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WITH
OBSERVATIONS and INQUIRIES thereupon.
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By R. HOOKE, Fellow of the ROYAL SOCIETY.
Non possis oculo quantum contendere Linceus,
Non tamen idcirco contemnas Lippus inungi. Horat. Ep. lib. 1.
LONDON, Printed by Jo. Martyn, and Ja. Allestry, Printers to the ROYAL SOCIETY, and are to be sold at their Shop at the Bell in S. Paul's Church-yard. M DC LX V.
TO THE
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KING.
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SIR,
Do here most humbly lay this
small Present at
Your Majesties Royal feet. And though it comes accompany'd with two
disadvantages, the
meanness of the
Author, and of the
Subject; yet in both I am
incouraged by the
greatness of your
Mercy and your
Knowledge. By the
one I am taught, that you can
forgive the most
presumptuous Offendors: And by the
other, that you will not
esteem the least work of
Nature, or
Art, unworthy your
Observation. Amidst the many
felicities that have accompani'd
your Majesties happy
Restauration and
Government, it is none of the least considerable that
Philosophy and
Experimental Learning have
prosper'd under your
Royal Patronage. And as the calm prosperity of your Reign has given us the
leisure to follow these
Studies of
quiet and
retirement, so it is just, that the
Fruits of them should, by way of
acknowledgement, be return'd to
your Majesty. There are, Sir, several other of your Subjects, of your
Royal Society, now busie about
Nobler matters: The
Improvement of
Manufactures and
Agriculture, the
Increase of
Commerce, the
Advantage of
Navigation: In all which they are
assisted by
your Majesties Incouragement and
Example. Amidst all those
greater Designs, I here presume to bring in that which is more
proportionable to the
smalness of my Abilities, and to offer some of the
least of all
visible things, to that
Mighty King, that has
establisht an Empire over the best of all
Invisible things of this World, the
Minds of Men.
Your Majesties most humble and most obedient Subject and Servant,
ROBERT HOOKE.
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TO THE
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ROYAL SOCIETY.
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fter my
Address to our
Great Founder and
Patron, I could not but think my self oblig'd, in consideration of those
many Ingagements you have laid upon me, to offer these my
poor Labours to this MOST ILLUSTRIOUS ASSEMBLY. YOU have been pleas'd formerly to accept of these rude
Draughts. I have since added to them some
Descriptions, and some
Conjectures of my own. And therefore, together with YOUR
Acceptance, I must also beg YOUR
pardon. The Rules YOU have prescrib'd YOUR selves in YOUR Philosophical Progress do seem the best that have ever yet been practis'd. And particularly that of avoiding
Dogmatizing, and the
espousal of any
Hypothesis not sufficiently grounded and confirm'd by
Experiments. This way seems the most excellent, and may preserve both
Philosophy and
Natural History from its former
Corruptions. In saying which, I may seem to condemn my own Course in this Treatise; in which there may perhaps be some
Expressions, which may seem more
positive then YOUR Prescriptions will permit: And though I desire to have them understood only as
Conjectures and
Quæries (which YOUR Method does not altogether disallow) yet if even in those I have exceeded, 'tis fit that I should declare, that it was not done by YOUR Directions. For it is most unreasonable, that YOU should undergo the
imputation of the
faults of my
Conjectures, seeing YOU can receive so
small advantage of reputation by the
sleight Observations of
YOUR most humble and most faithful Servant
ROBERT HOOKE.
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THE
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PREFACE.
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t is the great prerogative of Mankind above other Creatures, that we are not only able to behold the works of Nature, or barely to sustein our lives by them, but we have also the power of considering, comparing, altering, assisting, and improving them to various uses. And as this is the peculiar priviledge of humane Nature in general, so is it capable of being so far advanced by the helps of Art, and Experience, as to make some Men excel others in their Observations, and Deductions, almost as much as they do Beasts. By the addition of such artificial Instruments and methods, there may be, in some manner, a reparation made for the mischiefs, and imperfection, mankind has drawn upon it self, by negligence, and intemperance, and a wilful and superstitious deserting the Prescripts and Rules of Nature, whereby every man, both from a deriv'd corruption, innate and born with him, and from his breeding and converse with men, is very subject to slip into all sorts of errors.
The only way which now remains for us to recover some degree of those former perfections, seems to be, by rectifying the operations of the Sense, the Memory, and Reason, since upon the evidence, the strength, the integrity, and the right correspondence of all these, all the light, by which our actions are to be guided is to be renewed, and all our command over things it to be establisht.
It is therefore
