the Sun rarified ascendeth to the middle Region of the Air where by means of the coldness thereof these Vapors are condensat and thickned and turâ—…d into a Cloud and afterward are turned into Rain and so fall down That there are such Damps and Vapors which ascend from the Earth and Waters cannot rationally be denyed nay many Thousands and Millions of them ascend which we do not see nor observe I have seen in Frosty Mornings the mouths of Coal-sinks and empty passages from waste Ground where Coals have been digged out Fumes and Vapors coming out so plentifully as Fumes from a Salt-pan Some do fitly compare this Earth to a Bag-pudding taken out of a Boiling-pot which sends forth Vapors in abundance Likewise from the surfaces of standing and running Water what numbers may be seen in a warm Summers Evening Nay from the Bodies of Men and Beasts there is a perpetual Perspiration But the finest and purest of all are those which are exhaled from the Earth and Waters We see that when the Sun is hot in Summer the whole face of the Ground after Rain covered over with Unduls or little curled Waves a small Gale of Wind being stirring like unto the curled Waves of the Sea Analogically And so slender and pure are they that whilst a man is among them he cannot see them but at a distance he may looking alongs the face of the Ground Likewise what multitudes of them may be seen alongs the surface of the Sea a man standing at a considerable distance from the Coast. And so thick are they that they have wonderfully lifted up and magnified much of the Land and have made it appear far otherwise than it was nay eclipsed whole Villages and Towns and metamorphosed them into various shapes and forms all which have come to pass by reason of their multiplicity and thickness Now these Vapors flowing from the Earth and Waters are carried up to the middle Region of the Air where by process of time they are condensat and thickned by the coldness thereof and fall down in Rain But here it may be inquired By what cause â—…r power are these Vapors carried up seing they are Material things and endued with weight For answer I must premit some few things which do not ordinarly occur First That in all heavy Bodies there is a twofold weight one Specifical the other Individual The Specifical weight is found in Bodies which differ by Nature as Wood and Stone ballanced one with another equal quantity with equal quantity â—… Individual weight is likewise found in the same Bodies but after a different way and manner For example Stone is naturally or specifically heavier than Wood putting equal quantity against equal quantity for a Cubical-foot of Stone is heavier than a Cubical-foot of Water Bodies of the same Individual weight or such as are weighed in a pair of Scales as a Pound of Lead and a Pound of Wool are individually of the same weight but of different weight Specifically Secondly There are two sorts of Ballances the one Natural the other Artificial The Natural Ballance is the Mercurial Weather-Glass wherein the Mercury counterpoiseth the Air and the Air the Mercury both of them observing an equal Altitude according to their natural weights for since the Mercury is reckoned 14000 times heavier than the Air the pillar of the one must be 14000 times lower than the other and so both are of the same hight according to their Specifical weights The Artificial Ballance is that Mechanical Power called the Libra Thirdly That one Body naturally lighter than another may become of equal weight or heavier than that other For example the Vapors which ascend are far lighter specifically than the Air yet they become heavier specifically when contracted and reduced by a Cold to a thicker habit or consistency and most of all when they are converted to Rain But how shall it be known that the Vapors are naturally lighter than the Air I answer If it were possible to take an equal quantity of Vapors with an equal quantity of Air and weigh them in a Ballance the Air would be heavier We know that Oil is lighter than Water for being put under Water it riseth to the Surface so the Vapors go up thorow the Air as Oil goeth up thorow the Water Now I come to the Question in hand and I affirm that the Vapors are carried upward not by the heat of the Sun which is an vulgar error but they being specifically and naturally lighter than the Air are prest up by it as Smoak till they come so far up as the pressure of the Air is able to carry them I shall make this evident by the following Experiment Let a Diver go down to the bottom of the Sea with a Bottle of Oil in his Hand and pour it out there he shall find that such is the pressure of the Water it shall drive it all up to the Surface above For as the Oil is naturally lighter than the