‘ 
ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 69 
By friction forced to flow, together run, 
— Aud bursting barriers fire the leafy tops. 
For sure, if latent lay the flames in wood, 
Not long could they be hid, but, bursting forth, 
Would ravage forests, burning every shrub 
. 
Book I p. 63. 
He is an avowed opponent of the ordinary view of grav 
itation. In common with his countrymen, he thought 
lightly of mathematics. | 
Guard agaist belief 
Of what some say, ‘‘that to the centre tend 
Allthings, and thus the world can stand 
Without external impulses and shocks.’’— BooklI, p 71. 
Are we to look upon the following passage as a_ pre- 
diction of the discovery of argon and its strange compan- 
ions? Speaking of his atoms he says: 
And some there are wide wandering in space, 
That all affinities reject, nor can unite 
With any body in a common bond.—Book II p. 81. 
He puzzles over one of owr deep problems, the co-exist- 
ence of sovereign law and the free will of the creature. 
Again, if all motion in a chain were bound, 
If new from old in fixed order flowed, 
Cause linked to cause in an eternal round ; 
If atoms no concealed clinamen had 
Cause to create, and break the bond of fate, 
How could free-will in animals exist? 
In speaking of the dissimilarity in atoms he discusses 
the nature of fire and cold. Hisconclusions are some- 
what startling : 
How different is fire from piercing frost! 
Yet both composed of atoms toothed and sharp 
As proved by touch. Touch, O ye sacred powers! 
Touch is the organ whence all knowledge flows: 
Book II p. 90 
His theory as to the three physical states is that solids 
are made ‘‘of atoms hooked like branches deep entwined’’; 
liquids, ‘‘of bodies round and smooth must be composed”’; 
