bulk or grossness to enable them to exercise their pernicious operations ; but when the weather grows to be exceeding hot , that heat of the air becomes able to dissipate those corpuscles , and deprive them of that bulk that we have supposed necessary to their destructive efficacy . for illustration of this conjecture , we may take notice of the smoak that issues out of the weik of a candle newly blown out ; for whilst the sooty corpuscles retain their bigness and texture , they are able to offend the nostrils very much by their stink , and sometimes to cause convulsive motions and abortions in teeming women ; but if you apply a flame to this smoak , it presently discusses this fuliginous matter , and dissipates it into particles of quite another nature , which by this means are deprived of all their offensive smell , and some other ill qualities . it may also be said , that the great increase of heat in july , may enable the sun-beams , by penetrating , the earth deeper , and agitating its lower parts stronger , and producing crevisses , and other new or formerly obstructed passages in the upper parts of it , may elevate into the air divers saline and other new corpuscles , which may either divide or dissipate the pestilential ones , or else by associating themselves with them , make up new concretions , differing from the pestilential corpuscles , in bulk , shape , texture or motion , in most or all of these , by which means the morbifick corpuscles being much altered , their operations on the humane bodies they invade , may be so too , and the diseases they produce may become less malignant , or degenerate into some other disease . and if it be demanded why this does not happen elsewhere as well as at aleppo and smyrna ? it may be answered , that the concourse of causes may not be the same , and particularly that the soil of those two places may be peculiarly disposed to emit pestilential corpuscles of such a determinate nature , with such a degree of heat , and dissipable by a greater , or with a more intense heat , to afford also exhalations capable to correct the former , as 't is delivered by good authors , and ingenious men have confirmed it upon their own observation , that yearly , at grand cairo , in the heat of summer the plague ceases to be mortal , and almost to be infectious , when the nile begins to overflow , which wonderful change i should not so much ascribe to a frigeration of the air , that usually accompanies the swellings of the waters , ( since pestilences rage in much cooler weather than can be supposed in so hot a climate as that of egypt in july ) as to some nitrous and other corrected exhalations that are plentifully emitted by the freshly arriving waters . there is an account that has not , that i know of , been taken notice of , upon which the supervening coldness and heat of the air may pro tempore very much alter the qualities of it , in reference to the bodies and health of men : for the air being a fluid body as well as water , and impregnated with salts of different kinds , some merely saline , and others associated with sulphureous and other kinds of particles ; it seems not improbable , that what happens in that grosser fluid water , impregnated with differing sorts of salts , and alter'd by succession of heat and cold , takes place also in the air. i purposely tried in water , that by dissolving in it convenient quantities of two differing salts , though whilst the liquor was hot , or perhaps so much as lukewarm , they would swim together undistinguishably in the liquor , and so were in a capacity to act jointly , and as the schools speak , actione communi , on divers occasions : yet when the liquor was cold , and sometimes when there was only a considerable remission of the heat , the saline particles of one kind , being not capable of being any longer sufficiently agitated by so faint a degree of heat , would convene into grains or cristals ; and losing their fluidity and motion , visibly separate themselves from the other kind of salts , which yet continued fluid in the water where it could now act but by its own particular qualities , and not as formerly , actione communi . the clearest instance i found of this observation was afforded me by an experiment made with the solutions of alum and nitre ; a relation of which i find among my adversaria , in the following terms . equal parts of alum and nitre being dissolv'd in the same portion of fair water ; and the liquor being in good measure evaporated , the earthen vessel that contain'd it was set in the cold , by which means , at the bottom and the lower part of the sides , the alum appear'd to be first coagulated in many octaedrical grains , no chrystals of nitre yet being visible . afterwards , upon a further evaporation of the water , and the removal of the vessel from the fire , there appear'd more grains of alum , but as yet no nitre : wherefore having yet further evaporated the liquor , at length the nitre shot plentifully into fine little chrystals of the shape proper to that salt. this is the account my note-book contains of this trial , which seems to invite us to conjecture , that of the numerous sorts of saline corpuscles that rove up and down in the air , whilst it is well heated by the sun , or other causes , some sorts may by the absence of that heat , or some supervening causes of coldness , be made to separate from the others , which were thereby contemperated , or perhaps enabled to co-operate to divers purposes that they were not fit for alone ; and to form concretions , which though not singly visible , may be too great to be kept in a state of fluidity by the diminish'd heat of the air. a mouse lived ten minutes at least with a quarter air , and three afterwards . title xli . of heavy bodies sustained in , or taken up into the air.   title xlii . of dew .   title xliii . of rain . an eminent virtuoso informed me , that in the country of campen , he had seen divers pits that are digg'd for turf , or rather peat , which were not deep , for the most part , but reach'd to a kind of quick sand , upon which the rain falling , did by degrees in some years , form a kind of slimy earth or clay , which was much of a martial nature ; and being skilfully handled , would yield good iron . the same person assured me , that he had divers times distilled the water of campen in new and fine glasses , and still found them to leave a considerable quantity of stony matter at the bottom , notwithstanding the rectification . quicquid erit , sine fuco significat , velut rottenberg , silesiae compastum appellant , perinde milessow temporum prognostes , jure merito dici posset . vidi ex proximo totum aliquando montem densissimis nebulis contectum , eâ prorsus imagine , qua mons sinai moyse in nebula latente depingitur , at caeteri circum montes , innubes & hilares velut rerum gerendarun ignari stabant , sol ipse formosissimus ibat ; at accolae locorum domum fugiebant , pecora urgebant , meque , ut domum protinus recipirem , properarem , & equos currum trahentes concitari juberem , monebant , neque horae quadrans intercessit , jam coelum obduci , sol contegi , eripi omnis aspectus . virg. immensum coelo ruit agnem aquarum ; — ruit arduus aether , et pluvia ingenti sata laeta , boumque labores . diluit , implentur fossae , & quae divinus poeta prosequitur . at contra etiam accidere vidi , ut caeteri fumarint montes , milessow nihil se commovente , nihil aut nubilum , aut turbidum minante ; incoloe rogati , nihil esse magnopere timendum à caeteris spondebant , hunc unum intuendum esse , horum nubila omnia à milessow quodammodo devorari . title xliv . of hail . on ecrit de l'isle en flandres le 25 may , style nouveau , qu'il tomba dans cette ville la une graifle dout les moindres grains estoient comme des oeufs de pigeon . cet orage a passé sur la citadelle & la ville , & na pas laissé une vitre entiere du coste du vent : les maisons sont toutes decouvertes , & les arbres rompus , les bleds coupez , & les perdrix & les lieures morts . on a pese plusieurs grains de cette graisle , dout les uns estoient d'un quarteron , de demi livre , de trois quarterons , et les plus gros d'une livre & d'avantage . il y en avoit un entr ' autres qui avoit dans le milieu une espece de matiere brune qu'ou mit dans le feu , qui fit faire un grand bruit . il y en avoit un qui estoit diaphane , lequel estant mis aupres du feu , fondit tout aussi tost comme du plomb , quoy qu'il fut beaucoup plus dur que les autres . title xlv . of snow .   title xlvi . of other things falling out of the air. eo ipso anno quo dux eboracensis postremo rediit e scotia londinum , depluere tanta copia pisciculi halecibus colore , figurâ , sapore quam simillimi in superiore gallocidiae in scotia parte non procul a mari , ut duo terrae jugera ad robertum murray de brughton equitem pertinentia nunc londini , ut audio , degentem , cooperuerint . rem autem totam serenissimo duci eboracensi prius de eadem ab eo interrogatus , quod tum certior ab aliis de hâc pluvia factus esset , tanquam testis oculatus , ut qui aliquos horum pisciculorum videram ; confirmavi : is porro ingeniosissime , summâque veri specie nodum ita solvit , ut diceret hos pisciculos unà cum aquis furentium ventorum gyro in turbinem actis evectos esse nubes , e quibus non procul inde pondere rursus suo relapsi fuerint in vicinam terram . title xlvii . promiscuous experiments and observations of the air.   title xlviii . desiderata in the history of the air , and proposals towards supplying them .   books printed for , and sold by a. and j. churchill , at the black swan in pater-noster-row . livius's roman history . boccacio's novels and tales . sir ricaut's lives of the popes of rome . — history of the turks . two vol. rushworth's historical collections . lloyd dictionarium historicum , poeticum , geographicum . statutes of ireland . bolton justice of ireland . sir wheeler's travels into greece . leybourn's dialling . buchanan's chronicle and history of the kings of scotland . machiavel's works . thesaurus brevium . sir dew's journal of parliament , q. elizabeth . dr. brady's introduction to the history of england . milton's paradise regain'd . leybourn cursus mathematicus . sir aesop's fables . bp. hall's contemplations . clark praxis cur. ecclesiasticis . dr. gibson's anatomy . dr. patrick mensa mystica . gentleman's recreations . monsieur clerc's logica , &c. drelincourt of death . leybourn's arithmetick . protestant reconciler , compleat . homer's iliads . poetae minores . royal grammar . gibbon's heraldry . partridge's treasury of physick . bp. wilkins of prayer and preaching . thibault's chymistry . glasier's chymistry . valerius maximus , english . two treatises of government . the three letters for toleration . some considerations of the consequences of lowring interest , and raising the value of money . sir temple's observations on holland . — misellanea . dr. burnet's travels . plato redivivus . selden's table-talk . debates of oxon and westminster parliaments . titi petronii arbitrii satyricon , cum fragmentis attaece graecaerecuperatis . anno 1688. livii orationes selectae . 12o. sleidan de quatuor summis imperiisve . aristotle's rhetorick , english . dr. whitby's several pieces . partridge's astrology . isocrates orationes , large 12o. lat. guide to heaven . 24o. latin testament , the cambridg edition . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28985-e3030 casati mechanicorum , lib. 8. cap. 5. p. 792 , 793 , &c. notes for div a28985-e3210 experiment i. experiment : ii. experiment iii. experiment iv. experiment v. experiment vi. experiment vii . experiment viii . notes for div a28985-e4190 a transcript of an observation made at stanton . experiment i. experiment ii. experiment iii. notes for div a28985-e4720 journal des scavans iii. 1685. notes for div a28985-e4850 experiment i. experiment ii. experiment iii. experiment iv. agricola de re metallicâ , lib. duodec . notes for div a28985-e5790 voyage de levant , p. 203. accident extraordinaire à santorini . notes for div a28985-e7430 weight of a cubick inch of water . the weight of a cubick inch of quick-silver . the weight of a pillan of the atmosphere . in all those papers the mercury was still about 12 of one inch higher than is set down , for the numbers signify only bottom of the cap. notes for div a28985-e84750 ludolp . hist . of ethiop . l. 1. c. 5. ludolp . hist . of ethiop . l. 1. c. 5. petri bellonii , lib. 1. cap. 16. jacobi zaharelli de regionibus aeris , c. 8. balbini hist . bohem. l. 1. c. 9. de montibus , & de valle lauezka , p. 29. chanowsky in vestigio boh. piae , c. ult . montes parte alterâ aestatem , altera hiemem referentes . id. ibid. observations on the top of the pyreneans . i' . francesco barretto relatione della provincia di malavar . p. 52. notes for div a28985-e89740 novemb. notes for div a28985-e91150 zwelfer , pag. 800. purchas's 2d part , lib. 6. cap. 8. a vulgar experiment generally affirmed , as by alpinus in med. egypt . l. 4. c. 8. who long liv'd here upon the testimony of paulus moucilus , the french consul , baptistae elianus a jesuit , and john varot an english man. notes for div a28985-e91460 aristot . de respirat . cap. 21. & parag . 87. roderici fons . de sanit . tuend . pag. 105 , 106. relatione della provincia di malavar . pag. 64 & 65. notes for div a28985-e92710 l. 1. c. 8. de mont. bohemiae , p. 26. a milessow monte temporum praesagia capiuntur . a free enquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature made in an essay address'd to a friend / by r.b., fellow of the royal society. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1686 approx. 438 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 221 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2004-03 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28982 wing b3979 estc r11778 11688005 ocm 11688005 48184 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28982) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 48184) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 15:11) a free enquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature made in an essay address'd to a friend / by r.b., fellow of the royal society. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [24], 412, [4] p. printed by h. clark for john taylor ..., london : 1685/6 [i.e. 1686] reproduction of original in library of congress. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng nature -early works to 1800. natural history -pre-linnean works. 2003-09 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2003-09 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2003-10 jonathan blaney sampled and proofread 2003-10 jonathan blaney text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-12 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a free enquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature ; made in an essay , address'd to a friend . by r. b. fellow of the royal society . audendum est , & veritas investiganda ; quam etiamsi non assequamur , omnino tamen propius , quam nunc sumus , ad eam perveniemus . galenus . imprimatur . carolus alston , r. p. d. hen. episc. lond. à sacris , jan. 29. 1685. london , printed by h. clark , for iohn taylor at the globe in st. paul's church-yard , 1685 / 6. the preface . i have often wonder'd , that , in so inquisitive an age as this , among those many learned men , that have with much freedom , as well as acuteness , written of the works of nature , ( as they call them , ) and some of them of the principles too , i have not met with any , that has made it his business to write of nature herself . this will perhaps hereafter be thought such an omission , as if , in giving an account of the political estate of a kingdom , one should treat largely of the civil judges , military officers , and other subordinate magistrates , and of the particular ranks and orders of inferior subjects and plebeians , but should be silent of the prerogatives and ways of administration of the king ; or , ( to use a comparison more suitable to the subject , ) as if one should particularly treat of the barrel , wheels , string , ballance , index , and other parts of a watch , without examining the nature of the spring , that sets all these a moving . when i say this , i do not forget , that the word nature is every where to be met with in the writings of physiologers . but , though they frequently employ the word , they seem not to have much consider'd , what notion ought to be fram'd of the thing , which they suppose and admire , and upon occasion celebrate , but do not call in question or discuss . weighing therefore with my self , of what great moment the framing a right or a wrong idea of nature must be , in reference both to the speculative and practical part of physiology ; i judg'd it very well worth the while , to make , with philosophical freedom , a serious enquiry into the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature ; that , if it appeared well-grounded , i might have the rational satisfaction of not having acquiesc'd in it , till , after a previous examen ; if i should find it confus'd and ambiguous , i might endeavour to remedy that inconvenience , by distinguishing the acceptions of the word ; if i found it dubious as to its truth , i might be shy in trusting too much to a distrusted principle ; and , if i found erroneous , i might avoid the raising superstructures of my own , or relying on those of others , that must owe their stability to an unsound and deceitful foundation . and , because many atheists ascribe so much to nature , that they think it needless to have recourse to a deity , for the giving an account of the phaenomena of the universe : and , on the other side , very many theists seem to think the commonly received notion of nature , little less , than necessary to the proof of the existence and providence of god ; i , who differ from both these parties , and yet think every true theist , and much more every true christian , ought to be much concerned for truths , that have so powerful an influence on religion , thought my self , for its sake , oblig'd to consider this matter , both with the more attention and with regard to religion . and yet , being to write this treatise as a physiologer , not a christian , i could not rationally build any positive doctrine upon mere revelation , which would have been judg'd a foreign principle in this enquiry . only , since the person , i intentionally address'd my thoughts to , under the name of eleutherius , was a good christian , i held it not impertinent , now and then , upon the by , to intimate something to prevent or remove some scruples , that i thought he might have , on the score ( i say not of natural theology , for that is almost directly pertinent , but ) of the christian faith. but these passages are very few , and but transiently touch'd upon . since the reader will be told by and by both that , and why the papers , that make up the following treatise , were not written in one continued series of times , but many years were interpos'd between the writing of some of them , and that of those which precede and follow them : i hope it will be thought but a venial fault , if the contexture of the whole discourse do not appear so uniform , nor all the connections of its parts so apt and close , as , if no papers had been lost and supply'd , might reasonably be look'd for . i expect the novelty of divers of the sentiments and reasonings , propos'd in the following discourse , will be surprising , and encline many to look upon the author as a bold man , and much addicted to paradoxes . but , having formerly , in a distinct essay , deliver'd my thoughts about paradoxes in general , i shall not now ingage in that subject , but confine my self to what concerns the ensuing paper . i say then , in short , that in an opinion , i look upon its being new or antient , and its being singular or commonly receiv'd , as things that are but extrinsical to its being true or false . and , as i would never reject a truth , for being generaly known or receiv'd , so will i not conclude an opinion to be a truth , merely because great numbers have thought it to be so ; nor think an opinion erroneous , because 't is not yet known to many , or because it opposes a tenent embrac'd by many . for i am wont to judge of opinions , as of coins : i consider much less in any one , that i am to receive , whose inscription it bears , than what metal 't is made of . 't is indifferent enough to me , whether 't was stamp'd many years or ages since , or came but yesterday from the mint . nor do i regard through how many , or how few , hands it has pass'd for current , provided i know by the touch-stone , or any sure tryal , purposely made , whether or no it be genuine , and does or does not deserve to have been currant . for , if upon due proof it appears to be good , its having been long and by many receiv'd for such , will not tempt me to refuse it . but , if i find it counterfeit , neither the princes image or inscription , nor its date ( how antient soever , ) nor the multitude of hands , through which it has pass'd unsuspected , will engage me to receive it. and one disfavouring tryal , well made , will much more discredit it with me , than all those specious things , i have nam'd , can recommend it. by this declaration of my sentiments about paradoxes in general , i hope it will be thought , that the motive i had to question that notion of nature , which i dissent from , was not , that this notion is vulgarly receiv'd . and i have this to say , to make it probable , that i was not ingag'd in this controversie , by any ambition of appearing in print an heresiarch in philosophy , by being the author of a strange doctrine , that the following discourse was written about the year 1666. ( that is , some lustres ago , ) and that not long after , the youth , to whom i dictated it , having been inveigled to steal away , unknown to me or his parents , into the indies , ( whence we never heard of him since , ) left the loose sheets , wherein ( and not in a book ) my thoughts had been committed to paper , very incoherent , by the omission of divers necessary passages . upon which account , and my unwillingness to take the pains to supply what was wanting , those papers lay by me many years together neglected , and almost forgotten ; 'till the curiosity of some philosophical heads , that were pleas'd to think they deserv'd another fate , oblig'd me to tack them together , and make up the gaps that remain'd between their parts , by retrieving , as well as , after so many years , my bad memory was able to do , the thoughts i sometimes had , pertinent to those purposes . and indeed , when i consider'd of how vast importance it is in philosophy , and the practice of physick too , to have a right notion of nature ; and how little the authority of the generality of men ought , in so nice and intricate a subject , to sway a free and impartial spirit ; as i at first thought myself oblig'd , since others had not sav'd me the labour , to make a free enquiry into this noble and difficult subject , so i was afterwards the more easily prevail'd with , by those that press'd the publication of it . with what success i have made this attempt , i must leave others to judg . but if i be not much flatter'd , whatever becomes of the main attempt , there will be found suggested here and there , in the following discourse , some reflections and explications , that will at least oblige the zealous assertors of the vulgar notion of nature , to clear up the doctrine , and speak more distinctly and correctly about things that relate to it , than hitherto has been usual . and that will be fruit enough to recompense the labour , and justifie the title , of a free enquiry . in prosecution of which , since i have been oblig'd to travel in an untrodden way , without a guide , 't will be thought , i hope , more pardonable than strange , if , in attempting to discover divers general mistakes , i be not so happy as to escape falling into some particular ones myself . and , if among these , i have been so unhappy , as to make any that is injurious to religion , as i did not at all intend it , so , as soon as ever i shall discover it , i shall freely disown it myself , and pray that it may never mislead others . what my performance has been , i have already acknowledg'd that i may be unfit to judg ; but , for my intentions , i may make bold to say , they were , to keep the glory of the divine author of things from being usurp'd or intrench'd ▪ upon by his creatures , and to make his works more throughly and solidly understood , by the philosophical studiers of them. i do not pretend , and i need not , that every one of the arguments , i employ in the following tract , is cogent , especially if consider'd as single . for demonstrative arguments would be unsuitable to the very title of my attempt ; since , if about the receiv'd notion of nature , i were furnish'd with unanswerable reasons , my discourse ought to be styl'd , not a free enquiry into the vulgar notion of nature , i consider , but a confutation of it. and a heap of bare probabilities may suffice to justifie a doubt of the truth of an opinion , which they cannot clearly evince to be false . and therefore , if any man shall think fit to criticize upon the less principal or less necessary parts of this treatise , perhaps i shall not think my self oblig'd to be concern'd at it. and even , if the main body of the discourse itself shall be attack'd from the press ; i , who am neither young nor healthy , nor ever made divinity , philosophy , or physick , my profession , am not like to oppose him in the same way : since , as i ought not to wish , that any errors of mine ( if this essay teach any such , ) should prevail ; so , if the things i have deliver'd be true for the main , i need not despair but that , in such a free and inquisitive age as ours , there will be found generous spirits , that will not suffer weighty truths to be oppress'd , tho' the proposers of them should , by averseness from contention , or by want of time or health , be themselves kept from defending them . which i have thought fit to take notice of in this place , that the truth ( if i have been so happy , as to have found and taught it , ) may not suffer by my silence ; nor any reader surmize , that , if i shall leave a book unanswered , i thereby acknowledg it to be unanswerable . but this regards only the main substance of our essay , not the order or disposition of the parts : since , if any shall censure that , i shall not quarrel with him about it. for indeed , considering in how preposterous an order the papers , i have here tack'd together , came to hand ; and how many things are upon that score unduly plac'd , i shall not only be content , but must desire , to have this rhapsody , of my own loose papers , look'd upon but as an apparatus , or collection of materials , in order to [ what i well know this maim'd and confus'd essay is not , ] a compleat and regular discourse . yet ( to conclude , ) i thought , that the affording even of a little light , in a subject so dark and so very important , might keep an essay from being useless ; and that to fall short of demonstration would prove a pardonable fault , in a discourse , that pretends not to dogmatize , but only to make an enquiry . sept. 29 , 1682. a free enquiry into the received notion of nature . sect . i. i know not whether or no it be a prerogative in the human soul , that , as 't is itself a true and positive being , so 't is apt to conceive all other things , as true and positive beings also . but , whether or no this propensity , to frame such kind of idea's , suppose an excellency , i fear it occasions mistakes ; and makes us think and speak , after the manner of true and positive beings , of such things , as are but chimerical , and some of them negations or privations themselves ; as death , ignorance , blindness , and the like . it concerns us therefore , to stand very carefully upon our guard , that we be not insensibly misled by such an innate and unheeded temptation to error , as we bring into the world with us . and consequently i may be allowed to consider , whether , among other particulars , in which this deluding propensity of our minds has too great , though unsuspected , an influence upon us ; it may not have impos'd on us , in the notion we are wont to frame concerning nature . for this being the fruitful parent of other notions , as nature herself is said to be of the creatures of the universe ; the notion is so general in its applications , and so important in its influence ; that we had need be jealously careful , of not over-easily admitting a notion , than which there can scarce be any that more deserves to be warily examin'd , before it be throughly entertain'd . let me therefore make bold to enquire freely , whether that , of which we affirm such great things , and to which we ascribe so many feats , be that almost divine thing , whose works among others we are ; or a notional thing , that in some sense is rather to be reckon'd among our works ; as owing its being to human intellects . i know , most men will be forestall'd with no mean prejudices against so venturous an attempt ; but i will not do eleutherius the injury , to measure him by the prepossess'd generality of men ; yet there are two scruples which i think it not amiss to take notice of , to clear the way for what shall be presented you in the following discourse . and first , it may seem an ingrateful and unfilial thing , to dispute against nature , that is taken by mankind for the common parent of us all . but though it be an undutiful thing , to express a want of respect for an acknowledg'd parent , yet i know not , why it may not be allowable to question one , that a man looks upon but as a pretended one , or at least does upon probable grounds doubt , whether she be so or no ; and , 'till it appear to me that she is so , i think it my duty to pay my gratitude , not to i know not what , but to that deity , whose wisdom and goodness , not only design'd to make me a man , and enjoy what i am here bless'd with , but contriv'd the world so , that even those creatures of his , who by their inanimate condition are not capable of intending to gratifie me , should be as serviceable and useful to me , as they would be , if they could and did design the being so ; and you may be pleas'd to remember , that , as men may now accuse such an enquirer , as i am , of impiety and ingratitude towards nature : so the persians , and other worshipers of the coelestial bodies , accus'd several of the ancient philosophers , and all the primitive christians , of the like crimes , in reference to the sun ; whose existence , and whose being a benefactor to mankind , was far more unquestionable , than that there is such a semi-deity as men call nature : and it can be no great disparagement to me , to suffer on the like account with 〈◊〉 good company , especially , when several of the considerations that justifie them , may also apologize for me . i might add , that , it not being half so evident to me , that what is called nature is my parent , as that all men are my brothers , by being the off-spring of god ; ( for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of aratus is adopted by st. paul ) i may justly prefer the doing of them a service , by disabusing them , to the paying of her a ceremonial respect . but setting allegories aside , i have sometimes seriously doubted , whether the vulgar notion of nature has not been both injurious to the glory of god , and a great impediment to the solid and useful discovery of his works . and first , it seems to detract from the honour of the great author and governor of the world ; that men should ascribe most of the admirable things that are to be met with in it , not to him , but to a certain nature , which themselves do not well know what to make of . ●tis true that many confess , that this nature is a thing of his establishing , and subordinate to him ; but , though many confess it when they are ask'd , whether they do or no ? yet , besides that many seldom or never lifted up their eyes to any higher cause , he that takes notice of their way of ascribing things to nature , may easily discern , that , whatever their words sometimes be , the agency of god is little taken notice of in their thoughts : and however , it does not a little darken the excellency of the divine management of things , that , when a strange thing is to be effected or accounted for , men so often have recourse to nature , and think she must extraordinarily interpose to bring such things about : whereas it much more tends to the illustration of god's wisdom , to have so fram'd things at first , that there can seldom or never need any extraordinary interposition of his power . and , as it more recommends the skill of an engineer , to contrive an elaborate engine , so as that there should need nothing to reach his ends in it , but the contrivance of parts devoid of understanding ; than if it were necessary , that ever and anon a discreet servant should be employ'd , to concur notably to the operations of this or that part , or to hinder the engine from being out of order : so it more sets off the wisdom of god in the fabrick of the universe , that he can make so vast a machine , perform all those many things which he design'd it should , by the meer contrivance of brute matter , managed by certain laws of local motion , and upheld by his ordinary and general concourse ; than if he imployed from time to time an intelligent overseer , such as nature is fancied to be , to regulate , assist , and controul the motions of the parts . in confirmation of which , you may remember , that the later poets justly reprehended their predecessors , for want of skill , in laying the plots of their plays , because they often suffered things to be reduced to that pass , that they were fain to bring some deity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the stage , to help them out . ( nec deus intersit , nisi dignus vindice nodus , ) &c. and let me tell you freely , that , though i will not say , that aristotle meant the mischief his doctrine did , yet i am apt to think , that the grand enemy of god's glory made great use of aristotle's authority and errors , to detract from it . for as aristotle , by introducing the opinion of the eternity of the world , ( whereof he owns himself to have been the first broacher ) did , at least in almost all mens opinion , openly deny god the production of the world : so , by ascribing the admirable works of god , to what he calls nature , he tacitly denies him the government of the world. which suspicion , if you judg severe , i shall not , at more leisure , refuse to acquaint you , ( in a distinct paper ) why i take divers of aristotle's opinions relating to religion , to be more unfriendly , not to say pernicious , to it , than those of several other heathen philosophers . and here give me leave to prevent an objection , that some may make , as if , to deny the receiv'd notion of nature , a man must also deny providence ; of which nature is the grand instrument . for in the first place , my opinion hinders me not at all from acknowledging god to be the author of the universe , and the continual preserver and upholder of it ; which is much more than the peripatetick hypothesis , which ( as we were saying ) makes the world eternal , will allow its embracers to admit ; and those things which the school-philosophers ascribe to the agency of nature , interposing according to emergencies , i ascribe to the wisdom of god in the first fabrick of the universe ; which he so admirably contrived , that , if he but continue his ordinary and general concourse , there will be no necessity of extraordinary interpositions , which may reduce him , to seem as it were to play after-games ; all those exigencies , upon whose account philosophers and physicians seem to have devis'd what they call nature , being foreseen and provided for in the first fabrick of the world ; so that meer matter , so ordered , shall in such and such conjunctures of circumstances , do all that philosophers ascribe on such occasions to their almost omniscient nature , without any knowledg of what it does , or acting otherwise than according to the catholick laws of motion . and methinks the difference betwixt their opinion of god's agency in the world , and that which i would propose , may be somewhat adumbrated , by saying , that they seem to imagine the world to be after the nature of a puppet , whose contrivance indeed may be very artificial , but yet is such , that almost every particular motion the artificer is fain ( by drawing sometimes one wire or string , sometimes another ) to guide , and oftentimes over-rule , the actions of the engine ; whereas , according to us , 't is like a rare clock , such as may be that at strasbourg , where all things are so skilfully contriv'd , that the engine being once set a moving , all things proceed according to the artificers first design , and the motions of the little statues , that at such hours perform these or those things , do not require , like those of puppets , the peculiar interposing of the artificer , or any intelligent agent imployed by him , but perform their functions upon particular occasions , by vertue of the general and primitive contrivance of the whole engine . the modern aristotelians and other philosophers would not be tax'd as injurious to providence , though they now ascribe to the ordinary course of nature , those regular motions of the planets , that aristotle and most of his followers ( and among them the christian school-men ) did formerly ascribe to the particular guidance of intelligent and immaterial beings , which they assign'd to be the movers of the coelestial orbs. and when i consider , how many things , that seem anomalies to us , do frequently enough happen in the world , i think it is more consonant to the respect we owe to divine providence , to conceive , that as god is a most free , as well as a most wise agent , and may in many things have ends unknown to us : he very well foresaw , and thought fit , that such seeming anomalies should come to pass , since he made them ( as is evident in the eclipses of the sun and moon ) the genuine consequences of the order , he was pleas'd to settle in the world ; by whose laws the grand agents in the universe were impower'd and determin'd , to act according to the respective natures he had given them ; and the course of things was allowed to run on , though that would infer the happening of seeming anomalies , and things really repugnant to the good or welfare of divers particular portions of the universe . this , i say , i think to be a notion more respectful to divine providence , than to imagine , as we commonly do , that god has appointed an intelligent and powerful being , called nature , to be as his vice-gerent , continually watchful for the good of the universe in general , and of the particular bodies that compose it ; whilst in the mean time , this being appears not to have the skill , or the power , to prevent such anomalies , which oftentimes prove destructive to multitudes of animals , and other noble creatures , ( as in plagues , &c. ) and sometimes prejudicial to greater portions of the universe , ( as in earth-quakes of a large spread , eclipses of the luminaries , great and lasting spots on the sun , eruptions of vulcan , great comets or new stars that pass from one region of heaven to another . ) and i am the more tender of admitting such a lieutenant to divine providence , as nature is fancied to be , because i shall hereafter give you some instances , in which it seems , that , if there were such a thing , she must be said to act too blindly and impotently , to discharge well the part she is said to be trusted with . i shall add , that the doctrine , i plead for , does much better than its rival comply with what religion teaches us , about the extraordinary and supernatural interpositions of divine providence . for when it pleases god to over-rule , or controul , the establish'd course of things in the world , by his own omnipotent hand , what is thus perform'd may be much easier discern'd and acknowledg'd to be miraculous , by them that admit , in the ordinary course of corporeal things , nothing but matter and motion , whose powers men may well judg of ; than by those who think there is besides , a certain semi-deity , which they call nature , whose skill and power they acknowledg to be exceeding great , and yet have no sure way of estimating how great they are , and how far they may extend . and give me leave to take notice to you , on this occasion , that i observe the miracles of our saviour and his apostles , pleaded by christians on the behalf of their religion , to have been very differingly look'd on by epicurean and other corpuscularian infidels , and by those other unbelievers who admit of a soul of the world , or spirits in the stars , or , in a word , think the universe to be governed by intellectual beings , distinct from the supream being we call god. for this later sort of infidels have often admitted those matters of fact , which we christians call miracles ; and yet have endeavour'd to solve them by astral operations , and other ways not here to be specified : whereas the epicureàn enemies of christianity have thought themselves oblig'd , resolutely to deny the matters of fact themselves ; as well discerning , that the things , said to be perform'd , exceeded the mechanical powers of matter and motion , ( as they were managed by those , that wrought the miracles , ) and consequently must either be deny'd to have been done , or be confess'd to have been truly miraculous . but there may hereafter be occasion , both to improve the things already said , and add others , to satisfie theological scruples about our hypothesis . i formerly told you , that 't was not only to the glory of god , ( as that results from his wisdom , power , an● goodness , express'd in the world ) that i suspected the notion of nature , that i am examining , to be prejudicial , but also to the discovery of his works . and you will make no great difficulty to believe me , if you consider , that , whilst men allow themselves so general and easie a way , or rendring accounts of things that are difficult , as to attribute them to nature ; shame will not reduce them to a more industrious scrutiny into the reasons of things , and curiosity itself will move them to it the more faintly : of which we have a clear and eminent example , in the ascension of water in pumps , and in other phaenomena's of that kind , whose true physical causes had never been found out , if the moderns had acquiesced , as their predecessors did , in that imaginary one , that the world was govern'd by a watchful being , call'd nature , and that she abhors a vacuum , and consequently is still in a readiness , to do irresistibly whatever is necessary to prevent it : nor must we expect any great progress , in the discovery of the true causes of natural effects , whilst we are content to sit down with other , than the particular and immediate ones . 't is not that i deny , that there are divers things , as the number and situation of the stars , the shapes and sizes of animals , &c. about which , even a philosopher being ask'd can say little , but that it pleased the author of the universe to make them so ; but when we give such general answers , we pretend not to give the particular physical reasons of the things propos'd , but do in effect confess we do not know them . to this i add , that the veneration , wherewith men are imbued for what they call nature , has been a discouraging impediment to the empire of man over the inferior creatures of god. for many have not only look'd upon it , as an impossible thing to compass , but as something of impious to attempt , the removing of those boundaries which nature seems to have put and setled among her productions . and whilst they look upon her as such a venerable thing , some make a kind of scruple of conscience , to endeavour so to emulate any of her works , as to excel them . i have staid so long , about removing the first of the two scruples i formerly propos'd against my present attempt , that , not to tire your patience , i shall in few words dispatch the second , which is , that i venture to contradict the sense of the generality of mankind : to which i answer , that in philosophical inquiries , it becomes not a naturalist to be so solicitous , what has been , or is believ'd , as what ought to be so ; and i have also elsewhere , on another occasion , shew'd , how little the sense of the generality of men , ought to sway us in some questions : but that which i shall at present more directly reply , is , first , that 't is no wonder , men should be generally prepossest with such a notion of nature , as i call in question , since education ( especially in the schools ) has imbued them with it from their infancy , and even in their maturer years they find it taken for granted , and imployed not only by the most but by the learnedst writers , and never hear it call'd in question by any ; and then it exceedingly complies with our innate propensity , to think that we know more than we do , and to appear to do so . for to vouch nature for a cause , is an expedient , that can scarce be wanting to any man , upon any occasion , to seem to know what he can indeed render no good reason of . and to this first part of my answer , i shall subjoin this second . that the general custom of mankind , to talk of a thing as a real and positive being , and attribute great matters to it , does but little weigh with me ; when i consider , that , though fortune be not any physical thing , but a certain loose & undetermin'd notion , which a modern meta-physician would refer to the classis of his non entia , yet not only the gentiles made it a goddess , ( nos te facimus , fortuna , deam , coeloque locamus , ) which many of them seriously worship'd , but eminent writers , in verse and in prose , ethnick and christian , ancient and modern , and all sorts of men , in their common discourse do seriously talk of it , as if it were a kind of antichrist , that usurped a great share in the government of the world ; and ascribe little less to it , than they do to nature . and not to speak of what poets , moralists and divines tell us of the powers of ignorance and vice , which are but moral defects : let us consider what things are not only by these men , but by the generality of mankind seriously attributed to death , to which so great and fatal a dominion is assign'd ; and then if we consider too , that this death , which is said to do so many and such wonderful things , is neither a substance , nor a positive entity , but a meer privation ; we shall , i trust , the less believe , that the feats ascribed to nature do infer , that there is really such a physical agent as is suppos'd . and now having , as i presume , clear'd our enquiry , as far as 't is yet necessary , [ and 't will be further done hereafter ] from those prejudices , that might make the attempt be censur'd before it be examin'd , i proceed to the inquiry it self ; wherein i shall endeavour ( but with the brevity my want of leisure exacts ) to do these six things . first , to give you a short account of the great ambiguity of the word nature , arising from its various acceptions . secondly , to shew you , that the definition also , that aristotle himself gives of nature , does not afford a clear or satisfactory notion of it . thirdly , to gather from the several things , that are wont to be affirmed of , or attributed to , nature , the received notion of it , which cannot be well gathered from the name , because of its great ambiguity . fourthly , i will mention some of those reasons , that dissuade me from admitting this notion of nature . fifthly , i shall endeavour to answer severally the chief things , upon which men seem to have taken up the idea of nature , that i disallow . and , sixthly , i shall propose some of the chief effata or axioms , that are wont to be made use of , concerning nature in general , and shall shew , how far , and in what sense i may admit them . and here it may be opportune , to prevent both mistakes and the necessity of interrupting the series of our discourse , to set down two or three advertisements . 1. when any where in this tract i speak of the opinions of aristotle and the peripateticks , as i would not be thought to impute to him all the sentiments of those that will be thought his followers , some of which seem to me to have much mistaken his true meaning ; so ( on the other side ) i did not conceive , that my design oblig'd me to inquire anxiously into his true sentiments , whether about the origine of the universe , ( as whether or no it were self-existent , as well as eternal ) or about less important points : since , besides that his expressions are oftentimes dark and ambiguous enough , and the things he delivers in several passages do not seem always very consistent ; it suffic'd for my purpose , which was to question vulgar notions , to examine those opinions , that are by the generality of scholars taken for the aristotelian and peripatetick doctrines , by which , if he be mis-represented , the blame ought to light upon his commentators and followers . 2. the rational soul or mind of man , as it is distinct from the sensitive soul , being an immaterial spirit ; is a substance of so heteroclite a kind , in reference to things so vastly differing from it as mere bodies are , that since i could neither , without injuring it , treat of it promiscuously with the corporeal works of god , nor speak worthily of it , without frequently interrupting and disordering my discourse by exceptions , that would either make it appear intricate , or would be very troublesome to you or any other that you may think fit to make my reader ; i thought i might , for others ease and my own , be allow'd to set aside the considerations of it in the present treatise : and the rather , because all other parts of the universe being , according to the receiv'd opinion , the works of nature , we shall not want in them subjects more than sufficiently numerous , whereon to make our examen . though i shall here consider the world but as the great system of things corporeal , as it once really was , towards the close of the sixth day of the creation , when god had finish'd all his material works , but had not yet created man. sect . ii. i. a considering person may well be tempted to suspect , that men have generally had but imperfect and confused notions concerning nature ; if he but observes , that they apply that name to several things , and those too such , as have some of them very little dependance on , or connexion with , such others . and i remember that in aristotle's metaphysicks , i met with a whole chapter expresly written , to enumerate the various acceptions of the greek word , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , commonly render'd nature ; of which , if i mistake not , he there reckons up six . in english also we have not fewer , but rather more numerous significations of that term. for sometimes we use the word nature , for that author of nature , whom the school-men , harshly enough , call natura naturans ; as when 't is said , that nature hath made man partly corporeal , and partly immaterial . sometimes we mean by the nature of a thing , the essence , or that which the school-men scruple not to call the quiddity of a thing , namely , the attribute or attributes , on whose score it is , what it is ; whether the thing be corporeal or not ; as , when we attempt to define the nature of an angle , or of a triangle , or of a fluid body as such . sometimes we confound that which a man has by nature , with what accrues to him by birth ; as , when we say , that such a man is noble by nature , or such a child naturally forward , or sickly , or frightful . sometimes we take nature for an internal principle of motion ; as , when we say , that a stone let fall in the air , is by nature carried towards the centre of the earth ; and , on the contrary , that fire or flame does naturally move upwards towards heaven . sometimes we understand by nature , the establish'd course of things , as , when we say , that nature makes the night succeed the day : nature hath made respiration necessary to the life of men. sometimes we take nature for an aggregate of powers belonging to a body , especially a living one ; as , when physicians say , that nature is strong , or weak , or spent ; or that in such or such diseases , nature left to her self , will do the cure. sometimes we take nature for the universe , or system of the corporeal works of god ; as , when 't is said of a phoenix , or a chimera , that there is no such thing in nature , ( i. e. ) in the world. and sometimes too , and that most commonly , we would express by the word nature , a semi-deity , or other strange kind of being , such as this discourse examines the notion of . and besides these more absolute acceptions , if i may so call them , of the word nature ; it has divers others ( more relative ) as nature is wont to be set in opposition or contradistinction to other things ; as , when we say of a stone when it falls downwards , that it does it by a natural motion ; but that if it be thrown upwards , its motion that way is violent . so chymists distinguish vitriol into natural and fictitious , or made by art , ( i. e. ) by the intervention of human power or skill ; so 't is said , that water kept suspended in a sucking pump , is not in its natural place , as that is , which is stagnant in the well . we say also , that wicked men are still in the state of nature ; but the regenerate , in a state of grace : that cures wrought by medicines , are natural operations ; but the miraculous ones , wrought by christ and his apostles , were supernatural . nor are these the only forms of speech , that a more diligent collector , than i think it necessary i should here be , might instance in , to manifest the ambiguity of the word nature , by the many and various things 't is applied to signifie ; tho' some of those already mentioned , should be judged too near to be co-incident . among latin writers i found the acceptions of the word nature to be so many , that i remember , one author reckons up no less than fourteen or fifteen . from all which 't is not difficult to gather , how easie 't is for the generality of men , without excepting those that write of natural things , to impose upon others and themselves , in the use of a word so apt to be mis-imploy'd . on this occasion i can scarce forbear to tell you , that i have often look'd upon it as an unhappy thing , and prejudicial both to philosophy and physick ; that the word nature hath been so frequently , and yet so unskilfully imploy'd , both in books and in discourse , by all sorts of men , learned and illiterate . for the very great ambiguity of this term , and the promiscuous use men are wont to make of it , without sufficiently attending to its different significations , makes many of the expressions wherein they imploy it , ( and think they do it well and truly ) to be either not intelligible , or not proper , or not true : which observation , tho' it be not heeded , may , with the help of a little attention , be easily verified ; especially because the term nature is so often used , that you shall scarce meet with any man , who , if he have occasion to discourse any thing long of either natural or medicinal subjects , would not find himself at a great loss , if he were prohibited the use of the word nature , and of those phrases whereof it makes the principal part . and i confess i could heartily wish , that philosophers , and other learned men ( whom the rest in time would follow ) would by common ( tho' perhaps tacite ) consent , introduce some more significant , and less ambiguous terms and expressions in the room of the too licenciously abused word nature , and the forms of speech that depend on it . or would , at least , decline the use of it , as much as conveniently they can ; and where they think they must imploy it , would ▪ add a word or two , to declare in what clear and determinate sense they use it . for without somewhat of this kind be done , men will very hardly avoid being led into divers mistakes , both of things , and of one another ; & such wranglings about words and names , will be ( if not continually multiplied ) still kept on foot , as are wont to be manag'd with much heat , tho' little use , and no necessity . and here i must take leave to complain , in my own excuse , of the scarce superable difficulty of the task , that the design of a free inquiry puts me upon . for 't is far more difficult than any one that hath not try'd , ( and i do not know that any man hath , ) would imagine , to discourse long of the corporeal works of god , and especially of the operations and phaenomena's that are attributed to nature , and yet decline making oftentimes use of that term , or forms of speech whereof 't is a main part ; without much more frequent , and perhaps tedious , circumlocutions ; than i am willing to trouble you with . and therefore i hope you will easily excuse me , if , partly to shun these , and to avoid using often the same words too near one another , and partly out of unwillingness to imploy vulgar terms , likely to occasion or countenance vulgar errors ; i have several times been fain to use paraphrases or other expressions , less short than those commonly received : and sometimes for one or other of these reasons , or out of inadvertence , miss'd of avoiding the terms used by those , that admit and applaud the vulgar notion of nature : whom , i must here advertise you , that partly because they do so , and partly for brevity's sake , i shall hereafter many times call , naturists : which appellation i rather chuse than that of naturalists ; because , many , even of the learned among them , as logicians , orators , lawyers , arithmeticians , &c. are not physiologers . but if on this occasion you should be very urgent to know , what course i would think expedient , if i were to propose any , for the avoiding the inconvenient use of so ambiguous a word , as nature : i should first put you in mind , that , having but very lately declar'd , that i thought it very difficult , in physiological discourses especially , to decline the frequent of that term ; you are not to expect from me the satisfaction you may desire in an answer . and then i would add , that yet my unwillingness to be altogether silent , when you require me to say somewhat , makes me content to try , whether the mischief complain'd of , may not be in some measure either obviated or lessen'd , by looking back upon the ( eight ) various significations , that were not long since deliver'd of the word nature , and by endeavouring to express them in other terms , or forms of speech . 1. instead then of the word nature taken in the first sense , [ for natura naturans , ] we may make use of the term 't is put to signifie , namely , god ; wholly discarding an expression , which , besides that 't is harsh and needless , and in use only among the school-men , seems not to me very suitable to the profound reverence we owe the divine majesty ; since it seems to make the creator differ too little by far from a created ( not to say an imaginary ) being . 2. instead of nature in the second sense , [ for , that on whose account a thing is what it is , and is so call'd , ] we may imploy the word essence , which is of great affinity to it , if not of an adequate import . and sometimes also we may make use of the word quiddity , which , though a somewhat barbarous term , is yet frequently imploy'd , and well enough understood , in the schools ; and , which is more considerable , is very comprehensive , and yet free enough from ambiguity . 3. what is meant by the word nature taken in the third sense of it , [ for , what belongs to a living creature at its nativity , or accrues to it by its birth , ] may be express'd sometimes , by saying , that a man or other animal is born so ; and sometimes by saying , that a thing has been generated such ; and sometimes also , that 't is thus or thus qualifi'd by its original temperament and constitution . 4. instead of the word nature taken in the fourth acception [ for , an internal principle of local motion ] we may say sometimes , that this or that body moves as it were , or else that it seems to move , spontaneously ( or of its own accord ) upwards , downwards , &c. or , that 't is put into this or that motion , or determin'd to this or that action , by the concourse of such or such ( proper ) causes . 5. for nature in the fifth signification , [ for , the establish'd course of things corporeal ] 't is easie to substitute what it denotes , the establish'd order , or the setled course of things . 6. instead of nature in the sixth sense of the word [ for , as aggregate of the powers belonging to a body , especially a living one ] we may imploy the constitution , temperament , or the mechanism , or the complex of the essential properties or qualities , and sometimes the condition , the structure , or the texture of that body . and if we speak of the greater portions of the world , we may make use of one or other of these terms , fabrick of the world , system of the vniverse , cosmical mechanism , or the like . 7. where men are wont to imploy the word nature in the seventh sense [ for , the vniverse , or the systeme of the corporeal works of god ] 't is easie , and as short , to make use of the word world or vniverse ; and instead of the phaenomena of nature to substitute the phaenomena of the vniverse , or of the world. 8. and , as for the word nature taken in the eighth and last of the fore-mention'd acceptions [ for , either ( as some pagans styl'd her ) a goddess , or a kind of semi-deity ] the best way is not to imploy it in that sense at all ; or at least as seldom as may be , and that for divers reasons , which may in due place be met with in several parts of this essay . but though the foregoing diversity of terms and phrases may be much increas'd , yet i confess it makes but a part of the remedy , i propose , against the future mischiefs of the confus'd acception of the word nature , and the phrases grounded on it . for besides the synonymous words , and more literal interpretations lately propos'd , a dextrous writer may oftentimes be able to give such a form ( or , as the modern frenchmen speak , such a tour ) to his many-ways variable expressions , as to avoid the necessity of making use of the word nature ; or sometimes so much as of those shorter terms , that have been lately substituted in its place . and to all this i must add , that though one or two of the eight fore-mention'd terms or phrases , as quiddity and cosmical mechanism , be barbarous or ungenteel ; and some other expressions be less short than the word nature : yet 't is more the interest of philosophy to tolerate a harsh term , that has been long received in the schools in a determinate sense , and bear with some paraphrastical expressions , than not to avoid an ambiguity that is liable to such great inconveniences as have been lately , or may be hereafter , represented . there are , i know , some learned men , who , ( perhaps being startled to find nature usually spoken of so much like a kind of goddess , ) will have the nature of every thing , to be only the law that it receives from the creator , and according to which it acts on all occasions . and this opinion seems much of kin to , if not the same with , that of the famous helmont , who justly rejecting the aristotelian tenent of the contrariety or hostility of the elements , will have every body , without any such respect , to act that which 't is commanded to act . and indeed this opinion about nature , though neither clear nor comprehensive enough , seems capable of a fair construction . and there is oftentimes some resemblance between the orderly and regular motions of inanimate bodies , and the actions of agents , that , in what they do act , conformably to laws . and even i sometimes scruple not , to speak of the laws of motion and rest , that god has establish'd among things corporeal , and now and then , ( for brevities sake , or out of custom ) to call them , as men are wont to do , the laws of nature : having in due place declar'd , in what sense i understand and imploy these expressions . but to speak strictly , ( as becomes philosophers in so weighty a matter ) to say that the nature of this or that body , is but the law of god prescrib'd to it , is but an improper and figurative expression . for , besides that this gives us but a very defective idea of nature , since it omits the general fabrick of the world , and the contrivances of particular bodies , which yet are as well necessary as local motion itself , to the production of particular effects and phaenomena's ; besides this , i say , and other imperfections of this notion of nature , that i shall not here insist on , i must freely observe , that , to speak properly , a law being but a notional rule of acting according to the declar'd will of a superior , 't is plain , that nothing but an intellectual being can be properly capable of receiving and acting by a law. for if it does not understand , it cannot know what the will of the legislator is ; nor can it have any intention to accomplish it , nor can it act with regard to it ; or know , when it does , in acting , either conform to it or deviate from it . and 't is intelligible to me , that god should at the beginning impress determinate motions upon the parts of matter , and guide them , as he thought requisite , for the primordial constitution of things : and that ever since he should , by his ordinary and general concourse , maintain those powers , which he gave the parts of matter , to transmit their motion thus and thus to one another . but i cannot conceive , how a body , devoid of understanding and sense , truly so call'd , can moderate and determine its own motions ; especially so , as to make them conformable to laws , that it has no knowledg or apprehension of . and that inanimate bodies , how strictly soever call'd natural , do properly act by laws , cannot be evinc'd by their sometimes acting regularly , and , as men think , in order to determinate ends : since in artificial things we see many motions very orderly perform'd , and with a manifest tendency to particular and pre-design'd ends ; as in a watch , the motions of the spring , wheels and other parts , are so contemperated and regulated , that the hand upon the dyal moves with a great uniformity , and seems to moderate its motion , so as not to arrive at the points , that denote the time of the day , either a minute sooner , or a minute later , than it should do , to declare the hour . and when a man shoots an arrow at a mark , so as to hit it , though the arrow moves towards the mark , as it would if it could and did design to strike it , yet none will say , that this arrow moves by a law , but by an external , tho' well directed , impulse . sect . iii. ii. but possibly the definition of a philosopher may exempt us from the perplexities , to which the ambiguous expressions of common writers expose us . i therefore thought fit to to consider , with a somewhat more than ordinary attention , the famous definition of nature that is left us by aristotle , which i shall recite rather in latin than in english , not only because 't is very familiarly known among scholars , in that language , but because there is somewhat in it , that i confess seems difficult to me , to be without circumlocution render'd intelligibly in english : natura ( says he ) est principium & causa motus & quietis ejus , in quo inest , primo per se , & non secundum accidens . but though when i consider'd that according to aristotle , the whole world is but a system of the works of nature ; i thought it might well be expected , that the definition of a thing , the most important in natural philosophy , should be clearly and accurately deliver'd ; yet to me this celebrated definition seem'd so dark , that i cannot brag of any assistance i received from it , towards the framing of a clear and satisfactory notion of nature . for i dare not hope , that what , as to me , is not itself intelligible , should make me understand what is to be declared or explicated by it . and when i consulted some of aristotle's interpreters upon the sense of this definition , i found the more considerate of them so puzzled with it , that their discourses of it seem'd to tend , rather to free the maker of it from tautology and self-contradiction , than to manifect that the definition itself is good and instructive , and such as affords a fair account of the thing defin'd . and indeed , though the immoderate veneration they cherish for their master , engages them to make the best they can of the definition given by him , even when they cannot justifie it without strain'd interpretations , yet what every one seems to defend in gross , almost every one of them censures in parcels ; this man attacking one part of the definition , and that man another , with objections so weighty , ( not to call some of them so unanswerable ) that if i had no other arguments to urge against it , i might borrow enough from the commentators on it , to justifie my dislike of it . however , we may hereafter have occasion to consider some of the main parts of this definition , and in the mean while , it may suffice that we observe , that several things are commonly receiv'd as belonging to the idea , or notion of nature , that are not manifestly or not at all comprehended in this aristotelian definition , which doth not declare , whether the principle or cause ( which expression already makes the sense doubtful ) here mention'd is a substance , or an accident ; and if a substance , whether corporeal or immaterial , nor is it clearly contain'd in this definition , that nature does all things most wisely , and still acts by the most compendious ways without ever missing of her end , and that she watches against a vacuum for the welfare of the universe , to omit divers other things , that you will find ascrib'd to her in the following section : to which i now proceed . that the great shortness of this third section may not make it too disproportionate in length , to the others , this tract consists of ; i shall in this place , though i doubt it be not the most proper that could be chosen , endeavour to remove betimes the prejudice , that some divines and other pious men may perhaps entertain , upon the account , as they think , of religion , against the care i take , to decline the frequent use of that word nature , in the vulgar notion of it : reserving to another and fitter place some other things , that may relate to the theological scruples , if any occur to me , that our free inquiry may occasion . the philosophical reason that inclines me to forbear , as much as conveniently i can , the frequent use of the word nature , and the forms of speech that are deriv'd from it , is , that 't is a term of great ambiguity : on which score i have observ'd , that , being frequently and unwarily imploy'd , it has occasion'd much darkness and confusion in many mens writings and discourses . and i little doubt , but that others would make the like observations , if early prejudices and universal custom did not keep them from taking notice of it . nor do i think my self oblig'd , by the just veneration i owe and pay religion , to make use of a term so inconvenient to philosophy . for i do not find that for many ages the israelites , that then were the only people and church of god , made use of the word nature in the vulgar notion of it . moses in the whole history of the creation , where it had been so proper to bring in this first of second causes , has not a word of nature . and whereas philosophers presume , that she , by her plastick power and skill , forms plants and animals out of the universal matter ; the divine historian ascribes the formation of them to gods immediate fiat . gen. i. 11. and god said , let the earth bring forth grass , and the herb yielding seed , and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind , &c. and again , vers. 24 , god said , let the earth bring forth the living creature after its kind , &c. vers. 25 , and god ( without any mention of nature ) made the beast of the earth after his kind . and i do not remember , that in the old testament , i have met with any one hebrew word that properly signifies nature , in the sense we take it in . and it seems , that our english translators of the bible were not more fortunate in that , than i ; for , having purposely consulted a late concordance , i found not that word nature in any text of the old testament . so likewise , though iob , david and solomon , and other israelitish writers , do , on divers occasions , many times mention the corporeal works of god , yet they do not take notice of nature , which our philosophers would have his great vicegerent in what relates to them . to which , perhaps it may not be impertinent to add , that , though the late famous rabbi menasseh ben israel , has purposely written a book of numerous problems touching the creation , yet i do not remember that he imploys the word nature , in the receiv'd notion of it , to give an account of any of gods mundane creatures . and when st. paul himself , who was no stranger to the heathen learning , writing to the corinthians who were greeks , speaks of the production of corn out of seed sown , he does not attribute the produc'd body to nature , but when he had spoken of a grain of wheat , or some other seed put into the ground , he adds , that god gives it such a body as he pleaseth , and to every seed it s own body , i. e. the body belonging to its kind . and a greater than st. paul , speaking of the gaudiness of the lillies , ( or , as some will have it , tulips ) uses this expression , if god so cloath the grass of the field , &c. matt. vi . 28 , 29 , 30. the celebrations that david , iob , and other holy hebrews , mention'd in the old testament , make an occasion of the admirable works they contemplated in the universe , are address'd directly to god himself , without taking notice of nature . of this , i could multiply instances , but shall here , for brevity's sake , be contented to name a few , taken from the book of psalms alone . in the hundredth of those hymns , the penman of it makes this , that god has made us , the ground of an exhortation , to enter into his gates with thanksgiving , and into his courts with praise , psal. lxxix . 34. and in another , let the heaven and earth praise god , [ that is , give men ground and occasion to praise him ] congruously to what david elsewhere says to the great creator of the universe . all thy work 's shall praise thee , o lord , and thy saints shall bless thee , psal. cxlv . 10. and in another of the sacred hymns , the same royal poet says to his maker , thou hast cover'd me in my mothers womb . i will praise thee , for i am fearfully and wonderfully made , marvellous are thy works , and that my soul knoweth right well , psal. cxxxix . 13 , 14. i have sometimes doubted , whether one may not on this occasion add , that , if men will need takes in a being subordinate to god , for the management of the world ; it seems more consonant to the holy scripture , to depute angels to that charge , than nature . for i consider , that , as to the coelestial part of the universe , in comparison of which the sublunary is not perhaps the ten-thousandth part ; both the heathen aristotelian's , and the school philosophers among the christians , teach , the coelestial orbs to be moved or guided by intelligences , or angels . and as to the lower or sublunary world , besides that the holy writings teach us , that angels have been often imploy'd by god for the government of kingdoms , ( as is evident out of the book of daniel ) and the welfare and punishment of particular persons ; one of those glorious spirits , is , in the apocalypse , expresly styl'd the angel of the waters : which title divers learned interpreters think to be given him , because of his charge or office , to oversee and preserve the waters . and i remember , that in the same book there is mention made of an angel , that had power , authority , or iurisdiction , ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) over the fire : and though the excellent grotius gives another conjecture of the title given the angel of the waters ; yet in his notes upon the next verse save one , he teaches , that there was an angel appointed to preserve the souls that were kept under the altar there-mention'd . and if we take the angel of the waters to be the guardian or conserver of them , ( perhaps as the romans ( in whose empire st. iohn wrote ) had special officers to look to their aqueducts and other waters ; ) it may not be amiss to observe ( upon the by ) that he is introduc'd praising his and his fellow-spirits great creator : which is an act of religion , that , for ought i know , none of the naturists , whether pagan or even christians , ever mention'd their nature to have perform'd . i know it may on this occasion be alledg'd , that subordinata non pugnant , and nature being god's vicegerent , her works are indeed his . but that he has such a vicegerent , it is one of the main businesses of this discourse to call in question , and till the affirmative be solidly prov'd , ( nay , and tho' it were so ) i hope i shall be excus'd , if with moses , iob , and david , i call the creatures , i admire in the visiible world , the works of god , ( not of nature ) and praise rather him than her , for the wisdom and goodness displayed in them : since among the israelites , till they were over-run and corrupted by idolatrous nations , there was for many ages a deep silence of such a being , as we now call nature . and i think it much more safe and fit , to speak as did those , who for so long a time were the peculiar people of god , than which the heathen poets and philosophers , who were very prone to ascribe divinity to his creatures , and sometimes even to their own . i mention these things , not with design to ingage in the controversie , about the authority or use of the scripture in physical speculations , but to obviate or remove a prejudice , that ( as i formerly intimated ) i fear may be taken up , upon the account of theology or religion , against my studiously unfrequent imploying the word nature , in the vulgar sense of it ; by shewing , that , whether or no the scriptures be not design'd to teach us higher and more necessary truths than those that concern bodies , and are discoverable by the meer light of reason ; both its expressions and its silence give more countenance to our hypothesis , than to that of the naturists . sect . iv. iii. having shewn , that the definition given of nature by aristotle himself , as great a logician as he was , has not been able to satisfie so much as his interpreters and disciples , what his own idea of nature was ; 't would be to little purpose to trouble you and my self , with enquiring into the definitions and disputes of other peripateticks , about so obscure and perplex'd a subject ; especially , since 't is not my business in this tract , solicitously to examine what aristotle thought nature to be , but what is to be thought of the vulgarly receiv'd notion of nature ; and tho' of this , the schools have been the chief propagators , for which reason it was fit to take notice of their master aristotle's definition ; yet the best way , i know , to investigate the commonly receiv'd opinion of nature , is , to consider what effata or axioms do pass for current about her ; and what titles and epithets are unanimously given her , both by philosophers and other writers , and by the generality of men that have occasion to discourse of her and her actings . of these axioms and epithets , the principal seen to be these that follow . natura est sapientissima , adeoque opus naturae est opus intelligentiae . * natura nihil facit frustra . natura fine suo nunquam excidit . † natura semper facit quod optimum est . natura semper agit per vias brevissimas . natura neque redundat in superfluis , neque deficit in necessariis . omnis natura est conservatrix sui . natura est morborum medicatrix . natura semper invigilat conservationi vniversi . natura vacuum horret . from all these particulars put together , it may appear , that the vulgar notion of nature may be conveniently enough expres'd by some such description as this . nature is a most wise being , that does nothing in vain , does not miss of her ends ; does always that which ( of the things she can do ) is best to be done ; and this she does by the most direct or compendious ways , neither employing any things superfluous , nor being wanting in things necessary ; she teaches & inclines every one of her works to preserve it self . and , as in the microcosm ( man ) 't is she that is the curer of diseases , so in the macrocosm ( the world , ) for the conservation of the universe , she abhors a vacuum , making particular bodies act contrary to their own inclinations and interests , to prevent it , for the publick good. what i think of the particulars , that make up this paneygrical description of nature , will ( god permitting ) be told you in due place ; my present work being only to make you the clearest representation i can , of what men generally ( if they understand themselves ) do , or with congruity to the axioms they admit and use , ought to conceive nature to be . 't is not unlike that you may expect , or wish , that on this occasion , i should propose some definition or description of nature , as my own . but declining ( at least at present ) to say any thing , dogmatically , about this matter , i know not whether i may not , on this occasion , confess to you , that i have sometimes been so paradoxical , or ( if you please ) so extravagant , as to entertain , as a serious doubt , what i formerly intimated , viz. whether nature be a thing , or a name ? i mean , whether it be a real existent being , or a notional entity , somewhat of kin to those fictitious terms , that men have devis'd , that they might compendiously express several things together , by one name ? as when , for instance , we speak of the concocting faculty ascrib'd to animals ; those that consider , and are careful to understand , what they say , do not mean i know not what entity , that is distinct from the human body , as 't is an engine curiously contriv'd , and made up of stable and fluid parts ; but , observing an actuating power and fitness in the teeth , tongue , spittle , fibres and membranes of the gullet and stomach , together with the natural heat , the ferment , or else the menstruum , ) and some other agents , by their co-operation , to cook or dress the aliments , and change them into chyle ; observing these things , i say , they thought it convenient , for brevity's sake , to express the complex of those causes , and the train of their actions , by the summary appellation of concocting faculty . whilst i was indulging my self , in this kind of ravings , it came into my mind , that the natuists might demand of me , how , without admitting their notion , i could give any tolerable account of those , most useful , forms of speech , which men imploy , when they say , that nature does this or that ; or , that such a thing is done by nature , or according to nature , or else happens against nature ? and this question i thought the more worth answering , because these phrases are so very frequently us'd by men of all sorts , as well learned as illiterate , that this custom hath made them be thought , not only very convenient , but necessary ; insomuch , that i look upon it as none of the least things , that has procur'd so general a reception to the vulgar notion of nature , that these ready and commodious forms of speech suppose the truth of it . it may therefore , in this place , be pertinent to add , that such phrases , as , that nature , or faculty , or faculty , or suction , doth this or that , are not the only ones , wherein i observe , that men ascribe to a notional thing , that which , indeed , is perform'd by real agents ; as , when we say , that the law punishes murder with death , that it protects the innocent , releases a debtor out of prison , when he has satisfied his creditors ( and the ministers of justice ) on which , or the like occasions , we may justly say , that 't is plain that the law , which , being in it self a dead letter , is but a notional rule , cannot , in a physical sense , be said to perform these things ; but they are really performed by judges , officers , executioners , and other men , acting according to that rule . thus , when we say , that custom does this or that , we ought to mean only , that such things are done by proper agents , acting with conformity to what is usual , ( or customary ) on such occasions . and , to give you an yet more apposite instance , do but consider , how many events are wont to be ascrib'd to fortune or chance ; and yet fortune is , in reality , no physical cause of any thing , ( for which reason probably it is , that ancienter naturalists than aristotle , as himself intimates , take no notice of it , when they treat of natural causes , ) and only denotes , that those effects , that are ascribed to it , were produc'd by their true and proper agents , without intending to produce them ; as , when a man shoots at a deer , and the arrow lightly glancing upon the beast , wounds some man that lay beyond him , unseen by the archer ; 't is plain , that the arrow is a physical agent , that acts , by virtue of its fabrick and motion , in both these effects ; and yet men will say , that the slight hurt it gave the deer , was brought to pass according to the course of nature , because the archer design'd to shoot the beast ; but the mortal wound , it gave the man , happen'd by chance ▪ because the archer intended not to shoot him , or any man else . and , whereas divers of the old atomical philosophers , pretending ( without good reason , as well as against piety ) to give an account of the origin of things , without recourse to a deity , did sometimes affirm the world to have been made by nature , and sometimes by fortune , promiscuously employing those terms : they did it , ( if i guess aright ) because they thought neither of them to denote any true and proper physical cause , but rather certain conceptions , that we men have , of the manner of acting of true and proper agents . and therefore , when the epicureans taught , the world to have been made by chance , 't is probable , that they did not look upon chance , as a true and architectonick cause of the system of the world , but believ'd all things to have been made by the atoms , considered as their conventions and concretions into the sun , stars , earth , and other bodies , were made without any design of constituting those bodies . whilst this vein of framing paradoxes yet continued , i ventur'd to proceed so far , as to question , whether one may not infer , from what hath been said , that the chief advantage a philosopher receives from what men call nature , be not , that it affords them , on divers occasions , a compendious way of expressing themselves ? since ( thought i , ) to consider things otherwise than in a popular way , when a man tells me , that nature does such a thing , he does not really help me to understand , or to explicate , how it is done . for it seems manifest enough , that whatsoever is done in the world , at least wherein the rational soul intervenes not , is really effected by corporeal causes and agents , acting in a world so fram'd as ours is , according to the laws of motion setled by the omniscient author of things . when a man knows the contrivance of a watch or clock , by viewing the several pieces of it , and seeing how , when they are duely put together , the spring or weight sets one of the wheels a work , and by that another , till by a fit conse cution of the motions of these and other parts , at length the index comes to point at the right hour of the day : the man , if he be wise , will be well enough satisfied with this knowledge of the cause of the propos'd effect , without troubling himself to examine , whether a notional philosopher will call the time-measuring instrument , an ens per se , or an ens per accidens ? and whether it performs its operations by virtue of an internal principle , such as the spring of it ought to be ? or of an external one , such as one may think the appended weight ? and , as he , that cannot , by the mechanical affections of the parts of the universal matter , explicate a phaenomenon , will not be much help'd to understand , how the effect is produc'd , by being told , that nature did it : so , if he can explain it mechanically , he has no more need to think , or ( unless for brevity's sake ) to say , that nature brought it to pass , than he , that observes the motions of a clock , has to say , that 't is not the engine , but 't is art , that shews the hour ; whereas , without considering that general and uninstructive name , he sufficiently understands how the parts , that make up the engine , are determin'd by their construction , and the series of their motions , to produce the effect that is brought to pass . when the lower end of a reed , being dipp'd , for instance , in milk or water , he that holds it , does cover the upper end with his lips , and fetches his breath , and hereupon the liquor flows into his mouth : we are told , that nature raiseth it to prevent a vacuum , and this way of raising it , is call'd suction ; but , when this is said , the word nature does but furnish us with a short term , to express a concourse of several causes ; and so does in other cases , but what the word suction does in this . for neither the one , nor the other , helps us to conceive , how this , seemingly spontaneous , ascension of a heavy liquor is effected ; which they that know , that the outward air is a heavy fluid , and gravitates , or presses , more upon the other parts of the liquor , than the air , contained in the reed , ( which is rarefy'd by the dilatation of the sucker's thorax ) does upon the included part of the surface , will readily apprehend , that the smaller pressure will be surmounted by the greater , and , consequently yield to the ascension of the liquor , which is , by the prevalent external pressure , impell'd up into the pipe , and so into the mouth , ( as i , among others , have elswhere fully made out . ) so that , according to this doctrine , without recurring to nature's care , to prevent a vacuum , one that had never heard of the peripatetick notions of nature , or of suction , might very well understand the mention'd phaenomenon . and if afterwards he should be made acquainted with the receiv'd opinions , and forms of speech , us'd on this occasion , he would think , that so to ascribe the effect to nature , is needless , if not also erroneous ; and that the common theory of suction can afford him nothing , but a compendious term , to express , at once the concourse of the agents , that make the water ascend . how far , i think , these extravagant reasonings may be admitted , you will be enabled to discern , by what you will hereafter meet with , relating to the same subjects , in the vii . section of this discourse . and therefore , returning now to the rise of this digression , namely , that 't is not unlike you may expect , i should , after the vulgar notion of nature , that i lately mention'd , without acquiescing in it , substitute some definition or description of nature , as mine : i hope you will be pleas'd to remember , that the design of this paper was , to examine the vulgar notion of nature , not propose a new one of my own . and indeed the ambiguity of the word is so great , and 't is , even by learned men , usually employ'd to signifie such different things ; that , without enumerating & distinguishing its various acceptions , 't were very unsafe to give a definition of it , if not impossible to deliver one that would not be liable to censure . i shall not therefore presume to define a thing , of which there is yet no settled and stated notion agreed on among men. and yet , that i may , as far as i dare , comply with your couriosity , i shall tell you , that if i were to propose a notion , as less unfit than any i have met with , to pass for the principal notion of nature , with regard to which , many axioms and expressions , relating to that word , may be not inconveniently understood , i should distinguish between the universal , and the particular nature of things . and , of universal nature , the notion , i would offer , should be some such as this , that nature is the aggregate of the bodies , that make up the world , framed as it is , considered as a principle , by virtue whereof , they act and suffer according to the laws of motion , prescrib'd by the author of things . which desrciption may be thus paphras'd , that nature , in general , is , the result of the vniversal matter , or corporeal substance of the vniverse , considered as it is contrived into the present structure and constitution of the world , whereby all the bodies , that compose it , are inabled to act upon , and fitted to suffer from , one another , according to the setled laws of motion . i expect , that this description will appear prolix , and require to be heedfully perus'd : but the intricateness and importance of the subject hindred me from making it shorter , and made me chuse rather to presume upon your attention , that not endeavour to express my self intelligibly and warily , about a subject of such moment . and this will make way for the other ( subordinate ) notion , that is to attend the former description : since the particular nature , of an individual body , consists in the general nature , apply'd to a distinct portion of the vniverse . or rather , supposing it to be plac'd , as it is , in a world , fram'd by god , like ours , it consists in a convention of the mechanical affections ( such as bigness , figure , order , scituation , contexture , and local motion ) of its parts , ( whether sensible or insensible ) convenient and sufficient to constitute in , or to entitle to , its particular species or denominations , the particular body they make up , as the concourse of all these is considered as the principle of motion , rest , and changes , in that body . if you will have me give to these two notions more compendious expessions , now that , by what hath been said , i presume , you apprehend my meaning ; i shall express , what i call'd general nature , by cosmical mechanism , that is , a comprisal of all the mechanical affections ( figure , size , motion , &c. ) that belong to the matter of the great system of the universe . and , to denote the nature of this or that particular body , i shall style it , the private , the particular , or ( if you please ) the individual mechanism of that body ; or , for brevity's sake , barely the mechanism of it , that is , the essential . modification , if i may so speak , by which , i mean , the comprisal of all its mechanical affections conven'd in the particular body , consider'd , as 't is determinately plac'd , in a world so constituted , as ours is . 't is like , you will think it strange , that in this description i should make the present fabrick of the vniverse , a part , as it were , of the notion i frame of nature , though the generality of philosophers , as well as other men , speak of her , as a plastick principle of all the mundane bodies , as if they were her effects ; and therefore they usually call them , the works of nature ; and the changes that are observ'd in them , the phaenomena of nature . but , for my part , i confess , i see no need to acknowledg any architectonick being , besides god , antecedent to the first formation of the world. the peripateticks , whose school either devis'd , or mainly propagated , the received notion of nature , conceiving ( not only matter , but ) the world to be eternal , might look upon it , as the province , but could not , as the work of nature , which , in their hypothesis , is its guardian , without having been its architect . the epicureans themselves , that would refer all things , that are done in the world , to nature , cannot , according to their principles , make what they now call nature , to have been antecedent to the first formation of our present world. for , according to their hypothesis , whilst their numberless atoms wildly rov'd in their infinite vacuity , they had nothing belonging to them , but bigness , figure and motion : and 't was by the coalition , or convention of these atoms , that the world had its beginning . so that , according to them , it was not nature , but chance , that fram'd the world ; though afterwards , this original fabrick of things , does , by virtue of its structure , and the innate and unloseable motive power of atoms , continue things in the same state for the main ; & this course , though casually fallen into , & continued without design , is that , which , according to their hypothesis , ought to pass for nature . and , as meer reason doth not oblige me to acknowledge such a nature , as we call in question , antecedent to the origin of the world ; so neither do i find , that any revelation , contain'd in the holy scriptures , clearly teaches , that there was then such a being . for , in the history of the creation , 't is expresly said , that in the beginning god made the heavens and the earth ; and , in the whole account that moses gives of the progress of it , there is not a word of the agency of nature ; and , at the later end , when god is introduc'd , as making a re-view of all the parts of the universe , 't is said , that god saw every thing that he had made ; and 't is soon after added , that he blessed and sanctified the seventh day , because , in it , ( or rather , just before it , as i find the hebrew particle elsewhere us'd , ) he had rested from all his works , which god created and made . and tho' there be a passage in the book of iob , that , probably enough , argues the angels ( there call'd , the sons of god ) to have existed , either at the beginning of the first day 's work , or some time before it ; yet 't is not there so much as intimated , that they were co-operators , with their maker , in the framing of the world , of which they are represented as spectators and applauders , but not so much as instruments . but since revelation , as much as i always reverence it , is , i confess , a foreign principle in this philosophical enquiry , i shall wave it here , and tell you , that , when i consult only the light of reason , i am inclin'd to apprehend the first formation of the world , after some such manner as this . i think it probable , ( for i would not dogmatize on so weighty , and so difficult a subject , ) that the great and wise author of things , did , when he first form'd the universal and undistinguish'd matter , into the world , put its parts into various motions , whereby they were necessarily divided into numberless portions of differing bulks , figures , and scituations , in respect of each other . and that , by his infinite wisdom and power , he did so guide and over-rule the motions of these parts , at the beginning of things , as that ( whether in a shorter or a longer time , reason cannot well determine ) they were finally dispos'd into that beautiful and orderly frame , we call the world ; among whose parts some were so curiously contriv'd , as to be fit to become the seeds , or seminal principles , of plants and animals . and i further conceive , that he setled such laws or rules , of local motion , among the parts of the universal matter , that by his ordinary and preserving concourse , the several parts of the universe , thus once completed , should be able to maintain the great construction , or system and oeconomy , of the mundane bodies , and propagate the species of living creatures . so that , according to this hypothesis , i suppose no other efficient of the universe , but god himself , whose almighty power , still accompanied with his infinite wisdom , did at first frame the corporeal world , according to the divine idea's , which he had , as well most freely , as most wisely , determin'd to conform them to . for , i think , it is a mistake to imagine , ( as we are wont to do ) that what is call'd , the nature of this or that body , is wholly compris'd in its own matter , and its ( i say not substantial , but ) essential form ; as if from that , or these only , all its operations must flow . for an individual body , being but a part of the world , and incompass'd with other parts of the same great automaton , needs the assistance , or concourse , of other bodies , ( which are external agents ) to perform divers of its operations , and exhibit several phaenomena's , that belong to it . this would quickly and manifestly appear , if , for instance , an animal or an herb could be remov'd into those imaginary spaces , the school-men tell us of , beyond the world ; or into such a place , as the epicureans fancy their intermundia , or empty intervals , between those numerous worlds , their master dream'd of . for , whatever the structures of these living engines be , they would as little , without the co-operations of external agents ; such as the sun , aether , air , &c. be able to exercise their functions , as the great mills , commonly us'd with us , would be to grind corn , without the assistance of wind or running water . which may be thought the more credible , if it be considered , that by the meer exclusion of the air , ( tho' not of light , or the earth's magnetical effluvia , &c. ) procur'd by the air-pump , bodies plac'd in an extraordinary large glass , will presently come into so differing a state , that warm animals cannot live in it ; nor flame ( tho' of pure spirit of wine ) burn ; nor syringes draw up water ; nor bees , or such winged insects , fly ; nor caterpillars crawl ; nay , nor fire run along a train of dryed gunpowder : all which i speak upon my own experience . according to the foregoing hypothesis , i consider the frame of the world already made , as a great , and , if i may so speak , pregnant automaton , that , like a woman with twins in her womb , or a ship furnish'd with pumps , ordnance , &c. is such an engine as comprises , or consists of , several lesser engines . and this compounded machine , in conjunction with the laws of motion , freely establish'd and still maintain'd , by god among its parts ; i look upon as a complex principle , whence results the setled order , or course , of things corporeal . and that which happens according to this course , may , generally speaking , be said to come to pass according to nature , or to be done by nature , and that which thwarts this order may be said to be preternatural , or contrary to nature . and indeed , though men talk of nature as they please , yet whatever is done among things inanimate , which make incomparably the greatest part of the universe , is really done but by particular bodies , acting on one another by local motion , modifi'd by the other mechanical affections of the agent , of the patient , and of those other bodies , that necessarily concur to the effect , or the phaenomenon produc'd . n. b. those , that do not relish the knowledg of the opinions and rights of the ancient iews and heathens , may pass on to the next or v. section , and skip the whole following excursion , compris'd between double paratheses's , which , though neither impertinent nor useless to the scope of this treatise , is not absolutely necessary to it . [ in the foregoing ( iii. ) section of this treatise , i hope i have given a sufficient reason of my backwardness to make frequent use of the word nature , and now , in this ( iv. ) section , having laid down such a description , of nature , as shews that her votaries represent her as a goddess , or at least a semi-deity : 't will not be improper in this place , to declare some of the reasons of my dissatisfaction with the notion or thing it self , as well as with the use of the name ; and to shew , why i am not willing to comply with those many , that would impose it upon us as very friendly to religion . and these reasons i shall the rather propose , because not only the generality of other learned men , ( as i just now intimated ) but that of divines themselves , for want of information , or for some other cause , seem not to have well consider'd so weighty a matter . to manifest therefore the malevolent aspect , that the vulgar notion of nature has had , and therefore possibly may have , on religion ; i think fit , in a general way , to premise , what things they are , which seem to me to have been the fundamental errors , that mis-led the heathen world , as well philosophers as others . for , if i mistake not , the looking upon meerly corporeal , and oftentimes inanimate things , as if they were endow'd with life , sense , and understanding ; and the ascribing to nature , and some other beings , ( whether real or imaginary ) things that belong but to god , have been some , ( if not the chief ) of the grand causes of the polytheism and idolatry of the gentiles . the most ancient idolatry , ( taking the word in its laxer sense ) or at least one of the earliest , seems to have been the worship of the coelestial lights , especially the sun and moon : that kind of aboda zara , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as the iewish writers call strange or false worships ) being the most natural , as having for its objects , glorious bodies , immortal , always regularly mov'd , and very beneficial to men. there is recorded , in the holy scripture , a passage of iob , who is probably reputed to be , at least , as antient as moses , which seems to argue , that this worship , of the two great luminaries , was practis'd in his time , and look'd upon as criminal by religious men , and , as our english version renders the hebrew words , punishable by the civil magistrate . if , says iob , i beheld the sun when it shined , or the moon walking in brightness : and my heart hath been secretly inticed , or my mouth hath kiss'd my hand , &c. iob xxxi . 26 , 27. and that this idolatry was practis'd in moses's time , may be gather'd from that passage in deuteromy . and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven , & when thou seest the sun , & the moon , and the stars , even all the host of heaven . shouldst be driven to worship them , & serve them , &c. deut. 4. 19. the sabaeans , or , as many criticks call them , the zabians , are by some very learned men thought to have been the earliest idolaters : and the ablest of the iewish rabbies , maimonides , makes them to be so antient , that abraham was put to dispute against them . and their superstition had so over-spread the east , in moses's time , that the same maimonides judiciously observes , that divers of the ceremonial laws , given to the iews , were instituted in opposition to the idolatrous opinions , magical rites , and other superstititions , of these zabians . of this , he ( seconded therein by our famous selden ) gives several instances ; to which , some are added by the learned hottinger . but this only upon the by ; my purpose , in mentioning these zabians , being to observe to you , that they look'd upon the planets , and especially the sun and moon , as gods , & worshipp'd them accordingly , taking them for intelligent beings , that had a great interest in the government of the world. this may be prov'd out of some eastern writers , especially maimonides , who , in one place , asserts the zabians to have ador'd the sun and moon , and the host of heaven , ( as the scripture styles the coelestial lights ) as true gods. and this we shall the less wonder at , if we consult another place of the same learned author , where he informs the readers , that these idolaters ( the zabians or chaldaeans ) made statues of silver and gold , those for the sun , and these for the moon ; which , being consecrated by certain rites and ceremonies , did invite , and , as it were , attract the spirits of these stars into those shrines : whence they would speak to their worshippers , acquaint them with things profitable , and even predict to them things to come . and of some such sort of speaking-images , some learned criticks suppose the teraphim ( as the original text calls them ) to have been , that laban so priz'd , as to call them his gods : which 't is guess'd rachel stole from her father , lest , by consulting them , he might learn what way her husband and his company had taken in their flight . and the same great rabbi , having inform'd his readers that he saw several books of the zabian superstition , somewhere mentions one or two , that treated of speaking-images . and 't was perhaps from these zabians , or their disciples , that zeno , the founder of the stoical sect , taught , as stobaeus informs us , that the sun , moon , and the rest of the stars were indow'd with understanding and prudence . and seneca , an eminent champion of that rigid sect , * reprehends epicurus and anaxagoras , ( whose disciple he was in that opinion ) that they held the sun to be a burning stone , or an aggregate of casual fires , and any thing rather than a god. i am sorry , i could not avoid thinking the great hippocrates , to have been involv'd in the great error we are speaking of , when in his book de principiis aut carnibus , near the beginning , i met with this passage . videtur sane mihi id , quod ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) calidum vocamus , immortale esse , & cuncta intelligere & videre , & audire & scire omnia , tum praesentia tum futura . according to which supposition , he presently attempts to give some such account of the origin of the world's frame , as he could in a very few lines ; and then spends the rest of the book , in giving particular accounts , how the parts of the human body come to be fram'd , wherein , though i commend the attempt in general , because , without acquiescing in i know not what faculties , he endeavours to give an intelligible and particular account , how things come to be perform'd and produc'd ; yet i cannot but look on this book , as a remarkable instance of this truth , that , without having recourse to the true god , a satisfactory account cannot be given of the original or primitive production of the greater and lesser world , since so great a naturalist as hippocrates , by the help of his idoliz'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , was unable to perform this task , with any satisfaction to an attentive and intelligent enquirer . and galen himself , who was not unacquainted with moses's writings , and liv'd where christianity was propagated thro' a great part of the world ; galen , i say , even in that admirable treatise , de usu partium , where he so excellently declares and celebrates the most wise author of things , was so far transported with the errour , which infected so many other heathen philosophers , that he phancied the earth itself , though he speaks contemptibly of it , had a certain soul or mind , imparted to it by the superior bodies , which , he saith , is so conspicuous , first in the sun , next in the moon , and afterwards in the other stars ; that by their beauty the contemplator will be induc'd to think it reasonable , that the more pure their corporeal substance is , 't is inhabited by a mind , so much the better and more perfect , than that of these terrestial bodies . and having spoken of the reasoning nature , that shin'd in plato , aristotle , hipparchus , archimedes , &c. he thus infers . si igitur in tanta colluvie ( quo enim alio nomine quis appellet id quod ex carne , sanguine , pituita , ac bile utraque est conflatum ) mens gignatur , adeo eximia & excellens ; quantam ejusdem putandum est esse excellentiam in sole , luna , allisque etiam sideribus ? ( to which he subjoins ) mihi quidem , dum haec mecum voluto , non exigua quaedam mens talis , per ipsum etiam nos aerem ambientem , esse extensa videtur . fieri enim non potest , quum lucis ipsius solis sit particeps , quin vim etiam ab ipso assumat . but this upon the by. nor did this opinion , of the divinity of the coelestial bodies , die with the zabians , or the greek philosophers . for i found , by some questions i propos'd to an inquisitive person , who , having liv'd many years in china and several of the neighbouring kingdoms , had acquired skill enough in the tongues to converse with the natives ; i found , i say , that in a solemn conference he had with some of the more eminent and philosophical doctors of the chineses religion , they frankly profest , that they believe the heavenly bodies to be truely divine , and to be worshipp'd , and that upon this particular ground , that they imparted to men such good things , as light , heat , rain , &c. and the productions and consequences of these . and this belief they declar'd , they thought more rational , than that of the europeans , who worship a deity , whose neither shape , nor colour , nor motion , nor efficacy on sublunary things , were at all visible . it agrees very well with the opinion of the ancient greeks , who , as origen relates , call'd the sun , moon , and the stars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , conspicuous and sensible gods. and we are taught by eusebius , that the ancient aegyptian theologizers , whose religion was neer of kin to that of the chaldeans , if not borrow'd of it , look'd upon the sun and moon , whom they worshipp'd under the names of osiris and isis , not only as the chief gods , but as the makers and governours of much , if not of all , of the rest of the universe . i will not here enquire , whether these old heathen philosophers did , besides the stars and other beings , that they ador'd as gods , believe one only numen or supream deity . but that may suffice for my present purpose , which seems manifest , viz. that they ascrib'd to sensible beings , attributes peculiar to the true god ; that this was occasion'd by their thinking them intelligent and governing , and that these inferiour beings were , by far , the most usual and familiar objects both of their discourses and their worship , and that they did ( to use the phrase of the apostle of the gentiles ) worship the creature besides , or more than , ( for the greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie either ) the creator , who by moses , the prophets , and the apostles , expresly declares a dislike of this worship , and even in that more specious and seemingly excuseable kind of it , which was in use among the ten tribes , that profess'd , and perhaps believ'd , their worship to be directed to the one supream god , and him the true god of israel . but this also upon the by. this belief , that the world and divers of its principal parts , as the sun , moon , stars , &c. were animated and endowed with intelligent minds , was so contagious , that , not only it help'd to seduce the emperor iulian from christianity to heathenism , ( insomuch that he gives the sun solemn thanks for his advancement to the roman monarchy ; ) but it infected very learned men among the iews and christians . of the former , i shall need to name but two ; the first being the famousest and judiciousest of the ancienter rabbins , maimonides , in whom , i confess , i wonder'd to find this assertion , that the sun and stars were animated beings , endow'd with understanding and will : and the other , being-reputed the chief and the most learned of the moderns , menasseh ben israel , ( with whom i have convers'd at amsterdam ) who in his problems , de creatione ; hath this notable passage . — quod de intelligentiis tradunt id vero mera fabula est ; nam coeli , secundum rabbi mosem , & rei veritatem , habent animas proprias rationali vita praeditas , sicut alibi à me demonstrabitur . and a greater man than maimonides , origen himself , among the christians , not only in one place adventures to say , siquidem etiam coelestes stellae animalia sunt rationalia , virtute praedit● illustrata cognitionis lumine , à s●●●entia illa quae est splendor aeterni luminis ; but in another proceeds so far , that i found ( not without surprize ) that he says , the christians sing hymns to god the lord of all , and god the word ; no otherwise than do the sun , moon , and stars , and the whole heavenly host , since all these , being a heavenly quire , do with just men celebrate the supream god , and his only begotten [ son. ] the boldness of these unjustified paradoxes i the the less wonder at , when i consider , what has for many ages been taught by the school philosophers , from aristotle ; namely , that the coelestial spheres had their peculiar intelligences , that is , rational , immortal , powerful and active beings . 't is true , that in the jews and christians , i have been speaking of ; the malignity of the error , they embrac'd , was corrected and master'd by the sound and orthodox principles they held together with it . but still 't is dangerous for those , that would be loyal to him , that styles himself a iealous god , to adopt premises that have been able to mis-lead such great persons , and from which many famous philosophers have plausibly enough drawn consequences very repugnant to true religion . nor are christians themselves so much out of danger of being seduc'd by these heathenish notions , about an intelligent world , but that ( not again to mention the apostate emperor ) even in these times there is lately sprung up a sect of men , as well professing christianity , as pretending to philosophy ; who ( if i be not mis-inform'd of their doctrine ) do very much symbolize with the ancient heathens , and talk much indeed of god , but mean such a one , as is not really distinct from the animated and intelligent universe ; but is , on that account , very differing from the true god , that we christians believe and worship . and , though i find the leaders of this sect to be look'd upon , by some more witty than knowing men , as the discoverers of unheard of mysteries in physicks and natural theology ; yet their hypothesis does not at all appear to me to be new , especially when i remember , besides the passages of the ancients , cited in this paper , some others of the same import , such as is particularly that of lucan . estque dei sedes , ubi terra , & pontus , & aer , et coelum , & virtus : superos quid quaerimus ultra ? iupiter est quodcunque vides , quocunque moveris . the great affinity between the soul of the world , so much talk'd of among the heathen philosophers , and the thing that men call nature , makes it fit for me to take notice , in this place , of the influence which the belief of that imaginary soul had upon the gentiles with reference to religion . that divers of the ancient philosophers held the world to be animated , hath been observed by more than one learned man. but that which makes more for my present purpose , is , that the same old sages did also ( at least for the most part ) believe , that this mundane soul was not barely a living , but a most intelligent and wisely active being . this may be easily enough discerned by him , that shall heedfully peruse diogenes laertius's lives of the philosophers , and particularly of zeno. but at present i shall rather make use of an author , who , though he be very seldom cited for philosophical history , seems to me to have been very well vers'd in it . the writer i mean , is the acute sceptick sextus empiricus , ( who is thought to have lived about plutarch's time , and by some , to have been his nephew ; ) who recites a long ratiocination of xenophon , which , whether it be solid or not , is at least ingenious and plausible , but too prolix to be transcrib'd in this place , where it may suffice to say , that he thus concludes : est ergo mundus mente praeditus & intelligens , &c. which assertion sextus himself thus proposes for him ; si non esset aliqua mens in mundo , neque ulla mens in te esset . est autem in te mens aliqua ; ergo est etiam in mundo . et ideo mundus est mente & intelligentia praeditus . the same sceptick introduces zeno cittiens . discoursing thus ; quod immittit semen ejus quod est particeps rationis , est ipsum quoque rationis particeps . mundus autem emittit semen ejus quod est particeps rationis ; est ergo mundus rationis particeps . to which testimonies i might add many others out of the same author , who , in the same discourse , tells us , that the stoicks held the world to be an animal . but the opinion that the old philosophers , we have been speaking of , held of the world 's being endowed with an understanding or rational soul , will be yet more evident by what i now proceed to alledge , to manifest how this opinion of theirs led them to the worship of another , than the true god. sextus empiricus , in the lately cited discourse of xenophon , infers from the worlds being an intelligent being , that it is also a divine one ; for to the lately recited conclusion , est ergo mundus mente praeditus & intelligens , he immediately subjoins this other , et ideo deus . and alittle after , repeating their discourse that defended this argumentation of xenophon against an objection , he concludes their reasoning thus ; ideo mundus est mente & intelligentia praeditus : cum sit autem mente & intelligentia praeditus , est etiam deus . quemadmodum ( says also phurnutus the philosopher , ) nos anima gubernamur , sic & mundus animam habet , quae vindicet illum ab interitu ; & haec vocatur iupiter . to which agrees that in cicero's academick questions ; mundum esse sapientem , & habere mentem , quae seipsam fabricata sit , & omnia moderatur , regat . and the reasoning of the stoicks in st. augustin is very ryclear to the same purpose ; * dicunt ( saith he , speaking of the embracers of that sect ) omnia sidera partes iovis esse , & omnia vivere atque rationales animas habere , & ideo sine controversia deos esse . and socrates is introduc'd by aristophanes , as no less than invocating the air and the aether together , in these words . o rex , o imperator , aer vaste , quae terram contines suspensam , nec non splendide aether . which brings into my mind that plain confession of the poet manilius . qua pateat , mundum divino numine verti , atque ipsum esse deum . to all these i shall add that notable and express passage of the elder pliny ; † mundum & hoc quod alio nomine coelum appellare libuit , cujus circumflexu teguntur omnia , numen esse credi par est , aeternum , immensum , neque genitum , neque interiturum unquam . sacer est , aeternus , immensus , totus in toto , vero ipse totum , finitus & infinito similis , extra , intra , cuncta complexus in se , idemque naturae opus , & rerum ipsa natura . if it be objected , that the passages , i have cited out of heathen philosophers , concern the soul of the world , and not nature ; i answer , that the affinity of these two is so great , that divers of the old sages seem to have confounded them , and not to have made account of any other vniversal nature , than the soul of the world. and however , the great and pernicious errors they were led into , by the belief that the universe itself , and many of its nobler parts , besides men , were endowed , not only with life , but understanding and providence , may suffice to make us christians very jealous of admitting such a being , as that which men venerate under the name of nature : since they ascribe to it as many wonderful powers and prerogatives , as the idolaters did to their ador'd mundane soul. but i shall give a further answer to the above propos'd objection , if i can shew , how sacrilegiously they abus'd the being we are speaking of , as well under the very name of nature , as under that of the soul of the world. on this occasion i remember a passage in * seneca , that i did not expect to meet with , where , speaking of some ethnick opinions about thunder , non iovem , ( says he ) qualem in capitolio colimus , fulmina mittere , sed custodem rectoremque vniversi , animam ac spiritum mundani hujus operis dominum & artificem , cui nomen omne convenit . to which , within a few lines after , he adds , vis illam naturam vocare ? non peccabis , est enim ex quo nata sunt omnia , cujus spiritu vivimus . vis illam vocare mundum ? non falleris , ipse enim est totum quid , totus suis partibus inditus & se sustinens vi sua . and the same author elsewhere , nihil ( says he ) natura sine deo est , nec deus sine natura , sed idem est vterque . and , in another of the roman sages , we have this passage ; natura est igitur quae continet mundum omnem , eumque tuetur , & quidem non sine sensu ac ratione . and the opinion , not of a private philosopher , but of the sect of stoicks , is thus delivered by lactantius : isti uno naturae nomine res diversissimas comprehenderunt , deum & mundum , artificem & opus , dicunique alterum sine altero nihil posse , tanquam natura sit deus mundo permistus . nam inter dum sic confundunt , ut sit deus ipsa mens mundi , & mundus sit corpus dei ; quasi vero simul esse caeperint mundus & deus . and , to let you see , that in this our free enquiry , i do not , without cause , here and there style nature sometimes a semi-deity , and sometimes a goddess , and talk of some mens idolizing her ; i shall here annex part of a hymn of orpheus's , address'd immediately to nature . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. which his interpreter thus renders into latin ; o natura omnium mater dea , artificiosa admodum dea , suscitatrix honorabilis , multa creans , divina regina , omnidomans , indomita gubernatrix , ubique splendens . and after a few lines ; aetheria , terrestiis , & marina regina , &c. i know aristotle , and his commentators , do not so directly idolize nature , as did orpheus ( or whoever was the antient author of the hymns , that bear his name ; ) but yet i doubt they pass further than they can justifie , when they so freely and often assert , that natura est sapientissima , that opus naturae est opus intelligentiae , that natura fine suo nunquam excidit , that natura semper quod optimum est facit , ( to which may be added other-like axioms : ) and when they most commonly call the works of god , the works of nature , and mention him and her together , not as a creator and a creature , but as two co-ordinate governors , like the two roman consuls ; as when they say frequently , and without scruple , ( what i find to have been first by aristotle himself ) ▪ that deus & natura nihil faciunt frustra ; to which phrase may agree that expression of ovid , where , speaking of the chaos , whilst the bodies , that compos'd it , lay shuffled together , and were not yet pack'd , he says , hanc deus & melior litem natura diremit . to the recital of the irreligious errors of the ancient heathens , about the divinity of the world , and some of its principal parts , as the sun , moon , stars , aether , &c. i should add a redargution of them ; if i thought it necessary , in this place , solemnly to refute opinions , some of which are altogether precarious , and others very improbable . those greek and latin philosophers , that held the sun to be a fire , were much at a loss to find out fuel to maintain the flame . but those zabians and chaldeans that thought him indow'd , not only with a living soul , but with understanding and will , must , if they had duly consider'd things , have ben much more puzzled , to find not only food for so vast a body , ( above 160 times bigger than the terraqueous globe ) but to find in him the organs necessary to the preparation and digestion of that food , and to the other functions that belong to animal-nutrition . and , if we admit the cartesian hypothesis , the way whereby the sun , fix'd stars , and planets , are generated , will sufficiently manifest them to be neither intelligent nor living bodies . and , perhaps , i could here propose a quite other hypothesis , about the nature of the sun , and the fuel of its fire , that may be countenanc'd by some phaenomena and experiments , without making him other than an igneous , and altogether inanimate body , whose flame needs to be repair'd by fuel furnish'd to it nearer hand , than from the sea or earth . but i purposely omit such objections against the opinion i oppose , as , though drawn from the dictates of sound philosophy , about the origine of things , may be question'd without being to be clear'd in few words . 't is also without proof , that 't is presum'd and asserted , that the coelestial bodies , newly mention'd , are indow'd with understanding and prudence , especially , so as to be able to know the particular conditions and transactions of men , and hear and grant the prayers of their worshippers . and the moon , which was one of their principal deities , and by them prefer'd before all the other planets and stars , the sun excepted , is so rude and mountainous a body , that 't is a wonder that speculative men , who consider'd how many , how various , and how noble functions belong to a sensitive soul , could think , a lump or mass of matter , so very remote from being fitly organiz'd , should be animated and govern'd by a true living & sensitive soul. i know that both these deifiers of the coelestial globes , and also the heathen disciples of aristotle , besides divers of the same mind , even among the christians , say great and lofty things of the quintessential nature of the heavenly bodies , and their consequent incorruptibility ; of the regularity of their motions , and of their divine quality of light , that makes them refulgent . but the persuasion they had , of this quintessential nature of the superior part of the world , was not , if i guess aright , grounded upon any solid physical reason , but was entertain'd by them for its congruity to the opinion they had of the divinity of the coelestial bodies : of which , aristotle himself , especially in his books de coelo , speaks in such a way , as hath not a little contributed , among his followers ; to such an excessive veneration for those bodies , as is neither agreeable to true philosophy , nor friendly to true religion . he himself takes notice , that the pythagoreans held our earth to be one of the planets , and that it moved about the sun , which they plac'd in the middle of the world. and since this hypothesis , of the earths motion , was in the last age reviv'd by copernicus , not only those great men keplerus , galileo , and gassendus , but most of the best modern astronomers ; and , besides des-cartes and his sect , many other naturalists have imbrac'd this hypothesis : which , indeed , is far more agreeable to the phaenomena , not only than the doctrine of aristotle , ( who was plainly mistaken about the order and consistence of the heavens ) but than the ancient and generally received ptolomaick system . now , supposing the terraqueous globe to be a planet , he that considers , that 't is but a round mass of very heterogeneous substances , ( as appears by the differing natures of its great constituent parts , land and sea ) whose surface is very rude and uneven , and its body opacous , unless as it happens to be inlightned by the the sun , moon , and stars , and so very inorganical for so much as nutrition , that it seems wholly unfit to be a living animal , much less a rational one . i say , he that considers such things will scarce be forward to ascribe understanding and providence , much less a divine nature , to the other stars . as for instance , to the moon , which our best telescopes manifest to be a very craggy and mountainous body , consisting of parts of very differing textures , ( as appears by her brighter parts and permanent spots ) and which of herself is opacous , having no manifest light , but what she borrows from the sun , and perhaps from the earth . as for the boasted immutability of the heavenly bodies , besides that it may be very probably call'd in question by the phaenomena of some ( for i do not say every one ) of the comets , that by their parallax were found to be above the moon , and consequently in the coelestial region of the world ; besides this , i say , the incorruptibleness and immutability of the heavenly bodies is more than probably disproveable by the sudden and irregular generation , changes and destruction , of the spots of the sun : which are sometimes so suddenly destroyed , that , i remember , in the year 1660. on the 8 th of may , having left in the morning a spot , whose motions we had long observ'd through an excellent telescope , with an expectation , that it would last many days visible to us , we were surpriz'd to find , that when we came to observe it again in the evening , it was quite dissipated , though it seemed thick ; and by comparing it to the sun , we estimated the extent of its surface to be equal to that of all europe . as to the constancy of the motions of the stars ; if the earth , which we know to be inanimated , be a planet , it moves as constantly and regularly about the sun , ( in that which they call the great orb , ) as the other planets do , or as the moon doth about the earth . and i consider , that though we should suppose our globe not to be a planet , yet there would manifestly be a constant motion , and regular enough , of a great part of it : since ( bating some anomali's , that shores , winds , and some other extrinsick things , occasion , ) there is a regular ebbing and flowing twice a day , and also spring-tides twice a month , of that vast aggregate of waters , the ocean ; which perhaps is not inferior in bulk to the whole body of the moon , and whereof also vast tracts are sometimes observed to shine . and lastly , whereas a great proof of the divinity of the stars is taken from their light ; though i grant it to be the noblest of sensible qualities , yet i cannot think it a good proof of the divine , or very excellent , nature of bodies endow'd with it , whether they be coelestial or not . for whereas the zabians and chaldeans consider'd and ador'd the planets , as the chief gods , our telescopes discover to us , that , except the sun , ( if he be one , rather than a fix'd star ) they shine but by a borrow'd light ; in so much that venus , as vividly luminous as it appears to the naked eye , is sometimes seen ( as i have beheld it ) horn'd like the moon in no long time after her change. and at this rate also the earth , whether it be a planet or no , is a luminous body , being enlightned by the sun : and possibly , as a body forty times bigger , communicates more light to the moon , than it receives from her , as is probably argued from the light seen on the surface of the moon in some of her eclipses . and , though in the night , when the darkness hath widened the pupils of our eyes , and the moon shines with an unrival'd lustre , she seems exceeding bright , yet she may be , for ought i know , more opacous than the solid part of the terrestrial globe . for i remember , that i have more than once heedfully observ'd a small cloud in the west , where the moon then was , about sun-set ; and comparing them together , the little cloud , as opacous and loose a body as it was , reflected the light as strongly to my eye , as did the moon , that seem'd perhaps to be not far from it , both of them appearing like little whitish clouds , though afterwards , as the sun descended lower and lower beneath the horizon , the moon grew more and more luminous . and , speaking of light indfienitely , 't is so far from arguing a divine nature in the bodies that are endow'd with it , whether , as the planets , by participation from an external illuminant , or as the sun , from an internal principle ; that a burn'd stone , witness that of bolonia , will afford , in proportion to its bulk , incomparably more borrow'd light than one of the planets . and a light from its internal constitution may be found , not only in such abject creatures as insects , whether winged , as the cucupias of hispaniola , or creeping , as our glow-worms ; but also in bodies inanimate and corrupted , as in rotten wood , in stinking whitings , and divers other putrify'd fishes . i cannot now stay to enquire , how the zabians , and such idolaters as they , could make out the connexion , symmetry , and subordination or dependance of the several parts of the world , compos'd of so many different and distant beings , endowed not only with animal souls , but with their distinct and peculiar understandings and wills , and many of them also with divine nature . nor shall i consider , how strange a monster , rather than an animal and a deity , those many heathen philosophers and their adherents must make of the universe , who held it to be but one ; and yet were of the paradoxical opinion , that ( as hath been elsewhere noted ) is roundly profess'd by stobaeus , at the very beginning of his physical eclogues , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , &c. i. e. iupiter ( quidem ) totus mundus est : animal ex animalibus ; numen ex numinibus compositum . these , i say , and the like objections against the pagan doctrine , i must not now insist on , because i perceive that i have slipp'd into a somewhat long digression , which yet perhaps may not be altogether unseasonable or useless , ) which therefore i shall here break off , to resume and conclude the discourse , that this section was allotted to , which i might easily have enlarg'd , but i presume there is enough said in it already , to let you see , that 't is a dangerous thing to believe other creatures , than angels and men , to be intelligent and rational ; especially to afcribe to any of them an architectonick , provident and governing power . and though i readily acknowledge , that that there is no great danger , that well instructed christians should , like some heathens , worship nature as a goddess ; yet the things i formerly alledg'd , to shew it unsafe to cherish opinions , of kin to those that mis-led a multitude even of philosophers , make me fear too many , and not a few of the learned themselves , may have a veneration for what they call nature , much greater than belongs to a meer creature : if they do not , to use a scripture expresssion , worship the creature , above or besides the creator , who , and not the world , nor the soul of it , is the true god. and though i should grant , that the received notion of nature doth neither subvert , nor much endanger any principle of religion : yet that is not enough for the purpose of those naturists i reason with , since they are here supposed to make it a fault in others , not to ascribe to the nature they venerate , as much as themselves do : and they represent their own notion of it , not only as innocent , but as very useful , if not necessary to religion . ] sect . v. iv. i come now , eleutherius , to acquaint you with some of the reasons , that have made me backward to entertain such a notion of nature , as i have hitherto discours'd of . and i shall at present comprise them under the following five . i. the first whereof , is , that such a nature , as we are speaking of , seems to me to be either asserted , or assum'd without sufficient proof . and this single reason , if it be well made out , may , i think , suffice for my turn . for , in matters of philosophy , where we ought not to take up any thing upon trust , or believe it without proof , 't is enough to keep us from believing a thing , that we have no positive argument to induce us to assent to it , though we have no particular arguments against it . and , if this rule be to take place in lesser cases , sure it ought to hold in this , where we are to entertain the belief of so catholick an agent , that all the others are look'd upon but as its instruments , that act in subordination to it ; and which , being said to have an immediate agency in many of the phaenomena of the world , cannot but be suppos'd to be demonstrable by divers of them . i have yet met with no physical arguments , either demonstrative , or so much as considerably probable , to evince the existence of the nature , we examin . and , though i should admit the use , that some divines contend for , of the holy scriptures in philosophical controversies , yet i should not be persuaded of the existence of the nature , we dispute of . for , i do not remember , that the scripture any where declares to us , that there is such a thing , ( in the sense by me question'd ) though ( as i formerly noted more fully in the iv. section , ) in genesis and some other places , where the corporeal works of god are expresly treated of , ( though in order to spiritual ends ) one might probably enough expect to find some mention of god's grand vicegerent in the universe of bodies , if he had establish'd any such . but , whatever be the true cause of the scriptur's silence about this matter , the silence itself is sufficient to justifie me , for examining freely , by reason , a thing that is not impos'd on my belief by revelation . and , as for the physical arguments that may be brought in favour of the question'd notion of nature , i shall , e're long , examine the principal of them , and shew that they are not convincing . to these things may be added , as to the proof drawn from the general opinion about nature , that , being a popular , not a physical argument , it may indeed pass for currant with the vulgar , but ought not to do so with philosophers . ii. the second reason is taken from the unnecessariness of such a nature , as is pretended . for , since a great part of the work of true philosophers has been , to reduce the principles of things to the smallest number they can , without making them insufficient ; i see not , why we should take in a principle , of which we have no need . for , supposing the common matter of all bodies to have been at first divided into innumerable minute parts , by the wise author of nature , and these parts to have been so dispos'd of , as to form the world , constituted as it now is ; and especially , supposing that the vniversal laws of motion , among the parts of the matter , have been establish'd , and several conventions of particles contrived into the seminal principles of various things ; all which may be effected by the meer local motion of matter , ( not left to itself , but skilfully guided at the beginning of the world ) if ( i say ) we suppose these things , together with god's ordinary and general concourse , which we very reasonably may : i see not , why the same phaenomena , that we now observe in the world , should not be produc'd , without taking in any such powerful and intelligent being , distinct from god , as nature is represented to be . and , 'till i see some instance produc'd to the contrary , i am like to continue of this mind , and to think that the phaenomena , we observe , will genuinely follow from the meer fabrick and constitution of the world. as , supposing the sun and moon to have been put , at first , into such motions about the earth , as experience shews they have ; the determinate celerity of these motions , and the lines , wherein they are performed , will make it necessary , that the moon should be sometimes full , sometimes scarce illuminated at all to us-ward , sometimes horned , and , in a word , should exhibit such several phases as every month she doth , and that at some times she and the sun should have a trine , or a quadrate aspect , &c. and that now one , and now the other of them , should at set times suffer an eclipse : though these eclipses were by the romans and others of old , and are by many unlearn'd nations at this day , look'd upon as supernatural things ; and though also aristotle , and a multitude of his followers , fancy'd , that such regular motions could not be maintain'd without an assistent intelligence , which he and they therefore assign'd to each of the heavenly orbs. and indeed the difficulty , we find , to conceive , how so great a fabrick , as the world , can be preserved in order , and kept from running again to a chaos , seems to arise from hence , that men do not sufficiently consider the unsearchable wisdom of the divine architect or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( as the scripture styles him ) of the world , whose piercing eyes were able to look at once quite through the universe , and take into his prospect both the beginning and end of time : so that perfectly fore-knowing , what would be the consequences of all the possible conjunctures of circumstances , into which matter , divided and mov'd according to such laws , could , in an automaton so constituted as the present world is , happen to be put ; there can nothing fall out , unless when a miracle is wrought , that shall be able to alter the course of things , or prejudice the constitution of them , any further , than he did from the beginning foresee , and think fit to allow . nor am i sure , that the received notion of nature , though it be not necessary , is at least very useful , to explicate physical phaenomena . for , besides that , i shall shew e're long , that several explications , where recourse to it is presum'd to be the most advantagious , are not to be allow'd : to give the nature of a things for the cause of this or that particular quality , or operation of it , is to leave men as ignorant as they were before ; or , at least , is to acknowledg , that a philosopher can , in such cases , assign no better particular and immediate causes of things , than a shepherd or a tradesman , that never learnt natural philosophy , can assign of the same things , and of a thousand others . and though it be true , ( as i formerly also intimated ) that , in many cases , philosophers themselves can answer no otherwise , to such questions as may be propos'd to them , than by having recourse to the nature of the thing ; yet such answerers do not declare the proper cause of a dark phaenomenon , but only that he , who imploys them , does not yet know it : and so this indefinite notion of nature , which is equally applicable to the resolving of all difficulties , is not useful to disclose the thing , but to delude the maker of the question , or hide the ignorance of the answerer . iii. my third argument is , that the nature , i question , is so dark and odd a thing , that 't is hard to know what to make of it , it being scarce , if at all , intelligibly propos'd , by them that lay most weight upon it . for it appears not clearly , whether they will have it to be a corporeal substance , or an immaterial one , or some such thing , as may seem to be betwixt both ; such as many peripateticks do represent substantial forms , and what they call real qualities , which divers school-men hold to be ( at least by miracle ) separable from all matter whatsoever . if it be merely corporeal , i confess , i understand not , how it can be so wise , and almost omniscient an agent , as they would have it pass for . besides that , if it be a body , i would gladly know , what kind of body it is , and how , since , among bodies , there can be no penetration of dimensions , this body can so intimately pervade , as they pretend nature does , all the other bodies of the world ? and to this i would add divers other questions , that would not be easily answered . ( but i shall resume this third argument in another place . ) if it be said , that nature is a semi-substantia , as some of the modernest schoolmen are pleas'd to call substantial forms , and real qualities ; i roundly answer , that i acknowledge no such chymerical and unintelligible beings , and shall only desire you to apply to them a good part of the discourse , made in certain papers , occasion'd by a chymico-physical essay about salt-petre , against the pretended origine , and inexplicable nature , of the imaginary substantial forms of the peripateticks . it remains therefore , that this nature , we speak of , if it be any thing positive , should be an immaterial substance . but to have recourse to such an one , as a physical agent , and not only a determiner , but the grand author , of the motion of bodies , and that , especially in such familiar phaenomena , as the ascension of water in pumps , the suspension of it in watering-pots for gardens , the running of it through siphons , and i know not how many others ) and to explain its casuality , as they speak , will , i think , prove a work exceeding difficult : though i shall not here spend time to shew you the farther inconveniences of such a supposition , being to do that hereafter ; and , in the mean-while , contenting myself to observe , as to many of the naturists , that , though their doctrine may favour it , they seem rather content to talk darkly , and uncertainly , of what they call nature , than by clearly-defining it , expose it to objections not easie to be answered , and who foresee the advantage , that the unsetledness of the notion gives them , to pretend knowledg , or disguise ignorance . iv. since many of the most learned amongst the naturists are christians , and not few of them divines too , it may not be improper ( which else i should , perhaps , think it would be , ) to add , in this place , that the next thing , for which i dislike the vulgar notion ( or idea ) of nature , is , that i think it dangerous to religion in general , and consequently to the christian. for this erroneous conceit defrauds the true god of divers acts of veneration and gratitude , that are due to him from men , upon the account of the visible world , and diverts them to that imaginary being they call nature , which has no title to them ; for , whilst nature is suppos'd to be an intelligent thing , that wisely and benignly administers all that is done among bodies , 't is no wonder that the generality of philosophers , and , after their example , of other men , should admire and praise her , for the wonderful , and for the useful things that they observe in the world. and , in effect , though nature , in that sense of the word i am speaking of , be never ( that i remember ) to be found in the sacred writings ; yet , nothing is to be more frequently met with ( and that adorn'd with titles and encomiums ) in the books of philosophers , than nature and her effects . and , if we consider , that , whatever has been said , by some , in excuse of aristotle himself , yet the generality of the peripateticks , from whom the vulgar notion of nature is chiefly receiv'd , made the world to be eternal , and referr'd all the transactions among the bodies it contains , to what they call'd nature . whence , 't will not be difficult to perceive , that , if they do not quite exclude god , yet , as they leave him no interest in the first formation of the universe ; so they leave him but very little in the administration of the parts it consists of , especially the sublunary ones . so that , instead of the true god , they have substituted , for us , a kind of a goddess , with the title of nature : which , as they look upon as the immediate agent and director in all excellent productions , so they ascribe to her the praise and glory of them. whether this great error , in a point of such importance , may not undermine the foundation of religion , i think it may not irrationally be suspected . for , since the most general and efficacious argument , that has persuaded philosophers , and other men , that there is a god and a consideration of the providence , is afforded by the visible world , wherein so many operations and other things are observ'd , that are manag'd ( or perform'd ) with such conduct and benignity , as cannot justly be ascrib'd but to the wisdom and goodness of a deity : they that ascribe these things to mere nature , do much weaken the force of that argument , if they do not quite take away the necessity of acknowledging a deity , by shewing , that , without any need of having recourse to him , of the administration of the world and of what is perform'd among things corporeal , an account may be given . though , when men are put upon considering the matter , and press'd to declare themselves more clearly , they are asham'd to affirm , that god and nature are the same thing , and , will confess , that she is but his vicegerent ; yet , in practise , their admiration and their praises are frequently given to nature , not to god : in like manner , as , though the sun be the fountain of light , and the moon derives all hers from the sun ; yet the sea , in its grand motions of ebbing and flowing , appears to respect the moon , and not the sun : for thus , the generality of men , though they will acknowledg that nature is inferior and subordinate to god , do yet appear to regard her more than him. to be short , nature uses to be so frequently recurr'd to , and is so magnifi'd in the writings of physiologers , that the excessive veneration men have for nature , as it has made some philosophers ( as the epicureans ) deny god , so , 't is to be fear'd , that it makes many forget him : and , perhaps , a suspicious person would venture to add , that , if other principles hindred not ( as , i know , that in many , and , think , that in most , of the christian naturists they do , ) the erroneous idea of nature would , too often , be found to have a strong tendency to shake , if not to subvert , the very foundations of all religion ; mis-leading those that are inclin'd to be its enemies , from overlooking the necessity of a god , to the questioning , if not to the denyal , of his existence . v. my fifth and last argument is taken from hence ; that i observe divers phaenomena , which do not agree with the notion or representation of nature , that i question . for , if indeed there were such an intelligent , powerful and vigilant being , as philosophers are wont to describe nature to be , divers things would not be done , which experience assures us are done . and here i shall once for all give an advertisement , which i desire may be call'd to mind , whenever there shall be occasion , in the following part of this tract , which is this ; that , because inanimate bodies are usually more simple , or less compounded , and of a slighter and less complicated or curious contrivance , than animals or plants , i thought fit to chuse most of the instances i employ , rather among lifeless bodies , whose structure and qualities are more easy to be intelligibly and with brevity discours'd of , than among living creatures , whose textures , being organical , are much more intricate and subtil . and this course i did not scruple to take , because the celebraters of nature give her a province , or rather an empire , as large as the world , and will have her care and jurisdiction reach , as well to inanimate as to living bodies ; and accordingly most of the conspicuous instances they alledge , of her providence and power , are taken from bodies destitute of life ; as when they tell us , that the ascension of water in sucking-pumps , and the sustentation of it in gardeners watering-pots , are caus'd by nature's abhorrence of a vacuum : that heavy bodies ( unhinder'd ) fall to the ground in a perpendicular line , because nature directs them the shortest way to the centre of the earth ; and that bubbles rise thro' the water , and flames ascend in the air , because nature directs these bodies to re-join themselves to their respective elements ; to omit other instances of this sort , that there will be occasion to mention hereafter : till when , these may suffice to warrant my taking most of my instances from inanimate bodies ; though i shall not confine my self to these , especially when i shall come to answer objections that are taken from living creatures . the foregoing advertisement will be , i hope , found conducive to clear the way for my fifth argument , lately propos'd , which concludes , that , if indeed there were such a being , as nature is usually represented to be , several things would be otherwise administred in the universe , than experience shews they are . to enumerate all the particulars that may be propos'd to make this good , would swell this discourse much beyond the bulk to which my haste obliges me to confine it . but , to make you amends for the paucity of instances , i shall now name , by the kind of them , i shall propose such as , for the most part , are taken from those very things , whence the wisdom and vigilancy of nature is wont to be confidently argued , which i the rather do , that by such i may make way for , and shorten the answers i am to give to the arguments e're-long to be examined . first then , whereas the great care and vigilancy of nature , for the common good of the universe , is wont to be demonstrated from the watchful care she takes , to prevent or replenish a vacuum , which would be very prejudicial to the fabrick of the world : i argue the quite contrary from the phaenomena , that occur about a vacuum . for whereas 't is alledg'd , that nature , in great pumps , and in the like cases , lifts up the heavy body of water in spight of its tendency towards the centre of the earth , to obviate , or fill up a vacuity ; and that out of a gardener's pot , or inverted pipe , stopp'd at one end , neither the water , nor even quick-silver , that is near fourteen times as heavy , will fall down , lest it should leave a vacuum behind it ; i demand how it comes to pass , that , if a glass-pipe be but a foot longer than 34 or 35 feet ; or an inverted tube , fill'd with quick-silver , be but a finger's breadth longer than 30 inches , the water in the one , and the quick-silver in the other , will subside , though the one will leave but about a foot , and the other but about an inch , of deserted space , which they call vacuum , at the top of the glass . is it possible , that nature , that in pumps is said to raise up every day so many hundred ton of water , and , if you will believe the schools , would raise it to any height , ( left there should be a vacuum ) should not have the discretion , or the power , to lift up , or sustain , as much water as would serve to fill one foot in a glass-tube , or as much quick-silver as an inch of a slender pipe will contain , to obviate or replenish the vacuum , she is said so much to abhor ? sure , at this rate , she must either have very little power , or very little knowledge of the power she has . so likewise , when a glass-bubble is blown very thin at the flame of a lamp , and hermetically seal'd whilst 't is very hot , the cause , that is rendered , why 't is apt to break , when it grows cold , is , that the inward air , which was before rarefied by the heat , coming to be condens'd by the cold , left the space deserted by the air , that thus contracts itself , should be left void , nature , with violence , breaks the glass in pieces . but , by these learned mens favour , if the glass be blown but a little stronger than ordinary , though at the flame of a lamp , the bubble , as i have often tryed , will continue unbroken , in spight of natures pretended abhorrency of a vacuum : which needs not at all to be recurr'd to in the case . for the reason , why the thin glass-bubble broke not when 't was hot , and did when it grew cold , is plainly this ; that , in the former state , the agitation of the included air , by the heat , did so strengthen the spring of it , that the glass was thereby assisted and enabled to resist the weight of the incumbent air : whereas , upon the cessation of that heat , the debilitated spring of the internal , being unable to assist the glass , as formerly , to resist the pressure of the external air , the glass itself being too thin becomes unable to support the weight or pressure of the incumbent air , the atmosphaerical pillar , that leans upon a bubble of about two inches diameter , amounting to above one hundred pound weight ; as may be manifestly concluded from a late experiment that i have try'd , and you may meet with in another paper . and the reason , why , if the bubble be blown of a due thickness , it will continue whole after it is cold , is , that the thickness of it , though but faintly assisted by the weakned spring of the included air , is sufficient to support the weight of the incumbent air , though , several times , i have observed , the pressure of the atmosphaere , and the resistence of the bubble , to have been , by accident , so near the aequipollent , that a much less outward force , than one would imagine , applyed to the glass , as , perhaps , a pound , or a less weight , gently laid on it , would enable the outward air to break it , with noise , into a multitude of pieces . and , now give me leave to consider , how ill this experiment , and the above-mentioned phaenomena , that happen in glass-pipes , wherein water and quick-silver subside , agree with the vulgar apprehension , men have of nature . for , if in case she did not hinder the falling down of the water , or the quicksilver , there would be no such vacuum produced , as she is said to abhor ; why does she seem so solicitious to hinder it ? and why does she keep three or four and thirty foot of water in perpendicular height , contrary to the nature of all heavy bodies , suspended in the tube ? and , why does she furiously break in pieces a thin seal'd bubble , such as i come from speaking of , to hinder a vacuum ? if in case she did not break it , no vacuum would ensue . and , on the other side , if we admit her endeavours , to hinder a vacuum , not to have been superfluous , and consequently foolish , we must confess , that , where these endeavours succeed not , there is really produc'd such a vacuum , as she is said to abhor . so that , as i was saying , either she must be very indiscreet to trouble herself , and to transgress her own ordinary laws , to prevent a danger she need not fear ; or her strength must be very small , that is not able to fill a vacuity , that half a pint of water , or an ounce of quick-silver , may replenish ; or break a tender glass-bubble , which , perhaps , a pound weight on it , would , with the help of so light a body as the incumbent air , crush in pieces . the other grand instance , that is given of the wisdom of nature , and her watchfulness for the good of the whole world , is , the appetite she has implanted in all heavy bodies , to descend to the centre of the earth , and in all light ones , to ascend towards heaven ; or , as some would have it , towards the element of fire , contiguous to the orb of the moon . but , for positive levity , 'till i see it better prov'd , than it hath hitherto been , i allow no such thing implanted in sublunary bodies ; the praepollent gravity of some , sufficing to give others a comparative or respective lightness . as a piece of oak , or the like wood , being let go in the air , falls down by its own gravity , or rather by virtue of the efficient of that gravity ; but if it be let go under water , it will , though it be never so great a log or piece of timber , ascend , with a considerable force , to the top of the water ; which , i hope , will not be ascribed to a positive levity , since , when it descended in the air , 't was by its gravity that it did so . but not to insist on this , nor to take notice , how wisely nature has implanted into all heavy bodies an appetite to descend to the centre of the earth , which , being but a point , is not able to contain any one of them ; not to urge these things , i say , i will only invite you to consider one of the most familiar things that occur among heavy bodies . for , if , for example , you let fall a ball upon the ground , it will rebound to a good height , proportionable to that from whence you let it fall , or , perhaps , will make several lesser rebounds , before it come to rest . it it be now ask'd , why the ball , being let out of your hand , does not fall on this or that side , or move upwards , but falls directly toward the centre of the earth , by that shortest line , ( which mechanitians call linea directionis ) which is the diameter of the earth prolong'd to the centre of gravity of the ball ? 't will be readily answer'd , that this proceeds from the balls gravity , i. e. an innate appetite , whereby it tends to the centre of the earth the nearest way . but then i demand , whence comes this rebound , i. e. this motion upwards ? for , 't is plain , 't is the genuine consequence of the motion downwards , and therefore is encreas'd according as that motion in the ball was encreas'd , by falling from a greater height : so that it seems , that nature does , in such cases , play a very odd game , since she forces a ball , against the laws of heavy bodies , to ascend divers times upwards , upon the account of that very gravity , whose office it is to carry it downwards the directest way : and , at least , she seems , in spight of the wisdom ascribed to her , to take her m●asures very ill , in making the ball move downwards with so much violence , as makes it , divers times , fly back from the place she intended it should go to . as if a ball which a child can play with , and direct as he pleases , were so unweildy a thing , that nature cannot manage it , without letting it be hurried on with far greater violence , than her design requires . the reflection , i have been making on a ball , may ( mutatis mutandis , as they speak ) be applyed to a pendulum . for , since 't is unanimously affirm'd , by all that have written of it , that it falls to the perpendicular , upon the account of its gravity : it must not be deny'd , that 't is from a motion proceeding from the same gravity , that the swinging weight passes beyond the perpendicular , and consequently ascends , and oftentimes makes a multitude of diadroms , or vibrations ; and consequently , does very frequently ascend , before it comes to rest in the perpendicular : which is the position wherein its gravity is best comply'd with , and which therefore it had been best setled in at first . i shall not here mention those grand anomalies , or exorbitances , even in the vaster bodies of the universe ; such as earth-quakes , that reach some hundreds of leagues , deluges , destructive eruptions of fire , famines of a large spread , raging pestilences , coelestial comets , spots in the sun , that are recorded to have obscured it for many months ; the sudden appearing , the dis-appearing , and the re-appearing of stars , that have been judg'd to be as high , as the region of the fix'd ones . i will not , i say , enquire how far these anomalies agree to the character wont to be given of natures watchfulness and vigilancy , because , probably , i may have hereafter a fit opportunity to do it , and must now proceed to the remaining instances i promis'd you , which are taken from what happens to animals : as soon as i shall have dispatch'd some considerations and advertisements , that seem necessary to be premis'd , to what i have to offer about that difficult subject . if the past discourse give rise to a question , whether the world , and the creatures that compose it , are as perfect as they could be made ? the question seems to me , because of the ambiguity of the terms , too intricate to be resolv'd by a single answer . but yet , because the problem is not wont to be discuss'd , and is , in my opinion , of moment , in reference to natural theology ; i shall venture briefly to intimate some of the thoughts that occurr'd to me about it : having first declar'd , that i am , with reason , very backward to be positive in a matter of this nature , the extent of the divine power and wisdom being such , that its bounds , in case it have any , are not known to me . this premis'd , i consider , that the sense of the question may be , whether god could make the material world , and the corporeal creatures it consists of , better and more perfect that they are ? speaking in a general way and absolute sense : or else , whether the particular kinds or orders of the creatures , in the world , could any of them be made more perfect or better , than they have been made ? to answer the question in the first-nam'd sense of it , i think it very unsafe to deny , that god , who is almighty and omniscient , and an owner of perfections , which , for ought we know , are participable in more different manners and degrees than we can comprehend , could not display , if it be not fitter to say adumbrate , them , by creating a work more excellent than this world. and , his immense power and unexhausted wisdom considered , it will not follow , either , that because this world of ours is an admirable piece of workmanship , the divine architect could not have better'd it ; or , because god himself is able to make a greater master-piece , this exquisitely contriv'd system is not admirably excellent . but the propos'd question , in the other sense of it , will require some more words to resolve it . for , if we look upon the several species of visible creatures , under a more absolute consideration , without respect to the great system of the universe , of which they are parts , or to the more particular designs of the creator ; it seems manifest , that many sorts of creatures might have been more perfect than they are , since they want many compleating things , that others are indow'd with ; as an oyster , that can neither hear , nor see , nor walk , nor swim , nor fly , &c. is not so perfect a creature , as an eagle , or an elephant , that have both those senses that the oyster wants , and a far more active faculty of changing places : and , of this inequality of perfection in creatures of differing kinds , the examples are too obvious to need to be enumerated . but if the question be better propos'd , and it be inquir'd , not whether god could have made more perfect creatures , than many of those he has made , for that , 't is plain , he could do , because he has done it ; but , whether the creatures were not so curiously and skilfully made , that 't was scarce possibly they could have been better made , with due regard to all the wise ends he may be suppos'd to have had in making them , it will be hard to prove a negative answer . this i shall indeavour to illustrate by a supposition . if one should come into the well-furnish'd shop of an excellent watch-maker , and should there see a plain watch , design'd barely to shew the hour of the day ; another , that strikes the hours ; a third that is also furnish'd with an alarm ; a fourth , that , besides these , shews the month current , and the day of it ; and lastly , a fifth , that , over and above all these , shews the motions of the sun , moon and planets , the tydes , and other things , which may be seen in some curious watches . in this case , i say , the spectator , supposing him judicious , would , indeed , think one of these watches far more excellent and compleat than another ; but yet he would conclude each of them to be perfect in its own own kind , and the plain watch to answer the artificer's idea and design in making it , as well as the more compounded and elaborate one did . the same thing may , in some circumstances , be further illustrated , by considering the copy of some excellent writing-master , for , though there we may find some leaves written in an italian hand , others in a secretary , and , in others , hands of other denominations ; though one of these patterns may be much fairer , and more curious than another , if they be compar'd together ; yet , if we consider their equal conformity to the respective idea's of the author , and the suitableness to the design he had of making each copy , not as curious , sightly and flourishing as he could , but as conformable to the true idea of the sort of hand he meant to exhibit , and the design he had to shew the variety , number and justness of his skill , by that of the patterns he made compleat in the respective kinds ; we shall not think , that any of them could have been better'd by him : and if he should have made a text-hand as fair as a roman-hand , by giving it more beauty and ornament , he would not have made it better in its kind , but spoil'd it , and , by a flourish of his skill , might have given a proof of his want of judgment . but , to return thither whence i began to make this excursion , perhaps , eleutherius , you will object against the examples i have produc'd before it , that the exceptions , i have taken at some of the proceedings of nature , may be as well urg'd against providence , and exclude the one as well as the other , from the government of the world. but to this i answer , that this objection is foreign to the question , which is about mens notion of nature , not god's providence ; which , if it were here my task to assert , i should establish it upon its proper and solid grounds : such , as the infinite perfections of the divine nature , which both engage and enable him to administer his dominion over all things ; his being the author and supporter of the world ; the exquisite contrivance of the bodies of animals , which could not proceed but from a stupendious wisdom ; the supernatural revelations and discoveries he has made of himself , and of his particular care of his creatures , by prophecies , apparitions , true miracles , and other ways , that transcend the power , or overthrow , or , at least , over-rule the physical laws of motion in matter : by these , i say , and the like proper means , i would evince divine providence . but being not now oblig'd to make an attempt , which deserves to be made very solemnly , and not in such haste as i now write in . i shall , at present , only observe to you , that the case is very differing between providence and nature , and therefore there is no necessity , that the objections , i have made against the later , should hold against the former . as , ( to give you a few instances of the disparity ) in the first place , it appears not , nor is it likely , that 't is the design of providence to hinder those anomalies and defects , i have been mentioning : whereas , 't is said , to be the duty and design of nature , and her only task , to keep the universe in order , and procure , in all the bodies that compose it , that things be carried on , in the best and most regular way that may be , for their advantage . secondly , nature is confess'd to be a thing inferior to god , and so but a subordinate agent , and therefore cannot , without disparagement to her power , or wisdom , or vigilancy , suffer divers things to be done , which may , without degradation to god , be permitted by him ; who is not only a self-existent and independent being , but the supream and absolute lord , and , if i may so speak , the proprietor of the whole creation : whence both melchizedec and abram style him , ( gen. xiv . 19 , 23. ) not only the most high god , but , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 koneh , possessing ( or , as our version has it , possessor of ) heaven and earth : and who , when he made the world , and established the laws of motion , gave them to matter , not to himself . and so , being obliged to none , either as his superior , or benefactor , he was not bound to make , or administer , corporeal things after the best manner , that he could , for the good of the things themselves : among which , those that are capable of gratitude , ought to praise and thank him , for having vouchsafed them so much as they have , and have no right to except against his having granted them no more . and , as being thus oblig'd to none of his works , he has a sovereign right to dispose of them ; so , he has other attributes , which he may justly exercise , and both intend and expect to be glorified for , besides his goodness to inferior creatures : and his wisdom may be better set off to men , and perhaps to angels or intelligences , by the great variety of his contrivances in his works , than by making them all of the excellentest kind : as shadows in pictures , and discords in musick , skilfully plac'd and order'd , do much recommend the painter , and the musician . perhaps it may be added , that the permitting the course of things to be somewhat violated , shews , by the mischief such exorbitances do , how good god has been in setling and preserving the orderly course of things . thirdly , as god is a most absolute and free , so he is an omniscient , being ; and , as , by his supream dominion over the works of his hands , he has a right to dispose of them , as he thinks best for his own glory , so upon the score of his unfathomable wisdom , he may have designs , and , if i may so speak , reaches , in the anomalies that happen in the world , which we men are too short-sighted to discern ; and may exercise as much wisdom , nay , and as much providence ( in reference to man , the noblest visible object of his providence ) in sometimes ( as in divine miracles ) receding from what men call the laws of nature , as he did at first in establishing them : whereas the office of nature , being but to preserve the universe in general , and particular bodies in it , after the best manner that their respective conditions will permit ; we know , what 't is she aims at , and , consequently , can better discern , when she misses of her aims , by not well acting what is presum'd to be her part. fourthly , we must consider , that , as god is an independent , free and wise , so he is also a just agent ; and therefore may very well be suppos'd to cause many irregularities and exorbitances in the world , to punish those , that men have been guilty of . and , whereas nature is but a nursing-mother to the creatures , and looks e'ne upon wicked men , not in their moral but in their physical capacities , god expresly declares , in the sacred scriptures , that , upon adam's fall , he curs'd the ground , or earth , for man's sake , gen. iii. 17 , 18. and that there is no penal evil in the city that is not deriv'd from him , amos iii. 6. he is not over-rul'd , as men are fain to say of erring nature , by the head-strong motions of the matter , but sometimes purposely over-rules the regular ones , to execute his justice ; & therefore plagues , earth-quakes , inundations , and the like destructive calamities , though they are sometimes irregularities in nature , yet , for that very reason , they are design'd by providence ; which intends , by them , to deprive wicked men of that life , or of those blessings of life , whereof their sins have render'd them unworthy . but , whil'st i mention designs , i must not forget , that mine was only to give you a tast of the considerations , by which one may shew , that such things , as manifest nature to act unsuitably to the representation that is made of her , may yet , when attributed to divine providence , be made out to have nothing inconsistent with it. and yet , somewhat further to clear this weighty matter , and particularly some things , but briefly hinted in what i have been lately discoursing , i think it fit , before i descend to the particulars , that i am to employ against the vulgar notion of nature , to premise somewhat by way of caution , that i may do some right ( though i can never do enough , ) to divine providence ; and take care betimes , that no use , injurious to it , may be made of any thing that my argument hath oblig'd me , or will oblige me , to say about that imaginary thing , vulgarly call'd nature , either in this or the vi. section , or any other part of our present enquiry . i conceive then , that the divine author of things , in making the world , and the particular creatures that compose it , had respect to several ends ; some of them knowable by us men , and others hid in the abyss of the divine wisdom and counsels . and that of those ends , which are either manifest enough to us , or , at least , discoverable by human sagacity and industry , some of the principal are , the manifestation of the glory of god , the utility of man , and the maintenance of the system of the world ; under which is comprised , the conservation of particular creatures , and , also , the propagation of some kinds of them . but this general design of god , for the welfare of man and other creatures , is not ( as i conceive ) to be understood , but with a twofold limitation . for , first , though men , and other animals , be furnish'd with faculties or powers , and other requisites , to enable them to preserve themselves , and procure what is necessary for their own welfare , yet this provision , that god has been pleas'd to make for them , is made with reference to what regularly , or what most usually , happens to beings of that species or sort that they belong to ; but not with regard to such things as may happen to them irregularly , contingently , and ( in comparison of the others , ) unfrequently . thus it is , in general , far better for mankind , that women , when they are brought to bed , should have their breasts fill'd with milk , to give suck to the new-born babe , than that they should not ; though sometimes , as , if the child die in the delivery , or presently after , and in some other cases also , the plentiful recourse of milk to the mothers breasts proves troublesome and inconvenient , and sometimes also dangerous , to her . thus a head of hair is , for the most part , useful to the person , whether man or woman , that nature has furnish'd with it , though , in some cases ( as of consumptions , and in a few other circumstances ) it happens to be prejudicial to the wearer ; and therefore physicians do often , with good success , prescribe , that it be shaven off . thus the instinct , that hens have to hatch their eggs and take care of their young , is , in general , very useful , if not necessary , for the conservation of that species of birds ; and yet it sometimes mis-guides and deludes them , when it makes them take a great deal of pains to brood upon those duck-eggs , that housewives , ( having taken a way the birds own eggs ) lay in her nest , which makes her very solicitous to hatch and take care of ducklings , instead of chickens . thus 't is an institution that ordinarily is profitable for man , that his stomach should nauseate or reject things that have a loathsome taste or smell , because the generality of those things , that are provided for his nourishment , are well , or , at least , not ill-tasted ; and yet , on some occasions of sickness , that disposition of the stomach to refuse , or vomit up , nauseous purges , and other dis-tastful medicines , ( as such remedies are usually loathsom enough ) proves very prejudicial , by being a great impediment to the recovery of health . and thus ( to be short ) the passions of the mind , such as fear , joy and grief , are given to man , for his good ; and , when rightly us'd , are very advantageous , if not absolutely necessary , to him : though , when they grow unruly , or are ill-manag'd , as it but too often happens , they frequently prove the causes of diseases , and of great mischief , as well to the passionate man himself , as to others . the second limitation ( which has a natural connexion with the former , ) is this , that the omniscient author of things , who , in his vast and boundless understanding , comprehended , at once , the whole system of his works , and every part of it , did not mainly intend the welfare of such or such particular creatures , but subordinated his care of their preservation and welfare , to his care of maintaining the universal system and primitive scheme or contrivance of his works , and especially those catholick rules of motion , and other grand laws , which he at first establish'd among the portions of the mundane matter . so that , when there happens such a concourse of circumstances , that particular bodies , fewer or more , must suffer , or else the setled frame , or the usual course of things , must be alter'd , or some general law of motion must be hinder'd from taking place : in such cases , i say , the welfare and interest of man himself ( as an animal ) and much more that of inferior animals , and of other particular creatures , must give way to the care , that providence takes of things of a more general and important nature or condition . thus ( as i formerly noted ) god establish'd the lines of motion , which the sun and the moon observe , tho' he foresaw , that , from thence , there would necessarily , from time to time , ensue eclipses of those luminaries ; which he chose rather to permit , than to alter that course , which , on several accounts , was the most convenient . thus a blown bladder , or a foot-ball , falling from a considerable height upon the ground , rebounds upwards , and so , contrary to the nature of heavy bodies , moves from the centre of the earth , lest the catholick laws of motion , whereby the springyness and reflection of bodies , in such circumstances , are established , should be violated or intrench'd upon . thus , he thought not fit to furnish sheep with paws , or tusks , or swiftness , or animosity , or craft , to defend or preserve themselves from wolves and foxes , and other beasts of prey . and tame and fearful birds , such as hens , are so ill provided for defence , that they seem designed to be the food of hawks , kites , and other rapacious ones . thus oysters , having neither eyes nor ears , are not near so well provided for , as the generality of beasts and birds , and even most other fishes . and thus silk-worms ( to name no other catterpillars , ) usually ( at least in these countries , ) live not much above half a year , being less furnish'd with the requisites of longaevity , than the generality of birds , and beasts , and fishes . i have thought fit to lay down the two foregoing limitations , partly , because they will be of use to me hereafter , and , partly , because they contain something , that may be added to what hath been lately represented on behalf of the divine providence ( as it falls under the naturalist's consideration . ) for , by these limitations , we may perceive , that 't is not just , presently to deny , or censure the providence of god , when-ever we see some creatures less compleatly furnish'd to maintain themselves ; or some cases less provided for , than we think they might be ; or seeming anomalies permitted , which we look upon as mischievous irregularities . for the welfare of men , or of this or that other particular sort of creatures , being not the only , nor , in likelihood , the principal end of god , in making the world ; it is neither to be admir'd nor reprehended , that he has not provided for the safety and conveniency of particular beings , any further , than well consists with the welfare of beings of a more considerable order , and , also , will comport with his higher ends , and with the maintenance of the more general laws and customs , setled by him among things corporeal : so that divers seeming anomalies and incongruities , whence some take occasion to question the administration of things , and to deny the agency of providence , do not only comport with it , but serve to accomplish the designs of it. i have the more expresly declar'd my mind on this occasion , because , indeed , of the two main reasons , which put me upon so difficult a work , as i foresaw this treatise would be , as one was , the love i bear to truth and philosophical freedom ; so the other was , a just concern for religion . for thinking it very probable , that , in so inquisitive an age as this , some observations , like mine , about nature itself , might come into the minds of persons ill-affected to divine providence , who would be glad and forward to wrest them , and make a perverse use of them ; i thought it better , that such notions should be candidly propos'd , by one that would take care to accompany them with those cautions , that may keep them from being injurious to religion . having premis'd the two foregoing advertisements , to obviate misconstructions ; i hope , i may now safely proceed to particulars ; whereof , for brevity's sake , i shall here mention but a few , leaving you to add to them those others , that occur in other parts of this treatise . in the first place then , i shall take notice , that there are several instances of persons that have been choak'd with a hair , which they were unable , either to cough up , or swallow down . the reason of this fatal accident , is , probably , said to be the irritation that is made , by the stay of so unusual a thing , as a hair , in the throat ; which irritation occasions very violent and disorderly , or convulsive , motions to expel it , in the organs of respiration , by which means the continual circulation of the blood , necessary to the life of man , is hinder'd , the consequence whereof is speedy death . but this agrees very ill with the vulgar supposition of such a kind and provident being , as they represent nature , which is always at hand to preserve the life of animals , and succour them in their ( physical ) dangers and distresses , as occasion requires . for since a hair is so slender a body , that it cannot stop the throat , so as to hinder , either , the free passage of meat and drink into the stomach , or , that of the air to or from the lungs ; ( as may be argued from divers no-way mortal excrescences and ulcers in the throat , ) were it not a great deal better for nature , to let the hair alone , and stay , 'till the juices of the body have resolv'd or consum'd it , or some favourable accident have remov'd it , than like a passionate and transported thing , oppose it , like a fury , with such blind violence , as , instead of ejecting the hair , expels the life of him , that was troubled with it ? how the care and wisdom of nature will be reconcil'd to so improper and disorderly a proceeding , i leave her admirers to consider . but it will appear very reconcileable to providence , if we reflect back upon the lately given advertisement . for , in regard of the use and necessity of deglutition , and in many cases of coughing and vomiting , it was , in the general , most convenient , that the parts that minister to these motions , should be irritated by the sudden sense of things that are unusual , though , perhaps , they would not be otherwise dangerous or offensive , because ( as we formerly noted , ) 't was fit , that the providence of god should , in making provision for the welfare of animals , have more regard to that , which usually and regularly befalls them , than to extraordinary cases or unfrequent accidents . though most women are offended with the stink of the smoaking wick of a candle , which is no more than men also are , yet it has been frequently observ'd , that big-bellied women have been made to miscarry , by the smell of an extinguish'd candle , which would before have indeed displeas'd , but not endanger'd , the same persons : so that it seems , nature is , in these cases , very far from being so prudent and careful , as men are wont to fancy her , since , by an odour , ( which , if calmly receiv'd , would have done no harm to the teeming woman , ) she is put into such unruly transports : and , instead of watching for the welfare of the teeming woman , whose condition needed a more than ordinary measure of her care and tenderness , she violently precipitates her poor charge into a danger , that oftentimes proves fatal , not only to the mother , but the child also . the improper , and oftentimes hurtful , courses that nature takes , in persons that are sick , some of one disease , some of another , will be , hereafter , taken notice of in opportune places ; and therefore , for the present , i shall only observe , that nature seems to do her work very weakly , or bunglingly , in the production of monsters , whose variety and numerousness is almost as great as their deformity , or their irregularity ; insomuch that several volums have been written , and many more might have been , to give the description of them . how these gross aberrations will agree with that great uniformity , and exquisite skill , that is ascrib'd to nature , in her seminal productions , i leave the naturists to make out . i know , that some of them lay the fault upon the stubbornness of the matter , that would not be obsequious to the plastick power of nature , but i can hardly admit of this account from men of such principles , as they are that give it : for 't is strange to me , they should pretend , that nature , which they make a kind of semi-deity , should not be able to mould and fashion so small , and soft , and tractable , a portion of matter , as that wherein the first model and efformation of the embrio is made ; when , at the same time , they tell us , that 't is able , in sucking-pumps , to raise , and , if need be , sustain , whole tons of water , to prevent a vacuum : and can , in mines , toss up into the air , houses , walls , and castles , and , perhaps , the rocks they are built on , to give the kindled gun-powder the expansion , that its new state requires . other arguments , that , by a light change and easie application , may be made use of and added to these , against the vulgar notion of nature , may be met with in divers parts of this treatise , and especially in the vii . section ; for which reason ( among others ) i decline lengthning this part of my discourse with the mention of them . i foresee it may be said , that , unless we admit such a being as nature , to contrive and manage things corporeal , and , in a regular and methodical way , direct them to their respective ends , there will appear no visible footsteps or proof of a divine wisdom in the corporeal world. and this argument , i confess , is so specious , that 't was one of the things that made me the longest hesitate , what i should think of the receiv'd notion of nature . but having further consider'd the matter , i saw it might be answer'd , that the curious contrivance of the universe , and many of its parts , and the orderly course of things corporeal , with a manifest tendency to determinate ends , are matters of fact , and do not depend upon the supposition of such a being , as they call nature ; but , setting aside this or that hypothesis , may be known by inspection , if those that make the inspection be attentive and impartial : as , when a man sees a humane body skilfully dissected by a dexterous anatomist , he cannot , if he be intelligent and unprejudic'd , but acknowledg , that there is a most curious and exquisite contrivance in that incomparable engine , and in the various parts of it , that are admirably fitted for distinct and determinate functions or uses . so that i do not at all , nor indeed can , suppress the manifest tokens of wisdom and design , that are to be observed in the wonderful construction and orderly operations of the world and its parts : but i endeavour to refer these indications of wisdom to the true and proper cause . and whereas , in the hypothesis of the objectors , there may be three causes assign'd of these specimens or foot-steps of wisdom , namely , god , nature , and chance ; if , according to the doctrine by me propos'd , nature be laid aside , the competition will remain only between god and chance : and sure he must be very dull , or very strongly prejudic'd , that shall think it reasonable to attribute such admirable contrivances and such regular conducts , as are observable in the corporeal world , rather to chance , ( which is a blind and senseless cause , or indeed no proper cause at all , but a kind of ens rationis ) than to a most intelligent being , from which the curiousest productions may with congruity be expected : whereas , if such a celebrated thing , as nature is commonly thought , be admitted , 't will not be near so easie to prove the wisdom ( and consequently the existence ) of god by his works , since they may have another cause , namely , that most watchful and provident being , which men call nature . and this will be especially difficult in the peripatetick hypothesis of the eternity ( not of matter only , for in that the atomists and others agreed with them , but ) of the world. for , according to this account of the universe , there appears no necessity , that god should have any thing to do with it , since he did not make this automaton , but it was always self-existent , not only as to matter , but to form too : and as for the government or administration of the bodies it consists of , that is the proper business of nature . and if it be objected , that this being is by its assertors acknowledg'd to be subordinate to god ; i shall answer , that , as , upon the reasons and authorities i elsewhere deliver , it may justly be question'd , whether many philosophers , and perhaps some sects of them who are adorers of nature , confess'd her to be but the substitute of a superior and divine being ? so , this distinction and subordination is not so easie to be prov'd against those that side with those other ancient philosophers , who either acknowledg'd no such thing , or expresly deny'd it . besides that , this objection supposes the existence and superiority of a deity , which therefore needs to be prov'd by other ways ; whereas in the hypothesis i propose , the same phaenomena that discover admirable wisdom and manifest designs in the corporeal world , do themselves afford a solid argument , both of the existence and of some of the grand attributes of god , with which the rest , that properly belong to him , have a necessary connexion . sect . vi. v. having , in the foregoing section , propos'd some of the considerations , that have dissatisfied me with the receiv'd notion of nature , it may now be justly expected , that i should also consider , what i foresee will be alledg'd in its behalf , by the more intelligent of its favourers . and i shall not deny the objections , i am going to name against my opinion , to be considerable , especially for this reason , that i am very unwilling to seem to put such an affront upon the generality as well of learned men as of others , as to maintain , that they have built a notion of so great weight and importance upon slight and inconsiderable grounds . the reasons , that i conceive may have induced philosophers to take up , and rely on , the receiv'd notion of nature , are such as these that follow . and the first argument , as one of the most obvious , may be taken from the general belief , or , as men suppose , observation , that divers bodies , as particularly earth , water , and other elements , have each of them its natural place assign'd it in the universe ; from which place , if any portion of the element , or any mixt body , wherein that element predominates , happens to be remov'd , it has a strong incessant appetite to return to it ; because , when 't is there , it ceases either to gravitate , or ( as some school-men speak ) to levitate , and is now in a place , which nature has qualifi'd to preserve it , according to the axiom , that locus conservat locatum . to this argument i answer , that i readily grant , that , there being such a quantity of very bulky bodies in the world , 't was necessary they should have places adequate to their bigness ; and 't was thought fit by the wise architect of the universe , that they should not be all blended together , but that a great portion of each of them should , at the beginning of things , be dispos'd of and lodg'd in a distinct and convenient place . but when i have granted this , i see not any necessity of granting likewise , what is asserted in the argument above-propos'd . for inanimate bodies having no sense or perception , ( which is the prerogative of animadversive beings ) it must be all one to them in what place they are , because they cannot be concern'd to be in one place rather than in another , since such a preference would require a knowledg , that inanimate things are destitute of . and , for the same reason , a portion of an element , remov'd , by force or chance , from what they call its proper place , can have no real appetite to return thither : for , who tells it 'tis in an undue place , and that it may better its condition by removing into another ? and who informs it , whether that place lies on this hand of it , or that hand of it , or above it , or beneath it ? some philosophers indeed have been somewhat aware of the weakness of the argument , drawn from the vulgarly propos'd instance ( which yet is the best that is wont to be imploy'd , ) of earthy bodies , which being let fall from the top of an house , or thrown into the air , do of themselves fall , in a direct line , towards the centre of the earth ; and therefore they have strengthned this argument , as far as might be , by pretending , that these bodies have not indeed , as former philosophers were wont to think , an appetite to descend to the centre of the earth , but to the great mass of their connatural bodies . i i will not therefore accuse these philosophers of the inconsiderate opinion of their predecessors , who would have nature make all heavy things affect to lodg themselves in the centre of the earth , which ( as was formerly noted , ) being but a point , cannot contain any one of them , ( how little soever it be ; ) but yet the hypothesis of these moderns is liable , though not to that , yet , to other weighty objections . for the first argument , i lately imploy'd , will hold good against these philosophers too , it not being conceivable , how an inanimate body should have an appetite to re-joyn homogeneous bodies , neither whose situation , nor whose distance from it , it does at all know . secondly , it does not appear that all bodies have such an appetite , as is presum'd , of joyning themselves to greater masses of connatural bodies ; as , if you file the end of an ingot or bar of silver or of gold , the filings will not stick to their own mass , though it be approach'd never so near , or made to touch them , and much less will they leap to it , when 't is at a distance from them . the like may be said almost of all consistent bodies we are acquainted with , except the loadstone and iron , and bodies that participate of one of those two . thirdly , 't is obvious to them that will observe , that , that which makes lumps of earth , or terrestrial matter , fall through the air to the earth , is some general agent , whatever that be , which , according to the wise disposition of the author of the universe , determines the motion of those bodies , we call heavy , by the shortest ways that are permitted them , towards the central part of the terraqueous globe ; whether the body , put into motion downwards , be of the same , or a like , or a quite differing nature , from the greater mass of matter , to which , when 't is aggregated , it rests there ? if , from the side of a ship , you let fall a chip of wood out of your hand , when your arm is so stretch'd out , that the perpendicular , or shortest line , between that and the water , lies never so little without the ship , that chip will fall into the sea , which is a fluid body , and quite of another nature than itself , rather than swerve in the least from the line of direction , as mechanicians call it , to rejoyn itself to the great bulk of wood , whereof the ship , though never so big , consists . and , on the other side , if a man , standing upon the shore just by the sea , shall pour out a glass of water , holding the glass just over his feet , that water will fall into the sand , where 't will be immediately soak'd up and dispersed , rather than deviate a little , to joyn itself to so great a mass of connatural body , as the ocean is . and as to what is generally believ'd , and made part of the argument that i am answering , that water does not weigh in water , because it is in its own natural place , and elementa in proprio loco non gravitant . i deny the matter of fact , and have convinc'd divers curious persons by experiment , * that water does gravitate in water , as well as out of it , though indeed it does not praegravitate , because 't is counter-ballanc'd by an equal weight of collateral water , which keeps it from descending . and lastly , for the maxim , that locus conservat locatum ; besides that , it has been prooflesly asserted , and therefore , unless it be cautiously explain'd , i do not think my self bound to admit it ; besides this , i say , i think , that either the proper place of a body cannot be inferr'd , as my adversaries would have it , from the natural tendency of a body to it ; or else it will not hold true in general , that locus conservat locatum ; as when , for instance , a poor unluky seaman falls , from the main-yard of a ship , into the water , does the sea , to which he makes such hast , preserve him or destroy him ? and when in a foul chimney , a lump of soot falls into the hearth , and presently burns up there , can we think that the wisdom of nature gave the soot an appetite to hasten to the fire , as a greater bulk of its connatural body , or a place provided by nature for its conservation . and now i speak of such an innate appetite of conjunction between bodies ; i remember , what i lately forgot to mention in a fitter place ; that bubbles themselves may overthrow the argument , i was answering . for if a bubble happens to arise from the bottom of a vessel to the upper part of it , we are told , that the haste , wherewith the air moves thorow water , proceeds from the appetite it has to quit that preternatural place , and re-joyn the element , or great mass of air , detain'd at the very surface of the water by a very thin skin of that liquor , together with which it constitutes a bubble . now i demand , how it comes to pass , that this appetite of the air , which , when it was at the bottom of the water , and also in its passage upwards , is suppos'd to have enabled it to ascend with so much eagerness and force , as to make its way thorow all the incumbent water , ( which possibly was very deep , ) should not be able , when the air is arriv'd at the very top of the water , to break thorow so thin a membrane of water , as usually serves to make a bubble , and which suffices to keep it from the beloved conjunction with the great mass of the external air ? especially since they tell us , that natural motion grows more quick , the nearer it comes to the end or place of rest ; the appetites of bodies encreasing , with their approaches to the good they aspire to ; upon which account , falling bodies , as stones , &c. are said ( though falsesly ) to encrease their swiftness , the nearer they come to the earth . but if , setting aside the imaginary appetite of the air , we attribute the ascension of bubbles to the gravity and pressure upwards of the water , 't is easie hydrostatically to explicate , why bubbles often move slower when they come near the surface of the water , and why they are detain'd there ; which last phaenomenon proceeds from this , that the pressure of the water being there incosiderable , 't is not able to make the air quite surmount the resistence made by the tenacity of the superficial part of the water . and therefore in good spirit of wine , whose tenacity and glutinousness is far less than that of water , bubbles rarely continue upon the surface of the liquor , but are presently broken and vanish . and to make this presum'd appetite , of the smaller portions of the air to unite with the great mass of it , appear the less probable ; i shall add that i have often observ'd , that water , in that state which is usually call'd its natural state , is wont to have store of aerial particles mingled with it , notwithstanding the neighbourhood of the external air , that is incumbent on the water , as may appear by putting a glass full of water into the receiver of the new pneumatical engine . for the pressure of the external air being by the pump taken off , there will , from time to time , disclose themselves in the water , a multitude of bubbles , made by the aerial particles , that lay conceal'd in that liquor . and i have further try'd , as i doubt not but some others also have done , that , by exactly inclosing , in a conveniently shap'd glass , some water , thus freed from the air , and leaving a little air at the top of the vessel , which was afterwards set by in a quiet place ; the corpuscles of that incumbent air did , one after another , insinuate themselves into the water , and remain'd lodg'd in it ; so little appetite has air , in general , to flee all association with water , and make its escape out of that liquor ; though , when sensible portions of it happen to be under water , the great inequality in gravity , between those two fluids , makes the water press up the air. but , though 't were easie to give a mechanical account of the phaenomena of mingled air and water , yet , because it cannot be done in few words , i shall not here undertake it ; the phaenomena themselves being sufficient , to render the supposition of my adversaries improbable . another argument , in favour of the received opinion of nature , may be drawn from the strong appetite , that bodies have to recover their natural state , when by any means they are put out of it , and thereby forced into a state that is called preternatural ; as we see , that air being violently compress'd in a blown bladder , as soon as the force is remov'd , will return to its first dimensions : and the blade of a sword being bent by being thrust against the floor ; as soon as the force ceases , restores itself , by its innate power , to its former straightness : and water , being made hot by the fire , when 't is removed thence , hastens to recover its former coldness . but though i take this argument to have much more weight in it , than the foregoing ; because it seems to be grounded upon such real phaenomena of nature , as those newly recited , yet i do not look upon it as cogent . in answer to it therefore , i shall represent , that it appears by the instances lately mention'd , that the proposers of the argument ground it on the affections of inanimate bodies . now , an inanimate portion of matter being confessedly devoid of knowledge and sense , i see no reason , why we should not think it uncapable of being concern'd to be in one state or constitution , rather than another , since it has no knowledge of that , which it is in at present , nor remembrance of that , from which it was forc'd ; and consequently , no appetite to forsake the former , that it may return to the latter . but every inanimate body , ( to say nothing now of plants and bruit animals , because i want time to launch into an ample discourse ) being of itself indifferent to all places and states , continues in in that place or state to which the action and resistence of other bodies , and especially contiguous ones , effectually determine it . as to the instance afforded by water , i consider , that before it be asserted , that water , being heated , returns of itself to its natural coldness , it were fit , that the assertors should determine , what degree or measure of coldness is natural to that liquor ; and this , if i mistake not , will be no easie task . 't is true indeed , that , in reference to us men , water is usually cold , because its minute parts are not so briskly agitated , as those of the blood and juices , that are to be found in our hands , or other organs of feeling . but , that water is actually cold in reference to frogs , and those fishes that live in it , whose blood is cold as to our sense , has not , that i know of , been prov'd , nor is easie to be so . and i think it yet more difficult to determine , what degree of coldness is natural to water , since this liquor perpetually varies its temperature , as to cold and heat , according to the temper of the contiguous or the neighbouring bodies , especially the ambient air. and therefore the water of an unshaded pond , for instance , though it rests in its proper and natural place , as they speak , yet in autumn , if the weather be fair , the temperature of it will much vary in the compass of the same day , and the liquor will be much hotter at noon , than early in the morning , or at midnight ; though this great diversity be the effect only of a natural agent , the sun , acting according to its regular course . and , in the depth of winter , 't is generally confess'd , that water is much colder than in the heat of summer ; which seems to be the reason of what is observ'd by watermen , as a wonderful thing , namely , that in rivers , boats equally laden will not sink so deep in winter as in summer , the cold condensing the water , and consequently making it heavier in specie , than it is in summer , when the heat of the ambient air makes it more thin . in divers parts of africk , that temperature is thought natural to the water , because 't is that which it usually has , which is far hotter than that which is thought natural to the same liquor in the frigid zone . and , i remember , on this occasion , what perhaps i have elsewhere mention'd upon another , that the russian czars chief physician inform'd me , that in some parts of siberia , ( one of the more northern provinces of that monarch's empire , water is so much more cold , not only than in the torrid zone , but than in england , that two or three foot beneath the surface of the ground , all the year long ( even in summer itself , ) it continues concreted in the form of ice , so intense is the degree of cold that there seems natural to it . this odd phaenomenon much confirms what i lately intimated , of the power of contiguous bodies , and especially of the air , to vary the degree of the coldness of water . i particularly mention the air , because , as far as i have try'd , it has more power to bring water to its own temperature , than is commonly suppos'd . for though , if , in summer-time , a man puts his hand into water , that has lain expos'd to the sun , he will usually feel it cold , and so conclude it much colder , than the ambient air ; yet , that may often happen upon another account , namely , that the water being many hundred times a more dense fluid than the air , and consisting of particles more apt to insinuate themselves into the pores of the skin , a greater part of the agitation of the blood and spirits , contained in the hand , is communicated to the water , and thereby lost by the fluids that part with it . and the minute particles of the water , which are , perhaps , more supple and flexible , insinuating themselves into the pores of the skin , which the aerial particles , by reason of their stifness , and perhaps length , cannot do ; they come to affect the somewhat more internal parts of the hand , which , being much hotter than the cuticula or scarf-skin , makes us feel them very cold ; as , when a sweating hand is plung'd into luke-warm water , the liquor will be judg'd cold by him , who , if his other hand be very cold , will with it feel the same water hot. to confirm which conjecture , i shall add , that , having sometimes purposely taken a seal'd weather-glass , whose included liquor was brought to the temperature of the ambient air , and thrust the ball of it under water , kept in the same air , there would be discover'd no such coldness in the water , as one would have expected ; the former reason of the sensible cold the hand feels , when thrust into that liquor , having here no place . to which i shall add , that having , for tryal's sake , made water very cold , by dissolving sal-armoniac in it , in summer time , it would , after a while , return to its usual degree of warmth . and , having made the same experiment in winter , it would return to such a coldness , as belong'd to it in that season : so that it did not return to any determinate degree of coldness , as natural to it , but to that greater or lesser , that had been accidentally given it by the ambient air , before the sal-armoniac had refrigerated it. as to the motion of restitution , observable upon the removal or ceasing of the force in air violently compress'd , and in the blade of a sword forcibly bent ; i confess it seems to me a very difficult thing , to assign the true mechanical cause of it. but yet , i think it far more likely , that the cause should be mechanical , than , that the effect proceeds from such a watchfulness of nature , as is pretended . for first , i question , whether we have any air here below , that is in other than a preternatural or violent state ; the lower parts of our atmospherical air being constantly compress'd by the weight of the upper parts of the same air , that lean upon them . as for the restitution of the bent blade of a sword , and such like springy bodies , when the force that bent them is remov'd ; my thoughts about the theory of springynes belong to another paper . and therefore , i shall here only , by way of argument ad hominem , consider , in answer to the objection ; that if , for example , you take a somewhat long and narrow plate of silver , that has not been hammer'd , or compress'd , or , which is surer , has been made red-hot in the fire , and suffer'd to cool leasurely , you may bend it which way you will , and it will constantly retain the last curve figure , that you gave it. but if , having again streightned this plate , you give it some smart stroaks of a hammer , it will , by that meerly mechanical change , become a springy body : so that , if with your hand you force it a little from its rectitude , as soon as you remove your hand , it will endeavour to regain its former streightness . the like may be observ'd in copper , but nothing near so much , or scarce at all , in lead . now upon these phaenomena , i demand , why , if nature be so careful to restore bodies to their former state , she does not restore the silver blade or plate to its rectitude , when it is bent this way or that way , before it be hammer'd ? and why a few stroaks of a hammer ( which , acting violently , seems likely to have put the metal into a preternatural state , ) should entitle the blade to nature's peculiar care , and make her solicitous to restore it to its rectitude , when it is forc'd from it ? and why , if the springy plate be again ignited and refrigerated of itself , nature abandons her former care of it , and suffers it quietly to continue in what crooked posture , one pleases to put it into ? not , now , to demand a reason of nature's greater partiality to silver , and copper and iron , than to lead and gold itself , in reference to the motion of restitution ; i shall add to what i was just now saying , that even in sword-blades it has been often observ'd , that though , if soon after they are bent , the force that bent them be withdrawn , they will nimbly return to their former straightness ; yet , if they ( which are not the only springy bodies , of which this has been observ'd , ) be kept too long bent , they will lose the power of recovering their former streightness , and continue in that crooked posture , though the force that put them into it cease to act : so that , it seems , nature easily forgets the care she was presum'd to take of it , at first . there is an axiom that passes for current among learned men , viz. nullum violentum durabile , that seems much to favour the opinion of the naturists , since 't is grounded upon a supposition , that what is violent , is , as such , contrary to nature , and , for that reason , cannot last long . and this trite sentence is , by the schools and even some modern philosophers , so particularly apply'd to local motion , that some of them have , not improbably , made it the characteristick token , whereby to distinguish natural motions from those that are not so ; that the former are perpetual , or at least very durable , whereas the later , being continually check'd more and more by the renitency of nature , do continually decay , and within no long time are suppress'd or extinguish'd : but , on this occasion , i must crave leave to make the following reflections . 1. it may be justly question'd , upon grounds laid down in another part of this essay , whether there be any motion , among inanimate bodies , that deserves to be call'd violent , in contradistinction to natural ; since among such , all motions , where no intelligent spirit intervenes , are made according to catholick , and almost , if not more than almost , mechanical laws . 2. methinks , the peripateticks , who are wont to be the most forward to imploy this axiom , should find but little reason to do so , if they consider how unsuitable it is to their doctrine , that the vast body of the firmament and all the planetary orbs are , by the primum mobile , with a stupendious swiftness , whirl'd about , from east to west , in four and twenty hours , contrary to their natural tendency ; and , that this violent and rapid motion , of the incomparably greater part of the universe , has lasted as long as the world itself , that is , according to aristotle , for innumerable ages . 3. we may observe here below , that the ebbing and flowing of the sea , which is generally suppos'd to proceed either from the motion of the moon , or that of the terrestrial globe , or some other external cause , has lasted for some thousands of years , and probably will do so , as long as the present system of our vortex shall continue . i consider also , that the other great ocean , the atmosphere , consists of numberless myriads of corpuscles , that are here below continually kept in a violent state ; since they are elastical bodies , whereof the lower are still compress'd by the weight of the higher . and , to make a spring of a body , it is requisite that it be forcibly bent or stretch'd , and have such a perpetual endeavour to fly open , or to shrink in , that it will not fail to do so , as soon as the external force , that hinder'd it , is remov'd . and , as for the states of inanimate bodies , i do not see , that their being or not being natural can be , with any certainty , concluded , from their being or not being very durable . for , not to mention , that leaves that wither in a few months , and even blossoms that often fade and fall off in few days , are as well natural bodies , as the solid and durable trees that bear them ; 't is obvious , that , whether we make the state of fluidity , or that of congelation , to be that which is natural to water , and the other that which is violent ; its change from one of those states into another , and even its return to its former state , is oftentimes , at some seasons , and in some places , made very speedily , perhaps in an hour or less , by causes that are acknowledg'd to be natural . and mists , hail , whirlwinds , lightning , falling-stars , to name no more , notwithstanding their being natural bodies , are far from being lasting , especially in comparison of glass , wherein the ingredients , sand and fixt salt , are brought together by great violence of fire . and the motion that a thin plate , or slender wire , of this glass can exercise , to restore itself to its former position , when forcibly bent , is ( in great part ) a lasting effect of the same violence of the fire . and so is the most durable perseverance of the indissolubleness of the alcalisate salt , that is one of the two ingredients of glass , notwithstanding its being very easily dissoluble in water and other liquors , and not uneasily e'ne in the moist air itself . there is a distinction of local motion , into natural and violent , that is so generally receiv'd and us'd , both by philosophers and physicians , that , i think , it deserves to have special notice taken of it in this section ; since it implicitely contains an argument for the existence of the thing call'd nature , by supposing it so manifest a thing , as that an important distinction may justly be grounded on it. this imply'd objection , i confess , is somewhat difficult to clear ; not for any great force , that is contained in it , but because of the ambiguity of the terms , wherein the distinction is wont to be imploy'd : for most men speak of the propos'd distinction of motion , in so obscure , or so uncertain a way , that 't is not easie to know what they mean by either of the members of it. but yet some there are , who endeavour to speak intelligibly , ( and for that are to be commended ) and define natural motion to be that , whose principle is within the moving body itself ; and violent motion , that which bodies are put into by an external agent or cause . and , in in regard these speak more clearly than , the rest , i shall here principally consider the lately mention'd distinction , in the sense they give it. i say then , that , even according to this explication , i am not satisfied with the distinction : for , whereas 't is a principle received , and frequently employ'd , by aristotle and his followers , quicquid movetur ab alio movetur ; it seems , that , according to this axiom , all motion may be called violent , since it proceedes from an external agent ; and indeed , according to the school philosophers , the motion of far the greatest part of the visible world , though this motion be most regular and lasting , must , according to the propos'd distinction , be reputed violent ; since they assert , that the immense firmament itself , and all the planetary orbs , ( in comparison of which vast coelestial part of the world , the sublunary part is little more than a physical point , ) is perpetually ( and against its native tendency , ) hurry'd about the the centre of the world , once in twenty four hours , by an external , though invisible , agent , which they therefore call the primum mobile . and as for the criterion of natural motion , that , its principle is within the moving body , it may be said , that all bodies , once in the state of actual motion , whatever cause first brought them to it , are mov'd by an internal principle : as , for instance , an arrow , that actually flies in the air towards a mark , moves by some principle or other residing within itself ; for , it does not depend on the bow 't was shot out of , since 't would continue , tho' that were broken , or even annihilated ; nor does it depend upon the medium , which more resists than assists its progress , as might be easily shewn , if it were needful ; and , if we should suppose the ambient air either to be annihilated , or ( which in our case would be aequialent , ) render'd uncapable of either furthering or hindring its progress , i see not why the motion of the arrow must necessarily cease , since in this case there remains no medium to be penetrated , and on that account oppose its progress . when in a watch that is wound up , the spring endeavours to unbend or display itself ; and when the string of a drawn bow is broken or let go , the spring of the former , and the woo●y part of the later , does each return to a less crooked line . and though these motions be occasioned by the forcible acts of external agents , yet the watch , spring , and the bow , have in themselves ( for ought appears to those i reason with , ) an inward principle , by which they are mov'd till they have attain'd their position . some , perhaps , would add , that a squib , or a rocket , though an artificial body , seems , as well as a falling star , to move from an internal principle : but i shall rather observe , that , on the other side , external agents are requisite to many motions , that are acknowledg'd to be natural , as , to omit the germination and flourishing of divers plants , as onions , leeks , potato's , &c. though hung up in the air , by the heat of the sun in the spring ; to pass by this , i say , if in the pneumatical engine or air-pump , you place divers insects , as bees , flies , catterpillars , &c. and withdraw the common air from the receiver , they will lye moveless , as if they were dead , though it be for several hours , whilst they are kept from enjoying the presence of the air : but , when the external air is permitted again to return upon them , they will presently be reviv'd , ( as i have with pleasure try'd , ) and be brought to move again , according to their respective kinds ; as if a fly , for instance , resembled a little windmill in this , that being moveless of itself , it required the action of the air to put its wings and other parts into motion . but , to insist no farther on these arguments ad hominem , we may consider , that , since motion does not essentially belong to matter , as divisibility and impenetrableness are believ'd to do ; the motions of all bodies , at least at the beginning of things , and the motions of most bodies , the causes of whose motions we can discern , were impress'd on them , either by an external immaterial agent , god ; or by other portions of matter ( which are also extrinsecal impellers ) acting on them . and this occasion invites me to observe , that , though motion be deservedly made one of the principal parts of aristotle's definition of nature , yet men are wont to call such motions natural , as are very hard to distinguish from those , they call violent . thus , when water falls down to the ground , they tell us , that this motion is natural to that liquor , as 't is a heavy body ; but when a man spurts up water out of his mouth into the air , they pronounce that motion , because of its tendency upwards , to be contrary to nature . and yet when he draws water into his mouth , by sucking it through a long pipe held perpendicularly , they will have this motion of the water , though directly upwards , to be not violent , but natural . so when a foot-ball , or blown bladder , being let fall upon a hard floor , rebounds up to a good height , the descent and ascent are both said to be natural motions , though the former tends towards the centre of the earth , and the later recedes as far as it can do from it . and so if from a considerable height you let fall a ball of some close wood , that yet is not too heavy , as oak or the like , into a deep vessel of water , it will descend a great way in that liquor , by a natural motion ; and yet its contrary motion upwards ought not to be esteem'd violent , since , according to the schools , being lighter in specie than water , 't is natural to it to affect its proper place , for which purpose it must ascend to the top of the liquor , and lye afloat there ; and yet 't is from these tendencies to opposite points , ( as the zenith and the nadir ) that men are wont to judg many motions of bodies to be natural or violent . and indeed , since it must be indifferent to a lifeless and insensible body , to what place 't is made to move , all its motions may , in some respect , be said to be natural , and in another , violent : for as very many bodies of visible bulk are set a moving by external impellents , and , on that score , their motions may be said to be violent ; so the generality of impell'd bodies do move either upwards , downwards , &c. toward any part of the world , in what line or way soever they find their motion least resisted ; which impulse and tendency , being given by vertue of what they call the general laws of nature , the motion may be said to be natural . i might here take notice , that , according to the epicurean hypothesis , it need not at all be admitted , that motion must be produc'd by such a principle , as the schoolmens nature . for , according to that great and ancient sect of philosophers , the atomists , every indivisible corpuscle has actual motion , or an incessant endeavour to change place , essentially belonging to it , as 't is an atom : insomuch that in no case it can be depriv'd of this property or power . and all sensible bodies being , according to these physiologers , but casual concretions or coalitions of atoms ; each of them needs no other principle of motion , than that unloseable endeavour of the atoms that compose it ; and happen , on the account of circumstance , to have the tendency of the more numerous , or at least the predominant , corpuscles , determin'd one way . and to these i might add some other such reflections . but i shall , in this place , say no more concerning motion , not only because , even after having consider'd the differing definitions , that aristotle , cartesius , and some other philosophers , have given of it , i take it to be too difficult a subject , to be clearly explicated in few words ; but because the only occasion i had to mention it here , was , to shew that the vulgar distinction of it into natural and violent is not so clear and well-grounded , as to oblige us to admit ( what it supposes , ) that there is such a being , as the naturists assert . i come now to consider the argument , that may be drawn in favour of the receiv'd notion of nature , from the critical evacuations which happen at certain times in diseases , and the strange shifts that nature sometimes makes use of in them , to free herself from the noxious humours that oppress'd her. this argument i willingly acknowledg to be very considerable . for we really see , that in continual feavers , especially in hotter climates , there do usually happen , at certain times of the diseases , notable and critical commotions or conflicts , after which the morbifick matter is dispos'd of and discharg'd by ways strange and surprising , to the great and speedy relief of the patient , if not to his perfect cure ; as may appear by many instances , to be met with in the observations of physcians about feavers , pleurisies , &c. upon this account , i take the argument drawn from crises's to be much the weightiest , that can be urg'd for the opinion from which i dissent , and therefore i shall employ the more words in clearing this important difficulty . in order to this , i desire it may be kept in mind , that i do not only acknowledge , but teach , that the body of a man is an incomparable engine , which the most wise author of things has so skilfully fram'd , for lasting very many years , that , if there were in it an intelligent principle of self-preservation , ( as the naturists suppose there is ) things would not , in most cases , be better or otherwise manag'd , for the conservation of the animals life , than they generally are . so that the question is not , whether there is a great deal of providence and wisdom exercis'd , in the crises's of diseases , but upon what account it is , that these apposite things are perform'd ? the universal opinion of physcians is , that 't is that intelligent principle they call nature , which , being solicitous for the welfare of the patient , and distress'd by the quantity or hurtfulness of the morbifick matter , watches her opportunity ( especially when 't is concocted ) to expel it hastily out of the body , by the most safe and convenient ways , which , in the present condition of the patient , can be taken . and i , on the other side , attribute crises's to the wisdom and ordinary providence of god , exerting itself by the mechanism , partly of that great machine , the world , and partly of that smaller engine , the human body , as 't is constituted in the patients present circumstance . and the reasons that hinder me , from acquiescing in the general opinion of physicians about crises's , are principally these . first , i observe that crises's , properly so call'd , do very seldom happen in other than feavers , and the like acute diseases ; where , according to the common course of things , the malady is terminated , in no long time , either by recovery , or death , or a change into some other disease : but chronical-sicknesses , such as coughs , dropsies , gouts , &c. unless they happen to be accompany'd with feaverish distempers , are not wont to have crises's ; which argues , that nature doth not make critical evacuations , upon the account of such care and watchfulness , as physicians ascribe them to : since she neglects to employ so salutary an expedient in diseases , that are oftentimes no less dangerous and mortal , than divers acute diseases , which she attempts to cure by crises's . next i consider , that critical evacuations may be procur'd by the bare mechanism of the body . for , by vertue of that , it will often happen , that the fibres , or motive organs of the stomach , bowels , and other parts , being distended or vellicated by the plenty or acrimony of the peccant matter , will , by that irritation , be brought to contract themselves vigorously , and to throw out the matter that offends the parts , either by the emunctories or common-shores of the body , or by whatever passages the proscrib'd matter can be , with most ease , discharg'd . thus , when some men find their stomachs burden'd with a clog of meat or drink , they use to thrust their fingers into their throats , and , by that mechanical way , provoke the stomach to disburden itself of its offensive load , without being beholden to natures watchfulness for a crisis , which probably she would not ( at least so seasonably ) attempt . and thus , whereas 't is usual enough , for crises's to be made in feavers by large haemorrhagi's at the nose , and sometimes at other parts , which is ascrib'd to natures watchful solicitude for the patients recovery ; i must take leave to add , that it hath been divers times observ'd , that , even after death , large bleedings have succeeded , at the nose and other parts of the body : which shews , that such excretions may be made by vertue of the structure of it , and the turgescence and acrimony of the humours , without any design of nature , to save the life of the patient , already dead . indeed , if it did appear by experience , that all , or almost all , the crises's of diseases , did either expel the morbifick matter , or at least notably relieve the patient , the critical attempts of nature would much favour the opinion men have conceiv'd of her vigilance and conduct : but unwelcome instances daily shew , that , as some crises's are salutary , ( as they call them ) so others prove mortal . and among those that do not directly or presently kill the patient , there are divers that leave him in a worse condition , than he was before . and therefore , i wonder not , that physicians have thought themselves oblig'd to lay down several circumstances , as necessary requisites of a laudable crisis , if any of which be wanting , 't is not thought of the best kind ; and if the contrary to some of them happen , 't is to be judg'd either pernicious , or at least hurtful . for , whereas there are two general ways , suppos'd to be employ'd by nature in making crises's , the one by expulsion of the peccant matter out of the body , and the other by the setling of the matter somewhere within it : neither of these two ways is constantly successful . and therefore experience hath oblig'd physicians to divide crises's , not only into perfect , that fully determine the event of the disease , and imperfect , that do but alter it for the better or the worse ; but into salutary , that quite deliver the patient , and mortal , that destroy him . and to a perfect and salutary crisis , some learned men require no less than six conditions ; namely , that it be preceded by signs of coction of the peccant matter ; that it be made by a manifest and sufficiently copious excretion or translation ; that it be made upon a critical day , as the seventh , fourteenth , twentieth , &c. that it leave no relicks behind it , that may indanger a relapse ; that it be made safely , that is , without dangerous symptoms : and lastly , that it be suitable to the nature of the disease , and the patient . by this it may appear , that 't is no common thing to meet with a perfect and salutary crisis , so many laudable conditions must concur in it ; and indeed nature doth usually take up with but imperfectly good ones , and it were happy if she made not better , provided she made no worse . but 't is found , by sad experience , that she rouses herself up to make a crisis , not only upon improper , and , as physicians call them , intercident days , such as the third , fifth , ninth , &c. or upon those they call empty or medicinal days , which seldom afford any crisis , and much seldomer a good one , but also when there appear not any signs of coction , or at least of due coction , and by these unseasonable attempts weaken the patient , and encrease the malady , or perhaps make it speedily mortal . nor will it justifie nature , to say , with some learned physicians , that these attempts are accidentally brought on by the acrimony or importunity of the morbifick matter , by which she is provok'd , before the time , to endeavour an expulsion of it . for if nature be indeed so prudent and watchful a guardian , as she is thought , she ought not to suffer herself to be provok'd to act preposterously , and make furious attempts , that lavish to no purpose , or worse than no purpose , that little strength the patient hath so much need of . and therefore physicians do oftentimes very well , when , to act agreeably to the dictates of prudence , they forget , how much wisdom they are wont to ascribe to nature , and employ their best skill and remedies to suppress or moderate the inordinate motions , or the improper and profuse evacuations , that irritated nature rashly begins to make . and though the crises's that are made by a metastasis of the peccant matter , or by lodging it in some particular part of the body , whether external or internal , be oftentimes , when they are not salutary , somewhat less hurtful , than those that are made by excretion ; yet these do frequently , though perhaps more slowly , prove dangerous enough , producing sometimes inward imposthumes , and sometimes external tumors , in parts that are either noble by their functions , or by their situation , or connexion , or sympathy with others , that are not to be without hazard or great inconvenience oppress'd . i know that physicians make it a great argument of nature's providence and skill , that she watches for the concoction of the peccant matter , before she rouses herself up to expel it by a crisis . what is to be meant by this coction of humours , ( for it ought not to be confounded with the coction of the aliments ) they are not wont so clearly to declare . but , as i understand it , when they say that a portion of peccant matter is brought to coction , they mean , that it has acquir'd such a disposition , as makes it more fit , than before , to be separated from the sounder portion of the mass of blood , or from the consistent parts , to which it perhaps formerly adhered , and to be afterwards expell'd out of the body . this may be partly exemplifi'd by what happens in some recent colds , where the lungs are affected , in which we see , that , after a few days , the phlegm is made more fluid ; and that which is lodg'd in the lungs , ( not sticking so fast to the inside of the aspera arteria ) is easily brought up by coughing , which could not dislodg it before . and in feavers , that separation in the urine , formerly cloudless , that physicians look upon as a good sign of coction , seems to be produc'd by some part of the peccant matter , that , beginning to be separated from the blood , mingles with the urine , and is not usually distinguish'd from it , whilst this liquor is warm ; but when it is grown cold , does , on the score of its weight or texture , somewhat recede , and appear in a distinct form , as of a cloud , a sediment , &c. but whatever they mean by coction , 't is plain enough , by what hath been lately noted , that , on many occasions , nature doth not wait for it , but unseasonably , and oftentimes dangerously , attempts to proscribe the matter that offends her , before it be duly prepar'd for expulsion . i come now to that circumstance of crises's , that is thought the most wonderful , which is , that nature does oftentimes by very unusual ways , and at unexpected places , discharge the matter that offends her , and thereby either cures , or notably relieves , the patient . and it must not be deny'd , that , in some cases , the critical evacuations have somewhat of suprising in them ; and i shall also readily grant , that , n. b. [ divine providence may expressly interpose , not only in the infliction of diseases by way of punishment , but in the removal of them in the way of mercy . ] but , setting aside these extraordinary cases , i think it not absurd to conjecture , that the performances of nature , in common crises's , may be probably referr'd , partly to the particular condition of the matter to be expell'd , and partly ( and indeed principally ) to some peculiar disposition in the primitive fabrick of some parts of the patients body , or some unusual change made in the construction of these parts by the disease itself , or other accidents ; which original or adventitious disposition , of the sick man's body , not being visible to us , at least whilst he is alive , we are apt to ascribe the unexpected accidents of a crisis , if it prove salutary , to the wonderful providence of nature . and , if it happen to be other than salutary , we are wont to overlook them . to illustrate this matter , we may consider , that plentiful evacuations , procured by medicines , are a kind of artificial crises's : we see , that some bodies are so constituted , that , although the peccant humour , wrought on by the medicine , ought , as the physitian thinks , to be expell'd by siege , and indeed is wont to be so , in the generality of those that take that kind of medicine , as , for instance , rhubarb or senna ; yet the peculiar disposition of the patient's stomach will make that an emetick , which was intended to be , and regularly should be , a cathartick . nor does this constitution of the stomach equally regard all purging medicines ; for the same stomach , that will reject them in the form , for instance , of a potion , will quietly entertain them , being in the form of pills . and to this let me add what we observe of the operation of mercury ; which though , if it be duly prepared , it is usually given to procure salivation , especially to succulent bodies ; yet there are some patients , wherein , instead of salivating , 't will violently and dangerously work downwards , like a purge , or make some other unexpected evacuation . and i have seen a patient , who , though young and very fat , could not be brought to salivate , neither by the gentler ways , nor by turbith-mineral and other harsher medicines , though administred by very skilful physitians and chyrurgeons . and this peculiarity may be as well contracted , as native . for some persons , especially after surfeits , having been rufly dealt with , or at least tyr'd out with a medicine of this or that kind of form , will afterwards nauseate and vomit up the like medicine , tho' in other bodies it be never so far from ●●ing emetick . we see also , that sometimes sudorifick medicines , instead of procuring sweat , prove briskly diuretick , and sometimes either purging or vomitive . from all this we may argue , that the qualities of the irritating matter , and much more the particular disposition of the patients body , may procure evacuations at unexpected places . i remember too , that , among the observations i have met with of famous physitians , there are instances of periodical and critical evacuations , at very inconvenient , as well as unusual , vents ; as some women are recorded to have had their menses , sometimes at the eyes , sometimes at the navil , and sometimes at the mouth ; of which there seems no cause so probable , as some peculiar structure , whether native or adventitious , of the internal parts concern'd in that discharge ; and of such unusual structures , anatomists must have seen many , since i my self have observ'd more than one or two. if these uncommon ways of disposing of the morbifick matter were always salutary to the patient , the argument grounded on them would have more weight : but though most men take notice of this sort of crises's , but when they are lucky , yet an impartial observer shall often find , that ill-condition'd and hurtful crises's may be made by unusual and unexpected ways . and , in some translations of the morbifick matter to distant and nobler parts , perhaps it will be as difficult to shew , by what channels or known ways the matter pass'd from one to another , as 't is to determine , how it was conducted to those parts , at which it was the most happily vented . in the foregoing discourse about crises's , there is , i confess , much of paradox ; and 't was unwillingly enough ; that i made an excursion , or in-road , into a subject that has been look'd upon as the physitians peculiar province . and , you may remember , that not far from the beginning of this little book , i told you , that i was willing to decline medling with other , than inanimate bodies : living ones being , as of a less simple sort , so of a more intricate speculation ; which reflexion will , i hope , excuse me to you , if you find , that my propos'd brevity , or the difficulty of the subject , has had any great influence on what i write , about health , diseases and crises's . and , as for the sons of aesculapius , it may be represented to them , in my favour , that , besides that i have treated of sickness and crises's , rather as a physiologer than a physician , i could not leave them unconsider'd , without being thought , if not to betray , at least to be wanting to , the cause i was to plead for . if it should be dislik'd , that i make the phaenomena of the merely corporeal part of the world , under which i comprize the bodies of animals , though not the rational souls of men , to be too generally referr'd to laws mechanical ; i hope you will remember , for me , several things dispers'd in this treatise , that may , when laid together , afford a sufficient answer to this surmize ; and particularly , that almost all the modern philosophers , and among them divers eminent divines , scruple not to forsake the spread opinion , that the coelestial orbs were mov'd and guided by intelligences ; and to explicate , by physical causes , the eclipses of the sun and moon , the production or apparition and phaenomena of comets , and other things , that the romans , as well as other heathens , both ancient and modern , have ascrib'd to the immediate agency of divine causes . this allows me to observe to you , that , since these modern naturalists and divines are wont to explicate the phaenomena of the vast coelestial bodies , by their local motions and the consequences of them ; they do , as well as i , endeavour to account for what happens in the incomparably greatest part of the vniverse , by physico-mechanical principles and laws . and , even in the terrestrial part of the world , which we men inhabit , most of the moderns , that have freed themselves from the prejudices of the schools , do not stick to give statical , hydro-statical , and other mechanical explications of the ascension of water in pumps , the detention of it in watering-pots , whose upper orifices are clos'd , and of other various phaenomena , which were formerly unanimously ascrib'd to nature's wonderful providence , express'd in her care to hinder a vacuum . but perhaps you will think it fitter for me to provide against their censure , who will dislike what i have written about crises's , not because i have ascrib'd too much to merely physical causes , but ( on the contrary , ) because i do not strictly confine my self to them. for i doubt , that if you should shew these papers to some of your friends , that affect to be strict naturalists , they will think it strange , that in one of the clauses in the foregoing discourse about crises's , ( i mean , that to which this mark n. b. is prefix'd , ) i admit that their events may sometimes be vary'd by some peculiar interposition of god. but yet i own to you , that the clause , 't is like they would take exceptions at , did not unawares slip from my pen. for 't is my setled opinion , that divine prudence is often , at least , conversant in a peculiar manner about the actions of men , and the things that happen to them , or have a necessary connexion with the one , or the other , or both. and tho' i think it probable , that in the conduct of that far greatest part of the universe , which is merely corporeal , the wise author of it does seldom manifestly procure a recession from the settled course of the universe , and especially from the most catholick laws of motion : yet , where men , who are creatures , that he is pleas'd to indow with free wills , ( at least in reference to things not spiritual , ) are nearly and highly concern'd ; i think he has , not only sometimes by those signal and manifest interpositions we call miracles , acted by a supernatural way , but , as the sovereign lord and governor of the world , doth divers times , ( and perhaps oftner than mere philosophers imagine ) give by the intervention of rational minds , as well united , as not united , to human bodies , divers such determinations to the motion of parts in those bodies , and of others , which may be affected by them , as by laws merely mechanical , those parts of matter would not have had : by which motions , so determin'd , either salutary or fatal crises's , and many other things , conducive to the welfare or detriment of men , are produc'd . the interposition of divine providences , in cases of life and death , might be easily shewn to christians out of divers passages of scripture , which expresly propos'd long life as a reward to obedient children , and to other righteous persons among the iews , and threatens bloody and deceitful men , that they shall not live out half their days ; and which relates , that a king of israel had his disease made mortal by his impious recourse to the false god of eckron ; and that , upon hezekiah's prayers and tears , god was pleased to add fifteen years to his life , and grant a special benediction to an outward medicine , apply'd to his threatning sore . to which passages divers may be added out of the new-testament also , and especially that of st. iames , who exhorts the sick to seek for recovery by prayer ; and that of st. paul , where , speaking to the corinthians of the unworthy receivers of the sacrament of the eucharist , he tells them , that , for that cause , divers were become sick and weak among them , and many also died . but though the nature of this discourse dissuades me from imploying here the authority of scripture , yet it allows me to observe , ( what is considerable on this occasion ) that natural theology and right reason comport very well with our propos'd doctrine . for , as i lately intimated , and do more fully shew in another paper , * god has left to the will of man the direction of many local motions in the parts of his own body , and thereby of some others ; though the mechanical laws , on which the ordinary course of things mainly depends , do not only regulate the motions of bodies , but the determinations too : and since man himself is vouchsaf'd a power , to alter , in several cases , the usual course of things , it should not seem incredible , that the latent interposition of men , or perhaps angels , or other causes unthought of by us , should sometimes be imploy'd to the like purposes by god , who is not only the all-wise maker , but the absolute , and yet most just and benign , rector of the universe , and of men. to conclude the excursion , which i hope will not appear useless , that has been occasion'd by the discourse of crises's , i think it becomes a christian philosopher , to admit , in general , that god doth sometimes in a peculiar , though hidden way , interpose in the ordinary phaenomena and events of crises's ; but yet , that this is done so seldom , at least in a way that we can certainly discern , that we are not hastily to have recourse to an extraordinary providence , and much less to the strange care and skill of that question'd being call'd nature , in this or that particular case , though perhaps unexpected , if it may be probably accounted for by mechanical laws , and the ordinary course of things . and here , though in a place less proper than i might have chosen , if i had timely remembred it , i shall , both in reference to the extraordinary accidents that sometimes happen in crises's , and more generally to the seemingly irregular phaenomena of the universe , venture to offer you a notion , that perhaps you will not dislike . i think then , that , when we consider the world , and the physical changes that happen in it , with reference to the divine wisdom and providence ; the arguments for the affirmative ought , in their kind , to have more force than those for the negative . for it seems more allowable , to argue a providence from the exquisite structure and symmetry of the mundane bodies , and the apt subordination and train of causes , than to infer from some physical anomalies , that things are not fram'd and administred by a wise author and rector . for the characters and impressions of wisdom , that are conspicuous in the curious fabrick and orderly train of things , can , with no probability , be referr'd to blind chance , but must be to a most intelligent and designing agent . whereas , on the other hand , besides that the anomalies , we speak of , are incomparably fewer , than those things which are regular , and are produc'd in an orderly way ; besides this , i say , the divine maker of the universe being a most free agent , and having an intellect infinitely superior to ours , may , in the production of seemingly irregular phaenomena , have ends unknown to us , which even the anomalies may be very fit to compass . thus , when a man , not vers'd in the mathematicks , looks upon a curious geographical globe , though , as soon as he perceives that the differing bignesses , and particular confines of kingdoms and provinces , and the apt situations , true distances and bearings of the cities and towns he knows by sight or fame , be rightly set down ; he cannot but conclude , from these impresses of art or skill , that this was the work of a designing artificer . but though he also sees on the same globe several circles , as the tropicks , the zodiack , the meridians , &c. if he be a sober man , he will not think that these were made by chance only , because he knows not the reasons or uses of them , or because some of the lines , as those curve-lines the seamen call rumbs , are not , like the other , circular , but do odly , and with a seeming irregularity , intersect them : but will rather think , that the artist , that had knowledg enough to represent the globe of the earth and waters , in a body not two foot in diameter , had also skill enough to draw those lines , with some design worthy of the same skill , though not obvious to those that are unacquainted with his art. i did not incogitantly speak of irregularities , as if they might sometimes be but seeming ones . for i think it very possible , that an artificer of so vast a comprehension , and so piercing a sight , as is the maker of the world , might , in this great automaton of his , have so order'd things , that divers of them may appear to us , and as it were break out , abruptly and unexpectedly , and at great distances of time or place from one another , and on such accounts be thought irregular ; which yet really have , both in his preordination , and in the connection of their genuine causes , a reference that would , if we discern'd it , keep us from imputing it either to chance , or to nature's aberrations . to illustrate this a little , let us consider , that if , when the jesuits , that first came into china , presented a curious striking watch to the king , he that look'd to it had wound up the alarm , so as to strike a little after one ; if , i say , this had been done , and that these chineses , that look'd upon it as a living creature , or some european animal , would think , that when the index , pointing at two of the clock , likewise struck the same hour , and so three , four , and onward , they would judg that these noises were regularly produc'd , because they ( at equal intervals of time ) heard them , and whensoever the index pointed at an hour , and never but then ; but when the alarm came unexpectedly to make a loud , confus'd , and more lasting noise , they could scarce avoid thinking , that the animal was sick , or exceedingly disorder'd : and yet the alarming noise did as properly flow from the structure of the little engine , and was as much design'd by the manager of it , as those sounds of the clock , that appear'd manifestly regular . sect . vii . i proceed now to the sixth and difficultest part of my task , which is to shew , that the most general and current effata and axioms concerning nature , that are wont to be imploy'd in the writings of philosophers , may have a fair account given of them , agreeably to the doctrine i have hitherto propos'd , tho' these axioms do some of them suppose , and others seem strongly to support , the receiv'd notion of nature . to clear the way for the ensuing explications , i must desire you to recall to mind the two cautions i have formerly offer'd you ( in the fifth section , ) wherewith i would have the common doctrine , about the ends or designs of nature , to be understood or limited . and therefore i shall not here repeat , what i there said , but only add in two words , that if those , and some few other such things , had been observ'd and duly consider'd , they might perhaps have prevented much of the obscurity , and some of the errors , that relate to the notion of nature . i hope you have not forgot , that the design of this paper was , to examine the vulgar notion of nature , not to establish a new one of my own . and indeed the ambiguity of the word is so great , ( as hath in the second section been made appear ) and 't is , even by learned men , frequently imploy'd to signifie such different things ; that , without enumerating and distinguishing its various acceptions , it were very unsafe to venture a giving a definition of it , and perhaps it were very impossible to give any , that would not be liable to censure . i shall not therefore here presume to define a thing , of which i have not found a stated and setled notion so far agreed on amongst men , but that i was oblig'd , out of aristotle and others , to compile , in the fourth section , a collective representation of the vulgarly receiv'd idea , or notion of nature : and afterwards to draw up , as well as i could , instead of an accurate definition , tolerable descriptions of what , on most occasions , may be intelligibly meant by it. wherefore , desiring and presuming , that you will retain in your mind , and , as occasion shall require , apply , in the following part of this essay , the things already delivered in the fourth section , i will not trouble you with the repetition of them. but before i descend to treat of the particular effata or sentences , that are receiv'd concerning nature's actings , it may not be improper , nor unuseful , to try if we can clear the way , by considering in what sense nature may , or may not , be said to act at all , or to do this or that . for , for ought i can clearly discern , whatsoever is perform'd in the merely material world , is really done by particular bodies , acting according to the laws of motion , rest , &c. that are setled and maintain'd by god among things corporeal . in which hypothesis , nature seems rather a notional thing , than a true physical , and distinct or separate , efficient ; such as would be , in case aristotles doctrine were true , one of those intelligences , that he presum'd to be the movers of the coelestial orbs. but men do oftentimes express themselves so very ambiguously or intricately , when they say , that nature does this and that , or , that she acts thus and thus ; that 't is scarce ( if at all ) possible to translate their expressions into any forms of speech , adequate to the original and yet intelligible . for which reason , though i have in the section said something to the same purpose with what i am now to propose , yet the difficulty and weight of the subject makes me think it may be expedient , if not necessary , in this place somewhat more fully to declare what men do , or should , mean , when they speak of nature's acting , or of a thing 's being naturally done or performed , by giving their words and phrases sometimes one interpretation , and sometimes another . i. sometimes when 't is said , that nature does this or that ; 't is less proper to say , that 't is done by nature , than , that it is done according to nature . so that , nature is not here to be look'd on , as a distinct or separate agent , but as a rule , or rather a systeme of rules , according to which , those agents , and the bodies they work on , are , by the great author of things , determin'd to act and suffer . thus , when water is rais'd in a sucking-pump , 't is said , that nature makes the water ascend after the sucker , to prevent a vacuum ; though in reality this ascension is made , not by such a separate agent , as nature is fancied to be , but by the pressure of the atmosphere , acting upon the water , according to statical rules , or the laws or the aequilibrium of liquors , settled by god among fluids , whether visible or pneumatical . so , when the strict peripateticks tell us , that all the visible coelestial orbs , being by a motion , that they call violent , hurried about the earth every four and twenty hours from east to west ; each of the planetary orbs has a natural motion , that is quite contrary , tending from the west to the east : if they will speak congruously to their master's doctrine , they must use the term natural in the sense our observation gives it : since aristotle will have the coelestial orbs to be moved by external or separate agents namely , spiritual intelligences . our observation may be also illustrated by other forms of speech , that are in use ; as when 't is said , that the law takes care of infants and lunaticks , that their indiscreet actions or omissions should not damnifie their inheritances ; and , that the law hangs men for murther , but only burns them in the hand for some lesser faults ; of which phrases the meaning is , that magistrates and other ministers of justice , acting according to the law of the land , do the things mention'd . and it tends yet more directly to our purpose to take notice , that 't is common to ascribe to art those things that are really perform'd by artificers , according to the prescriptions of the art , as when 't is said , that geometry ( as the name imports , ) measures lands , astrology foretels changes of weather and other future accidents , architecture makes buildings , and chymistry prepares medicines . ii. sometimes , when divers things , such as the growth of trees , the maturations of fruits , &c. are said to be perform'd by the course of nature , the meaning ought to be , that such things will be brought to pass by their proper and immediate causes , according to the wonted manner and series or order of their actings . thus 't is said , that , by the course of nature the summer days are longer than those of the winter : that , when the moon is in opposition to the sun , ( that is in the full moon , ) that part of her body which respects the earth , is more enlightned than at the new moon , or at either of the quadratures : and lastly , that when she enters more or less into the conical shadow of the earth , she suffers a total or a partial eclipse . and yet these and other illustrious phaenomena may be clearly explicated without recourse to any such being as the aristotelians nature , barely by considering the situations and wonted motions of the sun or earth , and the moon , with reference to each other , and to the terrestrial globe . and here it may not be amiss to take notice , that we may sometimes usefully distinguish between the laws of nature , more properly so call'd , and the custom of nature , or , if you please , between the fundamental and general constitutions among bodily things , and the municipal laws , ( if i may so call them , ) that belong to this or that particular sort of bodies . as , to resume and somewhat vary our instance drawn ftom water ; when this falls to the ground , it may be said to do so by virtue of the custom of nature , it being almost constantly usual for that liquor to tend downwards , and actually to fall down , if it be not externally hinder'd . but when water ascends by suction in a pump , or other instrument , that motion , being contrary to that which is wonted , is made in virtue of a more catholick law of nature , by which 't is provided , that a greater pressure , which in our case the water suffers from the weight of the incumbent air , should surmount a lesser , such as is here the gravity of the water , that ascends in the pump or pipe. the two foregoing observations may be farther illustrated , by considering , in what sense men speak of things which they call praeter-natural , or else contrary to nature . for divers , if not most , of their expressions of this kind , argue , that nature is in them taken for the particular and subordinate , or , as it were , the municipal laws establish'd among bodies . thus water , when 't is intensly hot , is said to be in a praeter-natural state , because it is in one that 't is not usual to it , and , men think , doth not regularly belong to it ; though the fire or sun , that thus agitates it and puts it into this state , is confess'd to be a natural agent , and is not thought to act otherwise than according to nature . thus , when a spring , forcibly bent , is conceiv'd to be in a state contrary to its nature , as is argued from its incessant endeavour to remove the compressing body ; this state , whether praeter-natural , or contrary to nature , should be thought such , but in reference to the springy body . for otherwise 't is as agreeable to the grand laws , that obtain among things corporeal , that such a spring should remain bent by the degree of force , that actually keeps it so , as that it should display itself in spight of a less , or incompetent , degree of force . and to omit the six non-natural things , so much spoken of by physitians , i must here take notice , that though a disease be generally reckon'd as a praeter-natural thing , or , as others carry the notion further , a state contrary to nature ; yet , that must be understood only with reference to what customarily happens to a human body : since excessively cold winds , and immoderate rains , and sultry air , and other usual causes of diseases , are as natural agents , and act as agreeably to the catholick laws of the universe , when they produce diseases , as when they condense the clouds into rain or snow , blow ships into their harbour , make rivers overflow , ripen corn and fruit , and do such other things , whether they be hurtful or beneficial to men. and , upon a like account , when monsters are said to be praeternatural things ; the expression is to be understood with regard to that particular species of bodies , from which the monster does enormously deviate , though the causes , that produce that deviation , act but according to the general laws , whereby things corporeal are guided . 