236 NOVUM ORGANUM 



a sufficient quantity of water to allow the air to recover 

 its former dimensions. 76 



It is well ascertained that rare bodies (such as air) admit 

 of considerable contraction, as has been before observed; 

 but tangible bodies (such as water) admit of it much less 

 readily, and to a less extent. We investigated the latter 

 point by the following experiment: 



We had a leaden globe made, capable of containing 

 about two pints, wine measure, and of tolerable thickness, 

 so as to support considerable pressure. We poured water 

 into it through an aperture, which we afterward closed with 

 melted lead, as soon as the globe was filled with water, so 

 that the whole became perfectly solid. We next flattened 

 the two opposite sides with a heavy hammer, which neces 

 sarily caused the water to occupy a less space, since the 

 sphere is the solid of greatest content; and when hammer 

 ing failed from the resistance of the water, we made use of 

 a mill or press, till at last the water, refusing to submit 

 to a greater pressure, exuded like a fine dew through the 

 solid lead. We then computed the extent to which the 

 original space had been reduced, and concluded that water 

 admitted such a degree of compression when constrained 

 by great violence. 



The more solid, dry or compact bodies, such as stones, 

 wood and metals, admit of much less, and indeed scarcely 

 any perceptible compression or expansion, but escape by 

 breaking, slipping forward, or other efforts; as appears in 

 bending wood, or steel for watch-springs, in projectiles, 

 hammering and many other motions, all of which, together 



16 This passage shows that the pressure of the external atmosphere, which 

 forces the water into the egg, was not in Bacon s time understood. Ed. 



