Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana, or, A fabrick of science natural, upon the hypothesis of atoms founded by Epicurus repaired [by] Petrus Gassendus ; augmented [by] Walter Charleton ...

SECT. I.

THe Third Propriety of the Univer∣sal Matter, Atoms, is Mobility, or Gravity: and from that fountain is it that all Concretions derive their Virtue Motive. For, though our deceptable sense inform us, that the minute Particles of Bodies are fixt in the act of their Coadunation, wedged up together, and as it were fast bound to the peace by recipro∣cal concatenation and revinction: yet, from the D••ssolution of all Compound natures, in process o•• time, caused by the intestine Com∣motions of their Elementary Principles, without the hostility of any Exter∣nal Contraries, may our more judicious Reason well inferr, that Atoms are never totally deprived of that their essential Faculty, Mobility; but are ance••santly agitated thereby even in the centrals of Concretions, the most so••id and compact; some tending one way, others another, in a perpetual 〈◊〉〈◊〉 of Eruption, and when the Major part of them chance to ••ffect 〈…〉〈…〉 the same way of emancipation, then is their united force determi∣mined ••o one part of the Concretion, and motion likewise determined to one region, respecting that Part. That same MOTIVE VIRTUE, there∣••ore, wherewith every Compound Bodie is naturally endowed, must owe ••ts ••rigine to the innate and co-essential Mobility o•• its component parti∣cles▪ being really the same thing with their Gravity, or Impetus: which yet receives its determinate manner and degree from their mutual Combi∣nation. In respect whereof it necessarily comes to pa••s, that when Atoms, mutually adh••ering vnto 〈…〉〈…〉 other, ca••••ot obey the ••mpu••••e

of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••ndency singly, they are not moved with that pernicity, as if each were a•• ••••solute liberty; but impeding and retarding each other in their pro∣gress, ar•• ••••rried with a flower motion, But that more or less slow, accor∣ding to 〈◊〉〈◊〉 rate or proportion of common Resistence: because always some of them are carryed to an opposite, others transversly, others obliquely to a dif••••rent region.

An•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 is it, that because Atoms are at most freedom of range in 〈…〉〈…〉 Concretions▪ every degree of Density and Compactness causin•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 ••••oportionate degree of Tardity in their spontaneous motions: 〈…〉〈…〉 the Motive Faculty not more generally, than rightly concei∣ved, 〈…〉〈…〉 chiefly in the spiritual, or (as vulgar Philosophy) Aethereal Parts 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Concretions. And, whether the spirits of a thing are princi∣pa•• de••••••mined to move, thither do they not only themselves contend, 〈…〉〈…〉 and speed, but also carry along with them the more 〈…〉〈…〉 less mov••able parts o•• the Concretion; as is superlatively 〈…〉〈…〉 Voluntary motions o•• Animals.

W•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 not here insist upon the Redargution of that Blasphemous and Absur•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 the forme•• Epi••hit•• always implies the later) dream of 〈…〉〈…〉 Atoms wer•• not only the First Matter, but also the First and 〈…〉〈…〉 of all things▪ and consequently that all Motions, and so all 〈…〉〈…〉 ••niverse and Caused meerly by the inhaerent Mobility of them: be 〈…〉〈…〉 have expresly refuted the same in our Treatise against Atheism, 〈…〉〈…〉 1. artic. ultim). Especially, since it is more opportune for us her•• 〈…〉〈…〉; that insomuch as the motion of all Atoms is supposed 〈…〉〈…〉 D••rect, and most rapid; therefore doth the Deviation, as 〈…〉〈…〉 of Concretions seem to arise from the Deflection, Reper∣cussion 〈…〉〈…〉 Repression of the Atoms composing them. For, the 〈…〉〈…〉 meeting of two Atoms▪ may be in direct lines: so that among 〈…〉〈…〉 singl•• percussion▪ or repercussion overcom••ng the first begun 〈…〉〈…〉 assembly o•• Conventi••n will bear, there may be caused some 〈…〉〈…〉 ••hough more or less slow: and their Occursations may be 〈…〉〈…〉 Oblique angles, and so, by the same reason may ensue a 〈…〉〈…〉 more or less slow, but also more or less Oblique. More∣••ve•• 〈…〉〈…〉 repe••cussion made to oblique angles, there chance to 〈…〉〈…〉 repercussion to angles equally oblique; then must the 〈…〉〈…〉 ••bl••quity multangular, according to the multiplicity 〈…〉〈…〉 the Angles be very frequent and indistant▪ the 〈…〉〈…〉 at least to appearance, to be of an uniform Curvity, and 〈…〉〈…〉 be termed a motion Circular, Elliptical, Helico••••al, 〈…〉〈…〉 a••cording to the condition of its Deflection and Crooked∣••••••••.

