Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Iv. (1910), No. 4- 



IV. The Development of the Atomic Theory: (3) 

 Newton's Theory, and its Influence in the 

 Eighteenth Century. 



By Andrew Norman Meldrum, D.Sc. 



( Carnegie Research Fellow). 



( Commu?ncated by Professor H. B. Dixon. M.A., F.R.S.) 



Received June, jgio. Read November ist, igio. 



One of the great obstacles to a right understanding 

 of the history of science, is the tendency of writers to let 

 their attention be absorbed by a single individual, who thus 

 engrosses the credit for important ideas and discoveries, 

 to the neglect of deserving predecessors. This method, 

 besides being unjust, gives a distorted view of the 

 progress of science. For instance, Nernst, apropos of 

 Dalton, remarks that the atomic hypothesis " by one effort 

 of modern science, arose like a phoenix from the ashes of 

 the old Greek philosophy"^ This sweeping statement 

 ignores atomic speculation between the time of Lucretius 

 and the nineteenth century. As if the atomic theory of 

 Newton, for instance, were perfectly negligible ! 



This paper is written in the belief that the atomic 

 tlieory has gone through a process of development from 

 the time of Leucippus up to the present. The main con- 

 clusions are that Newton made a contribution to the said 

 process, that he did so under the influence of Descartes, 

 and that he was, in turn, himself an influence in the 

 eighteenth century. It is therefore divided into two parts : 

 (i) The atomic theory of Newton, and (2) Newton's 

 influence in the eighteenth century. 



* Nernst, " Theoretische Chemie,"' Sth ed., p. 34. 

 December ijth, igio. 



