o/BODIES. 



tionable to the length. And Co, other figures are made, by rei- 

 ibn that their caules are feme wayes bound to give more of fbmc 

 dimenfion to one part then to another. 



As for example, when water falhth out of the skie, it hath 

 all the little corners or cxtancies of its body grated off by the 

 aiicasit rollcth and tumbleth down in it, fo that it becometh 

 round ; and continueth in that form, untill that fettling upon 

 fome flat body, as grafle or a leaf, it receiveth a little plain- 

 nefle, to the proportion of its weight mattering thecontinuitie 

 of it. And therefore, if the drop be great upon that plain bo- 

 dy, it (eemeth to he half a fphere, or fome Idle portion of one : 

 b'.itifitbe a little drop then the flat part of it (which is that 

 next unto the graffe) is very little and undilcernable, becaufe ic 

 hath not weight enough to prcfle it much and fpreadit broad 

 upon the gralle ; and fo the whole feemeth in a manner co 

 be a fphere : but if the extern caufes had preffed upon this 

 drop, onely broad wayes and thickwayes (as when a turner 

 maketh a round pillar of a fqtiare one ) then it would have 

 proved a cylinder, nothing working upon it to grate oflfany 

 of its length, but onely the corners of the breadth and thick- 

 ncfle of ic. 



And tbus you fee, how the fundamentall figures (upon which 

 all the reft are grounded) are contrived by nature ; not by the 

 work of any particular Agent that immediately imprinteth a 

 determinate figure inco a particular body, as though it wrought 

 it there at once, according to a foreconceived defigne or intelli- 

 p,enc aime of producing fuch a figure in fuch a body : but by 

 the concurrence of feverall accidentall caufes, that do all of 

 them j'oyn in bringing the body they file and work upon, into 

 fuch a fliape. 



Onely we had like to have forgotten the reafon and catife of 

 the concave figure in fome parts of plants : which in the ordi- 

 nary courle of nature we fh all find to grow from hence, that a 

 round outfide being filled with fome liquor which maketh it 

 grow higher and higher, it happcneth that the fucceeding cau- 

 fcs do contract this liquor, and do harden the outfide r and then 

 of ncccflicy there muft be a hollow cylinder remaining in lieu of 

 the juice which before did fill it. As we fee every day in corn, 



and 



