CONSTITUENTS OF THE UNIVERSE. 



The chemist regards the supposed matter 

 as existing in atoms and molecules; masses 

 being aggregations of molecules. He also be- 

 lieves that all matter is made up of some sixty 

 odd elements, out of which a vast and varied 

 number of compounds are formed chemically. 

 The elements are held to consist exclusively of 

 the same kind of atoms, while the compounds 

 have two or more atoms of a different kind. 

 He discovers that the most radical changes 

 take place when a compound is produced by a 

 chemical process, the compound being mark- 

 edly different from the elements that compose 

 it. He finds that this radical change does not 

 take place in a simple mixture of different 

 elements, but only occurs when these different 

 elements unite or combine to produce a chemi- 

 cal compound. The chemical operation is 

 supposed to be due to a special mode of so- 

 called attraction labelled chemical affinity. 



From this statement it appears that what- 

 ever change occurs, it is not to be attributed to 

 the molecule. It must necessarily be due to 

 the atoms then, and this last item deserves the 



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