36 



The author commenced by stating at some length, the nature of 

 WoUaston's argument, the object of which was to affirm that the 

 limitation of the earth's atmosphore justified the conclusion, that 

 the air consists of indivisible particles or true atoms. He then dis- 

 cussed the opinions which have been offered by Daubeny, Dumas, 

 Whewell, and others, as to the validity of WoUaston's conclusion, 

 and stated that the special object of his communication was to shew 

 that the inference from the existence of a limit to the atmosphere, 

 that matter is only finitely divisible, is quite unwarranted. 



WoUaston, he observed, had only succeeded at the utmost in 

 establishing, that the atmosphere consists of a finite number of 

 mutually repelling molecules, without supplying, or even offering 

 Any proof, that these molecules were true atoms. The author urged 

 that the repelling molecules of the carbonic acid and water in the 

 atmosphere, are certainly not atoms, but groups of several particles ; 

 and that, for anything we can prove to the contrary, the molecules of 

 oxygen may be equally or even more complex ; and farther, that 

 even if it could be shewn that oxygen and nitrogen are chemically 

 homogeneous, it would not entitle us to assume that their repelling 

 molecules were single atoms instead of groups of several, since we 

 have no means of estimating what the complexity of a gaseous 

 molecule may be. The author concluded by stating, that WoUaston's 

 argument left the question of the finite or infinite divisibility of 

 matter exactly where it found it. 



2. Biographical Notice of the late Professor Henderson. 

 By Professor Kelland. 



In undertaking the task which has been assigned me, of laying 

 before the Society a brief history of the life and labours of one of 

 their most valuable members, I am influenced as much by my re- 

 gard for the deceased, as by my duty to the Society. I feel that, 

 in a place where I am a comparative stranger, I have lost a friend 

 — a loss the greatness of which can only be appreciated by those 

 who have experienced, as I have done, the integrity of his charac- 

 ter, and the warmth of his heart. Mr Henderson was a man whose 

 every action was the dictate of a right conscience. With society, 

 his intercourse was marked by an utter want of selfishness — a rare 

 characteristic ; with his friends, it was stamped with true and un- 

 ostentatious kind-heartedness. He was ready and happy, at all 

 times, to lend them aid, or afford them sympathy in every difficulty, 



