CaxTo I. NZG E 1 ANION:»

1.“ NYMPHS OF PRIMEVAL FIRE! YOUR veltal train

Hung with gold-trefles o'er the vaſt inane OO 2

Nymphs of primeva/ fire. 1. 97. The fluid matter of heat is perhaps the moſt extenſive element in nature; all other bodies are immerſed in it, and are preſerved in their preſent ſtate of ſolidity or fluidity by the attraCtion of their particles to the mat- ter of heat. Dince all known bodies are contraCttble into leſs ſpace by depriving them of ſome portion of their heat, and as there 1s no part of nature totally deprived of heat, there is rea- ſon to believe that the particles of bodies do not touch, but are held towards each other by their ſelf-attraſtion, and regede from each other by their attraCtion to the mals of heat which ſurrounds them; andthusexiſt in an equilibrium between theſe two powers. If more of the matter of heat be applied to them, they recede farther from each other, and become fuid; if ſtill more be ap- plied, they take an aerial form, and are termed Gaſles by the modern chemiſts. Thus when water 1s heated to a certain de- gree, it would inſtantly aſſume the form of ſteam, but for the preflure of the atmoſphere, which prevents this change from taking place ſo eaſily; the fame 1s true of quickſilver, diamonds, and of perhaps all other bodies in Nature; they would frſt be- come fluid, and then aeriform by appropriate degrees of heat. On the contrary, this elaſtic matter of heat, termed Calorique in the new nomenclature of the French Academicians, 1s liable to become conſolidated itſelf in its combinations with ſome bo- dies, as perhaps in nitre, and probably in combuſtible bodies as ſulphur and charcoal. See note on 1. 222 of this Canto. Mo- dern philoſophers have not yet been able to decide whether light and heat be different fluids, or modifications of the ſame fluid,

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. EE EWE IER