Various

“ The Axioms: That no substance has that of it self, which it can loose, without ceasing to be, what it is: That every body may loose of its motion, till it have no more left, without ceasing to be a Body: That we cannot conceive but two sorts of substances, vid. a Spirit (or That which thinketh) and a Body, wherefore they must be considered as the Causes of all, that happens, and what cannot proceed from the one, must necessarily be adscribed to the other: That to Move, or to cause motion, is an Action: That an Action cannot be continued but by the Agent, who began it. ”

“ Robert Hook, considering with himself, of what importance a faithful History of Nature is to the establishing of a solid Systeme of Natural Philosophy, and what advantage Experimental and Mechanical knowledge hath over the Philosophy of discourse and disputation, and making it, upon that account, his constant business to bring into that vast Treasury what portion he can, hath lately published a Specimen of his abilities in this kind of study, which certainly is very welcome to the Learned and Inquisitive world, both for the New discoveries in Nature, and the New Inventions of Art. ”

“ To which M. Auzout rejoyns, that he is displeased at his being destitute of better Glasses, but that it will be very hard for the future to convince Campani touching the Proportion of the Ring, seing that the breadth of the Ellipsis is always diminishing, although, if the declination of the Ring remains always the same, one can at all times know, which may have been its greatest breadth. But he assures, that the breadth of the Ring is not the half of its length, and that it doth not spread out so much beyond Saturn's Body, as he hath alleged. ”

“ Like as, when a long stick thrown in the Air, whose one end is heavyer than the other, is whirled about, so as that the End, which did first fly foremost, becomes hindmost; the proper line of motion of this whole Body is not that, which is described by either End, but that, which is described by a middle point between them; about which point each end, in whirling, describes an Epicycle. And indeed, in the present case, it is not the Epicycle described by the Moon, but that, described by the Earth, which gives the Menstrual Vicissitudes of motion to the Water ”

“ The night following, the three Doctors above mentioned, and my self, with some Chirurgions (besides a multitude of others) were present at the opening of the head, to see if any thing could be there discover'd; but there appear'd no sign of contusion; the brain full and in good order; the nerves whole and sound, the vessels of the brain pretty full of Blood. But nothing was by any of them discern'd to be at all amiss. But it was by candle-light, and they had not time to make very nice Observations of it (the Body being to be buried by and by) and the croud of People was a further hindrance. ”

“ All the Mercury got without the use of Fire, whether by washing, or found in the Mines (for in the digging, some little particles get together, so that in some places you might take up two or three spoonfuls of pure Mercury) is call'd by them Virgin Mercury, and esteem'd above the rest. I inquir'd of the Officer what vertue that had more, than the other; he told me that making an Amalgama of Gold and Virgin Mercury, and putting it to the fire, that Mercury would carry away all the Gold with it, which common Mercury would not do. ”

“ Whence he inferrs, that Bodies are Indivisible and Matter divisible; a Body being nothing but one and the same substance, whose different extremities are inseparable, because they are the extremities of one and the same Extension, and, in a word, of one and the same Substance; but Matter being nothing but an Association or Collection of Bodies, 'tis evident, (saith he) it must be divisible. This doctrine he so much insists upon, that he conceives, Nature cannot subsist, if a Body in the sence he takes it, be divisible; and that Motion and Rest cannot be explicated without it. ”

“ So, for example, in the Observation of the Equinox, every one is mistaken by so many Hours, as he is of Minutes, in the Elevation of the Pole, or the Diameter of the Sun, or the Refraction, or in any other circumstance. In the Observation of the Solstice, the error of one only Second causeth a mistake of an Hour and an half: mean time 'tis almost impossible to avoid the error of a Second; and even the sharpest sight will not be able to perceive it, except it be assisted with an Instrument of a prodigious bigness. ”

“ Which shews, saith he, that this Mud is nothing but a volatil Niter, which exhaling, doth not increase the Earth. As for the Ægyptian Dew, and the increase of the weight of the Mud, he adscribes them to the same Cause. For the spirits of Nitre abounding in the Nile, when raised into the Air with the vapors, that exhale continually from this River, there is made out of their mixture, a Dew, that refreshes the Air, makes sickness to cease, and produces all those admirable effects, that make the Ægyptians wish for it so passionately. ”

