Magnet; or animated Iron and Iron. The fecond is, the Verticity of the betwixt Quicksilver 270. There is alfo a remarkable Motion of Attraction between Quick- The Attraction filver and Gold; fo that Gold will attract Quickfilver, tho' it be made up into Ointments. And thofe that work much among the Vapours and Gold. of Quickfilver, commonly hold a Piece of Gold in their Mouths, to collect the mercurial Effluvia; which would otherwife penetrate the Skull, and Bones of the Body, &c. and the Gold fo employ'd, foon after becomes white *. And fo much for the Motion of the leffer Congregation. the Motion of 271. Let the ninth Motion be Magnetical Motion, which, tho' a Thing (9) Magnetiof the fame Kind with the Motion of the leffer Congregation; yet, if it ope- cal Motion, or rate to great Diftances, and upon large Maffes of Matter, it deferves Attraction in a feparate Enquiry; efpecially if it neither, like moft other Motions, large Bodies. begins with Contact; nor comes to that at laft; as all the Motions of Congregation do; but only raises Bodies, or makes them fwell, without any farther Effect. For if the Moon raises the Waters, or makes moist Things fwell; or if the Sphere of the fixed Stars attracts the Planets, towards their Apogees; or if the Sun attracts Venus and Mercury, and keeps them always near its Body; thefe Motions feem not justly to fall under thofe of the greater or lefs Congregation; but to be certain middle and imperfect Motions of Affemblage; that should, therefore, conftitute a particular Species. 272. Let the tenth Motion be the Motion of Avoidance; which is a Mo- (10.) Motion tion contrary to that of the leffer Congregation; and makes Bodies, by of Avoidance. Antipathy, fly from, and keep off, others, that are difagreeable to them; or feparate themselves therefrom; or refufe to mix therewith. For altho' this Motion may feem, in fome Cafes, to be only an accidental, or a confequential Thing, with refpect to the Motion of the leffer Congregation; as homogeneous Bodies cannot come together, till fuch as are heterogeneous be excluded and removed; yet it fhould be particularly mention'd, w See the Article Magnetifm, in the Sylva Sylvarum. It has been lately queftion'd, whether, when Perfons are falivated by Mercury, a Piece of Gold will be whiten'd, by being held, for several Hours, to any Part of the Body, where no Mercury, from without, is fuppofed to come; or none befides what has paffed thro' the Course of Circulation, along with the animal Juices. Let it always be remember'd, that the Author conftantly chufes the old Words, where he may use them fo as to convey his own Meaning, with any tolerable Advantage. This is the more neceffary to be remarked, becaufe Men are extremely apt to take particular Difgulis, as well as particular Likings, to Words and Phrafes. 1 tion'd, and made a Species; becaufe, in many Things, the Appetite of Repulfion feems more capital than the Appetite of Attraction. Exemplified in 273. This Motion appears remarkably in the Excretions of Anima!; Tafes and O- and no lefs in the Objects odious to fome of the Senfes; particularly to the Smell and Tafte: for a fetid Odour is fo repulfed by the Organ of Smell, that it even caufes a Motion of Expulfion, by Confent, in the Mouth of the Stomach. A bitter and horrid Tafte is fo repulfed by the Palate and Throat, as to caufe, by Confent, a particular Shake, or Shuddering of the Head. dours. In the Anti Cold and Heat. 274. This Motion of Avoidance has alfo place in other Things; for periftafs of it appears in fome Kinds of Antiperiftafis. Thus the Cold in the middle Region of the Air, seems to be a Repulfion of the Cold from the Confines of the celeftial Bodies: as those great Heats and Burnings, found in fubterraneous Places, feem to be a Repulfion of Heat, from the inner Parts of the Earth. For Heat and Cold deftroy each other, when their Degrees are fmall; but when collected into large Maffes, or, as it were, into full Armies, they violently repel, and displace each other in the Conflict. In odoriferous 275. 'Tis also reported, that Cinnamon, and other odoriferous Bodies, Bodies, and fufpended in a Jakes, or other fetid Place, retain their Scent longer; as Quickfilver. thus keeping themselves within, and refufing to mix with Matters of an ill Odour. And Quickfilver, which, of itself, unites into a continued Mass, is, by grinding with a little Spittle, Turpentine, &c. kept afunder; fo that its Parts unite not again, by reafon of the Averfion they have to the Bodies employ'd; from which, as every way mix'd in among them, they fhrink, and fhut themfelves up; their Appetite of avoiding thefe Particles interpofed, being greater than their Appetite of uniting with their own fimilar Parts: and this is what they call the killing of Quickfilver. In Oil and Water. 