CONTACT OF ELEM. PARTICLES, 247 



VIL 



B^mark upon an Ajfertion (t/' Lavoisier, ivhich has been re^ 

 peated by eminent Chevdfis. ByV. Prevost, Profejfor at 

 Geneva, and Correjpondent with the National Jnjiitute of 

 France, * 



" T 



' J-T is a conftant phenomenon in nature that when Affertlon of La- 



any body whatever is heated ..... its dimenfions become ]^°'^*^'i» J.^^^ 

 ■' ■' lince bodies are 



increafed in every diredion If after having heated contraftible by 



a folid body to a certain point, and by that means feparated '^f^* ^^^^^ P^*"* 

 •• ' tides me not xvk 



its particles more and more, it be then fuffered to cool, thefe contaft. 



^particles will approach each other, according to the fame gra- 

 dation by which they were before feparated ; the body will 

 pafs through the fame dimenfions it before poflTefTed ; and if it 

 be reduced to the fame temperature as at the beginning of the 

 experiment; it will refume its original volume. Bat as we 

 are very far from being able to produce an abfolute fiate of 

 cold ; but on the contrary, as there is no degree of refrigera- 

 tion which we cannot fuppofe to be capable of being further 

 augmented, it muft follow that we have not yet fucceeded in . 

 bringing the particles of any body as clofely together as is 

 poffible, and confequently that the particles of no body in nature 

 can be in a fiate of contact; a very finguiar conclufion, but to 

 ivhich neverthelefs it is impoffible to refufe our aflent." — 

 Elementary Treatife of Chemijlry, hy Lavoifier, Vol. I. at the 

 commencement. 



The fame aflfertion is repeated feveral pages further, where The fame aflcr- 

 zn example is taken of a veflel filled with fmall leaden fhot. ^'°" repeated, 

 *' The balls touch each other," fays our author, *' whereas 

 the particles of bodies do not touch, but are always kept at a 

 fmall diftance from each other by the effort of caloric." 



The authority which this celebrated chemift enjoys in the 

 learned world, is probably the only caufe why this conclufion 

 has been adopted. It is at leafl: certain that it is not legiti- 

 mate, though it has been fo often repeated ; and more parti- 

 cularly in a late work, no lefs remarkable for the depth of 

 feafoning and extent of knowledge which it difplays. Ber- 



Annales de Chimiej Vol. L. p. $8. 



thollet. 



