88 ESSAYS AND OBSERVATrONS 



fituation contrary to the power of gra- 

 vity. 



We. have the more reafon to acquiefce 

 in this theory, confidering that ele(5tive 

 attra<5lion is not invented to account for 

 a fingular phenomenon, but is the great 

 principle upon which all the operations 

 in chemiftry depend. Mercury attrads 

 fulphur, as appears from the compofi- 

 tion of Ethiop's mineral and cinnabar. 

 Iron and copper attradl fait out of the air, 

 and, being diffolved by it, are converted 

 into ruft. Alcaline fait is a ftrong at- 

 tractive of the watery particles with which 

 the air is i i.-pregnated. Bricks newly- 

 burnt, attract w^ater with noife and vio- 

 lence. Fuller'.-- earth, by attrading oil 

 and not wool, ferves to purge woollen cloth 

 from oil. For what other reafon doth a 

 fpunge hold witer, btit their mutual at- 

 tradion? One would expert the contra- 

 ry elFe(5l from the porofity of a fpunge. 

 In fine, the mr.nifold precipitations per- 

 formed in chemiltry may f;iirly be ac- 

 counted for by that principle. And why 

 not alfo admit an eledlive attraction be 



tweea 



