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Show Namu of Subftances. Boo kill: ----~----~~----~---- aU below Swine; Had it beer! Murthcr to defiroy it 1 Or mu Q the Ilifl1op have been coofulred, whether it were Man enough to be admitted ro rhe Font, or no? As I have been told ithappen'd in Fra11ce fome years fince, in fomewhat a like cafe. So uncertam are the Iloundarres of Species of Animals tOJus, who have oo other meafures, than the complex Ideas of ou( own collel.tiog: And fo f.1r are we from certainly knowing wlm a Man is ; though, perhaps, it will be judged great ignorance, to make any doubt about it. And yet; I think, I may fay, that the certain lloundaries of that Species, arc fo far from being determined, and the precile number of limple !tlear, which make that nominal E«cnce, fo f.1r from beincr ferled and perfeOtly known, that very material Doubts may fiill arife :'bout it: 'And I imagine, none of the D•finitions, of the word Ma11, we yet have, nor Defcr(ptions of that fort of Animal, fo perfed and exad, as to fatisfie a conliderate inquifitive perfon ; much lefs to obtain a general Confcnr and to be tl1at which Men would everywhere !lick by, in the Decifion al· Cafes, and determining of Life and Death, Ilaptifm or noilaptifm, inPro-dudions that lillight l1appen. · ~. ~7· But though thefe nominal EffiNces of Sulj}a11ces are made by rhc Mind, they are not yet made fo arbitrarily, ar tboje of mixed Modes. To the making of any nominal Elfence, it is ncceiTary, Firjl, That the Ideas whereof it conlifls, have fuch an union, as to make but one Idea, how compoundedfoever. Secondly, That the particular ldeaJ fo united, be exactly the fame, neither more nor lefs. For if two abflrad complex/dear, dilfcr either in number, or forts, of their component parts, they make two different, an.di not one and the fame Elfence. Tn the firfi of thefe, the Mind in making irs complex Ideas of Subflances, only follows Nature; and purs Qone together, which are not fuppofed to have an union in Nature. No brJdy 'j<liosthe Voice of a Sheep, with the Shape of an Horfe ·nor· the Colour of Lead, with the Weight and Fixedncfs of Gold, to be the cqmplex Id. .a s ofa ny real Subflances; unlefs he has n mind to fill his head with Cbim£r~'s, and his Difcourfe w!th unintelli_gible Words. Men, obfurvmg certam ~ahtres always,1orn d and exrflmg together, therein copted Nature; and of Ideas fo unrted, made their complex ones of Sublbnc; s. For though Men may make what complex Ideas they pleafe, and gtve what names to them they wr!J; yet rf they will be underflood, when they fpeak of Things really exifling, they mull, in fome degree, conform rhett Idea~, to the Tlung' they would fpeak of: Or elfe Men' language wrll be Irke that of Babel; and every Man's Words, being in• tcllrgtblc onJy ro hrmfelf, would no longer fervc to Converfarion and the ordtnary Affair. of Life, if the Ideas they !land for, be not fom~ way anfwenng the common appearances, and agreement of Subflances as thq really exifl:. ' ~. :>.S. Secondly, Though the Mind of Man, i11 makh1g its compkx ldtar •f S•bflancer, never puts any together, that do not really, or· arc not (uppofed toco·extfl:; and fo tt truly borrows that Union from Nature : X,ct th~ Nu'!'/Jer it combines, depeNds upon rbe various Care, /JJdujiry, or l:'u~(ie of lum tbt maker it. Men generally content thcmfclvcsll'ith fame lew fenfible obv10us Q)]alities; and often, if not always, lea1•e out others as materral, and as firmly united, as thofe that they take. Of fen· fiblc Subfl:ances, there are two forts; one of organiz'd Bodies, ,~hich arc propagated bySee;Js; •Jld rn thefe,the Shape is that, which to us is the lea· drng ~alrty,a.nd moll: charaCl:enfltcal Part, that determines the Species: And therefore m V~getable< and Anrmals, an extended folid Subflance of fuch, a certam F1gureufually ferveHhe