534 



NATURE 



[April 4, 1901 



elastic their average amplitude of vibration is increased 

 proportionally, and a greater number of them will strike 

 with greater velocity upon the walls of the containing 

 vessel per second than before. Thus the temperature 

 and the pressure of the gas are increased. We say that 

 mechanical energy has been converted into heat energy, 

 or sometimes simply into heat, though what has really 

 happened has been the transformation of external trans- 

 lational motion into internal vibratory motion, which the 

 elasticity and mobility of the molecules permit. When 

 by friction or percussion a body is heated, the same thing 

 precisely has happened ; translatory motion has been 

 transformed into vibratory, through the agency of the 

 molecules, which have, therefore, acted as machines for 

 transformation." 



Madame Royer has produced a volume of 800 pages, 

 in which she has endeavoured to expose fallacies in the 

 existing theories of matter and to formulate a new theory 

 of her own. The book is illustrated by coloured plates 

 and pretty pictures of molecules built up of atoms. It 

 deals in turn with the history of theories of matter, pro- 

 perties of atoms, vibratory phenomena (including heat, 

 light, sound, smell and taste), solid bodies, liquids and 

 gases, vital processes, gravity, theory of the tides and 

 cosmic evolution. 



Madame Royer seems to believe that atoms are fluids 

 in their nature (the indivisibility of atoms has long been 

 a thing of the past) and that there are three states of 

 the cosmic substances, namely, the initial or ethereal 

 state, in which the atoms are without mass and preserve 

 the properties of perfect fluids ; the material state, in 

 which the atoms only possess a variable finite portion of 

 their initial expansive substance and all their fluid pro- 

 perties are attenuated ; and the vitaliferous state, in which 

 the atoms are not subjected to the laws of inertia and 

 gravity, but can overcome these in producing automatic 

 movements. No such thing as attraction is supposed to 

 exist, but the fluid atoms are held together by an ethereal 

 pressure ; they would be spherical when isolated, but 

 when formed into molecules they become compressed 

 into polyhedral forms. The authoress takes exception to 

 the accepted theory that quantity of matter is synonymous 

 with mass ; but does not this mainly depend on what we 

 define to be matter 1 



The explanation of gravity attributes this phenomenon 

 to pulsating pressures in the ether — an idea by no means 

 novel, the hydrodynamical theory of pulsating spheres 

 being well known. How far Madame Royer has worked 

 on old lines, and how far she has invented a new theory, 

 it is not our present purpose to examine. We cannot dis- 

 cover anything very remarkable in her new theory of the 

 tides, the principal point of which appears to be that it 

 is necessary to discuss the tides in the earth and the 

 atmosphere as well as in the sea. 



It may be convenient here to state roughly in an 

 abridged form the fundamental assumptions stated on 

 pp. 68-70 : 



"(i) The primary elements of cosmic matter are 

 volumes of fluid, which tend to expand by reason of 

 their internal activity, but are kept from so doing by 

 external and mutual pressures. (2) The cosmic elements 

 constituted by centres of emission of an indefinitely ex- 

 pansive substance are active, and repel one another ac- 

 cording to the law of the inverse square. (3) Ponderable 

 bodies are constituted of elements in which the expan- 

 NO. 1640, VOL. 63] 



sive forces are attenuated, and their inertia is inversely 

 proportional to the radius of their virtual sphere. (4) 

 The masses of ponderable bodies are equal to the sums 

 of the inertia of their elements, and vary directly as their 

 number and inversely as the cube roots of their expansive 

 forces. (5) The variations of volume of complex bodies 

 under changes of pressure and temperature are the re- 

 sult of correlative variations in volume of their elements, 

 which remain always in contact and are bounded by 

 planes of mutual intersection. [Is it certain that the 

 boundaries are always plane ?] (6) It follows that the 

 universe is absolutely filled [with a medium, of course] 

 under constant average pressure, and the local and 

 temporary variations of pressure are the cause of all 

 motion." 



The book is evidently the outcome of many years of 

 thought and study on the part of its writer, and it would 

 be of httle use to express a single opinion, favourable or 

 unfavourable, on it in a review. Some of the ideas give 

 one the idea that there is much to be said in their favour. 

 The suggestion that what we call atoms may be repre- 

 sented better by portions of fluid than by solid bodies is, 

 whether tenable or untenable, certainly worth careful 

 consideration, and should, if new, certainly be labelled 

 and consigned to its proper place in the storehouse of 

 accumulated thought which is being built up under the 

 general title of " theories of matter." But is it new ? 



Dr. Fischer, in his first paper, takes as his starting 

 point Korn's theory, according to which gravitation and 

 electricity are referred to a periodical pressure to which 

 the whole solar system is exposed. He considers, how- 

 ever, that it is not necessary to go outside the solar 

 system to find an explanation of the phenomena, but that 

 they can be explained very well by certain ordered 

 motions within the system itself. He assumes the 

 existence of two kinds of atoms, namely, the atoms of 

 chemical elements and those of the ether. The majority 

 of element-atoms are supposed to be elongated, those of 

 the ether being spherical, of average equal size and 

 practically of the nature of mathematical points. 



" Possible motions of possible atoms " is an inviting 

 title for his second paper. Its sections deal with space 

 and time, matter and force, the chemical atoms, the ether 

 atoms, the motion of chemical atoms and molecules, and 

 cosmogony. In summing up. Dr. Fischer arrives at the 

 following conclusions: — (i) Discrete deformable active 

 atoms can only be of approximately spherical shape, 

 never with sharp corners or edges ; (2) Element-atoms oit 

 the most varied forms can be built up of such discrete 

 atoms ; (3) Owing to their activity atoms can move, and 

 every motion is due to some force acting on matter ; 

 motion is only produced by leaps or bounds, after which 

 it remains constant in magnitude and direction, and can 

 only increase and decrease by jerks. A curvilinear 

 motion is to be regarded as made up of' a series of 

 elementary rectilinear motions ; (4) Elastic stresses pre- 

 suppose deformable active atoms ; (5) After elastic re- 

 pulsions, deformable active atoms of certain dimensions 

 may either designedly come into contact or separate ; (6) 

 With regard to oscillatory motions, approximately spherical 

 atoms move uniformly,while element-atoms and molecules, 

 especially those of elongated form, can either be turned 

 about their axes or they can perform elliptic or circular 

 oscillations made up of elements of rectilinear motion in 

 directions along, perpendicular to, or inclined to their 



