Vibrations of the Strings c. different Sounds are produced which as they are more or less coincident cause either Concords or Discords in Sound But it would be too tedious to mention all the Diversities which might happen in Qualities by the various Combinations of our Ten Principles and therefore since from hence their Fertility may sufficiently appear I shall proceed to A Third Objection answered The last Difficulty raised against the Corpuscular Philosophy which is That if the Qualities of Bodies depend on the Size Shape and Textures of Bodies all Bodies of the same Colours must have the same Textures and if the same Textures the same Qualities in other respects But we see it is contrary since the Calx of Harts-horn is insipid and yet the Volatile Salt of Harts-horn is very strong Scented and of as strong a Taste To which a great many more Examples might be added were it necessary Considerations in order to remove the Difficulty But I shall rather since it is not requisite offer the following Considerations to remove the Difficulty First That several Heterogeneous Parts may be lodged in the Pores of a Body which tho' of a different Nature from the Body it self yet they may produce some considerable Effects as in Perfumed Gloves the Odoriferous Parts are both different in Substance and have different Qualities from the Leather the Gloves are made of The Second Consideration is That Parts of very different Natures may be linked together not in an Essential Structure but a Juxta-Position or Peculiar kind of Composition and yet afford the same Qualities notwithstanding their Essential Differences for invisible changes in some Parts of Matter may be sufficient to cause new Qualities tho' the Essential Parts of those Bodies be unaltered and not only so but diversified enough to denominate them of different Species So a Bar of Iron by being hammer'd may feel hot though there be no visible alteration in the Nature of the Metal by an intense Agitation of the Insensible Parts of it But to illustrate this Consideration a little further tho' a Piece of Iron Wood or Tin should have sharp protuberant Parts yet are they distinct Substances notwithstanding they all agree in that Quality of Roughness and if those rough Parts were worn off and the Body endowed with a smooth Quality yet still would they in respect of their Substance remain unaltered And tho' the superficies of Steel Brass Flint or Marble should be polished as to become Specular their Essential Differences would still be the same And as I took notice before tho' Air be put into an Undulating Motion by different Instruments yet if the Motion be raised to the same degree it causes the same Sound and produces the same Note So that Bodies may agree in some Extra-Essential Attributes and yet be different in their Essential Modifications To confirm the Truth of which Heat will afford us an Eminent Example which may be produc'd in a Body by putting its Parts into Agitation without destroying the Essential Properties of the Body so affected So that the Essential Nature of a Body may not be concern'd in reflecting the Rays of Light which produce those Extra-Essential Qualities which are called Colours since to produce Whiteness in a Body it is sufficient that the Surface of that Body be so modified as to reflect the Rays of Light copiously and undisturbed whatever the Essential and proper Texture of that Body is Different Qualities afforded by Bodies Homogeneous as to Sense And here it may be proper to take notice that there are several Bodies Homogeneous as to Sense which afford different Qualities as Salt-Peter becomes fluid and transparent when briskly agitated in a Crucible whereas it hath other Qualities when cool being a hard and white brittle Substance And the Powder of Alabaster being duly exposed to a convenient heat acquires several Qualities not different from those of fluid Bodies So Aqua Fortis although it be transparent and clear yet if rais'd in the form of Fumes it puts on a red Colour The Third thing I would propose to remove this difficulty is what hath been several times hinted before viz. That a Body is not to be considered barely as a determinate Substance but as a part of the Universe and placed amongst other Bodies But Fourthly As to that part of the Objection which questions the Corpuscular Principles in making it appear why a Body so qualified as to cause whiteness should have other Qualities which are of no Affinity with it what hath been already delivered may be sufficient to remove it viz. That the Extra-Essential Parts may be so qualified though the Essential Parts be not altered which we have more reason to believe since most sensible Qualities are only relative Attributes and may result from an accidental Motion or more than ordinary Laxity or Density of Parts or some other such like Affections Several Qualities exhibited by Venice Turpentine To illustrate which if a Third part of Venice Turpentine be evaporated we may obtain from it a Colophony of a Reddish Colour which being beaten small will lose its Transparency and be turned into a white Opacous Powder which with a Moderate heat will again be restored to its former Transparency Fludity and Colour into which fluid Body if one immerges the end of a Quill something below the Surface and blows Artificially it will rise in Bubbles curiously adorn'd with vivid and lively Colours and if in that state you take it into your Hands it is Viscid enough to draw into Strings and if put into a Triangular Figure will like a Triangular Glass yield a variety of Colours When cold it is very brittle and if moderately rubbed it is endowed with an Electrical Virtue of attracting Straws The same Phaenomena will appear upon managing purified Rosin after the same manner Another Experiment of the like Nature tried upon Putrified Urine To this I shall subjoyn another instance to shew that a Homogeneous Body may by shape or other Mechanical Affections have different Qualities in respect of our Senses and the Attributes assigned to it upon that Score The instance is in Putrified Urine Distill'd the Spirit of which when it hath by frequent Distillations been dephlegmed hath a pungent Taste and swims in a Phlegmatick Vehicle being also of a very offensive Smell whose Salts when freed from the Water are of a white Colour and are sharp and caustick if applied to an Excoriated Part besides which Qualities they likewise make the Eyes water and cause Sneezing And in respect of Physick their Qualities are no less noted being Diuretick Diaphoretick and Specifick in Hysterick Fits when mixed with Filings of Brass they turn them into a green Colour yet if mixed with Blew Juices of Plants they change that Colour for a Green one They dissolve Copper yet destroy the Corrosive Virtue of other Acid Menstruums and precipitate the Copper when dissolved by them Yet if common Salt be associated with
the Liberty of uniting as they ought to form Crystals of a natural Figure which Guess is confirmed because the Crystals which shot in Water where they have room enough and an indifferent Vehicle were more perfect than those which were produced by a Mixture of the nitrous Powder and Saline Spirit where they were forced for want of Room to Cry stalize before they had time to Convene after a manner requisite to make them of a natural Figure and Size But to proceed This Experiment which shews how a Body divided into different substances by Distillation may be again united into an Original Concrete will be a very strong and convincing Instance to prove that the Forms and Qualities of Bodies depend on an essential Modification of their Parts and that the difference observable in particular Substances depends on a different Texture and a Coalition of Parts of different Figures and Sizes so that the Redintegration of Bodies is no more but a restoring of their former Parts into the same Order and Position being Artificially handled so as to acquire their former Sizes and Figures in order to their Coalition Yet this I think necessary to be represented viz. that the Composition of Nitre is so little Organical that it will be hard to judge what success in order to Redintegration may be expected in other Bodies where the Fabricks of them are so curious by Reason of their numerous Ingredients and the curious Contexture of them that the latter is not to be imitated by Art in the Production of Substances much less Organical than the Parts of living Animals Chymical Medicines laid aside too rashly The last Observation I shall make on our Experiment is That from what hath been said it may be thought that some Chymical Medicines may be too Rashly laid aside by some Physitians who suppose that the Menstruums made use of in their Preparations are in some measure mixed with them since besides that those Salts may by care be washed away several Parts of them may be so altered by Corrosion that those associating with other Particles of the Body they work upon may degenerate into an innocent Concrete An Instance of which we have in our Experiment where a corrosive Spirit and a Caustick fixed Salt unite into an innocent Medicine And that Corrosive Salts may in a great measure be dulcified by their acting on other substances is evident in a Mixture of Spirit of Vitriol and Crabs Eyes or any other testaceous Body And again though Vinegar powerfully corrodes calcined Lead yet uniting with it it constitutes a Sweet Body in which the sharpness of Vinegar is perfectly destroyed And tho' it be an Argument usually alledged against the use of Medicines so prepared that from several of them corrosive Particles may be drawn yet since the same may be Effected by the Action of Fire upon Salt-Petre the Objection is as invalid as the general Practice of Physitians can make it CHAP. XI Containing the History of Fluidity WHETHER Fluidity and Firmness might not with more Reason be esteem'd States than Qualities of Bodies or not this is most certain that they are to be accounted the most General Affections of Matter all Bodies being either Fluid or Solid If then these Qualities or States of Bodies be so General it will be of moment to consider the Causes of them and the rather in this place because the Foregoing Experiments of Salt-Petre may serve to illustrate them The Definition of a Fluid Body To proceed then A Body is said to be Fluid because it consists of Parts which easily slip upon one another's Surfaces to and fro when mov'd by Reason of the Porous Interstices which remain betwixt those Parts which they are made up of they not being wholly Contiguous on every side and also because by Virtue of that Motion they spread and diffuse themselves on every side till oppos'd by some Solid Body to the Internal Superficies of which they presently adapt themselves And what Thoughts Epicurus and the Ancient Corpuscularians had of Fluidity will appear from these Verses of his Paraphrast Lucretius Illa autem debent ex Laevis at que Rotundis Esse magis fluido quae Corpore liquida constant Nec retinentur enim inter se glomeramina quaeque Et procursus item in proclive Volubilis extat And indeed we may rationally believe That the Smoothness of their Parts may much contribute to the Fluidity of Liquors as well as the Globular Figures of them tho' there are several Fluid Bodies whose Parts are of Figures very various besides Flame and Air the Figures of whose Parts are very irregular * Bodies whose Parts are less condensed than Water to be esteemed Fluid And here we are to take Notice That to render a Body Fluid there is no need that its Parts should be so closely condens'd as those of Water are since Flame and Smoke may be so manag'd as to resemble Liquid Bodies of the Latter of which we have Proof by blowing Rosemary-Smoke into a Glass-pipe which if when it is fill'd the lower End be stopp'd and the Pipe be held in a Perpendicular Line the Surface of the Fumes will subside till Level and tho' the Pipe be inclin'd several ways yet the Superficies of the Smoke answers to the Horizon till the Glass be further inclin'd and then the Smoke will run along the Pipe like Water dispersing it self afterwards in the Air. But to return to the Cause of Fluidity We conceive that there are Three things requisite to render Bodies Fluid Minuteness of Parts requisute to Fluidity 1. The Minuteness of the Particles which constitute them by which they are dispos'd to an Intestin Motion and to be preserv'd in it more easily as the Parts of Lead Quick-silver and Gold when dissolv'd by a Menstruum are easily rais'd and mix'd with the Parts of that Menstruum Nay Fluidity so much depends on the Minuteness of the Parts of Matter which constitutes Fluid Bodies that the Parts of Antimony dissolv'd and broken into small Corpuscles may be turn'd into Butter of Antimony and that Butter of Antimony is chiefly made up of the Substance of the Antimony is evident since by a Mixutre of fair Water a white Calx will precipitate easily convertible into Glass of Antimony And Nature her self supplies us with further Instances since the very Substance of Bones is by Comminution in the Stomachs of Dogs turn'd into a Liquor And to confirm this Observation I shall add That I knew a certain Gentleman who was a close Student who liv'd for several Days together without the least Drink tho' in the mean time he sweat moderately and easily enough his Urine being agreeable to his Constitution as the Urine of other Men's generally is to theirs But that Solid Substances may yield and be turn'd into Fluids by a Comminution of their Parts may be evinc'd by the Fusibility of Metals since the more the Massy Particles of Metal are broke into small Parts
not pretend to decide the Controversy Whether Bodies may be indefinitely divided into smaller Parts but I would only intimate that tho' mentally all Bodies may have an indefinite Divisibility yet the Parts of solid Bodies are made up of a Number of such minute Parts as convening together form those grosser Corpuscles which when united are not to be dissolved by the external Impressions of ambient Air or Aether or any thing else usually reckon'd amongst the Causes of Fluidity Secondly It is to be noted That tho' I have said that the Grossness of Bodies contributes to their Firmness yet I would be understood to mean caeteris paribus for the gross Parts of a Body by being broke and divided into smaller may be so dispos'd to lye nearer one another so as upon their more close Union to put on the Nature of Firmness more conspicuously by affording a more full Contact to other Bodies especially if those minuter Parts be so adapted as to leave smaller Pores betwixt them But this being evident from what hath gone before I shall pass on to Rest contributes to the Solidity of Bodies The other Requisite for the producing of solid Bodies viz. Rest which tho' it is taken notice of by the Ingenious Des Cartes yet since it is not confirm'd by Experimental Philosophy I shall here illustrate it a little further first observing that it is agreed on to be one of the Laws of Motion That when a Body is at rest it will continue to be so till forc'd to move by the Impulse of an outward Agent and whatever may be urg'd by some Atomists concerning the Adhesion of the minute Parts of Matter yet that a Juxta-position of Parts is sufficient without the Addition of a Cement is evident since several Pieces of Glass if exactly fitted and polished will adhere so firmly together that by lifting up the uppermost the rest will adhere so closely as to be rais'd with them which will also succeed if two Marbles exactly polished and ground have their Superficies apply'd to one another and it is further remarkable that if two Glasses be rubb'd one against another the one will be suspended at the other without any visible Prop to support it and preserve it from falling But here it may be necessary to take notice that an exact and level Superficies is not always requisite to make the Experiment succeed since a concave and a convex Glass rightly adapted will adhere with the same degree of Cohesion an Example of which we have had in a Glass Stopple duly adapted to the neck of a Bottle by which the Bottle containing a Pound weight of Liquor might several times be lifted up from the Table which could proceed from nothing but the close contact of those two Bodies unless it be urg'd that by pressing the Stopple down the small Asperities of the one might be squeez'd into the small Pores of the other A Juxta-position of Parts not the only Cause of their Adhesion But tho' from hence it may be argu'd that a bare Juxta-position is sufficient to account for the Cohesion of the Parts of some Bodies yet it is not to be deny'd but that their strict Contact may be promoted by the Spring and Pressure of the Atmo-sphere since by reason of their Juxta-position the Air which presses upon the lower Superficies hath not an equal Pressure to balance it on the other Side of the same Piece it being immediately contiguous to the lower Superficies of the Piece adjoyn'd to it by which Means the Pressure of the Air resisting the Gravity of the Glass instead of tending towards the Centre it is boy'd up and press'd against the upper Piece just as if a Board were press'd with ones Hand against the Cieling of a Room which will continue in that Place as long as the Pressure with ones hand is continu'd And indeed That the Air does so press upon the lower Superficies of Glass is but the natural Effect of the Weight and Spring of it which being bent and press'd together by the Weight of incumbent Air will naturally recoyl and fly back from the Superficies of the Earth upon any Body which is in the Way to be press'd upon The Weight and Spring of the Air may contribute to the Cohesion of Parts To confirm this Conjecture I shall add that if a Piece of Glass be stuck to the Superficies of a Looking-glass parallel to the Horizon it will stick fast to it except it be mov'd by one Hand but if the Horizontal Superficies be inclin'd the smaller Glass will readily slip from one Side of the greater to the other accordingly as it is differently inclin'd The Reason of which is partly because the Gravity of it does not resist the Horizontal Motion but only that which tends from the Centre and partly or chiefly because the Pressure of the Air on both Edges of the Glass is equal and consequently its own Gravity makes it tend either this or that way as the Glass is variously erected or inclin'd whereas the Superficies adhering to the Looking-glass receives no Pressure proportionable to the Pressure of Air recoyling against the lower Surface And for a like reason if the neck of a glass Viol full of Mercury be immers'd in fluid Quick-silver the Bottle will continue near full as long as the neck of the Glass is immers'd in the Quick-silver tho' it be several ways inclin'd the Reason of which seems to be only the Pressure of the external Air upon the Surface of the Mercury by which Means it is forc'd up against the Surface of the inverted Glass so that for want of an equivalent Pressure upon the Mercury in the Glass it is kept from subsiding for that it does not proceed from Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum is plain from what hath been try'd concerning the suspended Mercury in the Torrecellian Experiment and that it may appear more fully that the Exclusion of Air as well as its immediate Contact contributes to the keeping of Bodies from falling asunder it will suffice to relate that having suck'd a good Quantity of Air out of a Bottle and apply'd a Book which was next at hand to the Orifice it stuck so firmly to it that tho' the Weight of it was 20 Ounces it would be rais'd a considerable Height and tho' but a small Part of its Superficies adher'd to the circular Edges of the Glass The Reason of which seems to be no other than that the Pressure of the external Air overpowers the weak Resistence made by the Air in the Bottle and since the Resistence of the internal Air is so weak the whole Orifice of the Bottle seems in some Measure to be a common Superficies for as much as the Pressure of the Air in the Bottle scarce makes any sensible Impulse upon that Part of the Book encircled by the Edges of it The Solidity of Glass depends on a Juxta-position of Paris And it is not altogether improbable but
think that there is not since it hath been discover'd in Bodies which are usually esteem'd most Quiescent CHAP. XV. Of the great Effects of even Languid and unheeded Local Motion THO' several Mathematicians as well as Philosophers Several Phaenomena arising from unheeded Causes Comprized under the following Propositions have exercis'd their Industry in limiting the Laws of Motion yet since several Qualities usually esteem'd occult may arise from a faint and unheeded Motion of the Parts of those Bodies to which they are attributed I shall consider the Extent of local Motion a little further But before I proceed to consider the particular Effects of languid and unheeded Motion I shall first premise in general what I have elsewhere upon another Occasion intimated viz. That we are not to consider Bodies barely as so many Portions of Matter endow'd with particular Powers but as Bodies whose Particles are variously figur'd and modify'd after a peculiar Manner so as to act or to be acted on by those Bodies which are about them yet not wholly to derive their Effects to the Influence of external Agents but in a great Measure from the mutual Action of one Part of Matter upon another But there are several other Circumstances of local Motion besides what we have taken notice which are not to be discern'd and therefore I would not be thought wholly to attribute the Phaenomena of a Body to Motion only but to a Concurrence of several other Causes but to avoid tedious Preambles I shall take notice that the Reasons why some Men slight or overlook the strange Effects of languid Motion may be compriz'd under the following Heads I. Prop. I. Men are wont to overlook the great Efficacy of Celerity in Bodies which are very small And especially if the Space which they move through be but small What strange Effects may be deriv'd from rapid tho' undiscerned Motion we have a convincing Instance in Bullets which by reason of their swift Motion are able to effect more than those battering Engines of the Ancients which were of a vaste Bulk in comparison of Bullets which are shot out of the largest Canons To this I might add several other Instances but I shall rather proceed to alledge in favour of the second Part of the Proposition that I have often observ'd That the Particles of Iron which fly off Iron Rods when they are turn'd affected my Hand with a sensible Heat if held at a small Distance and it is likewise observ'd by those who work in Brass That the Particles which fly off upon turning affect their Eyes as well as other Parts with an offensive Heat so that an experienc'd Workman shew'd me a Blister upon his Hand which was rais'd by the intense Heat of Particles of Brass thrown off by a rough Tool And I am further inform'd That in turning of great Guns the Parts which fly off are so hot as to burn the Fingers of those who offer'd to take them up Amongst which Observations it is to be noted That Brass acquires a much greater Heat in turning than Iron And to these Observations I shall add That not only the Parts of Metals but Wood will become in some Measure warm by being put into a rapid Motion by the Force of the Turners Engines from which Instances it appears how considerable are the Effects of a rapid tho' a short Motion And we have Instances of this kind no less remarkable in Vegetables where a good Cane by being struck with a Piece of Flint emits Sparks not unlike Flint in a Moment of Time and the like succeeds if Loaf-sugar be dexterously scrap'd so as to put its Parts into a brisk Agitation But what is most worthy to be observ'd in Flint is That it's Parts being put into a brisk Motion by another Piece of Flint will not only assume the Form of Fire but as the Ingenious Mr. Hooke hath observ'd will be vitrify'd tho' in Glass-houses both an intense Heat and an Addition of some Borillia are requisite to bring Sand or Flint to Fusion and to vitrify them And that this Vitrification is made of the Portions of the Flint put into a brisk Motion I am induc'd to believe because one Piece of Flint will strike Fire upon another without the Assistance of a Piece of Steel and Fire may not only be struck out of Flint but Bodies much harder as Diamonds which when grated on in a Mill have their Parts put into such a Motion as to constitute Flame though the most intense Degree of Heat will not dissolve them and even the Parts of fluid Bodies if put into a brisk Motion may have considerable Effects upon solid Bodies for whether the Beams of the Sun consist of Particles which flow in direct Physical Lines from the Sun or are only contiguous Matter as the Cartesians think put into a successive Motion yet it is enough to countenance what is here deliver'd that that Matter thrown into a Focus will melt Lead Tin or foliated Silver and Gold and in a little time set green Wood on Fire And how the small Parts of fluid Bodies will affect consistent and solid ones will be further evident from Instances alledg'd under the fourth Head The Effects of Lightning What I shall further offer here is the Strange Effects of Lightning which as several Histories c. testify by the Motion and Minuteness of its Parts hath melted Metals in a Moment Nor are the Effects of the Air in a Wind-gun upon a Bullet less to be admir'd it's Parts upon the Account of their Springyness being put into a violent Motion for when the Air is permitted to expand by affecting the Bullet no longer than whilst it passes through the Barrel of the Gun the Bullet acquires such a Degree of Motion as upon it's being shot against a Plate of Metal to be press'd into the Shape of an Hemisphere and the Particles of the Bullet will be put into so considerable a Degree of Motion by striking against the Plate that I could scarce hold it betwixt my Fingers II. We are inclin'd to think Prop. II. That the insensible Motion of so soft Bodies as Fluids can scarce have any sensible Operation on solid Bodies By the Motion of fluid Bodies I would be understood to mean not that which may be discover'd by the Eye or Touch but the unperciev'd Motion of their insensible Parts of the Effects of which I might alledge several Instances from the Operations of Sounds upon solid Bodies for upon the Discharge of great Guns the Sound of their Explosion is not only heard a great way but the expanding Gunpowder gives such a Motion to the Air as to enable it to break Glass Windows at a considerable distance And tho' to this it may be objected That since the Cannon stands on the same Piece of Ground with the Houses whose Windows are so broke the Effect may proceed from a tremulous Motion continu'd by the Soyl it stands on yet the
Mercury so easily the rarified Air would rather penetrate than buoy it up The Reason of Suction To shew in Opposition to Mr. Hobbs how much the Atmospherical Air is concern'd in Suction we took a Glass Bubble whose long Stem was Cylindrical and very slender and having by the help of heat expelled a good quantity of the Air contain'd in it when by immerging it in Water that Rarified Air which remained in it was condens'd the VVater was almost raised to the Top of the Pipe when this was done the Air in the Bubble being Rarified it forced out almost all the Water in the Stem only a few Drops which satisfi'd us that none of the Rarified Air had got out of the Pipe as the Depression of the Water so low assured us on the other side that the included Air was almost as much Expanded as when the Water began to ascend into the Pipe When the Air was thus Rarified we presently removed the Pipe out of the Water into the Stagant Mercury which ascended into it in a short time In which Experiment did the Mercury rise to prevent a Vacuum or did it's Ascent depend on any internal Principle of Motion or on the compression and propagated Pulsion of the Air that was expelled there would be no reason why the Mercury should not rise as high as the Water But from our Hypothesis the Reason is plain for as soon as the Cylinder of Water or Mercury together with the compress'd Air is equiponderant with the Atmosphere incumbent it rises no higer So that tho' the Air is less condens'd when the Tube is immers'd in Mercury yet the greater Weight of Mercury making a greater resistance than Water the external Air is not able to buoy it up any higher to compress the Air enclosed And this Experiment is confirm'd by the following For having expell'd a little Air out of the Bubble by heat so much Quicksilver ascended into it as fill'd a Fourth Part of the Pipe which being carefully removed so that no Mercury could run out we caused the Air in the globous part to be Rarified till almost all the Mercury was expell'd the end of the Pipe being all the while immers'd in Water as soon as the Air included began to cool the Water rose up into the Body of the Ball buoying up the Mercury before it whereit was observ'd that as the Air was more or less Rarifi'd and the Quicksilver exepll'd out of the Stem the Ascent of the Water would proportionably vary So that as the Body to be buoy'd up by the External Air varies in Weight so do the Degrees of it's Ascent Another Observation which shews that there is no Circulation of Wind such as Mr. Hobbs supposes to be the Cause of Suction is that Smoak will ascend without being in the least blown about But since Mr. Hobbs will not allow of a Vacuum but asserts that the Air makes it's Way through the close and solid Bodies I shall add that having expell'd the Air by Rarefaction out of a very thin Aeopile and stopp'd the Orifice up with Wax the External Air made such a violent Pressure on it as to thrust the Sides of it considerably inwards CHAP. VII The Cause of Attraction by Suction Attraction what SUction being look'd upon to be a sort of Attraction before I descend to a more particular Consideration of the former I shall premise something of the latter And tho' Attraction is generally taken to be a kind of Pulsion yet both of them to me seem to be but extrinsical Denominations of the same Local Motion in which if a Body mov'd precede the Movent or tends to acquire a greater Distance from it we call it Pulsion and if upon the Account of Motion the same Body either follows or tends towards the Movent it is term'd Attraction so that the difference is no Physical one but only Accidental in respect of the Line of Motion to the Movent As when a Man draws a Chain after him tho' he goes before it yet he hath some Part of his Body behind one Link which draws the rest after it and so if that Chain draws any thing after it tho' the Cause of the Attraction goes before yet there is a certain Cohesion of Parts that enables it to drag that Body after it so that Attraction evidently appears to be a Species of Pulsion and such an one as is usually term'd Trusion as when a Gardiner drives his Wheelbarrow before him without letting go his Hold. But perhaps it may be said that there are Attractions where it cannot be pretended that the Attrahent comes behind any Part of the Body attracted as in Magnetical and Electrical Attractions or as when Water rises by pumping As for the two first Instances should we allow with Modern Philosophers of screw'd Particles and other Magnetical Emissions we might say that these coming behind either the Body attracted or it 's porous Parts on it's Superficies might cause such an Effect or by procuring some Discussion of the Air that may make it thrust the moveable towards the Attracting Body But were there none of these nor any other subtil Agents that cause this Motion by a real tho' unperceiv'd Pulsion I should to distinguish these from other Attractions term them Attraction by Invisibles But as for the last Instance I suppose it will be easily granted that the ascending Rammer only makes way for the Water to rise as it is buoy'd up by External Air for from the Torrecellian Experiment it is evident that since the Terraqueous Globe is continually press'd upon by the Atmosphere if in any part that Pressure be taken off the Incumbent Atmospherical Pillar will buoy up as much of that Liquor as a Pillar of Air of such a Diameter is able to counterpoise The Truth of which is further confirm'd by observing that if the Air from about a Syringe be exhausted the Sucker may be pull'd up without elevating the Water or drawing it up after it And indeed supposing two Men by thrusting equally on each side a Door to keep it shut one might as well say that he that left off thrusting on one side was the Cause of the Doors opening as that the Water rises by the drawing up the Rammer which only gives way to the Water as buoy'd up by the External Air. Thus much being said of Attraction I shall proceed to consider The Cause of Suction as laid down by others exanun'd that Species of it call'd Suction for which several Philosophers have thought on various Causes As Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum which were it true Water by Suction might be rais'd to any Height but we have found by Experience that it will not be rais'd above 33 ½ Foot which Weight the Atmosphere is able to buoy up as appears from the Torrecellian Experiment And further from an Experiment elsewhere laid down where tho' Water may presently be suck'd up to the Top of a Pipe 3 Foot long yet
within so the Sensory being Indisposed that Indisposition may vary the appearance of External Objects For I have taken notice that after looking upon the Sun or Moon with a Telescope my Eye hath been so alter'd that the flame of a Candle seem'd to vary much in its colour from what it used to be and if I often open'd and shut my Eye whilst that adventitious Colour seem'd to last I could discern it gradually diminish till the Candle appear'd to me as before and one thing worthy of notice was that if I looked upon the Object with one Eye when the dazled Eye was shut the Adventitious Colour disappear'd but was visible again upon opening the dazled Eye To this Observation I shall add that a Lady who had by a Fall got a Hurt near her Eye for six Weeks together fancy'd every thing cover'd over with very dazling and glorious Colours especially white Bodies some of which were such as she could not describe And a Learned Gentleman told me that looking upon the Sun with a good Telescope without a colour'd Glass to guard his Sight the Brightness of the Object left such an Indisposition in his Eye that nine or ten Years after whenever he look'd upon the Window he fancy'd he saw a light Body before his Eye of the Size and Brightness of the Sun as it appear'd to him in the Telescope to which Instances I could add others from the Experien'd Epiphanius Ferdinandus of the Symptoms of those Bitten by a Tarantula from whence it would appear that an Indisposition in the Organ of Vision is sufficient to vary our Judgment of Colours but these may be more properly deliver'd in another place The Superficies of a Body consider'd as the cause of Colours But to proceed from what hath been said it appears I allow and teach that the superficial Parts of a Body reflecting the Rays of Light and modifying them may in one sense be said to be the Cause of that Colour it represents since as the Beams of Light are variously modify'd we perceive several Sensations And tho' some hold that the Rays of Light which conveigh Colours are not reflected barely from the Superficies of a Body but penetrate deeper into it's Substance yet we are apt to call those Bodies transparent or semidiaphonous whose Substance the Rays of Light visibly insinuate themselves into And that in all Bodies there is no such Penetration of Light is evident since several Substances appear to be of one Colour on the outside and of another within which is evident not only in Fruit but temper'd Steel for tho' it be furnish'd with very vivid Colours on the Superficies yet within a Hairs breadth of it it retains it's Steel Colour And a more Eminent Instance is that Lead being melted and pour'd into an Iron Vessel when the Scum was taken off several Colours succeeded one another upon it's Superficies and that which appear'd last before the Metal cool'd remaining upon the Superficies of it we found that if never so little was taken off that adventitious Colour would be taken off too and the Metal would appear in it's own Colour which shews not only what I alledg'd it for but also that probably an adventitious Colour may be acquir'd by the Effects the saline Parts of the Air have on Lead so dispos'd to receive it's Impressions which it will not do till brought to a much higher degree of Fusion than bare melting One thing remarkable in these Colours was that they succeed not so regularly as those in Steel but in the following order Viz. Blew Yellow Purple Blew Green Purple Blew Yellow Red Purple Blew Yellow and Blew Yellow Blew Purple Green mixt Yellow Red Blew Green Yellow Red Purple Green Tho' it is held by antient Atomists that the Figure of a Body is sufficient to vary it's Colour yet I am perswaded that there are other things requisite since we see by the help of good Telescopes that the Superficies of Bodies are not only full of several Protuberances but likewise several Cavities which appear not to the naked Eye so that the very Figures of those may have a great stroke in causing various Colours and differently forming the Superficies of a Body so as to enable it variously to reflect the Rays of Light and cause different Effects in our Organ of Sense The various Figures of the Superficial Parts requisite for the Production of Colours But besides the various Figures of these superficial Particles the Surface of a Body may be enabled variously to reflect the Rays of Light as they are bigger or less and the Protuberant Particles are set closer or at a greater distance So Water if it have but a few Bubbles on the Top of it hath scarce any sensible Colour but if it be beaten into a Froth and a great number of Bubbles are close set it presently varies it's Colour and seems white to which not only the Number but the Convex Superficies of the Bubbles conduce nor is it requisite that all the Protuberant Corpuscles should be of one Figure since those which produce a Blew and those that yield a Yellow being mix'd together afford a green Colour But further the Cavities intercepted betwixt the Protuberant Parts and their Figures are to be consider'd in the Production of Colours as well as the Figure and Size of the Particles themselves For the Superficies of a Body may be cut transversly with a Methamatical Plain void of Depth or Thickness above which as well as below may be several Superficies as in the Superficies of the Earth there may be several Parts above the Horizontal Plain as well as below upon which Account the Rays of Light may be so differently reflected as to cause different Colours so the two sides of a Piece of red Glass seem differently colour'd when the one is Rough and the other Polish'd and tho' several sorts of Marbles are never so curiously Polish'd yet their Superficies so far vary as to exhibit distinct Colours The Situation of them likewise requisite Besides in variously reflecting the Rays of Light the Situation of the superficial Parts of a Body are considerable in reference to the Light and the Position of the Eye and also their order in reference to each other for the Rays of Light will be differently reflected to the Eye from Parts which are erected upon a superficial Plain from what it will be from those Parts inclined and obverted to the Eye so Plush or Velvet varies it's Colour as the Parts of it are differently inclin'd and a Field of Corn varies it's Colour as the Wind depresses the Ears of Corn successively or in different places And for a like Reason the Hair of a Dog exhibits a different Colour when the order of them is changed and so the Parts of Water in Froth and the Parts of Harts-horn shaved alter their Colours and Glass by being beaten loses it's Transparency with the order of it's Parts and becomes white And