Water so these Vapors are naturally lighter than the Air. Now these Vapors which are infinite in number ascending from all the parts of the Earth to the Atmosphere many Miles above the Clouds causeth the Air here below press with greater weight upon the stagnant Mercury and so raiseth the Quicksilver in the Weather Glass one Inch or two and sometimes three for it is not possible that the Air above can be prest down and burdened with that new weight and addition of Vapors ascending but the stagnant Mercury below must find the said pressure But how are these Vapors condensat and thickned together and fall down in Rain I shall do this by a most evident and clear example We cannot more fitly compare these Vapors ascending and descending again in Rain than to an Alembick or Distillater For these Fumes being carried upward within the Pot and meeting with a cold Receptacle for the Pipe descending goeth ordinarly thorow a Vessel full of cold Water they are presently reduced to their first condition and fall down in Liquor So are the Vapors which ascend from the Stomach to the cold Brain received and distilled But why should the falling down of the Rain cause the Quicksilver fall down and why should the rising of the Vapors cause the Quicksilver to rise For clearing of this it is to be adverted that whilst the Mercury is up at one and thirty Inch there is an equal ballance or weight between the weight of the Atmosphere and the weight of the Quicksilver so that there cannot be the least weight subtracted from the pressure of the Atmosphere but as much must be subtracted from the hight of the Quicksilver as by taking away one Ounce from this Scale of a Ballance the other presently goeth down or by adding one Ounce to this Scale of a Ballance the other Scale presently goeth up Hence is it that the pressure of the Atmosphere becomes less by the falling down of the Vapors and consequently the hight of the
by the Practice and Invention of Learned Men. The late Lord Argile did employ a most ingenious Gentleman the Laird of Melgim who went down with a Diving Bell and made a further inquiry After some pains and labour he buoy'd up three Guns one of Iron judging it to be of some other Mettal one of Copper and one of Brass about eight Foot long apeice and eight Inches of Diameter The third Essay was made by the late Earl of Argile himself several years after who did more There was one Captain Smith who undertook after that yet more who thought himself so sure of the Spanish Gold that he would not suffer a Carpenter with himself but this Interprize turned to nought To effectuate the Proposal I shall offer these six Propositions which with small pains may be made evident from Hydrostatical Principles and next infer some Conclusions needful for the design in hand First The whole Ship with all its Loadning is the just and precise weight of as much Water as the lower part of the Hull expells or is expelled by the Ships Water-draught Secondly When the Ship becomes heavier than the said quantity of Water it sinks Thirdly Water doth not weigh in Water This is evident for when a man pulls a Bucket full of Water from the bottom of a Well he finds no weight thereof till it come to the Surface Fourthly Nothing lighter in specie than Water or of the same weight with Water can sink Hence neither Timber Wine Bear nor Oil can tarry at the Sea Ground but must be buoyed up of necessity Fifthly By how much the whole Timber of the Ship is lighter in specie than as much Water equal to it in bulk by so much is it the more able to buoy up Imagine the whole Timber of the Ship reduced to a Cube of so many Foot and a Cube of Water given of the same quantity Now I say as many Pounds as this Cube of Water is heavier than that of Timber so many Pounds of Iron Lead or Stone will the Ship buoy up or support even tho full of Water Sixthly A heavy Body as Iron Lead or Stone weighs as much less in Water than in Air as the quantity of Water it expells A Square Foot of Lead which I suppose weighs in the Air 728 Pound weighs but 672 Pound in the Water less by 56 the weight of a Square Foot of Water From these Propositions I infer that when a Ship is to be buoy'd up from the Ground of the Sea nothing of her weighs save her Ballast By Ballast I understand taking the word largely every thing in the Ship heavier in specie than Water as Guns Ankers Bullets of Iron and Lead Iron-bolts Nails and all manner of Iron-work Next That the whole weight of the Ballast doth not preponderate or weigh down Lastly That the Timber of the Ship and all things in it lighter in specie than Water concur for buoying up the Ballast The best expedient for raising of Ships entirely are Arks of Wood applyed either to the sides of the Ship without