Ixx REPORT—1874. 
atoms, are indestructible, and into them alk things can be resolved at 
last. Bodies are partly atoms, and partly combinations of atoms; but the 
atoms nothing can quench. They are strong in solid singleness, and by their 
denser combination, all things can be closely packed and exhibit enduring 
strength. He denies that matter is infinitely divisible. We come at length 
to the atoms, without which, as an imperishable substratum, all order inthe 
generation and development of things would be destroyed. 
The mechanical shock of the atoms being in his view the all-sufficient 
cause of things, he combats the notion that the constitution of nature has 
been in any way determined by intelligent design. The interaction of the 
atoms throughout infinite time rendered all manner of combinations possible. 
Of these the fit ones persisted, while the unfit ones disappeared. Not after 
sage deliberation did the atoms station themselves in their right places, nor 
did they bargain what motions they should assume. Tom all eternity they 
have been driven together, and after trying motions and unions of every kind, 
they fell at length into the arrangements out of which this system of things 
has been formed. ‘If you will apprehend and keep in mind these 
things, nature, free at once, and rid of her haughty lords, is seen to do all 
things spontaneously of herself, without the meddling of the gods”*. 
To meet the objection that his atoms cannot be seen, Lucretius de- 
scribes a violent storm, and shows that the invisible particles of air 
act in the same way as the visible particles of water. We perceive, 
_moreover, the different smells of things, yet never see them coming to our 
nostrils. Again, clothes hung up ona shore which waves break upon become 
moist, and then get dry if spread out in the sun, though no eye can see 
either the approach or the escape of the water particles. A ring, worn long 
on the fingers, becomes thinner; a water drop hollows out a stone; the 
ploughshare is rubbed away in the field; the street pavement is worn by the - 
feet ; but the particles that disappear at any moment we cannot see. Nature 
acts through invisible particles. That Lucretius had a strong scientific 
imagination the foregoing references prove. A fine illustration of his power 
in this respect is his explanation of the apparent rest of bodies whose atoms 
are in motion, He employs the image of a flock of sheep with skipping 
lambs, which, seen from a distance, presents simply a white patch upon the 
green hill, the jumping of the individual lambs being quite invisible. 
His vaguely grand conception of the atoms falling eternally through space 
suggested the nebular hypothesis to Kant, its first propounder. Far beyond 
the limits of our visible worldare to be found atoms innumerable, which have 
never been united to form bodies, or which, if once united, have been again 
dispersed, falling silently through immeasurable intervals of time and space. 
As everywhere throughout the All the same conditions are repeated, so must 
the phenomena be repeated also. Above us, below us, beside us, therefore, 
are worlds without end; and this, when considered, must dissipate every 
thought of a deflection of the universe by the gods. The worlds come and 
go, attracting new atoms out of limitless space, or dispersing their own 
particles. -The reputed death of Lucretius, which forms the basis of Mr. Ten- 
nyson’s noble poem, is in strict accordance with his philosophy, which was 
severe and pure. 
Still earlier than these three philosophers, and during the centuries between 
* Monro’s translation. In his criticism of this work (Contemporary Review, 1867) Dr. 
Hayman does not appear to be aware of the really sound and subtile observations on 
which the reasoning of Lucretius, though erroneous, sometimes rests, 
