“ History doth not in every Part of it supply us with Examples of Vertue and Rules for our Behaviour. For besides these, therein you have a View of the perpetual Revolutions of Human Affairs, of the Beginning and Fall of Empires, of Manners, Customs, and Opinions which continually succeed one another; and in a word, of all that rapid, tho' insensible, Motion that carries all before it, and incessantly alters the Face of the Earth. ”

“ But since it is now taken for granted, that the Earth is one of the Planets, and they all are with Reason suppos'd Habitable, though we are not able to define by what sort of Animals; and since we see all the parts of the Creation abound with Animate Beings, as the Air with Birds and Flies, the Water with the numerous varieties of Fish, and the very Earth with Reptiles of so many sorts; all whose ways of Living would be to us incredible did not daily Experience teach us. ”

“ But nothing repels the rising Air, which is also of such thinness and fluidity, that it is easily driven, and runs every way.
Nor ought we to omit, that it is the universal Law of Bodies Attracted, that the Force of Attraction is reciprocally as the Squares of their Distances; so that the Action of the Sun and Moon will be greater upon the Air than upon the Water, upon the Account of its Nearness. ”

“ The Analogy I have already mentioned, which we may rationally suppose between the manner of the propagation of Plants and Animals, does likewise make this probable. Every Herb and Tree bears its Seed after its kind; which Seed is nothing else but a little Plant of the same kind, which being thrown into the Earth, as into its Uterus, spreads forth its Roots, and receives its Nourishment, but has its form within its self, and we may rationally conjecture some such Analogy in the Propagation of Animals. ”

“ But above all, Astronomy and Anatomy are the two Sciences which more palpably lay before us two grand Attributes of our Creator; one his Immensity by the distance, Magnitude and Number of Cœlestial Bodies; the other his Infinite Knowledge by the Mechanism of Animals. True Natural Philosophy is a kind of Theology.
The different views of Humane Understanding are almost infinite; and Nature is really so. So that we may every day expect some Discoveries, either in Mathematicks or Natural Philosophy, which shall be of a new sort of Utility or Curiosity. ”

“ Isaac Newton has shew'd how to define the Spaces of the Descent of a Body, let fall from any given height, down to the Center, supposing the Gravitation to increase, as in the fifth Property; but considering the smallness of heighth, to which any Project can be made ascend, and over how little an Arch of the Globe it can be cast by any of our Engines, we may well enough suppose the Gravity equal throughout, and the Descents of Projects in parallel Lines, which in Truth are towards the Center, the difference being so small as by no means to be discovered in Practice. ”

“ Why then should we think it strange that the prodigious Mass of Matter, whereof this Globe does consist, should be capable of some other improvement than barely to serve to support its Surface? Why may not we rather suppose that the exceeding small quantity of solid Matter, in respect of the fluid Æther, is so dispos'd by the Almighty Wisdom, as to yield as great a Surface for the use of living Creatures, as can consist {57} with the conveniency and security of the whole? ”

“ There are others that make the Stomach itself to be the great Instrument of Digestion, but in a different manner: And they suppose it to be perform'd by an Attrition, as if the Stomach, by those repeated Motions, which are the necessary Effects of Respiration, when it is distended by the Aliment, did both rub or grind off some minuter Particles from the grosser Parts; and by continually agitating the Mass of Food, make those Parts, which are not contiguous to the Stomach, strike one against another, and break one another in pieces, until they are all attenuated. ”

“ Wind is most properly defined to be the Stream or Current of the Air, and where such a Current is perpetual and fixt in its Course, 'tis necessary that it proceed from a permanent un-intermitting Cause. Wherefore some have been inclin'd to propose the diurnal Rotation of the Earth upon its Axis, by which, as the Globe turns Eastwards, the loose and fluid Particles of the Air, being so exceeding light as they be, are left behind, so that in respect of the Earths Surface they move Westwards, and become a constant Easterly Wind. ”

“ The Concave Arches may in several places shine with such a Substance as invests the Surface of the Sun; nor can we, without a boldness unbecoming a Philosopher, adventure to assert the impossibility of peculiar Luminaries below, of which we have no sort of Idea. I am sure the Poets Virgil and Claudian have gone before me in this Thought, inlightning their Elysian Fields with Sun and Stars proper to those infernal, or rather internal Regions. ”

