308 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1686. 



acceptations of the word nature; and then substitutes in their stead other 

 words and expressions more suitable to the true notion of nature. The 3d 

 examines the Aristotelian definition of nature, and proves it obscure and intri- 

 cate; the author then states the reason, why he endeavours to avoid the frequent 

 use of this word nature. The 4th section first examines several axioms con- 

 cerning nature, by Which she iS described after the vulgar apprehension ; and 

 then lays down a much better description of her. Here the author distinguishes 

 nature into general, which he calls cosmical mechanism, and particular, which 

 ihe names individual mechanism.. In the conclusion is shown the origin of 



Polytheism, and how nature came to be made a goddess by the ancients. The 

 5th proposes the reasons by which the author was persuaded to reject the 

 received notion of nature. And the 6th discusses the arguments in behalf of 

 nature, drawn from the common consent of mankind; from the endeavour ob- 



;servable in bodies to maintain their natural state ; from the distinction of motion 

 into natural and violent; from the crisis of diseases, &c. The 7th section ex- 

 pounds the several received axioms or attributes of nature ; among others, these 

 two, natura vacuum horret, and natura est morborum medicatrix, are largely 



;and accurately handled. , The 8th and last section shows, that nature, accord- 

 ing to the vulgar acceptation, is not a real, but an imaginary being, &c. 



sffj 1(, Account of a Booh. 



Traite du Mowvement des Eaux, et des autres Corps Jluides, par feu Mr. 



K) -ii.:. Mariotte, a Paris, ^n. l686, &vo. N° I8l, p. \\Q. 



■' This- work is divided into 5 parts, and each part again into discourses or 

 chapters. The first part contains 3 discourses; the 1st of which is concerning 

 the several properties of fluid bodies, as their glaciation, evaporation, dilatation 

 by heat, and admission of the air into their pores, &c. The 2d is on the origin 

 of fountains; which the author deduces from the rains that fall, and sink into 

 the earth, till they meet with a clayey or rocky soil, which being not able to pass, 

 they run along till they find their way out into the air, where they become foun- 

 tains. And to prove that the quantity of rain water is sufficient to furnish the 

 rivers, he shows by experiment, that there falls in the countries about the foun- 

 tains of the Seine, at least 7 times as much water as that river discharges. The 

 3d is about the origin and cause of winds, where he assigns 3 general and 4 par- 

 ticular causes. The first of the general causes, is the diurnal motion of the 

 earth; the second is the condensation and rarefaction of the air, caused by the 

 heat of the sun ; and the third is from the moon's respect to her apogaeon or 



-perigaeon, by which she sometimes rises from, and at other times descends to- 



i^wards the earth. The particular causes are, 1st. The extraordinary rising of the 

 vapours and exhalations out of certain places of the earth. 2d. The fall of 



