Sir I s a a c Newton’s Book II.

170

sifted by a fluid so dense, as absolutely to fill up all the space,through which it is spread. And lest it should be thought,that this objection might be evaded by ascribing to this fluidsuch very minute and smooth parts, as might remove all ad-hesion or friction between them, whereby all resistancewould be lost, which this fluid might otherwise give to bo-dies moving in it; Sir I s a a c N e w t o n proves, in themanner above related, that fluids resist from the power ofinactivity of their particles; and that water and the air re-sist almost entirely on this account: so that in this subtilefluid, however minute and lubricated the particles, whichcompose it, might be; yet if the whole fluid was as dense aswater, it would resist very near as much as water does; andwhereas such a fluid, whose parts are absolutely close toge-ther without any intervening spaces, must be a great dealmore dense than water, it must resist more than water inproportion to its greater density; unless we will suppose thematter, of which this fluid is composed, not to be enduedwith the lame degree of inactivity as other matter. But ifyou deprive any substance os the property so universally be-longing to all other matter, without impropriety of speechit can scarce be called by this name.

I y. Sir I s a a c N e w t o n made also an experiment to try inparticular, whether the internal parts of bodies suffered any re-sistance. And the result did indeed appear to savour some small-degree os resistance; but so very little, as to leave it doubtful,vhethwr the effect did not arise from some other latent cause 2 ..

* Princ. ph'los. pa?. 31 6 , 317.

Chap.