C hap. 1 7- 4 Treatift of B O D I E S. 



ter another: which efFc& he attributed to vacuities or porous 

 fpaces of divers figures, that he conceived to be in the water; 

 whereof fome were fit for the figure of one falt,and fome for the 

 figure of another. Very ingenioufly ; yet if I mifle not my mark 

 mott aflurcdly he hath mined his. 



For firft, how could he attribute divers forts of vacuities to 

 water without giving it divers figures? And this would be a- 

 gainft his own difcourfe, by which every body fhould have one 

 determinate naturall figure. 



Secondly, I would ask him if he meafurcd his water after c- 

 very falting? and if he did,whether he did not find the quantity 

 greater, then before that fait was diflblved in it? Which ifhe did 

 (as without doubt he muft ) then he might fafcly conclude that 

 his falts were not received in vacuities;but that the very fubftancc 

 of the water gave them place, and fb encreafcd by the receiving 

 of them. 



Thirdly, feeing that in his doctrine every fubftance hath a 

 particular figure; we muft allow a ftrange multitude of different 

 fhapes of vacuities to be naturally in water; if we will have eve- 

 ry different fubftance wherewith it may beimpregna:ed(by ma- 

 king decoctions, extractions, folutions, and the like) to find a fit 

 vacuity in the water to lodge it felf in. What a difform net with 

 a ftrange variety ofmaflies would this be? And indeed how ex- 

 tremely uncapable muft it be of the quantity of every various 

 kind of vacuity that you will find muft be in it ; ifin every Iblu- 

 tion of one particular fubftance, you calculate the proportion 

 between it and the water thatdiflblveth it, and then multiply it 

 according to the number of feverall kinds offubftances that may 

 be diflblved in water? By this proceeding, you will find the va- 

 cuities to exceed infinitely the whole body of the water; even fb 

 much that it could not afford fubtile thrids enough to hold ic 

 fclftogcther. 



Fourthly, if this doctrine were true it would never happen 

 that one body or fait fhould precipitate down to the botto-.ne of 

 the water, by the fblution ofanother in it, w ck every Alckymift 

 knovvcth, never failcth in due circumftances : for leeing that the 

 body which precipitateth,and the other which remaineth diffol- 

 ved in the watcr,are of different figures, and therefore do require 

 different vacuities, tXcy might both of them have kept their ph- 



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