Francis Penrose

“ It has been already proved, that when the globe is put in motion, and your hand is applied to it, it grinds to pieces the air between the globe and the hand, and so rarefies and expands it, and sends it off with great force, in the same manner, as light is sent from any body of fire in action; as may be seen, if the electrical machine is set at work in the dark; when the emission from the glass globe will appear lucid. ”

“ As all bodies become solid according to the temperature of the surrounding air; some retaining their solidity in such a degree of heat, as metals of most kinds; whilst others require a particular degree of cold before they become solid, as water &c. which when froze is as much a solid as any thing else—this proves that the solidity of bodies depends on the temperature of the air, as will be more fully proved hereafter. ”

“ As the heat and redness of the blood, may be easily proved, to be in proportion to the quantity and motion of the light it contains; so, wherever the blood is heated to a great degree, as in fevers, Inflammations of all kinds &c. there we are to expect the worst and most pernicious consequences, from the use of electricity.
But, on the contrary, as the nerves have been proved to act by a subtil fluid that passes through them, and that they, by the closeness of their pores, will not admit a fluid to pass through them, whose particles are much larger than those of light ”

“ The many surprising effects of electricity, and the great cures performed by it, one would imagine, should awaken the attention of all philosophers and physicians; but as these cures have been effected by random experiments, every body has admired, but no body seems to have considered how, or by what means, they were performed. ”

“ Now, if all persons would take the same freedom of thinking for themselves, as Mr. Freke has done, I doubt not but we should soon be as much ashamed of mentioning the attraction of gravitation, and the attraction of cohesion &c. as we now are of the occult qualities of the ancient philosophers; and should perhaps, then agree with him, when, speaking of electricity, he says, that “it is a subject which can, with more nobleness and dignity, employ the mind of man, than any he can think of, relating to the sublunary part of the world. ”

“ For, in the sun we find a power of melting, dividing and (with the assistance of the air) expanding and sending out the air, first in form of fire, and afterwards in that of light; which power seems to be so regulated, as to be able to reach the extremities of the universe, where it is congealed, condensed, and returned back again to the sun, to be again melted, divided, and sent out as before. This action seems to be represented by water in a still, for there the fire, forcing its way through the water contained in the still, carries off some of the watry particles with it ”

“ When it falls, it is found quite hot; notwithstanding in its whole passage, it had continually met with cold air. This heat could not have arisen from the flaming gunpowder, whereby it was exploded, since it only remained in that flame, an incredible small space of time, in which it is by no means credible so solid a body should have acquired such a heat; which is much more naturally accounted for from the great attrition of the ball, driven with such a velocity through the air, and repelled by a wind, which is above 27 times swifter than the strongest wind hitherto observed. ”

“ The light proceeding from diamonds &c. seems to be easily accounted for from the motion of the airs; that there is a perpetual motion of the airs, may be proved by the following experiment. In a still place, suppose a close darkened room, illuminated only by one small hole in the window shutter; where, if a person at rest views the enlightened current of air sideways, as it extends along the room, he will perceive a surprising motion of the dusty atoms therein, perpetually rolling and tossing about with great rapidity. ”

“ One reason, which seems to have led us into the mistake that the solidity, or firmness of bodies is not caused by the air, has been, that, for the generality, we consider the air, or atmosphere as pressing only downwards ”

“ We likewise find, that, after the vial has been stopped some time, and the liquor has acted upon the air as much as it possibly can, there is not only a less quantity of gross air than there was when the vial was first stopped, but that there is the same vacuum as is made by the air pump; for as soon as ever it is unstopped, the air presseth in with violence, the fluid above the phosphorus (within the vial) being of a more subtle nature than the air without. ”

“ See Hauksbee’s experiments, page 53 &c.
It may be observed in this experiment, that the attractive power of bodies does not lie in solids, as has been falsly imagined, neither have such bodies any centripetal or centrifugal force; but that this power and force are given them from without. For, on placing the wire with the threads round the cylinder, they were all forced (or as it is often called, attracted) towards the earth; but, on giving a violent motion to the cylinder, they were drove from the cylinder, as if forced by a strong wind ”

“ The wires which are hung over the glass globe, by the smallness of their pores, admitting nothing through them but light, and light being a body so subtil, as to penetrate the pores of all other bodies, even to the very center of the earth ”

“ Hauksbee proves by a curious experiment, for having placed two brass hemispheres, of 3 1/2 inches diameter, upon each other, and then extracting the gross air out of them by the air pump, and by these means taking off the resistance of the common air that was within the two brass hemispheres, he says, it required 140 pound weight to separate them; this experiment with that of the two marble slabs before mentioned, is a demonstration of the power that keeps solid bodies from falling to pieces. ”

“ And even, if these slabs are not so perfectly smooth, yet the weting them with water, which prevents the gross air from entering, will produce the like effect. That solids expand themselves by heat or fire, is proved by heating an iron rod in the fire: in which case, it is always found to be bigger and longer when hot than cold ”

“ This is also confirmed by the success of the present practice of physick; for, the greatest relief, in these cases, is always found to proceed from volatile and penetrating medicines. But, care should be taken, not to administer electricity, to a person of weak and decayed nerves, instead of one whose nerves are obstructed. ”

“ Freke has mentioned, viz. that in the year 1703, in the night of the great hurricane and high wind, in the strongest part of the tempest, great quantities of fire were seen passing swiftly over the hills in the neighbourhood of Warham in Dorsetshire. ”

“ Freke has brought, two very simple, common, but good experiments—First, if you slide a wax thread, or small rope, through your fingers, it will burn them; so likewise fire is produced, by rubbing two hard bodies together, or two sticks ”