6o "The Wisdom of GOD Parti. 



Stones. I fliould therefore, with Dr. Grew, and 

 others, rather attribute the various Species of 

 inanimate Bodies to the divers Figures of the 

 minute Particles of vs^hich they are made up : 

 And the Reafon w^hy there is a Set, and con- 

 ftant Number, of them in the World, none de- 

 ftroy'd, nor any new ones produc'd, I take to be, 

 becaufe the Sum of the Figures of thofe minute 

 Bodies into which Matter was at firft divided, 

 is determinate and iix'd. 2. Becaufe thofe mi- 

 mute Parts are indivifible, not abfolutely, but by 

 any natural Force ; fo that there neither is, nor 

 can be, more or fewer of them : For were they 

 divifible into fmall and diverfly-figur*d Parts by 

 Fire, or any other natural Agent, the Species of 

 Nature muft be confounded, fome might be loft 

 and deftroy'd, but new ones would certainly 

 be produc'd ; unlefs we could fuppofe thefe new 

 diminutive Particles fliould again aflemble and 

 marfhal themfelves into Corpufcles of fuch 

 Figures as they compounded before ; which I 

 fee no Poffibility for them to do, without fome 

 ©«c^ dirh iJinyJia; to dired: them : Not that I think 

 thefe inanimate Bodies to confift wholly of one 

 Sort o? Atoms, but that4:heir Bulk confifts main- 

 ly or chiefly of one Sort. But whereas it may 

 be objedled that Metals (which of all others 

 feem to be moft fimple) may be tranfmuted one 

 into another, and fo the Species doth not de- 

 pend upon the being compounded of Atoms of 

 one Figure ; I anfwer, I am not fully fatisfied 

 of the Matter of Fad:: But if any fuch Tranf- 

 mutation be, poflibly all Metals may be of one 



Species, 



