304 On the Adhesion of the Particles 



it be only granted (and this cannot be called into ques- 

 tion) that the fluidity of this liquid is not absolutely 

 perfect, but that a certain amount of force is necessary, 

 no matter how small it may be, to separate the particles 

 from each other, this alone will be sufficient to establish 

 all that I have asserted with regard to the necessary con- 

 sequences of the adhesion of the particles of liquids to 

 each other. 



It would only be a question in each case of supposing 

 that a solid body immersed in any liquid be reduced to 

 a sufficiently small size, and it could be proved that it 

 must necessarily remain suspended there. But it is 

 easy to see that the greater the force of cohesion be- 

 tween the particles of a liquid, the more capable this 

 liquid becomes of holding in suspension foreign bodies 

 of all sorts. 



Water appeared to me to possess this quality to a re- 

 markable degree ; and it is certain that if there had been 

 need of a vehicle for the nourishment of plants and ani- 

 mals, one capable of holding in suspension and of trans- 

 porting from one place to another all sorts of substances, 

 very different in weight and size, without affecting them 

 chemically, it would never have been possible to find one 

 more fitted for this purpose than water. 



Is it not probable that this is one of the principal de- 

 signs of the existence of this liquid in the economy of 

 Nature ? 



Being accustomed to see traces of great wisdom and 

 of admirable simplicity in all those dispositions of 

 Nature which I have been able to comprehend, I have 

 been perhaps too much inclined, in my ordinary medita- 

 tions, to admit this conclusion. I must, however, con- 

 fess that the facts which have seemed to me to render it 

 probable have made a deep impression upon me. 



