Curiosities of Science. 13 



powers of conception. Dr. Young says, that steel would be 

 compressed into one-fourth, and stone into one-eighth, of its 

 bulk at the earth's centre. Mrs. Somerville. 



THE WORLD IN A NUTSHELL. 



From the many proofs of the non-contact of the atoms, even 

 in the most solid parts of bodies ; from the very great space 

 obviously occupied by pores the mass having often no more 

 solidity than a heap of empty boxes, of which the apparently 

 solid parts may still be as porous in a second degree and so on ; 

 and from the great readiness with which light passes in all direc- 

 tions through dense bodies, like glass, rock-crystal, diamond, 

 &c., it has been argued that there is so exceedingly little of 

 really solid matter even in the densest mass, that the whole 

 world, if the atoms could be brought into absolute contact, 

 might be compressed into a nutshell. We have as yet no means 

 of determining exactly what relation this idea has to truth. 

 Arnott. 



THE WORLD OF ATOMS. 



The infinite groups of atoms flying through all time and 

 space, in different directions and under different laws, have 

 interchangeably tried and exhibited every possible mode of ren- 

 counter : sometimes repelled from each other by concussion ; 

 and sometimes adhering to each other from their own jagged 

 or pointed construction, or from the casual interstices which 

 two or more connected atoms must produce, and which may be 

 just adapted to those of other figures, as globular, oval, or 

 square. Hence the origin of compound and visible bodies ; 

 hence the origin of large masses of matter ; hence, eventually, 

 the origin of the world. Dr. Good's Book of Nature. 



The great Epicurus speculated on " the plastic nature " of 

 atoms, and attributed to this nature the power they possess of 

 arranging themselves into symmetric forms. Modern philoso- 

 phers satisfy themselves with attraction; and reasoning from, 

 analogy, imagine that each atom has a polar system. Hunt's 

 Poetry of Science. 



MINUTE ATOMS OF THE ELEMENTS I DIVISIBILITY OF MATTER. 



So minute are the parts of the elementary bodies in their 

 ultimate state of division, in which condition they are usually 

 termed atoms, as to elude all our powers of inspection, even 

 when aided by the most powerful microscopes. Who can see the 

 particles of gold in a solution of that metal in aqua regia, or 

 those of common salt when dissolved in water ? Dr. Thomas 

 Thomson has estimated the bulk of an ultimate particle or 

 atom of lead as less than ^a^saoogooooooth of a cubic inch, 



