ON ATOMS. 457 



determinate relations ! I suppose you mean relations 

 with each other. But how are they to know those re- 

 lations 1 Here is your atom A, there is your atom B (I 

 speak as you have taught me to speak), and a long in- 

 terval between them, and no link of connexion. How 

 is A to know where B is ; or in what relation it stands to 

 B ? Poor dear atoms ! I pity them. 



Hermogenes. You may spare your sympathy. They 

 are absolutely blind and passive. 



Hermione. Blind and passive ! The more the wonder 

 how they come to perceive those same relations you talk 

 about, and how they " comport themselves," as you call 

 it (act, as I should say), on that perception. I have a 

 better theory of the universe. 



Hermogenes. Tell it me. 



Hermione. In the beginning was the nebulous matter, 

 or Akasch. Its boundless and tumultuous waves heaved 

 in chaotic wildness, and all was oxygen, and hydrogen, 

 and electricity. Such a state of things could not pos- 

 sibly continue ; and as it could not possibly be worse, 

 alteration was here synonymous with improvement. 

 Then came 



Hermogenes. Now it is my turn to say, Stop ! stop ! 

 Solvimtur risu tabula. Do let us be serious. Remem- 

 ber, it was you who began the conversation. Je me suis 

 seulement laiss'e entrainer. The fact is, I have only so far 

 been trying you, and I see you are apt. There lies the 

 real difficulty about these atoms. These same "relations " 

 in which they stand to one another are anything but 



