104 



ing of 

 a heavy bw'y. 

 Arifloctej argu- 

 ment to dif- 

 prove motion 

 in ui cut , is 



A TreAtiJc of B O D I E S. Chap, i o. 



jibfurd : and yet, he not onely maintaineth it in Icverall places, 

 but alfo profefleth, Dial. P. de motu pag. 81- to make it more 

 clear then day. His pofition is, that more or JeSTe gravity con- 

 criburcth nothing at all to the fafter or flower defcending of a 

 naturall body : but that all the effect it giveth unto a body, is 

 to make it defcend or not defcend in fiich a medium. Which is 

 agninft the firft and moft known principle that is in bodies: to 

 wit, that more doth more, and lefle doth letfe; for he allowcth, 

 that gravity caufcth a body to defcend; and yet will not allow* 

 that more gravity cauSeth it to defcend more. 



I wonder that he never marked how in a pair of fcalcs, a 

 faperproportion of overweight in one ballance, lifted up the 

 other fafter then a leife proportion of overweight would do. 

 Or that more weight hanged to a jack, made the Spit turn faft- 

 er ; or to the lines of a clock, made it go fafter, and the like. 



But his argument whereby he endcavoureth to prove his po- 

 fition, is yet more wonderfull : for finding in pendants une- 

 quall in gravity, that the lighter went in the fame time almoft 

 as fa ft as the heavier ; he gathereth from thence, that the diffe- 

 rent weights have each of them the fame celerity : and that it 

 is the opposition of the aire, which maketh the lighter body not 

 reach fo farre at each undulation, as the heavier doth. For re- 

 ply whereuwto ; firft, we muft ask him whether experience or 

 reafon taught him, that the flower going of the lighter pendant, 

 proceeded onely from the medium, and not from want of gra- 

 vity? And when he {hall hareanfwered (as he needs muft)that 

 experience doth not (hew this; then we muft importune him for 

 a good reafon : but I do not find that he bringeth any at all. 



Again; if he admitteth ( which he doth in exprefie terms ) 

 that a lighter body cannot rcfift the medium fb much as a hea- 

 vier body can, we muft ask him, whether it be not the weight 

 that maketh the heavier body refift more: which when he hath 

 acknowledged that it is ; he hath therein likewife acknow- 

 ledged, that whcnfoevcr this happeneth in the defcending of a 

 body,the more weight muft make the hearier body defcend fafter 

 But we cannot parTe this matter without noting how himlelf 

 maketh good thofe arguments of Ariftotle, which he Sccmeth by 

 no means to cftccm of : for tinoc the gravity doth overcome the 

 rcfiftance of the medium in fbme proportion; i: fblloweth, that 



the 



