ATOMIC THEORY. 405 



regard to the latter class of researches, it indicates the pur- 

 port and scope of the enquiry, as embracing all those rela- 

 tions of bodies which depend on the numerical proportions, 

 arrangement, or mutual substitution of the atoms severally 

 composing them. 



Following then this suggestion as to order, the speculative 

 part of the atomic philosophy first comes before us. In 

 every age and community there are certain minds prone, 

 from their very constitution, to an earnest scrutiny of the 

 world around them. It is an instinctive and almost com- 

 pulsory use of one of those powers committed to man by his 

 Maker ; the variety of which powers in different men seems 

 as much the object of a wise design as their original bestowal. 

 The mere existence of Matter in its relation to Spirit, and 

 the endless forms and changes which material bodies assume, 

 whether subordinate to human will or not, irresistibly excite 

 such minds to some form of speculation, however vague in 

 method or conclusion. We may omit here all notice of those 

 crude notions of earlier ages and ruder races on this subject, 

 which have partially come down to us ; but we must pause 

 awhile amidst the riper speculations on the elementary 

 qualities of matter, which the philosophers and poets of 

 Greece and Rome have transmitted to later ages. To the 

 Greeks more especially we owe those theories, at once subtle 

 and bold, which, while they seize a portion of truth by a 

 sort of intuitive perception, do yet neglect to fortify this by 

 experiment or exact observation. It is hard to explain how 

 a people, not merely subtle and inventive, but capable of 

 high thoughts and philosophy, and keenly inquisitive into the 

 secrets of nature, should never have been fairly imbued with 

 the principle and methods of experimental research. The 

 exceptional cases are rare, and rather augment than lessen 

 our wonder at the fact. It is surprising that the success of 

 particular experiments and inductions should not have led 



