356 Mr. Whelpley on the Idea of an Atotn. 



centre, being equidistant from the same in any other centre, the 

 attractions of the unhke are balanced by the repulsions of the 

 like powers. But all things must have 'a beginning' — form 

 must be given to the void, and motion to the dead. 



That power which has resolved its first conception (C) into 

 two others, a positive and negative, (which, while they satisfy 

 each other from their common centre through all space, seem 

 dead, and non-existent,) is able to give them a form, by causing 

 the common principle* (C) to resolve itself in such a manner, that 

 the positive and negative centres shall be on either side the com- 

 mon centre, at a certain distance apart, in any line passing through 

 the centre of the infinitely extended atom. 



Since all forces, being relative, develop each other, (either simul- 

 taneously, as substance, or successively as cause and effect,) the 

 positive and negative forces of the original atom (C) develop each 

 other, and are therefore equal in intensity. But the resolution of 

 (C) extends through all space ; the infinite atom is of such a na- 

 ture that wherever the positive influence appears, the negative 

 must appear simultaneously with it ; and it is of such a formf 

 that the centres at which these influences are most intense, are 

 at a minute distance on either side of (C,) and this distance is the 

 measure of a minute imaginary sphere about the centre (C,) and 

 this sphere is the nucleus of the atom. 



But tbings are distinguished by relative force, as well as by 

 relative size. Hence two atoms may have the centres of their 

 forces developed at equal distances from (C,) but with different 

 intensities ; and these intensities will be measured, as the weights 

 of bodies are measured, by their mutual attraction and repulsion. 



Inertia. 



All the characters of an atom must be variable, but have a cer- 

 tain normal degree, about which they vary. Thus, the intensity 

 of C's resolution into positive and negative being given, when 

 the minute imaginary sphere or nucleus has a certain size, if the 

 size increases, the intensity will diminish, and v. v. That is to 

 say, the total force of the atom will remain the same, but be dis- 

 tributed in the surface of a larger sphere. 



* The atmu, or first matter; i. e. the thinking principle, intellect, acting in the 

 figure of an infinite atom. 

 t Potentially. 



