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
in one Garden, and upon one patch of Ground, whereon the Sun equally
casts his beams, when as yet they are all different in their natural
tempers and degrees. And so certainly there is Air, Fire, and Water,
in the bowels of the Earth, which were never made by the Sun, the Sea,
and this Exterior elemental Air. Wherefore those, in my opinion, are
in gross Errors, who imagine that these Interior Effects in the Earth
are produced from the mentioned Exterior Elements, or from some other
forreign and external Causes; for an external cause can onely produce
an external effect, or be an occasion to the production of such or
such an effect, but not be the immediate efficient or essential cause
of an interior natural effect in another Creature, unless the Interior
natures of different Creatures have such an active power and influence
upon each other, as to work interiously at a distance, such effects
as are proper and essential to their Natures, which is improbable;
for though their natures and dispositions may mutually agree and
sympathize, yet their powers cannot work upon their Interior Natures
so, as to produce internal natural effects and proprieties in them. The
truth is, it cannot be; for as the Cause is, so is the Effect; and if
the Cause be an exterior Cause, the Effect must prove so too: As for
example; the heat of the Sun, and the heat of the Earth, although they
may both agree, yet one is not the cause of the other; for the Suns
heat cannot pierce into the bowels of the Earth, neither can the heat
of the Earth ascend so far as to the Center of the Sun: As for the heat
of the Earth, it is certain enough, and needs no proof; but as for the
heat of the Sun, our senses will sufficiently inform us, that although
his beams are shot forth in direct lines upon the face of the Earth,
yet they have not so much force, as to pierce into a low Celler or
Vault; Wherefore it is not probable, that the Earth hath its natural
heat from the Sun, and so neither its dryness from the Air, nor its
moisture from the Sea, but these interior effects in the Earth proceed
from some other interior causes. And thus there may be great difference
between the heat, cold, moisture, and drought which is in the Elements,
and between those which are in Vegetables, Minerals, and Animals, not
onely in their General kinds, but also in their Particulars: And not
onely a difference in the aforesaid qualities of heat, cold, moisture,
and drought, but also in all other motions, as Dilations, Contractions,
Rarefactions, Densations, &c. nay, in their Mixtures and Temperaments:
As for example; the temper of a Mineral is not the temper of an Animal,
or of a Vegetable, neither is the temper of these the temper of the
exterior Elements, no more then the temper of the Elements is the
temper of them; for every Creature has a temper natural and peculiar
to it self, nay, every particular Creature, has not onely different
tempers, compositions, or mixtures, but also different productions; or
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