440 TlMEHRI. 
5. — " THE METAMORPHOSES OF MATTER. 1 
Delivered on Tuesday, September nth, by E. E. H. Francis, F.C.S., 
Government Analytical Chemist. 
The lecturer commenced by pointing out the existence 
of the two great principles, matter and force, in the 
universe, and the various forms under which they 
were recognisable, together with their relations to one 
another. The indestructibility of matter and force was 
then touched upon, and the various methods of their 
modification shewn ; and it was pointed out that beyond 
even the knowledge of the conversion of one kind of 
force into another, their equivalents were also ascer- 
tained ; and with the conception of the unity of 
forces, came the conception of the primary force as 
motion. Detailed description was then given of the 
solid, liquid and gaseous conditions of various forms of 
matter, and the methods of their transformations ex- 
plained with reference to the molecular constitution or 
condition of the matter a6ted upon, and the force of 
cohesion. The various kinds of matter were referred to, 
and it was pointed out that the various kinds commonly 
distinguished were chiefly compounds, really reducible to 
but few simple kinds, known as elements, of many of 
which various allotropic modifications were known with 
correspondingly different properties; and it was to be 
inferred that the various simple kinds of matter were but 
modifications of one primary form. 
The leclure was illustrated by diagrams and by a large 
series of experiments on the transformation of forces 
and of the three conditions of matter, on the redudion of 
compound to simple bodies, and on the allotropic modifi- 
cations of various elements. 
