THE BELFAST ADDRESS. 143 



them all things can be resolved at last. Bodies are 

 partly atoms and partly combinations of atoms ; but 

 the atoms nothing can quench. They are strong in 

 solid singleness, and, by their denser combination, all 

 things can be closely packed and exhibit enduring 

 strength. He denies that matter is infinitely divisible. 

 We come at length to the atoms, without which, as an 

 imperishable substratum, all order in the generation 

 and development of things would be destroyed. 



The mechanical shock of the atoms being, in his 

 view, the all-sufficient cause of things, he combats the 

 notion that the constitution of nature has been in any 

 way determined by intelligent design. The interaction 

 of the atoms throughout infinite time rendered all man- 

 ner of combinations possible. Of these, the fit ones 

 persisted, while the unfit ones disappeared. Not after 

 sage deliberation did the atoms station themselves in 

 their right places, nor did they bargain what motions 

 they should assume. From all eternity they have been 

 driven together, and, after trying motions and unions of 

 every kind, they fell at length into the arrangements 

 out of which this system of things has been evolved. 

 * If you will apprehend and keep in mind these things, 

 Nature, free at once, and rid of her haughty lords, is 

 seen to do all things spontaneously of herself, without 

 the meddling of the gods.' * 



To meet the objection that his atoms cannot be 

 seen, Lucretius describes a violent storm, and shows 

 that the invisible particles of air act in the same way 

 as the visible particles of water. We perceive, more- 

 over, the different smells of things, yet never see them 



1 Monro's translation. In his criticism of this work ( Contem- 

 porary Review,' 1867) Dr. Hayman does not appear to be aware of 

 the really sound and subtile observations on which the reasoning of 

 Lucretius, though erroneous, sometimes rests. 



