40 Prof. W. A. Norton on the Fundamental 



exerted by the ultimate elements. But the attempt is made to 

 establish them by metaphysical reasoning, of which it may be 

 said that it involves certain conceptions of the " principle of ac- 

 tivity," " nature," and " determinations " of elements, designated 

 as "substance," though they are nothing but mathematical 

 points, which are neither self-evident truths nor have any cha- 

 racter of certainty, but are mere shadows dimly discerned in that 

 metaphysical region which the finite mind strives in vain to enter. 

 The most that can be conceded is that they have a certain air of 

 probability, and may reasonably be adopted by our author as hy- 

 potheses to be ultimately substantiated or overthrown by the 

 appeal to facts. 



It will be apparent from what has been stated that an impor- 

 tant difference obtains in the nature of the foundations on which 

 Professor Bayma's theory and my own have been erected, in the 

 methods of construction employed, and in the claims asserted 

 with reference to the true character of the results achieved. The • 

 theory developed in my memoir on Molecular Physics rests upon 

 the most comprehensive generalizations and principles to which 

 the progress of physical science has conducted, and in no degree 

 upon metaphysical conceptions or reasonings with respect to the 

 nature of matter, the size of atoms, the possibilities or impossibili- 

 ties of certain inherent material actions, &c. On the other hand, 

 in the groundwork of Professor Bayma' s theory are included, as 

 we have seen, certain conceptions and reasonings of this character 

 which I maintain are fundamentally hypothetical. Professor 

 Bayma has proceeded on the philosophical and what he deems 

 the strictly scientific plan of construction, while I have restricted 

 myself to the simple deduction of molecular forces and pheno- 

 mena. He claims that his fundamental principles are either 

 universally admitted or demonstrated truths, and that his legiti- 

 mate deductions are to be received as established truths. I do 

 not venture to prefer any higher claim than that the fundamental 

 principles I have adopted are universally admitted (with the 

 s : ngle exception of the hypothesis of an electric fluid or sether ; 

 dn r < this is the only distinct fundamental conception which the 

 process of inductive research has evolved from electric pheno- 

 mena), and that the recognized molecular forces and the various 

 classes of physical phenomena can be legitimately deduced from 

 the few fundamental postulates laid down without the aid of new 

 hypotheses. In this I claim to have pursued the ordinary me- 

 thod of physical speculation, and the only one which has hitherto 

 achieved any substantial success. Professor Bayma virtually 

 admits (Phil. Mag. March 1869, p. 183) that his method is ra- 

 dically different from the methods of research hitherto employed* 

 by physicists. This, which he esteems its most excellent feature. 



