THE TABLE OF THE LAW. 33 



to an extent so remarkable that in general terms it may be 

 said that what one will do the others will do, and that in 

 their very differences they vary progressively in definite 

 steps. Furthermore, all these relations are true because of 

 the law illustrated in the curves of the atomic volumes and 

 melting-points, that the properties of an element are a 

 periodic function of its atomic weight. 

 3 