〈…〉〈…〉 observ••, tha•• every Body, whether Simple or 〈…〉〈…〉 Concretion, fr••m which a Repercussion is made, must 〈…〉〈…〉 b•• move•• the same way, as is the repercust, or not 〈…〉〈…〉 because, otherwise there can be no mutual 〈…〉〈…〉 impingent body rebound from the repercuti∣•••• 〈…〉〈…〉, why ••excepting only the motion 〈…〉〈…〉 of all Concretions doth ever suppose something

that remains Unmoved, or that, in respect of its less motion, is tantamount to a thing Unmoved: because, otherwise there could be no reciprocal Re∣sistence, and so all motion might both begin and repair it self.

Having thus premised these few fundamental Laws of Motion in Ge∣neral, opportunity commands us to descend to the consideration of the FACULTY of Motion: insomuch as it seems not to be any thing distinct from that Motive Force, inhaerent in all Concretions, which we have now both described, and deduced from its immediate origine, the Mobility of Atoms; and that it is well known to all Book-men, to appertain to the se∣cond species of Qualities, according to the method of Aristotle. To which we may add these lessons also, that it comprehends the Third spe∣cies of Qualities, and obtains the First, or Habit, as its proper appendix. Know we, therefore, that the Faculty or Power of Motion doth therefore seem to be one and the same thing with the coessential Mobility, now de∣scribed; because every thing in Nature is judged to have just so much of Efficacy, or Activity, as it hath of Capacity to move either it self, or any o∣ther thing.

And hence is it, that in Nature there is no Faculty (properly) but what is Active; because, though the motions of things be really the same with their Actions: yet must all motion have its beginning only from the Mo∣vent, or Agent. Nor can it avail to the contrary, that all Philosophers have allowed a Passive Faculty to be inhaerent in all Concretions; since, in the strict dialect of truth, that Passiveness is no other than a certain Impotency of Resistence, or the Privation of an Active Power, in defect whereof the subject is compelled to obey the Energy of another. If you suppose an ob∣scure Contradiction in this our Assertion, and accordingly Object; that therefore there must be a Faculty of Resistence, in some proportion, and that that Resistence is Passive: we are provided of a satisfactory salvo, which is, that though the Active Virtue, which is in the Resistent, doth sometimes scarce discover it self, yet is it manifest, that there are very many things, which make resistence only by motion, which no man can deny to be an Active Faculty; as when we rowe against wind and tide, or strive with a Bowe in the drawing of it, for all these evidently oppose our force by contrary mo∣ton. And, as for other things, which seem to quiesce, and yet make some resistence; such we may conceive to make that resistence by a kinde of motion, which Physicians denominate a Tonick motion; like that of the Eye of an Animal, when by the Contraction of all its muscles at once it is held in one fixt position. Thus not only the whole Globe of the Earth, but all its parts are held unmoved, and first by mutual cohaerence, and resist motions as they are parts of the whole: and thus also may all Concretions be conceived to be made Immote, not that the Principles of which they consist▪ are not in perpetual inquietude and motion; but, because their par∣••••cles reciprocally wedge and implicate each other, and while some impede ••nd ••ppose the motions of others, they all conspire to the Consistence of ••he whole. However the more Learned and Judicious shall further dispute ••his paradoxical Argument; yet dare we determine the Common Noti∣••n of a Faculty to be this, that there is inherent in every thing a Prin∣••••ple of Moving itself, or Acting, if not Primary ••which the schools terme the Forme) yet Secondary at least, or profluent from the

Forme, being as it were the immediate Instrument thereof.

And here we cannot conceal our wonder, that the Peripatetick hath not for so many ages together discovered himself to be intangled in a mani∣fest Contradiction; while on one part He affirms, that there are certain Faculties flowing â tota substantia, from the whole substance of a thing, as if they were derived from the matter of Concretions: and on the other, concludes, as indisputable, that the Matter is absolutely devoid of all Activity, as if it were not certain, that the Faculties frequently perish, when yet not the whole and intire substance of the thing perisheth, but only the spiritual, or more tenuious parts thereof.