came through it that they appear'd to the Eye of a greenish Blew and the like succeeded with a Leaf of Silver EXPERIMENT X. I Am told that Lignum Nephriticum is us'd in the Country where it grows as an excellent Medicine against the Stone which Virtues Monardes likewise ascribes to it given in Infusion An Infusion of this Wood if it be not too strong will appear betwixt the Eye and the Light to be of a golden Colour except that upon the Top it will be cover'd with a sky Colour'd Circle but if your Eye be plac'd betwixt the Window and the Vial the Liquor will appear to be of a lovely Blew And this Experiment hath succeeded by Candle Light If the Liquor be held partly before the Eye and a Light and partly betwixt the Eye and an Opacous Body it will half of it seem of a golden Colour and half a Blew but if turning your back on the Window you observe the Liquor as it is poured out it will at the first seem Blew but when it hath fallen lower and the Rays of Light penetrate it more it will seem Particouloured If a little of this Tincture be pour'd into a Basin of Water partly in the Sun Beams and partly shaded it will afford several pleasing Phaenomena If some of it be pour'd upon white Paper the drops about it will appear of different Colours as the Position of the Eye in reference to them varies and when it is pour'd off the Paper will be dyed Yellow and if this be plac'd in a Window in the Sun-shine and a Pen held betwixt the Sun and part of the Paper the Verge of the Shadow next the Body that Causes it will be Golden and the other Blew Which Phenomena proceeded from the most subtile Parts of the Wood Swimming in the Water and in several Positions variously reflecting the Rays of Light Some of this Liquor being carefully Distill'd it yielded a colourless Limpid Water a deep ceruleous Liquor remaining behind Spirit of Wine and Salt of Harts-horn being mixed together I observ'd that it required a certain proportion betwixt the Liquor and the Salt which enabl'd it to vary it's Colour So that tho I was induc'd to believe that our Tincture receiv'd its Colour from a Salt dispers'd through it yet I suspected that this Salt would be either alter'd or incorporated by Acid Salts and accordingly dropping Spirit of Vinegar into some of the Tincture it lost its Blew but not the Golden Colour but upon an Affusion of Oyl of Tartar per deliquium that correcting the Acid Salts it presently regain'd its Blew Colour again the ponderous Tartarous Liquor first altering the Bottom of the Liquor and gradually rising again And since Kercherus Art Mag. lucis umbrae Lib. 1. Part 3. writes something of this Exotick Plant which agrees not with our account of it since he says it will according to the difference of the Medium in respect of Light and its several Positions vary its Colour yet from the Account he gives of it it appears that the Wood he made use of was different from Ours since he calls it a white Mexican Wood whereas ours as Monardes witnesses is brought from Nova Hispania and is not of a White but a darker Colour except on the outside which part is much weaker than the other Besides he tells us that his Tincture was like Spring Water when held betwixt the Light whereas ours is Yellowish or Reddish as the Tincture is weaker or stronger And since he tells us that the Tincture will afford all sorts of Colours and resume a ceruleous Colour in the Dark I could wish to know how he was convinc'd of the Latter and as for the Former I have tryed that it would not at all Answer Tho' this I must needs own that having held a Tincture of Lignum Nephriticum in the Rays of the Sun in a darken'd Room partly in and partly out and also wholly out of the Beams but partly near them it afforded a much greater Variety of Colours than in a lighten'd Room In this Experiment it is not a little to be admir'd that the Blew Colour should be so easily destroy'd whereas the Yellow Colour is so durable and further that Acid Salts should destroy it and Sulphureous one Restore it A Corollary of the Tenth Experiment Acid and Sulphureous Salis adistinguish'd THis Experiment may give us a hint towards a Discovery of some way to distinguish whether Liquors abound with Acid or Sulphureous Salts for if they be Acid they destroy the ceruleous Colour if Sulphureous they restore it And by this Method we have found that tho' it hath been doubted what was the Nature of Quicklime it abounds with Lixiviate rather than Acid Salts But of what use this Tincture may be where neither Acid nor Alkalious Salts are Predominant I leave to be determined by Experience since I found not that Spirit of Wine Spirit of Tartar freed from Acidity or Chymical Oyl of Turpentine would restore the ceruleous Colour of this Tincture when it disappear'd upon a mixture of Oyl of Turpentine EXPERIMENT XI I Have a flat Piece of Glass which held betwixt my Eye and the light appears Yellow but being held so that it reflects fewer Beams upon the Eye it degenerates into to a pale Blew And the same Piece of Glass being held Perpendicular to the Horizon that Part which the Sun shines on will be of a more dilute Yellow than the other which is shaded but if it be held Perpendicular to the Horizon the shaded Part will be of a Golden Colour and the other Blew if the Sun-beams pass through it upon a white Paper they will represent a Yellow yet the Position may be so vary'd as to yield a mix'd Colour more or less inclining to Yellow in some Places and in others to Blew N. 1st In trying of these Experiments the Sun-beams must fall upon the superficial Parts of one side of the Glass on which we must take care to keep our Eye And we have prepar'd a sort of Glass which would answer our expectation by laying a Leaf of Silver on one side and urging it with a stronger Fire than usual And one thing in this Experiment remarkable was that whereas common Artificers colour their Glass by putting a Calx of Silver Calcin'd without corrosive Liquors and temper'd with fair Water on the Plates of Glass when they burn them theirs appears Yellow whatever side is held to the Eye or in whatever Posture but this of ours held betwixt the Eye and the Light appear'd Transparently Yellow but the Eye being placed betwixt the Light and it it appear'd Blew and not in the least Transparent EXPERIMENT XII IT is worth observing that tho Painters can imitate most Colours which are to be met in Nature yet they make use of no more than White Black Red Blew and Yellow to produce all their Compositions Thus Black and White represent several sorts of Grays Blew and Yellow
mention'd viz. Eggs suspended under Water it appears That Cold acts on every side the Shells being wholly incrustated with Ice To put an end to this Title I shall in order to facilitate some Experiments hereafter to be made advertise That whereas in common Experiments Water naturally beginning to freeze at the top and that Ice confining the subjacent Water so that when froze it hath not room to expand I say whereas in such cases the Glasses are subject to break to prevent such ill Consequences I lay the frigorifick Mixture first about the bottom of the Glasses by which means the Water beginning to freeze at the bottom the Water is raised up above it and as the Salt and Ice is raised higher about the Glass so the Ice gradually rises without danger of breaking the Bottles To this Advertisement I shall add That tho' I only at the first lay the mixture about the bottom of the Glass yet to keep the Water above cool I usually put Ice it self or Snow either of which will succeed in these Experiments above that Mixture TITLE VI. Experiments and Observations concerning the preservation and destruction of Eggs Apples and other Bodies by Cold. Of the Preservation of Bodies by Cold. IT is a common Tradition That if Eggs or Apples be thawed near the Fire it spoils them but if they be immersed in cold Water they thaw slowly without dammage To try the truth of this Tradition I made the following Experiments An Egg which weighed 12 drachms and a grain being wrapt in a wax'd Paper to defend it from the thawing Snow was froze in a mixture of Snow and Salt and then wanting 4 grains of its former weight it was put into a Basin of Water It acquir'd such a Crust of Ice about it as increased the weight to 15 drachms and 9 grains and the Ice being taken off and the Egg dryed it weighed 12 drachms and 12 grains being broke we found it almost thawed When froze it swam in the Water but when thawed it sunk We took two Eggs well froze and placing them both at an equal distance from the Fire the one was put into Water and the other laid on a Table When that in the Water was crusted over with Ice we took it out and breaking it found that the Yolk and some part of the White were thawed but the other Egg being cut asunder the White was wholly frozen and the Yolk hard as if it had been over-boyl'd There likewise appear'd in it certain concentrical Circles of different Colours and a very white Speck in the middle of it The same Experiment being tryed a second time we were confirmed in our Perswasion That frozen Eggs will thaw sooner in cold Water than in the open Air. An Egg being suspended in Water was cover'd with a Crust of Ice equally thick on all sides Frozen Pippins being put into a Basin of Water were covered over with a Crust of Ice of a considerable thickness where it was observable 1. That that Part of the Pippin which was immersed was covered with a much thicker Crust than that which was above it 2. The extant Part seem'd harder than the immersed 3. Those in the Water were thawed but one that lay out of it was much harder and more froze 4. Neither the frozen Eggs or Apples condensed and froze the Air tho' they incrustated the Water Eggs being froze in Snow and Salt till they crack'd we put one into Milk two into a Glass of Beer and two more into a large Glass of Sack but produced no Ice Eggs being put into Vinegar produced no Ice but the Vinegar corroded the Egg-shells A Cheese immersed in Water in a cold Country was crusted over with Ice but lumps of Iron pieces of Glass and Stones being kept longer in Snow and Salt than was sufficient to freeze Eggs produced no Ice in Water Water being poured into a Bottle which stood on the North-East side of our Elaborotory Part of it was presently turned into Ice Ice and Juice of Pippins shaken together in a Vial produced a great deal of Dew and so did Ice beaten into a Liquor with the White of an Egg. Pippins were much better when thaw'd in cold Water than hastily It hath been observed in the cold Northern Climates That when they have come out of extreme Cold too hastily to the Fire it hath raised Blisters wherefore it is a custom amongst the more careful sort to wash their Hands or other frozen Parts in cold Water or Snow before they approach the Fire I am told by one That Cheeses being froze in Muscovy those thaw'd in Water were crusted over with Ice but were much better than others thaw'd in a Stove And Guilielmus Fabritius Hildanus Cap. 10. de Gangraena sphacelo gives an Account of a Man who was successfully thaw'd and crusted over with Ice as our Apples and Eggs were Tho' a moderate degree of Cold preserves Bodies from putrifaction yet Glaciation leaves them more subject to it upon a thaw tho' whilst they are in that state they putrifie not To prove that the highest degree of Cold under Glaciation hinders Bodies from Corruption I shall alledge the following Instances Bartholinus de usu nivis says p. 80. Regii Mutinenses nivem hoc fine arcte compactam servant in Cellis Nivariis in quibus fervente aestate vidi carnes mactatorum Animalium a Putredine diu se conservasse And Capt. James in his Journal p. 74. hath these words By the ninth of May we were come to and got up our five Barrels of Beef and Pork and had four Buts of Beer and one of Cider It had lain under Water all the Winter yet we could not perceive that it was any thing the worse P. 79. he farther says That a Cable having lain under Ice all Winter was not in June found a jot the worse And from Simlerus his Account of the Alps it appears That entire Bodies may be preserved by Snow without Glaciation Refert says Bartholinus speaking of him p. 79. de figurativis in Rhetis apud Rinwaldios nivium è monte ruentium moles Sylvam proceras Abietes dejecisse accidisse etiam Helvetio Milite per Alpes iter faciente ut 60 homines plures eadem Nivis conglobatione opprimerentur Hoc igitur Nivium tumulo sepulti ad Tempus aestatis delitescunt quo soluto nonnihil Nive deciduâ Corpora Mortua inviolata patent si ab amicis vel transeuntibus quaerantur Vidimus ipsi triste hoc Spectaculum c. To prove that inanimate Bodies whilst froze are not subject to Putrifaction I shall bring several Instances Nor indeed is it much wonder since whether Glaciation proceeds from intruding Swarms of frigorifick Atoms wedged in betwixt the Parts of a Body or whether we suppose it to arise from an avolition of those restless Particles which before kept the Body fluid or soft we must suppose an unusual rest and consequently the concomitant cause of Corruption
learned Maignan sufficient to ballance what Zucchius hath delivered and therefore I shall deliver it in the Authors words Expertus ego sum says he Thermometro fidelissimo a praecedente hyeme in sequentem aestatem prorsus invariato instructo etiam tali aqua nempe in hoc ipsum ex praescripto Trebellii ita comparata ut non exhaletur neque minuatur expertus inquam sum in supradictis optimis cellis Vinariis maximum quod ardentissima aestate fuit frigus non adaequasse illud quod ibidem erat brumali tempore ut dixi si quidem in Tubo vitrei Thermometri quatuor circiter palmos longos in octo gradus Graduumque minuta diviso aqua hyeme ascendit ad Gradus 7 cum semisse aestate autem vix gradum sextum superavit cùm tamen ad sensum multò magis vigerat frigus istud aestivum CHAP. VII An Examination of Mr. Hobbes Doctrine of Cold. Mr. Hobbes Doctrine of Cold. Mr. Hobbes in his Doctrine of Cold tells us That the Air being put into an Expansive motion by the Beams of the Sun it is beaten down upon the Surface of the Earth where finding a resistance below it spreads it self every way towards the Poles and as the Parallel Circles grow closer towards the Poles so the Air being straitned and more condensed causes a greater degree of Cold. To which he adds That as the Air moves betwixt these Parallers it rakes upon the Surface of Water more or less as the Air is more or less straitned by which means the Water not only tending towards its Centre by its own Gravity but being also condensed by the rakeing Pressure of the Air the Surface of it is first congealed and then it gradually descends and for a like Reason when Water is immersed in Snow and Salt the Mixture melting those very Parts which lodged in the Pores of it they rakeing against the sides of the Glass give it such a motion as when communicated to the Water contain'd in it causes it to congeal And for a Reason not unlike the former the Particles of Air contain'd in Clouds being in their descent squeezed out rake the drops of Water in their passage and so harden them And the Reason why serene weather is Colder than rainy weather he says is because the force of the Wind is broken and dissipated by the falling drops which Reason he likewise alledges why Water in Wells is not froze the Wind not being able to beat strongly enough upon the Surface of the Water And as for the Reason why Ice is lighter than Water he attributes it to Airy Particles forced into it whilst it is congealing But it may easily be urged against this Doctrine Examined that all congealed Liquors instead of having their Parts pressed inwards and so condensed manifestly expand upon Congelation And as for Animal Bodies such an inward indeavour of the Humors as his Doctrine supposes is not requisite to produce a sensation of Cold since a decrease of the motion of the fluids about our Sensories or an Impulse made upon the sensitive Parts by some alteration in the motion of the Blood and Spirits or a turbulent motion of some excrementitious Particles hindred from flying away is sufficient so some Hysterick Women perceive a Coldness on the top of their Heads and the Vertebra when they are otherwise hot and Avicen tells us That the biting of some Vipers in hot Countries causes a sensation of Cold And I know a Noble Man who feels an extraordinary Coldness upon him when he is seiz'd with a fit of the Stone And an inward compression of the Parts of a Body is so far from being sufficient to produce Cold that compression in some Bodies produces Heat But to examine what he assigns as the Grand Cause of Cold viz. Wind which according to him is Air moved in a considerable quantity and that either forwards only or in an undulating motion But against this Doctrine I have several things to offer And first that several frosts are begun and continued when the Wind is serene and calm and that a gentle North-east-wind is much Colder than a boisterous Southerly Wind. Secondly That the Wind which issues out of an Aeolopile is not Cold but Hot tho' it moves more violently than the Wind which is blown from the Mouth Thirdly We have made it appear That Water will freeze tho' sealed up in a Glass and tho' that Glass be inclosed in another so that the Wind cannot beat upon it and even an Egg frozen will be crusted over with Ice when suspended in Water so that the External Air cannot Effect it And tho' he tells us That all Winds produce Cold Prosper Alpinus in his Medicina Aegyptiorum acquaints us that he hath found the Winds in those Torrid Regions insufferably hot And Marcus Paulus Venetus tells us That the Winds near Ormus have been so hot as to destroy an Army of Men at once And tho' some Winds put into motion feel Cold yet that depends on the Predisposition of our Sensories and the deeper penetration of that fluid into the Pores of the Body in respect of which it hath a comparative Coldness and that it is but a comparative Coldness is evident since the same Wind blowing upon a Weather-Glass affects it not at all except sometimes by accident when by that means some calorifick Atoms swimming in the Air are driven away by it And tho' Mr. Hobbes tells us that all Winds cool by diminishing former Heat yet we see that Water actually Cold becomes still Colder by freezing where the Heat cannot be said to be diminished in a Body actually Cold before But to proceed tho' Mr. Hobbes says that Wind is generated upon the Surface of the Earth by the action of the Sun yet he tells us not how that Wind must produce Cold nor does the motion of it towards the Poles help the matter since we have shewn that motion in it self is not sufficient to produce Cold and should he say that the Coldness is derived from the Mixture of freezing Vapours in it's passage then those steams would rather be taken for the cause of Cold than the Wind and then I should ask him Whence the Coldness of those Cold Vapours proceeded Besides since in his account of the freezing of Water he says the Parts of the freezing Water will be raised in Congelation I see not how it will happen since Oyl and several other Liquors are contracted by it and I have not yet seen any one Instance in which Water was ever congeal'd by a Compression Since when we inclosed Water in a Pewter-Bottle and beat the sides of it together till the Water made its way out we perceiv'd not that that powerful compression had in the least inclined the Water to Congelation And tho' we should allow that the Superficial Parts of the Water might be froze as Mr. Hobbes tells us yet I see not how the Air can beat upon
Symmetry and Complexion with Agreeable and Delightful Colours There are other States of Matter also as Rest and Motion Size and Shape usually call'd Qualities which are rather to be accounted Primary Modes of Matter But this concerning Names rather than Things I shall waving the usual Divisions of Qualities treat of them according to the following Division viz. First I shall consider them under two Heads to wit Manifest and Occult Qualities the former of which we shall divide gredients of a Body is evident since Water Hermetically Sealed being froze instead of retaining Fluidity and Transparency becomes Brittle Firm and sometimes Opacous which Qualities upon a Thaw it again loses Also fixt Metal barely by being hammer'd becomes brittle which Quality it presently loses when heated in the Fire And Silver by being hammer'd puts on Qualities which it by no means had when cold as a Power to melt some Bodies and to dry others with several others which it only acquires by Virtue of the invisible Agitation of its Parts put into Motion by hammering I might add several Instances of this Kind but having mention'd them in other succeeding Chapters I shall omit them here and pass to The Third Consideration which hath been prov'd in the preceding Chapter which is That we are not to consider the Effects of Mix'd Bodies as the bare Result of the Parts of Matter of such a determinate Texture but as plac'd amongst other Bodies on which they may variously act and be acted on But Fourthly to remove this Objection we must consider That the Peripatetick as well as Chymical Principles are incapable of accounting for the various Phaenomena of Nature which the Corpuscular Philosophy hath a greater Advantage in For neither the different Colours of the Planets nor the Generation and Perishing of Spots in the Sun are to be accounted for by the Doctrin of the Peripateticks nor Chymists besides several Phaenomena relating to Magnetism Musick Dioptricks Catoptricks and Staticks And indeed I should think it not a little strange that the various Textures The Difference in Agents and Patients diversify the Actions as well as Motions of Bodies would not more sufficiently account for the Phaenomena of Nature than the Cosideration of Quiescent Ingredients for as all Natural Bodies act on one another by Motion so that Motion is variously determin'd according to the different Textures of the Agents and Patients But to proceed to the Second Objection against the Corpuscularian Philosophy which is A Second Objection against the Corpuscularian Philosophy answer'd That it is impossible so great a variety of Qualities should arise from so few Principles as Matter and Motion In answer to this I shall endeavour to shew that it is possible those Catholick Affections of Matter should be deriv'd from Local Motion and that those Principles being variously combin'd and joyn'd together should afford Phaenomena as various as any to be observ'd in Nature And First If we allow what is undeniable viz. That the Tendency of Matter as to Motion is different in several Parts of the Universe it will follow that by Local Motion so diversify'd Matter must be divided into Parts distinct from one another and consequently being Finite must necessarily have a determinate Size as well as Shape And since all the Universal Bulk of Matter hath not its Parts in a constant Motion some of them being intangl'd together must needs be at Rest And hence the Primary Affections of Matter flow But there are yet other Affections of Matter belonging to the lesser Fragments of it in Respect of their Situation as Posture either Horizontal Erect or Inclining in reference to our Horizon and also a peculiar Order in Relation to each other the Union of which Parts collectively consider'd may properly be call'd Texture or Modification And since most Bodies are made up of Parts something Irregular it is impossible but that there should be Interstices or Pores left betwixt them And further some Parts of Bodies being very subtile and fine and easily put into Motion by Heat or other proper Agents such Bodies cannot but emit good store of Effluviums And when Particles of Matter are fitted and adapted so as to adhere together they form those similar Bodies call'd Elements which being mix'd with one another constitute Compound Bodies which being again associated with Compounds form Bodies still more Complex which Compounding and Decompounding of Bodies The Difference betwixt Mixture and Texture may be Properly call'd Mixture which differs from Texture because it implies a Heterogeneity of Parts which the latter does not And Lastly all Bodies whether Simple or Compound are to be consider'd as plac'd in the World as it is now constituted and rul'd by The Vniversal Fabrick of things as well as the Laws of Motion The Phoenomena exhibited by the Corpuscular Principles very numerous From hence it appearing That Matter is very Naturally diversify'd by eleven Primary Affections to which it self being added makes twelve we may by Parity of Reason consider that if such an inaccountable Number of Words may be made of the 24. Letters it will not be hard to think that so many different Modes of Matter may arise from such Finite Principles as could Reasonably be suppos'd to result from the various Associations of those ten Letters And indeed an inaccountable Number more since every one of these Principles admits of an Incredible Variety As first there may be a vast Variety of Associations in respect of the Figure or Number or Order of the Parts joyn'd as in Figure some may be Triangles or Squares others Pentagons c. There may also another Variety proceed from the Different Shapes and Sizes of the Parts of Matter united their Figures being either Spherical like a Bullet Elliptical like an Egg or Cubical as a Dye c. together with a great many others Examples of which the Instruments of Carvers Gravers c. afford those Tools being not only of different Sizes but also various Shapes And there is no less Variety in the Degrees of Motion since Motion may be infinitely different in Swiftness or Slowness Uniformity or Difformity as also according to the different Lines in which Bodies move as Streight Circular Hyperbolical Ellyptical c. as also according to the differently Figur'd Parts they strike against to which Causes of Variety may be added the different Sizes or Shapes of the Bodies mov'd as also the several Degrees of Compound Bodies and the different Modifications of their Ingredients and likewise of the Mediums through which they move as well as the Degreess of Impulse And the Effects of these may be vary'd again according to the different Situation or Determinate Natures of the Bodies they strike against Musical Instruments afford instances of the various Effects of Motion And that Motion is able to produce a vast Variety of Effects we may learn from Musical Instruments where according to the Difference of the Air 's Motion arising from the various
Substantial Forms being examined I shall briefly consider the Physical Arguments usually alledged for the proof of them The first is the Spontaneous cooling of hot Water an Action usually attributed to the Power of the Substantial Form which might be plausible were it not otherwise to be explained for Bodies esteem'd cold having their Parts in a less Agitation than the Natural Juices about the Sensory cause that Sensation but when the Parts of that Water by the heat of the Fire are put into a Violent Motion stronger than that of the Parts of Matter about our Sensory it becomes hot which hot Water being removed from the Fire and the Agitation of its Parts being diminished it returns to its just Temperature To effect which a Substantial Form is no more requisite than when a Ship is put into a violent Motion in a Storm there is required a Substantial Form to stop its Motion upon the ceasing of that Storm And in opposition to Substantial Forms it may be likewise considered that Water in upper Rooms in hot Climates will be kept warm and in Nova Zembla in the Form of Ice meerly by the Temper of the Air in spite of the Substantial Form Another Argument urged is that Matter being indifferent to all Accidents it wants a substantial Form to link the Accidents requisite to every Particular Body together To which it is answered that the World being now made and constituted the Phaenomena of Nature depend on one part of Matter acting on another so that especially fluid Bodies frequently change their States being altered by the several Seasons of the Year and Temperature of the Air which is evident from the different Effects it hath on Weather-Glasses So that the Accidents observable in most Bodies depend on Agents and Efficient Causes which produce in Matter what in the Precedent Chapter we call an Essential Form And there is no need of a Substantial Form to keep those Accidents together since they will continue in the same state till some other Agent works on them which is strong enough to destroy and change the Texture and Form of that Matter which Agent the assistance of a Substantial Form being not able to resist the Body in spite of the Peripatetick Doctrin must be chang'd an instance of which we have in Lead which tho' when melted it returns to it's pristine state upon cooling if it be long continued upon a Violent Fire will be turned into a reddish brittle Glass and lose all its former Qualities and retains those new acquired ones till some powerful Extrinsick Agent cause a fresh Change On the contrary Oranges Tamarinds Senna and several other Bodies retain the same Qualities when gathered and removed from the Soul of the Tree and without the influence of its Form which they had before whilst growing And the colour of Snow soon perisheth notwithstanding its Substantial Form its Texture being altered by a Dissolution The Parts of a Body may adhere without the help of a Substantial Form But there is still another Argument generally alledged in favour of Substantial Forms which is that without them the various changes observable in Bodies and the adhering of several Parts of Matter united into one Totum would be unaccountable As to the first Part of this Argument it is easily answered since Local Motion variously determined is able to effect considerable and various Changes in Bodies an Instance of which besides what hath been said in the first and the preceding part of this Chapter we have in Tallow which by the Mechanical Effects of Fire exchanges Heat for Coldness Fludity for Firmness and instead of Whiteness puts on Transparency And besides the Changes which are caused by the Action of one single Quality in an Agent as Heat the Operations of Bodies proceeding from the Texture of the whole are various as appears by Factitious Vitriol which is made of Iron and a Corrosive Menstruum yet hath all the Qualities of Natural Vitriol And as to the Second Part of the Argument viz. That the Parts of a Body could not be united into one without a Sustantial Form I answer That a Connexion of Parts conveniently figured is sufficient as when a Pear is grafted on a White-thorn or a Plum is inoculated on an Apricock there is a Union of Two different Forms meerly by a Connexion of the Parts of Matter and the Parts grafted or inoculated receive Nourishment as naturally as if they were supposed to be joined by a Substantial Form to a Stock of the same Form and Texture with themselves Another Instance of Union by a Connexion of certain figured Parts we have in Glass where the Particles of Sand are linked together with the Saline ones by the help of Colliquation and the violent Action of the Fire But to conclude I am not ignorant that it is alledged in favour of Substantial Forms that they render Natural Philosophy much more perfect and that it would be very imperfect without them which comes to no more than that if we must not explain things difficult by things unknown we must be imperfect where I think the Imperfection is not at all remedied for should it be ask'd why Jet attracts Straws or why Rhabarb is a Cholagogue and the Answer should be by reason of their Substantial Forms it would be all one as to say by I know not what because those Forms are unknown Being therefore in things purely appertaining to Natural Philosophy unwilling to believe what is not intelligible I shall leave the Doctrin of Substantial Forms to those that have clearer Heads than my self and shall rather proceed upon Intelligible Principles The Form of a Body is its Essential Modification I shall therefore briefly intimate what hath been delivered before concerning our Notion of Forms viz. That the Form of a Body is its Essential Modification and tho' Matter at the first Beginning of things had both Form and Motion from the wise Creator of things yet now the various Forms of Bodies depend on the Effects of Local Motion which divides and variously transposes and so alters both the Textures and Forms of Natural Bodies tho' I say at the Creation the Parts of Matter were guided by a Supream Power so as to convene into an orderly and well contrived Fabrick CHAP. IV. Considerations concerning Subordinate Forms as they are usually held by several Learned Modern Philosophers IT is usually held by several Modern Philosophers That besides the Specifick Form of a Body The Notions of Modern Philosophers concerning Subordinate Forms there are several Subordinate Forms in Determinate Parts of it subservient to that which is the Common Form of the whole Substance and which upon the Dissolution of a Body become Specifick Forms themselves the Specifick Form which presided over them before being destroy'd As when in a Living Animal the Soul which is the Specifick Form of that Animal Body is separated from it the Forms which were before lodg'd in every Part as subordinate
observ'd That tho' such Vacuities are necessary to constitute Fluid Bodies yet they are only so to use School-Term as Removens prohibens i. e. they prevent the Inconveniencies which must be the Consequence of a Plentitude viz. Want of Liberty to move or in other Words as they dispose the Parts of a Body to yield to each other's Motion And here I would Note That tho' in most Liquid Bodies this Doctrin may take place yet I conceive it not altogether absurd to Question Whether Matter may not be so exquisitely agitated and divided as to fill up these Vacuities and to be squeez'd into any Figure as Occasion requires But not to spend Time in examining this Point at the present I shall proceed A Perpetual Motion if Parts requisite to Fluidity 3. To the Principal and last Requisite in Modifying a Fluid Body which is That all the Particles of a Fluid Body should be separately and variously mov'd up and down either by Virtue of some subtle Matter diffus'd through their Substance or an inherent Quality of their own For the Difference betwixt Solid and Fluid Bodies seems to consist in this viz. That the Parts of Solids are at rest and not so apt to yield to the Pressure of One's Finger as the Parts of Liquids are which are in Motion since the Latter being already agitated to and fro it is much more easy to guide that Motion than to put the Parts of a Body into Motion whose Parts according to the Laws of Motion must be at rest till mov'd by an Agent powerful enough to put them into Motion But when once they are put into Motion by the same Laws they must continue so till stopp'd by some other Body and consequently they must be in a perpetual Change as to their Places and Order so that hence it appears why some Bodies come to be so soft since such small Parts of Matter being in Perpetual Motion must needs yield very easily to the Touch and give way to the Impressions of other Bodies And also it cannot but dispose them easily to be confin'd by the Vessels they are contain'd in and as apt to disperse themselves when Liberty is given them Having premis'd this Brief Account of Fluidity I shall now proceed to illustrate it by Experiments And first by that concerning Salt-Petre The Doctrin of Fluidity illustrated by Experiments Salt-Petre then may become a Fluid Body either by having the Particles of it dissolv'd in Water so that they may move up and down and to give way to the Impression of an External Agent as the other Parts of that Liquid do or it may put on a Liquid Form by being expos'd to the Air in a moist Cellar where by running per Deliquium the Salt-Petre will be dissolv'd and put on so far the Form of a Liquid as to have all it's Parts in an Agitation sufficient to rank it amongst Fluid Bodies But Salt-Petre may put on a Liquid Form without the Addition of a Liquid Body as first It may be reduc'd to so fine a Powder as to resemble a Liquid in the pouring of it out of one Vessel into another besides the other Requisites of a Fluid Body viz. That it hath Vacuities betwixt its Parts and that they may be easily put into Motion only they differ from the Parts of Liquids in some Respects since the Powder hath not it's Parts always in Motion besides the Vacuities are more sensible But notwithstanding if by the force of Fire each of these Parts be again subdivided those insensible Corpuscles being violently agitated make up a Fluid Body So the Particles of Metals being by the same Agent seperated and put into Motion do not only move variously one amongst another but are sometimes toss'd a considerable height into the Air. And not only Fire but some other Bodies which are sensibly Cold may provided the Texture and Motion of their Parts be rightly dispos'd reduce several Substances to a Liquid Form so Camphire puts on the Form of an Oyl when swimming upon Aqua fortis And when Salt-Petre is by the Action of Fire endow'd with a Fluid Form it is equally a Fluid as when incorporated with Water there being very little difference betwixt these two States of Nitre only that in the Former the Agent which keeps the Nitrous Parts in Motion is more Volatile and Brisk and divides it into smaller Parts without making an Addition to its Bulk But perhaps it will be a Scruple Whether the Powder of Nitre be an Imperfect Fluid when pour'd out or rather like a heap of Sand not reduc'd to a permanent State of Fluidity To remove this Scruple we may take Powder of Alablaster or instead of it Plaster of Paris and we shall find that by putting it into a hot Vessel by the continued Action of the Fire the Parts of that Powder will be so agitated and by the Assistance of the more Spirituous Parts kept in Motion as to Boil and emit Steams like a Fluid Body and altogether resemble a Coherent Substance yet if it be remov'd from the Fire it again subsides in the Form of a Powder tho' for once again it will assume the Form of a Liquid if expos'd to a competent degree of Fire yet when the Ebullition of the Parts of it are most violent if a small Portion of it be thrown upon a piece of Paper it appears to be nothing but a very fine Powder From whence it is evident that Fluidity depends on a vehement and various Agitation of Parts which Fluidity the same Body may be depriv'd of by losing that Intestine Motion What the Motion of the Parts of Fluids depends on And thus it briefly appears how much Motion contributes to the Fluidity of Bodies And here tho' it would be very desirable to determine what is the Essential Cause of that Motion yet since it is a Matter of too much Intricacy it being by some held to be inherent in Matter and by others to be promoted by Impulse I shall rather pass it by than enter upon an Examination of those two Points especially since there would be the same Necessity of Discussing others which equally relate to the Cartesian Principles It may therefore suffice in short that neglecting the Unintelligible Doctrin of Substantial Forms we rather ascribe it to those Catholick Affections of Matter Motion Shape and Situation But to omit what we have elsewhere deliver'd concerning these Catholick Affections of Matter we shall observe what this Experiment further affords us We are therefore to take Notice That there is a difference remarkable betwixt a Fluid and a Body which hath a Quality of Wetting Bodies which are Contiguous to them since every wet Body is Fluid but not vice versâ For Air Flame Melted Liquors or Salt-Petre tho' fluid are all void of a Wetting Quality Humidity a Relative Quality Whence we are led to consider That Humidity is but a Relative Quality depending on the Congruity that one Body
