IN MODERN SCIENCE. 



35 



of the diverse properties of atoms, only two 

 suppositions seem possible : either in some past 

 period they agreed to differ and to divide them- 

 selves into different kinds suitable in quantity 

 and properties to make up the universe, or 

 else mattQ.r in its various kinds has been skil- 

 fully manufactured by a creative power. 



But there is a scientific way in which matter 

 may be resolved into force. An iron knife 

 passed through a powerful magnetic current is 

 felt to be resisted, as if passing through a solid 

 substance, and this resistance is produced mere- 

 ly by magnetic attraction. Why may it not be 

 so with resistance in general ? To give effect 

 to such a supposition, and to reconcile it with 

 the facts of chemistry and of physics, it is ne- 

 cessary to suppose that the atoms of matter are 

 merely minute vortices or whirlwinds set up in 

 an ethereal medium, which in itself, and when 

 at rest, does not possess any of the properties 

 of matter. That such an ethereal medium exists 

 we have reason to believe from the propagation 

 of light and heat through space, though we 

 know little, except negatively, of its properties. 

 Admitting, however, its existence, the seidng up 

 in it of the various kinds of vortices constitut- 

 ing the atoms of different kinds of matter is 



