46 
MicrRoGRAPHIA. 
And in profecution of this Experiment,having taken the filings of Iron 
and Steel, and with the point of*a Knife caft them through the - of a 
Candle , Iobferved where fome confpicuous fhining Particles fell, and 
looking on them with my AGcrofcope , I found them to be nothing elfe 
but fuch round Globules, asI formerly found the Sparks ftruck from the 
Steel byaftroke tobe, only a little bigger 5 and fhaking together all the 
filings that had fallen upon the fheet of Paper underneath, and obferving 
them withthe AZcrofcope, 1 found a great number of {mall Globules, fuch 
asthe former, though there were alfo many of the parts that had remain- 
ed untoucht, and rough filings or chipsof Iron. So that, itfeems, Iron 
does containa very combuftible fulphureows Body, whichis; in all likeli- 
hood, one of the caufes of this Phewomenon , and which may be perhaps 
very much concerned in the bufinefs of its hardening and tempering :_ of 
which fomewhat is faid inthe Defcription of AMfcovy-glafs.. 
_ So that, thefe things confidered, we need not trouble our felvesto find 
out what kind of Pores they are, both in the Flint and Steel, that contain 
the Atoms of fire, nor how thofe Atoms come to be hindred from run- 
: ning allout , whena dore or paflage in their Pores is made by the con- — 
fon: nor need we trouble our {elves to examine by what Prometheus 
the Element of Fire comes tobe fetcht down from above the Regions of 
the Air, in what Cells or Boxes it is kept, and what Epimetheusletsit go: — 
Nor toconfider what it is that caufes fo great a conflux of the atomical — 
Particles of Fire,which are faid to fly to a flaming Body, like Vulturesor — 
Eaglestoa putrifying Carcafs, and there to make a very great pudder. — 
Since we have nothing more difficult in this Hypothefis to conceive, firft, 
asto the kindling of Tinder, then how a large Iron-bullet, let fallred or 
glowing hot upon a heap of Small-coal, fhould fet fire to thofethat are 
next to it firft : Nor fecondly, is this lait more difficult to be.explicated, _ 
then that a Body, as Silver for Inftance, put into a weak Adenfirunm, as — 
unrettified Aqua fortis fhould , whenit is put ina great heat, bethere 
diflolved by it, and not before 5. which Hypothefis is more largely explica- 
ted in the Defcription, of Charcoal. To conclude, we {ee by thisIn- 
{tance, how much Experiments may eonduce to the regulating of Philo- 
Sophicalnotions. For if the moft Acute Des Carteshad appliedhimfelf — 
experimentally to have examined what fubftance it was that caufed that 
fhining of the falling Sparks {truck from a Flint anda Steel, be would — 
certainly havea little altered his Hypothefis, and. we thould havefound, — 
that his Ingenious Principles would have admitted a very plaufible Ex- 
plication of this Phenomenon; whereas by not examining fo far ashe 
~~ > hehas fet downan Explication which Experiment do's contra- 
1Ct5>7s * ; ee 
But before [leave this Defcription, I muft not forget to take. notice of 
the Globular form into which each of thefe is moft curiout] si ood 4 
And this Phenomenon, as Ihave elfewhere more largely fhewn,|,proceeds 
from a propriety which belongs to all kinds of fluid Bodies more or 
Jefs,and 1s caufed by the Incongruity of the Ambient and included Fluid, — 
which fo.aéts and modulateseach other, that they acquire , asneer.as is 
pofhible, a 
