The workes of ... Ambrose Parey ... / Translated out of Latine and compared with the French. By Th. Johnson [and in part by George Baker].

  • Ambroise Paré
Date:
1634
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The workes of ... Ambrose Parey ... / Translated out of Latine and compared with the French. By Th. Johnson [and in part by George Baker]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    30/1142 (page 6)
    IntroduBion^orCompendious HAP., Chap. IIII. WhatanEIe* Blent is. Elements are underftood by TcafoQj not by fcnfe. f Why he ex- prcfTed the Es lements by thefe names ot qualities. Two princi- pall qualities are ia each Element. Why the Aire heats net (o veaemently^ as the Eire, Of Element s. N Element ('by the definition which is commonly received amongft Phyfi- tiansjisthc lead and mod fimple portion of that thing which it compofeth; 5 dr that my ipecch may be the more plainc ; the foure firft and fimple bodies arc called Elements j Fire, Aire,Water,and Earth 5 which accommodate and fubjc<a thcmfelves as matter to the promifeuous generation of all things which the Heavens engirt, whether you underftand thingsperfecdly, or iinp8rfe(3:ly mixed. Such Ele¬ ments are onely to be conceived in your minde, being it is not graated to any exter¬ nal! fenfe to handle them in their pure and abfolutc nature. VV hich was the caufe that //if]j>^ofrii/«exprefrcd them not by ihenaraesof fubftanccs,but of proper qualities^ faying, Hot, Cold, Moid, Driej becaufefome one of thefe qualities is inherent ia every Element, as his proper and eflcntiall forme, not onely according to the excefle oflacicude,butaIfoofihe adive facultiej to which is adjoyned another fimple qua- litie, and by that rcafon principall, but which noewithdandingattainesnottothe higkeft degree of his kinde, as you may underftand by Ca/en in his firft Booke of Ele¬ ments. So, for example fake, in the Aire wceobfervetwo qualities, Heat, and Moi- flurc,both principall, and not remitted by the commixture of any contrary quality, forotherwife they were not fimple. Therefore tfecu maift fay, what hinders that the principall cfFc£ls of heat iliew not thcmfelves as well in the Aire, as in the Fire? becaufe as wefaid before, although the Aire have as great a heat according to his nature, extent and degree, no otherwife than Fire hath, yet it is not fo great in its atdive qualitie. The realon is, becaufc that the calfaftorie force in the Aire is hinde¬ red, and dulled by focietie of his companion and adjoyned qualitie, that iSjHumidity which abateth the force of hear, as on the contrary, drineffe quicknethir. The Ele¬ ments therefore arc endewed with thefe qualities. y How>he E- lements may beunderftood to bc mixed in compound bodies. Why of tbe firft qualities, two are ac¬ counted •ftirc,and twApafTive. ‘Fire Names of the ) Aire fubftances; jWater Earth IS ’Hot anddric. >Moift and hot. (Cold and moift. Cold anddrie. Names of the qualities. Thefe foure Elements in thecompofitionof naturall bodies, retaintf' the qualities they formerly had,butthat by their mixture and meeting together of contraries, they are fomewhat tempered and abated. But the Elements arc fotautually mixed oac with another, and all with all, that no fimple part may be found 5 no more than io a mafic of the Eraplaiftcr Dkcalcltheos you can fhe w any AxungUy oylc, or litharge by it felfe; ail things are fo confufed and united by the power of heate, mixing the fmal- left particulars with the fmallcftjand the whole with the whole,in all parts. You may know and perceive this concretion of the foure Elementary fubftanccs in one com¬ pound body, by the power of mixture, in their difiblution by burning a pile or heape ofgreene wood. For the flame cxprcfics the Fire, the fojokc the Aire, tbemoifturc that fweats out at the ends, the Water, and the afhes, the Earth: Youmaycafily perceive by this example fo familiar and obvious to the fenfes what dilfolution is, which is fuccceded by the decay of the compound body • on the contrary, you may know that the coagraentation, or uniting and ioyning into one of the firft mixed bo* diesis fuch, that thereisnopartfinceere,or without mixturc.For ifthcheat which is predominant ia the fire, fhould remaine in the mixture in its perfect vigor, it would confume the reft by its pernitious neighbourhood; the like may be faid of Coldncffc, Moifture, and Drinefle 5 although of thefe qualities, two have the title of A(ftive,that is, Heat, and Coldnefic, becaufe they are the more powcrfull; the other two Paflive, becaufe they may feeme more dull and flow, being compared to the for¬ mer, The temperaments of all fublunarie bodies arife from the commixture of thefe fubftanccs & elementary qualities,which hath bin the principall caufe that mo¬ ved me to treace ofthe Elemcnts.But I leave the force and cffedls of the Elementary