And indeed, were there not a _probability_ of this, our
_inquiries_ would be _endless_, our _tryals vain_, and our greatest
_inventions_ would be nothing but the meer _products_ of _chance_, and not
of _Reason_; and, like _Mariners_ in an Ocean, destitute both of a
_Compass_ and the sight of the _Celestial guids_, we might indeed, _by
chance_, Steer _directly_ towards our desired Port, but 'tis _a thousand to
one_ but we _miss_ our aim. But to proceed, we may hence also give a plain
reason, how the Air comes to be _darkned_ by _clouds_, &c. which are
nothing but a kind of _precipitation_, and how those _precipitations_ fall
down in _Showrs_. Hence also could I very easily, and I think truly, deduce
the cause of the curious _sixangular figures_ of Snow, and the appearances
of _Haloes, &c._ and the sudden _thickning_ of the Sky with Clouds, and the
_vanishing_ and _disappearing_ of those Clouds again; for all these things
may be very easily _imitated_ in a _glass of liquor_, with some slight
_Chymical preparations_ as I have often try'd, and may somewhere else more
largely relate, but have not now time to set them down. But to proceed,
there are other bodies that consist of particles more _Gross_, and of a
more _apt_ figure for _cohesion_, and this requires _somewhat greater_
agitation; such, I suppose [Mercury], _fermented vinous_ _Spirits_, several
_Chymical Oils_, which are much of kin to those Spirits, &c.
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