| The Hiftory of Life and Death, We q 
excited it iffueth not forth. Pwtrefattion is a mixed work of the Spiriis and of the 
groffet parts : for the Spirit ( which before reftrained and bridled the parts of the 
thing) being partly iffued forth and partly infeebled, all things inthe body do diffolve 
and return to their Homogenesties, or (if you will) to their Elements : that which was 
Spirit in it is congregated to'it felf, whereby things putrefied. begin to have an ill fa- 
vour : the Osly parts to themfelves, whereby things putrefied have that flipperinefs 
and undtuofity ; the atry parts alfo to themfelves: the Dregs to themfelves: whience 
followeth that confufion in bodies putrefied. But Generation or Vivification is a work 
alfo mixed of the Spirit and groffer parts, but in a far different manner : for the Spirit 
is totally detained, but it {welleth and moveth locally : and the grofler parts are not 
diflolved, but follow the motion of the fpirit, and are, as it were, blown out by it, 
and extruded into divers figures, from whence cometh that Generation and OrganiZa- 
tion: and therefore /ivification is always done in a matter tenacious and clammy, and 
again, yiclding and foft, that there may be both a detention of the fpirit, and alfo a 
gentle ccffion of the parts, according as the {piritforms them. And this is {een it 
matter as well of all Vegetables as of living Creatures, whether they be engendred of 
Putrefaction or of Sperm; for in all thefe things there is manifeftly feen a matter 
hard to break through, eafie to yield. & 
! Canon IV. ha! 
[YN 44 biving Creatures there are two kinds of Spirits : Livelefs Spirits, fuch as are in bo- 
dies Inanimate ; and a Vital Spirit (uperadded. : 
' The Explication. airy 
| TT was faid before, that to procure long life the Body-of man muft be confidered, 
firft, as Inanimate, and not repaired by nourifhment: fecondly, as Animate, and 
repaired by nourifhment: for the former confideration gives Laws touching Confump- 
tion, the latter touching Reparation. Therefore we muft know that there are in hu- 
maue flefh bones, Membranes, Organs: finally » in all the parts fuch fpirits diffuled 
in the fubftance of them while they are alive, as there are in the fame things (Flefh, 
Bones, Membranes, and the reft ) feparated and dead: fuchas alfo remain ina Car- 
kafi: but the Vital Spirit, although it ruleth them, and hath fome confent with them, 
yet it is far differiag from them, being integral, and fubfifting by it felf Now there 
are two fpecial differences betwixt the Levele/s Sporits and the Vital Spirits. The one, 
that the Livele/s spirits are not continued to themfelves, but are, as it were, cut off, | 
and encompafied with a grof{s body which intercepts them; as -4r is mixed with 
Snow or Froth: but the Vital 5 pirit is all continued toit felf by certain Conduit-pipes 
through which it paffeth, and ts not totally intercepted. And this Spirit is two-fold 
alfo : the one branched, onely paffing through finall pipes, and, as it were, ftrings: | 
the other hath a Cell alfo, fo as it is not onely continued to it felf, but alfo, congre- 
gated in an hollow {pace in reafonable good quantity, according to the Analogy of | 
the body, and in that Cell is the fountain of the Rivulets which branch from thence. | 
That Cell is chiefly in the Ventricles of the Brain, which in the ignobler fort of crea- | 
tures are butnarrow, infomuch that the fpirits in them feem {cattered over their whole } 
body rather than Celled ; as may be feen in Serpents, Eels and Flies, whereof every of 
their parts move long after they are cut affunder. Bérds-alfo leap a good while after 
their heads are pulled off,becaufe they have little heads and little Cells. But the nobler 
fort of creatures have thofe Ventricles larger, and Man the largeft of all, ‘The other. 
difference betwixt the Spirits is, that the Vital Spirit hath a kind of enkindling, and 
is like a Wind or Breath compounded of Flame and Air, as the Juices of living 
creatures have both Os! and Warer. And this enkindling miniftreth peculiar motions | 
' and faculties ; for the fmoke whichis inflamable, even before the flame conceived, is | 
hot, thin and movable, and yct it is quite another thing after it is become flame: | 
but the enkindling of the vital {pirits is by many degrees gentler thanthe fofteft flame, 
as of Spirit of Wine, or otherwife; and befides, it isin great part mixed with an Aertal [ 
| fubftance, that it fhould bea eMy/flery or Miracle, both of a Flammeows and eAere. f 
| ows nature. f ae 
ee 
ee —e SSS 
. Canon V. : 
| Cf/He Natural Actions are proper to the feveralParts, but s+is the Vital Spirit that excites | 
baad 
| and ree them, | | Ae 
