IDENTICAL CHANGES 



atom die at once, or can the primary spheres com- 

 posing the atom be renewed one by one ? 



Now, an examination of any form built up of 

 spheres in closest contact will at once disclose the 

 fact that spheres of like diameter cannot pene- 

 trate such a form. And if the form is made up of 

 a considerable number of spheres, some of these 

 will be surrounded by others, so that they cannot 

 be removed without breaking up the form. 



It is then evident that if atoms die at all, they 

 die all over at once. An atom cannot grow, neither 

 can it be dismembered and remain an atom. There- 

 fore, it must be born as an atom, and birth, change- 

 less existence and death is all that an atom can 

 undergo as an atom. 



The decomposition of atoms is beyond our direct 

 perception, and therefore atoms have been regarded 

 as primary identities. 



But molecules, the organizations of the second 

 degree, can be decomposed by various means. 



And the organizations of higher degrees can be 

 decomposed with ever increasing facility, as the 

 complexity of the identity increases. Yet there are 

 many indications of the dismemberment of atoms 

 in the recorded experiments of modern scientists, 

 and certainly light must either be an occult force, 

 or the atoms of the sun must decompose to give 

 light to the earth. (Prop. XVII, B. 1.) 



There is, however, an apparent difference be- 

 tween the growth of the atoms in a stone at the 

 beginning and a continual renewal of these atoms 

 113 



