Another collection of philosophical conferences of the French virtuosi upon questions of all sorts for the improving of natural knowledg made in the assembly of the Beaux Esprits at Paris by the most ingenious persons of that nation / render'd into English by G. Havers, Gent. & J. Davies ..., Gent.

CONFERENCE CCXXX. Of Atoms. (Book 230)

IT is a Truth not question'd by any of the Philosophers, what Sect soever they were of, that there must be certain Princi∣ples, whereof Natural Bodies consist. Their Generation and Corruption confirm it; since that according to the former, there being not any thing made of nothing; and according to the latter, it being not imaginable that any thing can be reduc'd to nothing, there must be some first Principles, from which, primarily, and of themselves natural things do proceed, and whereto they are at last resolv'd. But it hath not yet been fully decided, to what this prerogative is to be granted. Heraclitus would bestow it on Fire; Anaximenes on the Air; Pherecydes, to the Earth; Thales, on the Water; Xenophanes, on the two latter, joyntly; Hippon, on Fire and Water; Parmenides on Fire and Earth; Empedocles, and most of the other Naturalists, on those four Elements toge∣ther; which yet, as some affirmed, could not execute the function of Principles without the assistance of other Superiours, such as Hesiod maintains to be Chaos and Love; Antiphanes, Silence and Voice; the Chaldaeans, Light and Darkness; the Mathematicians, Numbers, and among others the Tetrad, which the Pythagoreans affirm to be the source of all things; the Peri∣pateticks Matter, Form, and Privation; Anaxagoras, the Simi∣lar Parts; and Democritus, his Atoms, so called by reason of their smalness, which renders them invisible, and incapable of being distinguish'd and divided into other lesser Particles, though they have quantity, and are of so great a bulk as to be thereby distinguish'd from a Mathematical Point, which hath not any; as being defin'd to be what hath not any part, and what is so im∣perceptible and small, that it can hardly fall under our External Senses, but is only perceivable by reason. The same thing may also be said of the other qualities of these Atoms, which Epicurus, who receiv'd them from Democritus, as he had the knowledge of them from Leucippus; and he again from one Moschus, Phoenician, who liv'd before the Trojan Warr, made it not so much his busi∣ness to lay them down for the first Causes and general Principles of Natural Things, as to take away the four common Elements, since he does not deny but that these are constitutive parts of the world, and whatever is comprehended therein. But his main work is to maintain, that they not the first seeds and immediate Principles thereof, as consisting themselves of Atoms or little Bodies so subtile and small, that they cannot be broken or made

less, and being the most simple and next pieces, whereof mixt bodies are made up, and whereto they are afterwards reducible by dissolution, there is some reason to give them the denomina∣tion of the first material and sensible principles of natural bo∣dies.

The Second said, That if these Atoms be allow'd to be the principles of natural bodies, these last will be absolutely un∣known to us, as being made, up of infinite principles, which be∣ing incapable of falling under our knowledge, it will be im∣possible for us to come to that of the mixt bodies which are to consist of them. Whence it will follow, that though the Atoms should be such as the Philosophers would perswade us they are, yet would not our Understanding, which cannot comprehend any thing but what is finite, be ever the more satisfy'd, since it would not be able to conceive them, nor consequently the things which should be produc'd of them. Nor is it to be imagin'd that those things would differ among themselves, since that, ac∣cording to their sentiment, those little chimerical bodies are not any way distinguish'd, but all of the like nature, and of the same substance.

The Third said, That though there be not any essential diffe∣rence in the Atoms, yet is it certain, That they make remark∣able diversity in the production of things, by the properties and different qualities that are in each of them, whereof there are two kinds, Common and Proper. The proper are, Largeness of Bulk, Figure, Motion, and Resistance; the common are, Con∣course, Connexion, Situation, and Order, which are generally competible to all Atoms, as the four others are proper and par∣ticular to them. Their bulk is not to be consider'd as if they had any considerable quantity; there being no Atom, how great soever it may be, but is infinitely less then the least body in the World, being for that reason so imperceptible, that it is impos∣sible for the sight to distinguish it. Yet does not that hinder but that they are bodies, and consequently have quantity, which is a property inseparable from bodies; as Mites, Hand-worms, and such other little Animals, which by their extreme litleness elude our sight, do nevertheless consist of diverse parts, miraculously discoverable by Magnifying-glasses, nay to the observance of Veins, Arteries, Nerves, and such like obscure parts, answe∣rable to those which reason obliges us to admit, though our senses cannot attain thereto. It being the property of figure to follow quantity, which it determinates and qualifies, it is ne∣cessary, that if the atoms are different as to bulk, they should be the same also as to figure: which being observable when bo∣dies are broken into great pieces, and those appearing with su∣perficies, angles, and points diversly figur'd, they must still re∣tain some figure even after they are pounded in a mortar in∣to small parcels and particles, though our senses by reason of their weakness, are not able to comprehend it. To the same

