THE PRODROMUS 215 



say that those things which are produced in this 

 way are produced naturally. 



(2) By the motion of living beings; and many of those 



things which in this way are produced by man, are 

 said to be artificial. 



(3) By the first and unknown cause of motion ; and even 



the pagans believed that there was something divine 

 in motions which originate in this way. Surely 

 to deny to this cause the power of accomplishing 

 results contrary to the usual course of nature, is 

 the same as to deny to man the power of changing 

 the courses of rivers ; or of battling with sails against 

 the winds ; or of kindling fire in places where with- 

 out man fire would never be kindled ; or of quench- 

 ing a light which would not wane except with the 

 ceasing of its supply ; or of ingrafting the shoot of 

 one plant upon the branch of another ; or of pro- 

 ducing summer fruits in mid-winter months ; or of 

 making ice in the very heat of summer; or of a 

 thousand other things of the kind which are in con- 

 flict with the usual laws of Nature. For if we our- 

 selves, who know not the structure of our own and 

 other bodies, change the determination of natural 

 motions every day, why cannot He change their 

 p. 13. determination who not only knows our structure 



and that of all things, but also made them .? To be 

 ready, again, to marvel at the cleverness of man 

 acting with free will in the case of things done by 

 his skill, and to deny a free agent to the products of 

 Nature, would indeed seem to me to betoken great 

 lack of penetration ; since when man has performed 

 the most ingenious things, he cannot, save through 

 a cloud, discern what he has done, or what instru- 

 ment he has used, or what that cause is by which 

 the instrument is moved. 



These details, proved both by experiments and by arguments, 

 I shall set forth at greater length in the Dissertation itself, in 

 order that it may be clear that there is no philosopher who 