may be further noted That even the Shining Reflection of Quick-silver may be increas'd by the Addition of a Liquor For if Distill'd Mercury be put into a Viol and Petroleum be gently pour'd upon it the Reflection will be sensibly increas'd by the Addition of that Liquor but whether that Reflection proceeds from some Subtle Body included betwixt the Petrloeum and the Mercury I shall not determine only to make it probable That were there such a Body included it might much contribute to such a Phaenomenon I shall add That I once saw a Transparent Body which was suppos'd to have a true Oriental Pearl in it but upon the Breaking of it that which was suppos'd to be a Pearl was nothing but a Cavity containing a Substance something grosser than Air And I have a piece of Glass by me which hath Air included in a Cavity of a Pear-like shape which causes such a vivid Reflection as to resemble a fair Pearl And I am Master of a Small Stone which look'd upon in one's Hand directly down seems to be like Common Glass but if the Beams of Light in another posture fall upon it obliquely it appears to be a fine Opal or Oriental Pearl EXPERIMENT XVI An Experiment in Vacuo Boyliano Having melted a Gummy Substance in a deep round wide-mouth'd Glass and conveigh'd it into our Pneumatical Receiver upon extracting the Air we found that which was contain'd in the Pores of the Gummy Substance to rise in Bubbles several of which settled at the Top and others were detain'd in the Body of it upon the Cooling of that Substance Where it was to be observ'd that those which were included in the Gummy Substance did not only cause a considerable Reflection but also the Air was so rarify'd in them that upon the intro-admission of external Air into the Receiver those Bubbles which were rais'd to the Top and adorned with Curious Colours like those of a Rainbow were presently broke EXPERIMENTS XVII and XVIII Of Water included in Oyl Tho' it is usually thought That the Parts of Water are Spherical in falling Rain yet since Hail which is nothing but Drops of Water froze and often of a Figure different from Orbicular to be further satisfy'd concerning their Figures we conveigh'd several Portions of Water into Oyl of Cloves and found that one which was as big as a Pea was so near an Orbicular Figure as to approach an Elliptical one and other Portions of Water which were larger were somewhat Elliptical but rather more depress'd in the middle and these Phaenomena were afforded by those Portions of Water which were only contiguous to the Oyl and Air. EXPERIMENT XIX Having put Oyl of Turpentine upon Oyl of Cloves which was contain'd in a Glass Cylinder I observ'd that Water being encompass'd betwixt these two Heterogeneous Bodies the Surface of the Oyl of Cloves was but a very little protuberant And the lower Surface of the Oyl of Turpentine was but moderately Convex EXPERIMENT XX. Of Coagulated Oyl of Aniseeds To try whether Fluid Bodies would retain their smooth Surfaces when reduc'd to a Solid Form I left Oyl of Aniseeds to coagulate upon Water and found that that Superficies which was Contiguous to the Air as well as that which was next the Water had each a peculiar kind of Roughness EXPERIMENT XXI Having expos'd one Portion of Water to be froze with Oyl of Junipers upon it and another with Oyl of Turpentine I found that the Ice which was under each had a different and peculiar Surface A Variety of Surfaces may likewise be observ'd upon several frozen Liquors which abound with Water And I have observ'd my self in a red Decoction of Soot of Wood set to freeze Crystals shap'd like Daggers curiously emboss'd as well as fring'd at the ends EXPERIMENT XXII And besides the Irregular Surfaces of a frozen Liquor contiguous to a Heterogenous Body I have observ'd in Oyl of Vitriol that Part of it being froze the Superficies which was contiguous to the Liquid Part was very unequal with several Asperities EXPERIMENT XXIII And not only Bodies which are Naturally Fluid but those brought to Fusion by Art acquire Various Sufaces upon their putting on of a Solid Form For I have observ'd upon the Surface of a Regulus Martis Stellatus and a Regulus of Antimony without Mars Curious Embossments of the Figure of a Star but if to these Bodies Copper be Artificially added they acquire New Surfaces sometimes resembling a Net And I have now by me a Mass of a Conical Figure consisting of two Parts contiguous to each other which when separated the lower Part had upon it's upper Side a great many Protuberances and the Conical Part on it's Superficies which was contiguous to that was furnish'd with Cavities answerable to and adapted to receive those Protuberances Whence it might be inferr'd That the more Metalline Part which was emboss'd with those Protubetances was first hardned and the other more scorious and recrementitious Part was afterwards adapted in it's Coagulation to the Protuberances of that which would melt with the Heat of ones Hand tho' the Metalline Ingredients be much more hard to be brought to Fusion than Lead or even Silver it self and we have sometimes obtain'd such a Vitriol as might be preserv'd in a fluid Form by the languid Heat of the Sun in Winter either with Spirit of Nitre or a certain Aqua fortis From whence it appears that the Textures of Compositions are to be consider'd as well as the particular Consistence of the Ingredients CHAP. XIII Containing the History of Firmness ALTHO' the Compactness and Solidity of Bodies is usually attributed to the Coagulating Qualities of a saline Ingredient by the Chymists yet since their Explications are not intelligible I shall proceed to enquire after another Cause First then The Solidity of a Body being a Quality contrary to Fluidity A Definition of Solidity seems to consist in this viz. That the gross Parts of solid Bodies are so entangled and interwoven together that they are unapt to diffuse themselves several ways like fluid Bodies and that the Figure of their Superficies is rather to be attributed to the Connection of the Parts that compose them than to the Impressions of outward Bodies In which Definition these three Things appear to be the Causes of Solidity viz. Grossness of Parts Rest and the Implication of the constituent Parts The Grossness of the Parts of a Body contributes to its Solidity And First That the Grossness of the Parts of a Body contributes to the Solidity of it is evident from what hath been already said of Fluidity for if Minuteness of Parts is requisite to produce such a Quality as Fluidity it must follow that the Inaptitude that is in grosser Matter to be put in Motion must be a further Argument That the Grossness of Particles is conducive to Firmness But here it is to be noted that by Grossness or Minuteness of Parts I would
again without the Additional weight of four Ounces And in this Experiment it was further to be observed that as the Valve was raised higher and higher in the Cucurbite a weight portionably less was sufficient to open it In which Experiment if fuga Vacui resisted the opening of the Valve it would have required the same weight at the top of the Water as in the Bottom the Valve being in both places under Water And therefore the difference rather proceeds from the Compressure of the Ambient Water that presses the Parts of the Valve together And tho' Air be a Body much more light than Water yet considering that the difference is but about as much as 1000 to 1 and that the Particles of Air which press upon our Atmosphaere are incumbent upon each other for several score Miles in height it is not absurd to expect that their pressure should be considerable and sufficient to press the two Marbles together For a further Confirmation of our Doctrine of Firmness to this I shall add another Experiment which is that having suspended the aforemention'd coherent Marbles in a large Glass when the Air was considerably exhausted the lower presently fell from it And tho' the uppermost was let down to it yet it could not be raised till fresh Air was admitted into the Glass again and then they were again pressed strongly together and became coherent as in the open Air. Rest it self for the most part sufficient to cause Rest But to return to our Discourse from which these Experiments have made a Digression tho' the Pressure of the Air may so joyn Bodies together as to make them coherent yet generally Rest it self is sufficient to render a substance Solid for since from what we have said above concerning Fluidity it appears that it depends on the Motion of Minute Parts one amongst another to deprive Matter of that Motion is enough to render it Solid the Parts of a Solid being contiguous and at rest The Opinions of some Antients and Moderns briefly refuted I know it is by all Philosphers whether Modern or Antient usually held that there is something else requisite to keep the Parts of a stable Body together For some hold that a Substantial Form is requisite but since it is equally as difficult to conceive how Matter should be so variously united in several Substances by a substantial Form as without it we may as well fly to imaginary Substances which are united by their peculiar Texture Others think that the Particles of solid Bodies are linked together by a Spirit diffused throughout the World or by a certain sort of Glue which Glews their small Corpuscles together But as to the first it s altogether unlikely for it may as well be a Question how those Parts stick to the Spirit as how they stick to one another themselves and it will be no less difficult to conceive how the Particles of that Spirit it self come to be fastned together Besides were that true it would follow that Ice which is looked upon as a Body void of Spirit must abound with it since the Parts of that brittle Substance could not be joyned by a Spirit which was not betwixt them Nor is it more Reasonable to suppose them joyned by a Cement since it might likewise be asked how the Parts of that Cement were linked together which should it be affirmed to be done by a Substance yet finer the Question might still be continued ad Infinitum so that it would at last be allowed that some Parts of Matter must adhere without a Cement or there must be Cements finer one than another ad Infinitum which since it cannot be allowed we may as well suppose that the Parts of a Body adhere without a gross Cement as that the Parts of a subtile Cement can stick together without another Substance to Cement them especially since the Corpuscles of a Body may be so figured and contrived as to be linked amongst one another very firmly an agreeable Contact with a real rest of Parts contributing to render the united substances a Solid Body But in favour of the former Opinion it is urged by some that the Spirit which they suppose joyns the Parts of a Body together consists of Parts indivisible and consequently there is no need of another substance to Unite them But since Bodies as Solid and Adamantine as these can be supposed to be may be broke a bare Affirmation must not be taken for Proof for to suppose that these Parts of Matter were made up of hooked Parts it would be as reasonable to believe that those hooked Parts might not be broke as that by a violent Agent the Particles of the most Solid Bodies cannot be divided since it is plain they may But to proceed The last thing we suppos'd necessary to constitute a Body was the Texture of its Parts and indeed tho' a Juxta-position and Rest of the Parts of a Body are sufficient to render it Solid yet if those Parts are more intimately interwoven with one another so as to be linked together like Hooks it must contribute to render the Body much more firm Parts so joyned being much more difficultly separated and put into Motion than those which have only an immediate Contact And it may not a little serve to confirm our Opinion to take Notice that in an Egg or Water by a meer alteration of Texture the Disposition of Corpuscles of those Substances are considerably changed as when an Egg is by the insinuation of the Parts of Fire so altered as to become hard or as when the Latter as well as Water is beaten into a Froth which in some Measure is like a Solid Body as long as they continue in that Form Having thus far inquired into the conjunct Causes of Solidity we shall consider briefly how many Ways a Body may come to be so Modified and what things are requisite to make Bodies apt to put on such a Form The Figure of the Parts of a Body contribute to their Solidity The first and most remarkable thing is the Figure and Shape of the Parts of Matter as if they be hooked or otherwise shaped so as to entangle one within another they will be with more difficulty separated which is evident in close-set Hedges where by pulling away one Bough the slender Twigs of others interwoven with it make it harder to be separated and not without pulling some others along with it â—o likewise the slender Threds which make up Cables being twisted and wound one within another are capable of sustaining a much greater Weight and require much more Force to braeke them And indeed this Configuration of Parts seems to have been the Opinion of the antient Atomists of which Lucretius hath given the following Account in these Verses Denique quae nobis durata ac spissa videntur Haec magis hamatis inter se esse necess ' est Et quasi ramosis alta compacta teneri In quo jam
that the Houses in that Town apparently shook especially those which were most directly situated towards the Gap which as that Author observes must needs proceed from the Impression of the Air upon the Houses for had it been the Effect of a Tremulous Motion in the Ground all the Houses would have shook alike which was otherwise To prove that Motion may be propagated through different Mediums besides what hath been before deliver'd I shall add That the Eloquent Famianus Strada De Bello Belg. Dec. 2. lib. 6. vel 7. says That a very Stupendious Work being rais'd by the Prince of Parma to prevent the City of Antwerp from being reliev'd by the River Scheld an Engineer contriv'd to blow it up tho' with Success not a little Tragical by a Boat fraught with Gun-powder c. for it rais'd such a Commotion that the Earth shook to the Distance of 36 English Miles and the deep River was so agitated as first to discover it's Bottom and afterwards to overswell the Banks the Castle together with Men Cannons c. being violently toss'd into the Air together with a vast number of other Accidents horrid and dreadful And to illustrate further what hath been deliver'd in the foregoing Chapter concerning the Effects of Musick on Bodies duly dispos'd to be work'd on by it I shall add that an Experienc'd Traveller told me That in the East Indies he saw Tame Serpents which would raise themselves erect in the Air except 3 or 4 Inches of their Tails which they rested upon And he added That upon the Playing of some Parts of the Tune they would be put into very brisk and surprising Motions whereas when another Part of it was a-playing they seem'd to be half a sleep and dissolv'd in Pleasure Another Instance which shews how much the Peculiar Textures of Bodies contribute to their Effects is publish'd by the Learned Marhofius who relates That Nicolaus Petterus had found out a Note which being loud and lasting would without visibly touching the Vessel cause a Glass-Romer to tremble and burst but if the Note were rais'd either too high or depress'd too low it would have no such Effect A further Instance of the Efficacy of Languid Motion is That I once obtain'd several pieces of Glass the Textures of which were so peculiar that if the internal Superficies were gently scratch'd obliquely with a Pin they would fly in pieces tho' 6 or 7 times thicker than common Drinking-glasses To shew how much Motion even in Solid Bodies may be promoted by the Strokes of very weak Agents I shall here relate that several Urinals whose Parts were of a peculiar Texture being rubb'd with Sand and Water had their Parts put into such a Degree of Motion as in a little time after to break without any Cause to be observ'd except that precedent Attrition of Sand. To make it evident that the Parts of Solid Bodies which seem to be at Rest may have very powerful Effects I shall add the following Observations First That I have been inform'd by a Famous Jeweller That when he ground Rubies or Saphires or other Precious Stones upon a Mill their Parts would acquire such a degree of Heat as to afford Light like Fire the Light flowing from each being of the same Colour with the Gem it came from And I am likewise inform'd by another that when they have acquir'd a certain degree of Heat the Edges would gape and if the Motion of the Mill was continu'd the Gems would fly in pieces but if it was stopp'd the cold Gem would be whole and entire To this Observation it will not be amiss to add That I once plac'd a Bottle to which was adapted a Glass-stopple in my Window and about a twelve Month after as I was sitting in the Room the Top of the Stopple flew off of its own accord leaving the other Part fast in the Glass but the Parts of Solid Glass will not only fly in pieces of their own accord but I have been inform'd that sometimes in the East-Indies Diamonds themselves are observ'd to burst asunder without the Impression of any Visible Agent THE WORKS Of the HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE Esq EPITOMIZED BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of the Systematical or Cosmical Qualities of Things Qualities proceeding partly from the Influence of outward Agents as well as the Primary Affections of Matter CONSIDERING that the Particular Qualities of Bodies depend on a certain Relation which they have one towards another by which they are adapted to Act or to be Acted on I the rather chuse to call the Qualities consider'd in this Chapter Systematical or Cosmical Qualities they not being the Effects of those primary Affections of Bodies consider'd barely as such viz. Motion Size and Shape but of Bodies so diversify'd by those primary Affections Acting mutually on one another As Quicksilver is endew'd with a Power to dissolve both Silver and Gold and an Aptitude to be dissolv'd in Aqua fortis So that I would not be understood to mean by Cosmical Qualities such as may be attributed to the mutual Actions and Passions of Bodies plac'd in some imaginary Spaces beyond the World but plac'd in the Universe as now Constituted with a vast Variety of Bodies about them This I have already hinted in the foregoing Chapters of Forms and Qualities and therefore my design in this Chapter is to consider what Qualities a Body may Aquire by the Impressions or Influence of Agents whose Effects are unknown or not taken notice of And though all these Phaenomena which are usually attributed to the Laws of Nature might properly be considered in a Chapter that bears this Title yet since those Agents most concerned in the Effecting of these Phaenomena are either the Stars the subterraneal Parts or the Aether and Atmosphaere we live in I shall wave those and only here consider what is requisite to prove that there are such real Qualities depending on unheeded Agents and the Ordinary Course of Nature Our Notion of Cosmical Qualities grounded on the three following Propositions but before I proceed I shall briefly intimate that our Notion of Cosmical Qualities is grounded upon these three Propositions 1. That some Bodies are altogether inactive till they are acted on and that others are put into Action chiefly by the Influence of these Catholick and unheeded Agents 2. That there are several Bodies which when put into Action are subtle enough to insinuate themselves into the Pores of other Bodies which they are by the Established Laws of Nature forced to act on 3. That an Alteration of the Mechanical Texture of the Body is enough to dispose it or render it unapt to be worked on by those unheeded Agents And these three Propositions I shall endeavour to make out by the following Phaenomena and Experiments To begin then with the first Proposition viz. That some Bodies are altogether inactive till they are acted on and that others are put into Action Proposition the first chiefly by the
Influence of these Catholick and Vnheeded Agents The first Part of this Proposition I presume undeniable if we consider That till a Hammer or some other Body be struck upon a Wedge it wants the Power or Faculty of cleaving Wood but when forced by the Impulse of that Body which strikes upon it the Wedge presently insinuates it self betwixt the Parts of that Solid and divides them As also that a Knife is altogether unable to attract a Needle till it hath received that Power from a Loadstone But to proceed to the second Part of the Proposition I shall to what I have elsewhere observed viz. That the Property of a Burning-Glass in respect of it's Effects does not proceed from the Convex Figure considered as such but the Rays of the Sun cast into a Point add the following Instances The first is That a Bar of Iron by standing a considerable time in a Window in a perpendicular Line will acquire a considerable degree of Magnetism by the Influence of Invisible Agents and several Magnetical Qualities which it had not before Secondly That tho' a flat Piece of Marble considered barely as such hath not a Power to raise any Body by a bare Contact yet if it be applyed to another whose Superficies is adapted to it by virtue of the Constitution and Fabrick of the World and the concurrent Causes of Bodies about it it may acquire such a Faculty the lower Stone being boyed up by the Weight and Pressure of the ambient Air yet if these two Stones were contained in a Vacuum they would not have such a Power to lift up one another But to proceed to The second Proposition The second Proposition which is That there are several Bodies which when put into Action are subtle enough to insinuate themselves into the Pores of other Bodies which they are by the Established Laws of Nature forced to Act on And here though some of the Experiments to be related might be also alledged in favour of that Aether or Materia coelestis which some Philosophers have supposed to be dispersed throughout the World yet the Invisible Agents which are here to be mentioned are only such as the Magnetical Effluvia of the Earth and also the Air in reference to it's Spring and Weight And first Tho a Bar of Silver and another of Steel be exposed to cool when red hot with their ends directly North and South yet the Textures of these two Metals being different one from another the Pores of the Steel being opened and the Metal made plyable it is by the Insinuation of Terrestrial Effluvia endued with several Magnetical Qualities and particularly when poised to point North and South whereas Silver acquires no such Properties And that it may be less strange that the Earth should afford Magnetical Effluvia which are imagined by some to be very spirituous Ones I shall add that having heated an Oblong Loadstone and exposed it to the Air to cool with it's Ends pointing North and South and so deprived it of it's Magnetical Qualities I could make either End to tend to the Southern or Northern Pole as upon Ignition I suffered it to cool with one end directed either North or Southwards To this it may be added That if the Air be exhausted in some measure out of a Vial with an oblong Neck and upon it's Immersion in Water ones Finger which prevented the retroadmission of the Air be presently taken away the Water will contrary to the Tendency of it's own Gravity presently fly up in the Bottle being squeezed in by the External Pressure of the Air lying upon the Surface of the Water the Spring of the Internal Air being so weakned as not to be able to oppose the force of it whereas in a Vacuo the Water would not be so raised having no external Agent to boye it up The Expansive force of Beans soaked with Water Again being desirous to know the Causes of Germination and from what Causes that powerful Intumescence of Seeds when sown proceeded I filled several Vessels of Glass as well as Earth with common Beans filling up the Intervals with Water and tying the Corks fast with Strings which being done when the Beans had imbibed Water enough their Intumescence was so powerful as not only to break several of the Vessels but a great many of the Strings which hindred the raising of the Corks But that I might be more exact in estimating the Power of that Expansive Force I put a sufficient Quantity of Beans and Water into a Brass Cylinder whose Diameter was two Inches and it's Length six which being done and the Orifice of the Cylinder being likewise fitted exactly with a Plug a Trencher was placed upon it which was broad enough to bear a half hundred weight of Lead In which Experiment it was to be observed that in two or three days the Expansive Force of the Beans had raised the Plug a considerable Height And it may further be noted in such Tryals that as the Diameter of the Cylinder is larger so the Expansive Force of the Beans are able to raise a more considerable Weight How far these Experiments may confirm the Corpuscularian Philosophy or whether that Force may be Mechanically explained by it I shall leave the Reader to consider and shall here only observe That the Air together with the Aether may in a great Measure concur to the producing of some of the Phaenomena of Nature which we imagin it very little concerned in for besides the Effects which may be ascribed to the Pressure of the Air it contributes to the producing of some upon another Account it being easy to be observed that Flesh may be preserved longer from Putrefaction by being secluded from the Contact and Influence of the Air and also that the Light which flows from rotten Woods and some putrefyed Fishes will appear and disappear upon the Contact or Separation of ambient Air. Several Phaenomena produc'd by Virtue of Motion in the Parts of the Air. But for a further Proof that the Air may effect several things besides what it produces by virtue of it's weight by the Insensible Motions of it's Parts I might add that whereas a Piece of Paper being wet with Oyl hath it's Pores so altered as to be capable of transmitting more easily the Rays of Light and the Air being impelled by the Laws of Nature presently acts upon it and represents a great many Objects by being reflected from those Bodies beyond it which could not appear through it before And if a large Box be so contrived as to have one end of it open and a Hole in the other end covered with a Lenticular Glass if the open end be made up with a fine sheet of Paper and a small Hole be likewise made upon the Top of the Box by placing ones Eye to the Lenticular Glass one may discern upon the Paper the Lively Representations of External Objects and their various Motions as well as Shape and
mixed with it by pressing into the Vessel I shall add Instances not lyable to such Objections for it hath been observed not only at the Cape of Comori but elsewhere by Divers that the Water is as Salt at the bottom as at the top and I am informed that Divers have not only under the Torrid Zone observed the Water exceeding Salt but have brought several Lumps of Salt from the bottom with the Sea And the like Saltness of the bottom of the Sea hath been discovered near the Straights of Gibralter's Mouth And further that I might not only be sure that the Sea was thus Salt at the bottom I procured two Quarts of Sea Water the one taken up at the bottom of the Sea and another at the top in which though there was some Difference in Colour yet being Hydrostatically tryed there was no sensible difference in the specifick Gravity of them But to make out what I have before intimated viz. That the Freshness of the Water in the bottom of the Sea near Goa might be produced by the Rise of some Springs under Water though it may be objected that the specifick Gravity of the Salt Water would in some measure obstruct the Rising of fresh Water Yet this Objection will easily be answered if we consider that according to what we have delivered in our Hydrostatical Paradoxes and also what Stevinus hath observed let the Quantity of Water be never so great no more can resist the Rising of such Springs but that Pillar of Water which lyes over them in a perpendicular Line and if the Spring takes it's Rise from some high Place so that the Weight of that Water which lyes in the Vein be heavier than the perpendicular Pillar of Sea Water the Rising of it can by no means be hindered by the Pressure of that incumbent Water But to explain and confirm this Paradox I shall add that having procured a long Glass Syphon part of it being inverted so as to form a short Leg I filled it with Claret stopping the Orifice of the longer Leg with my Thumb which Syphon being immersed in Salt Water contained in a Glass Vessel and the Orifice of the longer Leg being opened the Claret notwithstanding the Pressure of the Salt Water presently rose up in it in the Form of Clouds which lasted till the Liquor in the Pipe was brought to a just Aequilibrium with the incumbent Pillar of Salt Water The Reason of the Saltness of the Sea But to pass on to the Cause of the Saltness of Sea VVater I deny not what Gassendus and other Moderns teach but grant that the Saltness proceeds from a Solution of Salt in the VVater yet I am apt to suspect that that Saltness is not only supplyed by those Salt Rocks which may be contiguous to or near the Water but that the Sea is in a great Measure supply'd by Salt wash'd away and carry'd into it by Springs and Rain-water which float into the Ocean And I am the more confirm'd in this Suspicion because several Chymists have not only found Salt in some Waters but have obtain'd a good Quantity of common Salt upon refining of Salt-Petre which according to Sir Francis Bacon is in most Soils which are not spent in Vegetation or wash'd and consum'd by the Sun and Rain But not to insist too long on these things it is not only probable That the Salts in the Earth may by this Means contribute to the Saltness of the Sea but that from what hath been before deliver'd such Salts may be communicated to it by latent Springs not to be taken notice of or discern'd by us And further That such Salt as abounds in the Earth may supply the Sea with most of the Salt which is perceiv'd to be in it we are to render it further probable to consider That the Sea-Salt and that are agreeable in the main with each other since they have almost the same Shape and Taste c. the former of which will appear by Evaporation and Crystalizing them and as for some small Difference to be perceiv'd betwixt them that may easily arise from those Bituminous and other as well as Nitrous Bodies which flow into the Sea and which may be mixed with them both by the internal Agitation of the Parts of the Water as well as the outward Action of the Sun and Air. And that there is such Salt dissolv'd in Sea-Water might be probable if it were possible so to raise the fresh Water it was dissolv'd in by Distillation as to leave the Saline Parts behind but not now to mention that not only I but the Judicious Sir John Haukins in his Voyage to the East-Indies have by distilling of Salt-Water obtain'd from it a wholesome fresh Water I shall without making a long Digression proceed to answer an Objection which is urg'd against what I have deliver'd viz. That if the Springs acquir'd such a Saltness by running through the Earth it would be discernible before they emptied themselves into the Ocean To this I shall answer That besides those fresh Springs which are visible to us there may be several others which lye too deep for us to take Notice of But here it may be requisite to take Notice That I do not say That the Saltness of the Sea wholly depends on such Supplies but that they contribute to the Saltness of it The Bitterness of Sea Water whence Having said so much of the Saltness of the Sea and its Causes it may be now seasonable to observe from whence proceeds that Bitterness remarkable in some if not most Sea-Water which we conceive may proceed partly from the external Power of some Catholick Agent and partly from those Bituminous Bodies which are carried along with Spring-Water into the Sea which hath been visibly apparent in the Island Barbadoes where that which they call Barbadoes Tarr hath been seen to flow from the Rock into the Sea and to these Causes may concur some Subterraneal Exhalations and Effluvia which I have elsewhere taken notice of to flow from and pervade the Earth And as for those different Tastes which are perceiv'd in the Sea at several Places it is no less probable that they proceed from other adventitious Bodies mix'd and incorporated with the Sea-Water for that the Sea-Salt which is dissolv'd in it is not a simple Salt but a compound I have been induc'd to believe by a Salt which I obtain'd from it And that some Catholick Agents may work Changes in the Saltness of the Sea which it would not otherwise have by a bare Solution of those adventitious Bodies that are mix'd in it I have Reason to believe since I have found That by keeping the Parts of Sea-Water in Agitation by a continued digestive Heat it hath considerably differ'd in Taste from a bare Solution of Sea-Salt in Water And for a further Confirmation That the Saltness of the Sea is vary'd in several Places I shall barely intimate those several Colours different
into the Air. EXPERIMENT XXI Concerning the same HAving fill'd a Glass Viol with Water which contained something above a Pound I took a Glass Pipe about as thick as a Goose Quill and having put one End of it into the Neck of the Bottle and clos'd it with Cement I fill'd the Pipe half full with Water sticking a piece of Paper at the Superficies of the Water on the outside of the Pipe which being plac'd in the Pump after the Air had been pump'd a while above sixty Bubbles of Water as big as Pease rose out of the Water one after another and the Water in the Bottle so far expanded as to rise quite up to the Top of the Pipe and being permitted to subside several Bubbles of Air rose out of it afresh as soon as it renew'd its Expansion as before but upon a reingress of the Air it presently subsided almost to the Bottom of the Pipe Besides which the following Phaenomena were observable First That those Bubbles which ascended last were much larger than the former either because their Parts were more expanded than before or because more Bubbles of Air were united together but whatever was the Cause of it we observ'd that they ascended much slower than before Another thing to be observ'd was that tho' Bubbles are usually wont to rise above the Surface of the Water encompass'd with a thin Film yet in this Tube the Surface of the Water being Convex the less protuberant Parts of the Bubble were covered with Water Another Observation which occurr'd was that whereas those Bubbles which rose at the Beginning of the Operation divided the Water which they pass'd through in their Ascent these latter expanded Bubbles filling up the Cavity of the Cylinder in their Passage rais'd the Water before them till the Air was again permitted to re-enter the Receiver and then they wholly disappeared From which Observations it may Naturally be inferr'd First Bodies under Water may be press'd upon by the Atmosphere as well as incumbent Water Secondly It cannot be hence inferr'd that the Intumescence of the Water proceeded from any Elasticity in it since it might more probably proceed from the Elasticity of the Air lodg'd in the Pores of the Water And to make it probable that those Bubbles proceeded from small Particles of Air dispers'd through the Pores of the Water and not from any spirituous Parts of the Liquor expanded I shall subjoyn the following Experiment EXPERIMENT XXII The Bubbles prov'd to be Aerious and not Watery by observing the like Bubbles in î Mercury To which is subjoyn'd a Digression whether the Air is generated de Novo c. THO' it be generally alledg'd that the Bubbles which rise in the Cylindrical Tube in the foregoing Nineteenth Experiment are Particles of Water expanded upon a Diminution of the Incumbent Weight of the Air Yet I am apter to believe them really Parts of Air dispers'd through the Water because upon the re-entring of the Air the Water was not impell'd quite to the Top but was depress'd by the Air lodg'd above it almost an Inch which being collected together was able to resist the Pressure of the Air. The Bubbles which rise in Water Aerial proved But in order to a further Discovery whether the aforesaid Bubbles were Water or not We try'd the Nineteenth Experiment in a small Receiver and upon drawing out the Air the Water subsided upon which several Bubbles rising to the Top of the Cylinder prevented the Rising of the Water half an Inch being possess'd by the Bubbles of the Air collected at the Top of the Cylinder And we were further perswaded that those Bubbles were Aerial because the Air being a second time exhausted the Water contain'd in the Tube was by the Spring of that Air contain'd in the Cylinder depress'd below the Surface of the Water which was without the Tube having a Convex Superficies as Water expos'd to Air in such Tubes usually hath but rather more protuberant And to demonstrate that those Bubbles were really made up of Aerial Particles when the Air was almost exhausted and the Water had subsided near as low as the external Water by applying Water to the Tube which contain'd the Air we observ'd that it was so far expanded as to depress the Water down to the Bottom of the Tube several Inches below the External Water So that the Air which was before expanded to near a hundred times it's extent was capable of being further expanded by Heat But I was yet further confirm'd in my Opinion that those Bubbles were nothing but Air lodg'd in the Pores of the Water because the Air being exhausted out of the Receiver the subsiding Water yielded not Bubbles as before except a few small ones when it was near pump'd out And what I took for a stronger Argument was that the same Experiment being try'd with Mercury several Bubbles likewise rose to the Top of the Cylinder and the Mercury subsiding a second time upon the Exsuction of the Air several Bubbles appear'd in the Bottom of the Cylinder which grew bigger and bigger as the Surface of the Mercury descended lower From whence it appear'd that a Body The Expansion of Water depends on the Elater of the Air lodg'd in its Pores more ponderous than Water might contain Aerial Particles in it's Pores capable of expanding themselves when the Cause of their Compression is taken away so that we have Reason to believe that the Intumescence of the Water not only in these Experiments but also the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Water contain'd in the Pewter Globe before mention'd proceeded from the Expansion of the Aerial Particles contain'd in the Pores of the Water rather than from any Elasticity in the Water it self These things being premis'd it would be a Matter of some Importance and of no small Consequence Whether Air be a primogeneal bedy or not to determine whether what we have said of the Air be true to consider whether Air be really a Primogenial Body and inconvertible into Water and Vice versâ or not But it being as difficult as requisite we shall rather chuse to offer what may be urg'd of either the Affirmative or the Negative And first in favour of the inaptitude of Air to be turn'd into Water or of Water into Air it may be urg'd that besides that it hath been the Opinion of several Philosophers it hath likewise been found impossible by Experience to effect such a Change in either of them And the diligent Schottus Mecham Hydraulicopneumat Part 3. Class 1. relates that in the Musaeum Kircherianum Water hath been hermetically seal'd in a Glass with a long Neck and kept there this forty Years without undergoing any Change Nor indeed do we perceive the least alteration in the Nature of Air Hermetically seal'd in Glasses for Chymical Uses tho' it may acquire several Degrees of Heat in them And it may very plainly be seen that tho' Water is divided into
