152 BULLETIN OF THE 



Instability of a Vibratory Hypothesis. — But the kiifernatic embar- 

 rassment is not concluded here. Supposing the marvellous feat 

 accomplished of effecting a rotatory resilience which should simu- 

 late in direction and amount the facts of observation, how far would 

 such accordance justify its acceptance as the true and sufficient 

 account of the molecular behavior, in the light of the great estab- 

 lished principle of the conservation of energy ? As a necessary 

 corollary of this great generalization we know that every system of 

 atomic or molecular oscillation, undulation, and impact, is directly 

 amenable to material disturbance and to the precise mechanical 

 equivalents of kinetic deflection, arrest, and neutralization. But 

 as regards the fundamental qualities of atomic or molecular attrac- 

 tions, repulsions, and elasticities, no such disturbance, or aberration, 

 or interference, is for an instant possible. And these fundamental 

 qualities are persistent, and permanent, as well as unchanging. 

 Hence the countless balls sustained in place by countless fountains, 

 must never be permitted to decline or swerve from their required 

 positions. Every bent spring, every loaded beam, every sustaining 

 rope and chain and cable must therefore have expended upon it a 

 ceaseless rain and battery uf impact or of wave propulsion. Nay 

 every solid, every liquid, must be held in its tenacious consistency 

 by the external coercion of a never resting dynamic bombardment. 

 In what manner ie the inexhaustible supply of kinetic energy sup- 

 posed to be obtained? What is its source? — and where is its escape? 

 Why is it that the incessant and violent collisions brought into play 



' reason to believe that it depends on the diffusion of highly attenuated 

 matter through space.'" Sir John Herschel. ("On the Origin of 

 Force." Fortnightly Review. July 1,1865: vol. I, p. 436. And Familiar 

 Lectures, [etc.] 12mo. London, 1866: art. xn, p. 462.) 



The learned physical professor in the University of Edinburgh sees " rea- 

 son to believe that force depends upon the immediate action of highly atten- 

 uated matter diffused throughout space." (North British Review. February, 

 1864: vol. xl, p. 22,— of Am. edition. And Prof. P. G. Tait's Sketch of 

 Thermo-dynamics. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1868: chap. I, sect. 3, p. 2.) 



And the no less learned physical professor in the University of Cambridge, 

 thinking it irrational to ascribe the occult quality of elasticity to any sensi- 

 ble molecule, finds no difficulty in relegating this property to. the aether. 

 (L. E. D. Phil. Mag. June, 1866 : vol. XXXI, pp. 468, 469. And Prof. 

 J. Challis's Principles of Mathematics and Physics. 8vo. Cambridge, 

 1869: pp. 316, 358, and 436.) 



