part xm.

When I fay, that a Body is firfl: produced, or beginneth to be, I mean not, but that whatfo- ever is in it of Subftance, Body, or Corporeal,' was before ; for all the Atoms, and little Bulks or Seeds, of which it is compounded, were be¬ fore. As when a Houfe is faid to be made, the Stones, Wood, and therelt, whereof it is’ faid to be built, are underltood to be pre-exifienc. But I only mean, that the Atoms and Seeds thereof are fo commixt, and fo united, as that they are in anew manner, or in a new form, wherein they were not before*, and therefore a Body refulcing thence, then firfl begins to be and be denominated fuch.. ’
Hence, becaufe there arifeth not fo much a new fubftance, as a new quality in compounds, it cometh to pafs, that Generation is a Species of Mutation or Alteration ; and fo is Corruption likewife, but in a contrary manner. Wherefore alfo it comes to pafs, that Generation and Cor¬ ruption are performed only. by conjoining and disjoining thofe Principles, and not by chang¬ ing them,.becaufe the Atoms, as we faid, are in¬ capable of change.
‘ And indeed, feeing all change, ( as we have ‘ already faid, and fhall Ihortly fay again, ) is ‘ perform’d either by Tranfpofition, adding, or '*■ taking away of parts j it followeth,that Atoms.
‘ being fo compad and folid, as that none of ‘ their Particles can be tranfpofed, added, or ‘ taken away, are immutable and incorruptible,
‘ and fuch alfo are their Properties, of which ‘ fort are thofe little Magnitudes, and little Fi- ‘ gures peculiar to them, for it is neceffary that ‘ thefe alfo remain with the fubftance of the ‘ Atomswhen the Compounds are diflolved ; and ' with good reafon, feeing that alfo in things ‘ which we trasform at our pleafare, as when a ‘ Man, of Handing, or upright, becomes fitting,
‘ or bowed, ( or, if you will, is made black or ‘ hot, ) it is ever underftood,that the fame Mag- ‘ nitude, Figure, and Order of parts are in them.
‘ But the qualities that are not in them,nor pro- ‘ per to them, as Standing, Straightnefs, White,
‘ Cold, &c. remain not in the Sub/ed, after its ' Tranfmutation, as the others do, but peri{h,or ‘ are loft to .the whole body, or to the part ‘ wherein they were.
Since therefore,Princlples are intranfmutable, and, in Generation, are no other than mingled and put together,it follows that no fuch mixture can be made, as is a perfed Confufion by Coali¬ tion, but only that which is a compounding by Appofition ; and this, whether thofe little Bulks made up of Atoms are only mingled, or whe¬ ther alfo theAtoms themfelves be mingled with thofe little Bulke refolved into their Atoms, or firfl; Principles ^ whence it follows, that the de- ftrudion of thofe little Bulks, and of the Bodies confining of them, as Wine,and Water,Honeyj and the like, goeth accompanied with the gene¬ ration of the mixt Body, and of the other little Bulks, which are ptoper to it ; not as if Water and Wine, ( for. example,) but as if aquifying, and vinifying Atoms ( as I may fay, ) were mingled together.
And to the Generation, which is made in ^n infinite Eacuiim., we muft cbnceive, that the A- toms fevered from one another, and differing araongft themfelves in Figure, Magnitude, Po- •
fitiort.