Fourthly Electrical act not like those more subtle Magnetical Steams since the Operation of Electrical Effluvia are obstructed by the Interposition of a piece of the finest Linnen or Sarsnet Fifthly Electrical Effluvia act less vigorously in Thick and Cloudy Weather especially if the South Wind blows and on the contrary they act likewise more faintly in the Night than in the Day Sixthly Most Electrical Bodies are made of Matter capable of emitting Odoriferous Steams by Heat and Attrition Seventhly For which Reason Bodies continue their Electrical virtues sometimes after the attrition the Commotion in the Parts of the Concrete caused by that attrition not immediately ceasing Eighthly To make it probable that Electrical Effluvia may insinuate themselves into the Pores of other Bodies I shall add that I found them subtle enough to attract Spirit of Wine and also the Smoak of an extinguished Wax-taper at a considerable distance Ninthly The Electrical Virtue depends not on any Sympathy betwixt the Body Attracting and the Substance Attracted since Amber indifferently draws to it all Bodies which are not too gross except Fire by the violent Motion of whose parts the Electrical Emanations are dissipated and the Fire determined another way Tenthly A vigorous and well excited piece of Amber will attract not only the Powder but less minute Fragments of Amber and the following Experiment may give us Reason to believe that the Electrical Effluvia of the Attracting Body not only fasten upon the Body to be drawn but that the Cohereing Particles of the Effluvia make up viscous Strings which intervening betwixt those two Bodies when their agitation ceases shrink inward and are contracted as a highly stretch'd Lute-string when permitted to shorten it's Dimensions The Experiment was this viz. We suspended a piece of Amber by a Silken-thread by the help of a piece of Wax and then rubbing the Edge of it with a Pin-cushen covered with Course black Stuff when it was well excited and brought to settle we observ'd that if the Cushen was held near the excited Edges the Effluvia would fasten upon it so that when the Cushen was removed the Amber would follow it several times for the space of ten or elven Minutes Electricity Mechanically produced and destroy'd But to proceed to what I promised in the Title of these Papers I shall add some Experiments to shew that Electricity may be Mechanically produc'd or destroyed EXPERIMENT I. A Fourth Part of Good Turpentine being evaporated the remaining substance hardened into an Electrical transparent Gum. EXPERIMENT II. THE dry Mass which remain'd after a Distillation of Petroleum and strong Spirit of Nitre being a brittle substance like Jet resembled it in it's Electrical Quality EXPERIMENT III. THE Transparent Glass made of Antimony burnt to Ashes had a considerable Degree of Electricity Which is the more worthy our Notice because that as a Vitrum Antimonii which is accounted purer than ordinary may be made of the Regulus of the same Mineral in whose preparation a great deal of Sulphur is separated and left amongst the Scoriae so Glass of Antimony made without Addition may in part be reduc'd to a Regulus a substance not looked upon to be Electrical Nor is some peculiar and fixed part of Antimony alone capable of Vitrification since of the other Part which usually flies away an Antimonial Glass may be made without an Addition of other Ingredients EXPERIMENT IV. I Once prepared a Glass of Lead per se which had a Languid Electricity and which would afford a Malleable Lead again which is not in the least Electrical EXPERIMENT V. AMber being Distilled per se the Caput Mortuum being quite burnt was black and brittle and not in the least like Amber yet tho' it 's substantial Form was destroyed it was more vigorously Electrical than Amber it self And as it appeared from the Instance of Glass of Antimony above that the remaining substance may retain an Electricity tho' the Form of the Body be destroyed and part of it dissipated so from common Glass we may Learn that a compound substance may be Electrical tho' the separate Ingredients were not EXPERIMENT VI. Electricity may be produc'd by unheeded and fortuitous Causes TO make it appear that Electricity may be caused by unheeded and fortuitous Causes without depending on the substantial or even Essential Form of the Attrahent I shall subjoyn that Locks of some Hair being brought to a certain degree of Dryness by Curling or otherwise have been oserv'd to be attracted by the Flesh of some Persons as Hair is wont to be by excited Amber which they were more subject to do in Frosty Weather To try whether the Air was much concerned in Electricity I suspended a piece of Amber which when excited would stir a poised Needle ¼ of an Hour in a small Receiver and when the Air was exhausted the Amber being let down near a Straw or Feather attracted it in Vacuo EXPERIMENT VII TO shew that the Attraction of light Bodies depends on very small circumstances I made use of a Downy Feather taken off the Body of a Fowl to which when it had been attracted by an excited piece of Amber I applied the end of my Finger to it upon which it stuck and left the Amber The same success I had when the Experiment at distinct times was tryed with the Tip of a Silver Instrument and Iron Key and a piece of black Polish'd Marble We had the like success when the Experiment was tryed at several distant times afterwards But one thing remarkable was that if the Amber had lost it's attractive virtue before my Finger or the other Bodies were applyed the Feather was not disposed to stir till the Amber was again excited To conclude these Notes I shall advertise that the event of Electrical Experiments is very uncertain and varied by slight Circumstances some of which are altogether overlook'd which in some Measure appears from the above recited Notes And therefore I shall add that sometimes it is very hard to know whether a Body be Electrical or not for tho' Kircher denies Chrystal to have an attractive power yet I have observ'd the contrary And tho' the industrious Gilbert denies Electricity to Cornelians and Emeralds yet all that I have try'd had some Degree of it except one Cornelian And indeed Electricity is constantly inherent in Diamonds so that it may be one good way to try whether they be Genuine since most of them are considerably more attractive than common Glass But to conclude I shall add further that rough Diamonds are Observ'd to have a faculty of attracting much more eminently than Polish'd ones for which no other Reason can be conceived but that the Diamond in Polishing being considerably Heated by the Mill several and a great part of it's Electrical Effluvia are spent and fly away CHAP. XXVI The General History of the Air begun TITLE I. What we understand by Air. BY Air I mean that thin Diaphanous fluid Body
Ingredients and leave the Gold appearing with its genuine Colour Thirdly A Liquor may alter the Colour of a Body either by destroying or subdividing the Parts of it as when Wood is cut into Chips or a piece of hot Crystal quench'd in cold Water for it being by that means crack'd will not reflect the Rays of Light as before Fourthly A Liquor may change the Colour of another Body by collecting together Parts of Matter scatter'd and dispers'd so Quicksilver pour'd into a Solution of Gold acquires a thin Film of a yellow golden Colour and by a like Method all those Colours that seem to be produc'd by Precipitation are generated tho' Resinous Gums dissolv'd in Spirit of Wine being unites into a Mass again and so rectifyâ—d transparent Butter of Antimony upon a Mixture of Water precipitates that white Substance which when it's Salts are wash'd off is called Mercurius Vitae A Fifth way by which a Liquor may alter the Colour of another Body is by altering the Texture of it's Parts as when Quicksilver is kept long in a convenient Heat Metals are corroded or Fruit is bruised or when the Parts of a Liquor are agitated by the Affusion of another Body or when Chymical Oyls are shaken in a Bottle for the Bubbles by that means rais'd will exhibit very lively Colours Another way is by putting the Parts of a Body into Motion after which they may unite in a new Form so Vitriol rubb'd upon the Blade of a Knife imparts not any new Colour to it but if the Vitriol be moisten'd it will impart a true Copper Colour to the Iron Another way by which a new Colour may be imparted to a Liquor is by an Association of it's saline Parts with those of the Body it is made use of to work upon by which means the superficial Parts of a Body may be alter'd both in Shape and Figure and not only a greater number or a less may be compriz'd in the same space but the Pores betwixt the Protuberant Parts may be much straitned and the old ones partly fill'd up as well as new ones intercepted as when Quicksilver is dissolv'd in Aq. Fortis the saline Parts of the Menstruum associating themselves with the Mercurial Corpuscles will afford a Green which afterwards degenerates easily And so Minium by being dissolv'd in Spirit of Vinegar yields a clear Solution and if Aqua Fortis be dropp'd upon a Copper Plate the Parts of the Metal being corroded acquire an Asperity and coagulating with the Menstruum form Grains of blew Vitriol whereas Spirit of Urine will produce a much deeper Blew And Aqua Fortis which will give Red Lead a dark Colour with crude Lead will produce a white one with Iron a reddish and upon white Quills a yellowish Colour And that in Chymical Dissolutions and Precipitations the saline Parts of the Body made use of to precipitate unite with metalline Parts they precipitate we shall have reason to believe if we consider how much Vitriol and the Calces of Metals are heavier than the Metals themselves After what we have laid down concerning the Causes of Changes of Colours there are two things to be taken Notice of The one is that there are other ways to vary Colours speedily besides those we have taken notice of by the help of Liquors as in Tempering Steel c. The second Particular requisite to be noted is that tho' a Change of Colour may be effected any one of the ways above-mention'd yet generally at least three of them are at once concerned Several Bodies generally esteemed opacous semidiaphanous From what we have been discoursing of the Asperities of Bodies in causing a Reflection of the Rays of Light one would think that the Substances themselves are perfectly opacous and impenetrable by the Rays of Light and so contribute to the Variety of Colours reflected to the Eye But I am apt to believe that even those Bodies which we call Insensible are compounded of Parts still more minute whose Commissures are not utterly impervious to the Rays of Light and that the Bodies compounded of those are in some degree Diaphanous For in a dark Room where the Light is only permitted to enter at one Hole I have observ'd that those Motes which were otherwise insensible in the Beams of Light would represent several vivid and florid Colours like those of a Rainbow or of sparkling Fragments of Diamonds and as soon as that Position which they had at that time in reference to the Eye and the Light was lost they ceas'd to represent those Colours tho' still remain'd visible so that from hence it appear'd that these small Fragments of Matter commonly reputed Opacous did not barely reflect but also refracted the Rays of Light And it is not a Phaenomenon altogether to be slighted that Water tho' a diaphanous Body hath a manifest Power in refracting the Rays of Light so that by passing through it they represent the lively Colours of a Rainbow And it is further observable that several Bodies which are generally esteem'd Opacous appear in a great measure transparent when they are reduc'd into thin Parts and interpos'd betwixt the Eye and a Powerful Light which is evident in thin Plates of Ivory thick Leaves of Trees Shells of Fishes and shavings of Wood. And in a darkned Room I found that the Substance of my Hand was in a great measure transparent when it was held betwixt my Eyes and the Rays of Light which came in at a small Hole And not only white Marble of a convenient Thickness but Lapis Specularis or Muscovite Glass being divided into thin Plates will be considerably transparent and even Coral it self will manifest the same Transparency if held near the Light But on the other hand I must own that having look'd upon Mercury precipitate per se Filings of Copper and Steel the Red Calx of Lead and the Red Colour of Vitriol they appear'd not to have the least Transparency How far the Transparency or Semidiaphaneity of Bodies may contribute to the Variety of Colours produc'd by them I shall not take upon me to determine since beaten Glass Snow and Ice whose superficial Parts are manifestly transparent represent not the lively Colours which they do when conveniently qualifi'd by their Bigness Shape and Texture But to draw an Inference from what hath been said of the Cause of Colours It appears that according to the Hypothesis we have laid down Bodies can only be said to be coloured when placed in the Light but that according to the Antients if we take the Sense of the Word Colour to mean only that Disposition of the superficial Surface of a Body which enables it to modifie the Rays of Light They may be said to have Colours in the Dark since they have that Disposition which enables them to reflect the Rays of Light in such a Form as to produce Colours The short duration of Colours no Argument of their not being genuine And from what
whilst it was stirred about the Spirit of Wine in the Weather-glass gradually subsided EXPERIMENT IV. Another immersed in Spirit of Roch Allom c. Having poured as much rectify'd Spirit of Roch Allom into a wide mouth'd Glass as was sufficient to cover the globulous part of a Thermoscope when the Spirit of Wine was equally cooled with the Air about it we poured into it a volatil Salt obtain'd by Sublimation from Sal-Armoniack and a fixt Alcali and tho' upon the joint Action of these two Bodies a considerable Noise was raised with Bubbles and Froth yet the Spirit of Wine began to subside and continued to do so 'till the Spirit of Allom was wholly glutted with the volatil Salt the whole Descent being the length of an Inch. From this Experiment and the foregoing it appears That when Alcalies and Acids produce Heat upon a mutual Conflict which ensues their Mixture they have not that Effect precisely consider'd as such since it is evident that an urinous Salt mixed with an acid Spirit viz. of Roch Allom produces Coldness and not a true Effervescence EXPERIMENT V. A Thermoscope in a Mixture of Oil of Vitriol and Sal Armon One part of Oyl of Vitriol being shaken together with twelve parts of Water the Mixture acquir'd a little Warmth but when it was cool being poured into a wide-mouth'd Glass and a Thermometer immersed in it when the Liquor in the Thermoscope was equally cool with the external we poured in a sufficient quantity of Sal-Armoniack to glut the Acid The effect of which Mixture was that upon a cold Ebullition the Spirit of Wine descended an Inch. EXPERIMENT VI. Heat produced by a Mixture of Salt-peter and Oyl of Vitriol Tho' Salt-Peter usually produces a Coldness in Liquors yet eight Ounces of it being mixed with six of Oil of Vitriol the Mixture acquired a considerable degree of Heat emitting Fumes copiously EXPERIMENT VII The effect of Gun-powder mixed with Water Though Gun-powder be a Body so inflammable yet it evidently imparts a Coldness if mixed with Water If a small quantity of Oil of Vitriol be mixed with the Salt formerly made use of before the Oil hath been mixed with Water it acquires a considerable degree of Coldness A Digression about Potential Coldness Potential Coldness Mechanically explained Potential Coldness is usually looked upon to be a Quality so absolute as not to be explicable without the Doctrine of Substantial Forms But it will easily appear That it may without any great difficulty be clearly explained by Mechanick Principles if we consider that the Figure Shape and Texture of Bodies may be so contrived as to lessen the usual and natural Agitation of Humors about our Sensory and consequently the Perception of this Imminution may cause such a Sensation as is usually term'd Potential Coldness which account being allowed it will follow That Potential Coldness is only a relative Quality depending on the dispersion of the Agents through the Bodies to be cooled by them According to which Notion the cold Fitts in Agues may easily be conceived to arise from an Intermixture of the Parts of some clammy Matter which before a Dissolution were unable to cause any considerable Effect in the Mass of Blood but presently after being mixed with the Blood produce such a change in the Motion of its Parts as affects the Sensory with such a Sensation as is usually esteemed Potential Coldness which Sensation may not only be so produced in Agues but by a like Cause in other Distempers and in several Parts of the Body as in Hypochondriack and Hysterical Cases To render which Account more probable I shall subjoyn That I have learnt by the Effects of Poysons that the small Parts of them being interpersed through the Parts of Humors previously disposed may cause a notable Refrigeration And I my self have prepar'd a penetrating Chymical Liquor a Drop of which being given to an Animal would cast him into a seeming Sleep and a little larger Quantity being by Mischance applyed to an akeing Tooth gave the Person a sort of trembling and almost an universal Refrigeration And that Coldness may be produced by the Mixture of some subtile Parts of Matter with the Mass of Blood appears from the following Histories Famulum habui says Benivenius Cap. 56. Abditorum apud Schenk Lib. 7. de Venen Obs 24. qui a Scorpione ictus tam subito ac tam frigido Sudore toto Corpore perfusus est ut algentissima Nive atque Glacie sese opprimi quereretur verum cum algenti illi solam Theriacam ex Vino potentiore exhibuissem illico curatus est And to this I shall add another related by Amatus Lusitanus Cent. 6. Obs Vir qui a Scorpione in Manus digito punctus fuit multum dolebat refrigeratus totus contremebat per Corpus dolores Cute tota quasi aut puncta formicantes patiebatur c. What Refrigeration depends on Whether such Refrigeration depends on a sort of Coagulation of the minute Parts of the Blood or whether it may be produced by a different Determination of the motion of the Parts of those Liquors as to the Lines they move in I shall not now examine but shall rather offer it to be considered since the internal Constitutions of several Parts of the Body are different from each other and since the Size and Textures of several Agents are also various whether they may not upon that account have different Effects upon distinct Parts of the Body for all the Qualities of such Agents do not wholly depend on the Action of the Corpuscles of the Medicine only but depend on some adventitious Qualities which they acquire by being mixed with particular Humors and which they may dispose to be more or less worked upon by the other Efficients of Heat or Cold. And these Conjectures may not be render'd a little probable by observing That tho' Spirit of Wine inwardly taken causes Heat yet externally it abates the Heat of inflamed Parts but hath different Effects on a tender Eye And though internally five Grains of Camphire may diffuse Heat through the whole Body yet externally it is used in refrigerating Medicines How far these Observations may be of Service in determining whether Camphire c. be hot or cold I shall leave to Physicians to consider and shall here only offer in Proof That Potential Coldness is only a relative Quality the following particulars viz. That from the VI. and VII Experiments it appears that according to the Dispositions of Bodies to be worked on the Agent may have different Qualities As Fumes of Lead may coagulate Mercury tho' it hath not a like Effect on other Liquors And further although Sal-Armoniack and Nitre be when separate cool and tho' the latter melted in a Crucible takes not Fire of it self yet upon an addition of Sal-Armoniack it flashes vehemently But I shall leave this Digression and proceed to Experiments about Cold. EXPERIMENT VIII Oyl of
penetrate the minuter Pores and to dissolve the Lime EXPERIMENT V. Quick-lime being immersed in Spirit of Wine in a Retort and the Spirit and Phlegm drawn off the remaining Quick-lime instead of being slacked was a more fiery substance than before for if a piece of it was thrown into Water it would hiss like a Coal and heat the Liquor which property it retained several weeks being kept close from the Air. Whence it appears how much the Texture of Quick-lime and the association of the Spirit of Wine improving that Texture contribute to the Phaenomena offorded by Quick-lime and that the Spirit of Wine was associated with the Quick-lime is probable since Part of it became a Spiritless Phlegm and I have observ'd Quick-lime and Spirit of Wine sometimes to come over in white fumes To which I shall add that in such distillations the Odour of the Spirit hath not only been changed but its taste rendered more fiery and brisk But the success is not always the same being diversified according to difference of the Quick-lime which may be more or less calcined or the stone may be of a different nature it self EXPERIMENT VI. But to proceed to other Experiments which shew that Heat may be produced mechanically A nail hastily hammered grows hot the Parts of the metal being by that force vehemently and variously determined tho' the hammer and Anvil be not warm so that hence it appears that it is not requisite a calorifick Body should be hot it self the Hammer being able tho' cold to warm the Iron it beats upon and so the head of a nail grows hot when it can pierce no deeper into wood the force of the beating Hammer being not spent in depressing the nail but putting the resisting Parts into agitation EXPERIMENT VII And once I caused a piece of Iron to be beaten by three Smiths till it grew so hot as to kindle Sulphur upon it EXPERIMENT VIII And that Heat may be produced by percussion and attrition appears further since Iron grows hot by being boiled a knife by whetting a Brass nail by being rubbed and flints by being struck together EXPERIMENT IX To shew that Heat may be produced without the attrition of contiguous Air I placed pitch under Water and by the Sun-beams cast into a Focus by a burning Glass upon it it was not only melted but seemed to boil and smoak EXPERIMENT X. The Powder of slacked Quick-lime washed from its Salts being mixed with Sal-Armoniack and melted together the cold mass being put into a Glass upon an affusion of Water grew too hot to be touched with ones hand tho' the Sal-Armoniack it self in Water produces Cold. EXPERIMENT XI Sal-Armoniack and filings of Steel being sublimed together the Caput Mortuum in which the greatest Part of the Salt remained instead of increasing the coldness of Water being poured upon it several Months after the Caput Mortuum was first laid up gave the Water a notable degree of Heat EXPERIMENT XII Equal Parts of Antimony and Sal-Armoniack being sublimed with several degrees of Heat in a Glass-Vessel we obtained three several substances which being severally powdered the Caput Mortuum which was like Antimony being put into Water in which a Thermoscope was immersed scarce raised the Liquor sensibly But the yellow sublimate which consisted of the Sulphureous flowers of Antimony and the more Volatil Salts of the Sal-Armoniack caused the Weather-Glass in another parcel of Water to descend a quarter of an Inch and the lower sublimate which was black being put into a third parcel of Water the Liquor in the Weather-Glass subsided near three Inches But the like Experiments being tryed with the Caput Mortuum of Minium and Sal-Armoniack it neither caused the Liquor in the Weather-Glass to rise or fall but the sublimate raised from these ingredients caused the Liquor to subside a little EXPERIMENT XIII Whether Solvents dissolve Minerals and cause that Heat observable in their Action by any Antipathy betwixt the Mineral and the Menstruum or whether it did not rather proceed from the violent agitation of the parts of the Metal either dissolv'd by the insinuation of its parts into the Pores of the Metal or by obstructing the passage of some aethereal Matter through those Pores which wanting its usual course dissolves the Metal by forcing a new way I shall not undertake to determine but having agitated Oyl of Vitriol with four times its weight of Water thereby it obtained a sensible Heat from which Experiment it appears that the Heat produc'd by Minerals depends not on a conflict of Acid and Alkalies since Water is void of either of those chymical qualities EXPERIMENT XIV If a piece of wet Ice be thrown into a Viol which before contained Oyl of Vitriol the Oyl mixing with the Water dissolves the Ice and causes a strong Fermentation and a violent Heat EXPERIMENT XV. Half an ounce of Spirit of Wine being mixed with an ounce of Oyl of Vitriol acquired a considerable degree of Heat presently and almost most filled the Bottle with Fumes and the Bottle grew so hot at the last that I could not hold it in my Hand The like Succeeded only in a more remiss Degree with common Brandy and also with Aqua Vitae EXPERIMENT XVI Tho' the Chymists teach that the Incalescence of Bodies depends on an Antipathy of the mixed Bodies yet I found an intense Heat ensue the Mixture of Parts of the same Bodies viz. Calcin'd Colcothar and Oyl of Vitriol EXPERIMENT XVII Oyl of Vitriol and Oyl of Turpentine mixed together produce a considerable degree of Heat EXPERIMENT XVIII An ounce of rectify'd Petroleum being mixed with an equal weight of Oyl of Vitriol the former Liquor seemed to work upon the surface of this like a Menstruum upon Metal the Fumes of the Oyl of Vitriol rising into the Ol. Petrae and the mutual re-action of both the Liquors caused a moderate Warmness And we had almost the like success with Petroleum and Spirit of Nitre But in these last mention'd Tryals Spirit of Salt made use of instead of Oyl of Vitriol had no such considerable Effects EXPERIMENT XIX Oyl of Vitriol caused a considerable Effervescence upon Filings of Steel especially if they be soaked in Water And it will grow sensibly hot with Lime Oyster-shells Chalk Lapis Calaminaris c. EXPERIMENT XX. Oyl of Vitriol grows hot with Cherries and likewise with Raisins of the Sun beat in a Mortar as well as with several other Vegetable Substances and very considerably with Crumbs of white Bread EXPERIMENT XXI Oyl of Vitriol causes a considerable Heat if mixed with minced Flesh EXPERIMENT XXII Tho' Sea-Salt imparts a Coldness to Water yet with Oyl of Vitriol it causes Heat yet with Sal Armon part of which consists of common Salt it produces a Coldness EXPERIMENT XXIII Common Sulphur acquir'd a Heat by attritition and emitted sulphureous Steams copiously so that Sulphur it self as well as other Bodies ows its Heat to local Motion EXPERIMENT XXIV Equal parts
Parts yet when it ceases to be water'd with a continual supply of Sap the Sap is only dispers'd in the Air or intercepted and spent in some other Part of the Tree From whence it appears that nothing at all perishes but only the Manner of Union and the Particular Modification of those Parts of Matter cease so that those solid Parts are no longer fitly adapted to be nourish'd by those Fluids Which Instance may serve to illustrate our Doctrin tho' there be considerable Difference betwixt the things compar'd inasmuch as a Plant hath not always that Aptitude to be again actuated as the Mill hath But there are some Instances which may render the Difference less considerable if we consider that the Rose of Jericho which tho' for several Years gather'd and wither'd is so far refresh'd by Water as to seem but lately gather'd And I have observ'd that tho' a Plant of Aloes had several Years hung near the Ceiling of my Chamber yet it was by the use of a convenient Liquor so far renew'd as to perform several things which are usually the Effects of Life and Growth And the like is confirm'd by what may be experimented in Wasps which tho' drown'd in Water will yet recover Life by the Heat of the Sun The Qualities of a Body whose Specifick Form is destroy'd depend not on the United Action of the whole Ingredients But to wave needless Illustrations I shall proceed to observe That tho' a Body hath laid down its Specifick Form yet the Qualities remaining are not always the Result of the united Subordinate Forms but depend sometimes on the determinate Forms of Particular Parts of that Body tho' the Union be such as to preserve the Structure as to Sense unalter'd as appears when an Extract is drawn out of Rhubarb or the Juice of Oak-Bark is extracted by Water the Remaining Substances tho' as to outward appearance the same New Qualities may be added upon a Dissolution of a Speficick Form retain not their Specifick Virtues Besides upon the Abolition of Specifick Forms several new Qualities may be added to a Body which it had not before by the Influence of external Agents As when Musk results from the Action of some External Body upon Flesh For not only the Seminal Rudiments latent in Bodies that have undergone a Change exert themselves but several outward Agents to which those Bodies are expos'd do by agitating and altering the Textures of that Matter promote such a Favourble concourse of Circumstances that Noble and very Exquisite Forms may result from their Union and Contexture As a Lime-Stone being Physically chang'd by the Influence of Congruous Particles when expos'd to the Air will yield Salt-Petre genuine and inflammable And I have often observ'd an Efflorescence upon certain Marcasites agreeable in both Colour and Taste as well as other Operations with Vitriol which could be nothing but the Effect of outward Agents changing the Texture of those Parts which lay open to the Air for some time The Modidifications of a Body may be twofold first in respect of ths Specifick Form secondly in respect of its own Parts But to wave there things I shall illustrate a little further what I just before hinted concerning a twofold Modification of Matter viz. the Relation it hath to a Specifick Form and that which is the meer Result of Texture amongst its own Parts what I shall offer is That some things are attributed to the Soul or Specifick Form which may be effected by the meer Subordinate Association of Parts promoted by a mutual Concourse of Natural Agents as the Excrements may be voided when a Man 's dead or Fruit may be ripen'd after it is gather'd without the assistance of the Expulsive Faculty of the Soul in the former or the Perfective in the latter Agreeable to this the Inquisitive Oviedo relates a Story to the Emperor Charles the Fifth of a Fruit in the West-Indies call'd Anana's which are gather'd as soon as One is ripe the rest being kept in Chambers to acquire Maturity afterwards And the Learned Josephus Acosta relates the following Account of the Fruit of a Plane-Tree to the same viz. That they usually gather it when green which being laid up in a Vessel mix'd with a certain Herb gradually ripens But the Diligent Piso tells a Story more to our Purpose of those Brasilian Plants call'd Pacoeira and Bananiera for concerning the Fruit he says Continentur plerumque in Vno Ramo quatuordecem aut sedecem numero ut it a una Planta proferat septuaginta aut octuaginta qui subinde Virides avulsi nunc in Aedibus nunc in Navibus suspenduntur donec justam maturitatem flavedinem consequantur And he also says of the Boughs when lop'd off Ramus autem ille fructibus onustus interea dum illi maturescunt augetur floresque semper protrudit ex corpore illo foliâ—ceo c. And it is not less remarkable that Onions and such like Fruit as well as Potatoes will shoot of their own accord tho' suspended in the Air. But not here to take Notice how far these things may result from the Exertion of Latent and Seminal Principles I shall rather observe That several things usually ascrib'd to the Soul may result even from the Texture of the Body concurring with external Causes as the Hair or Nails will grow considerably for a long time after the Body is dead * A Cessation of Vital Functions upon Death no Arguments of the Soul's Superintendency whilst living And tho' by the Espousers of Sennertus his Opinion the Cessation of the Vital and Animal Functions upon Death are look'd upon as strong Arguments That the Soul is the Agent which effects whatever is acted in the Body yet I conceive it depends on somethings very precarious since notwithstanding what is manifest to us the Cessation of those Faculties may depend on the internal Organization which may in some measure be destroy'd Since the Body consists of Parts not only solid but soft as the Brain and also liquid as the Humours a right and convenient Coaptation of which is required to preserve Life considerable Changes in the Humours being enough to obstruct Circulation on which Life so much depends Thus in Palsies tho' there be no visible Change yet by an Indisposition either in the Humours or Vessels the Parts become void of Sense as well as Motion And even Sleep it self so alters the Disposition of our Bodies that Odours and Sounds are not perceiv'd by a sleeping Man tho' nothing externally obstructs the Operation of the Soul which lodges in the Body and what considerable Alterations in the Humours may be effected without our Perception may be urg'd from the Effects which Thunder hath upon Wine in turning it into a Vinegar sower and uninflamable The former Doctrin of Subordinate Forms apply'd to Inanimate Bodies But to render what I have said of Subordinate Forms more intelligible I shall lay it down in certain Propositions
in the Latter the different Substances concern'd in every New Production are brought together by an Artist for in both the Agent acts as a Natural Agent CHAP. X. An Experiment with some Considerations touching the differing Parts and Redintegration of Salt-Petre SALT-PETRE is a Concrete so universally concern'd in the Composition of most Bodies that it will be of no small Import to Natural Philosophy to enquire throughly into the Nature of it which will in some Measure appear by considering how many Substances may be drawn from it or turn'd into it which will be briefly intimated in the following Experiment An Attempt to redintegrate the Form of Salt-Petre Having according to the usual Method Crystaliz'd Nitre we melted four Ounces of it in a Crucible into a Limpid Liquor throwing in Live-Coals successively till it would kindle and fulminate no longer and continuing it in a strong Fire a considerable time to dissipate the remaining Volatile Parts and then breaking the Crucible we divided the fix'd Nitre immediately into two Portions one of which being dissolv'd in as much Water as was sufficient we drop'd in Spirit of Salt-Petre till the Ebullition rais'd by the Mixture of these Liquors wholly ceas'd and then filtrating the mix'd Liquor we expos'd it to the Air in an open Glass-Viol and on the other Part undissolv'd we likewise dropt the same Spirit till the Firmentation ceas'd exposing it to the Air in an open Glass-Jar In the former Mixture wherein the Water was put in a few Hours certain Crystals of Salt-Petre stuck to the Lower Parts of the Glass amongst which were several other Crystals like Mustard-seed encompass'd with a downy Substance The Crystals the next Day being considerably greater were taken out and both by their Burning and Shape appear'd to be Nitrous Nitrous Salts being furnish'd with flat Sides which when opposite are usualy parallel and as for that downy Matter which adhered to some of them we judg'd it to proceed from the Disproportion of the Volatile and Fix'd Parts of the Nitre which were to be joyn'd together a-new These things being observ'd we pour'd the remaining Liquor into an open Glass-Vessel which in about three Weaks-time being again Saturated with Petre we pour'd it from the Salt and evaporated it in a Digesting Furnace The other Mixture which was only fix'd Nitre and Spirit of Salt-Petre for the most part presently Subsided in the Form of a Salt which when dry'd in the Air was of very irregular Figures and in some Parts not much different in Shape from Salt-Petre which it also much resembled in Burning tho' the Deflagration was in some measure peculiar to it self But this Salt together with the Liquor swimming upon it being preserv'd in the Air for about a Month longer after Evaportion the one half shot into Crystals which burnt much like Petre and had a Similar Figure tho' a different Taste and the other half being speedily exhaled shot into Crystals of a distinct Figure from all others Cautions to be observ'd in the Foregoing Experiment Now to make this Experiment clearer the following Things are to be observ'd 1. That in Fixing the Nitre New-Coals are not to be cast into the Crucible till the former are almost spent or be thrown out by the violent Exhalations of Nitrous and Volatile Parts 2. That the Quantity of Spirit of Nitre dropp ' upon the Fix'd Nitre was almost proportionable to the Salt-Petre spent in the Fixing of it 3. That this Fix'd Nitre was very little different in Taste from Salt of Tartar had the same aptness to Absorb Air and to relaxate in moist Air Yet it differ'd in Colour being betwixt a Blue and a Green One which it lost upon the Affusion of Spirit of Nitre Another Method of Reuniting the Parts of Salt-Petre But this Method being tedious I shall propose a Way more expeditions which is this Having run Fix'd Nitre per deliquium and by Filtration separated it from its Faces we dropp'd upon the Liquor Spirit of Nitre which after a Ferment usual to a Mixture of those Liquors presently shot into Crystals in Shape as well as Nature manifestly Nitrous A Third Method Another way we took was this Having Impregnated a Solution of Fix'd Nitre in Water with Spirit of Nitre and filtrated it through Cap-Paper the Cool Liquor in a short time shot into Crystals like those of Petre and the Liquor being again Evaporated afforded a fresh Quantity of Crystals not unlike the former But lest the Sal-Petre re-produc'd by the Coalition of these two Bodies should be thought to lodge in the Fix'd Nitre and only to be unyok'd by their Solution it is requisite to annex That the greatest Quantity that can be suppos'd to remain in the Fix'd Nitre would not amount to such a Quantity as that Mixture affords And to make the Matter less suspicious we impregnated a Solution of Pot-Ashes after the same manner as we had done the Fix'd Nitre Salt-Petre obtain'd from Pot-Ashes Aqua fortis and Salt of Tartar which after Filtration and Evaparation shot into Crystals which 0103 0207 V 3 were very like Salt-Petre in Taste as well as their Deflagration upon Live-coals We likewise obtain'd a small Quantity of Salt-Petre from Aqua fortis and Salt of Tartar associated But to draw Inferences from the Foregoing Experiment from hence we may learn That the Sensible Qualities of Bodies may be accounted for by the Mechanical Motion together with the Figure and Disposition or Modification of their Parts And first tho' Salt-Petre be a Body inwardly and in it self cooling yet the Parts of it differently Modify'd in our Experiment being put together do immediately put each other into so violent a Heat that I could with much ado hold the Glass in my Hand so that Heat seems to be nothing but a quick Motion of the finest Particles of Bodies since it no longer continu'd in that Mixture than the Parts of it were in Agitation Upon the Mixture of these two viz. the Spirit of Nitre with the Fix'd there was likewise produced an audible Sound proceeding from the Percussion of the Air by the swiftly and impetuously agitated Parts of the Mixture A Sound like to which is produc'd by a hot Coal cast into Water or into melted Nitre in a Crucible tho' the Latter causes a Sound much louder Which Sound probably proceeded from the Percussion of the Air because the Motion of a Bullet or a Stick where the Quickness of the Percussion puts the Air into an Undulating Motion will cause a Sound as soon as that Undulating Motion reaches the Ear and it is further confirm'd because that Sound no longer continues than the Parts are violently agitated And here it is to be observ'd That the Sound produc'd by the Mutual Conflict ceases long before the Heat which is acquir'd by that Ebullition from whence it may be inferr'd that the same Intestine Motion of Parts which are able to produce Heat are incapable of causing
