CHAPTER IV. 

 THE ELECTRICAL NATURE OF MATTER. 



It often happens that in inverting a problem the truth 

 drops out. Copernicus, instead of assuming that the sun 

 moved around the world, succeeded better by assuming that 

 the world moved around the sun. Kant, also, instead of 

 assuming that knowledge must conform to objects, inverted 

 the idea by assuming that objects must conform to our 

 knowledge. In a similar fashion it is now proposed to in- 

 vert the conception of matter and electricity that we have 

 so far gained. Instead of assuming that corpuscles are 

 particles of matter possessing the properties of negative 

 electricity, we shall assume, instead, that corpuscles are par- 

 ticles of negative electricity possessing the properties of 

 matter. It will be seen that this new way of looking at 

 things will lead to new knowledge. It is proposed in this 

 chapter to show by arguments adduced from facts that Mat- 

 ter is made up of Electricity and nothing but Electricity. We 

 can best develop the thesis by comparing matter and elec- 

 tricity in the possession of one common property. The one 

 sole unalterable property of matter is inertia. It requires 

 an effort to put matter into motion when the matter is al- 

 ready at rest, and it requires an effort to stop matter after 

 it has once been set in motion. Inertia is simply the Latin 

 word for laziness, but the "laziness" of matter is excep- 

 tional and peculiar. Matter hesitates as much to stop 

 when once in motion as to start when once at rest. 



Matter hesitates to start. Water will reflect a cannon 



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