Now, what more praegnant Argument than this can the most circum∣spect desire, in order to their Conviction, that the Faculties of an Ani∣mal (we exclude the Rational Faculty of man, from the sphere of our assertion) ar•• Identical with the Spirits of it, i. e. the most subtile, most free, and most moveable or active part of its materials? For, though the spirits are by vulgar Philosophers conceived to be only the Primary Organ, or immediate Instrument, which the Faculty residing in one part, occasionally transmits into another: yet, to those Worthies, who have with impartial and profound scrutiny searched into the mystery, hath it appeared more consentaneous, that the spirits are of the same nature with the Faculty, and not only movent, but Instrument; nor can it stand with right reason to admit more than this, that as water in the streams is all one specifically with that in the fountain, so is the Fa∣culty, keeping its court or chief residence in one part of the bo∣dy, as it were the Fountain, or Original, from whence to all other parts, inservient to the same function, the diffusion of spirits is made, in certain exile rivolets, or (what more neerly attains the abstrusity) Rayes, like those emitted from the Sun, or other fountain of light. And, what we here say, of the Faculties of Animals, holds equal truth, also concerning those of Inanimate Concretions; allowing a difference of proportion.

But here ariseth a considerble Difficulty, that at first view seems to threaten our Paradox with total ruine; and this it is: if the Fa∣culties of Concretions be not distinct in essence from their spirits, or most agile particles; how then can there be so many various Faculties coexistent in one and the same concretion, as are dayly observed; for in an Apple, for example, there is one Faculty of affecting the sight, another of affecting the taste, a third affecting the smell. Concerning this, therefore, we give you this solution, that the co∣existence of various Faculties in one Concretion, doth depend upon (1) the variety of multiforme particles, of which the whole Con∣cretion doth consist, (2) the variety of particles and special con∣texture of its divers parts, (3) the variety of External Faculties, to which it happens that they are applied. To keep to our former Example, in an Apple, tis manifest, there are some particles, in which consisteth its faculty of affecting the smell, others in which consisteth its faculty of affecting the Tast; for, the Experiments of Chymistry demonstrate, that these different particles may be so sequestred each from other, as that the tast may be conserved, when the smell is lost,

and the smell conserved, when the taste is abolished. And in an Animal it is no less evident, that the organ of one sense hath one peculiar kind of contexture, the organ of another sense another: and finally, that when we shall referr the Faculties of Odour and Sapour, which are in an Apple, to the Faculties of smelling and tasting in Animals; they become subject to a further discrimination. Since the same particles, which move the smelling, shall create a sweet and grateful odour, in respect of one Animal, and an offensive or stinking, in respect of another: and in like man∣ner, those particles, which affect the Taste, shall yeild a most grateful and desireable Sapour, to one Animal, and as odious and detestable a one to another. Ought we, therefore, to account that Faculty of an Odour, which is in an Apple, either Single, or Multiplex? If we would speak strictly, it is Single Absolutely: Respectively, Multiplex. And thus, in∣deed, may we affirm, that in the General, or absolutely, an Apple is Odo∣rous and Sapid: but Comparatively and in Special, that it is fragrant, or foetid; sweet or bitter.

As for that Appendix of a Faculty, which not only Philosophers, but the People also name a HABIT; Experience daily teacheth, that there are some Faculties, (in Animals especially) which by only frequency of acting grow more prompt and fit to act: and upon consequence, that that Hability or promptness for action, is nothing but a Facility of doing, or repeating that action, which the same Faculty, by the same instruments, hath frequently done before.

And, as to the Reason of this Facility; though it arise in some measure from the Power or Faculty it self, or the Spirits, as being accustomed to one certain motion: yet doth it chiefly depend upon the Disposition of the Organs, or instruments which the Faculty makes use of in the performance of its proper action. For, because the Organ is alwayes a Dissimilar or Compound Body, consisting of some parts that are crass and rigid; we are to conceive it to be at first somewhat stubborn, and not easily flexible to such various motions, as the Faculty requires to its seve∣ral operations: and therefore, as when we would have a Wand to be every way easily flexible, we are gently and frequently to bend it, that so the tenour of its fibres running longwise through it, may be here and there and every where made more lax, without any sensible divulsion; so if we desire to have our hands expedite for the performance of all those difficult motions that are necessary to the playing of a Lesson on the Lute, we must by degrees master that rigidity or clumsiness in the Nerves, Tendons, Mu∣scles and joints of our fingers, yea in the very skin and all other parts of our hands. Thus also Infants, while they stammer, and strive again and again to pronounce a word clearly and distinctly, do no more than by degrees master the stiffness and sluggishness of their tongues and other vocal organs, and so make them more flexible and voluble: and when by assuefaction they have made them easily flexible to all the motions required to the formation of that idiome, then at length come they to speak it plainly and perfectly. The same is also true, concerning the Brain, and those Organical parts therein, that are inservient to the act of Imagination, and by the imagination to the act of Discourse. For, though the Mind, when divorced from the the body, can operate most readily, and knows no difficulty or impediment in the act of Intellection; as being Immaterial, and so wanting no organs

