An history of the wonderful things of nature, set forth in ten severall classes. Wherein are contained I. The wonders of the heavens. II. Of the elements. III. Of meteors. IV. Of minerals. V. Of plants. VI. Of birds. VII. Of fourfooted beasts. VIII. Of insects ... IX. Of fishes. X. Of man ... now rendred into English, by a person of quality. [i.e. John Rowland] / [Joannes Jonstonus].

  • Jonstonus, Joannes, 1603-1675
Date:
1657
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An history of the wonderful things of nature, set forth in ten severall classes. Wherein are contained I. The wonders of the heavens. II. Of the elements. III. Of meteors. IV. Of minerals. V. Of plants. VI. Of birds. VII. Of fourfooted beasts. VIII. Of insects ... IX. Of fishes. X. Of man ... now rendred into English, by a person of quality. [i.e. John Rowland] / [Joannes Jonstonus]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Of the Stars, will of man, and works of Artificers, are ouc of this account. There is in thefe no mixture of.ncv^ualitiesj butonely an accidental! fpe- cies is induced to a body readymade. The mind is free from the Elements 5 if it fufferany thing, it is by the mediation of the Inftru- mentsof the body, the temperament whereof Mens manners eafily follow. Hence you may fee an errour ; That the charaBers were formed by a certain fofition of the He ovens-i and are moved by a ftronger power from the Heavens, Plato faith falfe. That the Souls before they come into the bo^ dies were madefubje^ to fame Star, Thefe arc toyes. That Stars arc ap¬ pointed for every one of us, bright Stars for rich men 5 little ones for poor men; dark ones for defedsj and fome for every mans condition, Tliny l.i,Hifor,Natur, r.8. There ienot [agreat Society between Heaven and uSi that for our deftiny the brlghtnefje of the Stars fhould be mortal, Our chance is in Gods hand .* It is falfe. That read his fonsdcftinics in the Tables of the Heavens. tjtrore writes elegantly of one white^ in an Epigram .• White in the Stars did oft his ivife behold^ That fhe wot chafe and good he all men told 5 He look’t to find her in the Stars once more^ And then he did proclaim her for a fVhore, But that thy trife wof common^ though thou fee Through all the StarSy not one declares to thee, « Cleomedes in lib, de xi/xwm flsaelatf, fpeaks fomething of the nutriment of the Stars, as cites it, and the 5/o/Vfr obferved the fame. J^aertius (in Lipfius in Manuduli,ad PhyfiolJStoicam,) isdxhyThat thefe fiery Stars are fed and nourijhed^ {the Sun and Moon^ and the refi) the Sun by the great Sea^ as being the great Torchy and a kind of burning endued with un- > derfianding: But the Moony by frefh watersy and fuch AS may be drunk^ becaufe it is mingled with the Ayr, and is near to the Earth, Wherefore 'Macrobius in Somnium Scipionis aferibes it to providence,that the Ocean was placed under the torrid Zone. That all that (pace which the Sun and the reft of the Planets and the Moon wander up and down in^ onthis fide and that fide of the Eccliptick, may have moyfturc for their nouriflimcnt. The opinion feems abfurd at firft ; yet Ambrofius I, 2. 3 .thought fo j nor doth Libavius I, ’^ ,de origin, r<r«/»,feeni to deny it. Lucianus faith, there fhall be a common bone-fire for the 'world. Whence fhal 1 this burning be, but that moyfture muft fail ? and that cannot fail, but for nutriment. Yet fee that you make not a combuftion amongft the Scars, by afl'uming an authorial fpirit into the nature of the Stars, _ Aftici