ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 151 



in falling through water, and after another when floating 

 upon it. 



6. Inquire into the effects of the figure of the descending 

 body, in directing the motion of gravity : suppose of a figure 

 broad and thin, cubical, oblong, round, pyramidal, etc. ; and 

 how bodies turn themselves whilst they remain in the same po- 

 sition as when first let go. 



7. Inquire into the effects of the continuation and progres- 

 sion of the fall or descent itself, as to the acquiring a greater 

 impulse or velocity, and in what proportion and to what length 

 this velocity is increased ; for the ancients, upon slender con- 

 sideration, imagined that this motion, being natural, was al- 

 ways upon the increase. 



8. Inquire into the effects of distance, or the near approach 

 of a body descending to the earth, so as to fall swifter, slower, 

 or not at all, supposing it were to be out of the earth's sphere of 

 activity, according to Gilbert's opinion ; as also the effects of 

 plunging the falling body deeper into the earth, or placing it 

 nearer the surface ; for this also varies the motion, as is mani- 

 fest to those who work in mines. 



9. Inquire into the effects of the difference of bodies, through 

 which the motion of gravity is diffused and communicated ; 

 and whether it is equally communicated through soft and por- 

 ous bodies, as through hard and solid ones. Thus if the beam 

 of a scale were one half of wood, and the other half of silver, 

 yet of the same weight ; inquire whether this would not make 

 an alteration in the scales : and again, whether metal laid upon 

 wool, or a blown bladder, would weigh the same as in the naked 

 scale. 



10. Inquire into the effects of the distatnce of a body from the 

 point of suspension in the communication of the motion of 

 gravity ; that is, into the earlier or later perception of its inclina- 

 tion or depression : as in scales, where one side of the beam is 

 longer, though of the same weight with the other, whether this 

 inclines the beam ; or in siphons, where the longer leg will 

 draw the water, though the shorter, being made wider, contains 

 a greater weight of water. 



1 1. Inquire into the effects of intermixing or coupling a light 

 body and a heavy one, for lessening the gravity of bodies ; as 

 in the weight of creatures alive and dead. 



12. Inquire into the ascents and descents of the lighter and 



