Or the existence of material
beings which, either for their smallness in themselves or remoteness
from us, our senses cannot take notice of- as, whether there be any
plants, animals, and intelligent inhabitants in the planets, and other
mansions of the vast universe. 2. Concerning the manner of operation
in most parts of the works of nature: wherein, though we see the
sensible effects, yet their causes are unknown, and we perceive not
the ways and manner how they are produced. We see animals are
generated, nourished, and move; the loadstone draws iron; and the
parts of a candle, successively melting, turn into flame, and give
us both light and heat. These and the like effects we see and know:
but the causes that operate, and the manner they are produced in, we
can only guess and probably conjecture. For these and the like, coming
not within the scrutiny of human senses, cannot be examined by them,
or be attested by anybody; and therefore can appear more or less
probable, only as they more or less agree to truths that are
established in our minds, and as they hold proportion to other parts
of our knowledge and observation. Analogy in these matters is the only
help we have, and it is from that alone we draw all our grounds of
probability. Thus, observing that the bare rubbing of two bodies
violently one upon another, produces heat, and very often fire itself,
we have reason to think, that what we call heat and fire consists in a
violent agitation of the imperceptible minute parts of the burning
matter.
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