The works of Francis Bacon, lord chancellor of England.

564 PHENOMENA OF THE UNIVERSE.
simply by themselves. For by this means a to ashes; it both loses a great part of its weight.
judgment may be formed respecting the difference and the ashes do not by a considerable proportion
of the bodies and concerning those connexions fill the measure of the wood.
and chains of their perfect nature which are the The method of pulverization has considerable
closest. But in the ratios of powders, we under- influence wMith respect to the opening or expanding
stand powders as compressed as possible. For this the body. For there is one ratio of powder which
conduces to their evenness, and does not suffer is produced by simple bruising or filing, another
accident. Mercury in the lump has in that ex- of that which is produced by distillation, as of
perimental measure on which the table proceeds, sublimate; another of that which is produced by
19 dwt. and 9 gr., but sublimated in powder, turning it, as it were, into rust by means of aqua
3 dwt. and 22 gr. fortes, and consumptions; another of' that which
Lead in the lump, 12 dwt. 1 gr., but in white is produced through fire, as cinders, calx. When
lead, in powder, 4 dwt. 82 gr. these, therefore, are under consideration, they will
Steel in the lump, 8 dwt. 10 gr., but in pre- not admit in any way of comparison.
pared powder, (such as is used in medicines,) 2 It is not my design to dwell longer on each
dwt. 9 gr. particular subject than is requisite in order to my
Crystal in the lump, 2 dwt. 18 gr., in powder, present undertaking; I cannot, however, refrain
I dwt. 20 gr. from intimating by the way such others as would
Red sandal in the lump, I dwt. 51 gr., in pow- facilitate it, though not absolutely demanded in
der, 16 gr. this place: especially I would propose that a
The owood of the oak in the lump, 19' gr., in table should be made of bodies with their pores,
ashes, I dwt. 2 gr. with each body with its powders, calcinations,
But that the ratios of powder pressed and not vitrifications, dissolutions, and distillations.
pressed may be the better understood, and that We leave to the proper history of weights the
according to the difference of the bodies, I have history of the variation of weights in individuals,
taken the weicht of roses in powder, since it that is, of the same body in the lump and in powcould not be taken into the table in the lump: ders, as of water in snow or ice, and the same
that gave in powder not pressed, 7 gr., in powder dissolved, of an egg raw and prepared for food,
pressed, 22 gr., but at the same time in the wood of of a fowl alive and dead.
the tried red sandal, red sandal in powder not
pressed, 10 gr., pressed, 16, so that powderof rose Observations.
is much lighter than that of sandal if not pressed,
heavier if pressed. I have also taken, as a supple- In more compact bodies the compactness of the
ment to the former table, the ratios of powder in parts is much closer than to admit of being
some examples from flowers, herbs, and seeds, equalled by any position or pressure of its pow(for the dimension of roots could not be cubic,) ders. And in proportion to the gravity and
for an example of the rest in their own species; solidity of bodies is the difference between the
and I find that the powder of rose-flower, as afore- whole bodies and their pores, as the ratio of
said, gives 22 gr., of sweet marjoram, 23, of quicksilver in a state of nature to quicksilver
sweet fennel, 1 dwt. 3 gr. I have taken also sublimated in powder is fivefold or more; the
in powders the weight of other bodies which ratios of steel and lead do not ascend to fourfold;
could not have been taken into the table, as of the ratios of crystal and sandal do not ascend to
white sand. This gave 1 dwt. 20 gr.; of common twofold.
salt, 1 dwt. 10 gr.; of sugar, 1 dwt. 22 gr.; of In lighter and porous bodies there is perhaps a
myrrh, 1 dwt.; of benjamin, 1 dwt. In this same looser position of the parts in the bodies in their
table you may see that sulphur, in the lump, yields whole state than in their compressed powders, as
2 dwt. 2 gr., in chymic oil, 1 dwt. 18 gr.; but in dry rose-leaves. And in bodies of this kind
vitriol in the body, I dwt. 22 gr., in oil, 1 dwt. there exists a greater difference between their
21 gr.; wine in the body, 1 dwt. 2 gr., and dis- powders pressed and not pressed.
tilled, 22 gr.; vinegar in the body, 1 dwt. 2 gr., The parts of powders can so sustain themselves
distilled, 1 gr. 1 dwt. that powder not pressed will fill a measure thrice
that of powder pressed.
CcauitionsZs. Metallic bodies, as sulphur or vitriol, turned
into their oils, retain their weight to a remarkable
When we speak of weight in the body, and in degree. There is not, indeed, a great differthe powder, we do not understand it of the same ence between the oils and the bodies themselves.
individual, but of the body and powder of the Doubtless by distillation they are attenuated and
same species contained within the same tabular lose in weight: but this is the case with. wine
measure. in a double degree to what it is with vinegar.
For if the wood of the oak be taken and at the The pore in sublimated powder, as compared
same time the wood in the individual be reduced with that in the body in its natural state, is