NATURAL SELECTION 



from the points in space indicated by the atomic centres, it 

 is logical continually to diminish their size till they vanish, 

 leaving only localised centres of force to represent them. Of 

 the various attempts that have been made to show how the 

 properties of matter may be due to such modified atoms 

 (considered as mere centres of force), the most successful, 

 because the simplest and the most logical, is that of Mr. 

 Bayma, who, in his Molecular Mechanics, has demonstrated 

 how, from the simple assumption of such centres having 

 attractive and repulsive forces (both varying according to 

 the same law of the inverse squares as gravitation), and by 

 grouping them in symmetrical figures, consisting of a repulsive 

 centre, an attractive nucleus, and one or more repulsive 

 envelopes, we may explain all the general properties of matter ; 

 and, by more and more complex arrangements, even the 

 special chemical, electrical, and magnetic properties of special 

 forms of matter. 1 Each chemical element will thus consist of 

 a molecule formed of simple atoms (or as Mr. Bayma terms 

 them, to avoid confusion, " material elements ") in greater or 

 less number and of more or less complex arrangement ; which 

 molecule is in stable equilibrium, but liable to be changed in 

 form by the attractive or repulsive influences of differently 

 constituted molecules, constituting the phenomena of chemical 

 combination, and resulting in new forms of molecule of greater 

 complexity and more or less stability. 



Those organic compounds of which organised beings are 

 built up consist, as is well known, of matter of an extreme 

 complexity and great instability ; whence result the changes 

 of form to which it is continually subject. This view en- 

 ables us to comprehend the possibility of the phenomena of 

 vegetative life being due to an almost infinite complexity of 



1 Mr. Bayma's work, entitled The Elements of Molecular Mechanics, was 

 published in 1866, and has received less attention than it deserves. It is 

 characterised by great lucidity, by logical arrangement, and by comparatively 

 simple geometrical and algebraical demonstrations, so that it may be under- 

 stood and appreciated with a very moderate knowledge of mathematics. It 

 consists of a series of Propositions, deduced from the known properties of 

 matter ; from these are derived a number of Theorems, by whose help the 

 more complicated Problems are solved. Nothing is taken for granted through- 

 out the work, and the only valid mode of escaping from its conclusions is, by 

 either disproving the fundamental Propositions, or by detecting fallacies in the 

 subsequent reasoning. 