we found that notwithstanding the Air was not Contiguous the Superficies of the Water was not manifestly altred by the Exsuction of the Air tho' the Mercury seemed sometimes to be a little more Protuberant especially when the Exhausted Air was let in with any Celerity But one thing in the Mercury which was observable was that upon the Exsuction of the Air several Bubbles seemed to rise in the Mercury and how much those might conduce to the mentioned Phaenomenon we leave others to try Again having conveighed another Cylinder into our Receiver which contained an Oyl whose Superficies when Water was poured upon it was Convex we found that upon the Exsuction of the Air neither the Oyl lost it's Protuberant nor the Water it 's concave Superficies From which Experiments it may appear what Effects the Pure Aether would have upon such Bodies were they remov'd out of this Atmosphere EXPERIMENT X. Though the Figures of the Parts of scatter'd Fluids and of condensed Vapours be usually Globulous yet those Observations being too Transient to deduce from them the Figures of the Parts of Fluids we tryed the following Experiment that I might observe something more Remarkable Having mixed Fixt Nitre dissolved into a Liquor by running per deliquium with exactly rectified Spirit of Wine and found that those two Liquors tho' shaked together would retain distinct Surfaces I drop'd Oyl into the Spirits which gradually subsided till it touched the Superficies of the Nitrous Liquor The Phaenomena exhibited by this Experiment were the following Phaenomena exhibited by a Nitrous Liquor and Spirit of Wine I. That if the Drops were small they retain an exact Spherical Figure being neither depressed by their own weight nor the gravity of the ambient Spirit the Oyl being much of the same specifick Gravity with the Spirit of Wine II. If an Aggregate of Drops were a quarter of an Inch in Diameter the Pressure of the upper Parts would depress the lower so much as to form a Plain on that side Contiguous to the Nitrous Liquor so that the Horizontal exceeded the Transverse Diameter in Length III. And if the Quantity of Oyl was greater it would so depress the lower Parts as to form an imperfect Hemisphere the lower Part of it having it's plain and horizontal Superficies parallel to that of the Superficies of the Nitrous Liquor IV. But if the Oyl poured in was moderate as to Quantity tho' at the first it would spread over the Surface of the Nitre yet by degrees it would be compress'd and be so raised as to form either an Hemisphere upon the Surface of the Nitrous Liquor or a Segment of a Globe or even of an Imperfect Ellipsis to the production of which Phaenomenon the Tenacity of the Oyl as well as the Ambient Spirit in some Measure contributed V. Tho' these Globules of Oyl would sometimes readily mix and associate when brought together yet for the most Part they would make an Impression into one another without uniting and again recover their former Figure when permitted to separate VI. It was not unpleasant to behold how if a large Quantity of Oyl was poured into the Spirit the Convex Superficies of it would acquire various Figures upon the Motion of that Ambient Spirit and if the Agitation was strong several Parts being broke off would form as many Aggregates of a Globular Figure EXPERIMENT XI Of Oyl of Turpentine Having put a Mixture of two Oyls one of which was drawn from Turpentine into other Liquors to try whether the Lighter Oyl would separate from the heavier with which it was incorporated I found that tho' it answer'd not my Expectation yet as the Quantity of either of the Oyls was prevalent the Mixture would either sink or swim in the Liquors it was put into And to the Phaenomena exhibited by Oyl of Turpentine it may be added That when part of it is contiguous to the Liquors it is put into and part adheres to the Glass the Superficies contiguous to the Water is of Figures too various and extravagant to be described EXPERIMENT XII Several Colours exhibited It is to be noted that when the Nitrous Liquor is very clear it will in the former Experiments be very difficult to discover where the Surfaces of the two Liquors are contiguous they both appearing to be one and the same Mass except some Dust swims upon the Nitrous Liquor or the Rays of Light fall obliquely upon it EXPERIMENT XIII Having pour'd a peculiar sort of Oyl upon a Deliquation of Nitre and Tartar ting'd with Cochinele I observ'd that by holding the Mixture in a certain Position the plain Superficies not only variously refracted the Incident Beams of Light so as to represent several vivid Reflections but the plain Superficies appear'd almost as convex as that of Quick-silver and it was further to be observ'd That it almost as strongly reflected the Rays of a Candle as a Close Specular Body usually does which Phaenomenon could not proceed from the Alkali altogether but might partly from the Concurrent Action of the Oyl which I observ'd to contribute to Refraction when mix'd with other Liquors but I shall not here endeavour to determine what was the Cause of the Foremention'd Phaenomena but in order to it shall observe First that neither the Confining Plain which separated these two Liquors nor the Superficies of the Nitrous Liquor was the Occasion of that Red Colour which the Flame of the Candle acquir'd Secondly the Liquor being chafed the uppermost would be turn'd into a Froth consisting of Bodies imperfectly Globular which in a little time would form a rude Physical plain the Upper Superficies of which would reflect the Rays of Light very briskly and when the Parts of the Froth became a little finer they would reflect the Rays of a Candle so as to represent so many pieces of Silver polish'd or a Copper Plate freshly immers'd in a Solution of Silver in Aqua fortis To which Phaenomena a Third may be added viz. That the confining Surface of the aforemention'd Oyl upon Spirit of Wine was not a little strongly reflective Most of these Phaenomena before mention'd were afforded by making use of Oyl of Limons instead of the former except that the Reflection was not so brisk EXPERIMENT XIV Of Oyl of Aniseeds Having pour'd Oyl of Aniseeds dissolv'd by a Moderate Warmth upon warm Water contain'd in a Viol I found that the Upper Surface of the Oyl as well as that of the Water was Concave tho' the Lower Superficies of it was very Protuberant and Convex and when it had been remov'd for some time into a Cold place so that the Oyl might be Coagulated the Convex Superficies of the Oyl was something less protuberant So that it seem'd to resemble a Concavo-Convex-Glass made use of for Dioptrical Purposes EXPERIMENT XV. It is not only observable in the former Liquor that the Oyl caus'd a much more vivid Reflection in a Fluid than Consistent Form but it
that the compact Texture of Glass may depend on a like Juxta-position of Parts since the Particles of Fire in the making of it may so divide the Parts of the Ingredients as to render them subtile enough for so strict and close a Union as is requisite to exclude Air from betwixt them for it is not only obvious That Air cannot penetrate the Pores of it when heated in Distillation but in blowing of Glasses where it hath not the least Vent through the Pores of it tho' impell'd with Force yet its Pores are fine enough to give way to the Beams of Light and Heat and likewise to the fine Effluvia of a Loadstone without damaging the Texture of it in the least nor would it be more absurd to conceive that the Parts of Salt-petre or Ice were after the like manner joyn'd together by a Juxta-position But to return to the Place from whence we have made this short Digression tho' from hence it appears that the Spring of the Air may contribute to the Cohesion of the Parts of Solids yet it is not altogether necessary since the same may be accounted for by the Air consider'd barely as a Weight for the Air being a fluid Body and pressing by its Gravity towards the Centre it must needs diffuse it self every way when resisted by the Surface of the Earth and consequently expand it self orbicularly by which means the whole Pillar of Air incumbent on it being virtually incumbent on the lower Superficies of the Glass whatever separates one from the other must out-balance that Pressure of the Air otherwise there being no Air betwixt the two Glasses they must needs stick together but it is not necessary that the contiguous Superficies of these two Glasses should be equal to the Horizon since if they be perpendicular the Sides of the Glasses have a collateral Pressure from the Pillars of Air pressing against them and consequently the Difficulty must be as great to separate them But to try more exactly How much the Pressure of the Air is concern'd in the former Experiments we took two polish'd Marbles as smooth as we could get and fastned Wires to the uppermost so that the lowest could not slide off the other Horizontally but if any way must fall Perpendicularly which Caution being observ'd we found the one would not only draw up the other but a Pair of Scales fixed to it with 16 Ounces of Troy Weight and to make the Experiment more compleat we found That when the Surfaces of the Stones were wet with pure Spirit of Wine the Air being by that Means kept from insinuating it self betwixt the Stones the uppermost would not only draw up the other with a pair of Scales but an hundred and sometimes a hundred and thirty Ounces of Troy Weight tho' the Diameter of the Stones exceeded not an Inch and two Thirds But having repeated the Experiment with Oyl of sweet Almonds instead of Spirit of Wine we found that it took up above four hundred Ounces Troy Weight And that it may not be suspected That this Difference proceeds from the more clammy Parts of the Oyl which caus'd the Stones to adhere more closely I shall add That the contiguous Surfaces being held perpendicular tho' they would easily slide off each other when moisten'd with Oyl yet would they not slip down when moistned with Spirit of Wine without an additional Weight joyn'd to one of them the Protuberances of one perhaps being fastned in the Pores of the other But to shew That the Adhesion of these polish'd Marbles is proportionably greater as the Diameter of them is larger and consequently as they are press'd together by a larger Pillar of Air I repeated the same Experiment with Spirit of Wine and took up about four hundred and seventy Ounces but when I made use of Oyl of Almonds the Weight rais'd was much more considerable being a Thousand three hundred and forty four Ounces of Troy Weight besides at the same time the Marbles were observ'd to stick close together And here again lest it should be suspected that the Oyl made the Adhesion more close I shall relate this Observation viz. That tho' it requir'd so great a Weight to separate these Stones when their contiguous Surfaces were in an Horizontal Line yet would they easily slide one upon another not unlike the contiguous Glasses before mention'd and for the same Reasons and if they were the least inclin'd either this way or that their own Weight was sufficient to separate them From whence it appears how much the Air may be concern'd in compressing the Particles of solid Bodies together And lest it should be further objected That the Cohesion of these Stones rather proceeds from Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum than the Cause assign'd by us I shall add these Considerations First That if it were so the same Reason would hold when a much more considerable Weight is fastned to the lower Marble yet we see that then notwithstanding Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum they presently part Secondly That the Pressure of the Air is sufficient to account for it Which to make it more plausible I shall add that tho' the Stone were fastned to the Ground yet it would require as much Force to separate the Uppermost from it in a Perpendicular Line as to lift up a weight aequiponderant with the Stone and the Pillar of Air incumbent on it since there is neither Air nor any other Body betwixt the two Stones to help to raise the Lower up and in part to sustain the weight of the incumbent Atmosphaere and therefore it needs not seem strange that when the lower Marble and the weight affixed to it is not sufficient to ballance the weight of the Atmosphaere it should rise along with the Uppermost when drawn up rather than be separated from it since it is usual for two Bodies when joyned together to move the same way if they be not separated by Weights or some other Force which is observable in trying of Load-stones for if the Load-stone be able to raise a Body more ponderous than it self the Knife will as soon raise the Load-stone as the Load-stone will lift up the Knife To Illustrate what hath been said I shall add an Experiment registred amongst my Adversaria which is this viz. Having immerged a Glass Syphon with a Brass Valve cemented on one end almost half a Yard in a tall Cucurbite till it touched the Bottom I filled it with Water till the Superficies of the Water in it was equal to that in the Cucurbite which being done I took a pair of Scales putting an Ounce weight into one Scale and fixing a String to the other one end of the String being likewise fastned to the Valve fixed to the bottom of the Glass Tube where it was to be observed that by that single Ounce I was able to open the Valve whereas when the Water was poured out of the Pipe and it was immersed again the Valve would not be open'd
of Salt-Petre well dry'd where it was to be noted That the Oyl was not only Coagulated but seem'd to be joyn'd together by certain Fibres which were form'd out of the Saline Effluvia of the Salt-Petre dispers'd through the Body of the Oyl And that those subtle Effluvia which insinuate themselves into the Pores of a Fluid Body may so alter the Texture as to render it Solid is more eminently evident from the Fumes of Lead which Coagulate and harden Quicksilver and that Lead does really emit such Fumes is evident from the Effects which a Physician observ'd in himself viz. both Vomiting and Purging by barely holding his Head over melted Lead several times successively and it hath been observ'd by the Famous Geometrician Dr. Wallis That the Fumes of Lead have by being several times melted been so spent that the Lead after the first time it was melted sometimes lost it's a Coagulating Virtue And Phaenomena not much different from the former are exhibited by the following Experiment For if either Common A Fluid turn'd Solid or Oyl of Sweet Almonds be pour'd upon Aqua fortis the Steams of the Latter will soon Coagulate either of them whereas if Camphire which is a brittle Substance were cast upon the same Aqua fortis it would be turn'd into an Oyly Substance A Solid Body turn'd Fluid which shews how much the Effluvia of Bodies may contribute to Fluidity or Firmness accordingly as the Bodies acted on are pre-dispos'd to assume different Forms And before I leave this Experiment it may be material to take Notice That tho' Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium be endew'd with an Extraordinary Faculty of Mortifying Acids yet it would not reduce the Coagulated Oyl to a Fluid Form But to proceed The Last way by which such Penetrating Effluvia may conduce to the Solidity of Bodies is by putting those Bodies into such Violent Motions as they may by being impell'd upon and knock'd one against another be dispos'd to Union and to be entagl'd one within another And tho' this Concurrent Cause never acts separately without the Joynt-Action of the aforemention'd Ways yet is it necessary to make a Distinction because this differs from the Former in as much as these Effluvia contrary to the other make up no part of the Body upon which the Alteration is wrought but only agitate the Parts of it So that the Figure and the Texture of the Parts of the Body become different from one another A Complication of Parts sufficient to render a Body Solid and more complicated And that a bare Complication of Particles is sufficient in a great Measure to render a Body stable will appear from an Observation very common viz. That That tho' from a heap of Osiar-wands a single Twig may be taken without removing the rest yet if they be twisted together in the Form of a Basket the whole follow upon the taking up of one and the same may be observ'd in most of the Works of Mechanicks And what great Effects bare Motion may have in altering the Textures of Bodies is manifest and very obvious in Churning where the Branched Particles which are dispers'd and diffus'd through the whole by frequent Occursions are so freed from the rest of the Liquor that they presently unite and form that soft Oyly Substance call'd Butter and not only so Homogeneous a Body as Milk may be so alter'd by Motion but even Oyl of Turpentine may be render'd a Consistent Body without the Assistance of any other Agent than Motion given to it's Parts by Distillation the Substance drawn off being a Stable and Consistent Coagulum And to illustrate farther what we have deliver'd of Fluidity and Firmness I shall add the following Experiment viz. That Oyl of Wax being distill'd afforded a Substance not unlike Butter which when it had stood a while was dissolv'd without the Influence of any External Heat into a Transparent Oyl A Change of Qualities succeed a Change of Texture But further Fluidity and Firmness so much depend upon Texture that the same Corpuscles which united one way form a Fluid by an opposite Texture may become Solid and è conversò And this is not only evident in Water successively Froze and Thaw'd again but also in Metals which after Fusion put on their Pristine Form upon Cooling But a more Emiminent Instance is That Quick-silver being kept in a Sand-Furnace for about ten Weeks in a Glass-Vessel well stopp'd the Particles of that Body being variously entangl'd and wound together constitute a Red Powder which may by Chymists be precipitated per se and in a few Hours if a quantity of Quick-silver be distill'd in a Glass Retort a Red Powder like the former will remain in the Bottom as well as about the Sides of the Vessel In which wonderful Phaenomenon it is not absurd to imagine that the Change is wrought much after the same manner as in Whites of Eggs which by an Alteraration of Textures become hard or that by frequent Revolutions the Parts of that Liquor are so link'd one within another as to put on a different Form and whatever may be the Method by which this Change is effected yet that it depends on an Alteration of Texture is most certain since that Powder being rais'd in the Form of Fumes in a convenient Glass condens'd into Running Mercury in the Neck of it But to prove further how much Motion or Rest contributes to the Fluidity or Solidity of Bodies I shall add That I once had Mercury which I looked upon to be Mercury of Saturn which by being barely agitated to and fro would put on the Form of a Black Powder which would again become fluid Mercury by grinding it in a Glass-Mortar Fluids consist not of Parts divisible into Fluids as Quantity into Quantity From which Experiments of Mercury we may learn what may be thought concerning the Opinions of some Modern Philosophers who are of Opinion That Fluid Bodies may be divided into Fluid Bodies as Quantity into Quantity as if every Particle of a Fluid Body must be Fluid it self since from the aforemention'd Experiments it is evident that the Particles which constitute Fluids are Solid in themselves forasmuch as upon a bare Change of Texture they appear in that Form which is render'd further probable if not evident both since the Particles of which Salt consists being dissolv'd in Water put on as to Sense the Forms of Fluids as well as because the Corpuscles of so Solid a Body as Silver do the same when dissolv'd in Aqua fortis And on the contrary the Calx remaining behind after a Distillation of Quicksilver with four times its quantity of Oyl of Vitriol in a Sand-Furnace is a Consistent Substance which if dissolv'd in Water will after Evaportion shoot into very brittle Crystals which rather proceeds from the Parts of the Oyl condens'd than from those of the Metal since the Calx remaining behind exceeded the weight of the Mercury the
Liquor drawn off being not equal to that of the Oyl And I am further confirm'd in this Opinion because I have observ'd several Crystals sometimes to adhere to the Sides of a Glass in which Oyl of Vitriol was contain'd which were again resolv'd when expos'd to the open Air into the pristine Form of Oyl But it may be further urg'd as an Argument against the Divisibility of fluid Bodies into such fluid Parts that if it were so all Bodies would be equally dispos'd to insinuate themselves into the Pores of other Bodies and it would not happen that one Body should be more inclin'd than another Motion as well as Minuteness of Parts requisite to Fluidity It is not indeed to be deny'd but that a fluid Body may be divided into very small Parts consider'd barely as Matter and that Minuteness of Parts may render it more apt for Motion and consequently more fluid but it does not therefore follow That the Parts of a fluid Body are indefinitely so divided because consider'd as Matter they may be Mentally since it does not appear that they are Naturally so divided Besides to render a Body fluid Motion as well as Minuteness of Parts is requisite which appears from what we have said before concerning Powder of Alablaster which puts on the Form of a fluid by having its Parts violently agitated But Solidity not altogether proceeding from Saline Parts From what hath been already premis'd it appears likewise What Thoughts we are to entertain of the Doctrin of the Chymists who assert That Coagulation Stability c. are the Effects of saline Parts For tho' Salt hath a Power to curdle Milk and coagulate other Humors yet the hardning Properties of it are not the Effects of any inexplicable Qualities inherent in it but of the Shape and Motion of the Particles which constitute it which by insinuating themselves into the Pores of a Body and sticking several Parts together do like a Wire fasten them one to another But notwithstanding the saline Parts of a Body may thus contribute to the Solidity of it yet it is not an Ingredient altogether necessary since the Parts of a Body may be so interwoven and by reason of their Figure and Contexture be so dispos'd to Union as to form a solid Body without the Association of a saline Ingredient besides it might be urg'd That Salts themselves may easily be reduc'd into fluid Substances by a Mixture of Water and several of them as Salt of Tartar c. will without the Addition of any other Body barely by being expos'd to the Air be render'd fluid But not to insist upon these Instances I shall rather desire to know what Salt can be suppos'd to insinuate it self into and cause Solidity in Mercury when it coagulates in the Fumes of Lead Or what Access of saline Parts can be imagin'd in the Preparation of Mercury precipitated per se And it may as well be question'd how any saline Body can penetrate the fine and subtle Pores of Glass When in a cold Night the Water contain'd in it is frozen and is turned to so consistent a Substance as Ice And it may be likewise noted That tho' the Shells of Hens Eggs be soft when first lay'd yet they presently harden without the Addition of any other saline Ingredient And that this Effect cannot be wholly attributed to the Influence of the Air it may be urg'd that it hath oftentimes been observ'd That Shells have been found hard several times in the very Bodies of the Hens before they were laid But that which I look upon to be a more convincing Argument is that in Aegypt where Eggs are hatch'd by the Influence of a moderate external Heat that fluid Substance is chang'd into several Parts of very different Degrees of Consistency without the Addition of any other Body or the Accession of a new Salt But further I shall make use of Arguments drawn from the Concessions of the most Eminent of their own Writers for in transmuting of Quick-silver into Gold by a white or red Tincture the Quantity of it being only a Grain to a Pound of Quick-silver it may justly be demanded How so small a Quantity should change six or seven Thousand times its Weight whereas even that Grain is not altogether saline Part of it being a sulphureous Substance And it is observ'd that Helmont affirms upon his own as well as the Experience of Raymond Lully that if the Alkahost were drawn from Quick-silver the fluid Mercury would be so coagulated as to be capable of being reduc'd into a Powder tho' not the least of the saline Liquor was left behind And I am credibly inform'd that the present Duke of Holstein hath by him a certain Glass Spirit of Urine which in cold Weather shoots into Crystals and in warm dissolves into a limpid Liquor which Spirit was no otherwise prepar'd than by cohobating the distill'd Spirit so often till the whole saline urinous Substance was brought over united together into one Mass And for a further Confirmation of the Doctrin by us deliver'd to these I shall add that it hath been observ'd that if so much as Juice of Lemmons falls into a Caldron of Sacharine Syrup it keeps the whole Mass from Thickning into a Sugar and this is confirm'd both by the French Publisher of the Natural and Moral History of the American Islands call'd Les Isles Antilles Histor Moral Cap. 5. and also by Gulielmus Piso Histor Nat. Med. Brasil l. 4. c. 1. the latter of which expresses himself in these Words Si Momentum succi Limonis vel Acidi quid injiciatur Sacchari Consistentiam nunquam acquiret sed in totum perditur and it may be further observ'd to our present Purpose that in making of Sugar the Juice squeez'd out of the Canes is usually first depurated in large Vessels of Copper from whence it is remov'd into Vessels of a less Size in order to a farther Depuration where we are to note also that whilst it remains in the larger Vessels they usually add very strong Lees to promote Depuration and when the depurated Liquor is remov'd to the small Vessels it is the Custom to add Oyl or Butter to preserve the Liquor and to prevent it from boiling over which Preparation Piso takes notice of together with the above-mention'd Author the Words of the former being these Observatu dignum si Oleum majoribus inderetur Ahenis in quibus Liquor primus Caldo dictus purificatur Saccharo conficiendo planè foret ineptus vicissim si minoribus lixivium sicut majoribus infundatur aequè impossibile Saccharum conficere The Fluidity and Firmness of Bodies depend so much upon the peculiar Texture of the Matter which constitutes them rather than on a saline Substance To these Authorities for a further Confirmation of our Hypothesis I shall add a few Experiments of my own and first having prepar'd a Liquor not much inferior in Saltness to Aqua fortis and then put
Relation I shall add That I have often observ'd a Dulness and Clearness to succeed each other in a Diamond which I now have set in a Ring with the Former which Changes could be attributed to no Manifest Cause And I have observ'd no less suprizing a Change in the several Degrees of Electricity which could not be effected by any Cause that I could think of And I have been inform'd by one who had a certain Hungarian Diamond that it would acquire a much greater Degree of Sprightness by lying some time in Water From all which it appears That Considerable Changes may be effected in Diamonds by Agents which to Sense Operate very gently And if Diamonds are generated in the Earth as I have observ'd other Stones to be it is reasonable to think that the Hardness of their Substance proceeds from the Closeness of their Parts depending on the Intestin Motion of their Insensible Corpuscles by which they are brought to convene closer than ordinary And this I am rather Inclin'd to believe because I have been told by an Eminent Jeweller That the Diamonds of late Years are much more soft than those he formerly us'd to deal in And the truth of this is further confirm'd by what Egrezes a Frenchman writes of Diamonds P. M. 17 18. brought from the Mine call'd Gazerpoli the Sense of the Words is this They are very clear and of a good Water but they cannot be ground by Mutual Attrition except with Stones of the same Mine for if one should employ for that purpose the Stones of another Mine those of Gazerpoli would be broken in pieces They do also easily break upon the Wheel and those that are not vers'd in the Knowledge of Stones may be easily deceiv'd in them And the same Author speaking of another sort of Diamonds says That they sweat a sort of Unctuous Substance which being wip'd off as often renew it's Appearance And to these I shall add an Account of a Ruby which is one of the hardest Diamonds one of which a Lady nearly related to me wore upon her Finger which would often change it's Lustre the Cause of which could not be assign'd tho' these kind of Phaenomena seem to be the Effects of some Internal Motion in their Parts the Parts of Diamonds being capable of having their Parts put into Motion without much difficulty But tho' it be hence Evident That there is such an Intestin Motion of the Parts of Diamonds yet it may be thought strange to find the like in so firm and compact a Body as Glass But that the Parts of Glass are not always at Rest I am induc'd to believe by the following Observations First That several Plates of Venice-Glass have crack'd and broke in pieces when no external Agent could have any Sensible Operation on them which I conceive to proceed from a Redundancy of Saline Parts which striving to fly away break the Glass by their violent Motion which Conjecture I am confirm'd in since it is commonly observ'd The Parts of Glass in Motion That there is a Saline Substance adhering to the Surface of these Glasses in Cold Moist Weather And I have observ'd in a Glass into which too much Salt was put to make it Diaphanous several Cracks and Flaws which it got in the Cold Weather So that it rather appears to be a white than a Glass-Cup at a Distance And I as well as those that deal much amongst Glasses have observ'd several to fly in pieces when there was no outward Agent to be the Cause of such an Effect and I am inform'd by an Ingenious Man who is Master of a Glass-House That near a Third Part of a parcel of Glasses flew in pieces of their own accord after they had been kept for about five Years pack'd up To which I might add several other Instances to prove and illustrate the Doctrin above-deliver'd For these Phaenomena may be and are very Naturally accounted for by the Corpuscular Philosophy for supposing the Particles of Glass to be in a continual Elastick Endeavour to expand themselves and fly away and that several of those Particles are got together it is no wonder that they break and dis-joint those Parts of the United Glass which are least able to resist and keep them from Expansion And to Countenance this Explanation I shall add That several Alkalizate or other small Parts of Matter being inclos'd in the Body of a Glass it is always apter to break especially at that place from whence several Cracks spread themselves as from a Centre But whether the Elasticity of these Parts be promoted by any Subtile Bodies which penetrate the Glass I shall not now stay to examine but shall rather proceed to acquaint You That in a considerable Space of Time the Texture of Glass may be so alter'd as to be more unapt to give a free Passage to Aether it self or any other Subtle Body which could penetrate it before and consequently those Bodies Endeavouring to make their way tho' oppos'd by it's Texture cause a Proportionable Crack or Dissolution of the Substance of the Glass Observations concerning the Intestine Motion of the Parts of Glass And to what we have deliver'd concerning Glass these Observations are not altogether disagreeable viz. First That it is a Substance which by being rubb'd easily becomes Electrical which is an Argument that the Parts of it may without any great difficulty be put into Motion Secondly The Parts of Glass may fly asunder if the Neighbouring Parts be put into Motions disagreeable to each other which is evident if a hot Glass be immediately put into cold Water for the Motion of it's Corpuscles being externally checked those which within remain in a violent Agitation cause a sudden Disruption To which may be added That tho' one would think the Particles of Glass were so fix'd as to become unfit to alter their Figure and Shape yet their Parts continuing in some Degree of Agitation they may by invisible and insensible Agents be so work'd upon as to be forc'd to alter their Shape and Size In confirmation of which it may be observ'd That White and pure Transparent Glass will in a little time become very unfit to be put again into the Moulds they were first cast in But tho' I have mention'd both these Methods by which the Cracking of Glasses may be accounted for to shew that which soever of them we allow they will be Proof of an Intestine Motion in the Parts of Glass yet I will neither examine or determine which of them is rather to be rely'd on but shall only observe That the Motion of their Parts must needs be very slow since it is so long before it shews its Effects And now to conclude tho' from what hath been deliver'd it may be expected that I should draw Consequences to determine whether there be absolute Rest in Bodies or no I shall omit that and only intimate That it is not absurd to doubt nor improbable to
Agents in Animal Bodies and the Effects of those invisible Spirits which move through the Nerves which by such weighty Masses of Matter as the Bodies of some Animals are violently mov'd up and down To which may be added that by the bare insinuation of Moisture into the Pores of a Rope it may be so contracted as to raise above sixty pound weight above the place those Weights were suspended at in dry Weather And tho' Metals will endure the Heat of a Red-hot Crucible yet may they easily be melred with the Flame of a Candle if the Heat and Activity of it be promoted by a Blow-Pipe And how much more able the Parts of an Agent are to operate upon a Body when they are intimately mix'd with that they are to work upon than Superficially appears from Tartar which is much sooner calcin'd if Nitre be so mix'd with it that upon Deflagration the Flame may be commix'd with all it's Parts than if it only acts immediately on the Outside The Effects of a Lead-stone upon Filigns of Iron But to alledge Instances which will be of more Force tho' the Effluvia of a Load-stone be very minute and the Body of Iron or Steel very solid yet I have seen a Magnet whose Effluvia were so powerful as to attract and sustain fifty times the weight of the Stone it self And to make it appear how probably the Effluvia of a Magnet may change the Texture of solid Steel and by that means endow it with those Qualities which Iron usually derives from it I plac'd Filings of Steel upon a piece of Paper holding under it the Pole of a vigorous Load-stone by the Effluvia of which the Filings were presently so rang'd as to representseveral Needles or Pikes made up of Particles of Iron sticking one upon another and these might be mov'd up and down by removing the Load-stone from one place to another but as soon as the Load-stone was remov'd from that place to such a Distance that it 's Subtle Emanations had no longer any Influence upon the Powder the Parts of it presently lost that order and fell into a confus'd Heap as before that Loadstone was apply'd Again tho' the Particles of Water be so small as to be Invisible and their Motion very weak yet is it so powerful that upon Freezing the Expansion of the Frigorifick Parts are strong enough to break Bottles not only of Glass but Metal and the Expansion oftentimes is so violent as to exceed the Force of any other Body in expanding except Gun-powder that I know of CHAP. XVI Of the Propagable Nature of Motion IV. It is usually not sufficiently taken Notice of Prop. VI. how Local Motion may be propagated through several Mediums and even Solid Bodies IT is usually thought because some Bodies when they strike against Solid ones commonly fly back That the Impulse of that Body is not able to put the other into Motion but that the Parts of a Solid may be put into Motion and that that Motion may be propagated through such Consistent Substances is evident if we strike a piece of Timber slightly upon one End For by that means the Motion caus'd by that Impression will be carry'd on to the other And I have by Experience found that having drawn the Point of a Pin upon the Brim of an Hemispherical Vessel which was made of Bell-Metal which is much harder than Steel I found it from a very slight Impression to produce such a lasting Sound as was an Argument that the Parts of the Metal were not only put into such a Vibrating Motion as to communicate it to the Air but to continue it successively round the Brim of the Vessel till the Sound ceas'd And the like Propagation of Sounds I found to succeed tho' the Point of a Pin were but struck upon that Vessel which was seven Inches in Diameter And indeed the Propagable Motion of Solids when they are acted on by Fluids is not less remarkable since the Parts of a Bar of Iron or Glass may be put into such a Motion by Heat as to have it continu'd to some Distance from the place where the Fire first work'd upon them tho' it be capable of being propagated much further in the former of the two which shews how much the Textures of Bodies dispose them to be differently work'd upon by the same Agent and how much a Convenient Texture disposes them to be work'd upon at all And it may be further observ'd That it is look'd upon as a Sign of the firm Connection of a House that upon the Clapping of a Door the whole shakes and it is likewise an Argument of the Communicableness of Motion whether it depends on the mutual Contact of the Door and the Posts it shuts against or upon the Impression made upon the included Air by the Door for the former shews how a Solid may propagate Motion amongst Solids and the Latter how it may give Motion to a Fluid and Vice versâ But further it is asserted by Seneca that upon the Explosion of those Subterraneali Exhalations which are the Causes of Earth-quakes the Tremulous Motion of the Earth is continu'd above two hundred Miles And Josephus Acosta witnesseth That it hath been continu'd for three hundred Leagues in the Kingdom of Peru And Learned Writers in the beginning of our Age 1601 witness that the Motion of the Earth was so violent as to shake most part of Europe being propagated through most part of Asia Hungary Germany Italy and France And I have frequently observ'd That the House I have been in hath sensibly shook by the Tremulous Motion of the Earth it stood upon propagated from some Coach or Cart which mov'd at some distance upon the Ground and some observing Scouts say That by the Motion of the Earth they can discover the Approach of a Troop of Horse at a good Distance And to conclude this Member of our Discourse if such Disproportionate Causes can produce such Effects in Inorganical Bodies well may they in those that are Organical where there is only wanting a small Cause to call in the Assistance and to determine the Cooperation of others as the Tickling of a Feather in the Nose by Determining the Tendency of the Spirits Causes Sneezing And I remember being once held with such a Distemper as depriv'd me of the use of my Hands If in the Summer a Hair were but blown upon my Face and continued there long it would put me into Convulsions and cause me to faint Motion may be propagated through different Mediums But to determine another Member of this Proposition viz. Whether Motion may be propagated thro' several Mediums or terminates at the utmost Limits of the Medium it was begun in I shall offer the following Experiment viz. I caus'd a Glass-Receiver to be blown with a Button upon that part of the Internal Superficies which was uppermost and suspending a Watch by a Chain which was fix'd to a Soft Body fasten'd upon
