Chap. 4. ^ Tftatifi ^/BODIES. 



And out of all we faid of thefe fbure Elements, it is mani- 

 fcft there cannot be a h"f;h : as is to be feen at large in every 

 Ariftotelian Philofbpher that writeth of this matrer. I am noc 

 ignorant that there are fundry objc&ions ufed to be made, both 

 againft thefe notions of the firft qualities, and againft the divi- 

 fion of the Elements : butbrcaufe they, andtheir folutions, arc 

 to be found .in every ordinary Philofbpher; and that they be 

 not of any great difficulty ; and that the handling them, is too 

 particular for the defignr of this dilcourfe, and would make it 

 too prolix ; 1 rcferrethe Reader to feek them, for his latisfa<5H- 

 on, in thofeauthours that treat phyficks profeiTcdly, and have 

 delivered a complcat body of Philofbphy. 



And I xvill end this Chapter witli advertising him (left I 

 fliould be misonderflood ) that though my difquifition here 

 hath pitched upon the rbure bodies of fire, airc, water, and 

 earth; yet it is not my intention to affirm, that thefe which we 

 ordinary call fb, and doralidayly within our u(e, are fuch as 

 I have here expretfed them: or chat thefe Philo'bphicall ones 

 ('which arife purely out of the combination of the firft quali- 

 ties ) have their rclidence or confidence in great bulks, in any 

 places of the world, be they never fo remote : as fire, in the 

 hollow of the moons orb ; water, in the bottome of the fea; 

 aire, above the clouds ; and earth below the mines. But thefe 

 notions arc onely to ferve for certain Idea's or Elements ; by 

 which, the foure named bodies, and the compounds of them, 

 may be tryed and receive their doom of more or lefle pure and 

 approaching ro the nature from whence they have their deno- 

 mination. And yet I will notdenie, but that fuch perfect Ele- 

 ments may be found in fome very little quantities, in mixed bo- 

 dies .- and the greater! abundance of them, in thefe fourc known 

 bodies that we call in ordinary pra&ife, by the names of the 

 pure ones : for they are leaft compounded, and approach mod 

 to the fimplenefie of the Elements. But to determine ab.blute- 

 ly their exigence, or not evidence, either'in bulk or in little 

 parts; dependeth of the manner of action among bodies: which 

 as yet we have noc meddled with. 



4 CHAP, 



