LAPLACE AND MORVEAU. 167 



reason that they are made up of atoms. If it be 

 true, that cohesion, capillary attraction, and 

 chemical affinity, be only modifications of gra- 

 vity, as maintained by Newton, Laplace, Buffon, 

 Guy ton, Morveau, and other philosophers, it fol- 

 lows, that the whole theory of nature, whether 

 mechanical, chemical, or physiological, is re- 

 solvable into that of atoms, and the cause by 

 which they are surrounded, attracted and re- 

 pelled, united and separated. If we are capable 

 of discovering the cause which holds together 

 the particles of a pebble, or crystal of ice, and 

 can demonstrate that it is a universal constituent 

 of ponderable matter, we are also capable of 

 comprehending the cause which binds all things 

 together by gravity. Newton expressly affirms, 

 that " the drops of fluids affect a round form by 

 the mutual attraction of their parts, as the earth 

 affects a round form by the mutual attraction of 

 its parts by gravity." (Opticks, book iii. page 

 370.) 



It is self-evident, that if the particles of bodies 

 be not endowed with inherent powers of motion, 

 they must be impelled by some other agent ; 

 that is, they must act upon each other at a dis- 

 tance, without the agency of any physical tie, 

 or by something intimately connected with them. 

 Thus it will be found, that the primary object of 

 science is to ascertain the cause which moves 

 atoms, and the mode in which it produces so 



