ATOM. 483 



But the equality of the constants of the molecules is a fact of a very 

 different order. It arises from a particular distribution of matter, a collocation, 

 to use the expression of Dr Chalmers, of things which we have no difficulty in 

 imagining to have been arranged otherwise. But many of the ordinary instances 

 of collocation are adjustments of constants, which are not only arbitrary in 

 their own nature, but in which variations actually occur; and when it is 

 pointed out that these adjustments are beneficial to living beings, and are 

 therefore instances of benevolent design, it is replied that those variations 

 which are not conducive to the growth and multiplication of living beings 

 tend to their destruction, and to the removal thereby of the evidence of any 

 adjustment not beneficial. 



The constitution of an atom, however, is such as to render it, so far as 

 we can judge, independent of all the dangers arising from the struggle for 

 existence. Plausible reasons may, no doubt, be assigned for believing that if 

 the constants had varied from atom to atom through any sensible range, the 

 bodies formed by aggregates of such atoms would not have been so well fitted 

 for the construction of the world as the bodies which actually exist. But as 

 we have no experience of bodies formed of such variable atoms this must remain 

 a bare conjecture. 



Atoms have been compared by Sir J. Herschel to manufactured articles, 

 on account of their uniformity. The uniformity of manufactured articles may 

 be traced to very different motives on the part of the manufacturer. In 

 certain cases it is found to be less expensive as regards trouble, as well as 

 cost, to make a great many objects exactly alike than to adapt each to its 

 special requirements. Thus, shoes for soldiers are made in large numbers without 

 any designed adaptation to the feet of particular men. In another class of 

 cases the uniformity is intentional, and is designed to make the manufactured 

 article more valuable. Thus, Whitworth's bolts are made in a certain number 

 of sizes, so that if one bolt is lost, another may be got at once, and accurately 

 fitted to its place. The identity of the arrangement of the words in the 

 different copies of a document or book is a matter of great practical importance, 

 and it is more perfectly secured by the process of printing than by that of 

 manuscript copying. 



In a third class not a part only but the whole of the value of the object 

 arises from its exact conformity to a given standard. Weights and measures 

 belong to this class, and the existence of many well-adjusted material standards 



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