turn. For howel'et fame Men fcem Chap. VI. Names of Sub fiances. feem to prize their Definition of A11ima{ Ratio11ale, yet lhould there a Crea· rure be found, that had Language and Reafon, but partaked not ohbe ufual fl1ape of a Man, I believe it would hardly p;fs for a Man, bo\~ much k>ever it were A•imal Rationale: And 1~ Baa(am s ~fs had, all Ills L1fe, difcourfed as rationally, as he dtd once wrth Ills Mal]:er, I doubt yet, whe· ther any one would have thought him worthy the name Man, or allow'd himto beofthe fame Species with himfelf. As in Vegetables)rnd A?i· ma[s 'tis the Shape, fo m moll: other Bod1es, not propagated by Seed, tts the Colour we moll: fix on, and are mall: led by. Thus where we find the Colour of Gold, we are apt to imagme all the other ~ahtres, comprehended in our com'plex Idea, to be there alfo : and we commonly t~ke thefetwo obvious Q;l,alities, viz. Shape and Colour, for fo prefumpt.tve /Jear of feveral Spectcs , that in a good P1Cl:ure, we readtly fay, th1s 1s a Lion, and that a Rofe; tllis is a Gold, and that a Sr!ver Goblet, only by the diff'erent Figures and Colours , reprefented to the Eye by the Pe9cil. . ~. ~9• But though this ferves well enough for grofs ~od confufed Con· ceptions, and unaccurate ways of Talk10g .and Thrnkrng; yet Men ar< for e•o•gb from bavi"g agreed on tbe precife m1mber of jimple I dear~ or Qyaiities, f,cfonging to a•y fort of lbmgs, Jig•ified o/ tU name: Nor !S It a wonder, fince it requires much tlme, pa10s, and skill, find enqu1ry, and long examination, to find out what, and h01~ m~ny thofc ljmple ldras are which are confiantly and mfeparablyumted 10 Nature,J>nd !Ire always t~ be found together in the fame Subject . . Moll: Men, wanting eitner Time, Inclination, or Indulj:ry enough for this, even to fome tole· rabledegree, content themfelves with fomefew?bvtous, and outward appearances of Things, thereby readily to difungu1lh, an~ fo~t them for the common Aff'airs of Life f And fo, without farther e~ammatlon,. gtve them names or take up the names already in ufe. Whtch though m CQtnrnon Conve~fation, they pafs weU enough for the..lig(ls of fome few ob£i1: 'Q;lalities co-exifl:ing, are yet far enough from comi>{ehendmg, 10 a et. fignification, a precife number of limple Ideas; much lefs all thofe, whrcu are united in Nature. He that lhall confider, afte~ fo much f11r, about Gtnr and Sper:ies and fuch a deal of talk of fpecrfic.k D1fferences, !~ow li:w Words we h;veyet fetled Definitions of, may, Wlth Reafoo,tmagme, that thofe Forms there hath been fo much noife made about, are ~mly Chimmras · whicb give us no light into the fpecifick Natures offi Tlu~gs. And he th~t lhall confider, how far the names of Subfl:anc~ are rom ;.aving Significations wherein all who ufe them do agree, wlil have ff}. on to conclude that ;hough the nominal Elfences of Subfl:ances, are a . uppofed to be ~opied from Nature; yet they are all, or mofl of them, f,t:rY unperled. Since the compofition of thofe complex / dear,. are, m e~e· vera! Men very different: and therefore, that thefe Bouodancs of SpeeNes, are as Me~ and not as Nature makes them, if at lea~ there .arl 10 5 bture an f~ch refixed bounds. 'Tis true, that many partrcu ar u • fiances ;re fo m;de by Nature, that they have agree~:.and ~k~nefs ~~~ With another, and fo afford a fundation ofbemg ran . mto o s. . the foning of Things by us, or the !"akiog of dctermmate Specres, r:n~ in order to naming and comprehendmg them under general tern;t" . of · not f~ow it can be properly faid, that Nature fcts the Boun anes t the Species of Things: Or if it be fo, cur Boundanesol SpedcJesf, are no! exadly conformable to thofe m. Nature. Fo r ." ,c , 1Ia vrog. anUe et hnof eg QenJ!earlai - mmesfor prcfent ufe, fiay not for a perf.fl:ed d!fcovr"dill~frences and agree-lies, . which would befi !hew us tl!C1r mo mat<na e · mcn•s. Ff~ ~• |