POLTTECENIC ASSOCIATION PROCEEDINGS. 60T 



ties of matter, on the hypothesis that all bodies are composed of 

 vortex atoms, iu a perfect homogeneous fluid." 



So far as the diminution of assumptions is concerned, I think I 

 may claim a superiority for my hypothesis over all others, includ- 

 ing that of the vortex rings; for not only is the number of primary 

 . assumptions diminished by it, but the properties of matter are actu- 

 ally reduced to the single one of capacity for motion. 



The Dynamo- Atomic Theory, as mine may be called, if allowed 

 to take rank as a theory, is fully adequate to account for all 

 those phenomena upon whose occurrence is predicated the exist- 

 ence of such (so-called) primary properties of matter, as impene- 

 trability, compressibility, elasticity, etc., admitting onl}'^ the 

 single assumption of the perfect mobility of matter. This 

 theory includes, as a part of a more extensive generalization, 

 the essential features of the " dynamic theory of gases," which 

 is now fully received and advocated by such eminent Euro- 

 pean physicists as Clausius, Maxwell, Rankine, Thomson, Tait, 

 Joule, Helmholtz, and others. Under the dynamo-atomic theory, 

 we effectually dispose of the question as to the perfect hardness 

 or the perfect elasticity of gaseous atoms. This question, involving 

 the subject of the "clash of atoms," has a very important relation 

 to the dynamic theory of gases, and perhaps constitutes its prin- 

 cipal difficulty. We entirely remove this difficulty when we sep- 

 arate such properties from the atoms whose motions we attribute 

 to associated forces. 



I will close my remarks by calling your attention to the three 

 radical and original propositions which I have heretofore announced, 

 and which, from indications in foreign scientific journals, I expect 

 to see generally accepted. These are: 



1st. The independent existence of universal force, separate from, 

 as well as associated with, matter; affording a simple and adequate 

 explanation of gravitation. 



2d. The definition of matter, as that which may be moved, strictly 

 excluding from this definition the assumption of any other so-called 

 properties of matter; and 



3d. The explanation of all the apparent attractions and repul- 

 "^ions of matter, which, of course, includes an explanation of all 

 physical phenomena, by the first two propositions, in simple and 

 strict accordance with the mathematical laws of dynamics. 



Adjourned. 



