xvin INTRODUCTION TO THE 



BRUCKER and. his tranflator EN FIELD, as well as in the poem of LU-* 

 CRETIUS, who has confefTedly attempted a poetical difplay of thefe 

 very doctrines. A general view* comprifing a mere (ketch of the fyf- 

 tem of this .A.Mi$eutl6$ or felf-taught man, as he called himfelf as far 

 as connected with the prefent fubject, is all 1 fhall offer here. An 

 Epicurean would explain himfelf thus : '* It is clear, from the chang- 

 " es which natural bodies undergo, that there is a perpetual formation 

 " and deftruclion of them going on ; there muft then exift matter of 

 " which thefe things are formed, and into which they are refolved ; 

 <; and hence proceeds the concludes which is the ground-work of the 

 " fyftem, that a thing can neither be made out of nothing, nor reduced 

 " to nothing. " Nuilam rem e. nlhilo ,'tgm druinitus unquam" The 

 * c univerfe, therefore, as to its conftituent atoms or particles, was al- 

 " ways as it is at prefent ; and confequently matter is eternal The 

 " workman cannot perform any thing without materials ; and thefe 

 ** feif-exiftent materials, in the decay and renovation they undergo, ac- 

 " count for the phenomena of nature and of art. If things were ere- 

 ** ated out of nothing, then every kind mould proceed from each, and 

 u the greateft irregularity enfue ; men mould be produced in the fea, 

 " fifties on the land, and cattle in the clouds ; generation would be ufe- 

 " lefs, and food unneceflary : if they returned to nothing, then, in the 

 *' courfe of pall ages s through wafte, confumption, and lofs, much 

 " muft have vanimed tonon-exiftence, and have been completely anni- 

 " hilated But neither of thefe fuppofitions is true, iince out of the 

 " wreck or ruin of one being or exigence, nature s we know, without an 

 " act of creation or annihilation, can work up the old materials into a 

 " new fabric. 



" All exigences in nature are referable to two kinds, I. Bodies ; 

 " and, 2. The mane^ or void in which they exift. 



" Our fenfes fatisfy us of the exiftence of bodies, as alfo do their 

 (i actions, paflions, and refilling powers ; particularly as they operate 

 * s upon each other, and upon our touch : 



" Tangere enim et tangi nifi corpus nulla poteft res." LUCRF/I*. 

 " For nothing but a body can touch or be touched" 



" From the exiftence and monon of bodies is inferred the exiftence 

 " of fpace ; and the effect of bodies operating upon each other is de~ 

 <c nominated " an event ;' 7 and if there was not a 'void there would not 

 <c be a pofnbllity of motion ; for if a plenum exifted, then every portion 

 " of fpace being clofely impacted and wedged with folidity, the mod 

 " uniform reft and dead flilnefs would pervade the whole of nature. 



" As to bodies, they either confid of elementary atoms, or of fub- 

 " fiances formed from thefe ; and thefe primordial particles, notwith- 

 " {landing fome appearances to the contrary, are fimpic, foiid, and 

 iS indivifible. 



Sunt igitur folida, ac fine inani corpora prima." LUCHET, 

 " Therefore elementary bodies are folid and deftitute of vacuity.'* 



All 