or just above the Orlop These Arks must be so close on all sides that neither Air nor Water can pass The Ark to describe it more particularly must have four Sides and a Cover above but open compleatly below At every Corner next to the Mouth must be fixed a strong Iron-Ring Four likewise above that is one in each Corner answering to the four below which are for fixing a second Ark above the first if need be If the Ship which is to be raised be twenty Foot over make your Ark twenty Foot wide and as much in hight Bring it just over the place where the Ship lyeth and filling it with Water that it may sink without difficulty thrust it down till it come just above the Orlop and fasten it within five or six Foot of the same with Ropes passing thorow the four Rings and the Beams or Balks of the Ship. The Arks being thus fastned to the Ship by a Diver the next work is to beget a power or force within it which shall be able to buoy up the Ship from the Ground of the Sea. This may be done either by sending down Buckets full of Air with their Mouth foremost one after another from the Surface of the Water and then cause a Diver receive them and thrusting them somewhat within the Mouth of the Ark turn up the Orifice by which means the whole Air in it shall ascend up thorow the Water of the Ark and rest above next to the top This Device being often repeated will at last expell the whole VVater of the Ark and fill it compleatly with Air. This is so sure an Experiment that none needs to call it in question Or by communicating Air to the Ark from above by the help of a pair of large Bellows and long Pipes of Leather going down within the Mouth of the Ark. Or thirdly By the multiplication of Bladders full of VVind filling the Ark within which may be done more easily The Ark being oncefull of Air will have a considerable pull with it which is more and less according to the dimensions thereof For knowing this you must consider that whatever tâ—…e dimensions of the Ark are it will buoy up as much weight as the VVater weighs which fills it Iâ—… then the Ark be twenty Foot wide and as much in hight it must contain eight thousand Square Foot of Water and since every Square Foot of Water thereof weighs fifty six pound Trois the whole must be 448000. An Ark then of twenty Foot Square will buoy up four hundred and fourty eight thousand pound weight the weight of 58 Cannons Royal each one whereof I suppose weighs 8000 pound Or the weight of 74 Demi-cannons or the weight of 97 Culverings or of 149 Demi-culverings or of 298 Sakers each one of this sort weighing 1500 pound Or lastly the weight of 250 Tun of Wine reckoning four Hogsheads to a Tun and each one of these weighing 448 pound If you fasten a second Ark above the first by the help of the Rings upon the top which I mentioned both will buoy up together 896000 pound the weight of 112 Cannons Royal. But if your Ark be 30 Foot in all its dimensions it must contain twenty and seven thousand Square Foot of Water which will weigh one million five hundred and twelve thousand pound weight of the weight of 189 Cannons Royal or the burden of 252 Demi-cannons which is the weight of 844 Tun of Wine But supposing the Ark to be more in quantity the one way than the other that is 40 Footlong it shall be able to buoy up two million and sixteen thousand pound the weight of 252 Cannons Royal or the weight of 1125 Tun of Wine or Water If the Arks be applyed to the sides of the Ship you must fix as many upon the one side as upon the other which need not be so large as those which are fastned upon
the Orlop I shall suppose that upon each side there are four Arks each one 10 Foot Square If this be every single Ark must contain 1000 Square Foot of Water which will weigh fifty six thousand pound All of them together therefore must buoy up 448000 pound weight the burden of 56 Cannons Royal. To know how to proportion the quantity of your Ark to the burden of the Ship which is the great secret follow this Method Consider first that neither the Timber of the Ship nor the Water which is in her nor any other thing which is lighter in specie than Water that is any thing which floats upon the Surface or of the same weight with it preponderats or weighs down but only what is heavier in specie than Water as Guns Ankers Iron-bolts Iron-nails and such like the just quantity or very near may be found Calculate then as near as you can and supposing the weight of all this Ballast to be about 448000 pound you must next consider what the dimensions of the Ark must be which is able to buoy up so much weight which may be found out thus Divide the just account of your Ballast by 56 and the Cubique Root of the Product gives you the just dimensions of the Ark. For example Divide 448000 