3. i doubt , whether i should add as a third remark , or as somewhat that is referrable to one or both of the two foregoing , that sometimes , when 't is said , that nature performs this or that thing , we are not to conceive , that this thing is an effect really produc'd by other than by proper physical causes or agents ; but , in such expressions , we are rather to look upon nature , either as a relative thing , or as a term imployed to denote a notional thing , with reference whereunto physical causes are consider'd , as acting after some peculiar manner , whereby we may distinguish their operations from those that are produc'd by other agents , or perhaps by the same , consider'd as acting in another way . this , i think , may be illustrated by some other receiv'd expressions , or forms of speech . as , when many of the ancient , and some of the modern , philosophers , have said , that things are brought fatally to pass ; they did not mean , that fate was a distinct and separate agent , but only , that the physical causes perform'd the effect , as , in their actings , they had a necessary dependance upon one another , or an inviolable connexion that link'd them together . and on the other side , when men say , as they too frequently do , that fortune or chance , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ( for aristotle and his followers distinguish them , ascribing to the former , what unexpectedly happens to deliberating or designing , and to the later , what happens to inanimate or undesigning beings , ) has done this or that : considerate philosophers do not look upon fortune or chance as a true and distinct physical cause , but as a notional thing , that denotes , that the proper agents produc'd the effect without an intention to do so , ( as i have more fully declar'd in the fourth section . ) one may , for ought i know , without impertinence , refer to this our third observation , that many things are wont to be attributed to time ; as , when we say , that time ripens some fruits that are too early gather'd ; that it makes many things moulder and decay , ( tempus edax rerum ; ) that 't is the mother of truth ; that it produces great alterations , both in the affairs of men , and in their dispositions and their bodies : to omit many other vulgar expressions , which represent time as the cause of several things , whereof really it is but an adjunct or a concomitant of the effects , ( however coincident with the successive parts of time , and so , some way , related to it ) being indeed produc'd by other agents , that are their true and proper efficients . sometimes likewise , when it is said , that nature does this or that , we ought not to suppose , that the effect is produc'd by a distinct or separate being ; but , on such occasions , the word nature is to be concei●●d to signifie a complex or convention of all the essential properties , or necessary qualities , that belong to a body of that species whereof the real agent is , or to more bodies respectively , if more must concur to the production of the effect . to this sense we are to expound many of those forms of speech , that are wont to be imploy'd , when physicians , or others , speak of what nature does in reference to diseases , or the cure of them . and , to give a right sense to such expressions , i consider nature , not as a principal and distinct agent , but a kind of compounded accident , that is ( as it were ) made up of , or results from , the divers properties and qualities that belong to the true agents . and , that the name of a compounded accident may not be startled at , i shall , to explain what i mean by it , observe , that , as there are some qualities or accidents , that , at least in comparison of others , may be call'd simple , as roundness , streightness , heat , gravi●● , &c. so there are others , that may be conceiv'd as compounded , or made up of several qualities united in one subject : as , in divers pigments , greenness is made up of blew and yellow , exquisitely mix'd ; beauty is made up of fit colours , taking features , just stature , fine shape , graceful motions , and some other accidents of the human body and its parts . and , of this sort of compounded accidents , i am apt to think , there are far more , than , at the first mention of them , one would imagine . and to this kind of beings , the expressions , that naturists do on divers occasions imploy , incline me to think , that , what is call'd nature has a great affinity , at least in reference to those occasions . on which supposition , one may conceive , that , as when 't is said , that health makes a man eat well , digest well , sleep well , &c. considering men do not look upon health as a distinct and separate cause of these effects ; but , as what we lately call'd a compounded accident , that is , a complex of all the real and genuine causes of good appetite , digestion , sleep , &c. insomuch that health is not so properly the cause of these , as their effect or result : so in divers things that nature is said to do , we need conceive no more , than that the effects are produc'd by physical bodies and qualities , or other proper causes ; which , when we consider as conspiring , or rather concurring , to produce the same effect , by a compendious term we call nature . by these and the like ways of interpretation , i thought fit to try , whether i could give an intelligible and commodious sense to divers of the maxims or sentences ; and other forms of speech , that are imploy'd by those , that , on many occasions , and in differing expressions , say , that nature does this or that , and acts thus and thus . but i confess , that to clear all those ambiguous and unskilfully fram'd axioms and phrases , i found to be so intricate and difficult a task , that , for want of time , and perhaps too of patience , i grew weary before i had prosecuted it to the utmost . for which reason , though 't is not improbable , that some light may be given in this dark subject , by what i have been now saying , ( as immature and unfinish'd , as it is ) especially if it be reflected on in conjunction with what hath been formerly deliver'd ( in the fourth section ) about nature , general and particular ; yet i shall , at present , make but very little use of the things that have been now said , in expounding the axioms i am particularly to consider in this seventh section ; hoping , that i may , by the help of other mediums , dispatch my work without them . and , to do it the more easily ; i shall , without tying myself to the order wherein they are marshall'd after the beginning of the fourth section , treat of them in the order wherein i think their explications may give most light to one another , or in that , wherein the papers that belong'd to them were retriev'd . the first of the receiv'd axioms i shall consider , is , that which pronounces , that omnis natura est conservatrix sui ; where , by the word nature , i suppose , they understand a natural body , for otherwise i know not what they meant : now this axiom easily admits of a twofold interpretation . for , either it may signifie no more , than that no one body does tend to its own destruction , that is , to destroy itself : or else , that in every body there is a principle call'd nature , upon whose score , the body is vigilant and industrious to preserve its natural state , and to defend itself from the violence and attempts of all other bodies that oppugn it , or endeavour to destroy or harm it. in the former of these two senses , the axiom may be admitted , without any prejudice to our doctrine . for since according to our hypothesis , inanimate bodies can have neither appetites , nor hatreds , nor designs , which are all of them affections , not of bruit matter but of intelligent beings ; i , that think inanimate bodies have no appetites at all , may easily grant , that they have not any to destroy themselves . but , according to the other sense of the propos'd axiom , 't will import , that every body has within itself a principle , whereby it does desire , and with all its power endeavour , to compass its own preservation : and both to do those things , that tend thereunto , and oppose all endeavours , that outward agents , or internal distempers , may use in order to the destruction of it. and as this is the most vulgar sense of this axiom , so 't is chiefly in this sense , that i am concern'd to examine it. i conceive then , that the most wise creator of things did at first so frame the world , and settle such laws of motion between the bodies , that , as parts , compose it ; that by the assistence of his general concourse , the parts of the universe , especially those that are the greater and the more noble , are lodg'd in such places , and furnish'd with such powers , that , by the help of his general providence , they may have their beings continued and maintained , as long and as far forth , as the course he thought fit to establish , amongst things corporeal , requires . upon this supposition , which is but a reasonable one , there will appear no necessity to have any recourse , for the preservation of particular bodies , to such an internal appetite and inbred knowledg in each of them , as our adversaries presume . since , by virtue of the original frame of things , and established laws of motion , bodies are necessarily determined to act on such occasions , after the manner they would do , if they had really an aim at self-preservation : as you see , that , if a blown bladder be compress'd , and thereby the included air be forc'd out of its wonted dimensions and figure , it will uncessantly endeavour to throw off , and repel , that which offers violence unto it ; and first displace that part of the compressing body , that it finds weakest ; though in all this , there be no appetite in the air , ( as i elswhere shew ; ) no more than in the bladder , to that particular figure , to maintain itself in which it seems so concern'd . thus , 't is all one to a ●lump of dough , whether you make it into a round loaf , or a long rowl , or a flat cake , or give it any other form : for whatever figure your hands or your instruments leave in it , that it will retain , without having any appetite to return to that , which it last had . so , 't is all one to a piece of wax , whether your seal imprints on it the figure of a wolf , or that of a lamb. and , for brevity's sake , to pass by the instances that might be drawn from what happens to wood , and marble , and metals , as they are differently shap'd by the statuaries art and tools ; i will only observe , that the mariner's needle , before it is excited , may have no particular propensity to have respect to one part of heaven , more than another ; but when it has been duly touch'd upon a load-stone , the flwer-de-luce will be determin'd to regard the north , and the opposite extream the south . so that , if the lilly be drawn aside , towards the east or towards the west , as soon as the force , that detain'd it , is remov'd , it will return to its former position , and never rest , 'till it regard the north. but , in spight of this seeming affection of the lilly to that point of the horizon , yet , if the needle be duly touch'd upon the contrary pole of the same or another vigorous load-stone , the lilly will presently forget its former inclination , and regard the southern part of heaven ; to which position it will , as it were , spontaneously return , having been forc'd aside towards the east , or towards the west , if it be again left to its liberty . so that , though it formerly seem'd so much to affect one point of heaven , yet it may , in a trice , be brought to have a strong propensity for the opposite : the lilly having , indeed , no inclination for one point of heaven , more than another , but resting in that position , to which it was last determin'd by the prevalence of magnetical effluvia . and this example may serve to illustrate and confirm , what we have been lately saying in general . ii. another received axiom concerning nature , is , that she never fails or misses of her end , natura sine suo nunquam excidit . this is a proposition , whose ambiguity makes it uneasie for me to deliver my sense of it. but yet , to say somewhat , if by nature we here understand that being , that the school-men style natura naturans , i grant , or rather assert , that nature never misseth its end. for the omniscient and almighty author of things , having once fram'd the word , and establish'd in it the laws of motion , which he constantly maintains , there can no irregularity , or anomaly , happen , especially among the greater mundane bodies , that he did not from the beginning foresee and think fit to permit , since they are but genuine consequences of that order of things , that , at the beginning , he most wisely instituted . as i have formerly declar'd in instances of the eclipses of the sun and moon ; to which i could add others , as the inundations of nilus , so necessary to the health and plenty of aegypt . and though , on some special occasions , this instituted order , either seemingly or really , has been violated , as when the sun is said to have stood still in the days of ioshua , and the red sea to have divided itself to give free passage to the israelites , led by moses ; yet these things having been rarely done , for weighty ends and purposes , by the peculiar intervention of the first cause , either guiding or over-ruling the propensities and motions of secundary agents ; it cannot be said , that god is frustrated of his ends by these design'd , though seeming , exorbitances , by which he most wisely and effectually accomplishes them. but , if by nature be meant such a subordinate principle , as men are wont to understand by that name , i doubt the axiom is in many cases false ; for though it it be true , as i have often said , that the material world is so constituted , that , for the most part , things are brought to pass by corporeal agents , as regularly , as if they designed the effects they produce , yet there are several cases , wherein things happen quite otherwise . thus 't is confess'd , that when a woman is with child , the aim of nature is , to produce a perfect or genuine human foetus ; and yet we often see , that nature widely missing her mark , instead of that , produces a monster . and of this we have such frequent instances , that whole volumes have been publish'd , to recount and describe these gross and deform'd aberrations of nature . we many times see , ( and have formerly noted , ) that in feavers , and other acute diseases , she makes critical attempts upon improper days , and in these unseasonable attempts does not only , for the most part , miss of her end , which is to cure the patient , but often brings him to a far worse condition , than he was in , before she us'd those miscarrying endeavours . to this may may be referr'd the cheats men put upon nature ; as when , by grafting , the sap , that nature raises with intention to feed the fruit of a white thorn. ( for instance , ) is by the gardener brought to nourish a fruit of quite another kind . so , when maulsters make barley to sprout , that germination , whereby nature intended to produce stalks and ears , is perverted to a far differing purpose , and she deluded . and now , to annex some arguments ad hominem , we are told , that nature makes every agent aim at assimulating the patient to itself , and that upon this account , the fire aims at converting wood , and the other bodies it works on , into fire : but , if this be so , nature must often miss of her end in chymical furnaces , where the flame does never turn the bricks , that it makes red-hot , into fire ; nor the crucibles , nor the cuples , nor yet the gold and silver , that it throughly pervades , and brings to be of a colour , the same , or very near the same , with its own , and keeps in a very intense degree of heat , and in actual fusion . and , even when fire acts upon wood , there is but one part of it turn'd into fire , since , to say nothing of the soot and concreted smoke , the ashes remain fix'd and incombustible . and so , to add another instance ad hominem , when we are told , that nature makes water ascend in sucking-pumps , ob fugam vacui , she must needs ( as i formerly noted to another purpose , ) miss of her aim , when the pump exceeds five and thirty , or forty , foot in height ; for then , though you pump never so much , and withdraw the air from the upper part of the engine , the water will not ascend to the top ; and consequently , will leave a cavity , for whole replenishing she was suppos'd to have rais'd that liquor two or three and thirty foot. iii. another of the celebrated axioms concerning nature , is , that she always acts by the shortest or most compendious ways , natura semper agit per vias brevissimas . but this rule , as well as divers others , does , i think , require to be somewhat explained and limited , before it be admitted . for , 't is true , ●hat , as i have frequently occasion to inculcate , the omniscient author of the universe has so fram'd it , that most of the parts of it act as regularly in order to the ends of it , as if they did it with design . but , since inanimate bodies , at least , have no knowledge , it cannot reasonably be suppos'd , that they moderate and vary their own actions , according to the exigency of particular circumstances , wherewith they must of necessity be unacquainted , and therefore it were strange , if there were not divers occurrences , wherein they are determin'd to act by other , than the shortest , ways that lead to particular ends , if those other ways be more congruous to the general laws or customs , established among things corporeal . this i prove by instances taken from gravity itself , which is , perhaps , that quality , which of all others is most probably referr'd to an inbred power and propension . for 't is true , that if a stone , or another heavy body , be let fall into the free air , 't will take its course directly towards the centre of the earth ; and , if it meet with an inclining plane , which puts it out of its way , it will not for all that loss its tendency towards the centre , but run along that plane , by which means its tendency downwards is prosecuted , though not , as before , in a perpendicular line , yet in the shortest way it is permitted to take . these obvious phaenomena , i confess , agree very well with the vulgar axiom , and possibly were the chief things that induc'd men to frame it . but now let us suppose , that a small bullet of marble or steel , after having for a pretty space fallen through the air , lights upon a pavement of marble , or some such hard stone , that lies , as floors are wont to do , horizontal ; in this case , experience shews , ( as was formerly noted on another occasion ) that the falling stone will rebound to a considerable height , ( in proportion to that it fell from ) and falling down again rebound the second time , tho' not so high as before ; and , in short , rebound several times , before , by setling upon the floor , it approaches , as near as is permitted it , to the centre of heavy bodies . whereas , if nature did in all cases act by the most compendious ways , this bullet ought not to rebound at all ; but , as soon as it found , by the hardness of the floor , it could descend no lower , it ought to have rested there , as in the nearest place it could obtain to the centre of the earth , whence every rebound must necessarily remove it to a greater distance . and so likewise , when a pendulum , or bullet fasten'd to the end of a string , is so held , that the string is ( praeter propter ) perpendicular to the horizon , if it be thence let fall , it will not stop at the perpendicular line , or line of direction , which is suppos'd to reach from the nail or other prop , through the centre of the bullet , to the centre of the earth , but will pass beyond it , and vibrate or swing to and fro , 'till it have pass'd again and again the line of direction , for a great while , before the bullet come to settle in it , though , whenever it removes out of it , towards either hand , it must really ascend or move upwards , and so go further off from the centre of the earth , to which , 't is pretended , its innate propensity determines it to approach , as much and as soon as is possible . but this instance having been formerly touch'd upon , i shall now observe , to the same purpose , that having taken a good sea-compass , [ and the experiment succeeded with a naked , yet nicely pois'd , needle ] and suffer'd the magnetick needle to rest north and south ; if i held the proper pole of a good loadstone at a convenient distance , on the right or left hand of the lilly , this would be drawn aside from the north point towards the east or west , as i pleas'd ; and then the loadstone being remov'd quite away , the lilly of the needle would indeed return northward , but would not stop in the magnetick meridian , but pass on divers degrees beyond it , and would thence return without stopping at the meridian line : and so would , by its vibrations , describe many arches still shorter and shorter , 'till at length it came to settle on it , and recover that position , which , if nature always acted by the most compendious ways , it should have rested at the first time , that by the removal of the loadstone it had regain'd it . but the truth is , that , at least , inanimate bodies , acting without knowledg or design of their own , cannot stop or moderate their own action , but must necessarily move as they are determin'd by the catholick laws of motion , according to which , in one case , the impetus , that the bullet acquires by falling , is more powerful to carry it on beyond the line of direction , than the action of the causes of gravity is to stop it , assoon as it comes to the nearest place they can give it to the centre of the earth . and something like this happens in levity , as well as gravity ; for if you take an oblong and conveniently shap'd piece of light wood , as firr or deal , and , having thrust or sunk it to the bottom of a somewhat deep stagnant water , give it liberty to ascend , it will not only regain the surface of the water , where , by the laws of gravity , it ought to rest , and did rest before it was forc'd down , but it will pass far beyond that surface , and in part as it were shoot itself up into the incumbent air , and then fall down again , and rise a second time , and perhaps much oftner , and fall again , before it come to settle in its due place , in which it is in an aequilibrium with the water , that endeavours to press it upwards . another of the sentences that are generally receiv'd concerning nature , is , that she always does what is best to be done : natura semper quod optimum est facit . but of this it will not be safe for me to deliver my opinion , 'till i have endeavour'd to remove the ambiguity of the words ; for they easily admit of two different senses , since they may signifie , that nature in the whole universe does always that which is best , for the conservation of it in its present state ; or , that in reference to each body in particular , nature does still what is best , that is , what most conduces to the preservation and welfare of that body . if the first of these senses be pitch'd upon , the axiom will be less liable to exception . but then , i fear , it will be difficult to be positively made out , by such instances as will prove , that nature acts otherwise than necessarily according to laws mechanical ; and therefore , 'till i meet with such proofs , i shall proceed to the other sense that may be given our axiom , which , though it be the most usual , yet , i confess , i cannot admit , without it be both explain'd and limited . i readily grant , that the all-wise author of things corporeal has so fram'd the world , that most things happen in it , as if the particular bodies that compose it , were watchful both for their own welfare , and that of the universe . but , i think , withall , that particular bodies , at least those that are inanimate , acting without either knowledg or design , their actions do not tend to what is best for them in their private capacities , any further than will comport with the general laws of motion , and the important customs establish'd among things corporeal : so that to conform to these , divers things are done that are neither the best , nor so much as good , in reference to the welfare of particular bodies . these sentiments i am induc'd to take up , not only by the more speculative considerations , that have been formerly discours'd of and therefore shall not here be repeated , but by daily observations and obvious experience . we see oftentimes , that fruit-trees , especially when they grow old , will for one season be so overcharg'd with fruit , that soon after they decay and die ; and even whilst they flourish , the excessive weight of the too numerous fruits does not seldom break off the branches they grow upon , and thereby both hinders the maturity of the fruit , and hastens the death of the tree : whereas , this fatal profuseness would have been prevented , if a wise nature , harbour'd in the plant , did , as is presum'd , solicitously intend its welfare . we see also in divers diseases , and in the unseasonable and hurtful crises's of feavers , how far , what men call , nature oftentimes is , from doing that , which is best for the sick man's preservation . and indeed , ( as hath been formerly noted on another ocsicaon , ) in many diseases , as bleedings , convulsions , cholera's , &c. a great part of the physicians work is , to appease the fury , and to correct the errors , of nature , which being , as 't were , transported with a blind and impetuous passion unseasonably produces those dangerous disorders in the body , that , if she were wise and watchful of its welfare , she would have been as careful to prevent , as the physicians to remedy them. add to all this , that , if nature be so provident and watchful for the good of men and other animals , and of that part of the world , wherein they live ; how comes it to pass , that from time to time , she destroys such multitudes of men and beasts , by earthquakes , pestilences , famine , and other anomalies ? and , how comes it so often to pass in teeming women , that , perhaps by a fright , or a longing desire , or the bare sight of any outward object , nature suffers herself to be so disordered , and is brought to forget her plastick skill so much , as , instead of well-form'd infants , to produce hideous monsters , and those oftentimes so mishapen and ill-contriv'd , that not only themselves are unfit to live one day , or perhaps one hour , but cannot come into the world without killing the mother that bare them. these and such other anomalies , though ( as i have elsewhere shewn , ) they be not repugnant to the catholick laws of the universe , and may be accounted for in the doctrine of god's general providence ; yet they would seem to be aberrations , incongruous enough to the idaea the schools give of nature , as of a being , that , according to the axiom hitherto consider'd , does always that which is best . but 't is time that we pass from that , to the examen of another . though i have had occasion to treat of vacuum in the fifth section , yet i must also say something about it in this , because i there consider'd it , but as it is imploy'd by the peripateticks and others , to shew the necessity of the principle they call nature . but now i am to treat of it , not so much as an argument to be confuted , as on the score of its belonging to a ( very plausible ) axiom to be consider'd ; although i fear , that , by reason of the identity of the subiect , ( though consider'd in the fifth sect. and here , to differing purposes ) i shall scarce avoid saying something or other , co-incident with what has been said already . v. the word vacuum being ambiguous , and us'd in differing senses , i think it requisite , before i declare my opinion about the generally receiv'd axiom of the schools , that natura vacuum horret , ( or , as some express it , abhorret à vacuo ) to premise the chief acceptions in which , i have observ'd , the term vacuum to be made use of . for it has sometimes a vulgar , and sometimes a philosophical or strict , signification . in common speech , to be empty , usually denotes , not to be devoid of all body whatsoever , but of that body that men suppose should be in the thing spoken of , or of that which it was fram'd or design'd to contain ; as when men say that a purse is empty , if there be no mony in it ; or a bladder , when the air is squeez'd out ; or a barrel , when either it has not been yet fill'd with liquor , or has had the wine or other drink drawn out of it . the word vacuum is also taken in another sense by philosophers that speak strictly , when they mean by it , a space within the world , ( for i here meddle not with the imaginary spaces of the school-men , beyond the bounds of the universe , ) wherein there is not contain'd any body whatsoever . this distinction being premis'd , i shall inform you , that taking the word vacuum in the strict sense , though many , and , among them , some of my best friends , press'd me to a declaration of my sense about that famous controversie , an detur vacuum , because , they were pleas'd to suppose , i had made more tryals than others had done about it , yet i have refus'd to declare myself , either pro or contra , in that dispute . since the decision of the question seems to depend upon the stating of the true notion of a body , whose essence the cartesians affirm , and most other philosophers deny , to consist only in extension , according to the three dimensions , length , breadth , and depth or thickness : for , if mr. des cartes's notion be admitted , 't will be irrational to admit a vacuum , since any space , that is pretended to be empty , must be acknowledg'd to have the three dimensions , and consequently all that is necessary to essentiate a body . and all the experiments , that can be made with quicksilver , or the machina boyliana ( as they call it , ) or other instruments contriv'd for the like uses , will be eluded by the cartesians , who will say , that the space deserted by the mercury , or the air , is not empty , since it has length , breadth , and depth , but is fill'd by their materia subtilis , that is fine enough to get freely in and out of the pores of the glasses , as the effluvia of the loadstone can do . but though , for these and other reasons , i still forbear ( as i lately said i have formerly done , ) to declare either way in the controversie about vacuum , yet i shall not stick to acknowledg , that i do not acquiesce in the axiom of the schools , that nature abhors a vacuum . for , first , i consider , that the chief , if not the only , reason , that moves the generality of philosophers to believe , that nature abhors a vacrum , is , that in some cases , as the ascension of water in sucking-pumps , &c. they observe , that there is an unusual endeavour , and perhaps a forcible motion in water and other bodies , to oppose a vacuum . but i , that see nothing to be manifest here , save that some bodies , not devoid of weight , have a motion upwards , or otherwise differing from their usual motions , ( as in determination , swiftness , &c. ) am not apt , without absolute necessity , to ascribe to inanimate and senseless bodies , such as water , air , &c. the appetites and hatreds that belong to rational , or or least to sensitive , beings ; and therefore , think it a sufficient reason , to decline imploying such improper causes , if without them , the motions , wont to be ascrib'd to them , can be accounted for . 2. if the cartesian notion of the essence of a body be admitted by us , as 't is by many modern philosophers and mathematicians , it can scarce be deny'd , but that nature does not produce these oftentimes great , and oftner irregular , efforts to hinder a vacuum ; since , it being impossible there should be any , 't were a fond thing to suppose that nature , who is represented to us as a most wise agent , should bestir herself , and do extravagant feats , to prevent an impossible mischief . 3. if the atomical hypothesis be admitted , it must be granted , not only that nature does not abhor a vacuum , but that a great part of the things she does require it , since they are brought to pass by local motion ; and yet there are very many cases , wherein , according to these philosophers , the necessary motions of bodies cannot be perform'd , unless the corpuscles , that lie in their way , have little empty spaces to retire , or be impell'd into , when the body , that pushes them , endeavours to displace them . so that the effatum , that nature abhors a vacuum , agrees with neither of the two great sects of the modern philosophers . but , without insisting on the authority of either of them , i consider , that , for ought appears by the phaenomena imploy'd to demonstrate nature's abhorrency of a vacuum , it may be rational enough to think , either that nature does not abhor a vacuum , even when she seems solicitous to hinder it ; or , that she has but a very moderate hatred of it , in that sense wherein the vulgar philosophers take the word vacuum . for if we consider , that , in almost all visible bodies here below , and even in the atmospherical air itself , there is more or less of gravity , or tendency towards the centre of our terraqueous globe , we may perceive , that there is no need that nature should disquiet herself , and act irregularly , to hinder a vacuum : since , without her abhorrence of it , it may be prevented or replenish'd , by her affecting to place all heavy bodies as near the centre of the earth , as heavier than they will permit . and even without any design of hers , not to say without her existence , a vacuity will be as much oppos'd , as we really find it to be , by the gravity of most , if not of all , bodies here below , and the confluxibility of liquors , and other fluids . for , by vertue of their gravity , and the minuteness of their parts , they will be determin'd to insinuate themselves into and fill all the spaces , that they do not find already possess'd by other bodies , either more ponderous in specie than themselves , or , by reason of their firmness of structure , capable of resisting or hindring their descent . agreeably to which notion we may observe , that , where there is no danger of a vacuum , bodies may move , as they do , when they are said to endeavour its prevention . as , if you would thrust your fist deep into a pail full of sand , and afterwards draw it out again ; there will need nothing but the gravity of the sand to make it fill up the greatest part of the space deserted by your fist. and if the pail be replenish'd , instead of sand , with an aggregate of corpuscles more minute and glib than the grains of sand , as for instance , with quicksilver or with water , then the space , deserted by your hand , will be , at least as to sense , compleatly fill'd up by the corpuscles of the liquor , which , by their gravity , minuteness , and the fluidity of the body , they compose , are determin'd to replenish the space deserted by the hand , that was plung'd into either of those liquors . and i elsewhere shew , that , if you take a pipe of glass , whose cavity is too narrow to let water and quick-silver pass by one another in it ; if , i say , you take such a pipe , and having ( by the help of suction , ) lodg'd a small cylinder of mercury of about half an inch long in the lower part of it , you carefully stop the upper orifice with the pulp of your finger , the quick-silver will remain suspended in the pipe. and , if then you thrust the quick-silver directly downwards into a somewhat deep glass , or other vessel , full of water , till the quick-silver be depress'd about a foot or more beneath the surface of the water ; if then you take off your finger from the orifice of the pipe which it stopt before , you shall immediately see the quick-silver ascend swiftly five or six inches , and remain suspended at this new station . which experiment seems manifestly to prove , what i did long ago devise and do now alledge it for : since here we have a sudden ascent of so heavy a body as is quick-silver , and a suspension of it in the glass , not produc'd to prevent or fill a vacuum , for the pipe was open at both ends , the phaenomena being but genuine consequences of the laws of the aequilibrium of liquors , as i elsewhere clearly and particularly declare . when i consider , how great a power the school-philosophers ascribe to nature , i am the less inclin'd to think , that her abhorrence of a vacuum is so great , as they believ'd . for i have shewn in the fifth section , that her aversion from it , and her watchfulness against it , are not so great , but that , in the sense of the peripateticks , she can quietly enough admit it in some cases , where , with a very small endeavour , she might prevent or replenish it , as i have particularly manifested in the fore-cited section . i just now mention'd a vacuum in the sense of the peripateticks , because when the torricellian experiment is made , though it cannot , perhaps , be cogently prov'd , either against the cartesians , or some other plenists , that , in the upper part of the tube , deserted by the quick-silver , there is a vacuum in the strict philosophical sense of the word ; yet , as the peripateticks declare their sense , by divers of their reasonings against a vacuum , mention'd in that section , 't will to a heedful peruser appear very hard for them to shew , that there is not one in that tube . and , as by the school-mens way of arguing nature's hatred of a vacuum , from the suspension of water and other liquors in tubes and conical watring-pots , it appears , that they thought that any space here below , deserted by a visible body , not succeeded by another visible body , or at least by common air , may be reputed empty . so , by the space deserted by the quick-silver at the top of the pipe of a baroscope thirty one inches long , one may be invited to doubt , whether a vacuum ought to be thought so formidable a thing to nature , as they imagine she does , and ought to , think it ? for what mischief do we see insue to the universe upon the producing or continuance of such a vacuum , though the deserted space were many time greater than an inch , and continued many years , as has divers times happen'd in the taller sort of mercurial baroscopes ? and those peripateticks that tell us , that , if there were a vacuum , the influences of the coelestial bodies , that are absolutely necessary to the preservation of sublunary ones , would be intercepted , since motion cannot be made in vacuo , would do well to prove , not suppose , such a necessity ; and also to consider , that in our case the top of the quick-silver , to which the vacuum reaches , does usually appear protuberant ; which shews , that the beams of light ( which they think of great affinity to influences , if not the vehicle , ) are able to traverse that vacuum , being in spight of it reflected from the mercury to the beholder's eye . and in such a vacuum , as to common air , i have try'd that a load-stone will emit his effluvia and move iron or steel plac'd in it. in short , it is not evident , that here below nature so much strains herself to hinder or fill up a vacuum , as to manifest an abhorrence of it. and , without much peculiar solicitude , a vacuum , at least a philosophical one , is as much provided against , as the welfare of the universe requires , by gravity and confluxibility of the liquors and other bodies , that are placed here below . and as for those that tell us , that nature abhors and prevents a vacuum , as well in the upper part of the world as the lower , i think we need not trouble ourselves to answer the allegation till they have prov'd it. which i think will be very hard for them to do ; not to mention , that a cartesian may tell them , that 't were as needless for nature to oppose a vacuum in heaven as in earth , since the production of it is every where alike impossible . vi. i come now to the celebrated saying , that natura est morborum medicatrix , taken from hippocrat . who expresses it in the plural , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . and because this axiom is generally receiv'd among physicians and philosophers , and seems to be one of the principal things , that has made them introduce such a being as they call nature , i think it may be time well employ'd , to consider somewhat attentively , in what sense , and how far , this famous sentence , may , or should not , be admitted . first then , i conceive it may be taken in a negative sense , so as to import , that diseases cannot be cur'd in such persons , in whom the aggregate of the vital powers or faculties of the body is so far weaken'd or deprav'd , as to be utterly unable to perform the functions necessary to life , or at least to actuate and assist the remedies employ'd by the physitian to preserve or recover the patient . this i take to be the meaning of such usual phrases , as , that physick comes too late , and , that nature is quite spent . and in this sense i readily acknowledge the axiom to be true . for , where the engine has some necessary parts , whether fluid or solid , so far deprav'd or weakn'd , as to render it altogether unable to co-operate with the medicine , it cannot be rationally expected , that the administration of that medicine should be effectual . but in this , i presume , there is no difficulty worthy to detain us . i proceed therefore to the positive sense , whereof our axiom is capable , and wherein it is the most usually imploy'd . for men are wont to believe , that there resides , in the body of a sick person , a certain provident or watchful being , that still industriously employs itself , by its own endeavours , as well as by any occasional assistence that may be afforded it by the physitian , to rectifie whatever is amiss , and restore the distemper'd body to its pristine state of health . what i think of this doctrine , i shall leave you to gather from the following discourse . i conceive then in the first place , that the wise and beneficent maker of the world and of man , intending that men should , for the most part , live a considerable number of years , in a condition to act their parts on the mundane stage ; he was pleas'd to frame those living automata , human bodies , that , with the ordinary succours of reason , making use of their exquisite structure fitted for durableness , and of the friendly , though undesign'd ▪ assistence of the various bodies among which they are plac'd , they may in many cases recover a state of health , if they chance to be put out of it by lesser accidents than those , that god , in compliance with the great ends of his general providence , did not think fit to secure them from , or enable them to surmount . many things therefore , that are commonly ascrib'd to nature , i think , may be better ascrib'd to the mechanisms of the macrocosm and microcosm , i mean , of the universe and the human body . and , to illustrate a little my meaning by a gross example or two , i desire you will consider with me a sea-compass , wherein the excited magnetick needle , and the box that holds it , are duly pois'd by means of a competent number of opposite pivats : for though , if you give this instrument a somewhat rude shake , you will make the box totter , and encline this way and that way , and at the same time drive the points of the magnetick needle many degrees to the east , or to the west ; yet , the construction of the instrument and the magnetism of one main part of it , are such , that , if the force , that first put it into a disorderly motion , cease from acting on it , the box will , after some reciprocations , return to its horizontal situation ; and the needle , that was forc'd to deviate , will , after a few irregular ▪ motions to this and to that side of the magnetical meridian , settle itself again in a position , wherein the flower-de-luce stedfastly regards the north. and yet this recovery to its former state is effected in a factitious body , by the bare mechanism of the instrument itself , and of the earth , and other bodies , within whose sphere of activity it is plac'd . but , because many have not seen a mariner's compass , i will add a less apposite but more obvious and familiar example : for , if when an empty ballance is duly counterpois'd , you shall , by your breath or hand , depress one of the scales , and thereby , for the time , destroy the aequilibrium ; yet , when the force is once remov'd , the depress'd ballance will presently ascend , and the opposite will descend ; and , after a few motions up and down , they will both of them , of their own accord , settle again in an exact aequilibrium , without the help of any such provident internal principle , 〈◊〉 nature : the absence of whose agency may be confirm'd by this , that the depress'd scale does not at first stop at the horizontal line , beneath which it was first depress'd , ( as it ought to do , if it were rais'd by an intelligent being , ) but rises far above it. if it be here objected , that these examples are drawn from factitious , not from merely physical , bodies ; i shall return this brief answer , and desire that it be apply'd not only to the two freshly mention'd examples , but to all of the like kind , that may be met with in this whole treatise . i say then , in short , that divers of the instances , we are speaking of , are intended but for illustrations ; and that others may be useful instances , if they should be no more than analogous ones : since examples , drawn from artificial bodies and things , may have both the advantage of being more clearly conceiv'd by ordinary understandings , and that of being less obnox●●s to be question'd in that pa●●●●ar in which the comparison or correspondence consists . and i the less scruple to employ such examples , because aristotle himself and some of his more learned followers make use of divers comparisons drawn from the figures and other accidents of artificial things , to give an account of physical subjects , and even of the generation , corruption and forms of natural bodies . this advertisement premis'd , i persue this discourse , it interrupted , by adding , thus in a human body , the causes that disorder it are oftentimes but transient , whereas the structure of the body itself and the causes that conduce to the preservation of that structure , are more stable and durable , and on that account may enable the engine to out-last many things , that are hostile to it. this may be somewhat illustrated , by considering , that sleep , though it be not properly a disease , easily becomes one , when it frequently transgresseth its due bounds ; and even whilst it keeps within them , it does , for the time it lasts , hinder the exercise of many functions of the body , more than several diseases do ; and yet , according to the common course of things , the matter that lock't up the senses being spent , the man of himself recovers that sensible and active state , on whose score he is said to be awake . but to come somewhat closer to the point ; we see , that many persons , who get a praeter natural thirst with over-much drinking , get rid of it again in a few days by forbearing such excesses ; and many , that by too plentiful meals are brought to a want of appetite , recover , as it were , of course , by a spare diet , in a few days ; the renewed ferment , or menstruum of the stomach , being able in that time to concoct by little and little , or expell the indigested aliments or peccant humours that offended the stomach , and caus'd the want of appetite . and here i desire to have it taken notice of , as a thing that may be considerable to our present purpose , that i look not on a human body , as on a watch or a hand-mill , i. e. as a machine made up only of solid , or at least consistent , parts ; but as an hydraulical , or rather hydraulo-pneumatical engine , that consists not only of solid and stable parts , but of fuids , and those in organical motion . and not only so , but i consider , that these fluids , the liquors and spirits , are in a living man so constituted , that in eertain circumstances the liquors are dispos'd to be put into a fermentation or commotion , whereby either some depuration of themselves , or some discharge of hurtful matter by excretion , or both , are produc'd , so as , for the most part , to conduce to the recovery or welfare of the body . and , that even consistent parts may be so fram'd , and so connected with other parts , as to act , as it were , pro re nata , varying their motions , as differing circumstances make it convenient they should be varied , i purposely shew in another paper . to this i might altogether refer you ; but , in regard the thing is a paradox , and lays a foundation for another not inferior to itself , i shall here borrow thence one instance , not mention'd that i know of by others to this purpose , that may both declare my meaning , and confirm the thing itself : i consider then , that what is call'd the pupil or apple of the eye , is not ( as 't is known , ) a substantial part of the organ , but only a round hole or window made in the vvea , at which the modify'd beams of light enter , to fall upon the chrystalline humour , and thence be refracted to the bottom of the eye , or seat of vision , to make there an impression , that is usually a kind of picture ( for 't is not always a neat one , ) of the object . now the wise and all-foreseeing author of things has so admirably contriv'd this instrument of sight , that , as it happens to be employ'd in differing lights , so the bigness or area of the pupil varies . for when the light is vivid , and would be too gteat if all the beams were let in , that might enter at an aperture as large as the usual , the curtain is every way drawn towards the middle , and thereby the round window made narrower . and , on the other side , when the light is but faint , and the object but dimly illustrated , there being more light requisite to make a sufficient impression at the bottom of the eye , the curtain is every way drawn open , to let in more light : and when the eye is well constituted , this is regularly done , according as the organ has need of more or less light. of this , some late masters of opticks have well treated , and i have spoken about it more fully in another place . and the truth of the observation you may easily find , if you look upon the eyes of a boy or a girl , ( for in young persons the change is the most notable ) when the eyes are turn'd from looking on dark objects towards bright or more illuminated ones . and i have found the variation yet more conspicuous in the eyes of a young cat , as i elsewhere particularly relate . so that , referring you to the writings already pointed at , i shall only add in this place , that these various motions in the eye are produc'd by mere mechanism , without the direction , or so much as knowledg or perception , of the rational soul. and , upon the like account it is , that other motions , in several parts belonging to the eye , are produc'd , as 't were spontaneously , as occasion requires . and so , as to the fluid parts of the body , we find , that , according to the institution of the author of things , when healthy women are of a fit age , there is a monthly fermentation or commotion made in the blood , which usually produces a kind of separation , and then an excretion , advantagious to the body . and , that you may the better make out what i meant by the disposition , or tendency , of the parts , to return to their former constitution , i shall desire you to consider , with me , a thin and narrow plate of good steel , or refined silver ; for , if one end of it be forcibly drawn aside , the changed texture of the parts becomes such , or the congruity and incongruity of the pores , in reference to the ambient aether , that endeavours to permeate them , is made such , that , as soon as the force that bent it is remov'd , the plate does , as it were , spontaneously return to its former position . and yet here is no internal watchful principle , that is solicitous to make this restitution , for otherwise it is indifferent to the plate what figure it settle in ; for , if the springy body stand long bent , then , as if nature forgot her office , or were unable to execute it , though the force that held the spring bent be remov'd , it will not endeavour to regain its former streightness : and , i have tryed , in a silver plate , that , if you only heat it red-hot , and let it cool , if you put it into a crooked posture , it will retain it ; but barely with two or three stroaks of a hammer , which can only make an invisible change of texture , the plate will acquire a manifest and considerable springyness , which you may again deprive it of , by sufficiently heating it in the fire , without so much as melting it . but , to return to the discourse , formerly begun , about distempers wont to be harmless by being transient , we may observe , that the third or fourth day after women are brought to bed , there is commonly a kind of feaver produc'd , upon the plentiful resort of the milk to the breasts ; for which cause , this distemper is , by many , call'd the feaver of milk. and this is wont , in a short time , to pass away of itself , as depending upon causes far less durable , than the oeconomy of the womans body . and , if it be objected , that these are not diseases , because they happen according to the instituted course of nature ; i will not now dispute the validity of the consequence , though i could represent , that the labour of teeming woemen , and the breeding of teeth in children , happen as much according to the institution of nature , and yet are usually very painful , and oftentimes dangerous : but i will rather answer , that , if the troublesome accidents , i have alledg'd , cannot serve to prove , they may at least to illustrate , what i aim at . and i shall proceed to take notice of a distemper , that physicians generally reckon among diseases , i mean , the flowing of blood at the haemorrhoidal veins : for , though oftentimes this flux of blood is excessive , and so becomes very dangerous , and therefore must be check'd by the physician , ( which is no great argument , that a being , wise and watchful , manages this evacuation , ) yet frequently , if not for the most part , the constitution of the body is such , that the superfluous or vitiated blood goes off , before it has been able to do any considerable mischief , or perhaps any at all , to the body . and so we see , that many coughs , and hoarsenesses , and coryzas are said to be cur'd , that is , do cease to trouble men , though no medicine be us'd against them , the structure of the body being durable enough to out-last the peccant matters , or the operation of those other causes , that pro-duce these distempers . it is a known thing , that most persons , the first time they go to sea , especially if the weather be any thing stormy , are , by the unwonted agitations , which those of the ship produce in them , ( assisted perhaps by the sea-air , and smells of the ship ) cast into that disease , that , from the cause of it , is call'd the sea-sickness , which is sometimes dangerous , and always very troublesome , usually causing a loss of appetite , and almost continual faintness , a pain in the head , and almost constant nauseousness , accompany'd with frequent , and oftentimes violent , vomitings ; which symptoms make many complain , that , for the time , they never felt so troublesome a sickness ; and yet usually , after not many days , this distemper , by degrees , is master'd by the powers of the body , tending still to persevere in their orderly and friendly course , and suppressing the adventitious motions that oppose it , and the sick person recovers without other help . and so , though persons unaccustom'd to the sea , whether they be sick or no , are , by the inconvenient motions of the ship , usually brought to a kind of habitual giddiness , which disposes them to reel and falter , when they walk upon firm ground : yet , when they come a shore , they are wont in no long time to be freed from this uneasie giddiness , without the help of any medicine : the usual and regular motions of the parts of the body obliterating by degrees in a few days ( i us'd to be free from it within some hours , ) that adventitious impression , that caus'd the discomposure . to the same purpose , we may take notice of that which happens to many persons , who riding backwards in a coach are not only much distemper'd in their heads , but are made very sick in their stomachs , and forced to vomit , as violently and frequently , as if they had taken an emetick : and yet all this disorder is wont quickly to cease , when the patient leaves the coach , without the continuance of whose motion , ( that continues a preposterous one in some parts of the patient ) the distemper will quickly yield to the more ordinary and regular motions of the blood , and other fluids of the body . so , when in a coach , or elsewhere , a man happens to be brought to faintness , or cast into a swoon , by the closeness of the place , or the over-charging of the air with the fuliginous reeks of mens bodies ; tho' the disease be formidable , yet , if the patient be seasonably brought into the free air , the friendly operation of that external body , assisting the usual endeavours or tendency of the parts of the patients body to maintain his life and heath , is wont quickly to restore him to the state he was in , before this sudden sickness invaded him . divers things , that happen in some diseases , may be grosly illustrated , by supposing , that into a vial of fair water some mud be put , and then the vial be well shaken , for the water will be troubled and dirty , and will lose its transparency , upon a double account ; that of the mud , whose opacous particles are confounded with it ; and that of the newly generated bubbles , that swim at the top of it ; and yet to clarifie this water , and and make it recover its former limpidness , there needs no particular care or design of nature , but according to the common course of things , after some time the bubbles will break and vanish at the top , and the earthy particles , that compose the mud , will , by their gravity , subside to the bottom , and settle there , and so the water will become clear again . thus also must , which is the lately express'd juice of grapes , will for a good while continue a troubled liquor ; but though there be no substantial form to guide the motions of this factitious body , yet , according to the course of things , a fermentation is excited , and some corpuscles are driven away , in the form of exhalations or vapours , others are thrown against the sides of the cask , and harden'd there into tartar , and others again subside to the bottom , and settle there in the form of lees ; and by this means leave the liquor clear , and , as to sense , uniform . and why may not some depurations and proscriptions of heterogeneous parts be made in the blood , as well as they are usually in must , without any peculiar and solicitous direction of nature . there is indeed one thing , to which the sentence of nature's being the curer of diseases may be very speciously apply'd , and that is the healing of cuts and wounds , which , if they be but in the flesh , may oftentimes be cured without plaisters , salves , or other medicines ; but , not to mention haemorrhagies and some other symptoms , wherein the chriurgeon is fain to curb or remedy the exorbitancies of nature ; this healing of the solutio continui seems to be but an effect or consequent of that fabrick of the body , on which nutrition depends . for the alimental juice , being , by the circulation of the blood and chile , carried to all parts of the body to be nourish'd , if it meets any where , either with preternatural concretions , or with a gap made by a cut or wound , its particles do there concrete into a kind of bastard-flesh , or some such other body , which that juice , in the place and other circumstances 't is in , is fitted to constitute . thus we see , that not only wens and scrophulous tumors are nourish'd in the body , but mis-shapen mola's do by nutriment grow in the womb , as well as embryo's feed there . and , to come closer to the present argument , we see , that , in wounds , proud-flesh , and perhaps fungus's , are as well produc'd and entertain'd by the aliment brought to the wounded part , as the true and genuine flesh ; so that either nature seems much mistaken , if she designs the production and maintenance of such superfluous and inconvenient bodies ; or the chirurgeon is much to blame , who is industrious to destroy them , though oftentimes he cannot do it , without using painful corrosives . but , for ought appears , nature is not so shy and reserv'd in her bounty , but that she sends nourishment , to repair as well things that do not belong to the body , as genuine parts of it , as to restore flesh to wounded parts , as may appear by warts and corns , that grow again after they are skilfully cut . and , i remember , i have seen a woman , in whose forehead nature was careful to nourish a horn , about an inch and more in length , which i fully examin'd , whilst it was yet growing upon her head , to avoid being impos'd upon . but , besides the diseases hither to discours'd , there are many others , as well acute as chronical , wherein , 't is confess'd , that nature alone does not work the cure , so that as to these , ( which are more numerous , than the former ) i may well pretend , that the aphorism , that makes nature the curer of diseases , is not true , otherwise than in a limited sense . but , because i know 't is pretended , that even in these diseases nature is the principal agent , by whose direction the physician acts in subserviency to her designs ; and physicians themselves ( whether out of modesty or inadvertence , i now enquire not , ) are wont to acknowledg , that they are but nature's ministers , i think it necessary to consider briefly , what sense is fit , according to our doctrine , to be given to these assertions , to make them receivable by us . but , to make way for what we are to say on this occasion , it may be fit to observe , that one great cause of the common mistakes about this matter , is , as hath been partly intimated already , that the body of a man is look'd upon , rather as a system of parts , whereof most are gross and consistent , and not a few hard and solid too , than as , what indeed it is , a very compounded engine ; that , besides these consistent parts , does consist of the blood , chyle , gall , and other liquors ; also of more subtil fluids , as spirits and air ; all which liquors and fluids are almost incessantly and variously moving , and thereby put divers of the solid parts , as the heart and lungs , the diaphragma , the hands , feet , &c. into frequent and differing motions . so that , as , when the constitution or the motions , that in a sound body do regularly belong to the fluid parts , happens the former to be deprav'd , or the later to grow anomalous , the engine is immediately out of order , though the gross solid parts were not primarily affected : so , when by proper remedies ( whether visible or not , ) the vitiated texture or crasis of the blood or other juices is corrected , and the inordinate motions , that they and the spirits are put into , or , that they also put the consistent parts into , are calm'd and rectify'd , the grosser and more solid parts of the body , and so the whole animal oeconomy , if i may so call it , will be restored to a more convenient state. thus we see , that in many hysterical women , by the fragrant effluvia of a spanish glove , or some other strong perfume , the spirits and genus nervosum being affected , several disorderly symptoms are produc'd , and oftentimes the motion of the blood is so stopt or abated , that any pulse at all is scarcely to be felt , nor respiration discern'd , and the whole engine , unable to sustain itself , falls to the ground , and lies moveless on it ; and yet we have often , by barely holding to the patient's nostrils a vial full of very strong spirit , or volatile salt , or sal-armoniack , or of harts-horn , in less than a quarter of an hour , sometimes in a few minutes , restor'd women in that condition to their senses , speech and motion . we are also here to consider , what i have formerly inculcated , that the oeconomy of the human body is so constituted by the divine author of it , that it is usually fitted to last many years , if the more general laws , setled by the same author of the universe , will permit it . and therefore 't is not to be wonder'd at , that in many cases , the automaton should be in a condition to concur , though not with knowledge and design , to its own preservation , when , though it had been put somewhat out of order , 't is assisted by the physicians hands or medicines to recover a convenient state. and if it be objected , that the examples , that have been in this past discourse frequently drawn from automata , are not adequate , and do not fully reach the difficulties we have been speaking of , i shall readily grant it , provided it be consider'd , that i avowedly and deservedly suppose the bodies of living animals to be , originally , engins of god's own framing , and consequently effects of an omniscient and almighty artificer . so that , 't is not rational to expect , that in the incomparably inferior productions of human skill , there should be found engins fit to be compar'd with these , which , in their protoplasts , had god for their author . not to mention , ( what yet may be considerable in reference to the lastingness of human life , ) that a man is not a mere mechanical thing , where nothing is perform'd for the preservation of the engine , or its recovery to a good state , but by its own parts , or by other agents , acting according to mechanical laws without counsel or design ; since , though the body of a man be indeed an engine , yet there is united to it an intelligent being , ( the rational soul or mind , ) which is capable , especially if instructed by the physitians art , to discern , in many cases , what may hurt it , and what may conduce to the welfare of it , and is also able ( by the power it has to govern the muscles and other instruments of voluntary motion , ) to do many of those things it judges most conducive to the safety and the welfare of the body , 't is join'd with . so that , a man is not like a watch , or an empty boat , where there is nothing but what is purely mechanical ; but like a mann'd boat , where , besides the machinal part , ( if i may so speak ) there is an intelligent being that takes care of it , and both steers it , or otherwise guides it , and , when need requires , trimms it ; and , in a word , as occasion serves , does what he can to preserve it , and keep it fit for the purposes , 't is design'd for . these things being premis'd , i think the physitian ( here suppos'd to be free from prejudices and mistakes , ) is to look upon his patients body , as an engine that is out of order , but yet is so constituted , that , by his concurrence with the endeavours , or rather tendencies , of the parts of the automaton itself , it may be brought to a better state. if therefore he find , that , in the present disposition of the body , there is a propensity or tendency to throw off the matter that offends it , and ( which ought to be some way or other expell'd , ) in a convenient way , and at commodious places ; he will then act so , as to comply with , and further , that way of discharge , rather than another . as , if there be a great appearance , that a disease will quickly have a crisis by sweat ; he will rather further it by covering the patient with warm cloaths and giving sudorifick medicines , than , by endeavouring to carry off the peccant matter by purging or vomiting , unseasonably hinder a discharge , that probably will be beneficial : and in this sense men may say , if they please , that the physicians are ministers or servants of nature ; as sea-men , when the ship goes before a good wind , will not shift their sails , nor alter the ships motion , because they need not . but to shew , that 't is as 't were by accident , that the physitian does , in the fore-mention'd case , obey nature , ( to speak in the language of the naturists , i reason with , ) i need but represent , that there are many other cases , wherein the physitian , if he be skilful , will be so far from taking nature for his mistress , to direct him by her example , what should be done ; that a great part of his care and skill is imploy'd , to hinder her from doing what she seems to design , and to bring to pass other things very differing from , if not contrary to , what she endeavours . thus , though nature in dropsies inportunately crave store of drink , the physician thinks himself oblig'd to deny it ; as he does what they greedily desire , to his patients of the green-sickness , or that distemper they call pica : though the absurd and hurtful things , as very unripe fruit , lime , coals , and other incongruous things , be earnestly long'd for . thus also the chirurgeon does often hinder nature from closing up the lips of a wound , as she would unskilfully do , before it be well and securely heal'd at the bottom . so the physician does often , by purging or phlebotomy , carry off that matter , that nature would more dangerously throw into the lungs , and expel by frequent and violent coughs . and so , if a nerve or tendon be prick'd , the chirurgeon is fain , with anodynes , and other convenient medicines , to prevent or appease the unreasonable transports of nature , when , being in a fury , by violent and threatning convulsions , she not only much disorders , but endangers , the patient . and so likewise , when in those evacuations that are peculiar to women , nature affects , in some individuals , to make them by undue and inconvenient places , as the nipples , the mouth , or the eyes , whereof we have divers instances , among the observations collected by schenckius , or related by other good authors . the physitian is careful by bleeding the patient in the foot and by using other means , to oblige nature to alter her purpose , and make the intended evacuations by the proper uterine vessels . and , tho' according to the institution of nature , as they speak , there ought to be a monthly discharge of these superfluities , and therefore , whilst this is moderately made , the physician does rather further than suppress it : yet if , as it often happens in other patients , nature overlashes in making those evacuations , to the great weakning or endangering the sick person , the physitian is careful by contemperating medicines and other ways to correct nature's exorbitancy and check her profuseness of so necessary a liquor , as the blood. other instances , more considerable , than some of these hitherto mention'd , might be given to the same purpose ; but i forbear to do it , because , there being some , though perhaps very needless , controversies about them , i could not make out their fitness to be here alledg'd without more words , than i am now willing to employ about unnecessary proofs , fearing it might be thought , i have dwelt too long already upon the explication of one aphorism . i shall therefore only observe in short , that i look upon a good physician , not so properly as a servant to nature , as one that is a counsellor and a friendly assistant , who , in his patient's body , furthers these motions and other things , that he judges conducive to the welfare and recovery of it ; but as to those , that he perceives likely to be hurtful , either by encreasing the disease , or otherwise endangering the patient , he think it is his part to oppose or hinder , though nature do manifestly enough seem to endeavour the exercising or carrying on those hurtful motions . on this occasion , i shall take notice of the practice of the more prudent among physicians themselves , who , being call'd to a patient , subject to the flux of the haemorrhoids , if they find the evacuation to be moderate , and likely either to benefit the patient on another account , ( as in some cases 't is , ) or at least to end well , they do , as some of them speak , commit the whole business to nature ; that is , to speak intelligibly , they suffer it to take its course , being incouraged to do so , in some cases , by the doctrine of hippocrates , and in others by experience . but , if the evacuation prove to be too lasting , or too copious , they then are careful to hinder nature from proceeding in it , and think themselves oblig'd to imploy both inward and outward means , to put a stop to an evacuation , which may bring on a dropsie , or some other formidable disease and if it be said , that nature makes this profusion of so necessary a liquor as blood , only because she is irritated by the acrimony of some humour mix'd with it ; i say , that this answer , which , for substance , is the same that naturists may be compell'd to fly to , on many occasions , is in effect a confession , that nature is no such wise being as they pretend ; since she is so often provok'd to act , as it were , in a fury , and do those things in the body , that would be very mischievous to it , if the physitian , more calm and wise than she , did not hinder her. so that , notwithstanding the reverence i pay the great hippocrates , it is not without due caution and some limitations , that i admit that notable sentence of his , where he thus speaks ; * invenit natura ipsa sibi-ipsi aggressiones . and after three or four lines , non edocta natura & nullo magistro usa , ea quibus opus est facit . which , i fear , makes many physitians less couragious and careful than they should , or perhaps would be , to employ their own skill on divers occasions , that much require it. i shall now add , that , as in some cases , the physitian relieves his patient in a negative way , by opposing nature in her unseasonable or disorderly attempts : so in other cases , he may do it in a positive way , by employing medicines that either strengthen the parts , as well fluid as stable , or make sensible evacuations of matters necessary to be proscrib'd by them ; or ( he may do it , ) by using remedies , that by their manifest qualities oppugn those of the morbifick matter or causes ; as when by alcaly's or absorbing medicaments he mortify's praeter-natural acids , or disables them to do mischief . and , perhaps , one may venture to say , that , in some cases , the physitian may ▪ in a positive way , contribute more to the cure even of an inward disease , than nature herself seems able to do : for , if there be any such medicine preparable by art , as helmont affirms may be made of paracelsus's ludus , by the liquor alkahest ; or , as cardan relates , that an empirick had in his time , who , travell'd up and down italy , curing those where-ever he came , that were tormented with the stone of the bladder ; if , i say , there be any such medicines , the physitian may , by such instruments , perform that , which , for ought appears , is not to be done by nature herself , since we never find , that she dissolves a confirm'd stone in the bladder . nay , sometimes the physician does , even without the help of a medicine , controle and over-rule nature , to the great and sudden advantage of the patient . for , when a person , otherwise not very weak , happens by a fright , or some surprising ill news , to be so discompos'd , that the spirits hastily and disorderly thronging to some inward part , especially the heart , hinder the regular and wonted motion of it , by which disorder the circulation of the blood is hinder'd , or made very imperfect : in this case , i say , the patient is by nature's great care of the heart , ( as is commonly suppos'd even by physitians , ) cast into a swoon ; whence the physitian sometimes quickly frees him , by rubbing and pinching the limbs , the ears and the nose , that the spirits may be speedily brought to the external parts of the body ; which must be done by a motion to the circumference , ( as they call it , ) quite opposite to that towards the centre or heart , which nature had given them before . but as to the theory of swoonings , i shall not now examine its truth , it being sufficient to warrant my drawing from thence an argument ad hominem , that the theory is made use of by those i reason with . by what has been discours'd one may perceive , that , as there are some phaenomena , that seem to favour the doctrine of the naturists about the cure of diseases , so there are others , that appear more manifestly favourable to the hypothesis we propose . and both these sorts of phaenomena , being consider'd together , may well suggest a suspition , that the most wise and yet most free author of things , having fram'd the first individuals of mankin'd , so as to be fit to last many years , and endow'd those protoplasts with the power of propagating their species ; it thereupon comes to pass , that in the subsequent hydraulico-pneumatical engines we call human bodies , when neither particular providence , nor the rational soul , nor over-ruling impediments interpose , things are generally perform'd according to mechanical laws and courses ; whether the effects and events of these prove to be conducive to the welfare of the engine itself , or else cherish and foment extraneous bodies or causes , whose preservation and prospering are hurtful to it. on which supposition it may be said , that the happy things , referr'd to nature's prudent care of the recovery and welfare of sick persons , are usually genuine consequences of the mechanism of the world , and the patients body ; which effects luckily happen to be co-incident with his recovery , rather than to have been purposely and wisely produced in order to it ; since , i observe , that nature seems to be careful to produce , preserve , and cherish things hurtful to the body , as well as things beneficial to it. for we see in the stone of the kidneys and bladder , that out of vegetable or animal substances of a slighter texture , such as are the alimental juices , which , in sucking children ( who are observ'd to be frequently subject to the stone in the bladder ) are afforded by so mild a liquor as milk ; nature skilfully frames a hard body of so firm a texture , that it puzzles physicians and chymists to tell , how such a coagulation can be made of such substances : and i have found more than one calculus to resist both spirit of salt , that readily dissolves iron and steel , and that highly corrosive menstruum , oyl of vitriol itself . we see also , that , divers times , the seeds or seminal principles of worms , that lye conceal'd in unwholesome fruits , and other ill-qualifi'd aliments , are preserv'd and cherish'd in the body , so , as in spight of the menstruum's ferments , &c. they meet with there , they grow to be perfect worms , ( of their respective kinds ) that are often very troublesome , and sometimes very dangerous , to the body that harbours them : producing , though perhaps not immediately , both more and more various distempers ( especially here in england ) than every physician is aware of . this reflection may very well be applied to those instances we meet with in good * authors , of frogs , and even toads , whose spawn , being taken in with corrupted water , hath been cherished in the stomach 'till the eggs being grown to be compleat animals , they produc'd horrid symptoms in the body , that had lodg'd and fed them . and if , according to the receiv'd opinion of physicians , stubborn quartans are produc'd by a melancholy humour seated in the spleen ; it may be said , that nature seems to busie herself to convert some parts of the fluid chile into so tenacious and hardly dissipable a juice , that in many patients , notwithstanding the neighbourhood of the spleen and stomach , neither strong emeticks , nor purges , nor other usual remedies , are able , in a long time , to dislodg it , or resolve it , or correct it . but that is yet more conducive to my present purpose , that is afforded me by the consideration of the poyson of a mad-dog , which nature sometimes seems industriously and solicitously to preserve : since we have instances , in approved authors , that a little foam convey'd into the blood by a slight hurt , ( perhaps quickly heal'd up , ) is , notwithstanding the constant heat and perspirable frame of the human body , and the dissipable texture of the foam , so preserved , and that sometimes for many years , that , at the end of that long time , it breaks out , and displays its fatal efficacy with as much vigour and fury , as if it had but newly been receiv'd into the body . to this agrees that which is well known in italy , about the biting of the tarantula . for , though the quantity of poyson can scarce be visible , since 't is communicated by the tooth of so small an animal as a spider , yet , in many patients , 't is preserved during a great part of of their lives , and manifests its continuance in the body by annual paroxysms . and , i know a person of great quality , who complain'd to me , that , being in the east , the biting or stinging of a creature , whose offensive arms were so small , that the eye could very hardly discern the hurt , had so lasting an effect upon him , that , for about twelve years after , he was reminded of his mischance , by a pain he felt in the hurt place , about the same time of the year that the mischief was first done him . and , in some hereditary diseases , as the gout , falling-sickness , and some kinds of madness , nature seems to act as if she did , with care as well as skill , transmit to the unhappy child such morbifick seeds or impressions of the parents disease , that , in spight of all the various alterations the younger body passes through , during the course of many years , this constantly protected enemy is able to exert its power and malice , after forty , or perhaps fifty , years concealment . such reflections as these , to which may be added , that the naturists make no scruple to style that death , which men are brought to by diseases , a natural death , make me backward to admit the fam'd sentence of hippocrates hitherto consider'd , morborum naturae medici , without limitations , especially those two that are deliver'd in the fifth section : to which i refer you the rather , because they may help you to discern , that divers phaenomena , that favour not the receiv'd notion of a kind and prudent being , as nature is thought to be , are yet very consistent with divine providence . sect . viii . i have now gone through so many of the celebrated axioms , concerning nature , that , i hope , i may reasonably presume , that the other sentences of this kind , that my haste makes me leave unmention'd , will be thought capable of being fairly explicated , and with congruity to our hypothesis , by the help of the grounds already laid , since , with light variations , they may be easily enough improv'd , and apply'd to those other particulars , to which they are the most analogous . but this intimation ought not to hinder me to make a reflection , that not only is pertinent to this place , but which i desire may have retrospect upon a great part of the whole precedent discourse . and it is this , that , though we could not intelligibly explicate all the particular axioms about nature , and the phaenomena of inanimate bodies , that are thought , but not by me granted , to favour them by mechanical principles ; it would not follow , that we must therefore yield up the whole cause to the naturists . for we have already shewn , and may do so yet further ere long , that the supposition of such a being , as they call nature , is far from enabling her partizans to give intelligible accounts of these and other phaenomena of the universe . and though our doctrine sh●●ld be granted to be , as well as that generally receiv'd about nature , insufficient to give good accounts of things corporeal : yet i shall have this advantage in this case , that a less degree of probability may serve , in arguments imploy'd but to justifie a doubt , than is requir'd in those that are to demonstrate an assertion . 't is true , that the naturists tell us , that the nature they assert is the principle of all motions and operations in bodies ; which infers , that in explicating them , we must have recourse to her. but before we acquiesce in , or confidently employ , this principle , it were very fit we knew what it is . this question i have discours'd of in the section : but having there intimated a reference to another place , the importance , as well as difficulty of the subject , invites me to resume in this place the consideration of it ; and both vary and add to what i formerly noted , that i may as well inculcate as clear my t●oughts about it. i demand then o● those , that assert such a nature as is vulgarly describ'd , whether it be a substance or an accident ? if it be the later , it should be declar'd , what kind of accident it is ; how a solitary accident can have right to all those attributes , and can produce those numerous , manifold , and wonderful effects , that they ascribe to nature ; and why a complex of such accidents , as are the mechanical affections of matter , ( as figure , bulk , motion , &c. ) may not altogether , as probably as that accident they call nature , be conceived to have been instituted by the perfectly wise author of the universe , to produce those changes among bodies , which are ( at least for the most part , ) intelligibly referable to them ? and if things be not brought to pass by their intervention , 't were very fit , as well as desirable , that we should be inform'd , by what other particular and intelligible means nature can effect them better , than they may be by that complex . but if it be said , as by most it is , that the principle , call'd nature , is a substance , i shall next demand , whether it be a corporeal , or an immaterial one ? if it be said to be an immaterial substance , i shall further ask , whether it be a created one , or not ? if it be not , then we have god under another name , and our dispute is at an end , by the removal of its object or subject , which is said by the schools to be god's vicegerent , not god himself . but if nature be affirm'd ( as she is , at least by all christian philosophers , ) to be a created being , i then demand , whether or no she be endowed with understanding , so as to know what she does , and for what ends , and by what laws she ought to act ? if the answer be negative , the supposition of nature will be of very little use to afford an intelligible account of things ; an unintelligent nature being liable to the objections , that will a little below be met with against the usefulness of nature , in case she be suppos'd a corporeal being . and though it should be said , that nature is endowed with understanding , and performs such functions as divers of the antients ascribe to the soul of the world ; besides , that this hypothesis is near of kin to heathenism , i do not think , that they who shall with many grecian , and other philosophers , who preceded christianism , suppose a kind of soul of the universe , will find this principle sufficient to explicate the phaenomena of it. for if we may compare the macrocosm and microcosm in this , as well as many are wont to do in other things ; we may conceive , that , though nature be admitted to be indowed with reason , yet a multitude of phaenomena may be mechanically produc'd , winhout her immediate intervention ; as we see that in man , though the rational soul has so narrow a province to take care of , as the human body , and is suppos'd to be intimately united to all the parts of it ; yet , abundance of things are done in the body by the mechanism of it , without being produc'd by that soul. of this we may alledge , as an instance , that , in sleep , the circulation of the blood , the regular beating of the heart , digestion , nutrition , respiration , &c. are perform'd without the immediate . agency , or so much as the actual knowledge , of the mind . and , when a man is awake , many things are done in his body , not only without the direction , but against the bent of his mind ; as often happens in cramps and other convulsions , coughing , yawnings , &c. nay , though some brutes , as particularly apes , have the structure of many parts of their bodies very like that of the analogous ones of human bodies : yet , that admirable work of the formation and organization of the foetus , or little animal , in the womb , is granted by philosophers to be made by the soul of the brute ( that is therefore said to be the architect of his own mansion , ) which yet is neither an incorporeal , nor a rational substance . and , even in a human foetus , if we will admit the general opinion of philosophers , physitians , divines and lawyers , i may be allowed to observe , that the human body , as exquisite an engine as 't is justly esteem'd , is form'd without the intervention of the rational soul , which is not infus'd into the body , 'till this hath obtain'd an organization , that fits it to receive such a guest ; which is commonly reputed to happen about the end of the sixth week , or before that of the seventh . and this consideration leads me a little further , and prompts me to ask , how much , by the supposition or knowledge of the mind , ( at the newly mention'd time , ) we are enabled to explicate the manner , how the foremention'd functions of an embryo are perform'd , when at the end of six or seven week the rational soul supervenes and comes to be united to this living engine ? and , if it be urg'd , that nature being the principle of motion in bodies , their various motions , at least , which amount to a considerable part of their phaenomena , must be explainid by having recourse to her : i answer , that 't is very difficult to conceive , how a created substance , that is immaterial , can by a physical power or action move a body : the agent having no impenetrable part , wherewith to impell the corporeal mobile . i know , that god , who is an mmaterial spirit , ought to be acknowledg'd the primary cause of motion in matter , because ( as we may justly with monsieur des cartes infer , ) motion not belonging to corporeal substance , as such ; this must owe that to an incorporeal one. but then , i consider , that there is that infinite distance between the incomprehensible creator , and the least imperfect order of his creatures , that we ought to be very cautious , how we make parallels between him and them , and draw inferences from his power & manner of acting to theirs . since he , for instance , can immediately act upon human souls , as having created them , but they are not able so to act upon one another . and i think it the more difficult to conceive and admit , that , if nature be an incorporeal substance , she should be the greater mover of the mundane matter , because we see , that , in a human body , the rational soul , ( which the school-philosophers assert to be an immaterial spirit , ) tho' vitally united to it , can only determin the motion of some of the parts , but not give motion to any , or so much as regulate it in most . and , if nature be said to move bodies in another than a physical way , i doubt , whether the supposition of such a principle will be of much use to physiologers in explicating phaenomena ; since i shall scarce think him an inquisitive or a judicious doctor , who should imagine , that he explains , that it gives an intelligible and particular account of the astonishing symptoms of those strange diseases , that divers very learned and sober physitians impute to witchcraft , when he says , that those strange distortions and convulsive motions , for instance , and other prodigious effects , were produc'd by a wicked immaterial spirit , call'd a devil . but having to this purpose said more in another paper , which you may command the sight of , i shall not trouble you with it here . the past discourse opposes their opinion , who assert nature to be an immaterial creature . but because 't is thought , that a greater number of philosophers , at least among the moderns , take her to be corporeal , i shall now address my discourse to their hypothesis . and though i might object , that , if nature be a body , it may be demanded , how she can produce , in men , rational souls , that are immaterial beings , and not capable to be produc'd by any subtiliation or other change of matter whatsoever ? yet , waving this objection , i shall first demand , whether those , i reason with , believe nature , though corporeal , to act knowingly , i. e. with consciousness of what she does , and for pre-designed ends ; or else to be blindly and necessarily moved and directed by a superior agent , indow'd with ( what she wants , ) an excellent understanding ; and then i shall represent a few things , appliable some to one or the other of the two answers , that may be made , and some to both . and first , the cartesians would ask , how , if nature be a corporeal substance , we can conceive her capable of thinking ; and , which is more , of being a most wise and provident director of all the motions that are made in the corporeal world ? secondly , a philosophizer may justly ask , how a corporeal being can so pervade , and , as it were , com-penetrate the universe , as to be intimately present with all its minute parts , whereof yet 't is said to be the principle of motion ? thirdly , he may also demand , whence nature , being a material substance , comes itself to have motion , whereof 't is said to be the principle ? since motion does not belong to matter in itself , and a body is as truly a body when it rests , as when it moves . and , if it be answer'd , that the first cause , that is , god , did at first put it into motion ; i reply , that the same cause may , at least as probably , be suppos'd to have put the unquestion'd mundane matter into motion , without the intervention of another corporeal being , in whose conception , ( i. e. as 't is matter , ) motion is not involv'd . fourthly , it may likewise be ask'd , how the laws of motion come to be observ'd or maintain'd by a corporeal being ? which , as merely such , is either uncapable of understanding them , or of acting with respect to them , or at least is not necessarily endow'd with any knowledge of them , or power to conform to them , & to make all the parts of the unquestion'd mundane matter do so too . fifthly , and i do not see , how the taking in such an unintelligent & undesigning principle will free our understandings from great difficulties , when we come to explicate the phaenomena of bodies . for , as is elsewhere noted , if nature be a bodily creature , and acts necessarily , and ( if i may so speak , ) fatally , i see no cause to look upon it but as a kind of engine ; and the difficulty may be as great , to conceive how all the several parts of this supposed engine , call'd nature , are themselves fram'd and mov'd by the great author of things , and how they act upon one another , as well as upon the undoubted mundane bodies ; as 't is to conceive how , in the world itself , which is manifestly an admirably contriv'd automaton , the phaenomena may , by the same author , ( who was able to endow bodies themselves with active powers , as well as he could , on other scores , make them causes , ) be produc'd by vertue , and in consequence of the primitive construction and motions that he gave it ( and still maintains in it , ) without the intervention of such a thing , as they call nature . for this , as well as the world , being a corporeal creature , we cannot conceive , that either of them act otherwise than mechanically . and it seems very suitable to the divine wisdom , that is so excellently display'd in the fabrick and conduct of the universe , to imploy in the world , already fram'd and compleated , the fewest and most simple means , by which the phaenomena , design'd to be exhibited in the world , could be produc'd . nor need we be much mov'd by hearing some naturists say , that nature , though not an incorporeal being , is of an order superior to mere matter ; as divers of the school-men teach the things , they call material forms to be . for , who can clearly conceive an order or kind of beings , that shall be real substances , and yet neither corporeal nor immaterial ? nor do i see , how the supposition of this unintelligible , or at least unintelligent being , though we should grant it to have a kind of life or soul , will much assist us to explicate the phaenomena ; as if a man be acquainted with the construction of mills , he he may as well conceive , how corn is ground by a mill , driven by the wind or by a stream of water , which are brute and senseless beings , as he can by knowing , that 't is kept at work by a horse , who , though an animated being , acts in our case but as a part of an engine that is determin'd to go round , and who does neither intend to grind the corn , nor know that he grinds it. and in this place ( though perhaps not the very fittest , ) i may question , with what congruity to their master's doctrine , the school-philosophers teach , that nature is the principle of motion in all the bodies , they call natural . for , not to urge , that those great masses of sublunary matter , to which they give the name of elements , and the mixt bodies , that consist of them , are , by divers learned men , said to be mov'd to or from the centre of the earth , by distinct internal principles , which they call gravity in the earth and water , and levity in the fire and air ; and that there is ascrib'd also to every compounded body , that quality of the two , which belongs to the element that predominates in it. not to urge this , i say , consider , that the coelestial part of the world does so far exceed the sub-coelestial in vastness , that there is scarce any comparison between them ; and yet the generality of the peripateticks , after aristotle , tell us , that the coelestial globes of light , and the vast orbs they suppose them to be fix'd in , are mov'd from west to east by intelligences , that is , rational and separate beings , without whose conduct they presume , that the motions of the heavens could not be so regular and durable , as we see they are . so that , in that part of the universe , which is incompararably vaster than the sublunary is , intelligences being the causes of motion , there is no recourse to be had to nature , as the true and internal principle of it. and here it may not , perhaps , be improper to declare somewhat more fully a point already touch'd upon , namely , that , if to know what is the general efficient cause of motion , can much contribute to the explication of particular phaenomena ; the hypothesis of those naturists i now reason with , will have no considerable advantage , if any at all of ours ; which derives them from the primitive impulse given by god to matter , and from the mechanical affections of the greater and lesser portions of it. for 't is all one to him , that would declare by what particular motion , as swift , slow , uniform , accelerated , direct , circular , parabolical , &c. this or that phaenomenon is produc'd ; to know , whether the motions of the parts of matter were originally impress'd on them by nature , or immediately by god ; unless it be , that he , being of infinitely perfect knowledge , may be , more probably than a creature , suppos'd to have at first produc'd in matter motions best accommodated to the phaenomena , that were to be exhibited in the world. nor do i see sufficient cause to grant , that nature herself ( whatever she be , ) produces any motion de novo , but only , that she transfers and regulates that , which was communicated to matter at the beginning of things : ( as we formerly noted , that in the human body , the rational soul or mind has no power to make new motions , but only to direct those of the spirits and of the grosser organs and instruments of voluntary motion . ) for , besides that many of the modern naturalists approve of the cartesian opinion , that the same quantity of motion is always preserv'd in the whole mass of of the mundane matter , that was communicated to it at first , though it be perpetually transferring it from one part to another : besides this , i say , i consider , that , if nature produces in these & those bodies motion , that were never before in beings ; ( unless much motion be annihilated , which is a thing as yet unprov'd , ) the quantity of motion in the universe must have for some thousands of years perpetually increas'd , and must continue to do so ; which is a concession , that would much disorder the whole theory of local motion , and much perplex philosophers , instead of assisting them , in explicating the phaenomena of bodies . and as for the effects of local motion in the parts of the universal matter , which effects make a great part of the phaenomena of the world : after what i have formerly declar'd , you will not wonder to hear me confess , that , to me , the supposition of nature , whether men will have her an immaterial or corporeal substance , and either without knowledge or else indowed with understanding , doth not seem absolutely necessary , nor perhaps very useful , to make us comprehend , how they are produc'd . the bodies of animals , are divers of them little less curiously fram'd than mens , and most of them more exquisitely , than , for ought we know , the great inanimate mass of the corporeal world is : and yet , in the judgment of no mean naturalists , some of the mechanical philosophers , that deny cogitation , and even sense properly so call'd , to beasts , do , at least as intelligibly and plausibly , as those that ascribe to them souls indow'd with such faculties as make them scarce more than gradually different from human ones , explicate the phaenomena that are observ'd in them . and i know not , whether i may not on this occasion add , that the peripateticks themselves , especially the moderns , teach some things , whence one may argue , that the necessity of recurring to nature does not reach to so many things by far , as is by them suppos'd . for the efformation ( or framing ) of the bodies of plants and animals , which are by great odds the finest pieces of workmanship to be met with among bodies , is ascrib'd not immediately to nature , but to the soul itself , which they will have to be the author of the organization of the body , and therefore call it the architect of its own mansion ; which , they say , that it frames by an innate power and skill , that some call plastick , and to which others give other names . and unto the same soul , operating by her several functions , they attribute the concoction of aliments , the expulsion of excrements , the production of milk , semen , &c. the appetitive , loco-motive , and i know not how many other faculties , ascrib'd to living bodies . and , even in many inanimate ones , the noblest properties and operations are , by the same school-philosophers , attributed to what they call their substantial forms ; since from these they derive the wonderful properties of the load-stone , the attractive faculty of amber and other electricks , and the medical vertues of gems and other mineral bodies , whether consistent or fluid . but not to insist on this argument , because 't is but ad hominem , ( as they speak , ) if we consider the thing itself , by a free examen of the pretended explanations , that the vulgar philosophers are wont , by recurring to nature , to give of the phaenomena of the universe ; we shall not easily look on those accounts , as meriting the name of explications . for to explicate a phaenomenon , 't is not enough to ascribe it to one general efficient , but we must intelligibly shew the particular manner , how that general cause produces the propos'd effect . he must be a very dull enquirer , who , demanding an account of the phaenomena of a watch , shall rest satisfied with being told , that 't is an engine made by a watch-maker ; though nothing be thereby declar'd of the structure and co-aptation of the spring , wheels , ballance , and other parts of the engine ; and the manner , how they act on one another , so as to cooperate to make the needle point out the true hour of the day . and ( to improve to my present purpose an example formerly touch'd upon , ) as he that knows the structure and other mechanical affections of a watch , will be able by them to explicate the phaenomena of it , without supposing , that it has a soul or life to be the internal principle of its motions or operations ; so he , that does not understand the mechanism of a watch , will never be enabled to give a rational account of the operations of it , by supposing , as those of chiness did , when the jesuits first brought watches thither , that a watch is an european animal , or living body , and indow'd with a soul. this comparison seems not ill to befit the occasion of propounding it ; but to second it by another , that is more purely physical ; when a person , unacquainted with the mathematicks , admires to see , that the sun rises and sets in winter in some parts of the horizon , and in summer in others , distant enough from them ; that the day , in the former season , is by great odds shorter than in the later , and sometimes ( as some days before the middle of march and of sept. ) the days are equal to the night ; that the moon is sometimes seen in conjunction with the sun , and sometimes in opposition to him ; and , between those two states , is every day variously illuminated ; and , that sometimes one of those planets , and sometimes another , suffers an eclipse ; this person , i say , will be much assisted to understand , how these things are brought to pass , if he be taught the clear mathematical elements of astronomy . but , if he be of a temper to reject these explications , as too defective , 't is not like , that it will satisfie him , to tell him after aristotle and the school-men , that the orbs of the sun and moon , and other coelestial spheres , are mov'd by angels or intelligences ; since to refer him to such general and undetermin'd causes , will little , or not at all , assist him to understand , how the recited phaenomena are produc'd . if it be here objected , that these examples are drawn from factitious , not from merely physical , bodies ; i shall return this brief answer , and desire that it be apply'd not only to the two freshly mention'd examples , but to all of the like kind , that may be met with in this whole treatise , ( near the beginning of which , had i remember'd it , something to the same purpose should have had place . ) i say then in short , that divers of the instances we are speaking of are intended but for illustrations ; and that others may be useful instances , if they should be no more than analogous ones : since examples , drawn from artificial bodies and things , may have both the advantage of being more clearly conceiv'd by ordinary understandings , and that of being less obnoxious to be question'd in that particular , in which the comparison or correspondence consists . and i the less scruple to imploy such examples , because aristotle himself , and some of his more learned followers , make use of divers comparisons , drawn from the figures and other accidents of artificial things , to give an account of physical subjects , and even of the generation , corruption and forms of natural bodies . this advertisement premis'd , i persue the discourse it interrupted , by adding , that thus we see that confirm'd , which was formerly observ'd , namely , that though mechanical principles could not be satisfactorily imploy'd for explaining the phaenomena of our world ; we must not therefore necessarily recur to , and acquiesce in , that principle , that men call nature , since neither will that intelligibly explain them : but in that case , we should ingeniously confess , that we are yet at a loss , how they are perform'd ; and that this ignorance proceeds , rather from the natural imperfection of our understandings , than from our not preferring nature ( in the vulgar notion of it , ) to the mechanical principles , in the explication of the phaenomena of the universe . for whereas monsieur des cartes , and other acute men , confidently teach , that there are scarce any of these phaenomena , that have been truly and intelligibly deduc'd from the principles peculiar to the aristotelians and school-philosophers ; it will scarce be deny'd by any that is acquainted with physico-mathematical disciplines , such as opticks , astronomy , hydrostaticks , and mechanicks , more strictly so call'd , but that very many effects ( whereof some have been handled in this present tract , ) are clearly explicable by mechanical principles ; which , for that reason , aristotle himself often imploys in his quaestiones mechanicae and elswhere . so that , if because the corpuscularian principles , cannot be satisfactorily made use of to account for all that happens among things corporeal , we must refuse to acquiesce in them : it is but just , that , since a recourse to what is call'd nature is yet more dark and insufficient , at least , we must reject as well the later as the former hypothesis , and endeavour to find some other preferrable to both. and now , if it be demanded , what benefit may redound to a reader from the explications given in the foregoing seventh section ? and in general , from the troublesome , as well as free , enquiry , whereof they make a considerable part ? i shall answer , that i am not quite out of hope , that the things hitherto discours'd may do some services both to natural philophy and to religion . and as to the first of these ; this tract may be of use to the cultivaters of that science , by dissuading them from employing often , and without great need , in their philosophical discourses and writings , a term , ( i mean nature , ) which , by reason of its great ambiguity , and the little or no care , which those that use it are wont to take , to distinguish its different acceptions , occasions both a great deal of darkness and confusedness in what men say and write about things corporeal ; and a multitude of controversies , wherein really men do but wrangle about words , whilst they think they dispute of things ; and perhaps would not differ at all , if they had the skill or luck to express themselves clearly . besides which service , the past discourse may do this other , to wean many from the fond conceit they cherish , that they understand or explicate a corporeal subject or a phaenomenon , when they ascribe it to nature . for to do that , one needs not be a philosopher , since a country swain may easily do the same thing . on this occasion , i must not forbear to take notice , that the unskilful use of terms of far less extent and importance , and also less ambiguous , than the word nature is , has been , and still is , no small impediment to the progress of sound philosophy . for not only the greatest part both of physitians ( though otherwise learned men , ) and of chymists ; but the generality of physiologers too , have thought , that they have done their part , though not on all occasions yet on very many , when they have referr'd an effect or a phaenomenon to some such things as those , that are presum'd to be real qualities ; or are by some styl'd natural powers ; or are by others , by a more comprehensive and more usual name , ( which therefore here chiefly imploy , ) call'd faculties ; for each of which they are wont to form a name , fit for their purpose : though they do not intelligibly declare , what this faculty is , and in what manner the operations they ascribe to it , are perform'd by it. thus the attractive faculty ascrib'd to a man , that is enabled by nature's ( presum'd ) abhorrence of a vacuum , to suck up drink through a straw or pipe , has been for many ages acquiesced in , as the true cause of the ascension of that liquor in suction ; of which nevertheless the modern philosophers , that have slighted explications deriv'd merely from faculties , have assign'd ( as has been already declar'd , ) intelligible , and even mechanical causes . the power that a load-stone has with one pole to attract ( as they speak , ) the northern point of the mariner's needle , and with the other to drive it away , is look'd upon as one of the noblest and most proper faculties of that admirable stone . and yet i elsewhere shew , how in a very small , indeed , but true and natural magnet , i have , by a bare , and sometimes invisible , change of texture , given that extream of the magnet , that before drew the southern point of the needle , the power to draw the northern , and to the opposite extream , the power to drive it away : so much does even this wonderful attractive faculty , as 't is call'd , depend upon the mechanical structure of the mineral , and its relation to other bodies , among which 't is plac'd , especially the globe of the earth , and its magnetical effluvia . but because in another paper , i purposely discourse of what naturists call faculties , i shall here content my self to note in general , that the term faculty may , indeed , be allowed of , if . it be applied as a compendious form of speech , but not as denoting a real and distinct agent ; since in reality the power or faculty of a thing is ( at least ) oftentimes but the matter of it , made operative by some of its mechanical modifications ; [ i say , some , because the complex of all makes up its particular nature . ] and with how little scruple soever , men commonly speak of faculties , as supposing them to be distinct and active principles ; yet this condition does not necessarily belong to them . for sometimes , if not frequently , the effect , of what is reputed a natural power of faculty , is produc'd by the texture , figure , and , in a word , mechanical disposition of the agent ; whereby it determines the action of a remoter agent to the produc'd effect . thus in a clock , to make the ballance vibrate , to point at the hour , to make , at set times , the hammer strike upon the bell , are but different effects of the weight or spring , that sets and keeps the engine in motion . and so a key may either acquire or lose its power of opening a door ( which , perhaps , some school-men would call its aperitive faculty , ) by a change , not made in itself , but in the locks it is apply'd to , or in the motion of the hand that manages it. and least it should be objected , that these instances are taken wholly from artificial bodies , i shall add , that , when a clear piece of native chrystal has obtain'd , as it often does , a good prismatical shape , and is , in a due position , expos'd to the sun-beams ; its figuration , by inabling it to refract and reflect those beams after a certain manner , gives it a colorifick faculty , whereby it is inabled to exhibit that wonderful and pleasing variety of colours , that emulate , if not surpass , those of the rain-bow . and so in a concave metalline looking-glass , though there seem to be many distinct faculties , such as that of reflecting , inverting , magnifying divers objects , and melting , burning , &c. several bodies ; yet all these powers are but the genuine consequences of the figure , capacity and smoothness , which are mechanical affections of the matter of the speculum . and , indeed , if i judge aright , ( though what i am going to say will seem a paradox , ) yet many qualities of very many bodies are but lasting dispositions to be thus or thus wrought upon by the action of external agents , and also ( perchance ) to modifie that action ; as we see , that the power of making an eccho , that is observ'd in divers hollow places , is nothing but the mechanical disposition , their figure and resistence gives them to reflect a sound . and , to resume the lately mention'd instance of a key , we may add , that , by bare position , either end of it , especially if the key be long , may be made to acquire or lose a transient magnetick faculty from the effluvia of that great magnet , the earth ; and that also the same key may , in a few moments , acquire a durable magnetism , by a mechanical change receiv'd from the load-stone , as is known to those , that are any thing vers'd in the philosophy of that wonderful mineral . and to me it seems likely , that one main reason , why learned men have ascrib'd such inherent and active powers , as they call faculties , to so many bodies , is , because that , not being conversant enough with natural and artificial things , they did not duly perpend , how great a difference there may be between a body consider'd absolutely , or by itself , and the same body consider'd in such circumstances , as it may be found in . for in some cases a physical body many have strange things justly ascrib'd to it , though not as 't is such a body consider'd simply , or unassociated with other bodies ; but as 't is plac'd among congruous ones , and makes the principal or most operative part of a compounded body , or of the complex of bodies it is joyn'd with , and which are of such determinate structures , as are convenient for the phaenomena , to be exhibited . this may be analogically seen in what happens to a spring . for if , being bent , 't is held in ones hand , or crouded into a box , 't is but a simple thing , that does only , by its expansive endeavour , strive to remove the bodies that keep it compress'd . but in a curious watch , it may , by virtue of the structure of that engine , become the principle of i know not how many differing , and perhaps contrary , motions , among the parts of it ; and of many notable phaenomena and effects exhibited or produc'd thereby . this reflection may , perhaps , be improv'd , if i here add , that , in many bodies , a fluid substance , determin'd to convenient motions , may be equivalent to an internal spring ; especially if it be assisted by friendly external agents . this may be illustrated by considering , that if one that plays skilfully on a flute , blow out of his mouth into the open air , he will but turn it into a vapid aereal stream : but if this wind duly pass into the instrument , and be modify'd there by the musician's fingers and skill , the simple stream of air may be form'd into very various and melodious tunes . thus gunpowder artificially temper'd , tho' , if it be fir'd in the open air , it will give only a rude and sudden flash , that presently vanishes ; yet , if it be skilfully dispos'd of in rockets and other well-contriv'd instruments , and then kindled , it will exhibit a great and pleasing variety of shining bodies and phaenomena , that are justly admir'd in the best sort of artificial fire-works . a physical instance also , in favour of our analogical or vicarious springs ( if i may so call them , ) is afforded me by the bulbs of onions , and the roots of aloes , commonly call'd semper-vive , and some other vegetables , which in the spring being expos'd to the air , the juices and spirits , contain'd in them , will be so agitated by the warmth of that season , and so modify'd by the particular structure of the more firm parts , that , though neither earth nor rain co-operate , they will shoot forth green stalks or leaves for many weeks together , as if they were planted in a good soil ; ( though the matter of these green productions be furnish'd by the radical parts themselves , as may be argued both from the manifest diminution of the bulb in bigness , and the great and gradual decrement in weight , that i observ'd in making experiments of this king. and so also the air , which is an external fluid , concurring with the juices and spirits of divers insects and other cold animals , may both be put into motion , and have that motion so determin'd by their organization , as to recover in the spring or summer , as it were , a new life , after they have lain moveless and like dead things , all the winter ; as we see in flies , that , in a hot air , quickly recover motion and sense , after having lost both , for perhaps many months . and the like change may be far more suddenly observ'd in them , in the warmer seasons of the year , when the air is drawn from them by the pneumatick pump , and afterwards permitted to enliven them again . and to give another instance , that may possibly please better , ( because , as 't is purely physical , so 't is simple and very conspicuous , ) tho' that which the sun-beams are wont primarily to produce be but light and , perhaps , heat ; yet falling in a due manner upon a rorid cloud , they form there the figure of a vast bow , and , being variously reflected and , refracted , adorn it with the several colours , men admire in the rain-bow . but i must not farther prosecute an observation , that i mention'd but occasionally , as an instance whereby to shew , that the advancement of solid philosophy may be much hinder'd by mens custom of assigning , as true causes of physical effects , imaginary things or perhaps arbitrary names ; among which none seems to have had a more malevolent influence upon physiology than the term nature , none having been so frequently and confidently us'd , or imploy'd to so many differing purposes . and therefore , though i would not totally forbid the use of the word nature , nor of expressions of kin to it , in popular discourses or even in some philosophical ones , where accurateness is not requir'd or ambiguity is prevented by the context ; nor ( to dispatch ) whereit may be imploy'd as a compendious form of speech , without danger to truth , or prejudice to sound philosophy , ( in which cases i myself forbear not the use of it ; ) yet , i hope , our free enquiry may ( somewhat at least , ) conduce to the more skilful indagation , and happy discovery , of physical truths , if it can perswade men to make use less frequently , and with more circumspection , of so ambiguous , and so often abus'd , a term as nature ; and cease to presume , that a man has well perform'd the part of a true physiologer , till he have circumstantially or particularly deduc'd the phaenomenon he considers , by intelligible ways , from intelligible principles . which he will be constantly put in mind of doing , or discover that he hath not done it ; if , by forbearing general and ambiguous terms and words , he endeavours to explain things by expressions , that are clear to all attentive readers , furnish'd with an ordinary measure of understanding and reason . and this perspicuous way of philosophizing should be not a little recommended to ingenious men , by the valuable discoveries , which those that have imploy'd it , in their researches and explications of difficult things , have in this inquisitive age happily made , not only about the various phaenomena , commonly referr'd to the fuga vacui ; but in the hydrostaticks , opticks , anatomy , botanicks , and divers other parts of real learning , that i cannot now stay to enumerate . and thus much it may possibly be sufficient to have said , about the service our doctrine may do natural philosophy . as for religion , if what i have formerly said in favour of it be duly consider'd and apply'd , the past discourse will not appear unfriendly , nor perhaps useless , to it. and therefore , if i do here abridge what i have there said , and add to it some considerations , that were fit to be reserv'd for this place ; i hope the doctrine , we have propos'd , may appear fit to do it a threefold service . i. and in the first place , our doctrine may keep many , that were wont , or are inclin'd , to have an excessive veneration for what they call nature , from running , or being seduc'd , into those extravagant and sacrilegious errors , that have been upon plausible pretences imbrac'd not only by many of the old heathen philosophers but , by divers modern professors of christianity , who have of late reviv'd , under new names and dresses , the impious errors of the gentiles . this i venture to say , because many of the heathen writers , as hath been shewn in the fourth section , ackonwledg'd indeed a god ( as these also own they do , ) but meant such a god , as they often too little discriminated from matter , and even from the a world ; and as is very differing from the true one , ador'd by christians and jews : for ours is a god , first , infinitely perfect ; and then secondly , by consequence , both incorporeal and too excellent to be so united to matter , as to animate it like the heathens mundane soul ; or to become to any body a soul properly so call'd ; and thirdly , uncapable of being divided , & having either human souls or other beings , as it were , torn or carv'd out , or otherwise separated from him , so as to be truly parts or portions of his own substance . b b the error here rejected , was the opinion of many of the heathen philosophers , and particularly of the stoical sect ; of whose author , * * in vita zenonis . laertius says , de divina substantia zeno ait mundum totum atque coelum . and several ethnick philosophers , even after the light of the gospel began to shine in the world , adopted the argument of the elder stoicks , who inferr'd the world to be animated and rational from the nature of the human soul , which they thought a portion of the intelligent part of the world , that some of them confounded with the deity . for the soicks ( in laertius ) affirm , de vitis phil. l. 7. mundum esse animale & rationale & animatum ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) & intelligibile . and 't is added , mundum animatum esse , inde manifestum est , quod anima nostra inde veluti avulsa sit . thus seneca , epist. 92. quid est autem cur non existimes , in eo divini aliquid existere , quae dei pars est ? plutarch in quaest. plut. so plutarch , speaking of the soul , non opus solum dei , sed & pars est ; neque ab ipso , sed ex ipso nata est . and epictetus , dissert . 1. caip . 14. animae ita alligatae & conjunctae deo sunt , ut particulae ejus sint . whereas , the idolaters and infidels i speak of , conceiv'd , under the name of god , a being , about which they dogmatically entertained conceptions , which , tho' different from one another , are much more so from the truth . for first , most of them thought their god to be purely corporeal , as , besides what diogenes laertius and others relate , i remember origen doth in several places affirm . if you will believe c c praepar . lib. 3. cap. 4. eusebius , the ancient aegyptian theologers not only affirm'd the sun , moon and stars to be gods , but deny'd incorporeal substances , or invisible nature's , to have fram'd the world , but only the sun , that is discoverable to our eyes . and this corporiety of god seems manifestly to be the opinion of mr. hobbs and his genuine disciples , to divers of whose principles and dogmas it is as congruous , as 't is repugnant to religion . but secondly , there are others , that allow'd a soul of the world , which was a rational and provident being , together with the corporeal part of the universe , especially heaven , ( which , i remember , aristotle himself styles a d d de coelo l. 2. c. 3. divine body , ( or , as some render his expressions , the body of god : ) but withal , they held , that this being did properly inform this great mass of the universe , and so was , indeed , a mundane soul. and though some of our late infidels ( formerly pointed at in this treatise , ) pretend to be great discoverers of new light in this affair , yet , as 〈◊〉 ●s i am inform'd of their doctrine , it has much affinity with , and is little or not at all better than that which i formerly noted out of lactantius to have been asserted by the stoicks , and the doctrine which is express'd by maximus ( a pagan ) to st. austin . equidem vnicum esse deum summum atque magnificum , quis tam demens , tam mente captus , ut neg●t esse certissimum ? hujus nos virtutes per mundanum opus diffusas , multis vocabulis invocamus , quoniam nomen ejus cuncti proprium ignoremus . or by that famous and learned roman , varro , who is cited by st. austin , de civit dei lib. 7. cap. 6. to have said , deum se arbitrari animam mundi , & hunc ipsum mundum esse deum : sed sicut hominem sapientem , cum sit ex animo & corpore , tamen ab animo dicimus sapientem ; ita mundum deum dici ab animo , cum sit ex animo & corpore . the doctrine , by us propos'd , may ( 't is hop'd , ) much conduce to justifie some remarkable proceedings of divine providence , against those cavillers , that boldly censure it , upon the account of some things , that they judge to be physical irregularities , ( for moral ones concern not this discourse , ) such as monsters , earth-quakes , floods , eruptions of volcanos , famines , &c. for , according to our doctrine , — 1. god is a most free agent , and created the world , not out of necessity , but voluntarily , having fram'd it , as he pleas'd and thought fit , at the beginning of things , when there was no substance but himself , and consequently no creature , to which he could be oblig'd , or by which he could be limited . 2. god having an understanding infinitely superior to that of man , in extent , clearness , and other excellencies , he may rationally be suppos'd to have fram'd so great and admirable an automaton as the world , and the subordinate engines compriz'd in it for several ends and purposes , some of them relating chiefly to his corporeal , and others to his rational creatures ; of which ends , he hath vouchsafed to make some discoverable by our dim reason , but others are probably not to be penetrated by it , but lye conceal'd in the deep abyss of his unfathomable wisdom . 3. it seems not incongruous to conceive , that this most excellent and glorious being thought fit to order things so , that both his works and actions might bear some signatures , and as it were badges of his attributes , and especially to stamp upon his corporeal works some tokens or impresses , discernable by human intellects , of his divine wisdom ; an attribute that may advantagiously disclose itself to us men , by producing a vast multitude of things , from as few , and as simple , principles , and in as vniform a way , as , with congruity to his other attributes , is possible . 4. according to this supposition , it seems , that it became the divine author of the vniverse to give it such a structure , and such powers , and to establish among its parts such general and constant laws , as best suited with his purposes in creating the world ; and , to give these catholick laws , and particular parts or bodies , such subordinations to one another , and such references to the original fabrick of the grand system of the world , that , on all particular occasions , the welfare of inferior or private portions of it , should be only so far provided for , as their welfare is consistent with the general laws setled by god in the vniverse , and with such of those ends , that he propos'd to himself in framing it , as are more considerable , than the welfare of those particular creatures . upon these grounds , if we set aside the consideration of miracles , as things supernatural , and of those instances , wherein the providence of the great rector of the universe , and human affairs , is pleas'd peculiarly to interpose ; it may be rationally said , that god having an infinite understanding , to which all things are at once in a manner present , did , by vertue of it , clearly discern , what would happen , in consequence of the laws by him establish'd , in all the possible combinations of them , and in all the junctures of circumstances , wherein the creatures concern'd in them may be found . and , that having , when all these things were in his prospect , setled among his corporeal works , general and standing laws of motion suited to his most wise ends , it seems very congruous to his wisdom , to prefer ( unless in the newly excepted cases ) catholick laws , and higher ends , before subordinate ones , and uniformity in his conduct before making changes in it according to every sort of particular emergencies : and consequently , not to recede from the general laws he at first most wisely establish'd , to comply with the appetites or the needs of particular creatures , or to prevent some seeming irregularities ( such as earth-quakes , floods , famins , &c. ) incommodious to them , which are no other than such as he fore saw would happen ( as the eclipses of the sun and moon from time to time , the falling of showers upon the sea and sandy desarts , and the like must do , by vertue of the original disposition of things , ) and thought fit to ordain , or to permit , as not unsuitable to some or other of those wise ends , which he may have in his all-pervading view , who either as the maker and upholder of the universe , or as the sovereign rector of his rational creatures , may have ends , whether physical , moral , or political ; ( if i may be allowed so to distinguish and name them , ) divers of which , for ought we can tell , or should presume , are known only to himself , whence we may argue , that several phaenomena , which seem to us anomalous , may be very congruous or conducive to those secret ends , and therefore are unfit to be censur'd by us , dim-sighted mortals . and indeed , the admirable wisdom and skill , that , in some conspicuous instances , the divine opificer has display'd in the fitting of things for such ends and uses , for which ( among other purposes ) he may rationally be suppos'd to have design'd them , may justly persuade us , that his skill would not appear infeferiour in reference to the rest also of his corporeal works , if we could as well in these , as in those , discern their particular final causes . as if we suppose an excellent letter about several subjects , and to different purposes , whereof some parts were written in plain characters , others in cyphers , besides a third sort of clauses , wherein both kinds of writing were variously mix'd , to be heedfully perus'd by a very intelligent person , if he finds that those passages , that he can understand , are excellently suited to the scopes that appear to be intended in them , it is rational as well as equitable in him to conclude , that the passages or clauses of the third sort , if any of them seem to be insignificant , or even to make an incongruous sense , do it but because of the illegible words ; and that both these passages , and those written altogether in cyphers , would be found no less worthy of the excellent † † see the discourse of final causes . writer , than the plainest parts of the epistle , if the particular purposes , they were design'd for , were as clearly discernable by the reader . and perhaps you will allow me to add , that by this way of ordering things so , that , in some of god's works , the ends or uses may be manifest , and the exquisite fitness of the means may be conspicuous ; [ as the eye is manifestly made for seeing , and the parts it consists of admirably fitted to make it an excellent organ of vision ] and in others , the ends design'd seem to be beyond our reach : by this way , ( i say ) of managing things , the most wise author of them does both gratifie our understandings , and make us sensible of the imperfection of them. if the representation now made of providence serve ( as i hope it may , ) to resolve some scruples about it ; i know you will not think it useless to religion . and though i should miss of my aim in it , yet since i do not dogmatize in what i propose about it , but freely submit my thoughts to better judgments ; i hope my well meant endeavours will be , as well as the unsuccessful ones of abler pens have been , excus'd by the scarce superable difficulty of the subject . however , what i have propos'd about providence , being written , rather to do a service to theology , than as necessary to justifie a dissatisfaction with the receiv'd notion of nature , that was grounded mainly upon philosophical objections ; i hope our free enquiry may , though this second use of it should be quite laid aside , be thought not unserviceable to religion , since the first use of it , ( above deliver'd ) does not depend on my notions about providence , no more than the third , which my prolixity about the former makes it fit i should in few words dispatch . iii. the last then , but not the least , service , i hope our doctrine may do religion , is , that it may induce men to pay their admiration , their praises , and their thanks , directly to god himself ; who is the true and only creator of the sun , moon , earth , and those other creatures that men are wont to call the works of nature . and in this way of expressing their veneration of the true god , ( who , in the holy scripture styles himself a iealous god , exod. xx . 5. ) and their gratitude to him , they are warranted by the examples of the ancient people of god , the israelites , and not only by the inspir'd persons of the old testament , but by the promulgators of the new testament , and even by the coelestial spirits ; who , in the last book of it , are introduc'd , rev. iv . 2. praising and thanking god himself for his mundane works , without taking any notice of his pretended vice-gerent , nature . the conclusion . and now , dear eleutherius , you have the whole bundle of those papers that i found and tack'd together , ( for they are not all that i have written ) touching my free enquiry into the receiv'd notion of nature : at the close of which essay , i must crave leave to represent two or three things about it. 1. since this treatise pretends to be but an enquiry , i hope that any discourses or expressions that you may have found dogmatically deliver'd , about questions of great moment or difficulty , will be interpretated with congruity to the title and avow'd scope of this treatise ; and that so favourable a reader , as eleutherius , will consider , that 't was very difficult in the heat of discourse , never to forget the reserves , that the title might suggest , especially since , on divers occasions , i could not have spoken , with those reserves , without much enervating my discourse , and being , by restrictions and other cautious expressions , tedious or troublesome to you . but this , as i lately intimated , is to be understood of things of great moment or difficulty . for otherwise , there are divers notions , suppositions , and explanations , in the vulgarly receiv'd doctrine of nature , and her phaenomena ; which i take to be either so precarious , or so unintelligible , or so incongruous , or so insufficient , that i scruple not to own , that i am dissatisfied with them , and reject them . 2. though , upon a transient view of these papers , i find that several parcels , that came first into my hands , having been laid and fasten'd together , ( to keep them from being lost , as others had already been ) before the others were lighted on , some of them will not be met with in places that are not the most proper for them ; yet haste and sickness made me rather venture on your good nature , for the pardon of a venial fault , than put myself to the trouble of altering the order of these papers , and substituting new transitions and connections , in the room of those , with which i formerly made up the chasms and incoherency of the tract , you now receive . and if the notions and reasonings be themselves solid , they will not need the assistence of an exact method to obtain the assent of so discerning a reader , as they are presented to : upon the score of whose benignity , 't is hop'd , that the former advertisement may likewise pass for an excuse , if the same things , for substance , be found more than once in a tract written at very distant times , and in differing circumstances . for , besides that such seeming repetitions will not ( if i be not mistaken ) frequently occur , and will , for the most part , be found , by being variously express'd , to elucidate or strengthen the thought or argument , they belong to : and besides , that the novelty and difficulty of some points may have made it needful , not only to display , but to inculcate them ; besides these things , ( i say ) 't is very possible that the same notion may serve to explicate or prove several truths ; and therefore may , without impertinency , be made use of in more than one part of our treatise . and if our enquiry shall be thought worthy to be transcrib'd , and presented to you a second time , after i shall have review'd it , and heard objections against it , and consider'd the things , that either you , or i myself , may find fault with in it ; 't is very possible , that ( if god grant me life and leisure , ) this tract , which , in its present dress , i desire you would look on but as an apparatus ( towards a more full and orderly treatise , ) may appear before you in a less unaccurate method : and that my second thoughts may prove more correct , more mature , or better back'd and fortifi'd , than my first . 3. the subject of my enquiry being of great extent , as well as consequence , it oblig'd me to consider , and treat of many things , ( as philosophical , medical , theological , &c. ) and , among them , of divers that are not at all of easie speculation . and i found it the more difficult to handle them well , because the attempt i have ventur'd upon being new , and to be prosecuted by discourse , many of them opposite to the general sentiments of mankind , i was not to expect much assistence from any thing , but truth and reason . and therefore , as i cannot presume not to need your indulgence , so i cannot despair of obtaining it , if in this my first essay , upon a variety of difficult points , i have not always hit the mark , and as happily found the truth as sincerely sought it . but if you shall ( which 't is very probable you will ) find that i have fallen into some errors , 't will be but one trouble for you , to make me discern them , and forsake them , ( especially any , wherein religion may be concern'd ) which i have , by way of praevision , made it the more easie for myself to do ; because ( if my style have not wrong'd my intentions , ) i have written this discourse , rather like a doubting seeker of truth , than a man confident that he has found it. finis . a catalogue of some books lately printed for , and are to be sold by , john taylor at the globe in st. paul's church-yard . the declamations of quintilian , being an exercitation or praxis upon his twelve books , concerning the institution of an orator ; translated ( from the oxford theatre edition ) into english , by a learned and ingenious hand , with the approbations of several eminent school-masters in the city of landon . octavo . price 4 s. 6 d. england's happiness in a lineal succession ; and the deplorable miseries which ever attended doubtful titles to the crown , historically demonstrated by the bloody wars between the two houses of york and lancaster . twelves . price 1 s. 6 d. the happy ascetick , or the best exercise ; with a letter to a person of quality , concerning the lives of the primitive christians . by anthony horneck , d. d. preacher at the savoy . octavo . price 4 s. 6 d. this book is now printing in latine , by the author 's own direction , and will be publish'd by trinity term next . printed for , and sold by iohn taylor at the globe in st. paul's church-yard , 1686. errata . pag. 27. l. 17. r. angel , p. 47. dele to which i now proceed , p. 131. l. 10. r. causality , p. 134. l. 15. & 16. r. god and a providence is afforded by the consideration of the visible , &c. p. 273. l. 16. r. world. mal-punctations , or small literal faults ( if any be , ) the courteous reader is desired to correct with his pen. advertisement . the reader is here to be advertis'd of a great oversight that happen'd to be made by several transpositions of the loose sheets , wherein ( and not in a book , ) the copy was sent to the press . for the discourse beginning at the sole break that is to be met with in the hundred and fiftieth page , and ending with another break at the second line of the hundred fifty and sixth page , ought to have been plac'd at the sole break that is to be met with in the hundred sixty and second page . and the discourse that reaches from the beginning of the hundred seventy and eighth page , to the close of the v. section , which ends in the hundred eighty and second page , ought to have been printed among the arguments that may be alledg'd by the naturists , among which it should , if i misremember not , have been brought in at the close of the two hundred forty and eighth page , and thence have reach'd to the end of the sixth section . these transpositions are thought necessary to have notice given of them , to avoid confusion , since the printed sheets did not come to hand , 'till too much of the book was wrought off before the transpositions could be discern'd ; which makes it fit to give notice of what 't is too late to remedy . and though also some connections and transitions , relating to the transpos'd papers , be not such as they should be , yet 't is not judg'd fit , that the reader be troubled with long advertisements about them ; because his discretion may easily correct them , and the incongruities are not of moment enough to spoil the discourses they relate to . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28982-e1340 act. 17. see the iii , the iv , and also the last section of this treatise . notes for div a28982-e4680 2 phys. c. 1. l. 3. 1 cor. xv . 37 , 38. rev. xvi . 5. rev. xiv . 18. verse 7. notes for div a28982-e6000 * arist. de coelo , l. ii. c. 11. † arist. de coelo l. ii. c. 5. it . de gen. l. ii. c. 10. §. 22. gen. i. 31. gen. ii . 3. job . xxxviii . 4 , 6 , 7. more nevoch . lib. iii. cap. 30. histor. orientalis . lib. i. cap. 8. lib. iii. cap. 36. 2 king. xvii . & 16. 2 chron. xxxiii . & 3. mor. nevoch . lib. iii. cap. 25. gen. xxxi . & xix . vers . 30. * sen. de benef. lib. vii . cap. 21. galenus de usu partium , l. xvii . apud lacunam in epitome oper. galeni . origen . cont . celsum . l. v. prae parat . l. iii. c. 4. damascius vita isidori apud photium : colunt prae coeteris diis aegyptii osirim & isin ( i. e. solem & lunam , ) illum omnia condere , & figuris numerisque materiam adornare arbitrati . rom. i. 25. sed nec illam , quam ejusdem numinis ( solis ) beneficio adeptus sum , sortem conditionemque parvi facio ; quod ex eo genere , penes quod terrarum dominatus atque imperium est , temporibus nostris ortum acceperim . julian . ad regem solem . more novochim . l. 3. c. 29. ( ni fallor . pag. m. 98. origen-contra celsum . l. v. origen . contra celsum . lib. 8. exod. xx . sextus empir . adversus mathemat . lib. 8. p. m. 326. * august . de civit. dei. l. 7. c. 2. † natur. hist. l. 2. c. 1. * natur. quaest. l. 2. c. 45. de benef. l. 4. c. 7. lib. 7. cap. 1. deus & natura nihil prorsus faciunt frustra . arist. de coelo , lib. ii . cap. 5. see lib. xi . cap. 3. aristot. de coelo . l. xi . c. 13. rom. 1. 25. notes for div a28982-e12470 heb. xi . 10. see the iv. section . notes for div a28982-e16220 * see the appendix to the hydrostat . paradoxes . natura est principium quoddam & causa , cur id moveatur & quiescat , in quo inest , &c. aristot. auscult . lib. ii. cap. 1. the fifth commandment , in exodus xx . psalm v. 6. psalm lv . 23. 2 kings i. 16. isa. xxxviii . james v. 25. 1 cor. xi . 30. * a discourse relating to miracles . notes for div a28982-e19780 differunt autem fortuna & casus , quia casus latius patet . quod enim à fortuna est , casu est : hoc autem non omne est à fortuna . arist. auscult . lib. ii . cap. 4. natura semper id facit quod est optimum eorum quae fieri possunt . arist. de coelo . lib. ii . c. 4. see also arist. de gen. lib. ii . cap. 10. §. 22. hippocrat . epidem . lib. 6. §. 5. t. 1. schenk . obser. l. iv. pag. m. 633. & seq . hippocrat . lib. vi . aphorism . xi . * hippocrat . epidem . l. 6. § 5. text . 2. 4. * schenck . observ. lib. 3. pag. mihi 337. & seq . see pag. 164. to pag. 173. notes for div a28982-e25030 a thus the stoicks , in laertius , describe the world thus , mundus est qui constat ex coelo & terra atque ex illorum naturis ; sive , qui constat ex diis & hominibus , iisque rebus quae horum gratia conditae sunt . and of chrysippus , one of the patriarchs of that sect , the same . † historian in the same book says , purissimum dixit ac liquidissimum aethera , quem etiam primum asserunt stoici esse deum , sensibiliter veluti infusum esse , per ea quae sunt in aere , per cunctas animantes & arbores , per terram autem ipsam secundum halitum . to which agrees not only that noted passage of virgil , principio coelum , &c. — but another , which i somewhat wonder learned men should read with no more reflexion : since he there gives the sky the very title of the high god : tum pater omnipotens foecundis imbribus aether , &c. † diog. laertius l. 7. in vita zenon . a continuation of new experiments physico-mechanical, touching the spring and weight of the air and their effects. the i. part whereto is annext a short discourse of the atmospheres of consistent bodies / written by way of letter to the right honourable the lord clifford and dungarvan by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1669 approx. 473 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 125 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2007-01 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a28949 wing b3934 estc r34411 14398415 ocm 14398415 102306 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the early english books online text creation partnership. this phase i text is available for reuse, according to the terms of creative commons 0 1.0 universal . the text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. early english books online. (eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28949) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 102306) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 1056:21) a continuation of new experiments physico-mechanical, touching the spring and weight of the air and their effects. the i. part whereto is annext a short discourse of the atmospheres of consistent bodies / written by way of letter to the right honourable the lord clifford and dungarvan by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [24], 198, [11] p., 7 p. of plates : ill. printed by henry hall ... for richard davis, oxford : 1669. reproduction of original in the huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual 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remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng air. air-pump. physics -experiments. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-05 aptara keyed and coded from proquest page images 2006-06 derek lee sampled and proofread 2006-06 derek lee text and markup reviewed and edited 2006-09 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion a continvation of nevv experiments physico-mechanical , touching the spring and vveight of the air , and their effects . the i. part . written by way of letter , to the right honourable the lord clifford and dungarvan . vvhereto is annext a short discourse of the atmospheres of consistent bodies . by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . oxford , printed by henry hall printer to the university , for richard davis , in the year 1669. the preface . having at the beginning of the treatise , whereof this is a continuation , acquainted my readers with several things that belong in common as well to the following experiments , as to those there publish'd ; it will not be necessary for me to trouble the reader with a repetition of what he may have met with there already , nor to acquaint him in this address with any other particulars then those that concern the experiments i am now about to present him . i doubt not but it will be remembred by some , that i seem'd in the above mentioned book to have promis'd a second part of it , or a large appendix to it : but intimations of that kind do many times respect onely the thing it self , leaving the giver of them free in point of time : and i wanted not sufficient inducements to delay a while to perform my promise , if i made any . i had indeed , partly before the book already referr'd to came from the press , and partly sometime after , made divers other tryals in order to a supplement of it : but being oblig'd to make some journeys and removes , which allowed me no opportunity to prosecute the experiments , i had made no very great progres in my design , before the convening of an illustrious assembly of virtuosi , which has since made it self sufficiently known under the title of the royal society . and having then thought fit to make a present , to persons so like to imploy it well , of the great engine , i had till then made use of in the physico-mechanical experiments about the air ; and being unable afterwards to procure another so good , i applied my studies to other subjects , and gave over for a great while the care of making more experiments of that kind : and the rather , because that finding by the very favourable reception those i had publish'd had met with among the curious in several parts of europe , that they were like to be considered and perused ; i thought i might safely leave the prosecution of them to others , who would probably come more fresh and untired to such an exercise of their curiosity . but observing , that the great difficulties men met with in making an engine , that vvould exhaust and keep out a body so subtle as the air , and so ponderous as the atmosphere , ( besides perhaps some other impediments ) vvere such , that in five or six year i could hear but of one or two engines that vvere brought to be fit to work , and of but one or two nevv experiments , that had been added by the ingenious owners of them ; i began to listen to the perswasions of those that suggested , that unlesse i resum'd this work my self , there would scarce be much done in it . and therefore having ( by the help of other work-men then those i had unsuccesfully imploy'd before ) procured a new engine lesse than the other , and differing in some circumstances from it , we did ( though not without trouble enough ) bring it to work as well as the other , and , as to some purposes , better . and having once got this , i made hast to try with it those experiments , that belonged to the design'd continuation , and do now make up this book . i hope , that to such readers as the following papers are principally intended for , i shall not need to make an apology either for the plainenesse of my style , ( wherein i aim'd at perspicuity , not eloquence , ) or for my not having adorn'd or stufft this treatise with authorities or sentences of classick authors , which i had neither the leisure to seek , nor thought i had any great need to imploy , though it had been far more easie then perhaps it would have proved , to borrow from them things that would have been very proper to a treatise where my main design was , to make out by practicable experiments divers things among other that have not hitherto been advantaged by that way of probation , nor perchance thought very capable of it ; so that i shall have obtained a great part of what i aim'd at , if i have shewn , that those very phaenomena , which the school-philosophers , and their party urge , and sometimes triumph in , as clear proofs of natures abhorrency of a vacuum , may be not onely explicated , but actually exhibited , some by the gravity , and some also by the bare spring of the air. which latter i now mention as a distinct thing from the other , not that i think it is actually separated in these tryals , ( since the weight of the upper parts of the air does , if i may so speak , bend the springs of the lower , ) but because that having in the already published experiments , and even in some of these , manifested the efficacy of the airs gravitation on bodies , i thought fit to make it my task in many of these , to shew , that most of the same things that are done by the pressure of all the superincumbent atmosphere acting as a vveight , may be likewise performed by the pressure of a small portion of air , included indeed ( but without any new compression ) acting as a spring . the present first part of our continuation might i confesse have been not inconveniently divided into two parts . for first it contains some experiments that are already related in the printed book , though they be here so repeated , as to be confirmed , illustrated , or improved , by being reiterated either with better instruments , or with better successe than when they were made in my large receiver , which holding ( if i misremember not ) about eight gallons , could not easily be so well exhausted as those small receivers i often since imployed . and secondly , the other and far more numerous sort of experiments , related in this first part , are new and superadded . and yet i forbear to assign each of these two sorts a place by it self , because i could not conveniently set down my tryals otherwise then as they came to hand among my notes ; and i considered , that in divers places the new ones and the old ones being mentioned together , might serve by their neighbourhood to illustrate or confirm each other . and however at another edition of our continuation it will be a very easie task , if it appear to be a requisite one , to give the improvements of the former experiments , and the superadded new ones , distinct titles and places . as for the mechanical contrivances i imployed in making the following experiments , though most of them have had the good fortune to meet with an approbation , and some of them with more than that , from no mean virtuosi and mathematicians ; yet as i expect that critical readers will judg , that in some experiments more artificial instruments might have been made use of , so i hope that they will not look upon those i was reduced to imploy , as alwayes the best that ever i could have directed , since it sufficiently appears by diverse passages of the following experiments , that they were not made at london , but in places where the want of a glass-house and other acaccommodations reduced me to make my tryals not after the best manner i could devise , but in the best way i could then and there put in practice . and let me add on this occasion to what i have elsewhere said to the like purpose , that t is both a great discouragement to many ingenious men , and no small hinderance to the advancement of natural philosophy , that some nice criticks are so censorious in exacting from attempters the very best contrivances , and many that would be attempters stand too much in awe of such mens judgments ; for though in very nice experiments the exactnesse of instruments is not onely desireable and useful , but in some cases necessary ; yet in many others , where the production of a new phaenomenon is the thing aimed at , they are to be looked upon as benefactors to the history of nature , that performe the substantial part of a discovery , though they do it not by the most easie and compendious wayes deviseable , or attain not to the utmost preciseness that might be wished , and is possible . for such performances , notwithstanding their being short of perfection , make discoveries to the world of new and useful things ; which though others , that are more lucky at contrivances , and have better accommodations , may compasse by more compendious wayes , or with greater precisenesse ; yet still the world is beholding to the first discovery for the improvements of it , as we are to archimedes for the first devising a way , to find by weighing bodies in water , how much gold or how much silver a mixture of those metals does contain , though ( if historians have not injured that great man in the relation ) he went a more laborious and lesse accurate way to work than modern hydrostatians , who ( as i elsewhere shew ) may perform the same thing by a far better way , which yet probably we should not have thought of , if that attributed to archimedes had not preceded , and afforded us a fundamental notion . and that the not being so dexterous at contriving the wayes to effect a thing , is no sure argument that a man has not a true and solid knowledge of it , we may easily learn from euclid , vvhom our geometricians generally and justly acknowledge to be their master , and to have enriched the world with many useful truths , and solidly demonstrated all his propositions , though divers of his modern commentators have found out more compendious wayes for effecting several of his problems , as vvell as of demonstrating divers of his theorems , especially since the excellent invention of specious algebra , by whose help that accurate mathematician dr. wallis has , besides other specimens upon intricate propositions , clearly demonstrated the ten first and for the most part perplexing theorems of the second element , in litle more than as few lines . in summe , in experiments that are very nice , accurate contrivances and instruments are industriously to be sought , and highly to be valued , and even in such other experiments as are frequently to be reiterated the most commodious and easie ways of performing them are very desireable , but those practical compendiums , though very welcome to them that would repeat tryals , are not so important to the generality of readers , as being but useful to save pains , not necessary to discover truths ; to vvhich men may oftentimes do good service , without any peculiar gift at mechanical contrivances , since in most cases they may be lookt upon as promoters of natural philosophy , who devise experiments fit to discover a new truth if the attempt succeeds , and propose wayes of bringing it to trial , which though perhaps not the most skilful or expeditious , are yet sufficient and practicable , the increase of physical knowledg being the product of the things themselves that are discovered , whatever were the instruments men imploied about making the discoveries . as for the cuts , i endeavoured to make their relations , and descriptions of most of the experiments , so full and plain , as to need as few schemes as might be to illustrate them : but though i hope , that they who either were verst in such kind of studies , or have any peculiar facility of imagining , would well enough conceive my meaning onely by words ; yet lest my own accustomance to devise such trials , and to see these made , should make me think them more easily intelligible than most readers will find them , i advised with a learned friend or two , fit to be consulted on such an occasion , what experiments were requisite to be illustrated with diagrams , and to such i took care they should be annexed . onely i forbore to adde to the figure of each instrument alphabetical explications of its parts , as judging that troublesome work lesse easie for me , than it would be for such readers as this tract is designed for , to understand what is delivered by the help of a litle attention in conferring the schemes of the instruments with the verbal accounts of the experiments they relate to . but there is one particular about the cuts may require both to be given notice of and excused : which is , that having occasion to alter the method of my experiments , when i began to foresee that i should be obliged to reserve divers things for another opportunity ; and being my self absent from the graver for a good part of the time he was at work , some of the cuts were misplaced , and not graven in the plates , in which , according to the present series of experiments , they might most properly have been put . but perhaps i may ( for i am not sure of it ) more need the readers pardon for ( unknowingly ) troubling him in this continuation with some passages , that he may have already met with in the book it refers to : which though i had not read over for some years before , i chanced not to have at hand , when divers of the following papers were written ; and though afterwards i recovered it , yet the indisposition of my eyes made me think it unfit rather to tire them by reading over the whole book , than to trust to the readers good nature ( in case i should need it ) for the pardon of a few unintended repetitions . i doubt not , many readers will be inquisitive to know , why this treatise is stiled the first part of a continuation : to give these some account of the title , i must put them in mind , that in the already published experiments i intimated , that two sorts of tryals might be made by the help of our engine : the one , such as needed but a short absence of the air , and the other such as required that the air should not onely be withdrawn for a vvhile , but kept out for a considerable time , from the bodies vvhereupon the trial is made . of the former sort of experiments are these this present book does ( as vvell as that heretofore published did ) consist of . and though i have been so much called upon , and troubled for certain writings , whereof i had made such mention in those that past the presse , as some readers interpreted to be an engagement , that it made me think fit , when i satisfied their demands , to be thence forward very shy of making the publick any promise ; yet i was induced not to alter the title of this treatise , partly because it may intimate to the curious , that there are yet a great many things to be performed by our engine , besides the productions of it i have hitherto presented them , and partly because , though i still persist in my former aversnesse to make promises to the world ; yet t is very possible , that if god grant me life and health , i may in due time present my friends with what may serve for a second part of our continuation , consisting of experiments that require a longer absence of the air from the bodies to be wrought upon ; and i shall think , if this first part prove not unacceptable to the curious , that the latter will be not unwelcome to them , as being designed to consist of sets of experiments , which by their being most of them new , and some of them odd enough , may perchance afford some not despicable hints to the speculative . but the very nature of these experiments , requiring that some of them should be long in making , my friends could not reasonably expect a quick dispatch of a work of this kind , though i should not meet for the future with such intervening impediments , as have hitherto disturbed it , ( as want of instruments , of health , of leisure , and of the liberty , which is so requisite in this case , of staying long enough in one place : ) notwithstanding all which difficulties i have by snatches been able through god's blessing to make forty or fifty of designed tryals , being such as require the least of time to be performed in , though i now think not fit to mention any of them , as well for other reasons , as because though they be made by the help of our engine , yet they require a peculiar apparatus of instruments , very differing from those we have hitherto mentioned , and not to be intelligibly described without many words and divers figures . in the mean time , lest the industrious should be discouraged by a surmise , that there is nothing left for them to do by the help of our engine , at least as to the first sort of experiments , i shall inform them , that i had thoughts to have added divers others of that kind to these that now come forth , and particularly two clusters of pneumatical trials , the one about respiration , and the other about fire and flame ; but several of my notes and observations being at present out of the way , my having neither health nor leisure to repair these inconveniences , and prosecute tryals of that sort with any assiduity , makes me chuse rather to reserve them for an appendix , than to make those that now come abroad stay for them . which will not ( i presume ) be the more disliked , because by taking this course i may , in delivering of the phaenomena of nature , imitate nature her self , of whom t is the roman philosophers saying , rerum natura sacra sua non simul tradit . some advertisements touching the engine it self . though the engine already published , and that which i imployed in the following tryals , have the same uses , & agree both in the ground and the main part of their construction , yet they differ in some particulars fit to be taken notice of : for after i had presented the great engine i formerly made use of to the royal society , partly the difficulty of procuring such another of that size and make , and partly the desire of making some improvements invited me to make some alterations in the structure ; some of them suggested by others , ( especially by the ingenious m r hook , ) and some of them that i added my self , as finding that without them i could not do my work . wherefore it will not be amiss to point at the chief differences between the former and the latter engine , and to intimate some of the conveniences and inconveniences that attend them . as for the construction of the second engine it self , since t is presumed , that the readers of this book have already perused that of which this is a continuation , and understood the contrivance of the instrument that belongs to it , it was presumed sufficient to exhibit in the first plate the delineation of the entire engine ready to be set at work ; and in the second , the figures of the several metalline parts that compose it , before they are set together . for though these have not verbal and alphabetical explications annexed to them , yet the sight of them may suffice to make those that have an imagination fitted to conceive mechanical contrivances , and are acquainted with the former engine , comprehend the structure of this ; which , alphabetical explications would scarce make such readers do , as are not so qualified : onely two things there are , which being of some difficulty , as well as of importance to be conceived , i shall here particularly tak notice of . the first of which is , that in regard the sucker is to be alwayes under water , and the perforation p q , that passes perpendicularly quite through it , and serves together with the stick r s for a valve , is to be stopt at the bottom of the cylinder , as at n o , when t is full of water , t was requisite to make the stick r p of a considerable length , as two or three foot : the other and chief thing is that in the second plate , the pipe ab , whose end b bends upward , is made to lie in a gruve or gutter purposely made in the flat wooden board c d e f , on which the receivers are to rest ; which square board i caused to be overlaid with very good cement , on which i took care to apply a strong plate of iron , of the bigness and shape of the board , leaving onely a small hole for the erected part of the pipe to come out at , which i added , not onely to keep the wooden board the better from warping , but because i knew ( what will perhaps be thought strange ) that the pressure of the atmosphere on one side of the board , when there is no pressure or but very litle on the other side , will enable many aerial particles to strain through the very wood , though of a good thickness , and imbued with oyl to choak the pores ; to this iron-plate we sometimes fit a lip turning up about it , to hinder the water that on some occasions will come from the receiver from falling on the room ; ( and to add that upon the by ) though the stop-cock g h i k , that belongs to the hitherto mentioned pipe , may be inserted at i. into the barrel or cylinder l m n o by the help of soder , yet we chose as a much better way to have the branch i. of the stop-cock made like a screw , which being once firmly screwed in to the barrel , is not apt to be broken off , and may be more easily mended if any thing happen to be out of order , which the engine is the most liable to be in or about the pipe , partly because it may fall out , ( though but very rarely if due care be but taken , ) that the air will insinuate it self between the wooden board and the iron-plate , and so get up ( where the pipe bends upwards ) into the cavity of the receiver , and partly because the pipe being for a just reason made but slender , and the part of it that looks upwards very short , it happens not very unfrequently , that when we imploy receivers with narrow orifices , where the cement must lie close to the opening of the pipe , it happens , i say , that the cement , especially if it be much softned by heat , is suckt ( as they speak ) into the pipe , and so choaks it up ; or else that some part of the body included in the receiver is drawn to the orifice of the pipe , and lying upon it as a cover hinders the free passage of the air into the barrel , against which inconvenience , to add that upon the by , we use amongst other expedients to place just about the orifice of the pipe a small cover of tin , like that of a litle box , which covers it at the top to hinder any thing from lying immediately upon the pipe , and has a small opening or two in the side , to give the air of the receiver free access to the pipe. the square and hollow wooden part of this engine , discernable in the first plate , is so made , that it may contain not onely the cylinder , but so much water , as will alwaies keep the cylinder quite cover'd with that liquor ; by which means the sucker , lying & playing alwaies under water , is kept still turgid and plump , and the water being ready at hand to fill up any litle interval or chink , that may happen to be between the sucker and the inside of the barrel , does together with the newly mentioned plumpness of the sucker very much conduce to the exact keeping out of the air. but this advantage is not without some inconvenience , for divers times , if great care be not taken in turning the stop-cock , the water will be impell'd into the receiver , and much prejudice sundry experiments , when the included bodies are such that may be spoiled or impaired ( at least for the present ) by that liquor . the smalness of our cylinder is a convenience in regard of the facility it affords to make and dispatch those many experiments that may be performed in small receivers , though it make those more troublesome and tedious , that require the exhaustion of large and capacious ones . the flat plate ( mentioned a litle above ) has this great conveniency in many experiments , that the receiver needs no stop-cock of its own ; for such a vessel being made all of an entire piece of glass , and whelmed on upon the plate well covered with cement , can better keep out the air , than if there were a stop-cock , at which the air does but too frequently get in ; but besides that in divers experiments such receivers do usually require to be wide mouthed , whereby a greater compass is to be fenced against the ingress of the air , several experiments cannot so conveniently be tryed in this sort of receivers . but because , that though this second form of our engine hath as to several purposes its peculiar conveniences and advantages , yet some virtuosi may be furnished with the other already , and some may conceive it the more clearly of the two , or may judg it preferable for their particular designs ; i shall here intimate , that for most of the experiments , if not all , that follow in this treatise , they may make use of , or at least make a shift with the first engine , with a very few alterations ; whereof the chief is to be this , that to the upper part of the great cylinder , on the side opposite to the iron-rack , there is to be fastned such a square board , and suitable iron-plate , as is used in the second engine , betwixt which board and plate is to be lodged such a pipe as was lately described , being either a continuation of the outward branch of the stop-cock , or else firmly fastned to it by sodering or screwing : for by this means , when the sucker is deprest , the air will through the cavity of this pipe , and the stop-cock whereto it is annexed , pass freely by virtue of its own spring out of the receiver into the exhausted cylinder ; though this , and the sucker that moves in it , being not kept as in the second form of the engine under water , the greater care will be needed to keep the air from insinuating it self between them . a good cement , to fasten the receivers to the often mentioned plate of iron , is a thing of no small moment in making the following experiments , of which we imploy differing compositions for differing purposes , some of which are not necessary to be mentioned in that part of this work that now comes forth ; but that which in almost all the following tryals we chiefly make use of , is a well wrought mixture of ( yellow ) bees wax and turpentine , which composition as it serves better than most others to keep out the air , so it has the conveniency , which is no small one , of seldome needing to be heated , and seldomer to be much so ; especially if we imploy a litle more turpentine in winter than in summer , in the former of which seasons , as much , or very near as much of that ingredient as of the wax does well , for as in summer a mixture of three parts of wax to about two of turpentine is more proper . errata . by an oversight a short paragraph was omitted in the 14. page , importing , that the second figure of the 4th . plate was designed onely to make some representation of the difference that would appear , if instead of making the 4. experiment with water , as in the foregoing figure , the tryal was made with quick-silver . so lik wise in pag. 104. lin . 4. and 8. for 14 of the 12 book read 14 of the 11. pag. ib. l. 9. read cylinders of equal heights are to one another as their bases . the reader is desired to perfect with his pen the marginal notes referring to the plates as being defective , and also to insert such others as were wholly omitted , according to the following directions ; which could not otherwise be conveniently supplied , without putting a stop to the press . in the margent of page the — 3 d. read see plate the iii. figure the 1. 14. r. see plate the iv. figure the 2. 30. r. see plate the iii. figure the 2. 33. r. plate the iii. fig. the 2. 34. see plate the iii. figure the 3. 43. r. see plate the v. figure the 1. 54. r. see plate the iii. figure the 4. 73. against the 16. line , insert — see the whole baroscope delineated plate the v. fig. the 2. 87. against the last line but two , insert — see plate the v. figure the 3. 88. against the 6. line insert — see plate the v. figure the 4. 107. against the 28. line , insert see plate the vi. figure the 1. 111. against the 20. line , insert see plate the vi. fig. the 2. 113. r. see the 2. figure of the 7. plate : ( adding thereto ) which though made primarily for the 39. experiment , may facilitate the conceiving of this. 120. against the 17. line , insert see plate the vi. figure the 3. 122. against the 9. line , insert see plate the vi. figure the 4. 123. against the 19. line , insert see plate the vi. figure the 5. 125. against the 14. line , insert see plate the vi. figure the 6. 130. read see plate the vi. fig. the 7. 132. r. see plate the vii . fig. the 1. 136. against the 8. line , insert see plate the vii . figure the 3. 139. read see plate the vii . figure the 4. 144. r. see plate the viii . fig. the 1. 155. r. see plate the iv. fig. the 3. 161. r. see plate the viii . fig. the 2. and 4. 165. against the 21. line , insert see plate the viii . fig. the 4. and against the last line save one , insert see plate the viii . fig. the 3. 166. r. see plate the viii . fig. the 5. 174. within 3 lines of the bottom , insert see plate the iv. figure the 4. the i. plate . the ii plate . a continvation of nevv experiments physico-mechanical , touching the spring and vveight of the air , and their effects . the i. part . written by way of letter , to the right honourable the lord clifford and dungarvan . my dear lord , since i have already in proper places of the physico-mechanical experiments about the air , which i formerly presented your lordship , giv'n you a sufficient account of several things touching the scope , occasion , &c. of my attempt ; it will not be necessary to make a solemn preface to the ensuing experiments . and therefore presuming upon an acceptance , which the favourable entertainment , which your lordship , as well as the publick , was pleas'd to give my first tryals of this kind , encourages me to expect , i shall , without troubling you with any further preface , immediately fall upon a continuation ; especially since your lordship will perhaps wonder , that you have not receiv'd it much sooner , as , indeed , you should have done , if i had been befriended with accommodations and leisure . experiment i. about the raising of mercury to a great height in an open tube , by the spring of a little included air. divers ways have been proposed to shew both the pressure of the air , as the atmosphere is a heavy body , and that the air , especially when compress'd by outward force , has a spring that enables it to sustain or resist a pressure equal to that of as much of the atmosphere , as can come to bear against it , and also to shew , that such air as we live in , and is not condens'd by any humane or adventitious force , has not onely a resisting spring , but an active spring ( if i may so speak ) in some measure , as when it distends a flaccid or breaks a full-blown bladder in our exhausted receiver . but observing that there seems to want a visible experiment to convince those that are not so easily satisfy'd with reasons , though drawn by just consequence from physical or mechanical truths , or even from other experiments , taking notice , i say , hereof , i made the following experiments ; not so much to prevent or removed a scruple no better grounded , as to have a new way of making an estimate by some known and determinate measure of the force of the bare spring of the air , both in its natural state , ( as t is said to be when not compress'd nor ratify'd , more then the free air we breath , ) and according to its several degrees of expansion . we took then a viol , with a neck not very large , and having fill'd about a fourth part of it with quick-silver , we so erected and fastned a long and slender pipe of glass , open at both ends in the neck of the viol , with hard sealing wax , that the lower end reach'd almost to the bottom of the quick-silver , and the upper more then a yard above the viol . then having blown in a little air , to try whether the instrument did not leak , ( which t is very difficult to keep such instruments from doing , ) we conveigh'd it into a long and slender receiver , fit for such an use , and having withdrawn the air as well as we could , we found according to our expectation , that the spring of the air , included in the viol , impell'd up the quick-silver into the erected pipe , to the height of 27. inches , and having suffer'd the external air to return into the receiver , the quick-silver subsided in the tube , sometimes almost , and sometimes quite as low as the stagnant quick-silver in the viol . for the better illustration of this experiment , thus summarily related , but with the like success , as to the main , several times repeated , we will subjoyn the following observations and notes . i. that we try'd this experiment several times , and the last time in the presence of the famous savilian geometer , d r wallis , who saw the quick-silver in the pipe impell'd up to 27. inches , being one himself of the measurers ; and though at other times we found it to be much about the same height with the last , yet once it seem'd plainly to be a pretty deal higher ; which yet we specifi'd not , because a mischance took off the mark , which we had made to measure the height by . ii. having once , to try the stanchnesse of the viol , blown in so much air , ( without taking out any thing as we use to do in the like case ) that the air in the cavity of the viol rais'd and kept the quicksilver 3. inches high in the pipe , when we went on with the rest of the experiment , according to the way above describ'd , we found , by emptying the receiver of air , that we were able to raise the quicksilver in the cane 30. inches , or somewhat more above that in the viol . iii. sometimes it may happen , that the mercury , when taken very soon out of the receiver , will not appear to have subsided to its first lownesse , which perhaps 't will not sink to in some while after : which is not to be wondred at , since in such a receiver , which contains but little air , the heat of the cement and the iron , imploy'd to melt it quite round the receiver , may impart a little warmth to the air in the viol , which will after return to its former temper . but this accident is neither constant nor necessary to the experiment . iv. t is very remarkable , that if the receiver be fitly stopt , and slender enough ; upon the turning of the stop-cock , to let out the air at the first exuction , the mercury will be impell'd up by the spring of the air in the viol , suddenly flying abroad or stretching it self , so that it will be rais'd several inches above the height it will rest at afterwards , and will make several vibrations up and down before it come to settle , just as the mercury does in the torricellian experiment , ( the bare pressure of the little air doing here to the mercury , what the weight of the atmosphere does there , ) and such motions of the mercury will be made four or five subsequent exuctions , upon the withdrawing of the air in the receiver . but as these grow lesser and lesser , as the spring of the included air grows fainter , so none of them is any thing near so considerable as the vibrations made upon the first suck . v. agreeable hereunto we observ'd , that at the first exuction , when the spring of the included air was yet strong , the mercury would be rais'd by our estimate above half , if not ⅔ of the whole height , whereto 't will at length be brought , ( though that must be according to the bignes of the receiver , and other circumstances , ) and the subsequent exuctions do still adde less and less proportions of height to the mercurial cylinder , and that for two reasons : the one , because the more there is of mercury impell'd into the tube , the greater weight of mercury presses upon the included air : and the other , because the air has so much the more room in the viol to expand it self , whereby its spring must be proportionably weakned . lastly , when we made most of these tryals , i had the curiosity to observe the height of the mercury in a good barometer , and thereby found , that the air was then but light ; its greatest height reaching but to 29 inches , and ⅜ , and its height soon after the tryal , whereof d r wallis was a witnesse , amounting but to 29. inches . to make an estimate of the quantity of air , that had rais'd the quicksilver to 27 inches , we took the viol that was imploy'd about this experiment ; and having counterpois'd it , whilst it was empty , we afterward fill'd it with water , and found the liquor to weigh 5. ounces , 2. drachms , and about 20. grains ; and then having pour'd out the water , till it was sunk to a mark which we had made on the outside of the glass , to take notice how high the quick-silver reach'd that we pour'd in : and lastly , weighing the remaining water , equal in bulk to the quick-silver , we found it to amount to 1. ounce , 2. drachms , 14. grains ; so that the air , that had rais'd up the mercury , possess'd ( before its expansion ) in the viol the place but of 4. ounces , and a few odde grains , i. e. of about ¼ of a pint of water . and as for the pipe also , imploy'd about the same experiment , we found its cavity to have about ⅛ part of an inch in diameter . it was one of the uses i hop'd to make of this experiment , that by comparing the several degrees of expansion of air included in the viol , with the respective and increasing heights of the mercury that was impell'd up into the pipe , some estimate might be made of the force of the spring of the air weaken'd by several degrees of dilatation ; but for want of conveniences i forbore to venter upon such nice observations , especially because the pressure of the dilated air , that remains in the receiver , and is external to the air included in the viol , must also be taken into consideration . another use of our experiment may be this : that it may supply us with a considerable argument against some learned men , who attribute the suspension of the quick-silver in the torricellian experiment to a certain rarify'd matter , which some call a funiculus , and whereto others give other names ; which rarify'd substance they suppose to draw up and sustain the quick-silver , in compliance of natures abhorrency of a vacuum . for in the experiment under consideration , the quick-silver being not onely sustain'd at the height of 27 inches in the tube , but elevated thither ; if the cause of this be demanded , it will be answer'd , according to their hypothesis , that the air in the receiver , external to that of the viol , being , by reason of the sucking out of some of it by the pump , more rarified than that in the viol , it draws up to it the quick-silver in the cane , and the more it is rarify'd , the higher it is enabl'd to draw it . but then i demand , whence it comes to pass , that though we can , by persevering to pump , more and more rarifie the little remaining air , or the aëreal substance in the receiver , that in the viol not appearing to be also rarified , yet the air in the receiver does not by virtue of its superadded rarefaction , whereby it exceeds that of the air in the viol , pull up the quick-silver to a greater height in the tube then 27. inches : for , that this is not the greatest height , to which mercury may be rais'd by this rarefy'd substance , our adversaries must not deny , who tell us , that in the torricellian experiment it sustains a mercurial cylinder of 29. inches , and ½ , and can raise a cylinder of 29 inches to 29 ½ , or higher , in case that the cylinder be made to vibrate up and down in the tube . and as for those , that will in such cases , as our experiment suggests , have recourse onely to that which they call the fuga vacui , they may please also to consider , that since the quick-silver remains the same , its ascension in the tube will not be available for what they think to be natures purpose ; for , whether it reach higher or lower in the tube , it will adaequately fill no more space in one posture , or in one figure , then in another , in what part soever of the cavity of the receiver it be plac'd . experiment ii. shewing , that much included air rais'd mercury in an open tube , no higher than the weight of the atmosphere may in a baroscope . in the former experiment , by reason of the smalness of the viol , that was employ'd about it , there was so little air included , that the expansion of it so far , as was requisite to impell up the mercury in the pipe to the above mentioned height of 27. inches , may be probably suspected to have very much weaken'd its spring , and therefore it may be thought , that ( especially considering the great force that several of our experiments manifest imprison'd air to have , ) if there were a greater quantity of air included in the vessel , so that the expansion , sufficient to raise the mercury to the former height , would not need to be considerable , ( because that the capacity of the tube being but the same , the whole included air will be so much the lesse expanded , by how much the more of it there is , ) it seem'd probable that the spring of the air , being but a little weakned by so small a dilatation , would remain strong enough to raise a much taller cylinder of mercury in the tube , and perhaps make the liquor run over into the receiver . but though this suggestion seem probable enough , yet when i consider'd , that the weight of the atmosphere is able to sustain a cylinder of quick-silver but of 30. inches , or thereabouts , ( in perpendicular height , ) and consequently that the pressure of such a mercurial cylinder is equivalent to that of an atmospherical cylinder of the same bore ; 't was not difficult to conclude , that since the air in a viol , before the mouth is clos'd , has a spring but equal in strength to the weight of the atmospherical pillar that leans upon it , ( for if the spring were too strong for the weight that leans on it , some of the air would get out of the viol , ) a greater viol , and consequently a greater quantity of included air would not be able by its spring to elevate and sustain a longer cylinder of mercury , than the weight of the atmosphere is able to do ; nor indeed altogether so much , because of some little ( though but little ) diminution of the spring by some ( though but a small ) expansion , that the included air suffers , by succeeding in the place of the mercury , that is impell'd up . to clear therefore this matter by an experiment , we took a strong glass-bottle , capable of holding about a quart of liquor , and having put into it a convenient quantity of quick-silver , we erected in it a very long and slender pipe of glass , open at both the ends , and reaching at the lower end beneath the surface of the stagnant mercury , and having fasten'd this pipe in the neck of the bottle , by choaking up that neck very accurately with good cement , that none of the included air might be able to get out , we conveigh'd the whole into a receiver , like that imploy'd about the i. experiment in shape , but much larger , that it might be able to contain so great a vessel ; and then the engine being set a work , we quickly rais'd the quick-silver to a greater height than formerly , and when we saw it come to a stand , we did by the help of some marks , made before hand on the pipe , and by the help of a very long and well divided ruler , measure , with as much care and accurateness as the figure of the vessels would allow us to do , the height of the mercurial cylinder , which we found to be 29. inches , and about ⅞ , to which abating half an inch , which was rais'd , before the pump was employed , by some air that had been blow'd into the bottle , to try whether it were stanch ; deducting , i say , this half inch of quick-silver , which remain'd in the tube after the external air was let in , ( as well as it had been there before the receiver was exhausted , ) out of the newly mention'd number there remain'd 29. inches , and neer ⅜ , for the height of the mercury , rais'd by the spring of the air , shut up in the bottle : and then consulting with the above mentioned baroscope , which stood in a window in another part of the house , i found , that the weight of the atmosphere did bear a mercurial cylinder of about 29. inches and ½ , which was higher by ⅛ than that to which the spring had rais'd the quick-silver in the exhausted receiver : and the difference perhaps would have been greater , if the place , where the experiment was made , had not by its warmth added some little matter to the spring of the air , and if also we could have kept the mercury so long elevated , as to give it leave to discharge its self of those small bubbles , which t is almost impossible in such experiments as this to free quick-silver from , without some help from time . lastly , though we caus'd the pump to be ply'd , to try whether we could not , by the more diligent exuction of the receiver , raise the quick-silver above the height of that which the atmosphere kept sustain'd in the baroscope , yet our labour gave us but a confirmation , that the spring of the air would not raise the mercury higher , then did the weight of the atmosphere , which may not a little confirm the 2 d observation . n b. this was not the onely nor the first experiment we made of this kind , but this being carried on without mischances , ( with which divers others were attended , ) and made with much care , i thought fit to set down this in stead of all , intimating generally about the rest , that they seem'd to agree well for the main with that , which is here recited ; onely there is one thing relating to those other experiments , that seems not altogether unworthy to be taken notice of ; which is , that when our tryals were made in vessels , that contain'd a considerable quantity of air , though upon the exhaustion of the receiver the spring of the included air could not raise the quick-silver to the top of the pipe , yet sometimes by other effects it manifested it self to be very strong , as once or twice by the blowing out or breaking the cork or cement , and other matter that was imploy'd to stop the glass it was shut in ; and once by an accident too memorable to be here past over in silence . i had one day invited d r wallis to see such an experiment as i have been relating , made with ( not a viol , but ) a bottle of green glass , ( such as we use now for wine , ) and 4 or 5 pounds of mercury . after this learned person and i had continued spectators as long as we thought fit , we withdrew into another room , where we had not sat long by the fire , before we were surpriz'd by a suddain noise , which the person , that occasion'd it , presently came running in to give us an account of , by which it appear'd , that this ingenious young man , ( whom i often imploy about pneumatical experiments , and whom i mention'd to your lordship , because i. m. has the honour to be somewhat known to you , ) being desirous in our absence to satisfie the curiosity he had to know , whether the quick-silver could not be rais'd higher in the pipe than i had foretold , plyed the pump so obstinately , that at length , the bottle being not , it seems , every where equally strong , the imprison'd air found it more difficult to make the quick-silver run over at the top of the pipe , than to break the bottle in the weakest place , and accordingly did not onely throw off a piece of the bottle , but threw it with such violence against the large and strong receiver , as broke that also , and render'd it unserviceable for the future . but the doctor and i laying together the pipe , which happen'd to be broken into but few pieces , concluded by the place , to which we were told it reacht when this accident happened , that it had not exceeded , nor indeed fully equall'd the height , to which the weight of the atmosphere might have rais'd it . experiment iii. shewing that the spring of the included air will raise mercury to almost equal-heights in very unequal tubes . having shown in the two former experiments , that the active strength of the airs spring is very considerable , i thought good also to examine , whether or no to the other resemblances in operation between the weight of the free air , and the pressure of the included air , this also may be added , that as the gravitation of the atmosphere is able ( as we shall hereafter prove ) to sustain the mercury at the same height in lesser and greater tubes , seal'd at the top ; so the pressure of the included air may be able to sustain the mercury at the same height in slenderer and in larger tubes , though in the latter it must sustain a far greater weight of mercury than in the former ; provided allowance be made for the weakning , which the spring of the included air must be subject to , by reason that , to succeed in the place of a large cylinder of mercury impell'd up into the greater tube , it must expand it self more , and consequently have its spring more weakned , than if the tube were slender . to prosecute this experiment , i thought on a peculiar shape of vessels , which , if i had been where there is a glass-house , i would have caus'd to be blown for the more convenient trying of two pipes of different bores at the same time . but though i wanted this accommodation , i thought i might well enough show what i intended by imploying successively two tubes of very differing sizes , provided the vessel for the including of the air were the same . wherefore taking the glass bottle , made use of to try the former experiment , and erecting in it after the manner above described a cylindrical pipe of glass , a good deal larger than the former , ( if not as large agen , ) we prosecuted the experiment as we had made it , with the slender tube above mentioned , and found that we were able , by the spring of the air in the bottle , to raise the quick-silver to a considerable height , which , measuring as well as the vessel would allow us , was , by the least estimate that was made of it , ( which was mine ) 28. inches , and ⅛ , by which it appear'd to want somewhat above an inch of the height of the mercurial cylinder , which the weight of the atmosphere could have sustain'd , as appear'd by the barometer , wherein the quick-silver at that time was about 29. inches , and ¼ high ; which difference was no more then i expected , considering that , whereas the weight of the atmosphere is still the same when the mercury is at its full height ( and that whether the pipe be great or small ) in a seal'd tube ; the spring of our included air must needs be weakned the larger the tube is , and the higher the liquid metal is impell'd in it , so that it seem'd a considerable phaenomenon , that the spring of so little air should be able to raise the mercury as high within an inch or thereabouts in a wider as in a slenderer tube , since the diameter of the cavity of the former being by our estimate double to that of the latter , ( into which the slender pipe could easily be put as into a case too big for it : ) the greater mercurial cylinder may be suppos'd to have weighed near four times as much as the lesser ; i say , near , because there was an inch difference in their heights : but in case these had been equal , then the solidities of the cylinders would have been to one another as their bases ; and since these , being circular , are in duplicate proportion to their diameters , that is , as the squares of their diameters ; its plain , that if the diameters be as one to two , the squares of them must be as one to four ; and these cylinders consisting of the same mercury , their weights will have the same proportions with their solidities , and consequently would be as one to four , making the abatement formerly intimated for the inch and a little more of mercury , by which the larger cylinder came short of the height of the former . nb. 1. this and the two former experiments tryed by us with quick-silver , may be also tryed with water ; but besides that we could hardly procure tubes long enough for such tryals , we were not very sollicitous about it : for if we attentively enough consider , what has been already deliver'd , and the proportion in specifick gravity betwixt water and quick-silver , ( whereof the latter is near 14. times as heavy , bulk for bulk , as the former , ) 't will not be difficult to foresee the event of such experiments , which he , that has a mind to make , should be furnish'd not onely with long tubes , but with capacious vessels to shut up the air in . else the air will be so far expanded before the water has attain'd near the height , to which the weight of the atmosphere may raise it , that the experiments will not seem to succeed near so well with water , as ours did with quick-silver . 2. we thought it worth trying , whether , when the included air had rais'd the great cylinder of mercury to the utmost height , it could elevate it to , by the spring it then had ; it would not be brought to raise the quick-silver yet higher , if , notwithstanding the expansion it had already , there were an agitation made by the heated corpuscles of the same air. and in pursuance of this curiosity having caus'd an hot iron and a shovel of kindled coals to be held near the opposite parts of the receiver , we perceiv'd after a while , that the mercury ascended ⅛ of an inch or better above the greatest height it had reach'd before . but conjecturing that it would have risen higher , were it not that whilst the application of the hot bodies was making , some particles of air had unperceivably stolen into the receiver , i caus'd the pump to be ply'd again to withdraw the air , i suspected to have got in , by which means the mercury was quickly rais'd ⅝ of an inch , ( or better , ) by virtue of this adventitious spring , ( if i may so call it , ) which the included air acquir'd by heat , and i made no doubt , that it might have been rais'd much higher , but i was unwilling by applying a less moderate heat to hazard the breaking of my glasses , in the place i then was in , where such a mischance could scarce have been repair'd . experiment iv. about a new hydraulo-pneumatical fountain , made by the spring of uncompress'd air. i shall now add such an application of the principle whereon the former experiment was grounded , as i should scarce think worth mentioning in this place , were it not that besides that divers virtuosi seem not a little delighted with it , it may for ought i know prove to be of some philosophical use ( to be pointed at hereafter . ) we took a glass-bottle with a convenient quantity of water in it , and fitted this bottle with a slender glass-pipe open at both ends , and about three foot long , which was so plac'd , that the lower orifice was a good way beneath the surface of the water , and the pipe it self passed perpendicularly upwards through the neck of the bottle , which neck was , by the pipe and by good hard cement imploy'd to fill the space betwixt the pipe and the inside , so well and firmly clos'd , that no water or air could get out of the bottle , nor no externall aire could get into it , but by passing through the pipe. this instrument was convey'd into a large receiver shap'd like a pear , of which a good part of the blunt end , and a small part of the sharp end are cut off by sections parallel to the horizon , and consequently to one another . and because this receiver was not ( nor ought to be ) long enough to receive the whole pipe , there was cemented on to the upper part of it a smaller receiver of white glass , of such a length and bigness , that the upper end of the pipe might reach to the middle of its cavity , or thereabouts , and that the motions of the springing water might have a convenient scope , and so be the better taken notice of . this double receiver being cemented on to the engine , a little of the air was by one suck of the pump drawn out from it , by which the pressure of the remaining air being weakned , it was necessary , that since the air included in the bottle had not its spring likewise weakned , it should expand it self , and consequently impell up the water in the same bottle through the pipe , which it did so vigorously , as to make it strike briskly at first against that part of the top of the smaller receiver , which was just over the orifice of the pipe. but after it had a while made the water thus shoot up in a perpendicular line , as the spring of the air in the bottle grew by that airs dilatation to be weaken'd , the water would be impell'd up less strongly and less directly , till the air in the bottle being as much expanded as that in the receiver , the ascent of the water would quite cease , unless by pumping a little more aire out of the receiver we renew'd it again . about the making of this experiment these particulars may be noted . 1. t is convenient , that the upper part of the pipe be made ( as it easily may be at the flame of a lamp ) very slender , that the water having but a very small orifice to issue out at , may be spent but slowly , and thereby make the experiment last so much the longer . 2. you may , if you please , in stead of making the upper part of the pipe slender , as was just now directed , cement on to it a top either of glass or brass , consisting of three or more very slender pipes , with a pin-hole at the end of each , that one of these pointing directly upwards , and the others to the right hand and to the left , the water may spin out several ways at once , by which kind of branched pipes we have sometimes imitated the jets d' eau ( as the french call them ) and artificial fountains of gardens and groto's . 3. in regard that so short a cylinder of water , as exceeded not the length of our glass pipe , could not make any considerable resistance to the expansion of the included air , it was thought and found safe enough to imploy in stead of a strong glass-bottle a much larger viol , without being sollicitous about its shape , or that it should be very strong , and by this means we could make this pleasant spectacle last a great while , especially if we also made use of the expedient to be mentioned in the following note . 4. if you find that the included air have by expanding it self too much weaken'd its spring , whilst there yet remains with it a good quantity of water in the bottle or viol , you may reinforce the pressure of the air by onely turning the stop-cock , and letting in what air you think fit to the exhausted receiver : for upon the admission of this new air , the air in the receiver will press sisted on ? if as a law-maker , then even the sanction will continue , by which such laws as these obliged formerly : so they will still oblige as laws , whilst the same reason continues for which god was at first pleas'd to impose them . if as an infallible judge of reason ; still it will follow , that whilst the reason holds , they will be so far from being made unlawful in such particulars wherein the reason does indeed hold , that their performance will still be acceptable to god , tho' not commanded by him . either way of explication is sufficient to overthrow his whole way of reasoning , as manag'd by our adversaries . but what if we should turn this way of reasoning us'd by the apostles , against our adversaries ? what if we should conclude , that because instrumental musick was us'd then in their temple sacrifices , therefore it should still be at least fit and acceptable in our present eucharistical sacrifices ? i cannot foresee what they could say , why we should not have reason'd as the apostles did ; or how the apostles could blame us for doing so ; or why our adversaries should blame us ; who profess themselves such enemies of impositions , if they did not impose upon us more than the apostles , in so easily condemning matters of this nature as unlawful . they can pretend no more condemnation in other places of the writings of the apostles in this case , than in those others wherein the apostles themselves allow this way of arguing . and i know no reason from the natures of the things themselves , that even our adversaries can pretend to be temporary , or that will not make instrumental-musick as suitable to our present worship , as it was to that of the apostles . no sort of sacrifices were more proper for hymns than those that are eucharistical , and such all ours are now , but were not so in the days of the apostles . and the use of hymns neither is , nor can be denied by our adversaries , as well in the private synaxes of the apostolical christians , as in the worship of the temple . the hymn to christ as a god in pliny , appeal'd to in the latter end of the second century as a very early evidence of the belief of his deity , seems to have been joined with the eucharist . for pliny tells us , on the same occasion , of the covenant the christians entred into against all the liberties us'd by wicked persons . and the publick singers are mention'd in the earliest distinct accounts we have of their offices , not as newly introduc'd , but as actually obtaining without any memory of a late original . had the reasons of the things been all that had been requisite for raising of the affections , i cannot conceive any need our adversaries can pretend for singing : that does no otherways contribute to the raising of the affections , than as the assistance and improvement of the imagination may be supposed to contribute to it . the singing does not add a new reason , nor impose the old ones , why the affections should be raised . but however , they do dispose the affections to follow reason , more readily and more vigorously than they would if they had not the assistance of a favourable imagination : and that by the nature of the things themselves ; and in that regard , musick instrumental , also was acknowledg'd to have the same influence that singing had by the imagination over the affections ; and to add to the advantages of singing vocally : so it was , that david's playing on the harp cured saul of the evil spirit , by curing that melancholy which disposed him to receive the influences of the evil spirit : so it was , that the like use of instrumental musick dispos'd elisha for the influences of the good spirit , by composing that passion which his zeal against the idolatry of the king of israel had put the prophet into ; it made him capable of being acted by the spirit of prophesy : for chearfulness of temper is one of the dispositions requir'd by the rabinnical jews themselves , for fitting men for prophecy . that may possibly be the reason why the scriptures mention instrumental musick as receiv'd in the schools of the prophets , especially when they were actually prophesying ; as it should seem to dispose them for the freer influences of the divine spirit . the singing hymns to such instruments is call'd prophesying , in the places now mention'd . so far the nature of the spiritual worship of the gospel , is from superseding this assistance of instrumental musick , as our adversaries would have us believe , that on the contrary i had done ) not satisfied about them . onely he sometimes ( as i also did ) observ'd the salient water to describe part of a line perfectly enough parabolical , with which sort of curves he has been particularly conversant . this made me resolve for further satisfaction to attempt by another contrivance , ( of whose success , if i can procure the implements i need , your lordship may expect an account , ) what the figures will be not onely of salient water , but mercury , and other liquors ; and that when the receiver is much better exhausted , then it was necessary it should be in the foregoing experiment . experiment v. about a way of speedily breaking flat glasses , by the weight of the atmosphere . for the more easie understanding of some of the subsequent tryals , it will be requisite in this place to mention among experiments about the spring of the air the following phaenomenon belonging to its weight . this is one of those that is the most usually shown to strangers , as a plain and easie proof both that the weight of the incumbent air is considerable , and that the round figure of a receiver doth much more conduce to make an exhausted glass support that weight , than if the upper part of the receiver were flat . to make this experiment we provided a hoop or ring of brass of a considerable thickness , whose height was 2 ½ , or 3 inches , and the diameter of whose cavity as well at the upper as lower orifice ( should have been just 3. inches , but through the errour of the workman ) was 3. inches and 2 / 10. to this hoop we successively fasten'd with cement divers round pieces of glass , such as is used by glasiers ( to whose shops we sent for it ) to make panes for windows , and thereby made the brass-ring with its glass-cover a kind of receiver , whose open orifice we carefully cemented on to the engine ; and then we found , as we had conjectured , that usually at the first exuction ( though sometimes not till the second ) the glass-plate would be broken inwards with such violence , as to be shatter'd into a great multitude of small fragments , and ( which was remarkable ) the irruption of the external air driving the glass inwards did constantly make a loud clap , almost like the report of a pistol . which phaenomenon , whether it may help us to discover the cause of that great noise , that is made upon the discharging of guns , ( for the recoyl seems to depend upon the dilatation and impulse of the powder , ) i must not stay to consider . experiment vi. shewing , that the breaking of glass-plates in the foregoing experiment , need not to be ascrib'd to the fuga vacui . though i long since inform'd you , that in the experiments i then presented your lordship , it was not my purpose to deliver my own opinion whether there be a vacuum , or no , and though i do not in this tract intend to declare my self either way ; yet , that i may on this occasion also show , that the pressure of the air may suffice to account for divers phaenomena , which according to the vulgar philosophers must be referr'd to natures abhorrency of a vacuum , i will illustrate the foregoing experiment by another , the substance whereof is this . that if , instead of the above mentioned brass hoop , both whose orifices are of equal breadth , you imploy a hollow ( but taller ) piece of brass , or ( which is more easily made ) of latton , shap'd like a conus iruncatus , or a sugar-loaf , whose upper part is taken off parallel to the bottom ; and if you make the two orifices of a breadth sufficiently unequal , as if the larger being made as wide as that of our brass-hoop , the straiter were less than an inch in diameter ; you will find , that if this piece of metal be made use of , as the other was in the foregoing experiment , the flat glass cemented on to the orifice , will be easily broken , as formerly when t is fastned to the wider orifice ; but if the straiter orifice be turn'd upward , the glass that covers it , if it be of a due thickness , ( though no thicker than the former , ) will remain entire , notwithstanding the withdrawing of the air from beneath it : which seems sufficiently to argue , that t is not precisely natures abhorrency of a vacuum , that is the cause why glasses are usually broken in such experiments , since whether the wider or the narrower orifice be uppermost , and cover'd , ( the metalline part of the vessel being the same , and onely varying its posture , ) the capacity of the exhausted vessel will be equal ; and therefore nature ought to break the glass as well in one case as the other , which yet the experiment shows she does not . wherefore this diversity seems much better explicable by saying , that when the wider orifice is uppermost , the glass that covers it must serve for the basis of a large atmospherical pillar , which by its great weight may easily force the resistance of the glass : whereas when the smaller orifice is uppermost , there leans upon its cover but so slender a pillar of the atmosphere , that the natural tenacity or mutual cohaesion of parts in the glass is not to be surmounted by a weight that is no greater . experiment vii . about a convenient way of breaking blown bladders by the spring of the air included in them : the foregoing experiments having sufficiently manifested the strength of the airs spring upon fluid bodies , i next thought fit to try , whether the force of a little included air would also upon consistent and even solid bodies emulate the operations of the weight of the atmosphere . in the prosecution of which enquiry we thought fit to make two sorts of tryals : the one , where the air is included in the bodies , on which its spring does work ; and the other , where t is external to them . of the first sort are this 7 th , and the two following experiments ; and of the second sort are some other tryals , to be comprehended under the 10 th experiment . having formerly mention'd to your lordship , that we were several times able ( though sometimes not without much difficulty ) to make a blown bladder break with the spring of its own air ; i should not think it worth while to say any thing here about the same phaenomenon , but that ( besides that it seems odd enough , and is not unpleasant to many spectators , ) it may deserve not to be wholly neglected , because a good way to break bladders in the much exhausted receiver , may sometimes prove an useful expedient , especially in such cases where the experimenter ( who sometimes either is not skilful enough , or well enough furnish'd with accommodations to regulate the ingress of the air ) would very suddainly supply the receiver with fresh air , when it has been much emptied , without danger of letting in too much air from without . not to mention , that the air , included in the bladder to be broken , may be so mingled with streams , or imbu'd with divers qualities , as to be much fitter than common air for some particular purposes . we shall then for the affinities sake between this tryal and the former , subjoyn now the way , by which we seldom fail'd of breaking bladders in our emptied receivers . for this purpose , the blown bladder that was to be burst , having the neck very closely and strongly tyed , was kept a pretty while in the receiver , whilst the air was pumping out , and then taken out again , that , now the fibres were stretcht and relax'd , the capacity being lessen'd by a new ligature that i order'd to be strongly made near the neck , the bladder might be lessen'd though the air were but the same , and the membrance being not so capable of yielding as before , upon the second exhaustion of the receiver the bladder in it would break , far more easily then otherwise , and perhaps be oddly enough lacerated . we sometimes also varied this way of disposing bladders to be burst , by omitting the preparatory putting in of the bladder into the receiver , and onely taking it in a little near the neck , that , the bladder having not been blown very full at first , the tension of the included air might be greater . but this last way is to be made use of , when the thing we desire is , that the bladder by breaking at a certain time may part with its air , and not when t is onely to give an instance of the force of the spring of uncompress'd air against the sides of the vessel that contain it . experiment viii . about the lifting up a considerable weight by the bare spring of a little air included in a bladder . you will easily believe , that the force imploy'd ( in the foregoing experiment ) by the air , to break the well blown bladders t is included in , is considerable , if i here adde , that a small quantity of air , which will not fill ¼ of a bladder , will not onely serve to blow it quite up , but will manifestly swell it , though that effect be oppos'd not onely by the resistance of the bladder it self , but by a considerable weight tied to the bottom of it , as in the following experiment . we took a middle siz'd bladder ( of a hog or sheep , ) and having press'd out the air , till there remain'd but about a fourth or fifth part ( by guess , ) we caus'd the neck to be very strongly tyed up again : also round about the opposite part of the bladder , within about an inch of the bottom , we so strongly tyed another string , that it would not be made to slip off by a not inconsiderable weight we hung at it . then fastning the neck of the bladder to the turning key , we convey'd the bladder and the weight hanging at it into a large receiver , in which when it began to be pretty well exhausted , the air within the bladder being freed from the wonted pressure of the air without it , did by its own spring manifestly swell , and thereby notably shorten the bladder that contain'd it , and by consequence visibly lifted up the weight , ( that resisted that change of figure , ) which exceeded 15 pound of 16. ounces to the pound . after that we took a larger bladder , and having let out so much air , that it was left lank enough , we fasten'd the two ends of it to the upper part of the receiver , ( for which else it would have been too long , ) and tyed a weight ( but not the same ) so as that it hung down from the middle of the bladder ; then exhausting the receiver as before , though the bladder , and this new weight which stretcht it , reach'd so low , as that for a while we could scarce see whether it hung in the air or no , yet at length we perceiv'd the bladder to swell , and concluded that it had lifted up its clog about an inch ; which was confirm'd by the return we permitted of the air into the receiver , upon which the bladder became more wrinkled than before , and the weight descended , which being taken off , and weighed in a statera , amounted to abovt 28 pounds . we would have reiterated the experiment , but so heavy a weight having broken the bladder , we were discouraged from proceeding any farther , especially in regard of the difficulty of bringing by this contrivance the strength of the airs spring to any exact computation , though it sufficiently shews what i design'd it should , namely that the spring of a little included air may be able even in so slight a contrivance to raise a great weight . whether this experiment may any way illustrate the motion of muscles , made by inflation , contraction , &c. it belongs not to this place to consider . experiment ix . about the breaking of hermetically seal'd bubbles of glass by the bare spring of their own air. i shall premise to the following tryals an experiment , wherein uncompress'd air is made by its own bare spring to break the solid body it self t is shut up in . and this i the rather set down before the subsequent tryals , because in our already publish'd physico-mechanical experiments mention has been made of this tryal , as of one that we could not then make to succeed ; we have since , imploying smaller receivers , made it often enough prosperously , somewhat to the wonder of eminent virtuosi , who confess'd to me they had made frequent and divers attempts to perform the same thing , without ever succeeding in any of them . but it will not be requisite to multiply relations about this particular , and therefore i shall set down but this one , which i meet with among my loose notes . a large glass bubble hermetically seal'd being put into the receiver , and the air drawn out as much as in usual operations , and somewhat more , though i told the company before hand that i had several times observ'd , that such bubbles would not break immediately , but somewhile after the withdrawing the air from about them , yet this continued so long entire after we had left off pumping , that presuming it had been blown too strong , i began to dispair of the experiments succeeding ; when , whilst we were providing something else to put into the receiver , and as i guess'd 4. minuts after the pump had been let alone , the bubble surpriz'd us with its being broken with such violence by the spring of the included air , that the fragments of it were dash'd every way against the sides of the receiver , and broken so very small , that when we came to take it up , the powder was by the by-standers compar'd to the small sand wont to be imploy'd to dry papers , that have been newly writ upon with inck. the reason why the bubble broke so slowly i cannot now stay to propose , no more then to examine whether the difficulty of breaking vessels of glass , no thicker then these bubbles , proceed from some weakning of the spring of imprisoned air , by its stretching a little the including glass , ( for in another case we have observ'd this glass to be stretchable by the pressure of air ; ) or from hence , that 't was very hard , as i have elsewhere mention'd , to avoid rarifying the air a little , and consequently weakning its spring , by the heat that was necessary to be imploy'd about the sealing up the bubble . experiment x. containing two or three tryals of the force of the spring of our air uncompress'd upon stable and even solid bodies , ( whereto t is external . ) in prosecution of the enquiry propos'd in the title , we made ( among others ) the following tryals . the i. tryal . 1. we took the brass-hoop , mention'd in the 5 th experiment , ( whose diameter is somewhat above 3. inches , ) and having caus'd a glazier to cut some plates of glass , such as are used for making the quarrels of windows , till he had brought them to a size , & a roundness fit to serve for covers to that brass-hoop , we carefully fasten'd one of them with cement to the upper orifice of the hoop or ring , and then cementing the lower orifice to the engine , so that the vessel , compos'd of the metal and glass , serv'd for a small receiver ; we whelm'd over it a large and strong receiver , which we also fasten'd on to the engine with cement after the usual manner . by which contrivance it was necessary , that when the pump was set on work , the included receiver ( of brass and glass ) should have its air withdrawn , and yet the air in the larger receiver should not be pump'd out but by breaking through the glass , so that the internal air of the metalline receiver ( as we may call it for distinctions sake ) being pump'd out , the glass plate , that made part of that receiver , must lye expos'd to the pressure of the ambient air shut up in the other receiver , without having the former assistance of the now withdrawn air to resist the pressure ; wherefore , as we expected , at the first or second exuction of the air , included in the small metalline receiver , the glass-plate was , by the pressure of the incumbent air , contain'd in the great receiver , broken into an 100 pieces , which were beaten inwards into the cavity of the hoop . the ii. tryal . 2. this done , to shew that there needed not the spring of so great a quantity of included air to break such glasses , we took another roundish one , which , though wide enough at the orifice to cover the brass ring & the new glass-plate that we had cemented on it , was yet so low , that we estimated it to hold but a 6 th part of what the large receiver , formerly imploy'd , is able to contain ; and having whelm'd this smaller vessel , which was shap'd like those cups they call tumblers , over the metalline receiver , and well fasten'd it to the engine with cement , we found that though this external receiver had a great part of its cavity fill'd by the included one , yet when this internal one was exhausted by an exuction or two , the spring of the little air that remain'd , was able to break the plate into a multitude of fragments . the iii. tryal . 3. because the glass-plates hitherto mention'd seem'd not so thick , but that the pressure of the included air might be able to give considerabler instances of its force ; in stead of the metalline receivers hitherto employed , we took a square bottle of glass , which we judg'd to be able to contain about a pint ( or pound ) of water , and which had been provided to keep subtle chymical liquors in , for which use we are not wont to choose weak ones . this we inverted , and apply'd to the engine as a receiver , over which we whelm'd the large receiver formerly mention'd ; and having cemented it on , as in the foregoing experiments , we set the pump on work to empty the internal receiver , ( or square bottle , ) by which means the withdrawing of the air , and the figure of the vessel ( which was inconvenient for resisting ) suffer'd the pressure of the air included in the external receiver to crush the viol into a great number of pieces . and to vary this experiment , as we did that of breaking the metalline receivers , we took another glass of the shape and about the bigness of the former , and having apply'd it to the engine as before , and cover'd it with a receiver that was little higher than it self , we found , that upon the exhaustion of the air the second square glass was likewise broken into many fragments , some of which were of so great a thickness , as mov'd some wonder , that the bare pressure of the air was able to break such a vessel , though probably the cracks , that reacht to them , were begun in much weaker parts of the glass . nb. 1. the bottoms and the necks of both these square bottles were entire enough ; by which it seem'd probable , that the vessels had been broken by the pressure of the air against the sides , which were not onely thinner than the parts above named , but expos'd a larger superficies to the lateral pressure of the air , than to the perpendicular . 2. we observ'd in one of the two last experiments , that the vessel did not break presently upon the last exuction that was made of the included air , but a considerable time after , which it seems was requisite to allow the comprest parts of the glass time to change their places ; and this phaenomenon i therefore mention , because the same thing that here happen'd in the breaking a glass inwards by the spring of the air , i elsewhere observ'd to have happen'd in breaking a glass outwards by the same spring . 3. to confirm , that it is the spring of the external receivers air that is the agent in those fractures of glasses , and to prevent or remove some scruples , we thought fit to make this variation in the experiment . we applyed a plate of glass , just like those formerly mentioned , to the brass-hoop ; but in the cementing of it on , we plac'd in the thickness of the cement a small pipe of glass of about an inch long , whose cavity was not so big as that of a straw , and which being left open at both the ends might serve for a little channel , through which the air might pass from the external receiver to the internal ; over this we whelm'd one of the small receivers above mentioned , & then , though we set the pump on work much longer then would have needed if this litle pipe had not been made use of , we found , as we expected , that the internal receiver continued entire , because the air , whose spring should have broken it , having liberty to pass through the pipe , and consequently to expand it self into the place deserted by the air pump'd out , did by that expansion weaken its spring too much , to retain strength enough to break the metalline ( or internal ) receiver . but here t is to be noted , that either the pipe must be made bigger than that lately mentioned , or the exuction of the air must not be made by the pump as nimbly as we can , or otherwise the plate of glass may be broken notwithstanding the pipe ; because the air contain'd in the external receiver , having a force much greater than is necessary to break such a plate , it may well happen ( as i have sometimes found it do ) that if the air be hastily drawn out of the internal receiver , that air , which should succeed in its room , cannot get fast enough out of that external receiver through so small a pipe , and the air remaining in that external receiver will yet retain a spring strong enough to break the glass . to illustrate which , i shall propose this experiment , that sometimes , when i have at the flame of a lamp caus'd glass bubbles to be blown with exceeding slender stems , if they were nimbly remov'd out of the flame whilst they were ignited , they would according to my conjecture be either broken , if they cool'd too fast ; or compress'd inward , if they long enough retain'd the softness they had given them by fusion . for the air in the bubble being exceedingly rarified and expanded , whilst the glass is kept in the flame , and coming to cool hastily when remov'd from thence , looses upon refrigeration the spring the heat had given it , and so , if the external air cannot press in fast enough through the too slender pipe , there will not get in air enough to resist the pressure of the atmosphere , and therefore if this pressure find the bubble yet soft , it will press it a little inwards , and either flatten it , or make a dimple in it , though the orifice of the pipe be left open . experiment xi . shewing , that mercury will in tubes be raised by suction no higher then the weight of the atmosphere is able to impell it up . t is sufficiently known , that the common opinion of philosophers , and especially of those which follovv aristotle , has long been , and still is , that the cause of the ascension of water upon suction , and particularly in those pumps , where the water seems of its own accord to follow the rising sucker , is natures abhorrency of a vacuum . against this receiv'd opinion divers of the modern philosophers have oppos'd themselves . but as some of them were vacuists , and others plenists , they have explicated the ascension of water in sucking-pumps upon very different grounds ; so that many ingenious men continue yet irresolv'd in this noble controversie . wherefore though i have formerly made , and now renew a solemn profession , that i do not in this treatise intend to declare either for or against the being of a vacuum ; and though i have * elsewhere occasionally acknowledg'd my self not to acquiesce fully in what either the ancient or the modern philosophers have taught about the adequate cause of suction ; ( in the assigning of which , i think , i have shown them to have been somewhat deficient , ) yet since i think some experiments , of importance to this controversie , may be better made by the help of our engine , than they have been by any instrument i have yet heard of , i shall now adde the tryals i made , to shew both that whether there be or may be a vacuum or not , there is no need to have recourse to a fuga vacui to explicate suction ; and also that whatever other causes have by gassendus and cartesius been ingeniously propos'd to explicate suction , it seems to depend clearly upon the weight of the atmosphere , or in some cases upon the spring of the air ; though i deny not , that other causes may contribute to that pressure of the air , which i take to be the grand and immediate agent in these phaenomena . we took a brass-pipe bended like a siphon , and fitted at the bigger end with a stop-cock &c , as is delineated in the figure , ( which instrument for brevities sake i often call an exhausting ( or sucking ) siphon , ) and to the slender end of this we fastned with good cement the upper end of a cylindrical pipe of glass , of about fifty inches long , and open at both ends , and having the lower end open into a glass of stagnant quick-silver , whose upper superficies reacht a pretty deal higher than the immerst orifice of the glass cane . these things being thus prepared , we caus'd the pump to be set on work , whereby the air being by degrees drawn out of the exhausting siphon , and consequently of the glass-cane that open'd into it ; the stagnant mercury was proportionably impell'd up into the glass-pipe , till it had attain'd to its due height , which exceeded not 30. inches . and then , though there remain'd in the upper part of the pipe above 20 inches unfill'd with quick-silver , yet we could not by further pumping raise that fluid metal any higher . by which it seems manifest enough , that whatever many learned men have taught , or others do yet believe about the unlimited power that nature would exercise , to prevent what they call a vacuum ; yet this power has its bounds , and those depend not so much upon the exigency of that principle , which the school-men call a fuga vacui , as upon the specifick gravity of the liquor to be rais'd by suction . for confirmation of which , we substituted in stead of the stagnant mercury a bason of water , and though instead of the many sucks we had fruitlesly imploy'd to raise the quick-silver above the lately mentioned height , we now imploy'd but one exsuction , ( or less then a full one , ) which did but in part empty the exhausting siphon : yet the water upon the opening of the stop-cock was not onely impell'd to the very top of the glass-cane , but likewise continued running for a good while through the exhausting siphon , and thence fell upon the plate of the engine ; so that it seem'd an odd spectacle to those that knew not the reason of it , to see the water running very briskly of its own accord as they imagined out of the shorter leg of a siphon ; especially that leg being perhaps not above a a quarter so long as the other . and here i must not omit this considerable circumstance , that though sometimes in the torricellian experiment i have observ'd the mercury to stand at thirty inches , and now and then above it , yet the height of the mercury elevated in our glass-cane appear'd not , when measured , to reach fully 29. inches and a quarter , which i thought it was not difficult to render a reason of , from the varying weight of the atmosphere ; and accordingly consulting the baroscope , ( that stood in another room , ) i found the atmosphere to be at that time somewhat light , the quick-silver in it being in height but 29. inches and an eighth , which probably would have been the very height of the quick-silver rais'd by the engine , if it had had time by standing to free it self from bubbles . from whence we may conclude , that suction will elevate liquors in pumps no higher then the weight of the atmosphere is able to raise them , since the closeness requisite in the pump of our engine to be stanch makes it very unlikely , that by any ordinary pump a more accurate suction can be effected . i have nothing to adde about the related experiment but this one ; that it may afford us a notable confirmation of the argument we formerly propos'd against them , that ascrib'd the elevation and sustentation of the quick-silver in the torricellian experiment to a certain rarified air , which the more highly it is rarified , the greater power it acquires to attract quick-silver , and other contiguous bodies ; for in our experiment though by continuing to pump we can rarifie or distend more and more the air in the exhausting siphon , yet we were not able to raise the mercury above 30 inches , ( which exceeds not the height to which the atmosphere is able to elevate it , ) and this , though , the stagnant mercury being exposed to the free air , it cannot be pretended ( as in some other cases it may , though not satisfactorily , be done ) that the mercury cannot be raised higher , without offering violence to the body incumbent on the stagnant mercury : for in the experiment we are considering if nature should raise the quick-silver higher and higher in the pipe , to succeed in the room of the air that is withdrawn ; the formerly stagnant mercury , that would on this occasion be rais'd , might be immediately succeeded by the free and undilated air , so that nature would be put to offer violence to the quick-silver onely , which if she were scrupulous to do , what ayl'd her to raise it ( as she did in our tryal ) against the inclinations of so ponderous a body , to above 29. inches high ? annotation . though the exhausting siphon , mentioned at the beginning of this experiment , may be easily enough conceiv'd by an attentive inspection of the figure , yet because i frequently make use of it in pneumatical experiments , t will not be amiss to intimate here once for all these three particulars about it . 1. that though the bending pipe its self may be for some uses more conveniently made of glass than of metal , because the transparency of the former may inable us to discover what passes in it ; yet for the most part we choose to imploy pipes of the latter sort , because the others are so very subject to break . 2. that t is convenient to make the longer leg of the siphon a little larger at the bottom than the rest of the pipe usually needs to be , that it may the more commodiously admit the shank of a stop-cock , which is to be very carefully inserted with cement ; by seasonably turning and returning of which stop-cock , the passage ( for the air ) between the engine and the vessel to be exhausted is to be opened and shut . 3. that though we sometimes content our selves to apply immediately the brass siphon its self to the engine , by fastning with cement the external shank of the stop-cock to the orifice of the little pipe , through which the excuction of the air is made ; yet the bended pipe alone , if it be not almost constantly held , is so apt to be loosen'd by the motion of the engine , and the turning of the stopcock , ( which frequently occasions leaks , and disturbs the operation , ) that for the most part we make use of a siphon consisting of a brass pipe , and stop-cock , and a glass of 6 , 8 , or 10 inches in height , and of some such shape ( for it need not be the very same ) as that represented in the figure : for by this means , though the exhaustion is because of this additional glass , somewhat longer in making , yet it is more securely and uninterruptedly carried on by reason of the stability , which the breadth of the lower orifice of the glass gives to the whole instrument . besides which , we have these other conveniences , that not onely the siphon is hereby much lengthned , which in divers tryals is very fit ; but also that we may commodiously place in the glassie part of this compounded syphon a gage , whereby to discern from time to time how much the air is drawn out of the vessel to be exhausted . experiment xii . about the differing heights whereto liquors will be elevated by suction , according to their several specifick gravities . if , when i was making the foregoing experiment , i had been able to procure a pipe long enough , i had tried to what height i could raise water by suction , though i would have done it rather to satisfie others then my self , who scarce doubted , but that as water is ( bulk for bulk ) about 14 times lighter than quick-silver : so it would have been rais'd by suction to about four or five and thirty foot , ( which is 14 times as high as we were able to elevate the quick-silver , ) and no higher . but being not furnished for the tryal i would have made , i thought fit to substitute another , which would carry the former experiment somewhat further . for whereas , in that , we shew'd how high the atmosphere was able by its whole gravitation to raise quick-silver ; and whereas likewise that , which appears in monsieur paschals experiment , is , at what height the whole weight of the atmosphere can sustain a cylinder of water : by the way that i thought on , it would appear , ( which hath not yet ( that i know of ) been shewn , ) how a part of the pressure of the air would in perpendicular pipes raise not onely the two mentioned liquors , but others also to heights answerable to the degree of pressure , and proportionable to the specifick gravities of the respective liquors . to make this tryal the more clear and free from exceptions , i caus'd to be made and inserted to the shorter leg of the above mentioned exhausting siphon a short pipe ; which brancht it self equally to the right hand and the left , as the adjoyning figure declares . in which contrivance i aim'd at these two conveniences : one that i might exhaust two glass-canes at the same time ; and the other , to prevent its being surmis'd that the engine was not equally applied to both the glasses to be exhausted . this additional brass-pipe being carefully cemented into the sucking syphon , we did to each of its two branches take care to have well fastned with the same cement a cylindrical glass of about 42 inches in length , ( that being somewhat near the height of our exhausting syphon above the floor , ) the lower orifice of one of these two glasses being immerst in a vessel of stagnant mercury , and that of the other in a vessel of water , where care was taken by those i imploy'd , that as the tubes were chosen near of a bigness , ( which yet was not necessary , ) so the surfaces of the two different liquors should be near of a height . this being done , we began to pump warily and slowly , till the water in one of the pipes was elevated to about 42 inches , and then measuring the height of the quick-silver , in the other pipe above the surface of the stagnant quick-silver , we found it to be almost 3 inches ; so that the water was about 14 times as high as the quick-silver . and to prosecute the experiment a little further , we very warily let in a little air to the exhausting syphon , and had the pleasure to see the two liquors proportionably descend , till turning the stop-cock when the water was about 14 inches high , we thereby kept them from sinking any lower , till we had measured the height of the quick-silver , which we found to be about one inch . we tried also the proportion of these two liquors at other heights , but could not easily measure thē so well as we did at those newly mentioned ; and therefore though there seem'd to be some slight variation , yet we lookt upon it but as what might be well imputed to the difficulty of making such experiments exactly ; and this displeas'd me not in these tryals , that whereas it was observ'd , and somewhat wondred at , that the quick-silver for the most part seem'd to be somewhat ( though but a very little ) higher then the proportion of 1 to 14 required , i had long before by particular tryals found , that though 14 and 1 be the nearest of small integer numbers that express the proportion between the specifick gravities of quicksilver and water , yet the former of those fluids ( or at least that which i made my tryals with ) is not quite so heavy as this proportion supposes , though i shall not here stay to determine precisely the difference , having done it in another tract , where the method i imployed in the investigation of it is also set down . the above mentioned experiment , made by the help of our engine , as to quick-silver and water being confirmable by tryals ( to be by and-by mentioned ) made in other liquors , affords our hypothesis two considerable advantages above the vulgar doctrine of the schools , ( for i do not apply what follows to all the plenists , ) who ascribe the ascension of liquors by suction to a traction made ob fugam vacui , as they are wont to speak . for first it is manifestly agreeable to our doctrine , that , since the air , according to it , is a fluid that is not void of weight , it should raise those liquors that are lighter , as water , higher then those that are ponderous , as quick-silver ; and that answerably to the disparity of their weights ▪ and secondly , there is no reason why , if the air be withdrawn by suction from quick silver and water , there should be less left a vacuum above the one then above the other , in case either of them succeed not in the place deserted by the air , and consequently when the air is withdrawn out of both the forementioned glass-pipes , if there would be no vacuum in case no liquor should succeed it , why does nature needlesly to prevent a vacuum make the water that is an heavy body ascend contrary to its own nature , according to which it tends towards the center of the earth ? and if the succeeding of a liquor be necessary to prevent a vacuum , how chance that nature does not elevate the quick-silver as well as the water , especially since t is manifest by the foregoing experiment that she is able to raise that ponderous liquor above 26 inches higher than she did in the experiment we are now discoursing of . perhaps it would not be amiss to take notice , on this occasion , that among other applications of this experiment it may be made somewhat useful to estimate the differing gravities of liquors , to w ch purpose i caus'd to be put under the bottom of the forementioned glass pipes two vessels , the one with fresh water , & the other with the like water impregnated with a good proportion of sea-salt that i had caus'd to be dissolv'd in it , for want of sea-water , which i would rather have imploy'd . and i found , that when the fresh water was rais'd to about 42 inches , the saline solution had not fully reacht to 40. but though this difference were double to that which the proportion and gravity betwixt our sea-water and fresh water would have required , yet to make the disparity more evident , and also because i would be able the better to guess at the proportion of the dissolv'd salt by making it as great as i could , i caus'd an unusual brine to be made , by suffering sea-salt to deliquate in the moist air. and having applyed this liquor and fresh water to the two already mentioned pipes , and proceeded after the former manner , we found that when the pure water was elevated to near 42 inches , the liquor of sea-salt wanted about 7. inches and a quarter of that height ; and when the water was made to subside to the middle of its pipe , or thereabouts , the saline liquor in the other pipe was between 3 and 4 inches lower then it . i would have tryed the difference between these liquors and oyl , but the coldness of the weather was unfavourable to such a tryal : but to shew a far greater disparity then that would have done betwixt the height of liquors of unequal gravities , i took fair water , and a liquor made of the salt of pot-ashes suffered to run in a sellar per deliquium , ( this being one of the ponderousest liquors i have prepar'd , ) and having proceeded as in the former tryals , i found that when the common water was about 42 inches high , the newly mention'd solution wanted somewhat of 30 inches ; and when the water was made to subside to the middle of its pipe , or thereabouts , the deliquated liquor was between 6 and 7 inches lower then it . i had some thoughts , when i applied my self to make these tryals , to examine how well we could by this new way compare the saltness of the waters of several seas , and those also of salt-springs ; and likewise whether , and ( if any thing near ) how far we might by this method determine the proportion of the more simple liquors that may be mingled in compounded ones , as in the mixture of water and wine , vinegar and water , &c. but being not provided with instruments fit for such nice tryals , and a mischance having impair'd the glasses lately mentioned before the last tryals were quite ended , and having soon after broken one of them , i laid aside those thoughts . experiment xiii . about the heights to which water and mercury may be rais'd , proportionably to their specifick gravities , by the spring of the air. in prosecution of the parallel formerly begun , betwixt the effects of the weight of the atmosphere , and the spring of included air , we thought fit after the foregoing to make the following experiment . we took a strong glass-bottle , capable to hold above a pint of water , and having in the bottom of it lodg'd a convenient quantity of mercury , we pour'd on it a greater quantity of water , ( because this liquor was to be impell'd up many times higher than the other , ) and having provided two slender glass-pipes , each open at both ends , we so plac'd and fastned them , by means of the cement wherewith we choak'd the upper part of the neck of the bottle , that the shorter of the pipes had its lower orifice immerst beneath the surface of the quick-silver , and the longer pipe reacht not quite so low as that surface , and so was immerst but in the water , by which contrivance we avoided the necessity of having two distinct vessels for our two stagnant liquors , which would have been inconvenient in regard of the slenderness of the upper part of our receiver . this done , we conveyed the bottle into a fitly shap'd receiver , ( formerly describ'd at the first experiment , ) and having begun to pump out the air , we took notice to what heights the quick-silver and water were impell'd up in their respective tubes , on which we had before made marks from inch to inch with hard wax , ( that they might not be remov'd by wet or rubbing , ) and we observ'd , that when the quicksilver was impell'd up to two inches , the water was rais'd to about eight and twenty ; and when the quick-silver was about one inch high , the water was about fourteen . i say , about , partly because some allowances must be made for the sinking of the superficies of the stagnant quicksilver , and the greater subsidence of that of the stagnant water , by reason of the liquors impell'd into the two pipes ; partly because that the breadth of the mark of wax was considerable , when the quick-silver was but about an inch high , and so made it difficult to discern the exact height of the metal , when the water was fallen down to fourteen inches : especially in regard that the quick-silver never ascending so high as the neck of the bottle , ( which the water left far beneath it , ) the thickness of the receiver , and that of so strong a bottle made it difficult to discern so clearly the station of the quick-silver as i could have wished . experiment xiv . about the heights answerable to their respective gravities , to which mercury and water will subside , upon the withdrawing of the spring of the air. for the further illustration of the doctrine propos'd in the last and some of the foregoing experiments , about the raising and sustentation of liquors in pipes by the pressure of the air ; i thought it not unfit to make the following tryal , though it were easie to foresee in this peculiar experiment a peculiar difficulty . we caus'd then to be convey'd into a fitly shap'd receiver two pipes of glass very uneven in length , but each of them seal'd at one end , the shorter tube was fill'd with mercury , and inverted into a small glass jarr , wherein a sufficient quantity of that liquor had been before lodg'd : the longer pipe was fill'd with common water , and inverted into a larger glass , wherein likewise a fit proportion of the same liquor had been put . then the receiver being closely cemented on to the engine , the air was pump'd out for a pretty while before the mercury began to subside ; but when it was so far withdrawn , that its pressure was no longer able to keep up a mercurial cylinder of that height , that liquid metal began to sink ; the water in the other tube , though this were three times as long , still retaining its full height . but when the quick-silver was fallen so low , as to be but between three & four inches above the surface of the stagnant quick-silver , the water also began to subside , but sooner then according to the laws of meer staticks it ought to have done , because many aerial particles emerging from the body of the water to the upper part of the glass , did by their spring concurr with the gravity of the water to depress this liquor . and so when the quick-silver was three inches above the stagnant mercury , the water in the other pipe was fallen divers inches beneath 42 , and several inches beneath 28 when the mercury had subsided an inch lower . but this being no more then was to be expected , after we had caus'd the pumping to be a while continued , to free the water the better from the latitant air , we let in the external air , and having thereby impell'd up again both the liquors into their pipes , and remov'd the receiver we took out those pipes , and inverting each of them again to let out the air , ( for even that wich held the quick-silver had got a small bubble , though inconsiderable in comparison of the air that had got up out of the water , ) we fill'd each of them with a little of the restagnant liquor belonging to it , and inverting each tube once more into its proper liquor , we repeated the experiment , and found it , as it seem'd , to require more pumping then before to make the liquors begin to subside ; so that when the mercury was fallen to three inches , or two , or one , the water subsided so near to the heights of 42 , 28 , or 14 inches , that we saw no sufficient cause to hinder us from supposing , that the litle differences that appear'd between the several heights of the quick-silver , and fourteen times as great heights of the water ( which fell somewhat lower than its proportion in gravity required ) proceeded from some aerial corpuscles yet remaining , in spite of all we had done , in the water , and by their spring , though but faint , when once they had emerg'd to the upper part of the glass , furthering a little the depression of it : not now to mention lesser circumstances , particularly , that the surface of the stagnant water did not inconsiderably rise by the accession of the water lately in the pipe ; whereby the cylinder of water , rais'd above that surface , became by so much the shorter . however your lordship may , if you think fit , cause the experiment to be reiterated , which i could not so well do , by reason of a mischance that befell the receiver . experiment xv. about the greatest height to which water can be rais'd by attraction or sucking pumps . since the making and the writing of the foregoing experiments , having met with an opportunity to borrow a place somewhat convenient to make a tryal to what height water may be rais'd by pumping ; i thought not fit to neglect it . for though both by the consideration of our hypothesis , to whose truth so many phaenomena bear witness ; and though particularly by the consequences deduceable from the three last recited experiments i were kept from doubting what the event would be , yet i thought it worth while to make the tryal . i know what is said to have been the complaint of some pump-makers . but i confess the phaenomenon , 't was grounded on , seem'd not to me to be certainly enough deliver'd by a writer or two , that mention what they complain'd of ; and their observation seems not to have been made determinately or carefully enough for a matter of this moment . since that which they complain of seems to have been in general , that they could not by pumping raise water to what height they please , as the common opinion of philosophers about natures fuga vacui made them expect they might . and it may well have happen'd , that as they endeavoured onely to raise it to the height their occasions required , so all that their disappointment manifested , was , that they could not raise it to that particular height : which did not determine , whether if the pump had been a foot or a yard shorter , the water would then have been elevated to the upper part of it or no : but that which i chiefly consider is , that these being but tradesmen , that did not work according to the dictates of , or with design to satisfie , a philosophical curiosity , we may justly suspect , that their pumps were not sufficiently stanch , nor the operation critically enough perform'd and taken notice of . wherefore , partly because a tryal of such moment seem'd not to have yet been duely made by any ; and partly because the varying weight of the atmosphere was not ( that appears ) known , nor ( consequently ) taken into consideration by the ingenious monsieur paschal in his famous experiment , which yet is but analogous to this ; and partly because some very late as well as learned writers have not acquiesc'd in his experiment , but do adhere to the old doctrine of the schools , which would have water raiseable in pumps to any height , ob fugam vacut , ( as they speak , ) i thought fit to make the best shift i could to make the tryal , of which i now proceed to give your lordship an account . the place i borrowed for this purpose was a flat roof about 30 foot high from the ground , and with railes along the edges of it . the tube we made use of should have been of glass , if we could have procured one long and strong enough . but that being exceeding difficult , especially for me , who was not near a glass-house , we were fain to cause a tin-man to make several pipes of above an inch bore , ( for of a great length 't was alleadg'd they could not be made slenderer , ) and as long as he could , of tin or laton , as they call thin plates of iron tinn'd over ; and these being very carefully soder'd together made up one pipe , of about one or two and thirty foot long , which being tied to a pole we tried with water whether it were stanch , and by the effluxions of that liquor finding where the leaks were , we caus'd them to be stopt with soder , and then for greater security the whole pipe , especially at the commissures , was diligently cas'd over with our close black cement , upon which plaister of paris was strewed to keep it from sticking to their hands or cloaths that should manage the pipe. at the upper part of which was very carefully fastned with the like cement a strong pipe of glass , of between 2 and 3 foot in length , that we might see what should happen at the top of the water . and to the upper part of this pipe was ( with cement , and by the means of a short elbow of tin ) very closely fastned another pipe of the same metal , consisting of two pieces , making a right angle with one another , whereof the upper part was parallel to the horizon , and the other , which was parallel to the glass-pipe , reacht down to the engine , which was plac'd on the flat roof , and was to be with good cement sollicitously fastned to the lower end of this descending part of the pipe , whose horizontal leg was supported by a piece of wood , nail'd to the above mentioned rails ; as the tube also was kept from overmuch shaking by a board , ( fasten'd to the same rails , ) and having a deep notch cut in it , for the tube to be inserted into . this apparatus being made , and the whole tube with its pole erected along the wall , and fastned with strings and other helps , and the descending pipe being carefully cemented on to the engine , there was plac'd under the bottom of the long tube a convenient vessel , whereinto so much water was poured , as reach'd a great way above the orifice of the pipe , and one was appointed to stand by to pour in more as need should require , that the vessel might be still kept competently full . after all this the pump was set on work , but when the water had been raised to a great height , and consequently had a great pressure against the sides of the tube , a small leak or two was either discovered or made , which without moving the tube we caus'd to be well stopt , by one that was sent up a ladder to apply store of cement where it was requisite . wherefore at length we were able after a pretty number of exuctions , to raise the water to the middle of the glass-pipe above mentioned , but not without great store of bubbles , ( made by the air formerly conceal'd in the pores of the water , and now emerging , ) which for a pretty while kept a kind of foam upon the surface of it , ( fresh ones continually succeeding those that broke . ) and finding the engine and tube as stanch as could be well expected , i thought it a fit season to trie what was the utmost height to which water could by suction be elevated ; and therefore though the pump seem'd to have been plyed enough already , yet for further satisfaction , when the water was within few inches of the top of the glass , i caus'd 20 exuctions more to be nimbly made , to be sure that the water should be raised as high as by our pump it could be possibly . and having taken notice where the surface rested , and caus'd a piece of cement to be stuck near it , ( for we could not then come to reach it exactly , ) and descending to the ground where the stagnant water stood , we caus'd a string to be let down , with a weight hanging at the end of it , which we applied to a mark , that had been purposely made at that part of the ( metalline ) tube , which the superficies of the stagnant water had rested at , when the water was elevated to its full height : and the other end of the string being , by him that let it down , applied to that part of the glass , as near as he could guess , where the upper part of the water reacht , the weight was pull'd up ; and the length of the string , and ( consequently ) the height of the cylinder of water was measur'd , which amounted to 33 foot , and about 6 inches . which done , i return'd to my lodging , which was not far off , to look upon the baroscope , to be informed of the present weight of the atmosphere , which i found to be but moderate , the quick-silver standing at 29 inches , and between 2 and 3 eights of an inch . this being taken notice of , it was not difficult to compare the success of the experiment with our hypothesis . for if we suppose the most received proportion in bulk between cylinders of quick-silver and of water of the same weight , namely that of 1 to 14 , the height of the water ought to have been 34 foot and about two inches , which is about 8 inches greater than we found it . but then your lordship may be pleased to remember , that i formerly noted ( before ever i made this experiment ) that i did not allow the proportion betwixt mercury and water ( at least such water as i made my tryals with ) to be altogether so great , and though in ordinary experiments we may with very litle inconvenience make use of that proportion to avoid fractions , yet in so tall a cylinder of water as ours was , the difference is too considerable to be neglected . if therefore in stead of making an inch of quick-silver equivalent to 14 inches of water , we abate but a quarter of an inch , which is but a 56 part of the height of the water , this abatement being repeated 29 times and a quarter , will amount to 7 inches , and above a quarter , which added to the former height of the water , namely 33 foot and 6 inches , will make up 34 foot and above an inch ; so that the difference between the height of the mercury sustain'd by the weight of the atmosphere in the baroscope , and that of the water rais'd and sustain'd by the pressure of the same atmosphere in the long tube did not appear to differ more than an inch or two from the proportion they ought to have had , according to the difference of their specifick gravities . and though in our experiment the difference had been greater , provided it exceeded not 8 or 10 inches , it would not have been strange : partly , because of the difficulty of measuring all things so exactly in such an experiment , partly because as waters are not all of the same weight , so a little disparity of it in so long a cylinder may be considerable , and partly ( and perhaps chiefly ) because the air flying out of the bubbles , that rose out of so great a quantity of water , and breaking at the top of it , and so near that of the tube , might by its spring ( though but very weak ) assisting the weight of so much water , somewhat ( though not much ) hinder the utmost elevation of that liquor . but our experiment did not make it needful for me to insist on these considerations , and the inconsiderable difference that was betwixt the height of the water we found , and that which might have been wish'd , did rather countenance then at all difavour the thing to be made out by our experiment , since by no pumping we could raise the water quite so high ( though i confess it wanted but very little ) as the weight of the atmosphere was able to keep up a cylinder of mercury proportionable to it in height , and equivalent in weight : and yet i presume , your lordship will easily grant , that there was at least as much care used in this experiment , to keep the things imploy'd about it tight , as has been wont to be used by tradesmen in their pumps , where t is not so easie either to prevent a little insinuation of the air , or to discern it . t is not that i am sure , that even all our care would have kept the water for any long time at its full height ; but , that the air was sufficiently exhausted for our purpose , when we determin'd the height of the water , i was induc'd to conclude by these circumstances . 1. as well the construction of the engine , as the many ( formerly related ) experiments , that have been successfully tryed with it , shew that t is not like it should be inferiour in closeness to the great water-pumps , made by ordinary tradesmen : and particularly the xi . experiment foregoing , manifests , that by this pump quick-silver was rais'd to as great a height , as the atmosphere is able to support in the torricellian experiment . 2. the stanchness of the pipe appear'd by the diminution ( as to number ) of bubbles , that appear'd at the top of the water , and by their size too , for when there was a leak , ( though but so very small , that the water could not get out at it in the tube , ) it might usually be taken notice of by the attentive ear of him that stood to watch upon the ladder , erected by the side of the tube ; and the air that got in , did easily discover it self to the eye by large bubbles , manifestly differing from those that came from the aerial particles belonging to the water ; and if the leak were not so very small , the air that got in would suddenly lift up the water above it , and perhaps fill with it the descending pipe. 3. though there had been some imperceptible leak , yet that would not have hindred the success of the experiment for the main . for in leaks that have been but small , though manifest enough , we have often , by causing the pump to be ply'd less nimbly then it now was , been able to prosecute our tryals ; because the pump carried of still more air than could get in at a leak that was no greater . 4. and that litle or no ( intruding ) air was left in the upper part of our tube , was evident by those marks , whereby it was easie for them that are well acquainted with the pump , to estimate what air is left in the vessel it should exhaust , and particularly towards the end of our operation i observ'd , that when the sucker was deprest , there came out of the water that cover'd the pump , so very few bubbles , that they might be imputed to the air afforded by the bubbles , springing from the water in the tube ; whereas if any adventious air had got into that cylinder of water , it would have appear'd in the water that cover'd the pump . 5. lastly , it were very strange , that if the water was but casually hindred by some leak from ascending any higher , it should be so easy to raise it to the very number of feet that our hypothesis requires , and yet we should be unable by obstinate pumping to raise it one foot higher . note , 1. as soon as we had made our experiment , and thereby found , that what was requisite to it was in order ; i sent to give notice of it to d r wallis , and d r wren , as persons whose curiosity makes them as well delighted with such tryals , as their deep knowledg makes them most competent judges of them . but before they could be found , and come , it being grown somewhat late and windy , i that was not very well , and had tired my self with going up and down , could not stay with them so long as i intended , but leaving the rest of the repeated experiment to be shewn them by i. m. ( who had been very industrious in fitting and erecting the tube ) they and their learned friend ( whom they brought with them ) doctor millington , told me a while after , that they also had found the greatest height , to which they could raise the water , to be 33 foot and an half . 2. when the water began first to appear in the glass , the bubbles would be , as i had foretold , exceeding numerous ; so as to make a froath of near a foot high , if the water were newly brought , and had never been rais'd in the tube before . but if the pumping were long continued , the number and height ( or at least one of the two ) of the aggregate of bubbles , would ( as there remain'd fewer and fewer aerial particles in the water ) be lesser and lesser ; but their emerging did never that i remember wholly cease . 3. at the beginning also there would appear great vibrations of the water in the upper part of the tube ; the rising and the falling amounting sometimes to a foot , or near half a yard : but these grew lesser and lesser , as those of the quicksilver in the torricellian experiment use to do . 4. one may use an ordinary pail to hold the stagnant water ; but we rather imploy'd a vessel of earth made ( for another purpose ) somewhat slender , and of a cylindrical shape , because in a narrow vessel t is more easie to guess by the rising and falling of the liquor , how the pump is ply'd , and to perceive even smaller leaks . 5. i must not forget to take notice , that though the newly nam'd gentlemen came to me ( when they had seen the experiment tryed ) within less than an hour after the time i had look'd upon the baroscope , and observ'd the quick-silver to stand somewhat beneath 29 inches , and 3 eights ; yet when presently upon their return i consulted the same instrument again , the mercury appear'd to be sensibly risen , being somewhat ( though but very litle ) above 9 and 20 inches , and 3 eights , and 5 or 6 hours after ( at bed-time ) i found it to be yet more considerably risen . which may keep your lordship from wondring at what i intimated a little above , touching monsieur paschal's experiment , as well as touching the disappointment of the pump-makers endeavours . for t is not onely possible , that ( as i have elsewhere noted ) water may be raised in the same pump ( though we suppose it still equally stanch ) higher at one time than at another : but 't was contingent , that , in monsieur paschal's noble attempt to imitate the torricellian experiment with water in stead of quick-silver , the proportion betwixt the heights of those two liquors in their respective tubes answer'd so well to their specifick gravities . for , the varying weight of the atmosphere being not then ( that appears ) known , or consequently taken into consideration ; if monsieur paschal , having tryed the torricellian experiment , when the air was for instance very heavy , had tryed his own experiment , when the atmosphere had been as light as i have often enough observ'd it to be , he might have found his cylinder of water to have been half a yard or two foot shorter than the formerly measur'd height of the quick-silver would have required . i have now no more to adde about this 15 th experiment , but that it may serve for a sufficient confirmation of what i note in another treatise , against those hydraulical & pneumatical writers , who pretend to teach wayes of making water pass by inflected pipes , and by the help of suction , from one side of a mountain to the other , be the mountain never so high . for , if the water be to ascend as 't were spontaneously above 35 or 36 foot , a sucking pump will not ordinarily , at least here in england , be able to raise it . and now i speak of mountains , it will not be altogether impertinent to add , that if it had not been for unseasonable weather , i had thought fit to make the foregoing 11 th experiment ( of elevating mercury by suction ) to be tryed at the top of an hill , not far from the place i then was at . for by what has been already delivered , it appears , that we might have estimated the height , to which the water may be there elevated by suction , without repeating the experiment with a thirty five foot tube , ( which we could not hope for conveniency to do , ) by the utmost height to which our engine could have rais'd mercury : and it may be of some use to be able from experiments to make some estimate ( for it can scarce be an accurate one ) how much it may be expected , that pumps shall ( caeteris paribus ) loose of their power of elevating water by suction , by being imploy'd at the top of an hill , in stead of being so at the bottom , or on a plain . remembring always what i lately intimated , that even in the same place liquors will be brought to ascend by suction to a greater or less height at one time than another , according to the varying gravity of the atmosphere . experiment xvi . about the bending of a springy body in the exhausted receiver . the cause of the motion of restitution in bodies , and consequently of that which makes some of them springy , which far the greater part of them are not , has been ingeniously attempted by some modern corpuscularians , and especially cartesians ; but since divers learned and judicious men do still look upon the cause of elasticity , as a thing that needs to be yet farther enquired into ; and because i am not my self so well satisfied as to blame their curiosity , i held it not unfit to examine by the help of our engine their conjecture , who imagine that the air may have a great stroak in the making of bodies springy ; and this i the rather did , because i had * elswhere shewn , that there is no need to assert , that in all bodies , that have it , the elastical power flows immediately from the form , but that in divers of them it depends upon the mechanicanical structure of the body . to make some tryal therefore , whether the air have any great interest in the motion of restitution , we took a piece of whalebone of a convenient bigness and length , and having fasten'd one end of it in a hole made in a thick and heavy trencher , to be placed on the plate of the engine , we tyed to the other end a weight , whereby the whalebone was moderately bent , the weight reaching down so near to a body plac'd in a level position under it , that if the spring were but a little weaken'd , the weight must either lean upon , or at least touch the horizontal plain : or if on the other side the spring should grow sensibly stronger , it might be easily perceiv'd by the distance of the weight , which was so near the plain , that a litle increase of it must be visible . this done , we convey'd these things into the receiver , and order'd those that pump'd to shake it as litle as they could , that the weight might not knock against the body that lay under it , or so shake it , as to hinder us from discerning whether or no it were depress'd by the bare withdrawing of the air. and when the air had been well pump'd out , i watcht attentively whether any notable change in the distance of the weight from the almost contiguous plain would be produc'd upon its being let in again : for the weight was then at rest , and the returning air flowing in much more speedily than it could before be drawn out , i thought this the likeliest time to discover whether the absence of the air had sensibly altered the spring of the whalebone . but though the experiment were made more than once , i could satisfie my self onely in this , that the depression or elevation of the weight , that was due to the true and meer change of the spring , was not very considerable , since i did not think my self sure , that i perceiv'd any at all : for though it be true , that sometimes , when the receiver was well exhausted , the weight seem'd to be a little deprest , yet that i thought was very litle , if any thing more than what might be ascrib'd to the absence of the air , not consider'd as a body that had any thing to do directly with the spring , but as a body that had some ( though but a litle ) weight ; upon which account it made the medium , wherein the experiment was tried , contribute to support the weight that bent the spring ; which weight , when the air was absent , must ( being now in a lighter medium ) have its gravitation increas'd by as much weight , as a quantity of the exhausted air , equal to it in bulk , could amount to . but this experiment being tried only with vvhalebone , and in a receiver not very great , may deserve to be further tryed in taller glasses , with springs of other kinds , and by the motions of a vvatch , and other more artificial contrivances . experiment xvii . about the making of mercurial , and other gages , whereby to estimate how the receiver is exhausted . because the air being invisible , it is not always easie to know whether it be sufficiently pump'd out of the receiver that was to be exhausted ; we thought it would be very convenient to have some instrument within the receiver , that might serve for a gage , or standard ; whereby to judge whether or not it were sufficiently exhausted . to this purpose divers expedients were thought on , and some of them put in practise ; which , though not equally commodious , may yet all of them be usefully imploy'd , one on this occasion , and another on that . the first ( if i misremember not ) that i propos'd , was a bladder , ( which may be greater or less , according to the size of the vessel it is to serve for ) to be very strongly tied at the neck , after having had onely so much air left in the folds of it , as may serve to blow up the bladder to its full dimensions , when the receiver is very well exhausted , and not before . but though your lord-ship will hereafter find that i yet make use of small bladders on certain occasions , in which they are peculiarly convenient , yet in many cases they do , when the glasses are well exhausted , take up too much room in them , and hinder the objects , included in the receiver , from being observ'd from all the sides of it . another sort of gage was made with quick-silver , pour'd into a very short pipe , which was afterwards inverted into a litle glass of stagnant quick-silver , according to the manner of the torricellian experiment . for this pipe being but a very few inches long , the mercury in it would not begin to descend , till a very great proportion of air was pump'd out of the receiver ; because till then , the spring of the remaining air would be strong enough to be able to keep up so short a cylinder of mercury . and this kind of gage is no bad one . but because , to omit some other litle inconveniences , it cannot easily be suspended , ( which in divers experiments 't is fit the gage should be , ) and the mercury in it is apt to be too much shaken by the motion of the engine , there was another kind of gage by some ingenious man ( who ever he were ) substituted in its place , consisting of a kind of siphon , whose shorter leg hath belonging to it a large bubble of glass , most commonly made use of at an illustrious meeting of virtuosi ; where your lordship having seen it , i shall not need to describe it more particularly . but none of the gages i had formerly us'd , nor even this last , having the conveniences that some of my experiments require ; i was fain to devise another , which is that i most make use of , as having advantages , some or other of which each of the gages already mentioned wants ; for even that with spirit of wine , not to mention lesser disadvantages , hath a bubble too great to let it be useful in vessels so slender , as for some purposes i divers times imploy ; and this short cylinder of so light a liquor as spirit of wine , makes the subsidence of the liquor be indeed a good sign that the receiver is well exhausted , but gives us not an account what quantity of air may be in the receiver , 'till it be arriv'd at that great measure of rarefaction ; and the same liquor , being upon a very small leak ( such as would not be prejudicial to many experiments ) impell'd up to the top of the gage , we cannot afterwards by this instrument take any measure of the air that gets in at the leak . but now there are divers experiments where i desire to see the phaenomena that will happen , not onely ( or perhaps not at all ) upon the uttermost exhaustion of the air , but when the pressure of it is withdrawn to such or such a measure , and also when the air is gradually readmitted . to make the gage we are speaking of , take a very slender and cylindrical pipe of glass , of 6 , 8 , 10 , or more inches in length , and not so big as a goose-quill , ( but such as we imploy for the stems of seal'd weather glasses , ) and having at the flame of a lamp melted it , but not too near the middle , to make of it by bending it a siphon , whose two legs are to be not onely parallel to one another , but as litle distant any where from one another as conveniently may be . in one ( which is usually the longer ) of these legs , there is to be left at the top , either half an inch , or a whole inch , or more or less than either , ( according to the length of the gage , or the scope of the experimenter ) of air in its natural state , neither rarefied , nor condens'd ; the rest of the longer leg , and as great a part of the shorter as shall be thought fit , being to be fill'd with quick-silver . this done , there may be marks plac'd at the outside of the longer ( or sealed ) leg , whereby to measure the expansion of the air included in the same leg , and these marks may be either litle glass knubs , about the bigness of pins heads , fasten'd by the help of a lamp at certain distances to the longer leg of the siphon , or else the divisions of an inch made on a list of paper , and pasted on either to the siphon it self , or to the slender frame , which on some occasions we fasten the gage to . this instrument being convey'd into a receiver , ( which for expedition sake we choose as small as will serve the turn , ) the air is to be very diligently pump'd out , and then notice is to be taken to what part of the gage the mercury is deprest , that we may know , when we shall afterwards see the mercury driven so far , that the receiver , the gage is plac'd in , is well exhausted . and if it be much desired to know more accurately ( for one may arrive pretty near the truth by guess ) what stations of the mercury in the gage are answerable to the degrees of the rarefaction of the air in the receiver ; that may be compassed either by calculation , ( which is not so easie , and supposes some hypotheses , ) or ( though not without some trouble ) by letting in the water as often as is necessary , into a receiver , whose intire capacity is first measured , and in which there may be marks made to shew when the water to be let in shall fill a fourth part , or half , or three quarters &c. of the cavity . for if ( for instance ) when the quick-silver in the gage is deprest to such a mark , you let in the water , and that liquor appears to fill a fourth part of the receiver , you may conclude , that about a 4 th part of the air was pump'd out , or that a 4 th part of the spring , that the whole included air had , was lost by the exhaustion , when the quick silver in the gage was at the mark above mentioned ; & if the admitted water do considerably either fall short of , or exceed the quantity you expected , you may the next time let in the water either after the mercury has a litle past the former mark , or a litle before it is arriv'd at it . and when once you have this way obtain'd one pretty long and accurate gage , you will not need to take so much pains to make others , since you may divide them by the help of that one ; for this being plac'd with any other in a small receiver , when the mercury in the standard-gage ( if i may so call it ) is deprest to any of the determinate divisions obtain'd by observation , you may thence conclude how much the air in the receiver is rarefied , and consequently by taking notice of the place where the mercury rests in the other gage , you may determine what degree of exhaustion in a receiver is denoted by that station of the mercury in this gage . perhaps i need not tell your lordship that the ground of this contrivance was , that whereas in divers other gages , when the pump came to be obstinately ply'd , the expansion of the included air would be so great , that it would either drive out the liquor , especially if it were light , or in part make an escape through it : i judg'd that in such an instrument , as that newly describ'd , those inconveniences would be avoided , because that the more the air should come to be dilated , the greater weight of quick-silver it would in the shorter leg have to raise , which would sufficiently hinder it from making that heavy liquor run over ; and the same ponderousness of the liquor , together with the slenderness of the pipe , would likewise hinder the included air from getting through in bubbles . nb. 1. for most experiments , where exact measures are not required , it will not be so necessary to mark the gage at any other station of the quick-silver then that which t is brought to by the exhaustion of the receiver , for by that alone we may know when the air is well pump'd out of the receiver , wherein the gage is included : and when one is a litle us'd to some particular gage , one may by the subsidence of the mercury guess at the degree of the airs rarefaction , so near as may serve the turn in such experiments . but when this instrument is to be us'd about nice tryals , where it may be thought requisite to have it divided according to one of the ways formerly proposed , it will on divers occasions be more secure ( in case the maker of the gage has skill to do it , ) to put to the divisions rather by litle knubs of glass , than by paper ; because this will on such occasions be in danger either to be rubb'd off , or wetted . and if glass-marks be us'd , it will be convenient that every fifth , or tenth , or such ordinal number as shall be judg'd fit , be made of glass of a differing colour , for distinction sake , & the more easie reckoning . we sometimes for a need apply , in stead of these glass-knubs , little marks of hard sealing wax , which will not be injur'd by moisture , as those papers will that are pasted on ; but these of wax , though in many cases useful , are not comparable to the other in all , since if they be very small , they are easily rubb'd off , and if large , they make not the division exact enough , and often hide the true place of the quick-silver . i shall here about the mercurial gages add onely this hint , that what i propos'd to my self in that contrivance , was not onely to estimate the air pump'd out of the receiver , or that remaining in it ; but also , by the help of this instrument ( as elsewhere by another experiment ) to measure ( somewhat near ) the strength of the spring of rarefied air , according to its several degrees of rarefaction ; and by this observation , in concurrence with other things , i hoped we might ( according to what i have elsewhere insinuated ) be assisted to estimate , by the cylinder of mercury rais'd in the open leg , the expansion of the air included in the sealed leg : but of these things i design'd in this place to give but an intimation . 