PART XIII.

E P-I C XJ'R U-S.
. . 5« i
ned to penetrate farther, they likewife might attract another Iron, and that another, upon the fame ground.
Moreover, it may be conceived in this manner, that there flow certain little Bodies, as well out of the Magnet, as out of Iron , but more and ftronger out of the Magnet •, whereby it comes to pafs, that the Air is driven a Way much far-, ther from about the Magnet, than from about the Iron •, whereupon there are many more little vacuities made about it than about the Iron. And becaufe the Iron is placed within the compafs of the difpelkd Air, there is much Y'acmm^ taken up betwixt it and the Magnet. Whence it hap¬ pens, that the little Bodies leap forward more freely, to be carried into that pl^ce, and there¬ upon run towards the Magnet \ but they cannot go thither in a great and extraordinary cornpany, without enticing along the things that cohere^ with them *, and fo the whole mats, confting of fuch coherent things, goes along with them.
It may alfo be faid, that the modon of the Iron is alTifted by the Aire, through its' conti¬ nual motion and agitation. And that firft from the outward Air, which continually prefling, and prefling more vehemently where it moft a- bounds, canuot but drive the Iron into that part where there is lefs, or which is more vacuous, as towards the Magnet. Next from the inward, which in the fame mannef continually agitating, moving,and deriving, cannot but give it a moti¬ on into that part, where there is greateft Va¬ cuity.
CHAP. VII.
Of the Generation of Animals.
WE come now to fpeak of Animal^ which are of fo diffierenc Natures, fom’e Walk¬ ing, others Flying, others Swimrhing, others Creeping: fome being Greater,fomeLeirer^ foirie more Perieft, fome lefs Perfefl:,( even we Our- fclves alfo being Animals, ) and yet withal ft ill of one Nature ; that Nature difeovers an ad-' mirable Power iuthe compofure ofthfem.
For fince Nature is, as it were, inftruded by the things themfelves, and from their orderly procedure, and compelled by a kind of nccelR- ty, or by the concatenation of Motions, to per¬ form thefe fo many and fo different Effefts,which we call the Works of Nature ; this efpecially appears in Animals, becaufe the concatenation of Motions fhews itfelf to be Artificial, chiefly in them, although proceeding from a fubftance utterly void of Reafon.
And although the Atoms themfelves be net endued with Reafon, nor their motion govern’d by a rational Conduft ; yet the nature of every living Creature in the beginning of the World grew to be fuch, that, according to the tempe¬ rature of thofe Motions, which the Atoms then had, other Motions ftill, and others followed, which being caufed after the fame manner ftill produced their Like. By which means thofe motions,which,in the beginning were merdy ca- fual, in procefs of time became artificial, amj fucceeded after a conftant and determinate Or¬ der,'
But to difpurfe more fully hereupon^ Divers kinds of Animals being produced in the begirt^; ning of the Worlds it came to pafs, firft by theii^, receiving congruous Aliment, that? ,tI]of^ Atoms', which are adaptable to one another,; wer/e
traced and intangfed by their ;f^w-Atom%;
which' were already iti the Anirnalif tb^e which, were pot adaptable being cut off, ) fo'thata per- culiafll^ature to eveyy'one oLitiem, Such a compound of fuch, grows up fiyft, and at length. become^ confirmed,
Next, That, by ,',the perpetual ra.otion of Atoms, and their ii^trinfecal Ebullition, fome of them being ftill thruft out of their, place, and, ■running into the genita'I parts, meet there from ■arLplaces and , there- being- a di^lindion of Sexes, after mu, tu.^1 ,j(y.ppetition and iGdition,are received in the Womb.
; Afcey this, that the Atoms, or fcminal Bodies 'comppunded of IheBa^and flowing from all parts j (^wb'ciice theref^;e,_^ t;he Seed may. be conceived as fohthing incorporeal^ pot in rigour indeed, becaufe only Facmm is truly fiufb, but in the moft familiar ■ Senfe of the VVord.^ by vfhich we term any thing in- c'or - oreal^ which ea/ily peftetratps through the moft fo~ lid Bodies., ) that the Atoms, I fay, are thofe fe- ■mlnal little Bodies, which thus flowed from all parts, did therefore ( this Motion continuing,) withdraw them from the tumult of others, and,, like Atoms, drawing their Like j therefore thofe that fom,? from, jtlre Head, yvould betake them-??) fel'ves^ to -one place; thofe from the Breaft into* the pext jplace j and thofe which come fropi eve¬ ry^ other part^ rank themfelves in their di?- ftip^.fituation; 'and fo at length, a little Ani-/ mal IS formed lil|:e that, whence the Seed was ta- ken., , _ ' . ,
M6reover,that^this little Animal is nouriflied^ and increafeth by the attraction of like Atoms, or little Bodies meeting together in the Womb j until the Womb, being wearied^ and no longer fit to nourifli them\ flackens its motions, or ra¬ ther opens , the ,and gives them leave to go
out. '
Further, that this Animal being after the fame manner fully grown up, and the continual agi¬ tation of the Atoms perfuing one another, not ceafing, it begetteth another like thing, and that other confequently another.
At length, that Nature, being by little and little accuftomed hereunto, learneth, as it were, fo to propane Animals like in their kinds, as that from tbe motion, and perpetual Series of Atoms, it derives a neceflity of operating conti¬ nually in tpis manner.
Thus muih for the generation of thofe Animals, which are hnade by Propagation j As for thofe which we fomtimes fee produced otherwife, they may be generated after the fame manner, as all things at firft were *, whether fome Seeds of them were remaining, formed from the very begin¬ ning ; or whether daily formed, either within, or without , the Animals themfelves ; and if within, then thruft our, ( as in the generation of Worms, and Flies,leaving behind them fome remainders, cither in the Earth, or elfewhere ; of' which, other Animals, of the fame kinds, are begotten. )
What I faid of the defluxion of Seed, I mean not only, on the parts of the Male, but of the;
Female
E P I C U R U S.