191 
[Dolhear, 
1891. J 
Suppose that the second atom was not at absolute zero, but had 
the same temperature as the other. It would have a similar field 
and when the two fields overlapped, each would be pushed to- 
wards the other but they could not cohere until the nodes were 
adjacent, in which position they would be stable. 
But there are four nodes and consequently as many places 
where other atoms can join, in which case, if all were vibrating 
similarly, there might be a conjunction 
as in fig. 4 or they might join in a 
straight line indefinitely, indeed in all 
the ways figured out in the books. 
Such arrangements in one plane would 
not be stable. The point of attach- 
ment might be considered as a kind of 
hinge permitting a swing to and fro. 
Imagine two opposite ones as 2 and 
4 to swing upward so as to touch each 
other. If these be vibrating their points 
of contact will be nodes. They will therefore cohere by another bond 
and such an atomic arrangement will be a stable one. If the rings 
have equal dimensions an edge view would show them as an equil- 
ateral triangle with nodes at the apices, Fig. 5. 
We might call such a combination a mole- 
cule and say it was held together by chemism. 
Each molecule thus constituted must have a 
mechanical field which will be the resultant of 
all the atomic fields that compose it and indeed 
this will be true for such molecules of every 
degree of complexity. Molecules having similar fields fit together 
for obvious mechanical reasons and cohere because they are pressed 
together by the medium they vibrate in. If similar triangular 
forms to the one above unite, they may form hexagonal prisms as 
Fig. 6 show in cross section and such 
as is the crystalline forms assumed by 
water, silica, and some other minerals 
having three atoms in the molecule. 
Now let 2, 3, 4 and 5 of fig. 4 swing up- 
wards, they too will touch each other at 
their sides and at nodes so as to form a 
stable figure held by eight bonds, an at- 
omic box without a lid, yet having four 
fig. 4. 