3. that leg of the gage that includes the air , may be seal'd up either at the beginning , before the pipe be bent into a syphon , or ( which is much better ) after the following manner . before you bend the pipe , draw out the end of it , which you mean to seal , to a short and very slender thread ; then having made the pipe a siphon , pour into the leg , which is to remain open , as much quick-silver as you shall judg convenient , which will rise to an equal height in the other leg ; out of which by gently inclining the siphon , you may pour out the superfluous mercury , ( if there be any , ) and when you see that there is an inch , or half an inch ( or what part you design'd to leave for air ) unfill'd with mercury , next to the end that is to be clos'd ; and that the rest of that leg , and as much ( as you think fit ) of the other is full of quick-silver , you may , by keeping the siphon in the same posture , and warily applying the slender apex above mentioned to the upper part of the flame of a lamp , blown horizontal , easily seal up that apex without cracking , or prejudicing the open leg , or considerably injuring the air hole , that was to be seal'd up in the other . and this sealing of one leg must ( as t is evident ) keep the mercury suspended in it , though it be higher by divers inches than that in the open leg , till the withdrawing of the external air enable the included , by expanding it self to depress the mercury in the seal'd leg , and raise it in the open . 4. how the length of these mercurial gages is to be varied , according to the bigness and shape of the slender receivers they are to be imploy'd in , and how they may easily be made either to stand upright at the bottom of the receiver , or be kept hanging in the middle , or near the top of it ( as occasion may require , ) and how the open end may be made to secure the mercury , in cases where that is needful , belongs not so properly to this treatise , as to the second part of the continuation ; where , if ever i trouble your lordship with it , the usefulness of this sort of gages , and the circumstances that may advantage them , will best appear . 5. there being some experiments , wherein it is not desir'd that the receiver should be neer exhausted , but rather that the degrees of the airs rarefaction , which ought not to be very great , should be well measur'd ; we may in such cases make use of gages shap'd like those hitherto describ'd , but made as long as the receiver will well admit , and furnish'd in stead of quick-silver either with spirit of wine coloured with cocheneel , or else with the tincture of red rose-leaves , drawn onely with common water , made shap by a litle either of the oyl , or the spirit of vitriol , or of common salt. for the lightness of these liquors in comparison of quick-silver will allow the expansins of the air included in the gage to be very manifest , and notable enough , though not half , or perhaps a quarter of the air be pump'd out of the receiver . 6. you may also in such cases as these , where the receiver is large enough , and is not to be quite exhausted , make use of a mercurial gage , differing from those above describ'd onely in this , that the shorter leg need not be above an inch , or half an inch long , before it expand it self into a bubble of about half an inch , or an inch in diameter ; and having at the upper part a very short and slender unseal'd pipe , at which the air may get in and out : by which contrivance you may have this convenience , that you need not include so much air , as otherwise would be requisite , at the top of the longer leg , because the mercury in the shorter cannot , by reason of the breadth of the bubble , whereinto the expansion of the air drives it , be considerably rais'd : upon which account it becomes more easie to estimate by the eye the degrees of the included airs rarefaction , which may be done almost as easily , as if there were water in stead of mercury : provided it be remembred , that quick-silver by reason of its ponderousness , does far more assist the dilatation of the air , then so much water would do . experiment xviii . about an easie way to make the pressure of the air sensible to the touch of those that doubt of it . though several of our experiments sufficiently manifest to the skilful , that the pressure of the air is very considerable ; yet because some of them require peculiar glasses , and other instruments , which are not always at hand , and because there are many that think it surer to estimate the force of pressure by what they immediately feel , than by any other way ; i was invited for the sake of such to imploy an easie experiment , which usually proved convincing , because it operated on that sense , whereon they chiefly rely'd . i caus'd then to be made a hollow ( but strong ) piece of brass , not above two or three inches high , ( that it might be in a trice exhausted , ) and open at both ends , whose orifices were circular and parallel , but not equal , ( the instrument being made tapering , so that it might be represented by an excavated conus truncatus , or a gigg , with the lower part cut transversly off . ) this piece of brass being cemented on , as if it were a small receiver to the engine , the person , that would not believe the pressure of the air to be near so considerable as was represented , was bidden to lay the palm of his hand upon the upper orifice ; and being ordered to lean a little upon it , that so the lower part of his hand might prove a close cover to the orifice , one exuction of the air was made by the help of the pump : and then upon the withdrawing of the greatest part of the pressure of the internal air , that before counterballanc'd that of the external , the hand being left alone to support the weight of the ambient air , would be pressed inwards so forceably , that though the stronger sort of men were able ( though not without much adoe ) to take off their hands , yet the weaker sort of tryers could not do it , ( especially if by a second suck the litle receiver were better exhausted , ) but were fain to stay for the return of the air into the receiver to assist them . this experiment being design'd rather to convince than to punish those that were to make it , we took care not onely that the brass should be so thick , and the orifices so smooth , that no sharpness nor roughness of the metal should offend the hand ; but also that the narrower orifice ( which was the oftenest made use of ) should be but about an inch and a quarter in diameter . but if any were desirous of a more sensible conviction , 't was very easie to give it him by making the larger orifice the uppermost , which was the reason why the instrument was , as we formerly noted , made tapering . but yet this larger orifice ought not to exceed 2 inches , or 2 inches and 1 / 2 in wideness , least the great weight of the air endanger the breaking or considerably hurting the hand of the experimenter . which caution i am put in mind of giving , by remembring that i once much endangered my own hand , through the mistake of him that manag'd the pump , who unawares to me set it on work , when , for another purpose , i had laid my hand upon the orifice of an instrument of too great a diameter . the famous experiment of torricellius , mentioned in the 17 th of our already published tryals , is of that noblenesse and importance , that though divers learned men have ( but upon very differing principles ) discours'd of it in print , which gives me the lesse mind to insist long upon it here , yet i shall not scruple to subjoin some notes concerning tryals that i made , ( though for want of opportunity i could not repeat them according to my custom , ) which i had not met with in others , and which may serve to confirm the hypothesis made use of in this continuation , and the treatise it belongs to . experiment xix . about the subsidence of mercury in the tube of the torricellian experiment to the level of the stagnant mercury . a baroscope being included in a receiver , made of a long bolt head with the lower part of the ball cut circularly off , upon the first exuction of the air , the quick-silver that before stood at 29 inches , ( the atmosphere appearing then by a constant baroscope very light , ) would fall so low as to rest at 9 or 10 inches , ( for once i measur'd the subsidence beneath its former elevation , ) and in about three sucks more it would be brought quite down to the level of the stagnant quick-silver , and somewhat below , ( as t is the property of quick-silver , quite contrary to water , to rise less in a slender pipe than in a wide . ) the air being let into the receiver , the quick-silver would be impell'd up slowlier or faster , as we pleas'd , to the former height of 29 inches , or thereabouts . nb. 1. that if the air were suffer'd to go hastily out of the receiver , the mercury would , by virtue of the accelerated motion acquir'd in its descent , at the very first suck descend till it reacht within an inch or two of the stagnant mercury , though it would presently after a few risings and fallings settle at the height of 9 or 10 inches , till the next suck brought it down lower . 2. if when the mercury was reimpell'd up to its due height , those that manag'd the pump did , in stead of rarifying the air , a little compress it , the quick-silver would by the compress'd air be easily made to rise an inch or more above the former standard of 29 inches . which circumstance i mention , not as a new thing , but to confirm ( what some think strange ) a passage printed , page the 59 th , where i mention , that if the air in the receiver , in stead of being rarify'd in the engine , were a litle comprest by it ; the pressure of the included air , being somewhat increas'd by having its spring thus bent , would sustain the mercury in the torricellian tube at a greater than the wonted height . and to confirm another passage in the same page , where i observ'd , that if the pressure of the air upon the stagnant mercury be not so great as t is wont to be , the mercury will begin to subside in a ( fill'd and inverted ) tube , which wants of the usual height ; we took a glass cane , ( seal'd at one end , ) much shorter than the due length , and having fill'd it with mercury , and inverted it into a glass full of stagnant mercury , we placed all in the former receiver ; where the mercurial cylinder for want of the requisite height remain'd totally suspended , but upon the first or second suck it would subside , and in two or three sucks more it would fall to the levell of the stagnant mercury , or a little below it . upon the letting in of the air it would be impell'd to the very top of the tube , bating an aerial bubble , which seem'd to come from the mercury it self , and was so little , as not to be at all discernable , save to a very attentive eye . this experiment i should not think fit here to relate , since i formerly acquainted your lordship with the subsidence of the mercury upon the withdrawing of the air from the receiver , were it not that , in the mention of that tryal , i remember i confess'd to you , that i could not so free the great receiver i then us'd from air , but that the litle that remained or leak'd in , made me unable to bring the mercury in the tube totally to subside , or fall much nearer than within an inch of the surface of the stagnant mercury , with which in our present tryals that in the tube was brought to a level . experiment xx. shewing that in tubes open at both ends , when no fuga vacui can be pretended , the weight of water will raise quick-silver no higher in slender than in larger pipes . because i find it , even by learned and very late writers , urg'd as a clear and cogent argument against those that ascribe the phaenomena of the torricellian experiment to the weight of the external air ; that t is impossible , that the air , though 't were granted to be a heavy body , could sustain the quick-silver at the same height in tubes of very differing bigness , since the same air cannot equally counterpoise mercurial cylinders of such unequal weights ; and because this objection is wont very much to puzzle those that are not well acquainted with the hydrostaticks , i presume your lordship will allow me , till i can shew you some hydrostatical papers , by which the objection may appear to be but ill grounded upon the true theoremes of that art , to annex the transcripts of a couple of expeperiments , ( that i once made to remove this , supposedly insuperable , difficulty , ) just as i find them registred in my note-books . the i. tryal . sept. the 2. 1662. we took a very large glass-tube , hermetically seal'd at one end , and about two foot and a half in length . into this we poured quick-silver to the height of 3 or 4 fingers . then we took a couple of cylindrical pipes of very unequal sizes , ( the wider being as big agen as the slenderer ) and open at both ends. the lower ends of these two pipes we thrust into the quick-silver , and fasten'd them near their upper ends to the tube with strings , that they might not be lifted up , nor mov'd out of their posture , in which the convex surface of the mercury in both the pipes seem'd to lie almost in a level , the tube also it self being plac'd upright in a frame . this done , by the help of a funnel we poured in water by degrees at the top of the tube , and observ'd , that as the water gravitated more and more upon the stagnant mercury , so the included mercury rose equally in both the pipes , till the tube being almost fill'd with water , the mercury appeared to be impell'd up to and sustain'd at as great a height in the big tube , as in the lesser , being in either raised about two inches above the surface of the stagnant quick-silver . nb. 1. having caus'd about half the water ( having no conveniency to withdraw any more ) in the tube to be suck'd out at the top , we observ'd the quick-silver in both the tubes to subside uniformly , and to reascend alike upon the reaffusion of the water . 2. we endeavoured to try the experiment ( for their sake who have not the conveniency to have such tubes purposely made ) in a wooden vessel , into which , when it was fill'd with water , we let down a flat glass furnisht with stagnant mercury , whereinto the ends of the two pipes were immers'd . but the opaeousness of the cylinder ( which reduced us to see onely from the top the reflection of the stagnant mercury , ) and other impediments , disabled us to perceive the motions and stations of the mercury in the pipes , though we once made use of a candle the better to discern them . the ii. tryal . we took a very wide tube of glass , of about a foot long , and into it poured a convenient quantity of quick-silver . we took also two pipes of about equal length , and of that disparity in bigness that we newly mentioned , ( those pipes lately described being indeed cut off from these we are now to speak of , ) and these being fill'd with quick-silver ( after the manner of the torricellian experiment ) were by a certain contrivance let down into the tube , and unstopt under the surface of the stagnant mercury , and then the quick-silver in the pipes falling down to its wonted station , and resting there , we poured into the tube about a foot height ( by guess ) of water , whereupon the quick-silver as it before stood , as it were , in a level in both the pipes , so it was , for ought appear'd to us , equally impell'd up beyond its wonted station , and sustain'd there both in the slender and in the bigger pipe , and upon the withdrawing of some of the water it began to subside alike , as to sense , in them both , falling no lower in the bigger than in the slenderer . and water being a second time poured down into the tube , the mercury did in both pipes rise uniformly as before . by which and the former experiment it sufficiently appeared , that a gravitating liquor as air or water , may impell or keep up mercury to the same height in tubes that are of very differing capacities : and that liquors ballance each other according to their altitude , and not barely according to their weight . for in this last experiment , the additional cylinder of one inch of mercury was manifestly rais'd and kept up by the water incumbent on the stagnant mercury , ( the other cause , whatever it were , of the mercury's suspension , being able to sustain but a cylinder shorter by an inch. ) and the same parcel of water did counterpoise in the differing pipes two mercurial cylinders , which though but of the same altitude , ( namely about an inch ) were of very unequal weight . experiment xxi . of the heights at which pure mercury , and mercury amalgam'd with tin , will stand in barometers . considering with my self , that if the sustentation of the quick-silver in the torricellian experiment at a certain height , depends upon the aequilibrium , which a liquor of that specifick gravity does at such a height attain to with the external air , if that peculiar and determinate gravity of the quick-silver be altered , the height of it , requisite to an aequilibrium with the atmosphere , must be altered too : ( considering this i say ) i thought it might somewhat confirm the hypothesis hitherto made use of , if a phaenomenon so agreeable to it were actually exhibited . this i supposed performable two differing wayes , namely by mixing or ( as chymists speak ) amalgamating mercury either with gold , to make it a mixture more heavy , or with some other metal that might make it more light than mercury alone is . but the former of those two ways i forbore to prosecute being where i then was unfurnished with a sufficient quantity of refined gold , ( for that which is coyn'd is generally allayed with silver , or copper , or both , ) and therefore amalgamating mercury with a convenient proportion of pure tin , ( or , as the tradesmen call it , block-tin , ) that the mixture might not be too thick to be readily poured out into a glass-tube , and to subside in it , we fill'd with this amalgam a cylindrical pipe , sealed at one end , and of a fit length , and then inverted it into a litle glass furnished with the like mixture . of which tryal the event was , that the amalgam did not fall down to 29 , nor even to 30 inches , but stopt at 31 above the surface of the stagnant mixture . note 1. that though one may expect , that the event of the experiment would be the more considerable , the greater the quantity is that is mingled of the light metal , yet care must be taken that the amalgam be not made too thick , least part of it stick here and there ( as we did to our trouble find it apt to do ) to the inside of the pipe , by which means some aerial corpuscles will meet with such convenient receptacles , as to make it very difficult , if not almost impossible , to free the tube quite from air. 2. it may perhaps be worth while to try , whether by comparing the height of the amalgam , to what it ought to be upon the score of the specifick gravities of the mercury , and the tin , mingled in a known proportion in the amalgam , any discovery may be made whether those two metals do penetrate one another after such a manner ( for there is no strict penetration of dimensions among bodies ) as copper and tin have , as i elsewhere note , been ( by some chymists ) observ'd to do , when being melted down together they make up a more close and specifically ponderous body , than their respective weights seem'd to require . 3. that by comparing this 21. experiment with the 18 th of those formerly published , it may appear , that the height of the liquor , suspended in the torricellian experiment , depends so much upon its aequilibrium with the outward air , that it may be varied by a change of gravity in either of the two bodies that counterballance each other , whether the change be of weight in the atmosphere , or of specifick gravity in the suspended liquor . advertisement . i should here acquaint your lordship with what i have since tried in reference to the 18 th of the printed experiments , where i mention , that i observed , by long keeping the same instrument with which i once made the torricellian experiment in the same place , that the height of the suspended mercury would vary according as the weight of the atmosphere hapned to change . but though about the barometer ( as others have by their imitation allowed me to call the instrument hitherto mentioned , put into a frame ) i made in the year 1660 several observations , that would not perhaps be impertinent in this place , yet having long since left them with a friend , who lives far off , and not having them now in my power , i must beg your lordships permission to reserve them for a part of the appendix , which i doubt i shall be engaged to adde to this epistle . and in the mean time i shall not forbear to present your lordship those other papers that i have by me , relating to the barometer ; some of which will , i presume , sufficiently confirm my lately mentioned conjecture about the cause of the variation observed in the height of the suspended mercury . experiment xxii . wherein is propos'd a way of making barometers , that may be transported even to distant countries . thinking it a desireable thing ( as i have elsewhere intimated ) to be able to compare together , by the help of barometers , the weight of the atmosphere at the same time , not onely in differing parts of the same country , as of england , but in differing regions of the world ; i could not but foresee that 't would be very difficult to accomplish my desire without altering the form of the barometers i had hitherto made use of . for as these be unfit to be transported far , because that stagnant mercury would be so apt to spill . so the procuring them to be made in the places where they are to be used , though it be no bad expedient , and such as i have divers times made use of , is liable to this inconvenience ; that , besides that few will take the pains , and have the skill , requisite to make baroscopes well , though they be sufficiently furnished with glasses and mercury for that purpose , besides this , i say , except men be more than ordinarily diligent and skilful , ( and perhaps though they be , ) 't will be very difficult to be sure that the baroscope newly made in a remote country , is as good ( and but as good ) as that which a man makes use of in this ; in regard that at the making of the former , they are supposed to have no other baroscope to compare it with ; and to be sure , they have not the same with which it is to be compared here. being by these considerations invited to attempt the making of portable or travailing baroscopes , ( if i may so call them , ) i thought it requisite to endeavour these three things : the first , to make the vessel that should contain both the sustained and the stagnant mercury all of one piece of glass , of a like bigness : the next , to place this vessel , when fill'd , in such a frame , as may be easie to be transported , and yet in a reasonable measure defend the glass from external violence , no part of it standing quite out of the frame , as in all other baroscopes : and the third , so to order the vessel , that it may not be subject to be easily broken by the violent motion of the mercury contain'd in it . the first of these will not seem practicable to those that imagine ( without any warrant from the hydrostaticks ) that t is as well necessary as usual , that the stagnant mercury should have a vessel much wider than the tube , wherein the mercurial cylinder is sustain'd ; but to us the difficulty seem'd much less to make the glass part of our tube of one piece , and of a convenient shape , than afterwards to fill it . but to do both , we took a glass cylinder seal'd at one end , and of a convenient length , ( as about 4 or 5 foot , ) and caus'd it by the flame of a lamp to be so bent , that , to those that did not take notice 't was sealed at one end , it seem'd to be a syphon of very unequal legs , the one being 3 or 4 times longer than the other ; by virtue of which figure the shorter leg may serve in stead of the distinct vessel usually imployed to contain the stagnant mercury . to fill this , which is not easie , one may proceed after this manner . take a small funnel of glass , with a long and slender shank , so that it may reach 3 or 4 inches , or further , into the shorter leg of our barometrical syphon ( if i may so call it ; ) and by this funnel pour into this shorter leg as much mercury as may reach about 2 or 3 inches in both legs ; then stopping the orifice with your finger , and slowly inclining the tube , the mercury in the longer leg will gently fall to the sealed end ; and the air that was there before , will pass by it , and so make it room . the mercury in the shorter leg ( which leg ought to be held uppermost ) will by the same inclination of the tube fall towards the orifice , but , being by the finger that stops that , kept from falling out , if you do slowly reerect the glass , and then make it stoop again as much as before , the mercury will pass out of the shorter leg into the longer , and joyn with that which was there before ; and if all the mercury do not so pass , the orifice is to be stopt again with your finger , and the tube inclin'd as formerly . this done , the tube is to be erected , and by the help of the funnel more mercury is to be poured in , and the foregoing process of stopping the orifice , inclining the tube &c. is to be repeated , till all the mercury pour'd into the shorter leg , be brought to joyn with that in the longer ; and then the open leg is to be furnisht with fresh mercury , observing this , that the nearer the longer leg comes to the being fill'd , the less you must raise it from time to time , when you pour mercury into the shorter ; as also , that when you see the longer leg quite full of mercury , ( though there be but litle in the shorter , ) you need not pour in any more , if the longer do much exceed a yard ; because upon the restoring of the tube to an erected posture there will subside from the taller leg into the other a pretty quantity of mercury , by reason of the space at the seal'd end , which will be deserted by the mercury that was there . but because t is difficult by this way , as well as by that practised already , to fill a tube with mercury without leaving any visible bubbles ; to free it from such ( if any happen to be ) you must once more stop the orifice with your finger , and incline , and reerect the tube divers times , till you have thereby brought most of the smaller bubbles into one greater ; ( which you may if you please increase , by letting in a little air : ) for by making this great bubblle pass leisurely two or three times from one end of the tube to the other , it will in its passage as it were lick up all the small bubbles , and unite them to its self ; which may afterwards by one inclination more of the tube be made to pass into the shorter leg , and thence into the free air. but there is another sort of funnels , which if one have the skill and conveniency to make , ( as i. m. easily doth , ) one may very expeditiously fill the bended tubes of our portable barometers . for if you make the slender part of the funnel not streight but bended , in the form of an obtuse angle , and of such a length , that the part which is to go into the shorter leg of our siphon may reach to the flexure ( of the siphon ; ) then you may , by so holding the tube that the sealed end be somewhat lower than the other , and by pouring in mercury at the obtuse end of the angular funnel , easily make it run over the flexure into the longer leg of the siphon ; provided you do now and then , as occasion requires , erect a litle and shake the tube , to help the mercury to get by the air , and expell it . by such wayes as these we have found by experience , that t is possible ( though not easie ) to do in such a bended glass , as our purpose requires , what , besides a very late learned writer , the diligent mersennus himself , admonishes his reader , that t is not a practicable thing to do in the ordinary glasses of the torricellian experiment , viz. to free the mercury of a straight tube from air and bubbles , ( s as to be able by inclining the glass to make the liquor ascend to the very top . ) the first of our 3 above mentioned scopes being thus attained , it was not difficult to compass the second , by the help of a solid piece of wood , which is to be somewhat longer than the tube , and a good deal broader in the lower part than in the upper , that it may receive the shorter leg of the siphon . in such a piece of wood , which was about an inch thick , we caus'd to be made a gutter or channel , of such a depth and shape , that our siphon might be placed in it so deep , that a flat piece of wood ( like a plain'd lath ) might be layd upon it , without at all pressing upon or so much as touching the glass ; so that this piece of wood may serve for a cover to defend the glass , to be put on when the instrument is to be transported , and taken off again when t is to be hung up to make observations with ; the channel-piece of wood serving both for a part of a case , and for an entire frame ; which may for some uses be a litle more commodious , if the cover be joyned ( as it may easily be ) to the rest of the frame , by 2 or 3 litle hinges and a hasp , by whose help the case may be readily opened and shut at pleasure . the 3 d thing we proposed to our selves is nothing near so easie as the 2 d , nor have we yet had opportunity to try , whether the way we made use of will hold , if the barometer be transported into very remote parts , though by smaller removes we found cause to hope that 't will succeed in greater . the grand difficulty to be obviated was this ; that though 't were easie to hinder the spilling of the mercury , by stopping the orifice of the shorter leg of our siphon , yet that would not serve the turn ; for the upper part of the tube being destitute of air , if the mercury be by the motion of the instrument put to vibrate , it will be apt ( for want of meeting with any air in the upper part of the tube to check its motions ) to hit so violently against the top of the glass as to beat it out , or to crack some of the neighbouring parts . to obviate this great inconvenience our way is , to incline the tube , till the mercury be impell'd to the very top of it , and yet there will remain a competent quantity in the shorter leg of the glass , if that be not at first made too short . this done , the remaining part of the shorter leg is to be quite fill'd up either with water or mercury , and the orifice of it is to be very carefully and firmly stopt , ( for which purpose we use our strong black cement : ) for by this means the mercury in the longer leg , having no room to play , cannot strike with violence as before , against the top of the glass . but though by many times successively shaking the baroscope we did not perceive that 't was very like to be prejudiced by the shakes it must necessarily indure in transportation to remote places , if due care be had of it by the way , yet till further tryal have been made i shall not pretend to be certain of the event . but thus much of conveniency we have already found in this contrivance , that we sent it some miles off to the top of a hill , and had it brought home safe again , the phaenomena at the top and bottom of the hill being answerable to what we might have expected if we had imployed another baroscope . when the instrument is to be sent away , the height of the mercurial cylinder ( to be measured from the surface of the stagnant mercury in the shorter leg ) being taken for that place , day , and hour , and compar'd ( if it may be ) with that of another good baroscope , which is to continue in that place ; as much of the gutter as is unfill'd by the glass may be well stuffed with cotten , or some such thing , to keep the glass the more firm in its posture ; and that the tube be not shaken or press'd against the wood , some of the same matter may be put between the rest of the frame and the cover , which ought to be well bound together . and when the instrument is arriv'd at the remote place where t is to be imployed , ( for if it be to be sent but a litle way , it may be carried safely without using any adventitious liquor , ) the water that is added , may be taken off again , by soaking it up with pieces of sponge , linnen , &c. but if in stead of water you put in mercury , as it ought to have been put in by weight , so it is to be taken out , till you have just the weight that was put in : and t is not difficult to take out the mercury by degrees , by the help of a small glass-pipe , since you may either suck up litle by little as much as remains of the additional mercury , when by erecting the barometer , and warily unstopping the orifice of the lower leg , as much mercury as will of its self flow out is efflux'd ; or else you may take out the superfluous mercury , by thrusting the lower end of the litle pipe into that liquor , and when it has taken in enough , stopping the upper end close with your finger , to keep it from falling back again when you remove the pipe. nb. if it should happen in a long voyage , that by the numerous shakings of the instrument there should from the additional water or mercury in the shorter leg get up into the longer any litle aerial bubble , which seems the onely ( but i hope not likely ) danger in this contrivance , he that is to use the instrument , at the end of the voyage may , if he be skilful , free the mercury from it by the same way , that we lately prescrib'd to free it from air , when the instrument was first fill'd . i presume i need not tell your lordship , that the chief use of this travailing baroscope is , that he that uses it in a remote part , keeping a diary of the heights of the mercury , by comparing these heights with those at which the mercury stood at the same times in the barometer that was not remov'd , the agreement or difference of the weight of the atmosphere in distant places may be observed . to which this may be added , the conveniency , which the structure of these instruments gives them to be securely let down into deep wels or mines , and to be drawn up to the top of towers and steeples , and other elevated places : not here to consider , whether by a convenient addition , these , as well as some other barometers , may not be made to discover even very minute alterations of the atmospheres pressure . whether this travailing baroscope , being furnish'd at its upper end with a very good ball and socket , and at the lower end with a great weight , ( which way of keeping things steady in a ship has been happily used by the royal society on another occasion , ) whether , i say , our instrument may by this contrivance , or some other that might be suggested to the same purpose , be made any thing serviceable at sea , notwithstanding the differing motions of the ship , i have had no opportunity to try : but whether it may or may not be useful in spite of the rolling of the ship , it may at least be made use of in flat calms , ( which divers times happen in long voyages , especially to the east-indies , and to africk , ) and then the instrument , which at other times may lie by without being at all cumbersom , may be made use of , as long as the calm lasts , to acquaint the observer with the weight of the atmosphere in the climate where he is , and that upon the sea : which may give some welcome information to the curiosity of speculative naturalists , and perhaps prove either more directly or in its consequences of some use to navigators themselves , as by enabling them by its suddain changes to foretell the end of the calme . besides that , having one of these instruments ready at hand , where ever they set foot on shore , though it be but upon a small island , or a rock , they can presently and easily take notice of the gravity of the atmosphere in that place ; which whether or no , if compared with other observations , it may in time prove not altogether useless to the guessing whereabouts they are , and the foreseeing some aproaching changes of weather , i leave to future experience , if it shall be thought worth the making , to determine . besides the ordinary baroscope , and this travailing one , i have imployed 2 or 3 other instruments of quite differing kinds , to discover the varying gravities of the atmosphere ; but though they have hitherto succeeded well ( for the main , ) yet being willing to make further observations about them , i reserve one of them for another opportunity , and think fit to leave the other in a tract it belongs to . a post-script advertisment . since the writing of the foregoing and the following experiments about the travailing baroscope , having had occasion to make one at a place about 50 miles distant from that where i was when i writ them , i took notice , that the mercury in the travailing baroscope was not by 1 / 4 of an inch so high as that in another baroscope made the ordinary way ; and yet 't was not easie to perceive , that the former had been less carefully fill'd than the latter . so that i yet know not well to what cause to impute the difference , unless it should perhaps depend upon this circumstance ; that the pipe , whereof the travailing baroscope was made , was very slender , and much more so than the tube of the other ; and i have already elsewhere observed , that mercury , contrary to what happens in water , is lesse apt to rise in very slender pipes . and though i remember that , at the place where i writ the experiment , to which this postscript belongs , in the tube i then imployed to make the travailing baroscope , the mercury ascended as high as in a noted one made the common way , yet not being in the other place furnished with a tube long and big enough , i think my self oblig'd , till i can clear the doubt by further tryal , to give your lordship this advertisement , lest either the cause already suspected , or some other unheeded thing may in some cases make these travailing baroscopes somewhat differing from others . but though they should prove to be so , yet it would not follow that they cannot be made serviceable : for keeping a pretty while that instrument , which suggested the scruple to me , just by the other with which i had compar'd it , and carefully taking notice of the respective heights at which the mercury rested in both , i observ'd that when it rose or fell in the other barometer , it did also rise and fall in the portable one ; and when it rested at its first station in the fromer , it did so in the later ; and though there seem'd to be an inequality in the quantity of the ascent , and subsidence of the mercury in the two instruments , yet that seem'd to be accountable for by some circumstances , especially the very unequal breadth of the vessel that contain'd the stagnant mercury in the other barometer , and that shorter leg which answer'd to that vessel in the travailing barometer . but till the formerly proposed scruple be by further observation removed , the safest way will be to make the barometer to be sent to remote places , as like as may be ( in highness , and length of the tube ) to another portable one kept at home ; that so when they are once adjusted , the collations may be made betwixt two instruments of the same kind , whereof that which is kept at home may also , if it be thought fit , be compared , when the observations are made , with a baroscope made the ordinary way . experiment xxiii . confirming , that mercury in a barometer will be kept suspended higher at the top , than at the bottom of a hill. on which occasion something is noted about the height of mountains , especially the pic of tenariff . to give your lordship some instance ( till i can present you with a nobler one ) of the use of our travailing barometer , i shall now adde : that when i writ the foregoing experiment , chancing to be within 2 or 3 miles of a hill , which , though not high , was the least low in that countrey , i thought our instrument might be sfely , and not altogether uselesly , carried on horse-back to the top of it , which was too remote from the bottom to be conveniently reacht by me on foot in the midst of winter . this tryal therefore i resolv'd to make , because , though i formerly told you of a considerable one that had been made in france by some eminent virtuosi of the country , yet i was willing , not onely to have a proof how safely our baroscope might be transported , but to confirm to your lordship upon our own observation , made in another region , so considerable an argument , as these kind of experiments afford to our hypothesis : and though when i came to try the experiment , i hapned to have an indisposition that forbid me to do it all my self , yet having carefully mark'd on the edge of the frame the height to which the suspended quick-silver reach'd , and compar'd it with a good baroscope made the ordinary way , i commmitted our instrument to a couple of servants , that i had often imployed about pneumatical and mercurial experiments , giving them particular instructions what to do . and the instrument being such as might be safely carried on horseback , i had in two or three hours an account brought me back , the summe of which was : that they found the suspended mercury fall a litle as they ascended the hill , at whose top they gave the liquor leave to setle , and carefully took notice by a mark of the place it rested at ; which was ; as i afterwards found , ¼ of an inch , or somewhat better beneath the mark i had made , and this notwithstanding the hill was not high , and the air and wind seem'd to them to be much colder at the top of it , than beneath . but though , as they descended more and more , they observ'd the mercury to rise again higher and higher , ( as being press'd against by a taller column of the atmosphere , ) and though consequently the experiment agreed very well with our hypothesis , and may serve for a confirmation of it ; yet by reason of the small height of the mountain the decrement of the height of the mercurial cylinder was not so considerable , but that i should perhaps have omitted the mention of this tryal , if it did not shew that our travailing baroscopes may be fit to be imployed about such experiments . and therefore , when i can recover some of my scatter'd papers , i shall by way of appendix subjoin to this some other observations , that i procur'd to be made by ingenious men , who had the opportunity of living near higher mountains . some further tryals i have recommended to be hereafter made by some other inquisitive persons ; and to make them the more instructive , i could wish that others would do what i should have done , if opportunity had befriended me . for i design'd to make the experiment at the bottom , the top , and the intermediate part of the hill , at three differing constitutions of air ; viz. when it should appear by a good ordinary baroscope , that the atmosphere was very heavy , when it should be found to be very light , and when it should have a moderate degree of gravity : and i hoped , that if sagacious experimenters should make these diversity'd observations on distant and unequal hils , good hints may result from the collations that may be made of the varying decrements of the mercurial cylinders height , according to the differing gravities of the atmosphere at several times , and the differing heights of the hils and stations where the observations should be made . i also indeavoured to get a baroscope carried down to the bottoms of deep mines ; partly , to try whether the atmospherical pillar being longer there then at the top , the mercury in the tube would not be impell'd up higher ; and partly , in order to other discoveries . but some impediments in the structure of those mines made it not very practicable to imploy barometers there ; which yet makes me not despair of success in some other mines , where the shafts or pits are sunck more perpendicularly . perhaps i told your lordship already by word of mouth , that i have been sollicitously endeavouring to get the torricellian experiment tried upon the pic of teneriff , but hitherto i have had no account of the success of my endeavours ; for which i am the more concern'd , because of the eminent ( if not matchless ) height of the mountain , of which you may receive some satisfaction , by what i am going to subjoin about it . an appendix about the height of mountains . forasmuch as on the one hand not onely kepler , but divers other modern writers of note , do endeavour to straiten the atmosphere , and make it lower by half than the least height to which , according to our estimation , it should reach ; and to countenance their opinion , will not allow the clouds to be often above a mile high , ( nor even the highest mountains to exceed two miles . ) and forasmuch as on the other side other learned men seem to make the clouds and the mountains of a stupendous height ; we , who take a middle way of estimating the height of the one and the other , hold it not unfit to subjoyn on this occasion some uncommon observations , in favour of our opinion , that we have obtain'd from inquisitive travellers . but first i will subjoyn a passage i have somewhere met with in ricciolus his almigestum novum , where he ( if i well remember ) relates , that the rector metensis ( as he calls him ) of the jesuites colledg affirm'd to him some years since , that he had measured the height of many clouds , without having found any of them higher than 5000 paces : which argues , that he met with some so high , though indeed the height of clouds must needs bevery various , according to the gravity or lightness , density or thinness , rest or agitation of the air , and the condition of the vapors & exhaltations they consist of . and if either that be true which we have formerly had occasion to mention concerning maignan's observation , or if it be true that sublunary comets ( for i speak not of celestial ones ) are generated of exhalations of the terrestrial globe , we may well conjecture that the atmosphere , ( especially if its height be not uniform , ) and even clouds ( especially those that have most fumes , and fewest vapors ) may reach much higher than cardan , kepler , and others have defin'd . but of the height of clouds ( which we have sometimes attempted to take geometrically ) we may have elsewhere occasion to speak again ; and therefore i shall now proceed to what i have to say concerning the height of mountains . which being an enquiry curious and difficult enough in it self , and of some importance in the disquisition about the height of the atmosphere , ( it being evident that that must reach at least as high as the tops of mountains , upon whose tops men can live ; ) i hope it will not be unacceptable to your lordship , if having a while since ( as i was intimating ) had the opportunity to discourse with some credible persons that have been upon the top of exceeding high mountains , particularly of the pic of tenariff , ( and especially with one gentleman , who was a few dayes before brought to satisfie the curiosity of our inquisitive and discerning monarch , by giving him an account of his journey , ) i acquaint you with those of the particulars , which i learn'd from thence , that are the most pertinent to our present purpose . first then whereas divers late mathematicians will not allow above two miles or half a german league ( and some of them not half so much ) to the height of the highest mountain ; the mountain we speak of , in the island of tenariff , one of the canaries or fortunate islands , so high , that , though perhaps i think those travellers i have taken notice of , speak with the most when they write , that the top of this mountain is to be seen at sea 4 degrees off , i. e. at least threescore german leagues ; yet having ask'd the ingenious gentleman lately mentioned , mr. sydenham , from what distance the top of the sugar-loaf ( or highest part of the hill , so called from its figure ) could be seen at sea , according to the common opinion of seamen ? he answer'd , that that distance was wont to be reckon'd 60 sea-leagues , of 3 miles to a league : adding , that he himself had seen it about 40 leagues off , and yet it appear'd exceeding high , and like a blewish pyramid , manifestly a great deal higher than the clouds . and what he related to me about the distance , was afterwards confirmed by the answers i receiv'd from observing men of differing nations , who had sail'd that way ; and particularly by a noble virtuoso , skill'd in the mathematicks , who was then admiral of a brave english fleet : and the above mentioned gentleman ( m r s. ) also told me , that sometimes men could from thence see the island of madera , though distant from it 70 leagues ; and that the great canary , though 18 leagues off , seem'd to be very near them that were on the top of the sugar-loaf , as if they might leap down upon it : thus far m r sydenham . by whose relation it appears , that this pic must be far higher than kepler and others allow mountains to be : for else it could not be seen at sea from so great a distance . and the learned ricciolus supposing it to be ( as some navigators report it to be ) discoverable at sea 4 degrees off , calculates its height measur'd by a perpendicular line , and allowing too for refraction , to amount to ten miles , which altitude also the accurate snellius assigns it . but i fear this learned man may have been somewhat misinform'd by the navigators he relyes on , or else that the way of allowing for refractions is not yet reduc'd to a sufficient certainty . for i do not find by those who have purposely gone to the top of it , that the mountain is so high as his calculation makes it . and whereas the same eminent writer resolutely ponounces that the height of mount caucasus , deduction being made for refraction , is 51 bolonian miles , ( which are considerably greater than the roman miles , ) i doubt that here likewise , though i question not his supputations if you grant him the grounds of them , he makes this mountain far higher than indeed it is . for the passage of aristotle , on which he founds his opinion , is obscure enough ; and aristotle , himself does sometimes take up reports upon hear-say , without over-strictly examining their truth or probability ; whereas all the navigators and travellers i have hitherto met with , ( and your lordship knows , that i have upon a publick account the opportunity of meeting often with such men , ) do almost unanimously agree , that the pic of teneriff is the highest mountain hitherto known in the world , and yet that is so far from being 15 leagues high , ( as some eminent and even late writers would perswade us , ) that it is scarce a 7 th part so high as ricciolus computes mount caucasus to be . for having ask'd m r sydenham , and others , what was the estimate made by the most knowing persons of the island of the height of the hill , he told me that his guides accounted it to be one and twenty mile high from the town called l'oretava , seated on the lower part of the hill ; from which . town to the sea there is 3 miles of way alwayes descending . but in regard that the way , which amounted to 21 miles in length , is , as other wayes whereby steep places are wont to be ascended , made to wind and turn for the conveniency of travellers ; i can scarce deduct less than 2 thirds for the crookedness of the way : and accordingly having ask'd him , whether the perpendicular height of it had been accurately taken by any with mathematical instruments , he answered , that he could say nothing to that upon his own knowledg , but that a sea-man with great confidence affirmed himself to have accurately enough measur'd it by observations made in a ship , and to have found the perpendicular height of the hill to be about 7 miles . which estimate agrees well enough with the calculations of ricciolus and snellius , if we lessen the distance from which the top of the hill is to be discovered , from 60 german leagues of 4 miles to a league , to the like number of common leagues at 3 miles to a league . and because eminent writers have so confidently deliver'd prodigious things touching the height of this mountain , i will here , to confirm the estimate already made , adde these particulars , which i took from the gentleman 's own mouth , ( and which were afterwards confirm'd to me by another that went with him , and partly also by a 3 d , who went up to the top at another time of the year , ) viz. that they begun their journey from l'oretava on the 18 th of august , about 10 of the clock at night , and travell'd till five in the afternoon on the munday following , resting two hours by the way , and travelling about 10 miles of their way upon mules , which afterwards they were forc'd to leave , and betake themselves to their feet . resting upon munday till midnight , they resum'd their journeying , and travell'd till about nine the next morning , at which time they arriv'd at the top of the sugar-loaf , or highest pile of the mountain ; so that they travell'd in all but 26 hours , in which , considering the steepness and ruggedness of the ways , and that they were forc't to goe above half way on foot , to which they were unaccustomed , t is likely enough that the length of the way did not much , if at all , exceed the computation of the guides . we have since endeavour'd , but without yet knowing what will be the succes , to have the height of this mountain carefully taken by skilful men . in the interim i shall not deny , but that if what aristotle and other authors report of mount caucasus be true , there may be far higher mountains than the pic of tenariff ; especially since there is one consideration , which perhaps you will not think despicable , that i find not taken notice of by those that have written of the height of mountains ; viz. that of two mountains that , measur'd by geometrical instruments , may appear to be of the same height , there may yet be a great inequality ; because the measurer measures onely from some plain piece of ground at the bottom of the hill to the top , whereas it may be , that the country , wherein one of those mountains stands , may be exceedingly much higher than that wherein the other is plac'd : which difference of heights in the several countreys , he that is to measure onely the height of one of the mountains , is not wont to take any notice of ; and consequently though in respect of the plains , adjacent to the feet of the mountains , their altitudes may be equal , yet in respect of the level or superficies of the terraqueous globe , consider'd as having no mountains at all but those two , the height of the one may far exceed that of the other ; and so the pic of tenariff being look'd upon from the level of the sea , may be much less high than some other hils , but may appear much higher than some other hils , which yet protuberating above the level part of some country which is it self generally exceeding high , may have its top more remote from the centre of the earth , than that of the pic , and would appear higher than it , if as well the one as the other were look'd upon from the same superficies of the sea. but to return to the height of the atmosphere ; in order to the making an estimate of what we have consider'd as to the height of mountains , i shall adde , that though by what has been already said touching the height of the pic , and other hills , it appears , that the atmosphere reaches far higher than many learned men would hitherto allow , yet we are not to think that the atmosphere may not reach almost incomparably higher than the tops of mountains . nor do i suffer my self to be concluded by what many comentators of aristotle and other writers are wont to teach touching the distinct narrow extent they allow to that sphere , within whose limits they would have the steams of the terrestrial globe to produce meteors . how far the height of mountains may make the air at the tops of them inconvenient for respiration , shall be ( god permitting ) consider'd , when i come to acquaint your lordship with my loose tryals about respiration . experiment xxiv . shewing that the pressure of the atmosphere may be exercis'd enough to keep up the mercury in the torricellian experiment , though the air press upon it at a very small orifice . by a very slight variation of the foregoing 22 th experiment we may both confirm one of the most important and the least likely truths of the hydrostaticks , and remove an objection , which , for want of the knowledg of this truth , is wont to be urg'd against your hypothesis even by learned men . for divers of these , when they see the same phaenomena happen in the torricellian experiment , whether it be made in the open air , or in a chamber , are forward to object , that if it were , as we say t is , the weight of the air , incumbent on the stagnant mercury , which keeps that suspended in the tube from falling down , the mercury would not be sustain'd at any thing near the same height in the open air , where the pillar that is suppos'd to lean upon the stagnant mercury , may reach up to the top of the atmosphere , as in a close room , where they imagine that no more air can press upon it , than what reaches directly up to the roof or sealing . and when to this t is answer'd , that though if a room were indeed exactly clos'd , the sustentation of the mercury ought to be ascrib'd to some other cause than the weight of the imprison'd air , ( which other cause i have elsewhere shewn to be its spring ; ) yet in ordinary rooms there is still a communication between the internal and external air , either by the chimney , or , if the room have none , by some crevice in the window , or by some chink between the wall and the door , or at least by the key-hole . and when to this t is objected , that the orifice of the keyhole is much narrower than the superficies of the stagnant mercury , and consequently , though the atmosphere were not reduc'd to press obliquely on the mercury , yet , entring at so small an orifice , it could not press sufficiently upon it ; when , i say , in answer to this objection i have alleadg'd that hydrostatical theoreme , that the pressure , in such cases as ours , is to be estimated by the heights of the liquors and not the breadths , the assertion has been thought unlikely and precarious . to confirm therefore this hydrostatical truth , one may take the bended tube , mention'd in the 22 th experiment ; and inclining it till the greatest part of the mercury pass from the shorter leg into the longer , the upper end of this shorter leg may by the flame of a lamp be drawn out so slender , that the orifice of it shall not be above an 8 th or 10 th part ( not to say a much lesse ) as big as 't was before . for this being done , and the tube erected again , if the tall cylinder of mercury be of the usual or former height , as we have found it , 't will appear congruous to our hypothesis , that the weight of the external air may exercise as much pression upon the stagnant mercury through a little hole , as when all the upper superficies of that mercury was directly expos'd to it . and if one have not the conveniency to draw out the shorter leg as is prescrib'd , one may nevertheless make the tryal , by carefully stopping up the orifice with a cork and cement , leaving onely ( or afterwards making ) a very small hole for the air to pass in and out . if i had not wanted a fit instrument , i would have tried to exemplifie the truth of what has been delivered , by adding to the glasses we imploy'd to make the v th . experiment , such a cover , as might be cemented on to the edge of the glass , having onely a very small hole in the midst , at which the atmosphere would be reduc'd to exercise its pressure ; and the like cover i would have made use of in the x th experiment , about the breaking of glass-plates in the unexhausted receiver , by the bare spring of the air. experiment xxv . shewing that an oblique pressure of the atmosphere may suffice to keep up the mercury at the wonted height in the torricellian experiment , and that the spring of a little included air may do the same . by adding a couple of little circumstances to the tryals lately propos'd , we may confirm two considerable articles of our hypothesis . for 1. if , in stead of drawing the shorter leg of our barometrical syphon ( if i may so call it ) directly upwards , or parallel to the longer leg as in the foregoing experiment , you make the slender part bend off so , as that , if it were continued , it would make a right angle with the longer leg of the syphon , or else an acute angle tending downwards ; this being done , i say , if when the tube is erected the mercury rest at its wonted station , 't will appear , that the pressure of the atmosphere may be exercis'd upon it as well obliquely , when the pipe that conveyes it is either horizontal , or opens downwards . and 2. if in stead of bending this slender pipe , one seal it up hermetically , the continuance of the mercurial cylinder at the same height will shew , that the spring of a very litle air , shut up with the presure of the atmosphere upon it , ( though no more than what the air here below is ordinarily expos'd to by the weight of the incumbent air , ) is able to support as tall a cylinder of mercury as the weight of the whole atmosphere , i. e. of as much of it , as can come to exercise its pressure against the mercury . nb. if when the shorter leg of the baroscope is seal'd up , you move the instrument up and down , the mercury will vibrate , by reason of the somewhat yielding spring of the imprisoned air ; but because of the resistance of the spring , the motion will be diversified after an odde and pretty manner : which may be easily perceiv'd by the impression it makes upon the hand , but not so easily describ'd . and because that , when the shorter leg is drawn out slender enough , after the instrument is furnish'd with quick-silver , t is easie to seal it up with the flame of a candle , without the help of any instrument at all , i shall here take notice to your lorship , ( which i could not reasonably do before , ) that it may on some occasions be convenient to seal up the barometer , before it be transported , and , in some cases , to incline the tube beforehand , till the quick-silver have quite fill'd the longer leg ; by this means the vibrations of the quick-silver will be less than otherwise they would be , and 't will be no trouble at all , when the instrument is brought to the design'd place , to break off the slender apex of the shorter leg , and so expose again the mercury to the pressure of the atmosphere . as about the former experiments , so about these two this advertisement may be given ; viz. that the same tryals , for the main , may be made without confining ones self to the propos'd wayes of making them . 1. for the first of these new tryals may be made by cementing very carefully on to the orifice of the shorter leg ( which need not be alter'd ) a short pipe of glass , whose upper end may be drawn out very slender , and bent either horizontally or downwards ; which is far easier to be done , than to draw out the shorter leg when the glass is furnish'd with mercury . 2. and as for the 2 d tryal , that may be well enough made , by carefully stopping the unalter'd orifice of the shorter leg with a good cork , and our close cement , or with the later onely ; and when you would afterwards use this instrument as a baroscope , you need but heat a pin or slender wire red hot , and so burn a hole through the stoppel . and this expedient , which i could not conveniently advertise your lordship of sooner , may be of use when a travailing baroscope is to be often remov'd : because having once stopt the whole orifice well , t is far more easie to stop and open a pin-hole accurately , than to close and unstop the whole orifice of the tube . note , i endeavoured to confirm more than one of the foregoing particulars by this one experiment . having caus'd a portable barometer to be made with the shorter leg of a somewhat more than ordinary length , i afterwards caus'd the upper part of this leg to be drawn out very slender , ( as in this 25 th experiment ; ) and lastly i caus'd the same shorter leg to be either about or somewhat above the middle bended downwards , so that the small orifice of the slender apex pointed towards the ground . this done , i was to have measur'd the height of the suspended mercury , but not having a fit ruler at hand , i then deferr'd , and afterwards forgot to do it ; but i remember , that neither i , nor some others vers'd in such experiments , to whom i shew'd it , took any notice that the mercury was less high than in ordinary barometers ; whence 't was concluded , that the atmosphere could exercise his pressure not onely at a very small orifice , ( which in our experiment did litle , if at all , exceed a pin-hole , ) but when the air must at this little orifice press upwards to be able to press upon the surface of the stagnant mercury : experiment xxvi . about the making of a baroscope ( but of litle practical use ) that serves but at certain times . to shew some ingenious men by a medium , that has not hitherto ( that i know of ) been made use of , that the not subsiding of quick-silver in an inverted tube , that is a little shorter than 30 inches , or thereabouts , does not proceed from such a fuga vacui as the schools ascribe to nature , but from the gravity of the external air , i devised the following experiment . having made choice of a time , when it appear'd by a good baroscope , ( which i had frequently consulted for that purpose , ) that the atmosphere was considerably heavy , i caus'd galspipe , hermetically seal'd at one end , and in length about 2 foot and a half , to be fill'd with quick-silver , save a very litle wherein some drops of water were put , that we might the better discern the bubbles , if any should be left after the inversion of the tube into an open glass with stagnant mercury in it . having by this means ( though not without difficulty ) freed the tube from bubbles , we so order'd the matter , that the quick-silver and the litle water that was about it , fill'd the tube exactly , without leaving any interval that we could discern at the top , and yet the mercurial cylinder was but very little higher than that of our baroscope was at that time . this done , the newly fill'd pipe was left erected in a quiet place , where the liquors retain'd their former height for divers dayes . but though an ordinary school-philosopher would confidently have attributed this sustation of so heavy a body to nature's fear of admitting a vacuum , yet it seems , that either she is not alwayes equally subject to that fear , or some other cause of the phaenomenon must be assign'd ; for when ( a pretty while after ) i had observ'd by the baroscope , that the atmosphere was grown much lighter than before , repairing to my short tube , i found that according to my expectation the quick-silver was not inconsiderably subsided , and had left a cavity at the top , which afterwards grew lesser , according as the atmosphere grew heavier . nb. 1. the tube imployed about this experiment , may be brought to the requisite shortness , either by wearing off a little of the glass at the orifice of it , or by increasing the height of the stagnant mercury , into which it hath been inverted . 2. when the quick silver in our short tube was much subsided , there appeared in the water that swam upon it a litle bubble , about the bigness of a small pins head , but , considering how careful we had been to free the tube from bubbles before we set it to rest , it may very well be , that this so small a bubble was not produc'd till after the subsiding of the quick-silver , whereupon the aerial particles in the water became less compress'd than before ; not to mention that the bubble ( such as it was ) appear'd very much greater than it would have done , if the pressure of the atmosphere had not been kept from it by the weight of the subjacent pillar of mercury . experiment xxvii . about the ascension of liquors in very slender pipes in an exhausted receiver . vvhat i related to your lordship in the 35 th of the publish'd experiments , ( pag. 138. ) about the seemingly spontaneous ascension of water in slender pipes , has occasion'd the making of many tryals by the curious , whereby that experiment has been not a little diversify'd ; but because among those i have yet heard of none have been made in our engine , it may not be amiss to adde the following tryal , which may be of use in the examen of one or two of the chief conjectures that have hitherto been propos'd about the cause of that odde phaenomenon . we ting'd some spirit of wine with cocheneel , which being put into the receiver , and the air withdrawn , did exceedingly bubble for a pretty while . then little hollow pipes of differing sizes being put into it , the red liquor ascended higher in the slenderer than the others , but upon the withdrawing of the air there scarce appear'd any sensible difference in the heights of the liquor , nor yet upon the letting it in again . afterwards two such pipes of differing sizes , being fasten'd together ( at a distance ) with cement , were let down into the same spirit of wine when the receiver was well exhausted , notwithstanding which the liquor ascended in them , for ought we could plainly see , after the ordinary manner ; onely when the air was let in again , there seem'd to be some little ( and but very litle ) rising at least in one of the pipes . in this tryal this phaenomenon was noted : that though there appear'd no bubbles at all in the vessel'd spirit of wine , ( notwithstanding that we continued to pump , ) yet there did for a pretty while arise bubbles in that part of the liquor that was got into the slender pipes ; which i guess'd to proceed from the sustentation ( in part ) of the spirit of wine , made by the inside of the pipe whereto it adher'd . experiment xxviii . about the great and seemingly spontaneous ascension of water in a pipe fill'd with a compact body , whose particles are thought incapable of imbibing it . vpon occasion of the ( seemingly ) spontaneous ascension of water in slender pipes of glass , i consider'd that 't would be easie by another way to make it rise to a far greater height than hitherto had been done ; for since we had found by observation that , caeteris paribus , the slenderer the little pipes were that we imployed , the higher the liquor would rise in them ; and since the hydrostaticks had taught us , that often times even in very crooked pipes water would be made to ascend by the same wayes ( of raising it ) to the same perpendicular height ( or thereabouts ) as in straight ones ; i thought , that i might well substitute a powder , consisting of solid corpuscles heap'd upon one another , and included in a glass-cane in stead of the litle pipes i had hitherto used . for i consider'd the litle intervals , that would necessarily be left between these differingly shap'd and confusedly plac'd corpuscles , would allow passage to the water as did the cavities of the little pipes , and yet would in many places be straiter than the slenderest pipes i had us'd . and though beaten glass , or fine sand , &c. might have been imployed about this experiment , yet i judg'd it far more convenient to make use of some metalline calx , because the operation of the fire , making a more exquisite comminution of solid bodies than our pestles are wont to do , is fit to supply us with exceeding minute granes , that intercept proportionable cavities between them . upon this consideration therefore ( besides others to be hereafter hinted ) i took a strait pipe of glass , open at both ends , and of a moderate wideness , ( for it need not be very slender , ) and having tyed a linnen-rag to one end of it , that the water might have free passage in , and the powder not be able to fall out , we carefully and as exactly as we could , fill'd the cavity with minium , ( which is lead calcin'd , without addition , to redness ; ) and then having erected the tube , so that the bottom of it rested upon that of a somewhat shallow and open mouth'd glass , containing water enough to swim an inch or two above the bottom of the tube ; into whose cavity it did , as i expected , insinuate it self by degrees , as appear'd by a litle change of colour in that part of the minium which it reacht , till ( the open glass being from time to time supplied with fresh liquor ) it attain'd to the height of about 30 inches . and then , our society expressing a curiosity to see it , and have it plac'd among better things , i was hinder'd from making any further observations with that particular glass . wherefore taking afterwards another tube , and some minimum carefully prepared , i prosecuted the experiment so as to make the water rise in the pipe about 40 inches above the surface of the stagnant water ; and i guess'd it had risen higher , but , by reason that at the upper part of the minimum the difference of colour was so small , as not to be easily distinguishable with certainty , i forbore to allow a greater height to the ascension of the water : nor could i , where i then was , much promote the experiment , for want of such accommodations as i desir'd ; but about the experiment , as i try'd it , i shall take notice of the following particulars . i tryed some other powders besides red lead , ( as beaten glass , pieces of fine spunge , putty , &c. ) but did not find any of them do so well ; which success was yet perhaps but accidental , and therefore the tryal may be repeated , especially with putty , because that being a metalline calx as well as minium , consists of very small grains , and by reason of its great whiteness receives a greater change of colour by wetting than minium does ; in which , especially if it be very fine , the discoloration that water makes toward the upper part of the tube , is sometimes not so easie to be clearly discern'd . 2. i did indeed endeavour to remedy this inconvenience , by using , in stead of meer water , tincted liquors , as ink , tincture of safron , &c. but they seem'd not to rise near so high as water alone , as if the dissolv'd ingredients did by degrees choak the pores of the minium . 3. to have the grains of our powder more minute and the smaller intervals between them , i chose not onely to use the finest sort of minium i could procure , but also to sift it through a very fine searce , and to put it but by litle and litle into the tube , that by ramming it from time to time it might be made to lie the closer ; which expedients succeeded not ill . 4. it seem'd by a tryal or two ( for i am not sure the observation will alwayes hold , ) that if the tube were very slender , ( as about the bigness of a swans quill , ) the experiment succeeded not well . 5. it may be worth while to observe in what times the water ascends to such and such heights ; for at the beginning t will ascend much faster then afterwards , and sometimes t will continue rising 24 or 30 hours , and sometimes perhaps much longer . 6. one of the scopes i propos'd to my self in this experiment was to discover a mistake in the explication that some learned modern writers have given us of the cause of filtration ; for whereas they teach that the parts of filtre that touch the water , being swell'd by the ingress of it to their pores , are thereby made to lift up the water , till it touch the superiour parts of the filtre that are almost contiguous to them ; by which means these being also wetted , and swell'd , raise the water to the other neighbouring parts of the filtre , till it have reacht to the top of it , whence it s own gravity will make it descend . but in our case we have a filtre made of solid metalline corpuscles , where t will be very hard to shew that any such intumescence is produc'd , as the recited explication requires . 7. water ascends so few inches even in very slender pipes , as to seem much to favour their judgment , who dissallow the conjecture lately entertain'd by some ingenious men , ( particularly m r h. ) about the raising of the sap in trees after the like manner that water is raised in slender pipes ; but without fully delivering yet my thoughts of that speculation , i may take notice , that in the last tryal above recited , i made water to ascend near , if not above , 3 foot ½ and if by so sleight an expedient , water may be made to rise as high as is necessary for the nutrition of some thousands of plants , ( for such a number there is , that exceed not 3 foot 1 / 2 in height , ) one may without absurdity ask , why t is not possible that nature , or rather the most wise author of it , may have made such contrivances in plants , as to make liquors ascend in them to the tops of the tallest trees ; especially since , besides divers things that we may already suspect , ( as heat , and something equivalent to well plac'd valves , ) many others , that perhaps are not yet dreamt of , may probably concur to the effect . 8. as i formerly made , by bending the slender pipes we have been talking of , short syphons through which the water runs , without being at first assisted by suction , so i thought fit to try , whether i could not in larger pipes , by the help of minium , make much longer syphons . but though when the orifices were turn'd upwards , fine minium were ramm'd into both the legs , and the orifices were both of them clos'd , yet when they came to be again turn'd downwards , the weight of the minium would somewhere or other ( and for the most part at or near the flexure ) make some such chink or discontinuation , as to hinder the farther progress of the water . which impediment , though i judg'd it superable enough , ( especially by making at the flexure a little pipe or socket , by which both legs might be closely fill'd ) yet for want of accommodations and leisure it was left unsurmounted . upon which account also i did not satisfie my self about the success of some former tryals , as of the ascension of water into pieces of wood of differing sorts , the operation of the vicissitudes of the suns beams , and the absence of them upon liquors ascending in tubes fill'd with minium , &c. 9. whether the pressure of the outward air be the cause of the ascension of liquors in our tubes furnisht with minium , is a probleme , in order to whose solution i could acquaint your lordship with a contrivance , wherewith to make some tryals in our engine . but since it can scarce be well describ'd without many words , unless you express a particular curiosity to know it , i shall not trouble you with it : and the rather , because the best way i know of examining this difficulty belongs to the 2 d part of this continuation , where mention is made of an attempt about it , which did not , i confess , displease me . experiment xxix . of the seemingly spontaneous ascension of salts along the sides of glasses , with a conjecture at the cause of it . to the same cause ( or the like ) with that of the ascension of water in slender pipes may be probably referr'd an odde phaenomenon , which though i remember not to have been mentioned by any chymical or other writer , i have not unfrequently observed as well by chance as in tryals purposely made to satisfie my self and others about the truth of it . the phaenomenon , in short , was this . that having in wide-mouth'd glasses ( which should not be very deep ) expos'd to the air a strong solution of common sea-salt or of vitriol , which reacht not by some inches to the top of the glass ; and having suffered much of the aqueous part to exhale away very slowly , the coagulated salt would at length appear to have lin'd the inside of the glass , and to have ascended much higher , not onely than the place where the surface of the remaining water then rested at , but than the place to which the liquor reacht when 't was first poured in . and if the experiment were continued long enough , i sometimes observed this ascension of the salt to amount to some inches , and that the salt did not onely line the inside of the glass , but , getting over the brim of it , cover'd the outside of it with a saline crust : which made them that saw how litle liquor remain'd in the glass , admire how it could possibly get thither . and though i have mentioned but the solution of vitriol and sea-salt , because they are much easier than others to be procur'd , and yet the experiment succeeds better in them than in some other far less parable salts ; yet they are not the onely ones by whose solutions the recited phaenomenon may be exhibited . as for the cause of this odd effect , though i shall not propose any thing about it with confidence , till i have further inquired into it , and especially till i have tryed whether the phaenomenon may be produced in an exhausted receiver ; yet , by what i have hitherto observed , i am inclin'd to conjecture , that it may be referr'd to such a cause as that of the ascension of liquors in pipes after some such manner as this . first , i observed , that in water and aqueous liquors , that part of the surface which is next the sides of the glass , is ( whatever the reason of it be ) sensibly more elevated than the rest of the superficies ; and if very litle clippings of straw or other such minute and light bodies , floating upon the water , chance to approach near enough to the sides of the glass , they will be apt ( which one would not expect ) to run up as t were this ascent of water , and rest against the sides of the glass . next we may take notice with the salt-boylers and chymists , that sea-salt is usually wont to coagulate at the top of the water in small and oblong corpuscles , so that as to these t is easie to conceive , to them that have considered the first observation , how numbers of them may fasten themselves round about to the inside of the glass . and besides sea-salt , i have found by tryal divers others , if their solutions be slowly enough evaporated , that will , whilst yet there remains a good proportion of liquor , afford saline concretions at the top of the water . and the fastning of saline particles to the sides of the glass may perhaps be promoted by the coldness that may be communicated to the corpuscles contiguous to the glass , by reason of the coldness which the glass may be suspected to have , upon the score of its density , in comparison of water . but to proceed : i consider , that by the evaporation of the aqueous parts of the solution , the surface of the remaining liquor must necessarily subside , and those saline particles , that were contiguous to the inside of the glass and the more elevated part of the water , having no longer enough of liquor to keep them dissolv'd , will be apt to remain sticking to the sides of the glass , and upon the least farther evaporation of the water will be a litle higher than the greater part of the superficies of that liquor ; by which means it will come to pass , that , by reason of the litle inequalities that will be on the internal surface of the adhering corpuscles of the salt , and perhaps also on the internal superficies of the glass , there will be intercepted between the salt and the glass litle cavities , into which the water contiguous to the bottom will ascend or be impell'd upon such an account as that , whereon t is rais'd in slender pipes . and when the liquor is thus got to the top of the salt , and comes to be exposed to the air , the saline part may , by the evaporation of the aqueous , be brought to coagulate there , and consequently to increase the height of the saline filme , ( if i may so call it ; ) which by the like means may be at length brought to reach to the very top of the glass , whence it may easily be brought over to the outside of the vessel , where the natural weight of the solution will facilitate its progress downwards ; and the skin of salt , together with the contiguous surface of the glass , may ( at length ) constitute a kind of syphon . to this explication it agrees well , that i have usually observed the saline filme hitherto mentioned to be with great ease separable from the glass in large fleaks ; which argues , that they did not stick close to one another except in some few places , but had a thin cavity intercepted between them , through which the water might ascend . nor is it repugnant to this explication , that in case the water ascended , it should , as it seems , dissolve the salt. for the liquor being already upon the point of concretion , is so glutted with salt , that it can dissolve no more . whence we may also render a reason , why , when the saline filme chances to reach to the outside of the glass , the liquor ( divers times ) does not run down to the bottom , but is coagulated by the way . and i have also had a suspicion , ( though i could not seasonably take notice of it before now , ) that when the concretion is once begun , the film may be raised and propagated , not onely by the motion of the liquor between the inside of it and the glass , but by the same liquor 's insinuating it self on the outside of the film into the small chinks and crevises , intercepted between the saline corpuscles , as ink ( especially if somewhat thin ) rises into the slit , and along the sides of the nib of a pen , though nothing but its very point be dipt in the surface of the liquor . and by this means the impregnated solution may as it were climb up to the top of the saline concretion , and by coagulating there adde to its height . some other circumstances i have noted of our phaenomenon , that agree with the propos'd explication , but perhaps it would not be worth while to spend more time about it . not to examine here whether what has been related , so as to make it probable that ascending water may carry up wherewithall to heighten and increase the pipes or vessels through which it rises , may contribute any thing more then was suggested in the former 28 th experiment , towards the explication of the rising and diffusing of the sap in trees . experiment xxx . about an attempt to measure the gravity of cylinders of the atmosphere , so as that it may be exprest by known and common weights . vvhilst i was making the former experiments , 't was more than once my wish , that by knowing the just weight of a cylinder of quick-silver of a determinate diameter , and of 29 or 30 inches high , which is near the height that the air does usually counterballance , i might the better estimate the weight of a cylinder of the atmosphere of that diameter , and consequently make the better guesses how near the effects of the spring of the air ( as well as of its weight , ) produc'd by the help of our engine , approach'd to the utmost of what might have been expected , in case all the instruments imployed had been perfect , and all concurrent circumstances had been favourable : and upon this account i several times regretted my want of a long instrument of steel or hardned iron , wherewith i many years since made an observation , that was more carefully registred than preserved , of the weight of a mercurial cylinder of a determinate height as well as diameter ; which weight i did not think it so safe to determine by the help of glass-tubes , because t is very difficult to have them uniformly cylindrical , and to know that they are so , in regard that they are form'd but by blowing and drawing out , and , besides the inequality that may happen to the cavity upon other accounts , t is very difficult to make the sides of the glass equally thick , and to examine whether they be so or no. but at length lighting upon ( what i had too often wanted in the foregoing experiments ) a dexterous artificer , that chanced to come for a while to the place where i then was , i indeavour'd to repair my loss , as well as he could help me to do it , by causing him to turn very carefully a cylindrical piece of brass , of an inch in diameter , and 3 inches in length , and open ( that it might be the better wrought ) at both ends , to one of which was exactly fitted a flat bottom of the same metal , fastned very close to it with little screws on the outside ; this being judg'd a better way , than if it had been turn'd all of a piece : this instrument being diligently counterpois'd in a trusty pair of scales , was carefully fill'd with mercury , which ( for greater caution ) we took out of a new parcel , that we had not yet imployed about other experiments , and finding it to weigh xvii ounces , one dram , 45 gr : troy weight , ( or 137 dr : 45 gr : ) multiplying that by 10 , there will come for the weight of a mercurial cylinder , of one inch in diameter , and 30 inches in height , ( and so high i have divers times seen the mercury to be in a good barometer , ) about 14 , 2l , ( i.e. 14l , 2 ounces , and above three drams , troy-weight ; and almost 11 , 8l . haberdupoise weight , ( i.e. 11l , 12 ounces , and above 6 drams , ) which is a greater weight than without such a tryal one would easily imagine that so short a cylinder of mercury , and much less that a cylinder of so light a body as air , being neither of them above an inch diameter , could amount to . note first , to examine at the same time the weight of the mercury , and its proportion to water , we did , before the mercury was pour'd into the brass-vessel , fill it with water , ( after which we wip'd it dry before the mercury was put into it ; ) and this liquor weighing 10 drams , and 15 gr : the proportion between the mercury and the water appeard to be that of 13 18 / 41 to 1 : which though it seem somewhat of the least , yet your lordship may remember , that i formerly told you i had several times found the receiv'd proportion of 14 to 1 , between mercury and water , to be somewhat too great ; and besides that , in a vessel whose orifice was no lesse than an inch in diameter , t is exceeding difficult to be sure when t is precisely full either of water or mercury ; because the former has a superficies considerably concave , and the other one that is notably convex , and though we us'd some litle artifices ( which would be troublesome here to mention ) to estimate the proturberance of the one liquor , and the deficience of the other , as near the truth as could be , yet i am not sure but there may have been a few mercurial corpuscles more than there should have been , and that consequently some small abatement may have been made of the weight newly attributed to the whole mercurial cylinder of 30 inches . 2. i had thoughts of making use of the barrel of a gun , of a convenient length , to find the weight of a mercurial cylinder of 2 foot and 1 / 2 , but i preferr'd the instrument already made use of ( especially not being where i could have one bored after a peculiar way , ) not onely because i could not meet with one whose diameter was a just inch , and consequently as convenient for calculations , and because that the barrels of guns are often bor'd a litle tapering ; but because a skilful artificer confest to me , that they scarce ever bore such barrels , but with a foure-square bit , ( as they call it , ) which leaves the cavity too angular , or too imperfectly round ; whereas if an hexahedrical bit be imploy'd it will , as he affirm'd , make the cavity almost as cylindrical as can be reasonably desired . i say nothing here of making use for our purpose of a trunk , as they call a hollow cylinder of wood , because i elsewhere shew , that wood ( at least such as the trunks to shoot pellets with are wont to be made of ) is not of a texture close enough for such an use . 3. because in cylinders of mercury , 30 inches is a height which the atmosphere is seldome heavy enough to be able to counterpoise , and because 29 inches is somewhat nearer the middle between the greatest and the least heights , at which i have observed the mercury at differing times to stand in good barometers . your lordship may , if you please , abate a 30 th part of the weight assign'd above to a mercurial cylinder of 30 inches , ( though i take 29 and ¼ , or thereabouts , to be somewhat a more usual height of the mercury , than precisely nine and twenty . ) 4. the weight of a mercurial cylinder in an aequilibrium with the atmosphere , and of one inch in diameter being thus setled , we may , by the help of the doctrine of proportions , and a few propositions , especially the 14 th of the 12 th book of euclides elements , easily enough calculate the weight of a cylinder of mercury of another diameter , and consequently the force of the pressure of an atmospherical pillar of the same diameter . for since according to the forenam'd 14 th proposition of the 12 th , cylinders of equal bases are to one another as their heights ; and since by the 2 d proposition of the same 12. element , circles such as are the bases of cylinders ) are to one another , as the squares of their diameters ; and since lastly we suppose , that mercury being a homogeneous body , at least as to sense , the mercurial cylinders will have the same proportion to each other in weight that they have in bulk ; since , i say , these things are so , if , for instance , we desire to know what will be the weight of a cylinder of 30 inches high , whose diameter is two inches , the rule will be this . as the square of the diameter of the standard cylinder , ( as i call that whose weight is already known ) is to the square of the diameter of the cylinder propos'd , so will the bulk of the former cylinder be to that of the later , and the weight of that to the weight of this . according to which rule , the square of 1 inch ( which is the diameter of the standard cylinder ) being but 1 , ( whereby your lordship may perceive how much the measure i pitcht on facilitates computations , ) and the square of 2 ( which is the diameter of the propos'd cylinder ) being 4 , the bulk or solid contents of this later cylinder , and consequently its weight , will be 4 times as great as those of the standard cylinder ; and so , since the lesser has been already suppos'd to weigh 11 , 8l haberdupoise , the mercurial cylinder of two inches in diameter , will weigh 47 , 2l of the same weight . experiment xxxi . about the attractive virtue of the loadstone in an exhausted receiver . some learned modern philosophers , that have attempted to explicate the cause and manner of magnetical attraction or coition , give such an account of it , as supposes , that the air between the two magnetical bodies , being driven away by their effluviums from between them , presses them on the parts opposite to those where the contact is to be made ; and upon some such score ( for i must not now stay to deliver their theories circumstantially ) the air is suppos'd to contribute very much to the attraction and sustentation of the iron by the loadstone : wherefore partly to examine this opinion , and partly for some other purposes ( not necessary now to be mentioned ) we thought fit to make the following exptriment . we took a small but vigorous loadstone , cap'd and fitted with a loose plate of steel , so shap'd , that when it was sustained by the loadstone , we could hang at a litle crook , that came out of the midst of it , and pointed downwards , a scale , wherein to put what weights we should think fit . into this scale we put sometimes more and sometimes less weight , and then by shaking of the loadstone as much as we guess'd it would be shaken by the motion of the engine , we found the greatest weight , that we presum'd it would be able to support , in spite of the agitation 't would be exposed to , which prov'd to be , besides the iron-plate and the scale , vi ounces troy weight , to which if we added half an ounce more , the whole weight appear'd too easie to be shaken off . this done , we hung the loadstone , with all the weight it sustain'd , at a button of glass , which we had procur'd to be fastned on to the top of the inside of a receiver , when 't was first blown , and though in about 12 exuctions we usually emptied such receivers as as much as was requisite for most experiments ; yet this time , to exhaust it the more accurately , we continued pumping till we had exceeded twice that number of exuctions , at the end of which time shaking the engine somewhat rudely , without thereby shaking off the weight that hung at the loastone , the iron seem'd to be very near as firmly sustain'd by it as before the air began to be pump'd out . i said very near , rather than altogether , because that the withdrawing of the air , though it be not suppos'd to weaken at all the power of the loadstone precisely considered , yet it must lessen its power to sustain the steel , because this in so thin a medium must weigh heavier , than in the air , by the weight of as much air , as is equal in bulk to the appended body . some other magnetical tryals ( and also some electrical ones ) i remember i attempted to make by the help of our engine , but not having the notes i took of them now at hand , i shall suspend the mentioning them , till i can give your lordship a more punctual account of them . experiment xxxii . shewing , that when the pressure of the external air is taken off , t is very easie to draw up the sucker of a syringe , though the hole , at which the air or water should succeed , be stopp'd . having taken notice , that some learned opposers of the modern doctrine about the weight of the atmosphere think themselves more than ordinarily befriended by the difficulty we find in drawing up the embolus or sucker of a syringe , when the hole , at which the air or water should succeed , is stopt , and by the violence , with which , as soon as t is let go , tis , as they imagine , drawn back . and supposing the reason of this confidence of theirs to be , that men have not yet been able in these phaenomena ( as in some others ) to prove the interest of the atmosphere's gravity by direct or confessedly analogous experiments ; i presum'd it will not be unwelcome to your lordship , if i here fortifie the speculations that have been or may be propos'd to explicate these things according to the hypothesis of the weight of the air , by what we tried to that purpose , among others , when we were making use of a syringe in our engine . the i. tryal . we took a syringe of brass , ( that metal being closer and stronger then pewter , of which such instruments are usually made , ) being in length ( in the barrel ) about 6 inches , and in diameter about 1 inch ⅜ and having , by putting a thin bladder about the sucker , and by pouring a litle oyl into the cavity of the cylinder ( or barrel , ) brought the instrument to be stanch enough , and yet the sucker to move to and fro without much difficulty , we thrust this to the bottom ( or basis ) of the barrel to exclude the air , and having unscrew'd and laid aside the slender pipe of the syringe ( which in this and some other tryals was like to prove not onely needless , but inconvenient ) we carefully stopt the orifice , to which the pipe in these instruments is wont to be screw'd , and then drawing up the sucker we let it go , to judg by the violence , with which it would be driven back again , whether the syringe were light enough for our purpose , and finding it to be so , we fastned to the barrel a ponderous piece of iron to keep it down , and then fastning to the handle of the rammer ( or axle-tree of the sucker ) one end of a string , whose other end was tied to the often mentioned turning-key : we convey'd this syringe , and the weight belonging unto it , into a receiver ; and having pump'd out the air , we then began to turn the key , thereby to shorten the string that tied the handle of the syringe to it ; and , as we foretold , that the pressure of the air , lately included in the receiver , being withdrawn , we should no more find the wonted resistance in drawing up the sucker from the bottom of the cylinder , so we found upon tryal that we could very easily pull it up without finding any sensible resistance . however having thought fit to repeat the experiment , ( which we did with the like success , ) lest it might might be objected , that this want of resistance might proceed , as partly from our imploying the turning-key to raise the sucker , so principally from some unperceived leak , at which the air may be suppos'd to have got into the cavity of the cylinder ; i thought fit not onely to examine by tryal , after the receiver was remov'd from off the pump , whether the syringe were not stanch , ( upon which i found that i could not , without some straining , draw up the sucker even a litle way , and that it would be violently beaten back again , ) but also in one of these experiments to make this variation ; that when , the receiver being exhausted , we had drawn up the sucker almost to the top of the barrel by such a string as was purposely chosen somewhat weak , we kept the parts of the syring in that posture , till we had open'd a passage to the outward air , upon whose ingress the sucker was ( as we intended it should be ) so forceably deprest , that it broke the string by which it was tied to the turning-key , and was violently driven back to the lower part of the barrel , & that notwithstanding these two disadvantageous circumstances ; one , that the string was not so weak , but that one , whom i imploy'd to try it before it was fastned to the syringe , made it sustain a lump of iron that weighed between four and five pound ; and the other , that yet this string was broken long before all the air , that flowed in to fill the receiver , had got in : so that the pressure of all the admitted air would doubtless have broken a much stronger string , if we had imploy'd such a one to resist the depression of the sucker , which will yet be more evident by a phaenomenon of our syringe , that i shall presently have occasion to relate . the ii. tryal . containing a variation of the foregoing . we took the syringe imploy'd in the foregoing experiments , and having found by tryal that it was , though not perfectly , tite , ( nor altogether so much so as before , ) yet enough so for our present purpose , ( since , when the orifice of the vent in the basis was stopt , if the sucker were more forceably drawn up a litle way , and then let go , it would hastily return , or rather violently be impell'd back towards the bottom of the barrel , ) we made it serve us as well as we could for the following experiment . of this syringe we did very carefully with a cork and our cement close the vent ; and then having tied to the barrel of the syring a weight that hapned to be at hand , ( and to amount to 2 pound , and as many ounces , ) we suspended the rammer of the syringe by a string in a large receiver ; and then causing the pump to be applied , we made 11 or 12 exuctions of the air , without any appearance of change in the syringe : but because i had judg'd the above mentioned weight sufficient , and suppos'd that the little air still remaining in the receiver , had yet too strong a pressure to be surmounted by it , i caus'd the pumping to be continued , and within 2 or three exuctions more i perceiv'd the cylinder to begin to be drawn down ( though but very slowly ) by the weight hanging at it , ( assisted by its own gravity : ) and likewise tried ( after having purposely stopt a while the working of the pump ) that just upon a fresh suck the descent would be manifestly accelerated . and when we had suffer'd the barrel and weight to slide down as far as we thought fit , we let in the external air , which ( as was to be expected ) rais'd them both again much faster than they had subsided . nb. there would not have needed any thing near so great a weight to depress the barrel of the syringe , but that it is difficult in such an instrument to make the sucker fill it accurately enough , without making it somewhat uneasie to be mov'd to and fro : upon which account t was necessary that a weight should be added , not onely to surmount the pressure of the air remaining in the receiver , ( which was not , nor needed to be diligently exhausted in this experiment , ) but to overcome that resistance , which we just now noted the inequalities of the inside of the cylinder and those of the sucker to give to the motion of the one in or over the other . and yet for all this t is not easie , though it be not impossible , to make one of these syringes very tight , especially when the nose is well stopt , and the sucker drawn up ; there being often some litle air that strains in between the sucker and the barrel , and some that will be harbour'd between the sucker ( though thrust home ) and the bottom of the barrel , besides what may lurk between the same sucker and the cork that stops the orifice of the vent . nor were we confident , that our syringe did not at length let some aerial particles insinuate themselves into the cavity , which the depression of the barrel had made betwixt the bases of that barrel and the sucker : and in such cases we ought not to wonder , if upon the return of the air the barrel and weight be not impell'd up all together to the same height they rested at , when they were first suspended in the receiver . 2. it agreed very well with our doctrine , that as the cylinder and weight began not to fall , till a great quantity of air had been pump'd out of the receiver , so they did not begin to move upwards presently upon the freedom that was allow'd the air to return into the receiver . for till it had continued a pretty while flowing in , there was not enough of it entred to restore by its pressure the cylinder and the annexed weight to their former situation . 3. what has been deliver'd about our experiment may be confirm'd by this variation which we made of it : that having substituted a far heavier weight instead of that lately mention'd , the depression of the barrel of the syringe succeeded 2 or 3 times one after another much sooner than formerly , viz. about the sixth , or at most , the seaventh exuction . experiment xxxiii . about the opening of a syringe , whose pipe was stopt in the exhausted receiver , and by the help of it making the pressure of the air lift up a considerable weight . though the trial i am about to relate , had not all the success i desir'd , yet perhaps it will not be impertinent to make mention of it , because there is not any sort of experiments , that is wont so much to perswade the generality of spectators , of the great force of the pressure of the air , as those , wherein they plainly see heavy and solid bodies made to ascend , ( upon the operation of the air on them , ) without seeing any other thing lift them up . we took the often mention'd syringe , and having clos'd up the hole at the bottom with good cement , we ty'd to the barrel a hollow piece of iron , that serv'd us for a scale , into which we put divers weights one after another , trying from time to time whether , when the sucker was forceably drawn up , and held steddily in its highest station , the weight tyed to the barrel ( which was held down , whilst the sucker was drawn up , and afterwards let go ) would be considerably rais'd . and when we perceiv'd , that the addition of half a pound , or a pound more , would make the weight too great to be so rais'd , we forbore to put in that increase of weight ; and having tied the handle of the rammer to the turning-key , we convey'd the syringe together with its clog into a receiver , out of which a convenient quantity of air being pump'd , we were thereby enabled easily to draw up the sucker without the cylinder ; after which having let in the air , the by-standers concluded , that the weight was rais'd a litle , which yet i would not have allow'd , if we had not been able , by inclining the engine and the receiver , to make the syringe and weight a litle to swing . but to make the effect more evident , i caus'd a two pound weight to be taken out , and then the receiver being somewhat exhausted , and the air readmitted , the clog , when all the air was come in , was swiftly raised , and as it were snatch'd up from the midle to the upper part of the suspended rammer . it is no easie matter to measure , with any certainty and exactness by a syringe , the weight of an atmospherical pillar equal to it in diameter , especially if there be any imperfection in the syringe , either because the sucker does not go close enough , in which case it can scarce be stanch , or because by its pressure against the inside of the barrel ( which often happens if it be too close ) it hinders the sucker and barrel from sliding without resistance by one another , and consequently there is an undue resistance made to the endeavour of the atmosphere , to raise the barrel and weight . and therefore , though our syringe being , upon the account of some ill accident , less in order than it was in some of the foregoing experiments , i must not conclude that a cylinder of the atmosphere of the same wideness with it , is equipollent to no greater a weight , than that which was taken up in our trial , yet we may safely conclude that so slender a pillar of the atmosphere is able to raise by a syringe at least such a weight , as in our experiment it actually lifted up , which amounted to about sixteen pound ( haberdupoise weight , ) for it exceeded fifteen pound and three quarters , besides the weight of the syringes barrel it self . experiment xxxiv . shewing , that the cause of the ascension of liquors in syringes is to be deriv'd from the pressure of the air. i shall not here trouble your lordship with what i have elsewhere propos'd about the explicating of suction : but as by the lately recited experiments ( i mean the 31 , 32 , and 33 ) it has appear'd , that t is to the pressure of the external air that we should ascribe the difficulty of drawing up the sucker of a syring , when the pipe ( or the vent ) is stopt ; so i shall now endeavour to shew , that the ascension of liquors , which follow the sucker when t is drawn up , the pipe being open , depends also upon the pressure of the air , ( incumbent on that liquor . ) if i had been furnish'd with very tall receivers , and such other glasses as i could have wish'd , i had tried the following experiments with water , as well as quick-silver , but for want of those accommodations i was reduc'd to make my experiment with the later onely of those liquors , which yet will i hope sufficiently make out what was intended . the i. tryal . we took a small receiver , shap'd almost like a pear , cut off horizontally at both ends , ( being the same cap'd glass that is elsewhere mentioned in the accounts of other experiments : ) we also took the syringe formerly describ'd , and having fastned on to it with good cement , in stead of its own brass-pipe , a small glass pipe of about half a foot in length , we put this syringe in at the narrow end of the receiver ; to whose orifice was ( afterwards ) carefully cemented on the brass-cap with the turning-key , whereto was tied by a string the handle of the rammer . then having conveniently plac'd upon the engine a very short thick glass shap'd like a sugar-loaf , ( which was made use of for want of a better , ) with a sufficient quantity of quick-silver in it ; we so placed the receiver over it , that the lower end of the pipe of the syringe reacht almost to the bottom of this glass , and consequently was immerst a pretty way beneath the surface of the quick silver . we had also poured a little water in the upper part of the syringe , that no air might get in between the sucker and the cylinder , notwithstanding that by some accident or other the syringe was become somewhat less tite than before . and last of all we cemented the receiver to the engine after the usual manner . that which now remained , being to try the experiment it self , in order to which all this had been done , the air was pump'd out of the receiver , ( and consequently out of the little glass that held the mercury , ) and then the sucker being warily drawn up , we could not see the quick-silver ascend to follow it , though a litle water , which it seems the outward air had thrust in between the sucker and the cylinder , was either rais'd or stopt in the glass-pipe of the syringe , ( whereof yet much the greatest part remain'd unfill'd ; ) of which the reason according to our hypothesis was manifest , namely , that the air being pump'd out of the receiver , the litle that remain'd had not strength enough to press up so ponderous a liquor as the quick-silver into the pipe , ( though even that litle unexhausted air might have spring enough left to raise a litle water . ) and since it appear'd by this , that without the pressure of the air the quick-silver would not be elevated , we thought it seasonable to shew , that by the pressure of the air it would . whereupon the air being let slowly into the receiver , the mercury was quickly impell'd up at least to the top of the glass-pipe , ( though by reason of some unperceiv'd leak it was not long sustain'd there . ) and for further satisfaction , when the experiment was to be tried over again , we order'd it to be so made , that it might plainly be observed , that though when , the receiver not being yet exhausted , the sucker was drawn up but one inch , the mercury would be rais'd to the upper part of the glass-pipe of the syringe , yet after the exhausting of the receiver , though the sucker was drawn up twice as high , there appear'd no ascension of the mercury in the pipe , ( whose lower part onely was darkned by the litle glass which contain'd that fluid metal . ) before i dismiss this experiment , i must , to make good a promise i made your lordship , acquaint you with a phaenomenon , which does not a litle confirm our doctrine , according to which it was easie both to foresee and to explain it : the phaenomenon was , that if when the air was diligently pump'd out of the receiver , the sucker were endeavour'd to be pull'd up , it could not be so , without much difficulty and resistance , such as was formerly found when the vent of the syringe was stopt , of which in our hypothesis the reason may be clearly this ; that there being no common air in the receiver to assist by its pressure ( whether immediate or mediate ) the raising of the sucker , this could not be raised but by a force great enough to surmount the weight of the external air or atmospherical pillar that lean'd upon it . so that as the other phaenomena of our experiments manifest , that the raising of liquors by a syringe , which is commonly ascrib'd to attraction , depends upon the pressure of the air ; so by this phaenomenon it appears , that the difficulty of opening a syringe , whose pipe is stopt , need not be attributed to such a fuga vacui as vulgar philosophers refer it to ; since in our case the same difficulty was found , though the pipe were open , and the liquor 't was immerst in , might have had free access to the place deserted by the sucker . the ii. tryal being a prosecution of the former attempt . to vary as well as confirm the foregoing experiment , we caus'd the syringe to be tied fast to a competently ponderous body that might keep the cylinder unmov'd , when the sucker should be drawn up . we also cemented on to the vent or screw at the bottom of the syringe a pipe of glass of about two inches in length , ( which should have been longer , but that then there would not have been room in the receiver for the pulling up of the sucker , ) and having plac'd the heavy body whereto the syringe was tied upon a pedestal of a convenient height , that the glass-pipe might be all seen beneath it , and a very low viol almost fill'd with quick-silver might be so plac'd underneath the pipe , that the stagnant mercury reach'd a good way above the immerst orifice of the said pipe. these things being thus provided , and the handle of the syringes rammer being tied with a string to the turning-key that belong'd to the brass-cover of the receiver , this vessel was cemented on to the engine , and by it exhausted after the usual manner . when this was done , we look'd upon the syringes glass-pipe above mentioned , and being able to see through it , ( whereby we were certain that it was not yet full of quick-silver ) we did by the string draw up the sucker to a good height , but could not perceive the pipe to be fill'd with any succeeding mercury . wherefore warily letting in some air , we quickly saw the mercury impell'd to the very top of the pipe ; and we concluded from the quantity of quick-silver that was rais'd , that a pretty deal was also driven into the cavity of the cylinder . nb. i had once before seen the mercury ascend into the pipe upon the letting in of the air into the emptied receiver , but it seeming somewhat difficult to me to determine whether the sucker had been raised , because there was no mark to guide my aestimate by , i thought it might be suspected , that in case the sucker had not been rais'd , the ascension of the quick-silver might have proceeded from hence , that the air contain'd in the glass-pipe , breaking out through the stagnant mercury upon the exhausting of the receiver , the quick-silver might upon the return of the air into the receiver be prest up into the place deserted by the air , that broke out of the pipe. wherefore we caus'd a string to be tied about the rammer , as near as we could to the top of the cylinder , by which means , when the receiver was the next time exhausted , we perceiv'd , that by drawing up the sucker vve had rais'd it about two inches , if not more , and yet vve could not discern any mercury to follow it , ( the glass-pipe still continuing transparent , ) till we had let some air return into the receiver . this experiment joyn'd with those we have formerly related to have been tried with our syringe , may teach us , that if a syringe were made use of above the atmosphere , neither the stopping of the pipe vvould hinder the easy drawing up of the sucker , nor the drawing up of the sucker , though the pipe vvere not stopt , vvould raise by suction the liquor vvhich the pipe was immerst in . postscript . since the last recited experiment was made , and written , finding some of our instruments to be in better order than they were when that tryal was made , vve thought fit to endeavour by that which follows , to repair an omission or two , that formerly we could not well avoid . having then caus'd such a glass-pipe , as has been lately mentioned , to be vvell cemented on to the syringe , ( vvhose sucker did now move more easily , and yet fill the barrel more exactly , than before , ) i order'd ( being to be absent for a while my self ) that the pipe should be fill'd with spirit of wine tincted with cocheneel , that the liquor and its motions might be the better discern'd , and that the pipe being fill'd , that air might be excluded , which vvould else be harboured in the pipe , ( which caution was omitted in the foregoing experiment . ) and this the person , to whom i committed it , affirm'd to have been carefully done , though when he inverted the pipe thus fill'd into the rest of the red liquor , that was put into a viol , he could not possibly do it so well , but that a bubble of air got into the pipe , and took up some ( though but a litle ) room there . by that time , i was call'd upon , to see the event of the tryal , and could come to look upon it , the receiver was almost quite exhausted ; vvherefore after i had made the pumping be continued a litle longer , and perceived that the tincted spirit was fallen down out of the pipe , and that which lay in the viol seem'd almost to boyl at the top , by reason of the emersion of numerous bubbles , i caus'd the sucker to be , by the help of the turning-key , drawn up ( by our aestimate ) about two inches and a half , notwithstanding which vve could not perceive the spirit of wine to rise in the pipe , ( though the pumping were before left off . ) for vvhich reason i order'd the air to be let in very leisurely , upon which vve could plainly see that the red spirit was quickly driven up to the top of the pipe , and that it was so likewise into the cavity of the barrel , appeared , when the receiver was removed , by the small quantity of liquor that remained in the viol , and the plenty of it which came out of the syringe . nb. that if i had not vvanted dexterous artificers , to work according to a contrivance i had design'd , i had attempted to imitate , by the help of the bare spring of the air , such experiments , as in the lately recited tryals vvere made to succeed , by the help of the pressure exercis'd by the air upon the account of its weight . experiment xxxv . shewing , that upon the pressure of the air depends the sticking of cupping glasses to the fleshy parts they are apply'd to . t is sufficiently known , that if the air within a cupping glass be rarified by the flame of tow , flax , or the like , ( burn'd for a litle while in it , ) and the glass be presently clapt upon some fleshy part of a mans body , there will quickly ensue a painful and visible swelling of the part cover'd by the cupping glass . t is also known , that this experiment is wont to be urg'd by the schools as a clear proof of that abhorrence of a vacuum they ascribe to nature ; for , say they , the reason of this phaenomenon is plainly , that the internal air of the cupping glass , praeternaturally rarified by heat when the instrument is applied , that heat after a while ceasing , the succeeding cold must again necessarily condense the air ; and so this contracted air being no longer able to fill the whole space it replenished before , there would ensue a vacuum , if the flesh covered by the cupping glass , or adjoyning to it , did not swell into the cavity of it , to fill the place deserted by the air. those moderns that assert the weight of the atmosphere , do thence ingeniously endeavour to deduce the phaenomenon . and indeed if to their hypothesis about the airs weight , the consideration of its spring be added , 't will be easie enough to explicate the phaenomenon , by saying , that when the cupping glass is first set on , though much of the air it formerly contain'd were a litle before expell'd by the heat , yet the same heat , increasing the pressure of the remaining air , is the cause that the absence of the air driven out of the glass , does not immediately occasion so sensible a pain : but , when that adventitious agitation of the included air ceases , that air having now , because of the paucity of its corpuscles , but a weak spring , can no longer press upon the part covered by the cupping glass neer so strongly , as the outward air does by its weight press upon all the neighbouring parts of the flesh : by which means ( according to what we have more than once explicated already ) some of the yielding flesh ( or other body covered by the skin ) must be forceably thrust into the cavity of the cupping glass , where there is less pressure , then at the outside of it . and the fibres and membranous parts being thus violently stretcht , there must needs follow a sensible pain as well as tumour . which tumour yet does not fill up the cupping glass , not onely because of the resistance of the skin to be so far distended , but also , if the included air have not been much rarified because of the spring of the imprisoned air , ( which grows so much the stronger , by how much the swelling flesh reduces the air into less room , ) as i have sometimes tried , by applying a cupping glass to quick-silver , or even to water , which will rise in it but to a certain height . but though by this , or some such explication , the argument urged by the schools in favour of the fuga vacui may be sufficiently enervated ; yet it suited better with the design of this treatise to propose some new experiment , to illustrate our hypothesis ; and though it seem'd to be far more difficult to do it in reference to cupping glasses , than to other subjects , yet i pitcht upon two different wayes of experimenting ; whose success not disappointing me , i shall now give your lordship an account of them , we took a glass of about one inch and a half in diameter , but a good deal longer , than an ordinarily shap'd cupping glass of that breadth would have been , that there might be the more room for the flame to burn in it , and rarifie the air. we also provided a receiver shap'd almost like a pear , this receiver was open at both ends ; at the sharper whereof there was but a small orifice , but at the obtuse end there rose up a short neck , whose orifice was wide enough to admit with ease the newly mentioned cupping glass without touching the sides of it , and we were not willing it should be much larger , lest it should not be so exactly cover'd by the palm of the hand that should be laid upon it , and lest also the hand should be broken or hurt by the too great weight of the atmosphere , when the included air should be withdrawn from under it . these things being thus prepared , and the smaller orifice of the receiver being fastned with cement to the engine , i caused the cupping glass to be fastned , with the mouth upwards , to the palm of the hand of a youth , ( whom your lordship may remember to have seen with me , ) whose hand seem'd fram'd by nature for this experiment , being broad , strong , and very plump . and having pull'd the glass , to try whether it stuck well on , i caus'd him to put it into the receiver , and lay his hand so upon the orifice lately mentioned , that it might serve for a cover to it , and hinder any air from getting in between them . that which we pretended was , that the receiver being but small , ( that it might be quickly exhausted , and so not put the youth to a long pain , ) upon an exuction or two made with the pump , of the air about the cupping glass , the remaining air should have its pressure so far weakned , as not to be able to support the cupping glass ; especially since if the air without the cupping glass ( but yet in the receiver ) should be more rarified by the removal of that which had been pump'd out , than the air included in the cupping glass was by the precedent heat ; this last mentioned air having a stronger spring ( or tendency to expand it self ) than the external air of the receiver , the glass must needs fall down , or rather be thrust off , though , in case there had been no air at all left in the cavity of the cupping glass , the air in the receiver would by its pressure sustain a far greater weight . the event of our trial agreed very well with our conjecture . for upon the first suck the cupping glass fell off , the weight of the atmosphere pressing so hard upon the young mans hand , that , though he be more than ordinary strong , he complain'd he could very hardly take it off the glass it was almost thrust into , and , a while after , that his hand was very sore . but this last inconvenience became not so quickly very sensible , but that we had time to repeat our experiment , by fastning the cupping glass more strongly than before ; so that he complain'd that it drew in his hand very forceably , and though that part be not wont to be fleshy , yet the tumour occasioned by the cupping glass was manifest enough to the eye : but as before , so now , at the very first turning of the stop-cock , ( to let out the air of the receiver , ) the cupping glass fell off . experiment xxxvi . about the making , without heat , a cupping glass to lift up a great weight . the other experiment i lately told your lordship we had made , to illustrate our doctrine about the cause of the sticking of applied cupping glasses , was tried after the following manner . we took the brass-hoop or ring , mentioned in the 5 th and 6 th experiments , and cover'd it with a bladder , ( which was wetted to make it the more limber , ) and was so tied on to it , ( which was easie to do , ) that the bottom of the bladder covered the upper orifice of the hoop , and was stretcht ( though not strongly ) upon it , almost like the membrane that makes the head of a drumm ; and the neck of the bladder was tied with a string near the middle of the lower orifice of the hoop , and in this lower part of the bladder we made two or three small holes for the air to pass in and out at . then having plac'd at the bottom of the often mentioned capp'd receiver a thick piece of wood , that had a hole in it , to receive the neck of the bladder , we so plac'd the cover'd hoop upon this piece of wood , that the upper part of the bladder lay parallel to the horizon . this done , we suspended , at the turning-key belonging to the cap of our receiver , a blind head ( as chymists call it ) of glass , which for want of a true cupping glass we were fain to substitute , and which indeed was not very unlike one either for shape or size ; and to the upper part of this glass we fastned a large ring of metal , the better to depress it , and make it lean strongly on the bladder . these things being thus made ready , and the receiver cemented on to the engine , we did by help of the turning-key let down the cupping glass , ( for so we shall hereafter call it , ) till it came almost to touch the level superficies of the bladder ; and when the receiver was as far exhausted as we thought fit , ( but not near as far as it might have been , ) we let down the cupping glass a litle lower , so that it lean'd upon the bladder , and touch'd it with all the parts of its orifice : so that the cupping glass with the subjacent bladder was become an internal receiver ( if i may so call it , ) whose air was considerably expanded , and consequently weakned as to its spring . all this being done , we warily let the air into the receiver , and thereby the air , that did surround the cupping glass , ( which we just now called the internal receiver , ) having now a stronger pressure than the air in the cupping glass could resist ; the bladder , on which the cupping glass rested , was as we look'd for , thrust up a pretty way into the cavity of the glass , in which it made a conspicuous tumor ; and was made to stick so close to the orifice of it , that one would have thought that the bladder had been violently drawn in , as the skin is wont to be in the ordinary applications of cupping glasses . and because we took notice , that though this glass were not capacious , ( for it scarce held a pint of water , ) yet the orifice of it was not very narrow , ( being in diameter an inch and ⅘ , ) we thought fit in repeating the experiment to adde something that seem'd odd enough , and was fit to manifest that cupping glasses may , without heat , by the bare pressure of the external air , be more strongly fastned , than for ought we know they are by the help of flame . having then reiterated the former experiment with this onely variation , that we exhausted the receiver further than before , we took out the cupping glass and the bladder , which together with the included brass-hoop was hanging at it ; and then having tied the glass to the hook of a good statera , and tied a large scale to the neck of the bladder , we put in by degrees weights into the scale , till we had loaded it enough to force off the bladder from the glass ; which hapned not till the whole weight , that tended to draw down the bladder , amounted to 35 pound ( if not better , ) of sixteen ounces in the pound . nor did we doubt , but that the pressure of the atmosphere would in our experiment have kept up a much greater weight , if we had , before we let in the outward air , diligently exhausted the receiver ; which we had purposely forborn to do , for fear the too disproportionate pressure of the external air should break the bladder : which puts me in mind of adding , upon the by , that as more weight was put into the scale , the bladder ( stretcht more and more by the weight on one side , and the air on the other , ) appear'd to swell higher in the cavity of the glass . experiment xxxvii . shewing , that bellows , whose nose is very well stopt , will open of themselves , when the pressure of the external air is taken off . it is wont by the peripateticks and others to be made a great argument for the fuga vacui which they attribute to nature , that if the nose of a pair of bellows be well stopt , one cannot open them by raising the upper board from the lower . but of this another reason may be easily assigned , without determining whether there be a vacuum or no , namely the weight and pressure of the air : for when the nose of a pair of bellows , that are tite enough , is well stopt , no air being able to insinuate it self upon the disjoining of the boards into the cavity made by that disjunction , this cannot be effected , but by such a force as is almost able ( i say almost , because ordinary bellows cannot be so well shut , but that there will remain some air in them , whose spring will facilitate the opening of them ) to raise an atmosphere pillar , whose basis shall be the upper board , vvhich is commonly so large , that a less force may serve to break common bellows , then to raise so great a weight : but if they vvere made strong enough , and there vvere applied a sufficient force to lift so great a vveight as the newly mentioned pillar of the atmosphere , the sides might be disjoyn'd , how close and stanch soever the instrument vvere made . thus far one may argue upon the bare principle of the weight of the air , but taking in the spring of it too , i thought one might proceed so much further , that i ventur'd to foretell divers ingenious men , that if the pressure of the ambient air were taken off , not onely it would be easie to open the bellows in spite of their being carefully stopt at the nose , but that they would fly open as it were of their own accord , without the application of any external force at all . and 't was partly to justifie this prediction , as well as to make a trial , i thought more considerable , that we made the following experiment . we caus'd ( then ) to be made a pair of bellows , differing from ordinary ones in these particulars . first , that the boards were circular , ( and so without handles , ) and of about 6 inches in diameter : 2. that there was no clack or valve : 3. that the nose was but an inch long , or less , ( being to be lengthned if occasion required vvith a pipe : ) 4. that the leather ( which vvas not spar'd , that the instrument might be the more capacious ) was not horny or very stiff , but limber . the reason of the first and third diversity was , that the bellows might be capable to be conveyed into our receiver ; ( for vvhich purpose also , if there had appear'd need , the nose might have been made in the uppermost of the two boards : ) the reason of the 2 d variation was , that the instrument might be the more stanch : and of the 4 th , that the bases of the bellows might ( as in organ-bellows ) be clapt closer together , and harbour less air in the wrinkles and cavity . so that when the bellows vvere opened to their full extent , by drawing up the upper basis at a button purposely made in the midst of it , the bellows look'd like a cylinder of 16 or 18 inches high ; upon which resemblance i take the liberty to call both the boards ( as geometricians do both the circular parts of a cylinder ) bases . but though these were made by an artificer , otherwise dexterous , yet it not being his trade to make bellows , nor any other mans in the town i then was in , he could not make them so tite , but that in spite of our oyling the leather , and choaking the seams with good cement , there was some litle and unperceived hole or cranny , whereby some air had passage when the nose was accurately stopt : but this was not so considerable , but that if we drew up the upper basis from the lower , the external air would on all sides press the leather inwards , and so make the shape of the instrument very far from being so cylindrical , as it would be if the nose were left open . wherefore concluding , that notwithstanding this imperfection the bellows would serve , though not for both the experiments i design'd , yet for one of them , we carefully stopt the nose , after we had approach'd the bases to one another , and conveying them into a large receiver , it quickly appear'd , when the pump was set on work , that at every exsuction of the incumbent air , the air harbour'd in the folds of the leather , and the rest of the litle cavitie that could not but be left between the bases , made the upper of those bases manifestly rise , though its weight ( because of the thickness and solidity of the wood ) would soon after depress it again , either by driving out some of the air at some place where the instrument was not sufficiently tite , or by making it as it were strain'd through the leather it self ; and if the pump were agitated somewhat faster than ordinary , the expansion of the internal air would be greater than could be rendred quite ineffectual by so small a leak , and the upper part of the bellows would be soon rais'd to a considerable height , as would appear more evidently if we hastily let in the external air , upon whose ingress the bases would be clapt together , and the upper of them a good vvay deprest . so that the imperfection of the bellows made the experiment rather more than less concluding ; for since there was no external force applied to open them , if notwithstanding that some of the included air could get out of thē , yet the spring of the internal air was strong enough to open the bellows when the ambient air was withdrawn , much more would the effect have been produc'd , if the bellows had been perfectly stanch . experiment xxxviii . about an attempt to examine the motions and sensibility of the cartesian materia subtilis , or the aether , with a pair of bellows ( made of a bladder ) in the exhausted receiver . i will not now discuss the controversie betwixt some of the modern atomists , and the cartesians ; the former of whom think , that betwixt the earth and the stars , and betwixt these themselves there are vast tracts of space that are empty , save where the beams of light do pass through them ; and the later of whom tell us , that the intervals betwixt the stars and planets ( among which the earth may perhaps be reckon'd ) are perfectly fill'd , but by a matter far subtiler than our air , which some call celestial , and others aether . i shall not , i say , engage in this controversie , but thus much seems evident , that if there be such a celestial matter , it must make up far the greatest part of the universe known to us . for the intersteller part of the world ( if i may so stile it ) bears so very great a proportion to the globes , and their atmospheres too , ( if other stars have any as well as the earth , ) that it is almost incomparably greater in respect of them , than all our atmosphere is in respect of the clouds , not to make the comparison between the sea and the fishes that swim in it . wherefore i thought it might very vvell deserve a heedful enquiry , whether we can by sensible experiments ( for i hear what has been attempted by speculative arguments ) discover any thing about the existence , or the qualifications of this so vast aether : and i hoped our curiosity might be somewhat assisted by our engine , if i could manage in it such a pair of bellows as i design'd . for i propos'd to my self to fasten a convenient weight to the upper basis , and clog the lower with another , great enough to keep it horizontal and immoveable , that when by the help of the turning-key , frequently above mention'd , the upper basis should be rais'd to its full height , the cavity of the bellows might be brought to its full dimensions . this done , i intended to exhaust the receiver , and consequently the thus open'd bellows with more than ordinary diligence , that so both the receiver and they might be carefully freed from air. after vvhich i purpos'd to let go the upper base of the bellows , that being hastily deprest by the incumbent weight , it might speedily enough fall down to the lower basis , and by so much , and so quickly lessening the cavity , might expell thence the matter ( if any were ) before contain'd in it , and that ( if it could by this way be done ) at the hole of a slender pipe , fasten'd either near the bottom of the bellows , or in the upper basis : against or over the orifice of which pipe there was to be plac'd at a convenient distance either a feather , or ( if that should prove too light ) the sail of a litle wind-mill made of cards , or some other light body , and fit to be put into motion by the impulse of any matter that should be forc'd out of the pipe. by this means it seem'd not improbable , that some such discovery might be made , as would not be altogether useless in our enquiry . for if notwithstanding the absence of the air , it should appear by the effects that a stream of other matter , capable to set visible bodies a moving , should issue out at the pipe of the comprest bellows ; it would also appear , that there may be a much subtiller body than common air , and as yet unobserv'd by the vacuists , or ( their adversaries ) the schools , that may even copiously be found in places deserted by that air ; and that it is not safe to conclude from the absence of the air in our receivers , and in the upper part of those tubes where the torricellian experiment is made , that there is no other body left but an absolute vacuity , or ( as the atomists call it ) a vacuū coacervatū . but if on the other side there should appear no motion at all to be produc'd , so much as in the feather , it seem'd that the vacuists might plausibly argue , that either the cavity of the bellows was absolutely empty , or else that it would be very difficult to prove by any sensible experiment that it was full , and , if by any other way of probation it be demonstrable , that it was replenish'd with aether , we that have not yet declar'd for any party , may by our experiment be taught to have no confident expectations of easily making it sensible by mechanical experiments ; and may also be inform'd , that t is really so subtle and yielding a matter , that does not either easily impell such light bodies as even feathers , or sensibly resist as does the air it self the motions of other bodies through it , and is able without resistance to make its passage through the pores of wood , and leather , and also of closer bodies , which we find not that the air doth in its natural or wonted state penetrate . to illustrate this last clause i shall adde , that to make the trial more accurate , i wav'd the use of other bellows , ( especially not having such as i desired , ) & caus'd a pair of small bellows to be made with a bladder , as a body , which some of our former experiments have evinc'd to be of so close a texture , that air will rather break it than passe through it : and that the bladder might no where loose its entireness by seams , we glued on the two bases , the one to the bottom , and the other to the opposite part of it , so that the neck came out at a hole purposely made for it ; in the upper basis , and into the neck it was easie to insert what pipe we thought fit , binding the neck very close to it on the outside . we had likewise thoughts to have another pair of tite bellows made with a very light clack in the lower basis , that by hastily drawing up the other basis , when the receiver and bellows were very carefully exhausted , we might see by the rest , as the lifting up of the clack , whether the subtle matter that was expell'd by the upper basis in its ascent , would , according to the modern doctrine of the circle made by moving bodies , be impell'd up or not . we also thought of placing the litle pipe of the bladder-bellows ( if i may so call them ) beneath the surface of water exquisitely freed from air , that we might see whither upon the depression of the bellows by the incumbent weight , when the receiver was carefully exhausted , there would be any thing expell'd at the pipe , that would produce bubbles in the liquor , wherein its orifice was immerst . to bring now our conjectures to some trial , we put into a capp'd receiver the bladder accommodated as before is mentioned , and though we could have wish'd it had been somewhat larger , because it contain'd but between half a pint and a pint , yet in regard it was fine and limber , and otherwise fit for our turn , we resolv'd to try how it would do ; and to depress the upper basis of these litle bellows the more easily and uniformly , we cover'd the round piece of pastboard , that made the upper basis , with a pewter-plate , ( with a hole in it for the neck of the bladder ; ) which nevertheless upon trial prov'd not ponderous enough , whereby we were oblig'd to assist it by laying on it a weight of lead . and to secure the above mentioned feather , ( which had a slender and flexible stem , and was left broad at one end , and fastned by cement at the other , so as to stand with its broad end at a convenient distance just over the orifice of the pipe , ) from being blown aside to either hand , we made it to move in a perpendicular slit in a piece of pastboard , that was fastned to one part of the upper basis , as that which the feather was glued to was to another part . these things being thus provided , the pump was set a work , and as the ambient air was from time to time withdrawn , so the air in the bladder expanded it self so strongly , as to lift up the metalline weight , and yet in part to sally out at the litle glass-pipe of our bellows , as appear'd by its blowing up the feather , and keeping it suspended till the spring of the air in the bladder was too far weakned to continue to do as it had done . in the mean time we did now and then , by the help of a string fasten'd to the turning-key , and the upper basis of the bellows , let down that basis a litle , to observe how upon its sinking the blast against the feather would decrease , as the receiver was further and further exhausted . and when we judg'd it to be sufficiently freed from air , we then let down the weight , but could not perceive that by shutting of the bellows the feather was at all blown up , as it had been wont to be , though the upper basis were more than usually deprest . and yet it seems somewhat odd , that when , for curiosity , in order to a further trial , the weight was drawn up again , as the upper basis was rais'd from the lower , the sides of the bladder were sensibly ( though not very much ) prest , or drawn inwards . the bellows being thus opened , we let down the upper basis again , but could not perceive that any blast was produc'd ; for though the feather , that lay just over and near the orifice of the litle glass pipe , had some motion , yet this seem'd plainly to be but a shaking and almost vibrating motion ( to the right and left hand , ) which it was put into by the upper basis , which the string kept from a smooth and uniform descent ; but not to proceed from any blast issuing out of the cavity of the bladder . and for further satisfaction we caus'd some air to be let into the receiver , because there was a possibility , that unawares to us the slender pipe might by some accident be choak'd ; but though upon the return of the air into the receiver , the bases of the bellows were prest closer together , yet it seem'd that , according to our expectation , some litle air got through the pipe into the cavity of the bladder : for when we began to vvithdraw again the air we had let into the receiver , the bladder began to swell again , and upon our letting down the weight , to blow up and keep up the feather , as had been done before the receiver had been so well exhausted . what conjecture the opening and shutting of our litle bellows , more than once or twice , without procducing any blast sensible by the raising of the feather , gave some of the by-standers , may be easily guess'd by the preamble of this experiment ; but whilst i was endeavouring to prosecute it for my own further information , a mischance that befell the instrument , kept me from giving my self the desir'd satisfaction . experiment xxxix . about a further attempt to prosecute the inquiry propos'd in the foregoing experiment . considering with my self , that by the help of some contrivances not difficult , a syringe might be made to serve , as far as our present occasion required , in stead of a pair of bellows ; i thought it would not be improper to try a differing , and , in some regards , a better way to prosecute an attempt , which seem'd to me to deserve our curiosity . i caus'd then to be made , for the formerly mentioned syringe , in stead of its streight pipe , a crooked one ; whose shorter leg was parallel to the longer . and this pipe was for greater closeness , after 't was screw'd on carefully , fastned with cement to the barrel ; and because the brass-pipe could scarce be made small enough , we caus'd a short and very slender pipe of glass to be put into the orifice of the shorter leg , and diligently fasten'd to it with close cement . then we caus'd the sucker ( by the help of oyl , water , and moving it up and down ) to be made to go as smoothly as might be , without lessening the stanchness of the syringe . after this , there was fastned to the handle of the rammer a weight , made in the form of a ring , or hoop , which by reason of its figure might be suspended from the newly mention'd handle of the rammer , and hang loose on the outside of the cylinder , and which both by its figure and its weight might evenly and swiftly enough depress the sucker , when that being drawn up the weight should be let go . this syringe thus furnished , was fastned to a broad and heavy pedestal , to keep it in its vertical posture , and to hinder it from tottering , notwithstanding the weight that clogg'd it . and besides all these things , there was taken a feather , which was about two inches long , and of which there was left at the end a piece about the breadth of a mans thumb-naile , ( the rest on either side of the slender stalk ( if i may so call it ) being stript off ) to cover the hole of the slender glass pipe of the syringe ; for which purpose the other extreme of it was so fastned with cement to the lower part of the syring , ( or to its pedestal , ) that the broad end of the feather was plac'd ( as the other feather was in the foregoing experiment ) just over the litle orifice of the glass , at such a convenient distance , that when the sucker was a litle ( though but very litle ) drawn up and let go again , the weight would depress it fast enough to blow up the broad part of the feather , as high as was permitted by the resistance of the stalk , ( and that was a good way , ) the spring of which would presently restore the whole feather to its former position . all these things being done , and the handle of the rammer being tied to the turning-key of a capp'd receiver , the syringe and its pedestal were inclosed in a capacious receiver , ( for none but such a one could contain them , and give scope for the rammers motions , ) and the pump being set on worke , we did , after some quantity of air was drawn out , raise the sucker a litle by the help of the turning-key , and then turning the same key the contrary way we suffer'd the weight to depress the sucker , that we might see at what rate the feather would be blown up ; and finding that it was impell'd forceably enough , we caus'd the pumping to be so continued , that a pretty many pauses were made , during each of which we rais'd and depress'd the sucker as before , and had the opportunity to observe , that as the receiver was more and more exhausted of the air , so the feather was less and less briskly driven up , till at length , when the receiver was well emptied , the usual elevations and depressions of the sucker would not blow it up at all that i could perceive , though they were far more frequently repeated than ever before ; nor was i content to look heedfully my self , but i made one whom i had often imploy'd about pneumatical experiments to watch attentively , whilst i drew up , and let down the sucker , but he affirm'd that he could not discern the least beginning of ascension in the feather . and indeed to both of us it seem'd , that the litle and inconsiderable motion that was sometimes ( not alwayes ) to be discern'd in the feather , proceeded not from any thing that issued out of the pipe , but from some litle shake , which t was difficult not to give the syringe and pedestal , by the raising and depressing of the sucker . and that which made our phaenomenon the more considerable , was , that the weight that carried down the sucker being still the same , and the motions of the turning-key being easie to be made equal at several times , there seem'd no reason to suspect that contingencies did much ( if at all ) favour the success ; but there hapned a thing , which did manifestly enough disfavour it . for i remember , that before the syringe was put into the receiver , when we were trying how the weight would depress it , and it was thought that though the weight were conveniently shap'd , yet it was a litle of the least ; i would not alter it , but foretold , that when the air in the cavity of the syringe ( that now resisted the quickness of its descent , because so much air could not easily and nimbly get out at so small a pipe ) should be exhausted with the other air of the receiver , the elevated sucker would fall down more easily , which he , that was imploy'd to manage the syringe whilst i watch'd the feather , affirm'd himself afterwards to observe very evidently . so that when the receiver was exhausted , if there had been in the cavity of the syringe a matter as fit as air to make a wind of , the blast ought to have been greater , because the celerity that the sucker was deprest with was so . after we had long enough tried in vain to raise the feather , i order'd some air to be let into the receiver ; and though when the admitted air was but very litle , the motions of the sucker had scarce if at all any sensible operation upon the feather , yet when the quantity of air began to be somewhat considerable , the feather began to be a litle mov'd upwards , and so by letting in air not all at once but more and more from time to time , and by moving the sucker up and down in the intervals of those times of admission , we had the opportunity to observe , that as the receiver had more air in it , the feather would be more briskly blown up . but not content with a single tryal of an experiment of this consequence , we caused the receiver to be again exhausted , and prosecuted the tryal with the like success as before , onely this one circumstance , that we added for confirmation , may be befit to be here taken notice of . having , after the receiver was exhausted , drawn up and let fall the sucker divers times ineffectually ; though hitherto we had not usually rais'd it any higher at a time , than we could by one turn of the hand , both because we could not so conveniently raise it higher by the hand alone , and because we thought it unnecessary , since that height suffic'd to make the air briskly toss up the feather ; yet ex abundanti we novv took an instrument that was pretty long and fit so to take hold on the turning-key , that we could easily raise the sucker between two and three inches ( by our aestimate ) at a time , and nimbly depress it again ; and for all this , which would much have increas'd the blast , if there had been a matter fit for it in the cavity of the syringe , we could not sensibly blow up the feather , till we had let a litle air into the receiver . to be able to make an aestimate of the quantity of air pump'd out , or let in , when the feather vvas strongly or faintly , or not at all rais'd by the fall of the sucker ; vve took off the receiver , and convey'd a gage into it , but though for a vvhile vve made some use of our gage , yet a mischance befalling it before the operation was quite ended , i shall forbear to adde any thing concerning that tryal , and proceed to say something of another attempt , wherein though i foresaw and met with such difficulties , as kept me from doing altogether what i desired , yet the success being almost as good as could be expected , i shall venture to acquaint your lordship with the tryal , which was this . in stead of the hitherto imploy'd pipe of brass , there was well fastned ( with cement ) to the syringe a pipe of glass , whose figure differ'd from that of the other in this particular , that the shorter ( or remoter ) leg of our new pipe , after it had for a while been carried parallel to the other leg , was bent off so , that above an inch and a half of it tended downwards , that the orifice of it might be immerst into water contain'd in a small open jarr . the design of which contrivance was , that when the receiver should be well exhausted , we might ( according to what i told your lordship vvas at first design'd ) try vvhether by the raising and depressing of the sucker any such matter would be driven out at the nose of the pipe , as would produce bubbles in the incumbent water , which , air ( though highly rarefied , perhaps to some hundreds of times beyond its wonted dimensions , ) is capable of doing . and i choose to imploy rather water than quick-silver , because though by using the later i might hope to be less troubled with bubbles , yet the ponderousness and opacity of it seem'd to outweigh that convenience . i need not tell your lordship , that in other respects this experiment was made like the former , so that i shall mention onely its peculiarities , which were , that as the air was pump'd out of the receiver , that in the glass pipe made its way through the water in bubbles , and a litle air having once by a small leak got in , and forc'd some of the water out of the jarr into the pipe , when the receiver was again vvell emptied , both that water and even the litle quantity of stagnant water , that was contain'd in the immerst part of the pipe , produc'd so many bubbles of several sizes , as quite disturb'd our observations . wherefore we let alone the receiver , exhausted as it was , for 6 or 7 hours , to give the water time to be freed from air , and then causing what air might have stolen in to be again pump'd out , till we had perceiv'd by the gage that the receiver was well exhausted , we caus'd the sucker ( of the syringe ) to be rais'd and deprest diverse times , and though even then a bubble vvould now and then make our observations troublesome , and less certain , yet it seem'd to us , that when we were not thus confounded , we sometimes observed that the elevation and fall of the sucker , though reiterated , did not drive out at the pipe any thing that made any discernable bubbles in the incumbent water ; for though there would appear now and then some small bubbles on the surface of the water , yet i could not perceive that the matter that made them , issued out at the pipe ; and some of them manifestly proceeded from aerial particles , till then lurking in the water , as i concluded from the place and time of their rising . but this non-eruption of bubles at the nose of the pipe , vvas not that which gave me the most of satisfaction . for at length both i and another had the opportunity to observe the water in the immerst part of the pipe , which was very slender , to be about an inch higher than the rest of the stagnant water , and to continue at that height or place in the pipe , though the sucker vvere divers times together rais'd and depress'd by guess between 2 and three inches at a time . which seem'd to argue , either that there was a vacuum in the cavity of the syringe , or else that if it were full of aether , that body vvas so subtle , that the impulse it received from the falling sucker vvould not make it displeace a very litle thread ( perhaps not exceeding a grain in weight ) of water that vvas in the slender pipe , though it appear'd by the bubbles , that sometimes disclos'd themselves in the water , after the receiver had been exhausted , that far more water vvould be displac'd and carried up by a small bubble consisting of such rarified air , that according to my aestimate the aerial particles of it did not , before the pump vvas begun to be set on vvork , take up in the water a five-hundredth part of the quantity of a pins head . but whilst we were considering what to do further in our tryal , a litle air , that strain'd in at some small undiscoverable leak , drove the water into the emptied part of the pipe , and put an end for that time to our tryal , which had been too toylsome to invite us then to reiterate it . i had indeed thoughts of prosecuting the enquiry , by dropping from the top of the exhausted receiver light bodies conveniently shap'd , to be turn'd round , or otherwise put out of their simplest motion of descent , if they met with any resistance in their fall ; and by making such bodies move horizontally and otherwise in the receiver , as vvould probably discover whither they were assisted by the medium : and other contrivances and wayes i had in my thoughts , whereby to prosecute our enquiry , but vvanting time for other experiments , i could not spare so much as was necessary to exhaust large receivers so diligently , as such nice trials would exact ; and therefore i resolv'd to desist , till i had more leisure than i then had , ( or have since been master of . ) in the interim , thus much we seem to have already discovered by our past tryals , that if when our vessels are very diligently freed from air , they are full of aether , that aether is such a body , as will not be made sensibly to move a light feather by such an impulse as would make the air manifestly move it , not onely whilst t is no thinner than common air , but when t is very highly rarified , ( which , if i mistake not , it was in our experiment so much , as to be brought to take up above an hundred times more room than before . ) and one thing more we gain'd by the tryal made with water , namely a clear confirmation of what i deliver'd in the 34 th experiment , about the cause of the suction that is made by syringes ; for your lordship may remember , that at the close of the experiment we have all this while been reciting , i observ'd , that when the external air was so very well withdrawn , the pulling up of the sucker would not make the stagnant water , that the pipe of the syringe was immerst in , to ascend one inch , or so much as the tenth part of it . experiment xl. about the falling , in the exhausted receiver , of a light body , fitted to have its motion visibly varied by a small resistance of the air. partly to try whether in the space deserted by the air , drawn out of our receivers , there would be any thing more fit to resist the motion of other light bodies through it , than in the former experiment we found it to impell them into motion ; and partly for another purpose to be mention'd by and by , we made the following tryals . we took a receiver , which , though less tall than we would have had , was the longest we could procure : and that we might be able , not so properly to let down as , to let fall a body in it , we so fastned a small pair of tobacco-tongs to the inside of the receivers brass-cover , that by moving the turning-key , we might by a string tied to one part of them , open the tongs , which else their own spring would keep shut . this being done , the next thing was to provide a body , which vvould not fall down like a stone , or another dead weight through the air , but would in the manner of its descent shew , that its motion was somewhat resisted by the air ; vvherefore that vve might have a body that vvould be turn'd about horizontally ( as it were ) in its fall , we thought fit to joyn cross-wise four broad and light feathers ( each about an inch long ) at their quils with a litle cement , into vvhich vve also stuck perpendicularly a small label of paper , about an 8 th of an inch in breadth , and somewhat more in height , by vvhich the tongues might take hold of our light instrument vvithout touching the cement , which else might stick to them . by the help of this small piece of paper , the litle instrument , of vvhich it made a part , vvas so taken hold of by the tongs , that it hung as horizontal as such a thing could well be plac'd : and then the receiver being cemented on to the engine , the pump vvas diligently ply'd , till it appear'd by a gage , which had been conveyed in , that the reciver had been carefully exhausted : lastly , our eyes being attentively fix'd upon the connected feathers , the tongs were by the help of the turning-key open'd , and the litle instrument let fall , which , though in the air it had made some turns in its descent from the same height it now fell from , yet now it descended like a dead weight , without being perceiv'd by any of us to make so much as one turn , or a part of it : notwithstanding which i did , for greater security , cause the receiver to be taken off , and put on again , after the feathers were taken hold of by the tongs , whence being let fall in the receiver unexhausted , they made some turns in their descent , as they also did being a second time let fall after the same manner . but when after this , the feathers being plac'd as before , we repeated the experiment by carefully pumping out the air , neither i nor any of the by-standers could perceive any thing of turning in the descent of the feathers ; and yet for further security we let them fall twice more in the unexhausted receiver , and found them to turn in falling as before ; whereas when we did a 3 d time let them fall in the well exhausted receiver , they fell after the same manner as they had done formerly , when the air , that vvould by its resistance have turn'd them round , vvas remov'd out of their vvay . note 1. though ( as i intimated above ) the glass , vvherein this experiment was made , were nothing near so tall as i would have had it , yet it was taller than any of our ordinary receivers , it being in height about 22 inches . 2. one that had had more leisure and conveniency , might have made a more commodious instrument than that we made use of : for being accidentally visited by that sagacious mathematician d r wren , and speaking to him of this matter , he was pleas'd with great dexterity as well as readiness to make me a little instrument of paper , on which , when t was let fall , the resistance of the air had so manifest an operation , that i should have made use of it in our experiment , had it not been casually lost when the ingenious maker was gone out of these parts . 3. though i have but briefly related our having so order'd the matter , that we could conveniently let fall a body in the receiver when very well exhausted , yet to contrive and put in practice what was necessary to perform this , was not so very easie , and it would be difficult to describe it circumstantially without very many words ; for which reason i forbear an account , that would prove too tedious to us both . 4. what has been hitherto related , was done in prosecution of but one of the two designs i aim'd at in the foregoing contrivance , by which i intended , if i could have procured a receiver tall enough , to try whether bodies ( some very light , and some heavier ) being let fall when the air was very diligently pump'd out , would not descend somewhat faster than if the receiver were full of air. but though i had provided a pendulum that vibrated quarters of seconds , yet the glass being no higher than it was , the descent even of our feathers took up so litle time , that even this pendulum was of no use ; onely it seem'd to all of us that were present at making the above recited tryals , that when the feathers were let fall at such times as the air ( that would have turn'd them round in their descent ) was removed , they came to the bottom sensibly sooner than at other times . but when we shall have opportunity to repeat the experiment in taller glasses , and to make some variation of it , i hope to be able to give your lordship a fuller satisfaction about this particular . and in the mean while i shall forbear to examine whether the air might somewhat retard the descent of the feathers upon some other account , or meerly upon that of its being a medium not quite devoid of gravity . annotations . 1. but here i must be so sincere as to inform your lordship , that this 40 th experiment seem'd not to prove so much as did the foregoing made with the syringe : for being suspicious that , to make the feathered body above mentioned turn in its fall , there would need a resistance not altogether inconsiderable , i caus'd the experiment to be repeated , when the receiver was by our aestimate ( which was not made at random neither ) litle or nothing more than half exhausted , and yet the remaining air was too far rarified to make the falling body manifestly turn . 2. and yet perchance it would have hapned otherwise , if the receiver had been tall enough ; which though i had not then leasure and conveniency to make it , yet it will not be amiss to let your lorship know by what means we did , that it might be somewhat fit to make the recited experiment and some others , bring it to the height it had , which did considerably exceed that of the tallest glass we could then procure . to lengthen our receiver therefore , we thought fit to try , whether we could not close enough fasten to the bottom of it , with very good cement a cylindrical pipe of laton , whose upper orifice should have neer the same breadth with the bottom of the glass . and though this contrivance seem'd liable to a couple of not mean difficulties ; the one , that the laton being every where bended , and in some places necessary to be souder'd , it would be very hard ( as indeed we found it ) to avoid some small cracks and leaks : and the other , that if the metalline pipe were wide enough , so great and heavy a pillar of the atmosphere would come to bear against it , as to press it inwards , if not also to break it ; yet we hoped we should be able to obviate both of these inconveniences . against the first of which our remedy was , to coat over very carefully the whole pipe with the same close cement , wherewith we fastned it to the glass receiver . and against the second , we provided a litle frame consisting of divers small iron bars fastned together ; which frame ( though t were not too wide to go into the cylinder of laton , yet it ) was wide enough to be so neer it on the inside , that ( though the weight of the atmosphere should , as we feared , press the laton so as to make it yield inward , yet ) it could make it bend no further than the iron-frame would permit ; which was not far enough to spoile either the receiver or the experiment . and this not unpleasant phaenomenon would somewhat surprise unaccustomed spectators , that when after the receiver had been very well exhausted , the external air was permitted to return , there would be heard during some time , from the metalline part of the receiver , divers sounds brisk enough , which would make an odd cracking noise proceeding from the laton-plate , which having been forceably , though but slowly , bent inwards by the predominant pressure of the atmosphere , was now assisted by the pressure of the returning air , to regain its former figure . and as i thought not fit to omit this circumstance , because it confirms the practicableness of the remedy propos'd against the 2 d inconvenience ; so i thought fit to mention this way of enlarging and heightning receivers , because what we have related seems to give grounds of hoping that this contrivance may be made good use of in divers other tryals , and particularly in attempts to make receivers capacious enough to contain larger animals , and perhaps even a boy , or a man. in order to some of which purposes we indeavoured to get an improvement made of our metalline cylinder by additional contrivances ; but could not ( where we then were ) get artificers , that would perform what was directed . experiment xli . about the propagation of sounds in the exhausted receiver . to make some further observation than is mention'd in the * publish'd experiments , about the production and conveying of sounds in a glass whence the air is drawn out , we imploy'd a contrivance , of which ( because we make use of it in divers other experiments ) it will be requisite to give your lordship here some short description . we caus'd to be made at the turners a cylinder of box , or the like close and firme wood , and of a length suitable to that of the receiver it was to be imploy'd in . out of the lower basis of this cylinder ( vvhich might be about an inch and a half in diameter ) there came a smaller cylinder or axle-tree not a quarter so thick as the other , and less than an inch long : this vvas turn'd very true , that it might move to & fro ( or , as the tradesmen call it , ride ) very smoothly in a litle ferrule or ring of brass , that was by the same turner made for it in the midst of the fixt trencher , ( as we call a piece of solid wood shap'd like a milstone , ) being 4 or 5 inches ( more or less according to the wideness of the receiver ) in breadth , and between one and two in thickness ; and in a large and round groove , or gutter , purposely made in the lower part of this trencher , i caus'd as much lead as vvould fill it up to be plac'd and fasten'd , that it might keep the trencher from being easily mov'd out of its place or posture , and in the upper part of this trencher it vvas intended that holes should be made at such places as should be thought fit , to place bodies at several distances as occasion should require . the upper basis of the cylinder had also coming out of the midst of it another axletree , but wider than the former , that , into a cavity made in it , it might receive the lower end of the turning-key divers times already mentioned , to which t was to be fastned by a slender peg of brass , thrust through two correspondent holes , the one made in the key , and the other in the newly mentioned socket ( if i may so call it ) of the axletree . besides all vvhich , there were divers horizontal perforations bored here and there in the pillar it self , to which this axis belong'd , vvhich pillar we shall to avoid ambiguity call the vertical cylinder . the general use of this contrivance ( whose other parts need not to be mentioned before the experiments where they are imploy'd ) is , that the end of the turning-key being put into the socket , and the lower axis of the vertical cylinder into the trencher , by the motion of the key a body fasten'd at one of the holes to the cylinder may be approach'd too , or remov'd from , or made to rub or strike against another body fastned in a convenient posture to the upper part of the trencher . to come now to our tryal about sounds , vve caus'd a hand-bell ( vvhose handle and clapper were taken away ) to be so fastned to a strng wire , that , one end of the wire being made fast in the trencher , the other end , vvhich vvas purposely bent downwards , took hold of the bell. in another hole , made in the circumference of the same trencher , vvas vvedg'd in ( vvith a wooden peg ) a steel-spring , to whose upper part was tied a gad of iron or steel , less than an inch long , but of a pretty thickness . the length of this spring was such , as to make the upper part of the hammer ( if i may so call the piece of iron ) of the same height with the bell , and the distance of the spring from the bell was such , that when it was forc'd back the other way , it might at its return make the hammer strike briskly upon the outside of the bell. the trencher being thus furnisht and plac'd in a capp'd receiver , ( as you know , for brevity sake , we use to call one that is fitted with one or other of the brass covers , often mentioned already , ) the air was diligently pump'd out ; and then , by the help of the turning-key , the vertical cylinder was made to go round , by which means as often as either of a couple of stiff wires , or small pegs , that were fastned at right angles into holes , made not far from the bottom of the cylinder , pass'd ( under the bell , and ) by the lately mentioned spring ; they forceably did in their passage bend it from the bell , by which means , as soon as the wire was gone by , and the spring ceas'd to be press'd , it would fly back with violence , enough to make the hammer give a smart stroak upon the bell. and by this means we could both continue the experiment at discretion , and make the percussions more equally strong than it would otherwise have been easie to do . the event of our tryal was ; that , when the receiver was vvell emptied , it sometimes seem'd doubtful , especially to some of the by-standers , whether any sound were produc'd or no ; but to me for the most part it seem'd , that after much attention i heard a sound , that i could but just hear ; and yet , vvhich is odd , me thought it had somewhat of the nature of shrilness in it , but seem'd ( which is not strange ) to come from a good way off . whether the often turning of the cylindrical key kept the receiver from being so stanch as else it vvould have been , upon vvhich score some litle air might insinuate it self , i shall not positively determine : but to discover vvhat interest the presence or the absence of the air might have in the loudness or lowness of the sound , i caus'd the air to be let into the receiver , not all at once but at several times , with competent intervals between them ; by which expedient it was easie to observe , that the vertical cylinder being still made to go round , when a litle air vvas let in , the stroak of the hammer upon the bell ( that before could now and then not be heard , and for the most part be but very scarcely heard ) began to be easily heard . and when a litle more air was let in , the sound grew more and more audible , and so increased , till the receiver was again replenished with air ; though even then ( that we omit not that phaenomenon ) the sound was observ'd to be much less loud than when the receiver was not interpos'd between the bell and the ear. and whereas in the already publish'd physico-mechanical experiments i acquainted your lordship with what i observ'd about the sound of an ordinary watch in the exhausted receiver , i shall now adde , that that experiment was repeated not long since , with the addition of suspending in the receiver a watch , with a good alarum , which was purposely so set , that it might , before it should begin to ring , give us time to cement on the receiver very carefully , exhaust it very diligently , and settle our selves in a silent and attentive posture . and to make this experiment in some respect more accurate than the others we made of sounds , we secur'd our selves against any leaking at the top , by imploying a receiver that was made all of one piece of glass , ( and consequently had no cover cemented on to it , ) being furnish'd onely within ( when 't was first blown ) with a glass-knob or button , to which a string might be tied . and because it might be suspected , that if the watch were suspended by its own silver chain , the tremulous motion of its sounding bell might be propagated by that metalline chain to the upper part of the glass ; to obviate this as well as we could , we hung the watch , not by its chain , but a very slender thread , whose upper end was fastned to the newly mentioned glass-button . these things being done , and the air being carefully pump'd out , we silently expected the time when the alarum should begin to ring , which 't was easie to know by the help of our other watches ; but not hearing any noise so soon as we expected , it would perhaps have been doubted whether the watch continued going , if for prevention we had not order'd the matter so , that we could discern it did not stand still . wherefore i desir'd an ingenious gentleman to hold his ear just over the button , at which the watch was suspended , and to hold it also very near to the receiver , upon which he told us that he could perceive , and but just perceive something of sound , that seem'd to come from far ; though neither we that listned very attentively near other parts of the receiver , nor he , if his ears were no more advantaged in point of position than ours , were satisfied that we heard the watch at all . wherefore ordering some air to be let in , we did by the help of attention begin to hear the alarum ; whose sound was odd enough , and , by returning the stop-cock to keep any more air from getting in , we kept the sound thus low for a pretty while , after which a little more air , that was permitted to enter , made it become more audible ; and when the air was yet more freely admitted , the by standers could plainly hear the noise of the yet continuing alarum at a considerable distance from the receiver . from what has hitherto been related we may learn what is to be thought of what is delivered by the learned mersennus , in that book of his harmonicks , where he makes this to be the first proposition . sonus à campanis , vel aliis corporibus non solùm producitur in illo vacuo ( quicquid tandem illud sit , ) quod fit in tubis hydrargyro plenis , posteaque depletis , sed etiam idem acumen , quod in aere libero vel clauso penitus observatur & auditur . for the proof of which assertion , not long after , he speaks thus : porro variis tubis , quorum extremis lagenae vitreae adglutinantur , observari campanas in illo vacuo appensas , propriisque malleis percussas idem penitus acumen retinere , quod in aere libero habent : atque soni magnitudinem ei sono , qui fit in aere quem tubus clausus includit , nihil cedere . but though our experiments sufficiently manifest that the presence or absence of the common air is of no small importance as to the conveying of sounds , and that the interposition of glass may sensibly weaken them ; yet so diligent and faithful a writer as mersennus deserves to be favourably treated : and therefore i shall represent on his behalf , that what he sayes may well enough have been true , as far as could be gathered from the tryals he made . for first , t is no easie matter , especially for those that have not peculiar and very close cements , to keep the air quite out for any considerable time in vessels consisting of divers pieces , such as he appears to have made use of . and next , the bigness of the bell in reference to the capacity of the exhausted glass , and the thickness of the glass , and the manner whereby the bell was fastned to the inside of the glass , and the hammer or clapper was made to strike , may much vary the effect of the tryal , for reasons easie to be gather'd out of the past discourse , and therefore not needful to be here insisted on . and upon this account we chose to make our experiment , with sounds that should not be strong or loud , and to produce them after such a manner , as that as litle shaking as could be might be given by the sounding body to the glass 't was included in . the proposal made by the same mersennus , to have those that have industry enough , try whether a bag-pipe will be made to afford the same sound as in the open air , in such vessels as he used for his bels , though he seems to think it would succeed , is that which your lordship will not , i presume , sollicite me to make tryal of , if you remember what is related in the almost immediately foregoing experiments , shewing , that we could make nothing come out of the cavity of a pair of bellows , that had force enough to blow away a feather , when that cavity was freed from air ; as the bagpipe would be by the same operation , that empties the glass that contains it , or else the sound would not be made in such a vacuum as the scope of the experiment requires . if i had had conveniency , i would have made some tryals by conveying a small string'd instrument ( perhaps some such as they commonly call a kit ) exactly tun'd , into a large receiver , and then upon briskly striking the string of a bigger instrument , ( tuned , as they speak , to an unison to ( or with ) that of the smaller instrument ) i should have taken notice , whether the sound would have been so uniformly propagated , notwithstanding the interposition of the glass receiver , as sensibly to shake the included string ; in order to the discerning of which , a bended piece of straw , or feather , or some such light body , was to be hors'd upon the string to be shaken . i also intended , in case the string were made to move , to make the like tryal after the receiver was diligently exhausted . and lastly i design'd to try , whether two unison strings of the same instruments , or of a couple to be plac'd in the same receiver , would , when the air ( which is the usual medium of sounds ) was well pump'd out , yet maintain such a sympathy ( as t is call'd , ) that upon the motion of the one , the other would also be made to stir : which tryals may be varied , by imploying for the external instrument another in stead of a stringed one . and because contraries ( as is vulgarly noted ) serve to illustrate each other , i thought to subjoyn , to the tryals above related , about the propagation of sounds in a thinner medium than the air , some observations about the conveyance of them through that thicker medium , water ; but having unluckily mislaid my notes upon that subject , i cannot at present acquaint your lordship with what i intended , but must defer the doing it , till i shall have recovered them. experiment xlii . about the breaking of a glass-drop in an exhausted receiver . you know , that among the causes that have been propos'd of the strange flying of a glass-drop into a multitude of pieces , when the slender stem of it comes to be broken off , one of the least improbable was taken from the pressure of the air : as if that within the poreous ( and as 't were honey-comb'd ) inside of the glass , being highly rarified when the drop of melted glass fell into the water at its first formation , it was forc'd to continue in that praeternatural state of expansion by the hardness and closeness of the external case of glass , that inclos'd the pithlike part ( if i may so call it ; ) so that upon the breaking off a part of this solid case at the stem , the external air gaining access , and finding in the spungy part very litle resistance from the highly rarified and conse quently weaken'd air included there , rushes in with such violence , as to shiver the glass-drop into a multitude of pieces . i shall not now trouble your lordship with the mention of what may be alleadg'd to question this hypothesis , especially if it be compared with that accurate account of the phaenomena of such glass-drops , which was sometime since presented to the society by that great ornament of it , s r robert moray . but i shall onely say in this place , that when i consider'd , that if the dissilition of the glass would succeed when the air was pump'd out of it , it would be hard to ascribe that effect to the irruption of the external air , i thought fit to try what would happen , if a glass-drop were broken in our exhausted receiver . and accordingly did , though not without some difficulty , so order the matter , that the blunter part of the glass-drop was fastned to a stable body ( convey'd into the receiver , ) and the crooked stem was tyed to one end of a string , whose other end was fastned to the turning-key ; by which means , when the air had been diligently pump'd out , the stem was ( by shortning the string ) broken off , and the glass drop was shatter'd into a thousand pieces . this experiment was long after repeated with the like success , and having at that time no gage to try how far the air had been drawn out , we let the external air impell up the water out of the pump into the receiver , and thereby found , that that vessel had not been negligently exhausted . experiment xliii . about the production of light in the exhausted receiver . i presume , i need not put your lordship in mind , that divers attempts were made to try , whether either a flame , or kindled coals would be made to continue for sometime burning in our receiver : but those tryals making it evident , that it would be either impossible , or very difficult to produce any durable light , without the presence of the air , by the burning of bodies ; i thought it not amiss , considering the nobleness of light , to make trial , whether it might be otherwise produc'd in our exhausted receiver ; since whether or no the attempts should prove successful , the event would probably be instructive . for as t is the property of light , when t is produc'd , to be discoverable by it self ; so in such a tryal as we intended , it would teach something concerning light , to find that the absence of the air would or would not hinder it from being produc'd . in prosecution of this design , knowing that hard sugar , being nimbly scrap'd with a knife , will afford a sparkling light , so that now & then one would think that sparks of fire fly from it ; we caus'd a good lump of hard loaf-sugar to be conveniently and firmly placed in the cavity of our capp'd receiver , and to the vertical cylinder formerly mentioned we caus'd to be fastned some pieces of a steel-spring , which being not very thick , might in their passage along the sugar , grate , or rub forceably against it , and then the receiver being diligently exhausted in the night-time , and in a dark room , the vertical cylinder ( whose lower axis was inserted into the often mentioned trencher ) was made for a pretty while to move round by the help of the turning-key , manag'd by a hand steady and strong enough . by which means the irons that came out of the vertical cylinder , making in their passage vigorous impressions upon the sugar that stood somewhat in their way , there were manifestly produc'd a good number of litle flashes , and sometimes too , though not frequently , there seem'd to be struck off litle sparks of fire . experiment xliv . about the production of a kind of halo , and colours in the exhausted receiver . vve took a large inverted cucurbite for a receiver , which being so well wip'd both within and without as to be very clear , allow'd me to observe , and to make others do so too , that when the pump began to be set a work , if i caus'd a pretty large candle to be held on the other side of the glass , upon the turning of the stop-cock to let the air out of the receiver into the cylinder , the glass would seem to be full of fumes , and there would appear about the flame of the candle , seen through them , a kind of halo , that at first commonly was between blew and green , and after some sucks would be of a reddish or orange colour , and both very vivid . the production of this meteor ( if i may so call it ) was , according to my conjecture , made on some such score as this . that the cement being somewhat soft and new ( as is convenient for this experiment ) abounds with turpentine , and having a litle ( as well to fasten on the receiver , as for the other purpose ) apply'd to it a hot iron , whereby the cement was both softned and heated , it seem'd rational to expect , that upon the withdrawing of the air in the receiver , the aerial particles in the cement , freed from their former pressure , would extricate themselves , and with the looser steams of the turpentine and perhaps of the bees-wax would with a kind of explosion expand themselves in the receiver , and by their interposition between the light and the eye exhibit those delightful colours we had seen . to confirme which , i afterwards found , that by watchfully observing it i could plainly enough perceive the colouring steams , just upon the turning of the stopcock , to fly up from the cement towards the top of the glass ; and if we continued pumping , the receiver would grow clearer , and the colours more dilute , ( till we had occasion to put on the receiver , and heat the cement afresh : ) of which the reason might be , partly that the aerial and volatile particles of the upper part of the cement did in that tract of time spend themselves more and more ; and partly , because the agitation they receiv'd from the heat communicated by the iron did continually decay . not to mention , that when the receiver is more exhausted , the want of air makes it more difficult for steams to be supported , and as it were swim up and down in it . but for farther confirmation , i caus'd some cement to be put into a small crucible , warm enough to melt it ; and conveying this into a clear receiver of a convenient shape and size , i caus'd the pump to be set a work ; whereupon it appear'd manifestly enough , that upon the opening of the stop-cock to let out the air , the steams would copiously be thrown about from the crucible into the capacity of the receiver , and would , after having a litle play'd there , fall down again . but in these apparitions the vividness , and sometimes the kind of the exhibited colours seem'd much to depend upon divers circumstances , such as the degrees of heat , the bigness and shape of the receiver , the quantity of air that yet remain'd unpump'd out , and the nature of the cement its self ; which last particular i the rather mention , because , though i were hinder'd from doing it , i had thoughts to try a suspicion i had , that by varying the materials expos'd to this kind of operation , some pretty variety might be made in the phaenomena of the experiment . whether or no the apparition of whiteness , or light , that we sometimes hapned to take notice of divers years agoe , and have mentioned in the already * publish'd part of our physico-mechanical experiments , may be partly ( though not entirely ) referr'd to some of the cements i then imploy'd , differing from those i now use most , and to the unheeded temper of those cements , as to warmth , and degrees of softness , is a doubt that further observation may possibly enable us to determine . experiment xlv . about the production of heat by attrition in the exhausted receiver . the opinion that ascribes the incalescence of solid bodies , struck or rubb'd hard against one another to the attrition or vehement agitation of the intercepted air , is famous and received enough to seem worthy of a particular examination . but i confess to your lordship , that t was not any thing relating to this opinion that chiefly induc'd me to make the experiment i am now about to give an account of ; for i thought it might be usefull to more purposes than one , to be able to produce by attrition a somewhat durable heat even in our exhausted receiver : and therefore though 't were easie to foresee , that it would prove no easie task , yet we thought fit to attempt it in spight of the difficulties met with at our first tryal . in what way and with what success we afterwards made this attempt , i now proceed to relate . cross the stable trencher , formerly often mentioned , there was fastned a pretty strong spring of steel or iron , shap'd almost like the lathe of a cross-bow , and to the midst of this spring was strongly fastned on the outside a round piece of brass hollow'd almost like a concave burning-glass , or one of those tools wherein they use to grind eye-glasses for telescopes . to this piece of brass , which was not considerably thick , nor above 2 inches diameter , was fitted a convex piece of the same metal , almost like a gage for a tool to grind glasses in , which had belonging to it a square handle , whereinto as into a socket was inserted a square piece of wood , proceeding from the basis of a square wooden pillar , which we made use of on this occasion in stead of our vertical cylinder . by the help of another piece of wood coming from the other basis of the same pillar , the turning-key was joyned to this pillar , which was made of such a length , that when the turning-key was forceably kept down as low as the brass cover , it was a part of , would permit ; the convex piece of metal lately describ'd did depress the concave piece a pretty way , notwithstanding a vigorous resistance of the subjacent spring . besides these things , a litle fine powder of emery was put between the convex and concave pieces of brass , to make them more congruous , and facilitate the motion that was to be made ; and there was fastned to the upper part of the turning key a good wimble , without which we presum'd the turning of the key would not produce a sufficient motion : in order to the making of which , it was , after the first tryal , judged requisite to have a strong man , that was us'd to exercise his hands and armes in mechanical labours , upon which account we sent for a certain lock-smith , that was a lusty and dexterous fellow . all things that were thought necessary being thus in readiness , and a mercurial gage being convey'd into the receiver , we caus'd the air to be diligently pump'd out ; and then the smith was order'd to turn the wimble , and to continue to lean a litle on it , that he might be sure to keep the turning-key from being at all lifted up by the formerly mentioned spring . whilst this man with much nimbleness and strength was moving the wimble , i watch'd the gage , to observe whether the agitation of the stop-cock , and consequently the engine , did not prejudice the experiment ; and for greater caution i caus'd the pump to be almost all the while kept at work , though that seem'd not so necessary . when the turner of the wimble was almost out of breath , we let in for hast the air at the cover of the receiver by lifting up the turning-key , and nimbly removing the receiver we felt the pieces of brass , betwixt whom the attrition had been made , and , as we expected , found both of them very sensibly warm . but being willing to confirm the experiment by a second tryal , which we hoped might , after the experience taught us by the first , be somewhat better performed , we caus'd the smith , after he had well refresh'd himself with rest and drink , to lay hold of the wimble again , when the gage made it appear that the receiver was well exhausted , so that by further pumping the quick-silver seem'd not to be further deprest . and in this 2 d tryal the nimble smith plaid his part so well , ( the pump in the mean while not being neglected , ) that when we did as before hastily let in the air , and take out the bodies that had been rubb'd against one another , they were both of them ( especially the uppermost ) so hot , that i could not endure to hold my hand on either of them , and they did for a considerable time retain a not inconsiderable degree of warmth . the same day i caus'd to be made at the turners two bodies of wood , for size and shape like those of brass we had just before imploy'd ; the upper of these was of hard oak , the other of beech , ( such a difference between woods , to be heated by mutual attrition , being thought to be an advantageous circumstance ; ) but though the wimble was swiftly turn'd as before , and that by the same person , nevertheless the wood seem'd not to me ( for all the by-standers were not of my opinion ) to have manifestly acquired any warmth ; and yet that there had been a considerable attrition , appear'd by the great polish which part of the wood had evidently acquir'd , vvhich made me suspect , that though the wood seem'd dry enough , yet it might not really be so , notwithstanding the contrary was affirm'd to me : but not being willing to sit down with a single tryal , i caus'd the experiment to be repeated with more obstinacy than before , the effect of which was , that the wood , especially the upper piece of it , vvas brought to a warmth unquestionably sensible . experiment xlvi . about the slaking of quick-lime in the exhausted receiver . the several scopes i aim'd at in making the following tryal are not necessary to be here particularly taken notice of . but one of them may be guess'd at by the subsequence of this experiment to that immediately foregoing , and the phaenomena of it may be mentioned in this epistle upon the account of their being exhibited by our engine . we took in an evaporating glass a convenient quantity of water , and having convey'd it into a receiver , and well drawn out the air , we let down into it by the turning-key a lump of strong lime , about the bigness of a pipin ; and observ'd not that at the first immersion , nor for some while after , there appear'd any considerable number of bubbles , but within about 1 / 4 of an hour , as i guess'd it , the lime began ( the pump having been and being still ply'd from time to time ) to slack with much violence , and with bubbles wonderfully great , that appear'd at each new exuction , so that the inside of the receiver ( though pretty large ) was at length lin'd with lime-water , and a great part of the mixture did from time to time overflow the vessel , that had purposely been but little fill'd ; nor did any thing but our weariness put a period to the bubling of the mixture , whose heat was sensible even on the outside of the receiver , and which continued considerably hot in the evaporating glass for ¼ of an hour ( as i conjectured ) after the receiver was removed . note , that the lime imployed about this experiment was of a very good and strong kind ( made of hard stones , ) and not such lime , made of chalk , as is commonly used at london , which probably would not have been strong enough to have afforded us the same phaenomenon . experiment xlvii . about an attempt made to measure the force of the spring of included air , and examine a conjecture about the difference of its strength in unequally broad mouth'd vessels . though several of the foregoing tryals have sufficiently manifested that the spring of the air in its natural or wonted state , hath a force very considerable , and indeed much greater than men seem to have hitherto believed ; yet i could not hope by any of these experiments to determine by any known weight , how great that force is , so as to conclude that it is equivalent to such a weight , as so many pounds , ounces , &c. and to no more . wherefore among the uses i had design'd to make of our syringe , formerly often mentioned , it was one , to try if by the help of that instrument , we could determine somewhat near ( for no more was to be expected ) how much weight a cylinder of uncomprest air included in it , and consequently of the same diameter vvith the cavity of the barrel , would be able to sustain or also to lift up . in order to this tryal , 1. we provided a stable pedestal , or frame , wherein the syringe might be kept firm , and erected . next , vve also provided a weight of lead shap'd like our brass-hoop , or ring , * formerly describ'd , that by the advantage of its figure it might be made to hang down by strings from the top of the handle of the rammer , and so press evenly enough on all sides , without making the upper part of the instrument top-heavy . 3. we took care to leave , between the bottom of the syringe ( which was firmly clos'd with strong cement ) and that part of it where the sucker was , a convenient quantity of air , to expand its self , and lift up the weight , when the air external to that included air should be pump'd out of the receiver : and lastly , the handle of the rammer ( from which the annular weight lately spoken of depended ) was so fastned to the turning-key of the cover of the receiver , that the weight might not compress the air included in the syringe , but leave it in its natural state or wonted laxity , till the air were withdrawn from the receiver . but notwithstanding all this , when we actually tryed the experiment , that hapned which i feared . for though by this method the included air would well enough lift up a weight of 7 or 8 pound , yet when the rammer came to be clogg'd with so considerable a weight , as my scope in making the experiment required , the instrument prov'd not so stanch , but that it was easier for some particles of air to force themselves a passage , and get away between the sucker and the inside of the barrel , than to heave up so great a weight . and yet i have thought fit to relate the experiment thus particularly , because , if an exact syringe can be procured , ( which i fear will be very difficult , but do not think impossible , this seems to be one of the likeliest and least exceptionable wayes i know , of measuring the force of the airs spring . but despairing to get such a syringe , as i desir'd , in the place where i then was , i bethought my self of another way , by which i hop'd to be able ( though not to arrive at an exact knowledge of the full force of the airs spring , yet ) at least to approach nearer it than i have been able to do by the help of the syringe . for this purpose considering with my self , that if a convenient quantity of air were included in a fine small bladder , the sides of it would hinder the air from getting away , and the limberness of them would permit the air to accommodate it self and the bladder to the figure of a cylindrical vessel , into which it might be put . wherefore with much adoe i procured to be made by a person exercised in turning a couple of hollow cylinders , whose sides were of a sufficient thickness , ( that they might resist the pressure of the air to be imprisoned in them , ) and of such differing breadths , that the first had but one inch in diameter , and the 2 d two ; their depths being also unequal , that the one might receive a much larger bladder than the other . with the lesser of these ( which was very carefully turned ) i made a diligent tryal ; whose circumstances i cannot now acquaint your lordship with , the paper , wherein they vvere amply recorded , having been vvith other notes belonging to this continuation unluckily lost : but the most considerable things in the event were , that t was very difficult to procure a bladder small and fine enough for that litle cylinder ; and that one , which at length we procured , would not continue stanch for many tryals , but would after a vvhile part with a litle air in the well exhausted receiver , when t was clog'd with the utmost weight it could sustain : but whilst it continued stanch vve made one fair tryal vvith it , from vvhence vve concluded , that a cylinder of air of but an inch in diameter , and lesse than two inches in length , was able to raise visibly ( though but a litle ) a weight of above ten pounds , ( i speak of averdupoiz vveights , vvhere a pound contains 16 ounces . ) the manner of making this experiment , and the cautions us'd in judging of it , your lorship may learn by the recital of the subsequent tryal ; my notes about which were not so unfortunate as those that concern'd the former . into a hollow cylinder of wood of four inches in depth , and two in diameter , furnished with a broad and solid bottom or pedestal , to make it stand the firmer , was put a lambs or sheeps bladder very strongly tyed at the neck , on vvhich vvas put a wooden plug , markt with ink where the edg of the cylinder vvas contiguous to it ; this plug being loaded with weights , amounting to 35 pound , ( the uppermost of vvhich weights was fastned to the turning-key , to keep it upright , and to help to raise it at first , ) the receiver vvas exhausted , till the mark appeared very manifestly above the brim of the cylinder ; and then , though the string were by turning the key quite slackned , yet the mark on the plug continued very visible : and vvhen so much air was let into the receiver , as made the weight depress the plug quite beneath the mark , upon the repumping out of the air the weight was without the help of any turning-key lifted up , and by degrees all the mark on the plug was raised about 3 / 8 above the edge of the cylinder . wherefore we substituted for a 7 pound weight one that was estimated at 14 , ( for then we had not a ballance strong enough to weigh it with , ) and using the same bladder we repeated the experiment , onely having a care to support a litle the uppermost weight by the turning-key , till the bladder had attained its expansion ; and then the weight being gently let go , depress'd not the plug so low , but that we could yet see the mark on it , ( which yet was all we could do , ) though that part of the plug , where the mark vvas , vvere manifestly more deprest than the other . for the clearing up of some particulars relating to this tryal , we will subjoyn the following notes . 1. the plug is to be so fitted to the cavity of the cylinder , as easily to slip up and down in it , without grating against the sides of it , lest it needlesly increase the resistance of the weight to be rais'd . and this plug ought to be of a convenient length , as about an inch and 1 / 2 at least , that it may be the fitter to help to reduce the bladder by compression into a somewhat cylindrical shape , and yet that it may not be thrust in too deep by the incumbent weight ; and that the weight might rest more firmly upon it , there was a broad and strong ledge made at the top of it , by which it might lean on every side upon the brim of the hollow cylinder . 2. before the instrument was conveyed into the receiver , the bladder ( which ought to be of a just size , and not full blown , and of a fine and limber contexture ) was put into the cylinder , and by divers gradual ( but not immoderate ) compressions was reduc'd to conform its self , as much as might be , to the cylindrical shape of the containing vessel . and then the weight being put on , and taken off again , there was a mark ( in the form of an horizontally plac'd arch ) made with ink , where the edge of the brim of the hollow cylinder did almost touch the plug . this we thought necessary to do , to avoid a mistake ; for we must not judg , that all the weight , that might be rais'd by our bladder , may pass for the weight sought after by our experiment ; since the air in the bladder is by reason of the incumbent weight more comprest than t was before , and consequently its being able to heave up a great weight will not infer , that our common air is able in its natural state ( as they call it ) to exert so great a strength ; that weight being onely to be lookt on as rais'd or sustain'd by the uncomprest air , that is rais'd or sustain'd when the plug is lifted up to the mark , since till then the spring of the air does but bring it back from its new state of adventitious compression to its natural or wonted laxity . 3. when , after the operation was ended , we took the bladder out of the vessel , it had obtain'd a form cylindrical enough , and though it could be but 2 inches in diameter , yet it was so litle as to be but half an inch more long than broad . 4. the reason why i chose to have the two cylinders made of the unequal diameters above mentioned , was to examine , as far as by this way i could , a conjecture i had , that the force of the spring of differing cylinders of air to lift up solid weights , would , at the very first raising of the weights , be in duplicate proportion to the diameters of their cylinders , ( those diameters being proportionable to the areas of the plain superficies , against which the air does immediately press , ) without very much considering the inequality that may be between the quantity of the several parcels of air , whose pressures are compared . but t is to be remembred , that i said at the very first raising of the weights , because presently after that , the quantity of the parcels of air may be very considerable : for , as i have shewn in another treatise , two very unequal quantities of air being made by their expansion to possess two equal spaces , the lesser quantity of air must be much more rarified in proportion than the greater ; and consequently , ( to bring this home to our present argument ) though both be lifted up ¼ or ½ of an inch , the spring of a very litle air must be much more weakned than that of a very considerable quantity , and so it cannot continue to lift up its weight , as the above mentioned proportion would ( if it were not for this advertisement ) seem to require . taking then our conjecture in the sense now declared , the success of our tryals is agreeable to it , inviting us to conclude , that the air in the bladder , which was but two inches in diameter , was able by its pressure to countervaile the weight of 42 pound , which is about four times the weight that we lately observ'd the spring of a cylinder of air of one inch in diameter to be able to lift up . for though , according to what we have formerly said of a duplicate proportion , 42 pound seems to be somewhat more than ought to have been lifted up in the cylinder of two inches bore , when that of one inch lifted up not much above 10 pound ; yet this disagrees not with the hypothesis , if we consider that the substance of the bladder straitens the cavity of the smaller cylinder in a greater proportion than that of the bigger . 5. though we have thus ( as far as the instruments we were able to procure would assist us ) measured the pressure of included air , yet i must not forbear to advertise your lordship , that considering what i formerly observ'd to you about the weight of an atmospherical pillar of an inch in diameter , i cannot but think , that if a cylinder , or other convenient instrument , exactly tite , can be procured , the spring of an aerial cylinder will appear to be greater than we found it by the foregoing tryals ; in which i consider that , not to mention the resistance of the bladder its self , the membraneous substance that lin'd the cylinders ( though t were very thin and fine ) could not but somewhat straiten their cavities , and consequently somewhat ( though not much ) lessen the diameters of the included aerial cylinders . 6. to all these notes i must adde this advertisement , that it may be therefore the more difficult in such tryals as ours to ascertain the force of the airs spring , because , that air its self when t is included , being shut up with the pressure of the atmosphere upon it , t is probable , that since that pressure ( as we have shewn ) is not at all times the same , the spring of the included air will accordingly be varied . and , if my memory fail me not , when the lately recited experiments were made , our barometer declared the atmosphere to be somewhat light . from what has been hitherto delivered , this may result ; that t is likely , that the spring of an aerial cylinder an inch broad , may be able to sustain , if not raise , a pretty deal more than ten pound weight ; and that the past tryals , without determining that the air can raise no more than in them it did , do , at least , prove that it can raise up as much weight as we have related , since we actually found it to do so . experiment xlviii . about an easie way of making a small quantity of included air raise in the exhausted receiver 50 or 60 pound , or a greater weight . i would very willingly have further prosecuted the foregoing tryals , to see how far the lately propos'd conjecture or hypothesis would hold ; but was hindered by the want of receivers tall and capacious enough to contain the weights , that such an attempt required : but remembring that there were not any experiments made in our engine , that appear'd more strange to the generality of spectators , and serv'd more to give them a high opinion of the airs spring , than those wherein they saw solid bodies actually lifted up by it , and remembring , that i had lying by me a brass vessel , ( which had been bespoken for another experiment , for which the workmen had not made it fit , ) i thought it not amiss to imploy it about making a tryal very easie , and yet fit to be shewn to strangers , to convince them , that the spring of the air is a much more considerable thing than they imagined . we took then a brass vessel made like a cylinder , and having one of his orifices exactly covered with a flat plate very firmly fastned to it , the other orifice being wide open . the depth of this vessel was 4 inches , and the diameter should have been precisely ( but wanted about a quarter of an inch of ) 4 inches . to this hollow cylinder we fitted a wooden plug , like one of those described in the foregoing experiment , save that it was not quite so long , and that it was furnished with a rimme or lip , which was purposely made of a considerable breadth , that it might afford a stable basis to the weight that should lean upon it . and then taking a middle siz'd and limber bladder , strongly tyed at the neck , but not near full blown , we press'd it by the help of the plug into the cylinder to make it the better accommodate it self to the figure of it . then taking notice by an inky mark how much of the plug was extant above the orifice of the vessel , we laid the weights upon the plug , ( whose rimme or lip hinder'd it from being deprest too deep into the cavity of the vessel ; ) and having convey'd them into the receiver , we found as we expected , that if we had loaded the plug but with a single weight , ( as to avoid trouble , and the danger of breaking the glass we usually thought fit to do , ) though that were a common half hundred weight , ( which you know amounts to 56 pounds , ) it would very quickly be manifestly heav'd up by the spring of the included air. for confirmation of more than which , i shall subjoyn the ensuing tryal , as i find it recorded among my loose notes . the weight that was lifted up by the bladder in the cylinder 4 inches broad , was 75 pound ; this weight was lifted up till the wooden plug disclos'd the mark , that was to shew the height , at which the air kept the said plug before it was comprest : disclos'd it i say visibly at the 5 th exuction , and at the 7 th that mark was ⅛ , or rather 3 / 16 above the edge of the cylinder . in the gage where the mercury in the open air was wont to stand about ⅛ above the uppermost glass-mark , it was deprest till it was ⅛ below the second mark . when the air was let in , it was a pretty while before the weight did manifestly begin to subside ; the bladder being taken out , and the place it had possess'd in the cylinder being supply'd with a sleeve , or some such thing , and the weight laid again upon the plug , we found that at 24 exuctions the mercury was deprest to the lowest mark of the gage ; and it was the 34 or 35 th exuction before the receiver appear'd to be so exhausted , as to put an end to the sinking of the mercury , which was then above ⅛ beneath the lowest mark . your lordship will easily believe , that most of the spectators of such tryals thought it somewhat strange to see a small quantity of air , which was not onely uncomprest in the bladder , but did not near fill it , ( and left it very soft and yielding to the least touch , ) lift up so easily by its bare spring such great weights as indeavoured to oppress it . but this not being any thing near a sufficient tryal , how far the conjecture or hypothesis formerly propos'd will hold , i thought fit to make the utmost tryals the tallest receivers i could procure would admit : and having caus'd leaden weights to be purposely cast flat like cheeses , and as broad as we could conveniently put into the receiver , that by the advantage of this shape we might be able to pile up the more of them , without much danger that any of them should be shaken down ; we laid divers of them one upon another , and then the upper part of the receiver growing too narrow to admit more of them , we added a less broad weight or two ; and then exhausting the receiver , till we perceiv'd by the gage that the air was manifestly withdrawn , we found ( as near as we could measure ) by the help of a mark and a pair of compasses , that the plug was so far rais'd , as that t was concluded , that the elevation vvould have been much greater , if the included air , being put upon so great a conatus , had not found it easier to produce some leak at the neck of the bladder , than to lift up so great a weight , which by our reckoning came to about 100 pound of 16 ounces to the pound . but this last experiment , for want of some requisite accommodations , vve vvere hinder'd from repeating and promoting ; though the above mentioned hypothesis made me presume , that a far greater weight might this way have been rais'd if the bladder had been stanch , and the receiver high enough . i need not tell your lordship , that if a larger bladder be imploy'd and included in a brass vessel of a sufficiently wide orifice , a far greater weight may be lifted up by the spring of the internal air. but yet it will not be amiss to give your lordship on this occasion this advertisement , which may be fit to be taken notice of on divers others : that care must be had not to make receivers , that ought to be well emptied , too large , and especially too wide at the orifice ; for otherwayes they will be expos'd to so great a pressure of the atmosphere , that they need be of an extraordinary strength to resist it ; and even receivers , that seem'd thick enough proportionably to their bulk , and which held out very well till the close of the operation , yet when they came to be very diligently exhausted , they did , by reason of the wideness of their orifices , begin to crack at the bottom . experiment xlix . in one of my publish'd experiments * i long since told your lordship , that when i endeavoured , by the help of a seal'd bubble , weigh'd in an exhausted receiver , to compare the gravity of air and water , i was hinder'd by the casual breaking of the glass from compleating the experiment . wherefore i afterwards thought fit to repeat the tryal ; and though when i had done so twice or thrice , having given away the large receiver i had made use of about them , and not being able ever since to procure a good one , that was capacious enough for the tender scales i thought so nice an experiment required , i did not prosecute that attempt so far as i intended ; yet this very difficulty i met with to procure the requisites of making the tryal , invites me to subjoyn the two following notes , which i find among my loose papers . we weigh'd a bubble in the receiver , which we found to weigh above half a grain heavier , when much of the air was exhausted , than when it was full . afterwards we took out this seal'd bubble , and weighing it found it to weigh 68 grains and a half ; then breaking off the small tip of it under water , we found that the heat , by which it was seal'd up , had rarifi'd its included air , so that it admitted 125 grains of water , for the admitted water and glass weighed 193 ½ grains . then filling it full with water , we found it to contain in all 739 grains of water , for it weighed 807 1 / 2 grains : whence t is evident , that the difference between the weight of water and air was less than 1228 to 1. ] we weighed in the receiver a bubble , the glass of which weighed 60 grains : the air that fill'd it weighed in vacuo 27 / 32 of a grain : the water that fill'd it weighed 720 ¼ grains : so that by this experiment the proportion of the weight of air to water is as ( one ) to ( 853 17 / 27. ) the tryals mentioned in these notes , though they were too few for me to acquiesce in , yet being made in a nevv vvay , and which has some advantages above those that have been hitherto imployed to weigh the air , may yet serve to keep us from the contrary . extremes , that have not been avoided by such eminent mathematicians as galileo and ricciolus ; the former of which makes water to be but about 400 times as heavy the air ; and the later , whose conjecture is much remoter from the truth , 10000 times heavier . but it is so desireable a thing , and may prove of such importance , to know the proportion in weight betwixt air and water , that i shall not scruple to acquaint your lordship with an attempt or two that i made to discover it by another way : for , though at first sight this experiment may seem to be the same with one publish'd a pretty while ago in the learned schottus his mechanica hydraulico pneumatica ; yet your lordship will easily perceive this difference between them : that , whereas the industrious author of that experiment contents himself to shew , by the diminution of the weight of a glass , when the air has been drawn out of it , that the air , before t was drawn out , was not devoid of gravity ; the following tryal does not onely perform the same thing , and by a superadded circumstance confirm the truth to be thereby prov'd , but it indeavours also to shew the proportion in gravity betwixt the air and water . the tryals themselves were registred among my adversaria as follows . a small receiver being exhausted of air by the engine , and counterpois'd whilst it continued so ; the stop-cock was turn'd , and the air readmitted , which made it weigh 36 grains more than it did before : and to prevent jealousies , we caus'd it to be applied the second time to the engine , by which the air being emptied once more , the glass was put into the other scale of the former ballance , and so counterpois'd ; and then the external air being readmitted , ( which rush'd in as formerly with a whistling noise ) , there was found 36 grains or better , requisite to restore the ballance to an aequilibrium . we took a small glass receiver fitted with a stopcock , and having exhausted it of the air , and counterpois'd it , and let in the outward air , we found the vveight of the vessel to be increased by that admission 36 grains . this done , we took the receiver , after having well counterpois'd it , out of the scale ; and having apply'd it the second time to the engine , we once more withdrew the air , and then turning the stop-cock to keep out the external air , vve took care that none of the cement , imploy'd to joyn it to the engine , should stick to it , as we had diligently freed it from adherent cement before we last apply'd it to the engine . then weighing it again , we found it to weigh either 35 or 36 grains ( but rather the former ) heavier than it did , when t was last counterpois'd in the same ballance . this being also done , we immers'd the stop-cock into a bason of fair water , and let in the liquor , that we might find how much water would succeed in place of the air vve had drawn out . when no more vvater vvas impell'd in , vve turned the stop-cock once more , to keep it from falling out , and then weighing it in the same scales , ( after we had wip'd the stop-cock , that no water might stick to it on the outside , ) we found the water ( without computing the vessel ) to weigh 47 ounces , 3 drachms , and 6 grains , vvhich divided by 35 grains , ( which i took to be the weight of the air , that vvas equal in bulk to this vvater that succeeded it , ) the quotient was ( wanting a very litle ) 650 grains , for the proportion of the vveight between air and water of the same bigness , at the time when the experiment was made : vvhich circumstance i therefore take notice of , because the atmosphere appear'd by the baroscope ( wherein the mercury stood then at 29 inches and 3 / 4 ) to be very heavy ; which made me the less wonder to find this proportion not so great , as at other times i had observed it to be between water and air in point of weight : though i suspected , that because this odd experiment cannot be nimbly dispatched , some litle air may have got in at the stop-cock , besides the air that disclos'd it self in numerous bubbles in the vvater that vvas admitted , vvhere though it lay in such small particles as not to be discerned before ; yet these particles , by this opportunity to expand themselves , extricated themselves from the vvater , and by getting together might somewhat resist the ingress of more ; vvhich is a difficulty , vvhere to the measuring the proportion between vvater and air in a heated eoliple is liable . but the stealing in of any air , before the vvater vvas let in , is mentioned but as a suspicion . your lordship may perhaps think it somewhat strange , that i should present you tryals , whose events do not so vvell agree together , as perchance you expected . but this very disagreement vvas one of the motives that induc'd me to acquaint you vvith them : for all those compris'd in these experiments being made faithfully , and not without ( at the least ) an ordinary diligence , as they seem to make it probable , that one may without any great errour estimate the proportion of our english air to vvater to be as ( one ) to some number betwixt 600 and 1100 ; so t is not to be expected , that the proportion , vvhatever it be that should be pitch'd upon , should be accurate and stable . for though learned men seem to have hitherto taken it for granted , that it may suffice once for all diligently to investigate the proportion betwixt those two bodies , yet , not onely i am apt to believe that a determinate quantity of air ( as a pint or quart ) may be unequally heavy in distant countreys , and even in differing places of the same countrey ; but what i have taken notice of in the 17 th of the printed experiments , and afterwards frequently observ'd of the great inequalities of the vveight of the atmosphere , inclines me to think , that in the self same place two experiments may be made with the same instruments , and equal diligence , and yet the weights of the air may be found differing enough ; which may keep your lordship from much wondering , that in the 36 th printed experiment , made when i had the variations of the atmospheres gravity in my eye , i found the air to be less ponderous in reference to water , than in these later tryals . but of this i hope i shall , if god permit , make further tryals with the same vessels , at times when i shall perceive by the baroscope , that the gravity of the atmosphere is very great and very small . and i wish the curious would make the like tryals in other regions . i do not forget , that not onely the school philosophers , but most of the moderns deny , that air hath any weight in air , no more than water in water ; but having a elsewhere declared and explained my sense about this received opinion , i shall not here spend any of the litle time i have remaining , to justifie my dissent ; for which your lordship may find sufficient grounds in the newly related experiments , especially if you please to consider , that though the opinion i disallow have been chiefly and generally grounded upon some arguments supposed to evince , that vvater has no vveight in vvater , i have b elsewhere shewn those proofs not to be cogent , and taught a practical way of weighting vvater in vvater with a pair of ordinary scales . c experiment l. about the disjoyning of two marbles ( not otherwise to be pull'd asunder without a great weight ) by withdrawing the pressure of the air from them . in our formerly publish'd experiments about the air * , i did , if i misremember not , acquaint your lordship with an attempt i had made to make a couple of coherent marbles fall asunder , by withdrawing the air from them ; but though i then esteem'd that their cohaesion depended upon the pressure of the air , yet not being at that time furnish'd with all the accommodations requisite to make an experiment not easie to be perform'd succeed , i thought fit , when i had afterwards opportunity , to prosecute what i then began , and add some circumstances that i could not then make tryal of ; and yet whose success will not i presume be unwelcome , since it supplies us with no less than matters of fact ; whence we may argue , that this experiment of coherent marbles ( which not onely the aristotelian plenists have of late much triumph'd in , but which some recent favourers of our hypothesis have declar'd themselves to be troubled with ) is not onely reconcileable to our doctrine , but capable of being made a confirmation of it ; notwithstanding what has lately been publish'd ( upon the supposition of a case , which at first blush may seem somewhat of kin to our experiment , ) by a very learned * writer , to whose objection against our hypothesis , though as well confidently as very civilly proposed , an answer may in due place , if your lordship desire it , be return'd . we took two flat round marbles , each of them of two inches and about 3 quarters in diameter , and having put a litle oyl between them to keep out the air , we hung at a hook fastned to the lowermost a pound weight to surmount the cohaesion , which the tenacity of the oyl and the imperfect exhaustion of the receiver might give them . then having suspended them in the cavity of a receiver , at a stick that lay ( horizontally ) a cross it ; when the engine was fill'd , and ready to work , we shook it so strongly , that those that were wont to manage it , concluded , it would not be near so much shaken by the operation . then beginning to pump out the air , we observ'd the marbles to continue joyned till it was so far drawn out , that we began to be diffident whether they would separate . but at the 16 th suck , upon the turning of the stop-cock , ( which gave the air a passage out of the receiver into the pump , ) the shaking of the engine being almost , if not quite , over , the marbles spontaneously fell asunder , wanting that pressure of the air , that formerly had kept them together : which event was the more considerable , not onely because they hung parallel to the horizon , but adher'd so firmly together when they were put in , that having try'd to pull them asunder , and thereby observ'd how close they stuck together , i foretold it would cost a good deal of pains so far to withdraw the air , as to make them separate : which conjecture your lordship will the less wonder at , if i adde , that a weight of 80 and odd pounds , fastned to the lowermost marble , may be drawn up together with the uppermost , by vertue of the firmness of their cohesion . nb. this is not the onely time that this experiment succeeded with us . for sometimes , when they were not so closely press'd together before they were put in , the disjunction was made at the 8 th suck , or sooner , and we seem'd to our selves to observe , that when we hung but half a pound weight to the lower marble , it requir'd a greater exhaustion of the receiver to separate them , than when we hung the whole pound . after , having proceeded thus far with the instruments we then had , meeting with an artificer that was not altogether unskilful , we directed him to make ( what we wanted before in that place ) such a brass-plate to serve for a cover or cap to the upper orifice of receivers open at the top , as we have divers times had occasion to mention already in giving accounts of some of the foregoing tryals : by the help of which contrivance we prosecuted the newly related experiment much further than we could do before , as may appear by the following account . we fasten'd to the lower most of the two marbles a weight of a very few ounces , ( for i remember not the precise number , ) and having cemented the capp'd receiver with the marbles in it , as before , to the pump , we did by a string , whereof one end was tied to the bottom of this turning-key , and the other to the uppermost marble , and which ( string ) past through the crank or hook belonging to the brass-cover ; we did , i say , by the help of this string , and by turning round the key , draw up the superiour marble , and by reason of their coherence the lowermost also , together with the weight that hung at it : by which means being sure , that the two marbles stuck close together , we began to pump out the air that kept them coherent ; and after a while , the air being pretty well withdrawn , the marbles fell asunder . but we having so order'd the matter , that the lowermost could fall but a litle way beneath the other , we were able by inclining and shaking the engine to place them one upon another again , and then letting in the air somewhat hastily , that by its spring it might press them hard together , we found the expedient to succeed so well , that we were not onely able by turning the abovementioned cylindrical key , to make the uppermost marble take up the other , and the annexed weight ; but we were fain to make a much more laborious and diligent exhaustion of the air to procure the disjunction of the marbles this second time , than was necessary to do it at the first . and for further prevention of the objections or scruples that i foresaw some prepossessions might suggest , i thought fit to make this further tryal , that when the marbles were thus asunder , and the receiver exhausted , we did , before we let in the air , make the marbles fall upon one another as before ; but the litle and highly expanded air that remained in the receiver , having not a spring near strong enough to press them together , by turning the key we very easily rais'd the uppermost marble alone , without finding it to stick to the other as before . whereupon we once more joyn'd the marbles together , and then letting in the external air , we found them afterwards to stick so close , that i could not without inconvenience strain any further , than i fruitlesly did , to pull them fairly asunder ; and therefore gave them to one that was stronger than i , to try , whether he could do it , which he also in vain attempted to perform . and now , my lord , though i had thoughts of adding divers other experiments to those i have hitherto entertained you with ; yet ( upon a review ) finding these to amount already to fifty , i think it not amiss to make a pause at so convenient a number . and the rather , because an odd quartainary distemper , that i slighted so long , as to give it time to take root , is now grown so troublesome , that i fear it may have too much influence upon my style ; which apprehension obliges me as well to avoid abusing , or distressing your lordship's patience , as to allow my self some seasonable refreshment , to reserve the mention of the design'd additions till they can with less trouble to us both be presented you by my dear lord your lordship's most humble servant , and affectionate uncle , robert boyle . oxford , march the 24. 1667. notes &c. about the atmospheres of consistent bodies ( here below . ) shewing , that even hard and solid bodies ( and some such as one would scarce suspect ) are capable of emitting effluvia , and so of having atmospheres . an advertisement . he that shall take the pains to peruse the following paper , will easily believe me , when i tell him , that t was not design'd to come abroad with the experiments , in whose company it now appears . but the stationer earnestly representing that divers experiments being reserved by me for another occasion , the remaining ones alone would not give the book a thickness any thing proportionable to its breadth ; i consented , at his sollicitation , to annexe to them the following observations , because of some affinity between the small atmospheres of lesser bodies , and the great atmosphere that surrounds the terrestrial globe ; in which the other , that do at least help to compose it , are lost and confounded , as brooks and rivers are in the ocean . and to save the reader the pains of making guesses to what kind of writing the ensuing discourse may belong , i shall here intimate , that t is dismembred from certain papers about occult qualities in general , which make part of the notes i long since designed , and also partly published , about the origine of qualities , of which notes those that concern'd effluviums , being the most copious , i referr'd them to four general heads ; whereof the first onely is treated of in the following discourse , the others being withheld , as having not affinity enough with the atmosphere to accompany this , whereon they have no such absolute dependance , but that they may well enough spare it . and i make the less scruple to let it appear without them , because the inducements already mentioned are not a litle strengthned by this superadded consideration , that the following notes may give light to several of the observations i have made of some lesse heeded phanomena of the alterations of the air , in case they be allowed to enter into the appendix to this continuation . of the atmospheres of consistent bodies . the school philosophers , and the vulgar , in considering the more abstruse operations and phaenomena of nature , are wont to run into extremes ; which , though opposite to one another , do almost equally contribute to keep men ignorant of the true causes of those effects they admire . for the vulgar , being accustomed to converse with sensible objects , and to conceive grosly of things , cannot easily imagine any other agents in nature , then those that they can see , if not also touch , and handle ; and as soon as they meet with an effect , that they cannot ascribe to some palpable , or at least sensible efficient , they are , and stick not to confess themselves utterly at a loss . and though the vulgar of philosophers will not acknowledg themselves to be pos'd by the same phaenomena with the vulgar of men , yet in effect they are so . but the school-philosophers on the contrary , do not onely refuse to acquiesce in sensible agents , but to solve the more mysterious phaenomena of nature , nay and most of the familiar ones too , they scruple not to run too far to the other side , and have their recourse to agents that are not onely invisible , but inconceivable , at least to men that cannot admit any save rational and consistent nations : they ascribe all abstruse effects to certain substantial forms , which however they call material , because of their dependence on matter , they give such descriptions to , as belong but to spiritual beings : as if all the abstruser effects of nature , if they be not perform'd by visible bodies , must be so by immaterial substances : whereas betwixt visible bodies and spiritual beings there is a middle sort of agents , invisible corpuscles ; by which a great part of the difficulter phaenomena of nature are produc'd , and by which may intelligibly be explicated those phaenomena , which 't were absurd to refer to the former , and precarious to attribute to the latter . now for methods sake i will refer the notes , that occur to me about effluviums , to four heads ; whereof the first is mentioned in the title of this paper , and each of the other three shall be successively treated of in as many distinct ones . that fluid bodies , as liquors , and such as are manifestly either moist , or soft , should easily send forth emanations , will i presume be granted without much difficulty ; especially considering the sensible evaporation that is obvious to be observ'd in water , wine , urine , &c. and the loose contexture of parts that is suppos'd to be requisite to constitute soft bodies , ( as flowers , balsomes , and the like : ) but that even hard and ponderous bodies , notwithstanding the solidity and strict cohesion of their component parts , should likewise emit steams , will to many appear improbable enough to need to be solemnly prov'd . whether you admit the atomical hypothesis , or prefer the cartesian , i think it may be probably deduc'd from either , that very many of the bodies we are treating of , may be suppos'd exhaleable as to their very minute parts . for according to the doctrine of lucippus , democritus , and epicurus , each indivisible particle of matter hath essentially either a constant actual motion , or an unlooseable endeavour after it , so that though it may be so complicated in some concretions , with other minute parts , as to have its avolation hindred for a while ; yet it can scarce otherwise be , but by this incessant indeavour of all the atomes to get loose , some of them should from time to time be able to extricate themselves , and fly away . and though the cartesians do not allow matter to have any innate motion , yet according to them both vegetables , animals , and minerals , consist of litle parts so contexed , that their pores give passage to a celestial matter ; so that this matter continually streaming through them , may well be presum'd to shake the corpuscles that compose them : by which continued concussion now some particles , and then others , will be thrown and carried off into the air , or other contiguous body , fitted to receive them . but though by these , and perhaps other considerations , i might indeavour to shew à priori , as they speak , that t is probable consistent bodies themselves are exhaleable , yet i think it may be as satisfactory , and more useful , to prove it à posteriori , by particular experiments , and other examples . that then a dry and consistent form does not necessarily infer , in the bodies that are endowed with it , an indisposition to send forth steams , which are as it were litle colonies of particles , is evident , not onely in the leaves of damask roses , whether fresh or dried ; as also in wormwood , mint , rue , &c : but in ambergreece , musk , storax , cinamon , nutmegs , and other odoriferous and spicy bodies . but more eminent examples to our present purpose may be afforded us by camphire , and volatile salts , such as are chymically obtain'd from harts-horn , blood , &c. for these are so fugitive , that sometimes i have had a considerable lump of volatile salt ( either of fermented urine , or of harts-horn ) fly away by litle and litle out of a glass , that had been carefully stopt with a cork , without leaving so much as a grain of salt behind it . and as for camphire , though by its being uneasie to be powder'd , it seems to have something of toughness or tenacity in it ; yet i remember , that having for tryals sake counterpois'd it in nice scales , even a small lump of it would in a few hours suffer a visible loss of its weight , by the avolation of strongly sented corpuscles , and this , though the experiment were made both in a north window , and in winter . but i expect you should require instances of the effluviums of bodies of a close or solid texture ; wherefore i proceed to take notice , that amber , hard wax , and many other electrical bodies do , when they are rubb'd , emit effluviums . for though i will not now meddle with the several opinions about the cause and manner of electrical attraction , yet besides that almost all the modern naturalists , that aim at explicating things intelligibly , ascribe the attraction we are speaking of to corporeal effluxes ; and besides that i shall ere long have occasion to shew you , that there is no need to admit with cartesius , that because some electrical bodies are very close and fixt , what they emit upon rubbing is not part of their own substance , but somewhat that was harbour'd in their pores : besides these things , i say , i have found that many electrical bodies may by the very nostrils be discovered , when they are well rubb'd , to part with store of corpuscles , as i have particularly , but not without attention , been able to observe in amber , rosin , brimstone , &c. i know not whether it will be worth while to take notice of the great evaporation i have observ'd , even in winter , of fruits , as apples , and of bodies that seem to be better cover'd , as eggs , which notwithstanding the closeness of their shels , did daily grow manifestly lighter and lighter ; as i observ'd in them , and divers other bodies , that i kept long in scales , and noted their decrements of weight : but perhaps you will be pleas'd to hear , that having a mind to shew how considerable an evaporation is made from wood , i caus'd a thin cup , capable of holding about a pint , or more , to be turn'd of a wood , that was chosen by the turner as solid and dry enough , though it were not of the closest sort of woods , such as are lignum vitae , and box. and as i caus'd the shape of a cup to be given it , that it might have a greater superficies expos'd to the air , and consequently might be the fitter to emit store of steams into it ; so the success did not onely answer my expectation , but exceed it : for though the tryal were made some time in winter , there was so quick and plentiful an evaporation made from the cup , that i found it no easie matter to counterpoise it ; for whilst grains were putting into the opposite scale , to bring the tender ballance to an aequilibrium , the copious avolation of invisible steams from the wood ( which had so much of superficies contiguous to the air ) would make the scale that held it sensibly too light . and i remember , that for further satisfaction , being afterwards in a city where there were both good materials and workmen , i order'd to be made a boule , about the same bigness with the former , of well season'd wood , which being suspended in the chamber i lay in , ( which circumstance i therefore mention , because the weather and a litle physick i had taken obliged me to keep a fire there , ) it quickly began manifestly to loose of its weight ; and though the whole cup wanted near two drams of 2 ounces , yet in 12 hours , viz. from 10 a clock in the morning to the same hour at night ; it lost about 40 grains , ( for t was above 39 : ) but of such experiments , and the cautions belonging to them , i may elsewhere speak farther . it were not difficult for me to multiply instances of the continual emanation of streams from vegetable and animal substances ; but i am not willing to enlarge my self upon this subject , because i consider that there are other bodies which seem so much more indispos'd to part with effluviums , that a few instances given in such , may evince what i would prove , much more then a multitude produc'd in other bodies . and since i consider that those substances are the most unlikely to afford effluvia , that are either very cold , or very ponderous , or very solid and hard , or very fixt ; if i can shew you that neither of these qualifications can keep a body from emitting steams , i hope i shall have made it probable , that there is no sort of bodies here below that may not be thought capable of affording the corporeal emanations we speak of . and first i remember , that i have not onely taken eggs , and in a very sharp winter found them , notwithstanding the coldness of the air where i kept them , to grow sensibly lighter , in a faithful pair of scales , in not very many hours ; but because ice is thought the coldest visible body we know , i thought fit to shew that even this body will loose by evaporation ; for having counterpois'd a convenient quantity of ice in a good ballance , and forthwith expos'd it therein to the cold air of a frosty night , that the evaporations should be from ice not from water , i found the next morning , that though the scale wherein the ice were put was dry , which argued as well as the coldness of the weather that the expos'd concretion had not thaw'd ; yet i found its weight to be considerably diminished , and this experiment i succesfully made in more than one winter , and in more than one place . and t is now but a few dayes since , exposing not long before midnight , lesse than two ounces of ice in a good ballance to a sharply freezing air , i sent for it before i was up in the morning , and though by the dryness of the scales the ice that was in one of them appear'd not to have thaw'd , yet it had lost about ten grains of its former weight ; so that here , the evaporation was made in spite of a double cold , of the ice , and of the air. i should now proceed to the mention of ponderous and solid bodies , but before i do so , it may be expedient to give you notice , that , to make the proof of what i have propos'd more satisfactory , and more applicable to our future purposes , i shall forbear to give you any examples of the exhalations of bodies , where so potent an agent as the fire is made to intervene . but though i purposely forbear to insist on such examples , yet it may not be amiss to intimate , that in explicating some occult qualities , even such exhalations as are produc'd by the help of the fire may be fit to be taken into consideration , as we may hereafter have occasion to shew . and therefore we may observe in general , that the fire is able to put the parts of bodies into so vehement a motion , that except gold , glass , and a very few more , there are not any bodies so fixt and solid , that t is not thought capable to dissipate either totally , or in part . t is known to those that deal in the fusion of metals , that not onely lead and tin , but much harder bodies will emit copious and hurtful steams . and there are some kinds of that iron , which our smiths call cold share iron , about whose smell whilst it was red hot , when i made inquiry , the ingeniousest smith i had then met with told me , that he had found it several times to be so strong , and rank , that he could scarce indure to work with his hammer those parcels of metal whence it proceeded . and even without being brought to fusion , not onely brass , and copper will , being well heated , become strongly sented , but iron will be so too , as is evident by the unpleasing smell of many iron-stowes . and on this occasion i might not impertinently adde here a tryal we made to observe , whether the steams of iron may not be made , though not immediately visible , yet perceptible to the eye it self , though the metal had not a red , much less a white heat . but having elsewhere related it at large , in a discourse you may command a sight of , i shall rather refer you to it , than loose the time 't would take up to transcribe it . these things premis'd , i proceed now to the mention of ponderous bodies ; and concerning them , to represent , that if you will admit what almost all the corpuscularians assert , and divers of the peripateticks do not now think fit to deny , that the magnetical operations are perform'd by particles issuing forth of the body of the loadstone , or other magnetical agent : i shall not need to go far for an instance to our present purpose , since i have hydrostatically found , that some loadstones ( for i have found those minerals very differing in gravity ) are so ponderous , as to exceed double the weight of flints , or other stones of the same bulk . but not to insist on loadstones , stone-cutters will inform you , ( as they did me , ) that black marble , and some other solid and heavy stones will , upon the attrition they are expos'd to , when the workmen are polishing them , ( especially without water , ) emit , and that without the help of external heat , a very sensible smell , which i found to be much more strong and offensive when , to make it so , i had the curiosity to cause a piece of solid black marble to have divers fragments struck off from it with a chizel and a hammer : for the stroaks succeeding one another fast enough to make a great concussion of the parts of the black marble , ( for in white , which is not so solid , the tryal will not succeed well , ) there quickly follow'd as i expected a rank and unpleasant smell ; and you will grant me i know , that odours are not diffus'd without corporeal emanations . i remember also , that having procur'd some of those acuminated and almost conical stones , that pass among the vulgar for thunder-stones , by rubbing them a litle one against the other , i could easily according to my expectation excite a strong sulphureous stink . i have also tried upon a certain mineral mass , that was ponderous almost as a metal , but to me it seem'd rather an unusual kind of marchasite , that i could in a trice without external heat make it emit more strongly sented exhalations , than i could contentedly endure : to which i shall adde this example more , that having once made a chemical mixture of a metalline body , and coagulated mercury , which you will believe could not but be ponderous , though this mixture had already endur'd as violent a fire as was necessary to bring it to fusion , in order to cast it into rings ; yet it was so dispos'd to part with corporeal effluxes , that a very ingenious person that practis'd physick , and was there when i made it , earnestly begg'd a little of it of me for some patients troubled with distempers in the eyes , and other parts remote enough from the hand ; which he affirm'd himself to have very happily cured , by making the patient wear a ring of this odde mixture , or wearing a litle of it as an appensum near the disaffected part . if you make a vitrum saturni with a good quantity of minium in reference to the sand or chrystal , which it helps to bring to fusion , you shall have a glass exceeding ponderous , and yet not devoid of electricity : and i remember , that having sometimes caus'd brass it self to be turn'd like wood , that i might try , whether so great ( though invisible ) a concussion of all the parts would not throw off some steams that might be smell'd , i was not reduc'd to foregoe my expectation ; but yet because it was not fully answer'd , and because also there is great difference of brass upon the score of the lapis calaminaris , whereof together with copper t is made , i enquired of the workman , who us'd to turn great quantities of brass , whether he did not often after find it more strong ; and he inform'd me that he did , the smell being sometimes so strong , as to be offensive to strangers , that came to his shop , and were not us'd to it . i proceed now to the effluviums of solid and hard bodies , of which , if most of our corpuscularian philosophers , and divers others be not much mistaken , i may be allow'd to give instances in all electrical bodies , which , as i have already noted , must according to their doctrine be acknowledged to operate by substantial emanations . now among electrical bodies i have observ'd divers , that are of so close a texture , that aqua fortis its self , nor spirit of salt will work upon them , and to be so hard , that some of them will strike fire like flints : of the former sort i have found divers gems ( which i nam'd in my notes about electricity , ) and even the cornelian it self , which i found to attract hairs , though it be thought to be of a much slighter texture than precious stones , did yet resist aqua fortis , as i tried in a large ring , ( brought out of the east-indies , ) which i purposely broke , and reduced some part of it to powder , that i might make these and some other tryals with it . rock chrystal also , though it have a very manifest attractive virtue ( as they call it , ) i have yet found it so hard , as to strike fire rather better than worse than ordinary flints . and to shew that no hardness of a body is inconsistent with its being electrical , i shall adde , that though diamonds be confest to be the hardest bodies that are yet known in the world , yet frequent experience has assur'd me , that even these , whether raw or polish'd , are very manifestly ( and sometimes vigorously enough ) electrical . and to let you see , that i need not to have recourse to this kind of bodies , to prove , that very solid ones are capable of effluvia ; i will , to what i have formerly noted about the odour of black marble , subjoin two or three examples of the like nature . the first shall be taken from a sort of concretions very well known in divers parts of italy by the name of cugoli , because of the great use that is made of it by the glass-men . these concretions you will easily believe are very hard , as other minerals of that sort are wont to be ; and yet being invited by my conjectures about the atmospheres of bodies , to try them by rubbing them one against the other , i found as i expected , that they afforded not onely a perceptible , but a very strong smell , ( which was far from that of a perfume . ) and this brings into my mind , that having met with some stones cut out of humane bladders , whose texture was so close , that i could not with corrosive menstruums make any sensible solution of one whereon i made my tryal ; though to facilitate the liquors operation , part of it were reduc'd to fine powder , yet by a litle rubbing of one of these so closely contexed stones , it would presently afford a rank smell , very like the stink of stale urine . i remember i have caus'd iron to be turn'd with a lath , to examine whether by the internal commotion , that would by that operation be produc'd in the corpuscles of the metal , even that solid as well as ponderous bodie would not become capable of being smell'd ; and though by reason of the nature of that parcel of iron whereon we made our tryal , or some accidental disposition , which was at that time ( being winter ) in my organs of smelling , the odour seem'd to me but very faint ; yet upon the enquiry i made of the artificers , whether in turning greater pieces of iron they did not find the smell stronger ? they told me , that they often found it very strong , and sometimes more so than they desired . and this brings into my mind , what i have carefully observ'd in grinding of iron ; for there are many grindstones so qualify'd , that in case iron instruments be held upon the stone , whilst it is nimbly turn'd under it , though the water that is wont to be us'd on such occasions stifles ( if i may so speak ) the smell , and keeps it from being commonly taken notice of ; yet if you purposely cause ( as i remember i have done ) the use of water to be forborn , your success will not be like mine , if you do not find that store of foetid exhalations will be produc'd . and though it be not always so easie to discern by the smell , from which of the two bodies they issue , or whether they proceed from both ; yet it seems probable enough , that some of the steams come from the iron , and t is more than probable that if they proceed not from that metal , they must from a body that is so hard as to be able to make impressions in a trice upon iron and steel themselves . the last example i shall name under this head , is furnish'd me by marchasites , some of which would after a short concussion without external heat be made to exhale for a pretty while together a strong sulphureous odour , and yet were so hard , that when struck with a steel-hammer , ( which would not easily break them ) they afforded us such a number of sparks , as appear'd strange enough . and t is known , that t is from their disposition to strike fire , ( which yet i dare not attribute to all sorts of marchasites , ) that this kind of mineral is , by a name frequently to be met with in writers , call'd pyrites . and in this example we may take notice , that a body , capable of being the source of corporeal emanations , may be at once both very solid and very ponderous . it remains now that i manifest , that even the fixedness of bodies is not incompatible with their disposition to emit effluviums . i might alleadg on this occasion , that the regulus of antimony , and also its glass , though they must have endur'd fusion to attain their respective forms ; yet they will without heat communicate to liquors antimonial expirations , with which those liquors being impregnated become emetick and purgative . i might also adde , that divers electrical bodies are very fixt in the fire , and particularly that chrystal , as we have more than once tried , will endure several ignitions and extinctions in water , without being truly calcin'd , being indeed but crackt into a great multitude of litle parts ; but because the above named antimonial bodies will after a while fly away in a strong fire , and because the effluviums of chrystal are not so sensible as those which can immediately affect our eyes or nostrils , i will here subjoyn one instance , such as i hope will make it needless for me to adde any more , it being of a body which must have sustain'd an exceeding vehement fire , and is look'd upon by most of the chymists as more understroyable then gold it self , and that is glass , which is able as you know to endure so great a brunt of the fire , that you did not perhaps imagine i should of all bodies name it on this occasion . but my conjectures about the atmospheres of bodies leading me to think , that glass it self might afford me a confirmation of them ; i quickly found , that by rubbing a very litle while two solid pieces of it ( not , as i remember , of the finer sort ) one against the other , they would not onely yield a sensible odour , but sometimes so strong an one , as to be offensive . by which you will easily perceive why i told you above , that i did not acquiesce in the cartesian argument against electrical bodies performing their operations by emanations of their own substance , drawn from hence , that glass does attract light bodies , ( as indeed it does , though but weakly , ) and yet is too fixt to emit effluviums , the contrary of which supposition the lately mentioned experiment ( and by us often repeated ) does sufficiently evince . from what other solid bodies , and that will endure the fire , i have , or have not been able to obtain such odorous steams , it is not necessary to declare in this place , but may perhaps be done in another . you may i presume have taken notice , that according to what i intimated a while agoe , i have forborn in the precedent examples to mention those effluvia of solid bodies , that need the action of the fire to be obtain'd . but since the sun is the grand agent of nature in the planetary world , and since during the summer , and especially at noon , and in southern climates , his heat makes many bodies have litle atmospheres , that we cannot so well discern that they have constantly ; i see not why i may not be allow'd to ascribe atmospheres to such bodies , as i have observ'd to have them when the sun shines upon them , and also to think that the like may be attributed at least sometimes to such other bodies , as will do the things usually perform'd by effluviums , when yet they are excited but by an external heat , which exceeds not that of the hot sun. of these two sorts of bodies i shall for brevities sake name but two or three examples , and then hasten to a conclusion . the first of these i must make bold to borrow from my observations about electricity , among which this is one , that to shew that the particular and usual manner of exciting such bodies , namely by rubbing them , is not alwayes necessary ; i took a large piece of good amber , and having in a summer morning , whilst the air was yet fresh , tried that it would not without being excited attract a light body i had expos'd to it ; i remov'd it into the suns beams , till they had made it moderately hot , and then i found according to my expectation that it had acquir'd an attractive virtue , & that not onely in one particular place , as is usually observ'd when t is excited by rubbing , but in divers and distant places at once ; at any of which it would draw to it the light body plac'd within a convenient distance from it : so that even in this climate of ours a solid body may quickly acquire an atmosphere by the presence of the sun , and that long before the warmest part of the day . the next instance you will perchance think somewhat strange , it being that when for want of an opportunity to make the like trial in the warm sun , i took a litle but thick vessel made of glass , and held it near the fire till it had got a convenient degree of heat , ( which was not very great , though it exceeded that which i had given the amber , ) i found as i had imagin'd that the heat of fire had made even this body attractive , as that of the sun had made the other . what degree of heat i have observ'd to be either necessary , or the most convenient to excite electrical bodies according to their different natures , ( for the same degree will not indifferently serve for them all , ) this is not the properest place to declare , and it will be more to our present purpose to make some short reflection on what has been hitherto delivered . it seems then probably deduceable from the foregoing experiments and observations , that a very great number if not the greatest part even of consistent bodies , whether animal , vegetable , or mineral , may emit effluviums , and that even those that are solid may ( at least sometimes ) have their litle atmospheres , though the neighbouring solids will often keep the evaporations from being every way ambient in reference to the bodies they issue from . for as the instances hitherto alleadg'd ( which are not all that i could have nam'd ) do plainly shew that divers bodies ( and some that have not been thought very likely ) are such as we speak of , so several things induce me to believe , that there may be many more of the like nature . for first , very few if any have ( that i know of ) had the curiosity to make use of nice scales , ( which such tryals require , ) to examine the expirations of inanimate bodies , which if they shall hereafter do , i make litle doubt but they will light on many things , that will confirm what we have been proposing , by their finding that some bodies , which are not yet known to yield exhalations , do afford them , and that many others do part with far more copious ones than is imagin'd . for one would not easily have thought , that so extremely cold a body as a solid piece of ice should make a plentiful evaporation of its self in the cold air of a freezing night ; or that a piece of wood , that had long lain in the house , and was light enough to be conveniently hung for a long time at a ballance , that would loose its aequilibrium with ( as i remember ) half a quarter of a grain , should in less than a minute of an hour , send forth steams enough to make the scales manifestly turn , and that in winter . but supposing ( which is my second consideration ) that tryals were made with good instruments for weighing , though it will follow , that in case the exposed body grow lighter , something exhales from it ; yet it will not follow , that if no diminution of weight be discover'd by the instrument , nothing that is corporeal recedes from it . i will not urge that t is affirm'd , not onely by the generality of our chymists , but by learned modern physitians , that when either glass of antimony , or crocus metallorum impregnate wine with vomative and purgative particles , they do it without any decrement of their weight ; because the scales in apothecaries shops , and the litle accurateness wont to be imployed in weighing things , by those that are not vers'd in statical affairs , make me ( though not deny the tradition which may perchance be true , yet ) unwilling to build upon observations , which to be relyed on are to be very nicely made ; and therefore i shall rather take notice , that though the loadstone be concluded to have constantly about it a great multitude of magnetical effluvia , ( which may be call'd its atmosphere , ) yet it has not been observed to loose any thing of its weight by the recess of so many corpuscles . but because if the cartesian hypothesis about magnetisms be admitted , the argument drawn from this instance will not be so strong as it seems , and as it otherwise would be : i shall add a more unexceptionable example , for i know you will grant me that odours are not diffus'd to a distance without corporeal emanations from the odorous body : and yet , though good amber-greece be , even without being excited by external heat , constantly surrounded by a large atmosphere , you will in one of the following discourses find cause to admire how inconsiderable the wast of it is . if it be said , that in tract of time a decrement of weight may appear in bodies , that in a few hours or dayes discovers not any ; the objection , if granted , overthrows not our doctrine , it being sufficient to establish what we have been saying , if we have evinc'd that the effluvia of some bodies may be subtle enough not to make the body by their avolation appear lighter in statical trials , that are not extraordinarily ( and as it were obstinately ) protracted . and this very objection puts me in mind to adde , that for ought we know the decrement of bodies in statical experiments long continued , may be somewhat greater than even nice scales discover to us ; for how are we sure that the weights themselves , which are commonly made of brass , ( a metal very unfixt , ) may not in tract of time suffer a litle diminution of their weight , as well as the bodies counterpois'd by them : and no man has i think yet tryed whether glass , and even gold may not in tract of time loose of their weight , which in case they should do , it would not be easily discover'd , unless we had bodies that were perfectly fixt , by comparison to which we might be better assisted , than by comparing them with brass weights , or the like , which being themselves less fixt , will lose more than gold and glass . my third and last consideration is , that there may be divers other wayes , besides those furnish'd us by staticks , of discovering the effluvia of solid bodies , and consequently of shewing , that t is not safe to conclude , that because their operation is not constant or manifest , such bodies do never emit any effluvia at all , and so are uncapable to work by their intervention on any other body , though never so well dispos'd to receive their action . and this i the rather desire that you would take notice of , because my chief ( though not onely ) design in these notes is ( you know ) to illustrate the doctrine of occult qualities ; and it may conduce to explicate several of them , to know that some particular bodies emit effluvia , though perhaps they do it not constantly , and uniformly ; and though perchance too , they do not appear to emit any at all , if they be examin'd after the same manner with other exhaleable bodies , but onely may be made to emit them by some peculiar way of handling them , or appear to have emitted them by some determinate operation on some other single body , or at most small number of bodies . perchance you did not think , till you read what i lately told you about glass , that from a body that had endured so violent a fire , there could , by so sleight a way as rubbing a litle while one piece against another , be obtain'd such steams , as may not onely affect but offend the nostrils . nor should we easily believe , if experience did not assure us of it , that a diamond , that is justly reputed the hardest known body in the world , should by a litle rubbing be made to part with electrical effluvia . nay , ( that i may give some kind of confirmation to that part of the last paragraph that seems most to need it , ) i shall adde , that i once had a diamond not much bigger than a large pen , which had never been polish'd or cut , whose electrical virtue was sometimes so easily excited , that if i did but pass my fingers over it to wipe it , the virtue would disclose it self ; and if as soon as i had taken it out of my pocket , i applied a hair to it , though i touch'd not the stone with my fingers , that i might be sure not to rub it , that hair would be attracted at some distance , and many times one after an other , especially by one of the sides of the stone , ( whose surface was made up of several almost triangular planes , ) and though this excitation of the diamond seemed to proceed onely from the warmth that it had acquir'd in my pocket , yet i did not find that that warmth , though it seem'd not to be alter'd , had alwaies the same effect on it , though the wiping it with my finger fail'd not ( that i remember ) to excite it . something like this uncertainty i always observ'd in another diamond of mine , that was much nobler than the first , and very well polished , and in a small ruby , that i have yet by me , which would sometimes be considerably electrical without being rubb'd , when i but wore the ring it belong'd to on my litle finger ; and sometimes again it seem'd to have lost that virtue ( of operating without being excited by friction , ) and that sometimes within a few minutes , without my knowing whence so quick a change should proceed . but i must insist no longer on such particulars , of which i elsewhere say something ; and therefore i prceed to take notice , that we should scarce have dream'd , that when a partridg , or a hunted deer has casually set a foot upon the ground , that part where the footstep hath been ( though invisibly ) impress'd , should continue for many hours a source of corporeal effluxes ; if there were not setting dogs , and spaniels , and bloud-hounds , whose noses can take notice at that distance of time of such emanations , though not onely other sorts of animals , but other sorts of dogs are unable to do so . i saw a stone in the hands of an academick , an acquaintance of mine , which i should by the eye have judg'd to be an agate , not a blood stone , and consequently i should not have thought that it could have communicated medicinal effluvia appropriated to excessive bleeding , if the wearer of it had not been subject to that disease , and had not often cur'd both himself and others , by wearing this stone about his neck ; which if he left off , as sometimes he did for trials sake , his exceedingly sanguine complexion ( to which i have rarely seen a match ) would in a few daies cast him into relapses . what i have elsewhere told you about the true virtues of some stones , ( for i fear that most of those that are wont to be ascrib'd to them are false , ) may give some confirmation to what i have been delivering , which i cannot now stay to do , being to draw to a conclusion as soon as i have put you in mind , that it would not probably have ever been expected that so ponderous and solid a body as the loadstone should be invironed by an atmosphere , if iron had been a scarce mineral , and had not chanc'd to have been plac'd near it . and with this instance i shall put an end to these notes , because it allows me to make this reflextion ; that since solid bodies may have constant atmospheres about them , and yet not discover that they have so , but by their operation upon one particular body , or those few which participate of that ; and since there are already ( as we have seen ) very differing wayes whereby bodies may appear to be exhaleable , it is not unlikely that there may be more and more bodies ( even of those that are solid and hard ) found to emit effluvia , as more and more wayes of discovering that they do so , shall either by chance or industry be brought to light . finis . the contents . experiment 1. about the raising of mercury to a great height in an open tube , by the spring of a litle included air. 2 vvherein is set down the height the mercury was raisd to , p. 3. its sudden ascent upon the first suck , with the vibrations it makes before it settles : what proportion of height it has upon the several exuctions , and what height the mercury was at in the barometer at the time of the trials of this experiment . p. 2. 3. 4. as also what the quantity of the included air was , and how the experiment may be made use of against those , that in the explication of the torricellian experiment recur to a funiculus or a fuga vacui . p. 5. 6 experiment 2. shewing , that much included air rais'd mercury in an open tube , no higher than the weight of the atmosphere may in a baroscope . 7 the reason that induc'd the authour to think it would be so : the successe of the experiment , and notice taken of the great force of the spring of the air then when it could not raise the mercury any higher . 8. 9. 10. experiment 3. shewing that the spring of the included air will raise mercury to almost equal heights in very unequal tubes . 