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Show Simple Modes of Space. Book II. ill without being ever able to come to any tfhl:oep f oorr mfel:~m at,s oleftte uns a esn wal erg we 1't 'a s much as we will ' is that which gives us the Idea oflmm_ell}ity. 1 M dification of this Idea of Space,which is no- .§.,-. There IS a•!otlefrh~ Parts ofthe TerminationofCapacity, or t!ung butthe RelaJ'T 0 fi !ves This the Touch difcovers in fenfible BoExtenlion omong t lemce m· .within our reach; and the Eye takes botll d!es, '\~fe ExdrCI!tl~~s owl~ofe Boundaries are within its view: Where from B ICSI an b Eo 0tre~ities terminate eith<r in fireight Lines, whicl1 obfervmg lOW t e x . 't d L' h . ,· A •I leet at difcernible Angles ; or Ill croo <e mes, w erem no ng ~s n b ·ved by conlidering thefe as they relate to one another, m can e pefrcle• E 'rremities of any Body or Space, It has that Idea we call all Parts 0 lnel ~ d to the Mind infinite Variety. For belidcs the vaft Flgur( w l!C lOll Or s . a . I h (!( f Num~r of different Figures, that do really eX! m t 1e co erent ma cs o Matter the Stock, that the Mind has in 1ts Power, by varymg the Uea of s >ace;' and thereby making frill new Compofitw~s, by repeat log 1ts own [a.11e as, an d J· O·l llt· ng the.m .a s it. pleafes , IS perfectly mexhaufiible: And fo 1t can multiply Figures tn mfnztum. . §. 6. l'or the Mind, having a Power to r~peat the Idea of a~y length d•· rettl firetched out, and join it to another m the fame. D~rectwn, wh•c~1 •s to dfuble ti1e length of that fireight Lme ; or elfe JOIIl 1t to another \1 1th 1 t Inclination it thinks fit, andfo makewhatforto! ~ogle 1t p!eafes: ~~d being able alfo to fi10rtcn. any Line it imagines, by takmg from 1t ~ or 1, or what part it pleafcs, Without bemg a~le to come to an en? of any iuch Divifions, it can make an Angle of a~y b•gnefs: So alfo theLwes ~hat are its fides of what length it pleafes, wluch JO!Il~ng a gam to mher Lmes of different lengths, and at different Angles, ull1t has wh?llY mclofed an Space, it is evident that it can multiply Figures both 1": thm Shape, a~d Capacity, in infnitum, all which are but fo many d1tferentjimp/e Modes of Space, . . . . .· k d The fame that it can do W1th fire•ghtLmes,tt can do alfo wnhcroo e , or crooked and fireight wgether; and the fa'!'e 1t can do m Lmes,1t can alfo in Superficies, by wluch we may b~ led mw farther Thoughts of the endlefs Variety of Figures, that the Mmd has a Power to make,and there· by to multiply the jimple Modes of Space. . . . . §. 7. Another Idea coming under tllis Head,and belongmg w tl~•sTnbe, 1s that we call Place. As in fimple Space, we confider the relat1on of D•fl: ance between any two Bodies, or Points; fo in our Idea of Place, we confider the relation of Difiance betwixt any thing, and any two or more Points, which are confidered, as keeping the fame difiance one With another, and fo confidered as at refi ; for when we find any thmg at thef.1mc diftance now which it was Yefierday from any two or more Pomts, which have ~ot Iince changed their di!tance one with another, and wtth which we then compared it, we fay it hath kept the fame. Place : But 1f it hath fenfibly altered its difiance with either .of thofe Pmnts, we fay 1t hath changed its Place: Though vulgarly fpeakmg m. the common No: tion of Place, we do not always exactly obferve the d1Hance from prec1fc Points; but larger Portions of fenlible Objeqs, to wluch we confider the thing placed to bear Relation, and its dilbnce, from which we have fome Reafon w obferve. §. 