^^O ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. I. 



^ -cy, however ingenious they may be. For, ex- 

 * cepting the cafe of the folar rays, it has not 

 •^ been obferved that tranfparent fubflances are 

 'more eafily heated than -opaque; that clear 

 ''water is more difficuk to boil than ink, allow- 

 ' ance being made for their different denfity. It 

 ''is true, there are no experiments made ex pro- 

 ^■fejfo on this fubjed ; but, if the difference was 

 ''very remarkable, \t would have been obferved 

 'as with the rays of the fun.* 



M. de Sauffure's letter is terminated in the 

 moft modefl manner, and, at the fame time, in 

 terms the mofl polite to the author whofe hypo- 

 diefis he was examining. You will judge from 

 my anfwer, my dear correfpondent, what I have 

 thought of our judicious obferver*s remarks, who 

 is alfo an able chemift, as his letter Ihows. 



' My Solitude^ 8 April 1771. 



* Your, crucible could not confine my little 



^ hypothefis, my dear Becker ; it has been vola- 



* tilized or reduced to fmoke ; but the refidue 

 ' confifts of two .fads, which are mofl precious 



* to me : the one, that you love me well enough 

 ''not to conceal my errors; the other, that I can- 



* not diflruft my own opinions too much. Your 

 ^ remarks have great weight in my eflimation, 

 *' I fhall not fail, in a fecond letter, to correft 

 ^Jthis article ^f ray firft, nor fliall the valual>le 



' philofoph^ 



