74 THE LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE 



power of irregular deflexion which introduced variety 

 in matter. By their union they formed bodies; and by 

 their impact and rebound they caused vortical motions 

 which now find expression in our term, energy. As an 

 explanation of natural phenomena the theory has no 

 value, as it originated long before the mathematical 

 laws of forces had been formulated or the phenomena 

 of matter had been accurately observed; but as a guide 

 to thought it has been the basis of most of the later 

 scientific theories. Gradually elaborated by Gassendi, 

 Newton, Boyle, Kant, Laplace, Dalton, and others, 

 this atomic theory is still the touchstone of modern 

 chemistry and physics. 



Possibly the vastest consequence of the atomic 

 theory is the nebular hypothesis developed independ- 

 ently by Kant and Laplace. Essentially this theory 

 is a restatement of the ideas of Democritus and Lucre- 

 tius, yet the discovery by Newton of the mathematical 

 law of the force of gravitation permitted for the first 

 time a true scientific method. Thus, while they were 

 compelled to assume, as arbitrarily as did Lucretius, an 

 initial state of chaos when matter was scattered in 

 atomic masses throughout space, they nevertheless had 

 a cause when for any reason the original balance of 

 forces was disturbed, experimentally verified and 

 mathematically expressed, to account for the gradual 

 agglomeration of atoms into larger masses at definite 

 places, from the fact that any two masses of sensible 



