ATTRACTION. 



power increased with its mass in a greater 

 ratio than that of other substances. 



It has been judiciously remarked, by a 

 respectable chemical writer, that the va- 

 riation of intensity, which forms so re- 

 markable a distinction between affinity 

 and gravitation, may be only apparent, 

 and not real, and may only arise from the 

 much nearer approach which the parts of 

 one substance may be capable of, to those 

 of a second, than to those of a third; 

 and that thus it may be that barytes at- 

 tracts sulphuric acid with greater inten- 

 sity than potash, because the particles of 

 barytes, when they act upon the acid, 

 are at a smaller distance from it than the 

 particles of the potash; to which we shall 

 add, that it is possible that the degree of 

 insensible distance to which the parts 

 of substances can approach, depends on 

 the quantity of latent electric fire com- 

 bined with them, or in other words, on 

 the degree of their relative attractions to 

 electric h're. 



This conjecture of the agency of elec- 

 tric fire, in elective attractions, has, at 

 least, the advantage of the atomic theory, 

 which has been advanced to account for 

 the same phenomena, that it relates to 

 matters which we know really exist, and 

 which are not beyond the bounds of 

 hope, indeterminable by experiment. 

 With all due deference to the respectable 

 characters who have used the atomic the- 

 ory as an universal explainer, we beg 

 leave to remind its admirers, that it is to- 

 tally inconsistent with the laws of sound 

 philosophy, to assume a fact as the basis 

 of an argument, which itself has never 

 had the shadow of proof to support it, 

 and which in its nature is incapable of ex- 

 periment. It is idle, in the present re- 

 spectable state of science, to talk any 

 more of atoms : as well may we again re- 

 vive the dreams of the ancients about the 

 materia subtilis, or those of Des Cartes, 

 relative to vortices, as to reason of the 

 shape, form, nature, and properties of 

 atoms, which, from their very definition, 

 are merely visionary, and which, the mo- 

 ment we conceive them as having shape, 

 lose their essential quality of indivisibili- 

 ty; if the existence of atoms cannot be 

 disproved, that is no argument in favour 

 of their existence in the way usually sup- 

 posed ; and the atomic theory has only 

 this property, in common with every other 

 which lies beyond the reach of our senses, 



Judicial astrology, magic, and many 

 other chimeras, cannot be disproved ; 

 but, at least, since the great law of truth 

 has been adopted for philosophy, that no 



argument was to be admitted in it that 

 was not demonstrable by experiment, or 

 by proof equally satisfactory, mankind 

 has ceased to be led astray by them. 



It is now high time either to banish the 

 atomic theory into the same regions of 

 oblivion as the others abovementioned, 

 or to prove the existence of the atoms on 

 which it is founded ; but as this is in its 

 nature an impossibility, it is to be hoped 

 that the time is not far distant when phi- 

 losophers will cease to confound imagina- 

 ry beings with i'eal existences, and when 

 all that has been written of atoms will be 

 in no more esteem than the volumi- 

 nous treatises de Pygmies et Salaman- 

 dris, which are to be found among the 

 folios of some of our great academical 

 libraries. 



It is true, that the atomic theory ac- 

 counts plausibly for many things we 

 otherwise must be content to own are yet 

 beyond our knowledge : this may be a 

 convenience to those who wish to impose 

 on the ignorant ; but all true lovers of 

 science will despise so paltry a resource, 

 especially when so much is now known, 

 that we need no longer blush to own 

 those points which are still involved in 

 obscurity, and shew the boundaries, on 

 the map of science, between the regions 

 of knowledge and the terra incognita of 

 visionary theory. 



In the above respect of accounting for 

 matters unknown, the ideal system of 

 Bishop Berkley is equally powerful as, if 

 not superior to, the atomic theory, and 

 has the advantage over it of turning our 

 thoughts incessantly to the Almighty Au- 

 thor of all things; for which reason if 

 we must have recourse to improved theo- 

 ries, Berkley's very much deserve the 

 preference. 



As to the more minute nature of bo- 

 dies, we know that all mineral substances 

 are resolvable into small lamina: or spi- 

 cula, of determinate shapes, which, by 

 their multifarious combinations, produce 

 the variously formed crystals, which all mi- 

 neral bodies may be resolved into by art, 

 which most may be made to exhibit by 

 skilful dissection, and which so manr 

 shew naturally. Vegetable substances are 

 resolvable into small fibres, as are like- 

 wise animal substances for the most part ; 

 and from the laws > sound philosophy, 

 we must consider the laminae or spi- 

 cula, which form the basis of crystalliza- 

 tion, as the pi-unary p^rts of mineral 

 bodies, and fibres as those of organized 

 bodies, until something further can be 

 proved on the subject. These primary 



