THE BREATH OF LIFE 



Science conceives of all matter as grained or dis- 

 crete, like a bag of shot, or a pile of sand. Matter 

 does not occupy space continuously, not even in the 

 hardest substances, such as the diamond; there is 

 space, molecular space, between the particles. A 

 rifle bullet whizzing past is no more a continuous 

 body than is a flock of birds wheeling and swooping 

 in the air. Air spaces separate the birds, and molec- 

 ular spaces separate the molecules of the bullet. 

 Of course it is unthinkable that indivisible particles 

 of matter can occupy space and have dimensions. 

 But science goes upon this hypothesis, and the hy- 

 pothesis proves itself. 



After we have reached the point of the utmost 

 divisibility of matter in the atom, we are called up- 

 on to go still further and divide the indivisible. The 

 electrons, of which the atom is composed, are one 

 hundred thousand times smaller, and two thousand 

 times lighter than the smallest particle hitherto 

 recognized, namely, the hydrogen atom. A French 

 physicist conceives of the electrons as rushing about 

 in the interior of the atom like swarms of gnats whirl- 

 ing about in the dome of a cathedral. The smallest 

 particle of dust that we can recognize in the air is 

 millions of times larger than the atom, and millions 

 of millions of times larger than the electron. Yet 

 science avers that the manifestations of energy 

 which we call light, radiant heat, magnetism, and 

 electricity, all come from the activities of the elec- 

 196 



