2 4 o GIORDANO BRUNO PART 



relation to that of another kind, e.g. that of time to 

 that of motion, that of impulsive force to that of the 

 motion produced. A thing of one kind does not 

 define or measure a thing of another, and the duration 

 of one does not compare in the same sense with the 

 duration of another. Parts of different things are 

 only equivocally called parts, and minima are minima 

 only according to their proper (and diverse) definitions ; 

 therefore one is not measured by another, except in 

 a rough way, for practical purposes. 1 



The As the atoms come into contact with one another, 



Atom' not m a ^ points of their surface, but in a definite 

 spherical. num ber, it follows that there is a space between them, 

 in the interstices ; it was this thought which led Democ- 

 ritus to posit a vacuum. 2 The figure of the corporeal 

 minimum must be spherical, for any mass which has 

 projections can always be thought of as smaller, when 

 these projections have been removed ; and nature 

 itself suggests this, by the gradual rounding off of 

 substances through time, and the apparent roundness 

 and smoothness of rough and jagged bodies when the 

 observer is at a distance. 3 Diversity of forms of 

 composite bodies results easily from spherical atoms, 

 through differences in situation and order, differing 

 amounts of vacuum and solid ; but a simple vacuum 

 with solid bodies is not sufficient, there must be a 

 certain matter through which the latter cohere together. 4 

 Although all other determinations may be abstracted 

 from, figure at least must be predicated of the atoms ; 

 quantity cannot be asserted of that which is thought to 

 be unfigured. These determinations of the minimum, 

 though not given to sense, may nevertheless be made 



1 De Mm. i. ch. 8. 8 Ch. n. p. 176. 



3 Ch. 12. 4 Ch. 2. p. 140. 