weakness it is to be attributed, that we are not able to discern the diversity of figures in grains of corn and other seeds, which seem to be in a manner alike, though they are not such, no more than the leaves of Trees and Plants. Nay even in Drops of wa∣ter and Eggs, though in appearance there is a likeness so great, that it is come into a Proverb; yet is there so remarkable a di∣versity, when it is strictly observ'd, that there were heretofore in the Island of Delos certain people so expert, that, among se∣veral Eggs, they would tell which had been laid by such or such a Hen. The hair of our heads (a thing, to some would seem incredible) have particular figures whereby they are distinguish'd one from another. The figures of Atoms are of that rank, as are also those of the Moats which are seen playing and dancing up and down in the beams of the Sun, when darted in at a nar∣row passage: for though they seem to be all round, yet exa∣min'd with that instrument which magnifies the species of things, we find in them an infinite number of other figures. In like manner is it requisite, that the Atoms should have the same dif∣ference of figures, that they may the more fitly concur to the mix∣ture and generation of Bodies. To that end, the maintainers of this opinion affirm, that some are round, some oval, some oblong, some pointed, some forked, some concave, some convex, some smooth and even, some rough and rugged, and of other such like figures, as well regular as irregular, in order to the diversi∣ty of their motions. Of these there are three kinds assigned; according to the first, the Atom moves downwards by its own weight; according to the second, it moves upwards; and according to the third, it moves indirectly and from one side to another. These two last are violent motions, but the first is natural to the Atom; to which Epicurus attributes a perpetual motion, which causing it to move incessantly towards the lowest place, it still makes that way of its own nature, till such time as in its progress it hath met with other Atoms, which coming to strike against it, if they are the stronger, they force it upwards, or of one side, ac∣cording to the part of it which had receiv'd the shock; and so clinging one to another, they make several mixtures, as, when they come to separate after their union, they are the causes of the corruption of mixt bodies. And these bodies have so much the more Resistance, which is the last property of these Atoms, the more dense and solid these last are; as on the contrary, when they are less dense and solid, by reason of the vacuity there is between their parts, the bodies consisting of them have so much the less vigour and force to oppose external injuries.

The Fourth said, That there is not any better instance, where∣by the nature of Atoms can be explicated then those little Motes, which move up and down the air of a Chamber, when the Sun∣beams come into it at some little hole or cranny. For from this very instance, which is so sensible, it may easily be concluded, not only that they are bodies, which have a certain bulk and

quantity, how little and indivisible soever it may be, but also that they are in continual motion, by means whereof, as those little corpuscula, or Motes, incessantly move and strike one against another, and are confusedly intermixt one among another; so the Atoms, by their perpetual agitation and con∣course, cause the mixtures and generations of all natural things. So that, all consider'd, it is as ridiculous on the other side to af∣firm, that they are only imaginary principles, because they are not seen, as to maintain, that those little Motes are not in the air, because they are not perceiv'd to be there in the absence of the Sun-beams, which we must confess renders them visible, but with this assurance, that they are nevertheless there, even when they are not discern'd to be there.

The Fifth said, That it is certain, there are abundance of bo∣dies in Nature, which are in a manner imperceptible to our sen∣ses, and yet must be granted to be real bodies, and consequently endow'd with length, breadth, profundity, solidity, and the other corporeal qualities. Such as these are, among others, the sen∣sible Species, which continually issue out of the Objects, and are not perceiv'd by the senses, but only so far as they are cor∣poreal and material, especially the Odours, exhaling from cer∣tain bodies, which after their departure thence, in process of time, decay and wither. Of this we have instance in Apples, and other Fruits, which grow wrinkled, proportionably to their being drain'd of those vaporous Atoms, (whereof they were at first full) which evaporate in a lesser or greater space of time, the more closely those little bodies stick one to another, or the more weakly they are joyned together. Nay, the intentional Species, how sublimated soever they be, by the defaecation made by the agent Intellect, are nevertheless bodies, as are also the Animal Spirits, which are charged therewith, and the vital and natural, whereby the former are cherish'd. In like manner, Light, the beams of the Sun and of other Stars, their Influen∣ces, their Magnetick Vertues, and other such Qualities, obser∣vable in an infinite number of things, between which there is a mutual inclination and correspondence, or antipathy, cannot be imagin'd to act otherwise then by the emission of certain little bodies; which being so small and subtile that they are incapable of further division, may with good reason be called the Ele∣ments and material Principles of all Bodies, since there is not any one but consists of them.

The Sixth said, That the concourse of these Atoms being ac∣cidental, if we may credit Epicurus, we cannot attribute thereto the causes of the generations happening in this World; inasmuch as an accidental cause not being able to produce a regular effect, such as is that of Nature in Generation, it is ridiculous to attri∣bute it rather to these Atoms, than to some other cause, which is such per se, and always regular in its operations, such as

is Nature her self. But what further discovers the absurdity of that opinion is this, that it thinks it not enough to refer the di∣versity of the other effects, which are observ'd in all natural bo∣dies, to that of the Atoms, whereof they consist; but pretends also by their means, to give an account of that of our Spirits, which those Philosophers would represent unto us made of those orbicular atoms, and accordingly easily mov'd by reason of that round figure, and that those in whom it is most exact, are the most ingenious and inventive persons, as others are dull and blockish, because their Spirits have a lesser portion of those cir∣cular Atoms. But this speculation may be ranked among pure chimaera's, since that the functions of our Understanding, being absolutely spiritual and immaterial, have no dependence on the different constitutions of those little imaginary bodies; nay though there were any correspondence between them and the actions of our minds, their round figure would not be so much the cause of our vivacity, as might be the pointed or forked; as being more likely to penetrate into, and comprehend the most difficult things than the circular, which would only pass over them, without any fixt fastning on them.