'Collections of travels through Turky into Persia, and the East Indies. Giving an account of the present state of those countries, as also a full relation of the five years wars, between Aureng-Zebe and his brothers in their father's life time, about the succession. And a voyage made by the Great Mogul (Aureng-Zebe) with his Army from Dehli to Lahor, from Lahor to Bember, and from thence to the Kingdom of Kachemire, by the Mogols, call'd, the Paradise of the Indies. Together with a relation of the Kingdom of Japan and Tunkin, and of their particular manners and trade. To which is added a new description of the Grand Seignior's Seraglio, and also of all the Kingdoms that encompass the Euxine and Caspian Seas, being the travels of Monsieur TavernierBernier, and other great men.' [‎153] (824/1024)

Atom and the Mind of Man.
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Heat, the Spirits, and a good Difpoiition of Organs, (all which are natural things, and
astheyfpeak, depending from Atoms as Principles and the firft Matter) are things ne-
celfary to all thofe Thoughts, Reafonings and Reftedtions 5 and, in a word, to all
thofe Internal Operations I have mentioned. This is a thing that cannot be denied, and
which every one doth too feniibly experiment not to aver it: But thence to conclude, that
wh^tfoever intervenes and concurs to form thofe Operations, is only and meerly Body,
f Atoms, Spirits, Subtil Matter, is that which, after the leaft Refle&ion made upon
their Excellency, and upon the, imperfection of Bodies or Atoms, or upon the littler£-
femblance there is in their Qualities to Operations, can never with any goodfenfe
be granted: So that,methinks the moft that might be allow’d, would be, that the
Atoms, and Spirits, and all thofe other things alledged, are indeed neceffary as condi
tions ordifpofitions, or the like, and not as the firft and abfolute Principles, and as the
fotd caufe of the Operations i but that there is requifite fome other thing than all that,
fomething nobler, higher, and more perfedi.
The fecond thing is, That his true alfo, that we cannot form aright, or, as they
fpeak, a next and pofidve Idea of what is above a Body or of any thing that is not Body :
This, indeed, we cannot do, in my opinion, whilft we are in this mortal ftatefo ftridt-
Jy united to the Body i the dependance of the Bodily Senfes, that fomuch confine and
obfcure the light of our Underftanding, hinders us from it: But I fee not that thence it
is to be concluded, that therefore there is really nothing Body, or Atoms, or
Matter. For, how many things are there, of which we have no fuch pofitive Idea,
which yet Reafon obligeth us to avow that they have a real Being ? Or rather, how-
few things are there, of which we have any True Idea's ? Have thefe Philofophers
themfelves any pofitive of their Atoms ? They acknowledge that their fmalnefs
is fuch, that it cannot be fo much as imagin’d by hearing this word pronounc’d or
explain’d: fo far are they from being capable to fall under our fenfes, and from im
printing in us a true and pofitive Idea •> and yet notwithftanding they believe, and
conclude from Reafon, that they are. A Mathematician, hath he the pofitive Idea of
the Magnitude of the Sun? Itisfo prodigious, and fo far remote from the capacity of
the Senfes, that we are not able even fo much as to imagine it fuch as it is j arid yet for
all this, there is none that is not fully perfwaded and convinced thereof by the-feree-of
Demonftrations, and that knows not perfe&ly, that he exceeds by far die bignefs of
the Globe of the Earth. And befides, it is not true, that the nature of a thing may be
known two manner ol ways *, either pojitively, as when it falls under fome one or more
of our Senfes, or a§ when we give a pofitive Definition thereof^ or negatively, by faying
what it is not: Now I (half grant, that we are not capable to know the Principle of
our Operations or Ratiocinations by the firfi way, to fay what it is, and how thofe
Operations are made and produced. Alas! we are not fo happy b we fhould need other
Senfes far more perfedf than all thofe we have. We are not born to dive and Philofo-
phizefo far: , ! .V \
lav i da pyxclufit fpeciem natura vide ad/.
' i ' ’’ ' ■; 5 ( r - : ' " ' <- ^ ■ - . - • r ,
But we ought alfo to acknowledge, that at leaf! we are capable to know it after the
fecond way : So that, if we cannot fay truly and pofitively what it is, we can at leaft
fay, and certainly know what it is not: I mean, that from the perfection of the Qpera**
tions, which we do evidently fee to be fuch as that they have no proportion with all
thofe proprieties and perfections of Atoms* and do univerfally furpafs the reach of
what is meerly Body *, we can deduce a certain Gonclufion, that the Principle of fuch
Operations, and thofe Operations themfelves mu ft needs be fomething above all that s
Body or Corporeal. Which is here fufficient for me, who at the beginning engaged my
felf no further, and pretend not, that we can make a true and pofitive of that
Principle b but only that we can and ought to conclude by Ratiocination, that there rouft
needs be fomething, as hath been faid, that is far more perfeCf and far more noble than
all that is in the rank of Bodies, whatever its being or Nature may be.
But ftiall l make an end, fully to difcover unto you my thought ? You well know,
whether I am a perfon that taketh pleafure in vaunting, or in forging Untruths, or to
fpeak things at random in a matter fo important as this. It cannot be denied,^ that
there is a very great difference between the Operations of Brutes, and thofe admirable
Operations of Man, of which we now treat: I fpeak not only in refpeCf of thofe of their
outward
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