PART xm.

E T I C U R U S.
587
jjerf he, cit. Moreover, this ejfltivium^ either in the mouth of the Speaker, or generally in the thing ftruck upon and making a noife, m /batter'd there by tno^ tion into iunumerable little pieces of the fame figure^
. ( * round, if the whole effluvium were round ;
rHK’ ^ inequilateral and triangular,if the firll effluvium were fuch, ) in like manner as we obferve, that little drops arc made when we pour any thing out of bottles, or when Cloath-workersfpure water upon their cloaths.
j/urt. a, ‘ Thefe little pieces,or fmall bulks,are there-
* upon dilperfed in fuch manner, as that they
* preferve a certain mutual conformity to one a- ‘ nother (and ftrike the hearing of feveral per-
• ‘ fons alike, fo as they all feem to hear one and
* the lame found, though it be not the fame, but ' like onely, ) and keep faft alfo within them-
* felves,each by a particular coherence, whereby
* it comes to pafs that they are known to have ‘ reference to that thing, from which they were ‘ fent forth, and for the moft part make fuch a ‘ fenfation, as was fiift made by that which font ‘ forth the found, (as when the found comes not ‘ from far into the- Ear, and pafleth through a ‘ freefpace. ) But otherwife, (as by reafon of a ‘ great diftance, or fome partition^) fomthing ‘ from without bringeth in the found confufed- ‘ly onely. For without a kind of conformity ‘ ind coherence, deduced and preferv’d from ‘ the very thing founding, there could never be ‘ any diftinft hearing.
‘ Yet muft we not imagine, that when the ‘ voice (for example^ ) is once fent forth into •^the Air, the Air is prefently imprinted or
* formed, either by that voice, or by fome others *J>emoer, ‘ made by it, into like voices, which (as * one
exprefleth it, flye away together, as one Jay with another, as faith the proverb, ) ‘ It were
* too great a task, that the Air fhould be de- ‘ figned for any fuch employment j but as foon ‘ as ever the blow is made within us when we ‘ fpeak, the voice being articulated out of cer- ‘ tain little pieces, of a moft fpiritual and nim- ‘ ble effluxion, fit for the Office, and arriving at ‘ the Ear, caufeth hearing in us. ‘
That thefe little pieces which infinuate into the Ear have a figure,may be argued, by reafon that Sound could not affed the hearing pleafant- ly and unpleafantly,if ithad not fuch a fmooth- nefs asfuits with the contexture of the Organ, not fuch a roughnefs as rends the Organ. This may better be underftood, by comparing the grating of a Saw with the fweetnefs of a Lute, or the hoarfe cawing of a Crovy with the fweet melody of a dying Swan.
Nor to repeat fome things fpoken heretofore, Tha. Symp. '^Wch feem to conduce hereunto, I lhall onely 8. 37. tPuch this difficulty. How it comes to pafs, that founds in the night-times are both louder and dearer than in the day ? To folve this, we muft afiume what is manifeft from our difeourfe formerly, That Motion is made through Vacuum, and that there is much of Vacuum fcattered up and down through the little bodies, or bulks of Air, which are made up of Atoms ^ and that in the day-time’ it being hot, and thefe little bo¬ dies rarifyed, and the Atoms difFufed, the little Vacuities contained in them muft necelTarily become narrower and ftraiter ; but in the night, it being cold, and thefe little bodies preft up
c!ofe,and the Atoms crowded together, the Vacuities become larger. This is evident from all things, which in a Vefflel are boiled, foftned, and melted •, but if they take up a larger place, they cool, return to th^ir temper, and become contrafted.
Hence therefore it happens, that the Sound in the Day-time pafling thorough the dilated Air, and lighting upon inanyBodigsin its way^is either quite ftopp’d, or torn, and''much knock’d and worn away. But when in the Night it paf- feth thorough a fpace free from Bodies, it ar¬ rives at the hearing by a full, ready, and unin¬ terrupted carriere, and with that fwiftnefs pre- ferves its clearnefs and diftindion.
From the fame ground it fprings, that empty ibid. VelTels being ftruck,found •, the full found not 3 and that the more fmall Bodies, as Gold, make a low dull noife ; the lefs compaft,as Brafs, a greater and clearer.
CHAP. XIV.
Of Smelling,
AS concerningSwe//?w^,wemuft underftand, that Odor ( as was in proportion declared conarning found dr miccyohen we treated of' Hear ~ ing ) would not make any imprejfion or /lamp of Lien, itfelf unlefs froipi the odorous thing there were dedu¬ ced fome little Bodies or Bulks ^ fo commenfurated to the organ of Smelling^ ( the Nojlrils^ ')as to be able to move and affeii it.
That Odors flow and come out of things, is manifeft, forafmuch as all things efteemed odo¬ rous have a ftronger Scent, being broken pounded , or dilTolved by Fire, than whilft they are whole. For the ftock of thefe little Bodies, which are fit to move the Smell, is pent up, as it were, within the odorous Body, and bound, but,the Body being broken, pound¬ ed, or burnt, it leaps forth, and fpreads itfelf like a Vapor or Cloud, and afferts the Smelling, if it can light upon it. , •
It ufeth to affedthe Smell two ways, either unqutetly and un fuit ably ^ whence-proceed unplea- • fant Odors? or Jmoothly and aptly ^ whence plea- fant Odors. For fome of the little Bodies of Odor having a fmdoth and even Surface ; o- thers,more or greater Angles than is fit ; thence it happens, that fome Odors affed the Organ with delight, as touching it finoothly • others, with a kind of Pain, as if they tore it.
There muft needs be a difference betwixt the Lucrei. lib. penetrations of thefe little Bodies into the No- ftrils, when Carkalles are burnt, and when the Theatre is newly ftrew’d with Saffron. And it may be conceived after this manner. As the Hand, if we put Down to it,preireth upon it ; but if a Nettle, fnatcheth itfelf back, ( for the fmoothnefs of the One, and the roughnefs of the Other by its Prickles, affed two different ways,) in like manner the little Bodies which proceed out of the Saffron, are fmooth j thofe which out of the Carkafs, prickly : fo as the firft gently ftroke and delight the Noftrils, the other prick them, and make them draw back. . ^ • _
Moreover , there being fo great variety Lucres lib. ^
tempers amongft Animals, (even amongft Men one in refped of another ) and the Contexture of the organ of Smelling being different in feve-- f t f f 2 ra1
$88
EPICURUS.