by 56 and you will find 8000 the Cubique Root whereof is 20 the quantity of your Ark within If you judge it more convenient to apply lesser Arks namely to the sides of the Ship ye may have eight by dividing this into so many parts four for each side and every single Ark 10 Foot Square which are equivalent Remember that tho the whole Ballast weigh 448000 pound yet this whole weight is not to be buoy'd up by the Ark seing heavy Bodies weigh less in Water than in Air according to the sixth Proposition As for fastening the Arks either to the sides of the Ship or just above the Orlop several ways may be thought upon which I leave to the Invention of others who are skilful in building of Ships Let it suffice that I have made it probable if not evident with Reason that the greatest Ship may be buoy'd entirely up from the ground of the Sea which was the thing to be demonstrated If it be Objected That the strong pressure of the Water will put the Ark in hazard of bursting when its full of Air. I answer There is here not so much hazard as every one may believe The Reason is because the pressure within the Ark is very near equal to the pressure from without This I add because the top of the Ark within is more prest up by the Air within than it is prest down with the Water without The pressure upon the sides is more uniform and so there is the less hazard there In a word if the Ark be able to support as much VVater as fills it without bursting it shall go down thorow the deepest VVater imaginable without trouble That is hang it by Ropes in the Air full of VVater If the bottom be able to support this weight there shall be no hazard of bursting when it 's full of Air within the deepest VVater From this unequal pressure which the top of the Ark suffers it follows of necessity that if there be any Rift or Leck in it the whole Air will go out by degrees and so render the Ark useless I answer this endeavour which the Air within hath to be out is just the same with that which the VVater within hath to be out when the Ark is full and hung in the Air with Ropes If Art can cure the one it may find a remedy for the other also But I leave this to such as are skilful in Calking of Ships Tho I seem to insinuate that the Arks must be Cubical or Foursquare in their form yet there is no necessity for that for they may be made under what fashion or form you please provided they contain as much Air as will be sufficient to raise the Vessel And though I mention Arks of 20 or 30 Foot Square which will go near to buoy up the greatest Ships as Men of VVar yet for ordinary Vessels Arks of far less size will suffice Some may imagine that a Ship sunk for example with Coal is as difficult to buoy up as to raise her out of a dry Harbor But this cannot be since a pound of Coal will not weigh three or four Ounce in the VVater A Ship loadned with VVine or Oyl weighs nothing at all in the VVater but may be very easily buoy'd up if the Ballast be considered as I said Many Ships have been buoy'd up entirely by thrusting down empty Hogsheads and putting them below the Deck But here occurs a difficulty if the Water exceed eight or nine Fathom the strong pressure of it crusheth the sides of the Hogshead together But here is a soveraign cure against that trouble Bore a small Hole in any part of the Vessel where you please for the Water entering brings the Air within to press equally with the Water without Tho this Invention may seem difficult to some to be made practicable yet to such who are intelligent and know well the Principles of the Hydrostaticks it appears plain and easie But the very Speculation of it wants not its own pleasure being founded upon infallible and sure Conclusions drawn from the surest grounds in Nature Labor improbus omnia vincit
when a man looks to it he knows not whether it shall be Fair or Foul. A man seeth indeed the sides of the Frame divided by French Measure into Inches and half Inches but these Measures have no signification of the Weather When a man looks upon it in the Morning he sees the Tinctured Liquor at such a hight and in the Afternoon he observes again and finds it higher or lower This is all it signifieth And if perhaps he be informed that in Fair Weather the Liquor descends and in Foul Weather it ascends then he may conclude observing it further down than it was that it is probable to be Fair. The second Abatement is that there are two Oval-Glasses which rather ought to be Cylindrical Now unless there be a just and exact measure in hight between the top of the one Oval-Glass and the bottom of the other it cannot be un-erring or between the middle of the one and the middle of the other Because the Mercury cannot raise the Liquor in the right side by equal portions since