Pestilential Steams in the Air for a considerable time before they are dispos'd to affect other Men and that those Constitutions should be so dispos'd to be work'd upon by Effluvia by others not in the least discern'd And that there are such Bodies as well as unheeded Effluvia may be evinc'd by several Instances as one which was remarkable in the Year 1665 in which a certain Man three Months before the beginning of the Plague was taken with a Swelling in his Groin which he had likewise as a Forerunner to several other Plagues And Fabritius Hildanus relates a Story no less remarkable of himself who when in his Youth he had had the Plague could never pass any House infected with it without a sensible Pain in that Part. To which may be added a third Instance from that Curious Physician who observ'd the various Phaenomena of Distempers at the Siege of Breda and says Annotandum hic meritò Naturae Facultatem ad Pestis Praeservationem Momenti esse maximi Observavi in meipso contaminatos invisente statim inguina olere vel axillas afficiebatur aliquando Caput noctu inde Sudor secessus tres quatuorve hoc aliis accidit qui fideliter mihi retulerunt And these Testimonies I am rather inclin'd to depend on because deliver'd by Men of Judgment and Credit Another Suspicion which I am about to relate A Third is That the Laws of Nature which contribute to the producing of several Phaenomena are not only of larger Extent than what we are us'd to imagin but likewise concur to the Production of a greater Variety of Effects For not to spend much time in observing That several Industrious Astrologers and Geographers have instead of Physical given us Mathematical Hypotheses having taken pains to describe the Situations and Motions of the fixed Stars and Planets and likewise that they have been Industrious in discovering the four little Planets which move about Jupiter as also the little Moon which runs about Saturn as well as several Phaenomena relating to Comets without considering the Frame and Constitution of those Bodies which compose our Globe I conceive it not impossible to make it out That there is a Commerce betwixt them and our Globe as well as several Laws or Customs of Nature even in our own Globe not taken notice of by Scholastical and Mathematical Writers The Fourth And I am not without Reason induc'd to suspect That this Globe of ours hath undergone several considerable Changes not only in several Countries but the internal Parts of it That which is call'd the Mariners Compass having been in several Places observ'd to vary considerably in its Declension from the true North Pole as for Instance about London in the Year 1580 it declin'd eleven Degrees in 1612 about six and in the Year 1633 about four Degrees And I have my self at one time observ'd little or no Declension whereas at another I observ'd it to decline near half a Degree And I am inform'd by one who often observ'd the Variation of the Compass at the Cape of good Hope that when he was a young Man he observ'd it to decline two Degrees Westward whereas of late he found the Variation to be six Degrees and about forty eight Minutes so that by his Observation it had vary'd little less than five Degrees in the times he hath sayl'd past that Place From whence we may have Reason to think That there are certain Agents very powerful tho' not to be taken notice of which may work several and very considerable Changes even in the Terrestrial Globe it self which whether regulated by any certain Laws of Nature we know not And besides these there are several other unheeded Phaenomena which we have troubled our selves very little to consider about as the different Weight of our Atmosphere and the Causes of that Difference we having only noted that they proceed from some subterraneal Effluviums mix'd with the Air but what other Effects those Effluviums may have upon other Bodies hath been scarce discover'd Considerable Variations in the Temper of Climates And it is not a little strange what Monsieur de Rochfort relates concerning those Hurricanes observ'd in the American Islands for whereas for a long time they were observ'd to come but once in seven Years yet in a short time they grew so frequent as to return two or three times in the same Year And I have been inform'd by an Ingenious Gentleman that having liv'd in New England he observ'd a considerable Alteration in the Temper of that Climate it being much less cold and more temperate than formerly And Mr. W. Wood in his Prospect of New England takes notice of no inconsiderable Alteration who says That since the English Inhabitants settl'd there the Showers of Rain are much more moderate though more frequent An Observation concerning Manna And the Learned Magnenus observes in his Tract de Manna That about three hundred Years ago there was no Manna to be found in Cenotria and it is not above two Ages since Manna hath been found in Calabria a Country so famous for it And the Ingenious French Writer in his History des Isles Antilles Lib. 4. Cap. 6. says That if the Juice of a Fruit call'd Acajou falls upon a Cloth it presently stains it red which continues till the Tree bears Flowers again which Phaenomenon will be the more to our Purpose if it may be doubted whether it proceeded from the Temper of the Air or Length of Time Another Suspicion But besides these Phaenomena when I observe the exact time that the ebbing and flowing of the Sea keeps and how exactly coincident with the New and Full Moon Spring-Tides happen as also what vast Spring-Tides are constantly observ'd every Equinox together with those various Phaenomena which may be observ'd in Sea-Water which in some Places and upon the blowing of some Winds appears to be luminous whereas other Parts are at the same time neither luminous nor in the least affected so as to become luminous by those Winds at any other time I am very apt to believe That these Phaenomena proceeded from some Cosmical Law of Nature or that the Planetary Vortex was not a little concern'd in producing these Effects Another Suspicion And I am not unapt to believe but that all those Distempers which are either Endemic or Epidemic proceed from a certain Influence which those Globes which move about us may have together with some Terrestrial Effluvia which are different in several Countries But not to engage in so fertile a Discourse as the Phaenomena which every particular Region affords I shall only add two Suspicions more which may be further Instances of the Established Laws and Customs of Nature A very considerable Phaenomenon relating to the Sun And first it is a Question whether those Planets which move about our Globe keep such constant Bounds in their Motion and move in such Lines as Astrologers teach they do And if
I have been inform'd by a Person who made his Observations beyond the Cape of Good Hope in the Southern Sea that having let down his Plummet about an hundred Fathom he found that the Plummet being suspended in the standing Water made the Boat turn to the Tide as if it lay at Anchor And that there is such a Stagnation of Water at the Bottom of the Sea hath been likewise confirm'd to me by Observations made near the Coral Fishery in the East-Indies CHAP. VI. Further Relations about the Bottom of the Sea THAT the Air is not only necessary to the Preservation of Animals but also promotes Vegetation and the Growth of Plants I have elsewhere observ'd but since several Trees and Plants are observ'd to grow under Water I shall further observe what Informations I have receiv'd concerning them Observations relating to Coral And First To what hath elsewhere been deliver'd concerning the Growth of Coral under Water I shall add That I am inform'd by one that saw it near Algiers that Coral when first taken up is not only soft and flexible but very pale yet when the Bark is taken off and it is expos'd to the Air it 's Natural Redness presently appears To which he added That having broke several Pieces he found it much paler within than on the outside and that there were several black Knobs on the extream Parts of the Twigs the place from whence this Coral was taken being about nine or ten Fathom deep And I have been further inform'd by one that sail'd to the East-Indies that upon a certain sort of Coral he hath observ'd certain round Berries of a very pleasant Colour Trees under Water To these Relations I shall add That Divers have not only observ'd Trees to grow under Water near Manar which bore Leaves like those of a Laurel but that not far from the Coast of Mosambique in Africa several Trees are observ'd to grow under Water whose Fruit and Leaves are like those of the Tree in America which bears a Fruit call'd Acayu But an Observation more Valuable is concerning the Maldavian Nut call'd Coco which by experienc'd Divers are found to be the Fruit of a Tree which grows at the Bottom of the Sea which are either gather'd by the Divers or torn off by the violent Agitation of the Water In which Fruit it was observ'd that whilst it was under Water it was very soft but when it had been expos'd a considerable time to the Air it became very hard CHAP. VII Observations and Experiments about the Saltness of the SEA The Invalidity of the Cause assign'd by the Peripateticks THE Saltness of the Sea by several Peripateticks hath been judged to proceed from the Influence of the Beams of the Sun upon the Water but with what little reason may easily appear from those standing Lakes and Ponds whose Water notwithstanding the Influence of the Sun continues fresh And that it neither proceeds from the Influence of the Sun nor any other external Heat may be argued since though some fresh Water be drawn off by Distillation and consequently undergoes as great a Degree of Heat as it can be supposed to do from the Sun Beams it yields not so much Salt as is to be found in some Water never exposed to such Heat which Salt differs very little from Sea Salt only that it is whiter being more clear of it's faeces and free from a Mixture of earthy Parts And though some alledg in favour of Aristotle's Doctrin That Scaliger affirms the Sea Water to be saltest in it's upper Region yet it will appear by comparing the Saltness of the superficial Parts of the Sea with the bottom that the Observation was ill made and does not generally hold neither will it favour his Doctrin should it be alledged that Sea Salt dissolved in Water otherwise than common Salt christalizes at the Top of the evaporated Solution for considering how much Salt Water must be impregnated with and that the Quantity of Salt in Sea Water hath been observed by a Dutch Geographer to be only as One to Forty The proportion of Salt to Water it 's Disposition to crystalize can be no Argument of the swimming of Sea-Salt more on the top of the Water than the other Region But though I differ in this Point from the Peripatetick Philosophers yet I do not believe on the contrary with some that the Gravity of Salt makes them sink the more to the bottom since the intestin Agitation of the Parts of the Water continually shifting Places must consequently carry it along with them which Consideration joyned with another which is that I have not usually observed Metalline Tinctures stronger at the top than bottom might perhaps give a suspicion to some that the present Argument is less cogent notwithstanding the specific Gravity betwixt Metals and their Menstruums does much exceed that betwixt Salt and Water But further in behalf of the Peripatetick Doctrin it is urged out of Linscotten that at Goa in Portugal it is usual for their Slaves to dive and fetch fresh Water from the bottom of the Sea but tho' this Matter of Fact were true yet no general Rules could be drawn thence because Experience tells us that in other Places it is contrary Besides it might be probably guessed that Springs in the Bottom of the Sea were it true that fresh Water might rise by certain Springs covered over with Sea Water as well as that several Springs in other Places should be under Water upon the flowing of the Sea And that there may be such Springs is so far probable that the curious Hungarian Governor de admirandis Hungariae Aquis says That in the River Vagus near the Fortress Galgotium Veins of hot Water rise up in the very bottom of the Water his Words are these Neque in Ripa tantum eruuntur calidae sed etiam intra amnem si fundum ejus pedibus suffodias calent autem immodicè c. And the like hath been observed upon the Neapolitan Coast But not to urge these Relations I shall intimate briefly That an ingenious Acquaintance of mine who lives in that City hath informed me that that fresh Water is not fetch'd so deep as to be suspected to rise from such Springs but that it is rather the fresh Water which runs into the Sea from a River not far off before it is mixed with the Salt Water which Conjecture I the rather believe because near Mouths of Rivers it hath elsewhere been observed that fresh Water hath for some time floated together without being perfectly mixed with the other Stream And as for Scaliger's Opinion it might be urged against it that by a Vessel so artificially contrived that it might be opened at the bottom of the Sea to take in Water the Water drawn up hath been found to be Salt But since it may be urged against this that the Salt Water being heavier than the fresh as it was drawing up might be
more apt to fly away when expos'd to the Air. And that Vitriol may probably rise in the Form of a Vapour without losing it's Qualities is evident in Sublimate which consists of Mercury chang'd by an Addition of Salt and Vitriol for some Vitriolick Parts being carry'd up in the Preparation turn Opacous upon an Affusion of Spirit of Sulphur But further to make it evident that the Particles of Iron may be considerably expanded I dropp'd four Drops of a Vitriolick Liquor made use of in Copperas-works into twelve Ounces and a half of Water and found that it so much impregnated 1500 times it's Proportion of Common Waters as to make it strong enough to turn a Tincture of Galls Purple tho' by Evaporation we found that 3 Parts of 4 of that Liquor were Water 28. What Alterations the Earthy Parts of Mineral Waters undergo by Ignition and whether they may be Vitrify'd per se as also what Colours they impart to Venice Glass if mix'd with the Powder before Fluxion 29. Of what use they are in Baking Brewing Tanning or Dying of Colours c. 30. How many ways they may be made Artificially and with what Proportion of Ingredients CHAP. XI Titles for the Natural History of Mineral-Waters consider'd as a Medicine IT may be worth Observing in order to a more Compleat Natural History of Mineral-Waters what Constitutions they agree with and in what Distempers they are Proper or Dangerous What Sensible Operations they have and whether their Effects be alter'd by Drinking them Hot or Cold at the Well or at a Distance from it Whether Exercise or the Warmth of a Bed promotes their Operation Whether they have any Occult Qualities It may likewise be requisite to observe What good Effects may succeed a due Preparation of the Body that drinks them and what Advantage it may be to drop some Strengthening Stomachick into the First Dose What Quantity is enough for the First Dose and how it must be vary'd How long they may be Drunk and whether constantly or with Intervals whether Purging sometimes may contribute to their good Effects What Regimen in the Six Non-Naturals is to be observ'd whilst they are a-taking Which are the Signs that denote the kindly Operations of them or their future ill Effects What ill Accidents attend the taking of them and how they may be Remedy'd or Prevented Whether it be proper to Purge after the Taking of them What Effects they will have by Mixing other Liquors with them or by Boiling Meat in them Whether a Salt extracted will be of Equal Effect when Diluted in Fresh Water What External Effects they will have and of what use their Sediment is when Externally apply'd What Effects they will have on Dogs if injected into their Veins or if they be kept with such for constant Drink CHAP. XII Of the Natural and Preternatural States of Bodies especially the Air. IT is the General Consent of most Men that the Determinate States of Bodies are not only first fram'd by what they call Nature but that they are likewise preserv'd in those States by the Superintendency of that Power and that whenever they lose that State they are said to be put into a Preternatural One But if we consider that such Changes proceed from Natural Causes and that those New States depend on the like Catholick Agents The Common Distinction betwixt Natural and Preternatural States ill grounded and the Establish'd Laws of Nature it will appear That the Distinction Men usually make betwixt the Natural and Preternatural States of Bodies is but ill-grounded and that Preternatural is only a Relative Term intimating that that Body hath undergone a Change either by the Operation of some unheeded or more noted Agent For Matter being altogether void of Sense and Perception and not affecting one State more than another the Changes it undergoes depend on the Alteration of it's Textures and New Position of it's Parts alter'd afresh by that Agent which such a Body was last expos'd to As a piece of Wax is put into a New Form by the last Impression made by another Body upon it without affecting one Form more than another it self Ice a Natural State in some Places And that the States of some Bodies which are said to be Preternatural as truly depend on Natural Causes and the Establish'd Laws of Nature as others is evident in Ice and Water In which Bodies the Forms of each depend upon the Effects of External Agents for tho' in these Hotter Climates Water is Esteem'd a Natural and Ice a Preternatural State of that Substance yet I am inform'd that in Siberia a Province belonging to a Russian Emperour Water is froze most part of the Year and at a small Depth from the Surface of the Earth the Soil is froze throughout where Ice is look'd upon to be the Natural and the Alterations made by a Thaw and the Influence of the External Temperature of the Air and the Sun Beams are esteem'd Preternatural States of Bodies And further tho' Butter in our Clime be sold in a consistent Form and when it is melted is look'd upon to be in a Preternatural State yet I am inform'd that amongst the Europeans it is fluid and is sold by Measure and not by Weight as here in England And it is further observ'd That several Substances as Rosin of Jalap Gum Lacca and even Aloes it self are considerablely softened in their Consistence by the Temperature of the Air and the Force of External Heat whilst they pass under the Torrid Zone so that I am told that the former of the aforemention'd Drugs was melted into a sort of Balsam whilst it continued in Africa but when it was brought to Spain it put on a Consistent Form again And tho' Aloes was soft whilst carry'd through America and those hotter Climates yet when it approach'd our Climate it presently became hard But to bring further Instances concerning the Natural and Preternatural States of Bodies I shall observe That according the Receiv'd Notion of Natural and Preternatural States it is very difficult to determine the Natural State of the Air for not to insist on the different Temperature of the Air as to Heat and Cold in different Climes It may be demanded Since Heat and Cold rarifie and expand the Air what is to be esteem'd the Natural State of it in Reference to Rarity and Density And it is no less Questionable what Place is most fit to determine it's Natural State since the State of it is not only different in several Countries but in those Places at different Times And that the Changes as to the Density or Rarity of the Air are very frequent appears by the several Degrees of the Atmosphere's Gravity evident in the Torrecellian Experiments hereafter to be deliver'd A forced State the Natural State of the Air. But further Except the States of the Air be said to be Preternatural only in a Relative Sense with respect to the State it was in
last mention'd Experiment it appears that it is possible Even by Weights to measure how far Nature is dispos'd to prevent or fill Vacuities since a small difference in Weight determin'd by depressing or permitting the Sucker to rise how far Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum depended on the Causes we have so often mention'd But here it may be requisite to advertise that by Vacuities I do not mean Spaces altogether void of Matter but void of such as may be perceiv'd so that I take the Word Vacuum in the Common not the strict and Philosophical Sense of the Word But lastly from this XXXIII Experiment it appears that the Weight of the Atmosphere we live in is stronger than what Men usually think it is And probably near the Northern Pole it is much stronger Since if what Varenius observes the Air is so condens'd in Nova Zembla as to hinder the Motion of a Pendulum except moved by a heavier Weight than what is usually made use of in our Climate EXPERIMENT XXXIV Attempts to weigh light Bodies in our Receiver TO try whether the Aequilibrium of two Bodies of an equal Weight in the Air but of unequal Dimensions would be lost in our Receiver as it usually is in Water by Reason of a greater Quantity of Water buoying up against that whose Dimensions are most extensive I took a Bladder half full of Air and ty'd it to one end of our Balance which turns with the 32 part of a Grain which being counterpois'd with a Weight in the other Scale we let it down into the Receiver and having clos'd it up upon an Exsuction of the Air we found the Bladder to dilate and manifestly to preponderate but upon admitting the Air into the Receiver again the Bladder was over-pois'd by the Weight but leaving them in the Receiver all night the Bladder imbib'd so much of the External Moisture as to weigh that end of the Balance down a good way yet the Bladder being dry'd a little they were both brought to an Aequilibrium And the like Experiment we try'd with a piece of Cork instead of the Bladder and observ'd that the Receiver being Evacuated as well as upon a reingress of the Air the Cork manifestly preponderated EXPERIMENT XXXV Of the Cause of Filtration and the Rising of Water in the Syphons c. The Cause of Filtration TO try whether in Filtrations the rising of the Water might not proceed from the Impulse of the Air we made use of a Syphon of Glass represented by the Third Figure which is made of two strait Pieces and a crooked one which joyns the other two together the Junctures being well clos'd The longer Leg of the Syphon was pervious only at the small End so as to suffer the Water to pass through it but both the ends of the shorter Leg were equally pervious the Diameter of their Bore being ¼ of an Inch. The length of these two Pipes was about a Foot and a half that the Rarifi'd Air in the Receiver when it was pretty well exhausted might not raise the Water included in the Pipe too high The shorter Leg of the Syphon being immers'd two or three Inches in a Vessel of Water the other end was fastned to the Cover which things being done and the Receiver clos'd up we began to pump The Result of which was that the Water dropp'd out of the lower Leg of the Syphon as if it had been expos'd to the open Air till the Receiver was in some measure exhausted and then several Bubbles rising in the Water gather'd together at the Top of the short leg'd Syphon where expanding themselves they stopp'd the Course of the Water that in the longer Leg being suspended in the Tube and ceasing to drop and the Water in the shorter Leg was so far depress'd as not to be above a Foot high But as soon as the External Air was let in again it enter'd in at the small Orifice of the longer Tube and ascending through the Water contain'd in the Pipe joyn'd with the former which was lodg'd in the upper Part of the short leg'd Tube But to prevent what Inconveniences ensu'd the rising of these Bubbles the two foremention'd Tubes were placed so as to meet in the middle of a Glass Viol the Neck of the Viol being clos'd up with Cement and the Tubes being thus fix'd and they as well as the Viol fill'd with Water the Syphon represented by the Fifth Figure was plac'd in the Receiver with its shorter Leg in a Vessel of Water upon which the Pump being ply'd the longer Syphon continu'd to drop much longer than before but at the last the Bubbles which rose in the Pipes were so dilated in the Viol as to press down into the Ends of the Tube and interrupt our Experiment tho' what we observ'd gave us Reason to believe that the Air contributed to the Motion of the Water through the Syphons And here I shall subjoyn that I once had a very slender Pipe which when held upon the Surface of the Water in a Perpendicular Posture the Incumbent Atmosphere press'd so much more on the Surface of the External Water than that contain'd in the Tube that the Water was rais'd in the Tube and this Pipe being bent into a Syphon and plac'd with the shorter Leg in Water as Syphons usually are the Water of its own accord rose up in the shorter Leg and ran down the other and this Syphon being plac'd in our Receiver to try what Alteration of the Phaenomenon would appear there we could not discern any sensible one But tho' in this Tube just now mention'd the Water rises of its own accord yet if such a Tube be thrust a little way into the Mercury instead of rising the Mercury in the Tube will be below that which is without it EXPERIMENT XXXVI The Weight of Air in the Exhausted Receiver The subtle penetrating Power of some Spirits above that of the Air. The Cause why Air will not enter the Pores of some Bodies which Water will The Weight of the Air examin'd by an Aeolipile The Proportion betwixt the Gravity of Air and Water Betwixt Water and Quicksilver Conjectures concerning the Weight of the Atmosphere The Weight of the Air. NOtwithstanding the several Methods propropos'd by Galileo and others to try the Weight of the Air being willing to be further satisfi'd we caus'd an Oval Glass with a small Tube at one End to be blown at the flame of a Lamp And this Glass Bubble being of the size of a Hen's Egg was fix'd to one End of a Balance being counterpois'd by a Weight at the other End which being suspended in our Receiver and the Pump set on work the Bubble after three Exsuctions continu'd to preponderate more and more till the Air was let in again and then the Balance was reduced to its former Aequilibrium But having repeated the Experiment with an additional Weight of three Quarters of a Grain in the Scale opposite to the
not be any more to his Purpose in maintaining his Funicular Hypothesis or opposing Ours because such a Body as so easily passes in and out will be as ready to give way to the Motion of a more gross Body and consequently to the rising or subsiding of the Mercury Another Argument alledg'd in Favour of the Funicular Hypothesis is that when the Mercury is subsided to its wonted Station it gravitates no farther But it being already shewn why it does not viz. because it is counterbalanc'd by an equal Weight or Pressure made by the Atmosphere what hath gone before hath been a sufficient Answer And if it should be ask'd why when the Finger is press'd upon by a Cylinder of the Atmosphere and at the same time by a Cylinder of the Mercury on the other fide it feels no sensible Pain it may be answer'd that the Pressure being equal on each side the Sense of Pressure is the less perceptible which is confirm'd by what divers observe at a considerable depth under Water viz. that they are not sensible of it And if it should be further ask'd why upon the Descent of the Mercury it at the first falls something below its wonted Station and presently rises up again it may be answer'd that that proceeds from an Impetus acquir'd by its Descent which at the first partly overpowers the Spring of the Air below it but that Impetus being quash'd the Spring and Weight of the Air presently weighs it up again to its usual Station and having been put into a little more than ordinary Compression raises it something higher so that the Impetus upon a second Descent brings on a successive Elevation till at the last the Impetus on each side gradually is lost and discontinues that vibrating Motion and this may not only be illustrated by the successive Vibrations of a Pair of Scales put in Motion by depressing one and elevating the other but was farther confirmed by Mercury in a Glass Tube made use of in our 36th Experiment for having put a Quantity of Mercury into it and by inclining of it permitted it to run into one Leg I stopp'd the Orifice of the other with my Finger upon which the Tube being erected the Air contained in the Syphon which was stopp'd at the Top depress'd the Mercury in that Tube but as soon as it was unstopp'd the vibrating Motions of the Mercury began and continu'd to rise and fall successively for some time CHAP. XVI A Continuation of Objections against the Funicular Hypothesis BESIDES the forementioned Objections there are several others which perplex the Funicular Hypothesis As first How the superficial Parts of two solid Marbles which adhere together when exactly polished can be drawn out into a Funiculus a Difficulty which does not at all perplex our Doctrin Besides were the Funicular Hypothesis allowed it might be questioned How it comes to pass that Liquors whose Parts are not equally liable to be extended into such Funiculus's should exactly subside till Aequiponderant to 29 ½ Inches of Mercury and no further an Objection which our Doctrin admits not of since not only from Wind-Guns but our former Experiments it appears too manifestly to doubt of the Air 's Spring and Gravity Nor is the Author 's strange Method of producing his Funiculus less exceptionable for he says When the Mercury touches the Top of the Tube upon it's Descent it leaves it's Superficies to stick to the Top of it which is extended by the Weight of the Mercury till it leaves another Superficies joyning to that where it may be objected That neither Sense perceives any such Thing nor can it be made probable by Reason it being impossible to conceive How the Superficies of a Body can be so extended as to become a Body it self And should it be allowed that the Funiculus might be turned into so subtle a Body it would be altogether inconceivable how it should be so firm and strong as to suspend the Weight of a Cylinder of Mercury and that it should have such an admirable Property as to extend without being made thinner contrary to the Nature of all Ropes Besides the Method he takes to illustrate his Generation of the Funiculus by comparing it to the Flame of a Candle does not enforce the Belief of it any more for not to urge That the Parts of a Candle are by Agitation and a powerful Motion amongst each other kept at such a distance as to leave several and a Multitude of Vacuities betwixt their Parts if the Rarefaction of the Mercury in the Funiculus be like that when it is rais'd in the Form of a Vapour it would be too slight to suspend a Tube of Mercury And it might be further demanded How the Funiculus came by such Hooks as to take hold of every Body contiguous to them so firmly as to be able to break strong Glasses by drawing their sides inwards and how Fluids should be so suspended as to appear one entire Piece contrary to what their Fluidity disposes them to do Nor is it less strange That our Objector should allow this subtle Body a Spring which he denies to be in Air since Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum cannot be the Cause of it in as much as a Vacuum would not ensue according to his Doctrin tho' it were not contracted Moreover it would not be a little hard to conceive were such a Funiculus allowed of how the Surfaces of Marbles extended could contract into Marbles again and how in the Cylinder of Mercury the Funiculus is so easily relaxed upon an Admission of Air into it since it filling up all the Space above the Mercury before it cannot easily be conceiv'd how it should be dispossess'd of that Space without being thrust into another Again I should be glad to know if the Cavity of our Receiver upon an Exsuction of Air were fill'd with such stretched Strings it would be possible for a Pendulum to move in it without breaking them but our Author 's Funiculus being made up of Strings endued with peculiar Qualities we shall decline making any more Objections since these Peculiarities may be sufficient to distinguish it from Truth CHAP. XVII The Aristotelian Rarefaction Examined The Aristotelian Notion of Rarefaction rejected BESIDES the former Objections which render the Funicular Doctrin unintelligible there are yet others upon the Account of the Doctrin of Rarefaction employed in the explicating of it For the Doctrine of Rarefaction made use of by our Author supposing a Body not only to fill up a larger Space when rarified but likewise so to fill it as not to leave the least Vacuities betwixt it's Parts it will be very hard to conceive How a Hundred Parts of Matter which are circumscribed by so many Spaces of the same Extention with themselves should be capable of filling up more Space adaequately than they are circumscribed by without the Addition of other Matter and it seems strange That without the immediate Act of
before it will nevertheless rise when the superfluous Weight is taken away And as for an Internal Conatus of the Included Air were such allow'd as Mr. Hobbs contends for it would rather hinder than promote the Rising of the Sucker for were that Included Air forc'd out so violently as he supposes and were it strong enough to cause a violent Repercussion in the Air the Internal Force counterpoizing the External the Rising of the Sucker would not thereby in the least be promoted But since from our Experiments it appears That the Receiver is for the greatest Part void of Air and that such an Impetus would be of no Force in causing the Phaenomenon he endeavours to explain by it it is more Natural to belive that the External Pressure of the Atmosphere rais'd it CHAP. XXVI Several scatter'd Explications and Passages in his Dialogue consider'd WHEREAS we have in the XXXXVth Experimenti mention'd an Experiment wherein the Water Rose up into a long slender Tube which was plac'd in a Perpendicular Line the Water in the Tube being above the Surface of the Water without the Tube Mr. Hobbs endeavours to explain this by the Impulse of the Particles of Matter swiftly agitated in the Air but since the same Agitation of Parts within the Tube might also depress that to an equal Surface with the External the Account he gives of it is the less satisfactory The Reason which he assigns for the Difficulty in drawing up the Stopple when the Receiver is exhausted is a Violent Conatus proceeding from the Motion of the Particles within but were the Impetus so great as to cause so great a Repercussion as Mr. Hobbs before suppos'd able to repel the Sucker it should rather raise the Stopple and if that Motion contributed to the fastning of it it would continue upon a Re-admission of the Air since the Air in the Cavity runs about and is in Motion for a good while Nor could the Plentitude he supposes cause the Phaenomenon because he supposes the World to be equally and at all times full But that the close Connexion of the Stopple to the Socket depended on the Pressure of the External Air appear'd by closing the Hole in the Cover with Cement instead of that Stopple for when the Air was drawn out of the Receiver the External Air was drawn out of the Receiver the External Air would press so violently upon it as to make the upper Superficies Concave and sometimes to force it down into the Receiver with a Noise and great Violence He further assigns the Boiling of Water in our Receiver to the Motion of the Air included but since I have made it appear That there is no such Motion our Explanation is the more probable since the Parts of the Liquor being agitated by Heat will be apt to to expand more powerfully upon a Removal of that Pressure And tho' he says the Parts of the Water could not be mov'd except à Movente contiguo A Contiguous Body in Motion yet since he allows that the Motion of his Earthy Parts which swim in the Air is innate and consequently depends not on any Contiguous Body I shall leave that to answer what he here delivers and shall only intimate That the Parts of the Water being agitated when put into the Receiver is enough to account for the Phaenomenon when the Pressure of the Air is taken off Why Animals die in the Exhausted Receiver The sudden Death of Animals which I ascribe doubtingly tho' not without Probability to the Exsuction of the Air in the Receiver he attributes to the Circular Motion of the included Air and it's Tenacity but since I have already made it appear that there is no such Motion that is a Sufficient Answer And as for the Air being thicker in the Exhausted Receiver than before the contrary appears in the Magdeburg Experiment where the Exhausted Receiver weigh'd much less than before but from the Breaking of Bubbles outwards it further appears that it is not a thicker but a lighter and more yielding Body And tho' Mr. Hobbs from his supposition of the Air 's Thickness endeavours to Account for the sudden Extinction of Flame in our Receiver yet thinking it a Matter of Difficulty to explain the true Cause of the Extinction of Flame it may suffice that I have made it appear that the Air is not thick as he supposes CHAP. XXVII Several other Passages in Mr. Hobbs's Dialogue examined IN this Chapter Mr. Hobbs objects against what our Author delivers concerning the Cause of the Coliesion of two Marbles but all that is contain'd in what he here offers being obviated by what hath been deliver'd under the Title of Fluidity and Firmness For a further Confirmation of the Doctrin there deliver'd I shall add the following Experiments And The Pressure of the Air upon Bodies contain'd in it prov'd First If an Aeolipile freed from Air be whilst hot stopp'd with Wax upon a Perforation of that Wax the Air will be press'd in to the Cool Aeolipile whether the Orifice be held down or Horizontally which shews that the Air on each side may press upon the Lower Superficies of the Marble as well as the Subjacent Pillar of Air and that the Air is not impell'd against it only in a Pyramidal Figure as he would urge viz. because Lines drawn from the Circumference and Borders of the Stones to the Center of the Earth must form Pyramids To which it might be added That Part of the Air being drawn out of a large Glass and a Book clapp'd upon the Orifice the Pressure of the Subjacent Atmosphere kept it suspended there And the Author of the Magdeburg Experiment says That two Plates of Copper whose Diameter was about half an Ell stuck so close to each other that six Men could not pull them asund * See Fig. 6. Plate second And it appears from an Experiment made in a Glass Viol anon to be describ'd that if the Tube be so immers'd that it 's Lower Orifice just touch the Water the oblique Pressure of the Atmosphere will raise the Water in the Tube a considerable Height as the Air is suck'd out of the Tube Mr. Hobbs objects against the Author's Explications of the Rising of Water in Glass Fountains and says That it cannot be accounted for by the Expansion of the Air since the Parts of the Air expanded take up no more room after they are expanded than before but since he means so as adequately to fill more Space and we only mean such an Expansion as is before explan'd by instancing compress'd Wool it appears that in our Sense it will take up more Space so as to keep the gross Parts of Water from getting betwixt them There are other Objections mention'd in this Chapter as well as some other Particulars relating to the Royal Society but since the Author finds no weight in them against any thing he hath taught I shall only further take Notice of what Mr. Hobbs
