1to have been kill'd by the want of Air, we
foreſee another Argument that we muſt
deal ſo ingeniouſly with Your Lordſhip,
as not to conceal. You very well know,
that beſides the generality of the
Schools, there are many new Philoſophers
who, though they diſſent from the old
Peripateticks in other things, do, as they,
deny the poſſibility of a Vacuum; and
hold, that thoſe ſpaces which are devoid
of Air, and other groſſer Bodies, are all
of them exactly repleniſhed with a certain
Etherial Matter, ſo thin and ſubtle, that
it can freely permeate the Pores of the
compactedſt and cloſeſt Bodies, and ev'n
of Glaſs it ſelf. Now ſome of thoſe Na
turaliſts that are of this perſwaſion may
object, That the Animals that died in our
Receivers, did ſo, not ſo much for lack of
Air, as by reaſon that the Air that was
pump'd out was neceſſarily ſucceeded by
an Etherial Subſtance; which conſiſting of
parts vehemently agitated, and ſo very
ſmall, as without reſiſtance to paſs in and
out through the very Pores of Glaſs; it
may well be ſuppoſ'd, that a conſiderable
quantity of this reſtleſs and ſubtle Mat
ter, meeting together in the Receiver,
foreſee another Argument that we muſt
deal ſo ingeniouſly with Your Lordſhip,
as not to conceal. You very well know,
that beſides the generality of the
Schools, there are many new Philoſophers
who, though they diſſent from the old
Peripateticks in other things, do, as they,
deny the poſſibility of a Vacuum; and
hold, that thoſe ſpaces which are devoid
of Air, and other groſſer Bodies, are all
of them exactly repleniſhed with a certain
Etherial Matter, ſo thin and ſubtle, that
it can freely permeate the Pores of the
compactedſt and cloſeſt Bodies, and ev'n
of Glaſs it ſelf. Now ſome of thoſe Na
turaliſts that are of this perſwaſion may
object, That the Animals that died in our
Receivers, did ſo, not ſo much for lack of
Air, as by reaſon that the Air that was
pump'd out was neceſſarily ſucceeded by
an Etherial Subſtance; which conſiſting of
parts vehemently agitated, and ſo very
ſmall, as without reſiſtance to paſs in and
out through the very Pores of Glaſs; it
may well be ſuppoſ'd, that a conſiderable
quantity of this reſtleſs and ſubtle Mat
ter, meeting together in the Receiver,
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