“ And when the Air by an increase of gravity should become a heavier Medium, than before, it would buoy up the Glass more than the Counterpoise; and if it grew lighter, than it was at first, would suffer the former to preponderate: (The Illustrations and Proof can scarce be added in few words; but, if it be desired, I may, God permitting, send you them at my next leasure:) And though our English Air be about a thousand times lighter, than water, the difference in weight of so little Air, as is but equal in bulk to a Buble, seem'd to give small hopes, that it would be sensible upon a Ballance ”

“ They take of the Earth, held to be proper to form them, which is reddish, and distinguish'd with white veins, and full of flints and hard lumps. Then they put near the places, which they will digge, a close and even Earth; and to it they carry those Earths, they have digg'd out of the Mine, and gently spread it abroad, and leave it exposed to the Sun for two days. Then being dryed enough they beat it, and sifting this Earth, they find the Diamonds in ashes of Flints, in which Nature hath set them. ”

“ That we find the Weather and our Bodies more chill, cold, and drooping, when the Mercury is lowest, and the Air lightest, besides other causes, I guess, That as Air is to us the breath of life, as water is to Fishes; so, when we are deprived of the usual measure of this our food, 'tis the same to us, as when the water is drawn ebb from Fishes. ”

“ Unlesse we should say, that it carries about the Earth in just the same Period, in which it turnes upon its own Axis: Which is contrary to that of the Sun carrying about the Planets: the shortest of whose Periods, is yet longer than that of the Suns moving about its own Axis. And the like of Jupiter, shorter than the Period of any of his Satellites; if at least the Period of his conversion about his Axis, lately said to be observed, prove true. (Of Saturn we have not yet any Period assigned; but it's likely to be shorter, than that of his Satelles.) ”

“ Again, we cut down whole Forrests, and drain Marishes, of an extent large enough to cause a notable alteration: And men have made such works, as have produced Changes great enough to be perceived. In many places also are Vulcans, that seem big enough to be distinguish't, especially in the shadow: And when Fire lights upon Forrests of great extent, or upon Towns, it can hardly be doubted, but these Luminous Objects would appear either in an Ecclipse of the Earth, or when such parts of the Earth are not illuminated by the Sun. But yet, I know no man, who hath observed such things in the Moon ”

“ Mean while, since we see in the Moon, when she is increasing or decreasing, the Light she receives from the Earth, we cannot doubt, but that the People of the Moon should likewise see in the Earth that Light, wherewith the Moon illuminates it, with perhaps the difference, there is betwixt their bigness. Much rather therefore should they see the Light of the Crepuscle, being, as we have said, incomparably greater. ”

“ The full Discovery of which particular also he makes to be a part of Cassini's and Campani's work, seeing that they so distinctly see the inequalities in the Belts, and see also sometimes other Spots besides the Shadows of the Satellites: where he exhorts all the Curious, that have the conveniency of observing, to endeavor the discovery of a matter of that importance, which would prove one of the greatest Analogies for the Earth's Motion. ”

“ But, when this Body, or its motion, or figure, or other thing, depending upon its nature, can be perceived by a Spirit, so as, upon that occasion, this Spirit has thoughts, it had not before, it may be said, that the Body has acted upon this Spirit, for as much as it has caused all the change in it, whereof it was capable according to its nature. ”

“ He teaches how to make Perspectives, that magnifie Objects, without Glass; telling us, that when an Object is look't upon through a small hole, it appears much greater than it is; and that therefore, if instead of Glasses one did cast before ones eyes two Plates having little holes in them, it would furnish us with a new kind of Perspectives, more commodious than those of Glasses, which spoil the Sight by reason of the refraction of the Rayes, caused thereby. ”

“ One of the means used by M. Auzout to enlighten an Object, in what proportion one pleaseth, is by some great Object-Glass, by him called a Planetary one, because that by it he shews the difference of Light, which all the Planets receive from the Sun, by making use of several Apertures, proportionate to their distance from the Sun, provided that for every 9 foot draught, or thereabout, one inch of Aperture be given for the Earth. ”

