1881.] The Organisation of Matter . 189 
this influence. This centrifugal energy might be such as to 
give the globe a discoid shape, or even, in the case of small 
masses of matter, to open it out into an annular ring, all 
the matter being repelled from the centre. The centrifugal 
energy would necessarily limit the size of the aggregation. 
Its attractive vigour would, of course, depend upon its quan- 
tity of parallel motion. But the force of attraction regularly 
decreases, and that of centrifugal energy regularly increases 
outwardly, so that at a fixed limit of distance the attraction 
would cease to control the momentum, and the possible 
size of the minor aggregations of matter be thus exactly 
fixed. 
Such a minute aggregate of matter, locking up within its 
mass a certain quantity of momentum, would constitute an 
indestructible unit, the primary atom. The loss of any 
portion of its material, through impact, might readily be 
replaced through its attractive influence over the accordant 
motions of the surrounding ether, and thus its continued 
integrity be assured. 
The attractive energy of such atoms must act outwardly 
as well as inwardly. But it would no longer be confined to 
its simple primary relations. There being a specialisation 
of direction in the motions of the atom, there would be a 
specialisation in its attractions and repulsions. The second- 
ary aggregation into chemical units might possibly result 
from the direct coherence of two or more atoms into one 
mass, each retaining its original centripetal centre. And 
such coherent masses, acting as units, might unite again 
into still more complex masses, this process or combination 
continuing until not only the most intricate chemical ele- 
ments, but the most complex molecules were formed. 
The original atoms would be all similar, or would consist 
of a limited number of diverse kinds, each kind arising from 
a fixed decrease of temperature in a homogeneous portion 
of the ether. The complex atoms might vary in the number 
of their included simple atoms, the variation increasing as 
these secondary atoms became units in still more complex 
aggregations. At every step upwards the number of pos- 
sible molecules would increase, this number becoming very 
great in the chemistry of the organic world. 
In this process, however, the specialisation of motive con- 
ditions must rapidly increase, the original general attraction 
becoming more and more selective in character as the intri- 
cacy of motive relations become more declared. The whole 
tendency in this continued aggregation of ether must be to 
the production of harmonious relations of motion, a reduction 
