50 From Matter to Man. 



from the preceding premiss of indestructibility. They 

 further involve fixity in the quantity or number of 

 atoms in the universe ; for were it otherwise, were even 

 one atom creatable, something and nothing would be 

 convertible terms, the order of nature impossible, and 

 chaos inevitable. 



(3) Indivisibility. — Some define an atom, from its 

 etymology, to be " a particle of matter which cannot 

 be divided." It is thus assumed to be indivisible. 

 Professor Clifford, however, asserts as the literal 

 rendering " that which is not divided;" for we know 

 nothing of possibilities and impossibilities, but only 

 about what has and has not taken place. This 

 is the true scientific attitude. At the same time, for 

 the practical purposes of our to-day knowledge and 

 the ends of materialism, we can assume an atom to be 

 indivisible. 



(4) Size. — With characteristic boldness, present 

 physicists have calculated the size of an atom, and the 

 effort is at least ingenious. Thus, says Lord Kelvin, 

 " If a drop of water be magnified to the size of the 

 earth, the atoms will average something between 

 cricket balls and small shot." (Professor Tait sug- 

 gests plums.) But this illustration, though lucid 

 enough in its way, is not realisable ; it however en- 

 dorses the principle of atomic size. In our view, an 

 atom would be better understood by predicating it 

 the next thing to nothing. In the light of investiga- 

 tions to follow, it will thus be useful to remember that 

 millions of atoms might dance on the point of a 

 needle. 



