Century IX, 



IN Versions, or Main Alterations of Bodies , there is a Medium baween the 

 Body,as it is at firft,and the Body refulting ; which Medium is Corpus, im- 

 perfeBe Miftum, and is Tranlitory, and not durable As Mifts£rnoakes,V'a. 

 pour s,Chylus in the Stomach^Living Creatures in the firft Viviftcation : And the 

 Middle ABion , which produceth fuch ImperfeB Bodies , is fitly called, (by 

 fome of the Ancients,) Inhumation , or InconcoBion , which is a Kind of 

 Putrefaction; For the are in Confujion, till they fettle, oneway, or 

 other. 



HTHeword ConcoBion, or Digeftion, is chiefly taken into ufefrom JDz'^'i 

 Creatures, and their Organs ; And from thence extended toLiquoursfi 



ing 

 ,and 



Fruits,ej?c. Therefore they fpeak of A/<?^ CcncoBed 5 #/V;ze and Excrements 

 ConcoBed; And theFour Digeftions,(ln the Stomach; In the Lzi^r; In the ^r- 

 fmVs and Nerves • And in the Several Parts of thcSo^O are likewise cal- 

 led ConcoBions : And they are all made to be the Workesof /fotf: All 

 which Notions are but ignorant Catches of a few things , which are raoft 

 obvious to lA/e/iS Observations. The Conftanteft of ConcoBion is,that 



it mould fignifie the Degrees of Alteration, of one £0^ into another , from 

 Crudity to PerfeB ConcoBion ; which is the Ultimity of that ABion, or ProcejS: 

 And while the to be Co^f and Altered, is too ftrong for the £/]/'- 

 «V/zf, that mould Convert, or Alter h, ( whereby it refifteth and holdeth 

 faft in fome degree the firft Forme,oiCoriJi(lence,) it is (all that whilc)C7Wc, 

 and InconcoB; And the ProceJs is to be cal.ei Crudity and InconcoBion.h is true, 

 that ConcoBion is, in great part, the Work of Heat: Butnotthe Work of. Heat 

 alone; For all things, that further the Converfion, or Alteration, {as Reft, 

 Mixtureof a 2Wj already ConcoBed, 8cc) are alio itffwtf to ConcoBion. And 

 there are of ConcoBion two Periods ; "The one Aj] imitation, or Abfoiute Con- 

 verfion and SubaBion^ The other Maturation; whereof the Former is mod 

 confpicious in the iW/Vs of Living Creatures • In which there is an Absolute 

 Converfion and Af] imitation of the Nourishment into the^^j: And likewife 

 in the tfoafos of Plants : And again in Metals, where there is a full Tranf mu- 

 tation. The other, (which is Maturation) isfeen in Liquours and Fruits-, 

 wherein there is not defired, nor pretended , an utter Converfion, but one- 

 ly an Alteration to that For m, which is moft fought, for Mans ufe; As in 

 Clarifying of Drinks, Ripening of Fruits, Sec. But note, that there be two 

 Kinds of Absolute Converfions(Xhe one is, when a Body is converted into ano- 

 ther Body which was before-, As when Nourijhment is turned into Flefh ; 

 That is it which we call Ajjimilation. The other is , when the Converfion 

 is into a 5o^meerly New, and which was not before ^ frsif Silver fhould 

 be turned to <jold-^ or Iron to Copper : And this Conversion is better called,for 

 diftindion fake, T ranf mutation, 



*JHerc are alfo divers other Great Alterations of Matter, and Bodies, be- 

 fides thofe that tend to ConcoBion, and Maturation ; For whatfoever 

 doth fo alter a Body, as it 1 eturneth not againe to that ir. was,may be called 

 Alt&ratio Major : As when Meat is Boyled,or Rofted,or Fried,&c. Or when 

 Bread and Meat are Baked , Or when Cheefe is made of Curds, or Butter of 

 Cream, or Co/« of Wood , or Bricks of Earth ; And a Number of others. 

 But to apply Notions Phylofophical xoPltbian Terms - Or to fay, where the 

 Notions cannot fitly be reconciled that there wanteth a Term, or Nomencla- 

 ture for it; (as the Ancients ufed : ) They be but Shifts of Ignerancc: For 

 Knowledge 



