WAT 
can hardly be funk underWater 5 and indeed, to make 
air fink, there mufi be a weight added to it that fhali 
exceed the weight of the Water as much, and fome- 
thing more, than that of the Water exceeds that of 
the air. 
Hence it comes to pafs, that Water eafily fupports 
wood, and vaft Ihips fraught with the heavieft cargo ; 
for the weight alone will never fink them, unlefs the 
goods and vefiel together fhould make up a weight 
which exceeds that of Water ; and as fait Water is 
heavier than frefh, it bears a greater weight. 
Thofe things which are heavier than Water, as ftones, 
metals, &c. when they are thrown into it, go ftrait 
down to the bottom ; and as their weight is greater, 
by lo much the quicker ; while other bodies, which, 
are of the fame weight with the Water, neither float on 
the furface, nor fink quite down, but remain fufpended 
between the top and bottom, as is feen in the carcafes 
of animals. 
6. Water is infipid, and without fmell. The reafon is, 
becaufe its flexible parts flip gently over the tongue, 
and are not fharp enough to prick the nerves, and af- 
febt the tafte •, but this is to be underftood of pure Wa- 
ter, void of all kind of fait, fuch as diftilled Water is, 
and next, that of rain ; for the moll wholefome foun- 
tain Water commonly derives a faltnefs from the earth; 
though in this place are not meant medicinal fountain 
AVaters, the tafte of which is more acute, but fuch 
Water as is ufually drank. 
And that it is without fmell ; the purer any Water is, 
the lefs fmell it has ; for the reafon why the particles 
do not prick the tongue, is the reafon why they do 
not afleft the fmell. The flexibility and lmoothnefs 
of Water is fuch, that they cannot pierce the olfaftory 
nerves ; for fome fountain Water has indeed fome 
fmell, but then it is a fign that it is not pure. 
7. Water is fubjed to putrify, according as the place 
is where it is kept. Water will stow thick and ftink- 
ing by heat and reft, as we find it does in ponds and 
marfiies, and in clofe vefiels ; but here it ought to be 
remembered, that this is what was fpoken of before, 
as fuch Water is not pure, for unmixed Water cannot 
putrify. This is proved, 
Firft, by diftilled Water, which may be kept very 
long without putrefadion. 
Secondly, in rain Water, which is caught in clean 
vefiels, and prefen tly flopped up clofe, and buried un- 
der ground, which is kept many years in countries 
where they want fountains. This fhews that the caufe 
of putrefadion is not in the Water itfelf, but in other 
things that are mingled with it ; becaufe pure Water, 
fuch as is diftilled, or comes from the clouds, keeps 
fiweet for a great while ; but then thofe vefiels in 
which fuch Water is kept, muft be fo well flopped, 
that the leaft fly may not get into them ; and they 
muft be made of fuch fluff as will not corrupt, fuch 
as glafs or clay. 
But as for ftanding Water, in ponds or marfhes, that 
is corrupted two ways : 
1. By the nature of the foil, which often abounds with 
no i fome fulphur, whereby the Water is impregnated, 
and comes to fmell in warm weather, as it does at Am- 
fterdam, not only in the canals, but wherever the 
ground is opened for the foundations of houfes. 
This putrefadion is owing to the foil, and not to the 
Water. 
2. By the nafty things that are thrown into it, or bo- 
dies of infeds which die in it, as alfo by the eggs of 
flies, which are dropped about wherever they go, and 
breed worms. Water is corrupted in wooden vefiels, 
efpecially at fea, by the fulphureous parts of the wood, 
and by uncleanly things, as flies, eggs, &c. 
Water penetrates the pores of thofe bodies, whofe 
pores are wide enough to receive its particles ; thus 
it enters the pores of fugar and falts, fo as to feparate 
and quite difTolve their particles ; but it cannot get 
into the pores of ftones, or but a very little way ; fo 
that it only wets their furface, without diluting them ; 
hangs on the outfide of them, becaufe they are rough, 
and becaufe the extremities of their pores are open a 
little wav.' But fuch bodies* when they are wet, are 
foon dried in the air, becaufe the motion of the dry 
particles carries off the foft and fmooth ones of the 
Water. 
