OF The ELEMENT of AIRE.

 T

he Aire is an entire Element, most worthy¹ of the three in its quality, without, light, and invisible, but within, heavy, visible, and fixed², it is hot, and moist, and tempered with Fire, and more worthy then Earth, & Water. It is volatil, but may be fixed; and when it is fixed, it makes every body penetrable³. Of its most pure substance the vitall spirits of living Creatures are made; that which is lesse pure is taken up into its proper sphere of the Aire; but the residue⁴, viz. the grosser part abides⁵ in the Water, and is circulated with the Water, as Fire with Earth, because they are friendly the one to the other. It is most worthy, as wee have said; and it is the true place of the Seed of all things: in it Seed is imagined, as in man, which afterward⁶ by the circulating motion is cast into its own Sperm⁷. This Element[Pg 96] hath the form of entirenesse to distribute the Seed into Matrixes by the Sperm, and Menstruum of the world. In it also is the vitall spirit of every Creature, living in all things, penetrating⁸, and constringing the seed in other Elements, as Males doe in Females. It nourisheth them, makes them conceive, and preserveth them; and this daily experience teacheth, that in this Element not only Mineralls, Animalls, or Vegetables live but also other Elements. For wee see that all Waters become putrefied, and filthy⁹ if they have not fresh Aire: The Fire also is extinguished, if the Aire be taken from it: (Thence Chymists come to know how to dispose of their Fire into severall degrees by means of the Aire, and to order their registers according to the measure of the Air:) The pores also of the Earth are preserved by Aire: In briefe, the whole structure of the world is preserved by Aire. Also in Animalls, Man dies if you take Aire from him, &c. Nothing would grow in the world, if there were not a power of the Aire, penetrating, and altering, bringing with it selfe nutriment that multiplies. In this Element by vertue of the Fire is that imagined Seed, which constringeth the Menstruum of the world by its occult power, as in trees, and herbs, when through the pores of the Earth, by the acting¹⁰ of the spirituall heat, there goeth forth¹¹ a Sperm with the Seed, and the vertue of the Aire in a proportion constringeth, and congeals¹² it by drops; and so trees by growing day after day, drop after drop, are at length raised to be great trees; as wee have treated in the book of the Twelve Treatises¹³. In this Element are all things entire through the imagination of Fire; and it is full of divine vertue: for in it is included the[Pg 97] Spirit of the most High, which before the Creation was carryed upon the Waters, as saith the Scripture¹⁴, And did fly upon the wings of the Wind. If therefore it bee so, as indeed it is, that the Spirit of the Lord is carryed in it, why needs thou question but that he hath left his divine vertue in it? For this Monarch¹⁵ is wont¹⁶ to adorn¹⁷ his dwelling¹⁸ places; hee hath adorned¹⁹ this Element with the vitall spirit of every Creature: for in it is the seed of all things, dispersed²⁰, in which presently after the Creation was (as wee said before) by the great Maker²¹ of all things included that magneticke vertue which if it had not, it could not attract any nourishment²², but so the Seed must be left in a small quantity, neither would increase, or bee multiplyed; but as the Loadstone drawes to it self hard Iron (after the manner of the Articke pole, drawing waters to it selfe, as we have shewed in the Element of Water) so the Aire by a Vegetable magnetick power, which is in the Seed, draws to it selfe the nourishment of the Menstruum of the world, i.e. Water. All these things are made by Aire, for that is the leader of the Waters, and the occult vertue thereof is included in all Seed for the attracting of radicall moisture, and this vertue is, as wee said before, alwaies the 280th. part in all Seed, as wee have shewed thee in the third of the Twelve Treatises. If therefore any one would successefully plant trees, let him bee carefull that hee turne the attractive point towards the Northern part; so hee shall never lose his labour: for as the Articke pole drawes to it selfe the Waters, so the verticle point draws to it self Seed; and every attractive point doth answer to them. Thou hast an example in all manner[Pg 98] of Wood, whose attractive point doth naturally tend to the verticle point, and is drawne by it. For let a bowle of Wood, if thou wilt²³ know which is the superior point, be put into water, and let it sink (so that the water exceed the length of the Wood) thou shalt alwaies see that point rise up before the opposite part; for Nature knows not how to erre in her office: but of these we shall treat further in our book called Harmonia, where wee shall speak more of the magneticke vertue (although he shall bee easily able to understand the Loadstone, to whom the nature of Metalls is knowne). Let this suffice that wee have said, that this Element is the most worthy of the three in which is Seed, and vitall spirit, or dwelling place of the soule of every Creature.

1 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。

2 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

3 penetrable   

adj.可穿透的

参考例句：

• soil that is easily penetrable with a fork 能轻易下耙的土壤
• Perhaps the most aspect of this technology is that it is intellectually penetrable. 这个技术最重要的地方在于它是可以被理解贯通的。 来自互联网

4 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。

5 abides   

容忍( abide的第三人称单数 )； 等候； 逗留； 停留

参考例句：

• He abides by his friends. 他忠于朋友。
• He always abides by the law. 他素来守法。

6 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

7 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

8 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

9 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

10 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

11 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

12 congeals   

v.使凝结，冻结( congeal的第三人称单数 )；（指血）凝结

参考例句：

• Water congeals to ice. 水凝结成冰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Blood congeals to form a clot. 血凝结成块。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 treatises   

n.专题著作，专题论文，专著( treatise的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many treatises in different languages have been published on pigeons. 关于鸽类的著作，用各种文字写的很多。 来自辞典例句
• Many other treatises incorporated the new rigor. 许多其它的专题论文体现了新的严密性。 来自辞典例句

14 scripture   

n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段

参考例句：

• The scripture states that God did not want us to be alone.圣经指出上帝并不是想让我们独身一人生活。
• They invoked Hindu scripture to justify their position.他们援引印度教的经文为他们的立场辩护。

15 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

16 wont   

adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯

参考例句：

• He was wont to say that children are lazy.他常常说小孩子们懒惰。
• It is his wont to get up early.早起是他的习惯。

17 adorn   

vt.使美化，装饰

参考例句：

• She loved to adorn herself with finery.她喜欢穿戴华丽的服饰。
• His watercolour designs adorn a wide range of books.他的水彩设计使许多图书大为生色。

18 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

19 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

20 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

21 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

22 nourishment   

n.食物，营养品；营养情况

参考例句：

• Lack of proper nourishment reduces their power to resist disease.营养不良降低了他们抵抗疾病的能力。
• He ventured that plants draw part of their nourishment from the air.他大胆提出植物从空气中吸收部分养分的观点。

23 wilt   

v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱

参考例句：

• Golden roses do not wilt and will never need to be watered.金色的玫瑰不枯萎绝也不需要浇水。
• Several sleepless nights made him wilt.数个不眠之夜使他憔悴。