DIV 
ntcessai-y, he might descend again and pur- 
sue his course. 
The projector found some time and at- 
tention to be requisite for the gradual in- 
struction of this operator, and after various 
attempts he found one on whom he tliought 
he could depend. He sent this man from 
New York to a 50 gun ship, lying not far 
from Governor’s island. He went under 
the ship, and attempted to fix the wood 
screw in her bottom, but struck, as he sup- 
posed, a bar of iron, which passes from the 
rudder-hinge, and is spiked under the ship’s 
quarter. Had he removed a few inches, 
which he might have done without rowing, 
the projector has no doubt but he might 
have found wood, wdiere he might have fix- 
ed the screw; or, if the ship were sheatlied 
with copper, he might easily have pierced 
it ; but not being well skilled in the ma- 
nagement of the vessel, in attempting to 
row to another place he lost the ship ; after 
seeking her in vain some time, he rowed to 
some distance, and rose to the surface of 
the water, but found day-light had advanced 
60 far that he durst not renew the attempt. 
He says he could easily have fastened the 
magazine under the stern of the ship above 
the water, as he rowed up to the stern and 
touched it before he descended. Had he 
fixed it there, the explosion of 150 pounds 
of powder (the quantity contained in the 
magazine) must have been fatal to the 
ship, in his return from the ship to New 
York, he passed near .Governor’s island, 
and thought he was discovered by the ene- 
my on the island; being in haste to avoid 
the danger he feared, he cast oft’ the maga- 
zine, as he imagined it retarded him in the 
swell, which was very considerable. After 
the magazine had been cast off an hour, the 
time the internal apparatus was set to run, 
it blew up w'ith great violence. 
Mr. Bushnell made some oiher trials, 
-which may be seen on consulting the ori- 
ginal, or Nicholson’s Journal, quai’to, iv, 
229. 
DIVINITY, properly signifies the na- 
ture, quality, and essence of the true God_ 
DIVISIBILITY, that property by whicli 
the particles of matter in all bodies are 
capable of a separation, or disunion from 
each other. 
As it is evident that body is extended, 
so it is no less evident that it is divisible ; 
for since no two particles of matter can 
exist in the same place, it follows, that 
they are really distinct from each other, 
which is all that is meant by being divisi- 
DIV 
ble. In this sense the least conceivable 
particle must still be divisible, since it will 
consist of parts which will be really dis- 
tinct. To illustrate this by a familiar in- 
stance, let the least imaginable piece of 
matter be conceived lying on a smooth 
plain surface, it is evident the surface wall 
not touch it every where : those parts, 
therefore, which it does not touch, may be 
supposed separable from the others, and so 
on, as far as we please ; and this is all that 
is meant when we say matter is infinitely 
divisible. 
The infinite divisibility of mathematical 
quantity is demonstrated thus geometrically. 
Suppose the line A D (Plate Miscel. tig. 7) 
perpendicular to B F, and another, as G H, 
at a small distance from it, also perpendi- 
cular to the same line ; with the centres 
C, C, C, &c. describes circles cutting the 
line G H in the points e, e, e, kc. Now 
the greater the radius AC is, the less is 
the part e H. But the radius may be aug- 
mented in infinitum, so long therefore, the 
part e H may be divided into still less por- 
tions, consequently it may be divided in 
infinitam. 
All that is supposed in strict geometry, 
(says Mr. Maclaurin) concerning the divi- 
sibility of magnitude, amounts to no more 
th-dii that a given magnitude may be con- 
ceived to be divided into a number of parts, 
equal to any given or proposed number. 
It is true, that the number of parts into 
which a given magnitude may be conceived 
to be divided, is not to be fixed or limited, 
because no given number is so great but a 
greater may be conceived and assigned : 
but there is not, therefore, any necessity 
of supposing the number of parts actually 
infinite ; and if some have drawn very ab- 
surd consequences from such a supposition, 
yet geometry ought not to be loaded with 
feem. 
Thus far we have shown that extension 
may be divided into an unlimited number 
of parts ; but with reSpect to the limits 
of the divisibility of matter itself, we are 
perfectly in the dark. We can indeed 
divide certain bodies into surinizingly fine 
and numerous particles, and the works of 
nature offer many fluids and solids of won- 
derful tenuity; but both our efforts, and 
those naturally small objects, advance a 
very short way towards infinity. Ignorant 
of the intimate nature of matter, we cannot 
assert whether it may be capable of infinite 
division, or whether it ultimately consists 
of particles of a certain size, and of perfect 
