SAGR. But if Digreſſions may lead us to the knowledge of
new Truths, what prejudice is it to us, that are not obliged to a
ſtrict and conciſe method, but that make our Congreſſions only
for our divertiſement to digreſſe ſometimes, leſt we let ſlip thoſe
Notions, which perhaps the offered occaſion being paſt, may never
meet with another opportunity of remembrance? Nay, who knows
not, that many times curioſity may thereby diſcover hints of more
worth, than the primarily intended Concluſions? Therefore I
entreat you to give ſatisfaction to Simplicius, and my ſelf alſo,
no leſſe curious than he, and deſirous to underſtand what that
Cement is, that holdeth the parts of thoſe Solids ſo tenaciouſly
conjoyned, which yet nevertheleſſe in concluſion are diſſoluble:
a knowledge which furthermore is neceſſary for the underſtanding
of the coherence of the parts of thoſe very ligaments, whereof
ſome Solids are compoſed.
new Truths, what prejudice is it to us, that are not obliged to a
ſtrict and conciſe method, but that make our Congreſſions only
for our divertiſement to digreſſe ſometimes, leſt we let ſlip thoſe
Notions, which perhaps the offered occaſion being paſt, may never
meet with another opportunity of remembrance? Nay, who knows
not, that many times curioſity may thereby diſcover hints of more
worth, than the primarily intended Concluſions? Therefore I
entreat you to give ſatisfaction to Simplicius, and my ſelf alſo,
no leſſe curious than he, and deſirous to underſtand what that
Cement is, that holdeth the parts of thoſe Solids ſo tenaciouſly
conjoyned, which yet nevertheleſſe in concluſion are diſſoluble:
a knowledge which furthermore is neceſſary for the underſtanding
of the coherence of the parts of thoſe very ligaments, whereof
ſome Solids are compoſed.
SALV. Well, ſince it is your pleaſure, I will herein ſerve you.
And the firſt difficulty is, how the threads of a Cord or Rope
an hundred foot long ſhould ſo cloſely connect together (none
of them exceeding two or three foot) that it requireth a great
violence to break them. But tell me, Simplicius, cannot you hold
one ſingle ſtring of Hemp ſo faſt between your fingers by one
end, that I pulling by the other end ſhould break it ſooner than
get it from you? Queſtionleſſe you might: when then, thoſe
threads are not only at the end, but alſo in every part of their
length, held faſt with much ſtrength by him that graſpeth them, is
it not apparent, that it is a much harder matter to pluck them
from him that holds them, then to break them? Now in the Cord,
the ſame act of twiſting, binds the threads mutually within one
another, in ſuch ſort, that pulling the Cord with great force, the
threads of it break inſunder, but ſeparate and part not from one
another; as is plainly ſeen by viewing the ſhort ends of the ſaid
threads in the broken place, that are not a ſpan long; as they
would be, if the diviſion of the Cord had been made by the ſole
ſeperating of them in drawing the Cord, and not by breaking
them.
And the firſt difficulty is, how the threads of a Cord or Rope
an hundred foot long ſhould ſo cloſely connect together (none
of them exceeding two or three foot) that it requireth a great
violence to break them. But tell me, Simplicius, cannot you hold
one ſingle ſtring of Hemp ſo faſt between your fingers by one
end, that I pulling by the other end ſhould break it ſooner than
get it from you? Queſtionleſſe you might: when then, thoſe
threads are not only at the end, but alſo in every part of their
length, held faſt with much ſtrength by him that graſpeth them, is
it not apparent, that it is a much harder matter to pluck them
from him that holds them, then to break them? Now in the Cord,
the ſame act of twiſting, binds the threads mutually within one
another, in ſuch ſort, that pulling the Cord with great force, the
threads of it break inſunder, but ſeparate and part not from one
another; as is plainly ſeen by viewing the ſhort ends of the ſaid
threads in the broken place, that are not a ſpan long; as they
would be, if the diviſion of the Cord had been made by the ſole
ſeperating of them in drawing the Cord, and not by breaking
them.
What that Cement
is that Connecteth
the parts of Solids.
is that Connecteth
the parts of Solids.
How a Rope or
Cord reſiſteth Fra
ction.
Cord reſiſteth Fra
ction.
In breaking a Rope
the parts are not
ſeparated, but bro
kon.
the parts are not
ſeparated, but bro
kon.
SAGR. For confirmation of this, let me add, that the Cord is
ſometimes ſeen to break, not by pulling it length-waies, but by
over-twiſting it: an argument, in my judgment, concluding that
the threads are ſo enterchangeably compreſt by one another, that
thoſe compreſſings permit not the compreſſed to ſlip ſo very little,
as is requiſite to lengthen it out that it wind about the Cord,
which in the twining breaketh, and conſequently in ſome ſinall
meaſure ſwels in thickneſſe.
ſometimes ſeen to break, not by pulling it length-waies, but by
over-twiſting it: an argument, in my judgment, concluding that
the threads are ſo enterchangeably compreſt by one another, that
thoſe compreſſings permit not the compreſſed to ſlip ſo very little,
as is requiſite to lengthen it out that it wind about the Cord,
which in the twining breaketh, and conſequently in ſome ſinall
meaſure ſwels in thickneſſe.
SALV. You ſay very well; but conſider by the way, how one
truth draweth on another. That thread, which griped between the
truth draweth on another. That thread, which griped between the
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