10 of the allowance that is to be made for the weakning of the spring of the air , whilst it expands it self into the place of a larger cylinder of mercury , together with the reason why this and the former experiment were not tried in water , as also an account of an adventitious spring that was superadded to the air by heat . 11. 12. 13 experiment 4. about a new hydraulo-pneumatical fountain , made by the spring of uncompress'd air. 13. several directions for it . 14. 15. the uses to be made of it ; as in hydraulo-pneumaticks , or to shew by what degrees the air restores it self to its spring , or especially to find what kind of line the salient water describes in rarified air. 16. &c. experiment 5. about a way of speedily breaking flat glasses by the weight of the atmosphere . 18 experiment 6. shewing , that the breaking of glass plates in the foregoing experiment , need not to be ascrib'd to the fuga vacui . 19 experiment 7. about a convenient way of breaking blown bladders by the spring of the air included in them . 20 and of the usefulness of this experiment in other tryals . 21 experiment 8. about the lifting up a considerable weight by the bare spring of a litle air included in a bladder . 22 vvith a hint that this may not be unserviceable for the explanation of the muscles . 23 experiment 9. about the breaking of hermetically seal'd bubbles of glass by the bare spring of their own air. 24 that they broke not presently , and what the reason might be of the slowness of that effect . ib. 25 experiment 10. containing two or three tryals of the force of the spring of our air uncompress'd upon stable and even solid bodies , ( whereto t is external . ) 25 several trials of it with different circumstances , that the vessels broke not here neither immediately upon the last exuction : 27 with a note necessary for the practise of one of the trials . 28 experiment 11. shewing , that mercury will in tubes be raised by suction no higher than the weight of the atmosphere is able to impell it up . 29 the principle of the schoolmen of a fuga vacui shewn to be insufficient , as also the supposition of a funiculus . 30 &c. some particulars to be taken notice of concerning the exhausting a siphon , an instrument of frequent use in these experiments . 32. 33 experiment 12. about the differing heights whereto liquors will be elevated by suction , according to their several specifick gravities . 34 notice given , that the proportion of the specifick gravity of mercury to water is not quite as 14 to 1. 35. 36 the notion of a fuga vacui unreasonable . ib. the use that may be made of this experiment in the estimating the gravity of several liquors , with some tryals thereupon . 36. 37. 38 experiment 13. about the heights to which water and mercury may be raised , proportionably to their specifick gravities , by the spring of the air. 38 experiment 14. about the heights answerable to their respective gravities , to which mercury and water will subside , upon the withdrawing of the spring of the air. 39. &c. vvith notice of the difficulty of the trial , and the allowance that must be made in it . ib. experiment 15. about the greatest height to which water can be rais'd by attraction or sucking-pumps . 41 the motives for the trying of it , the apparatus . 42. 43 the height of the water , the same compar'd to that of the quick-silver at the same time in a baroscope , and examin'd according to the proportion of their specifick gravities . 44. &c. some circumstances delivered , that induced the author to think the trial was exactly enought performed . 46. 47 an intimation given of the difference there may be in these kind of trials from the varying weight of the atmosphere . 49 a mistake of vvriters of hydraulicks in the conceit of carrying water over never so high mountains . 49. 50 experiment 16. about the bending of a springy body in the exhausted receiver . 50 no alteration of the spring discovered . 52 experiment 17. about the making of mercurial , and other gages , whereby to estimate how the receiver is exhausted . 52 several gages mentioned . 53. one preferr'd and describ'd , and directions for it given . 54. &c. two other gages useful , when t is not requir'd the engine should be very much exhausted . 58. 59 experiment 18. about an easie way to make the pressure of the air sensible to the touch of those that doubt of it . 59 vvith a caution in using of it . 61 experiment 19. about the subsidence of mercury in the tube of the torricellian experiment to the level of the stagnant mercury . 61 some confirmations of what had been said in the first treatise of the physico-mechanical experiments . exp. 17. 62. 63 experiment 20. shewing , that in tubes open at both ends , when no fuga vacui can be pretended , the weight of water will raise quick-silver no higher in slender than in larger pipes . 63 two tryals , one with tubes of several bignesses open at both ends . 64. 65. the other with them after the torricellian way . 65. 66 experiment 21. of the heights at which pure mercury , and mercury amalgam'd with tin , will stand in barometers . 66 a note concerning the inconvenience , if the amalgam be too thick : the use that may be made of this experiment , to discover how much two mixt bodies penetrate one another , as also to further illustrate that the height of the liquors in the torricellian experiment depends upon the aequilibrium with the outward air. 67 experiment 22. wherein is proposed away of making barometers , that may be transported even to distant countries . 68 the figure the barometer is to be of , the way of filling it , putting it into a frame , and securing it from the harm the mercury its self might do in the transportation by its moving up and down in the upper empty part . 69. 70. &c. the great serviceableness of this instrument , with an intimation of others of a different kind . 74. 75 a postscript advertising , that there has been since some difference found betwixt an ordinary baroscope and these travailing ones , with a guess at the reason of it , and that for all this the portable baroscopes may be serviceable . 76. 77 experiment 23. confirming , that mercury in a barometer will be kept suspended higher at the top , than at the bottom of a hill. on which occasion something is noted about the height of mountains , especially the pic of tenariff . 77 other authors opinions about it examined . 80 a more moderate height allow'd than that asserted by ricciolus . 81. 82. with a consideration to be had in the measuring the altitude of mountains distant from the sea. 84 experiment 24. shewing , that the pressure of the atmosphere may be exercis'd enough to keep up the mercury in the torricellian experiment , though the air presse upon it at a very small orifice . 85 experiment 25. shewing , that an oblique pressure of the atmosphere may suffice to keep up the mercury at the wonted height in the torricellian experiment , and that the spring of a litle included air may do the same . 87 vvhat use may be made of the former experiment for a portable baroscope . 88. 89 experiment 26. about the making of a baroscope ( but of litle practical use ) that serves but at certain times . 90 the argument it affords against a fuga vacui . ib. experiment 27. about the ascension of liquors in very slender pipes in an exhausted receiver . 91 experiment 28. about the great and seemingly spontaneous ascension of water in a pipe fill'd with a compact body , whose particles are thought incapable of imbibing it . 93 by it an explication that has been made of the cause of filtration examined . a probable cause of the ascension of sap into trees hence suggested . an attempt to make a syphon , that should run of it self without suction . 95. 96 experiment 29. of the seemingly spontaneous ascension of salts along the sides of glasses , with a conjecture at the cause of it . 97 experiment 30. about an attempt to measure the gravity of the cylinders of the atmosphere , so as that it may be exprest by known and common weights . 101 wherein also the specifick gravities of mercury and vvater are compared . 102 experiment 31. about the attractive virtue of the loadstone in an exhausted receiver . 105 experiment 32. shewing , that when the pressure of the external air is taken off , t is very easie to draw up the sucker of a syringe , though the hole , at which the air or vvater should succeed , be stopt . 106 the first tryal . 107. the 2 d tryal , containing a variation of the foregoing . 109 experiment 33. about the opening of a syringe , whose pipe was stopt in the exhausted receiver , and by the help of it making the pressure of the air lift up a considerable weight . 111 experiment 34. shewing , that the cause of the ascension of liquors in syringes is to be derived from the pressure of the air. 113 exemplified in three several tryals . 113. 115. 117 experiment 35. shewing , that upon the pressure of the air depends the sticking of cupping-glasses to the fleshy parts they are apply'd to . 118 experiment 36. about the making , without heat , a cupping-glass to lift up a great weight . 122 experiment 37. shewing , that bellows , whose nose is very well stopt , will open of themselves , when the pressure of the external air is taken off . 124 experiment 38. about an attempt to examine the motions and sensibility of the cartesian materia subtilis , or the aether with a pair of bellows ( made of a bladder ) in the exhausted receiver . 127 experiment 39. about a farther attempt to prosecute the inquiry propos'd in the fore-going . experiment . 132 first with a syringe and a feather . 132. 133. &c. then with a syringe in water . 136 if there be an aether , what kind of body it must be , with a confirmation of the 34 th experiment . 138 experiment 40. about the falling , in the exhausted receiver , of a light body , fitted to have its motion visibly varied by a small resistance of the air. 139 a design mentioned to try this way , what the degrees of celerity would be of descending bodies in an exhausted receiver . 141 a caution given concerning this present experiment . ib. directions given , which way to lengthen receivers for the trial of this and other experiments . 142 experiment 41. about the propagation of sounds in the exhausted receiver . 143 a contrivance describ'd necessary for this and divers experiments . 144 the trial perform'd by it . 145. 146 another trial with an alarum watch . 146. 147 an assertion of mersennus examined : a proposal of his shewn to be unpracticable . 148. 149 a mention of some other trials designed concerning sound . 149. 150 experiment 42. about the breaking of a glass-drop in an exhausted receiver . 150 vvherein an hypothesis , ascribing the cause of the breaking of them to the force of the external air , is examined . ib. experiment 43. about the production of light in the exhausted receiver . 151 experiment 44. about the production of a kind of halo , and colours in the exhausted receiver . 152 the reason of it proposed , with a suggestion that the same cause might have been of that apparition of light mentionea in the formerly publisht experiments . 153. 154 experiment 45. about the production of heat by attrition in the exhausted receiver . 154 experiment 46. about the slaking of quick-lime in the exhausted receiver . 157 experiment 47. about an attempt made to measure the force of the spring of included air , and examine a conjecture about the difference of its strength in unequally broad mouth'd vessels . 158 the first trial by a syringe ; 159 another different trial ; the successe of which is summarily related , and the way of making the experiment delivered : 160. &c. with the above named conjecture about &c. 163 experiment 48. about an easie way of making a small quantity of included air raise in the exhausted receiver 50 or 60 pound , or a greater weight . 165 experiment 49. about the weight of air. 168 two notes in prosecution of the 36 th of the already published experiments , concerning the estimating the weight of the air , by the help of a seal'd bubble . 168. 169 another tryal , by weighing the receiver its self . 169. &c. an advertisement of the variation of the gravity of the air , and that by experiments made at different times or places there are obtain'd different proportions betwixt it and water . 171. 172 experiment 50. about the disjoyning of two marbles ( not otherwise to be pull'd a sunder without a great weight ) by withdrawing the pressure of the atmosphere . 172 notes &c. about the atmospheres of consistent bodies ( here below : ) 177 an advertisement , shewing the reason why these notes are annex'd , and what discourse they belong to . 179. 180 the proemium . 181 that there are such atmosphares , prov'd à priori , both from the atomical and cartesian hypothesis . 182 demonstrated by particular examples in several bodies . 183. 184 in such as are most unlikely to emit effluvia , as first in very cold bodies . 185. 186. in very ponderous . 186. &c. in very solid and hard bodies . 189. &c. and lastly , in those that are most fixt . 191 where the argument of des-cartes against electrical emanations , drawn from the fixednesse of glass , is examined . 192 observations about the exciting the electricity of bodies , as that of amber by the sun , and that of glass by the heat of the fire . 193 the considerations that may induce us to believe , that very many other bodies , not yet discovered to do so , emit their effluviums . 194. &c. m r boyle's continuation of experiments of the air. the viii . plate plate the vii . the v plate the 6 plate . the iv plate the iii plate . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28949-e150 seneca quaest . nat . lib. 7. c. 31. notes for div a28949-e1560 see plate the iii figure the see the latter part of the following experiment . see plate the figure the 10. the same reasons which made instrumental musick fit for sacrifices in the apostles days make it fit still . pli. l. x. ep. 1 sam. x. 5. chr. xxv . ● . exp. 8. pag. 36. * the place here meant is a passage in the author's examen of mr. hobbs his dialogue about the air. see plate the fig. the and the annotations at the close of this experiment . see plate the figure the plate the fig. the see plate the figure the * in notes about the history of elasticity . see plate the figure the exper. the xvii . pag. the 54 , and 55. the like consideration i since found to have been had , before me , by the learned ricciolus . this was ( if i forget not ) about the later end of the year 1662. see the fig. of the plate see plate the fig. the see plate the figure the see plate the fig. the * page the 105. 106. see plate the figure the see the figure last referr'd to . the contrivance here mentioned may be conceiv'd , by considering the figure belonging to the 41. experiment . * pag. 156. &c ▪ see plate the fig. the * expe. the vth. see plate the figure the see plate the fig. the * viz. the xxxvi . april the 19. 1662. may. 26. 1662. a in the hydrostatical paradoxes . b in an appendix to those paradoxes . c this method was omitted in the english edition of the newly mentioned appendix , but not in the latin version . * experiment the xxxi . see also the cause of this phaenomenon discours'd of in the authors history of fluidity and firmness . * dr. h. m. in the 2d . chap. of the 2d . book of the new edition ( in folio ) of his antidote against atheism . the origine of formes and qualities, (according to the corpuscular philosophy) illustrated by considerations and experiments (written formerly by way of notes upon an essay about nitre) by ... robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1666 approx. 458 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 232 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; oxford (uk) : 2008-09 (eebo-tcp phase 1). a29017 wing b4014 estc r18303 12868950 ocm 12868950 94784 this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a29017) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 94784) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 731:11) the origine of formes and qualities, (according to the corpuscular philosophy) illustrated by considerations and experiments (written formerly by way of notes upon an essay about nitre) by ... robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [24], 269, [5], 271-433, [1] p. printed by h. hall ..., for ric. davis, oxford [oxfordshire] : 1666. errata: p. [1] at end. reproduction of original in huntington library. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng matter -constitution -early works to 1800. light, corpuscular theory of -early works to 1800. 2006-05 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2006-12 spi global keyed and coded from proquest page images 2007-05 robyn anspach sampled and proofread 2007-05 robyn anspach text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-02 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion the origine of formes and qualities , ( according to the corpuscular philosophy , ) illustrated by considerations and experiments , ( written formerly by way of notes upon an essay about nitre ) by the honourable robert boyle , fellow of the royal society . audendum est , & veritas investiganda ; quam etiamsi non assequamur , omnino tamen propiùs , quàm nunc sumus , ad eam perveniemus . galen . oxford , printed by h. hall printer to the university , for ric : davis . an. dom. mdclxvi . novemb. 2. 1665. imprimatur robertvs say , vicecancellarius oxon . the publisher to the ingenious reader . in this curious and inquisitive age , when men , altogether dissatisfied and wearied out with the wranglings and idle speculations of the schools , are with equal zeal and industry so earnest in their quest and pursuit of a more solid , rational , and useful philosophy , it may prove a work very obliging and meritorious to help and guide them in their studies and researches , and to hang out a light to them , ( as the aegyptians used to do from their highly celebrated pharos , for direction to the mariners , that sailed in those dangerous seas n●er alexandria ▪ ) whereby they may , with better success , steer their course through the vast ocean of learning , and make more full and perfect discoveries of hitherto unknown philosophical verities : which has been the chief design of this gentleman of honour , the most excellent and incomparable author in this treatise now presented to your view , wherein principles are not ( as was the mode and guize of former times ) obtruded on the world upon the account of a great name , or involved in cloudy and mystical notions , which put the vnderstanding upon the wrack , and yet when with all this labour and toile of the brain they are at last known , prove impertinent and uselesse to the making out with satisfaction , or so much as tolerably , the ordinary phaenomena , which nature every day presents the world with , but such as are built upon the firme and immoveable foundation of reason , sense , and experience , plain and obvious as well to the eye as the vnderstanding , and no less accurate and certain in their application . and though the most noble author hath herein , for the main , espoused the atomical philosophy ( corrected and purged from the wild fancies and extravagancies of the first inventours of it , as to the origine of the universe , and still ●mbraced with so much kindness and tenderness by some pretenders , against which he hath so learnedly disputed in his first part of the usefulness of experimental philosophy , p. 74. &c. ) in explicating the appearances ; yet considering the several alterations and additions ( the happy product of his penetrating judgment ) made therein , i may not scruple to call it a new hypothesis , peculiar to the author , made out by daily observations , familiar proofs and experiments , and by exact and easily practicable chymical processes , whereby one of the most abstruse● parts of natural philosophy , the origine of forms and qualities , which so much vexed and puzzled the antients , and which , i would sp●ak with the leave of the cartesians , their ingenious master durst scarce venture upon , or at least was unwilling to handle at large , is now fully cleared , and become manifest : so that from this very essay we may well take hope , and joyfully expect to see the noble project of the famous ●erulam ( hitherto reckond among the desiderata ) receive its full and perfect accomplishment , i mean , a real , useful , and experimental physiology established and bottomed upon easie , true , and generally received principles . but i shall not forestall thy judgment either about the excell nay of the author , or his subject , who hath so freely communicated to the world those treasures of learning , wherewith his mind is enriched , but shall soon refer you to the work it self , after i have given you these few advertisements . the following discourse ( as is easily perceivable by divers passages thereof ) being written , several years since , whole and entire , as now it is , i know not whether it will be worth while to intimate , that the author , casually turning over of late a very recent chymical writer , found in one of his treatises ( divers of which he never to this day read over ) a part of the fifth experiment of the second section ; but , as he professes , ( and sure is like to be believed , she did not dream that that chymist , or any other author whatsoever had lighted on that part of the experiment till a good while after he had made and examined that , among many others , concerning salts , as may be easily guess'd by the peculiar uses and applications he made of it . and though he had met with so unlikely an experiment in a writer , who , whether he deserve it or no , has the ill fortune to be much accus'd of insincerity , and some of whose more easie processes our author ( who yet is willing to spare his name , and seems to think his works not useless ) could not find to succeed , he should not have taken it upon his authority , no more then he is wont to take other processes , divers of which he yet in the general supposes may be true upon the relation of other chymists ; who by blemishing their books by things untrue and justly suspicious , are not to be relyed on , nor much thanked by wary men . but t will probably appear lesse pertinent to adde any thing further on this subject , then to take notice , that when the author had once consented to the publication of the following papers , he several times wishd for an opportunity to make the experiments and observations , he now presents to the publick , more full and compleat , then they were when address'd to a private friend . but the contagion , that drove him from the places , where his accommodations for repeating experiments were , oblig'd him to apply himself to other studies and employments . and upon the same account , though he afterwards found many of his notes upon other parts of the essay of salt-petre , and have lying by him divers papers concerning sensible qualities , and sensation in general , and the production of second qualities , together with a collection of notes about occult qualities , and some other subjects of kin to those of this book ; yet having , upon the freshly intimated occasion , diverted his thoughts to other subjects , he will not engage himself to put together and communicate his collections on these subjects by any publick promise . onely thus much perchance i may undertake for , if a fair opportunity offer it self , that the author may be induc'd to adde ere long , for the completion of this present work , a discourse of subordinate ●orms , wherein he , not finding that they have been by any one attempted to be explicated by the corpuscularian hypothesis , hath proposed an account of them agreeable thereunto . furthermore , as the author has in the following disquisitions aim'd not at the raising or abetting a faction in philosophy , but at the discovery of the truth ; so he is not so sollicitous what every sort of read●r will think of his attempts , ( which t is easie to foresee are not like to be overwelcome to the votaries of the school philosophy ) as to refuse a compliance with the desires of his friends , who have been long since very earnest with him not to spend that time in replies to particular persons , which might be more usefully imploy'd in pursuing further discoveries of nature by experiments . if he meet with any cogent and material objections against any of his chief opinions , he is enough a lover of truth , to be dispos'd to think himself oblig'd by those that shall shew him his mistakes , and to take occasion to reforme them . but if nothing new or weighty be urg d , he considers , that he lives in an age , wherein he has observ'd ( even in his own case ) that truths , if recommended by real experiments , will in time make their own way , and wherein livestore of ingenious men , who , for the main , approve the opinions , and probably will not dislike the arguments he has propos'd , and who being more at leisure then he to write polemical books , will not silently suffer what they judge truth , to be triumph'd over , or oppressd by those , who , imploying usually but scholastical arguments , may be confuted by answers of the like nature . and th●refore he doubts not , but that s●me learned favourers of the corpuscularian philosophy ( of which he hath endeavour'd to make out those parts , wherein they almost all agree will be both able and willing to defend those discoveries by rational di●putations , that th●y have not opportunity to increase by new experiments . in the mean while i have no temptation to doubt in the last , but that this curious and excellent piece will be entertained and received by all that have any regard to the great concerns of learning with that gust , delight , respect , and aestimation which it so highly m●rits . the following treatise being printed in the absence of the honourable author , th●re has hapned ( through the misplacing of the several bundles w●t apart fairly for the press ) ● dislocation at the 107. page , ( as is there also intimated ) where the first section of the historical part is placed , which should not have come in till p. 269. after the discourse of forms . the praeface . the origine ( pyrophilus ) and nature of the qualities of bodies , is a subject , that i have long lookt upon , as one of the most important and usefull that the naturalist can pitch upon for his contemplation . for the knowledge we have of the bodies without us , being for the most part fetched from the informations the mind receives by the senses , we scarce know any thing else in bodies , upon whose account they can worke upon our senses save their qualities : for as to the substantial formes , which some imagine to be in all naturall bodies , it is not halfe so evident , that there are such , as it is , that the wisest of those that do admit them , confesse , that they do not well know them . * and as t is by their qualities , that bodies act immediately upon our senses , so 't is by vertue of those attributes likewise , that they act upon other bodies , & by that action produce in them , & oftentimes in themselves those changes , that sometimes we call alterations , and sometimes generation , or corruption . and 't is chiefly by the knowledge , such as it is , that experience , ( not art ) hath taught us , of these differing qualities of bodies , that we are enabled , by a due application of agents to patients , to exercise the little empire , that we have either acquir'd or regain'd over the creatures . but i think not the contemplation of qualities more noble & useful , then i find it difficult ; for what is wont to be taught us of qualities in the schools , is so slight and ill grounded , that it may be doubted , whether they have not rather obscured , then illustrated the things they should have explain'd . and i was quickly discouraged from expecting to learne much from them , of the nature ● divers particular qualities , when i found that except some few , which they tell you i● general may be deduced , ( by wayes they leave those to guesse at that can , ) from those foure qualities , they are pleas'd to call the first ; they confesse , that the rest spring from those forms of bodies , whose particular natures , the judiciousest of them acknowledge , they cannot comprehend . and aristotle himself not only doth ( as we shall see anon ) give us of qualitie in generall , ( which yet seems far more easily defineable , then many a particular quality , ) no other then such a definition , as is as obscure , as the thing to be declared by it ; but i observe not without some wonder , that in his eight books of physicks , where he professedly treats of the generall affections of naturall things , he leaves out the doctrine of qualities ; as after him magirus , and divers other writers of the peripatetick physiologie have done : which ( by the way ) i cannot but look upon as an omission , since qualities doe as well seem to belong to naturall bodies generally consider'd , as place , time , motion , and those other things , which upon that account are wont to be treated of in the generall part of natural philosophy . the most ingenious des cartes has something concerning some qualities ; but though for reasons elsewhere express●d , i have purposely forborn to peruse his systeme of philosophy ; yet i find by turning over the leaves that he has left most of the other qualities vntreated of , & of those , that are more properly call'd sensible , he speaks but very briefly & generally ; rather considering what they do upon the organs of sense , then what changes happen in the objects themselves , to make them cause in us a perception sometimes of one quality , and sometimes of another . besides , that his explications , do many of them so depend upon his peculiar notions , ( of a materia subtilis , globuli secundi elementi , and the like ) and these as it became so great a person , he has so interwoven with the rest of his hypothesis , that they can seldome be made vse of without adopting his whole philosophy epicurus indeed , and his scholiast lucretius , have given some good hints concerning the nature of some few qualities . but beside , that even these explications are divers of them either doubtfull or imperfect , or both , there are many other qualities , which are left for others to treat of . and this is the second and maine difficulty , which i find in investigating the nature of qualities , namely , that whatever be to be thought of the generall theoryes of aristotle , or other philosophers , concerning qualities ; we evidently want that , upon which a theory , to be solid and vsefull , must be built ; i mean an experimentall history of them . and this we so want , that except perhaps what mathematicians have done concerning sounds , and the observations ( rather then experiments ) that our illustrious verulam hath ( in some few pages ) say'd of heat , in his short essay , de formâ calidi ; i know not any one quality , of which any author has yet given us an any thing competent history . these things i mention to you , pyrophilus , not at all to derogate from those great men ; whose design seems rather to have been to deliver principles and summaries of philosophy , then to insist upon particulars ; but for this purpose , that since the nature of qualities is so beneficiall a speculation , my labours may not be look'd upon as wholly uselesse , though i can contribute but a little to the clearing of it : and that since 't is so abstruse a subject , i may be pardon'd , if i sometimes misse the marke , and leave diverse things uncompleated ; that being but what such great philosophers have done before mee . but , pyrophylus , before i proceed to give you my notes upon this part of our author's essay , that you may rightly understand my intention in them , it will be requisite to give you three or foure advertisements . and first , when ever i shall speake indefinitely of substantiall forms , i would alwayes be understood to except the reasonable soule , that is said to inform the humane body ; which declaration i here desire may be taken notice of , once for all . secondly , nor am i willing to treat of the origine of qualities in beasts ; partly because i would not be engaged to examine , of what nature their soules are , and partly because it is difficult in most cases , ( at least for one , that is compassionate enough , ) either to make experiments upon living animals , or to judg what influence their life may have , upon the change of qualities , produc'd by such experiments . thirdly , the occasion of the following reflections , being onely this ; that our author in that part of his essay concerning salt-peter , whereto these notes referre , does briefly intimate some notions about the nature and origine of qualities ; you must not exspect , that i , whose method leads me but to write some notes upon this , and some other parts of this essay , should make solemne or elaborate discourses concerning the nature of particular qualities , and that i should fully deliver my own apprehensions concerning those subjects . for as i elsewhere sufficiently intimate , that in these first notes i write as a corpuscularian , & set down those things onely , that seem to have a tendency to illustrate or countenance the notions or fancies imply'd in our author's essay : so i must here tell you , that i neither have now the leasure , nor pretend to the skill , to deliver fully the history or to explicate particularly the nature of each several quality . fourthly , but i consider , that the schools have of late much amus'd the world , with a way they have got , of referring all naturall effects to certain entities , that they call reall qualities , and accordingly attribute to them a nature distinct from the modification of the matter they belong to , & in some cases separable from all matter whatsoever , by which meanes they have , as farre forth as their doctrine is acquiesc'd in , made it thought needlesse or hopeless for men to employ their industry , in searching into the nature of particular qualities , & their effects . as if , ( for instance ) it be demanded , how snow comes to dazle the eyes , they will answer , that 't is by a quality of whiteness that is in it ; which makes all very white bodies produce the same effect ; and if you , ask what this whiteness is , they will tell you no more in substance , then that t is a reall entity , which denominates the parcel of matter , to which it is joyn'd , white ; & if you further enquire , what this real entity , which they call a quality , is , you will find , as wee shall see anon , that they either speak of it much after the same rate , that they do of their substantiall forms ; ( as indeed some of the modern'st teach , that a quality affects the matter it belongs to , per modum formae secundariae , as they speak ) or at least they will not explicate it more intelligibly . and accordingly if you further ask them , how white bodies in generall do rather produce this effect of dazling the eyes , then green or blew ones , instead of being told , that the former sort of bodies reflect outwards , and so to the eye farre more of the incident light , then the latter ; you shall perchance be told , that 't is their respective natures so to act , by which way of dispatching difficulties , they make it very easy to solve all the phoenomena of nature in generall , but make men think it impossible to explicate almost any of them in particular . and though the unsatisfactorisness and barrennesse of the school . philosophy have perswaded a great many learned men , especially physicians , to substitute the chymists three principles , instead of those of the schools ; and though i have a very good opinion of chymistry it self , as 't is a practical art ; yet as 't is by chymists pretended to containe a systeme of theoricall principles of philosophy , i fear it will afford but very little satisfaction to a severe enquirer , into the nature of qualities . for besides that , as we shall more particularly see anon , there are many qualities , which cannot with any probability be deduc'd from any of the three principles ; those that are ascrib'd to one , or other of them , cannot intelligibly be explicated , without recourse to the more comprehensive principles of the corpuscularian philosophy . to tell us , for instance , that all solidity proceeds from salt , onely informing us , ( where it can plausibly be pretended ) in what materiall principle or ingredient that quality resides , not how it is produced ; for this doth not teach us , ( for example ) how water even in exactly clos'd vessels comes to be frozen into ice ; that is , turn'd from a fluid to a solid body , without the accession of a saline ingredient ( which i have not yet found pretended , especially glasse being held impervious to salts . ) wherefore , pyrophilus , i thought it might much conduce to the understanding the nature of qualities , to shew how they are generated ; and by the same way , i hop'd it might remove in some measure the obstacle , that these dark and narrow theories of the peripateticks and chymists may prove to the advancement of solid and usefull philosophy . that then , which i chiefly aime at , is to make it probable to you by experiments , ( which i think hath not yet beene done : ) that allmost all sorts of qualities , most of which have been by the schooles either left unexplicated , or generally referr'd , to i know not what incomprehensible substantiall formes ; may be produced mechanically , i mean by such corporeall agents , as do not appear , either to work otherwise , then by vertue of the motion , size , figure , and contrivance of their own parts , ( which attributes i call the mechanicall affections of matter , because to them men willingly referre the various operations of mechanical engines : ) or to produce the new qualities exhibited by those bodies their action changes , by any other way , then by changing the texture , or motion , or some other mechanical affection of the body wrought upon . and this if i can in any passable measure do , though but in a generall way , in some or other of each of these three sorts , into which the peripateticks are wont to divide the qualities of bodies , i hope i shall have done no uselesse piece of service to natural philosophy , partly by exciting you , and your learned friends , to enquire after more intelligible and satisfactory wayes of explicating qualities , and partly by beginning such a collection of materials towards the history of those qualities , that i shall the most largely insist on , as heat , colours , fluidity and firmnesse , as may invite you , and other ingenious ●en , to contribute also their experiments , and observations to so usefull a vvork , and thereby lay a foundation , whereon you , and perhaps i , may superstruct a more distinct and explicite theory of qualities , then i shall at present adventure at . and though i know , that some of the things my experiments tend to manifest , may likewise be confirm'd by the more obvious phaenomena of nature , yet i praesume you will not dislike my chosing to entertaine you with the former , ( though without at all despising , or so much as strictly forbearing to employ the latter , ) because the changes of qualities made by our experiments will for the most part be more quick & conspicuous , and the agents made use of to produce them , being of our own applying , and oftentimes of our own praeparation , we may be thereby assisted the better to judge of what they are , and to make an aestimate of what 't is they do. considerations , and experiments touching the origine of qualities , and forms . the theoricall part. that before i descend to particulars , i may ( pyrophilus ) furnish you with some general apprehension of the doctrine ( or rather the hypothesis , ) which is to be collated with , and to be either confirmed , or disproved by , the historicall truths , that will be deliver'd concerning particular qualities , ( & forms ; ) i will assume the person of a corpuscularian , and here , at the entrance , give you ( in a general way ) a brief account of the hypothesis it selfe , as it concernes the origine of qualities ( and forms : ) and for distinctions sake , i shall comprize it in the eight following particulars , which , that the whole scheme may be the better comprehended , and as it were survey'd under one prospect , i shall do little more then barely propose them , that either seem evident enough by their owne light , or may without praejudice have diverse of their proofes reserv'd for proper places in the following part of this treatise : and though there be some other particulars , to which the importance of the subjects , and the greatnesse of the ( almost universall ) prejudices , that lye against them , vvill oblige mee immediately to annexe ( for the seasonable clearing , and justifying of them ) some annotations : yet that they may , as little as i can , obscure the cohaerence of the vvhole discourse , as much of them as conveniently may be , shall be included in [ ] paratheses . i. i agree with the generality of philosophers so far , as to allow , that there is one catholick or universal matter common to all bodies , by which i mean a substance extended , divisible and impenetrable . ii. but because this matter being in its own nature but one , the diversity we see in bodies must necessarily arise from somewhat else , then the matter they consist of . and since we see not , how there could be any change in matter , if all its ( actual or designable ) parts were perpetually at rest among themselves , it will follow , that to discriminate the catholick matter into variety of natural bodies , it must have motion in some or all its designable parts : and that motion must have various tendencies , that which is in this part of the matter tending one way , and that which is in that part tending another ; as we plainly see in the universe or general mass of matter there is really a great quantity of motion , and that variously determin'd , and that yet diverse portions of matter are at rest . that there is local motion in many parts of matter is manifest to sense , but how matter came by this motion was of old , and is still hotly disputed of : for the antient corpuscularian philosophers , ( whose doctrine in most other points , though not in all , we are the most inclinable to , ) not acknowledging an author of the universe , were thereby reduc'd to make motion congenite to matter , and consequently coëval with it ; but since local motion , or an endeavour at it , is not included in the nature of matter , which is as much matter , when it rests , as when it moves ; and since we see , that the same portion of matter may from motion be reduc'd to rest , and after it hath continu'd at rest , as long as other bodies doe not put it out of that state , may by external agents be set a moving again ; i , who am not wont to think a man the worse naturalist for not being an atheist , shall not scruple to say with an eminent philosopher of old , whom i find to have propos'd among the greeks that opinion ( for the main ) that the excellent des cartes hath revived amongst us , that the origine of motion in matter is from god ; and not onely so , but that thinking it very unfit to be believ'd , that matter barely put into motion , and then left to it self , should casually constitute this beautiful and orderly world : i think also further , that the wise author of things did by establishing the laws of motion among bodies , and by guiding the first motions of the small parts of matter , bring them to convene after the manner requisite to compose the world , and especially did contrive those curious and elaborate engines , the bodies of living creatures , endowing most of them with a power of propagating their species . but though these things are my perswasions , yet because they are not necessary to be suppos'd here , where i doe not pretend to deliver any compleat discourse of the principles of natural philophy , but onely to touch upon such notions , as are requisite to explicate the origine of qualities and forms , i shall pass on to what remains , as soon as i have taken notice , that local motion seems to be indeed the principl amongst second causes , and the grand agent of all that happens in nature : for though bulk , figure , rest , situation , and texture do concurre to the phaenomena of nature , yet in comparison of motion they seem to be in many cases , effects , and in many others , little better then conditions , or requisites , or causes sine quibus non , which modifie the operation , that one part of matter by vertue of its motion hath upon another : as in a watch , the number , the figure , and coaptation of the wheels and other parts is requisite to the shewing the hour , and doing the other things that may be perform'd by the watch ; but till these parts be actually put into motion , all their other affections remaine inefficacious : and so in a key , though if it were too big , or too little , or if its shape were incongruous to that of the cavity of the lock , it would be unfit to be us'd as a key , though it were put into motion ; yet let its bigness and figure be never so fit , unless actual motion intervene , it will never lock or unlock any thing , as without the like actual motion , neither a knife nor rasor will actually cut , how much soever their shape & other qualities may ●it them to do so . and so brimstone , what disposition of parts soever it have to be turn'd into flame , would never be kindled , unless some actual fire , or other parcel of vehemently and variously agitated matter should put the sulphureous corpuscles into a very brisk motion . iii. these two grand and most catholick principles of bodies , matter , and motion , being thus establish'd , it will follow both , that matter must be actually divided into parts , that being the genuine effect of variously determin'd motion , and that each of the primitive fragments , or other distinct and entire masses of matter must have two attributes , it s own magnitude , or rather size , and its own figure or shape . and since experience shews us ( especially that which is afforded us by chymical operations , in many of which matter is divided into parts , too small to be singly sensible , ) that this division of matter is frequently made into insensible corpuscles or particles , we may conclude , that the minutest fragments , as well as the biggest masses of the universal matter are likewise endowed each with its peculiar bulk and shape . for being a finite body , its dimensions must be terminated and measurable : and though it may change its figure , yet for the same reason it must necessarily have some figure or other . so that now we have found out , and must admit three essential properties of each entire or undivided , though insensible part of matter , namely , magnitude , ( by which i mean not quantity in general , but a determin'd quantity , which we in english oftentimes call the size of a bodie , ) shape , and either motion or rest , ( for betwixt them two there is no mean : ) the two first of which may be called inseparable accidents of each distinct part of matter : inseparable , because being extended , and yet finite , it is physically impossible , that it should be devoid of some bulk or other , and som determinate shape or other ; and yet accidents , because that whether or no the shape can by physical agents be alter'd or the body subdivided , yet mentally both the one and the other may be done , the whole essence of matter remaining undestroy'd . whether these accidents may not conveniently enough be call'd the moods or primary affections of bodies , to distinguish them from those lesse simple qualities , ( as colours , tastes , and odours , ) that belong to bodies upon their account , or whether with the epicureans they may not be called the conjuncts of the smallest parts of matter , i shall not now stay to consider , but one thing the modern schools are wont to teach concerning accidents , which is too repugnant to our present doctrine , to be in this place quite omitted , namely that there are in natural bodies store of real qualities , and other real accidents , which not onely are no moods of matter , but are real entities distinct from it , and according to the doctrine of many modern schoolmen may exist separate from all matter whatsoever . to clear this point a little , we must take notice , that accident is among logicians and philosophers us'd in two several senses , for sometimes it is oppos'd to the 4th praedicable , ( property , ) and is then defin'd , " that which may be present or absent , without the destruction of the subject ; as a man may be sick or well , and a wall white or not white , and yet the one be still a man , the other a wall ; and this is call'd in the schools accidens praedicabile , to distinguish it from what they call accidens praedicamentale , which is oppos'd to substance : for when things are divided by logicians into 10 praedicaments , or highest genus●es of things , substance making one of them , all the nine other are of accidents . and as substance is commonly defin'd to be a thing that subsists of it self , and is the subject of accidents , ( or more plainly , a real entity or thing , that needs not any ( created ) being , that it may exist : ) so an accident is said commonly to be id cujus esse est inesse , and therefore aristotle , who usually calls substances simply 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , entities , most commonly calls accidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , entities of entities . these needing the existence of some substance or other , in which they may be , as in their subject of inhaesion . and because logicians make it the discriminating note of substance , and accident , that the former is a thing that cannot be in another , as in its subject of inhaesion , t is requisite to know , that according to them , that is said to be in a subject , which hath these three conditions , that however it ( 1 ) be in another thing , ( 2 ) is not in it as a part , and ( 3 ) cannot exist separately from the thing or subject , wherein it is : as a white wall is the subject of inhaesion of the whiteness we see in it , which self-same whiteness though it be not in the wall as a part of it , yet cannot the self-same whiteness according to our logicians exist any where out of the wall , though many other bodies may have the like degree of whiteness . this premis'd , t will not be hard to discover the falsity of the lately mentioned scholastick opinion touching real qualities and accidents , their doctrine about which does , i confess , appear to me to be either unintelligible , or manifestly contradictious : for speaking in a physical sense , if they will not allow these accidents to be modes of matter , but entities really distinct from it , and in some cases separable from all matter , they make them indeed accidents in name , but represent them under such a notion as belongs onely to substances ; the nature of a substance consisting in this , that it can subsist of it selfe , without being in any thing else , as in a subject of inhaesion : so that to tell us , that a quality , or other accident may subsist without a subject , is indeed , whatever they please to call it , to allow it the true nature of substance , nor will their groundlesse distinctions do any more then keep them from seeming to contradict themselves in words , whilst unprepossess'd persons see that they do it in effect . nor could i ever find it intelligibly made out , what these real qualities may be , that they deny to be either matter or modes of matter , or immaterial substances . when a bowl runs along or lies still , that motion or rest , or globous figure of the bowl , is not nothing , and yet it is not any part of the bowl ; whose whole substance would remain , though it wanted which you please of these accidents : and to make them real and physical entities , ( for we have not here to do either with logical or metaphysical ones ) is , as if , because we may consider the same man sitting , standing , running , thirsty , hungrie , wearie , &c. we should make each of these a distinct entitie , as we do give some of them ( as hunger , weariness , &c. ) distinct names . whereas the subject of all these qualities is but the same man as he is considered with circumstances , that make him appear different in one case from what he appears in another : and it may be very useful to our present scope to observe , that not onely diversity of names , but even diversity of definitions , doth not alwaies infer a diversity of physical entities in the subject , whereunto they are attributed . for it happens in many of the physical attributes of a body , as in those other cases , wherein a man that is a father , a husband , a master , a prince , &c. may have a peculiar definition ( such as the nature of the thing will bear ) belong unto him in each of these capacities , and yet the man in himself considered is but the same man , who in respect of differing capacities or relations to other things is call'd by differing names , and describ'd by various definitions , which yet ( as i was saying ) conclude not so many real and distinct entities in the person so variously denominated . an excvrsion about the relative nature of physical qualities . but because i take this notion to be of no small importance towards the avoiding of the grand mistake , that hath hitherto obtain'd about the nature of qualities , it will be worth while to illustrate it a little farther . we may consider then , that when tubal-cain , or whoever else were the smith , that invented locks and keyes , had made his first lock , ( for we may reasonably suppose him to have made that before the key , though the comparison may be made use of without that supposition , ) that was onely a piece of iron , contriv'd into such a shape ; and when afterwards he made a key to that lock , that also in it self consider'd , was nothing but a piece of iron of such a determinate figure : but in regard that these two pieces of iron might now be applied to one another after a certain manner , and that there was a congruitie betwixt the wards of the lock and those of the key , the lock and the key did each of them now obtain a new capacity and it became a main part of the notion and description of a lock , that it was capable of being made to lock or unlock by that other piece of iron we call a key , and it was lookd upon as a peculiar faculty and power in the key , that it was fitted to open and shut the lock , and yet by these new attributes there was not added any real or physical entity , either to the lock , or to the key , each of them remaining indeed nothing , but the same piece of iron , just so shap'd as it was before . and when our smith made other keyes of differing bignesses , or with differing wards , though the first lock was not to be open'd by any of those keyes , yet that indisposition , however it might be consider'd as a peculiar power of resisisting this or that key , and might serve to discriminate it sufficiently from the locks those keyes belong'd to , was nothing new in the lock , or distinct from the figure it had before those keyes were made . to carrie this comparison a little further , let me adde , that though one that would have defin'd the first lock , and the first key , would have given them distinct definitions with reference to each other ; and yet ( as i was saying ) these definitions being given but upon the score o● certain respects , which the defin'd bodies had one to another , would no● infer , that these two iron instruments did physically differ otherwise then in the figure , size , or contrivement of the iron , whereof each of them consisted . and proportionably hereunto i do not see , why we may not conceive , that as to those qualities ( for instance ) which we call sensible , though by virtue of a certain congruity or incongruity in point of figure or texture , ( or other mechanical attributes , ) to our sensories , the portions of matter they modifie are enabled to produce various effects , upon whose account we make bodies to be endow'd with qualities ; yet they are not in the bodies that are endow'd with them any real or distinct entities , or differing from the matter its self , furnish'd with such a determinate bigness , shape , or other mechanical modifications . thus though the modern gold-smiths and refiners reckon amongst the most distinguishing qualities of gold , by which men may be certain of its being true and not sophisticated , that is easily dissoluble in aqua regis , and that aqua fortis will not work upon it ; yet these attributes are not in the gold any thing distinct from its peculiar texture , not is the gold we have now of any other nature , then it was in pliny's time , when aqua fortis and aqua regis had not been found out , ( at least in these parts of the world , ) and were utterly unknown to the roman gold-smiths and this example i have the rather pitch'd upon , because it affords me an opportunity to represent , that , unless we admit the doctrine i have been proposing , we must admit , that a body may have an almost infinite number o● new real entities accruing to it , without the intervention of any physic● change in the body its self . as for example , gold was the same natur● body immediately before aqua regi● and aqua fortis were first made , as it was immediately after , and yet now 't is reckon'd amongst its principal properties , that it is dissoluble by the former of those two menstruums , and that it is not like other mettals dissoluble or corrodible by the latter . and if one should invent another menstruum , ( as possibly i may think my self master of such a one ) that will but in part dissolve pure gold , and change some part of it into another metalline body , there will then arise another new property ; whereby to distinguish that from other mettals ; and yet the nature of gold is not a whit other now , then it was before this last menstruum was first made . there are some bodies not cathartick , nor sudorifick , with some of which gold being joyn'd acquires a purgative vertue , and with others a power to procure sweat ; and in a word , nature her self doth , sometimes otherwise , and sometimes by chance , produce so many things , that have new relations unto others : and art , especially assisted by chymistry , may , by variously dissipating natural bodies , or compounding either them , or their constituent parts with one another , make such an innumerable company of new productions , that will each of them have new operations , either immediately upon our sensories , or upon other bodies , whose changes we are able to perceive , that no man can know , but that the most familiar bodies may have multitudes of qualities , that he dreams not of , and a considering man will hardly imagine , that so numerous a croud of real physical entities can accrue to a body , whilst in the judgment of all our senses it remains unchang'd , and the same that 't was before . to clear this a little farther , we may adde , that beaten glass is commonly reckon'd among poisons ; and ( to skip what is mention'd out of sanctorius , of the dysentery procur'd by the fragments of it ) i remember * cardan hath a story , that in a cloister , where he had a patient then like to die of torments in the stomach , two other nuns had been already kill'd by a distracted woman , that having casually got free , had mixt beaten glass with pease , that were eaten by these three , and diverse others of the sisters ( who yet escap'd unharm'd . ) now though the powers of poisons be not onely look'd upon as real qualities , but are reckoned among the abstrusest ones : yet this deleterious faculty , which is suppos'd to be a peculiar and superadded entitie in the beaten glasse , is really nothing distinct from the glass its self , ( which though a concrete made up of those innocent ingredients , salt and ashes , is yet a hard and stiffe body , ) as it is furnish'd with that determinate bigness , and figure of parts , which have been acquir'd by comminution . for these glassy fragments being many , and rigid , and somewhat small , ( without yet being so small as dust , ) and endow'd with sharp points and cutting edges , are enabled by these mechanical affections to pierce or wound the tender membranes of the stomach and guts , and cut the slender vessels that they meet with there , whereby naturally ensue great gripings and contorsions of the injur'd parts , and oftentimes bloudy fluxes occasion'd by the perforation of the capillary arteries , and the great irritation of the expulsive faculty , and sometimes also not onely horrid convulsions by consent of the brain and cerebellum , with some of the nervous or membranous parts that happen to be hurt , but also dropsies occasioned by the great loss of bloud we were just now speaking of . and it agrees very well with this conjecture , that beaten glass hath diverse times been observ'd to have done no mischief to animals that have swallowed it : for there is no reason it should , in case the corpuscles of the powder either chance to be so small , as not to be fit to wound the guts , which are usually lin'd with a slimy substance , wherein very minute powders may be as it vvere sheath'd , and by that means hinder'd from hurting the guts , ( insomuch that a fragment of glass vvith three very sharp corners , hath been observ'd to have for above eighteen months lain * inoffensive even in a nervous and very sensible part of the body , ) out of vvhich they may with the grosser excrements of the lower belly be harmelesly excluded , especially in some individuals , whose guts and stomach too may be of a much stronger texture , and better lin'd or stuff'd with gross and slimy matter , then those of others . and accordingly we see , that the fragments of saphires , christals , and ev'n rubies , which are much harder then glass , are innocently , though perhaps not very effectually us'd by physicians , ( and i have several times taken that without inconvenience ) in cordial compositions , because of their being by grinding reduc'd to a powder too subtle to excoriate , or grate upon the stomach , or guts ; and probably 't was upon some such account , that that happen'd which is related by cardan in the same place , namely , that though the three nuns we have been speaking of were poison'd by the glass , yet many others who eat of the other portions of the same mingled pease , receiv'd no mischief thereby . ( but of this subject more † elsewhere . ) and this puts me in mind to adde , that the multiplicity of qualities , that are sometimes to be met with in the same natural bodies , needs not make men reject the opinion we have been proposing , by perswading them , that so many differing attributes , as may be sometimes found in one and the same natural body , cannot proceed from the bare texture , and other mechanical affections of its matter . for we must consider each body , not barely as it is in it self an entire and distinct portion of matter , but as it is a part of the universe , and consequently plac'd among a great number and variety of other bodies , upon which it may act , and by which it may be acted on , in many waies , ( or upon many accounts , ) each of which men are wont to fancy , as a distinct power or quality in the body , by which those actions , or in which those passions are produc'd . for if we thus consider things , we shall not much wonder , that a portion of matter , that is indeed endow'd but with a very few mechanical affections , as such a determinate texture and motion , but is plac'd among a multitude of other bodies , that differ in those attributes from it , and one another , should be capable of having a great number and variety of relations to those other bodies , and consequently should be thought to have many distinct inhaerent qualities , by such as look upon those several relations or respects it may have to bodies without it , as real and distinct entities implanted in the body it self . when a curious watch is going , though the spring be that which puts all the parts into motion , yet we do not fancie ( as an indian o● chinois would perchance do ) in this spring one faculty to move the index uniformely round the dial-plate , another to strike the hour , and perhaps a third to give an alarme , or shew the age of the moon , or the tides ; all the action of the spring , ( which is but a flexible piece of steel , forcibly coil'd together , ) being but an endeavour to dilate or unbind its self , and the rest being perform'd by the various respects it hath to the several bodies ( that compose the watch ) among which it is plac'd , and which they have one to another . we all know , that the sun hath a power to harden clay , and soften wax , and melt butter , and thaw ice , and turn water into vapours , and make air expand it self in weather-glasses , and contribute to blanch linnen , and make the white skin of the face swarthy , and mowed grass yellow , and ripen fruit , hatch the eggs of silk-worms , caterpillars , and the like insects , and perform i know not how many other things , divers of which seen contrary effects , and yet these are not distinct powers or faculties in the sun but onely the productions of its heat ▪ ( which it self is but the brisk , and confus'd local motion of the minute parts of a body , ) diversify'd by the differing textures of the body that it chances to work upon , and the condition of the other bodies that are concern'd in the operation . and therefore whether the sun in some cases have any influence at all distinct from its light and heat , we see , that all those phaenomen● we have thought fit to name are producible by the heat of the common culinary fire duly apply'd and regulated . and so , to give an instance of another kind , when some years since , to try some experiments about the propagation of motion , with bodies less capable of being batter'd by one another , then those that have been formerly imploy'd ; i caus'd some solid bals of iron skilfully harden'd , and exquisitely shap'd and glaz'd , to be purposely made ; each of these polished balls was a sphaerical looking-glass , which plac'd in the mid'st of a room , would exhibit the images of the objects round about it , in a very regular and pleasing perspective . it would contract the image , and reflect the beams of the sun , after a manner differing from flat and from convex looking glasses . it would in a neat perspective lessen the image of him that look'd upon it ; and bend it , and it would shew that image , as if it were behind the surface , and within the solid substance of the sphaere , and in some it had all those distinct , and some of them wonderful properties , which either antient or modern writers of catoptricks have demonstrated to belong to sphaerical specula , as such : and yet the globe furnish'd with all these properties and affections , was but the iron it self reduc'd by the artificer to a sphaerical figure , ( for the glass , that made it specular , was not distinct from the superficial parts of the iron , reduc'd all of them to a physically equal distance from the center . ) and of specula , sphaerical enough as to sense , you may make store in a trice , by breaking a large drop of quick-silver into several little ones , each of which will serve for objects plac'd pretty near it , and the smaller of which ( being the least depress'd in the middle by the● own weight , and consequently more perfectly globous , ) may with a goo● microscope plac'd in a window affor● you no unpleasant prospect of the neighbouring objects , and yet to reduce parcel of stagnant quicksilver , which will much aemulate a flat looking glass , into many of these little sphaerical specula , whose properties are so differing from those of plain ones , the● intervenes nothing but a sleight loc● motion , which in the twinckling of ● eye changeth the figure of the self same matter . i have said thus much ( pyrophilus ) to remove the mistake , that every thing men are wont to call a quality , must needs be a real and physical entity , because of the importance of the subject ; and yet i have omitted some things that might have been pertinently added , partly because i may hereafter have opportunity to take them in , and partly because i would not any farther lengthen this excursion , which yet i must not conclude , till i have added this short advertisement . that i have chosen to declare what i mean by qualities , rather by examples , then definitions , partly because being immediately or reductively the objects of sense , men generally understand pretty well what one another mean , when they are spoken of : ( as to say , that the tast of such a thing is saline or sowr , or that such a sound is melodious , shrill , or jarring , ( especially if when we speak of sensible qualities , we adde some enumeration of particular subjects , wherein they do the most eminently reside , ) will make a man as soon understood , as if he should go about to give logical definitions of those qualities : ) and partly because the notions of things are not yet so well stated , and agreed on , but that it is many times difficult to assign their true genus's : and aristotle himself doth not onely define accidents without setting down their genus , but when he comes to define qualities , he tels us , that quality is that by which a thing is said to be qualis , where i would have you take notice both , that in his definition he omits the genus , and that 't is no such easy thing to give a very good definition of qualities , since he that is repute● the great master of logick , where he pretends to give us one , doth but upo● the matter define the thing by the same thing ; for 't is suppos'd to be as little known what qualis is , as what qualitas is , and me thinks he does just as if i should define whiteness to be that , for which a thing is called white , or vertue , that for which a man is said to be vertuous † . besides that , i much doubt , whether his definition be not untrue as well as obscure , for to the question , qualis res est ? answer may be return'd out of some , if not all of the other praedicaments of accidents : which some of the modern logicians being aware of , they have endeavoured to salve the matter with certain cautions and limitations , which however they may argue the devisors to be ingenious , do , for ought i can discern , leave us still to seek for a right and intelligible definition of quality in general , though to give such a one be probably a much easier task , then to define many qualities , that may be nam'd in particular , as saltness , sowrness , green , blew , and many others , which when we hear nam'd , every man knows what is meant by them , though no man ( th● i know of ) hath been able to give accurate definitions of them . iv. and if we should conceive , th● all the rest of the universe were annihilated , except any of these entire and undivided corpuscles , ( treated of in the 3d particular foregoing , ) it is hard to say what could be attributed to it , besides matter , motion ( or rest , ) bulk , and shape , ( whence by the way you may take notice , that bulk , though usually taken in a comparative sense , is in our sense an absolute thing , since a body would have it , though there were no other in the world. ) but now there being actually in the universe great multitudes of corpuscles mingled among themselves , there arise in any distinct portion of matter , which a number of them make up , two new accidents or events : the one doth more relate to each particular corpuscle in reference to the ( really or supposedly ) stable bodies about it , namely its posture ; ( whether erected , inclin'd , or horizontal : ) and , when two or more of such bodies are plac'd one by anorher , the manner of their being so plac'd , as one besides another , or one behind another , may be call'd their order ; as i remember , aristotle in his metaphysicks , lib. 1. cap. 4. recites this example out of the antient corpuscularians , that a and n differ in figure , and a n and n a in order , z and n in scituation : and indeed posture and order seem both of them reducible to scituation . and when many corpuscles do so convene together as to compose any distinct body , as a stone , or a mettal , then from their other accidents ( or modes , ) and from these two last mention'd , there doth emerge a certain disposition or contrivance of parts in the whole , which we may call the texture of it . v. and if we should conceive all the rest of the universe to be annihilated , save one such body , suppose a mettal or a stone , it were hard to shew , tha● there is physically any thing more in it then matter , and the accidents we have already named . but now we are to consider , that there are de facto in the world certain sensible and rational beings , that we call men , and the body of man having several of its external parts , as the eye , the ear , &c. each of a distinct and peculiar texture , whereby it is capable to receive impressions from the bodies about it , and upon that account it is call'd an organ of sense , we must consider , i say , that these sensories may be wrought upon by the figure , shape , motion , and texture of bodies without them , after several waies , some of those external bodies being fitted to affect the eye , others the ear , others the nostrils , &c. and to these operations of the objects on the sensories , the mind of man , which upon the account of its union with the body perceives them , giveth distinct names , calling the one light or colour , the other sound , the other odour , &c. and because also each organ of sense , as the eye , or the palat , may be it self differingly affected by external objects , the mind likewise gives the objects of the same sense distinct appellations , calling one colour green , the other blew , and one tast sweet , and another bitter , &c. whence men have been induc'd to frame a long catalogue of such things as , for their relating to our senses , we call sensible qualities ; and because we have been conversant with them , before we had the use of reason , and the mind of man is prone to conceive almost every thing ( nay even privations , as blindness , death , &c. ) under the notion of a true entitie or substance as it self is , we have been from our infancy apt to imagine , that these sensible qualities are real beings , in the objects they denominate , and have the faculty or power to work such and such things ; as gravity hath a power to stop the motion of a bullet shot upwards , and carry that solid globe of matter toward the center of the earth , whereas indeed ( according to what we have largely shewn above ) there is in the body , to which these sensible qualities are attributed , nothing of real and physical , but the size , shape , and motion , or rest of its component particles , together with that texture of the whole , which results from their being so contriv'd as they are ; nor is it necessary they should have in them any thing more , like to the ideas they occasion in us , those ideas being either the effects of our praejudices , or inconsiderateness , or else to be fetcht from the relation , that happens to be betwixt those primary accidents of the sensible object , and the peculiar texture of the organ it affects ; as when a pin , being run into my finger , causeth pain , there is no distinct quality in the pin answerable to what i am apt to fancie pain to be , but the pin in it self is onely slender , stiff , and sharp , and by those qualities happens to make a solution of continuity in my organ of touching , upon which , by reason of the fabrick of the body , and the intimate union of the soul with it , there ariseth that troublesome kind of perception which we call pain , and i shall anon more particularly shew , how much that depends upon the peculiar fabrick of the body . vi. but here i foresee a difficulty , which being perhaps the chiefest , that we shall meet with against the corpuscular hypothesis , it will deserve to be , before we proceed any farther , taken notice of . and it is this , that , whereas we explicate colours , odours , and the like sensible qualities by a relation to our senses , it seems evident , that they have an absolute being irrelative to us ; for , snow ( for instance ) would be white , and a glowing coal would be hot , though there were no man or any other animal in the world : and 't is plain , that bodies do not onely by their qualities work upon our senses , but upon other , and those , inanimate bodies ; as the coal will not onely heat or burn a man's hand if he touch it , but would likewise heat wax , ( even so much as to melt it , and make it slow , ) and thaw ice into water , though all the men , and sensitive beings in the world were annihilated . to clear this difficulty , i have several things to represent , and , 1. i say not , that there are no other accidents in bodies then colours , odours , and the like ; for i have already taught , that there are simpler and more primitive affections of matter , from which these secondary qualities , if i may so call them , do depend : and that the operations of bodies upon one another spring from the same , we shall see by and by . 2. nor do i say , that all qualities of bodies are directly sensible ; but i observe , that when one body works upon another , the knowledg we have of their operation , proceeds , either from some sensible quality , or some more catholick affection of matter , as motion , rest , or texture , generated or destroy'd in one of them ; for else it is hard to conceive , how we should come to discover what passes betwixt them . 3. we must not look upon every distinct body , that works upon our senses , as a bare lump of matter of that bigness and outward shape , that it appears of ; many of them having their parts curiously contriv'd , and most of them perhaps in motion too . no● must we look upon the universe that surrounds us , as upon a moveless and undistinguish'd heap of matter , but as upon a great engine , which , having either no vacuity , or none that is considerable , betwixt its parts ( known to us , ) the actions of particular bodies upon one another must not be barely aestimated , as if two portions of matter of their bulk and figure were plac'd in some imaginary space beyond the world , but as being scituated in the world , constituted as it now is , and consequently as having their action upon each other liable to be promoted , or hindred , or modify'd by the actions of other bodies besides them : as in a clock , a small force apply'd to move the index to the figure of 12 , will make the haromer strike often and forcibly against the bell , and will make a far greater commotion among the wheels and weights , then a far greater force would do , if the texture and contrivance of the clock did not abundantly contribute to the production of so great an effect . and in agitating water into froth , the whiteness would never be produc'd by that motion , were it not that the sun , or other lucid body , shining upon that aggregate of small bubbles , enables them to reflect confusedly great store of little , and as it were contiguous lucid images to the eye . and so the giving to a large metalline speculum a concave figure , would never enable it to set wood on fire , and even to melt down mettals readily , if the sun beams , that in cloudless dayes do , as to sense , fill the air , were not by the help of that concavity , thrown together to a point . and to shew you by an eminent instance , how various and how differing effects the same action of a natural agent may produce , according to the several dispositions of the bodies it works upon , do but consider , that in two eggs , the one prolifick , the othe● barren , the sense can perhaps distinguish before incubation no difference at all ▪ and yet these bodies , outwardly so like , do so differ in the internal disposition of their parts , that if they be both expos'd to the same degree of heat , ( whether of a hen , or an artificial oven , ) that heat will change the one into a putrid and stinking substance , and the other into a chick , furnish'd with great variety of organical parts of very differing consistences , and curious as well as differing textures . 4. i do not deny , but that bodies may be said , in a very favourable sense , to have those qualities we call sensible , though there were no animals in the world : for a body in that case may differ from those bodies , which now are quite devoid of quality , in its having such a disposition of its constituent corpuscles , that in case it were duely apply'd to the sensory of an animal , it would produce such a sensible quality , which a body of another texture would not ; as though if there were no animals , there would be no such thing as pain , yet a pin may upon the account of its figure be fitted to cause pain , in case it were mov'd against a man's finger ; whereas a bullet , or other blunt body mov'd against it with no greater force , will not cause any such perception of pain . and thus snow , though if there were no lucid body nor organ of sight in the world , it would exhibit no colour at all , ( for i could not find it had any in places exactly darkned , ) yet it hath a greater disposition then a coal or soot to reflect store of light outwards , when the sun shines upon them all three . and so we say , that a lute is in tune , whether it be actually plaid upon or no , if the strings be all so duly stretcht , as that it would appear to be in tune , if it were play'd upon . but as if you should thrust a pin into a man's finger , both a while before and after his death , though the pin be as sharp at one time as at another , and maketh in both cases alike a solution of continuity ; yet in the former case , the action of the pin will produce pain , and not in the latter , because in this the prick'd body wants the soule , and consequently the perceptive faculty : so if there were no sensitive beings , those bodies that are now the objects of our senses , would be but dispositively , if i may so speak , endow'd with colours , tasts , and the like ; and actually but onely with those more catholick affections of bodies , figure , motion , texture , &c. to illustrate this yet a little farther , suppose a man should beat a drum at some distance from the mouth of a cave , conveniently scituated to return the noise he makes ; although men will presently conclude , that that cave hath an echo , and will be apt to fancy upon that account some real property in the place , to which the echo is said to belong , and although indeed the same noise made in many other of the neighbouring places , would not be reflected to the eare , and consequently would manifest those places to have no echos ; yet to speak physically of things , this peculiar quality or property we fancy in the cave , is in it nothing else but the hollowness of its figure , whereby 't is so dispos'd , as when the air beats against it , to reflect the motion towards the place whence that motion began ; and that which passeth on this occasion is indeed but this , that the drum stick falling upon the drum , makes a percussion of the air , and puts that fluid body into an undulating motion , and the aery waves thrusting on one another , 'till they arrive at the hollow superficies of the cave , have by reason of its resistance and figure , their motion determin'd the contrary way , namely backwards towards that part where the drum was , vvhen it vvas struck ; so that in that , vvhich here happens , there intervenes nothing but the figure of one body , and the motion of another , though if a man's ear chance to be in the way of these motions of the air forwards and backvvards , it gives him a perception of them , which he calls sounds ; and because these perceptions , which are suppos'd to proceed from the same percussion of the drum , and thereby of the air , are made at distinct times one after another , that hollow body , from whence the last sound is conceiv'd to come to the air , is imagin'd to have a peculiar faculty , upon whose account men are wont to say , that such a place hath an echo . 5. and whereas one body doth often seem to produce in another divers such qualities , as we call sensible , which qualities therefore seem not to need any reference to our senses , i consider , that when one inanimate body works upon another , there is nothing really produc'd by the agent in the patient , save some local motion of its parts , or some change of texture consequent upon that motion ; and so , if the patient come to have any sensible quality , that it had not before , it acquires it upon the same account , upon which other bodies have it , and it is but a consequent to this mechanical change of texture , that by means of its effects upon our organs of sense , we are induc'd to attribute this or that sensible quality to it . as in case a pin should chance by some inanimate body to be driven against a man's finger , that which the agent doth , is but to put a sharp and slende● body into such a kind of motion , an● that which the pin doth , is to pierce into a body that it meets with , not ha●● enough to resist its motion , and so tha● upon this there should ensue such a thing as pain , is but a consequent , tha● superadds nothing of real to the p●● that occasions that pain . so if a piece of transparent ice be , by the falling o● some heavy and hard body upon it , broken into a gross powder that look whitish , the falling body doth nothing to the ice but break it into very sma● fragments , lying confusedly upon on● another ; though by reason of the fabrick of the world , and of our eyes , there doth in the day time upon this comminution , ensue such a kind of copious reflection of the incident light to our eyes , as we call whitenesse : and when the sun , by thawing this broken ice , destroyes the whiteness of that portion of matter , and makes it become diaphanous , which it was not before , it doth no more then alter the texture of the component parts , by putting them into motion , and thereby into a new order ; in which , by reason of the disposition of the pores intercepted betwixt them , they reflect but few of the incident beams of light , and transmit most of them . thus when with a burnisher you polish a rough piece of silver , that which is really done , is but the depression of the little protuberant parts into one level with the rest of the superficies ; though upon this mechanical change of the texture of the superficial parts , we men say , that it hath lost the quality of roughness , and acquir'd that of smoothness , because that whereas before , the little exstancies by their figure resisted a little the motion of our finger , and grated upon them a little , our fingers now meet with no such offensive resistance . 't is true that the fire doth thaw ice , and also both make wax slow , and enable it to burn a man's hand , and yet this doth not necessarily argue in it any inhaerent quality of heat , distinct from the power it hath of putting the smal● parts of the wax into such a motion as that their agitation surmounts their cohaesion ; which motion , together with their gravity , is enough to make them pro tempore constitute a fluid body : and aqua fortis , without any ( sensible ) heat , will make camphire , cas● on it , assume the form of a liquor distinct from it ; as i have try'd , that ● strong fire will also make camphi● fluid : not to adde , that i know a liquor , into which certain bodies being put , when both it self , ( as well as they , ) is actually cold , ( and consequently when you would not suspect it of an actual inhaerent heat ) will not onely speedily dissipate many of their parts into smoak , but leave the rest black , and burnt almost like a coal . so that though we suppose the fire to do no more then variously and briskly to agitate the insensible parts of the wax , that may suffice to make us think the wax endow'd with a quality of heat : because if such an agitation be greater then that of the spirit , and other parts of our organs of touching , that is enough to produce in us that sensation we call heat ; which is so much a relative to the sensory which apprehends it , that vve see , that the same lukevvarm water , that is , vvhose corpuscles are moderately agitated by the fire , will appear hot to one of a man's hands , if that be very cold ; and cold to the other , in case it be very hot , though both of them be the same man's hands . to be short , if we fancy any two of the bodies about us , as a stone , a mettal , &c. to have nothing at all to do with any other body in the universe , 't is not easy to conceive , either how one can act upon the other , but by local motion ( of the whole body , or its corporeal effluvia ; ) or how by motion it can do any more , then put the parts of the other body into motion too , and thereby produce in them a change of scituation and texture , or of some other of its mechanical affections : though this ( passive ) body being plac'd among other bodies in a world constituted as ours now is , and being brought to act upon the most curiously contriv'd sensories of animals , may upon both these accounts exhibit many differing sensible phaenomena ; which however we look upon them as distinct qualities , are consequently but the effects of the often mention'd catholick affections of matter , and deducible from the size , shape , motion ( or rest , ) posture , order , and the resulting texture of the insensible parts of bodies . and therefore though , for shortness of speech , i shall not scruple to make use of the word qualities , since it is already so generally receiv'd , yet i would be understood to mean them in a sense suitable to the doctrine above deliver'd . as if i should say , that roughnesse is apt to grate and offend the skin , i should mean , that a file or other body , by having upon its surface a multitude of little hard and exstant parts , and of an angular or sharp figure , is qualify'd to work the mention'd effect : and so if i should say , that heat melts mettals , i should mean , that this fusion is effected by fire , or some other body , which by the various and vehement motion of its insensible parts , does to us appear hot. and hence , ( by the way , ) i presume you will easily guess at what i think of the controversy so hotly disputed of late betwixt two parties of learned men , whereof the one would have all accidents to worke onely in virtue of the matter they reside in , and the other would have the matter to act onely in virtue of its accidents : for considering , that on the one side , the qualities , we here speak of , do so depend upon matter , that they cannot so much as have a being but in , and by it ; and on the other side , if all matter were but quite devoid of motion , ( to name now no other accidents , ) i do not readily conceive , how it could operate at all , i think it is safest to conclude , that neither matter , nor qualities apart , but both or them conjointly do perform , what we see done by bodies to one another , according to the doctrine of qualities just now deliver'd . ( of the nature of a forme . ) vii . we may now advance somewhat farther , and consider , that men having taken notice , that certain conspicuous accidents were to be found associated in some bodies , and other conventions of accidents in other bodies , they did for conveniency , and for the more expeditious expression of their conceptions agree to distinguish them into several sorts , which they call genders or species , according as they referr'd them either upwards to a more comprehensive sort of bodies , or downward to a narrower species , or to individuals : as , observing many bodies to agree in being fusible , malleable , heavy , and the like , they gave to that sort of body the name of mettal , which is a genus in reference to gold , silver , lead , and but a species in reference to that sort of mixt bodies they call fossilia . this superior genus comprehending both mettals , stones , and diverse other concretions , though it self be but a species in respect of mixt bodies . now when any body is referr'd to any particular species , ( as of a mettal , a stone , or the like , ) because men have for their convenience agreed to signifie all the essentials requisite to constitute such a body by one name , most of the writers of physicks have been apt to think , that besides the common matter of all bodies , there is but one thing that discriminates it from other kinds , and makes it what it is , and this for brevities sake they call a forme ; which , because all the qualities and other accidents of the body must depend on it , they also imagine to be a very substance , and indeed a kind of soule , which united to the gross matter composes with it a natural body , and acts in it by the several qualities to be found therein , which men are wont to ascribe to the creature so compos'd . but as to this affair , i observe , that if ( for instance ) you ask a man , what gold is , if he cannot shew you a piece of gold , and tell you , this is gold , he will describe it to you as a body , that is extremely ponderous , very malleable and ductile , fusible and yet fixt in the fire , and of a yellowish colour : and if you offer to put off to him a piece of brass for a piece of gold , he will presently refuse it , and ( if he understand mettals ) tell you , that though your brass be coloured like it , 't is not so heavy , nor so malleable , neither will it like gold resist the utmost brunt of the fire , or resist aqua fortis : and if you ask men what they mean by a ruby , or niter , or a pearl , they will still make you such answers , that you may clearly perceive , that whatever men talk in theory of substantial forms , yet that , upon whose account they really distinguish any one body from others , and refer it to this or th● species of bodies , is nothing but a aggregate or convention of such accidents , as most men do by a kind of agreement ( for the thing is more a●bitrary then we are aware of ) think necessary or sufficient to make a portio● of the universal matter belong to th● or that determinate genus or specie● of natural bodies . and therefore no● onely the generality of chymists , be diverse philosophers , and , what is more some schoolmen themselves , maintai● it to be possible to transmute the ign●bler mettals into gold ; which argues that if a man could bring any parcel o● matter to be yellow , and malleable and ponderous , and fixt in the fire , an● upon the test , and indissoluble in aqu● fortis , and in some to have a concurrence of all those accidents , by which men try true gold from false , the● would take it for true gold without scruple . and in this case the general●ty of mankind would leave the school-doctors to dispute , whether being a factitious body , ( as made by the chymists art , ) it have the substantial form of gold , and would upon the account of the convention of the freshly mention'd accidents let it pass current amongst them , notwithstanding most mens greater care , not to be deceived in a matter of this nature then in any other . and indeed , since to every determinate species of bodies , there doth belong more then one quality , and for the most part a concurrence of many is so essential to that sort of bodies , that the want of any of them is sufficient to exclude it from belonging to that species : there needs no more to discriminate sufficiently any one kind of bodies from all the bodies in the world , that are not of that kind ; as the chymists luna ●ixa , which they tell us wants not the weight , the malleablenesse , nor the fixtness , nor any other property of gold , except the yellownesse , ( which makes them call it white gold , ) would by reason of that want of colour be easily known from true gold. and you will not wonder at this , if you consider , that those sphaeres and parallelopipedons differ but in shape , yet this difference alone is the ground of so many others , that euclid and other geometricians have demonstrated , i know not how many properties of the one , which do no way belong to the other , and † aristotle himself somewhere tels us , that a sphaere is compos'd of brass and roundness . and i suppose it would be thought a man 's own fault , if he could not distinguish a needle from a file , or a key from a pair of scissors , though these being all made of iron , and differing but in bignesse and shape , are less remarkably diverse then natural bodies , the most part of which differ from each other in far more accidents then two. nor need we think that qualities being but accidents , they cannot be essential to a natural body ; for accident , as i formerly noted , is sometimes oppos'd to substance , and sometimes to essence : and though an accident can be but accidental to matter , as it is a substantial thing , yet it may be essential to this or that particular body ; as in aristotle's newly mention'd example , though roundness is but accidental to brass , yet 't is essential to a brasen sphaere ; because , though the brasse were devoid of roundnesse , ( as if it were cubical , or of any other figure , ) it would still be a corporeal substance , yet without that roundness it could not be a sphaere : wherefore since an aggregate or convention of qualities is enough to make the portion of matter 't is found in , what it is , and denominate it of this or that determinate sort of bodies ; and since those qualities , as we have seen already , do themselves proceed from those more primary and catholick affections of matter , bulk , shape , motion or rest , and the texture thence resulting , why may we not say , that the form of a body being made up of those qualities united in one subject , doth likewise consist in such a convention of those newly nam'd mechanical affections of matter , as is necessary to constitute a body of that determinate kind . and so , though i shall for brevities sake retain the word forme , yet i would be understood to mean by it , not a real substance distinct from matter , but onely the matter it self of a natural body , consider'd with its peculiar manner of existence , which i think may not inconveniently be call'd either its specifical or its denominating state , or its essential modification , or , if you would have me express it in one word , its stamp : for such a convention of accidents is sufficient to perform the offices that are necessarily requir'd in what men call a forme , since it makes the body such as it is , making it appertain to this or that determinate species of bodies , and discriminating it from all other species of bodies whatsoever : as for instance , ponderousness , ductility , fixtnesse , yellowness , and some other qualities , concurring in a portion of matter , do with it constitute gold , and making it belong to that species we call mettals , and to that sort of mettals we call gold , do both denominate and discriminate it from stones , salts , marchasites , and all other sorts of bodies that are not mettals , and from silver , brass , copper , and all mettals except gold. and whereas 't is said by some , that the forme also of a body ought to be the principle of its operations , we shall hereafter consider in what sense that is to be admitted or rejected , in the mean time it may suffice us , that even in the vulgar philosophy 't is acknowledg'd , that natural things for the most part operate by their qualities , as snow dazles the eyes by its whiteness , and water scatter'd into drops of rain falls from the clouds upon the account of its gravity . to which i shall adde , that how great the power may be , which a body may exercise by virtue of a single quality , may appear by the various and oftentimes prodigious effects , which fire produces by its heat , when thereby it melts mettals , calcines stones , destroyes whole woods and cities &c. and if several active qualities conven● in one body , ( as that which in our hypothesis is meant by forme , usually comprises several of them , ) what great things may be thereby perform'd , may be somewhat guess'd at by the strange things we see done by some engines which , being , as engins , undoubtedly devoid of substantial forms , must d● those strange things they are admir'd for , by virtue of those accidents , the shape , size , motion , and contrivance , of their parts . not to mention , that in our hypothesis , besides those operations that proceed from the essential modification of the matter , as the body ( compos'd of matter and necessary accidents ) is consider'd per modum unius , as one entire corporeal agent , it may in diverse cases have other operations , upon the account of those particular corpuscles , which though they concurre to compose it , and are in reference to the whole consider'd but as its parts , may yet retain their own particular nature , and diverse of the peculiar qualities : as in a watch , besides those things which the watch performs as such , the several parts whereof it consists , as the spring , the wheels , the string , the pins , &c. may have each of them its peculiar bulk , shape , and other attributes , upon the account of one or more of which , the wheel or spring &c. may do other things then what it doth , as meerly a constituent part of the watch. and so in the milk of a nurse , that hath some hours before taken a potion , though the corpuscles of the purging medicine appear not to sense distinct from the other parts of the milk , which in far greater numbers concurre with them , to constitute that white liquor , yet these purgative particles , that seem but to be part of the matter whereof the milk consists , do yet so retain their own nature and qualities , that being suck'd in with the rest by the infant , they quickly discriminate and discover themselves by purging him . but of this subject more hereafter . ( of generation , corruption , and alteration . ) viii . it now remains that we declare , what , according to the tenour of our hypothesis , is to be meant by generation , corruption , and alteration ; ( three names , that have very much puzled and divided philosophers . ) in order hereunto we may consider , 1. that there are in the world great store of particles of matter , each of which is too small to be , whilst single , sensible ; and being entire , or undivided , must needs both have its determinate shape , and be very solid . insomuch , that though it be mentally , and by divine omnipotence divisible , yet by reason of its smalness and solidity , nature doth scarce ever actually divide it ; and these may in this sense be call'd minima or prima naturalia . 2. that there are also multitudes of corpuscles , which are made up of the coalition of several of the former minima naturalia ; and whose bulk is so small , and their adhaesion so close and strict , that each of these little primitive concretions or clusters ( if i may so call them ) of particles is singly below the discernment of sense , and though not absolutely indivisible by nature into the prima naturalia that compos'd it , or perhaps into other little fragments , yet , for the reasons freshly intimated , they very rarely happen to be actually dissolv'd or broken , but remain entire in great variety of sensible bodies , and under various forms or disguises . as , not to repeat , what we lately mention'd of the undestroy'd purging corpuscles of milk ; we see , that even grosser and more compounded corpuscles may have such a permanent texture : for quicksilver , for instance , may be turn'd into a red powder for a fusible and malleable body , or a fugitive smoak , and disguis'd i know not how many other wayes , and yet remain true and recoverable mercury . and these are as it were the seeds , or immediate principles of many sorts of natural bodies , as earth , water , salt , &c. and those singly insensible , become capable , when united , to affect the sense : as i have try'd , that if good camphire be kept a while in pure spirit of wine , it will thereby be reduc'd into such little parts , as totally to disappear in the liquor , without making it look less clear then fair water , and yet , if into this mixture you pour a competent quantity of water , in a moment the scatter'd corpuscles of the camphire will , by reuniting themselves , become white , and consequently visible , as before their dispersion . 3. that as well each of the minima naturalia , as each of the primary clusters above mention'd , having its own determinate bulk & shape , when these come to adhere to one another , it must alwaies happen , that the size , and often , that the figure of the corpuscle compos'd by their juxta-position and cohaesion , will be chang'd : and not seldome too , the motion either of the one , or the other , or both , will receive a new tendency , or be alter'd as to its velocity , or otherwise . and the like will happen , when the corpuscles , that compose a cluster of particles , are disjoyn'd , or any thing of the little mass is broken off . and whether any thing of matter be added to a corpuscle , or taken from it in either case , ( as we just now intimated , ) the size of it must necessarily be alter'd , and for the most part the figure will be so too , whereby it will both acquire a congruity to the pores of some bodies , ( and perhaps some of our sensories , ) and become incongruous to those of others , and consequently be qualify'd , as i shall more fully shew you hereafter , to operate on diverse occasions , much otherwise then it was fitted to do before . 4. that when many of these insensible corpuscles come to be associated into one visible body , if many or most of them be put into motion , from what cause soever the motion proceeds , that it self may produce great changes , and new qualities in the body they compose ; for not onely motion may perform much , even when it makes not any visible alteration in it , as air put into swift motion , ( as when it is blown out of bellows ) acquires a new name , and is call'd wind , and to the touch appears far colder then the same air not so form'd into a stream ; and iron , by being briskly rubb'd against wood or other iron , hath its small parts so agitated , as to appear hot to our sense : but this motion oftentimes makes visible alterations in the texture of the body into which it is receiv'd , for alwaies the moved parts strive to communicate their motion , or somewhat of the degree of it , to some parts that were before either at rest , or otherwise mov'd , and oftentimes the same mov'd parts do thereby either disjoyn , or break some of the corpuscles they hit against , and thereby change their bulk , or shape , or both , and either drive some of them quite out of the body , and perhaps lodge themselves in their places , or else associate them anew with others . whence it usually follows , that the texture , is for a while at least , and , unlesse it be very stable and permanent , for good and all , very much alter'd , and especially , in that the pores or little intervals intercepted betwixt the component particles , will be chang'd as to bigness , or figure , or both , and so will cease to be commensurate to the corpuscles that were fit for them before , and become commensurate to such corpuscles of other sizes and shapes , as till then were incongruous to them thus we see that water , by loosing the wonted agitation of its parts , may acquire the firmnesse and brittlenesse we find in ice , and loose much of the transparency it had whilst it was a liquor . thus also by very hard rubbing two pieces of resinous wood against one another , we may make them throw out diverse of their looser parts into steams and visible smoak , and may , if the attrition be duely continued , make that commotion of the parts so change the texture of the whole , as afterwards to turn the superficial parts into a kind of coal . and thus milk , especially in hot weather , will by the intestine , though languid , motions of its parts , be in a short time turn'd into a thinner sort of liquor then milk , and into cream , and this ( last nam'd ) will by being barely agitated in a churn , be turn'd in a shorter time into that unctuous and consistent body we call butter , and into thin , fluid , and sower butter-milk . and thus ( to dispatch ) by the bruising of fruit , the texture is commonly so chang'd , that as we see particularly in apples , that the bruis'd part soon comes to be of another nature then the sound part , the one differing from the other both in colour , tast , smell , and consistence . so that ( as we have already inculcated ) local motion hath , of all other affections of matter , the greatest interest i● the altering and modifying of it , since it is not onely the grand agent or efficient among second causes , but is also oftentimes one of the principal things that constitutes the forme of bodies : as when two sticks are set on fire by long and vehement attrition , local motion is not onely that which kindles the wood , and so as an efficient produces the fire , but is that which principally concurrs to give the produced stream of shining matter , the name and nature of flame : and so it concurrs also to constitute all fluid bodies . 5. and that since we have formerly seen , that 't is from the size , shape , and motion of the small parts of matter , and the texture that results from the manner of their being dispos'd in any one body , that the colour , odour , tast , and other qualities of that body are to be deriv'd , it will be easie for us to recollect , that such changes cannot happen in a portion of matter , without so much varying the nature of it , that we need not deride the antient atomists , for attempting to deduce the generation and corruption of bodies from the fam'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , the convention and dissolution , and the alterations of them , from the transposition of their ( suppos'd ) atoms : for though indeed nature is wont in the changes she makes among things corporeal , to imploy all the three wayes , as well in alterations , as generations and corruptions ; yet if they onely meant , as probably enough they did , that of the three waies propos'd , the first was wont to be the principal in the generation of bodies , the second in the corruption , & the third in their alterations , i shall not much oppose this doctrine : though i take the local motion or transposition of parts , in the same portion of matter , to bear a great stroak as well in reference to generation and corruption , as to alteration : as we see when milk , or flesh or fruit , without any remarkable addition or loss of parts turns into maggots , or other insects ; and as we may more conspicuously observe in the praecipitation of mercury without addition , in the vitrification of mettals , and other chymical experiments to be hereafter mention'd . these things premis'd , it will not now be difficult to comprise in few words such a doctrine , touching the generation , corruption , and alteration of bodies , as is suitable to our hypothesis , and the former discourse . for if in a parcel of matter there happen to be produc'd ( it imports not much how ) a concurrence of all those accidents , ( whether those onely , or more ) that men by tacite agreement have thought necessary and sufficient to constitute any one determinate species of things corporeal , then we say , that a body belonging to that species , as suppose a stone , or a mettal , is generated , or produc'd de novo . not that there is really any thing of substantial produc'd , but that those parts of matter , that did indeed before praeexist , but were either scatter'd and shar'd among other bodies , or at least otherwise dispos'd of , are now brought together , and dispos'd of after the manner requisite , to entitle the body that results from them to a new denomination , and make it appertain to such a determinate species of natural bodies , so that no new substance is in generation produc'd , but onely that , which was praeexistent , obteins a new modification , or manner of existence . thus when the spring , and wheels , and string , and balance , and index &c. necessary to a watch , which lay before scatter'd , some in one part , some in another of the artificer's shop , are first set together in the order requisite to make such an engine , to shew how the time passes , a watch is said to be made : not that any of the mention'd material parts is produc'd de novo , but that till then the divided matter was not so contriv'd and put together , as was requisite to constitute such a thing , as we call a watch. and so when sand and ashes are well melted together , and suffer'd to cool , there is generated by the colliquation that sort of concretion we call glass , though it be evident , that its ingredients were both praeexistent , and do but by their association obtain a new manner of existing together . and so when by the churning of creame , butter and butter-milk are generated , we find not any thing substantial produc'd de novo in either of them , but onely that the serum , and the fat corpuscles , being put into local motion , do by their frequent occursions extricate themselves from each other , and associate themselves in the new manner , requisite to constitute the bodies , whose names are given them . and as a body is said to be generated , when it first appears clothed with all those qualities , upon whose account men have been pleas'd to call some bodies stones ; others , mettals ; others , salts , &c. so when a body comes to loose all or any of those accidents that are essential , and necessary to the constituting of such a body , it is then said to be corrupted or destroy'd , and is no more a body of that kind , but looses its title to its former denomination . not that any thing corporeal or substantial perishes in this change , but onely that the essential modification of the matter is destroy'd : and though the body be still a body , ( no natural agent being able to annihilate matter , ) yet 't is no longer such a body , as 't was before , but perisheth in the capacity of a body of that kind . thus if a stone , falling upon a watch , break it to pieces ; as , when the watch was made there was no new substance produc'd , all the material parts ( as the steel , brass , string , &c. ) being praeexistent some where or other , ( as in iron , and copper mines , in the bellies of those animals of whose guts men use to make strings ; ) so not the least part of the substance of the watch is lost , be onely displac'd and scatter'd ; and yea that portion of matter ceases to be a vvatch as it was before . and so ( ● resume our late example ) when cream● is by churning turn'd into but●er , and a serous liquor , the parts of the mil● remain associated into those two bodies but the white liquor perisheth in the capacity of milk. and so when ice comes to be thaw'd in exactly close vessels , though the corruption be produc'd onely ( for ought appears ) by introducing a new motion and disposition into the parts of the frozen water yet it thereupon ceases to be ice , however it be as much vvater , and consequently as much a body , as before it was frozen or thaw'd . these and the like examples may teach us rightly to understand that common axiom of naturalists , corruptio unius est generatio alterius ; & è contrà : for since it is acknowledged on all hands , that matter cannot be annihilated , and since it appears by what we have said above , that there are some properties , namely size , shape , motion , ( or in its absence , rest , ) that are inseparable from the actual parts of matter ; and since also the coalition of any competent number of these parts is sufficient to constitute a natural body , endow'd with diverse sensible qualities ; it can scarce be otherwise , but that the same agents , that shatter the frame , or destroy the texture of one body , will by shuffling them together , and disposing them after a new manner , bring them to constitute some new sort of bodies : as the same thing , that by burning destroyes wood , turns it into flame , soot , and ashes . onely i doubt whether the axiome do generally hol● true , if it be meant , that every corruption must end in the generation of a body belonging to some particular species ● things , unlesse we take powders an● fluid bodies indefinitely for species● natural bodies ; since it is plain , the● are multitudes of vegetables , and other concretions , which , when they rot , d● not , as some others do , turn in●● worms , but either into some slimy o● watery substance , or else ( which is th● most usuall ) they crumble into a kin● of dust or powder , which , thoug● look'd upon as being the earth , in● which rotten bodies are at length resolv'd , is very far from being of an elementary nature , but as yet a compounded body , retaining some , if not many qualities , which often makes the d● of one sort of plant or animal diff● much from that of another . and th● will supply me with this argument ad hominem , viz. that since in those violent corruptions of bodies , that are made by outward agents , shattering them into pieces , if the axiome hold true , the new bodies emergent upon the dissolution of the former , must be really natural bodies , as ( indeed divers of the moderns hold them to be , ) and generated according to the course of nature ; as when wood is destroy'd by fire , and turn'd partly into flame , partly into soot , partly into coals , and partly into ashes ; i hope we may be allow'd to conclude , that those chymical productions , which so many would have to be but factitious bodies , are natural ones , and regularly generated . for it being the same agent , the fire , that operates upon bodies , whether they be expos'd to it in close glasses , or in chimnies , i see no sufficient reason , why the chymical oyls , and volatile salts , and other things which spagirites obtain from mixt bodies , should not be accounted natural bodies , as well as the soot , and ashes , an● charcoal , that by the same fire are obtain'd from kindled wood. but before we passe away from the mention of the corruption of bodies , must take some notice of what is call'd their putrefaction . this is but a peculiar kind of corruption , wrought slowly ( whereby it may be distinguish'd from destruction by fire , and othe● nimble agents ) in bodies : it happens to them for the most part by means o● the air , or some other ambient fluid , which by penetrating into the pores o● the body , and by its agitation in them , doth usually call out some of the more agile and lesse entangled parts of the body , and doth almost ever loosen and dislocate the parts in general , and thereby so change the texture , and perhaps too the figure , of the corpuscles , that compose it , that the body , thus chang'd , acquires qualities unsuitable to its former nature , and for the most part offensive to our senses , especially of smelling and tasting : which last clause i therefore adde , not onely because the vulgar look not upon the change of an egge into a chick as a corruption , but as a perfection of the egge ; but because also i think it not improbable , that if by such slow changes of bodies , as make them loose their former nature , and might otherwise passe for putrefaction , many bodies should acquire better sents or tasts then before ; or if nature , custom , or any other cause should much alter the texture of our organs of tasting and smelling , it would not perhaps be so well agreed on what should be call'd putrefaction , as that imports an impairing alteration , but men would find some favourabler notion for such changes . for i observe , that medlars , though they acquire in length of time such a colour and softness as rotten apples , and other putrify'd fruits do , yet , because their tast is not then harsh as before , we call that ripeness in them , which otherwise we should call rottenness . and though upon the death of a fourfooted beast , we generally call that change , which happens to the flesh or bloud , putrefaction , yet we passe a more favourable judgment upon that , which happens to the flesh and other softer parts of that animal , ( whether it be a kind of large rabbets , or very small and hornlesse deer , ) of which in china , and in the levant they make musk ; because by the change , that ensues the animals death , the flesh acquires not an odious , but a grateful smell . and we see , that some men , whose appetites are gratified by rotten cheese , think it then not to have degenerated , but to have attain'd its best state , when having lost its former colour , smell , and tast , and , which is more , being in great part turn'd into those insects call'd mites , 't is both in a philosophical sense corrupted , and in the aestimate of the generality of men grown putrid . but because it very seldom happens , that a body by generation acquires no other qualities , then just those that are absolutely necessary , to make it belong to the species that denominates it ; therefore in most bodies there are diverse other qualities that may be there , or may be missing , without essentially changing the subject : as water may be clear or muddy , odorous or stinking , and still remain water ; and butter may be white or yellow , sweet or rancid , consistent or melted , and still be call'd butter . now therefore whensoever a parc●l of matter does acquire or loose a quality , that is not essential to it , that acquisition or losse is distinctly call'd alteration , ( or by some , mutation : ) the acquist onely of the qualities that are absolutely necessary to constitute its essential and specifical difference , or the loss of any of those qualities , being such a change as must not be call'd meer alteration , but have the particular name of generation or corruption ; both which according to this doctrine appear to be but several kinds of alteration , taken in a large sense , though they are distinguish'd from it in a more strict and limited acception of that terme . and here we have a fair occasion to take notice of the fruitfulnesse and extent of our mechanical hypothesis : for since according to our doctrine , the world we live in is not a movelesse or indigested mass of matter , but an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , or self moving engine , wherein the greatest part of the common matter of all bodies is alwaies ( though not still the same parts of it ) in motion ; & wherein bodies are so close set by one another , that ( unlesse in some very few and extraordinary , and as it were praeternatural cases ) they have either no vacuities betwixt them , or onely here and there interpos'd , and very small ones . and since , according to us , the various manner of the coalition of several corpuscles into one visible body is enough to give them a peculiar texture , and thereby fitt them to exhibit divers sensible qualities , and to become a body , sometimes of one denomination , and sometimes of another ; it will very naturally follow , that from the various occursions of those innumerable swarms of little bodies , that are mov'd to and fro in the world , there will be many fitted to stick to one another , and so compose concretions ; and many ( though not in the self same place ) disjoyn'd from one another , and agitated apart ; and multitudes also that will be driven to associate themselves , now with one body , and presently with another . and if we also consider on the one side , that the sizes of the small particles of matter may be very various , their figures almost innumerable , and that if a parcel of matter do but happen to stick to one body , it may chance to give it a new quality , and if it adhere to another , or hit against some of its parts , it may constitute a body of another kind ; or if a parcel of matter be knockt off from another , it may barely by that , leave it , and become it self of another nature then before . if , i say , we consider these things on the one side ; and on the other side , that ( to use lucretius his comparison ) all that innumerable multitude of words , that are contain'd in all the languages of the world , are made of the various combinations of some of the 24 letters of the alphabet ; 't will not be hard to conceive , that there may be an incomprehensible variety of associations and textures of the minute parts of bodies , and consequently a vast multitude of portions of matter endow'd with store enough of differing qualities , to deserve distinct appellations ; though for want of heedfulnesse and fit words , men have not yet taken so much notice of their lesse obvious varieties , as to sort them as they deserve , and give them distinct and proper names . so that though i would not say , that any thing can immediately be made of every thing , as a gold ring of a vvedge of gold , or oyl , or fire of water ; yet since bodies , having but one common matter , can be differenc'd but by accidents , which seem all of them to be the effects and consequents of local motion , i see not , why it should be absurd to think , that ( at least among inanimate bodies ) by the intervention of some very small addition or substraction of matter , ( which yet in most cases will scarce be needed , ) and of an orderly series of alterations , disposing by degrees the matter to be transmuted , almost of any thing , may at length be made any thing : as , though out of a wedge of gold one cannot immediately make a ring , yet by either wyre-drawing that wedge by degrees , or by melting it , and casting a little of it into a mould , that thing may easily be effected . and so though water cannot immediately be transmuted into oyl , and much less into fire , yet if you nourish certain plants with water alone , ( as i have done , ) 'till they have assimilated a great quantity of water into their own nature , you may , by committing this transmuted water ( which you may distinguish and separate from that part of the vegetable you first put in ) to distillation in convenient glasses , obtain , besides other things , a true oyl ▪ and a black combustible coal , ( and consequently fire , ) both of which may be so copious , as to leave no just cause to suspect , that they could be any thing neer afforded by any little spirituous parts , which may be praesum'd to have been communicated by that part of the vegetable , that is first put into the water , to that far greater part of it , which was committed to distillation . but , pyrophilus , i perceive the difficulty and fruitfulnesse of my subject , have made me so much more prolix then i intended , that it will not now be amiss to contract the summary of our hypothesis , and give you the main points of it with little or no illustration , and without particular proofs in a few words . we teach then ( but without peremptorily asserting it , ) first , that the matter of all natural bodies is the same , namely a substance extended and impenetrable . 2. that all bodies thus agreeing in the same common matter , their distinction is to be taken from those accidents that do diversity it . 3. that motion , not belonging to the essence of matter , ( which retains its whole nature , when 't is at rest , ) and not being originally producible by other accidents , as they are from it , may be look'd upon as the first and chief mood or affection of matter . 4. that motion , variously determin'd , doth naturally divide the matter it belongs to , into actual fragments or parts ; and this division obvious experience , ( and more eminently , chymical operations ) manifest to have been made into parts exceedingly minute , and very often , too minute to be singly perceiveable by our senses . 5. whence it must necessarily follow , that each of these minute parts , or minima naturalia ( as well as every particular body , made up by the coalition of any number of them , ) must have its determinate bignesse or size , and its own shape . and these three , namely bulk , figure , and either motion or rest , ( there being no mean between these two ) are the three primary and most catholick moods or affections of the insensible parts of matter , consider'd each of them apart . 6. that when diverse of them are consider'd together , there will necessarily follow here below both a certain position or posture in reference to the horizon ( as erected , inclining , or level ) of each of them , and a certain order , or placing before , or behind , or besides one another ; ( as when in a company of souldiers , one stands upright , the other stoops , the other lyes along upon the ground , they have various postures ; and their being plac'd besides one another in ranks , and behind one another in files , are varieties of their order : ) and when many of these small parts are brought to convene into one body from their primary affections , and their disposition , or contrivance as to posture and order , there results that , which by one comprehensive name we call the texture of that body . and indeed these several kinds of location , to borrow a scholastical terme , ) attributed ( in this 6th number ) to the minute particles of bodies , are so neer of kinne , that they seem all of them referrable to ( that one event of their convening , ) scituation , or position . and these are the affections that belong to a body , as it is consider'd in it self , without relation to sensitive beings , or to other natural bodies . 7. that yet , there being men in the world , whose organs of sense are contriv'd in such differing wayes , that one sensory is fitted to receive impressions from some , and another from other sorts of external objects , or bodies without them , ( whether these act as entire bodies , or by emission of their corpuscles , or by propagating some motion to the sensory , ) the perceptions of these impressions are by me● call'd by several names , as heat , colour , sound , odour ; and are commonly imagin'd to proceed from certain distinct and peculiar qualities in the external object , which have some resemblance to the ideas , their action upon the senses excites in the mind ; though indeed all these sensible qualities , and the rest that are to be met with in the bodies without us , are but the effects or consequents of the above mentioned primary affections of matter , whose operations are diversify'd according to the nature of the sensories , or other bodies they work upon . 8. that when a portion of matter , either by the accession or recesse of corpuscles , or by the transposition of those it consisted of before , or by any two or all of these waies , happens to obtain a concurrence of all those qualities , which men commonly agree to be necessary and sufficient to denominate the body , which hath them , either a mettal , or a stone , or the like , and to rank it in any peculiar and determinate species of bodies , then a body of that denomination is said to be generated . 9. this convention of essential accidents being taken ( not any of the● apart , but all ) together for the specif●cal difference that constitutes the body and discriminates it from all other sort of bodies , is by one name , because conside●'d as one collective thing call'd its forme , ( as beauty , which i● made up both of symmetry of parts and agreeablenesse of colours , ) whic● is consequently but a certain character ▪ ( as i sometimes call it , ) or a peculi● state of matter , or , if i may so name it an essential modification : a modification , because 't is indeed but a determinate manner of existence of the matter and yet an essential modification , because that though the concurrent qualities be but accidental to matter ( which with others in stead of them would be matter still , ) yet they are essentially necessary to the particular body which without those accidents woul● not be a body of that denomination , as a mettal or a stone , but of some other . 10. now a body being capable of many other qualities , besides those , whose convention is necessary to make up its form ; the acquisition or lesse of any such quality is , by naturalists in the more strict sense of that terme , nam'd alteration : as when oyl comes to be frozen , or to change colour , or to grow rancid ; but if all , or any of the qualities , that are reputed essential to such a body , come to be lost or destroy'd , that notable change is call'd corruption ; as when oyl being boyl'd takes fire , the oyl is not said to be alter'd in the former sense , but corrupted or destroy'd , and the emergent fire generated ; and when it so happens , that the body is slowly corrupted , and thereby also acquires qualities offensive to our senses , especially of smell and tast , ( as when flesh ▪ or fruit grows rotten , ) that kind of corruption is by a more particular name call'd putrefaction . but neither in this , nor in any other kind of corruption is there any thing substantial destroy'd , ( no such thing having been produc'd in generation , and matter it self being on all hands acknowledged incorruptible , ) but onely that special connexion of the parts , or manner of their coexistence , upon whose account the matter , whilst it was in its former state , was , and was call'd a stone , or a mettal , or did belong to any other determinate species of bodies . considerations and experiments , touching the origine of qualities and forms . the historical part . the i. section . the i. section , containing the observations . in the foregoing notes i have endeavoured with as much clearness , as the difficulty of the subject , and the brevity i was confined to , permitted to give a scheme or summary of the principles of the corpuscularian philosophy , as i apprehended them , by way of a short introduction to it , at least as far as i judged necessary for the better understanding of what is contain'd in our notes and experiments concerning the productions and changes of particular qualities . but though , i hope , i have not so affected brevity , as to fall into obscurity ; yet since these principles are built upon the phaenomena of nature , and devis'd in order to the explication of them , i know not what i can do more proper to recommend them , then to subjoyn some such natural phaenomena , as either induce me to take up such notions , or which i was directed to find out by the notions i had imbrac'd . and since i appeale to the testimony of nature to verifie the doctrine i have been proposing , about the origine and production of qualities , ( for that of formes will require a distinct discourse , ) i think it very proper to set down some observations of what nature does , without being over-rul'd by the power and skill of man , as well as some experiments wherein nature is guided , and as it were master'd by art , that so she may be made to attest the truth of our doctrine , as well , when she discloses her self freely , and , if i may so speak , of her own accord , as when she is as it were cited to make her depositions by the industry of man. the observations will be but the more suitable to our design for being common and familiar , as to the phaenomena , though perhaps new enough as to the application to our purpose . and as for the experiments , because those that belong more immediately to this or that particular quality , may be met with in the notes that treat of it , i thought it not amisse that the experiments should be both few in number , and yet so pregnant , that every one of them should afford such differing phaenomena , as may make it applicable to more then one quality . i. the observation i will begin with shall be fetch'd from what happens in the hatching of an egge . for as familiar and obvious a thing as it is , ( especially after what the learned fabricius ab aqua pendente , and a recenter anatomist have delivered about them , ) that there is a great change made in the substance of the egge , when 't is by incubation turn'd into a chick : yet , as far as i know , this change hath not been taken notice of , for the same purpose , to which i am about to apply it . i consider then , that in a prolifick egge , ( for instance that of a hen , ) as well the liquor of the yolk , as that of the white , is a substance , as to sense , similar . for upon the same account that anatomists and physicians call several parts of the humane body , as bones , membranes , &c. similar , that is , such , as that every sensible part of it hath the same nature or denomination with the whole , as every splinter of bone is bone , as every shred of skin is skin . and though i find by distilling the yolks and whites , they seem to be dissimilar bodies , in regard that the white of an egge ( for example ) will afford substances of a very differing nature , as flegme , salt , oyl , and earth , yet ( not now to examine whether , or how far these may be esteem'd productions of the fire , that are rather obtain'd from the white of the egge , then were praeexistent in it ; not to mention this i say , ) it doth not appear by distillation , that the white of an egg , is other then a similar body in the sense above deliver'd . for it would be hard to prove , that one part of the white of an egg will not be made to yield the same differing substances by distillation , that any other part does ; and bones themselves , and other hard parts of a humane body , that are confessedly similar , may by distillation be made to afford salt , and phlegme , and spirit , and oyl , and earth , as well as the white of an egg. this being thus setled in the first place , we may in the next consider , that by beating the white of an egge well with a whisk , you may reduce it from a somewhat tenacious into a fluid body , though this production of a liquor be , as we elsewhere noted , effected by a divulsion , agitation &c. of the parts , that is in a word , by a mechanical change of the texture of the body . in the third place i consider , that according to the exactest observations of modern anatomists , which our own observations do not contradict , the rudiments of the chick , lodg'd in the cicatricula , or white speck upon the coat of the yolk , is nourish'd , 'till it have obtain'd to be a great chick , onely by the white of the egg ; the yolk being by the providence of nature reserv'd as a more strong and solid aliment , till the chick have absum'd the white , and be thereby grown great and strong enough to digest the yolk ; and in effect you may see the chick furnish'd not onely with all the necessary , but divers other parts , as head , wings , legs , and beak , and claws , whilst the yolk seems yet as it were untouch'd . but whether this observation about the entireness of the yolk be precisely true , is not much material to our present purpose , nor would i be thought to build much upon it ; since the yolk it self , especially at that time , is wont to be fluid enough , and to be a liquor perhaps no less so then the white was , and that is enough for my present purpose . for in the last place i consider , that the nutritive liquor of an egg , which is in it self a body so very soft , that by a little agitation it may be made fluid , and is readily enough dissolvable in common cold water , this very substance , i say , being brooded on by the hen , will within two or three weeks be transmuted into a chick , furnish'd with organical parts , as eyes , ears , wings , legs , &c. of a very differing fabrick , and with a good number of similar ones , as bones , cartilages , ligaments , tendons , membranes , &c. which differ very much in texture from one another ; besides the liquors , as blood , chyle , gall , &c. contain'd in the solid parts : so that here we have out of the white of an egg , which is a substance similar , insipid , soft , ( not to call it fluid , ) diaphanous , colourlesse , and readily dissoluble in cold water , out of this substance i say , we have by the new and various contrivement of the small parts it consisted of , an animal , some of whose parts are not transparent but opacous ; some of them red , as the bloud ; some yellow or greenish , as the gall ; some white , as the brain ; some fluid , as the bloud , and other juices ; some consistent , as the bones , flesh , and other stable parts of the body ; some solid and frangible , as the bones , others tough and flexible , as the ligaments , others soft and loosly cohaerent , as the marrow ; some without springs , as many of the parts ▪ some with springs , as the feathers , some apt to mingle readily with cold water , as the bloud , the gall ; some not to be so dissolv'd in it , as the bones , the claws , and the feathers ; some well tasted , as the flesh and bloud ; some very ill tasted , as the gall , ( for that i have purposely and particularly observ'd . ) in a word , we have here produc'd out of such an uniforme matter as the white of an egg , first , new kind of qualities , as ( besides opacity ) colours , ( whereof a single feather will sometimes afford us variety , ) odours , tasts , and heat in the heart and bloud of the chick ; hardness , smoothness , roughness , &c. secondly , diverse other qualities , that are wont to be distinguish'd from sensible ones , as fluidity ( in the bloud and aqueous humor of the eye , ) consistency in the grisles , flesh , &c. hardnesse , flexibility , springynesse , toughness , unfitnesse to be dissolv'd in cold water , and several others . to which may probably be added thirdly , some occult properties as physicians observe , that some birds , as young swallows , young magpies afford specifick , or at least noble medicines , in the falling sickness , hysterical fits , and divers other distempers . fourthly , i very well foresee it may be objected , that the chick with all its parts is not a mechanically contriv'd engine , but fashion'd out of matter by the soul of the bird , lodg'd chiefly in the cicatricula , which by its plastick power fashions the obsequious matter , and becomes the architect of its own mansion . but not here to examine , whether any animal , except man , be other then a curious engine , i answer , that this objection invalidates not what i intend to prove from the alledg'd example . for let the plastick principle be what it will , yet still , being a physical agent , it must act after a physical manner , and having no other matter to work upon but the white of the egg , it can work upon that matter but as physical agents , and consequently can but divide the matter into minute parts of several sizes and shapes , and by local motion variously context them , according to the exigency of the animal to be produc'd , though from so many various textures of the produc'd parts there must naturally emerge such differences of colours , tasts , and consistencies , and other qualities as we have been taking notice of . that which we are here to consider , is not what is the agent or efficient in these productions , but what is done to the matter to effect them . and though some birds by an inbred skill do very artificially build their curious nests , yet cannot nature ▪ that teaches them , enable them to do ●ny more then select the materials of t●eir nests , and by local motion div●de , transport , and connect them after certain manner . and when man himself , who is undoubtedly an intelligent agent , is to frame a building o● an engine , he may indeed by the help of reason and art , contrive his materials curiously and skilfully , but still ● he can do , is but to move , divide , tranpose , and context the several parts , in●● which he is able to reduce the matte● assign'd him . nor need we imagine , that the so● of that hen , which having first produc'd the egg , does after a while sit on it hath any peculiar efficiency in hatching of a chick : for the egg will be we● hatch'd by another hen , though th● which laid it be dead ; and , which is more , we are assur'd by the testimony of very good authors , as well as of recent travellers , that in some places especially in aegypt , there needs ● bird at all to the production of a chick out of an egg , since they hatch multitudes of eggs by the regulated heat o● ovens , or dunghils . and indeed , that there is a motion or agitation of the parts of the egg by the external heat , whereby it is hatch'd , is evident of its self , and not ( as far as i know ) deny'd by any , and that also the white substance is absumed and contexted , or contriv'd into the body of the chick , and its several parts , is manifest to sense ; especially if one hath the curiosity to observe the progress of the chicks formation and increment . but as 't is evident , that as these two things , the substance of the white , and the local motion , wherein the external heat necessary to incubation puts its parts , do eminently concurr to the production of the chick ; so that the formative power ( whatever that be ) doth any more then guide these motions , and thereby associate the ●itted particles of matter after the manner requisite to constitute a chick , is that which i think will not easily be evinc'd . and i might to what i said of the egg , adde several things touching the generation of viviparous animals , which the learned fabricius ab aqua pendente , as well as some of the antient philosophers would have to be generated from a● imperfect kind of eggs : but i take the eggs of birds to be much fitter to instance in , because they are things tha● we have more at command , and where with we can conveniently make mo● trials and observations ; and especiall● because in perfect eggs the matter t● be transmuted is more closely lock'd up , and being kept from any visib●e supply of matter , confin'd to be wrought upon by the external heat and by its own vital principle within . ii. water being generally esteem'd ● elementary body , and being at leas● far more homogeneous then both here below are wont to be ; it may mk● very much for our present purpose 〈◊〉 shew , that water it self , that is flu●● , tastless , inodorous , diaphanous , colourless , volatile , &c. may , by a differing texture of its parts , be brought to constitute bodies of attributes very distant from these . this i thought might be done , by nourishing vegetables with simple water . for in case i could do so , all , or the greatest part of that which would accrue to the vegetable thus nourish'd , would appear to have been materially but water , with what exotick quality soever it may afterwards , when transmuted , be endow'd . the ingenious helmont indeed mentions an experiment somewhat of this nature , though not to the same purpose , which he made by planting a branch of willow into a pot full of earth , and observing the increase of weight he obtain'd after divers years , though he fed the plant but with rain water . and some learned modern naturalists have conjectur'd at the easy transmutablenesse of water , by what happens in gardens and orchards , where the same showers or rain after a long drought makes a great number of differing plants to flourish . but though these things be worthy of their authors , yet i thought they would not be so fit for my purpose , because it may be speciously enough objected , that the rain water does not make these plants thrive and flourish , by immediately affording them the aliments they assimilate into their own substance , but by proving a vehicle , that dissolves the saline , and other alimental substances of the earth , and dilutes both them and the nutritive juice , which , in a part of the plant its self , it may find too much thickned by the drought or heat of the ambient air , and by this means it contributes to the nourishment of the plant , though it self be insensibly afterwards exhal'd into vapours . and indeed experience shews us , that several plants , that thrive not well without rain water , are not yet nourish'd by it alone , since when corn in the field , and fruit-trees in orchards have consum'd the saline and sulphureous juices of the earth , they will not prosper there , how much rain soever falls upon the land , till the ground by dung or otherwise be supply'd again with such assimilable juices . wherefore i rather chose to attempt the making of plants grow in viols fill'd with water , not onely to prevent the forementioned objection , and also to make the experiment lesse tedious , but that i might have the pleasure of seeing the progress of nature in the transmutation of water ; and my observations of this kind as novelties , unmention'd by any other writer , i shew'd divers ingenious freinds , who having better opportunities then i of staying in one place , have attempted the like , and made succesful trials , which , i suppose , will not be conceal'd from the publick . of my observations about things of this kind , i can at present find but few among my adversaria ; but in them i find enough for my present turn . for they and my memory inform me , that vinca per vinca , raphanus aquaticus , spearemint , and even ranunculus it self , did grow and prosper very well in viols filld with fair water , by whose necks the leaves were supported , and the plant kept from sinking : some of these were onely cuttings without roots , divers of them were left in the water all the autumn , and great part of the winter , and at the latter end of january were taken out verdant , and with fair roots , which they had shot in the water . and besides i find , that particularly a branch or sprig of raphanus aquaticus was kept full nine months , and during that time wither'd not the whole winter , and was taken out of the water with many fibrous roots , and some green buds , and an increase of weight , and that a stump of ranunculus did so prosper in the water , that in a months time it had attain'd to a pretty deale more then double the weight it had , when it was put in . and the next note , which i find concerning these plants , informes me , that the above mention'd crowsfoot being taken out agen at six months after it was put in , weigh'd a drachm and a half wanting a grain and a half , that is , somewhat above thrice as much as it did at first . this last circumstance ( of the increase of weight ) i therefore thought fit particularly to make trial of , and set down upon this account among others , that having doubted the roots and leaves , that seem'd produc'd out of the water , might really be so , by an oblongation and an expansion of the plants , ( as i have purposely try'd , that an onion weigh'd and laid up in the spring , though after some weeks keeping in the air it shot blades , whereof one was five inches long , in stead of incorporating the air or terrestrial effluviums with it self , and consequently thereby growing heavier , had lost nine grains of its former weight , ) it might by this circumstance appear , that there may be a real assimilation and transmutation of water into the substance of the vegetable , as i elsewhere also shew by other proofs . for this being made out , from thence i infer , that the same corpuscles , which , convening together after one manner , compose that fluid , inodorous , colourless , and insipid body of water being contexted after other manners , may constitute differing concretes , which may have firmeness , opacity , odours , smels , tasts , colours , and several other manifest qualities , and that too very different from one another . and besides all this , these distinct portions of transmuted water may have many other qualities , without excepting those that are wont to be call'd specifick , or occult , witness the several medicinal virtues attributed by authors to spearmint , and to periwinckle , to majorane , and to raphanus aquaticus . and as for ranunculus , that plant being reckoned among poisonous ones , and among those that raise blisters , 't will be easily granted , that it hath , as other poisons , an occult deleterial faculty ; and indeed it somewhat deserves our wonder , that so insipid and innocent a thing as fair water , should be capable to be turn'd into a substance of such a piercing and caustick nature , as by contact to raise blisters on an humane body . and yet perhaps that is no lesse strange , which we elsewhere relate , that a plant , consisting chiefly of transmuted water , did by distillation afford us a true oyl , that would not mingle with water , and consequently was easily convertible into fire . but whether or no this experiment , or any such like , prove , that almost all things may be made of all things , not immediately , but by intervention of successive changes and dispositions , is a question to which we elsewhere say something , but are not willing in this place to say any thing . and if it be here objected , that the solid substance , that accrues to a plant rooted in water , procceds not at all from the water it self , but from the nitrous , fat , and earthy substances , that may be presum'd to abound even in common water , not here to repeat what i elsewhere say about this objection , i shall at present reply , that though as to divers plants , that flourish after raine , i am apt to think , as i intimated above , that they may in part be nourish'd as well by the saline and earthy substances , to which the rain usually prooves a vehicle , as by the rain it self ; yet as to what the objection holds forth about the plants , that grow not in the ground , but in glasses fill'd with water , it should not be barely said but prov'd , which he will not perhaps think easie to be done , that considers how vast a quantity of fair water is requisite to be exhal'd away , to obtain as much as one ounce of dry residents , whether saline or earthy . iii. that a plant , growing in the earth , doth by the faculties of its vegetative soul attract the juices of the earth , that are within its reach , and selecting those parts that are congruous to its nature , refuse the rest , is the general opinion of philosophers , and physicians : and therefore many naturalists are not wont much to marvail , when they see a tree bear a fruit that is sowr or bitter , because they presume , that nature hath in the root of the tree cull'd out such parts of the alimental juice of the earth , as being made to convene into one fruit , are fit to make it of such a quality . but 't is worth observing for our present purpose what happens both in ordinary graftings , and especially in that kind of insition ( taking the word in a large sense ) which is commonly call'd inoculation . for though we may presume , that the root of a white thorne ( for instance ) may electively attract its aliment from the earth , and choose that which is fittest to produce the ignoble fruit , that is proper for that plant : yet we cannot reasonably suppose , that it should in its attraction of aliment have any designe of providing an appropriate nutriment for a pore , and yet the known experience of gardiners , and our own observations manifest , that the cyons of a pear tree will take very well upon a white thornstock , and bring forth a well tasted fruit , very differing in many qualities from that of the white thorn . i have also learn'd from those that are expert , that though apples and pears , being but vulgar fruit , are seldome propagated but by grafting ; yet they may be propagated likewise by inoculation , ( which seems to be but a kind of grafting with a bud. ) now in the inoculations , that are made upon fruit trees , t is very observable , and may much countenance what we are endeavouring to prove , that a little vegetable bud , ( that is no seed , properly so call'd , ) not so big oftentimes as a pea , should be able so to transmute all the sap that arrives at it , that though this sap be already in the root , and in its passage upwards determin'd by natures intention , as men are wont to speak , to the production of the fruit that is natural to the stock ; yet this sap should by so small a vegetable substance as a bud , ( whether by the help of some peculiar kind of strainer , or by the operation of some powerful ferment lodged in it , or by both these , or some other cause , ) be so far chang'd and overrul'd , as to constitute a fruit quite otherwise qualify'd , then that which is the genuine production of the tree , and which is actually produc'd by those other portions of the like sap , which happen'd to nourish the prolific'd buds that are the genuine of-spring of the stock ; so that the same sap , that in one part of a branch constitutes ( for instance ) a cluster of haws , in another part of the same branch may constitute a pear . and that which is further remarkable to our present purpose , is , that not onely the fruites made of the same sap do often differ from one another in shape , bigness , colour , odour , tast , and other obvious qualities , as well as occult ones : but that though the sap it self be ( oftentimes ) a waterish and almost insipid liquor , that appears to sense homogeneous enough , and even by distillation affords very little besides flegme ; yet this sap is not onely convertible by buds of several natures into differing fruits , but in one and the same fruit the transmuted sap shall by differing textures be made to exhibit very differing , and sometimes contrary qualities . as when ( for instance ) a peach bud does not onely change the sap that comes to it into a fruit , very differing from that which the stock naturally produceth , but in the skin of the peach it must be red , in the kernel white , and in other parts of other colours ; the flesh of it must be fragrant , the stone inodorous , the flesh soft and yielding , the stone very hard and brittle , the meat pleasantly tasted , the kernel bitter ; not to mention , that peach blossoms , though produc'd also by the bud , are of a colour and texture very differing from that of the fruit , and are enobled with an occult quality , which the fruit hath not , i mean a purgative virtue : so that from inoculations we may learn , that a stegmatick liquor , that seems homogeneous enough , & but very slenderly provided with other manifest qualities then common water , may , by being variously contexted by the buds of trees , be transmuted into bodies endow'd with new , and various , and considerable sents , colours , tasts , solidity , medicinal vertues , and divers other qualities manifest , and occult . if it be here said , that these qualities are the productions of the plastick power residing in prolifick buds , which indeed ( to me ) seem to be but very minute boughs ; i shall return the same answer that i did to the like objection , when 't was propos'd in the first observation . hitherto i have onely argued from vulgar inoculations , but there may be others , as well more considerable , as lesse ordinary ; and i remember i have seen a tree , whereof , though the stock was of one sort of good fruit , there were three more and differing kinds of stone-fruit , that had been made to take by inoculation ; and two of those inoculated boughs had actually fruit on them , and the third , though it had as yet no fruit , because the season for that sort of plants to bear it was not yet come , yet the shoot was so flourishing , that we concluded , that the blossoms would in due time be succeeded by fruit . and since i have been speaking of the differing qualities of the parts of the same fruit , i am content to adde two things : the one that garcias ab horto , a classick author , ( and physician to the indian viceroy ) affirmes * with some solemnity , ( as wondering that a learned man should write otherwise , ) that though the fruit we call cassia fistula be very commonly us'd , both here and in the indies as a purging medicine , yet the seeds of this solutive cassia are astringent . the other : that of late years there have been often brought into england from the carybbe islands , certain kernels of a fruit , which those that have seen it grow , liken to a white pear-plumme ; these are so strongly purgative , and also emetick , that the ingenious mr. lygon * tells us , th● five of them wrought with him a dozen times upwards , and above twenty downwards , and yet the same author assures us , ( which is likewise here a receiv'd tradition among them that are curious of this fruit , ) that in the kernel , in the parting of it into halfes , ( ● when our hazle nuts in england p●● in the middle longwise ) you shall find thin filme , which looks of a faint ca●nation , ( which colour is easily enoug● discerned , the rest of the kernel being perfectly white , ) and that taking o● the filme you may eat the nut safely without feeling any operation at all and 't is as sweet as a jordan almon● [ a learned man , that practis'd physick in america , being inquir'd of by m● concerning the truth of this relation answer'd , that though he had divers times given those nuts as cathartick remedies , yet he had not that curiosity to take out the filmes , finding it the universal belief , that the purgative faculty consisted therein . ] and i remember , that the famous * monardes doth somewhat countenance this tradition , where speaking of another purging fruit , that also comes from america , ( from cartagena , and nombre de dios , ) he takes notice , that these purging beans ( which are like ours , but smaller ) have a thin skin , that divides them through the middle , which must ( together with the external rind ) be cast away , else they will work so violently both upwards and downwards , as to bring the taker into hazard of his life : whereas he commends these beans rightly prepar'd , not onely as a pleasant medicine , that doth without trouble purge both choler , flegme , and gross humors , for which it is celebrated among the indians . to these stories of our countrymen , and monardes , i shall subjoin another , which i find related by that great rambler about the world , vincent le blanck , who giving us an account of a publick garden , which he visited in africa , in the territories of the lord of casima , not far from the borders of nubia , which he represents as the curiosest garden he saw in all the east , he mentions this among other rarities , " there were ( sayes he ) other sorts of fruit , which i never saw but there , and one among the rest leav'd like a sycamore , with fruit like the golden apple , but no gall more bitter , and within five kernels , as big as almonds , the juice whereof is sweet as sugar , betwixt the shell and the nut there grows a thick skin of a carnation colour , which ⁁ taken before they be throughly ripe , they preserve with date vinegar , and make an excellent sweetmeat , which they present to the king as a great curiosity . iv. the fourth and last observation i shall at present mention , is afforded me by the consideration of rotten cheese . for if we take notice of the difference betwixt two parts of the same cheese , whereof the one continues sound by preserving its texture , and the other hath suffer'd that impairing alteration of texture we call rottenness , we may often see a manifest and notable change in the several portions of a body , that was before similar . for the rotten part will differ from the sound in its colour , which will be sometimes livid , but most commonly betwixt green and blew ; and its odour , which will be both strong and offensive ; and its tast , which will be very picquant , and to some men much more pleasant then before , but to most men odious ; and in divers other qualities , as particularly its consistence , it will be much lesse solid and more friable then before ; and if with a good microscope we look upon the moulded parts of many cheeses , we shall quickly discover therein some swarms of little animals , ( the mites , ) furnish'd with variety of parts of differing sizes , shapes , textures , &c. and discry a yet greater diversity , both as to manifest qualities ( nor probably is it inferior as to occult ones ) betwixt the mouldy part of the cheese and the untainted , then the unassisted eye could otherwise have discovered . * of the origine of forms . the origine of forms , pyrophilus , as it is thought the noblest , so , if i mistake not , it hath been found one of the most perplex'd enquiries , that belong to natural philosophy : and , i confesse , it is one of the things that has invited me to look about for some more satisfactory account , then the schools usually give of this matter , that i have observ'd , that the wisest that have busied themselves in explicating forms according to the peripatetick notions of them , have either knowingly confess'd themselves unable to explain them , or unwittingly prov'd themselves to be so , by giving but unsatisfactory explications of them . it will not ( i presume ) be expected , that i , who now write but notes , should enumerate , much lesse examine all the various opinions touching the origine and nature of forms ; it being enough for our purpose , if , having already intimated in our hypothesis , what , according to that , may be thought of this subject ; we now briefly consider the general opinion of our modern aristotelians and the schools concerning it . i say , the modern aristotelians , because diverse of the antient , especially greek commentators of aristotle , seem to have understood their masters doctrine of forms much otherwise , and lesse incongruously , then his latin followers , the schoolmen and others , have since done . nor do i expresly mention aristotle himself among the champions of substantial forms , because though he seem in a place or two expresly enough to reckon formes among substances , yet elsewhere the examples he imploies to set forth the forms of natural things by , being taken from the figures of artificial things , ( as of a statue , &c. ) which are confessedly but accidents , and making very little use , if any , of substantial forms to explain the phaenomena of nature , he seems to me upon the whole matter , either to have been irresolv'd , whether there were any such substances , or no , or to speak ambiguously and obscurely enough of them , to make it questionable , what his opinions of them were . but the summe of the controversy betwixt us and the schools is this , whether or no the forms of natural things , ( the souls of men alwaies excepted ) be in generation educed , as they speak , out of the power of the matter , and whether these forms be true substantial entities , distinct from the other substantial principle of natural bodies , namely matter . the reasons that move me to embrace the negative , are principally these three . first , that i see no necessity of admitting in natural things any such substantial forms , matter and the accidents of matter being sufficient to explicate as much of the phaenomena of nature , as we either do or are like to understand . the next , that i see not what use this puzling doctrine of substantial forms is of in natural philosophy ; the acute scaliger , and those that have most busied themselves in the indagation of them , having freely acknowledg'd , ( as the more candid of the peripateticks generally do , ) that the true knowledg of forms is too difficult and abstruse to be attain'd by them . and how like it is , that particular phaenomena will be explain'd by a principal , whose nature is confessedly ignor'd , i leave you to judg : but because to these considerations i often have had , and shall have here and there occasion to say something in the body of these notes , i shall at present insist upon the third , which is , that i cannot conceive , neither how forms can be generated , as the peripateticks would have it , nor how the things , they ascribe to them , are consistent with the principles of true philosophy , or even with what themselves otherwise teach . the manner how forms are educed out of the power of the matter , according to that part of the doctrine of forms , wherein the schools generally enough agree , is a thing so inexplicable , that i wonder not it hath put acute men upon several hypotheses to make it out . and indeed the number of these is of late grown too great to be fit to be here recited , especially since i find them all so very unsatisfactory , that i cannot but think , the acute sticklers for any of them are rather driven to embrace it by the palpable inconveniences of the wayes they reject , then by any thing they find to satisfy them , in that which they make choice of : and for my part i confess , i find so much reason in what each party sayes against the explications of the rest , that i think they all confute well , and none does well establish . but my present way of writing forbidding me to insist on many arguments against the doctrine , where they most agree , i shall onely urge ▪ that which i confess chiefly sticks with me , namely that i find it not comprehensible . i know the modern schoolmen fly here to their wonted refuge of an obscure distinction , and tell us , that the power of matter in reference to forms is partly eductive , as the agent ca● make the form out of it , and partly receptive , whereby it can receive the for● so made ; but since those that say this , will not allow , that the form of a generated body was actually praeexisten● in its matter , or indeed any where else , 't is hard to conceive , how a substance can be educ'd out of another substance totally distinct in nature from it , without being , before such eduction , actually existent in it . and as for the receptive power of the matter , that but fitting it to receive or lodge a form , when brought to be united with it , how can it be intelligibly made out to contribute to the production of a new substance , of a quite differing nature from that matter , though it harbours it when produc'd ? and 't is plain , that the humane body hath a receptive power in reference to the humane soule , which yet themselves confess both to be a substantial form , and not to be educ'd out of the power of matter . indeed if they would admit the form of a natural body to be but a more fine and subtle part of the matter , as spirit of wine is of wine , which upon its recess remains no longer wine , but flegm or vinegar , then the eductive power of matter might signifie something ; and so it might , if with us they would allow the form to be but a modification of the mattter ; for then it would import b● that the matter may be so order'd ●● dispos'd by fit agents , as to constitut● a body of such a sort and denomination : and so ( to resume that example the form of a sphaere may be said 〈◊〉 lurk potentially in a piece of brass , in a● much as that brass may by casting , tu●ning , or otherwise , be so figur'd as ● become a sphaere . but this they w● not admit , least they should make form to be but accidents , though it is ●o ought i know as little intelligible , ho● what is educ'd out of any matter , without being either praeexistent , or being any part of the matter , can be a tr● substance , as how that roundness , tha● makes a piece of brass become a sphere can be a new substance in it . nor ca● they admit the other way of educing 〈◊〉 form out of matter , as spirit is out o● wine , because then not onely matter will be corruptible against their grounds , but matter and form would not be two differing and substantial principles , but one and the same , though diversify'd by firmness , and grosseness , &c. which are but accidental differences . i know they speak much of the efficacy of the agent upon the matter , in the generation of natural bodies , and tell us strange things of his manner of working . but not to spend time in examining those obscure niceties , i answer in short ; that since the agent , be he what he will , is but a physical and finite agent , and since what way soever he works , he can do nothing repugnant to the nature of things , the difficulty , that sticks with me , will still remain . for if the form produc'd in generation , be , as they would have it , a substance , that was not before to be found any where out of that portion of matter , wherewith it constitutes the generated body ; i say that either it must be produc'd , by refining or subtiliating some parts of the matter into form , or else it must b● produc'd out of nothing , that is , cre●ted , ( for i see no third way , how a substance can be produc'd de novo . ) if they allow the first , then will the form b● indeed a substance , but not , as they hol● it is , distinct from matter ; since matter however subtiliated , is matter still , ● the finest spirit of wine is as truly body , as was the wine it self , that ye●ded it , or as is the grosser flegm , from which it was extracted : besides that , the peripateticks teach , that the form is no● made of any thing of the matter ; n●● indeed is it conceivable , how a physica● agent can turn a material into an immaterial substance , especially matte● being , as they themselves confesse , a● well incorruptible as ingenerable . b● if they will not allow , as indeed they do not , that the substantial form is made of any thing that is material , they must give me leave to believe , that t is produc'd out of nothing , till they shew me , how a substance can be produc'd otherwise , that existed no where before . and at this rate every natural body of a special denomination , as gold , marble , nitre , &c. must not be produc'd barely by generation , but partly by generation , and partly by creation . and since t is confess'd on all sides , that no natural agent can produce the least atome of matter , t is strange they should in generation allow every physical agent the power of producing a form , which , according to them , is not onely a substance , but a far nobler one then matter , and thereby attribute to the meanest creatures that power of creating substances , which the antient naturalists thought too great to be ascrib'd to god himself , and which indeed is too great to be ascrib'd to any other then him , and therefore some schoolmen and philosophers have deriv'd forms immediately from god ; but this is not onely to desert aristotle and the peripatetick philosophy they would seem to maintain , but to put omnipotence upon working i know not how many thousand miracles every hour , to performe that ( i mean the generation of bodies of new denominations ) in a supernatural way , which seems the most familiar effect of nature in her ordinary course . and as the production of forms out of the power of matter is for these reasons incomprehensible to me , so those things , which the peripateticks ascribe to their substantial forms , are some of them such , as , i confesse , i cannot reconcile my reason to : for they tell us positively , that these forms are substances , and yet at the same time they teach , that they depend upon matter , both in fieri and in esse , as they speak , so that out of the matter , that supports them , they cannot so much as exist , ( whence they are usually call'd material forms , ) which is to make them substances in name , and but accidents in truth : for not to ask how ( among physical things ) one substance can be said to depend upon another in fieri , that is not made of any part of it , that very notion of a substance is to be a self-subsisting entity , or that which needs no other created being to support it , or to make it exist . besides that , there being but two sorts of substances , material , and immaterial , a substantial form must appertain to one of the two , and yet they ascribe things to it , that make it very unfit to be referr'd to either . to all this i adde , that these imaginary material forms do almost as much trouble the doctrine of corruption , as that of generation : for if a form be a true substance really distinct from matter , it must , as i lately noted , be able to exist of it self , without any other substance to support it ; as those i reason with confess , that the soul of man survives the body , it did before death inform : whereas they will have it , that in corruption the form is quite abolish'd , and utterly perishes , as not being capable of existing , separated from the matter , whereunto it was united : so that here again , what they call a substance they make indeed an accident , and besides contradict their own vulgar doctrine , that natural things are upon their corruption resolv'd into the first matter , since at this rate they should say , that such things are but partly resolv'd into the first matter , and partly either into nothing , or into forms , which being as well immaterial as the souls of men , must , for ought appears , be also , like them , accounted immortal . i should now examine those arguments , that are wont to be imploy'd by the schools to evince their substantial forms , but , besides that the nature and scope of my present work injoynes me brevity , i confesse that , one or two excepted , the arguments i have found mention'd , as the chief , are rather metaphysical , or logical , then grounded upon the principles and phaenomena of nature , and respect rather words then things , and therefore i , who have neither inclination , nor leasure , to wrangle about terms , shall content my self to propose , and very briefly answer two or three of those that are thought the plausiblest . first then they thus argue . omne compositum substantiale ( for it is hard to english well such uncouth terms ) requirit materiam & formam substantialem , ex quibus componatur . omne corpus naturale est compositū substantiale . ergo &c. in this syllogisme some do plausibly enough deny the consequence , but for brevities sake , i shall rather choose to deny the minor , and desire the proposers to prove it . for i know not any thing in nature that is compos'd of matter , and a substance distinct from matter , except man , who alone is made up of an immaterial form , and a humane body ; and if it be urg'd , that then other bodies cannot be properly said to be composita substantialia : i shall , rather then wrangle with them , give them leave to find out some other name for other natural things . but then they argue in the next place , that , if there were no substantial forms , all bodies would be but entia per accidens , as they speak , which is absurd . to which i answer , that in the notion , that divers learned men have of an ens per accidens , namely , that t is that which consists of those things , quae non ordinantur ad unum , it may be said , that though we do not admit substantial forms , yet we need not admit natural bodies to be entia per accidens ; because in them the several things that concur to constitute the body , as matter , shape , scituation , and motion , ordinantur per se & intrinsecè to constitute one natural body . but , if this answer satisfie not , i shall adde , that for my part , that which i am sollicitous about , is , what nature hath made things to be in themselves , not what a logician or metaphysician will call them in the terms of his art ; it being much fitter in my judgment to alter words , that they may better fit the nature of things , then to affix a wrong nature to things , that they may be accommodated to forms of words , that were probably devis'd , when the things themselves were not known or vvell understood , if at all thought on . wherefore i shall but adde one argument more of this sort , and that is , that , if there vvere no substantial forms , neither could there be any substantial definitions , but the consequent is absurd , and therefore so is the antecedent . to vvhich i reply , that since the peripateticks themselves confess the forms of bodies to be of themselves unknown , all that this argument seems to me to conclude , is but this , that if we do not admit somethings , that are not in rerum natura , we cannot build our definitions upon them : nor indeed could we , if we should admit substantial forms , give substantial definitions of natural things , unlesse we could also define natural bodies by things that we know not ; for such * the substantial forms are ( as we have seen already ) confess'd to be , by the wisest peripateticks , who pretend not to give the substantial definition of any natural compositum , except man. but it may suffice us to have , instead of substantial , essential definitions of things ; i mean such as are taken from the essential differences of things , which constitute them in such a sort of natural bodies , and discriminate them from all those of any other sort . these three arguments , pyrophilus , for substantial forms , you may possibly , as well as i , find variously propos'd , and perhaps with some light alterations multiply'd in the writings of the peripateticks and schoolmen ; but all the arguments of this kind that i have met with , may , if i mistake not , be sufficiently solv'd by the answers we have given to these ▪ or at least by the grounds upon which those answers are built ; those seemingly various arguments agreeing in this , that either they respect rather words then things , or that they are grounded upon precarious suppositions ; or lastly that they urge that as an absurdity , which , whether it be one or not in those , that admit the peripatetick philosophy , to me , that do as little acquiesce in many of their other principles , as i do in their substantial forms , doth not appear any absurdity at all . and t is perhaps for fear that arguments of this sort should not much prevaile with naturalists , that some of the modern assertors of the forms we question , have thought it requisite to adde some more physical arguments , which ( though i have not found them all in the same writers , yet ) being in all but few , i shall here briefly consider them . first then among the physical arguments , that are brought to prove substantial forms , i find that the most confidently insisted on , which is taken from the spontaneous return of heated water to coldness , which effects , say they , must necessarily be ascrib'd to the action of the substantial form , whose office it is to preserve the body in its natural state , and , when there is occasion , to reduce it thereunto : and the argument indeed might be plausible , if we were sure , that heated water would grow cold again ( without the avolation of any parts more agitated then the rest , ) supposing it to be remov'd into some of the imaginary spaces beyond the world ; but as the case is , i see no necessity of slying to a substantial form , the matter seeming to be easily explicable otherwise . the water we heat is surrounded with our air , or with some vessel , or other body contiguous to the air , and both the air and the water in these climates are most commonly lesse agitated , then the juices in our hands , or other organs of touching , which makes us esteem and call those fluids , cold . now when the water is expos'd to the fire , it is thereby put into a new agitation , more vehement then that of the parts of our sensory , which you will easily grant , if you consider , that when the heat is intense , it makes the water boyl and smoak , and oftentimes run over the vessel ; but when the liquor is remov'd from the fire , this acquir'd agitation must needs by degrees be lost , either by the avolation of such fiery corpuscles as the epicureans imagine to be got into heated water , or by the water 's communicating the agitation of its parts to the contiguous air , or to the vesse● that contains it , till it have lost its surplusage of motion , or by the ingress o● those frigorifick atoms , wherewith ( i● any such be to be granted ) the air i● these climates is wont to abound , and so be reduc'd into its former temperature : which may as well be done without a substantial form , as if a shi● swimming slowly down a river , should by a sudden gust of wind , blowing the same way the stream runs , be driven o● much faster then before , the vessel upo● the ceasing of the wind may , without any such internal principle , return after a while to its former slowness of motion . so that in this phaenomenon , we need not have recourse to an internal principle , the temperature of the extern●● air being sufficient to give an acco● of it . and if water be kept , ( as is usual in poor mens houses that want cellars , ) in the upper rooms of the house , in case the climate be hot , the water will , in spight of the form , continue far lesse cold , then , accord●ng to the peripateticks , its nature requires , all the summer long . and let me here represent to the champions of forms , that , according to their doctrine , the fluidity of water , must at least as much proceed from its form as the coldnesse , and yet this does so much depend upon the temperature of the air , that in nova zembla vast quantities of water are kept in the hard and solid form of ice all the year long , by the sharp cold of the ambient air , notwithstanding all the pretended office and power of the substantial form to keep it fluid , which it will never be reduc'd to be , unlesse by such a thawing temperature of the air , as would it self , for ought appears , make it flow again , although there were no substantial form in rerum naturâ . there is another argument much urg'd of late by some learned men , the substance whereof is this ; that matte● being indifferent to one sort of accidents as well as to another , it is necessary there should be a substantial form to keep those accidents , which are said to constitute it , united to the matter they belong to , and preserve both then and the body in their natural state ; so since t is confess'd , that matter hath o● appetite to these accidents , more th●● to any others , they demand , how without a substantial form these acciden● can be contain'd and preserv'd ? t● this i might represent , that i am not ● well satisfy'd with the notion wont i● be taken for granted , not onely by the vulgar , but by philosophers , of the natural state of bodies ; as if it were undeniable , that every natural body , ( for a to some , i shall not now question it , ) has a certain state , wherein nature endeavours to preserve it , and out of which it cannot be put , but by being put into a praeternatural state . for the world being once constituted by the great author of things , as it now is , i look upon the phaenomena of nature to be caus'd by the local motion of one part of matter hitting against another , and am not so fully convinc'd , that there is such a thing , as natures designing to keep such a parcel of matter in such a state , that is cloth'd with just such accidents , rather then with any other . but i look upon many bodies , especially fluid ones , as frequently changing their state , according as they happen to be more or lesse agitated , or otherwise wrought upon by the sun , and other considerable agents in nature . as the air , water , and other fluids , if the temperature as to cold or heat , and rarefaction or condensation , which they are in at the beginning of the spring here at london , be pitcht upon as their natural state , then not onely in the torrid and frozen zones they must have other and very differing natural states , but here it self they will , almost all the summer and all the winter , as our weather glasses inform us , be in a varying praeternatural state , because they will be in those seasons either more hot and rarify'd , or more cold and condens'd , then in the beginning of the spring . and in more stable and constant bodies i take , in many cases , the natural state to be but either the most usual state , or that , wherein that , which produces a notable change in them , finds them . as when a slender piece of silver , that is most commonly flexible , and will stand bent every way , comes to be well hammer'd , i count that flexibility to be the natural state of that mettal , because most commonly silver is found to be flexible , and because it was so before it was hammer'd ; but the springinesse it acquires by hammering is a state , which is properly no more unnatural to the silver then the other , and would continue with the mettal as long as it , if both pieces of silver , the one flexible , the other springy , were let alone , and kept from outward violence : and as the silver , to be depriv'd of its flexibleness , needed the violent motion of the hammer , so to deprive it of its spring , it needs the violent agitation of a nealing fire . these things , and much more , i might here represent , but to come close to the objection , i answer , that the accidents spoken of are introduced into the matter by the agents or efficient causes , whatever they be , that produce in it what , in the sense formerly explain'd , we call an essential ( though not a substantial ) form. and these accidents being once thus introduc'd into the matter , we need not seek for a new substantial principle to preserve them there , since by the general law , or common course of nature , the matter qualify'd by them , must continue in the state such accidents have put it into , till , by some agent or other , it be forcibly put out of it , and so divested of those accidents ; as in the formerly mention'd example , borrow'd from aristotle , of a brazen sphaere , when once the motion of tools , impell'd and guided by the artificer , have turn'd a piece of brass into a sphaere , there needs no new substance to preserve that round figure , since the brasse must retain it , till it be destroy'd by the artificer himself , or some other agent able to overcome the resistance of the matter , to be put into another figure . and on this occasion let me confirme this ad hominem , by representing , that there is not an inconsiderable party among the peripateticks themselves , who maintain , that in the elements the first qualities ( as they call them ) are instead of forms , and that the fire ( for instance ) hath no other form then heat and drynesse , and the water then coldnesse and moisture . now if these bodies , that are the vastest and the most important of the sublunary world , consist but of the universal matter , and the few accidents ; and if in these there needs no substantial form to keep the qualities of the matter united to it , and conjoyn'd among themselves , and preserve them in that state , as long as the law of nature requires , though besides the four qualities that are call'd first , the elements have divers others , as gravity and levity , firmnesse and fluidity , opacousnesse and transparency , &c. why should the favourers of this opinion deny , that , in other bodies besides the elements , qualities may be preserv'd and kept united to the matter they belong to , without the band or support of a substantial form ? and as , when there is no competent destructive cause , the accidents of a body will by the law of nature remain such as they were , so if there be , it cannot with reason be pretended , that the substantial form is able to preserve all those accidents of a body , that are said to slow from it , and to be as it were under its care and tuition ; for if , for instance , you expose a sphaere or bullet of lead to a strong fire , it will quickly loose ( not to mention its figure ) both its coldness , its consistence , its malleableness , its colour , ( for 't will appear of the colour of fire , ) its flexibility , and some other qualities , and all this in spight of the imaginary substantial form , which , according to the peripatetical principles , in this case must still remain in it without being able to help it . and though upon the taking the lead from off the fire , it is wont to be reduc'd to most of its former qualities , ( for it will not of it self recover its sphaericity , ) yet that may well be ascrib'd partly to its peculiar texture , and partly to the coldness of the ambient air , according to what we lately discours'd touching heated and refrigerated water , which temperature of the air is an extrinsecal thing to the lead , and indeed it is but accidental , that the lead upon refrigeration regains its former qualities ; for in case the lead have been expos'd long enough to a sufficiently intense fire , it will ( as we have purposely try'd ) be turn'd into glasse , and loose its colour , its opacity , its malleableness , and ( former degree of ) flexiblenesse , and acquire a reddishness , a degree of transparency , a brittlenesse , and some other qualities , that it had not before : and let the supposed substantial form do what it can , even when the vessel is remov'd from the fire , to reduce or restore the body to its natural state and accidents , yet the former qualities will remain lost , as long as these praeternatural ones , introduc'd by the fire , continue in the matter ; and neither the one will be restor'd , nor the other destroy'd , till some sufficiently powerful extrinsick agent effect the change. and on the other side i consider , that the fruit , when sever'd from the tree it grew on , is confess'd to be no longer animated ( at least the kernels or seeds excepted ) by the vegetative soul , or substantial form of the plant ; yet in an orange or lemmon ( for instance ) pluckt from the tree , we see , that the same colour , the same odour , the same tast , the same figure , the same consistence , and , for ought we know , the same other qualities , whether sensible , or even occult , as are its antidotal and antiscorbutical virtues , that must before be said to have flow'd from the soul of the tree , will continue , many months , perhaps some years , after the fruit has ceas'd to have any commerce with the tree , ( nay though the tree , whereon it grew , be perhaps in the mean time hewn down or burnt , and though consequently its vegetative soul or form be destroy'd , ) as when it grew thereon , and made up one plant with it . and we find , that tamarinds , rhubarb , senna , and many other simples will for divers years , after they have been depriv'd of their former vegetative soul , retain their purgative and other specifick properties . i find it likewise urg'd , that there can be no reason , why whiteness should be separable from a wall , and not from snow or milk ; unlesse we have recourse to substantial forms . but in case men have agreed to call a thing by such a name , because it has such a particular quality , that differences it from others , we need go no farther to find a reason , why one quality is essential to one thing , and not to another . as in our former example of a brass sphaere , the figure is that , for which we give it that name , and therefore , though you may alter the figure of the matter , yet by that very alteration the body perishes in the capacity of a sphaere , whereas its coldness may be exchang'd for heat , without the making it the less a sphaere , because t is not for any such quality , but for roundness , that a body is said to be a sphaere . and so firmness is an inseparable quality of ice , though this or that particular figure be not , because that t is for want of fluidity , that any thing , that was immediately before a liquor , is call'd ice , and congruously hereunto , though whiteness were inseparable from snow and milk , yet that would not necessarily infer , that there must be a substantial form to make it so : for the firmness of the corpuscles , that compose snow , is as inseparable from it , as the whitenesse ; and yet is not pretended to be the effect of the substantial form of the water , but of the excesse of the coldnesse of the air , which ( to use vulgar , though perhaps unaccurate , expressions , ) puts the water out of its natural state of fluidity , and into a praeternatural one firmness and brittleness . and the reason , why snow seldome looses its whiteness but with its nature , seems to be , that its component particles are so dispos'd , that the same heat of the ambient air , that is sit to turn it into a transparent body , is also fit to make it a fluid one , which when it is become , we no longer call it snow , but water ; so that the water looses its whiteness , though the snow do not . but if there be a cause proper to make a convenient alteration of texture in the snow , without melting or resolving it into water , it may then exchange its whiteness for yellownesse , without loosing its right to be call'd snow ; as , i remember , i have read in an eminent writer , that de facto in the northern regions towards the pole , those parcels of snow , that have lain very long on the ground , degenerate in time into a yellowish colour , very differing from that pure whiteness to be observ'd in the neighbouring snow lately fallen . but there yet remains an argument for substantial forms , which though ( perhaps because physical ) wont to be overlook'd , or slightly answer'd by their opposers , will for the same reason deserve to be taken notice of here ; and it is , that there seems to be a necessity of admitting substantial forms in bodies , that from thence we may derive all the various changes , to which they are subject , and the differing effects they produce , [ the preservation and restitution of the state requisite to each particular body , ] as also the keeping of its several parts united into one totum . to the answering of this argument , so many things will be found applicable , both in the past and subsequent parts of these notes , that i shall at present but point the chief particulars , on which the solution is grounded . i consider then first , that many and great alterations may happen to bodies , which seem manifestly to proceed from their peculiar texture , and the action of outward agents upon them , and of which it cannot be shewn , that they would happen otherwise , though there were no substantial forms in rerum natura : as we see that tallow ( for instance ) being melted by the fire looses its coldness , firmness , and its whiteness , and acquires heat , fluidity , and some transparency , all which , being suffer'd to cool , it presently exchanges for the three first nam'd qualities . and yet divers of these changes are plainly enough the effects partly of the fire , partly of the ambient air , and not of i know not what substantial form : and it is both evident and remarkable , what great variety of changes in qualities , and productions of new ones , the fire ( that is , a body consisting of insensible parts , that are variously and vehemently mov'd ) doth effect by its heat , that is , by a modify'd local motion . i consider further , that various operations of a body may be deriv'd from the peculiar texture of the whole , and the mechanical affections of the particular corpuscles or other parts that compose it , as we have often occasion to declare here and there in this treatise ; and particularly by an instance , ere long to be further insisted on , namely , that though vitriol , made of iron with a corrosive liquor , be but a factitious body , made by a convenient apposition of the small parts of the saline menstruum to those of the mettal , yet this vitriol will do most , if not all , of the same things , that vitriol , made by nature in the bowels of the earth , and digg'd out thence , will perform ; and each of these bodies may be endow'd with variety of differing qualities , which i see not , why they must flow , in the native vitriol , from a substantial form , since in the factitious vitriol , the same qualities belong to a form , that does plainly emerge from the coalition of metalline and saline corpuscles , associated together and dispos'd of after a certain manner . and lastly , as to what is very confidently , as well as plausibly , pretended , that a substantial form is requisite to keep the parts of a body united , without which it would not be one body . i answer , that the contrivance of conveniently figur'd parts , and in some cases their juxta-position , may without the assistance of a substantial form be sufficient for this matter ; for not to repeat what i just now mention'd concerning vitriol made by art , whose parts are as well united and kept together , as those of the native vitriol , i observe ▪ that a pear grafted upon a thorn , or a plum inoculated upon an apricock , will bear good fruit , and grow up with the stock , as though they both made but one tree , and were animated but by the same common form ; whereas indeed both the stock and the inoculated or grafted plant have each of them its o● form , as may appear by the differing leaves , and fruits , and seeds they be● ▪ and that which makes to our presen● purpose is , that even vegetation and the distribution of aliments are in such cases well made , though the nourish'd parts of the total plant , if i may so ca● it , have not one common soul or form which is yet more remarkable in the misletoes , that i have seen growing upon old hazletrees , crab-trees , apple-trees , and other plants , in which the misletoe often differs very widely from that kind of plant on which it grow and prospers . and for the durableness● of the union betwixt bodies that a substantial form is not requisite to procure it , i have been induc'd to think by considering , that silver and gold , being barely mingl'd by infusion , will ha● their minute parts more closely united then those of any plant or animal tha● we know of . and there is scarce any natural body , wherein the form makes so strict , durable , and indissoluble an union of the parts it consists of , as that , which , in that factitious concrete we call glass , arises from the bare commistion of the corpuscles of sand with those saline ones , wherewith they are colliquated by the violence of the fire : and the like may be said of the union of the proper accidents of glasse with the matter of it , and betwixt one another . to draw towards a conclusion , i know t is alledg'd as a main consideration on the behalf of substantial forms , that these being in natural bodies the true principles of their properties , and consequently of their operations , their natural philosophy must needs be very imperfect and defective , who will not take in such forms : but for my part i confess , that this very consideration does rather indispose then incline me to admit them . for if indeed there were in every natural body such a thing as a substantial form , from which all its properties and qualities immediately flow , since we see that the actions o● bodies upon one another are for the most part ( if not all ) immediately perform'd by their qualities or accidents , it would scarce be possible to explicate very many of the explicable phaenomen● of nature , without having recourse to them ; and it would be strange , if many of the abstruser phaenomena were not explicable by them onely . whereas indee● almost all the rational accounts to be met with of difficult phaenomena , are given by such as either do not acknowledge , or at least do not take notice of substantial forms . and t is evident by the clear solutions ( untouch'd by many vulgar philosophers , ) we meet with of many phaenomena in the staticks , and other parts of the mechanicks , and especially in the hydrostaticks , and pneumaticks , how clearly many phaenomena may be solv'd , without imploying a substantial form. and on the other side , i do not remember , that either aristotle himself , ( who perhaps scarce ever attempted it , ) or any of his followers , has given a solid and intelligible solution of any one phaenomenon of nature by the help of substantial forms ; which you need not think it strange i should say , since the greatest patrons of forms acknowledg their nature to be * unknown to us , to explain any effect by a substantial form , must be to declare ( as they speak ) ignotum per ignotius , or at least per aquè ignotum . and indeed to explicate a phaenomenon , being to deduce it from something else in nature more known to us , then the thing to be explain'd by it , how can the imploying of incomprehensible ( or at least uncomprehended ) substantial forms help us to explain intelligibly this or that particular phaenomenon ? for to say , that such an effect proceeds not from this or that quality of the agent , but from its substantial form , is to take an easie way to resolve all difficulties in general , without rightly resolving any one in particular ; and would make a rare philosophy , if it were not far more easie then satisfactory : for if it be demanded , why jet attracts straws , rhubarb purges choller , snow dazles the eyes rather then grasse , &c. to say , that these and the like effects are perform'd by the substantial forms of the respective bodies , is at best but to tell me , what is the agent , not how the effect is wrought ; and seems to be but such a kind of general way of answering , as leaves the curious enquirer as much to seek for the causes and manner of particular things , as men commonly are for the particular causes of the several strang things perform'd by witchcraft , though they be told , that t is some divel that does them all . wherefore i do not think , but that natural philosophy , without being for that the more defective , may well enough spare the doctrine of substantial forms as an useless theory ; not that men are yet arriv'd to be able to explicate all the phaenomena of nature without them , but because , whatever we cannot explicate without them , we cannot neither intelligibly explicate by them . and thus , pyrophilus , i have offer'd you some of those many things , that indispos'd me to acquiesce in the receiv'd doctrine of substantial forms ; but in case any more piercing enquirer shall perswade himself , that he understands it throughly , and can explicate it clearly , i shall congratulate him for such happy intellectuals , and be very ready to be inform'd by him . but since what the schools are wont to teach of the origine and attributes of substantial forms , is that , which , i confess , i cannot yet comprehend ; and since i have some of the eminentest persons among the modern philosophers to joine with me , though perhaps not for the same considerations , in the like confession , that t is not necessary the reason of my not finding this doctrine conceivable , must be rather a defectiveness in my understanding , then the unconceivable nature of the thing it self : i , who love not ( in matters purely philosophical ) to acquiesce in what i do not understand , nor to go about to explicate things to others , by what appears to me it self inexplicable , shall , i hope , be excus'd , if , leaving those that contend for them , the liberty of making what use they can of substantial forms , i do , till i be better satisfied , decline imploying them my self , and endeavour to solve those phaenomena , i attempt to give an account of , without them , as not scrupling to confess , that those that i cannot explicate , at least in a general way , by intelligible principles , i am not yet arriv'd to the distinct and particular knowledg of . now for our doctrine touching the origine of forms , it will not be difficult to collect it from what we formerly discours'd about qualities and forms together : for the form of a natural body , being according to us , but an essential modification , and , as it were , the stamp of its matter , or such a convention of the bigness , shape , motion ( or rest , ) scituation and contexture , ( together with the thence resulting qualities ) of the small parts that compose the body , as is necessary to constitute and denominate such a particular body ; and all these accidents being producible in matter by local motion , 't is agreeable to our hypothesis to say , that the first and universal , though not immediate cause of forms is none other but god , who put matter into motion , ( which belongs not to its essence , ) and establish'd the laws of motion amongst bodies , and also , according to my opinion , guided it in divers cases at the beginning of things ; and that , among second causes , the grand efficient of forms is local motion , which by variously dividing , sequestring , transposing , and so connecting the parts of matter , produces in them those accidents and qualities , upon whose account the portion of matter they diversifie comes to belong to this or that determinate species of natural bodies , which yet is not so to be understood , as if motion were onely an efficient cause in the generation of bodies , but very often ( as in , water , fire , &c. ) t is also one of the chiefe accidents , that concurre to make up the form. but in this last summary account of the origine of forms , i think my self oblig'd to declare to you a little more distinctly , what i just now intimated to be my own opinion . and this i shall do , by advertising you , that though i agree with our epicureans , in thinking it probable , that the world is made up of an innumerable multitude of singly insensible corpuscles , endow'd with their own sizes , shapes , and motions ; and though i agree with the cartesians , in believing ( as i find that * anaxagoras did of old , ) that matter hath not its motion from its self , but originally from god ; yet in this i differ both from epicurus and des cartes , that , whereas the former of them plainly denies , that the world was made by any deity , ( for deities he own'd , ) and the latter of them , for ought i can find in his writings , or those of some of his eminentest disciples , thought , that god , having once put matter into motion , and establish'd the laws of that motion , needed not more particularly interpose for the production of things corporeal , nor even of plants or animals , which according to him are but engines : i do not at all believe , that either these cartesian laws of motion , or the epicurean casual concourse of atoms , could bring meer matter into so orderly and well contriv'd a fabrick as this world ; and therefore i think , that the wise author of nature did not onely put matter into motion , but when he resolv'd to make the world , did so regulate and guide the motions of the small parts of the universal matter , as to reduce the greater systems of them into the order they were to continue in ; and did more particularly contrive some portions of that matter into seminal rudiments or principles , lodg'd in convenient receptacles , ( and as it were wombs , ) and others into the bodies of plants and animals : one main part of whose contrivance , did , as i apprehend , consist in this , that some of their organs were so fram'd , that , supposing the fabrick of the greater bodies of the universe , and the laws he had establish'd in nature , some juicy and spirituous parts of these living creatures must be fit to be turn'd into prolifick seeds , whereby they may have a power , by generating their like , to propagate their species . so that according to my apprehension , it was at the beginning necessary , that an intelligent and wise agent should contrive the universal matter into the world , ( and especially some portions of it into seminal organs and principles , ) and settle the laws , according to which the motions and actions of its parts upon one another should be regulated : without which interposition of the worlds architect , however moving matter may with some probability ( for i see not in the notion any certainty ) be conceiv'd to be able , after numberless occursions of its insensible parts , to cast it self into such grand conventions and convolutions , as the cartesians call vortices , and as , i remember ; * epicurus speaks of under the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; yet i think it utterly improbable , that brute and unguided , though moving , matter , should ever convene into such admirable structures , as the bodies of perfect animals . but the world being once fram'd , and the course of nature establish'd , the naturalist , ( except in some few cases , where god , or incorporeal agents interpose , ) has recourse to the first cause but for its general and ordinary support and influence , whereby it preserves matter and motion from annihilation or desition ; and in explicating particular phaenomena , considers onely the size , shape , motion , ( or want of it ) texture , and the resulting qualities and attributes of the small particles of matter . and thus in this great automaton the world , ( as in a watch or clock , ) the materials it consists of , being left to themselves , could never at the first convene into so curious an engine : and yet , when the skilful artist has once made and set it a going , the phaenomena it exhibits are to be accounted for by the number , bignesse , proportion , shape , motion , ( or endeavour , ) rest , coapration , and other mechanical affections of the spring , wheels , pillars , and other parts it is made up of : and those effects of such a watch , that cannot this way be explicated , must , for ought i yet know , be confess'd , not to be sufficiently understood . but to return thither , whence my duty to the author of nature oblig'd me , to make this short digression . the hitherto propos'd hypothesis , touching the origination of forms , hath , i hope , been rendred probable by divers particulars in the past discourses , and will be both exemplify'd and confirm'd by some of the experiments , that make the latter part of this present treatise , ( especially the fifth and 7th of them , ) which , containing experiments of the changing the form of a salt and a mettal , do chiefly belong to the historical or experimental part of what we deliver touching the origine of forms . and indeed , besides the two kinds of experiments presently to be mention'd , we might here present you a third sort , consisting partly of divers relations of metalline transmutations , deliver'd upon their own credit by credible men , that are not alchymists ; and partly of some experiments ( some made , some directed by us ) of changing both bodies , totally inflammable , almost totally into water , and a good part ev'n of distill'd rain water without additament into earth ; and distill'd liquors , readily and totally mingleable with water , pro parte into a true oyle , that will not mix with it , this sort of experiments , i say , i might here annex , if i thought fit , in this place , either to lay any stresse upon those , that i cannot my self make out , or to transfer hither those experiments of changes amongst bodies not metalline , that belong to another * treatise . but over and above , what the past notes and the experiments , that are to follow them , contain towards the making of what we teach concerning forms , we will here , for further confirmation , proceed to adde two sorts of experiments , ( besides the third already mention'd . ) the one , wherein it appears , that bodies of very differing natures , being put together , like the wheels , and other peices of a watch , and by their connection acquiring a new texture , and so new qualities , may , without having recourse to a substantial form , compose such a new concrete , as may as well deserve to have a substantial form attributed to it , by virtue of that new disposition of its parts , as other bodies that are said to be endow'd therewith . and the other , that a natural body being dissipated , and as it were taken in peices , like a watch , may have its parts so associated , as to constitute new bodies , of natures very differing from its own , and from each other ; and yet these dissipated and scatter'd parts , by being recollected and put together again , like the pieces of a watch , in the like order as before , may recompose ( almost , if not more then almost ) such another body , as that they made up , before they were taken asunder . i. experiments , and thoughts , about the production and reproduction of forms . it was not at randome , that i spoke , when , in the foregoing notes about the origine of qualities , i intimated , that 't was very much by a kind of tacit agreement , that men had distinguish'd the species of bodies , and that those distinctions were more arbitrary then we are wont to be aware of . for i confesse , that i have not yet , either in aristotle , or any other writer , met with any genuine and sufficient diagnostick and boundary , for the discriminating and limiting the species of things , or to speak more plainly , i have not found , that any naturalist has laid down a determinate number and sort of qualities , or other attributes , which is sufficient and necessary to constitute all portions of matter , endow'd with them , distinct kinds of natural bodies . and therefore i observe , that most commonly men look upon these as distinct species of bodies , that have had the luck to have distinct names found out for them ; though perhaps diverse of them differ much lesse from one another , then other bodies , which ( because they have been hudled up under one name , ) have been look'd upon , as but one sort of bodies . but not to lay any weight on this intimation about names , i found , that for want of a true characteristick , or discriminating notes , it hath been , and is still , both very uncertain as to divers bodies , whether they are of different species or of the same , and very difficult to give a sufficient reason , why divers bodies , wherein nature is assisted by art , should not as well pass for distinct kinds of bodies , as others , that are generally reckon'd to be so . whether ( for instance ) water and ice be not to be esteem'd distinct kinds of bodies , is so little evident , that some , that pretend to be very well vers'd in aristotle's writings and opinions , affirme him to teach , that water looses not its own nature by being turn'd into ice ; and indeed i remember i have read a * text of his , that seems express enough to this purpose , and the thing it self is made plausible by the reduciblenesse of ice back again into water . and yet i remember , galen is affirm'd to make these two , distinct species of bodies ; which doctrine is favour'd by the differing qualities of ice and water , for not onely the one is fluid , and the other solid , and even brittle , but ice is also commonly more or less opacous in comparison of water , being also lighter then it in specie , since it swims upon it . to which may be added , that ice , beaten with common salt , will freez other bodies , when water mingled with salt will not . and on this occasion , i would propose to be resolv'd , whether must , wine , spirit of wine , vinegar , tartar , and vappa , be specifically distinct bodies ? and the like question i would ask concerning a hens egg , and the chick that is afterwards hatch'd out of it : as also concerning wood , ashes , soot , and likewise the eggs of silkworms , which are first small caterpillars , or ( as some think them ) but worms , when they are newly hatch'd , and then aurelia's , ( or husked maggots , ) and then butterflies , which i have observ'd with pleasure to be the successive production of the prolifick seed of silkworms . and whether the answer to these quaeries be affirmative or negative , i doubt the reason , that will be given for either of the two , will not hold in divers cases , whereto i might apply it . and a more puzling question it may be to some , whether a charcoal , being throughly kindled , do specifically differ from another charcoal ? for , according to those i argue with , the fire has penetrated it quite through ; and therefore some of the recent aristotelians are so convinc'd of its being transmuted , that all the satisfaction i could find from a very subtle modern schoolman to the objection , that if the glowing coal were plung'd into water , it would be a black coal agen , was , that notwithstanding that reduction , the form of a charcoal had been once abolish'd by the fire , and was reproduc'd by god , upon the regain'd disposition of the matter to receive it . nor is it very easie to determine , whether clouds , and rain , and ha●l , and snow , be bodies specifically distinc● from water , and from each other , and the writers of meteors are wont to handle them as distinct . and since if such slight differences as those , that discriminate these bodies , or that which distinguishes wind from exhalations , whose course makes it , be sufficient to constitute differing kinds of bodies , 't will be hard to give a satisfactory reason , why other bodies , that differ in more or more considerable particulars , should not enjoy the same priviledge . and i presume , that snow differs less from rain , then paper doth from rags , or glass made of wood-ashes does from wood. and indeed , men having , by tacit consent , agreed to look upon paper , and glass , and soape , and sugar , and brass , and ink , and pewter , and gunpowder , and i know not how many others , to be distinct sorts of bodies , i see not , why they may not be thought to have done it , on as good grounds , as those , upon which divers other d●ffering species of bodies have been constituted . nor will it suffice to object , that these bodies are factitious ; for 't is the present nature of bodies , that ought to be consider'd in referring them to species , which way soever they came by that nature : for salt , that is , in many countries , made by boiling sea water in cauldrons , and other vessels , is as well true sea-salt , as that which is made in the isle of man , ( as navigators call it , ) without any cooperation of man , by the bare action of the sun upon those parts of the sea water , which chance to be left behind in hollow places , after a high spring-tide . and silk worms , which will hatch by the heat of humane bodies , and chickens , that are hatch'd in aegypt by the heat of ovens or dunghils , are no less true silk-worms or chickens , then those that are hatch'd by the sun , or by hens . as for what may be objected , that we must distinguish betwixt factitious bodies and natural , i will not now stay to examine , how far that distinction may be allow'd : for it may suffice for our present purpose to represent , that whatever may be said of factitious bodies , where man does , by instruments of his own providing , onely give figure , or also contexture to the sensible ( not insensible ) parts of the matter he works upon ; as when a joyner makes a stool , or a statuary makes an image , or a turner a bowl : yet the case may be very differing in those other factitious productions , wherein the insensible parts of matter are alter'd by natural agents , who perform the greatest part of the work among themselves , though the artificer be an assistant , by putting them together after a due manner . and therefore i know not , why all the productions of the fire made by chymists should be look'd upon , as not natural , but artificial bodies : since the fire , which is the grand agent in these changes , doth not , by being imploy'd by the chymist , cease to be , and to work as , a natural agent . and since nature her self doth , by the help of the fire , sometimes afford us the like productions that the alchymists art presents us : as in aetna , vesuvius , and other burning mountains , ( some of whose productions i can shew you , ) stones are sometimes turn'd into lime , ( and so an alcalizate salt is produc'd , ) and sometimes , if they be more dispos'd to be flux'd , then calcin'd , brought to vitrification ; metalline and mineral bodies are by the violence of the fire colliquated into masses of very strange and compounded natures . ashes and metalline flowers of divers kinds are scatter'd about the neighbouring places , and copious flowers of sulphur , sublim'd by the internal fire , have been several times found about the vents , at which the fumes are discharg'd into the air : ( as i have been assur'd by ingenious visiters of such places , whom i purposely inquir'd of , touching these stores ; for of these travellers more then one answer'd me , they had themselves gather'd , and had brought some very good . ) not to adde , that i have sometimes suspected , upon no absurd grounds , that divers of the minerals and other bodies , we meet with in the lower parts of the earth , and think to have been formed and lodg'd there ever since the beginning of things , have been since produc'd there by the help of subterraneal fires , or other heats , which may either by their immediate action , and exceedingly long application , very much alter some bodies by changing their texture ; as when lead is turn'd into minium , and tin into putty by the operation of the fire in a few hours , or by elevating , in the form of exhalations or vapours , divers saline and sulphureous corpuscles or particles of unripe ( or to use a chymical term of art ) embrionated minerals , and perhaps mettals , which may very much alter the nature , and thereby vary the kind of other subterraneal bodies , which they pervade , and in which they often come to be incorporated ; or else may , by convening among themselves , constitute particular concretions , as wee see that the fumes of sulphur and those of mercury unite into that lovely red mass , which in the shops they call vermilion , and which is so like to the mineral , whence we usually obtain mercury , that the latines give them both the same name cinnabaris , and in that are imitated by the french and italians ; in whose favour i shall adde , that if we suppose this mineral to consist of a stony concretion , penetrated by such mineral fumes as i have been speaking of , the appellation may be better excus'd then perhaps you imagine , since from cinnabaris nativa not onely i obtain'd a considerable quantity of good running mercury , ( which is that , men are wont to seek for from it , ) but to gratifie my curiosity somewhat further , i try'd an easie way , that came into my mind , whereby the caput mortuum afforded me no despicable quantity of good combustible sulphur . but this upon the by , being not oblig'd to set down here the grounds of my paradoxical conjecture about the effects of subterraneal fires and heats , since i here lay no stress upon it , but return to what i was saying about aetna , and other volcans . since then these productions of the fire , being of nature's own makeing , cannot be deny'd to be natural bodies , i see not why the like productions of the fire should be thought unworthy that name , onely because the fire , that made the former , was kindled by chance in a hill , and that which produc'd the latter was kindled by a man in a furnace . and if flower of sulphur , lime , glass , and colliquated mixtures of metals and minerals are to be reckon'd among natural bodies , it seems to be but reasonable , that , upon the same grounds , we should admit flower of antimony , lime , and glass , and pewter , and brass , and many other chymical concretes , ( if i may so call them ) to be taken into the same number ; and then 't will be evident , that to distinguish the species of natural bodies , a concourse of accidents will , without considering any substantial form , be sufficient . but because i need not , on this occasion , have recourse to instances of a disputable nature , i will pitch , for the illustration of the mechanical production of forms , upon vitriol . for since nature her self , without the help of art , does oftentimes produce that concrete , ( as i have elsewhere shewn by experience , ) there is no reason why vitriol , produc'd by easie chymical operations , should not be look'd upon as a body of the same nature and kind . and in factitious vitriol , our knowing what ingredients we make use of , and how we put them together , inables us to judge very well , how vitriol is produc'd . but because it is wont to be reckon'd with salt-petre , sea-salt , and sal gem among true salts , i think it requisite to take notice in the first place , that vitriol is not a meer salt , but that , which paracelsus somewhere , and after him divers other spagyrists , call a magistery , which in their sense ( for there are that use it in another , ) commonly signifies a preparation , wherein the body to be prepar'd has no● its principles separated , as in distillation , incineration , &c. but wherein the whole body is brought into another form , by the addition of some salt or menstruum , that is united per minima with it . and agreeably to this notion we find , that from common vitriol , whether native or factitious , may be obtain'd ( by distillation and reduction ) an acid saline spirit , and a metalline substance , as i elsewhere mention , that from blew vitriol , copper may be ( by more then one way ) separated . and i the rather give this advertisement , because that as there is a vitriol of iron , which is usually green ; and another of copper , which is wont to be blew ; and also a white vitriol , about which it is disputed what it holds , ( though that it holds some copper i have found ; ) and yet all of these are without scruple reputed true vitriols , notwithstanding that they differ so much in colour , and ( as i have discover'd ) in several other qualities ; so i see no reason , why the other minerals , being reduc'd by their proper menstruums into salt like magisteries , may not pass for the vitriols of those metals , and consequently for natural bodies ▪ which , if granted , will adde some confirmation to our doctrine , though its being granted is not necessary to make it out . for , to confine our selves to vitriol , 't is known among chymists , that if upon the filings of mars one put a convenient quantity of that acid distill'd liquor , which is ( abusively ) wont to be call'd oyl of vitriol , diluting the mixture with rain , or with common water , 't is easie by filtrating the solution , by evaporating the aqueous superfluity of it , and by leaving the rest for a competent while in a cellar , ( or other cold place ) to christallize , 't is easie , i say , by this means to obtain a vitriol of iron ; which agrees with the other vitriol of vitriol-stones or marchasites , presented us , by nature , without the help of any other menstruum , then the rain that falls upon them from the clouds , in i know not how many qualities , part obvious , and part of them occult : as , ( of the first sort ) in colour , transparency , brittlenesse , easiness of fusion , styptical tast , reducibleness to a red powder by calcination , and other qualities more obvious to be taken notice of ; to which may be annex'd divers qualities of the second sort , ( i mean the more abstruse ones , ) as the power to turn in a trice an infusion of galls , made in ordinary water , ( as also to turn a certain clear mineral solution , elsewhere mention'd , ) into an inckly colour , to which , in all probability , we may adde a faculty of causing vomits even in a small dose , when taken into the stomach of a man , and that remarkable property of being endow'd with as exact and curious a shape or figure , as those , for which salts have been , by modern philosophers especially , so much admir'd . but , that no scruple might arise from hence , that in the vitriolum martis , wont to be made by chymists , the menstruum , that is imploy'd , is the oyl of common vitriol , which may be suspected to have retain'd the nature of the concrete whence it proceeded , and so this factitious vitriol may not be barely a new production , but partly a recorporification , as they speak , of the vitriolate corpuscles contain'd in the menstruum : to prevent this scruple i say , ( which yet perhaps would not much trouble a considering chymist , ) i thought fit to imploy a quite other menstruum , that would not be suspected to have any thing of vitriol in it . and though aqua fortis , and spirit of nitre , however they corrode mars , are unfit for such a work , yet having pitch'd upon spirit of salt instead of oyl of vitriol , and proceeding the same way that has been already set down , it answer'd our expectation , and afforded us a good green vitriol . nor will the great disposition , i have observ'd in this our vitriol , to resolve , by the moisture of the air , into a liquor , make it essentially differing from other vitriols , since it has been observ'd , and particularly by guntherus belichius more then once , that even the common vitriol he us'd in germany , will also , though not so easily as other salts , run ( as the chymists phrase it ) per deliquium . and to make the experiment more compleat , though we did not find either oyl of vitriol , or spirit of salt , good menstruums to make a blew venereal vitriol out of copper , ( however fil'd , or thinly laminated , ) and though upon more tryals then one , it appear'd , that aqua fortis , & spirit of nitre , which we thought fit to substitute to the above mention'd liquors , did indeed make a solution of copper , but so unctuous a one , that t was very hard to bring any part of it to drynesse , without spoyling the colour and shape of the desir'd body : yet repeating the experiment with care and watchfulness , we , this way , obtain'd one of the loveliest vitriols that hath perhaps been seen , and of which you your self may be the judg by a parcel of it i keep by me for a rarity . to apply now these experiments , especially that , wherein spirit of salt is imploy'd , to the purpose , for which i have mention'd them , let us briefly consider these two things ; the one , that our factitious vitriol is a body , that , as well as the natural , is endow'd with many qualities , ( manifest , and occult , ) not onely such as are common to it with other salts , as transparency , brittleness , solublenesse in water , &c. but such as are properties peculiar to it , as greenness , easiness of fusion , stypticity of tast , a peculiar shape , a power to strike a black with infusion of galls , an emetick faculty , &c. the other thing we are to consider is , that though these qualities are in common vitriol believ'd to flow from the substantial form of the concrete , and may , as justly as the qualities , whether manifest or occult , of other inanimate bodies , be imploy'd as arguments to evince such a form : yet in our vitriol , made with spirit of salt , the same qualities and properties were produc'd by the associating and juxtaposition of the two ingredients , of which the vitriol was compounded , the mystery being no more but this , that the steel being dissolv'd in the spirit , the saline particles of the former , and the metalline ones of the latter , having each their determinate shapes , did by their association compose divers corpuscles of a mix'd or compounded nature , from the convention of many whereof , there resulted a new body , of such a texture , as qualify'd it to affect our sensories , and work upon other bodies , after such a manner as common vitriol is wont to do . and indeed in our case , not onely it cannot be made appear , that there is any substantial form generated anew , but that there is not so much as an exquisite mixture , according to the common notion the schools have of such a mixture . for both the ingredients retain their nature , ( though perhaps somewhat alter'd , ) so that there is , as we were saying , but a juxta-position of the metalline and saline corpuscles ; onely they are associated so , as by the mannner of their coalition to acquire that new texture , which denominates the magistery they compose , vitriol . for 't is evident , that the saline ingredient may either totally , or for much the greatest part be separated by distillation , the metalline remaining behind . nay some of the qualities , we have been ascribing to our vitriol , do so much depend upon texture , that the very beams of the sun ( converg'd ) will , as i have purposely try'd , very easily alter its colour , as well as spoyl its transparency , turning it at first from green to white , and , if they be concenter'd by a good burning glass , makeing it change that livery for a deep red. doubts and experiments , touching the curious figures of salts . and here let me take notice , that though the exact and curious figures , in which vitriol and other salts are wont to shoot , be made arguments of the presence , and great instances of the plastick skill of substantial forms and seminal powers , yet , i confess , i am not so fully satisfied in this matter , as even the modern philosophers appear to be . t is not that i deny , that plato's excellent saying , 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , may be apply'd to these exquisite productions of nature . for though god has thought fit to make things corporeal after a much more facile and intelligible way , then by the intervention of substantial forms ; and though the plastick power of seeds , which in plants and animals i willingly admit , seem not in our case to be needful ; yet is the divine architect's geometry ( if i may so call it ) neverthelesse to be acknowledg'd and admir'd ; for having been pleas'd to make the primary and insensible corpuscles of salts and metals of such determinate , curious , and exact shapes that , as they happen to be associated together , they should naturally produce concretions , which , though differingly figur'd according to the respective natures of their ingredients , and the various manners of their convening should yet be all of them very curious and seem elaborate in their kinds . how little i think it fit to be allow'd , that the bodies of animals , which consist of so many curiously fram'd and wonderfully adapted organical parts , ( and whose structure is a thousand times more artificial then that of salts , and stones , and other minerals , ) can be reasonably suppos'd to have been produc'd by chance , or without the guidance of an intelligent author of things , i have elsewhere largely declar'd . but i confess , i look upon these figures we admire in salts , and in some kinds of stones , ( which i have not been incurious to collect , ) as textures so simple and slight in comparison of the bodies of animals , & oftentimes in comparison of some one organical part , that i think it cannot be in the least inferr'd , that because such slight figurations need not be ascrib'd to the plastick power of seeds , it is not necessary , that the stupendious and incomparably more elaborate fabrick and structure of animals themselves should be so . and this premis'd , i shall adde , that i have been inclin'd to the conjecture about the shapes of salts , that i lately propos'd , by these considerations . first , that by a bare association of metalline and saline corpuscles , a concrete , as finely figur'd as other vitriols , may be produc'd , as we have lately seen secondly , because that the figures of these salts are not constantly in all respects the same , but may in diverse manners be somewhat varied , as they happen to be made to shoot more hastily , or more leisurely , and as they shoot in a scanter , or in a fuller proportion of liquor . this may be easily observ'd by any , that will but with a little attention consider the difference that may be found in vitriolate christals or grains , when quantities of them were taken out of the great coolers , as they call them , wherein that salt , at the works where t is boyl'd , is wont to be set to shoot . and accordingly , where the experienc'd mineralist agricola , describes the several wayes of making vitriol in great quantities , he does not onely more then once call the great grains or christals , into which it coagulates , cubes ; but speaking of the manner of their concretion about the cords or ropes , that are wont ( in germany ) to be hang'd from certain cross bars into the vitriolate water or solution for the vitriol to fasten its self to ; he compares the concretions indifferently to cubes or clusters of grapes : ex his ( sayes he , speaking of the cross bars , ) pendent restes lapillis extentae , ad quos humor spissus adhaerescens densatur in translucentes atramenti sutorii vel cubos , vel acinos , qui uvae speciem gerunt . i remember also , that having many years since a suspicion , that the reason why alkalys , such as salt of tartar and pot-ashes are wont to be obtain'd in the form of white powders or calces , might be the way , wherein the water , or the lixiviums , that contain them , is wont to be drawn off , i fancied , that by leaving the saline corpuscles a competent quanti of water to swimme in , and allowing them leasure for such a multitude of * occursions , as might suffice to make them hit upon more congruous coalitions then is usual , i might obtain christals of them , as well as of other salts : conjecturing this , i say , i caus'd some well purify'd alkalys , dissolv'd in clear water , to be slowly evaporated , till the top was cover'd with a thin ice-like crust , then taking care not to break that , least they should ( as in the ordinary way , where the water is all forc'd off , ) want a sufficient stock of liquor , i kept them in a very gentle heat for a good while ; and then breaking the above mentioned ice like cake , i had , as i wish'd , divers figured lumps of christalline salt shot in the water , and transparent almost like white sugar candy . i likewise remember , that having , on several occasions , distill'd a certain quantity of oyl of vitriol , with a strong solution of sea-salt , till the remaining matter was left dry , that saline residue being dissolv'd in fair water , filter'd , and gently evaporated , would shoot into christals , sometimes of one figure , sometimes of another , according as the quantity or strength of the oyl of vitriol and other substances determin'd . and yet these christals , though sometimes they would shoot into prisme-like figures , as roch'd petre ; and sometimes into shapes more like to allome or vitriol ; nay though oftentimes the same caput mortuum dissolv'd , would in the same glass shoot into christals , whereof some would be of one shape , some of another , yet would these differing grains or christals appear for the most part more exquisitely figur'd , then oftentimes vitriol does . from spirit of urine and spirit of nitre , when i have suffer'd them to remain long together before coagulation , and free'd the mixture from the superfluous moisture very slowly , i have sometimes obtain'd fine long christals , ( some of which i can shew you ) so shap'd , that most beholders would take them for christals of salt-petre . and i have likewise tryed , that whereas silver is wont to shoot into plates exceeding thin , almost like those of moscovis glass , when i have dissolv'd a pretty quantity of it in aqua fortis , or spirit of nitre , and suffer'd it to shoot very leisurely , i have obtain'd lunar christals , ( several of which i have yet by me , ) whose figure , though so pretty as to have given some wonder even to an excellent geometrician , is differing enough from that o●●●e thin plates formerly mention'd ; each christal being compos'd of many small and finely shap'd solids , that stick so congruously to one another , as to have one surface , that appear'd plain enough , common to the● all . thirdly , that insensible corpuscles of different , but all of them exquisite , shapes , and endowed with plain as well as smooth sides , will constitute bodies variously , but all very finely figur'd , i have made use of several waies to manifest . and first , though harts-horn , bloud , and urine , being resolv'd , and ( as the chymists speak ) analiz'd by distillation , may well be suppos'd to have their substantial forms ( if they had any ) destroy'd by the action of the fire : yet in regard the saline particles , they contain , are endow'd with such figures as we have been speaking of , when in the liquor , that abounds with either of these volatile salts , the dissolv'd particles do leisurely shoot into christals , i have divers times observ'd , in these , many masses , ( some bigger , and some less , ) whose surfaces had plains , some of figures , as to sense exactly geometrical , and others very curious and pleasant . and of these finely shap'd christals of various sizes , i have pretty store by me . and because ( as it may be probably gather'd from the event ) the saline corpuscles of stillatitio●s acid liquors , and those of many of the bodies , they are fitted to dissolve , have such kind of figures as we have been speaking of , when the solutions of these bodies , upon the recess of the superfluous moisture , shoot into christals ; these , though they will sometimes be differing enough , according to the particular natures of the dissolv'd bodies and the menstruum , yet either the christals themselves , or their surfaces , or both , will oftentimes have fine and exquisite figures ; as i have try'd by a menstruum , wherewith i was able to dissolve some gems ; as also with a solution of coral , made with spirit of verdigreese , to omit other examples . and for the same reason , when i try'd whether the particles of silver , dissolv'd in aqu● fortis , would not , without concoagulating with the salts , convene , upon the account of their own shapes , into little concretions of smooth and flat surfaces , i found , that having ( to afford the metalline corpuscles scope to move in ) diluted one part of the solution with a great many parts of distill'd rain water , ( for common water will oftentimes make such solutions become white or turbid , ) a plate of copper being suspended in the liquor , and suffer'd to lie quiet there a while , ( for it need not be long ) there would settle , all about it , swarms of little metalline and undiaphanbus bodies , shining in the water like the scales of small fishes , but form'd into little plates extremely thin , with surfaces not onely flat , but exceeding glossy : and among those , divers of the larger were prettily figur'd at the edges . and as for gold , its corpuscles are sufficiently dispos'd to convene with those of fit or congruous salts into concretions of determinate shapes , as i have found in the christals i obtain'd from gold dissolv'd in aqua regis , and after having been suffer'd to loose its superfluous moisture , kept in a cold place : and not onely so , but also when by a more powerful menstruū i had subdivided the body of gold into such minute particles , that they were sublimable , ( for that , i can assure you , is possible , ) these volatile particles of gold , with the salts , wherewith they were elevated , afforded me ( sometimes ) store of christals , which , though not all of the● near of the same bigness , resembled one another in their shape , which wa● regular enough , and a very pretty one . but of this more elsewhere . § . i remember i have also long since taken pleasure to dissolve two or more of those saline bodies , whose shapes we know already , in fair water , that by a very gent●● evaporation i might obtain concretions , whose shapes should be , thoug● curious , yet differing from the figu●● of either of the ingredients . but we must not expect , that , in all cases , the salts dissolv'd together should be totaly compounded : for oftentimes they are of such different natures , that one will shoot much sooner then another , and then it frequently happens , that a good proportion of that will be first christalliz'd in its own shape : as is conspicuously to be observ'd in the refining of that impure pet●e , ( which , from the country that affords it , the purifiers call barbary nitre , ) from the common salt it abounds with : and ( also ) as agricola observes , * that in some cases , where a vitriolate matter is mingled with that , which yields allom , those two kinds of salts will shoot separately in the same large vessel , ( which the tryals , i have made with the compounded solutions of those two salts , do not discountenance . ) now in such cases , all that can be expected , or needs be desir'd , is , that the remaining part of the mixture , or some portion of it , afford christals , or grains of compounded solid figures . though the venetian borax , wont to be sold in shops , be known to be a factitious body , compounded of several salts , that i shall not now stay to enumerate ; and though , when we buy it , we usually find it to consist of lumps and grains mishapen enough , yet when i dissolv'd some of it in a good quantity of fair water , and made it coagulate very leisurely , i had chrystals ▪ upon whose surfaces i could perceive very exquisite and , as to sense , regular geometrical figures . and one thing i must not here by any means praetermit , which is , that though the caput mortuum of common aqua fortis consists of bodies of very differing natures , ( for such are nitre and vitriol , ) and has been expos'd to a great violence of the fire , yet i have sometimes admir'd the curiousness of those figures , that might be obtain'd barely by frequent solutions and coagulations of the saline particles of this caput mortuum in fair water . but because the glasses , wherein my concretions were made , were too little to afford great christals , and they ought to shoot very slowly ; i choose rather to shew the curious some large christals , which i took out of the laboratory of an ingenious person , who , without minding the figures , had upon my recommendation made great quantity of that salt , in large vessels , for a medicine : ( it being the panacea duplicata , so famous in holstein . ) for divers of these christals have not onely triangles , hexagons , and rhomboids , and other figures exquisitely cut on their smooth & specular surfaces ; and others , bodies of prismatical shapes : but some of them are no less accurately figur'd then the finest nitre or vitriol i remember my self to have observ'd , and some also terminate in bodies almost like pyramids , consisting of divers triangles , that meet in one vertical point , and are no less admirably shap'd then the fairer sort of cornish diamonds , that have been brought me for rarities . besides , the producing of salts of new shapes , by compounding of saline bodies , i have found it to be practicable not onely i● some gross , or , as they speak , corporal salts , such as sea-salt , salt-petre , but also in some . natural and some chymical salts dissolv'd together ; and , which perhaps you will think more considerable in saline spirits , made by distillation : not that all of them are fit for this purpose , but that i have found divers of those , that work upon one another with ebullition , to be so . for i● that conflict the saline corpuscles come to be associated to one another , and thereby , or by their newly acquir'd figure , whilst their coalition lasts , to loose much of their former volatility : so that , upon evaporation of the superfluous liquor , they will not fly , as otherwise they might ; but concoagulate into finely shap'd christals , as i have try'd among other saline liquors , with spirit of urine , and spirit of nitre , and with oyl of vitriol , and spirit of fermented urine with spirit of sheeps bloud , and spirit of salt , and also with the spirits of salt and of urine ; which last experiment i the rather mention , because it shews , by the difference of the christals , afforded by those two liquors , from the christals resulting from one of them , namely the spirit of urine , ( or if you please , the volatile salt , wherewith it abounds , ) concoagulated with a fit dose of oyl of vitriol , how much those compounded emergent figures depend upon the more simple figures of the saline corpuscles , that happen to convene into those new concretes . for the spirit of urine , satiated with spirit of salt , and both very gently , and not too far , evaporated , often afforded me christals , that differ'd exceedingly in shape from those , which i obtain'd from the same spirit of urine , satiated , either with oyl of vitriol , or with spirit of nitre . for , ( to adde that upon the by , ) that salt , compounded of the two spirits of urine ▪ and of common salt , is wont to be very prettily figur'd , consisting of one long beam as it were , whence on both sides issue out far shorter christals , sometimes perpendicular to that , and parallel to one another like the teeth in a combe , and sometimes so inclining , as to make the whole appear almost like a feather ; which is the more remarkable , because i have ( many years ago ) observ'd , that common sal armoniack , that is made of urine and common salt , both crude , with a proportion of soot , will , if warily dissolv'd , and coagulated , shoot into christals of the like shape . how far the unknown figure of a salt may possibly ( for i fear it will not easily ) be ghess'd at , by that of the figure , which it makes with some other salt , whose figure is already known , i leave to geometricians to consider ; having , i fear , insisted too long on this subject already . but yet i must adde one particular more , which will , as well illustrate and confirme much of what has been said above touching the origination of vitriol , as shew , that the shape of vitriol depends upon the textures of the bodies , whereof it is compos'd . fourthly then , when i consider'd , that ( as i formerly noted ) vitriol being but a magistery , made by the concoagulation of the corpuscles of a dissolv'd metal , with those of the menstruum , the magisteries of other metals might , without inconvenience , be added , as other vitriolate concretes to the green , the blew , and white vitriol , that are without scruple referr'd to the same species : and when i consider'd , that oyl of vitriol was not a fit menstruum to dissolve divers of the metals , nor even all those , that it will corrode ; and that the like unfitness also is to be found in common spirit of salt , i pitch'd upon aqua fortis or spirit of nitre , as that menstruum , which was likeliest to afford variety of vitriols : and accordingly i found , that besides the lovely vitriol of copper formerly mention'd , that liquor would with quicksilver afford one sort of christals , with silver another , and with lead a third ; all which christals of vitriol , as they differ'd from each other in other qualities , ( upon which score you will find this experiment elsewhere mention'd , ) so they did very manifestly and considerably differ in shape : the christals of silver shooting in exceeding thin plates , and those of lead and quick-silver obtaining figures , though differing enough from each other , yet of a far greater depth and thickness , and lesse remote from the figure of common vitriol or sea salt : and yet all these vitriols , especially that of crude lead , when it was happily made , had shapes curious and elaborate , as well as those , we admire in common vitriol or sea-salt . if then these curious shapes , which are believed to be of the admirablest effects , and of the strongest proofs of substantial forms , may be the results of texture ; and if art can produce vitriol its self , as well as nature ; why may we not think , that in ordinary phaenomena , that have much less of wonder , recourse is wont to be had to substantial forms without any necessity ? ( matter , and a convention of accidents being able to serve the turn without them ; ) and why should we wilfully exclude those productions of the fire , wherein the chymist is but a servant to nature , from the number of natural bodies ? and indeed , since there is no certain diagnostick agreed on , whereby to discriminate natural and factitious bodies , and constitute the species of both ; i see not , why we may not draw arguments from the qualities and operations of several of those , that are call'd factitious , to shew how much may be ascrib'd to , and perform'd by , the mechanical characterization or stamp of matter : of which we have a noble instance in gunpowder , wherein by a bare comminution and blending the ingredients , nitre , charcoal , and brimstone , which have onely a new , and that an exceeding slight contexture , each retaining its own nature in the mixture ; so that there is no colour afforded to the pretence of a substantial form , there is produc'd a new body , whose operations are more powerful and prodigious , then those of almost any body of natures own compounding . and though glass be but an artificial concrete , yet , besides that 't is a very noble and useful one , nature her self has produc'd very few , if enough , to make up a number more lasting and more unalterable . and indeed divers of those factitious bodies that chymistry is able to afford us , are endow'd with more various and more noble qualities , then many of those , that are unquestionably natural . and if we admit these productions into the number of natural bodies , they will afford us a multitude of instances , to shew , that bodies may acquire many and noble qualities , barely by having mechanical affections , introduc'd by outward agents into the matter , or destroy'd there . as though glass be such a noble body , as we have lately taken notice of , yet since t is fusibility , transparency , and brittleness , that are its onely constituent attributes , we can in less then an hour , ( or , perhaps halfe that time , ) turn an opacous body into transparent glass , without the addition of any other visible body , by a change of texture , made in the same matter , and by another change of texture , made without addition , as formerly , we can , in a trice , reduce glass into , or obtain from it a body , not glassy , but opacous , and otherwise of a very differing nature , as it had been before . and here let me adde what may not a little conduce to our present design , that even those , that imbrace aristotle's principles , do unawares confesse , that a slight change of texture , without the introduction of a substantial form , may not onely make a specifical difference betwixt bodies , but so vast a one , that they shall have differing genus'es , and may ( as the chymists speak ) belong to differing kingdoms . for coral , to pass by all other plants of that kind , that may be mention'd to the same purpose , whilst it grows in the bottom of the sea , is a real plant , and several times ( which suffices for my present scope ) hath been there found by an acquaintance of mine , as well as by other inquirers , soft and tender like another plant. nay , i elsewhere * bring very good and recent authority to prove , that it is oftentimes found very succu●ent , and does propagate its species , as well as other shrubs ; and yet coral , being gather'd and remov'd into the air , by the recess of its soul , no new lapidifick form being so much as pre●ended to , turns into a concretion , that ●s , by many eminent writers and others , ●eckon'd among lapideous ones : as in●eed coral does not burn like wood , ●or obey distillation like it ; and not onely its calx is very differing from the ashes of vegetables , and is totally so●●ble in divers acid liquors , and even ●pirit of vinegar , but the uncalcin'd coral its self will be easily corroded ●y good vinegar , after the same man●er as i have seen lapis stellaris , and o●●er unquestionably mineral stones dis●olv'd , some by that liquor , and some ●y the spirit of it . a much stranger ●ing may be seen in the east-india ●sland of sombrero , not very far from sumatra , if we may believe our countryman sr james lancester , who relates it as an eye witnesse , for which reason , and for the strangeness of the thing , i shall adde the story in his own word here ( * sayes he , speaking of the co● of sombrero ) we found upon the sand 〈◊〉 the sea side , a small twigge growing 〈◊〉 to a young tree , and offering to pluck● the same , it shrunk down into the gro●● & sinketh , unless you hold very hard . a● being pluck'd up , a great worme is the 〈◊〉 of it : and look how the tree groweth ● greatnes , the vvorme diminisheth n●● soon as the vvorm is wholly turn'd i● the tree , it rooteth in the ground , 〈◊〉 so groweth to be great . this transfo●mation was one of the greatest wo●● i saw in all my travels . this 〈◊〉 being plucked up a little , the leaves straped off and the pill , by that time it i● dry turned into a hard stone , much 〈◊〉 to white coral . so that ( concludes 〈◊〉 this worme was twice transformed into different natures : of these we gather'd and brought home many . the industrious pis● , in his excellent history of brasil , vouches a multitude of witnesses ( not having opportunity to be one himself ) for the ordinary transformation of a sort of animals not much unlike grass-hoppers ) into vegetables , at a certain season of the * year . but since i sate down this relation of sr john lancester , i have met with another , whose strangeness may much countenance it , in a small tract newly publish'd by a jesuite , f. michael boym , whom a good critick much commended to me . for this author doth , as an eyewitnesse , affirme that , which is little lesse to my present purpose . * ie vis , i.e. i saw in a small fresh water , and shallow lake of the island hainan , ( which belongs to china ) crabs , or crawfishes , which , as soon as they were drawn out of the water , did in a moment loose both life and motion , and became petrify'd , though nothing appear'd to be chang'd either to the external or internal figure of ther● bodies . what he further addes of these fishes , is but of their virtues in physick , which , not concerning our subject ▪ i shall ( pyrophilus ) willingly praeterm● it ; and even , as to our country-man'● relation , hoping , by means of an ingenious correspondent in the east-indies , to receive a further information about the strange plant he mentions , 〈◊〉 shall , at present , urge onely what ha● been taken notice of concerning coral , to countenance the observation for whose sake these narratives have been alleadg'd . and so likewise , as to what i was saying of glass , and gu●-powder , our receiving of those and the generality of factitious bodies into the catalogue of natural bodies , is not ( which i formerly also intimated ) necessary to my present argument : whereto it is sufficient , that vitriol is granted on all hands to be a natural body , though it be also producible by art. and also to the argument it affords us , we might adde that memorable experiment deliver'd by helmont , of turning oyl of vitriol into allom , by the odour ( as he calls it ) of mercury , if , however it be not despicable , we had found it fit to be rely'd on . but reserving an account of that for another place , we shall substitute the instance , presented us by our author , about the production of salt-petre : for if , having dissolv'd pot-ashes in fair water , you coagulate the filtrated solution into a white salt , and on that pour spirit of nitre , till they will not hiss any longer together , there will shoot , when the superfluous water is evaporated , christals , that proclaim their nitrous nature by their prismatical , ( or at least prisme-like ) shape , their easie fusion , their accension , and deflagration , and other qualities , partly mention'd by our author , and partly discoverable by a little curiosity in making tryals . ii. experimental attempts about the redintegration of bodies . the former of those two arguments , ( pyrophilus ) by which i propos'd to confirme the origine o● forms , was , as you may remember , grounded upon the manner , by which such a convention of accidents , as deserves to passe for a form , may be produc'd : and that having been hitherto prosecuted , it now remains , that we proceed to the second argument , drawn , not ( as the former ) from the first production , but from the reproduction of a physical body . and though both these arguments are valid ; yet if this latter could , in spight of the difficulties intervening in making of the experiments that belong to it , be as clearly made out as the former , you would , i suppose , like it much the better of the two . for if we could reproduce a body , which has been depriv'd of its substantial form , you would , i presume , think it highly probable , if not more then probable , that ( to borrow our author's expression ) that which is commonly call'd the form of a concrete , which gives it its being and denomination , and from whence all its qualities are in the vulgar philosophy , by i know not what inexplicable waies , suppos'd to flow ; may be in some bodies but a characterization or modification of the matter they consist of ; whose parts , by being so and so dispos'd in relation to each other , constitute such a determinate kind of body , endow'd with such and such properties ; whereas , if the same parts were otherwise disposd , they would constitute other bodies , of very differing natures from that of the concrete , whose parts they formerly were , and which may again result or be produc'd , after its dissipation , and seeming destruction , by the re-union of the same component particles , associated according to their former disposition . but though it were not impossible to make an adaequate redintegration of a chymically analiz'd body , because some of the dissipated parts will either escape through the junctures of the vessels , ( though diligently clos'd , ) or , if they be very subtle , will fly away upon the disjoyning of the vessels ; or , will irrecoverably stick to the inside of them : yet i see not , why such a reproduction , as is very possible to be effected , may not suffice to manifest what we intend to make out by it . for , even in such experiments , it appears , that when the form of a natural body is abolish'd , and its parts violently scatter'd ; by the bare reunion of some parts after the former manner , the very same matter , the destroy'd body was before made of , may , without addition of other bodies , be brought again to constitute a body of the like nature with the former , though not of equal bulk . and indeed , the experiment , recorded by our author , about the reproduction of salt petre , as it is the best and successesfullest i have ever been able to make upon bodies , that require a strong heat to dissipate them ; so i hope it will suffice to give you those thoughts about this matter , that the author design'd in alledging it ; and therefore , though having premis'd thus much , i shall proceed to acquaint you with the success of some attempts he intimates ( in that essay ) his intention of making , for the redintegration of some bodies ; yet doing it onely out of some historical notes i find among my loose papers , that , which i at present pretend to , is , but partly to shew you the difficulty of such attempts , which , since our author's essay was communicated , have been represented ( i fear by conjecture onely ) as very easie to be accurately enough done ; and partly , because our author does not , without reason , intimate the usefulness of redintegrations , in case they can be effected ; and does , not causelesly , intimate , that such attempts , though they should not perfectly succeed , may increase the number of noble and active bodies , and consequently , the inventory of mankind's goods . upon such considerations we attempted the dissipation and reunion of the parts of common amber ; and though chymists , for fear of breaking their vessels , are wont , when they commit it to distillation , to adde to it a caput mortuum ( as they speak ) of sand , brick , &c. ( in whose room we sometimes choose to substitute beaten glass ; ) which hinders them to judge of and employ the remanence of the amber , after the distillation is finish'd : yet we suppos'd , and found , that if the retort were not too much fill'd , and if the fire were slowly and warily enough administer'd , the addition of any other body would be needless . wherefore having put into a glass retort four or five ounces of amber , and administred a gentle and gradual heat , we observ'd the amber to melt and bubble , ( which we therefore mention , because ingenious men have lately questioned , whether it can be melted , ) and having ended the operation , & sever'd the vessels , we found , that there was come over in the form , partly of oyl , partly of spirit & flegm , and partly of volatile salt , near half the weight of the concrete : and having broken the retort , we found , in the bottom of it , a cake of coal-black matter , then whose upper surface i scarce remember to have seen in my whole life any thing more exquisitely polish'd ; in so much , that , notwithstanding the colour , as long as i kept it , it was fit to serve for a looking glass : and this smooth mass being broken , ( for it was exceeding brittle , ) the larger fragments of it appear'd adorn'd with an excellent lustre . all those parts of the amber , being put together into a glass body , with a blind head luted to it , were placed in sand , to be incorporated by a gentle heat : but whilst i stept aside to receive a visit , the fire having been increas'd without my knowledge , the fumes ascended so copiously , that they lifted up the vessel out of the sand , whereupon falling against the side of the furnace , it broke at the top , but , being seasonably call'd , we sav'd all but the fumes ; and the remaining matter looks not unlike tarre , and with the least heat may be powr'd out like a liquor , sticking even when it is cold to the fingers . yet this open'd body doth not easily communicate so much as a tincture to spirit of wine , ( which therefore seems somewhat strange , because another time presumeing , that this would be a good way to obtain a solution of some of the resinous parts of amber , we did , by pouring spirit of wine , that ( though rectify'd ) was not of the very best , upon the reunited parts of amber , lightly digested into a mass , easily obtain a clear yellow solution , very differing from the tincture of amber , and abounding ( as i found by tryal ) in the dissolv'd substance of the amber : ) but in oyl of turpentine we have , in a short time , dissolv'd it into a bloud red balsome , which may be of good use ( at least ) to chirurgions . and having agen made the former experiment with more wariness then before , we had the like success in our distillation , but , the reunited parts of the amber being set to digest in a large bolt head , the liquor that was drawn off , did , in a few hours , from its own caput mortuum extract a bloud red tincture , or else made a solution of some part of it , whereby it obtain'd a very deep red ; but having been , by intervening accidents , hindred from finishing the experiment , we mist the satisfaction of knowing to what it may be brought at last . and as for what our author tels us of this design to attempt the redintegration of vitriol , turpentine , and some other concretes , wherein it seem'd not unpracticable , he found in it more difficulty then every one would expect . for the bodies , on which such experiments are likeliest to succeed , seem to be allom , sea salt , and vitriol . and as for allom , he found it a troublesome work to take ( as a spagirist would speak ) the principles of it asunder , in regard , that it is inconvenient to distill it with a caput mortuum , ( as chymists call any fix'd additament , ) least that should hinder the desir'd redintegration of the dissipated parts : and when he distill'd it by its self , without any such additament , he found , that , with a moderate heat , the allom would scarce part with any thing but its phlegm , and if he urg'd it with a strong fire , he found , it would so swell , as to endanger the breaking of the retort , or threaten the boyling over into the receiver . ( yet having once been able very warily to abstract as much flegm and spirit , as i conveniently could , from a parcel of roch allom , and having powr'd it back upon that pulveriz'd caput mortuum , and left the vessel long in a quiet place , i found , that the corpuscles of the liquor , having had time , after a multitude of occursions , to accommodate and reunite themselves to the more fix'd parts of the concrete , did by that association ( or dissolution ) recompose , at the top of the powder , many christalline grains of finely figur'd salt , which increasing with time , made me hope , that , at the length , the whole or the greatest part would be reduc'd into allom , which yet a mischance , that robb'd me of the glass , hindred me to see . ) so likewise of sea salt , if it be distill'd , as it is usual , with thrice its weight of burn'd clay , or beaten brick , t will prove inconvenient in reference to its redintegration ; and if it be distill'd alone , it is apt to be fluxt by the heat of the fire , and , whilst it remains in fusion , will scarce yield any spirit at all . and as for vitriol , though the redintegration of it might seem to be less hopeful , then that of the other salts , in regard that it consists not onely of a saline , but of a metalline body , whence it may be suppos'd to be of a more intricate and elaborate texture yet because there needs no caput mortuum in the distillation of it , we did , to pursue our author 's intimated designs , make two or three attempts upon it , and seem'd to miss of our aime , rather upon the account of accidental hinderances , then of any insuperable difficulty in the thing it self . for once , we with a strong fire , drew off from a parcel of common blew vitriol , the phlegm and spirit , and some quantity of the heavy oyl , ( as chymists abusively call it : ) these liquors , as they came over without separation , we divided into several parts , and the remaining very red caput mortuum into as many . one of these parcels of liquor we poured over night upon its correspondent portion of the newly mentioned red powder . but having left it in a window , and the night proving very bitter , in the morning i found the glass crack'd in many places by the violence of the frost , and the liquor seem'd to have been soak'd up by the powder , and to have very much swelled it . this mixture then i took out , and placing it in an open mouth'd glass in a window , i found , after a while , divers grains of pure vitriol upon the other matter , and some little swellings , not unlike those we shall presently have occasion to speak of . i took likewise a much larger parcel of the forementioned liquor , and its correspondent proportion of caput mortuum ; and having leisurely mixt them in a large glass bason , i obtain'd divers phaenomena , that belong not to this place , but may be met with , where they will more properly fall in . in this bason ( which i lay'd in the window , and kept from agitation , ) i perceived , after a while , the liquor to acquire a blewish tincture , and after ten or twelve weeks , i found the mixture dry , ( for , it seems , it was too much exposed to the air : ) but the surface of it adorn'd in divers places with grains of vitriol very curiously figur'd . and besides these , there were store of protuberances , which consisted of aboundance of small vitriolate particles , which seem'd in the way to a coalition ; for having let the bason alone for four or five months longer , the matter appear'd crusted over , partly with very elevated saline protuberances , partly with lesser parcels , and partly also with considerably broad cakes of vitriol , some of above half an inch in breadth , and proportionably long ; and indeed the whole surface was so odly diversifi'd , that i cannot count the trouble , these tryals have put me to , mispent . another time in a more slender and narrow mouth'd glass i pour'd back upon the caput mortuum of vitriol the liquors , i had by violence of the fire forc'd from it ; so that the liquid part did swim a pretty height above the red calx , and remain'd a while limpid and colourless : but the vessel having stood , for some time , unstop'd in a window , the liquor after a while , acquir'd by degrees a very deep vitriolate colour , and not long after , there appear'd , at the bottom and on the top of the calx , many fair and exquisitely figur'd grains of vitriol , which cover'd the surface of the calx ; and the longer the ves●el continu'd in the window , the deeper did this change , made upon the upper part of the powder , seem to penetrate : so that i began to hope , that , in process of time , almost ( if not more then almost ) the whole mixture would be reduc'd to perfect vitriol . but an accident robb'd me of my glass , before i could see the utmost of the event . and , on this occasion , i must not praetermit an odd experiment i lately made , though i dare not undertake to make it agen . i elsewhere relate , how i digested , for divers weeks , a quantity of powder'd antimony , with a greater weight by half of oyl of vitriol , and how having at length committed this mixture to distillation , and thereby obtained , besides a little liquor , a pretty quantity of combustible antimonial or antimonio virriolate sulphur ; there remained , in the bottom of the retort , a somewhat light and very friable caput mortuum , all the upper part of which was at least as white as common wood-ashes , and the rest look'd like a cinder . and now i must tell you what became of this caput mortuum , whereof i there make no further mention . we could not well foresee what could be made of it , but very probable it was , that it would afford us some new discovery , by being exposed to the fire , in regard of the copious sulphur , whereof it seem'd to have been deprived : provided it were urg'd in close vessels , where nothing could be lost . whereupon committing it to a naked fire in a small glass retort , well coated , and accommodated with a receiver , we kept it there many hours , and at length severing the vessels , we found ( which need not be wonder'd at ) no antimonial quick-silver , and much less of sulphur sublim'd then we expected : wherefore greedily hastning to the caput mortuum , we found it flux'd into a mass , covered with a thin cake of glass , whose fragments being held against the light , were not at all coloured , as antimonial glass is wont to be , but were as colourlesse as common white glass . the lump above mentioned being broken , was found , somewhat to our wonder , to be perfect black antimony , adorn'd with long shining streaks , as common antimony is wont to be : onely this antimony seem'd to have been a little refin'd by the sequestration of its unnecessary sulphur ; which ingredient seems by this experiment , as well as by some other observations of ours , to be more copious in some particular parcels of that mineral , then is absolutely requisite to the constitution of antimony . though in our case it may be suspected , that the reduction of part of the mass to a colourless glass , was an effect of the absence of so much of the sulphur , and might in part make the remaining masse some amends for it . what we further did with this new or reproduced concrete , is not proper to be here told you : onely , for your satisfaction , we have kept a lump of it , that you may , with us , take notice of what some philosophers would call the mindfulness of nature , which , when a body was deprived of a not inconsiderable portion of its chiefe ingredient , and had all its other parts dissipated , and shuffled , and discolour'd , so as not to be knowable , was able to rally those scatter'd and disguised parts , and marshal or dispose them into a body of the former consistence , colour , &c. though ( which is not here to be overlook'd ) the contexture of antimony , by reason of the copious shining styriae , that enoble the darker body , be much more elaborate , and therefore more uneasie to be restored , then that of many other concretes . but among all my tryals about the redintegration of bodies , that which seem'd to succeed best , was made upon turpentine : for having taken some ounces of this , very pure , and good , and put it into a glass retort , i distill'd so long with a very gentle fire , till i had separated it into a good quantity of very clear liquor , and a caput mortuum very dry and brittle : then breaking the retort , i powder'd the caput mortuum , which , when it was taken out , was exceeding sleek , and transparent enough , and very red ; but being powder'd , appear'd of a pure yellow colour . this powder i carefully mixt vvith the liquor , that had been distill'd from it , vvhich immediately dissolv'd part of it into a deep red balsam ; but by further digestion in a large glass exquisitely stopt , that colour began to grovv fainter , though the remaining part of the povvder , ( except a very little proportionable to so much of the liquor , as may be suppos'd to have been vvasted by evaporation , and transfusion out of one vessel into another , ) be perfectly dissolv'd , and so well reunited to the more fugitive parts of the concrete , that there is scarce any , that by the smell , or tast , or consistence vvould take it for other then good and laudable turpentine . the i. section of the historical part ( containing the observations , and beginning at pag , 107. ) is misplac'd , and ought to have come in here , and have immediately preceded this ii. section containing the experiments . advertisements about the ensuing ii. section . the author would not have the reader think , that the following experiments , are the sole ones that he could have set down to the same purpose with them . for they are not the onely that he had actually laid aside for this occasion , till judging the ensuing ones sufficient for his present scope , he thought it fitter to reserve others for those notes about the production of particular qualities , to which they seem'd properly to belong . perhaps also it will be requisite for me ( because some readers may think the omission a little strange ) to excuse my having left divers particulars unmentioned in more then one of the ensuing experiments . and i confesse that i might easily enough both have taken notice of more circumstances in them , and made far more reflections on them , if i would have expatiated on the several experiments according to the directions deliver'd in other * papers . but though there , where t was my design to give imployment to the curiosity and diligence of as many votaries to nature , as ( for want of letter instructions ) had a mind to be so set on work , it was fit the proposed method should be suitable ; yet here , where i deliver experiments , not so much as parts of natural history , as instances to confirm the hypotheses , and discourses they are annexed to ; it seemed needlesse , and improper , ( if not impertinent , ) to set down circumstances , cautions , inferences , hints , applications , and other particulars , that had no tendency to the scope , for which the experiments were alledged . ☞ and as for the kind of experiments , here made choice of , i have the less scrupled to pitch upon chymical experiments , rather then others on this occasion ; not onely because of those advantages which i have ascrib'd to such experiments in the latter part of the preface * to my specimens , but because i have been encouraged by the success of the attempt made in those discourses . for as new as it was when i made it four or five years ago , and as unsual : thing as it could seem to divers atomists and cartesians , that i should take upon me to confirm and illustrate the notions of the particularian philosophy ( if i may so call it ) by the help of an art , whi●h many were pleas'd to th●ck cultivated but by illiterate o●erators , or it h●msical ph●naticks in philosophy , and useful onely to ma●e medicines , or disguize metals : yet these endeavours of ours met with much lesse opposition , then new attempts are most commonly fain to struggle with . and in so short a time i have had the happiness to engage both divers chymist●● learn and relish the notions of the corpuscular philoso●hy , and divers eminent embracers of that , to endeavour to illustrate and promote the new philosophy , by addicting themselves to the experiments , and perusing the books : chymists . and i acknowledge , it is not unwelcome to ●● to have been ( in some ●●ttle measure ) instrumental to m●●● the corpuscularian philosophy , assisted by chymistry , preferred to that which has so long obtained in the sch●●● . for ( not here to consider , which ● elsewhere do , how gi●● an advantage . that philosophy by hath of this , by having a● advantage of it in point of clearness , ) though divers l●●●ned and worthy m●n , that knew no better principles , h●● in cultivating the peri●ate●ick ones , abundantly exercised and displaid their own wit : yet i fear they have very 〈◊〉 , if at all , improved their readers intellect , or enricht it with any true or useful knowledg of nature ; but have rather taught him to admire their subtlety , then understand hers. for to ascribe all particular phaenomena , that seem any thing difficult , ( for abundance are not thought so , that are so , ) to substantial forms , and , but nominally understood , qualities , is so general and easie a way of resolving difficulties , that it allows naturalists , without disparagement , to be very careless and lazy , if it do not make th●m so : as in effect we may s●e , that in about 2000 years since aristotles time , the adorers of his physicks , at least by vertue of h●s peculiar principles , seem to have done little more more then wrangle , without clearing up ( that i know of ) any mystery of nature , or producing any useful or noble experiments : whereas the cultivators of the particularian ph●losophy , being obliged by the nature of their hypothesis , and their way of reasoning , to give the particular accounts and explications of particular phaenomena of nature , are also obliged , not onely to know the general laws and course of nature , but to enquire into the particular structure of the bodies they are conversant with , as that wher●in , for the most part , their power of acting , and disposition to be acted on , does depend . and in order to this , such enquiries must take notice of abundance of minute circumstances ; and to avoid mistaking the causes of some of them , must often make and vary experiments ; by which means nature comes to be much more diligently and in ●ustriously studied , and innumerable particulars are discover'd and observed , which in the lazy aristorelian way of philosophizing would not be heeded . but to return to that decad of instances , to which these advertisements are premised ; i hope i need not make an apology for making choice rather of chymical experiments , then others , in the second and concluding section of the historical part of the present treatise . 