_MADAM,_
My discourse of Water in my last Letter has given you occasion to
enquire after the reason, _Why the weight of a great body of water doth
not press so hard and heavily as to bruise or crush a body, when it is
sunk down to the bottom?_ As for example: If a man should be drowned,
and afterwards cast out from the bottom of a great Sea, or River, upon
the shore; he would onely be found smother'd or choak'd to death, and
not press'd, crush'd, or bruised, by the weight of water. I answer;
The reasons are plain: for, first, the nature of a mans respiration
requires such a temperature of breath to suck in, as is neither too
thick, nor too thin for his lungs, and the rest of his interior parts,
as also for the organs and passages of his exterior senses, but fit,
proper, and proportionable to those mentioned parts of his body: As for
example; in a too thin and rarified air, man will be as apt to die for
want of breath, as in a too gross and thick air he is apt to die with
a superfluity of the substance he imbreaths; for thick smoak, or thick
vapour, as also too gross air, will soon smother a man to death; and as
for choaking, if a man takes more into his throat then he can swallow,
he will die; and if his stomack be filled with more food then it is
able to digest, if it cannot discharge it self, he will die with the
excess of food; and if there be no food, or too little put into it, he
will also die for want of food. So the eye, if it receives too many,
or too gross, or too bright objects, it will be dazled or blinded,
and some objects through their purity are not to be seen at all: The
same for Hearing, and the rest of the exterior senses: And this is the
reason, why man, or some animal Creatures are smother'd and choak'd
with water; because water is thicker then the grossest air or vapour;
for if smoak, which is rarer then water, will smother and choak a man,
well may water, being so much thicker. But yet this smothering or
choaking doth not prove, that water hath an interior or innate density
(as your _Authors_ opinion is) no more then smoak, or thick and gross
air hath; but the density of water is caused more through the wet and
moist exterior parts, joyning and uniting closely together; and the
interior nature of smoak being more moist or glutinous then thin air,
and so more apt to unite its exterior parts, it makes it to come in
effect nearer to water; for though water and smoak are both of rare
natures, yet not so rare as clear and pure air; neither is water or
smoak so porous as pure air, by reason the exterior parts of water and
smoak are more moist or glutinous then pure air. But the thickness
of water and smoak is the onely cause of the smothering of men, or
some animals, as by stopping their breath, for a man can no more live
without air, then he can without food; and a well tempered or middle
degree of air is the most proper for animal Respiration; for if the
air be too thick, it may soon smother or choak him; and if too thin,
it is not sufficient to give him breath: And this is the reason that
a man being drown'd, is not onely smother'd, but choak'd by water;
because there enters more through the exterior passages into his body
then can be digested; for water is apt to flow more forcibly and with
greater strength then air; not that it is more dilating then air, but
by reason it is thicker, and so stronger, or of more force; for the
denser a body is, the stronger it is; and a heavy body, when moved, is
more forcible then a light body. But I pray by this expression mistake
not the nature of water; for the interior nature of water hath not
that gravity, which heavy or dense bodies have, its nature being rare
and light, as air, or fire; but the weight of water, as I said before,
proceeds onely from the closeness and compactness of its exterior
parts, not through a contraction in its interior nature; and there is
no argument, which proves better, that water in its interior nature
is dilating, then that its weight is not apt to press to a point; for
though water is apt to descend, through the union of its parts, yet it
cannot press hard, by reason of its dilating nature, which hinders that
heavy pressing quality; for a dilating body cannot have a contracted
weight, I mean, so as to press to a Center, which is to a point; and
this is the reason, that when a grave or heavy body sinks down to the
bottom of water, it is not opprest, hurt, crusht, or bruised by the
weight of water; for, as I said, the nature of water being dilating,
it can no more press hard to a center, then vapour, air, or fire: The
truth is, water would be as apt to ascend as descend, if it were not
for the wet, glutinous and sticking, cleaving quality of its exterior
parts; but as the quantity and quality of the exterior parts makes
water apt to sink, or descend, so the dilating nature makes it apt to
flow, if no hinderance stop its course; also the quantity and quality
of its exterior parts is the cause, that some heavy bodies do swim
without sinking: as for example; a great heavy Ship will not readily
sink, unless its weight be so contracted as to break asunder the united
parts of water; for the wet quality of water causing its exterior parts
to joyn close, gives it such an united strength, as to be able to bear
a heavy burden, if the weight be dilated, or level, and not piercing or
penetrating; for those bodies that are most compact, will sink sooner,
although of less weight then those that are more dilated although of
greater weight: Also the exterior and outward shape or form makes some
bodies more apt to sink then others; Indeed, the outward form and shape
of Creatures is one of the chief causes of either sinking or swimming.
But to conclude, water in its interior nature is of a mean or middle
degree, as neither too rare, nor too grave a body; and for its exterior
quality, it is in as high a degree for wetness, as fire is for heat;
and being apt both to divide, and to unite, it can bear a burden, and
devour a burden, so that some bodies may swim, and others sink; and
the cause, that a sunk body is not opprest, crush'd, or squeesed, is
the dilating nature and quality of water, which hinders its parts
from pressing or crowding towards a point or center; for although
water is heavy, and apt to descend, yet its weight is not caused by
a contraction of its substance, but by a union of its parts. Thus,
_Madam_, I have obeyed your commands, in giving you my reasons to your
propounded question, which if you approve, I have my aim; if not, I
submit to your better judgment: for you know I am in all respects,
Madam,
_Your Faithful Friend_
_to serve you._