( 776 ) 
!bap§ theymay conduce more to the PAjr/f^^/fWy of the Grand 
Syfiem of theWfifld, than at firft one would fufpeft. And that 
I may leave you and your Ingenious Friends the greater op- 
portunity and freedom to exercifc their Sagacity on thefc 
PhAnomenA^ l have purpofely for born to engage in Specula- 
tive Difcourfes upon thera, contenting my felf to have faith- 
fully recited Matter of faft, and thercbf to have fprung game 
for thofc that have more leifure and liability to flieat it. 
—What has been faid about the Pores of Liquors, vs\vf be fome- 
what illuftrated or confirmed , if I fub;oyn to it fome of the 
Trials I have made about the Surfaces cf Fluids contigugm t$ 
^ther Fluids^ For this being ^ for ought I know , aneglefled 
Subjeft, andthe little that has been taken noticeof about it, ^ 
confiding of a few flight and cafual Obfervations , that feem to 
have been rather prellnted to us, not ta fay obtruded upon us, 
itban defignedly made by us ; I many years ago thought, it 
might be worth while to fpend fome hours upon Experiments 
of this fort: Which I wasefpccially induc'd todo, becaufe 
I thit^k, one may, probably enough fuppofe, that in the Tra^ of 
. tibe Univerfe that is yet known to^us, there is not the hundredth, 
perhaps not the thoufandth, part, that is form*d into Solid 
Bodies, fuch as the Earth, the Moon, and the other Planets ; 
and confcquently all the reft is made up of Celeflial, Fluids 
and the Atmofpheres of Solid Globes, which,for ought we 
know, though not manifcftly differing in tranfparency, may be 
difterminated by diftinft Surfaces. So that, to obferveand 
confider the effefis of the congruity and incongruity , that 
Liquors, or fuch fluid Bodies, as dircftly or otherwifefall 
under fenfible Obfervation, have, when they are contiguous to 
one another , or to the furfaces of Solid Bodies , may not only 
improve what is yet known about the Afcenfion of Liquors 
in fmall Pipes, but may perchance ferve to illuftrate the for- 
jivationof thofe great Mafles of Matter, of which ihe Divine 
Architcft has framM the Mundane Globes , and fome other con- 
fiderable parts of the Univerfe , efpecially if we admit the 
C4r^^j?4;iHypothefis, lhii$ theSm,and aU the Fixt Surs arc 
Fluid Bodies. 
TheCaufe,why Water in narrow Pipes afcends above the 
level of the furroundingwater^ having been already enquired 
into by fome Ingenious men> and particularly by Mr. HopJie , I 
flial] 
