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WHosoeuer wyl per∣fytely know, how many natural po∣wers is in euerye bodye, he must dy∣ligently serche out the naturall wor∣kes of the same body, for euery worke cōmeth of some action, and also eue∣ry action of some cause, for whyles ye infant is within his mothers wōbe, as yet vnperfyte) all hys partes is
but one naturall worke, procedynge of a natural action called generation but after that it is brought forth, an other natural worke is to bryng the same to their ful groweth, whiche is done by the facultie called auction, & that they maye long cōtinue and en∣dure, nutrition onely doth make and bryng to passe. Howbeit, generation is not one simple naturall action, as the other be, but rather cōpounde, of alteration and formation. For howe coulde eyther bene, synowe or veyne be made without anye alteration of theyr substaunce: or how coulde they be well figured or proporcioned, ex∣cept they were first out of all fassyon, and ordre. Auction is an amplifica∣tion or encreasemēt, in lēgth, bredth, and depenesse, of al partes of ye body, and ye childe, whyles he is in his mo∣thers wombe, is destitute neither of
this, nor of nutrition: yet generation hath thā ye chefe rule and dominion, & the other be as handmaydes vnto it: but after it is delyuered (vntyl suche time as it com to ye ful growth) aucti¦on hath gouernaunce, & alteration & nutrition, be but inferioure powers. Then as I sayde before, it appertey∣neth only to the power or vertue cal∣led auctiō, to encrese in lēght, bredth & depenes, al such partes as by helpe of generatiō hath alredy their due fi∣gure & fassion. But how euery part is made bygger, it cā not better be kno∣wē, then by an exāple: childrē be wōt to take the bladders of oxen & swyne and blowe them full of spirite, rub∣byng them very moche before ye fyre, that they maye take heate wythoute any burnynge or harme otherwyse: and whē they haue stretched or dra∣wen them out aboundauntlye, they
blowe them full of spiryte agayne, stretchynge them out more then they dyd before: and after they rub them, and chafe them styl as is aforesayde vntyll suche tyme as they thynke thē large ynough, but in this chyldysshe worke, loke how moche the insyde of the forsayd bladders is made wyder so moche the bladder is thynner, and yf that were not, I myght well saye that chyldren coulde make (as well as nature) lytle bladders, greate.
Howbeit, the wysest man in ye world can not do that: so moch the lesse chil∣dren: For that is onelye propre vnto nature. Wherfore it is very euydent that nothynge can be encreased as it ought to be, without nouryshment: and they onelye be made longer, bro∣der and deper at one tyme, whyche growe naturallye: or els yf they be stretched along, they decay in bredth
nor there is any thyng in the worlde without breakyng, may be stretched forth euerye waye at one tyme. For that pertayneth to nature alone: and therfore auction is suche a thyng as can not possibly be without nourysh∣ment: whereof nowe by gods grace, we entende to speake.