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Show Idea of SJJli4ity. Book II. among!t which, I think, I may well account Solidity ; which therefore I Jha!l Freat of in the next Chapter. . CHAP. IV. p/ Solidity. §.r.THE JdtaofSolidity, w.e receive by out Touch; and itarifes from theRefi!tancewefind in Body, to the entrance of any other Body into t!ie Place it polfelfes, till it ha~ left it. There is no Idea, which we receive more con!tantly from Senfauon, than ·Sol,duy. Whether we move or re!t in what Pofture foever we are, we always feel famething under u~, that fupports us? and hinders o~r farther linking downwards; and the Bodies we daily handle,. make us perce1ve that wlulll: they remain between them, they do by an mfurmountable Force,- hmdcr the approach ohhe parts of om; Ha~ds that prefs them. That wh.ich thus hinders the approach of two Boct1es, when they are .movmg one towards another, I call Solidity. I will not. difpute,_ wheth~r this accepta· tion of the W o~d folid be nearer to 1ts Ongmal S1gmfica.uon, than that which Mathematicians ufe it in: It fuffices, that I think, the common Notion of Solidity will allow, If not ju!tifie,this ufe of it; but if any one tliink. it bett~r to ,cal[ it lmpenetra'!Jility, he1 has mr, Confent. Only I !1ave thought the Term Solidity,, th~ more proper to exprefs tlus_Idea, not o!lly becaufe of its vulgar u~e ~n that Senf~ ; but alfo, becaufe It car· ries fomething more of pofit1ve 10 It, than ImpenetrabJl!ty, wluch 1s nega· tive; and is, perhaps, more a confequence of_ S~l,duy, than Solidify. 1t fel£ This of all other, feems the Idea mofl: mumately connected With, and elfential to Body, fo as no where elfe to be found or imagin'd, but only in matter · which though our Senfes tal<e no nouce of, but 10 malfes of matter of a b~lk, fufficient to caufe a Senfation in us: Yet the Mind, having once got this Idea from fuch groiferfenfible Bodies,traces it farther, and confiders it as well as Figure, in the minute!t Particle of matter, that can exi!t, and finds it infeparably inherent in Body, where-ever, or howe· ver modified. §. 2 . This is the Idea belongs to Body, whereby we conceive it to fD jpace. The Idea of which filling of fpace,is, That where we imagine any fpace taken up by a lolid SuB!tance, we conceive it fo to polfefs it, that it excludes all other folid Sub!tances ; and, will for ever hinder any two othrr Bodies, that move towards one another in a firait Line, from coming to touch one another , unlefs it remove from between them in a Line, not parallel to that they move in. This Idea of it, the Bodies we ordt· narily handle fufliciently furnifi1 us with. §. l· This Reft!tance, whereby it keeps other Bodies out of the fpace it polfe!Tes, is fo great, That no force,how great foever, can furmount it. AlltheBodiesintheWorld, prcffingadrop of Water, on all fides, will never be able to overcome the Refiilance it will make, as foft as it is, to their approaching one another, till it be removed out of their way: whereby our Idea of Solidity is difting•ifhedbothfrom pure !pace, which is capable neither of Refi!tance nor Motion, and the ordinary Idta of Hardnefi. For a Man may conceive two Bodies at a di!tance, fo as they may Chap. IV. . Idea of Solidity. m1y approach. one another, .without touching or difplacing '•nr, foli~ thmg, tdl thetr Superfictes come to meet ; . whereby', Ithlnk, ·:we•have the cle~r Idea of Space wtthout Solidity. For( not to go fo.far as dnnihila-tt? n ot any particular l3ody) I ask, Whether :1 Man 'Cat\nothave che' Jdt"a ot the motion of o~e finglc ' Bod~ alone, without My llther fttcceeding tmmcdtately Into 1ts Place ? wh1ch, I thmk, 'tis evident he •cnn • the Idl!,t of Motion in one Body, no more including the Idea of Motion'iA'a-llother , tlnn the Idea . of a fquare Figure in one Body includes the Idea of a k]Uare Figure in another. l do n"OO ask Whethet Bodies do fo exifi, that th<> motion of one B~dy_ r cannot' realJy,_c be Without th~ motwn of another? To deterrl'une tlus ·~1tlrer way, ;~ to beg the ~e!tton for or agam!t a Vacu,.m. But my ~ell:ion is, Whether one cann~t have the !de a of •: o~e Body ·rrleved, wHilft·oohers are at ren 1 ~nd l thmk, tlus no ope W1ll deny : lf.f'?, thCITthe Place it pe(erred, g1ves us the I1ea'of puteSpa~e Without Sohd1ty, whereinto ahother Body may enter,_ Without e1ther Refifiance or Protrufio~ of• any thibg. Wheri the Sucker m a Pump 1s drn\vh, the (j>ace 1t filled m thelTube is· certain-ly the fame, 1\•heth<r an)' other body follows th-e motion of the Sucker or no; nor d·oes it imply a corttradiC:hon, That upon. the motion of one flo. Cly, another.tl\at is only contiguous tb' it; lhould not follow it. The ne-ceiiity of fuch a motion, is b~ilt only IJn tire Suppo(itioh, That the World is full; but 'hotont!Je diflitltt Ideas 6fSpate and Solidity, lvhi~h ,are> as different, as Refifl:aneeand not' Refi!t~nee; Protrufion ond not Protruli'on ; And that Men !lave Ideas of !Space, without Body1 their!very Difputes a· bout a Va~uum plainly cjemon!trnte, as is lhewcd in. another Place. ., · §. 4· Solidity is herebY. alfo differenced from HaMn•fi, in that Solidity confi!tS'if1 tepletion, a~dfo an utter Exclufionof:otherr Bodies out of i:he fpace it P.~lfe!Rs : But HarJ nefs, iiH Rrm Cohellan. of, the parrs of Matter, makm~ ·up maifes of a fenllblebulk; fo that the whole does not eafily change it< Figure. And indeed, Hard arid Soft, are, as a~pr~hended by us,only relative Terms~to theConfl:ittltions of our Bodies; that being generally call'd hard by us; which will putl us to Pain, fooner than change Figure by the prelfure 6f any part' of our· B\xJies ; and that on the contrn· ry, foft, which changes the Situation of its part& upon an eafie and un. painful touch. But this Difficulty of changing the Situation of the fenlible parts •· mong!t themfelves, or of the Figure of the whole, gives no more Solidi· ty to tlte harde!t Body in the World, than to the fofte!t; nor is an Adamant one jot more folid than Water. For though the two llat fides of two pieces of Marble, will more eafily approach each other, between which there is nothing but Water or Air, than if ther~ be an Adamant between them: yet it is not, that the parts of the Adamant are more folid than thofe of Water, or refill more; but becaufe the parts of Water, being more eafily fcparable from each other, they will by a lide motion be more eafily removed, and give way to the approach of the two pieces of Marble : But if they could be kept from making Place, by that fide-motion they would eternally hinder the appruach of thefe two pieces of Marble' as much as the Diamond; and 'twould be as imporlible by any force, t; fttrmount their Refiflance, as to furmountthe Refiflance of the parts of a Diamond. The fofte!t Body in the World will as invincibly refill the coming together of any two other Bodies, if it be not putout of the way, but remain between them, as the hardell that can be found or imagined. He that lhall fill a yielding foft Body well with Air or Water, will quickly find its Refillance : And he that thinks, that noth ing but llodies,that arc H hard |
