Dr. E. J. Mills on the Atomic Theory. 127 



large a part. In his f Observations on the Second Antinomy 

 of Pure Reason'*, where the composition of substance is dis- 

 cussed, the following decisive remarks occur. " These objec- 

 tions " (to the infinite sub divisibility of matter) " lay themselves 

 open at first sight to suspicion, from the fact that they do not 

 recognize the clearest mathematical proofs as propositions rela- 

 ting to the constitution of space, in so far as it is really the 

 formal condition of the possibility of all matter, but regard them 

 merely as inferences from abstract but arbitrary conceptions 

 which cannot have any application to real things. Just as if it 

 were possible to imagine another mode of intuition than that 

 given in the primitive intuition of space ; and just as if its a priori 

 determinations did not apply to every thing, the existence of which 

 is possible from the fact alone of its filling space. If we listen 

 to them, we shall find ourselves required to cogitate, in addition 

 to the mathematical point, which is simple, — not, however, a 

 part, but a mere limit of space — physical points, which are indeed 

 likewise simple, but possess the peculiar property, as parts of 

 space, of filling it by their aggregation. I shall not repeat here 

 the common and clear refutations of this absurdity which are to 

 be found everywhere in ^numbers ; every one knows that it is 

 impossible to undermine the evidence of mathematics by mere 

 discursive conceptions .... It is not sufiicient to find the con- 

 ception of the simple for the pure conception of the composite, 

 but we must discover for the intuition of the composite (matter) 

 the intuition of the simple. Now this, according to the laws of 

 sensibility, and consequently in the case of objects of sense, is 

 utterly impossible." 



Davy and Wollaston both refused to accept the atomic theory. 

 Coming still nearer to our own time, I mention, in the last place, 

 a great investigator who has but recently departed from among 

 us. No one could be more acute, and certainly none more clear, 

 than Faraday in the kind of reasoning that precedes discovery. 

 This eminently successful acuteness and clearness were not, 

 however, acquired by the aid of graphic formulae or wooden 

 models, nor were they accompanied by the doubtful support of 

 any such material assistance. As the air grew thinner, his wing 

 was broadened and its thrust more strong. In 1844, Faraday 

 published t a ' Speculation touching Electric Conduction and the 

 Nature of Matter/ in which the principal subject of discussion 

 is the atomic theory. Starting with the datum, admitted by 

 atomists, that matter consists of atoms and space, he observes 

 that this is " at best an assumption ; of the truth of which we 

 can assert nothing, whatever we may say or think of its proba- 



* Meiklejohn's Translation of the Kritik, p. 275. 

 f Phil. Mag. S. 3. vol. xxiv. p. 136. 