〈◊〉 though i prefer that kind of instances , yet i would not be thought to overvalue them in their kind , or to deny , the some artists may ( for ought i know ) be found , to whose chymical arcana , these experiments may be little better the● trifles . nor perhaps are these the considerablest , that i my self could easily have communicated ; ( though these themselves would not be now divulged , if i would have been ruled by the disswasions of such as would have nothing of chymical made common , which they think considerable . ) but things of greater value in themselves , and of noble vse in physick , may be less fit for our present purpose , ( which is not to impart medicinal , or alchymistical processes , but illustrate philosophical notions , ) then such experiments as these ; which , besides that they containe variety of phaenomena , do not ( for the most part ) require either much time , or much charge , or much skill . the ii. section , containing the experiments . experiment i. take good and clear oyl of vitriol , and cast into it a convenient quantity of good camphire grosly beaten ; let it float there a while , and , without the help of external hear , it will insenslibly be resolv'd into a liquor , which , from time to time , as it comes to be produc'd , you may , by shaking the glass , mingle with the oyl of vitriol , whereunto you may , by this means , impart first a fine yellow , and then a colour , which though it be not a true red , will be of kin to it , and so very deep , as to make the mixture almost quite opacous . when all the camphire is perfectly dissolv'd by incorporating with the menstruum , if you hit upon good ingredients , and upon a right proportion , ( for a slight mistake in either of them , may make this part of the experiment miscarry , ) you may probably obtain such a mixture , as i have more then once had , namely , such a one , as not onely to me , whose sense of smelling is none of the dullest , but also to others , that knew not of the experiment , seem'd not at all to have an odour of the camphire . but if into this liquor you pour a due quantity of fair water , you will see ( perhaps not without delight ) that , in a trice , the liquor will become pale , almost as at the first , and the camphire , that lay conceal'd in the pores of the menstruum , will immediately disclose it self , and emerge , in its own nature and pristine form of white floating and combustible camphire , which will fill not the viol onely , but the neighbouring part of the air with its strong and diffusive odour . now the phaenomena of this experiment may , besides the uses we elsewhere make of it , afford us several particulars pertinent to our present purpose . i. for ( first ) we see a lighter and consistent body brought , by a comminution , into particles of a certain figure , to be kept swimming , and mixed with a liquor , on which it floated before , and which is , by great odds , heavier then it self : so that as by the solution of gold in aqua regis , it appears , that the ponperousest of bodies , if it be reduc'd to parts minute enough , may be kept from sinking in a liquor much lighter then it self : so this experiment of ours manifests what i know not whether hitherto men have prov'd , that the corpuscles of lighter bodies may be kept from emerging to the top of a much heavier liquor : which instance being added to that of the gold , may teach us , that , when bodies are reduc'd to very minute parts , we must as well consider their particular texture , as the receiv'd rules of the hydrostaticks , in determining whether they will sink , or float ▪ or swim . ii. this experiment also shews , that several colours , and even a very deep one , may soon be produc'd by a white body , and a clear liquor , and that without the intervention of fire , or any external heat . iii. and that yet this colour may , almost in the twinckling of an eye , be destroy'd , and as it were annihilated , and the latitant whiteness , as many would call it , may be as suddainly restor'd by the addition of nothing but fair water , vvhich has no colour of its ovvn , upon vvhose account it might be surmis'd to be contrary to the perishing colour , or to heighten the other into a praedominancy : nor does the water take into its self , either the colour it destroy'd , or that it restores . for iv. the more then semi-opacity of the solution of camphire and oyl of vitriol does presently vanish ; and that menstruum , with the water , make up ( as soon as the camphorate corpuscles come to be a float ) one transparent and colourless liquor . v. and t is worth noting , that upon the mixture of a liquor , which makes the fluid much lighter , ( for so water is in respect of vitriol , ) a body is made to emerge , that did not so , when the fluid was much heavier . this experiment may serve to countenance what we elsewhere argue against the schools , touching the controversie about mistion . for whereas though some of them dissent , yet most of them maintain , that the elements alwaies loose their forms in the mix'd bodies they constitute ; and though if they had dexterously propos'd their opinion , and limited their assertions to some cases , perhaps the doctrine might be tolerated : yet since they are wont to propose it crudely and universally , i cannot but take notice , how little t is favour'd by this experiment ; wherein even a mix'd body ( for such is camphire ) doth , in a further mistion , retain its form and nature , and may be immediately so divorced from the body , to which it was united , as to turn , in a trice , to the manifest exercise of its former qualities . and this experiment being the easiest instance , i have devis'd , of the preservation of a body , when it seems to be destroy'd , and of the recovery of a body to its former conditions ; i desire it may be take● notice of , as an instance i shall after have occasion to have recourse to , and make use of . vi. but the notablest thing in the experiment is , that odours should depend so much upon texture ; that one of the subtlest and strongest sented drugs , that the east it self or indeed the world affords us , should so soon quite loose its odour , by being mix'd with a body that has scarce , if at all , any sensible odour of its own , and this , while the camphorate corpuscles survive undestroy'd , in a liquor , from whence one would think , that lesse subtle and fugitive bodies , then they , should easily exhale . vii . nor is it much lesse considerable , that so strong and piercing a sent as that of camphire , should be , in a moment , produc'd in a mixture , wherein none of it could be perceiv'd before , by such a liquor as water , that is quite devoid of any odour of its own : which so easie and suddain restauration of the camphire to its native sent , as well as other qualities , by so languid a liquor as common water , doth likewise argue , that the union or texture of the two ingredients , the camphire and the oyl of vitriol , was but very slight , upon which neverthelesse a great alteration in point of qualities depended . and to confirme , that divers of the praeceding phaenomena depend upon the particular texture of the liquors , imploy'd to exhibit them , i shall add , that if , instead of oyl of vitriol , you cast the concrete into well deflegm'd spirit of nitre , you will obtain no red , nor dark , but a transparent and colourless solution . and when to the above mention'd red mixture i put , instead of fair water , about 2 or 3 parts of duely rectifi'd spirit of wine , there would ensue no such changes , as those formerly recited ; but the spirit of wine , that dissolv'd the concrete , when it was by it self , without loosing its diaphaneity , or acquiring any colour , did , when it dissolv'd the mixture , dissolve it with its new adventitious colour , looking like a gross red wine , somewhat turbid , or not yet well freed from its lees : so that this colour appear'd to reside in the mixture as such , since neither of the two ingredients dissolv'd in , or mingled vvith the spirit of wine , would have afforded that colour , or indeed any other . but if to this liquor , that look'd like troubled wine , we poured a large proportion of fair water , the redness would immediately vanish , and the whole would , as to sense , become white throughout ; i say , as to sense , because the whitenesse did not indeed appertain properly to the whole mixture , but to a huge multitude of little corpuscles of the reviv'd concrete , whereof some or other , which at first swamme confusedly to and fro , left no sensible portion of the liquor unfurnish'd with some of them ; whereas when the camphorate corpuscles had leisure to emerge , as they soon did , they floated in the forme of a white powder or froth at the top of the liquor , leaving all the rest as clear and colourlesse as the common water . but we have not yet mention'd all the use , we design'd to make of our mixture , for by prosecuting the experiment a little further , we made it afford us some new phaenomena . viii . for having kept the mixture in a moderately warme place , ( which circumstance had perhaps no influence on the successe , ) and having distill'd it out of a glass retort , the event answer'd our expectation , and the liquor , that came over , had a sent ; which , though very strong , was quite differing both from that of the mixture , and that of the camphire ; and in the remaining body , though the liquor and the camphire it consisted of , were either both transparent , or the one transparent as a liquor , and the other white , as transparent and colourlesse bodies are wont to be made by contusion : yet the remaining mass , which amounted to a good part of the mixture , was not onely opacous , but as black as coal , is some places looking just like polished jet ; which is the more considerable , because that though vegetable substances , that are not fluid , are wont to acquire a blackness from the fire , yet neither do liquors , that have already been distill'd , obtain that colour upon redistillation , neither have we , upon tryal purposely made , found , that camphire , expos'd to fire in a retort , fitted with a receiver , ( which was the case of the present experiment , ) would at all acquire a jetty colour , but would either totally ascend white , or afford flores , and a caput mortuum ( as a vulgar chymist would call the remaines ) of the same colour , both in respect of one another , and in respect of the camphire . ix . and our experiment afforded this notable phaenomenon , that though oyl of vitriol be a distill'd liquor , and though camphire be so very fugitive a substance , that being left in the air , it will , of it self , fly all away ; and therefore physicians and druggists prescribe the keeping it in linseeds or millium , or other convenient bodies , to hinder its avolation ; yet , by our experiment , its fugacity is so restrain'd , that not onely the caput mortuum newly mention'd , endured a good fire in the retort , before it was reduc'd to that pitchy substance vve vvere lately mentioning , but having taken some of that substance out of the retort , & order'd it , by a careful workman , to be kept in a closely cover'd crucible during some time in the fire ; when it vvas brought me back , after the pot had been kept red hot above half an hour , there remain'd a good quantity of the matter , brittle , vvithout any smell of camphire , and as black as ordinary charcoal ; so much do the fixity and volatility of bodies depend upon texture . experiment ii. among those other experiments of mine , ( pyrophilus ) which tend to manifest , that new qualities may be produc'd in bodies , as the effects of new textures ; i remember , some years ago , i writ for a friend a whole set of tryals , that i had made about the changes i could produce in metals and minerals , by the intervention of sublimate . but though the whole tract , wherein they are recited , might be pertinent enough to our present subject ; yet reserving other passages of it for other places , ( especially for our notes upon those particular qualities , which they are most proper to illustrate , ) it may at this time suffice me to send you a transcript of what that account contains , relating to copper and silver , the one a mean and fugitive , and the other a noble and fix'd metal . for those changes colour , consistence , fusiblenesse , and other qualities , which you will meet with in these experiments , will afford us divers phaenomena , to shew what great changes may be made , even in bodies scarce corruptible , by one or more of those three catholick wayes of natures working according to the corpuscular principles , namely , the access , the recess , and the transposition of the minute particles of matter . as for my method of changing the texture of copper , i confess it hath oftentimes seem'd strange to me , that chymists , plainly seeing the notable effect , that sublimate , distill'd from antimony , has upon that mineral , by opening it , and volatilizing it , ( as we see it do in the making of what they are pleas'd to call mercurius vitae , ) should not have the curiosity to try , whether or no sublimate might not likewise produce , if nor the same , yet a considerable change in other mineral bodies , there appearing no reason , or at least there having been none given , that i know of , why the reserating operation ( if i may so speak ) of sublimate , should be confin'd to antimony . upon these considerations , we were invited to endeavour to supply the neglect we had observ'd in chymists , of improving the experiment of butyrum antimonii : and though an indisposition in point of health , which befell us before we had made any great progress in our enquiries , made us so shy of the fumes of sublimate and minerals , that we neither did make all our tryals so accurately , nor prosecute them so far as we would have done , had we been to deal with more innocent materials : yet we suppose , it will not be unwelcome to you , to receive from us a naked , but faithful , narrative of our proceedings ; being apt to think , that you will therein find inducements to carry on this experiment further then we have done , and to compleat what we have but begun . first then , we took half a pound of copper plates , of about an inch broad , and the thickness of a grain of wheat , ( which we after found was too great , ) and of an arbitrary length ; then casting a pound of grosly beaten venetian sublimate into the bottom of a somewhat deep glass retort , we cast in the copper plates upon it , that the fumes of the sublimate might , in their ascension , be compell'd to act upon the incumbent metal , and then placing this retort , as deep as we well could , in a sand furnace , and adapting to it a small receiver , we administer'd a gradual fire seaven or eight hours , and at length for a while increas'd the heat , as much as we well could do in such a furnace . the success of this operation was as follows . 1. there came little or no liquor at all over into the receiver , but the neck & upper part of the retort were candied on the inside , by reason of the copious sublimate adhaering to them , which sublimate weigh'd above ten ounces ; in the retort we found about two ounces and a quarter of running mercury , which had been suffer'd to revive by the acid salts , which corroding the copper , forsook the quicksilver , whereto they had been in the sublimate united . 2. upon the increase of the fire , there was plainly heard a noise , made by the melting matter in the retort , not unlike that of a boyling pot , or of vitriol , when being committed to a calcining fire , it is first brought to flow . and this noise we found to be a more constant circumstance of this experiment , then the revification of part of the mercury contain'd in the sublimate ; for upon another tryal , made with the former proportion of copper plates and sublimate , we observ'd , during a very long while , such a noise as hath been already mention'd , but the operation being finish'd , we scarce found so much as a few grains of running mercury , either in the retort or receiver . 3. we found the metalline lump , in the bottom of the retort , to have been increas'd in weight somewhat more then ( though not half an ounce above ) two ounces ; some of the copper plates , lying at the bottom of the mass , retain'd yet their figure and malleablenesse , which we ascrib'd to their not having been thin enough to be sufficiently wrought upon by the sublimate : the others , which were much the greater number , had wholly lost their metalline form , and were melted into a very brittle lump , which i can compare to nothing more fitly , then a lump of good benjamin ; for this mass , though ponderous , was no less brittle , and being broken , appear'd of divers colours , which seem'd to be almost transparent , in some places it was red , in others of a high and pleasant amber colour , and in other parts of it , colours more darkish and mix'd might be discern'd . 4. but this strange mass being broken into smaller lumps , and laid upon a sheet of white paper in a window , was , by the next morning , where ever the air came at it , all cover'd with a lovely greenish blew , or rather , blewish green , almost like that of the best verdegreese , and the longer it lay in the air , the more of the internal parts of the fragments did pass into the same colour : but the vvhite paper , which in some places they stain'd , seem dy'd of a green colour inclining unto yellow . and here we had occasion to take notice of the insinuating subtlety of the air ; for having put some pieces of this cupreous gum ( if i may so call it ) into a little box , to shut out the air , which vve have found it possible to exclude by other means , vve found , that notwithstanding our care , those included fragments were , as well as the rest already mention'd , covered with the powder , as it were of viride aeris . 5. we must not , on this occasion , omit to tell you , that , having , the last year , made some tryals in reference to this experiment , we observ'd in one of them , that some little copper plates , from which sublimate had been drawn off , retain'd their pristine shape , and metalline nature , but were whitened over like silver , and continu'd so for divers months , ( though we cannot precisely tell you hovv long , having at length accidentally lost them . ) and to try vvhether this whiteness vvere onely superficial , vve purposely broke some of these flexible plates , and found , that this silver colour had penetrated them throughout , and vvas more glorious in the very body of the metal , then on its surface , vvhich made us suspect , that the sublimate , by us imploy'd , had been adulterated vvith arsenick , ( vvherewith the sophisticators of metals are wont to make blanchers for copper , but not to mention , that rhe malleablenesse continu'd , which arsenick is wont to destroy , ) we discover'd not by tryal , that the sublimate was other then sincere . 6. in this metalline gum the body of the copper appear'd so chang'd and open'd , that we were invited to look upon such a change as no ignoble experiment , considering the difficulty , which the best artists tell us there is , and which those , that have attempted it , have found , i say not , to unlock the sulphur of venus , but to effect lesse changes in its texture , then was hereby made . for this gum , cast upon a quick coal , and a little blown , will partly melt and flow like rosin , and partly flame , and burn like a sulphur , and with a flame so lasting , if it be rekindled as often as it leaves off burning , that we observ'd it , not without some wonder ; and so inflammable is this opened copper , that , being held to the flame of a candle , or a piece of lighted paper , it would almost in a moment take fire , and send forth a flame like common sulphur , but onely that it seem'd to us to incline much more to a greenish colour , then the blewer flame of brimstone is wont to do . to these phaenomena of our experiment , as it was made with copper , my notes inable me to subjoyn some others , exhibited when we made it with sublimate and silver . there were taken of the purest sort of coined silver we could get , half a scort thin plates , on which vvas cast double the vveight of sublimate in a small and strongly coated retort . this matter being sublim'd in a naked fire , vve found , ( having broken the vessel , ) that the sublimate vvas almost totally ascended to the top and neck of the retort , in the latter of vvhich appear'd in many places some reviv'd mercury , in the bottom of the retort we found a little fluxed lump of matter , which 't was scarce possible to separate from the glass , but having , with much adoe ●ivorc'd them , we found this mass to be brittle , of a pale yellowish colour , of ●eer about the weight of the metal , on which the sublimate had been cast . and in the thicker part of this lump there appear'd , when it was broken , some part of the silver plates , vvhich , though brittle , seem'd not to have been perfectly dissolv'd . this resin of silver did , like that of copper , but more slowly , im●ibe the moisture of the air , and vvith●n about 24. hours , vvas cover'd vvith a somevvhat greenish dust , concerning vvhich vve durst not determine , vvhether it proceeded from that mixture of copper , vvhich is generally to be me● vvith in coyned silver , or from the compounded metal . for the more curious sort of painters do , as they inform us , by corroding coined silve● vvith the fretting steams of saline bodies , or vvith corrosive bodies themselves , turn it into a fine kind of azu●● as we may elsevvhere have opportuni●● more particularly to declare . i sh●● novv onely adde , that some small fragments of our resin , being cast upon r●● hot coals , did there vvast themselv● in a flame not very differing in colo● from that of the former mention'd r●sin of copper , but much more durab●● then vvould have easily been expect● from so small a● quantity of matter . this is all the account i can give yo● of our first tryal , but suspecting , th● the copper , vvont to be mixt as a● alloy-vvith our coyned silver , migh● have too much influence on the reci● event ; coming aftervvards into a pla●● vvhere vve could procure refin'd s●●ver , vve took an ounce of that , a● having laminated it , vve cast it up● tvvice its weight of beaten sublim●● ●hich being driven away from it with a somewhat strong fire , we took , out of ●he bottom of the glass retort , a lump of matter , which in some places , where it lay next the glasse , was as it were silver'd over very finely , but so very ●hinly , that the thicknesse of the silver ●carce equall'd that of fine white paper ; the rest of the metal ( except a little that lay undissolv'd almost in the middle of the masse , because , as we suppos'd , the plates had not been beaten , till they were sufficiently and equally thin , ) having been , by the saline part of the sublimate , that stuck to it , colliqua●ed into a mass , that look'd not at all like silver , or so much as any other metal or mineral . and t is remarkable , that though silver be a fixt metal , and accounted indestructible ; yet it should by so slight an operation , and by but about a quarter of its vveight of additament , ( as appear'd by weighing the whole lump , ) be so strangely disguized , and have its qualities so alter'd . for ( first ) though an eminent whitenesse be accounted the colour , which belongs to pure silver , and though beate● sublimate be also eminently white yet the mass , we are speaking of , w●● partly of a lemmon or amber colour or a deep amethystinine colour , a● partly of so dark a one , as it seem'd black : and it was pretty , that sometime in a fragment , that seem'd to be one continued and entire piece , the upper par● would be of a light yellow , vvhich abruptly ending , the lower vvas of a colour so obscure , as scarce to challenge any name distinct from black. next whereas silver is one of the most opacous bodies in nature , and sublimate a white one , the produc'd mass was in great part transparent , though not like glass , yet like good amber . thirdly , the texture of the silver was exceedingly alter'd : for our mass , instead of being malleable and flexible , as that metal is very much , appear'd , if you went about to cut it with a knife , like horn , yet otherwise easily apt to crack and break , though not at all to bend . fourthly , whereas silver will indure ignition for a good while before it be brought to fusion , our mixture will easily melt , not onely upon quick coals , but in the flame of a candle ; but this resin , or gum ( if i may so call it ) of our fix'd metal did not , like that , we formerly describ'd , of copper , tinge the flame of a candle , or produce with the glowing coals , on which t is laid , either a green or blewish colour . and ( pyrophilus ) to discover how much these operations of the sublimate upon copper and silver depend upon the particular textures of these bodies , i took two parcels of gold , the one common gold thinly laminated , and the other very well refin'd , and having cast each of these in a distinct urinal , upon no less then thrice its weight of grosly beaten sublimate , i caus'd this last nam'd substance to be , in a sand furnace , elevated from the gold , b●● found not , that either of the two parcels of that metal was manifestly alter'd thereby : whether in case the gold had been reduc'd to very minute particles , some kind of change ( perhaps , if any differing enough from those lately recited to have been made in the copper and the silver ) might have been made in it , i am not so absolutely certain ; but i am confident , that by what i reserve to tell you hereafter of sublimates operation upon some other minerals , especially tin , it will appear , that that operation depends very much upon the particular texture of the body , from whence that sublimate is elevated . before i dismiss this subject , pyrophilus , i must not conceale from you , that in the papers , whence these experiments made with sublimate have been transcribed , i annex'd to the whole discourse a few advertisements , whereof the first was , that i was reduc'd , in those experiments , to imploy , for want of a better , a sand furnace , wherein i could not give so strong a fire as i desir'd , which circumstance may have had some influence upon the recited phaenomena ; and among other advertisements there being one , that will not be impertinent to my present design , and may possibly afford a not unsuccesful hint , i shall subjoin it in the words , wherein i find it deliver'd . the next thing , of which i am to advertise you , is this , that this experiment may probably be further improv'd , by imploying about it various and new kinds of sublimate , and that several other things may be sublim'd up together either with crude mercury , or with common sublimate , he that considers the way of making vulgar sublimate , will not , i suppose , deny . to give you onely one instance , i shall inform you , that , having caus'd about equal parts of common sublimate and sal armoniack to be well powder'd and incorporated , by subliming the mixture in strong and large urinals plac'd in a sand furnace , we obtain'd a new kind of sublimate , differing from the former , which we manifested ad oculum , by dissolving a little of it and a little of common sublimate severally in fair water ; for dropping a little resolv'd salt of tartar upon the solution of common sublimate , it immediately turn'd of an orange tawny colour , but dropping the same liquor upon the solution of the ammoniack sublimate , if i may so call it , it presently turn'd into a liquor in whitenesse resembling milk : and having from 4 ounces of copper plates drawn 6 ounces of this new sublimate after the already often recited manner , we had indeed in the bottom of the retort a cupreous resin , not much unlike that , made by copper and common sublimate ; and this resin did , like the other , in the moist air , soon begin to degenerate into a kind of verdigreese . but that which was singular in this operation was , that not onely some of the sublimate had carried up , to a good height , enough of the copper to be manifestly colour'd by it of a fine blewish green , but into the receiver there was pass'd neer an ounce of liquor , that smelt almost like spirit of sal armoniack , and was tincted like the sublimate , so that we suppos'd the body of the venus to have been better wrought upon by this , then by the former sublimate . and yet i judg'd not this way to be the most effectual way of improving common sublimate , being apt to think , upon grounds not now to be mention'd , that it may , by convenient liquors , be so far enrich'd and advanc'd , as to be made capable of opening the compact body of gold it self , and of producing in it such changes , ( which yet perhaps will enrich but mens understandings , ) as chymists are wont very fruitlesly to attempt to make in that almost indestructible metal . but of this , having now given you a hint , i dare here say no more . experiment iii. there is ( pyrophilus ) another experiment , which many wil find more easie to be put in practice , and which yet may , as to silver , be made a kind of succedaneum to the former , and consequently may serve to shew , how the like qualities in bodies may be effected by differing wayes , provided a like change of texture be produc'd by them . of this i shall give you an example in that preparation of silver , that some chymists have call'd luna cornea , which i shall not scruple to mention particularly , and apply to my present purpose ; because though the name of luna cornea be already to be met with in the writings of some alchymists , yet the thing it self , being not us'd in physick , is not wont to be known by those that learn chymistry in order to physick ; and the way that i use in making it is differing from that of alchymists , being purposely design'd to shew some notable phaenomena , not to be met with in their way of proceeding . we take then refined silver , and having beaten it into thin plates , and dissolv'd it in about twice its weight of good aqua fortis , we filtrate it carefully to obtain a clear solution , ( which sometimes we evaporate further , till it shoot into chrystals , which we afterwards dry upon brown paper with a moderate heat . ) upon the abovemention'd solution we drop good spirit of salt , till we find , that it will no more curdle the liquor it falls into , ( which will not happen so soon , as you will be apt at first to imagine , ) then we put the whole mixture in a glass funnel lin'd with cap-paper , and letting the moisture drain through , we dry , with a gentle heat , the substance , that remains in the filtre , first washing it ( if need be ) from the loosly adhaering salts , by letting fair water run through it several times , whilst it yet continues in the filtre . this substance being well dry'd , we put it into a glass viol , which being put upon quick coals , first cover'd with ashes , and then freed from them , we melt the contain'd substance into a mass , which , being kept a while in fusion , gives us the luna cornea we are now to consider . if to make this factitious concrete , we first reduce the silver into chrystals , and afterwards proceed with spirit of salt , as we have just now taught you to do with the solution ; we have the exceedingly opacous , malleable , and hardly fusible body of silver , by the convenient interposition of some saline particles , not amounting to the third part of the weight of the metal , reduc'd into chrystals , that both shoot in a peculiar and determinate figure , differing from those of other metals , and also are diaphanous and brittle , and by great odds more easily fusible then silver it self ; besides other qualities , wherein having elsewhere taken notice , that these chrystals differ both from silver and from aqua fortis , we shall not now insist on them , but pass to the qualities , that do more properly belong to the change of the solution of silver into luna cornea . first then we may observe , that though spirit of salt be an highly acid liquor , and though acid liquors and alkalys are wont to have quite contrary operations , the one praecipitating what the other would dissolve , & dissolving what the other would praecipitate : yet in our case , as neither oyl of tartar per deliquium , nor spirit of salt will dissolve silver , so both the one and the other will praecipitate it ; which i desire may be taken notice of against the doctrine of the vulgar chymists , and as a proof , that the praecipitation of bodies depends not upon acid or alkalizate liquors as such , but upon the texture of the bodies , that happen to be confounded . 2. we may here observe , that whiteness and opacity may be immediately produc'd by liquors , both of them diaphanous and colourless . 3. that on the other side , a white powder , though its minute parts appear not transparent , like those of beaten glass , rosin , &c. which , by comminution , are made to seem white , may yet , by a gentle heat , be presently reduc'd into a mass indifferently transparent , and not at all white , but of a fair yellow . 4. we may observe too , that though silver require so strong a fire to melt it , and may be long kept red hot , without being brought to fusion ; yet by the association of some saline particles , conveniently mingled with it , it may be made so fusible , as to be easily and quickly melted , either in a thin viol , or at the flame of a candle , where it will flow almost like wax . 5. it may also be noted , that though the lunar solution and the spirit of salt would , either of them apart , have readily dissolv'd in water ; yet when they are mingled , they do , for the most part , concoagulate into a substance , th●t will lie undissolv'd in water , and is scarce , if at all , soluble either in aqua fortis , or in spirit of salt. 6. and remarkable it is , that the body of silver being very flexible and malleable , ( especially if the metal be , as ours was , refin'd ) it should yet , by the addition of so small a proportion of salt , ( a body rigid and brittle , ) as is associated to it in our experiment , be made of a texture so differing from what either of its ingredients was before , being wholly unlike either a salt or a metal , and very like in texture to a piece of horn. and to satisfie my self , how much the toughness of this metalline horn depended upon the texture of the compositum , resulting from the respective textures of the several ingredients , i praecipitated a solution of silver with the distill'd saline liquor commonly call'd oyl of vitriol , instead of spirit of salt , and having wash'd the praecipitate with common water , i found agreeably to my conjecture , that this praecipitate , being flux'd in a moderate heat , afforded a mass , that look'd like enough to the concrete we have been discoursing of , but had not its toughness , being brittle enough to be easily broken in pieces . but the tw● considerablest phaenomena of our exexperiment do yet remain unmentiond . for 7thly . 't is odd , that whereas a solution of silver is , as we have often occasion to note , the bitterest liquor we have ever met with , and the spirit of salt far sowrer then either the sharpest vinegar , or even the spirit of it , these two so strongly and offensively tasted liquors should be so easily and speedily , without any other thing to correct them , be reduc'd into an insipid substance , ( at least so far insipid , that i have lick'd it several times with my tongue , without finding it otherwise , though perhaps , with much rowling it to and fro in the mouth , it may at length afford some unpleasant tast , but exceedingly different from that of either of the liquors that compos'd it : ) and this , though the salts , that made both the silver , and the praecipitating spirit so strongly tasted , remaine associated with the silver . 8. and lastly , it is very strange , that though the saline corpuscles , that give the efficacy both to good aqua fortis , and the like spirit of salt , be not onely so volatile , that they will easily be distill'd with a moderate fire , but so fugitive , that they will in part fly away of themselves in the cold air , ( as our noses can witness to our trouble , when the viols , that contain such liquors , are unstopt ; ) yet by vertue of the new texture they acquire , by associating themselves with the corpuscles of the silver and with one another , these minute particles of salt loose so much of their former lightness , and acquire such a degree of fixednesse , that they will endure melting with the metal they adhere to , rather then suffer themselves to be driven away from it . nor do i remember , that when i melted this mass in a thin viol , i could perceive any sensible evaporation of the matter : nay having afterwards put a parcel of it upon a quick coal , though that were blows to intend the heat ; yet it suffer'd fusion , and so ran off from the coal , without appearing , when it was taken up again , to be other then luna cornea , as it was before . experiment iv. i am now ( pyrophilus ) about to do a thing , contrary enough both to my custome and inclination , that is , to discourse upon the phaenomena of an experiment , which i do not teach you to make . but since i cannot as yet , without some breach of promise , plainly disclose to you what i must now conceal your equity assures me of your pardon . and as , because the qualities of the salt , i am to speak of , are very remarkable , and pertinent to my present design , i am unwilling to pass them by unmention'd ; so i hope , that notwithstanding their being strange , i may be allow'd to discourse upon them to you , who , i presume , know me too well to suspect i would impose upon you in matters of fact , and to whom i am willing ( if you desire it ) to shew the anomalous salt it self , and ocular proofs of the chief properties i ascribe to it . i shall not then scruple to tell you , that discoursing one day with a very ingenious traveller and chymist , who had had extraordinary opportunities to acquire secrets , of a certain odd salt i had thought upon and made , which was of so differing a kind from other salts , that though i did not yet know what feats i should be able to do with it , yet i was confident , it must have noble and unusual operations . this gentleman , to requi●e my franckness , told me , that i had lighted on a greater jewel , then perhaps i was aware of ; and that if i would follow his advice , by adding something that he nam'd to me , and prosecuting the preparation a little further , i should obtain a salt exceedingly noble . i thank'd him , as i had cause , for his advice , and , when i had opportunity , follow'd it . and though i found the vvay of making this salt so nice and intricate a thing , that if i vvould , i could scarce easily describe it , so as to enable most men to practice it ; yet having once made it , i found , that , besides some of the things i had been told it would perform , i could do divers other things vvith it , vvhich i had good cause to believe the gentleman , of whom i was speaking , did not think of ; and i doubt not , but i should have done much more with it , if i had not unfortunately lost it soon after i had prepar'd it . several of the phaenomena , i try'd to produce with it , which are not so proper for this place , are reserv'd for another , but here i shall mention a few , that best fit my present purpose . first then , though the several ingredients , that compos'd this salt , were all of them such , as vulgar chymists must according to their principles , look upon as purely saline , and were each of them far more salt then brine , or more sowr then the strongest vinegar , or more strongly tasted then either of those two liquors ; yet the compound , made up of onely such bodies , is so far from being eminently salt , or sowr , or insipid , that a stranger being ask'd , what tast it had , vvould not scruple to judge it rather sweet , then of any other tast ▪ though its sweetness be of a peculiar kind , as there is a difference even among bodies sweet by nature ; the sweetness of sugar being divers from that of honey , and both of them differing from that of the sweet vitriol of lead . and this is the onely instance , i remember , i have hitherto met vvith of salts , that , vvithout the mixture of insipid bodies , compose a substance really sweet . i say really sweet , because chymists oftentimes terme the calces of metals and other bodies dulcifi'd , if they be freed from all corrosive salts and sharpness of tast , sweet , though they have nothing at all of positive sweetness in them ; and by that licence of speaking do often enough impose upon the unskilful . another thing considerable in our anomalous salt is , that though its odour be not either strong or offensive , ( both which that of volatile salts is wont to be , ) yet if it be a little urg'd with heat , so as to be forc'd to evaporate hastily and copiously , i have known some , that have been us'd to the powerful stink of aqua fortis , distill'd urine , and even spirit of sal armoniack its self , that have complain'd of this smell , as more strong , and upon that account more unsupportable then these themselves : and yet when these fumes settle again into a salt , their odour will again prove mild and inoffensive , if not pleasant . thirdly , whereas all the volatile , and acid , and lixiviate salts , that we know of , are of so determinate and specificated a nature , ( if i may so speak , ) that there is no one sort of the three , but may be destroy'd by some one or other of the other two salts , if not by both , as spirit of urine , which is a volatile salt , being mingled with spirit of salt , or aqua fortis , or almost any other strong and acid spirit , will make a great ebullition , and loose its peculiar tast , and several of its other qualities ; and on the otherside , salt of tartar , and other alkalys , ( that is , salts produc'd by incineration of mix'd bodies , ) will be destroy'd with ebullition by aqua fortis , spirit of salt , or almost any other strong spirit of that family . and spirit of salt , aqua fortis , &c. will be ( as they speak ) destroy'd both by animal volatile salts , and by the fix'd salts of vegetables ; that is , will make an effervescence with either sort of salts , and compose with them a new liquor or salt , differing from either of the ingredients , and , as to tast , smell , odour , and divers other qualities , more languid and degenerous : whereas , i say , each of these three families of salts may be easily destroy'd by the other two , our anomalous salt seems to be above the being thus wrought upon by any of all the three , and i● the onely body i know : ( which is no small priviledge , or rather prerogative , ) for i did not find , that a solution of it , made with as little water as i could , which is the vvay whereby we usually make it fluid , would make any ebullition , either with oyl of tartar per deliquium , or spirit of sal armoniack , or strong spirit of salt , or even oyl of vitriol , but would calmely and silently mix vvith these differing liquors , and continue as long as i had patience to look upon them , without being praecipitated by them . but this is not the onely way i imploy'd to examine , whether our salt belong'd to any of the three above mention'd comprehensive families of salts . for i found not , that the strongest solution of it would turn syrup of violets either red , as acid spirits do , or green , as both fix'd and volatile salts will do . nor would our solution turn a clear one of sublimate made in common water , either white , as spirit of urine , sal armoniack , or others of the same family , or into an orange tawny , like salt of tartar , and other alkalys : but left the solution of sublimate transparent , without giving it any of these colours , mingling it self very kindly with it , as it had done with the four lately mention'd liquors . and to satisfy my self a little further , i not onely try'd , that an undiscolour'd mixture of syrup of violets and our solution , would immediately be turn'd red by 2 or 3 drops of spirit of salt , or green by as much oyl of tartar : but , to prosecute the experiment , i let fall a drop or two of a mixture made of our anomalous solution , and spirit of salt well shaken together , upon some syrup of violets , which was thereby immediately turn'd red , and a little of the same anomalous solution , being shaken together with oyl of tartar per deliquium , turn'd another parcel of the same syrup of violets into a delightful green ; which , hapning as i expected , seem'd to argue , that our solution , though as to sense it were exquisitely mingled in the several mixtures , to which i had put it , did , as it left them their undestroy'd respective natures , retain its own ; and yet this salt is so far from being a languid or an insignificant thing , that aqua fortis , and oyl of vitriol themselves , as operative and as furious liquors as they are , are unable in divers cases to make such solutions , and perform such other things , as our calme , but powerful , menstruum can , though but slowly , effect . fourthly : though this salt be a volatile one , and requires no strong heat to make it sublime into finely figur'd chrystals without a remanence at the bottom ; yet being dissolv'd in liquors , you may make the solution , if need be , to boile , without making any of the salt sublime up , before the liquor be totally or almost totally drawn off , whereas the volatile salt of urine , bloud , harts-horn , &c. are wont to ascend before almost any part of the liquor , they are dissolv'd in , which is in many cases very inconvenient . and though this be a volatile salt , yet i remember not , that i have observ'd any fix'd salt , ( without excepting salt of tartar it self , ) that runs near so soon per deliquium , as this will do ; but by abstraction of the adventitious moisture t is easily restor'd to its former saline form : and yet differs from salt of tartar , not onely in fixednesse and tast , and divers other qualities , but also in this , that , whereas salt of tartar requires a vehement fire to flux it , a gentlier heat , then one would easily imagine , will melt our salt into a limpid liquor . and whereas spirit of wine will dissolve some bodies , as sanderick , mastick , gum-lac , &c. and water , on the other side , dissolves many that spirit of wine cannot , and oyls will dissolve some , for which neither of the other liquors are good solvents ; our salt will readily dissolve both in fair water , in the highest rectifi'd spirit of wine , ( and that so little , as not to weigh more then the salt , ) and in chymical oyls themselves , with which it will as●ociate its self very strictly , and perhaps more too , then i have yet found any other consistent salt to do . experiment v. the experiment i am ( pyrophilus ) now about to deliver , though i have not yet had opportunity to perfect what i design'd , when some notions , that i have about fire and salt , suggested it to me , is yet such as may far more clearly , then almost any of the experiments commonly known to chymists , serve to shew us , how near to a real transmutation those changes may prove , that may be effected even in inanimate , and , which is more , scarce corruptible bodies , by the recess of some particles , and the access of some others , and the new texture of the residue . the experiment i have made several wayes , but one of the latest and best i have us'd is this : take one part of good sea-salt well dry'd and powder'd , and put to it double its weight of good aqua fortis , or spirit of nitre , then haveing kept it ( if you have time ) for some while in a previous digestion , distill it over with a slow fire in a retort or a low body , till the the remaining matter be quite dry , and no more ; for this substance , that will remain in the bottom of the glass , is the thing that is sought for . this operation being performable in a moderate fire , and the bodies themselves being almost of an incorruptible nature , one would scarce think , that so slight a matter should produce any change in them ; but yet i found , as i expected , these notable mutations of qualities effected by so unpromising a way . for in the first place , we may take notice , that the liquor , that came over , was no longer an aqua fortis , or spirit of nitre , but an aqua regis , that was able to dissolve gold , which aqua fortis will not meddle with , and will not dissolve silver , as it would have done before , but will rather , as i have purposely try'd , praecipitate it out of aqua fortis , if that menstruum have already dissolv'd it : but this change belonging not so properly to the substance it self i was about to consider , i shall not here insist on it . 2. then , the tast of this substance comes by this operation to be very much alter'd . for it hath not that strong saltness that it had before , but tasts far milder , and , though it rellish of both , affects the palate much more like salt-petre , then like common salt . 3. next , whereas this last nam'd body is of very difficult fusion , our factitious salt imitates salt-petre in being very fusible , and it will , like nitre , soon melt , by being held in the flame of a candle . 4. but to proceed to a more considerable phaenomenon , t is known , that sea-salt is a body , that doth very much resist the fire , when once by being brought to fusion , it hath been forc'd to let go that windy substance , that makes unbeaten salt crackle in the fire , and so by blowing it accidentally increase it . t is also known , that acid spirits , as those of salt , vitriol , nitre , vinegar , &c. are not onely not inflammable themselves , but hinderers of inflammation in other bodies ; and yet my conjecture leading me to expect , that , by this operation , i should be able to produce , out of two inflammable bodies , a third , that would be easily inflammable . i found , upon tryal , not onely that small lumps of this substance , cast upon quick and well blown coals , though they did not give so blew a flame as nitre , did yet , like it , burn away with a copious and vehement flame . and , for further tryal , having melted a pretty quantity of this transmuted sea salt in a crucible , by casting upon it little fragments of well kindled charcoal , it would , like nitre , presently be kindled , and afford a flame so vehement and so dazling , that one that had better eyes then i , and knew not what it was , complain'd , that he was not able to support the splendor of it . nor were all its inflammable parts consum'd at one deflagration : for by casting in more fragments of well kindled coal , the matter would fall a puffing , and flame afresh for several times consecutively , according to the quantity that had been put into the crucible . 5. but this it self was not the chief discovery i design'd by this experiment . for i pretended hereby to devise a way of turning an acid salt into an alkaly , which seems to be one of the greatest and difficultest changes , that is rationally to be attempted among durable and inanimate bodies . for t is not unknown to such chymists as are any thing inquisitive and heedful , how vast a difference there is between acid salts , and those , that are made by the combustion of bodies , and are sometimes call'd fix'd , sometimes alkalizate . for whereas strong lixiviums ( which are but strong solutions of alkalys ) will readily enough dissolve common sulphur , and divers other bodies abounding with sulphur ; even those highly acid liquors , aqua fortis , and aqua regis , though so corrosive , that one will dissolve silver , and the other gold it self , will let brimstone lye in them undissolv'd i know not how long ; though some say , that in process of time , there may be some tincture drawn by the menstruum from it , which yet i have not seen try'd ; and though it were true , would yet sufficiently argue a great disparity betwixt those acid spirits , and strong alkalizate solutions , which will speedily dissolve the very masse of common sulphur . besides , t is observ'd by the inquisitive chymists , nor does my experience contradict it , that the bodies , that are dissolv'd by an acid menstruum , may be praecipitated by an alkalizate ; and on the contrary , solutions , made by the latter , may be praecipitated by the former . moreover , as litharge , dissolv'd in spirit of vinegar , will be praecipitated by the oyl of tartar per deliquium , or the solution of its salt ; and , on the contrary , sulphur or antimony , dissolv'd in such a solution , will be praecipitated out of it by the spirit of vinegar , or even common vinegar . moreover , acids and alkalizates do also differ exceedingly in tast , and in this greater disparity , that the one is volatile , and the other fix'd , besides other particulars not necessary here to be insisted on . and indeed , if that were true , which is taught in the schools , that there is a natural enmity , as well as disparity betwixt some bodies , as between oyly and waterish ones , the chymists may very speciously teach , ( as some of them do ) that there is a strange contrariety betwixt acid and alkalizate salts ; as when there is made an affusion of oyl of tartar upon aqua regis , or aqua fortis , to praecipitate gold out of the one , and silver out of the other , their mutual hostility seems manifestly to shew it self , not onely by the noise , and hear , and fume , that are immediately excited by their conflict , but by this most of all , that afterwards the two contending bodies will appear to have mutually destroy'd one another , both the sowr spirit and the fixt salt having each lost its former nature in the scuffle , and degenerated with its adversary into a certain third substance , that wants several of the properties both of the sowr spirit and the alkaly . now to apply all this to the occasion , on which i mention'd it , how distant and contrary soever the more inquisitive of the latter chymists take acid and fixed salts to be ; yet i scarce doubted , but that , by our experiment , i should , from acid salts , obtain an alkaly , and accordingly having , by casting in several bits of well kindled coal , excited , in the melted mass of our transmuted salt , as many deflagrations as i could , and then giving it a pretty strong fire to drive away the rest of the more fugitive parts , i judg'd , that the remaining masse would be ( like the fix'd nitre i have elsewhere mention'd ) of an alkalizate nature , and accordingly having taken it out , i found it to tast , not like sea-salt , but fiery enough upon the tongue , and to have a lixiviate relish . i found too , that it would turn syrup of violets into a greenish colour , that it would praecipitate a limpid solution of sublimate , made in fair water , into an orange tawny powder . i found , that it would , like other fix'd salts , produce an ebullition with acid spirits , and even with spirit of salt it self , and concoagulate with them . nor are these themselves all the wayes i took to manifest the alkalizate nature of our transmuted sea salt . i did indeed consider at first , that it might be suspected , that this new alkalizatenesse might proceed from the ashes of the injected coals , the ashes of vegetables generally containing in them more or lesse of a fix'd salt. but when i consider'd too , that a pound of charcoal , burn'd to ashes , is wont to yield so very little salt , that the injected fragments of coal , ( though they had been , which they were not ) quite burn'd out in this operation , would scarce have afforded two or three grains of salt , ( perhaps not half so much , ) i saw no reason at all to believe , that in the whole mass i had obtain'd ( and which was all , that was left me of the sea-salt , i had at first imploy'd , ) it was nothing but so inconsiderable a proportion of ashes , that exhibited all the phaenomena of an alkaly . and for further confirmation both of this , and what i said a little before , i shall adde , that to satisfie my self yet more , i pour'd , upon a pretty quantity of this lixiviate salt , a due proportion of aqua fortis , till the hissing and ebullition ceased , and then leaving the fluid mixture for a good while to coagulate , ( which it did very slowly , ) i found it at length to shoot into saline chrystals , which though they were not of the figure of nitre , did yet , by their inflammability and their bigness , sufficiently argue , that there had been a conjunction made betwixt the nitrous spirit , and a considerable proportion of alkaly . i consider'd also , that it might be suspected , that in our experiment t was the nitrous corpuscles of the aqua fortis , that , lodging themselves in the little rooms deserted by the saline corpuscles of the sea-salt , that pass'd over into the receiver , had afforded this alkaly ; as common salt-petre , being handled after such a manner , would leave in the crucible a fix'd or alkalizate salt. but to this i answer , that as the sea-salt , which was not driven over by so mild a distillation , and seem'd much a greater part then that which had pass'd over , was far from being of an alkalizate nature : so the nitrous corpuscles , that are presum'd to have stay'd behind , were whilst they compos'd the spirit of nitre , of an highly volatile and acid nature , and consequently of a nature directly opposite to that of alkalys ; and if by the addition of any other substance , that were no more alkalizate then sea-salt , an alkaly could be obtain'd out of spirit of nitre or aqua fortis , the producibleness of an alkaly out of bodies of another nature might be rightly thence inferr'd : so that however , it appears , that by the intervention of our experiment , two substances , that were formerly acid , are turn'd into one , that is manifestly of an alkalizate nature , which is that we would here evince . perhaps it may ( pyrophilus ) be worth while to subjoyn ; that to prosecute the experiment by inverting it , we drew two parts of strong spirit of salt from one of purifi'd nitre ; but did not observ● the remaining body to be any thing neer so considerably chang'd as the sea-salt , from which we had drawn the spirit of nitre ; since though the spirit of salt , that came over , did ( as we expected ) bring over so many of the corpuscles of the nitre , that , being heated , it would readily enough dissolve foliated gold ; yet the salt , that remain'd in the retort , being put upon quick coals , did flash away with a vehement and halituous flame , very like that of common nitre . experiment vi. i come now ( pyrophilus ) to an experiment , which , though in some things it be of kin to that which i have already taught you , concerning the changing of sea-salt by aqua fortis , will yet afford us divers other instances , to shew , how upon the change of texture in bodies , there may arise divers new qualities , especially of that sort , which , because they are chiefly produc'd by chymistry , and are wont to be consider'd by chymists , if not by them onely , may in some sense be call'd chymical . the body , which , partly whilst we were preparing it , and partly when we had prepar'd it , afforded us these various phaenomena , either is the same that glauberus means by his sal mirabilis , or at least seems to be very like it : and whether it be the same or no , it s various and uncommon properties make it very fit to have a place allow'd it in this treatise . though of the many tryals i made with it , i can at present find no more among my loose papers , then that following part of it , that i wrot some years ago to an ingenious friend , who i know will not be displeas'd , if , to save my self some time , and the trouble of examining my memory , i annex the following transcript of it . [ to give you a more particular account of what i writ to you from oxford of my tryals about glauber's salt , though i dare not say , that i have made the self same thing , which he cals his sal mirabilis , because he has describ'd it so darkly and ambiguously , that t is not easie to know with any certainty what he means ; yet whether or no i have not made salt , that , as far as i have yet try'd it , agrees well enough with what he delivers of his , and therefore is like to prove either his sal mirabilis , or almost as good a one , i shall leave you to judge by this short narrative . the strange things that the industrious glauber's writings have invited men to expect from his sal mirabilis , in case he be indeed possess'd of such a thing , and the enquiries of divers eminent men , who would fain learn of me , what i thought of its reality and nature , invited me , the next opportunity i got , to take into my hands his pars altera miraculi mundi , whose title you know promises a description of this sal artis mirificum , as he is pleas'd to call it . but , i confess , i did not read it near all over , because a great part of it is but a transcription of several entire chapters out of paracelsus , and i perceiv'd , that much of the rest did , according to the custome or chymical writings , more concern the author , then the subject ; wherefore looking upon his process of making his sal mirabilis , i soon perceiv'd he had no mind to make it common , since he onely bids us upon two parts of common salt dissolv'd in common water , to pour a , without telling us what that a is , wherefore reading on in the same processe , and finding that he tels us , that with b ( which he likewise explaines not at all , nor determines the quantity of it ) one may make an aqua fortis , it presently call'd into my mind , that some years before , having had occasion to make many tryals , mention'd in other tracts of mine , with oyl of vitriol and salt petre , i did , among other things , make a red spirit of nitre , by the help onely of oyl of vitriol ; remembring this ( i say ) i resorted to one of my carneades's dialogues , * and reviewing that experiment , as i have set it down , i concluded , that though i had not dissolv'd the salt petre in water , as glauber doth his common salt ; yet since , on the other side , i made use of external fire , 't was probable i might this way also get a nitrous spirit , though not so strong . and though by calling the liquor , that must make an aqua fortis b , whereas he had call'd that , which is to make his spirit of salt and sal mirabilis , a , he seem'd plainly to make them differing things , yet relying on the experiment i had made , and putting to a solution of nitre as much of the oyl of vitriol as i had taken last , though that be double the quantity he prescribes for the making of his sal mirabilis , i obtain'd , out of a low glasse body and head plac'd in sand , an indifferent good spiritus nitri , that even before rectification would readily enough dissolve silver , though it were diluted with as much of the common water , wherein salt-petre had been dissolv'd , as amounted at least to double or treble the weight of the nitrous parts ; the remaining matter , being kept in the fire till it was dry , afforded us a salt easily reducible ( by solution in fair water and coagulation ) into chrystalline grains , of a nature very differing both from crude nitre , and from fixt nitre , and from oyl of vitriol . for it coagulated into pretty big and well shap'd grains , which , you know , fix'd nitre and other alkalizate salts are not wont to do ; and these graines were not like the chrystals of salt-petre it self , long and hexaedrical , but of another figure , not easie nor necessary to be here described . besides , this vitriolate nitre ( if i may so call it ) would not easily , if at all , flow in the air , as fixt nitre is wont to do . moreover , it was easily enough fusible by heat , vvhereas fix'd nitre doth usually exact a vehement fire for its fusion ; and though crude salt-petre also melts easily , yet to satisfie you how differing a substance this of ours was from that , vve cast quick coals into the crucible , without being at all able to kindle it . nay , and vvhen , for further tryal , vve threw in some sulphur also , though it did flame away it self , yet did it not seem to kindle the salt , that was hot enough to kindle it ; much less did it flash , as sulphur is wont on such occasions to make salt-petre do . add to all this , that a parcel of this white substance , being , vvithout brimstone , made to flow for a vvhile in a crucible , with a bit of charcoal for it to vvork upon , grew manifestly and strongly sented of sulphur , and acquir'd an alkalizate tast , so that it seem'd almost a coal of fire upon the tongue , if it were lick'd before it imbib'd any of the aires moisture , and ( which many perhaps will , though i do not , think stranger ) obtain'd also a very red colour ; which recall'd to my mind , that glauber mentions such a change observable in his salt , made of common salt , upon whose account he is pleas'd to call such a substance his carbunculus . being invited by this success to try , whether i could make his sal mirabilis , notwithstanding his intimating , as i lately told you , that it is done with a differing menstruum from that , wherewith the salt-petre is to be wrought upon ; i observ'd , that where he points at a way of making his salt in quantity without breaking the vessels , he prescribes , that the materials be distill'd in vessels of pure silver ; vvhence i conjectur'd , that 't was not aqua fortis , or spirit of nitre , that he imploy'd to open his sea-salt : and that consequently , since common spirit of salt was too weak to effect so great a change , as the experiment requires , 't was very probable , that he imploy'd oyl of sulphur , or of vitriol , vvhich vvill scarce at all fret unalloy'd silver . and however i concluded , that whatsoever the event should prove , it could not but be worth the while to try , vvhat operation such a menstruum vvould have upon sea-salt , as i vvas sure had such a notable one upon salt-petre . and i remember , that formerly making some experiments about the differing manners of dissolution of the same concrete by several liquors , i found , that oyl of vitriol dissolves sea-salt in a very odd way , ( vvhich you vvill find mention'd among my promiscuous experiments , ) vvherefore pouring , upon a solution of bay-salt , made in but a moderate proportion of water , oyl of vitriol to the full weight of the dry salt , and abstracting the liquor in a glass cucurbite plac'd in sand , i obtain'd , without stress of fire , besides flegme , good store of a liquor , vvhich , by the smel and tast , seem'd to be spirit of salt. and to satisfie my self the better , mingling a little of it vvith some of the spirit of nitre lately mention'd , i found the mixture , even without the assistance of heat , to dissolve crude gold. and having , for further tryals sake , pour'd some of it upon spirit of fermented urine , till the affusion ceas'd to produce any conflict , and having afterwards gently evaporated away the superfluous moisture , there did , as i expected , shoot , in the remaining liquor , a salt figur'd like combs and feathers , thereby disclosing it self to be much of the nature of sal armoniack , such as i elsewhere relate my having made , by mingling spirit of urine vvith spirit of common salt , made the ordinary way . ] this ( pyrophilus ) is all i can find at present of that account , of vvhich i hop'd to have found much more ; but you will be the more unconcern'd , for my not adding divers other things , that , i remember , i try'd , as vvell before and after the vvriting the above transscrib'd paper , ( as particularly , that i found the experiment sometimes to succeed not ill , when i distill'd the oyl of vitriol and sea-salt together , without the intervention of water , ( whereby much time was sav'd , ) and also when i imploy'd oyl of sulphur , made with a glass bell , in stead of oyl of vitriol , ) if i inform you , that afterwards i found , that glauber himself , in some of his subsequent pieces , had deliver'd more intelligibly the way of making what he , without altogether so great a brag , as most think , calls his sal mirabilis , ( which yet some very ingenious readers of his writings have come to us to teach them , ) and that those experiments of his about it , which i vvas able to make succeed , ( for some i was not , and some i did not think fit to try ) you will find , together with those of my own , in more proper places of other papers . onely , to apply what hath been above related to my present purpose , i must not here pretermit a couple of observations . and first we may take notice of the power , that mixtures , though they seem but very slight , & consist of the smallest number of ingredients , may , if they make great changes of texture , have , in altering the nature and qualities of the compounding bodies . for in our ( above recited ) case , though sea-salt be a body considerably fix'd , requires a naked fire to be elevated even by the help of copious additaments of beaten bricks , or clay , &c. to keep it from fusion , yet the saline corpuscles are distill'd over in a moderate fire of sand , whilst the oyl of vitriol , by whose intervention they acquire this volatility , though it be not ( like the other ) a grosse or ( as the same chymist speaks ) corporeal salt , but a liquor , that has been already distill'd , is yet , by the same operation , so fix'd , as to stay behind , not onely in the retort , but , as i have sometimes purposely try'd , in much considerabler heats then that needs in this experiment be expos'd to . nor onely is the oyl of vitriol made thus far fix'd , but it is otherwise also no less chang'd . for when the remaining salt has been expos'd to a competent heat , that it may be very drie and white , to be sure of which , i several times do , when the distillation is ended , keep the remaining masse ( taken out of the retort and beaten ) in a crucible among quick coals , you shall have a considerable quantity ( perhaps near as much as the sea-salt you first imploy'd ) of a substance , which , though not insipid , has not at all the tast of sea-salt , or any other pungent one , and much lesse the highly corrosive acidity of oyl of vitriol . and the mention of this substance leads me to the second particular i intended to take notice of , which is a phaenomenon to confirme what i formerly intimated , that notwithstanding the regular and exquisite figures of some salts , they may , by the addition of other bodies , be brought to constitute chrystals of very differing , and yet of curious , shapes . for if you dissolve the hitherto mention'd caput mortuum of sea salt ( after you have made it very dry , and freed it from all pungency of tast ) in a sufficient quantity of fair water , and , having filtrated the solution , suffer the dissolv'd body leisurely to coagulate , you will probably obtain , as i have often done , chrystals of a far greater transparency , then the cubes wherein sea salt is wont to shoot , and of a shape far differing from theirs , though oftentimes no lesse curious then that of those cubes ; and , which makes mainely for my present purpose , i have often observ'd those finely figur'd chrystals to differ as much in shape from one another , as from the graines of common salt. and indeed i must not , on this occasion , conceal from you , that whether it be to be imputed to the peculiar nature of sea salt , or ( which i judge much more probable ) to the great disparities to be met with in liquors , that do all of them pass for oyl of vitriol , whether ( i say ) it be to this , or to some other cause , that the effect is to be imputed , i have found my attempts , to make the best sort of sal mirabilis , subject to so much incertainty , that though i have divers times succeeded in them , i have found so little uniformity in the success , as made me reckon this experiment amongst contingent ones , and almost weary of medling with it . experiment vii. * i remember ( pyrophilus ) i once made an experiment , which , if i had had the opportunity to repeat , and had done so with the like success , i should be tempted to look upon it , though not as a lucriferous experiment , ( for t is the quite contrary , ) yet as so luciferous a one , as , how much soever it may serve to recommend chymistry it self , may no lesse displease envious chymists , who will be troubled , both that one , who admits not their principles , should devise such a thing , and that having found it , he should not ( chymist like ) keep it secret . but to give you a plain and naked account of this matter , that you may be able the better to judge of it , and , if you please , to repeat it , i will freely tell you , that supposing all metals , as well as other bodies , to be made of one catholick matter common to them all , and to differ but in the shape , size , motion or rest , and texture of the small parts they consist of , from which affections of matter , the qualities , that difference particular bodies , result , i could not see any impossibility in the nature of the thing , that one kind of metal should be transmuted into another ; ( that being in effect no more , then that one parcel of the universal matter , wherein all bodies agree , may have a texture produc'd in it , like the texture of some other parcel of the matter common to them both . ) and having first suppos'd this , i further consider'd , that in a certain menstruum , which , according to the vulgar chymists doctrine , must be a worthless liquor , according to my apprehension there must be an extraordinary efficacy in reference to gold , not onely to dissolve , and otherwise alter it , but to injure the very texture of that supposedly immutable metal . the menstruum then i chose to try whether i could not dissolve gold with , is made by pouring on the rectifi'd oyl of the butter of antimony as much strong spirit of nitre , as would serve to praecipitate out of it all the bezoarticum minerale , and then with a good smart fire distilling off all the liquor , that would come over , and ( if need be ) cohobating it upon the antimonial powder . for though divers chymists , that make this liquor , throw it away , upon presumption , that , because of the ebullition , that is made by the affusion of the spirit to the oyl , and the consequent precipitation of a copious powder , the liquors have mutually destroy'd or disarm'd each other ; yet my notions and experience of the nature of some such mixtures invites me to prize this , and give it the name of menstruum per acutum . having then provided a sufficient quantity of this liquor , ( for i have observ'd that gold ordinarily requires a far more copious solvent then silver , ) we took a quantity of the best gold we could get , and melted it with 3 or 4 times its weight of copper , which metal we choose rather then that which is more usual among the refiners , silver , that there may be the lesse suspicion , that there remain'd any silver with the gold , after their separation ; this mixture we put into good aqua fortis , or spirit of nitre , that all the copper being dissolv'd , the gold might be left pure and finely powder'd at the bottom ; this operation with aqua fortis being accounted the best way of refining gold that is yet known , and not subject , like lead , to leave any silver with it , since the aqua fortis takes up that metal . and for greater security , we gave the powder to an ancient chymist , to boile some more of the menstruum upon it , without communicating to him our design . this highly refin'd gold being , by a competent degree of heat , brought , as is usual , to its native colour and lustre , we put to it a large proportion of the menstruum peracutum , ( to which we have sometimes found cause to adde a little spirit of salt , to promote the solution , ) wherein it dissolves slowly and quietly enough ; and there remain'd at the bottom of the glasse a pretty quantity ( in shew , though not in weight ) of white powder , that the menstruum would not touch , and , if i much misremember not , we found it as indissoluble in aqua regis too . the solution of gold being abstracted , and the gold again reduc'd into a body , did , upon a second solution , yield more of the white powder , but not ( if i remember aright ) so much as at the first ; now having some little quantity of this powder , t was easie with borax or some other convenient flux , to melt it down into a metal , which metal we found to be white like silver , and yielding to the hammer , if not to a less pressure , and some of it , being dissolv'd in aqua fortis or spirit of nitre , did , by the odious bitterness it produc'd , sufficiently confirm us in our expectation , to find it true silver . i doubt not , but you will demand ( pyrophilus ) why i did not make other tryals with this factitious metal , to see in how many other qualities i could verifie it to be silver , but the quantity i recover'd after fusion was so small , some of it perhaps being left either in the flux , or in the crucible , that i had not wherewithall to make many tryals , and being well enough satisfied by the visible properties , and the tast peculiar to silver , both that it was a metal , and rather silver then any other , i was willing to keep the rest of it for a while , as a rarity , before i made further tryals with it ; but was so unfortunate , as with it to loose it in a little silver box , where i had something of more value , and possibly of more curiosity . you will also ask , why i repeated not the experiment ? to which i shall answer , that , besides that one may easily enough faile in making the menstruum fit for my purpose , i did , when i had another opportunity , ( for i was long without it , ) make a second attempt ; and having , according to the above mention'd method , brought it so far , that there remain'd nothing but the melting of the white powder into silver , when having wash'd it , i had layd it upon a piece of white paper by the fires side to dry , being suddenly call'd out of my chamber , an ignorant maid , that in the mean time came to dress it up , unluckily swept this paper , as a foul one , into the fire : which discouragement , together with multiplicity of occasions , have made me suspend the pursuit of this experiment , till another opportunity . but in the mean time i was confirm'd in some part of my conjecture by these things . the first , by finding , that with some other menstruums which i try'd , and even with good aqua regis it self , i could obtain from the very best gold , i dissolv'd in them , some little quantity of such a white powder , as i was speaking of ; but in so very small a proportion to the dissolv'd gold , that i had never enough of it at once , to think it worth prosecuting tryals with . the other was this . that a very experienc'd mineralist , whom i had acquainted with part of what i had done , assur'd me , that an eminently learned and judicious person , that he nam'd to me , had , by dissolving gold in a certain kind of aqua regis , and after by reduction of it into a body , redissolving it again , and repeating this operation very often , reduc'd a very great , if not much the greater , part of an ounce of gold into such a white powder . and the third thing , that confirm'd me , was , the proof given me by some tryals that i purposely made ; that the menstruum peracutum i imploy'd , had a notable operation upon gold , and would perform some things ( one of which we shall by and by mention , ) which judicious men , that play the great criticks in chymistry , do not think feasible : so that there seems no greater cause to doubt , that the above mention'd silver was really obtain'd out of the pure gold , then onely this , that men have hitherto so often in vain attempted to make a real transmutation of metals , ( for the better or for the worse , ) and to destroy the most fix'd and compacted body of gold , that the one is look'd upon as an unpracticable thing , and the other as an indestructible metal . to reflect then a little upon what we have been relating , if we did not mistake nor impose upon our selves , ( i say , upon our selves , the project being our own , and pursued without acquainting any body with our aime , ) it may afford us very considerable consequences of great moment and in the first place , it seems probably reducible from hence , that however the chymists are wont to talke irrationally enough of what they call tinctura auri , and anima auri ; yet , in a sober sense , some such thing may be admitted , i say , some such thing , because as on the one hand , i would not countenance their wild fancies about their matters , some of them being as unintelligible , as the peripateticks substantial forms , so , on the other hand , i would not readily deny , but that there may be some more noble and subtle corpuscles , being duely conjoyn'd with the rest of the matter , whereof gold consists , may qualifie that matter to look yellow , to resist aqua fortis , and to exhibit those other peculiar phaenomena , that discriminate gold from silver , and yet these noble parts may either have their texture destroy'd by a very piercing menstruum , or by a greater congruity with its corpuscles , then with those of the remaining part of the gold , may stick more closer to the former , and by their means be extricated and drawn away from the latter . as when ( to explain my meaning by a gross example ) the corpuscles of sulphur and mercury do , by a strict coalition , associate themselves into the body we call vermilion , though these will rise together in sublimatory vessels , without being divorc'd by the fire , and will act , in many cases , as one physical body : yet t is known enough among chymists , that if you exquisitely mix with it a due proportion of salt of tartar , the parts of the alkaly will associate themselves more strictly with those of the sulphur , then these were before associated with those of the mercury , whereby you shall obtain out of the cinnabar , which seem'd intensely red , a real mercury , that will look like fluid silver . and this example prompts me to mind you , ( pyrophilus ) that , at the beginning of this paragraph , i said no more , then that the consequence , i have been deducing , might probably be inferr'd from the premises . for as t is not absurd to think , that our menstruum may have a particular operation upon some noble , and ( if i may so call them ) some tinging parts of the gold , so it is not impossible , but that the yellowishness of that rich metal may proceed not from any particular corpuscles of that colour , but from the texture of the metal ; as in our lately mention'd example , the cinnabar was highly red , though the mercury , it consisted of , were silver-coloured , and the sulphur but a pale yellow ; and consequently , the whiteness , and other changes , produc'd in the new metal we obtain'd , may be attributed not to the extraction of any tinging particles , but to a change of texture , whereon the colour , as well as other properties of the gold did depend . but that , which made me unwilling to reject the way , i first proposed , of explicating this change of colour , was , that a mineralist of great veracity hath several times assur'd me , that a known person in the relators country , the netherlands , got a great deal of money by the way of extracting a blew tincture out of copper , so as to leave the body white ; adding , that he himself , having procur'd from a friend ( to satisfie his curiosity ) a little of the menstruum , ( whose chiefe ingredients his friend communicated to him , and he to me , ) he did , as he was directed , dissolve copper in common aqua fortis , to reduce it into small parts , and then having kept the calx of the powder of this copper for some hours in this menstruum , he perceiv'd , that the clear liquor , which was weak in tast , did not dissolve the body of the metal , but onely extract a blew tincture , leaving behind a very white powder , which he quickly reduc'd by fusion into a metal of the same colour , which he found as malleable as before . which i the lesse wonder at , because the experienc'd chymist johannes agricola , in his dutch annotations upon poppius , mentions the making of a white and malleable copper in good quantities upon his own knowledge ; and that of such a kind of copper , i have with pleasure made tryal , i elsewhere relate . but of these matters we may possibly say more in a convenient place . the second thing , that seems deducible from our former narrative , is , that however most ( for i say not all ) of the judiciousest among the chymists themselves , as well as among their adversaries , believe gold too fix'd and permanent a body to be changeable by art , insomuch that t is a receiv'd axiom amongst many eminent spagyrists , that facilius est aurum construere , quàm destruere ; yet gold it self is not absolutely indestructible by art , since gold being acknowledg'd to be an homogeneous metal , a part of it was , by our experiment , really chang'd into a body , that was either true silver , or at least a new kind of metal very differing from gold. and since t is generally confess'd , that among all the bodies we are allow'd to observe near enough , and to try our skill upon , there is not any , whose form is more strictly united to its matter then that of gold , and since also the operation , by which the white powder was produc'd , was made onely by a corrosive liquor , without violence of fire , it seems at least a very probable inference , that there is not any body of so constant and durable a nature , but that , notwithstanding its persisting inviolated in the midst of divers sensible disguises , its texture , and consequently its nature may be really destroy'd , in case this more powerful and appropriated agent be brought by a due manner of application to work upon the body , whose texture is to be destroy'd . but this matter we elsewhere handle , and therefore shall now proceed to the last and chief consectaries of our experiment . thirdly then , it seems deducible from what we have deliver'd , that there may be a real transmutation of one metal into another , even among the perfectest and noblest metals , and that effected by factitious agents in a short time , and , if i may so speak , after a mechanical manner . i speak not here of projection , whereby one part of an aurisick powder is said to turn i know not how many 100 or 1000 parts of an ignobler metal into silver or gold , not onely because , though projection includes transmutation , yet transmutation is not all one with projection , but far easier then it : but chiefly because t is not in this discourse you are to expect what i can say , and do think , concerning what men call the philosophers stone . to restrain my self then to the experiment we are considering , that seems to teach us , that , at least among inanimate bodies , the noblest and constantest sort of forms are but peculiar contrivances of the matter , and may , by agents , that work but mechanically , that is , by locally moving the parts , and changing their sizes , shape , or texture , be generated and destroy'd ; since we see , that in the same parcel of metalline matter , which a little before was true and pure gold , by having some few of its parts withdrawn , and the rest transpos'd , or otherwise alter'd in their structure , ( for there appears no token , that the menstruum added any thing to the matter of the produc'd silver , ) or by both these wayes together , the form of gold , or that peculiar modification which made it yellow , indissoluble in aqua fortis , &c. is abolish'd , and from the new texture of the same matter , there arises that new forme , or convention of accidents , from which we call a metal silver ; and since ours was not onely dissoluble in aqua fortis , but exhibited that excessively bitter tast , which is peculiar to silver , there seems no necessity to think , that there needs a distinct agent , or a particular action of a substantial form , to produce in a natural body the most peculiar and discriminating properties . for t was but the same menstruum , devoid of bitterness , that , by destroying the texture of gold , chang'd it into another , upon whose account it acquir'd at once both whiteness in colour , dissolublenesse in aqua fortis , and aptnesse to compose a bitter body with it , and i know not how many other new qualities are attributed . i know t is obvious to object , that t is no very thrifty way of transmutation , instead of exalting silver to the condition of gold , to degrade gold to the condition of silver . but a transmutation is neverthelesse more or lesse real , for being or not being lucriferous , and since that may inrich a brain , that may impoverish a purse , i must look upon your humour as that of an alchymist , rather then of a philosopher , if i durst not expect that the instructiveness in such an experiment will suffice to recommend it to you. and if i could have satisfied my self , that good authors are not mistaken about what they affirm of the transmutation of iron into copper , though , the charge and pains consider'd , it be a matter of no gain , yet i should have thought it an experiment of great worth , as well as the transmutation of silver into gold. for t is no small matter to remove the bounds , that nature seems very industriously to have set to the alterations of bodies ; especially among those durable and almost immortal kinds , in whose constancy to their first forms , nature seems to have design'd the shewing her self invincible by art. i should here ( pyrophilus ) conclude what i have to say of the experiment , that hath already so long entertain'd us , by recommending to you the repetition of what i had not the opportunity to try above once from end to end , were it not , that i remember something i said about the menstruum peracutum , may seem to import a promise of communicating to you something of the efficacy of that liquor upon gold. and therefore partly for that reason , and partly to make sure , that the present discourse shall not be uninstructive to you , i would adde , that though not onely the generality of refiners and mineralists , but divers of the most judicious cultivators of chymistry it self , hold gold to be so fix'd a body , that it can as little be volatiliz'd as destroy'd , and that upon this ground , that the processes of subliming or distilling gold to be met with in divers chymical books , are either mystical , or unpracticable , or fallacious , ( in which opinion i think them not much mistaken ; ) though this , i say , be the perswasion even of some critical chymists , yet , upon the just expectation i had to find my menstruum very operative upon gold , i attempted and found a way to elevate it to a considerable height , but far less proportion of additament , then one that were not fully perswaded of the possibility of elevating gold ; and though i have indeed found , by two or three several liquors , ( especially the aqua pugilum , aenigmatically describ'd by basilius , ) that the fixedness of gold is not altogether invincible , yet i found the effect of these much inferior to that of our mixture , touching which i shall relate to you the easiest and shortest , though not perhaps the very best , manner of imploying it . we take then the finest gold we can procure , and having either granulated it , or laminated it , we dissolve it in a moderate heat , with a sufficient quantity of the menstruum peracutum , and having carefully decanted the solution into a conveniently siz'd retort , we very gently in a sand-furnace distill off the menstruum , and if we have a mind to elevate the more gold , we either pour back upon the remaining substance the same menstruum , or , which is better , redissolve it with fresh ; the liquor being abstracted , we urge the remaining matter by degrees of fire , and in no stronger a one , then what may easily be given in a sand furnace , a considerable quantity of the gold will be elevated to the upper part of the retort , and either fall down in a golden colour'd liquor into the receiver , or , which is more usual , fasten it self to the top and neck in the form of a yellow or reddish sublimate , and sometimes we have had the neck of the retort inrich'd with good store of large thin chrystals , not yellow but red , and most like rubies , very glorious to behold ; ( though even these being taken out , and suffer'd to lie a due time in the open air would loose their saline form , and run per deliquium into a liquor . ) nor see i any cause to doubt , but that by the reaffusions of fresh menstruum upon the dry calx of gold , that stayes behind , the whole body of the metal may be easily enough made to pass through the retort , though , for a certain reason , i forbore to prosecute the experiment so far . but here ( pyrophilus ) i think my self oblig'd to interpose a caution , as well as to give you a further information about our present experiment . for first i must tell you , that though even learned chymists think it a sufficient proof of a true tincture , that not onely the colour of the concrete will not be separated by distillation , but the extracting liquor will pass over tincted into the receiver ; yet this supposition , though it be not unworthy of able men , may , in some cases , deceive them . and next i must tell you , that whereas i scruple not , in several writings of mine , to teach , that the particles of solid and consistent bodies are not alwaies unfit to help to make up fluid ones , i shall now venture to say further , that even a liquor , made by distillation , how volatile soever such liquors may be thought , may in part consist of corpuscles of the most compact and ponderous bodies in the world. now to manifest both these things , and to shew you withall the truth of what i elsewhere teach , that some bodies are of so durable a texture , that their minute parts will retain their own nature , notwithstanding variety of disguizes , which may impose , not onely upon other men , but upon chymists themselves ; i will adde , that to prosecute the experiment , i dropp'd into the yellow liquor afforded me by the elevated gold , a convenient quantity of clean running mercury , which was immediately colour'd with a golden colour'd filme , and shaking it to and fro , till the menstruum would guild no more , when i suppos'd the gold to be all praecipitated upon the mercury , i decanted the clarifi'd liquor , and mixing the remaining amalgam ( if i may so call it ) of gold and mercury , with several times its weight of borax , i did , as i expected , by melting them in a small crucible , easily recover the scatter'd particles of the elevated metal , reduc'd into one little mass or bead of corporal or yellow ( though perhaps somewhat palish ) gold. but yet whether the gold , that tinged the menstruum , might not , before the metal was reduc'd or praecipitated out of it , have been more succesfully apply'd to some considerable purposes , then a bare solution of gold , that hath never been elevated , may be a question , which i must not in this place determine , and some other things that i have try'd about our elevated gold , i have elsewhere taken notice of ; onely this further use i shall here make of this experiment , that , whereas i speak in other papers , as if there may be a volatile gold in some oars , and other minerals , where the mine-men do not find any thing of that metal , i mention such a thing upon the account of the past experiment and some analogies . and therefore as i would not be understood to adopt what every chymical writer is pleas'd to fancie concerning volatile gold ; so i think judicious men , that are not so well acquainted with chymical operations , are sometimes too forward to condemn the chymists observations ; not because their opinions have nothing of truth , but because they have had the ill luck not to be warily enough propos'd . and to give an instance in the opinion , that some minerals have a volatile gold , ( and the like may be said of silver , ) i think i may give an account , rational enough , of my admitting such a thing , by explicating it thus : that as in our experiment , though after the almost total abstraction of the menstruum , the remaining body being true gold , and consequently , in its own nature , fix'd , yet it is so strictly associated with some volatile saline particles , that these , being press'd by the fire , carry up along with them the corpuscles of the gold , which may be reduc'd into a mass by the admistion of borax , or some other body fitted to divorce the corpuscles of the metal from those , that would elevate them , and to unite them into grains , too big and ponderous to be sublim'd ; so in some mineral bodies there may be pretty store of corpuscles of gold , so minute , and so blended with the unfix'd particles , that they will be carried up together with them by so vehement a heat , as is wont to be imploy'd to bring oars , and even metalline masses to fusion . and yet t is not impossible , but that these corpuscles of gold , that in ordinary fusions fly away , may be detain'd and recover'd by some such proper additament , as may either work upon , and ( to use a chymical term ) mortifie the other parts of the mass , without doing so upon the gold ; or by associating with the volatile and ignobler minerals , some way or other disable them to carry away the gold with them , as they otherwise may do ; or by its fixedness and cognation of nature make the dispers'd gold imbody with it . on which occasion i remember , that a very ingenious man , desiring my thoughts upon an experiment , which he and some others , that were present at it , look'd upon as very strange , namely , that some good gold , having , for a certain tryal , been cuppell'd with a great deal of lead , instead of being advanc'd in colour , as in goodness , was grown manifestly paler then before ; my conjecture being , that so great a proportion of lead might contain divers particles of volatile silver , which , meeting with the fix'd body of the gold , by incorporating therewith , was detain'd , was much confirm'd by finding , upon enquiry , that the gold , instead of loosing its weight , had it considerably increas'd ; which did much better answer my ghess , then it did their expectation , that made the experiment , and were much surpriz'd at the event . but this is no fit place to prosecute the consideration of the additaments , that may be us'd to unite and fix the particles of the nobler metals , blended with volatile bodies ; though perhaps what hath been said may afford some hint about the matter , as well as some apology for the chymical term , volatile gold : the possibility of which , i presume , we have evinc'd by the latter part of this experiment , ( in which i am sorry i cannot remember the proportion of the remaining salts , that were able to elevate the gold ; ) for that i have several times made , and therefore dare much more confidently rely on it , then i can press you to do on the former part , ( about the transmutation , or at least destruction of gold , ) till you or i shall have opportunity to repeat that tryal . experiment viii . though ( pyrophilus ) the experiment , i am about to subjoin , may , at the first glance , seem onely to concern the production of tasts , and be indeed one of the principal , that i devis'd concerning that subject , and that belongs to the notes i have made about those qualities : yet if you do not of your self take notice of it , i may hereafter have occasion to shew you , that there are some particulars in this experiment , that are applicable to more then tasts . and since i had once thoughts ( however since discouraged by the difficulties of the attempt ) to make my notes extend even to divers qualities , which the operations of chymists , and the practice of physicians have made men take notice of ; ( such as the powers of corroding , praecipitating , fixing , purging , blistering , stupifying , & c ) i presume you will not dislike , that one , who had thoughts to say something even of chymical and of medical qualities , if i may so call them , should give you here an experiment or two about more obvious , though particular , affections of bodies , when there are several things in the experiment , that may be of a general import to the doctrine of the origine of qualities and forms . we took then an ounce of refined silver , and having dissolv'd it in aqua fortis , wee suffer'd it to shoot into chrystals , which being dried , we found to exceed the weight of the silver by several drachms , which accrued upon the con-coagulation of the acid salts , that had dissolv'd , and were united to the metal . these chrystals we put into a retort , and distill'd them in sand , with almost as great a heat as we could give in a hammer'd iron furnace , wherein the operation was made ; but there came over onely a very little sowrish flegm with an ill sent , wherefore the same retort being suffer'd to cool , and then coated , it was remov'd to another furnace , capable of giving a far higher degree of heat , namely , that of a naked fire , and in this furnace the distillation was pursued by the several degrees of heat , till at length the retort came to be red hot , and kept so for a good while ; but though even by this operation there was very little driven over , yet that sufficiently manifested what we aimed at , shewing ( namely ) that a body extreamly bitter might afford , as well as it consisted of , good store of parts that are not at all bitter , but ( which is a very differing tast ) eminently sowr . for our receiver being taken off even when it was cold , the contain'd spirit smoak'd out like rectify'd aqua fortis , and not onely smelt and tasted like aqua fortis , to the annoyance of the nose and tongue , but being pour'd upon filings of crude copper , it fell immediately to corrode them with violence , making much hissing , and sending up thick fumes , and in a trice produc'd , with the corroded copper , a blewish colour , like that , which that metal is wont to give in good aqua fortis . afterwards we took minium and aqua fortis , and made a solution , which being filtred and evaporated , left us a saccharum saturni , much like the common made with spirit of vinegar , then taking this sweet vitriol of lead , ( as we elsewhere call it ) we endeavour'd in the formerly mention'd sand furnace to drive it over in a retort ; but finding that degree of fire incompetent to force over any thing save a little flegmatick liquor , we caus'd the retort to be coated , and transferr'd to the other furnace , where being urg'd with a naked fire , it afforded at length a spirit somewhat more copious then the silver had done . this spirit smoak'd in the cold receiver as the other had , and did , like it , rankly smell of aqua fortis , and was so far from retaining any of the sweetness of the concrete that had yielded it , that it was offensively acid , and being pour'd upon minium , it did with noise and bubbles fall upon it , and quickly afforded us a liquor , which being filtred , did , by its sweetness as well as other proofs , assure us , that there would have needed but a gentle evaporation ( if we had leisure to make it ) to obtain from it a true sugar of lead ; and t is remarkable , that the concrete , which appear'd white before distillation , remain'd , for the most part , behind in the retort in the form of a black caput mortuum , ( sometimes we have had it in a yellowish lump , ) which was neither at all sweet , as the vitriol of lead it self had eminently been , nor at all sowr , as the liquor , distill'd from it , was in a high degree , but seem'd rather insipid , and was indeed but a calx of lead , which the heat of the fire had in part reduc'd into true and manifest lead in the retort it self , as appear'd by many grains of several sizes , that we met with in the caput mortuum , ( the rest of which is easily enough reducible by fusion with a convenient flux into malleable lead it self . ) there are some phaenomena of this experiment , that we may elsewhere have occasion to take notice of ; as particularly , that , notwithstanding silver be a body so fix'd in the fire , that it will ( as t is generally known ) endure the cuppel it self , and though in the dry'd chrystals of silver , the salt , that adheres to the silver , increases the weight of the metal but about a 4 h or a 3d part ; yet this small proportion of saline corpuscles was able to carry up so much of that almost fixedst of bodies , that , more then once , we have had the inside of the retort , to a great height , so cover'd over with the metalline corpuscles , that the glass seem'd to be silver'd over , and could hardly , by long scraping , be freed from the copious and closely adhering sublimate . but the phaenomenon , that i chiefly desire to take notice of at present , is this , that not onely aqua fortis , being concoagulated with differing bodies , may produce very differing concretes , but the same numerical saline corpuscles , that , being associated with those of one metal , had already produc'd a body eminent in one . tast , may afterwards , being freed from that body , compose a liquor eminent for a very differing tast ; and after that too , being combin'd with the particles of another metal , would with them constitute a body of a very eminent tast , as opposite as any one can be to both the other tasts ; and yet these saline corpuscles , if , instead of this second metal , they should be associated with such a one as that , they are driven from , would therewith exhibit agen the first of the three mention'd tasts . to prove all this , we took chrystals of refined silver made with aqua fortis , and though these chrystals be , as we often note , superlatively bitter ; yet having , by a naked fire , extorted from them what spirit we could , and found that , as we expected , extremely acid , we put one part of it upon a few filings of silver , of which it readily made a solution more bitter then gall , and the other part of the distill'd liquor we poured upon minium : and though , whilst it had been an ingredient of the chrystals of silver committed to distillation , it did with that metal compose an excessively bitter substance , yet the same particles , being loosned from that metal , and associated with those of the lead , did with them constitute a solution , which by evaporation afforded us a saccharum saturni , or a vitriol sweet as sugar . and for further confirmation , we varied the experiment , having , in a naked fire , distilled some dry'd saccharum saturni made with aqua fortis , the little liquor that came over , in proportion to the body , that afforded it , was so strong a spirit of nitre , that for several hours the receiver was fill'd with red fumes ; and though the smoaking liquor were hugely sharp , yet part of it , being pour'd upon a piece of its own caput mortuum , ( in vvhich we perceiv'd not any tast ) did at length ( for it vvrought but very slowly ) exhibit some little grains of a saccharine vitriol , but the other part , being put upon filings of silver , fell upon it immediately vvith noise and store of smoak , and a while after concoagulated vvith part of it ( vvhich it had dissolv'd ) into a salt excessively bitter . experiment ix . the artificial transmutation of bodies , being as the rarest and difficultest production , so one of the noblest and usefullest effects of humane skill and power , not onely the clear instances of it are to be diligently sought for and priz'd , but even the probabilities of effecting such an extraordinary change of bodies are not to be neglected ; especially , if the version , hop'd for , be to be made betwixt bodies of primordial textures , ( if i may so call them , ) and such bodies , as by the greatnesse of their bulk , and by their being to be found in most of the mix'd bodies here below , make a considerable part of those , that we men have the most immediately to do with . invited by these considerations , pyrophilus , i shall venture to give you the account of some observations , and tryals , about the transmuting of water into earth , though it be not so perfect as i wish , and as i hope , by gods blessing , to make it . the first occasion , afforded me to do any thing about this matter , was my being consulted by a gentleman , ( an antient chymist , but not at all a philosopher , ) who relating to me how much he had ( with the wonted success of such attempts ) labour'd after the grand arcana , complain'd to me among other things , that , having occasion to imploy great quantity of purifi'd rain-water , he obtain'd from it much less then he wish'd of the substance that he look'd for , but a great deal of a certain whitish excrementitious matter , which he knew not what to make of . this gave me the curiosity first to desire a sight of it , in case he had not thrown it away , ( which by good fortune he had not , ) and then , taking notice of the unexpected plenty , and some of the qualities of it , to ask him some questions which were requisite and sufficient to perswade me , that this residenee came not from accidental foulness of the water , nor of the vessels t was receiv'd in . this i afterwards often thought of , and indeed it might justly enough awaken some suspicions , that the little motes , that have been sometimes observ'd to appear numerous enough , in pure rain water whilst it is distilling , might not be meerly accidental , but really produc'd , as well as exhibited by the action of the fire . i thought it then worth while to prosecute this matter a little farther : and having put a pretty quantity of distill'd rainwater in a clean glass body , and fitted it with a head and a receiver , i suffer'd it to stand in a digestive furnace , till , by the gentle heat thereof , the water was totally abstracted , and the vessel left dry : which being taken out of the sand , i found the bottom of the glass all cover'd over with a white ( but not so very white ) substance ; which , being scrap'd off vvith a knife , appear'd to be a fine earth , in vvhich i perceiv'd no manifest tast , and vvhich , in a vvord , by several qualities seem'd to be earth . this incourag'd me to redistill the rain-water in the same glass body , vvhose bottom , vvhen the water vvas all drawn off , afforded me more of the like earth : but though the repetition of the experiment , and my having , for greater caution , try'd it all the while in a new glass , that had not been imploy'd before to other uses , confirm'd me much in my conjecture , that unless it could be prov'd , which i think will scarce be pretended , that so insipid a liquor as rain-water should , in so gentle a heat , dissolve the most close and almost indestructible body of glass it self , ( which such corrosive menstruums as aqua fortis , and aqua regis are wont to leave unharm'd , ) the earthy powder , i obtain'd from already distill'd rain water , might be a transmutation of some parts of the water into that substance , yet having unhappily lost part of my powder , and consum'd almost all the rest , ( for i kept a little by me , which you may yet see , ) i should , till i had more frequently reiterated my experiments , ( which then i had not opportunity to do , though i had thoughts of doing it also with snow-water , that i had put into chymical glasses for that purpose , and with liquor of melted hail , which i had likewise provided , ) and thereby also obtain'd some more of this virgin earth ( as divers chymists would call it ) to make farther tryals with , have retain'd greater suspicions , if i had not afterwards accidentally fall'n into discourse of this matter with a learned physician , vvho had dealt much in rain-vvater , but he much confirmed me in my conjecture , by assuring me , that he had frequently found such a white earth , as i mention'd , in distill'd rain water , after he had distill'd the same numerical liquor ( carefully gather'd at first ) i know not how many times one after another , adding , that he did not find ( any more then i had done ) any cause to suspect , that if he had continu'd to redistill the same portion of water , it would have yielded him more earth . but the odness of the experiment still keeping me in suspence , it was not without much delight , that afterwards mentioning it to a very ingenious person , whom , without his leave , i think not fit to name , well vers'd in chymical matters , and whom i suspected to have , in order to some medicines , long wrought upon rain vvater , he readily gave me such an account of his proceedings , as seem'd to leave little scruple about the transmutation we have been mentioning : for he solemnly affirm'd to me , that having observ'd , as i had done , that rain-vvater would , even after a distillation or two , afford a terrestrial substance , which may sometimes be seen swimming up and down in the limpid liquor , he had the curiosity , being settled and at leisure , to try how long he could obtain this substance from the water . and accordingly having freed rain water , carefully collected , from its accidental , and as it vvere faeculent earthiness , vvhich it vvill deposite at the first slovv distillation , ( and vvhich is oftentimes colour'd , vvhereby it may be distinguish'd from the white earth made by transmutation , ) he redistill'd it in very clean glasses , not onely 8 or 10 times , but neer 200 , vvithout finding that his liquor grevv weary of affording him the white earth , but rather that the corpuscles of it did appear far more numerous , or at least more conspicuous in the latter distillation , then in the former . and vvhen i expressed my curiosity to see this earth , he readily shevv'd me a pretty quantity of it , and presented me vvith some , vvhich comparing vvith vvhat i had remaining of mine , i found to be exceeding like it , save that it vvas more purely white , as having been , for the main , afforded by rain water , that had been more frequently rectify'd . and to compare this welcome powder with that i made my self , i try'd with this divers things , which i had before try'd with my own , and ( because the quantity presented me was less inconsiderable ) some others too . for i observ'd in this new powder , as i had done with my own , that being put into an excellent microscope , and plac'd where the sun beams might fall upon it , it appear'd a white meal , or heap of corpuscles so exceeding , not to say unimaginably , small , that , in two or three choice microscopes , both i and others had occasion to admire it ; and their extreme littleness was much more sensibly discern'd , by mingling some few grains of sand amongst them , which made a mixture that look'd like that of pibble stones , and of the finest flower . for our earth , even in the microscope , appear'd to consist of as small particles , as the finest hair-powder to the naked eye . nor could we discern this dust to be transparent , though , when the sun shin'd upon it , it appear'd in the microscope to have some particles a little glistering , which yet , appearing but in a glaring light , we were not sure to be no deceptio visûs . 2. i found , that our white powder , being cast into water , would indeed for a while discolour it by somewhat whitening it , which is no more then spaud will do , and the fine dust of white marble , and other stones , whose corpuscles , by reason of their minuteness , swimme easily for a while in the water , but when it was once setled at the bottom , it continu'd there undissolv'd ( for ought i could perceive ) for some dayes and nights , as earth would have done . 3. having weigh'd a quantity of it , and put it into a new clean crucible , with another inverted over it for a cover , i plac'd it among quick coals , and there kept the crucible red hot for a pretty while , causing the fire afterward to be acuated with a blast of a bellows , but taking out the powder , i neither found it melted , nor clotted into lumps , nor , when i weigh'd it again , did i see cause to conclude that there was much of it wasted , besides what stuck to the sides of the crucible , and to a little clay , vvherewith i had luted on the cover , and which ( to shew you , that the heat had not been inconsiderable ) was in several places burnt red by the vehemence of the fire ; and when i afterwards kept this powder in an open crucible among glowing coals , neither i , nor one that i imploy'd to assist me , perceiv'd it all to smoak ; and having put a little upon a quick coal , and blown that too , i found that which i had not blown away , to remain fix'd ( which some bodies will not do ) upon quick coals , that will endure the fire in a red hot crucible . 4. i found this powder to be much heavier in specie then vvater . for imploying a nice pair of gold scales , and a method that would be too long here to describe , i found that this powder weigh'd somevvhat ( though not much ) more then twice so much common vvater , as vvas equal to it in bulk . and least some corollaries , that seem obviously contain'd in the common , but groundless , conceipts of the peripateticks , about the proportions of the elements in density &c. should make you expect , that this povvder ought to have been much more ponderous , i shall adde , that having had the curiosity , vvhich i wonder no body should have before me , to examine the gravity of the earth , which seems the most elementary of any we have , i took some sifted wood-ashes , which i had caus'd to be three or four times boyl'd in a plentiful proportion of water , to free them from salt , and having put them very dry into common water , i found them but little heavier then our newly mention'd powder , surpassing in weight water of the same bulk but twice , and a little more then a 6th part , ( water and it being very little more then as 1 to 2 1 / 6. ) and that you may the less doubt of this , i will yet subjoyn , that , examining the specifick gravity of ( white ) glass it self , i found that compact body to be very little , if at all more then 2 times and a half as heavy as water of equal bigness to it . so that the gravity of that powder , which , borrowing a chymical term , we have been calling virgin-earth , being added to its fixtness , and other qualities , it may seem no great impropriety of speech to name it earth , at least , if by earth we mean not the pure elementary earth of the schools , which many of themselves confesse not to be found actually separate , but a body dry , cold , ponderous , induring the fire , and , which is the main , irresoluble by water and fire into other bodies specifically different . [ but to return to the guise of the powder , when i ask'd this learned man , whether he observ'd the glass he distill'd in to have been fretted by the liquor , and whether this lost of its substance , according as it deposited more powder , he answer'd me , ( and he is a person of unsuspected credit , ) that he found not his glass to have been injur'd by the liquor , and that the water wasted ( though he were carefull it should not do so by evaporation and transfusions ) by degrees so much , that there remain'd , by his aestimate , but about an 8th part of the first quantity : and though , for certain reasons , he kept by him the liquor last distill'd , yet he doubted not , but that it might be very nigh totally brought into earth , since out of an ounce of distill'd rain-water he had already obtain'd near 3 quarters of an ounce , if not more , of the often mention'd earth . ] these several relations will , i suppose , perswade you , pyrophilus , that this experiment is hopeful enough to be well worth your pursuing , if not that perhaps none but such a scrupulous person as i , would think the prosecution of it other then superfluous . and if you do acquiesce in what hath been already done , you will , i presume , think it no mean confirmation of the corpuscularian principles , and hypotheses . for if , contrary to the opinion that is so much in request among the generality of modern physicians and other learned men , that the elements themselves are transmuted into one another , and those simple and primitive bodies , which nature is presum'd to have intended to be the stable and permanent ingredients of the bodies she compounds here below , may be artificially destroy'd , and ( without the intervention of a seminal and plastick power ) generated or produc'd : if , i say , this may be done , and that by such slight means , why may we not think , that the changes and metamorphoses , that happen in other bodies , which are acknowledg'd by the moderns to be far more lyable to alterations , may proceed from the local motion of the minute or insensible parts of matter , and the changes of texture that may be consequent thereunto ? some bold atomists would here be determining , by what particular wayes this strange transmutation of water into earth may be perform'd , and would perchance particularly tell you , how the continually , but slowly , agitated parts of the water , by their innumerable occursions , may by degrees rub , and as it were grind themselves into such surfaces , as either to stick very close to one another by immediate contact , ( as i elsewhere observe polish'd pieces of glass to do , ) or implicate , and intangle themselves together so , as to make , as it were , little knots ; which knots ( he would add , ) or the newly mention'd clusters of coherent particles , being then grown too great and heavy to be supported by the water , must subside to the bottom in the form of a powder , which , by reason of the same gravity of these moleculae , and the strict union of the les●er particles that compose them , obtain an indisposition to dissolve in water , and to be elevated or dissipated by the fire ; as their insipidness may be accounted for by its being but the same with that of the liquor , whence they were made , and their transparency by that of the water they were made of , and by the multitude of the little surfaces that belong to so fine a powder . but though in favour of such conjectures , i could somewhat illustrate them , partly by applying to this occasion what i elsewhere observe of the reducing of the fluid body of quicksilver by a bare circulation , ( which is but a repeated distillation ) with a proportionable heat , into a real powder , vvhich also vvill not so easily be rais'd by the fire , as the fluid body , vvhence by change of texture it was made ; and partly by subjoining , among other things , how by the conjunction of two distill'd liquors digested together , i have obtain'd good store of an insipid substance , that would not dissolve in water , and that would long enough indure no inconsiderable degree of fire ; though , i say , by these and other such particulars , i could make our atomists conjectures lesse improbable , yet the full disquisition of so difficult a subject is too long and intricate to be proper for this place . * and therefore , without here examining our atomists explication of this metamorphosis , we will give him leave for a vvhile to suppose the transmutation it self to be real , and thereupon to consider , whether the historical part of it do not much disfavour some of the chief doctrines of the chymists , and a fundamental one of helmonts . for if the purest water may be turn'd into earth , it will not be easie to make it improbable , that the other ingredients of mixt bodies , which the chymists call their hypostatical principles , are capable of being transmuted into one another , which would overthrow one of the main foundations of their whole philosophy ; and besides , if out of the simplest water it self , a moderate fire can produce a large proportion of earth , that was not formally praeexistent in it , how shall we be sure , that in all the analyses , which the fire makes of mixt bodies , the substances thereby exhibited are obtain'd by separation onely , without any transmutation ? as for helmont , t is well enough known , that he makes water to be the material principle of all bodies here below , which he vvould have to be either water it self , or but water disguis'd by those forms , vvhich the seeds of things have given it . i will not here examine , whether this opinion , if he had restrain'd it to animals and vegetables , might not , with some restriction and explanations , be kept from appearing absurd , since my eleutherius hath ( though without absolutely adopting it ) elsevvhere pleaded for its not being so extravagant , as it hath been thought . but whereas helmont's grand argument from experience is grounded on this , that the alkahest doth , as he affirms , by being digested with , and distill'd from other tangible bodies , reduce them all at last into a liquor , no way differing from rain water , though we should grant the matter of fact , yet the experiment of our powder will warrant me to question their ratiocination . for if all mix'd bodies be therefore concluded to be materially from water , because they are , by the operation of the fire , and a menstruum , after having pass'd through divers praevious changes , reduc'd at length into insipid water ; by the same way of arguing ( and with greater cogency ) i might conclude , that all those bodies are materially but disguis'd earth , since without intervention of a seminal principle , ( for helmont will not allow that title to fire , which he stiles the artificial death of things ) water it self may be turn'd into earth . indeed if that acute chymist were now alive , and had such an immortal liquor , as he describes his alkahest to be , i would gladly put him upon trying whether that menstruum would reduce our white earth into water . but there being no more probability of that , then that such reproduc'd water , being just what it vvas before , might be turn'd into earth again ; it may be probably said , that since these bodies are mutually convertible into one another , ( and , as to the version of water into earth , by a seemingly slight operation , ) they are not either of them ingenerable and incorruptible elements , much less the sole matter of all tangible bodies , but onely two of the primordial , and of the most obvious schematisms of that , which is indeed the universal matter , vvhich , as it comes to have its minute particles associated after this or that manner may , by a change of their texture and motion , constitute , with the same corpuscles , sometimes water , and sometimes earth . but ( pyrophilus ) to leave these reflexions , to return to the bold conjectures that they are grounded on ; though if i had leisure and indulgence enough , i could , i confess add many things in favour of some of those thoughts : * yet i would not have you wonder , that , whilst i vvas mentioning the many particulars , that seem to evince the change of water into earth , i should let fall some words , that intimate a diffidence about it . for , to disguize nothing unto you , i must confess , that having , in spight of an unusual care , unluckily lost a whole paper of the powder i had made my self , and having unexpectedly been oblig'd to remove from my furnaces , before i had made half the tryals i judg'd requisite in so nice a case , i have not yet laid aside all my scruples . for 1. i would gladly know , whether the untransmuted rain water , by the deposition of so much terrestrial matter , were grown lighter in specie then before , or sharp in tast . next , i would be throughly satisfied , ( which i confess i am not yet , notwithstanding all that the followers of angelus sala have confidently enough written , ) whether and hovv far insipid liquors ( as rain water is ) may , or may not work as menstruums upon stones or earthy bodies : not to question , vvhether the particles of rain water may not , by their mutual attrition , or some other action upon one another , be reduc'd into shapes and sizes fit to compose such a menstruum , as the liquor was not before ; as in divers plants , that seem to be nourish'd onely with water , the sap is endow'd with a sharp tast , and great penetrancy , and activity of parts . 2. it were also fit to know , whether the glass body , wherein all the distillations are made , do loose of its vveight any thing neer so much , as the obtained powder amounts to , over and above the decrement of vveight , which may be imputed to the action of the heat upon the substance of the glass , in case it appear by another glass , kept empty in an equal heat , and for the same time that the glass looses by such operations any thing worth reckoning . and it vvere also not impertinent to try , whether the gravity of the obtain'd a powder be the same in specie with that of the glass , vvherein the distillations were made : ( for that is differ'd but about a 5th part from the weight of chrystalline glass i lately mention'd . ) which scrup●e , and some of the former , i might have prevented , if i had had convenient metalline vessels , wherein to make the distillations instead of glass ones . 3. i could wish likewise that it were more demonstrably determin'd , what is on all hands taken for granted , ( as it appears indeed highly probable , ) that distill'd rain water is a perfectly homogeneous body , vvhich if it be not , divers suspicions might be suggested about its transmutation into earth , and if it be , 't will be as a very strange thing , so a matter of very great difficulty to conceive , hovv a perfectly and exquisitely homogeneous matter should , without any addition , or any seminal and plastick principle , be brought to afford great store of a matter of much more specifick gravity then it self , since we see , that no aggregate we can make of bodies but aequiponderant in specie with water , doth , by vertue of their convention , grow specifically heavier then it . 4. having had the curiosity to try , whether corrosive liquors would work upon our white powder , i found , that not onely good oyl of vitriol would corrode it , but strong and deflegm'd spirit of salt did readily work upon part of it , and that without the assistance of heat , though not without hissing , and exciting great store of bubbles , as i have known such menstruums do , when put upon lapis stellaris , or ossifragus , or some such soft stone ; as if that so much defaecated rain water , actuated by heat , had resolv'd some of the looser corpuscles of the sand or stone , that , together with some salts , compose common glass , as i have observ'd in some petrifying vvater , that some of the bodies i took up , and which were presum'd to be petrify'd , were but crusted over with stone , that seem'd generated but by the successive apposition of stony particles , that , lying invisibly mingled with the running vvater , stuck in their passage to the conveniently dispos'd bodies that lay in the streams way . but yet i must not omit , that , when i suffer'd this mixture to settle , as much of the powder , as seem'd to be a very great part of it , remain'd in the lower part of the liquor , as if that had rather fretted then dissolv'd i● , and that not because the menstruum was overcharg'd or glutted , as i found by putting in afterwards several fresh parcels of powder , which it readily fell upon , not without noise and froth . nor must i forget , that sometimes i have excited such an ebullition , by powring the same liquors upon the earthy part of wood-ashes , several times wash'd in boyling water , ( though , i confess , i afterwards somewhat suspected there might remain some little adhering alkaly , which might occasion those bubbles , notwithstanding that both i and another , whom i also invited to tast it , took the earth to be quite saltlesse . ) i might ( pyrophilus ) adde , that sometimes also me thought i found this powder ( which yet likewise sometimes hapned to me with the lately mention'd earth of wood-ashes ) somewhat gritty between my teeth , and subjoin divers other particulars , if it were not too tedious to mention to you all the doubts and considerations that have occurr'd to me about the recited change of water into earth : which yet are not such as ought to hinder me from giving you the historical account i have set down , since to some of my scruples i could here give plausible answers , but that i cannot do it in few words . and if any part of our white powder prove to be true earth , no body perhaps yet knows to what the experiment may lead sagacious men : and whether in a strict sense it be true earth or no , yet the phaenomena , that are exhibited in the production of it , are sufficient to give this 9th experiment a place among the others ( of the same decad ) with which t is associated . for since out of a substance that is universally acknowledg'd to be elementary and homogeneous , and which manifestly is fluid , transparent , much lighter in specie then earth , moist and fugitive , there is artificially generated or obtain'd a substance consistent , vvhite , and consequently opacous , comparatively ponderous , dry , and not at all fugitive ; the alteration is so great , and effected in so simple a way , that it cannot but afford us a considerable instance of what the varied texture of the minute parts may perform in a matter confessedly similar . and if frequently distill'd rain water should not be allow'd homogeneous , our experiment will at least shew as , better then perhaps any hath yet done , how little we are bound to believe what the chymists , and others tell us , when they pretend manifestly to exhibit to us homogeneous principles , and elementary bodies , and how difficult it is to be certain when a body is absolutely iiresoluble into specifically differing substances , and consequently what is the determinate number of the perfectly simple ingredients of bodies : ( supposing that such there are . ) though i must confess , that my onely aime is not to relate what hath been done , but to procure the prosecution of it . for if the obtain'd substance be , by the rain water , dissolv'd out of the glasse , this will both prove a noble and surprizing instance of what may be one by insipid menstruums , even upon bodies that are justly reckon'd among the compactest and most indissoluble that we know of , and may afford us many other considerable hints , that have been partly intimated already : and if on the other side , this powder , whether it be true elementary earth or not , be found to be really produc'd out of the water it self , it may prove a magnale in nature , and of greater consequence then will be presently foreseen , and may make the alchymists hopes of turning other metals into gold , appear less wild , since that by experimentally evincing , that two such difficult qualities to be introduc'd into a body , is considerable degrees of fixity & weight , ( whose requisitenesse to the making of gold are two of the principal things , that have kept me from easily expecting to find the attempts of alchymists successeful , ) may , without the mixture of a homogeneous matter , be generated in it , by varying the texture of its parts . i will not now adventure to adde any thing of what i have been attempting about the transmuting ( without additaments ) of pure alkalizate salts into earth , because i do not yet know , whether the tryals will answer my hopes : ( for i do not yet call them my expectations . ) but upon this subject of transmutations , i could , if it did not properly belong to another treatise , tell you something about the changes , that may be wrought upon highly rectify'd spirit of wine , vvhich vvould perchance make you think of other things of the like kind lesse infeasible . for vvhereas t is a known thing , that that spirituous liquor being kindled , ( and that , if you please , by other spirit of wine actually fir'd ) will , for ought appears , burn all away , that is , be totally turn'd into flame ; if i durst rely , in so important a case , on a couple of tryals , whilst i hope for an opportunity of making farther ones , i would tell you , that by a way unthought on ( that i know of ) by any body , i have , vvithout any addition , obtain'd , from such spirit of wine , as , being kindled in a spoon , would flame all away , without leaving the least drop behind it , a considerable quantity of downright incombustible flegm . and by another way ( mention'd indeed by helmont , but not taught to almost any of his readers ) some ingenious persons , that you know and esteem , vvorking by my directions , ( but vvithout knowing vvhat each other vvas doing ) did both of them reduce considerable quantities of high rectify'd spirit of wine ( that vvould before have burnt all away ) into a liquor , that was for the most part flegm , as i vvas inform'd as well by my own tast , as by the tryals i order'd to be made : ( being forc'd my self to be most commonly absent . ) from which change of the greatest part of that at first liquid splrit into flegm , it seems deducible , that the same portion of matter , vvhich , by being kindled , may be turn'd all into fire , may be , by another vvay of handling , turn'd into flegm or water , and this vvithout the addition of any thing , and vvithout being vvrought upon by any visible body , but one so extremely dry as duely prepar'd salt of tartar ; and that it self is not so indispensably necessary to the obtaining of flegm out of totally inflammable spirit of wine , but that , as i was saying , i did , by another way , obtain that dull liquor vvithout imploying the salt , or any other visible body vvhatsoever . but i make a scruple to entertain you any longer with extravagances of this nature , and yet , if i were sure you vvould contain your smiles , i would adde for conclusion , that , if i had had time and opportunity to furnish my self with any quantity of that water , i had it in my thoughts to try , vvhether that vvould have afforded me such a terrestrial substance , as rain water had done , and thereby have undergone a new and further metamorphosis . the x. experiment . there is one experiment more , two of the chief phaenomena of vvhich belong to another discourse ; ( vvhere i particularly mention them , ) and yet i shall conclude this little treatise vvith the recitation of the experiment it self , not onely because divers of the phaenomena do eminently belong to our present subject , but because i have scarce met vvith any experiments more suitable to the design i have of shevving , before i conclude this discourse , vvhat great and sudden productions and destructions of qualities may be effected by the composition of the smallest number of ingredients , even among liquors themselves , and such too as are believ'd to be both of them simple and homogeneous , and incapable of putrefaction , that so it may appear , what notable alterations of qualities even seemingly slight and easie mixtures can perform among bodies , both of them fluid , as well as among those that were either both of them stable , or one of them stable , and the other consistent . take then of good oyl of vitriol , and of spirit of wine , that will burn all away , equal parts , not in quantity , but in weight ; put them together by little and little , and having plac'd the mixture in a bolt-head , or glass egg with a long neck , and carefully stopp'd it with a cork and hard wax , set the vessel in a moderate heat to digest for a competent while ; ( two or three weeks may do well , ) then pour out the mixture into a tall glass cucurbite , to which lute on a head and a receiver with extraordinary care , to prevent the avolation of the spirits , which will be very subtle : then with a very gentle fire abstract the spirit of wine , that will first ascend , and when the drops begin to come over sowrish , shift the receiver , and continue the distillation with great care , that the matter boyl not over , and when you judge that about half the acid liquor is come over , it will not be amiss , though it be not necessary , to change the receiver once more ; but whether you do this or no , your distillation must be continued , increasing the fire towards the latter end , till you have brought over all you can , and what remains in the bottom of the cucurbite must be put into a glass well stopp'd , to keep it from the air. n b. 1. that to the production of most , if not of all the phaenomena of this experiment , it is not absolutely necessary , that so long a digestion , ( not to say , not any , ) be premis'd ; though if the time above prescrib'd be allow'd , the experiment will succeed the better . 2. that , i remember , i have sometimes made use of oyl of sulphur per campanam ( as they call it ) instead of oyl of vitriol , to produce the recited phaenomena ; and though the attempt succeeded not ill , as to divers particulars , yet i afterwards chose rather to imploy oyl of vitriol , both because it did , in some points , better answer my expectation then the other liquor , and because i would not give occasion to suspect , that the odours , hereafter to be mention'd as phaenomena of our experiment , were due to the common sulphur , whence the unctuous liquor , made per campanam , was obtain'd , as such , and did no way proceed from the acid vitriolate salt , which that oyl ( as t is improperly call'd ) doth abound with . 3. that i had likewise the curiosity to digest oyl of vitriol with spanish wine , instead of spirit of wine , by which means i obtain'd an odd spirit , and residence , and some other phaenomena , which i content my self to have in this place given hint of , in regard that wine being a liquor of a much less simple nature then its spirit , the phaenomena , afforded me by this , are much fitter for my present purpose . 4. that great care must be had in regulating the fire , when once a good part of the acid spirit , mention'd in the process , is come over . for if the fire be not increas'd , the rest will scarce ascend , and if it be increas'd but a little too much , the matter will be more apt , then one would suspect , to swell exceedingly in the cucurbite , and perhaps run over into the receiver , and spoil what it finds there , as it hath more then once hapned to me , when i was fain to commit the management of the fire to others . now the oyl of vitriol , and the spirit of wine , being both of them distill'd liquors , and the latter of them several times redistill'd , and one of them being drawn from so simple and familiar a substance as wine , and the other from a concrete not more compounded , then what nature her self ( which , as i elsewere shew , can , without the help of art , produce vitriol ) doth divers times present us with ; these liquors , i say , being both or them distill'd , and consequently volatile , one would expect , that by distilling them , they should be brought over united , as i have tryed , that the spirit of wine , and of nitre , or also of common salt may be ; and as the spirits of differing vegetables are wont to be ; or that , at least , the distillation should not much alter them , from what it found them , after they had been well mingled together . but this notwithstanding , these two liquors being of very odd textures in reference to each other , their conjunction and distillation will make them exhibit divers considerable and perhaps surprizing phaenomena . for first , whereas spirit of wine has no great sent , nor no good one , and moderately deflegm'd oyl of vitriol is wont to be inodorous ; the spirit , that first comes over from our mixture , hath a sent not onely very differing from spirit of wine but from all things else , that . i remember , i ever smelt . and as this new odour doth to almost all those , whose opinions i have asked about it , seem very fragrant and pleasant , so i have sometimes had it so exceeding subtle , that , in spight of the care that was taken to lute the glasses exactly together , it would perfume the neighbouring parts of the laboratory , and would not afterwards be kept in by a close cork , cover'd with two or three several bladders , but smell strongly at some distance from the viol wherein it was put , i did not think it unlikely , that so noble and piercing a liquor might be of no mean efficacy in physick ; and though i miss'd of receiving an account of its effects from some ingenious physicians , into whose hands i put it to have tryals made of it , yet i cannot despair of finding it a considerable medicine , when i remember , partly what hath been done by some acquaintances of mine with bare flegme of vitriol , upon the account ( as is suppos'd ) of that little sulphur of vitriol , that , though but sparingly , doth inrich that liquor ; and partly , what the masters of chymical arcana tell us of the wonderful vertues of the volatile sulphur of vitriol , and what i have observ'd my self , that may invite me to have a good opinion of remedies of that nature . 2. but to shevv how much the odours of bodies depend upon their texture , i shall now adde , that after this volatile and odoriferous spirit is come over , and has been followed by an acid spirit , it will usually , towards the latter end of the distillation , be succeeded by a liquor , that is not onely not fragrant , but stinks so strongly of brimstone , that i have sometimes known it almost take away the breath ( as they speak ) of those , who , when i had the receiver , newly taken off , in my hand , did ( either because to make sport i gave them no vvarning , or because they would not take it , as thinking what i told them impossible , ) too boldly adventure their noses in the tryal . 3. there is in this operation produc'd a liquor , that will not mingle either with the fragrant , or with the foetid spirit hitherto describ'd , but is very differing from both of them , and is so very pleasant , subtle , and aromatical , that it is no less differing as well from spirit of wine , as oyl of vitriol . but of this liquor i give a further account in a more convenient place . 4. when the distillation is carried on far enough , you will find at the bottom , that the two above mention'd diaphanous spirits ( for oyl of vitriol is indeed rather a saline spirit , then an oyl ) have produc'd a pretty quantity of a substance , not onely very opacous , but black almost like pitch or jet . 5. and this substance , though produc'd by two bodies , that were not onely fluid , but distill'd , will not alone be consistent , but ( if the distillation have been urg'd far enough ) brittle . 6. and though spirit of wine be reputed the most inflammable , and oyl of vitriol the most corrosive liquor that is known , yet i could not find , that this black substance would easily , if at all , be brought , i say not to flame , but to burn ; nor that it had any discernible tast , though both the liquors , from whose mixture it was obtain'd , have exceeeding strong and pungent tasts . 7. and whereas both oyl of vitriol and spirit of wine will each of them more readily , then most liquors that are yet known , mingle with common water , and diffuse it self therein , i observ'd , that this pitchy mass , if the distillation had been continued till it was perfectly dry , would not , that i could perceive , dissolve in common water for very many hours , and , if i much misremember not , for some dayes . 8. and lastly , whereas the oyl of vitriol , and the spirit of wine , were both of them distill'd liquors , and one of them exceeding volatile and fugitive ; yet the black mass , produc'd by them , was so far fix'd , that i could not make it rise by a considerably strong and lasting fire , that would have rais'd a much more sluggish body , then the heaviest of those that concurr'd to produce it . the remaining particulars , that i have observ'd in this experiment , belong to another treatise , and therefore i shall forbear to mention them in this : nor shall i at present adde any new phaenomena to those i have already recited ; those freshly mention'd experiments , and those that preceded it , being , even without the assistance of the four observations i have delivered before them , sufficient to manifest the truth i have been endeavouring to make out , for in the experiments we are speaking of , it cannot well be pretended , or at least not well prov'd , that any substantial forms are the causes of the effects i have recited . for in most of the ( above mention'd ) cases , besides that , in the bodies we imploy'd , the seminal vertues , if they had any before , may be suppos'd to have been destroy'd by the fire , they were such , as those i argue with would account to be factitious bodies , artificially produc'd by chymical operations . and t is not more manifest , that , in the production of these effects , there intervenes a local motion , and change of texture by these operations , then t is inevident and precarious , that they are the effects of such things , as the schools fancy substantial forms to be : since t is , in these new experiments , by the addition of some new particles of matter , or the recess , or expulsion of some praeexistent ones , or , which is the most frequent way , by the transposition of minute parts , yet without quite excluding the other two , that no more skilful a chymist then i have been able to produce by art a not inconsiderable number of such changes of qualities ; that more notable ones are not ordinarily presented us by nature , where she is presumed to work by the help of substantial forms ; i see not , why it may not be thought probable , that the same catholick and fertile principles , motion , bulk , shape , and texture of the minute parts of matter , may , under the guidance of nature , ( whose laws the modern peripateticks acknowledge to be establish'd by the all-wise god , ) suffice likewise to produce those other qualities of natural bodies , of which we have not given particular instances . finis . errata . praef. p. 11. l. ult . read aime . praef . p. 13. l. 13. r. perhaps . p. 68. l. 13. r. destroyes . p. 130 l. 14. r. peare . p. 146. l. 20. r. principle . p. 247. l. 25. r. fleurs . p. 231. l. 15. r. it . p. 325. l. 6. a comma at inflammable . p. 337. l. 7. r. of . p. 411. l. 7. r. former . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a29017-e1040 * nego tibi ullam esse formam robis notam ple●è & planè : nostrámque scientiam esse umbram in sole . scal●ger : ( ●f whose confession to the same purpose , more are cited hereafter . ) notes for div a29017-e1600 * cardan : contradict . 9. lib. 2. tract . 5. a pud schenckium . * this memorable accident happen'd to a senator of b●rne , who was cur'd by the experienc'd fabricius hildanus , that gives a long account of it to the learned horstius , among whose observat●ons t is extant ; ( lib. 2. observ . 35. ) who ascribes the indolence of the part , whilst uncompress'd , to some slimy juice , ( familiar enough to those tendinous parts , ) wherein the glassy fragment was as it were bedded . † in those notes about occult qualitles , where the deleterious faculty attributed to diamonds is considered . † since the writing of this , the author found , that some of the eminentest of the modern schoolmen themselves , have been , as well as he , unsatisfied with the aristotelian definition of quality : concerning which ( not to mention revius , a learned protestant . annotato● upon sua●ez . ) ariaga sayes ( disp . 5. sect . 2. subs . 1. ) per haec n●hil explicatur ; nam de hoc quaerimus , quid sit esse qual , dices habere qualitatem ; bonus circulus : qualitas est id quo quis sit qualis , & esse qualem est habere qualitatem . and even the famous jesuit suarez , though he endeavours to excuse it , yet confesseth , that it leaves the proper notion of quality as obscure to us as before : ( quae d●finitio , saith he , licèt ●a ration● essent●alis videatur , quod detur per habitudinem ad effectum formalem , quem omnis fo●ma ess●●tialiter respicit , tamen quod ad nos spectat , aquè obscura nobis manet propria ratio qualitatis . ) suarez disputat . metaphysic . 42. but hurtadus ( ●n his metaphysical disputations ) speaks mo●e boldly , telling us roundly , that it is non tam definitio , quàm inanis quaedam nugatio , which makes me the mo●e wonder , that a famous cartesian ( whom i forbear to name ) should content himself to give us such an insignificant , or ●t least superficial definition of quality . † anst . metaph. lib. 7. cap. 8. notes for div a29017-e6250 * aromat . hist . lib. 1. cap. 29. de cassia solutiva . * ligon's history of barbados . pag. 67.68 . * see nicholaus monardes , under the title , fabae purgatrices . ⁁ vincent le blanck's survey of the world : part. 2. p. 260. * the following discourse ( of the origine of form● ) ought to have been placed before this foregoing sectio● the historical part. formarum cognitio est rudis , con●usa , nec nisi per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ; neque verum est , formae substantialis speciem recipi in intellectum , non enim in sensu usquam fuit . j.c. scalig. formae substantiales sunt incognitae nobis , quia insensiles : ideo per qualitates , quae sunt principia immediatae transmutationis , exprimuntur . aquinas ad 1. de generat . & corrupt . in hac humanae mentis caligine aequè forma ignis ac magnetis nobis igno●a est . sennertus . * nego tibi uil●m esse formam nobis notam plenè & planè , nostramque scientiam esse umbram in sole . scalig. * nomina tu lapidis , q●i quo●idie tuis oculis observatur , formam , & phyllida solus habeto . seal . contra card. * aristotle speaking of anaxagoras in the first ch. of the last book of his physicks , hath this passage : dicit ( anaxagoras ) cùm omnia simul essent , atque qu●escere●t tempore infinito , mentem movisse , a● segregasse . * epicurus in his epistle to pythocles . * the sceptical chymist . * see lib. 1. de gen. & cor. t. 80. idem corpus ( sayes he there ) qua●quam continuum , aliàs liquidum , aliàs concretum videmus , non divisione aut compositione hoc passum , aut conversione , aut attactu , sicuti democritus asserit : nam neque transpositione , neque naturae demutatione ( 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ) ex liquido concretum evadere solet . * georg : agricola de re metall . lib. 12. p. 462. * g. agricola de re metallica . lib. 12. * in the essays about things supposed to be spontaneously generated . * parchas . pilgr . part . the first . p. 152. * the passage , which is long , i do not here transcribe , having had occasion to do it elsewhere . it is extant lib. 5. c●p. 21. and at the close of his narrative he subjoynes , non est , quod quisquam de veritate dubitet , cum infinitos ●estes habeat brasilta , &c. * flo●a sinensis o● traite des flerus &c. under the title lozmeoques . * containing some advices and directions for the writing of an experimental natural history . ☞ these two leaves are to be placed immediately before the 271 page . * the preface , here mentioned , is that premissed to the tract intituled — s●me specimens of an attempt to make ●●mical experiments useful to illustrate the notions of the corposcula● philosophy . * see the sceptical chymist . * though this vii . experiment , being considerable and very pertinent , the author thought fit to mention it , such as it is here delivered , when he writ but to a private friend ; yet , after he was induc'd to publish these papers , t was the ( now raging ) plague , which drove him from the accommodations requisite to his purpose , that frustrated the designe he had of first repeating that part of the experiment , which treats of the destruction of gold : for as for that part , which teaches the volatilization of it , he had tryed that often enough before . * what is here delivered may be , for the main , verify'd by what the reader will meet with in the ( following ) xth. experiment , though that be not it which the author meant . * of the possible wayes of turning liquors into consistent bodies , by bending , breaking , twisting , and by otherwise changing the texture of the liquor , see more particularly the history of fluidity and firmnesse , publishd by the author . experimental notes of the mechanical origine or production of fixtness. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1675 approx. 541 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 296 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a69611) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 60281) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 836:20h, 2344:5, 650:5h) experimental notes of the mechanical origine or production of fixtness. boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 34 p. printed by e. flesher, for r. davis bookseller in oxford., london : 1675. reproduction of original in bristol public library (bristol, england) (reel 650:5h) and henry e. huntington library and art gallery (reel 836:20g and reel 2344:5). items at 650:5h and 836:20h bound and filmed with: experiments, notes, &c. about the mechanical origine or production of divers particular qualities among which is inferred a discourse of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qualities together with some reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher, for r. davis ..., 1676 -of the mechanical origine of heat and cold / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and observations about the mechanical production of tasts / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and observations about the mechanical production of odours / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qualities / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of corrosiveness and corrosibility / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -of the mechanical causes of chymical precipitation / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and notes 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the mechanical origine or production of divers particular qualities : among which is inserted a discourse of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qvalities ; together with some reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum . by the honourable robert boyle , esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. directions for the book-binder ; to be put immediately after the general title page . the several tracts of this book are to be bound in the order following , viz. after the preface of the publisher to the reader , and the advertisements relating to the whole treatise , is to follow , 1. the tract of heat and cold. 2. of tasts . 3. of odours . 4. of the imperfection of the chymists doctrine of qualities . 5. reflexions upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum . 6. advertisements relating to chymical qualities , to be bound next after the title page to volatility . 7. of volatility . 8. of fixtness . 9. of corrosiveness & corrosibility . 10. of chymical precipitation . 11. of magnetism . 12. of electricity . errata . in the tract of heat and cold , p. 28. at the end of the page dele finis ▪ and go ▪ on to exp. ix . p. 40. l. 21. r. degree of rapidness . p. 102. l. 15. put a comma after the word before . in the tract of corrosiveness and corrosibility read in the current title on the top of p. 2. and 3. & seqq . corrosiveness and corrosibility , nor or . the publisher to the reader . to keep the reader from being at all surpriz'd at the date of the title-page , i must inform him , that a good part of the ensuing tracts were printed off , and in my custody , the last year ; and the rest had come out with them divers moneths ago , if the noble author had not been hinder'd from committing them to the press by the desire and hope of being able in a short time to send them abroad more numerous , and by his being hinder'd to do so partly by remove , partly by the want of some papers that were odly lost or spoil'd , and partly by the sickness of himself , and divers of his near relations . and some of these impediments do yet suppress what the author intended should have made a part of the book , which now he suffers to be publish'd without them , though divers of his papers about some other particular qualities have been written so long ago , as to have lain for many years neglected among other of his old writings : which that he may have both leasure and health to review , and fit for publication , is the ardent wish of the sincere lovers of real knowledge , who have reason to look on it as no mean proof of his constant kindness to experimental philosophy , that in these tracts he perseveres in his course of freely and candidly communicating his experiments and observations to the publick , notwithstanding the liberty that hath been too boldly taken to mention them as their own by some later writers ; as particularly by the compiler of the treatise , entitul'd polygraphice , who in two chapters hath allow'd himself to present his reader with above fifty experiments , taken out of our authors book of colours , without owning any one of them to him , or so much as naming him or his book in either of those chapters ▪ nor , that i remember , in any of the others . nor did i think this practice justified by the confession made in the preface , importing , that the compiler had taken the particulars he deliver'd from the writings of others . for , this general and perfunctory acknowledgment neither doth right to particular authors , nor , by naming them , enables the reader to know , whether the things deliver'd come from persons fit to be credited or not : and therefore , since 't is but too likely , that such concealment of the names , if not vsurpation of the labours of the benefactors to philosophy , will prove much more forbidding to many others to impart their experiments , than as yet they have to our generous author ; it seems to be the interest of the commonwealth of learning openly to discountenance so discouraging a practice , and to shew , that they do not think it fit that possessors of useful pieces of knowledge should be strongly tempted to envy them to the publick , to the end onely that a few compilers should not be put upon so reasonable and easie a work , as by a few words or names to shew themselves just , if not grateful . but not to keep the reader any longer from the perusal of these tracts themselves , i shall conclude with intimating onely , that what our author saith in one of them concerning the insufficiency of the chymical hypothesis for explaining the effects of nature , is not at all intended by him to derogate from the sober professors of chymistry , or to discourage them from useful chymical operations ; forasmuch as i had the satisfaction , some years since , to see in the authors hands a discourse of his about the usefulness of chymistry for the advancement of natural philosophy ; with which also 't is hoped he will e're long gratifie the publick . advertisements relating to the following treatise . to obviate some misapprehensions that may arise concerning the ensuing notes about particular qualities , it may not be improper to adde something in this place to what has been said in another paper in reference to those notes , and consequently to premise to the particular experiments some few general advertisements about them . and i. we may consider , that there may be three differing ways of treating historically of particular qualities . for either one may in a full and methodical history prosecute the phaenomena ; or one may make a collection of various experiments and observations whence may be gathered divers phaenomena to illustrate several , but not all of the heads or parts of such an ample or methodical history ; or ( in the third place ) one may in a more confin'd way content ones self to deliver such experiments and observations of the production , or the destruction or change of this or that quality , as , being duly reason'd on , may suffice to shew wherein the nature of that quality doth consist , especially in opposition to those erroneous conceits that have been entertained about it . of the first of these three ways of treating of a quality i pretend not to have given any compleat example ; but you will find , that i have begun such histories in my specimens about fluidity and firmness , and in the experiments , observations , &c. that i have put together about cold. the second sort of historical writings i have given an instance of in my experiments about colours ; but in these ensuing notes , the occasion i had to make them having obliged me chiefly to have an eye to the disproval of the errours of the peripateticks and the chymists about them , i hope i shall not be thought to have fallen very short in my attempt , if i have ( here and there ) perform'd what may be required in the third way of writing historically of a quality ; my present design being chiefly to give an intelligent and historical account of the possible mechanical origination , not of the various phaenomena of the particular qualities succinctly mentioned in these notes ; though , my secondary end being to become a benefactor to the history of qualities by providing materials for my self or better architects , i have not scrupled to adde to those , that tend more directly to discover the nature or essence of the quality treated of , and to derive it from mechanical principles , some others ( which happen'd to come in my way ) that acquaint us but with some of the less luciferous phaenomena . ii. that you may not mistake what is driven at in many of the experiments and reasonings deliver'd or propos'd in the ensuing notes about particular qualities , i must desire you to take notice with me , what it is that i pretend to offer you some proofs of . for , if i took upon me to demonstrate , that the qualities of bodies cannot proceed from ( what the schools call ) substantial forms , or from any other causes but mechanical , it might be reasonably enough expected , that my argument should directly exclude them all . but since , in my explications of qualities , i pretend only , that they may be explicated by mechanical principles , without enquiring , whether they are explicable by any other ; that which i need to prove , is , not that mechanical principles are the necessary and onely things whereby qualities may be explain'd , but that probably they will be found sufficient for their explication . and since these are confessedly more manifest and more intelligible than substantial forms and other scholastic entities ( if i may so call them ) 't is obvious , what the consequence will be of our not being oblig'd to have recourse to things , whose existence is very disputable , and their nature very obscure . there are several ways that may be employed , some on one occasion , and some on another , either more directly to reduce qualities ( as well as divers other things in nature ) to mechanical principles ; or , by shewing the insufficiency of the peripatetic and chymical theories of qualities , to recommend the corpuscularian doctrine of them . for further illustration of this point , i shall adde on this occasion , that there are three distinct sorts of experiments ( besides other proofs ) that may be reasonably employ'd , ( though they be not equally efficacious ) when we treat of the origine of qualities . for some instances may be brought to shew , that the propos'd quality may be mechanically introduc'd into a portion of matter , where it was not before . other instances there may be to shew , that by the same means the quality may be notably varied as to degrees , or other not essential attributes . and by some instances also it may appear , that the quality is mechanically expell'd from , or abolish'd in , a portion of matter that was endow'd with it before . sometimes also by the same operation the former quality is destroyed , and a new one is produc'd . and each of these kinds of instances may be usefully employ'd in our notes about particular qualities . for , as to the first of them , there will be scarce any difficulty . and as to the second , since the permanent degrees as well as other attributes of qualities are said to flow from ( and do indeed depend upon ) the same principles that the quality it self does ; if , especially in bodies inanimate , a change barely mechanical does notably and permanently alter the degree or other considerable attribute ; it will afford , though not a clear proof , yet a probable presumption , that the principles whereon the quality it self depends are mechanical . and lastly , if , by a bare mechanical change of the internal disposition and structure of a body , a permanent quality , confess'd to flow from its substantial form or inward principle , be abolish'd , and perhaps also immediately succeeded by a new quality mechanically producible ; if , i say , this come to pass in a body inanimate , especially if it be also , as to sense similar , such a phaenomenon will not a little favour that hypothesis which teaches , that these qualities depend upon certain contextures and other mechanical affections of the small parts of the bodies , that are indowed with them , and consequently may be abolish'd when that necessary modification is destroyed . this is thus briefly premis'd to shew the pertinency of alledging differing kinds of experiments and phaenomena in favour of the corpuscular hypothesis about qualities . what has been thus laid down , may , i hope , facilitate and shorten most of the remaining work of this preamble , which is to shew , though but very briefly , that there may be several ways , not impertinently employable to recommend the corpuscularian doctrine of qualities . for first , it may sometimes be shewn , that a substantial form cannot be pretended to be the necessary principle of this or that quality ; as will ( for instance ) hereafter be made manifest in the asperity and smoothness of bodies , and in the magnetical vertue residing in a piece of iron that has been impregnated by a loadstone . 't is true , that the force of such instances is indirect , and that they do not expresly prove the hypothesis in whose favour they are alledged ; but yet they may do it good service by disproving the grounds and conclusions of the adversaries , and so ( by removing prejudices , ) making way for the better entertainment of the truth . secondly , we may sometimes obtain the same or the like quality by artificial and sometimes even temporary compositions , which , being but factitious bodies , are by learned adversaries confess'd not to have substantial forms , and can indeed reasonably be presum'd to have but resulting temperaments : as will be hereafter exemplifi'd in the production of green by compounding blew and yellow , and in the electrical faculty of glass ; and in the temporary whiteness produc'd by beating clear oyl and fair water into an ointment , and by beating water into a froth , and , more permanently , in making coral white by flawing it with heat ; and in divers other particulars , that will more properly be elsewhere mention'd . thirdly then , in some cases the quality propos'd may be either introduced ; or vary'd , or distroy'd in an inanimate body , when no change appears to be made in the body , except what is mechanical , and what might be produc'd in it , supposing such a parcel of matter were artificially fram'd and constituted as the body is , though without any substantial form , or other such like internal principle . so when a piece of glass , or of clarify'd rosin , is , by being beaten to powder , deprived of its transparency , and made white , there appears no change to be made in the pulveriz'd body , but a comminution of it into a multitude of corpuscles , that by their number and the various scituations of their surfaces are fitted copiously to reflect the sincere light several ways , or give some peculiar modification to its rayes ; and hinder that free passage of the beams of light , that is requisite to transparency . fourthly , as in the cases belonging to the foregoing number there appears not to intervene in the patient or subject of the change , any thing but a mechanical alteration of the mechanical structure or constitution ; so in some other cases it appears not , that the agent , whether natural or factitious , operates on the patient otherwise than mechanically , employing onely such a way of acting as may proceed from the mechanisme of the matter , which it self consists of , and that of the body it acts upon . as when goldsmiths burnish a plate or vessel of silver , that having been lately boil'd lookt white before , though they deprive it of the greatest part of its colour , and give it a new power of reflecting the beams of light and visible objects , in the manner proper to specular bodies ; yet all this is done by the intervention of a burnishing tool , which often is but a piece of steel or iron conveniently shap'd ; and all that this burnisher does , is but to depress the little prominencies of the silver , and reduce them , and the little cavites of it , to one physically level or plain superficies . and so when a hammer striking often on a nail , makes the head of it grow hot , the hammer is but a purely mechanical agent , and works by local motion . and when by striking a lump of glass , it breaks it into a multitude of small parts that compose a white powder , it acts as mechanically in the production of that whiteness as it does in driving in a nail to the head . and so likewise , when the powder'd glass or colophony lately mention'd is , by the fire , from a white and opacous body , reduc'd into a colourless ( or a reddish ) and transparent one , it appears not , that the fire , though a natural agent , need work otherwise than mechanically , by colliquating the incoherent grains of powder into one mass ; wherein , the ranks of pores not being broken and interrupted as before , the incident beams of light are allow'd every way a free passage through them . fifthly , the like phaenomena to those of a quality to be explicated , or at least as difficult in the same kind , may be produc'd in bodies and cases , wherein 't is plain we need not recurre to substantial forms . thus a varying colour , like that which is admired in a pigeons neck , may be produc'd in changeable taffety , by a particular way of ranging and connecting silk of several colours into one piece of stuff . thus we have known opals casually imitated and almost excell'd by glass , which luckily degenerated in the furnace . and somewhat the like changeable and very delightful colour i remember to have introduced into common glass with silver or with gold and mercury . so likewise meerly by blowing fine crystal-glass at the flame of a lamp to a very extraordinary thinness , we have made it to exhibit , and that vividly , all the colours ( as they speak ) of the rainbow ; and this power of pleasing by diversifying the light , the glass , if well preserved , may keep for a long time . thus also by barely beating gold into such thin leaves as artificers and apothecaries are wont to employ , it will be brought to exhibite a green colour , when you hold it against the light , whether of the day , or of a good candle ; and this kind of greenness as 't is permanent in the foliated gold , so i have found by trial , that if the sun-beams , somewhat united by a burning-glass , be trajected through the expanded leaf , and cast upon a piece of white paper , they will appear there as if they had been tinged in their passage . nay , and sometimes a flight and almost momentany mechanical change will seem to over-rule nature , and introduce into a body the quite opposite quality to that she had given it : as when a piece of black horn is , onely by being thinly scraped with the edge of a knife or a piece of glass , reduced to permanently white shavings . and to these instances o● colours , some emphatical and some permanent , might be added divers belonging to other qualities , but that i ought not to anticipate what you will elsewhere meet with . there is yet another way of arguing in favour of the corpuscularian doctrine of qualities , which , though it do not afford direct proofs of its being the best hypothesis , yet it may much strengthen the arguments drawn from other topicks , and thereby serve to recommend the doctrine it self . for , the use of an hypothesis being to render an intelligible account of the causes of the effects or phaenomena propos'd , without crossing the laws of nature or other phaenomena , the more numerous and the more various the particulars are , whereof some are explicable by the assign'd hypothesis , and some are agreeable to it , or at least are not dissonant from it , the more valuable is the hypothesis , and the more likely to be true . for 't is much more difficult , to finde an hypothesis that is not true which will suit with many phaenomena , especially if they be of various kinds , than but with few . and for this reason i have set down among the instances belonging to particular qualities some such experiments and observations , as we are now speaking of , since , although they be not direct proofs of the preferrableness of our doctrine , yet they may serve for confirmation of it ; though this be not the only or perhaps the chief reason of their being mention'd . for whatever they may be as arguments , since they are matters of fact , i thought it not amiss to take this occasion of preserving them from being lost ; since , whether or no they contribute much to the establishment of the mechanical doctrine about qualities , they will at least contribute to the natural history of them . iii. i shall not trouble the reader with a recital of those unlucky accidents , that have hinder'd the subjects of the following book from being more numerous , and i hope he will the more easily excuse their paucity , if he be advertised , that although the particular qualities , about which some experiments and notes , by way of specimens , are here presented , be not near half so many as were intended to be treated of ; yet i was careful to chuse them such as might comprehend in a small number a great variety ; there being scarce one sort of qualities , of which there is not an instance given in this small book , since therein experiments and thoughts are deliver'd about heat and cold , which are the chief of the four first qvalities ; about tasts and odours , which are of those , that , being the immediate objects of sense , are wont to be call'd sensible qvalities ; about volatility and fixity , corrosiveness and corrosibility , which , as they are found in bodies purely natural , are referrable to those qualities , that many physical writers call second qvalities , and which yet , as they may be produced and destroyed by the chymists art , may be stiled chymical qualities , and the spagyrical ways of introducing or expelling them may be referr'd to chymical operations , of which there is given a more ample specimen in the mechanical account of chymical precipitations . and lastly , some notes are added about magnetism and electricity , which are known to belong to the tribe of occult qualities . iv. if a want of apt coherence and exact method be discover'd in the following essays , 't is hop'd , that defect will be easily excus'd by those that remember and consider , that these papers were originally little better than a kind of repsody of experiments , thoughts , and observations , occasionally thrown together by way of annotations upon some passages of a discourse ▪ ( about the differing parts and red integration of nitre ) wherein some things were pointed at relating to the particular qualities that are here more largely treated of . and though the particulars that concern some of these qualities , were afterwards ( to supply the place of those borrow'd by other papers whilst these lay by me ) increas'd in number ; yet it was not to be expected , that their accession should as well correct the form as augment the matter of our annotations . and as for the two tracts , that are inserted among these essays about qualities ; i mean the discourse of the imperfection of the chymical doctrine of them , and the reflections on the hypothesis of acidum and alcali , the occasion of their being made parts of this book is so far express'd in the tracts themselves , that i need not here trouble the reader with a particular account of it . v. i do not undertake , that all the following accounts of particular qualities would prove to be the very true ones , nor every explication the best that can be devis'd . for besides that the difficulty of the subject , and incompleatness of the history we yet have of qualities , may well deterre a man , less diffident of his own abilities than i justly am , from assuming so much to himself , it is not absolutely necessary to my present design . for , mechanical explications of natural phaenomena do give so much more satisfaction to ingenious minds , than those that must employ substantial forms , sympathy , antipathy , &c. that the more judicious of the vulgar philosophers themselves prefer them before all others , when they can be had ; ( as is elsewhere shewn at large , ) but then they look upon them either as confined to mechanical engines , or at least but as reaching to very few of nature's phaenomena , and , for that reason , unfit to be received as physical principles . to remove therefore this grand prejudice and objection , which seems to be the chief thing that has kept off rational inquirers from closing with the mechanical philosophy , it may be very conducive , if not sufficient , to propose such mechanical accounts of particular qualities themselves , as are intelligible and possible , and are agreeable to the phaenomena whereto they are applied . and to this it is no more necessary that the account propos'd should be the truest and best that can possibly be given , than it is to the proving that a clock is not acted by a vital principle , ( as those chineses thought , who took the first , that was brought them out of europe , for an animal , ) but acts as an engine , to do more than assign a mechanical structure made up of wheels , a spring , a hammer , and other mechanical pieces , that will regularly shew and strike the hour , whether this contrivance be or be not the very same with that of the particular clock propos'd ; which may indeed be made to move either with springs or weights , and may consist of a greater or lesser number of wheels , and those differingly scituated and connected ; but for all this variety 't will still be but an engine . i intend not therefore by proposing the theories and conjectures ventur'd at in the following papers , to debar my self of the liberty either of altering them , or of substituting others in their places , in case a further progress in the history of qualities shall suggest better hypotheses or explications . and 't was but agreeable to this intention of mine , that i should , as i have done , on divers occasions in the following notes , imploy the word or , and express my self somewhat doubtingly , mentioning more than one cause of a phaenomenon , or reason of an opinion , without dogmatically declaring for either ; since my purpose in these notes was rather to shew , it was not necessary to betake our selves to the scholastick or chymical doctrine about qualities , than to act the umpire between the differing hypotheses of the corpuscularians ; and , provided i kept my self within the bounds of mechanical philosophy , my design allowed me a great latitude in making explications of the phaenomena , i had occasion to take notice of . finis . of the mechanical origine of heat and cold . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of heat and cold . sect . i. about the mechanical production of cold. heat & cold being generally lookt upon as the most active among qualities , from which many other qualities are deducible , and by which many of nature's phaenomena , especially among the peripateticks , are attempted to be explicated ; i suppose it will be very proper to begin with instances of them to shew , that qualities may be mechanically produced or destroyed . a not useless paraphrase of which expression may be this , that a portion of matter may come to be endowed with a quality , which it had not before , or to be deprived of one that it had , or ( sometimes ) to acquire or lose a degree of that quality ; though on the part of the matter ( or , as some would speak , of the patient ) there do not appear to intervene any more than a change of texture , or some other mechanical alteration ; and though the agents ( on their part ) do not appear to act upon it otherwise , than after a mechanical manner , that is , by their bigness , shape , motion , and those other attributes by vertue whereof mechanical powers and engines perform their operations ; and this without having recourse to the peripatetic substantial forms and elements , or to the hypostatical principles of the chymists . and having here ( as in a proper place ) to avoid ambiguity , premised once for all , this * summary declaration of the sense , agreeably whereunto i would have these terms understood in the following notes about the origine of particular qualities ; i proceed now to set down some few examples of the mechanical production of cold & heat , beginning with those that relate to the former , because by reason of their paucity they will be quickly dispatcht . and i hope i shall not need to make an apology for mentioning no greater number ; since i scarce remember to have met with any instances of this kind in any of the classick writers of natural philosophy . exper. i. my first experiment is afforded me by the dissolution of sal armoniac , which i have somewhat wonder'd , that chymists having often occasion to purifie that salt by the help of water , should not have , long since , and publickly , taken notice of . for if you put into three or four times its weight of water a pound or but half a pound ( or even less ) of powder'd sal armoniack , and stir it about to hasten the dissolution , there will be produc'd in the mixture a very intense degree of coldness , such as will not be onely very sensible to his hand that holds the glass whilst the dissolution is making , but will very manifestly discover it self by its operation upon a thermoscope . nay , i have more than once by wetting the outside of the glass , where the dissolution was making , and nimbly stirring the mixture , turn'd that externally adhering water into real ice , ( that was scrap'd off with a knife ) in less than a minute of an hour . and this thus generated cold continued considerably intense , whilst the action of dissolution lasted ; but afterwards by degrees abated , and within a very few hours ceas'd . the particular phaenomena i have noted in the experiment , and the practical uses that may be made of it i reserve for another place * , the knowledge of them being not necessary in this , where what i have already related , may suffice for my present argument . and to shew , that not onely a far more intense degree of cold may emerge in this mixture , than was to be found in either of the ingredients before they were mingled , but a considerable coldness may be begun to be produc'd between bodies that were neither of them actually cold before they were put together , i will subjoin a transcript of what i find to this purpose among my adversaria . exper. ii. [ i remember that once i had a mind to try , whether the coldness produced upon the solution of beaten sal armoniac in water , might not be more probably referr'd to some change of texture or motion resulting from the action of the liquor upon the salt , than to any infrigidation of the water made by the suddain dispersion of so many saline grains of powder , which by reason of their solidity may be suspected to be actually more cold than the water they are put into ; i therefore provided a glass full of that liquor , and having brought it to such a temper , that its warmth made the spirit of wine in the seal'd weather-glass manifestly , though not nimbly , ascend ; i took out the thermoscope , and laid it in powder'd sal armoniac , warm'd beforehand ; so that the tincted liquor was made to ascend much nimblier by the salt than just before by the water ; and having presently remov'd the instrument into that liquor again , and poured the somewhat warm sal armoniac into the same , i found , as i imagin'd , that within a space of time which i guess'd to be about half a minute or less , the spirit of wine began hastily to subside , and within a few minutes fell above a whole division and a quarter below the mark at which it stood in the water , before that liquor or the salt were warm'd . nor did the spirit in a great while reascend to the height which it had when the water was cold . the same experiment , being at another time reiterated , was tried with the like success ; which second may therefore serve for a confirmation of the first . ] exper. iii. having a mind likewise to shew some ingenious men , how much the production of heat and cold depends upon texture and other mechanical affections , i thought fit to make again a sal armoniac by a way i formerly publish'd , that i might be sure to know what ingredients i employ'd , and shew their effects as well before conjunction as after it . i took then spirit of salt , and spirit of fermented or rather putrified urine ; and having put a seal'd weather-glass into an open vessel , where one of them was pour'd in , i put the other by degrees to it , and observ'd , that , as upon their mingling they made a great noise with many bubbles , so in this conflict they lost their former coldness , and impell'd up the spirit of wine in the seal'd thermoscope : then slowly evaporating the superfluous moisture , i obtained a fine sort of sal armoniac for the most part figur'd not unlike the other , when being dissolv'd and filtrated , it is warily coagulated . this new salt being gently dry'd i put into a wide glass of water , wherein i had before plac'd a seal'd weather-glass , that the included spirit might acquire the temper of the ambient liquor , and having stirr'd this salt in the water , though i took it then off the mantle-tree of a chimney that had had fire in it divers hours before , it did , as i expected , make the tincted spirit hastily subside and fall considerably low . exper. iv. since if two bodies upon their mixture acquire a greater degree of cold than either of them had before there is a production of this additional degree of that quality , it will be proper to add on this occasion the ensuing experiment . we took a competent quantity of acid spirit distill'd from roch-allom , ( that , though rectifi'd , was but weak , ) which , in the spirit of that salt , is not strange . of this we put into a wide mouth'd glass ( that was not great ) more than was sufficient to cover the globulous part of a good seal'd thermoscope , and then suffering the instrument to stay a pretty while in the liquor , that the spirit of wine might be cool'd as much as the ambient was , we put in little by little some volatile salt sublimed from sal armoniac and a fixt alcali , and notwithstanding the very numerous ( but not great ) bubbles , and the noise and froath that were produced , as is usual upon the reaction of acids and alcalys , the tincted spirit in the weather-glass , after having continued a good while at a stand , began a little to descend , and continued ( though but very slowly ) to do so , till the spirit of allom was glutted with the volatile salt ; and this descent of the tincted liquor in the instrument being measur'd , appear'd to be about an inch ( for it manifestly exceeded seven eighths . ) by comparing this experiment with the first part of the foregoing , we may gather , that when volatile and urinous salts or spirits ( for the saline particles appear sometimes in a dry and sometimes in a liquid form ) tumultuate upon their being mixt with acids , neither the heat nor the cold that ensues is produc'd by a conflict with the acids precisely as it is acid , since we have seen that an urinous spirit produc'd an actual heat with spirit of salt , and the distill'd salt of sal armoniac , which is also urinous , with the acid spirit of roch-allom produces not a true effervescence , but a manifest coldness : as the same salt also did in a trial of another sort , which was this . exper. v. we took one part of oyl of vitriol , and shaking it into twelve parts of water we made a mixture , that at first was sensibly warm ; then suffering this to cool , we put a sufficient quantity of it into a wide mouth'd glass , and then we put a good thermoscope hermetically seal'd , above whose ball the compounded liquor reached a pretty way . after some time had been allowed that the liquor in the thermometer might acquire the temper of the ambient ; we put in by degrees as much volatile salt of sal armoniac as would serve to satiate the acid spirits of the mixture : for , though these two made a notable conflict with tumult , noise , and froth , yet 't was but a cold ebullition ( if i may so stile it , ) for the spirit in the thermoscope descended about an inch beneath the mark it rested at , when the seeming effervescence began . exper. vi. 't is known that salt-peter being put into common water produces a sensible coldness in it , as it also does in many other liquors : but that the same salt put into a liquor of another constitution may have a quite differing effect , i have convinc'd some inquisitive persons by mingling eight ounces of fine salt-peter powder'd with six ounces of oyl of vitriol : for by that commixture with a salt that was not only actually , but , as to many other bodies , potentially cold , the oyl of vitriol , that was sensibly cold before , quickly conceived a considerable degree of heat , whose effects also became visible in the copious fumes that were emitted by the incalescent mixture . exper. vii . this brings into my mind , that though gunpowder seems to be of so igneous a nature , that , when 't is put upon a coal , it is turn'd presently into flame capable of promoting the deflagration of the charcoal , and kindling divers bodies it meets with in its way ; yet if some ounces of gunpowder reduced to powder be thrown into four or five times as much water , it will very manifestly impart a coldness to it , as experience made with , as well as without , a seal'd thermoscope has assured me . this and the foregoing experiment do readily suggest an inquiry into the nature of the coldness , which philosophers are wont to oppose to that which immediately and upon the first contact affect the organs of sense , and which therefore they call actual or formal . the success of this experiment upon a second trial serv'd to confirm it , which is the more strange , because i have found , that a small quantity of oyl of vitriol , not beforehand mingled with water , would produce a notable heat in its conflict with a small portion of just such salt as i employed before ( both the parcels having been , if i well remember , taken out of the same glass . ) and this heat did upon trial , made with the former thermoscope , make the tincted spirit ascend much further than the lately recited experiment made it subside . a digression about potential coldness . potential coldness has been generally lookt upon , and that partly perhaps upon the score of its very name , as so abstruse a quality , that 't is not onely rational but necessary to derive it from the substantial forms of bodies . but i confess i see no necessity of believing it not to be referrable to mechanical principles . for as to the chief instances of potential coldness , which are taken from the effects of some medicines and aliments in the bodies of men , it may be said without improbability , that the produced refrigeration proceeds chiefly from this , that the potentially cold body is made up of corpuscles of such size , shape , &c. that being resolved and disjoined by the menstruum of the stomach , or the fluids it may elsewhere meet with , they do so associate themselves with the small parts of the blood and other liquors , as , by clogging them or otherwise , to lessen their wonted agitation , and perhaps make them act in a peculiar way as well as less briskly on the nervous and fibrous parts ; and the perception of this imminution ( and perhaps change ) of motion in the organs of feeling is that , which , being referr'd to the body that produces it , we call its potential coldness . which quality ▪ appears by this account to be , as i was saying before , but a relative thing , and is wont to require the diffusion or dispersion of the small parts of the corpuscles of the agent , and their mingling themselves with the liquors or the small parts of the body they are to refrigerate . and therefore , if it be granted , that in agues there is some morbifick matter of a viscous or not easily dissipable texture , that is harbor'd in some part of the body , and requires such a time to be made fluid and resolvable ; the cold fits of agues need not be so much admired as they usually are ; since , though just before the fit the same parcel of matter that is to produce it were actually in the body , yet it was not by reason of its clamminess actually resolved into small parts , and mingled with those of the bloud , and consequently could not make such a change in the motion of that liquor as is felt in the cold fit of an ague ; ( for , of the further change that occasions the hot fit , i am not here to speak ) and in some other diseases a small quantity of matter , being resolved into minute parts , may be able to produce a great sense of coldness in some part of a body , which by reason of the structure of that part may be peculiarly disposed to be affected thereby ; as i have known hypochondriack and hysterical women complain of great degrees of coldness , that would suddenly invade some particular part , chiefly of the head or back , and be for a good while troublesome there . and that , if a frigorific vapour or matter be exceeding subtile , an inconsiderable quantity of it being dispersed through the bloud may suffice to produce a notable refrigeration , i have learnt by inquiry into the effects of some poysons ; and 't is not very material , whether the poyson , generally speaking , be cold or hot , if it meet with a body dispos'd to have those affections that pass for cold ones produced in it . for i have made a chymical liquor , that was penetrant and fiery enough to the taste , and had acquired a subtlety and briskness from distillation , with which i could almost in a trice , giving it but in the quantity of about a drop , cast an animal into that which appear'd a sleep , and the like liquor , in a not much greater quantity , being , by i know not whose mistake , apply'd to the aking tooth of a very ingenious person , did presently , as he soon after told me , give him an universal refrigeration , and trembling , worse than the cold paroxisme of a quartane . and though scorpions do sometimes cause , by their sting , violent heats in the parts they hurt , yet sometimes also the quite contrary happens , and their poyson proves , in a high degree , potentially cold ; as may be learnt from the two following observations recorded by eminent physicians . * famulum habui , ( saith benivenius ) qui à scorpione ictus , tam subito ac tam frigido sudore toto corpore perfusus est , ut algentissimâ nive atque glacie sese opprimi quereretur . verùm cùm algenti illi solam theriacam ex vino potentiore exhibuissem , illicò curatus est : thus far he : to whose narrative i adde this of amatus lusitanus . vir qui à scorpione in manus digito punctus fuit , multum dolebat , & refrigeratus totus contremebat , & per corpus dolores , cute totâ quasi acu punctâ , formicantes patiebatur , &c. i cannot now stay to enquire , whether there may not be in these great refrigerations , made by so small a quantity of poyson , some small concretions or coagulations made of the minute particles of the bloud into little clots , less agile and more unwieldy than they were when they moved separately : which may be illustrated by the little curdlings that may be made of the parts of milk by a very small proportion of runnet or some acid liquor , and the little coagulations made of the spirit of wine by that of urine : nor will i now enquire , whether , besides the retardment of the motion of the bloud , some poysons and other analogous agents may not give the motion of it a new modification , ( as if some corpuscles that usually are more whirl'd or brandish'd be put into a more direct motion ) that may give it a peculiar kind of grating or other action upon the nervous and fibrous parts of the body . these , i say , and other suspicions that have sometimes come into my thoughts , i must not stay to examine ; but shall now rather offer to consideration , whether , since some parts of the humane body are very differing from others in their structure and internal constitution ; and since also some agents may abound in corpuscles of differing shapes , bulks , and motions , the same medicine may not in reference to the same humane body be potentially cold or potentially hot , according as 't is applied ; or perhaps may , upon one or both of the accounts newly mentioned , be cold in reference to one part of the body , and hot in reference to the other . and these effects need not be always ascrib'd to the meer and immediate action of the corpuscles of the medicine , but sometimes to the new quality they acquire in their passage by associating themselves with the bloud or other fluids of the body , or to the expulsion of some calorific or frigorific corpuscles , or to the disposition they give the part on which they operate , to be more or less permeated and agitated than before by some subtile aethereal matter , or other efficients of heat or cold. some of these conjectures about the relative nature of potentially cold bodies , may be either confirmed or illustrated by such instances as these ; that spirit of wine being inwardly taken is potentially very hot , and yet being outwardly applied to some burns and some hot tumours does notably abate the heat of the inflamed parts , though the same spirit applied even outwardly to a tender eye will cause a great and dolorous agitation in it . and camphire , which in the dose of less than a half or perhaps a quarter of a scruple , has been observed to diffuse a heat through the body , is with success externally applied by physicians and chirurgeons in refrigerating medicines . but i leave the further inquiry into the operations of medicines to physicians , who may possibly , by what has been said , be assisted to compose the differences between some famous writers about the temperament of some medicines , as mercury , camphire , &c. which some will have to be cold , and others maintain to be hot ; and shall onely offer by way of confirming , in general , that potential coldness is onely a relative quality , a few particulars ; the first whereof is afforded by comparing together the vi. and the vii . experiment before going , ( which have occasion'd this digression about potential coldness ; ) since by them it seems probable , that the same thing may have it in reference to one body , and not to another , according to the disposition of the body it operates upon , or that operates upon it . and the fumes of lead have been observed sometimes ( for i have not found the effect to succeed always ) to arrest the fluidity of mercury , which change is supposed to be the effect of a potential coldness belonging to the chymists saturn in reference to fluid mercury , though it have not that operation on any other liquor that we know of . and lastly , ( for i would not be too prolix ) though nitre and sal armoniac be both apart and joyntly cold in reference to water , and though , however nitre be throughly melted in a crucible , it will not take fire of it self , yet if , whilst it is in fusion , you shall by degrees cast on it some powder'd sal armoniac , it will take fire and flash vehemently , almost as if sulphur had been injected . but our excursion has , i fear , lasted too long , and therefore i shall presently re-enter into the way , and proceed to set down some trials about cold. exper. viii . in the first experiment we observed , that upon the pouring of water upon sal armoniac there ensued an intense degree of cold , and we have elsewhere recited , that the like effect was produc'd by putting , instead of common water , oyl of vitriol to sal armoniac ; but now , to shew further , what influence motion and texture may have upon such trials , it may not be amiss to adde the following experiment : to twelve ounces of sal armoniac we put by degrees an equal weight of water , and whilst the liquor was dissolving the salt , and by that action producing a great coldness , we warily pour'd in twelve ounces also of good oyl of vitriol ; of which new mixture the event was , that a notable degree of heat was quickly produced in the glass wherein the ingredients were confounded , as unlikely as it seemed , that , whereas each of the two liquors is wont with sal armoniac to produce an intense cold , both of them acting on it together should produce the contrary quality . but the reason i had to expect the success , i met with , was this , that 't was probable the heat arising from the mixture of the two liquors would overpower the coldness produceable by the operation of either , or both , of them upon the salt. finis . exper. ix . in most of the experiments that we have hitherto proposed , cold is wont to be regularly produc'd in a mechanical way ; but i shall now adde , that in some sort of trials i found that the event was varied by unobserv'd circumstances ; so that sometimes manifest coldness would be produced by mixing two bodies together , which at another time would upon their congress disclose a manifest heat , and sometimes again , though more rarely , would have but a very faint and remiss degree of either . of this sort of experiments , whose events i could not confidently undertake for , i found to be , the dissolution of salt of tartar in spirit of vinegar , and of some other salts , that were not acid , in the same menstruum , and even spirit of verdigrease ( made per se ) though a more potent menstruum than common spirit of vinegar , would not constantly produce near such a heat at the beginning of its operation , as the greatness of the seeming effervescence , then excited , would make one expect , as may appear by the following observation transcrib'd verbatim out of one of my adversaria . [ into eight ounces of spirit of verdigrease ( into which we had put a while before a standard-thermoscope to acquire the like temper with the liquor ) we put in a wide-mouthed glass two ounces of salt of tartar , as fast as we durst for fear of making the matter boil over ; and though there were a great commotion excited by the action and reaction of the ingredients , which was attended with a copious froth and a hissing noise ; yet 't was a pretty while e're the glass was sensibly warm on the outside ; but by that time the salt was all dissolv'd , the liquor in the thermoscope appear'd to be impell'd up about three inches and an half . ] and yet , if my memory do not much deceive me , i have found , that by mixing salt of tartar with another salt , the texture of the fixt alkali was so alter'd , that upon the affusion of spirit of verdigrease , ( made without spirit of vinegar and spirit of wine , ) though there ensued a great conflict with noise and bubbles , yet , instead of an incalescence , a considerable degree of coldness was produced . exper. x. 't is very probable that further trials will furnish us with more instances to shew how the production of cold may in some cases be effected , varied , or hinder'd by mechanical circumstances that are easily and usually overlook'd . i remember , on this occasion , that though in the experiment above recited we observ'd , that oyl of vitriol and water being first shaken together , the volatil salt of sal armoniac being afterwards put to them , produced a sensible coldness ; yet i found , that if a little oyl of vitriol and of the volatile salt were first put together , though soon after a considerable proportion of water were added , there would be produc'd not a coldness , but a manifest degree of heat , which would impell up the liquor in the thermoscope to the height of some inches . and i remember too , that though salt of tartar will , as we shall see e're long , grow hot in the water , yet having distill'd some salt of tartar and cinaber in a strong fire , and put the whole caput mortuum into distill'd or rain-water , it made indeed a hissing there as if it had been quick-lime , but produced no heat , that i could by feeling perceive . i shall adde , that not onely , as we have seen already , some unheeded circumstances may promote or hinder the artificial production of cold by particular agents , but , which will seem more strange , some unobserv'd , and perhaps hardly observable , indisposition in the patient may promote or hinder the effects of the grand and catholick efficients of cold , whatever those be . this suspicion i represent as a thing that further experience may possibly countenance , because i have sometimes found , that the degree of the operation of cold has been much varied by latent circumstances , some bodies being more wrought upon , and others less , than was upon very probable grounds expected . and particularly i remember , that though oyl of vitriol be one of the firiest liquors that is yet known , and does perform some of the operations of fire it self , ( as we shall elsewhere have occasion to shew ) and will thaw ice sooner than spirit of wine or any other liquor , as i have tried ; yet having put about a pound or more , by our estimate , of choice rectified oyl of vitriol into a strong glass-vial proportionable to it , we found , that , except a little that was fluid at the top , it was all congeal'd or coagulated into a mass like ice , though the glass stood in a laboratory where a fire was constantly kept not far from it ▪ and where oyl of vitriol very seldom or never has before or since been observ'd to congeal or coagulate so much as in part . and the odness of our phaenomenon was increas'd by this circumstance , that the mass continued solid ▪ a good while after the weather was grown too mild to have such operations upon liquors far less indispos'd to lose their fluidity by cold , than even common oyl of vitriol is . on the other side i remember , that about two years ago , i expos'd some oyl of sweet almonds hermetically seal'd up in a glass-bubble , to observe what condensation an intense cold could make of it , ( for though cold expands water , it condenses common oyl ; ) but the next day i found to my wonder , that not onely the oyl remain'd unfrozen by the sharp frost it had been expos'd to , but that it had not its transparency troubled , though 't is known , that oyl will be brought to concrete and turn opacous by a far less degree of cold than is requisite to freeze water ; notwithstanding which this liquor , which was lodged in a glass so thin , that 't was blown at the flame of a lamp , continued fluid and diaphanous in very frosty weather , so long till i lost the expectation of seeing it congeal'd or concreted . and this brings into my mind , that though camphire be , as i formerly noted , reckon'd by many potentially cold , yet we kept some oyl of it , of our making , wherein the whole body of the camphire remain'd , being onely by some nitrous spirits reduc'd to the form of an oyl ; we kept it , i say , in such intense degrees of cold , that would have easily frozen water , without finding it to lose its transparency or its fluidity . and here i shall put an end to the first section , ( containing our notes about cold ) the design of which may be not a little promoted by comparing with them the beginning of the ensuing section . for if it be true , that ( as we there shew ) the nature of heat consists either onely or chiefly in the local motion of the small parts of a body mechanically modified by certain conditions , of which the principal is the vehemency of the various agitations of those insensible parts ; and if it be also true , as experience witnesses it to be , that , when the minute parts of a body are in or arrive at such a state , that they are more slowly or faintly agitated than those of our fingers or other organs of feeling , we judge them cold : these two things laid together seem plainly enough to argue , that a privation or negation of that local motion that is requisite to constitute heat , may suffice for the denominating a body cold , as coldness is a quality of the object , ( which as 't is perceiv'd by the mind , is also an affection of the sentient : ) and therefore an imminution of such a degree of former motion as is necessary to make a body hot as to sense , and which is sufficient to the production of sensible coldness , may be mechanically made , since slowness as well as swiftness being a mode of local motion is a mechanical thing : and though its effect , which is coldness , seem a privation or negation ; yet the cause of it may be a positive agent acting mechanically , by clogging the agile calorific particles , or deadning their motion , or perverting their determination , or by some other intelligible way bringing them to a state of coldness as to sense : i say coldness as to sense ; because as 't is a tactile quality , in the popular acception of it , 't is relative to our organs of feeling ; as we see that the same luke-warm water will appear hot and cold to the same mans hands , if , when both are plung'd into it , one of them shall have been newly held to the fire , and the other be benummed with frost . and indeed the custom of speaking has introduced an ambiguity into the word cold , which often occasions mistakes , not easily without much attention and sometimes circumlocution also to be avoided ; since usually by cold is meant that which immediately affects the sensory of him that pronounces a body cold , whereas sometimes 't is taken in a more general notion for such a negation or imminution of motion , as though it operates not perceivably on our senses , does yet upon other bodies ; and sometimes also it is taken ( which is perhaps the more philosophical sense ) for a perception , made in and by the mind , of the alteration produced in the corporeal organs by the operation of that , whatever it be , on whose account a body is found to be cold . but the discussion of these points is here purposely omitted , as for other reasons , so principally because they may be found expresly handled in a fitter place . sect . ii. of the mechanicall origine or production of heat . after having dispatched the instances i had to offer of the production of cold , it remains that i also propose some experiments of heat , which quality will appear the more likely to be mechanically producible , if we consider the nature of it , which seems to consist mainly , if not onely , in that mechanical affection of matter we call local motion mechanically modified , which modification , as far as i have observed , is made up of three conditions . the first of these is , that the agitation of the parts be vehement , by which degree or rapidness , the motion proper to bodies that are hot distinguishes them from bodies that are barely fluid . for these , as such , require not near so brisk an agitation , as is wont to be necessary to make bodies deserve the name of hot . thus we see that the particles of water in its natural ( or usual ) state , move so calmly , that we do not feel it at all warm , though it could not be a liquor unless they were in a restless motion ; but when water comes to be actually hot , the motion does manifestly and proportionably appear more vehement , since it does not onely briskly strike our organs of feeling , but ordinarily produces store of very small bubbles , and will melt butter or coagulated oyl , cast upon it , and will afford vapours , that , by the agitation they suffer , will be made to ascend into the air . and if the degree of heat be such as to make the water boil , then the agitation becomes much more manifest by the confus'd motions , and waves , and noise , and bubbles , that are excited , and by other obvious effects and phaenomena of the vehement and tumultuous motion , which is able to throw up visibly into the air great store of corpuscles , in the form of vapours or smoak . thus in a heated iron the vehement agitation of the parts may be easily inferr'd from the motion and hissing noise it imparts to drops of water or spittle that fall upon it . for it makes them hiss and boil , and quickly forces their particles to quit the form of a liquor , and flye into the air in the form of steams . and lastly , fire , which is the hottest body we know , consists of parts so vehemently agitated , that they perpetually and swiftly flye abroad in swarms , and dissipate or shatter all the combustible bodies they meet with in their way ; fire making so fierce a dissolution , and great a dispersion of its own fuel , that we may see whole piles of solid wood ( weighing perhaps many hundred pounds ) so dissipated in very few hours into flame and smoak , that oftentimes there will not be one pound of ashes remaining . and this is the first condition required to heat . the second is this , that the determinations be very various , some particles moving towards the right , some to the left , hand , some directly upwards , some downwards , and some obliquely , &c. this variety of determinations appears to be in hot bodies both by some of the instances newly mention'd , and especially that of flame , which is a body ; and by the diffusion that metals acquire , when they are melted , and by the operations of heat that are exercis'd by hot bodies upon others , in what posture or scituation soever the body to be heated be applied to them . as a thoroughly ignited coal will appear every way red , and will melt wax , and kindle brimstone , whether the body be apply'd to the upper or to the lower , or to any other part of the burning coal . and congruously to this notion , though air and water be mov'd never so vehemently , as in high winds and cataracts , yet we are not to expect that they should be manifestly hot , because the vehemency belongs to the progressive motion of the whole body ; notwithstanding which , the parts it consists of may not be near so much quickned in their motions made according to other determinations , as to become sensibly hot . and this consideration may keep it from seeming strange , that in some cases , where the whole body , though rapidly moved , tends but one way , 't is not by that swift motion perceived to be made hot. nay , though the agitation be very various as well as vehement , there is yet a third condition required to make it calorific , namely , that the agitated particles , or at least the greatest number of them , be so minute as to be singly insensible . for though a heap of sand or dust it self were vehemently and confusedly agitated by a whirlwind , the bulk of the grains or corpuscles , would keep their agitation from being properly heat , though by their numerous strokes upon a man's face , and the brisk commotion of the spirits and other small particles that may thence ensue , they may perchance occasion the production of that quality . if some attention be employ'd in considering the formerly propos'd notion of the nature of heat , it may not be difficult to discern , that the mechanical production of it may be divers ways effected . for , excepting in some few anomalous cases , ( wherein the regular course of things happens to be over-rul'd , ) by whatever ways the insensible parts of a body are put into a very confus'd and vehement agitation , by the same ways heat may be introduc'd into that body : agreeably to which doctrine , as there are several agents and operations by which this calorific motion ( if i may so call it ) may be excited , so there may be several ways of mechanically producing heat , and many experiments may be reduc'd to almost each of them , chance it self having in the laboratories of chymists afforded divers phaenomena referrable to one or other of those heads . many of the more familiar instances , applicable to our present purpose , have been long since collected by our justly famous verulam in his short , but excellent , paper de forma calidi , wherein ( though i do not acquiesce in every thing i meet with there ) he seems to have been , at least among the moderns , the person that has first handled the doctrine of heat like an experimentall philosopher . i shall therefore decline accumulating a multitude of instances of the production of heat , and i shall also forbear to insist on such known things , as the incalescence observable upon the pouring either of oyl of vitriol upon salt of tartar , ( in the making of tartarum vitriolatum ) or of aqua fortis upon silver or quicksilver , ( in the dissolution of these metals ) but shall rather chuse to mention some few instances not so notorious as the former , but not unfit by their variety to exemplifie several of the differing ways of exciting heat . and yet i shall not decline the mention of the most obvious and familiar instance of all , namely the heat observed in quick-lime upon the affusion of cold water , because among learned men , and especially peripateticks , i find causes to be assign'd that are either justly questionable or manifestly erroneous . for as to what is inculcated by the schools about the incalescence of a mixture of quick-lime and water by vertue of a supposed antiperistasis or invigoration of the internal heat of the lime by its being invironed by cold water , i have elsewhere shewn , that this is but an imaginary cause , by delivering upon experiment ( which any man may easily make ) that , if instead of cold water the liquor be poured on very hot , the ebullition of the lime will not be the less , but rather the greater : and oyl of turpentine , which is a lighter , and is lookt upon as a subtiler liquor than water , though it be poured quite cold on quick-lime , will not , that i have observed , grow so much as sensibly hot with it . and now i have mentioned the incalescence of lime , which , though an abvious phaenomenon , has exercised the wits of divers philosophers and chymists , i will adde two or three observations in order to an inquiry that may be some other time made into the genuine causes of it ; which are not so easie to be found as many learned men may at first sight imagine . the acute helmont indeed and his followers have ingeniously enough attempted to derive the heat under consideration from the conflict of some alcalizate and acid salts , that are to be found in quick-lime , and are dissolved , and so set at liberty to fight with one another by the water that slakes the lime . but though we have some manifest marks of an alcalizate salt in lime , yet that it contains also an acid salt , has not , that i remember , been proved ; and if the emerging of heat be a sufficient reason to prove a latent acid salt in lime , i know not , why i may not inferr , that the like salt lies conceal'd in other bodies , which the chymists take to be of the purest or meerest sort of alcalys . for i have purposely tried , exper. i that by putting a pretty quantity of dry salt of tartar in the palm of my hand , and wetting it well in cold water , there has been a very sensible heat produced in the mixture ; and when i have made the trial with a more considerable quantity of salt and water in a viol , the heat proved troublesomely intense , and continued to be at least sensible a good while after . this experiment seems to favour the opinion , that the heat produced in lime whilst 't is quenching , proceeds from the empyreuma , as the chymists call it , or impression left by the violent fire , that was employ'd to reduce the stone to lime . but if by empyreuma be meant a bare impression made by the fire , 't will be more requisite than easie , to declare intelligibly , in what that impression consists , and how it operates to produce such considerable effects . and if the effect be ascribed to swarms of atomes of fire , that remain adherent to the substance of the lime , and are set at liberty to flye away by the liquor , which seems to be argued by the slaking of lime without water , if it be for some time left in the air , whereby the atomes of fire get opportunity to flye away by little and little : if this , i say , be alledged , i will not deny but there may be a sense , ( which i cannot explicate in few words ) wherein the cooperation of a substantial effluvium , for so i call it , of the fire , may be admitted in giving an account of our phaenomenon . but the cause formerly assigned , as 't is crudely proposed , leaves in my mind some scruples . for 't is not so easie to apprehend , that such light and minute bodies as those of fire are supposed , should be so long detained as by this hypothesis they must be allowed to be , in quick-lime , kept in well-stopt vessels , from getting out of so laxe and porous a body as lime , especially since we see not a great incalescence or ebullition ensue upon the pouring of water upon minium , or crocus martis per se , though they have been calcined by violent and lasting fires , whose effluviums or emanations appear to adhere to them by the increase of weight , that lead , if not also mars , does manifestly receive from the operation of the fire . to which i shall adde , that , whereas one would think that the igneous atoms should either flye away , or be extinguished by the supervening of water , i know , and elsewhere give account , exper. ii of an experiment , in which two liquors , whereof one was furnished me by nature , did by being several times separated and reconjoyned without additament , at each congress produce a sensible heat . and an instance of this kind , exper. iii though not so odd , i purposely sought and found in salt of tartar , from which , after it had been once heated by the affusion of water , we abstracted or evaporated the liquor without violence of fire , till the salt was again dry ; and then putting on water a second time , the same salt grew hot again in the vial , and , if i misremember not , it produced this incalescence the third time , if not the fourth ; and might probably have done it oftner , if i had had occasion to prosecute the experiment . which seems at least to argue , that the great violence of fire is not necessary to impress what passes for an empyreum upon all calcined bodies that will heat with water . and on this occasion i shall venture to adde , that i have sometimes doubted , whether the incalescence may not much depend upon the particular disposition of the calcined body , which being deprived of its former moisture , and made more porous by the fire , doth by the help of those igneous effluviums , for the most part of a saline nature , that are dispersed through it , and adhere to it , acquire such a texture , that the water impell'd by its own weight , and the pressure of the atmosphere , is able to get into a multitude of its pores at once , and suddenly dissolve the igneous and alcalizate salt it every where meets with there , and briskly disjoyn the earthy and solid particles , that were blended with them ; which being exceeding numerous , though each of them perhaps be very minute , and moves but a very little way , yet their multitude makes the confused agitation of the whole aggregate of them , and of the particles of the water and salt vehement enough to produce a sensible heat ; especially if we admit , that there is such a change made in the pores , as occasions a great increase of this agitation , by the ingress and action of some subtile ethereal matter , from which alone monsieur des cartes ingeniously attempts to derive the incalescence of lime and water , as well as that of metals dissolved in corrosive liquors ; though as to the phaenomena we have been considering , there seems at least to concur a peculiar disposition of body , wherein heat is to be produced to do one or both of these two things , namely , to retain good store of the igneous effluvia , and to be , by their adhesion or some other operation of the fire , reduced to such a texture of its component particles , as to be fit to have them easily penetrated , and briskly as well as copiously dissipated , by invading water . and this conjecture ( for i propose it as no other ) seems favour'd by divers phaenomena , some whereof i shall now annex . for here it may be observed , that both the dissolved salt of tartar lately mentioned , and the artificial liquor that grows hot with the natural , reacquires that disposition to incalescence upon a bare constipation or closer texture of the parts from the superfluous moisture they were drowned in before : the heat that brought them to this texture having been so gentle , that 't is no way likely that the igneous exhalations could themselves produce such a heat , or at least that they should adhere in such numbers as must be requisite to such an effect , unless the texture of the salt of tartar ( or other body ) did peculiarly dispose it to detain them ; since i have found by trial , that sal armoniac dissolv'd in water , exper. iv though boiled up with a brisker fire to a dry salt , would , upon its being again dissolved in water , not produce any heat , but a very considerable degree of cold. i shall adde , that though one would expect a great cognation between the particles of fire adhering to quick-lime , and those of high rectified spirit of wine , which is of so igneous a nature , as to be totally inflammable ; yet i have not found , that the affusion of alkaol of wine upon quick-lime , would produce any sensible incalescence , or any visible dissolution or dissipation of the lime , as common water would have done , though it seemed to be greedily enough soaked in by the lumps of lime . and i further tried , that , if on this lime so drenched i poured cold water , there insued no manifest heat , nor did i so much as find the lump swelled , and thereby broken , till some hours after ; which seems to argue , that the texture of the lime was such , as to admit the particles of the spirit of wine into some of its pores , which were either larger or more congruous , without admitting it into the most numerous ones , whereinto the liquor must be received , to be able suddenly to dissipate the corpuscles of lime into their minuter particles , into which ( corpuscles ) it seems that the change that the aqueous particles received by associating with the spirituous ones , made them far less fit to penetrate and move briskly there , than if they had enter'd alone . i made also an experiment that seems to favour our conjecture , by shewing how much the disposition of lime to incalescence may depend upon an idoneous texture , and the experiment , as i find it registred in one of my memorials , is this . exper. v. [ upon quick-lime we put in a retort as much moderately strong spirit of wine as would drench it , and swim a pretty way above it ; and then distilling with a gentle fire , we drew off some spirit of wine much stronger than that which had been put on , and then the phlegm following it , the fire was increas'd , which brought over a good deal of phlegmatic strengthless liquor ; by which one would have thought that the quick-lime had been slaked ; but when the remaining matter had been taken out of the retort , and suffer'd to cool , it appear'd to have a fiery disposition that it had not before . for if any lump of it as big as a nutmeg or an almond was cast into the water , it would hiss as if a coal of fire had been plunged into the liquor , which was soon thereby sensibly heated . nay , having kept divers lumps of this prepared calx well cover'd from the air for divers weeks , to try whether it would retain this property , i found , as i expected , that the calx operated after the same manner , if not more powerfully . for sometimes , especially when 't was reduced to small pieces , it would upon its coming into the water make such a brisk noise , as might almost pass for a kind of explosion . ] these phaenomena seem to argue , that the disposition that lime has to grow hot with water , depends much on some peculiar texture , since the aqueous parts , that one would think capable of quenching all or most of the atomes of fire that are supposed to adhere to quick-lime , did not near so much weaken the disposition of it to incalescence , as the accession of the spirituous corpuscles and their contexture , with those of the lime , increased that igneous disposition . and that there might intervene such an association , seems to me the more probable , not onely because much of the distill'd liquor was as phlegmatick , as if it had been robb'd of its more active parts , but because i have sometimes had spirit of wine come over with quick-lime not in unobserved steams , but white fumes . to which i shall adde , that , besides that the taste , and perhaps odour of the spirit of wine , is often manifestly changed by a well-made distillation from quick-lime ; i have sometimes found that liquor to give the lime a kind of alcalizat penetrancy , not to say fieriness of taste , that was very brisk and remarkable . but i will not undertake , that every experimenter , nor i my self , shall always make trials of this kind with the same success that i had in those above recited , in regard that i have found quick-limes to differ much , not onely according to the degree of their calcination , and to their recentness , but also , and that especially , according to the differing natures of the stones and other bodies calcined . which observation engages me the more to propose what hath been hitherto deliver'd about quick-lime , as onely narratives and a conjecture ; which i now perceive has detain'd us so long , that i am oblig'd to hasten to the remaining experiments , and to be the more succinct in delivering them . exper. vi. and it will be convenient to begin with an instance or two of the production of heat , wherein there appears not to intervene any thing in the part of the agent or patient but local motion , and the natural effects of it . and as to this sort of experiments , a little attention and reflection may make some familiar phaenomenon apposite to our present purpose . when , for example , a smith does hastily hammer a nail or such like piece of iron , the hammer'd metal will grow exceeding hot , and yet there appears not any thing to make it so , save the forcible motion of the hammer which impresses a vehement and variously determin'd agitation of the small parts of the iron ; which being a cold body before , by that superinduc'd commotion of its small parts , becomes in divers senses hot ; first in a more lax acceptation of the word in reference to some other bodies , in respect of whom 't was cold before , and then sensibly hot ; because this newly gain'd agitation surpasses that of the parts of our fingers . and in this instance 't is not to be overlookt , that oftentimes neither the hammer , by which , nor the anvil , on which a cold piece of iron is forged , ( for all iron does not require precedent ignition to make it obey the hammer ) continue cold , after the operation is ended ; which shews , that the heat acquir'd by the forged piece of iron was not communicated by the hammer or anvil as heat , but produc'd in it by motion , which was great enough to put so small a body as the piece of iron into a strong and confus'd motion of its parts without being able to have the like operation upon so much greater masses of metal , as the hammer and the anvil ; though if the percussions were often and nimbly renewed , and the hammer were but small , this also might be heated , ( though not so soon nor so much as the iron ; ) by which one may also take notice , that 't is not necessary , a body should be it self hot , to be calorific . and now i speak of striking an iron with a hammer , i am put in mind of an observation that seems to contradict , but does indeed confirm , our theory : namely , that , if a somewhat large nail be driven by a hammer into a plank or piece of wood , it will receive divers strokes on the head before it grow hot ; but when 't is driven to the head , so that it can go no further ▪ a few strokes will suffice to give it a considerable heat ; for whilst , at every blow of the hammer , the nail enters further and further into the wood , the motion that is produc'd is chiefly progressive , and is of the whole nail tending one way ; whereas , when that motion is stopt , then the impulse given by the stroke being unable either to drive the nail further on , or destroy its intireness , must be spent in making a various vehement and intestine commotion of the parts among themselves , and in such an one we formerly observ'd the nature of heat to consist . exper. vii . in the foregoing experiment the brisk agitation of the parts of a heated iron was made sensible to the touch ; i shall now adde one of the attempts , that i remember i made to render it discoverable to the eye it self . in order to this , and that i might also shew , that not onely a sensible but an intense degree of heat may be produc'd in a piece of cold iron by local motion , i caus'd a bar of that metal to be nimbly hammer'd by two or three lusty men accustom'd to manage that instrument ; and these striking with as much force , and as little intermission as they could upon the iron , soon brought it to that degree of heat , that not onely 't was a great deal too hot to be safely touched , but probably would , according to my design , have kindled gunpowder , if that which i was fain to make use of had been of the best sort : for , to the wonder of the by-standers , the iron kindled the sulphur of many of the grains of the corns of powder , and made them turn blue , though i do not well remember , that it made any of them go off . exper. viii . besides the effects of manifest and violent percussions , such as those we have been taking notice of to be made with a hammer , there are among phaenomena obvious enough , some that shew the producibleness of heat even in cold iron , by causing an intestine commotion of its parts : for we find , that , if a piece of iron of a convenient shape and bulk be nimbly filed with a large rough file , a considerable degree of heat will be quickly excited in those parts of the iron where the file passes to and fro , the many prominent parts of the instrument giving a multitude of strokes or pushes to the parts of the iron that happen to stand in their way , and thereby making them put the neighbouring parts into a brisk and confus'd motion , and so into a state of heat . nor can it be well objected , that upon this account the file it self ought to grow as hot as the iron , which yet it will not do ; since , to omit other answers , the whole body of the file being moved to and fro , the same parts , that touch the iron this moment , pass off the next , and besides have leasure to cool themselves by communicating their newly received agitation to the air before they are brought to grate again upon the iron , which , being supposed to be held immoveable , receives almost perpetual shakes in the same place . we find also , that attrition , if it be any thing vehement , is wont to produce heat in the solidest bodies ; as when the blade of a knife being nimbly whetted grows presently hot . and if having taken a brass nail , and driven it as far as you can to the end of the stick , to keep it fast and gain a handle , you then strongly rub the head to and fro against the floor or a plank of wood , you may quickly find it to have acquired a heat intense enough to offend , if not burn ones fingers . and i remember , that going once in exceeding hot weather in a coach , which for certain reasons we caus'd to be driven very fast , the attrition of the nave of the wheel against the axel-tree was so vehement as oblig'd us to light out of the coach to seek for water , to cool the over-chafed parts , and stop the growing mischief the excessive heat had begun to do . the vulgar experiment of strikeing fire with a flint and steel sufficiently declares , what a heat in a trice may be produc'd in cold bodies by percussion , or collision ; the later of which seems but mutual percussion . but instances of the same sort with the rest mention'd in this vi. experiment being obvious enough , i shall forbear to multiply and insist on them . exper. ix . for the sake of those that think the attrition of contiguous air is necessary to the production of manifest heat , i thought among other things of the following experiment , and made trial of it . we took some hard black pitch , and having in a bason , poringer , or some such vessel , placed it a convenient distance under water , we cast on it with a good burning-glass the sun-beams in such a manner , that notwithstanding the refraction that they suffer'd in the passage through the interposed water , the focus fell upon the pitch , wherein it would produce sometimes bubbles , sometimes smoak , and quickly communicated a degree of heat capable to make pitch melt , if not also to boil . exper. x. though the first and second experiments of section i. shew , that a considerable degree of cold is produc'd by the dissolution of sal armoniac in common water ; yet by an additament , though but single , the texture of it may be so alter'd , that , instead of cold , a notable degree of heat will be produced , if it be dissolved in that liquor . for the manifestation of which we devis'd the following experiment . we took quick-lime , and slaked it in common cold water , that all the igneous or other particles , to which its power of heating that liquor is ascrib'd , might be extracted and imbib'd , and so the calx freed from them ; then on the remaining powder fresh water was often poured , that all adhering reliques of salt might be wash'd off . after this , the thus dulcified calx , being again well dried , was mingled with an equal weight of powder'd sal armoniac , and having with a strong fire melted the mass , the mixture was poured out ; and being afterwards beaten to powder , having given it a competent time to grow cold , we put two or three ounces of it into a wide-mouthed glass , and pouring water upon it , within about a minute of an hour the mixture grew warm , and quickly attain'd so intense a heat , that i could not hold the glass in my hand . and though this heat did not long last at the same height , it continued to be very sensible for a considerable time after . exper. xi . to confirm this experiment by a notable variation ; we took finely powder'd sal armoniac , and filings or scales of steel , and when they were very diligently mixt ( for that circumstance ought to be observ'd ) we caus'd them to be gradually sublim'd in a glass vessel , giving a smart fire towards the latter end . by this operation so little of the mixture ascended , that , as we desired , far the greatest part of the sal armoniac staid at the bottom with the metal ; then taking out the caput mortuum , i gave it time throughly to cool , but in a glass well stopt , that it might not imbibe the moisture of the air , ( as it is very apt to do . ) and lastly , though the filings of steel , as well as the sal armoniac , were bodies actually cold , and so might be thought likely to increase , not check , the coldness wont to be produced in water by that salt ; yet putting the mixture into common water , there ensued , as we expected , an intense degree of heat . and i remember , that having sublim'd the forementioned salt in distinct vessels , with the filings of steel , and with filings of copper , and for curiosities sake kept one of the caput mortuums ( for i cannot certainly call to mind which of the two it was , ) divers moneths , ( if i mistake not , eight or nine , ) we at length took it out of the vessel , wherein it had been kept carefully stopt , and , upon trial , were not deceiv'd in having expected , that all that while the disposition to give cold water a notable degree of heat was preserved in it . exper. xii . if experiments were made after the above recited manner with sal armoniac and other mineral bodies than iron and copper , 't is not improbable , that some of the emerging phaenomena would be found to confirm what has been said of the interest of texture , ( and some few other mechanical affections ) in the production of heat and cold. which conjecture is somewhat favoured by the following trial. three ounces of antimony , and an equal weight of sal armoniac being diligently powder'd and mixt , were by degrees of fire sublimed in a glass-vessel , by which operation we obtain'd three differing substances , which we caused to be separately powder'd , when they were taken out of the subliming glass , lest the air or time should make any change in them ; and having before put the ball of a good seal'd weather-glass for a while into water , that the spirit of wine might be brought to the temper of the external liquor , we put on a convenient quantity of the powder'd caput mortuum , which amounted to two ounces , and seemed to be little other than antimony , which accordingly did scarce sensibly raise the spirit of wine in the thermoscope , though that were a tender one . then laying aside that water , and putting the instrument into fresh , of the same temper , we put to it a very yellow sublimate , that ascended higher than the other parts , and seemed to consist of the more sulphureous flowers of the antimony , with a mixture of the more volatile parts of the sal armoniac . and this substance made the tincted spirit in the thermoscope descend very slowly about a quarter of an inch ; but when the instrument was put into fresh water of the same temper , and we had put in some of the powder of the lower sort of sublimate , which was dark coloured , though both the antimony and sal armoniac , it consisted of , had been long exposed to the action of a subliming heat ; yet the water was thereby speedily and notably cooled , insomuch , that the spirit of wine in the weather-glass hastily descended , and continued to sink , till by our guess it had fallen not much short of three inches . of these phaenomena the etiology , as some moderns call the theory , which proposes the causes of things , is more easie to be found by a little consideration , than to be made out in few words . we made also an experiment like that above recited , by subliming three ounces a piece of minium and sal armoniac ; in which trial we found , that though in the caput mortuum , the salt had notably wrought upon the calx of lead , and was in part associated with it , as appear'd by the whiteness of the said caput mortuum , by its sweetish taste , and by the weight ( which exceeded four drams that of all the minium ; ) yet a convenient quantity of this powder'd mixture being put into water , wherein the former weather-glass had been kept a while , the tincted spirit of wine was not manifestly either raised or deprest . and when in another glass we prosecuted the trial with the sal armoniac that had been sublimed from the minium , it did indeed make the spirit of wine descend , but scarce a quarter so much as it had been made to fall by the lately mention'd sublimate of sal armoniac and antimony . exper. xiii . 't is known that many learned men , besides several chymical writers , ascribe the incalescences , that are met with in the dissolution of metals , to a conflict arising from a certain antipathy or hostility , which they suppose between the conflicting bodies , and particularly between the acid salt of the one , and the alcalizate salt , whether fixt or volatile , of the other . but since this doctrine supposes a hatred between inanimate bodies , in which 't is hard to conceive , how there can be any true passions , and does not intelligibly declare , by what means their suppos'd hostility produces heat ; 't is not likely , that , for these and some other reasons , inquisitive naturalists will easily acquiesce in it . and on the other side it may be consider'd , whether it be not more probable , that heats , suddenly produced in mixtures , proceed either from a very quick and copious diffusion of the parts of one body through those of another , whereby both are confusedly tumbled and put into a calorific motion ; or from this , that the parts of the dissolved body come to be every way in great numbers violently scatter'd ; or from the fierce and confused shocks or justlings of the corpuscles of the conflicting bodies , or masses which may be suppos'd to have the motions of their parts differingly modified according to their respective natures : or from this , that by the plentiful ingress of the corpuscles of the one into the almost commensurate parts of the other , the motion of some etherial matter that was wont before swiftly to permeate the distinct bodies , comes to be check'd and disturbed , and forced to either brandish or whirl about the parts in a confus'd manner , till it have settled it self a free passage through the new mixture , almost as the light does thorow divers troubled liquors and vitrified bodies , which at length it makes transparent . but without here engaging in a solemn examination of the hypothesis of alcali and acidum , and without determining whether any one , or more of the newly mention'd mechanical causes , or whether some other , that i have not yet named , is to be entitled to the effect ; it will not be impertinent to propose divers instances of the production of heat by the operation of one agent , oyl of vitriol , that it may be consider'd whether it be likely , that this single agent should upon the score of antipathy , or that of its being an acid menstruum , be able to produce an intense heat in many bodies of so differing natures as are some of those that we shall have occasion to name . and now i proceed to the experiments themselves . take some ounces of strong oyl of vitriol , and shaking it with three or four times its weight of common water , though both the liquors were cold when they were put together , yet their mixture will in a trice grow intensely hot , and continue considerably so for a good while . in this case it cannot probably be pretended by the chymists , that the heat arises from the conflict of the acid and alcalizate salts abounding in the two liquors , since the common water is suppos'd an elementary body devoid of all salts ; and at least , being an insipid liquor , 't will scarce be thought to have alcali enough to produce by its reaction so intense a heat . that the heat emergent upon such a mixture may be very great , when the quantities of the mingled liquors are considerably so , may be easily concluded from one of my memorials , wherein i find that no more than two ounces of oyl of vitriol being poured ( but not all at once ) into four ounces onely of distilled rain-water , made and kept it manifestly warm for a pretty deal above an hour , and during no small part of that time , kept it so hot , that 't was troublesome to be handled . exper. xiv . the former experiment brings into my mind one that i mention without teaching it in the history of cold , and it appear'd very surprizing to those that knew not the ground of it . for having sometimes merrily propos'd to heat cold liquors with ice , the undertaking seem'd extravagant if not impossible , but was easily perform'd by taking out of a bason of cold water , wherein divers fragments of ice were swimming , one or two pieces that i perceived were well drenched with the liquor , and immersing them suddenly into a wide-mouth'd glass wherein strong oyl of vitriol had been put ; for this menstruum , presently mingling with the water that adher'd to the ice , produc'd in it a brisk heat , and that sometimes with a manifest smoke , which nimbly dissolved the contiguous parts of ice , and those the next , and so the whole ice being speedily reduced to water , and the corrosive menstruum being by two or three shakes well dispersed through it , and mingled with it , the whole mixture would grow in a trice so hot , that sometimes the vial that contain'd it , was not to be endured in ones hand . exper. xv. notwithstanding the vast difference betwixt common water and high rectified spirit of wine , whereof men generally take the former for the most contrary body to fire , and whereof the chymists take the later to be but a kind of liquid sulphur , since it may presently be all reduc'd into flame ; yet , as i expected , i found upon trial , that oyl of vitriol being mingled with pure spirit of wine , would as well grow hot , as with common water . nor does this experiment always require great quantities of the liquors . for when i took but one ounce of strong oyl of vitriol , though i put to it less than half an ounce of choice spirit of wine , yet those two being lightly shaken together , did in a trice conceive so brisk a heat , that they almost fill'd the vial with fumes , and made it so hot , thar i had unawares like to have burnt my hand with it before i could lay it aside . i made the like trial with the same corrosive menstruum , and common aqua vitae bought at a strong-water-shop , by the mixture of which liquors , heat was produc'd in the vial that i could not well endure . the like success i had in an experiment wherein oyl of vitriol was mixt with common brandy ; save that in this the heat produced seem'd not so intense as in the former trial , which it self afforded not so fierce a heat as that which was made with rectified spirit of wine . exper. xvi . those chymists , who conceive that all the incalescencies of bodies upon their being mixt , proceed from their antipathy or hostility , will not perhaps expect , that the parts of the same body , ( either numerically , or in specie , as the schools phrase it , ) should , and that without manifest conflict , grow very hot together . and yet having for trials sake put two ounces of colcothar so strongly calcin'd , that it was burnt almost to blackness , into a retort , we poured upon it two ounces of strong oyl of english vitriol , and found , that after about a minute of an hour they began to grow so hot , that i could not endure to hold my hand to the bottom of the vessel , to which the mixture gave a heat , that continued sensible on the outside for between twenty and thirty minutes . exper. xvii . though i have not observ'd any liquor to equal oyl of vitriol in the number of liquors with which it will grow hot ; yet i have not met with any liquor wherewith it came to a greater incalescence than it frequently enough did with common oyl of turpentine . for when we caused divers ounces of each to be well shaken together in a strong vessel , fasten'd , to prevent mischief , to the end of a pole or staff ; the ebullition was great and fierce enough to be not undeservedly admired by the spectators . and this brings into my mind a pleasant adventure afforded by these liquors , of each of which , having for the production of heat and other purposes , caus'd a good bottle full to be put up with other things into a box , and sent down into the countrey with a great charge , that care should be had of the glasses ; the wagon , in which the box was carried , happen'd by a great jolt , that had almost overturn'd it , to be so rudely shaken , that these glasses were both broken , and the liquors , mingling in the box , made such a noise and stink , and sent forth such quantities of smoke by the vents , which the fumes had open'd to themselves , that the passengers with great outcries and much haste threw themselves out of the wagon , for fear of being burnt in it . the trials we made with oyl of turpentine , when strong spirit of nitre was substituted in the stead of oyl of vitriol , belong not to this place . exper. xviii . but though petroleum , especially when rectified , be , as i have elsewhere noted , a most subtile liquor , and the lightest i have yet had occasion to try ; yet to shew you how much the incalescence of liquors may depend upon their texture , i shall adde , that having mixt by degrees one ounce of rectified petroleum , with an equal weight of strong oyl of vitriol , the former liquor seemed to work upon the surface of this last named , almost like a menstruum , upon a metal , innumerous and small bubbles continually ascending for a while into the oleum petrae , which had its colour manifestly alter'd and deepen'd by the operation of the spirituous parts . but by all the action and re-action of these liquors , there was produced no such smoaking and boiling , or intense heat , as if oyl of turpentine had been employed instead of oyl of vitriol ; the change which was produc'd as to qualities being but a kind of tepidness discoverable by the touch. almost the like success we had in the conjunction of petroleum , and spirit of nitre , a more full account whereof may be elsewhere met with . in this and the late trials i did not care to make use of spirit of salt , because , at least , if it be but ordinarily strong , i found its operation on the liquors above mention'd inconsiderable , ( and sometimes perhaps scarce sensible ) in comparison of those of oyl of vitriol , and in some cases of dephlegm'd spirit of nitre . exper. xix . experienced chymists will easily believe , that 't were not difficult to multiply instances of heat producible by oyl of vitriol upon solid bodies , especially mineral ones . for 't is known , that in the usual preparation of vitriolum martis , there is a great effervescence excited upon the affusion of the oyl of vitriol upon filings of steel , especially if they be well drench'd in common water . and it will scarce be doubted , but that , as oyl of vitriol will ( at least partly ) dissolve a great many both calcin'd and testaceous bodies , as i have try'd with lime , oyster-shells , &c. so it will , during the dissolution , grow sensibly , if not intensely hot with them , as i found it to do both with those newly named , and others , as chalk , lapis calaminaris , &c. with the last of which , if the liquor be strong , it will heat exceedingly . exper. xx. wherefore i will rather take notice of its operation upon vegetables , as bodies which corrosive menstruums have scarce been thought fit to dissolve and grow hot with . to omit then cherries , and divers fruits abounding in watery juices , with which , perhaps on that very account , oyl of vitriol will grow hot ; i shall here take notice , that for trial sake , having mixt a convenient quantity of that liquor with raisins of the sun beaten in a mortar , the raisins grew so hot , that , if i misremember not , the glass that contain'd it had almost burnt my hand . these kind of heats may be also produc'd by the mixture of oyl of vitriol with divers other vegetable substances ; but , as far as i have observed , scarce so eminently with any dry body , as with the crumbs of white bread , ( or even of brown ) with a little of which we have sometimes produced a surprising degree of heat with strong or well-dephlegm'd oyl of vitriol , which is to be suppos'd to have been employed in the foregoing experiments , and all others mention'd to be made by the help of that menstruum in our papers about qualities , unless it be in any particular case otherwise declared . exper. xxi . 't is as little observed that corrosive menstruums are able to work , as such , on the soft parts of dead animals , as on those of vegetables , and yet i have more than once produced a notable heat by mixing oyl of vitriol with minced flesh whether roasted or raw . exper. xxii . though common sea-salt does usually impart some degree , though not an intense one , of coldness unto common water , during the act of dissolution ; yet some trials have informed me , that if it were cast into a competent quantity of oyl of vitriol , there would for the most part insue an incalescence , which yet did not appear to succeed so regularly , as in most of the foregoing experiments . but that heat should be produc'd usually , though not perhaps constantly , by the above-named menstruum and salt , seems therefore worthy of our notice , because 't is known to chymists , that common salt is one main ingredient of the few that make up common factitious sal armoniac , that is wont to be sold in the shops . and i have been inform'd , that the excellent academians of florence have observed , that oyl of vitriol would not grow hot but cold by being put upon sal armoniac : something like which i took notice of in rectified spirit of sulphur made per campanam , but found the effect much more considerable , when , according to the ingenious florentine experiment , i made the trial with oyl of vitriol ; which liquor having already furnished us with as many phaenomena for our present purpose as could be well expected from one agent , i shall scarce in this paper about heat make any farther use of it , but proceed to some other experiments , wherein it does not intervene . exper. xxiii . we took a good lump of common sulphur of a convenient shape , and having rub'd or chaf'd it well , we found , as we expected , that by this attrition it grew sensibly warm ; and , that there was an intestine agitation , which you know is local motion , made by this attrition , did appear not onely by the newly mention'd heat , whose nature consists in motion , and by the antecedent pressure , which was fit to put the parts into a disorderly vibration , but also by the sulphureous steams , which 't was easie to smell by holding the sulphur to ones nose , as soon as it had been rub'd . which experiment , though it may seem trivial in it self , may be worth the consideration of those chymists , who would derive all the fire and heat we meet with in sublunary bodies from sulphur . for in our case a mass of sulphur , before its parts were put into a new and brisk motion , was sensibly cold , and as soon as its parts were put into a greater agitation than those of a mans fingers , it grew sensibly hot ; which argues , that 't was not by its bare presence , or any emanative action , ( as the schools speak ) that the sulphur communicated any heat to my hand ; and also that , when 't was briskly moved , it did impress that quality , was no more than another solid body , though incombustible as common glass , would have done , if its parts had been likewise put into an agitation surpassing that of my organs of feeling ; so that in our experiment , sulphur it self was beholden , for its actual heat , to local motion , produced by external agents in its parts . exper. xxiv . we thought it not amiss to try , whether when sal armoniac , that much infrigidates water , and quick-lime , which is known to heat it , were by the fire exquisitely mingled , the mixture would impart to the liquor a moderate or an intense degree of either of those qualities . in prosecution of which inquiry we took equal parts of sal armoniac and quick-lime , which we fluxed together , and putting an ounce , by ghess , of the powder'd mixture into a vial with a convenient quantity of cold water , we found , that the colliquated mass did , in about a minute , strike so great a heat through the glass upon my hand , that i was glad to remove it hastily for fear of being scorched . exper. xxv . we have given several , and might have given many more , instances of the incalescence of mixtures , wherein both the ingredients were liquors , or at least one of them was a fluid body . but sometimes heat may also be produc'd by the mixture of two powders ; since it has been observed in the preparation of the butter or oyl of antimony , that , if a sufficient quantity of beaten sublimate be very well mingled with powder'd antimony , the mixture , after it has for a competent time ( which varies much according to circumstances , as the weather , vessel , place , &c. wherein the experiment is made ) stood in the air , would sometimes grow manifestly hot , and now and then so intensely so , as to send forth copious and fetid fumes almost as if it would take fire . there is another experiment made by the help of antimony , and a pulveriz'd body , wherein the mixture , after it had been for divers hours expos'd to the air , visibly afforded us mineral fumes . and to these i could adde more considerable , and perhaps scarce credible , instances of bodies growing hot without liquors , if philanthropy did not forbid me . but to return to our butter of antimony , it seems not unfit to be enquired , whether there do not unobservedly intervene an aqueous moisture , which ( capable of relaxing the salts , and setting them a work ) i therefore suspected might be attracted ( as men commonly speak ) from the air , since the mixture of the antimony and the sublimate is prescribed to be placed in cellars ; and in such we find , that sublimate , or at least the saline part of it , is resolved per deliquium , ( as they call it ) which is nothing but a solution made by the watery steams wandering in the air. exper. xxvi . i have formerly deliver'd some instances of the incalescence produc'd by water in bodies that are readily dissolv'd in it , as salt of tartar and quick-lime . but one would not lightly expect , that meer water should produce an incalescence in solid bodies that are generally granted to be insoluble in it ; and are not wont to be , at least without length of time , visibly wrought on by it ; and yet trial has assured me , that a notable incalescence may be produc'd by common water in flower or fine powder of sulphur , and filings of steel or iron . for when , in summer time , i caus'd to be mingled a good quantity , ( as half a pound or rather a pound of each of the ingredients ) and caus'd them to be throughly drenched with common water , in a convenient quantity whereof they were very well stirred up and down , and carefully mingled , the mixture would in a short time , perhaps less than an hour , grow so hot , that the vessel that contain'd it could not be suffer'd in ones hand ; and the heat was manifested to other senses than the touch , by the strong sulphureous stink that invaded the nose , and the thick smoak that ascended out of the mixture , especially when it was stirr'd with a stick or spattle . whether the success will be the same at all times of the year , i do not know , and somewhat doubt , since i remember not , that i had occasion to try it in other seasons than in summer , or in autumn . exper. xxvii . in the instances that chymistry is wont to afford us of the heat produc'd by the action of menstruums upon other bodies , there intervenes some liquor , properly so call'd , that wets the hands of those that touch it ; and there are divers of the more judicious chymists , that joyn with the generality of the naturalists in denying , that quicksilver , which is indeed a fluid body , but not a moist and wetting one in reference to us , will produce heat by its immediate action on any other body , and particularly on gold. but though i was long inclinable to their opinion , yet i cannot now be of it , several trials having assur'd me , that a mercury , whether afforded by metals and minerals , or impregnated by them , may by its preparation be enabled to insinuate it self nimbly into the body of gold , whether calcin'd or crude , and become manifestly incalescent with it in less than two or three minutes of an hour . exper. xxviii . since we know that some natural salts , and especially salt-peter , can produce a coldness in the water they are dissolved in , i thought it might not be impertient to our enquiry into heat and cold , and might perhaps also contribute somewhat to the discovery of the structure of metals , and the salts that corrode them , if solutions were made of some saliform'd bodies , as chymists call them , that are made up of metalline and saline parts , and do so abound with the latter , that the whole concretions are on their account dissoluble in common water . other experiments of this sort belonging less to this place than to another , i shall here onely for example sake take notice of one that we made upon quicksilver , which is esteem'd the coldest of metals . for having by distilling from it four times its weight of oyl of vitriol , reduc'd it to a powder , which on the account of the adhering salts of the menstruum that it detain'd , was white and glistering , we put this powder into a wide-mouth'd glass of water , wherein a seal'd weather-glass had been left before it began manifestly to heat the water , as appear'd by the quick and considerable ascent of the tincted spirit of wine , that continued to rise upon putting in more of the magistery ; which warm event is the more remarkable , because of the observation of helmont , that the salt adhering to the mercury , corroded in good quantity by oyl of vitriol , if it be washed off and coagulated , becomes a kind of alom . the event of the former trial deserves the more notice , because having after the same manner and with the same weather-glass made an experiment with common water , and the powder of vitriolum martis , made with oyl of vitriol and the filings of steel , the tincted spirit of wine was not at all impell'd up as before , but rather , after a while , began to subside , and fell , though very slowly , about a quarter of an inch . the like experiment being tried with powder'd sublimate in common water , the liquor in the thermoscope was scarce at all sensibly either rais'd or deprest , which argued the alteration as to heat or cold , to have been either none or very inconsiderable . having given warning at the beginning of this section , that in it i aimed rather at offering various than numerous experiments about the production of heat , i think what has been already deliver'd may allow me to take leave of this subject without mentioning divers instances that i could easily adde , but think it fitter at present to omit . for those afforded me by trials about antiperistasis belong to a paper on that subject . those that might be offer'd about potential heat in humane bodies , would perchance be thought but unnecessary after what has been said of potential coldness ; from which an attentive considerer may easily gather , what according to our doctrine is to be said of the contrary quality . and divers phaenomena , which would have been of the most considerable i could have mentioned of the production of heat , since in them that quality is the most exalted , i reserve for the title of combustibleness and incombustibility , having already suffer'd this collection ( or rather chaos ) of particulars about the production of heat to swell to too great a bulk . finis . experiments , and observations , about the mechanical production of tasts . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments , and observations , about the mechanical production of tasts . to make out the mechanical origine or production of sapors , as far as is necessary for my present purpose , 't will be expedient to premise in general , that , according to our notion of tasts , they may depend upon the bigness , figure and motion of the saporifick corpuscles , considered separately , and as the affections of single and very minute particles of matter ; or else in a state of conjunction , as two or more of these affections , and the particles they belong to , may be combined or associated , either among themselves , or with other particles , that were not saporous before . and as these coalitions and other associations come to be diversified ; so the tasts , resulting from them , will be altered or destroyed . but , to handle these distinctly and fully , were a task not onely too difficult and long , but improper in this place , where i pretend to deliver not speculations , but matters of fact : in setting down whereof nevertheless , to avoid too much confusion , i am content , where i can doe it readily and conveniently , in some of my trials , to couch such references as may best point at those heads , whence the mechanical explications may be derived , and consequently our doctrine confirmed . by tast considered as belonging to the object , ( under which notion i here treat of it , ) i mean that quality , or whatever else it be , which enables a body by its operation , to produce in us that sensation , which we feel or perceive when we say we tast . that this something , whether you will call it a quality , or whatever else it be that makes or denominates an object saporous , or rather ( if i may be allowed a barbarous term ) saporifick , may so depend upon the shape , size , motion , and other mechanical affections of the small parts of the tasted body , and result from the association of two or more of them , not excluding their congruity or incongruity to the organs of tasting , may be made probable by the following instances . exper. i. to divide a body , almost insipid , into two bodies of very strong and very differing tasts . 