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XLIV PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 
In mineral bodies combinations proceed by molecular, molar, and 
stellar methods. It has been shown that the changes in these bodies 
are due to external conditions or forces. If a given body be in 
harmony with external conditions no change occurs in its constitu- 
tion, but if it be out of harmony the impinging agencies effect such 
modifications as will produce harmony. This may be done by a 
change in the body as a substance or aggregate, or by its separation 
and re-combination in some more harmonious form. The evolution 
of mineral bodies is thus accomplished by direct adaptation to 
external conditions. 
If it is permitted hypothetically to conceive of a universe of 
ethereal matter—i. e., matter composed of discrete atoms in motion, 
such atoms would remain in an attenuated condition by atomic im- 
pact. In matter thus constituted, motion could be transmitted from 
atom to atom, but no new mode of motion would result therefrom. 
The mass of matter thus constituted would be absolutely homoge- 
neous. But if by some method several such atoms should be com- 
bined, so as to move together as a common body, and so that 
their interspaces could not be penetrated by other atoms, the motion 
of an impinging atom would not only be transmitted to the larger 
body, but it would also be transmuted into another mode or kind of 
motion. If other such molecules were formed by the segregation of 
atoms from the homogeneous mass, the new kind of motion would 
be set up in all the matter thus segregated, and the motions of these 
bodies would react one upon another. If, again, some of these 
molecules were segregated, to be combined in larger bodies, with or 
without such a diminution of interspaces as to prevent the inter- 
penetration of atoms, a third mode of motion would be established ; 
and if diverse methods of aggregation should occur, diverse modes 
of motion would be established thereby; and in all combining and 
re-combining, aggregating and re-aggregating, new modes and com- 
plexities would arise. 
It is a well-known law that a moving body passes in the direction 
of the least resistance. Diverse modes of motion may exist in a 
body, due to the complexities of its organization. Im the trans- 
mission of motion to such a body from another by impact, the 
motion transmitted is transmuted into that mode which gives it 
the least resistance. This is illustrated on every hand. When 
a smaller body impinges against a larger, the inequality between 
the two may be so great that molar motion is not set up in the 
