SUMMARY OF PRECEDING PAGES 



sion one with another, or with the walls restraining 

 their expansion. 



8th. The discovery that the ultimate atoms of 

 matter were of natures different one from another, 

 having affinities for certain atoms in preference to 

 others, and where combining with each other, doing 

 so only in definite ratios peculiar to each elementary 

 atom, established Chemistry upon a scientific basis. 

 The abstract nature of chemical affinity, or that which 

 causes the combination of atoms into molecules 

 possessing other and new properties, is still unknown. 

 We know that each element has definite and peculiar 

 properties, but why they are different we know not. 



9th. The atoms of matter are indestructible, nor 

 can they be created. Energy is equally incap- 

 able of being created and of being destroyed. We 

 can change the combinations of the atoms and the 

 manifestations of energy. The latter is brought to 

 us in the form of heat from the Sun, the centre of 

 our Solar system, through the medium of the Ether. 

 Apparently, energy is lost to the earth through the 

 same medium, into which it passes as diffused heat. 

 Whether this is really so, or whether it is merely 

 an exchange of diffused solar heat for gravitation 

 or other forms of energy exerted by the ether upon 

 the sun and planets, is a problem that has been but 

 little discussed and is as yet unsolved. 

 H 209 