276. So, again, the Reafon that Oil will not mix with Water, is not fo much owing to their Difference of Gravity, as to their want of Confent: which appears from hence, that Spirit of Wine, tho' lighter than Oil, yet mixes with Water. But the Motion of Avoidance is most remarkable in Nitre, and the like crude Bodies, which fly from Flame; as we find in Gunpowder, Quickfilver, and Gold". (11.) Motion of 277. Let the eleventh Motion be the Motion of Affimilation, Motion of Aimilation. Self-Multiplication, or Motion of Simple Generation. By Simple Generation, we do not understand the Generation of entire Bodies; fuch as Plants, and Animals; but of fimilar Bodies: fo that by this Motion, Bodies convert other Bodies related to them, or, at least, such as are well difpofed and prepared to be converted, into their own Substance and Nature. Viz. A Retching, a See Vol. III. p. 564, 565. 278. Thus Viz. Quickfilver confined, and heated; and in the Aurum Fulminans. See Vol. III. P. 494, &c. tion of Plants 278. Thus Flame multiplies itself upon unctuous Exhalations, and oily Exemplified in Bodies, and generates new Flame; Air multiplies itfelf upon Water, the Nutrition and produces new Air; and the vegetable and animal Spirit multiplies and Aimilaitfelf, or feeds upon the foft, aqueous, and oleaginous Parts, and be- and Animals. gets new Spirit; the folid Parts of Plants and living Creatures, as the Leaves, the Flowers, the Flefh, the Bones, &c. are all affimilated from the Juices of the Aliment; and thus beget new Matter, and new Subftance upon themfelves fucceffively. For let no one dream, Paracellus's with Paracelfus, (who appears as if blinded by his Diftillations,) that Nu- Notion of Nutrition is performed merely by Separation; and that the Eyes, the Nofe, trition, centhe Brain, the Liver, &c. lie concealed in Bread or Food; or that the Jured. Roots, the Leaves, and Flowers of Vegetables, are lodged in the Juice of the Earth: for he afferts, that as the Workman, by feparating and paring off what is fuperfluous, from a rude Block of Stone or Wood, educes out of it a Leaf, a Flower, an Eye, or a Nofe; fo the Archaus, that internal Operator of his, produces all the different Limbs, and Parts, out of the Aliment, by Separation and Rejection. 279. But, to leave fuch trifling; it is certain, that all the Parts, as well Nutrition, how fimilar as organical, in Vegetables and Animals, first attract, with fome performed Election or Choice, nearly the fame common, or not very different Juices, for their Aliment; and afterwards affimilate, or convert, them into their own Nature. Nor is this Affimilation, or fimple Generation, performed only in animate Bodies; but inanimate Bodies alfo partake thereof; as was formerly obferved of Flame and Air f. And even the languid Spirit contain'd in all tangible inanimate Bodies, conftantly endeavours to digeft the groffer Parts, and turn them into Spirit, to be afterwards discharged; whence proceeds Diminution of Weight, and Drynefs, as was formerly obferved $. 280. Nor muft we, in the Bufinefs of Affimilation, reject that Accre- Accretion. tion commonly diftinguish'd from Affimilation; as when Clay, mix'd among Stones, concretes, and is turn'd into a ftony Matter; or when the Scales of the Teeth are turn'd into a Subftance as hard as the Teeth themselves, &c. For we judge, that all Bodies have an Appetite of affimilating, as well as of uniting, what is homogeneous to themselves; but that both Powers are bound down, or fuppreffed, tho' not in the fame manner. All these Ways of binding, and the correfpondent ones of loofing, fhould be diligently enquired after; because they regard the Prolongation of Life, or the Alleviation of old Age". See the Hiftory of Life and Death, the Hiftory of Winds, and the Sylva Sylvarum, pafsim. See Vol. II. p. 54. See the Sylva Sylvarum, under the Article Vegetation. f See above, Aph. 42. See above, Aph. 40. See the Author's Hiftory of Life and Death, Vol. III. The Motion of 281. Laftly, 'tis worth obferving, that in the ten preceding Motions, Afimilation Bodies feem only to affect, or endeavour, the Prefervation of their own Natures; but in this eleventh, to endeavour their Propagation. regards the tation. Wherein it agrees, and differs, from the Motion of Affimilation. 282. Let the twelfth Motion be the Motion of Excitation; which seems of the fame kind with the Motion of Affimilation; as being diffufive, communicative, tranfitive, and multiplicative, like that; fo as generally to agree therewith in the Effect; tho' they differ in the Subject, and Manner of effecting for the Motion of Affimilation proceeds with a kind of Sway, Authority, and Power; as it commands and compels the Matter affimilated, to turn and change into the Matter affimilating; wereas the Motion of Excitation proceeds as if it were by Art, Infinuation, and Stealth; thus folliciting and difpofing the excited Matter to affume the Nature of the Matter exciting. So, again, the Motion of Affimilation multiplies and transforms Bodies and Subftances; and thus produces more Flame, more Air, more Spirit, more Flefh, &c. but in the Motion of Excitation none but Virtues are multiplied and communicated whence there is generated more Heat, more Magnetism, more Putrefaction, &c. Exemplified in 283. And this Motion is remarkably found in Heat and Cold: for Heat does not diffuse itself in heating, by the Communication of the original Heat; but only by exciting the Parts of the Body to that Motion which is the Form of Heat; as was mentioned above: and, therefore, Heat is much flower, and more difficultly excited in Stone or Metal, than in Air; by reafon of the Indifpofition and Unfitnefs of those Bodies to admit of that Motion: whence, poffibly, there may lodge in the Bowels of the Earth, Matters which cannot be heated; as being, by a greater Condenfation, depriv'd of that Spirit with which this Motion of Excitation generally begins *. Heat. In the Magnet, &c. (13.) The Motion of Impreffion. 