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but hypotheticall what was alledged, and It was not very euident that there was any such
thing as an aether much Lesse was it vnderstood what it was and what propertys
It had, nor that the air did consist of such parts as was alledged, mr Hooke affirmed
that by multitudes of Experiments he could make it very euident first that there
was such a body, and secondly what many of the propertys of that body were
thirdly how very considerable and powerful those propertys were in producing
multitudes of effects ascribed to other causes generally. fourthly he could shew -
how those propertys might be examined and essayed and reduced . . . into a Stan
derd to wit to number weight measure & . . . consequently make
it a subiect fitt to be . . . farther inquired into by this Society. whose Business /Designe/
is to be Directed by the Great Scoolmistress of Reason, Experience. And not to be
ruled by groundlesse fantcys & conceipts -
By these ways he supposed the phenomena of the great grauity of the air vpon the -
long blowing of an eastwordly, and the Great lightnesse vpon the blowing of a
Southwardly wind, /The air/ the one comming ouer a vast tract of Land & soe taking vp into
into it self great qualitys of vapours exhalations wch. remaine suspended
and mixt wth it by reason of their congruity, & the other blowing ouer a great space
of sea and soe taking vp only such parts . . . wch affords lesse quantity of
parts disposed to make air. He also further explained the reason of the ready conuerting
of vapours into water by the cold of the air, those watery parts being more easily pre
cipitated or separated from the air by the want of heat to keep them agitated
as was Instanced in the appearing of Ones breath in Cold Weather, and the easy
conuersions of the va wind produced by . . . water heated in an aeolipile
into water againe by the want of tht heat & agitation
how ^ /wherefore/ the Grauity of the air arising only from the quality of those grauitating parts
wch. were kept suspended in the form of air, the greater the one is the greater
also must consequently be the other

mr Ol: Hill now comming In affirmed that there was noe such thing as grauity in the
air but that air was positiuely light, and that all that belieud otherwise were mista
ken and in a great error as he would presently make appear both by reasons & Experi
ments and to this pupose alledged many things which he affirmed he had more at
large explained & better Digested in a Discourse which he had then about him
of that subiect and that he had made it on purpose for this meeting and that
he would Read It if they thought fit and continue those his Discourses if they
met wth entertainment worthy of them -
After wch. He read his paper a coppy of wch he promised to Deliuer to the Se=
cretary between that and the next meeting that an account thereof might be
taken by him.

At the same time also he Deliuerd in a Coppy of his Discourse wch. he had made
the Last meeting about . . . the wormes in pepper water. Intituled
Reflections on the transactions of the Royall Society in their meeting on -
thursday Dec: 6. 1677-

Ref: CELL/RS/HF_135  © Centre for Editing Lives and Letters