the rising of it depends essentially upon the falling down of the Mercury from the left Oval-Glass For the Glass being in form of a Pullets Egg more Mercury falls down whilst it is terminate about the middle being there wider than whilst the Mercury is near either of the extreams which are narrower And I believe the Contriver hath foreseen this The third Abatement is that the Tinctured Liquor is subject to Corruption the Orifice of the Glass being open suffering Evaporation by which means the whole Contrivance is rendred useless The fourth Abatement is that the Orifice of the Glass upon the left Hand must be Hermetically Sealed which few or none can do The fifth Abatement is if it be once Mounted and set a going it cannot be well Dismounted for the end which is Hermetically Sealed must be opened and cannot be well Sealed again Lastly The Glass is brought Home from Abroad not without hazard of breaking the Glasses being very small and slender But there are none of these Difficulties found in the Perpendicular Glass For it may be set up and dismounted as oft as you please and transported from one place to another And the excellency of it is that it sets it self for whatever weight of Mercury it once takes the same will suffice it for ever And which is marvellous the Mercury falls down alway according to the Nature of the Weather and there halts whether it be Fair or Foul. There is a second sort of Weather-Glass much in use called the Sealed Weather-Glass whose use is only to shew the Heat and Coldness of the Air. It hath a round Glass below about two Inch in Diameter and a Stem going up from it about a Foot and a half in length but slender and narrow within This Glass is filled with the finest Spirit of Wine three or four times distilled so in effect being full of fiery Spirits the least Heat or Warmness in the Air rarifieth it and the least Coldness contracteth it When the Ball is once full and the Stem too the open Orifice above is Hermetically Sealed and coming to the cold Air from the warm place it was in the Liquor creeps down towards the Ball and by this means it demonstrats by its creeping up the warmness of the Air and by creeping down it shews the Degrees of Cold. It is Hermetically Sealed that the outward Air may have no influence upon it It is set in a curious gilded Frame with the several Degrees of Heat and Cold affixed to it They come from Paris and London not without hazard of breaking by the way There is a third sort specially different from the rest called the Water Weather-Glass It hath a round Head above with a long Stem going down from it and the Mouth below remaining open is drown'd among Tinctured Water To set it a going they use to warm the Head and Body of it at the Fire and then to thrust the open end among the Liquor in the Cistern When the heat begins to abate in the top the Air within begins to contraâ—… it self and so the Water follows up and hangs about the middle of the Stem This in cold Weather creeps up and in warm Weather creeps down It creeps up for fear of Vacuity as was maintained long since before the pressure of the Air was known by the Torricellian Experiment This Weather-Glass was esteemed infallible but now it is known to be most fallacious and uncertain The reason is because it is acted and moved not only with Heat and Cold but with the greater and lesser pressure of the Air. If it be demanded how shall I know whether it be the coldness of the Air or the greater pressure of the Air which causeth the Water to ascend and whether it be the warmness of the Air or the Iesser pressure of the Air which causeth the Water to descend I answer It is difficult to know for both do sometime concur that is the weight and greater pressure of the Air and the coldness too And sometime the lesser pressure of the Air with warmness make the Water fall down And sometime the greater pressure of the Air raiseth the Water without any addition of Cold And sometimes the addition of Cold without any alteration in the Air as to more weight will raise it And tho by this means it be fallacious yet many notable Phenomena do appear from it By the help of this and the Mercurial-Weather-Glass and the Sealed one and by the help of the Hygroscope which marvellously shews the least alteration in the Air as to Moisture and Dryness and by contemplating the Heavens the Sky and the Clouds and considering the Winds how they blow and the various Aspects of the Planets one to another as Star-gazers do affirm men might come to foretell the Weather particularly The Theory of the Weather according to the Mercurial-Weather-Glass THE Theory of the Weather is either Ingraven upon Brass-Plates tichtly polished or upon a piece of Lombard-paper wrought in the Taliduse-press