48 



and to another rough, but u that we ought not 

 thence to conclude that the wind is in itself hot and 

 cold at the same time, but to say with Protagoras, 

 that he who is hot, feels it hot," c. 



11. I now come to Epicurus, whose doctrine is 

 explained with the greatest exactness by Plutarch, 

 but above all by Diogenes Laertius. This philo- 

 sopher, admitting the principles of Democritus, hath 

 thence deduced the most natural consequences : " that 

 atoms are all of the same nature, and differ only in 

 figure, magnitude, and weight, and that in the con. 

 stitution of every thing, they bear some affinity to 

 its principal properties, such as roundness, bulk, 

 &c. For colour, says he, cold and heat, and the 

 other sensible qualities, are not inherent in the atoms, 

 but the result of their assemblage, and the difference 

 between them flows from the diversity of their size^ 

 figure, and arrangement, insomuch that any numbec 

 of atoms in one disposition, creates one sort of sen. 

 sation, and in another, another; but their own pri- 

 mary nature remains always the same, because being 

 solid and uncompounded, no parts transpire, other. 

 wise nature would not be in the main fixed and sta- 

 ble, and it is from the permanency of the proper* 

 ties essential to atoms of matter, that the different 

 sensations arise, which the same objects produce in 

 animals of different species, and in men of different 

 constitutions, for each have in the organs of sight, 

 hearing, and the other senses, an innumerable mul- 

 titude of pores differently sized aiid situated, these 

 are variously adapted and proportioned for the re- 

 ception of the small corpuscles, which easily insi- 

 nuate themselves into some, and with difficulty into 

 others, (according to the analogy between them and 

 the pores, and the variety ef contexture in the parts) 

 and of course must produce different impressions." 



12. So that the senses do not deceive us, for they 

 are not judges of the nature of things ; but serve 



