The works of the Honourable Robert Boyle, Esq., epitomiz'd by Richard Boulton ... ; illustrated with copper plates.

CHAP. II. Of Cosmical Suspicions.

THE World about us being stock'd with such a Variety of Objects, and other things, too small or subtle to be discern'd; it may not be unuseful, upon some Accounts, to propose Conjectures, where the Subject con∣sider'd admits of no clearer Discoveries.

* 1.1And First, it is not without Reason I suspect, that, besides those uniform Parts of Matter, of which the Aether, by some Philosophers, is thought to consist, there are also several other Parts of Matter, which are differently dispos'd to work upon Bodies, according to the various Textures of those Bodies they chance to work upon; or according to the different Agents they chance to work concurrently with: And this Suspicion is not improbable, since the inquisitive Gilbert hath not only discover'd the Magnetical Qualities of the Earth to be diffus'd on every side, but also it is commonly known that upon the Hunting of a Deer, several subtle Effluvia are left behind in the Air; which we should pass by unobserv'd, were there not such Creatures as Blood-hounds, endow'd with Organs fitted to receive those subtle Steams.

* 1.2And it is not a little strange, that several Persons should have such peculiar Temperaments,

as to be able to discover Pestilential Steams in the Air, for a considerable time before they are dispos'd to affect other Men; and that those Constitutions should be so dispos'd to be work'd upon by Effluvia, by others not in the least discern'd. And that there are such Bodies, as well as unheeded Effluvia, may be evinc'd by several Instances; as one which was remarkable in the Year 1665, in which, a certain Man, three Months before the beginning of the Plague, was taken with a Swelling in his Groin; which he had likewise as a Forerunner to seve∣ral other Plagues. And Fabritius Hildanus re∣lates a Story no less remarkable of himself; who, when, in his Youth, he had had the Plague, could never pass any House infected with it without a sensible Pain in that Part. To which may be added, a third Instance from that Curi∣ous Physician, who observ'd the various Phaeno∣mena of Distempers at the Siege of Breda, and says, Annotandum hic meritò Naturae Facultatem ad Pestis Praeservationem Momenti esse maximi: Observavi in meipso contaminatos invisente statim inguina olere vel axillas; afficiebatur aliquando Caput, noctu inde Sudor, & secessus tres quatuorve; hoc & aliis accidit, qui fideliter mihi retulerunt. And these Testimonies I am rather inclin'd to depend on, because deliver'd by Men of Judg∣ment and Credit.

Another Suspicion which I am about to re∣late,* 1.3 is, That the Laws of Nature, which con∣tribute to the producing of several Phaenomena, are not only of larger Extent than what we are us'd to imagin; but likewise concur to the Pro∣duction of a greater Variety of Effects: For not

to spend much time in observing, That several Industrious Astrologers and Geographers, have, instead of Physical, given us Mathematical Hy∣potheses; having taken pains to describe the Situations and Motions of the fixed Stars and Planets; and likewise, that they have been Industrious in discovering the four little Pla∣nets, which move about Jupiter; as also the little Moon, which runs about Saturn, as well as several Phaenomena relating to Comets, with∣out considering the Frame and Constitution of those Bodies, which compose our Globe; I con∣ceive it not impossible to make it out, That there is a Commerce betwixt them and our Globe; as well as several Laws or Customs of Nature even in our own Globe not taken notice of by Scholastical and Mathematical Writers.

* 1.4And I am, not without Reason, induc'd to suspect, That this Globe of ours hath undergone several considerable Changes, not only in seve∣ral Countries, but the internal Parts of it; That which is call'd the Mariners Compass, having been, in several Places, observ'd to vary consi∣derably, in its Declension from the true North Pole; as for Instance, about London in the Year 1580 it declin'd eleven Degrees; in 1612 about six; and in the Year 1633 about four Degrees. And I have my self, at one time, observ'd little or no Declension, whereas at another I observ'd it to decline near half a Degree. And I am in∣form'd by one who often observ'd the Variation of the Compass at the Cape of good Hope, that, when he was a young Man, he observ'd it to decline two Degrees Westward; whereas of late, he found the Variation to be six Degrees

and about forty eight Minutes; so that, by his Observation, it had vary'd little less than five Degrees, in the times he hath sayl'd past that Place. From whence we may have Reason to think, That there are certain Agents very pow∣erful, tho' not to be taken notice of, which may work several, and very considerable Changes, even in the Terrestrial Globe it self; which whether regulated by any certain Laws of Na∣ture, we know not.

And besides these, there are several other unheeded Phaenomena, which we have troubled our selves very little to consider about; as the different Weight of our Atmosphere, and the Causes of that Difference; we having only no∣ted that they proceed from some subterraneal Effluviums mix'd with the Air; but what other Effects those Effluviums may have upon other Bodies hath been scarce discover'd.

* 1.5And it is not a little strange, what Monsieur de Rochfort relates, concerning those Hurricanes observ'd in the American Islands; for, whereas, for a long time, they were observ'd to come but once in seven Years; yet in a short time they grew so frequent, as to return two or three times in the same Year. And I have been in∣form'd by an Ingenious Gentleman, that, having liv'd in New England, he observ'd a considera∣ble Alteration in the Temper of that Climate; it being much less cold and more temperate than formerly. And Mr. W. Wood, in his Pros∣pect of New England, takes notice of no incon∣siderable Alteration; who says, That since the English Inhabitants settl'd there, the Showers

of Rain are much more moderate, though more frequent.