't is observed , that salt-peter refined , and by that purification freed from the sea-salt that is wont to be mingled with it , does rather cool the tongue , than make any great saporifick impressions on it . and though i will not say , that it is , as some have thought , an insipid body ; yet the bitterishness , which seems to be its proper tast , is but very faint and languid . and yet this almost insipid body , being distilled by the way of inflammation , ( which i elsewhere teach , ) or even by the help of an additament of such clay as is it self a tastless body , will afford a nitrous spirit , that is extreamly sharp or corrosive upon the tongue , and will dissolve several metals themselves , and a fixt salt , that is likewise very strongly tasted , but of a tast altogether different from that of the spirit , that is extreamly sharp or corrosive upon the tongue ; and accordingly , this salt will dissolve divers compact bodies that the other will not work on , and will precipitate divers metals and other concretes out of those solutions , that have been made of them by the spirit . exper. ii. of two bodies , the one highly acid and corrosive , and the other alkalizat and fiery , to produce a body almost insipid . this may be performed by the way i have elsewhere mentioned of composing salt-peter . for if upon a liquour of fixt nitre , made per deliquium , you warily drop good spirit of nitre , till it be just enough to satiate the alkaly , ( for if there be too much or too little , the experiment may miscarry , ) we may by a gentle evaporation , and sometimes without it , and that in a few minutes , obtain crystals , which , being dried after they have been , if it be needfull , freed from any adhering particles , ( not of their own nature , ) will have upon the tongue neither a sharp nor an alkalizate tast , but that faint and scarce sensible bitterness that belongs to salt-peter , if it be pure salt-peter ; for the impure may perhaps strongly relish of the common salt that is usually contained in it . the like production of salt-peter we have sometimes made in far less time , and sometimes indeed in a trice , by substituting , in stead of the fixed salt of nitre , the saline parts of good pot ashes , carefully freed by solution and filtration from the earthy and feculent ones . i have sometimes considered , whether the phaenomena of these two experiments may not be explicated by supposing them to arise from the new magnitudes and figures of the particles , which the fire , by breaking them , or forcibly rubbing them one against the other , or also against the corpuscles of the additament , may be presumed to give them ; as if , for example , since we find the larger and best formed crystals of nitre to be of a prismatical shape with six sides , we should suppose the corpuscles of nitre to be little prisms , whose angles and ends are too obtuse or blunt to make vigorous and deep impressions on the tongue ; and yet , if these little prisms be by a violent heat split , or otherwise broken , or forcibly made as it were to grind one another , they may come to have parts so much smaller than before , and endowed with such sharp sides and angles , that , being dissolved and agitated by the spittle that usually moistens the tongue , their smalness may give them great access to the pores of that organ , and the sharpness of their sides and points may fit them to stab and cut , and perhaps sear the nervous and membranous parts of the organ of tast , and that variously , according to the grand diversities , as to shape and bulk , of the saporifick particles themselves . and this being granted , it seemed further conceivable , that when the alkalizate and acid particles come to be put together in the fluid mixture , wherein they swam , many of them might , after a multitude of various justlings and occursions , meet with one another so luckily and opportunely , as to recompose little prisms , or convene into other bodies , almost like those that made up the crystals of nitre , before 't was exposed to the fire . to illustrate which , we may conceive , that , though a prism of iron may be so shaped , that it will be wholly unfit to pierce the skin ; yet it may be so cut by transverse planes reaching to the opposite bases or ends , as to afford wedges , which , by the sharpness of their edges , may be fit both to cleave wood , and cut the skin ; and these wedges , being again put together after a requisite manner , may recompose a prism , whose extreams shall be too blunt to be fit for the former use . this may be also illustrated by the breaking of a dry stick circularly cut off at the ends , which though it is unapt , whilst intire and of that bulk , to prick the hand ; yet if it be violently broken , the ragged ends of it and the splinters may prove stiff , slender , and sharp enough to pierce and run into the hand : to which divers other such mechanical illustrations might be added . but , since i fear you think , as well as i , the main conjecture may not be worthy any farther prosecution , i shall not insist any longer on it . and because the historical part of these experiments was for the main delivered by me already in the essay about the analysis and redintegration of nitre , i shall now proceed to other trials . exper. iii. of two bodies , the one extreamly bitter , and the other exceeding salt , to make an insipid mixture . to make this experiment , we must very warily pour upon crystals made of silver , dissolved in good aqua fortis or spirit of nitre , strong brine made of common salt and water . for the mixture of these two being dried , and afterwards brought to fusion in a crucible , and kept a competent while in that state , will afford a tough mass , the chymists call luna cornea , which you may lick divers times , and scarce judge it other than insipid ; nor will it easily be brought to dissolve in much more piercing menstruums than our spittle , as i have elsewhere shewn . exper. iv. of two bodies , the one extreamly sweet , and the other salter than the strongest brine , to make an insipid mixture . the doing of this requires some skill and much wariness in the experimenter , who , to perform it well , must take a strong solution of minium , made with an appropriated menstruum , as good spirit of vinegar , or else saccharum saturni it self , dissolved in a convenient vehicle ; and then must have great care and caution to put to it , by degrees , a just proportion of strong spirit of sal armoniac , or the like urinous spirit , till the whole be precipitated ; and if the two former tasts are not sufficiently destroyed in the mixture , it may be dried and fluxed , as was above directed about luna cornea . exper. v. of an insipid body and a sour one , to make a substance more bitter than gall or aloes . this is easily performed by dissolving in strong spirit of nitre or good aqua fortis as much pure silver as the menstruum will take up ; for , this solution being filtrated , has been often esteemed more bitter than so much gall or wormwood , or any other of those simples that have been famous for that quality : and if the superfluous moisture be abstracted , you may by coagulation obtain crystals of luna , that have been judged more strongly bitter than the solution it self . and that the corpuscles of these crystals should leave a far more lasting tast of themselves , than the above-mentioned bitter bodies are wont to doe , will not seem so marvellous , as i remember some that tried have complained ; if we take notice , how deep the particles of these crystals may pierce into the spungy organs of tast , since , if one does but touch the pulp or nail of ones finger , ( first a little wetted with spittle or otherwise , ) with the powder of these crystals , they will so penetrate the skin or nail , and stick so fast there , that you cannot in a reasonable time wash the stain off of the skin , and much less off of the nail , but it will continue to appear many hours on the former , and many days on the other . exper. vi. of an insipid body and a highly corrosive one , to make a substance as sweet as sugar . this is easily done , by putting upon good minium purified aqua fortis or spirit of nitre , and letting them work upon one another in a gentle heat , till the liquour have dissolved its full proportion of the metal . for then , if the ingredients were good , and the operation rightly performed , the menstruum would have a sweetness like that of ordinary saccharum saturni . but 't was not for nothing that i intimated , the ingredients should be also pure and good in their kind ; for , if the minium be adulterated , as often it is , or the spirit of nitre or aqua fortis be mingled , as it is usual before it be purged with spirit of common salt or other unfit ingredients , the operation may be successless , as i have more than once observed . exper. vii . of obtaining without addition from the sweetest bodies , liquours corrosive enough to dissolve metals . if sugar be put into a sufficiently capacious retort , and warily distilled , ( for otherwise it will be apt to break the vessel ) it will afford , among other things , a copious red spirit , which , being slowly rectified , will lose its colour , and come over clear . the caput mortuum of the sugar , which i have more than once had of an odd contexture , may be found either almost or altogether insipid . and though the spirit will be of a very penetrant tast , yet it will be very far from any kind of sweetness ; and though that liquour be thought to be homogeneous , and to be one of the principles of the analized sugar , yet ( as i have elsewhere shewn ) i found it to be a mixture of two spirits ; with the one of which , besides bodies of a less close texture , i dissolved ( even in the cold ) crude copper , as was easie to be seen by the deep and lovely colour of the solution . and to these sour spirits , afforded by sugar it self , we have restored a kind of saccharine sweetness , by compounding them with the particles of so insipid a body as minium ; part of which they will in digestion dissolve . a like spirit to that distilled from sugar may be obtained from honey ; but in regard of its aptness to swell exceedingly , chymists are not wont to distill it without sand , brick , or some other additament . exper. viii . to divide a body , bitter in the highest degree , into two substances , the one extreamly sour , and the other perfectly insipid . this is easily done by putting some fine crystals of luna into a good retort , and then distilling them in a sand-furnace , capable of giving them so strong a fire , as to drive away all the spirits from the silver . for , this remaining behind , according to its metalline nature , will be insipid , and the spirits , that are driven away from it , will unite in the receiver into an acid and corrosive menstruum . exper. ix . to produce variety of tasts in one insipid body , by associating it with divers menstruums . as this operation may , upon the account i elsewhere mention , be serviceable to investigate the figures of the particles of dissolved metals and other bodies ; so 't is very fit to manifest , what we would here have it shew , how much tast may be diversified by , and consequently depend upon , texture ; since a body that has no tast , may , in conjunction with sapid bodies , give them strong tasts all differing from one another , and each of them from that which the saporous bodies had before . i could propose divers ways of bringing this to trial , there being several insipid bodies , which i have found this way diversifiable . but because i remember not , that i have met with any mineral , that is dissoluble by near so many saline menstruums , as zinke , i look on that as the most fertile subject to afford instances to our present purpose . for i have found , that it will be dissolved not onely by aqua fortis , aqua regis , oil of vetriol , spirit of nitre , spirit of salt , and other mineral menstruums , but also by vegetable spirits , as distilled vinegar , and by animal ones too , as spirit of sal armoniac ; though the one be acid , and the other urinous . and if the several solutions , which may be made of this mineral , by so many differing liquours , be compared , the number of their differing tasts will suffice to make good the title of the experiment . exper. x. to produce variety of tasts with one menstruum , by associating it with insipid bodies . this proposition a mathematician would go near to call the converse of the foregoing ; and as it may serve as well as that to discover the structure of the minute parts of divers metalline and mineral bodies ; so it may not onely as well , but better than that , serve us to illustrate the corpuscularian doctrine of tasts , by shewing us , that a single , and , as far as chymistry teaches us , a simple body , endowed with a peculiar tast , may , by being compounded with others , each of them insipid of it self , produce a considerable number of differing tasts . there may be more instruments than one made use of in this trial ; but of those that are known , and we may easily obtain , the most proper are spirit of nitre , and good aqua fortis : for that , with refined silver , will make a solution bitter as galls ; with lead , 't will be of a saccharine sweetness ; with that part of tin , which it will keep dissolved , ( for the greatest 't is wont but to corrode and praecipitate ) it produces a tast very distant from both the former , but not odious ; with copper , it affords an abominable tast ; with mercury and iron , it affords other kinds of bad tasts . nor are metals the onely mineral bodies it will work upon : for , 't will dissolve tin-glass , antimony , brass ; to which i could add emery , zinke , and other bodies whereon i have tried it . all which together will make up no despicable number of differing tasts . exper. xi . of two liquours , the one highly corrosive , and the other very pungent and not pleasant , to compose a body of a pleasant and aromatick tast . this experiment , which i elsewhere mention to other purposes , does in some regards better suit our present design , than most of the foregoing ; since here the corrosive menstruum is neither mortified by fixt nor urinous salts , supposed to be of a contrary nature to it ; nor yet , as 't were , tired out nor disarm'd by corroding of metals or other solid bodies . the experiment being somewhat dangerous to make at first in great , it may suffice for our present turn , to make it in the less quantity , as follows . take one ounce of strong spirit of nitre , or of very good aqua fortis it self , and put to it by little and little , ( which caution if you neglect , you may soon repent it , ) and another ounce of such rectified spirit of wine , as , being kindled in a spoon , will flame all away : when these two liquours are well mixt , and grown cold again , you may , after some digestion , or , if hast require , without it , distill them totally over together , to unite them exquisitly into one liquour , in which , if the operation have been well performed , the corrosive particles of the salts will not onely loose all their cutting acidity , wherewith they wounded the palat ; but by their new composition with the vinous spirits , the liquour acquires a vinous tast , that is not onely not acid or offensive , but very pleasing , as if it belonged to some new or unknown spice . exper. xii . to imitate by art , and sometimes even in minerals , the peculiar tasts of natural bodies , and even vegetables . this is not a fit place to declare , in what sense i do or do not admit of souls in vegetables , nor what i allow or deny to the seminal or plastick principle ascribed to plants : but perhaps it will not be erroneous to conceive , that , whatever be the agent in reference to those tasts , that are said to be specifick to this or that plant , that , on whose immediate account it is or becomes of this or that nature , is a complication of mechanical affections , as shape , size , &c. in the particles of that matter which is said to be endowed with such a specifick tast . to illustrate this , i thought it expedient , to endeavour to imitate the tast of some natural bodies by artificial compositions or preparations , but found it not easie , beforehand to be assured of the success of such trials : and therefore i shall content my self here to mention three or four instances , that , except the first , are rather observations than such experiments as we are speaking of . i remember then , that , making some trials to alter the sensible qualities of smell , tast , &c. of oil of vitriol , and spirit of wine , i obtained from them , among other things that suited with my design , a certain liquour , which , though at first pleasant , would , at a certain nick of time , make one that had it in his mouth think it had been imbued with garlick . and this brings into my mind , that a skilful person , famous for making good sider , coming one day to advise with me , what he should doe to heighten the tast of it , and make it keep the longer , complained to me , that having , among other trials , put into a good vessel full of juice of apples a certain proportion of mustard-seed , with hopes it would make the sider more spirituous and pickant , he found , to his wonder and loss , that , when he came to draw it , it stank of garlick so rank , that every body rejected it . i remember also , that , by fermenting a certain proportion ( for that we found requisite ) of semen dauci with beer of ale , the liquour had a very pleasant relish of limon-pills . but that seems much more considerable , which i shall now add ; that , with an insipid metal and a very corrosive menstruum , one may compound a tast , that i have several times observed to be so like a vegetable , that i presume it may deceive many . this may be done by dissolving gold , without any gross salt , in the mixture of aqua fortis and the spirit of salt , or even in common aqua regis , made by dissolving sal armoniac in aqua fortis . for if the experiment be happily made , one may obtain either a solution or a salt , whose austere tast will very much resemble that of sloes , or of unripe bullace . and this tast , with some little variety , i found in gold dissolved without any distilled liquour at all ; and also , if i much forget not , in gold that by a peculiar menstruum i had volatilized . the last instance i shall give of the imitation of tasts , i found to have been , for the main , known to some ingenious ladies . but to make the experiment succeed very well , a due proportion is the principal circumstance , which is wont to be neglected . i cannot readily call to mind that which i found to succeed best ; but the trial may be indifferently well made after such a manner as this : take a pint or a pound of malaga or canary sack , ( for though french and the like wines may serve the turn , yet they are not so proper ; ) and put into it a drachm or two of good odoriferous orrice roots , cut into thin slices , and let them infuse in the liquour a convenient time , 'till you perceive that they have given it a desired tast and smell ; then keep the thus perfumed wine exactly stopped in a cool place : according to which way , i remember , that ( when i hit on the right proportion of ingredients , and kept them a due time in infusion ) i had many years ago a wine , which , being coloured with cocheneele , or some such tingeing ingredient , was taken for good rasberry-wine , not onely by ordinary persons , but , among others , by a couple of eminent physicians , one of whom pretended to an extraordinary criticalness of palate on such occasions ; both of them wondering , how at such an unlikely time of the year , as i chose to present them that liquour among others , i could have such excellent rasberry-wine : some of which ( to add that by the by ) i found to preserve the specifick tast two or three years after it was made . a short excursion about some changes made of tasts by maturation . it will not perhaps be thought impertinent , but rather necessary , to add a word or two on this occasion for their sakes , that think the maturation of fruits , and the changes of tasts , by which 't is usually known , must needs be the effect of the vegetable soul of the plant. for , after the fruit is gathered , and so , by being no longer a part of the tree , does , according to the most common opinion , cease to be a part of the living plant , as a hand or a foot cut off is no more reckoned among the lims of the man it belonged to ; yet 't is very possible that some fruits may receive maturation , after they have been severed from the plants that bore them . for , not to mention , that apples , gathered somewhat before the time , by lying in heaps , do usually obtain a mellowness , which seems to be a kind or degree of maturation ; or that medlars , gathered whilst they are hard and harsh , do become afterwards in process of time soft and better tasted ; in which state though some say they are rotten , yet others think that supposed rottenness is the proper maturity of that kind of fruit : not to mention these , i say , or the like instances , 't is a famous assertion of several writers of the indian affairs , that the fruit they call bananas is usually gathered green , and hung up in bunches or clusters in the house , where they ripen by degrees , and have an advantageous change made both of their colour and of their tast . and this an ancient acquaintance of mine , a literate and observing person , of whom i inquired about it , assured me , he had himself lately tried and found to be true in america . and indeed i see not , why a convenient degree of warmth , whether external from the sun and fire , or internal from some degree of fermentation or analogous intestine commotion , may not ( whether the fruit be united to the plant or no ) put the sporifick corpuscles into motion , and make them , by various and insensible transcursions , rub against each other , and thereby make the little bodies more slender or thin , and less rigid , or cutting and harsh , than they were before , and by various motions bring the fruit they compose to a state wherein it is more soft in point of consistence , and abound in corpuscles less harsh and more pliable , than they were before , and more congruous to the pores of the organ of tast : and , in a word , make such a change in the constitution of the fruit , as men are wont to express by the name of maturity . and that such mechanical changes of texture may much alter the qualities , and among them the tast of a fruit , is obvious in bruised cherries and apples , which in the bruised parts soon come to look and tast otherwise than they did before . this possibility of this is also obvious by wardens , when slowly roasted in embers with so gentle a fire , as not to burn off the paper they are wont to be wrapt in , to be kept clean from the ashes . and i have seen , in the bordering country betwixt france and savoy , a sort of pears , ( whose name i now remember not , ) which being kept for some hours in a moderate heat , in a vessel exactly closed , with embers and ashes above and beneath them , will be reduced to a juicy substance of a lovely red colour , and very sweet and lushious to the tast . many other sorts of fruit in other countries , if they were handled after the same way , or otherwise skilfully wrought on by a moderate heat , would admit as great alterations in point of tast . neither is that sort of pear to be here omitted , which by meer compression , duly ordered , without external heat , will in a few minutes be brought to exchange its former hardness and harshness for so yielding a contexture and pleasant a tast , as i could not but think very remarkable . and that even more solid and stubborn salts than those of vegetables , may have the sharpness and piercingness of their tasts very much taken off by the bare internal action of one part upon the other , without the addition of any sweetning body , i have been induced to think by having found , upon trial , that , by the help of insipid water , we may , without any violence of fire , reduce sea-salt into a brine of so mild and peculiar ( i had almost said ) pleasant a tast , that one would scarce suspect what it had been , or believe that so great a change of a mineral body could be effected by so slight an intestine commotion as indeed produced it ; especially , since the alteration of tasts was not the most considerable that was produced by this operation . as to liquours that come from vegetables , the emerging of new sapors upon the intestine commotion of the saporifick parts , as consequences of such commotions , is more obvious than is commonly considered in the juice of grapes , which , from a sweet and spiritless liquour , do by that internal motion we call fermentation , acquire that pleasing pungency and briskness of tast that belongs to wine , and afterwards degenerates into that acid and cutting tast that is proper to vinegar ; and all this , by a change of constitution made by the action of the parts themselves on one another , without the help of any external additament . finis . experiments , and observations , about the mechanical production of odours . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , ●rinted by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments , and observations , about the mechanical production of odours . since tasts and odours ( perhaps by reason of the nearness of the organs they affect ) are wont , by physical writers , to be treated of next to one another , i also shall imitate them in handling those two qualities , not onely for the intimated reason , but because , what i have premised in general , and some other things that i have said already under the title of tasts , being applicable to odours also , 't will not be necessary , and therefore 't would be tedious , to repeat them here . exper. i. with two bodies , neither of them odorous , to produce immediately a strong vrinous smell . take good quick-lime and sal armoniac , and rub or grind them well together , and holding your nose to the mixture , you will be saluted with an urinous smell produced by the particles of the volatil salt , united by this operation , which will also invade your eyes , and make them to water . exper. ii. by the bare addition of common water , to produce immediately a very strong smell in a body that had no such smell before . this is one of the phaenomena of an experiment made with camphire and oil of vitriol , which i have elsewhere mentioned to another purpose . for , if in that corrosive menstruum you dissolve a good proportion , but not too much , of the strongly sented gum , the odour of the camphire will be quite concealed in the mixture ; but if you pour this mixture into a good quantity of fair water , the dissolved gum will immediately recover out of the menstruum , and smell as strong as before , if not ( by reason of the warmth produced in the operation ) more strongly . exper. iii. of producing some odours , each of them quite differing from that of any of the ingredients . having taken two ounces ( or parts ) of clear oil of turpentine , and mixt it with one ounce ( or part ) of oil of vitriol , ( which must be done by degrees , for otherwise the vessel will be endangered , ) the clear liquour that came over , upon the distillation of the mixture in a sand-furnace , in stead of the odour of turpentine , ( for the oil of vitriol alone is wont to be inodorous , ) smelt very strong of sulphur ; insomuch that once , when i shewed this experiment , approaching my nose very boldly and hastily to the receiver newly severed from the retort , the sulphureous stink proved so strong , that it had almost ( to speak with the vulgar ) taken away my breath . and to illustrate yet farther the possible emergency of such odours upon the mixture of ingredients , as neither of them was apart endowed with , we caused the substance that remained behind in the retort ( in the form of a thin extract ) after one of the newly mentioned distillations to be farther pressed by a stronger fire , which forced most of it over , partly in the form of a thick oil , and partly in that of butter ; both which we keep together in the same vial , because their odour is neither that of oil of turpentine , nor that of brimstone , but they smell exceedingly like the distilled oil of bees-wax . exper. iv. about the production of some odours by local motion . i shall not now examine , whether the local motion of an external agent may not , without materially concurring to the operation , produce , by agitating and shuffling the parts , odorous corpuscles : but that the celerity and other modifications of the local motion of the effluvia of bodies may not onely serve to diversifie their odours , but so far produce them , as to make them perceptible by the sense , which otherwise would not be so , may be gathered from some observations , which , being obvious , are not so proper for this place . wherefore i shall rather take notice , that i know several bodies that are not onely inodorous when cold , but when considerably hot , and are fixt in the fire , and yet , by having their parts put into a peculiar kind of agitation , will presently grow plainly odorous . on this occasion i shall add , that , as there are some very hard woods , that acquire a strong smell by the motion they may be exposed to in a turner's lath , ( as i have observed by trialls particularly made with the hard and ponderous lignum vitae , ) so some afford , whilst the operation lasts , an unexpected odour . and having inquired about this matter of two eminent artists , ( whom i often employ , ) concerning the odour of beech-wood whilst it is turning , they both agreed , that it would emit well-sented effluviums . and one of them affirmed to me farther , that , having bought a great block of that wood , to make divers pieces of workmanship with it , when he came to turn it , there would issue out not onely a copious odour , but of such a peculiar fragrancy , that one that knew not whence it proceeded would have concluded he was smelling roses . exper. v. by mixing a good proportion of a very strongly sented body with an almost inodorous one , to deprive it speedily of all its smell . take salt of tartar , and drop upon it either spirit of nitre or aqua fortis not too much dephlegmed , till all the effervescence cease , and the liquour will no longer work upon the alkali . these , by a slow evaporation of the superfluous moisture , may be made to shoot into crystalls like those of nitre , which , after you have ( if need be ) by rubbing them with a dried cloath , freed them from loose adhering corpuscles , will emulate salt-peter , as in other qualities , so in it s not being odorous ; though , if you distill them , or burn them on kindled coals , their fumes will quickly make you sensible , that they abounded with the stinking spirits , that make aqua fortis so offensive to the smell . exper. vi. by putting a very strongly stinking body to another of a not sweet smell , to produce a mixture of a pleasant and strongly aromatick odour . what is here proposed is performed at the same time that the eleventh of the foregoing experiments of tasts is made . for the liquour thereby produced , if it be well prepared , has not onely a spicy tast , but also a kind of aromatick and pleasant smell ; and i have some now by me , that , though kept not over-carefully , does , after some years , retain much of its former odour , though not so much as of its tast . exper. vii . by digesting two bodies , neither of them well sented , to produce bodies of a very subtile and strongly fragrant odour . we took a pound ( for instance ) of spanish wine , and put to it some ounces of oil of vitriol ; then , keeping them for a reasonable time in digestion , we obtained , as we expected , a mixture odoriferous enough . but this triall you will find improved by that which insues . exper. viii . by the bare addition of a body almost inodorous , and not well sented , to give a pleasant and aromatick smell to spirit of wine . this we have several times done , by the ways elsewhere related for another scope , the summ of which , as far as it needs be mentioned in this place , is this . we took good oil of blew vitriol ( that was brought from dantzick , ) though the very common will serve well , and having put to it , by degrees , an equal weight of spirit of wine totally inflammable , we digested them together , for two , three , or four weeks , ( sometimes much longer , and then with better success ; ) from which , when we came to distill the mixture , we had a very fragrant spirit , which was sometimes so subtile , that , though distilled in a tall glass with a gentle heat , it would ( in spite of our care to secure the closeness of the vessels at the junctures ) pierce through , and fill the laboratory with a perfume , which , though men could not guess what body afforded it , yet they could not but wonder at it . whence we may learn , both how much those spirituous and inflammable particles , the chymists call the vegetable sulphur of wine , may work on and ennoble a mineral sulphur ; ( for , that such an one there is in oil of vitriol , i have elsewhere proved by experience ; ) and how much the new commistions and contextures made by digestion may alter the odours of bodies , whether vegetable or mineral . that also another constitution of the same matter , without any manifest addition or recess of particles , may proceed to exhibit a very differing smell , will appear by the following triall . exper. ix . to make the forementioned fragrant body , without addition or fire , degenerate into the rank smell of garlick . to make out this , i need onely relate , that i have more than once put the above mentioned fragrant liquour in stopt glasses , whereof the one , and not the other , stood in a warm place , till in process of time i found that odoriferous liquour so to degenerate in point of sent , that one would have thought it to have been strongly infected with garlick . and the like unpleasant smell i observed in a certain oil made of vegetable and mineral substances distilled together . and on this occasion i will add , ( though not as an argument , ) this observation , which though i shall not undertake it will always succeed , i think may not impertinently be set down in this place , partly because of the likeness of the odour produced , to that which was the effect of the last named triall ; and partly ( or rather chiefly ) because it may shew us , that a body , which it self is not onely inodorous , but very fixt , may yet , in some cases , have a great stroke in the phaenomena of odours ; whether by being wrought on by , and sometimes mingled with , the parts of the odorous body , and thereby giving it a new modification , i shall not now stay to enquire . we took then good salt of tartar , and put to it several times its weight of the expressed juice of onions ; we kept them in a light digestion for a day or two , and then unstopping the vial , we found the former smell of the onions quite degenerated into a rank smell of garlick , as was judged , even when fresh juice of garlick was procured to compare them . to vary this experiment , we made with fixt salts , and some other strongly sented juices , trialls , whose events 't would perhaps be tedious here to relate . exper. x. with an inodorous body , and another not well-sented , to produce a muskie smell . this we have sometimes done by casting into spirit ( not oil ) of vitriol a large proportion of small pearls unbroken . for the action of the acid menstruum upon these being moderated , partly by the weakness of the menstruum , and partly by the intireness of the pearls , the dissolution would sometimes last many hours . holding from time to time my nose to the open orifice of the glass , 't was easie to perceive a pleasant muskie smell , which also others , to whom i mentioned it , took notice of as well as i. and , if i misremember not , i took notice of the like smell , upon pearls not onely dissolved in spirit of vinegar , but in another liquour that had but a bad sent of its own . the foregoing experiment calls to my mind that which follows . exper. xi . with fixt metals , and bodies either inodorous or stinking , to produce strong and pleasant smells , like those of some vegetables and minerals . that gold is too fixt a body to emit any odour , and that aqua regis has an odour that is very strong and offensive , i think will be easily granted . but yet aurum fulminans being made ( as 't is known ) by precipitating with the inodorous oil of tartar the solution made of the former in the latter , and this precipitate being to be farther proceeded with in order to another experiment ; we fulminated it per se in a silver vessel like that , but better contrived , that is ( if i misremember not ) somewhere described by glauberus . and among other phaenomena of this operation , that belong not to this place , we observed with pleasure , that , when the fulmination was recently made , the steams , which were afforded by the metal that had been fired , were endowed with a delightful smell , not unlike that of musk . from which experiment and the foregoing we may learn , that art , by lucky contextures , may imitate the odours that are presumed to be natural and specifick ; and that mineral and vegetable substances may compound a smell that is thought to be peculiar to animals . and as art sometimes imitates nature in the production of odours , as may be confirmed by what is above related concerning counterfeit rasberry-wine , wherein those that drank it believed they did not onely tast , but smell the rasberry ; so sometimes nature seems to imitate her self , in giving like odours to bodies extreamly differing . for , not yet to dismiss the smell of musk , there is a certain seed , which , for the affinity of its odour to that perfume , they call the musk-seed ; and indeed , having some of it presented me by a gentleman , that had newly brought it from the west-indies , i found it , whilst 't was fresh , to have a fragrancy suitable to the name that was given it . there is also a sort of rats in muscovy , whose skins , whereof i have seen several , have a smell that has procured them the name of musk-rats . to which i know not , whether we may not add the mention of a certain sort of ducks , which some call musk-ducks , because at a certain season of the year , if they be chaf'd by violent motion , they will under the wing emit a musky in stead of a sweaty sent ; which upon trial i perceived to be true . on the other side , i have known a certain wood growing in the indies , which , especially when the sent is excited by rubbing , stinks so rankly and so like paracelsus's zibetum occidentale , ( stercus humanum , ) that one would swear it were held under his nose . and since i have been speaking of good sents produced by unlikely means , i shall not pretermit this observation , that , though generally the fire impresses a strong offensive smell , which chymists therefore call empyreumatical , upon the odorous bodies that it works strongly on ; yet the constitution of a body may be such , that the new contexture that is made of its parts , even by the violence of the fire , shall be fit to afford effluviums rather agreeable to the organs of smelling , than any way offensive . for i remember , that , having for a certain purpose distilled saccharum saturni in a retort with a strong fire , i then obtained , ( for i dare not undertake for the like success to every experimenter , ) besides a piercing and empyreumatical liquour that was driven over into the receiver , a good lump of a caput mortuum of a grayish colour , which , notwithstanding the strong impression it had received from the fire , was so far from having any empyreumatical sent , that it had a pleasing one , and when 't was broken , smelt almost like a fine cake new baked , and broken whilst yet warm . and as the fire , notwithstanding the empyreuma it is wont to give to almost all the bodies it burns , may yet be reduced to confer a good smell on some of them , if they be fitted upon such a contexture of their parts to emit steams of such a nature , ( whatever were the efficient cause of such a contexture ; ) so we observe in the musk animal , that nature in that cat , or rather deer , ( though it properly belong to neither kind , ) produces musk by such a change , as is wont in other animals to produce a putrefactive stink . so that , provided a due constitution of parts be introduced into a portion of matter , it may on that account be endowed with noble and desirable sents , or other qualities , though that constitution were introduced by such unlikely means , as combustion and putrefaction themselves . in confirmation of which , i shall subjoyn in the insuing account a notable , though casual , phaenomenon , that occurr'd to a couple of virtuosi of my acquaintance . an eminent professor of mathematicks affirmed to me , that , chancing one day in the heat of summer with another mathematician ( who i remember was present when this was told ) to pass by a large dunghil that was then in lincolns-inn-fields , when they came to a certain distance from it , they were both of them surprized to meet with a very strong smell of musk , ( occasioned , probably , by a certain degree or a peculiar kind of putrefaction , ) which each was for a while shy of taking notice of , for fear his companion should have laughed at him for it ; but , when they came much nearer the dunghill , that pleasing smell was succeeded by a stink proper to such a heap of excrements . this puts me in mind of adding , that , though the excrements of animals , and particularly their sweat , are usually foetid ; yet , that 't is not the nature of an excrement , but the constitutions , that usually belong to them , make them so , hath seemed probable to me upon some observations . for , not to mention , what is related of alexander the great , i knew a gentleman of a very happy temperature of body , whose sweat , upon a critical examination , wherein i made use also of a surprize , i found to be fragrant ; which was confirmed also by some learned men of my acquaintance , and particularly a physician that lay with him . though civet usually passes for a perfume , and as such is wont to be bought at a great rate ; yet it seems to be but a clammy excrement of the animal that affords it , which is secreted into bags provided by nature to receive it . and i the rather mention civet , because it usually affords a phaenomenon that agrees very well with the mechanical doctrine concerning odours , though it do not demonstrate it . for , when i have had the curiosity to visit divers of those civet-cats , ( as they call them ) though they have heads liker foxes than cats ; i observed , that a certain degree of laxity ( if i may so style it ) of the odorous atmosphere was requisite to make the smell fragrant . for , when i was near the cages , where many of them were kept together , or any great vessel full of civet , the smell ( probably by the plenty , and perhaps the over-brisk motion of the effluvia , ) was rather rank and offensive than agreeable ; whereas , when i removed into the next room , or to some other convenient distance , the steams ( being less crowded , and farther from their fountain , ) presented themselves to my nostrills under the notion of a perfume . and , not to dismiss this our eleventh experiment without touching once more upon musk , i shall add , that an ingenious lady , to whom i am nearly related , shewed me an odd monkey , that had been presented her as a rarity by the then admiral of england , and told me , among other things , that she had observed in it , that , being sick , he would seek for spiders as his proper remedies , for some of which he then seemed to be looking , and thereby gave her occasion to tell me this ; which when he had eaten , the alteration it made in him would sometimes fill the room with a musky sent : but he had not the good luck to light on any whilst my visit lasted . exper. xii . to heighten good smells by composition . 't is well known to perfumers , and is easie to be observed , that amber-greece alone , though esteemed the best and richest perfume that is yet known in the world , has but a very faint and scarce a pleasant sent . and i remember , that i have seen some hundreds of ounces together newly brought from the east-indies ; but if i had not been before acquainted with the smell of amber-greece alone , and had had onely the vulgar conceit of it , that 't is the best and strongest of perfumes , my nostrills would scarce have made me suspect those lumps to have been any thing a-kin to amber-greece . but if a due proportion of musk , or even civet , be dexterously mixt with amber , the latent fragrancy , though it be thereby somewhat compounded , will quickly be called forth , and exceedingly heightned . and indeed 't is not , as 't is commonly presumed , the plenty of the richest ingredients , as amber-greece and musk , but the just proportion and skilful mixture of them , that makes the noblest and most lasting perfume , of which i have had sufficient experience ; so that with a far less quantity of musk and amber , than not onely ordinary persons , but perfumers themselves are wont to imploy , we have had several perfumes , that for fragrancy were much preferred to those where musk and amber-greece are so plentifully imployed . the proportions and ways of mixture we best approved of , would be too long , and are not necessary , to be here set down ; but you will not much erre in making use of such a proportion as this , viz. eight parts of amber-greece , two of musk , and one of civet : which quantities of ingredients if they be skilfully and exactly mingled , you will not miss of a good composition , with which you may innoble other materials , as benzoin , storax , sweet flowers , &c. fit to make pastills , ointments for leather , pomander , &c. and we may here add , that , upon the score of the new texture acquired by composition , some things , that are not fragrant themselves , may yet much heighten the fragrancy of odoriferous bodies . and of liquid perfumes i remember , 't was the secret of some court-ladies , noted for curiosity about perfumes , to mingle always a due proportion of wine-vinegar with the odoriferous ingredients . and on this occasion , to shew the power of mixtures in improving odours , i shall add something about a liquour of mine , that has had the good fortune to be very favourably spoken of by persons of quality accustomed to choice perfumes . this liquour ; though thought an elaborate preparation , as well for another reason , as to recommend it to some , whose critical palates can tast the very titles of things , i called it essence of musk , is indeed a very plain simple preparation , which i thus make . i take an arbitrary quantity of choice musk without finely powdering it , and pour upon it about a finger's breadth of pure spirit of wine ; these in a glass closely stopt i set in a quiet place to digest , without the help of any furnace , and after some days , or a few weeks , ( according as circumstances determined , ) the spirit , which is somewhat odd , will in the cold have made a solution of the finest parts of the musk , and will be thereby much tinged , but not of a red colour . this liquour being decanted , i keep by it self as the richest of all ; and pour a like quantity of spirit on the remaining musk , which usually will in the cold , though more slowly , draw a tincture , but fainter than the former , which being poured off , the remaining musk may be imployed for inferiour uses . now that which made me mention this preparation as pertinent to our present subject , is this phaenomenon of it , that the first essence , or rather tincture , being smelt to by it self , has but a faint , and not very pleasing , odour of musk , so that every body would not discover that there was musk in it ; but if a single drop , or two drops at most , were mixt with a pint , or perhaps a quart , of good sack , the whole body of the wine would presently acquire a considerably musky sent , and be so richly perfumed both as to tast and smell , as seemed strange enough to those that knew the vast disproportion of the ingredients . finis . of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qualities . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. of the imperfction of the chymist's doctrine of qualities . chap. i. since a great part of those learned men , especially physicians , who have discerned the defects of the vulgar philosophy , but are not yet come to understand and relish the corpuscularian , have slid into the doctrine of the chymists ; and since the spagyrists are wont to pretend to make out all the qualities of bodies from the predominancy of some one of their three hypostatical principles , i suppose it may both keep my opinion from appearing too presumptuous , and ( which is far more considerable ) may make way for the fairer reception of the mechanical hypothesis about qualities , if i here intimate ( though but briefly and in general ) some of those defects , that i have observed in chymists explications of qualities . and i might begin with taking notice of the obscurity of those principles , which is no small defect in notions whose proper office it should be to conduce to the illustration of others . for , how can that facilitate the understanding of an obscure quality or phaenomenon which is it self scarcely intelligible , or at least needs almost as much explanation as the thing 't is designed & pretended to explicate ? now a man need not be very conversant in the writings of chymists to observe , in how laxe , indefinite , and almost arbitrary senses they employ the terms of salt , sulphur and mercury ; of which i could never find that they were agreed upon any certain definitions or setled notions ; not onely differing authors , but not unfrequently one and the same , and perhaps in the same brook , employing them in very differing senses . but i will not give the chymists any rise to pretend , that the chief fault that i find with their hypothesis is but verbal ; though that it self may not a little blemish any hypothesis , one of the first of whose requisites ought to be clearness ; and therefore i shall now advance and take notice of defects that are manifestly of another kind . and first the doctrine that all their theory is grounded on , seems to me inevident and undemonstrated , not to say precarious . it is somewhat strange to me , that neither the spagyrists themselves , nor yet their adversaries , should have taken notice , that chymists have rather supposed than evinced , that the analysis of bodies by fire , or even that at least some analysis is the onely instrument of investigating what ingredients mixt bodies are made up of , since in divers cases that may be discovered by composition as well as by resolution ; as it may appear , that vitriol consists of metalline parts ( whether martial , or venereal , or both ) associated by coagulation with acid ones , one may , i say , discover this as well by making true vitriol with spirit ( improperly called oil ) of sulphur , or that of salt , as by distilling or resolving vitriol by the fire . but i will not here enlarge on this subject , nor yet will i trouble you with what i have largely discoursed in the sceptical chymist , to call in question the grounds on which chymists assert , that all mixt bodies are compounded of salt , sulphur , and mercury . for it may suffice me now to tell you , that , whatsoever they may be able to obtain from other bodies , it does not appear by experience , which is the grand , if not the onely , argument they rely on , that all mixt bodies that have qualities , consist of their tria prima , since they have not been able , that we know , truly , and without new compositions , to resolve into those three , either gold , or silver , or crystal , or venetian talck , or some other bodies , that i elsewhere name ; & yet these bodies are endowed with divers qualities , as the two former with fusibleness and malleability , and all of them with weight and fixity ; so that in these and the like bodies , whence chymists have not made it yet appear , that their salt , sulphur and mercury , can be truly and adequately separated , 't will scarce be other than precarious , to derive the malleableness , colour , and other qualities of such bodies from those principles . under this head i consider also , that a great part of the chymical doctrine of qualities is bottom'd on , or supposes , besides their newly questioned analysis by fire , some other things , which , as far as i know , have not yet been well proved , and i question whether they ever will be . one of their main suppositions is , that this or that quality must have its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as sennertus , the learnedst champion of this opinion , calls it , or some particular material principle , to the participation of which , as of the primary native and genuine subject , all other bodies must owe it : but upon this point having purposely discoursed elsewhere , i shall now onely observe , that , not to mention local motion and figure , i think 't will be hard to shew , what is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of gravity , volatility , heat , sonorousness , transparency and opacity , which are qualities to be indifferently met with in bodies whether simple or mixt . and whereas the spagyrists are wont to argue , that , because this or that quality is not to be derived truly from this or that particular principle , as salt , for instance , and mercury ; therefore it must needs be derivable from the third , as sulphur . this way of arguing involves a farther supposition than that newly examined . for it implies , that every quality in a compounded body must arise from some one of the tria prima , whereas experience assures us , that bodies may , by composition , obtain qualities , that were not to be found in any of the separate ingredients . as we see in painting , that though blew and yellow be neither of them green , yet their mixture will be so . and though no single sound will make an octave or diapason ; yet two sounds , whose proportion is double , will have an eighth . and tinn and copper melted and mingled together in a due proportion , will make a bell-metal far more sonorous than either of them was before . 't is obvious enough for chymists themselves to observe , that , though lead be an insipid body , and spirit of vinegar a very sharp one , yet saccharum saturni , that is compounded out of these two , has a sweetness that makes it not ill deserve its name . but this ill-grounded supposition of the chymists , is extended farther in an usual topic of theirs , according to which they conclude , that i know not how many qualities , as well manifest as occult , must be explicated by their tria prima , because they are not explicable by the four elements of the peripateticks . to make which argumentation valid , it must be proved , ( which i fear it will never be ) that there are no other wayes , by which those qualities may be explicated , but by a determinate number of material principles , whether four or three : besides that , till they have shewn that such qualities may be intelligibly explicated by their principles , the objection will lye as strong for the aristotelians against them , as for them against the aristotelians . chap. ii. next i consider , that there are divers qualities even in mixt bodies , wherein it does not appear , that the use of the chymical doctrine is necessary . as , for instance , when pure gold is by heat onely brought to fusion , and consequently to the state of fluidity , and upon the remission of that heat , grows a solid and consistent body again , what addition or expulsion or change of any of the tria prima does appear to be the cause of this change of consistence ? which is easie to be accounted for according to the mechanical way , by the vehement agitation that the fire makes of the minute parts of the gold to bring it to fusion ; and the cohesion of those parts , by vertue of their gravity and fitness to adhere to one another , when that agitation ceases . when venice glass is meerly by being beaten to pouder deprived of its transparency and turned into a body opacous and white , what need or use of the tria prima have we in the explication of this phaenomenon ? or of that other which occurs , when by barely melting down this white and opacous body it is deprived of its opacity and colour , and becomes diaphanous ? and of this sort of instances you will meet with divers in the following notes about particular qualities ; for which reason i shall forbear the mention of them here . chap. iii. i observe too , that the spagyrical doctrine of qualities is insufficient and too narrow to reach to all the phaenomena or even to all the notable ones , that ought to be explicable by them . and this insufficiency i find to be two-fold ; for , first , there are divers qualities , of which chymists will not so much as attempt to give us explications , and of other particular qualities the explications , such as they are that they give us , are often very deficient and unsatisfactory ; and do not sometimes so much as take notice of divers considerable phaenomena that belong to the qualities whereof they pretend to give an account ; of which you will meet with divers instances in the insuing notes . and therefore i shall onely , ( to declare my meaning the better , ) invite you to observe with me , that though gold be the body they affect to be most conversant with ; yet it will be very hard to shew , how the specific weight of gold can be deduced from any or all of the three principles , since mercury it self , that is of bodies , known to us , the heaviest next to gold , is so much lighter than gold , that , whereas i have usually found mercury to be to an equal weight of water , somewhat , though little , less than fourteen to one , i find pure gold to be about nineteen times as heavy as so much water . which will make it very difficult , not to say impossible for them to explain , how gold should barely by participating of mercury , which is a body much lighter than it self , obtain that great specific gravity we find it to have ; for the two other hypostatical principles , we know , are far lighter than mercury . and i think it would much puzzle the chymists , to give us any examples of a compounded body , that is specifically heavier than the heaviest of the ingredients that it is made up of . and this is the first kind of insufficiency i was taking notice of in the chymical doctrine of qualities . the other is , that there are several bodies which the most learned among themselves confess not to consist of their tria prima , and yet are indowed with qualities , which consequently are not in those subjects to be explicated by the tria prima which are granted not to be found in them . thus elementary water , though never so pure , ( as distilled rain-water , ) has fluidity and coldness and humidity and transparency and volatility , without having any of the tria prima . and the purest earth , as ashes carefully freed from the fixt salt , has gravity and consistence and dryness and colour and fixity , without owing them either to salt , sulphur , or mercury ; not to mention , that there are celestial bodies which do not appear , nor are wont to be pretended , to consist of the tria prima , that yet are indowed with qualities . as the sun has light , and as many philosophers think , heat , and colour ; and the moon has a determinate consistence and figuration , ( as appears by her mountains ) and astronomers observe , that the higher planets and even the fixt stars appear to be differingly coloured . but i shall not multiply instances of this kind , because what i have said , may not onely serve for my present purpose , but bring a great confirmation to what i lately said , when i noted , that the chymical principles were in many cases not necessary to explicate qualities : for since in earth , water , &c. such diffused qualities , as gravity , fixtness , colour , transparency and fluidity , must be acknowledged not to be derived from the tria prima ; 't is plain , that portions of matter may be endowed with such qualities by other causes and agents than salt , sulphur and mercury . and then why should we deny , that also in compounded bodies those qualities may be ( sometimes at least ) produced by the same or the like causes ? as we see , that the reduction of a diaphanous solid to pouder , produces whiteness , whether the comminution happens to rock-crystal or to venice glass , or to ice : the first of which is acknowledged to be a natural and perfectly mixt body ; the second a factitious and not onely mixt but decompounded body ; and the last , for ought appears , an elementary body , or at most very slightly and imperfectly mixt . and so by mingling air in small portions with a diaphanous liquor , as we do when we beat such a liquor into foam , a whiteness is produced , as well in pure water , which is acknowledged to be a simple body , as in white wine , which is reckoned among perfectly mixt bodies . chap. iv. i further observe , that the chymists explications do not reach deep and far enough . for first , most of them are not sufficiently distinct and full , so as to come home to the particular phaenomena , nor often times so much as to all the grand ones , that belong to the history of the qualities they pretend to explicate ▪ you will readily believe , that a chymist will not easily make out by his salt , sulphur , and mercury , why a loadstone capp'd with steel may be made to take up a great deal more iron , sometimes more than eight or ten times as much , than if it be immediatly applied to the iron ; or why , if one end of the magnetic needle is dispos'd to be attracted by the north-pole , for instance , of the load-stone , the other pole of the load-stone will not attract it but drive it away : or , why a bar or rod of iron , being heated red-hot and cooled perpendicularly , will with its lower end drive away the flower de luce , or the north-end of a marriners needle , which the upper end of the same barr or rod will not repell but draw to it . in short , of above threescore properties or notable phaenomena of magnetic bodies , that some writers have reckon'd up , i do not remember that any three have been by chymists so much as attempted to be solved by their three principles . and even in those qualities , in whose explications these principles may more probably than elsewhere pretend to have a place , the spagyrists accounts are wont to fall so short of being distinct and particular enough , that they use to leave divers considerable phaenomena untouch'd , and do but very lamely or slightly explicate the more obvious or familiar . and i have so good an opinion of divers of the embracers of the spagyrical theory of qualities ( among whom i have met with very learned and worthy men ) that i think , that if a quality being pos'd to them , they were at the same time presented with a good catalogue of the phaenomena , that they may take , in the history of it , as it were with one view , they would plainly perceive that there are more particulars to be accounted for , than at first they were aware of ; and divers of them such , as may quite discourage considering men from taking upon them to explain them all by the tria prima , and oblige them to have recourse to more catholic and comprehensive principles . i know not , whether i may not add on this occasion , that , methinks , a chymist , who by the help of his tria prima , takes upon him to interpret that book of nature of which the qualities of bodies make a great part , acts at but a little better rate than he , that seeing a great book written in a cypher , whereof he were acquainted but with three letters , should undertake to decypher the whole piece . for though 't is like , he would in many words find one of the letters of his short key , and in divers words two of them , and perhaps in some all three ; yet , besides that in most of the words wherein the known letter or letters may be met with , they may be so blended with other unknown letters as to keep him from decyphering a good part of those very words , 't is more than probable , that a great part of the book would consist of words wherein none of his three letters were to be found . chap. v. and this is the first account , on which i observe that the chymical theory of qualities does not reach far enough : but there is another branch of its deficiency . for even , when the explications seem to come home to the phaenomena , they are not primary , and , if i may so speak , fontal enough . to make this appear , i shall at present imploy but these two considerations . the first is , that those substances themselves , that chymists call their principles , are each of them indowed with several qualities . thus salt is a consistent , not a fluid , body ; it has its weight , 't is dissoluble in water , is either diaphanous or opacous , fixt or volatile , sapid or insipid ; ( i speak thus disjunctively , because chymists are not all agreed about these things ; and it concerns not my argument , which of the disputable qualities be resolved upon . ) and sulphur , according to them , is a body fusible , inflammable , &c. and , according to experience , is consistent , heavy , &c. so that 't is by the help of more primary and general principles , that we must explicate some of those qualities , which being found in bodies , supposed to be perfectly similar or homogeneous , cannot be pretended to be derived in one of them from the other . and to say , that 't is the nature of a principle to have this or that quality , as , for instance , of sulphur to be susible , and therefore we are not to exact a reason why it is so ; though i could say much by way of answer , i shall now only observe , that this argument is grounded but upon a supposition , and will be of no force , if from the primary affections of bodies one may deduce any good mechanical explication of fusibility in the general , without necessarily supposing such a primigeneal sulphur , as the chymists fancy , or deriving it from thence in other bodies . and indeed , since not only salt-peter , sea salt , vitriol and allum , but salt of tartar , and the volatile salt of urine are all of them fusible ; i do not well see , how chymists can derive the fusibleness even of salts obtained by their own analysis ( such as salt of tartar and of urine ) from the participation of the sulphureous ingredient ; especially since , if such an attempt should be made , it would overthrow the hypothesis of three simple bodies , whereof they will have all mixt ones to be compounded ; and still 't would remain to be explicated , upon what account the principle , that is said to endow the other with such a quality , comes to be endowed therewith it self . for 't is plain , that a mass of sulphur is not an atomical or adamantine body ; but consists of a multitude of corpuscles of determinate figures , and connected after a determinate manner : so that it may be reasonably demanded , why such a convention of particles , rather than many another that does not , constitutes a fusible body . chap. vi. and this leads me to a further consideration , which makes me look upon the chymists explications as not deep and radical enough ; and it is this , that , when they tell us , for instance , that the fusibleness of bodies proceeds from sulphur , in case they say true , they do but tell us what material ingredient 't is that being mingled with and dispers'd through the other parts of a body , makes it apt to melt : but this does not intelligibly declare , what it is that makes a portion of matter fusible , and how the sulphureous ingredient introduces that disposition into the rest of the mass , wherewith 't is commixt or united . and yet 't is such explications as these , that an inquisitive naturalist chiefly looks after , and which i therefore call philosophical . and to shew , that there may be more fontal explications , i shall only observe , that , not to wander from our present instance , sulphur it self is fusible . and therefore , as i lately intimated , fusibility , which is not the quality of one atome , or particle , but of an aggregate of particles , ought it self to be accounted for in that principle , before the fusibleness of all other bodies be derived from it . and 't will in the following notes appear , that in sulphur it self that quality may be probably deduced from the convention of corpuscles of determinate shapes and sizes , contexed or connected after a convenient manner . and if either nature , or art , or chance , should bring together particles endowed with the like mechanical affections , and associate them after the like manner , the resulting body would be fusible , though the component particles had never been parts of the chymists primordial sulphur : and such particles so convening might perhaps have made sulphur it self , though before there had been no such body in the world . and what i say to those chymists , that make the sulphureous ingredient the cause of fusibility , may easily , mutatis mutandis , be applied to their hypothesis , that rather ascribe that quality to the mercurial or the saline principle , and consequently cannot give a rational account of the fusibility of sulphur . and therefore though i readily allow ( as i shall have afterwards occasion to declare ) that sulphur , or an other of the tria prima , may be met with , and even abound in several bodies endowed with the quality that is attributed to their participation of that principle ; yet that this may be no certain sign that the propos'd quality must flow from that ingredient , you may perhaps be assisted to discern by this illustration , that if tin be duly mixt with copper or gold , or , as i have tried , with silver or iron , it will make them very brittle ; and it is also an ingredient of divers other bodies that are likewise brittle , as blew , green , white , and otherwise colour'd , amels , which are usually made of calcin'd tin ( which the tradesmen call puttee , ) colliquated with the ingredients of crystal-glass and some small portion of mineral pigment . but though in all the above-named brittle bodies , tin be a considerable ingredient ; yet 't were very unadvised to affirm , that brittleness in general proceeds from tin. for provided the solid parts of consistent bodies touch one another but according to small portions of their surfaces , and be not implicated by their contexture , the metalline or other composition may be brittle , though there be no tin at all in it . and in effect , the materials of glass being brought to fusion will compose a brittle body , as well when there is no puttee colliquated with them , as when there is . calcin'd lead by the action of the fire may be melted into a brittle mass , and even into transparent glass , without the help of tin or any other additament . and i need not add , that there are a multitude of other bodies , that cannot be pretended to owe their brittleness to any participation of tin , of which they have no need , if the matter they consist of wants not the requisite mechanical dispositions . and here i shall venture to add , that the way employed by the chymists , as well as the peripateticks , of accounting for things by the ingredients , whether elements , principles , or other bodies , that they suppose them to consist of , will often frustrate the naturalists expectation of events , which may frequently prove differing from what he promis'd himself , upon the consideration of the qualities of each ingredient . for the ensuing notes contain divers instances , wherein there emerges a new quality differing from , or even contrary to , any that is conspicuous in the ingredients ; as two transparent bodies may make an opacous mixture , a yellow body and a blew , one that is green , two malleable bodies , a brittle one , two actually cold bodies , a hot one , two fluid bodies , a consistent one , &c. and as this way of judging by material principles hinders the foreknowledg of events from being certain ; so it much more hinders the assignation of causes from being satisfactory ; so that perhaps some would not think it very rash to say , that those who judg of all mixt bodies as apothecaries do of medicines , barely by the qualities and proportions of the ingredients ( such as among the aristotelians are the four elements , and among the chymists the tria prima , ) do , as if one should pretend to give an account of the phaenomena and operations of clocks and watches , and their diversities by this , that some are made of brass wheels , some of iron , some have plain ungilt wheels , others of wheels overlaid with gold , some furnished with gut-strings , others with little chains , &c. and that therefore the qualities and predominancies of these metalls that make parts of the watch , ought to have ascribed to them , what indeed flows from their coordination and contrivance . chap. vii . the last defect i observe in the chymical doctrine of qualities , is , that in many cases it agrees not well with the phaenomena of nature , and that by one or both of these ways . first , there are divers changes of qualities , wherein one may well expect , that a chymical principle should have a great stroak , and yet it does not at all appear to have so . he that considers , what great operations divers of the hermeticks ascribe to this or that hypostatical principle , and how many qualities according to them must from it be derived , can scarce do other than expect , that a great change as to those qualities happening in a mixt body , should at least be accompany'd with some notable action of , or alteration in the principle . and yet i have met with many instances , wherein qualities are produced , or abolished , or very much altered , without any manifest introduction , expulsion , or considerable change of the principle , whereon that quality is said to depend , or perhaps of either of the two others : as when a piece of fine silver , that having been neald in the fire , and suffer'd to cool leisurely , is very flexible , is made stiff and hard to bend , barely by a few stroaks of a hammer . and a string of a lute acquires or loses a sympathy , as they call it , with another string of the same or another instrument , barely by being either stretched so as to make an unison with it , or screw'd up or let down beyond or beneath that degree of tension . to multiply instances of this kind would be to anticipate those , you will hereafter meet with in their due places . and therefore i shall pass on from the first sort of phaenomena , that favour not the chymical hypothesis about qualities , to the other which consists of those , wherein either that does not happen which according to their hypothesis ought to happen , or the contrary happens to what according to their hypothesis may justly be expected . of this you will meet with instances hereafter ; i shall now trouble you but with one , the better to declare my meaning . 't is not unknown to those chymists , that work much in silver and in copper , that the former will endure ignition and become red-hot in the fire , before it will be brought to fusion ; and the latter is yet far more difficult to be melted down than the other ; yet if you separately dissolve those two metalls in aqua fortis , and by evaporation reduce them to crystalls , these will be brought to fusion in a very little time , and with a very moderate heat , without breaking the glasses that contain them . if you ask a vulgar chymist the cause of this facility of fusion , he will probably tell you without scruple , that 't is from the saline parts of the aqua fortis , which , being imbodied in the metals and of a very fusible nature , impart that easiness of fusion to the metals they are mixt with . according to which plausible explication one might well expect , that , if the saline corpuscles were exquisitly mingled with tin , they would make it far more fusible than of it self it is . and yet , as i have elsewhere noted , when i put tin into a convenient quantity of aqua fortis , the metal being corroded , subsided , as is usual , in the form of whites of eggs , which being well dried , the tinn was so far from being grown more fusible by the addition of the saline particles of the menstruum , that , whereas 't is known that simple tin will melt long before it come to be red-hot , this prepar'd tin would endure for a good while not only a thorow ignition , but the blast of a pair of double bellows , ( which we usually imploy'd to melt silver and copper it self , ) without being at all brought to fusion . and as for those spagyrists that admit , as most of them are granted to do , that all kinds of metals may be turned into gold by a very small proportion of what they call the philosophers elixir , one may i think shew them from their own concessions , that divers qualities may be changed even in such constant bodies as metals , without the addition of any considerable proportion of the simple ingredients , to which they are wont to ascribe those qualities ; provided the agent , ( as an efficient rather than as a material cause , ) be able to make a great change in the mechanical affections of the parts whereof the metal it acts on is made up . thus if we suppose a pound of silver , a pound of lead , and a pound of iron to be transmuted into gold , each by a grain of the powder of projection , this tinging powder , as a material cause is inconsiderable , by reason of the smallness of its bulk , and as an efficient cause it works differing and even contrary effects , according to the disposition , wherein it finds the metal to be transmuted , and the changes it produces in the constituent texture of it . thus it brings quick-silver to be fixt , which it was not before , and deprives it of the fluidity which it had before ; it brings silver to be indissolvable in aqua fortis , which readily dissolved it before , and dissoluble in aqua regis , which before would not touch it ; and which is very considerable to our present purpose , whereas it makes iron much more fusible than mars , it makes lead much less fusible than whilest it retained its pristine form , since saturn melts ere it come to ignition , which gold requires to bring it to fusion . but this is proposed only as an argument ad hominem , till the truth of the transmutation of metals into gold , by way of projection , be sufficiently proved , and the circumstances and phaenomena of it particularly declared . i must not forget to take notice , that some learned modern chymists would be thought to explicate divers of the changes that happen to bodies in point of odours , colours , &c. by saying that in such alterations the sulphur or other hypostatical principle is intraverted or extraverted , or , as others speak , inverted . but i confess , to me these seem to be rather new terms then real explications . for , to omit divers of the arguments mentioned in this present treatise , that may be applied to this way of solving the phaenomena of qualities , one may justly object , that the supposed extraversion or intraversion of sulphur can by no means reach to give an account of so great a variety of odours , colours , and other qualities as may be found in the changed portions of matter we are speaking of . and which is more , what they call by these and the like names , cannot be done without local motion transposing the particles of the matter , and consequently producing in it a change of texture , which is the very thing we would infer , and which being supposed , we may grant sulphur to be oftentimes actually present in the altered bodies , without allowing it to be always necessary to produce the alterations in them , since corpuscles so condition'd and contex'd would perform such effects , whether sulphur , as such , did , or did not , make up the subject matter of the change. and now i shall conclude , and partly recapitulate what has been delivered in this and the two foregoing chapters , with this summary consideration , that the chymist's salt , sulphur and mercury themselves are not the first and most simple principles of bodies , but rather primary concretions of corpuscles or particles more simple than they , as being endowed only with the first , or most radical ( if i may so speak ) and most catholick affections of simple bodies , namely bulk , shape , and motion , or rest ; by the different conventions or coalitions of which minutest portions of matter are made those differing concretions that chymists name salt , sulphur and mercury . and to this doctrine it will be consonant , that several effects of this or that spagyrical principle need not be derived from salt , for instance , or sulphur as such , but may be explained by the help of some of those corpuscles that i have lately call'd more simple and radical ; and such explications being more simple and mechanical , may be thought upon that score more fundamental and satisfactory . chap. viii . i know it may be objected in favour of the chymists , that as their hypostatical principles , salt , sulphur and mercury , are but three , so the corpuscularian principles are but very few ; and the chief of them bulk , size , and motion , are but three neither ; so that it appears not why the chymical principles should be more barren than the mechanical . to which allegation i answer , that , besides that these last nam'd principles are more numerous , as taking in the posture , order , and scituation , the rest , and , above all , the almost infinitely diversifiable contextures of the small parts , and the thence resulting structures of particular bodies , and fabrick of the world : besides this , i say , each of the three mechanical principles , specified in the objection , though but one in name , is equivalent to many in effect ; as figure , for instance , comprehends not only triangles , squares , rhombusses , rhomboids , trapezions , and a multitude of polygons , whether ordinate or irregular ; but , besides cubes , prismes , cones , spheres , cylinders , pyramids , and other solids of known denominations , a scarce numerable multitude of hooked , branched , eel-like , screw-like , and other irregular bodies ; whereof though these , and some others , have distinct appellations , yet the greatest part are nameless ; so that it need be no wonder , that i should make the mechanical principles so much more fertile , that is , applicable to the production and explication of a far greater number of phaenomena , than the chymical ; which , whilest they are considered but as similar bodies , that are ingredients of mixt and compounded ones , are chiefly variable but by the greater or lesser quantity that is employed by nature or art to make up the mixt body . and painters observe , that black and white , though mixt in differing proportions , will still make but lighter and darker grays . and if it be said , that these ingredients , by the texture resulting from their mixtures , may acquire qualities that neither of them had before ; i shall answer , that , to alledge this , is in effect to confess , that they must take in the mechanical principles , ( for to them belongs the texture or structure of bodies ) to assist the chymical ones . and on this occasion , to borrow an illustration from our unpublished dialogue of the requisites of a good hypothesis , i shall add , that a chymist that should pretend , that because his three principles are as many as those of the corpuscularians , they are as sufficient as these to give an account of the book of nature , methinks , i say , he would do like a man that should pretend , that with four and twenty words he would make up a language as well as others can with the four and twenty letters of the alphabet , because he had as many words already formed , as they had of bare letters ; not considering that instead of the small number of variations that can be made of his words by prepositions and terminations , the letters of the alphabet being variously combined , placed and reiterated , can be easily made to compose not only his four and twenty words , with their variations , but as many others as a whole language contains . chap. ix . notwithstanding all that i have been obliged to say to the disadvantage of the chymical principles , in reference to the explication of qualities , i would not be thought to grant , that the peripateticks have reason to triumph , as if their four elements afforded a better theory of qualities . for , if i had , together with leisure enough to perform such a task , any obligation to undertake it , i presume , it would not be difficult to shew , that the aristotelian doctrine about particular qualities is liable to some of the same objections with the chymical , and to some others no less considerable ; and that , to derive all the phaenomena their doctrine ought to solve from substantial forms and real qualities elementary , is to impose on us a theory more barren and precarious than that of the spagyrists . that to derive the particular qualities of bodies from those substantial forms , whence the schools would have them to flow , is but an insufficient and unfit way of accounting for them , may appear by this , that substantial forms themselves are things , whose existence many learned philosophers deny , whose theory many of them think incomprehensible , and the most candid and judicious of the peripateticks themselves confess it to be very abstruse ; so that from such doubtful and obscure principles we can hardly expect clear explications of the nature and phaenomena of qualities ; not to urge , that the aristotelian definitions , both of qualities in general , and of divers of the more familiar qualities in particular , as heat , cold , moisture , diaphaneity , &c. are far enough from being clear and well framed , as we elsewhere have occasion to shew . another thing , which makes the scholastic doctrine of qualities unsatisfactory , is , that it seldom so much as attempts to teach the manner how the qualities themselves and their effects or operations are produced . of this you may elsewhere find an instance given in the quality that is wont to be first in the list , viz that of heat , which though it may intelligibly and probably be explicated by the corpuscular hypothesis , yet in the peripatetic account that is given of it , is both too questionable and too superficial to give much content to a rational inquirer . and indeed to say , that a substantial form ( as that of the fire ) acts by a quality ( call'd heat ) whose nature 't is to produce such an effect ( as to soften wax or harden clay ) seems to be no other in substance , than to say , that it produces such an effect by some power it has to produce it . but what that power is , and how it operates , is that , which , though we most desire to know , we are left to seek . but to prosecute the imperfections of the peripatetick hypothesis , were to intrench upon another discourse , where they are more fully laid open . and therefore i shall now but lightly glance upon a couple of imperfections , that more particularly relate to the doctrine of qualities . and first i do not think it a convincing argument that is wont to be imployed by the aristotelians for their elements , as well as by the chymists for their principles , that , because this or that quality , which they ascribe to an element or a principle , is found in this or that body , which they call mixt , therefore it must owe that quality to the participation of that principle or element . for , the same texture of parts or other modification of matter may produce the like quality in the more simple and the more compounded body , and they may both separately derive it from the same cause , and not one from the participation of the other . so water and earth and metals and stones , &c. are heavy upon the account of the common cause of gravity , and not because the rest partake of the earth ; as may appear in elementary water , which is as simple a body as it , and yet is heavy : so water and oil , and exactly deflegm'd spirit of wine , and mercury , and also metals and glass of antimony , and minium or calcin'd lead , whilest these three are in fusion are fluid , being made so by the variously determined motions of their minute parts and other causes of fluidity , and not by the participation of water , since the arid calces of lead and antimony are not like to have retained in the fire so volatile a liquor as water , and since fluidity is a quality that mercury enjoys in a more durable manner than water it self : for that metalline liquor , as also spirit of wine well rectified , will not be brought to freeze with the highest degree of cold of our sharpest winters , though a far less degree of cold would make water cease to be fluid and turn it into ice . to this i shall only add ( in the second place , ) that 't is not unpleasant to see , how arbitrarily the peripateticks derive the qualities of bodies from their four elements , as if , to give an instance in the lately named quality , liquidity , you shew them exactly deflegmed spirit of wine , and ask them , whence it has its great fluidness , they will tell you from water , which yet is far less fluid than it , and this spirit of wine it self is much less so than the flame into which the spirit of wine is easily resoluble . but if you ask , whence it becomes totally inflammable , they must tell you , from the fire ; and yet the whole body , at least as far as sense can discover , is fluid , and the whole body becomes flame , ( and then is most fluid of all ; ) so that fire and water as contrary as they make them , must both be by vast odds predominant in the same body . this spirit of wine also , being a liquor whose least parts that are sensible are actually heavy , and compose a liquor which is seven or eight hundred times as heavy as air of the same bulk , which yet experience shews not to be devoid of weight , must be supposed to abound with earthy particles , and yet this spirituous liquor may in a trice become flame , which they would have to be the lightest body in the world . but , to enlarge on this subject , would be to forget , that the design of this tract engages me to deal not with the peripatetic school , but the spagyrical . to which i shall therefore return , and give you this advertisement about it , that what i have hitherto objected is meant against the more common and received doctrine about the material principles of bodies reputed mixt , as 't is wont by vulgar chymists to be applied to the rendring an account of the qualities of substances corporeal ; and therefore i pretend not , that the past objections should conclude against other chymical theories than that which i was concerned to question . and if adept philosophers , ( supposing there be such ) or any other more than ordinarily intelligent spagyrists , shall propose any particular hypotheses , differing from those that i have questioned , as their doctrine and reasons are not yet known to me ; so i pretend not that the past arguments should conclude against them , and am willing to think , that persons advantaged with such peculiar opportunities to dive into the mysteries of nature , will be able to give us , if they shall please , a far better account of the qualities of bodies than what is wont to be proposed by the generality of chymists . thus , dear pyrophilus , i have laid before you some of the chief imperfections i have observed in the vulgar chymists doctrine of qualities , and consequently i have given you some of the chief reasons that hinder me from acquiescing in it . and as my objections are not taken from the scholastical subtleties nor the doubtful speculations of the peripateticks or other adversaries of the hermetick philosophy , but from the nature of things and from chymical experiments themselves ; so i hope , if any of your spagyrical friends have a minde to convince me , he will attempt to doe it by the most proper way , which is , by actually giving us clear and particular explications , at least of the grand phaenomena of qualities ; which , if he shall do , he will find me very ready to acquiesce in a truth that comes usher'd in , and endear'd by so acceptable and useful a thing , as a philosophical theory of qualities . finis . reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. though the following discourse was at first written by way of appendix to the treatise of the imperfection of the chymical doctrine of qualities ; yet the bulk of it , swelling beyond what was foreseen , made it seem expedient to publish it as a tract by it self . reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum . chap. i. i presume , it will not be difficult to discern , that much of what has been said about the imperfection of the vulgar chymical doctrine concerning qualities , may with easie variations be applied to some other hypotheses that are of kin to that doctrine , and particularly to their theory , that would derive both the qualities of bodies and the rest of the phaenomena of nature from what they call acidum and alcali . for though these two differences may be met with in a great number and variety of bodies , and consequently the consideratin of them may frequently enough be of good use , ( especially to spagyrists , and physitians , when they are conversant about the secondary and ( if i may so call them ) chymical causes and operations of divers mixt bodies ; ) yet i confess i cannot acquiesce in this hypothesis of alkeli and acidum , in the latitude , wherein i find it urged and applied by the admirers of it , as if it could be usefully substituted in the place of matter and motion . the hypothesis , being in a sort subordinate to that of the tria prima , in ascribing to two contrary saline principles what vulgar chymists do to their salt , sulphur , and mercury ; most of the objections we have made against the vulgar chymical doctrine , may , as i lately intimated , be applied , by a little variation , to this , and therefore i shall need but to touch upon the main things that keep me from acquiescing in this hypothesis . chap. ii. and first , it seems precarious to affirm , that in all bodies , or even in all the sensible parts of mixts , acid and alcalizate parts are found ; there not having been , that i know , any experimental induction made of particulars any thing near numerous enough to make out so great an assertion , and in divers bodies , wherein experience is vouch'd for the inexistence of these principles , that inexistence is indeed proved not by direct and clear experience , but upon a supposition , that such and such effects flow from the operations of the assumed principles . some spagyrists , when they see aqua fortis dissolve filings of copper , conclude from thence , that the acid spirits of the menstruum meet in the metal with an alcali upon which they work ; which is but an unsafe way of arguing , since good spirit of urin , which they take to be a volatile alcali , and which will make a great conflict with aqua fortis , will , as i have elsewhere noted , dissolve filings of copper both readily enough and more genuinly than the acid liquor is wont to do . so when they see the magistery of pearl or coral , made by dropping oil of tartar into the solutions of those bodies made with spirit of vinegar , they ascribe the precipitation to the fixt alcali of the tartar , that mortifies the acidity of the spirit of vinegar ; whereas the precipitation would no less insue , if , instead of alcalizat oil of tartar , we imploy that highly acid liquor which they call oleum sulphuris per campanam . i think also it may be doubted , whether those , i reason with , are so certain as they suppose , that at least when they can manifestly discover an acid , for instance , in a body , the operation of that body upon another , which they judge to abound with an alcali , must be the effect of a conflict between those two jarring principles , or , if i may so call them , duellists . for an acid body may do many things , not simply as an acid , but on the score of a texture or modification , which endows it with other qualities as well as acidity , whose being associated with those other qualities in some cases may be but accidental to the effect to be produced ; since by one or more of these other qualities the body may act in cases , where prejudice may make a chymist consider nothing but acidity . thus when some chymists see an acid menstruum , as aqua fortis , spirit of salt , oil of vitriol , &c. dissolve iron , they presently ascribe the effect to an acidity of the liquors , whereas well dephlegmed urinous spirits , which they hold to have a great antipathy to acids , will , as i have tried in some of them , readily enough dissolve crude iron even in the cold. and on the other side , mercury will not work on the filings of iron , though this be so open a metal that even weak liquors will do it ; and yet if one should urge , that quicksilver readily dissolves gold in amalgamation , he may expect to be told , according to their doctrine , that mercury has in it an occult acid , by which it performs the solution ; whereas it seems much more probable , that mercury has corpuscles of such a shape and size as fit them to insinuate themselves into the commensurate pores they meet with in gold , but make them unfit to enter readily the pores of iron , to which nature has not made them congruous ; as on the other side the saline corpuscles of aqua fortis will easily find admission into the pores of iron , but not into those of gold , to which they do not correspond as they do to the others . and when a knife , whose blade is touched with a load-stone , cuts bread and takes up filings of iron , it does neither of them upon the score of alcali and acidum , but the one upon the visible shape and the stiffness of the blade , and the other upon the latent contrivance or change of texture produced by the operation of the load-stone in the particles that compose the steel . this may perhaps be farther illustrated by adding , that when blew vitriol , being beaten and finely searced , makes a white pouder , that whiteness is a quality which the pouder has not as being of a vitriolate nature . for rock-crystal or venice-glass being finely beaten will have the same operation on the eye , but it proceeds from the transparency of the body and the minuteness , multitude and confus'd scituation of the corpuscles that make up the pouder . and therefore , if other bodies be brought by comminution into parts endow'd with such mechanical affections , as we have named ; these aggregates will act upon the organs of sight as white bodies . chap. iii. and this leads me to another exception against the hypothesis of the duellists , which is , that the framers of it seem arbitrarily to have assigned provinces or offices to each of their two principles , as the chymists do to each of their tria prima , and the peripateticks to each of their four elements . for 't is not enough to say , that an acid , for instance , as such , performs these things , and an alkali so many others , that they divide the operations and phaenomena of nature , or at least ( as some , more cautious , are content to say ) of mixt bodies between them ; since assertions of such great moment ought not to be advanc'd or received without sufficient proof . and perhaps the very distribution of salts into acids and alcalies hath somewhat of arbitrary in it , since others may , without assuming much more , take the freedom to distribute them otherwise , there being not only several things wherein acids and alcalies agree , but also several things wherein salts of the same denomination widely differ . as , for instance , some alkalies , according to those i reason with , are , like salt of tartar , fixt , and will endure the violence of the fire ; others , like salt of urin or harts-horn , are exceedingly fugitive , and will be driven up with a scarce sensible degree of heat ; some , as salt of tartar , will precipitate the solution of sublimate into an orange-tawny ; others , as spirit of blood and harts-horn , precipitate such a solution into a milky substance . oil of tartar will very slowly operate upon filings of copper , which spirit of urin and harts-horn will readily dissolve in the fire . and among acids themselves the difference is no less if not much greater . some of them will dissolve bodies that others will not , as aqua fortis will dissolve silver and mercury , but leave gold untouched ; or as aqua regis , though made without sal armoniac that dissolves gold readily , will dissolve mercury but scurvily , and silver not at all . and this may happen , when the menstruum that will not dissolve the body is reputed much stronger than that which does ; as dephlegm'd spirit of vinegar will dissolve lead , reduc'd to minute parts in the cold ; which is an effect that chymists are not wont to expect from spirit of salt. nay , which is more , one acid will precipitate what another has dissolved , and contrarily ; as spirit of salt will precipitate silver out of spirit of nitre . and i found oil of vitriol to precipitate bodies of divers kinds , minerals and others , out of some acid menstruums , particularly spirit of vinegar . to this might be added the properties , peculiar to some particular acids , as that spirit of nitre or aqua fortis will dissolve camphire into an oil , and coagulate common oil into a consistent and brittle substance like tallow ; and , though it will both corrode silver , copper , lead , and mercury , and keep them dissolved , it will quickly let fall almost the whole body of tin , very soon after it has corroded as much as it can of it . by all which , and some other like instances , i am induc'd to question , whether the acidum and alkali , we are speaking of , have the simplicity that philosophy requires in principles ; and shall be kept from wondering , if others shall think it as free for them to constitute other principles , as 't is for the learned men i reason with , to pitch upon acidum and alkali . and some perhaps will be bold to say , that , since the former of those principles comprehend such a number of bodies , that are , many of them , very differing , and some of them directly contrary in their operations , it seems a slight and not philosophical account of their nature , to define an acid by its hostility to an alcali , which ( they will say ) is almost as if one should define a man by saying , that he is an animal that is at enmity with the serpent ; or a lyon , that he is a fourfooted beast that flies from a crowing cock. chap. iv. but although one of the chiefest conditions that philosophers may justly require in principles , is , that , being to explain other things , they should be very clear themselves ; yet i do not much wonder , that the definitions given us of acidum and alcali should be but unaccurate and superficial , since i find not , that they have themselves any clear and determinate notion or sure marks , whereby to know them distinctly , without which chymists will scarce be able to form clear and setled notions of them . for to infer , as is usual , that , because a body dissolves another , which is dissoluble by this or that known acid , the solvent must also be acid ; or to conclude , that , if a body precipitates a dissolved metal out of a confessedly acid menstruum , the precipitant must be an alcali , to argue thus , i say , 't is unsecure ; since , not to repeat what i said lately of copper , i found , that filings of spelter will be dissolved as well by some alcalies , ( as spirit of sal armoniac ) as by acids . and bodies may be precipitated out of acid menstruums , both by other acids , and by liquors , where there appears not the least alcali : as i have found , that a solution of tin-glass , made in aqua fortis , would be precipitated both by spirit of salt and by common or rain water . and as for the other grand way that chymists employ , to distinguish acids and alcalies , namely by the heat , commotion , and bubbles that are excited , upon their being put together , that may be no such certain sign as they presume , they having indeed a dependance upon particular contextures and other mechanical affections , that chymists are not wont to take any notice of . for almost any thing that is fitted variously and vehemently to agitate the minute parts of a body , will produce heat in it ; and so , though water be neither an acid nor an alcalizate liquor , yet it would quickly grow very hot , not only with the highly acid oil of vitriol , but ( as i have more than once purposely tried and found ) with the fiery alcalizat salt of tartar. and 't is to be noted , that neither in the one nor the other of these incalescent mixtures , there is produced any such visible or audible conflict , as , according to the doctrine of the chymists i reason with , one would expect . and as for the production of bubbles , especially if accompanied with a hissing noise , neither is that such a certain sign as chymists imagine : for the production of bubbles is not a necessary effect or concomitant of heat excited by conflicts , but depends very much upon the peculiar disposition of bodies put together to extricate , produce , or intercept particles of air , ( or steams , for the time equivalent to them ; ) and therefore as oil of vitriol , mixt in a due proportion with fair water , may be brought to make the water too hot to be held in ones hand , without exciting bubbles ; so i have found by trials purposely made , that alcalizat spirit of urine drawn from some kinds of quick-lime , being mixt with oil of vitriol moderately strong , would produce an intense heat , whilest it produced either no manifest bubbles at all , or scarce any , though the urinous spirit was strong , and in other trials operated like an alcali ; and although also with spirit of urin , made per se the common way , the oil of vitriol will produce a great hissing and a multitude of conspicuous bubbles . on the other side i have sometimes , though not so constantly , found , that some acid spirits , especially that of verdigrease made per se , would , when poured upon salt of tartar , make a conflict with it , and produce a copious froth , though we observed it not to be accompanied with any manifest heat . and i elsewhere mention two bodies , upon whose putting together numerous bubbles would , for a long time , and not without noise , be generated , and succeed one another , though i could perceive no heat at all to accompany this tumult . as for the tast , which by many is made a great touchstone , whereby to know acids and alcalies , i consider that there is a multitude of mixt bodies , wherein we can so little discern by the tast , which of the principles is predominant , that this sense would not oblige one to suspect , much less to conclude , there were one grain of either of them to be found there ; such bodies are diamonds and rubies , and most gems , besides many ignobler stones , and gold and silver and mercury , and i know not how many other bodies . on the other side , there are bodies that abound with acid or alcalizat salts , which either have no tast , or a quite differing one from that of the chymical principle . as though venice-glass be in great part composed of a fixt alcali ; yet to the tongue it is insipid , and crystalls of lune and of lead made with aqua fortis , and containing great store of the acid particles of the menstruum , have nothing of acidity in the mouth , the latter having a saccharine sweetness , and the former an extream bitterness . and even in vegetable substances that have a manifest tast , 't is not so easie to know by that , whether it be the acid or the alcalizat principle that is predominant in them ; as in the essential oils of spices and other vegetables . and in the gross empereumatical oils of woods , and even in high rectified spirit of wine , which therefore some will have to be an alcalizat liquor , and others list it among acids , though i did not find it neither to be destroyed or much altered by being put upon coral or salt of tartar , as would happen to an acid menstruum , nor yet by being digested with and distilled from sea salt , as might be probably expected from an alcalizat one : aand among those very bodies which their tasts perswade chymists to reckon amongst acids , one may ( according to what i formerly noted ) observe so great a difference and variety of relishes , that , perhaps without being too severe , i may say , that if i were to allow acids to be one principle , it should be only in some such metaphysical sense , as that wherein air is said to be one body , though it consist of the associated effluviums of a multitude of corpuscles of very differing natures , that agree in very little save in their being minute enough to concur to the composition of a fluid aggregate , consisting of flying parts . but having dwelt longer than i intended on one objection , 't is time that i proceed to those that remain . chap. v. another particular , i am unsatisfied with in the hypothesis of alcali and acidum , is , that 't is in divers cases either needless or useless to explain the phaenomena of qualities , there being several of these produced , destroyed , or altered , where there does not appear any accession , recess , or change of either of those two principles ; as when fluid water by hard beating is turn'd into consistent froth , and when transparent red coral is , barely by being beaten and sifted finely , changed into a white and opacous powder ; and as when a very flexible piece of fine silver being hammer'd is brought to have a brisk spring , and after a while will , instead of continuing malleable , crack or cleave under the hammer ; and as when ( to dispatch and omit other instances ) a sufficiently thin leaf of gold , held between the light and the eye , appears green . another thing ( of kin to the former , ) that i like not in the doctrine of acidum and alcali , is , that though the patrons of it , whilest they would seem to constitute but two principles , are fain ( as i lately intimated ) to make i know not how many differing sorts of acids , besides some variety of alcalies ; yet their principles are too few and narrow to afford any satisfactory explication of the phaenomena . for i fear , 't will be very difficult for them to give a rational account of gravity , springiness , light , and emphatical colours , sounds , and some other qualities that are wont to be called manifest ; and much more of several that are confest to be occult , as electricity , and magnetism ; in which last i see not , how the affirming that there is in the magnet an acid and an alcali , and that these two are of contrary natures , will help to explain , how a load-stone does , as they speak , attract the same end of a poised needle with one of its poles , which 't will drive away with the other , and determine that needle when freely placed , to point north and south , and enable it to communicate by its bare touch the same properties , and abundance of other strange ones , to another piece of steel . but i forbear to alledge particular examples referrable to the several qualities above-mentioned , whether manifest or hidden , because that in great part is already done in our notes about particular qualities , in which 't will appear how little able the employing of alcali and acidum will be to afford us an account of many things . and though i enlarge not here on this objection , yet i take it to be of that importance , that , though there were no other , this were enough to shew that the hypothesis that is liable to it , is insufficient for the explication of qualities ; and therefore 't will not i presume be thought strange that i add , that , as for those that would extend this narrow chymical doctrine to the whole object of natural philosophy , they must do more than i expect they will be able before they can make me their proselyte , there being a multitude of phaenomena in nature ( divers whereof i elsewhere take notice of in reference to the chymists philosophy ) in which what acidum and alcali have to do , i confess i do not understand . chap. vi. the last thing ( which comprizes several others ) that seems to me a defect in the doctrine of alcali and acidum , is , that divers if not most of those very things that are pretended to be explicated by them , are not satisfactorily explicated , some things being taken into the explications that are either not fundamental enough or not clearly intelligible , or are chargeable with both those imperfections . and first i am dissatisfied with the very fundamental notion of this doctrine , namely a supposed hostility between the tribe of acids and that of alkalies , accompanied , if you will have it so , with a friendship or sympathy with bodies belonging to the same tribe or family . for i look upon amity and enmity as affections of intelligent beings , and i have not yet found it explained by any , how those appetites can be placed in bodies inanimate and devoid of knowledge , or of so much as sense . and i elsewhere endeavour to shew , that what is called sympathy and antipathy between such bodies does in great part depend upon the actings of our own intellect , which , supposing in every body an innate appetite to preserve it self both in a defensive and an offensive way , inclines us to conclude , that that body , which , though designlesly destroys or impairs the state or texture of another body , has an enmity to it , though perhaps a slight mechanical change may make bodys , that seem extreamly hostile , seem to agree very well and cooperate to the production of the same effects . as if the acid spirit of salt and the volatile alkali ( as they will have it ) that is commonly called spirit of urine be put together , they will , after a short though fierce conflict , upon a new contexture unite together into a salt , little , if at all , differing from sal armoniac , in which the two reconciled principles will amicably join in cooling of water , dissolving some metalline bodys , and producing divers other effects . and so , if upon a strong solution of salt of pot-ashes or of salt of tartar , good spirit of nitre be dropt in a due proportion , after the heat and tumult and ebullition are over , the acid and the alkalizat salts will convene into such a concretion as salt-peter , which is taken to be a natural body , either homogeneous , or at least consisting of parts that agree very friendly together , and conspire to constitute the particular kind of salt that chymists call nitre . but the sympathy and antipathy that is said to be betwixt inanimate bodys , i elsewhere more particularly consider , and therefore i shall now add in the second place , that the explications made of phaenomena according to the doctrine of alcali and acidum do not , in my apprehension , perform what may be justly expected from philosophical explications . 't is said indeed , that the acidum working on the alcali , or this upon that , produces the effect proposed ; but that is only to tell us , what is the agent that operates , and not the manner of the operation , or the means and process whereby it produces the effect proposed , and 't is this modus that inquisitive naturalists chiefly desire to learn. and if it be said , that it is by the mutual hostility of the principles that the effect is produced , it may be answered , that besides , that that hostility it self is not , as we have just now observed , a thing clear , if so much as intelligible ; this is so general and indeterminate a way of explicating things , as can afford little or no satisfaction to a searching and cautious naturalist , that considers how very numerous and very various the phaenomena of qualities are . chap. vii . to clear up and to countenance what i have been now saying , i shall only take notice of some few obvious phaenomena of one of the most familiar operations wherein acidum and alcali are supposed to be the grand agents . 't is known to the very boys of chymists , that aqua regis will dissolve gold , copper , and mercury , and that with these metals , especially with the second , it will produce an intense degree of heat . if now the cause of this heat be demanded , it may be expected , that the patrons of the duellists will answer , that 't is from the action of the acid salts of the menstruum upon the alcali they meet with in the metalls . but not to mention how many things are here presumed , not proved ; nor that i know some acid menstruums , and some much more evidently alcalizate bodys than these metals are , which yet do not upon their mixtures produce any sensible heat ; not , i say , to mention these , it is easie to discern , that this answer names indeed two supposed efficients of heat , but does not explicate or declare how these agents produce that quality , which depends upon a certain vehement and various agitation of the singly insensible parts of bodys , whether the duellists , or any other , though very differing , causes put them into a motion so modified . and therefore gold and copper by bare concussion may be brought to an intense degree of heat without the accession of any acid parts to work upon them . but then further , when we are told , that aqua regis by its acidity working on the metalline alcali makes a dissolution of the metal ; i am told indeed what they think to be the agent in this change , but not at all satisfied how this agent effects it ; for , copper being a very hard metal , and gold generally esteemed by chymists the closest and compactest body in nature , i would gladly know , by what power and way such weak and probably either brittle or flexible bodys as acid salts , are enabled with that force to disjoin such solid and closely coherent corpuscles as make up the visible masses of copper and gold , nay , and scatter them with that violence as perhaps to toss up multitudes of them into the air . and since in the dissolution of these metals there is another phaenomenon to be accounted for , as well as the forcing of the parts asunder , namely the sustentation of the metal in the menstruum , the chymists would have much informed me , if they had well explained , how their acidum and alcali is able to sustain and give fluidity to the corpuscles of the dissolved metal , which though it be but copper , is nine times as heavy as a bulk of water equal to it , and if it be gold , is nineteen times heavier than the liquor that must keep it from sinking ; and at least divers times heavier in specie than the salts , that are mingled with the aqueous parts , can make the menstruum composed of them both . whereas trial has assured me , that , if a piece of wax or any other such matter be made by less than the hundredth part heavier than an equal bulk of water , it will , when thoroughly immersed , fall to the bottom and rest there . i might also ask a further question about these dissolutions , as why , whereas aqua regis dissolves mercury without being much changed in colour by it , gold retains its own citrinity or yellowness in the solvent , and the solution of copper is of a colour , which being greenish-blew is quite differing from that of the metal that affords it , as well as from that of the solvent ? and i might recruit these with other queries not impertinent , but that these may suffice ( for a sample ) on this occasion , and allow me to conclude this chapter , by representing one thing which i would gladly recommend and inculcate to you , namely , that those hypotheses do not a little hinder the progress of humane knowledge that introduce morals and politicks into the explications of corporeal nature , where all things are indeed transacted according to laws mechanical . chap. viii . i might easily have been more copious in the instances annext to the foregoing animadversions , but that , being desirous to be short as well as clear , i purposely declined to make use of divers others , that seemed proper to be employed , and indeed might safely enough have been so , because those i have mentioned , and especially those , ( which make a great part of them ) that are mechanical , are not liable to the same exceptions , that i foresaw might be made to elude the force of the examples i passed by . and though i think i could very well make those foreseen objections appear groundless or unsatisfactory ; yet that could scarce be done without engaging in controversies that would prove more tedious than i judged them necessary . and yet , although what i have said in this excursion be but a part of what i could say , i would not be thought to have forgot what i intimated at the beginning of it . for though the reasons i alledged keep me from acquiescing in the doctrine of alcali and acidum , as 't is proposed under the notion of a philosophical hypothesis , such as the cartesian or epicurean , which are each of them alledged by their embracers to be mechanical , and of a very catholick extent ; yet i deny not , that the consideration of the duellists ( or the two jarring principles of alcali and acidum ) may be of good use to spagyrists and physitians , as i elsewhere further declare . nor do i pretend by the past discourse that questions one doctrine of the chymists , to beget a general contempt of their notions , and much less of their experiments . for the operations of chymistry may be misapplied by the erroneous reasonings of the artists without ceasing to be themselves things of great use , as being applicable as well to the discovery or confirmation of solid theories , as the production of new phaenomena , and beneficial effects . and though i think , that many notions of paracelsus and helmont and some other eminent spagyrists are unsolid , and not worthy the veneration that their admirers cherish for them ; yet divers of the experiments , which either are alledged to favour these notions , or on other accounts are to be met with among the followers of these men , deserve the curiosity if not the esteem of the industrious inquirers into natures mysteries . and looking upon chymistry in gross as a discipline subordinate to physiques , even mechanical philosophers may justly , in my opinion , think favourably of it , since , whatever imperfections , or , if they please , extravagancies there may be in the principles and explications of paracelsus or other leading artists , these faults of the theorical part may be sufficiently compensated by the utilities that may be derived from the practical part . and this i am the rather induced to say , because the experiments , that chymistry furnishes , may much assist a naturalist to rectifie the erroneous theories that oftentimes accompany them , and even those ( mistakes ) that are endeavour'd to be evinced by them . and ( to conclude ) chymistry seems to deal with men in reference to notions , as it does in reference to metals , assisting wary men to detect the errors , unto which it may have misled the unwary : for the same art that has taught some to impose on others , ( and perhaps themselves first ) by blanching copper , imitating gold , &c. does also supply say-masters and refiners , with the means , by the cupel , cements , aqua fortis , &c. to examine , whether coins be true or false , and discover adulterate gold and silver to be counterfeit . finis . experiments , and notes , about the mechanical origine and production of volatility . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. advertisements about the experiments and notes relating to chymical qualities . when , after i had gone through the common operations of chymistry , i began to make some serious reflections on them , i thought 't was pity , that instruments that might prove so serviceable to the advancement of natural philosophy , should not be more studiously and skilfully made use of to so good a purpose . i saw indeed , that divers of the chymists had by a diligent and laudable employment of their pains and industry , obtain'd divers productions , and lighted on several phaenomena considerable in their kind , and indeed more numerous , than , the narrowness and sterility of their principles consider'd , could well be expected . but i observed too , that the generality of those that busie themselves about chymical operations ; some because they practise physick ; and others because they either much wanted , or greedily coveted money , aimed in their trials but at the preparation of good medicines for the humane body , or to discover the ways of curing the diseases or imperfections of metals , without referring their trials to the advancement of natural philosophy in general ; of which most of the alchymists seem to have been so incurious , that not onely they did not institute experiments for that purpose , but overlookt and despis'd those undesign'd ones that occurr'd to them whilst they were prosecuting a preparation of a medicine , or a transmutation of metals . the sense i had of this too general omission of the chymists , tempted me sometimes to try , whether i could do any thing towards the repairing of it by handling chymistry , not as a physician , or an alchymist , but as a meer naturalist , and so by applying chymical operations to philosophical purposes . and in pursuance of these thoughts , i remember i drew up a scheme of what i ventur'd to call a chymia philosophica , not out of any affectation of a splendid title , but to intimate , that the chymical operations , there treated of , were not directed to the usual scopes of physicians , or transmuters of metals , but partly to illustrate or confirm some philosophical theories by such operations ; and partly to explicate those operations by the help of such theories . but before i had made any great progress in the pursuit of this design , the fatal pestilence that raged in london , and in many other parts of england , in the years 1664 and 65 , obliging me among the rest to make several removes ; which put me upon taking new measures , and engaging me in other employments of my time , made me so long neglect the papers i had drawn up , that at last i knew not where to finde them , ( though i hope they are not yet mislaid beyond recovery , ) which i was the less troubled at , because the great difficulties , to be met with in such an undertaking , did not a little discourage me , such a task requiring as well as deserving a person better furnished , than i had reason to think my self , with abilities , leisure , chymical experiments , and conveniences , to try as many more as should appear needful . but yet to break the ice for any that may hereafter think fit to set upon such a work , or to shorten my own labour , if i should see cause to resume it my self , i was content to throw in among my notes about other particular qualities , some experiments and observations about some of those , that i have elsewhere call'd chymical qualities , because 't is chiesly by the operations of chymists , that men have been induced to take special notice of them . of these notes i have assigned to some qualities more , and to some fewer , as either the nature or importance of the subject seemed to require , or my leisure and other circumstances would permit . and though i have not here handled the subjects they belonged to , as if i intended such a chymia philosophica as i lately mentioned , because my design did not make it necessary , but did perhaps make it impertinent for me to do so , yet in some of the larger notes about volatility and fixtness , and especially about precipitation , i have given some little specimens of the theorical part of a philosophical account of those qualities or operations , that i hope will not be wholly useless . i know , it may be objected , that i should have employed for instances some more considerable experiments , if not arcana ; but though possibly i am not altogether unfurnished with such , yet aiming rather to promote philosophy , than appear a possessor of elaborate processes , i declined several experiments that required either more skill , or more time , or more expence than could be well expected from most readers , and chose rather to employ such experiments as may be more easily or cheaply tried , and , which is mainly to be consider'd , being more simple , are more clearly intelligible , and more fit to have notions and theories built upon them ; especially considering , that the doctrine of qualities being it self conversant about some of the rudimental parts , if i may so call them , of natural philosophy , it seemed unfit to employ intricate experiments , and whose causes were liable to many disputes , to settle a theory of them . in short , my design being to hold a taper not so much to chymists as to the naturalists , 't was fit i should be less solicitous to gratifie the former than to inform the later . finis . experiments , and notes , about the mechanical origine and production of volatility . chap. i. as far as i have yet observed , the qualifications or attributes , on whose account a portion of matter is found to be volatile , are chiefly four ; whereof the three former most regard the single corpuscles as such ; and the last , the manner of their union in the aggregate or body they make up . but before i enter upon particulars , give me leave to advertise you here once for all , that in the following notes about volatility and fixtness , when i speak of the corpuscles or minute parts of a body , i doe not mean strictly either the elementary parts , such as earth and water , or the hypostatical principles , such as salt , sulphur , or mercury ; for these things come not here into consideration : but onely such corpuscles , whether of a simple , compounded or decompounded nature , as have the particles they consist of so firmly united , that they will not be totally disjoyned or dissipated by that degree of fire or heat , wherein the matter is said to be volatile or to be fixt . but these combined particles will in their aggregate either ascend , or continue unraised per modum vnius ( as they speak ) or as one intire corpuscle . as in a corpuscle of sal armoniac , whether it be a natural or factitious thing , or whether it be perfectly similar , or compounded of differing parts , i look upon the intire corpuscle as a volatile portion of matter ; and so i doe on a corpuscle of sulphur , though experience shews when 't is kindled , that it has great store of acid salt in it , but which is not extricated by bare sublimation : and so colcothar of vitriol falls under our consideration as a fixt body , without inquiring what cupreous or other mineral and not totally fixt parts may be united with the earthly ones ; since the fires , we expose it to , do not separate them . and this being premised in the general , i now proceed to some particulars . and first to make a volatile body , the parts should be very small . for , caeteris paribus , those that are so , are more easily put into motion by the action of the fire and other agents , and consequently more apt to be elevated , when , by the determination of the movent , the situation of the neighbouring bodies , or other mechanical circumstances , the agitated corpuscles can continue their motion with less resistance upwards than any other way , ( as either downwards or horizontally . ) and if , as 't is highly probable , that which in light bodies , or at least in most of them , is wont to pass for positive levity , be but a less degree of gravity than that of those contiguous bodies that raise them ; it will happen , that in very many cases , ( for i say not in all ) the great proportion of the surface of a corpuscle to its bulk , ( which is usually greater in the lesser particles ) by making it more apt to be wrought on , either by the air agitated by the fire , or by the effluvia of kindled fuell , or by the impulse of the shaken corpuscles of the body it self , will much facilitate the elevation of such a minute particle , by exposing a greater portion of it to the action of the agent , as it will oftentimes also facilitate the renewed sustentation of such a small body in the air , which resists more the descent of particles whose surfaces are large , than of others of the same gravity and bulk : as a leaf of paper displayed will much longer hover in the air , than if it were reduced into a ball or pellet . that this minuteness of particles may dispose them to be carried upwards , by the impulse of other bodies and that of the agitated air , is very obvious to be observed : as we see , that horses in a high-way , though they be not able with the strokes of their feet to make stones , or gravel , or clods of earth fly up , yet they will easily raise clouds of dust oftentimes mingled with the smaller grains of sand . and where timber is sawing , the same wind that will not in the least move the beams , and scarce at all move the chips , will easily carry up the saw-dust into the air. and we see in our chimneys , that the smoak readily ascends , whilst even small clods of soot , which is but an aggregate of the particles of smoak , fall headlong down . chap. ii. the next qualification requisite in the corpuscles of volatile bodies is , that they be not too solid or heavy . for if they be so , though their bulk be very small , yet , unless other circumstances do much compensate their weight , 't will be very difficult to elevate them , because of the great disproportion of their specific gravity to that of the air , ( which contributes to sustain and even raise many sorts of volatile parts ) and to the strength of the igneous effluvia or other agents that would carry them up . thus we see , that filings of lead or iron , and even minium ( which is the calx of lead ) though the grains they consist of be very small , will not easily be blown up like common dust , or meal , or other powders made of less ponderous materials . a third qualification to be desired in the corpuscles that should make up a volatile body is , that they be conveniently shaped for motion . for if they be of branched , hook'd , or other very irregular or inconvenient figures , they will be apt to be stopt and detained by other bodies , or entangled among themselves , and consequently very difficult to be carried upwards , in regard that , whilst they are thus fastened either to one another , or to any stable body , each single corpuscle is not onely to be considered , as having its own peculiar bulk , since its cohesion with the other corpuscle or body that detains it , makes them fit to be look'd upon per modum vnius ; that degree of heat they are exposed to being presumed uncapable of disjoyning them . and this may be one reason , why water , though it be specifically heavier than oil , yet is much more easily brought to exhale in the form of vapours than is oil , whose corpuscles by the lasting stains they leave on cloath , wood , wool , &c. ( which water will but transiently moisten , not stain ) seems to be of very intangling figures . the fourth and last qualification requisite in a volatile body is , that the parts do loosely adhere , or at least be united in such a manner , as does not much indispose them to be separated by the fire in the form of fumes or vapours . for he that considers the matter , will easily grant , that , if the contexture of the corpuscles , whereof a body consists , be intricate , or their cohesion strong , their mutual implication , or their adherence to each other , will make one part hinder another from flying separately away , and their conjunction will make them too heavy or unweildy to be elevated together , as intire though compounded parts . thus we see , that in spring , or the beginning of summer , a wind , though not faint , is unable to carry off the lightest leaves of trees , because they stick fast to the bows and twigs on which they grow , but in autumn , when that adhesion ceases , and the leaves sit but loosely on , a wind no stronger than that they resisted before , will with ease blow them off , and perhaps carry them up a good way into the air. but here note , that it was not without some cause , that i added above , that in a fluid body , the parts should at least be united in such a manner , as does not much indispose them to be separated . for 't is not impossible , that the parts of a body may , by the figures and smoothness of the surfaces , be sufficiently apt to be put into motion , and yet be indisposed to admit such a motion as would totally separate them and make them fly up into the air. as , if you take two pieces of very flat and well-polished marble or glass , and lay them one upon the other , you easily make them slide along each others surfaces , but not easily pull up one of them , whilest the other continues its station . and when glass is in the state of fusion , the parts of it will easily slide along each other , ( as is usual in those of other fluids ) and consequently change places , and yet the continuity of the whole is not intirely broken , but every corpuscle does somewhere touch some other corpuscle , and thereby maintain the cohesion that indisposes it for that intire separation accompanied with a motion upwards that we call avolation . and so , when salt-peter alone , is in a crucible exposed to the fire , though a very moderate degree of it will suffice to bring the salt to a state of fusion , and consequently to put the corpuscles that compose it into a restless motion ; yet a greater degree of heat , than is necessary to melt it , will not extricate so much as the spirits , and make them fly away . chap. iii. the foregoing doctrine of the volatility of bodies may be as well illustrated as applied , if we proceed to deduce from it the generall ways of volatilization of bodies , or of introducing volatility into an assigned portion of matter . for these wayes seem not inconveniently reducible to five , which i shall severally mention , though nature and art do usually imploy two or more of them in conjunction . for which reason i would not , when i speak of one of these wayes , be understood as if , excluding the rest , i meant that no other concurred with it . the first of the five ways or means of volatilizing a body is , to reduce it into minute parts , and , caeteris paribus , the more minute they are the better . that the bringing a body into very minute parts may much conduce to the volatilizing of it , may be gathered from the vulgar practice of the chymists , who when they would sublime or distill antimony , sal armoniac , sea-salt , nitre , &c. are wont to beat them to powders to facilitate their receiving a further comminution by the action of the fire . and here i observe , that in some bodies this comminution ought not to be made onely at first , but to be continued afterwards . for chymists find by experience , though perhaps without considering the reason of it , that sea-salt and nitre , will very hardly afford their spirits in distillations , without they be mingled with powdered clay or bole , or some such other additament , which usually twice or thrice exceeds the weight of the salt it self : although these additaments , being themselves fixt , seem unlikely to promote the volatilization of the bodies mixt with them , yet by hindering the small grains of salt to melt together into one lump or masse , and consequently by keeping them in the state of comminution , they much conduce to the driving up of the spirits or the finer parts of the salts by the operation of the fire . but to prosecute a little what i was saying of the conduciveness of bringing a body into small parts to the volatilization of it , i shall add , that in some cases the comminution may be much promoted by employing physical , after mechanical , ways ; and that , when the parts are brought to such a pitch of exiguity , they may be elevated much better than before . thus , if you take filings of mars , and mix them with sal armoniack , some few parts may be sublimed ; but if , as i have done , you dissolve those filings in good spirit of salt instead of oil of vitriol , and having coagulated the solution , you calcine the greenish crystalls or vitriolum martis that will be afforded , you may with ease , and in no long time , obtain a crocus martis of very fine parts ; so that i remember , when we exquisitely mingled this very fixt powder with a convenient proportion of sal armoniac , and gradually press'd it with a competent fire , we were able to elevate at the first sublimation a considerable part of it ; and adding a like , or somewhat inferiour , proportion of fresh sal armoniac to the caput mortuum , we could raise so considerable a part of that also , and in it of the crocus , that we thought , if we had had conveniency to pursue the operation , we should , by not many repeated sublimations , have elevated the whole crocus , which ( to hint that upon the by , ) afforded a sublimat of so very astringent a tast , as may make the trial of it in stanching of blood , stopping of fluxes , and other cases , where potent astriction is desired , worthy of a physicians curiosity . chap. iv. the second means to volatilize bodies is , to rub , grind , or otherwise reduce their corpuscles to be either smooth , or otherwise fitly shaped to clear themselves , or be disintangled from each other . by reason of the minuteness of the corpuscles , which keeps them from being separately discernible by the eye , 't is not to be expected , that immediate and ocular instances should be given on this occasion ; but that such a change is to be admitted in the small parts of many bodies , brought to be volatile , seems highly probable from the account formerly given of the requisites or conditions of volatility , whose introduction into a portion of matter will scarce be explicated without the intervention of such a change . to this second instrument of volatilization , in concurrence with the first , may probably be referred the following phaenomena : in the two first of which there is imployed no additional volatile ingredient ; and in the fourth , a fixt body is disposed to volatility by the operation of a liquour , though this be carefully abstracted from it . 1. if urine freshly made be put to distill , the phlegm will first ascend , and the volatile salt will not rise 'till that be almost totally driven away , and then requires a not inconsiderable degree of fire to elevate it . but , if you putrefie or digest urine , though in a well-closed glass-vessel , for seven or eight weeks , that gentle warmth will make the small parts so rub against , or otherwise act upon , one another , that the finer ones of the salt will perhaps be made more slender and light , and however will be made to extricate themselves so far as to become volatile , and , ascending in a very gentle heat , leave the greatest part of the phlegm behind them . 2. so , if must , or the sweet juice of grapes , be distilled before it have been fermented , 't is observed by chymists , and we have tried the like in artificial wine made of raisins , that the phlegm , but no ardent spirit , will ascend . but when this liquour is reduced to wine by fermentation , which is accompanied with a great and intestine commotion of the justling parts , hitting and rubbing against one another , whereby some probably come to be broken , others to be variously ground and subtilized , the more subtile parts of the liquour being extricated , or some of the parts being , by these operations , brought to be subtile , they are qualified to be raised by a very gentle heat before the phlegm , and convene into that fugitive liquour , that chymists , for its activity , call spirit of wine . nor is it onely in the slighter instances afforded by animals and vegetables , that volatility may be effected by the means lately mentioned : for experience hath assured me , that 't is possible , by an artificial and long digestion , wherein the parts have leisure for frequent justlings and attritions , so to subtilize and dispose the corpuscles even of common salt for volatility , that we could make them ascend in a moderate fire of sand without the help of bole , oil of vitriol , or any volatilizing additament ; and , which is more considerable , the spirit would in rising precede the phlegm , and leave the greatest part thereof behind it . this intestine commotion of parts capable of producing volatility in the more disposed portions of a body , though it be much more easie to be found in liquours , or in moist and soft bodies , yet i have sometimes , though rarely , met with it in dry ones . and particularly i remember , that some years ago having , for trial sake , taken mustard-seed , which is a body pregnant with subtile parts , and caused it to be distilled per se in a retort , i had , as i hoped , ( without any more ado , ) a great many grains of a clear and figured volatile salt at the very first distillation : which experiment having , for the greater security , made a second time with the like success , i mentioned it to some lovers of chymistry , as what i justly supposed they had not heard of . i leave it to farther inquiry , whether , in a body so full of spirits as mustard-seed , the action and re-action of the parts among themselves , perhaps promoted by just degrees of fire , might not suffice to make in them a change equivalent in order to volatilization , and ▪ the yielding a volatile salt , to that which we have observed fermentation and putrefaction to have made in the juice of grapes , urine , and some other bodies . how far the like success may be expected in other trialls , i cannot tell ; especially not having by me any notes of the events of some attempts which that inquiry put me upon : onely i remember in general , that , as some trials , i made with other seeds , and even with aromatick ones , did not afford me any volatile salt ; so the success of other trials made me now and then think , that some subjects of the vegetable kingdom , whence we are wont to drive over acid spirits , but no dry salt , may be distilled with so luckily regulated a heat , as to afford something , though but little , of volatile salt ; and that perhaps more bodies would be found to doe so , were they not too hastily or violently prest by the fire , whereby such saline schematisms of the desired parts of the matter are ( by being dissipated or confounded ) destroyed or vitiated ; as in a slow , dextrous , or fortunate way of management would come forth , not in a liquid , but a saline form . of which observation we may elsewhere mention some instances , and shall before the close of this paper name one , afforded us by crude tartar. 3. though silver be one of the fixedst bodies that we know of , yet that 't is not impossible but that , chiefly by a change of texture , it may strangely be disposed to volatility , i was induced to think by what i remember once happened to me . a gentleman of my acquaintance , studious of chymical arcana , having lighted on a strange menstruum , which he affirmed , and i had some cause to believe , not to be corrosive , he abstracted it from several metalls , ( for the same liquour would serve again and again , ) and brought me the remainders , with a desire that i would endeavour to reduce those of lead and silver into the pristine metals again , which he had in vain attempted to doe : whereupon , though i found the white calx of lead reducible , yet when i came to the calx of silver , i was not able to bring it into a body ; and having at length melted some lead in a gentle fire , to try whether i could make it swallow up the calx , in order to a farther operation , i was not a little surprized to find , that this mild heat made the calx of silver presently fly away and sublime in the form of a farina volatilis , which whitened the neighbouring part of the chimney , as well as the upper part of the crucible . 4. from that which chymists themselves tell us , i think we may draw a good argument ad hominem , to prove , that volatility depends much upon the texture and other mechanical affections of a body . for divers of those hermetick philosophers ( as they are called ) that write of the elixir , tell us , that when their philosophick mercury or grand solvent , being sealed up together with a third or fourth part of gold in a glass-egg , is kept in convenient degrees of fire , the whole matter , and consequently the gold , will , by the mutual operation of the included substances , be so changed , that not onely 't will circulate up and down in the glass , but , in case the digestion or decoction should be broken off at a certain inconvenient time , the gold would be quite spoil'd , being , by the past and untimely-ended operation , made too volatile to be reducible again into gold : whereas , if the decoction be duly continued unto the end , not onely the gold , but all the philosophical mercury or menstruum will be turned into a sulphur or powder of a wonderfully fixt nature . i know , there are several chrysopaeans , that speak much otherwise of this operation , and tell us , that the gold imployed about it must be philosophick gold : but i know too , that there are divers others ( and those too none of the least candid or rational ) that speak of it as i have done ; and that is sufficient to ground an argument on towards all those that embrace their doctrine . and in this case 't is considerable , that 't is not by any superadded additament , that the most fixt body of gold is made volatile , but the same massy matter , consisting of gold and philosophick mercury , is , by the change of texture produced or occasioned by the various degrees and operations of fire upon it , brought to be first volatile , and then extreamly fixt . and having said this in reference to one tribe of the modern spagyrists ; to another of them , the helmontians , i think i can offer a good argument ad hominem from the testimony and experiments of the founder of their sect. 5. the acute hemont , among other prodigious powers that he ascribes to the alkahest , affirms , that , by abstracting it frequently enough , it would so change all tangible bodies , and consequently stones and metals , that they might be distilled over into liquours equiponderant to the respective bodies that afforded them , and having all the qualities of rain-water ; which if they have , i need not tell you that they must be very volatile . and i see not how those that admit the truth of this strange alkahestical operation , can well deny , that volatility depends upon the mechanical affections of matter , since it appears not , that the alkahest does , at least in our case , work upon bodies otherwise than mechanically . and it must be confest , that the same material parts of a portion of corporeal substance , which , when they were associated and contexted ( whether by an archeus , seed , form , or what else you please , ) after such a determinate manner , constituted a solid and fixt body , as a flint or a lump of gold ; by having their texture dissolved ; and ( perhaps after being subtilized ) by being freed from their former implications or firm cohesions , may become the parts of a fluid body totally volatile . chap. v. the fourth means of making a body volatile is , by associating the particles to be raised with such as are more volatile than themselves , and of a figure fit to be fastened to them , or are at least apt , by being added to them , to make up with them corpuscles more disposed than they to volatility . this being the grand instrument of volatilization , i shall spend somewhat the more time about it : but i shall first here a little explain the last clause , ( that i may not be obliged to resume it elsewhere , ) by intimating , that 't is not impossible , that the particles of an additament , though not more volatile than those of the body 't is mixt with , and perhaps though not volatile at all , will yet conduce to volatilize the body wherewith 't is mingled . for the particles of the additament may be of such figures , and so associated with those of the body to be elevated , as in this to enlarge the former pores , or produce new ones , by intercepting little cavities ( for they must not be great ones ) between the particles of a body to be raised , and those of the additament . for , by these and other such ways of association , the corpuscles , resulting from the combination or coalition of two or more of these differing particles , may , without becoming too big and unwieldy , become more conveniently shaped , or more light in proportion to their bulk , and so more easily buoyed up and sustained in the air , ( as when the lid of a copper-box being put on , makes the whole box emerge and swim in water , because of the intercepted cavity , though neither of the parts of the box would doe so , ) or otherwise more fitted for avolation than the particles themselves were before their being joined to those of the additament . by two things chiefly the corpuscles of the additament may contribute to the elevation of a body . for first , the parts of the former may be much more disposed for avolation than is necessary to their own volatility . as when in the making of sal armoniac , the saline particles of urine and of soot are more fugitive than they need be to be themselves sublimed , and thereby are advantaged to carry up with them the more sluggish corpuscles whereof sea-salt consists . and next , they may be of figures so proper to fasten them well to the body to be elevated , that the more fugitive will not be driven away or disjoyned from the more fixt by such a degree of heat as is sufficient to raise them both together : to which effect the congruity or figuration is as well required , as the lightness or volatility of the particles of the additament . and therefore some of the fugitivest bodies that we know , as spirit of wine , camphire , &c. will not volatilize many bodies which will be elevated by far less fugitive additaments ; because the corpuscles of spirit of wine stick not to those of the body they are mingled with , but , easily flying up themselves , leave those behind them , which they did rather barely touch than firmly adhere to : whereas far less fugacious liquours , if they be indowed with figures that fit them for a competently firm cohesion with the body they are mingled with , will be able to volatilize it . of which i shall now give you some instances in bodies that are very ponderous , or very fixt , or both . and i shall begin with colcothar , though it being a vitriolate calx , made by a lasting and vehement fire , 't is ( consequently ) capable of resisting such a one . this being exquisitely ground with an equal weight of sal armoniac , which is it self a salt but moderately volatile , will be in good part sublimed into those yellow flowers , which we have elsewhere more particularly taught to prepare , under the name of ens primum veneris ; in which , that many vitriolate corpuscles of the colcothar are really elevated , you may easily find by putting a grain or two of that reddish substance into a strong infusion of galls , which will thereby immediately acquire an inky colour . steel also , which , to deserve that name , must have endured extraordinary violences of the fire , and greater than is needfull to obtain other metalls from their mother earth ; steel it self , i say , being reduced to filings , and diligently ground with about an equal weight of sal armoniac , will , if degrees of fire be skilfully administred , ( for 't is easie to err in that point , ) without any previous calcination or reduction to a crocus , suffer so much of the metall to be carried up , as will give the sal armoniac a notable colour , and an ironish tast . and here it will be proper to observe , for the sake of practical chymists , that the quantity or proportion of the volatile additament is to be regarded ; though not so much as its nature , yet more than it is wont to be : and divers bodies , that are thought either altogether unfit for sublimation , or at least uncapable to have any considerable portion of them elevated , may be copiously enough sublimed , if a greater proportion of the additament , than we usually content our selves with , be skilfully imployed . and in the newly-mentioned instance of filings of steel , if , in stead of an equal weight of sal armoniac , the treble weight be taken , and the operation be duly managed , a far greater quantity of the metall may be raised , especially if fresh sal armoniac be carefully ground with the caput mortuum . and sal armoniac may perhaps be compounded with such other bodies , heavier than it self , as may qualifie it , when it is thus clogged , to elevate some congruous bodies better than it would of it self alone . and i shall venture to add this farther advertisement , that if , besides the plenty of the additament , there be a sufficient fitness of its particles to lay hold on those of the body to be wrought on , mineral bodies , and those ponderous enough , may be employed to volatilize other heavy bodies . and i am apt to think , that almost , if not more than almost , all metalls themselves may by copious additaments and frequent cohobations be brought to pass through the neck of the retort in distillation ; and perhaps , if you melt them not with equal parts , but with many parts of regulus of antimony , and then proceed as the hints now given will direct you , you will not find cause to despise what i have been saying . you know what endeavours have been , and are still fruitlessly , imployed by chymists to elevate so fixt a body as salt of tartar by additaments . i shall not now speak much of the enterprize in generall , designing chiefly to tell you on this occasion , that , whereas frequent experience shews , that sal armoniac being abstracted from salt of tartar , not onely the salt of tartar is left at the bottom , but a good part of the sal armoniac is left behind with it ; i suspected the cause might be , that sal armoniac , by the operation of the alkaly of tartar , is reduced into sea-salt , and urinous or fuliginous salt , as 't was at first composed of those differing ingredients ; and that by this means the volatil salt being loosened or disintangled from the rest , and being of a very fugacious nature , flyes easily away it self , without staying long enough to take up any other salt with it . and therefore , if this analysis of the sal armoniac could be prevented , it seemed not impossible to me , that some part of the salt of tartar , as well as of colcothar and steel , might be carried up by it : and accordingly having caused the ingredients to be exceedingly well dryed , and both nimbly and carefully mixt , and speedily exposed to the fire , i have sometimes had a portion of salt of tartar carried up with the sal armoniac : but this happened so very rarely , that i suspected some peculiar fitness for this work in some parcels of sal armoniac , that are scarce but by the effect to be discerned from others . but however , what has happened to us may argue the possibility of the thing , and may serve to shew the volatilizing efficacy of sal armoniac ; which is a compound , that i elsewhere recommend , and doe it now again , as one of the usefullest productions of vulgar chymistry . and since i have mentioned the volatilization of salt of tartar , presuming your curiosity will make you desire my opinion about the possibility of it , i shall propose to you a distinction , that perhaps you doe not expect , by saying , that i think there is a great deal of difference between the making a volatile salt of tartar , and the making salt of tartar volatile . for , though this seem to be but a nicety , yet really it is none ; and it is very possible , that a man may from tartar obtain a volatile salt , and yet be no wise able to volatilize that tartareous salt , that has been once by the incineration of the tartar brought to fixt alkaly . i have in the sceptical chymist summarily delivered a way , by which both i , and some spagyrists that learned it of me , obtained from a mixture of antimony , nitre , and crude tartar , a volatil salt , which in probability comes from the last named of those three bodies ; but experience carefully made has assured me , that without any additament , by a distillation warily and very slowly made , ( insomuch that i have spent near a week in distilling one pound of matter ) very clean tartar , or at least the crystalls of tartar , may , in conveniently shaped vessels , be brought to afford a substance that in rectification will ascend to the upper part of the vessel , in the form of a volatil salt , as if it were of urine or of harts-horne ; of which ( tartareous ) salt , i keep some by me : but this operation requires not onely a dexterous , but a patient distiller . but now as to the making a fixt alkaly of tartar become volatil , i take it to be another , and have found it to be a far more difficult , work ; the common processes of performing it being wont to promise much more than they can make good ; which i may justly say of some other , that private men have vaunted for great arcana , but upon triall have satisfied me so little , that i have divers times offered pretenders to make salt of tartar volatil , that without at all inquiring into their processes , i would lay good wagers , that they could not doe what they pretended ; not onely as divers philosophical spagyrists require , without any visible additament , but by any additament whatever ; provided i were allowed to bring the salt of tartar my self , and to examine the success , not by what may appear in the alembic and receiver , but by the weight of what would remain in the bottom . for i have convinced some of the more ingenuous artists , that the salt that sublimed was not indeed the alkaly of tartar , but somewhat that was by the operation produced , or rather extricated out of the additaments . but yet i would not be thought to affirm , that 't is not possible to elevate the fixt salt of tartar. for sometimes i have been able to doe it , even at the first distillation , by an artificial additament perhaps more fixt than it self ; but , though the operation was very gratefull to me , as it shewed the possibility of the thing , yet the paucity of the salt sublimed and other circumstances , kept me from much valuing it upon any other account . and there are other wayes , whereby experience has assured me , that salt of tartar may be raised . and if one of them were not so uncertain , that i can never promise before hand that it will at all succeed , and the other so laborious , difficult and costly , that few would attempt or be able to practice it , i should think them very valuable things ; since by the former way most part of the salt of tartar was quickly brought over in the form of a liquor , whose piercing smell was scarce tolerable ; and by the latter way some salt of tartar of my own , being put into a retort , and urged but with such a fire as could be given in a portable sand-furnace , there remained not at the bottom near one half of the first weight , the additament having carried up the rest , partly in the form of a liquor , but chiefly in that of a white sublimate , which was neither ill-sented , nor in tast corrosive , or alcalizat , but very mild , and somewhat sweetish . and i doe not much doubt , but that by other wayes the fixt alkaly of tartar may be elevated , especially if , before it be exposed to the last operation of the fire , it be dextrously freed from the most of those earthy and viscous parts , that i think may be justly suspected to clog and bind the truly saline ones . but i have too long digrest , and therefore shall intimate onely upon the by , that even the spurious sal tartari volatilized that is made with spirit of vinegar , may , if it be well prepared , make amends for its empyreumatical smell and tast , and may , notwithstanding them , in divers cases be of no despicable use , both as a medicine , and a menstruum . chap. vi. before i draw towards a conclusion of these notes about volatility , perhaps it will not be amiss , to take notice of a phaenomenon , which may much surprise , and sometimes disappoint those that deal in sublimations , unless they be forewarned of it . for though it be taken for granted , and for the most part may justly be so , that by carefully mingling what is sublimed with what remains , and re-subliming the mixture , a greater quantity of the body to be sublimed may be elevated the second time than was the first , and the third time than the second , and so onwards ; yet i have not found this rule alwayes to hold , but in some bodies , as particularly in some kinds of dulcified colcothar , the sal armoniac , would at the first sublimation carry up more of the fixed powder , than at the second or third . so that i was by several tryalls perswaded , when i found a very well and highly coloured powder elevated , to lay it by for use , and thereby save my self the labour of a prosecution , that would not onely have proved useless , but prejudicial . and if i misremember not , by often repeated cohobations , ( if i may so call them ) of sal armoniac upon crude or mineral antimony , though the sublimate that was obtained by the first operation , was much of it variously , and in some places richly , coloured ; yet afterwards , the salt ascended from time to time paler and paler , leaving the antimony behind it . which way of making some minerals more fixt and fusible i conceive may be of great use in some medicinal preparations , though i think it not fit to particularize them in this place : where my chief intent was , to mention the phaenomenon it self , and invite you to consider , whether it may be ascribed to this , that by the reiterated action of the fire , and grinding together of the body to be raised , either the corpuscles of the sal armoniac , or those of the other body , may have those little hooked or equivalent particles , whereby they take hold of one another , broken or worn off ; and whether the indisposedness of the colcotharine or antimonial parts to ascend , may not in some cases be promoted by their having , by frequent attritions , so smoothed their surfaces that divers of them may closely adhere , like pieces of polished glass , and so make up clusters too unweildy to be so raised , as the single corpuscles they consist of , were . which change may dispose them to be at once less volatil and more fusible . which conjectures i mention to excite you to frame better , or at least to make amends for my omission of examining these , by trying whether the sal armoniac grown white again will be as fit as it was at first to carry up fresh bodies ; and also by observing the weight of the unelevated part , and employing those other wayes of examen , which i should have done , if i had not then made sublimations for another end , than to clear up the doctrine of volatility . and here it may be profitable to some chymists , though not necessary to my subject , to intimate , that sublimations may be useful to make very fine comminutions of divers bodies . that those that are elevated are reduced to a great fineness of parts , is obvious to be observed in many examples , whence it has been anciently , not absurdly , said , that sublimations are the chymists pestles , since ( as in flowers of sulphur and antimony ) they do really resolve the elevated bodies into exceeding fine flower , and much finer than pestles and mortars are wont to bring them to . but that which i intend in this paragraph is not a thing so obvious , since 't is to observe , that sometimes even bodies so fixt as not at all to ascend in sublimation , may yet be reduced by that operation into powders extreamly fine . for exemplifying of which , i shall put you in mind , that though spagyrists complain much of the difficulty of making a good calx of gold , and of the imperfection of the few ordinary processes prescribed to make it , ( which would be more complained of , but that chymical physicians seldom attempt to prepare it , ) yet we are informed by triall , that by exactly grinding a thick amalgam of gold and mercury with a competent weight , ( at least equal to its own ) of finely powdered sulphur , we may , by putting the mixture to sublime in a conveniently shaped glass , by degrees of fire obtain a cinaber that will leave behind it a finer calx of gold than will be had by some far more difficult processes . but 't is now time to draw towards a conclusion of our notes about volatility ; which quality depends so much upon the contexture of the corpuscles that are to be raised together , that even very ponderous bodies may serve for volatilizing additaments , if they be disposed to fasten themselves sufficiently to the bodies they are to carry up along with them . for , though lead be , save one , the heaviest solid we know of , and though quick-silver be the heaviest body in the world , except gold ; yet trialls have assured us , that quick-silver it self being united by amalgamation with a small proportion of lead , will by a fire that is none of the violentest , and in close vessels , be made to carry over with it some of the lead . as we clearly found by the increased weight of the quick-silver that passed into the receiver ; which , by the way , may make us cautious how we conclude quicksilver to be pure , meerly from its having been distilled over . there remains but one body more heavy than those i come from naming , and that is gold ; which , being also of a fixity so great that 't is indeed admirable , i doe not wonder that not onely the more wary naturalists , but the more severe among the chymists themselves should think it incapable of being volatilized . but yet , if we consider , how very minute parts gold may be rationally supposed to consist of , and to be divisible into , me thinks it should not seem impossible , that , if men could light on volatil salts endowed with figures fit to stick fast to the corpuscles of the gold , they would carry up with them bodies , whose solidity can scarce be more extraordinary than their minuteness is : and in effect , we have made more than one menstruum , with which some particles of gold may be carried up . but when i employed that which i recommended to you formerly under the name of menstruum peracutum ( which consists mainly , and sometimes onely , of spirit of nitre , several times drawn from butter of antimony , ) i was able , without a very violent fire , in a few hours to elevate so much crude gold , as , in the neck of the retort , afforded me a considerable quantity of sublimate , which i have had red as blood , and whose consisting partly of gold manifestly appeared by this , that i was able with ease to reduce that metall out of it . in reckoning up the instruments of volatilization , we must not quite leave out the mention of the air , which i have often observed to facilitate the elevation of some bodies even in close vessels ; wherein , though to fill them too full be judged by many a compendious practise , because the streams have a less way to ascend , yet experience has several times informed me , that , at least in some cases , they take wrong measures , and that ( to pass by another cause of their disappointment ) a large proportion of air , purposely left in the vessels , may more than compensate the greater space that is to be ascended by the vapours or exhalations of the matter that is to be distilled or sublimed . and if , in close vessels , the presence of the air may promote the ascension of bodies , it may well be expected , that the elevation of divers of them may be furthered by being attempted in open vessels , to which the air has free access . and if we may give any credit to the probable relations of some chymists , the air does much contribute to the volatilization of some bodies that are barely , though indeed for no short time , exposed to it . but the account on which the air by its bare presence or peculiar operations conduces to the volatilization of some bodies , is a thing very difficult to be determined , without having recourse to some notions about gravity and levity , and of the constitution of the corpuscles that compose the air ; which i take to be both very numerous and no less various . and therefore i must not in these occasional notes lanch out into such a subject , though , for fear i should be blamed for too much slighting my old acquaintance the air , i durst not quite omit the power it has to dispose some bodies to volatility . a moderate attention may suffice to make it be discerned , that in what hath been hitherto delivered , i have for the most part considered the small portions of matter , to be elevated in volatilization , as intire corpuscles : and therefore it may be now pertinent , to intimate in a line or two , that there may be also cases , wherein a kind of volatilization , improperly so called , may be effected , by making use of such additaments as break off or otherwise divide the particles of the corpuscles to be elevated , and by adhering to , and so clogging , one of the particles to which it proves more congruous , inable the other , which is now brought to be more light or disingaged , to ascend . this may be illustrated by what happens , when sal armoniac is well ground with lapis calaminaris or with some fix'd alkali , and then committed to distillation : for the sea-salt , that enters the composition of the sal armoniac , being detained by the stone or the alkali , there is a divorce made between the common salt and the urinous and fuliginous salts , that were incorporated with it , and being now disingaged from it , are easily elevated . i elsewhere mention , that i have observed in man's urine a kind of native sal armoniac , much less volatile than the fugitive that is sublim'd from man's blood , harts-horn , &c. and therefore supposing , that a separation of parts may be made by an alkali , as well in this salt as in the common factitious sal armoniac , i put to fresh urine a convenient proportion ( which was a plentifull one ) of salt of pot-ashes ( that being then at hand ) and distilling the liquor , it yielded , according to expectation , a spirit more volatile than the phlegm , and of a very piercing tast ; which way of obtaining a spirit without any violence of fire , and without either previously abstracting the phlegm , ( as we are fain to do in fresh urine ) or tediously waiting for the fermentation of stale urine , i taught some chymists , because of the usefulness of spirit of urine ; which being obtained this innocent way , would probably be employed with much less suspicion of corrosiveness , than if in the operation i had made use of quick-lime . another illustration of what i was not long since saying , may be fetch'd from the experiment of making spirit of nitre by mixing salt-peter with oil of vitriol , and distilling them together : for the oil does so divide or break the corpuscles of the nitre , that the now-disposed particles of that salt , which amount to a great portion of the whole , will be made easily enough to ascend even with a moderate fire of sand , and sometimes without any fire at all , in the form of spirits , exceeding unquiet , subtle , and apt to moak a way . to which instances of this imperfect kind of volatilization more might be added , but that you may well think , i have detain'd you but too long already with indigested notes about one quality . chap. vii . the last means of volatilizing bodies is , the operation of the fire or some other actual heat : but of this , which is obvious , it would be superfluous to discourse . onely this i shall intimate , that there may be bodies , which , in such degrees of fire as are wont to be given in the vulgar operations of chymists , will not be elevated , which yet may be forced up by such violent and lasting fires , as are employed by the melters of ores , and founders of guns , and sometimes by glass-makers . and on this consideration i shall here observe to you , since i did not doe it at my entrance on these notes , that chymists are wont to speak , and i have accordingly been led to treat , of volatility and fixity in a popular sense of those terms . for if we would consider the matter more strictly , i presume we should find that volatility and fixity are but relative qualities , which are to be estimated , especially the former of them , by the degree of fire to which the body , whereto we ascribe one or other of those qualities , is exposed ; and therefore it is much more difficult than men are aware of , to determine accurately , when a body ought to be accounted volatile and when not ; since there is no determinate degree of heat agreed on , nor indeed easie to be devised , that may be as a standard , whereby to measure volatility and fixtness : and 't is obvious , that a body , that remains fixt in one degree of fire , may be forced up by another . to which may be added , agreeably to what i lately began to observe , that a body may pass for absolutely fixt among the generality of chymists , and yet be unable to persevere in the fires of founders and glass-makers : which brings into my mind , that not having observed , that chymists have examined the fixity of other bodies than metalline ones by the cupel , i had the curiosity to put dry salt of tartar upon it , and found , as i expected , that in no long time it manifestly wasted in so vehement a heat , wherein also the air came freely at it , ( though quick-lime , handled after the same way , lost not of its weight , ) and having well mixed one ounce of good salt of tartar with treble its weight of tobacco-pipe clay , we kept them but for two , or at most three hours , in a strong fire ; yet the crucible being purposely left uncovered , we found the salt of tartar so wasted , that the remaining mixture ( which was not flux'd ) afforded us not near a quarter of an ounce of salt. and indeed i scarce doubt , but that in strictness divers of those bodies that pass for absolutely fixt , are but semi-fixt , or at least but comparatively and relatively fix'd , that is , in reference to such degrees of fire , as they are wont to be exposed to in the distillations , sublimations , &c. of chymists ; not such as are given in the raging fires of founders , and glass-makers . and perhaps even the fires of glass-makers and say-masters themselves are not the most intense that may possibly be made in a short time , provided there be but small portions of matter to be wrought on by them . and in effect , i know very few bodies , besides gold , that will perserve totally fixt in the vehementest degrees of fire that trials have made me acquainted with . and i elsewhere tell you , that , though tin , in our chymical reverberatories themselves , is wont to be reduced but into a calx that is reputed very fixt ; yet in those intense fires , that a virtuoso of my acquaintance uses in his tin-mines , there is not seldom found quantities of tin carried up to a notable height in the form of a whitish powder , which , being in good masses forced off from the places to which it had fastened it self , does by a skillful reduction yield many a pound weight of good malleable metal , which seemed to me to be rather more , than less , fine than ordinary tin. postscript , relating to page 15. of this tract ; and here annext for their sakes , who have a mind to repeat the experiment there delivered , that so they may know the quantities employed in it . with two parts of this crocus we ground very well three parts of sal armoniac , and having sublimed them in a strong fire , we took off the high coloured sublimat , and put in either an equal weight , or a weight exceeding it by half , to the caput mortuum , we found after the second sublimation , which was also high coloured , that of an ounce of crocus we had raised six drams , that is , three quarters of the whole weight . finis . experimental notes of the mechanical origine or prodvction of fixtness . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. of the mechanical origine or prodvction of fixtness . chap. i. fixity being the opposite quality to volatility , what we have discoursed about the latter , will make the nature of the former more easily understood , and upon that account allow me to make somewhat the quicker dispatch of what i have to say of it . the qualifications that conduce most to the fixity of a portion of matter , seem to be these . first , the grossness or the bulk of the corpuscles it consists of . for if these be too big , they will be too unwieldly and unapt to be carried up into the air by the action of such minute particles as those of the fire , and will also be unfit to be buoyed up by the weight of the air ; as we see , that vapours , whilst they are such , are small enough to swim in the air , but can no longer be sustained by it , when they convene into drops of rain or flakes of snow . but here it is to be observed , that when i speak of the corpuscles that a fixt body consists of , i mean not either its elementary or its hypostatical principles , as such , but onely those very little masses or clusters of particles , of what kind soever they be , that stick so firmly to one another , as not to be divisible and dissipable by that degree of fire in which the body is said to be fixt ; so that each of those little concretions , though it may it self be made up of two , three , or more particles of a simpler nature , is considered here per modum vnius , or as one intire corpuscle . and this is one qualification conducive to the fixtness of a body . the next is the ponderousness or solidity of the corpuscles it is made up of . for if these be very solid , and ( which solid and compact bodies usually are ) of a considerable specifick gravity , they will be too heavy to be carried up by the effluvia or the action of the fire , and their ponderousness will make them as unwieldy , and indisposed to be elevated by such agents , as the grossness of their bulk would make bigger corpuscles , but of a proportionably inferiour specifick weight . on which account the calces of some metals and minerals , as gold , silver , &c. though , by the operation of solvents , or of the fire , or of both , reduced to powders exceedingly subtile , will resist such vehement fires , as will easily drive up bigger , but less heavy and compact , corpuscles , than those calces consist of . the third qualification that conduces to the fixity of a body , belongs to its integral parts , not barely as they are several parts of it , but as they are aggregated or contexed into one body . for , the qualification , i mean , is the ineptitude of the component corpuscles for avolation , by reason of their branchedness , irregular figures , crookedness , or other inconvenient shape , which intangles the particles among one another , and makes them difficult to be extricated ; by which means , if one of them do ascend , others , wherewith 't is complicated , must ascend with it ; and , whatever be the account on which divers particles stick firmly together , the aggregate will be too heavy or unwieldy to be raised . which i therefore take notice of , because that , though usually 't is on the roughness and irregularity of corpuscles , that their cohesion depends ; yet it sometimes happens , that the smoothness and flatness of their surfaces makes them so stick together , as to resist a total divulsion ; as may be illustrated by what i have said of the cohesion of polished marbles and the plates of glass , and by the fixity of glass it self in the fire . from this account of the causes or requisites of fixity , may be deduced the following means of giving or adding fixation to a body , that was before either volatile , or less fixt . these means may be reduced to two general heads ; first , the action of the fire , as the parts of the body , exposed to it , are thereby made to operate variously on one another . and next , the association of the particles of a volatile body with those of some proper additament : which term , [ of proper ] i rather imploy than that , one would expect , [ of fixt ; ] because 't will ere long appear , that , in certain cases , some volatile bodies may more conduce to the fixation of other volatile bodies , than some fixt ones doe . but these two instruments of fixation being but general , i shall propose four or five more particular ones . chap. ii. and first , in some cases it may conduce to fixation , that , either by an additament , or by the operation of the fire , the parts of a body be brought to touch each other in large portions of their surfaces . for , that from such a contact there will follow such a mutual cohesion , as will at least indispose the touching corpuscles to suffer a total divulsion , may appear probable from what we lately noted of the cohesion of pieces of marble and glass , and from some other phaenomena belonging to the history of firmness , from which we may properly enough borrow some instances , as least for illustration , in the doctrine of fixtness , in regard that usually , though not always , the same things that make a body firm , give it some degree of fixity , by keeping it from being dissipated by the wonted degrees of heat , and agitation it meets with in the air. but to return to the contact we were speaking of , i think it not impossible , ( though you may perhaps think it strange , ) that the bare operation of the fire may , in some cases , procure a cohesion among the particles , ( and consequently make them more fixt , ) as well as in others disjoyn them , and thereby make them more volatile . for , as in some bodies , the figures and sizes of the corpuscles may be such , that the action of the fire may rub or tear off the little beards or hooks , or other particles that intangle them , and by that means make it more easie for the corpuscles to be disingaged and fly upwards ; so in other bodies , the size and shape of the corpuscles may be such , that the agitation , caused by the fire , may rub them one against the other , so as by mutual attrition to grind , as 't were , their surfaces , and make them so broad and smooth , if not also so flat , as that the contact of the corpuscles shall come to be made according to a large portion of their superficies , from whence will naturally follow a firm cohesion . which i shall illustrate by what we may observe among those that grind glasses for telescopes and microscopes . for , these artificers , by long rubbing a piece of glass against a metalline dish or concave vessel , do by this attrition at length bring the two bodies to touch one another in so many parts of their congruous surfaces , that they will stick firmly to one another , so as sometimes to oblige the work-man to use violence to disjoyn them . and this instance ( which is not the sole i could alleage ) may suffice to shew , how a cohesion of corpuscles may be produced by the mutual adaptation of their congruous surfaces . and if two grosser corpuscles , or a greater number of smaller , be thus brought to stick together , you will easily believe , their aggregate will prove too heavy or unwieldy for avolation . and to shew , that the fire may effect a laevigation in the surfaces of some corpuscles , i have sometimes caused minium , and some other calces , that i judged convenient , to be melted for a competent time , in a vehement fire conveniently administred ; whereby , according to expectation , that which was before a dull and incoherent powder , was reduced into much grosser corpuscles , multitudes of whose grains appeared smooth , glittering , and almost specular , like those of fine litharge of gold ; and the masses that these grains composed , were usually solid enough and of difficult fusion . and when we make glass of lead per se , ( which i elsewhere teach you how to doe , ) 't is plain , that the particles of the lead are reduced to a great smoothness ; since , wheresoever you break the glass , the surfaces , produced at the crack , will not be jagged , but smooth , and considerably specular . nor do i think it impossible , that , even when the fire does not make any great attrition of the corpuscles of the body to be fixt , it may yet occasion their sticking together , because by long tumbling them up and down in various manners , it may at length , after multitudes of revolutions and differing occursions , bring those of their surfaces together , which , by reason of their breadth , smoothness , or congruity of figure , are fit for mutual cohesion ; and when once they come to stick , there is no necessity , that the same causes , that were able to make them pass by one another , when their contact was but according to an inconsiderable part of their surfaces , should have the same effect now , when their contact is full ; though perhaps , if the degree of fire were much increased , a more vehement agitation would surmount this cohesion , and dissipate again these clusters of coalescent corpuscles . these conjectures will perhaps appear less extravagant , if you consider what happens in the preparation of quick-silver praecipitated per se . for there , running mercury , being put into a conveniently shaped glass , is exposed to a moderate fire for a considerable time : ( for i have sometimes found six or seven weeks to be too short a one . ) in this degree of fire the parts are variously tumbled , and made many of them to ascend , till convening into drops on the sides of the glass , their weight carries them down again ; but at length , after many mutual occursions , if not also attritions , some of the parts begin to stick together in the form of a red powder , and then more and more mercurial particles are fastened to it , till at length all , or by much the greater part of the mercury , is reduced into the like praecipitate , which , by this cohesion of the parts , being grown more fixt , will not with the same degree of heat be made to rise and circulate , as the mercury would before ; and yet , as i elsewhere note , i have found by trial , that , with a greater and competent degree of heat , this praecipitate per se , would , without the help of any volatilizing additament , be easily reduced into running mercury again . chymists and physicians , who agree in supposing this praecipitate to be made without any additament , will perchance scarce be able to give a more likely account of the consistency and degree of fixity that is obtained in the mercury ; in which , since no body is added to it , there appears not to be wrought any but a mechanical change . and though , i confess , i have not been without suspicions , that in philosophical strictness this praecipitate may not be made per se , but that some penetrating igneous particles , especially saline , may have associated themselves with the mercurial corpuscles ; yet even upon this supposition it may be said , that these particles contribute to the effect that is produced , but by facilitating or procuring , by their opportune interposition , the mutual cohesion of corpuscles that would not otherwise stick to one another . perhaps it will not be altogether impertinent to add , on this occasion , that , as for the generality of chymists , as well others as helmontians , that assert the transmutation of all metalls into gold by the philosopher's stone , me thinks , they may grant it to be probable , that a new and fit contexture of the parts of a volatile body may , especially by procuring a full contact among them , very much contribute to make it highly fixt . for , to omit what is related by less credible authours , 't is averred , upon his own trial , by helmont , who pretended not to the elixir , that a grain of the powder , that was given him , transmuted a pound ( if i mis-remember not ) of running mercury ; where the proportion of the elixir to the mercury was so inconsiderable , that it cannot reasonably be supposed , that every corpuscle of the quick-silver , that before was volatile , was made extreamly fixt meerly by its coalition with a particle of the powder , since , to make one grain suffice for this coalition , the parts it must be divided into must be scarce conceivably minute , and therefore each single part not likely to be fixt it self , or at least more likely to be carried up by the vehemently agitated mercury , than to restrain that from avolation ; whereas , if we suppose the elixir to have made such a commotion among the corpuscles of the mercury , as ( having made them perhaps somewhat change their figure , and expelled some inconvenient particles , ) to bring them to stick to one another , according to very great portions of their surfaces , and intangle one another , it will not be disagreeable to the mechanical doctrine of fixity , that the mercury should , endure the fire as well as gold , on the score of its new texture , which , supposing the story true , appears to have been introduced , by the new colour , specifick gravity , indissolubleness in aqua fortis , and other qualities wherein gold differs from mercury , especially malleableness , which , according to our notes about that quality , usually requires that the parts , from whose union it results , be either hooked , branched , or otherwise adapted and fitted to make them take fast hold of one another , or stick close to one another . and since , in the whole mass of the factitious gold , all save one grain must be materially the same body , which , before the projection was made , was quick-silver , we may see how great a proportion of volatile matter may , by an inconsiderable quantity of fixing additament , acquire such a new disposition of its parts , as to become most fixt . and however , this instance will agree much better with the mechanical doctrine about fixity , than with that vulgar opinion of the chymists , ( wherewith 't will not at all comply , ) that if , in a mixture , the volatile part do much exceed the fixt , it will carry up that , or at least a good portion thereof , with it ; and on the contrary . but though this rule holds in many cases , where there is no peculiar indisposition to the effect that is aimed at ; yet if the mechanical affections of the bodies be ill suited to such a purpose , our philosophical experiment manifestly proves , that the rule will not hold , since so great a multitude of grains of mercury , in stead of carrying up with them one grain of the elixir , are detained by it in the strongest fire . and thus much for the first way of fixing volatile bodies . chap. iii. the second way of producing fixity , is by expelling , breaking , or otherwise disabling those volatile corpuscles that are too indisposed to be fixt themselves , or are fitted to carry up with them such particles as would not , without their help , ascend . that the expulsion of such parts is a proper means to make the aggregate of those that remain more fixt , i presume you will not put me solicitously to prove ; and we have a manifest instance of it in soot , where , though many active parts were by the violence of the fire and current of the air carried up together by the more volatile parts ; yet , when soot is well distilled in a retort , a competent time being given for the extricating and avolation of the other parts , there will at the bottom remain a substance that will not now fly away , as it formerly did . and here let me observe , that the recesse of the fugitive corpuscles may contribute to the fixation of a body , not barely because the remaining matter is freed from so many unfixt , if not also volatilizing , parts ; but , as it may often happen , that upon their recesse the pores or intervals , they left behind them , are filled up with more solid or heavy matter , and the body becomes , as more homogeneous , so more close and compact . and whereas i intimated , that , besides the expulsion of unfit corpuscles , they may be otherwise disabled from hindering the fixation of the masse they belong to , i did it , because it seems very possible , that in some cases they may , by the action of the fire , be so broken , as with their fragments to fill up the pores or intervals of the body they appertained to ; or may make such coalitions with the particles of a convenient additament , as to be no impediment to the fixity of the whole masse , though they remain in it . which possibly you will think may well happen , when you shall have perused the instances annext to the fourth way of fixing bodies . the third means of fixing , or lessening the volatility of , bodies , is by preserving that rest among the parts , whose contrary is necessary to their volatilization . and this may be done by preventing or checking that heat , or other motion , which external agents strive to introduce into the parts of the proposed body . but this means tending rather to hinder the actual avolation of a portion of matter , or , at most , procure a temporary abatement of its volatility , than to give it a stable fixity , i shall not any longer insist on it . the fourth way of producing fixity in a body , is by putting to it such an appropriated additament , whether fixt or volatile , that the corpuscles of the body may be put among themselves , or with those of the additament , into a complicated state , or intangled contexture . this being the usual and principal way of producing fixity , we shall dwell somewhat the longer upon it , and give instances of several degrees of fixation . for , though they do not produce that quality in the strictest acceptation of the word , fixity ; yet 't is usefull in our present inquiry , to take notice , by what means that volatility comes to be gradually abated , since that may facilitate our understanding , how the volatility of a body comes to be totally abated , and consequently the body to be fixt . chap. iv. and first we find , that a fixt additament , if its parts be conveniently shaped , may easily give a degree of fixity to a very volatile body . thus spirit of nitre , that will of it self easily enough fly away in the air , having its saline particles associated with those of fixt nitre , or salt of tartar , will with the alkaly compose a salt of a nitrous nature , which will endure to be melted in a crucible without being deprived even of its spirits . and i have found , that the spirits of nitre , that abound in aqua fortis , being concoagulated with the silver they corrode , though one would not expect that such subtile corpuscles should stick fast to so compact and solid a body as silver ; yet crystalls , produced by their coalition , being put into a retort , may be kept a pretty while in fusion , before the metal will let go the nitrous spirits . when we poured oil of vitriol upon the calx of vitriol , though many phlegmatick and other sulphureous particles were driven away by the excited heat ; yet the saline parts , that combined with the fixt ones of the colcothar , stuck fast enough to them , not to be easily driven away . and if oil of vitriol be in a due proportion dropt upon salt of tartar , there results a tartarum vitriolatum , wherein the acid and alkalizate parts cohere so strongly , that 't is not an ordinary degree of fire will be able to disjoyn them . insomuch that divers chymists have ( though very erroniously ) thought this compounded salt to be indestructible . but a less heavy liquour than the ponderous oil of vitriol may by an alkaly be more strongly detained than that oil it self ; experience having assured me , that spirit of salt being dropt to satiety upon a fixt alkaly , ( i used either that of nitre or of tartar , ) there would be made so strict an union , that , having , without additaments , distilled the resulting salt with a strong and lasting fire , it appeared not at all considerably to be wrought upon , and was not so much as melted . but 't is not the bare mixture or commistion of volatile particles with fixt ones , ( yea though the former be predominant in quantity , ) that will suffice to elevate the latter . for , unlesse the figures of the latter be congruous and fitted to fasten to the other , the volatile parts will fly away in the heat , and leave the rest as fixt as before : as when sand or ashes are wetted or drenched with water , they quickly part with that water , without parting with any degree of their fixity . but on the other side , it is not always necessary , that the body , which is fitted to destroy , or much abate , the volatility of another substance , should be it self fixt . for , if there be a skilful or lucky coaptation of the figures of the particles of both the bodies , these particles may take such hold of one another , as to compose corpuscles , that will neither by reason of their strict union be divided by heat ; nor by reason of their resulting grossness be elevated even by a strong fire , or at least by such a degree of heat as would have sufficed to raise more indisposed bodies than either of the separate ingredients of the mixture . this observation , if duly made out , does so much favour our doctrine about the mechanical origine of fixation , and may be of such use , not onely to chymists , in some of their operations , but to philosophers , in assigning the causes of divers phaenomena of nature , that it may be worth while to exemplifie it by some instances . the first whereof i shall take from an usual practice of the chymists themselves : which i the rather doe , to let you see , that such known experiments are too often over-looked by them that make them , but yet may hint or confirm theories to those that reflect on them . the instance , i here speak of , is that which is afforded by the vulgar preparation of bezoardicum minerale . for , though the rectified butter or oil of antimony and the spirit of nitre , that are put together to make this white praecipitate , are both of them distilled liquours ; yet the copious powder , that results from their union , is , by that union of volatile parts , so far fixt , that , after they have edulcorated it with water , they prescribe the calcining of it in a crucible for five or six hours : which operation it could not bear , unless it had attained to a considerable fixation . this discourse supposes with the generality of chymists , that the addition of a due quantity of spirit of nitre , is necessary to be employed in making the bezoardicum minerale . but if it be a true observation , which is attributed to the learned guntherus billichius , ( but which i had no furnace at hand to examine when i heard of it , ) if , i say , it be true , that a bezoardicum minerale may be obtained , without spirit of nitre , barely by a slow evaporation , made in a glasse-dish , of the more fugitive parts of the oil of antimony ; this instance will not indeed be proper in this place , but yet will belong to the second of the foregoing ways of introducing fixity . i proceed now to alleage other particulars in favour of the above-mentioned observation . if you take strong spirit of salt , that , when the glass is unstopt , will smoak of it self in the cold air , and satiate it with the volatile spirit of vrine , the superfluous moisture being abstracted , you will obtain by this preparation ( which , you may remember , i long since communicated to you , and divers other virtuosi , ) a compounded salt , scarce , if at all , distinguishable from sal armoniac , and which will not , as the salts it consists of will doe , before their coalition , easily fly up of it self into the air , but will require a not despicable degree of fire to sublime it . of these semivolatile compositions of salt i have made , and elsewhere mentioned , others , which i shall not here repeat , but passe on to other instances pertinent to our present design . i lately mentioned , that the volatility of the spirits of nitre may be very much abated , by bringing them to coagulate into crystalls with particles of corroded silver ; but i shall now add , that i guessed , and by trial found , that these nitrous spirits may be made much more fixt by the addition of the spirit of salt , which , if it be good , will of it self smoak in the air. for , having dissolved a convenient quantity of crystalls of silver in distilled water , and precipitated them , not with a solution of salt , but the spirit of salt ; the phlegm being abstracted , and some few of the looser saline particles ; though the remaining masse were prest with a violent fire that kept the retort red-hot for a good while ; yet the nitrous and saline spirits would by no means be driven away from the silver , but continued in fusion with it ; and when the masse was taken out , these spirits did so abound in it , that it had no appearance of a metal , but looked rather like a thick piece of horn. the next instance i shall name is afforded us by that kind of turbith , which may be made by oil of vitriol , in stead of the aqua fortis imployed in the common turpethum minerale . for , though oil of vitriol be a distilled liquour , and mercury a body volatile enough ; yet , when we abstracted four or five parts of oil of vitriol from one of quick-silver , ( especially if the operation were repeated , ) and then washed off as much as we could of the saline particles of the oil of vitriol ; yet those that remained adhering to the mercury made it far more fixt , than either of the liquours had been before , and inabled it even in a crucible to endure such a degree of fire , before it could be driven away , as , i confess , i somewhat wondered at . the like turbith may be made with oil of sulphur per campanam . but this is nothing to what helmont tells us of the operation of his alkahest , where he affirms , that that menstruum , which is volatile enough , being abstracted from running mercury , not onely coagulates it , but leaves it fixt , so that it will endure the brunt of fires acuated by bellows , ( omnem follium ignem . ) if this be certain , it will not be a slender proof , that fixity may be mechanically produced ; and however , the argument will be good in reference to the helmontian spagyrists . for if , as one would expect , there do remain some particles of the menstruum with those of the metal , it will not be denied , that two volatile substances may perfectly fix one another . and if , as helmont seems to think , the menstruum be totally abstracted , this supposition will the more favour our doctrine about fixity ; since , if there be no material additament left with the quick-silver , the fixation cannot so reasonably be ascribed to any thing , as to some new mechanical modification , and particularly to some change of texture introduced into the mercury it self . and that you may think this the less improbable , i will now proceed to some instances , whereof the first shall be this ; that , having put a mixture made of a certain proportion of two dry , as well as volatile , bodies , ( viz. sal armoniac , and flower or very fine powder of sulphur , ) to half its weight of common running mercury , and elevated this mixture three or four times from it , ( in a conveniently shaped , and not over-wide , glass ) the mercury , that lay in the bottom in the form of a ponderous and somewhat purplish powder , was , by this operation , so fixt , that it long endured a strong fire , which at length was made so strong , that it melted the glass , and kept it melted , without being strong enough to force up the mercury : which , by some trials , not so proper to be here mentioned , seemed to have its salivating and emetick powers extraordinarily infringed , and sometimes quite suppressed . but this onely upon the bye . in all the other instances , ( wherewith i shall conclude these notes , ) i shall employ one menstruum , oil of vitriol , and shew you the efficacy of it in fixing some parts of volatile bodies with some parts of it self ; by which examples it may appear , that a volatile body may not onely lessen the volatility of another body , as in the lately mentioned case of our spirituous sal armoniac ; but that two substances , that apart were volatile , may compose a third , that will not onely be less volatile , but considerably ( if not altogether ) fixt . we mixed then , by degrees , about equal parts of oil of vitriol and oil of turpentine : and though each of them single , especially the latter , will ascend with a moderate fire in a sand-furnace ; yet , after the distillation was ended , we had a considerable quantity , sometimes ( if i misremember not ) a fifth or sixth part , of a caput mortuum black as a coal , and whereof a great part was of a scarce to be expected fixtness in the fire . to give a higher proof of the disposition , that oil of vitriol has to let some of its parts grow fixt by combination with those of an exceeding , volatile additament , i mixed this liquour with an equal or double weight of highly rectified spirit of wine , and not onely after , but sometimes without , previous digestion , i found , that the fluid parts of the mixture being totally abstracted , there would remain a pretty quantity of a black substance so fixt as to afford just cause of wonder . and because camphire is esteemed the most fugitive of consistent bodies , in regard that , being but laid in the free air , without any help of the fire , it will fly all away ; i tried , what oil of vitriol abstracted from camphire would doe ; and found at the bottom of the retort a greater quantity than one would expect of a substance as black as pitch , and almost as far from the volatility as from the colour of camphire , though it appeared not , that any of the gum had sublim'd into the neck of the retort . from all which instances it seems manifestly enough to follow , that in many cases there needs nothing to make associated particles , whether volatile or not , become fixt , but either to implicate or intangle them among themselves , or bring them to touch one another according to large portions of their surfaces , or by both these ways conjoyntly , or by some others , to procure the firm cohaesion of so many particles , that the resulting corpuscles be too big or heavy to be , by the degree of fire wherein they are said to be fixt , driven up into the air. finis . experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of corrosiveness and corrosibility . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments and notes about the mechanical production of corrosiveness and corrosibility . sect . i. about the mechanical origine of corrosiveness . i do not in the following notes treat of corrosiveness in their strict sense of the word , who ascribe this quality only to liquors , that are notably acid or sowre , such as aqua fortis , spirit of salt ; vinegar ▪ juice of lemons , &c. but , that i may not be oblig'd to overlook urinous , oleous , and divers other solvents , or to coin new names for their differing solutive powers , i presume to employ the word corrosiveness in a greater latitude , so as to make it almost equivalent to the solutive power of liquors , referring other menstruums to those that are corrosive or fretting , ( though not always as to the most proper , yet ) as to the principal and best known species ; which i the less scruple here to do , because i have * elsewhere more distinctly enumerated and sorted the solvents of bodies . the attributes that seem the most proper to qualifie a liquor to be corrosive , are all of them mechanical , being such as are these that follow : first , that the menstruum consist of , or abound with , corpuscles not too big to get in at the pores or commissures of the body to be dissolved ; nor yet be so very minute as to pass through them , as the beams of light do through glass ; or to be unable by reason of their great slenderness and flexibility to disjoyn the parts they invade . secondly , that these corpuscles be of a shape fitting them to insinuate themselves more or less into the pores or commissures above-mentioned , in order to the dissociating of the solid parts . thirdly , that they have a competent degree of solidity to disjoyn the particles of the body to be dissolved ; which solidity of solvent corpuscles is somewhat distinct from their bulk , mention'd in the first qualification ; as may appear by comparing a stalk of wheat and a metalline wire of the same diameter , or a flexible wand of osier of the bigness of ones little finger , with a rigid rod of iron of the same length and thickness . fourthly , that the corpuscles of the menstruum be agile and advantaged for motion , ( such as is fit to disjoyn the parts of the invaded body ) either by their shape , or their minuteness , or their fitness to have their action befriended by adjuvant causes ; such as may be ( first ) the pressure of the atmosphere , which may impell them into the pores of bodies not fill'd with a substance so resisting as common air : as we see , that water will by the prevalent pressure of the ambient , whether air or water , be raised to the height of some inches in capillary glasses , and in the pores of spunges , whose consistent parts being of easier cession than the sides of glass-pipes , those pores will be enlarged , and consequently those sides disjoyn'd , as appears by the dilatation and swelling of the spunge : and ( secondly ) the agitation , that the intruding corpuscles may be fitted to receive in those pores or commissures by the transcursion of some subtile ethereal matter ; or by the numerous knocks and other pulses of the swimming or tumbled corpuscles of the menstruum it self , ( which being a fluid body , must have its small parts perpetually and variously moved ) whereby the engaged corpuscles , like so many little wedges and leavers , may be enabled to wrench open , or force asunder the little parts between which they have insinuated themselves . but i shall not here prosecute this theory , ( which , to be handled fully , would require a discourse apart ) since these conjectures are propos'd but to make it probable in the general , that the corrosiveness of bodies may be deduced from mechanical principles : but whether best from the newly propos'd ones , or any other , need not be anxiously consider'd in these notes , where the things mainly intended and rely'd on , are the experiments and phaenomena themselves . exper. i. 't is obvious , that , though the recently exprest juice of grapes be sweet , whilst it retains the texture that belongs to it as 't is new , ( especially if it be made of some sorts of grapes that grow in hot regions , ) yet after fermentation , 't will , in tract of time , as 't were spontaneously , degenerate into vinegar . in which liquor , to a multitude of the more solid corpuscles of the must , their frequent and mutual attritions may be supposed to have given edges like those of the blades of swords or knives ; and in which , perhaps , the confused agitation that preceded , extricated , or , as it were , unsheathed some ac●d particles , that ( deriv'd from the sap of the vine , or , perchance more originally , from the juice of the earth ) were at first in the must , but lay conceal'd , and as it were sheathed , among the other particles wherewith they were associated , when they were prest out of the grapes . now this liquor , that by the forementioned ( or other like ) mechanical changes is become vinegar , does so abound with corpuscles , which , on the account of their edges , or their otherwise sharp and penetrative shape , are acid and corrosive , that the better sort of it will , without any preparation , dissolve coral , crabs-eyes , and even some stones , lapis stellaris in particular , as also minium , ( or the calx of lead ) and even crude copper , as we have often tried . and not onely the distill'd spirit of it will do those things more powerfully , and perform some other things that meer vinegar cannot ; but the saline particles , wont to remain after distillation , may , by being distill'd and cohobated per se , or by being skilfully united with the foregoing spirit , be brought to a menstruum of no small efficacy in the dissolution ▪ and other preparations of metalline bodies , too compact for the meer spirit it self to work upon . from divers other sweet things also may vinegar be made ; and even of honey , skilfully fermented with a small proportion of common water , may be made a vinegar stronger than many of the common wine-vinegars ; as has been affirmed to me by a very candid physician , who had occasion to deal much in liquors . exper. ii. not onely several dry woods , and other bodies that most of them pass for insipid , but honey and sugar themselves afford by distillation acid spirits that will dissolve coral , pearls , &c. and will also corrode some metals and metalline bodies themselves ; as i have often found by trial. so that the violent operation of the fire , that destroys what they call the form of the distill'd body , and works as a mechanical agent by agitating , breaking , dissipating , and under a new constitution reassembling the parts , procures for the distiller an acid corrosive menstruum ; which whether it be brought to pass by making the corpuscles rub one another into the figure of little sharp blades , or by splitting some solid parts into sharp or cutting corpuscles , or by unsheathing , as it were , some parts , that , during the former texture of the body , did not appear to be acid ; or whether it be rather effected by some other mechanical way , may in due time be further considered . exper. iii. 't is observ'd by refiners , goldsmiths and chymists , that aqua fortis and aqua regia , which are corrosive menstruums , dissolve metals , the former of them silver , and the latter gold , much more speedily and copiously when an external heat gives their intestine motions a new degree of vehemency or velocity , which is but a mechanical thing ; and yet this superadded measure of agitation is not onely in the abovemention'd instances a powerfully assistant cause in the solutions made by the lately mention'd corrosive liquors , but is that without which some menstruums are not wont sensibly to corrode some bodies at all , as we have tried in keeping quick-silver in three or four times its weight of oyl of vitriol ; since in this menstruum i found not the mercury to be dissolved or corroded , though i kept it a long time in the cold : whereas , when the oyl of vitriol was excited by a convenient heat , ( which was not faint ) it corroded the mercury into a fine white calx or powder , which , by the affusion of fair water , would be presently turn'd into a yellowish calx of the colour and nature of a turbith . i remember also , that having for trials sake dissolv'd in a weak spirit of salt , a fourth part of its weight of fine crystals of nitre , we found , that it would not in the cold ( at least during a good while that we waited for its operation ) dissolve leaf-gold ; but when the menstruum was a little heated at the fire , the solution proceeded readily enough . and in some cases , though the external heat be but small , yet there may intervene a brisk heat , and much cooperate in the dissolution of a body ; as , for instance , of quicksilver in aqua fortis . for it is no prodigy to find , that when a full proportion of that fluid metal has been taken , the solution , though at first altogether liquid , and as to sense uniform , comes to have after a while a good quantity of coagulated or crystalliz'd matter at the bottom , of which the cause may be , that in the very act of corrosion there is excited an intense degree of heat , which conferring a new degree of agitation to the menstruum , makes it dissolve a good deal more , than afterwards , when the conflict is over , it is able to keep up . exper. iv. we have observed also , that agitation does in some cases so much promote the dissolutive power of saline bodies , that though they be not reduc'd to that subtilty of parts , to which a strong distillation brings them ; yet they may in their grosser and cruder form have the power to work on metals ; as i elsewhere shew , that by barely boiling some solutions of salts of a convenient structure , as nitre , sal armoniac , &c. with foliated gold , silver , &c. we have corroded these metalas , and can dissolve some others . and by boiling crude copper ( in filings ) with sublimate and common water , we were able , in no long time , to make a solution of the metal . exper. v. sometimes also , so languid an agitation , as that which seems but sufficient to keep a liquor in the state of fluidity , may suffice to give some dry bodies a corroding power , which they could not otherwise exercise ; as in the way of writing ones name ( or a motto ) upon the blade of a knife with common sublimate : for , if having very thinly overlaid which side you please with bees-wax , you write with a bodkin or some pointed thing upon it ; the wax being thereby removed from the strokes made by the sharp body , 't is easie to etch with sublimate ; since you need but strew the powder of it upon the place bared of the wax , and wet it well with meer common water ; for strong vinegar is not necessary . for after a while all the parts of the blade that should not be fretted , being protected by the case or film of wax , the sublimate will corrode onely where way has been made for it by the bodkin , and the letters will be more or less deeply ingraven ( or rather etch'd ) according to the time the sublimate is suffer'd to lye on . and if you aim onely at a legible impression , a few minutes of an hour ( as four or five ) may serve the turn . exper. vi. this brings into my mind an observation i have sometimes had occasion to make , that i found more useful than common , and it is , that divers bodies , whether distill'd or not distill'd , that are not thought capable of dissolving other bodies , because in moderate degrees of heat they will not work on them , may yet by intense degrees of heat be brought to be fit solvents for them . to which purpose i remember , that having a distill'd liquor , which was rather sweet to the taste , than either acid , lixiviate or urinous , though for that reason it seem'd unfit to work on pearls , and accordingly did not dissolve them in a considerable time , wherein they were kept with it in a more than ordinarily warm digestion ; yet the glass being for many hours ( amounting perhaps to some days ) kept in such an heat of sand as made the liquor boil , we had a dissolution of pearls , that uniting with the menstruum made it a very valuable liquor . and though the solvents of crude gold , wont to be employed by chymists , are generally distill'd liquors that are acid , and in the lately mention'd solvent , made of crude salts and common water , acidity seem'd to be the predominant quality ( which makes the use of solutions made in aqua regia , &c. suspected by many physicians and chymists ; ) yet fitly chosen alcalizate bodies themselves , as repugnant as they use to be to acids , without the help of any liquor will be enabled by a melting fire in no long time to penetrate and tear asunder the parts even of crude gold ; so that it may afterwards be easily taken up in liquors that are not acid , or even by water it self . exper. vii . the tract about salt-peter , that gave occasion to these annotations , may furnish us with an eminent instance of the production of solvents . for , though pure salt-peter it self , when dissolv'd in water , is not observ'd to be a menstruum for the solution of the metals hereafter to be named , or so much as of coral it self ; yet , when by a convenient distillation its parts are split , if i may so speak , and by attrition , or other mechanical ways of working on them , reduc'd to the shapes of acid and alcalizate salts , it then affords two sorts of menstruums of very differing natures , which betwixt them dissolve or corrode a great number and variety of bodies ; as the spirit of nitre without addition is a solvent for most metals , as silver , mercury , copper , lead , &c. and also divers mineral bodies , as-tin-glass , spelter , lapis calaminaris , &c. and the fixed salt of nitre operates upon sulphureous minerals , as common sulphur , antimony , and divers other bodies , of which i elsewhere make mention . exper. viii . by the former trials it has appear'd , that the increase of motion in the more penetrating corpuscles of a liquor , contributes much to its solutive power ; and i shall now adde , that the shape and size , which are mechanical affections , and sometimes also the solidity of the same corpuscles does eminently concur to qualifie a liquor to dissolve this or that particular body . of this , even some of the more familiar practices of chymists may supply us with instances . for there is no account so probable as may be given upon this supposition , why aqua fortis ▪ which will dissolve silver , without medling with gold , should , by the addition of a fourth part of its weight of sal armoniac , be turn'd into aqua regia , which , without medling with silver , will dissolve gold. but there is no necessity of having recourse to so gross and compounded a body as sal armoniac to enable aqua fortis to dissolve gold : for , the spirit of common salt alone being mingled in a due proportion , will suffice for that purpose . which ( by the way ) shews , that the volatile salt of urine and soot , that concur to the making up of sal armoniac , are not necessary to the dissolution of gold , for which a solvent may be made with aqua fortis and crude sea-salt . i might adde , that the mechanical affections of a menstruum may have such an interest in its dissolutive power , that even mineral or metalline corpuscles may become useful ingredients of it , though perhaps it be a distill'd liquor ; as might be illustrated by the operations of some compounded solvents , such as is the oyl of antimony made by repeated rectifications of what chymists call its butter , which , whatever some say to the contrary , does much abound in antimonial substance . exper. ix . but i shall return to our aqua regia , because the mention i had occasion to make of that solvent brought into my mind what i devis'd , to make it probable , that a smaller change , than one would lightly imagine , of the bulk , shape , or solidity of the corpuscles of a menstruum may make it fit to dissolve a body it would not work on before . and this i the rather attempted , because the warier sort of chymists themselves are very shye of the inward use or preparations made of gold by the help of aqua fortis , because of the odious stink they find , and the venenosity they suspect in that corrosive menstruum : whereas spirit of salt we look upon as a much more innocent liquor , whereof , if it be but diluted with fair water or any ordinary drink , a good dose may be safely given inwardly , though it have not wrought upon gold or any other body , to take off its acrimony . but , whether or no this prove of any great use in physick , wherein perhaps , if any quantity of gold be to be dissolved , a greater proportion of spirit of nitre would be needed ; the success will not be unfit to be mention'd in reference to what we were saying of solvents . for , whereas we find not that our spirit of salt here in england will at all dissolve crude gold , we found , that by putting some leaf-gold into a convenient quantity of good spirit of salt , when we had dropt-in spirit of nitre ( shaking the glass at each drop , ) till we perceived , that the mixture was just able in a moderate heat to dissolve the gold , we found , that we had been oblig'd to employ but after the rate of twelve drops of the latter liquor to an ounce of the former ; so that , supposing each of these drops to weigh a grain , the fortieth part of spirit of nitre being added , served to turn the spirit of salt into a kind of aqua regia . but to know the proportion otherwise than by ghess , we weigh'd six other drops of the same spirit of salt , and found them to amount not fully to three grains and an half : whence it appeared , that we added but about a seventieth part of the nitrous spirit to that of salt. the experiments that have been hitherto recited , relate chiefly to the production of corrosive menstruums ; and therefore i shall now adde an account of a couple of trials , that i made manifestly to lessen or quite to destroy corrosiveness in liquors very conspicuous for that quality . exper. x. whereas one of the most corrosive menstruums , that is yet known , is oyl of vitriol , which will fret in pieces both divers metals and minerals , and a great number and variety of animal and vegetable bodies ; yet if you digest with it for a while onely an equal weight of highly rectified spirit of wine , and afterwards distill the mixture very warily , ( for else the experiment may very easily miscarry , ) you may obtain a pretty deal of liquor not corrosive at all , and the remaining substance will be reduc'd partly into a liquor , which , though acid , is not more so than one part of good oyl of vitriol will make ten times as much common water , by being well mingled with it ; and partly into a dry substance that has scarce any taste at all , much less a corrosive one . exper. xi . and though good aqua fortis be the most generally employed of corrosive menstruums , as being capable of dissolving or corroding , not onely many minerals , as tin-glass , antimony , zinke , &c. but all metals except gold , ( for , though it make not a permanent solution of crude tin , it quickly frets the parts asunder , and reduces it to an immalleable substance ; ) yet to shew , how much the power of corroding may be taken away by changing the mechanical texture of a menstruum , even without seeming to destroy the fretting salts , i practis'd ( and communicated to divers virtuosi ) the following experiment , elsewhere mentioned to other purposes . we took equal parts of good aqua fortis , and highly dephlegm'd spirit of wine , and having mingled them warily and by degrees , ( without which caution the operation may prove dangerous , ) we united them by two or three distillations of the whole mixture ; which afterwards we found not to have the least fretting taste , and to be so deprived of its corrosive nature , that it would not work upon silver , though by precipitation or otherwise reduc'd to very small parts ; nay , it would scarce sensibly work in a good while on filings of copper , or upon other bodies , which meer vinegar , or perhaps rhenish wine will corrode . nay , i remember , that with another spirit , ( that was not urinous ) and afterwards with alkool of wine we shew'd a more surprizing specimen of the power of either destroying or debilitating the corrosiveness of a menstruum , and checking its operation . for , having caused a piece of copper-plate to be put into one ounce of aqua fortis , when this liquor was eagerly working upon the metal , i caus'd an ounce of the alkool of wine , or the other spirit to be poured , ( which it should warily be ) upon the agitated mixture ; whose effervescence , at the first instant , seemed to be much increased , but presently after was checked , and the corrosiveness of the menstruum being speedily disabled or corrected , the remaining copper was left undissolved at the bottom . nor are these the onely acid menstruums that i have many years since been able to correct by such a way : for i applied it to others , as spirit of nitre , and even aqua regis it self ; but it has not an equal operation upon all , and least of all ( as far as i can remember ) upon spirit of salt ; as on the other side strong spirit of nitre was the menstruum upon which its effects were the most satisfactory . most of the chymists pretend , that the solutions of bodies are perform'd by a certain cognation and sympathy between the menstruum and the body it is to work upon . and it is not to be denied , that in divers instances there is , as it were , a consanguinity between the menstruum and the body to be dissolved ; as when sulphur is dissolved by oyls whether exprest or distill'd : but yet , as the opinion is generally proposed , i cannot acquiesce in it , partly because there are divers solutions and other phaenomena , where it will not take place , and partly because even in those instances wherein 't is thought most applicable , the effect seems to depend upon mechanical principles . exper. xii . and first , 't will be difficult to shew , what consanguinity there is between sal gem , and antimony , and iron , and zinke , and bread , and camphire , and lapis calaminaris , and flesh of divers kinds , and oister-shells , and harts-horn , and chalk , and quick-lime ; some of which belong to the vegetable , some to the mineral , and some to the animal kingdom ; and yet all of them and divers others ( as i have tried ) may , even without the assistance of external heat , be dissolved or corroded by one single mineral menstruum , oyl of vitriol . and which is not to be neglected on this occasion , some of them may be bodies , supposed by chymists to have an antipathy to each other in point of corrosion or dissolution . exper. xiii . i observe also , that a dissolution may be made of the same body by menstruums , to which the chymists attribute ( as i just now observed they did to some bodies ) a mutual antipathy , and which therefore are not like to have a sympathy with the same third body ; as i found by trial , that both aqua fortis , and spirit of urine , upon whose mixture there insues a conflict with a great effervescence , will each of them apart readily dissolve crude zinke , and so each of them will , the filings of copper . not to mention , that pure spirit of wine and oyl of vitriol , as great a difference as there is between them , in i know not how many respects , and as notable a heat as will insue upon their commixture , will each of them dissolve camphire ; to which may be added other instances of the like nature . as for what is commonly said , that oyls dissolve sulphur , and saline menstruums metals , because ( as they speak ) simile simili gaudet : i answer , that where there is any such similitude , it may be very probably ascribed , not so much , with the chymists that favour aristotle , to the essential forms of the bodies that are to work on each other , nor , with the meer chymists , to their salt , or sulphur , or mercury , as such ; but to the congruity between the pores and figures of the menstruum , and the body dissolved by it , and to some other mechanical affections of them . exper. xiv . for silver , for example , not onely will be dissolved by nitre which they reckon a salt , but be amalgam'd with , and consequently dissolved by , quicksilver , and also by the operation of brimstone , be easily incorporated with that mineral which chymists are wont to account of so oleaginous a nature , and insoluble in aqua fortis . exper. xv. and as for those dissolutions that are made with oylie and inflammable menstruums , of common sulphur and other inflammable bodies , the dissolution does not make for them so clearly as they imagine . for if such menstruums operate , as is alledged , upon the account of their being , as well as the bodies they work upon , of a sulphureous nature , whence is it that highly rectified spirit of wine , which according to them must be of a most sulphureous nature , since being set on fire 't will flame all away without leaving one drop behind it , will not ( unless perhaps after a tedious while ) dissolve even flowers of brimstone , which essential as well as express'd oyls will easily take up ; as spirit of wine it self also will do almost in a trice , if ( as we shall see anon ) by the help of an alcali the texture of the brimstone be alter'd , though the onely thing that is added to the sulphur being an incombustible substance , is nothing near of so sulphureous a nature as the flowers , and need have no consanguinity upon the score of its origine with spirit of wine , as 't is alledged that salt of tartar has ; since i have tried , that fixt nitre , employ'd instead of it , will do the same . exper. xvi . the mention of nitre brings into my mind , that the salt-peter being wont to be lookt upon by chymists as a very inflammable body , ought , according to them , to be of a very sulphureous nature ; yet we find not that 't is in chymical oyls , but in water , readily dissolved . and whereas chymists tell us , that the solutions of alcaly's , such as salt of tartar , or of pot-ashes in common oyls , proceed from the great cognation between them , i demand , whence it happens , that salt of tartar will by boiling be dissolved in the exprest oyl of almonds , or of olives , and be reduc'd with it to a soapy body , and that yet with the essential oyl of juniper or aniseeds , &c. where what they call the sulphur is made pure and penetrant , being freed from the earthy , aqueous and feculent parts , which distillation discovers to be in the exprest oyls , you may boil salt of tartar twenty times as long without making any soap of them , or perhaps any sensible solution of the alkaly . and chymists know , how difficult it is , and how unsuccessfully 't is wont to be attempted to dissolve pure salt of tartar in pure spirit of wine , by digesting the not peculiarly prepar'd salt in the cognate menstruum . i will not urge , that , though the most conspicuous mark of sulphur be inflammability , and is in an eminent degree to be found in oyl as well as sulphur ; yet an alkaly and water which are neither singly , nor united inflammable , will dissolve common sulphur . exper. xvii . but to make it probable against the chymists , ( for i propose it but as an argument ad hominem ) that the solution of sulphur in exprest oyls depends upon somewhat else besides the abundance of the second principle in both the bodies ; i will adde to what i said before , an affirmation of divers chymical writers themselves , who reckon aqua regis , which is plainly a saline menstruum , and dissolves copper , iron , coral , &c. like acid liquors , among the solvents of sulphur , and by that power among other things distinguish it from aqua fortis . and on the other side if , there be a congruity betwixt an exprest oyl and another body , though it be such as , by its easie dissolubleness in acid salts , chymists should pronounce to be of a saline nature , an exprest oyl will readily enough work upon it ; as i have tried by digesting even crude copper in filings with oyl of sweet almonds , which took up so much of the metal as to be deeply coloured thereby , as if it had been a corrosive liquor : nay , i shall adde , that even with milk , as mild a liquor as 't is , i have found by trial , that without the help of fire a kind of dissolution may , though not in few hours , be made of crude copper , as appear'd by the greenish blew colour the filings acquired , when they had been well drenched in the liquor , and left for a certain time in the vessel , where the air had very free access to them . exper. xviii . besides the argument ad hominem , newly drawn from aqua regia , it may be proper enough to urge another of the same kind upon the generality of the helmontians and paracelsians , who admit what the heads of their sects deliver concerning the operations of the alkahest . for whereas 't is affirm'd , that this irresistible menstruum will dissolve all tangible bodies here below , so as they may be reduc'd into insipid water ; as on the one side 't will be very hard to conceive how a specificated menstruum that is determin'd to be either acid , or lixiviate , or urinous , &c. should be able to dissolve so great a variety of bodies of differing and perhaps contrary natures , in some whereof acids , in other lixiviate salts , and in others urinous are predominant ; so on the other side , if the alkahest be not a specificated menstruum , 't will very much disfavour the opinion of the chymists , that will have some bodies dissoluble onely by acids as such , others by fixt alkalys , and others again by volatile salts ; since a menstruum , that is neither acid , lixiviate , nor urinous , is able to dissolve bodies , in some of which one , and in others another of those principles is predominant : so that , if a liquor be conveniently qualified , it is not necessary that it should be either acid to dissolve pearl or coral , or alkalizate to dissolve sulphur . but upon what mechanical account an analyzing menstruum may operate , is not necessary to be here determin'd . and i elsewhere offer some thoughts of mine about it . exper. xix . if we duly reflect upon the known process that chymists are wont to employ in making mercurius dulcis , we shall find it very favourable to our hypothesis . for though we have already shewn in the v. experiment , and 't is generally confest , that common sublimate made of mercury is a highly corrosive body ; yet , if it be well ground with near an equal weight of quicksilver , and be a few times sublimed , ( to mix them the more exactly ) it will become so mild , that 't will not so much as taste sharp upon the tongue ; so that chymists are wont to call it mercurius dulcis : and yet this dulcification seems to be performed in a mechanical way . for most part of the salts , that made the sublimate so corrosive , abide in the mercurius dulcis ; but by being compounded with more quicksilver , they are diluted by it , and ( which is more considerable ) acquire a new texture , which renders them unfit to operate , as they did before , when the fretting salts were not joyn'd with a sufficient quantity of the mercury to inhibit their corrosive activity . it may perhaps somewhat help us to conceive , how this change may be made , if we imagine , that a company of meer knife-blades be first fitted with hafts , which will in some regard lessen their wounding power by covering or casing them at that end which is design'd for the handle ; ( though their insertion into those hafts , turning them into knives , makes them otherwise the fitter to cut and pierce ) and that each of them be afterwards sheathed , ( which is , as it were , a hafting of the blades too ; ) for then they become unfit to cut or stab , as before , though the blades be not destroyed : or else we may conceive these blades without hafts or sheaths to be tied up in bundles , or as it were in little faggots with pieces of wood , somewhat longer than themselves , opportunely placed between them . for neither in this new constitution would they be fit to cut and stab as before . and by conceiving the edges of more or fewer of the blades to be turn'd inwards , and those that are not , to have more or less of their points and edges to be sheath'd , or otherwise cover'd by interpos'd bodies , one may be help'd to imagine , how the genuine effects of the blades may be variously lessen'd or diversifi'd . but , whether these or any other like changes of disposition be fancy'd , it may by mechanical illustrations become intelligible , how the corrosive salts of common sublimate may lose their efficacy , when they are united with a sufficient quantity of quicksilver in mercurius dulcis : in which new state the salts may indeed in a chymical phrase be said to be satiated ; but this chymical phrase does not explicate how this saturation takes away the corrosiveness from salts that are still actually present in the sweet mercury . and by analogy to some such explications as the above propos'd , a possible account may be render'd , why fretting salts do either quite lose their sharpness , as alkalies , whilst they are imbodied with sand in common glass ; or lose much of their corrosive acidity , as oyl of vitriol does when with steel it composes vitriolum martis ; or else are transmuted or disguis'd by conjunction with some corroded bodies of a peculiar texture , as when aqua fortis does with silver make an extreamly bitter salt or vitriol , and with lead one that is positively sweet almost like common saccharum saturni . exper. xx. to shew , how much the efficacy of a menstruum may depend even upon such seemingly slight mechanical circumstances as one would not easily suspect any necessity of , i shall employ an experiment , which though the unpractis'd may easily fail of making well , yet , when i tried it after the best manner , i did it with good success . i put then upon lead a good quantity of well rectified aqua fortis , in which the metal , as i expected , continued undissolved ; though , if the chymists say truly that the dissolving power of the menstruum consists onely in the acid salts that it abounds with , it seems naturally to follow , that the more abundance of them there is in a determinate quantity of the liquor , it should be the more powerfully able to dissolve metalline and mineral bodies . and in effect we see , that , if corrosive menstruums be not sufficiently dephlegmed ▪ they will not work on divers of them . but , notwithstanding this plausible doctrine of the chymists , conjecturing that the saline particles that swam in our aqua fortis might be more throng'd together , than was convenient for a body of such a texture of saline parts , and such intervals between them , i diluted the menstruum by adding to it what i thought fit of fair water , and then found , that the desired congruity betwixt the agent and the patient emerged , and the liquor quickly began to fall upon the metal and dissolve it . and if you would try an experiment to the same purpose , that needs much less circumspection to make it succeed , you may , instead of employing lead , reiterate what i elsewhere mention my self to have tried with silver , which would not dissolve in too strong aqua fortis , but would be readily fallen upon by that liquor , when i had weaken'd it with common water . and this it may suffice to have said at present of the power or faculty that is found in some bodies of corroding or dissolving others . whereof i have not found among the aristotelians , i have met with , so much as an offer at an intelligible account . and i the less expect the vulgar chymists will from their hypostatical principles afford us a satisfactory one , when , besides the particulars that from the nature of the things and helmont's writings have been lately alledg'd against their hypothesis , i consider , how slight accounts they are wont to give us even of the familiar phaenomena of corrosive liquors . for if , for example , you ask a vulgar chymist why aqua fortis dissolves silver and copper , 't is great odds but he will tell you , 't is because of the abundance of fretting salt that is in it , and has a cognation with the salts of the metal . and if you ask him , why spirit of salt dissolves copper , he will tell you 't is for the same reason ; and yet , if you put spirit of salt , though very strong , to aqua fortis , this liquor will not dissolve silver , because upon the mixture , the liquors acquire a new gonstitution as to the saline particles , by vertue of which the mixture will dissolve , instead of silver , gold. whence we may argue against the chymists , that the inability of this compounded liquor to work on silver does not proceed from its being weaken'd by the spirit of salt ; as well because , according to them , gold is far the more compact metal of the two , and requires a more potent menstruum to work upon it , as because this same compounded liquor will readily dissolve copper . and to the same purpose with this experiment i should alledge divers others , if i thought this the fittest place wherein i could propose them . sect . ii. about the mechanicall origine of corrosibility . corrosibility being the quality that answers corrosiveness , he that has taken notice of the advertisement i formerly gave about my use of the term corrosiveness in these notes , may easily judge , in what sense i employ the name of the other quality ; which ( whether you will stile it opposite or conjugate ) for want of a better word , i call corrosibility . this corrosibility of bodies is as well as their corrosiveness a relative thing ; as we see , that gold , for instance ▪ will not be dissolved by aqua fortis , but will by aqua regis ; whereas silver is not soluble by the latter of these menstruums , but is by the former . and this relative affection , on whose account a body comes to be corrodible by a menstruum , seems to consist chiefly in three things , which all of them depend upon mechanical principles . of these qualifications the first is , that the body to be corroded be furnish'd with pores of such a bigness and figure , that the corpuscles of the solvent may enter them , and yet not be much agitated in them without giving brisk knocks or shakes to the solid parts that make up the walls , if i may so call them , of the pores . and 't is for want of this condition , that glass is penetrated in a multitude of places , but not dissipated or dissolv'd by the incident beams of light , which permeate its pores without any considerable resistance ; and though the pores and commissures of a body were less minute , and capable of letting in some grosser corpuscles , yet if these were , for want of solidity or rigidness , too flexible , or were of a figure incongruous to that of the pores they should enter , the dissolution would not insue ; as it happens when pure spirit of wine is in the cold put upon salt of tartar , or when aqua fortis is put upon powder of sulphur . the second qualification of a corrodible body is , that its consistent corpuscles be of such a bulk and solidity , as does not render them uncapable of being disjoyn'd by the action of the insinuating corpuscles of the menstruum . agreeable to this and the former observation is the practice of chymists , who oftentimes , when they would have a body to be wrought on by a menstruum otherwise too weak for it in its crude estate , dispose it to receive the action of the menstruum by previously opening it , ( as they speak ) that is , by enlarging the pores , making a comminution of the corpuscles , or weakening their cohesion . and we see , that divers bodies are brought by fit preparations to be resoluble in liquors that would not work on them before . thus , as was lately noted , lime-stone by calcination becomes ( in part ) dissoluble in water ; and some metalline calces will be so wrought on by solvents , as they would not be by the same agents , if the preparation of the metalline or other body had not given them a new disposition . thus , though crude tartar , especially in lumps , is very slowly and difficultly dissoluble in cold water , yet when 't is burnt it may be presently dissolved in that liquor ; and thus , though the filings and the calx of silver will not be at all dissolv'd by common water or spirit of wine ; yet if by the interposition of the saline particles of aqua fortis , the lunar corpuscles be so disjoyn'd , and suffer such a comminution as they do in crystals of lune , the metal thus prepared and brought with its saline additament into a new texture will easily enough dissolve , not onely in water , but , as i have tried , in well rectified spirit of wine . and the like solubility i have found in the crystals of lead made with spirit of verdigrease , or good distill'd vinegar , and in those of copper made with aqua fortis . the last disposition to corrosibility consists in such a cohesion of the parts , whereof a body is made up , as is not too strict to be superable by the action of the menstruum . this condition , though of kin to the former , is yet somewhat differing from it , since a body may consist of parts either bulky or solid , which yet may touch one another in such small portions of their surfaces , as to be much more easily dissociable than the minute or less solid parts of another body , whose contact is more full and close , and so their cohesion more strict . by what has been said it may seem probable , that , as i formerly intimated , the corrosibility of bodies is but a mechanical relation , resulting from the mechanical affections and contexture of its parts , as they intercept pores of such sizes and figures as make them congruous to those of the corpuscles of the menstruum , that are to pierce between them , and disjoyn them . that the quality , that disposes the body it affects to be dissolv'd by corrosive and other menstruums , does ( as hath been declared ) in many cases depend upon the mechanical texture and affections of the body in reference to the menstruum that is to work upon it , may be made very probable by what we are in due place to deliver concerning the pores of bodies and figures of corpuscles . but yet in compliance with the design of these notes , and agreeably to my custom on other subjects , i shall subjoyn a few experiments on this occasion also . exper. i. if we put highly rectified spirit of wine upon crude sulphur , or even flowers of sulphur , the liquor will lie quietly thereon , especially in the cold , for many hours and days without making any visible solution of it ; and if such exactly dephlegmed spirit were put on very dry salt of tartar , the salt would lie in an undissolved powder at the bottom : and yet , if before any liquor be employed , the sulphur be gently melted , and then the alkali of tartar be by degrees put to it , and incorporated with it ; as there will result a new texture discoverable to the eye by the new colour of the composition , so there will emerge a disposition that was not before in either of the ingredients , to be dissolved by spirit of wine ; insomuch , that though the mixture be kept till it be quite cold , or long after too , provided it be carefully secur'd from the access of the air , the spirit of wine being put to it , and shaken with it , will , if you have gone to work aright , acquire a yellow tincture in a minute of an hour ; and perhaps in less than half a quarter of an hour a red one , being richly impregnated with sulphureous particles discoverable by the smell , taste , and divers operations . exper. ii. [ 't is known to several chymists , that spirit of salt does not dissolve crude mercury in the cold ; and i remember , i kept them for a considerable time in no contemptible heat without finding any solution following . but i suppose , many of them will be gratified by an experiment once mention'd to me by an ingenious german gentleman , namely , that if mercury be precipitated per se , that is , reduc'd to a red powder without additament , by the meer operation of the fire , the texture will be so chang'd , that the above-mention'd spirit will readily dissolve it ; for i found it upon trial to do so ; nay , sometimes so readily , that i scarce remember that i ever saw any menstruum so nimbly dissolve any metalline body whatsoever . ] exper. iii. the former experiment is the more remarkable , because , that though oyl of vitriol will in a good heat corrode quicksilver , ( as we have already related in the first section , ) yet i remember i kept a precipitate per se for divers hours in a considerable degree of heat , without finding it to be dissolved or corroded by the menstruum . and yet having , for trials sake , put another parcel of the same mercurial powder into some aqua fortis , or spirit of nitre , there insued a speedy dissolution even in the cold . and that this disposition to be dissolved by spirit of salt , that mercury acquires by being turned into precipitate per se , that is , by being calcin'd , is not meerly the effect of the operation of the fire upon it , but of some change of texture produced by that operation ; may be probably argued from hence , that , whereas spirit of salt is a very proper menstruum , as i have often tried , for the dissolving of iron or steel ; yet , when that metal is reduced by the action of the fire ( especially if a kind of vitrification , and an irroration with distill'd vinegar have preceded ) to crocus martis , though it be thereby brought to a very fine powder , yet i found not , that , as spirit of salt will readily and with heat and noise dissolve filings of mars , so it would have the same or any thing near such an operation upon the crocus : but rather , after a good while , it would leave in the bottom of the glass a considerable , if not the greatest , part of it scarce , if at all , sensibly alter'd . and the menstruum seem'd rather to have extracted a tincture , than made an ordinary solution ; since the colour of it was a high yellow or reddish , whereas mars , dissolved in spirit of salt , affords a green solution . whether by repeated operations with fresh menstruum further dissolutions might in time be made , i had not occasion to try , and it may suffice for our present purpose , that mars by the operation of the fire did evidently acquire , not , as mercury had done , a manifest facility , but on the contrary , a great indisposition to be dissolved by spirit of salt. to second this experiment , we vary'd it , by employing , instead of spirit of salt , strong oyl of vitriol , which being pour'd on a little crocus martis made per se , did not , as that menstruum is wont to do upon filings of crude mars , readily and manifestly fall upon the powder with froth and noise , but ( on the contrary ) rested for divers hours calmly upon it , without so much as producing with it any sensible warmth . exper. iv. it agrees very well with our doctrine about the dependance of the corrosibility of bodies upon their texture , that from divers bodies , whilst they are in conjunction with others , there result masses , and those homogeneous as to sense , that are easily dissoluble in liquors , in which a great part of the matter , if it were separated from the rest , would not be at all dissolved . thus we see , that common vitriol is easily dissolved in meer water ; whereas if it be skilfully calcin'd , it will yield sometimes near half its first weight of insipid colcothar , which not onely is not soluble in water , but which neither aqua fortis nor aqua regis , though sometimes they will colour themselves upon it , are able ( as far as i have tried ) to make solutions of . we see likewise , that simple water will , being boil'd for a competent time with harts-horn , dissolve it and make a jelly of it : and yet , when we have taken harts-horn throughly calcin'd to whiteness , not onely we found that common water was no longer a fit solvent for it , but we observed , that when we put oyl of vitriol it self upon it , a good part of the white powder was even by that corrosive menstruum left undissolved . exper. v. in the fifteenth of the foregoing experiments i refer to a way of making the flower or powder of common sulphur become easily dissoluble , which otherwise 't is far from being , in highly rectified spirit of wine . wherefore i shall now adde , that 't is quickly perform'd by gently melting the sulphur , and incorporating with it by degrees an equal or a greater weight of finely powder'd salt of tartar , or of fixt nitre . for if the mixture be put warm into a mortar that is so too ; and as soon as 't is reduc'd to powder , be put into a glass , and well shaken with pure spirit of wine , it will , ( as perhaps i may have elsewhere observed , ) in a few minutes acquire a yellow colour , which afterwards will grow deeper , and manifest it self by the smell and effects to be a real solution of sulphur ; and yet this solubleness in spirit of wine seems procur'd by the change of texture , resulting from the commixtion of meer salt of tartar , which chymists know , to their trouble , to be it self a body almost as difficult as sulphur to be dissolved in phlegmless spirit of wine , unless the constitution of it be first alter'd by some convenient additament . which last words i adde , because , though spirit of verdigrease be a menstruum that uses to come off in distillation much more intirely than other acid menstruums from the bodies it has dissolved ; yet it will serve well for an additament to open ( as the chymists speak ) the body of the salt of tartar. for this purpose i employ spirit of verdigrease , not made first with spirit of vinegar , and then of wine , after the long and laborious way prescribed by basilius and zwelfer , but easily and expeditiously by a simple distillation of crude verdigrease of the better sort . for when you have with this liquor ( being , if there be need , once rectified ) dissolv'd as much good salt of tartar , as 't will take up in the cold , if you draw off the menstruum ad siccitatem , the remaining dry salt will be manifestly alter'd in texture even to the eye , and will readily enough in high rectified spirit of wine afford a solution , which i have found considerable in order to divers uses that concern not our present discourse . exper. vi. to the consideration of the followers of helmont i shall recommend an experiment of that famous chymist's , which seems to sute exceeding well with the doctrine propos'd in this section . for he tells us , that , if by a subtle menstruum to which he ascribes that power . quicksilver be devested ( or depriv'd ) of its external sulphur , as he terms it , all the rest of the fluid metal , which he wittily enough stiles , the kernel of mercury , will be no longer corrosible by it . so that upon this supposition , though common quicksilver be observ'd to be so obnoxious to aqua fortis , that the same quantity of that liquor will dissolve more of it , than of any other metal ; yet , if by the deprivation of some portion of it the latent texture of the metal be alter'd , though not ( that i remember ) the visible appearance of it ; the body that was before so easily dissolved by aqua fortis , ceases to be at all dissoluble by it . exper. vii . as for those chymists of differing sects , that agree in giving credit to the strange things that are affirm'd of the operations of the alkahest , we may in favour of our doctrine urge them with what is deliver'd by helmont , where he asserts , that all solid bodies , as stones , minerals , and metals themselves , by having this liquor duly abstracted or distill'd off from them , may be changed into salt , equiponderant to the respective bodies whereon the menstruum was put . so that supposing the alkahest to be totally abstracted , ( as it seems very probable to be , since the weight of the body whence 't was drawn off is not alter'd ; ) what other change than of texture can be reasonably imagin'd to have been made in the transmuted bodies ? and yet divers of them , as flints , rubies , saphyrs , gold , silver , &c. that were insoluble before , some of them in any known menstruums , and others in any but corrosive liquors , come to be capable of being dissolv'd in common water . exper. viii . 't is a remarkable phaenomenon , that suits very well with our opinion about the interest of mechanical principles in the corrosive power of menstruums , and the corrosibility of bodies , that we produc'd by the following experiment : this we purposely made to shew , after how differing manners the same body may be dissolv'd by two menstruums , whose minute parts are very differingly constituted and agitated . for whereas 't is known , that if we put large grains of sea-salt into common water , they will be dissolved therein calmly and silently without any appearance of conflict ; if we put such grains of salt into good oyl of vitriol , that liquor will fall furiously upon them , and produce for a good while a hissing noise with fumes , and a great store of bubbles , as if a potent menstruum were corroding some stubborn metal or mineral . and this experiment i the rather mention , because it may be of use to us on divers other occasions . for else 't is not the onely , though it be the remarkablest , that i made to the same purpose . exper. ix . for , whereas aqua fortis or aqua regis , being pour'd upon filings of copper , will work upon them with much noise and ebullition , i have tried , that good spirit of sal armoniac or urine , being put upon the like filings , and left there without stopping the glass , will quickly begin to work on them , and quietly dissolve them almost as water dissolves sugar . to which may be added , that even with oyl of turpentine i have , though but slowly , dissolved crude copper ; and the experiment seemed to favour our conjecture the more , because having tried it several times , it appear'd , that common unrectified oyl would perform the solution much quicker than that which was purified and subtiliz'd by rectification ; which though more subtle and penetrant , yet was , it seems , on that account less fit to dissolve the metal , than the grosser oyl whose particles might be more solid or more advantageously shap'd , or on some other mechanical account better qualified for the purpose . exper. x. take good silver , and , having dissolv'd it in aqua fortis , precipitate it with a sufficient quantity of good spirit of salt ; then having wash'd the calx , which will be very white , with common water , and dried it well , melt it with a moderate fire into a fusible mass , which will be very much of the nature of what chymists call cornu lunae , and which they make by precipitating dissolv'd silver with a bare solution of common salt made in common water . and whereas both spirit of salt and silver dissolv'd in aqua fortis will each of them apart readily dissolve in simple water , our luna cornea not onely will not do so , but is so indispos'd to dissolution , that i remember i have kept it in digestion , some in aqua fortis , and some in aqua regia , and that for a good while , and in no very faint degree of heat , without being able to dissolve it like a metal , the menstruums having indeed ting'd themselves upon it , but left the composition undissolv'd at the bottom . with this instance ( of which sort more might be afforded by chymical precipitations ) i shall conclude what i design'd to offer at present about the corrosibility of bodies , as it may be consider'd in a more general way . for as to the disposition that particular bodies have of being dissolved in , or of re●isting , determinate liquors , it were much easier for me to enlarge upon that subject , than it was to provide the instances above recited . and these are not so few , but that 't is hop'd they may suffice to make it probable , that in the relation betwixt a solvent and the body it is to work upon , that which depends upon the mechanical affections of one or both , is much to be consider'd , and has a great interest in the operations of one of the bodies upon the other . finis . of the mechanical causes of chymical precipitation . