But what, precisely, is it that
I imagine when I form such conceptions? Let us attentively
consider this, and, abstracting from all that does not belong
to the wax, let us see what remains. Certainly nothing
remains excepting a certain extended thing which is flexible
and movable. But what is the meaning of flexible and movable?
Is it not that I imagine that this piece of wax being round is
capable of becoming square and of passing from a square to a
triangular figure? No, certainly it is not that, since I
imagine it admits of an infinitude of similar changes, and I
nevertheless do not know how to compass the infinitude by my
imagination, and consequently this conception which I have of
the wax is not brought about by the faculty of imagination.
What now is this extension? Is it not also unknown? For it
becomes greater when the wax is melted, greater when it is
boiled, and greater still when the heat increases; and I
should not conceive [clearly] according to truth what wax is,
if I did not think that even this piece that we are
considering is capable of receiving more variations in
extension than I have ever imagined.
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