for the exercise of its reasoning Faculty: yet nevertheless, while it is adliged to the body and its material instruments, doth it remain subject to some im∣pediment in the execution of its functions; and because that impediment consisteth only in the less aptitude or inconformity of its proper organs, therefore the way to remove that impediment, is only by Assuefaction of it to study and ratiocination. And from this Assuefaction may the Mind be affirmed to acquire a certain Habit or Promptitude to perform its proper Actions; insomuch as by reason of that Habit, it operates more freely and expeditely: but, yet, in stricter Logick, that Habit ariseth chiefly to its Organs; as may be inferred only from hence, that the Organs are capable of increment and decrement, and to increase and decrease, is competent only to a thing that consisteth of parts; such as is the Organ, not the Mind.

Nor is the acquisition of a Habit by assuefaction proper only to Man, but in common also to all Living Creatures, such especially as are used to the hand and government of Man, as Horses, Doggs, Hawks, and all pra∣ting and singing Birds. And where we affirmed, that some Faculties are capable of advancement to perfection by Habit; we intended, that there are other Faculties which are incapable thereof, as chiefly the Natural Facul∣ties in Animals, and such as are not subject to the regiment of the Will: though still we acknowledge that some of these there are, which upon change of temperament in their respective Organs, may acquire such a cer∣tain Habit, as may oppose the original inclination; and of this sort the principal is the Nutrient Faculty, which may be accustomed even to Poison. Lastly, when we, said Chiefly in Animals; we were unwilling totally to ex∣clude Plants; because they also seem (at least Analogically) to acquire a kind of Habit: as is evident from their constant retaining of any po∣sture or incurvation, which the hand of the Gardiner hath imposed upon them, while they were tender and flexible; as also that they may by de∣grees be accustomed to forein soils, and (what is more admirable) if in their transplantation those parts of them, which at first respected the South or East, be converted to the North or West, they seldome thrive, never attain their due procerity. Nay, if the Experiments of some Physitians be true, Minerals also may be admitted to attain a Habit by assuefaction; For Bap∣tista van Helmont, (in lib. de Magnetica Vulnerum curatione, & lib. de Pe∣stis tumulo) reports that He hath found a Saphire become so much the more efficacious an Attractive of the pestilential Venome from the Vitals, by how much the more frequently it hath been circumduced about Carbun∣cles or Plague Sores; as if Custome multiplied its Amuletary Virtue and taught it a more speedy way of conquest.

Notes

• Art. 1. The Motive Virtue of all Concretions, derived from the essential Mobility o•• A∣toms.
• Art. 2. 〈…〉〈…〉 Part••
• 〈1 paragraph〉〈1 paragraph〉
• 〈1 paragraph〉〈1 paragraph〉
• Art. 5. What the Active Faculty of a thing, is.
• Art. 6. That in Nature every Faculty is Active▪ none Passive▪
• Art. 7. A Peripatetick Contradiction, assuming the Matter of all Bodies to be devoid of all Activity; and yet desuming some Facul∣ties â tota sub∣stantia.
• Art. 8. That the Fa∣culties of Ani∣mals (the Ra∣tiocination of man only ex∣cepted) are Identical with their spirits.
• Art. 9. The R••••sons of the Coexi∣stence of Va∣rious Faculties in one and the same Concre∣tion.
• Art. 10. Habit defined.
• Art. 11. That the Rea∣son of all Ha∣bits in Ani∣mals, consist∣eth principal∣ly in the con∣formity and fl••xibility of the Organs, which the r••∣spective Facul∣ty makes use of, for the per∣formance of its proper Actions.
• Art. 12. Habits, acqui∣rable by Bruits: and common not only to Vegetables, but also to some Minerals.