LIFE of Dr BUTTON. 



7d 



ing transformations which he effects, his fuccefs in analyzing al- 

 moit all bodies, and in reproducing fo many, feem to promife 

 that he mall one day difcover the effence of a fubftance which 

 he has fo thoroughly fubdued ; that he mall be able to bind 

 Proteus in his cave, and finally extort from him the fecret 

 of his birth ; in a word, that he ihall find out what matter is, 

 of what elements it is compofed, and what are the properties ef- 

 fential to its exiftence. 



In entering upon this new inquiry, Dr Mutton was forcibly 

 {truck with the very juft reflection, That we do by no means ex- 

 plain the nature of body, when we defcribe it as made up of 

 finall particles ; becaufe if we allow to thefe particles any magni- 

 tude whatfoever, we do no more than affirm that great bodies 

 are made up of fmall ones. The elements of body muft, there- 

 fore, be admitted to be fomething unextended. To thefe unex- 

 tended elements, DrHuTTON gave the name of matter, and 

 carefully diftinguifhed between that term and the term body, 

 which he applied only to thofe combinations of matter that are 

 necefTarily conceived to poffefs impenetrability, extenfion and 

 inertia. 



The moft accurate examination of the properties of body con- 

 firms the truth of the opinion, that it is compofed of unextended. 

 elements. Bodies may be compreffed into fmaller dimenfions ; 

 many by the application of mechanical force, and all by the dimi- 

 nution of their heat : nor is there any limit to this compreflion, or 

 any point beyond which the farther reduction of volume becomes 

 impoffible. This holds of fubftances the moft compact, as well 

 as the moft volatile and elaftic, and clearly evinces that the ele- 

 ments of body are not in contact: with one another, and that in 

 reality we perceive nothing in body but the exiftence of certain 

 powers or forces, acting with various intenfities, and in various 

 directions. Thus the fuppofed impenetrability, and of courfe 

 the extenfion of body, is nothing elfe than the effort of a refift- 



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