“ And so, why have we not Spring tides at the New Moon (when the motion is swiftest) and Neap tides at Full Moon (when the motion is slowest) but Spring tides at both? The answer (if observed) is already given in my Hypothesis it self. Because the effect is indifferently to follow, either upon a suddain Acceleration, or a suddain Retardation. ”

“ For (saith he in one of his Letters) who could ever expect, that we men should find an Art, to weigh all the Air that hangs over our heads, in all the changes of it, and, as it were, to weigh, and to distinguish by weight, the Winds and the Clouds? Or, who did believe, that by palpable evidence we should be able to prove, the serenest Air to be most heavy, and the thickest Air, and when darkest Clouds hang neerest to us, ready to dissolve, or dropping, then to be lightest. ”

“ Whether the Mine affords any parcels of Metal, that seem to grow like Plants (as I have sometimes seen Silver growing, as it seemed, out of Stone, or Sparre almost like blades of Grass; as also great Grains of a Metal, which appear'd to me, and which those, that tryed some of it, affirmed to be Gold, abounding in a stony lump, that seem'd to consist chiefly of a peculiar kind of Sparre.) ”

“ If a Horse, fat and fair to look on, without a hollow to be seen between his Muscles, be rid extreme hard, and into a great sweat, and then kept one day without water or moist meat, you shall see him took so thin in many places as in the musculous parts, that you will hardly believe it to be the same Horse, especially if he be (as the Phrase is among Horse-masters) a Nash or Wash-Horse. The cause of which thinness will easily be granted to be only an exhaustion of Juice, expended out of the Blood, which did stuff out these Vessels. ”

“ If a Body be placed under Water, with its uppermost Surface parallel to the Horizon; how much Water soever there may be on this or that side above the Body, the direct pressure susteined by the Body (for we now consider not the Lateral nor the Recoyling pressure, to which the Body may be exposed, if quite environed with Water) is no more, than that of a Column of water, having Horizontal Superficies of the Body for its Basis, and the Perpendicular depth of the Water for its height. ”

“ Now supposing the Earth and Moon, joyntly as one Body, carried about by the Sun in the great Orb of the Annual motion; this motion is to be estimated, (according to the Laws of Staticks, in other cases,) by the motion of the common Center of Gravity of both Bodies. For we use in Staticks, to estimate a Body, or Aggregate of Bodies, to be moved upwards, downwards, or otherwise, so much as its Common Center of Gravity is so moved, howsoever the parts may change places amongst themselves. ”

“ Whether a Dog, that is sick of some disease chiefly imputable to the mass of blood, may be cured by exchanging it for that of a sound Dog? And whether a sound Dog may receive such diseases from the blood of a sick one, as are not otherwise of an infectious nature? ”

“ There is in those Seas a kind of small worms, that fasten themselves to the Timber of the ships, and so pierce them, that they take water every where; or if they do not altogether pierce them thorow, they so weaken the wood, that it is almost impossible to repair them. We have at present a Man here, that pretends to have found an admirable secret to remedy this evil. That, which would render this secret the more important, is, that hitherto very many ways have been used to effect it, but without success. ”

“ Since which time, another from the same Noble Observer intimates, That, as for that cause of the height of the Quick-silver in Droughts, which by him is suspected to be the elevation of steams from the Crust or Superficial parts of the Earth, which by little and little may add to the Weight of the Atmosphere, being not, as in other seasons, carried down from time to time by the falling Rain, it agrees not ill with what he has had since occasion to observe. ”

“ Representing, I say, an Animal in this manner, and thence inferring, how it may be alter'd for the better or worse by motions or impulses, confessedly Mechanicall, observes, How some are recover'd from swouning fits by pricking; others grow faint and do vomit by the bare motion of a Coach; others fall into a troublesome sickness by the agitation of a Ship, and by the Sea-air (whence they recover by rest, and by going a shore.) ”

“ As to the former, the Attentive Reader of this Book will find, that there being hardly any thing so small, as by the help of Microscopes, to escape our enquiry, a new visible world is discovered by this means, and the Earth shews quite a new thing to us, so that in every little particle of its matter, we may now behold almost as great a variety of creatures, as we were able before to reckon up in the whole Universe it self. ”