Chap. ?: ** Trtatife of B O D I E S. 61 



pable water as it was before ; and therefore doubteth not but 

 ic is Hill water whiles it hangeth in the airc divided into little 

 atomcs. Whereas one that law not the beginning of this ope- 

 ration by water, nor obfervcd how in the end it fheweth it fclf 

 again in water, might the better beexcufed ifhefhould not 

 think that what he fmelled were water blown about the aire,nor 

 any fubftancc of it felf (becaufehe neither feeth nor handleth 

 it) but fome adventitious quality he knoweth not how adhe- 

 ring to the aire. The like difference is between Philofbphers 

 that proceed orderly in their difcourfcs, and others that pay 

 themfelvcs with terms which they underfrand not. The one 

 lee evidence in what they Conclude ; whiles the others gueffe 

 wildly at randome. 



I hope the Reader will not deem it time loft from our main - 

 drift, which we take up thus in examples and digreffions : for if The different 

 1 be not much deceived, they ferve exceedingly to illuftrate "n",^ 1 ^ 1 * 

 the matter : which I hope I have now rendred fo plain , as ceedfromdif- 

 no man that fliall have well weighed it, will expect that fire 

 dilated into that rarified fubftance which mankind ( who ac- 

 cording to the different appearance of things to their fenfe, 

 giveth different names unto them) calleth light , (houldburn 

 like thatgroffer fubftance which from doing fo they call fire; 

 nor doubt but that they maybe the fame thing more or lefle 

 attenuated ; as leaf-gold that flyeth in the aire as light a* 

 down i is as truly gold as that in an ingot which being 

 heavier then any other fubflance, falleth moft forcibly unto 

 the ground. 



What we have faid of the unburning fire ( which we call 

 light) ftreaming from the flame of a candle, may cafily be 

 applyed to all other lights deprived of fenfible hear, whereof 

 /bme appear with flame , others without it: of the firft fort of 

 which, are the innoxious fLimes that are often fcen on the hair 

 of mens heads, and horfes manes, on the marts of fhips, over 

 graves, and fat marifh grounds, and the like : and of the lat- 

 ter fort are glow- worms, and the light- conicrving ftoncs, rot- 

 ten wood, fome kinds offifli and of flefh when they bcg ; n to. 

 putrifie, and fome other things of the like nature. 



Now to anfwer the fecond part of this objection , chat we 

 daily fee great heats without any Iight> as well as much 



