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46)
W.J. put a wire into a receiver, thro a Collar of leathers, wherein a vessel of water was placed; made a communication from the top of the wire and the bar of an electrical machine, and fixing the inclosed or sharp end of the wire about one inch and an half above the surface of the water, he put the electrical machine in motion, when we observed the point to blow pretty hard against the water and made a considerable dint or cavity in the Surface. Then was the receiver exhausted & the Machine again put in motion, when that effect of blowing & dinting was taken entirely away, even when the wire almost touched the surface of the water. ---- Again, fixing a large plain surface of brass upon the end of the wire in the receiver and substituting a plate of Bran for the water, the bran had a very rapid [[strikethrough]] motion [[/strikethrough]] double motion from and to the plate & brass; but when the receiver was exhausted, there was no motion of the Bran, not even when the brass almost touched it. Hence electrical Fire, like all others, cannot subsist without Air.-- By taking away the bran, exhausting the receiver afresh , darkening the Room, and putting the machine in motion, the fire, without any doubt, appeared to come from the end of the Wire to the brass wherein the receiver stood at the distance of 5 Inches and all ^ [[insertion]] distances [[/insertion]] under. Whence it seems to have its motion from the electrified body to the non-electrified. W.J. Under the same circumstance it came out of the point [[underline]] diverging [[/underline]] and entered the water without any visible impression upon the surface, whereby the Air seems to act upon points different from what it does on surfaces. 
 From these experiments Fire, Heat or Light acts according to the solidity of matter, and not as the Surfaces, and the denser a body is, the more fire it contains; because there is nothing that can press upon, or keep Fire in bodies but air, as is evident by electrifying a wire let thro' a collar of leather into an exhausted receiver, for then it will diverge downwards from the wire to the plate, upon which the receiver stands, very freely and at a great distance: if a piece of Gold, the densest of all Bodies, be fastened to the end of the wire it will rather augment than stop the Fire, but let in the air and no fire can be drawn from the wire at so great a distance as before; therefore fire is confined by Air and that only. Now then, in densest bodies the interstices contain the finest & rarest air, therefore Fire will more easily enter these interstices than others in a rarer body containing denser Air; (but how this is in fluids I can't say, because the densest fluid is supposed to be the coldest tho' fullest of light) so whenever two different substances come within a certain degree of each other, they take off the pressure of the air from each other on the approaching Sides, and so the incumbent air pressing more strongly on the opposite sides cause these two bodies to come together. And (I think) the denser body, containing most fire, will act more strongly and cause the [[underline]] lighter [[/underline]] to stick to the [[underline]] heavier [[/underline]] and not the [[underline]] heavier [[/underline]] to the [[underline]] lighter [[/underline]]. 
W.J.