HENRY DEACON 191 



therefore hydrochloric acid must be decom- 

 posed under circumstances where the union 

 of either element with the copper salt is 

 impossible, i.e., that the decomposition must 

 in part, if not entirely, be caused by the 

 resultant of the forces engaged, and therefore 

 direct from : 



2 H Cl + O to H 2 + 2 Cl. 



In February and April, 1874, there are two 

 papers, one given before the Warrington 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, on 

 "Thought about Atoms," and the other 

 contributed to the Quarterly Journal of 

 Science on " The modern hypothesis of atomic 

 matter and luminiferous ether." His con- 

 clusions are : "Tangible matter does transmit 

 forms of motion of all kinds, and appears to 

 be elastic ; and if elastic, needs no medium 

 for transmitting motion, and the so-called 

 necessity for the hypothesis of ether disap- 

 pears. It must then be more philosophical to 

 endow appreciable matter, even hypothetically, 

 with the qualities it appears to possess, than 

 to create matter of an unknown kind in order 

 to endow it with qualities we see, but refuse 

 to appreciate, in matter that lies before us." 



