Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

364 or MATTER, MIND, AND SPIRIT.space, in the first case, may be to the quantity containedin the second, as2,500,000 to 1. Newton's definition of material particles was as follows :1772. "It seems probable tonic that God, in the beginning, formedmatter in solid, massy, hard, inipenetrable, movable particles, of suchsizes and figures, and with such other properties, and in such proportionto space, as most conduced to tlie end for which he formed them; and thatthose primitive particles, being solids, are incomparably harder than anyporous bodies compounded of them ; even so very hard as never to wearor break in pieces; no mundane power being able to divide what God himselfintended to be indivisible.''1773. Boscovitch, observing that all that was essential to material atomswas attraction and repulsion, the latter being the substitute of Newton'simpenetrability, suggested anhypothesis which dispensed with the atom,and assumed only the forces of attraction and repulsion;alternating, as itappears to me, in a way more original than warrantable. This idea ofatoms has been modified by an accomplished mathematician, Exley, ofBristol, England. I quote here Exley's view1774. " The reader has only to allow that each atom of matter consistsof an indefinitely extensive sphere of attraction, resting on a very smallconcentric sphere of repulsion, the force being everywhere, from the centre,inversely as the square of the distance, repulsive near the centre, andthen attractive. Now that part which regards the attraction has alreadyobtained the consent of all the followers of Ncicton; and much more thanthe other part, which respects repulsion, has been already received in theprinciples of our present philosophy.1775. "It may be here asked—Are we absolutely to exclude solidatoms ? I confess I can find no use for them. It is true. Sir Isaac Newtonthouo-lit that the atoms of matter consisted of minute solids.177G. "But this hypothesis, however convenient and consonant withour prejudices, is not absolutely necessary to the explanation of naturalphenomena ; for, it may be conceived, according to the theory of Boscovitch,that matter consists not of solid particles, but of mere mathematicalcentres, of forces attractive and repulsive, whose relations to space were ordained,and whose actions are regulated and maintained by the Creator of theuniverse. Both hypotheses, however, agree in one great principle, viz. : thatthe properties of bodies depend upon forces emanating from immovablepoints (whether substantial or not is of little importance) of their masses.1777. "The atoms of matter constituted as in the theory now proposedpossess all the individuality, indivisibility, and indestructibility, which thelearned and illustrious Ncwlon ascribes to his small solids, and they answerall the ends he has mentioned ; the central points, indeed, will be utterlyimpenetrable by each other, since the repulsion there is infinite ; and if atthose centres we suppose small solids to be placed, they can answer no fartherend than is accomplished by this immensely great repulsive force;for from what we know of matter, we must suppose them to be indefinitelysmall, if we introduce such solids; and hence they will occupy the placewhere the repulsion is infinitely great ; such solids would be found only anobstacle, and an incumbrance to the free actions of matter; since, howeversmall we imagine them to be, their magnitude will be infinite if comparedwith a mathematical point, the centre of an atom, which is devoid