CHAPTER II.

we establish that the spirituous, volatile particles, joined by an indivisible nexus of water, constitute the moving principle in a fluid state. These particles obtain diverse fluidity by reason of particles being less or more subtly expanded, and according to how they abound in the company of heavier particles, for example: water or earth, as will be shown more clearly later.

Under the name of spirit, we comprehend all the most fluid bodies, which follow the very rapid motion of subtle matter and imitate its actions; and thus, under that number, we include fire and air, insofar as they contribute to the diverse alterations and changes of bodies.

The firmness or rest of particles is only one, and it obtains no degrees, except in respect to fluid particles, which insinuate themselves there in greater or lesser quantity; this is found in earthly things. Therefore, their gravity, density, and weight consist in the exclusion of fluid particles, whereas levity, on the contrary, consists in the proximity of these same particles and the looseness of the pores, although they can admit fluidity if an internal, very rapid spirit moves and diminishes them. Nevertheless, they remain heavy on account of their subsidence, the sufficiently compact proximity of the particles, and the narrowness of the pores, as in Mercury and the solutions of metals.