[39] “Heaviness or weight is not here considered, as being such a naturall _quality_, whereby condensed bodies do of themselves _tend downwards_; but rather as being an affection whereby they may be measured. And in this sense Aristotle himself referres it amongst the other _species_ of _quantity_, as having the same proper essence, which is to be compounded of integrall parts. So a pound doth consist of ounces....” (Bishop Wilkins: _Mathematicall Magick_, 1648.) [40] Probably cognate with a Greek verb ‘massein’, meaning ‘to knead’. [41] “With this kinde of Ballance, it is usuall ... to measure sundry different gravities.” (_Mathematicall Magick._) [42] To the ordinary, untrained imagination. Philosophers and scientists, however, have continued to boggle at this notion of action at a distance. Thus Leibnitz, shortly after Newton published his discovery: “’Tis also a supernatural thing that bodies should _attract_ one another at a distance without any intermediate means.” And Huxley in 1886, on the terms _atom_ and _force_: “As real entities, having an objective existence, an indivisible particle which nevertheless occupies space is surely inconceivable; And with respect to the operation of that atom, where it is not, by the aid of a ‘force’ resident in nothingness, I am as little able to imagine it as I fancy anyone else is.” Hence the invention of a hypothetical _ether_, in order that space might be supposed filled with a continuum of infinitely attenuated matter (p. 148). In the world of scientific theory the question of action at a distance is still, so it seems, an appetizing bone of contention. [43] The transition of meaning is beautifully visible in the following passage from _The Merry Wives of Windsor_: _Mistress Quickly_: “I never knew a woman so dote upon a man: surely, I think you have charms, la; yes, in truth.” _Falstaff_: “Not I, I assure thee: setting the attraction of my good parts aside, I have no other charms.” [44] See p. 135. [45] A meaning which it still retains in stage directions—e.g. “The curtain rises, _discovering_ N—— seated in an arm-chair”. [46] See p. 125. [47] Even gas, though it is an arbitrary creation, was intended by van Helmont to resemble _chaos_, a Greek word which is derived from a verb ‘chaskein’, meaning to ‘yawn’ or ‘gape’. [48] Except in old, particular senses, which they have now lost. [49] The adjective _self-conscious_ was first used by Coleridge. [50] First used by Hobbes in 1656. [51] Thus we still describe certain sums of money as a _duty_ on goods, or, in Scotland, as a _feu duty_ on land. [52] A Greek word; literally a mark “stamped” or “impressed” on some yielding material. Shakespeare used it of handwriting. [53] See pp. 124 and 155. [54] See p. 112. [55] Used once in 1632 of sea-waves. [56] Its earliest appearance is in Homer’s _Iliad_, where it occurs twice, and is applied to divine phenomena, viz. the gates of heaven and the tripod of the god Hephaestus.