The Brass or the Paper is divided into Six half Inches and every half Inch into Five Degrees or every whole Inch into Ten equal parts I call the upmost Station Long Fair the second half an Inch under it Fair the third Changeable the fourth Rain the fifth Much Rain the sixth Stormâ—… and if you please to add the seventh call it Tempests These six or seven contain the whole Alterations which use to be in the Weather When the top of the Quicksilver is at Long Fair it toucheth exactly the Line under it If it fall down it is said to be one Degree under Long Fair or two or three accordingly as it falls down till the top be at the Line under Fair and then it is Fair Weather and so of the rest of the Stations It may be asked At what hight must Long Fair be affixed I answer The Situation of the place must be considered and the Climat
do set and do not set are greater than the Tropicks 2. They have an Equinoctial as other parts of the Earth But when the Sun is in that Parallel whose Declination from the Equinoctial is equal to the distance of the Poles of the World from the Zenith the Day is twenty and four Hours and the Artificial Day excresceth and shoots out into many Natural Days 3. The Sun being in the same Parallel he lightly toucheth the border of the Horizon and coming to it she shines only with an half Orb. 4. They have but only one Solstice in the Tropick of Cancer for the other in the Tropick of Capricorn cannot be seen But Analogically and â—…n similitude there are six Solstices Two high when the Sun is in the Tropick of Cancer for there as well to the â—…outh as to the North the hight of â—…he Sun in the Meridian is highest alâ—…eit the Northern be greater than the â—…outhern and four lowest when the â—…he Sun toucheth lightly the Horizon â—… They have one Summer and one â—…inter but their Summer may be so â—…alled only Analogically for these â—…laces of the Earth are perpetually stiff â—…ith Snow and Yce 6. They have four different Shadows one from the East one from the West one from the South and one from the North. Here are the Periscii 7. The Gnomons and stiles of their Dials describes with their Points Elliptical Figures CHAP. XXI Of the Phenomena of the seventh and last Position 1. THere are here no Stars which either rise or set but all of them are whirled about equally distant from the Horizon The Artick and Antartick Circles are one and the same with the Horizon and Equinoctial which are now united Understand this of the fixed Stars only for the Planets absolving their course rise and set in their appointed times 2. The Artificial Day is extended to half a Year so is the Artificial Night and therefore the quantity of the Natural Day and the whole Year is one and the same 3. When the Sun is in the Equinoctial he shines only with half his Orb and toucheth lightly the Horizon and there he riseth and setteth only at those times 4. No point of the Heavens can be called either West East South or North seing the Pole of the World doth not incline to any part of the Horizon by which Inclination the four Points of the Universe have their distinction 5. They have only one Solstice to wit in Cancer but Analogically two other may be added to wit when the Sun is in the beginning of Aries and Libra 6. There is one Summer and one Winter but their Summer is rather to be called a slender slaking of the Cold. They have one Winter because the Sun is under their Horizon a whole half Year together 7. The Gnomons of their Dials describe with the extremity of the Shadow upon an Horizontal Plain perfect Circles FINIS Proteus Bound with Chains OR A Discovery of the Secrets of Nature which are found in the Mercurial-Weather-Glass unfolding the Reasons and Causes why before Fair Weather the Quicksilver Ascends and before Foul Weather it falls down and Descends A Subject not hitherto Treated of TOGETHER With some brief Observes upon the Parisian Weather-Glass and an Explanation of the Sealed Weather-Glass and common Weather-Glass To all which is Added The Theory of the Weather according to the Perpendicular Weather-Glass By GEORGE SINCLAR sometime Professor of Philosophy in the Colledge of GLASGOW Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas Edinburgh Printed by the Heir of Andrew Anderson Printer to His most Sacred Majesty Anno Dom. 1688. Proteus bound with Chains OR A Discovery of the Secrets of Nature which are found in the Mercurial Weather-Glass c. THere are many excellent Questions to be Refolved and Causes of the various Phenomena of Nature to be rendred before a man can have knowledge to mount the Mercurial-Weather-Glass Yet there are many who rashly adventure and bring upon that unerring and infallible Master-piece of Nature the scandalous and odious Character