2 Meldrum, Development of the Atomic Theory. 



I. The Atomic Theory of Neivton. 



In the seventeenth century the atomic theory is asso- 

 ciated with the famous names of Francis Bacon (1561 — 

 1626), Rene Descartes (1596 — 1650), Pierre Gassend 

 (1592 — 1655), Robert Boyle (1627 — 1691) and Isaac 

 Newton (1642 — 1727). 



Bacon recurs to the theory again and again in his 

 philosophical writings, as if fascinated by it. At one 

 time he entertained great expectations from the study 

 of the atoms. " I know not whether this inquiry I 

 speak of concerning the first condition of seeds or atoms 

 be not the most useful of all, as being the supreme rule of 

 art and power, and the true moderator of hopes and 

 works."' This in the " Cogitationes de Natura Rerum," 

 which is regarded as having been composed before the 

 year 1605. I^^t he changed his mind on the subject, 

 tending, as time passed, to become more and more distrust- 

 ful of a priori reasoning. His mature judgment, as ex- 

 pressed in the "Novum Organum," published in 1620, was 

 that the atoms are an unprofitable study. " Men cease 

 not . . . from dissecting nature till they reach the atom ; 

 things which, even if true, can do but little for the welfare 

 of mankind."' 



Boyle, in this country, was the exponent of the atomic 

 theory who brought it into repute. In the year 1659 he 

 urged the "desirableness of a good intelligence between the 

 Corpuscularian Philosophers and the chemists," * and this 

 topic for some time afterwards he made a leading theme 

 in his scientific writings. Within a few years of his first 

 attempt he was able to say that he has "had the happiness 



- Bacon's Works, ed. by Spedding & Ellis, vol. 5, p. 423. 

 ' Op. cit., vol. 4, p. 68 ; or Nov. Org., I, aphorism 66. 

 * Boyle's Works, ed. by Birch, vol. I, p. 227, 1744. 