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. advertisement . though i shall not deny , that , in grammatical strictness , precipitation should be reckoned among chymical operations , not qualities , yet i did not much scruple to insert the following discourse among the notes about particular qualities , because many , if not most , of the phaenomena , mentioned in the ensuing essay , may be considered as depending , some of them , upon a power , that certain bodies have to cause precipitation , and some upon such a disposition to be struck down by others , as may , if men please , be called precipitability . and so these differing affections may with ( at least ) tolerable congruity be referred to those that we have elsewhere stiled chymical qualities . but though i hope , i may in these few lines have said enough concerning the name given to these attributes , yet perhaps it will be found in time , that the things themselves may deserve a larger discourse than my little leasure would allow them . for that is not a causeless intimation of the importance of the subject , wherewith i conclude the following tract , since besides that many more instances might have been particularly referred to the heads treated of in the insuing essay , there are improper kinds of precipitation ( besides those mentioned in the former part of the discourse ) to which one may not incongruously refer divers of the phaenomena of nature , as well in the greater as in the lesser world , whereof either no causes at all , or but improper ones are wont to be given . and besides the simple spirits and salts usually employed by chymists , there are many compounded and decompounded bodies not only factitious but natural , ( and some such as one would scarce suspect ) that may in congruous subjects produce such precipitations , as i speak of . and the phaenomena and consequents of such operations may in divers cases prove conducive both to the discovery of physical causes , and the production of useful effects ; though the particularizing of such phaenomena do rather belong to a history of precipitations , than to such a discourse as that which follows , wherein i proposed not so much to deliver the latent mysteries , as to investigate the mechanical causes of precipitation . of the mechanical causes of chymical precipitation . chap. i. by precipitation is here meant such an agitation or motion of a heterogeneous liquor , as in no long time makes the parts of it subside , and that usually in the form of a powder or other consistent body . as , on many occasions , chymists call the substance that is made to fall to the bottom of the liquor , the precipitate ; so for brevity sake we shall call the body that is put into the liquor to procure that subsiding , the precipitant ; as also that which is to be struck down , the precipitable substance or matter , and the liquor wherein it swims before the separation , the menstruum or solvent . when a hasty fall of a heterogeneous body is procured by a precipitant , the operation is called precipitation in the proper or strict sense : but when the separation is made without any such addition , or the substance , separated from the fluid part of the liquor , instead of subsiding emerges , then the word is used in a more comprehensive , but less proper , acceptation . as for the causes of precipitation the very name it self in its chymical sense having been scarce heard of in the peripatetic schools , it is not to be expected , that they should have given an account of the reasons of the thing . and 't is like , that those few aristotelians , that have , by their converse with the laboratories or writings of chymists , taken notice of this operation , would , according to their custom on such occasions , have recourse for the explication of it to some secret sympathy or antipathy between the bodies whose action and reaction intervenes in this operation . but if this be the way proposed , of accounting for it , i shall quickly have occasion to say somewhat to it in considering the ways proposed by the chymists , who were wont to refer precipitation , either , as is most usual , to a sympathy betwixt the precipitating body and the menstruum which makes the solvent run to the embraces of the precipitant , and so let fall the particles of the body sustained before ; or ( with others ) to a great antipathy or contrariety between the acid salt of the menstruum and the fixed salt of the oil , or solution of calcined tartar , which is the most general and usual precipitant they imploy . but i see not , how either of these causes will either reach to all the phaenomena that have been exhibited , or give a true account even of some of those , to which it seems applicable . for first , in precipitations , wherein what they call a sympathy between the liquors , is supposed to produce the effect , this admired sympathy does not ( in my apprehension ) evince such a mysterious occult quality as is presumed , but rather consists in a greater congruity as to bigness , shape , motion and pores of the minute parts between the menstruum and the precipitant , than between the same solvent and the body it kept before dissolved . and though this sympathy rightly explained may be allowed to have an interest in some such precipitations as let fall the dissolved body in its pristine nature and form , and only reduced into minute powder ; yet i find not , that in the generality of precipitations this doctrine will hold ; for in some that we have made of gold and silver in proper menstruums , after the subsiding matter had been well washed and dried , several precipitates of gold made , some with oil of tartar , which abounds with a fixed salt , and is the usual precipitant , and some with an urinous spirit , which works by vertue of a salt highly fugitive or volatile , i found the powder to exceed the weight of the gold and silver i had put to dissolve ; and the eye it self sufficiently discovers such precipitates not to be meer metalline powders , but compositions , whose consisting , not ( as hath been by some body suspected ) of the combined salts alone , but of the metalline parts also , may be strongly concluded not only from the ponderousness of divers of them in reference to their bulk , but also manifestly from the reduction of true malleable metals from several of them . chap. ii. the other chymical way of explicating precipitations may , in a right sence , be made use of by a naturalist on some particular occasions . but i think it much too narrow and defective , as 't is in a general way proposed , to be fit to be acquiesced in . for first 't is plain , that 't is not only salt of tartar and other fixed alcalies that precipitate most bodies that are dissolved in acid menstruums ; as in making of aurum fulminans , oil of tartar precipitates the gold out of aqua regis : but acid liquors themselves do on many occasions no less powerfully precipitate metals and other bodies out of one another . thus spirit of salt , ( as i have often tried ) precipitates silver out of aqua fortis : the corrosive spirit of nitre copiously precipitates that white powder whereof they make bezoardicum minerale : spirit or oil of sulphur made by a glass-bell precipitates corals , pearls , &c. dissolved in spirit of vinegar , as is known to many chymists , who now use this oleum sulphuris per campanam , to make the magistery of pearls , &c. for which vulgar chymists imploy oleum tartari per deliquium . i have sometimes made a menstruum , wherein though there were both acid and alcalizate salts ; yet i did not find , that either acid spirits or oil of tartar , or even spirit of urine would precipitate the dissolved substances . and i have observed , both that salts of a contrary nature will precipitate bodies out of the same menstruum , as not only salt of tartar , but sea-salt being dissolved , will precipitate each other , and each of them apart will precipitate silver out of aqua fortis ; and that even , where there is a confessed contrariety betwixt two liquors , it may be so ordered , that neither of them shall precipitate what is dissolved by the other ; of which i shall have occasion to give ere long a remarkable instance . but it will best appear , that the abovementioned theories of the peripateticks and chymists are at least insufficient to solve the phaenomena ( many of which were probably not known to most of them , and perhaps not weigh'd by any , ) if we proceed to observe the mechanical ways , by which precipitations may be accounted for ; whereof i shall at present propose some number , and say somewhat of each of them apart ; not that i think all of them to be equally important and comprehensive , or that i absolutely deny , that any one of them may be reduced to some of the other ; but that i think , it may better elucidate the subject , to treat of them severally , when i shall have premised , that i would not thence infer , that though , for the most part , nature does principally effect precipitations by one or other of these ways , yet in divers cases she may not imploy two or more of them about performing the operation . to precipitate the corpuscles of a metal out of a menstruum , wherein being once throughly dissolved it would of it self continue in that state , the two general ways that the nature of the thing seems to suggest to him that considers it , are , either to add to the weight or bulk of the dissolved corpuscles , and thereby render them unfit to accompany the particles of the menstruum in their motions ; or to weaken the sustaining power of the menstruum , and thereby disable it to keep the metalline particles swimming any longer : which falling of the deserted parts of the metal or other bodie , does oftentimes the more easily insue , because in many cases , when the sustaining particles of the menstruum come to be too much weakned , that proves an occasion to the metalline corpuscles , disturbed in the former motion that kept them separate , to make occursions and coalitions among themselves , and their fall becomes the effect , though not equally so , of both ways of precipitation ; as on the other side , there are several occasions on which the same precipitant , that brings the swimming particles of the metal to stick to one another , does likewise , by mortifying or disabling the saline spirits or other parts of the solvent , weaken the sustaining power of that liquor . chap. iii. to descend now to the distinct considerations about these two ways : the first of the most genera causes of precipitation is such a cohaesion procured by the precipitant in the solution , as makes the compounded corpuscles , or at least the associated particles of the dissolved body , too heavy to be sustained , or too bulky to be kept in a state of fluidity by the liquor . that in many precipitations there is made a coalition betwixt the small parts of the precipitant and those of the dissolved metal , or other body , and frequently also with the saline spirits of the menstruum , may be easily shewn by the weight of the precipitate , which though carefully washed and dryed , often surpasses , and sometimes very considerably , that of your crude metal that was dissolved ; of which we lately gave an instance in aurum fulminans and precipitated silver ; & we may yet give a more conspicuous one , in that which chymists call luna cornea : for , if having dissolved silver in good aqua fortis , you precipitate it with the solution of sea-salt in fair water , and from the very white precipitate wash the loose adhering salts , the remaining powder , being dryed and slowly melted , will look much less like a metalline body than like a piece of horn , whence also it takes its name ; so considerable is the additament of the saline to the metalline particles . and that part of such additaments is , retained , may not only be found by weighing , but in divers cases may be argued from what is obvious to the eye : as if you dissolve mercury in aqua fortis , and into the philtrated solution drop spirit of salt , or salt-water , or an urinous spirit , as of sal armoniac , you will have a very white precipitate ; but if instead of any of these , you drop-in deliquated salt of tartar , your precipitate will be of a brick or orange colour . from which experiment and some others i would gladly take a rise to perswade chymists and physitians , that 't is not so indifferent , as those seem to think who look on precipitation but as a kind of comminution , by what means the precipitation is performed . for by reason of the strict adhesion of divers saline particles of the precipitant and the solvent , the precipitated body , notwithstanding all the wonted ablutions , may have its qualities much diversified by those of the particles of the liquors , when these are fitted to stick very fast to it . which last words i add , because , though that sometimes happens , yet it does not always , there being a geater difference than every body takes notice of between precipitations ; as you will be induced to think , if you precipitate the solution of silver with copper , with spirit of sal armoniac , with salt water , with oil of tartar ▪ with quick-silver , with crude tartar and with zink . and in the lately proposed example , you will think it probable , that 't is not all one , whether to dissolved mercury or silver , you imploy the subtile distilled spirits of salt , or the gross body , whether in a dry form , or barely dissolved in common water . and thus much of the conduciveness of weight to the striking down the corpuscles of a dissolved body . that also the bulk of a body may very much contribute to make it sink or swim in a liquor , appears by obvious instances . thus salt or sugar , being put into water either in lumps or even in powder that is but gross , falls at first to the bottom , and lies there , notwithstanding the air that may be intercepted between its parts or externally adhere to it . but when by the insinuating action of the water it is dissolved into minute particles , these are carried up and down with those of the liquor and subside not . the like happens , when a piece of silver is cast into aqua fortis , and in many other cases . on the other side i have several times observed , that some bodies that had long swam in a menstruum , whilst their minute parts were kept from convening in it , did afterwards by the coalition of many of those particles into bodies of a visible bulk coagulate and subside , ( though sometimes , to hinder the evaporation of the menstruum , the vessels were kept stopt . ) of this i elsewhere mention divers examples ; and particularly in urinous and animal spirits , well dephlegm'd , i have found , that after all had for a considerable time continued in the form of a perfect liquor , and as to sense homogeneous , store of solid corpuscles , convening together , setled at the bottom of the glasses in the form of saline crystals . having also long kept a very red solution of sulphur first unlock'd , ( as they speak ) made with highly rectified spirit of urine , i observed , that at length the sulphureous particles , making little concretions between themselves , totally subsided and left the liquor almost devoid of tincture . by which you may see , that 't was not impertinent to mention ( as i lately did ) among the subordinate causes of precipitation , the associating of the particles of a dissolved body with one another . of which i elsewhere give a notable example in the shining powder that i obtained from gold dissolved in a peculiar menstruum , without any precipitant , by the coalition of the metalline particles , to which a tract of time gave opportunity to meet and adhere in a convenient manner . if in what the chymists call precipitate per se , the mercury be indeed brought to lose its fluidity , and become a powder without being compounded with any additional body , ( which doubt i elsewhere state and discourse of ) it will afford us a notable instance to prove , that the coalitions of particles into clusters of the self same matter will render them unfit for the motion requisite to fluidity . for in this odd precipitation by fire , wherein the same menstruum is both the liquor and the precipitate , being not all made at once , the corpuscles that first disclose themselves by their redness , are rejected by those of the mercury that yet remains fluid , as unable to accompany them in the motions that belong to mercury as such . chap. iv. before i dismiss that way of precipitating , that depends upon the unwieldiness which the precipitant gives to the body it is to strike down , it may not be impertinent , especially in reference to the foregoing part of this paper , to consider , that perhaps in divers cases the corpuscles of a dissolved body may be made unfit to be any longer sustained in the menstruum , though the precipitant adds very little to their bulk , or at least much more to their specific weight than to it . for i have elsewere shewn , that in divers solutions made of bodys by acid menstruums , there are either generated or extricated many small aerial particles ; and it will be easily granted , that these may be small enough to be detained in the pores of the liquor and be invisible there , if we consider , what a multitude of aerial and formerly imperceptible bubbles is afforded by common water in our pneumatical receivers , when the incumbent air that before pressed the liquor , is pumpt out . and if the corpuscles of the dissolved body have any little cavities or pores fit to lodge aerial particles , or have asperous surfaces , between whose prominent parts the generated air may conveniently lie ; in such cases , i say , these invisible bubbles may be lookt upon , as making with the solid corpuscles they adhered to , little aggregates much lighter in specie than the corpuscles themselves would be ; and consequently if the precipitant consist of particles of such a size and shape as are fit to expel these little bubbles , and lodge themselves in the cavities possessed by them before , there will be produced new aggregates composed of the corpuscles of the dissolved body and the particles of the precipitant ; which aggregates though they do take up very little or perhaps not at all more room ( takeing that word in a popular sense ) than those , whereof the aerial bubbles made a part , will yet be specifically heavier than the former aggregates were , and may thereby overcome the sustaining power of the menstruum . one thing more may be fit to be taken notice of before we pass on further , namely , that 't is upon the score of the specific gravity of a body , and not barely upon the action of the precipitant , that an aggregate or a convention of particles does rather fall to the bottom than rise to the top . for , though the agents that procured the coalition , make the cluster of particles become of a bulk too unwieldy to continue in the liquor as parts of it ; yet if each of them be lighter in specie than an equal bulk of the menstruum , or if they so convene as to intercept a sufficient number of little bubbles or aerial corpuscles between them , and so become lighter than as much of the menstruum as they take up the room of , they will not be precipitated but emerge ; as may be seen in the preparation of those magisteries of vegetables , i elswhere mention ; where some deeply colour'd plants being made to tinge plentifully the lixivium they are boyled in , are afterwards by the addition of alum made to curdle , as it were , into coloured concretions , which being ( totally or in part ) too big to swim as they did before they conven'd , and too light in comparison of the menstruum to subside , emerge to the top and float there . an easier and neater example to the same purpose i remember i shewed by dissolving camphire in highly rectified spirit of wine , 'till the solution was very strong . for though the camphire , when put in lumps into the spirit , sunk to the bottom of it ; yet , when good store of water , ( a liquor somewhat heavier in specie than camphire , ) was poured upon the solution , the camphire quickly concreted and returned to its own nature , and within a while emerged to the top of the mingled liquors and floated there . these particulars i was willing to mention here , that i might give an instance or two of those precipitations , that i formerly spake of as improperly so called . and here i must not decline taking notice of a phaenomenon , that sometimes occurs in precipitations , and at first sight may seem contrary to our doctrine about them . for now and then it happens , that after some drops of the precipitant have begun a precipitation at the top or bottom of the solvent , one shakes the vessel , that the precipitant may be the sooner diffused through the other liquor , but then they are quickly surprized to find , that instead of hastning the compleat precipitation , the matter already precipitated disappears , and the solvent returns to be clear , or , as to sense , as uniform , as it was before the precipitant was put into it . b●u this phaenomenon does not at all cross our theory . for , when this happens , though that part of the solvent , to which the precipitant reaches , is disabled for reasons mentioned in this discourse to support the dissolved body , yet this quantity of the precipitant is but small in proportion to the whole bulk of the solvent . and therefore , when the agitation of the vessel disperses the clusters of loosly concreted particles through the whole liquor , ( which is seldom so exactly proportioned to the body it was to work on , as to be but just strong enough to dissolve it ) that greater part of the liquor , to which before the shaking of the vessel the precipitant did not reach , may well be lookt upon as a fresh menstruum , which is able to mortifie or overpower the small quantity of the precipitant that is mingled with it , and so to destroy its late operation on the body dissolved , by which means the solution returns , as to sense , to its former state . which may be illustrated by a not unpleasant experiment , i remember i have long since made by precipitating a brick-coloured powder out of a strong solution of sublimate made in fair water . for this subsiding matter , being laid to dry in the philter , by which 't was separated from the water , would retain a deep but somewhat dirty colour ; and if then , putting it into the bottom of a wine glass , i poured upon it , either clear oil of vitriol , or some other strong acid menstruum , the alcalizat particles being disabled and swallowed up by some of the acid ones of the menstruum , the other acid ones would so readily dissolve the residue of the powder , that in a trice the colour of it would disappear and the whole mixture be reduced into a clear liquor , without any sediment at the bottom . thus much may suffice at present about the first general way of precipitating bodies out of the liquors they swam in . chap. v. the other of the two principal ways , by which precipitations may be effected , is the disabling of the solvent to sustain the dissolved body . there may be many instances , wherein this second way of effecting precipitations may be associated by nature with the first way formerly proposed ; but notwithstanding the cases , wherein nature may ( as i formerly noted ) imploy both the ways therein , yet in most cases they sufficiently differ , in regard that in the former way the subsiding of the dissolved body is chiefly , if not only , caused by the additional weight as well as action of the external precipitant ; whereas in most of the instances of the later way , the effect is produced either without salt of tartar , or any such precipitant , or by some other quality of the precipitant more than by its weight , or at least besides the weight it adds : though i forget not , that i lately gave an example of a shining powder of gold , that fell to the bottom of a menstruum without the help of an external precipitant : but that was done so slowly , that it may be disputed , whether it were a true precipitation ; and i alledged it not as such , but to shew , that the increased bulk of particles may make them unfit to swim in menstruums , wherein they swam whilst they were more minute . and the like answer may be accommodated to the precipitate per se newly mentioned . this premised , i proceed now to observe , that the general way , i last proposed , contains in it several subordinate wayes , that are more particular ; of which i shall now mention the chief that occur to me , and though but briefly , illustrate each of them by examples . and first a precipitation may be made , if the saline or other dissolving particles of the menstruum are mortified or rendred unfit for their former function , by particles of a precipitant that are of a contrary nature . thus gold and some other minerals , being dissolved in aqua regis , will be precipitated with spirit of urine and other such liquors abounding with volatile and salino-sulphureous corpuscles , upon whose account it is that they act ; whence these salts themselves , though cast into a menstruum in a dry form , will serve to make the like precipitations . and i the rather on this occasion mention urinous spirits than salt of tartar , because those volatile particles add much less of weight to the little concretions , which compose the precipitated powder . upon instances of this kind , many of the modern chymists have built that antipathy betwixt the salts of the solvent and those of the menstruum , to which they ascribe almost all precipitations . but against this i have represented something already , and shall partly now , and partly in the sequel of this discourse add some farther reasons of my not being satisfied with this doctrine . for , besides that 't is insufficient to reach many of the phaenomena of precipitations , ( as will ere long be shown , ) and besides that 't is not easie to make out , that there is any real antipathy betwixt inanimate bodies ; i consider , 1. that some of those menstruums , to which this antipathy is attributed , do after a short commotion ( whereby they are disposed to make convenient occursions and coalitions ) amicably unite into concretions participating of both the ingredients ; as i have somewhere shewn by an example purposely devis'd to make this out ; to do which i dropped a clear solution of fixed nitre , instead of the usual one of common salt , upon a solution of silver , in aqua-fortis : for the saline particles of the solvent and those of the precipitant , will , as i have elsewhere recirecited , for the most part friendly unite into such crystals of nitre for the main , as they were obtained from : and though this notion of the chymists , if well explained , be applicable to far more instances than the proposers of it seemed to have thought on , and may be made good use of in practice ; yet i take it to be such as is not true universally , and , where it is true , ought to be explicated according to mechanical principles . for , if the particles of the menstruum and those of the precipitant be so framed , that upon the action of the one upon the other , there will be produced corpuscles too big and unwieldy to continue in the state of fludity , there will insue a precipitation : but if the constitution of the corpuscles of the precipitating and of the dissolved body be such , that the precipitant also it self is fit to be a menstruum to dissolve that body in ; then , though there be an union of the salts of the precipitant and the metal ( or other solutum ) and perhaps of the solvent too , yet a precipitation will not necessarily follow , though the saline particles of the two liquors seemed , by the heat and ebullition excited between them upon their meeting , to exercise a great and mutual antipathy . to satisfie some ingenious men about this particular , i dissolved zink or speltar in a certain urinous spirit ; ( for , there are more than one that may serve the turn ; ) and then put to it a convenient quantity of a proper acid spirit ; but though there would be a manifest conflict thereby occasioned betwixt the two liquors ; yet the speltar remained dissolved in the mixture . and i remember , that for the same purpose i devised another experiment , which is somewhat more easie and more clear . i dissolved copper calcined per se , or even crude , in strong spirit of salt ; ( for unless it be such , it will not be so proper , ) and having put to it by degrees a good quantity of spirit of sal-armoniac or fermented urine , though there would be a great commotion with hissing and bubbles produced , the copper would not be precipitated , because this urinous spirit will as well as the salt , ( and much more readily ) dissolve the same metal , and it would be kept dissolved notwithstanding their operation on one another ; the intervening of which , and their action upon the metalline corpuscles , may be gathered from hence , that the green solution , made with spirit of salt alone , will by the supervening urinous spirits be changed either into a blewish green , or , if the proportion of this spirit be very great , into a rich blew almost like ultramarine . and from these two experiments we may probably argue , that when the precipitation of a metal &c. insues , it is not barely or the account of the supposed antipathy betwixt the salts , but because the causes of that seeming antipathy do likewise upon a mechanical account dispose the corpuscles of the confounded liquors so to cohere , as to be too unwieldy for the fluid part . chap. vi. another way , whereby the dissolving particles of a menstruum may be rendred unfit to sustain the dissolved body , is to present them another that they can more easily work on . a notable experiment of this you have in the common practice of refiners , who , to recover the silver out of lace and other such mixtures wherein it abounds , use to dissolve it in aqua fortis , and then in the solution leave copper plates for a whole night ( or many hours . ) but if you have a mind to see the experiment without waiting so long , you may imploy the way , whereby i have often quickly dispatched it . as soon then as i have dissolved a convenient quantity , which needs not be a great one , of silver in cleansed aqua fortis , i add twenty or twenty five times as much of either distilled water or rain water ; ( for though common water will sometimes do well , yet it seldome does so well ; ) and then into the clear solution i hang by a string a clean piece of copper , which will be presently covered with little shining plates almost like scales of fish , which one may easily shake off and make room for more . and this may illustrate what we formerly mentioned about the subsiding of metalline corpuscles , when they convene in liquors , wherein , whilst they were dispersed in very minute parts , they swam freely . for in this operation the little scales of silver seemed to be purely metalline , and there is no saline precipitant , as salt of tartar or of urine , imployed to make them subside . upon the same ground , gold and silver dissolved in their proper menstruums may be precipitated with running mercury ; and if a solution of blew vitriol ( such as the roman , east-indian , or other of the like colours ) be made in water , a clean plate of steel or iron being immersed in it , will presently be overlaid with a very thin case of copper-which after a while will grow thick , er ; but does not adhere to the iron so loosely as to be shaken off , as the precipitated silver newly mentioned may be from the copper-plates whereto it adheres . and that in these operations the saline particles may really quit the dissolved body , and work upon the precipitant , may appear by the lately mentioned practice of refiners , where the aqua-fortis , that forsakes the particles of the silver , falls a working upon the copper-plates imployed about the precipitation , and dissolves so much of them as to acquire the greenish blew colour of a good solution of that metal . and the copper we can easily again without salts obtain by precipitation out of that liquor with iron , and that too , remaining dissolved in its place , we can precipitate with the tastless powder of another mineral . besides these two ways of weakning the menstruum , namely , by mortifying its saline particles or seducing them to work on other bodies , and to forsake those they first dissolved , there are some other ways of weakning the menstruum . a third way of effecting this , is by lessening or disturbing the agitation of the solvent . and indeed since we find by experience , that some liquors when they are heated , will either dissolve some bodies they would not dissolve at all when they were cold , or dissolve them more powerfully or copiously when hot than cold ; 't is not unreasonable to suppose , that what considerably lessens that agitation of the parts of the menstruum that is necessary to the keeping the dissolved body in the state of fluidity , should occasion the falling of it again to the bottom . in slow operations i could give divers examples of the precipitating power of cold ; there being divers solutions and particularly that of amber-greece , that i had kept fluid all the summer , which in the winter would subside . and the like may be sometimes observed in far less time in the solutions of brimstone made in certain oleaginous menstruums ; and i have now & then had some solutions , and particularly one of benzoin made in spirit of wine , that would surprize me with the turbidness ( which begins the state of precipitation ) it would acquire upon a sudden change of the weather towards cold , though it were not in the winter season . another way of weakening the menstruum and so causing the precipitation of a body dissolved in it , is the diluting or lessening the tenacity of it , whether that tenacity proceed from viscosity or the competent number and constipation of the parts . of this we have an instance in the magisteries ( as many chymists are pleased to call them ) of jalap , benzoin , and of divers others , resinous and gummous bodies dissolved in spirit of wine . for by the affusion of common water , the menstruum being too much diluted is not able to keep those particles in the state of fluidity , but must suffer them to subside , ( as they usually do in the form of white powder , ) or , ( as it may happen sometimes , ) make some parts emerge . examples also of this kind are afforded us by the common preparations of mercurius vitae . for though in oil of autimony , made by the rectification of the butter , the saline particles are so numerous and keep so close to one another , that they are able to sustain the antimonial corpuscles they carried over with them in distillation , and keep them together with themselves in the form of a liquor ; yet when by the copious affusion of the water , those sustaining particles are separated and removed to a distance from each other , the antimonial corpuscles and the mercurial ( if any such there were , ) being of a ponderous nature , will easily subside into that emetic powder , which , ( when well washed ) the chymists flatteringly enough call mercurius vitae . but here i must interpose an advertisement , which will help to shew us , how much precipitations depend upon the mechanical contextures of bodies . for , though not only in the newly recited examples , but in divers others , the affusion of water , by diluting the salts and weakenning the menstruum , makes the metall or other dissolved body fall precipitately to the bottom ; yet if the saline particles of the solvent , and those of the body be fitted for so strict an union , that the corpuscles resulting from their coalitions will not so easily be separated by the particles of water , as suffer themselves to be carried up and down with them , whether because of the minuteness of these compounded corpuscles , or because of some congruity betwixt them and those of the water ; they will not be precipitated out of the weakened solution , but still continue a part of it ; as i have tryed partly with some solution of silver and gold , made in acid menstruums , but much more satisfactorily in solutions of copper , made in the urinous spirit of sal armoniac . for , though that blew solution were diluted with many thousand times as much distilled water as the dissolved metal weighed ; yet its swimming corpuscles did by their colour manifestly appear to be dispersed through the whole liquor . chap. vii . but , to prosecute our former discourse , which we broke off after the mention of mercurius vitae , 't will now be seasonable to add , that we have made divers other precipitations , by the bare affusion of water , out of solutions , and sometimes out of distilled liquors ; which , for brevity sake , i here omit , that i may hasten to the last way i shall now stay to mention . another way then , whereby precipitations of bodies may be produced by debilitating the menstruum they swim in , is by lessening the proportion of the solvent to the solutum , without any evaporation of the liquor . these last words i add , because that , when there is an obstruction or any other expulsion of the menstruum by heat , if it be total , 't is called exsiccation , as when dry salt of tartar is obtained from the filtrated lixivium of the calcined tartar ; and though the evaporation be not total , yet the effects of it are not wont to be reckoned amongst precipitations . and although the way , i am about to propose , if it be attentively considered , has much affinity with the foregoing , and the phaenomena may perhaps in some sort be reduced to them ; yet the instances that i shall name , having not , i know , been thought of by others , and being such as every one would not deduce from what i have been mentioning , i shall add a word of the inducements i had to make the tryals , as well as of the success of them . considering then , that water will not dissolve salts indefinitely , but when it has received its due proportion , 't will then dissolve no more , but , if they be put into it , let them fall to the ground and continue undissolved ; and that if when water is satiated , any of the liquor be evaporated or otherwise wasted , it will in proportion let fall the salt it had already taken up ; i concluded , that if i could mingle with water any liquor , with which its particles would more readily associate than with those of salt , the depriving the solution of so many of its aqueous particles would be equivalent to the evaporation of as much water or thereabouts , as they , by being united , could compose . wherefore making a lixivium of distilled water or clean rain-water , and of salt of tartar so strong , that if a grain more were cast in it , it would lie undissolved at the bottom ; i put a quantity of this fiery lixivium into a slender cylindrical vessel , till it had therein reached such a height as i thought fit ; then taking as much as i thought sufficient of strong spirit of wine , that would burn every drop away , that so it might have no flegm nor water of its own , i poured this upon the saline solution , and shaking the liquors pretty well together to bring them to mix as well as i could , i laid the tube in a quiet place , and afterwards found , as i expected , that there was a pretty quantity of white salt of tartar fallen to the bottom of the vessel , which salt had been meerly forsaken by the aqueous particles that sustained it before , but forsook it to pass into the spirit of wine , wherewith they were more disposed to associate themselves ; which i concluded , because having , before i poured on this last named liquor , made a mark on the glass to shew how far the lixivium reached , i found ( what i looked for ) that after the precipitation , the lixivium , that remained yet strong enough to continue unmixed with the incumbent spirit , had its surface not where the mark shewed it had been before , but a considerable distance beneath it , the spirit of wine having gained in extent what it lost in strength by receiving so many aqueous particles into it . i chose to make this tryal rather with a lixivium of salt of tartar than with oyl of tartar per deliquium , because in this last named liquor the aqueous and saline particles are more closely combined and therefore more difficult to be separated than i thought they would be in a lixivium hastily made , though very strong . and though by much agitation i have sometimes obtained some salt of tartar from the above-mentioned oil ; yet the experiment succeeded nothing near so well with that liquor as with a lixivium . i made also the like tryal with exceedingly dephlegmed spirit of wine , and as strong a brine as i could make of common salt dissolved without heat in common water ; and i thereby obtained no despicable proportion of finely figured salt , that was let fall to the bottom . but this experiment , to be succesful , requires greater care in him that makes it , than the former needs . to confirm , and somewhat to vary this way of precipitation , i shall add , that having made a clear solution of choice gum arabic in common water , and poured upon it a little high rectified spirit of wine , on this occasion there was also made , and that in a trice , a copious precipitation of a light and purely white substance not unpleasant to behold . and for further confirmation i dissolved a full proportion of myrrhe in fair water , and into the filtrated solution , which was transparent , but of a high brown colour , i dropt a large proportion ( which circumstance is not to be omitted ) of carefully dephlegm'd spirit of wine , which according to expectation made a copious precipitate of the gum. and these instances i the rather set down in this place , because they seem to show , that simple water is a real menstruum , which may have its dissolving and sustaining virtue weakened by the accession of liquors , that are not doubted to be much stronger than it . by specifying the hitherto mentioned wayes , whereby precipitations may be mechanically performed and accounted for , i would by no means be thought to deny , that there may be some omitted here , which either others that shall consider the matter with more attention , or i my self , if i shall have leisure to do it , may think on . for i propose these but as the chief that occurr to my present thoughts ; and i forbear to add more instances to exemplifie them , because i would not injure some of my other papers , that have a greater right to those instances . only this i shall note in general , that the doctrine and history of precipitations , if well delivered , will be a thing of more extent and moment than seems hitherto to have been imagined ; since not only several of the changes in the blood and other liquors and juices of the humane body may thereby be the better understood ; and they prevented , or their ill consequences remedied ; but in the practical part of mineralogy divers usefull things may probably be performed by the assistance of such a doctrine and history . to keep which conjecture from seeming extravagant , i shall only here intimate , that 't is not alone in bodies that are naturally or permanently liquid , but in those solid and ponderous bodies , that are for a short time made so by the violence of the fire , that many of the things suggested by this doctrine may have place . for whilst divers of those bodies are in fusion , they may be treated as liquors ; and metalls , and perhaps other heterogeneous bodies may be obtained from them by fit though dry precipitants , as in some other writings i partly did , and may elsewhere yet further , declare . finis . experiments and notes about the mechanical production of magnetism . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1676. advertisement concerning the following notes about occult qualities . the following papers ( about magnetism and electricity ) would appear with less disadvantage , if the author's willingness and promise , that this tome should be furnished with notes about some occult qualities , as well as about divers sorts of those that are presumed to be manifest , did not prevail with him to let the ensuing notes appear without those about the pores of bodies and figures of corpuscles , that should have preceded them , and some others that should have accompanied them . but the author chose rather to venture these papers abroad in the condition , such as 't is , they now appear in , than make those already printed about manifest qualities stay longer for accessions , which some troublesome accidents will not suffer him to hasten to the press ; and without which , he now fears this tome may swell to a more than competent bulk . experiments and notes about the mechanical production of magnetical qualities . though the vertues of the loadstone be none of the least famous of occult qualities , and are perhaps the most justly admired ; yet i shall venture to offer something to make it probable , that some , even of these , may be introduced into bodies by the production of mechanical changes in them . to make way for what i am to deliver to this purpose , it will be expedient to remove that general and settled prejudice , that has kept men from so much as thinking of any mechanical account of magnetisms , which is a belief , that these qualities do immediately flow from the substantial form of the loadstone , whose abstruse nature is disproportionate to our understandings . exper. i but for my part , i confess , i see no necessity of admitting this supposition ; for i see , that a piece of steel fitly shaped and well excited , will , like a loadstone , have its determinate poles , and with them point at the north and south ; it will draw other pieces of iron and steel to it , and which is more , communicate to them the same kind , though not degree , of attractive and directive vertue it had it self , and will possess these faculties not as light and transient impressions , but as such setled and durable powers that it may retain them for many years , if the loadstone , to which it has been duly applied , were vigorous enough : of which sort i remember i have seen one ( and made some tryals with it ) that yielded an income to the owner , who received money from navigators and others for suffering them to touch their needles , swords , knives &c. at his excellent magnet . now , in a piece of steel or iron thus excited , 't is plain , that the magnetic operations may be regularly performed for whole years by a body , to which the form of a loadstone does not belong , since , as it had its own form before , so it retains the same still , continuing as malleable , fusible &c. as an ordinary piece of the same metal unexcited : so that , if there be introduced a fit disposition into the internal parts of the metal by the action of the loadstone , the metal , continuing of the same species it was before , will need nothing save the continuance of that acquired disposition to be capable of performing magnetical operations ; and if this disposition or internal constitution of the excited iron be destroyed , though the form of the metal be not at all injured , yet the former power of attraction shall be abolished , exper. ii as appears when an excited iron is made red hot in the fire , and suffered to cool again . and here give me leave to take notice of what i have elsewhere related to another purpose , exper. iii namely that a loadstone may ( as i have more than once tryed ) be easily deprived by ignition of its power of sensibly attracting martial bodies , and yet be scarce , if at all , visibly changed , but continue a true loadstone in other capacities , which , according to the vulgar philosophy ought to depend upon its substantial form , and the loadstone thus spoiled may , notwithst●●d●●● this form , have its 〈…〉 at pleasure like a piece of iron ; as i have elsewhere particularly declared . and i will confirm what i have been saying with an experiment that you do not perhaps expect ; namely , that though it be generally taken for granted ( without being contradicted that i know of by any man ) that , in a sound loadstone , that has never been injured by the fire , not only the attractive power , but the particular vertue that it has to point constantly , when left to it self , with one of its determinate extreams to one determinate pole , flowes immediately from the substantial or at least essential form ; yet this form remaining undestroyed by fire , the poles may be changed , and that with ease and speed . for among my notes about magnetical experiments , whence i borrow some passages of this paper , i find the following account . exper. iv. to shew that the virtue that a loadstone hath by this determinate pole or extream to attract , for example , the south-end of a poised needle , and with the opposite extream or pole the north-end of the same needle , i made among other tryals the following experiment . taking a very small fragment of a loadstone , i found , agreeably to my conjecture , that by applying sometimes one pole , sometimes the other , to that pole of ( a small but ) a very vigorous loadstone that was fit for my purpose , i could at pleasure , in a few minutes , change the poles of the little fragment , as i tryed by its operations upon a needle freely poised ; though by applying a fragment a pretty deal bigger , ( for in it self it appeared very small , ) i was not able in far more hours than i employed minutes before , to make any sensible change of the poles . this short memorial being added to the preceding part of this discourse , will , i hope , satisfie you , that how unanimously so ever men have deduced all magnetick operations from the form of the loadstone ; yet some internal change of pores or some other mechanical alterations or inward disposition , either of the excited iron or of the loadstone it self , may suffice to make a body capable or uncapable of exercising some determinate magnetical operations ; which may invite you to cast a more unprejudiced eye upon those few particulars , i shall now subjoin to make it probable , that even magnetical qualities may be mechanically produced or altered . exper. v. i have often observed in the shops of artificers , as smiths , turners of metals &c. that , when hardened and well tempered tools are well heated by attrition , if whilest they are thus warmed you apply them to filings or chips , as they call them , or thin fragments of steel or iron , they will take them up , as if the instruments were touched with a loadstone : but as they will not do so , unless they be thus excited by rubbing till they be warmed , by which means a greater commotion is made in the inner parts of he steel so neither would they retain so vigorous a magnetism as to support the little fragments of steel that stuck to them after they were grown cold again . which may be confirmed by what , if i much misremember not , i shewed some acquaintances of yours ; which was , that , by barely rubbing a conveniently exper. vi. shaped piece of steel against the floor till it had gained a sufficient heat , it would whilest it continued so , discover a manifest , though but faint attractive power , which vanished together with the adventitious heat . exper. vii . we elsewhere observe , which perhaps you also may have done , that the iron bars of windows , by having stood very long in an erected posture , may at length grow magnetical , so that , if you apply the north point of a poised and excited needle to the bottom of the bar , it will drive it away , & attract the southern ; and if you raise the magnetick needle to the upper part of the bar , and apply it as before , this will draw the northern extream , which the other end of the bar expelled ; probably because , as 't is elsewhere declared , the bar is in tract of time , by the continual action of the magnetical effuvia of the tarraqueous globe , turned into a kind of magnet , whose lower end becomes the north-pole of it , and the other the southern . therefore according to the magnetical laws , the former must expel the northern extream of the needle , and the later draw it . exper. viii . i have found indeed , and i question not but other observers may have done so too , that , if a bar of iron , that has not stood long in an erected posture , be but held perpendicular , the forementioned experiment will succeed , ( probably upon such an account as that i have lately intimated : ) but then this virtue , displayed by the extreams of the bar of iron , will not be at all permanent , but so transient , that , if the bar be but inverted and held again upright , that end which just before was the uppermost , and drew the north-end of the needle , will now , being lowermost , drive it away , which , as was lately observed , will not happen to a bar which has been some years or other competent time kept in the same position . so that , since length of time is requisite to make the verticity of a bar of iron so durable & constant , that the same extream will have the same virtues in reference to the magnetical needle , whether you make it the upper end or the lower end of the bar , it seems not improbable to me , that by length of time the whole magnetick virtue of this iron may be increased , and consequently some degree of attraction acquired . and by this consideration i shall endeavour to explicate that strange thing , that is reported by some moderns to have happened in italy , where a bar of iron is affirmed to have been converted into a loadstone , whereof a piece was kept among other rarities in the curious aldrovandus his musaeum metallicum . for considering the greatness of its specific gravity , the malleableness and other properties , wherein iron differs from loadstone , i cannot easily believe , that , by such a way as is mentioned , a metal should be turned into a stone . and therefore , having consulted the book it self , whence this relation was borrowed , i found the story imperfectly enough delivered : the chiefest and clearest thing in it being , that at the top of the church of arimini a great iron-bar , that was placed there to support a cross of an hundred pound weight , was at length turned into a loadstone . but whether the reality of this transmutation was examined , and how it appeared that the fragment of the loadstone presented to aldrovandus was taken from that bar of iron , i am not fully satisfied by that narrative . therefore , when i remember the great resemblance i have sometimes seen in colour , besides other manifest qualities , betwixt some loadstones and some course or almost rusty iron , i am tempted to conjecture , that those that observed this iron-bar when broken to have acquired a strong magnetical virtue , which they dreamed not that tract of time might communicate to it , might easily be perswaded , by this virtue and the resemblance of colour , that the iron was turned into loadstone : especially they being prepossess'd with that aristotelian maxim , whence our author would explain this strange phaenomenon , that inter symbolum habentia facilis est transmutatio . but , leaving this as a bare conjecture , we may take notice , that what virtue an oblong piece of iron may need a long tract of time to acquire , by the help onely of its position , may be imparted to it in a very short time , by the intervention of such a nimble agent , as the fire . as may be often , though not always , observed in tongs , exper. ix and such like iron utensils , that , having been ignited , have been set to cool , leaning against some wall or other prop , that kept them in an erected posture , which makes it probable that the great commotion of the parts , made by the vehement heat of the fire , disposed the iron , whilst it was yet soft , and had its pores more lax , and parts more pliable , disposed it , i say , to receive much quicker impressions from the magnetical effluvia of the earth , than it would have done , if it had still been cold . exper. x and 't is very observable to our present purpose , what differing effects are produced by the operation of the fire , upon two magnetick bodies according to their respective constitutions . for , by keeping a loadstone red-hot , though you cool it afterwards in a perpendicular posture , you may deprive it of its former power of manifestly attracting : but a bar of iron being ignited , and set to cool perpendicularly , does thereby acquire a manifest verticity . of which differing events i must not now stay to inquire , whether or no the true reason be , that the peculiar texture or internal constitution that makes a loadstone somewhat more than an ordinary ore of iron , ( which metal , as far as i have tried , is the usual ingredient of loadstones ) being spoiled by the violence of the fire , this rude agent leaves it in the condition of common iron , or perhaps of ignited iron-ore : whereas the fire does soften the iron it self ( which is a metal not an ore ) agitating its parts , and making them the more flexible , and by relaxing its pores , disposes it to be easily and plentifully pervaded by the magnetical steams of the earth , from which it may not improbably be thought to receive the verticity it acquires ; and this the rather , because , as i have often tryed , and elsewhere mentioned , exper. xi if an oblong loadstone , once spoil'd by the fire , be thorowly ignited and cooled either perpendicularly , or lying horizontally north and south , it will , as well as a piece of iron handled after the same manner , be made to acquire new poles , or change the old ones , as the skilful experimenter pleases . but whatever be the true cause of the disparity of the fires operation upon a sound loadstone and a bar of iron , the effect seems to strengthen our conjecture , that magnetical operations may much depend upon mechanical principles . and i hope you will find further probability added to it , by some phaenomena recited in another paper , to which i once committed some promiscuous experiments and observations magnetical . exper. xii . if i may be allowed to borrow an experiment from a little tract * that yet lyes by me , and has been seen but by two or three friends , it may be added to the instances already given about the production of magnetism . for in that experiment i have shewn , how having brought a good piece of a certain kind of english oker , which yet perhaps was no fitter than other , to a convenient shape , though , till it was altered by the fire , it discovered no magnetical quality ; yet after it had been kept red-hot in the fire and was suffered to cool in a convenient posture , it was enabled to exercise magnetical operations upon a pois'd needle . exper. xiii . as for the abolition of the magnetical vertue in a body endow'd with it , it may be made without destroying the substantial or the essential form of the body , and without sensibly adding , diminishing , or altering any thing in reference to the salt , sulphur and mercury , which chymists presume iron and steel , as well as other mixt bodies , to be composed of . for it has been sometimes observed , that the bare continuance of a loadstone it self in a contrary position to that , which , when freely placed , it seems to effect , has either corrupted or sensibly lessened the vertue of it . what i formerly observed to this purpose . i elsewhere relate , and since that having a loadstone , whose vigor was look'd upon by skilfu● persons as very extraordinary , and which , whilst it was in an artificers hand , was therefore held at a high rate , i was careful , being by some occasions call'd out of london , to lock it up , with some other rarities , in a cabinet , whereof i took the key along with me , and still kept it in my own pocket . but my stay abroad proving much longer than i expected , when , being returned to london , i had occasion to make use of this loadstone for an experiment , i found it indeed where i left it , but so exceedingly decayed , as to its attractive power , which i had formerly examin'd by weight , by having lain almost a year in an inconvenient posture , that if it had not been for the circumstances newly related , i should have concluded that some body had purposely got it out in my absence , and spoiled it by help of the fire , the vertue being so much impaired , that i cared little to employ it any more about considerable experiments . exper. xiv and this corruption of the magnetical vertue , which may in tract of time be made in a loadstone it self , may in a trice be made by the help of that stone in an excited needle . for 't is observ'd by magnetical writers , and my own trials purposely made have assured me of it , that a well pois'd needle , being by the touch of a good loadstone , excited and brought to turn one of its ends to the north and the other to the south , it may be a contrary touch of the same loadstone be deprived of the faculty it had of directing its determinate extreams to determinate poles . nay , by another touch ( or the same , and even without immediate contact , if the magnet be vigorous enough ) the needle may presently have its direction so changed , that the end , which formerly pointed to the north pole , shall now regard the south , and the other end shall instead of the southern , respect the northen pole . exper. xv. and to make it the more probable , that the change of the magnetism communicated to iron may be produc'd at least in good part by mechanical operations , procuring some change of texture in the iron ; i shall subjoyn a notable experiment of the ingenious doctor power , which when i heard of , i tryed as well as i could ; and though , perhaps for want of conveniency , i could not make it fully answer what it promised , yet the success of the trial was considerable enough to make it pertinent in this place , and to induce me to think , it might yet better succeed with him , whose experiment , as far as it concerns my present purpose , imports , that if a puncheon , as smiths call it , or a rod of iron , be , by being ignited and suffered to cool north and south , and hammered at the ends , very manifestly endow'd with magnetical vertue , this vertue will in a trice be destroyed , by two or three smart blows of a strong hammer upon the middle of the oblong piece of iron . but magnetism is so fertile a subject , that if i had now the leisure and conveniency to range among magnetical writers , i should scarce doubt of finding , among their many experiments and observations , divers that might be added to those above delivered , as being easily applicable to my present argument . and i hope you will find farther probability added to what has been said , to shew , that magnetical operations may much depend upon mechanical principles , by some phaenomena recited in another paper , to which i once committed some promiscuous experiments and observations magnetical . finis . experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of electricity . by the honourable robert boyle esq ; fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of electricity . that 't is not necessary to believe electrical attraction ( which you know is generally listed among occult qualities ) to be the effect of a naked and solitary quality flowing immediately from a substantial form ; but that it may rather be the effect of a material effluvium , issuing from , and returning to , the electrical body ( and perhaps in some cases assisted in its operation by the external air ) seems agreable to divers things that may be observ'd in such bodies and their manner of acting . there are differing hypotheses ( and all of them mechanical , propos'd by the moderns ) to solve the phaenomena of electrical attraction . of these opinions the first is that of the learned jesuite cabaeus , who , though a peripatetick and commentator on aristotle , thinks the drawing of light bodies by jet , amber , &c. may be accounted for , by supposing , that the steams that issue , or , if i may so speak , sally , out of amber , when heated by rubbing , discuss and expell the neighbouring air ; which after it has deen driven off a little way , makes as it were a small whirlwind , because of the resistance it finds from the remoter air , which has not been wrought on by the electrical steams ; and that these , shrinking back swiftly enough to the amber , do in their returns bring along with them such light bodies as they meet with in their way . on occasion of which hypothesis i shall offer it to be consider'd , whether by the gravity of the atmospherical air , surmounting the specifick gravity of the little and rarifi'd atmosphere , made about the amber by its emissions , and comprising the light body fasten'd on by them , the attraction may not in divers cases be either caused or promoted . another hypothesis is that proposed by that ingenious gentleman sir kenelm digby , and embraced by the very learned dr. browne , ( who seems to make our gilbert himself to have been of it ) and divers other sagacious men . and according to this hypothesis , the amber , or other electrick , being chaf'd or heated , is made to emit certain rayes or files of unctuous steams , which , when they come to be a little cool'd by the external air , are somewhat condens'd , and having lost of their former agitation , shrink back to the body whence they sallied out , and carry with them those light bodies , that their further ends happen to adhere to , at the time of their retraction : as when a drop of oyl or syrup hangs from the end of a small stick , if that be dextrously and cautiously struck , the viscous substance will , by that impulse , be stretch'd out , and presently retreating , will bring along with it the dust or other light bodies that chanced to stick to the remoter parts of it . and this way of explaining electrical attractions is employ'd also by the learned gassendus , who addes to it , that these electrical rays ( if they may be so call'd ) being emitted several ways , and consequently crossing one another , get into the pores of the straw , or other light body to be attracted , and by means of their decussation take the faster hold of it , and have the greater force to carry it along with them , when they shrink back to the amber whence they were emitted . a third hypothesis there is , which was devised by the acute cartesius , who dislikes the explications of others , chiefly because he thinks them not applicable to glass , which he supposes unfit to send forth effluvia , and which is yet an electrical body ; and therefore attempts to account for electrical attractions by the intervention of certain particles , shap'd almost like small pieces of ribbond , which he supposes to be form'd of this subtile matter harbour'd in the pores or crevises of glass . but this hypothesis , though ingenious in it self , yet depending upon the knowledge of divers of his peculiar principles , i cannot intelligibly propose it in few words , and therefore shall refer you to himself for an account of it : which i the less scruple to do , because though it be not unworthy of the wonted acuteness of the authour , yet he seems himself to doubt , whether it will reach all electrical bodies ; and it seems to me , that the reason why he rejects the way of explicating attraction by the emission of the finer parts of the attrahent ( to which hypothesis , if it be rightly proposed , i confess my self very inclinable ) is grounded upon a mistake , which , though a philosopher may , for want of experience in that particular , without disparagement fall into , is nevertheless a mistake . for whereas our excellent author says , that electrical effluvia , such as are supposed to be emitted by amber , wax , &c. cannot be imagin'd to proceed from glass , i grant the supposition to be plausible , but cannot allow it to be true . for as solid a body as glass is , yet if you but dextrously rub for two or three minutes a couple of pieces of glass against one another , you will find that glass is not onely capable of emitting effluvia , but such ones as to be odorous , and sometimes to be rankly stinking . but it is not necessary , that in this paper , where i pretend not to write discourses but notes , i should consider all that has been , or i think may be , said for and against each of the above-mentioned hypotheses ; since they all agree in what is sufficient for my present purpose , namely , that electrical attractions are not the effects of a meer quality , but of a substantial emanation from the attracting body : and 't is plain , that they all endeavour to solve the phaenomena in a mechanical way , without recurring to substantial forms , and inexplicable qualities , or so much as taking notice of the hypostatical principles of the chymists . wherefore it may suffice in this place , that i mention-some phaenomena that in general make it probable , that amber , &c. draws such light bodies , as pieces of straw , hair , and the like , by vertue of some mechanical affections either of the attracting or of the attracted bodies , or of both the one and the other . 1. the first and most general observation is , that electrical bodies draw not unless they be warm'd ; which rule though i have now and then found to admit of an exception , ( whereof i elsewhere offer an account , ) yet , as to the generality of common electricks , it holds well enough to give much countenance to our doctrine , which teaches the effects of electrical bodies to be perform'd by corporeal emanations . for 't is known , that heat , by agitating the parts of a fit body , solicites it as it were to send forth its effluvia , as is obvious in odoriferous gums and perfumes , which , being heated , send forth their fragrant steams , both further and more copiously than otherwise they would . 2. next , it has been observ'd , that amber , &c. warm'd by the fire , does not attract so vigorously , as if it acquire an equal degree of heat by being chaf'd or rub'd : so that the modification of motion in the internal parts , and in the emanations of the amber , may , as well as the degree of it , contribute to the attraction . and my particular observations incline me to adde , that the effect may oftentimes be much promoted , by employing both these ways successively ; as i thought i manifestly found when i first warm'd the amber at the fire , and presently after chaf'd it a little upon a piece of cloth . for then a very few rubbings seem'd to excite it more than many more would otherwise have done : as if the heat of the fire had put the parts into a general , but confus'd , agitation ; to which 't was easie for the subsequent attrition ( or reciprocation of pressure ) to give a convenient modification in a body whose texture disposes it to become vigorously electrical . 3. another observation that is made about these bodies , is , that they require tersion as well as attrition ; and though i doubt whether the rule be infallible , yet i deny not but that weaker electricks require to be as well wip'd as chaf'd ; and even good ones will have their operation promoted by the same means . and this is very agreeable to our doctrine , since tersion , besides that it is , as i have sometimes manifestly known it , a kind or degree of attrition , frees the surface from those adherences that might choak the pores of the amber , or at least hinder the emanation of the steams to be so free and copious as otherwise it would be . 4. 't is likewise observ'd , that whereas the magnetical steams are so subtile , that they penetrate and perform their operation through all kind of mediums hitherto known to us ; electrical steams are like those of some odoriferous bodies , easily check'd in their progress , since 't is affirm'd by learned writers , who say they speak upon particular trial , 〈…〉 of the finest 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 is sufficient to hinder 〈…〉 operation of excited amber upon a straw or feather plac'd never so little beyond it . 5. it has been also observed , that the effects of electrical attraction are weaken'd if the air be thick and cloudy ; and especially if the south-wind blows : and that electricks display their vertue more faintly by night than by day , and more vigorously in clear weather , and when the winds are northerly . all which the learned kircherus asserts himself to have found true by experience ; insomuch that those bodies that are but faintly drawn when the weather is clear , will not , when 't is thick and cloudy , be at all moved . 6. we have also observed , that divers concretes , that are notably electrical , do abound in an effluviable matter ( if i may so call it ) which is capable of being manifestly evaporated by heat and rubbing . thus we see , that most resinous gums , that draw light bodies , do also , being moderately solicited by heat , ( whether this be excited by the fire , or by attrition or contusion ) emit steams . and in pieces of sulphur conveniently shaped , i found upon due attrition a sulphureous stink . and that piece of amber which i most employ , being somewhat large and very well polish'd , will , being rub'd upon a piece of woollen cloth , emit steams , which the nostrils themselves may perceive ; and they sometimes seem to me not unlike those that i took notice of , when i kept in my mouth a drop or two of the diluted tincture ( or solution of the finer parts ) of amber made with spirit of wine , or of sal armoniac . 7. it agrees very well with what has been said of the corporeal emanations of amber , that its attractive power will continue some time after it has been once excited . for the attrition having caus'd an intestine commotion in the parts of the concrete , the heat or warmth that is thereby excited ought not to cease , as soon as ever the rubbing is over , but to continue capable of emitting effluvia for some time afterwards , which will be longer or shorter according to the goodness of the electric , and the degree of the antecedent commotion : which joyn'd together may sometimes make the effect considerable , insomuch that in a warm day , about noon , i did with a certain body , not much , if at all , bigger than a pea , but very vigorously attractive , move to and fro a steel needle freely poysed , about three minutes ( or the twentieth part of an hour ) after i had left off rubbing the attrahent . 8. that it may not seem impossible , that electrical effluvia should be able to insinuate themselves into the pores of many other bodies , i shall adde , that i found them subtile enough to attract not onely spirit of wine , but that fluid aggregate of corpuscles we call smoak . for having well lighted a wax-taper , which i preferr'd to a common candle to avoid the stink of the snuff , i blew out the flame ; and , when the smoak ascended in a slender stream , held , at a convenient distance from it , an excited piece of amber or a chafed diamond , which would manifestly make the ascending smoak deviate from its former line , and turn aside , to beat , as it were , against the electric , which , if it were vigorous , would act at a considerable distance , and seemed to smoak for a pretty while together . 9. that 't is not in any peculiar sympathy between an electric and a body whereon it operates , that electrical attraction depends , seems the more probale , because amber , for instance , does not attract onely one determinate sort of bodies , as the loadstone does iron , and those bodies wherein it abounds ; but as far as i have yet tried , it draws indifferently all bodies whatsoever , being plac'd within a due distance from it , ( as my choicest piece of amber draws not onely sand and mineral powders , but filings of steel and copper , and beaten gold it self ) provided they be minute or light enough , except perhaps it be fire : i employ the word perhaps , because i am not yet so clear in this point . for having applied a strong electric at a convenient distance to small fragments of ignited matter , they were readily enough attracted , and shin'd , whilst they were sticking to the body that had drawn them : but when i look'd attentively upon them , i found the shining sparks to be , as it were , cloath'd with light ashes , which , in spite of my diligence , had been already form'd about the attracted corpuscles , upon the expiring of a good part of the fire ; so that it remain'd somewhat doubtful to me , whether the ignited corpuscles , whilst they were totally such , were attracted ; or whether the immediate objects of the attraction were not the new form'd ashes , which carried up with them those yet unextinguished parts of fire , that chanc'd to be lodg'd in them . but , as for flame , our countreyman gilbert delivers as his experiment , that an electric , though duly excited and applied , will not move the flame of the slenderest candle . which some will think not so easie to be well tried with common electricks , as amber , hard wax , sulphur , and the like unctuous concretes , that very easily take fire : therefore i chose to make my trial with a rough diamond extraordinarily attractive , which i could , without injuring it , hold as near as i pleas'd to the flame of a candle or taper ; and though i was not satisfi'd that it did either attract the flame , as it visibly did the smoak , or manifestly agitate it ; yet granting that gilbert's assertion will constantly hold true , and so , that flame is to be excepted from the general rule , yet this exception may well comport with the hypothesis hitherto countenanc'd , since it may be said , as 't is , if i mistake not , by kirkerus , that the heat of the flame dissipates the effluvia , by whose means the attraction should be perform'd . to which i shall adde , that possibly the celerity of the motion of the flame upwards , may render it very difficult for the electrical emanations to divert the flame from its course . 10. we have found by experiment , that a vigorous and well excited piece of amber will draw , not onely the powder of amber , but less minute fragments of it . and as in many cases one contrary directs to another , so this trial suggested a further , which , in case of good success , would probably argue , that in electrical attraction not onely effluvia are emitted by the electrical body , but these effluvia fasten upon the body to be drawn , and that in such a way , that the intervening viscous strings , which may be supposed to be made up of those cohering effluvia , are , when their agitation ceases , contracted or made to shrink inwards towards both ends , almost as a highly stretch'd lute-string does when 't is permitted to retreat into shorter dimensions . but the conjecture it self was much more easie to be made than the experiment requisite to examine it . for we found it no easie matter to suspend an electric , great and vigorous enough , in such a manner , that it might , whilst suspended , be excited , and be so nicely poised , that so faint a force as that wherewith it attracts light bodies should be able to procure a local motion to the whole body it self . but after some fruitless attempts with other electricks , i had recourse to the very vigorous piece of polish'd amber , formerly mention'd , and when we had with the help of a little wax suspended it by a silken thread , we chafed very well one of the blunt edges of it upon a kind of large pin-cushion cover'd with a course and black woollen stuff , and then brought the electric , as soon as we could , to settle notwithstanding its hanging freely at the bottom of the string . this course of rubbing on the edge of the amber we pitch'd upon for more than one reason ; for if we had chafed the flat side , the amber could not have approached the body it had been rub'd on without making a change of place in the whole electric , and , which is worse , without making it move ( contrary to the nature of heavy bodies ) somewhat upwards ; whereas the amber having , by reason of its suspension , its parts counterpoised by one another ; to make the excited edge approach to another body , that edge needed not at all ascend , but onely be moved horizontally , to which way of moving the gravity of the electric ( which the string kept from moving downwards ) could be but little or no hinderance . and agreeably to this we found , that if , as soon as the suspended and well rubb'd electric was brought to settle freely , we applied to the chafed edge , but without touching it , the lately mention'd cushion , which , by reason of its rough superficies and porosity , was fit for the electrical effluvia to fasten upon , the edge would manifestly be drawn aside by the cushion steadily held , and if this were slowly removed , would follow it a good way ; and when this body no longer detain'd it , would return to the posture wherein it had settled before . and this power of approaching the cushion by vertue of the operation of its own steams , was so durable in our vigorous piece of amber , that by once chafing it , i was able to make it follow the cushion no less than ten or eleven times . whether from such experiments one may argue , that 't is but , as 't were , by accident that amber attracts another body , and not this the amber ; and whether these ought to make us question , if electricks may with so much propriety , as has been hitherto generally supposed , be said to attract , are doubts that my design does not here oblige me to examine . some other phaenomena might be added of the same tendency with those already mention'd , ( as the advantage that electrical bodies usually get by having well polish'd or at least smooth surfaces , ) but the title of this paper promising some experiments about the production of electricity , i must not omit to recite , how i have been sometimes able to produce or destroy this quality in certain bodies , by means of alterations , that appear'd not to be other than mechanical . exper. i. and first , having with a very mild heat slowly evaporated about a fourth part of good turpentine , i found , that the remaining body would not , when cold , continue a liquor , but harden'd into a transparent gum almost like amber , which , as i look'd for , proved electrical . exper. ii. secondly , by mixing two such liquid bodies as petroleum and strong spirit of nitre in a certain proportion , and then distilling them till there remained a dry mass , i obtain'd a brittle substance as black as jet ; and whose superficies ( where it was contiguous to the retort ) was glossie like that mineral when polished ; and as i expected i found it also to resemble jet , in being endowed with an electrical faculty . exper. iii. thirdly , having burnt antimony to ashes , and of those ashes , without any addition , made a transparent glass , i found , that , when rubb'd , as electrical bodies ought to be to excite them , it answer'd my expectation , by manifesting a not inconsiderable electricity . and this is the worthier of notice , because , that as a vitrum antimonii , that is said to be purer than ordinary , may be made of the regulus of the same mineral , in whose preparation you know a great part of the antimonial sulphur is separated and left among the scoriae ; so glass of antimony made without additament , may easily , as experience has inform'd us , be in part reduc'd to a regulus , ( a body not reckon'd amongst electrical ones . ) and that you may not think , that 't is onely some peculiar and fixt part of the antimony that is capable of vitrification , let me assure you , that even with the other part that is wont to flye away , ( namely the flowers ) an antimonial glass may without an addition of other ingredients be made . exper. iv. fourthly , the mention of a vitrified body brings into my mind , that i more than once made some glass of lead per se , ( which i found no very easie work ) that also was not wholly destitute of an electrical vertue , though it had but a very languid one . and it is not here to be overlook'd , that this glass might easily be brought to afford again malleable lead , which was never reckon'd , that i know of , among electrical bodies . exper. v. fifthly , having taken some amber , and warily distill'd it , not with sand or powder'd brick , or some such additament as chymists are wont to use , for fear it should boyl over or break their vessels ; but by its self , that i might have an unmixed caput mortuum ; having made this distillation , i say , and continued it till it had afforded a good proportion of phlegm , spirit , volatile salt , and oyl , the retort was warily broken , and the remaining matter was taken out in a lump , which , though it had quite lost its colour being burnt quite black , and though it were grown strangely brittle in comparison of amber , so that they who believe the vertue of attracting light bodies to flow from the substantial form of amber , would not expect it in a body so changed and deprived of its noblest parts : yet this caput mortuum was so far from having lost its electrical faculty , that it seemed to attract more vigorously than amber it self is wont to do before it be committed to distillation . and from the foregoing instances afforded us by the glass of antimony , we may learn , that when the form of a body seems to be destroyed by a fiery analysis that dissipates the parts of it , the remaining substance may yet be endowed with electricity , as the caput mortuum of amber ●ay acquire it ; as in the case of the glass of antimony made of the calx and of the flowers . and from the second example above-mentioned , and from common glass which is electrical , we may also learn , that bodies that are neither of them apart observed to be endowed with electricity , may have that vertue result in the compounded substance that they constitute , though it be but a factitious body . to the foregoing experiments , whose success is wont to be uniform enough , i shall adde the recital of a surprising phaenomenon , which , though not constant , may help to make it probable , that electrical attractions need not be suppos'd still to proceed from the substantial , or even from the essential form of the attrahent ; but may be the effects of unheeded , and , as it were , fortuitous causes . and however , i dare not suppress so strange an observation , and therefore shall relate that which i had the luck to make of an odd sort of electrical attraction ( as it seem'd , ) not taken notice of ( that i know of ) by any either naturalist or other writer , and it is this . exper. vi. that false locks ( as they call them ) of some hair , being by curling or otherwise brought to a certain degree of driness , or of stiffness , will be attracted by the flesh of some persons , or seem to apply themselves to it , as hair is wont to do to amber or jet excited by rubbing . of this i had a proof in such locks worn by two very fair ladies that you know . for at some times i observed , that they could not keep their locks from flying to their cheeks , and ( though neither of them made any use , or had any need of painting ) from sticking there . when one of these beauties first shew'd me this experiment , i turn'd it into a complemental raillery , as suspecting there might be some trick in it , though i after saw the same thing happen to the others locks too . but as she is no ordinary virtuosa , she very ingeniously remov'd my suspicions , and ( as i requested ) gave me leave to satisfie my self further , by desiring her to hold her warm hand at a convenient distance from one of those locks taken off and held in the air . for as soon as she did this , the lower end of the lock , which was free , applied it self presently to her hand : which seem'd the more strange , because so great a multitude of hair would not have been easily attracted by an ordinary electrical body , that had not been considerably large , or extraordinarily vigorous . this repeated observation put me upon inquiring among some other young ladies , whether they had observed any such like thing , but i found little satisfaction to my question , except from one of them eminent for being ingenious , who told me , that sometimes she had met with these troublesome locks ; but that all she could tell me of the circumstances , which i would have been inform'd about , was , that they seem'd to her to flye most to her cheeks when they had been put into a somewhat stiff curle , and when the weather was frosty . * some years after the making the experiments about the production of electricity , having a desire to try , whether in the attractions made by amber , the motions excited by the air had a considerable interest , or whether the effect were not due rather to the emission and retraction of effluvia , which being of a viscous nature may consist of particles either branch'd or hookt , or otherwise fit for some kind of cohesion , and capable of being stretch'd , and of shrinking again , as leather thongs are : to examine this , i say , i thought the fittest way , if 't were practicable , would be , to try , whether amber would draw a light body in a glass whence the air was pumpt out . and though the trial of this seem'd very difficult to make , and we were somewhat discouraged by our first attempt , wherein the weight of the ambient air broke our receiver , which chanced to prove too weak , when the internal air had been with extraordinary diligence pumpt out ; yet having a vigorous piece of amber , which i had caus'd to be purposely turn'd and polish'd for electrical experiments , i afterwards repeated the trial , and found , that in warm weather it would retain a manifest power of attracting for several minutes ( for it stirred a pois'd needle after above 1 / 4 of an hour ) after we had done rubbing it . upon which encouragement we suspended it , being first well chafed , in a glass receiver that was not great , just over a light body ; and making haste with our air-pumb to exhaust th● glass , when the air was withdrawn , we did by a contrivance let down the suspended amber till it came very near the straw or feather , and perceived , as we expected , that in some trials , upon the least contact it would lift it up ; and in others , for we repeated the experiment , the amber would raise it without touching it , that is , would attract it . you will probably be the less dispos'd to believe , that electrical attractions must proceed from the substantial forms of the attrahents , or rom the predominancy of this or that chymical principle in them , if i acquaint you with some odd trials wherein the attraction of light bodies seem'd to depend upon very small circumstances . and though forbearing at present , to offer you my thoughts about the cause of these surprising phaenomena , i propose it onely as a probleme to your self and your curious friends , yet the main circumstances seeming to be of a mechanical nature , the recital of my trials will not be impertinent to the design and subject of this paper . exper. vii . i took then a large and vigorous piece of amber conveniently shaped for my purpose , and a downy feather , such as grows upon the bodies , not wings or tails of a somewhat large chicken : then having moderately excited the electrick , i held the amber so near it , that the neighbouring part of the feather was drawn by it and stuck fast to it ; but the remoter parts continued in their former posture . this done , i applyed my fore-finger to these erected downy feathers , and immediately , as i expected , they left their preceeding posture , and applied themselves to it as if it had been an electrical body . and whether i offered to them my nail , or the pulpy part of my finger , or held my finger towards the right hand or the left , or directly over , these downy feathers that were near the little quill did nimbly , and , for ought appear'd , equally turn themselves towards it , and fasten themselves to it . and to shew that the streams that issued out of so warm a body as my finger were not necessary to attract ( as men speak ) the abovementioned feathers , instead of my finger , i applied to them , after the same manner , a little cylindrical instrument of silver , to which they bowed and fastened themselves as they had done to my finger , though the tip of this instrument were presented to them in several postures . the like success i had with the end of an iron key , and the like also with a cold piece of polish'd black marble ; and sometimes the feathers did so readily and strongly fasten themselves to these extraneous and unexcited bodies , that i have been able ( though not easily ) to make one of them draw the feather from the amber it self . but it is diligently to be observ'd , that this unusual attraction happened onely whilst the electrical operation of the excited amber continued strong enough to sustain the feathers . for afterwards , neither the approach of my finger , nor that of the other bodies , would make the downy feathers change their posture . yet as soon as ever the amber was by a light affriction excited again , the feather would be disposed to apply it self again to the abovementioned bodies . and lest there should be any peculiarity in that particular feather , i made the trials with others ( provided they were not long enough to exceed the sphere of activity of the amber ) and found the experiment to answer my expectation . i made the experiment also at differing times , and with some months , if not rather years , of interval , but with the like success . and lest you should think these phaenomena proceed from some peculiarity in the piece of amber i employed , i shall add , that i found uniformity enough in the success , when , in the place of amber , i substituted another electrick , and particularly a smooth mass of melted brimstone . these are the phaenomena i thought fit to mention at present of this unusual way of drawing light bodies , and with this experiment i should conclude my notes about electricity , but that i think it will not be amiss before i take leave of this subject , to give this advertisement , that the event of electrical experiments is not always so certain as that of many others , being sometimes much varied by seemingly slight circumstances , and now and then by some that are altogether over-look'd . this observation may receive credit from some of the particulars above recited ( especially concerning the interest of the weather , &c. in electrical phaenomena . ) but now i shall add , that , not onely there may happen some variations in the success of trials made with electrical bodies , but that it is not so certain as many think , whether some particular bodies be or be not electrical . for the inquisitive kircherus reckons crystall among those gems to whom nature has denyed the attractive power we are speaking of ; and yet i remember not , that , among all the trials i have made with native crystall , i have found any that was destitute of the power he refuses them . also a late most learned writer reciting the electricks , reckon'd up by our industrious countryman gilbert , and increasing their number by some observed by himself , ( to which i shall now add , besides white saphyrs , and white english amethysts , the almost diaphanous spar of lead ore ) denies electricity to a couple of transparent gems , the cornelion and the emrald . and i do the less wonder he should do so to the former , because i have my self in vain tried to make any attraction with a piece of cornelion so large and fair , that 't was kept for a rarity ; and yet with divers other fine cornelions i have been able to attract some light bodies very manifestly , if not briskly ; and i usually wear a cornelian ring , that is richly enough endowed with electricity . but as for emralds , as i thought it strange that nature should have denied them a quality she has granted to so many other diaphanous gems , and even to crystal , so i thought the assertion deserved an examen , upon which i concluded , that at least it does not universally and constantly hold true . i had indeed seen in a ring a stone of price and great lustre , which , though green , i found to be , ( as i guess'd it would prove ) vigorously enough electrical . but this experiment , though seemingly conclusive , i did not look upon as a fair trial , because the stone was not a true emrald , but , which is rare , a green saphir . and i learned by inquiry of the skillful jeweller that cut it , that it was so far from having the softness of an emrald , that he found it harder than blew saphyrs themselves , which yet are gems of great hardness , and by some reputed second to none , but diamonds . without therefore concluding any thing from this experiment , save that , if the assertion i was to examin were true , the want of an electrical faculty might be thought a concomitant rather of the peculiar texture of the emrald than of its green colour , i proceeded to make trial with three or four emralds , whose being true was not doubted , and found them all somewhat , though not equally , endow'd with electricity , which i found to be yet more considerable in an emrald of my own , whose colour was so excellent , that by skilful persons 't was look'd on as a rarity . and though , by this success of my inquiry , i perceived i could not , as else i might have done , shew the curious a new way of judging of true and false emralds , yet the like way may be , though not always certain , yet oftentimes of use , in the estimating whether diamonds be true or counterfeit , especially , if , being set in rings , the surest way of trying them cannot conveniently be employed . for whereas glass , though it have some electricity , seems , as far as i have observed , to have but a faint one , there are often found diamonds that have a very vigorous one . and i do not remember i met with any electrick of the same bulk , that was more vigorous than a rough diamond i have , which is the same that i formerly mentioned to have moved a needle above three minutes after i had ceased to chafe it . and this brings into my mind , that it has been observed , that diamonds draw better whilst rough , than they do after they are cut and polish'd ; which seeming to contradict what has been observed by others and by us also , that amber , for instance , attracts more vigorously if the surface be made very smooth than otherwise , it induces me to conjecture , that , if this observation about diamonds be true , as some of my trials have now and then inclined me to think it , and if it do not in some cases considerably depend upon the loss of the ( electrical ) substance of the stone , by its being cut and ground , the reason may possibly be , that the great rapidness with which the wheels that serve to cut and polish diamonds must be mov'd , does excite a great degree of heat , ( which the sense ▪ may easily discover ) in the stone , and by that and the strong concussion it makes of its parts , may force it to spend its effluviable matter , if i may so call it , so plentifully , that the stone may be impoverish'd , and perhaps also , on the account of some little change in its texture , be rendred lesse disposed to emit those effluvia that are instruments of electrical attraction . but as i willingly leave the matter of fact to further trial , so i do the cause of it , in case it prove true , to farther inquiry . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a69611-e750 see tracts about cosmical qualities , &c. to which is prefixt an introduction to the history of particular qualities ; printed at oxford 1671. notes for div a69611-e2150 * see more of this in the preamble . * divers of the phaenomena , &c. of this experiment were afterwards printed numb . 15. of the ph. transact . notes for div a69611-e2630 * beniven . cap. 56. abditorum apud schenk . lib. 7. de venen . observ . 24. cent. 6. observ . notes for div a69611-e6520 see in the paper of tasts , exper. xii . notes for div a69611-e14610 * this refers to an essay of the authors about the usefulness of chymistry to , &c. notes for div a69611-e16380 see the beginning of the first section . notes for div a69611-e19240 * relating to the magnetism of the earth . notes for div a69611-e20140 princip . part 4. art. 184. experiments, notes, &c. about the mechanical origine or production of divers particular qualities among which is inferred a discourse of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qualities : together with some reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. 1676 approx. 498 kb of xml-encoded text transcribed from 291 1-bit group-iv tiff page images. text creation partnership, ann arbor, mi ; 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(eebo-tcp ; phase 1, no. a28980) transcribed from: (early english books online ; image set 60282) images scanned from microfilm: (early english books, 1641-1700 ; 836:20a) experiments, notes, &c. about the mechanical origine or production of divers particular qualities among which is inferred a discourse of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qualities : together with some reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum / by the honourable robert boyle ... boyle, robert, 1627-1691. [576] p. printed by e. flesher for r. davis ..., london : 1676. reproduction of originals in the henry e. huntington library and art gallery. item at 836:20a bound and filmed with: of the mechanical origine of heat and cold / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and observations about the mechanical production of tasts / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and observations about the mechanical production of odours / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qualities / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and notes about the mechanical origine and production of volatility / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experimental notes of the mechanical origine or production of fixtness. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of corrosiveness and corrosibility / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -of the mechanical causes of chymical precipitation / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1675 -experiments and notes about the mechanical production of magnetism / by the honourable robert boyle. london : printed by e. flesher for r. davis, 1676. created by converting tcp files to tei p5 using tcp2tei.xsl, tei @ oxford. re-processed by university of nebraska-lincoln and northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. eebo-tcp is a partnership between the universities of michigan and oxford and the publisher proquest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by proquest via their early english books online (eebo) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). the general aim of eebo-tcp is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic english-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in eebo. eebo-tcp aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the text encoding initiative (http://www.tei-c.org). the eebo-tcp project was divided into two phases. the 25,363 texts created during phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 january 2015. anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source. users should be aware of the process of creating the tcp texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data. text selection was based on the new cambridge bibliography of english literature (ncbel). if an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in ncbel, then their works are eligible for inclusion. selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. in general, first editions of a works in english were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably latin and welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so. image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in oxford and michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet qa standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. after proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of tcp data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a tcp editor. the texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the tei in libraries guidelines. copies of the texts have been issued variously as sgml (tcp schema; ascii text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable xml (tcp schema; characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless xml (tei p5, characters represented either as utf-8 unicode or tei g elements). keying and markup guidelines are available at the text creation partnership web site . eng science -early works to 1800. 2005-02 tcp assigned for keying and markup 2005-03 apex covantage keyed and coded from proquest page images 2005-04 judith siefring sampled and proofread 2005-04 judith siefring text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-10 pfs batch review (qc) and xml conversion experiments , notes , &c. about the mechanical origine or production of divers particular qualities : among which is inserted a discourse of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qualities ; together with some reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum . by the honourable robert boyle , esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1676. the publisher to the reader . to keep the reader from being at all surpriz'd at the date of the title-page , i must inform him , that a good part of the ensuing tracts were printed off , and in my custody , the last year ; and the rest had come out with them divers moneths ago , if the noble author had not been hinder'd from committing them to the press by the desire and hope of being able in a short time to send them abroad more numerous , and by his being hinder'd to do so partly by remove , partly by the want of some papers that were odly lost or spoil'd , and partly by the sickness of himself , and divers of his near relations . and some of these impediments do yet suppress what the author intended should have made a part of the book , which now he suffers to be publish'd without them , though divers of his papers about some other particular qualities have been written so long ago , as to have lain for many years neglected among other of his old writings : which that he may have both leasure and health to review , and fit for publication , is the ardent wish of the sincere lovers of real knowledge , who have reason to look on it as no mean proof of his constant kindness to experimental philosophy , that in these tracts he perseveres in his course of freely and candidly communicating his experiments and observations to the publick , notwithstanding the liberty that hath been too boldly taken to mention them as their own by some later writers ; as particularly by the compiler of the treatise , entitul'd polygraphice , who in two chapters hath allow'd himself to present his reader with alove fifty experiments , taken out of our authors book of colours , without owning any one of them to him , or so much as naming him or his book in either of those chapters , nor , that i remember , in any of the others . nor did i think this practice justified by the confession made in the preface , importing , that the compiler had taken the particulars he deliver'd from the writings of others . for , this general and perfunctory acknowledgment neither doth right to particular authors , nor , by naming them , enables the reader to know , whether the things deliver'd come from persons fit to be credited or not : and therefore , since 't is but too likely , that such concealment of the names , if not usurpation of the labours of the benefactors to philosophy , will prove much more forbidding to many others to impart their experiments , than as yet they have to our generous author ; it seems to be the interest of the commonwealth of learning openly to discountenance so discouraging a practice , and to shew , that they do not think it fit that possessors of useful pieces of knowledge should be strongly tempted to envy them to the publick , to the end onely that a few compilers should not be put upon so reasonable and easie a work , as by a few words or names to shew themselves just , if not grateful . but not to keep the reader any longer from the perusal of these tracts themselves , i shall conclude with intimating onely , that what our author saith in one of them concerning the insufficiency of the chymical hypothesis for explaining the effects of nature , is not at all intended by him to derogate from the sober professors of chymistry , or to discourage them from useful chymical operations ; forasmuch as i had the satisfaction , some years since , to see in the authors hands a discourse of his about the usefulness of chymistry for the advancement of natural philosophy ; with which also 't is hoped he will e're long gratifie the publick . advertisements relating to the following treatise . to obviate some misapprehensions that may arise concerning the ensuing notes about particular qualities , it may not be improper to adde something in this place to what has been said in another † paper in reference to those notes , and consequently to premise to the particular experiments some few general advertisements about them . and i. we may consider , that there may be three differing ways of treating historically of particular qualities . for either one may in a full and methodical history prosecute the phaenomena ; or one may make a collection of various experiments and observations whence may be gathered divers phaenomena to illustrate several , but not all of the heads or parts of such an ample or methodical history ; or ( in the third place ) one may in a more confin'd way content ones self to deliver such experiments and observations of the production , or the destruction or change of this or that quality , as , being duly reason'd on , may suffice to shew wherein the nature of that quality doth consist , especially in opposition to those erroneous conceits that have been entertained about it . of the first of these three ways of treating of a quality i pretend not to have given any compleat example ; but you will find , that i have begun such histories in my . specimens about fluidity and firmness , and in the experiments , observations , &c. that i have put together about cold. the second sort of historical writings i have given an instance of in my experiments about colours ; but in these ensuing notes , the occasion i had to make them having obliged me chiefly to have an eye to the disproval of the errours of the peripateticks and the chymists about them , i hope i shall not be thought to have fallen very short in my attempt , if i have ( here and there ) perform'd what may be required in the third way of writing historically of a quality ; my present design being chiefly to give an intelligent and historical account of the possible mechanical origination , not of the various phaenomena of the particular qualities succinctly mentioned in these notes ; though , my secondary end being to become a benefactor to the history of qualities by providing materials for my self or better architects , i have not scrupled to adde to those , that tend more directly to discover the nature or essence of the quality treated of , and to derive it from mechanical principles , some others ( which happen'd to come in my way ) that acquaint us but with some of the less luciferous phaenomena . ii. that you may not mistake what is driven at in many of the experiments and reasonings deliver'd or propos'd in the ensuing notes about particular qualities , i must desire you to take notice with me , what it is that i pretend to offer you some proofs of . for , if i took upon me to demonstrate , that the qualities of bodies cannot proceed from ( what the schools call ) substantial forms , or from any other causes but mechanical , it might be reasonably enough expected , that my argument should directly exclude them all . but since , in my explications of qualities , i pretend only , that they may be explicated by mechanical principles , without enquiring , whether they are explicable by any other , that which i need to prove , is , not that mechanical principles are the necessary and onely things whereby qualities may be explained , but that probably they will be found sufficient for their explication . and since these are confessedly more manifest and more intelligible than substantial form● and other scholastic entities ( if i may so call them ) 't is obvious , what the consequence will be of our not being oblig'd to have recourse to things , whose existence is very disputable , and their nature ve●y obscure . there are several ways that may be employed , some on one occasion and some on another , either more directly to reduce qualities ( as well as divers other things in nature ) to mechanical principles ; or , by shewing the insufficiency of the peripatetic and chymical theories of qualities , to recommend the corpuscularian doctrine of them . for further illustration of this point , i shall adde on this occasion , that there are three distinct sorts of experiments ( besides other proofs ) that may be reasonably employ'd , ( though they be not equally effi●acious ) when we treat of the origine of qualities . for some instances may be brought to shew , that the propos'd quality may be mechanically introduc'd into a portion of matter , where it was not before . other instances there may be to shew , that by the same means the quality may be notably varied as to degrees , or other not essential attributes . and by some instances also it may appear , that the quality is mechanically expell'd from , or abolish'd in , a portion of matter that was endow'd with it before . sometimes also by the same operation the former quality is destroyed , and a new one is produc'd . and each of these kinds of instances may be usefully employ'd in our notes about particular qualities . for , as to the first of them , there will be scarce any difficulty . and as to the second , since the permanent degrees as well as other attributes of qualities are said to flow from ( and do indeed depend upon ) the same principles that the quality it self does ; if , especially in bodies inanimate , a change barely mechanical does notably and permanently alter the degree or other considerable attribute ; it will afford , though not a clear proof , yet a probable presumption , that the principles whereon the quality it self depends are mechanical . and lastly , if , by a bare mechanical change of the internal disposition and structure of a body , a permanent quality , confess'd to flow from its substantial form or inward principle , be abolish'd , and perhaps also immediately succeeded by a new quality mechanically producible ; if , i say , this come to pass in a body inanimate , especially if it be also , as to sense similar , such a phaenomenon will not a little favour that hypothesis which teaches , that these qualities depend upon certain contextures and other mechanical affections of the small parts of the bodies , that are indowed with them , and consequently may be abolish'd when that necessary modification is destroyed . this is thus briefly premis'd to shew the pertinency of alledging differing kinds of experiments and phaenomena in favour of the corpuscular hypothesis about qualities . what has been thus laid down , may , i hope , facilitate and shorten most of the remaining work of this preamble , which is to sh●w , though but very briefly , that there may be several ways , not impertinently employable to recommend the corpuscularian doctrine of qualities . for first , it may sometimes be shewn , that a substantial form cannot be pretended to be the necessary principle of this or that quality ; as w●ll ( for instance ) hereafter be made manifest in the asperity and smoothness of bodies , and in the magnetical vertue residing in a piece of iron that has been impregnated by a load-stone . 't is true , that the force of such instances is indirect , and that they do not expresly prove the hypothesis in whose favour they are alledged , but yet they may do it good service by disproving the grounds and conclusions of the adversaries , and so ( by removing prejudices ) making way for the better entertainment of the truth . secondly , we may sometimes obtain the same or the like quality by artificial and sometimes even temporary compositions , which , being but factitious bodies , are by leerned adversaries confess'd not to have substantial forms , and can indeed reasonably be presum'd to have but resulting temperaments : as will be hereafter exemplifi'd in the production of green by compounding blew and yellow , and in the electrical faculty of glass ; and in the temporary whiteness produc'd by beating clear oyl and fair water into an ointment , and by beating water into a froth , and , more permanently , in making coral white by flawing it with heat , and in divers other particulars , that will more properly be elsewhere mention'd . thirdly then , in some cases the quality propos'd may be either introduced , or vary'd , or destroy'd in an inanimate body , when no change appears to be made in the body , except what is mechanical , and what might be produc'd in it , supposing such a parcel of matter were artificially fram'd and constituted as the body is , though without any substantial form , or other such like internal principle . so when a piece of glass , or of clarify'd rosin , is , by being beaten to powder , deprived of its transparency , and made white , there appears no change to be made in the pulveriz'd body , but a comminution of it into a multitude of corpuscles , that by their number and the various scituations of their surfaces are fitted copiously to reflect the sincere light several ways , or give some peculiar modification to its rayes ; and hinder that free passage of the beams of light , that is requisite to transparency . fourthly , as in the cases belonging to the foregoing number there appears not to intervene in the patient or subject of the change , any thing but a mechanical alteration of the mechanical structure or constitution ; so in some other cases it appears not , that the agent , whether natural or factitious , operates on the patient otherwise than mechanically , employing onely such a way of acting as may proceed from the mechanisme of the matter , which it self consists of , and that of the body it acts upon . as when goldsmiths burnish a plate or vessel of silver , that having been lately boil'd lookt white before , though they deprive it of the greatest part of its colour , and give it a new power of reflecting the beams of light and visible objects , in the manner proper to specular bodies ; yet all this is done by the intervention of a burnishing tool , which often is but a piece of steel or iron conveniently shap'd ; and all that this burnisher does , is but to depress ●●●●●tle prominencies of the silver , and reduce them , and the little cavites of it , to one physically level or plain superficies . and so when a hammer striking often on a nail , makes the head of it grow hot , the hammer is but a purely mechanical agent , and works by local motion . and when by striking a lump of glass , it breaks it into a multitude of small parts that compose a white powder , it acts as mechanically in the production of that whiteness as it does in driving in a nail to the head . and so likewise , when the powder'd glass or colophony lately mention'd is , by the fire , from a white and opacous body , reduc'd into a colourless ( or a reddish ) and transparent one , it appears not , that the fire , though a natural agent , need work otherwise than machanically , by colliquating the incoherent grains of powder into one mass ; wherein , the ranks of pores not being broken and interrupted as before , the incident beams of light are allow'd every way a free passage through them . fifthly , the like phaenomena to those of a quality to be explicated , or at least as difficult in the same kind , may be produc'd in bodies and cases , wherein 't is plain we need not recurre to substantial forms . thus a varying colour , life that which is admired in a pigeons neck , may be produc'd in changeable taffety , by a particular way of ranging and connecting silk of several colours into one piece of stuff . thus we have known opals casually imitated and almost excell'd by glass , which luckily degenerated in the furnace . and somewhat the life changeable and very delightful colour i remember to have introduced into common glass with silver or with gold and mercury . so likewise meerly by blowing fine crystal-glass at the flame of a lamp to a very extraordinary thinness , we have made it to exhibit , and that vividly , all the colours ( as they speak ) of the rainbow ; and this power of pleasing by diverfiyying the light , the glass , if well preserved , may keep for a long time . thus also by barely beating gold into such thin leaves as artificers and apothecaries are wont to employ , it will be brought to exhibite a green colour , when you hold it against the light , whether of the day , or of a good candle ; and this kind of greenness as 't is permanent in the foliated gold , so i have found by trial , that if the sun-beams , somewhat united by a burning-glass , be trajected through the expanded leaf , and cast upon a piece of white paper , they will appear there as if they had been tinged in their passage . nay , and sometimes a slight and almost momentany mechanical change will seem to over rule nature , and introduce into a body the quite opposite quality to that she had given it : as when a piece of black horn is , onely by being thinly scraped with the edge of a knife or a piece of glass , reduced to permanently white shavings . and to these instances of colours , some emphatical and some permanent , might be added divers belonging to other qualities , but that i ought not to anticipate what you will elsewhere meet with . there is yet another way of arguing in favour of the corpuscularian doctrine of qualities , which , though it do not afford direct proofs of its being the best hypothesis , yet it may much strengthen the arguments drawn from other topicks , and thereby serve to recommend the doctrine it self . for , the use of an hypothesis being to render an intelligible account of the causes of the effects or phaenomena propos'd , without crossing the laws of nature or other phaenomena , the more numerous and the more various the particulars are , whereof some are explicable by the assign'd hypothesis , and some are agreeable to it , or at least are not dissonant from it , the more valuable is the hypothesis , and the more likely to be true . for 't is much more difficult , to finde an hypothesis that is not true which will suit with many phaenomena , especially if they be of various kinds , than but with few . and for this reason i have set down among the instances belonging to particular qualities some such experiments and observations , as we are now speaking of , since , although they be not direct proofs of the preferrablennss of our doctrine , yet they may serve for confirmation of it ; though this be not the only or perhaps the chief reason of their being mention'd . for whatever they may be as arguments , since they are matters of fact , i thought it not amiss to take this occasion of preserving them from being lost ; since , whether or no they contribute much to the establishment of the mechanical doctrine about qualities , they will at least contribute to the natural history of them . iii. i shall not trouble the reader with a recital of those unlucky accidents , that have hinder'd the subjects of the following book from being more numerous , and i hope he will the more easily excuse their paucity , if he be advertised , that although the particular qualities , about which some experiments and notes , by way of specimens , are here presented , be not near half so many as were intended to be treated of ; yet i was careful to chuse them such as might comprehend in a small number a great variety ; there being scarce one sort of qualities , of which there is not an instance given in this small book , since therein experiments and thoughts are deliver'd about heat and cold , which are the chief of the four first qualities ; about tasts and odours , which are of those , that , being the immediate objects of sense , are wont to be call'd sensible qualities ; about volatility and fixity , corrosiveness and corrosibility , which , as they are found in bodies purely natural , are referrable to those qualities , that many physical writers call second qualities , and which yet , as they may be produced and destroyed by the chymists art , may be stiled chymical qualities , and the spagyrical ways of introducing or expelling them may be referr'd to chymical operations , of which there is given a more ample specimen in the mechanical account of chymical precipitations . and lastly , some notes are added about magnetism and electricity , which are known to belong to the tribe of occult qualities . iv. if a want of apt coherence and exact method be discover'd in the following essays , 't is hop'd , that defect will be easily excus'd by those that remember and consider , that these papers were originally little better than a kind of rapsody of experiments , thaughts , and observations , occasionally thrown together by way of annotations upon some passages of a discourse , ( about the differing parts and redintegration of nitre ) wherein some things were pointed at relating to the particular qualities that are here more largely treated of . and though the particulars that concern some of these qualities , were afterwards ( to supply the place of those borrow'd by other papers whilst these lay by me ) increas'd in number ; yet it was not to be expected , that their accession should as well correct the form as augment the matter of our annotations . and as for the two tracts , that are inserted among these essays about qualities ; i mean the discourse of the imperfection of the chymical doctrine of them , and the reflections on the hypothesis of acidum and alcali , the occasion of their being made parts of this book is so far express'd in the tracts themselves , that i need not here trouble the reader with a particular account of it . v. i do not undertake , that all the following accounts of particular qualities would prove to be the very true ones , nor every explication the best that can be devis'd . for besides that the difficulty of the subject , and incompleatness of the history we yet have of qualities , may well deterre a man , less diffident of his own abilities than i justly am , from assuming so much to himself , it is not absolutely necessary to my present design . for , mechanical explications of natural phaenomena do give so much more satisfaction to ingenious minds , than those that must employ substantial forms , sympathy , antipathy , &c. that the more judicious of the vulgar philosophers themselves prefer them before all others , when they can be had ; ( as is elsewhere shewn at large , ) but then they look upon them either as confined to mechanical engines , or at least but as reaching to very few of nature's phaenomena , and , for that reason , unfit to be received as physical principles . to remove therefore this grand prejudice and objection , which seems to be the chief thing that has kept off rational inquirers from closing with the mechanical philosophy , it may be very conducive , if not sufficient , to propose such mechanical accounts of particular qualities themselves , as are intelligible and possible , and are agreeable to the phaenomena whereto they are applied . and to this it is no more necessary that the account propos'd should be the truest and best that can possibly be given , than it is to the proving that a clock is not acted by a vital principle , ( as those chineses thought , who took the first , that was brought them out of europe , for an animal , ) but acts as an engine , to do more than assign a mechanical structure made up of wheels , a spring , a hammer , and other mechanical pieces , that will regularly shew and strike the hour , whether this contrivance be or be not the very same with that of the particular clock propos'd ; which may indeed be made to move either with springs or weights , and may consist of a greater or lesser number of wheels , and those differingly scituated and connected ; but for all this variety 't will still be but an engine . i intend not therefore by proposing the theories and conjectures ventur'd at in the following papers , to debar my self of the liberty either of altering them , or of substituting others in their places , in case a further progress in the history of qualities shall suggest better hypotheses or explications . and 't was but agreeable to this intention of mine , that i should , as i have done , on divers occasions in the following notes , imploy the word or , and express my self somewhat doubtingly , mentioning more than one cause of a phaenomenon , or reason of an opinion , without dogmatically declaring for either ; since my purpose in these notes was rather to shew , it was not necessary to betake our selves to the scholastick or chymical doctrine about qualities , than to act the umpire between the differing hypotheses of the corpuscularians ; and , provided i kept my self within the bounds of mechanical philosophy , my design allowed me a great latitude in making explications of the phaenomena , i had occasion to take notice of . finis . directions for the book-binder ; to be put immediately after the general title page . the several tracts of this book are to be bound in the order following , viz. after the preface of the publisher to the reader , and the advertisements relating to the whole treatise , is to follow , 1. the tract of heat and cold. 2. of tasts . 3. of odours . 4. of the imperfection of the chymists doctrine of qualities . 5. reflexions upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum . 6. advertisements relating to chymical qualities , to be bound next after the title page to volatility . 7. of volatility . 8. of fixtness . 9. of corrosiveness & corrosibility . 10. of chymical precipitation . 11. of magnetism . 12. of electricity . errata . in the tract of heat and cold , p. 28. at the end of the page dele finis , and go on to exp. ix . p. 40. l. 21. r. degree of rapidness . p. 102. l. 15. put a comma after the word before . in the tract of corrosiveness and corrosibility read in the current title on the top of p. 2. and 3. & seqq . corrosiveness and corrosibility , not or . of the mechanical origine of heat and cold . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of heat and cold . sect . i. about the mechanical production of cold. heat & cold being generally lookt upon as the most active among qualities , from which many other qualities are deducible , and by which many of nature's phaenomena , especially among the peripateticks , are attempted to be explicated ; i suppose it will be very proper to begin with instances of them to shew , that qualities may be mechanically produced or destroyed . a not useless paraphrase of which expression may be this , that a portion of matter may come to be endowed with a quality , which it had not before , or to be deprived of one that it had , or ( sometimes ) to acquire or lose a degree of that quality ; though on the part of the matter ( or , as some would speak , of the patient ) there do not appear to intervene any more than a change of texture , or some other mechanical alteration ; and though the agents ( on their part ) do not appear to act upon it otherwise , than after a mechanical manner , that is , by their bigness , shape , motion , and those other attributes by vertue whereof mechanical powers and engines perform their operations ; and this without having recourse to the peripatetic substantial forms and elements , or to the hypostatical principles of the chymists . and having here ( as in a proper place ) to avoid ambiguity , premised once for all , this * summary declaration of the sense , agreeably whereunto i would have these terms understood in the following notes about the origine of particular qualities ; i proceed now to set down some few examples of the mechanical production of cold & heat , beginning with those that relate to the former , because by reason of their paucity they will be quickly dispatcht . and i hope i shall not need to make an apology for mentioning no greater number ; since i scarce remember to have met with any instances of this kind in any of the classick writers of natural philosophy . exper. i. my first experiment is afforded me by the dissolution of sal armoniac , which i have somewhat wonder'd , that chymists having often occasion to purifie that salt by the help of water , should not have , long since , and publickly , taken notice of . for if you put into three or four times its weight of water a pound or but half a pound ( or even less ) of powder'd sal armoniack , and stir it about to hasten the dissolution , there will be produc'd in the mixture a very intense degree of coldness , such as will not be onely very sensible to his hand that holds the glass whilst the dissolution is making , but will very manifestly discover it self by its operation upon a thermoscope . nay , i have more than once by wetting the outside of the glass , where the dissolution was making , and nimbly stirring the mixture , turn'd that externally adhering water into real ice , ( that was scrap'd off with a knife ) in less than a minute of an hour . and this thus generated cold continued considerably intense , whilst the action of dissolution lasted ; but afterwards by degrees abated , and within a very few hours ceas'd . the particular phaenomena i have noted in the experiment , and the practical uses that may be made of it i reserve for another place * , the knowledge of them being not necessary in this , where what i have already related , may suffice for my present argument . and to shew , that not onely a far more intense degree of cold may emerge in this mixture , than was to be found in either of the ingredients before they were mingled , but a considerable coldness may be begun to be produc'd between bodies that were neither of them actually cold before they were put together , i will subjoin a transcript of what i find to this purpose among my adversaria . exper. ii. [ i remember that once i had a mind to try , whether the coldness produced upon the solution of beaten sal armoniac in water , might not be more probably referr'd to some change of texture or motion resulting from the action of the liquor upon the salt , than to any infrigidation of the water made by the suddain dispersion of so many saline grains of powder , which by reason of their solidity may be suspected to be actually more cold than the water they are put into ; i therefore provided a glass full of that liquor , and having brought it to such a temper , that its warmth made the spirit of wine in the seal'd weather-glass manifestly , though not nimbly , ascend ; i took out the thermoscope , and laid it in powder'd sal armoniac , warm'd beforehand ; so that the tincted liquor was made to ascend much nimblier by the salt than just before by the water ; and having presently remov'd the instrument into that liquor again , and poured the somewhat warm sal armoniac into the same , i found , as i imagin'd , that within a space of time which i guess'd to be about half a minute or less , the spirit of wine began hastily to subside , and within a few minutes fell above a whole division and a quarter below the mark at which it stood in the water , before that liquor or the salt were warm'd . nor did the spirit in a great while reascend to the height which it had when the water was cold . the same experiment , being at another time reiterated , was tried with the like success ; which second may therefore serve for a confirmation of the first . ] exper. iii. having a mind likewise to shew some ingenious men , how much the production of heat and cold depends upon texture and other mechanical affections , i thought fit to make again a sal armoniac by a way i formerly publish'd , that i might be sure to know what ingredients i employ'd , and shew their effects as well before conjunction as after it . i took then spirit of salt , and spirit of fermented or rather putrified urine ; and having put a seal'd weather-glass into an open vessel , where one of them was pour'd in , i put the other by degrees to it , and observ'd , that , as upon their mingling they made a great noise with many bubbles , so in this conflict they lost their former coldness , and impell'd up the spirit of wine in the seal'd thermoscope : then slowly evaporating the superfluous moisture , i obtained a fine sort of sal armoniac for the most part figur'd not unlike the other , when being dissolv'd and filtrated , it is warily coagulated . this new salt being gently dry'd i put into a wide glass of water , wherein i had before plac'd a seal'd weather-glass , that the included spirit might acquire the temper of the ambient liquor , and having stirr'd this salt in the water , though i took it then off the mantle-tree of a chimney that had had fire in it divers hours before , it did , as i expected , make the tincted spirit hastily subside and fall considerably low . exper. iv. since if two bodies upon their mixture acquire a greater degree of cold than either of them had before there is a production of this additional degree of that quality , it will be proper to add on this occasion the ensuing experiment . we took a competent quantity of acid spirit distill'd from roch-allom , ( that , though rectifi'd , was but weak , ) which , in the spirit of that salt , is not strange . of this we put into a wide mouth'd glass ( that was not great ) more than was sufficient to cover the globulous part of a good seal'd thermoscope , and then suffering the instrument to stay a pretty while in the liquor , that the spirit of wine might be cool'd as much as the ambient was , we put in little by little some volatile salt sublimed from sal armoniac and a fixt alcali , and notwithstanding the very numerous ( but not great ) bubbles , and the noise and froath that were produced , as is usual upon the reaction of acids and alcalys , the tincted spirit in the weather-glass , after having continued a good while at a stand , began a little to descend , and continued ( though but very slowly ) to do so , till the spirit of allom was glutted with the volatile salt ; and this descent of the tincted liquor in the instrument being measur'd , appear'd to be about an inch ( for it manifestly exceeded seven eighths . ) by comparing this experiment with the first part of the foregoing , we may gather , that when volatile and urinous salts or spirits ( for the saline particles appear sometimes in a dry and sometimes in a liquid form ) tumultuate upon their being mixt with acids , neither the heat nor the cold that ensues is produc'd by a conflict with the acids precisely as it is acid , since we have seen that an urinous spirit produc'd an actual heat with spirit of salt , and the distill'd salt of sal armoniac , which is also urinous , with the acid spirit of roch-allom produces not a true effervescence , but a manifest coldness : as the same salt also did in a trial of another sort , which was this . exper. v. we took one part of oyl of vitriol , and shaking it into twelve parts of water we made a mixture , that at first was sensibly warm ; then suffering this to cool , we put a sufficient quantity of it into a wide mouth'd glass , and then we put a good thermoscope hermetically seal'd , above whose ball the compounded liquor reached a pretty way . after some time had been allowed that the liquor in the thermometer might acquire the temper of the ambient ; we put in by degrees as much volatile salt of sal armoniac as would serve to satiate the acid spirits of the mixture : for , though these two made a notable conflict with tumult , noise , and froth , yet 't was but a cold ebullition ( if i may so stile it , ) for the spirit in the thermoscope descended about an inch beneath the mark it rested at , when the seeming effervescence began . exper. vi. 't is known that salt-peter being put into common water produces a sensible coldness in it , as it also does in many other liquors : but that the same salt put into a liquor of another constitution may have a quite differing effect , i have convinc'd some inquisitive persons by mingling eight ounces of fine salt-peter powder'd with six ounces of oyl of vitriol : for by that commixture with a salt that was not only actually , but , as to many other bodies , potentially cold , the oyl of vitriol , that was sensibly cold before , quickly conceived a considerable degree of heat , whose effects also became visible in the copious fumes that were emitted by the incalescent mixture . exper. vii . this brings into my mind , that though gunpowder seems to be of so igneous a nature , that , when 't is put upon a coal , it is turn'd presently into flame capable of promoting the deflagration of the charcoal , and kindling divers bodies it meets with in its way ; yet if some ounces of gunpowder reduced to powder be thrown into four or five times as much water , it will very manifestly impart a coldness to it , as experience made with , as well as without , a seal'd thermoscope has assured me . this and the foregoing experiment do readily suggest an inquiry into the nature of the coldness , which philosophers are wont to oppose to that which immediately and upon the first contact affect the organs of sense , and which therefore they call actual or formal . the success of this experiment upon a second trial serv'd to confirm it , which is the more strange , because i have found , that a small quantity of oyl of vitriol , not beforehand mingled with water , would produce a notable heat in its conflict with a small portion of just such salt as i employed before ( both the parcels having been , if i well remember , taken out of the same glass . ) and this heat did upon trial , made with the former thermoscope , make the tincted spirit ascend much further than the lately recited experiment made it subside . a digression about potential coldness . potential coldness has been generally lookt upon , and that partly perhaps upon the score of its very name , as so abstruse a quality , that 't is not onely rational but necessary to derive it from the substantial forms of bodies . but i confess i see no necessity of believing it not to be referrable to mechanical principles . for as to the chief instances of potential coldness , which are taken from the effects of some medicines and aliments in the bodies of men , it may be said without improbability , that the produced refrigeration proceeds chiefly from this , that the potentially cold body is made up of corpuscles of such size , shape , &c. that being resolved and disjoined by the menstruum of the stomach , or the fluids it may elsewhere meet with , they do so associate themselves with the small parts of the blood and other liquors , as , by clogging them or otherwise , to lessen their wonted agitation , and perhaps make them act in a peculiar way as well as less briskly on the nervous and fibrous parts ; and the perception of this imminution ( and perhaps change ) of motion in the organs of feeling is that , which , being referr'd to the body that produces it , we call its potential coldness . which quality appears by this account to be , as i was saying before , but a relative thing , and is wont to require the diffusion or dispersion of the small parts of the corpuscles of the agent , and their mingling themselves with the liquors or the small parts of the body they are to refrigerate . and therefore , if it be granted , that in agues there is some morbifick matter of a viscous or not easily dissipable texture , that is harbor'd in some part of the body , and requires such a time to be made fluid and resolvable ; the cold fits of agues need not be so much admired as they usually are ; since , though just before the fit the same parcel of matter that is to produce it were actually in the body , yet it was not by reason of its clamminess actually resolved into small parts , and mingled with those of the bloud , and consequently could not make such a change in the motion of that liquor as is felt in the cold fit of an ague ; ( for , of the further change that occasions the hot fit , i am not here to speak ) and in some other diseases a small quantity of matter , being resolved into minute parts , may be able to produce a great sense of coldness in some part of a body , which by reason of the structure of that part may be peculiarly disposed to be affected thereby ; as i have known hypochondriack and hysterical women complain of great degrees of coldness , that would suddenly invade some particular part , chiefly of the head or back , and be for a good while troublesome there . and that , if a frigorific vapour or matter be exceeding subtile , an inconsiderable quantity of it being dispersed through the bloud may suffice to produce a notable refrigeration , i have learnt by inquiry into the effects of some poysons ; and 't is not very material , whether the poyson , generally speaking , be cold or hot , if it meet with a body dispos'd to have those affections that pass for cold ones produced in it . for i have made a chymical liquor , that was penetrant and fiery enough to the taste , and had acquired a subtlety and briskness from distillation , with which i could almost in a trice , giving it but in the quantity of about a drop , cast an animal into that which appear'd a sleep , and the like liquor , in a not much greater quantity , being , by i know not whose mistake , apply'd to the aking tooth of a very ingenious person , did presently , as he soon after told me , give him an universal refrigeration , and trembling , worse than the cold paroxisme of a quartane . and though scorpions do sometimes cause , by their sting , violent heats in the parts they hurt , yet sometimes also the quite contrary happens , and their poyson proves , in a high degree , potentially cold ; as may be learnt from the two following observations recorded by eminent physicians . * famulum habui , ( saith benivenius ) qui à scorpione ictus , tam subito ac tam frigido sudore toto corpore perfusus est , ut algentissimâ nive atque glacie sese opprimi quereretur . verùm cùm algenti illi solam theriacam ex vino potentiore exhibuissem , illicò curatus est : thus far he : to whose narrative i adde this of amatus lusitanus . vir qui à scorpione in manus digito punctus fuit , multum dolebat , & refrigeratus totus eontremebat , & per corpus dolores , cute totâ quasi acu punctâ , formicantes patiebatur , &c. i cannot now stay to enquire , whether there may not be in these great refrigerations , made by so small a quantity of poyson , some small concretions or coagulations made of the minute particles of the bloud into little clots , less agile and more unwieldy than they were when they moved separately : which may be illustrated by the little curdlings that may be made of the parts of milk by a very small proportion of runnet or some acid liquor , and the little coagulations made of the spirit of wine by that of urine : nor will i now enquire , whether , besides the retardment of the motion of the bloud , some poysons and other analogous agents may not give the motion of it a new modification , ( as if some corpuscles that usually are more whirl'd or brandish'd be put into a more direct motion ) that may give it a peculiar kind of grating or other action upon the nervous and fibrous parts of the body . these , i say , and other suspicious that have sometimes come into my thoughts , i must not stay to examine ; but shall now rather offer to consideration , whether , since some parts of the humane body are very differing from others in their structure and internal constitution ; and since also some agents may abound in corpuscles of differing shapes , bulks , and motions , the same medicine may not in reference to the same humane body be potentially cold or potentially hot , according as 't is applied ; or perhaps may , upon one or both of the accounts newly mentioned , be cold in reference to one part of the body , and hot in reference to the other . and these effects need not be always ascrib'd to the meer and immediate action of the corpuscles of the medicine , but sometimes to the new quality they acquire in their passage by associating themselves with the bloud or other fluids of the body , or to the expulsion of some calorific or frigorific corpuscles , or to the disposition they give the part on which they operate , to be more or less permeated and agitated than before by some subtile aethereal matter , or other efficients of heat or cold. some of these conjectures about the relative nature of potentially cold bodies , may be either confirmed or illustrated by such instances as these ; that spirit of wine being inwardly taken is potentially very hot , and yet being outwardly applied to some burns and some hot tumours does notably abate the heat of the inflamed parts , though the same spirit applied even outwardly to a tender eye will cause a great and dolorous agitation in it . and camphire , which in the dose of less than a half or perhaps a quarter of a scruple , has been observed to diffuse a heat through the body , is with success externally applied by physicians and chirurgeons in refrigerating medicines . but i leave the further inquiry into the operations of medicines to physicians , who may possibly , by what has been said , be assisted to compose the differences between some famous writers about the temperament of some medicines , as mercury , camphire , &c. which some will have to be cold , and others maintain to be hot ; and shall onely offer by way of confirming , in general , that potential coldness is onely a relative quality , a few particulars ; the first whereof is afforded by comparing together the vi. and the vii . experiment before going , ( which have oceasion'd this digression about potential coldness ; ) since by them it seems probable , that the same thing may have it in reference to one body , and not to another , according to the disposition of the body it operates upon , or that operates upon it . and the fumes of lead have been observed sometimes ( for i have not found the effect to succeed always ) to arrest the fluidity of mercury , which change is supposed to be the effect of a potential coldness belonging to the chymists saturn in reference to fluid mercury , though it have not that operation on any other liquor that we know of . and lastly , ( for i would not be too prolix ) though nitre and sal armoniac be both apart and joyntly cold in reference to water , and though , however nitre be throughly melted in a crucible , it will not take fire of it self , yet if , whilst it is in fusion , you shall by degrees cast on it some powder'd sal armoniac , it will take fire and flash vehemently , almost as if sulphur had been injected . but our excursion has , i fear , lasted too long , and therefore i shall presently re-enter into the way , and proceed to set down some trials about cold. exper. viii . in the first experiment we observed , that upon the pouring of water upon sal armoniac there ensued an intense degree of cold , and we have elsewhere recited , that the like effect was produc'd by putting , instead of common water , oyl of vitriol to sal armoniac ; but now , to shew further , what influence motion and texture may have upon such trials , it may not be amiss to adde the following experiment : to twelve ounces of sal armoniac we put by degrees an equal weight of water , and whilst the liquor was dissolving the salt , and by that action producing a great coldness , we warily pour'd in twelve ounces also of good oyl of vitriol ; of which new mixture the event was , that a notable degree of heat was quickly produced in the glass wherein the ingredients were confounded , as unlikely as it seemed , that , whereas each of the two liquors is wont with sal armoniac to produce an intense cold , both of them acting on it together should produce the contrary quality . but the reason i had to expect the success , i met with , was this , that 't was probable the heat arising from the mixture of the two liquors would overpower the coldness produceable by the operation of either , or both , of them upon the salt. finis . exper. ix . in most of the experiments that we have hitherto proposed , cold is wont to be regularly produc'd in a mechanical way ; but i shall now adde , that in some sort of trials i found that the event was varied by unobserv'd circumstances ; so that sometimes manifest coldness would be produced by mixing two bodies together , which at another time would upon their congress disclose a manifest heat , and sometimes again , though more rarely , would have but a very faint and remiss degree of either . of this sort of experiments , whose events i could not confidently undertake for , i found to be , the dissolution of salt of tartar in spirit of vinegar , and of some other salts , that were not acid , in the same menstruum , and even spirit of verdigrease ( made per se ) though a more potent menstruum than common spirit of vinegar , would not constantly produce near such a heat at the beginning of its operation , as the greatness of the seeming effervescence , then excited , would make one expect , as may appear by the following observation transcrib'd verbatim out of one of my adversaria . [ into eight ounces of spirit of verdigrease ( into which we had put a while before a standard-thermoscope to acquire the like temper with the liquor ) we put in a wide-mouthed glass two ounces of salt of tartar , as fast as we durst for fear of making the matter boil over ; and though there were a great commotion excited by the action and reaction of the ingredients , which was attended with a copious froth and a hissing noise ; yet 't was a pretty while e're the glass was sensibly warm on the outside ; but by that time the salt was all dissolv'd , the liquor in the thermoscope appear'd to be impell'd up about three inches and an half . ] and yet , if my memory do not much deceive me , i have found , that by mixing salt of tartar with another salt , the texture of the fixt alkali was so alter'd , that upon the affusion of spirit of verdigrease , ( made without spirit of vinegar and spirit of wine , ) though there ensued a great conflict with noise and bubbles , yet , instead of an incalescence , a considerable degree of coldness was produced . exper. x. t is very probable that further trials will furnish us with more instances to shew how the production of cold may in some cases be effected , varied , or hinder'd by mechanical circumstances that are easily and usually overlook'd . i remember , on this occasion , that though in the experiment above recited we observ'd , that oyl of vitriol and water being first shaken together , the volatil salt of sal armoniac being afterwards put to them , produced a sensible coldness ; yet i found , that if a little oyl of vitriol and of the volatile salt were first put together , though soon after a considerable proportion of water were added , there would be produc'd not a coldness , but a manifest degree of heat , which would impell up the liquor in the thermoscope to the height of some inches . and i remember too , that though salt of tartar will , as we shall see e're long , grow hot in the water , yet having distill'd some salt of tartar and cinaber in a strong fire , and put the whole caput mortuum into distill'd or rain-water , it made indeed a hissing there as if it had been quick-lime , but produced no heat , that i could by feeling perceive . i shall adde , that not onely , as we have seen already , some unheeded circumstances may promote or hinder the artificial production of cold by particular agents , but , which will seem more strange , some unobserv'd , and perhaps hardly observable , indisposition in the patient may promote or hinder the effects of the grand and catholick efficients of cold , whatever those be . this suspicion i represent as a thing that further experience may possibly countenance , because i have sometimes found , that the degree of the operation of cold has been much varied by latent circumstances , some bodies being more wrought upon , and others less , than was upon very probable grounds expected . and particularly i remember , that though oyl of vitriol be one of the firiest liquors that is yet known , and does perform some of the operations of fire it self , ( as we shall elsewhere have occasion to shew ) and will thaw ice sooner than spirit of wine or any other liquor , as i have tried ; yet having put about a pound or more , by our estimate , of choice rectified oyl of vitriol into a strong glass-vial proportionable to it , we found , that , except a little that was fluid at the top , it was all congeal'd or coagulated into a mass like ice , though the glass stood in a laboratory where a fire was constantly kept not far from it , and where oyl of vitriol very seldom or never has before or since been observ'd to congeal or coagulate so much as in part . and the odness of our phaenomenon was increas'd by this circumstance , that the mass continued solid a good while after the weather was grown too mild to have such operations upon liquors far less indispos'd to lose their fluidity by cold , than even common oyl of vitriol is . on the other side i remember , that about two years ago , i expos'd some oyl of sweet almonds hermetically seal'd up in a glass-bubble , to observe what condensation an intense cold could make of it , ( for though cold expands water , it condenses common oyl ; ) but the next day i found to my wonder , that not onely the oyl remain'd unfrozen by the sharp frost it had been expos'd to , but that it had not its transparency troubled , though 't is known , that oyl will be brought to concrete and turn opacous by a far less degree of cold than is requisite to freeze water ; notwithstanding which this liquor , which was lodged in a glass so thin , that 't was blown at the flame of a lamp , continued fluid and diaphanous in very frosty weather , so long till i lost the expectation of seeing it congeal'd or concreted . and this brings into my mind , that though camphire be , as i formerly noted , reckon'd by many potentially cold , yet we kept some oyl of it , of our making , wherein the whole body of the camphire remain'd , being onely by some nitrous spirits reduc'd to the form of an oyl ; we kept it , i say , in such intense degrees of cold , that would have easily frozen water , without finding it to lose its transparency or its fluidity . and here i shall put an end to the first section , ( containing our notes about cold ) the design of which may be not a little promoted by comparing with them the beginning of the ensuing section . for if it be true , that ( as we there shew ) the nature of heat consists either onely or chiefly in the local motion of the small parts of a body mechanically modified by certain conditions , of which the principal is the vehemency of the various agitations of those insensible parts ; and if it be also true , as experience witnesses it to be , that , when the minute parts of a body are in or arrive at such a state , that they are more slowly or faintly agitated than those of our fingers or other organs of feeling , we judge them cold : these two things laid together seem plainly enough to argue , that a privation or negation of that local motion that is requisite to constitute heat , may suffice for the denominating a body cold , as coldness is a quality of the object , ( which as 't is perceiv'd by the mind , is also an affection of the sentient : ) and therefore an imminution of such a degree of former motion as is necessary to make a body hot as to sense , and which is sufficient to the production of sensible coldness , may be mechanically made , since slowness as well as swiftness being a mode of local motion is a mechanical thing : and though its effect , which is coldness , seem a privation or negation ; yet the cause of it may be a positive agent acting mechanically , by clogging the agile calorific particles , or deadning their motion , or perverting their determination , or by some other intelligible way bringing them to a state of coldness as to sense : i say coldness as to sense ; because as 't is a tactile quality , in the popular acception of it , 't is relative to our organs of feeling ; as we see that the same luke-warm water will appear hot and cold to the same mans hands , if , when both are plung'd into it , one of them shall have been newly held to the fire , and the other be benummed with frost . and indeed the custom of speaking has introduced an ambiguity into the word cold , which often occasions mistakes , not easily without much attention and sometimes circumlocution also to be avoided ; since usually by cold is meant that which immediately affects the sensory of him that pronounces a body cold , whereas sometimes 't is taken in a more general notion for such a negation or imminution of motion , as though it operates not perceivably on our senses , does yet upon other bodies ; and sometimes also it is taken ( which is perhaps the more philosophical sense ) for a perception , made in and by the mind , of the alteration produced in the corporeal organs by the operation of that , whatever it be , on whose account a body is found to be cold . but the discussion of these points is here purposely omitted , as for other reasons , so principally because they may be found expresly handled in a fitter place . sect . ii. of the mechanicall origine or production of heat . after having dispatched the instances i had to offer of the production of cold , it remains that i also propose some experiments of heat , which quality will appear the more likely to be mechanically producible , if we consider the nature of it , which seems to consist mainly , if not onely , in that mechanical affection of matter we call local motion mechanically modified , which modification , as far as i have observed , is made up of three conditions . the first of these is , that the agitation of the parts be vehement , by which degree or rapidness , the motion proper to bodies that are hot distinguishes them from bodies that are barely fluid . for these , as such , require not near so brisk an agitation , as is wont to be necessary to make bodies deserve the name of hot . thus we see that the particles of water in its natural ( or usual ) state , move so calmly , that we do not feel it at all warm , though it could not be a liquor unless they were in a restless motion ; but when water comes to be actually hot , the motion does manifestly and proportionably appear more vehement , since it does not onely briskly strike our organs of feeling , but ordinarily produces store of very small bubbles , and will melt butter or coagulated oyl , cast upon it , and will afford vapours , that , by the agitation they suffer , will be made to ascend into the air . and if the degree of heat be such as to make the water boil , then the agitation becomes much more manifest by the confus'd motions , and waves , and noise , and bubbles , that are excited , and by other obvious effects and phaenomena of the vehement and tumultuous motion , which is able to throw up visibly into the air great store of corpuscles , in the form of vapours or smoak . thus in a heated iron the vehement agitation of the parts may be easily inferr'd from the motion and hissing noise it imparts to drops of water or spittle that fall upon it . for it makes them hiss and boil , and quickly forces their particles to quit the form of a liquor , and flye into the air in the form of steams . and lastly , fire , which is the hottest body we know , consists of parts so vehemently agitated , that they perpetually and swiftly flye abroad in swarms , and dissipate or shatter all the combustible bodies they meet with in their way ; fire making so fierce a dissolution , and great a dispersion of its own fuel , that we may see whole piles of solid wood ( weighing perhaps many hundred pounds ) so dissipated in very few hours into flame and smoak , that oftentimes there will not be one pound of ashes remaining . and this is the first condition required to heat . the second is this , that the determinations be very various , some particles moving towards the right , some to the left , hand , some directly upwards , some downwards , and some obliquely , &c. this variety of determinations appears to be in hot bodies both by some of the instances newly mention'd , and especially that of flame , which is a body ; and by the diffusion that metals acquire , when they are melted , and by the operations of heat that are exercis'd by hot bodies upon others , in what posture or scituation soever the body to be heated be applied to them . as a thoroughly ignited coal will appear every way red , and will melt wax , and kindle brimstone , whether the body be apply'd to the upper or to the lower , or to any other part of the burning coal . and congruously to this notion , though air and water be mov'd never so vehemently , as in high winds and cataracts , yet we are not to expect that they should be manifestly hot , because the vehemency belongs to the progressive motion of the whole body ; notwithstanding which , the parts it consists of may not be near so much quickned in their motions made according to other determinations , as to become sensibly hot . and this consideration may keep it from seeming strange , that in some cases , where the whole body , though rapidly moved , tends but one way , 't is not by that swift motion perceived to be made hot. nay , though the agitation be very various as well as vehement , there is yet a third condition required to make it calorific , namely , that the agitated particles , or at least the greatest number of them , be so minute as to be singly insensible . for though a heap of sand or dust it self were vehemently and confusedly agitated by a whirlwind , the bulk of the grains or corpuscles , would keep their agitation from being properly heat , though by their numerous strokes upon a man's face , and the brisk commotion of the spirits and other small particles that may thence ensue , they may perchance occasion the production of that quality . if some attention be employ'd in considering the formerly propos'd notion of the nature of heat , it may not be difficult to discern , that the mechanical production of it may be divers ways effected . for , excepting in some few anomalous cases , ( wherein the regular course of things happens to be over-rul'd , ) by whatever ways the insensible parts of a body are put into a very confus'd and vehement agitation , by the same ways heat may be introduc'd into that body : agreeably to which doctrine , as there are several agents and operations by which this calorific motion ( if i may so call it ) may be excited , so there may be several ways of mechanically producing heat , and many experiments may be reduc'd to almost each of them , chance it self having in the laboratories of chymists afforded divers phaenomena referrable to one or other of those heads . many of the more familiar instances , applicable to our present purpose , have been long since collected by our justly famous verulam in his short , but excellent , paper de forma calidi , wherein ( though i do not acquiesce in every thing i meet with there ) he seems to have been , at least among the moderns , the person that has first handled the doctrine of heat like an experimentall philosopher . i shall therefore decline accumulating a multitude of instances of the production of heat , and i shall also forbear to insist on such known things , as the incalescence observable upon the pouring either of oyl of vitriol upon salt of tartar , ( in the making of tartarum vitriolatum ) or of aqua fortis upon silver or quick silver , ( in the dissolution of these metals ) but shall rather chuse to mention some few instances not so notorious as the former , but not unfit by their variety to exemplifie several of the differing ways of exciting heat . and yet i shall not decline the mention of the most obvious and familiar instance of all , namely the heat observed in quick-lime upon the affusion of cold water , because among learned men , and especially peripateticks , i find causes to be assign'd that are either justly questionable or manifestly erroneous . for as to what is inculcated by the schools about the incalescence of a mixture of quick-lime and water by vertue of a supposed antiperistasis or invigoration of the internal heat of the lime by its being invironed by cold water , i have elsewhere shewn , that this is but an imaginary cause , by delivering upon experiment ( which any man may easily make ) that , if instead of cold water the liquor be poured on very hot , the ebullition of the lime will not be the less , but rather the greater : and oyl of turpentine , which is a lighter , and is lookt upon as a subtiler liquor than water , though it be poured quite cold on quick-lime , will not , that i have observed , grow so much as sensibly hot with it . and now i have mentioned the incalescence of lime , which , though an abvious phaenomenon , has exercised the wits of divers philosophers and chymists , i will adde two or three observations in order to an inquiry that may be some other time made into the genuine causes of it ; which are not so easie to be found as many learned men may at first sight imagine . the acute helmont indeed and his followers have ingeniously enough attempted to derive the heat under consideration from the conflict of some alealizate and acid salts ; that are to be found in quick-lime , and are dissolved , and so set at liberty to fight with one another by the water that slakes the lime . but though we have some manifest marks of an alcalizate salt in lime , yet that it contains also an acid salt , has not , that i remember , been proved ▪ and if the emerging of heat be a sufficient reason to prove a latent acid salt in lime , i know not , why i may not inferr , that the like salt lies conceal'd in other bodies , which the chymists take to be of the purest or meerest sort of alcalys . for i have purposely tried , that by putting a pretty quantity of dry salt of tartar in the palm of my hand , and wetting it well in cold water , there has been a very sensible heat produced in the mixture ; and when i have made the trial with a more considerable quantity of salt and water in a viol , the heat proved troublesomely intense , and continued to be at least sensible a good while after . this experiment seems to favour the opinion , that the heat produced in lime whilst 't is quenching , proceeds from the empyreuma , as the chymists call it , or impression left by the violent fire , that was employ'd to reduce the stone to lime . but if by empyreuma be meant a bare impression made by the fire , 't will be more requisite than easie , to declare intelligibly , in what that impression consists , and how it operates to produce such considerable effects . and if the effect be ascribed to swarms of atomes of fire , that remain adherent to the substance of the lime , and are set at liberty to flye away by the liquor , which seems to be argued by the slaking of lime without water , if it be for some time left in the air , whereby the atomes of fire get opportunity to flye away by little and little : if this , i say , be alledged , i will not deny but there may be a sense , ( which i cannot explicate in few words ) wherein the cooperation of a substantial effluvium , for so i call it , of the fire , may be admitted in giving an account of our phaenomenon . but the cause formerly assigned , as 't is crudely proposed , leaves in my mind some scruples . for 't is not so easie to apprehend , that such light and minute bodies as those of fire are supposed , should be so long detained as by this hypothesis they must be allowed to be , in quick-lime , kept in well-stopt vessels , from getting out of so laxe and porous a body as lime , especially since we see not a great incalescence or ebullition ensue upon the pouring of water upon minium , or crocus martis per se , though they have been calcined by violent and lasting fires , whose effluviums or emanations appear to adhere to them by the increase of weight , that lead , if not also mars , does manifestly receive from the operation of the fire . to which i shall adde , that , whereas one would think that the igneous atoms should either flye away , or be extinguished by the supervening of water , i know , and elsewhere give account , of an experiment , in which two liquors , whereof one was furnished me by nature , did by being several times separated and reconjoyned without additament , at each congress produce a sensible heat . and an instance of this kind , though not so odd , i purposely sought and found in salt of tartar , from which , after it had been once heated by the affusion of water , we abstracted or evaporated the liquor without violence of fire , till the salt was again dry ; and then putting on water a second time , the same salt grew hot again in the vial , and , if i misremember not , it produced this incalescence the third time , if not the fourth ; and might probably have done it oftner , if i had had occasion to prosecute the experiment . which seems at least to argue , that the great violence of fire is not necessary to impress what passes for an empyreum upon all calcined bodies that will heat with water . and on this occasion i shall venture to adde , that i have sometimes doubted , whether the incalescence may not much depend upon the particular disposition of the calcined body , which being deprived of its former moisture , and made more porous by the fire , doth by the help of those igneous effluviums , for the most part of a saline nature , that are dispersed through it , and adhere to it , acquire such a texture , that the water impell'd by its own weight , and the pressure of the atmosphere , is able to get into a multitude of its pores at once , and suddenly dissolve the igneous and alcalizate salt it every where meets with there , and briskly disjoyn the earthy and solid particles , that were blended with them ; which being exceeding numerous , though each of them perhaps be very minute , and moves but a very little way , yet their multitude makes the confused agitation of the whole aggregate of them , and of the particles of the water and salt vehement enough to produce a sensible heat ; especially if we admit , that there is such a change made in the pores , as occasions a great increase of this agitation , by the ingress and action of some subtile ethereal matter , from which alone monsieur des cartes ingeniously attempts to derive the incalescence of lime and water , as well as that of metals dissolved in corrosive liquors ; though as to the phaenomena we have been considering , there seems at least to concur a peculiar disposition of body , wherein heat is to be produced to do one or both of these two things , namely , to retain good store of the igneous effluvia , and to be , by their adhesion or some other operation of the fire , reduced to such a texture of its component particles , as to be fit to have them easily penetrated , and briskly as well as copiously dissipated , by invading water . and this conjecture ( for i propose it as no other ) seems favour'd by divers phaenomena , some whereof i shall now annex . for here it may be observed , that both the dissolved salt of tartar lately mentioned , and the artificial liquor that grows hot with the natural , reacquires that disposition to incalescence upon a bare constipation or closer texture of the parts from the superfluous moisture they were drowned in before : the heat that brought them to this texture having been so gentle , that 't is no way likely that the igneous exhalations could themselves produce such a heat , or at least that they should adhere in such numbers as must be requisite to such an effect , unless the texture of the salt of tartar ( or other body ) did peculiarly dispose it to detain them ; since i have found by trial , that sal armoniac dissolv'd in water , though boiled up with a brisker fire to a dry salt , would , upon its being again dissolved in water , not produce any heat , but a very considerable degree of cold. i shall adde , that though one would expect a great cognation between the particles of fire adhering to quick-lime , and those of high rectified spirit of wine , which is of so igneous a nature , as to be totally inflammable ; yet i have not found , that the affusion of alkaol of wine upon quick-lime , would produce any sensible incalescence , or any visible dissolution or dissipation of the lime , as common water would have done , though it seemed to be greedily enough soaked in by the lumps of lime . and i further tried , that , if on this lime so drenched i poured cold water , there insued no manifest heat , nor did i so much as find the lump swelled , and thereby broken , till some hours after ; which seems to argue , that the texture of the lime was such , as to admit the particles of the spirit of wine into some of its pores , which were either larger or more congruous , without admitting it into the most numerous ones , whereinto the liquor must be received , to be able suddenly to dissipate the corpuscles of lime into their minuter particles , into which ( corpuscles ) it seems that the change that the aqueous particles received by associating with the spirituous ones , made them far less fit to penetrate and move briskly there , than if they had enter'd alone . i made also an experiment that seems to favour our conjecture , by shewing how much the disposition of lime to incalesoence may depend upon an idoneous texture , and the experiment , as i find it registred in one of my memorials , is this . exper. v. [ upon quick-lime we put in a retort as much moderately strong spirit of wine as would drench it , and swim a pretty way above it ; and then distilling with a gentle fire , we drew off some spirit of wine much stronger than that which had been put on , and then the phlegm following it , the fire was increas'd , which brought over a good deal of phlegmatic strengthless liquor ; by which one would have thought that the quick-lime had been slaked ; but when the remaining matter had been taken out of the retort , and suffer'd to cool , it appear'd to have a fiery disposition that it had not before . for if any lump of it as big as a nutmeg or an almond was cast into the water , it would hiss as if a coal of fire had been plunged into the liquor , which was soon thereby sensibly heated . nay , having kept divers lumps of this prepared calx well cover'd from the air for divers weeks , to try whether it would retain this property , i found , as i expected , that the calx operated after the same manner , if not more powerfully . for sometimes , especially when 't was reduced to small pieces , it would upon its coming into the water make such a brisk noise , as might almost pass for a kind of explosion . ] these phaenomena seem to argue , that the disposition that lime has to grow hot with water , depends much on some peculiar texture , since the aqueous parts , that one would think capable of quenching all or most of the atomes of fire that are supposed to adhere to quick-lime , did not near so much weaken the disposition of it to incalescence , as the accession of the spirituous corpuscles and their contexture , with those of the lime , increased that igneous disposition . and that there might intervene such an association , seems to me the more probable , not onely because much of the distill'd liquor was as phlegmatick , as if it had been robb'd of its more active parts , but because i have sometimes had spirit of wine come over with quick-lime not in unobserved steams , but white fumes . to which i shall adde , that , besides that the taste , and perhaps odour of the spirit of wine , is often manifestly changed by a well-made distillation from quick-lime ; i have sometimes found that liquor to give the lime a kind of alcalizat penetrancy , not to say fieriness of taste , that was very brisk and remarkable . but i will not undertake , that every experimenter , nor i my self , shall always make trials of this kind with the same success that i had in those above recited , in regard that i have found quick-limes to differ much , not onely according to the degree of their calcination , and to their recentness , but also , and that especially , according to the differing natures of the stones and other bodies calcined . which observation engages me the more to propose what hath been hitherto deliver'd about quick-lime , as onely narratives and a conjecture ; which i now perceive has detain'd us so long , that i am oblig'd to hasten to the remaining experiments , and to be the more succinct in delivering them . exper. vi. and it will be convenient to begin with an instance or two of the production of heat , wherein there appears not to intervene any thing in the part of the agent or patient but local motion , and the natural effects of it . and as to this sort of experiments , a little attention and reflection may make some familiar phaenomenon apposite to our present purpose . when , for example , a smith does hastily hammer a nall or such like piece of iron , the hammer'd metal will grow exceeding hot , and yet there appears not any thing to make it so , save the forcible motion of the hammer which impresses a vehement and variously determin'd agitation of the small parts of the iron ; which being a cold body before , by that superinduc'd commotion of its small parts , becomes in divers senses hot ; first in a more lax acceptation of the word in reference to some other bodies , in respect of whom 't was cold before , and then sensibly hot ; because this newly gain'd agitation surpasses that of the parts of our fingers . and in this instance 't is not to be overlookt , that oftentimes neither the hammer , by which , nor the anvil , on which a cold piece of iron is forged , ( for all iron does not require precedent ignition to make it obey the hammer ) continue cold , after the operation is ended ; which shews , that the heat acquir'd by the forged piece of iron was not communicated by the hammer or anvil as heat , but produc'd in it by motion , which was great enough to put so small a body as the piece of iron into a strong and confus'd motion of its parts without being able to have the like operation upon so much greater masses of metal , as the hammer and the anvil ; though if the percussions were often and nimbly renewed , and the hammer were but small , this also might be heated , ( though not so soon nor so much as the iron ; ) by which one may also take notice , that 't is not necessary , a body should be it self hot , to be calorific . and now i speak of striking an iron with a hammer , i am put in mind of an observation that seems to contradict , but does indeed confirm , our theory : namely , that , if a somewhat large nail be driven by a hammer into a plank or piece of wood , it will receive divers strokes on the head before it grow hot ; but when 't is driven to the head , so that it can go no further , a few strokes will suffice to give it a considerable heat ; for whilst , at every blow of the hammer , the nail enters further and further into the wood , the motion that is produc'd is chiefly progressive , and is of the whole nail tending one way ; whereas , when that motion is stopt , then the impulse given by the stroke being unable either to drive the nail further on , or destroy its intireness , must be spent in making a various vehement and intestine commotion of the parts among themselves , and in such an one we formerly observ'd the nature of heat to consist . exper. vii . in the foregoing experiment the brisk agitation of the parts of a heated iron was made sensible to the touch ; i shall now adde one of the attempts , that i remember i made to render it discoverable to the eye it self . in order to this , and that i might also shew , that not onely a sensible but an intense degree of heat may be produc'd in a piece of cold iron by local motion , i caus'd a bar of that metal to be nimbly hammer'd by two or three lusty men accustom'd to manage that instrument ; and these striking with as much force , and as little intermission as they could upon the iron , soon brought it to that degree of heat , that not onely 't was a great deal too hot to be safely touched , but probably would , according to my design , have kindled gunpowder , if that which i was fain to make use of had been of the best sort : for , to the wonder of the by-standers , the iron kindled the sulphur of many of the grains of the corns of powder , and made them turn blue , though i do not well remember , that it made any of them go off . exper. viii . besides the effects of manifest and violent percussions , such as those we have been taking notice of to be made with a hammer , there are among phaenomena obvious enough , some that shew the producibleness of heat even in cold iron , by causing an intestine commotion of its parts : for we find , that , if a piece of iron of a convenient shape and bulk be nimbly filed with a large rough file , a considerable degree of heat will be quickly excited in those parts of the iron where the file passes to and fro , the many prominent parts of the instrument giving a multitude of strokes or pushes to the parts of the iron that happen to stand in their way , and thereby making them put the neighbouring parts into a brisk and confus'd motion , and so into a state of heat . nor can it be well objected , that upon this account the file it self ought to grow as hot as the iron , which yet it will not do ; since , to omit other answers , the whole body of the file being moved to and fro , the same parts , that touch the iron this moment , pass off the next , and besides have leasure to cool themselves by communicating their newly received agitation to the air before they are brought to grate again upon the iron , which , being supposed to be held immoveable , receives almost perpetual shakes in the same place . we find also , that attrition , if it be any thing vehement , is wont to produce heat in the solidest bodies ; as when the blade of a knife being nimbly whetted grows presently hot . and if having taken a brass nail , and driven it as far as you can to the end of the stick , to keep it fast and gain a handle , you then strongly rub the head to and fro against the floor or a plank of wood , you may quickly find it to have acquired a heat intense enough to offend , if not burn ones fingers . and i remember , that going once in exceeding hot weather in a coach , which for certain reasons we caus'd to be driven very fast , the attrition of the nave of the wheel against the axel-tree was so vehement as oblig'd us to light out of the coach to seek for water , to cool the over-chased parts , and stop the growing mischief the excessive heat had begun to do . the vulgar experiment of strikeing fire with a flint and steel sufficiently declares , what a heat in a trice may be produc'd in cold bodies by percussion , or collision ; the later of which seems but mutual percussion . but instances of the same sort with the rest mention'd in this vi. experiment being obvious enough , i shall forbear to multiply and insist on them . exper. ix . for the sake of those that think the attrition of contiguous air is necessary to the production of manifest heat , i thought among other things of the following experiment , and made trial of it . we took some hard black pitch , and having in a bason , poringer , or some such vessel , placed it a convenient distance under water , we cast on it with a good burning-glass the sun-beams in such a manner , that notwithstanding the refraction that they suffer'd in the passage through the interposed water , the focus fell upon the pitch , wherein it would produce sometimes bubbles , sometimes smoak , and quickly communicated a degree of heat capable to make pitch melt , if not also to boil . exper. x. though the first and second experiments of section i. shew , that a considerable degree of cold is produc'd by the dissolution of sal armoniac in common water ; yet by an additament , though but single , the texture of it may be so alter'd , that , instead of cold , a notable degree of heat will be produced , if it be dissolved in that liquor . for the manifestation of which we devis'd the following experiment . we took quick-lime , and slaked it in common cold water , that all the igneous or other particles , to which its power of heating that liquor is ascrib'd , might be extracted and imbib'd , and so the calx freed from them ; then on the remaining powder fresh water was often poured , that all adhering reliques of salt might be wash'd off . after this , the thus dulcified calx , being again well dried , was mingled with an equal weight of powder'd sal armoniac , and having with a strong fire melted the mass , the mixture was poured out ; and being afterwards beaten to powder , having given it a competent time to grow cold , we put two or three ounces of it into a wide-mouthed glass , and pouring water upon it , within about a minute of an hour the mixture grew warm , and quickly attain'd so intense a heat , that i could not hold the glass in my hand . and though this heat did not long last at the same height , it continued to be very sensible for a considerable time after . exper. xi . to confirm this experiment by a notable variation ; we took finely powder'd sal armoniac , and filings or scales of steel , and when they were very diligently mixt ( for that circumstance ought to be observ'd ) we caus'd them to be gradually sublim'd in a glass vessel , giving a smart fire towards the latter end . by this operation so little of the mixture ascended , that , as we desired , far the greatest part of the sal armoniac staid at the bottom with the metal ; then taking out the caput mortuum , i gave it time throughly to cool , but in a glass well stopt , that it might not imbibe the moisture of the air , ( as it is very apt to do . ) and lastly , though the filings of steel , as well as the sal armoniac , were bodies actually cold , and so might be thought likely to increase , not check , the coldness wont to be produced in water by that salt ; yet putting the mixture into common water , there ensued , as we expected , an intense degree of heat . and i remember , that having sublim'd the forementioned salt in distinct vessels , with the filings of steel , and with filings of copper , and for curiosities sake kept one of the caput mortuums ( for i cannot certainly call to mind which of the two it was , ) divers moneths , ( if i mistake not , eight or nine , ) we at length took it out of the vessel , wherein it had been kept carefully stopt , and , upon trial , were not deceiv'd in having expected , that all that while the disposition to give cold water a notable degree of heat was preserved in it . exper. xii . if experiments were made after the above recited manner with sal armoniac and other mineral bodies than iron and copper , 't is not improbable , that some of the emerging phaenomena would be found to confirm what has been said of the interest of texture , ( and some few other mechanical affections ) in the production of heat and cold. which conjecture is somewhat favoured by the following trial. three ounces of antimony , and an equal weight of sal armoniac being diligently powder'd and mixt , were by degrees of fire sublimed in a glass-vessel , by which operation we obtain'd three differing substances , which we caused to be separately powder'd , when they were taken out of the subliming glass , lest the air or time should make any change in them ; and having before put the ball of a good seal'd weather-glass for a while into water , that the spirit of wine might be brought to the temper of the external liquor , we put on a convenient quantity of the powder'd caput mortuum , which amounted to two ounces , and seemed to be little other than antimony , which accordingly did scarce sensibly raise the spirit of wine in the thermoscope , though that were a tender one . then laying aside that water , and putting the instrument into fresh , of the same temper , we put to it a very yellow sublimate , that ascended higher than the other parts , and seemed to consist of the more sulphureous flowers of the antimony , with a mixture of the more volatile parts of the sal armoniac . and this substance made the tincted spirit in the thermoscope descend very slowly about a quarter of an inch ; but when the instrument was put into fresh water of the same temper , and we had put in some of the powder of the lower sort of sublimate , which was dark coloured , though both the antimony and sal armoniac , it consisted of , had been long exposed to the action of a subliming heat ; yet the water was thereby speedily and notably cooled , insomuch , that the spirit of wine in the weather-glass hastily descended , and continued to sink , till by our guess it had fallen not much short of three inches . of these phaenomena the etiology , as some moderns call the theory , which proposes the causes of things , is more easie to be found by a little consideration , than to be made out in few words . we made also an experiment like that above recited , by subliming three ounces a piece of minimum and sal armoniac ; in which trial we found , that though in the caput mortuum , the salt had notably wrought upon the calx of lead , and was in part associated with it , as appear'd by the whiteness of the said caput mortuum , by its sweetish taste , and by the weight ( which exceeded four drams that of all the minium ; ) yet a convenient quantity of this powder'd mixture being put into water , wherein the former weather-glass had been kept a while , the tincted spirit of wine was not manifestly either raised or deprest . and when in another glass we prosecuted the trial with the sal armoniac that had been sublimed from the minium , it did indeed make the spirit of wine descend , but scarce a quarter so much as it had been made to fall by the lately mention'd sublimate of sal armoniac and antimony . exper. xiii . 't is known that many learned men , besides several chymical writers , ascribe the incalescences , that are met with in the dissolution of metals , to a conflict arising from a certain antipathy or hostility , which they suppose between the conflicting bodies , and particularly between the acid salt of the one , and the alcalizate salt , whether fixt or volatile , of the other . but since this doctrine supposes a hatred between inanimate bodies , in which 't is hard to conceive , how there can be any true passions , and does not intelligibly declare , by what means their suppos'd hostility produces heat ; 't is not likely , that , for these and some other reasons , inquisitive naturalists will easily acquiesce in it . and on the other side it may be consider'd , whether it be not more probable , that heats , suddenly produced in mixtures , proceed either from a very quick and copious diffusion of the parts of one body through those of another , whereby both are confusedly tumbled and put into a calorific motion ; or from this , that the parts of the dissolved body come to be every way in great numbers violently scatter'd ; or from the fierce and confused shocks or justlings of the corpuscles of the conflicting bodies , or masses which may be suppos'd to have the motions of their parts differingly modified according to their respective natures : or from this , that by the plentiful ingress of the corpuscles of the one into the almost commensurate parts of the other , the motion of some etherial matter that was wont before swiftly to permeate the distinct bodies , comes to be check'd and disturbed , and forced to either brandish or whirl about the parts in a confus'd manner , till it have settled it self a free passage through the new mixture , almost as the light does thorow divers troubled liquors and vitrified bodies , which at length it makes transparent . but without here engaging in a solemn examination of the hypothesis of alcali and acidum , and without determining whether any one , or more of the newly mention'd mechanical causes , or whether some other , that i have not yet named , is to be entitled to the effect ; it will not be impertinent to propose divers instances of the production of heat by the operation of one agent , oyl of vitriol , that it may be consider'd whether it be likely , that this single agent should upon the score of antipathy , or that of its being an acid menstruum , be able to produce an intense heat in many bodies of so differing natures as are some of those that we shall have occasion to name . and now i proceed to the experiments themselves . take some ounces of strong oyl of vitriol , and shaking it with three or four times its weight of common water , though both the liquors were cold when they were put together , yet their mixture will in a trice grow intensely hot , and continue considerably so for a good while . in this case it cannot probably be pretended by the chymists , that the heat arises from the conflict of the acid and alcalizate salts abounding in the two liquors , since the common water is suppos'd an elementary body devoid of all salts ; and at least , being an insipid liquor , 't will scarce be thought to have alcali enough to produce by its reaction so intense a heat . that the heat emergent upon such a mixture may be very great , when the quantities of the mingled liquors are considerably so , may be easily concluded from one of my memorials , wherein i find that no more than two ounces of oyl of vitriol being poured ( but not all at once ) into four ounces onely of distilled rain-water , made and kept it manifestly warm for a pretty deal above an hour , and during no small part of that time , kept it so hot , that 't was troublesome to be handled . exper. xiv . the former experiment brings into my mind one that i mention without teaching it in the history of cold , and it appear'd very surprizing to those that knew not the ground of it . for having sometimes merrily propos'd to heat cold liquors with ice , the undertaking seem'd extravagant if not impossible , but was easily perform'd by taking out of a bason of cold water , wherein divers fragments of ice were swimming , one or two pieces that i perceived were well drenched with the liquor , and immersing them suddenly into a wide-mouth'd glass wherein strong oyl of vitriol had been put ; for this menstruum , presently mingling with the water that adher'd to the ice , produc'd in it a brisk heat , and that sometimes with a manifest smoke , which nimbly dissolved the contiguous parts of ice , and those the next , and so the whole ice being speedily reduced to water , and the corrosive menstruum being by two or three shakes well dispersed through it , and mingled with it , the whole mixture would grow in a trice so hot , that sometimes the vial that contain'd it , was not to be endured in ones hand . exper. xv. notwithstanding the vast difference betwixt common water and high rectified spirit of wine , whereof men generally take the former for the most contrary body to fire , and whereof the chymists take the later to be but a kind of liquid sulphur , since it may presently be all reduc'd into flame ; yet , as i expected , i found upon trial , that oyl of vitriol being mingled with pure spirit of wine , would as well grow hot , as with common water . nor does this experiment always require great quantities of the liquors . for when i took but one ounce of strong oyl of vitriol , though i put to it less than half an ounce of choice spirit of wine , yet those two being lightly shaken together , did in a trice conceive so brisk a heat , that they almost fill'd the vial with fumes , and made it so hot , thar i had unawares like to have burnt my hand with it before i could lay it aside . i made the like trial with the same corrosive menstruum , and common aqua vitae bought at a strong-water-shop , by the mixture of which liquors , heat was produc'd in the vial that i could not well endure . the like success i had in an experiment wherein oyl of vitriol was mixt with common brandy ; save that in this the heat produced seem'd not so intense as in the former trial , which it self afforded not so fierce a heat as that which was made with rectified spirit of wine . exper. xvi . those chymists , who conceive that all the incalescencies of bodies upon their being mixt , proceed from their antipathy or hostility , will not perhaps expect , that the parts of the same body , ( either numerically , or in specie , as the schools phrase it , ) should , and that without manifest conflict , grow very hot together . and yet having for trials sake put two ounces of colcothar so strongly calcin'd , that it was burnt almost to blackness , into a retort , we poured upon it two ounces of strong oyl of english vitriol , and found , that after about a minute of an hour they began to grow so hot , that i could not endure to hold my hand to the bottom of the vessel , to which the mixture gave a heat , that continued sensible on the outside for between twenty and thirty minutes . exper. xvii . though i have not observ'd any liquor to equal oyl of vitriol in the number of liquors with which it will grow hot ; yet i have not met with any liquor wherewith it came to a greater incalescence than it frequently enough did with common oyl of turpentine . for when we caused divers ounces of each to be well shaken together in a strong vessel , fasten'd , to prevent mischief , to the end of a pole or staff ; the ebullition was great and fierce enough to be not underservedly admired by the spectators . and this brings into my mind a pleasant adventure afforded by these liquors , of each of which , having for the production of heat and other purposes , caus'd a good bottle full to be put up with other things into a box , and sent down into the countrey with a great charge , that care should be had of the glasses ; the wagon , in which the box was carried , happen'd by a great jolt , that had almost overturn'd it , to be so rudely shaken , that these glasses were both broken , and the liquors , mingling in the box , made such a noise and stink , and sent forth such quantities of smoke by the vents , which the fumes had open'd to themselves , that the passengers with great outcries and much haste threw themselves out of the wagon , for fear of being burnt in it . the trials we made with oyl of turpentine , when strong spirit of nitre was substituted in the stead of oyl of vitriol , belong not to this place . exper. xviii . but though petroleum , especially when rectified , be , as i have elsewhere noted , a most subtile liquor , and the lightest i have yet had occasion to try ; yet to shew you how much the incalescence of liquors may depend upon their texture , i shall adde , that having mixt by degrees one ounce of rectified petroleum , with an equal weight of strong oyl of vitriol , the former liquor seemed to work upon the surface of this last named , almost like a menstruum , upon a metal , innumeious and small bubbles continually ascending for a while into the oleum petrae , which had its colour manifestly alter'd and deepen'd by the operation of the spirituous parts . but by all the action and re-action of these liquors , there was produced no such smoaking and boiling , or intense heat , as if oyl of turpentine had been employed instead of oyl of vitriol ; the change which was produc'd as to qualities being but a kind of tepidness discoverable by the touch. almost the like success we had in the conjunction of petroleum , and spirit of nitre , a more full account whereof may be elsewhere met with . in this and the late trials i did not care to make use of spirit of salt , because , at least , if it be but ordinarily strong , i found its operation on the liquors above mention'd inconsiderable , ( and sometimes perhaps scarce sensible ) in comparison of those of oyl of vitriol , and in some cases of dephlegm'd spirit of nitre . exper. xix . experienced chymists will easily believe , that 't were not difficult to multiply instances of heat producible by oyl of vitriol upon solid bodies , especially mineral ones . for 't is known , that in the usual preparation of vitriolum martis , there is a great effervescence excited upon the affusion of the oyl of vitriol upon filings of steel , especially if they be well drench'd in common water . and it will scarce be doubted , but that , as oyl of vitriol will ( at least partly ) dissolve a great many both calcin'd and testaceous bodies , as i have try'd with lime , oyster-shells , &c. so it will , during the dissolution , grow sensibly , if not intensely hot with them , as i found it to do both with those newly named , and others , as chalk , lapis calaminaris , &c. with the last of which , if the liquor be strong , it will heat exceedingly . exper. xx. wherefore i will rather take notice of its operation upon vegetables , as bodies which corrosive menstruums have scarce been thought fit to dissolve and grow hot with . to omit then cherries , and divers fruits abounding in watery juices , with which , perhaps on that very account , oyl of vitriol will grow hot ; i shall here take notice , that for trial sake , having mixt a convenient quantity of that liquor with raisins of the sun beaten in a mortar , the raisins grew so hot , that , if i misremember not , the glass that contain'd it had almost burnt my hand . these kind of heats may be also produc'd by the mixture of oyl of vitriol with divers other vegetable substances ; but , as far as i have observed , scarce so eminently with any dry body , as with the crumbs of white bread , ( or even of brown ) with a little of which we have sometimes produced a surprising degree of heat with strong or well-dephlegm'd oyl of vitriol , which is to be suppos'd to have been employed in the foregoing experiments , and all others mention'd to be made by the help of that menstruum in our papers about qualities , unless it be in any particular case otherwise declared . exper. xxi . 't is as little observed that corrosive menstruums are able to work , as such , on the soft parts of dead animals , as on those of vegetables , and yet i have more than once produced a notable heat by mixing oyl of vitriol with minced flesh whether roasted or raw . exper. xxii . though common sea-salt does usually impart some degree , though not an intense one , of coldness unto common water , during the act of dissolution ; yet some trials have informed me , that if it were cast into a competent quantity of oyl of vitriol , there would for the most part insue an incalescence , which yet did not appear to succeed so regularly , as in most of the foregoing experiments . but that heat should be produc'd usually , though not perhaps constantly , by the above-named menstruum and salt , seems therefore worthy of our notice , because 't is known to chymists , that common salt is one main ingredient of the few that make up common factitious sal armoniac , that is wont to be sold in the shops . and i have been inform'd , that the excellent academians of florence have observed , that oyl of vitriol would not grow hot but cold by being put upon sal armoniac : something like which i took notice of in rectified spirit of sulphur made per campanam , but found the effect much more considerable , when , according to the ingenious florentine experiment , i made the trial with oyl of vitriol ; which liquor having already furnished us with as many phaenomena for our present purpose as could be well expected from one agent , i shall scarce in this paper about heat make any farther use of it , but proceed to some other experiments , wherein it does not intervene . exper. xxiii . we took a good lump of common sulphur of a convenient shape , and having rub'd or chas'd it well , we found , as we expected , that by this attrition it grew sensibly warm ; and , that there was an intestine agitation , which you know is local motion , made by this attrition , did appear not onely by the newly mention'd heat , whose nature consists in motion , and by the antecedent pressure , which was fit to put the parts into a disorderly vibration , but also by the sulphureous steams , which 't was easie to smell by holding the sulphur to ones nose , as soon as it had been rub'd . which experiment , though it may seem trivial in it self , may be worth the consideration of those chymists , who would derive all the fire and heat we meet with in sublunary bodies from sulphur . for in our case a mass of sulphur , before its parts were put into a new and brisk motion , was sensibly cold , and as soon as its parts were put into a greater agitation than those of a mans fingers , it grew sensibly hot ; which argues , that 't was not by its bare presence , or any emanative action , ( as the schools speak ) that the sulphur communicated any heat to my hand ; and also that , when 't was briskly moved , it did impress that quality , was no more than another solid body , though incombustible as common glass , would have done , if its parts had been likewise put into an agitation surpassing that of my organs of feeling ; so that in our experiment , sulphur it self was beholden , for its actual heat , to local motion , produced by external agents in its parts . exper. xxiv . we thought it not amiss to try , whether when sal armoniac , that much infrigidates water , and quick-lime , which is known to heat it , were by the fire exquisitely mingled , the mixture would impart to the liquor a moderate or an intense degree of either of those qualities . in prosecution of which inquiry we took equal parts of sal armoniac and quick-lime , which we fluxed together , and putting an ounce , by ghess , of the powder'd mixture into a vial with a convenient quantity of cold water , we found , that the colliquated mass did , in about a minute , strike so great a heat through the glass upon my hand , that i was glad to remove it hastily for fear of being scorched . exper. xxv . we have given several , and might have given many more , instances of the incalescence of mixtures , wherein both the ingredients were liquors , or at least one of them was a fluid body . but sometimes heat may also be produc'd by the mixture of two powders ; since it has been observed in the preparation of the butter or oyl of antimony , that , if a sufficient quantity of beaten sublimate be very well mingled with powder'd antimony , the mixture , after it has for a competent time ( which varies much according to circumstances , as the weather , vessel , place , &c. wherein the experiment is made ) stood in the air , would sometimes grow manifestly hot , and now and then so intensely so , as to send forth copious and fetid sumes almost as if it would take fire . there is another experiment made by the help of antimony , and a pulveriz'd body , wherein the mixture , after it had been for divers hours expos'd to the air , visibly afforded us mineral fumes . and to these i could adde more considerable , and perhaps scarce credible , instances of bodies growing hot without liquors , if philanthropy did not forbid me . but to return to our butter of antimony , it seems not unfit to be enquired , whether there do not unobservedly intervene an aqueous moisture , which ( capable of relaxing the salts , and setting them a work ) i therefore suspected might be attracted ( as men commonly speak ) from the air , since the mixture of the antimony and the sublimate is prescribed to be placed in cellars ; and in such we find , that sublimate , or at least the saline part of it , is resolved per deliquium , ( as they call it ) which is nothing but a solution made by the watery steams wandering in the air. exper. xxvi . i have formerly deliver'd some instances of the incalescence produc'd by water in bodies that are readily dissolv'd in it , as salt of tartar and quick-lime . but one would not lightly expect , that meer water should produce an incalescence in solid bodies that are generally granted to be insoluble in it ; and are not wont to be , at least without length of time , visibly wrought on by it ; and yet trial has assured me , that a notable incalescence may be produc'd by common water in flower or fine powder of sulphur , and filings of steel or iron . for when , in summer time , i caus'd to be mingled a good quantity , ( as half a pound or rather a pound of each of the ingredients ) and caus'd them to be throughly drenched with common water , in a convenient quantity whereof they were very well stirred up and down , and carefully mingled , the mixture would in a short time , perhaps less than an hour , grow so hot , that the vessel that contain'd it could not be suffer'd in ones hand ; and the heat was manifested to other senses than the touch , by the strong sulphureous stink that invaded the nose , and the thick smoak that ascended out of the mixture , especially when it was stirr'd with a stick or spattle . whether the success will be the same at all times of the year , i do not know , and somewhat doubt , since i remember not , that i had occasion to try it in other seasons than in summer , or in autumn . exper. xxvii . in the instances that chymistry is wont to afford us of the heat produc'd by the action of menstruums upon other bodies , there intervenes some liquor , properly so call'd , that wets the hands of those that touch it ; and there are divers of the more judicious chymists , that joyn with the generality of the naturalists in denying , that quicksilver , which is indeed a fluid body , but not a moist and wetting one in reference to us , will produce heat by its immediate action on any other body , and particularly on gold. but though i was long inclinable to their opinion , yet i cannot now be of it , several trials having assur'd me , that a mercury , whether afforded by metals and minerals , or impregnated by them , may by its preparation be enabled to insinuate it self nimbly into the body of gold , whether calcin'd or crude , and become manifestly incalescent with it in less than two or three minutes of an hour . exper. xxviii . since we know that some natural salts , and especially salt-peter , can produce a coldness in the water they are dissolved in , i thought it might not be impertient to our enquiry into heat and cold , and might perhaps also contribute somewhat to the discovery of the structure of metals , and the salts that corrode them , if solutions were made of some saliform'd bodies , as chymists call them , that are made up of metalline and saline parts , and do so abound with the latter , that the whole concretions are on their account dissoluble in common water . other experiments of this sort belonging less to this place than to another , i shall here onely for example sake take notice of one that we made upon quicksilver , which is esteem'd the coldest of metals . for having by distilling from it four times its weight of oyl of vitriol , reduc'd it to a powder , which on the account of the adhering salts of the menstruum that it detain'd , was white and glistering , we put this powder into a wide-mouth'd glass of water , wherein a seal'd weather-glass had been left before it began manifestly to heat the water , as appear'd by the quick and considerable ascent of the tincted spirit of wine , that continued to rise upon putting in more of the magistery ; which warm event is the more remarkable , because of the observation of helmont , that the salt adhering to the mercury , corroded in good quantity by oyl of vitriol , if it be washed off and coagulated , becomes a kind of alom . the event of the former trial deserves the more notice , because having after the same manner and with the same weather-glass made an experiment with common water , and the powder of vitriolum martis , made with oyl of vitriol and the filings of steel , the tincted spirit of wine was not at all impell'd up as before , but rather , after a while , began to subside , and fell , though very slowly , about a quarter of an inch . the like experiment being tried with powder'd sublimate in common water , the liquor in the thermoscope was scarce at all sensibly either rais'd or deprest , which argued the alteration as to heat or cold , to have been either none or very inconsiderable . having given warning at the beginning of this section , that in it i aimed rather at offering various than numerous experiments about the production of heat , i think what has been already deliver'd may allow me to take leave of this subject without mentioning divers instances that i could easily adde , but think it fitter at present to omit . for those afforded me by trials about antiperistasis belong to a paper on that subject . those that might be offer'd about potential heat in humane bodies , would perchance be thought but unnecessary after what has been said of potential coldness ; from which an attentive considerer may easily gather , what according to our doctrine is to be said of the contrary quality . and divers phaenomena , which would have been of the most considerable i could have mentioned of the production of heat , since in them that quality is the most exalted , i reserve for the title of combustibleness and incombustibility , having already suffer'd this collection ( or rather chaos ) of particulars about the production of heat to swell to too great a bulk . finis . experiments , and observations , about the mechanical production of tasts . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments , and observations , about the mechanical production of tasts . to make out the mechanical origine or production of sapors , as far as is necessary for my present purpose , 't will be expedient to premise in general , that , according to our notion of tasts , they may depend upon the bigness , figure and motion of the saporifick corpuscles , considered separately , and as the affections of single and very minute particles of matter ; or else in a state of conjunction , as two or more of these affections , and the particles they belong to , may be combined or associated , either among themselves , or with other particles , that were not saporous before . and as these coalitions and other associations come to be diversified ; so the tasts , resulting from them , will be altered or destroyed . but , to handle these distinctly and fully , were a task not onely too difficult and long , but improper in this place , where i pretend to deliver not speculations , but matters of fact : in setting down whereof nevertheless , to avoid too much confusion , i am content , where i can doe it readily and conveniently , in some of my trials , to couch such references as may best point at those heads , whence the mechanical explications may be derived , and consequently our doctrine confirmed . by tast considered as belonging to the object , ( under which notion i here treatof it , ) i mean that quality , or whatever else it be , which enables a body by its operation , to produce in us that sensation , which we feel or perceive when we say we tast . that this something , whether you will call it a quality , or whatever else it be that makes or denominates an object saporous , or rather ( if i may be allowed a barbarous term ) saporifick , may so depend upon the shape , size , motion , and other mechanical affections of the small parts of the tasted body , and result from the association of two or more of them , not excluding their congruity or incongruity to the organs of tasting , may be made probable by the following instances . exper. i. to divide a body , almost insipid , into two bodies of very strong and very differing tasts . 't is observed , that salt-peter refined , and by that purification freed from the sea-salt that is wont to be mingled with it , does rather cool the tongue , than make any great saporifick impressions on it . and though i will not say , that it is , as some have thought , an insipid body ; yet the bitterishness , which seems to be its proper tast , is but very faint and languid . and yet this almost insipid body , being distilled by the way of inflammation , ( which i elsewhere teach , ) or even by the help of an additament of such clay as is it self a tastless body , will afford a nitrous spirit , that is extreamly sharp or corrosive upon the tongue , and will dissolve several metals themselves , and a fixt salt , that is likewise very strongly tasted , but of a tast altogether different from that of the spirit , that is extreamly sharp or corrosive upon the tongue ; and accordingly , this salt will dissolve divers compact bodies that the other will not work on , and will precipitate divers metals and other concretes out of those solutions , that have been made of them by the spirit . exper. ii. of two bodies , the one highly acid and corrosive , and the other alkalizat and fiery , to produce a body almost insipid . this may be performed by the way i have elsewhere mentioned of composing salt-peter . for if upon a liquour of fixt nitre , made per deliquium , you warily drop good spirit of nitre , till it be just enough to satiate the alkaly , ( for if there be too much or too little , the experiment may miscarry , ) we may by a gentle evaporation , and sometimes without it , and that in a few minutes , obtain crystals , which , being dried after they have been , if it be needfull , freed from any adhering particles , ( not of their own nature , ) will have upon the tongue neither a sharp nor an alkalizate tast , but that faint and scarce sensible bitterness that belongs to salt-peter , if it be pure salt-peter ; for the impure may perhaps strongly relish of the common salt that is usually contained in it . the like production of salt-peter we have sometimes made in far less time , and sometimes indeed in a trice , by substituting , in stead of the fixed salt of nitre , the saline parts of good pot-ashes , carefully freed by solution and filtration from the earthy and feculent ones . i have sometimes considered , whether the phaenomena of these two experiments may not be explicated by supposing them to arise from the new magnitudes and figures of the particles , which the fire , by breaking them , or forcibly rubbing them one against the other , or also against the corpuscles of the additament , may be presumed to give them ; as if , for example , since we find the larger and best formed crystals of nitre to be of a prismatical shape with six sides , we should suppose the corpuscles of nitre to be little prisms , whose angles and ends are too obtuse or blunt to make vigorous and deep impressions on the tongue ; and yet , if these little prisms be by a violent heat split , or otherwise broken , or forcibly made as it were to grind one another , they may come to have parts so much smaller than before , and endowed with such sharp sides and angles , that , being dissolved and agitated by the spittle that usually moistens the tongue , their smalness may give them great access to the pores of that organ , and the sharpness of their sides and points may fit them to stab and cut , and perhaps sear the nervous and membranous parts of the organ of tast , and that variously , according to the grand diversities , as to shape and bulk , of the saporifick particles themselves . and this being granted , it seemed further conceivable , that when the alkalizate and acid particles come to be put together in the fluid mixture , wherein they swam , many of them might , after a multitude of various justlings and occursions , meet with one another so luckily and opportunely , as to recompose little prisms , or convene into other bodies , almost like those that made up the crystals of nitre , before 't was exposed to the fire . to illustrate which , we may conceive , that , though a prism of iron may be so shaped , that it will be wholly unfit to pierce the skin ; yet it may be so cut by transverse planes reaching to the opposite bases or ends , as to afford wedges , which , by the sharpness of their edges , may be fit both to cleave wood , and cut the skin ; and these wedges , being again put together after a requisite manner , may recompose a prism , whose extreams shall be too blunt to be fit for the former use . this may be also illustrated by the breaking of a dry stick circularly cut off at the ends , which though it is unapt , whilst intire and of that bulk , to prick the hand ; yet if it be violently broken , the ragged ends of it and the splinters may prove stiff , slender , and sharp enough to pierce and run into the hand : to which divers other such mechanical illustrations might be added . but , since i fear you think , as well as i , the main conjecture may not be worthy any farther prosecution , i shall not insist any longer on it . and because the historical part of these experiments was for the main delivered by me already in the essay about the analysis and redintegration of nitre , i shall now proceed to other trials . exper. iii. of two bodies , the one extreamly bitter , and the other exceeding salt , to make an insipid mixture . to make this experiment , we must very warily pour upon crystals made of silver , dissolved in good aqua fortis or spirit of nitre , strong brine made of common salt and water . for the mixture of these two being dried , and afterwards brought to fusion in a crucible , and kept a competent while in that state , will afford a tough mass , the chymists call luna cornea , which you may lick divers times , and scarce judge it other than insipid ; nor will it easily be brought to dissolve in much more piercing menstruums than our spittle , as i have elsewhere shewn . exper. iv. of two bodies , the one extreamly sweet , and the other salter than the strongest brine , to make an insipid mixture . the doing of this requires some skill and much wariness in the experimenter , who , to perform it well , must take a strong solution of minium , made with an appropriated menstruum , as good spirit of vinegar , or else saccharum saturni it self , dissolved in a convenient vehicle ; and then must have great care and caution to put to it , by degrees , a just proportion of strong spirit of sal armoniac , or the like urinous spirit , till the whole be precipitated ; and if the two former tasts are not sufficiently destroyed in the mixture , it may be dried and fluxed , as was above directed about luna cornea . exper. v. of an insipid body and a sour one , to make a substance more bitter than gall or aloes . this is easily performed by dissolving in strong spirit of nitre or good aqua fortis as much pure silver as the menstruum will take up ; for , this solution being filtrated , has been often esteemed more bitter than so much gall or wormwood , or any other of those simples that have been famous for that quality : and if the superfluous moisture be abstracted , you may by coagulation obtain crystals of luna , that have been judged more strongly bitter than the solution it self . and that the corpuscles of these crystals should leave a far more lasting tast of themselves , than the above-mentioned bitter bodies are wont to doe , will not seem so marvellous , as i remember some that tried have complained ; if we take notice , how deep the particles of these crystals may pierce into the spungy organs of tast , since , if one does but touch the pulp or nail of ones finger , ( first a little wetted with spittle or otherwise , ) with the powder of these crystals , they will so penetrate the skin or nail , and stick so fast there , that you cannot in a reasonable time wash the stain off of the skin , and much less off of the nail , but it will continue to appear many hours on the former , and many days on the other . exper. vi. of an insipid body and a highly corrosive one , to make a substance as sweet as sugar . this is easily done , by putting upon good minium purified aqua fortis or spirit of nitre , and letting them work upon one another in a gentle heat , till the liquour have dissolved its full proportion of the metal . for then , if the ingredients were good , and the operation rightly performed , the menstruum would have a sweetness like that of ordinary saccharum saturni . but 't was not for nothing that i intimated , the ingredients should be also pure and good in their kind ; for , if the minium be adulterated , as often it is , or the spirit of nitre or aqua fortis be mingled , as it is usual before it be purged with spirit of common salt or other unfit ingredients , the operation may be successless , as i have more than once observed . exper. vii . of obtaining without addition from the sweetest bodies , liquours corrosive enough to dissolve metals . if sugar be put into a sufficiently capacious retort , and warily distilled , ( for otherwise it will be apt to break the vessel ) it will afford , among other things , a copious red spirit , which , being slowly rectified , will lose its colour , and come over clear . the caput mortuum of the sugar , which i have more than once had of an odd contexture , may be found either almost or altogether insipid . and though the spirit will be of a very penetrant tast , yet it will be very far from any kind of sweetness ; and though that liquour be thought to be homogeneous , and to be one of the principles of the analized sugar , yet ( as i have elsewhere shewn ) i found it to be a mixture of two spirits ; with the one of which , besides bodies of a less close texture , i dissolved ( even in the cold ) crude copper , as was easie to be seen by the deep and lovely colour of the solution . and to these sour spirits , afforded by sugar it self , we have restored a kind of saccharine sweetness , by compounding them with the particles of so insipid a body as minium ; part of which they will in digestion dissolve . a like spirit to that distilled from sugar may be obtained from honey ; but in regard of its aptness to swell exceedingly , chymists are not wont to distill it without sand , brick , or some other additament . exper. viii . to divide a body , bitter in the highest degree , into two substances , the one extreamly sour , and the other perfectly insipid . this is easily done by putting some fine crystals of luna into a good retort , and then distilling them in a sand-furnace , capable of giving them so strong a fire , as to drive away all the spirits from the silver . for , this remaining behind , according to its metalline nature , will be insipid , and the spirits , that are driven away from it , will unite in the receiver into an acid and corrosive menstruum . exper. ix . to produce variety of tasts in one insipid body , by associating it with divers menstruums . as this operation may , upon the account i elsewhere mention , be serviceable to investigate the figures of the particles of dissolved metals and other bodies ; so 't is very fit to manifest , what we would here have it shew , how much tast may be diversified by , and consequently depend upon , texture ; since a body that has no tast , may , in conjunction with sapid bodies , give them strong tasts all differing from one another , and each of them from that which the saporous bodies had before . i could propose divers ways of bringing this to trial , there being several insipid bodies , which i have found this way diversifiable . but because i remember not , that i have met with any mineral , that is dissoluble by near so many saline menstruums , as zinke , i look on that as the most fertile subject to afford instances to our present purpose . for i have found , that it will be dissolved not onely by aqua fortis , aqua regis , oil of vitriol , spirit of nitre , spirit of salt , and other mineral menstruums , but also by vegetable spirits , as distilled vinegar , and by animal ones too , as spirit of sal armoniac ; though the one be acid , and the other urinous . and if the several solutions , which may be made of this mineral , by so many differing liquours , be compared , the number of their differing tasts will suffice to make good the title of the experiment . exper. x. to produce variety of tasts with one menstruum , by associating it with insipid bodies . this proposition a mathematician would go near to call the converse of the foregoing ; and as it may serve as well as that to discover the structure of the minute parts of divers metalline and mineral bodies ; so it may not onely as well , but better than that , serve us to illustrate the corpuscularian doctrine of tasts , by shewing us , that a single , and , as far as chymistry teaches us , a simple body , endowed with a peculiar tast , may , by being compounded with others , each of them insipid of it self , produce a considerable number of differing tasts . there may be more instruments than one made use of in this trial ; but of those that are known , and we may easily obtain , the most proper are spirit of nitre , and good aqua fortis : for that , with refined silver , will make a solution bitter as gall ; with lead , 't will be of a saccharine sweetness ; with that part of tin , which it will keep dissolved , ( for the greatest 't is wont but to corrode and praecipitate ) it produces a tast very distant from both the former , but not odious ; with copper , it affords an abominable tast ; with mercury and iron , it affords other kinds of bad tasts . nor are metals the onely mineral bodies it will work upon : for , 't will dissolve tin-glass , antimony , brass ; to which i could add emery , zinke , and other bodies whereon i have tried it . all which together will make up no despicable number of differing tasts . exper. xi . of two liquours , the one highly corrosive , and the other very pungent and not pleasant , to compose a body of a pleasant and aromatick tast. this experiment , which i elsewhere mention to other purposes , does in some regards better suit our present design , than most of the foregoing ; since here the corrosive menstruum is neither mortified by fixt nor urinous salts , supposed to be of a contrary nature to it ; nor yet , as 't were , tired out nor disarm'd by corroding of metals or other solid bodies . the experiment being somewhat dangerous to make at first in great , it may suffice for our present turn , to make it in the less quantity , as follows . take one ounce of strong spirit of nitre , or of very good aqua fortis it self , and put to it by little and little , ( which caution if you neglect , you may soon repent it , ) and another ounce of such rectified spirit of wine , as , being kindled in a spoon , will flame all away : when these two liquours are well mixt , and grown cold again , you may , after some digestion , or , if hast require , without it , distill them totally over together , to unite them exquisitly into one liquour , in which , if the operation have been well performed , the corrosive particles of the salts will not onely loose all their cutting acidity , wherewith they wounded the palat ; but by their new composition with the vinous spirits , the liquour acquires a vinous tast , that is not onely not acid or offensive , but very pleasing , as if it belonged to some new or unknown spice . exper. xii . to imitate by art , and sometimes even in minerals , the peculiar tasts of natural bodies , and even vegetables . this is not a fit place to declare , in what sense i do or do not admit of souls in vegetables , nor what i allow or deny to the seminal or plastick principle ascribed to plants : but perhaps it will not be erroneous to conceive , that , whatever be the agent in reference to those tasts , that are said to be specifick to this or that plant , that , on whose immediate account it is or becomes of this or that nature , is a complication of mechanical affections , as shape , size , &c. in the particles of that matter which is said to be endowed with such a specifick tast . to illustrate this , i thought it expedient , to endeavour to imitate the tast of some natural bodies by artificial compositions or preparations , but found it not easie , beforehand to be assured of the success of such trials : and therefore i shall content my self here to mention three or four instances , that , except the first , are rather observations than such experiments as we are speaking of . i remember then , that , making some trials to alter the sensible qualities of smell , tast , &c. of oil of vitriol , and spirit of wine , i obtained from them , among other things that suited with my design , a certain liquour , which , though at first pleasant , would , at a certain nick of time , make one that had it in his mouth think it had been imbued with garlick . and this brings into my mind , that a skilful person , famous for making good sider , coming one day to advise with me , what he should doe to heighten the tast of it , and make it keep the longer , complained to me , that having , among other trials , put into a good vessel full of juice of apples a certain proportion of mustard-seed , with hopes it would make the sider more spirituous and pickant , he found , to his wonder and loss , that , when he came to draw it , it stank of garlick so rank , that every body rejected it . i remember also , that , by fermenting a certain proportion ( for that we found requisite ) of semen dauci with beer or ale , the liquour had a very pleasant relish of limon-pills . but that seems much more considerable , which i shall now add ; that , with an insipid metal and a very corrosive menstruum , one may compound a tast , that i have several times observed to be so like a vegetable , that i presume it may deceive many . this may be done by dissolving gold , without any gross salt , in the mixture of aqua fortis and the spirit of salt , or even in common aqua regis , made by dissolving sal armoniac in aqua fortis . for if the experiment be happily made , one may obtain either a solution or a salt , whose austere tast will very much resemble that of sloes , or of unripe bullace . and this tast , with some little variety , i found in gold dissolved without any distilled liquour at all ; and also , if i much forget not , in gold that by a peculiar menstruum i had volatilized . the last instance i shall give of the imitation of tasts , i found to have been , for the main , known to some ingenious ladies . but to make the experiment succeed very well , a due proportion is the principal circumstance , which is wont to be neglected . i cannot readily call to mind that which i found to succeed best ; but the trial may be indifferently well made after such a manner as this : take a pint or a pound of malaga or canary sack , ( for though french and the like wines may serve the turn , yet they are not so proper ; ) and put into it a drachm or two of good odoriferous orrice roots , cut into thin slices , and let them infuse in the liquour a convenient time , 'till you perceive that they have given it a desired tast and smell ; then keep the thus perfumed wine exactly stopped in a cool place : according to which way , i remember , that ( when i hit on the right proportion of ingredients , and kept them a due time in infusion ) i had many years ago a wine , which , being coloured with cocheneele , or some such tingeing ingredient , was taken for good rasberry-wine , not onely by ordinary persons , but , among others , by a couple of eminent physicians , one of whom pretended to an extraordinary criticalness of palate on such occasions ; both of them wondering , how at such an unlikely time of the year , as i chose to present them that liquour among others , i could have such excellent rasberry-wine : some of which ( to add that by the by ) i found to preserve the specifick tast two or three years after it was made . a short excursion about some changes made of tasts by maturation . it will not perhaps be thought impertinent , but rather necessary , to add a word or two on this occasion for their sakes , that think the maturation of fruits , and the changes of tasts , by which 't is usually known , must needs be the effect of the vegetable soul of the plant. for , after the fruit is gathered , and so , by being no longer a part of the tree , does , according to the most common opinion , cease to be a part of the living plant , as a hand or a foot cut off is no more reckoned among the lims of the man it belonged to ; yet 't is very possible that some fruits may receive maturation , after they have been severed from the plants that bore them . for , not to mention , that apples , gathered somewhat before the time , by lying in heaps , do usually obtain a mellowness , which seems to be a kind or degree of maturation ; or that medlars , gathered whilst they are hard and harsh , do become afterwards in process of time soft and better tasted ; in which state though some say they are rotten , yet others think that supposed rottenness is the proper maturity of that kind of fruit : not to mention these , i say , or the like instances , 't is a famous assertion of several writers of the indian affairs , that the fruit they call bananas is usually gathered green , and hung up in bunches or clusters in the house , where they ripen by degrees , and have an advantageous change made both of their colour and of their tast . and this an ancient acquaintance of mine , a literate and observing person , of whom i inquired about it , assured me , he had himself lately tried and found to be true in america . and indeed i see not , why a convenient degree of warmth , whether external from the sun and fire , or internal from some degree of fermentation or analogous intestine commotion , may not ( whether the fruit be united to the plant or no ) put the saporifick corpuscles into motion , and make them , by various and insensible transcursions , rub against each other , and thereby make the little bodies more slender or thin , and less rigid , or cutting and harsh , than they were before , and by various motions bring the fruit they compose to a state wherein it is more soft in point of consistence , and abound in corpuscles less harsh and more pliable , than they were before , and more congruous to the pores of the organ of tast : and , in a word , make such a change in the constitution of the fruit , as men are wont to express by the name of maturity . and that such mechanical changes of texture may much alter the qualities , and among them the tast of a fruit , is obvious in bruised cherries and apples , which in the bruised parts soon come to look and tast otherwise than they did before . the possibility of this is also obvious by wardens , when slowly roasted in embers with so gentle a fire , as not to burn off the paper they are wont to be wrapt in , to be kept clean from the ashes . and i have seen , in the bordering country betwixt france and savoy , a sort of pears , ( whose name i now remember not , ) which being kept for some hours in a moderate heat , in a vessel exactly closed , with embers and ashes above and beneath them , will be reduced to a juicy substance of a lovely red colour , and very sweet and lushious to the tast . many other sorts of fruit in other countries , if they were handled after the same way , or otherwise skilfully wrought on by a moderate heat , would admit as great alterations in point of tast . neither is that sort of pear to be here omitted , which by meer compression , duly ordered , without external heat , will in a few minutes be brought to exchange its former hardness and harshness for so yielding a contexture and pleasant a tast , as i could not but think very remarkable . and that even more solid and stubborn salts than those of vegetables , may have the sharpness and piercingness of their tasts very much taken off by the bare internal action of one part upon the other , without the addition of any sweetning body , i have been induced to think by having found , upon trial , that , by the help of insipid water , we may , without any violence of fire , reduce sea-salt into a brine of so mild and peculiar ( i had almost said ) pleasant a tast , that one would scarce suspect what it had been , or believe that so great a change of a mineral body could be effected by so slight an intestine commotion as indeed produced it ; especially , since the alteration of tasts was not the most considerable that was produced by this operation . as to liquours that come from vegetables , the emerging of new sapors upon the intestine commotion of the saporifick parts , as consequences of such commotions , is more obvious than is commonly considered in the juice of grapes , which , from a sweet and spiritless liquour , do by that internal motion we call fermentation , acquire that pleasing pungency and briskness of tast that belongs to wine , and afterwards degenerates into that acid and cutting tast that is proper to vinegar ; and all this , by a change of constitution made by the action of the parts themselves on one another , without the help of any external additament . finis . experiments , and observations , about the mechanical production of odours . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments , and observations , about the mechanical production of odours . since tasts and odours ( perhaps by reason of the nearness of the organs they affect ) are wont , by physical writers , to be treated of next to one another , i also shall imitate them in handling those two qualities , not onely for the intimated reason , but because , what i have premised in general , and some other things that i have said already under the title of tasts , being applicable to odours also , 't will not be necessary , and therefore 't would be tedious , to repeat them here . exper. i. with two bodies , neither of them odorous , to produce immediately a strong urinous smell . take good quick-lime and sal armoniac , and rub or grind them well together , and holding your nose to the mixture , you will be saluted with an urinous smell produced by the particles of the volatil salt , united by this operation , which will also invade your eyes , and make them to water . exper. ii. by the bare addition of common water , to produce immediately a very strong smell in a body that had no such smell before . this is one of the phaenomena of an experiment made with camphire and oil of vitriol , which i have elsewhere mentioned to another purpose . for , if in that corrosive menstruum you dissolve a good proportion , but not too much , of the strongly sented gum , the odour of the camphire will be quite concealed in the mixture ; but if you pour this mixture into a good quantity of fair water , the dissolved gum will immediately recover out of the menstruum , and smell as strong as before , if not ( by reason of the warmth produced in the operation ) more strongly . exper. iii. of producing some odours , each of them quite differing from that of any of the ingredients . having taken two ounces ( or parts ) of clear oil of turpentine , and mixt it with one ounce ( or part ) of oil of vitriol , ( which must be done by degrees , for otherwise the vessel will be endangered , ) the clear liquour that came over , upon the distillation of the mixture in a sand-furnace , in stead of the odour of turpentine , ( for the oil of vitriol alone is wont to be inodorous , ) smelt very strong of sulphur ; insomuch that once , when i shewed this experiment , approaching my nose very boldly and hastily to the receiver newly severed from the retort , the sulphureous stink proved so strong , that it had almost ( to speak with the vulgar ) taken away my breath . and to illustrate yet farther the possible emergency of such odours upon the mixture of ingredients , as neither of them was apart endowed with , we caused the substance that remained behind in the retort ( in the form of a thin extract ) after one of the newly mentioned distillations to be farther pressed by a stronger fire , which forced most of it over , partly in the form of a thick oil , and partly in that of butter ; both which we keep together in the same vial , because their odour is neither that of oil of turpentine , nor that of brimstone , but they smell exceedingly like the distilled oil of bees-wax . exper. iv. about the production of some odours by local motion . i shall not now examine , whether the local motion of an external agent may not , without materially concurring to the operation , produce , by agitating and shuffling the parts , odorous corpuscles : but that the celerity and other modifications of the local motion of the effluvia of bodies may not onely serve to diversifie their odours , but so far produce them , as to make them perceptible by the sense , which otherwise would not be so , may be gathered from some observations , which , being obvious , are not so proper for this place . wherefore i shall rather take notice , that i know several bodies that are not onely inodorous when cold , but when considerably hot , and are fixt in the fire , and yet , by having their parts put into a peculiar kind of agitation , will presently grow plainly odorous . on this occasion i shall add , that , as there are some very hard woods , that acquire a strong smell by the motion they may be exposed to in a turner's lath , ( as i have observed by trialls particularly made with the hard and ponderous lignum vitae , ) so some afford , whilst the operation lasts , an unexpected odour . and having inquired about this matter of two eminent artists , ( whom i often employ , ) concerning the odour of beech-wood whilst it is turning , they both agreed , that it would emit well-sented effluviums . and one of them affirmed to me farther , that , having bought a great block of that wood , to make divers pieces of workmanship with it , when he came to turn it , there would issue out not onely a copious odour , but of such a peculiar fragrancy , that one that knew not whence it proceeded would have concluded he was smelling roses . exper. v. by mixing a good proportion of a very strongly sented body with an almost inodorous one , to deprive it speedily of all its smell . take salt of tartar , and drop upon it either spirit of nitre or aqua fortis not too much dephlegmed , till all the effervescence cease , and the liquour will no longer work upon the alkali . these , by a slow evaporation of the superfluous moisture , may be made to shoot into crystalls like those of nitre , which , after you have ( if need be ) by rubbing them with a dried cloath , freed them from loose adhering corpuscles , will emulate salt-peter , as in other qualities , so in it s not being odorous ; though , if you distill them , or burn them on kindled coals , their fumes will quickly make you sensible , that they abounded with the stinking spirits , that make aqua fortis so offensive to the smell . exper. vi. by putting a very strongly stinking body to another of a not sweet smell , to produce a mixture of a pleasant and strongly aromatick odour . what is here proposed is performed at the same time that the eleventh of the foregoing experiments of tasts is made . for the liquour thereby produced , if it be well prepared , has not onely a spicy tast , but also a kind of aromatick and pleasant smell ; and i have some now by me , that , though kept not over-carefully , does , after some years , retain much of its former odour , though not so much as of its tast . exper. vii . by digesting two bodies , neither of them well sented , to produce bodies of a very subtile and strongly fragrant odour . we took a pound ( for instance ) of spanish wine , and put to it some ounces of oil of vitriol ; then , keeping them for a reasonable time in digestion , we obtained , as we expected , a mixture odoriferous enough . but this triall you will find improved by that which insues . exper. viii . by the bare addition of a body almost inodorous , and not well sented , to give a pleasant and aromatick smell to spirit of wine . this we have several times done , by the ways elsewhere related for another scope , the summ of which , as far as it needs be mentioned in this place , is this . we took good oil of blew vitriol ( that was brought from dantzick , ) though the very common will serve well , and having put to it , by degrees , an equal weight of spirit of wine totally inflammable , we digested them together , for two , three , or four weeks , ( sometimes much longer , and then with better success ; ) from which , when we came to distill the mixture , we had a very fragrant spirit , which was sometimes so subtile , that , though distilled in a tall glass with a gentle heat , it would ( in spite of our care to secure the closeness of the vessels at the junctures ) pierce through , and fill the laboratory with a perfume , which , though men could not guess what body afforded it , yet they could not but wonder at it . whence we may learn , both how much those spirituous and inflammable particles , the chymists call the vegetable sulphur of wine , may work on and ennoble a mineral sulphur ; ( for , that such an one there is in oil of vitriol , i have elsewhere proved by experience ; ) and how much the new commistions and contextures made by digestion may alter the odours of bodies , whether vegetable or mineral . that also another constitution of the same matter , without any manifest addition or recess of particles , may proceed to exhibit a very differing smell , will appear by the following triall . exper. ix . to make the forementioned fragrant body , without addition or fire , degenerate into the rank smell of garlick . to make out this , i need onely relate , that i have more than once put the above mentioned fragrant liquour in stopt glasses , whereof the one , and not the other , stood in a warm place , till in process of time i found that odoriferous liquour so to degenerate in point of sent , that one would have thought it to have been strongly infected with garlick . and the like unpleasant smell i observed in a certain oil made of vegetable and mineral substances distilled together . and on this occasion i will add , ( though not as an argument , ) this observation , which though i shall not undertake it will always succeed , i think may not impertinently be set down in this place , partly because of the likeness of the odour produced , to that which was the effect of the last named triall ; and partly ( or rather chiefly ) because it may shew us , that a body , which it self is not onely inodorous , but very fixt , may yet , in some cases , have a great stroke in the phaenomena of odours ; whether by being wrought on by , and sometimes mingled with , the parts of the odorous body , and thereby giving it a new modification , i shall not now stay to enquire . we took then good salt of tartar , and put to it several times its weight of the expressed juice of onions ; we kept them in a light digestion for a day or two , and then unstopping the vial , we found the former smell of the onions quite degenerated into a rank smell of garlick , as was judged , even when fresh juice of garlick was procured to compare them . to vary this experiment , we made with fixt salts , and some other strongly sented juices , trialls , whose events 't would perhaps be tedious here to relate . exper. x. with an inodorous body , and another not well-sented , to produce a muskie smell . this we have sometimes done by casting into spirit ( not oil ) of vitriol a large proportion of small pearls unbroken . for the action of the acid menstruum upon these being moderated , partly by the weakness of the menstruum , and partly by the intireness of the pearls , the dissolution would sometimes last many hours . holding from time to time my nose to the open orifice of the glass , 't was easie to perceive a pleasant muskie smell , which also others , to whom i mentioned it , took notice of as well as i. and , if i misremember not , i took notice of the like smell , upon pearls not onely dissolved in spirit of vinegar , but in another liquour that had but a bad sent of its own . the foregoing experiment calls to my mind that which follows . exper. xi . with fixt metals , and bodies either inodorous or stinking , to produce strong and pleasant smells , like those of some vegetables and minerals . that gold is too fixt a body to emit any odour , and that aqua regis has an odour that is very strong and offensive , i think will be easily granted . but yet aurum fulminans being made ( as 't is known ) by precipitating with the inodorous oil of tartar the solution made of the former in the latter , and this precipitate being to be farther proceeded with in order to another experiment ; we fulminated it per se in a silver vessel like that , but better contrived , that is ( if i misremember not ) somewhere described by glauberus . and among other phaenomena of this operation , that belong not to this place , we observed with pleasure , that , when the fulmination was recently made , the steams , which were afforded by the metal that had been fired , were endowed with a delightful smell , not unlike that of musk . from which experiment and the foregoing we may learn , that art , by lucky contextures , may imitate the odours that are presumed to be natural and specifick ; and that mineral and vegetable substances may compound a smell that is thought to be peculiar to animals . and as art sometimes imitates nature in the production of odours , as may be confirmed by what is above related concerning counterfeit rasberry-wine , wherein those that drank it believed they did not onely tast , but smell the rasberry ; so sometimes nature seems to imitate her self , in giving like odours to bodies extreamly differing . for , not yet to dismiss the smell of musk , there is a certain seed , which , for the affinity of its odour to that perfume , they call the musk-seed ; and indeed , having some of it presented me by a gentleman , that had newly brought it from the west-indies , i found it , whilst 't was fresh , to have a fragrancy suitable to the name that was given it . there is also a sort of rats in muscovy , whose skins , whereof i have seen several , have a smell that has procured them the name of musk-rats . to which i know not , whether we may not add the mention of a certain sort of ducks , which some call musk-ducks , because at a certain season of the year , if they be chaf'd by violent motion , they will under the wing emit a musky in stead of a sweaty sent ; which upon trial i perceived to be true . on the other side , i have known a certain wood growing in the indies , which , especially when the sent is excited by rubbing , stinks so rankly and so like paracelsus's zibetum occidentale , ( stercus humanum , ) that one would swear it were held under his nose . and since i have been speaking of good sents produced by unlikely means , i shall not pretermit this observation , that , though generally the fire impresses a strong offensive smell , which chymists therefore call empyreumatical , upon the odorous bodies that it works strongly on ; yet the constitution of a body may be such , that the new contexture that is made of its parts , even by the violence of the fire , shall be fit to afford effluviums rather agreeable to the organs of smelling , than any way offensive . for i remember , that , having for a certain purpose distilled saccharum saturni in a retort with a strong fire , i then obtained , ( for i dare not undertake for the like success to every experimenter , ) besides a piercing and empyreumatical liquour that was driven over into the receiver , a good lump of a caput mortuum of a grayish colour , which , notwithstanding the strong impression it had received from the fire , was so far from having any empyreumatical sent , that it had a pleasing one , and when 't was broken , smelt almost like a fine cake new baked , and broken whilst yet warm . and as the fire , notwithstanding the empyreuma it is wont to give to almost all the bodies it burns , may yet be reduced to confer a good smell on some of them , if they be fitted upon such a contexture of their parts to emit steams of such a nature , ( whatever were the efficient cause of such a contexture ; ) so we observe in the musk animal , that nature in that cat , or rather deer , ( though it properly belong to neither kind , ) produces musk by such a change , as is wont in other animals to produce a putrefactive stink . so that , provided a due constitution of parts be introduced into a portion of matter , it may on that account be endowed with noble and desirable sents , or other qualities , though that constitution were introduced by such unlikely means , as combustion and putrefaction themselves . in confirmation of which , i shall subjoyn in the insuing account a notable , though casual , phaenomenon , that occurr'd to a couple of virtuosi of my acquaintance . an eminent professor of mathematicks affirmed to me , that , chancing one day in the heat of summer with another mathematician ( who i remember was present when this was told ) to pass by a large dunghil that was then in lincolns-inn-fields , when they came to a certain distance from it , they were both of them surprized to meet with a very strong smell of musk , ( occasioned , probably , by a certain degree or a peculiar kind of putrefaction , ) which each was for a while shy of taking notice of , for fear his companion should have laughed at him for it ; but , when they came much nearer the dunghill , that pleasing smell was succeeded by a stink proper to such a heap of excrements . this puts me in mind of adding , that , though the excrements of animals , and particularly their sweat , are usually foetid ; yet , that 't is not the nature of an excrement , but the constitutions , that usually belong to them , make them so , hath seemed probable to me upon some observations . for , not to mention , what is related of alexander the great , i knew a gentleman of a very happy temperature of body , whose sweat , upon a critical examination , wherein i made use also of a surprize , i found to be fragrant ; which was confirmed also by some learned men of my acquaintance , and particularly a physician that lay with him . though civet usually passes for a perfume , and as such is wont to be bought at a great rate ; yet it seems to be but a clammy excrement of the animal that affords it , which is secreted into bags provided by nature to receive it . and i the rather mention civet , because it usually affords a phaenomenon that agrees very well with the mechanical doctrine concerning odours , though it do not demonstrate it . for , when i have had the curiosity to visit divers of those civet ▪ cats , ( as they call them ) though they have heads liker foxes than cats ; i observed , that a certain degree of laxity ( if i may so style it ) of the odorous atmosphere was requisite to make the smell fragrant . for , when i was near the cages , where many of them were kept together , or any great vessel full of civet , the smell ( probably by the plenty , and perhaps the over-brisk motion of the effluvia , ) was rather rank and offensive than agreeable ; whereas , when i removed into the next room , or to some other convenient distance , the steams ( being less crowded , and farther from their fountain , ) presented themselves to my nostrills under the notion of a perfume . and , not to dismiss this our eleventh experiment without touching once more upon musk , i shall add , that an ingenious lady , to whom i am nearly related , shewed me an odd monkey , that had been presented her as a rarity by the then admiral of england , and told me , among other things , that she had observed in it , that , being sick , he would seek for spiders as his proper remedies , for some of which he then seemed to be looking , and thereby gave her occasion to tell me this ; which when he had eaten , the alteration it made in him would sometimes fill the room with a musky sent : but he had not the good luck to light on any whilst my visit lasted . exper. xii . to heighten good smells by composition . 't is well known to perfumers , and is easie to be observed , that amber-greece alone , though esteemed the best and richest perfume that is yet known in the world , has but a very faint and scarce a pleasant sent . and i remember , that i have seen some hundreds of ounces together newly brought from the east-indies ; but if i had not been before acquainted with the smell of amber-greece alone , and had had onely the vulgar conceit of it , that 't is the best and strongest of perfumes , my nostrills would scarce have made me suspect those lumps to have been any thing a-kin to amber-greece . but if a due proportion of musk , or even civet , be dexterously mixt with amber , the latent fragrancy , though it be thereby somewhat compounded , will quickly be called forth , and exceedingly heightned . and indeed 't is not , as 't is commonly presumed , the plenty of the richest ingredients , as amber-greece and musk , but the just proportion and skilful mixture of them , that makes the noblest and most lasting perfume , of which i have had sufficient experience ; so that with a far less quantity of musk and amber , than not onely ordinary persons , but perfumers themselves are wont to imploy , we have had several perfumes , that for fragrancy were much preferred to those where musk and amber-greece are so plentifully imployed . the proportions and ways of mixture we best approved of , would be too long , and are not necessary , to be here set down ; but you will not much erre in making use of such a proportion as this , viz. eight parts of amber-greece , two of musk , and one of civet : which quantities of ingredients if they be skilfully and exactly mingled , you will not miss of a good composition , with which you may innoble other materials , as benzoin , storax , sweet flowers , &c. fit to make pastills , ointments for leather , pomander , &c. and we may here add , that , upon the score of the new texture acquired by composition , some things , that are not fragrant themselves , may yet much heighten the fragrancy of odoriferous bodies . and of liquid perfumes i remember , 't was the secret of some court-ladies , noted for curiosity about perfumes , to mingle always a due proportion of wine-vinegar with the odoriferous ingredients . and on this occasion , to shew the power of mixtures in improving odours , i shall add something about a liquour of mine , that has had the good fortune to be very favourably spoken of by persons of quality accustomed to choice perfumes . this liquour , though thought an elaborate preparation , as well for another reason , as to recommend it to some , whose critical palates can tast the very titles of things , i called it essence of musk , is indeed a very plain simple preparation , which i thus make . i take an arbitrary quantity of choice musk without finely powdering it , and pour upon it about a finger's breadth of pure spirit of wine ; these in a glass closely stopt i set in a quiet place to digest , without the help of any furnace , and after some days , or a few weeks , ( according as circumstances determined , ) the spirit , which is somewhat odd , will in the cold have made a solution of the finest parts of the musk , and will be thereby much tinged , but not of a red colour . this liquour being decanted , i keep by it self as the richest of all ; and pour a like quantity of spirit on the remaining musk , which usually will in the cold , though more slowly , draw a tincture , but fainter than the former , which being poured off , the remaining musk may be imployed for inferiour uses . now that which made me mention this preparation as pertinent to our present subject , is this phaenomenon of it , that the first essence , or rather tincture , being smelt to by it self , has but a faint , and not very pleasing , odour of musk , so that every body would not discover that there was musk in it ; but if a single drop , or two drops at most , were mixt with a pint , or perhaps a quart , of good sack , the whole body of the wine would presently acquire a considerably musky sent , and be so richly perfumed both as to tast and smell , as seemed strange enough to those that knew the vast disproportion of the ingredients . finis . of the imperfection of the chymist's doctrine of qualities . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. of the imperfction of the chymist's doctrine of qualities . chap. i. since a great part of those learned men , especially physicians , who have discerned the defects of the vulgar philosophy , but are not yet come to understand and relish the corpuscularian , have slid into the doctrine of the chymists ; and since the spagyrists are wont to pretend to make out all the qualities of bodies from the predominancy of some one of their three hypostatical principles , i suppose it may both keep my opinion from appearing too presumptuous , and ( which is far more considerable ) may make way for the fairer reception of the mechanical hypothesis about qualities , if i here intimate ( though but briefly and in general ) some of those defects , that i have observed in chymists explications of qualities . and i might begin with taking notice of the obscurity of those principles , which is no small defect in notions whose proper office it should be to conduce to the illustration of others . for , how can that facilitate the understanding of an obscure quality or phaenomenon which is it self scarcely intelligible , or at least needs almost as much explanation as the thing 't is designed & pretended to explicate ? now a man need not be very conversant in the writings of chymists to observe , in how laxe , indefinite , and almost arbitrary senses they employ the terms of salt , sulphur and mercury ; of which i could never find that they were agreed upon any certain definitions or setled notions ; not onely differing authors , but not unfrequently one and the same , and perhaps in the same brook , employing them in very differing senses . but i will not give the chymists any rise to pretend , that the chief fault that i find with their hypothesis is but verbal ; though that it self may not a little blemish any hypothesis , one of the first of whose requisites ought to be clearness ; and therefore i shall now advance and take notice of defects that are manifestly of another kind . and first the doctrine that all their theory is grounded on , seems to me inevident and undemonstrated , not to say precarious . it is somewhat strange to me , that neither the spagyrists themselves , nor yet their adversaries , should have taken notice , that chymists have rather supposed than evinced , that the analysis of bodies by fire , or even that at least some analysis is the onely instrument of investigating what ingredients mixt bodies are made up of , since in divers cases that may be discovered by composition as well as by resolution ; as it may appear , that vitriol consists of metalline parts ( whether martial , or venereal , or both ) associated by coagulation with acid ones , one may , i say , discover this as well by making true vitriol with spirit ( improperly called oil ) of sulphur , or that of salt , as by distilling or resolving vitriol by the fire . but i will not here enlarge on this subject , nor yet will i trouble you with what i have largely discoursed in the sceptical chymist , to call in question the grounds on which chymists assert , that all mixt bodies are compounded of salt , sulphur , and mercury . for it may suffice me now to tell you , that , whatsoever they may be able to obtain from other bodies , it does not appear by experience , which is the grand , if not the onely , argument they rely on , that all mixt bodies that have qualities , consist of their tria prima , since they have not been able , that we know , truly , and without new compositions , to resolve into those three , either gold , or silver , or crystal , or venetian talck , or some other bodies , that i elsewhere name ; & yet these bodies are endowed with divers qualities , as the two former with fusibleness and malleability , and all of them with weight and fixity ; so that in these and the like bodies , whence chymists have not made it yet appear , that their salt , sulphur and mercury , can be truly and adequately separated , 't will scarce be other than precarious , to derive the malleableness , colour , and other qualities of such bodies from those principles . under this head i consider also , that a great part of the chymical doctrine of qualities is bottom'd on , or supposes , besides their newly questioned analysis by fire , some other things , which , as far as i know , have not yet been well proved , and i question whether they ever will be . one of their main suppositions is , that this or that quality must have its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 , as sennertus , the learnedst champion of this opinion , calls it , or some particular material principle , to the participation of which , as of the primary native and genuine subject , all other bodies must owe it : but upon this point having purposely discoursed elsewhere , i shall now onely observe , that , not to mention local motion and figure , i think 't will be hard to shew , what is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of gravity , volatility , heat , sonorousness , transparency and opacity , which are qualities to be indifferently met with in bodies whether simple or mixt . and whereas the spagyrists are wont to argue , that , because this or that quality is not to be derived truly from this or that particular principle , as salt , for instance , and mercury ; therefore it must needs be derivable from the third , as sulphur . this way of arguing involves a farther supposition than that newly examined . for it implies , that every quality in a compounded body must arise from some one of the tria prima , whereas experience assures us , that bodies may , by composition , obtain qualities , that were not to be found in any of the separate ingredients . as we see in painting , that though blew and yellow be neither of them green , yet their mixture will be so . and though no single sound will make an octave or diapason ; yet two sounds , whose proportion is double , will have an eighth . and tinn and copper melted and mingled together in a due proportion , will make a bell-metal far more sonorous than either of them was before . 't is obvious enough for chymists themselves to observe , that , though lead be an insipid body , and spirit of vinegar a very sharp one , yet saccharum saturni , that is compounded out of these two , has a sweetness that makes it not ill deserve its name . but this ill-grounded supposition of the chymists , is extended farther in an usual topic of theirs , according to which they conclude , that i know not how many qualities , as well manifest as occult , must be explicated by their tria prima , because they are not explicable by the four elements of the peripateticks . to make which argumentation valid , it must be proved , ( which i fear it will never be ) that there are no other wayes , by which those qualities may be explicated , but by a determinate number of material principles , whether four or three : besides that , till they have shewn that such qualities may be intelligibly explicated by their principles , the objection will lye as strong for the aristotelians against them , as for them against the aristotelians . chap. ii. next i consider , that there are divers qualities even in mixt bodies , wherein it does not appear , that the use of the chymical doctrine is necessary . as , for instance , when pure gold is by heat onely brought to fusion , and consequently to the state of fluidity , and upon the remission of that heat , grows a solid and consistent body again , what addition or expulsion or change of any of the tria prima does appear to be the cause of this change of consistence ? which is easie to be accounted for according to the mechanical way , by the vehement agitation that the fire makes of the minute parts of the gold to bring it to fusion ; and the cohesion of those parts , by vertue of their gravity and fitness to adhere to one another , when that agitation ceases . when venice glass is meerly by being beaten to pouder deprived of its transparency and turned into a body opacous and white , what need or use of the tria prima have we in the explication of this phaenomenon ? or of that other which occurs , when by barely melting down this white and opacous body it is deprived of its opacity and colour , and becomes diaphanous ? and of this sort of instances you will meet with divers in the following notes about particular qualities ; for which reason i shall forbear the mention of them here . chap. iii. i observe too , that the spagyrical doctrine of qualities is insufficient and too narrow to reach to all the phaenomena or even to all the notable ones , that ought to be explicable by them . and this insufficiency i find to be two-fold ; for , first , there are divers qualities , of which chymists will not so much as attempt to give us explications , and of other particular qualities the explications , such as they are that they give us , are often very deficient and unsatisfactory ; and do not sometimes so much as take notice of divers considerable phaenomena that belong to the qualities whereof they pretend to give an account ; of which you will meet with divers instances in the insuing notes . and therefore i shall onely , ( to declare my meaning the better , ) invite you to observe with me , that though gold be the body they affect to be most conversant with ; yet it will be very hard to shew , how the specific weight of gold can be deduced from any or all of the three principles , since mercury it self , that is of bodies , known to us , the heaviest next to gold , is so much lighter than gold , that , whereas i have usually found mercury to be to an equal weight of water , somewhat , though little , less than fourteen to one , i find pure gold to be about nineteen times as heavy as so much water . which will make it very difficult , not to say impossible for them to explain , how gold should barely by participating of mercury , which is a body much lighter than it self , obtain that great specific gravity we find it to have ; for the two other hypostatical principles , we know , are far lighter than mercury . and i think it would much puzzle the chymists , to give us any examples of a compounded body , that is specifically heavier than the heaviest of the ingredients that it is made up of . and this is the first kind of insufficiency i was taking notice of in the chymical doctrine of qualities . the other is , that there are several bodies which the most learned among themselves confess not to consist of their tria prima , and yet are indowed with qualities , which consequently are not in those subjects to be explicated by the tria prima which are granted not to be found in them . thus elementary water , though never so pure , ( as distilled rain-water , ) has fluidity and coldness and humidity and transparency and volatility , without having any of the tria prima . and the purest earth , as ashes carefully freed from the fixt salt , has gravity and consistence and dryness and colour and fixity , without owing them either to salt , sulphur , or mercury ; not to mention , that there are celestial bodies which do not appear , nor are wont to be pretended , to consist of the tria prima , that yet are indowed with qualities . as the sun has light , and as many philosophers think , heat , and colour ; and the moon has a determinate consistence and figuration , ( as appears by her mountains ) and astronomers observe , that the higher planets and even the fixt stars appear to be differingly coloured . but i shall not multiply instances of this kind , because what i have said , may not onely serve for my present purpose , but bring a great confirmation to what i lately said , when i noted , that the chymical principles were in many cases not necessary to explicate qualities : for since in earth , water , &c. such diffused qualities , as gravity , sixtness , colour , transparency and fluidity , must be acknowledged not to be derived from the tria prima ; 't is plain , that portions of matter may be endowed with such qualities by other causes and agents than salt , sulphur and mercury . and then why should we deny , that also in compounded bodies those qualities may be ( sometimes at least ) produced by the same or the like causes ? as we see , that the reduction of a diaphanous solid to pouder , produces whiteness , whether the comminution happens to rock-crystal or to venice-glass , or to ice : the first of which is acknowledged to be a natural and perfectly mixt body ; the second a factitious and not onely mixt but decompounded body ; and the last , for ought appears , an elementary body , or at most very slightly and imperfectly mixt . and so by mingling air in small portions with a diaphanous liquor , as we do when we beat such a liquor into foam , a whiteness is produced , as well in pure water , which is acknowledged to be a simple body , as in white wine , which is reckoned among perfectly mixt bodies . chap. iv. i further observe , that the chymists explications do not reach deep and far enough . for first , most of them are not sufficiently distinct and full , so as to come home to the particular phaenomena , nor often times so much as to all the grand ones , that belong to the history of the qualities they pretend to explicate . you will readily believe , that a chymist will not easily make out by his salt , sulphur , and mercury , why a load-stone capp'd with steel may be made to take up a great deal more iron , sometimes more than eight or ten times as much , than if it be immediatly applied to the iron ; or why , if one end of the magnetic needle is dispos'd to be attracted by the north-pole , for instance , of the load-stone , the other pole of the load-stone will not attract it but drive it away : or , why a bar or rod of iron , being heated red-hot and cooled perpendicularly , will with its lower end drive away the flower de luce , or the north-end of a marriners needle , which the upper end of the same barr or rod will not repell but draw to it . in short , of above threescore properties or notable phaenomena of magnetic bodies , that some writers have reckon'd up , i do not remember that any three have been by chymists so much as attempted to be solved by their three principles . and even in those qualities , in whose explications these principles may more probably than elsewhere pretend to have a place , the spagyrists accounts are wont to fall so short of being distinct and particular enough , that they use to leave divers considerable phaenomena untouch'd , and do but very lamely or slightly explicate the more obvious or familiar . and i have so good an opinion of divers of the embracers of the spagyrical theory of qualities ( among whom i have met with very learned and worthy men ) that i think , that if a quality being pos'd to them , they were at the same time presented with a good catalogue of the phaenomena , that they may take , in the history of it , as it were with one view , they would plainly perceive that there are more particulars to be accounted for , than at first they were aware of ; and divers of them such , as may quite discourage considering men from taking upon them to explain them all by the tria prima , and oblige them to have recourse to more catholic and comprehensive principles . i know not , whether i may not add on this occasion , that , methinks , a chymist , who by the help of his tria prima , takes upon him to interpret that book of nature of which the qualities of bodies make a great part , acts at but a little better rate than he , that seeing a great book written in a cypher , whereof he were acquainted but with three letters , should undertake to decypher the whole piece . for though 't is like , he would in many words find one of the letters of his short key , and in divers words two of them , and perhaps in some all three ; yet , besides that in most of the words wherein the known letter or letters may be met with , they may be so blended with other unknown letters as to keep him from decyphering a good part of those very words , 't is more than probable , that a great part of the book would consist of words wherein none of his three letters were to be found . chap. v. and this is the first account , on which i observe that the chymical theory of qualities does not reach far enough : but there is another branch of its deficiency . for even , when the explications seem to come home to the phaenomena , they are not primary , and , if i may so speak , fontal enough . to make this appear , i shall at present imploy but these two considerations . the first is , that those substances themselves , that chymists call their principles , are each of them indowed with several qualities . thus salt is a consistent , not a fluid , body ; it has its weight , 't is dissoluble in water , is either diaphanous or opacous , fixt or volatile , sapid or insipid ; ( i speak thus disjunctively , because chymists are not all agreed about these things ; and it concerns not my argument , which of the disputable qualities be resolved upon . ) and sulphur , according to them , is a body fusible , inflammable , &c. and , according to experience , is consistent , heavy , &c. so that 't is by the help of more primary and general principles , that we must explicate some of those qualities , which being found in bodies , supposed to be perfectly similar or homogeneous , cannot be pretended to be derived in one of them from the other . and to say , that 't is the nature of a principle to have this or that quality , as , for instance , of sulphur to be fusible , and therefore we are not to exact a reason why it is so ; though i could say much by way of answer , i shall now only observe , that this argument is grounded but upon a supposition , and will be of no force , if from the primary affections of bodies one may deduce any good mechanical explication of fusibility in the general , without necessarily supposing such a primigeneal sulphur , as the chymists fancy , or deriving it from thence in other bodies . and indeed , since not only salt-peter , sea salt , vitriol and allum , but salt of tartar , and the volatile salt of urine are all of them fusible ; i do not well see , how chymists can derive the fusibleness even of salts obtained by their own analysis ( such as salt of tartar and of urine ) from the participation of the sulphureous ingredient ; especially since , if such an attempt should be made , it would overthrow the hypothesis of three simple bodies , whereof they will have all mixt ones to be compounded ; and still 't would remain to be explicated , upon what account the principle , that is said to endow the other with such a quality , comes to be endowed therewith it self . for 't is plain , that a mass of sulphur is not an atomical or adamantine body ; but consists of a multitude of corpuscles of determinate figures , and connected after a determinate manner : so that it may be reasonably demanded , why such a convention of particles , rather than many another that does not , constitutes a fusible body . chap. vi. and this leads me to a further consideration , which makes me look upon the chymists explications as not deep and radical enough ; and it is this , that , when they tell us , for instance , that the fusibleness of bodies proceeds from sulphur , in case they say true , they do but tell us what material ingredient 't is that being mingled with and dispers'd through the other parts of a body , makes it apt to melt : but this does not intelligibly declare , what it is that makes a portion of matter fusible , and how the sulphureous ingredient introduces that disposition into the rest of the mass , wherewith 't is commixt or united . and yet 't is such explications as these , that an inquisitive naturalist chiefly looks after , and which i therefore call philosophical . and to shew , that there may be more fontal explications , i shall only observe , that , not to wander from our present instance , sulphur it self is fusible . and therefore , as i lately intimated , fusibility , which is not the quality of one atome , or particle , but of an aggregate of particles , ought it self to be accounted for in that principle , before the fusibleness of all other bodies be derived from it . and 't will in the following notes appear , that in sulphur it self that quality may be probably deduced from the convention of corpuscles of determinate shapes and sizes , contexed or connected after a convenient manner . and if either nature , or art , or chance , should bring together particles endowed with the like mechanical affections , and associate them after the like manner , the resulting body would be fusible , though the component particles had never been parts of the chymists primordial sulphur : and such particles so convening might perhaps have made sulphur it self , though before there had been no such body in the world . and what i say to those chymists , that make the sulphureous ingredient the cause of fusibility , may easily , mutatis mutandis , be applied to their hypothesis , that rather ascribe that quality to the mercurial or the saline principle , and consequently cannot give a rational account of the fusibility of sulphur . and therefore though i readily allow ( as i shall have afterwards occasion to declare ) that sulphur , or an other of the tria prima , may be met with , and even abound in several bodies endowed with the quality that is attributed to their participation of that principle ; yet that this may be no certain sign that the propos'd quality must flow from that ingredient , you may perhaps be assisted to discern by this illustration , that if tin be duly mixt with copper or gold , or , as i have tried , with silver or iron , it will make them very brittle ; and it is also an ingredient of divers other bodies that are likewise brittle , as blew , green , white , and otherwise colour'd , amels , which are usually made of calcin'd tin ( which the tradesmen call puttee , ) colliquated with the ingredients of crystal-glass and some small portion of mineral pigment . but though in all the above-named brittle bodies , tin be a considerable ingredient ; yet 't were very unadvised to affirm , that brittleness in general proceeds from tin. for provided the solid parts of consistent bodies touch one another but according to small portions of their surfaces , and be not implicated by their contexture , the metalline or other composition may be brittle , though there be no tin at all in it . and in effect , the materials of glass being brought to fusion will compose a brittle body , as well when there is no puttee colliquated with them , as when there is . calcin'd lead by the action of the fire may be melted into a brittle mass , and even into transparent glass , without the help of tin or any other additament . and i need not add , that there are a multitude of other bodies , that cannot be pretended to owe their brittleness to any participation of tin , of which they have no need , if the matter they consist of wants not the requisite mechanical dispositions . and here i shall venture to add , that the way employed by the chymists , as well as the peripateticks , of accounting for things by the ingredients , whether elements , principles , or other bodies , that they suppose them to consist of , will often frustrate the naturalists expectation of events , which may frequently prove differing from what he promis'd himself , upon the consideration of the qualities of each ingredient . for the ensuing notes contain divers instances , wherein there emerges a new quality differing from , or even contrary to , any that is conspicuous in the ingredients ; as two transparent bodies may make an opacous mixture , a yellow body and a blew , one that is green , two malleable bodies , a brittle one , two actually cold bodies , a hot one , two fluid bodies , a consistent one , &c. and as this way of judging by material principles hinders the foreknowledg of events from being certain ; so it much more hinders the assignation of causes from being satisfactory ; so that perhaps some would not think it very rash to say , that those who judg of all mixt bodies as apothecaries do of medicines , barely by the qualities and proportions of the ingredients ( such as among the aristotelians are the four elements , and among the chymists the tria prima , ) do , as if one should pretend to give an account of the phaenomena and operations of clocks and watches , and their diversities by this , that some are made of brass wheels , some of iron , some have plain ungilt wheels , others of wheels overlaid with gold , some furnished with gut-strings , others with little chains , &c. and that therefore the qualities and predominancies of these metalls that make parts of the watch , ought to have ascribed to them , what indeed flows from their coordination and contrivance . chap. vii . the last defect i observe in the chymical doctrine of qualities , is , that in many cases it agrees not well with the phaenomena of nature , and that by one or both of these ways . first , there are divers changes of qualities , wherein one may well expect , that a chymical principle should have a great stroak , and yet it does not at all appear to have so . he that considers , what great operations divers of the hermeticks ascribe to this or that hypostatical principle , and how many qualities according to them must from it be derived , can scarce do other than expect , that a great change as to those qualities happening in a mixt body , should at least be accompany'd with some notable action of , or alteration in the principle . and yet i have met with many instances , wherein qualities are produced , or abolished , or very much altered , without any manifest introduction , expulsion , or considerable change of the principle , whereon that quality is said to depend , or perhaps of either of the two others : as when a piece of fine silver , that having been neald in the fire , and suffer'd to cool leisurely , is very flexible , is made stiff and hard to bend , barely by a few stroaks of a hammer . and a string of a lute acquires or loses a sympathy , as they call it , with another string of the same or another instrument , barely by being either stretched so as to make an unison with it , or screw'd up or let down beyond or beneath that degree of tension . to multiply instances of this kind would be to anticipate those , you will hereafter meet with in their due places . and therefore i shall pass on from the first sort of phaenomena , that favour not the chymical hypothesis about qualities , to the other which consists of those , wherein either that does not happen which according to their hypothesis ought to happen , or the contrary happens to what according to their hypothesis may justly be expected . of this you will meet with instances hereafter ; i shall now trouble you but with one , the better to declare my meaning . 