Neivton, Leibnitz, and Boscovich to the Atomic Theory. G3 



are dissimilar to the polar angles, which are formed by only three lines 

 of force. Let the second H, therefore, come by its pole upon a pole of 

 the first, it will be repelled and swept romid till its own pole is drawn 

 to the equator of the other. And so of a second and of a third atom 

 of H, after which the structure will be completed so far as its equator 

 is concerued. But the H* thus generated is dissimilar to H. The 

 sj'stem of undulations proper to it, therefore, both at the equator and 

 the poles, will be dissimilar to that proper to H when existing alone. 

 Let another H then come on, it will not be repelled from the pole of 

 H* as before ; it will be attached there ; and thus after one atom of H 

 we shall have under the law of assimilation two, one on each pole, 

 giving fig. H*. 



3. Under the law of assimilation, it also follows that the measure of 

 the chemical activity of a molecule is the amount of its defect, when 

 compared with the spherical shell as the type of form, or the form of 

 repose ; and, therefore, those molecules possess the greatest chemical activity 

 which are most highly prolate or most flatly oblate ; and those ivill tend 

 most readily to unite which are prolate and oblate in relation to each other. 



4. It is, moreover, to be considered, that a group of two or more 

 molecules is, when considered as a group, or mass, dissimilar to a single 

 molecule, or group of molecules, if different from the first in the number 

 it consists of. A single molecule, therefore, will tend to unite with a 

 group of the same kind previously existing, or one group with another, 

 if they be dissimilar. And this they will do in both cases, not chaoti- 

 cally or accidentally, but symmetrically, as the law of assimilation opera- 

 ting in the particular molecules aggregating shall determine. Thus 

 along with the phenomena of chemical union, we must have those of 

 crystallization, the nisus at the spherical showing itself by bevelments, 

 truncations, &c., and those of the organization of plastic fluids when in 

 contact with solid parts, &c. 



5. And conversely, if a group of molecules, constituting a solid mass, 

 be surrounded by a fluid, it must, under the law of assimilation, tend to 

 become diffused as a fluid itself, or as it is commonly said, dissolved in the 

 ambient fluid — the aether, the air, water, alcohol, oil, sanies, &c. Hence 

 all solids must tend to be volatile and soluble when in contact with fluids 

 (especially when the cohesion of their particles is diminished, as for 

 instance by heat), as the greater number are found to be even to such 

 an extent as is appreciable by the balance. Hence also the molecules, 

 or chemical atoms, or equivalents of bodies, if exposed to violent pro- 

 cesses of solution and of ignition, as is now usually practised, will tend 

 to give off more or less of the ictherial matter they consist of, and 

 ajkr severe processes in the laboratory, atomic weights mil come out too 



