SECT. XX. Experiments fhewing the determinate Properties of thefe fmall Parts.

Now that thefe numerous Particles which flow from Bodies, are not only very fmall, but have likewise a determinate Nature and Effence, has been fhewn by the Learned Mr. Boyle in a particular Treatife, to which we refer the Reader.

But to fay fomething of the Matter; Glafs of Antimony, as is well known to thofe that underftand the Virtue of it, being infufed in Wine, will make a Vomit, tho' the Antimony lofes nothing fenfibly of its Weight; and the Parts of ir are fo exceeding fmall and fine, that an Ounce or less would furnish Vomits for more People than are in the whole City of Amfterdam.

From whence appears, not only the fmallness of thofe Parts which it communicates to the Wine, but also that the Nature thereof is Determinate.

Gold, Silver, Mercury, it may be other Metals too, being diffolved in their refpective Menftruums, are divided into an infinite Number of invifible Particles; and they may be all precipitated, as the Chymifts phrafe it, or caufed to fubfide in thofe Liquors, and be returned again into their feveral Metals.

How small the Effluvia are that come out of a Loadstone, and which will even pass thro' Glafs to move Iron, is plain enough from fuch an Effect; and withal, that they have their determinate Pro perties.

SECT. XXI. Of the Smoak of Benjoin.

THEY who defire to fee a Calculation of the fmalinefs of the Particles that exhale from fweet Ggg 4

or

or ftinking Matters, fuch as Musk, Civet, Ambergreafe, Affa Fatida, and the like, may meet 'em in Dr. Keil's Introduction, and yet they all retain their particular and determinate Scent: To fay nothing of the Particles which a Hare or other hunted Beafts leave upon their Foot-steps, fince Mr. Boyle has exprefly treated of the fame: It may be proved from the following Experiment, without any Trouble or Charge, of how many Particles a folid Body confists.

In a Chamber that was 24 Foot long and broad, and about 16 Foot high, I placed little Pans of Fire in 4 feveral Places, and ftrewed upon each of 'em about of a Drachm of Benjoin; whereupon the Chamber, after fome time, was full from one end to the other of a thin visible Smoak.

Now the Contents of this Chamber were 9216 Cubical Feet, which being multiply'd by 1000, or the Number of Inches in a Foot (fuppofing it to be divided into 10 parts in Length) amounted to 9.216,000 Inches.

Now of an Inch in Length is vifible to the naked Eye, (Sect. IV.) confequently then 1,000,000 of a Cubical Inch; fo that there being 1.000,000 vifible Particles in an Inch, there were 9.216,000.000,000 of the fame in this Chamber ; and in cafe there were but one Particle of Benjoin in each, the 8th part of an Ounce of the faid Perfume would be thereby divided into more than nine thousand, thousand Millions of Particles, tho' the fame be much fmaller in quantity than an Inch.

If now we add here, not only that this Smoak diffused the Scent of the Benjoin in all parts of the Room, but likewife, as the Chymifts know, that the faid Smoak being collected, does yield a purified Benjoin, called the Flower of Benjoin; be

fides the fmallness of its Parts, the fettled and determinate Property thereof may be proved from thence; and that as well these small exhaled Particles do retain the Nature of the Benjoin itself, as the Vapours do of the Water out of which they proceed, and into which, being collected, they are turned again.

SECT. XXII and XXIII. Convictions from the Smallness of Parts in General, and in Particular.

Now let an unhappy Atheist, who has not understood all that has been here faid of the Smallnefs and Multitude of thefe Particles, but who by Reading and Reflecting has made the Contemplation thereof habitual to him; let fuch a one I fay, fet before his Eyes the great Structure of the visible World, and all its Parts; and let him confider not only of what an innumerable, unexpreffible, yea, and unconceivable multitude of Atoms the fame confifts, but particularly, that none of 'em all have the leaft Knowledge or Skill to create or move themselves; and let him judge farther, that if no Wisdom had intervened in this Matter, and that all their Motions had been produced without any Order, and by meer Chance ; whether it would not be certain, that this noble Frame of Heaven and Earth would have been quickly turned into a Chaos, in which Fire, Water, Air, and all things befides, would have been confusedly jumbled among each other; and fo much the more, if there had not been a Power fo unconceivably Great, as to extend itself to every Individual of all those thousand thousands of unexpreffibly many Millions of Millions, and which could have directed and governed each of 'em in Particular; which Direction is therefore neceffary, because each of 'em have their determinate Properties;

Properties; and therefore one kind of 'em is not adapted for executing fuch a Purpose as may be performed by the other.

Or if this Proof be too General for thefe miferable Philofophers, fo that they will fancy to themselves, that perhaps they may find out here or there fome Subterfuge among this great Number of Objects, let them caft their Eyes upon Particulars: Let them read all the modern Difcoveries by the help of Microscopes; let them apply themselves to fee with their own Eyes what they had heard before thereof; and that travelling thro' this new World, which for fo many Ages has been Invisible, they may Contemplate those numberless strange Things, which would have been incredible, if Experience had not render'd them certain: And when they have been affured by their own Sight, that for Inftance, fuch a little contemptible Creature as a Mite in Cheese appears to the naked Eye, is a a compleat Animal, having all thofe Limbs and Joints that are proper for its Motion, and its Body cover'd with Hair; that fuch Infects couple with each other, lay Eggs, from which their young ones are hatch'd; that farther on the contrary, the little Eels that may be discover'd in Vinegar, lay no Eggs, but bring forth their young ones alive. This laft we are told by Mr. Huygens in his Dioptrics, p. 227; where he says, that he faw in fuch an Eel four young Eels (for they are entirely transparent) and that after having kept the old Eel a little longer in the Glafs Tube, the four young ones were observed fwimming by their

Dam.

And if this Contemplation alone may have fo much Power over them, as to force them to confefs, that an over-ruling Wisdom prevails in all thefe Matters; the mailnefs and innumerable

Multitude of thefe Objects in which its wonderful Operations appear, will easily convince them, that there must be fomething Divine therein; and it may serve at the fame time to illuftrate that great Article of Chriftianity, namely, That even the most minute Things cannot by their Smallnefs efcape the Direction and Providence of the great Creator.

SECT. XXIV and XXV. The Hand of God particularly manifefted in the Use of thefe fmall Parts.

LET not then any Infidel who only reads the Bible to form Objections against it, imagine any longer that it was almoft an incredible Hyperbole ufed by the Saviour of the World, when he was pleased to say, Matth. x. 30. That the Hairs of our Heads are all number'd: Since we have fhewn a Providence, exerting itself with Refpect to those Animalcula, that can by no means be compared with one fingle Hair for Greatnefs; and fince in one Second of a Minute there are more Particles of Light diffused from a burning Candle on every Side (all which, as the Mathematicians know, are most exactly governed and directed by the Laws of Optics) than there are Hairs upon the Heads of any one Man living, tho' that Perfon had as many Hairs upon his Head as there are People in all the World.

To fet this Matter in a true Light, tho' it may be very eafily deduced from the foregoing: It has been fhewn in Sect. XVII, that the Number of Particles of Light that proceed from the Flame of a Candle in one Second, is much greater than a certain Number, the first Figure whereof is 4, followed by 43 Noughts, or 40.

43

Now Mr. Leuwenhoek in his Firft Letter, p. 14. finds that the Number of Men upon the whole

Earth,