STATEMENT No. 10. 



The number of species of atoms is unknown, it is most 

 likely an enormous number. We probably know 

 about secenty of these species at present. 



WHEN the chemist finds a species of matter which 

 resists all the agencies known to him, for splitting up 

 that matter into two (or more) kinds, differing from 

 the original mass, then he calls that species an 

 ' element." And from its behaviour of combining and 

 re -combining with other matter, he is obliged to regard 

 the mass as consisting of individual objects atoms or 

 molecules. It is not at all necessary for us to go into 

 the details of chemistry this is the business of the 

 chemist. All we have to grasp is : that in order to 

 account for the various combinations in Nature, the 

 atoms must have the power to form endless (that is, to 

 our minds endless) combinations, called molecules, and 

 to account for the facts this power is an inherent and 

 eternal one. It is quite possible, we think we may 

 even say probable, that some of the so-called elements 

 may prove to be compounds. 



What right have we to imagine even that the 

 number of species is seventy or thereabouts ? Science 

 is constantly finding new species or elements. How 



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