of Falibility either by raising the Mercury too high or fixing it too low in the Cylindrical-Glass both which Extreams must be cautiously shunned For if it be not ordered according to the Authentick Observations of the Weather for many Years past it cannot but err And herein its infallibility and perfection consists to give the Theory of the Weather a just and determinate hight according to long Observation and by consequence the top of the Cylinder the same hight none of which no ignorant person can do The Questions to be resolved are such as follow 1. What sustains the Mercury in the Glass-Tube whilst the Orifice is always downward and open 2. Why the Glass must exceed in length one and thirty Inch 3. Why the Mercury falls not down if it be shorter than twenty and eight 4. Why the Mercury is carried up with violence to the top of the Glass-Tube whilst the Orifice is raised above the surface of the stagnant Mercury 5. Why as much Mercury in hight is sustained in the wide Glass as in the narrow 6. Why tho the Glass were in hight many Foot yet the whole Mercury falls down to twenty and nine or thirty Inch above the Cistern 7. What fills up the space left empty behind 8. Why the Mercury subsides by degrees as the Weather-Glass is carried up some high Mountain and why it rises again as it is carried down 9. Why a Glass of thirty six Foot high is required to make a Weather Glass with Water in it 10. What 's the reason I do not find the weight of the Mercury within the Glass whilst I poise it between my Fingers and yet I find another weight exactly the weight of it 11. What that other weight is All these and many more are fully and clearly resolved in my Philosophical Experiments twenty years ago But there is a late Question which troubleth all the Learned to resolve which now I intend shortly to explain viz. What 's the reason why the Quicksilver in the Weather-Glass creeps up before Fair Weather and falls down before Foul Weather For an answer to this considerable Question it is to be observed that in the foulest Weather I have found the Quicksilver fall down to twenty and eight and in the dryest and fairest Weather I have found it up at thirty and one Inch. From this excellent Phenomenon only it is called the Weather-Glass Kat'exohen by way of excellency because before this alteration was found in it it was called by the most part of Philosophers the Torricellian Experiment For clearing the Question in hand I suppose that in the Beginning there went up a Damp from the Earth to water the whole face of the Ground Moses Gen. 2. relates now the ordinary means appointed by God in Nature for bringing forth of Herbs Bushes and Trees out of the Ground viz. the Damp which causeth the Rain and moistneth the Earth which Damp being by the heat of
Quicksilver must decresce also And contrariwise which clears the second part of the Question whilst the Vapors are ascending and going up the Atmosphere is more burdened and by consequence the Quicksilver riseth sometimes less and sometimes more sometimes one Inch sometimes two or three But how comes it to pass that the whole Air or that great and vast bulk of it can be in equal weight with so small a portion of Quicksilver granting the Air to be so heavy as is commonly reported I answer It is not the Air according to its thickness or bulk which makes any counterballance with the Quicksilver but it is the Air reckoned according to hight because Fluid Bodies do not counterpoise one another according to all their dimensions but only according to Altitude this is only proper to Solid Bodies For let never so much weight be added to the Air in thickness itshall never make the least alteration in the Mercury But if there be but the least addition made in hight the Quicksilver presently knows it by rising and falling accordingly For by how many thousand times the Air is specifically lighter than Quicksilver by so many thousand times is the pillar of Air higher than the pillar of Quicksilver And contrariwise by how many thousand times the Quicksilver is naturally heavier than the Air by so many thousand times must the Cylinder of Quicksilver be shorter than the Cylinder of Air which sustains it The proportion is ordinarly reckoned as 1 to 14000. That is to say one Cubick-Inch of Quicksilver counterpoiseth 14000 Cubick-Inches of Air both being put into a Ballance It is evident from this and many other things that there is a proportion observed in all the Works of Nature as here between the hight of the Atmospere and the hight of the Quicksilver for all the Lords Works are made in Weight Measure and Number This truth is so evident in the Mathematical part of Learning that there is no need of proof And if this proportion be not observed in things