ABSTRACT
That there are voids one could grasp from the following. If there weren’t, neither light nor heat nor any other bodily power could penetrate through water or air or any other body. How could the rays of the sun penetrate through water to the bottom of the vessel? If the water lacked pores, and the beams forcefully parted the water [assuming light is corporeal], full vessels would consequently overflow: which they do not. It’s also clear from this: if they forcefully parted the water, some rays would not reflect upward while others penetrated downward. But in fact, whichever beams impinge upon the particles of water are reflected upward as if rejected, but whichever penetrate the voids of the water, encounter few particles, and penetrate to the floor of the vessel. It’s also clear that there are voids in water from this, that when wine is poured into water, one sees the influx spreads to every part of the water. This wouldn’t happen if there weren’t voids in the water. Also, when you light many lamps they all illuminate more, the beams interpenetrating in every direction. And other things penetrate even through bronze and iron and other bodies, like what happens with the marine torpedofish [the Mediterranean electric fish, Torpedo marmorata: Aristotle, Animal Researches 8(9).37 (620b19-29); Thompson [1947] 169-171].