“ We hardly know any Fluid in all Nature, except Fire, whose constituent Parts are so exceeding subtle and small as those of Water are. They'll pass Pores and Interstices, that neither Air nor any other Fluid will. This enables them to enter the finest Tubes and Vessels of Plants, and to introduce the Terrestrial Matter, conveying it to all Parts of them; whilst each, by means of Organs 'tis endowed with for the Purpose, intercepts and assumes into it self such Particles as are suitable to its own Nature, letting the rest pass on through the common Ducts. ”

“ It is a sort of Revenge; and as the Mathematicks and Natural Philosophy are known but by few, they are generally look'd upon as useless. The reason of this is; because they are crabbed and not easily learnt.
We have a Moon to light us in the Night; What is it to us, say they, whether Jupiter hath four? Why so many laborious Observations, so many tedious Calculations to know exactly their Course? They'll not afford us the more Light for it; and Nature, which hath plac'd these little Planets without the reach of our Eyes, doth not seem to have made them for us. ”

“ And indeed all the Laws of Motion, which are as yet discovered, can give but a very lame account of the forming of a Plant or Animal. We see how wretchedly Des Cartes came off when he began to apply them to this Subject; they are formed by Laws yet unknown to Mankind; and it seems most probable, that the Stamina of all the Plants and Animals that have been, or ever shall be in the World, have been form'd, ab Origine Mundi, by the Almighty Creator within the first of each respective kind. ”

“ It is a constant Observation of those who write the History of the Winds, That the most Windy Seasons of the Year, are the Time about the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox; for be the Air never so calm before or after, we never fail of having Winds at that Juncture. Every body likewise knows, that in the most quiet Weather we are sure of some Breeze at Mid-day and Mid-night, as also at Full Sea, i.e. always about the time the Sun or Moon arrive at the Meridian. ”

“ The Sun's Horizontal Parallax I make to be 10 seconds, and its apparent Diameter at a mean distance from the Earth, I make 32 minutes, 15 seconds.
The Atmosphere of the Earth, by dispersing and refracting the Sun's Light, casts a Shadow, as if it were an Opake Body, at least to the height of 40 or 50 Geographical Miles (by a Geographical Mile, I mean the sixtieth part of a Degree of a great Circle, on the Earth's Surface.) This Shadow falling upon the Moon in a Lunar Eclipse, makes the Earth's Shadow be the larger or broader. ”

“ It is not possible to imagine, how one uniform, homogeneous Matter, having its Principles or Original Parts all of the same Substance, Constitution, Magnitude, Figure, and Gravity, should ever constitute Bodies so egregiously unlike, in all those respects, as Vegetables of different kinds are ”

“ Now to propose something that may answer the several appearances, and introduce nothing strange in Philosophy, after a great many close Thoughts, I can come to no other Conclusion than that, The whole Globe of the Earth is one great Magnet, having four Magnetical Poles, or Points of Attraction, near each Pole of the Equator. ”

“ The Heart is a Solitary Muscle of very great strength, and the Intercostal Muscles and Diaphragm, which likewise have no Antagonists, are a vast additional Force, which must be balanc'd by the contrary Action of some equivalent Power or other. For, tho' the Action of the Intercostal Muscles be voluntary, that does not exempt them from the condition of all other Muscles serving for voluntary motion, which wou'd be in a State of perpetual Contraction, notwithstanding any Influence of the Will, were it not for the Libration of Antagonist Muscles. ”

“ She desires to extend her Knowledge: All that can be known, is necessary to her, and there can be no better Proof than this, that she is design'd for Truth. Nothing perhaps can redound more to her Glory, than the Pleasure that is felt sometimes, in spight of ones self, in the dry and crabbed Questions of Algebra. ”

“ In these Parts of the World, long Experience has told us, that the rising of the Mercury forebodes fair Weather after foul, and an Easterly or Northerly Wind; and that the falling thereof, on the contrary, signifies Southerly or Westerly Winds, with Rain, or stormy Winds, or both; which latter it is of much more consequence to provide against at Sea than at Land; and in a Storm, the Mercury beginning to rise is a sure sign that it begins to abate, as has been experienced in high Latitudes, both to the Northwards and Southwards of the Æquator. ”

