THE WORK OF AIR AND WATER 



saying that "Nature abhors a vacuum." This expla- 

 nation, which of course amounts to no explanation 

 at all, is fairly illustrative of the method of metaphysical 

 word-juggling that served so largely among the earlier 

 philosophers in explanation of the mysteries of physical 

 science. 



The real explanation of the phenomena of suction 

 was not arrived at until the revival of learning in the 

 seventeenth century. Then Torricelli, the pupil of 

 Galileo, demonstrated that the word suction, as com- 

 monly applied, had no proper application; and that 

 the phenomena hitherto ascribed to it were really due 

 to the pressure of the atmosphere. A vacuum is 

 merely an enclosed space deprived of air, and the "ab- 

 horrence" that Nature shows to such a space is due 

 to the fact that air has weight and presses in every 

 direction, and hence tends to invade every space to 

 which it can gain access. It was presently discovered 

 that if the inverted tube in which the water stands 

 was made high enough, the water will no longer fill it, 

 but will sink to a certain level. The height at which 

 it will stand is about thirty feet; above that height a 

 vacuum will be formed, which, for some reason, Nature 

 seems not to abhor. The reason is that the weight 

 of any given column of water about thirty feet in height 

 is just balanced by the weight of a corresponding column 

 of atmosphere. The experiments that gave the proof 

 of this were made by the famous Englishman, Boyle. 

 He showed that if the heavy liquid, mercury, is used 

 in place of water, then the suspended column will be 



only about thirty inches in height. The weight or 

 VOL. vn. 5 [65] 