't is not unknown to those chymists , that work much in silver and in copper , that the former will endure ignition and become red-hot in the fire , before it will be brought to fusion ; and the latter is yet far more difficult to be melted down than the other ; yet if you separately dissolve those two metalls in aqua fortis , and by evaporation reduce them to crystalls , these will be brought to fusion in a very little time , and with a very moderate heat , without breaking the glasses that contain them . if you ask a vulgar chymist the cause of this facility of fusion , he will probably tell you without scruple , that 't is from the saline parts of the aqua fortis , which , being imbodied in the metals and of a very fusible nature , impart that easiness of fusion to the metals they are mixt with . according to which plausible explication one might well expect , that , if the saline corpuscles were exquisitly mingled with tin , they would make it far more fusible than of it self it is . and yet , as i have elsewhere noted , when i put tin into a convenient quantity of aqua fortis , the metal being corroded , subsided , as is usual , in the form of whites of eggs , which being well dried , the tinn was so far from being grown more fusible by the addition of the saline particles of the menstruum , that , whereas 't is known that simple tin will melt long before it come to be red-hot , this prepar'd tin would endure for a good while not only a thorow ignition , but the blast of a pair of double bellows , ( which we usually imploy'd to melt silver and copper it self , ) without being at all brought to fusion . and as for those spagyrists that admit , as most of them are granted to do , that all kinds of metals may be turned into gold by a very small proportion of what they call the philosophers elixir , one may i think shew them from their own concessions , that divers qualities may be changed even in such constant bodies as metals , without the addition of any considerable proportion of the simple ingredients , to which they are wont to ascribe those qualities ; provided the agent , ( as an efficient rather than as a material cause , ) be able to make a great change in the mechanical affections of the parts whereof the metal it acts on is made up . thus if we suppose a pound of silver , a pound of lead , and a pound of iron to be transmuted into gold , each by a grain of the powder of projection , this tinging powder , as a material cause is inconsiderable , by reason of the smaliness of its bulk , and as an efficient cause it works differing and even contrary effects , according to the disposition , wherein it finds the metal to be transmuted , and the changes it produces in the constituent texture of it . thus it brings quick-silver to be fixt , which it was not before , and deprives it of the fluidity which it had before ; it brings silver to be indissolvable in aqua fortis , which readily dissolved it before , and dissoluble in aqua regis , which before would not touch it ; and which is very considerable to our present purpose , whereas it makes iron much more susible than mars , it makes lead much less fusible than whilest it retained its pristine form , since saturn melts ere it come to ignition , which gold requires to bring it to fusion . but this is proposed only as an argument ad hominem , till the truth of the transmutation of metals into gold , by way of projection , be sufficiently proved , and the circumstances and phaenomena of it particularly declared . i must not forget to take notice , that some learned modern chymists would be thought to explicate divers of the changes that happen to bodies in point of odours , colours , &c. by saying that in such alterations the sulphur or other hypostatical principle is intraverted or extraverted , or , as others speak , inverted . but i confess , to me these seem to be rather new terms then real explications . for , to omit divers of the arguments mentioned in this present treatise , that may be applied to this way of solving the phaenomena of qualities , one may justly object , that the supposed extraversion or intraversion of sulphur can by no means reach to give an account of so great a variety of odours , colours , and other qualities as may be found in the changed portions of matter we are speaking of . and which is more , what they call by these and the like names , cannot be done without local motion transposing the particles of the matter , and consequently producing in it a change of texture , which is the very thing we would infer , and which being supposed , we may grant sulphur to be oftentimes actually present in the altered bodies , without allowing it to be always necessary to produce the alterations in them , since corpuscles so condition'd and contex'd would perform such effects , whether sulphur , as such , did , or did not , make up the subject-matter of the change. and now i shall conclude , and partly recapitulate what has been delivered in this and the two foregoing chapters , with this summary consideration , that the chymist's salt , sulphur and mercury themselves are not the first and most simple principles of bodies , but rather primary concretions of corpuscles or particles more simple than they , as being endowed only with the first , or most radical ( if i may so speak ) and most catholick affections of simple bodies , namely bulk , shape , and motion , or rest ; by the different conventions or coalitions of which minutest portions of matter are made those differing concretions that chymists name salt , sulphur and mercury . and to this doctrine it will be consonant , that several effects of this or that spagyrical principle need not be derived from salt , for instance , or sulphur as such , but may be explained by the help of some of those corpuscles that i have lately call'd more simple and radical ; and such explications being more simple and mechanical , may be thought upon that score more fundamental and satisfactory . chap. viii . i know it may be objected in favour of the chymists , that as their hypostatical principles , salt , sulphur and mercury , are but three , so the corpuscularian principles are but very few ; and the chief of them bulk , size , and motion , are but three neither ; so that it appears not why the chymical principles should be more barren than the mechanical . to which allegation i answer , that , besides that these last nam'd principles are more numerous , as taking in the posture , order , and scituation , the rest , and , above all , the almost infinitely diversifiable contextures of the small parts , and the thence resulting structures of particular bodies , and fabrick of the world : besides this , i say , each of the three mechanical principles , specified in the objection , though but one in name , is equivalent to many in effect ; as figure , for instance , comprehends not only triangles , squares , rhombusses , rhomboids , trapezions , and a multitude of polygons , whether ordinate or irregular ; but , besides cubes , prismes , cones , spheres , cylinders , pyramids , and other solids of known denominations , a scarce numerable multitude of hooked , branched , eel-like , screw-like , and other irregular bodies ; whereof though these , and some others , have distinct appellations , yet the greatest part are nameless ; so that it need be no wonder , that i should make the mechanical principles so much more fertile , that is , applicable to the production and explication of a far greater number of phaenomena , than the chymical ; which , whilest they are considered but as similar bodies , that are ingredients of mixt and compounded ones , are chiefly variable but by the greater or lesser quantity that is employed by nature or art to make up the mixt body . and painters observe , that black and white , though mixt in differing proportions , will still make but lighter and darker grays . and if it be said , that these ingredients , by the texture resulting from their mixtures , may acquire qualities that neither of them had before ; i shall answer , that , to alledge this , is in effect to confess , that they must take in the mechanical principles , ( for to them belongs the texture or structure of bodies ) to assist the chymical ones . and on this occasion , to borrow an illustration from our unpublished dialogue of the requisites of a good hypothesis , i shall add , that a chymist that should pretend , that because his three principles are as many as those of the corpuscularians , they are as sufficient as these to give an account of the book of nature , methinks , i say , he would do like a man that should pretend , that with four and twenty words he would make up a language as well as others can with the four and twenty letters of the alphabet , because he had as many words already formed , as they had of bare letters ; not considering that instead of the small number of variations that can be made of his words by prepositions and terminations , the letters of the alphabet being variously combined , placed and reiterated , can be easily made to compose not only his four and twenty words , with their variations , but as many others as a whole language contains . chap. ix . notwithstanding all that i have been obliged to say to the disadvantage of the chymical principles , in reference to the explication of qualities , i would not be thought to grant , that the peripateticks have reason to triumph , as if their four elements afforded a better theory of qualities . for , if i had , together with leisure enough to perform such a task , any obligation to undertake it , i presume , it would not be difficult to shew , that the aristotelian doctrine about particular qualities is liable to some of the same objections with the chymical , and to some others no less considerable ; and that , to derive all the phaenomena their doctrine ought to solve from substantial forms and real qualities elementary , is to impose on us a theory more barren and precarious than that of the spagyrists . that to derive the particular qualities of bodies from those substantial forms , whence the schools would have them to flow , is but an insufficient and unfit way of accounting for them , may appear by this , that substantial forms themselves are things , whose existence many learned philosophers deny , whose theory many of them think incomprehensible , and the most candid and judicious of the peripateticks themselves confess it to be very abstruse ; so that from such doubtful and obscure principles we can hardly expect clear explications of the nature and phaenomena of qualities ; not to urge , that the aristotelian definitions , both of qualities in general , and of divers of the more familiar qualities in particular , as heat , cold , moisture , diaphaneity , &c. are far enough from being clear and well framed , as we elsewhere have occasion to shew . another thing , which makes the scholastic doctrine of qualities unsatisfactory , is , that it seldom so much as attempts to teach the manner how the qualities themselves and their effects or operations are produced . of this you may elsewhere find an instance given in the quality that is wont to be first in the list , viz that of heat , which though it may intelligibly and probably be explicated by the corpuscular hypothesis , yet in the peripatetic account that is given of it , is both too questionable and too superficial to give much content to a rational inquirer . and indeed to say , that a substantial form ( as that of the fire ) acts by a quality ( call'd heat ) whose nature 't is to produce such an effect ( as to soften wax or harden clay ) seems to be no other in substance , than to say , that it produces such an effect by some power it has to produce it . but what that power is , and how it operates , is that , which , though we most desire to know , we are left to seek . but to prosecute the imperfections of the peripatetick hypothesis , were to intrench upon another discourse , where they are more fully laid open . and therefore i shall now but lightly glance upon a couple of imperfections , that more particularly relate to the doctrine of qualities . and first i do not think it a convincing argument that is wont to be imployed by the aristotelians for their elements , as well as by the chymists for their principles , that , because this or that quality , which they ascribe to an element or a principle , is found in this or that body , which they call mixt , therefore it must owe that quality to the participation of that principle or element . for , the same texture of parts or other modification of matter may produce the like quality in the more simple and the more compounded body , and they may both separately derive it from the same cause , and not one from the participation of the other . so water and earth and metals and stones , &c. are heavy upon the account of the common cause of gravity , and not because the rest partake of the earth ; as may appear in elementary water , which is as simple a body as it , and yet is heavy : so water and oil , and exactly deflegm'd spirit of wine , and mercury , and also metals and glass of antimony , and minium or calcin'd lead , whilest these three are in fusion are fluid , being made so by the variously determined motions of their minute parts and other causes of fluidity , and not by the participation of water , since the arid calces of lead and antimony are not like to have retained in the fire so volatile a liquor as water , and since fluidity is a quality that mercury enjoys in a more durable manner than water it self : for that metalline liquor , as also spirit of wine well rectified , will not be brought to freeze with the highest degree of cold of our sharpest winters , though a far less degree of cold would make water cease to be fluid and turn it into ice . to this i shall only add ( in the second place , ) that 't is not unpleasant to see , how arbitrarily the peripateticks derive the qualities of bodies from their four elements , as if , to give an instance in the lately named quality , liquidity , you shew them exactly deflegmed spirit of wine , and ask them , whence it has its great fluidness , they will tell you from water , which yet is far less fluid than it , and this spirit of wine it self is much less so than the flame into which the spirit of wine is easily resoluble . but if you ask , whence it becomes totally inflammable , they must tell you , from the fire ; and yet the whole body , at least as far as sense can discover , is fluid , and the whole body becomes flame , ( and then is most fluid of all ; ) so that fire and water as contrary as they make them , must both be by vast odds predominant in the same body . this spirit of wine also , being a liquor whose least parts that are sensible are actually heavy , and compose a liquor which is seven or eight hundred times as heavy as air of the same bulk , which yet experience shews not to be devoid of weight , must be supposed to abound with earthy particles , and yet this spirituous liquor may in a trice become flame , which they would have to be the lightest body in the world . but , to enlarge on this subject , would be to forget , that the design of this tract engages me to deal not with the peripatetic school , but the spagyrical . to which i shall therefore return , and give you this advertisement about it , that what i have hitherto objected is meant against the more common and received doctrine about the material principles of bodies reputed mixt , as 't is wont by vulgar chymists to be applied to the rendring an account of the qualities of substances corporeal ; and therefore i pretend not , that the past objections should conclude against other chymical theories than that which i was concerned to question . and if adept philosophers , ( supposing there be such ) or any other more than ordinarily intelligent spagyrists , shall propose any particular hypotheses , differing from those that i have questioned , as their doctrine and reasons are not yet known to me ; so i pretend not that the past arguments should conclude against them , and am willing to think , that persons advantaged with such peculiar opportunities to dive into the mysteries of nature , will be able to give us , if they shall please , a far better account of the qualities of bodies than what is wont to be proposed by the generality of chymists . thus , dear pyrophilus , i have laid before you some of the chief imperfections i have observed in the vulgar chymists doctrine of qualities , and consequently i have given you some of the chief reasons that hinder me from acquiescing in it . and as my objections are not taken from the scholastical subtleties nor the doubtful speculations of the peripateticks or other adversaries of the hermetick philosophy , but from the nature of things and from chymical experiments themselves ; so i hope , if any of your spagyrical friends have a minde to convince me , he will attempt to doe it by the most proper way , which is , by actually giving us clear and particular explications , at least of the grand phaenomena of qualities ; which , if he shall do , he will find me very ready to acquiesce in a truth that comes usher'd in , and endear'd by so acceptable and useful a thing , as a philosophical theory of qualities . finis . reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. though the following discourse was at first written by way of appendix to the treatise of the imperfection of the chymical doctrine of qualities ; yet the bulk of it , swelling beyond what was foreseen , made it seem expedient to publish it as a tract by it self . reflections upon the hypothesis of alcali and acidum . chap. i. i presume , it will not be difficult to discern , that much of what has been said about the imperfection of the vulgar chymical doctrine concerning qualities , may with easie variations be applied to some other hypotheses that are of kin to that doctrine , and particularly to their theory , that would derive both the qualities of bodies and the rest of the phaenomena of nature from what they call acidum and alcali . for though these two differences may be met with in a great number and variety of bodies , and consequently the consideration of them may frequently enough be of good use , ( especially to spagyrists , and physitians , when they are conversant about the secondary and ( if i may so call them ) chymical causes and operations of divers mixt bodies ; ) yet i confess i cannot acquiesce in this hypothesis of alkali and acidum , in the latitude , wherein i find it urged and applied by the admirers of it , as if it could be usefully substituted in the place of matter and motion . the hypothesis , being in a sort subordinate to that of the tria prima , in ascribing to two contrary saline principles what vulgar chymists do to their salt , sulphur , and mercury ; most of the objections we have made against the vulgar chymical doctrine , may , as i lately intimated , be applied , by a little variation , to this , and therefore i shall need but to touch upon the main things that keep me from acquiescing in this hypothesis . chap. ii. and first , it seems precarious to affirm , that in all bodies , or even in all the sensible parts of mixts , acid and alcalizate parts are found ; there not having been , that i know , any experimental induction made of particulars any thing near numerous enough to make out so great an assertion , and in divers bodies , wherein experience is vouch'd for the inexistence of these principles , that inexistence is indeed proved not by direct and clear experience , but upon a supposition , that such and such effects flow from the operations of the assumed principles . some spagyrists , when they see aqua fortis dissolve filings of copper , conclude from thence , that the acid spirits of the menstruum meet in the metal with an alcali upon which they work ; which is but an unsafe way of arguing , since good spirit of urin , which they take to be a volatile alcali , and which will make a great conflict with aqua fortis , will , as i have elsewhere noted , dissolve filings of copper both readily enough and more genuinly than the acid liquor is wont to do . so when they see the magistery of pearl or coral , made by dropping oil of tartar into the solutions of those bodies made with spirit of vinegar , they ascribe the precipitation to the fixt alcali of the tartar , that mortifies the acidity of the spirit of vinegar ; whereas the precipitation would no less insue , if , instead of alcalizat oil of tartar , we imploy that highly acid liquor which they call oleum sulphuris per campanam . i think also it may be doubted , whether those , i reason with , are so certain as they suppose , that at least when they can manifestly discover an acid , for instance , in a body , the operation of that body upon another , which they judge to abound with an alcali , must be the effect of a conflict between those two jarring principles , or , if i may so call them , duellists . for an acid body may do many things , not simply as an acid , but on the score of a texture or modification , which endows it with other qualities as well as acidity , whose being associated with those other qualities in some cases may be but accidental to the effect to be produced ; since by one or more of these other qualities the body may act in cases , where prejudice may make a chymist consider nothing but acidity . thus when some chymists see an acid menstruum , as aqua fortis , spirit of salt , oil of vitriol , &c. dissolve iron , they presently ascribe the effect to an acidity of the liquors , whereas well dephlegmed urinous spirits , which they hold to have a great antipathy to acids , will , as i have tried in some of them , readily enough dissolve crude iron even in the cold. and on the other side , mercury will not work on the filings of iron , though this be so open a metal that even weak liquors will do it ; and yet if one should urge , that quicksilver readily dissolves gold in amalgamation , he may expect to be told , according to their doctrine , that mercury has in it an occult acid , by which it performs the solution ; whereas it seems much more probable , that mercury has corpuscles of such a shape and size as fit them to insinuate themselves into the commensurate pores they meet with in gold , but make them unfit to enter readily the pores of iron , to which nature has not made them congruous ; as on the other side the saline corpuscles of aqua fortis will easily find admission into the pores of iron , but not into those of gold , to which they do not correspond as they do to the others . and when a knife , whose blade is touched with a load-stone , cuts bread and takes up filings of iron , it does neither of them upon the score of alcali and acidum , but the one upon the visible shape and the stiffness of the blade , and the other upon the latent contrivance or change of texture produced by the operation of the load-stone in the particles that compose the steel . this may perhaps be farther illustrated by adding , that when blew vitriol , being beaten and finely searced , makes a white pouder , that whiteness is a quality which the pouder has not as being of a vitriolate nature . for rock-crystal or venice-glass being finely beaten will have the same operation on the eye , but it proceeds from the transparency of the body and the minuteness , multitude and confus'd scituation of the corpuscles that make up the pouder . and therefore , if other bodies be brought by comminution into parts endow'd with such mechanical affections , as we have named ; these aggregates will act upon the organs of sight as white bodies . chap. iii. and this leads me to another exception against the hypothesis of the duellists , which is , that the framers of it seem arbitrarily to have assigned provinces or offices to each of their two principles , as the chymists do to each of their tria prima , and the peripateticks to each of their four elements . for 't is not enough to say , that an acid , for instance , as such , performs these things , and an alkali so many others , that they divide the operations and phaenomena of nature , or at least ( as some , more cautious , are content to say ) of mixt bodies between them ; since assertions of such great moment ought not to be advanc'd or received without sufficient proof . and perhaps the very distribution of salts into acids and alcalies hath somewhat of arbitrary in it , since others may , without assuming much more , take the freedom to distribute them otherwise , there being not only several things wherein acids and alcalies agree , but also several things wherein salts of the same denomination widely differ . as , for instance , some alkalies , according to those i reason with , are , like salt of tartar , fixt , and will endure the violence of the fire ; others , like salt of urin or harts-horn , are exceedingly fugitive , and will be driven up with a scarce sensible degree of heat ; some , as salt of tartar , will precipitate the solution of sublimate into an orange-tawny ; others , as spirit of blood and harts-horn , precipitate such a solution into a milky substance . oil of tartar will very slowly operate upon filings of copper , which spirit of urin and harts-horn will readily dissolve in the fire . and among acids themselves the difference is no less if not much greater . some of them will dissolve bodies that others will not , as aqua fortis will dissolve silver and mercury , but leave gold untouched ; or as aqua regis , though made without sal armoniac that dissolves gold readily , will dissolve mercury but scurvily , and silver not at all . and this may happen , when the menstruum that will not dissolve the body is reputed much stronger than that which does ; as dephlegm'd spirit of vinegar will dissolve lead , reduc'd to minute parts in the cold ; which is an effect that chymists are not wont to expect from spirit of salt. nay , which is more , one acid will precipitate what another has dissolved , and contrarily ; as spirit of salt will precipitate silver out of spirit of nitre . and i found oil of vitriol to precipitate bodies of divers kinds , minerals and others , out of some acid menstruums , particularly spirit of vinegar . to this might be added the properties , peculiar to some particular acids , as that spirit of nitre or aqua fortis will dissolve camphire into an oil , and coagulate common oil into a consistent and brittle substance like tallow ; and , though it will both corrode silver , copper , lead , and mercury , and keep them dissolved , it will quickly let fall almost the whole body of tin , very soon after it has corroded as much as it can of it . by all which , and some other like instances , i am induc'd to question , whether the acidum and alkali , we are speaking of , have the simplicity that philosophy requires in principles ; and shall be kept from wondering , if others shall think it as free for them to constitute other principles , as 't is for the learned men i reason with , to pitch upon acidum and alkali . and some perhaps will be bold to say , that , since the former of those principles comprehend such a number of bodies , that are , many of them , very differing , and some of them directly contrary in their operations , it seems a slight and not philosophical account of their nature , to define an acid by its hostility to an alcali , which ( they will say ) is almost as if one should define a man by saying , that he is an animal that is at enmity with the serpent ; or a lyon , that he is a fourfooted beast that flies from a crowing cock. chap. iv. but although one of the chiefest conditions that philosophers may justly require in principles , is , that , being to explain other things , they should be very clear themselves ; yet i do not much wonder , that the definitions given us of acidum and alcali should be but unaccurate and superficial , since i find not , that they have themselves any clear and determinate notion or sure marks , whereby to know them distinctly , without which chymists will scarce be able to form clear and setled notions of them . for to infer , as is usual , that , because a body dissolves another , which is dissoluble by this or that known acid , the solvent must also be acid ; or to conclude , that , if a body precipitates a dissolved metal out of a confessedly acid menstruum , the precipitant must be an alcali , to argue thus , i say , 't is unsecure ; since , not to repeat what i said lately of copper , i found , that filings of spelter will be dissolved as well by some alcalies , ( as spirit of sal armoniac ) as by acids . and bodies may be precipitated out of acid menstruums , both by other acids , and by liquors , where there appears not the least alcali : as i have found , that a solution of tin-glass , made in aqua fortis , would be precipitated both by spirit of salt and by common or rain water . and as for the other grand way that chymists employ , to distinguish acids and alcalies , namely by the heat , commotion , and bubbles that are excited , upon their being put together , that may be no such certain sign as they presume , they having indeed a dependance upon particular contextures and other mechanical affections , that chymists are not wont to take any notice of . for almost any thing that is fitted variously and vehemently to agitate the minute parts of a body , will produce heat in it ; and so , though water be neither an acid nor an alcalizate liquor , yet it would quickly grow very hot , not only with the highly acid oil of vitriol , but ( as i have more than once purposely tried and found ) with the fiery alcalizat salt of tartar. and 't is to be noted , that neither in the one nor the other of these incalescent mixtures , there is produced any such visible or audible conflict , as , according to the doctrine of the chymists i reason with , one would expect . and as for the production of bubbles , especially if accompanied with a hissing noise , neither is that such a certain sign as chymists imagine : for the production of bubbles is not a necessary effect or concomitant of heat excited by conflicts , but depends very much upon the peculiar disposition of bodies put together to extricate , produce , or intercept particles of air , ( or steams , for the time equivalent to them ; ) and therefore as oil of vitriol , mixt in a due proportion with fair water , may be brought to make the water too hot to be held in ones hand , without exciting bubbles ; so i have found by trials purposely made , that alcalizat spirit of urine drawn from some kinds of quick-lime , being mixt with oil of vitriol moderately strong , would produce an intense heat , whilest it produced either no manifest bubbles at all , or scarce any , though the urinous spirit was strong , and in other trials operated like an alcali ; and although also with spirit of urin , made per se the common way , the oil of vitriol will produce a great hissing and a multitude of conspicuous bubbles . on the other side i have sometimes , though not so constantly , found , that some acid spirits , especially that of verdigrease made per se , would , when poured upon salt of tartar , make a conflict with it , and produce a copious froth , though we observed it not to be accompanied with any manifest heat . and i elsewhere mention two bodies , upon whose putting together numerous bubbles would , for a long time , and not without noise , be generated , and succeed one another , though i could perceive no heat at all to accompany this tumult . as for the tast , which by many is made a great touchstone , whereby to know acids and alcalies , i consider that there is a multitude of mixt bodies , wherein we can so little discern by the tast , which of the principles is predominant , that this sense would not oblige one to suspect , much less to conclude , there were one grain of either of them to be found there ; such bodies are diamonds and rubies , and most gems , besides many ignobler stones , and gold and silver and mercury , and i know not how many other bodies . on the other side , there are bodies that abound with acid or alcalizat salts , which either have no tast , or a quite differing one from that of the chymical principle . as though venice-glass be in great part composed of a fixt alcali ; yet to the tongue it is insipid , and crystalls of lune and of lead made with aqua fortis , and containing great store of the acid particles of the menstruum , have nothing of acidity in the mouth , the latter having a saccharine sweetness , and the former an extream bitterness . and even in vegetable substances that have a manifest tast , 't is not so easie to know by that , whether it be the acid or the alcalizat principle that is predominant in them ; as in the essential oils of spices and other vegetables . and in the gross empereumatical oils of woods , and even in high rectified spirit of wine , which therefore some will have to be an alcalizat liquor , and others list it among acids , though i did not find it neither to be destroyed or much altered by being put upon coral or salt of tartar , as would happen to an acid menstruum , nor yet by being digested with and distilled from sea salt , as might be probably expected from an alcalizat one : a and among those very bodies which their tasts perswade chymists to reckon amongst acids , one may ( according to what i formerly noted ) observe so great a difference and variety of relishes , that , perhaps without being too severe , i may say , that if i were to allow acids to be one principle , it should be only in some such metaphysical sense , as that wherein air is said to be one body , though it consist of the associated effluviums of a multitude of corpuscles of very differing natures , that agree in very little save in their being minute enough to concur to the composition of a fluid aggregate , consisting of flying parts . but having dwelt longer than i intended on one objection , 't is time that i proceed to those that remain . chap. v. another particular , i am unsatisfied with in the hypothesis of alcali and acidum , is , that 't is in divers cases either needless or useless to explain the phaenomena of qualities , there being several of these produced , destroyed , or altered , where there does not appear any accession , recess , or change of either of those two principles ; as when fluid water by hard beating is turn'd into consistent froth , and when transparent red coral is , barely by being beaten and sifted finely , changed into a white and opacous powder ; and as when a very flexible piece of fine silver being hammer'd is brought to have a brisk spring , and after a while will , instead of continuing malleable , crack or cleave under the hammer ; and as when ( to dispatch and omit other instances ) a sufficiently thin leaf of gold , held between the light and the eye , appears green . another thing ( of kin to the former , ) that i like not in the doctrine of acidum and alcali , is , that though the patrons of it , whilest they would seem to constitute but two principles , are fain ( as i lately intimated ) to make i know not how many differing sorts of acids , besides some variety of alcalies ; yet their principles are too few and narrow to afford any satisfactory explication of the phaenomena . for i fear , 't will be very difficult for them to give a rational account of gravity , springiness , light , and emphatical colours , sounds , and some other qualities that are wont to be called manifest ; and much more of several that are confest to be occult , as electricity , and magnetism ; in which last i see not , how the affirming that there is in the magnet an acid and an alcali , and that these two are of contrary natures , will help to explain , how a load-stone does , as they speak , attract the same end of a poised needle with one of its poles , which 't will drive away with the other , and determine that needle when freely placed , to point north and south , and enable it to communicate by its bare touch the same properties , and abundance of other strange ones , to another piece of steel . but i forbear to alledge particular examples referrable to the several qualities above-mentioned , whether manifest or hidden , because that in great part is already done in our notes about particular qualities , in which 't will appear how little able the employing of alcali and acidum will be to afford us an account of many things . and though i enlarge not here on this objection , yet i take it to be of that importance ; that , though there were no other , this were enough to shew that the hypothesis that is liable to it , is insufficient for the explication of qualities ; and therefore 't will not i presume be thought strange that i add , that , as for those that would extend this narrow chymical doctrine to the whole object of natural philosophy , they must do more than i expect they will be able before they can make me their proselyte , there being a multitude of phaenomena in nature ( divers whereof i elsewhere take notice of in reference to the chymists philosophy ) in which what acidum and alcali have to do , i confess i do not understand . chap. vi. the last thing ( which comprizes several others ) that seems to me a defect in the doctrine of alcali and acidum , is , that divers if not most of those very things that are pretended to be explicated by them , are not satisfactorily explicated , some things being taken into the explications that are either not fundamental enough or not clearly intelligible , or are chargeable with both those imperfections . and first i am dissatisfied with the very fundamental notion of this doctrine , namely a supposed hostility between the tribe of acids and that of alkalies , accompanied , if you will have it so , with a friendship or sympathy with bodies belonging to the same tribe or family . for i look upon amity and enmity as affections of intelligent beings , and i have not yet found it explained by any , how those appetites can be placed in bodies inanimate and devoid of knowledge , or of so much as sense . and i elsewhere endeavour to shew , that what is called sympathy and antipathy between such bodies does in great part depend upon the actings of our own intellect , which , supposing in every body an innate appetite to preserve it self both in a defensive and an offensive way , inclines us to conclude , that that body , which , though designlesly destroys or impairs the state or texture of another body , has an enmity to it , though perhaps a slight mechanical change may make bodys , that seem extreamly hostile , seem to agree very well and cooperate to the production of the same effects . as if the acid spirit of salt and the volatile alkali ( as they will have it ) that is commonly called spirit of urine be put together , they will , after a short though fierce conflict , upon a new contexture unite together into a salt , little , if at all , differing from sal armoniac , in which the two reconciled principles will amicably join in cooling of water , dissolving some metalline bodys , and producing divers other effects . and so , if upon a strong solution of salt of pot-ashes or of salt of tartar , good spirit of nitre be dropt in a due proportion , after the heat and tumult and ebullition are over , the acid and the alkalizat salts will convene into such a concretion as salt-peter , which is taken to be a natural body , either homogeneous , or at least consisting of parts that agree very friendly together , and conspire to constitute the particular kind of salt that chymists call nitre . but the sympathy and antipathy that is said to be betwixt inanimate bodys , i elsewhere more particularly consider , and therefore i shall now add in the second place , that the explications made of phaenomena according to the doctrine of alcali and acidum do not , in my apprehension , perform what may be justly expected from philosophical explications . 't is said indeed , that the acidum working on the alcali , or this upon that , produces the effect proposed ; but that is only to tell us , what is the agent that operates , and not the manner of the operation , or the means and process whereby it produces the effect proposed , and 't is this modus that inquisitive naturalists chiefly desire to learn. and if it be said , that it is by the mutual hostility of the principles that the effect is produced , it may be answered , that besides , that that hostility it self is not , as we have just now observed , a thing clear , if so mucha s intelligible ; this is so general and indeterminate a way of explicating things , as can afford little or no satisfaction to a searching and cautious naturalist , that considers how very numerous and very various the phaenomena of qualities are . chap. vii . to clear up and to countenance what i have been now saying , i shall only take notice of some few obvious phaenomena of one of the most familiar operations wherein acidum and alcali are supposed to be the grand agents . 't is known to the very boys of chymists , that aqua regis will dissolve gold , copper , and mercury , and that with these metals , especially with the second , it will produce an intense degree of heat . if now the cause of this heat be demanded , it may be expected , that the patrons of the duellists will answer , that 't is from the action of the acid salts of the menstruum upon the alcali they meet with in the metalls . but not to mention how many things are here presumed , not proved ; nor that i know some acid menstruums , and some much more evidently alcalizate bodys than these metals are , which yet do not upon their mixtures produce any sensible heat ; not , i say , to mention these , it is easie to discern , that this answer names indeed two supposed efficients of heat , but does not explicate or declare how these agents produce that quality , which depends upon a certain vehement and various agitation of the singly insensible parts of bodys , whether the duellists , or any other , though very differing , causes put them into a motion so modified . and therefore gold and copper by bare concussion may be brought to an intense degree of heat without the accession of any acid parts to work upon them . but then further , when we are told , that aqua regis by its acidity working on the metalline alcali makes a dissolution of the metal ; i am told indeed what they think to be the agent in this change , but not at all satisfied how this agent effects it ; for , copper being a very hard metal , and gold generally esteemed by chymists the closest and compactest body in nature , i would gladly know , by what power and way such weak and probably either brittle or flexible bodys as acid salts , are enabled with that force to disjoin such solid and closely coherent corpuscles as make up the visible masses of copper and gold , nay , and scatter them with that violence as perhaps to toss up multitudes of them into the air . and since in the dissolution of these metals there is another phaenomenon to be accounted for , as well as the forcing of the parts asunder , namely the sustentation of the metal in the menstruum , the chymists would have much informed me , if they had well explained , how their acidum and alcali is able to sustain and give fluidity to the corpuscles of the dissolved metal , which though it be but copper , is nine times as heavy as a bulk of water equal to it , and if it be gold , is nineteen times heavier than the liquor that must keep it from sinking ; and at least divers times heavier in specie than the salts , that are mingled with the aqueous parts , can make the menstruum composed of them both . whereas trial has assured me , that , if a piece of wax or any other such matter be made by less than the hundredth part heavier than an equal bulk of water , it will , when thoroughly immersed , fall to the bottom and rest there . i might also ask a further question about these dissolutions , as why , whereas aqua regis dissolves mercury without being much changed in colour by it , gold retains its own citrinity or yellowness in the solvent , and the solution of copper is of a colour , which being greenish-blew is quite differing from that of the metal that affords it , as well as from that of the solvent ? and i might recruit these with other queries not impertinent , but that these may suffice ( for a sample ) on this occasion , and allow me to conclude this chapter , by representing one thing which i would gladly recommend and inculcate to you , namely , that those hypotheses do not a little hinder the progress of humane knowledge that introduce morals and politicks into the explications of corporeal nature , where all things are indeed transacted according to laws mechanical . chap. viii . i might easily have been more copious in the instances annext to the foregoing animadversions , but that , being desirous to be short as well as clear , i purposely declined to make use of divers others , that seemed proper to be employed , and indeed might safely enough have been so , because those i have mentioned , and especially those , ( which make a great part of them ) that are mechanical , are not liable to the same exceptions , that i foresaw might be made to elude the force of the examples i passed by . and though i think i could very well make those foreseen objections appear groundless or unsatisfactory ; yet that could scarce be done without engaging in controversies that would prove more tedious than i judged them necessary . and yet , although what i have said in this excursion be but a part of what i could say , i would not be thought to have forgot what i intimated at the beginning of it . for though the reasons i alledged keep me from acquiescing in the doctrine of alcali and acidum , as 't is proposed under the notion of a philosophical hypothesis , such as the cartesian or epicurean , which are each of them alledged by their embracers to be mechanical , and of a very catholick extent ; yet i deny not , that the consideration of the duellists ( or the two jarring principles of alcali and acidum ) may be of good use to spagyrists and physitians , as i elsewhere further declare . nor do i pretend by the past discourse that questions one doctrine of the chymists , to beget a general contempt of their notions , and much less of their experiments . for the operations of chymistry may be misapplied by the erroneous reasonings of the artists without ceasing to be themselves things of great use , as being applicable as well to the discovery or confirmation of solid theories , as the production of new phaenomena , and beneficial effects . and though i think , that many notions of paracelsus and helmont and some other eminent spagyrists are unsolid , and not worthy the veneration that their admirers cherish for them ; yet divers of the experiments , which either are alledged to favour these notions , or on other accounts are to be met with among the followers of these men , deserve the curiosity if not the esteem of the industrious inquirers into natures mysteries . and looking upon chymistry in gross as a discipline subordinate to physiques , even mechanical philosophers may justly , in my opinion , think favourably of it , since , whatever imperfections , or , if they please , extravagancies there may be in the principles and explications of paracelsus or other leading artists , these faults of the theorical part may be sufficiently compensated by the utilities that may be derived from the practical part . and this i am the rather induced to say , because the experiments , that chymistry furnishes , may much assist a naturalist to rectifie the erroneous theories that oftentimes accompany them , and even those ( mistakes ) that are endeavour'd to be evinced by them . and ( to conclude ) chymistry seems to deal with men in reference to notions , as it does in reference to metals , assisting wary men to detect the errors , unto which it may have missed the unwary : for the same art that has taught some to impose on others , ( and perhaps themselves first ) by blanching copper , imitating gold , &c. does also supply say-masters and refiners , with the means , by the cupel , cements , aqua fortis , &c. to examine , whether coins be true or false , and discover adulterate gold and silver to be counterfeit . finis . experiments , and notes , about the mechanical origine and production of volatility . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments , and notes , about the mechanical origine and production of volatility . chap. i. as far as i have yet observed , the qualifications or attributes , on whose account a portion of matter is found to be volatile , are chiefly four ; whereof the three former most regard the single corpuscles as such ; and the last , the manner of their union in the aggregate or body they make up . but before i enter upon particulars , give me leave to advertise you here once for all , that in the following notes about volatility and fixtness , when i speak of the corpuscles or minute parts of a body , i doe not mean strictly either the elementary parts , such as earth and water , or the hypostatical principles , such as salt , sulphur , or mercury ; for these things come not here into consideration : but onely such corpuscles , whether of a simple , compounded or decompounded nature , as have the particles they consist of so firmly united , that they will not be totally disjoyned or dissipated by that degree of fire or heat , wherein the matter is said to be volatile or to be fixt . but these combined particles will in their aggregate either aseend , or continue unraised per modum unius ( as they speak ) or as one intire corpusole . as in a corpuscle of sal armoniac , whether it be a natural or factitious thing , or whether it be perfectly similar , or compounded of differing parts , i look upon the intire corpuscle as a volatile portion of matter ; and so i doe on a corpuscle of sulphur , though experience shews when 't is kindled , that it has great store of acid salt in it , but which is not extricated by bare sublimation : and so colcothar of vitriol falls under our consideration as a fixt body , without inquiring what cupreous or other mineral and not totally fixt parts may be united with the earthly ones ; since the fires , we expose it to , do not separate them . and this being premised in the general , i now proceed to some particulars . and first to make a volatile body , the parts should be very small . for , coeteris paribus , those that are so , are more easily put into motion by the action of the fire and other agents , and consequently more apt to be elevated , when , by the determination of the movent , the situation of the neighbouring bodies , or other mechanical circumstances , the agitated corpuscles can continue their motion with less resistance upwards than any other way , ( as either downwards or horizontally . ) and if , as 't is highly probable , that which in light bodies , or at least in most of them , is wont to pass for positive levity , be but a less degree of gravity than that of those contiguous bodies that raise them ; it will happen , that in very many cases , ( for i say not in all ) the great proportion of the surface of a corpuscle to its bulk , ( which is usually greater in the lesser particles ) by making it more apt to be wrought on , either by the air agitated by the fire , or by the effluvia of kindled fuell , or by the impulse of the shaken corpuscles of the body it self , will much facilitate the elevation of such a minute particle , by exposing a greater portion of it to the action of the agent , as it will oftentimes also facilitate the renewed sustentation of such a small body in the air , which resists more the descent of particles whose surfaces are large , than of others of the same gravity and bulk : as a leaf of paper displayed will much longer hover in the air , than if it were reduced into a ball or pellet . that this minuteness of particles may dispose them to be carried upwards , by the impulse of other bodies and that of the agitated air , is very obvious to be observed : as we see , that horses in a high-way , though they be not able with the strokes of their feet to make stones , or gravel , or clods of earth fly up , yet they will easily raise clouds of dust oftentimes mingled with the smaller grains of sand . and where timber is sawing , the same wind that will not in the least move the beams , and scarce at all move the chips , will easily carry up the saw-dust into the air. and we see in our chimneys , that the smoak readily ascends , whilst even small clods of soot , which is but an aggregate of the particles of smoak , fall headlong down . chap. ii. the next qualification requisite in the corpuscles of volatile bodies is , that they be not too solid or heavy . for if they be so , though their bulk be very small , yet , unless other circumstances do much compensate their weight , 't will be very difficult to elevate them , because of the great disproportion of their specific gravity to that of the air , ( which contributes to sustain and even raise many sorts of volatile parts ) and to the strength of the igneous effluvia or other agents that would carry them up . thus we see , that filings of lead or iron , and even minium ( which is the calx of lead ) though the grains they consist of be very small , will not easily be blown up like common dust , or meal , or other powders made of less ponderous materials . a third qualification to be desired in the corpuscles that should make up a volatile body is , that they be conveniently shaped for motion . for if they be of branched , hook'd , or other very irregular or inconvenient figures , they will be apt to be stopt and detained by other bodies , or entangled among themselves , and consequently very difficult to be carried upwards , in regard that , whilst they are thus fastened either to one another , or to any stable body , each single corpuscle is not onely to be considered , as having its own peculiar bulk , since its cohesion with the other corpuscle or body that detains it , makes them fit to be look'd upon per modum unius ; that degree of heat they are exposed to being presumed uncapable of disjoyning them . and this may be one reason , why water , though it be specifically heavier than oil , yet is much more easily brought to exhale in the form of vapours than is oil , whose corpuscles by the lasting stains they leave on cloath , wood , wool , &c. ( which water will but transiently moisten , not stain ) seems to be of very intangling figures . the fourth and last qualification requisite in a volatile body is , that the parts do loosely adhere , or at least be united in such a manner , as does not much indispose them to be separated by the fire in the form of fumes or vapours . for he that considers the matter , will easily grant , that , if the contexture of the corpuscles , whereof a body consists , be intricate , or their cohesion strong , their mutual implication , or their adherence to each other , will make one part hinder another from flying separately away , and their conjunction will make them too heavy or unweildy to be elevated together , as intire though compounded parts . thus we see , that in spring , or the beginning of summer , a wind , though not faint , is unable to carry off the lightest leaves of trees , because they stick fast to the bows and twigs on which they grow , but in autumn , when that adhesion ceases , and the leaves sit but loosely on , a wind no stronger than that they resisted before , will with ease blow them off , and perhaps carry them up a good way into the air. but here note , that it was not without some cause , that i added above , that in a fluid body , the parts should at least be united in such a manner , as does not much indispose them to be separated . for 't is not impossible , that the parts of a body may , by the figures and smoothness of the surfaces , be sufficiently apt to be put into motion , and yet be indisposed to admit such a motion as would totally separate them and make them fly up into the air. as , if you take two pieces of very flat and well-polished marble or glass , and lay them one upon the other , you easily make them slide along each others surfaces , but not easily pull up one of them , whilest the other continues its station . and when glass is in the state of fusion , the parts of it will easily slide along each other , ( as is usual in those of other fluids ) and consequently change places , and yet the continuity of the whole is not intirely broken , but every corpuscle does somewhere touch some other corpuscle , and thereby maintain the cohesion that indisposes it for that intire separation accompanied with a motion upwards that we call avolation . and so , when salt-peter alone , is in a crucible exposed to the fire , though a very moderate degree of it will suffice to bring the salt to a state of fusion , and consequently to put the corpuscles that compose it into a restless motion ; yet a greater degree of heat , than is necessary to melt it , will not extricate so much as the spirits , and make them fly away . chap. iii. the foregoing doctrine of the volatility of bodies may be as well illustrated as applied , if we proceed to deduce from it the generall ways of volatilization of bodies , or of introducing volatility into an assigned portion of matter . for these wayes seem not inconveniently reducible to five , which i shall severally mention , though nature and art do usually imploy two or more of them in conjunction . for which reason i would not , when i speak of one of these wayes , be understood as if , excluding the rest , i meant that no other concurred with it . the first of the five ways or means of volatilizing a body is , to reduce it into minute parts , and , caeteris paribus , the more minute they are the better . that the bringing a body into very minute parts may much conduce to the volatilizing of it , may be gathered from the vulgar practice of the chymists , who when they would sublime or distill antimony , sal armoniac , sea-salt , nitre , &c. are wont to beat them to powders to facilitate their receiving a further comminution by the action of the fire . and here i observe , that in some bodies this comminution ought not to be made onely at first , but to be continued afterwards . for chymists find by experience , though perhaps without considering the reason of it , that sea-salt and nitre , will very hardly afford their spirits in distillations , without they be mingled with powdered clay or bole , or some such other additament , which usually twice or thrice exceeds the weight of the salt it self : although these additaments , being themselves fixt , seem unlikely to promote the volatilization of the bodies mixt with them , yet by hindering the small grains of salt to melt together into one lump or masse , and consequently by keeping them in the state of comminution , they much conduce to the driving up of the spirits or the finer parts of the salts by the operation of the fire . but to prosecute a little what i was saying of the conduciveness of bringing a body into small parts to the volatilization of it , i shall add , that in some cases the comminution may be much promoted by employing physical , after mechanical , ways ; and that when the parts are brought to such a pitch of exiguity , they may be elevated much better than before . thus , if you take filings of mars , and mix them with sal armoniack , some few parts may be sublimed ; but if , as i have done , you dissolve those filings in good spirit of salt instead of oil of vitriol , and having coagulated the solution , you calcine the greenish crystalls or vitriolum martis that will be afforded , you may with ease , and in no long time , obtain a crocus martis of very fine parts ; so that i remember , when we exquisitely mingled this very fixt powder with a convenient proportion of sal armoniac , and gradually press'd it with a competent fire , we were able to elevate at the first sublimation a considerable part of it ; and adding a like , or somewhat inferiour , proportion of fresh sal armoniac to the caput mortuum , we could raise so considerable a part of that also , and in it of the crocus , that we thought , if we had had conveniency to pursue the operation , we should , by not many repeated sublimations , have elevated the whole crocus , which ( to hint that upon the by , ) afforded a sublimat of so very astringent a tast , as may make the trial of it in stanching of blood , stopping of fluxes , and other cases , where potent astriction is desired , worthy of a physicians curiosity . chap. iv. the second means to volatilize bodies is , to rub , grind , or otherwise reduce their corpuscles to be either smooth , or otherwise fitly shaped to clear themselves , or be disintangled from each other . by reason of the minuteness of the corpuscles , which keeps them from being separately discernible by the eye , 't is not to be expected , that immediate and ocular instances should be given on this occasion ; but that such a change is to be admitted in the small parts of many bodies , brought to be volatile , seems highly probable from the account formerly given of the requisites or conditions of volatility , whose introduction into a portion of matter will scarce be explicated without the intervention of such a change . to this second instrument of volatilization , in concurrence with the first , may probably be referred the following phaenomena : in the two first-of which there is imployed no additional volatile ingredient ; and in the fourth , a fixt body is disposed to volatility by the operation of a liquour , though this be carefully abstracted from it . 1. if urine freshly made be put to distill , the phlegm will first ascend , and the volatile salt will not rise 'till that be almost totally driven away , and then requires a not inconsiderable degree of fire to elevate it . but , if you putrefie or digest urine , though in a well-closed glass-vessel , for seven or eight weeks , that gentle warmth will make the small parts so rub against , or otherwise act upon , one another , that the finer ones of the salt will perhaps be made more slender and light , and however will be made to extricate themselves so far as to become volatile , and , ascending in a very gentle heat , leave the greatest part of the phlegm behind them . 2. so , if must , or the sweet juice of grapes , be distilled before it have been fermented , 't is observed by chymists , and we have tried the like in artificial wine made of raisins , that the phlegm , but no ardent spirit , will ascend . but when this liquour is reduced to wine by fermentation , which is accompanied with a great and intestine commotion of the justling parts , hitting and rubbing against one another , whereby some probably come to be broken , others to be variously ground and subtilized , the more subtile parts of the liquour being extricated , or some of the parts being , by these operations , brought to be subtile , they are qualified to be raised by a very gentle heat before the phlegm , and convene into that fugitive liquour , that chymists , for its activity , call spirit of wine . nor is it onely in the slighter instances afforded by animals and vegetables , that volatility may be effected by the means lately mentioned : for experience hath assured me , that 't is possible , by an artificial and long digestion , wherein the parts have leisure for frequent justlings and attritions , so to subtilize and dispose the corpuscles even of common salt for volatility , that we could make them ascend in a moderate fire of sand without the help of bole , oil of vitriol , or any volatilizing additament ; and , which is more considerable , the spirit would in rising precede the phlegm , and leave the greatest part thereof behind it . this intestine commotion of parts capable of producing volatility in the more disposed portions of a body , though it be much more easie to be found in liquours , or in moist and soft bodies , yet i have sometimes , though rarely , met with it in dry ones . and particularly i remember , that some years ago having , for trial sake , taken mustard-seed , which is a body pregnant with subtile parts , and caused it to be distilled per se in a retort , i had , as i hoped , ( without any more ado , ) a great many grains of a clear and figured volatile salt at the very first distillation : which experiment having , for the greater security , made a second time with the like success , i mentioned it to some lovers of chymistry , as what i justly supposed they had not heard of . i leave it to farther inquiry , whether , in a body so full of spirits as mustard-seed , the action and re-action of the parts among themselves , perhaps promoted by just degrees of fire , might not suffice to make in them a change equivalent in order to volatilization , and the yielding a volatile salt , to that which we have observed fermentation and putrefaction to have made in the juice of grapes , urine , and some other bodies . how far the like success may be expected in other trialls , i cannot tell ; especially not having by me any notes of the events of some attempts which that inquiry put me upon : onely i remember in general , that , as some trials , i made with other seeds , and even with aromatick ones , did not afford me any volatile salt ; so the success of other trials made me now and then think , that some subjects of the vegetable kingdom , whence we are wont to drive over acid spirits , but no dry salt , may be distilled with so luckily regulated a heat , as to afford something , though but little , of volatile salt ; and that perhaps more bodies would be found to doe so , were they not too hastily or violently prest by the fire , whereby such saline schematisms of the desired parts of the matter are ( by being dissipated or confounded ) destroyed or vitiated , as in a slow , dextrous , or fortunate way of management would come forth , not in a liquid , but a saline form . of which observation we may elsewhere mention some instances , and shall before the close of this paper name one , afforded us by crude tartar. 3. though silver be one of the fixedst bodies that we know of , yet that 't is not impossible but that , chiefly by a change of texture , it may strangely be disposed to volatility , i was induced to think by what i remember once happened to me . a gentleman of my acquaintance , studious of chymical arcana , having lighted on a strange menstruum , which he affirmed , and i had some cause to believe , not to be corrosive , he abstracted it from several metalls , ( for the same liquour would serve again and again , ) and brought me the remainders , with a desire that i would endeavour to reduce those of lead and silver into the pristine metals again , which he had in vain attempted to doe : whereupon , though i found the white calx of lead reducible , yet when i came to the calx of silver , i was not able to bring it into a body ; and having at length melted some lead in a gentle fire , to try whether i could make it swallow up the calx , in order to a farther operation , i was not a little surprized to find , that this mild heat made the calx of silver presently fly away and sublime in the form of a farina volatilis , which whitened the neighbouring part of the chimney , as well as the upper part of the crucible . 4. from that which chymists themselves tell us , i think we may draw a good argument ad hominem , to prove , that volatility depends much upon the texture and other mechanical affections of a body . for divers of those hermetick philosophers ( as they are called ) that write of the elixir , tell us , that when their philosophick mercury or grand solvent , being sealed up together with a third or fourth part of gold in a glass-egg , is kept in convenient degrees of fire , the whole matter , and consequently the gold , will , by the mutual operation of the included substances , be so changed , that not onely 't will circulate up and down in the glass , but , in case the digestion or decoction should be broken off at a certain inconvenient time , the gold would be quite spoil'd , being , by the past and untimely-ended operation , made too volatile to be reducible again into gold : whereas , if the decoction be duly continued unto the end , not onely the gold , but all the philosophical mercury or menstruum will be turned into a sulphur or powder of a wonderfully fixt nature . i know , there are several chrysopaeans , that speak much otherwise of this operation , and tell us , that the gold imployed about it must be philosophick gold : but i know too , that there are divers others ( and those too none of the least candid or rational ) that speak of it as i have done ; and that is sufficient to ground an argument on towards all those that embrace their doctrine . and in this case 't is considerable , that 't is not by any superadded additament , that the most fixt body of gold is made volatile , but the same massy matter , consisting of gold and philosophick mercury , is , by the change of texture produced or occasioned by the various degrees and operations of fire upon it , brought to be first volatile , and then extreamly fixt . and having said this in reference to one tribe of the modern spagyrists ; to another of them , the helmontians , i think i can offer a good argument ad hominem from the testimony and experiments of the founder of their sect. 5. the acute helmont , among other prodigious powers that he ascribes to the alkahest , affirms , that , by abstracting it frequently enough , it would so change all tangible bodies , and consequently stones and metals , that they might be distilled over into liquours equiponderant to the respective bodies that afforded them , and having all the qualities of rain-water ; which if they have , i need not tell you that they must be very volatile . and i see not how those that admit the truth of this strange alkahestical operation , can well deny , that volatility depends upon the mechanical affections of matter , since it appears not , that the alkahest does , at least in our case , work upon bodies otherwise than mechanically . and it must be confest , that the same material parts of a portion of corporeal substance , which , when they were associated and contexed ( whether by an archeus , seed , form , or what else you please , ) after such a determinate manner , constituted a solid and fixt body , as a flint or a lump of gold ; by having their texture dissolved , and ( perhaps after being subtilized ) by being freed from their former implications or firm cohesions , may become the parts of a fluid body totally volatile . chap. v. the fourth means of making a body volatile is , by associating the particles to be raised with such as are more volatile than themselves , and of a figure fit to be fastened to them , or are at least apt , by being added to them , to make up with them corpuscles more disposed than they to volatility . this being the grand instrument of volatilization , i shall spend somewhat the more time about it : but i shall first here a little explain the last clause , ( that i may not be obliged to resume it elsewhere , ) by intimating , that 't is not impossible , that the particles of an additament , though not more volatile than those of the body 't is mixt with , and perhaps though not volatile at all , will yet conduce to volatilize the body wherewith 't is mingled . for the particles of the additament may be of such figures , and so associated with those of the body to be elevated , as in this to enlarge the former pores , or produce new ones , by intercepting little cavities ( for they must not be great ones ) between the particles of a body to be raised , and those of the additament . for , by these and other such ways of association , the corpuscles , resulting from the combination or coalition of two or more of these differing particles , may , without becoming too big and unwieldy , become more conveniently shaped , or more light in proportion to their bulk , and so more easily buoyed up and sustained in the air , ( as when the lid of a copper-box being put on , makes the whole box emerge and swim in water , because of the intercepted cavity , though neither of the parts of the box would doe so , ) or otherwise more fitted for avolation than the particles themselves were before their being joined to those of the additament . by two things chiefly the corpuscles of the additament may contribute to the elevation of a body . for first , the parts of the former may be much more disposed for avolation than is necessary to their own volatility . as when in the making of sal armoniac , the saline particles of urine and of soot are more fugitive than they need be to be themselves sublimed , and thereby are advantaged to carry up with them the more sluggish corpuscles whereof sea-salt consists . and next , they may be of figures so proper to fasten them well to the body to be elevated , that the more fugitive will not be driven away or disjoyned from the more fixt by such a degree of heat as is sufficient to raise them both together : to which effect the congruity or figuration is as well required , as the lightness or volatility of the particles of the additament . and therefore some of the fugitivest bodies that we know , as spirit of wine , camphire , &c. will not volatilize many bodies which will be elevated by far less fugitive additaments ; because the corpuscles of spirit of wine stick not to those of the body they are mingled with , but , easily flying up themselves , leave those behind them , which they did rather barely touch than firmly adhere to : whereas far less fugacious liquours , if they be indowed with figures that fit them for a competently firm cohesion with the body they are mingled with , will be able to volatilize it . of which i shall now give you some instances in bodies that are very ponderous , or very fixt , or both . and i shall begin with colcothar , though it being a vitriolate calx , made by a lasting and vehement fire , 't is ( consequently ) capable of resisting such a one . this being exquisitely ground with an equal weight of sal armoniac , which is it self a salt but moderately volatile , will be in good part sublimed into those yellow flowers , which we have elsewhere more particularly taught to prepare , under the name of ens primum veneris ; in which , that many vitriolate corpuscles of the colcothar are really elevated , you may easily find by putting a grain or two of that reddish substance into a strong infusion of galls , which will thereby immediately acquire an inky colour . steel also , which , to deserve that name , must have endured extraordinary violences of the fire , and greater than is needfull to obtain other metalls from their mother earth ; steel it self , i say , being reduced to filings , and diligently ground with about an equal weight of sal armoniac , will , if degrees of fire be skilfully administred , ( for 't is easie to err in that point , ) without any previous calcination or reduction to a crocus , suffer so much of the metall to be carried up , as will give the sal armoniac a notable colour , and an ironish tast . and here it will be proper to observe , for the sake of practical chymists , that the quantity or proportion of the volatile additament is to be regarded ; though not so much as its nature , yet more than it is wont to be : and divers bodies , that are thought either altogether unfit for sublimation , or at least uncapable to have any considerable portion of them elevated , may be copiously enough sublimed , if a greater proportion of the additament , than we usually content our selves with , be skilfully imployed . and in the newly-mentioned instance of filings of steel , if , in stead of an equal weight of sal armoniac , the treble weight be taken , and the operation be duly managed , a far greater quantity of the metall may be raised , especially if fresh sal armoniac be carefully ground with the caput mortuum . and sal armoniac may perhaps be compounded with such other bodies , heavier than it self , as may qualifie it , when it is thus clogged , to elevate some congruous bodies better than it would of it self alone . and i shall venture to add this farther advertisement , that if , besides the plenty of the additament , there be a sufficient fitness of its particles to lay hold on those of the body to be wrought on , mineral bodies , and those ponderous enough , may be employed to volatilize other heavy bodies . and i am apt to think , that almost , if not more than almost , all metalls themselves may by copious additaments and frequent cohobations be brought to pass through the neck of the retort in distillation ; and perhaps , if you melt them not with equal parts , but with many parts of regulus of antimony , and then proceed as the hints now given will direct you , you will not find cause to despise what i have been saying . you know what endeavours have been , and are still fruitlessly , imployed by chymists to elevate so fixt a body as salt of tartar by additaments . i shall not now speak much of the enterprize in generall , designing chiefly to tell you on this occasion , that , whereas frequent experience shews , that sal armoniac being abstracted from salt of tartar , not onely the salt of tartar is left at the bottom , but a good part of the sal armoniac is left behind with it ; i suspected the cause might be , that sal armoniac , by the operation of the alkaly of tartar , is reduced into sea-salt , and urinous or fuliginous salt , as 't was at first composed of those differing ingredients ; and that by this means the volatil salt being loosened or disintangled from the rest , and being of a very fugacious nature , flyes easily away it self , without staying long enough to take up any other salt with it . and therefore , if this analysis of the sal armoniac could be prevented , it seemed not impossible to me , that some part of the salt of tartar , as well as of colcothar and steel , might be carried up by it : and accordingly having caused the ingredients to be exceedingly well dryed , and both nimbly and carefully mixt , and speedily exposed to the fire , i have sometimes had a portion of salt of tartar carried up with the sal armoniac : but this happened so very rarely , that i suspected some peculiar fitness for this work in some parcels of sal armoniac , that are scarce but by the effect to be discerned from others . but however , what has happened to us may argue the possibility of the thing , and may serve to shew the volatilizing efficacy of sal armoniac ; which is a compound , that i elsewhere recommend , and doe it now again , as one of the usefullest productions of vulgar chymistry . and since i have mentioned the volatilization of salt of tartar , presuming your curiosity will make you desire my opinion about the possibility of it , i shall propose to you a distinction , that perhaps you doe not expect , by saying , that i think there is a great deal of difference between the making a volatile salt of tartar , and the making salt of tartar volatile . for , though this seem to be but a nicety , yet really it is none ; and it is very possible , that a man may from tartar obtain a volatile salt , and yet be no wise able to volatilize that tartareous salt , that has been once by the incineration of the tartar brought to fixt alkaly . i have in the sceptical chymist summarily delivered a way , by which both i , and some spagyrists that learned it of me , obtained from a mixture of antimony , nitre , and crude tartar , a volatil salt , which in probability comes from the last named of those three bodies ; but experience carefully made has assured me , that without any additament , by a distillation warily and very slowly made , ( insomuch that i have spent near a week in distilling one pound of matter ) very clean tartar , or at least the crystalls of tartar , may , in conveniently shaped vessels , be brought to afford a substance that in rectification will ascend to the upper part of the vessel , in the form of a volatil salt , as if it were of urine or of harts-horne ; of which ( tartareous ) salt , i keep some by me : but this operation requires not onely a dexterous , but a patient distiller . but now as to the making a fixt alkaly of tartar become volatil , i take it to be another , and have found it to be a far more difficult , work ; the common processes of performing it being wont to promise much more than they can make good ; which i may justly say of some other , that private men have vaunted for great arcana , but upon triall have satisfied me so little , that i have divers times offered pretenders to make salt of tartar volatil , that without at all inquiring into their processes , i would lay good wagers , that they could not doe what they pretended ; not onely as divers philosophical spagyrists require , without any visible additament , but by any additament whatever ; provided i were allowed to bring the salt of tartar my self , and to examine the success , not by what may appear in the alembic and receiver , but by the weight of what would remain in the bottom . for i have convinced some of the more ingenuous artists , that the salt that sublimed was not indeed the alkaly of tartar , but somewhat that was by the operation produced , or rather extricated out of the additaments . but yet i would not be thought to affirm , that 't is not possible to elevate the fixt salt of tartar. for sometimes i have been able to doe it , even at the first distillation , by an artificial additament perhaps more fixt than it self ; but , though the operation was very gratefull to me , as it shewed the possibility of the thing , yet the paucity of the salt sublimed and other circumstances , kept me from much valuing it upon any other account . and there are other wayes , whereby experience has assured me , that salt of tartar may be raised . and if one of them were not so uncertain , that i can never promise before hand that it will at all succeed , and the other so laborious , difficult and costly , that few would attempt or be able to practice it , i should think them very valuable things ; since by the former way most part of the salt of tartar was quickly brought over in the form of a liquor , whose piercing smell was scarce tolerable ; and by the latter way some salt of tartar of my own , being put into a retort , and urged but with such a fire as could be given in a portable sand-furnace , there remained not at the bottom near one half of the first weight , the additament having carried up the rest , partly in the form of a liquor , but chiefly in that of a white sublimate , which was neither ill-sented , nor in tast corrosive , or alcalizat , but very mild , and somewhat sweetish . and i doe not much doubt , but that by other wayes the fixt alkaly of tartar may be elevated , especially if , before it be exposed to the last operation of the fire , it be dextrously freed from the most of those earthy and viscous parts , that i think may be justly suspected to clog and bind the truly saline ones . but i have too long digrest , and therefore shall intimate onely upon the by , that even the spurious sal tartari volatilized that is made with spirit of vinegar , may , if it be well prepared , make amends for its empyreumatical smell and tast , and may , notwithstanding them , in divers cases be of no despicable use , both as a medicine , and a menstruum . chap. vi. before i draw towards a conclusion of these notes about volatility , perhaps it will not be amiss , to take notice of a phaenomenon , which may much surprise , and sometimes disappoint those that deal in sublimations , unless they be forewarned of it . for though it be taken for granted , and for the most part may justly be so , that by carefully mingling what is sublimed with what remains , and re-subliming the mixture , a greater quantity of the body to be sublimed may be elevated the second time than was the first , and the third time than the second , and so onwards ; yet i have not found this rule alwayes to hold , but in some bodies , as particularly in some kinds of dulcified colcothar , the sal armoniac , would at the first sublimation carry up more of the fixed powder , than at the second or third . so that i was by several tryalls perswaded , when i found a very well and highly coloured powder elevated , to lay it by for use , and thereby save my self the labour of a prosecution , that would not onely have proved useless , but prejudicial . and if i misremember not , by often repeated cohobations , ( if i may so call them ) of sal armoniac upon crude o● mineral antimony , though the sublimate that was obtained by the first operation , was much of it variously , and in some places richly , coloured ; yet afterwards , the salt ascended from time to time paler and paler , leaving the antimony behind it . which way of making some minerals more fixt and fusible i conceive may be of great use in some medicinal preparations , though i think it not fit to particularize them in this place : where my chief intent was , to mention the phaenomenon it self , and invite you to consider , whether it may be ascribed to this , that by the reiterated action of the fire , and grinding together of the body to be raised , either the corpuscles of the sal armoniac , or those of the other body , may have those little hooked or equivalent particles , whereby they take hold of one another , broken or worn off ; and whether the indisposedness of the colcotharine or antimonial parts to ascend , may not in some cases be promoted by their having , by frequent attri●●o●s , so smoothed their surfaces that divers of them may closely adhere , like pieces of polished glass , and so make up clusters too unweildy to be so raised , as the single corpuscles they consist of , were . which change may dispose them to be at once less volatil and more fusible . which conjectures i mention to excite you to frame better , or at least to make amends for my omission of examining these , by trying whether the sal armoniac grown white again will be as fit as it was at first to carry up fresh bodies ; and also by observing the weight of the unelevated part , and employing those other wayes of examen , which i should have done , if i had not then made sublimations for another end , than to clear up the doctrine of volatility . and here it may be profitable to some chymists , though not necessary to my subject , to intimate , that sublimations may be useful to make very fine comminutions of divers bodies . that those that are elevated are reduced to a great fineness of parts , is obvious to be observed in many examples , whence it has been anciently , not absurdly , said , that sublimations are the chymists pestles , since ( as in flowers of sulphur and antimony ) they do really resolve the elevated bodies into exceeding fine flower , and much finer than pestles and mortars are wont to bring them to . but that which i intend in this paragraph is not a thing so obvious , since 't is to observe , that sometimes even bodies so fixt as not at all to ascend in sublimation , may yet be reduced by that operation into powders extreamly fine . for exemplifying of which , i shall put you in mind , that though spagyrists complain much of the difficulty of making a good clax of gold , and of the imperfection of the few ordinary processes prescribed to make it , ( which would be more complained of , but that chymical physicians seldom attempt to prepare it , ) yet we are informed by triall , that by exactly grinding a thick amalgam of gold and mercury with a competent weight , ( at least equal to its own ) of finely powdered sulphur , we may , by putting the mixture to sublime in a conveniently shaped glass , by degrees of fire obtain a cinaber that will leave behind it a finer clax of gold than will be had by some far more difficult processes . but 't is now time to draw towards a conclusion of our notes about volatility ; which quality depends so much upon the contexture of the corpuscles that are to be raised together , that even very ponderous bodies may serve for volatilizing additaments , if they be disposed to fasten themselves sufficiently to the bodies they are to carry up along with them . for , though lead be , save one , the heaviest solid we know of , and though quick-silver be the heaviest body in the world , except gold ; yet trialls have assured us , that quick-silver it self being united by amalgamation with a small proportion of lead , will by a fire that is none of the violentest , and in close vessels , be made to carry over with it some of the lead . as we clearly found by the increased weight of the quick-silver that passed into the receiver ; which , by the way , may make us cautious how we conclude quick-silver to be pure , meerly from its having been distilled over . there remains but one body more heavy than those i come from naming , and that is gold ; which , being also of a fixity so great that 't is indeed admirable , i doe not wonder that not onely the more wary naturalists , but the more severe among the chymists themselves should think it incapable of being volatilized . but yet , if we consider , how very minute parts gold may be rationally supposed to consist of , and to be divisible into , me thinks it should not seem impossible , that , if men could light on volatil salts endowed with figures fit to stick fast to the corpuscles of the gold , they would carry up with them bodies , whose solidity can scarce be more extraordinary than their minuteness is : and in effect , we have made more than one menstruum , with which some particles of gold may be carried up . but when i employed that which i recommended to you formerly under the name of menstruum peracutum ( which consists mainly , and sometimes onely , of spirit of nitre , several times drawn from butter of antimony , ) i was able , without a very violent fire , in a few hours to elevate so much crude gold , as , in the neck of the retort , afforded me a considerable quantity of sublimate , which i have had red as blood , and whose consisting partly of gold manifestly appeared by this , that i was able with ease to reduce that metall out of it . in reckoning up the instruments of volatilization , we must not quite leave out the mention of the air , which i have often observed to facilitate the elevation of some bodies even in close vessels ; wherein , though to fill them too full be judged by many a compendious practise , because the steams have a less way to ascend , yet experience has several times informed me , that , at least in some cases , they take wrong measures , and that ( to pass by another cause of their disappointment ) a large proportion of air , purposely left in the vessels , may more than compensate the greater space that is to be ascended by the vapours or exhalations of the matter that is to be distilled or sublimed . and if , in close vessels , the presence of the air may promote the ascension of bodies , it may well be expected , that the elevation of divers of them may be furthered by being attempted in open vessels , to which the air has free access . and if we may give any credit to the probable relations of some chymists , the air does much contribute to the volatilization of some bodies that are barely , though indeed for no short time , exposed to it . but the account on which the air by its bare presence or peculiar operations conduces to the volatilization of some bodies , is a thing very difficult to be determined , without having recourse to some notions about gravity and levity , and of the constitution of the corpuscles that compose the air ; which i take to be both very numerous and no less various . and therefore i must not in these occasional notes lanch out into such a subject , though , for fear i should be blamed for too much slighting my old acquaintance the air , i durst not quite omit the power it has to dispose some bodies to volatility . a moderate attention may suffice to make it be discerned , that in what hath been hitherto delivered , i have for the most part considered the small portions of matter , to be elevated in volatilization , as intire corpuscles : and therefore it may be now pertinent , to intimate in a line or two , that there may be also cases , wherein a kind of volatilization , improperly so called , may be effected , by making use of such additaments as break off or otherwise divide the particles of the corpuscles to be elevated , and by adhering to , and so clogging , one of the particles to which it proves more congruous , inable the other , which is now brought to be more light or disingaged , to ascend . this may be illustrated by what happens , when sal armoniac is well ground with lapis calaminaris or with some fix'd alkali , and then committed to distillation : for the sea-salt , that enters the composition of the sal armoniac , being detained by the stone or the alkali , there is a divorce made between the common salt and the urinous and fuliginous salts , that were incorporated with it , and being now disingaged from it , are easily elevated . i elsewhere mention , that i have observed in man's urine a kind of native sal armoniac , much less volatile than the fugitive that is sublim'd from man's blood , harts-horn , &c. and therefore supposing , that a separation of parts may be made by an alkali , as well in this salt as in the common factitious sal armoniac , i put to fresh urine a convenient proportion ( which was a plentifull one ) of salt of pot-ashes ( that being then at hand ) and distilling the liquor , it yielded , according to expectation , a spirit more volatile than the phlegm , and of a very piercing tast ; which way of obtaining a spirit without any violence of fire , and without either previously abstracting the phlegm , ( as we are fain to do in fresh urine ) or tediously waiting for the fermentation of stale urine , i taught some chymists , because of the usefulness of spirit of urine ; which being obtained this innocent way , would probably be employed with much less suspicion of corrosiveness , than if in the operation i had made use of quick-lime . another illustration of what i was not long since saying , may be fetch'd from the experiment of making spirit of nitre by mixing salt-peter with oil of vitriol , and distilling them together : for the oil does so divide or break the corpuscles of the nitre , that the now-disposed particles of that salt , which amount to a great portion of the whole , will be made easily enough to ascend even with a moderate fire of sand , and sometimes without any fire at all , in the form of spirits , exceeding unquiet , subtle , and apt to moak away . to which instances of this imperfect kind of volatilization more might be added , but that you may well think , i have detain'd you but too long already with indigested notes about one quality . chap. vii . the last means of volatilizing bodies is , the operation of the fire or some other actual heat : but of this , which is obvious , it would be superfluous to discourse . onely this i shall intimate , that there may be bodies , which , in such degrees of fire as are wont to be given in the vulgar operations of chymists , will not be elevated , which yet may be forced up by such violent and lasting fires , as are employed by the melters of ores , and founders of guns , and sometimes by glass-makers . and on this consideration i shall here observe to you , since i did not doe it at my entrance on these notes , that chymists are wont to speak , and i have accordingly been led to treat , of volatility and fixity in a popular sense of those terms . for if we would consider the matter more strictly , i presume we should find that volatility and fixity are but relative qualities , which are to be estimated , especially the former of them , by the degree of fire to which the body , whereto we ascribe one or other of those qualities , is exposed ; and therefore it is much more difficult than men are aware of , to determine accurately , when a body ought to be accounted volatile and when not ; since there is no determinate degree of heat agreed on , nor indeed easie to be devised , that may be as a standard , whereby to measure volatility and fixtness : and 't is obvious , that a body , that remains fixt in one degree of fire , may be forced up by another . to which may be added , agreeably to what i lately began to observe , that a body may pass for absolutely fixt among the generality of chymists , and yet be unable to persevere in the fires of founders and glass-makers : which brings into my mind , that not having observed , that chymists have examined the fixity of other bodies than metalline ones by the cupel , i had the curiosity to put dry salt of tartar upon it , and found , as i expected , that in no long time it manifestly wasted in so vehement a heat , wherein also the air came freely at it , ( though quick-lime , handled after the same way , lost not of its weight , ) and having well mixed one ounce of good salt of tartar with treble its weight of tobacco-pipe clay , we kept them but for two , or at most three hours , in a strong fire ; yet the crucible being purposely left uncovered , we found the salt of tartar so wasted , that the remaining mixture ( which was not flux'd ) afforded us not near a quarter of an ounce of salt. and indeed i scarce doubt , but that in strictness divers of those bodies that pass for absolutely fixt , are but semi-fixt , or at least but comparatively and relatively fix'd , that is , in reference to such degrees of fire , as they are wont to be exposed to in the distillations , sublimations , &c. of chymists ; not such as are given in the raging fires of founders , and glass-makers . and perhaps even the fires of glass-makers and say-masters themselves are not the most intense that may possibly be made in a short time , provided there be but small portions of matter to be wrought on by them . and in effect , i know very few bodies , besides gold , that will persevere totally fixt in the vehementest degrees of fire that trials have made me acquainted with . and i elsewhere tell you , that , though tin , in our chymical reverberatories themselves , is wont to be reduced but into a calx that is reputed very fixt ; yet in those intense fires , that a virtuoso of my acquaintance uses in his tin-mines , there is not seldom found quantities of tin carried up to a notable height in the form of a whitish powder , which , being in good masses forced off from the places to which it had fastened it self , does by a skillful reduction yield many a pound weight of good malleable metal , which seemed to me to be rather more , than less , fine than ordinary tin. postscript , relating to page 15. of this tract ; and here annext for their sakes , who have a mind to repeat the experiment there delivered , that so they may know the quantities employed in it . with two parts of this crocus we ground very well three parts of sal armoniac , and having sublimed them in a strong fire , we took off the high coloured sublimat , and put in either an equal weight , or a weight exceeding it by half , to the caput mortuum , we found after the second sublimation , which was also high coloured , that of an ounce of crocus we had raised six drams , that is , three quarters of the whole weight . finis . experimental notes of the mechanical origine or production of fixtness . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. of the mechanical origine or production of fixtness . chap. i. fixity being the opposite quality to volatility , what we have discoursed about the latter , will make the nature of the former more easily understood , and upon that account allow me to make somewhat the quicker dispatch of what i have to say of it . the qualifications that conduce most to the fixity of a portion of matter , seem to be these . first , the grossness or the bulk of the corpuscles it consists of . for if these be too big , they will be too unwieldy and unapt to be carried up into the air by the action of such minute particles as those of the fire , and will also be unfit to be buoyed up by the weight of the air ; as we see , that vapours , whilst they are such , are small enough to swim in the air , but can no longer be sustained by it , when they convene into drops of rain or flakes of snow . but here it is to be observed , that when i speak of the corpuscles that a fixt body consists of , i mean not either its elementary or its hypostatical principles , as such , but onely those very little masses or clusters of particles , of what kind soever they be , that stick so firmly to one another , as not to be divisible and dissipable by that degree of fire in which the body is said to be fixt ; so that each of those little concretions , though it may it self be made up of two , three , or more particles of a simpler nature , is considered here per modum unius , or as one intire corpuscle . and this is one qualification conducive to the fixtness of a body . the next is the ponderousness or solidity of the corpuscles it is made up of . for if these be very solid , and ( which solid and compact bodies usually are ) of a considerable specifick gravity , they will be too heavy to be carried up by the effluvia or the action of the fire , and their ponderousness will make them as unwieldy , and indisposed to be elevated by such agents , as the grossness of their bulk would make bigger corpuscles , but of a proportionably inferiour specifick weight . on which account the calces of some metals and minerals , as gold , silver , &c. though , by the operation of solvents , or of the fire , or of both , reduced to powders exceedingly subtile , will resist such vehement fires , as will easily drive up bigger , but less heavy and compact , corpuscles , than those calces consist of . the third qualification that conduces to the fixity of a body , belongs to its integral parts , not barely as they are several parts of it , but as they are aggregated or contexed into one body . for , the qualification , i mean , is the ineptitude of the component corpuscles for avolation , by reason of their branchedness , irregular figures , crookedness , or other inconvenient shape , which intangles the particles among one another , and makes them difficult to be extricated ; by which means , if one of them do ascend , others , wherewith 't is complicated , must ascend with it ; and , whatever be the account on which divers particles stick firmly together , the aggregate will be too heavy or unwieldy to be raised . which i therefore take notice of , because that , though usually 't is on the roughness and irregularity of corpuscles , that their cohesion depends ; yet it sometimes happens , that the smoothness and flatness of their surfaces makes them so stick together , as to resist a total divulsion ; as may be illustrated by what i have said of the cohesion of polished marbles and the plates of glass , and by the fixity of glass it self in the fire . from this account of the causes or requisites of fixity , may be deduced the following means of giving or adding fixation to a body , that was before either volatile , or less fixt . these means may be reduced to two general heads ; first , the action of the fire , as the parts of the body , exposed to it , are thereby made to operate variously on one another . and next , the association of the particles of a volatile body with those of some proper additament : which term , [ of proper ] i rather imploy than that , one would expect , [ of fixt ; ] because 't will ere long appear , that , in certain cases , some volatile bodies may more conduce to the fixation of other volatile bodies , than some fixt ones doe . but these two instruments of fixation being but general , i shall propose four or five more particular ones . chap. ii. and first , in some cases it may conduce to fixation , that , either by an additament , or by the operation of the fire , the parts of a body be brought to touch each other in large portions of their surfaces . for , that from such a contact there will follow such a mutual cohesion , as will at least indispose the touching corpuscles to suffer a total divulsion , may appear probable from what we lately noted of the cohesion of pieces of marble and glass , and from some other phaenomena belonging to the history of firmness , from which we may properly enough borrow some instances , at least for illustration , in the doctrine of fixtness , in regard that usually , though not always , the same things that make a body firm , give it some degree of fixity , by keeping it from being dissipated by the wonted degrees of heat , and agitation it meets with in the air. but to return to the contact we were speaking of , i think it not impossible , ( though you may perhaps think it strange , ) that the bare operation of the fire may , in some cases , procure a cohesion among the particles , ( and consequently make them more fixt , ) as well as in others disjoyn them , and thereby make them more volatile . for , as in some bodies , the figures and sizes of the corpuscles may be such , that the action of the fire may rub or tear off the little beards or hooks , or other particles that intangle them , and by that means make it more easie for the corpuscles to be disingaged and fly upwards ; so in other bodies , the size and shape of the corpuscles may be such , that the agitation , caused by the fire , may rub them one against the other , so as by mutual attrition to grind , as 't were , their surfaces , and make them so broad and smooth , if not also so flat , as that the contact of the corpuscles shall come to be made according to a large portion of their superficies , from whence will naturally follow a firm cohesion . which i shall illustrate by what we may observe among those that grind glasses for telescopes and microscopes . for , these artificers , by long rubbing a piece of glass against a metalline dish or concave vessel , do by this attrition at length bring the two bodies to touch one another in so many parts of their congruous surfaces , that they will stick firmly to one another , so as sometimes to oblige the work-man to use violence to disjoyn them . and this instance ( which is not the sole i could alleage ) may suffice to shew , how a cohesion of corpuscles may be produced by the mutual adaptation of their congruous surfaces . and if two grosser corpuscles , or a greater number of smaller , be thus brought to stick together , you will easily believe , their aggregate will prove too heavy or unwieldy for avolation . and to shew , that the fire may effect a laevigation in the surfaces of some corpuscles , i have sometimes caused minium , and some other calces , that i judged convenient , to be melted for a competent time , in a vehement fire conveniently administred ; whereby , according to expectation , that which was before a dull and incoherent powder , was reduced into much grosser corpuscles , multitudes of whose grains appeared smooth , glittering , and almost specular , like those of fine litharge of gold ; and the masses that these grains composed , were usually solid enough and of difficult fusion . and when we make glass of lead per se , ( which i elsewhere teach you how to doe , ) 't is plain , that the particles of the lead are reduced to a great smoothness ; since , wheresoever you break the glass , the surfaces , produced at the crack , will not be jagged , but smooth , and considerably specular . nor do i think it impossible , that , even when the fire does not make any great attrition of the corpuscles of the body to be fixt , it may yet occasion their sticking together , because by long tumbling them up and down in various manners , it may at length , after multitudes of revolutions and differing occursions , bring those of their surfaces together , which , by reason of their breadth , smoothness , or congruity of figure , are fit for mutual cohesion ; and when once they come to stick , there is no necessity , that the same causes , that were able to make them pass by one another , when their contact was but according to an inconsiderable part of their surfaces , should have the same effect now , when their contact is full ; though perhaps , if the degree of fire were much increased , a more vehement agitation would surmount this cohesion , and dissipate again these clusters of coalescent corpuscles . these conjectures will perhaps appear less extravagant , if you consider what happens in the preparation of quick-silver praecipitated per se. for there , running mercury , being put into a conveniently shaped glass , is exposed to a moderate fire for a considerable time : ( for i have sometimes found six or seven weeks to be too short a one . ) in this degree of fire the parts are variously tumbled , and made many of them to ascend , till convening into drops on the sides of the glass , their weight carries them down again ; but at length , after many mutual occursions , if not also attritions , some of the parts begin to stick together in the form of a red powder , and then more and more mercurial particles are fastened to it , till at length all , or by much the greater part of the mercury , is reduced into the like praecipitate , which , by this cohesion of the parts , being grown more fixt , will not with the same degree of heat be made to rise and circulate , as the mercury would before ; and yet , as i ellewhere note , i have found by trial , that , with a greater and competent degree of heat , this praecipitate per se , would , without the help of any volatilizing additament , be easily reduced into running mercury again . chymist's and physicians , who agree in supposing this praecipitate to be made without any additament , will perchance scarce be able to give a more likely account of the consistency and degree of fixity that is obtained in the mercury ; in which , since no body is added to it , there appears not to be wrought any but a mechanical change . and though , i confess , i have not been without suspicions , that in philosophical strictness this praecipitate may not be made per se , but that some penetrating igneous particles , especially saline , may have associated themselves with the mercurial corpuscles ; yet even upon this supposition it may be said , that these particles contribute to the effect that is produced , but by facilitating or procuring , by their opportune interposition , the mutual cohesion of corpuscles that would not otherwise stick to one another . perhaps it will not be altogether impertinent to add , on this occasion , that , as for the generality of chymists , as well others as helmontians , that assert the transmutation of all metalls into gold by the philosopher's stone , me thinks , they may grant it to be probable , that a new and fit contexture of the parts of a volatile body may , especially by procuring a full contact among them , very much contribute to make it highly fixt . for , to omit what is related by less credible authours , 't is averred , upon his own trial , by helmont , who pretended not to the elixir , that a grain of the powder , that was given him , transmuted a pound ( if i mis-remember not ) of running mercury ; where the proportion of the elixir to the mercury was so inconsiderable , that it cannot reasonably be supposed , that every corpuscle of the quick-silver , that before was volatile , was made extreamly fixt meerly by its coalition with a particle of the powder , since , to make one grain suffice for this coalition , the parts it must be divided into must be scarce conceivably minute , and therefore each single part not likely to be fixt it self , or at least more likely to be carried up by the vehemently agitated mercury , than to restrain that from avolation ; whereas , if we suppose the elixir to have made such a commotion among the corpuscles of the mercury , as ( having made them perhaps somewhat change their figure , and expelled some inconvenient particles , ) to bring them to stick to one another , according to very great portions of their surfaces , and intangle one another , it will not be disagreeable to the mechanical doctrine of fixity , that the mercury should endure the fire as well as gold , on the score of its new texture , which , supposing the story true , appears to have been introduced , by the new colour , specifick gravity , indissolubleness in aqua fortis , and other qualities wherein gold differs from mercury , especially malleableness , which , according to our notes about that quality , usually requires that the parts , from whose union it results , be either hooked , branched , or otherwise adapted and fitted to make them take fast hold of one another , or stick close to one another . and since , in the whole mass of the factitious gold , all save one grain must be materially the same body , which , before the projection was made , was quick-silver , we may see how great a proportion of volatile matter may , by an inconsiderable quantity of fixing additament , acquire such a new disposition of its parts , as to become most fixt . and however , this instance will agree much better with the mechanical doctrine about fixity , than with that vulgar opinion of the chymists , ( wherewith 't will not at all comply , ) that if , in a mixture , the volatile part do much exceed the fixt , it will carry up that , or at least a good portion thereof , with it ; and on the contrary . but though this rule holds in many cases , where there is no peculiar indisposition to the effect that is aimed at ; yet if the mechanical affections of the bodies be ill suited to such a purpose , our philosophical experiment manifestly proves , that the rule will not hold , since so great a multitude of grains of mercury , in stead of carrying up with them one grain of the elixir , are detained by it in the strongest fire . and thus much for the first way of fixing volatile bodies . chap. iii. the second way of producing fixity , is by expelling , breaking , or otherwise disabling those volatile corpuscles that are too indisposed to be fixt themselves , or are fitted to carry up with them such particles as would not , without their help , ascend . that the expulsion of such parts is a proper means to make the aggregate of those that remain more fixt , i presume you will not put me solicitously to prove ; and we have a manifest instance of it in soot , where , though many active parts were by the violence of the fire and current of the air carried up together by the more volatile parts ; yet , when soot is well distilled in a retort , a competent time being given for the extricating and avolation of the other parts , there will at the bottom remain a substance that will not now fly away , as it formerly did . and here let me observe , that the recesse of the fugitive corpuscles may contribute to the fixation of a body , not barely because the remaining matter is freed from so many unfixt , if not also volatilizing , parts ; but , as it may often happen , that upon their recesse the pores or intervals , they left behind them , are filled up with more solid or heavy matter , and the body becomes , as more homogeneous , so more close and compact . and whereas i intimated , that , besides the expulsion of unfit corpuscles , they may be otherwise disabled from hindering the fixation of the masse they belong to , i did it , because it seems very possible , that in some cases they may , by the action of the fire , be so broken , as with their fragments to fill up the pores or intervals of the body they appertained to ; or may make such coalitions with the particles of a convenient additament , as to be no impediment to the fixity of the whole masse , though they remain in it . which possibly you will think may well happen , when you shall have perused the instances annext to the fourth way of fixing bodies . the third means of fixing , or lessening the volatility of , bodies , is by preserving that rest among the parts , whose contrary is necessary to their volatilization . and this may be done by preventing or checking that heat , or other motion , which external agents strive to introduce into the parts of the proposed body . but this means tending rather to hinder the actual avolation of a portion of matter , or , at most , procure a temporary abatement of its volatility , than to give it a stable fixity , i shall not any longer insist on it . the fourth way of producing fixity in a body , is by putting to it such an appropriated additament , whether fixt or volatile , that the corpuscles of the body may be put among themselves , or with those of the additament , into a complicated state , or intangled contexture . this being the usual and principal way of producing fixity , we shall dwell somewhat the longer upon it , and give instances of several degrees of fixation . for , though they do not produce that quality in the strictest acceptation of the word , fixity ; yet 't is usefull in our present inquiry , to take notice , by what means that volatility comes to be gradually abated , since that may facilitate our understanding , how the volatility of a body comes to be totally abated , and consequently the body to be fixt . chap. iv. and first we find , that a fixt additament , if its parts be conveniently shaped , may easily give a degree of fixity to a very volatile body . thus spirit of nitre , that will of it self easily enough fly away in the air , having its saline particles associated with those of fixt nitre , or salt of tartar , will with the alkaly compose a salt of a nitrous nature , which will endure to be melted in a crucible without being deprived even of its spirits . and i have found , that the spirits of nitre , that abound in aqua fortis , being concoagulated with the silver they corrode , though one would not expect that such subtile corpuscles should stick fast to so compact and solid a body as silver ; yet crystalls , produced by their coalition , being put into a retort , may be kept a pretty while in fusion , before the metal will let go the nitrous spirits . when we poured oil of vitriol upon the calx of vitriol , though many phlegmatick and other sulphureous particles were driven away by the excited heat ; yet the saline parts , that combined with the fixt ones of the colcothar , stuck fast enough to them , not to be easily driven away . and if oil of vitriol be in a due proportion dropt upon salt of tartar , there results a tartarum vitriolatum , wherein the acid and alkalizate parts cohere so strongly , that 't is not an ordinary degree of fire will be able to disjoyn them . insomuch that divers chymists have ( though very erroniously ) thought this compounded salt to be indestructible . but a less heavy liquour than the ponderous oil of vitriol may by an alkaly be more strongly detained than that oil it self ; experience having assured me , that spirit of salt being dropt to satiety upon a fixt alkaly , ( i used either that of nitre or of tartar , ) there would be made so strict an union , that , having , without additaments , distilled the resulting salt with a strong and lasting fire , it appeared not at all considerably to be wrought upon , and was not so much as melted . but 't is not the bare mixture or commistion of volatile particles with fixt ones , ( yea though the former be predominant in quantity , ) that will suffice to elevate the latter . for , unlesse the figures of the latter be congruous and fitted to fasten to the other , the volatile parts will fly away in the heat , and leave the rest as fixt as before : as when sand or ashes are wetted or drenched with water , they quickly part with that water , without parting with any degree of their fixity . but on the other side , it is not always necessary , that the body , which is fitted to destroy , or much abate , the volatility of another substance , should be it self fixt . for , if there be a skilful or lucky coaptation of the figures of the particles of both the bodies , these particles may take such hold of one another , as to compose corpuscles , that will neither by reason of their strict union be divided by heat ; nor by reason of their resulting grossness be elevated even by a strong fire , or at least by such a degree of heat as would have sufficed to raise more indisposed bodies than either of the separate ingredients of the mixture . this observation , if duly made out , does so much favour our doctrine about the mechanical origine of fixation , and may be of such use , not onely to chymists , in some of their operations , but to philosophers , in assigning the causes of divers phaenomena of nature , that it may be worth while to exemplifie it by some instances . the first whereof i shall take from an usual practice of the chymists themselves : which i the rather doe , to let you see , that such known experiments are too often over-looked by them that make them , but yet may hint or confirm theories to those that reflect on them . the instance , i here speak of , is that which is afforded by the vulgar preparation of bezoardicum minerale . for , though the rectified butter or oil of antimony and the spirit of nitre , that are put together to make this white praecipitate , are both of them distilled liquours ; yet the copious powder , that results from their union , is , by that union of volatile parts , so far fixt , that , after they have edulcorated it with water , they prescribe the calcining of it in a crucible for five or six hours : which operation it could not bear , unless it had attained to a considerable fixation . this discourse supposes with the generality of chymists , that the addition of a due quantity of spirit of nitre , is necessary to be employed in making the bezoardicum minerale . but if it be a true observation , which is attributed to the learned guntherus billichius , ( but which i had no furnace at hand to examine when i heard of it , ) if , i say , it be true , that a bezoardicum minerale may be obtained , without spirit of nitre , barely by a slow evaporation , made in a glasse-dish , of the more fugitive parts of the oil of antimony ; this instance will not indeed be proper in this place , but yet will belong to the second of the foregoing ways of introducing fixity . i proceed now to alleage other particulars in favour of the above-mentioned observation . if you take strong spirit of salt , that , when the glass is unstopt , will smoak of it self in the cold air , and satiate it with the volatile spirit of urine , the superfluous moisture being abstracted , you will obtain by this preparation ( which , you may remember , i long since communicated to you , and divers other virtusi , ) a compounded salt , scarce , if at all , distinguishable from sal armoniac , and which will not , as the salts it consists of will doe , before their coalition , easily fly up of it self into the air , but will require a not despicable degree of fire to sublime it . of these semivolatile compositions of salt i have made , and elsewhere mentioned , others , which i shall not here repeat , but passe on to other instances pertinent to our present design . i lately mentioned , that the volatility of the spirits of nitre may be very much abated , by bringing them to coagulate into crystalls with particles of corroded silver ; but i shall now add , that i guessed , and by trial found , that these nitrous spirits may be made much more fixt by the addition of the spirit of salt , which , if it be good , will of it self smoak in the air. for , having dissolved a convenient quantity of crystalls of silver in distilled water , and precipitated them , not with a solution of salt , but the spirit of salt ; the phlegm being abstracted , and some few of the looser saline particles ; though the remaining masse were prest with a violent fire that kept the retort red-hot for a good while ; yet the nitrous and saline spirits would by no means be driven away from the silver , but continued in fusion with it ; and when the masse was taken out , these spirits did so abound in it , that it had no appearance of a metal , but looked rather like a thick piece of horn. the next instance i shall name is afforded us by that kind of turbith , which may be made by oil of vitriol , in stead of the aqua fortis imployed in the common turpethum minerale . for , though oil of vitriol be a distilled liquour , and mercury a body volatile enough ; yet , when we abstracted four or five parts of oil of vitriol from one of quick-silver , ( especially if the operation were repeated , ) and then washed off as much as we could of the saline particles of the oil of vitriol ; yet those that remained adhering to the mercury made it far more fixt , than either of the liquours had been before , and inabled it even in a crucible to endure such a degree of fire , before it could be driven away , as , i confess , i somewhat wondered at . the like turbith may be made with oil of sulphur per campanam . but this is nothing to what helmont tells us of the operation of his alkahest , where he affirms , that that menstruum , which is volatile enough , being abstracted from running mercury , not onely coagulates it , but leaves it fixt , so that it will endure the brunt of fires acuated by bellows , ( omnem follium ignem . ) if this be certain , it will not be a slender proof , that fixity may be mechanically produced ; and however , the argument will be good in reference to the helmontian spagyrists . for if , as one would expect , there do remain some particles of the menstruum with those of the metal , it will not be denied , that two volatile substances may perfectly fix one another . and if , as helmont seems to think , the menstruum be totally abstracted , this supposition will the more favour our doctrine about fixity ; since , if there be no material additament left with the quick-silver , the fixation cannot so reasonably be ascribed to any thing , as to some new mechanical modification , and particularly to some change of texture introduced into the mercury it self . and that you may think this the less improbable , i will now proceed to some instances , whereof the first shall be this ; that , having put a mixture made of a certain proportion of two dry , as well as volatile , bodies , ( viz. sal armoniac , and flower or very fine powder of sulphur , ) to half its weight of common running mercury , and elevated this mixture three or four times from it , ( in a conveniently shaped , and not over-wide , glass ) the mercury , that lay in the bottom in the form of a ponderous and somewhat purplish powder , was , by this operation , so fixt , that it long endured a strong fire , which at length was made so strong , that it melted the glass , and kept it melted , without being strong enough to force up the mercury : which , by some trials , not so proper to be here mentioned , seemed to have its salivating and emetick powers extraordinarily infringed , and sometimes quite suppressed . but this onely upon the bye . in all the other instances , ( wherewith i shall conclude these notes , ) i shall employ one menstruum , oil of vitriol , and shew you the efficacy of it in fixing some parts of volatile bodies with some parts of it self ; by which examples it may appear , that a volatile body may not onely lessen the volatility of another body , as in the lately mentioned case of our spirituous sal armoniac ; but that two substances , that apart were volatile , may compose a third , that will not onely be less volatile , but considerably ( if not altogether ) fixt . we mixed then , by degrees , about equal parts of oil of vitriol and oil of turpentine : and though each of them single , especially the latter , will ascend with a moderate fire in a sand-furnace ; yet , after the distillation was ended , we had a considerable quantity , sometimes ( if i mis-remember not ) a fifth or sixth part , of a caput mortuum black as a coal , and whereof a great part was of a scarce to be expected fixtness in the fire . to give a higher proof of the disposition , that oil of vitriol has to let some of its parts grow fixt by combination with those of an exceeding volatile additament , i mixed this liquour with an equal or double weight of highly rectified spirit of wine , and not onely after , but sometimes without , previous digestion , i found , that the fluid parts of the mixture being totally abstracted , there would remain a pretty quantity of a black substance so fixt as to afford just cause of wonder . and because camphire is esteemed the most fugitive of consistent bodies , in regard that , being but laid in the free air , without any help of the fire , it will fly all away ; i tried , what oil of vitriol abstracted from camphire would doe ; and found at the bottom of the retort a greater quantity than one would expect of a substance as black as pitch , and almost as far from the volatility as from the colour of camphire , though it appeared not , that any of the gum had sublim'd into the neck of the retort . from all which instances it seems manifestly enough to follow , that in many cases there needs nothing to make associated particles , whether volatile or not , become fixt , but either to implicate or intangle them among themselves , or bring them to touch one another according to large portions of their surfaces , or by both these ways conjoyntly , or by some others , to procure the firm cohaesion of so many particles , that the resulting corpuscles be too big or heavy to be , by the degree of fire wherein they are said to be fixt , driven up into the air. finis . experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of corrosiveness and corrosibility . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments and notes about the mechanical production of corrosiveness and corrosibility . sect . i. about the mechanical origine of corrosiveness . i do not in the following notes treat of corrosiveness in their strict sense of the word , who ascribe this quality only to liquors , that are notably acid or sowre , such as aqua fortis , spirit of salt , vinegar , juice of lemons , &c. but , that i may not be oblig'd to overlook unnous , oleous , and divers other solvents , or to coin new names for their differing solutive powers , i presume to employ the word corrosiveness in a greater lautude , so as to make it almost equivalent to the solutive power of liquors , referring other menstruums to those that are corrosive or fretting , ( though not always as to the most proper , yet ) as to the principal and best known species ; which i the less scruple here to do , because i have * elsewhere more distinctly enumerated and sorted the solvents of bodies . the attributes that seem the most proper to qualifie a liquor to be corrosive , are all of them mechanical , being such as are these that follow : first , that the menstruum consist of , or abound with , corpuscles not too big to get in at the pores or commissures of the body to be dissolved ; nor yet be so very minute as to pass through them , as the beams of light do through glass ; or to be unable by reason of their great slenderness and flexibility to disjoyn the parts they invade . secondly , that these corpuscles be of a shape ●itting them to insinuate themselves more or less into the pores or commissures above-mentioned , in order to the dissociating of the solid parts . thirdly , that they have a competent degree of solidity to disjoyn the particles of the body to be dissolved ; which solidity of solvent corpuscles is somewhat distinct from their bulk , mention'd in the first qualification ; as may appear by comparing a stalk of wheat and a metalline wire of the same diameter , or a flexible wand of osier of the bigness of ones little finger , with a rigid rod of iron of the same length and thickness . fourthly , that the corpuscles of the menstruum be agile and advantaged for motion , ( such as is fit to disjoyn the parts of the invaded body ) either by their shape , or their minuteness , or their fitness to have their action befriended by adjuvant causes ; such as may be ( first ) the pressure of the atmosphere , which may impell them into the pores of bodies not fill'd with a substance so resisting as common air : as we see , that water will by the prevalent pressure of the ambient , whether air or water , be raised to the height of some inches in capillary glasses , and in the pores of spunges , whose consistent parts being of easier cession than the sides of glass-pipes , those pores will be enlarged , and consequently those sides disjoyn'd , as appears by the dilatation and swelling of the spunge : and ( secondly ) the agitation , that the intruding corpuscles may be fitted to receive in those pores or commissures by the transcursion of some subtile ethereal matter ; or by the numerous knocks and other pulses of the swimming or tumbled corpuscles of the menstruum it self , ( which being a fluid body , must have its small parts perpetually and variously moved ) whereby the engaged corpuscles , like so many little wedges and leavers , may be enabled to wrench open , or force asunder the little parts between which they have insinuated themselves . but i shall not here prosecute this theory , ( which , to be handled fully , would require a discourse apart ) since these conjectures are propos'd but to make it probable in the general , that the corrosiveness of bodies may be deduced from mechanical principles : but whether best from the newly propos'd ones , or any other , need not be anxiously consider'd in these notes , where the things mainly intended and rely'd on , are the experiments and phaenomena themselves . exper. i. 't is obvious , that , though the recently exprest juice of grapes be sweet , whilst it retains the texture that belongs to it as 't is new , ( especially if it be made of some sorts of grapes that grow in hot regions , ) yet after fermentation , 't will , in tract of time , as 't were spontaneously , degenerate into vinegar . in which liquor , to a multitude of the more solid corpuscles of the must , their frequent and mutual attritions may be supposed to have given edges like those of the blades of swords or knives ; and in which , perhaps , the confused agitation that preceded , extricated , or , as it were , unsheathed some acid particles , that ( deriv'd from the sap of the vine , or , perchance more originally , from the juice of the earth ) were at first in the must , but lay conceal'd , and as it were sheathed , among the other particles wherewith they were associated , when they were prest out of the grapes . now this liquor , that by the forementioned ( or other like ) mechanical changes is become vinegar , does so abound with corpuscles , which , on the account of their edges , or their otherwise sharp and penetrative shape , are acid and corrosive , that the better sort of it will , without any preparation , dissolve coral , crabs-eyes , and even some stones , lapis stellaris in particular , as also minium , ( or the calx of lead ) and even crude copper , as we have often tried . and not onely the distill'd spirit of it will do those things more powerfully , and perform some other things that meer vinegar cannot ; but the saline particles , wont to remain after distillation , may , by being distill'd and cohobated per se , or by being skilfully united with the foregoing spirit , be brought to a menstruum of no small efficacy in the dissolution , and other preparations of metalline bodies , too compact for the meer spirit it self to work upon . from divers other sweet things also may vinegar be made ; and even of honey , skilfully fermented with a small proportion of common water , may be made a vinegar stronger than many of the common wine-vinegars ; as has been affirmed to me by a very candid physician , who had occasion to deal much in liquors . exper. ii. not onely several dry woods , and other bodies that most of them pass for insipid , but honey and sugar themselves afford by distillation acid spirits that will dissolve coral , pearls , &c. and will also corrode some metals and metalline bodies themselves ; as i have often found by trial. so that the violent operation of the fire , that destroys what they call the form of the distill'd body , and works as a mechanical agent by agitating , breaking , dissipating , and under a new constitution reassembling the parts , procures for the distiller an acid corrosive menstruum ; which whether it be brought to pass by making the corpuscles rub one another into the figure of little sharp blades , or by splitting some solid parts into sharp or cutting corpuscles , or by unsheathing , as it were , some parts , that , during the former texture of the body , did not appear to be acid ; or whether it be rather effected by some other mechanical way , may in due time be further considered . exper. iii. 't is observ'd by refiners , goldsmiths and chymists , that aqua fortis and aqua regia , which are corrosive menstruums , dissolve metals , the former of them silver , and the latter gold , much more speedily and copiously when an external heat gives their intestine motions a new degree of vehemency or velocity , which is but a mechanical thing ; and yet this superadded measure of agitation is not onely in the abovemention'd instances a powerfully assistant cause in the solutions made by the lately mention'd corrosive liquors , but is that without which some menstruums are not wont sensibly to corrode some bodies at all , as we have tried in keeping quick-silver in three or four times its weight of oyl of vitriol ; since in this menstruum i found not the mercury to be dissolved or corroded , though i kept it a long time in the cold : whereas , when the oyl of vitriol was excited by a convenient heat , ( which was not faint ) it corroded the mercury into a fine white calx or powder , which , by the affusion of fair water , would be presently turn'd into a yellowish calx of the colour and nature of a turbith . i remember also , that having for trials sake dissolv'd in a weak spirit of salt , a fourth part of its weight of fine crystals of nitre , we found , that it would not in the cold ( at least during a good while that we waited for its operation ) dissolve leaf-gold ; but when the menstruum was a little heated at the fire , the solution proceeded readily enough . and in some cases , though the external heat be but small , yet there may intervene a brisk heat , and much cooperate in the dissolution of a body ; as , for instance , of quick-silver in aqua fortis . for it is no prodigy to find , that when a full proportion of that fluid metal has been taken , the solution , though at first altogether liquid , and as to sense uniform , comes to have after a while a good quantity of coagulated or crystalliz'd matter at the bottom , of which the cause may be , that in the very act of corrosion there is excited an intense degree of heat , which conferring a new degree of agitation to the menstruum , makes it dissolve a good deal more , than afterwards , when the conflict is over , it is able to keep up . exper. iv. we have observed also , that agitation does in some cases so much promote the dissolutive power of saline bodies , that though they be not reduc'd to that subrilty of parts , to which a strong distillation brings them ; yet they may in their grosser and cruder form have the power to work on metals ; as i elsewhere shew , that by barely boiling some solutions of salts of a convenient structure , as nitre , sal armoniac , &c. with foliated gold , silver , &c. we have corroded these metals , and can dissolve some others . and by boiling crude copper ( in filings ) with sublimate and common water , we were able , in no long time , to make a solution of the metal . exper. v. sometimes also , so languid an agitation , as that which seems but sufficient to keep a liquor in the state of fluidity , may suffice to give some dry bodies a corroding power , which they could not otherwise exercise ; as in the way of writing ones name ( or a motto ) upon the blade of a knife with common sublimate : for , if having very thinly overlaid which side you please with bees-wax , you write with a bodkin or some pointed thing upon it ; the wax being thereby removed from the strokes made by the sharp body , 't is easie to etch with sublimate ; since you need but strew the powder of it upon the place bared of the wax , and wet it well with meer common water ; for strong vinegar is not necessary . for after a while all the parts of the blade that should not be fretted , being protected by the case or film of wax , the sublimate will corrode onely where way has been made for it by the bodkin , and the letters will be more or less deeply ingraven ( or rather etch'd ) according to the time the sublimate is suffer'd to lye on . and if you aim onely at a legible impression , a few minutes of an hour ( as four or five ) may serve the turn . exper. vi. this brings into my mind an observation i have sometimes had occasion to make , that i found more useful than common , and it is , that divers bodies , whether distill'd or not distill'd , that are not thought capable of dissolving other bodies , because in moderate degrees of heat they will not work on them , may yet by intense degrees of heat be brought to be fit solvents for them . to which purpose i remember , that having a distill'd liquor , which was rather sweet to the taste , than either acid , lixiviate or urinous , though for that reason it seem'd unfit to work on pearls , and accordingly did not dissolve them in a considerable time , wherein they were kept with it in a more than ordinarily warm digestion ; yet the glass being for many hours ( amounting perhaps to some days ) kept in such an heat of sand as made the liquor boil , we had a dissolution of pearls , that uniting with the menstruum made it a very valuable liquor . and though the solvents of crude gold , wont to be employed by chymists , are generally distill'd liquors that are acid , and in the lately mention'd solvent , made of crude salts and common water , acidity seem'd to be the predominant quality ( which makes the use of solutions made in aqua regia , &c. suspected by many physicians and chymists ; ) yet fitly chosen alcalizate bodies themselves , as repugnant as they use to be to acids , without the help of any liquor will be enabled by a melting fire in no long time to penetrate and tear asunder the parts even of crude gold ; so that it may afterwards be easily taken up in liquors that are not acid , or even by water it self . exper. vii . the tract about salt-peter , that gave occasion to these annotations , may furnish us with an eminent instance of the production of solvents . for , though pure salt-peter it self , when dissolv'd in water , is not observ'd to be a menstruum for the solution of the metals hereafter to be named , or so much as of coral it self ; yet , when by a convenient distillation its parts are split , if i may so speak , and by attrition , or other mechanical ways of working on them , reduc'd to the shapes of acid and alcalizate salts , it then affords two sorts of menstruums of very differing natures , which betwixt them dissolve or corrode a great number and variety of bodies ; as the spirit of nitre without addition is a solvent for most metals , as silver , mercury , copper , lead , &c. and also divers mineral bodies , as tin glass , spelter , lapis calaminaris , &c. and the fixed salt of nitre operates upon sulphureous minerals , as common sulphur , antimony , and divers other bodies , of which i elsewhere make mention . exper. viii . by the former trials it has appear'd , that the increase of motion in the more penetrating corpusoles of a liquor , contributes much to its solutive power ; and i shall now adde , that the shape and size , which are mechanical affections , and sometimes also the solidity of the same corpuscles does eminently concur to qualifie a liquor to dissolve this or that particular body . of this , even some of the more familiar practices of chymists may supply us with instances . for there is no account so probable as may be given upon this supposition , why aqua fortis , which will dissolve silver , without medling with gold , should , by the addition of a fourth part of its weight of sal armoniac , be turn'd into aqua regia , which , without medling with silver , will dissolve gold. but there is no necessity of having recourse to so gross and compounded a body as sal armoniac to enable aqua fortis to dissolve gold : for , the spirit of common salt alone being mingled in a due proportion , will suffice for that purpose . which ( by the way ) shews , that the volatile salt of urine and soot , that concur to the making up of sal armoniac , are not necessary to the dissolution of gold , for which a solvent may be made with aqua fortis and crude sea-salt . i might adde , that the mechanical affections of a menstruum may have such an interest in its dissolutive power , that even mineral or metalline corpuscles may become useful ingredients of it , though perhaps it be a distill'd liquor ; as might be illustrated by the operations of some compounded solvents , such as is the oyl of antimony made by repeated rectifications of what chymists call its butter , which , whatever some say to the contrary , does much abound in antimonial substance . exper. ix . but i shall return to our aqua regia , because the mention i had occasion to make of that solvent brought into my mind what i devis'd , to make it probable , that a smaller change , than one would lightly imagine , of the bulk , shape , or solidity of the corpuscles of a menstruum may make it fit to dissolve a body it would not work on before . and this i the rather attempted , because the warier sort of chymists themselves are very shye of the inward use or preparations made of gold by the help of aqua fortis , because of the odious stink they find , and the venenosity they suspect in that corrosive menstruum : whereas spirit of salt we look upon as a much more innocent liquor , whereof , if it be but diluted with fair water or any ordinary drink , a good dose may be safely given inwardly , though it have not wrought upon gold or any other body , to take off its acrimony . but , whether or no this prove of any great use in physick , wherein perhaps , if any quantity of gold be to be dissolved , a greater proportion of spirit of nitre would be needed ; the success will not be unfit to be mention'd in reference to what we were saying of solvents . for , whereas we find not that our spirit of salt here in england will at all dissolve crude gold , we found , that by putting some leaf-gold into a convenient quantity of good spirit of salt , when we had dropt-in spirit of nitre ( shaking the glass at each drop , ) till we perceived , that the mixture was just able in a moderate heat to dissolve the gold , we found , that we had been oblig'd to employ but after the rate of twelve drops of the latter liquor to an ounce of the former ; so that , supposing each of these drops to weigh a grain , the fortieth part of spirit of nitre being added , served to turn the spirit of salt into a kind of aqua regia . but to know the proportion otherwise than by ghess , we weigh'd six other drops of the same spirit of salt , and found them to amount not fully to three grains and an half : whence it appeared , that we added but about a seventieth part of the nitrous spirit to that of salt. the experiments that have been hitherto recited , relate chiefly to the production of corrosive menstruums ; and therefore i shall now adde an account of a couple of trials , that i made manifestly to lessen or quite to destroy corrosiveness in liquors very conspicuous for that quality . exper. x. whereas one of the most corrosive menstruums , that is yet known , is oyl of vitriol , which will fret in pieces both divers metals and minerals , and a great number and variety of animal and vegetable bodies ; yet if you digest with it for a while onely an equal weight of highly rectified spirit of wine , and afterwards distill the mixture very warily , ( for else the experiment may very easily miscarry , ) you may obtain a pretty deal of liquor not corrosive at all , and the remaining substance will be reduc'd partly into a liquor , which , though acid , is not more so than one part of good oyl of vitriol will make ten times as much common water , by being well mingled with it ; and partly into a dry substance that has scarce any taste at all , much less a corrosive one . exper. xi . and though good aqua fortis be the most generally employed of corrosive menstruums , as being capable of dissolving or corroding , not onely many minerals , as tin-glass , antimony , zinke , &c. but all metals except gold , ( for , though it make not a permanent solution of crude tin , it quickly frets the parts asunder , and reduces it to an immalleable substance ; ) yet to shew , how much the power of corroding may be taken away by changing the mechanical texture of a menstruum , even without seeming to destroy the fretting salts , i practis'd ( and communicated to divers virtuosi ) the following experiment , elsewhere mentioned to other purposes . we took equal parts of good aqua fortis , and highly dephlegm'd spirit of wine , and having mingled them warily and by degrees , ( without which caution the operation may prove dangerous , ) we united them by two or three distillations of the whole mixture ; which afterwards we found not to have the least fretting taste , and to be so deprived of its corrosive nature , that it would not work upon silver , though by precipitation or otherwise reduc'd to very small parts ; nay , it would scarce sensibly work in a good while on filings of copper , or upon other bodies , which meer vinegar , or perhaps rhenish wine will corrode . nay , i remember , that with another spirit , ( that was not urinous ) and afterwards with alkool of wine we shew'd a more surprizing specimen of the power of either destroying or debilitating the corrosiveness of a menstruum , and checking its operation . for , having caused a piece of copper plate to be put into one ounce of aqua fortis , when this liquor was eagerly working upon the metal , i caus'd an ounce of the alkool of wine , or the other spirit to be poured , ( which it should warily be ) upon the agitated mixture ; whose effervescence , at the first instant , seemed to be much increased , but presently after was checked , and the corrosiveness of the menstruum being speedily disabled or corrected , the remaining copper was left undissolved at the bottom . nor are these the onely acid menstruums that i have many years since been able to correct by such a way : for i applied it to others , as spirit of nitre , and even aqua regis it self ; but it has not an equal operation upon all , and least of all ( as far as i can remember ) upon spirit of salt ; as on the other side strong spirit of nitre was the menstruum upon which its effects were the most satisfactory . most of the chymists pretend , that the solutions of bodies are perform'd by a certain cognation and sympathy between the menstruum and the body it is to work upon . and it is not to be denied , that in divers instances there is , as it were , a consanguinity between the menstruum and the body to be dissolved ; as when sulphur is dissolved by oyls whether exprest or distill'd : but yet , as the opinion is generally proposed , i cannot acquiesce in it , partly because there are divers solutions and other phaenomena , where it will not take place , and partly because even in those instances wherein 't is thought most applicable , the effect seems to depend upon mechanical principles . exper. xii . and first , 't will be difficult to shew , what consanguinity there is between sal gem , and. antimony , and iron , and zinke , and bread , and camphire , and lapis calaminaris , and flesh of divers kinds , and oistershels , and harts-horn , and chalk , and quick-lime ; some of which beong to the vegetable , some to the mineral , and some to the animal kingdom ; and yet all of them and divers others ( as i have tried ) may , even without the assistance of external heat , be dissolved or corroded by one single mineral menstruum , oyl of vitriol . and which is not to be neglected on this occasion , some of them may be bodies , supposed by chymists to have an antipathy to each other in point of corrosion or dissolution . exper. xiii . i observe also , that a dissolution may be made of the same body by menstruums , to which the chymists attribute ( as i just now observed they did to some bodies ) a mutual antipathy , and which therefore are not like to have a sympathy with the same third body ; as i found by trial , that both aqua fortis , and spirit of urine , upon whose mixture there insues a conflict with a great effervescence , will each of them apart readily dissolve crude zinke , and so each of them will , the filings of copper . not to mention , that pure spirit of wine and oyl of vitriol , as great a difference as there is between them , in i know not how many respects , and as notable a heat as will insue upon their commixture , will each of them dissolve camphire ; to which may be added other instances of the like nature . as for what is commonly said , that oyls dissolve sulphur , and saline menstruums metals , because ( as they speak ) simile simili gaudet : i answer , that where there is any such similitude , it may be very probably ascribed , not so much , with the chymists that favour aristotle , to the essential forms of the bodies that are to work on each other , nor , with the meer chymists , to their salt , or sulphur , or mercury , as such ; but to the congruity between the pores and figures of the menstruum , and the body dissolved by it , and to some other mechanical affections of them . exper. xiv . for silver , for example , not onely will be dissolved by nitre which they reckon a salt , but be amalgam'd with , and consequently dissolved by , quicksilver , and also by the operation of brimstone , be easily incorporated with that mineral which chymists are wont to account of so oleaginous a nature , and insoluble in aqua fortis . exper. xv. and as for those dissolutions that are made with oylie and inflammable menstruums , of common sulphur and other inflammable bodies , the dissolution does not make for them so clearly as they imagine . for if such menstruums operate , as is alledged , upon the account of their being , as well as the bodies they work upon , of a sulphureous nature , whence is it that highly rectified spirit of wine , which according to them must be of a most sulphureous nature , since being set on fire 't will flame all away without leaving one drop behind it , will not ( unless perhaps after a tedious while ) dissolve even flowers of brimstone , which essential as well as express'd oyls will easily take up ; as spirit of wine it self also will do almost in a trice , if ( as we shall see anon ) by the help of an alcali the texture of the brimstone be alter'd , though the onely thing that is added to the sulphur being an incombustible substance , is nothing near of so sulphureous a nature as the flowers , and need have no consanguinity upon the score of its origine with spirit of wine , as 't is alledged that salt of tartar has ; since i have tried , that fixt nitre , employ'd instead of it , will do the same . exper. xvi . the mention of nitre brings into my mind , that the salt peter being wont to be lookt upon by chymists as a very inflammable body , ought , according to them , to be of a very sulphureous nature ; yet we find not that 't is in chymical oyls , but in water , readily dissolved . and whereas chymists tell us , that the solutions of alcaly's , such as salt of tartar , or of pot-ashes in common oyls , proceed from the great cognation between them , i demand , whence it happens , that salt of tartar will by boiling be dissolved in the exprest oyl of almonds , or of olives , and be reduc'd with it to a soapy body , and that yet with the essential oyl of juniper or aniseeds , &c. where what they call the sulphur is made pure and penetrant , being freed from the earthy , aqueous and feculent parts , which distillation discovers to be in the exprest oyls , you may boil salt of tartar twenty times as long without making any soap of them , or perhaps any sensible solution of the alkaly . and chymists know , how difficult it is , and how unsuccessfully 't is wont to be attempted to dissolve pure salt of tartar in pure spirit of wine , by digesting the not peculiarly prepar'd salt in the cognate menstruum . i will not urge , that , though the most conspicuous mark of sulphur be inflammability , and is in an eminent degree to be found in oyl as well as sulphur ; yet an alkaly and water which are neither singly , nor united inflammable , will dissolve common sulphur . exper. xvii . but to make it probable against the chymists , ( for i propose it but as an argument ad hominem ) that the solution of sulphur in exprest oyls depends upon somewhat else besides the abundance of the second principle in both the bodies ; i will adde to what i said before , an affirmation of divers chymical writers themselves , who reckon aqua regis , which is plainly a saline menstruum , and dissolves copper , iron , coral , &c. like acid liquors , among the solvents of sulphur , and by that power among other things distinguish it from aqua fortis . and on the other side if , there be a congruity betwixt an exprest oyl and another body , though it be such as , by its easie dissolubleness in acid salts , chymists should pronounce to be of a saline nature , an exprest oyl will readily enough work upon it ; as i have tried by digesting even crude copper in filings with oyl of sweet almonds , which took up so much of the metal as to be deeply coloured thereby , as if it had been a corrosive liquor : nay , i shall adde , that even with milk , as mild a liquor as 't is , i have found by trial , that without the help of fire a kind of dissolution may , though not in few hours , be made of crude copper , as appear'd by the greenish blew colour the filings acquired , when they had been well drenched in the liquor , and left for a certain time in the vessel , where the air had very free access to them . exper. xviii . besides the argument ad hominem , newly drawn from aqua regia , it may be proper enough to urge another of the same kind upon the generality of the helmontians and paracelsians , who admit what the heads of their sects deliver concerning the operations of the alkahest . for whereas 't is affirm'd , that this irresistible menstruum will dissolve all tangible bodies here below , so as they may be reduc'd into insipid water ; as on the one side 't will be very hard to conceive how a specificated menstruum that is determin'd to be either acid , or lixiviate , or urinous , &c. should be able to dissolve so great a variety of bodies of differing and perhaps contrary natures , in some whereof acids , in other lixiviate salts , and in others urinous are predominant ; so on the other side , if the alkahest be not a specificated menstruum , 't will very much disfavour the opinion of the chymists , that will have some bodies dissoluble onely by acids as such , others by fixt alkalys , and others again by volatile salts ; since a menstruum , that is neither acid , lixiviate , nor urinous , is able to dissolve bodies , in some of which one , and in others another of those principles is predominant : so that , if a liquor be conveniently qualified , it is not necessary that it should be either acid to dissolve pearl or coral , or alkalizate to dissolve sulphur . but upon what mechanical account an analyzing menstruum may operate , is not necessary to be here determin'd . and i elsewhere offer some thoughts of mine about it . exper. xix . if we duly reflect upon the known process that chymists are wont to employ in making mercurius dulcis , we shall find it very favourable to our hypothesis . for though we have already shewn in the v. experiment , and 't is generally confest , that common sublimate made of mercury is a highly corrosive body ; yet , if it be well ground with near an equal weight of quicksilver , and be a few times sublimed , ( to mix them the more exactly ) it will become so mild , that 't will not so much as taste sharp upon the tongue ; so that chymists are wont to call it mercurius dulcis : and yet this dulcification seems to be performed in a mechanical way . for most part of the salts , that made the sublimate so corrosive , abide in the mercurius duleis ; but by being compounded with more quicksilver , they are diluted by it , and ( which is more considerable ) acquire a new texture , which renders them unfit to operate , as they did before , when the fretting salts were not joyn'd with a sufficient quantity of the mercury to inhibit their corrosive activity . it may perhaps somewhat help us to conceive , how this change may be made , if we imagine , that a company of meer knife-blades be first fitted with hafts , which will in some regard lessen their wounding power by covering or casing them at that end which is design'd for the handle ; ( though their insertion into those hafts , turning them into knives , makes them otherwise the fitter to cut and pierce ) and that each of them be afterwards sheathed , ( which is , as it were , a hafting of the blades too ; ) for then they become unfit to cut or stab , as before , though the blades be not destroyed : or else we may conceive these blades without hafts or sheaths to be tied up in bundles , or as it were in little faggots with pieces of wood , somewhat longer than themselves , opportunely placed between them . for neither in this new constitution would they be fit to cut and stab as before . and by conceiving the edges of more or fewer of the blades to be turn'd inwards , and those that are not , to have more or less of their points and edges to be sheath'd , or otherwise cover'd by interpos'd bodies , one may be help'd to imagine , how the genuine effects of the blades may be variously lessen'd or diversifi'd . but , whether these or any other like changes of disposition be fancy'd , it may be mechanical illustrations become intelligible , how the corrosive salts of common sublimate may lose their efficacy , when they are united with a sufficient quantity of quicksilver in mercurius dulcis : in which new state the salts may indeed in a chymical phrase be said to be satiated ; but this chymical phrase does not explicate how this saturation takes away the corrosiveness from salts that are still actually present in the sweet mercury . and by analogy to some such explications as the above propos'd , a possible account may be render'd , why fretting salts do either quite lose their sharpness , as alkalies , whilst they are imbodied with sand in common glass ; or lose much of their corrosive acidity , as oyl of vitriol does when with steel it composes vitriolum matris ; or else are transmuted or disguis'd by conjunction with some corroded bodies of a peculiar texture , as when aqua fortis does with silver make an extreamly bitter salt or vitriol , and with lead one that is positively sweet almost like common saccharum saturni . exper. xx. to shew , how much the efficacy of a menstruum may depend even upon such seemingly slight mechanical circumstances as one would not easily suspect any necessity of , i shall employ an experiment , which though the unpractis'd may easily fail of making well , yet , when i tried it after the best manner , i did it with good success . i put then upon lead a good quantity of well rectified aqua fortis , in which the metal , as i expected , continued undissolved ; though , if the chymists say truly that the dissolving power of the menstruum consists onely in the acid salts that it abounds with , it seems naturally to follow , that the more abundance of them there is in a determinate quantity of the liquor , it should be the more powerfully able to dissolve metalline and mineral bodies . and in effect we see , that , if corrosive menstruums be not sufficiently dephlegmed , they will not work on divers of them . but , notwithstanding this plausible doctrine of the chymists , conjecturing that the saline particles that swam in our aqua fortis might be more throng'd together , than was convenient for a body of such a texture of saline parts , and such intervals between them , i diluted the menstruum by adding to it what i thought fit of fair water , and then found , that the desired congruity betwixt the agent and the patient emerged , and the liquor quickly began to fall upon the metal and dissolve it . and if you would try an experiment to the same purpose , that needs much less circumspection to make it succeed , you may , instead of employing lead , reiterate what i elsewhere mention my self to have tried with silver , which would not dissolve in too strong aqua fortis , but would be readily fallen upon by that liquor , when i had weaken'd it with common water . and this it may suffice to have said at present of the power or faculty that is found in some bodies of corroding or dissolving others . whereof i have not found among the aristotelians , i have met with , so much as an offer at an intelligible account . and i the less expect the vulgar chymists will from their hypostatical principles afford us a satisfactory one , when , besides the particulars that from the nature of the things and helmont's writings have been lately alledg'd against their hypothesis , i consider , how slight accounts they are wont to give us even of the familiar phaenomena of corrosive liquors . for if , for example , you ask a vulgar chymist why aqua fortis dissolves silver and copper , 't is great odds but he will tell you , 't is because of the abundance of fretting salt that is in it , and has a cognation with the salts of the metal . and if you ask him , why spirit of salt dissolves copper , he will tell you 't is for the same reason ; and yet , if you put spirit of salt , though very strong , to aqua fortis , this liquor will not dissolve silver , because upon the mixture , the liquors acquire a new gonstitution as to the saline particles , by vertue of which the mixture will dissolve , instead of silver , gold. whence we may argue against the chymists , that the inability of this compounded liquor to work on silver does not proceed from its being weaken'd by the spirit of salt ; as well because , according to them , gold is far the more compact metal of the two , and requires a more potent menstruum to work upon it , as because this same compounded liquor will readily dissolve copper . and to the same purpose with this experiment i should alledge divers others , if i thought this the fittest place wherein i could propose them . sect . ii. about the mechanicall origine of corrosibility . corrosibility being the quality that answers corrosiveness , he that has taken notice of the advertisement i formerly gave about my use of the term corrosiveness in these notes , may easily judge , in what sense i employ the name of the other quality ; which ( whether you will stile it opposite or conjugate ) for want of a better word , i call corrosibility . this corrosibility of bodies is as well as their corrosiveness a relative thing ; as we see , that gold , for instance , will not be dissolved by aqua fortis , but will by aqua regis ; whereas silver is not soluble by the latter of these menstruums , but is by the former . and this relative affection , on whose account a body comes to be corrodible by a menstruum , seems to consist chiefly in three things , which all of them depend upon mechanical principles . of these qualifications the first is , that the body to be corroded be furnish'd with pores of such a bigness and figure , that the corpuscles of the solvent may enter them , and yet not be much agitated in them without giving brisk knocks or shakes to the solid parts that make up the walls , if i may so call them , of the pores . and 't is for want of this condition , that glass is penetrated in a multitude of places , but not dissipated or dissolv'd by the incident beams of light , which permeate its pores without any considerable resistance ; and though the pores and commissures of a body were less minute , and capable of letting in some grosser corpuscles , yet if these were , for want of solidity or rigidness , too flexible , or were of a figure incongruous to that of the pores they should enter , the dissolution would not insue ; as it happens when pure spirit of wine is in the cold put upon salt of tartar , or when aqua fortis is put upon powder of sulphur . the second qualification of a corrodible body is , that its consistent corpuscles be of such a bulk and solidity , as does not render them uncapable of being disjoyn'd by the action of the insinuating corpuscles of the menstruum . agreeable to this and the former observation is the practice of chymists , who oftentimes , when they would have a body to be wrought on by a menstruum otherwise too weak for it in its crude estate , dispose it to receive the action of the menstruum by previously opening it , ( as they speak ) that is , by enlarging the pores , making a comminution of the corpuscles , or weakening their cohesion . and we see , that divers bodies are brought by fit preparations to be resoluble in liquors that would not work on them before . thus , as was lately noted , lime-stone by calcination becomes ( in part ) dissoluble in water ; and some metalline calces will be so wrought on by solvents , as they would not be by the same agents , if the preparation of the metalline or other body had not given them a new disposition . thus , though crude tartar , especially in lumps , is very slowly and difficultly dissoluble in cold water , yet when 't is burnt it may be presently dissolved in that liquor ; and thus , though the filings and the calx of silver will not be at all dissolv'd by common water or spirit of wine ; yet if by the interposition of the saline particles of aqua fortis , the lunar corpuscles be so disjoyn'd , and suffer such a comminution as they do in crystals of lune , the metal thus prepared and brought with its saline additament into a new texture will easily enough dissolve , not onely in water , but , as i have tried , in well rectified spirit of wine . and the like solubility i have found in the crystals of lead made with spirit of verdigrease , or good distill'd vinegar , and in those of copper made with aqua fortis . the last disposition to corrosibility consists in such a cohesion of the parts , whereof a body is made up , as is not too strict to be superable by the action of the menstruum . this condition , though of kin to the former , is yet somewhat differing from it , since a body may consist of parts either bulky or solid , which yet may touch one another in such small portions of their surfaces , as to be much more easily dissociable than the minute or less solid parts of another body , whose contact is more full and close , and so their cohesion more strict . by what has been said it may seem probable , that , as i formerly intimated , the corrosibility of bodies is but a mechanical relation , resulting from the mechanical affectious and contexture of its parts , as they intercept pores of such sizes and figures as make them congruous to those of the corpuscles of the menstruum , that are to pierce between them , and disjoyn them . that the quality , that disposes the body it affects to be dissolv'd by corrosive and other menstruums , does ( as hath been declared ) in many cases depend upon the mechanical texture and affections of the body in reference to the menstruum that is to work upon it , may be made very probable by what we are in due place to deliver concerning the pores of bodies and figures of corpuscles . but yet in compliance with the design of these notes , and agreeably to my custom on other subjects , i shall subjoyn a few experiments on this occasion also . exper. i. if we put highly rectified spirit of wine upon crude sulphur , or even flowers of sulphur , the liquor will lie quietly thereon , especially in the cold , for many hours and days without making any visible solution of it ; and if such exactly dephlegmed spirit were put on very dry salt of tartar , the salt would lie in an undissolved powder at the bottom : and yet , if before any liquor be employed , the sulphur be gently melted , and then the alkali of tartar be by degrees put to it , and incorporated with it ; as there will result a new texture discoverable to the eye by the new colour of the composition , so there will emerge a disposition that was not before in either of the ingredients , to be dissolved by spirit of wine ; insomuch , that though the mixture be kept till it be quite cold , or long after too , provided it be carefully secur'd from the access of the air , the spirit of wine being put to it , and shaken with it , will , if you have gone to work aright , acquire a yellow tincture in a minute of an hour ; and perhaps in less than half a quarter of an hour a red one , being richly impregnated with sulphureous particles discoverable by the smell , taste , and divers operations . exper. ii. [ 't is known to several chymists , that spirit of salt does not dissolve crude mercury in the cold ; and i remember , i kept them for a considerable time in no contemptible heat without finding any solution following . but i suppose , many of them will be gratified by an experiment once mention'd to me by an ingenious german gentleman , namely . that if mercury be precipitated per se , that is , reduc'd to a red powder without additament , by the meer operation of the fire , the texture will be so chang'd , that the above-mention'd spirit will readily dissolve it ; for i found it upon trial to do so ; nay , sometimes so readily , that i scarce remember that i ever saw any menstruum so nimbly dissolve any metalline body whatsoever . ] exper. iii. the former experiment is the more remarkable , because , that though oyl of vitriol will in a good heat corrode quicksilver , ( as we have already related in the first section , ) yet i remember i kept a precipitate per se for divers hours in a considerable degree of heat , without finding it to be dissolved or corroded by the menstruum . and yet having , for trials sake , put another parcel of the same mercurial powder into some aqua fortis , or spirit of nitre , there insued a speedy dissolution even in the cold . and that this disposition to be dissolved by spirit of salt , that mercury acquires by being turned into precipitate per se , that is , by being calcin'd , is not meerly the effect of the operation of the fire upon it , but of some change of texture produced by that operation ; may be probably argued from hence , that , whereas spirit of salt is a very proper menstruum , as i have often tried , for the dissolving of iron or steel ; yet , when that metal is reduced by the action of the fire ( especially if a kind of vitrification , and an irroration with distill'd vinegar have preceded ) to crocus martis , though it be thereby brought to a very fine powder , yet i found not , that , as spirit of salt will readily and with heat and noise dissolve filings of mars , so it would have the same or any thing near such an operation upon the crocus : but rather , after a good while , it would leave in the bottom of the glass a considerable , if not the greatest , part of it scarce , if at all , sensibly alter'd . and the menstruum seem'd rather to have extracted a tincture , than made an ordinary solution ; since the colour of it was a high yellow or reddish , whereas mars , dissolved in spirit of salt , affords a green solution . whether by repeated operations with fresh menstruum further dissolutions might in time be made , i had not occasion to try , and it may suffice for our present purpose , that mars by the operation of the fire did evidently acquire , not , as mercury had done , a manifest facility , but on the contrary , a great indisposition to be dissolved by spirit of salt. to second this experiment , we vary'd it , by employing , instead of spirit of salt , strong oyl of vitriol , which being pour'd on a little crocus martis made per se , did not , as that menstruum is wont to do upon filings of crude mars , readily and manifestly fall upon the powder with froth and noise , but ( on the contrary ) rested for divers hours calmly upon it , without so much as producing with it any sensible warmth . exper. iv. it agrees very well with our doctrine about the dependance of the corrosibility of bodies upon their texture , that from divers bodies , whilst they are in conjunction with others , there result masses , and those homogeneous as to sense , that are easily dissoluble in liquors , in which a great part of the matter , if it were separated from the rest , would not be at all dissolved . thus we see , that common vitriol is easily dissolved in meer water ; whereas if it be skilfully calcin'd , it will yield sometimes near half its first weight of insipid colcothar , which not onely is not soluble in water but which neither aqua fortis no aqua regis , though sometimes they will colour themselves upon it , are able ( as far as i have tried ) to make solutions of . we see likewise , that simple water will , being boil'd for a competent time with harts-horn , dissolve it and make a jelly of it : and yet , when we have taken harts-horn throughly calcin'd to whiteness , not onely we found that common water was no longer a fit solvent for it , but we observed , that when we put oyl of vitriol it self upon it , a good part of the white powder was even by that corrosive menstruum left undissolved . exper. v. in the fifteenth of the foregoing experiments i refer to a way of making the flower or powder of common sulphur become easily dissoluble , which otherwise 't is far from being , in highly rectified spirit of wine . wherefore i shall now adde , that 't is quickly perform'd by gently melting the sulphur , and incorporating with it by degrees an equal or a greater weight of sinely powder'd salt of tartar , or of fixt nitre . for if the mixture be put warm into a mortar that is so too ; and as soon as 't is reduc'd to powder , be put into a glass , and well shaken with pure spirit of wine , it will , ( as perhaps i may have elsewhere observed , ) in a few minutes acquire a yellow colour , which afterwards will grow deeper , and manifest it self by the smell and effects to be a real solution of sulphur ; and yet this solubleness in spirit of wine seems procur'd by the change of texture , resulting from the commixtion of meer salt of tartar , which chymists know , to their trouble , to be it self a body almost as difficult as sulphur to be dissolved in phlegmless spirit of wine , unless the constitution of it be first alter'd by some convenient additament . which last words i adde , because , though spirit of verdigrease be a menstruum that uses to come off in distillation much more intirely than other acid menstruums from the bodies it has dissolved ; yet it will serve well for an additament to open ( as the chymists speak ) the body of the salt of tartar. for this purpose i employ spirit of verdigrease , not made first with spirit of vinegar , and then of wine , after the long and laborious way prescribed by basilius and zwelfer , but easily and expeditiously by a simple distillation of crude verdigrease of the better sort . for when you have with this liquor ( being , if there be need , once rectified ) dissolv'd as much good salt of tartar , as 't will take up in the cold , if you draw off the menstruum ad siccitatem , the remaining dry salt will be manifestly alter'd in texture even to the eye , and will readily enough in high rectified spirit of wine afford a solution , which i have found considerable in order to divers uses that concern not our present discourse . exper. vi. to the consideration of the followers of helmont i shall recommend an experiment of that famous chymist's , which seems to sute exceeding well with the doctrine propos'd in this section . for he tells us , that , if by a subtle menstruum to which he ascribes that power , quicksilver be devested ( or depriv'd ) of its external sulphur , as he terms it , all the rest of the fluid metal , which he wittily enough stiles , the kernel of mercury , will be no longer corrosible by it . so that upon this supposition , though common quicksilver be observ'd to be so obnoxious to aqua fortis , that the same quantity of that liquor will dissolve more of it , than of any other metal ; yet , if by the deprivation of some portion of it the latent texture of the metal be alter'd , though not ( that i remember ) the visible appearance of it ; the body that was before so easily dissolved by aqua fortis , ceases to be at all dissoluble by it . exper. vii . as for those chymists of differing sects , that agree in giving credit to the strange things that are affirm'd of the operations of the alkahest , we may in favour of our doctrine urge them with what is deliver'd by helmont , where he asserts , that all solid bodies , as stones , minerals , and metals themselves , by having this liquor duly abstracted or distill'd off from them , may be changed into salt , equiponderant to the respective bodies whereon the menstruum was put . so that supposing the alkahest to be totally abstracted , ( as it seems very probable to be , since the weight of the body whence 't was drawn off is not alter'd ; ) what other change than of texture can be reasonably imagin'd to have been made in the transmuted bodies ? and yet divers of them , as flints , rubies , saphyrs , gold , silver , &c. that were insoluble before , some of them in any known menstruums , and others in any but corrosive liquors , come to be capable of being dissolv'd in common water . exper. viii . 't is a remarkable phaenomenon , that suits very well with our opinion about the interest of mechanical principles in the corrosive power of menstruums , and the corrosibility of bodies , that we produc'd by the following experiment : this we purposely made to shew , after how differing manners the same body may be dissolv'd by two menstruums , whose minute parts are very differingly constituted and agitated . for whereas 't is known , that if we put large grains of sea-salt into common water , they will be dissolved therein calmly and silently without any appearance of conflict ; if we put such grains of salt into good oyl of vitriol , that liquor will fall suriously upon them , and produce for a good while a hissing noise with fumes , and a great store of bubbles , as if a potent menstruum were corroding some stubborn metal or mineral . and this experiment i the rather mention , because it may be of use to us on divers other occasions . for else 't is not the onely , though it be the remarkablest , that i made to the same purpose . exper. ix . for , whereas aqua fortis or aqua regis , being pour'd upon filings of copper , will work upon them with much noise and ebullition , i have tried , that good spirit of sal armoniac or urine , being put upon the like filings , and left there without stopping the glass , will quickly begin to work on them , and quietly dissolve them almost as water dissolves sugar . to which may be added , that even with oyl of turpentine i have , though but slowly , dissolved crude copper ; and the experiment seemed to favour our conjecture the more , because having tried it several times , it appear'd , that common unrectified oyl would perform the solution much quicker than that which was purified and subtiliz'd by rectification ; which though more subtle and penetrant , yet was , it seems , on that account less fit to dissolve the metal , than the grosser oyl whose particles might be more solid or more advantageously shap'd , or on some other mechanical account better qualified for the purpose . exper. x. take good silver , and , having dissolv'd it in aqua fortis , precipitate it with a sufficient quantity of good spirit of salt ; then having wash'd the calx , which will be very white , with common water , and dried it well , melt it with a moderate fire into a fusible mass , which will be very much of the nature of what chymists call cornu lunae , and which they make by precipitating dissolv'd silver with a bare solution of common salt made in common water . and whereas both spirit of salt and silver dissolv'd in aqua fortis will each of them apart readily dissolve in simple water , our luna cornea not onely will not do so , but is so indispos'd to dissolution , that i remember i have kept it in digestion , some in aqua fortis , and some in aqua regia , and that for a good while , and in no very faint degree of heat , without being able to dissolve it like a metal , the menstruums having indeed ting'd themselves upon it , but left the composition undissolv'd at the bottom . with this instance ( of which sort more might be afforded by chymical precipitations ) i shall conclude what i design'd to offer at present about the corrosibility of bodies , as it may be consider'd in a more general way . for as to the disposition that particular bodies have of being dissolved in , or of resisting , determinate liquors , it were much easier for me to enlarge upon that subject , than it was to provide the instances above recited . and these are not so few , but that 't is hop'd they may suffice to make it probable , that in the relation betwixt a solvent and the body it is to work upon , that which depends upon the mechanical affections of one or both , is much to be consider'd , and has a great interest in the operations of one of the bodies upon the other . finis . of the mechanical causes of chymical precipitation . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. advertisement though i shall not deny , that , in grammatical strictness , precipitation should be reckoned among chymical operations , not qualities , yet i did not much scruple to insert the following discourse among the notes about particular qualities , because many , if not most , of the phaenomena , mentioned in the ensuing essay , may be considered as depending , some of them upon a power , that certain bodies have to cause precipitation , and some upon such a disposition to be struck down by others , as may , if men please , be called precipitability . and so these differing affections may with ( at least ) tolerable congruity be referred to those that we have elsewhere stiled chymical qualities . but though i hope , i may in these few lines have said enough concerning the name given to these attributes , yet perhaps it will be found in time , that the things themselves may deserve a larger discourse than my little leasure would allow them . for that is not a causeless intimation of the importance of the subject , wherewith i conclude the following tract , since besides that many more instances might have been particularly referred to the heads treated of in the insuing essay , there are improper kinds of precipitation ( besides those mentioned in the former part of the discourse ) to which one may not incongruously refer divers of the phaenomena of nature , as well in the greater as in the lesser world , whereof either no causes at all , or but improper ones are wont to be given . and besides the simple spirits and salts usually employed by chymists , there are many compounded and decompounded bodies not only factitious but natural , ( and some such as one would scarce suspect ) that may in congruous subjects produce such precipitations , as i speak of . and the phaenomena and consequents of such operations may in divers cases prove conducive both to the discovery of physical causes , and the production of useful effects ; though the particularizing of such phaenomena do rather belong to a history of precipitations , than to such a discourse as that which follows , wherein i proposed not so much to deliver the latent mysteries , as to investigate the mechanical causes of precipitation . of the mechanical causes of chymical precipitation . chap. i. by precipitation is here meant such an agitation or motion of a heterogeneous liquor , as in no long time makes the parts of it subside , and that usually in the form of a powder or other consistent body . as , on many occasions , chymists call the substance that is made to fall to the bottom of the liquor , the precipitate ; so for brevity sake we shall call the body that is put into the liquor to procure that subsiding , the precipitant ; as also that which is to be struck down , the precipitable substance or matter , and the liquor wherein it swims before the separation , the menstruum or solvent . when a hasty fall of a heterogeneous body is procured by a precipitant , the operation is called precipitation in the proper or strict sense : but when the separation is made without any such addition , or the substance , separated from the fluid part of the liquor , instead of subsiding emerges , then the word is used in a more comprehensive , but less proper , acceptation . as for the causes of precipitation the very name it self in its chymical sense having been scarce heard of in the peripatetic schools , it is not to be expected , that they should have given an account of the reasons of the thing . and 't is like , that those few aristotelians , that have , by their converse with the laboratories or writings of chymists , taken notice of this operation , would , according to their custom on such occasions , have recourse for the explication of it to some secret sympathy or antipathy between the bodies whose action and reaction intervenes in this operation . but if this be the way proposed , of accounting for it , i shall quickly have occasion to say somewhat to it in considering the ways proposed by the chymists , who were wont to refer precipitation , either , as is most usual , to a sympathy betwixt the precipitating body and the menstruum which makes the solvent run to the embraces of the precipitant , and so let fall the particles of the body sustained before ; or ( with others ) to a great antipathy or contrariety between the acid salt of the menstruum and the fixed salt of the oil , or solution of calcined tartar , which is the most general and usual precipitant they imploy . but i see not , how either of these causes will either reach to all the phaenomena that have been exhibited , or give a true account even of some of those , to which it seems applicable . for first , in precipitations , wherein what they call a sympathy between the liquors , is supposed to produce the effect , this admired sympathy does not ( in my apprehension ) evince such a mysterious occult quality as is presumed , but rather consists in a greater congruity as to bigness , shape , motion and pores of the minute parts between the menstruum and the precipitant , than between the same solvent and the body it kept before dissolved . and though this sympathy rightly explained may be allowed to have an interest in some such precipitations as let fall the dissolved body in its pristine nature and form , and only reduced into minute powder ; yet i find not , that in the generality of precipitations this doctrine will hold ; for in some that we have made of gold and silver in proper menstruums , after the subsiding matter had been well washed and dried , several precipitates of gold made , some with oil of tartar , which abounds with a fixed salt , and is the usual precipitant , and some with an urinous spirit , which works by vertue of a salt highly fugitive or volatile , i found the powder to exceed the weight of the gold and silver i had put to dissolve ; and the eye it self sufficiently discovers such precipitates not to be meer metalline powders , but compositions , whose consisting , not ( as hath been by some body suspected ) of the combined salts alone , but of the metalline parts also , may be strongly concluded not only from the ponderousness of divers of them in reference to their bulk , but also manifestly from the reduction of true malleable metals from several of them . chap. ii. the other chymical way of explicating precipitations may , in a right sence , be made use of by a naturalist on some particular occasions . but i think it much too narrow and defective , as 't is in a general way proposed , to be fit to be acquiesced in . for first 't is plain , that 't is not only salt of tartar and other fixed alcalies that precipitate most bodies that are dissolved in acid menstruums ; as in making of aurum fulminans , oil of tartar precipitates the gold out of aqua regis : but acid liquors themselves do on many occasions no less powerfully precipitate metals and other bodies out of one another . thus spirit of salt , ( as i have often tried ) precipitates silver out of aqua fortis : the corrosive spirit of nitre copiously precipitates that white powder whereof they make bezoardicum minerale : spirit or oil of sulphur made by a glass-bell precipitates corals , pearls , &c. dissolved in spirit of vinegar , as is known to many chymists , who now use this oleum sulphuris per campanam , to make the magistery of pearls , &c. for which vulgar chymists imploy oleum tartari per deliquium . i have sometimes made a menstruum , wherein though there were both acid and alcalizate salts ; yet i did not find , that either acid spirits or oil of tartar , or even spirit of urine would precipitate the dissolved substances . and i have observed , both that salts of a contrary nature will precipitate bodies out of the same menstruum , as not only salt of tartar , but sea-salt being dissolved , will precipitate each other , and each of them apart will precipitate silver out of aqua fortis ; and that even , where there is a confessed contrariety betwixt two liquors , it may be so ordered , that neither of them shall precipitate what is dissolved by the other ; of which i shall have occasion to give ere long a remarkable instance . but it will best appear , that the abovementioned theories of the peripateticks and chymists are at least insufficient to solve the phaenomena ( many of which were probably not known to most of them , and perhaps not weigh'd by any , ) if we proceed to observe the mechanical ways , by which precipitations may be accounted for ; whereof i shall at present propose some number , and say somewhat of each of them apart ; not that i think all of them to be equally important and comprehensive , or that i absolutely deny , that any one of them may be reduced to some of the other ; but that i think , it may better elucidate the subject , to treat of them severally , when i shall have premised , that i wouldnot thence infer , that though , for the most part , nature does principally effect precipitations by one or other of these ways , yet in divers cases she may not imploy two or more of them about performing the operation . to precipitate the corpuscles of a metal out of a menstruum , wherein being once throughly dissolved it would of it self continue in that state , the two general ways that the nature of the thing seems to suggest to him that considers it , are , either to add to the weight or bulk of the dissolved corpuscles , and thereby render them unfit to accompany the particles of the menstruum in their motions ; or to weaken the sustaining power of the menstruum , and thereby disable it to keep the metalline particles swimming any longer : which falling of the deserted parts of the metal or other bodie , does oftentimes the more easily insue , because in many cases , when the sustaining particles of the menstruum come to be too much weakned , that proves an occasion to the metalline corpuscles , disturbed in the former motion that kept them separate , to make occursions and coalitions among themselves , and their fall becomes the effect , though not equally so , of both ways of precipitation ; as on the other side , there are several occasions on which the same precipitant , that brings the swimming particles of the metal to stick to one another , does likewise , by mortifying or disabling the saline spirits or other parts of the solvent , weaken the sustaining power of that liquor . chap. iii. to descend now to the distinct considerations about these two ways : the first of the most genera causes of precipitation is such a cohaesion procured by the precipitant in the solution , as makes the compounded corpuscles , or at least the associated particles of the dissolved body , too heavy to be sustained , or too bulky to be kept in a state of fluidity by the liquor . that in many precipitations there is made a coalition betwixt the small parts of the precipitant and those of the dissolved metal , or other body , and frequently also with the saline spirits of the menstruum , may be easily shewn by the weight of the precipitate , which though carefully washed and dryed , often surpasses , and sometimes very considerably , that of your crude metal that was dissolved ; of which we lately gave an instance in aurum fulminans and precipitated silver ; & we may yet give a more conspicuous one , in that which chymists call luna cornea : for , if having dissolved silver in good aqua fortis , you precipitate it with the solution of sea-salt in fair water , and from the very white precipitate wash the loose adhering salts , the remaining powder , being dryed and slowly melted , will look much less like a metalline body than like a piece of horn , whence also it takes its name ; so considerable is the additament of the saline to the metalline particles . and that part of such additaments is , retained , may not only be found by weighing , but in divers cases may be argued from what is obvious to the eye : as if you dissolve mercury in aqua fortis , and into the philtrated solution drop spirit of salt , or salt-water , or an urinous spirit , as of sal armoniac , you will have a very white precipitate ; but if instead of any of these , you drop-in deliquated salt of tartar , your precipitate will be of a brick or orange colour . from which experiment and some others i would gladly take a rise to perswade chymists and physitians , that 't is not so indifferent , as those seem to think who look on precipitation butas a kind of comminution , by what means the precipitation is performed . for by reason of the strict adhesion of divers saline particles of the precipitant and the solvent , the precipitated body , notwithstanding all the wonted ablutions , may have its qualities much diversified by those of the particles of the liquors , when these are fitted to stick very fast to it . which last words i add , because , though that sometimes happens , yet it does not always , there being a geater difference than every body takes notice of between precipitations ; as you will be induced to think , if you precipitate the solution of silver with copper , with spirit of sal armoniac , with salt water , with oil of tartar , with quick-silver , with crude tartar and with zink . and in the lately proposed example , you will think it probable , that 't is not all one , whether to dissolved mercury or silver , you imploy the subtile distilled spirits of salt , or the gross body , whether in a dry form , or barely dissolved in common water . and thus much of the conduciveness of weight to the striking down the corpuscles of a dissolved body . that also the bulk of a body may very much contribute to make it sink or swim in a liquor , appears by obvious instances . thus salt or sugar , being put into water either in lumps or even in powder that is but gross , falls at first to the bottom , and lies there , notwithstanding the air that may be intercepted between its parts or externally adhere to it . but when by the infinuating action of the water it is dissolved into minute particles , these are carried up and down with those of the liquor and subside not . the like happens , when a piece of silver is cast into aqua fortis , and in many other cases . on the other side i have several times observed , that some bodies that had long swam in a menstruum , whilst their minute parts were kept from convening in it , did afterwards by the coalition of many of those particles into bodies of a visible bulk coagulate and subside , ( though sometimes , to hinder the evaporation of the menstruum , the vessels were kept stopt . ) of this i elsewhere mention divers examples ; and particularly in urinous and animal spirits , well dephlegm'd , i have found , that after all had for a considerable time continued in the form of a perfect liquor , and as to sense homogeneous , store of solid corpuscles , convening together , setled at the bottom of the glasses in the form of saline crystals . having also long kept a very red solution of sulphur first unlock'd , ( as they speak ) made with highly rectified spirit of urine , i observed , that at length the sulphureous particles , making little concretions between themselves , totally subsided and left the liquor almost devoid of tincture . by which you may see , that 't was not impertinent to mention ( as i lately did ) among the subordinate causes of precipitation , the associating of the particles of a dissolved body with one another . of which i elsewhere give a notable example in the shining powder that i obtained from gold dissolved in a peculiar menstruum , without any precipitant , by the coalition of the metalline particles , to which a tract of time gave opportunity to meet and adhere in a convenient manner . if in what the chymists call presipitate per se , the mercury be indeed brought to lose its fluidity , and become a powder without being compounded with any additional body , ( which doubt i elsewhere state and discourse of ) it will afford us a notable instance to prove , that the coalitions of particles into clusters of the self same matter will render them unfit for the motion requisite to fluidity . for in this odd precipitation by fire , wherein the same menstruum is both the liquor and the precipitate , being not all made at once , the corpuscles that first disclose themselves by their redness , are rejected by those of the mercury that yet remains fluid , as unable to accompany them in the motions that belong to mercury as such . chap. iv. before i dismiss that way of precipitating , that depends upon the unwieldiness which the precipitant gives to the body it is to strike down , it may not be impertinent , especially in reference to the foregoing part of this paper , to consider , that perhaps in divers cases the corpuscles of a dissolved body may be made unfit to be any longer sustained in the menstruum , though the precipitant adds very little to their bulk , or at least much more to their specific weight than to it . for i have elsewere shewn , that in divers solutions made of bodys by acid menstruums , there are either generated or extricated many small aerial particles ; and it will be easily granted , that these may be small enough to be detained in the pores of the liquor and be invisible there , if we consider , what a multitude of aerial and formerly imperceptible bubbles is afforded by common water in our pneumatical receivers , when the incumbent air that before pressed the liquor , is pumpt out . and if the corpuscles of the dissolved body have any little cavities or pores fit to lodge aerial particles , or have asperous surfaces , between whose prominent parts the generated air may conveniently lie ; in such cases , i say , these invisible bubbles may be lookt upon , as making with the solid corpuscles they adhered to , little aggregates much lighter in specie than the corpuscles themselves would be ; and consequently if the precipitant consist of particles of such a size and shape as are fit to expel these little bubbles , and lodge themselves in the cavities possessed by them before , there will be produced new aggregates composed of the corpuscles of the dissolved body and the particles of the precipitant ; which aggregates though they do take up very little or perhaps not at all more room ( takeing that word in a popular sense ) than those , whereof the aerial bubbles made a part , will yet be specifically heavier than the former aggregates were , and may thereby overcome the sustaining power of the menstruum . one thing more may be fit to be taken notice of before we pass on further , namely , that 't is upon the score of the specific gravity of a body , and not barely upon the action of the precipitant , that an aggregate or a convention of particles does rather fall to the bottom than rise to the top . for , though the agents that procured the coalition , make the cluster of particles become of a bulk too unwieldy to continue in the liquor as parts of it ; yet if each of them be lighter in specie than an equal bulk of the menstruum , or if they so convene as to intercept a sufficient number of little bubbles or aerial corpuscles between them , and so become lighter than as much of the menstruum as they take up the room of , they will not be precipitated but emerge ; as may be seen in the preparation of those magisteries of vegetables , i elswhere mention ; where some deeply colour'd plants being made to tinge plentifully the lixivium they are boyled in , are afterwards by the addition of alum made to curdle , as it were , into coloured concretions , which being ( totally or in part ) too big to swim as they did before they conven'd , and too light in comparison of the menstruum to subfide , emerge to the top and float there . an easier and neater example to the same purpose i remember i shewed by dissolving camphire in highly rectified spirit of wine , 'till the solution was very strong . for though the camphire , when put in lumps into the spirit , sunk to the bottom of it ; yet , when good store of water , ( a liquor somewhat heavier in specie than camphire , ) was poured upon the solution , the camphire quickly concreted and returned to its own nature , and within a while emerged to the top of the mingled liquors and floated there . these particulars i was willing to mention here , that i might give an instance or two of those precipitations , that i formerly spake of as improperly so called . and here i must not decline taking notice of a phaenomenon , that sometimes occurs in precipitations , and at first sight may seem contrary to our doctrine about them . for now and then it happens , that after some drops of the precipitant have begun a precipitation at the top or bottom of the solvent , one shakes the vessel , that the precipitant may be the sooner diffused through the other liquor , but then they are quickly surprized to find , that instead of hastning the compleat precipitation , the matter already precipitated disappears , and the solvent returns to be clear , or , as to sense , as uniform , as it was before the precipitant was put into it . bu this phaenomenon does not at all cross our theory . for , when this happens , though that part of the solvent , to which the precipitant reaches , is disabled for reasons mentioned in this discourse to support the dissolved body , yet this quantity of the precipitant is but small in proportion to the whole bulk of the solvent . and therefore , when the agitation of the vessel disperses the clusters of loosly concreted particles through the whole liquor , ( which is seldom so exactly proportioned to the body it was to work on , as to be but just strong enough to dissolve it ) that greater part of the liquor , to which before the shaking of the vessel the precipitant did not reach , may well be lookt upon as a fresh menstruum , which is able to mortifie or overpower the small quantity of the precipitant that is mingled with it , and so to destroy its late operation on the body dissolved , by which means the solution returns , as to sense , to its former state . which may be illustrated by a not unpleasant experiment , i remember i have long since made by precipitating a brick-coloured powder out of a strong solution of sublimate made in fair water . for this subsiding matter , being laid to dry in the philter , by which 't was separated from the water , would retain a deep but somewhat dirty colour ; and if then , putting it into the bottom of a wine glass , i poured upon it , either clear oil of vitriol , or some other strong acid menstruum , the alcalizat particles being disabled and swallowed up by some of the acid ones of the menstruum , the other acid ones would so readily dissolve the residue of the powder , that in a trice the colour of it would disappear and the whole mixture be reduced into a clear liquor , without any sediment at the bottom . thus much may suffice at present about the first general way of precipitating bodies out of the liquors they swam in . chap. v. the other of the two principal ways , by which precipitations may be effected , is the disabling of the solvent to sustain the dissolved body . there may be many instances , wherein this second way of effecting precipitations may be associated by nature with the first way formerly proposed ; but notwithstanding the cases , wherein nature may ( as i formerly noted ) imploy both the ways therein , yet in most cases they sufficiently differ , in regard that in the former way the subsiding of the dissolved body is chiefly , if not only , caused by the additional weight as well as action of the external precipitant ; whereas in most of the instances of the later way , the effect is produced either without salt of tartar , or any such precipitant , or by some other quality of the precipitant more than by its weight , or at least besides the weight it adds : though i forget not , that i lately gave an example of a shining powder of gold , that fell to the bottom of a menstruum without the help of an external precipitant : but that was done so slowly , that it may be disputed , whether it were a true precipitation ; and i alledged it not as such , but to shew , that the increased bulk of particles may make them unfit to swim in menstruums , wherein they swam whilst they were more minute . and the like answer may be accommodated to the precipitate per se newly mentioned . this premised , i proceed now to observe , that the general way , i last proposed , contains in it several subordinate wayes , that are more particular ; of which i shall now mention the chief that occur to me , and though but briefly , illustrate each of them by examples . and first a precipitation may be made , if the saline or other dissolving particles of the menstruum are mortified or rendred unfit for their former function , by particles of a precipitant that are of a contrary nature . thus gold and some other minerals , being dissolved in aqua regis , will be precipitated with spirit of urine and other such liquors abounding with volatile and salino-sulphureous corpuscles , upon whose account it is that they act ; whence these salts themselves , though cast into a menstruum in a dry form , will serve to make the like precipitations . and i the rather on this occasion mention urinous spirits than salt of tartar , because those volatile particles add much less of weight to the little concretions , which compose the precipitated powder . upon instances of this kind , many of the modern chymists have built that antipathy betwixt the salts of the solvent and those of the menstruum , to which they ascribe almost all precipitations . but against this i have represented something already , and shall partly now , and partly in the sequel of this discourse add some farther reasons of my not being satisfied with this doctrine . for , besides that 't is insufficient to reach many of the phaenomena of precipitations , ( as will ere long be shown , ) and besides that 't is not easie to make out , that there is any real antipathy betwixt inanimate bodies ; i consider , 1. that some of those menstruums , to which this antipathy is attributed , do after a short commotion ( whereby they are disposed to make convenient occursions and coalitions ) amicably unite into concretions participating of both the ingredients ; as i have somewhere shewn by an example purposely devis'd to make this out ; to do which i dropped a clear solution of fixed nitre , instead of the usual one of common salt , upon a solution of silver , in aqua-fortis : for the saline particles of the solvent and those of the precipitant , will , as i have elsewhere recirecited , for the most part friendly unite into such crystals of nitre for the main , as they were obtained from : and though this notion of the chymists , if well explained , be applicable to far more instances than the proposers of it seemed to have thought on , and may be made good use of in practice ; yet i take it to be such as is not true universally , and , where it is true , ought to be explicated according to mechanical principles . for , if the particles of the menstruum and those of the precipitant be so framed , that upon the action of the one upon the other , there will be produced corpuscles too big and unwieldy to continue in the state of fludity , there will insue a precipitation : but if the constitution of the corpuscles of the precipitating and of the dissolved body be such , that the precipitant also it self is fit to be a menstruum to dissolve that body in ; then , though there be an union of the salts of the precipitant and the metal ( or other solutum ) and perhaps of the solvent too , yet a precipitation will not necessarily follow , though the saline particles of the two liquors seemed , by the heat and ebullition excited between them upon their meeting , to exercise a great and mutual antipathy . to satisfie some ingenious men about this particular , i dissolved zink or speltar in a certain urinous spirit ; ( for , there are more than one that may serve the turn ; ) and then put to it a convenient quantity of a proper acid spirit ; but though there would be a manifest conflict thereby occasioned betwixt the two liquors ; yet the speltar remained dissolved in the mixture . and i remember , that for the same purpose i devised another experiment , which is somewhat more easie and more clear . i dissolved copper calcined perse , or even crude , in strong spirit of salt ; ( for unless it be such , it will not be so proper , ) and having put to it by degrees a good quantity of spirit of sal-armoniac or fermented urine , though there would be a great commotion with hissing and bubbles produced , the copper would not be precipitated , because this urinous spirit will as well as the salt , ( and much more readily ) dissolve the same metal , and it would be kept dissolved notwithstanding their operation on one another ; the intervening of which , and their action upon the metalline corpuscles , may be gathered from hence , that the green solution , made with spirit of salt alone , will by the supervening urinous spirits be changed either into a blewish green , or , if the proportion of this spirit be very great , into a rich blew almost like ultramarine . and from these two experiments we may probably argue , that when the precipitation of a metal &c. insues , it is not barely on the account of the supposed antipathy betwixt the salts , but because the causes of that seeming antipathy do likewise upon a mechanical account dispose the corpuscles of the confounded liquors so to cohere , as to be too unwieldy for the fluid part . chap. vi. another way , whereby the dissolving particles of a menstruum may be rendred unfit to sustain the dissolved body , is to present them another that they can more easily work on . a notable experiment of this you have in the common practice of refiners , who , to recover the silver out of lace and other such mixtures wherein it abounds , use to dissolve it in aqua fortis , and then in the solution leave copper plates for a whole night ( or many hours . ) but if you have a mind to see the experiment without waiting so long , you may imploy the way , whereby i have often quickly dispatched it . as soon then as i have dissolved a convenient quantity , which needs not be a great one , of silver in cleansed aqua fortis , i add twenty or twenty five times as much of either distilled water or rain water ; ( for though common water will sometimes do well , yet it seldome does so well ; ) and then into the clear solution i hang by a string a clean piece of copper , which will be presently covered with little shining plates almost like scales of fish , which one may easily shake off and make room for more . and this may illustrate what we formerly mentioned about the subsiding of metalline corpuscles , when they convene in liquors , wherein , whilst they were dispersed in very minute parts , they swam freely . for in this operation the little scales of silver seemed to be purely metalline , and there is no saline precipitant , as salt of tartar or of urine , imployed to make them subside . upon the same ground , gold and silver dissolved in their proper menstruums may be precipitated with running mercury ; and if a solution of blew vitriol ( such as the roman , east-indian , or other of the like colours ) be made in water , a clean plate of steel or iron being immersed in it , will presently be overlaid with a very thin case of copper-which after a while will grow thick , er ; but does not adhere to the iron so loosely as to be shaken off , as the precipitated silver newly mentioned may be from the copper-plates whereto it adheres . and that in these operations the saline particles may really quit the dissolved body , and work upon the precipitant , may appear by the lately mentioned practice of refiners , where the aqua-fortis , that forsakes the particles of the silver , falls a working upon the copper-plates imployed about the precipitation , and dissolves so much of them as to acquire the greenish blew colour of a good solution of that metal . and the copper we can easily again without salts obtain by precipitation out of that liquor with iron , and that too , remaining dissolved in its place , we can precipitate with the tastless powder of another mineral . besides these two ways of weakning the menstruum , namely , by mortifying its saline particles or seducing them to work on other bodies , and to forsake those they first dissolved , there are some other ways of weakning the menstruum . a third way of effecting this , is by lessening or disturbing the agitation of the solvent . and indeed since we find by experience , that some liquors when they are heated , will either dissolve some bodies they would not dissolve at all when they were cold , or dissolve them more powerfully or copiously when hot than cold ; 't is not unreasonable to suppose , that what considerably lessens that agitation of the parts of the menstruum that is necessary to the keeping the dissolved body in the state of fluidity , should occasion the falling of it again to the bottom . in slow operations i could give divers examples of the precipitating power of cold ; there being divers solutions and particularly that of amber-greece , that i had kept fluid all the summer , which in the winter would subside . and the like may be sometimes observed in far less time in the solutions of brimstone made in certain oleaginous menstruums ; and i have now & then had some solutions , and particularly one of benzoin made in spirit of wine , that would surprize me with the turbidness ( which begins the state of precipitation ) it would acquire upon a sudden change of the weather towards cold , though it were not in the winter season . another way of weakening the menstruum and so causing the precipitation of a body dissolved in it , is the diluting or lessening the tenacity of it , whether that tenacity proceed from viscosity or the competent number and constipation of the parts . of this we have aninstance in the magisteries ( as many chymists are pleased to call them ) of jalap , benzion , and of divers others , resinous and gummous bodies dissolved in spirit of wine . for by the affusion of common water , the menstruum being too much diluted is not able to keep those particles in the state of fluidity , but must suffer them to subside , ( as they usually do in the form of white powder , ) or , ( as it may happen sometimes , ) make some parts emerge . examples also of this kind are afforded us by the common preparations of mercurius vitae . for though in oil of antimony , made by the rectification of the butter , the saline particles are so numerous and keep so close to one another , that they are able to sustain the antimonial corpuscles they carried over with them in distillation , and keep them together with themselves in the form of a liquor ; yet when by the copious affusion of the water , those sustaining particles are separated and removed to a distance from each other , the antimonial corpuscles and the mercurial ( if any such there were , ) being of a ponderous nature , will easily subside into that emetic powder , which , ( when well washed ) the chymists flatteringly enough call mercurius vitae . but here i must interpose an advertisement , which will help to shew us , how much precipitations depend upon the mechanical contextures of bodies . for , though not only in the newly recited examples , but in divers others , the affusion of water , by diluting the salts and weakenning the menstruum , makes the metall or other dissolved body fall precipitately to the bottom ; yet if the saline particles of the solvent , and those of the body be fitted for so strict an union , that the corpuscles resulting from their coalitions will not so easily be separated by the particles of water , as suffer themselves to be carried up and down with them , whether because of the minuteness of these compounded corpuscles , or because of some congruity betwixt them and those of the water ; they will not be precipitated out of the weakened solution , but still continue a part of it ; as i have tryed partly with some solution of silver and gold , made in acid menstruums , but much more satisfactorily in solutions of copper , made in the urinous spirit of sal armoniac . for , though that blew solution were diluted with many thousand times as much distilled water as the dissolved metal weighed ; yet its swimming corpuscles did by their colour manifestly appear to be dispersed through the whole liquor . chap. vii . but , to prosecute our former discourse , which we broke off after the mention of mercurius vitae , 't will now be seasonable to add , that we have made divers other precipitations , by the bare affusion of water , out of solutions , and sometimes out of distilled liquors ; which , for brevity sake , i here omit , that i may hasten to the last way i shall now stay to mention . another way then , whereby precipitations of bodies may be produced by debilitating the menstruum they swim in , is by lessening the proportion of the solvent to the solutum , without any evaporation of the liquor . these last words i add , because that , when there is an obstruction or any other expulsion of the menstruum by heat , if it be total , 't is called exsiccation , as when dry salt of tartar is obtained from the filtrated lixivium of the calcined tartar ; and though the evaporation be not total , yet the effects of it are not wont to be reckoned amongst precipitations . and although the way , i am about to propose , if it be attentively considered , has much affinity with the foregoing , and the phaenomena may perhaps in some sort be reduced to them ; yet the instances that i shall name , having not , that i know , been thought of by others , and being such as every one would not deduce from what i have been mentioning , i shall add a word of the inducements i had to make the tryals , as well as of the success of them . considering then , that water will not dissolve salts indefinitely , but when it has received its due proportion , 't will then dissolve no more , but , if they be put into it , let them fall to the ground and continue undissolved ; and that if when water is satiated , any of the liquor be evaporated or otherwise wasted , it will in proportion let fall the salt it had already taken up ; i concluded , that if i could mingle with water any liquor , with which its particles would more readily associate than with those of salt , the depriving the solution of so many of its aqueous particles would be equivalent to the evaporation of as much water or thereabouts , as they , by being united , could compose . wherefore making a lixivium of distilled water or clean rain-water , and of salt of tartar so strong , that if a grain more were cast in it , it would lie undissolved at the bottom ; i put a quantity of this fiery lixivium into a slender cylindrical vessel , till it had therein reached such a height as i thought fit ; then taking as much as i thought sufficient of strong spirit of wine , that would burn every drop away , that so it might have no flegm nor water of its own , i poured this upon the saline solution , and shaking the liquors pretty well together to bring them to mix as well as i could , i laid the tube in a quiet place , and afterwards found , as i expected , that there was a pretty quantity of white salt of tartar fallen to the bottom of the vessel , which salt had been meerly forsaken by the aqueous particles that sustained it before , but forsook it to pass into the spirit of wine , wherewith they were more disposed to associate themselves ; which i concluded , because having , before i poured on this last named liquor , made a mark on the glass to shew how far the lixivium reached , i found ( what i looked for ) that after the precipitation , the lixivium , that remained yet strong enough to continue unmixed with the incumbent spirit , had its surface not where the mark shewed it had been before , but a considerable distance beneath it , the spirit of wine having gained in extent what it lost in strength by receiving so many aqueous particles into it . i chose to make this tryal rather with a lixivium of salt of tartar than with oyl of tartar per deliquium , because in this last named liquor the aqueous and saline particles are more closely combined and therefore more difficult to be separated than i thought they would be in a lixivium hastily made , though very strong . and though by much agitation i have sometimes obtained some salt of tartar from the above-mentioned oil ; yet the experiment succeeded nothing near so well with that liquor as with a lixivium . i made also the like tryal with exceedingly dephlegmed spirit of wine , and as strong a brine as i could make of common salt dissolved without heat in common water ; and i thereby obtained no despicable proportion of finely figured salt , that was let fall to the bottom . but this experiment , to be succesful , requires greater care in him that makes it , than the former needs . to confirm , and somewhat to vary this way of precipitation , i shall add , that having made a clear solution of choice gum arabic in common water , and poured upon it a little high rectified spirit of wine , on this occasion there was also made , and that in a trice , a copious precipitation of a light and purely white substance not unpleasant to behold . and for further confirmation i dissolved a full proportion of myrrhe in fair water , and into the filtrated solution , which was transparent , but of a high brown colour , i dropt a large proportion ( which circumstance is not to be omitted ) of carefully dephlegm'd spirit of wine , which according to expectation made a copious precipitate of the gum. and these instances i the rather set down in this place , because they seem to show , that simple water is a real menstruum , which may have its dissolving and sustaining virtue weakened by the accession of liquors , that are not doubted to be much stronger than it . by specifying the hitherto mentioned wayes , whereby precipitations may be mechanically performed and accounted for , i would by no means be thought to deny , that there may be some omitted here , which either others that shall consider the matter with more attention , or i my self , if i shall have leisure to do it , may think on . for i propose these but as the chief that occurr to my present thoughts ; and i forbear to add more instances to exemplifie them , because i would not injure some of my other papers , that have a greater right to those instances . only this i shall note in general , that the doctrine and history of precipitations , if well delivered , will be a thing of more extent and moment than seems hitherto to have been imagined ; since not only several of the changes in the blood and other liquors and juices of the humane body may thereby be the better understood ; and they prevented , or their ill consequences remedied ; but in the practical part of mineralogy divers usefull things may probably be performed by the assistance of such a doctrine and history . to keep which conjecture from seeming extravagant , i shall only here intimate , that 't is not alone in bodies that are naturally or permanently liquid , but in those solid and ponderous bodies , that are for a short time made so by the violence of the fire , that many of the things suggested by this doctrine may have place . for whilst divers of those bodies are in fusion , they may be treated as liquors ; and metalls , and perhaps other heterogeneous bodies may be obtained from them by fit though dry precipitants , as in some other writings i partly did , and may elsewhere yet further , declare . finis . experiments and notes about the mechanical production of magnetism . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1676. advertisement concerning the following notes about occult qualities . the following papers ( about magnetism and electricity ) would appear with less disadvantage , if the author's willingness and promise , that this tome should be furnished with notes about some occult qualities as well as about divers sorts of those that are presumed to be manifest , did not prevail with him to let the ensuing notes appear without those about the pores of bodies and figures of corpuscles , that should have preceded them , and some others that should have accompanied them . but the author chose rather to venture these papers abroad in the condition , such as 't is , they now appear in , than make those already printed about manifest qualities stay longer for accessions , which some troublesome accidents will not suffer him to hasten to the press ; and without which , he now fears this tome may swell to a more than competent bulk . experiments and notes about the mechanical production of magnetical qualities . though the vertues of the loadstone be none of the least famous of occult qualities , and are perhaps the most justly admired ; yet i shall venture to offer something to make it probable , that some , even of these , may be introduced into bodies by the production of mechanical changes in them . to make way for what i am to deliver to this purpose , it will be expedient to remove that general and settled prejudice , that has kept men from so much as thinking of any mechanical account of magnetisms , which is a belief , that these qualities do immediately ▪ flow from the substantial form of the loadstone , whose abstruse nature is disproportionate to our understandings . but for my part , i confess , i see no necessity of admitting this supposition , for i see , that a piece of steel fitly shaped and well excited , will , like a loadstone , have its determinate poles , and with them point at the north and south ; it will draw other pieces of iron and steel to it , and which is more , communicate to them the same kind , though not degree , of attractive and directive vertue it had it self , and will possess these faculties not as light and transient impressions , but as such setled and durable powers that it may retain them for many years , if the loadstone , to which it has been duly applied , were vigorous enough : of which sort i remember i have seen one ( and made some tryals with it ) that yielded an income to the owner , who received money from navigators and others for suffering them to touch their needles , swords , knives &c. at his excellent magnet . now , in a piece of steel or iron thus excited , 't is plain , that the magnetic operations may be regularly performed for whole years by a body , to which the form of a loadstone does not belong , since , as it had its own form before , so it retains the same still , continuing as malleable , fusible &c. as an ordinary piece of the same metal unexcited : so that , if there be introduced a fit disposition into the internal parts of the metal by the action of the load-stone , the metal , continuing of the same species it was before , will need nothing save the continuance of that acquired disposition to be cap●ble of performing magnetical operations ; and if this disposition or internal constitution of the excited iron be destroyed , though the form of the metal be not at all injured , yet the former power of attraction shall be abolished , as appears when an excited iron is made red hot in the fire , and suffered to cool again . and here give me leave to take notice of what i have elsewhere related to another purpose , namely that a loadstone may ( as i have more than once tryed ) be easily deprived by ignition of its power of sensibly attracting martial bodies , and yet be scarce , if at all , visibly changed , but continue a true loadstone in other capacities , which , according to the vulgar philosophy ought to depend upon its substantial form , and the loadstone thus spoiled may , notwithstanding this form , have its poles altered at pleasure like a piece of iron ; as i have elsewhere particularly declared . and i will confirm what i have been saying with an experiment that you do not perhaps expect ; namely , that though it be generally taken for granted ( without being contradicted that i know of by any man ) that , in a sound loadstone , that has never been injured by the fire , not only the attractive power , but the particular vertue that it has to point constantly , when left to it self , with one of its determinate extreams to one determinate pole , flowes immediately from the substantial or at least essential form ; yet this form remaining undestroyed by fire , the poles may be changed , and that with ease and speed . for among my notes about magnetical experiments , whence i borrow some passages of this paper , i find the following account . exper. iv. to shew that the virtue that a loadstone hath by this determinate pole or extream to attract , for example , the south-end of a poised needle , and with the opposite extream or pole the north-end of the same needle , i made among other tryals the following experiment . taking a very small fragment of a loadstone , i found , agreeably to my conjecture , that by applying sometimes one pole , sometimes the other , to that pole of ( a small but ) a very vigorous loadstone that was fit for my purpose , i could at pleasure , in a few minutes , change the poles of the little fragment , as i tryed by its operations upon a needle freely poised ; though by applying a fragment a pretty deal bigger , ( for in it self it appeared very small , ) i was not able in far more hours than i employed minutes before , to make any sensible change of the poles . this short memorial being added to the preceding part of this discourse , will , i hope , satisfie you , that how unanimously so ever men have deduced all magnetick operations from the form of the loadstone ; yet some internal change of pores or some other mechanical alterations or inward disposition , either of the excited iron or of the load-stone it self , may suffice to make a body capable or uncapable of exercising some determinate magnetical operations ; which may invite you to cast a more unprejudiced eye upon those few particulars , i shall now subjoin to make it probable , that even magnetical qualities may be mechanically produced or altered . exper. v. i have often observed in the shops of artificers , as smiths , turners of metals &c. that , when hardened and well tempered tools are well heated by attrition , if whilest they are thus warmed you apply them to filings or chips , as they call them , or thin fragments of steel or iron , they will take them up , as if the instruments were touched with a loadstone : but as they will not do so , unless they be thus excited by rubbing till they be warmed , by which means a greater commotion is made in the inner parts of he steel so neither would they retain so vigorous a magnetism as to support the little fragments of steel that stuck to them after they were grown cold again . which may be confirmed by what , if i much misremember not , i shewed some acquaintances of yours ; which was , that , by barely rubbing a conveniently shaped piece of steel against the floor till it had gained a sufficient heat , it would whilest it continued so , discover a manifest , though but faint attractive power , which vanished together with the adventitious heat . exper. vii . we elsewhere observe , which perhaps you also may have done , that the iron bars of windows , by having stood very long in an erected posture , may at length grow magnetical , so that , if you apply the north point of a poised and excited needle to the bottom of the bar , it will drive it away , & attract the southern ; and if you raise the magnetick needle to the upper part of the bar , and apply it as before , this will draw the northern extream , which the other end of the bar expelled ; probably because , as 't is elsewhere declared , the bar is in tract of time , by the continual action of the magnetical effluvia of the tarraqueous globe , turned into a kind of magnet , whose lower end becomes the north-pole of it , and the other the southern . therefore according to the magnetical laws , the former must expel the northern extream of the needle , and the later draw it . exper. viii . i have found indeed , and i question not but other observers may have done so too , that , if a bar of iron , that has not stood long in an erected posture , be but held perpendicular , the forementioned experiment will succeed , ( probably upon such an account as that i have lately intimated : ) but then this virtue , displayed by the extreams of the bar of iron , will not be at all permanent , but so transient , that , if the bar be but inverted and held again upright , that end which just before was the uppermost , and drew the north-end of the needle , will now , being lowermost , drive it away , which , as was lately observed , w●ll not happen to a bar which has been some years or other competent time kept in the same position . so that , since length of time is requisite to make the verticity of a bar of iron so durable & constant , that the same extream will have the same virtues in reference to the magnetical needle , whether you make it the upper end or the lower end of the bar , it seems not improbable to me , that by length of time the whole magnetick virtue of this iron may be increased , and consequently some degree of attraction acquired . and by this consideration i shall endeavour to explicate that strange thing , that is reported by some moderns to have happened in italy , where a bar of iron is affirmed to have been converted into a load-stone , whereof a piece was kept among other rarities in the curious aldrovandus his musaeum metallicum . for considering the greatness of its specific gravity , the malleableness and other properties , wherein iron differs from loadstone , i cannot easily believe , that , by such a way as is mentioned , a metal should be turned into a stone . and therefore , having consulted the book it self , whence this relation was borrowed , i found the story imperfectly enough delivered : the chiefest and clearest thing in it being , that at the top of the church of arimini a great iron-bar , that was placed there to support a cross of an hundred pound weight , was at length turned into a load-stone . but whether the reality of this transmutation was examined , and how it appeared that the fragment of the loadstone presented to aldrovandus was taken from that bar of iron , i am not fully satisfied by that narrative . therefore , when i remember the great resemblance i have sometimes seen in colour , besides other manifest qualities , betwixt some loadstones and some course or almost rusty iron , i am tempted to conjecture , that those that observed this iron-bar when broken to have acquired a strong magnetical virtue , which they dreamed not that tract of time might communicate to it , might easily be perswaded , by this virtue and the resemblance of colour , that the iron was turned into loadstone : especially they being prepossess'd with that aristotelian maxim , whence our author would explain this strange phaenomenon , that inter symbolum habentia facilis est transmutatio . but , leaving this as a bare conjecture , we may take notice , that what virtue an oblong piece of iron may need a long tract of time to acquire , by the help onely of its position , may be imparted to it in a very short time , by the intervention of such a nimble agent , as the fire . as may be often , though not always , observed in tongs , and such like iron utensils , that , having been ignited , have been set to cool , leaning against some wall or other prop , that kept them in an erected posture , which makes it probable that the great commotion of the parts , made by the vehement heat of the fire , disposed the iron , whilst it was yet soft , and had its pores more lax , and parts more pliable , disposed it , i say , to receive much quicker impressions from the magnetical effluvia of the earth , than it would have done , if it had still been cold . and 't is very observable to our present purpose , what differing effects are produced by the operation of the fire , upon two magnetick bodies according to their respective constitutions . for , by keeping a loadstone red-hot , though you cool it afterwards in a perpendicular posture , you may deprive it of its former power of manifestly attracting : but a bar of iron being ignited , and set to cool perpendicularly , does thereby acquire a manifest verticity . of which differing events i must not now stay to inquire , whether or no the true reason be , that the peculiar texture or internal constitution that makes a loadstone somewhat more than an ordinary ore of iron , ( which metal , as far as i have tried , is the usual ingredient of loadstones ) being spoiled by the violence of the fire , this rude agent leaves it in the condition of common iron , or perhaps of ignited iron-ore : whereas the fire does soften the iron it self ( which is a metal not an ore ) agitating its parts , and making them the more flexible , and by relaxing its pores , disposes it to be easily and plentifully pervaded by the magnetical steams of the earth , from which it may not improbably be thought to receive the verticity it acquires ; and this the rather , because , as i have often tryed , and elsewhere mentioned , if an oblong loadstone , once spoil'd by the fire , be thorowly ignited and cooled either perpendicularly , or lying horizontally north and south , it will , as well as a piece of iron handled after the same manner , be made to acquire new poles , or change the old ones , as the skilful experimenter pleases . but whatever be the true cause of the disparity of the fires operation upon a sound loadstone and a bar of iron , the effect seems to strengthen our conjecture , that magnetical operations may much depend upon mechanical principles . and i hope you will find further probability added to it , by some phaenomena recited in another paper , to which i once committed some promiscuous experiments and observations magnetical . exper. xii . if i may be allowed to borrow an experiment from a little tract * that yet lyes by me , and has been seen but by two or three friends , it may be added to the instances already given about the production of magnetism . for in that experiment i have shewn , how having brought a good piece of a certain kind of english oker , which yet perhaps was no fitter than other , to a convenient shape , though , till it was altered by the fire , it discovered no magnetical quality ; yet after it had been kept red-hot in the fire and was suffered to cool in a convenient posture , it was enabled to exercise magnetical operations upon a po●s'd needle . exper. xiii . as for the abolition of the magnetical vertue in a body endow'd with it , it may be made without destroying the substantial or the essential form of the body , and without sensibly adding , diminishing , or altering any thing in reference to the salt , sulphur and mercury , which chymists presume iron and steel , as well as other mixt bodies , to be composed of . for it has been sometimes observed , that the bare continuance of a loadstone it self in a contrary position to that , which , when freely placed , it seems to effect , has either corrupted or sensibly lessened the vertue of it . what i formerly observed to this purpose , i elsewhere relate , and since that having a loadstone , whose vigor was look'd upon by skilful persons as very extraordinary , and which , whilst it was in an artificers hand , was therefore held at a high rate , i was careful , being by some occasions call'd out of london , to lock it up , with some other rarities , in a cabinet , whereof i took the key along with me , and still kept it in my own pocket . but my stay abroad proving much longer than i expected , when , being returned to london , i had occasion to make use of this loadstone for an experiment , i found it indeed where i left it , but so exceedingly decayed , as to its attractive power , which i had formerly examin'd by weight , by having lain almost a year in an inconvenient posture , that if it had not been for the circumstances newly related , i should have concluded that some body had purposely got it out in my absence , and spoiled it by help of the fire , the vertue being so much impaired , that i cared little to employ it any more about considerable experiments . and this corruption of the magnetical vertue , which may in tract of time be made in a loadstone it self , may in a trice be made by the help of that stone in an excited needle . for 't is observ'd by magnetical writers , and my own trials purposely made have assured me of it , that a well pois'd needle , being by the touch of a good loadstone , excited and brought to turn one of its ends to the north and the other to the south , it may by a contrary touch of the same loadstone be deprived of the faculty it had of directing its determinate extreams to determinate poles . nay , by another touch ( or the same , and even without immediate contact , if the magnet be vigorous enough ) the needle may presently have its direction so changed , that the end , which formerly pointed to the north pole , shall now regard the south , and the other end shall instead of the southern , respect the northen pole . exper. xv. and to make it the more probable , that the change of the magnetism communicated to iron may be produc'd at least in good part by mechanical operations , procuring some change of texture in the iron ; i shall subjoyn a notable experiment of the ingenious doctor power , which when i heard of , i tryed as well as i could ; and though , perhaps for want of conveniency , i could not make it fully answer what it promised , yet the success of the trial was considerable enough to make it pertinent in this place , and to induce me to think , it might yet better succeed with him , whose experiment , as far as it concerns my present purpose , imports , that if a puncheon , as smiths call it , or a rod of iron , be , by being ignited and suffered to cool north and south , and hammered at the ends , very manifestly endow'd with magnetical vertue , this vertue will in a trice be destroyed , by two or three smart blows of a strong hammer upon the middle of the oblong piece of iron . but magnetism is so fertile a subject , that if i had now the leisure and conveniency to range among magnetical writers , i should scarce doubt of finding , among their many experiments and observations , divers that might be added to those above delivered , as being easily applicable to my present argument . and i hope you will find farther probability added to what has been said , to shew , that magnetical operations may much depend upon mechanical principles , by some phaenomena recited in another paper , to which i once committed some promiscuous experiments and observations magnetical . finis . experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of electricity . by the honourable robert boyle esq fellow of the r. society . london , printed by e. flesher , for r. davis bookseller in oxford . 1675. experiments and notes about the mechanical origine or production of electricity . that 't is not necessary to believe electrical attraction ( which you know is generally listed among occult qualities ) to be the effect of a naked and solitary quality flowing immediately from a substantial form ; but that it may rather be the effect of a material effluvium , issuing from , and returning to , the electrical body ( and perhaps in some cases assisted in its operation by the external air ) seems agreable to divers things that may be observ'd in such bodies and their manner of acting . there are differing hypotheses ( and all of them mechanical , propos'd by the moderns ) to solve the phaenomena of electrical attraction . of these opinions the first is that of the learned jesuite cabaeus , who , though a peripatetick and commentator on aristotle , thinks the drawing of light bodies by jet , amber , &c. may be accounted for , by supposing , that the steams that issue , or , if i may so speak , sally , out of amber , when heated by rubbing , discuss and expell the neighbouring air ; which after it has deen driven off a little way , makes as it were a small whirlwind , because of the resistance it finds from the remoter air , which has not been wrought on by the electrical steams ; and that these , shrinking back swiftly enough to the amber , do in their returns bring along with them such light bodies as they meet with in their way . on occasion of which hypothesis i shall offer it to be consider'd , whether by the gravity of the atmospherical air , surmounting the specifick gravity of the little and rarifi'd atmosphere , made about the amber by its emissions , and comprising the light body fasten'd on by them , the attraction may not in divers cases be either caused or promoted . another hypothesis is that proposed by that ingenious gentleman sir kenelm digby , and embraced by the very learned dr. browne , ( who seems to make our gilbert himself to have been of it ) and divers other sagacious men . and according to this hypothesis , the amber , or other electrick , being chas'd or heated , is made to emit certain rayes or files of unctuous steams , which , when they come to be a little cool'd by the external air , are somewhat condens'd , and having lost of their former agitation , shrink back to the body whence they sallied out , and carry with them those light bodies , that their further ends happen to adhere to , at the time of their retraction : as when a drop of oyl or syrup hangs from the end of a small stick , if that be dextrously and cauriously struck , the viscous substance will , by that impulse , be stretch'd out , and presently retreating , will bring along with it the dust or other light bodies that chanced to stick to the remoter parts of it . and this way of explaining electrical attractions is employ'd also by the learned gassendus , who addes to it , that these electrical rays ( if they may be so call'd ) being emitted several ways , and consequently crossing one another , get into the pores of the straw , or other light body to be attracted , and by means of their decussation take the faster hold of it , and have the greater force to carry it along with them , when they shrink back to the amber whence they were emitted . a third hypothesis there is , which was devised by the acute cartesius , who dislikes the explications of others , chiefly because he thinks them not applicable to glass , which he supposes unfit to send forth effluvia , and which is yet an electrical body ; and therefore attempts to account for electrical attractions by the intervention of certain particles , shap'd almost like small pieces of ribbond , which he supposes to be form'd of this subtile matter harbour'd in the pores or crevises of glass . but this hypothesis , though ingenious in it self , yet depending upon the knowledge of divers of his peculiar principles , i cannot intelligibly propose it in few words , and therefore shall refer you to himself for an account of it : which i the less scruple to do , because though it be not unworthy of the wonted acureness of the authour , yet he seems himself to doubt , whether it will reach all electrical bodies ; and it seems to me , that the reason why he rejects the way of explicating attraction by the emission of the finer parts of the attrahent ( to which hypothesis , if it be rightly proposed , i confess my self very inclinable ) is grounded upon a mistake , which , though a philosopher may , for want of experience in that particular , without disparagement fall into , is nevertheless a mistake . for whereas our excellent author says , that electrical effluvia , such as are supposed to be emitted by amber , wax , &c. cannot be imagin'd to proceed from glass , i grant the supposition to be plausible , but cannot allow it to be true . for as solid a body as glass is , yet if you but dextrously rub for two or three minutes a couple of pieces of glass against one another , you will find that glass is not onely capable of emitting effluvia , but such ones as to be odorous , and sometimes to be rankly stinking . but it is not necessary , that in this paper , where i pretend not to write discourses but notes , i should consider all that has been , or i think may be , said for and against each of the above-mentioned hypotheses ; since they all agree in what is sufficient for my present purpose , namely , that electrical attractions are not the effects of a meer quality , but of a substantial emanation from the attracting body : and 't is plain , that they all endeavour to solve the phaenomena in a mechanical way , without recurring to substantial forms , and inexplicable qualities , or so much as taking notice of the hypostatical principles of the chymists . wherefore it may suffice in this place , that i mention some phaenomena that in general make it probable , that amber , &c. draws such light bodies , as pieces of straw , hair , and the like , by vertue of some mechanical affections either of the attracting or of the attracted bodies , or of both the one and the other . 1. the first and most general observation is , that electrical bodies draw not unless they be warm'd ; which rule though i have now and then found to admit of an exception , ( whereof i elsewhere offer an account , ) yet , as to the generality of common electricks , it holds well enough to give much countenance to our doctrine , which teaches the effects of electrical bodies to be perform'd by corporeal emanations . for 't is known , that heat , by agitating the parts of a fit body , solicites it as it were to send forth its effluvia , as is obvious in odoriferous gums and perfumes , which , being heated , send forth their fragrant steams , both further and more copiously than otherwise they would . 2. next , it has been observ'd , that amber , &c. warm'd by the fire , does not attract so vigorously , as if it acquire an equal degree of heat by being chaf'd or rub'd : so that the modification of motion in the internal parts , and in the emanations of the amber , may , as well as the degree of it , contribute to the attraction . and my particular observations incline me to adde , that the effect may oftentimes be much promoted , by employing both these ways successively ; as i thought i manifestly found when i first warm'd the amber at the fire , and presently after chaf'd it a little upon a piece of cloth . for then a very few rubbings seem'd to excite it more than many more would otherwise have done : as if the heat of the fire had put the parts into a general , but confus'd , agitation ; to which 't was easie for the subsequent attrition ( or reciprocation of pressure ) to give a convenient modification in a body whose texture disposes it to become vigorously electrical . 3. another observation that is made about these bodies , is , that they require tersion as well as attrition ; and though i doubt whether the rule be infallible , yet i deny not but that weaker electricks require to be as well wip'd as chaf'd ; and even good ones will have their operation promoted by the same means . and this is very agreeable to our doctrine , since tersion , besides that it is , as i have sometimes manifestly known it , a kind or degree of attrition , frees the surface from those adherences that might choak the pores of the amber , or at least hinder the emanation of the steams to be so free and copious as otherwise it would be . 4. 't is likewise observ'd , that whereas the magnetical steams are so subtile , that they penetrate and perform their operation through all kind of mediums hitherto known to us ; electrical steams are like those of some odoriferous bodies , easily check'd in their progress , since 't is affirm'd by learned writers , who say they speak upon particular trial , that the interposition of the finest linnen or sarsnet is sufficient to hinder all the operation of excited amber upon a straw or feather plac'd never so little beyond it . 5. it has been also observed , that the effects of electrical attraction are weaken'd if the air be thick and cloudy ; and especially if the south-wind blows : and that electricks display their vertue more faintly by night than by day , and more vigorously in clear weather , and when the winds are northerly . all which the learned kircherus asserts himself to have found true by experience ; insomuch that those bodies that are but faintly drawn when the weather is clear , will not , when 't is thick and cloudy , be at all moved . 6. we have also observed , that divers concretes , that are notably electrical , do abound in an effluviable matter ( if i may so call it ) which is capable of being manifestly evaporated by heat and rubbing . thus we see , that most resinous gums , that draw light bodies , do also , being moderately solicited by heat , ( whether this be excited by the fire , or by attrition or contusion ) emit steams . and in pieces of sulphur conveniently shaped , i found upon due attrition a sulphureous stink . and that piece of amber which i most employ , being somewhat large and very well polish'd , will , being rub'd upon a piece of woollen cloth , emit steams , which the nostrils themselves may perceive ; and they sometimes seem to me not unlike those that i took notice of , when i kept in my mouth a drop or two of the diluted tincture ( or solution of the finer parts ) of amber made with spirit of wine , or of sal armoniac . 7. it agrees very well with what has been said of the corporeal emanations of amber , that its attractive power will continue some time after it has been once excited . for the attrition having caus'd an intestine commotion in the parts of the concrete , the heat or warmth that is thereby excited ought not to cease , as soon as ever the rubbing is over , but to continue capable of emitting effluvia for some time afterwards , which will be longer or shorter according to the goodness of the electric , and the degree of the antecedent commotion : which joyn'd together may sometimes make the effect considerable , insomuch that in a warm day , about noon , i did with a certain body , not much , if at all , bigger than a pea , but very vigorously attractive , move to and fro a steel needle freely poysed , about three minutes ( or the twentieth part of an hour ) after i had left off rubbing the attrahent . 8. that it may not seem impossible , that electrical effluvia should be able to insinuate themselves into the pores of many other bodies , i shall adde , that i found them subtile enough to attract not onely spirit of wine , but that fluid aggregate of corpuscles we call smoak . for having well lighted a wax-taper , which i preferr'd to a common candle to avoid the stink of the snuff , i blew out the flame ; and , when the smoak ascended in a slender stream , held , at a convenient distance from it , an excited piece of amber or a chafed diamond , which would manifestly make the ascending smoak deviate from its former line , and turn aside , to beat , as it were , against the electric , which , if it were vigorous , would act at a considerable distance , and seemed to smoak for a pretty while together . 9. that 't is not in any peculiar sympathy between an electric and a body whereon it operates , that electrical attraction depends , seems the more probale , because amber , for instance , does not attract onely one determinate sort of bodies , as the loadstone does iron , and those bodies wherein it abounds ; but as far as i have yet tried , it draws indifferently all bodies whatsoever , being plac'd within a due distance from it , ( as my choicest piece of amber draws not onely sand and mineral powders , but filings of steel and copper , and beaten gold it self ) provided they be minute or light enough , except perhaps it be fire : i employ the word perhaps , because i am not yet so clear in this point . for having applied a strong electric at a convenient distance to small fragments of ignited matter , they were readily enough attracted , and shin'd , whilst they were sticking to the body that had drawn them : but when i look'd attentively upon them , i found the shining sparks to be , as it were , cloath'd with light ashes , which , in spite of my diligence , had been already form'd about the attracted corpuscles , upon the expiring of a good part of the fire ; so that it remain'd somewhat doubtful to me , whether the ignited corpuscles , whilst they were totally such , were attracted ; or whether the immediate objects of the attraction were not the new form'd ashes , which carried up with them those yet unextinguished parts of fire , that chanc'd to be lodg'd in them . but , as for flame , our countrey man gilbert delivers as his experiment , that an electric , though duly excited and applied , will not move the flame of the slenderest candle . which some will think not so easie to be well tried with common electricks , as amber , hard wax , sulphur , and the like unctuous concretes , that very easily take fire : therefore i chose to make my trial with a rough diamond extraordinarily attractive , which i could , without injuring it , hold as near as i pleas'd to the flame of a candle or taper ; and though i was not satisfi'd that it did either attract the flame , as it visibly did the smoak , or manifestly agitate it ; yet granting that gilbert's assertion will constantly hold true , and so , that flame is to be excepted from the general rule , yet this exception may well comport with the hypothesis hitherto countenanc'd , since it may be said , as 't is , if i mistake not , by kirkerus , that the heat of the flame dissipates the effiuvia , by whose means the attraction should be perform'd . to which i shall adde , that possibly the celerity of the motion of the flame upwards , may render it very difficult for the electrical emanations to divert the flame from its course . 10. we have found by experiment , that a vigorous and well excited piece of amber will draw , not onely the powder of amber , but less minute fragments of it . and as in many cases one contrary directs to another , so this trial suggested a further , which , in case of good success , would probably argue , that in electrical attraction not onely effluvia are emitted by the electrical body , but these effluvia fasten upon the body to be drawn , and that in such a way , that the intervening viscous strings , which may be supposed to be made up of those cohering effluvia , are , when their agitation ceases , contracted or made to shrink inwards towards both ends , almost as a highly stretch'd lute-string does when 't is permitted to retreat into shorter dimensions . but the conjecture it self was much more easie to be made than the experiment requisite to examine it . for we found it no easie matter to suspend an electric , great and vigorous enough , in such a manner , that it might , whilst suspended , be excited , and be so nicely poised , that so faint a force as that wherewith it attracts light bodies should be able to procure a lccal motion to the whole body it self . but after some fruitless attempts with other electricks , i had recourse to the very vigorous piece of polish'd amber , formerly mention'd , and when we had with the help of a little wax suspended it by a silken thread , we chafed very well one of the blunt edges of it upon a kind of large pin-cushion cover'd with a course and black woollen stuff , and then brought the electric , as soon as we could , to settle notwithstanding its hanging freely at the bottom of the string . this course of rubbing on the edge of the amber we pitch'd upon for more than one reason ; for if we had chafed the flat side , the amber could not have approached the body it had been rub'd on without making a change of place in the whole electric , and , which is worse , without making it move ( contrary to the nature of heavy bodies ) somewhat upwards ; whereas the amber having , by reason of its suspension , its parts counterpoised by one another ; to make the excited edge approach to another body , that edge needed not at all ascend , but onely be moved horizontally , to which way of moving the gravity of the electric ( which the string kept from moving downwards ) could be but little or no hinderance . and agreeably to this we found , that if , as soon as the suspended and well rubb'd electric was brought to settle freely , we applied to the chafed edge , but without touching it , the lately mention'd cushion , which , by reason of its rough superficies and porosity , was fit for the electrical effluvia to fasten upon , the edge would manifestly be drawn aside by the cushion steadily held , and if this were slowly removed , would follow it a good way ; and when this body no longer detain'd it , would return to the posture wherein it had settled before . and this power of approaching the cushion by vertue of the operation of its own steams , was so durable in our vigorous piece of amber , that by once chafing it , i was able to make it follow the cushion no less than ten or eleven times . whether from such experiments one may argue , that 't is but , as 't were , by accident that amber attracts another body , and not this the amber ; and whether these ought to make us question , if electricks may with so much propriety , as has been hitherto generally supposed , be said to attract , are doubts that my design does not here oblige me to examine . some other phaenomena might be added of the same tendency with those already mention'd , ( as the advantage that electrical bodies usually get by having well polish'd or at least smooth surfaces , ) but the title of this paper promising some experiments about the production of electricity , i must not omit to recite , how i have been sometimes able to produce or destroy this quality in certain bodies , by means of alterations , that appear'd not to be other than mechanical . exper. i. and first , having with a very mild heat slowly evaporated about a fourth part of good turpentine , i found , that the remaining body would not , when cold , continue a liquor , but harden'd into a transparent gum almost like amber , which , as i look'd for , proved electrical . exper. ii. secondly , by mixing two such liquid bodies as petroleum and strong spirit of nitre in a certain proportion , and then distilling them till there remained a dry mass , i obtain'd a brittle substance as black as jet ; and whose superficies ( where it was contiguous to the retort ) was glossie like that mineral when polished ; and as i expected i found it also to resemble jet , in being endowed with an electrical faculty . exper. iii. thirdly , having burnt antimony to ashes , and of those ashes , without any addition , made a transparent glass , i found , that , when rubb'd , as electrical bodies ought to be to excite them , it answer'd my expectation , by manifesting a not inconsiderable electricity . and this is the worthier of notice , because , that as a vitrum antimonii , that is said to be purer than ordinary , may be made of the regulus of the same mineral , in whose preparation you know a great part of the antimonial sulphur is separated and left among the scoriae ; so glass of antimony made without additament , may easily , as experience has inform'd us , be in part reduc'd to a regulus , ( a body not reckon'd amongst electrical ones . ) and that you may not think , that 't is onely some peculiar and fixt part of the antimony that is capable of vitrification , let me assure you , that even with the other part that is wont to flye away , ( namely the flowers ) an antimonial glass may without an addition of other ingredients be made . exper. iv. fourthly , the mention of a vitrified body brings into my mind , that i more than once made some glass of lead per se , ( which i found no very easie work ) that also was not wholly destitute of an electrical vertue , though it had but a very languid one . and it is not here to be overlook'd , that this glass might easily be brought to afford again malleable lead , which was never reckon'd , that i know of , among electrical bodies . exper. v. fisthly , having taken some amber , and warily distill'd it , not with sand or powder'd brick , or some such additament as chymists are wont to use , for fear it should boylover or break their vessels ; but by its self , that i might have an unmixed caput mortuum ; having made this distillation , i say , and continued it till it had afforded a good proportion of phlegm , spirit , volatile salt , and oyl , the retort was warily broken , and the remaining matter was taken out in a lump , which , though it had quite lost its colour being burnt quite black , and though it were grown strangely brittle in comparison of amber , so that they who believe the vertue of attracting light bodies to flow from the substantial form of amber , would not expect it in a body so changed and deprived of its noblest parts : yet this caput mortuum was so far from having lost its electrical faculty , that it seemed to attract more vigorously than amber it self is wont to do before it be committed to distillation . and from the foregoing instances afforded us by the glass of antimony , we may learn , that when the form of a body seems to be destroyed by a fiery analysis that dissipates the parts of it , the remaining substance may yet be endowed with electricity , as the caput mortuum of amber may acquire it ; as in the case of the glass of antimony made of the calx and of the flowers . and from the second example above-mentioned , and from common glass which is electrical , we may also learn , that bodies that are neither of them apart observed to be endowed with electricity , may have that vertue result in the compounded substance that they constitute , though it be but a factitious body . to the foregoing experiments , whose success is wont to be uniform enough , i shall adde the recital of a surprising phaenomenon , which , though not constant , may help to make it probable , that electrical attractions need not be suppos'd still to proceed from the substantial , or even from the essential form of the attrahent ; but may be the effects of unheeded , and , as it were , fortuitous causes . and however , i dare not suppress so strange an observation , and therefore shall relate that which i had the luck to make of an odd sort of electrical attraction ( as it seem'd , ) not taken notice of ( that i know of ) by any either naturalist or other writer , and it is this . exper. vi. that false locks ( as they call them ) of some hair , being by curling or otherwise brought to a certain degree of driness , or of stiffness , will be attracted by the flesh of some persons , or seem to apply themselves to it , as hair is wont to do to amber or jet excited by rubbing . of this i had a proof in such locks worn by two very fair ladies that you know . for at some times i observed , that they could not keep their locks from flying to their cheeks , and ( though neither of them made any use , or had any need of painting ) from sticking there . when one of these beauties first shew'd me this experiment , i turn'd it into a complemental raillery , as suspecting there might be some trick in it , though i after saw the same thing happen to the others locks too . but as she is no ordinary virtuosa , she very ingeniously remov'd my suspicions , and ( as i requested ) gave me leave to satisfie my self further , by desiring her to hold her warm hand at a convenient distance from one of those locks taken off and held in the air . for as soon as she did this , the lower end of the lock , which was free , applied it self presently to her hand : which seem'd the more strange , because so great a multitude of hair would not have been easily attracted by an ordinary electrical body , that had not been considerably large , or extraordinarily vigorous . this repeated observation put me upon inquiring among some other young ladies , whether they had observed any such like thing , but i found little satisfaction to my question , except from one of them eminent for being ingenious , who told me , that sometimes she had met with these troublesome locks ; but that all she could tell me of the circumstances , which i would have been inform'd about , was , that they seem'd to her to flye most to her cheeks when they had been put into a somewhat stiff curle , and when the weather was frosty * you will probably be the less dispos'd to believe , that electrical attractions must proceed from the substantial forms of the attrahents , or rom the predominancy of this or that chymical principle in them , if i acquaint you with some odd trials wherein the attraction of light bodies seem'd to depend upon very small circumstances . and though forbearing at present , to offer you my thoughts about the cause of these surprising phaenomena , i propose it onely as a probleme to your self and your curious friends , yet the main circumstances seeming to be of a mechanical nature , the recital of my trials will not be impertinent to the design and subject of this paper . exper. vii . i took then a large and vigorous piece of amber conveniently shaped for my purpose , and a downy feather , such as grows upon the bodies , not wings or tails of a somewhat large chicken : then having moderately excited the electrick , i held the amber so near it , that the neighbouring part of the feather was drawn by it and stuck fast to it ; but the remoter parts continued in their former posture . this done , i applyed my fore-finger to these erected downy feathers , and immediately , as i expected , they left their preceeding posture , and applied themselves to it as if it had been an electrical body . and whether i offered to them my nail , or the pulpy part of my finger , or held my finger towards the right hand or the left , or directly over , these downy feathers that were near the little quill did nimbly , and , for ought appear'd , equally turn themselves towards it , and fasten themselves to it . and to shew that the steams that issued out of so warm a body as my finger were not necessary to attract ( as men speak ) the abovementioned feathers , instead of my finger , i applied to them , after the same manner , a little cylindrical instrument of silver , to which they bowed and fastened themselves as they had done to my finger , though the tip of this instrument were presented to them in several postures . the like success i had with the end of an iron key , and the like also with a cold piece of polish'd black marble ; and sometimes the feathers did so readily and strongly fasten themselves to these extraneous and unexcited bodies , that i have been able ( though not easily ) to make one of them draw the feather from the amber it self . but it is diligently to be observ'd , that this unusual attraction happened onely whilst the electrical operation of the excited amber continued strong enough to sustain the feathers . for after wards , neither the approach of my finger , nor that of the other bodies , would make the downy feathers change their posture . yet as soon as ever the amber was by a light affriction excited again , the feather would be disposed to apply it self again to the abovementioned bodies . and lest there should be any peculiarity in that particular feather , i made the trials with others ( provided they were not long enough to exceed the sphere of activity of the amber ) and found the experiment to answer my expectation . i made the experiment also at differing times , and with some months , if not rather years , of interval , but with the like success . and left you should think these phaenomena proceed from some peculiarity in the piece of amber i employed , i shall add , that i found uniformity enough in the success , when , in the place of amber , i substituted another electrick , and particularly a smooth mass of melted brimstone . these are the phaenomena i thought fit to mention at present of this unusual way of drawing light bodies , and with this experiment i should conclude my notes about electricity , but that i think it will not be a miss before i take leave of this subject , to give this advertisement , that the event of electrical experiments is not always so certain as that of many others , being sometimes much varied by seemingly slight circumstances , and now and then by some that are altogether over-lock'd . this observation may receive credit from some of the particulars above recited ( especially concerning the interest of the weather , &c. in electrical phaenomena . ) but now i shall add , that , not onely there may happen some variations in the success of trials made with electrical bodies , but that it is not so certain as many think , whether some particular bodies be or be not electrical . for the inquisitive kircherus reckons crystall among those gems to whom nature has denyed the attractive power we are speaking of ; and yet i remember not , that , among all the trials i have made with native crystall , i have found any that was destitute of the power he refuses them . also a late most learned writer reciting the electricks , reckon'd up by our industrious countryman gilbert , and increasing their number by some observed by himself , ( to which i shall now add , besides white saphyrs , and white english amethysts , the almost diaphanous spar of lead ore ) denies electricity to a couple of transparent gems , the cornelion and the emraid . and i do the less wonder he should do so to the former , because i have my self in vain tried to make any attraction with a piece of cornelion so large and fair , that 't was kept for a rarity ; and yet with divers other fine cornelions i have been able to attract some light bodies very manifestly , if not briskly ; and i usually wear a cornelian ring , that is richly enough endowed with electricity . but as for emralds , as i thought it strange that nature should have denied them a quality she has granted to so many other diaphanous gems , and even to crystal , so i thought the assertion deserved an examen , upon which i concluded , that at least it does not universally and constantly hold true . i had indeed seen in a ring a stone of price and great lustre , which , though green , i found to be , ( as i guess'd it would prove ) vigorously enough electrical . but this experiment , though seemingly conclusive , i did not look upon as a fair trial , because the stone was not a true emrald , but , which is rare , a green saphir . and i learned by inquiry of the skillful jeweller that cut it , that it was so far from having the softness of an emrald , that he found it harder than blew saphyrs themselves , which yet are gems of great hardness , and by some reputed second to none , but diamonds . without therefore concluding any thing from this experiment , save that , if the assertion i was to examin were true , the want of an electrical faculty might be thought a concomitant rather of the peculiar texture of the emrald than of its green colour , i proceeded to make trial with three or four emralds , whose being true was not doubted , and found them all somewhat , though not equally , endow'd with electricity , which i found to be yet more considerable in an emrald of my own , whose colour was so excellent , that by skilful persons 't was look'd on as a rarity . and though , by this success of my inquiry , i perceived i could not , as else i might have done , shew the curious a new way of judging of true and false emralds , yet the like way may be , though not always certain , yet oftentimes of use , in the estimating whether diamonds be true or counterfeit , especially , if , being set in rings , the surest way of trying them cannot conveniently be employed . for whereas glass , though it have some electricity , seems , as far as i have observed , to have but a faint one , there are often found diamonds that have a very vigorous one . and i do not remember i met with any electrick of the same bulk , that was more vigorous than a rough diamond i have , which is the same that i formerly mentioned to have moved a needle above three minutes after i had ceased to chase it . and this brings into my mind , that it has been observed , that diamonds draw better whilst rough , than they do after they are cut and polish'd ; which seeming to contradict what has been observed by others and by us also , that amber , for instance , attracts more vigorously if the surface be made very smooth than otherwise , it induces me to conjecture , that , if this observation about diamonds be true , as some of my trials have now and then inclined me to think it , and if it do not in some cases considerably depend upon the loss of the ( electrical ) substance of the stone , by its being cut and ground , the reason may possibly be , that the great rapidness with which the wheels that serve to cut and polish diamonds must be mov'd , does excite a great degree of heat , ( which the senses may easily discover ) in the stone , and by that and the strong concussion it makes of its parts , may force it to spend its effluviable matter , if i may so call it , so plentifully , that the stone may be impoverish'd , and perhaps also , on the account of some little change in its texture , be rendred lesse disposed to emit those effluvia that are instruments of electrical attraction . but as i willingly leave the matter of fact to further trial , so i do the cause of it , in case it prove true , to farther inquiry . finis . notes, typically marginal, from the original text notes for div a28980-e280 † see tracts about cosmical qualities , &c. to which is prefixt an introduction to the history of particular qualities ; printed at oxford 1●●1 . notes for div a28980-e2220 * * see more of this in the preamble . * * divers of the phaenomena , &c. of this experiment were afterwards printed numb . 15. of the ph. transact . * * beniven . cap. 56. abditorum apud schenk . lib. 7. de venen . observ. 24. cent. 6. observ. notes for div a28980-e3220 exper. i. exper. ii. exper. iii. exper. iv. notes for div a28980-e6760 see in the paper of tasts , exper. xii . notes for div a28980-e14910 * * this refers to an essay of the authors about the usefulness of chymistry to , &c. notes for div a28980-e16700 see the beginning of the first section . notes for div a28980-e19620 exper. i. exper. ii. exper. iii. exper. vi. exper. ix . exper. x. exper. xi . * * relating to the magnetism of the earth . exper. xiv . notes for div a28980-e20490 princip . part 4. art. 184. * * some years after the making the experiments about the production of electricity , having a desire to try , whether in the attractions made by amber , the motions excited by the air had a considerable interest , or whether the effect were not due rather to the emission and retraction of effluvia , which being of a viscous nature may consist of particles either branch'd or hookt , or otherwise fit for some kind of cohesion , and capable of being stretch'd , and of shrinking again , as leather thongs are : to examine this , i say , i thought the fittest way , if 't were practicable , would be , to try , whether amber would draw a light body in a glass whence the air was pumpt out . and though the trial of this seem'd very difficult to make , and we were somewhat discouraged by our first attempt , wherein the weight of the ambient air broke our receiver , which chanced to prove too weak , when the internal air had been with extraordinary diligence pumpt out ; yet having a vigorous piece of amber , which i had caus'd to be purposely turn'd and polish'd . for electrical experiments , i afterwards repeated the trial , and found , that in warm weather it would retain a manifest power of attracting for several minutes ( for it stirred a pois'd needle after above ¼ of an hour ) after we had done rubbing it . upon which encouragement we suspended it , being first well chafed , in a glass receiver that was not great , just over a light body ; and making haste with our air-pump to exhaust the glass , when the air was withdrawn , we did by a contrivance let down the suspended amber till it came very near the straw or feather , and perceived , as we expected , that in some trials , upon the least contact it would lift it up ; and in others , for we repeated the experiment , the amber would raise it without touching it , that is , would attract it .