Century . 1 „ 
p 
The Knowledge of Man (hitherto) hath beerre determined by the 
View,oi\Sight- Sothatwhatfoeucrislnuiiible, either in refped of the 
Fimneffe of the Body itlelfe 5 Or the Smalnejjc of(be Parts 5 Or of the Sub- 
tilty of the Motion • is little inquired. And yet thefe bee the Things that 
Gouerne Nature principally •, And without which, you cannot make 
any true Analyfis and Indicationof the Proceedingsof Nature. The-S^i- 
j rits or Pneumaticals , that are in all Tangible Bodies , arefcarce knowne. 
Sometimes they take them for Vacuum^ hereas they are the molt Adiue 
i of Bodies. Sometimes they take them for Aire , From which they dif 1 
t fer exceedingly, as much as Wine from Water • And as Wood from 
J Earth. Sometimes they will haue them to bee Naturall Heat , ora Portion 
1 of the Element of Fire • Whereas fome ofthem are Crude and Cold. And 
} fometimes they will haue them to bee the Vertves and Qualities of the 
j Tangible Parts, which they fee ; whereas they are Things by themfelues. 
And then, when they come to Plants and lining Creatures, they call 
them Soules. And ftich Superficiall Speculations they haue , Like Pro- 
Tpediues* that Chew things inward, when they are but Paintings. Nei¬ 
ther is this a Queftion of Words ^ but infinitely materiall in Nature. 
Hot Spirits are nothing elfebuta Naturall Body, rarified to a Proportion, 
and included in the Tangible Parts of Bodies, as in an Integument. And 
they be no Idle differing one from the other, than the Den/e or Tangible 
Parts : And they are in all T tngible Bodies whatfoeuer, more or lefle ; And 
they areneuer (almoft) at reft : And from them, and their Motions, prin° 
cipallv proceed ArefaHion, Colliquation, Contortion, Maturation , Putrefa - 1 
titan, Vinification, and moft of the Effects of Nature : For, as wee haue fi¬ 
gured them in our Sapientid Veter urn, in the Fable of Proferpina, you fhall 
in the Infernall Regiment hcare little Doings of Pluto , but moft of Pro¬ 
ferpina : For Tangible Parts in Bodies are Stupide things j And the Spirits , 1 
doe (in effect) all. As for the differences of Tangible P art sm Bodies, the 
induftry of the Chjtnifis hath giucri fome light, in difeerning by their I 
Separations, the Oyly, Crude, Pure, Impure, F ine,Groffe Parts of Bodies, and ! 
the like. And the Phyfitisns are content to acknowledge, that Herbs, j 
and Drugs haue diners Parts ; As that Opium hath a Stupefa&iue Part, : 
anda Heating Part; The one moiling Sleepe, the other a Sweat fol¬ 
lowing 5 And that Rubarb hath Purging Parts, and Aftringent Parts, &c. 
But this whole Incyuifition is weakly and Negligently handled. And for 
the more fubtill differences of the Minute Parts, and the Pofture of them 
j in the Body • (which alio hath great Effe&s) they are not at all touched : 1 
As for the Motions of the Minute Parts of Bodies, which doe fo great Ef- ! 
feds, they haue notbeene obferued at all, becaufc they are lnuifible, I 
andinctirre nottothe Eye • but yet they are to bee deprehended by Ex- 
periencer As Democritus laid Weil, wlien they charged him to hold, that 
the World was made of fuch little Moats, as were feenein the Sunne • ! 
; Atomm (faith he) necefsitate Rat'tonU fo ExpcrientU effe conuincitur : Ate>- 
, mum enim nemo -voquam <vidit. A nd therefore the Tumult in the Parcs 
f of Solid Bodies, when thevare comprefted, which is the Caufeofall 
? ' D Flight 
| Experiment 
Solitary tou¬ 
ching rhe 
Secret ProcelJes 
of Nature. 
' j>8 
. 
