of Water and watry Tinctures and Salts, and by Putrefaction return again
into watry Substances. And Water standing a few Days in the open Air,
yields a Tincture, which (like that of Malt) by standing longer yields a
Sediment and a Spirit, but before Putrefaction is fit Nourishment for
Animals and Vegetables. And among such various and strange
Transmutations, why may not Nature change Bodies into Light, and Light
into Bodies?
_Quest._ 31. Have not the small Particles of Bodies certain Powers,
Virtues, or Forces, by which they act at a distance, not only upon the
Rays of Light for reflecting, refracting, and inflecting them, but also
upon one another for producing a great Part of the Ph nomena of Nature?
For it's well known, that Bodies act one upon another by the Attractions
of Gravity, Magnetism, and Electricity; and these Instances shew the
Tenor and Course of Nature, and make it not improbable but that there
may be more attractive Powers than these. For Nature is very consonant
and conformable to her self. How these Attractions may be perform'd, I
do not here consider. What I call Attraction may be perform'd by
impulse, or by some other means unknown to me. I use that Word here to
signify only in general any Force by which Bodies tend towards one
another, whatsoever be the Cause. For we must learn from the Ph nomena
of Nature what Bodies attract one another, and what are the Laws and
Properties of the Attraction, before we enquire the Cause by which the
Attraction is perform'd. The Attractions of Gravity, Magnetism, and
Electricity, reach to very sensible distances, and so have been observed
by vulgar Eyes, and there may be others which reach to so small
distances as hitherto escape Observation; and perhaps electrical
Attraction may reach to such small distances, even without being excited
by Friction.
For when Salt of Tartar runs _per Deliquium_, is not this done by an
Attraction between the Particles of the Salt of Tartar, and the
Particles of the Water which float in the Air in the form of Vapours?
And why does not common Salt, or Salt-petre, or Vitriol, run _per
Deliquium_, but for want of such an Attraction? Or why does not Salt of
Tartar draw more Water out of the Air than in a certain Proportion to
its quantity, but for want of an attractive Force after it is satiated
with Water? And whence is it but from this attractive Power that Water
which alone distils with a gentle luke-warm Heat, will not distil from
Salt of Tartar without a great Heat? And is it not from the like
215