March 20, 1896.] 



SGIENGE. 



433 



tion as speed can be lost or gained by any 

 particle of matter. 



Fourth, by collision paths can be changed, 

 but motion as speed cannot be transmitted. 



Fifth, in molar motion there is an ap- 

 parent creation and annihilation of motion, 

 but this appearance is known to be an illu- 

 sion. It has been explained as due in part 

 to collision and in part to the transmission 

 of motion. Acceleration, therefore, must 

 be something else than an increase of speed. 

 It is known to be in part deflection and can 

 all be thus explained ; and if the first law 

 of motion is valid it is thus explained. 

 Therefore : 



1. Molar acceleration is deflection of 

 molecules. 



2. Speed of motion in matter is constant. 



3. The direction of motion is variable. 



4. Speed is inherent in matter and is not 

 imposed upon it from without. 



5. The path of motion is controlled by 

 environment. 



The laws of motion propounded by N^ew- 

 ton can be more simply stated as follows : 



Law I. The velocity of motion is per- 

 sistent. 



Law II. By the collision of two bodies 

 the direction of their motions is changed in 

 equal components. 



Vis inertia is the power which particles 

 have of deflecting each other by collision, 

 due to their persistent motion. 



Every particle has perpetual motion as 

 speed which can not be increased or dimin- 

 ished, and the absurdity of perpetual mo- 

 tion should be called the absurdity of per- 

 petual collision. The particles collide be- 

 cause of impinging paths ; they are de- 

 flected and their paths are turned apart and 

 they cannot be made to collide again until 

 other external collisions bring their paths 

 together. If the particle A after one collis- 

 ion is once more deflected, another collis- 

 ion is necessary. It is thus that the ab- 

 surdity of perpetual collision can be simply 



demonstrated. After such an analysis the 

 explanation of gravity as the mutual pro- 

 tection from impinging particles becomes 

 simple, the doctrine of virtual velocities 

 self evident ; and there are many other con- 

 sequences of this law which, properly un- 

 derstood, would make many propositions of 

 physics self-evident. 



It must be clearly understood that the 

 above argument does not deny that the 

 motion of a body cannot be accelerated in 

 speed ; such a denial would be an absurdity. 

 Every particle of which we have knowledge 

 is a constituent of many bodies in a hie- 

 rarchy of bodies and what is here affirmed 

 is that the acceleration of a body in speed 

 is deflection of its particles, and that em- 

 bodiment itself is always a result of deflec- 

 tion in the particles embodied. A molar 

 body may have its molar motion increased 

 or diminished in speed by deflecting its 

 molecular motions. If the speed of a molar 

 body be changed, the direction of its molec- 

 ular particles must necessarily be changed. 

 This proposition is self-evident. The third 

 law of motion is equally simple. The law 

 here demonstrated affirms that acceleration 

 in one embodiment is deflection in another 

 and it makes valid N"ewton's law, which 

 would be an absurdity were the law here 

 demonstrated untrue; and if untrue the 

 persistence of motion is an absurdity, and 

 with it the persistence of energy falls to the 

 ground. J. W. Powell. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



ASTRONOMY. 



The Astronomische Nachrichten of February 

 22d contains an article by Dr. H. F. Zwiers, giv- 

 ing a new method of computing double-star or- 

 bits, and an application of it to the orbit of 

 Sirius. The author does not claim great precis- 

 ion for his orbit of his star, and it is given sim- 

 ply as an illustration of his method of compu- 

 tation. We do not think, however, that the 

 method will commend itself very greatly to as- 

 tronomers. Glasenapp has pointed out {Orhites 



