Matter and Motion. 21 



f perpetual motion. When the attractive 

 force is strongest, the body continues in a 

 state of solidity ; but if, on the contrary, 

 heat has so far removed the particles of it, 

 as to place them beyond the sphere of at- 

 traction they lose their adhesion, and the 

 body becomes fluid. Water, when cooled 

 below 32 degrees of Fahrenheit's ther- 

 mometer, becomes solid, and is called 

 ice. Above that temperature, its parti- 

 cles not being held together, it becomes 

 liquid ; but when raised to 212 degrees, 

 its particles give way to the repulsive 

 power of fire, and, flying off, assume an 

 aeriform state, called steam ; the same 

 may be affirmed of all bodies in nature, 

 for even diamonds, the hardest substance 

 we know, are capable of being dispersed 

 by a common culinary fire* 



It may therefore be considered as an 

 axiom, that all bodies are capable in cer- 

 tain circumstances, of the three states of 

 !$gtidity\ fluidity^ and gas. 



The atoms of which bodies are formed, 

 are concealed from us by their minute- 

 ness, and though they are the active parts 

 of matter, and the great instruments of 

 Bature,on which depend all its operations* 

 B2 



