408 FORMS OF THE ELEMENTS. 



universe, so in the Iranian fabric, in the vegetable struc- 

 ture, in the crystallized gem, or in the rude rock, force 

 is weighed against force, and the balance hangs in tran- 

 quillity. Let but a slight disturbance occcasion a vibra- 

 tion of the beam, and electricity shakes the stoutest 

 heart with terror, at the might of its devastating power.* 

 Heat melts the hardest rocks, and the earth trembles 

 with volcanic stragglings ; and actinic agency, being 

 freed from its chains, speedily spreads decay over the 

 beautiful, and renders the lovely repulsive. 



We know matter in an infinite variety of forms, from 

 the most ponderous metal to the lightest gas ; and we 

 have it within our power to render the most solid bodies 

 invisible in the condition of vapour. Is it not easy, then, 

 to understand that matter may exist equally attenuated 

 in relation to hydrogen, as that gas itself is, when com- 

 pared with the metal platinum? A doubt has been 

 raised against this view, from the difficulty of accounting 

 for the passage of the physical elements through solid 

 masses of matter. If we, however, remember that the 

 known gases have the power of transpiration through 

 matter in a remarkable degree,t and that the passage of 

 water through a sieve may be prevented by heat, it will 

 be at once apparent that the permeation of any radiant 

 body through fixed solid matter is entirely a question 

 of conditions. 



We can form no idea of the size of the ultimate atom ; 

 we cannot comprehend the degree of etherealization to 

 which matter may be extended. Our atmosphere, 

 we have seen, is only another condition of the same 

 elements which compose all the organized forms of 

 matter upon the earth, and, at the height reached by 

 man, it is in a state of extreme attenuation. What 



* Faraday's Experimental Researches, vol. i. ; from which a 

 quotation has already been made, showing the enormous quantity 

 of electricity which is latent in matter. 



f On the Motion of Gases : by Professor Graham, F.R.S. Phil. 

 Trans., vol. cxxxvi. p. 573. 



