John Rey

"This he confirms by the example of animals, which become heavier after death, from the extinction of the celestial heat, the soul, (as he thinks), both of animals and all other mixed and compound bodies."

"Cardan is the first, who in his fifth book, De Subtilitate, says, that , by conversion into ceruse, or by , gains one-thirteenth part in weight, and gives this reason for it—The lead dies, for the celestial heart, which was its soul, vanishes; whose presence gives it life, and renders it light; as its absence occasions its death, and makes it heavy."

"What shadows would be if there were no bodies, such natural motion in the upper regions will become, without levity. For, of a truth, it would be monstrous, to see natural effects without a natural cause. That is said to move naturally whose cause of motion is in itself."

"Thus, the motion of the orbits of the planets from east to west, having its cause in a higher heaven, is called by all violent, without, however, its doing them any injury. Moreover, they who argue thus condemn themselves, since they are compelled to admit, that not only the motion of water and air, but their very abiding places, are held by violence:—that of the latter, under fire, and that of the former, above earth."

"Hammer a piece of cold iron for a considerable time; you will unite its parts and diminish its bulk, and then it will appear heavier when put into the balance."

"But if we investigate the subject by the balance, a case occurs in which, without any addition or subtraction of matter, a substance will appear more or less heavy; namely, by its contraction or expansion."

"With regard to the celestial heat making bodies light, Scaliger very properly objects that the heavens, which abound in this heat, as being the source of it, must be light (feut leger) and consequently univocal (univoque) with the other bodies, which is absurd."

"Thus the opinion of Cardan appears so frivolous, that I am grieved that a great man, and one who is justly esteemed by all the world, should have lately declared to me that he inclines towards it."

"The re-print contains an Avertissement, parts of which I have thought worth inserting, as well as a letter of M. Bayen to the Abbé Rozier.—The first gives a short account of Rey, and mentions some facts which shew his work to have been well known and highly esteemed by Professor [Jakob Reinbold] Spielman of Strasbourg, as late as the year 1766, and to have been honourably spoken of by M. de Bordeu, circumstances which make Lavoisiers ignorance of its existence still more extraordinary."

"One of the Authors who has written the most ancient on this object is an almost forgotten doctor, named John Rey, who lived at the beginning of the 17th century in Bugue en Périgord, and who was in correspondence with the small number of people who cultivated the sciences at that time. Neither Descartes nor Pascal had not yet appeared; we knew neither of Boyles vacuum nor of this discovery."

"The author of the Avertissement next mentions several of Reys correspondents, and especially, Marin Mersene. He then states, that "the Essays" are very scarce, that when they appeared Mersene had doubts on the subject, which Rey answered in a masterly manner. Raphael Trichet copied these letters, and in the catalogue of his library, Reys Essays are inserted in the class of Philosophy, Natural History, &c. The volume passed from thence into the kings library, and was mentioned to the editor, (M. Gobet,) by M. LAbbé Desaunays. The reprint was from a copy furnished by M. de Villiers, from his own library, who had the liberality to sacrifice it for the public good". I translate the following, verbatim."

"On this account I have been obliged to shew, that air is possessed of weight; that it is proved by other investigation than that of the balance; and that even by that instrument, a portion previously altered and thickened, may make its weight manifest."