Eric Chassefiere - Physics of the Terrestrial Environment, Subtle Matter and Height of the Atmosphere

It seems, either by the nature of gravity, or by the movements of comets, or by the vibrations of pendulums, etc., that empty and non-resistant space is distinguished from matter, and that consequently matter is not a simple expanse, but a solid, impenetrable expanse, endowed with the power to resist.

Concerning matter as a first principle, some people think that matter, when it was created, was divided into several orders of corpuscles differing from each other in substance, hardness, figure, etc., the various combinations of these corpuscles resulting in the variety of bodies and their characteristics. Others, such as Newton, considered that this variety resulted from “different arrangements of the same matter, which he believes to be homogeneous and uniform in all bodies”. According to Newton, all bodies, even the most volatile, and even light, are composed of hard parts, with hardness being as essential as impenetrability. This can be seen in the hardness of some porous bodies, which suggests that their simple parts, devoid of pores, are even harder. It would take much less force to separate the hard parts of a porous body from each other than it would take to break a solid corpuscle without pores. The force that, according to Newton, holds the hard corpuscles in contact with each other in a porous body, “a force that is greater at the point of contact than anywhere else, and which then decreases so rapidly that it is no longer sensitive at a very small distance”, is gravitational attraction, responsible for the cohesion of natural bodies.

The Cartesians, who did not accept the existence of emptiness, gave this particular matter “which they suppose to pass through and freely penetrate the pores of all bodies, and fill these pores so as not to leave any void or interstices between them” the name subtle matter . But, says the author of the entry about Cartesians:

In vain, they resort to this machine to support their belief in an absolute fullness, and to attune it to the phenomenon of movement, etc., in a word, to make it act and move as they wish. Indeed, if such a matter existed, it would be necessary, in order for it to fill the voids of all other bodies, that it be itself entirely free of emptiness; that is to say, perfectly solid, much more solid, for example, than gold, and consequently, much heavier than gold, and more resistant […]; which cannot be in harmony with phenomena.

By “phenomena”, the author meant the movement of planets and other bodies, which takes place without measurable resistance, within interplanetary space. Although Newton did not share the Cartesians’ point of view on the non-existence of emptiness, he nevertheless agreed that there is a subtle matter, not to fill the totality of empty spaces, but to transmit heat and light through its vibrations, thus both caloric and luminous matter. Newton’s subtle matter is much looser than air, and penetrates the densest bodies:

He [Newton] inferred the existence of this matter from the experiments of two thermometers enclosed in two glass vessels, from one of which air was drawn out, and which we both carry from a cold to a warm place. The thermometer which is in the vacuum becomes hot, and rises almost as soon as the one in the air, and if they are brought back to the cold place, they both cool down, and both fall to about the same point. Does this not show, he says, that the heat of a warm place is transmitted through the vacuum by the vibrations of a medium much more subtle than air, a medium which remains in the vacuum after the air has been drawn from it? And isn’t this medium the same one that breaks and reflects the rays of light? […]

The same philosopher still speaks of this subtle medium or fluid at the end of his principles. This fluid, he says, penetrates the densest bodies; it is hidden in their substance; it is by its force and by its action that the particles of the bodies attract each other at very small distances, and that they attach themselves strongly when they are contiguous; this same fluid is also the cause of the action of electric bodies, either to repel or to attract neighboring corpuscles.

Thus, Newton also attributed to this subtle matter, which transmits heat and light, the attraction of matter, whether gravitational or electrical in nature. The author of the entry notes the contradiction between Newton’s first point of view, which was to consider gravitational attraction as a property of matter, and his attribution of the cohesion of bodies to subtle matter, which certainly reflected his lack of certainty about the existence of subtle matter, a position that would rather be a concession to the Cartesians. Especially since Newton also supported, and not without hesitation, the Cartesian hypothesis of magnetic matter to explain the properties of the magnet. Still, Cartesians and Newtonians agreed on the more or less nuanced assertion, based on different arguments, of the existence of a subtle matter filling the world.

Another subtle matter is igneous matter, or fire matter. The Encyclopédie gives the following definition: “a principle that some chemists use in explaining several effects, especially to account for the increase in weight that some bodies experience in calcination”. The author gives the example of 20 pounds of lead that is melted over a fire until it is reduced to dust. The resulting lead powder increases in volume and weighs 25 pounds. The increase in weight does not come from the residue of the wood or coal used to maintain the fire, as shown in the same experiment carried out at the hearth of a burning glass, a convex lens placed under the sun:

It was therefore concluded that this increase in weight could only be due to the Sun’s rays, which were concentrated in the matter exposed to their action during the entire time of the operation, and that it was to the condensed matter of these rays of light that the excess gravity observed there was to be attributed; and for this purpose it was assumed that the matter which serves to transmit light and heat to us, the action of the Sun or fire, was heavy, that it was capable of great condensation, that it indeed condensed prodigiously in the pores of certain bodies, without being constrained by any weight.

But this explanation, which appealed to the subtle matter transmitting light and heat, does not hold, according to the author, because there was evidence that the matter of light is not heavy. For example, the matter of light in a glass vacuum chamber, whose presence can be known by the fact that we can still see the objects behind the chamber through it, does not support the mercury suspended in the barometer at the slightest height. Or light does not offer any perceptible resistance to a globe passing through it, unlike a fluid with a certain density. It is therefore necessary to look elsewhere for the matter responsible for the increase in the mass of lead. And it is in the vapors and exhalations dissolved in the air (a concept that we have seen is used to explain the evaporation of bodies), and which are therefore contained in its pores, that we must necessarily find it:

According to Mr. Boerhaave’s very detailed remarks, air contains a large number of heavy molecules in its pores: water, oil, volatile salts, etc. With respect to water, we know how any amount of salt of tartar, exposed to air, becomes charged in a very short time with an equal weight of water molecules. This heavy matter is therefore contained in the pores of the air. The presence of sulfur molecules, salts, etc. is no more difficult to observe. Without resorting to any still, one need only be in the open country in stormy weather, raise one’s eyes to the sky to see the large number of lightning bolts shining from all sides: they are fires, they are lit sulphur, they are volatile salts, no one can disagree.