64 



wonders of light and electricity. In other places should 

 observe her sketching the out-lines of a plant or animal. 

 Astonished at the sight of this admirable work \ve should 

 never be weary of contemplating the infinite diversity of 

 preparations, combinations, and motions, by which it is 

 insensibly brought to its perfection. 



Ye celestial spirits who assisted at the creation of our 

 world, you enjoy these pleasures! Being more favoured 

 than us by the MASTER of nature, you penetrate into 

 what escapes our notice, and see with what difficulty we 

 creep from one truth to another, as we observe the ef- 

 forts of an ape to imitate a man. 



2. Observe three principal kinds of compositions in 

 terrestrial bodies. 1 That of fluids. 2. That of rude 

 or un-organized solids. 3. That of organized solids. 



The first genus, which is the most simple, seems to 

 consist in a bare\:ontact of homogeneous particles, which 

 tend towards each other ; but the least force divides 

 them. 



The second, which is more compounded, is formed of 

 the union of different particles into a solid mass] 



The third, still more compounded, is formed of the 

 intermixture of an infinite number of parts, some fluid, 

 and others solid. 



3. The small resistance which fluids make to the 

 force that divides them, their inclination to a level, the 

 quickness and ease wherewith they move, penetrate, 

 and separate solids, serve to indicate that they are of all 

 bodies the most simple, subtle and active. 



Fire seems to be a fluid which unites these qualities 

 in the most eminent degree. It is evident from a num- 

 ber of experiments, and particularly from those made by 

 electricity, that fire is a fluid diffused into all bodies, in 

 various proportions. Sometimes it barely nils their 



