A Ol l M OK6AWM. 



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can do but little towards producing constant density, (since bodies 

 recoil,) but which may yet, perhaps, be of use as an auxiliary. The 

 second is brought about by contraction of the grosser parts in any 

 body after the evaporation or escape of the finer, as happens in 

 hardening by fire, in the repeated qucnchings of metals, and the like. 

 The third is brought about by the coming together in any body of the 

 homogeneous parts, which are most solid, and which were before dis 

 persed, and mixed up with those that are less solid ; as in the restora 

 tion of sublimed mercury, which, in a state of powder, occupies a far 

 greater space than as simple mercury ; and similarly in every purifica 

 tion of metals fiom their dross. The fourth is brought about by 

 sympathy, by applying substances which condense by some hidden 

 power of their own : a sympathy which has as yet shown itself but 

 seldom ; which is not to be wondered at, since, before we succeed in 

 discovering Forms and Structures, we cannot hope much from inquiry 

 into sympathies. As regards the bodies of animals, certainly there is 

 no doubt that there are many media, of internal as well as external 

 application, which condense, as it were, by sympathy, as we have said 

 a little above. But with inanimate substances any operation of this 

 kind is rare. There is prevalent, indeed, both in books and in common 

 talk, a report of a tree in one of the Terccry or Canary Islands (I do 

 not exactly remember which) which is continually dropping, so as to 

 supply the inhabitants with a certain quantity of water. And Para 

 celsus says that the herb called Sundew is at noon, and in a burning 

 sun, filled with dew, while all the other herbs round it are dry. But 

 we think both of these accounts fabulous. If they were true, these 

 instances would be most valuable, and worthy of examination. Nor 

 do we think that those honeydews, like manna, which arc found 

 on the leaves of the oak in May, arc formed and condensed by any 

 sympathy or peculiar property in the leaves of the oak ; but that 

 while they fall equally on the leaves of other trees, they are retained 

 and remain on those of the oak, because these arc compact, and not 

 spongy, as most other leaves are. 



Of heat, man has indeed abundant store at his command ; but 

 observation and inquiry are wanting on some points, and those the 

 most necessary, however the alchemists may boast. For the results 

 of intense heat are sought out and reviewed ; but those of a gentler 

 kind, which fall in most with the ways of Nature, are not explored, 

 and are therefore unknown. And therefore we see that by those heats 

 which are most used, the spirits of bodies arc greatly exalted, as in 

 the case of strong waters and some other chemical oils ; the tangible 

 parts are indurated, and, the volatile being discharged, sometimes 

 fixed ; the homogeneous parts are separated, and heterogeneous 

 bodies are in a coarse way incorporated and mixed up ; above all, the 

 connections of corporate bodies and their more subtle structures arc 

 broken down and thrown into confusion. Whereas the operations of 

 a gentler heat ought to have been tried and investigated, whence the 

 more subtle mixtures and regular configurations might be generated 

 and educed, after the example of Nature, and in imitation of the 



