3959. CONCERNING THE ANTIPODES. It was said to Aristotle that there are antipodes and that [the inhabitants of all parts of the earth] become such after [the lapse of] twelve hours. When the fact was shown, he as well as others wondered that they could thus walk on their feet; but the cause was made known, [viz.] that since the minutest portions of the ether gravitate to the minutest points of our body, towards the center, [the gravitation] is upwards when the center is upwards, and so downwards when the center is downwards, and thus an upwards and downwards is induced upon the whole body, which the ideas are to follow. The subject in this way came into the light, and he said it was so. Hence also it appeared that when reasonings are instituted from a gross atmosphere, from stones and the like, [and] from the external body, no one can possibly conceive that he should be able to stand on his feet in the opposite [quarter] of the earth; but as soon as those grossnesses are removed, or the ideas of them, which are similarly gross, then the man comes into a certain natural light. - 1748, November 12.