Of the AttraFlion of Cohesion.

Fluid : That Tubes of Ashes or Sand will thus raiseWater to the Height of several Feet. ’Tis by thisVirtue that the Pen retains Ink, and the Paper draws itforth in Writing; or refuses to admit it, if oiled, bythe Repellency of the Particles of Oil.

13. By this Power fixed Bodies are dissolved by properMediums; as Sugar and all Kinds of Salts by Water;.Silver, Copper, Tin, Sic. by Aqua Fortis ; Gold byAqua Regia ; and other Bodies in .other Menstruums.The Reason is, that when the Particles of the Solid and'Fluid attract one another more strongly, than eitherthose of the Solid or those of the Fluid attract each otherseparately, then a Separation of the Parts or Dissolutionmust ensue. For since, for Instance, if a Particle ofthe Fluid be attracted with a greater Force than a con-tiguous Particle of the Solid, that fluid Particle willrush upon the other with so great an Impetus, as in-stantly to displace it, and separate it from the Solid Par-ticle to which it before adhered with a weaker Force;and thus we are to conceive of every other Particle, tillthe Whole be dissolved, which will then end when each,Fluid Particle has filled its Sphere of Attraction withthose of the Solid ; and the Fluid is then said to be sa-turated, and will dissolve no more.

14. Precipitation likewise is a Consequence fromthe same Principle; for if to the Solution of any Solidsome other Solid or Fluid Body be added, whose Par-ticles are attracted by the Fluid with a greater Forcethan those of the dissolved Solid, then will the formertake Place of the latter, which, being disengaged, wiltfall to the Bottom, and settle in Form of a very finePowder ; thus is Silver precipitated by Copper, whichthe Aqua-Fcrtis attracts more powerfully than Silver.Thus a Solution of Copper is again precipitated byIron, and other Solutions have their respective Preripi-tants.

-Fermentation is also an Effect of the sameCattle, inasmuch as it consists in the internal Agitationand Commotion of the Parts of the fermenting Body,arising from their mutual Action and Attraction so oftenmentioned. By this means Bodies are either wholly dis-solved, as has been laid; or have their Parts so far al-tered