Centrifugal force and gravitation : a lecture / by John Harris.

  • Harris, John, 1942 May 3-
Date:
1873
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Centrifugal force and gravitation : a lecture / by John Harris. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    P V2 GRAVITATIO>f AND ATOMIC THEORY. or includes a primary definition of matter; in other words it involves the positive statement (corollary), that if (a) and (b) represent two distinct varieties of matter, and the combining equivalent (or atomic weight) of (a) is twice that of (b), the elementary atom of (a) contains twice the quantity of primary matter {i.e. of matter in a more sim- ple and elementary form or condition) contahied by tiie elementary atom of (b). If the elementary atoms are of the same size, then that of (a) must have twice the density compared with that of (b). The important distinction herein defined is that gravity is not a property of which one variety of mattpr possesses more or less than others ; but belongs to a primary fonu or condition of matter, and that a fundamental ditTerence between all those varieties of matter known to us, is that the elementary atom of any one variety is compounded of a greater or of a lesser quantity of primary matter, than the elementary atom of any one of the other varieties. We do not say that the conclusion thus arrived at is unsound; on the contrarv, we are strongly of opinion that such conclusion may be demonstrated and established, and with such intei-preta- tion and definition the law stated by Lardner and the atomic theory harmonize perfectly; but it does not follow that the admission of a hasty generalization based on a rough and inconclusive experiment to stand as a part of the national science is justified because it may eventually appear that the generalization was not in fact false. We are under the impression that Dr. Lardner himself would have hesitated to accept, and might very possibly have rejected the corollary to the proposition so positively stated.