102 Dr. Wollaston on Super-acid and Sub-acid Salts. 
two to one, the two particles will naturally arrange themselves 
at opposite poles of that to which they unite. If there be 
three, they might be arranged with regularity, at the angles 
of an equilateral triangle in a great circle surrounding the 
single spherule ; but in this arrangement, for want of similar 
matter at the poles of this circle, the equilibrium would be 
unstable, and would be liable to be deranged by the slightest 
force of adjacent combinations ; but when the number of one 
set of particles exceeds in the proportion of four to one, then, 
on the contrary, a stable equilibrium may again take place, if 
the four particles are situated at the angles of the four equi- 
lateral triangles composing a regular tetrahedron. 
But as this geometrical arrangement of the primary ele- 
ments of matter is altogether conjectural, and must rely for 
its confirmation or rejection upon future inquiry, I am desirous 
that it should not be confounded with the results of the facts 
and observations related above, which are sufficiently distinct 
and satisfactory with respect to the existence of the law of 
simple multiples. It is perhaps too much to hope, that the 
geometrical arrangement of primary particles will ever be 
perfectly known ; since even admitting that a very small 
number of these atoms combining together would have a 
tendency to arrange themselves in the manner I have ima- 
gined ; yet, until it is ascertained how small a proportion the 
primary particles themselves bear to the interval between 
them, it may be supposed that surrounding combinations, 
although themselves analogous, might disturb that arrange- 
ment, and in that case, the effect of such interference must 
also be taken into the account, before any theory of chemical 
combination can be rendered complete. 
