pennyweight 3 grains; air and fire are far more rarefied, and less materiate, and of no weight at all. Now form does not increase matter. The question is therefore, how it is possible from a body of 2 pennyweights, together with others far more rarefied, to educe by form a body which in an equal dimension weighs 20 pennyweights. There are two ways of escaping the difficulty. It may be said, first, that the more rarefied elements press the denser into a greater density than that of the simple element; secondly, that the Peripatetics do not understand this of common but of elementary earth, which is heavier than any compound substance. But for the first, fire and air do not condense except by accident, as shall be shown in its proper place. And for the second, that earth which should be heavier than gold and everything else, is so situated as to be scarce available for mixture. It would be better therefore that they should give up trifling, and that the dictatorship should cease. 3. The series or scale of closeness in matter should be carefully observed; and how it passes from a greater to a lesser; and that sometimes by steps, sometimes by jumps. For this speculation is useful, both for judgment and practice. This closeness is greatest in metallic and subterraneous bodies; so that of the 32 parts they possess 12; such being the distance between gold and pewter. In this descent there is a great leap from gold and quicksilver to lead; but a gradual incline from lead to tin. Again, there is a great leap from metals to stones, except that the magnet intervenes, which is thereby proved to be a metallic stone. But from stones to the other bodies down to the very light est the descent is very gradual and continuous. Injunctions, 1. The source of density being as it seems in the depth of the earth, so that towards its surface bodies are extremely extenuated, it is worthy of remark that gold (which is the heaviest of metals) is yet sometimes found in the sands and deposits of rivers, and that nearly in a pure state. Careful inquiry should therefore be made as to the situation of such places; whether they do not lie at the foot of mountains, the roots and foundations whereof may be compared with the deepest mines, and whether gold be not washed away from thence; or what it is that produces such a condensation so near the surface of the earth. 2. There should be an inquiry touching mines in general; which kinds are usually the deeper, and which nearer the surface of the earth; in what regions and in what soils they are formed; how they are with reference to water; but most of all in what beds they lie; and with what stones or other fossils they are surrounded or mixed. In short, everything pertaining to them should be examined, to discover by what means the juices and spirits of the earth are united or compressed into that metallic condensation, which so far exceeds all others. Observations. 4. There is no doubt but that both in vegetables and likewise in the parts of animals there are many bodies to be found far lighter than fir wood. For the down of some plants, the wings of flies, the slough of snakes, and also various artificial productions, as tender rose-leaves remaining after distillation, and the like, are (as I conceive) lighter than the lightest woods. 5. That idea to which the human mind is prone, namely, that hard bodies are the densest, is to be checked and corrected. For quicksilver is a fluid, gold and lead are soft; yet these are denser and heavier than the hardest metals (iron and brass), and much more so than stones. 6. In the Table there are many unexpected results. For instance, that metals are so much heavier than stones; that glass (a refined body) is heavier than crystal (a congealed body); that common earth has so little weight; that the distilled oils of vitriol and sulphur are nearly as heavy as the raw substances; that there is so little difference between the weight of water and wine; that chemical oils (which would seem to be more fine and subtle) are heavier than expressed oils; that bone is so much heavier than horn and teeth; and many other things of a similar character. Injunction. 3. The nature of Dense and Rare, though it pervades nearly all other natures without being subject to their laws, appears only to have a great agreement with Heavy and Light. But I suspect that it has likewise something in common with the slow and quick reception and rejection of heat and cold. Make experiment therefore whether rare bodies do not admit and lose heat or cold more quickly than dense ones. And try this in gold, lead, stone, wood, and the like; but do it with the same degree of heat, and with the same quantity, and figure of body. Reminders concerning Practice. 1. All mixture of bodies may be detected and disclosed by means of the Table and Weights. For if you wish to find how much water is mixed with wine, or how much lead with gold, and the like; weigh the mixture, and then consult the Table of specific gravities. The mean proportion of the compound compared with the simples will give the quantity of the mixture. I suppose this was the eupηka of Archimedes; but at any rate the thing is so. 2. The manufacture of gold, or the transmutation of metals into gold, is to be much doubted of. For of all bodies gold is the heaviest and densest, and therefore to turn anything else into gold there must needs be condensation. But condensation (especially in very materiate bodies, as metals are) can scarce be superinduced by us men who live on the surface of the earth. For most condensations by fire are pseudo-condensations with respect to the entire body (as will afterwards appear); that is, they condense bodies in certain of their parts, but not in the whole. 3. But the conversion of quicksilver or lead into silver (which is rarer than either of them) is a thing. to be hoped for; since it only implies fixation, and some other things, but not condensation. 4. Notwithstanding if quicksilver, lead, or any other metal could be turned into gold, so far as to have all the other properties thereof except weight; that is, if they could be made more fixed, more malleable, more ductile, more durable, less subject to rust, brighter, yellower, and the like; it would doubtless be both profitable and useful, even though they did not acquire the weight of gold. Observation. 7. There is nothing heavier than gold; and up to this time no invention has been discovered to make pure gold heavier by art. It has been remarked however that lead increases both in bulk and weight, especially if it be stored in cellars under ground, where things soon gather rust. This has been principally detected in stone statues, whose feet were fastened with leaden bands. For these bands have been found to swell; so that portions of them hung from the stones like warts. But whether this were an increase of the lead, or a sprouting of vitriol, should be more fully inquired. The History. A TABLE OF THE BULK OF MATTER WITHIN A GIVEN SPACE OR DIMENSION IN THE SAME BODIES WHOLE AND POW |