Artificial viz. by Architects and Builders of Houses the whole Fabrick looks pitifully and wants that face and delicate aspect it ought to have And as the most wise Artist of the World hath created all things in proportion one to another so all the parts of his Holy Word are in such a proportion one to another For this we have Scripture and Divine Authority for it is said Whether we prophesie let us prophesie according to the proportion of Faith. The Original word is Analogia Pisteos well rendered in our Vulgar Language the proportion of Faith or Analogy of Faith not as some the Measure of Faith. GOD is not tied to Numbers yet nevertheless he doth and disposeth his Works by Number Weight and Measure It is observed that after the going up out of Egypt GOD caused to be numbred all the Israelites from the Age of twenty years and upward Exod. 38. 26. and there were found six hundred three thousand five hundred and fifty men The year following GOD commanded to make a second Review of the People Numb 1. 46. but without comprising the Levites which had been numbred the first time with the other Tribes Notwithstanding this Subtraction and the Casualities which might have changed the number of the People since the year foregoing it is found that their number was yet justly and precisely six hundred three thousand five hundred and fifty men In which is seen a proportion which GOD held in the multiplication of that People There is also observed a Mystery in the exact number of the two and twenty thousand Levites which were then reckoned Numb 3. 39. For the rest I contend not against the common opinion touching the hundred fourty and four thousand of the seventh of the Revelation that they ought to be taken for an indefinite number as well as the seven thousand which had not bowed the Knee to Baal But it ought to be considered why the Holy Ghost who speaketh nothing superfluous is not contented to have named the total sum of them that were sealed in Israel but also divideth it in twelve times twelve thousand distributed by equal portions among the twelve Tribes every one of which is mentioned the one after the other with the expression of its particular number for this sheweth that the number of the Elect and the multitude of Believers are measured by certain proportions which are known to him who is the Author Certainly the resemblance of the seventy Disciples of Christ to the seventy Judges which were substituted to Moses and to the seventy Children which Iacob had when he went down into Egypt is a line of this admirable Symmetry with the which God hath limited and proportioned the Body of the Church Now this fortifieth that Maxime that the number of the Elect cannot suffer addition nor diminution and that Election proceedeth not from the Will of the Elect but that of God which prevented them For it cannot be said that all the Elect from the beginning of the World to the end have agreed together to make a Company composed precisely of a number certain and regular But I return It may be here inquired Whether those Vapors and Exhalations go perpetually up from the Earth or not 'T is probable that they are alway ascending tho insensibly to us and as many of them in the Night as in the Day-time Nay more it seems in extream Frost and Cold Weather than at any other time as we see in Greenland where the greatest extremity of Cold is there are infinite Treasures of Snow which Snow could not fall down so plentifully if there were not Vapors perpetually ascending Next after Rain and the falling down of the Mercury to 28 or 29 Inch I have found the ascent of it in that same Night eight or ten Degrees which could not happen unless there had been an addition of new weight to the Atmosphere And this is observed to be rather in the Winter than in the Summer Season especially in calm Nights I have observed that the next Morning after Frost all the Night the standing Waters in Furrows which have remained many Days entire dry up and nothing remaining but emptiness below a surface of thin white Yâ—…e This Water could not sink into the Ground more that Night than many others before but the Frost coming on and the Air becoming dry have turned all the Waters into Vapors and so have been exhaled I would have it made more evident how the greater pressure of the Atmospere by the weight of these Vapors make the Quicksilver rise in the Weather-Glass I answer Take the Weather-Glass and place it within a dry Harbour before the Water begin to flow Then suppose the hight of the Mercury to be eight and twenty Inch. I say when once the Water hath flowed but three Foot and a half in hight above the stagnant Mercury in the Cistern you will find the Mercury in the Weather-Glass three Inch higher For as the