The force of attraction in amber, wax, resin, and similar substances

184. The force of attraction in amber, wax, resin, and similar substances

Amber, jet, wax, resin, glass, and similar substances also have the ability to attract small objects.

This same force is also present in glass. I will discuss this force in order to demonstrate the effects of fire.

Friction is often required to generate this force. This force is generated by applying friction on amber, wax, resin, and almost all oily substances.*

This sets in motion the thin and branched particles in those objects. These disperse through the surrounding air and immediately adhere to each other and return. They carry along with them any small objects they encounter on their way.

We can observe a similar phenomenon with droplets of oily liquids hanging from a stick. When lightly shaken, one end of it adheres to the stick, while the other end moves away and immediately returns, dragging along any nearby straw or particle.

However, it is difficult to conceive of anything similar happening with glass, at least if its nature is as described earlier.

Therefore, another cause must be attributed to this attraction in glass.

185. What causes this attraction in glass?

Friction causes the gaps in glass to become larger, allowing the air-aether to pass through these from all directions.

Besides, there are many elongated cracks or crevices in the glass which are too narrow for the air-aether, but are passable for the fire-aether.

The fire-aether is accustomed to assuming various shapes as it passes through these cracks.

It forms thin, wide, and elongated bundles within the glass.

Similar cracks are not found in the surrounding physical air. These bundles remain within the glass or at least do not stray far from it.

They coil around its particles and flow from one crack to another in a circular motion.

The fire-aether is extremely fluid. But it consists of unequally agitated minima, as explained in articles 87 and 88.

Therefore, many of these highly agitated minima* constantly migrate from the glass to the air, while others return from the air to the glass in their place.

The ones that return are not all equally agitated.

• Those with the least agitation are expelled toward the cracks that correspond to no passage in the air.
• They adhere to each other there, forming these bundles.
• Over time, these bundles acquire specific shapes that are not easily changed*.

Hence, if the glass is vigorously rubbed to the point of heating up slightly, these bundles will be set in motion and disperse through the surrounding physical air. They will enter the passages of other nearby bodies.

But because they do not find easy pathways there, they immediately return to the glass.

They also carry smaller particles that are entangled within their passages.

The void left by the departing bodies cannot remain empty. The surrounding physical air may rush in and fill it. Thus, the bodies themselves are driven by this motion. They may be forced outward and spread apart, and even penetrate the pores of other nearby bodies.

But since they do not find it easy to move in this way, they immediately return to their original state. The smaller bodies, whose pores are implicated, bring them back together.

186. The same cause can be seen in other bodies as well.

For example, there are certain interstices between the particles of some bodies that are too narrow to allow the air-aether to enter, so they only receive the fire-aether.

These interstices are larger than the fire-aether particles that are in the surrounding physical air. And so they are filled with less agitated minute particles.

These particles are mutually attached to each other and form various shapes, depending on the diversity of the interstices. But for the most part, they are thin, wide, and oblong, so that they can move around each other easily.

The interstices, having changed their shape, are now very narrow. The air-aether cannot enter unless they are oblong in shape, like the rim of a wheel.

Therefore, although I do not deny that there may be another cause of attraction in some bodies, this cause is not so general.

Attraction is observed in many bodies. I do not think it is present in them, or at least not in the majority of them, in the same way as it is in the ether.

187. The causes of the wonderful effects of the remaining bodies are not solely due to the aether, but rather to various other factors, which are inherent in the material itself.

The particles of terrestrial bodies that are formed from the fire-aether possess:

• the properties of attraction, like those in amber and magnets
• other marvelous effects
  • This is from the particular shape and motion of their particles.

These particles retain the maximum agitation of the fire-aether. They can produce the smallest effects. They do not move outside the body that has them. They only move within it quickly.

Or, they can move quickly away from the body and permeate other terrestrial bodies to produce rare and marvelous effects.

There are no hidden forces in stones or plants. There are no miracles of sympathy or antipathy.

The same bodily and material principles lead to the phenomena in nature.

188. I had originally planned to write two more parts: one on living beings, or animals and plants, and another on man, but have decided against it.

This is because I do not know if I have the time to complete them.

I will briefly touch on some of the objects of the senses here.

For up to this point, I have described this world, including all of its observable aspects, as a machine, considering only shapes and motions.

However, our senses reveal many other things to us, such as colors, odors, sounds, and the like, which I would have to discuss in detail if I were to provide a complete explanation of natural phenomena