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
sense and reason, any such blazing Spirit in me; but I have found by
experience, that when my mind and thoughts have been benighted with
Melancholy, my Imagination hath been more active and subtil, then
when my mind has been clear from dark Melancholy: Also I find that
my thoughts and conceptions are as active, if not more, in the night
then in the day; and though we may sometimes dream of several Lights,
yet I cannot perceive a constant light in us; however Light, Blazes,
and all those effects are no more then other effects of Nature are;
nor can they have more power on other Creatures, then other Creatures
have on them: Neither are they made otherwise then by the corporeal
motions of Natural Matter, and are dissolved and transchanged as other
Creatures, out of one form or figure into another. Next your _Author_
discoursing[2] whether there be any Vacuum in Nature, doth incline to
the affirming party, that there is a Vacuum in the Air; to wit, _There
is in the air something, that is less then a body, which fills up the
emptinesses or little holes and pores in the air, and which is wholly
annihilated by fire; It is actually void of all matter, and is a middle
thing between a body and an Incorporeal Spirit, and almost nothing
in respect of bodies; for it came from Nothing, and so may easily be
reduced to nothing._ All this, _Madam_, surpasses my capacity; for
I can in no ways conceive any thing between something and nothing,
as to be less then something, and more then nothing; for all that is
corporeal in Nature, is to my reason something; that is, some really
existent thing; but what is incorporeal in Nature, is nothing; and if
there be any absolute vacuum in Nature, as your _Author_ endeavours
to prove, then certainly this Vacuum cannot be any thing whatsoever;
for a Vacuum is a pure Nothing. But many ingenious and learned men
have brought as many arguments and reasons against Vacuum, as others
bring for it, and so it is a thing which I leave to them to exercise
their brains withal. The like is the opinion which many maintain
concerning Place, _viz._ that there is a constant succession of Place
and Parts, so that when one part removes, another doth succeed in its
place; the truth and manner whereof I was never able to comprehend:
for, in my opinion, there can be no place without body, nor no body
without place, body and place being all but one thing. But as for
the perpetual Creation and annihilation of your _Authors_ Vacuities,
give me leave to tell you, _Madam_, that it would be a more laborious
work, then to make a new World, or then it was to make this present
World; for God made this World in six days, and rested the seventh
day; but this is a perpetual making of something out of nothing.
Again: concerning Rainbows, your _Author_ says,[3] That _a Rainbow
is not a natural effect of a natural Cause, but a divine Mystery in
its original; and that it has no matter, but yet is in a place, and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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