i 7 8 A TretiifecfftODlES. Chap. 16. 



part of our ha- of the fourth \ve remitted a queftion concerning the exigence of 

 ai"ihe*rore E- the Elements; (that is, whether in any places of the world there 

 lemcnts, aic wcre an y pure Elements, either in bulk or in little parts; )as be- 



foiindpurc in . ' r . r . . ... . , , . . / '* ~ 



(mail atomes; ing not ready to reiolve it, till we had declared the manner of 

 b Jcatbuik. any working of bodies one upon another. Here then will be a fit 

 place to determine that, out of what we have difcourfed con. 

 cernirg the actions, whereby bodies are made and corrupted : 

 for conhVerirg the univcrfal a&ion of fire that runneth through 

 all the bodies we have commerce withall, by reaibn of the funs 

 influence into them and operation upon them with his light and 

 beams which rencheth far andnearjand looking upon the effects 

 which we have {hewed do followthencerit is ma nifeft, there can- 

 not be any great quantity of any body wrutfbevenin which fire 

 is not intrinfecally mixed. And on the other fide, we fee that 

 where fire is once mixed ic is very hard to feparate it totally 

 from thence. Again , we fee it is impoffible that pure fire fliould 

 be conferred , without being adjoyned to fbme other body ; both 

 becaufe of its violent nativity, ftill ftreaming forth with a great 

 impetuofity; as alto becaufe it is foeafily overcome by any obli- 

 dent body when it is dilated. And therefore we may fafcly con- 

 clude, that no fimple Element can confift in any great quantity 

 in this courfe of nature which we live in and take a furvey of. 

 Neither doth it appear to what purpoie nature fliould have 

 placed any fuch ftorehoufes offimples, feeing flie can make all 

 needful! complexions by the ditfblutions of mixed bodies imoo- 

 thcr mixed bodies favouring of the nature ofthe Elements, with- 

 out needing their purity to begin upon. 



But on the other fide it is as evident that the Elements muft 

 remain pure in every compounded body in fuch extreme fmall 

 parts as we ufe to call atomes : for if they did not,thc variety of 

 bodies would be nothing elfc, but ib many degrees of rarity and 

 den(ity> or fo many pure homogeneall Elements.and not bodies 

 eompofed of heterogeneall parts:and confeqaently would not be 

 able to /hew that variety of parts which we fee in bodies, nor 

 could produce the complicated effe&j which proceed from them. 

 And accordingly we are fure that the leaf! pans which our fen- 

 fcscan arrive to difcoyer have many varieties in them : cvenfo 

 much that a whole living creature (whole organicall parts muft 

 needs be of exceeding different natures ) may be Ib lictlc,as unt 



our 