8. Thus a Company of Chefs-men, fl:anding on the fame fquares of the Chefs-board, where we left them, we fay they are all in the fame P l"cc, or unmoved; though, perhaps, the Chefs-board hath been in the mean time carried out of one Room into another,becaufe we compared them on-ly Chap. XIII. Simple Moder of Space. ly to the Parts of the Chefs-board, which keep the fame ditlance one with another. The Chefs-board, we alfo fay, is in the fame Place it was, if it remain in the Clme part of tl1c Cabin, though, perhaps, the Ship it;, in fails all the while: and the Ship is faid to be in the fame Place, fuppolin; it kept the famedifiance with the Parts of the neighbouring Land; thoug!~ perhaps, the Earth hath turned round; and fo both Chefs-men and Board and Ship, have every onecbant,ed Place in refi:>eCl: of remoter B~dies whicl; have kept the fame ditlance one with another. But yet the d ifian~e from certain Parts of the Board, being that which determines the place of the Chefs-men; and thcditlance from the fixed parts of the Cabin( with which we made the Comparifon) being that which determined the Place of the Chefs·board; and the fixed parts of the Earth, that by which we determi• ned the Place of the Ship, thcfc thing' may be faid properly to be in the fame Place, in thofc rcfpeCls : Though their difiance !rom fame other ~hings, which in this matter we did not confider, being voried, they have undoubtedly cbanged Place in that refpect; and we our felves fhal! think fo, when we haveoccafion to compare them with thofe other . §. 9· But this ModificationofDifiance,we call Place,being made by Men, for their common ufc, that by it they might be able to deiign the parti· cular Pofition of Things, where they had occafion for fuch Defignation, Men confider and determine of this Place, by reference to thofe adjacent things, which befi ferved to their prefent Purpofe, without conlidering other things, which to another Purpofe would better determiNe zhe Place of the fame thing. Thus in the Chefs-board, the ufe of the Defg•ation of the Place of each Chefs-men, being determined only within that chequer'd piece of Wood, 'twould crofs that l'urpafe, to mcafure it by any thing elfe , But when thefe very Chefs. men are put up in a Bag, if any one lhou!d ask, where the black Ring is, it would be proper to determine the Place by the parts of the Room it was in, and not by the Chefs-board ; there being another ufe of defgning the Place it is now in, than when in Play it was on the Chefs-board, and fo mufi be determined by other Bodies. So if any one lhould ask, in what Place are the Verfes, which report the Story of Nij'w and Eurialll.f, 'rwould be very improper to determine this Place, by faying, they were in fuch a part of the Earth, or in Bodley's Library: But the right Delignation of the place, would be by the parts of Pirgil's Works; and the proper Anfwer would be, That thefe Verfes were about the middle of the Ninth Book of his A!neides; And that they have been always confiantly in the fame Place ever Iince f/'irgil was printed: Which is true, though the Book it felf hath moved a Thoufond times, the ufe of the Idea of !'lace here, being to know only, in what part ofth~ Book that Srory is ; that fo upon occalion, we may know where to find it, and have recourfe to it for our ufe. §. ro. That our Idea of Place, is nothing elfe, but fuch a relative Po/irion of any thing, as I have before mentioned, I think, is plain, and will be ealilyadmitted,when we confider, that we can have no Idea of the place of the Univerfe, though we can of aU the parts of 1t; becaufe beyond that, we have not the Idea of any fixed, ditlinct, particular Being,, in reference to which, we can imagine it to have any relatwn ?f <hflancc; but all be· yond It is one uniform Space or Expanfion,whcrem the Mmd finds nova· riety, no morks. For to (.,y that the World is fomewhere,means noqw:e, but that it does exifi; this though a Phrafe,borrowed from Place, figmly· ing only its Exiflence, not LocatiOn; and when one can find our, and frame in his Mind clearly and difiintt!y the Place of the Vmverfe, he Wtll be able to tell us, whctiler it moves or fiands tlill in tile undiflinguilhablc Inane 55 |