“ All living Creatures require Air of a determined Gravity to perform Respiration easily, and with Advantage; for it is by its weight that this Fluid insinuates it self into the Cavity of the Breast and Lungs. Now the Gravity, as we have proved, being lessened at these Seasons, a smaller quantity only will insinuate it self, and this must be of smaller force to comminute the Blood, and forward its Passage into the left Ventricle of the Heart, whence a slower Circulation insues, and the Secretion of Spirits is diminished. ”

“ What Curiosity in the Structure, what Accuracy in the Mixture and Composition of the parts, ought not we to expect in the Fabrick of this Globe, made to be the lasting Habitation of so many various Species of Animals, in each of which there want not many Instances that manifest the boundless Power and Goodness of their Divine Author ”

“ A great many to vilify this Natural Science, pretend a mighty veneration for the works of Nature, and that they are absolutely incomprehensible. However, Nature is never so admirable, nor so admir'd as when known. ”

“ Refracted Vision arises from the different Density, Figure, and Magnitude of the Medium, which is somewhat alter'd also by the diverse incidence of the visible Rays. And so it is in Refracted Hearing, all these Causes concur to its Production, and some others to be hereafter consider'd.
Now as any Object (a Man for example) seen through a thicken'd Air, by Refraction appears greater than really he is: So likewise a Sound, heard through the same thicken'd part of the Atmosphere, will be considerably vary'd from what it would seem to be, if heard through a thinner Medium. ”

“ For the intestine Motion, which is excited in the Mass, does not give the Particles, which are fermented, the same Tendency, but what is so various and confus'd, that they must inevitably strike not only one against another, but against those which are more gross, so as to attenuate them, sometimes by a Collision, which strikes off smaller Particles from the larger Parts; sometimes by a Compression, when the Particles which are in Motion, happen to strike directly against any grosser Part, on every side of it, sometimes by a kind of Explosion. ”

“ There is no need of any thing more, for solving all the Phænomena of Fluidity, than such a Figure and Disposition of the Parts, as Water has. Corpuscles of that make, and that are all absolutely Spherical, must stand so very tickle and nicely upon each other, as to be susceptible of every Impression; and though not perpetually in Motion, yet must be ever ready and liable to be put {239} into it, by any the slightest Force imaginable. It is true, the Parts of Fire or Heat are not capable of moving themselves any more than those of Water ”

“ The Organ and Medium are to be consider'd. And, 1. The Organ, which is the Ear, is helpt much by placing it near a Wall (especially at one end of an Arch, the Sound being begotten at the other) or near the Surface of Water, or of the Earth, along which the Sounds are most easily and naturally convey'd, as was before declar'd. And 'tis incredible how far a Sound made upon the Earth (by the trampling of a Troop of Horses, for Example) may be heard in a still Night, if a Man lays his Ear close to the Ground in a large Plain. ”

“ Now considering the Structure of our Terraqueous Globe, it cannot be well suppos'd that a very great part thereof can move within it, without notably changing its Center of Gravity and the Equilibre of its Parts, which would produce very wonderful Effects in changing the Axis of diurnal Rotation, and occasion strange alteration in the Seas Surface, by Inundations and Recesses thereof, such as History never yet mention'd. Besides, the solid parts of the Earth are not to be granted permeably by any other than fluid Substances, of which we know none that are any ways Magnetical. ”

“ Every Body knows of what Importance it is to have an exact Knowledge of Human Body, and of what Medicines may be extracted from Minerals and Plants.
As for Arts, too tedious to be reckon'd, they depend some upon Natural Philosophy, others upon Mathematicks.
One wou'd think at first, that if the Mathematicks were to be confin'd to what is useful in them, they ought only to be improv'd in those things, which have an immediate and sensible affinity with Arts, and the rest ought to be neglected as a Vain Theory. ”

“ An Object upon which alone you cast your Eyes is the clearer and brighter, when the neighbouring Objects, which however you do not look upon, are also enlighten'd; because it hath the Benefit of the Rays, which are reflected from them. Thus those Discoveries, which are palpably useful, and deserve our chiefest Attention, are in some measure enlighten'd by those, which may be call'd useless. For all Truths make one another more lucid. ”