i-o A TreAtlfe of B O D I E S. Chap. 2. 



lyofthc natu rail notion which fervoth learned men for a ba(is 

 and foundation to build fcicntificall iiiperftruclures upon. For 

 although fciencies be the works and ftruftures of the under- 

 fi a nding governed and levelled by the wary and tt;ift rules of 

 moft ingenuous artificers, yet the ground upon which they arc 

 railed, are ftich plain notions of things", as naturally and vyith^ 

 out any art, do. prefect themfelves to every mans apprehenfion: 

 without which for matter to work upon, thofe artificial! refle-r 

 &ions would leave the underftanding as unfatisfied, as a cook 

 x^ould the appetite by adifli upon which hcfhould have exerci- 

 fcd all his art in drefting it, but whofe firft fubftancc were not 

 meat of folid nutriment : it is thccourfe market that mil ft deli- 

 ver him plain materialls to employ his cunning upon : And in 

 like manner, it is the indifcipJincd multitude that mutt fur- 

 nifh learned men with naturall appjthenn'ons and notions 

 to exerciie their wits about : which when they have , they 

 may ufe ami ovdera,nd reflet upon them as they plcafe : but 

 they mutt fir/J receive them in that plain and naked form, as 

 mankind in general! pidlureth them out in their imagina- 

 tions. 



And therefore the firft work of fcholars is to learn of the 

 people, Quern pexet, avfatriftm eft & jus & nerma hquen.dis 

 vvlut is the true meaning and figniJication of thefe primary 

 names, and what notions shey begot in the generality of man- 

 kind of the things they defigac. Of the common people then 

 wemuft enquire What Quantity is: and we fLall foon be in- 

 formed, if we butconfider what anfwer any ienfible man will 

 make upon the fudden to,a queftion whereof that is the fubjeft: 

 for fuch unftudied replies exprefle fincerely the plain and na- 

 tural! conceptions which they that make them have of the 

 things they ipeak of. And this of Qnaacity is the plained and 

 the firft that nature printeth in us, of all the things we fee, 

 feel, and converfe withall; and that mutt ferve for a ground un- 

 to all our other inquiries and reflexions : for which caufe we 

 mutt be fure not to receive it \v retted or dilguifed from its own 

 i. nature. 

 Bxt . ( :" f ?? n< ? If then any one be asked, What Quamitie there is in fucli a 



dmfibility is , . . / J*5 . . , . j n j 



thing, or how greatit is ; he will preleutly in bis underltana- 

 i n g compare it with fome other thing ( equally known by both 



parties) 



