With regard also to the shape of the atoms, and, according to the ordinary assumption, its definite and unalterable character, another view must now be taken of it. An atom by itself might be conceived of as spherical or spheroidal, or where many were touching in all directions, the form might be thought of as a dodecahedron, for any one would be surrounded by and bear against twelve others, on different sides. But if an atom be conceived to be a centre of power, that which is ordinarily referred to under the term shape, would now be referred to the disposition and relative intensity of the forces. The power arranged in and around a centre might be uniform in arrangement and intensity in every direction outward from that centre, and then a section of equal intensity of force through the radii would be a sphere; or the law of decrease of force from the centre outward might vary in different directions, and then the section of equal intensity might be an oblate or oblong spheroid, or have other forms; or the forces might be disposed so as to make the atom polar; or they might circulate around it equatorially or otherwise, after the manner of imagined magnetic atoms. In fact, nothing can be supposed of the disposition of forces in or about a solid nucleus of matter, which cannot be equally conceived with respect to a centre.
In the view of matter now sustained as the lesser assumption, matter and the atoms of matter would be mutually penetrable. As regards the mutual penetrability of matter, one would think that the facts respecting potassium and its compounds, already described, would be enough to prove that point to a mind which accepts a fact for a fact, and is not obstructed in its judgment by preconceived notions. With respect to the mutual penetrability of the atoms, it seems to me to present in many points of view a more beautiful, yet equally probable and philosophic, idea of the constitution of bodies than the other hypotheses, especially in the case of chemical combination. If we suppose an atom of oxygen and an atom of potassium about to combine and produce potash, the hypothesis of solid, unchangeable, impenetrable atoms places these two particles side by side in a position easily, because mechanically, imagined, and not unfrequently represented; but if these two atoms be centres of power, they will mutually penetrate to the very centres, thus forming one atom or molecule, with powers either uniformly around it or arranged as the resultant of the powers of the two constituent atoms; and the manner in which two or many centres of force may in this way combine, and afterward, under the dominion of stronger forces, separate, may in some degree be illustrated by the beautiful case of the conjunction of two sea waves of different velocities into one, their perfect union for a time, and final separation into the constituent waves, considered, I think, at the meeting of the British Association at Liverpool. It does not, of course, follow from this view that the centres shall always coincide; that will depend upon the relative disposition of the powers of each atom.
The view now stated of the constitution of matter would seem to involve necessarily the conclusion that matter fills all space, or, at least, all space to which gravitation extends, (including the sun and its system,) for gravitation is a property of matter dependent on a certain force, and it is this force which constitutes the matter. In that view matter is not merely mutually penetrable, but each atom extends, so to say, throughout the whole of the solar system, yet always retaining its own centre of force. This, at first sight, seems to fall in very harmoniously with Massotti’s mathematical investigations and reference of the phenomena of electricity, cohesion, gravitation, &c. to one force in matter, and also again with the old adage “matter cannot act where it is not.” But it is no part of my intention to enter into such considerations as these, or what the bearings of this hypothesis would be on the theory of light and the supposed ether. My desire has been rather to bring certain facts from electrical conduction and chemical combination to bear strongly upon our views regarding the nature of atoms and matter, and so to assist in distinguishing in natural philosophy our real knowledge—i. e. the knowledge of facts and laws—from that, which, though it has the form of knowledge, may, from its including so much that is mere assumption, be the very reverse.
It is to be regretted that the memoir of the Rev. Mr. Whewell could not be quoted, being long and obscure. His opinions, it is conceived, have been stated fairly, ([1796].)
Motives for republishing my Memoirs on Electrical Theory.
The principal motive, without which the other motives would not have prevailed, is, that having had an interview with the spirit of Franklin expressly to have his advice, it was given decidedly in favour of publication.
There is no door in the temple of science which is so easy of access as that which leads to the department of electricity. The illustrations usually given at a popular lecture may, at the same time, amuse an infant, instruct a student, and yet perplex a profound philosopher. As associated with the phenomena of thunder and lightning, at one time attributed to the bolt of omnipotent Jove, no consequences of scientific research are so awful and sublime: coupled with the magnetic electric telegraph, no other result so miraculous. While vis inertiæ would keep all nature in statu quo, whether at rest, or like our planet in motion with a velocity fifty times as great as that of a cannon ball: while gravitation tends like the clock weight to produce a definite action and, per se, never to act again: electricity, with a protean diversity of power, appears to be the great instrument of all those changes by which the quiescent influence of the properties above mentioned, is modified in the mundane sphere of chemistry and of life.
Every tyro is aware of the wonderful property imparted to electrics by friction—to the tourmaline by heat; and that the same process, on a large scale, will produce sparks, ignition, combustion, deflagration, and destroy animal life by an instantaneous shock. It is notorious that these wonderful powers may all be imparted to a naked pane of glass, while the charge thus imparted is really only two opposite and equal affections, capable of neutralizing each other by due communication. Known also is it, that properties, to a certain extent similar, may be found in a pile of pairs of heterogeneous metals, with the additional power of electrolysis, or, in other words, of resolving chemical compounds into their ingredients, ([1376].) It is well known that, by these means, water, long and almost religiously considered as one of the four elements of the universe, can be decomposed into two kinds of air; that the earths and alkalies have been resolved into metals and oxygen; and that there is scarcely any chemical compound consisting of two elements, which may not, when in aqueous solution or in fusion by heat, be directly or indirectly decomposed by electrolysis, as explained in the note to page 384.
These multifarious feats of electricity have caused it to be contemplated as the source of every thing mysterious in nature. It is not surprising, therefore, that those who, through the accessibility of electricity, had become partially acquainted with electrical phenomena, should view it as the source of spiritual manifestations; while those who have a more extensive knowledge of the nature and extent of electrical jurisdiction should perceive at once that the phenomena in question do not fall within its sphere.