PART XIII

hing is more penetrative than that of a 1 apef .■ Or how it comes, that Light pafieth through Horn, which relifts Rain, and the like.
Befides, the very Figure of things, though it did not depend upon theFigure of Atoms, (where¬ as it feems to depend upon them, in all things which are conftantly produced in the Fame Fi¬ gure, ) yet it is generally at leaft true, that eve¬ ry Body is therefore figured, becaufe itconfifts of Parts terminate and figuratc ; for Figure is a Term, or Bound.
Thus, chough out of fmoothnefs, and rough- nefs ( which, as 1 faid, are allied to the Figure of Atoms, ) it doth not neceflarily follow, that things fmooth are made of fmooth, rough things of rough .- Yet in general nothing can be concei¬ ved to he fmooth, but whofe parts, to the leafl of them, are fmooth ^ nor rough , but whofe parts arc rough.
Here obferve. That as well from the Figure, as from the Magnitude,the Reafon may be given, why Wine floweth eafily through a Strainer, but Oil more flowly, which is, that the Oil may con- fift not of greater Atoms only, but alfo of more hooked , and much intangled among them- felves.
Laftly, Weighty or the Motive- Faculty, which is in every thing, can arile no other way, than from the weight or Mobility of Atoms. But that being declared formerly, we (hall here only obferve, that all Atoms, are heavy, and none light ; wherefore every compound Body is hea¬ vy, there is none that is light ; or that is not of itfelf ready to tend downwards. Here pre- fently comes in Fire for on Objeftion ^ but al¬ though it foregoeth not its propenfion down¬ wards, yet it therefore teudeth upwards ; for- afmuch as it is driven that way by the ambient Air • After the fame manner, as we fee with great force the Water refift Logs and Beams, things otherwife heavy and the deeper we plunge them, the more eagerly it cafts them up, and fends them back. Whence it comes, that thofe things, which we call light, are not abfo- lutely lights as if, of their own accord, they, did tend npv/ardc, but only comparatively, that is, as they are lefs heavy and extruded by the more heavy, which prefs tkemfelves down be¬ fore tl'.em. So as Earth being the moft heavy. Water lefs heavy. Air yet lefs heavy than that, and Fire leaft of all ; the Earth drives the Wa¬ ter upwards, and far from the middle Water the Air ^ Air the Fire ; But if we fuppofe the Earth to be taken away, the Water will come to the middle ^ if the Water,the Air ; if the Air, the Fire.
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CHAP. XV.
Jtoms^ confidehd according to their Properties taken together.
But Propertied of ^Atoms, being taken toge¬ ther, and thofe things^ efpecialiy of which wc have hitherto fpoken, Rarity, Denfity, and ‘the reft, being coramixt and varied,there arife f^uItiesiolThings,: which, being adfive and mo¬ tive, havdit from the Weight and Mobility of the Atoms. And whereds fome aft one way.,fome
another, they muft of neceffity have it, as well from the peculiar Magnitude, and Figure of the Atoms, as from their various Order and Pofition amongft themfelves,as from their loofenefs, com- paftednefs, connexion, fejunftion, drc.
Of this kind, are not only, in Animals, the faculties of Senfe, Sight , Hearing, Smelling, Tailing, Touching, wherewith they can per¬ ceive fenlible things •, but alfo,in the things them- felves, thofe very qualities which are called Sen- fible. Thefe are, in (liings, the faculties of ftri- king, and affefting the Senfes, after a certain manner, to the end they may be preceived by them; as colour and light, the Sight; found, the Hearing ; odor, the Smell ; fapor, the Tafte ; heat and cold ( above the reft, ) the Touch. Whence it comes, that being to fpeak of thofe hereafter, we ought not here to omit thefe :
To treat of which, will be worth our pains.
To begin from Heat: We cannot treat of it, without joyning Light to it, for without Light there are no Colours, the variety of Colours be¬ ing taken away by night; whence in the Infer¬ nal Region, all things are faid to be black. But though in darknefs, all things are alike difeo- lour’d, neverthelefs, in themfelves, or in their Superficies , there arc difpofitions of extreme Particles, by reafon of which the affufed Light isfo varioufly modify’d, that, together with this Modification reflefted on the Eye, it exhibits va¬ rious Colours in the Eye, as White, for ex¬ ample , when the Ball receiveth into itfelf one kind of blow or ftroke ; Black, when ano¬ ther, &c.
For though Colours are not coherent to Bo¬ dies, but generated according to fome refpeftive Site§, Orders, and Pofitions, yet are they not generated, unlefs Light alfo be adjoyned to the difpofure of their Superficies , to compleat or make up the perfeft nature of Colour. Nei¬ ther , fetting this afide, do I fee how it can be faid, that Bodies, which are in the dark invifi- ble, have Colour.
And indeed, fince not only a Pigeon's Neck, a Peacock’s Train, and the like, exhibit feveral (^olours, according to their feveral Pofitions. the Light ; but alfo even all other things appear fomtimes in Lome Colours, fomtimes in others, according as they are placed in' feveral degrees of Light , what clfe (hould we concive, but; that generally it is Light, by whofe coming things put on Colours, and by its departure lofe them.
Ill the mean time. Light itfelf, being nothing eife but a fubftantial effluxion from a lucid, Bo¬ dy, is not. vifible of itfelf, but only in Colour^ as that is a part of it ; for neither is it Leen. through a pure or liquid medium ; neither when we imagine that we fee it, either in a lucid or an illuminate Body, is it beheld as a thing di- ftinft from the colour of tlie^tfiiiig lucid or illu¬ minate. In fine, neither is. Shadow ( the ppivat; tion thereof, ).in any other manner, than as be¬ caufe it is withal the privation of Colour in a thing fliadowed, which lofeth Colour:.always by the fame proportion as it lofeth the Light*, How it comes to pafs, that Shadow, though it be a meer privatioij, yet feeras to.) be moved, vyas, de¬ clared in the Canonick. ■ , chap, z;
Sound h nothing but aii effluxion of tenuious little Bodies^ifpnt out from the thing fpeaking,
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