798 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The absolute synchronism exhibited under all amplitudes of vibra- 

 tion by the disk-atom indicates the same law of central force as that 

 of the pendulum in its synchronous forms, or the spring-governor ; 

 and if attraction be the bond, it is a similar law of attraction, namely, 

 directly as the distance. This is the Newtonian law of gravity within 

 the homogeneous sphere, and thus by actual demonstration the attrac- 

 tive atom observes the same law as would the earth were it penetrable 

 namely, the inverse squares of the distances within the sphere.* 



The identity of the radiant particle with the component of the 

 atom is inferable. It possesses the requisite properties of mass and 

 resilience, and sufficient linear motion. Whether it should also have 

 attraction imputed to it as inherent depends on whether that property 

 in the molecule, where alone it is observed, is derived from the parti- 

 cle. If not, the latter needs only mass to conserve its deflections and 

 its course under the first law of motion, and resilience to secure its 

 compensatory readjustment in equilibrium. Even if possessed of 

 gravity, the enormous proper velocity of the particle would render 

 such an affection totally undiscoverable, because the Newtonian curves 

 of the second order resulting from the composition of force could be 

 nothing less than hyperbolas, whose branches would be wholly undis- 

 tinguishable from straight lines. 



No means at present offer themselves for suggesting how such a 

 discontinuity of action as is implied by the change from simple linear 

 motion to the balanced movements of the atoms could have occurred ; 

 and especially how a law of attraction according to inverse squares 

 of distance, which we must postulate, could change for one so extraor- 

 dinary as that observed within the atom, namely, directly at the dis- 

 tance. The law referred to rather resembles that of our summer 

 whirlwinds, wherein the centripetal force, i. e., the pressure from 

 without due to the rarefaction within, seems to vary directly as the 

 centrifugal force, and therefore as the radius, until equilibrium of 

 rotation is established. These also display a species of attraction 

 within the vortex ; and some forms of matter as iron evince a simi- 

 lar polar attraction at sensible distances when rearranged by vortical 

 motion. But such a theory does not commend itself by that simplicity 

 which we should expect in the region of the atom. 



The evolution of the atom or elementary molecule from the par- 

 ticle, even if real, is not continuous with the present order of nature 

 within our observation, and need not be, any more than the formation 



* This parallel holds good only for the balanced couples themselves, in which I have 

 assumed the cause of the stress to reside. The intensity of the stress would not vary as 

 the distance from the center for a third body, as in the permeable sphere, but the field 

 would be like a strained elastic tympanum, with varying tension dependent on the separa- 

 tion of the elements. The mathematical discussion of this field of force would be most 

 interesting, involviug, as it does, the investigation of all the phenomena of refraction and 

 reflexion. 



