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

OF MATTER, MINI), AND SPIRIT. 375drogoii, limy rxist in citlicr state, according to the temperature to wliicli itmay be subjected.1824. Experience justifies the surmise, that scarcely any body in natureis ntti^rly insusceptible of these three states,provided it were heated or refrigeratedwitlian unlimited power.1825. ]3esidc the property of gravitation, of which the energy is inverselyas the square of the distance, however great, (as when it enablesthe two suns, apparently forming but one—the double star, 01 Cygni(1340)—at the distance of six thousand millions of miles, to attract eachother so as to revolve about their common centre of gravity,) atoms areendowed with a force called attraction of aggregation, which operates onlyat insensible distances, so that when brought into due proximity they uniteand form a coherent mass. Again, they are endowed, as already mentioned,with chemical affinity, which varies with the kind of particles inwhich it exists as a property; being the characteristic by which they aredistinguished one from the other.182G. Accordins; to the doctrine which chemists have heretofore sue:-gested for the existence of matter in the elastic or gaseous state, eachaerial or gaseous atom was conceived to be enveloped in an atmospherefluid called caloric, resembling the ether in the self-repellent power of itsconstituent particles. This atmosphere has been assumed to impart toatoms which it envelopes its own inherent power of reciprocal repulsion,like that which those of the ether have. But Dalton showed that therewas no repulsion between gaseous atoms when hcterogenccms. Two ormore such gases, hydrogen and nitrogen, for instance, beingthe same cavity,ofcomprised inthere would be no repulsion between the atoms of hydrogenand those of nitrogen, but only between those of the same gas.has been held to be equally true, however many gases might beor whatever vapours might be superadded.Thismingled,1827. The idea is thus refuted, which ascribes the repulsive power tothe same elastic fluid, since in that case the diversity of the gaseous atomscould not so aff'ect the repulsive influence as to nullify it between heterogeneousatoms, while sustaining this repulsion, where the atoms shouldbe alike.1828. Moreover, as the rays of light have been found to be mere undulationsin the ether ; the rays of heat, being perfectly analogous in theirattributes, must also be due to ethereal undulations.But vaporization maybe affected by radiant heat, and gases owe their aeriform state to the samecause as vapor or steam ;yet transient undulations evidently cannot forma permanent combination, so as to confer the durable elasticity of a permanentgas.1829. It appears, then, that neither the doctrine of caloric, nor the undulatorydoctrine, as it is received, will explain the creation of permanentgas.Under these circumstances a modification of the existing opinions is