AND ETHER WAVES. 85 



spray round their place of impact. When the note 

 ceased, the continuity and steadiness of the vein were 

 immediately restored. The formation of the drops 

 was here periodic ; and when the vibrations of the note 

 accurately synchronised with the periods of the drops, 

 the waves of sound aided what the illustrious Plateau 

 proved to be the natural tendency of the liquid cylinder 

 to resolve itself into spherules, and virtually decom- 

 posed the vein. 



I have stated, without proof, that where absorption 

 occurs the motion of the ether-waves is taken up by 

 the constituent atoms of molecules. It is conceivable 

 that the ether waves, in passing through an assemblage 

 of molecules, might deliver up their motion to each 

 molecule as a whole, leaving the relative positions of the 

 constituent atoms unchanged. But the long series of 

 reactions represented by the deportment of nitrite of 

 amyl vapour does not favour this conception ; for, were 

 the atoms animated solely by a common motion, the 

 molecules would not be decomposed. The fact of de- 

 composition, then, goes to prove the atoms to be the 

 seat of the absorption. They, in great part, take up 

 the energy of the ether waves, whereby their union is 

 severed, and the building-materials of the molecules are 

 scattered abroad. 



Molecules differ in stability ; some of them, though 

 hit by waves of considerable force, and taking up the 

 motions of these waves, nevertheless hold their own with 

 a tenacity which defies decomposition. And here, in 

 passing, I may say that it would give me extreme 

 pleasure to be able to point to my researches in con- 

 firmation of the solar theory recently enunciated by my 

 friend the President of the British Association. But 

 though the experiments which I have made on the de- 

 composition of vapours by light might be numbered by 



