2o 4 PHYSICAL BASIS OF CIVILIZATION 



comitant dissipation of motion, by which all matter 

 and force tend to progress from an indefinite and 

 incoherent homogeneity to a more definite and 

 more coherent heterogeneity. 



A seeming exception, which however is not real, 

 from the tendency of like particles to concentrate 

 with like, and dissociate from unlike, must now be 

 noted. If the sizes and shapes of several kinds of 

 particles so differ that the form and size of each 

 kind is complementary to the forms and sizes of the 

 others, in either the proportion of one to one or any 

 other proportion, then, caeteris paribus, will the 

 tendency to concentration of each kind by itself 

 be overbalanced by the tendency of each to con- 

 centrate with the kinds complementary to it. To 

 illustrate: Let the particles of a substance "A" 

 be globular. They would then tend to concentrate 

 in masses of scalloped exterior. Then let the 

 particles of another elementary substance ' ' B ' ' 

 have the form and size of the interstices left between 

 the particles of "A" when concentrated by them- 

 selves. And it is obvious that, in the general 

 commotion of all things, the tendency to concentrate 

 "A" particles with " B " particles would prevail over 

 the tendency of the "A"s to concentrate exclusively 

 with " A"s and " B "s to concentrate exclusively with 

 "B"s. For both "A" particles and "B" particles 

 in accidentally meeting would only be following the 

 lines of least resistance and greatest traction by slid- 

 ing into the interlocked positions towards each other, 



