Dr. Hare on a recent " Speculation " by Faraday. 603 



that taking equal bulks of the hydrate and of potassium, 

 there will be in the metal only 430 metallic atoms, while 

 in the hydrate there will be 700 such atoms. Yet in the 

 latter, besides the 700 atoms, there will be an equal num- 

 ber of aqueous and oxygenous atoms, in all 2800 ponderable 

 atoms. It follows that if the atoms of potassium are to be 

 considered as minute impenetrable particles, kept at certain 

 distances by an equilibrium of forces, there must be, in amass 

 of potassium, vastly more space than matter. Moreover, it 

 is the space alone that can be continuous. The non-contigu- 

 ous material atoms cannot form a continuous mass. Conse- 

 quently the well-known power of potassium to conduct elec- 

 tricity must be a quality of the continuous empty space which 

 it comprises, not of the discontinuous particles of matter with 

 which that space is regularly interspersed. It is in the next 

 place urged, that while, agreeably to these considerations, 

 space is shown to be a conductor, there are considerations 

 equally tending to prove it to be a non-conductor ; since in 

 certain non-conducting bodies, such as resins, there must be 

 nearly as much vacant space as in potassium. Hence the 

 supposition that atoms are minute impenetrable particles, in- 

 volves the necessity of considering empty space as a conductor 

 in metals and as a non-conductor in resins, and of course in 

 sulphur and other electrics. This is considered as a reductio 

 ad absurdum. To avoid this contradiction, Faraday supposes 

 thA atoms are not minute impenetrable bodies, but, existing 

 throughout the whole space in which their properties are ob- 

 served, may penetrate each other. Consistently, although 

 the atoms of potassium pervade the whole space which they 

 apparently occupy, the entrance into that space of an equiva- 

 lent number of atoms of oxygen and water, in consequence dl 

 some reciprocal reaction, causes a contraction in the boun- 

 daries by which the combination thus formed is inclosed. 

 This is an original and interesting view of this subject, well 

 worthy of the contemplation of chemical philosophers. 



But upon these premises Faraday has ventured on some 

 inferences which, upon various accounts, appear to me un- 

 warrantable. I agree that " a " representing a particle of mat- 

 ter, and " m " representing its properties, it is only with " m " 

 that we have any acquaintance, the existence of " a " rest- 

 ing merely on an inference. Heretofore I have often appealed 

 to this fact, in order to show that the evidence both of pon- 

 derable and imponderable matter is of the same kind pre- 

 cisely : the existence of properties which can only be ac- 

 counted for by inferring the existence of an appropriate matter 



