Experiments and observations on the atomic theory, and electrical phenomena / By William Higgins.

  • Higgins, William, 1763-1825.
Date:
1814
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experiments and observations on the atomic theory, and electrical phenomena / By William Higgins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    34/194 (page 24)
    r consists are terrestrial, for oxygen consti- tutes a great part of the solid masses of our globe, such as the earths and water (ice); and azote also exists in a solid state, united to certain bodies. Our globe and that atmosphere may be encircled with a still more subtile fluid, so as to form an atmosphere that extends to the confines of that of its neighbouring planets. V The ultimate particles of ponderable matter are exceedingly minute, but those of imponderable elements, such as caloric, electricity, and light, are beyond calcu- lation. The utmost stretch of the human t • - • mind can no more estimate the size of those particles than it can measure space and duration. However, their divisibility is limited. Probably a single ultimate particle of caloric bears the same proportion, in its size and weight, to a particle of oxygen, as the latter does to our globe: hence arises the impossibility of ascertaining the weight of that element. i