284. So the Magnet gives Iron a new Difpofition of Parts, and a conformable Motion; whilft it felf lofes nothing of its Virtue. So likewife Bakers Leaven, Yeaft, Rennet, and certain Poifons, respectively excite and follicit a fucceffive and continued Motion, in the coming of Cheefe, the making of Bread, the fermenting of Beer, and in poifoning the human Body; and this not fo much by the Power of the exciting Matters, as by the Predifpofition and eafy yielding of the Bodies excited. 285. Let the thirteenth Motion be the Motion of Impreffion; which likewife feems of the fame Kind with the Motion of Affimilation; and is the moft fubtile of diffufive Motions: but we think proper to make it à Species, by itself, becaufe of a remarkable Difference it has in respect Differs from of the two former. For the fimple Motion of Affimilation transforms Bodies the two prece themselves; fo that if what gave the firft Motion be removed, it is of ding Motions. no Significance to what follows; for the firft lighting up of Flame, or the first Converfion into Air, makes nothing to the fucceeding Generation iSee Aph. 13. and 20. * Confult the Tables above laid down, Aph. 11, 12, 13, 18, 20. of of Flame or Air. So, likewife, Motion of Excitation remains perfect, for a confiderable Time after the firft Mover is taken away: as in a heated Body, after what gave the first Heat is removed; in animated Iron, after the Loadstone is laid afide; and in Bread before baking, when the Leaven is taken away. But the Motion of Impreffion, tho' it be diffu- Depends upon five, and tranfitive, yet feems conftantly to depend upon the firft Mover; the first Mofo as if that be taken away, it immediately ceafes, and comes to nothing. This Motion is, therefore, performed momentaneously, or at least fuddenly for which Reafon we call the Motions of Affimilation and Excitation, the Motions of Jupiter's Generation; because the Generation remains but this Motion of Impreffion, the Motion of Saturn's Generation; because the Offspring is prefently devoured and fwallowed up. ver. 286. This Motion fhews itfelf in three Things; viz. (1.) the Rays of Exemplified in Light, (2.) the Percuffion of Sounds, and (3) the Communication of Light, Sound, magnetical Virtues. For (1.) when Light is removed, Colour and all visible Appearances immediately vanish; and (2.) upon Removal of the firft Percuffion, and the Concuffion of the Body confequent thereto, Sound foon vanishes. For altho' Sounds are tofs'd, and agitated, in their Medium, by Winds, as it were by Waves; yet it must be carefully obferved, that Sound does not continue fo long as the Refounding continues. For when a Bell is ftruck, the Sound feems to continue a good while after; but it would be very erroneous hence to conceive, that the Sound fluctuated, and hung in the Air, all that while: for the Refounding is not the fame, numerical Sound, but a new one; as appears plainly by ftopping the Body ftruck: fo if the Bell be strongly comprefs'd whilft it refounds, and be thus rendered motionlefs, the Sound inftantly ceafes, and no more Refounding is heard. So, likewife, in ftringed Inftruments, if a String be touched, with the Finger, after the firft Percuffion, the Refounding prefently ftops. (3.) And, laftly, when And Magnethe Magnet is removed, the Iron fufpended by it prefently falls down: tifm. but the Moon cannot, by us, be removed from the Sea; nor the Earth from a ponderous Body in falling; and, therefore, no Experiment can, in this refpect, be made on them; tho' the Cafe be, otherwife, the fame1. 287. Let the fourteenth Motion be the Motion of Configuration, or Situa- (14) The Mo tion; whereby Bodies feem not to affect coming to, or flying from, one tion of Confianother; but a certain Pofition, Situation, and Configuration, with refpect guration. to others. This, indeed, is a very abftrufe Motion, and little enquired into and, in fome Cafes, it seems to be without a Caufe; tho' we judge it not to be really fo. 1 Sir Ifaac Newton attempts to fhew, by Calculation, that the Moon, and whole Solar Syftem, may be fenfibly affected by the Attraction of the Earth; and conjectures that the Effect will become more fenfible hereafter, by causing a great Disturbance in the celestial Motions. See Newton. Princip. Lib. III. VOL. II. Zzz 288. Thus |