AND THE ATMOSPHERE. 203 



SECTION II. 



On the Equilibrium of Liquids and Solids. 



THIS state of equilibrium, or of balance, is not 

 confined to gases only ; it more especially ex- 

 tends to homogeneous bodies in general, whe- 

 ther they be of a liquid, or of a solid kind. 

 Before the inquiry is entered into, it should 

 be clearly understood, that I take the na- 

 tural condition of bodies, that state of them 

 in which they are found to be in a common 

 state, as presented to us by nature, as the 

 principles from whence I proceed ; and that 

 wherever bodies are made to change their na- 

 tural state, by the operation of external causes, 

 that change is ever to be considered as 

 forced, and unnatural. The difference which 

 exists between a condition which is natural, 

 and unnatural, between the existence of any 

 substance in a condition which is natural, and 

 common to it ; and that which is artificial, and 

 forced, is so apparent to common sense, that I 

 should not have deemed any illustration ne- 

 cessary of the difference which exists between 

 them, had not the false philosophy of the pre- 

 sent day, inverted the order of things, and mis- 

 taken the one for the other. In order to render 



