L 208 ] 



X X 1 1 1 . Fun damental Principles of Molecular Physics. Reply to 

 Professor Bay ma. By Professor W. A. Norton. 



[Continued from p. 41.] 



ETER replying to the general remarks in the first part of 

 my paper, Professor Bayma proceeds to the consideration 

 of my answer to his criticisms of my original paper on ' Mole- 

 cular Physics/ and ends by reaffirming his objections. I pro- 

 pose to examine briefly the more salient points in this portion 

 of his elaborate reply. 



Three Forms of Matter. — On this point we shall most readily 

 get at the true state of the case by quoting the postulates in my 

 original memoir bearing upon it. They are the following : — 



" All bodies of matter consist of separate indivisible parts, 

 called atoms, each of which is conceived to be spherical in form." 



" Matter exists in three essentially different forms. These 

 are (1) ordinary or gross matter, of which all bodies of matter 

 directly detected by our senses either wholly or chiefly consist ; 

 (2) a subtile fluid or aether associated with ordinary matter, by 

 the intervention of which all electrical phenomena originate or 

 are produced. This electric aether, as it may be termed, is 

 attracted by ordinary matter, while its individual atoms repel 

 each other. (3) A still more subtile form of aether which per- 

 vades all space and the interstices between the atoms of bodies. 

 This is the medium by which light is propagated, and is called 

 the luminifcrous aether, or the universal aether. The atoms or 

 1 atomettes ' of this aether mutually repel each other ; and it is 

 attracted by ordinary matter, and is consequently more dense in 

 the interior of bodies than in free space. - ''' 



In what sense the term form is here used would seem to be 

 abundantly manifest. It is plain that the " three different forms" 

 of matter are regarded as differing from each other in certain 

 attributes which determine the precise office each fills in the 

 scheme of Nature — and that the idea of a difference of geome- 

 trical form could not have been entertained, since it is distinctly 

 asserted that all atoms are conceived to be spherical in form. In 

 the next paragraph of my memoir I consider the question of the 

 probable constitution of a single primitive molecule, and remark 

 as follows : — " We are thus led to conceive of a molecule as con- 

 sisting of an atom of ordinary matter surrounded with two atmo- 

 spheres, scthereal and electric, the former being the more attenu- 

 ated and pervading the other." The three " forms of matter," so 

 called, are then the central atoms of molecules and the atoms of 

 the two aethers. Each of these three general classes of atoms has 

 certain characteristic attributes, in consequence of which their po- 



