Secondary Laws. 97 



telegraphic system, the sun being the central battery 

 from whence the energy is distributed to the planets, 

 as well as the exchange to which messages are sent 

 from all outlying sub-offices ? Or may we not assume 

 it to be a huge organism, a firmamental siphonophora 

 floating in the void, of which the sun is the brain and 

 the planets the outlying senses ? 



Section 2. Cohesion : 



Definition : " Cohesion is the force which binds to- 

 gether the various particles of a body]' 



Although Tyndall and others have suggested 

 plausible theories of cohesion, no definite cause of 

 the phenomenon is yet endorsed by the world of 

 science. Cohesion is merely a term for that unknown 

 energy which binds bodies together by their invisible 

 particles, a symbol for the effect of some unknown 

 and invisible inter-molecular agent observed to be 

 omnipotent in matter under certain conditions. 

 What we require to learn, therefore, is not solely 

 that cohesion exists— a knowledge present science 

 seems to be content with — 'but the cause of cohesion. 

 The chief facts of cohesion indicate the existence of 

 a subtle tie between the atoms or molecules of sub- 

 stance. This tie, according to the nature of the 

 material, is such that sometimes much, and sometimes 

 little force is required to separate the molecules again ; 

 in fact, binding and separating forces are equal. 

 Hence, if the energy which binds atoms together 



could be discovered, the problem is practically solved. 



G 



