ON MATTER AND FORCE. 17 



able from imponderable matter, although this 

 is considered to be perfectly separable from 

 ponderable matter. 



In other words, there is an incomplete separa- 

 tion between the ideas of matter and force. 



We come, then, now to the third, or modern 

 stage, in which there is complete union, and no 

 possibility of any separation between the ideas 

 of matter and force. 



The absolute union the complete insepara- 

 bility of our ideas of matter and force is most 

 apparent in our ideas of matter and chemical 

 force. Molecules have been endowed with 

 forces which give rise to various chemical 

 qualities, and these never change either in 

 their nature or in their amount. Mr. Faraday 

 says, " A particle of oxygen is ever a particle of 

 oxygen nothing can in the least wear it. If 

 it enter into combination, and disappear as 

 oxygen if it pass through a thousand combi- 

 nations, animal, vegetable, and mineral if it 

 lie hid for a thousand years, and then be 

 evolved, it is oxygen with its first qualities. 

 Neither more nor less. It has all its original 

 force, and only that ; the amount of force* 

 which it disengaged when hiding itself has 



c 



