IX. This may be demonstrated, upon the same principle the antecedent
paradox was; remove for any length of time, the interposition of any
extrinsic agent that may contribute to warm the water, and it will always
be found to be solid, that is, in a frozen state. This then being so, we
may conclude, that is the state it is disposed to continue in agreeable
to its nature. This is evinced by the sea under the Poles, and in the
adjacent parts, being, during the whole six months the sun is absent
from them, frozen to such a degree, that after the sun has revisited
them, and continued its influence for the other six months, it is never
totally thawed; and it is for this reason, that it has always been found
impracticable to sail to China by that rout.
X. The water being under this influence, is a proof _ad hominem_, that it
cannot, agreeable to the doctrine of Aristotle, be cold in the highest
degree, for if that was the case it must ever continue in a frozen state;
so that we can only say, that by its nature it is most disposed to
solidity.
XI. Frozen water being easily made liquid by a moderate heat, is no proof
that it is not naturally inclined to solidity. Metals may be liquified
by an intense heat, but that does not shew that they are not of a solid
nature; and a thing being more easily, or with more difficulty dissolved,
makes no difference with respect to this mode of reasoning; and therefore
the water being made liquid with a less intense heat, than is found
necessary to liquify metals, does not prove, that it is not disposed in
its nature to be solid as well as them.