by a Solution of Sugar in Water Pag. 126. by a Solution of Salt of Tartar Pag. 127. by Lead raised in the Form of Vapours Pag. 128. by droping Oyl of Turpentine upon Spirit of Wine Pag. 139. by opening the Body of Copper with Sal Armoniack and applying it to a Candle Pag. 141. Liquids why sometimes unapt to mix with each other Ibid. A Diaphanous and Opacous Body afforded by a Liquid Pag. 143. The Superficies of Liquors in Vacuo Boyliano Pag. 148. A Liquor may become consistent by the mixture of a Powder Pag. 179. The Effects of a Load-stone upon Filings of Iron Pag. 293. M. Matter defin'd Pag. 2. Motion a Catholick Agent Ibid. Guided by God in the Creation Ibid. Mechanical Affections their result Pag. 7. Mixture and Texture how different Pag. 22. The Effects of Motion various Pag. 23. Modification twofold Pag. 44 45. In what Respects Pag. 47 48. Medicines Chymical laid aside too rashly Pag. 113 114. The Effects of languid and unheeded Motion from Pag. 210 to 238. Motion may be propagated through different Me diums Pag. 223. An Observation concerning Manna Pag. 253. Concerning a Match burning in the Receiver Pag. 325. Why Mercury is not always suspended at the same Height Pag. 334. Marbles disjoyn'd in the exhausted Receiver Pag. 446. Mountains their Height Pag. 468. N. Nature may not be always exact in her Laws Pag. 255. Natural and Preter-natural States of Bodies not rightly stated Pag. 302. The natural Sate of the Air a forc'd State Pag. 304. O. Odours no inherent Quality Pag. 9. Odours what Ibid. Observations about Lignum Vitae Pag. 103. Observations made in Quarries Pag. 104. P. Primary Affections of Matter Pag. 3. Putrefaction what Pag. 16. Corpuscularian Principles very firtile Pag. 21 22. Minuteness of Pores no Arguments of their Non-existence Pag. 125. A Plastick Power inherent in Bodies Pag. 189. Plastick Power what Pag. 190. Petrification how effected Pag. 194 195. Q. Qualities no distinct Entities Pag. 3. Qualities the Result of Modification Pag. 5. Proved Pag. 6. Qualities act how Pag. 11. Complexion of Qualities no real Qualities Pag. 17. Whether Qualities depend on substantial Forms Pag. 18. Qualities of a Compound different from the Ingredients Pag. 19. Some Qualities the Result of mixture Ibid. Qualities how alter'd Pag. 20 182. Different Qualities in Homogeneous Bodies Pag. 26. Exhibited by Venice Turpentine Pag. 27. By putrifi'd Vrine Pag. 27. New Qualities added upon a Dissolution of the Specifick Form Pag. 46. Qualities the Result of Motion c. Pag. 73 74 76 77. Various Qualities produc'd by a Change of Texture in Camphire Pag. 78 79 80. In Copper and Silver Pag. 81 82 83 84 85. In preparing of Luna Cornea Pag. 86 87. In preparing of a Peculiar Salt Pag. 88. By digesting Spirit of Nitre with Sea-Salt Pag. 89 90. By distilling Oyl of Vitriol with Nitre Pag. 91 92. By digesting Spirit of Wine and Oyl of Vitriol together Pag. 102 103. By a Redintegration of Salt Petre Pag. 108 109. R. Redintegrations of Bodies consider'd Pag. 69. Of Amber Pag. 70. Of Roch Allom Ibid. Of Vitriol Pag. 71 72. Of Antimony and Oyl of Vitriol Ibid. Of Salt Petre Pag. 105 106 107. The Signification of the Word Rest limited Pag. 198. Of Respiration Pag. 382. The Aristotelian Rarefaction examined Pag. 404. Rarefaction explained Pag. 416. According to the Doctrin of the Plenists Pag. 417. The Rota Aristotelica explain'd Pag. 419 420. S. Sounds no Inherent Qualities Pag. 9. Sounds what Ibid. Species of Bodies how distinguish'd Pag. 57 58. Salts their Figures how accounted for Pag. 62. Salts obtain'd from an Alkaly Pag. 63. From Oyl of Vitriol and a Solution of Sea-Salt Ibid. From a mixture of Spirit of Wine and Nitre Ib. From a Solution of Copper Pag. 64. From Gold Pag. 65. Venetian Borax Ibid. Spirit of Vrine and Nitre Pag. 66. Soot and Sal Armoniack Ibid. Spirit of Nitre and Pot-Ashes Pag. 68. Salt Petre obtain'd from Pot-Ashes Pag. 107. Aqua Fortis and Salt of Tartar Ibid. Solidity refin'd Pag. 158. What is requisite to Solidity or Firmness Pag. 158 159 160 161 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 176 177 178 179 181 184 185 186 187. A Solid turn'd Fluid Pag. 180. Motion in the Parts of Solids Pag. 200 201. Cosmical Suspitions from Pag. 249 to 256. The Temper of Submarine Regions Pag. 266. Of the uppermost Ibid. Of the lower Pag. 267 268. The Bottom of the Sea unequal Pag. 279. Vndisturb'd in Storms Pag. 271. Almost stagnates Ibid. The Proportion of Salt in the Sea to the Water Pag. 275 282 283 284. Springs in the Bottom of the Sea Ibid. The Reason of the Saltness of the Sea Pag. 278 279. It s Bitterness whence Pag. 280. Concerning the Propagation of Sounds Pag. 353. A Spring bent in the exhausted Receiver Pag. 458. To what Height Water will be rais'd by Suction Pag. 452 454 456. T. Transmutation of Metals not impossible Pag. 94 95. The Texture of their Liquids contributes to their Mixture Pag. 175. The Texture of Bodies enables them to work on each other Pag. 247. Trees under Water Pag. 273. V. Union the Cause of the Effects of Compounds Pag. 44 51. Vitriol Natural and Artificial agree in Qualities Pag. 60 61. Vitriol turn'd into Allom Pag. 68. Vortices beyond the Concave Surface of the Firmament Pag. 256. Of a Vacuum Pag. 331 362 440. Vapours and Fumes why they ascend Pag. 356. W. Water acquires new Qualities by an Alteration of its Form Pag. 76. Water Convertible into Earth Pag. 98 99. How it becomes Solid Powder Pag. 99. An insipid Water drawn from Spirit of Vinegar and Salt of Tartar Pag. 188. Water its Gravitation Pag. 270. Agitation requisite to keep Water from stinking Pag. 281. Memoirs for the Natural History of Mineral Waters Pag. 286. The different Weight of Mineral Waters Pag. 291. Observations requisite in trying them Pag. 295. Whether they have Arsnick in them Pag. 296. What Proportion of Salt they afford Pag. 299. Of the Elater of Water Pag. 337. It depends on the Elater of the Air contain'd in the Pores of it Pag. 339. Water hot its spontaneous Ebullition Pag. 391. The END ADVERTISEMENT THis Volume containing an Epitomy of several of the Author's Works I think it necessary to advertise that to avoid a Repetition of all the Titles prefix'd to the Tracts Printed severally I have digested each of those Books into such a Method as they would have been probably Printed in had they been all writ by our Author at one time each Book being contain'd in Chapters the Titles of which will acquaint the Reader what Tracts they belong to And that the Reader may be more clearly satisfi'd I intend at the End of the next Volume to add such a Table of the Author's Works as shall readily direct what Chapters each Book is abridg'd in by referring to them IMPRIMATUR Liber Cui Titulus THE WORKS Of the HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE Esq EPITOMIZED By RICHARD
Poyson and in some a Faintness and Dispiritedness according to the Testimony of several Physicians And that Mineral Expirations may cause a determinate Distemper we may learn from an Observation of mine which was That a Chymist rubbing very often Red Arsnick in a Mortar and endeavouring to make an Excellent Medicine of it first complain'd to me of a Difficulty of breathing and sometimes of Pains and Tumors in his Testicles And it will not be very much doubted whether Mineral Effluvia penetrate the Pores of the Body or not by those that shall know that the Fumes of Sulphur are so penetrating that at the Pic of Teneriff they blacken Silver in the Pockets of those that go up to it I made a Preparation of Sulphur which emitted Effluvia so powerful in the Cold that they penetrated a Leathern Purse and discoloured Silver contain'd in it But besides the forementioned Effects of Vapours on the Pic of Teneriff I was told that one that ascended that Mountain had the Colour of his Hair altered before he came down again which argues the Power of Mineral Effluvia to penetrate the Pores of the Body But lest it should be questioned by some whether such Mineral Effluvia would not be consumed and cease in less time than Endemical Diseases are continued in one Place I shall imtimate that I think several subterraneal Bodies may have a power of propagating their Virtue to Matter contiguous to them by some Seminal Principle or something Analogous to a Ferment or by bringing some more Crude Mineral Earths gradually and successively to a greater Degree of Maturity and Perfection For it hath been observed that in Tract of time a Mineral might be obtained from an Earth which at another time it could not be obtain'd from which Observation holds as to Nitre which is one of the most Catholick Fossils and most plentifully emits Effluvia Besides tho' Mineral Effluvia in the Region of the Earth discoverable by us should be consum'd I see not why supplies may not be brought from the Bowels of the Earth Indeed considering how closely the Matter of Minerals is crowded together and how long Magnets severed from their Mines emit Effluvia without a sensible Diminution the Stock of Mineral Earth from whence they flow cannot be thought suddenly to be exhausted for an Effluviating power is so durable that one had a perfumed Watch which tho' constantly worn preserv'd it's Scent 16 years and by the same Reason could perfume Marbles quite through so that they retain'd their Scent a long time But before I leave this second Proposition it is requisite that I should take Notice that noxious Effluvia may cause Distempers not only by Respiration and penetrating the Pores of our Body but by impregnating the Water made use of for preparing and Diluting our Aliment without any sensible alteration in the Water to be discern'd by us So Water by an Infusion of Crocus Metallorum becomes Emetick and indeed sometimes those Effluvia are so numerous that in the Borders of Lancashire the Mud in a Ditch is so strongly impregnated with subterraneal Exhalations that at the Surface of the Earth or Water they will take fire and flame like a Candle But besides that Distempers may be propagated by these subtle Effluvia impregnating Water they may be also prejudicial in as much as being mixed with the Nutriment of Plants they may deprave their Juices and consequently make them unfit to be eaten And that Mineral Effluvia may in a great measure deprave and influence the substances of Plants in their growth is confirmed by some who have noted that Oaks growing in Ground which abounded with Vitriolate Mines were much more heavy and solid than others and these Effluvia are sometimes so numerous and crouded into the Pores of Plants as not to be overcome and concocted by the Ferments of the Plants but to keep their own Natures for I have observed in a Vine near Paris several Marchasitical Particles throughout the Pores of the Root and Trunk And I have been told that at Tockay in Hungary the very Kernels of the Grapes are as if it were Guilt over with Leaf Gold But Besides the aforementioned Ways by which our Bodies may be affected with Noxious Effluviums we may not a little suffer by the deprav'd Humours which some Animals we Feed upon are nourished by and which vitiate their Bodies primarily and secondarily ours As from what hath been said it appears that Subterraneal Effluvia may cause Distempers so it may not be amiss to take Notice that possibly in some measure Mineral Effluvia may prevent Distempers for 't is Observed that several parts of Scotland are free from Agues and that very hot and large Regions in the East-Indies are rarely troubl'd with the Plague nor is it less remarkable that in Ireland the Air is impregnated with such sort of Emanations as prevent the Generation of any venemous Creatures To which I shall add the following Instance from Beguinus in his own words who says Dignum admiratione est quod quamvis in vicinia Hydriae Comitatus Gloricensis ubi reperitur copiosè ☿ singulis fere annis Lues pestifera grassatur illa tamen semper immunis ab hac manere soleat idque viri providae aetatis se observasse et a Majoribus suis accepisse mihi sancte confirmarunt to which I shall add further that the Learned Michael Magerus pronounces Mercury an Antidote against several Diseases and particularly the Plague PROPOSITION III. It is likely Proposition 3. that divers Epidemical Diseases are in great Part produc'd by Subterraneal Effluvia THo' several Epidemical Distempers are caused by manifest alterations in sensible Qualities of the Air yet to shew that some of them principally and others partly depend on the Effects of Subterraneal Effluvia I shall offer the following Considerations And First the Structure and disposition of the Parts of our Globe which are not much below the Surface of it and much more the deeper Subterraneal Regions are so plentifully stocked with Mineral substances so that it is not improbable but that Subterraneal Effluvia ascending thence into the Air may cause excessive Heat or Cold or some other manifest Qualities and consequently in part occasion most Epidemical Diseases For from what I have elsewhere shewn it not only appears that these Effluvia by acting on one another may excite sudden heats but also that Minerals of different Degrees of Maturity acting on one another may produce an Intense Cold. Besides the changes of the Air on which Epidemical Diseases depend are so considerable and instantaneous that they can scarce be attributed to the Influence of the Sun or Moon which are too regular and constant in their Influence to cause such Anomalous effects as we cannot but take Notice of in a few years time but are rather caused by an irruption of Subterraneal Steams which are frequently both impetuous and irregular And tho' some attribute them to the Influence of the
Stars yet the vanity of Judiciary Astrology having been so plainly detected by several Learned Men I shall here only observe that it is much more unlikely that particular Towns should alone be Influenced by such than by Effluviums from Bodies near the Surface of the Earth where those Places stand and that which renders it much more probable is that I have frequently known Diseases very Fatal to happen suddenly in some places where the first Contagion hath been accompanied with a very troublesome Fog That sudden and violent Heats may be produc'd by a Mixture of Subterraneal Bodies not only appears from Oil of Vitrol pour'd upon Iron Spirit of Nitre upon Butter of Antimony Filings of Copper Tin or crude Antimony But from Oil of Vitriol poured upon Powdered Marchasites which was accompanied with very strong Scented Fumes To which I shall add that even Sulphur hath to my knowledge had considerable effects on Marchasites And I have been told by a German Chymist that in Germany Marchasites which were found there would grow hot if long immers'd in pure Water And if we consider upon how many Accidents the Course of Subterraneal Waters may be turned it will be easily evident upon that Account considerable Degrees of Heat may succeed for if a convenient quantity of Filings of Steel be mixed with Powder of Sulphur and that Mixture be moistened with Water it presently grows very hot and emits Fumes copiously like Slak'd-Lime And I have been inform'd by several who frequent Mines that Damps which are made up of Subterraneal Effluviums are not only very irregular in Reference to their Distance but also their Duration and have very ill effects on those that come within the reach of them and if such pernicious Fumes are to be discover'd so near the Surface of the Earth well may they affect those that Inhabit on the Soil near which such Effluvia rise I say near which because tho' they do not immediately rise in the very Towns they infect and are carried thither by the Motion of the Air yet in a large Tract of Land they may be so dispersed as to have no considerable Effects But it is not requisite always that those Effluvia which cause Distempers should be noxious at their first Rise from the Earth since Mineral Fumes may acquire new Qualities by associating with particular Particles in the Air and may by that means be disposed to act upon particular Parts of the Body and to cause a determinate Disease So tho' neither Spirit of Nitre nor Sal Armoniack alone can Dissolve Gold yet Aq. Regia which is a Composition of both will but hath no such effect on Silver Diamond 's or Rubies As for the Reason why Epidemick Distempers affect some and let others go free it may not only be accounted for by the peculiar Dispositions of those Bodies but also by considering that the Effluvia which rise from the Earth may be so imperfectly mixed with the Air as to fall upon one Body and not another so I have observed several Leaves on a Tree blasted with a Wind which blew at that Corner of the Ground yet others on the same piece of Ground were untouch'd nay the very Leaves of that were not all blasted on that side which the Wind blew so that I suspected some Arsenical Vapours being mixed with the Air cast upon them were like Hail shot from a Gun and scattered in it's Flight And on a Cause not much unlike this may depend the Effects of some Winds which cause Blasts on the Faces of some People yet let others go free as I remember I was Riding once in the Wind which tho' it disaffected not me yet my Man who Rid after me scaped it not In favour of our Hypothesis already laid down I shall add that the short duration of some Distempers as well as their Progressive Motion from one Town to another are Arguments either that these Vapours rise all at once and are dispersed or the Subterraneal Commotion that causes them passes on from one Part of the Earth subjacent to another Nor is it less Consonant to our Hypothesis that the short duration of some Distempers may depend on a successive rise of Effluvia since when those of one kind cease to be emitted and another kind succeeds the latter may check the former by precipitating them or uniting into Quid Tertium less prejudicial to all Animal Bodies So by an ascociation of new Particles with those Pestilential Effluvia which cause an Annual Plague in Grand Cairo it suddenly stops and those already infected dye not if the Air be sufficiently impregnated before as a late Writer of Voyages into Aegypt testifies in these Words The Drops or Dew purifies the Air for as soon as it falls the Plague ceases to be Mortal none dyes of it The Air is wholesome all Distempers cease and if any person grows sick he never dyes c. I have been told that about the Tin Mines in Devonshire not only the Grass and Fern but the Trees will be suddenly blasted by the powerful Effluvia which suddenly rise over a considerable compass of Ground Having said thus much of Epidemical Distempers it perhaps may be Expected that I should say something of the Plague and it's Origin which I must own my self at a loss in for tho' I think it rather seemingly Pious than really so to ascribe such things to a Supernatural Power which may be accounted for by Natural ones yet I deny not but that some may arise from a Supernatural Origin But what ever may be the first Origin of Plagues I am inclined to think that the Propagation of them depends on a Malignant Disposition in the Air arising from some Subterraneal Effluvia for these Reasons First because the Malevolent Aspects of the Planets seem too Remote and Indeterminate to act on a particular place Besides according to the vulgar Hypotheses the Plague ought to rage most where it very seldom happens For Leo Africanus informs us that in Numidia tho' raging hot it happens but once in an hundred Years and Purchas in his Pilgrimage Lib. 6. Cap. 13. tells us it is not known at all in the Land of Negro and seldom in Japan or New-England and in the East-Indies China Tunquin and Cochinchinâ— it is never heard of Whereas the Country of China contains more Inhabitants than all the Nations of Europe and were the Plague a Punishment inflicted for the sins of Men certainly in Countries so large and savage they might expect it from Divine Justice as often as we But perhaps it may be said that these Histories as much Press our Hypothesis as those others alledged by Physitians But if we consider that I confess it difficult to determine the Original cause the other part of my Hypothesis is not at all shaken since it could not be denyed but that noxious Effluvia would be able to propagate the Plague there were there an Original cause to set those secondary causes on work
after it was sufficiently impregnated with the Vitriol remaining in the Calx was filtred and gently abstracted and yeilded several Grains of a Salt of Vitriol not much different from that which had been calcined Another Portion of Water was left in the Air six Weeks upon the calcined Vitriol in a wide mouth'd Glass and then being abstracted as the former it yeilded a Salt much like Salt-Petre and different from the former And Colcothar which had lain several Months in the Air free from Rain being turn'd into a Lixivium yeilded a Salt much whiter than Vitriol and of a different Figure From whence it appears that the Air hath considerable Force in varying Salts obtainable from calcin'd Vitriol EXPERIMENT II. DUlcifi'd Colcothar of Venereal Vitriol being expos'd to the Air in January and February increas'd in Weight 4 ¼ Grains EXPERIMENT III. THE 12th of March Eight Ounces of Outlandish Vitriol calcin'd to a Redness being put into a broad and flat Metalline Vessel and into another Vessel smaller than the other we put 2 Ounces of Colcothar so that the Superficies of the latter was larger in respect of it's Quantity than the Superficies of the other June 25. We weigh'd these Powders and found that the 8 Ounces had gain'd a Drachm and 16 Grains and the 2 Ounces had gain'd as much within a Grain Then the Powders being put into the same Vessels August the 4th the smaller Quantity weigh'd 26 Grains more than it did in June Whence it appears that different Circumstances cause notable Disparities in the Increase of Weight EXPERIMENT IV. TWO Ounces of small Lumps of Marchasites which were partly shining and partly darkish and seem'd well dispos'd to yeild Vitriol were kept in a pure Air and gain'd 12 Grains in Weight in seven Weeks EXPERIMENT V. SPIRIT of Salt being put upon Filings of Copper and kept in a moderate Heat when it had acquir'd a thick and muddy Colour we decanted it into a clean Glass with a wide Mouth and left it a competent time expos'd to the Air till it had acquir'd a fair Green yet nothing was precipitated to the Bottom to make it clear EXPERIMENT VI. I Once Observ'd that the Fumes of a sharp Liquor acted more powerfully on a certain Metal held in the Air than the Menstruum from whence those Fumes rose would do it self And it is observ'd in some Mines in Hungary that the Fumes render those Ladders soonest unserviceable which were nearest the Top of the Grove where there is a more free access of Air. EXPERIMENT VII A Soft Chymical Substance which would smoak in the open Air being conveigh'd into our Pneumatick Engin in a Viol when the Air was exhausted ceased to smoak and by continuing there some time would not smoak again when it was re-expos'd to the Air till the fresh Air had blown upon it some time This Preparation being kept in the Vessel it was prepar'd in six Weeks would cease to smoak when the Vessel was but cover'd with a piece of Paper and another remarkable thing was that when it was contain'd some time in a Receiver close Luted it would soon so glut the Air with it's Steams as not to be able to smoak longer CHAP. XXII Of the Celestial and Aerial Magnets IT would be of great Use in discovering the Nature of the Air and it's Correspondency with Subterraneal and Celestial Regions could we Of Celestial Magnets ctc. by Experiment make any progress in preparing such artificial Magnets as would imbibe the Exotick Parts of the Air. Nor will it be lost Labour to expose several Mineral and other Substances to the Air and to enquire what it is that gives them the additional Weight they receive by it and with what Qualities that Substance is endew'd for if such Experiments could be try'd with good Magnets at several times and in several places we might by them learn what Effluviums the Air then and in those places abounded with nor might it be of small Importance in discovering a correspondency betwixt the Terrestrial and some Etherial Globes of the World Amongst other things which make me hope that Equiries of this Nature may not be altogether unsuccessful I shall only intimate that Notable Operation the Air hath upon Vitriol diversified by circumstances after Fire could work no further on it For Zwelser speaking of a Chymical Preparation of Vitrol Viz. Colcothar says that the Salt it yeilds when long kept is imbibed into it from the Air. For says he when it hath been exposed to the Air Sal praebet quandoque candidum quandoque purpureum aspectu pulcherrimum quod aliquando in Copia acquisivi penes me asservo quandoque etiam Nitrosum And an ingenious Person told me that he likewise had obtained several sorts of Salts from Colcothar and at the last when it had been kept a long time a pretty quantity of true running Mercury Besides what hath been already said concerning Colcothar I shall propose two or three Inquiries to any Virtuoso that would assist in these Tryals And first it will be convenient to note the Nature of the Soil the Temperature of the Air the Month of the Year the Winds the weight of the Atmosphere and if any the Spots of the Sun the Moon 's Age and her place in the Zodiack as well as the principal Aspects of the Stars and Planets since we cannot deny tho' not positively assert that these Bodies are concern'd in the production of those Salts which Colcothar yields This nevertheless we know that tho' those Bodies which move about us should have no considerable effect on what is done in our Atmosphere yet it at different times and Places abounds with various subterraneal Steams and several Phaenomena appear in it which are irregular and tho' some are regular enough yet are they as to their Causes unknown as those Thermae Piperinae in Germany which begin and cease to flow at certain times And Johannes de Laet tells us that in the Mexican Province Xilolepec there is a Fountain which successively flows and ceases to flow for four Years together and in the time of it's flowing it 's observ'd that it flows much more plentifully in dry than Rainy Weather Secondly I would recommend the following Observations viz. What kind of Vitriol the Colcothar is made of Martial Hungarian or Roman Vitriol what degree of Calcination is made use of and how far the Calcin'd Matter is freed from it's Salt by Water For I have observ'd a Saltless Colcother expos'd to the Air several Months without the least increase of Weight which probably might depend on some Peculiarity of the Air where the Experiment was try'd since in other Places the success hath been the contrary But Thirdly Besides several sorts of Vitriols it may not be amiss to try these Experiments with several Preparations of them for I once made a Solution of Copper with Sublimate and Spirit of Salt which expos'd to the Air was green tho' before it was not of that
except their peculiar Texture would render them more capable of being worked on by the Rays of Light than other Bodies otherwise softer than they But whatever is the Cause why the Beams of Light are very sparingly reflected from Opacous Bodies that that is the Reason of Blackness will be rendred probable if we take notice that if a black Substance be held partly in the Sun-shine and partly out that Part will appear Blackest which is least Shone upon and if the rough Surface of a black Marble be well Polish'd and brought to the Form of a Concave Speculum it will represent the Image of the Sun without dazling the Eyes and will not in a long time set Wood on Fire tho' a less Speculum of Matter of a more reflecting Nature would cause it to Flame in a Trice And to this I shall add that having set a white and a black Marble Mortar in the Sun the Black one collected the Rays of the Sun so as to form a Focus much more conspicuous and hot than the other by which they were more dispers'd and reflected a glaring Light And the Beams of a Candle being cast upon two Pieces of Marble through a round Hole half an Inch Diameter the Circle of Light on the Black one tho much less Luminous was better Defin'd And for a further Confirmation of our Hypothesis I shall add that when the Rays of Light fall on the Holes in linnen Cloth or the Mouth of a Well those Parts are much Darker the Beams of Light being not reflected back upon the Eye And even black Velvet being stroak'd up and down seem'd much Blacker one way than the other the silken Piles when inclin'd reflecting a greater Number of Rays to the Eye than the Tops of them were able to do which make but a small Part of the Superficies And I have observ'd that a Cart-load of Carrots appear'd much more Dark when the Ends of them were towards me than when a greater Number of Rays were reflected to the Eye by the sides of them And in a dark Room it is observ'd that if the Light falls upon a black Cloth the reflection from it is not near so sensible as if a White one be employ'd And I have observ'd that a Piece of Tile being partly colour'd Black and partly White the Red was much hotter than the White tho' not so hot as the Black Part And it hath been observ'd in Italy that black Marbles expos'd to the Sun were much hotter than White ones tho' it is observ'd that the black Marble is much more solid than White And it is further observ'd that Rooms hung with Black are much warmer than others so that a Lady who was of a Tender Constitution was us'd to complain that she was apt to take Cold after she had visited Persons whose Rooms where hung with Black And I am told that in hot Countries Eggs colour'd Black and expos'd to the Sun would be roasted by it And I have observ'd them in England to acquire a considerable Degree of Heat by being expos'd to the Sun in the Summer-time Blacken'd over And not only the blind Dutch-man but as Bartholinus says a blind Earl of Mansfield could distinguish White from Black by the Roughness of the latter And for these Reasons I am the rather inclin'd to believe the Doctrine propos'd leaving it to be determin'd by experience whether the Beams of Light be reflected from opacous Bodies and so differently modified before they reach the Eye or whether from white Bodies they are not mov'd more briskly CHAP. VI. Experiments in Consort concerning Whitness ond Blackness EXPERIMENT I. Several Experiments concerning Whitness Blackness TO shew that the Colours of two diaphanous Liquors may be destroy'd by a Change of Texture Satiate warm Water with Sublimate and having filtered it through Cap-paper to render it clear and limpid if a few drops of Spirit of Urine be drop'd into two Spoonsful of it the mixture will immediately become White yet by an addition of Aqua fortis it will again become Transparent and will become White again with Spirit of Urine and the like hath succeeded in other Experiments as well as of these EXPERIMENT II. IF a Solution of Vitriol be shaken with an Infusion of Galls diluted with Water it will turn it Black but by an addition of a few drops of Oyl of Vitriol it will presently lay down it's dark Colour and become Transparent but upon an addition of Salt of Tartar dissolv'd it will again acquire a Blackness and tho' this Ink be pale yet when Dry it is very Black The like succeeded with common Ink but not so easily the Operation of the Salts being hindred by the Gum. And here I shall take Notice that tho it be generally allow'd that alkalizate Salts will not precipitate Bodies except first dissolv'd in some Acid Menstruum Yet I have try'd that a Lixivium of Pot-ashes being pour'd upon Decoctions of Vegetables would precipitate a curdled Matter which would be left behind in the Filtre And in making the first Ink several Particles of black Matter would be seperated by a Filtre and when the Ink was made Clear again by the Oyl of Vitriol the Salt of Tarter seem'd to precipitate and to unite those Particles of Matter which were dissolv'd by the corrosive Oyl And to shew that Galls are not so requisite to the making of Ink as they are generally suppos'd I added a few Drops of a Solution of Vitriol to a Decoction of Rose Leaves upon which it turn'd black and changed that Colour for a deep Red when Aqua Fortis was added to it which was reduc'd to a Black again by Spirit of Urine And tho' upon a Mixture of Liquors mention'd in the Second Chapter of this History of Colours a black Colour immediately emerges yet both the Infusion of Orpiment and a Solution of Minium were before they were mix'd limpid and Colourses EXPERIMENT III. THE Caput Mortuum of white Harts-horn distill'd in a Retort will be black which that it depends on the change of it's Texture only is evident since the same happens if it be distill'd in Glass Vessels Yet by Calcination in open Vessels it will regain it's pristine Whiteness Ivory burnt yields a curious black and so does the burnt Caput Mortuum of Tartar but if it be throughly calcin'd it will be white So white Woods as Hazel will yield a black Charcoal and whitish Ashes and even Animal Substances grow black by being burnt and white when perfectly calcin'd EXPERIMENT IV. THO' it be held as a Maxim by some Philosophers and most Chymists viz. Adusta nigra sed perusta alba yet I have try'd that Alabaster burnt yields a Yellow and Lead calcin'd forms a red Minium which urg'd further by the fire turns to a Glass darker than Minium So likewise white Calx of Antimony yields a Glass of a red Colour deeper than the Calx of burnt Antimony And tho' common Glass of Antimony adulterated
Snow TO discover what Liquors Ice would be soonest dissolved in we contrived to freeze Water in a long Cylinder which being loosen'd by applying a warm Hand we divided some into Pieces ¼ of an Inch long and others into Inches and our Experiments being made with these Cylindrical Pieces of Ice In the first Tryal 1. In Oyl of Vitriol a Cylindrical Piece of Ice of an Inch in length lasted 5 Minutes 2. In Spirit of Wine 12 Minutes 3. In Aqua fortis 12 ½ 4. In Water 12 Minutes 5. In Oyl of Turpentine about 44 Minutes 6. In Air 64 Minutes The second Tryal 1. In Oyl of Vitriol an Inch of Cylindrical Ice lasted undissolv'd 3 Minutes 2. In Spirit of Wine 13 Minutes 3. In Water 26 Minutes 4. In Oyl of Turpentine 47 Minutes 5. In Sallet-Oyl 52 Minutes 6. In Air 152 Minutes 2. We likewise thought it worth while to try what difference there would be in the Duration of Pieces of Ice of the same Bulk and Figure but of different Liquors as also whether Attrition would contribute to the Dissolution of Ice which Iobserv'd it did Whence it appears That as the Agents contiguous to Ice are different they dissolve it's Texture sooner or later and if Snow or Ice be kept in a Place where neither the Sun nor the Air hath much Influence upon it it will continue a long time An Appendix to the XVI Title 1. In confirmation of what was said in the Close of this Title I shall add the following Account of the Italian Conservatories sent me by my ingenious Friend Mr. J. Evelyn The Snow-Pits in Italy c. are sunk in the most solitary and cooled Places commonly at the Foot of some Mountain or elevated Ground which may best protect them from the Meridional or Occidental Sun 25 Foot wide at the Orifice and about 50 deep is esteemed a competent Proportion And though this be excavated in a Conical Form yet it is made flat at the Bottom or Point The Sides of the Pit are so joyced that Boards may be nailed upon them very closely jointed About a Yard from the Bottom is fixed a strong Frame or Tresle upon which lyes a wooden Grate the Top or Cover is double thatch'd with Reed or Straw upon a copped Frame or Roof in one of the sides whereof is a narrow Door-case hipped on like the Top of the Dormer and thatched To Conserve Snow They lay clean Straw upon the Grate or Wattle so as to keep the Snow from running through whilst they beat it to a hard Cake of an icy Consistence which is near one Foot thick upon this they make a layer of Straw and then Snow and Straw again and continue S.S.S. 'till the Pit is full and then laying Straw or Reeds upon all they keep the Door locked This Grate is so contrived that the Snow melting by any Accident in laying or extraordinary Season of Weather it may drain away from the Mass and sink without stagnating upon it which would accelerate the Dissolution and therefore the Bottom is but very slightly steened c. 2. And it hath been observ'd by the Dutch-Men in their Voyage to Nova Zembla That in June the Sun was not powerful enough to melt Snow And even in warmer Climates where the Reflection of the Sun-beams is not so considerable Snow continues unthawed all Summer as upon the Top of the Alps and other high Mountains And Capt. James observes that in August Ice that was kept in the Sun-beams continued unmelted 8 Days or more and the same Author observes that the very Ground was frozen in June TITLE XVII Considerations and Experiments concerning the Primum frigidum Of the Primum Frigidum 1. THO several Sects of Philosophers have disputed about a Primum Frigidum some contending for Earth others Water others Air and another Sect for Nitre yet I am apt to believe That there is no such thing as a Primum Frigidum or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which that Quality principally resides and from whence all other Bodies derive theirs no more than that there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Principle subject of Residence for any other Quality For if an intense Degree of Motion amongst the minute Parts of a Body be sufficient to give it the Quality of Heat it may be enough to render a Body cold that that Motion is diminished upon a removal of its Cause so that it may be doubted whether Cold be a positive or a privative Quality The Earth not the Primum Frigidum 2. Indeed Plutarch supposes the Earth to be the Summum Frigidum But we daily see That it is froze by the contiguous Air communicating Cold to it and by the Interposition of another Body may easily be preserved from that So the Salt-Works upon the Marshes of the Island Xaintonge in France are preserved from the Dammage the Frost would do them by letting in Water by Sluces to overflow them Besides were the Earth the Summum Frigidum it might justly be wonder'd why it congeals not the Water contiguous to it sooner than Hail or Snow in the Air Since Terrene Parts of Matter cannot be brought thither without some Cause able to elevate them and perhaps to alter the Qualities of them Not to mention those Vulcano's which argue the Earth to abound with Subterraneal Fires and that in several Places where there are no such Vulcano's as in deep Mines those that work there find it very hot and troublesome And in deep Wells it is observ'd that the Water is so far from being froze that it comes up reaking hot which cannot be supposed to proceed from the Beams of the Sun since it hath been observ'd by Monsieur de Claves Livre 11. Chap. 8. That in the Southern Countries the Heat of the Sun penetrates not above six or seven Foot deep And the subterraneal Parts are so far from being extremely Cold That it is observ'd by Miners That the lower they dig the more Vapours exhalations and Heat they find And Jo. Baptista Morinus witnesses That in Mines in Hungary four hundred fathom deep after the descent of 80 fathom it is always hot but whether these may proceed from Subterraneal Fires or a Mixture of other Bodies I shall not determine since I have seen Bodies actually Cold mix'd together produce Heat And I am told That in some Parts of England they dig up a Mineral which upon a Addition of Water only becomes Hot and for a like reason perhaps those Heats in the Hungarian Mines may be caused For that Mineral Steams ascend is evident since they have been observ'd in a Perpendicular Groave not only to stink◠but by their Corrosive Qualities to corrode the wooden Ladders And Morinus himself tells us That descending into the Golden Mines at Cremnitz the Heat increased extremely as he descended which they attributed to a Mine of Smaragdine Vitriol which lay under it of which kind of Vitriol there is some even in the Cold