It is obfervable, that if bodies, rubbed over with oil 
or fat, be dipped in water, they get very little wet* 
becaufe the roughnefs of their furface, whereon the 
W ater fhould hang, is fmoothed, and made even by 
the fat, and the mouths of the pores are clofed up, 
fo that there is nothing left for the watery particles to 
hold by, and therefore they muft needs Aide off. 
Moft liquors are formed by the cohefion of particles 
of different figures, magnitudes, gravities, and at- 
tractive powers, fwimming in pure Water, or an aque- 
ous fluid, which feems to be the common bails of 
all. And the only reafon why there are fo many 
forts of Water differing from one another by different 
properties, is, that the corpufcles of falts and mine- 
rals, with which that dement is impregnated, are 
equally various. 
Wine is only Water impregnated with particles of 
Grapes, and beer is Water impregnated with particles 
of Barley, &c. All fpirits feem to be Water faturated 
with faline and fulphureous particles. 
And all liquors are more or lefs fluid, according to 
the greater or fmaller cohefion of the particles, which 
fwim in the aqueous fluid ; and there is hardly any 
fluid without any cohefion of particles, not even pure 
Water itfelf, as will appear from the bubbles, which 
will fometimes ftand on the furface of it as well as on 
that of fpirits, and other liquors. 
Water contributes much to the growth of bodies, in 
that it both renders and keeps the adtive principles 
fluid, fo that they are capable of being conveyed by 
circulation into the pores. 
The learned Dr. Halley has demonftrated, that if an 
atom of Water be expanded into a fhell or bubble, 
whofe diameter fhali be ten times as great as before, 
fuch an atom would be fuperficially lighter than the 
air, and will rife fo long as that flatus, or warm fpirit, 
which at firft feparated or raifed it horn the mafs of 
Water, fhali continue to diftend it to the fame degree •, 
but when that warmth declines, and the air grows 
cooler, and withal fpecifically lighter, thefe vapours 
will flop at a certain region of the air, or elfe defcend. 
Therefore, if it fhould be fuppofed, that the whole 
earth were covered with Water, and that the fun 
fhould make his diurnal courfe round it, as now he 
does, he is of opinion, that the air would be i mpreg- 
nated with a certain quantity of aqueous vapours, 
which it would retain in it, like falts diffolved in Wa- 
ter ; and that the fun in the day time warming the air, 
that part of the atmofphere would fuftain a greater 
proportion of vapours (as warm weather will hold 
more fait in it diffolved than cold) which by the ab- 
fence of the vapours at night would be difcharged in- 
to dews. 
And in this cafe he concludes, there could not be any 
diverllty of weather, other than periodically every 
year alike ; the mixture of all terreftrial, faline, and 
heterogeneous vapours here being excluded, which he 
judges to be, when varioufly compounded, and driven 
by winds, which are the caufes of thefe various feafons 
and changes of weather which we now find. 
But, inftead of fuppoflng an earth to be covered all 
over with Water, you fuppofe the fea interfperfed 
about wide and fpacious tratfts of land, and alfo di- 
vided by high ridges of mountains, fuch as the Alps, 
the Appenine, and the Pyrenean, in Europe ; the 
Caucafus, the Imaus, and the Taurus, in Afia ; the 
Mount Atlas, and the mountains of the Moon, in 
Africa; the Andes and Apalachian mountains, in Ame- 
rica ; each of which- furpaffes the ufual height, to 
which the aqueous vapours do of themfelves afcend, 
and on the tops of which the air is fo cold and rare- 
fied, as to retain but a- final! part of thefe vapours, 
which are brought thither by the winds: 
Then the vapours thus raifed from the fea, and carried 
by the winds over the low lands to thofe ridges of 
mountains, are there compelled by the fleams of the 
air. 
