Philosophical Letters: or, modest Reflections upon some Opinions in Natural PhilosophyNewcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
Philosophy
Philosophical Letters: or, modest Reflections upon some Opinions in Natural Philosophy
Newcastle, Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of
Newcastle, William Cavendish, Duke of, 1592-1676; Philosophy
these are but effects of Matters actions, and so is rare, and dense,
and the like; but there are some Creatures which seem neither perfectly
rare, nor dense, nor hard, nor soft, but of mixt qualities; as for
example, Quicksilver seems rare, and yet is dense; soft, and yet is
hard; for though liquid Quicksilver is soft to our touch, and rare to
our sight, yet it is so dense and hard, as not to be readily dissolved
from its nature; and if there be such contraries and mixtures in
one particular creature made of self-moving Matter, what will there
not be in Matter it self, according to the old saying: _If the Man
such praise shall have; What the Master that keeps the knave?_ So if
a particular Creature hath such opposite qualities and mixtures of
corporeal motions, what will the Creator have which is self-moving
Matter? Wherefore it is impossible to affirm, that self-moving Matter
is either all rare, or all dense, or all hard, or all soft; because by
its self-moving power it can be either, or both, and so by the change
and variety of motion, there may be soft and rare Points, and hard and
sharp Points, hard and contracted Globes, and soft and rare Globes;
also there may be pressures of Parts without printing, and printing
without pressures. Concerning that part of Matter which is the _Common
Sensorium_, your _Author_ demands, _Whether some point of it receive
the whole Image of the object, or whether it be wholly received into
every point of it?_ I answer, first, That all sensitive Matter is not
in Points; Next, That not any single part can subsist of it self; and
then that one Part doth not receive all parts or any part into it self;
but that Parts by the power of self-motion can and do make several
figures of all sizes and sorts, and can Epitomize a great object into
a very little figure; for outward objects do not move the body, but
the sensitive and rational matter moves according to the figures of
outward objects: I do not say always, but most commonly; _But_, says
your Author, _How can so smal a Point receive the Images of so vast
or so various objects at once, without obliteration or confusion._
First, I answer, That, as I said before, sensitive Matter is not bound
up to a Point, nor to be a single self-subsisting Part. Next, as for
confusion, I say, that the sensitive matter makes no more confusion,
then an Engraver, when he engraves several figures in a small stone,
and a Painter draws several figures in a small compass; for a Carver
will cut out several figures in a Cherry-stone, and a Lady in a little
black Patch; and if gross and rude Art is able to do this, what may
not Ingenious and Wise Nature do? And as Nature is ingenious and
knowing in her self, so in her Parts, and her Parts in her; for neither
whole nor Parts are ignorant, but have a knowledg, each according to
the motion of its own Parts; for knowledg is in Motion, and Motion
in Matter; and the diversity and variety of motion is the diversity
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