Query 11

Qu. 11. Do not great Bodies conserve their heat the longest, their parts heating one another, and may not great dense and fix'd Bodies, when heated beyond a certain degree, emit Light so copiously, as by the Emission and Re-action of its Light, and the Reflexions and Refractions of its Rays within its Pores to grow still hotter, till it comes to a certain period of heat, such as is that of the Sun? And are not the Sun and fix'd Stars great Earths vehemently hot, whose heat is conserved by the greatness of the Bodies, and the mutual Action and Reaction between them, and the Light which they emit, and whose parts are kept from fuming away, not only by their fixity, but also by the vast weight and density of the Atmospheres incumbent upon them; and very strongly compressing them, and condensing the Vapours and Exhalations which arise from them? For if Water be made warm in any pellucid Vessel emptied of Air, that Water in the Vacuum will bubble and boil as vehemently as it would in the open Air in a Vessel set upon the Fire till it conceives a much greater heat. For the weight of the incumbent Atmosphere keeps down the Vapours, and hinders the Water from boiling, until it grow much hotter than is requisite to make it boil in vacuo. Also a mixture of Tin and Lead being put upon a red hot Iron in vacuo emits a Fume and Flame, but the same Mixture in the open Air, by reason of the incumbent Atmosphere, does not so much as emit any Fume which can be perceived by Sight. In like manner the great weight of the Atmosphere which lies upon the Globe of the Sun may hinder Bodies there from rising up and going away from the Sun in the form of Vapours and Fumes, unless by means of a far greater heat than that which on the Surface of our Earth would very easily turn them into Vapours and Fumes. And the same great weight may condense those Vapours and Exhalations as soon as they shall at any time begin to ascend from the Sun, and make them presently fall back again into him, and by that action increase his Heat much after the manner that in our Earth the Air increases the Heat of a culinary Fire. And the same weight may hinder the Globe of the Sun from being diminish'd, unless by the Emission of Light, and a very small quantity of Vapours and Exhalations.