* 1.6And the Learned Magnenus observes, in his Tract de Manna, That about three hundred Years ago there was no Manna to be found in Cenotria; and it is not above two Ages since Manna hath been found in Calabria, a Country so famous for it. And the Ingenious French Writer in his History des Isles Antilles Lib. 4. Cap. 6. says, That if the Juice of a Fruit call'd Acajou, falls upon a Cloth, it presently stains it red, which continues till the Tree bears Flow∣ers again; which Phaenomenon will be the more to our Purpose, if it may be doubted, whether it proceeded from the Temper of the Air or Length of Time.

* 1.7But besides these Phaenomena, when I observe the exact time, that the ebbing and flowing of the Sea keeps; and how exactly coincident with the New and Full Moon Spring-Tides happen; as also what vast Spring-Tides are constantly observ'd every Equinox; together with those various Phaenomena, which may be observ'd in Sea-Water, which, in some Places and upon the blowing of some Winds, appears to be luminous, whereas other Parts are, at the same time, neither luminous, nor in the least affe∣cted, so as to become luminous by those Winds at any other time; I am very apt to believe, That these Phaenomena proceeded from some Cosmical Law of Nature; or that the Plane∣tary Vortex was not a little concern'd in pro∣ducing these Effects.

* 1.8And I am not unapt to believe, but that all those Distempers, which are either Endemic or Epidemic, proceed from a certain Influence, which those Globes which move about us, may have, together with some Terrestrial Effluvia, which are different in several Countries.

But not to engage in so fertile a Discourse as the Phaenomena, which every particular Region affords; I shall only add two Suspicions more, which may be further Instances of the Established Laws and Customs of Nature.

* 1.9And first, it is a Question, whether those Pla∣nets, which move about our Globe, keep such constant Bounds in their Motion, and move in such Lines as Astrologers teach they do. And if we consider the vast variety of Bodies, contai∣ned in and about our Globe, it can scarce be ima∣gined, that Nature should always keep to one constant and regular way of Acting, but that in several Particulars, she must deviate and ope∣rate variously; for not to mention, that Astro∣nomers have observed, even Natural Days to va∣ry in Length; and have disputed much concern∣ing the Anomalic assigned to the Motion of the Sun's Apogeum; The Sun it self hath been sometimes observed, to be even obscured by o∣pacous Matter, as in Caesar's time, and at the be∣ginning of Augustus his Government; when the Sun was for near a whole Year obscured. To which we may subjoyn the Number, Duration, and Vastness as well as Motion of some Co∣mets.

And I am informed, that in the Northern He∣misphere, in that part of the Galaxy, which is not to be discerned by us, there are certain

black, and near the Northern Pole, white Clouds, which move along with the Galaxy in twenty four hours; and these may be discerned by those that sail 18 Degrees South Latitude; but I shall not insist upon these as Arguments, since I suspect those black Clouds to be nothing but the Azure Sky appearing through the Galaxy, and those white ones, to be only Constellations, like those of the Galaxy or the Belt of Orion.

* 1.10But having hinted, that Nature may not al∣ways be exactly regular in the Motion of Planets, &c. I shall here intimate, that sometimes we may think, those Motions which are Periodical and return at set times, irregular; because we live not long enough to observe the frequent Returns of such Changes, as we usually esteem Prodigies in Nature; for it would as much be thought strange, to see Trees blossom, and Fruit in the Summer, to a Man that lived but one Year, as several other Phaenomena are strange to us, who have not lived long enough to have observed such Phaenomena in their Periodical Turns before: So before the different Appearances of Saturn had often been observed, they were thought Pro∣digies.

But it is most remarkable, that several Stars have Periodically appeared and disappeared se∣veral times in the same Place, as hath been ob∣served in the Girdle of Andromeda, and about the Swans Breast, and another amongst the fixed Stars in the Whales Neck. These I say are most remarkable, because they not only confirm what I have been saying of the Periodical Appearan∣ces of some Phaenomena; but invalidate the Phi∣losophical Systems of some, who allow of no

Vortices beyond the concave Surfaces of the Fir∣mament:* 1.11 But if rather than to allow of Vortices beyond the Surface of the Firmament, we would imagin the Stars, which appear and disappear, to have dark and light Hemispheres, which Perio∣dically turn towards our Globe; it will still be an Argument to question the Uniformity of the Motions of some of the Globes of the Universe; since at so vast a Distance, such considerable Al∣terations are observable.

But to conclude this Chapter; It may be a que∣stion, whether such prodigious Changes as are sometimus observed, may not by being frequent∣ly repeated, become a Custom, and have a Right to be reckoned amongst the Laws of Nature.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Suspicion the First.
• * 1.2

  A Second.
• * 1.3

  A Third.
• * 1.4

  The Fourth.
• * 1.5

  Considera∣ble Variati∣ons in the Temper of Climates.
• * 1.6

  An Obser∣vation con∣cerning Manna.
• * 1.7

  Another Suspicion
• * 1.8

  Another Suspicion.
• * 1.9

  A very con∣siderable Phaenome∣non rela∣ting to the Sun.
• * 1.10

  Nature may not always be exact in her Laws.
• * 1.11

  Vortices be∣yond the Concave Surfaces of the Firma∣ment.