not that that acts positively upon them but imbibes the moisture And I have seen a Cold Liquor acquire a hardness its moisture being imbibed by a piece of Bread immersed in it as also Spirit of Wine dephlegmed by a Mixture of Salt of Tartar without so much as Heat the Aqueous Parts finding a more ready and easie passage into the Pores of the Alkaly than through the Spiritous Liquor And I know a saline Body which when incorporated with Water the Water will leave this a consistent mass and be imbibed by the Spirit of Wine And for a further illustration of the Cartesian Explication I shall add that Camphire by floating upon Aqua fortis will become a fluid Oyl and continue in that form till the subtle Spirit which by pervading it kept it fluid flyes away and evaporates for being put into Water the Spirit leaving the Camphire and being imbibed into the Pores of the Water it becomes a consistent mass again which that it depended not on the Coldness of the Water was evident since the same would happen on warm Water But tho' Cold should depend primarily on the influence of frigorifick Atoms yet since those by acting on the Body cooled may produce their effect by expelling calorifick Atoms the privation of those calorifick Atoms is the cause of freezing so tho' a Bullet kills a Man yet the issue is a privation of life and when a Room is darkned by extinguishing the light the darkness depends on the privation of light A sixth The last Argument of Gassendus is this Tametsi multa videantur ex sola caloris absentia frigescere nibil ominus nisi frigus extrinsicus inducatur non tam profectô frigescere quam decalescere sunt Censenda Esto enim Lapis Lignum aut aliquid aliud quod nec calidum nec frigidum sit id ubi fuerit ad motum Igni calefiet sane at cum deinceps calor excedet neque frigidum ullum circumstabit non erit cur dicas ipsum frigefieri potius quam minus calidum fieri rediere in suum statum But to this it may be answered that if we speak of Coldness with respect to sense I see not why any Body that grows hot by the action of the fire may not be said to grow Cold rather than Decalescere since Heat being only too brisk an agitation for our Sensory when upon a removal of that Cause and a declining of that motion it became less agitated than the Humours about our Sensory we may not then say it grows Colder and Colder till it become Ice But to conclude this Chapter I shall add that tho' I have offered these Arguments against Gassendus yet I shall wave determining the Controversie till further satisfied in some Speculations and in the Phaenomena of some Particular Experiments besides I would first know from those that would have Cold to be a positive Quality whether and on what account those little fragments of matter are Cold Whether their frigorifick Atoms have weight As also what is their Texture and whether that Quality may be destroy'd and whether they be primitive Bodies or not And why Coldness ensues the Mixture of two warm Bodies And in order to the solving of some of which it would be requisite to enquire how Water comes by its expansive force upon congelation And since Cold is a Privation of motion why upon the Mixture of certain Bodies Cold ensues tho' their Parts be thereby put into motion CHAP. XI Two Problems about Cold. An attempt to measure the great expansive force of freezing Water Of the Production of Cold by the conflict of Bodies appearing to make an Ebullition The first Problem THE first Problem I shall propose is how upon the Mixture of two or three Bodies there should ensue a great and tumultuary agitation of small Parts and yet even during this conflict not any sensible Heat but a considerable degree of Cold be produced Concerning which I shall only propose the question whether local motion be not Generical and whether the figure and size of Parts variously moved may not be able to cause a sensation of Heat and when variously modify'd a sense of Cold or whether the sense of Cold depends not on some frigorifick Atoms which are let lose in the Ebullition and affect the Sensory which would otherwise perceive a hot sensation by the effects of the motion of those Parts with which cold Aoms are mixed and which they over-power The second Problem The second Problem is Whence the vast force of freezing Water proceeds For since Cold depends on an Imminution of local motion it is not a little strange how it should be able to break resisting Bodies which require local motion to separate their Parts And tho' Gassendus tells us that they proceed from the ingress of frigorifick Atoms yet till Glaciation succeeds notwithstanding Water grows colder gradually it subsides and does not expand And Spirit of Wine and Chymical Oyls the greater degree of Cold they are exposed to contract the more and some Oyls even when coagulated are condensed instead of being expanded And as for what the Cartesians offer for the removal of these difficulties it may well be questioned how their Eel-like Particles being relaxed and their spring weakned they should be able to expand in spite of Opposition So that considering that Water when expanded is full of bubbles I was apt to suspect that the Air contained in them contributed to the effect and that a constipation of the Pores of Water might give them a springiness The great expansive force of Water froze To try the expansive force of freezing Water we convey'd a Bladder full of Water into a Brass Cylinder and fitting a Plugg to it upon that we placed a flat Board to hold Weights on and then the Cylinder being encompassed with a frigorifick Mixture upon the freezing of the Water in one Experiment the Plugg raised 115 pound weight and in another 100 pound Averdupois and in a third 254 pound weight Three saline Bodies each purify'd by the fire being mixed together Of the Production of Cold. produced a cold Effervescense with a hissing noise and a considerable Intumescense And in the mean time the Glass which contained it would grow colder than before and gather a Dew on the outside which would reach as high as the Mixture but on the concave bottom of the Glass there was no Dew that being not sufficiently exposed to the Air so that the Mixture could not be supposed to sweat through the Pores of the Glass since it tasted not in the least of saline Ingredients But least our Senses should misinform us of the degrees of Cold in this Mixture we at another time immersed a Weather-Glass in which the Liquor subsided above four Inches lower than in common Water Tho' the Acid Liquor it self being kept all Night in a Room with Water was of the same temper with it which appeared by a Weather-Glass immersed
in both successively And the Salt it self being cast into Water scarce made it sensibly colder nor did the Glass wherein this Salt was kept disclose any remarkable degree of Coldness And even the frigorifick Mixture it self when the Ebullition was over appear'd not colder than common Water in a Night's time so that the Coldness depended purely upon the Texture of the fermenting Liquor And to this I shall add that tho' I made use of a Spirit that was drawn off at the same time with this Salt and which in the Judgment of my senses appeared to be of the same kind yet instead of a cold Ebullition it produced a Luke-warm Heat And to these I shall further subjoyn that tho' the Liquor above mention'd would produce a cold Ferment with the dry Salt yet with the Spirit it grew warm tho' some of the same frigorifick Spirit kept warm by the fire till the Liquor in the Weather-Glass rose yet upon the injecting of some of the dry'd Salt it would be manifestly depressed Nay tho the Spirit and Salt were both warm yet upon their Mixture they would produce a manifest Coldness And to this Experiment I shall add that Salt of Tartar mix'd with Spirit of Vinegar produced upon their Ebullition a degree of Coldness greater than that of Water and when a Weather-Glass was removed out of Water into it an hour after the ferment the Spirit was depressed about half an Inch tho' Salt of Pot-ashes mix'd with Spirit of Vinegar produced Heat as appeared by the same Weather-Glass successively immersed in either CHAP. XII Of the Mechanical Origin or Production of Heat Of the mechanical Production of Heat HEAT being a quality whose nature seems to consist in a mechanical Motion of the Parts of the Body said to be hot it may be requisite to note that the three following Conditions are necessary in modifying that Motion First That the Motion be more rapid than in Bodies barely fluid so Water becomes hot by an increase of the motion of its Parts which argue their vehement motion by dissolving Butter and rising in the form of Vapours Which effects are more conspicuous as the degree of Motion is greater or less Another Instance to shew that the Parts of hot Water are in a more violent agitation than those of cold is in Water cast upon a hot Iron for they presently acquire such an additional Motion from that hot Body that it hisses and boils yielding Steams copiously But a stronger instance of the vehement Agitation of the parts of hot Bodies is in actual Flame since they move so impetuously as to dissolve and shatter whatever lies in their way A second Condition requisite to render a Body hot is that the motion of its Parts be variously determined which variety of Determination is apparent in Fire which produces the same effects on the same Bodies whatsoever is their Scituation in respect of that Fire so a red Coal melts Wax whether held above below or on one side of it and that a variously determin'd Motion is requisite appears if we observe that the rapid motion of Water in a River which is only one way contributes not to the increase of its heat A third requisite is that the Parts in such a Motion should be very minute so as to be insensible since it is manifest that tho' Sand be put into a violent motion it acquires not a heat by it This account of heat being considered it will appear that a Body may become hot as many ways as it is capable of having its parts put into such a Motion To illustrate which Observation I shall subjoin some instances of the Production of Heat several ways as first by an effusion of Oyl of Vitriol upon Salt of Tartar Aq. fortis upon Silver But to pass over these common Instances I shall proceed to some not so frequently known having first taken notice of the Heat which succeeds an effusion of cold Water upon Quick-lime which Phaenomenon tho' it be commonly held to be an effect of an Antiperistasis upon the enclosure of the Lime in cold Water yet that the effect is produced by another cause appears since the like succeeds if hot Water be made use of instead of Cold and further because tho' Oyl of Turpentine be poured on it cold no such Effect follows EXPERIMENT I. Tho' Helmont ascribes the Incalescence of Quick-lime upon an Affusion of Water to a conflict of an Alkalizate and an acid Salt set at liberty by being dissolv'd in the Water yet since no such acid appears to be latent in Quick-lime the account is unsatisfactory For I might as well suppose an Acid latent in other Alkalies in as much as Salt of Tartar mixed with Water either in the Palm of ones Hand or in a Vial affords a sensible Heat EXPERIMENT II III IV. Others think that the cause of the Heat of Quick-lime proceeds from some fiery Empyrumatical Atoms lodged in the substance of the Stone when calcin'd and set at liberty in the form of Effluvia but this Hypothesis is not without some difficulties since no such Heat succeeds an affusion of Water upon Minium or Crocus Martis per se tho' their increase of weight argues that they are stuffed with fiery and metalline Particles To which I shall add that I knew two Liquors which being several times separated and reconjoined without addition did at each Congress acquire a sensible heat so Salt of Tartar several times freed from Water The effects of a mixture of Salt of Tartar and Water will produce Heat when mixed again with that Water which shews that the violence of the Fire is not requisite to impress upon all calcin'd Bodies that will heat with Water what passes for an Empyreum And this Phaenomenon I am apt to believe proceeds from a disposition of the Texture of the Salt being stocked with store of igneous Parts which upon an ingress of Water pressed into the Pores of the Body by the weight of the Atmosphere are apt to break the Texture of that Body and to put them in motion so as to produce a sensible Heat And that the Ferment depends upon the peculiar Texture of the Salt I am perswaded and a constipation of the Pores of it since Sal-Armon dissolv'd in Water and boiled to a dry Salt was not so much impregnated with fiery Parts as to cause a Heat upon its mixture with Water again but a considerable degree of Cold and tho' one would expect a greater cognation betwixt the Particles of fire adhering to Quick-lime and Spirit of Wine wholly inflammable yet the latter poured upon the former did not produce any sensible incalescence or dissolution of it and when this Spirit was soak'd into it I poured Water upon it without perceiving the least Heat or the Lime broken till within a few hours after so that the Spirit being sucked into the most capacious Pores of the Lime and associating with the Water rendred it more unfit to
that Effect to which might be added what is observed about the ceasing of the Plague at Grand Cayro in Egypt but enough of that having been already delivered in another Place I shall add here that I have made a stain upon a Body by the invisible steams and Effluvia of another cold Body I altered the Colour of that Stain by the invisible and cold steams of a Third And to countenance my Conjecture of the Cause of Meteors besides what hath been said of subterraneal Effluvia in another Place I shall add the following Citation from Agricola who having mention'd out of Ancient Historians the raining of White and Red Liquors subjoins Vt autem majorem fidem habeamus Analium monumentis facit res res illa decantata quae Patrium memoria in Suaevia accidit Aer enim ille stillavit guttas quae lineas vestes crucibus rubris quasi sanguineis imbuebant And it will not be thought strange that subterraneal Salts Bitumens and Sulphurs may be raised into the Air if so fixed a Body as common Earth may which the newly cited Author testifies And that the odoriferous Particles of Plants reserve their determinate Nature much longer than we are wont to imagine may appear since one drop of Oyl of Cinnamon gave not only a taste to 14000 times its Bulk of Water but withal diffused a great number of odoriferous Particles through the ambient Air. The Last way we shall mention to evince the determinate Nature of Effluviums is from their Effects on other Bodies As the stupefying Effluvia of the Fish Amoreatim mentioned by Piso The effects of Opium and Hypnoticks upon a Boy who whilst he was distilling them cast him into a sleep And the Root and Juice of Mandragora is said to cast those that take it into a deep Sopor like a Lethargy and Levinus Lemnius tells us that the Apples of the same Plant being laid in his Study made him so sleepy that he could scarce recover himself Aurelaeus tells us that the Poison of a Mad Dog hath been convey'd to one in the form of Effluvia and Calius Aurelianus acquaints us That some have become mad by being wounded only by the Claws of a mad Dog and that one fell into an Hydrophobia solo odore ex rabido cane attracto And Matthiolus tells us of one who was poisoned only by putting his Hand into the Mouth of the mad Dog without being bit and to this I shall add that Sennertus relates that a Painter having opened a Box in which Realgar had been contained the Fumes being snussed up his Nostrils presently caused a giddiness in his Head and fainting Fits To these Instances I shall add That several have been purged by the smell of Black Hellebore and as Sennertus witnesses by the Odor of Coloquintida and there are several other Things which purge when only externally applyed And it is attested by approved Writers that the Shadow of a Wallnut-Tree with the Leaves on it is very hurtful to the Head And it is not only observed That Birds will not so much as light upon those Poysonous Trees in the West Indies called the Manchinello-Tree and it is looked upon as safe for Men to eat of Fruit found in a strange Country if it appears that the Birds have been pecking at them before And Nicolaus Florentinus tells us of one who drawing into his Nostrils the Smoak of a burnt Spider he was much disordered and fell into a fainting Fit and was much disordered about the Heart his Pulse being likewise weak tho' after he was cur'd by a mixture of Treacle Diamosc and the Powder of Zedoary And I saw a Berry called Maccu-buy in Ireland which being pounded in a Mortar caused the Head and Face of one that stood hard by to swell enormously And To what hath been delivered of the determinate Nature of Effluviums I shall add that Amber Musk Civet c. will communicate a Perfume to Gloves tho at a distance off them and contagious Distempers as the Plague Small-Pox or Measles may not only be communicated by immediate Contact but by steams which issue from the Body of the sick Person But to conclude this Chapter I shall add the following Experiment Viz. Having shut up an Ounce of a Volatile Tincture of Sulphur in a Vial capable of holding at least twice as much and having placed a Paper at some distance and unstopped the Vial the spreading Fumes presently caused what was writ with invisible Ink to become legible And so would several Letters writ with a Solution of Sublimate in Water some of them being more and others less Black according to their distances from the smoaking Liquor and other Circumstances And when the Paper thus writ upon was held over the Orifice of the Vial tho' the Letters were on the upper side yet in a quarter of an Hour they became legible and as in some cases this smoaking Liquor with a solution of Sublimate will produce a Precipitate of a Silver Colour so in some of the Colourless Ink we found the like Colour And I have performed the like with a couple of Liquors wherein was neither Sulphur nor Sal-Armoniac nor Sublimate And as a farther Proof of the great penetrancy of Effluviums I shall add that having a Paper which was writ on with this invisible Ink betwixt six folds of Paper these Fumes penetrated it in Ten Minutes and turned the Ink Black and another piece of the same Inked Paper being placed betwixt the Leaves of a Book the steams penetrated Twelve in three Minutes and turned the Ink blackish CHAP. VII Of the Porousness of solid Bodies Of the Porousness of Solids THAT even solid Bodies are not destitute of Pores I am inclined to believe because most solid Bodies as Gems c. have once been in fluid Forms and since Fluids are generally made up of Particles of a determinate size and shape they must needs leave some Pores betwixt them Another Reason why I am inclined to think most Bodies porous is their specific gravity which would not vary were the Parts of them equally compressed and closed together but since Copper is heavier than Iron and Gold as nineteen to one to its proportion of Water and Copper only as nine to one it must follow that the matter of Iron possesses as much space again as Gold and more And tho' hardness is urged by some as an Argument of their Substance being condensed yet I have elsewhere shewn that tho' Diamonds are the hardest Bodies they are far from being the heaviest which is the only sign whether they be condensed or not And since Metals themselves are made up of a Coalition of several Parts it is impossible they should be so Physically adapted as totally implere spatium since were Cubes made of Marble it is impossible they should be so exactly Polished as every where to be contiguous since the Bodies employed to Polish them are observed to make little furrows upon them and consequently leave little
it this Salt ceases to produce most of the forementioned Effects and forms a Body very like Sal Armoniack which change may probably depend on the Motion and Shape of its Parts destroyed since by Evaporating most of the Liquor I have found the Salt not only much less Fugitive and Volatile than that of Urine but the Crystals of a different Figure being like Combs and Feathers And These Considerations together with the Extra-Essential Changes of Bodies may let us see that Substances may work variously upon different Senses as well as other Bodies and those Effects too may depend on Extra-Essential Changes which may be wrought in Motion Shape and Texture c. the Essential Modifications of Bodies nevertheless agreeing So that from what hath been said the Objection I hope will seem less considerable and not so perplexing as some imagine And these Three Difficulties I have the rather considered because they may not only explain but confirm and illustrate what is deliver'd in the Chapter before concerning Forms and Qualities and may also clear and render more Intelligible some things hereafter to be related CHAP. III. Of the Origin of Forms THE Origin of Forms Pyrophylies is one of the most Noble yet most Obstruse Enquiries in Natural Philosophy so that the Wisest of the Peripateticks have either confessed their Inability or given Explanations of them very insatisfactory But not to examine all their Various Opinions on this Point I shall only here briefly consider the Opinion of the Modern Aristotelians having already in our Hypothesis laid down in the foregoing Chapter our Thoughts on this Subject The Doctrin of the Aristotelians considered The Controversie betwixt us and the Schools is this Whether the Forms of Natural Bodies be eduted out of the Power of the Matter and whether they be substantial Entities distinct from Matter That they are not appears from what is contained in the foregoing Chapters and therefore what I shall here insist on is that the Doctrin of the Peripateticks is to me Incomprehensible for tho' the Schoolmen make use of an Obscure Distinction viz. That in producing Forms the Power of Matter is partly Eductive and partly Receptive yet since they deny Forms to exist in Matter it is hard to conceive how they should be educed before existent And since the Receptive Power only enables Matter to receive a Form how can it help to produce it when the Form must be produced before the Receptive Power can lodge it It is manifest that the Body hath a Receptive Power in Relation to the Soul Forms not educed out of the power of Matter disproved which nevertheless they allow to have a Substantial Form yet not educed out of the Power of Matter It 's true were the Form of a Body a more subtile Portion of Matter as Spirit is of Wine the Eductive Power might be considerable and signifie the same as if it were granted that the Form is but a Modification of Matter which would amount to this viz. That by proper Agents Matter may be so disposed as to produce a Body of this or that denomination As the Form of a Sphaere may be conceâ—…â—o exist potentially in a Piece of Brass because that Metal is capable of being put into such a Form But this they disallow because if it were granted Forms would be but Accidents And as for the other way of educing Forms out of Matter as Spirit out of Wine that cannot be granted by them because then Matter and Form would be the same Substantial Principle diversified by Accidents But they tell us strange things of the Efficacy of the Agent which works upon the Matter out of which Forms are to be educed To which it may be briefly answered That the Agent can only act as a Physical Agent and if the Form produced by it's Operation be a Substance not preexistent in that Matter it works upon and which constitutes the Body the Form must either be made of some Parts of that Matter or created de novo if they allow the former then the Form is not a Substance distinct from Matter but if they will not allow it to be made of Matter it must be de novo i. e. out of nothing which being granted Natural Bodies must be produced by Creation and Generation and not by the latter only and it 's strange if they allow that a Physical Agent can effect that which Antient Philosophers thought too great to be ascribed to God himself The Aristototelian Doctrin of Forms contrary to Reason And as for these Reasons what they say of the Origin of Forms is to me Incomprehensible so that what they deliver concerning Substantial Forms is irreconcilable to Reason For though they allow these Forms to be Substances yet they teach that they depend upon Matter both in fieri and in esse i. e. they cannot exist out of the Matter which supports them which is to give them the Name of Substances but the Nature of Accidents Nay these imaginary Forms as much invalidate the Doctrin of Corruption as that of Generation for if a Form be a Substance distinct from Matter it must exist of it self as the Soul of Man does when the Body is dissolved But they assert that in Corruption the Form ceaseth to exist by which means they make it an Accident and likewise contradict what they commonly hold viz. That upon Corruption Bodies are resolved into their first Principles since if what they assert of Forms be true Bodies are but partly dissolved into their first Matter and partly annihilated or restored to the common Stock of Forms which notwithstanding any thing to the contrary must be immortal Arguments alledged by the Schools in defence of their Doctrin answered But to examine some of the most Plausible Arguments brought by the Schools to evince their Doctrin of Forms First they argue thus Omne compositum substantiale requirit materiam formam substantialem ex quibus componatur Omne Corpus Naturale est compositum Substantiale Ergo c. In which Syllogism for Brevity sake I shall deny the Minor because nothing in Nature is composed of Matter and a distinct Substance but Man The Second Argument they bring is that if Substantial Forms were deny'd all Bodies must be Entia per Accidens to which it may be answered that there is no such Necessity since Matter Figure Texture and Motion ordinantur per se intrinsice to make up natural Bodies Another Argument which they alledge is That if there were no Substantial Forms there could be no Substantial Definitions which comes to no more than that if we don't grant some things which are not in Nature we shall want a Foundation for our Definitions And indeed if we must define Natural Bodies by Imaginary Forms which we know not it is better to exchange Substantial for Essential Definitions grounded on the Essential Differences of Natural Bodies themselves Their Physical Arguments considered These Arguments for
so great that in Muscovy and Russia they found the Snow to reflect the Light so much that they could see much farther upon snowy Ground than we here in England where no Snow lies on the Ground so that they could see their way by the bare Reflection of the Snow when the Sun did not shine Tho' I am apt to believe that the Effect might in some measure proceed from the Clearness of the Air cleans'd of those Steams which sometimes darken it since it appears that we are able in a frosty Night by reason of the clearness of the Air to discern more Stars than at other times And that white Bodies reflect the Rays of Light most plentifully and have no native Light of their own appears since Snow enclosed in a dark Room was not at all visible But on the contrary it is observ'd that white Cloths are the most easily discerned in dark Nights And for a further Confirmation that white Bodies reflect the Rays of Light not only most plentifully but from themselves I shall add that if the Rays of Light which enter into a dark Room at a small Hole Light upon a white Wall they Enlighten the Room much further than if they fall upon any other Colour And that white Bodies cast most Rays of Light from themselves appears since white Paper is not near so apt to be set on fire by a Burning-Glass as black the concentred Beams being reflected back much more by the one than the other To which I shall further add that I have perceiv'd a much greater degree of Heat when I have held my Hand in the Sun Beams with a black Glove on than when it was covered with a White one And to shew that white Bodies not only reflect the Rays of Light plentifully but unstain'd I shall add that in a dark Room when the Rays reflected from a coloured Body were thrown upon a white Wall they would represent the Colour of that Body whereas if the Beams Reflected from a yellow Body upon a blew it would make a green And to these I shall further add on this occasion that having cast the Rays of a troubled Water by the help of a Lenticular Glass into an upper Room darkened the concenter'd Reflections of the glittering Waves at a few Paces distance represented a white Body but if we approached near the Place on which those Rays were cast they only seem'd to be Beams reflected from glittering Waves which appear'd like so many shining Scales of Fishes succeeding each other successively and disappearing again But if the seeming Whiteness of a River proceed not from the reflection of the Sun Beams but the brightness of the Sky a Storm may cause the Surface of it to appear Black the Rays of Light being reflected more inward than outward except near the Sea Shore where the Surface of the agitated Water is covered with Froth The Surfaces of White Bodies Specular But to shew that the Surfaces of white Bodies are Specular I shall Subjoyn that drops of Mercury being rais'd by a convenient heat in an Alembick represented so many looking Glasses but caused the sides of the Glass they stuck to to appear White And it 's observ'd that if we look upon the Milky Way or Gallaxy with a Telescope tho' to our Eye it appears White by the help of that we shall discover that that Whitness only depended upon a Collection of the Rays of Light whose confused Beams represented to the Eye a white Body and why for a like Reason the Superficies of a Body which to the Eye reflects the Beams confusedly may not appear White as well as the Planets which shine by a borrow'd Light I see no contradictory Reason But to return to Experiments we see that the whites of Eggs which are in some measure Natural Speculums by being beaten into a Froth appear White And if Oyl of Turpentine be mixed with Water and shaken in a Vial as the Particles of the Oyl are more or less numerous and minutely divided it appears more or less White which Experiment will likewise succeed if tryed with a yellow Mixture of crude Turpentine instead of the Oyl and likewise with an Oyl dyed Green with a Tincture of Copper And for a like Reason the Water which is carried over with Oyls distilled in an Alembick appears White as long as the globular Particles of Oyl Swim in it and hot Water is observ'd to be considerably Whitest and Opacous when the hot Vapours disper'd through it stop the Passages of the Rays of Light and cause them to fly from it more plentifully upon the Eye so that I am apt to think that the Superficies of white Bodies may as well be convex as smooth provided the Superficies be so set with Specular Particles as to reflect the Rays of Light plentifully upon the Eye for it is not only observ'd that the globular Particles of Oyl make the Water they are mix'd with appear White but the same Colour is likewise reflected from Powdered Glass and even several Threds of it laid together so that it is not according to the Opinion of some requisite that the Particles of a white Body should be altogether Globular And I have observ'd that Snow look'd upon with a Microscope appear'd to consist of slender Icicles of several shapes And I remember that by contusion I have obtained a whitish Powder of Granates Glass of Antimony and Emeralds and the Salt of Venereal Vitriol Powdered will comparatively with the Entire Chrystals exhibit a considerable Degree of Whiteness And as a Body which is not White may acquire that Colour by a Change of the Texture of its Parts so one that is White may be deprived of that Colour Thus Silver being first brush'd and then boyled with Salt and Tartar appears White but becomes Specular by being rubb'd with a Piece of Steel the protuberant Parts being by that means depress'd into a continu'd Superficies and reflecting the Image of a lucid Body whereas before the innumerable little Speculae reflected the Rays of Light more confusedly 〈◊〉 â—â—chaâ—… Acâ— of Blackness From what hath been said of Whiteness we may be able to guess in some Measure of the Reason of Blackness concerning which Quality Gassendus says Existimare par est corpora suapte natura nigra constare ex particulis quarum Superficicculae scabrae sunt nec facilè lucem extrorsum reflectunt So that Black differs from White in as much as the Particles which are reflected externally by the one are deaded by the other and not reflected outward either because the Superficies hath such protuberant Parts as reflect the Rays internally or being soft and pliable yield to the Impress of those lucid Parts that strike against them so a Ball that would fly back from a Stone will scarce at all Rebound from a Net or Mud tho' the latter Explication I think the less propable because several Bodies are Black whose Surfaces are scarce of so yielding a Texture
to be wanting But to proceed to Instances I am told That on the Coast of Sweeden and Denmark the Cold will preserve Bodies a long time from putrifaction And Bartholinus relates a Story of several dead Bodies p. 83. de usu Nivis which being kill'd in a Battel in the Winter were froze in several Postures and continued so without being corrupted as long as the Winter lasted To which I shall add that Capt. James tells us p. 76. of a Man whom they found froze in the Ice six Weeks after he had been committed to Sea and all the alteration the Frost had wrought on his Body was that his Flesh would move up and down upon his Bones like a Glove upon a Man's Hand And Bartholinus de usu Nivis Cap. 12. further tells us That 't is observed in Greenland that the Frost preserves Bodies from Putrifaction 30 Years But tho' freezing preserves Bodies from Putrifaction for the time yet when they thaw they presently discover that the Textures of them were impaired and vitiated all that while by the action of the Cold for having froze an Ox-Eye I observ'd that the Chrystalline humour which was so transparent before being froze lost its diaphaneity and became white And it hath been observed by others That tho' Cheeses which were thaw'd in Water were better than those that were otherwise freed from the Ice yet they were all in some measure impaired by the Frost To these Instances I shall add that Purchas Lib. 3. Cap. 5. Sect. 2 p. 493. tells us That in Nova Zembla their strong Beer being froze was wholly vitiated and without strength or taste And Capt. James tells us That strong Alicant Wine by being froze had lost much of its Spirits And it hath been observed in the Northern Country less cold than Muscovy That Beef having been froze was almost insipid and yielded Broth little better than Water Besides which Instances I am inform'd That Bodies much harder than any yet mention'd may be work'd upon by Cold not to mention that it is observ'd That Bones and even Steel it self are much more subject to break in frosty Weather than at other times And it is to our present Purpose further observable That Capt. James relates that in Charlton-Island the Wood must be thaw'd before the Carpenters are able to work it And I am further inform'd That the Timber of the Houses in Moscow will not only crack in frosty Weather but 't is observ'd That Brick-Houses in the West-Indies decay much sooner than here in England And it hath been further observed That Marbles themselves have not only flown in pieces in frosty Weather but that Brass-Instruments and even Iron-Hoops have been crack'd by extreme Cold as Olaus Wormius and the Dutch-men in their Voyage to Nova Zembla witness But I am apt to believe that the breaking of the Iron-Hoops rather depended on the operation of the Cold on the Liquor contain'd in those Barrels than immediately on the Iron-Bars themselves and that they were broke by the expansion of that Liquor An Appendix to the VI. Title In confirmation of what hath been deliver'd before the Russian Emperor's Physitian told me That if those that have their Noses or Cheeks froze don't rub them with Snow before they go into the Stoves they sometimes drop off and he likewise told me That moderately weak Wine by being froze would lose both its colour and taste He further told me That Bodies there will keep all the frosty Weather uncorrupt and that Venison and Beef and other Flesh will be preserved a long time by Frost but if it is not thawed leasurely before it comes to be roasted it will be much impaired And I am told That a young Man having been froze all over was recovered by being first rubb'd with Snow before any other means was used Particulars referrable to the VI Title Fishes taken from under the Ice in Lakes and Ponds which were frozen over and packed up would be preserv'd a Month without being salted or dryed and it was observ'd That when they were taken out of the Water in the cold Air they would be froze immediately It was likewise observ'd by the same Person who told me these things That tho' Flesh-meat froze was better when thaw'd leasurely in cold Water than hastily by the Fire yet it acquir'd not a Crust of Ice about it In Lapland when any Part is froze they toast Cheese made of Deer's Milk and anoint the affected Part with the Cows-body I had some Cheshire-Cheeses froze my self one of which being thrown into Water gather'd a Crust of Ice about it There are white Bears in Green-Land which have so excellent a scent that when the Carcass of a Whale was left at some distance from the shore they would raise themselves on their Legs and with their two Paws would fan themselves with the Air and snuff it in at their Snouts and then throwing themselves into the Sea would Swim towards the dead Carcasses the fat of some of them would yield a Hogshead of Oyl In Moscow a Hogshead of Malaga-Sack being froze a Spirituous Liquor distill'd out of it stronger than the Sack it self but the Liquor left behind it was a strengthless Phlegm A Barrel of Beer being froze on the Coast of Green-Land the Spirituous Part was contain'd in the middle The Spanish and French Wines that are brought to Moscow betwixt Russia and Poland are sometimes so frozen by the time they come there that they are forced to break the Casks and to transport it in Jars from one place to another and when they have a mind to thaw it they put it into another Hogshead and that being placed in a hole made in Ice or Snow it thaws leasurely there without being so much impaired as if thawed in a Stove or by the Fire TITLE VII Experiments concerning the Expansion of Water and Aqueous Liquors by freezing Of the Expansion of Water and other freezing Liquors THO' it hath been generally allowed that Water and other Liquors are condensed by Cold yet from what I shall offer it will appear That Ice is not Water condensed but Rarified For I have not only observ'd That Water exposed to be froze in a Bolt-head would if the frigorifick Mixture inclin'd it to begin to freeze at the Bottom first be expanded so as to rise considerably higher in the Stem but when that Ice was thawed again will subside And to this I shall add That having included Water in a Cylinder both ends of which were stopped up with Wax the Cylinder being hung up in the Air and the Water froze it was so far expanded That it forced the Wax out of each end of the Pipe and form'd a Rod of Ice much longer than the Cylinder from whence it appears That the breaking of Bottles by Cold rather depends on the Expansion of the Included Liquor than that the weight of the Air caused that Effect as some Moderns teach or that the Internal Liquor being