Treaty cf BODIES. Chap.j . 



find that lead cut mro little pieces, will not go down To faft in 

 water,as when it is in bulk : and ic may be reduced into fo fmall 

 atonies, that ic will for fome (pace Twimme upon the water like 

 dft of wood. 



Which afliimtion is proved by the great Gahleus ; unto 

 whofe excel lent wit and admirable mduftry the world is be- 

 holding, not onely for his wonderfull difcovcries made in the 

 heavens, but alfo for his accurate and learned declaring of thofe 



^ 



very things that lie under our feet. He, about the 90. pae of 

 his firft Dialogue of motion, doth clearly demonftrate how 

 any reall medium muft of neceflity refift more the defcent of a 

 little piece of lead, or any other weighty matter, then ic would 

 a greater piece : and the refiftence will be greater and greater, 

 as the pieces are lefler and lefler. So that as the pieces are 

 made lefle,they will in the fame medium fink the flower; -and do 

 feem to have acquired a new nature of lightneffe by the dimi- 

 nution: not onely of having lefle weight in them then they hod; 

 as half an ounce is lefle then a whole ounce: but alfo of having 

 in themselves a lefle proportion of weight to their bulk then 

 they had ; as a pound of cork is in regard of its magnitude 

 lighter then a pound of lead: fb as they conclude, that the thing 

 whofe continued parts arc the leflcr, is in ks own narure the 

 lighter and the rarer ; and other things who/e continued parts 

 are greate^, they be heavier and denfer. 



j But this difcourfe reached? not home: for by it the weight of 



The former opi- an y body being discovered by the proportion k hath to the me- 



andthc ground dium in which it defcendeth, it muft ever fuppofc a body lighter 



f , tlicire !: rour then it fdf in which it may fink and go to the bottome. Now 



of that lighten body, I enquire, what makcth it be fb; and you 



muft' anfwer by what you have concluded, that it is lighter then 



the other, becaufe the parts of it are leflc,and more levered from 



one another : for if they be as clo(e together, their divjhon a- 



vaileth them nothing , fince things fticking faft together, do 



Vork as if theywere but one, and Co a pound of lead though it 



be filed incofmaJlduft, if it be compacted hard together., will 



link as faft as if it were in one bulk. 



Now then allowing the little parts to be feparared', I ask, 

 V/hat other body fiUcth up the fpaces between thole little parts 

 f the medium in which your heavy body dcfccnded ? For if 



the 



