VII. Nor is saying that in the absence of the sun, the earth is the agent that cools the air any reply to this; for if this was so, the lower region of the air would be colder than the middle one, as being nearer to the infrigidating cause; but this is contradicted by our experience; for we very commonly see, that the water does not freeze in the lower region, when in the middle one it is frozen into hail in the clouds; and very often also, that which was frozen above, thaws suddenly upon its falling down. VIII. If it should be objected to this, that Aristotle and the Peripatetics, when they say the air is warm, speak of the elemental air, and not of the air of the atmosphere which is mixed with an infinite number of heterogenous corpuscles, by some of which it may be made cold, and especially by the many nitrous ones with which it is impregnated. To this I answer first, that in the country where I am now writing, there is not the least appearance of the air being nitrous, for that there is not a grain of nitre to be found in the whole country, notwithstanding which, the cold in winter is sometimes pretty sharp. I answer secondly, that we can only talk of the pure elemental air by conjecture, for no mortal has yet ever breathed any of it, nor is it possible that any one ever should, on account of this element being an open expanse, exposed to the inroads of the effluvias of all other bodies; and we should reason upon sensible qualities, by pursuing the thread of palpable experiments; and not by pursuing that of ideal proportions, as Aristotle did in making the division of his elemental qualities; for the Author of nature is not confined to pursuing only such proportions as fall within the compass of our comprehension. This is the false principle, upon which all the Pythagorean and Aristotelic philosophy has proceeded, and with respect to the doctrine of the four elements, that seems to be tainted with the same vice, as I shall shew more fully in another place. All that I shall say at present is, that Aristotle dealt out, and distributed the four qualities among the four elements, as if he had been the absolute master of them all, and could dispose of and arrange them agreeable to his will and pleasure. PARADOX III. _Water considered according to its Nature, is rather disposed to be solid, than fluid._ SECT. III.