66 THE WOKLD-ENEKGY 



Thus far, indeed, it would seem that matter would 

 necessarily be distributed uniformly through space, and 

 that therefore " body" would have no meaning. To this 

 objection an answer will develop in the further course of 

 the argument. 



What we have now to note is that the force radiating 

 from the centers everywhere appearing in whatever 

 occupies space, would not, according to the conception of 

 the constitution of matter thus far developed, ever reach 

 any absolute limit. And this would seem to be the same 

 conception as that which would result from the fusion of 

 the two theories before mentioned. The " atom " of 

 Clausius vanishes into the non-extended point of Bosco- 

 vich, and from such focus a sphere of force extends indef- 

 initely, though with gradually diminishing intensity. 

 That is, the points of force in the one case and the atoms 

 in the other are seen to be each in reality just a focus of 

 force. That, it would seem, is the truth of the "atom." 



But, this once recognized, a number of important in- 

 ferences are seen to logically follow. In the first place, 

 if the atom is in truth nothing else or less than a focus of 

 force, it is evident that it has no absolutely fixed boundary. 

 Its nucleus must indeed possess a maximum of tension, 

 but as it radiates outward in all directions, its extent or 

 volume must be indefinitely great. 



Hence, secondly, we would express the truth more 

 precisely if, instead of using the formula, " every par- 

 ticle of matter attracts every other particle of matter," 

 we were to say: Every focus of force, through its unlim- 

 ited expansion, takes hold upon every other focus of 

 force. And thus, thirdly, instead of the atoms, or foci 

 of force, being merely side by side in space, and 



