Motion, the Natural State of Matter. 1 5 1 



tlemen selected for the expedition, we may anticipate impor- 

 tant results, both to commerce and learning. A vast ex- 

 panse of waters, invites the attention of nations, to investigate 

 the islands or continents — the fisheries or other treasures, 

 which may be contained within its unknown boundaries; and 

 we hope the liberality of government will make a provision 

 so ample as to ensure, as far as possible, success to the enter- 

 prise; which interests the hopes, and awakens the pride and 

 ambition of the American Empire. 



Art. XYll.— Motion, the Natural State of Matter. 



(Communicated.) 



The experiments of Mr. Brown, have shown an inherent 

 locomotive power, in the molecules of matter. It is some- 

 what remarkable that we do not hear of their being repeated 

 in this country. They certainly deserve the attention of our 

 experimental philosophers, and might subserve more useful 

 ends, than exciting the apprehensions of those timid minds, 

 who are pleased to see in propositions of this class, a danger- 

 ous moral tendency. Some get a fit of the horrors, at the 

 idea of our being alive as many myriads of times, as we have 

 molecules in our corporeal frames. 



What is it that constitutes life, motion, matter ? 



We must not look for the secret of the great first cause ; 

 our province is to reason about the states of matter — a high 

 exercise of our intellectual powers ; a source of the purest 

 enjoyment to philosophical minds. This paper does not pre- 

 tend to create a theory : it purports only to impart reflections 

 suggested by the various phenomena connected with motion. 



It will be conceded to Mr. Brown for the present, that his 

 experiments are not illusions ; that molecules have inherent 

 locomotive power. Let us see if the phenomena he has de- 

 tected, are consonant with the known phenomena of motion. 



The states of matter are twofold : Matter in motion, and 

 matter at rest. 



The first comprehends molecules with inherent motive 

 power ; planetary masses, brought into their orbits by a re- 

 sultant of two forces ; animal bodies having voluntary mo- 

 tion; and fixed animal and vegetable bodies having motion 

 of parts. 



The second comprehends all bodies at rest. 



There are certain true existences, inscrutable to human in- 

 tftllect. The semper existence of the first cause, and the re- 



