The H'jloryof Life and 'Death 



tion fo they excell in judgement, and prefer fafe Things.and found things before fpe- 

 cious'; Alfo they improve in Garrulity and Oftenration ; For they feek the Fruit of 

 Speech, while theY are lefs able for Action, So as it was not abfurd , thar the Puts 

 failed old Tithon, to be turned into a Grafhopper. 



Moveable Canons of the Duration of life ? and 

 Form (f Death, 



Canon. I. 



COnfumpticn */ kot catfei, tiOtefi that,whith be departed with by one Body^ajfah into 

 another* 



The Explication. 



THere is in Nature no Annihilating, <^r Reducing to Nothing : Therefore that which 

 is confumed , is either refolved into Air, or turned into iome Body adjacent, So 

 we fee a Spider, or Fly, or Ant^'xn Amber, Entombed in a more Irately Monument than 

 Kings are , to be laid up for Eternity ; Although they be but tender things, and foon 

 diflipated* But the matter is this, that there is no At by, into which they fhould be 

 refolved; And the Subftance of the mber is lb fleteroptwottf) that it receives nothing 

 ofihem* The like we conceive would be, if a Stick or Roor, or fome fuch thing were 

 Buried in Quicksilver* Alfo W*x, and Honey, and Gams have the fame Operation, but 

 in part only. 



Canon II. 



THere is in every Tangible body <? Spirit, covered and encompajfed with the Grejfer 

 Parts of the Body ; And from it all Confuroption W Difloludon, hath the B^ 

 ginning* 



The Explication. 



NO Body known unto us here in the upper part of the Earth is without a Spirit, 

 Either by Attenuation, and Concotlion from the heat of the Heavenly Bodies.Or 

 By fome other way* For the Concavities of Tangible Things, receive not Facuum; 

 But either Air, or the proper Spirit of the Thing* And this Spirit whereof we fpeak, is 

 not fome f^erttte, or Energies At~l,vx a 7r//Z< ; 8ut plainly a Body, rare and invifible; 

 Notwithstanding circumfcribcd by place, Quantitative, Real : Neither again,i? that 

 Spirit, Air, ( no more than Wine is Water ) But a Body rarified,oi kin to Air, though 

 much different from it* Now the GrofTer pans ; f Bodies (being dull thing?, and not 

 apt for Motion ) would laft a long time ; But the Spirit is that which troubleth and 

 plucketh , and undermineth them , and converteth the Moifture of the Body, and 

 whatfoever it is able to dilgeft, into new Spirit ; And then as well the Prse^xifting Spi- 

 rit of the Body, as that newly rmde, fly away together by degrees. This is bell feen 

 by the Dmwpftion of the fVeighr in bodies dried, through Perforation.^ or neither, all 

 that which is ilTued forth was fpirit, when the body was ponderous ; neither was it not 

 fpirif, when it iflued forth* 



Canon III* 



THc Spirit ifiuing forth, dryeth; Detained and working with*, either Mthetb, or 

 Putrifieth, or Vivifieth* 



The Explication. 



T Here are four Procefles of the Spirit; To ArefaBion; To Colli <jttatio*i\ To Putrc 

 fMion ; To Generation of bodies. ArefaBion is not the proper Work of the Spirit, 

 but of the Grofler parts, after the Spirit iflued forth: For then they contract them- 

 fe'lves partly by their flight of V <tcuum t partly by the Vnion of the Homogenealt; As ap< 

 pears in all things which are Arified by Age . And in the dryer fort of bodies, which 

 have paffed the Fire; As Bricks, Charcoals, Bread. C ailiqttation is the meer work of the 

 Spirit : Neither is it done but when they are excited by heat : For then, the Spirits 

 dilating themfelves, yet not Getting forth, doinfinuate, and difperfe thcmfelvesa- 

 mongft the Grofler parts • And fo make them fofr, and apt to run, as it is in Metals, 

 and Waxi^ot Metals,znd all Tenacious thing*, are 3pt to Inhibite the Spirit.that being 



K excited 



