TISCIDITY OF WATER* 173 



The adhesion of the particles of water to each other is 

 the cause of the preservation of that liquid in masses. It 

 covers the surface with a very strong pellicle, which de- 

 fends and prevents it from being dispersed by the winds. 

 Without this adhesion, water would be more volatile 

 than ether, and more fugitive than dust. 



But the adhesion is also the cause of other phenomena, 

 which are of the greatest importance in the phenomena 

 of nature. 



The viscidity which results from the mutual adhesion of Hence all bo- 



the particles of water renders this fluid proper to hold dies may be 

 ,, /. , ^ ,. . , . ,,11 suspended in 



all kinds of bodies in solution ; as well the most heavy as water. 



the lightest ; .provided always that they be reduced to 



very minute particles. 



I have folind by a calculation, founded on facts which Calculation of 

 appear to me to be decisive, that a solid spherule of pure ^^^^ ^'^^' 

 gold, of the diameter of one 300,000th of an inch, would 

 be suspended in water by the effect of its viscidity ; even 

 though this small body should be completely wetted and 

 submerged in a tranquil mass of the fluid *. 



This viscidity, or want of perfect fluidity, which causes The nutriment 



it to hold every kind of substance in solution, renders it *^f .P^^"':? ^^ 



'' ' animals is thu« 



eminently proper to become the vehicle of nourishment to conveyed. 



plants and animals ; and we accordingly see, that it is 



exclusively employed in this office. 



If the adhesion of the particles of water to each other 

 were to cease, and the fluidity of this body were to be- 

 JEomc perfect, every living being would perish by ina- 

 nition. 



May I be permitted to remark the simplicity of the 

 means employed by Nature in all her operations — May 

 I be permitted to express my profound admiration and 

 adoration of the Author of so many wonders ! 



* Fragments of gold leaf, which are about onc-a8o,oooth of an 

 inch thick, subside in water with considerable velocity. This, 

 however, docs not invalidate the argument in the text. N. 



Aa2 



